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schneefinkI still love playing Phoenotopia Awakening. I'm glad the game is so long! After about 45 hours I think I might be ~80% done with the main plot? This next area looks like it could be the last. Not sure I trust that though, could be more, could be less. But even if I'm close to the end of the main story, thankfully there's still a lot of optional content to explore.
One reason I am looking forward to being finished is that when D and I play the same game but that game that has a lot of nonlinear content it gets very tricky to talk about it because we never know if the other has discovered this particular thing yet ^^ D is writing a very pretty "game journal" with notes on all regions, puzzles, collectibles etc. (using about half a dozen different inks) and I look forward to being able to read it. I was too lazy for that, so I just have a bunch of notes for puzzles scattered on my desk and wrote a paragraph on what I approximately did every day.
Saturday: back home from Paris – finally I can play again! I finally made my way through the Moonlight Ravine and to Daea. I unlocked a teleport to Panselo village, signed up for the Geo club (and got two tickets already, and also some lucky earrings), and sold the lunar artefacts taking up space in my inventory. I explored Daea: it's so big! Then I found Thomas' laboratory, and I defeated his big robot on my first try. (Still curious what is up with the people Thomas is keeping imprisoned…) Thomas repaired the golem head, we found out about the alien invasion, Thomas was abducted by brainwashed soldiers and Gail staged a jailbreak, after finding a secret tunnel with the help of the secret society of the "Light Casters", basically sewer maintenance, heh. Most of the dungeon went okay, but I used up almost all of my food and that last fight against several waves of guards and then that teleporting kobold took many tries (eventually I went back and got more food and better armor and it was still close.) But now I have a sonic spear! Which I can use to climb, makes much more sense than a double jump. The prince will have to wait to be rescued: I will now go back to all the places and explore them again.
Sunday: I did some backtracking now that I have the spear, which got me some more moonstones and a teleporter route to Atai. Standing on top of the Anuri Temple was cool. I also did some sidequests (including getting Zeke and Birdy berry fruits), learned two fighting techniques, acquired enough money to buy the steel bat, and I found the chocolate to free the boss of the Peace Ministers Thomas is keeping imprisoned in his basement (!) but decided to leave that for later until I hopefully know more about what is going on because "Peace Ministry" sounds ominous. So instead I decided to make my way through the tower to free the prince first. Which, in hindsight, was maybe not the smartest idea on a day with a massive headache, because there are no save spots in the middle. The challenges are well designed, but I might have enjoyed them even more another day. One puzzle frustrated me so much that I finally asked D for a hint, and I left out several of the optional goodies, but eventually I made it to the top. Then I took one look at the boss, died quickly, and decided to leave that for next time. (A boss stealing my healing items is mean.)
Monday: Took me almost a dozen tries but I finally beat Katash. And then: all the backstory! I did not expect "don't worry, the villagers were kidnapped by space pirates, they're safer than you are here," heh. Fun. I made it to Cosette and through all three windmills and found the Royal Archives, which are gorgeous from the outside. (The hardest windmill was the Tower of the Dog, because I did that one last and the other two had puzzles so it took me ages to figure out that actually there are no tricky puzzles here, I just need to destroy my enemies.) Now I both want to make it further into vault 72, and also go back and do the sidequests I left out, like the Ouroboros temple on the beach, getting something from Panselo for Aella, getting more doggy biscuits etc. Hard choices.
Tuesday: I made it one room further into vault 72 and then went back to do things like make friends with Birdy and a dog, and along the way finally unlocked the teleport to Cosette. I also freed the boss of the Peace Ministers, who thinks that Gail is a metahuman, hmm.
Wednesday: I helped a couple with their relationship problems, I heard how Katash approached her and about the Master he talked about (dog with wings!) from Birdy, I helped Aella get her memory back and got a cool new ability from her, and I found two more Ouroboros scrolls (one from the cave at Far Beach and one from the secret cave behind the Oasis) and got a healing song upgrade from Atri. Next, back to the vault!
Thursday: Made it through the Royal Vault, including all the optional doors I saw, defeated the Mainframe on my first try, and got the Spheralis piece :) I was very glad for the Song of Rejuvenation and that I had enough food prepared. Then I did some more fishing because D warned me to stock up on food before going past the First Wall, and then I just wanted to quickly visit Birdy – only to find out that she and Zeke were sent to the guillotines :( The guard said they looked "content," uuh… Maybe that means there's a rescue plan and they'll escape! I had feelings about them asking the guard to give me a Heart Ruby. (Where did they even get it from? Whatever.)
Interestingly, in D's game this apparently hasn't happened yet and Birdy is still in jail, and that even though she too gave Birdy all the items and heard her explanation and got a Heart Ruby, and she's also further along with the main story. I wonder what caused the change.
Then I made it to the Last Wall and got my first look at the Scorched Lands, but turned back pretty soon because it looks like another Prince's Tower: a combination of very tricky puzzles and dangerous enemies, and probably many of them in a row with not too many save points, so I'll do that another time.
Saturday: First I collected the food items to revive the troll between the Walls, and then I decided to try the Scorched Lands. I made it through okay (everything was easier once I figured out how the batteries work ^^) and then landed in the Mul Caves. I got the rocket boots! Very cool. Even after getting the rocket boots, however, I still didn't like the caves, especially because the enemies are so very annoying. It would probably be easier for someone who upgraded their crossbow and is good at using it, but I just tried to make it through as fast as possible. When I found the giant spider with the dozens of other bugs I was very glad that I could flee the fight.
When I finally made it out I found the Sphere that Bart says should have the Phoenix inside, and instead of going there immediately I decided to check out other things first. I was very glad to find the Forgotten Teleporter and be able to make my way back to Daea. I'll have to revisit every area now that I have the rocket boots! I started with Daea itself, where I found another Geo Dungeon. I had previously found another Geo Dungeon near Panselo with fun musical notes sudoku puzzles (at first I was baffled how I could have possibly overlooked it and then relieved to find out it was newly built), so afterwards I could finally get the Geo Jacket – that was a relief, because I had been annoyed at myself that I bought a Heart Ruby with my first Geo Ticket instead of saving up for the better armor immediately.
Then I went back to the Walls again and also brought the lost recruit home. I gave Fran another ten moonstones even though I wasn't sure what for, but D said it was worth it, though I didn't know what to do with the Moon Crystal at first. Fortunately, very soon afterwards I decided to explore the area around the Sphere more, and not only did I find another chicken, I also found the harpies, and gifting the Moon Crystal got me up the cliff. I made it through Aurantia (without collecting most optional treasures) and to Terellum. After the Scorched Lands and the Mul Caves it was so nice to discover another place with so many NPCs to talk to! I decided to wait to fight Pelna's challenge until I get the upgraded crossbow and instead made my way west and discovered World's End. So pretty!
One reason I am looking forward to being finished is that when D and I play the same game but that game that has a lot of nonlinear content it gets very tricky to talk about it because we never know if the other has discovered this particular thing yet ^^ D is writing a very pretty "game journal" with notes on all regions, puzzles, collectibles etc. (using about half a dozen different inks) and I look forward to being able to read it. I was too lazy for that, so I just have a bunch of notes for puzzles scattered on my desk and wrote a paragraph on what I approximately did every day.
Saturday: back home from Paris – finally I can play again! I finally made my way through the Moonlight Ravine and to Daea. I unlocked a teleport to Panselo village, signed up for the Geo club (and got two tickets already, and also some lucky earrings), and sold the lunar artefacts taking up space in my inventory. I explored Daea: it's so big! Then I found Thomas' laboratory, and I defeated his big robot on my first try. (Still curious what is up with the people Thomas is keeping imprisoned…) Thomas repaired the golem head, we found out about the alien invasion, Thomas was abducted by brainwashed soldiers and Gail staged a jailbreak, after finding a secret tunnel with the help of the secret society of the "Light Casters", basically sewer maintenance, heh. Most of the dungeon went okay, but I used up almost all of my food and that last fight against several waves of guards and then that teleporting kobold took many tries (eventually I went back and got more food and better armor and it was still close.) But now I have a sonic spear! Which I can use to climb, makes much more sense than a double jump. The prince will have to wait to be rescued: I will now go back to all the places and explore them again.
Sunday: I did some backtracking now that I have the spear, which got me some more moonstones and a teleporter route to Atai. Standing on top of the Anuri Temple was cool. I also did some sidequests (including getting Zeke and Birdy berry fruits), learned two fighting techniques, acquired enough money to buy the steel bat, and I found the chocolate to free the boss of the Peace Ministers Thomas is keeping imprisoned in his basement (!) but decided to leave that for later until I hopefully know more about what is going on because "Peace Ministry" sounds ominous. So instead I decided to make my way through the tower to free the prince first. Which, in hindsight, was maybe not the smartest idea on a day with a massive headache, because there are no save spots in the middle. The challenges are well designed, but I might have enjoyed them even more another day. One puzzle frustrated me so much that I finally asked D for a hint, and I left out several of the optional goodies, but eventually I made it to the top. Then I took one look at the boss, died quickly, and decided to leave that for next time. (A boss stealing my healing items is mean.)
Monday: Took me almost a dozen tries but I finally beat Katash. And then: all the backstory! I did not expect "don't worry, the villagers were kidnapped by space pirates, they're safer than you are here," heh. Fun. I made it to Cosette and through all three windmills and found the Royal Archives, which are gorgeous from the outside. (The hardest windmill was the Tower of the Dog, because I did that one last and the other two had puzzles so it took me ages to figure out that actually there are no tricky puzzles here, I just need to destroy my enemies.) Now I both want to make it further into vault 72, and also go back and do the sidequests I left out, like the Ouroboros temple on the beach, getting something from Panselo for Aella, getting more doggy biscuits etc. Hard choices.
Tuesday: I made it one room further into vault 72 and then went back to do things like make friends with Birdy and a dog, and along the way finally unlocked the teleport to Cosette. I also freed the boss of the Peace Ministers, who thinks that Gail is a metahuman, hmm.
Wednesday: I helped a couple with their relationship problems, I heard how Katash approached her and about the Master he talked about (dog with wings!) from Birdy, I helped Aella get her memory back and got a cool new ability from her, and I found two more Ouroboros scrolls (one from the cave at Far Beach and one from the secret cave behind the Oasis) and got a healing song upgrade from Atri. Next, back to the vault!
Thursday: Made it through the Royal Vault, including all the optional doors I saw, defeated the Mainframe on my first try, and got the Spheralis piece :) I was very glad for the Song of Rejuvenation and that I had enough food prepared. Then I did some more fishing because D warned me to stock up on food before going past the First Wall, and then I just wanted to quickly visit Birdy – only to find out that she and Zeke were sent to the guillotines :( The guard said they looked "content," uuh… Maybe that means there's a rescue plan and they'll escape! I had feelings about them asking the guard to give me a Heart Ruby. (Where did they even get it from? Whatever.)
Interestingly, in D's game this apparently hasn't happened yet and Birdy is still in jail, and that even though she too gave Birdy all the items and heard her explanation and got a Heart Ruby, and she's also further along with the main story. I wonder what caused the change.
Then I made it to the Last Wall and got my first look at the Scorched Lands, but turned back pretty soon because it looks like another Prince's Tower: a combination of very tricky puzzles and dangerous enemies, and probably many of them in a row with not too many save points, so I'll do that another time.
Saturday: First I collected the food items to revive the troll between the Walls, and then I decided to try the Scorched Lands. I made it through okay (everything was easier once I figured out how the batteries work ^^) and then landed in the Mul Caves. I got the rocket boots! Very cool. Even after getting the rocket boots, however, I still didn't like the caves, especially because the enemies are so very annoying. It would probably be easier for someone who upgraded their crossbow and is good at using it, but I just tried to make it through as fast as possible. When I found the giant spider with the dozens of other bugs I was very glad that I could flee the fight.
When I finally made it out I found the Sphere that Bart says should have the Phoenix inside, and instead of going there immediately I decided to check out other things first. I was very glad to find the Forgotten Teleporter and be able to make my way back to Daea. I'll have to revisit every area now that I have the rocket boots! I started with Daea itself, where I found another Geo Dungeon. I had previously found another Geo Dungeon near Panselo with fun musical notes sudoku puzzles (at first I was baffled how I could have possibly overlooked it and then relieved to find out it was newly built), so afterwards I could finally get the Geo Jacket – that was a relief, because I had been annoyed at myself that I bought a Heart Ruby with my first Geo Ticket instead of saving up for the better armor immediately.
Then I went back to the Walls again and also brought the lost recruit home. I gave Fran another ten moonstones even though I wasn't sure what for, but D said it was worth it, though I didn't know what to do with the Moon Crystal at first. Fortunately, very soon afterwards I decided to explore the area around the Sphere more, and not only did I find another chicken, I also found the harpies, and gifting the Moon Crystal got me up the cliff. I made it through Aurantia (without collecting most optional treasures) and to Terellum. After the Scorched Lands and the Mul Caves it was so nice to discover another place with so many NPCs to talk to! I decided to wait to fight Pelna's challenge until I get the upgraded crossbow and instead made my way west and discovered World's End. So pretty!
no subject
Date: 2022-04-19 12:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-04-19 01:00 pm (UTC)I put combat on the easiest difficulty, which suits me fine, but I think if I had not then it would be quite challenging. Combat feels okay, but I've enjoyed it more in other games tbh: the melee range is short, and I struggle quite a bit with aiming the crossbow but I suspect it's because I'm not used to playing with a controller.
Here is the trailer. Do check it out if it sounds interesting! (And then tell me all about it :D )
no subject
Date: 2022-04-19 09:52 pm (UTC)I'll check it out eventually, but right now I have so many games I don't have the time ;_;
no subject
Date: 2022-04-20 06:33 pm (UTC)