As the party enters the Valley of Corrupted Gravity, we see two royal guards defending the place. The one on the ground asks for our pass, which we show, and the door opens, allowing us passage. How do the bandits get through to their hideout with this security? We enter the zone propper, and Rose tells us the backstory here and why gravity is wrong. There was a terrible battle here during the Dragon Campaign. The magic that was used here ruined the time/space stuff, and now rocks float across the screen, and you can make Dart go upside down in certain places. There’s not much plot here until the top, but the enemies are pretty rough, and navigation can be confusing. Everything is a platform that can only be reached by smaller rocks floating between the two. It’s similar to the Water Dragon Isle from Chrono Cross that used lilypads.
At the top, the party notices that a full Virage is standings in stoic guard. Shana, once again, feels it calling out to her and pleads with us to not fight it. Since there is no way around it, we fight another 11000-year-old legend.
On the way up to the valley top, I found another satchel that I used to put the Virage asleep. Unlike the dinosaur, it stayed asleep the whole fight. I spammed magic to attack all four targets at once, but physical blows work just fine now. I hope this remains a thing. Meru got hit once before I won. After the battle, the Virage stares at Shana as a bright light emanates from her, causing the legend to fall, presumably, to its death. Like when it happened during the Limestone Cave, the rest of the party has no idea what happened, and Rose wonders what Shana is.
At the summit, the party breaks up, and Dart can speak to everyone one-on-one.
Shana says she’s fine and owes that strength to her friends.
Miru claims that her help in getting here saved the day.
Haschel says that Shana has changed, and now Dart needs to too. He needs to stop treating Shana like a little sister.
I don’t remember what Albert and Rose said, but Rose, to herself, wondered if it was hatred towards Dragoons that woke Virage up or Shana.
After, we all exit the screen, at the top of the mountain range, and wind up back under the mountain on the world map. Our next destination ends up being the Home of Gigantos.
As soon as we enter, arrows begin flying at us from all directions. They’re easy to avoid, but turning them off in the building on the left is a good idea. The next screen up is a gateway with bandits surrounding it. They yell that they’re going to kill us as they close it, and more arrows begin to fly. They’re much harder to avoid this time, so we try to leave the way we came. That route is blocked by more bandits. I randomly run around more until a third bandit leader shows up and starts doing some capoeira stuff. This causes Haschel to notice that he's a student of the Rouge School, the school in which he’s the master of. He demands to know who taught the bandit the moves, but the bandit won't answer without a fight.
Don’t waste your magic as I did. I thought this was a boss fight, but it wasn't. Treat it like a regular fight.
After, the arrows stop, the bandits flee, and the guy we beat up tells us his master is deeper inside. He continues and says Gehrich will get his revenge for bringing kicked out of Haschel's school twenty years ago. Showing off the true power of the Rouge School, Haschel breaks the massive stone door booking our way. In the next screen, Haschel begins to feel the effects of his age, according to Miru, and needs to rest his back as he hurt it punching the door. The rest of the party goes searching for traps while Miru hangs out, protecting Haschel. When the two are alone, the old man, feigning injury, stands up and knocks out the young girl. He then runs ahead. Everyone returns, helps Miru up, and goes after Haschel.
Haschel is alone and confronts his exiled student, Gehrich. The bandit leader has forgotten what it’s like to feel the ache in his body from martial arts and the two prepare to settle their rivalry. However, Mappi interrupts and tries a sneak attack. Dart shows up just in time to thwart the would-be assassin, and we have a real boss battle this time.
Gehrich seems pretty tame, so it’s Mappi you need to worry about. He’s fast, can stun, and can even one-hit KO a party member. Haschel, who I haven’t used, is an obligation in this fight, and Rose was my third party member because she can heal. That and I’ve kinda fallen out with Albert since I suck with his new Addition, Petal Storm. It is, fittingly, Haschel who gets the final attack kill animation, knocking his former student into a nearby statue.
This knock caused the giant stone mace the statue was holding to be compromised. As it starts falling on the crew, Gehrich tells his master to run, while everyone else accepts their fate. Albert pretty much gives up, which I was most alarmed by. What’s up with that? Before doom befalls us, our old enemy Kongol shows up to catch it. He throws it aside and says he’s following us because Dart is the strongest. Dole used to be the strongest, and that’s why Kongol fought for him. Gehrich’s final words are that all the treasure is located in the basement and that the current Emile is a fake, but the real one is somewhere in the castle. He asks us to save the country and dies. I think there’s a bug here since Rose says we need to find Lynn and Shana mentions that the Gem is more important. It seems out of character for both women, and I think/hope someone just swamped the dialogue.
Dart and everyone else goes down to the basement, finds Lynn, and finds the Gem while Kongol stands guard, and Haschel buries the dead. They all reconvene up top and prepare to find the real Emile somewhere in the castle. As we leave, I find the Stardust while Kongol tells us about this place. Twenty years ago, a war broke out between bad humans and Gigantos. Every Gigantos was killed except for Kongol, who was saved by Dole, still a good man then. The two had been together ever since until we killed the Emporer. Judging by the size of the mummified Gigantos, Kongol, despite being twice the size of the rest of the party, is the world's smallest Gigantos. He's about a quarter the size of the rest of his race. As we return through the badlands, Lynn splits off to Donau, Miru officially joins the party looking for adventure, and we return to Fletz. But first, I head to Lohan to buy Kongol’s Orange Dragoon Spirit and then prepare for the coming royal succession unrest.
Which will happen tomorrow!
Why not just give Haschel his Dragoon now? Give Dole the armor Kongol had last we taught. and make the Dragoon transition more impactful for the old master. I can go either way with Kongol’s ascension. I don’t know if I’ll be using him much since, while he’s an ultra tank, he’s a third the speed of Miru. With his attack power and HP, he’s definitely useful, but I’m all about speed. RPGClassics indicates we’re 2/3rds the way through disk two. While this playthrough has been kinda cursed, let’s start to catch up.
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