BLACK WOLVES SAGA Last Hope - Common Route -

Well, because I noticed that there aren't many detailed reviews for the PSP version of BWS (not that I know of, anyway), I decided to make one of my own. This will probably take some time since I'm playing right now and I update in my own time. I will first post about the common route while I finish Nesso's route.

SPOILERS. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.

The game starts with Rath staring at the tower while standing in the rain all emo like. He speaks about how it has passed, then as fast as he appeared he leaves.

 Cue story time with Rath’s voice explaining the history of Zodiva, and the war between the cats and the wolves. Basically, it’s the same as the explanation in Bloody Nightmare but I’ll explain it anyway. Some of the wolves were Imperial Knights, but suddenly they turned their sword at the Royal Family so their peaceful coexistence was shattered. Consequentially at the same time, a plague hit Weblin, a fatal disease called Zodiva. Symptoms include the skin being dyed with black spots, consumes the brain and brings madness to the person until he dies. The rumors say that the reason for the plague was the wolves, so the people became afraid of them and started to avoid them. The wolves started attacking the villages, and for some reason every village they attacked, the disease spread so the people truly believed that the wolves were cursed. They named the disease “The Mad Wolf Disease.”

In the time of Garibaldi the Sixth, he put forth a law entitled, “The Wolf Hunting Decree,” better known as “Genocide Wolf.” Although Zodiva was the cause of the people dying, the decree was made to exterminate the wolves from Weblin. The people will take up arms and will actively hunt for the wolves. 「人が狼を狩り、狼が人を喰らう。」People hunt the wolves, the wolves eat the people. Maybe because the people persecuted the wolves,

then the wolves probably began to attack the people. Maybe because the wolves attacked humans, the people began to hunt the wolves.

The scene changes to where Fiona watches the rain fall from the window, wondering when it will stop. Pearl and Richie arrive to ask what she herself was thinking, so she says that it will stop soon. Richie mentions that Fiona was looking forward to today and Fiona agrees, saying that she kept wandering around restlessly earlier. Pearls exclaims that if she really wants to go out, they should just go out! But Richie opposes saying that Zara will get angry, and that he doesn’t like to get muddy. He then wonders if the garden will look beautiful in the rain, and if it did, he would want to show it to Fiona. Pearl adds that the feeling of stepping on the wet grass feels interesting. Richie then proceeds to tease Pearl. Fiona picked up the twins’ favorite toy, a ball, then tossed it. As expected, the twins grappled over the ball to Fiona’s amusement.

Pearl and Richie became Fiona’s companions when they were adopted into the Galland family. Pearl is the older one, while the younger one is Richie. Their parents apparently died from an illness, making them orphans.

Fiona wonders who will win the ball, Pearl or Richie? But then she noticed that Zara arrived and released an 「……げ。」sound. Zara chastises her for making such an unladylike sound.

As the Galland’s only daughter, Zara Skeens was given to her as her personal butler. Despite their Master-Servant relationship, they are also childhood friends so Zara always worries about her. From an early age, he was tasked with taking care of her.

Zara then says if she wants to have fun, they should keep it in line. He says the twins disliked turning into their human forms, and when they’re excited they become increasingly unreasonable. Zara is from the rabbit species while the twins are from the dog species. Zara prefers to use his human form as opposed to Pearl and Richie. It was explained to her that many beasts use their human forms because humans are trusted more than animals. Fiona then thinks to herself that rabbits are cute, but if she was to squeeze Zara, he would get angry.

On another note, Fiona asks Zara how many guests will attend her party. Because the celebration is for the princess’ 16^th birthday,  Zara wrote a lot of invitations. Fiona realizes that because of her party, Zara must be tired so she feels guilty, but this is the only time she can be selfish. This will be the first time Fiona will go outside the tower if all goes as planned, so she wants to be greedy for once. The tower was built just for her so she can do anything she wants inside it. But she always had an interest in the outside world.

Fiona notices that the rain stopped and the sun shone through the clouds beautifully. So many times in the past that she complained to her father and older brother that she wants to go out but each time they told her to be patient. This time though, on her 16^th birthday, she can finally go outside. If it was the usual, she would probably spend her birthday in the tower as always. Also, the party is to show everyone that she is the daughter of a noble, the Galland being one of the three distinguished families in Weblin. Having a massive party isn’t fun, especially because she is used to celebrating it privately.

She wants to go out, that’s what she always says but her father will answer that she can’t afford to do so. Fiona thinks that it will be easy to resist if her father, Edgar, trapped her for wicked and malicious reasons, but he only did it to protect her. The reason why her father traps her in the tower is because she has Robeira. A Robeira, despite it being called a “specie,” it is not a separate tribe like the dogs and rabbits. Being a Robeira, one must be born to become one, so even if all the Robeira are the same, it can come from any race. In her case, she is a human who has Robeira. The probability of being born a Robeira is low, but it seems to relatively occur the most in human females. One of the characteristics of a Robeira is having a weak body and they are susceptible to diseases. Thanks to the support of her family, however, she became less prone to illness. It is also not a coincidence that there are low cases of Robeira. It is because before the Robeira reaches adulthood, they are either killed or died of illness. It is thanks to her family that she is still alive today. Zara helps too, because being a rabbit, he is adept at practicing medicine. Edgar believes that if she is isolated from the world, she will be defended from diseases. Because of that, she is able to live until her 16^th year, and her family became overprotective of her.

If Fiona goes outside, she can die. She might contract some horrible disease. But she longs for the world and nothing can stop her. She will overcome her weakness with her own efforts.

She then says that she has been practicing and Zara says that she’s stronger than her maids now. Sometimes she isn’t fit to be a 「お嬢様」because of her tomboyish attitude, but nevertheless, she is still their princess with Robeira. Fiona tries to convince Zara that she’ll return before he knows it, but he isn’t easily swayed. Zara reveals that he is somewhat like Fiona in the sense that he wants to know more of things that he doesn’t know being a pharmacist. He says that if they don’t deny their feelings of wanting to go outside, that is not being selfish at all. Fiona thinks that everything she feels that she can’t convey through actions, Zara understands everything.

She mentions that it is a big step for her to have a party outside in the gardens, and Zara jokingly complains that because of that he is very busy. Fiona promises to massage his shoulders when it is over and Zara tells her to keep that promise.

Glancing out of the window, she sees that the rain has stopped. If the rain had gotten any worse, the party would have been cancelled. After a beat, Fiona asks Zara if he wants to go out in the garden. Richie mentioned earlier that the garden looks beautiful after the rain. She all but begged him to go outside, saying that she just wants to take a stroll. At last, Zara relented, asking if she’s really ready and that Pearl and Richie should accompany her. Excitedly, Fiona thanks him, almost bouncing on the spot.

Zara calls Pearl and Richie back and the twins follow with a grumble from being interrupted from their tussle, asking if they have errands to run. Zara smiles and tells them to accompany Fiona out in the gardens and the twins gasp in shock, before they started jumping around and happily chanting 「フィオナちゃんとお散歩！」.  Zara gives them permission to go out with the condition that Pearl and Richie transform into their human selves in order to look proper at least. Fiona thinks that seeing them transform is like a treat in her eyes and ponders on Richie’s human appearance that looks like a cute girl despite being very much a boy. Richie then teasingly asks Fiona if she was admiring his cuteness and Fiona agrees that he is cute, making him very happy, saying that she is the best for saying it. Pearl and Richie then starts to pull at her hands in their excitement ot go out with her. As the twins started to whine at Zara for being too slow, Fiona thinks that they are indeed dogs because of their passion for taking walks.

So far, the things that she hasn’t seen will be revealed to her once she goes outside.

As they went out, Zara calls out to not frolic too much and to take care not to fall down. He then reminds them to change clothes before the guests arrive once they’re done. Fiona is then reminded if the King is going to arrive today. Zara answers that the King cannot disregard his condition of being ill, so Mejojo and Auger are attending on his behalf. It will be bad if she isn’t proper when they arrive because the prince is her partner.

There are two other people who come and visit her to play frequently and in a sense they were her friends. Their full names are Mejojo von Garibaldi and Auger von Garibaldi. They are the twin sons of King Garibaldi VI who governs the country.

Fiona and the princes go quite a long way back. For example, they told her to drop the honorifics when it concerned them because the three of them are friends. YEAH RIGHT SURE. She thinks it’s like a fairy tale. The trapped princess, the visiting prince. The prince will take the princess from the tower and the two will then live happily in the royal castle. But reality is different than fairy tales. No, half of the story was true. Mejojo wants to take her out from the tower. But the idea was rejected by her family because she is a Robeira. Because of that, Edgar is opposed to having her taken out to unfamiliar places in case it destroys her body. Fiona and Mejojo are engaged. Mejojo is often accompanied by his younger brother Auger when willingly visiting her.

Richie complains that he doesn’t want the princes to come because they will steal Fiona’s attention from him and Zara scolds him for saying that about the princess’ fiancée.

If Fiona desired so, Mejojo will gladly take her to the royal palace. As the daughter of a high ranked noble, Fiona is not given free will to choose the person she is to marry. But she is willing to do anything as long as it is for the good of her home. Because of her being spoiled and treasured by her family, they harbor some hostility towards Mejojo, but she is puzzled because an arranged marriage isn’t uncommon with nobles.

At last, Zara allows them to go out. Before that, however, Fiona asks about Nesso and if he will be late for her party. Zara answers that because it’s his cute little sister’s birthday, Nesso will definitely rush to arrive on time. Fiona happily smiles, confident that Nesso will come.

Nesso Galland is her older sibling who is stationed somewhere far away. They are not connected by blood but she doesn’t worry about that as Nesso acts more gently than any other real brother out there. Once he became an adult, he was immediately given the position of knight and was recently dispatched to a distant city. As the kind older brother that he was, he sends her gifts and letters, but it will be nice to see him directly for a change. Fiona notes that Zara is also happy. Zara and Nesso go a long way back and probably because the both of them are males, Zara is closer to her brother than to her. Zara calls Nesso by his name but he stubbornly calls Fiona none other than 「フィオナお嬢様」making her jealous.

Pearl and Richie then impatiently drag Fiona outside, being bored of such long talks already. When they came outside, Fiona marvels that despite the view being similar to that when she watches out the window from the tower, it is still notably different. Somewhere deep down inside of her, she is scared of the outside world. She notes that it smells warm and sweet. Pearl and Richie exclaim that the scent of the soil and rain were strong. This was something that she can’t experience on the top of the tower.

Fiona agrees with what Richie said earlier that the garden is indeed beautiful after the rain as she saw the dew falling from the wet leaves and grass. In the garden there is a rose hedge made to look like a maze, so it was complicated to navigate through without prior knowledge. After that, Fiona, Pearl, and Richie engage in a game of hide-and-seek with Fiona as the seeker. If the twins win, she’ll make all of their favorite snacks all day tomorrow, while if she wins she won’t give them any, which gave them incentive to win. She then says that when Nesso arrives, that will be the time when the game ends.

She visualizes the garden in a bird’s-eye view, as she can frequently see the maze from her window at the tower. She realizes that it’s difficult to visualize it when the real thing was in front of her line of sight. Fiona starts to follow Pearl and Richie’s energetic voices echoing through the hedges. Just then, she hears a rustling sound not coming from the twins’ direction. When she crept closer to where the sound came, she notices a shift in the air. She wonders if the tension that she feels is because of her excitement for her party.

When she checked the bushes, she was shocked to find someone that was neither Pearl nor Richie.

Because of the cloth covering his head, she can barely see his face. From the clothes he was wearing, he is obviously not from around here. It is pulled closely to cover his one eye. He then threatens her not to yell or else he’ll kill her and Fiona nods quietly. She can hear Pearl and Richie noticing that they can’t hear her anymore.

Fiona is surprised when the intruder demands to know where Mejojo and Auger were. She responds that they still haven’t arrived yet. She wonders if was a thief and that it would make sense that he would choose the Galland House for being one of the three most distinguished families.

Pearl and Richie’s steps come closer to them and the intruder’s breathing becomes ragged. He carelessly placed a hand on the rose bushes and injuring his wrists. Fiona being the good girl that she is doesn’t care that the guy could possibly maim her so she wraps his hand with her handkerchief. She tells him that she has no idea who he is but she can’t ignore a person who needs help. She then tells him to go and she’ll pretend she didn’t see him. WTF this girl lol

Just then she hears Nesso’s voice along with Pearl, Richie, and some other person’s voice. Nesso complains why his sister wasn’t there to greet him while the stranger’s voice teases him. She realizes that being a knight, Nesso won’t overlook this and rather than to escape, it will be better if the intruder just gives up obediently. Fiona once again urges him to escape while he still has the chance, but of course if he gives up what will be the point of this drama, so he decides to make Fiona his hostage and show himself to the others.

 The other are like wtf as they see Fiona being held by some hobo with a cat-shaped cloak. Nesso and the others try to persuade hobo-san to release Fiona, but nope. He runs off with Fiona in his arms and basically forces her to give him directions so that they can get out of the maze. They reach the tower and Fiona says that they certainly can’t escape now because despite being mere puppies, Pearl and Richie are trained as guard dogs so they can sniff anything from miles away. Being such a bleeding heart, Fiona once again helps him escape because she doesn’t want hobo-san and her precious people to fight in front of her so it’s alright if they fought behind her?. Fiona asks him why is he here and he snaps back that it’s none of her business.

To her surprise, hobo-san decides to take refuge in the tower. The run up the stairs and Fiona loses her breath because of her weak body. They arrive inside her room and once again Fiona notes that there is certainly no means of escape unless he can fly. The others catches up to them and demands for her release. Here, the stranger introduces himself as Elza Clifford and the vice-captain of the Gefreiter knights. He assures hobo-san that they promise to not hurt him as long as he gives up quietly, and Nesso doesn’t break his promises easily. Just then, a strong wind blew and took off hobo-san’s head protector and when they saw his shining blue eyes,  dog ears and tail, they realize that he is WOLFFF. Nesso repeats the word in a daze, obviously shocked dumb with the thought that his kawaii imouto is being held by a wolf. Fiona recounts the time when her father told her about the story of the wolves, but she believes it to be a load of bull.

Hobo-san provokes the others and it works because they almost lose their heads. Hobo-san creeps closer to the window and Fiona realizes what he wants to do. As expected, Hobo-san jumped from the window and glided along the air like a flying squirrel.

She sees the forest from above and thinks that she has always wanted to go to the forest and wonders if her dream might come true. But then she laughs that dreams coming true don’t matter in this situation. She then notes that the world looks beautiful, then everything dimmed.

Well this was some action-packed common route lol The BGMs did me in.