The Unvaying Fate

This tower isn't as big as I remember.

The team enters Eluria and walks across the bridge. This doesn't look like it belongs on Expel, but I've never understood why the base is a tower. As we approach the looming structure, a voice calls out to ask for ID. Everyone's shocked by the sound, but it automatically reads the item we got from the armory. The final dungeon climb begins.

Open the items in the back of the room. Opera gets a new weapon if you haven't been customizing. There's also a status ailment preventing necklaces, but more importantly, there's a meteor ring here. This allows the user to get a free second attack with a basic swing. It's about half as strong, but it's an easy 2000 damage at this point. Dias can't make use of it, and Opera only shoots things, so the Eternal Sphere gets stronger! There's also a glass statue in the middle.

Continue to climb up, riding light elevators, opening chests, and reading statues the whole way. Eventually, we'll come to a dead end, but there are two gates that we can open with a keycard. To get the card, find the statue that looks like a priest. It'll ask for five letters, and the answer is a bit strange. The five responses will be found on the glass statues and spell out: A-P-O-C-A. "Apocalypse. The new unvarying fate!" In the remaster, the code is DEATH, which is much simpler. Ignoring why this base has such a feature, we get the card key we need and can now open both gates. Go left first.

We'll come to a dead end, but something happens with Claude. His jacket speaks, and it tells him he'll be beamed up to the Calnus in a matter of seconds. Claude runs forward, and a triangle beam appears around him, confusing everyone. Why don't the Tentragenes recognize it? An hour later... Claude returns with the triangle beam. He warns everyone they need to get off this floor. He leaves his communicator behind, and Rena welcomes him home. The beam returns, and the communicator disappears. Had we been playing Claude, we could have viewed a reunion with his father and crew.

The other gate takes us to Shin. Rena shows her emotions and vows to kill him, which we easily do. I wonder why Shin is killable now but not before? There are two more elevators, and the second one is a point of no return. Check the right and left rooms before taking the second right path. At this point, though, I wanted to give customization another go. I've gained several levels, so maybe this time it'll go better. It did! Not only did Rena get her Empresia, but Opera has her Pulse Box. Dias has three weapons of similar strength, but I couldn't get the one everyone agrees is his best. I'll stick with the penultimate one, Hard Cleaver. Now take that final elevator ride...

We'll see an ornate round stone in the background. The Sorcery Globe is smaller than I imagined. But there are ten people in front of it, hiding in darkness. They light up when they speak, and they don't think much of us. They point out Rena's pendant, calling it a Quadratic Key. They don't understand how an Expellian could have one since only Nedians can make them, but they'll get their answer soon. After one tries to kill Claude, Rena heals him. Only Nedians can use restorative magic, so they start calling Rena a Nedian. The men ponder why an Earthling is here, and they even point out our three eyed party members. But... it doesn't matter. Expel is on a collision course with Nede, so we're all gonna die. Rena's Key combined with the Globe to speed that up, but this was the men's plan all along. We think we can save everyone, but we can't. One of the men, Berle, will kill us himself. We can't harm him, and all you have to do is survive for a minute. It's a long minute... Run up and down because Berle has quick reactions but a slow swing speed. The planet shakes as the ten men are close enough to Nede to teleport there. As they light up for us, we cut to a CGI scene. The camera is in space, looking at Expel. It's careening towards a massive, purple energy field. The field is stronger than the planet and begins evaporating Expel before it finally vanishes altogether.

We cut again to the deck of the Calnus. Ronix(is) laments that he's failed his son and the one billion people on Expel. His crew reminds him there was nothing he could have done. The ship couldn't save a billion people, and Claude made his choice to die when he returned to the planet. This doesn't help the admiral.

And that's how the game ends! I don't know what's on this so called disk two, but I might as well check it out...

...tomorrow!

Ronix was a main character in Star Ocean 1. Also, when are we gonna get El DLC? There's so much stuff here, and I want to see it! What did Eluria look like? What was in the three craters we can see while on the world map? I love Expel, but I have so many (unimportant) questions about it!