Dragon Stick

The party exits Deningrad and makes their way to The Forest of the Winglies. To reach that forest, we first need to go through a first forest. We’ve been to Evergreen Forest before, but, as we pass, we see a scene where all the warriors from Furni have cornered Kamuy. He’s a massive wolf, so that cornering is short-lived. Teo is riding on him and tries to convince everyone to stand down. He fails, so the two bust their way out.

We head north and come to what everyone thinks is a dead end. A reluctant Meru unzips the seal and allows everyone in. She was hesitant because she didn’t want her friends to know she was a Wingly. She was worried about how they’d treat her. Everyone, especially Kongo, says they wouldn’t have treated her any differently. A much more relaxed and chipper Meru then leads the party through. On the other side are three guards. One leaves to inform the Ancestor that Meru led enemies to the village, while the other two stay back to fight us. Meru manages to keep them talking long enough for the other to return and say the Ancestor has given his okay to enter, diffusing the situation.

The Forest of the Winglies is pretty much just a tree. It sucks to be a human here since there are three levels only accessible with wings. We’re gonna need help to traverse in the first human-wingly collaboration in 11000 years. As we travel, we meet Meru’s parents, who apologize to her and give her, and us, their blessing to save the world and change the Wingly culture. We also meet a probationary Guaraha. He’s in trouble for letting Meru through. Fun fact, he and Meru and engaged. How cute. Everyone teases them until we leave. A third encounter is from a group who doesn’t want to change and still hates humans, blaming them and Meru for the death of his sister. The Bardel Brothers. or just the older one, tries to attack us with magic that is easily deflected when Dart goes Dragoon. He falls to his knees, gives up, and we walk away. The younger chastises him and swears further revenge. We learn that Wingly magic isn’t what it used to be. They’ve all gotten weaker since the Dragon Campaign, and some barely even have the ability to fly.

We meet with the Ancestor and learn of the Dragon Block Staff. He’s willing to work with humans, seeing the change going on in the world. With the return of dragons, Dragoons, and the weakening of his race, cooperation may be the only way for continual survival. He takes us to the former capital of the Winglies, Kadessa, where the staff is located.

This dungeon looks like the city we saw in Rose’s flashback dream. It’s a giant floating colosseum where Winglies used to watch other races battle to the death. Meru feels an immense shame at this, but everyone reassures her that things have changed in 11000 years. The location is filled with debris and hard to navigate due to erosion and other effects over the millennia. As we travel through the various teleportation circles, we come to a healing pod near a fork in the path. The low road takes us the easy way, so I, unknowingly at the time, take the hard way up. After doing a puzzle where we judge other races by their intelligence, we find another Virage that's in bad shape. Bad shape physically, as it’s still a threat. After Rose says this thing killed her friend, which no one asks about, we fight it.

While you can kill this Virage, but I failed to do so, only “winning” when it self destructs after ten turns, taking Rose with it. Rose is the only character who missed out on boss EXP. I used all my magic and healing on it, so this may have been a mistake. No! Plot is never a mistake. Also, maybe just focus its head. I didn't do that, but you should.

We continue until we see the staff sticking out of the ceiling. After Miranda wonders about its usefulness and questions if we can defeat the Dragon, Rose wonders if Lloyd is involved. They conclude that not even Lloyd can tame the Divine Dragon. The topic of Millie’s Moon object comes up, but Miranda is cagey about it. Meru shows her wings and goes to grab the staff. As she does, we find out the staff is embedded in the back of a monster called the Grand Jewel. And by monster, I mean boss.

It’s an interesting fight. I don’t know if I’d call it hard, but there are several things to note. Firstly, DON’T GO DRAGOON! If you do, it’ll activate the staff and make our Dragoon do dozens of damage, rather than the hundreds we're accustomed to. It doesn’t do huge damage, but it does use solely magic damage. It seems it uses mostly earth magic, too, so gear up for magic defense if you can. At several points, it uses a spell that lowers your levels, weakening all your stats. When it gets low on hp, it’ll restore a portion of it, making this is a real war of attrition. For best results, use Albert for offense and Kongol for defense. Physical attacks do better, so Kongol may be doing double duty. Hopefully, you didn’t use all your potions against the Super Virage.

The jewel tarnished, we grab the staff. As we walk back to the entrance, we see the unmistakable shadow of the Divine Dragon overhead. We quickly return to the Wingly Forest, where the Ancestor says he’s going to teleport us to Deningrad. Sadly, age and weakness have made this task impossible. Meru’s parents then show up to provide an assist, and we’re teleported back to the palace. We’re late, though. A CGI scene happens where the Dragon attacks the city. His wings tear down buildings, but that’s not the worst of it. He launches artillery strikes from his body, destroying even more of the city. Lastly, he perches on a cliff and shoots a massive fireball that destroys the Crystal Palace. As it crumbles, we see a ball of light fall to the ground before shooting back up to the Moon.

The party is teleported to the entrance of the once great town. Rather than search through the rubble, we head straight to the ruins of the palace. Miranda wants to see if Theresa is alive, and we’re worried about Shana. Somehow, the throne room is still safe. As we enter the room, it’s filled with a blinding light. As we reach the epicenter, we see it’s coming from Shana, who’s protecting Theresa. When she sees Dart, she returns to normal before freaking out and passing out again. We take her to the inn to rest and, because we suspect the Dragon will attack again, leave to settle this.

And settle it we will...tomorrow!

Who really is Shana? I’m more interested in what's going on with her than anything else. I see why the Dragoon gem left her since she’s not cut out for action, but there’s something about her that you’d think would make her useful. That light, for example. And why did Dole want her so badly? How are we gonna know if she’s not in the team? I don’t care what critics say, I’m enjoying this game. That being said, I really wish someone would call out Rose for knowingly everything about the Dragon Campaign. Why would everyone just accept that the Super Virage killed her friend since this location has been off-limits for 11000 years? Here's one more example of people seeing fault in tradition. Most of the Winglies have accepted that they need to change and join back into the world. Remaining reticent won't save them from their weakening magical abilities. The one's who wish to remain cooped away in their hole just look foolish, selfish, and are prone to violence. Hell, the guy we fought almost destroyed the healing chamber the Winglies use, but have burnt down the entire village. 

Also, this is now my longest playthrough, beating FFVII. And, for more record keeping, Rose has maxed out all but her master Addition, so I suspect she'll be my best DPS for a while.