When we last saw Benjamin he was curled up in a ball in the corner demanding to be told just what the hell is going on except that's a lie he was actually about to enter a place called Falls Basin with a woman who can at best be described as conflicted and at worst be described as two people one of whom seems to have a vague idea of what the hell is going on and the other is the most pessimistic person ever and this sentence could really do with some punctuation now huh?
Welcome to Falls Basin, the game's puzzle area which all RPGs are required to have at least one of BY LAW.
There's an empty space of equal size to the pillar on each side of the pillar, how the hell is it in our way? Anyways, let's take a look around first. There's only one way we can go for now that actually leads anywhere.
Ah, a chest! We're going to be getting the contents of that before we leave here, that's for sure.
You see that little notch at the top?
Yeah you can walk straight through that. The Desert Hag is easily disposed of, and you see that little notch at the bottom right?
Yeah you can walk straight through that as well. I think it's pretty safe to assume that the crab thing guarding the door out of the area and standing within 3 feet of the chest is the boss but I COULD BE WRONG.
And we find ourselves at a dead end. But there is a solution to this problem!
See it turns out that what Phoebe said earlier was a good idea, but it sure as hell didn't make any sense the way she said it. Then again, if she'd actually said "Let's use this to jump across," I'd be making fun of her for apparently being able to see the future so maybe it's better this way.
So we push the block so it's between the two ledges. Be careful not to get the block stuck anywhere, because if you do, you'll have to exit the area and come back in.
And now jump across using the block!
So we go through the Desert Hag, and come out the bottom near some stairs.
To the right, another gap precisely three times the width of a block! I wonder, could we possibly use the block located RIGHT NEXT TO this gap in order to cross it? I THINK WE CAN.
BUT FIRST!
Ah, Lamia. You put us to Sleep annoyingly often, but unfortunately for you, you're weak against Thunder and are thus going to take several godrillion times as much damage as is actually necessary for you to die. Tough break there.
So we push the block into the gap, and over we go!
WHEEEEEEEEEE
Oh, it's a gap that is precisely three times the width of a block but may look two times the width of the block but then you realise that this it only looks this way because of the camera and yes, the top of the block can in fact overlap with the portion of wall which is visible. Hey, do you think we can use the block right below us in order to cross it? MOST DEFINITELY.
So the block gets pushed all the way around into the middle of the gap.
So we cross the bridge, fight the Desert Hag and head up the stairs.
You see that little etc?
The treasure box contained Explosives. This Lamia is DEAD.
UCETC?
And another three space wide gap. But there isn't an obvious pillar to use!
So we just use this one!
And we're done with the jumping puzzles. Now, I like the concept of the puzzle, but the execution isn't great, mainly because it's not particularly difficult and kind of repetitive. The third block isn't actually necessary to complete the puzzle, so just taking it out would have made the puzzle far more interesting. And all the gaps are three spaces wide! I mean, if they'd put a FIVE space wide gap in somewhere that would have needed TWO blocks to clear, at least there would have been a little variance. The only real mix-up in the formula was the last one, in which we had to backtrack OVER ANOTHER BLOCK to get a block in the final position, and that's not exactly ground breaking.
It's ground making. BOOM TSS.
So anyway lets head up these stairs.
So, here's this giant enemy crab.
We'll get the Heal spell from the chest first though, just so we don't forget about it.
Like the Squidite in the Wintry Cave, the Snow Crab has (well, "had" is a more appropriate word) two buddies to help him. They were both Desert Hags, and as such basically died instantly out of overexposure to pure awesomeness and Fire. Rather bizarrely, the Snow Crab itself isn't weak against Fire. My research tells me that its actually weak against Axe, but why they expected any player to try their Axe against a crab which quite clearly should be an ice monster is beyond me. I mean, when I do boss battles, I try a lot of things to see what their weaknesses are, and I didn't even TRY Axe. THAT'S HOW LITTLE SENSE THIS MAKES TO ME.
Anyway after a few hits he catches rabies.
After some more, his top of his pincer and horn falls off. Then he dies. So I go to use a bomb on the blocked up door he was blocking, but Phoebe has something else in mind.
WHOA WHOA WHOA. Where the hell did these come from? Apparently we had them the whole time, since we learned how to use them (as opposed to being given them). On the other hand, we apparently "learned how to use" Bombs even though we very clearly bought them off Tristam. OK fine, so it actually means that Phoebe gave us them, but that raises some questions of its own.
She starts off with a Claw with 32 attack power, then gives it to Benjamin. To replace it, she uses the Bow of Grace which has 79 attack power. Then, later on, she decides to give away the Jumbo Bombs which have an attack power of 112!
1. Why didn't she use these herself?
2. Why didn't she give them to us earlier?
3. How does she have exactly the same number of Jumbo Bombs as Benjamin has regular Bombs?
1 and 2 can be answered with "Maybe Phoebe didn't know she had them, and we're talking to the other Phoebe now." The theory is feasible thanks to the already established existence of hammerspace!
So we Jumbo Bomb the door, and exit the area. We're back on the World Map!
We'll take care of this Battlefield now. There's just Mage/Mage in here, it seems.
They're strong against Earth magic (i.e. Quake), which makes sense. Why would an earthquake effect them? They're levitating. See, now this ia a resistance that is actually pretty reasonable, because it's somewhat possible that you'd work that out on your first battle with them. It makes a hell of a lot more sense than the fact that they're weak against Fire. Here's something else that does make sense.
This is sensible. Annoying as hell, but sensible. Anyways, ten battles later, what do we win?
D=<
Ah, the Ice Pyramid. The journey's been long and tiring, but mostly confusing.