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Oct 23, 2021 14:56
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@Space Kablooey - Much appreciated. Update 35: Grand Finale (Part 1)  This is the final dungeon of the game. It’s not especially long, but it is pretty frustrating. Doubly so if you intend to rob it of all its treasures (which I decided to do for some reason or another). This place has paths that go every which way, so I will only be able to provide some general directions.  Just to the north of the entrance is this strange square. No idea what it does, other than mark a landing point for a hole we can jump into on the upper floor.  The enemies in here are a mix of Lizard Lords, Demons, those spooky ghost dudes, some regular lizards/basilisks, Undead Knights, and those gross jellyfish things. None of them should prove a challenge to you by this point. If they do, then that’s probably a cue that you could use some leveling (either regular or through Blessing Bell abuse).  If you hook around the wall to the right of that weird square and go up, you’ll run into this strange monument.  These things are what we need those gems for. “Arcanum” is derived from the Latin word “Arcanus”, which means “secret”.  Even if you don’t know that, you can still match it to Amethyst by looking for the word “mediation.” I think this is the only monument that uses a different word from what is in the gem description. Every other monument will use the same two words in the item description. No clue why that is. Anyway, we use the Amethyst.  One down, five more to find.  In the top left section of the ground floor, there’s a staircase up. Before you take them, pop over to the room on the right.  There is another momument tucked away over there. This one is looking for the Jade stone.  On the first floor, head south from the stairs until you hit a wall. You can see a treasure chest sitting there, but there does not appear to be a way to get to it. To the right is a path farther south, though, so let’s check that out.  We find ourselves outside the dungeon temporarily.  There’s a little stairway that leads down to the southwest of the cave. Just past a group of enemies will be another monument. This one needs the Topaz. I guess we can part with it for some vague possibility of a reward. I mean, it’s not like it’s the only memento we have left of Gruff Anime Dad or anything.  The other thing you’ll notice out here is this strange crack in the wall. A strange crack which just so happens to line up with that room with the treasure chest we saw inside. The question is, how the hell do we break this open? That’s where it gets tricky. At first, you might think that you just need to start a battle with some nearby enemies and then target the wall with an attack or spell of some sort. Unfortunately, the wall is not a selectable target. Idea #2: There is a Knack that can be learned called Time Bomb. This sets an explosive at the point where the character is standing. The explosive will go off after a set amount of time and damage anything in its radius (enemies and allies. It’s a lovely Knack). Unfortunately, this doesn’t do the job either.  The solution is a gigantic pain in the rear end that is easy to screw up. You see the gross jellyfish balloon monster to the right? Well, those things explode when they get below a certain percentage of HP. Only one of these things spawn in this area. That means we need to lure it over to the stairs and up next to the cracked wall to start things off. Deal with the other enemies in the area, but do not touch that jellyfish monster. Also, make damned sure that it doesn’t attack anyone with Counter. This should go without saying, but you will also need to make sure that Crevanille doesn’t trigger Sword Dance. Finally, don’t choose “Auto” for any character. Auto leaves a party member’s actions up to the AI. Ranged characters like Regina or Remus will almost certainly aim straight for that sperm balloon.  If you get too far away, then it is possible to escape from the battle. This is fine, as it will remain in the place it was in when the battle ended. Just walk back towards it and trigger another fight. Keep manually moving your characters north towards the wall. When they reach it, move them slightly to the right. The jellyfish monster will likely be aggroed on whichever one of your party members is in the rear. Have this party member move around to get the monster into the proper position.  Once you get it close to the cracked wall, the real challenge begins. You need to deal enough damage to it to get its HP down to roughly 20-30%.  It is most resistant to Earth, but it’s a flying enemy and therefore can’t be hit by those kinds of spells. Instead, you can try casting Level 1 Holy spells on it, since its Holy resistance is pretty decent. Use a non-primary spellcaster such as Regina, Hien, Remus, or Eliza. Frayne, Tricia, Crevanille and Meline are likely to kill it. If you have a character with weak Physical Attack, then you can try that as well.  When its HP drops below 70 or so, just have your characters defend for a bit and see what happens. If the HP is low enough, then the Sting Balloon will use Explode and kill itself.   Which will (hopefully) break the cracked wall. If it doesn’t, or you accidentally kill the Sting Balloon, then you’ll need to leave the dungeon and come back to get the enemies to respawn. So, what’s in that chest? Is it worth all of this hassle?  If you use Leona, then yes! If not, then no! Master Ribbon is Leona’s ultimate armour.  Back to business. To the right of that outdoor area, there’s another set of stairs going up.  There’s two directions to go on this new floor. We start by heading north.  There is a monument up here. Mind the chasm on your right. It will lead us to another monument, but we’ll be back in this area soon enough anyway. This monument needs the Diamond. After that, head back to the stairs and go south.  There’s a small outdoor area here with some spooky ghosts. Clear them out and keep going.  In the next cave, push north past the enemies. There are no side paths here, so just head to the next set of stairs.  From the stairs, head to the southeast and then hook up. There is a large open room here with some enemies and a chest. The chest will contain a Stun EX, which is pretty sweet if you have a ranged or Double Strike character. There are also two holes here. One to the left of the chest and one to the south. The one to the left will drop us down to the Diamond monument. The one to the south…  Drops us onto this little platform with a torch on it. Examining it will let us light the torch. What does this do? gently caress if I know. I haven’t been able to find any use for this. It doesn’t unlock a treasure chest, because I use Yuni’s Treasure Scout before leaving this dungeon and she reports that there are no remaining treasures.   Oh well. Fall into the chasm on the left and you’ll find the Sapphire monument. Pop that sucker in there and then fall into the hole to the south to end up on that weird square we saw near the entrance.  From the square, we head to the right again. This time, we take the south route to another set of stairs.  Head north, fight some enemies, then take the next set of stairs. On the next floor, head right and down.  Regina’s Final Limit kicks in during a battle here. It’s a shame that such a cool limit animation is attached to such a lame ability. It should be noted that not every character’s Final Limit gets a special animation. The only ones I’ve ever seen are Regina’s and Crevanille’s. Anyway, Regina’s Lucky 7 allows her to attack the Undead Knight a second time, which deals about 195 damage on a crit and fails to kill it. Crevanille and Magnus then slaughter everything.  Keep going south to reach a little outdoor area with a chest. It has Magic Barrier EX in it, which reduces damage from weapons and spells by 25%. Magnus has had this equipped for a while now. I think I got one from the arena.  After that, we retrace our steps all the way back to that floor with room that had two holes in it. The one where we found the Stun EX. If you go south and slightly west from the stairs, you will find a path leading outside.  Which reveals some kind of weird pagan ritual circle or something. Clear the enemies out, then examine that square tablet in the middle.  This puzzle is actually the easiest out of the three in this dungeon. The “seal of eternity” is referring to the symbol for infinity (∞).  All we need to do is read the tablet, then run up around the right statue…  Cross to the upper stairs on the left statue.  Then circle around that and head back to the tablet in the middle. When we examine it…  A magic spectral bridge will appear and give us access to the nearby treasure chest. …For some reason.  Inside the chest is Frayne’s ultimate armour: Valkyrie Suit. Another thing we have no use for because Frayne wasn’t voted into the final lineup.  Head back to the stairs, then go southeast. There’s another set over here that lead to the uppermost floor of the dungeon.  Hit the save point near the stairs, just in case.  There is a door to the south of the save point, but it won’t open. Also, DO NOT GO TO THE RIGHT. The next story battle is through there and we aren’t quite done with this dungeon yet.  If you go north of the stairs/save point, you’ll find a Blue Transgate. This connects to that disabled one we saw outside the entrance to the dungeon. You can use this to teleport back to the entrance in case you still need to do stuff out in the world. Unfortunately, you still have to hike all the way back to Eizenvant Bridge in order to return to the villa/No Angeles.  In the bottom left corner of this room is another monument. This might be the last one you need. If you have more than 1 gem left in your key items, however, then it means you missed one somewhere. This monument needs the Ruby.  If you activated all the monuments, then the nearby door will open and give you access to a treasure chest. The chest has a picture of a bow on it, meaning it can only be opened by Remus. Remus also needs to already have his second Limit Ability. Ours did not, which means…  I had to go and take him out for training. The good thing about Remus’ second limit is that it is easy to grind for. All you need to do is let him get beaten up by enemies. When his HP is below 20%, Multi-Shot will start triggering when he attacks something. If he dies, then finish the battle and he’ll be revived with 1 HP. Just rinse and repeat from there. It helps to stick him at the back of the line when his HP is low enough.  Anyway, his second Limit Ability is Dirty Trick, which is fine. It’s more helpful if you can get it early in the game, before stuff like Thievery and Thief’s Art become available. So, with Remus in the party and his second limit unlocked, we head all the way back to the final dungeon. Use the Blue Transgate to quickly get back to the top floor.  This chest will give Remus his Final Limit: Farshot Arrow. This is a quest that spans the entire length of this game. It must be super awesome, right?  …goddammit. This limit sounds incredible for a character like Remus. Infinite range and he can shoot through walls/terrain? How could you possibly be groaning about an ability like that, PK? Here’s the deal… This limit can only be obtained in the final dungeon, immediately before the final series of battles take place. Do you want to know where those final battles happen? Wide open areas with no obstacles/walls/rocks that has only a scattered enemy or two outside of Remus’ normal max range. What developer came up with that sick joke? What’s worse is that (with some luck/arena grinding) you can get your hands on a spellstone called Deadeye Shot which basically does the same thing except without the infinite range.  That limit would have been incredible in the mid-game and less incredible, but still pretty awesome, in the late game. But right outside the door to the final boss? That’s just a kick in the junk. Ugh… anyway, now that I’ve solved the decade old personal mystery behind what the hell those gems do, I drag Remus’ back to No Angeles and dump him off. Regina goes back in the party and we head back to Mt. Eizenvant for like the third time. Do your pre-battle buffing to the right of the save point on the top floor. When you’re ready, head to the next screen.    Hey, Lumis! This is no time to be impressed! We need to just stop the drat thing! I know, I know. It just feels different from before. It’s like it isn’t targeting any particular place. You liar! No… there’s a reason for that. While the two shots fired haven’t been aimed at populated areas, I believe he is trying to achieve something greater. What are you up to, Vester? If you aren’t collecting chi energy to fire another shot, then why are you doing it? The gate?Could you guys slow down the evil plan explanation? We’re running a bit late. I see… But that doesn’t make sense! You’ll die with the rest of us if the world is filled with monsters. Hahahaha… Is that what you’re worried about, after we’ve already come this far? Crevanille! You’ve come!Yeah, sorry. We got caught up in a bunch of stupid bullshit.  Tch, Vester… It does not matter how many people show up to stop me. The climax to my story will not be denied! Not this time, Vester. Crevanille’s Sword Dance is strong enough to mop the floor with you the second the-- Cynthia, take care of them. I will head toward the peak. Understood, Vester.  Son of a bitch! He teleported before the battle started! Tch, bastard! You’re just running away, then? I won’t let you get in his way. Everyone, I need your help! We need to stop the summon cannon before we can go after Vester. Uh, so what’s happening? The crystals fired to the north and south were only preparation. The point was to form a kind of triangle, with the top of Mt. Eizenvant being covered in a powerful but unstable field. And, indeed, the peak of Mt. Eizenvant is extremely unstable. The rift in space that connects to the netherworld could open at any moment! Correct on all points. And it will explode soon. The world will finally be as Vester envisions it. You can’t do that! Let’s stop Vester’s plan. All right! We’ll stop him ourselves! I have to dismantle it so that it doesn’t explode. Cover me! Try to kill the monsters that are pouring energy into the summon cannon.  These are the monsters in question. They will be our primary targets for this mission. It will explode no matter what I do if the spell power inside it reaches its max limit. Got it. I don’t care what you do! I will protect this cannon with my life!Good luck with that. Crevanille could kill everyone here by just lifting his sword. He won’t, of course, because we’re going to approach this with a little strategery for the benefit of people playing along who didn’t turn Crevanille into Borgilon, the God of the Underworld:   There is a timer at work for the first part of this mission, so you will need to take out those demons as quickly as possible.  There are a bunch of other enemies around that will impede your ability to do that, of course. One of those enemies is our old friend Skeletor. That’s about all there is to say about him. Weirdly enough, he’s a lot less chatty this time.  The demons are weak to Holy, but they also (irritatingly) have a good chance at nullifying magic. Still, it is worth continually trying. A spellcaster with maxed out Quick Cast takes very little time to charge a level 3-4 Holy spell. The only other way to quickly deal with the demons is to rely on your ranged units. Melee units really have to haul rear end in order to get to those demons before the timer runs out.  Bauer and Lumis are also here. Lumis needs to be protected, but I’m not sure about Bauer. The good news is that Bauer also has a chance at nullifying magic, so he should manage fairly well on his own. Still, make sure you are keeping an eye on his health, especially if you don’t plan to send any of your units along the right side path. Lumis needs to be constantly monitored. The enemies casted several Joint Spells throughout this battle and nearly all of them seemed to completely ignore Lumis. There was no “Null” popup or “0 damage” notification. The spells just… didn’t do anything to him for some reason. That said, he is definitely a viable target for enemies, since he did take some damage during this fight.  As for our gameplan: I send Magnus and Regina down the southern road near the starting point. Magnus clears the way and chases after Skeletor, while Regina breaks off as soon as she can and starts dealing with the nearby demons. Tricia stays at the starting point and repeatedly casts Holy in the hopes that one of the spells will break through and kill a demon in one shot. Crevanille heads to the right in order to assist Bauer. He’s also going that way so that there’s less of a chance he kills enough stuff to trigger Sword Dance.  Destroy those monsters before they send more spell energy into the cannon!Lumis will give you a bit of a warning when the spell charge is reaching dangerous levels, just in case you aren’t keeping a careful eye on the mission timer.  Funny thing about that: Everyone say goodbye to Skeletor! This is the last time we’ll see him. I’m surprised that he didn’t get a more elaborate send-off. Then again, I guess he is operating under the assumption that he’ll just revive in a few hours or something.  When you approach Cynthia, she’ll have a little bit to say about the delusions she’s still under. If you want to save her, then you’ll need to send Crevanille over to take her down. It might just happen regardless of who takes her out, but I wouldn’t test that.  She has less than 999 HP. That’s about as close an estimate as you’re going to get from Lord Crevanille. Why…? Why can’t I win? Please, stop, Cynthia! No! I’m going to see Mama and Papa! If the Medallion is close by, you should be able to remember! It’s Vester who’s taken everything from you! He’s controlling you! Wah… Waaaaaahhh! Meline is waiting for you to come back, Cynthia. So, please, stop listening to what he’s saying! Okay. I understand.This is where you can qualify for another character ending. I mentioned it in the thread during voting but didn’t explain anything about it. The reason for that is because it might have influenced the vote. If you do Meline’s character quest and spend the last vacation day with her, then bring her with you into the final dungeon, she will give you the Cross Stone. That’s the stone that Maggie gave us when we were about to go into Meline’s mind to break Vester’s control over her. Use the Cross Stone on Cynthia during this battle (once she’s beaten), and you will unlock at “Twins” ending (Meline and Cynthia) instead of just the normal Meline ending.  So, yeah. There you go. That’s how you get to enjoy an ending with two Anyway, after taking out all the demons charging the cannons, you’ll be freed from the mission timer. The victory conditions will change to simply keeping Lumis (and your party) alive while killing all the remaining monsters.  Lumis, how’s the cannon? ….. What…? Spells are still being poured in from somewhere. Huh!? How!? We defeated all the monsters in the area. It must be Vester. If we don’t stop him, the summon cannon won’t stop, either. I’m adjusting its output so that the cannon doesn’t go out of control, but it’s only a matter of time…Couldn’t you just fire a shot off into the ocean or some other uninhabited place? Sure, it would open another gate and cause monsters to pour in, but it would dissipate the cannon energy and prevent that huge permanent gate from opening, wouldn’t it? Plus, we’re going to be removing all spell energy soon, anyway. Let’s take down Vester!Or I guess we could just do that instead and make things more dramatic/tense. You’re right. Let’s go! With me, everyone! Affirmative, Master! You never know what’ll come our way, so I’ll stay here and protect you, Lumis. You can do it! That’s all we can do here, so head over to this doorway. It’s just to the south of where we entered from.  This leads to that closed door near the save point from earlier. Open it up and pop a save, since we’re going into the final battle next. This is also your last chance to make any preparations. When you’re ready, head back through that door and then take the bottom road to the next screen.  Stop around this point and do your pre-battle buffing. Vester is just around the corner and it’s time to finally shove a boot up his rear end.  *sarcastic slow clap*He actually does that, by the way. I’m not just having fun with it. It’s a pretty cool moment, in my opinion.  But this will end soon… No matter how much you fools fight, it will be useless. We’ll show YOU useless! I’ve been waiting for this! There’s no running away this time! Oh, is that so? Heh heh, then come. I will show you how truly small you are. Vester has a few Archdemons in the area to back him up. You can send your other party members after those, just to give them something to do. As for Crevanille…   Note: Berserk is 100% unnecessary, since our Crevanille deals max damage by default.  The only reason I used it is because it’s the only notable damage Vester will be responsible for during this fight. *After Crevanille attacks twice and shaves 1998 HP off of Vester’s HP*   Check out the cutscene: Spellcannon Defence Yaaagh! Hrrgh! Lumis! Are you done yet!? No. If the power supply isn’t cut off, then we can’t move on to the next step.  Hey, I believe in those guys, but I don’t know how much more of this I can take.    Ungh. Did I make it?! What’s the Royal Guard doin’ here? Sorry to barge in like this, but I’m here to help. One can’t refuse help when one is saving the world. Heh. I’m not sure that’s much comfort. I’m counting on you. All of you.Fun fact about this scene: There are four different versions of it. 1. Just Diana. 2. Diana and Alfonse. 3. Diana and Muntzer. 4. Diana, Alfonse, and Muntzer. Obviously the one you see depends on which people you saved and which you didn’t. The fact that they made a bunch of alternative scenes (even if they are only barely different) is a nice touch.  And there’s that wicked Medallion in your hand… But! What’s happening!?   It wouldn’t be a JRPG without a multi-form boss. Also, this one pisses out little helper enemies. What? He IS the darkness? That means that the darkness from the netherworld has been seeping in all this time… Hahaha… With one more breath, a hole will form that is large enough for me to take physical form. You will not stop me now…This form is called “Insidious Vester”, by the way.  Insidious Vester will constantly piss out these little helper enemies. They start at about 40% HP for some reason or another. I’ve never found out if there is a reason for that. The little bastards never live long enough to show me what they can do, because they typically use Explode as soon as they are in range. Maybe they regen HP the longer they are on the field and make Explode stronger? That’s my only guess.  Vester’s stats have gotten a bump, although not by a whole lot. Most magic is useless against him, although you might have some luck with Holy if you really try. He can’t move, though, so the easiest way to deal with him is to just dogpile him with melee characters.  He has three main forms of attack. The first is a simple ranged move where he uses eye beams or something. It doesn’t deal much damage.  The second is a Counter, which… I’m not sure how much damage this does. Crevanille blocked every instance of it.  The third is this one. He starts by summoning a big lance before throwing it into the sky.   It seemingly hits the sky itself, which opens up a big dark hole.  That summons a big Frieza death ball from the netherworld, which begins to drop to the ground.  It has a relatively small impact zone, but it hits shortly after Vester uses the attack. Unless your character has very high MOV (and they get their turn right away), then you won’t be escaping it. It’s better to defend.  The attack is labelled as a spell called Dark Force (Level 5), but Magic Shell doesn’t seem to be able to nullify it. It might be a special boss move that ignores all forms of special defence. Be aware of that, since the attack can hit for anywhere between 200-500 damage.  He seems to have north of 3000 HP, so be prepared for a long fight (assuming you didn’t break your party by abusing Blessing Bells). Overall, however, this shouldn’t be a difficult battle. The helper enemies only start with 71 HP, so they can be dealt with quickly. Vester’s most dangerous attack is also very telegraphed, so you should have plenty of time for item healing and preparing before it hits. It’s possible for you to suffer a party wipe if they all happen to be standing in the impact zone at the same time, but it is very unlikely that you will be pulling moves like that. Even if you take a full party of melee characters, chances are that you have at least one of them as the designated healer that hangs back a bit. You infernal humans! Yes, this is the end! Because the gate is near, Vester’s health is steadily healing! What!? Then what should we do!?I’m pretty confident that Crevanille’s damage output could outpace Vester’s ability to heal. Let’s use the Spell Nullifier. You’re right, Vester is pure mana. And this nullifier sends mana to the netherworld, so maybe it’s the best way to make Vester go away. But… The party rejoins you at this point and you have temporary control. You need to go into your Key Items and use the Spell Nullifier. Pro Tip: You may want to reapply your buffs while you’re at it. We may not be finished with this just yet.  Gwaaah! What is this…!? I’m… getting… pulled in… Please, end! drat it, drat it, drat it! Will my ambitions die here!? Ughhh! Disappear! *Vester explodes into a green fart cloud. However…* Master!!!  [???]: It’s not over yet! Ahhh!  Hmmm? What is that hole? Isn’t that… the hole to the netherworld? The netherworld!? Have Crevanille and the others been sucked into it!? I think the only thing we can do now is pray… So, let’s believe that they’re safe. The destiny of the world is on their shoulders. And I don’t know why, but… I don’t feel worried. What is this? …It’s the bracelet Crevanille wore. We’ll have to give it back to him when he returns. Let’s wait here. You’re right. Let’s wait for Crevanille and the others to come back.
Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 16:47 on Oct 23, 2021 |
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Oct 23, 2021 15:25
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Update 36: Grand Finale (Part 2) [???]: Augh, you bastards… If only this wretched machine didn’t exist…! But I will get another chance! Ugh… So, this is the netherworld that Vester was talking about? I don’t like where this is going… I can’t… breathe…[???]: You’re all going to die here. No human can survive in this place. Die in this world of no light! I can’t die. You cannot kill Crevanille. [???]: How are you able to stand up? That’s impossible!  Master… the Modified IntRod…*The screen flashes white for a moment*  [???]: An Angel!?  Master’s and my Astral Power has been enhanced by the Modified IntRod… Now we can protect everyone!  Angel Yuni dispels the surrounding darkness and everyone is able to stand. We can also finally get a look at whatever has been barking at us since--   Oh sweet Jesus! That think looks loving metal as hell! Master, the Spell Nullifier is broken. But if we can destroy Vester’s body in this netherworld, he shouldn’t be able to interfere with our world again! You’re dead, Vester! All right, I’m feeling ready for battle! Time to vanquish evil! We’ll return home victorious! Yes! Yeah! Of course! Ugh… You bastards… But no matter how you struggle, your little game ends here! All of you, die! I’ll write a new story… one that omits all of your existences! That’s about as straightforward a mission as it gets.  At the start of the battle, you will only be able to target two enemies. There is a Right Hand of Darkness and a Left Hand of Darkness which are keeping the gate back home open (because Vester wants to try and get back through it). Pick 1, AND ONLY 1, hand to start attacking with some of your party members.  Crevanille should be manually moved to this point as soon as you can. It’s a good idea to pop Dash. Don’t worry if you used them all up in previous battles, since the game fully heals your party and resets your Knack usages when you start this fight.  The hands are sturdier than I remember, but I still refrain from triggering Sword Dance throughout this battle just in case. There’s always a chance that Crevanille just straight up wrecks everything on screen by using that.  And if Master gets defeated, I’ll lose my power and everyone will die!  My shadows, go through the rift in space-time and create a world exactly as I imagine!Darkness Vester will summon three clones shortly after the battle begins. This is why you want to get Crevanille over to that point I mentioned as soon as possible. If any of those Vester clones reach the gate, it’s game over. You might think that this isn’t too hard, seeing as how they would have to go through your entire party to get to the gate. Well…  Only those who have the medallion can fight him. If we let him escape to our world, then everything’s over!Yeah. Only Crevanille will be able to damage the Vester Illusions. If they get by Crevanille and he can’t catch up to stop them, then you’re boned.  Let’s defeat one of them and make the path to our world smaller! Strangely, Yuni is a selectable target in this mission. I don’t know why this is. I don’t think she can be damaged by Vester and her HP is too low to survive any hits anyway. Her death is also not a failure condition. Huh.  As for the Vester Illusions, they are no joke considering Crevanille is the only one that can take them on. Do what you can to help out Crevanille and try not to let him get ganged up on. You will want to eliminate this first batch, since Darkness Vester has a solid chunk of HP.  Our Crevanille is, as always, perfectly fine on his own, though.  Once you defeat one of the hands, your battle plan will have to switch up a bit. Yes! But we can’t make the rift smaller, or we won’t be able to get back! Be careful!If you are curious, destroying the remaining hand will lead to a Bad End called “Not like this…” I assume you can piece together what happens in that one, considering Yuni just explicitly told us.  …what?  In the Japanese version, Darkness Vester says “おのれぇぇ！“ As far as I know, this is basically just incoherent angry babbling. It’s meant to be an interjection of extreme anger or annoyance. For an English comparison, I guess you could imagine him saying “Why you!” or “Curse you!” or simply screaming like your dad did when he was trying not to swear in front of the children after stubbing a toe or stepping on one of your Lego. ”You bastard!” would have been a fine interpretation of that, but I have no clue why Vester suddenly switches to Italian while saying it. Japanese doesn’t have an explicit word for “bastard” (at least, not for the insult usage), but there are a few words that have a similar intention, like “やろ“ (yaro) or “貴様” (kisama). ”ぇ” isn’t even an “o” sound, so it beats me where they came up with this.  Anyway, after that weird exclamation, Darkness Vester will summon two gross heart things on the sides of the arena. They are called “Dark Matter”, but I don’t know what their purpose is. You don’t need to defeat them to win, and I only saw them use a weak physical attack. That said, I may have simply beaten Vester too quickly for them to do anything.  His main body will also drop down, leaving him open to attacks. Get Crevanille up there and start going to town on the big skull creature as quickly as you can. Also, you may need to deal with that Vester Illusion. He tends to stay back and cast spells instead of running forward like the left and right ones did. Die in this netherworld! Darkness Vester has great DEX and spell resistances, but not much else. He’s still vulnerable to Holy, so you can give that a try if your spellcaster is free. Not yet! It’s not over yet! When Crevanille gets close enough, Darkness Vester will replace the two clones that you should have killed off by this point. Now you are facing a race against the clock, since Crevanille is likely right in front of the main body. Turning him around to kill the clones will just drag this fight out longer. What you could do is get your other party members up there to attack the main body and let Crevanille stay back to deal with the Illusions, but if you are strong enough to get this far then I don’t think you’ll have a problem killing Darkness Vester before the illusions get to the gate.  The main body only seems to have one weak, albeit horrifying, physical attack. In terms of HP, he has between 3,000 and 3,500, based on the damage I saw Crevanille do to him. Getting Cycle Up on Crevanille really helps here.   *The screen then starts shaking and Darkness Vester starts to fade away* We defeated Vester! We won! Heh… We won… Yes, we won! We won!That’s great, but you guys are forgetting something super important! As always, superlative, everyone. You all did amazingly well! My power won’t… last much longer…That’s why we should have been hurrying instead of celebrating.  And then Yuni’s new angel power craps out on us, because of course. *The screen starts to shake and the gate starts fading in and out* Hey! This is bad! It’s starting to close! Hurry!*We book it for the gate, but…*    Master! It’s too much of a strain to try to stop the collapse of the world with Angelic essence! Just hurry and escape!Less time spent complaining and more time spent running, please! I’m counting on you. But you better come back! I’ll be waiting for you outside! Come back no matter what! I’ll be waiting outside! Please, catch up!*The rest of the party escapes* Master! Everyone’s escaped! Hurry, you must, as well! *Crevanille falls to the ground and his wings disappear* No! Master… Master! Like this, Master will die! *A white and black wing then flicker back into existence* What is… this light…?  It’s force ghost Bryntir!  You sure make me work…*The scene fades to black for a moment. When it fades back in…*   Phew, so you were safe! We’re fine. I see. I was worried about you. Oh, thank God! Our Q-Ray Bracelet! We were in danger of collapsing into debilitating arthritic pain and suffering from an eternally lovely golf swing without it!  That was a tough battle. I was really worried we wouldn’t make it! And added to that, I had to worry about losing you… How nerve-wracking! I was really, really scared! Well, let’s go back to report everything. You have to return, too, right? There are tons of people in Marquelay worried for you. You’re right. I’ll go back to Valkania for now. I must tell them the good news that there’s nothing more to worry about. *And we fade to black*  Check out the cutscene: It’s the main ending!  Maggie! Everyone’s come back!  I see… So, the world was saved… What ARE you doing? Come on. Let’s go. By the way, can we briefly discuss how Maggie’s lab looks way more loving advanced than it does in-game? Did she really manage to rob this much pristine computer equipment from the various ruins? None of this even remotely resembles the look of her lab during gameplay. This wasn’t a case of a cutscene being done up before details of the story/world were finalized, either. Pamela is in this cutscene, which means it was drawn specifically for the PSP rerelease.  This cutscene also has multiple versions based on which characters you saved. Regina, Vallery, and Magnus (and possibly Tricia) can all be absent.  Oh, Maggie! Pamela! Dear god, this game’s animated cutscenes do not handle motion well. Also, either Hien had a growth spurt or Magnus shrank, because Hien (6’) looks like he’s got a hell of a lot more than 1 inch on Magnus (5’11).   Oh lord, the compression! Also, Eliza looks like she’s gone up at least one cup size.  We did it everyone! We finally did it! The threat of darkness has disappeared from the world entirely! There’s no way we ever could have done it without the two of you. Not only that, but you also saved my life. Thank you so much. *giggle/chuckle* Oh, and we must thank Eliza, too. Huh!? Why’s that? Because if you hadn’t have come along and saved us when you did, I have no doubt, the two of us would have been dead for sure. And if that had happened, the world may not have survived. Wow! I guess I did the world a real service, huh?As long as we’re thanking people for indirectly saving the world, how about some credit to Remus and Lumis? Without them, Frayne and Crevanille wouldn’t have been busted out of the torture prison.  This cutscene only occurs if you saved Vallery, Regina, and Magnus.  Boy, our leader sure is a great man. I agree, that’s probably why people are drawn to him. Us included. There’s just no getting the better of him. What are you two talking about? You guys were there supporting him every single step of the way, weren’t you?  The war has ended, and the threat against the world has passed. Master, your performance was incredibly impressive. But we have not yet reached the end of it all, correct? We must protect the peace that we have fought so hard to achieve. It seems our journey together will just have to continue.  *giggle* We get the option to save. I suggest taking it. Make sure you use a new save slot.  Not bad. That’s longer than my personal playthrough, but that’s likely because I did all the side stuff in this one. I should note that this is the only way to replay Character Epilogues. You can’t view them from the Appendix. So, if you ever feel you may want to see this again, then make sure to keep this save file point.   Do you realize how much the Senate is being helped that you’re the one mediating each country’s problems?I like to imagine that Crevanille’s mediation is simply him wandering from country to country going “Is there a problem, here?”, after which everyone agrees to resolve it as quickly as possible because Crevanille is a one man army. That’s basically the only way this federation idea was ever going to pan out, at least in the short term. It’s been a year since we became an equal part of the federation, and the Kingdom of Marquelay simply “Marquelay.” The rest of the problems associated with the end of the war are beginning to be resolved in toto. I’m sure there are a lot of people awaiting your return from your journey. *Crevanille then turns and leaves*  Hello, Dame Silverneil. We just finished giving Alicia our report. You sure are busy. It’s hard finding time to spend with you. Were you going to stay at Eliza’s villa tonight? Yes, those were our plans. I suppose I better find the time to stop by, then! See you later.*Diana heads into the castle, then the camera quickly pans down to…*   It’s been a while since you’ve been back in Marquelay, right? We’ve both been pretty busy after the war. I’d never wish for the war to come back, but I regret not being able to see you that often… It’s for peace… Well, I do understand that. But there’s another kind of peace at risk here… The peace between the two of us!I was going to say “Why is Crevanille gone for so long? We have fast travel points set up across the continent!”, but then I remembered that we got rid of all the spell energy in the world, so those likely don’t work anymore.  So, at least for a FEW days, you’re my boyfriend, got it? Yes, Master! Your Familiar has taught you well! And kind of like her, I will never leave your side! Let’s head off to my villa, okay? Levan’s made various preparations for us. There are people from all over who want a piece of you, but for now, you’re all mine. Date time! I’ve waited a year for this, and I’m not waiting one second longer!*Crevanille and Eliza walk a little bit before Eliza stops and turns around*  And what’s that? I didn’t properly welcome you back.  Check out the cutscene (before it gets copyright struck): Credits And that’s it! That takes care of a request made by MythosDragon from years ago that I initially showed interest in, then waffled on, then suddenly and without good reason ignored in favour of Sweet Fuse: At Your Side.  I mentioned at the start of the LP that I did like this game, despite how frustrated and pissed off I got at it during certain moments. This playthrough was a lot easier, but that’s because you find a lot of ways to break the difficulty over your knee that you can use during future runs. It also helps to know exactly when and where certain missions will attempt to screw you.  I do have some minor complaints about the game, though. It’s all around a solid and interesting JRPG, but there are points where some extra polish would have been welcome. One of the weirdest examples of that is the UI design. The PSP version of Growlanser IV has an incredibly plain and barebones UI. But if you look at the PS2 version…  Look at that! There’s colour and artistic design! What the hell happened in the transition to the PSP version? It’s possible there were technical limitations behind the change, but I find that a little hard to believe given the specs of the PSP compared to the PS2. Not to mention that the game itself is not a graphics powerhouse. The only other excuse I can think of is screen resolution, but surely there must have been a way to adapt that design to widescreen? They seemed to manage it with the cutscenes and CGs.  As noted during the ending, the animated cutscenes are also very badly compressed. I’ll tell you right now, they didn’t look much better on the actual PSP either. It’s a little surprising considering that these cutscenes were animated for the PSP version. It wasn’t a case of them not transitioning well from the PS2.  The music is serviceable. None of it was grating and it seemed to make use of actual instruments instead of being synthesized. Still, beyond the opening and ending themes (which are good), there aren’t any stand out tracks I can point to.  Vester is also not much of a compelling villain. For however much I ripped on Ludwig and his fake military genius, he at least had motivations. Vester doesn’t have any motivation for what he’s doing beyond “It’s what I do.” Now, you might say that primal instinct was Vester’s motivation. He’s some kind of demonic entity that wants to expand into worlds. I can get behind that. The problem is, Vester clearly shows himself to be a schemer and puppet master type. He has a higher intellect than basic animalistic thinking. The fact that we never really get anything from him about why he wants to spread into this world or what he even gets out of doing so is a major disappointment. Does he need to do it to survive? Does he want to rule the world? Is the netherworld not good enough? Hatred for humans? Give me something to work with.  I’ve also made my annoyance with the game’s weird take on governance known. I liked that the game initially took the approach of pointing out the pros and cons of different forms of government. They pinpoint the faults in government styles that can lead to disaster for a country.  But then when it comes to Federation, the game suddenly seems to take the position that it’s perfect. Sure, Lumis does get to raise several problems with it before and after our battle with him. But the game waves off those problems by implying that a pinky swear will ensure everything goes fine, because Crevanille is apparently going to force it to be fine (judging by the ending).  Basically, the only thing holding everything together is the fact that most of the current power players are friends with Crevanille, who is also currently the strongest man on the continent and capable of crushing any form of disagreement or rebellion against this new Federation. Or, hell, he could also just one day disagree with the way the Federation is operating and decide to bring the whole thing down.  I wouldn't exactly call that arrangement more preferable to Democracy or Monarchy.  Anyway, that’s a minor personal annoyance. It’s not the main focus of the game.  That’s it for the main LP. There will (eventually) be some minor follow-up posts with summaries of other main and character endings, but the bulk of it is done. If you plan to duck out here, then thanks for joining me live or reading along in the future. I had fun, and I hope you all did too.  Never forget. Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 16:31 on Oct 23, 2021 |
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Oct 23, 2021 15:26
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So Vester was a demon and I guess the discount skull knight was a projection of his or something? Or another lesser demon that he could summon back easily after any defeat.
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Oct 23, 2021 16:25
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Omobono posted:So Vester was a demon and I guess the discount skull knight was a projection of his or something? Or another lesser demon that he could summon back easily after any defeat. It's never made clear exactly what the Death Wing Leader is. Someone speculated that maybe it was Dixon, similar to how Vester revived Regina. While the DW Leader does have some vague resemblance, it would be a little weird for Dixon to be revived in that kind of form while Regina comes back in basically the same condition she was in when she died. There's also the fact that the Death Wing Brigade are a notorious mercenary group by the time we first hear them mentioned. It's a little hard to imagine that they would make that kind of name for themselves in the 3 months or so between Dixon dying and the group's first appearance.
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Oct 23, 2021 16:29
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I almost forgot about Enrique
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Oct 23, 2021 16:30
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Not gonna lie, in my very first run, things were a bit more tense. Perhaps the traditional route over this one is a bit easier, but everything was done in NG+ afterwards, where you are steamrolling things.
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Oct 23, 2021 17:11
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Maggie sounds like she was secretly hoping everyone would die and is hiding her disappointment.
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Oct 23, 2021 17:16
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It is absolutely possible to kill Cynthia if you send the wrong person to fight her. I don't remember if doing that changed Meline's ending other than the group FMVs.
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Oct 23, 2021 18:56
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Psycho Knight posted:It's never made clear exactly what the Death Wing Leader is. Someone speculated that maybe it was Dixon, similar to how Vester revived Regina. While the DW Leader does have some vague resemblance, it would be a little weird for Dixon to be revived in that kind of form while Regina comes back in basically the same condition she was in when she died. I vaguely remember some "Its just different dudes each time" info, but I can't remember where I got that. Now to finish the game and finish the 2nd half of Leona's ending myself, and then see if I'm interested in doing more of that. MythosDragon fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Oct 23, 2021 |
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Oct 23, 2021 19:52
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Well, Vester wasn't much of a character, so seeing what he ended up actually being is pretty fitting, even if it's not super interesting. It's one of those times where, like, even a single line could have been humanizing and added some kind of interesting motivation. Like if he were to complain about being alone in the darkness-- "I won't go back to being alone in this pit!" then you understand that he wants to expand and bring other people into the world he inhabits, which would also contextualize why he turns people into puppets. Or even just "I conquered this world! You can't stop being from taking yours, too!"
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Oct 23, 2021 20:27
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Eldritch horrors gonna eldritch horror.
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Oct 23, 2021 20:30
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Seriously, though, for as much as Vester's stirring poo poo up between the nations, he's really not all that central to the plot. This is a story about international conflict and the formation of an international government, and once that's done, Vester's really just a detail left to clean up. It's fitting that they don't spend much time on him because he's just not that important.
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Oct 23, 2021 20:33
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 Neat game, good thread.
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Oct 24, 2021 03:48
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The same face syndrome is getting a bit strong in the ending there, along with Hien's sleeves growing longer than Leona's entire height  All in all that's a pretty good wrap up!
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Oct 24, 2021 08:41
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Space Kablooey posted:I almost forgot about Enrique He was a true. A stupid one, considering he just saw the leader of his mercenary brigade get 1HKO'd and still bumrushed the guy who did it anyway, but a hero nonetheless. JamMasterJim posted:Not gonna lie, in my very first run, things were a bit more tense. As I've said before, when you know what you are doing and what the game is going to pull against you, this game is easy. For example, the last boss is a bit easier if you already know: 1. That Crevanille needs to immediately go towards Vester, 2. That the Dark Matter enemies can be safely ignored, and 3. That you only need to focus on a single Hand of Darkness. A lot of missions are like that. Most of the game's difficulty comes from it pulling cheap moves against you that you need to try and scramble to react to. If you already did a run through, then you already know where to position everyone in preparation for stuff like sudden reinforcements, changes in victory conditions, and single-caster High Cycle Down spam. megane posted:Maggie sounds like she was secretly hoping everyone would die and is hiding her disappointment. I noticed that as well. She sounds and looks disappointed in the news. I think the intention was for her to be quietly relieved, but the voice actor really doesn't pull it off. For a split second during that cutscene, you might be expecting her to suddenly turn around and reveal that she was the villainous mastermind. It's weird. Ardeem posted:It is absolutely possible to kill Cynthia if you send the wrong person to fight her. I don't remember if doing that changed Meline's ending other than the group FMVs. Good to know. I kind of suspected as much, since Crevanille usually needs to be close to someone for the Medallion to work on them, but at the same time it also seemed like Cynthia was a default part of the post-battle event. I figured that maybe there was a chance she survived either way. I don't think it changes Meline's ending. If it did, there would be a separate variation of it listed. At best, I think killing Cynthia might result in some passing line of acknowledgement. I'll look for any signs of that when I go to summarize the other character endings. MythosDragon posted:I vaguely remember some "Its just different dudes each time" info, but I can't remember where I got that. That's a possible theory, but I'm not entirely sold on it. One scene that I cut a little short/didn't draw attention to is the one where Bauer first "kills" the Death Wing Leader. When Bauer leaves and orders the soldiers to clear out the dead bodies, DW Leader's body teleports out just as the camera is panning down and fading to black. It's a split second "blink and you'll miss it" moment that tips the player off that they haven't seen the last of that guy. Given that scene, I think it's more likely that DW Leader really does get revived after dying, as opposed to Vester just recruiting a new one each time. Then again, Death Wing Leader could also just be a type of monster from the netherworld, like Archdemons and so on. Maybe Vester just grabs a new one every time the old one gets killed. Although, if that's the case, then the question becomes "Why does Vester only ever get one of them?" marshmallow creep posted:It's one of those times where, like, even a single line could have been humanizing and added some kind of interesting motivation. Like if he were to complain about being alone in the darkness-- "I won't go back to being alone in this pit!" then you understand that he wants to expand and bring other people into the world he inhabits, which would also contextualize why he turns people into puppets. Or even just "I conquered this world! You can't stop being from taking yours, too!" Anything would have been better than what we got. Again, I can get behind a simple motivation of "It's my nature." But that only really works when the villain is more primal. As soon as you give them a higher intellect, then there has to be something else at work to justify it. ultrafilter posted:Seriously, though, for as much as Vester's stirring poo poo up between the nations, he's really not all that central to the plot. This is a story about international conflict and the formation of an international government, and once that's done, Vester's really just a detail left to clean up. It's fitting that they don't spend much time on him because he's just not that important. This is the main problem with him. The main focus of the game is on international conflict and politics. Vester's only hand in any of that is as a wandering arms dealer. Once Ludwig is defeated and all the wars are officially snuffed out, then Vester is just a lowly fugitive that Crevanille wants to kill to avenge Dixon (and Alfredo). In fact, I'm pretty sure in the Dulkheim Route that's basically all that happens. If Crevanille goes back to Dulkheim, then they stop using spells, which ruins Vester's plan. I'm pretty sure we still kill him, but he doesn't get nearly as close to completing his plan as he does in the Modified/Original Route. He's just a fly that needs swatting. It feels like they were trying to do a combination of Sephiroth's "not quite human/secretly a roaming parasite" thing and Kefka's "don't mind me, I'm not actually the main villain or anything" thing. vilkacis posted:
Thank you! CremePudding posted:The same face syndrome is getting a bit strong in the ending there, along with Hien's sleeves growing longer than Leona's entire height Yeah, Mr. Urushihara is not overly concerned with faces. He has... other things on his mind. As much as I like his costume design and art style, he only has 1 or 2 default male faces and 1 or 2 default female faces.
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Oct 24, 2021 14:22
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Yuni still exists, so I doubt all spell energy is gone. That would kill her, remember? And also probably Crevanille.Space Kablooey posted:I almost forgot about Enrique
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Oct 24, 2021 14:42
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Commander Keene posted:Yuni still exists, so I doubt all spell energy is gone. That would kill her, remember? And also probably Crevanille. My explanation for Yuni and Crevanille is that they both technically got "removed" from the world when Vester pulled them into the Netherworld with him. That they were able to escape and get back to the main world before the gate was closed for good is only because Vester was prying it open. If he hadn't been, then the two of them would have disappeared, the same as all the other spell energy. This is at least somewhat backed up by the Original Route ending and Growlanser IV: Return, which will be summarized whenever I get around to the bonus posts. That said, there are some problems with every explanation, as Regina can also get pulled into the Netherworld and escape, yet die from no longer having the parasite acting as her heart.
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Oct 24, 2021 16:01
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Eh, if we look at it from a standpoint like Magic <=> Nuclear, then Vester's role and lack of further motivation becomes clear. He's just the Demon Core.
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Oct 24, 2021 17:01
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I wonder if combining Cargill and Vester would've been better - and just add a line about why he's drumming up war everywhere.
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Oct 24, 2021 19:18
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Nah, the big nazi needs a sidekick nazi, a vicious sycophant of questionable skill, to bounce off of, that's how they roll in fiction and how they roll IRL, and it doesn't work if he's secretly the boss.
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Oct 24, 2021 20:00
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BEAT THE GAME! Now to sort my screenshots and finish writing the Leona Bonus update. Cynthia attacks Lumis in the penultimate fight btw. Edit: Still working on it, Just gotta do the last 20% now. MythosDragon fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Nov 6, 2021 |
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Oct 29, 2021 04:13
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So here we go, Leona's Character Quest bonus Update. We saw her first event with everyone treating her as a cat in the LP, so I won't be covering that.  I came here to see this flower. Look how it's grown!I had my Yuni dressed as cat at this point, its D-PT's equivalent to D-MD's Bear, sadly it does not have any extra expressions of awesomeness. It is cute that it matches with Leona though. I'm bad at tech, so Vilkacius made my Yuni sprite, and I just don't feel the need to create one for each of the 3 costumes this update is gonna use.  : It looks just like the Obrion plant from my home village![Levan]: You recognize this flower?  : Levan.: Did you plant this, Levan?[Levan]: A butler oft has time on his hands, and one of my responsibilities is to see to the villa's floral arrangements. I bought this flower from a boy in a hooded cloak while you were all attending to matters in Ordinale. I'm fairly sure he did indeed refer to it as an "Obrion," but I'd never heard of such a flower...  [Levan]: I couldn't see his face that well, as he was wearing a hood. He was clearly young... Now that I think about it, he had a large scar down one cheek... : That... that may have been Merrick...: Merrick?: My older brother. He was thrown into the human world like I was.  We now have to search for Merrick in Ordinale, so off we go!  Bam, already here. Merrick is my brother![Dude]: Oh what an interesting girl! Those ears and tail look so real! They are real! They're really mine![Dude]: Are they really!? Now that's a surprise! ...So, that young man I saw the other day had real cat ears, too?  [Dude]: He was in the abandoned village past the byway at the forest. The village where Maggie lived. Thanks for helping me search, Master! Thanks to you, I know where to find Merrick! I committed to this for weirdos on the internet, of course I will.  [Merrick]: Leona...? is that you!? So you got thrown into this world, too, brother?[Merrick]: Yeah, not long after you did.  : I am please[sic] everything worked out for the best...[Merrick]: ...What are you doing with humans? You don't have to hang around with those people anymore. Let's go home. But I don't know how to get home! And I have a master now, so I'm not going anywhere anyway. You should come with us! I'm sure everyone will like you.[Merrick]: A... master?  "Filo"? That's the term for a woman who serves her master.. It's when a Pesac female comes of age.I'm gonna be completely honest here, I like what little we see of Pesac culture. One of my favorite things is learning about other race's cultures, and it's stupid enough that I just can't feel offended by it. Definitely helps that Leona is generally so happy that it's charming. [Merrick]: You're still a kid--too young to have a master. Did you really surrender your proof of service to a human!? The proof... No, I haven't done that. I'm just a little shy... I'll do it later![Merrick]: Heh... Like I said, you're still a kid. I mean, you're really only with him out of loneliness, right? You don't have to keep calling him your master. Leave him and come live with me.  [Merrick]: What the...? Human's are selfish creatures who hurt others carelessly. I mean, just before this, I brought two Obrion Bulbs to the southern city, and somebody tricked me and stole one! Ugh... ...You're burning up! And your eyes are bloodshot! It could be Balsa Fever. What is Balsa Fever? W-Why did the character portraits suddenly kick in? Is there a trend where they don't work when the portraitless dudes have speaking lines? It's cured with the Obrion Bulb. Here's Yuni's cool reference costume, it references the protagonist of Growlanser 1, Carmaine, aka the one in the play her character quest revolves around.  No, that won't work. The medicine needs to be made from the plant before the bulb has bloomed. It's already flowered, so we can't make it from that. We have to search for the other bulb that was stolen from Merrick. *Turns around to look at Merrick* Merrick, come with us.[Merrick]: ...No. I don't trust humans. I'm not going with you. I have enough to eat here... I won't go to the human town.. Merrick... Okay wait here. His condition isn't too bad now, but if we don't hurry, he'll... Please. You're the only one I can trust!You got it. Always down to bully a thief, let's ask Merrick for more details. [Merrick]: It was stolen in... I think the town was named "Ordinale." The thief was a human, of course, with silver hair. Tch... only a human would stoop so low. Back to Ordinale.  We want this dude. [Thief]: I have a very rare flower bulb here. Perhaps you'd like it? Nya, that's Merrick's! You give it back![Thief]: Hey, those ears... You pals with that guy? What you[sic] doing hanging around with those freaks? That girl your pet? I'm not a freak, and I'm not a pet! You people who steal things, you're the real freaks![Thief]: What did you say?  Now, obviously canon is that we chose the 3rd choice, but I've been using save states to check all the options, and they're rarely different enough to really matter. So I'm just gonna splice together the best result from them. You shut your yap! Master... The only thing he's gonna understand is a fist to the face. You! Unless you value pain, I suggest you hand it over.[Thief]: O-Okay, okay. Here, I'll give it back. A-Are we cool now? You did this for Merrick, Master... Let's hurry and get this to Merrick! Whoa, whoa. Don't we have to prepare it in some way to get the medicine out? Do what now? All you do is take a bite out of it. ...That's it?I didn't realize how much of writing an LP is inserting scene shifts until I wrote it myself lol, so back to the abandoned village.  Brother! Look! Now, open wide...[Merrick]: ...Leona, is that you? Are you alright, brother? My master got the bulb back, just for you![Merrick]: A human did that... for me? I was bullied by humans once, too. But my master and his friends, they helped and treated me as an equal. I'll keep an eye on you tonight. Just get some rest, okay? Later that night, Leona wakes us up. What happened to keeping watch on Merrick!? ...Master. I need to apologize to you. Merrick was right, it's lonely to hunt alone, and I wanted a master to help. And I thought with you around, nobody would bully me anymore. You helped me, and you helped my brother, too. I thought I'd always be alone, but you stayed by my side through everything. And I didn't realize it, either... I'm sorry, Master. If you say no she says she's sleepy and the scene ends, but if we... Yes, I really do. That's good... If we're going to be together, I need you to accept the proof of our bond. You'll truly be my master, then. And our paths will never diverge.Unless I go to Dulkheim. She still says "I'm staying" even if you do her events.  Yeah it's just a kiss on the cheek or something. This is the proof of our bond. I love you Master... Good night. The night ends with CAT PUNS. In the morning.  [Merrick]: Ah, I feel a lot better. That's good![Merrick]: Leona, you've grown. You're a lot more mature than I thought. Huh?[Merrick]: ...You gave that human proof of your bond, didn't you?  [Merrick]: I can see how you look at him, it's not hard to tell. It's your eyes... You don't look away. You hide nothing from him. Proof...? I don't see master carrying anything new.[Merrick]: She gave you her heart. A Pesac woman gives a kiss and her heart to the man she chooses to marry. A kiss? that's all?drat Yuni, what are you thinking about?  [Merrick]: You are Leona's true master from now on. Take care of her. Brother, won't you join us?[Merrick]: I've had this fever for a long time. I want to help, but I still haven't recovered. Not only that... I really don't want to enter human towns unless I have to. I'm going to stay right here. Ohhh, right. You probably don't know about the whole "master" system, do you? Let me explain while you're here. When a Pesac joins you as a mate, her heart will belong to you.  Yeah this is why I can't be mad at it. You give girls acorns for being good. It's so stupid it just can't be offensive. [Merrick]: You should gather a large amount of them to give to Leona, for when she does something... worthy of praise. There are tons of them in the forests here. I'm sure you can find them in the underbrush outside of town. If you talk to Merrick a few times at this time, he'll talk more about Pesac culture, so let's do that. [Merrick]: Much like humans, Pesac families are based on bloodlines. Families tend to stay withing one village. Our villages never reach the size of yours, though... Pesac stay to groups of a hundred or so. Pesac generally eat whatever we can bring back from the hunt. Plants and nuts also work pretty well, when we aren't in a hunting mood. A Pesac woman's greatest pride is in showing how useful she is to her master. Knowing Leona, I'm guessing her best use will be in battle. Pesac don't make permanent homes like you humans. Trees and grass are all we typically need. We only live in one place for a few months at a time. When the hunting becomes more difficult, we move on to another forest. We generally don't travel too far, though... just within the nearby area. Oooh! So many acorns, and all in one spot... I woner if Merrick gathered them here. Mmm? Why aren't you picking them up, Leona? Oh... Oh, no... I couldn't. As a Pesac female, it would be wrong to pick up acorns myself. We are only supposed to add to our collection by receiving them from a master. If that doesn't happen... ...What? It's so mortifying, so chilling... I can't even say it... *Tremble* Wh-What could it be...?You get 9 Acorns, from here on, you need to use Leona in story missions and throw acorns at her after them. So yeah, you have to commit to using Leona for most of the pre endgame for her ending. Not a big issue considering she's likely the strongest melee character in the game barring Crev. And can also do some magic. Also we need to return to Merrick after using all 9 to get her 3rd limit.  You can say no for giggles. *Give her nothing* Muh... I'll do something to earn your praise... I'll get that acorn!But let's say yes cuz our goal is her ending. *Give her an acorn* Yay! Thank you, Master. You inspire me to try even harder!Moving on back to Furlough town, it's time for a date with Leona.  Pesac women listen to their masters... If I didn't listen to you, I'd be a bad filo, and that would be the worst. Perhaps it's a Pesac virtue that being good mates makes them better people in general.This is right after we get the swimsuit from the fort, so I had Yuni wearing it. It's sporty and fitting for the Melee Familiar.  What are your strengths? Um... Hunting, and... that kind of stuff. I want my Master to be proud of me! I'll try my hardest for you! I asked my friend if I should cover funny mean options, and he said yes, so let's be mean first. *Don't request anything* Well, you should be. Meow... I-I'll do better! Don't get rid of me! Back in time to actually get the ending. *make a request* Really? Okay, I'll be right back! I didn't give it much thought. ...You shouldn't be so careless. Leona is very serious about this. Master! Ah, Leona's back. I caught us a snack. That... OH, WHO COULD HAVE EXPECTED THIS TURN OF EVENTS! This event is actually funnier on account of the fact that we fought caterpillars way back when. EWWW! *Flees* Oh, don't listen to her. Dig in, Master! I just caught these in the forest close by. The differences are pretty sizable(for this game), but I'm only covering the eat path, I'll summarize the run path after. I'll try anything once! Okay, open wide!*Eats* *Collapses* Huh!? What happened? Master...? Master! *Bit later* Oh, Master, thank goodness. I didn't know you can't really eat bugs. But that you tried for my sake makes me so happy! That's all I need, even if you don't give me an acorn...You get the choice to give her an Acorn, if you refuse she gets character development and says she'll study human customs. But if you give it to her she blushes, and this is a dating sim! *Give her an acorn* I don't have to go back home now. Merrick's here, and so is my mate. I want to stay here forever! Treat me nicely Master! Master, you're awake. I brought Deligne.[Deligne] Looks like you've woken up.  "Girlfriend"?[Deligne] That's what you are, right? A girlfriend is a female who's in a romantic relationship. Mrow? What's... "romantic" mean?[Deligne] Well, that's when two people do things like buy each other gifts and hug and ki--  Us, Deligne. I guess I still don't understand humans all that well just yet...Anyway if you run, Deligne brings Yuni's fainted body to you and tells Leona humans dont eat bugs, she tosses it. He then makes fun of you for being a coward of a warrior for not eating a bug and a slightly more detailed version of the girlfriend talk ensues. That night..  Master! I went to see Deligne, and he taught me a lot of stuff about what lovers do. If two people say "I love you," then they're lovers! Like the Merrick event, if you back out she says she'll try harder and goes to bed. I love you, too. Meeeeeeow! This is ameowzing!!! Master, lovers embrace each other. And they say they like each other and stuff. *Hug her* Even if I can't go home, I'll never be lonely here. I have my master, and I'll be okay, no matter what. That's enough, then. I guess.  Jesus christ Deligne, lmao. Good night, Master! Ah, that Deligne... Seems he's been teaching Leona some things... It also appears that Leona has taken a liking to this world. But that will just make it harder for her to leave when she finally gets a chance to return home...By this point, I'd managed to give Leona 9 acorns, which unlocks her 3rd Limit from Merrick, so lets go do that.  Mew...[Merrick]: Ah, you got 9, huh? Amazing! You're becoming a great filo. As a reward, let me teach you this secret Pesac technique!  Honestly can't remember any symbols like that elsewhere in the text.  Activates upon receiving a critical hit, ATW decreases and the next 3 hit's are guaranteed criticals. [Merrick]: Please keep on giving it your all for your master. Which leaves us with choosing her ending on the final night.  You know, Master, back in my world, we hunted for food, but we didn't fight wars, and we didn't kill each other... Humans aren't like that. They'll kill each other just 'cause they don't get along. *Embrace her* Mrrrow.... Whatever happens, Master, as long as you're with me, I know it'll be okay... I'm so different from you, but you made me your friend, and then you made me your filo... Both are romantic, I like the 2nd one slightly more. Do you love me as much as I love you? I was so sad when I couldn't get back to my village... And then the humans turned me away, and I got so lonely... All those cold nights, alone, afraid... I never want to be alone again... Let's always be together.In the morning.  I'd rather be alone with you today. Yeah! That's it! It'll be just the two of us today.Before we can leave, Remus accosts us. Hey, are you and Leona going somewhere? We're going on a date! Wait a date? Really? Yep! Master said he liked me! We're together now! Filos? Wha...? Um okay. Have fun.Yeah little translation hiccup here, Japanese will use nouns as much as possible, while English likes to cut them a bit, and thus Remus just says Filo out of nowhere. Play with Yuni while we're gone, 'kay? All right... Thank you, Leona! These are great! But why are there fish flying over my head? Myahaha! Thank you! Aw, you make me so happy! 'Cause fishies are fly when they're happy! I made everyone look extra cute!Now that we're done checking out the best artist in the party, Leona has something she wants to say. Ooh, let me pick where to go today! I pick... FOOD!  What's your all-time favorite? Ooh, I like meat. Even if it's just meat, humans make it fun. Pesacs fry it, and stew it, but we don't put as many flavors on it. And... eating with you makes it taste that much better! It didn't taste this good before you saved me. But who cares about that anymore. Now, I can eat with you all I want, and I'm so happy! Ooh. Okay, I'm full... Next... Ah! Let's go to Marquelia Harbor. I love the ocean, though. I can't swim, but I love to listen to it. It's gentle... like your voice, Master. The ocean wind feels like you're petting me...  I like how cute you are. I like how dependable you are. I like how ditzy you are. I love everything about you, Master. Even though I was different from everybody else here, you were nice to me, and you even made me your filo. That's why I'm gonna follow you, wherever you go...Except Dulkheim right before this, apparently. Oh, there's one more place that I love, by the way. One more place...  Hey, Master? When spells disappear, what's going to happen to me? Will I just not have spells anymore, like everybody else? Or will I get sent back to my other world? Mew, I want to stay with you... I don't want to be apart from you, Master! It'll be okay, yeah? We're gonna be together forever... right? A filo is never apart from her master! It's the rule! And even if I do get sent to a whole different world, I'll come back to you! No matter what! So, please, keep me in your heart...And that's the end of that event, I've only seen a few others, but in general I think the added tension of her fate being unknown adds some quality to it, so it's currently my favorite. We now jump to after beating up Death Sephiroth.  *You Receive the bracelet!* Master, I was so worried about you! Who would I have called Master if you didn't come back? You're my only master, Master! And again, we jump to the epilogue!  I have an acorn for you! Acorn, acorn, yay! I heard from Eliza. You're going to take some time off, yeah? It's my job to take away all your travel weariness! You've worked nonstop all this year. What you really need is a nice long break! I'm never tired with you around. Mew mew! Was I a good help to you? But even so, you can't push yourself that hard! I was with you, so I know! You will rest now! I got it, it's the job of a significant other to make a tired Master relaxed. Just leave your heart and body to me and rest!  Last I checked, we were co-owners of that Villa, why was negotiating necessary? Reminds me of the old days, when you weren't my master yet, and when I couldn't trust in anyone. It's hard to believe it was ever like that. Now, every time I'm out with you, I love this world more! I wonder about my old world from time to time, but...  You want to go back? I... I do want to see home again. Stay with me! But that's what I wanted to say! Wherever you are, Master, is where my home truly is. So, please, keep me next to you. This is where I should be.   And that's Leona's path and end past what we saw in Psycho Knight's LP proper. Feels good to get this finished and contribute to one of my favorite games of all time.
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Dec 4, 2021 15:45
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Sorry it took me so long, I just could not bring myself to finish it. But I finally ran out of things to do, and did it. Much respect to anyone that doesnt take two months per update lmao. Sadly I don't think I have it in me to do other characters, and I kinda think a summary like what PK plans to do is good enough for most, so thanks to anyone that reads my only LP update.
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Dec 4, 2021 16:20
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Thanks for slogging through and posting my least favorite ending. I like that Crevanille attempts to go along with weird alien culture stuff, but I was honestly going to use  to indicated when Merrick was talking.
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Dec 4, 2021 18:41
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You did good work on it. Screenshots seem a little grainier than mine, though. I'm wondering if that's just me or if you were using different settings for your recording/PPSSPP. As you found out, trying to do up one of these for every character would be a lot of work, which is usually why I default to summaries in any of my LPs where there are a bunch of character endings. It's also why I never commit to "Completionist" LPs (I just kind of stumble into them through a combination of guilt and desperate desire for continued human pseudo-contact). In terms of the update: -D-PT's Carmaine costume is awesome. I think it's the one that I used throughout my original playthrough. -Tidbits from other fantasy cultures is pretty enjoyable, but I find that it is often used as a means to justify some otherwise unsettling idea, which is kind of what's happening in Leona's route. "It's okay that she's underage and sees the main character as their Master! She's a catgirl, and catgirl culture/social norms are different! It's totally normal from their point of view!" That kind of thing really reeks of the typical response you see from weirdos who make the same argument about Asian cultures to try and justify their creepy desires. In this case it is even more overt, since Merrick brings up the fact that Leona is too young for this poo poo even from the point of view of her fellow catgirls. Also, yes, I still plan to update this LP with summaries of the other main routes. I haven't forgotten about it, my workload has just been too heavy since the LP ended. Part of the reason why I rush through my LPs is because I'm trying to beat an end-of-semester crunch or something. As to when I will get to those extra updates, I'm still not sure. Someday, though. Hopefully before the end of this year, at least.
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Dec 5, 2021 16:18
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My personal use screenshots were a lot bigger, so I ran them through a batch resizer to match yours, probably why. And eh, don't really disagree, its definitely less cool fantasy race here and more "this makes her your wife " nonsense here. But I've seen some some poo poo I don't even like used extremely well that made me love a race a ton, so even this is still cool. Think G4 could have handled it better if the game was more like Suikoden Tierkriese and her entire race was involved. No rush.
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Dec 5, 2021 18:46
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