Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (77)

Is it just me, or does this sound a bit too ridiculous to be funny? Although now I get why this girl gets so much attention in town: it's neither because of her machine-geekyness nor for her temperament, but because of this house here. Yeah, the only existing Japanese old-style house on Expel.

So Precis gets Claude to her home to make him see the rest of her stuff, but not before asking him two very important questions: his age (if you recall, he's 19), and whether the blue-haired girl with him is his girlfriend (I guess the blue hair hate has spread throughout all the planet, it's not just me). Once she's made sure Claude is 'approachable' and 'available', Precis walks him into her home, only to find her father chatting with Rena inside.

After a rather unremarkable scene of misunderstandings and general embarassment (even that of the player), everyone joins at the table to talk about machines. Oh, about that, I don't really understand this fascination about geeky girls with robotic equipment like Precis, but I know that, about a year after Star Ocean 2 was released, another game sporting a girl much like her came out in Japan: I'm talking about the character of Area in 'Street Fighter Ex2 plus Alpha' (arcade and Playstation, 1999), who wears similar clothes and carries some robot arm to attack (but she uses rollerskates).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (76)

Precis is a pretty straighforward girl, or at least you may think so at first. She is quick enough to clarify her much peculiarly worded sentence, but I bet in her mind she's still walking that road.

Claude's plans have definitely changed, and the interest over the robot prevails; I guess they'll have to go to the Sanctuary of Linga after all. Meanwhile he has to endure some unusual, I'd say undesired, company for just a little while; or so he hopes, for I have specific plans regarding Precis, and I'm less than likely to be stopped in putting them to action, unlike Claude.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (75)

Like Precis, I still don't get that radio-controlled business; I always thought a car was a transportation device with wheels, and Bobot has none. Please let me know whether radio-controlled cars with feet exist. Not to mention that we can't be sure Bobot is radio controlled, it could be an automaton, or it could work with higher frequency waves; and does Claude have a built-in radio receiver in his head? I thought so.

Claude is desperately trying to achieve at least one of two objectives: either find out more about that Bobot, like who built it and how, or get Precis out of his way so that he can continue on with his original plan of kidnapping Bowman's wife. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to be getting anywhere.

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Apparently this girl was more than a little concerned about the name she's given to her robot; however I don't really know in what way a name like 'Bobot' could be considered a BAD name. Maybe it's just my ignorance in the matter.

Before going to the Sanctuary of Linga, our adventurers split up: while the girls are looking around town, some in search of an easier-to-come-by linguist, some looking to buy additional Skills, Claude proves once again to be the true leader of the group, thanks to his wonderful plan. He'll go to Bowman's alone and lure him out with the excuse that some other person is in trouble: while he's busy with attending his favorite hobby, Claude will kidnap her wife Nineh and blackmail him as needed.

However, despite his cunning plan, Claude hadn't considered a somewhat unpredictable situation: right in front of Bowman's house is the girl they saw when entering the town, with her radio-controlled car, robot or whatever beside her. Since he would have looked suspicious this way, Claude gives up his plan and resumes his interst in that little blue machine.

Meet Precis F. Neumann (I think the F. stands for 'Von') and her favorite toy, Bobot! At first Precis thinks Claude is trying to pick her up, but after the disappointing revelation that he's more interested in Bobot she becomes even more intrigued with him. More as it develops.

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (73)

Are you kidding me!? Do you realize that the monsters in the Sanctuary of Linga, which is precisely where you want us to go, is home to ferocious monsters numerous levels beyond those found in Cross cave? If we were to get in there with the same experience levels and equipment we had back then in Cross, we'd surely be slaughtered on our first random battle! This is why I don't want Bowman as a party member (well, not really, there are other reasons).

Claude seems to have found a linguist who could decipher the ancient writings found in Cross Cave, but his assistant kicks him out because the professor is busy, and since there won't be an opportunity too meet with him in less than one month, Rena cleverly suggests we should ask someone he knows to get in touch with him sooner. Well, the guy in the screenshot is our man: Bowman Jean (despite the name, he carries no bow, nor does he bow at anyone, given his character), a University reject... er, dropout who owns a pharmacy; he's very altruist and helps people in trouble (but not our heroes of course, he thinks they're deceiving him), is very active and knows martial arts, and always carries with him an endless supply of poisonous pills (please don't ask me why).

Long story short, Bowman (I'm pretty persuaded his first name has been switched with his surname) could trust the adventurers if they proved themselves by exploring the Sanctuary of Linga, a natural cavern with monsters included, and coming back with rare herbs, possibly of a kind never seen before. He must have been smoking those herbs, because:

• How can there be herbs in a cavern? Where do they get enough light to live? You know, photosynthesis and all...
• I realize the place isn't as 'labyrinthic' as Cross Cave, but it's way larger and teeming with powerful monsters; this guy wants us dead, plain and simple

But then again, we ARE on a planet where people cast magic spells, the day-night cycle is plot-driven, and giant bouncy bunnies happily hop around plains, green hills and mountains.

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I don't know what to make of him, this sentence sounds so empty... I know! It's a code! Hmm, let's see... If we only take the capital letters from his text box, we have 'SIUL', which might be 'LUIS' backwards... But wait! The letters might refer to their respective positions in the alphabet, which would give us the sequence '19-9-21-10'; now, if we take the letters corresponding to those positions in the text box, we have... 'scuo'... Nah, something's wrong. Ok, let's try backwards... 'htsi'... That rings a bell, maybe it's an anagram... You know what, let's stop here, alright?

Linga really is full of eccentric people: as one of the townspeople tells Claude, there's a man and his daughter who always tinker with strange machines, and there's a pharmacist who's always trying to help with other people's problems... Really weird, I tell you! The group even happened to have a taste of them on their arrival: there was this running around chasing after what Claude and Opera recognize as a radio-controlled car (but it looked like a small, round two-legged robot to me).

Funny Bits in Star Ocean 2 (71)

What exactly is that? What kind of place would ground coloured like that suggest? Desert sand? Marshes? I honestly can't tell. Even when I enter a battle while on that ground, the landscape doesn't tell me anything. I don't think anyone in nearby towns tells you anything about it either.

Onwards to Linga! As strong as our group of adventurers is right now, they could afford not to stop by Lacour Castle and keep going (also, Claude had bad memories of his stay there). Even after all this time our heroes had spent journeying around, it seems that the king is still busy, so it would be pointless to visit.

In terms of sights, Lacour is pretty boring when compared to Cross (and I didn't even go to a certain mountain zone in Cross either; it's a short trip, but it's beautiful), so we won't make side-trips. Here's the information we've gathered so far on our next stop, the town of Linga: apparently it's host of the only University on Expel, and it's also home to some of the most eccentric people around, including that little girl Claude had saved from Zand's minions. I wonder if it's also Leon's hometown...