Gotta catch em all!

First off, My video capture card finally decided to start capturing the game in proper HD (albeit just 720p), so yay for that!

Not much to talk about today since much of it was spent doing side quests, and running back and forth across the desert to do them eats up a lot of time. I was able to complete all but one of them, the last one required progressing the story line to get access to part of the volcano in the area. As for how Esther plays in combat, she IS AI controlled with simple programmable tactics (like attack same as hero, or different than hero). I can also switch to her any time and Oliver becomes the AI controlled one. The down side is that the AI is not too big on conserving MP, so they tend to be out within a couple fights.

This wolf bounty kicked my ass the first time through...

So it's off to do some grand trial that will make Oliver an even more powerful wizard. Before taking the challenge though, they make camp to rest up. Esther talks to Oliver about his reason for taking on the big bad, and she's all impressed that he's doing it to bring his mom back from the dead. 

"Must be because you're the protagonist."

The next morning Esther is so enthralled thinking about the girl in Oliver's world that she's soul linked with, that she pulls a new story page out of her ass. well, maybe not literally, but it just pops out of nowhere due to her being all profound.

I wonder if i'll ever get to reading all these

Once inside the temple, the group meets the master sage, who turns out to be a little green elf looking kid. He's also a bit of a jerk, talking down to everyone and being bored with all the explaining he has to do.

Oh well, size matters not.

Getting on with the trials, the first one was kinda easy. you have to use that puppet spell and move around statues. The dumb part is there is no way to know what you're supposed to do just by looking at it. You have to talk to the guard to get a 'hint', which is actually necessary information that you can't solve without. Then i because easy since the puzzle isn't that complicated.

A "hint" shouldn't be mandatory to solve a puzzle.

Next is the "friendship" trial. This is much more of a mind bender, since you control Over with the left analogue and Esther with the right as they walk across asymmetrical patters of tiles, either falls off and you start over. To make things even more challenging is that there are points where one of them has to move ahead to flip a switch to let the other pass. Oh, and the tiles gradually fall away over time, so you can't stand still for long.

This was crazy hard!

Then lastly there is the strength trial, where they have to fight this giant four armed clockwork fire monster. This was actually the easiest part. I just had Oliver shoot ice magic at it while Esther kept its attention with her close Familiars.  Before long it was down.

Been nice knowing you.

Like all the other bosses, I got a book page about it after the fight.

Bet it says it doesn't like ice.

Back with the master sage, he congratulates us for passing the tests and gives us 2 new spell. I already know a couple places where the bridge one will come in handy.

Oh good, a broom spell, i can clean faster.

Then the sage brings up a whole new game play mechanic, creature training. Now all all the monster that we fight can become familiars. He gives Esther a new harp and explains the process.

So this is Pokemon now.

After being knocked out they could get hearts above their heads, and Esther can play her new harp to turn them into familiars. He even bring out three monster so we can pick one to try it out on. 

Picking a starter is always the hardest part.

Next he explains that the little manhole covers I keep seeing, which I hoped was a fast travel system, are actually the same as Bill's PC. Any extra familiars can be stored there.

Just a bit creepy looking.

Then if that wasn't enough like pokemon, the sage ends on describing metamorphosis, which is just evolution. for an example, he changes Mulberry into a slightly better equipped goblin thing. There's two downsides though. One is that you need special items to evolve a familiar, and I have no idea where you would get them, are they random drops or sold in stores or what? The other problem is that it boots the familiar back to level one, so my most powerful familiar is now my weakest.

Gee, thanks for that.

With all that new game play covered, it's time to got to that volcano and finish off that side quests. The game is one step ahead of me though, and the volcano starts erupting, and it looks like it's up to Oliver and crew to stop it. 

Next time.

Can't be any harder than bringing life to a whole forest.