When five towers open as one

Instead of a single tower opening up on the tower select menu, five now have. What I'm unsure about, though, is whether this means they can be done in any order, or if there's some sort of five tower puzzle that needs to be figured out. Surely, Pandora's Tower wouldn't do that. Would it?

As in the past, a hearty part of this session was inventory management (read: putting items in the trunk to be forgotten). Things like Sap Bombs and Inferno Bombs do seem mildly useful, but I'm just too used to throwing things around with the chain or hacking them down to bother with offensive items. It's just not my style of play. Nor do such items really seem all that useful.

In a turn-based game I'm all for status effects and playing strategically. But in a more action-oriented game, it's more about the basics of any fight: knock the enemy back, knock the enemy down, and strike past its defenses. Throwing a bomb of any kind seems like overkill. At least, until some monster that can only by affected by those bombs is introduced.

Anyway, venturing into Arcadian Tower seems to be the right decision at this point. One chain's been destroyed, leaving two to find. The way forward, however, does seem locked. No doubt, once I return to the tower, I'll find some means to continue onwards.

A late timeskip

In my last post about River of Stars, I noted the structure of Kay's novel. It seems like he may have had to fudge his content a bit to get that structure so aligned.

For, in part five, the customary timeskip is a chapter late.

Though, when it comes to structuring writings, themes do need to be considered. And chapter XXV is definitely suited to the elemental phase of water, associated as it is with renewal. That's the chapter where we see things pivot, even if only in a minor way, back to Kitai's favour.

And that is some favour. Chapter XXVI is all about the nearly complete defeat of the Altai who attempted to secretly cross the Great River. Some did slip through, though. One of these in particular has been set up to star in the rest of the book. At least, that's got to be a fair guess since he is named and Kay leaves him alive.

However the final four chapters go, the book's narrative voice has finally rung a bell. Especially during battle scenes, Kay is adopting a voice like that of the teller of Beowulf. It's a very knowing, almost wry at times, voice that's well suited to pole-arms and to politics.

A late introduction, but fair grinding

After my last session with Dragon Quest IX I read up on the Metal Medleys found in the Bad Cave. In doing so, I discovered that you can have four people in your party. Somehow this information had been lost in the almost two year gap in my play history with the game.

So, for now, instead of changing anyone's jobs, I introduced a fourth member into my party.

Since healing has been my bane, I brought in a priestess character. And now that was that, bane be gone!

Sort of.

Since I "recruited" this new character, she was at level one. Thinking that grinding would be easy enough were I among the latest bunch of enemies, I went on to grind around Bloomingdale. Between Pink Sanguinis and King Slimes, I think Peridot (the priestess) has only died three times. She's currently level 6.

Actually, on the point of adding members later on, I have to commend this game.

In other RPGs that involve a recruiting system, it's not as easy to grind the newcomer's level up. Mostly because the monsters in any given area aren't as varied as they are in Dragon Quest IX.

For example, while around Bloomingdale fighting a group of Pink Sanguinis is out, but a single Trigertaur is no problem. This preference for the bigger baddie comes from the fact that the former takes at least two turns to defeat, whereas the latter can be dealt with in one. Fewer turns means fewer chances that Peridot passes out before the battle's end.

Were it not for the diversity of local monsters, though, then I'd have to go way back to Stornway and grind up tediously there instead. In fact, the way things are going, I'll soon be able to start using the metal medleys to grind for everyone's levels.

A Germany divided

Chapter seven of Hans Kohn's The Idea of Nationalism is certainly about the old world. However, instead of looking further at the nationalism of France or England, he turns to Germany and the rest of what he considers central and Eastern Europe.

On the one hand, I appreciate this look at a country that I've always considered to be very western in its culture and ideology. On the other, it feels like he's using Germany as a stand in for Russia, India, and the rest of the "central and eastern" old world when it comes to nationalism. What about Poland? Norway? Estonia?

It seems like we'll not be hearing much about the smaller countries just yet. If at all. 

Twenty pages in, this chapter also has yet to really mention much about the relationship between nationalism and folklore promised in its title ("The Folklore of the Past"). Kohn's noted that the romantic idea that a nation's true spirit exists in its common people and their practices was prevalent among eighteenth century German thinkers. But that's as close as he's come to folklore.

In fact, so far, he has done little else but paint a picture of a stark divide between classes. Apparently, there were those in the upper and intellectual classes who wanted to and worked to create some sort of German nationalism and there were those in the middle classes who liked the idea of nationalism, but were too caught up in being good citizens to really do much about it. 

From the perspective of narrative, Kohn has set up a conflict that could lead to the creation of a German nationalism. Now it's a matter of seeing how he delivers. 

A master vanquished, a player satisfied - for now

So the master of the Ironclad Turret is a mecha centaur with heavy bladed scythes for arms. Or, was, anyway.

It took me two attempts (after a legit death at this thing's blades), but in the end I brought it down. What made this master so difficult, though, was that it was mobile.

Up to now, masters have been stationary or incredibly slow. This one was A) a centaur and B) a mech, so speed was definitely on its side. It made me curse out Aeron's human slowness a few times, I've got to note.

Still, despite my frustrations and plentiful trash talk, I really enjoyed this fight. It was challenging, rewarded persistence, and required more of a strategy than just "learn-the-pattern-and-wait-for-an-opening." That last point is due mostly to this master's attack pattern's being much less predictable.

It favours the simple three strike assault, but would also sometimes lunge forward; shoot some sort of heat projectile; or strike the ground with both blades, causing bits of ceiling to fall from above. Being very clearly mechanical, it also vented out its heat, during which process you could chain up its tail to cut it short and actually get it to overheat more quickly.

In brief, this was a fight that required you to stay alert. I've not been more satisfied yanking the chunk of flesh from a master yet.

And, if the old text that I found in the basement upon returning to the Observatory is any indication, the final master should be even more challenging, and therefore most satisfying.

Discovering River of Stars' structure

In an unprecedented move, the shift into part five is virtually nonexistent. In every other move between parts in River of Stars Kay has had us move ahead in time or jump into a radically different perspective. As part five opens, however, it seems likely that minutes have passed - or even that the events described are happening simultaneously with those of chapter XXIV.

Along with shocking me and giving this part a definite climactic feel, it confirms a suspicion.

River of Stars is a tale of fantasy inspired by Chinese history and culture. Within Chinese culture the number six has special significance, appearing again and again in hexagonal designs and architecture. Each of the books parts has six chapters.

According to ancient Chinese thought, the world followed cycles that five elements or phases (water, wood, fire, earth, metal) expressed. River of Stars has five distinct parts. As long as Wikipedia's order and explanation of these five phases is accurate, Kay's parts mirror them exactly.

I've expected this sort of correlation for some time, since he does a fine job of paying respect to Chinese culture in other aspects of the book.

Within the cycle of the elements, part five is a perfect fit for water. Chapter XXV is all about retreating and regrouping.

Chapter XXV is also set up to be the climax for Ren and Shan's romance. They are set to part once more, something that can really hit you if you've ever been in a long distance relationship.

Ultimately, though, the twenty-fifth chapter of River of Stars is a medley of important events and perspectives. My sense going forward is that the book's final five chapters will mostly be dealing with the fallout from these events rather than anything new. Aside, probably, from the child that Ren and Shan conceive on their final night together.

Considering a new career in Dragon Quest IX

I think it's about time that I changed jobs. In Dragon Quest IX, I mean.

The game's job system is just a bit too clunky, though. The job levels are tied to your characters' levels, the skills have a somewhat incredible cost considering you just get four points per level, and to change jobs you need to talk to certain people. Granted, most of those people are at Alltrades Abbey. But others, like the person who changes your job to Ranger, can be quite far from the beaten track.

Yet, if the recent fight with Tyrantula is any indication, I need more of a healer with me. My mage, Thoth, is fine enough with offensive magic and status-effect spells, but he was the singular casualty in the fight. And just two turns before the fatal blow was landed, too.

Truth be told, had it not been for the spread of curative items across my party, I'm not sure that any of them would have made it.

Group attacks and spells are something that my party and a few enemy parties have at this point in the game. But I've yet to come across any sort of party-wide healing spell or item. When a boss is laying into you with double group attacks on each of their double turns, that sort of thing would make fights much more streamlined. A few powered up version of the single-enemy offensive spells would help things along, too.