Game Informant

Game Informant

How Obtained

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Companion obtained from item.
Item: dusty game cartridge
Duration: 90 minutes

Behavior

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Ability: Identifies weaknesses, lowers defence, gives XP

Messages

At the start of the combat:

If foe has at least one weakness, one of the following is displayed:

• Your informant tells you to kill it with fire. It's usually sound advice.
• Your informant points out your opponent should buy a coat. What is he, their mom?
• Your informant tells you acid is always strong against this kind of opponents in games he plays.
• Your informant tells you electricity will make short work of this foe. You have no idea how he knows that.
• Your informant points out that your foe hates his awesome video game mix tape and is, therefore, vulnerable to sonic attack. You're... not sure that's quite right.
• Your informant says it should be easy to hurt your opponent's feelings, but that bullying is never cool... unless you're using psychic powers. Then it's awesome.

If foe has no weaknesses then their defences are lowered by 1-3 points with the message:

• Your informant tells you to hit your opponent's weak point for massive damage. That was... sort of already the plan, but the extra eyes looking for weak points does help a little.

If hard mode is currently active, one message pertaining to the foe's modifier(s):

• aquatic - Your informant bemoans how hard it is to dodge in water levels.
• arctic - Your informant points out it's slippery and that making physical attacks will be dangerous unless you're used to ice.
• cloudy - Your informant says the clouds will drift around and even strike you with lightning.
• confusing - Your companion tries to help, but ends up getting turned around in the maze and just gets in the way.
• devouring - Your informant warns you that these guys mean business and will totally devour gear if you can't defeat them or ward off their acid.
• fighting - Your informant takes a moment to brag about how he's focused his skills getting the right moves in old fighting games.
• frusion - Your informant asks what you're fighting. When you tell him about the glow, he tells you it's probably "frusion energy," which drains heroes of their power and is extremely resistant to damage. Great.
• ghostly - Your informant peeks out between his fingers, noting both that he's afraid of ghosts and that, even though a spell can hurt them, it just makes them angrier.
• ghoulish - Your informant says you should be careful with these guys because they'll "drain your HPs," whatever an HP is.
• huge - Your informant looks up at your foe. "Well, it's just a giant version of a normal enemy. Hit it twice as hard and you should be fine."
• jumping - Your informant scowls. "Enemies shouldn't be jumping! That's all wrong. I guess you'll just have to jump that much higher."
• lava - Your informant stays well back of the lava and unhelpfully yells "watch out for fireballs and, whatever you do, don't fumble!"
• racing - Your informant looks down the track with an expression of terror, warning you to jump the obstacles and keep up speed.
• recolored - You informant yawns. "Different color means they're twice as hard, right? Well, shoudln't be a problem... as long as you can beat something twice as hard." He reconsiders his yawn.
• respawning - Your informant warns you that you'll have to beat this guy at least twice.
• talkative - Your informant tries to explain something about your enemy, but can't get a word in over the sonic barrage.
• miniboss - Your informant looks worried. He says bosses are always immune to a ton of stuff and get harder just when you thought you've beaten them.

After combat:

• At the end of the fight, your informant fills you in on the last game he played. It's actually pretty interesting. You gain 1-3 XP.

Notes

• Can be summoned once per day.
• Doesn't identify weaknesses on scaling foes.

References

• "Game Informant" refers to Game Informer magazine.
• The image is based on a advertisement for the Nintendo Power Glove.
• "Attack its weak point for massive damage" is associated with the Giant Enemy Crab meme.