Once I made it past the Gatefront ruins and ran up the slopes to a castle, dodging a giant all the way, I met a young lady named Roderika in a castle. She was very sad because all her men who had come to the Between Lands to fight for her had been delimbed and fused into one big doll. She tried to summon up the courage to face the same fate. Hey lady, I didn’t come here to hear your life story! But I did hang out and chat with her for a bit, and she ended up giving me my jellyfish conjure, which I informally named Bubbles. Bubbles and I have been inseparable ever since.
A moon witch was kind enough to give me a summoning bell, which I can use to summon any spirit ashes, like the wolves—that they are fine – or my boy Bubbles. I pull out my bell, hand her the old ringer bell and Bubbles rocks to the party. While the wolves are constantly jumping, crunching and circling their prey, the jellyfish is much more polite. He floats benignly, and sometimes my enemies don’t even seem to notice he’s there, even after our blades clash.
But then my jellyfish friend squirts out a jet of red ink. It hardly hurts; it seems more of a nuisance than anything else. But that’s why I love it. It doesn’t look threatening – but then it makes all the difference. After being killed a dozen times in the ruins by a particularly annoying jerk with a spear and shield, I brought my jellyfish friend with me. This time, as the spear charged at me and I blocked its attack, I had a moment of calm as Bubbles blasted him in the back with the good juice.
Every time Bubbles attacks a guy, it doesn’t look particularly painful. Instead, enemies just seem a little nervous. You stagger forward, shaking it off and trying to collect yourself. Other times, they seem to decide they’ve had enough and actively run over to smack Bubbles’ huge amorphous ass. That opens them up well for a counterattack.
Have I made great progress in the game? No. Do I feel like I’m improving and getting used to the thrill of triumph while perfecting my reflexes? Also no. It’s just Bubbles and me out here, baby, and we’re gonna beat up the Tree Sentinel.
