Moth Plays Dark Cloud 2: Chapter 4 End: Goodbye, Shingala...Hello, Mother.

In which Max and Monica save the Shigura Village from Emperor Griffon's forces, Luna Lab comes up with a plan to travel to Griffon's era...and Max finally comes face to face with his mother, Elena.

So.

Here we have the game's first big plot twist.

After all this time, Max has finally found his mother, who he left Palm Brinks to search for in the first place...

And he found her a hundred years in the future.

Max's mother, Elena, is a resistance fighter from Monica's time, sent to the past to find and protect the bearer of the Red Atlamillia. At the time, that was Max's father, Gerald. Elena and Gerald fell in love, and Max was born. A few years later, Elena had to return to her own time. Later still, the Red Atlamillia chose its new bearer, Max, which leads us to where we are now.

Aside from all that, we have a discussion about the ripple effect of changing history in small ways, and a plan to reach Griffon in the distant past--but there's a more immediate problem in the future. The resistance on the western front is in danger, and in order to save his mother and all the other fighters working to defeat Griffon, Max and Monica must restore the origin point of the mobile fortress Paznos. To do so, they must travel to the village Heim Rada, at the base of Mt. Gundor, an active volcano.

Anyway, big plot happenings aside, you'll notice I spent a LOT of time making cosmetic improvements to the Veniccio Georama in this episode. Veniccio marks the point in the game where you first truly have the resources and freedom to REALLY cut loose in Georamas. If you're the creative type who loves games like The Sims and its ilk, the freedom to embellish and improve Georamas is as much fun as anything else in the game. You do unfortunately run across some placement limitations, but even with the restrictions, you can do a LOT with the space you're given. In fact, I could still add some new stuff to Veniccio, and probably will at a later date--and I also intend to completely rebuild Sindain from the ground up now that I've got more to work with.

Not Balance Valley, though. Balance Valley is boring.

What new dangers await our heroes at Mt. Gundor? Will they be able to rebuild Heim Rada in time to help Elena? And what about the time train, Ixion?

Find out in the next episode!