Part 91: Update LXXXVIII - Featuring: The last (or is it first?) dragon

Update LXXXVIII - Featuring: The last (or is it first?) dragon

Music: Forfeit - The Dragon Inquires


Yes, they really are throwing the entire second half of 2020's final dungeon at us before we can reach the end.



(God Hand downgrade.)



But what makes this even stranger-

Music: Battlefield - UE77


Is that this is the only map in the entire game that has the Alien enemies show up. We got the blue Alien Luzela, the yellow Alien Luzelo, and the red Alien Luzeli.

You know? The Aliens? The ones Yuno has been summoning ever since we hit Tier 2 skills in Atlantis?



And since they aren't dragons, we find out that the Shadow Realm's normal battle theme is Battlefield - UE77 again.





Despite being at the very end of the dungeon, the Aliens give jack for EXP. A single Little Dragon from the second section gives more than that.



Since we have a ways before we hit the end, I want to talk about something.



Namely: Can VFD be fixed?



Not story-wise, I mean, that's a lost cause.



But would it be possible to unbreak VFD's gameplay? Ever since we hit Preloma, like 95% of the game has been one Earthquake after another.



Honestly, I don't think you could.



(50% status resist.)



Even if you take a hatchet to Brave Sword and Earthquake, the real low hanging fruit, there's still so many ways to snap the game over your knee.



Unison still exists, but how could you reasonably nerf it?



Require three bars on everyone instead of two? Congratulations, you crippled any team with a Fortuner while dedicated Unison teams are delayed by a single turn.



(Duelist downgrade.)



Double charge timers on Agent, Rune Knight, and Mage? Alright, you brought them to the same baseline as most other classes, but now every enemy that does a turn 1 buff basically gets to do whatever they want while you have no way to break it. No 1 turn charges on ND means you will get nailed by Thorns of Light, while also rendering physical damage irrelevant for the first few turns.



Iod's waiting at the end of the floor.







Iod's a fucking liar.



We still got two full floors of this left.





And now we're back to dragons. Shadow Beta has Micro Dragons, Fly Dragonicas, Hammerstrike Dragons, Forval Dragons, Tyrannosauruses, and Twinhorns.



Back on topic...



Okay, what if you just scrap Unison entirely? There's no possible way to balance getting 9 free actions, after all.



Well you put a modicum of difficulty in boss fights, sure, but you still have no risk of attrition in dungeons because you have three full parties you can swap between and use levels to fully heal anyone that starts to get winded.



Reduce leaked EXP? Well now you've just made it a pain to keep each party evenly leveled.



Hell, take the nuclear option and remove the backrow teams entirely?





Well congratulations, you now can't use the Atlantis or Eden classes without completely benching whoever you made in Tokyo, so suddenly a full half of the game's roster becomes much more difficult to use. You'd have to completely rework how all the unlockable classes are obtained.



There's just so many little things that add up.



Even just items having priority helps the initial classes not having a dedicated healer, but it also means they're 100% safe.

Also fun fact, items don't actually have priority and seem to just give you a massive boost in speed. I've had a few times here where an enemy managed to go before an item even without Freeze applied. I guess the boost is just big enough that it literally only falls off in the post-game.



Trying to balance VFD would take so many changes that it just wouldn't be the same game by the time you're done.



And if you're going to go that far, you might as well just go the distance and make your own game.



Thankfully, this is the final area of the dungeon. It has Micro Dragons, Fly Dragonicas, Megamaw Dragons, Twinhorn Dragons, and Demon Dragons.





Samurai downgrade.





Even the bonus dungeon can't really pose a threat when I can do 15 EX moves in a row.











And that's the end of the Shadow Realm.



I'll be honest, I sorta ran out of ideas here and just threw all the team leaders at the final bonus boss.







So who could be waiting for us?



Is Takehaya going to show up out of nowhere and become the second boss to be fought in all four games alongside Nyala?





It's...



Blaster Raven?



And there's just a dragon chilling behind him?



This is the first life form that the shadow of our universe gave birth to. The dragon of beginning. It is... a True Dragon. However, it is still small. It will eventually bring life to this world, before going on to consume that very life.







I often wonder how many of my friends would still be alive were it not for the True Dragons. It wasn't even that they all were killed. Many lost their lives to an all-consuming despair...



Kirino you seriously aren't trying to both sides the dragons are you?

Without the Seed of Life planted by Iod, humanity would never have come into existence. Therefore, killing this dragon is essentially eliminating any chance of new life forms being created. Is extinguishing new possibilities in order to prevent tragedy truly the best solution...? On the other hand, letting this dragon live would unquestionably cause new despair in the future.





I still have my pride as a protector of our planet. Let us fight. The decision will go to the victor. Think about your options while we fight...

That's right, the last boss of the base game is Kirino Ayafumi.



The guy that got his ass kicked on screen every time he picked a fight.



The guy that was a one-off sidequest boss Opal beat on her own.

Video: VS Blaster Raven
Music: Battlefield - The Hunter


Of course, he isn't going to make it easy for us, what with his jump from 2.9K LF to 47,393! That's more than all of VFD's phases combined. And on top of that, he has a 30% resistance to elemental damage, complete immunity to Hack, 383 ATK, 314 DEF, and 133 SPD. Blaster Raven will break you in half and take anything you can throw at him without flinching.



Not even a perfectly timed War Cry can save us now.



Cutting down on damage here is Not Optional.



Although moveset-wise, Raven's pretty much the same as he was when Opal fought him. Normal attack, Blaster Shot, Blaster Fist, and a self-buff. He at least takes two moves a turn now that this isn't a 1v1.



I think that would have killed without Deafening Roar.







On turn 2, I make sure to have Valerie use Substitute.



Because he'll whip out Blaster Fist with no hesitation, catching you off guard if you were expecting him to buff up first like in the God Hand quest. Since each hit is randomly targeted, Substitute will draw them all in, and the 1.3x DEF buff combined with Deafening Roar will take all the bite out of it.



In a small bit of mercy, Raven will only act once on turns where he uses Blaster Fist.





Honestly, GEORGE! is actually a rather subpar pick here. Raven just has so much bulk that GEORGE! won't deal much damage before running out of bombs for good, at which point the Banisher's intended drawback of having to choose between mediocre bombless moves or dead turns reloading are actually allowed to do something.



Valerie, on the other hand, is perfect. Blaster Raven only has 186 MDF compared to his 314 DEF, so a quick MAT buff from Opal will let her tear through him.



The LF cap is 500, for reference.



And to make things even worse-



He's traded Blaster Strength, a 1.4x ATK buff, for Limiter Release, a 2.0x buff with a measly 40% break chance. It only lasts for two turns, but he will get a kill if he's allowed to move.



So I just have to make sure that he doesn't move.



Although some insurance never hurts.







Aria gets GEORGE! back up.







I honestly feel sorry for GEORGE! here. He spent the entire back half of the game tearing apart everything that moves, and now he can barely tickle Blaster Raven.









That's just sad.



Null Action finally wore off.



Too little, too late.

But you know what the funny thing is?



It's theoretically possible to get here without ever meeting Blaster Raven.



Keep something in Nodens unbuilt so you can skip his entire set of sidequests while still having 50 Dz for Iod, never get the God Hand EX skill, and don't buy the DLC so you don't see him there.

Suddenly the bonus boss is a random guy who shows up out of nowhere in a dead universe who picks a fight with you so you can't kill a dragon.

Music: Finish Them Off


Music: Forfeit - The Dragon Inquires


In truth... this is what I have wished for all along...









And then Kirino just... walks away.

How did he even get here anyways? Did he get booted here when we wiped dragons from existence and there was no reason for Kirino to go full Robocop? Did we Chrono Cross his ass?





In this series all about killing dragons, Iod is the one dragon we never get a chance to fight, let alone kill.



I won't fight it.

Getting the lame choice out of the way first.

So that is your answer...



And then the dragon just turns around and leaves.



This dragon shall bring about the birth of new life in this universe... Limitless possibilities are now attainable. This universe shall likely experience greater tragedy than you have ever seen. The decision that you made will nurture a new future for this realm... A future which shall see a physical manifestation of your willpower. All you must do is wait... Wait for a new life... A new story...





And then we get booted to the credits.

But come on, we're dragon hunters! The entire damn series has been spent killing every dragon we see!

~

I want to fight.

The only good dragon is a dead dragon!

So that is your answer...





And the very final dragon we fight?



The same Little Dragon we fought all the way back in Seventh Encount. Exact same stats and everything. Anything can kill it in a single hit at this point.



Anything.



In time, this shadow realm shall begin to disappear... Your decision has caused an entire universe... billions of possible futures... to vanish. However, this is but one universe. There are limitless others... You will be unable to interfere with all of them. Someday, dragons shall come into existence once again, in a realm you will not have control over. That existence shall mark the beginning of a new life... A new story...



And our entire trip here was entirely pointless! No matter what we do here there's still an infinite number of dragons devouring an infinite number of universes! This is clearly an attempt to leave a soft sequel hook in case they managed to get another 7D game greenlit! That's really fucking ballsy of VFD!

Music: Re:Vanishment feat. Annabel


All we get for our troubles is a different credits scene! The end, no moral!

Next time: OK, OK★