BOATS BOAST OF BOTH BLOAT AND BROTH -so we go for the first bit of island close enough to where we got boat control because it's there -Harun Island is currently doing what it can to help refugees from Belinsk, but Ikan the storyteller is too worried about his grandson to tell stories. this is probably what we're supposed to do next, apparently -a bookshelf in his house mentions that we need the eye on Warrior's Hill to defeat this darkness, which is a MUCH better starting point if you ask me. I don't really know where Warrior's Hill is yet, but baby steps -still, I know how Camelot gets about nonlinear progression, so let's go rescue some kids just to get this area over with while we're here -anyway we encounter Ikan's progeny in the Harun Channel, where the dad has a broken leg. Rief casts a bog-standard Ply and he's up and running, no problem -"These are the kinds of detours I like." I should be snarky at you for this Karis but honestly you kind of have a point here, helping dads with broken legs is A-OK -there's also a Muramasa in here but I haven't seen the cleric's ring yet so I'm not about to throw this thing on -oh, Warrior's Hill is this place over here with the zol lighthouse on it. cool, let's get us an eye -Eoleo's Psynergy set in his basic Pirate class seems to match Jenna's set somewhat, but with defense boosts instead of healing. okay. he also gets both Fume and a physical Psynergy in the form of Keelhaul/Vicious Chop because reasons -with my standard party of Matthew, Amiti, Sveta, and Eoleo now fully gathered, I need to decide what classes I want all of them in. I'll dabble in Guardian/Conjurer/Bruiser/Water Monk and see where they gets me AND THEN WARRIOR'S HILL NONSENSE -"I'm the village storyteller for an island you've probably never heard of before. What else do you want from me?" well less lip, for a start. at least Kraden gets a laugh out of this -anyway we get a bit of lore on why Luna Tower existed in the first place: ancients trying to screw with the fundamental powers of light and darkness, and they accidentally did it too well. since Alchemy in its basic four elements already offers basically any power you care to name, they were trying for total omnipotence -again, Alex totally tried for this last game with the Stone of Sages but got punked by the Wise One, so there's his motivation. once again, with all the zero fanfare or highlighting this affords -anyway, we get the Watchtower key for Warrior's Hill, and inside it we find a tiny eyeball rock -"I'm not doing anything a rock tells me to." Eoleo you are rapidly becoming my favorite -"Do we ask the rock to guide us? Like 'Hey rock! Know of a good inn around here?'" sorry Tyrell you have been replaced by Eoleo, he's just as dumb as you but is way wittier and less abrasive -anyway the Third Eye is what we need to get the last party member so thats cool. we're back to zero direction but I don't mind so much NEXT UP IS TONFON BY PROXIMITY -Tonfon's dock appears to have had assistance from Lemurian shipwrights, leading me to believe that Lemurians are who to blame for Briggs' ship reaching not-terrible levels -Tonfon's the Sanan capital, and the locals are talking about how Emperor Unan, a scholarly sort, is looking to rectify the problem of the Grave Eclipse as much as we are. thats cool, potential ally -oh hey, item shop here sells ginseng, which is like a lesser version of the psy crystal that restores 50 PP. since psy crystals are limited and ginseng isn't, you can buy as much as you like here (although at 600 dosh each) and have loads of PP restores. this would be incredibly valuable if Dark Dawn was at all a hard game -Piers apparently told Unan of our coming. man, having someone helpful actively ready for us when we most need it? next thing you know, Camelot will anticipate player goals and give reasonable incentives to pursue them -I mean, this raises the question of how Piers expected we'd show up here, last I checked he wasn't one of the prophets in the series -our first steps in meeting Emperor Unan are to tell him we were partly to blame for causing the Grave Eclipse and to get mad at Tyrell for mentioning that Ryu Kou was the real culprit. Karis interprets this anger as directed at Ryu Kou, which is also correct but MAYBE DON'T TELL THAT TO HIS DAD-IN-LAW THE EMPEROR TO HIS FACE YOU DUMBASSES -Unan takes it pretty well though, as it at least confirms Ryu Kou and Hou Ju as alive, if only before the eclipse -he concludes by offering us the spoils of war that Emperor Ko took, since they were kept secret from Sana as a whole, and better to use them to end the Grave Eclipse. thanks, buddy! -these consist of a ring that boosts crits, a psy crystal, and Umbra Gauntlets which are part of Sveta's plot-mandated equipment set. cool! KAY TIME TO WANDER AIMLESSLY -I head into the heart of the Grave Eclipse towards the Endless Wall of Sana. no points for guessing the real-world inspiration -the actual goal I should have is getting to Yamata, where the eighth party member and the person who can use our Third Eye is, but eh -this part of the game is clearly wide open and doesn't really tell you "go here", kind of like the Eastern Sea from the first game but a little better done -and like that part, we do have a goal here, in that we need all the Umbra gear, we just don't know it yet. there's a full equipment set for Sveta to get in that vein -this is also one of the places where Eoleo can demonstrate his signature puzzle Psynergy, Thermal. just like in Animorphs, it can be used to reach high places through warm air, although it doesn't work everywhere -unfortunately the Endless Wall only responds to our Blue Orb, so we need two others. back to the sea, then -as we set off from Tonfon, Rief remembers he had a sister and asks Kraden where she went. Kraden laughs and says he was wondering when Rief would get around to asking that, which gives me zero confidence in either of them -Kraden says she has a major crush on Piers of all people (yes this should be giving red flags) and set off with him to parts unknown. neither of them will appear in the story ever again. kay bye -by following the coastline, we reach a camp of evacuated Champa, who all welcome Eoleo warmly. thankfully, he transitions past retelling Briggs' tale to everyone. they all wish him well and accept Briggs' death, and then follow it up by telling Eoleo that Obaba is still in Champa CHAMPA IS KIND OF A TERRIBLE PLACE -the camp has barely anything, and the old city is even worse, and without Briggs' aid they're probably gonna starve. it's been 30 years, people, has the fishing REALLY been that bad since Poseidon died and the Golden Sun came around -the only reason Obaba's still alive is because the Champans are burning their homes to ward monsters off of the cliffs around her. one of the Champans makes the remark that not being up there would make her easier to protect, which... yeah -we relay the facts of Briggs' death to Obaba as well, and while she isn't happy, she takes the news about as well as anyone -also she's our forging for this game, which is a bit more sensical than that Sunshine jackass. it's significantly harder to backtrack in and out of Champa for each item reforging though, and that's STILL A THING IN THIS DAY AND AGE -at least our first piece of zol gets us a Verdant Sword, so thats one cool thing that makes Eoleo friggin' terrifying -there's also some orihalcon we got from a cove nearby, which I want to see what it can make and really want a cool weapon -unfortunately savescumming proves fairly unresponsive, getting us things like the cosmos shield and the Xylion Armor -oh here we go, Excalibur. exclusive to Matthew and Tyrell unfortunately, but hey, it's big and bad and cool, I'll take it -anyway our next stop is Yamata, aka Japan, to get eighth party member, so that's next I guess