Forest is an area within the Dark World, located right after the Field, specifically after the Great Board.
Forest Overview
Main Story
Right after exiting the Great Board, the party encounters the second Warp Door, Puzzle Guy and Mr. Elegance. They mention how they fixed the Warp Door, and explain how it works.
In the next room, there is a short path with three bushes. In the middle bush, a single Rabbick jumps out and starts an encounter.
Afterwards, the party finds Susie and Lancer, who introduce their new team. Their team name is “Dark” followed by the name Kris chose on the Great Board. However, they haven’t gotten any farther into their evil plans, and so they run away. In the following area, there is a Rudinn NPC that mentions they need a gift for their friend Clover, and mentions her interests. There is also another Rabbick in the farthest bush to the left, which starts an encounter with two Rabbicks. Down and to the right, the party finds Susie and Lancer standing near a stump which contains a dinner hole with a honeypot of salsa. If the party talks to Susie, Kris gets a choice on whether to try the salsa, make Ralsei try it or decline. If Kris eats it, they “(Recover something.) (Not HP.) (Just… something.)” If Kris declines, Ralsei will try it instead.
In the next room there are multiple Whip Ponmen. They are arranged in a square shape, but without a path connecting at the top. If the party goes up the left side of the “square”, they find a room with a chest containing Ragger, Royal Coat Rack and Little Ball. On the right side of the “square” is the exit to the room.
In the next room, the party encounters Susie and Lancer, standing in front of a blueprint. Next to them is a symbol matching puzzle. After the party completes the puzzle, Susie and Lancer thank the party for solving it and run off with their blueprint.
Near the end of the Forest, Susie and Lancer fight the party. If the battle is lost, a different sequence to the standard game over occurs. The screen goes black and Lancer and Susie laugh, after which Kris and Ralsei are back at the room after the maze with 10 HP. The game can be saved here. When the party attempts to leave the room, the game closes. If the game was saved beforehand, the dialogue in the Thrashing Area becomes different. Losing the battle again yields different dialogue. After the fight, Susie joins the party. Lancer isn’t technically in the party, but follows them from a distance.
At some point after the battle, Lancer runs from the party after seeing the Card Castle from a distance. A large amount of Rudinn Rangers attack the party in the overworld. When the party catches up to Lancer, he enters the Card Castle and closes the gate, allowing the large group of Rudinn Rangers to surround them. The Rudinn Rangers attack, making the party black out and appear in the dungeon of the Card Castle.
Sublocations
Bake Sale
The Bake Sale is an area consisting of a Warp Door, the smith Malius, and 3 food stands: one run by Rudinn, who sells a Choco Diamond, Hathy, who sells a Hearts Donut, and (temporarily) Susie and Lancer, who sell a Lancer Cookie. All three items cost 40G, despite the game currency being D$. In the PS4 version of the game, and every version once Chapter 2 released, it is changed to 40$, implying that it is, indeed, an oversight.
Thrashing Room
While Kris and Ralsei are travelling through the forest, they come across Lancer, who is currently disguised with a fake mustache. He explains to them that he wants to design an “Evil Plan” to impress Susie. Ralsei and Kris begrudgingly agree in the hopes that it convinces Lancer to join their party. The party is then prompted to design a “Machine to Thrash Your own Ass” and given a list of options to choose from:
Head
- Laser: An enchanting gun with an air of mysticism. [+1 Cool and Gun’s]
- Sword: A tomboyish blade reserved for upscale events. [+1 Elegant and Lively]
- Flame: It’s burning with desire! Sure to make you blush! [+1 Cute and Hot]
- Duck: Garbage. You’re going to lose points. [No Bonuses]
Body
- Plain: Streamlined chassis for elegant thrashing. [+1 Elegant and Cute]
- Wheel: A fast chassis for tomboyish thrashing. [+1 Lively and Cool]
- Tank: Chassis for gun’s lovers. The cannon is highly kissable. [+1 Hot and Gun’s]
- Duck: Just looking at this is making you lose points. [No Bonuses]
Shoe
- Sneak: Sporty shoes for the athletic thrashing machine in your life. [+1 Lively and Cute]
- A.Whl: Attractive wheels, leading the way! [+1 Hot and Cool]
- Tread: Weaponized treads for raiding sophisticated dinner parties. [+1 Elegant and Gun’s]
- Duck: You’re going to lose points. [No Bonuses]
- After deciding on a part, the party is able to color it, if they so choose. The different parts are also rated different styles, though this has no effect other than a comment from Susie depending on the score. After confirming the design, Kris and Ralsei encounter the machine near the end of the forest, only for it to be revealed that it is built out of junk. It then explodes in the party’s face as Lancer and Susie laugh at them and then engage in battle.
Hidden Area
When the party enters the Starwalker Bird’s room from the dark tree area, there is a small chance (1/50 or 2%)[8] of entering the hidden area.
The area consists of a single tree. Unlike other rooms, Kris can walk off of the path in the black area. This room also has its own music, a very simple piano loop.
Only Kris is visible within the hidden area; Susie and Ralsei do not follow them, though they are still technically present as party members. Dropping Ralsei’s manual will trigger his dialogue as usual.
When examining the tree, it states that there is a man behind it; the man offers the egg to the party. Once taken or declined, the man ceases to exist there, and subsequent examinations reveal nothing but the tree. Exiting the area brings the party to the Bake Sale. The area cannot be re-entered.
Trivia
- Returning to the bush where Susie ambushed the party after she has officially joined the party shows special dialogue from her and Ralsei.
- If the party walks left before the fight with Lancer and Susie, they can go out of bounds.
- Using the phone in this area after losing the Susie/Lancer fight causes the game to crash.
- It’s possible to walk off screen and then around to navigate the border. Attempting to return to the path via the east or south entrance causes the next area to trigger and exit the screen.
- This glitch is patched in the Nintendo Switch version.
- If the hidden switch (in the invisible tree) is hit before going around the center, Ralsei becomes impressed and asks Kris how they knew it was there.
- If the Hidden Area is entered again after receiving the Egg, the game crashes.
- The music used in the Hidden Area (named man.ogg in the game’s files) is a refined version of a Yume Nikki-inspired track Toby entitled ‘Waltz of Seccom Masada’.
- If the party selects all duck parts in the Thrashing Area, the prompt at the end instead asks “Your machine sucks ass. Is that OK?”
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