Part 35: Update Thirty Four: Minister Drake
Last time on Super Mario RPG, we traveled through a volcano and met the most metal Toad of all time. Today, we're going to finish off this volcano real quick-like, so let's get this show on the road.
In the room right after the save point, we come to a floating bridge.
I like to think that if Bowser acts up, Mario has already threatened to drop the block he's standing on.
This bridge is kind of long. The "drop in lava, go back to the beginning" rule is still in effect, so thankfully, I never fell in the lava.
But Geno did hit level 25 on the way over! He even gained +2 HP!
Almost at the end here; it might seem like I'm just padding out this update, but I was just trying to show how long that bridge really is. The nice thing is, though, if you hit an enemy during a jump, you don't automatically drop into the lava.
Or maybe I'm just bitching and that bridge isn't as big as I think it is. Either way, this next room is where we'll be spending the meat of the update today.
Oh, Goddammit, more Pyrospheres?
That's a lot of Pyrospheres...
What the hell are they doing now?
Jesus Christ, they're evolving like a Magnemite!
Or some other Pokemon that has a bunch of 'em combine at once to make a new one! I don't know Pokemon very well, because Blastoise is the best!
Anyways, let's meet the Czar Dragon. He's immune to Fire and weak to Ice (I kind of wish they had reversed it, just to throw the player off), with 1400 HP.
As per usual for any boss fight Geno is involved in, he starts with the Geno Boosting.
What the fuck, Bowser?
I'm most impressed with Mario in this fight; he's standing at the edge of a field of lava, punching a dragon we just saw that was brought to life through a bunch of sentient fireballs.
At first, I wasn't concerned about this. It couldn't have been as bad as when Yaridovich was using it, right? I mean, I'm stronger now and have better gear.
Then I remembered I brought the party who has abysmal Magic Defense. I'm not going to lie, I got a little scared during this fight.
It occurred to me that I hadn't shown off Geno's new weapon. Those bullets are friggin' massive.
The Czar Dragon has a lot of full-party attacks. It's better to bring Toadstool and Mallow to this fight, as Mallow can hit his weakness, with a ton of ass-kicking power behind it, and Toadstool, because she's fucking Toadstool.
I'm just glad Flame Wall isn't as strong as Water Blast.
Looking at it now, I shouldn't have had Geno attack last round; if I had kept with boosting, his damage would have been good enough to make up for it.
...None of you fuckers say a word. I got a little scared for my guys here.
Even though this Water Blast wouldn't have killed any of them, it still would have dropped their HP a lot lower than I like. This still wasn't quite as terrifying as when Toadstool had 1 HP during the Culex fight, but I was still slightly concerned.
I shouldn't have been, as it turns out.
Mario gets his Geno Boost, but I'm almost certain I fucked the timing all to hell on his attack here.
Enemy AI confuses me sometimes; the Czar Dragon's full party magic is far more effective than his physical attack.
Yet, his scripting deemed it necessary for this dragon to bite another dragon.
This is Iron Maiden in action; that heart there is a part of all attacks that induce Fear. The ground beneath Bowser also waves slightly, but it's hard as shit to see here. If you guys would like, I can get a better shot of wavy ground.
At this stage in the fight, the Czar Dragon calls in a few helpers; these are the Helios. 10 HP with a kamikaze attack.
This is all they do, literally. With Geno Boost on, it's more of an annoyance and without it, it's a slightly bigger annoyance.
It's easy enough to kill them (and they share the common weakness and resistance here), but after seeing the entire 6 damage they put out, I don't even consider them a threat.
Fuck yeah, Geno. He's such a bad motherfucker.
With that last attack, the Czar Dragon sinks into the lava. Good fight, everyone.
Oh, God, he's fucking Crocomire! GET 'IM BOYS!
Zombone is an 1800 HP packin', 190 Attack having, Fire and Ice immune motherfucker. He's weak to Jump and Thunder, and he only has 60 Defense. His Magic Defense is 100, but with his regular Defense that low, it doesn't matter. Remember, Bowser here is under Fear.
Coming back as a skeleton seems hazardous to your health in video games.
He still has a full-party attack, and can also use Blast and Storm.
He shouldn't have dropped Water Blast.
Hell, he shouldn't have come back in the first place.
Now, this worried me for a second. Bowser has the worst Magic Defense around and there's not a lot I can do about that (well, there is, but I'm not using the Super Suit).
Once again, a convenient miss.
With the last mighty heave of Bowser's Spiked Link, Zombone falls into the lava. For good this time.
Not bad. Not bad at all. All in all, this fight isn't very hard. Czar Dragon has a few powerful attacks, but if you keep up on your healing, it's nothing to worry about. Zombone is a pretty good case of "second verse, same as the first". He has a few more single target magic attacks, but keep your people healthy, and he won't be an issue. Also, on Zombone, hit him with a Pure Water for a one turn victory; I didn't do this, as I didn't want to deprive my readers of watching Mario punch a skeleton-dragon.
Even better, Bowser hits level 24! He gets +2 Attack on top of it all, too.
It's too bad there wasn't a way to drop that bridge in the beginning, then immediately fight Zombone. You could end that boss fight in two turns, which I'd find mighty sexy.
And there's the Star Piece!
Victory! All we gotta do now is figure out where that last Star Piece is, go get it, then go kick Smithy's ass.
But, for now, we'll be ending things here. This update is already longer than I thought it would be, and there's a whole lot of stuff coming up that I can't just jam into this update without it becoming far longer than I'd like. So, stay tuned, folks!
(And good Goddamn, I made a lot of gifs for this update. Do you guys still like them?)