MARREND'S PROFILE

Vagrant Story - Completed!
I find it both incredibly satisfying and incredibly frustrated by finishing this game. Satisfying because, well, I still got a clear game save. Frustrated because there isn't a Vagrant Story 2, and I've a funny feeling there might not ever be one. Not that the game saying "And so began the story of the wanderer, the vagrant" after the last cutscene and before rolling the credits would necessarily lead to a follow-up, but, exploring these mechanics with maybe a few QOL tweaks, or something, might be sweet.

Alas.

I can agree with the sentiment that maybe there could have been more of a public discourse about this issue, given how many comments this thread has in response to the ruling. Though, I can't say I could compare the amount of discourse this topic had over, say, allowing commercial games on this site. Though, it would help if I could remember how long ago that was!

I dunno if I would join this event proper, but, if anybody needs a scripter that works with Ace or MZ, I may be able to do things. Maybe even frightening things!

At least explosive things.

Last time, chaos and Shion went their separate ways after a visit to the Uzuki household, much to the chagrin of Shion. The game follows choas, as he moves towards the analysis of MOMO at Second Miltia's UMN control center. Upon entering, we get a cutscene, because of course we do.

Both Gaignuns are here, as is Ziggy and MOMO. A certain member of a certain subcommittee (I'll have to look up the name of it later) is here to personally supervise the proceedings, and that member is none other than Juli Mizrahi. She relays general thanks on the behalf of the subcommittee, calling out the happenings at Proto Merkabah. Ziggy then speaks up for MOMO, to which Juli relays thanks. MOMO is utterly ecstatic about this, and looks like she's going in for a hug, but, Juli remains in business mode. MOMO's response to this is...


...pretty much as downtrodden as one might expect. Meanwhile, Juli requests a room for her to organize things. Jr will make the arraignments, but, he's not exactly happy about Juli's treatment of MOMO either. Yet, she turns around, and tells MOMO that it might be nice if they could live together once all of this is over. This is definitely more than a little suspicious to me, but, MOMO eats it up, and her mood improves back to a more positive state. She is then escorted to a separate room by Shelly, with a little bounce in her step.

The cutscene done, we find ourselves as chaos again, with...


...this music running, and a save point right near the entrance. Sure, why not use it. There's a maintenance lab where Ziggy's hanging out on the other side of the hall, and a path up the middle where our next plot scene is. Here, Jr has a few words for Juli concerning MOMO. Juli wonders if her transition from cold to warm was to unnatural, and, if one is to be honest, absolutely yes. It was. She states that showing familial warmth should make the process easier. However, I also feel it's way too late to be saying stuff like this when she's specifically gone out of her way to not meet with MOMO, or react to her presence, as much as possible for a person in her position.

That talk out of the way, it's time to check up on Ziggy, which, yes, is where the next cutscene is. Juli is performing the maintenance operations, and while Ziggy is largely mechanical, he still feels uncomfortable with Juli performing the tasks. Still, the two manage a conversation that isn't unlike the one she just had with Jr about how she should treat MOMO more as a second daughter than a construct that happens to be designed to look like her first daughter, Sakura.

That done, I use the handy-dandy save point one more time before getting hit with the next cutscene. This time, the game asks me if I'm ready to start the analysis. Let me ask what kind of preparation does the game expect of me when there are no shops with which to buy consumables? Let me repeat that. There are no shops in this game. That, and the only other dungeon I could visit is Miltia from 14 years ago. Perhaps if I still needed skills, I could see it, but, because I use cheats of Titania, I don't. So, yes, let's proceed.

Trigger another cutscene. MOMO stands in the center, with Ziggy and Mary standing to either side. Mary is tapping away at a console, giving reassurances that things will be fine. The system starts up, and MOMO is lifted off the ground, and becomes bathed light. There are apparently mass-produced 100-series realians on the premises, as one reports the beginning of the analysis.

Mass produced 100-Series: We will be shutting down your artificial personality layer during the analysis. Your artificial emotion and abstract cognitive functions will temporarily cease to function, but please, do not be alarmed.
(MOMO struggles to bring her hands to her chest)
MOMO: Artificial... emotion?
Mass produced 100-Series: Since your artificial personality is an option for interpersonal interaction, this procedure will have no effect on your observational functions.
MOMO, thinking: My heart is... just an optional function?

To say the least, her mood is a bit dampened, and Ziggy notices straight away. She reaches out to the cyborg, but, her personality is shut down, and MOMO's form slumps into slumber. Ziggy's hand remains outstretched after this, but his eyes close as if in silent prayer. In the next room over, Shelly is tapping away as Gaignun, Jr, choas, and even Helmer observe the proceedings. They do have a bit of trouble. Not only does MOMO have high-level protection, but, some of the routes in her system were damaged from when Albedio was doing his thing to her in the Song of Nephilim. After some back-and-forth between Jr and Mary, Jr decides to bail.

The mass-produced 100-Series realians make various progress reports as the analysis proceeds, things appearing to run smoothly. Except, of course, they do not. The blue light that surrounds MOMO turns to red as a virus left behind by Albedo triggers. The mass-produced 100-Series present all fall unconscious. Red warning signs flash, as what operatives remain make status update reports to Juli. Juli orders another attempt at the cutoff, and to redeploy defensive logic against the virus. The request is denied. Something interesting happens next.

Female operator: 20 seconds to defensive logic failure. We're running the risk of complete data leakage.
Ziggy: What are you doing, Dr Mizrahi?
Juli: I'm using the emergency control code and destroying the data.
Ziggy: You can't! If you do that, MOMO will...
Juli: You have a better idea? We cannot allow the Y-Data to fall into the enemy's hands under any circumstance!
Ziggy: Dr Mizrahi!

As mentioned before, if there is any portion of her late husband's legacy that Juli has done her damnest to detach herself from, it is MOMO. While it might be questionable as to who the "right hands" would be, having the Y-Data getting into the wrong hands would not be a good thing.

However, despite putting on the face of a detached scientist and relaying logical, if rash, thinking, her finger wavers over the giant red button. While I'm sure the worst case scenario of having the Y-Data in the wrong hands is playing out in her head, there is another scenario playing in her head. The consequences to MOMO if the data is destroyed. This consideration, despite the barriers she's made between herself and MOMO. Perhaps the words of Jr and Ziggy have managed to reach her? That if she looses MOMO, it will mean she would have lost not one, but two daughters.

Ziggy makes no moves, and observes Juli as she wavers. Eventually, she withdraws the finger. However, the data is disappearing on it's own. It's MOMO, herself that's doing it. She's attempting to sacrifice herself so that the Y-Data remains untainted. Thankfully, it doesn't go that far. MOMO forcefully shuts herself down, and all data transfers become blocked off. Her slack body falls to the floor, and Juli rushes with Ziggy in tow to see what can be salvaged. Here's the cutscene.


After this catastrophe, the next cutscene shows Shion and Allen in a conference call with Helmer and Jr. They need the expertise of Vector's Third Division if they stand any chance of recovering MOMO, and the Y-Data to which she has been entrusted. Shion readily agrees to help as much as she can. Which translates to her ignoring protocol, and going herself, rather than contacting Third Division, and having them take care of it. As she's going personally, Allen, being Allen, tags along. We gain control of Shion again at...


...Vector's Second R&D Division for a brief spell before going to the UMN control center. Cue the next cutscene.

The Council of Doom Federation Council is deliberating over the Immigrant Fleet's movements toward Second Milita. The priest from before, whose name I cannot currently recall if the game has dropped yet, appears before the council and gives this long-winded history about their faction, how the Zohar was originally guarded by them, and that Proto Merkabah was summoned by Second Militain forces to reignite the flames of war. Of course, there is acknowledgement that Proto Merkabah was associated with U-TIC, and that Second Milita was officially cleared of all charges. That Vector provided supporting evidence. Of course, there is backlash that Vector supports Second Militia, so their evidence might not be trustworthy. The council wants to hear what Representative Helmer has to say about all this, and wonder as to what he's up to.

We find out next cutscene, as he speaks with Jin. He wants to recruit Jin, and to know the contents of the data Jin gave to Canaan all those years ago. Jin explains that it was obtained illegally, and would not stand up in court. Helmer doesn't care. As long as he knows what, or who, he's up against, that will be more than enough. Jin tries to beg off, saying he's just a lowly bookseller now, and might not be capable of meeting his expectations. That, and if Helmer really wants to know, it can only happen if a return to Militia is possible. Which is it's own can of worms, given that the UMN transfer data for that sector lies in exactly one place, the Y-Data. Which is, itself, such a huge can of worms right now, it's not even funny.

Back to the UNM control center, Shion explains that she was closer, and it's just more convenient for everyone if she does the support, rather than wait on somebody from Third Division to come along. Which I guess is a good point, but, she's still breaking protocol, and might get a bit of flak for it later. However, I think I want to hit up that handy-dandy save point before proceeding. Allen suggests making preparations for the dive into MOMO's subconscious, but, again, I wonder what kind of preparations the game is wants me to do? Whatever! Let's go Uchioniko!

Cutscene? Cutscene. So, the game verifies that the party going into the next dungeon MOMO's subconscious is gonna be Shion, Jr, Ziggy, and chaos. However, since the game doesn't totally hate it's players, KOS-MOS' data is to be uploaded, meaning we'll have access to her as well. The cutscene continues, taking direction from the Department of Blat and Backstory, going over the fact that MOMO was designed after Sakura, and that Sakura suffered from a central nervous system disorder, and was treated at the Yuriev Institute. The training the URTVs undertook were connected to Sakura's treatment. The going theory was that her symptoms might be connected to unusual wave pulses within the UMN.

More blat, and a flashback, concerning the nature of U-DO. U-DO is a name that's been dropped a few times, and Ziggy straight up asks what it is. The answer that we get from Jr is that it's some kind of energy from a higher plane. A force humans couldn't possibly understand, much less control. Which, given the context of Jr's emotions that he relays this info in, kinda sounds similar to the nature of the Deus in Xenogears?

Anyway, we finally delve into MOMO. The first thing we see is a house. MOMO sits on a swing set up on the porch, unmoving. Even though the game goes through Shion to tell us that MOMO is inert, and what we're seeing is a product of her own subconscious, only capable of simple reflexes, MOMO is absolutely available in the upcoming dungeon. Given last game, and how KOS-MOS was unavailable during the dive into the Encephalon, this decision to allow MOMO into the party is a welcome one. Though, all logic presented in the game, largely suggests to me she should not be.

We're not quite at the dungeon yet. First, we must explore the house, while listening to...


...this song. Though, to be honest, there isn't much space to explore in this house. The ground floor has an item for us to get, and the upper floor has our event. This introduces a certain trio of URTVs...


...in their younger years. We also get to finally meet Sakura, who...


...yeah, looks like MOMO by all accounts. The cutscene done, the task becomes following the phantoms of the young URTVs, the game pausing as it shows you which exit to take to proceed through these phantoms. This is a sequence we'll be seeing quite a bit of from during this story arc. As an aside, I find it a little funny/interesting that the game decided to transport our characters into an encephalon dive while undergoing an encephalon dive.

Anyway, the URTV training session done, they wake up one by one. It's a little interesting to see Juli in a U-TIC outfit as she talks to Dimitri Yuriev, but, I dunno if that's worth a screencap. Anyway, while the speaker says that units will start to awaken from #660 and go up, #666, Rubedo, wakes first, and relays a message to Juli from Sakura. Juli responds rather warmly, taking his hand, and telling him telling her what her daughter says. I don't know if this is some kind of perceived reality in regards to what MOMO wants from Juli. However, I don't doubt Juli would have at least asked then-Jr to continue relaying messages from her daughter.

The cut-scene done, the game relays what I've already told you. That they key in moving the game forward lies in following the phantoms. They lead us to the left side of the facility, where Rubdeo comes up to an open window. Inside is a piano, with Sakura playing, and Juli seated next to her. Juli speaks of Sakura's condition. How her severed neural pathways make it impossible for her to speak, and how no medicine has been able to make any progress. The follow-up scene has Rubedo and Sakura on the swing at the house in the subconscious domain. Sakura speaks of her father making a realian that's a lot like a human, and always in tune with her senses. Which sounds like the initial idea for specifically MOMO, though, perhaps the entire 100-Series line of realians in a more broad sense. When the question turns to parents, we get this exchange.

Sakura: Your dad is Dr Yuriev, right? Don't you have a mom?
Rubedo: Yeah, we have one. Genetically speaking, anyway. She had a healthy ovum, with a perfect set of chromosomes. That's all we really know about her.
Sakura: How come you're not looking for her? Don't you want to meet her?
Rubedo: *tch* What's the point? So I can say, "Hi! You're the mother of a bunch of genetically engineered bioweapons?"
Sakura: Don't say that. You're not a weapon. You're a wonderful boy.
Rubedo: Oh, yeah? The only time we get to leave the Institute is when there is a war going on.
Sakura: Hey, Rubedo. I have a favor to ask of you. My little sister is gonna be born soon. She's kind of different from a normal sister, I mean, my mom won't be giving birth to her, but, my mother and sister. I want you to look after them for me, okay?
Rubedo: Okay! If she's your sister, I'll look after her as if she was my own!
Sakura: You promise?
Rubedo: Of course! Leave it to me!

Even before he finishes this sentence, Rubido gets kissed on his cheek. The URTV is certainly taken by surprise by this action, and before he can process what just happened, Sakura is already waving goodbye, and moving back into the house. That scene done, the phantoms move to the entrance to the main facility, where we get our next cutscene. This is a short one, relaying that Rubedo has taken up the harmonica and is practicing along with Sakura's piano lessons. Of course, Nigredo digs into him a little, saying if he was so interested in her, he could just stay in virtual space, and that she would certainly not mind. Young Albedo relays that Rubedo's concentration has been off, but, Rubedo stands firm that, as the leader, he'll get the job done.

The next cutscene introduces the fourth horsemen another variant URTV, called...


...Citrine. The trio is markedly surprised to see a female URTV. Citrine brushes it off, saying that the project would ultimately lead to a dead end if URTVs would only have males. Still, she notes that a lot of units were disposed of, and now there's only nine female types left. Rubedo takes exception to the use of phrase "disposed of", but, Citrine merely remarks that even if they lost their waveworm and died, they wouldn't have the luxury of complaining about it. She also makes a claim that female types are theoretically superior to males, and has an air of superiority around her. Perhaps the game will later indulge us as to why she might think that, but, for now, we can only take her word for it.

Enough putzing around. It's time to delve back into Sakura's subconscious. This time, the target is a beach. The objective is to locate, identify, and eliminate her neural connection impairment. That is, assuming something like that can even manifest within the UMN, but, if the game says it's possible, who am I to argue the point?

So, now, after all this mess, we get our next dungeon. The music for which is...


...this. The on-screen enemies hear appear as...


...blue orbs? I'm not 100% what I should call these things, but, yeah. They are not representative of what is fought at all, which is something of a switch up from the previous dungeon, if not the previous game in it's entirety. I spoke briefly about how KOS-MOS and Jin were the characters that could knock people up with circle attacks. Shion's mechanics as a combatant are pretty much the same as MOMO's, in that she can only perform circle attacks.

I am somewhat dismayed that, while Shion might be using a multi-weapon system that she modified from Miyuki's original design in the first game, she does not use any kind of melee options for this game. Meanwhile, MOMO has switched from using wands and rods to using a bow. I can kinda understand the decision for MOMO to switch to a ranged weapon, as only two of her Tech Attacks in Xenosaga Episode 1 were melee, and she started that game with them. Shion was pretty much the exact opposite, with only having two ranged Tech Attacks, and one was late-game.

All that aside, there is another thing one might start to notice as a difference between last game and this game. There was a section on the Woglinde in Episode 1 were some Gnosis could become alerted to your presence. However, you could run around a pillar, and if the enemies followed you, they would not be able to catch up with you. I can't say if I have noticed structural features in this game so far that I might be able to use in the same way. However, either enemies move at super-speeds, or, by the time the enemy notices you, the amount of space between you and them isn't enough to maneuver in. Whatever the case, the end result is the players do not have any meaningful way to avoid combat once enemies detect them. Perhaps, a trap activation/placement, but, as last game, those are few and far between. Given the range of the Vaporizor plug-in, you'd be pretty damn lucky if you can manage to actually have an enemy within the range of the trap, and have it active, before they rush into you.

I also find it odd that when I encountered the enemy that I screencapped above, the enemies surrounded my party if the trap was active, but a normal encounter was engaged if the trap had fizzled, or the enemy was outside the trap's radius. I didn't save state scum enough to say with certainty that the conditions for that specific combat changed based on the whither the trap was successfully sprung, or not. However, even one instance where the benefits of the trap (bonus starting stock) was counteracted with a harmful state (being surrounded), well, that just makes me want to ignore traps all the more.

That said, there's been something nagging at me long before I started this LP, and maybe it's time to check it out. So, good ol' KOS-MOS is at level 17 with 35 STR, and does maybe 110 damage to an enemy. Level 99, she's got 93 STR, and deals 360-ish damage to that same enemy. The enemy I'm comparing with here has 700 HP, so even at max level, it would take KOS-MOS two regular attack actions to take it out. Ziggy, at level 16, has 37 STR, so he might have slightly higher values, but, something about this just doesn't seem right to me?

This is the third dungeon in this game. Well, second dungeon for characters. ES level up separately than characters, so, we shouldn't count ES portion of Miltia from 14 years ago in this regard. How long enemies take to die with max level party members is something I want to keep an eye on, since I know I've used codes to max my level in this game before, and I still manage to only take things out with stock/boost combos. This is normal enemies, mind you. Bosses, there is doubt about it.

Anyway, we eventually come across another cutscene that introduces a new enemy type. Infected URTVs. Albedo wonders how it's possible for them to be infected if they aren't in the U-DO simulator, but, regardless of how it's possible, they're before us, and attacking.

So, interestingly enough, the models that represent the infected URTV on-map match the enemy sprite/model/whatever in combat. So, I have to ask, what the hell is up with the blue orbs? Is the idea here that they are nebulous fears contained within Sakura's subconscious, and don't take form until you meet with them? I dunno, but, the game provides no explanation. Maybe there's content out there related to this series that does?

Entering the next map triggers another cutscene, where an infected UTRV morphs into a boss. There was an enemy that had three hit zones before breaking earlier, and this boss takes it up a notch to have four hit zones before breaking. The hit zones in question for this boss was CCBB, and my party of Ziggy, Jr and chaos felt like a good choice. The general strategy here was to stock up to full, then have anybody start the combo with a CC, then boost Ziggy or chaos do a BBCCC combo to smack it down to the ground, then have the other characters boost with follow-ups of CCBBB. There was one counter-boost near the beginning to mess with my flow, but, ultimately the thing fell.

Albdeo kicks a wounded unit, then starts beating him to the ground. Rubedo and Nigredo run up, with Rubedo stopping him, saying he'll kill him if he keeps going. Thankfully, he does stop. Soon after, the dive ends, and we're back in the Yuriev institute. The phantoms are leading us to the right side of the facility, but, I hit up the save point first. What things will the phantoms show us now before delving back into Sakura? Find out next time, on the Xenosaga Episode 2 LP!