Part 29: Bonus Update 5

Artwork

Same deal as the Escha and Ayesha threads. Ending EDs will be posted here, but will be listed in the LP after.

Village Chief ED
Magician ED
True ED
Sweets Festival
Government Official ED
Popular in Town ED
Celebrity Meeting
Certain Sisters
Water Control Device


Gerard A
Gerard B
Rosemia A
Rosemia B
Food Rabbit
Sand Runner
Boar
Colonia
Lord of Water
Sand Dragon
Controller

Music

Tsunami
The track just before the last boss awakens. The guitar and bass are played by Dani. The image is an unavoidable fight with an opponent who's been burdened with a sorrowful fate. (Achiwa)

Interesting direction from Okamura there. I feel more like the player facing the full might of the ocean. One of the first times I listened to this song was during a grey, slightly rainy day in Taiwan, and it was just perfect. I can just imagine a great wave cresting over the ocean surface when I listen to this.

Defeated by Dreams
It's been a while since I composed a game over theme. That's right, there're game overs in this game! Personally, I enjoy games that are hard enough to have lots of game overs, so I'm glad! (Yanagawa)

Yep, various important battles in the game (such as the first one with the Sand Runner with Stera in the prologue, the Controller, and the boss of the DLC dungeon, certainly among others) will give you a game over if you lose them. Now, while obviously I lost some of these battles (including, embarrassingly, the very first battle because I didn't change the game difficulty to a beatable level), never got a chance to post this until now.

Alchemist on a Ship -Epilogue-
Stera's atelier theme arrangement for her epilogue. This is a woodwind quintet plus strings. I like small orchestral compositions like this, and I'd like to try recording live some day. (Yanagawa)

Of the three epilogue themes, this is my favorite. There's something sorrowful, yet hopeful about the way it sounds. Gazing out on a limitless horizon, and watching the world go by, on an uncertain road to the future.

Humming in the Atleier -Epilogue-
Theme for Lotte's epilogue. This is also an arrangement of the atelier theme. Delicate chord progression enhances the touching, heartrending feeling. (Yanagawa)

Rusty Sky -Epilogue-
Theme for the true end. It is an arrangement of the opening. I changed the chord progression a little to make it brighter than the original. (Yanagawa)

But not to be outdone, here's the last remix of Rusty Sky. It's really good, just falls a little short of Stera's epilogue theme for me. I was seriously considering naming the final update Golden Sky, just because I like theme naming (shocking, I know) and closing circles of fate, as it were. Ultimately, I decided to name it what it is because I felt the emotional connection the two Shallies gain in that ending was strong and emphasized enough in the ending for what I did. I'm pleased with what I went with.

For the final record, my Ayesha updates were named after the ED song for Ga-Rei Zero (Hear the Footsteps of a Dream), Escha and Logy's updates were named after the first OP to Attack on Titan (The Crimson Bow and Arrow, also incidentally I think the hardest theme naming for my Dusk series), and this thread's updates were named for Maria-sama ga Miteru's ED for its fourth and final season (The Other Side of the Cloudy Glass). The naming theme is one of the first things I decided for each thread (the Arland and my Agarest 2 thread included), and they were decided long in advance.

For the title of this thread, I'm pretty sure no one picked up on it except me. It's a quote taken from the ending to the first Record of Agarest War (probably more well-known is the Escha thread's name, which is a quote taken from the opening to MGS3). I first saw it near the tail end of the Ayesha thread, and decided on it long in advance of this thread. I played Agarest 1 again back in...April I believe, and remembered exactly how the quote went. See, it turned out real well, especially since the opening to this game focuses so much on Stera and Lotte's eyes, which I hadn't seen at the time I decided on the name.

The Twilight and the Hourglass
This is an arrangement of "Two Shallies".... Or so you might think, but this was actually completed first. I wonder if anyone recognizes the reference for the title? (Achiwa)

FJ: Fatal Blow
Jurie's victory theme. Cool beauty. Femme fatale. She's great! I want an older sister like this! Wait a second? Wasn't someone else saying the same thing...? (Asano)

FJ: Arm of Divinity
Finishing jingle for Kortes. He seems like someone who would bust out some martial arts, so I made a fitting track. I really wish he would "Hayah!" or something like that... (Yanagawa)

FJ: Hand of Dusk
Keith's victory theme. I want to be this kind of old man. His ultimate is shorter now, so this track needed to be shorter too. (Asano)

Narcolepsist (Game version)
Theme for the last dungeon. We wanted to use a song in a different way from usual for this game, and used this as a field track. This was also composed by Matryoshka. (Okamura)

(commentary for full version)

(continued from above) Since this is the area where the final battle takes place, we wanted it to be both magnificent and decadent. We hope this song helped you better feel the atmosphere as the Dusk, as you pressed forward to the final battle. (Okamura)

Fun fact: the giant squid is the only battle you have to fight between the start of the dungeon and the Controller. The big tank slag you don't have to encounter at all, and you can just squeeze around the Stone Giant.

Luto -Tochisurumoro- (Luto -The Controller-)
Theme for the latter half of the last boss battle. The vocals were performed by mao, with Dani on guitar and bass, and Asano on piano. For some reason I was called a pervert during recording again, but I take that as a compliment. (Yanagawa)

Ah, memories. mao sung the ending theme for Atelier Totori, her first involvement in this series, and did some song I guess in Meruru. Yanagawa mentioned being called a perv in the composer commentaries for Meruru, and the person who called him that was none other than mao.

(commentary for full version)

I really like the situation for the last boss in this game. That inspired me to make some lements in the melody a little painful and heartwrenching. Although you still end up beating them up in the end. (Yanagawa)

He got whacked 'cause he was weak.




Is what I'd like to say, but he puts up a surprisingly good fight on NO HOPE. I beat him twice before the recorded version, but I rejected them because I didn't end it with Hand of Dusk.

Last Wanderlust
The ending theme, composed by Matryoshka. This game is the third entry in the Dusk series. Thank you very much for playing this game! I'll see you in the next Atelier! (Okamura)

And thank you and everyone who worked on this game for a splendid finish to the Dusk series.

Bonus Videos

Encyclopedia

Skills Compilation 1 (Stera, Lotte, Kortes, Miruca, Jurie, Wilbell)
Skills Compilation 2 (Homura, Keithgriff, Solle, Escha)

Attack Item Compilation

For Lotte's combination skill, there's a total of five different animations depending on what items you use / what order you use them in. While I didn't try absolutely every combination of every item (and Lotte can't dip into Stera-exclusive items), after I exhausted the combinations for the Craft, Ice Bomb, and Bomb, I think I got the picture.

Bonus Bonus

This next scene comes if you lose against the Beast Man. Remember, you have to have the Talisman of the Beast King to know what he's actually saying.





We couldn't win... Mom...



(Alchemy... Your civilization based on borrowed knowledge reminds me of our own failures... I'll see the downfall of your civilization as well...)










(I'm... Still alive?)


The downfall of our civilization...? What did he mean?


I doubt his race has the strength to rebuild a civilization. His people simply live in the darkness, waiting for the end.






Since I didn't get it in the actual update, this is where the special DLC recipe chest is in the bonus dungeon. For a larger picture for anyone playing the game in the area with the hexagonal platforms and the glowing water, this is where it is. You can also match up exactly where it is using the radar, of course.



And because I never made any of the items from it in the actual playthrough, here's the items. You can get some cool effects, but it's really more effort than is necessary.





Atelier Shallie artbook 1

Atelier Shallie artbook 2

Atelier Shallie artbook 3

Time for the last call.

Stera: under #4, I would say B is my favorite, but Shallie's final design was fine as well.

Lotte: seems like she was one of the harder designs for Hidari. I'm gonna go with the one on the far right under #10.

Kortes: not a whole lot to choose from that's significantly different from his final design, so I'm gonna go with the first design. Interestingly, seems like Early Kortes was supposed to use daggers.

Jurie: white-hair Jurie under #6 looks cool.

Miruca: another tough one. Let's say...B under #2.

Wilbell: I like the second Wilbell, under #1, and think that would have been quite an improvement over the final design. Not my call, of course.

Keithgriff: they're all pretty much the same thing, just with a few accessories missing or his gauntlet looking different (#3 B's gauntlet looks cool, but would have been hell to make it look right in the actual game), so I'm gonna roll with the second Keith under #1.

Teokhuga: not wild on either design in #1, but let's say C.

Nady: the hat would be nice, but I like that design more than her final one.

Raoul: the third Raoul there would be nice (#2, A)

Solle / Escha: both of them look pretty much the same, with both of their rough designs and their E&L / Shallie appearance, so I won't waste the bandwidth.

Katla: I'm a sucker for blazers, so any of the Katlas with a blazer would be acceptable, even if it's not very "Katla-like".

Rosemia: easily the first rough sketch. Think that looks a lot better than her final design.

Linca: also would go with her first rough sketch. Looks a bit nicer than her final appearance.

Albert: three in a row. His rough sketch I think is better than his final design.



Thanks for posting this, pichupal

And that's the end of the thread, and the Dusk Trilogy! If you're reading this in the Archive, move on to the endings (remember to click the first screenshot in each ending for the video) now, but if you're reading this on Something Awful itself, this is My Last Bow.