MARREND'S PROFILE

I can usually get past Megaera in Hades, but, I don't think I've ever gotten past the area beyond her. I haven't played in quite some time, so, I can't recall what build I had to get however the furthest I've gone in that game.

As a point of comparison with other rouge-likes, I'll speak a bit about my time with Dead Cells. My better runs there saw maybe two boss fights before dying. I haven't managed to get a clear run on that game either, but, I also feel I generally get further in that game than I ever did in Hades because of that.

Last time, the Elsa, and it's crew, were checking out a place called Rennes-le-Chateau. Unfortunately, U-TIC/Ormus also had interest there, and a fight commenced. During such, the Elsa was damaged, and it's position lost. Even the 100-Series realians on the Durandal couldn't get it's position! However, the game, once again...

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...switches gears, back to Shion. That joke now firmly out of my system (it was certainly bound to happen eventually in the context of this LP), the cutscene is of Shion setting off in the Dinah. The cutscene follows her into space as it plays a certain song. The melody is something of a recurring musical theme throughout the game, yet, it is something of a shock to not be able to find this specific instance of the melody on any OST listing I can find on YouTube? I'm certainly no expert on the issue, but, I'll let it go for now, as it is sure to pop up again.

Be that as it may, we have Shion narrating as a song plays, the text appearing on the screen as she does. On one hand, I'm not sure if this way to get players back up to speed, or get new players into speed, could have been handled better, considering, again, the series was once supposed to be a story that ran 6 games, had to be cut down to 3 games. On the other hand, I can't help but to wonder if players saw this as a potential red flag for the game?

To put it another way, we're probably not even an hour-and-a-half into this game, and it's already relying on an equivalent to Xenogears' Disk 2 Black Room to relay it's narrative. There is even a sense that there was something between Episode 2 and 3 in this narration. For the sake of argument, and completeness, I will put the narration in a hide-tag, so as to allow the reader the option to see if they share this impression.



A bit more blat on this...


...before moving on with the game. I don't specifically recall the other games in this series having a title card, but...



...here one is for this game. When the game gives us control of Shion, she's on board a space port that orbits the Federation capital of Fifth Jerusalem. The song here...



...is among the most chill songs I've heard, and among my favorites from this soundtrack. As something of an aside, I find it kinda funny that the name of the Immigrant Fleet Patriarch that was in Episode 2 gets a name (Sergius) within the context of this game, and, like, not the game he was actually in. In any event, before we get to town proper, there's a few people we can talk to. For the most part, the game uses floating/pop-up text for these NPCs, and do not disrupt the flow of play. Which is a nice touch. However, if you do which to engage into a more involved conversation, the people here provide a bit of an in-game tutorial for that. This system is kinda similar to that of Wild Arms 3's Activate Selected Keyword system. In that game, you press square to activate ASK. If there is more than one topic to ASK about, which happens on maybe two occasions in that game, you can select one to ASK about with the D-Pad. Regardless, you proceed with the conversation with cross, just like normal. Here, it's more streamlined, where you only have to press square.

That aside, there's no services here, except for the elevator down. The secretaries at the front desk say that the trip down to the surface would take a matter of four hours, and that means we get a cut-scene.

The scene starts innocuously enough, with an external view of the elevator, the camera panning downwards to the planet surface. I don't pretend to know how tall this building is, or how it was even constructed, but, for the trip to take four hours gains a bit more context, and more believable. However, the background becomes all red, and it's Gaignun, of all people, to speak. The screen pulsates, and in a frightened voice, says to get back. The screen pulses again, and he pleads with whatever to stop, and says that he's going to refuse to acknowledge it. Which, of course, doesn't work out for him at all, as he speaks the name "U-DO". Oh, great.

Another voice is now heard, that of Citrine. Dr. Yuriev eventually comes to his senses, telling the URTV that he was "having some trouble with his son". As a quick reminder, I guess the best way to say this is that Yuriev implanted his being into Gaignun, and can take control of his body from time-to-time. Citrine's report continues, and it sounds like a certain person has an update. This person is Sellers, which is a name that hasn't come up terribly often in this narrative, but, he'll be showing up a bit more in this game. I usually associate him with U-TIC because we first saw him talking to Marguils, even if only briefly so, in Episode 1. I definitely made a note of it in Episode 2.

Anyway, Sellers is before a console, and there's a mech to his left. If you set aside the nonsense, technical or otherwise, he reports that there are two problems. One is with the pilot, and the other with the power system. Sellers explains that the system was initially configured for an Ormus priest, so the difference of values could be explained that way. As for the power supply, again, the original design was to match the original Zohar. He's not saying it won't run, which is what both Yuriev and the player might be expecting to hear. No, the system generates too much power, and cannot be easily stopped. Sellers states plainly that if they at least had assistance from Vector, things could be easier for them.

The conversation turns a bit toward the replacement for KOS-MOS, but, Yuriev isn't particularly interested in this topic. Even if it is another Vector plot, it can still be used as an anti-Gnosis weapons system. As for the Merkabah, it sounds like there's no issues there. Which, uh, doesn't sound good? The conversation moves again to finding an opponent. Citrine reports that they already have one, and Yuriev seems to think it's the perfect opponent to silence Vector.

The scene shifts to the lab that KOS-MOS has moved to. This is largely a fluff piece, with the only relevant information to be had is that the opponent for the upcoming weapons demonstration is none other than KOS-MOS. Given the previous scene, I suppose that makes a certain amount of sense.

Scenes done for now, our immediate objective is to meet with Allen at the Mobius Hotel. There's a shop to interact with before we do, though, I don't have a lot of money to spend at this juncture. There's a bit of a blockage between us and the hotel, but, it's nothing Vector's Vaporizer Plug-inTM can't handle! As a reward for our efforts, we are given a Segment File.

The Mobius Hotel has...



...it's own little jingle playing. The quasi-classical vibe of this piece gives the location a feel of a higher-class hotel. Though, this could be just an image the establishment is attempting to project to potential customers. Ether way, we meet up with Allen at the front desk, after blowing up what objects I can. The way Allen starts of this conversation...

Allen: C-Chief! It's good to see you again.

...tells me he has not changed one iota, and is just as nervous around her as always.

Shion: Hey, can you stop calling me "Chief"? I'm no longer part of Vector. You can call me Shion.
Allen: What? Oh, um, Shi-Shi-Shi-... Chief. It's hard to change what I call you after all this time.

Yep, that's Allen, in a nutshell, right there. Allen has already paid for the room, and suggests Shion take a breather before meeting him back, and, even if he doesn't dare say it, go out on something of a date? Shion has a number of things to talk to Allen, herself, and suggests she go up with him. Shion does not mean to imply anything suggestive by this invite, but, Allen is, regardless, taken aback by the comment. There's a few more objects we can destroy for fun or for items before riding the lift. Once in the room, there's more than a bit of small talk here before a call comes from Miyuki. She fumbles a bit, Shion reminding her that they haven't seen each other in six months. Miyuki, Shion, and the player know better, but, Allen is clearly supposed to be left in the dark. To distract him further, Miyuki taunts/kids Allen a bit on being alone with Shion.

At some point, Shion asks if Miyuki had something to call Allen about, which reminds her that they need the weapon details for tonight. Of course, this is actually the first time Allen heard that KOS-MOS is even going to be involved in the demonstration tomorrow. Any thought he might have had in regards to that "date" idea, Miyuki has thrown out the window. However, Shion has interest in seeing this demonstration. It might not be the kind of date Allen was looking for, and Shion probably doesn't see it that way at all, but, it's something. There's some arrangements to be made, but, Allen seems to think that he can get her in as a special observer, or some-such. That, and she left the company on relatively good terms, though, given Shion's propensity to breach protocol on a whim, maybe those terms aren't as good as they could be.

Shion takes a nap, and it becomes evening/night. We hear the bleeping of an incoming call. On the other end is chaos. The two beat around the bush for a while, before the topic of the Elsa comes up. Even then, chaos mostly avoids the topic, asking if they could meet somewhere to speak on a more face-to-face basis. They agree to meet at the Cafe Stream, which is one screen south of the Hotel Mobius. In the background, you can hear...



...this song. I'm going to have to backtrack a bit here, because this melody is the one I spoke of before. As a point of comparison, let me post both cutscenes...



...and hear for yourself the similarities, and differences.

Be that as it may, the report on the TV is that a Federation fleet has engaged an Ormus fleet. Now, somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but, isn't "Ormus" a term that supposed to be hidden in the shadows? Whatever happened to the Immigrant Fleet? How did it come to pass that not even did the terms become interchangeable but, the term "Ormus" become preferred over that of "Immigrant Fleet"? I can understand the player-controlled characters, and their allies, to make a change in nomenclature, given the events of Episode 2. However, when speaking of the general populace, I just cannot see this happening any time soon? Maybe this switch is more for the player's benefit, than anything else. I dunno, I just find it somewhat humorous that the term "Immigrant Fleet" was only relevant in the context of Episode 2, and almost the exact moment our party's ES' stood on the Ormus Stronghold, the term "Immigrant Fleet" fell out of favor.

As this news story finishes, so begins chaos' explanation. We can skip most of this, as we saw, first-hand, what happened. Despite knowing that Shion has quit Vector through Jin, he still wants her to know what's going on. Her initial thought is to contact Allen, making it sound like we could get clearance to use KOS-MOS through him. The main snag in this plan is that KOS-MOS is going to be busy tomorrow, though, I also get this particular impression that there should be paperwork to file to be granted permission to utilize a still-in-development top-secret government anti-Gnosis weapon like KOS-MOS. Not that such red tape ever stopped Shion, but, Allen seems to be slightly more of a stickler for such things.

Another news report blares, this time, about Gnosis attacking outlying colonies. Over 100 systems have gone silent, and it doesn't sound like any attempt that has been made to protect what is left of humanity has done any amount of good. The two talk some more, but, another headache attacks Shion, eventually passing out.

A red screen. The self-same we saw before with Gaignun. She can quickly identify U-DO's waves, and hears a voice call her. We do as well, and they have... something of a conversation? It's cut rather short, but, I guess the best way to describe it is a meet-and-greet. Sure, Shion tells the voice her name, and asks for an identity of the voice, but, gets no response. Or, at least, the next thing she realizes, she's in her room, laying on the bed. Guess chaos brought her up?

Not even a half-minute after telling herself she needs to apologize to chaos, she gets a call from Allen. It takes her a small moment to realize what time it is, and that she might be late for the demonstration. Allen's been waiting in the lobby for goodness knows how long, so, we go to meet up with him, after hitting up the handy-dandy save point in her room.

There's a small conversation in the lobby, concerning the takeover of KOS-MOS by the military. Dimitri Yuriev has apparently seized control of that as well, so, that makes him the effective lead behind both KOS-MOS, and the mech we saw earlier with Sellers. Either way, our target area is the CAT (Consolidated Advanced Technology) Testing Ground. After a bit of a fluff piece, the game gives us control of Shion again, and we have a rather...



...ominous theme playing, with a PA announcement...

PA: The public demonstration is about to begin. All related sections, please transfer security level to A.

...blaring every so often. The event starts off with a unit that looks...



...exceptionally similar to KOS-MOS, going up against a bunch of Gnosis. Allen calls this unit T-elos, which, has it's own callback way back in Episode 1, within the context of a U-TIC battleship.

snippet
There is a room in here...

...that will be of interest, well, a lot later.

So, let's take a brief pause to reflect on this. For one, U-TIC had plans to construct a unit similar to KOS-MOS. It doesn't surprise me that they learned of the existence of KOS-MOS, considering their spy network. To say nothing about Commander Cherenkov reporting directly to Commander Margulis, and that Marguils knew that there was some kind of anti-Gnosis weapon on board the Woglinde during their talks. That U-TIC placed value on an anti-Gnosis weapon doesn't surprise me either, as they are a threat to all of humanity. However, given the evidence literally standing before us now, either those plans were leaked, or Dimitri was able to mysteriously and miraculously seize those plans. As he has a funny tendency to do.

Regardless of by what means T-elos was constructed, or by who, she puts on quite the show, despite her output being limited to 36%. I gotta love how Shion puts a pair of glasses on...



...to record and/or analyze the battle. This is it, kids. This is the last instance Shion wears glasses. As this cutscene is designed to impress the player as to the capabilities of T-elos, it would be remiss if I didn't post the FMV here.



Shion asks, and rightfully so, who designed this unit? Allen certainly doesn't know, and relays that not even the staff were informed of where she comes from. Still, he is able to point out that the person in charge of development is Roth Mantel.

Switch to Dimitri and Sellers, looking at a screen of Roth. A soldier walks in and salutes, with Dmitri asking if anything was found on this guy. Apparently, nothing, aside from the resume provided by him. Sellers knows everyone of any notoriety in his field, and doesn't recognize him. Which certainly places a mysterious light on this guy.

Switch back to the arena. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the main event! In this corner, we have, the original, super-top-secret anti-Gnosis weapon! Give it up for the other leading lady of the Xenosaga series...



...KOOOOOOOOS-MOOOOOOOS! In the other corner, the experiment, the unstable, let's hear a round or two for...



...OOOOOMEEEEGAAA REEEES NOOOOVEAAAAAAAAAA!

Er, sorry, for this terrible attempt at a wrestling joke/reference. Be that as it may, Shion almost flips out on seeing the opponent. Omega? How is that even possible!? However, there's a small cutscene at both KOS-MOS' lab and Omega's lab before the fight commences. KOS-MOS starts off with her standard-issue gatling gun before moving to a pulse rifle. However, she took a solid hit from Omega's fist, which send her flying through multiple pillars before hitting the arena wall. KOS-MOS wasn't done yet, so, she flew over Omega, firing off the X-Buster as she does. Still not done, she gives the thing a good, old fashioned drop-kick, which sends that unit down, maybe knocking it a meter in the process.



However, this is when the unit starts to malfunction. There's a quick cut-scene to Omega's team before going back to the arena, were Omega fires off it's eye laser at the ceiling several times as it gets back up. The laser fires a few more times before KOS-MOS takes a direct hit from the laser, though, it looks like she put up a shield to absorb at least some of the damage. However, the force of the blow sends her flying again, this time, right up against Shion's window. KOS-MOS falls from her position, as Omega continues on it's rampage.



Another cut to Omega's team, as they desperately try to disable the unit before casualties start mounting. Which they manage in due time. I would like to take a brief moment here to note that among the staff for Omega in these scenes is none other than Contact Subcommittee member Juli Mizrahi. We'll get back to her in a moment. For now, it's back to Shion and Allen, and the opportunity for the game to introduce us to Roth Mantel face-to-face. If I must be honest, he comes off as a bit of a jerk, with how blatantly sarcastic his is in saying that he's "sorry about KOS-MOS".

The pair leave the arena, and meet with Juli in the hall, by an escalator. There is a conveniently placed door here too, and they decide to occupy the room behind it to talk. There's a bit of fluff here, as one might imagine, but, at some point, a person enters the room who looks...



...oddly familiar? I suppose, since this series has a a character that looks strikingly like Elly, it also having a character that looks strikingly like Fei isn't terribly surprising. Though, this isn't the first time we've seen him. That was during the ending sequence of Episode 1. However, we've not seen him since, but, Juli introduces us to him as Abel. There isn't a character called Cain in this narrative, as there was in Xenogears. That said, I can't help but to think that the reference being made here is more towards that of Xenogears, where Abel was among the first incarnations of "Fei", than the biblical story of Cain and Abel. However, I cannot entirely rule out the possibility that such a reference is also happening here.

He doesn't say anything, but, stares at a crayon, or like object, on the table. Juli goes through a few motions with him before handing over the object, where he proceeds to use to draw a rather scarily accurate portrait of Nephilim on the floor. Shion questions how he would know what Nephilim looks like, but, that line of inquiry is shortly cut by a call to Juli to report in regards to Omega's performance, perhaps among other things. She suggests to Shion to visit the Vector lab and visit her old comrades, but, Shion is a little ambivalent about that, for, perhaps, good reason. Still, she thanks Juli for smoothing things over with security. However, before I continue, I'll trek back to the save point in town to take a brief breather.

The cutscene that happens in the Vector lab is largely fluff, and not worth recounting too many details of. Though, somehow, Allen manages to score a date with Shion tomorrow at 7PM? Well, se how long that holds up. Though, the team does get a visit from Roth Mantel, who continues to be a jerk, coming by to inform them of a decision that KOS-MOS is being scrapped, and all development priority is to be given T-elos, instead. This is a rather crushing blow to this team, and I wonder if Allen will have the heart to say anything to Shion about this.

For now, all we can do is return back to the hotel. Activating the elevator triggers a cutscene. Here, Shion is talking with Doctus, feeding her with a recording of T-elos's demonstration battle. Her hope is that Doctus, or maybe Scientia as an organization, could extract data from this footage, and maybe get some answers in regards as to where she comes from, and who made her. Of course, Shion has suspicions of Vector's involvement, just based on looks alone.

Doctus has a revelation to relay as well. At this juncture, she only knows there's a program Vector has been using for the past 100 or so years, probably to search for something, and it has the phrase "Canaan" attached to it as a keyword. There isn't enough evidence to suggest the realian of the same name has anything to do with this system, but, it might be another avenue of investigation.

After Shion gets off the phone, or the equivalent thereof in this setting, she gets a visit by Nephilim, of all people. She starts off noting that Grimore only wanted to find her, but, what happened instead was what has been referred to as the Gnosis phenomenon. She notes that the phenomenon that is happening now actually has nothing to do with Lemegeton.

Nephilim: A certain being is leading this universe to destruction.
Shion: Destroy the universe? Who would do that?
Nephilim: A sad individual, who continues to exist for his own atonement. He hopes for happiness of the one important to him, that that will bring suffering to many.

Gee, Nephilim, that really narrows the field of individuals. Then, there's this gem later on...

Nephilim: Shion, the only one who knows where we are headed is KOS-MOS. The only one who can open KOS-MOS' heart is you. So, please...

...before fading away back into the aether. Or wherever it is she comes from. While Shion isn't quite aware of it at the moment, there's just a tiny, small, infinitesimal issue with anything involving KOS-MOS. The next scene has Nephilim talking to choas for a bit, with a cello or violin sampling of that "I Love You Sincerly" song I referenced earlier. Nephilim is apologetic that she was unable to tell Shion some truth. I highly doubt the truth she's speaking of here has anything to do with KOS-MOS' condition, though, that is certainly an object of information that would be painful for Shion to hear. Regardless of what the nature of the information is, they talk about how it's sometimes better to not know the truth, but, there are times that the truth seeks the person out, rather than the other way around.

The game cuts to Juli and Canann, with Cannan reporting that there's nothing suspicious about the data concerning Roth Mantel. He's checked with Vector, and that came out with nothing as well. Juli surmises that Yuriev likely did the same thing. Which, by all accounts, he did. As for the Elsa, Canaan figures that they need a device whose output is on the same level as the phase transfer cannon on Omega. Which, yeah, that is not going to happen at all.

Canaan pulls some technical maneuvering here, noting that rescuing the Elsa is impossible with current Federation technology, but that doesn't mean said technology doesn't exist. Another weapon is capable of breaking through the hypersphere. KOS-MOS' Tertiary Weapons System. Juli thinks Canaan has his situational analysis circuits miswired, as both of them are very much aware that KOS-MOS is slated for disposal. Canaan reminds Juli that the Elsa, disappeared in a region of space that was under martial law, performing a task that was not cleared by any government body. They were there under the radar, and therefore, the government cannot recognize that it's in danger, or was even there. That it effectively doesn't exist to them. He then goes on to say that if you want to rescue something that doesn't exist, one must accept a certain amount of risk. So, the idea he's basically getting across here, is we mount a secret rescue mission to extract KOS-MOS, and she helps us rescue the Elsa.

In our next cut, we have Marguils talking to Heinlein. If you recall from Episode 2, this is the Immigrant Fleet Cardinal who is funding the U-TIC organization. This is the guy giving Marguis his orders, and the orders this time is to abandon Omega. Marguils is absolutely flabbergasted by this order. To his understanding, Omega was originally theirs, so, how can they simply abandon it? The only illumination that Heinlein gives is that Omega has returned to it's rightful master. Which is a little confusing, as Omega is under Federation jurisdiction. Or, more specifically, the jurisdiction of Dimitri Yuriev, and the Salvator faction. Once more, Heinlein says Marguils should not question him, but, one can't help but to sense that the seed of doubt must be growing in his mind.

Cut to the Dammerung, and Wilhelm's office, the Compass of Order on his desk. The report from the Red Testament is that all preparations are complete. The conversation certainly goes past this point, but, I'll be damned if it makes any kind of sense, and quote-blocking it likely won't help matters either.

Cut to the Vector lab. Allen exits into the hall, depressed, wondering how he's supposed to explain that KOS-MOS is slated for disposal to Shion. Juli catches up to him, and asks if he's got Shion's personal contact info, as it concerns KOS-MOS's imminent disposal. Juli assures him that she won't let them do it, and is exactly why she wants to contact Shion in the first place.

Cut back to Shion's room in the Mobius Hotel. Doctus has watched the footage, and has found some interesting tidbits concerning T-elos. It's not what is there, but what isn't there. No relevant information was found in any database. Everything from the official project proposal to the estimated budget is a complete blank. As for records for Roth Mantel, there are none. Doctus then posits a query to Shion. Is it possible to transfer KOS-MOS directly through the UMN? The answer is effectively no. Why does she ask this? About a week ago, a transport ship docked at one of Fifth Jerusalem's ports. Cargo records report a total of 3751 tons at time of docking. Upon departure, the mass was 3750.79 tons. With a regular crew size of three, this leads Doctus to conclude that something was dropped off from that ship.

Doctus goes on to explain that even if there was a government secret, there would be some kind of log indicating what was being dropped off. This time? No such thing. The mass for the bare minimum equipment required to maintain KOS-MOS is on the order of around 200kg. I don't pretend to be an expert here in regards to how many kilograms are in a ton, being separate units of measurements and all. However, the obvious intent is for the 0.21 ton difference is close enough to the mass for KOS-MOS' maintenance equipment minimum. They float the idea that Ormus has some involvement in this project as well. Given the screencap above from Episode 1, and that Ormus is tied to U-TIC, they probably did, but, now I kinda have to question what kind of involvement they had, and why they would work with either Vector, or Dimitri, in any capacity. Doctus suggests that they could be pushing T-elos into the open to hide something else, but, what that "something" could be, who knows.

Soon after, Miyuki joins the call, and it's time for a reveal about Shion's father. Doctus presents a record of the U-TIC Organization some 15 years ago. Which would place it approximately in the same time-frame as the Miltian Conflict. Shion rattles off that her father worked for the Federal Advanced Inspection Bureau during that period. The person appointed to Miltia as the Federation's government inspector was, of course, Suou Izuki. Part of his job was to inspect U-TIC, and would likely have some amount of contact with Joachim Mizrahi, who has taken the brunt of the blame for said Miltian Conflict. Miyuki attempts an upbeat angle, saying that this doesn't mean they conspired with each other in summoning the Gnosis, but, Shion is unconvinced. Though, it doesn't help that Miyuki's attempt at humor puts her father into the light of an incompetent bureaucrat.

A notice for an incoming call from Allen, which Shion attempt to take, but, another headache attacks, and falls unconscious again, just as the call goes through. When Shion regains consciousness, Allen is sitting by her. He initially passes this off as being the closest, but, can't help himself.

Allen: Of course, even if we were a million light years apart, I'd still be here in a flash.

Allen had a doctor over here, and the diagnosis was that it was likely overexertion. Shion agrees with this assessment, saying that a lot happened today. At this point, Allen relays that Juli would like to meet with Shion on the Durandal tomorrow, but, is worried about Shion's health. Shion, naturally, insists that she is fine, but, realizes that a meeting with Juli might turn into a matter that would interfere with their date. Allen does his best, and says that a meeting with Juli's more important than their date. Shion then suggests they can go out for a bit now. Allen is quick enough to agree. I hit up the save point here before moving on.

It might not be exactly what Allen was hoping to do with her. Still, having a bite on a promenade overlooking a section of the city is, perhaps, the closest thing he's come to being on a date with Shion. However, he gets a little clumsy, and spills some of the food on the bench.

Shion: We almost waster a magnificent dinner.
Allen: Magnificent? It's just prosciutto.
Shion: Come on. A single thought can change the world. Even fast food can become an elegant dinner.

Shion gets a sense of deja-vu here, and is reminded of a date she had with Kevin back in the day. However, this idea of "a single thought can change the world" has been spouted by Nephilim numerous times in the past, and came up during her talk with choas earlier. Might come up again.

The scene shifts to Canaan sitting at a workstation, minding his own business. At least until he detects the presence of Doctus, her invisibility shielding of no use in his presence. She cuts right to the chase, and asks him who he is. Canaan is dismissive, as he gave her his personal data some time ago. That's not what she was referring to, though. No, she's referring to the matter of "program Canaan".

Doctus: Program Canaan, a surveillance program listed in the records of top secret Vector data. It's programmed into your mind.
Canaan: Program Canaan? You're bluffing. That keyword doesn't exist in my database.
Doctus: Are you going to play dumb? What is it you're trying to hide so badly?
Canaan: Wait. Hold one. I really don't know. There really is a program with that name?

Talk about a well-kept secret! Doctus chooses to believe Canaan is telling the truth, for now, and hands over a data disk, which contains what data on the program she has, leaving Canaan with the task of verifying the data. I'm sure he's curious about it now. Doctus leaves, warning him that if they get in her way, even if it's a subconscious action driven by that program, she won't hesitate to stop him.

A new day dawns, and an alarm blares in Shion's room at the Mobius Hotel. The meeting with Juli is at hand, but, let's use that save point before we get hit with a plot hammer, if not worse. For what it's worth, the trip back to the orbital platform has no cut-scene intermissions. However, you can bet there's cutscenes after boarding the Durandal.

Jr, MOMO, Ziggy, and Jin make up the welcoming committee. The relationship between Shion and Jin is as rocky as ever. After that awkwardness, the game cuts to the bridge, where Juli is flanked by Miyuki and Canaan. Juli doesn't beat around the bush, and asks if Shion has heard about KOS-MOS. Allen asks Juli to tell her the news, and Shion takes it with denial. Which, frankly, was Allen's initial reaction as well, and needed to see the paperwork for the truth to sink in. Shion doesn't get that luxury, but, there's business to discuss.

Juli pulls up a picture of the hypersphere that the Elsa came into contact with last session, with Jr getting Shion up to speed. When Juli mentions that directing a high-output weapon at a specific point could break the hypersphere, Jr wonders if such a task is even possible. However, Shion recognizes that KOS-MOS might be able to use her phase transfer unit, and is part of her tertiary weapons system. Allen takes the position Juli once had, and asks how they are able to use KOS-MOS at all, if she's been slated for scrap. To say nothing about getting permission/clearance for her tertiary weapons system. However, Juli fully plans to "steal" KOS-MOS. The detail concerning the tertiary weapons system might come later.

Shion is totally in on this plan. The party is to move tonight, but, of course, Shion gets another headache attack, and keels over. Cut to the residential district of the Durandal, as Allen comes out of a room all tired. Jin's there to swap with him, but, Allen, perhaps taking a page from Shion, insists that he's fine, expressing interest in the examination made on her. Of course, the prognosis is "probably exhaustion, or something," from what Jin is telling us. The conversation Jin has with Shion isn't that important, but, relays that Jin had an inkling Shion was working with Scientia.

Back on the orbital platform, Shion assures Juli she's fine. The conversation goes beyond this, but, is mostly fluff. After she leaves, Jr and chaos meet up with Shion, and agree to meet up at the hotel lobby before launching their rescue attempt. I take the save point in the south side of town, just to be on the safe side.

The game unlocks the Skill Line menu option, and gives a bit of a tutorial on how one goes about learning skills in this game. Well, it's a tree in a technical sense, in that there are exactly two branches to travel down. For Shion, she has a Support branch, which largely includes buffs and debuffs, with a few single-target attacks thrown in for good measure. Her "Attacker" branch focuses more on, well, attacks, with break damage options on the path. After this, Allen goes, "I'll give you my skill points" which amount to 20. This isn't enough to buy even the cheapest skill on her tree, but, I suppose it's the thought that counts.

The game forces Jr and Miyuki into the battle party, putting everyone else on reserve. No offense to Miyuki, but, she'll be benched in favor of Jin. Of course, it's here that we turn on the code for skill points per battle to max everyone out with the skills that they can purchase. There's a save point and shop plate available for us to use before accessing the tram that will take us in, but, there's nothing here that we could buy that we couldn't buy before.

Okay, there has been quite a bit of context and setup up by the game for this dungeon for being the first "real" dungeon in this game. The music for this area...



...has an appropriate feel. However, if you thought that there would be stealth mechanics, I think the closest thing we get is getting the drop on enemies through the trap system. I also find it kinda funny that the footfall sound effect is pretty loud while running/walking on the grating, but, enemies don't necessarily react to that. To be fair, we haven't seen stealth mechanics in this series since Ziggy's infiltration sequence way the hell back in Episode 1, and if you ask me, this is fine.

After the first area, one can overhear the PA system make the following announcement.

PA: If you have seen the pilot of Omega Res Novae, please contact security immediately.

I always quirked my eyebrow at this, because if you know who the pilot of Omega Res Novae is, you're either a security risk yourself, or at least have some manner of high-level security access. The common Joe will not know who the pilot of Omega is, which makes this announcement just... weird.

That, and the fact that Abel is clearly a callback to Fei, and if Abel is missing, that fires off all kinds of red flags in my head. Though, in this instance, the red flags aren't issues with the game, but the fact that Id had a funny tendency to get a turn at the wheel when Fei is "missing". I suppose we'll see if Abel shares this circumstance with Fei. It would be really really bad news if he did.

Further in is a tram platform. One tram takes us to a dead end. Another takes us to a place that asks for a key, so, at least that's a place we'll come back to later. The other tram takes us to the rest of the dungeon, where we are met with a cut scene of Mikuyi failing at her job. The elevator that would take us right to the research wing is locked out. There's an alternate route to take, of course, but, Shion is not happy about this, and takes another jab at Miyuki.

The next section involves releasing restraints on a Gnosis, and we will totally not fight it later, in order to make a path forward. We eventually reach the other side of the elevator, and we turn it back online. Maybe too little too late, but, whatever. A few more screens in is the Vector lab. We're coming in from the side, rather than the front, but, I think that was to be expected. I hit the save point before moving on.

The elevator goes right past the floor where KOS-MOS' team was hanging out, and Shion has a few words to say about this to Miyuki. Miyuki proclaims her innocence in this matter, and this time, she gets backup. When Ziggy asks where this elevator is going now, all Allen can produce is that it would lead to a large underground hanger. Which, as we soon find out, is the storage area for Omega Res Novae. Shion gets another headache, though, thankfully, not as severe as the others. However, if Ziggy wasn't there to catch her, she'd likely be on the ground. As she recovers, the party's attention is directed to the other exit, where Abel stands. He gets exactly one line here...

Abel: Sad being, this way.

...before leaving the room. Allen decides to tell the party that he's the pilot of Omega like it's nothing. Hello, Allen? Is that not supposed to be top-secret info? It might be one thing for Shion to know this, since her long-standing involvement with KOS-MOS might give her the privilege. These other chumps, they certainly don't need to know.

Be that as it may, it seems like he's leading us somewhere. However, the path is quite linear here, and there's only one side-passage to explore. That side-passage leads to the room Abel was in during the ending of Episode 1 that I mentioned before. Not that there's much here, as the room is blindingly white, and the only other contents other than the way back is a set of building blocks that one can topple.

We see Able on the other side of a bridge, and after we cross it, it collapses. Well. I guess that means we have to find a different route out of here! The room we saw Abel enter has piles of trash strewn about, and while we fail to find him, we manage to find KOS-MOS, or all things, among the rubble.

Now, call me crazy, but, isn't this a little too convenient? Not that I expected to find KOS-MOS in Vector's lab, but, to have her laid out so openly just kinda rubs me the wrong way. She's clearly supposed to be found. Not that I'm not grateful to have KOS-MOS back...

Shion: Good morning, KOS-MOS. How are you?
KOS-MOS: And good morning to you, Shion. My drive coefficent is down by .3, but everything else is running normal. There are no problems.

...and while the start-up sequence has the non-jazzy piano melody of that "I Love You, Sincerly" track, the game makes certain you know she's back by forcing her into the party, and playing a song that, of all places I could find it, was at Zophar's Domain, listed as "1205-adx_7.mp3". I've uploaded this piece to my locker here for reference purposes. If this has an official title, I'm having a hell of a time finding it.

Either way, we find an elevator on that can take us up to the exercise area. Shion gets another bout, but this time, she goes unconscious, and has another conversation with U-DO. Well, it calls itself that, so, we can only go with it, even if it acts nothing like the monster we've been led to believe it is.

Shion does her best to assure everyone she's fine once she's awake again, but, you can tell they have their misgivings as to the truth of her statements. Such doubts certainly have their foundations. Once up the elevator, we get chased along the way out, but, I don't necessarily mind going after them every so often. Being chased by AGWS (probably not AMWS) is one thing, but, our end-dungeon boss is that Gnosis we released earlier. As if there was any question of that.

The Durandal leaves port, and the camera cuts to Roth Mantel watching them. The fact that it's a scene in outer space is certainly unsettling, but, the Blue Testament phasing in, or whatever, makes it all the more so. This means Roth has at least some connection to the Testaments, and by extension, Wilhelm. This might go a long way in explaining how there's no records of him whatsoever.

Roth mentions that the Compass swings sharply when Shion is around KOS-MOS, and also mentions a "Thirteenth Key". I don't think this is the first time this reference was made in this series, or even this game, but, apparently, the party is going to reach "that place" without their intervention because of it. Wherever "that place" is.

On this note, we get an end-of-chapter save. Which is a good thing, because I would've called it here regardless. What kinds of new/different snags will the party run into in their attempts to save the Elsa? Find out next time, on the Xenosaga Episode 3 LP!