Wild Arms 3 Part 58: Breaking Down

Not to get too in-depth on how the sausage is made, but the making of this Let’s Play has a very clear "steps" process:

1. Play and record the game on the Playstation 2.
2. Go over every individual frame on a PC, and dice up the screenshots/GIFs. In general, one "chunk" of gameplay (usually a dungeon and its surrounding cutscenes) is addressed while watching two (2) movies, so about 3ish hours per chunk. This yields between 100-450 (!) shots, depending on the length of the dungeon and its plot.
3. Play the same section of the game on the Playstation 5, this time with an eye on capturing anything I missed the first time.
4. Grab those screenshots, which is usually a quicker/more focused process.
5. Separate the shots into chapters of approximately 80-125 screenshots, and then write about ’em.

And I am noting this process because as of last Wednesday evening, I have now transformed the entire game of Wild Arms 3 into screenshots. Steps 1-4 for the entirety of Wild Arms 3 is now complete, and all that is left is to write the remaining chapters.

… And there’s about 20 more of ’em, so we’re going to be here a while.

But still!

And we are noting this milestone on June 12, Crimson Noble Day. One man tried to catch a crimson noble. He set up a simple trap consisting of a basket propped with a stick and beaker with his own blood under it. Nobody believed he could catch a crimson noble with such a stupid trap. But when dawn broke, a crimson noble was trapped under the basket. It’s one of those ‘you never know until you try it’ kind of stories.

Previously on Wild Arms 3: We are infiltrating the big bad base of the big bads! After a (not) thrilling race through some closing doors, it is time to check in with…

The tube room.

It has been a while, but please recall that Malik’s plan all along has been to revive his (presumably dead? Maybe just moved to Florida to get away from him?) mother. If you thought all the clone-mommies got flushed down the toilet after Yggdrasil crashed, here is confirmation that Malik is back on his bullshit.

First dialogue for the most important character in this world.

Ladies and gentlemen, she is finally for-real appearing.

(flashback previously not seen in the LP)

“Little Girl” here has been appearing throughout the game at various locations. You can go back and check the LP for confirmed sightings “all along”. This one from waaaay back when we first visited Little Twister was saved until now for the purpose of not drawing too much attention to this creepy creature. Really couldn’t find a way to casually excuse that screenshot. These, however…

(First Appearance, Issue #8)

("Above the Alley" at Humphrey’s Peak, Issue #21)

(Randomly part of Janus’s monologue, Issue #30)

(Waiting to oversee the show, Issue #45)

Are some more subtle sightings. Note that she has always appeared during cutscenes or in areas just out of reach. Despite appearing to be a normal NPC, she is never accessible when you actually reach her location.

For the record, her first appearance was before we even met Maya.

(It’s a sound effect, hard to capture in a screenshot LP, Issue #49)

Also, she has a weird little laugh that we heard briefly back in Ruins of Dreams, and will be hearing again more often.

There are also other references to her in the script going back to even before she appeared, but those will become more overtly apparent later.

And, somewhat explaining her aloofness, she seems to teleport around the room with ease.

Malik, you are a man that has been transformed into a bird demon living in an impenetrable fortress. I would be more than “curious” about this gremlin teleporting around.

… Thanks?

Does Malik sound differently now that he has a bird-throat. Does… does he have a tongue?

She’s up!

But no time for that now, we’re back to our gang and… Hey! It’s that gang!

They apparently found another secret route into the heavily fortified base. This place has all the defenses of a colander.

You ever find it weird to hang out with your significant other’s family when they’re not around?

We have bested you on four separate occasions when you weren’t missing a team member…

“Whatever, cat, we got problems.”

Should we really take an eye off the kid with all the explosives?

“You’re right. It’s better than trying to figure out how your combat mechanics would work.”

They didn’t even let us choose which route we wanted…

Alfred gives us a knowing nod, fully aware that Virginia would do anything for Maya for some reason.

New dungeon! Kinda!

Thanks to those blast doors, you cannot leave Cradle of the Metal God. As a concession to anyone that might not be prepared, there is a refill station here at the start that will always max out your HP/VIT. Grind by the free inn if you’ve gotta!

Note that you are barred from going backwards or following Maya’s family down their route. Sad.

Only one door available.

You can tell Siegfried is a caring villain, because his base has guardrails.

The local monsters are color coded for your convenience.

The red ones shoot fire.

The blue ones use ice magic.

They have names, but… how do you pronounce that? Fire demon, ice demon.

These might be the most “use fire on the ice dragon” encounters in WA3.

Our other opponents are Sekmets.

They are rock demons.

Are they supposed to look like amphibians? I am getting a Genghis Frog vibe.

Note that these Battletoads can drop Earth Rings, and any elemental resistance will help you come Abyss time.

Welcome to the gimmick of this dungeon.

If you are tagged by a search light, you will have to deal with a random encounter, and then be booted back to the room’s door. So use your tools to effectively avoid lights ‘n fights.

This next room looks…

Like random boss time.

It’s poo! It’s a big pile of poo! Get the talking squirrel in here!

Ose? Did you mean ‘ooze’?

This is a very misleading weakness chart.

Ose uses Evil Gaze, which will paralyze one party member. Either prepare for that, or wait like three turns for them to thaw out.

The secret of the Ose is that it is completely invulnerable to even the most precise physical attacks. Note that this is not a matter of “dodging”, as even an accurate attack will do zero damage.

So you must use magic here.

This is likely a deliberate design decision, as this is the first boss following a door that can only be unlocked by all twelve Guardians. You must have every spell in the game to make it to this boss, so Ose is going to test if you can use those spells.

Ose is secretly some kind of panther demon.

So you have two options here: the “obvious” method is just hit ‘em with spells until they’re dead. The other option is to use ice magic, which will solidify Ose, and then you can ravage the cat.

I stuck to magic in both playthroughs. This is another monster that is weak to Weakness, so you can make it extra vulnerable to an element.

There’s a good look at the “solid” form.

Eventually, you flush this Ose.

This will protect against paralysis. Once again a prize that is a little too late.

No flippant comment about a sticky security system or anything.

Going up?

Once again…

This dungeon is going to be gated with plot check-ins on the baddies.

Or a baddy’s mom. She’s getting in some cardio today.

Poor woman doesn’t even get a name. Can we call her Sammy?

It’s rough being a clone.

Bird face killah has no idea why his mom has an issue.

Back to the normal humans.

You know how this one goes.

These switches will reset if you linger long enough, so you cannot just wait forever for lights to get out of the way.

Not that difficult of a “puzzle” though.

And then… something happens?

Probably not our friend, the boy obsessed with explosions.

Whatever! Not our problem!

Melody has an issue, though.

Or… exploded?

Melody is puttering off, muttering all the while.

Guess we’ll see her soon enough.

This is a dungeon that you will never be able to reenter again, so there are no treasure chests. The best we can hope for is a “treasure room” filled with gems.

Were these the stairs from Malik’s Mom’s run?

This light is stationary, and there is no way past it to the door.

So use Clive’s grappler to break the light.

And we’re good. Note that you could have done this on the previous lights, but this is the first that lateral thinking is required.

And using the grappling hook here is not the right answer.

Use Jet’s Radical Sneakers for jumping.

You must be an adept jumper to make it through this hallway without damage. Mind you, the traps aren’t that lethal if your timing is off.

And the next room…

Brings back an old friend.

Hey, Asgard. Weren’t you carrying around Maya? What happened to her?

Guess we’ll ask later.

Oh snap!

Daddy out of nowhere!

Were you following us this whole dungeon? … This whole game?

Virginia is not going to cry. Virginia is not going to cry…

“Remember the finale for Chapter 2? I hope you do! I know I followed you through hours of sidequests since then!”

“Okaywhateverhopeyoulivebye.”

“Sending you good vibes, Daddy!”

“Were you talking to me?”
“No, Asgard, I’m her literal father.”
“Oh. Yes, that makes sense.”

Blammo.

No going back (again).

Somebody reboot Virginia. She’s stuck in that loop again.

No dialogue skipped here. I guess Clive just wanted to confirm he’s not that Daddy.

“Straight up nothing kills that guy. And he’s probably a robot anyway.”

Quick question: did your dad used to have forcefield powers when you were growing up?

Focus on your girlfriend… focus on your girlfriend…

Trying to ignore the smell of burning daddy as we go.

I mentioned this before, but Wild Arms 4 introduced straight up Mario-esque platforming to the franchise. A lot of people were surprised. This nonsense is why I expected it.

This room contains all sorts of moving platforms, and a switch that must be utilized for opening the exit. Don’t miss it!

The hit detection here is… frustrating. Falling into the dark doesn’t incur any damage, but does reset your position back to the start of the room.

What even happened there!?

So glad to be done with this room.

This looks familiar.

Ah! The tube room!

And the tube is empty! We know why.

Speaking of tubes, that’s how I describe youtube.

This is where Mama was running, right?

Sucks to be you guys.

Double sucks to be you guys.

“So many questions! So many!”

Malik has gone from bird of prey to cuckoo.

So Malik apparently killed his clone mother and blew up the inanimate generator that “birthed” her for revenge. I always appreciate a villain that cannot take responsibility.

And Melody is just confused as all get out.

Oh, because you’re a shining example of sanity.

See? If we had just waited, the forcefield would have come down anyway, because Malik had a freakout over his clone mother. Sun Tzu would have predicted this.

Sounds like somebody has a case of the Mondays.

And the gonna get shots.

It’s Melody’s favorite person!

Super best friends forever!

Mondays? Amiright?

So, for the first time ever, we fight exactly two Prophets at once. It has always only been either one or three before.

Malik is crazy, Melody is trying to keep it together.

Unfortunately, there is not any battle-plot synergy here. Malik and Melody will function like they are at their usual levels of sanity. Or maybe that is the point?