Game Journal – Eternal Sonata (Entry 05)

We have a new party member with a bow [Viola]! This may solve my long range problem (get with the program Beat!)! She seems to come in with a level of 11. I wonder if the new characters are setup to match whatever your current level is or if they all just come in at some set level. Viola is so..spicy cool! and she has an adorable squirrel pet of some sort. Just look at her cone drill hair!
We are beginning to gather party members that have a variety of skills. I think party building is going to become key as we go along. I am excited to play around with the different character team builds.
Allegretto = Fighter
Beat = Ranger
Polka = Cleric/Sorta-Ranger
Chopin = Fighter/Sorta-Cleric
Viola = Ranger

I like Viola quite a bit, she’s kind of the “tough girl”. Her pet squirrel/fox thing, Arco, is pretty darn cute. She was also level 11 for me, and the party was at level 13, so the level of new members seems fixed. Her combat abilities are interesting, but different and hard to use. Basically, she has a manually aimed bowshot as her standard attack, along the same lines as how Beat’s camera mode works. This means she can only get off a few shots, and each one has to be aimed, for a few reasons. One is that her arrows actually drop over distance, making hitting enemies even harder. The other is that the bow is relatively ineffectual unless you get a headshot. Finally, the damage goes up the farther you are from the target. So what’s the payoff for this ridiculously complicated setup? For one thing, if your arrow hits a guarding enemy, their guard doesn’t seem to have any effect. The big thing, though, is that if you can get a headshot at long range while compensating for arrow drop, the damage can be insane. I once got a headshot on an Angel Goat from across the map, and it did 14612 damage! For reference, our characters have about 3000 health.

We also get to see Viola’s house. We’ve done this with other characters, and every time it gives insight into the character, since each house is so customized. Viola’s house is a crowded mess of stuff, with arrows, boxes, and random stuff on the walls. She has a teddy bear, but it was a gift from someone and she’s never taken off the tag. A cool way of telling us what kind of person she is.

Wow… so the secret to mineral powder is that it eventually turns you into some sort of mindless monster.  The team discussed how the Count is basically slowly poisoning the entire kingdom very slowly.  Heavy stuff!  I wonder why a monarch would basically be poisoning all his subjects.  I guess we are off to find out

Yeah, the mages we fought were (according to Viola) people that had used too much mineral powder and just attack on sight now.  We had another serious roundtable discussion, which I liked and I hope becomes a running theme.  Allegretto debates why the Count would want to kill his own people with mineral powder, when there are much more effective ways to kill everyone.  Jeez, Allegretto, you’ve got a nasty mind!  Polka wants to try and believe the best, which is that perhaps Count Waltz (we got his name finally) doesn’t know about the side effects.  Beat and Viola, meanwhile, have a discussion about whether people know of the dangers, but are unwilling to stop using mineral powder because it is convenient.  Either way, Viola has a bone to pick with the Count about the goats that have been killed by mineral powder junkies, so she joins us and we continue to the castle.  I am a bit concerned for her goats, who she leaves behind without a second thought.

Count Jerkwad gets a cutscene and Monacle Man now has a name! [Fugue]. Ooooo!  They are after the glowing agogo so that they can make more potent mineral powder to kill off the people quicker.  Good gracious, what are they up to?! 

Another interesting scene here.  Apparently, they are catching regular Agogos and… grinding them up or something and adding them to mineral powder?  This doubles its effectiveness, but Waltz thinks they can get 10x effectiveness with a glowing one, so off Fugue goes again to find one.  So it’s not just the mining ruining the Agogo habitat, but they’re being caught and used in addition.  That said, the Count says he wants this so he can help the people and see their smiling faces.  Then he gives a nice evil laugh.  Still not sure what his plan here is.  Fugue seemed unhappy with the Count’s plan, but still follows him.

Fort Fermata has a fascinating discussion behind it.  I wonder why it was built since Allegretto mentions that the only thing it’s guarding against is Ritardando.  I wonder if there is some uber scheme in play where Castle Forte plans to overrun Ritardando once it’s devoid of people (they all die due to mineral powder).  If Ritardando tries to retaliate there is no chance of them getting past the fort?  They don’t arm the fort so that it doesn’t give away the notion of being threatening?

Allegretto explains that the fort was built back when Ritardando was under frequent attack by pirates.  If the town was ever overrun, the fort would be used for defense.  Looking at the fort now, though, it’s in total disrepair, and is full of monsters and mineral powder junkies.  I don’t think the fort will play any role in the Count’s schemes, but he could always destroy the bridge if the mindless junkies from Ritardando were to ever attack.

Allegretto putting the MOVES on Polka.  What a gentleman!

Hah!  Beat is trembling with fear about crossing this bridge, but Allegretto tells him to buck up before turning to Polka and offering his hand to help her.  Boy, Allegretto, way to be totally obvious with Polka and show complete disregard for your friend.  At least Viola and Chopin shared a knowing glance.

Another gorgeous scene as we leave Viola’s house.  There is a straight manmade path leading up to the bridge, with running water cascading on either side of it and – no joke – a rainbow over the whole thing.

The fort itself is also something to behold.  Running water and intricate stonework are the themes here, with plants and trees growing throughout.  The stonework is cool to look at.  Just the entrance has a bunch of water pouring out of some channels into a small pond surrounding the a tiny bit of land that the bridge is connected to.  The pond turns into two waterfalls on either side.  I’ll say one thing for Forte – their forts look both beautiful and incredibly effective.  If this place were defended, attacking it looks impossible.

Outside of Viola’s house,  a mailman has realized he lost three letters headed for Viola.  I went back to look for them before realizing that these were probably the pieces of paper we fed the goats.  Whoops!  At least we know why random papers were lying all over.

I was finally able to take a Rank A camera picture.  It was Polka and an Angel Goat, and they basically filled the entire photo while you could also see almost all of both of them.  Apparently, filling your shot with characters at pretty close distances is the way to go.  The one picture sold for 489G!  Good thing I had 6 of the same shot.  I totally bought 99 peach cookies with my newfound wealth, because that fort looks tough.

Time for Su’s crazy theory:
Chopin is dying in another world and I theorize that the people he’s meeting in this “dream world (??)” are all part of his history.
1. ) Polka = His George Sand mixed with his own fragile body.  Polka’s health is frail like Chopin’s was but that doesn’t stop her from being determined and different.  She likes the night flowers (even though they are considered bad omens) and she want to sell floral powder is a world determined to move toward mineral powder.  She wants to help people and bring change and in her own way, motivates Chopin to take a journey he may not otherwise have taken.  George Sand did things that women didn’t do back in the day (smoke cigars and wear pants!).  She was different and she motivated Chopin to things he wouldn’t not have normally done.
2.) Allegretto and Beat = Chopin’s friends in the revolution in Poland.  Allegretto and Beat are clearly trying to make a difference for Ritardando but they are naive and young.  If not directed there is a good chance they may fail.  Perhaps Chopin’s journey with them will heal the pain and guilt he carries at leaving Poland and not helping in the revolution even though it failed.

We also seem to be gathering instruments and building something here and I wonder if names mean anything?:
Allegretto = music played at a brisk pace
Polka = a dance that is performed at a  brisk pace
Beat = Pretty much the underlying current of music
Viola = a string instrument
Fort “Fermata” = Fermata is a rest note held for an extended period of time.  The fort has stood in between Ritardando and Castle Forte for as long as anyone can remember

Andantino – slightly faster than a walking pace.  Seems like this revolution will be slow and steady.
Ritardando – Slowing down gradually.  Makes perfect sense for people that are slowly being ground down by high taxes.
March – regimented, slow
Salsa – expressive, fast
Waltz – a slow and stately dance, but it requires a partner.
“Cabasa” Bridge – a shaken metal bead instrument used in Latin music, used for rhythm
Agogo – a single or double-bell instrument used in sambas

Fugue = is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and recurs frequently in the course of the composition

Due to this I believe Fugue will be recurring character.  We will have to repeatedly fight him and his abilities will change everytime.  Let’s see if I’m right!

Ooh, I like that one.  Though hopefully we’ll do a little better against him next time.  I’m a little worried what happens when he finds out that Polka has been helped by the glowing Agogos.