MARREND'S PROFILE

I think my updates from this point forward are just gonna be "hey, this is a cool/neat thing that happened". Saying that...

Tales of Arise - Completed!

author=Frogge
Its okay, Libby and I work on the same wavelength of “do it 5 years late, but finish the community game eventually” so I know this will be done at some point

Christmas Card 2022 release date for 2027 confirmed. XD

I'm almost afraid to ask about where this is at, but, this page has been silent since pretty much the latest call for maps. I can't help but to think it's another bust.

Last time, KOS-MOS commandeered a cargo freighter, the Elsa, with Shion, Allen, and commander Cherenkov boarding as well in due time. However, we're not with Shion at the moment. However, rather than staying with Shion, the game goes to an entirely different character. You could say that the game...

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( •_•)>⌐■-■
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...switches Gears.

Now that the bad jokes are temporarily out of my system, let's get to the cut-scene, because, of course, this chapter starts off with a cut-scene.

A video feed of a planet being engulfed in light, tears in the very fabric of space-time forming upon it, then vanishing as if it never existed. The ones watching this feed is Margulis, and another officer-looking woman by the name of Pellegri. Marguils doesn't place any value on the lives lost in the destruction of this planet, but, Pellegri sure does! At least until Marguils questions her loyalty, asking if she's forgotten what they've been striving for in the last 14 years.

The two are interrupted by a report from Vanderkam. This report contains various bits of information that the player already knows. That the Federation fleet was blown to smithereens, the Zohar was not secured, and was likely taken by the Gnosis. Margulis issues an order concerning the possible implementation of Plan 31. Whatever the hell that is.

Cut to the orbit tower of Fifth Jerusalem, capital of the Federation. Moving into a circular meeting hall, members of a committee discuss a cyborg they wish to send out on a mission before he appears before them on the central lift. I will not bore you with the details of the discussion of the cyborg, but, his mission is of note. First, I want to name-drop the cyborg, Ziggurat 8. His mission is a search-and-rescue operation regarding the prototype 100-series Realian. The game mentioned the 100-series before, but failed to mention that they are a type of Realian at the time.

Be that as it may, the 100-Series are important to the Federation, in a general sense, as they can produce the Hilbert Effect. Perhaps not to the degree KOS-MOS can, but, it's still a whole lot better than not having it at all. The crew of the Woglinde could certainly testify to that, would that they still be alive to do so. However, what makes this particular 100-series special is that she's the prototype of the entire 100-Series line. What's so special about that, exactly? This is discussed in more detail later.

The cutscene is a lot longer than it needs to be, splicing in information because it was given a grant from the Department of Backstory and the Department of Character Development. However, I will note that 100-Series have the appearance of young girls. The prototype is no different in this regard, having an appearance of a girl somewhere between 10 and 12. Though, the prototype might actually be about that old (maybe a touch older), but, I don't know if Realians can grow the same way, or at the same rate, that "regular" humans do.

Next up, we're back with Marguils, making brief conversation with his prisoner, the aforementioned 100-Series prototype. She doesn't think she'll be terribly useful to him, but, Margulis thinks otherwise, and makes a vague threat to her well-being before leaving.

After this is a short infiltration cut-scene with our friendly, neighborhood, Spider-Man Ziggurat 8. He's got a heck of a cloaking device installed. Not only does nobody see him, no sensor has picked up his presence. The player sees him as this green outline whose opacity is maybe a little under half, and we take control of him as he arrives at the compound where the target is locked up. Thankfully, there is a save-point not all that far from the entrance, and you bet I'm going to use it before continuing with this mission.

The next cut-scene triggers when attempting to visit the next room. It starts off with Ziggurat 8 planting explosives to use during the getaway, and the cloaking device conveniently malfunctioning while behind some cover as he scopes out the sentry movement routines. A bit of a flashback too, thanks to another donation from the Department of Backstory. This flashback concerns what makes this 100-Series prototype so special. Contained somewhere within her lies data that is a repository of research by the U-TIC founder, Joachim Mizrahi, and may very well concern itself with the welfare of mankind, itself. Of course, the Department of Character Development would like us to know that Joachim is largely considered a madman and murderer, but, this research is still quite valuable regardless of these labels.

Either way, now that the cloaking device is out of commission, we have to guide Ziggurat 8 to the holding cell. You could call this a "sneaking section", since you're not supposed to get caught. You can still fight the guards, but, the fact that only one character benefits from these fights kinda turns me off to the idea. It's not terribly hard to avoid fights, juts kinda annoying. Like, all the player really has to do is watch the guards, and hold R2 to walk, rather than run.

After a bit, there's a ladder down, with a AGWS unit by it. The game has us distract it with a nearby crane, knocking it into some boxes. The next room triggers a brief cut-scene of the guards that were placed at the 100-Series' prison being engaged by our cyborg. After the battle is another cut-scene, where it's revealed that breaking down the door to the cell will trigger an alarm, but, if we had the key, we'll be fine.

A bit more sneaking off before we hit up the monitoring room. There's a bot in here guarding the key we need. That thing's a bit tough, as it spawns bits, and they deal quite a bit of damage. How I dealt with it was basically hit the main target once so that it spawns the bits, then guard, then use Ziggurat 8's special weapon attack, which takes 6 AP (of course it does), but attack all targets. That move felled the bits, and did significant damage to the main boss, so all I had do do at that point was guard again and do a SSC combo to finish it off. The bits died with it, which was an extra bonus.

Back to the cell, where a barely conscious guard activates an alert, and we are briefly introduced to...



...MOMO. Her name is an acronym, standing for Multiple Observational Mimetic Organicus. However, that information isn't in the game, proper, and we'd only know this via the manual. Perhaps it's in-game database. Technically speaking KOS-MOS is also an acronym, but, what it stands for isn't even in the manual, and I don't recall if it's in the in-game database. Take that to mean what you will.

At any rate, now that the alert has been sounded, and MOMO is with us, I no longer feel any further need to hold back. Which is another way of saying that it's time to turn the codes back on, and start beating things to a pulp. Now, maybe it's just me, but, they could have thrown...



...this track into this situation. Or, you know, something. You know what we do get? Nothing. No BGM whatsoever. Just the blaring of the alarm, and the noise that players make when they run. Like, when I looked up the OST for this game, I was honestly surprised there's that many tracks in the game. Yet, it feels like 90% of the game, you're listening to white noise. I just have to wonder why this decision was made? Did the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which performed the tracks, stipulate some limits as to how often tracks would play in-game? Did some suit at Monotith think that they'd be saving money (and development time) by choosing not to play music unless it was "necessary"? I don't know the backstory to this decision. I just know that a decision was made, and being horribly frustrated by it.

There's an enemy entrenchment the way we came, so, we double back to the monitoring room for another cut-scene, thanks to another donation from the Department of Backstory and Department of Character development. MOMO questions Ziggurat 8 if he's some kind of military Realian, and he specifies that, no, he's a cyborg. The conversation moves forward into some background as to how he became a cyborg, but, do we really need to know that? No. However, the conversation moves to how MOMO doesn't know his name yet, and when he tells her, she decides that the name "Ziggurat 8" isn't gong to fly, and will be henceforth known simply as "Ziggy". This LP will, naturally, follow along with this nomenclature.

That cut-scene done, we can activate a switch on one of the consoles to open a door. I guess this "Master Key" only unlocks cell doors. Through the door, down the ladder, annnnnnd cut-scene! A report to Margulis that of the intruder is after the 100-Series, and is approaching D-Block. He orders the block to be surrounded. A sentry bot, similar to the one we fought to get the the key to the cells, moves, and throws down a few bits for good measure. The cut-scene with Margulis does have music to it... which I can't seem to find on the OST list. However, for those curious, it's scene #49. After cutting back to the sentry bot, it's back to white noise. Though, there is one room this dungeon that has music...



...having the feel and look of a church? I dunno about anybody else in this organization, but, Margulis sure as hell doesn't come across to me as the religious type. Anyway, we move along the path until we come across another ladder. Hey everybody! It's another cut-scene! Here, MOMO displays her ability to produce the Hilbert Effect...



...though, apparently, inverse Hilbert waves has some small effect on AGWS? Don't look at me as to how that's supposed to work. I don't think this ever comes up again anyway. At any rate, the two face-off against three AGWS, and pound them into submission. Beating up mechs with one's bare hands was a thing you can do with Fei in the Aveh desert in Xenogears. Here, we're doing it again with Ziggy.

The command center lies beyond, which is the room Margulis, Pelligri, and their flunkies were at. Except they are nowhere to be seen. There's a save point here, so, let's use it before the game throws more cut-scenes at us.

It was a long way around, but, the pair come out to where Ziggy was sneaking around before, and continue their retreat. They run across, of all people on this base...



...Margulis, himself. I recall an article in Game Informer magazine that pointed to this boss fight being incredibly epic, and taking about an hour to defeat. I think my original experience against this guy wasn't all that much different. However, because of how potent my tech attacks are, he goes down in one attack.

Not that this matters. The cut-scene that follows gives the impression that if there was a victory, it was by the skin of their teeth. He's not the first boss that turns what should have been a victory into a defeat, and it's incredibly annoying when the game does this. Anyway, Ziggy decides it's time to fire off the explosives to give them the opportunity they need to commandeer a ship, and get the hell out of there. Naturally, pursuit craft are launched, but, they have some room for a breather.

Which is what the next cut-scene entails. Ziggy is thinking about something his sensors picked up, but no visual contact was obtained. MOMO gets him out of his thoughts, and he requests that she find a jump column to try to shake off their pursuers before setting course for wherever MOMO is to be delivered.

Back to Shion on board the Elsa, going full-on visual novel mode with this music...



...with a pair of silly little scenes to go along with it. Though, given how little choice the player has in anything in this game, maybe we could call it kinetic novel mode. Anyway, I won't bother summarizing either of these cut-scenes. The second cut-scene, however, was clearly thanks to another donation by the Department of Backstory, concerning the Kukai Foundation. All we really needed to know is that the crew of the Elsa works for them. After which, the player takes control of Shion again, with a piping hot tray of curry to send to Cherenkov.

We are free to explore the Elsa's interior to a degree. Because of the tray, we cannot use ladders, but elevators, ramps, and staircases are okay-ku. There's a handy-dandy save-point near the entrance to the bridge. Let's use that for a brief breather before moving on.

Using the elevator triggers a cut-scene, because of course it does. Here, we have chaos speaking a bit to KOS-MOS as she slumbers. He leaves, with Cherenkov taking his place not long after. As he observes the resting KOS-MOS, we get a flashback to when an earlier version went haywire. Cherenkov was handed over a control mechanism by a rather shady-looking character, which seems like the main cause behind the malfunction of the unit more than anything else. Though, I have doubts Shion recognized that could have been the case. KOS-MOS went utterly berserk. She went after both Vector employees, and the U-TIC solders that came with Cherenkov.

So, from this, Cherenkov knew that if the system was unstable, it wouldn't just eliminate the Gnosis, it would take out the Federation fleet. Not that the Gnosis needed much help in this regard, but, the point stands that he knew, first-hand, that if KOS-MOS wasn't completed properly, she could have been a potential threat. That pushing the engineers to release an unfinished, unrefined product will spell disaster. It's almost like Monolith is calling out the subset of the modern gaming industry that have a "release now, patch later" mind-set.

That out of my system, maybe KOS-MOS could be regarded as a threat either way. It's no longer much of a secret at this point that Cherenkov's alignment is with Margulis and U-TIC, rather than the Federation. Though, I don't doubt that his position in the Federation was of some use to U-TIC. Or, at least a cover for him to gather intelligence for U-TIC.

At any rate, he draws his pistol, and takes aim, point-blank range, at KOS-MOS' face. Visibly shaking, maybe he's thinking what could happen to him if this blatant assassination attempt fails. I mean, if she is somehow able to take the shot in the face, the consequences for him would be a disaster. Though, I'm not sure how well Shion would take it. Would she believe KOS-MOS' self-defense claim when she's proven to not hold Federation personnel in any regard?

Back to Shion. We run into a bot in the AGWS hanger of the Elsa, and sells parts for the machines. Not that we ever use them, but, eh. Arriving in the maintenance storage where KOS-MOS is at grants another cut-scene. Cherenkov still has that gun in his hand, and whirls around as the lights in the room turn on, and the door opens. Cherenkov manages to withhold firing for long enough to realize it's not an enemy, and manages to stand down. Things are more than a little awkward here...

Shion: What were you doing?
Cherenkov: I was looking at her.
Shion: At KOS-MOS? With a gun in your hand?
Cherenhov: Ah, this? It's... it's a bad habit.
Shion: I see. Well, you are a solider, after all. I know someone with a bad habit like that. He's always carrying around a sword around with a weird grin plastered on his face. Don't you think that's dangerous?

...though, Shion tries to make light of things by referring to her estranged brother, Jin. The conversation goes a little further, as they tend to do in this game, but, I feel no need to relay more.

Back to Ziggy and MOMO. They've lost the pursuit craft for the moment, so, it's high time we get MOMO to where she's supposed to be. Naturally, MOMO assumes that she'll be sent to Fifth Jerusalem, and meet with "mommy", Juli Mizhrahi. To wit, Juli was on the committee that sent Ziggy, and even Ziggy questioned her why MOMO would be brought to Second Miltia rather than Fifth Jerusalem. Juli isn't even a quarter as excited to see MOMO as the ladder is to see her. However, no hard-reasoning specifics were mentioned as to his orders, and all Ziggy can do is break the news to the girl. Her mood goes from high-spirited to a depressed low, but still makes the arraignments for the jump-route herself for Second Miltia, and off they go.

Next, we're back at the committee meeting room, where they discuss Ziggy's progress report, as well as their plans to decrypt that data that's within MOMO. The UMN control center on Second Miltia is the only place where they can perform that task. So, now we at least have some reasonable context as to why MOMO needs to go to Second Miltia, rather than Fifth Jerusalem. The cut-scene also provides a name to attribute to the information that everybody and their brother's uncle wants to get their hands on: the Y-Data. The Department of Backstory makes the cut-scene longer (as it tends to do), but, yeah, we might be hearing about the Y-Data again as the LP moves forward.

Back to the Elsa. When Shion leaves the maintenance hanger, she gets called to the bridge. I'll note that she's leaving Cherenkov alone with KOS-MOS. As a player, I think this is a really, really bad idea. Then again, if Cherenkov was going to pull something, he either would have done so already, or it'll be in a future cut-scene.

Getting to the bridge is a little faster, now that we can use ladders. Naturally, I hit up the save-point again before getting hit with another cut-scene, because of course, there's a cut-scene. This is a relatively short one, where Hammer is picking up an issue with the catapult deck. Possibly an electrical malfunction. Shion volunteers to go down there for a first-hand look at it.

From the ladder on B1, we take a left to B2, where the catapult deck lies. We have Shion check the system, and she finds nothing wrong. Another cut-scene here, with captain Matthews thanking Shion, and seeing her walk off screen, with a bit of electrical discharge in the background as she does. Not foreshadowing anything at all with this.

So... back to the bridge? Yeah, back to the bridge, hitting up the save-point before we do. And, what would you know? Entering the bridge triggers, surprise, another cut-scene! Here, the Department of Character Development has us see captain Matthews talking with a UMN worker concerning their route, and the charges applied thereof, in using hyperspace. The captain decides to have the bill sent to the Kukai Foundation, as per usual. Sending him deeper into debt, no doubt. Trying to bill a separate entity, such as Vector, would probably make more noise than he would like, and it behooves the Elsa crew, in a business like theirs, to keep their heads as low as possible.

Cut back to Ziggy and MOMO. U-TIC fighters have caught up to them within the confines of hyperspace. Now, if this were Star Control 2, an enemy engagement would drop the potential combatants out of hyperspace, and into real space for the battle. No such occurrence here. MOMO does a bit of a trick to get their ship behind enemy lines, with Ziggy firing off, and eliminating the targets. The ship blasts off again, and we cut back to Shion.

And, man, she is steaming. The poor girl on the other end of the line can only get the director on the line. What all this is about is the transfer of KOS-MOS on Second Miltia. Shion's argument is that, since KOS-MOS is acting on her own accord, she must know the cause before handing her over. Now, maybe it's just me, but, she's got time before getting to Second Miltia. Even if KOS-MOS is to be transferred to a different division of Vector when arriving at Second Miltia, I don't think they would turn down help from Shion in... whatever it is they are going to do to her. It's in Vector's best interest to make this product the best it can be, isn't it? Anyway, the director relents, giving Shion the okay-ku, and to smooth things over with the people upstairs.

Back to the battle in hyperspace between U-TIC, and Ziggy/MOMO. MOMO pulls off some crazy evasive maneuvers as they attempt to get the fighters off their tail. MOMO detects a civilian craft ahead, and Ziggy asks to open an channel. Quick cut back to the bridge of the Elsa, as Ziggy relays that a battle has broken out in hyperspace, strongly recommending gating out as soon as possible. I don't pretend to know what the charges might be for gating out early, and gating back in at a later point. Like, at this point, I'm imagining this hyperspace travel something akin to an interstate.

Anyway, Matthews is taken by surprise by this development. Before they can react further, Ziggy's ship slides by with very little wiggle room. The U-TIC vessels zoom past in pursuit, with Tony shifting out of the lane a bit to avoid a crash, and the oncoming lasers.

Matthews might not like being fired at, but, getting involved in this fight is just going to make things more complicated than they already are. Tony has to perform additional evasive maneuvers for another wave of U-TIC pursuit craft. Matthews is adamant that they stay out of this, at least until they take a hit to the outer hull. Then he decides that it's time to mix it up, and Tony is all too happy to oblige.

The Elsa fires off some shots, taking out a few pursuit craft. MOMO is absolutely ecstatic about this. Ziggy is more stoic, but, still appreciates the assist in his own way. MOMO then skims off the lane corridor, creating a column of fire that eliminates more foes. This inspires Tony to do one better. Or, at least take out another wave of U-TIC with a similar move. Another wave approaches, zooming past the Elsa, focusing their fire on Ziggy's craft.

It's a four-on-one fight, and chaos thinks they don't stand a chance. MOMO is a very capable pilot, and it's not like we haven't seen MOMO quickly switch the engines into reverse for a brief time to get into a better position to fire. However, the Elsa might be blocking them from that maneuver, and all she can do is weave to and fro in a desperate attempt to dodge the oncoming enemy fire. However, an engine gets hit, and falls off, their ability to maneuver compromised. They hit a column wall again, but this time, they might not be able to rebound. This time, it might be the end of the line.

Except Shion saves their bacon by using a crane equipped on the catapult deck. However, an electrical malfunction occurs, because of course it does, and the hatch to the catapult deck cannot close fully. chaos advises the vessel occupants to get inside as fast as possible. As they move, an enemy craft also gets into the opening, and drop some mechs as shock troopers to capture their quarry. After a drone demands surrender over comms, Matthews, refuses, and orders Tony to use the ship to take it out. The aftershock of which is enough to close the catapult deck in full, but, the enemy is still very much inside.

Whew! That was quite a lot to summarize in regards to this cut-scene. Here it is in full.



So, as you may have noticed, KOS-MOS has randomly come out of absolutely nowhere, and is available for this situation. So, the crew to take out the on-board enemies is chaos, Shion, and KOS-MOS. chaos is a completely new character, so, he's got some things to get/learn. However, before all that, let's hit that handy-dandy save-point again and catch a breather.

Except the game doesn't allow me to engage in combat with this party. The game has Shion activate a console to close the doors, and activate an electromagnetic field on a room south, full of mechs, which slows/stuns their movements. While the game doesn't force the player down the ladder, it just comes natural to me to do so, then the game switches to MOMO/Ziggy. We play as them for a while until the parties converge, which would be just outside the door that would lead to the ladder Shion would have just climbed down.

I spent some time getting chaos up to speed before engaging the boss. It goes down in two tech attacks, which is pretty impressive. After it's defeat is another cut-scene. The Elsa has dropped out of hyperspace. I'm not sure if it did so voluntarily, or if they reached the end of the particular column they were using. Either way, there's time before getting to the next column, so, why not use some of that time to do some damage assessment? Allen makes a report, which causes a little scuffle between Tony and Hammer. Matthews already has enough headaches as-is, with all these unexpected passengers, and now the cost of the repair bill on top of that. This really is not the day for him to make any kind of dent in the debt he has, is it?

Next up is some down-time in the cafeteria, kicking off with KOS-MOS serving Shion a drink? What? Anyway, this is another fluff-filled cut-scene where MOMO makes a humble request to go to Second Miltia. Funny that such was their destination anyway, thanks to the Vector staff the Elsa picked up earlier. However, concerning the repairs, there's a nearby dock colony that could provide that service. Who knows how long it will be before they get there, though?

Shion is asked to give the grand tour to MOMO and Ziggy. I've not been into the crew cabins on the main floor, and one of them has a key item that opens a path on one of the lower floors of the Elsa. I half-considered going to open it up, but, nah. That cabin also serves as the cut-off point to the "tour", and ends the chapter, should one choose the option to rest. Which might suggest there's more hijicks to be had before the Elsa arrives at the dock colony. As for how many, let's found out next time, on the Xenosaga Episode 1 LP!

Right. Updated the request listing!

*Edit: I felt inclined to remove the "NEW" notation from all of the entities on that post, as the items therein are likely to already sorted by how long ago the referring post was made. I might eventually remove the bold as well, but, maybe another time.