The group of five carefully followed the narrow paths through the white place they found themselves in, running into odd individuals that recognized Moondancer but not the others...save for a small insect that claimed to know Zarbol. While they weren't certain where they were supposed to go, there weren't that many ways to go unless one could self-propel via PSI. As Moondancer was the only one who could do that, they followed the paths.
At one point, they passed a structure that resembled a small metal mountain range that exerted magnetic pull on its surroundings. "Magnet Hill..." Moondancer murmured as she caught sight of it.
"What was that?" Zarbol asked curiously.
Moondancer blinked. "I...I don't know..." She wasn't sure why - or even what - she'd just said anymore.
Seeing an image of Greyface, the group approached the mental projection. As he saw them approach, he frowned. "I took my pig friends through time...but I have no idea where they ended up anymore," he stated calmly. "All those lives in limbo now...aren't you happy, Moondancer?"
Moondancer shivered in response. "I...don't understand..."
"Of course you don't," Greyface responded coldly. "Just like the rest of your kind, you're flailing around in a world not your own, desperately trying to enforce your idea of what the 'right thing' is, without thinking about what that might do to the world itself. Timelines don't manage themselves, you know. But that's your charm, isn't it? Because you're just so cute, so much is excused..."
"But...but I just want to-"
"Yes, you just want to save your Daddy," Greyface taunted darkly. "And you might just manage it. But don't think that won't be without consequences, and don't pretend you'll like all of them. Lives are in the balance, and there's already blood on your hooves. He may have been a ship devouring monster...but Gargiathan was alive, and you killed him. And you're going to have to spill a lot more blood if you want to save Giegue." He smirked. "And I don't think you can be that ruthless.
"But then, who am I to judge?" He turned away. "I'm just a part of the narrative. You don't have to stop...just be sure to think."
As Moondancer sat there staring, Alinivar gently pulled her forward, hoping to find real answers further along, rather than meaningless riddles.
Further along the path, Alinivar encountered an image of himself, who gifted him with a guitar forged from the energies of Magicant to help boost his abilities. Since it so closely resembled his favorite, original guitar, he immediately decided to hold onto it for use in combat. Combat quickly arose as they moved to a deeper part of the Magicant, where the paths turned from white to red.
"We're nearing the Sea of Eden," Moondancer observed worriedly. "The source of the darker aspect of the psyche. We can expect to run into some serious danger here."
"Then we'll just have to be ready, *whirr*" Larice stated firmly, priming his weapons.
The red paths were narrower, and twisted and turned much more than the white paths, making them harder to maneuver. There were PSI concentrations in the form of monsters along the path, but they did not actively hunt the group, nor were they difficult to avoid. Eventually, the twisting paths led to a hole in the ground which they dropped down, hoping to find answers.
At the bottom of the hole, they found a room filled with blue light. Six doors lined the far wall: from left to right they were yellow, blue, dark grey, pale grey, orange, and green. In the center of the room was a faint image of Niiue. "Niiue!" Moondancer called out desperately, rushing towards him.
"It sure took you all...long enough," Niiue managed to say, plainly struggling as he seemed faint, almost not really there. "Welcome to the future of the Earth...the future of Giygas. More than 20 years in the future, to be precise. Giygas has left...all devastation. When you left in the Phase Distorter, Giegue had the last piece of the Apple of Enlightenment. He did not attack me, but secluded himself with the Apple...and learned its prophecy. I waited for your return...but you never came. And Giegue, driven mad by the prophecy, became Giygas. Giygas...extinguished all life. He had turned his PSI against himself...destroying his body and becoming pure PSI energy, amplified somehow...to destroy everything. All...was lost..."
"No!" Alinivar snapped out angrily. "There has to be a way to fix this! Some way to save Earth, the solar system...to save Giegue!" The others chorused their agreement and determination.
Niiue's eyes lit up. "There might be a way. The Apple told me everything when he was done with it. Return to your own time, and you can find a way to reverse this future. Bring the mineral Zexonyte here. It can only be found in the leftover hunks of meteors that have fallen planetside...so check Saturn. With it...we may be able to make a last ditch effort..." He breathed deeply. "Take this door...it will get you back out. The Phase Distorter will have finished repairing and recharging now."
A bright pink door appeared behind the group as Niiue vanished. With nothing else to do, the group made their way to the door, Moondancer taking one last glance back to where Niiue had vanished from. The world flared white as they opened the door, leaving them in the south of Onett. They swiftly made their way back to the apartment and the Phase Distorter...which now accepted the command to Warp. In a wave of light, they vanished...only to reappear aboard their ship.
Niiue flinched back in shock as they arrived. "Leave it to you to show up on a refueling run instead of-Oof!"
Moondancer had cannoned into him, clinging tightly to him and crying her eyes out.
Niiue stared down at her in confusion, but quickly wrapped his arms around her as he looked back up at Alinivar. "What happened?"
"We saw what happens to the world if we fail," Alinivar offered grimly. "But if we find some Zexonyte, we might just have a chance when we go back to the future."
"Wow," Niiue murmured softly. "That's...heavy. Well, as long as we have a new lead..." He stood up, cradling Moondancer. "We've got some fuel, so figure out where we should go. Up to you when we're ready to act. I've loaded up a map of the star system to the computer. I'll give you whatever information I can when we reach a planet."
Alinivar nodded as Zarbol moved to the helm, ready to set a course.
Po...Grayface your not suppose to know about the time line mashup jet!!! Thats two games away.
8205572
Porky's equipment is transcendental stuff, it probably can navigate probability space as easily as it can navigate time.
There are no words to describe how happy I am right now.
Wait, what do you mean "already"?
... Not really? I mean, Gargiathan dies in the original version, too. The only thing that changes is that it's done a lot sooner. See, you actually had me for a moment, there. You actually made me think that this was a legit point that you were trying to make; that Moondancer's actions, while well-intentioned, will have unavoidable consequences. In another world, a pony got away with the manslaughter of thousands and got zero repercussions for it outside of some mental trauma that never went anywhere. In a dark game series like Mother, Moondancer can pull all sorts of stuff. Killing a giant
squidbetentacled creature that indiscriminately kills people isn't that big of a deal. It's putting a threat to the solar system that can't be reasoned with out of its misery. You want to talk about ruthlessness, look no further than that guy with the sniffles who was pushed into the water. Unless he can swim, I doubt that there was anyone in the general vicinity who could/would rescue him.But now I can see that it was actually a well-hidden attempt at dissuading Moondancer from continuing her journey. While interesting, I can't say it's wholly effective.
But yeah, interesting chapter.
Yeah, the spider machine was one thing, but 'pig friends' confirms Greyface's identity
8205572
You have to remember a few key points here. Greyface here has already dropped off the Pigmask Army to the time of Mother 3, but due to a certain Pretty Pastel Pony's interference, that future may or may not actually exist anymore. With his army and his carefully sculpted future as the Manchild God-King of the last remnants of Humanity suddenly out of his reach, you can bet he's going to find out why.
8206516 I understand what you'r geting at, but have you seen what he truely looks like in Mother 3 and it is in a paralel time line and not in the same as 1 n 2 and here he can still go outside his mashine he can't in Mother 3.
8207270
Syntax confusion. I meant the future he was still sculpting, and had yet to take over. Presumably, it is still several millennia on his own personal time scale before he becomes the old husk he was in Mother 3.
8206120
A few points.
One, the game text gives every indication that you kill the sniffles guy when you fight him, so him being tossed into the ocean means he has more of a chance of survival than in the original game.
Two, you only need to kill Gargiathan if you want the Reboot Orb he carries. You only need to collect the Reboot Orbs if you're going for the Severance or Paradox Endings. They are completely unnecessary for Harmony Ending, Bad Ending, and Joke Ending. And to get the Reboot Orb in the game, you have to actively hunt Gargiathan down several times to finish him off.
So yes, Gargiathan's fate is different than what it might have been, specifically due to Moondancer's actions.
8209230
One, not exactly. The normal outcome of defeating an enemy in the Mother series is tame-ness. Animals calm down, objects cease momentum, and people come back to their senses. The mere disappearance of an enemy is not indicative of their death unless explicitly implied. And considering that there's no one between Thunderton and Cloudvale due to the blockade, and we have no idea if he can swim or not, his survival is just as much of an enigma.
Two, the blind player (and by extension, the characters) have no knowledge of Gargiathan holding the possession of the Reboot Orb at the time of searching for it. Outside of the hint given by the dude in the hospital, other motivators include:
The reward offered by the Mook.
The death of a destructive force that threatens the solar system.
Curiosity's sake.
And while it isn't necessary to defeat him, neither is it necessary to encounter Gargiathan, either. It is entirely possible to skip the initial encounter by going around the path from Mars to Earth, to the point that the player can start it at Chapter 7 (found that out by complete accident, if you can believe that).
And while it's true that Gargiathan has been finished off by the "Chapter 5" portion of this story, the result is the same as the player finishing him off in Chapter 7: roasted squid. While the representation of the Greyface has a point in saying that Moondancer changes things, it's not so different that the player couldn't feasibly do the same if we ignored the fact that they couldn't.
8209349
But in a story format, the important details are what's necessary to the story, not what a standard player would choose to do.
8209372 Story: Fried Squid.
Game: Fried Squid.
Not really sure what you're getting at. The only thing killing him off early does is prevent them from fighting him later, where he would have the ability to get enraged and be slightly more formidable as a result. It doesn't affect how people live, how the world at large works, or anything in particular that would actually affect how the story's told. Just the timing and the difficulty.
8209385
It affects Moondancer's outlook on things, if this early she's already killing to move forward without thought.
8209424 I guess that makes sense. She hasn't sucked the fun out of everything yet. Otherwise, she'd do things like
So Greyface is some sort of anti-Pinkie for whom the "game" is serious business, and he does not appreciate all the meddling Moondancer is doing trying to save her dad. Also...
... he seems to be aware of the PWNYs in general, and does not approve. That's very interesting, that is.
8535542
Greyface is Porky. I don't know why he's aware of Moondancer.