Star Cruiser (Sharp X68000) - The Better Part of Valor

I've checked that I can go to Gothic, and discovering that it's just a dungeon, have decided not to give Gaby Todd $3000 for information. If she wants to lock her business behind an insurmountable barrier, she can suffer the consequences. Meanwhile, I plan on finding where an ore processing unit is. Which means doing something I done since I left Sol. Explore the planetary bodies. First, I head for Ghost.

Ghost is a strange shell of a planet. There's someone blocking my path at the entrance. Or rather, it's a heavy ore I can pick up. it's another dungeon. Figuring that I should come back to this, I leave and head for the next planet, Salamander. If memory serves, this is important to the plot at some point. It's another dungeon. Is this entire system just a dungeon?

Continuing through to the next reachable planet, I head to Colony 3. Which just has recharge stations and a bar. Oh, and a building where Brian asks if they know about any black markets, because word on the street is that there's one here. The guy knows nothing about it. Oh, well. That's everything around the one star, and it's a long way to the other one. But this does give me a chance to find out something I haven't gotten about space combat.

Up until this point, I've been assuming when I point at the guys on the radar, I'm facing that guy and the issue is I'm not up or down enough for it. Not so. I don't know how well it'll come off in the screenshots I have, but you can see that the direction I'm pointing and where the enemy is in relation to me are not as well coordinated as they should be. Hence my trouble finding enemies lately.

The first planet around the second star is Atlantis. Glad we found it, I wonder how Shepard is doing. Jokes aside, there is a store that sells actual equipment, but it just sells analyzers, both ones I already have. There's an ammo shop and the usual buildings, but nothing that helps me. Interestingly, there's another location nearby labeled ????, which I don't need a hint to figure out is a dungeon. This leaves Riechen (Probably spelled wrong) a dungeon-looking planet and the Bermuda.

Bermuda is a prison planet, and contacting the control tower causes the guy there to say I likely don't want to be here, but if I want to land they could always use more laborers. And that's this system. I could go to Rigel Kent, but I'm going to hold off on that until I have reason to go back. For now, it's time to clear out Gothic.

Gothic is what looks to be another dungeon full of dozens of encounters with groups of three enemies who bounce around like they're on a sugar rush, but at least dead is dead. I'm not dealing with it all very efficiently, but the space ships surrounding the planet are over a grand a pop, for less effort than the ones I was previously dealing with. Things could be a lot worse.

Like manna from heaven, I find another energy tank. It's at this point that it occurs to me that I've been treating this game wrong. I've been treating it like I would a standard JRPG. Follow the signposting, do what the game asks, when this is actually more of a western-style experience and I've just been too stupid to realize it. Chalk up another one to Morpheus believing the old adage about Japanese players preferring linear experiences.

The way this level works is that there are a lot of locked doors and one lever, that's behind a hidden passageway. Unfortunately, once you get that open you need to find the elevator up, every other door has 1000 energy fuel tank or a repair unit. I've never used a repair unit yet and I doubt I will. The second is that once you reach it, a trap activates. A new group of enemies spawns all over the entire level. It's just the once, not a repeatable one, so small mercies.

Unfortunately, once you get off the first floor it's more or less a straight shot through corridors with only small items in sidepaths and enough encounters to make you question what's going on. It's more tedium at a stage where this game is really feeling it's length. Fortunately, what we then get is a boss fight against the guy who ran away before. His shots take two blasts to take, which is annoying, but not more than the usual enemies.
 

This leads to a scientist and a door switch. He's a hostage, judging by how he cowered before I entered. He's Kenny Jones, space archaeologist. They were having him analyze a stone slab taken from the ruins on Unicorn, in Rigel Kent. There's nothing special about it, save that it's from an ancient alien civilization. Which I presume means a powerful one, rather than finding something from Ancient Egypt. The door back opens the path back, which is the only one back. This respawns all enemies again, great...

I end up using missiles in one encounter, and you know something? Outside of not costing energy, they suck. They ignore enemy shots, and you can't swap to a regular weapon. You need to activate the menu, switch weapons and while it pauses, you still need to be fast on the draw. Still, it helps me get out of this mess intact, so there's that.

Back on Hollywood...nothing has changed. Well...you know what? I'm still not paying. Off to Rigel Kent. Maybe I can find an ore processor there. So I head there and there's a guy at the gate. He tells me I can't use the Gravity Catapult because there are too many people in my starship. I...wasn't aware that was a concern...but wait, I have two, max. Oh, you're going to make me pay, you jerks.

Going back and paying Gaby her blood money, I notice something this time around that I didn't before. She tells me about the black market on Colony 3. Afterwards, Gaby and Kenneth are introduced, with Kenneth being able to stay here for a moment before going back to his house in Old New York in the Barnard system. Brian asks them if they know about any VOID presence in alien ruins, and Gabby says that her brother was headed to Kai in Rigel Kent. Two locations I should examine there.

The method to enter the black market is annoying. First, go to the bar, where Gaby's contact is. He'll then allow you to enter the actual building, where you can buy incredible items. Oh, I'm sorry, did I say that? I meant it's another dungeon, because screw you. More trash cans, signifying thematically the level of quality this part of the game has sunk to. And this is not just some small group of enemies, there are individual paths each leading to a shop.

But you know what? It's actually worth it. I don't mean that metaphorically, it really is. Because I find an ore converter. It converts ores into energy, fuel. This is something of a game changer, because there are a lot of asteroid fields around, and each asteroid gives you an ore. In theory, this means you can handle more than you normally could...but it also means more grinding for asteroids. 

Now that I've done that, it's time to head to Rigel Kent, first off, after recharging, Kai. Don't be fooled by the enemies there, they're about 23 down from the planet. I'll just go there and...there's an invisible barrier. Hmm...would have been nice of the game to warn me, but I did remember that bit. Since one planet at the edge of that star is outside this seeming barrier, maybe I can go there? I can, but outside of a secret passage leading to a locked door, there's nothing I can do here. Better go off to Unicorn...but I'll take the long way around, since I should see what's going on with the rest of this area.

There's nothing else I can reach around the second star, so I go up around it. Cherry Shuffle's off in the upper right corner of the map, but it's nothing special. There's a locked building which may become useful later...but that's later. There are a few $1000 ships wandering around, which is nice for my wallet, but at the same time, I'm not in danger of running out of money I've earned legitimately, let alone via the translation's cheat option. Foul/Egg is engulfed in a civil war, which means I'm not there anytime soon. It's also two planets locked together, which is weird.

After that, I check my map to find out where Unicorn is...it isn't there. If it isn't around Sirius, which I know it isn't, and it isn't around Rigel Kent...where the hell is it? Oh, it's some settlement I have to find, which means checking every single planet again. After I travel to Hurricane, and realizing it's a dungeon I already cleared out, then head to Colony 2, I find the bar there and discover the game knew I was going to be stupid.

Brian somehow knows that someone came back from Kai here, and the bartender knows who it is. There's a drunk who apparently went there. He talks about barbarians and Praid. I'm out 3k for this information, because that was his bar tab. Fine, at least this isn't the mess that was the Hollywood death march. Barbarian is a clue, because that's one of the planets around here. Then Praid must be another planet. Pride. Is it between the two? Well, let's check Pride first.

Exploring around, one of the stores sells an ore processor 2, meaning my earlier trip to that black market would have been completely pointless if I actually explored this system. That alone made this trip worth it, but there's a research institute here, hidden behind some moveable trees, where the guy tells me that the Feds are doing some sort of experiment and they've moved the device to Barbarian.

The area between Pride and Barbarian is pretty dense with enemies, but since they're all below $1000 bounty, this is just busywork. There's a guy at the entrance, and it's Joshua. Who is chasing a suspicious person and asks me if I've seen one. Brian says he isn't, but I am reminded of that little traitor suggestion. Barbarian itself is not a town or a dungeon, it's a puzzle planet. Where you really just wander around moving rocks and trees until you find a strange device and move that. Now you've changed locations.

For some reason, Daniel is now blocking my way out. That's funny, I seem to remember thinking that if Diana isn't the traitor, he's the best possibility...and now he shows up here. He asks Brian why he's here, which is to find Max. Daniel tells us that he's in the planet with the old ruins, but I shouldn't go there since VOID is also there.

Once I'm out into space again, I see that I've been warped to the second star. I should point out that while the impression is that Barbarian teleported to the second star, in actuality, it's another planet called Transporter. Kai is, as you've probably guessed, a dungeon. No respawning tiles at the entrance, no special enemies and freedom to go to and from. Just a lot of fighting guys I tired of fighting last entry and a long trip back. I'm not sure being non-linear is doing it any favors. 

Eventually, I find Max, and he's not doing well. VOID apparently has spies everywhere and they found out that he and Gaby have something important. He says something about a Gibb, obviously Gibson. Which means the game is leaning us towards Gibson being the spy, because he is or is being implied to be the one. He tells me something is in a place called Kirk on planet Egg. The question is, do I go there first or do I see if Gaby needs help? Yeah, her business sense is terrible, but that doesn't mean she deserves to get murdered. Fortunately, that's what making a save is for. Save at Pride, then make the five minute (real-time) trip to Hollywood. When her home is empty, reload.

Planet Egg and Planet Fowl are two neighboring planets which are currently at war. The guy at the gate tells Brian that there's no VOID here, just a civil war. When Brian asks what caused the hostilities, he mentions a surprise attack from Planet Fowl, and how a mysterious third force is helping them occupy a satellite between the two planets. I think I know who that is. Egg is mostly a mundane town, no bar and some guy just hanging around, but it has all top of the line equipment at this point, and H-Shot 2s. Which I'm sure will completely change the way I fight if I ever buy them.

On the south end of the town is a governmental building I can't enter, a locked door, and a teleport with a guy who's blocking my path. There's no hidden path, so I keep checking around. The guy just hanging around asks for money the second time, so I give it to him. Nothing seems to happen, so I talk to him again, nothing. It turns out that mysteriously, the switch to the gate has appeared.

Inside is quite the scene. Destroyed buildings and some black dude got really hurt...and then it turns out that Brian has been staring at the guy for a while and he's not actually dying. He's actually drunk and trying to push a building. A subtle hint that these things can be pushed. Okay. This is actually a strange area in how you explore it, it's like Barbarian, except more exploration than just wandering around.

There's a building in the middle of the place, containing Lean Kirk and a mystical new music track. He has the Lorne Green portrait like a lot of guys seem to have. Brian asks him why Max Todd was here. Kirk tells me that he comes by sometimes, and asks if I'm an unsatisfied customer. I laughed. After Brian tells him that Max is dead, he reveals that Max was his best friend, and he's horrified by the news. Whoever killed him is now after him too.

Brian asks what he was last doing. Max's last task was exploring some ruins related to VOID. "Related"? As in, connected to or they're hiding in? A hunter was spotted, which causes Kirk to freak out. After Brian calms him down, Kirk talks about how Max had some files, which he was going to give to someone. There's a person in his schedule he mentions, only known by his initials, D.G., Daniel Gibson. I believe we have our traitor.

And we'll find out if I'm right next time, in what I sincerely hope is the final conclusion to the game, because otherwise I'm going to put it on hold until after the Halloween season.

This Session: 3 hours 30 minutes

Total Time: 17 hours 40 minutes