Part 8: Osohe Castle
Just as Duster draws near Osohe Castle, Tazmily is under attack again! An airship is seen flying above the castle, dropping things over it. Just after Wess told Duster to get the important treasure, it seems like the enemy is trying to find it before he does.
On the way to Osohe castle, you have to pass through the graveyard. After fighting against some zombies, because of course you have to do that at this time and place, you can continue on your way. You can also look at the graves that are there. The descriptions of the graves are as follows:
“A good, quality grave.”
“This grave’s restoration process appears to be gravely lacking.”
“This appears to be a new type of grave”
“’I leave the rest to you now’”
“’Life is too short to act gravely’”
“A great-grade-gray-grave”
“A grave of grave consequences”
“Grave.”
“A grave grave”
“’Wife of Flint. Mother of the twins Claus and Lucas. Daughter of Alec. May the beautiful Hinawa rest in peace here for all time.’”
The castle’s drawbridge is up, so you have to find an alternate way to get in. Sneakily, Duster goes into Nippolyte the grave digger’s shack and through the basement. You discover an underground tunnel, and on the other side is the castle! You can find Nippolyte tending the crops in the yard in front of it. He doesn’t really care about whatever Duster is doing. He tells him the door is locked, so he’d have to climb up the wall to get inside. Fortunately for Duster, he is a master at climbing walls, as we saw in Chapter 1.
When you get inside, you find the castle in a very worn-down state. Cobwebs are everywhere, and spiders and ghosts creep around the halls. You can find other haunted objects such as paintings, suits of armor, and even doors. In one room, you can find a ghost bazaar that trades useful items for rotten eclairs. One such item is the “rope snake” which is essential for Duster’s traversal around the castle. In another room, the ghosts are having a party. One plays a the piano, others “eat” and “drink” things that go straight through their bodies, while another crouches in the corner, unwilling to join the festivities. It’s moments like this that make Mother 3 different from most games; silly things that have no in-game purpose other than to make you smile really go a long way. Ghosts are supposed to be scary! But these ones just seem to be enjoying the afterlife.
As you find your way through this creepy castle, you catch a glimpse of another person running through the halls. Who may this be? It looks like they dropped a pendant. But before you continue on your way, you have to fight against Mr. Passion, a conductor ghost who waves his baton, which makes objects fly around the room. He serves no purpose to the game other than to be a “mid-boss” for the chapter. Still, he has an interesting character. The song that plays when you fight him is a medley of classical music, which is a neat touch.
After you defeat Mr. Passion, you finally find what you are looking for, but that person you saw earlier is nowhere to be found.
When you exit the castle, it has become day. For some reason, Nippolyte gives you the key to the drawbridge and doesn’t ask for it to be given back to him. You are free again to see what the villagers are up to today. Some comment on how they don’t usually see Duster up so early, or how they don’t usually see him ever. Apparently, he isn’t too close with anyone.
If you talk to Betsy at the inn, she says that she was also given money, but doesn’t know what to do with it. Other people seem very suspicious of this man. Two children in the street say that he’s “creepy” and saw him hit his monkey. Was the monkey asking for help when it saw Duster last night? If you go to Butch’s farm, his brother Biff will say that Butch is acting very strange as of late. Whatever reason this man was giving people money, it’s probably for nefarious reasons.
Also at Biff’s farm, you can talk to the livestock there, just as you can with any other animal in the game. One pig says, “Oink, oink (I hear there’s some pig somewhere talking about Something-or-Other 3. Come on, what a nuisance that guy is. I don’t know much about the secret info, personally.)” Recall that the man who gave Butch money was given some pigs in exchange. What’s up with pigs and Mother 3?
Bob, who was up all night at the Yado Inn, says, “I don’t feel like bein’ lectured by you! I already know! You don’t need to tell me! …*hic*” It sounds like he was drinking all night long. It’s really cool to see small little developments from each time you talk to people in Tazmily.
If you check out Reggie’s tent, Reggie will say to you, “Duster. Be careful of water. Reggie gets that feeling.” What’s that supposed to mean?
The only other kind of thing that people say to you is how important Hinawa was to them. Dona says, “Whenever I was having family problems, Hinawa was always there for me. But now that she’s gone… My problems just get worse and worse now.” Only two days after her death, people’s lives have been drastically changed. If you head to Flint’s house, Fuel will note that Lucas hasn’t come outside all day. When you go inside and talk to Lucas, he says, “Maybe I should have gone with Claus…” He’s constantly going over everything that happened in his head again and again. Flint is nowhere to be seen. If you check Hinawa’s grave, you will find a bouquet of flowers next to it, in addition to the patch of sunflowers there. The interesting thing is, these flowers are a different color than what was there yesterday. The game says “Flint is always offering flowers,” and the different color shows. All these minuscule details in the game tremendously add up.
When you return to Wess to give him the important-looking item, he says the following:
Just when it seemed like your mission was a success, Wess picks up the item you found, and smashes it onto the floor in outrage. When you were in the castle, it didn’t look like there was anything else to find, so where could this important item be? Also, the person you saw running around in the castle was apparently the princess of Osohe. In some dialogue Nippolyte had before Duster entered it, he said that both the king and queen had passed. So who is this princess? It looks like Wess and Duster have some investigating to do.
But before we go back to Osohe, Itoi has already given a lot of villagers brand-new dialogue, which mostly consists of people saying hello to Wess, since he has now joined your party. For example, Bud and Lou will both say “Wess up?” whenever you talk to them, as well as a little girl. Everyone knows everyone, and they all have jokes about each other. The other kind of dialogue is much more interesting. Dona, who could feel her problems getting worse each day, says “I want out of this pathetic little village this instant! …That’s how I always feel, anyways. But I can’t even begin to imagine what the outside world is like.” Bateau says, “You’re so bright and cheerful, Mr. Wess. Meanwhile, my own thoughts keep getting gloomier and gloomier…” Isaac, who lives in the Sunshine Forest, came down to town. He says, “I thought coming to the village would be more exciting than staying in the ravaged forest, but no one will even give me the time of day.” Already, it seems like Scamp’s assumptions of the world changing are already becoming true. People are sadder and becoming less friendly to each other. Hinawa was the glue that held the village together, and now she’s gone.
Another interesting quote comes from Mayor Pusher: “What can I do for you, Thief Family? …Oh, yes, yes. It’s still some years off – I’m not sure how many, exactly – but there’s talk about constructing something called an “old folks’ home”. I figure that will be perfect for you, old man. It’ll be like a dream come true, so I hope you look forward to it. …Actually, an associate of sorts came to our village this morning.” Even more change is yet to arrive in the village. One last quote comes from Nana, who says, “I’m Nana. I’m not sure why, but none of the family members in this village really look alike.” I wonder why that is?
When you come back to the castle, the pig-masked people have taken advantage of the now-lowered drawbridge and have stormed into it. Tread marks lead a long trail to the entrance. Nippolyte is all bruised up now, after having been beaten up. At the entrance, some soldiers block your way, accompanied by a large, blocky statue. One soldier shocks some electricity into the statue, and it suddenly comes to life and attacks! After you defeat it, they try to revive it again, but fail. They kick the fallen Clayman out of frustration and run away.
As you make your way through the castle for the second time, what we now know to be called “Pigmasks” attack you on sight. They are fairly weak compared to the last foes you’ve fought, and when you defeat them, they leave behind a bag of Pork Chips, which suggest that these soldiers aren’t exactly the most fit. They look and act quite similarly to the Stormtroopers from Star Wars, who are incompetent and weak.
The song that plays when you fight the Pigmasks is really catchy. Everything about it sounds militaristic – the composition, the rhythm, the instrumentation – everything. This song includes a portion of their theme song, which has played in various parts of the game. This song wants to get the point across that these guys are soldiers, and I think it does its job well.
The haunted suits of armor that used to guard the castle are now broken and shattered on the floor. In the room where the ghosts were having a party, there are Pigmasks who take their place. Now, every ghost in the castle is crammed in the kitchen.
Duster finally returns to the room where the not-so-important item was. See what Wess does to open a secret passageway:
That was something, wasn’t it? This is one of the more iconic sequences of Mother 3. Again, silly moments in-between important moments are what make this game so special. I especially like how the door “laughs” at Wess as it opens up.
This concludes part 8 of the analysis.