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Opera is so drunk she's glowing red! This would have been Claude's chance to... erm... get closer to her, if they hadn't found Ernest back then on Expel.

Opera doesn't seem very interested in the sights of Central City, at least not as much as in Energy Nede's liquors; I bet she had to try every single new one, because now she's so drunk that not only her face, but her whole body (clothes included) glows crimson. I suppose she's used to this, so leaving her here alone and armed with her trusty Kaleidoscope shouldn't be a problem; but isn't Ernest concerned about her? Why isn't he here? Well, Claude doesn't seem to like the atmosphere here, so he is about to get out of there, but he happened to hear someone talk about a Nedian in weird clothes going upstairs, with a depressed look on her face. Better check out on her.

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See? Even on Energy Nede they use Microsoft Windows. By the looks of it, they're also using CRT screens for their work. Wow, Nedians sure have advanced technology!

Since they still have enough time to spare, our friends decide to split up and look around Central City a little more. Claude decides to search for some information about Nedian history and customs (it could come in handy for an eventual degree in History of the Universe... who am I kidding? He's just trying to be ahead of the game so he can look cool). However, Claude can't figure out how the communication media work on this planet: there's no hint about something like the Internet existing here, nor do they appear to use phone-like devices... Do they use telepathy? Whatever, he doesn't get discouraged, and since there doesn't seem to be a library around here, he checks on the local press office; too bad they're all busy on covering the Ten Wise Men and won't listen to Claude's questions.

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Taken out of context, this is pretty funny; but one of his friends is apparently trying to hit on one of the girls over there, and needs support. Three on three is fair game, don't you think?

The more I explore this place, the more it reminds me of present-day Earth; the only difference is in how people dress up (and hair colour, but everybody knows you can find lots of green-haired people in Japan). What you can observe here is a mixture of typical Nedial fashion with Expellian outfits: basically, they're recycling NPC sprites. But how can you blame the developers of the game for this? They'd have to draw a lot of different characters to give the illusion of crowds, and it works quite well.

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This scene can be a bit confusing if you try to go in there first: if you enter the other door, Claude says 'A public restroom...' and doesn't go in (because, you know, RPG heroes don't need them). Of course he might not be able to tell which is the ladies' room because on Nede they use different distinguishing symbols from those of Earth to indicate that; and yet, if you try to get in after the first time, the same scene repeats itself. Claude never learns...

Nothing much to see around here; it might look like an incredible town to Rena and the Expellians, but Claude is more amazed at the thought that this kind of civilization existed billions of years ago. He's definitely interested in the history of Nede, though, and might do some research here and there if time allows it.

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I think this is just a case of lazy translation. While I can appreciate the fact that the theme of evolution is somehow still alive in Enix games, I believe 'evolution' is not the right term to use: 'progress' would be more appropriate.

Central City doesn't look that different from some modern towns of Earth (by modern I mean present-time Earth, not the one in-game, year 2452 or something), except for the lack of elevators. Chatting with random people, you can tell they're not overly worried about the return of the Ten Wise Men, maybe because of the long and peaceful - probably also uneventful - life they've lived until now.

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Why the sudden change in narration? This sort of reminds me of some old Point & Click Adventure game.

Taking their time to explore Central City a bit, our friends try to get used to the huge residential buildings, the crowded streets (well, not really, this town gave me a feeling if emptiness), and all the small technological facilities scattered about. 'This is really an incredible town' says Leon, as he looks around in marvel.

There are shops in the main square selling equipment and various items: it's curious how most of them could be found on Expel as well. The main difference is that you can finally buy weapons for Opera and Precis, since they have the technology to build them here. Apart from items, there's also a Skill Guild (they all look the same, even on Nede): you should have gotten all the skill sets on Expel, but they're still available here in case you missed some or couldn't afford them back then.

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In this game there's a good number of lines that sound excessively rethoric, but this one is probably the cheesiest of all.

Rena's had her talk with the mayor, and has put up with her newfound knowledge of being a Nedian, at least for the moment; she won't tell Claude what Narl said, but shows determination in her behaviour. The group shares her enthusiasm, each member for his or her own reasons, in following this mission.

The player is now finally given back control and has the opportunity to explore Central City and its surroundings (and, at long last, save the game), before going to North City to get a Synard: despite being very interested in seeing how such a beast looks like - not to mention riding it in the skies - we're only just arrived on a completely new planet, with lots of places to explore, people to meet, and treasure to loot! It's probably interesting to mention the fact that on Nede they all speak the same language they use on Expel (and Earth, for that matter); that, or everyone uses an automatic universal translator (pretty useful for the inhabitants of a planet which has cut off all of their communication channels with the rest of the universe). The air also seems about the same, and gravity too; the city, however, looks somewhat like Earth. Let's explore town a little bit...

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Why are they going that way? That's where the transporter they came through is, while Narl clearly said they can't use it to travel around Energy Nede. I'd also like to add that the mayor is leaving our heroes by themselves, without an escort or even just a guide showing them around. Man, this planet is lame: we're on a four-floor building and there are no elevators!

The mission briefing is over, and everyone is ready to leave (the wrong way!), but Narl still has something to tell Rena alone. You get to watch that scene only if you're playing Rena's story, and I honestly don't remember what they talk about, but you can surely imagine it's about Nede and Rena's origins.

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You've got to be kidding me! We're on the most technologically (well, and magically) advanced planet in the universe, and you say the best form of transportation is a flying animal!? Does it come with comfortable seats at least? Come on, you've got teleporters all over the place! And it gets even worse once the group is about to get one of those 'Heraldic life forms', just wait!

So, now that Claude and the others hae accepted to help the Nedians in their fight against the Ten Wise Men, Narl explains what they must do: or, rather, he remains mysterious about it, limiting himself to telling them where to go next. Since teleporters can't reach the places they're supposed to go, our heroes have to find means of transportation. Do we get an airship? That would be classic, but this game was made by Enix, while airships are typically Final Fantasy stuff (back then it was Squaresoft, before the merger with Enix), so no dice. I say that a flying beast is much better... Why are you looking at me like that? Ok, I know you didn't expect that, but I'm sure Narl has his reasons for that... right, Narl?

Narl: That is a meaningless question, you don't need an answer.

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They never really explained that in the end: what does Narl mean by 'powers of a different type', other than a ridiculous excuse for making Claude fight in place of regular Nedian soldiers? You know, maybe nowadays Nedians can't level up anymore, so Narl thought that getting a bunch of heroes from other planets and making them grind levels in their special 'dungeons' would be a good plan to fight the Ten Wise Men. That worked for me.

Right after their return to Nede (again, it's Energy Nede, so they haven't really come back), the Ten Wise Men have immediately seized property of one of the cities of the planet, Fienal: aside from having a nice and very apt name, I suppose the reason they chose it was because it's the only city on Energy Nede located beyond some weird-looking red energy shield which covers the rest of the planet, making it virtually inaccessible until they deactivate said shield. A brilliant tactician they must have with them, eh?

Narl has no idea what the Ten Wise Men are plotting (aside from conquering the universe), but he knows they have to be stopped, and as quickly as possible; he also has a good idea about how to trick our friends into helping them (yes, aside from that 'powers of different type' business)... But it seems our heroes are, indeed, heroes, and would certainly be unable to stand aside and do nothing while such evil men are afoot; therefore, Narl thinks it's best to save his trick for later, in case their faith decreases.

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That makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? I think the plot of Star Ocean 3 might have something to do with it. Also, small nitpick: Narl is saying the Ten Wise Men 'escaped and returned to Expel', but as far as we know, they had never been to Expel before. Or is Narl implying that they had? Somehow I doubt it.

Millions of years have passed since the Ten Wise Men were imprisoned in the 'Eternity Space' where time stands still, and the Nedians have been living in isolation from the rest of the universe so far. You might have noticed, though, that Rena is somehow an exception to this isolation: how did she get to Expel from Nede? That's a (uselessly contrived) plot point which will be revealed later on, towards the end of the game.

Now we can all see the evil Ten Wise Men have escaped from their Eternity Space prison (we have no idea where it is nor how it works), and somehow migrated to Expel with the Quadratic Sphere (the Sorcery Globe; we also have no idea where they got that). Their plan was to return to Nede (or, rather, get to Energy Nede) for some reason we are never really told about. And I was even hoping we would get some sensible answers regarding the plot... silly me.

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The Ten Wise Men battle against the forces of Nede... Aside from the ridiculous uniform worn by the Nedian soldiers, why is that the Nedians are represented in Super Deformed appearance, while the Ten Wise Men aren't?

The inhabitants of Nede lived their lives in peace, and had an important position in the galactic federation (I can't remember what it was exactly) thanks to their incredible knowledge. However, men with 'malice in their hearts' gathered and started using their powers for destruction: those were the Ten Wise Men, some of the most powerful beings in Nede and, consequently, in the whole universe. The Nedian forces had to gather all their powers to fight back, and once they had prevailed in the battle, they confined them in a special prison 'where time stands still'. The Nediands however realized that even their own power was too dangerous: were more people like the Ten Wise Men to come out, they'd become a threat to the entire universe. So they decided to move to Energy Nede, an artificial planet protected by a barrier, through which nobody and nothing could pass.

...I admit that when I played the game back then, I didn't find this story that corny; maybe it was because the whole game was so cliché that pushing it a little further in that direction went unnoticed to me. That was probably for the better, though, because it made certain extra scenes more worthwile. If you don't buy the story now it's fine, but it's not like the truth is a whole lot better: it's just less of a fairy tale and more of a down-to-Nede report, but still very cliché.

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Now, 'magic science' just doesn't sound right...

Narl starts narrating the history of his planet, Nede, and how its inhabitants were at the apex of civilization, knowledge and power throughout the whole universe (but even they would have been able to explain how Planet Stream works, I'm sure). Other than being quite a fascinating story (or boring, depending on how much in a hurry you are for going to save your game), there's an interesting detail about the planet's current state: it appears the planet our heroes are on now is actually Energy Nede, an artificial planet built by Nedians. The most important part about this, is that Nede, the original planet, doesn't exist anymore, as it was destroyed by the Nedians themselves after they had moved to Energy Nede, for reasons I'm explaining in the next post.

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I wonder why they got such a megalomaniac title, those guys; not that it's used very often, as they're usually referred to as the Ten Wise Men... But even then, they're noteworthy more for their destructive powers than their wisdom, so the name doesn't seem appropriate anyway.

After even the wise and knowledgeable Claude has given up figuring out what kind of device that thing in the middle of the valley could be, a very kind advice resounds in the air: 'Come inside please'. Our heroes realize it's someone speaking from a distance, and after a little bit of discussion, and explaining that this device is a 'transporter' (futuristic cabin which almost instantly teleports people through the ether, i'm sure you've heard of them), Rena ends up saying they can trust this guy. Everyone enters the transporter, and ends up in a dark, quiet room (not even a welcome party?), with a door that leads in the room you see in the screenshot.

Waiting for the party is Narl, the mayor of Central City, the largest town on Nede; or, rather, Energy Nede (we'll get back to it in the next post). He briefly explains what he supposes has happened that caused them to end up here, and then proceeds to enarrate some story about the ten guys responsible for Expel's disaster, commonly referred to as 'God's Ten Wise Men' (Ten Wise Men for short). It will be a while before you can save the game, so relax and listen to what he has to say.

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Very helpful insight, Claude, as always.

Following Rena's directions, our party is led to a breathtaking scenery; we should thank our favorite healer for these beautiful sights. Wait, what's that thing right in front of us? It looks way too elaborate and out of place to be a simple gazebo.

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She sure sounds confident, but I don't think it's ever explained how she can tell they have to go that way: either it's telepathy, or it's just Rena remembering that there was a safe place or something like that in that direction.

Claude now knows where they are, although he's still puzzled by how they got there, and by the fact that they're still alive and well; he probably should have stopped worrying about these small details after being beamed from Millocinia to Expel, if you ask me...

Well, could we be more lucky? Everyone is here and in good health (maybe except for the eventual wounds you got in that last fight against Berle), the place they've ended up in doesn't look dangerous, and Rena somehow knows where to go. I tell you, I've been through a lot of 2nd Discs in my gaming life, and this is by far the best situation you start in. Sure, there's that small detail about Expel having been blown away, but it's nothing a lame plot device couldn't fix; besides, I've already told you what I think of small details.

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That was pretty close for a guess, eh Claude?

Ok, we're finally on Disc 2 (well, we already were in the last post, but it didn't feel right to start it with just some dialogue by whoever-it-was). This is probably the first time Claude wakes up from a traumatic experience and doesn't find himself alone, so let's celebrate!

Claude wakes up Rena and meets with the others: apparently everyone is safe and sound, but where's this place? Heaven? Certainly it's too beautiful to be real (too bad we won't see much of it), and Expel was destroyed - although only Claude and the Tetragenes know - so they must be somewhere special. Then, all of a sudden, Rena declares, with an air of complete certainty, that this is Nede. Opera then remembers what those men said, that Rena is a Nedian, so she might remember this place (although there's something strange about it, we'll see why much later on).

Our heroes briefly try to make some sense out of what's happened to them, but the plot device through which they've come here is so cheesy that they're disgusted to even think about it. Now, where to go, what to do?

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Oh, so these villains are as cliché as Shin (or as any other bad guys in the whole game). I should make a Demotivational Poster with a patchwork of quotes like this, and add 'REGRET' as the caption.

...well, our heroes didn't really put up a show there, if you know what I mean. But you can't help it if there are so many invincible bosses in the game, Berle being the latest; he's so noble and kind though, running around the battlefield and trying to slash the party to death (if you're confused about this, I meant that he only uses easy-to-avoid melee attacks, so you can lure him with Claude and keep the others safe).

In case you were wondering, this is indeed a survival fight: after a couple of minutes the timer stops because we're close enough to Nede and impact is imminent. One of the ten men says they can now use their power to teleport themselves to the other planet, leaving Claude, Rena and their friends to die on an exploding Expel. The good news is that our heroes get mistakenly teleported along with them (figures...), only too far away for the evil guys to do anything about it; the bad news is... none, really, but if the player doesn't realize that the battle with Berle was a timed one, s/he'd get a Game Over, and would have to sit through all the dialogue before the battle. It's not as bad as the norm was back then regarding JRPGs and unskippable cutscenes, but it can get on your nerves because of the particular plot point you've reached.

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It's not like you were on a mission to save Expel from distruction; I'm sorry for your son though...

Ok, this final line sounds funny to me: is it wrong? By the way, science isn't powerless (ask Dr. Insano about that), it's just that technology can only get so far, and Heraldry is quite disappointing, as you can only use it to destroy, rarely to protect (finishing the game will prove it to you).

You would think Ronixis knew that main characters cannot die in the middle of a game... Actually, if you thought so, you would be underestimating our Commodore: you see, he's already been in a game (not exactly starring in it, but he was still pretty important), so he knows the rules. He's also quite knowledgeable about game mechanics in general, and about the innovations in this game in particular, so he feels it's very possible that the second Disc could simply sport new characters, who could perhaps inherit our heroes' abilities and stuff. This isn't standard fare in RPGs, but I suppose Ronixis deemed this game innovative enough to try such an interesting move.

And yet, he's still wrong: the plot might be interesting in some parts (especially the hidden plot points accessible towards the end), but the game still relies a lot (too much if you ask me) on plot twists, and it does it very seriously, causing it to sound bad most of the time. Well, the game also relies too much on inexplicable plot devices, but we'll get back to that in a post or two; for now, let's just leave the Commodore to his pain.

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Well, that was weird: I had always thought Rena's pendant and the Energy Stone were crystals already. Thanks for telling me, although ti doesn't quite explain what a Quadratic Key is used for.

Here is, in brief, what I've gathered about the plans of these men so far (I already know more about it, but this is what anyone who's played the game up to this point could assume):

• one of these guys notes that thanks to Rena coming here with a Quadratic Key, they can speed up the process that will allow them to return to Nede (heh, in a way Rena could be the indirect cause of Expel's destruction)
• from this I can postulate that the Quadratic Key, by reacting with the Quadratic Sphere, gives it enough power to alter Expel's orbit to collide with Nede
• from here I may also assume that the original plan of these ten men was to get hold of an Energy Stone and then crystallize it to obtain the Quadratic Key they needed
• which brings me to the Lacour Hope: Shin said that tricking humans into bringing the cannon to El was part of a plan, which would make sense, as they needed the Energy Stone, but on the ship he just seems to destroy the stone (this is just what it looks like to me).

So, in the end there are only three possibilities: Shin didn't actually destroy the Energy Stone, but brought it to the ten men for crystallization; I got it all wrong from the start (it's not easy when they don't reveal important details); the game's plot is inconsistent (pretty common in large, story-heavy games, but this was based on a novel, so it should be as consistent as Star Trek or something).

But this isn't really the time to worry about that now, since the planet's about to be destroyed. Let's fight bravely, for Expel's future!

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I don't know what to say... Is this guy laughing, or is he just coughing? Either way, it's funny, so I'll be sure to take another screenshot of him the next time we meet him.

Ok, so Claude's reasoning is that killing these men will somehow avert the collision and save Expel: I don't know if it was the spur of the moment or all the legends he'd heard about the Warrior of Light, but surely he couldn't seriously think that in a normal state of mind. The dark guy farther away from them (who we can assume is the leader), even humbly tells him that beating them won't change the fate of Expel, because it's too late. I was somehow surprised by such an answer myself: usually you'd get an evil laugh or two and a snide remark like 'As if you could beat us' (which, incidentally, is what everyone else does), but this man simply tells things how they are. Character development? Not as much as I'd hoped for, as you'll learn if you play through the whole game.