As we enter Knotwood Forest, we meet Holt, one of the
helpful guys in Vivosaur Town. He says that he has upgraded his radar to spot
previous undetectable fossils, and that he has widened the scope of said radar
as well. Hey, stop flashing your fancy upgrades in my face, you just make me want them more! Unfortunately, one big area is closed off due to some adventurer disappearing past that point. We, ahem, bribe Dr.
Diggins with sweets, and he gives Nicolas and Rosie a card that will let them
pass through, to investigate the matter and retrieve that Fossil Fighter.
The Forest is also home to the Digadigamids, an
ancient tribe who lives around a pyramid. Sounds like a weird set-up, no? We meet the Digadig tribe, along with their chief who's also their shaman. We're told that a key was stolen from them,
and the robbers used vivosaurs, meaning only another Fossil Fighter can stand up
to them. Oh, and Rosie, who has been following us, is staying behind because
the tribe’s chief and shaman decided to grant her the gift of Digadig speech, and she fainted. Geez, some sidekick she turns out to be.
I don't think I dig-adig their language. |
If you two knew who I am, you'd be the ones running away right now. |
We get out of trouble by digging around and
finding an ammonite creature shaped like a key. Yes, really. And it works! It
doesn’t even open the door, it brings out a ladder instead. Getting to the
pyramid’s treasure room, we encounter the woman who leads this group. She
introduces the three of them: Rex, Snivels and Vivian, the BB Bandits! Hm… I
wonder what these initials stand for… Probably nobody we’ve met yet. They flee
and trap the heroes in the treasure room, but of course the Digadig left
instructions to save anyone who gets trapped in there, so we use that to find a
secret tunnel. Oh, and somehow this leads back at super-speed directly at the entrance of the
pyramid, allowing us to stop the BB Bandits in their tracks. What are the odds?
We get the key back from Vivian, and return to the chieftain, successful in our
mission. The chief shows us a special idol he found the other day, and says that it's probably what these bandits were
looking for. It gets added to our inventory, I guess that means it's important. Feels tacky, though. As for Rosie, she’s cured from her Diga-speech thanks to… hip-shaking. Yes, really. Remember kids, hip-shaking is good! You gotta learn to twerk, it's gonna save lives!
This thing has a derpy smile. I dn't trust it. |
With this out of the way, we hear that the Level-Up
Battles are open now, so we can go back to digging fossils or go for the next
level. A fossil cleaning exam, followed by a fossil battle…
against Nevada Montecarlo, no less! Once she’s defeated, we’re brought up to
Level 3, and opens a brand new area: Rivet Ravine.
There’s a fossil-seeking seminar going on there at the
moment, and upon bringing eight fossil rocks to the seminar holder, he grants
the hero the ability to see “fossil” colors. You see, vivosaurs obey to a basic
four-element Rock-paper-scissors, and each vivosaur has one type (Earth, air,
water, fire or neutral). Now you can see the type of the fossil you dug out, even if it's a rock you've neved dug out before.
I found hammers to be very good at suddenly repairing stuff. Or at least, to let out some rage at things not working. |
Either rust happens dangerously fast in this world, or McJunker doesn't take good care of his stuff. |
That's okay, it's just the 14th time I am forced into an impromptu unnecessary battle to get the plot moving. |
They also really want to push forward the cleaning system, forcing the player to clean up a lot of things throughout the story, even things that shouldn't logically have to be cleaned up - such as, say, tools that shouldn't be rusty. Or teeth with a rocky coat of dirt. Yes, really.
The BB Trio, which is definitely not a memorable name. I'll let you figure out by yourself everything they have in common with the Team Rocket Trio we know and love. |
She's asking this to her long-nosed associate. The other one doesn't count, it's a muzzle. |
Sure enough, with this part of the plot complete, we
return to town and get into the next Level-Up Battles. Cleaning test, battle
test. The first Level 3 opponent is Holt, and the second one is McJunker. Every
NPC in this game is a Fossil Fighter, and most of them are better than the
hero. And, yet, they still make the young, less experienced kid, do the dirty
work in defeating the real bad guys. You thought this was stupid in Pokémon?
You haven’t seen a thing! Oh well, at least we become a Level 4 Fighter, and
now we’ve gained access to Bottomsup Bay.
With a name like that, I expect a lot of Fossil Fighters
fanfics to take place there.
"Fits like a glove. There's also conveniently enough space on this shelf fot at least one more, if I find another." |
We also place the second idol in the hero’s bedroom,
and gain access to multiplayer options. Why, yes! Starting now, a fossil cannon
is now available, and we can use it to trade fossils with friends who also own the game Fossil Fighters! Oh, and we can access wireless battles, too.
"Bottoms up? Sorry, that's not my dance. I only do the hip-shaking." |
"And I'm only able to say that because these sharks love to be talked about, that's the only time they won't attack!" |
Well, folks, it appears we’ve got no logic whatsoever.
Might as well go pants-on-head crazy now, huh? What’s next: Ghosts?
Yep, and let's not waste any time. It's magic, we don't have to explain it. Even though it happens in a game that painstakingly documents a hundred real dinosaurs with actual scientific data. |
And, oh yeah, when we eventually find the sunken
pirate ship, which is in tatters, we walk inside and there’s oxygen. Even if we
entered it through a wide open hole on the side of the ship’s carcass. But
nope! We don’t need our mask in there. Oh, and while inside the ship, you can
still dig around for fossils, even if the floor is made of wooden planks. Oh,
and the ship has multiple floors, yet you can dig on ANY floor and still find
fossils, even if there should be a floor underneath the one you’re on. Physics? Logic? What’s that?
What makes you think I won't keep it? It would look great on my Spinax. |
There's no secret exit this time, but don't worry. The door is
unlocked quickly enough and a blonde girl with facial markings walks in. She
scouts the captain’s quarters, apparently looking for something, and then
leaves, with the door open. Oh wait, the door isn’t open, it was literally
destroyed by the mystery girl. Okay, my interest has been piqued.
Ah yes. "9:45: Be saved from the BB Bandits by a mysterious girl". Good to see she's on schedule too! |
I am sighing in every possible language right now. |
The second item requested by Nick Nack is a fossilized
sandal. Hm, that’s odd, I would have thought the only fossils found in this
island were of dinosaurs – that is, before humans were around, and certainly
long before humans ever devised footwear. Eh, it’s probably one of the dozen
nonsense jokes in this game. only one, because Nick has the other. It’s in Greenhorn plains, and of course we stumble
on Snivels of the BB Bandits also looking for it. Time to duel! Snivels is
defeated, and leaves, but we soon see the mystery girl, who finally presents
herself as Duna and, after admitting she doesn’t have any use for it, hands the
fossilized sandal to the heroes. She also implies that she was watching them do
the hip-shaking dance when they were getting the bug shell.
The last item Nick Nack wants is dentures from a
denture shark.
You make me want to quit the hero-ing gig so badly
right now, you freaking NPC!
But fine, I’ll go. Stupid sharks. Turns out, the
dentures are actually not that hard to find, just gotta flee from the sharks… and
then get into a secret passageway and find one that conveniently drops its
teeth. Oh, and we are told to clean those teeth before bringing them to Nick.
How necessary! Gotta get some mileage out of the fossil-cleaning feature,
amirite?
When it comes to dangerous jobs, "live shark dentist" would probably be at the very top of the list. |
Oh, and Vivian is in the elevator when we get back to
the hotel, so another battle follows. She’s defeated at last, and we bring the
teeth to Nick Nack, then we get the beard ribbon, then we FINALLY get the
treasure from Captain Woolbeard… (For the record, Nick struck the same deal
with the BB Bandits, hence why they were met wherever we went on this
treasure chase).
Woolbeard is not so difficult if you know the type matchups and can adjust your team accordingly. |
Because of course. An angry ghost is perfectly capable of battling with dinosaurs.
Sure enough, defeat brings Woolbeard back to normal, and
we give him the ribbon, and for our troubles we gain some knowledge and…
…another damned tacky idol. These better be important!
Okay, you know what, I’m stopping here for today.
Screw the Level-Up Battles, I’m done for now. Come back Friday for what follows in the story.
oh look my lets play
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