Part 92: Update LXXXIX - Featuring: The End
Update LXXXIX - Featuring: The EndMusic: The Daily Grind
Reloading our save after beating Blaster Raven brings us right back to Quantum Nodens.
Although the man himself is still there if you ever want a rematch.
The very last thing left to do is Allie's Death March, a post-post-game boss rush that'll make Kirino look like a joke. I need to do a bit of preparing first.
I've spent the entire time treating the game fairly, (as fairly as VFD can be treated, at any rate) but for this I'm pulling out all the stops.
A bit of offscreen grinding later, and this will be our party going in. The Mage Squad has been turned into the Rune Knight Squad, and everyone has been leveled straight to 99.
Music: Let's Get to Work!!
This is a confidential quest from President Allie! Even I don't know the contents. I have a message... "If you seek higher heights, even after conquering space itself, come to the Parliament Building." That's what it says. I wonder what it's supposed to mean... Unit 13, please prepare for any possible situation before heading to the Parliament Building.
Music: UE77 Tokyo
Music: Forfeit - The Dragon Inquires
Allie is right at the entrance.
*nods*
Just as I expected! That must mean you're pretty bored... correct? I am so thrilled to see that my beloved Unit 13 has gained powers that surpass even the gods★
Now then, it's play time! Show me the power that toppled even the 7th True Dragon★ *nods*
Allie moves right by the elevators.
And she has friends.
The dragons won't start a fight if you touch them, but they'll turn to face you when you approach.
Music: Battlefield - No. 7 Incursion
The theme for the Death March is...
High Dragons, all of which got skipped over in the Shadow Realm. True Spectus starts us off with 25K LF. That puts him only 3K below ND's refight!
Since I now have the unbridled power of a full Rune Knight backrow, I can just play around for two turns.
Oh, and Valerie now has enough base LF for Life Oath to push her right to the cap of 500. Brave Sword has now hit 100% power.
Spectus finally gets to use his super move.
It doesn't kill.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand G-
G????????????????
How did Brave Sword go from dealing 10K+ damage just one fight ago to not even breaking 1K??????
The answer is stat bloat. Every boss in this gauntlet has at least 300 DEF and MDF. Valerie has 357 MAT, reduced to 321 thanks to her Burn. True Spectus has 315 MDF. The damage formula is ((attack - defense) * skill power) * multipliers.
So we get ((321 - 315) * 7.5) * (350 * 0.02) for a total of 315, and the other Rune Knights are hindered by only having shop weapons available. Even if Valerie wasn't Burned she'd still only deal around 2K damage.
There are exactly two choices right now. Either I grind for hours upon hours using the reclass feature to give everyone a ton of MAT to beat over the enemy's MDF...
...or I get creative.
I did do a bit more offscreen grinding, mind you, but that was just to get the Rune Knight Squad (plus Valerie) 500 LF after LIFE Bonus. That way Brave Sword is hitting for full even though they can't use Life Oath in the backrow. Opal also gets 500 LF because God Hands give bonus LF as a reclass bonus in the first place.
Okay, take two.
Video: Allie's Death March
The plan here is really simple:
Aria's entire job is to spam the shit out of Ichor. As long as one person survives the turn, any dead allies will automatically revive.
Opal has to land Spinning Edge to stick an MDF debuff. She also gives an extra layer of safety in the event the party dies in one turn. If The Final Flame procs, she'll get back up and Ichor will revive the others like normal.
And Aiden goes for lostpower.exe.
Boss has sky high defensive stats? Just debuff them into oblivion.
This is why I need Ichor.
There's the setup.
And the verdict?
Much better.
The bosses here give some small rewards, which is odd when you'll probably be at level 99 with every skill you want maxed out by the time you get here.
Up next is...
A palette swapped Mayhem Fossil?
With an entirely new name?
This is the only High Dragon in the Death March that gets this kind of treatment, which makes me wonder if the devs were planning on having us fight Mayhem a third time at some point.
I hope you like my strategy, because I'm using it for the whole thing.
Sylosis has 22K LF and has the same moveset as Mayhem Fossil. The only difference is that for whatever reason Dragon Action has a priority of 5 (just above normal moves) instead of 7. (highest possible) If you want to game the system a bit, you could hold off on EX moves until turn 3 to outspeed Dragon Action and get some easy damage in.
Oh no!
Anyways.
Skipping ahead a bit, this gauntlet actually makes the one drawback to Brave Sword relevant:
Unlike Duelist and Banisher, which have all secondary costs negated in Unison, Brave Sword still eats the user's LF like normal. In any other circumstance you could simply patch the Rune Knight up between fights, but back-to-back bosses like this means that Valerie's sitting at 30% LF and will do no damage if she tries a second Brave Sword.
Of course, even this incredibly minor issue is rendered irrelevant due to one simple fact:
A single use of Brave Sword leaves the user right inside Vengeful Sword's best damage range. I just have to keep track of which Rune Knights have used their one Brave Sword and swap to Vengeful for every subsequent fight.
It's nowhere near as much as Brave Sword, sure, but six of them coming out at the same time will still deal a decent chunk of damage.
Plus I, you know, still have undamaged Rune Knights on hand to keep on Brave Swording.
Music: Forfeit - The Dragon Inquires
Back in the Diet, Allie has moved to another part of the dungeon.
She's in the Council Chamber, and uh...
Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
Music: Battlefield - No. 7 Incursion
First up in this set is Zero Blue with 22K LF.
Second is Insomnia with 25K LF.
He also dies, but it takes my last Brave Sword to do it.
Trinnitro with 20K LF.
I got greedy and didn't heal when I should have.
And even a second try nearly failed.
Hack failing to land means I don't get the kill.
Just means I needed a second.
And finally, Tiamat with 22K LF.
This is all individually lower than what the Shadow Realm bosses ended up with, but keep in mind that we do have to do all of this in one shot. That's 89K total LF we have to burn through, and with no chance to swap parties between fights like with VFD.
Since I can go and hit the Cat Cafe after this I can pop EX to ensure Hack lands.
I'd like to point out that this was an available strategy from the moment we hit Kazan.
*chuckle* Is it almost time for the main course? You like flowers, don't you? I'll be waiting at Chidorigafuchi Park★Music: Forfeit - The Dragon Inquires
A quick stop at the Cat Cafe later, and I head to the last stretch of the Death March.
And Allie just straight up summons VFD's final form.
This is truly the ultimate battle!
Music: VFD ─ Vicarius Filii Dei
34K LF, putting it above ND's refight but below Blaster Raven.
Also Aiden landed Quick Hack so lol.
While VFD has more health than any boss in the last set, the break between fights means I can patch up my Rune Knights and get another 6 Brave Swords to use.
Music: Forfeit - The Dragon Inquires
The growth of living things is truly priceless★ It brings me immeasurable joy.
And the final fight in Allie's Death March is against Allie herself.
Music: Dragon of Creation and Destruction
And, bizarrely, an entirely new color scheme to go along with her 38K LF.
Even more bizarre is the fact that ND actually gets three new moves for this fight, albeit just reskins of Peck called Poison Beak, Paralyze Beak, and Sharp Beak which have a Poison, Paralysis, and Bleed rider respectively.
She also has 360 MDF and 400 DEF.
But while ND has enough health to survive a barrage-
The fact that debuff timers don't advance during Unison means I can follow up lostpower.exe with sleepmode.exe and be 100% safe until my next Unison.
And GG.
So ends Allie's Death March.
Music: Forfeit - The Dragon Inquires
Unit 13, you have proven that you are truly the strongest in the universe. Here is your reward!
In a world on a different plane of existence... I just can't wait until that time comes!
The ND Defeat Certificate is just a pointless key item you can use to show off.
Music: The Daily Grind
Although if you want to do it again, Allie's Death March is a repeatable quest.
But I would really rather not do that.
So I believe I shall call it here.
I'm BisbyWorl, and this has been 7th Dragon III Code: VFD.