The Future is Ours

I forgot to do a write up about last night's sidequests, so here are the bullet points:

Burns joined an anti Tren organization shortly before the Tren attacked Tryton. It ended up being more of a gang than anything, led by a man named Cross. Cross demanded absolute loyalty to the Peace Keepers, going so far as to keep Burns, and his friend Holden, away from a girl named Lerran. Holden is Lerran's brother, so I'm sure you can see an issue here. One day, after Burns' work was done, he heard a scream from a back alley. He rushed there to find Cross in a compromising position over Lerran. Cross demanded that Burns leave and never say a word about this, or else Cross would kill his family. Burns bumped into three Tren soldiers but was too afraid to say anything because of what Cross stated, which is why he was blamed for the murder. In the present time, Burns brawled his way to Cross all alone. He didn't kill him, but he did get Cross to admit to all his wrongdoings. Return to the roof to get his best weapon.

We can go to Slash's house to relive the day he almost burned it down out of grief. His quest involves psychological horror and jump scares. We run through the forest on the day of the storm and then his never ending house that grows more and more dilapidated. Eventually, we overheard Slash having an argument with his wife where both hate each other. The boss here can be beaten by attacking the Slash that hangs from a rope. Toss an apple to it before it "dies." When we return, we see a mad version of Slash's wife. But our Slash is a bit more calm. He says how he misses her, but he needs to live for something now. They promise to be with each other in the afterlife. Check the furnace after for the final crafting component for his best weapon.

Enda's quest takes us back to Ellea, which is almost completely rebuilt. We relive her early days with the family, but it's mostly about how the villagers hated her. She was shy and an outsider, so the kids talked about her behind her back. Even Xero didn't want to be around her. One day, after failing to make friends, she took her teddy bear to a lake and asked the spirit that resides there to make Mr. Pink alive. She lists all the things she'd like him to be. Sometime later, Enda began school, but Xero still wanted her to sit far away from him. But then he overheard all the terrible things the other kids said about her, so he got up, dragged his chair loudly across the floor, and moved his desk next to hers. Back to reality, he apologizes for everything. Check a wardrobe for Enda's best katana.

Asera's mission broke me. In Sandria Jara, there is an old chemical research facility where Asera used to work. We learn that he was a straight and narrow man, but a fellow new recruit made him come out of his shell a bit. The two develop feelings for one another, so it turns out Asera is gay. That's fun. Too bad his lover is an idiot and ran into a live research experiment. The result of that turns him into  Fume, a boss immune to poisoned characters. He can do massive damage to our entire party, but what's worse is he has an instant death move with 99% accuracy. I had to lower the difficulty for this fight and never bothered changing it back out of spite. What a terrible battle, But you get a compound for Asera's best weapon, as well as his best device in here. Good luck farming empty bottles from relics.

For Sandra, we see more of the guy she locked in her shed. He's ready to get on with his life, but she's afraid of him leaving. Eventually, though, he sneaks out and climbs back to the top of the mountain they first met on. It turns out he's been dead for a long time, as we now have to search his mausoleum to the west of Colport. I think he was reincarnated as Scruffs the dog, though. Her best weapon is behind a boss I wasn't gonna defeat.

Throg, not Throng, takes us to the Hayama Theater District. We see him perform a play, but it's one where his lines get smudged. We experience the tension of our failing party member, his boss, and his love interest. Unlike FFVI's Opera Scene, we need to get the lines as wrong as possible. It goes so wrong, in fact, that everyone loves it. It's a hit comedy! Now though, the main villain of that play has been holding Throg's love, Emory, hostage for 100 years. They promise to be lonely together when all of this is over.

Eidol didn't regain any memories with us, but Enda is determined to save her. Eidol's last memory is of a hill, so we travel around to where our party members think could be the place. But Xero knows what's up. Traveling to where Kina died causes Eido to get mad, and we think she's gonna jump as well. But everyone convinces her that, just by being herself, she'll always have a place on the team. If we inspect the grave marker for Kina and her family, a boss shows up with Eidol's best weapon.

Xero's best weapon is behind a dungeon that I ran out of time to do, and I heard the boss is really hard, so I didn't do it. But I did find Farrell's Blade at the South Docks, so this is better. I did a few other things, but I stocked up on food, revives, and other healing items and went to the final dungeon!

Affliction is a pretty simple dungeon. The enemies die in one hit at this point, but there were a few chests I couldn't find the path to. There aren't too many side paths, and the ones that are are short offshoots that we'll probably have to come through anyway. Before we go far, though, we have to fight Kail. It turns out he didn't die, but he's still all about that death. His fight is very much the same, but he's brought along a giant robot with him. I don't know what it does, though. Use the same strategy as before.

Eventually, we'll run into Heindrovia again, as well. Her fight is quite different. She doesn't change forms, but her weakness will still be altered. Attack her with whatever color the screen currently is. We'll learn that she and Barclyss have been a thing for a long time. He turned her into what she is now with a terrible promise, but she's done listening to his psychopathic ways. She asks us to tell him that she's waiting for him in the paradise he promised long ago and will jump off the side of the stage.

In time, we'll reach the Point of No Return. Xero will warn us now's the last time to prepare, but I'm ready. We'll pass the giant screen overlooking space we saw at the very start of the game. As we do, we see the Dome shoot two shots from its canon... Beyond that is Barclyss himself. We see the shots land on the planet, and the ground zeros will light up from miles away. He prepares to shoot another one to end the earth but offers us a chance to convince him that life has meaning. Xero takes the lead and says that every happy-go-lucky thing his teammates would say isn't important. All Xero wants to do is relax and count clouds...

I think ya pissed him off, Xero.

We're teleported somewhere else, and Barclayss thinks it was stupid and attacks. His first form has him surrounded by four gems, each coordinating to a stat. Kills the crystals to lower his stats and remove his buffs. This fight isn't that bad. Form two...also isn't terrible. He's a monster now that uses moves named after the forms of life. Birth, Adolescence, etc. Each does something different, but none are scary after all the level grinds (and difficulty switch). Once again, make sure you remove his buffs and use nullifyer on your debuffs. I was just over level 50 with Xero, Enda, Asera, and Slash. We were doing anywhere between 1500 damage to 7600 with late game skills. I think I could have taken him at normal difficulty, but I'm ready to end the game.

Before the fight began, he had loaded up a shot. As one last trick, he tries to fire it. However, Xero starts to fight like his dad, to Barclyss' amazement. It's effective, and our enemy dies. Alas, peace is not at hand. Kail is still alive...STILL...and manages to activate Affliction. We can't deactivate it, so we see the massive mineral deposit launch towards the planet. Asera thinks a giant magic attack can trigger it, but fire won't reach it from beyond the glass. So it's up to Xero! He summons lightning as best he can, but his accuracy is off. He tries and tries and tries but is unable to hit. But then it all goes calm. Only Enda's voice reaches him, and it allows him to focus. With her encouragement, he musters up his strength and uses his greatest Sky Fireworks that he's ever done. In a spectacular show, it vaporizes the rock, turning it into dust above the planet. The world is saved?

Kail is still around...STILL...and tries to manually take another shot. But this time, we're going after him. As we pass the windows, we see the planet looks destroyed and covered in dust. Did Xero save everyone? Slash says we need to hurry. From here, we get attacked by Judgement Faction members and have to split the party. Each fight their way through Affliction with great success, despite the constant fire from the zombies. Even Scruffs manages to take out a whole platoon. Slash, however, rushes ahead of his group and locks the door behind him. Despite our best attempts to talk him out of it, he's going to take on Kail alone. As Slash steps forward, Garin appears, ready to do his thing. Garin draws aggro and teleports around the room, slaying the undead, while Slash runs gung-ho as best he can. During all this, he activates the doors to our escape. Despite being hit once, the two men make it to Kail's room and effortlessly defeat him.

The other seven reach the escape teleporter and make it through. When Xero, at the rear, jumps in, though, it turns off. A flaming door appears behind him, and he walks through. We come to a lava filled area that's violently red. At the end, we see Barclyss, indicating we've gone to Hell for one more duel. In something right outta FFVII's Cloud/Sephiroth Omnislash fight, all Xero has to do is charge up 100 TP and unleash his new technique. Barclyss poses no threat here. We return to the others on the ground, where we see Affliction explode. Enda begins to illuminate, and we cut away.

Someone, probably Enda, is telling, I assume, Xero that it's okay to go back, back as far as he wants to. They come to The Spot, but something is different. Firstly, there's nothing but land in the background. Ellea is gone. Also, the two trees aren't there. They ask each other if this is fine and if they're ready. They are, so they turn into the trees.

Time moves forward. Centuries perhaps? Who knows? The trees grow, watch over everything, and then their leaves blow off their branches and across the world. We go from long before the start of the game to a month later...

The badlands around the Cataclysm Fort turn into a sea of green grass. The camera cuts to the former battlefield, and we see the dead rise up. They're not zombies, but living, breathing humans. Magleou and Higgs are there as well. They all remark that they're alive and thank some unknown force.

Asera is in the workshop, discovering something new and cool. As a reward, he sets out for a night on the town. There's a new scientist with blond hair who just wants to keep working. But nope, Asera drags the poor man along.

We head to Heyama as the King learns that everyone who died in the dome attack is being revived!

Thong, who's still a ghost, is performing a show! He recites poetry, but it gets booed. Everyone wants the comedy! He's unsure if he should, but Emory, a pink ghost, comes out behind him and, in her own way, encourages him.

We see a ghostly Slash spawn from a leaf in front of his house. He thanks Enda for giving him the opportunity to return to the planet, but he has to turn it down. A portal opens behind him with his wife in the middle of it. He says he has somewhere else to be and a promise he needs to keep elsewhere... This one got me a little bit, I can't lie.

Burns arrives in Teyton and is welcomed home. His mother, though, wants her son to be happy and like a bird. I think he should have stayed, but instead, Burns went off on another adventure. Did I mess something up in his mission?

Sandra is at sea with her crew. She says she's giving up sailing and insinuates that her crew's new captain will be Scruffs. Everyone is unsure, but she lets them all know she's joking and that they're stuck with her forever.

Eidol is alone in the forest near Parrin, but she's unsure why. Suddenly, we hear a girl call out for her sister, Kina. Eidol has no idea who any of these people are, but she cries tears of joy regardless. Aliss wraps her arms around her, and they walk towards a cape. As they do, we see Eidol transform into Kina. ...huh!?

Speaking of confusing: there's a scene with a young Barclysss and Heindrovia. Some of these ending scenes are a bit farfetched...

A leaf lands before Xero and Enda's house. We cut to Garin rebuilding Enda's wing, but he's a bad carpenter. Mom, who still hasn't been named, tells her husband to relax a little, but he wants everything ready for when "they" return.

We return to The Spot to see that all the leaves are off the two trees. Then, a scene with a blue tint shows about Xero and Enda getting married with all the friends we've made along the way. We see scenes of them raising a child together and teaching him as Garin did to them. He knows fire, which upsets dear old dad.

Sometime later, Sandra has gained control of the airship and is picking up the party. Garin and Mom are at the spot, enjoying the peace and quiet. They really understand why their children came here to soften. Sadly, it doesn't last as Sandra and the others drag Garin off on an adventure. Garin claims he's retired, but when Mom says he has to be back by supper, he runs off! The camera pans to the two trees, and we can see that two leaves still remain, one on each.

The ending credits roll as concept art is displayed on screen. You can tell a lot of hard work went into this game. From character artwork to dungeon creation, you know this wasn't some spur-of-the-moment lark. And, despite a few odd pieces of plot, it really shows. I liked Enda's alternative costumes, though. Those should have made it in. In the end, we see many of the characters we've met at The Spot as we're asked to save our clear data. At just over 50 hours of gameplay, I do.

The End.