As I said, my next location were the Lama Mountains, where coincidentally, I believe I got another mana egg or two, unless I remember it incorrectly. The area was a bit lengthy and It took me even longer to get through it due to not playing through all of it in one go, but eventually, I got to the other side, to Gumbo Village, which has one of the funniest parts in the story.
Wind is the first element for Sue, but it probably won’t be the only one.
As we walk in, everyone runs away from Justin and Feena, thinking they’re a couple. For some reason, that’s a big no-no in Gumbo Village. Eventually, we get to the mayor and Justin volunteers both Feena and himself to be “the heroic couple” of legends because hey, it’s fun and the villagers seem to like the idea. Soon after, it turns out that the thing that makes the couple heroic is that they’re going to be sacrificed to the dragon living at the local volcano. The dragon is somehow stopping the volcano from working properly, causing the usually nice and warm Gumbo Village to get called. Since a couple needs to be sacrificed for some unexplained reason, everyone denies even liking anyone else, which is why the villagers are acting crazy.
You know it’s a big catapult when you have time for a talk in the air.
Anyway, Justin and Feena sort of find this out when it’s already too late, and they get catapulted into the volcano. This got me into the next area, where I soon regrouped with Sue and Gadwin and then spent the next hour or two, or three, exploring it and getting all the items. Again, it would and should have been faster, but I’ve played it sporadically and in short bursts, so I was forced to keep retracing my steps. Eventually, I got some nice accessories, one of which gives me an extra swing with my regular attack and eventually got to the boss. The dragon was easy to deal with and before I knew it, I was back at Gumbo Village.
The dragon was an easy fight, just like all of the others.
Justin and Feena had a nice moment and then it was time to go to the next area – The Twin Towers. The Twin Towers are ancient ruins located beyond the nearby mountains. Since the mountains were poisonous (I’m guessing the volcano has something to do with that, I had to go by boat. As soon as I got there, it was obvious the Garyle forces where already there. I explored the outer area and managed to get into the inner area thanks to Justin saying they’re local guides hired by the army.
Eventually, I got to the central chamber, where Justin and Gadwin had a clash with Mullen (and failed), before Leen, Feena, Mullen and Justin managed to somehow activate a teleporter pad and got transfered underground into the ruins. Justin got paired with Leen, while Feena was stuck with Mullen. For the most part, the underground area was simple and I would have gone past it by now, if it weren’t for a serious problem.
Mullen seems sort of decent here.
The game freezes at the end of the Twin Towers. This, in all likelihood, has something to do with it being a eboot conversion of the regular PlayStation game, but I tried all I could think off with no luck. I’m stuck at the moment where Justin and Leen activate one of those communication crystals. Liete says “Welcome” and is just about to say “he who carries the spirit stone” when everything just stops. I tried pausing my game (PSP Go) and reloading that state, but it didn’t help. I tried changing my ISO driver – nothing.
The game freezes a few seconds after this.
I’m afraid there will be no more Grandia on the PSP for me. All is not lost, though. I did some research and I think it’s possible to transfer a PSP save to a PC emulator, so I’ll try to load up ePSXe in a couple of days and finish the game that way. For now, I have to pick another game to play on the PSP. I think I might go for something that isn’t a JRPG this time, but I can’t make any promises. That is my favorite console genre, after all.
