39 - Can't Say I Have
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Last time we got a big plot dump about the fanfic business running this show behind the scenes. This time, we finally reach Cairo for real!
The former choice gives us an extra segment, but I've got to save a couple things for the folks at home. Or perhaps simply a different context...
Here we are. Cairo is the final hub map in the game and "finding Dio's Mansion" is the closest we have to a final dungeon, in the sense that we're going to run around and fight a lot of enemies that will drag our level up to the water line by force. Or we would, if I didn't grind like a freak earlier.
Meanwhile, Mr. Tutorial...
The chef has the usual offerings we've seen in Egypt so far, but the merchant sells chocolate for cheap. It's one of the best out-of-battle healing items on offer when it comes to cost-effectiveness ratio, so I stock up.
The main gimmick of the Cairo hub is supposed to be that the selection of NPCs shifts depending on your day counter. In practice, it just means the shops sell different items sometimes.
This zombie-looking motherfucker sells the best healing items in the game. Phantom Blood (named after JoJo Part 1) is one of - possibly the only? - curative that can revive downed party members and is a full 100%/100% heal besides. Toxicant is an offensive item that's basically the Wave-Motion Gun without the gun. It attempts to apply every negative status in the game simultaneously, which might as well be a win button if even a third of them proc. Alas, we are too broke, and Cascada can do that shit herself anyway.
This was not a scripted bit, I genuinely did this by accident while playing and laughed out loud when it happened. 7SU is surprisingly granular about this stuff.
I said it was the final hub map, not the final state of the final hub map.
Alas, I've long given up trying to figure out if the game maps translate to any real world geography whatsoever.
There are a bunch of little restaurants around that serve food from across the Egypt section of the game, and a few from earlier.
"Can't Say I Have" Count: 2
Most of the encounters in Cairo are just new layouts of old enemies.
Alas, we still can't 100% braindead through them when there's shit like this.
Same offerings as the hotel.
"Can't Say I Have" Count: 3
I'm not willing to definitively say Cairo is the biggest map in the game, but it's probably top three.
"Can't Say I Have" Count: 4
"Can't Say I Have" Count: 5
It's pretty easy to get lost, so these scattered taxis will take you straight back to the hotel.
I brought this up in Update 30, which was not actually that long ago but feels like forever ago. Seems like it was a hot topic in Japan in the late early 90s.
We've got one of everything already. On the equipment side, I pick up a Pashima Stole and then actually go through my options for once. Remember, you have to call up Steel and slowly browse through everything you've got one by one.
Current Equipment Options
- Bunny Suit (can't equip)
- -10 DUR, +20 MIND, +20 SPD, 70% resistance to OffGuard, increases evasion, chance to distract enemies, chance to become embarrassed
- Pashima Stole
- +15 MIND, increases evasion, grants some resistance to stat debuffs
- Gold Barrette
- 10% resistance to Poison, Darkness, Sealed, Berserk, Confused, Sleeping, Bind, Dizzy, and Fear
- Panja
- +2 DUR, +2 MIND, 20% resistance to CantFind, Distract, and Drunk
- Ankh Pendant
- +5 DUR, +10 MIND, 15% resistance to Blowback, Frozen, OnFire and Surge
- Hieroglyphic Ring
- +5 POW, +5 DUR, +5 MIND, 15% resistance to Dizzy, Drunk, NoSenses, NoBreath, and Bleeding
- Scarab Bracelet
- 10% resistance to Poison, Darkness, Sealed, Berserk, Confused, Sleep, Bind, Dizzy, and Fear
- Brass Knuckles
- +5 POW, 10% resistance to Fear
- Handkerchief
- +1 POW, +1 DUR, +1 MIND, +1 SPD, 30% resistance to Poison and Darkness
- Indestructible Coat
- +10 DUR, 50% resistance to Bleeding, reduces damage from Physical attacks
- Bouquet
- +5 MIND, 50% resistance to Berserk
- Charm of Karachi
- 15% resistance to Poison, Darkness, Sealed, Berserk, Confused, Sleep, Bind, Dizzy, and Fear
I'm reviewing the footage here and I thought I switched to the Pashima Stole, but apparently I forgot! Oops!
If for some reason you have 100,000G to spare and like to play as evil characters, you can donate it here and drop straight to maximum negative karma.
Meanwhile, these guys are around if you want to increase your karma. There's no way to check it easily, but based on past actions Cascada's doing just fine right now.
"Can't Say I Have" Count: 6
"Can't Say I Have" Count: 7
This is a milk pudding thickened with starch and often flavored with rose water. It's descended from a Turkish pudding that's made partly from chicken breast pounded into a paste.
If we'd brought Joseph, he'd have this to say:
A 10% heal is basically a waste of a turn at this point in the game. Everything does too much damage and costs too much SP.
You may notice I haven't called out any FP increasing events in Cairo; that's because there aren't any. You can only boost Iggy since he has a chance to gain some after combat.
The implication is that all of the zombies we've seen so far were created by Vins, since Dio has moved on to greener Stand-related pastures. But we're right around his hideout and in theory he could still make them. Much to consider about this detail that doesn't matter.
"Can't Say I Have" Count: 9
I talked about Coptic Christians in Update 30.
Well, why not?
More positive karma! More!!
The final Element of Freedom encounter starts appearing in Cairo. They use Ripple attacks but otherwise are not terribly different from any of the previous versions. They also have the highest chance of raising Iggy's FP in case you wanted to grind that out.
This feels like some kind of specific reference, but there's only so much English-language information about Cairo's theatre scene.
True. If you're reading this to slack off on work, then I salute you.
Apart from happening like 5 years before this game takes place, Mötley Crüe's Theatre of Pain tour never went to Egypt. It did however start in Japan, and was allegedly so popular they added an extra night to the run.
"Can't Say I Have" Count: 9.5
I imagine this is referencing something specific, but if so I couldn't figure it out.
"Can't Say I Have" Count: 10.5
"Can't Say I Have" Count: 12.5
The marketplace area is where the aforementioned rotating merchants congregate. Naturally. Considering my stockpiles and earlier shopping trips, we're pretty much set just fine for the final boss rush.
I don't buy any of these, but they're actually a new item. You randomly draw a Tarot card and it uses a special attack associated with the appropriate Stand.
I stock up like crazy on Scrap Iron before remembering that you can only use it outside of battle and we're about to go into a big scripted cutscene gauntlet. Alas.
This makes way more sense if you're playing the original monochrome version of the game. All the Elements of Freedom are indistinguishable from each other on the overworld in those circumstances.
Overdrive is the only enemy that moves in the stopped time. I don't know what happens if it somehow collides with you, but it's programmed to always run away so it's not likely.
It's true, there are no vending machines on the map. You have to hunt down the merchants selling curatives.
No way. We could have bought one of these in Karachi for literally half this price.
As annoying as it is to stumble into yet another encounter, it gives me the chance to show off the penultimate combo attack on this playthrough. I was unfortunately so laser focused on getting the Young Joseph bit with Alessi that I forgot to make sure Polnareff hit the 10 FP threshold between then and now. We'll see Iggy's next time.
Just one final detail before wrapping up.
This prompt is among the R Patch's additions. The first option triggers the next event immediately instead of just entering the hotel. I get why you'd include it, but I have a soft spot for the old way.
So, all these NPCs keep saying to keep an eye out in and around the hotel for a certain beggar. This guy never actually shows up on the map. The event trigger is entering and exiting the hotel 13 times. It's one of those mechanical quirks I like to see in an RPG Maker game; using limited tools to evoke the "texture" of going on a desperate, tedious search while still being easy to circumvent once you know the trick. Neat!
But that's all for now. See you again!
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