Limited

This dungeon is shorter than I remember...

The team returns to the scene of carnage: the bottom floor of Pienal Tower. Waiting for us are three of the Wise Men. They introduce themselves as Jibril, Nicolus, and Ruprecht. All three of them fight us at the same time, and I don't remember anything special about them. Even when I was bad at the game, I thought they were pretty nondescript. After we win, we can begin our climb of Pienal.

The first third of this dungeon is a webbing path of hallways, treasure rooms, and dead ends. It's mostly dark, futuristic metal, but we can pass a lake and the broken city teleporter on the left side. Whether or not it's worth circling around and collecting everything is up to you. Halfway through this sector, the left and center combine. They also interact with the right path. The enemies here are, as you'd expect, some of the best to fight. Most of the rabble is the stuff Marcillo summoned earlier, but there's a decent chance of a giant bird or two green lizards. Both give more than 30000 exp. Both sides reform had a save point, and another Wise Men fight.

Decus and Vesper have voices! I really like them, too, especially the fire one. I used to be able to mimic his voice. I tried to keep Claude from stun locking them to collect voice samples, but Dias and Opera managed to solo their opponent for the most part. Vesper hit some weird attack and wiped Dias, but Decus couldn't muster a Mind Blast, which could petrify a target. I only saw one Spicule.

After them, we must navigate a door maze. We have to hit various switches in several rooms to find three locks to open up the final door in the maze. Fortunately, there are no random battles. Afterwards, the path is mostly straight. There is one off room (right), but we'll eventually reach Cyril. He's glad everyone else is dead since this means there's more for him to rule. Once he kills Indalecio, at least. As thanks, he grants us a reward: quick death. Usually, he tries to teleport around and cast Winds of Destruction. But I managed to stun lock him, so he didn't do anything. The last ascent is straightforward, with only one side path (left) after Cyril. Check the left path after the final save point.

If you save here, you can do one of three things.
1.) Return to Nede and visit Fun City. There's a guy at the arena who can return you to Expel.
2.) Return to Central City and turn on Indalecio's limiter. This makes him the hardest boss in the franchise. You should do this after you beat him once, though, for the sake of the conclusion.
3.) Finish the game. This is what I did.

Rena climbs three long flights of stairs to get to the overlook of Pienal. Indalecio is waiting for us with the completed Crest of Annihilation behind him. He, too, is unphased by his fallen comrades, but we have changed his plans. Rather than rule the universe, he's going to destroy it. Indy isn't much for words, so the final battle begins!

I almost died! Indalecio is a two part fight. Part one consists of him floating around, creating a toxic fart cloud. It's effective until you can get in and stun lock him. Eventually, though, he summons his angelic daughter, Phillia. If you did Crisato's secret side quest to learn the truth about the Ten Wise Men, you'd know how important she is. Phillia removes his dad's ability to be stun locked. Even while he gets attacked, she can charge up a spell. Explode, Noah, and the unique Divine Comedy are deadly. Him getting free reign also means his fart cloud and finger point moves are relevant again. Make sure Rena can defend against fire and water and hope your fighters keep his attention. Fortunately, Rena never died, and I had plenty of resurrection mists.

Indalecio's defeat means his failsafe begins. The Crest of Annihilation begins to shake the tower. No, all of Nede feels this, if not the whole universe. Mirage and Nall are able to join us now, and they remind Rena to activate the Crest of Enchantment. She does, and the shaking stops... for a moment. It starts again even stronger, and there's a reason why. In order to prevent the CoA, it needs to be reversed. The energy still needs to go somewhere. Nede is the only place in the universe that can absorb so much energy, so this means the planet will be destroyed. Every Nedian seems to be in agreement that this is acceptable. The Nedians haven't evolved in millions of years, and "a species that doesn't evolve shouldn't continue living." But this will return Expel to this world. Nall and Mirage bid Crisato (and Noel had we brought him) farewell as they'll be the last of their race. Why do they get to live with this burden?

Multi colored explosions are spotted on Nede. One giant, purple one evaporates the floating mass. All that's left is dust. And that dust is what reforms as the basis of Expel. The team is floating in space, and Claude tells Rena it's time to go back. From here, we see our ending scenes that depend on relationship values that are changed through battles, PAs, and writing books.

Crisato disembarks at Herlie. She says she can't dwell on the past.
Ernest is leading a research team at the same place Claude started his story at.
Celine is trapped by the maids at Cross Castle. She's craving adventure. King Clother tells the maids to let the Queen through, but she has to be back before the harvest festival.
Opera is thinking about her friends on her home planet. The butler, Alfred, is an attentive attendant.
Dias places a flower bouquet at Cecille's grave, which is where Rena and Claude had their first conversation.
Bowman gets a meeting with Keith, the translator. He tells our pharmacist about a paradise. Bowman has a feeling that place is called Nede. According to a developer interview, the scrolls somehow came over with Rena sixteen years ago.
Rena and Claude are living together in Arlia. She asks if Claude regrets leaving Earth, but he doesn't.

The credits roll as we witness questionable CGI scenes of various locals on Expel. It's mostly optional or less traveled areas. We see Ashton's side quest dungeon and the secret Cave of Trials. Most of it doesn't seem to be anywhere obvious, but it makes me love Expel more. We witness a herush swim through the seas and a synard fly the skies. It seems the Calnus also respawned. We also get a few glimpses of Nede, notably Giveaway. Giveaway is a location you don't NEED to visit...

Regardless, we see the final screen of Star Ocean: The Second Story. Their "Fantastic Space Odyssey" has just begun.

"fin."