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Update 4: I Rowbot
Mhm.
Last we saw Niko, we just found a camera lens - our final piece to the puzzle.
Thanks to our Phillips Screwdriver, we can then use this on the camera to...
Okay...
Done!
Now that we have the lens from the camera, we can just snap that into the battery.
Finally, the battery needs to be charged. How can we charge a solar battery? By putting it next to the sun!
I would've never thought of that!
Good thinking, Goons!
And thanks to the beauty of fast travel and editing, we can just appear at the outpost!
Like so! Now, time to head back to the generator and give this area power!
Let's hope the charged battery does something!
Whoa!
Uh, hopefully that was all we had to do. That was all we had to do... right?
Hey! Powered-up robots!
[DID YOU POWER THE GENERATOR?]
I... guess we did!
Right, Goons?
That has to be right, otherwise someone came in at the exact same time and flipped all the on switches on the bots at the exact same time we put the battery in the generator... and I wouldn't put it past Prophetbot to do that to be quite honest...
[I CAN WALK!]
HE CAN TALK!
There's nothing else powered on in there besides those two robots. There's certainly not a computer that speaks directly to us that just turned back on. Nope. Not a thing.
So not all of the robots come back on. Some are beyond repair, unfortunately. We'll still go hunt down the ones that did though.
[I AM FUNCTIONAL!]
Mhm!
This exchange just made me imagine some dude getting on a bus and screaming out to everyone that he's alive and the bus just despondently responding back that yup, he is.
Oh hey, this bot! With the... orange hair? What is that anyway?
Rowbot
[I AM FUNCTIONAL! WAS IT YOU WHO FIXED THE GENERATOR?]
Well, The Goons helped me!
But yeah!
[HELLO. NICE TO MEET YOU. I AM ROWBOT #310. WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO TAKE YOU SOMEWHERE?]
[...]
[...]
Are you... okay?
[I CANNOT MOVE.]
Well, you're still really rusty...
[THAT IS TRUE.]
Hold on... The Goons and I will find a way to help you!
I don't know if I love or hate the pun that rowbot presents. Mostly because the 'w' just ends up being silent in pronunciation and causes me consternation every time I see it.
Pun or not, we found our final area goal - Unrusting that rowbot. Doing this will require us to explore new areas we haven't yet... which is going to require... some outside help. But first...
Is it alright if I take a nap?
Uh, yeah? Feel free to snooze, hell I'd love to take a nap - but naps just make it harder for me to go to bed at night and I already really struggle at that.
As mentioned previously, the beds only let you save and quit. So when you do let Niko go to sleep, the game closes to desktop. The obvious question then is why would you use it if you plan to play more of the game? Well...
Distant
Goons, are you still here?
Yeah, we're here.
Into the Light
Ah. I'm awake.
I had a dream just now.
Yeah we saw that, somehow. Not sure how we can do that but eh.
You did? Wow!
...I...really thought I was back home...
Oh, the sun back in my home world isn't a lightbulb.
It's a big ball of fire in the sky!
I don't think I would be able to hold it like I do with the sun from your world...
Yeah uh, this isn't our world.
We don't actually live in that world.
Really?
Ah... I guess not.
If you're the god of this world, you wouldn't necessarily be in it.
What's your home world called?
Earth! It's a big ol green and blue ball that we are trying really hard to turn brown!
Earth?
Like, the stuff on the ground?
...Wait, do you live underground?
What kind of goons would we be if we didn't live in a basement 
Wow... I can't imagine what that's like... Does your world have a sun?
Yes it does! It's just like yours I guess, a big ol ball of fire.
Really?
Wow!
Can you hold it? ...
That was a silly question, wasn't it...
The sun in my home world is very bright.
Warm, too! You saw that, right?
But it goes away sometimes, at night.
Everything gets dark, kinda like how this world is now.
Our world is like that too, actually.
Ah! Do you sleep during the night?
We go to sleep, usually.
But some people stay up and use computers!
I don't have to explain what they are, do I?
There's a bunch of them in this world!
While I didn't grab any of the screenshots of it, all of my dialogue was a dialogue choice we could make along the way in that conversation with Niko. While there are a lot of moments where Niko will talk to us or refer to us being there, there are also these moments where we just straight up have a conversation with Niko. Which is a bit weird at first, honestly. But I think it ends up working and helps the game do some interesting things later on. Going back to sleep does not give Niko more dialogue, these are once per area events.
Now then, it's time to help that poor rusty bot... and we're gonna need help from a source I've been avoiding.
A God's Machine
[I see you've made progress in this world, Goons. But that progress stops here. I believe you need a code to unlock a certain box. Well, the code no longer exists in THIS world.]
Uh... no?
[You... still don't know the extent of the world's deterioration, do you Goons? Sigh. Most of the time, stray pieces of this world would be lost to blissful nothingness.]
[I was able to salvage it, because Niko needs the code to progress. Now go find it.]
But we've searched high and low through all the documents! I'm sure there's more documents in the area with the poison gas but we can't get there!
[The Document has found a place it belongs outside the game.]
[Don't you know that there's a designated area for Documents on your own machine? Some god you are.]
[...]
[Look in the Documents folder on your computer. I don't think I could've made it any more clear.]
Um... okay? Sure, I'll humor you game. Let's go dumpster diving into my documents.
Alright, let's head on in.
Uh.
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
...Oh... okay. S-so... we just need to go... enter that code then... right?
Ok... so... 929983 was the code the note gave us. Is... that it?
How...bout... that 
Wait, how did you Goons know the code?
I still don't remember seeing anything...
We... got some help?
Really?
From who?
Or alternatively, worry a lot about it.
Uh, okay.
So what's in the safe anyway?
Oh! Right. Let's see...
Ah! I found a gas mask!
...
Also... there's this weird-looking book!
I can't read it though...
Not that I can't read or anything! Because I can!
I just don't know what language this is...
Well... that was incredibly weird. But we do finally have a gas mask - which means we can continue our journey! Maybe... the computer isn't a foe?
*loud static noises can be heard*
GAH! NEVERMIND! IT'S A FOE! IT'S A FOE!!
What IS that?
It... looks like some squares I guess? It's not trying to hurt us so let's just go ahead and leave this place.
Anyway! We've got the gas mask!
The gas mask is a special green item, which means that we can't select it or combine it with other items. Instead, it means Niko will use it when the game requires her to! So no iron boots shenanigans - anytime niko goes into a poisonous swamp, she'll put on the mask.
Geothermal
Niko puts the mask on herself, and also changes her portrait! She's got a lot of portraits by the way - 31 of them! The boy from Rakuen had 34 portraits - in a very portrait heavy game.
The gassy swamps are pretty lifeless, as to be expected. Not even an ogre to be spotted.
With a little exploring, we come across this factory in the middle of the area. Inside reveals...
Abandoned Factory
Uh, a robot I guess.
[WELCOME TO THE OLD CHEMICAL PROCESSING PLANT. MOST OF THE EQUIPMENT HAS ALREADY BEEN RELOCATED.]
Oh... so is this place pointless to us?
[THE ROBOT ASSEMBLY AND REPAIR SERVICES HAVE BEEN DISCONTINUED AT THE BARRENS. IF YOU HAVE FURTHER INQUIRY, PLEASE CONTACT THE HEAD ENGINEER.]
I'm pretty sure asking Silver about it will just lead her to saying that the world is dying so who cares about repairing robots.
Now then, continuing to ignore the incredibly obvious item pickup, let's investigate that note.
quote:
-cannot overstate the importance of cleaning solvents in this environment. Here is a simple recipe using the alternative method discussed in the last chapter, utilizing the natural properties of blue phosphor.
Reagents:
-Acidic gas
-Blue phosphor (rare form)
Instructions: 1) In a well-ventilated area, direct the gas into your container of choice. Seal immediately afterwards.
That's the end of the page.
Hmm, well surely continuing on with a dangerous chemical reaction without any guidance and using a nine year old to handle the reagents should go fine for us. Moving on...
The item I've been ignoring are rubber gloves! Just like with the mask, Niko will put these on when she needs to. Safety first!
Now, you may think this area is done and over with. And you know who would agree with that? Me on my first playthrough. Do not be me, be smart and realize those boards are not part of the tileset.
The boards seem loose, though! I should be able to pull them off with the right tool...
Good thing I kept this crowbar!
I wasted like 45 minutes looking for where to go next only to come back here and see the boards and facepalm so hard my non-existant brain flew out of my head. 
Wow, that's a lot of bots! None of them are powered though...
I guess the generator can only do so much...
Really? Why did it turn on the ones upstairs but not these? Is the wifi range a hard cutoff or something?
The right side has another note and an important item for later.
This seems to be another page ripped out of a book.
quote:
2) Without breaking the seal, inject the liquid phosphor into the container. 3) Shake vigourously to initiate the reaction. 4) Use as soon as possible.
Note: Hand protection is critical after this step. The resulting acid is moderately stronger than common household cleaners.
I... don't know what half of these words mean...
It's a good thing you Goons are here!
Don't worry, I know what it wants us to do. You just get to do the dangerous part!
Yes, that's right - a sponge. The most important of items. Make sure to never leave home or an adventure game without them!
With the acquisition of the sponge, the factory is done with. We can go back outside.
And we find another note for the area! The Barrens is crawling in notes. I don't think any other part of the game has as many notes as the Barrens does.
quote:
There's something weird about the robots who get sent to work near the gas fields. They appear to accumulate rust at a much slower rate than the others. The few who work directly with gas harvesting look practically new! Is that a result of the atmosphere? Or am I just seeing things?
We have to hope he's not just seeing things. Otherwise, we may have trouble finding another way to de-rust the rowbot.
We've almost finished with the swamps and the Barrens. Just a little bit more...