Part 46: Deceitful Wings

Update 46: Deceitful Wings






Okay, let's actually beat the game this time. This door marks the entrance to Mull's Castle, the second half of the final dungeon.





I hope that isn't the Amalgam thing...

C'mon! We need to hurry, before it's too late!





Music: Beat of the Rumbling Earth


The gist of this area is that there are a few passages blocked off by electricity, so we have to zip back and forth through the castle trying to deactivate them.





There are also those little blue/white spheres. Touching these makes good things happen. Unfortunately, I can't quite reach this one; I can't summon Deimia on stairs and the ceiling prevents me from abusing Flight to get up there.





Oh yeah, meet Heavy Metal. They're perhaps even less dangerous than Puni. They have good physical defense and like to block attacks, but Klein and Norn can pretty much ruin them.





Along this path...





...is a rather suspicious looking area with a save point.

Every time I play this game I forget what to do here. You can probably see the hole – and I did, too, except I couldn't figure out what to do to fall through it.







So, after about ten minutes of time wasted wandering through what few areas I can reach...





...I finally remembered that Bunny Form allows me to fall farther than normal and used it to safely drop into the hole. It leads to a staircase that loops back around to the Growloon above the hole, and also...





...lets me touch a sphere, which unlocks a path somewhere!





I wonder what my RIP GRLWN count is now?





Oh yeah, this palette swap of Quezzie drops Invisible Gears in case you want or need more for Crupt. I don't know how common the drop is, though, and I only encountered this enemy once in the dungeon.







Two of the spheres are special. This one is one of two we need to activate to open the path to Mull's chamber.





While Mull's Castle isn't as brutal as I remember it being, there are still some fights I just don't feel like bothering with.

Anyway, there's not actually much to add about this place – it's all pretty samey looking and just running around touching orbs. So let's move on to the climax.





Oh yeah, one quick thing – if you ever play this yourself, do yourself a huge favor and turn of the voices for the ending. I don't know why exactly, but the game likes to crash during the ending if voices are on.






Do you have any idea what you're doing!?

Of course I do! I've spent my entire life trying to find a way that Mana can benefit humanity!

You're going to destroy the whole world!

Yes, it's true Avenberry was destroyed because those idiots miscalculated. My formulas are perfect! I will succeed where they failed!

I won't let you!

You're too late...Behold, a new age is dawning!









Hmhmhm...Ha ha ha ha...BWAAAA ha ha ha ha ha!!It's perfect! I was right! I TOLD you it could be done!

It's...Amalgam...

No way...

Mana exist to serve humans. That's the natural order of things! I know you can feel its power, Klein. Are you amazed by Amalgam's sheer perfection!? With this much power, I can do anything! Don't you see, Klein...? A new age is upon us! From this day forth, alchemists shall rule the world! Now, in memory of the old world, I will offer you all as a sacrifice...







What...?! No, it's not possible...Everything was perfect! I – I can't be wrong!





And so Mull gets unceremoniously killed off by the creature he summoned.

Seriously, Mull is the worst villain. Good fucking riddance.


Mana fusion isn't something you can control with power. Mana have feelings, just like we do...

...We have to defeat that thing.

Well, we've handled huge monsters before. How bad could it be?

We're gonna win, meow meow!

Every life is precious...I won't forget that.






Music: Deceitful Wings

Music: Pretty Excellent Remix of Deceitful Wings



Welcome to the final boss of Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana. I actually really like the Amalgam battle; it's challenging, but I don't think it quite teeters into frustrating like Elder Vilum and Prism did. Of course, having decent mana crystals on my weapons and Veola's high tier equipment goes a long way in this battle.

Amalgam has several attacks. The one pictured above, Ether Light, does modest damage but can inflict several status effects. Best I can tell it only ever actually inflicts one or two at a time – usually poison and sleep, although I've seen it do Paralysis as well. The Sleep rarely ends up mattering anyway, since poison damage will wake the characters up anyway, and Klein's weapon allows him to auto-recover from Sleep and Poison on top of all that. It's a nuisance, but not really dangerous to me.





Step one: Engage Murder Mode.





I also brought Norn out to try stacking Magic Shield on itself forever again. However, I eventually abandoned this strategy – most of Amalgam's attacks just weren't powerful enough to justify having one character doing nothing but buffs, especially since Amalgam needs to charge a lot of its attacks so Norn is usually better off trying to Skill Break it anyway. Plus, Amalgam can Dispel everyone, undoing all Norn's hard work anyway.





Speaking of Skill Breaks, Delsus wound up being a staple battle member for this party. Power Shot is good for Skill Break, and Flare Shot is good for just racking up damage. Since he has the War Tuxedo on, he regenerates about as much MP every turn as it takes to use a Power Shot, so he's good for spamming his normal abilities.





Of course, the Mark of Courage is still great to have, especially in a fight where I get to attack pretty often.





Amalgam also has this awful attack. This deals decent damage and has a high (guaranteed?) change of inflicting instant death on one target. This can be a serious problem if you don't have some resurrection items and he hits Klein. Fortunately, I have resurrection items and he hit Norn with it anyway.





I don't know how I feel about Amalgam's design, but one thing I really like about it is how the Growloon-looking sphere morphs into different things for its different attacks. It's a nice touch.









Reasons' Requiem...uh, I guess it must do %HP damage, but I don't know exactly what the formula is. He doesn't use it too often, and Klein can Power Item a Heal Bulb to get everyone back on their feet.





Skill Breaks really do make this fight ten times easier. I still wish I could make them happen a little more consistently, but still I'd say that I can break 1/3 of his attacks, maybe more.





I never did end up buying All The Nectar from Mofuma, but I had enough to get by when Klein got knocked out by Reasons' Requiem plus the follow up attack.





Finally, Amalgam has a little beam he can shoot that deals 80 or so damage and inflicts Knock Back. No big deal.


I think that's mostly why I like Amalgam, actually – just about all of his attacks are dangerous in different ways, but none of them are overwhelming, and you have time to prepare and strategize for how to deal with them. Contrast with Prism and Elder Vilum, who just throw huge numbers at you all the time.





The only thing I don't like about Amalgam, really, is that he has huge HP. But he's a final boss so that's kind of to be expected. At least I have a few attacks that do tons of damage.





...such as my Dragon Gem.

By the way, this is the final boss and I still don't have a Time Mana. _grumble





Another thing I like about this fight is that every character is useful here. I tend to find the original trio of Lita, Klein, and Delsus to be best, but Marietta's basic attack is no joke against this guy and she can provide healing support, while Norn's damage output is generally poor for some reason but she can help out with Skill Breaks.





An unexpected Skill Break marks the end...















The Mana's spreading.

The Mana Chiefs asked us not to kill it...The mana must be returning to their original forms...Whew.

Lita, are you arlight?

Don't worry. I still have your Ruby Prism, remember?

So, is it over?

...It'd better be.

For me, this is a new beginning.














Music: Future


Hey, Veola's outside! She doesn't get any lines here, but at least she's getting some sun.


Oh, you're back. You did a great job!

How'd I know you were going to say something cliché like that?

What are you doing here, anyway?

I'm going to atone for my mistakes by rebuilding the town.

...Not a bad idea, Pops. You're alright.

...Everyone's doing their best.


Uh-huh, uh-huh. I didn't realize just how much Lita uses her thoughtful/melancholy sprite in the ending. Weird.























Music: To Each Their Own Way (epilogue song)

Music: The Path You Walk (credits song)


The screen fades out and in again as an unknown amount of time passes.


Off you go, now.

Bye bye, meow!





Meow!?

Heh...Still just a child.


...I have no idea what just happened.













I believe so. Besides, someone needs to take my brother's place. What about you, Delsus?

I think I'll take a little time off, see the world, retire...You know.

...I see.

There's still time to change plans...

… …





...All you gotta do is ask, babe. I wouldn't mind sticking around for you.


A rare instance of Delsus attempting to be charming and actually being charming at the same time. I hope they manage to work things out.










I'm really going to miss you guys...

Don't worry, we'll be back before you know it.

Ha ha, I hope so! Take care, you two.

Come on, Lita. We'd better get started...





I don't know why Blaire gets to be the one to rush forward, almost admit her undying love for Klein, and then not go through with it. I'm sort of surprised she's in this scene at all given she doesn't live in Kavoc.


















...Okay, so the ending is pretty weak, but at least the final boss was fun. Oh, I forgot to throw a Micro Craft at Mull (or Amalgam since Mull is unavailable to have stuff thrown at him). Oh well.

I like how one of the translators is “Jack in the Pox”.





Curiously, the credits list the Japanese VAs but not the English ones. I want to say this was back when there was some sort of union thing or something that prevented actors from getting creditied or...something...anyway, it's mostly the anime mainstay actors. Crispin Freeman (Delsus), Wendee Lee (Lita), Steve Blum (Arlin), JAMIESON PRICE (BEGGUR), and so forth. Those are the only ones I know offhand.



And so the game ends...


























...but wait! Do I sense...









...a postgame dungeon?