Part 26: Cemetery

Update 26: Cemetery

Welcome back. Last time we defeated the last Regent and took the teleporter out of Centre. Now it’s time to see what lies beyond.



Music: Controllers of the World







The teleporter brings us to a rather familiar chamber.





It’s the conference room the Regents used in previous cutscenes. I always like it when games let you visit the places where the big bads meet up to plot their schemes. It really rams home the fact that you’ve bested them.





Our time here is brief however, as a teleporter at the opposite end of the hall leads us out of Centre altogether.







We emerge into the Cemetery, a silent chamber with three stone monoliths and a huge stone door ahead of us.



The door is immovable and won’t open.



To proceed we have to examine one of the monoliths. It doesn’t matter which.





The game immediately segues into a cutscene.





Ryu and company gather their keys - one from Deamoned, the other two from whichever Regents the player defeated in Centre.







Ryu picks one of the monoliths, inserts his key, and twists.





Lin and Nina follow suit.





The chamber rumbles as ancient mechanisms grind to life, and the stone door slowly opens.







Behind the door are two more stone slabs, which also retreat into the ceiling. The cutscene ends as the monoliths sink into the ground.









Beyond the Cemetery lies another chamber with a red monolith and an even bigger door.





Examining the red monolith triggers another scene.









The only key we have left is the red key that Mebeth gave us so long ago. It’s finally time to put it to use.







The protective seal deactivates, and the door itself slowly begins to split open…











Bright light overwhelms the party - but don’t get too excited just yet.







We’re still several hundred metres below ground - and Sheldar still has a few more challenges left in store for us.



Thankfully, the vendor trio have set up shop here to help us deal with them. This is the last time they appear, so it’s vital to make use of their services.



Jaju can identify some of the powerful equipment we picked up in Centre, including armours that resist and outright block all status ailments.



Arma’s inventory contains incredibly powerful and expensive endgame-level weaponry. The Legend Blade and Wizard Wand would be lovely to have, but since I’m not abusing the Fairy Colony I don’t have enough money to afford them.



Leo’s selection is the same as last time. There are still a few battles left before the end, so stocking up on anything you’re low on is a good idea.





Across a nearby walkway stands the final Telecorder in the game.





Once everything is sorted simply proceed through this door into the following area.











Here it is - the Geovator. The steel chariot that will take us to the skies.



All we have to do is activate the controls.







The blast doors to the Geovator’s shaft rumble open, while the platform’s engines hiss to life with a blast of oily smoke.





Slowly, the Geovator begins to rise.







Time passes, and the Geovator slowly crawls up the shaft. After a few moments Lin walks over to Ryu, who seems to be struggling to stand upright.







Ryu responds by looking at Nina, who seems to be enjoying the ride up.





Ryu himself is now struggling to keep a lid on Odjn’s power. It’s clear he doesn’t expect to live much longer. But suddenly…







Ryu has a vision.











A mysterious figure appears in the darkness ahead.







The glowing figure unleashes a power surge, and the Geovator shudders to a halt.







Everything is quiet - until Nina cries out in alarm.

Music: A Distant Call









: Ryu.











: I ensure the harmony of this world.

: Origin…





: The destroyer.









: I’m so proud you made it this far.





The three figures converge with a flash of light.



When the glow fades, only one remains.









Elyon makes a sweeping gesture, and the Geovator lurches into motion once again.





With that, it’s time to throw down with Elyon, leader of the Regents, Odjn’s original host, the man who reached the gate to the surface only to turn his back on it and return to the depths of Sheldar.



As soon as the battle starts the player is given this message. Failure to defeat Elyon within twenty turns will result in the player getting slapped with an instant game over. This might sound worrying, but honestly, it’s plenty of time.



The flow of this battle is a bit more concerning. The fight is broken up into different phases, which the game calls ‘Worlds’.





In the first World, Asiya Yuga, Elyon will use Alter Ego to summon two clones of himself. These clones share the majority of his moveset and have around 3,000 HP - but no Absolute Defence.





For this phase Elyon and his clones will mostly stick to physical attacks and Lv. 1 electric spells. Each gets one attack per turn.



The only threatening skill they have at this point is Pentastroke. As the name implies it hits five times, with the last hit usually dealing over a hundred damage.



It’s possible to kill the clones during this phase, but there isn’t much point since Elyon will just use Alter Ego to summon them again.



The second World, Yetsira Yuga, begins at the start of the sixth turn.





At the beginning of this phase Elyon will cast Karma on a random character.



Karma causes a huge glowing rune and a countdown timer to appear over the target’s head. It can’t be dispelled and the rune itself will follow the affected character around until the countdown reaches zero.





When that happens that character and any other party member inside the rune will be hit with a supercharged version of Valhalla and take a truly ludicrous amount of lightning damage. Only Ryu can survive this, and only if he’s in dragon form. Anyone else is toast.

Also, the damage isn’t recorded by Discharge. Nice try, but the developers already thought of that.





Elyon won’t move or act while Karma is counting down, but his clones will keep attacking and gain access to a couple of new spells.



Now is actually quite a good time to kill them, since Elyon won’t revive them during this World or the next.



The third World, Beriyah Yuga, begins at the start of the ninth turn.



During this phase all party members have their movement range cut in half.







Elyon himself will begin attacking again, with an expanded arsenal of moves including Lightning and Primus. This phase is only really difficult if his clones are still alive.



The fourth and final World, Atsiluth Yuga, begins on the thirteenth turn and lasts until the end of the battle.



Atsiluth Yuga is where Elyon starts getting really serious. If his clones are dead he’ll re-summon them with Alter Ego.





Elyon and his clones gain access to Valhalla, and will spam it every chance they get. Hope you remembered to bring some lightning-resistant armour!







Don’t think you can escape the pain by splitting the party up, either. If you try it Elyon will use Focus to teleport everyone back together again.



In terms of defence Elyon has 300 points of Absolute Defence and 6,000 regular hit points, making him even tougher than Vexacion.









With that said, the same tactics apply as all previous Regents. Use buffing items, Transfer AP around and abuse ‘Shatter!’ as much as possible.





While it doesn’t record Karma’s damage, Discharge still packs a punch after several turns’ worth of Pentastrokes and Valhallas.



Elyon isn’t an easy boss, but if you’ve made it this far beating him within twenty turns shouldn’t be an issue. He only really gets nasty in the final World, and by that time he should be at death's door anyway.



Like Vexacion, Elyon’s accomplices add to the experience total. This is the key to Dragon Quarter’s second Party XP loop, which I’ll be describing in more detail at the start of New Game+. It involves abusing the D-Dive system, so I’ll skip over showing how to beat Elyon with dragon mode this time.





: You’re Odjn’s first…



: Nothing more.





--

Bonus Art: Elyon