Quesada's Swan

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

We head for the north gate...

I wish I could take pics in this game...

If I hold circle, I can have my character walk instead of run.

The Elder mentions that his granddaughter spoke with them. Velvet denies threatening her in a denying-sounding voice.

The Elder now gives us cooking materials, and we can cook! Yessss! It's another great feature of the Tales franchise, and one of my favorites: cooking!

I go through the tutorial of the cooking system...

Prickleboar Sausage is the only thing we can make on the menu.

Velvet cooks the sausage per the tutorial. Her response is a cold, "Food's ready. It's nothing special."

The cooking system gives effects to the entire party depending on what meal's being prepped and who's doing the cooking.

I go through the auto-cook part of the tutorial this time...

Another skit plays. Rokurou feels refreshed after those sausages...he asks her a question. She says not to expect any answers.

Rokurou brings up the apple moment. He asks if she can't taste anything anymore...

She says she can only taste blood.

She also thinks that she doesn't feel full from meals anymore.

Rokurou's a bit shocked.

Not since Velvet became a daemon has she been able to feel satisfied from eating.

Rokurou asks what she's been eating...the response is that he was in the same prison as her. Different cells, though.

Velvet's fine with what she is now, she says, but she looks a bit...down when she says that doesn't have to worry about taste when cooking...all that matters to her is that she gets her strength from it...oh my god...

---

Another skit: Rokurou mentions his alcohol he got as a complimentary gift from the weapon shop...

He's using the booze for something else: on his blade.

Rokurou: "By pouring it on the pegs that hold the blade and hilt together, the wood will swell and hold everything firmly in battle." This guy is a genuine swordsman...

The gatekeeper tells us that the north gate goes to Hadlow Hollow...we leave.

The utensils on the bottom right means the party's still full from the meal Velvet made...

It seems like we need to have an ability to crush or move this boulder that's blocking the cliff...

We head inside Hadlow Hollow, Cavern in the Northern Marsh.

We meet with our first encounter, three Octopuses!

The Octopus is glowing red, he's burnt from either Rokurou's or Velvet's attacks!

More pointers about soul gauges. The more souls I have, the more damage I can deliver! Plus, I get more info about switching characters mid-battle...

Velvet smells a stinky stench...it's oil.

She's nearly lost her sense of taste, but not her smell for some reason.

We go around the cave looking for more stuff...

In the near future, we might get an ability to cross this oil-filled pool...

Another boulder blocks the way. Velvet says that they can break this boulder. Rokurou doubts it. Velvet could use her arm to break it down...

Now I can break boulders, ho ho ho!

---

Since I have Rokurou as my map display character, he just breaks the boulder down with a light kick!

Ahead, we see a Katz Box, but it needs 25 Katz spirits to open it! Ai ya!

We press on further...

It's not oil that Velvet smells. It's tar. I've smelled tar before, and it is not a pleasant scent...

More pointers on how to jump over obstacles now.

We jump on the stones to the other side, but turn back since we have enough Katz spirits to open the chest...

We get a Rose Corsage, another accessory for freeing another Katz!

After a break, I head outside to break the boulder blocking the cliff...using Velvet as the lead, she high kicks the boulder into dust!

Back into the cave, where we outrun a fleet of Centipedes crawling about, and get more Katz spirits!

After a battle with Bats, I have Rokurou cook more sausages...

I accidentally use Velvet’s Break Soul arte in one battle, taking care of the enemies more quicker...

Heading into a lone corner of the cave, we get a bountiful bonus of Katz spirits...and Chamomile.

Since Ive got plenty of them I use up some of the herbs to boost the party’s stats.

There’s a boulder on the edge of another tar pit...it could be pushed. We push it in.

Rokurou: "You know what they say! 'Falling off a rock only makes us stronger.'"

You mean "the bigger they are, the harder they fall" right, Rokurou?

---

Instead of jumping to the other side of the tar pool, we head into another part of the cave.

More monsters here...

But the rewards are great: plenty of Katz spirits, and Rokurou getting new weapons, Shadow Daggers!

The Shadow Daggers lower focus and Rokurou loses his health regen benefits from the Foreign Daggers, though. I equip it anyway.

We get more weapons for Rokurou after another battle: Amber Daggers!

More level grinding here...

We're now in the third area of the cave. It looks like our goal's almost close...

Now this looks a bit unusual...there's a bat with a big demon mask on his face...

This might be a powerful foe, so we avoid him and get the chest...

Nope. Can't cross the tar pool here. There's no stepping stones...

Velvet compliments Rokurou on his swordsmanship. Rokurou thinks he has a long way to go before being satisfied.

Velvet's curious about the type of daemon Rokurou is. He's a yaksha, a war daemon.

Rokurou's now curious about the kind of daemon Velvet is. Rokurou's surprised about her being a therion, and asks what that is. The only thing Velvet knows is that she has the power to feed on other daemons.

Oh my god, Rokurou...Velvet does one of the best death glares though.

Skit again: Velvet’s a self taught swordswoman, she says, the fundamentals of her swordskills are from...that man, though the martial artes are her own style...

Oh my god again, Rokurou, that smug smile on your face...smh...

Velvet asks why he wields two short swords and not the big one.

Rokurou smiles, hands on hips, saying that "it's best that [he doesn't]" wield it. The sword is part of his "debt" to his family.

Velvet: "I don't get it."

Aside: I might get my research wrong here, but isn't House Rangetsu's debt-paying rule sort of similar to, at least, the equivalent of the general concept of utang na loob?

---

I'm really wanting to fight the bat with the scary mask now...

But, I head on further.

We're now in the depths of Hadlow Hollow...

Jumping past more tar pits now...

These monsters are quick to catch up to us...they really want a fight...

Rokurou asks about Velvet's sense of smell, which she says has gotten better.

All of Rokurou's senses have become more sharper after being a daemon.

Rokurou thinks eating daemons is not a "pleasant diet." He usually drinks more than he eats.

Oh, Rokurou...lol...he then goes into a passionate speech about drinking, mentioning in vivid detail of the varieties, the aromas, and the flavors of different drinks...oh my god, this guy could've been an alcohol connoisseur in another life. Plus, he adds that his hangovers go away faster now that he's a daemon.

Velvet doesn't care. She's like, "whatever." I don't either.

We make it to the end of the cave. There's a save point, and a circle with a green aura, probably a warp point back to the entrance.

I turn a corner and break a boulder.

More treasures here too!

I'm right! The green circle is actually called a warp point!

We warp back to the entrance, and save outside.

I wish the game gave a primer on the types of daemons that exist in-game. What is a yaksha? Or a therion?

By the mark, I've written a lot tonight!