DISCLAIMER. Be aware, dear readers, that, since this is a blind LP and the manual is as non-informative as it gets, any of my actions may turn out to be totally sub-par and/or lead us into a dead end, either plot- or character development-wise. Just FYI.
3: Castra, a planet of trash, lost kids, and fire hydrants
Previously on this LP we landed on Castra; now it's time for some meaningless wandering around. As I said earlier, the automap isn't helpful at all, it's just too tiny. Good thing this tutorial town is a really small one, so that we don't get lost right away.
First thing we notice as we go about is the overabundance of trash cans...
...locked doors...
...and fire hydrants:
Weird place. Too bad you can't destroy hydrants though or kick trashcans, that'd be fun. The amount of environment interactivity seems to be minimal.
Luckily, some doors
can be opened:
We find ourselves inside a shop. And here's the owner:
Grotley's a Targeter so he doesn't have to use the Select person command...
...and can proceed straight to the talking part:
I've tried chatting Walter Wimm up using different characters, but it doesn't look like the conversation options depend on a character's Rhetoric or Intelligence stats. Too bad.
We ask Walter about the latest news, but he doesn't know anything. Let's see what he has for sale, then:
Some knives, a battle staff (probably useful for a monk?), grenades...
...as well as a pistol and some ammo. Nice. Too bad we're penniless at the moment. :/
We also ask Korenzel to check the trader's honesty, just for the hell of it:
The problem is, I have no clue what Honesty=19 means. Is it low or high? Is that guy honest enough or really, totally dishonest?
Well, who knows.
As we explore further, we stumble upon a shady figure walking up and down the street:
Let's try chatting him up.
Turns out his name is Frank Roosta, and the first option we get is to tell him we don't like his style.
My, how rude. So we go for a simple "How are you?" instead:
Gosh, he's a douche bag. Let's ask him if he's just hanging around or maybe, you know, plotting something.
You are just hanging around, are you?
Try to fight, I am connected to the police-protection!
Oh-kay, that does it. Have your hair cut, you prick!
With that, he walks away.
Let's check his honesty...
Totally dishonest!
(Or at least I assume so.)
Oh yeah, I forgot to show you what happens if you attack a peaceful NPC. Basically, a bunch of tough policemen appear and lol, you're dead. Will demonstrate that in the next update.
And here's what a policeman looks like around here:
We bump into him and apologize. Then we engage in policeman diplomacy.
Can you tell us something about the Police-net?
Become an inhabitant of Penthe and get registration soon!
Tell us more!
If you stay clean, the police will always protect you.
Oh-kay, thanks, officer.
A certain G. Mells is also browsing the police station. We ask him if he has a job for us:
Not really the kind of reply I expected to hear. Is this an RPG or not?
We are the ones supposed to be doing all kinds of jobs, and
you, oh NPC, are supposed to give us one! FFS. And why should we tell you if have a job anyway?
Why should we tell you?
I will protect you! The streets of Penthe are unsafe.
Screw you! We're totally fine on our own.
Do you know something new?
I cannot tell you anything, ask someone else.
My, you're useless.
Nearby we come across a Healing device:
In the bottom left corner there has appeared an option to heal our party up. We're perfectly healthy at the moment, though. Plus healing costs credits, and we still don't have any.
Another NPC we meet is called Greg Morgan; he seems to be hiding in one of the most remote corners of Penthe.
His honesty is relatively high. I wonder what his story is.
Oops, at first we did not see you.
That is my problem.
Everyone's so mean around here.
Are you sick?
No.
Hmmm. Then what are you up to?
What are you doing here?
I have got a great problem. I must escape from here!
Huh?
It's T-H-E-M!
Could you help me?
Yay! Finally! A quest!
But how do we help you, dude in green?
I have got an idea! You can shrink and smuggle me.
I heard about a so called shrinking device.
Oh. We'll be sure to look for one, then, I guess?
As we pass through one of the side streets we hear a cry for help. We turn around and witness a horrible scene: an old man attacked by two thugs!
Hey! I recognize that lack of haircut! The thug on the right is Frank Roosta! Bastard.
Grotley's a Targeter, so he'll be the one to attack Roosta -- who has already noticed us, by the way.
I'm too busy struggling with the interface to take screenshots during combat, but yeah, we deal with the thugs. They scream their last scream...
...and now we can tend to the old man:
As you can see, there's a new quest option in the bottom left part of the screen. We select it...
...and the man is back to his feet:
I would like to give you a small reward. Take these $1500.
Hell yeah! Our first quest reward.
The man is called George McMil, by the way.
Sorry sir, may we ask you a question?
If I can help you, I will do so.
How are you?
Quite well, thanks.
The conversations are quite basic in this game, no dialogue trees or anything. Oldschool!
Tell us more!
In addition I'll give you my phone number.
Your phone number? Why?
Oh, cool! As you may remember, we have an option to Call up somebody when on board the Whale, so George McMil's number may certainly come in handy.
Written down.
We need a job. Do you know something?
Sorry, but I do not know anybody who needs fighters.
Fair enough. Let's go back to the weapon shop, now that we have some money.
The shopkeeper, however, has a new quest for us!
Hmm, this quest didn't trigger last time we visited him. I wonder if you can only do quests in a specific order in this game?
But anywayz. We find Winnie in the western part of the town:
The child looks shit scared. A new quest-specific option appears in the lower left corner:
We choose it --
-- and take the girl with us!
We've gained some experience from the previous quests, by the way:
Grotley, being the one who did the fighting, is the most experienced one in our party. Everyone else has 1400 exp.
So yeah. We bring the girl back to her father:
He rewards us with some weapons and ammo! Yay!
He simply lays them on the counter for us to pick up.
At this moment, our whole party levels up!
And we can choose a new ability for each character now:
Grotley the Bounty Hunter can choose one of the following abilities (left to right): Check honesty of selected opponent // Identify weapon // Identify selected opponent // Manipulate computer // Intimidate selected opponent // Value item // Set trap // Automatic reload on.
Hmm.
Let's consult the list of special skills in the manual.
~~Special skills
Identify weapons. With this skill it is possible for a character to examine a weapon. He is able to find out how many shots are in this weapon or how powerful it is.
Identify opponent. This skill gives you all the information about your opponents that you need.
Automatic reload. If you have an empty weapon and a second magazine, your weapon will be loaded automatically, if you have this skill activated.
Scan dungeon. With this skill you can scan the whole dungeon from one position. If you are using a room-scanner too, it would provide the best effect.
Search for traps. If there is a trap in front of the crew, you are able to detect and defuse it.
Detoxicate member. A doctor is able to heal a poisoned person with this skill.
Heal unconscious. If somebody is unconscious he can be healed with this skill.
Resurrect member. A dead member could be brought back to life with this mental skill, but the use of this skill take a lot of mental energy.
Heal wounds. If somebody is hurt, you are able to heal him using this skill.
Hypnotize selected opponent. Anybody who is hypnotized is easier to convince than someone who is not. [Yay! A conversation skill!]
Paralyze. A paralyzed character is not able to move and also not able to fight.
Disarm. If your opponent is armed and you use this skill successfully he will lose his weapon.
Fireball. A fireball is a spell which can only be used by experienced PSI-magician. Once a fireball is used it will cause tremendous damage even on a whole group.
Brainblast. A brainblast is a very dangerous spell which kills the victim immediately.
Check honesty. Check honesty tells you the honesty value of a character.
Identify essence. This skill makes it possible to identify an essence.
Use essence. With this skill you can use an essence.
Value item. Every item could be valued. The price of the item depends on the planet.
Set traps. With this skill you are able to put traps on the floor.
Intimidate. If you intimidate a person, it is easier for you to make him do what you want. [Another conversation skill?]
Take up trail. If there are trails on the floor, you can follow them with this skill.
Manipulate computer. With this skill it is possible to manipulate computers. Security doors and machines are also counted as computers.
Good. We tell Grotley to learn the
Automatic reload ability. Truth be told, I don't even know if a Bounty Hunter or a Monk can use fire arms, but well, whatever.
Kingcomrade the Monk has also gained a level (not sure why the portrait hasn't been changed to KC's). He can learn: Heal wounds // Resurrect // Paralyse opponent // Disarm opponent // Check honesty // Take up trail // Identify weapon // Automatic reload.
After some hesitation, I go for
Heal wounds of member, as we don't have a dedicated Medic in our party.
Mrowaksu the Biochemist levels up, too.
And the new abilities he can learn are: Use essence // Identify weapon // Automatic reload // Use scanner with extended knowledge // Search for traps // Value item // Set trap // Manipulate computer.
Heh, I like the choice of skills available to Mrowaksu. Not sure if this is going to be useful, but I tell him to learn
Manipulate computer. I always choose to learn computer knowledge/hacking skills in an RPG whenever those are available, but it doesn't always prove to be worth it. *Sigh*
Finally, Korenzel the Psionician makes level two as well. Let's see what we have here:
Hmm, Create fireball // Do brainblast on selected opponent // Hypnotize selected opponent // Heal wounds // Identify selected opponent // Detoxicate member // Paralyze selected opponent // Intimidate selected opponent.
Well, well. Korenzel's too low-level so the Fireball or Brainblast spells would be more than he can handle. (I kinda like that you can opt for an unsuitably high-level ability early on in this game; yay for no handholding!) So I select
Hypnotize selected opponent; hopefully it's going to prove useful.
Okay, our party is now level 2. Let's pick up the weapons the shopkeeper has rewarded us with.
In Grotley's general ability menu we choose to Get item.
A list of the items appears: we let Grotley pick up the shotgun and some ammo.
Now that Grotley has something in his inventory, new commands appear: Examine item, Use item, and Give item to selected person.
Kingcomrade picks up 9mm Ceramics Pistol and the remaining ammunition. (Even though I suspect a Monk can't use fire arms; I'll check that later.)
And Mrowaksu receives the Apollo grenade.
Let us examine the items we're now carrying. First the grenade:
Next the shotgun:
The ammunition:
(Universal ammo. Popamole!)
And finally the pistol:
Cool. Let's now exit the shop. But who's that guy standing right outside?
Suspicious! Let's see what he wants.
And so we fight! -- I forgot to equip the new weapons though.
We deal with the thief, and are awarded $3000 by the police. Swell!
Next time: we'll be exploring Penthe further!
