Things went really bad tonight, and I don't know what's going to happen.
But that's the future! Right now, we see Gordon lamenting his predicament and how it's "not good." He realizes that the Earth Defense Force will come to save him soon once they notice he didn't check in with them. Jennifer gets the feeling that isn't likely. We then cut to General Carter discussing more of his plans with Gordon snd the Earth's attack on the Netherworld. We don't gain much information, but Vulcanus teleports in, and the cogs in my brain begin to turn. Vulcanus is pulling strings to make the EDF attack Hell.
When we cut back to said Hell where Flonne and Etna tell Laharl he has a challenge from The Defender of Earth. Gordan doesn't remember writing such a letter, so no one is sure what's going on. The party heads off to the Forest of the Dead!
Stage One has the humans wondering who this Defender is. It can only mean that Kurtis, a phony defender who's still really good at the job description. The battle is a cinch. There is a line of mages in front of a line of mandrakes. Large AoE effects like magic, Winged Slayer, Cosmic Arrow, and that Thursday move do wonders. Make use of the additional EXP Geo squares if you can. I plan to make use of the bonus EXP in future grind sessions.
Stage Two is where we meet the challenger. A translucent human named Don Joaquin, the first Defender of the Earth, appears. The Earth sent him here ages ago, so everyone assumes his will to fulfill his duty is the only thing keeping his spirit alive. Gordon and Flonne are enthralled with this, and the angel suggests we throw the fight to give him rest. Don attacks Gordon after wondering why one of his "descendants" would team with the Overlord. Thursday intercepts the swordsman and takes heavy damage. The fight is straightforward and against several mobs. The knight is probably the scariest but won't get into the fray until you've taken out most of the early enemies.
Stage Three is where we learn robots have hearts. The damage Thursday took is taking its toll. It's causing his core to overheat and may result in total memory loss. Gordon tells him he's sitting on the sidelines, but Thursday refuses. He'd rather lose his memory than be useless and see his comrades get hurt. This encourages Gordon and Flonne, the latter of who allows Thursday to keep fighting. The fight itself isn't again Don, but several Imps. They don't move off their ultra buffed Geo Squares, though. Guide Laharl through the maze of Mega Wind spam, and use Defend just before you end your turn. Defend works against magic, so I need to use it more often. Destroy the No Lifting Geo Crystal, and any other if you want to, then begin the attack in force. Throw an imp off its square and into your awaiting mob. I managed to kill one a turn, so it's a long, tedious slough, but I did manage to get the bonus gauge pretty high. And, with the exception of Etna, who I used to help Laharl along, I barely took any damage.
The Final Stage sucks. We get right into a battlefield filled with an Enemy Boost x6 effect across two Geo Crystals on the far side of the map. You can't lure anyone into the "safe"l zone where there is no Geo Effect. Nor can you can't leave that space either without being hit by Mega Wind Spam, one of which will do 1000 damage to Laharl. This is absolute garbage! Even throwing a few characters to the Geo Crystals doesn't help that much. You can take out one of them, but the remaining one means enemies are still three times stronger than they should be. And there are so many mobs! Fifteen, not including the boss, and I have no idea what he does! Weaker characters are one shotted, and stronger teammates are ganged up on. I'm not having fun anymore, and I hate this game. All the guides I found say to be around level 50, which is twenty levels higher than most of my team, and I'm not grinding that far just for one fight. This sucks! I don't want to play...
But I returned.
Double Braveheart Laharl and use a thief and a gunner to throw him towards the GeoCrystals. I got lucky, and one Ovelords Wraith took care of one Crystal and left the other at thirteen HP. Use another people stack of four or five and kill the other if need be. Even if you don't, it may be worth doing. Otherwise, Laharl will take the full force of everyone in range. He'll be in a corner, so there's only so much the scarecrows can do but still. Regroup/fight your way back together on the bridge. Try not to stop too close to the scarecrows near the imps, but I did manage to take them out with magic from afar. Bring a few SP healing items for your healer since you're gonna need her to survive the imp onslaught. The zombies aren't dangerous, and Don is, oddly enough, not strong at all.
If you manage to win, Flonne gets mad that we didn't lose. Trust me, kiddo, we did. Just as Flonne is about to call Laharl "The worst...", Don says that it doesn't matter. He challenged us because that's what heroes do. His spirit lived on long after he died just for the fight itself. Thursday begins to shut down as the damage he's suffered reached critical mass. As an apology for everything, Don does some hero mumbo-jumbo to restore the robot, and we see his soul disappear. Everyone begins to grill Flonne on what word would have come after "The Worst," and most think it's something dirty. Etna calls her a wicked angel, and Thursday calculates the likelihood of what word is. Just before he does, Flonne hits him, and he begins to break down again.
The next chapter skit isn't so much a next chapter thing, but Jennifer and Etna have started a home shopping channel. They're selling Thursday for the low, low price of 29999 HL. It also comes with two free knives!
Etna's diary reveals what the promise was: to protect the Prince.
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