This updated is dedicated to the loving memory of Trash. His soaring waltz with Sheek took him too far and he is now lost somewhere between his home and the place where he was supposed to fight his nemesis, with no hope of ever coming back home.
Chapter 8 — Sailor Jupiter's Adventures in Canada! Fish Cooking! Romeo and Juliet Rip-off! Big Ass Tree! The Teenager Who Wanted to Fight to End All Fights! Part 1
Herro! I know, it's been a few months since the last update but you guys did not send me pr0n so I decided to not give a shit about you. But then I decided that if I won't do it for you, I can at least do it for myself. Not for fun, definitely not, given that this piece of shit of a game is painful to play through, the kind of pain you get when biting on aluminium foil, but I do it because I believe it is a good mental excercise and it will help me to become the übermensch I always wanted to be. That will definitely allow me to refuse to sleep with tons of pretty girls for no good reason at all. Oh dear, listening to Mike Oldfield's Amarok while doing this LP doesn't really help me to conserve my sanity.
But allow me to carve the events of the previous episodes on your stone of memory with my chisel of remembrance: the Oppositio Senshi managed to knock Tuxedo Mask out with a bad spell and only the power of the stones of his four old generals, plus that of another stupid stone, can get him out of his abnormal sleep. Since the four stones are scattered all over the world, the four Inner Senshi leave Japan to look for them, while Sailor Moon stays near her beloved Tuxedo Mask. Sailor Mercury already salvaged her stone from Switzerland and Mars got hers from Nepal, and now it is the turn of Sailor Jupiter to attempt to recover hers, this time in Canada.
With luck, we might even meet Vault Dweller in this episode and tell him to hurry the fuck up with the release of Age of Decadence. But let's put this wishful thinking on the side and go on with the show!
Yup, we are still in the second chapter of the game. I know I'm slow. You got a problem with that, punk? I thought so.
My bet is that the answer is "yes", else we wouldn't be here in the first place.
I wonder, is this really a national park?
I guess that it is a national park after all. If it's writen on a wooden sign, you can believe it. Always believe the wooden signs, they are always true, like rumours the villagers like to tell each other. By the way, seeing that this is a marine park, have you seen my mudcrab? I lost it the other day.
Yes, I like to make screenshots of the main character doing nothing but walk from a wooden sign to the nearby river, at wich point she will stand there and contemplate the water in movement. I'm kind of like the Tarkovsky of the Sailor Moon LP. I can understand you want to sleep with me but I'll have to decline for now.
Now then, what shall I have for dinner?
You can't simply catch the trout and roast it on a stick, no, you have to turn it into some kind of Japanese monstrosity in order to clean the westernish from the poor fish with tons of salt before you consume it.
Sailor Jupiter eats her fish in peace, when suddenly ...
That quite roguish of him to dye his hair green: you can't easily spot him in the middle of the trees. Still he must be nothing more than a lowly bum if he comes begging for food like this. If canadian national parks are already filled with bums, imagine what kind of fauna they have in their cities.
Huh? Are you hungry? Come over here, and I'll give you half of mine.
Yeah, give him half of your fish and he'll call his tribe out of the woods. Smart move.
YARLY!
Haha! I smell a romantic subplot brewing!
I can tell he is impressed by the superiority of the Japanese culture.
Huh? Around here... But isn't this a national park?
Did we stumble upon the village from the titular Shyamalan <s>movie</s> excrement by any chance?
I'm just looking something, a stone by the name of Nephrite. If I don't find it, someone will die.
Perfectly normal: a Japanese girl in the middle of the woods looking for a stone in order to prevent someone from dying. Who wants to be that this providential guy will somehow know of the stone and put us on the right tracks?
Ha! I should have bet!
Really?
Village...!?
That's typical Japanese behaviour there: you tell them something and they repeat one word from it. It feels as if they tried to click on the word in your conversation to get details, like you were some kind of Morrowind npc.
Please enjoy the dramatic intensity of the scene.
What does this pendant do? You will never know.
Really?
Fallout sucks because it doesn't let you roleplay a cook. Charm your way in with your awesome cooking skills!
And go to the village they did.
Bit of a show-off, ain't you?
Can't you just say "archives" like anyone else?
So we are supposedly in the village but he left us in some corner of the woods, so we must walk a bit. The green-haired weirdo went right and so that's where we'll go.
I guess this road means I'm getting close.
This sign too. The village must be across the bridge.
Ok, wtf is this shit? Are you trying to say the first sign told me I was entering the village while I was actually leaving it?
Well then, let's cross the bridge again and follow the road the other way now.
We arrive at this big tree with an opening. I could go in now but I have some premonition that Certain Death awaits inside, and so I won't do such thing for now.
Well, here is the village at last, with its idiotic npc's. Notice that most men around seem to be lumberjacks. I wonder if they are ok, sleep all night and work all day.
YAEH.
Look at this kid's glasses! Looks like the butts of coke bottles.
That's quite the fellating fellow there.
I bet George is the guy who led me here. So far I can see why he is the son of the chief: he is the only one with green hair. Green hair must be a sign of power for a silvan people like the Canadian.
Bitch has a lot to say, it seems.
YAEH!
What, her too?
But?
Calm down, kid, you make no sense.
This must be the house of the local survivalist: despite living surrounded by water, he keeps many buckets of water around. What for? In case the water suddenly dries up overnight? Even then, people will certainly lay siege to the place and probably kill him for his water. He should have built a bunker in the middle of nowhere to be safe. Hell, I'm sure his system doesn't even run Vault-OS.
I agree. I don't know what you are talking about, but I agree all the same.
But a surprise is waiting for us! I enter this house and who do I find?
Spoiler-man, Spoiler-m... er?
Ok, it won't really work this time. I applaud the audacity of the development team to change the Spoiler-Man to a Spoiler-Lady. Or maybe it's a tranny; this is the Codex after all.
Anyway, let's see what this part of the game has in store for us, shall we?
I knew it! I knew it all along! More seriously, though, we need to go to the mayor's house here, then go to meet the mayor from the other village, find a pendant, and then climb the foreboding tree. We do not know why yet but that's not important, what's important is that this stuff is casual crap and that I wouldn't be surprised to find this in a Bethesda game. Every time I meet that kind of npc is a :facepalm: moment anyway.
From the bits I heard here and there, it would appear that the two villages do not like each other. Kind of reminds me of another story ...
Ah, a store, run by a Paki.
Crap.
Five beds while, as usual, only one will be used, if at all.
And the Paki's brother, himself a Paki, runs the inn at the other side of the store. They also accept yens there, and the usual amount to boot. I feel so immersed I can't believe I'm not really in Canada right now.
This house has stairs, so it must be important.
In the kitchen we find yet another lady who refuses to talk to me.
Why do all the girls in this village refuse to talk to me?
Because you are AZN?
George-san! Kawaaaai! (^_^)
Huh? There must be some mistake. I think he's a really cool guy and all, but I could never be his bride. That's just... tehehe.
That other person? Does George-san have a lover?
Forget looking for the stone, just try to find a man in a japanised Canada.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
Who's George-san's lover?
It's Romeo and Juliet all over again! No game can be considered a good game if it doesn't have a Romeo and Juliet subplot.
Ehh, really... I wanna help those guys get back together.
And if we talk again to the woman:
How do you add that kind of parenthesis at the end of your sentences? I ask because I am genuinly interested in how I should make it sound.
I got upstairs and guess who's there?
Heya, toots!
Well, maybe
someone will find a way to reconcile.
Where's the neighboring village?
I kinda knew that, I ran into the signpost before.
Ah, I'm bringing you guys back together. Don't wait up for me, though.
w00t!
In the next room is the village chief. He doesn't have green hair like his son but I guess that if the woman downstair is actually his wife then it is normal that George-san got this peculiar colour: the father got blue hair, the mother got red hair, so if you mix blue with red you get green. Simple as that. Or wait a minute, I do not think it actually works that way ...
Wh...why...what in the world?
What an obnoxious little man! Notice also that the number of beds imply that they must all sleep in the same room: father, mother and son, and probably the son's future bride as well.
And the girls who ignored me before now suddenly decided to talk to me!
That's all for Medias village, so let's go east toward our Destiny.
I soon meet my first encounter with retarded enemies:
Let's see what kind of calamity I will rain on their heads ...
The FuRaiKi attacks before I can make my move, taking out a fair chunk of my health in the process, but leveling up refills it so it should be no problem.
Nobody can whithstand against the power of my Coconut Cyclone!
And I gained a level to boot! The first of many! I said it before but I'll say it again: I love the speed-up function of emulators, allowing me to easily bypass the most pointless of grinds. I will also state one more time my discontentement with the fact that this game gives me a few options to arrange my party, like formations, but forces me to play with only one character.
Until now, the game did not really give any opportunity for exploration, being linear and with chest usualy in plain sight. Yet look at this:
That's right, it's a secret area! Easy to miss this puzzle piece.
Finally!
What a stupid custom if you ask me. And pretty damn convenient in a story arc that involves two lovers who can't marry.
The girls here are ok to talk to me right away. So cool!
YAEH. It's big and has two entrances, but is completely pointless.
You know, for people of different villages, they look quite the same. And don't tell me it's because they are foreigners, Canadian are at least white even if they talk in a funny way. My guess is that there is a lot of inbreeding taking place in these villages hidden deep inside a canadian national park.
Cool, an inn!
Also run by a Paki! And they still accept yen!
The same room ...
Jupiter's part has five puzzle pieces hidden. It starts to feel like Neverwinter Nights, where you could search through every barrel and get nothing or close to that amount.
Only one missing now for this part.
Stupid store.
YAEH.
Which we will get to explore, I am sure! Don't have a gun hang in the background if you do not plan to have it used in your play at some point.
That's all for this village. Let's go to the mayor's house now.
House moar like castle, amirite?
You fucking piece of shit! I'll show you! I killed many monsters already! But for some reason I can't attack a bothersome old man. Bah, out of pure rage, I go to the left of the house, in the hope of finding wood to build a cross that I will lit on fire and then lynch the old geezer.
Look at this! This is now mine!
This pendant looks like the same I got from George.
Haha, looks like he's been giving them around! I guess he had more than just one to give.
Huh!? Are you the one that dropped this from the window?
She must be important, she got a unique appearance.
Don't talk in such a loud voice. I'm Jupiter. I thought that maybe you people could help me. Do you want to be together with George?
Hmm, this is a little embarrassing...
How cute.
Oh no! There's nowhere we can hide!
Well...how about we just break down the wall?
An excellent proposal! Please carry through!
Fufufu, just watch!
Shut up and admire my magic powers!
FUCK YEAH!
Makoto got a pretty outfit so it is obvious she has some kind of superpowers.
The exit's covered up... Oh yeah, will they be able to break through to come after us?
Told you we'd get to the ruins!
...Lets go underground!
It's ok, we'll find a way out somehow! C'mon, let's go!
Japanese optimism > grim western submission to fate.
Just for lulz, if I try to use the regular door to exit:
Nope, it won't work. Let's go back to the room we uncovered by destroying that puny wall.
Cool! More hidden stuff! No idea what the ticket does though.
Bucket of water. I wouldn't drink them if they've been here that long.
Ah, the first of Jupiter's accessories! I was afraid I missed them.
Gee, a door! I wonder what treasures await me behind.
Cool. I guess.
The last of this chapter. I still find it weird that the most of the game had almost no secret items, and this episode got like five or six of them.
Looks like some kind of ... cave.
I am attacked by two ... JarCOCKS! And they are brown! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Long story short, here is the result of my mighty Coconut Cyclone:
Ye Derivative Hidden Olde Ruins.
Curses! We must find another way out!
FUCK YEAH! I got both.
There is some kind of palace, looking similar to the "house" of the mayor of Mishii. Let's see what we can find there, maybe a way out.
It's not a god, just a big house. What the hell are you talking about?
.......
What do you mean, you can't read? Because it's written in westernish? Then are you trying to say that everyone you met until now spoke in Japanese? People from a small village lost in the middle of a canadian forest? Really?
But the mark here, is the Symbol of Jupiter.
Cool story, sis.
Hmm, I keep thinking about it, but I still don't understand.
A new challenger appears!
That surely must of been a lot of trouble. How unfortunate that the stone wasn't here.
Who are you!?
Should we meet again, I will tell you. This cave will be completely destroyed in a moment. Fufu...I recommend that you leave as soon as possible.
No idea how she did it though.
It's dangerous here, let's take shelter somewhere.
Will they find shelter? Will they be able to ever reach the surface?
Well, it seems they escaped even if we didn't see it at all. That's awfully convenient: the heroes are trapped in a collapsing cave, run away, the screen fades to black, and they emerge out of stairs, back to the surface.
KAWAAAAI! (^_^)
I'm relieved! By the way, in Mishii village, it looks like there's something you can take to make the marriage possible in your village's customs.
Nephrite?
How convenient! I am also looking for it!
Perhaps the Protection God has something to do with that tree?
I see. Now George, this is your chance.
Yes, you could come and help me get the stone. And then a certain happy couple could come together.
We now have George with us. Like the previous followers for the other girls, he will do absolutely nothing.
Oh noes, this way is blocked!
Hey! I read that before ...
Since we are back to the very start of the episode, we must take the same hidden passage through the trees.
This is the bigass tree I found earlier. I feel now more confident in my abilities and have no fear when I pass the treshold.
So that's how the inside of a bigass tree looks like.
A fight!
Since it's a single enemy, let's try something different.
Hooray!
Look who we find wandering around! Fufufu!
Obvious statement is obvious.
Who in the hell are you?
I promised, so I guess I'll have to tell you. I am Oppositio Marduk. The soldier who has traversed Time-Space to protect the planet Jupiter.
But protect it from
what?
The soldier who traversed Time-Space?
Emotional flashback!
That conversation is even more stupid than the Oblivion npc discussions. Seriously,
"I saw a mudcrab the other day", "Disgusting creatures, I avoid them whenever I can" is like a witty dialog masterpiece compared to this.
Yeah, you show them! I bet that if you saw a woman smoking while holding her kid, you'd go to her and blast out your righteous fury at her!
You don't know the truth, so you may talk of peace... But so many battles were fought for the cause of the Ginzuichou! The Dark Kingdom... The Black Moon... The Death Busters... You see the truth, yet you people know nothing. Don't think such wonderful things of its power.
Nevermind that those guys you mentionned were evil for the sake of being evil. Flawed logic is flawed.
It's so dark in here. Must have some important signification.
Apsu... Ah, mankind is so stupid. They can't understand the make-belief peace they possess now. If only they looked to history, they'd see so many battles, that were caused by the Ginzuichou...
Yes... History is repeating itself. The Ginzuichou has reached its limits. Once again, the history of battles is coming around.
...I understand. Apsu, I shall go for your cause. I shall procure the Ginzuichou for us. And, I shall rid history of the Ginzuichou-caused battles!
Marduk... I knew that you would do so for us.
Let me get this straight: you want to fight people in order to prevent more fights from happening. Truly awesome.
End of the emotional flashback.
I am proud that you got as far as here. Only... This is as far as you get! I shall get Nephrite's stone for Sama! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I'd pee my pants, if I was wearing any right now.
Ok, now, you will experiment a passage through the Twilight Zone.
Yes, the floors are the same, they keep being repeated over and over. Nothing to get, no chest to open, nothing, except reaching the exit for the next floor.
Ok, I had a fight, but see how quicklu I pwned its face!
Oh, a Luna-P Ball! There must be great danger ahead!
Nevermind, I must sally forth!
The wonderfully rendered branch of the tree.
Only, I'm faster! The stone is mine!
UWA!!
FAIL!