That night, our worst fears come true - all of that dinosaur kicking action broke Weltall's circuit, and so it can't see use until it's repaired. Darn! So much for getting to use a fancy Gear. 😩
Welp, since repairing Weltall is beyond him, Citan decides to kill some time by chatting up Elly, who hasn't been able to sleep. He quickly figures out that she's the pilot behind the Lahan incident, and is from the Gebler, the mercenary group supporting Aveh.
Before she gets any ideas to question him about his vast knowledge, he cuts her off! Then, he nonchalantly asks her to leave them be, because...because he wants to protect Fei, allegedly. Also because he thinks she shouldn't be here. Jeez, kinda rude, Citan.
Elly, rather reluctant to leave, expresses regret at having unintentionally scolded Fei and making him depressed, and wishes to apologize to him somehow. Citan remarks on how such a sentiment is rather rare among her people, as they see the surface dwellers as little more than chattel.
She reveals that she was rather moved by Fei's heroics, and doesn't believe in the propaganda she learnt back at her homeland anymore. It helps that her father was open minded about surface dwellers, and her own nanny was a surface dweller. She almost talks about she and Fei being linked somehow, but quickly stops herself.
Citan hilariously realizes that he's been prying into Elly's thoughts after saying he wouldn't do so, and decides to wrap up the conversation for real. But not before making this bizarre quote.
No, seriously, I don't get it. What was he trying to do, sound profound? It doesn't make much sense. Elly leaves for real, and the scene ends. Boo! I thought we were creating an RPG party here!
The next morning, Fei reveals that he had overheard part of their conversation, and in turn feels guilty for dumping his frustrations on Elly. He then queries the doctor on the survivors of Lahan. Apparently his wife, Yui, took them to a certain secretive place, where they should be safe.
The good doctor also lays out their next plan - visit the nearby desert town, Dazil, to learn about the news and also repair Weltall. Well, Fei was headed that way regardless, so following this is a no brainer. Say, doctor, what's your motive for repairing it? Do you want to pilot it because it's a cool Gear? Lol.
There's a brief scene where the doctor elaborates on things we learnt in the introductory scrawl, as well as mention Gebler's recent fights over some excavation sites. Spoilers, none of those fights are relevant to the story, and as such, through the magic of Let's Play, we skip ahead and move on.
We can now take a good look at Citan as a party member. And holy shit he's huge! He's two levels behind Fei, yet has more than twice the HP and a similarly ginormous amount of EP. All of his stats are better too. Looks like we've got a Mary Sue here!
We're also finally out of the forest! Woohoo!
Time to step into Dazil, our first "proper" city.
It's a dusty little town with some prominent Middle Eastern trappings. There's not a lot to look at, but the townsfolk have some mildly funny, or rather, punny dialogue. Lol. The rugged look of the town also has a charm to it, especially accentuated by all of the metalwork and machinery around.
But Citan isn't here for gossip or sightseeing. No, he has a Gear to fix. Lol.
Unfortunately for him, the local Ethos workshop cannot service him, as he's asking for high grade parts only used in military Gears, and they only service civilian ones.
Fei pulls him aside to ask him why exactly they need to repair the Gear. The doctor mumbles some bullshit about how they need to pull it farther from Lahan, as troops from both sides would be looking for it still. Buuut they left it in the forest, at an end that connects to Dazil, not Lahan. Also, didn't the doctor already evacuate Lahan anyway? Why worry about what happens to it, it's not like the burned out village can get any worse, lol.
Anyway, the good doctor's genius plan is...to run around the desert battlegrounds looking for Gears to scavenge. Which he decides to do on his own, ditching Fei abruptly and asking him to spend his time in the local bar. Welp. Lol.
Fortunately, this random punk rocker talks some sense into Fei, and makes him set off for the desert! Too bad Citan took the last sand ride in town, and Fei now has to cross the desert by foot! Oof lol.
Well, it doesn't take very long for him to run into some Gears hopping their way through the desert! Fei, curious, decides to follow their path.
But he gets ambushed by some raiders, which gives me the opportunity to show off a unique combo move he acquired in the meantime. Essentially, these are predefined combo moves learnt at certain levels, and they're significantly flashier than "regular" combos and also more damaging.
I feel like their existence clashes too much with the combo based system, as players are encouraged only to input certain specific combos instead of making up their own, but it's not a huge downside and the animations are nice to look at, lol.
Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, Fei loses sight of the hopping Gears. Fortunately, he find this strange spaceship, and follows it into the path of another hopping Gear unit. At this point I'm fairly sure he's just winging it, lol. Let's just hope he doesn't get lost and die of starvation.
A bunch more desert trekking later, Fei gets tired of chasing Gears that are clearly too fast for him, and decides to steal a motorcycle off a band of motorcyclists passing by! Jeez, way to be a dick. Maybe Fei should've stayed back in town after all!
His little joyride is stopped short by two Gears blowing his bike away and then surrounding him! Welp, he's busted.
Thankfully, Citan arrives just in time! He quickly dispatches Fei's would-be captors with Weltall's hidden machine guns, then hilariously gives control of it to Fei, blatantly lying about how he "can't use it very well". Well, honestly, I'm fine with this, it means we get control of it again!
Gears also have predefined combos, corresponding to the predefined combos unlocked by their pilot. Sadly, gear combos are not as flashy as character combos, but they still deal a ton of damage regardless! Anyway, Fei clears his pursuers for good in an easy battle, but..
We meet the best character of the game, standing atop the officer Gear from earlier, itself perched atop a cliff! Lol. He taunts Fei for being a bloodthirsty fighter, and we get a brief flashback of him being bloodied as a kid.
He gives his name, Grahf, and continues to insult Fei with some wonderful lines like these. He also smugly gloats about intentionally sending his platoon to attack Fei's village, to get him riled up and lose control of himself! How villainous.
Fei, aghast, brings up the innocent villagers who died in the incident. But Grahf, evil as ever, dismisses them as vermin who "didn't fulfil their prescribed destinies"! He is an extremely ham fisted villain, and his lines and performances are a great delight. Lol.
Grahf continues his villainous gloating, pointing out that technically, it was Fei who destroyed his village by letting himself go berserk, and that whatever spirit is within him craves destruction. Yep. That's definitely a plot point in this game. Lol.
Fei feebly tries to oppose Grahf's observation, but he quickly cuts it short by blaming him for blame shifting. Then, he reveals his motivation - he wants Fei's power to kill god! Yes. What a classic villainous motivation, lol.
His continued gloating further reveals that he knew Fei's father, and had enjoyed killing him himself! Jeez. There clearly is no end to his villainy, is there?
He ends their conversation by siccing a giant worm on Fei, imploring him to show his power by destroying others! Then, he flies off into the night sky, doubtless with the most evil grin on his face.
The worm is obnoxious as it can drain fuel with its attacks, and counters attacks with its fuel drain, but otherwise it's not a particularly hard foe. Frankly, it's a bit of a hilarious anticlimax after Grahf's hammy dialogue. Couldn't he have brought a more credible opponent to test Fei's strength? Lol.
Unfortunately, all of that action breaks Weltall down again, somehow. The doctor claims he only made temporary repairs and that they weren't meant to last in a battle. Oh good. We're back to trudging slowly through the desert again.
And then they got captured. The End. Lol.
What shall happen next? Shall they be imprisoned? Will Grahf challenge Fei again? Will Weltall be repaired and piloted again? Does Fei regret going on this wild ride? Find out all this and more...next time!
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