Standstill Girl walkthrough, part 6: love.

We are coming closer. Not yet here, but what we already seen is sufficient to understand where it is leading. If you are confused, best to start from beginning.

We are back in hall. Walk around, harvest plants, read news.

A Word From Tiska There’s something eerie about the Time Core… I don’t really want to be here today…

A Word From Tiska Huh? …No, no, I’m guy! Really!

A Word From Alice ……… …………………. ………………………… …………..

How delightful. Ok, no point in lollygagging, we will have to face it sooner or earlier.

Magnolia

Go back to hall and enter fourth door.

– Magnolia, City of Sholars –

We are welcomed on bridge by your servants.

Shame they are time-stopped. Ask shadeling what gives.

Look at these streets! Heard this is a city of scholars.

Okay. And what Time Scars roam this place?

Cold Glare – Very, very distant cousin of Beholder – just yellow-skinned eye with strange brows. Nothing interesting beside that.

Tactics: Self-Holocaust.

Skills: Spirit Thorn, Nightmare (Dizzy), Charge, some shit that he never uses.

Melted Mind – Well, right, it looks indeed like something melted. Mind? Maybe. Anyway, it likes to Guard, and later hit with Brain Blue. Shame (for him) that at this stage you should be almost unscrathed by this.

Tactics: Self-Holocaust again.

Skills: Guard, ?, Deadly Venom (Weak), Brain Blue.

Gossiper – What this gnome does here? Never mind, get rid of it. Relatively slow. This one could be actually dangerous thanks to Dead Spell, if only it had chance to use this skill first.

Tactics: Self-Holocaust yet again.

Skills: Crunch, Trip Up (Invert), Dead Spell (Death), Stray Sheep.

Necrokiss – This duo looks like they don’t like you. Some kind of black angel and deathly pale guy with red eyes. Pretty fast. Often uses Dark Mist as first attack. If Guards, it will use Evil Flame. Blind causes 50% chance of missing (normally you always hit). At least if you miss, you do not pay LP price for skills that require it.

Tactics: For a change, we will use… ah, screw it. Self-Holocaust.

Skills: Guard, Dark Mist (Blind), Angelight (Dizzy), Evil Flame.

Unbelievable – Mage? Scholar? It is unbelievably weak, in any case. Concentration allows for more powerful skills.

Tactics: Can you guess?

Skills: Trip Up (Invert), Concentration, Evil Flame, Nervous Breakdown.

As you can see, currently to-go skill is Self-Holocaust, taking place from previously used Brain Blue. It damages you for 40 LP, but on this area you should be able to afford it without batting an eye. If you can’t, invest Force in LP. Make also sure you are faster than any monster here. Remember to use Alluring Perfume until you get something better. It is really powerful.

You can also get additional skills:

• [Anti-Pain] – EC-3 Heals Wounds (B) and cures aliments. You must use Aura a lot and get LP 60 or more.
• [Stray Sheep] – EC-2 / LP-10 Inflicts damage (B) + Blind. You must be victim of that spell and get blinded. Best way is to Guard a dozen of times against Gossipier.
• [Lacrimosa] – EC-2 / LP-10 Inflicts damage (B) + Death. You must use Nervous Breakdown, Stray Sheep and Nightmare.

Magnolia is not one big map, like Malis. It is set of relatively small maps. Interestingly enough, you cannot enter any buildings. We will start exploring counter-clockwise. Move east, since nothing else interesting is here.

Shadeling whines:

I suck at studying…

Hey, look, Blue Cog.

Warning in Stone – Stone giant. Pretty slow. Pretty strong. Plenty of LP. It can actually survive Self-Holocaust! Uses Pleasure Fruit, if hurt in battle. Not that it will help him, mind you. Warning in Stone is pretty useful as benchmark – you have to be able to kill it with Self-Holocaust in one hit, if you want to survive challenges ahead. That would be about 100 PSY, by the way. Grind, baby, grind!

Tactics: More Self-Holocausts.

Skills: Guard, Dark Mist (Blind), Charge, Earthquake (Invert), Pleasure Fruit.

Now go north.

Here is another shadeling…

Must be nice to be human. You can study to get smarts, and you can train to get strong. ‘Cept some still have nothin’. That really gets me steamed.

…and Green Cog hidden behind barrels (from your point of view, Alice can see it very well) with random monster and treasure. Example:

• Seablue Necklace: [Vanity] LP+50%. More powerful version of Coral Hairpin. Still won’t be used.

It is just me or these streets are pretty empty? Walk to north.

Whoa, three, count them, THREE interesting things! Remember Pink Cog in entrance to something (presumably univesity or similiar place, this is city of scholars, after all) and Red Shadeling – we will deal with them later. Destroy Green Cog. Example prize:

• Espadrilles: [Price of Freedom] AGL-20% LP consumption halved. Useless.

We are still going counter-clockwise. Go west. Destroy Blue Cog convieniently placed just by road. Going further you encounter Green Cog behind trees and shadeling.

You can just live in the Land of Time if you wanna forget all the world’s hardships. ‘Cause there, everybody tosses out their past and future.

Enough of moving like clock. Move south. This place has most people. For some reason you can’t talk to them, though.

Another Green Cog, another doubtful loot.

• Dream Circuit Breaker: [Price of Soul] PSY-20% Take 1/3 less damage. Hmm… no. May be useful in certain circumstances, though.

Go south again.

Lemme see, suspicious guy standing on bench, mother with two kids and yet another goddamn Green Cog.

• Insomnia: [Termination] Prevents all ailments. No, just no. What it is with all of that vendor trash?!

Walk west to end, but then go north again.

Deal with Warning of Stone (now you should have all needed Blue Cogs destroyed) and talk to shadeling.

Some Shadelings will challenge you to show off their might. Those Shadelings won’t get any stronger as you train, but… Some of them are just stupidly strong, so be careful.

Well, I thought Red Shadeling on different levels were same person. Whatever, go north.

This place has only shadeling – and way to get to Green Cog that we seen previously. Just walk above that tree on right of screenshot. But let’s see what this shadeling has to say first.

I saw a Hand Fragment in a big plaza. That plaza should be… Uh, east from here?

Thanks, I would never, ever find it without your help. Get Green Cog. It now gives just Force, so I guess this level ran out of accessories to give… meh, all of them were shit anyway.

Ah well. Return to where Pink Cog was and prepare for two battles. As first it will be Red Shadeling.

Whale out of Nowhere

This battle is actually challenging for a change, due to certain twist. Yay!

Preparations: First, equip those skills: Guard, Self-Holocaust, Lacrimosa, Shock, Aura. Ensure you have equipped Alluring Perfume – it is absolutely critical. You many want also to harvest plants in garden and grind a lot (eqiup Circlet in that case).

Now you are ready to fight with Red Shadeling. Confirm your desire to fight.

Wat. Is this… some kind of unicorn whale?…

Tactics: Damage him to sligtly over half of health (maybe as low as 1/3) with combination of Lacrimosa and Shock. Then finish him in one shot with Self-Holocaust. Otherwise he will use Meaningful Double Suicide (MDS) and that means you already lost battle, as in this state you will automatically miss him. Mr. Shadeling will then blast you with large amount of damage.

Of course, if you have sufficiently high PSY, you can just fire two Self-Holocausts and be done with that nonsense.

Skills: Charge, E. Horrid, Angelight (Dizzy), Whirlwind (Invert), Meaningful Double Suicide.

Let’s go into details: damage dealed by MDS seems to be exactly 999.

• No protection: 999
• Only Guard: 499 (half of damage reduced)
• Only Dream Circuit Breaker: 666 (1/3 of damage reduced)
• Both of above: 333 (combined 2/3 of damage reduced)

To surivive that you would have to do A LOT of grinding. If you win that battle, you will get skill:

• [E. Horrid] – LP-30 Inflicts Damage (C) and sucks EC.

That would be all about our Allahu Akbar-loving Red Shadeling. Time for main course!

The Brunt of Seething Love

Preparations: This boss battle will be either nasty, like previous ones, or easy, if you prepare well. Skills: Guard, Self-Holocaust, Shock, Anti-Pain. Wear Alluring Perfume. Make sure you have at least 100 PSY and at least 122 health.

Use last, formerly pink, cog. Alice already expected her past self, but steps back anyway.

A rope around my neck. I choked, but I endured.

Because I was told it was love.

Yeah, this is Warped Affection, looking like some imposing demon surrounded by magic and suffering.

Tactics: Rule same as always with bosses – kill fucker ASAP. Perform three Self-Holocausts in row. Yes, that’s it. First one is free thanks to Alluring Perfume, and after second one he will either Concentrate or use up Pleasure Fruit. Does not matter, as third Self-Holocaust will finish him. If not, Shock him in submission. Heheh.

Skills: Concentration, Brainwashed Neglect (Weak), Stray Sheep (Blind), Pentecost, Pleasure Fruit.

After winning, go through gate.

Father gave you those wounds, didn’t he.

…He’s insane, isn’t he?

Once he’s destroyed one, he finds a girl to replace her and does it again.

When the only preson he really loves isn’t with us any longer.

Two “Silla”s have been bought and killed before this.

Those girls were never loved.

They were just sacrifices for Father, becuase he saw Mother’s phantom in them!

Second girl gets off bench.

I can’t do anything about it. And I don’t dare to. Because I’m only here now thanks to his tiniest bit of sympathy.

I can only tell you the truth. You can do what you will now.

After this flashback, we return to our senses.

Take Hand.

Somewhere else…

The Hand Fragments…

There’s only one person who could be doing this… So that’s it, huh…

Ticka turns back to his mentor.

I warned you then. Told you it waz unlawful. Once Alice gets all the Fragments, it’z you who will be regretting.

Tiska denies it.

I always knew what would happen.

We are standing next to gate to Magnolia. While we know, or rather are sure, what happened to Alice back then, we still have unanswered questions. Can it get worse? See you next time!

Standstill Girl walkthrough, part 5: Cradle.

Last acquired dark memory tell us about Chronola’s destination – slave market called euphemistically “Cradle”. Go here, if you want to read from start.

Walk to our favourite duo under Great Clock. Wait, not duo anymore. Tiska is nowhere to be seen. Ask Gulinello about him.

Tiska? He’z doing errands in town. Hazn’t been back in a while… no doubt he got sidetracked.

I thought broken Great Clock is most important right now? Ah well. Time to search for that good-for-nothing around. In your home, Shadeville Magazine has new ad.

Seeking Challengers! Training in Land of Life. Bring good fight! Me red Shadeling, so you’ll know.

Among other messages, Gulinello has this delightful advice:

A Word From Gulinello. Pay attention, will you? That’s not a comedy, it’s a tragedy!

Ok, let’s go from your home to east. Oh, it is Tiska! He seems to talk with shadeling (one that said Alice would be better Warden).

I was just buying some ice cream from Teresa here. *whistles* Let’s eat it together!

I figured you weren’t doing warden work… Guess I was right.

Tiska jumps in reaction.

S-Sure I am! Just… not making much progress on repairs, is all!

If you say so.

Tiska and Alice move a little.

How about the park here?

It is very nice park, with very nice view. View of… uhhh… some… brownish, swirly… er, um. Nevermind. Forgot we aren’t in standard reality.

 …Thanks. I’ll take that.

Tiska takes Hand Fragment. For a while both of them look into what here passes for outside.

Hey, Alice?

…You already know, right? It’s something in your past that ended you up in the Land of Time. And now, you’re doing your darnedest to look for those Fragments… even though having the Clock take our pasts might be the happiest thing for us.

Hm. Did Tiska also had bad past? Anyway, he lowers his head for a moment.

…I’m really anxious. What if a Time Scar gets you? Or if your own past hurts you? It tears my chest apart just thinking about it…

Another moment of silence.

…but I am a little happy. About how you’re taking it upon yourself to face your past… and how you’re so willing to help me out.

Now it is Alice that is silent. Still, it looks like she is saying something to Tiska.

Um… huh? Er… false assumption?

Seems Alice is a little upset.

W-Well, even so…! I’m glad for you, really… Tell me if there’s anything bothering you. I’m sure I can help.

Suddenly!

Both of them look at left.

How long’z it take you to do a little shopping?!?

Yeowch… Gulinello’s furious. He’s always so protective, y’know…

Tiska makes a few steps.

Sorry, yeah, I better be going. See you later, Alice.

After next few steps he faces Alice once again.

Hope it can be leisurely next time.

Alice looks after Tiska, as he scampers off.

What?

• Half-Eaten Ice Cream: For when you want to be happy.

Oh my. You really enjoyed that little outing, huh? Ask Teresa about him.

Always slacking on his job… What’s he gonna do if he gets fired? N-Not that I care about him or anything.

Meh, tsundere act will not help you. While we are in Shadeville, let’s go where we weren’t previously – at very bottom.

This is Farsdale Mental Hospital. Sounds like puppies and sunshine. Next to door is poster.

Urgent Part-Time Job Offering

Just need to keep the patients calm. Beginners OK! Details inside!

Go through door inside.

This is off-putting place. What is with these very weird noises? And here are two humans! Actual humans! Ask receptionist shadeling here. If you didn’t read poster, he will tell you off.

We’re a bit full at the moment. Please wait.

If you did read poster, he will ask:

Here for part-time job?

You can respond That’s right or That’s wrong. I think it is obvious that you should answer with latter. That “beginners OK” thing is bald-faced lie. I am sure we will pay visit later. Way, way later. Check out those two patients.

Guy: The patient’s body and mind was ruined, and so madness took them… they’re resorting to drastic measures.

Girl: It’ll be born soon. Our precious child… hoho… hohoh.

Shiver.

Shackled Affection Doll

Go back under Great Clock. Undoubtedly Gulinello will have some choice words about Tiska.

Yeezh… what a hassle of a warden.

Shush, our date with him was awesome. As Tiska is busy, we have nothing else to do. Time for next stop – in east wing, third door from right.

– Malis Residential District –

Enter.

You can go back to Land of Time by going down (or any other way out of district). Question visible shadeling.

This is the city of Malis. It’s so big, they got a residential district and a business one.

Time for Time Scars haunting this place.

Selfish – Gargolyle-like, mean looking being.

Tactics: Guard + Brain Blue all the way!

Skills: Spirit Thorn, Bolten Light, Whirlwind (invert).

 

Sum of parts – Four-legged ant.

Tactics: It is slow. Guard, Brain Blue. In case you want to try some other tactics, remember that you should Guard when it Guards.

Skills: Guard, Deadly Venom (weak), Scissor (EC2).

Greedbeast – Big ass-rat.

Tactics: Somewhat slow. It seems to always cast Crunch at full health. Guard, Brain Blue, Guard, Brain Blue, ta… da… daaa…

Skills: Crunch, Supersonic Wave (dizzy), Evil Stamp (EC2).

Miscreant – Fancy name will not cover fact that is just animated skeleton with shield and sword.

Tactics: Miscreant can be surprisingly annoying due to Invert. Still, same old is enough to kill him: Guard, Brain Blue. Just cast Guard again if he inverts you.

Skills: Trip Up (invert), Bloodway, Summer Rain Slice.

Pride – Two floating purple heads.

Tactics: Can you guess?

Skills: Guard, Supersonic Wave (dizzy), Evil Stamp (EC2).

Remember to use other attacks – only then you will get new skills.

Explore Malis’s residential district: lower part

This map is pretty big! First building that you can enter is already visible. Just open door.

Deal with Green Cog – it is guarded by random monster and gives you random accessory. For example:

• Alluring Perfume [Surprise]: Start battle with full meter. Wow, this is actually pretty useful, as it gives you free round on start. If you are faster than enemy, you can use skill twice before monster has any chance to do anything. This will save your ass in boss battle.

Go up.

Shadeling here has some comment about Tiska’s guardian:

Gulinello, man, it all traces back to him. If he hadn’t picked up Tiska and brought him here, y’know…

Go even higher.

First Blue Cog! Soo…

Dream Eater – This supernatural being looks pretty dangerous – small batlike wings, monkey’s hands, violet skin, yellow fur and torso ending in djinn-like bottom. And it is dangerous! If you can’t defeat him handily, grind up more force.

Tactics: It is fast and twice as strong as normal enemy – it can survive Brain Blue. Prop up AGI, if you didn’t already, to ensure you start first. Then PSY until you can kill him in two hits. Ideally, if you can kill him in one Brain Blue hit, you are barely ready for boss.

Skills: Spirit Thorn, ?, Evil Stamp, Whirlwind (invert).

After destroying Blue Cog exit building and go east. Just after bridge you can enter house.

Nothing interesting here. Walk to second floor.

What this shadeling has to say?

Everybody in th Land of Time, even the wardens, are bound by Order. You don’t wanna know what happend when you defy the Order that God laid out.

…and we will get to know anyway, right? This is how it always work. Exit building. Going further east, besides this guy…

…there is green cog in blind alley.

As usual, it has random enemy and random reward. For example:

• Cat-eared Cape [Regeneration]: Recover 10% LP each turn. Is this what Tiska has? Who knows. Anyway, disappointing.

Let’s go west now. Reminder: you want to vary attacks to get new skills. Almost all enemies should be pushovers by now. At end there is house with Red Shadeling between flowers. We will try to defeat him later. For now, enter house.

Shadeling here is pretty late with his advice.

You gotta equip skills and items or they’re useless! … Always wanted to say that.

Har har, very funny. It seems to be impossible to get to room at bottom, so let’s take this Green Cog. As usual, it has random enemy and reward. For example:

• Scholar Glasses [Erudite]: Items have 2x effect in battle. If only there was point to use items in battle in first place, huh?

After exiting house it is worth to visit Shadeling Town, reap flowers and plant new seeds.

• [Fig of Loss] EC+2. Value: 150 force.

You can also take opportunity to rest in your home. While we are at it, where is Tiska’s home? In Shadeville Magazine you can get new articles:

A Word From Tiska

I hear “the cold” is really catching on in the Land of Life. Sounds like it’s some fad.

A Word From Gulinello

Tiska’s been slacking off on the clock, so tell me if you see him in town. Over.

A Word From Alice

Nope nope

Ah Alice, always straight to point. Return to place where you were and go north. We get tantalizing view of distant green cog and another house.

Enter inside.

Our hearts and bodies are empty, so we don’t know human suffering. Did people even suffer here, in rich town like this?

Oh yes, they certainly do. Now second floor.

Example prize for destroying yet another green cog:

• Circlet [Incerase]: Earn 1.5x Force. Eh, just grind more. Not needed.

You can cross out this house from list. Now we are going to east, but through center of map. In empty area some shadeling loiters.

Sure feels like a city. It’s swarming with rich guys and all.

Explore Malis’s residential district: upper part

Walk north upstairs. In middle of park there is blue cog.

Spend Force on PSY and LP. You shouldn’t have any problems with dispatching Dream Eater. Going further in west direction…

I saw a floating cog in the bar. Wonder if it’s there to drink too.

No one asked you. Okay, maybe Alice asked. Eliminate green cog that you seen earlier. What it is this time? Bonus force? Bullshit! Ah well, enter last (not counting final one) building (left door).

Oh man, tons of shadelings here! And with varius doubtful comments and advice, too.

You oughta cure Weak quick! If you try to just endure it, the battle’s only gonna get tougher.

Why? These damn skills that cost LP will take more than Weak ever will.

I dunno if it was an accident or what, but I’m glad time stopped. It may only be temporary, but we’re finally free… to drink beer, especially.

And in nice company, too. Shame she is not saying much, huh? What about two shadelings admiring pianist?

There’s said to be heavenly wings that save you even if you hit 0 LP. That’d be some item, huh…

I hear most Time Scars won’t use their strongest attacks when they’re full on LP. So take that opportunity to do stuff!

Well, I guess Alice needs additional spells. Would you kindly wipe floor with that Dream Eater, would you?

I see red

Since we are almost at end, time for red shadeling. Walk to south-west corner of map, where he awaits surrounder by flowers.

There are some things to do before both red shadeling and boss battle. Ensure you gained new skills:

• [Self-Holocaust] – EC-1 / LC-40 Inflicts Damage (A). You have to use Southern Cross a lot and finish battle at low LP. It’s name is very appropriate and fitting for whole game in general. You will not use it for now due to very high LP cost, but in future, you will use it in place of Brain Blue routinely. Let me admire it’s name once again. Self-Holocaust. Ssself-Hooolocauuust…
• [Constellation Shield] – EC-1 / LP-15 Prevents status ailments. You have to use Southern Cross and Spica a lot.

For red shadeling, I recommend Guard, Innocent Rain, Aura and Constellation Shield. Start fight.

Mr. Shadeling – I don’t even know what it is. Vaguely snake-like, yet aquatic looking. It is surprisingly weak and pretty slow. I guess Dream Eater was pretty good workout.

Tactics: Guard + Brain Blue all the way!

Skills: Guard, Crunch, Evil Flame (EC2).

You killed him? Yay! But wait… what the hell it is? He transforms into…

Mr. Shadeling form 2 – Skeletal dragon. Aw, it is slightly stronger. Still, if you defeated first form with ease, you should not have any trouble with second one.

Tactics: Always uses Psychological / PSY boost at second turn. Guard twice and Innocent Rain.

Skills: Trip Up (Invert), Hook Claw, Evil Flame (EC2), Deadly Venom / Weak, Psychological / PSY boost.

Prize for defeating red shadeling:

• [Psychological] – EC-2 Boosts PSY. Yay?

Now go to north-east corner and destroy last cog.

Boss battle

Darkness and silence. Chronola appears… again… and Alice backs off… again.

Out of many girls, a man takes my hand alone. I believe there is happiness here. Goodbye, Chronola.

Say hello to another abominable monstrosity. Physical visualisation of Abduction and Confinement, it looks like glass prison with bloodied brain on vaguely technological pedestal.

Preparations: This is another boss that is order of magnitude stronger than strongest enemy in this chapter. It has very nasty offensive skills, but at least it can’t instakill you.

As minimum, you should have LP 110, PSY 80, AGL 60. Grind up Force as needed. For Skills select Self-Holocaust, Joy Flower x 4. As accessory you should select Alluring Perfume, allowing you two rounds at beginning of battle.

Tactics: Self-Holocaust (SH) twice at beginning. Heal up. Later heal up as neccesary due to his attacks and try to find opening for last SH. After double Self-Holocaust you will have sufficient amount of health to survive one his Spirit Thorn, but if you see him Concentrating, be vary, it allows for very annoying Imprison. When you have full health, you should survive anything it throws at you and you need only three SH to kill it.

Skills: Spirit Thorn, Concentration, Brain Blue, Evil Javelin (EC2), Imprison (Invert).

After defeating Abduction and Confinement enter small building.

Pretty generic house in sepia. Guy leads Chronola inside.

Girl that was tending flowers takes notice and comes closer. Chronola stands next to guy.

Father? Who’s she…?

I won the bid for her at the “Cradle.” Beatiful eyes, aren’t they? They’re a lot like hers.

Wendy’s father walks in direction of stairs.

Now, come this way, Silla.

They walk upstairs. Wendy stands there, deep in thought.

Silla… That’s… Mother’s name…

End of flashback.

Chronola’s apparition will vanish if you use Z. Go to second floor.

Is this Wendy? She looks older. This is first frozen human that gives different description than usual after Z.

The girl is looking sadly at the diary. …You may have seen this somewhere before.

Another inquiry results only in this now:

Time is stopped for the girl…

Let’s take look at diary itself:

“I could do nothing for those dying girls.”

Yes, Macaroni Info Hut in Land of Time had this terryfying foreshadowing. Finally, take hand of clock.

Nightmare only just begun.

Standstill Girl walkthrough, part 4: freedoom.

Last time we left Alice, she discovered first part of her memories. You can also start from beginning.

Well, let’s check if Gulinello knows more.

But sometimez sheer affection won’t get you anywhere.

Tiska himself is not particularly helpful either, too.

…Alice, are you really interested in your past?

Of course I am!

Then maybe you might consider this little incident a good thing. The Clock hands will forcibly show your past. So long as you’re prepared… I leave it all to you.

…Hey, take this.

It’s a charm for wardens. I hope it can protect you instead of me, Alice.

Let’s check it.

• [Seraphs Six Wings] Grants auto-revive.

If you eat it during battle, you will regenerate your stats fully when defeated. Well, looks useful for boss battles and the like. More talk brings you only this:

No need to rush. It’s totally fine if you take this at your own pace.

Okay, Alice, I know you like to talk with Tiska, but enough of lollygagging. Onwards to second door!

Departure for Malis – The Cradle of Slavery

New area, new monsters, as usual.

Sights Seen – Some guy made from water. Relatively fast. It can heal itself, but uses this skill rarely.

Tactics: Likes to cast Guard first, Stardust second. Obviously, counter-cast Guard in this case. Beside that, just Brain Blue him to death once.

Skills: Guard, Aura, Stardust.

Savant – strange name for something that looks pretty much like zombie. It is slow.

Tactics: Guess what two skills you have to use. If you guessed Guard and Brain Blue, congratulations! No prize, though.

Skills: Spirit Thorn, Deadly Venom (Weak), Charge.

 

Edge – as it is flying sword with mean attitude, name is certainly appropriate.

Tactics: It has only offensive skills, so you can start beating him up right away. You have to Guard once anyway, as Brain Blue will take care of him.

Skills: Shock, Spirit Thorn, Summer Rain Strike.

Death Maria – severed head of Medusa… ISIS got into Cisthene or what? It is strongest regular monster here – it is capable of surviving Brain Blue. If this happens, time to incerase PSY.

Tactics: It always guards first. Kick her with Shock, on second turn guard, then wipe her out with Brain Blue.

Skills: Guard, Bolten Light, ?

Unease – Big green rattlesnake. It is pretty fast, if he starts first, time to improve AGL.

Tactics: Guard, Brain Blue. You may start to think that combat system in this game is somewhat… lacking.

Skills: Shock, Deadly Venom (Weak), Crunch.

 

Basically, you would want to use anything else than Guard+Brain Blue combo only for new skills. Also try from time to time aliment-inflicting moves and the like.

New status aliment:

• Weak – you lose 5% of LP each turn. No big deal, Brain Blue costs more LP to use!

New potential skills:

• [Nervous Breakdown] – EC-2 / LC-10 Inflicts Damage (B) + Weak. You have to be victim of this very spell and suffer from Weak.
• [Innocent Rain] – EC-3 / LC-10 Inflicts Damage (A). You have to use Brain Blue tons of times.

Let’s get back to business. First walk to west. You will notice bonus cog next to water tower.

Random monster guards prize.

• White Charm: [Endurance] Prevent Death/Weak. Whatever.

Shadeling loitering next to couple has nothing interesting to say.

Boy, that’s one big train. Hey Alice, where’s it go?

To Malis, I guess. We will go too. Ask shadeling in entrance.

Comin’ aboard?

Yes.

We’ll be off soon. Get on.

Train to destiny

Huh? Why train moves, yet humans are still frozen? And that view in window… seems like this place is partially in timestream. Is this guardian doing, I wonder. Somehow I doubt this train will ever reach it’s destination, if you do nothing.

Final cog is already here, taunting me by its very presence. Ah well. Shadeling has small advice.

If you wanna go back to the Land of Time, jump out that door there.

You can only go west.

This looks like sleeping car. Local shadeling is visibly distressed.

This place is uncomfortable somehow…

Green cog here is randomly guarded. Drop is random too, for example:

• Greengrass Hairpin: [Anxiety] AGL +25%. Excuse me if I will still use Coral Hairpin.

Go west to next car.It is just me or this whole train is almost empty? Shadeling by window wonders:

If we keep steaming on like a train, can we be freed from this living hell?

Second plays around.

Badump. Rattle. Rattle. Badump.

Near west end of car is partially obscured green cog. It is still relatively easy to spot, because it moves. Like previous one, is randomly guarded and drops randomly. Example:

• Troll Fang: [1/4 Counter] Chance of countering enemy attack. Finally something decent! While non-boss monsters at this stage can be easily killed by Guard+Brain Blue combo, it still can shorten battle and waste less time. Useful for blue cog battles.

Next car has blue cog. Shadeling here has this unsettling warning:

Humans have these relationships where the low ones support the high. I guess that’s what’s goin’ on with the car next to this one.

Nice foreshadowing, pal.

You will not be back

Okay, time to take on blue cog. What Time Scar guards it?

One-way Ticket – This large, bluish unicorn certainly looks menacing.

Tactics: First do guard, but if it guards, guard again. You will need two Guard+Brain Blues combos. Counterattack thanks to Troll Fang may shorten this battle significantly.

Skills: Guard, Stardust, Nervous Breakdown, Charge.

After defeating it don’t forget to return to Land of Time and do some gardening’n’shopping. You may also trade this (provided you already found it):

• [Delusion Cure] Cures status aliments. Value: 50 force.

Shadeling loitering south from shop has now different advice:

I hear some moves you have to learn from an enemy usin’n them on you.

In home, Shadeville Magazine has new headlines.

Limited-Time Land of Life Tour

“Time” to make some memories! Free-for-all ’till the Great Clock is fixed!!

Oh, you think you are so clever with this pun, huh. Time to back to Land of Living. Let’s see what is ominous fifth car all about. Go west.Huh. Prison car. In hindsight, I should have seen this coming. Sadly, all prison cells are locked. We will deal with them later. Resident shadeling cynically notes:

With rooms this small, guess you can get a lot on.

As you cannot do anything here for now, go west.Surprise, surprise, another prison car. Time for fourth wall advice from shadeling here:

You can’t Invert flying foes, nor Blind eyeless ones. You can usually tell what effects won’t work from a foe’s appearance.

Next car is normal. Still empty, though. Well, not counting shadelings and green cog.Ask around.

Watch out for the Concentration move. It sacrifices LP for EC. You better fear it. ‘Cause an enemy can get ready to unleash a finisher quick.

It better be, because so far game is pretty easy. Ooh, next part of lore!

First, God made a little garden called the Land of Life. Then God put life in it. When changes in time occured, it made contradictions in the garden. So Order was born to correct things’ paths when they went astray. ‘Course we’re stuck without much freedom now thanks to that…

Funnily enough, this particular optional green cog is not optional at all. At least, not if you want to progress in game. I see what creator did here. Again, random guard, random drop. Like this:

• Obscure Score: [Knockback] Reduce enemy meter on attack. While it can slow down enemy, Troll Fang is the best.

Go west.Finally! That damn train is pretty long. Destroy blue cog. You already know how to deal with gray-blue insane unicorns. Note shadeling pretending to direct train.

I’m the one moving the train. Impressive, huh?

Yeah, sure you are. Move on. That fat guy below blue cog has Jail Keys. Take them and return back to prison cars in reverse order. In car closer to train head, in cells are two points of interest: green cog and red shadeling. With green cog you know the drill. Random monster, random prize, but this time it is common item, not accessory. Red shadeling is different matter. Should you agree to his challenge, you will meet with…

Mr. Shadeling – big, black, headless armor set with big sword.

Tactics: It is pretty slow. Shock, Guard, Brain Blue. Dissapointing, really.

Skills: Guard, Summer Rain Slice, Repose Seed, Flam Shout (Invert)

As prize for defeating him Mr. Shadeling gives you this new skill:

• [Flam Shout] – EC-1 Induces Invert. Yes, it is only thing it does. It is basically useful only to dispel enemy EC (usually enemy will Guard to accumulate EC needed to strongest attacks).

In other prison car, you find shadeling in one of cells.

Ack! You found me!! Take this and leave me be!

He will give you random common item. Ask him again.

Leave me beee… I wanna know how it feels for the people put in here.

I think it involves fear not exactly about being closed here, but about what happens later. Anyway, lets tacke last blue cog here. As usual, One-Way Ticket is here. Kick it’s ass and return to car where you started. Do your chores (you know, allocating force, harvesting plants, selecting skills etc), make sure you have Southern Cross and return back.

We’ve arrived

Touch formerly-pink cog.

And yet when I close my eyes, her smiling face comes to mind. This is a nightmare… right?

Personification of child’s nightmare, Last Stop, Slave Market, looks like classic Grim Reaper.

Preparations: Grim Reaper is extremely strong. This sudden spike in diffculty can be irritiating, not to mention it shows more clearly how unbalanced is this game.

You will need significant amount of PSY to take Reaper down in practical amount of time. And you have to kill him fast, because he will kill you sooner or latter. As Skills select Guard, Brain Blue, Southern Cross, 2xPleasure Fruit/Joy Flower. As accessory you probably will want Coral Hairpin.

Tactics: You should start first with Southern Cross. Now you will have to fire Crosses as much as you can, taking in account your health. You have to survive not only Cross (20 LP is significant amount of your health), but also enemy attack. If you see Reaper guarding, either Guard or heal yourself. Finish Reaper with Brain Blue.

Skills: Guard, Spirit Thorn, Bolten Light, Nightmare (Dizzy), Death’s Sickle (needs EC, Death).

You will probably get your ass kicked. In this case you will wake up at Great Clock.

Alice, are you okay…?

If you are too weak to take on Grim Reaper, you will have to grind. Blergh. At least, if you get hurt and Tiska heals you, he has new advice.

Are you getting any new skills? If you want better skills, try using the old ones more.

We know that already, but thanks anyway, Tiska!

After defeating Grim Reaper, enter last car. Shard of memory incoming. Guards, Chronola between them, enter last car. Some guy with better uniform looks at her.

Rich guy in Malis has a thing for these. No doubt he’ll want her.

Guard lead Chronola to her cell. One moment later…

…Oh, there is! Good… When they took me here, I was the only one…

Girl raises head.

…You know where this train’s going?

Now she drops head again.

…

Well, I heard one of those men talking about the “Cradle” in Malis. Cradle… Hey, you know what it really means?

It means “***** market.”

End of flashback. You are in last car. Enter cell and take fragment of clock hand.

You are back in Land of Time. This is getting darker and darker, isn’t it? See you next time.