Sorry for the hiatus! Farla requisitioned my computer so she could do reviewing month.

When last we left off, Ilganyag had just arrived in Fortifel after running away from Nal the first chance they got because that’s what innocent people do, right? Seriously they weren’t even wrongfully accused, they just jumped ship the moment Qualstio caught wind there might be some sort of investigation in the future maybe. Fortunately, Qualstio’s friend Metzino doesn’t seem to care.

New area! All the flavor text will be mine.

Personally, I think Fortifel may be my favorite location in the game. I always love places of magic and wonder in fantasy stories, and Fortifel does not disappoint. After trudging through mundane cities doing mundane things, Fortifel finally shows some of the elements that make The Reconstruction‘s world unique. We’re finally going to see wildlife and enemies more interesting than bugs and bandits. Even the environment itself is leagues more interesting than the generic forests and dreary swamps of previous missions.

I get the feeling that this is an area the developer really enjoyed too. Fortifel clearly has a lot of work put into it – while Wadassia and Nal used a lot of RTP assets, Fortifel has a ton of unique sprites and tracks. I feel like there’s more background and culture to discover than in previous areas.

Speaking of!

He is also giving Dehl a lecture of sorts on his experiences with Fortifel.

“It’s full of rude, pretentious jerkwads you should hate and who are TOTALLY NOT LIKE ME AT ALL.”

He does give surprisingly good information, though. I can ask about Fortifel, Metzino, or the Fortians themselves.

If I ask about Fortifel, he talks about it being divided into “stratums” (altitudes) along the mountain, with the council tower sitting at the top. Isn’t that dangerous and kinda stupid? Building a tower on top of a mountain is a risky prospect at the best of times, but this is a volcano we’re talking about here. If it suddenly became active, they’d have the hardest time evacuating. It seems like that irrational human desire to climb to the highest point of an area trumped logical precautions, but, uh, isn’t that backwards from how Fortians are supposed to work? I guess it could go to show that they’re not as cerebral as they claim.

“Apart from the shifting and rockfalls, it’s pretty clean and safe for the most part.”

So basically, apart from a disaster that can utterly devastate mountainside cities, it’s totally safe? Gah. Rockfalls would be incredibly dangerous here, wouldn’t they? If something falls from high up it could compound into a larger rockslide if it hits stuff on the way down – something that’s pretty likely to happen if they’re dividing the city into flat outcrops like Qualstio seems to imply. Raises the question of how common rockfalls are here. Maybe they have magical defenses to mitigate them?

Qualstio goes on to say it snows year round, which implies there are places where it only snows some parts of the year. So they do have seasons. But…why? How??? Unless the planet was already tilted, EROS would have to purposefully induce seasonal rotations and what’s the point of doing that?! It’s the little details that ruin everything.

Anyway. Qualstio does explain a cool little thing: buildings are well-heated to compensate for the cold, and this includes the roofs. The melted runoff is Fortifel’s main source of water. Yay resource talk!

“Not a whole lot will grow around here, so they do what they can for food and resources.”

…But I guess the developer got tired of that and just ended with this vague noncommittal thing. What do you mean they “do what they can”? Does anything grow around Fortifel? Volcanic islands are usually incredibly fertile, they should be able to get some good farming going around the base (unless EROS purposefully designed it to be nothing but basalt and brimstone because they’re dicks I guess?). Do they import all their food, then? How do they pay for it? Do they not need to and are just on the Great Wadassian Charity Drive like everyone else? I must know everything about their economic system

…Ahem. Metzino. They’re childhood friends. He’s made his fortune inventing machines that do stuff Fortians usually use magic for. All Qualstio says in their favor is that they’re safer than magic (somehow). Why doesn’t he pick up on how revolutionary they are? He’s a shra sympathizer, he should be all over stuff that topples magic-user superiority. Oh, and “The higher councils don’t like it one bit. They think it’s a sacrilege against the elements.” The what now? Is this the story they’re feeding to the public to cover up the fact that they’re monopolizing, power-greedy fiends? I don’t see why they would need to. If modern-day politics are any indication, the truth alone would be enough to turn Fortifel on Metzino. Just say that he’s stealing their jobs or usurping Fortifel superiority by giving the unwashed masses access to similar power and everyone’d flip out. Wonder if this was done to preserve the revolutionary twist? Or maybe the plot for this chapter got rewritten at some point, and this is an artifact. Hm.

Anyway, even though the council openly hates him, they can’t do anything to him because [reason not found]. This is all the explanation Qualstio gives: “The Council can’t touch him, and he knows it! Just like his father, and his grandfather.” So he comes from a line of law-immune sues, I guess.

“Yep. Whole family line of geniuses. Must be nice, being so sure of success all your life.” …And I guess it must also be nice knowing you’re probably going to die horribly in a battle to the death? Why does nobody know about the feud? Both battles we see are incredibly flashy and noticeable. And if both family lines are hugely successful with presences in the community, wouldn’t people notice how they keep dying? And that those deaths generally coincide with aforementioned flashy battles? And even assuming they did somehow manage to keep it secret, Metzino never told Qualstio anything? None of this makes any sense!

But I’m getting ahead of myself. There’ll be plenty of time to rant about that gaping plot hole when it comes up.

The Fortians: “Snotty bunch, they are. I mean, other than me.” I think you’re forgetting someone, Qualstio. You know, the guy who’s protecting you from the government at considerable risk to himself without asking anything in return. But no, he’s apparently included in the “snotty bunch”. Qualstio is an ungrateful dick.

Anyway, apparently the reason they wear gaudy outfits is to one-up each other. That…doesn’t make a whole lot of sense? They’re supposed to be hyperfocused on intellectual pursuits. Why would they care if someone’s a shinier peacock than them? That’s the most shallow and mundane measure of superiority there is. They shouldn’t give a crap. I could definitely see them being competitive over intellectual or scientific achievements, but clothes? I guess the developer needed some way to show their elitist, hypercompetitive behavior but wanted something more easily displayed than a list of academic awards or whatever.

…Oh, I just had an idea. You know what would be hilarious? If the Fortians actually stapled their academic awards to their clothes to show them off. You could have a city of people running around in robes of paper that state very emphatically that their theory on whatever magical phenomena is correct, not like all THOSE idiots, thank you very much! That’d actually be the opposite of what we see here – they wouldn’t care about fashion at all, since ideally their clothes would be completely covered in something else – while still communicating the same underlying concept.

Qualstio then says that they hate variation, which just agrees with what I said. If they hate variation so much, why do they wear garish, exquisitely patterned clothes? Shouldn’t they wear interchangeable drab clothes so they never have to change their wardrobe?

“I’ll be damned if they haven’t made some fine magic-wielders over time, though.”

I think this is worth consideration. Why are they so good at magic, exactly? I mean, obviously they’ve been studying it for millennia, but this series can’t seem to make up its mind as to whether magical ability is innate or learned. It’s hard to tell whether Fortians’ skill is due to their amassed knowledge or some innate advantage. There are apparently racial differences between them and regular humans, and given that they’re all born and raised in a magic-dense area, some mutation that aids in magical control is possible. We never hear how human converts compare to native Fortians, so it’s all ambiguous.

Hm.

Last update, I praised the game for its accurate representation of PTSD re: the snow, but I may have to take that cookie back. It seems odd that something as incidental as snow created a traumatic imprint, but nothing else did. He should also be having flashbacks at the sight of bladed weapons or when using his spirit crush attack, given that they were more directly related to the trauma. Maybe he did at first, but manage to inoculate himself due to constant exposure in the guard? That guy in chapter 1 mentioned that it took him a long time before he would even hold a sword, so it’s possible. Or I could just not know anything about PTSD and that’s not how it works at all. That’s also a distinct possibility.

Tehgonan, Fero, and Sirush (he’s on the ledge above keeping lookout) all give pretty boring, generic descriptions. Not worth spending time on.

Both of them have accents reminiscent of the residents of South Nal, so those Fortians probably can’t understand them anyway.

Lani has a Nalian accent? Just how long was she there? I’m blanking on when she went to Nal (it might just never be mentioned at all), but she would have to have been there since she was a child to develop such a thick accent. Seems odd that her family would abandon their investment to that cesspit at such a young age.

Also, my previous choices are having a minor effect on things! Yay! I wonder what she says if Kidra wasn’t recruited? Maybe the same thing, just with the mention of Kidra cut out.

See, told you they wouldn’t be interested. Which just makes Qualstio’s assertion that they would all the more suspicious. I wonder what he thinks she is at this point?

She is secretly hoping a worker will come by to inspect it so she can barrage him or her with dozens of questions about it.

Zargos’ flavor text just says that he’s staying near the vent to keep warm. Like a cat, he gravitates towards the most comfortable spot and stays there.

…How does it work, though? I guess it’s just a steam pipe? It’s on top of a glowing spot, though. Does it pump magma? How in the world could they have installed that?

Qualstio sounds like he’s about to make a snide comment but relents and just asks what his next project is. Unlike before, he’s just upgrading what we already have instead of replacing it with something new. There’s some technobabble about sensors losing their stability and needing to be exposed to an elemental source. This leads to his new fetch quest, this time of a monster drop flavor – I need something from every enemy type in the area. Fortunately, these are not random drops; I only need to kill one and I’ll get it automatically. So that’s nice.

I’ll end this update with a trip to the hunting grounds. There’s actually some pretty cool stuff here.

The red-shirt guy to the south explains some mechanics to me. Apparently, elements tend to correspond to the various damage types. Finally, confirmation that they actually exist in-universe as well as a description of what they actually are! Heat and physical inflict actual harm to one’s flesh and body, mental and noxious cause confusion or revulsion and fatigue in the mind, and cold and divine often demoralize, shattering the will to fight or act. So I’m not actually destroying people’s souls! That’s good to know. He then ends his explanation with Of course, there are exceptions by which he means virtually everything is an exception. The rule generally holds true for enemy abilities, but not my own. Party member magic doesn’t play by anyone’s rules.

This kind of basic information may seem odd to throw in halfway through the game, but it’s actually extremely relevant here.

These are matterfiends. They’re beings of pure magical energy (or something). There are actually six variants, one for each element, and each one has a unique stat layout that follows the rules red-shirt guy just explained – their damage type and dominant stat both change depending on element. (So for instance, a heat-elemental matterfiend deals body damage and has more body points.) I think this is pretty neat. It’s a small thing, but it adds more diversity to the monster pool even if they’re basically the same enemy. Maybe I’m just biased because I think matterfiends are cool. (Any “being of pure energy” creatures are, in my opinion.)

Here we go. I said I needed a drop from every enemy type, and that includes every matterfiend variant. This is the main limiting factor in Brenetto’s quest since there are so many, but it’s still not too time-consuming.

Slashlings are an upcoming enemy. We’ll learn a lot about them in the next quest, which I probably should have done first because it feels like the hunting grounds assume you’re already familiar with them. Oh well.

Yep, probably not a good idea to drink water coming out of a volcano.

These are slashlings. They’re fast. Also they can do this:

why does a bite have longer range than a bow

why

why you do this, game

Lava! I can walk right up to it without worrying about such silly things as “convection”, naturally. I have to wonder just how dormant Fortifel is if there’s exposed lava like this. Where is it coming from? What’s keeping it heated? Exposed lava usually hardens very quickly.

This is on the other side.

It’s holding a variety of imported herbs, it seems. They were likely being hung up to dry out before being stolen by a hungry Slashling. Consuming it gives me clarity essence, which makes me wonder just what these “imported herbs” are. One of the earlier sacks mentioned there’s a weird drug Fortians like to use, maybe this is a refined version. Odd that it doesn’t say what it is after all the “Will you take the illegal drug you horrible, horrible person?” in Nal.

To the north of the “lake”, temperatures drop abruptly.

A shiny! It’s guarded by…something.

These are obsidomina. It’s never really explained what they are, exactly. The Drop labels them as magical constructs, so I guess they’re just a bunch of rocks animated by ambient magic? Except Brenetto said their ore is resistant to magic, so wouldn’t they repel magic instead of being animated by it? And they’re clearly sentient in The Drop, so maybe there’s something more to them? I don’t know. I don’t think I’m supposed to look into it to much. They exist and they’re cool-looking, why do you want to know how they work???

Obsidomina are tougher than normal monsters, but not quite a miniboss. They’re the first regular enemy to have a special armor, and they start the battle with regrowth.

It’s mana dew, like in Nal. I don’t take it, though; I’ll be getting a new party member this chapter, and I want to save it for them. (They’re a spellcaster, though, so mana points might not be as important…eh. We’ll see.) To my surprise, this actually produces a special message: It’s good to leave such natural beauty untouched. Or something. I guess. Whatever. Are there custom “decline” messages for every pickup like this and I just never noticed because I’m a greedy, power-hungry monster? It’s amazing that the developer put effort into such little things that most players will never see.

“This passage caves in frequently, so you would be wise to use the main roads instead.”

Huh. If it’s so unreliable, how can they use it? Why would they use it, actually? It’s much smaller than the main road, so you couldn’t fit a caravan through or anything. Is there anyone desperate enough to risk death by falling rocks just to get to Sanctifel in a hurry?

There’s a bridge here that I felt the need to screencap for some reason.

“I make no guarantees on the safety away from the main roads, however.”

Aw, he doesn’t get a name. This gate is directly north of the starting area. Probably would have made more sense to go here first, but oh well.

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