Part 39: Vincent, Part II

Chapter 39 - Vincent, Part II


It's time for...



Spooky time!



Alright. We're now inside the very creepy mansion. This isn't the first time we come here, but last time the place was pretty contentless.



Imediately to the left we see this real-time rendered glowing object standing on the ground, so we check it.



It goes without saying it was writen by Hojo. Jesus Christ dude.



There are so many different levels of wrong on this.



So, basically, we have this optional (the game literally tells us so) side-quest to find a "Turk" who's locked in the basement. Sounds exciting.



This is the hints system. Each of the Dials give us a hint to solve the puzzle.



I didn't have the mansion memorized (I never actually got the layout of this place in my brain for some reason) so we're gonna explore it together. In the meanwhile, we're gonna talk a bit about last update, because we do have lots to talk about.



It's usually a huge shock when you first come to Nibelheim and find that the city... is still there. Most people (as pointed in this thread) never find out that the place has been rebuilt. Hojo's letter makes everything incredibly creepy, as the NPCs are just scientists doing their horrible horrible things while pretending to be townsfolk.



Moreover, we're hearing more and more about this "reunion". We saw some of these people in black capes. Do you remember something... familiar? Perhaps slightly related to the thread's title?.



That's right.



The "sick guy" at the slums has a tattoo. He's another one of these "Clones".



At this point we can start to link some things together. Let's play connect-the-dots, shall we?



These clones are obviously people who were created/fabricated by Hojo and co. Whatever was done worked as some sort of lobotomy. They're incredibly damaged and respond to Sephiroth.



And they all talk about this "Reunion", and that they must go to it. That's weird. In fact, that does remind me of something.



Our first hint. This is the "Place with most oxygen" (a bunch of plants).

I didn't quite bring this out at the time, but it does seem awfully suspicious of something that happens at rather fairly regular intervals during the game.



I think I need to mention something - this is the hardest dungeon in the game by far up to now. This place can really screw you up if you're unprepared.

I told you that this game played completely different the second time over, because of how much is lampshaded all the time. It's fairly hard to figure out the entirety of the plot the first time you play because there are so many things said and done. Almost every line is meaningful in some way.





I'll let you think a bit over the things I just said and linked. For now let's take a look at hint #2 and #3.





And not-so-hidden is the fourth option, which spares us the trouble of looking for it.



We know that something is wrong with Cloud. One too many things. Neither he nor Tifa can remember what happened years ago. Tifa is also hiding something. Right now we don't have enough information to infere what is going on, but everything points out to Hojo also knowing about it.



The ivory's short of tea and ray. It's worth mentioning that the piano can also be played.



There's one thing in common though. Hojo thinks that Cloud is being "called" as if "to go to some place". Reminds you of something?



This is where we start the third hint. Five steps left of the creek takes us here.



Then nine steps up and two steps left.



SCREEEWW YOUUU RANDOM BATTLES!



wait



what



oh

Okay. Moving on.

We find the last hint on the ground. It says (3) Right 59. Before we go down to the basement we're gonna finish the puzzle by going to the safe at the second floor and input the numbers.



WHAT CAN IT POSSIBLY BE? A boss? A Star Wars reference? A smaller safe inside?



I'd like to mention that inputing the numbers in the right order (you have to get to them and press the button, but you can't get move past them and you have a VERY limited amount of time) is one of the hardest challenges in this entire game.



I can't help but read this in the voice of the When Cheese Fails guys' Fail Stamp.



Once you get it right, a summon materia drops from the safe. Also, there's a boss fight.






Lost Number is by far the hardest boss in the game by the time you reach him, except maybe for Midgar Zolom, but the snake doesn't count officially as a boss.

In an unprecedent act, I decided to show you how the boss fight should go traditionally, using only some basic moves. You'll also see how boring it is and why I do gimmick videos:




Lost Number has 7000 Health Points. His gimmick is that once you get him halfway down, he'll transform into one of his sides - if you the last hit before that point is a physical blow he'll become purple and deal only physical attacks (VERY strong attacks mind that) as well as be granted great resistance to normal hits. If you transform him with a magical attack he'll become red and only cast spells.

His Spell-casting version is much weaker than his physical version. His normal attacks in Physical form can hit for 400 to 800, and his special attack can hit from 1200 to 2500 depending on your defenses and position. So yes, he can one-shot you even with Big Guard if your gear is not up to date.




Like many bosses, Lost Number is vulnerable to Stop. It's hard to stress how much Aeris trivializes fights, but you can see it for yourself. Between Aeris' 1-1 healing faster than bosses can damage you and 1-2 stopping a lot of hard enemies, there's really not much that can be done to kill you.

BOSSES WHO HAVE DONE THEIR GIMMICK AGAINST US BEFORE WE TAUGHT THEM A LESSON IN HUMILITY: 0/14

Once we beat Lost Number we get [Cosmo Memory] from him. Cosmo Memory is Red XIII's Final Limit Break. 4-1 Limits are items that are acquired throughout the game, and you can only learn it once the character has all previous limits, and since we haven't learned all of Red's yet, you won't see it used anytime soon.



We also get [Odin]. Odin is an odd duck. The summon has two different effects depending on the enemy - it eithers deal damage to everyone, or insta-kill.



More importantly, we get the [Key to the Basement], which is our just reward for solving the puzzle.



We go further down the stairway of creepy. The clones outside said that Sephiroth was inside the mansion after all.



The door above was locked when we tried to enter during Cloud's dream, and is the door we can actually unlock now. But before that...





HOLY CRAP WE ACTUALLY CAUGHT HIM.







Cloud was the most irresponsible soldier.



Still disturbingly cryptic but it's a start. We're only now slowly unveiling what this game is about.



And here's something revealing for a change.



Cloud takes Sephiroth literally, but let's be honest here - he's trying to find out the truth we all, deep inside, know. Aeris is an Ancient. Her mother which we barely saw in a flashback was also an ancient, and they all look perfectly human. The ancients are simply humans who were hippie and attuned to the planet.

Jenova is a blue woman with an eye-nipple and wings whose parts morph into horrible monsters. She's like the flesh version of Tetsuo the Iron Man.









Sephiroth literally stuns us by throwing a materia at us.





Then fly away.



Well thanks.

[Destruct] is, for the most part, useless. It contains the DeBarrier and DeSpell magics which are pretty self-explanatory. It also contains Death on its last level, but Death is an attribute that rarely works in this game in any place we'd find its use relevant (this also applies to the Odin materia).



Well I think the last thing for us to do is opening the door. We earned the key. Let's see this Turk.



Oh no.



No.



Oh God no.



Please make it stop.



Why is there a vampire in a coffin.



Hahaha even Aeris can see through his goth crap.



Jesus Christ.



"I have nothing to say to strangers. Get out."

"This mansion is the beginning of your nightmare."





Well, might as well spill the beans, I don't see this conversation going any further.











Now things are getting better.



Cloud takes a pause to explain to him.





This is worded poorly. He means he got to know he was created five years ago, not that he was created five years ago.





Oh for fuck's sake.



"Hearing your stories, has added upon me yet another sin."



Here, I'm not bullshiting you. He really say these things.



Sigh.



As a slightly amusing detail, his coffin closes itself automatically.



I'm not done pestering you. WE WANT NAMES.





There we go!

Vincent Valentine is both a reference to Vincent Price (obviously) and to My Bloody Valentine, the terrible band that this game shamelessly promoted for no good reason.







And at long last, I knew our curiosity would pay for it. We now do have a name - Lucrecia, and it all makes slightly more sense now.





Hmm... wait a bit.



Wait.



He's being a little too dreamy about her.

Vincent is a tall, pale guy with long straight hair who just happened to be into Sephiroth's mother.



He likes to brood, wear a cape and overall be very angsty with the world. He loves leather.



You know who else fits that bill?

















Holy Mother of God













Hahahahahahah I love this shit.



Alright, that was a most sick iceburn.



The only way to continue is by leaving after finishing that sequence. He'll get up and talk to us.





I wonder...



How old is Vincent, and what cream does he use to look like he's forever 20.



More importantly, how did he stock that cream? Did he buy wholesale and store in that creepy room he was in? Is this part of his vampire persona?



I think Aeris is even snarkier than Yuffie. It's a very fun character to have for dialogue.



And with that, we welcome our newest member of the group:



Let's cut to the chase - Vincent is a horrible character. He's the second (out of two) optional character and, while he has a lot to add to the plot, he's nowhere as useful as Yuffie in combat.



Remember that weapon we found WAY back in Kalm? It's his Double growth gun. It's an amusingly calculated design choice, because you can't use it with any character. You can throw it, but since it's a Double growth weapon it has lower damage than usual, which puts it on par with the other weapons you have by the time you have Throw. Which puzzles you a lot because it ends up seeming like you missed a character.



Vincent is a strictly ranged character, given his guns preference. So in commemoration of having him in our party, let's change to something more thematic.

Next Time:

Bosses! Mazes! The most awful-looking mount in the world!




Awesome music we've listened to in this chapter:

Vincent's Theme - I think it should be mentioned, but this is Vincent's theme, The Nightmare Begins. It fits perfectly.




Chapter 39 Bugs & Bytes

Lost Number

Before you complain that I didn't show Lost Number's Physical form, allow me to show you this, for your viewing pleasure:




This is what happens when you try being too gimmicky about it. I think a "defeat" video was the only way to showcase how strong this boss is in his physical form.
For what is worth, I succeeded, but I decided to save the trick for a different boss. It's considerably more amusing.

Also, did you pay attention to Lost Number's name? It's vague, but the "numbers" are the clones, suggesting that Lost Number is a sealed experiment that went bad.

????

That Enemy Skill we got is very, very weird. It deals the difference between the caster's (you) Max HP and current HP. Which means the lower your HP, the higher the damage. It has almost no MP cost (3) but as the name implies, it's extremely situational.





Did you know that Amano worked on a Sandman novel with Neil Gaiman?