Let's Play Magi Nation (For realz this time)

[Peanut]

Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to Let's Play Magi Nation (for Realz this time).

What is Magi Nation?

I'm glad you asked. The success of Pokemon in the late 90s early 2000s brought about the creation of many video games, TV series and card games all trying to cash in on the same demographic. Things like Digimon, Yugi-Oh and to a lesser extent Monster Rancher were able to carve out a nice little niche from themselves and define what became known as the "Mon" genre. Seeing all of this, a company by the name of interactive imagination (henceforth abbreviated as i2) decided to jump in on this new market with their card game called Magi Nation Duel. To help advertise this card game they released this video game on the Gameboy Color on March 15, 2001 and actually started advertising a sequel called Magi Nation: Keeper's Quest for the same console. And this is when everything started to go down hill. The video game sold very poorly partly because of bad marketing and partly because it was released on the Gameboy Color about a month before the Gameboy Advance's release. The sequel was moved to PDAs and Cell phones but it too sold poorly mostly because it was a puzzle game and not a true RPG sequel. Nevertheless, i2 pushed forward boldly by porting the GBC game to the Gameboy Advance and releasing it in Japan. It too, however, sold poorly and so i2 turned to a different tactic namely trying to release a TV series in the semi-popular cell shaded CGI style of that time. But, with poor sales all around, the tv series never got off the ground and things fell quiet for a while. That is, until, Cookie Jar entertainment Daewon Media decided to pick up the show and release it in 2007 with a few tweaks...er I mean a lot of tweaks...ok they changed pretty much everything. I'm not going to lie the TV show is pretty awful guys. The show was on Netflix but has since been taken down so if you''re morbidly curious as to what they actually did to the story and world of Magi Nation you'll have to do some looking but just so you know...its not pretty. And apparently it wasn't a hit with the Saturday morning Cartoon crowd either as it only managed to last 2 seasons before being cancelled. It did spawn an HTML MMO that was shut down a couple of years ago though so that's something.

So what's so good about Magi Nation?
Simply put. Its the best Gameboy RPG you never played. I'm completely serious about this. The game has a very good story, good dialouge, a unique well thought out concept, tons of secrets, 5 (yes 5) endings, and a New game plus mode. Did I mention this is a game for the Gameboy color? Yeah, these guys put a lot of work into something that was simply meant to sell a card game.

Didn't you LP this before?
Pfffff No. I have no clue what you are talking about. hehe. I didn't...ok I did. Kind of. A while back I started an LP of this game and never finished it because I got bored and didn't want to finish collecting the screenshots.

So why should we trust that you will actually finish it this time?
Because I already have about 75% of the screenshots I want to collect collected and even if I don't collect the other 25% I can still show off the entire game without them. Also, I'm hoping that by doing this [url=http://www.christiananime.net/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=64153]I can motivate a certain someone to finish his own LP.[/ur]

Can we play along?
Absolutely! In fact I encourage it. You can find the game pretty cheap (surprsingly) on Amazon so buy a copy and play.

Anything else we should know
Yes, I managed to hunt down a partial script for the game so I will actually be able to post all of the relevant dialogue up to a certain point. After that point I will be paraphrasing the rest of the dialogue because there is a lot of it and it is all displayed in tiny two line sentences (you'll see what I mean once we get started). My own comments will be italicized for easier reading Anyway, lets not delay further! Onward to the LP!!!!

Part 1: The Introduction


Here we see our menu screen. The left door allows us to start a new game, the right one allows us to continue from where we left off. The middle door is closed right now but once opened allows us to start New Game+. There is also a secret in this room but I am going to save showing it off for later.


For now let's just get a new game going.






Like all good stories this one starts at 5:32 on a Tuesday in some made up town. I hope they got the club up already, there's not much time left on this Tuesday.


Our game starts with 2 adolescent boys thinking about doing something really stupid. Surely nothing bad can come of this!

Josh: Dude, this place is not safe!

Sly: It's fine! What's so bad about it?

Josh: If it's so safe, why don't you go in there?

Sly: Hey! Don't change the subject! You're the one who's s'posed to go
in.

Josh: No way!


That is what little brothers are for after all.

Josh: Yeah, he'll do anything!




Unfortunately Benny is too smart for that.

Sly: HAHAHAHA, you got told by your little brother!

Josh: Shut up!

Older brother of the year ladies and gentlemen! Now if only there was some new kid that Josh could bully to rebuild his shattered self-esteem.


Right on time!

Sly: Who the heck are you?

Tony: My name's Tony. Tony Jones. I moved here a few days ago. Who
are you?

Josh: Haw! Didja hear that, Sly?

Sly: Yeah! What a stoopid name!

Josh: Foney Bones is more like it!

Apparently Josh is really bad at this being a bully sort of thing.

Tony: ...no... it's Tony Jones.

Josh: You don't like your new name? Deal!

Sly pulls Josh aside for a little devious conversation and they come up with the following idea (I think it was Sly's idea seeing as how Josh seems a bit...incompetent with this whole bullying thing).



Josh: Okay, Foney! If you don't like your new name, you'll have to earn back your old one.


Tony is not impressed by this scene in the least bit. This screenshot though sums up a major part of the reason I love this game so much. Tony Jones is a pretty great character. He isn't your typical stupid, energetic, adolescent boy on an adventure. He's a deadpan snarker who takes a lot to impress and rattle. His commentary on various objects throughout this game is where most of the humor comes in. He's pretty much what every American teenage boy strives to be making him the perfect main character for a game meant to advertise to that demographic and younger.

Sly: Go in this cave and get us a crystal. Of course, if you're too
chicken...

Tony: Fine. I'll be back shortly.

Yep. Nothing bad can come of this.


Not sure I would be talking right now if I were you Josh. After all, Tony isn't the one getting bossed around by his younger brother.


This area is very straight forward. The crystal we need is at the end of this cave so if you follow the path you will get there pretty quickly.


There it is.

Tony: Got it!

*Cave begins to collapse*

Tony: Oh no! I've gotta get out of here!

Of course, its actually a load bearing crystal so picking it up begins a cave in. There is no way to get out of the cave however the closer you get to the entrance of the cave the stronger your first Dream Creature will be so its worthwhile to try and get as far as possible.

[
Eventually this happens and Tony plummets into a chasm. Meanwhile, outside the cave...



Benny: What's going on?

Josh: Uhhhhhh......

Great work guys! You killed the new kid! I hope you are all proud of yourselves.


Tony lands in a strange forest area and...


...What?

Korg: BLEMPH! WHORK!

Zet: muuurgle murk murk murk?

Korg: BLAGG! BLARGA WHOK!

Zet: woink.

The big guy is Korg the skinny guy is Zet. They are our recurring, comic relief villains for this game. They are kind of like Pinky and the Brain if Pinky bossed Brain around. I'll let you guys figure out which is which. It shouldn't take you long.



Korg: BLORG!!!



Zet: marf whokka moo.

Korg: YARGAMOO!


Ah, its cool Tony. This is why I'm here. You've just encountered the natives of a new world so you need to begin negotiations with them quickly. Start by saying you come in peace or something.

Korg: MARF?

Zet: munga mung...

Tony: Where the heck is this?

Korg: GAGAKKK!!!!

Zet: weeeeeg!!


I guess that concludes negotiations...


Tony stumbles into the crystal he picked up in the cave and summons...


...A bear with antlers on its head. This is a Furok. Its Tony's starting "Pokemon" in this game. We'll talk about it more later on. After Furok horribly mauls whatever Korg summoned, Korg and Zet run away and a human being spots us from afar.


I love this line. I know its silly but the image of sock puppets exploding like fireworks just makes me chuckle inside. Anyway, this is Eidon. He's an interesting character if you can't already tell.

Tony: What? I don't understand you!

Eidon: Taxi apple sponge!

Tony: What language are you speaking!?

Eidon: Skunks playing poker, basketball cheesesteak!

Tony: I think he's crazy.

* Eidon looks around and begins to wave his arms at Tony as if trying to get him to guess something*

Tony: Two words... three syllables... sounds like... bird? No wait... plane?

Eidon: Dirigible fork!

*Eidon hands Tony a bracelet. He quickly backs off to show the young boy he means no harm*

Tony: Put it on?

Eidon: Did it work?

Tony: Hey, I can understand you now!

Eidon: Whew, finally. That was getting silly.

It was.

Eidon: My name is Eidon.

Tony: I'm Tony.

Eidon: Tony, I saw how you handled yourself against those fiends back there. May I see the ring you used to call that creature?

Tony: ...ring?

Eidon: You don't have a ring? What's that on the ground?

*Tony walks over and grabs the crystal*

Tony: This crystal?

Eidon: You used THAT to summon the creature?

Tony: I don't know! I have no idea what is happening here!

Eidon: I've never seen anything like this... you're not from around here, are you?

Tony: I'm from Tavel Gorge. Do you know how I can get back?

Eidon: Tavel Gorge? Never heard of it. The world is truly vast! Well, if you don't know your own way back, I'm sure Orwin could tell you. He's the elder of Vash Naroom. Come, I'll take you there.

Tony: Okay.

Don't let the term elder fool you. While the game doesn't show it, the lore in the card game establishes that if you are an elder in the world of Magi Nation then you are a bad, bad man (or woman).


With the conversation with Eidon over, we move out to the region map of Naroom. This is how we move from area to area in Magi Nation and it is also one of two places where we can save our game. We want to head north to the little cave looking thing next to the building but I figure we will save that for the next update when we will actually get a dream creature. Huzzah!

[Peanut]

I'll usually be doing 1 update per day (more or less). However given my schedule over the next couple of days, I figure it would be better to do this next part right now then wait until later. So onwards!

Part 2: In which we get Dream Creatures.


We start with Eidon yelling for the folks of Vash Naroom to lower down a stairway to get to the city.




With the translation bracelet now in hand, we can now get a better sense of Korg and Zet's personality as well as what is their shtick for the entire game.

Zet: Korg, this is the perfect chance for us to get in there and cause
some disarray.

Korg: Shaddup, Zet! I'm in charge, and I say we go in and cause di...
dis...ray!

Zet: .........

As you all can see, Zet comes up with the ideas only to have Korg shut him down and then steal them anyway. Poor Zet.



Korg: No! We must not be seen!

*The stairs slowly begin to close with Korg and Zet still on them*

Zet: RUN!!

Korg: Shaddup Zet, I'm in char...


FAILURE.


Welcome to Vash Naroom everyone! The city that sits in the tree canopies of the forest area known as Naroom. We have a few things to take care of before we can frolic with all the woodland creatures but first, lets ruin this worlds economy.


Step one. Aquire a thing to sell.


Step 2. Go to the store and sell the thing.


Step 3. Buy a gem for 5 animite.


Step 4. Sell the gem for 18 animite and profit for a grand total of 13 animite. Repeat until Tony is the richest man in all of Magi Nation. This is a very important trick as it makes money a non-issue in this game. You can do it at every shop you come too so you should never need to grind for money as long as you know how to do this. When we start leveling up our creatures and getting rings you'll start to see why having a way to get maxed money in a few minutes is so important. As to whether this was intentional or not I'm not really sure. There are other gems in the game that cost 35 animite and sell for the same amount so it seems like the just made a mistake however this same trick exists in the GBA remake which fixed a lot of similar issues.


Oh I will good shopkeep, I will. Lets not think to hard about how this guy stays in business given this principle. Anyway, lets go find Eidon so we can continue on with this game. Simply by traveling north (or up) we will eventually get to a house all by itself at the end of a set of stairs. When we walk in, though, we find ourselves interrupting a heated discusion between Orwin and Eidon.



Orwin: No! I will not go through this again!

Eidon: But Orwin...

Orwin: NO, Eidon! You think someone is Kyros every year! Let's see, who was it last year? Poad? What were you thinking?!

Eidon: I could have sworn the food he cooked gave me superhuman strength! But this time-

Orwin *shaking his head*: ...and before that was Yaki! We couldn't shut him up for months! He went around shouting OOOH YEAH! I'M THE GREAT MAGUS KYROS! DIG IT! WOO!

Eidon: Okay, okay, I'm SORRY!! If you'd just listen, this time...

Well this is awkward...apparently Eidon thinks Tony is some sort of savior of the world. Orwin is skeptical for very good reasons.



Eidon: Yes. Tony, I'd like you to meet Orwin, Elder of Vash Naroom.

*Tony politely turns to Orwin*

Tony: Nice to meet you.

*Orwin moves closer to Tony further scrutinizing him*

Orwin: Yes, yes. So you wish to get home, right? Where did you say you were from?

Tony: Tavel Gorge.

Orwin: Tavel... Gorge...? Hmmm... I've been from here to Orothe and back, but that name doesn't ring a bell. Well, this is a dilemma. I will try to figure out a way to get you home, but you must stay in town until then.

Eidon: I told you, I don't think he's from this world.

Orwin *turning to Eidon*: Quiet you! I need to think.

*Orwin quickly walks away*

Tony *turning to Eidon*: So... what now?

Eidon: Well, I guess you'll have to stay in town. We'll get you out of here soon enough. In the mean time, take your crystal to Pruitt, the Ringsmith. If you get hungry, go see Poad at the Inn.

We'll get a ring in a second. But first lets steal some stuff!


Yoink. The Archaic Leaf is a relic that we can equip on our Dream Creatures. This one raises a Dream Creature's Skill stat.



Pruitt: Yes it is! My name is Pruitt. How can I be of service?

Tony: Hi. I'm Tony Jones. I was told by Eidon to show you this crystal.

*Tony sets the crystal on the counter*

Pruitt: Hmm... let's see... Oh, this is some Furok Animite!

Tony: Furok? Animite? What are you talking about?

Pruitt: You don't know about Animite? Shall I explain it to you?

*Tony nods his head "yes"*

Pruitt: Well, Animite is a kind of crystal. We use ordinary Animite as money around here.

Tony: So I can use this to buy stuff?

Pruitt: No no no! Well, I mean normally you could, but this is infused Animite!

Tony: What does that mean?

Er. We're going to skip the next part of this conversation because I can explain it faster then Pruitt here. Unlike Pokemon, in Magi Nation you can only get Dream Creatures by first killing them and then use a ring shop to make a ring out of the infused Animite they drop. From my experience, usually the last creature you kill is the one who is most likely going to drop infused animite bearing its name. This is important to remember when you are trying to grind for animite for a certain ring since you need to plan accordingly so you don't accidentally kill that creature before every other creature. As you might expect, each ring costs a certain amount of animite and infused animite. Most rings usually require infused animite from 2 different creatures to forge with the creature who is summoned from the ring contributing the majority of the infused animite.

Pruitt: Here you go!


If I had gotten closer to the entrance I would have gotten a better Furok (I took a wrong turn during the escape). But this one will do just fine.

Pruitt: Ooo, there's a little Animite left over. I'd really like to study this, so can I buy it from you for 50 Animite?

Tony: Sure.

*Tony gets 50 Animite*

Tony: Thanks.

Pruitt: No problem! Hey, why don't you show that ring to Evu? I'm sure he'd be interested.

Tony: Who's that?

Pruitt: Evu's the historian... er, when he can remember. You should meet him.

Tony: Ok, thanks.

Before we do that let's talk a bit more about Ringsmiths. Besides forging rings, Ringsmiths let you equip and unequip rings (Tony can only have 10 rings at a time) as well as power up your rings. Powering rings allows you to level them up by using any extra infused animite laying around. Its a great way to level up with less grinding and I will be using it later on to get a certain group of Dream Creatures. Now that that's been explained lets talk about what Dream Creatures we can actually get from Pruitt here in Vash Naroom. I'll be doing this at each regions Ringsmith though some creatures I will talk about in separate updates since they are special. I will be also linking the Wiki pages for each creature so you can see their moves, stats and stat gains. When it comes to stats you mainly need to know that strength deals with physical attacks and skill deals with any elemental attack. In Magi Nation, HP (or Energy) is also used for attacks so a creature with high Energy can use more skills then one with less Energy. The rest of the stats are pretty self explanatory. If you are curious there is an elemental wheel which I will explain a bit later in this update. For now lets just focus on the creatures.

We'll start with our starter Furok! Furok is a very good dream creature and is worth keeping around for a while. It has high health which allows it to spam abilities safely however it is hampered by average strength and a strength based move set. It, interestingly enough, gets an Arderial (or sky) elemental spell at level 50 that targets all enemy creatures but its skill is so low that you probably will never use that ability ever. Overall, until you start getting some of the legendary dream creatures, Furok is worth leveling up and keeping in your team. Weebo is a very interesting dream creature that I have grown to love thanks to this playthrough. Its stats are terrible but its moveset is very compelling and gets really good the further you level it up. It starts with 2 standard healing abilities and then gets Spore at level 45 which causes mass plauge (the equivalent of poison in this game). It also gets Wreck at lvl99 which is one of the best abilities in the game since it does massive damage and has a chance to instakill whatever is hit by it. The fact that the Weebo is very common makes it easy to get a lot of animite for it, so leveling it up is just a matter of patience more then anything else. Twees are terrible, don't bother with them. Eebits are mildly interesting however I would pass on them simply beacuse of how bad their stats are. Treebits are terrible with a terrible moveset and bad stats. Rabbage's are bad but have an interesting ability that raises luck by 50 so they might be worth experimenting with a little bit if you're bored. Arbolls are in the same class as Treebits and Twees so avoid them. Pliths are unfortunately bad. If Pollen maybe hit multiple targets I'd recomend them as a source for confusion but alas, it does not. Rudwots are one of my favorite creatures in the game. They are ok but are out performed by Wasperines, Furoks, and Bhatars. Carnage is an interesting ability but other creatures with higher strength get it. I usually get these guys but I passed on him for this playthrough. Leaf Chogos are interesting. Their stats are fantastic but they are hampered by a moveset that plays to their weakness (low skill) rather then their strength (high strength and HP). They make great tanks though and do contribute an elemental nuke for this region before you get your legendaries. They are worth considering though I pass on them this playthrough. Vinocs are an intersting creature. They have decent stats and get a pretty good elemental skill in Bramble. But they are built more towards strength and don't get a truly good strength move to utilize it. Wasperines are pretty good Dream Creatures with good stats and a decent move set (Shred and Sting are pretty good abilities). They sort of fall off though as the game goes on simply because there are better Dream Creatures who can do what they do but they are worth taking for the foreseable future. I however pass on them in this run through. Bhatars are simply awesome. They have high HP, good strength, defense and resist. They also come with a solid move set that is entirely focused on physical moves and gets Crush at the very end (which is a great ability). I highly recommend getting one since they are the best non-legendary dream creature in this region by far. The final two creatures mentioned are the Leaf Hyren and the Timber Hyren. I will be discussing them in detail in a later update because they are pretty special.

Next Time on Magi Nation: We explore a bit and finally learn to play the game!!

[mechana2015]

Yay it's back! This game seems interesting so I'm glad to see more of the LP of it.

[Peanut]

Part 3: In which we learn about caring for Dream Creatures and Other things

Surprise update! Somethings got cancelled so my scheduled freed up a bit so lets continue with this lets play.




Oh this seems like a good read for learning about all things Dream Creature and Dream Creature related.


We can check that one off.


um.....


That was some of the worse advice I have ever gotten.

Anyway, if you are playing along at home, I highly recommend exploring around Vash Naroom during this time. There are a good number of items in chests in people's houses that are pretty useful. I'm not going to show all of them off since I've already derped around enough in this intro and want to get you guys to the game proper. However there is one more thing I want to point out before we visit Evu and that's this guy.




Magi Nation is loaded with secrets. One of the most notorious is a game spanning side quest that is so easy to miss that both the official strategy guide as well as the guide in Nintendo Power don't even mention it. Its rumored that someone on the staff wrote the gamefaqs article that explains how to do it which is probably the only reason anyone actually knows how to do it. The prize for it, thought, is well worth the rather bizarre steps. In this playthrough, I tried to look for any in game clues to see if a person could actually figure out what you needed to do next. I found some and this is one of them. I will let you the reader figure out if a person could actually come up with the relevant step in the process from the clue as we go along.

Anyway, enough of Creepy McCreepster here. Lets talk to Evu!


Evu: Would you like a cookie?

Then again lets go back to the creepy plant kid...

Tony: Uh, I'm not...

Evu: Where are my jellybeans?

Tony: Excuse me, does the historian live here?

Evu: Ah yes, history. I dabbled once... Once... I remember when they made the blue jellybeans...

Tony: Please don't let this guy be the historian.

Fun fact. In the card game Evu ends up turning evil because an evil magi offers him jellybeans. He then proceeds to help them bring the world of Magi Nation under their control and fights against his homeland. Evu is basically Aniken Skywalker except old and motivated purely by a cheap, sugary snack.

The way to this man's brain is clearly through Jellybeans so lets go find Poad and get some. Fortunately Poad isn't to far away and he runs the inn, making him a useful character to meet.





Poad: That's me. Poad's the name. You want to stay here? All travelers are welcome.

Tony: No thanks.

Poad: well, at least have some of my jellybeans before you go.


With that taken care of, lets get back to Evu and give him some Jelly Beans.




We can't progress without giving Evu the Jellybeans, and unfortunately we also don't get a picture of Tony stuffing his face with Jellybeans, so there is no reason to pick this option.



Evu: I feel so much better.

Tony: Are you the historian?

Evu: Yes I am, young fellow. I am also a master spellcaster... or I was. Actually I've forgotten most of them...I remember one though...here, take this spellbook.

How can you forget spells that are written down in spellbooks...you know what forget it Evu probably lossed them all to feed his Jellybean addiction.


Leaf Cut is a spell we can cast in battle. Its terrible and you should never bother with it. Ok I need to give a little more of an explanation. Leaf Cut is a spell that does exactly 5 damage to 1 target and costs 8 energy to cast. All damage based spells in Magi Nation do fixed damage which sounds nice but is generally pretty negligible. You have other options for things to do while your Dream Creatures are killing things that are, generally just better and your Dream Creatures will always out pace the damage these spells can cause. To give you an idea of what I mean, at the end of the game, all of my Dream Creatures had around 150 energy and some of them were able to deal 100 damage per attack. The most damage a spell in Magi Nation does is 23 and it costs 40 energy to cast so yeah...not really worth it.

With this taken care of, we can leave Vash Naroom to continue on the plot!


When we get to about this point, Tony happens upon another argument between Eidon and Orwin.



Orwin: Why are you so persistent? Even if he IS the Great Magus Kyros, we'd be better off sending him back to his world!

*Upon hearing his name, Tony moves closer*

Eidon: Look! Things have not been right lately... The Dream Creatures have been acting strangely. Don't you understand what that means? Your stubbornness is going to be the end of this nation! We have to tell him the truth.

Orwin: I've heard enough, Eidon. I want you to leave Vash Naroom until all this blows over.

Eidon: But... I think that Gia would want to meet him! She might even be able to-

*Orwin shakes his head vehemently at this sudden insurrection*

Orwin: I forbid you to take him from this town. Magus or not, the kid stays here. My word is final.


Orwin pauses a second to stare at Tony before storming off in silence.



Eidon: Oh, Tony. I was just leaving for the Weave. I see Pruitt made a fine ring for you.

Tony: Yeah. She mentioned something about Dream Creatures and stuff.

Eidon: Tony, follow me. There's somebody who I want you to meet.

Tony: Didn't Orwin say I wasn't supposed to leave town?

Eidon: This is very important. Trust me.

Tony: Well, if you say so...

Eidon I don't think bending or breaking or whatever you are planing is a good idea right now given how ticked off Orwin is. But we'll follow him anyway because Adventure.



Eidon: Tony, I want you to have this.



Eidon: It will help you escape from dangerous areas. Do you know how to control the power of infused Animite?

If we answer no, then the trainer in Vash Naroom named Yaki will tell us how to do things. However, I would rather do that since I can do it rather quickly without all the dialouge that Yaki makes us go through.


This is a battle screen. We will see this whenever we get into a battle with a Dream Creature in the wild. Tony can do one of 5 actions per turn. The first is too summon a Dream Creature which is self explanatory. Doing so will cost Tony some of his energy equal to the exact amount of energy the Dream Creature has for its health. Focus lets Tony recover some of his energy. Since Energy is HP and lets you do things, this is what I usually do once I've summoned all of my dream creatures. Spell lets us cast spells just like Leaf Cut which also cost energy. Items let you use items and Run lets you Run. Creatures can either Fight (which does damage based on their strength stat), Defend or use an ability (which cost Energy). Most of the strategy in this game revolves around balancing energy usage so that you and your creatures have enough to take hits and keep casting abilities. There, all the basics of Magi Nation summed up in one paragraph. I am however a little sad that I couldn't show of Yaki a bit. He's an awesome character who quotes a bunch of Wrestlers everytime he talks. If only there was a picture that could perfectly sum up his character in one image.


Much better.

[Peanut]

Part 4: Things get shaking.

When we last left off, Tony had learned how fight with dream creatures. So, with the tutorial done, its time for the game to begin proper. But first...


Burn the image of this skull found in the training grounds into your mind.

With Tony done getting his learn on (or if you skipped it like me), Eidon begins to suggest that Tony should meet someone but is cut off by a well timed earthquake.



Orwin: Eidon! What in blazes is going on?!

I love this line simply because it makes me believe that when anything bad happens in Vash Naroom, Orwin blames Eidon. I think the main reason for that is that Orwin's portrait has such a crazy look to it.

Eidon: What are you asking me for?! I don't know!

Orwin: And you have the boy with you! You FOOL!

The ground shakes from Orwin's anger...or maybe its what caused the earlier earthquake.


Orwin: It's coming from the glade! I will deal with you later.

Orwin runs off as a bunch of townspeople show up.


Young girl: Eidon, what's going on?

Old man: I was eating lunch and that quake made me fall right off my chair!


I would like to point out that this guy has a fantastic beard.

Middle-aged man: And I just saw Orwin running through town like a madman! Where's he going in such a hurry?

Eidon: This isn't good. Let's go see what's going on.

Everyone leaves and heads to the Glade. I know Orwin told us to stay here but forget him! There's adventuring to do!


We want to follow this trail to the east and walk through that cave looking thing.


See that sparkling spot on the ground. That is how you fight dream creatures in most of the areas of the game. The lone exception to this rule will be pointed out in a few updates.


After griding a couple of levels and some infused animite for a Bhatar, we exit the glade and find this strange shadowy tower that clearly is up to no good in our neighborhood.


Orwin gets there before us and reacts with appropriate shock.

Orwin: It looks like .....a Shadow Geyser! Oh, no...This too was foretold in the prophecy! I've got to stop it!

Somewhere Eidon is laughing and saying I told you so Orwin. Orwin, realizing his mistake, tries to enter the Shadow Geyser to stop it. This seems completely crazy since he is old, however in Magi Nation being an Elder means your a pretty powerful guy.


However it will take more then power to stop a Shadow Geyser.

Orwin: OOUGGH!! like a million... sharp... needles just pierced my hide!



Zet: Korg, look! Orwin's in trouble! Now's our chance to get him out of the picture!

Korg: Shaddup, Zet! i'm in charge, and I say we go waste Orwin!

Zet: .........

Korg: Let's go!

Uh oh...



Zet: Ok, let's get him on three...One....

Korg: THREE!!!

Zet: Huh??


Orwin dissappears right as Korg charges at Zet. Orwin is fortunate that Korg is pretty stupid.



Zet: .........

Korg: Wake up!!



Korg: Huh? It's that kid from before. Ha, now I can mess you up for what you did to me back at the river!

BATTLE TIME!!!!


Magi Battles work slightly differently from normal battles.


To win them you have to kill all of their Dream Creatures and reduce their energy to zero. They work on the same rules as Tony in that they summon Dream Creatures using their HP, can cast spells and use items. Some opposing Magi, though, have little gimmicks in their fight to either make them stronger or, in this case...









Korg: Shaddup Zet! I'm in charge and I'll handle this!




...makes them weaker. It makes up a bit for the times in the game that Magi are cheating (though the cheating is sort of justified in a way). Korg's stats in this fight are hilariously bad but what do you expect for what amounts to another tutorial battle. Here they are for you guys:

Korg
Energy: 25
Creatures: Black Agovo
Spells/items: None

A Black Agovo is that thing we saw way back in the first update when Tony met his buddy Furok here. Its a middling creature from the Core region and is outclassed (right now) by our own Furok in just about every way. When we encounter them near the end of the game they know prism making them mildly annoying but ultimately not much of a threat.


Needless to say, Furok curb stomps it as well as Korg. And we win. You'll notice that I got some infused animite for the Black Agovo. We can't actually do anything with this until we start New Game plus. I might show all of that off so I can give some of the Core Creatures some more attention, but for now don't worry about it.





hehe, yeah you guys better run.



Orwin: I used my hood of hiding... to save myself... The... geyser...must be... stopped..

Eidon: You're delirious! Hold still!

*Eidon walks over to the worn-out old man, examines him for a moment, then privately speaks with Tony*

Eidon: He's in bad shape.

Orwin: Eidon... the geyser...

Eidon: You want me to try and stop it?

Orwin: NO YOU FOOL!... oww... don't try to... enter or... you'll end up... like me...

Eidon: That means, this must be...

Orwin: Tony, come... here...





Orwin: This will... let you pass... through the forest. Go see Gia...in the Weave..

I'll give Orwin a pass on this terrible explanation seeing as how he is dying and all. The Energy Band lets us kick blocks on the ground. There are a bunch of blocks that block the path to the Weave so without this, we'd be stuck.



Eidon: I'm going to take Orwin back to Vash Naroom. Right now seeing Gia would be your best bet. That energy band will let you pass those blocks to the West of Vash Naroom.

Tony: Is he going to be okay?

Eidon: I hope so. You'd better get going... it's a pretty long walk to the Weave.

With Orwin in rough shape, we might as well see Gia. Gia, by the way, is who Eidon wanted us to meet meaning that Orwin seems to be behind his plan (at least in the sense that Gia is probably the best person to look after Tony...kind of...). Anyway that will do it for this week but before we go I want to check something.


That's what I expected. If you're curious, trying to enter the Shadow Geyser right now doesn't actually hurt Tony. He just says ouch and remains in remarkably good health. There is a reason for this that will be revealed right around the end of the game.

Next time, an Old Lady hurts our self-esteem.

[Peanut]

Part 4: The Seer and Gia

Today we will be seeing Gia since she might know what to do in this case. However before we do so, we should probably check on Orwin.[i]


[i]Oh...um...nothing. Yeah the people of Vash Naroom are noticeably upset about what's happened to Orwin. This guy, for instance, now hates Tony and blames him for absolutely everything (if they only knew the truth...). Anyway, if we go up to Orwin's house we get a little more information about whats going on.








Hilariously, everyone but this lady seems to have an idea of who we should go see to find out how to cure Orwin. This includes...








...Evu. This is about the most coherent he gets as well!

Before we visit the Seer we should go back to the area we started in (called the Shore for those wondering) and get a secret.



See how this kind of looks like we can walk into it? We can!



The only thing of interest we find in here is an Archaic Leaf which raises a dream creature's skill stat. Its very nice on certain Dream Creatures.



This is the entrance to the Seer's house. Its a linear path to his house.


However, we find nobody in here. Oh well, let's just steal his stuff and--


What the?



Tony: Wha..?

Seer: What are you doing here?

Tony: I was just..

Seer: Nevermind! I already know what you are here for.

Tony: You do?

Orwin: Yes! I am the All Knowing, All Powerful Wizard am I not?

Tony: You are?

Seer: Yes!

Tony: Oh...

Seer: You mean you haven't heard of me?

Tony: No.

Seer: I am the Omniscient Enchanter!

Tony: Impressive... Can't say it rings a bell though.

Seer: The Magnificent Magician!

Tony: Haven't heard of him.

Seer: What about the Clairvoyant Conjurer?

Tony: Nope.

Seer: The... Ahh.. The Super Sorcerer?

Tony: No. Listen, I came here to find the Seer. Have you seen him recently? The Seer? You came all the way here just to talk to the Seer?

Tony: Yes. Is he around?

Seer: .......

Tony: Hello?

Seer: What? Oh sorry... I mean doesn't the title 'Seer' seem a little unimpressive to you?

Tony: .......

Seer: Don't you think people would respect The Grand Guru or The Stupendous Spellcaster more than some plain...

I have to agree with the Seer here. The Grand Guru is a way better title.

Tony: Oh, for crying out loud! Is the Seer around here or isn't he?

Seer: Well... Yes...



Seer: I am the Seer. Why did you come to me?

Tony: Orwin is sick, and the people of Vash Naroom said you could help.

Seer: They did!? ..uh I mean.. Orwin is sick?

Tony: Yes...

Seer: How, uh.. Let's go see him then.


The Seer looks over Orwin before giving his diagnosis to Tony.


...thank you captain obvious. Dr. House the Seer is not.

Tony: ...uh.. ..yeah..

Seer: I think that his injuries are more than just physical. He has burns on his hands and face, but they are not severe enough to weaken him this significantly. I think he is poisoned.

Tony: Poisoned?!

Seer: You need to find something to neutralize the geyser's effect. I can think of only one item sufficiently powerful to cure Orwin's ailments.

Tony: What is it?

Seer: It is extremely rare and powerful.

Tony: Yes, but what is it?

Seer: It must be specially prepared into an elixer to cure Orwin.

Tony: OKAY! What is it?

Seer: It can't be found in any stores!

Tony: ARRGH! What is it CALLED!

Seer: Oh! A Cloud Frond.

Tony: Thanks.

Seer: I will make the Cloud Frond Elixer if you can get one.

Tony: Where can I find a Cloud Frond?

Seer: ...Hmmmm I must meditate on the subject. Why don't you see if you can find one on your own, and check back with me if you need advice.

...you just made up an ingredient so you could sound like you know what you're talking about didn't you...

Tony: ....Sure.

Seer: If you need me, I will be back at my boathouse, meditating.

*The Seer walks off*

Tony: Well, don't strain yourself!

Tony is apparently as suspicious of this as us. But, this does start another game long side quest to find a way to cure Orwin. This is the main sidequest that determines what ending you get at the end of the game. There are a few more things we should grab before we run off to the Weave to talk to Gia.


The first is this Hyren's claw found behind the counter of the item shop. To get this you just go into Poad's in and jump behind the counter then follow the path until you get to it. The Hyren's claw is another artifact that raises one of our creature's strength stat.


Next we go back to the Seer's house and raid his chest. This gets us the Spell Grow. Grow heals one of our creatures (or us) for 12 energy. Its a spell that is actually worth using throughout the entirety of the game. Having grabbed these things, we now want to head south to enter the one area we haven't walked into yet.


This is the entrance to the Forest which leads to the Weave. As you can see, we would not have been able to enter into it properly without getting the energy band first. We could just speed through this block puzzle but there is a secret to get.


By kicking the blocks so they end up looking like so, we find a staircase into the ground.


A Water of Life raises our energy by 5 which is really nice! You should try to grab as many of these as you can throughout any playthrough until you max out on energy.


I don't use runes during games but they permanently raise one of your dream creature's stats. This one raises strength by 2. The reason I don't use them is that you have to use them in battle which is a bit annoying as you can imagine.


The forest is a pretty straightforward area. Its very linear but does have some paths to explore beyond it. Following them will bring you to a currently empty house that has a Gem of Naroom inside of it. This relic raises a Dream Creature's defense. We will be meeting the owner of this house later on.

Exiting to the south and walking to the land bridge brings us to the Weave.


Where as the majority of Vash Naroom is like a forest, the Weave is like a praire or savanah. Its a pretty neat subarea. So now that we are here lets go exploring!



Old Woman: You are almost as SMART as these SHRUBS!

HEY! >:(



Old Woman: Are you sure you want to go THIS way?

Seeing as how you insulted me for going the other way, I DO! D: <



Old Woman: You won't find the next CHALLENGE so easy.

Block puzzles are always easy! In all seriousness the block puzzles in this area are very easy, hence why I don't show any of them because all of you should be able to figure them out instantly.



Old Woman: A boy with PANTS as SAGGY as yours should change his DIAPER more often.

How dare you insult my taste in a fashion that will be timeless D: <



Old Woman: I guess even a MONKEY can get LUCKY every once in a while.

I resent that! Grrrrrr. If we find this woman I swear Tony is going to give them such a beating with bears that they won't even be able to tell that she was an old lady before!


These doors can be opened with a key we will be getting later on. I, unfortunately, forget to open them in this playthrough. They contain a Chaneller's Gem which increases a creatures skill stat and a Water of Life as well as a Rune of some sort (I think).


Exiting the area brings us to this area. Gia's hut is the hut down there but first we want to go to the windmill.


Here, we find a bunch of hay we can frolic through.




Doing so gets us another Water of Life! Woot!


Inside the Windmill we find a Bag of Bones. This raises a dream creature's strength stat.

With this taken care of we head to Gia's hut.



Eidon: Oh hello Tony, Gia's inside.

Tony: What are you doing here?

Eidon: Nobody told you? I have been training under Gia for years.

Tony: Oh....


So Gia is that old lady who insulted us the entire way here...great. Also, if you're wondering, outside of this line they never bring this up again.

Tony: Hey, you're the old bat from before!

Gia: Watch your tongue! I am Gia, the one you seek, Tony Jones. Or should I say, Kyros.

Tony: Kyros!?

*Tony steps closer to the woman*

Gia: Your coming has been foretold for many, many years. Truthfully, I didn't expect the Prophecy to be fulfilled for at least a few dozen more years, but even I can't be right all the time.

Tony: Prophecy?

Gia: It states, 'Dark Forces will abound... Geysers of darkest Shadow will appear... The Great Magus known as Kyros reveals himself with a miracle. All will be in chaos until the end, which the Great Magus shall bring... returning from whence he came.'

Tony: Hmm... I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about that. I just want.....

*Gia begins to pace back and forth*

Gia: Yes, I know, you just want to get home to Tavel Gorge.

Tony: How did you know?

Gia: Oh, I have my ways.

Tony: Or Eidon told you!

Gia: That too. Kyros, I do not know exactly how to get you home. I do however have a theory.


Gia takes a thing from the bookshelf and sets it down before us. This is the Core Glyph.

Gia: This is the Core Glyph, an old relic which I found on an expedition 380 years ago. Apparently, it can be used to reach the Core Region, an area that is fabled to be the center of the universe, a dimensional focal point, if you will. So in theory, you could use this to get to your world. However, the Core Entrance is sealed now, so you probably won't be able to get there at this time. But did you see the Shadow Geyser that recently appeared in Naroom? This Glyph resonates with a similar energy to that Geyser.


Tony just sort of blanks out at this point and picks up the Core Glyph. Don't really blame him to be quite honest.

Gia: Therefore, I think the key to using the Core Glyph lies in the Shadow Geyser. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly how it works. Anyone who picks up the Glyph experiences intense pain! Poor Eidon was nearly killed by it... but as long as it stays in the box, you should be able to...

Oh...so Tony probably shouldn't have done that. This also, weirdly enough, hints to why Tony probably wasn't actually hurt when he tried to enter the Shadow Geyser.

*Gia turns around and to her horror sees Tony handling the Glyph with his bare hands*

Gia: KYROS!!!



Tony: So if I take it to the Shadow Geyser, I can get to the Core Region?

Eidon: T-Tony! You... you're holding the Core Glyph!

Gia: Kyros, did you hear what I just said?

Tony: You said the key to using the Glyph lies in the Geyser right?

Gia: No, after that!

Tony: Oh, sorry, I kind of blanked out after that.

Gia: Well..... you seem to be all right. never mind. Eidon, you are excused. Of course it's quite conceivable that the Great Magus Kyros would be able to handle the Core Glyph.

Tony: ?????

Gia: Don't worry about it.

Tony: By the way, where is this Core Entrance?

Gia: It is west of here. I live nearby because I am trying to study The Core. you, however, should forget about The Core Entrance for now, Kyros. Your objective lies in the Shadow Geyser.

I find this part of the story to be kind of interesting and I also sort of wonder what Orwin would think of all of this. Tony simply wants to get home, which does make sense given how weird this world is and everything. He is, however, clearly special and fits the belief that Eidon and Gia have that he is the savior of their world. So, they thrust that roll upon him while promising that he might be able to get back home if he goes along with it. Its somewhat manipulative and a bit jerkish when you really think about it and it makes sense why Orwin would want to keep Tony from all of this. I think the only reason Orwin really sent Tony to Gia is because, with him out of commission, she was probably the only person who could help him. I don't think, though, he would fully approve of declaring him to be this savior that they are so convinced he is. With all this being said, I don't think Gia and Eidon are bad people. I think they just have a lot of faith in their interpretation of a prophecy which is leading them to do what they think is right. We'll learn more about all of this as the game goes along. Before we end this update, there is an item we can get in Gia's hut.


The wishbone raises a creature's luck stat which affects how much damage they do as well as the chance that certain affects will take effect with certain skills.

Next Time: We close a shadow geyser.

[Peanut]

Part 4: Shadow Geyser 1

Its time to close us a Shadow Geyser. But first there is an elemental wheel I must explain. Magi Nation does have certain regions which are strong against other regions. This comes into play when your dream creatures either use an attack that uses their physical strength or a relevant elemental skill from that region. Since we haven't been introduced to all the regions yet, I went ahead and inserted their relevant elemental equivalent next to their name.

Core(Dark) - Strong against Naroom(Light)
Naroom(Light) - Strong against the Core(Dark)

Arderial (Wind) - Strong against Cald (Fire) but is resistant to Underneath (Earth)
Cald(Fire) - Strong against Orothe(Water) but is resistant to Arderial(Wind)
Orothe(Water) - Strong against Underneath(Earth) but is resistant to Cald(Fire).
Underneath(Earth) - Strong against Arderial(Wind) but is resistant to Orothe(Water)

There are two elemental wheels in the game, as you can see however the only one that is really important is the Naroom-Core one as that will constitute the majority of the creatures we will be facing. The rest are just useful to know when you are grinding for animite and want the process to go a bit quicker but can otherwise be ignored.







Here are Tony and my dream creature's stats going into the first Shadow Geyser. I won't do this before every Shadow Geyser but since this is the first Shadow Geyser and the only one that you couldn't conceivably get Hyren's before, I figure I might as well. As you can see Tony is level 15 and his two Dream Creatures are level 16 and 17 respectively. The stats on Dream Creatures are somewhat random so I think I got pretty lucky and forged an excellent Bhatar because despite being relatively close level wise to Furok, its stats (especially its Energy0 were significantly higher all around. Needless to say, Bhatar was my MVP until I got my first Hyren in this playthrough.


Welcome to Naroom's Shadow Geyser. Shadow Geyser's are a bit different from the other areas in this game. The battles in Shadow Geyser's are of the random encounter variety meaning that if you just want to run to the boss and avoid any fights, you're out of luck. Since they count as an area you also can't save in them so you either have to do them all in one sitting or make some progress and then come back later which can reset a large number of puzzles thus forcing you to start over from the beginning. There's one more thing to keep in mind too. Shadow Geyser's are temporary areas meaning that any treasure chests in them are lost forever if you don't get them. This can make a normally pretty linear experience into a rather windy confusing one. Fortunately, this Shadow Geyser is very simple and straightforward and it doesn't have a lot of puzzles to solve or alternate paths to take.

The Dream Creatures in each areas Shadow Geyser tend to reflect normal versions of other Dream Creatures in that region. So, not surprisingly, they are all foresty in nature. We've already met the Black Agovo so I feel no need to talk about it again. Shadow Vinoc is a corrupted version of the Vinoc. It learns Terror but its stats are pretty mediocre so, if you do playthrough to NG+, I wouldn't recommend using it. Hook Wing and Koil are both terrible and you shouldn't bother with them. The only Dream Creature here worth farming for and getting is the Vile Yogu. It has high strength and a move set that actually makes use of it. Munch is a pretty great attack with a high multiplier meaning that its going to do some damage.


The gimmick in this Shadow Geyser are these switches which you have to flick to lower gates to continue on through it. This is the first one and it opens a gate to nothing but another switch which requires some back tracking to get to.


The only place where it switches things up is with the very last swtich. When we flip it, nothing will happen.


To get it to work, you have to go to the gate and interact with this bone. Doing so will unjam the gate and let you flip the swtich to go through it.




We get this nice little atmospheric walk to the heart of the Shadow Geyser. I honestly am not a fan of the way they designed these areas, but I will admit that they do a good job of getting across the dark, foreboding and inhospitable nature of something with a name like "Shadow Geyser."


Through the door we find a weird stone. We should go ahead and pick it up because its there.


Great question Tony.




Huh. This is the second time that Tony has picked up a shiny object inside of a cave of some sort and caused it to collapse. I'm beginning to notice a Joseph Joestar-esque pattern here. Anyway might as well get out of here.


Uh oh...

Tony: What the...

Togoth: You will go no further.

Tony: Who are you?

Togoth: I am Togoth, guardian of this Core Gate.

Anyone who actually thought we were going to get out of here without having a boss battle may now cease to be shocked.

Tony: This... Shadow Geyser?

Togoth: NO! CORE GATE!

Tony: But Gia called it a Shadow Geyser.

*Togoth suddenly jumps back in anger*

Togoth: What the heck is a SHADOW GEYSER? What kind of a fruity name is that? If you call it that one more time, I will kick your hairy little buttocks!

We also have a disagreement on the correct terminology to describe this place. Togoth, however, is the only one who calls it a Core Gate so he's just wrong and clearly from an inferior, backwards culture.

*Togoth slowly begins to advance on Tony*

Togoth: The heck with it, I was going to do it anyway.

He also has some anger issues he needs to work on.


Togoth is our first real Magi fight in the game.

Energy: 210
Creatures: Shadow Vinoc, Koil, Vile Yogu
Spells/items:Fireball, Grow

He's not too bad. Fireball is an ok damaging spell at this point but, really, we won't have many problems. The reason is the elemental wheel I mentioned earlier. Both of our creatures are from Naroom, meaning that they cut through Core creatures like a hot knife through butter. It also helps that Furok and Bhatar are better then 2/3s of his creatures and I am a tiny bit over leveled for this fight.




This doesn't stop Togoth from talking some trash to us though.


When Magi cast spells they get this cool little battle sprite. I'm mostly posting this one because Togoth is basically double punching the air whenever he casts a spell even if its Grow.


And we win! Bhatar and Furok really wreck this guy when appropriately leveled.


After the battle, the Shadow Geyser collapses and Tony is treated to some weird, floating hooded dude running into a nearby cave. We should probably follow them given how suspicious they looked.






This is our prize for beating the Shadow Geyser. We'll find a use for them later.

Next Time: Something unexpected...

[Peanut]

Part 5: Something Different


Hey Guys! Lets Play Magi Nation for the GBA!!!!! Yep, I managed to hunt down a version of the GBA game which means that I can show off some of the differences between both games. I'll be doing this after each Shadow Geyser (hopefully). The game is entirely in Japanese and there is no translation patch that I know of so I won't be doing anything with the script.


We are not Tony in this game. We are Dan. He is...a little out of place as we will see. Anyway, first big change to make note of is that there are two save slots meaning you can now do two playthroughs at the same time if your really want to.


Besides Tony, the town got changed as well to something suitably Japanese sounding. If your can't tell, i2 was trying really hard to make this game appeal to the Japanese boy demographic.




Most of the character portraits are exactly the same and I mean exactly the same which makes Dan seem even more out of place then usual.


I mean everyone else has realistic looking hair cuts and normal clothing. Then Dan comes along with his spiky, anime hairdo and its really--


DEAR LORD ITS AS IF I'M STARING INTO THE ABYSS ITSELF!!!!! QUICK BOYS SEAL HIM IN THAT CAVE SO NO ONE WILL EVER EXPERIENCE THIS HORROR EVER AGAIN!


Much better. If your curious, Dan's portrait is the only one changes to show emotion. Everyone else has the same look on their face the entire game just like the GBC version.




I'll be honest. This game's graphics are hit and miss. While the GBC version's graphics are down right gorgeous for a GBC game, the GBA game looks dated at times and very good at others. One of the places it looks pretty dated is the character portraits which are just...bad. There are some changes to the character portraits and again some are decent and others are...interesting to say the least. Korg and Zet are actually one of the only decent ones with both of getting portraits that match their characters.


Eidon...not so much. He looks so lifeless and plastic its not even funny. For a GBA game they really could have and should have done better.\


The backgrounds also have a lot more browns in them and are a bit more dull. I genuinely like the GBC backgrounds because they are so colorful here they're just...bleh. Also the character sprites are pretty...below average. I know I'm being a bit overly critical here but you'd think that a company that put that much work into a version of this game on a technically inferior console would have worked a little bit harder on their GBA remake to make use of the new technology found there.


Enough complaining for now. The GBA game does contain some notable changes to the gameplay as well as some fixes. One thing that was noticeably not fixed is the trick I showed way back at part 1 to get 999 animite. Either it was overlooked or they really did intend for this to be in the game, either way I will be making use of it some probably.


Orwin. Sigh...I think he got the worst of it in subtle way. His portrait before made him look like a crazy-eyed angry man who was ready to rip Eidon's head off for legitimate reasons. Here he just looks mildly annoyed.




Pruitt and Evu look good. They didn't really change anything with their designs and you can actually tell a bit better that Pruitt is a girl in this one. Evu still looks like a confused old man which is really all you can ask for.


Yaki never opens his eyes...This portrait also doesn't do justice to the overwhelming amount of energy and enthusiasm his dialouge makes him out to have.


Ok. I've gotten most of the big negatives out of the way so now I can talk about things that the game actually does better then the original version. The biggest one is the battles themselves. Where as the GBC version looks like a card game, the GBA version actually gives you a sense that you are summoning monsters to utterly destroy your opponents. All the sprites are animated with an idle animation as well which is super nice and they all look really good.


Here's our Furok dueling another Furok. You'll notice the HP bar over top that Furok. This is a nice feature that will let us better plan our energy use however I think it makes the game a little too easy since it makes it harder for you to make a mistake and overuse energy.


I like the layout of the Creature stat screen a bit more as well. It was a little confusing at first but that's only because I'm use to the GBC version.


The one thing graphically which is way better in this game are the Shadow Geyers. Whereas the GBC versions were somewhat generic black masses, the GBA versions have a regional flair to each and everyone of them. This makes them way more interesting to look at and a bit more intimidating as well.


Magi battles are the same except now, when you have knocked a Magi's energy down but it still has a creature that is about to be summoned, that Magi will fall to the ground showing you have defeated it. So you can't have an opponent with 0 health regenning behind a wall of Dream Creatures.


The Seer looks...sleepy.


And Gia has pink hair...WHY?!


I mean really. WHY DOES GIA HAVE PINK HAIR? She didn't before this game in any of the official artwork including her card from the card game you are trying to advertise. So why does she have pink hair?!


I haven't shown this yet, but this is the Core Glyph. Its kind of like that page in Pokemon that shows you the gym badges you have collected that no one ever visits.


The inside of the Shadow Geyser contains more brown and light then the GBC version which kills the mode but it does have one nice improvement.


No more random encounters! I can't tell you how happy this makes me.


They changed some of the dream creatures you can encounter as well though they are basically just a pallet swap of the GBC equivalent. These are Harban which have replaced the Vile Yogu in the game. I don't have a picture of them but Hookwings were replaced by Chaos Pliths as well.


I brought up the lighting earlier because it ruins the atmosphere of the entire geyser. This part here, especially suffers, as the mystery and foreboding feeling it can induce is now completely gone because you can see what the claws actually are.


The core stone is a bit better looking in this version considering how it gets used.


Does Togath's spot have eyes...


His battle sprite has also lost some punch to it (get it...hehehehe....0


This is the shot that I missed in the last update. As you can see, there is a shadowy person with no lower body floating around.

Next Time: Can you Dig it?!

[Ante Bellum]

I can't believe Tony turned into anime trash.

[Peanut]

Part 6: Can you dig it?

New update time! I appologize for the delay I have, admittingly, been a little bit lazy about updating this so I won't waste anymore time. Last time, we delved into the world of the GBA version of Magi Nation. Today we are going to learn just how much the design team loves mushrooms. To do so we have to head back to Gia first but while we go through the forest this happens.




We come upon a guy who is getting attacked by a Shadow Agovo. He kills this one and then another one pops up behind him which we deal with quite easily.





Wence: I didn't see that one... must be getting rusty. My name is Wence.

Wence is a pretty cool guy who lives in a house in the Forest. I raided it off screen but if we visited it now we would be able to use it as a make shift inn. Its pretty nice if you are doing things in the Weave and don't want to go all the way back to Vash Naroom to visit Poad.

Tony: I'm Tony.

Wence: Well Tony, it seems I owe you a debt. I live near here, so you can come around to my place any time you need a rest. Don't worry if I'm not home, feel free to go there anytime.

Tony: Thanks.

\
And we will be seeing Wence around since he's actually one of the more awesome characters in this game. Anyway, with that done its off to Gia!



Tony: Gia, look what I found at the Geyser.

Gia: A stone? What an unusual shape... This is what formed the Geyser?

Tony: I guess. The geyser closed when I removed this from it.

Gia: Hmm... The shape is very familiar. Kyros, could you show me the Core Glyph again?



Gia: Aha! That slot is the exact same shape and size as this stone! Kyros, put the stone into the Glyph.

*Tony does as he is commanded*

Here Gia confirms what I already talked about in a previous update. The Core Glyph is basically our gym leaders badge case.

Gia: That must be the key to unlocking the Core Glyph's power!

Tony: But there are three more slots. Where do I get the other three
stones?

Gia: Perhaps... now that I know what we are looking for, I can try to
locate them...

*Gia takes a few steps back and concentrates*

Gia: No good, something is preventing me from seeing it clearly. All I sense is that they are all concentrated in one area, yet always moving. This can only mean one thing: somebody is holding them. No doubt it is the same person who used this stone to form the Geyser in Naroom. Did you notice any suspicions characters around the Geyser?

Tony: Actually, I did notice someone, but he went too fast for me to see clearly.

Gia: Did you see where he went?

Tony: He went into a cave. I tried to follow him, but he disappeared.



Gia: Let me have a look... Those look like the kind of blades used by miners in the Underneath. He must have taken an old mine shaft...Eidon can fit those blades into digging gloves for you.

Tony: Thanks for your help.

Gia: Good luck, Kyros!

After this you just have to go outside to talk to Eidon.



Eidon: I can make you a pair in hardly no time at all!

When Eidon says this, he means it. There is no black out or any sign that a significant amount of time has passed. Granted, all he had to do was connect the blades to some gloves so a copious amount of Duct Tape would probably do.

Eidon: Here you go, Tony!

*Tony receives the Crystal Gloves*

Eidon: With these you can dig through that softer dirt to the Underneath. The entrance is just North of here.

Tony: Wow! Thanks!

And now we have our next goal. To head to the Underneath and see what is up.


As Eidon said, this is the entrance to the Underneath. It looks like the head we find in the training grounds hinting at its importance. This is not why I told you to burn that image in your mind though.


This mouth is the entrance to the Tunnels. They are our main road between Naroom and the Underneath.


Throughout the tunnels you will find stairways that lead you to different areas. This one is right near the entrance and is pretty important.







Well its not much of a secret if you tell everybody about it! Behind this guy is a cracked wall, once we have something to get through it we can go to an area that lets us fight Leaf and Timber Hyrens. Since its been mentioned here, I might as well talk about Hyrens in detail. Similar to Pokemon there are elemental legendaries scattered throughout the world of Magi Nation. Magi Nation, however, is close to the later Pokemon games then the ones which we released around its time in that it has an absurd number of legendaries for you to hunt down. Hyrens are akin to the elemental birds (Zapdos, Articuno and Moltres) except that each region (with the exception of the Core) gets 2 of them. Sprite wise they look like dragons and stat wise they are in a league of their own. So if you are playing a long I want to say this to you right now. Be sure to get Hyrens before the end of the game. Lingo-wise, people like to call one of the Hyren's "Greater" and the other "Lesser." This has nothing to do with what this guy said or how good they are its just lets you know which one costs more animite to create and which one is harder to kill (Greater Hyren's get elemental resistance). Unless you are doing a no Legendary or no Hyren run there is no reason not to get them. With all this being said lets look at the two Hyrens we will be picking up later on from this "secret" area.

The Leaf Hyren is the Lesser Hyren in this area however it is the stronger of the two. Thorns does an absurd amount of damage to core creatures and Magi while Syphon is a nice ability that can keep it fighting longer. This is a Hyren you should really grind for as he'll probably be your MVP for the majority of the game once you get him. The Timber Hyren suffers from a lousy move set. You have to grind ten levels before it gets any move that's even close to being as good as Thorns and even then its high cost and multi-targeting makes it less useful (generally if you allow your opponent to get out that many dream creatures without having an equal number of your own out you're doing something wrong). I'd still recommend getting one if you can because its a Naroom Hyren and it will help wreck everything but in the end the Leaf Hyren is better.


If we go through the south door we end up in an area from later in the game. We can't do anything here except fight some of this regions dream creatures so we might as well leave for now.


Another feature of the Tunnels (and the Underneath in general) are these weird, borded up mine doors. Once we get an item to blow things up with, we can enter through them to get some special items and other things.


Exiting the Tunnels brings us to the Underneath. The Underneath is a land of Giant Mushrooms...I mean its literally a land of giant mushrooms. No really. Everything is mushrooms. Welp at least they get points for originality. Lets see what the townspeople have to say about their strange choice of a home.


Um.....


Exploring a bit around town brings us to this guys home and well...just watch the interaction.



Gogor: Ha ha! Who is this little cream puff who has come to interrupt my favorite routine?






So far we have had a Ric Flair reference, a Hulk Hogan reference, a Macho Man Randy Savage reference (found on my stream) and now a Rock reference. Actually a pretty good reference too since it seems to be referencing Chris Jericho's debut on RAW which happened 2 years before the game was released which might have been when they started developing this game. Come to think of it, Tony Jones kind of looks like Chris Jericho...Regardless of whether this is true or not, the point is somebody in i2 really likes his pro wrestling.

Gogor: All that matter is that my body is ripped like thick, peanuty nougat! You however are as flat and brittle as a crispy wafer!

Tony: .........

Gogor: Now I will tell the tiny one with goofy pants who I am.

Yes please Rock wannabe, tell us who you are.





Gogor: Master of all things requiring my immense pectorals!

*Gogor changes poses yet again*

Gogor: The man with the accent that drives women wild!

Tony: ...oh really.

Gogor: The bomb! The man's man! The bee's knees! I am all of these times twenty! Not to mention I'm drop-dead gor...

*Tony suddenly walks out in disgust*

I don't blame Tony for leaving. Anyone who uses "The Bee's Knees" these days isn't all that cool.

Next time: We learn what's lurking Underneath

[Peanut]

Part 7: What lies Underneath

Woooh. Its been too long since I've updated this so lets make this a lengthy one to make up for it. Before we get into plot related things, lets visit the Magi Nation equivalent of Chuck-e-Cheese (minus the creepy animatronics)!


This guy lets you play a variety of minigames to earn tickets. Tickets can be redeemed at a store back in Naroom for special items that you can't buy in any normal stores. There is also a game back in Naroom that lets you earn tickets as well but it doesn't deal out as many of them as this guys games.


The only game this guy has for us to play right now is a whack-a-mole rip off called "Scrub the Brub." Where we run around stomping on the heads of poor, defenseless Brubs. The red ones are rarer and are therefore worth more tickets.


At the end of the game, we are told our score and then collect an amount of tickets equal to what we scored. So, after one game, I have scored 35 tickets which is enough to buy 3 Blast Urns once we get back to the ticket shop! Helping push a defenseless creature to the brink of extinction has never felt so rewarding!

With this done we can now advance the plot a bit.



Tony: My name's Tony.

Ulk: Wow, it's rare to meet anyone new down here. My name's Ulk and I mine Animite down here. I was actually waiting for my friend Wence just now, but he's not here yet.





Tony: We met in the forest at Naroom.

Ulk: Isn't he cool? I think my sister has the hots for him. Don't tell her I said so, though.

Ah. So they're those kind of friends eh Wence? Who would have known that Wence was so popular with the Mushroom ladies.

Tony: Who is your sister?



Ulk: Her name is Gruk. She owns the Mushroom Farm just outside of town. She harvests the best mushrooms you'll ever taste! But lately, she's been so tired... harvesting mushrooms is hard work, but I think she might be pushing herself too hard. When I talked to her earlier she said she was having trouble sleeping because of loud noises below her house. I tried to get Gogor to check it out but he's SO darn self-absorbed! So that's why I'm waiting for Wence...

Tony: Gogor, huh?

Ulk: What a buffoon. He's the hero of our town... a big, narcissistic, completely dense hero. I don't know what the other townspeople see in him. What a fool... Oh, I'm rambling. Sorry about that. Well thanks for talking with me, Tony!

This exchange is interesting too me for a variety of reasons I'll explain later. For now we should go check on Ulk's sister. But first lets take care of some extra stuff such as checking out the Underneath ringshop and cashing those tickets in. The ringshop and item shop are not inside the town like you would expect them to be.


Instead they are to the north in this building.


The ringsmith also seems to use a photocopier to make his rings...the underneath is really weird. Anyway, a new ringshop means its time to talk about this regions rings! I'm going to lump the Hyrens in with this discussion since we won't be able to get them for a while anyway. When it comes to Dream Creatures, the Underneath is home to the absolute best Dream Creature and the absolute worse dream creature. For the most part, the dream creatures in this area are less then spectacular to be quite honest.

We start with GumGum, who is the aforementioned worse dream creature in the game so lets move onto something not nearly as bad. Porkuslime is...I don't even know. I mean its a glop of slime that's shaped like a porcupine. Its also pretty bad though it gets points for having a move called "Jiggle." Brub is the dream creature we just spent several minutes stomping into the ground. Its an interesting fellow thanks to its move Beam which has an absurdly high multiplier for damage (seriously, its almost at 3 which is insane!). Its got decent skill and speed to back it up so if you want to play around with a dream creature that has a pretty good attack, go ahead and try this one out. Ghost Bwisps are this regions healers. Unfortunately, they have a limited moveset and Weebo's outclass them in everyway possible so if you want a healer, go with them. Agovo shouldn't even be in this region given the fact that both of their attacks are for Arderial. They're nothing special so lets just move on. The Nintendo Power guide heavily recommends getting a Cave Rudwot for the geyser in this area and I'll admit its not a bad idea. They learn burrow which is a great support move and they are the only dream creature that seems to be able to use it reliably. I avoid them simply because I want dream creatures that can deal damage and that's something they aren't good at. Giant Korrit is the first of the giant mushroom dream creature we can get. They are ok but their moveset leaves something to be desired. However, if you've ever wanted to control a vampiric mushroom, then these guys are worth giving a try. Bisiwog is another burrower but with a slightly better moveset then Cave Rudwot. I've tried these guys out in the past and have found them to be unreliable in getting burrow off so I'd suggest sticking with the Cave Rudwot if you're going to go that route. Parmalag has some of the highest strength in the game...but it doesn't get a strength based move until level 35. It might be worth playing around with if you want to use Underneath creatures amongst your dream creatures. [urk=http://magination.wikia.com/wiki/Tusk_Bwisp]Tusk Bwisp (or Jore in later editions of Magi Nation)[/url] is the best non-legendary Underneath creature and the only one I would out right recommend getting. He has good stats and a good move set. Impale is a useful skill as it lets you directly attack an enemy magi even if they have Dream Creatures out on the field. Other then that he's just solid all around. Vulbor is pretty meh. Sonic+Sting is an interesting combo but if I was going to use Sting, I'd have taken a Wasperine from Naroom. I would highly recommend getting both of the Hyrens for this area since they are easily accessable once we get into Cald. The Mushroom Hyren( or Mush Hyren in the game) has some of the best stats in the game including the highest skill stat of any Dream Creature however its moveset is more geared towards physical attacks (booooo). It still has high strength so its worth picking up for a lightning quick pummeler (plus its the lesser Hyren so its easier to grind for). Cave Hyren is a real star. He's easy to get and knows all of his moves right out of the gate. Unfortunately he lacks the insanely good stats of his Underneath bretheren but he still boosts a good enough skill score to make use of his moveset. He's definitely worth picking up when you get the chance. And then there is Ormagon. We'll talk more about how to get Ormagon in a couple of updates though I've hinted at some of the steps earlier on. All you need to know is that Ormagon is the best dream creature in the entire game. Other dream creatures might surpass his stats but they are unable to match his moveset. Seriously, every move he has has a chance to terminate a dream creature which is awesome. Needless to say, you should get Ormagon unless you are doing a no legendaries run. He's just that good.

I pick up a Tusk Bwisp while I'm here and head back to Naroom to cash in our tickets at the Curio shop.


This is the shop owner.












He likes eating tickets...Magi Nation has some weird people living in it.


Anyway, these are the blast urns that we need to get into those strange doors and cracked walls we've seen up to this point. I buy a few and clear those places off screen since its a bit tedious.[/url]


[i]Gruk's Mushroom farm is through this place. There's not much of interest here now but there will be much later in the game.


Let's see what lies underenath Gruk's house that's causing so much trouble.



Gruk: welcome to Gruk's Mushroom Farm! Can I help you?

*Tony takes a look at Gruk's wares*

Gruk: -yawn- Thank you.

Tony: May I ask why you are so tired?

Gruk: What? Oh, it's nothing. I just can't sleep at night because of those darn noises in the basement. I would check them out myself but I'm afraid to go down there...

Welp, no one else seems to want to go down there so its time for Tony Jones to be the man that he is and explore a creepy basement. There's only one way for us to go down there and once we walk a little ways.






That's the weirdest response I've ever heard to an obvious kidnapping.

Gruk: Why should I go with you?

Korg: Because I said so!

Gruk: Hehe, that's funny...


Now see. That's a way better response to being kidnapped. Good job Gruk.


Before we head back to town to tell everyone the news, we should raid Gruk's basement. All of the chests are empty except for this one which holds another relic! This one raises a creature's resist.




Tony gets right back as the commotion in town is starting. What follows is a great example of Korg's stupidity and Zet's tactical genius.



Korg: I forgot...

Zet: Oh for crying out loud... we want a Jink Root, Flanderso, a-

Korg: Shaddup, Zet! I'm in charge, I make the demands! We want a Jikroot, Flamesol, a... a... uh...

Zet: ...Gerbasil Frond...

Korg: ...Gersi-lond, and a...

*Korg turns to look at Zet*

Zeg: ...Flak Root.

Korg: FAKROO!

Zet: .........


Indeed Ulk. Those are literally the worst kidnapping demands ever.

Korg: Anyway, if you want her back you have to give us those things! Otherwise you'll never hear from her again! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

*Korg leaves and Zet takes a quick look at the townspeople*

Zet: ... Incidentally, since he failed to mention it, we're in the abandoned Tower through the tunnel to the North. Bring the items there if you want to save her. He he he, we'll be-

Korg: LET'S GO, ZET! QUIT MESSING AROUND!

Zet: ...grumble...

*Zet finally leaves*

Good thing Zet mentioned that, otherwise his plan would have fallen apart right there.


Its probably because they don't exist but whatever.

Ulk: Me neither... What are we going to do, Motash? What's gonna happen to Gruk?

Motash: I don't know... I just don't...

Ulk leaves understandably upset. If only there were some sort of hero that could sa--


Not you Gorgor. No. You are no hero.

Gogor: What is all this noise here?

Motash: Gruk was just kidnapped by some really weird-looking creatures! They were just in town making demands which we can't meet. Ulk is very upset about it.


Nowhere with Mirrors, so there's no reason for you to get involved. Let the real hero do the saving and go back to pumping iron and staring at yourself in the mirror.

Motash: They said they were going to the abandoned tower through the tunnel to the North.

Darn it Motash! Don't encourage him!



Gorgor: Wait here.

Darn it Motash now look at what you've done! There's no way Gorgor can save Gruk I mean just look at him. Geez. Welp I guess we should go help him.


Along the way, we run into another one of these boarded up doors giving me an opportunity to show you all what using a Blast Urn looks like.


We get a Water of Life and a Master Rune for our troubles.


Further up the road. Korg and Zet are doing things.

Korg: ZET!! I havae a plan so cunning you could brush your teeth with it!

Zet: ...YOU? Cunning?!

The thought of this is rather terrifying to be quite honest.

Korg: I will show you.

*The duo walk over to a big boulder and continue their discusion. Tony creeps closer, but continues to hide*

Korg: We throw the rock at him, see?

Zet: Korg, he can just move out of the way...

Korg: You go down there and push him in the way!

Zet: I-It would be better if we put some Animite out as bait then....

Korg: Shaddup Zet! I'm in charge here and I say....

Zet: All right! All right, for crying out loud!!

*Zet looks around nervously and is suddenly pushed down the hill by Korg*



Zet: AAAAIIIEEE!!!

*Once Zet recovers from his fall, he slowly walks off to find a hiding spot to ambush Tony*

Korg: Hmmmm..... Maybe if I put Animite out as bait this trap would work twice as good...

Oh Korg. One of these days Zet is going to sue you for stealing his ideas and it will be glorious.

*Korg throws some animite down as bait but missess his mark*

Korg: Close enough.


Close is only good in horseshoes and hand grenades Korg.


See.


With that done, we can now mount a daring rescue.



Gogor: Good, you're just in time, little one. I can't open this door. You will help me!

Gogor somehow beats us there and proceeds to toss us onto the roof.



Gogor: Go downstairs and open this door from the inside! Do not be fooling around! Do it now!

The fortress is super small so this doesn't take long at all. At least we get to help Gogor by opening the do--



Gogor: I got tired of waiting.

Gosh darn it Gogor. Welp now that we know he can open doors with his shoulder (seriously, if you could do that why didn't you do that before?) I'm sure that we aren't really needed here at all.


One more puny door later and we're in Gruk's cell. As it turns out, the script I'm following doesn't cover this scene so I'll paraphrase it for you guys.


Gruk informs Gogor that the little green men he is looking for are nowhere to be found and that he has already found her.


Gogor proceeds to brag about all the things he can crush including "Door, monster and Tofu." You know, things that heroes are supposed to be able to defeat.


Tony reminds everyone that there is a plot to get back to and they should probably return to town instead of standing around watching Gogor flex. They do that and we are done with this part.

In all seriousness, this is actually a pretty cool part for developing Gogor's character. Yes, he is a musclehead and a bit of an idiot but you can tell why everyone looks at him as the hero of the Underneath. He didn't even think twice about going here and he didn't ask for anyone's help either. This is important to be established here because it explains what will end up happening to him off screen in another update or two. But besides the cheesy lines, Gogor is actually a pretty cool dude.

Next Time: A wild Shadow Geyser appears.

[Peanut]

Part 8:Shadow Geyser 2



We open with a very happy Ulk greeting Tony.

Ulk: My sister came back! I'm so happy! Are you the one that helped save her?

Tony: Err... actually... well, I mean I was there, but I really-

Ulk: Thanks, uh... what was your name again?

Tony: Tony.

Ulk: Thanks, Tony! Sis went back to the farm to rest, but she says thanks too.



Ulk: Tony, I'm not trying to be rude, but why are you here in The Underneath anyways? Are you lost?

Come to think of it we haven't really had the chance to tell anyone why we are down here yet. In fact I've almost forgotten why we are down here to be quite honest.





Tony: I'm not quite sure, but...

Before Tony can finish, a conveniently timed Earthquake appears to cut him off.




Tony has a bad feeling about this...



Female Villager: At this rate, the whole town will be crushed! What should we do, Elder?

Motash: We need to do something, yes... perhaps we should evacuate to the surface...

Ulk: We can't! It's too dangerous to wander around now!

Female Villager: It's just as dangerous to stay here!

Motash: Hold on, hold on... let me think...



Gogor: What's the big deal?



Ulk: This is no time to be macho!

I get the feeling that Ulk has been holding that in for a long time. Before anything else happens, Gruk wanders into town.



\

Gruk: Something just burst up from the ground near the farm... Then this quake started and destroyed my house! Oww...



Tony: Wait... what was it that burst from the ground?

Gruk: Ungh... it was some kind of large... black thing...

Tony: Another Shadow Geyser?

Surprise surprise we have another Shadow Geyser to close.

Gogor: Huh? You know something, flabby one? You had better talk...

Tony: No time to explain. If the geyser is closed, the quaking should stop.

Ulk: Really?

Motash: Ulk, take care of Gruk. We'll go take care of this Shadow Geyser.

Gruk: Be careful... the quake is much stronger there...

Female Villager: Let's go!



Gruk: Yeah... I think so.

Ulk: It's not safe out here. Come on, let's go wait in Gogor's house.

Gruk: .........



Yeah Ulk? Why not your house? You haven't been so high on Gogor so far now have you.



Uh huh...that's a pretty lame excuse. After the two girls leave and go to Gogor's house, you can go back to Ulk's house and find out the real reason for why she wanted to go to Gogor's house by reading her diary (if you tried to before she would stop you). In it you find that she has been keeping a very detailed account of what Gogor had for breakfast...so yep, she's a creepy, stalker fan girl and she's using this dire time to do who knows what in Gogor's own private domain...let's just...leave those two alone and go deal with the Shadow Geyser instead. Its less creepy.


The second Shadow Geyser is located right where Gruk's house used to be. When we enter it we find the villagers of The Underneath already there trying to figure out what they are going to do.



Motash: Wow! I've... never seen anything like this!





Gogor: Stand aside, scrawny! This is a job for GOGOR!

And of course Gogor punches Tony before he can warn him about the Shadow Geyser's tendency to poison/injure/mutilate people. This is clearly going to end well for him.





Female Villager: Beats me...

The villagers just sort of stare as baffled as we are as to what Gogor could possibly do to deal with this mass of shadowy evil.


He plans to use a rock. A rock. To seal the Shadow Geyser. Because sealing evil things away has ALWAYS worked out in every story ever. Great plan Gogor. Great plan.



Tony: No wait, it won't work! You can't-


What Tony was trying to say is that the Shadow Geyser always chooses paper. So rock will never work since paper always beats rock!



Tony: As I was trying to say, you can't seal it that way. It hurts whoever tries to touch it.


Gogor goes spinning by while Tony explains to the villagers why they can't do anything to stop this evil thing from existing. Though I have to ask...how come Orwin gets poisoned and Gogor only gets a mild concussion? This just seems a bit unfair to me...



Motash: Don't worry about him. This happens more than you would think. Anyways, how do we stop it, then?



Tony: Only I can go in, because I have this Glyph thing.



Motash: That is the Core Glyph! Then... you must be.... Oh my, this is not good.

That's a weird response that we haven't seen before.

Tony: Don't worry, I'll take care of this geyser.



Motash: Leave the Underneath as soon as you are able, Kyros. For all our sakes.

Female Villager: Kyros? This is the Great Magus Kyros?!

That also seems a bit weird. Maybe its because they know that there are more places that need our help so they want us to leave as soon as possible to help all of those people. Yeah I'm sure that's it.



Welp, enough of this so Shadow Geyser time.



The gimmick of this Shadow geyser are these switches that contain the phases of the moon. To get all the items in this place we have to hit certain switches at certain times to gain access to them. There are also 2 spells in this Shadow Geyser so its worth taking your time going through it to make sure and get every treasure chest.

As far as Dream creatures go, Black Agovo and Koils make a reappearance and the creatures in here are actually not corrupted versions of this areas dream creatures though some of them share enough similarities to fit right into the area. Grax is one such Dream creature. It has a very limited move set but its solid stats more then make up for it. Tackle compliments its high strength particularly well making it somewhat worth taking if you get into NG+ and want to pick up some Core creatures. Shryque is more of a gimmick Dream Creature. Prism is a very good move that can be rather annoying but other then that, its nothing special. When you face shadow magi who use them, be sure to use your fastest Dream Creatures to take them down quick and you won't have any issues. Core Grag is another decent Dream Creature. It learns Curse which is a high damage, single target Core region skill making it pretty good at taking out Naroom Dream Creatures.







This is what my team looked like entering the Shadow Geyser. They do a pretty good job of crushing just about everything though I had to pop some healing items at a certain point simply because I got confused by all the switches.



This is WHY I got confused. Its not as bad when you know exactly what you are doing but for your first time through (or having not played it in a while) its...a journey to get everything.



To get to the core, we have to throw four of these switches. To get to these switches, we have to drop down well things to get here.



The Titan Ring raises a creatures strength.



South of this switch is one of the spells we are after.


After some digging, we get the Cave In spell which lowers one creatures defense. Cave In is a fantastic spell and is one of the few spells worth casting especially when you are hunting for Hyrens.



Thunderquake is found back around that really confusing room. Thunderquake does damage to all creatures and it doesn't do a lot of damage. So not really worth it.



With the four switches thrown, Tony now can pick up the core.



Tony: That's my cue to get out of here.



Before Tony can skidaddle, he's stopped by this snake lady. Wait a minute. She sounds like the Ticket Shop owner....OH MY GOSH we're going to be fighting his long lost sister!

Tony: Who are you?

Ogar: I sssee... mugh...

Tony: Mugh?

Ogar: Geh... Ogar sssmellsss a child... yesss, thisss will be a feassst for my petsss...

Tony: I don't suppose you'll just let me go?

Ogar: Oogh, Ogar doesssn't let her babiesss' dinner get away...

Ogar: I figured.

Ogar: Hee... hehe...





Ogar isn't too special. Her stats are as follows

Energy: 300
Creatures: Chaos Jile
Spells/Items: Baloo Sap

She treats her creatures as...well see for your self.

*Tony summons*

Ogar: Geh. My kittiesss need dinner. Heee hee...

*Ogar summons*

Ogar: Yesss, more kittiesss to play with the child.

*Tony attacks*

Ogar: Isss the kitty sssuffering?

Yep, we're fighting a crazy cat lady.



Thrust is pretty great in this fight mostly because any damage you can do against a Magi will force them to summon less creatures. I basically allow Bhatar and Furok kill her dream creatures while Tusk Bwisp does damage to her.



She goes down pretty easy and we get some Chaos Jile animite for our troubles.



Woohoo Shadow Geyser 2 down!



Now to return and be praised by all the inhabitants of the Underneath for saving them from a horrible evil and death by smashing.

Next Time: We experience death by smashing.