Earthbound – Day 12

–Day 12–

Well, it took us longer than it should have, but we finally have everything we need to get past the Iron Pencil Statue. With that out of the way, we can finally travel deeper into Grateful Dead Valley and hopefully save Paula.

Before we really even start exploring the second half of the Valley, the photographer once again shows up to take our picture. Where does he come from? Where does he go? Why does he insist on taking my picture? We may never know!

Anyway, as is to be expected, Grateful Dead Valley is a bit of a maze to get through. Nothing too complicated of course. But the increasingly difficult enemies beyond the Iron Pencil Statue make it a bit tough. The Valley is already known for its UFO enemies, so the new Spinning Robo enemies aren’t anything out of the ordinary. They’re a bit stronger than the Li’l UFOs we’ve already faced, but not by much.

The real threat however is one I never would have thought of, the Territorial Oak. These enemies are trouble for a few reasons. For one, they look like trees, and it’s easy to walk right into them if you aren’t paying close enough attention. On top of that, their attacks are really strong and quickly drain your health.

The one thing that makes them a truly terrifying threat however is what happens AFTER you defeat them. Unlike most enemies which simply disappear, the Territorial Oak will burst into flames, causing massive damage to Ness, damage in the range of twice Ness’ Max HP.

The only reason these attacks aren’t fatal is because of an interesting mechanic in the game. Your health meter doesn’t update instantly, instead it counts down as you take damage. Because of this, the battle ends before all the damage is calculated, and you end up surviving what should have been a fatal attack. Don’t start feeling too comfortable though, Ness still takes in the area of 60 damage before the battle is won.

Eventually, we make it to a cave at the other end of the Valley. After passing the short distance through there, we arrive at the Happy Happy Village. Paula is being kept somewhere in this village, are it’s up to us to find her.

So join me next time as we search the village for clues about rescuing Paula!