So, I was tasked with 23x and 23xx. 23x was a shopping chapter. Sounds simple, right? Nah.
I went shopping five times, each time with various issues. VBA hated me, event IDs hated me, Blazer hated me, etc. As such, there aren’t any screenshots for chapter 23x. This post is going to be text-heavy.
Chapter 23x Rant
I didn’t think you could screw up a shopping chapter, but I’ve come to learn how easy that is. 23xx has some stupid requirements that made shopping a chore. First, you need to bring Haas and Storm along in order to get the Emblem Bow. There’s no indication of why/when/how, like many other ‘secrets’ in TLP. Even better, if you happen to coincidentally bring them on your shopping trip, the conversation is only triggerable by one of them. You could end up so close yet so far.
After that, you have to wait the entire 10 turns the chapter allots for you. Blazer was ‘kind’ enough to give you a soldier with whom you can talk to in order to end the shopping early, but doing so prevents you from getting 23xx. This isn’t explained to you, either. In fact, any sane player would choose to end the chapter early if they were concerned about their turncount.
This doesn’t have anything really to do with the chapter, but apparently we weren’t eligible for 23xx due to some Emblem Axe shenanigans (thanks Cam), which led to some frustration. After that, VBA gobbled my save when I tried to set the event ID, so I had to sit through painful shopping music again. Luckily, I got to watch Althacrits plow through weak arena units with the sweet assassin animation, so it wasn’t all bad.
Lastly, although I enjoy the concept of a shopping chapter, there’s an element to 23xx that makes the experience redundant.
Here’s 23xx, finally. Still no screenshots of what I bought. I don’t even remember, having done 23x so many times.
Chapter 23xx: Nebulous Ruins
Oh, and flickr decided to .jpeg all of my images, but that hardly matters.
After a nice shopping trip, the gang gets mysteriously teleported to some spooky ruins with a creepy dude. The dude wants to suck the “ether” from the Emblem weapons, so Anakin hands them over as quickly as he possibly can without a good reason. Creep sucks them, hands them back, and then runs away to summon his spooky goons. The weapons are returned and nothing’s been done to them–they’re just as powerful as always. Here are some screenies of this “dramatic scene.”
The important question is “why are you?”
And the ability to dumb the text
>arte
>arte x2
Hmm, I wonder what this dude who wants to suck the power from your weapons is doing in this place, which may or may not be ruins that people may or may not know about. I mean, you’ve made two conclusions, why not make the easy one, too?
I’m going to make an “arte” of strangling this guy.
I later learned that there’s a unit in our group with “arte” in their description. I hate everything.
Somehow I missed this screenshot from before. The answer’s pretty clear: You fell from where you were standing previously. There really isn’t a good reason to CAPITALIZE this, was there?
Here’s about where I stopped caring for screenshots. The chapter is full of ‘ghosts’ who have meager stats, low health, and solid gray palettes. They spawn endlessly and only deal damage to Liquid, really. I sent Althacrits to the left, along with Cia and Tamiko for shaman-clearing, and had everyone else go right to kill the boss.
In case you didn’t know:
illuminate confrimed
Unlike this dude’s goons, he’s mean. I’d rather not fight him with anyone, so it’s time for. . .
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mindless_insanity/31731621430/in/album-72157675013782903/
. . .Power cheese 2017. Also, why isn’t this guy on his throne?
Even with a stupidly strong boss, the hardest part of this chapter was getting it to trigger.
power cheese
And that’s it for this chapter. You get his super-duper tome and a bunch of material things that Kelik doesn’t care about wants to grab, including some OP gem and a hammerne staff, along with some powerful gear and whatnot. Kind of makes you feel like an idiot for shopping for powerful items when you get handed a bunch afterward.
Aaaaand that’s all for what was supposed to be a short gaiden trip.
