Part 86: Chapter Sixty Three: Chaos Gate

Music: 19 – Our Journey



It’s time to head home at last. The party this time consists of Lin, Bosch and Nina for a balance of attack, healing and magic.



Now we could just fly straight there, but what would be the fun in that? To the south of the Hunter’s Lodge lies a small cave blocked off by a thick forest. You can come down this way as soon as you get Aspara, but there’s not much point seeing as how the random encounters around Gate would slaughter you at that level.

Music: 04 – Dungeon







: Hey, buddy…this cave…doesn’t it seem kinda familiar?

: It sure does, Bosch.



‘Cause this is where we found that demon, all those years ago.

: Damn! You’re right! I can still hear the dragging sound the thing’s tail made as we followed it through here. This place gives me the shivers.





: There it is. Your hometown.

: Yeah. I doubt it’s changed for the better, though.

It should be noted that we are coming up to a semi point of no return here. After the sequence of events at Gate, it will become impossible to summon Mina to take you to places. If there is any further business you have that requires her, do it before now.





: Huh? Where is everybody?

: Good question. Well, whatever. Let’s go to the bushlands and see what we can see.

Music: 03 – Memories (Yua)





: Hmm? Why is everyone out here?



:…What?! No, that’s not right!



: For your own safety, I must ask that you keep outside the blast zone.



: The dragon isn’t the cause of all this!

: But what are we going to say? The Father is a priest of Eva. I doubt he’ll believe us if we say his God is the one responsible.









:…You crazy fools…



The earth begins to shake as the last explosive detonates.



The dragon’s claw lifts up, unblocking the door it was guarding.





It glows, then opens, releasing a horde of vicious demons!



The same thing happens with the other claw.



The dragon’s head also lifts up, but the door beneath it remains shut…for now.

Music: The Demon



: Weren’t those demons? Could this…could this be where they originally come from?



: The force which drained the life from the forest was not the Dragon, but an unknown malefactor behind the gate!

: Once again the Church of Eva manages to fuck things up.



: The fiends are emerging from beneath the Dragon’s claws…if our actions have killed the Dragon, then what will become of our village? What can be done?





: Huh? Patty? You mean -that- Patty?

: Yeah, she didn’t exactly strike me as an expert on dragons…



: You must bring her here, quickly! Time is of the essence!



: What should we do, Ryu?

: Well, I guess her being here couldn’t make the situation any worse. Let’s go back to Kotto and grab her.

Before that, though, it’s time to nab the last Shaman.



She’s behind the left-hand door that was guarded by the Dragon until recently.









Stupendous! We now have all six Shamans. I’ll play with them next bonus update – for now we have to find Patty.





Yeah, we can’t use Mina anymore. Luckily Warp still works.



Turns out Patty isn’t at Kotto. To cut a long story short we’ll be chasing her for a bit again. Since she wants to eat the next stop is the Wildcat Café.



Off to the Thieve’s Tomb…



Back to Township we go…



You can find Patty in the middle room on the second floor of the HQ Building.

: *Cough*



: Yeah, sure, whatever. Look, some crazies just tried to blow up the Dragon in Gate and wound up releasing a horde of not-very-nice-things. The priest there seemed to think you could help.

: Wait, what?! They tried to blow up the Dragon in Gate?!

: Yeah, that’s what I said.





:…Yeah, sure. No problem.

Patty runs off. Let’s follow her back to Gate.



: She cried, huh? Come to think of it, what’s her connection with the Dragon anyway? The only people who ever came out this way were me and my sis…ter…?

: You okay, partner?

:…Yeah. Just thinking that there’s something important I want to ask Patty after all this is over with.



: It’s a miracle you survived all that punishment…

: Forgive us, milady…we thought this Dragon was killing the forest…

: There is nothing to fear. This Dragon is our friend and ally.



: What?!

: Wh-who said that?

: Voices…in my brain…

: Something spoke to us telepathically just now!

: Was…was that the Dragon? Did it just speak into my mind?







: It spoke of a seal…a seal upon what? Or who?

: I don’t know what lies beyond this gate…only that it is a great evil.



The music fades away…



:…What’s wrong? Halk…what’s that look on your face about?

Without warning, Halk smacks Patty back against the cliffside!



Music: Stealthy Shadow

: Ha ha ha ha ha! You…don’t know what lies beyond the seal? I’ll tell you what lies beyond these doors, child…the gateway to our God’s domain! The heaven of Lord Evanth!



: Habalk!

: Finally, all my years of masquerading as a priest in this backwater town have paid off in full! You may have brought down our Cathedral, but you will never bring down our God!

: You bastard!!



: It was no easy task, I assure you, playing the dual roles of the Church of Eva’s High Priest and a mere village Father!



: You piece of shit. Wait there while I remove your face.



: Don’t make such a face, Ryu. It’ll only stick that way! All I need to do now is open this gate and the world will be our God’s plaything!



: The hell I am! I’m not gonna help your smoke-and-mirrors ‘God’ do anything but rot in his grave!

: What makes you think you have a choice?



: I don’t expect you to help me to open these gates, Patty. I expect you to die!

: What the hell?!



: And there is only one key that can unlock them…the life of one of their own!

: What…? Patty’s a dragon too…? But wait…that would mean she really is my-



: My only option now is to kill one of the other two present! Which means you, Ryu…or this meddlesome girl!



: At long last, the seal upon our God will finally be broken! Die, Patty!



: No! Get away from my sister, you freak!!



Suddenly, the Dragon’s head moves, batting Habalk away!

: So, there is still some fight left in you after all, Dragon. If you value what little time you have left, you won’t interrupt me again!





The Dragon knocks Patty into the bushes and to safety.

: Out of my way, you overgrown lizard. Do you have any idea who I am?



: Flee? No. This guy has threatened my friends and family for the last time. I’m going to make sure he never hurts anyone ever again!



: I should have killed you when you came snivelling to my door looking for your dear father and sister…



: That’s my line, monster!!

--



Music: 10 – I’ll Do It!



Alright, it’s finally time to punch Habalk’s face in. Habalkthulhu has a range of debuffs, including Speed, Attack and Defence. He can also cast powerful spells like Inferno, Blizzard and Valhalla, with the last being the most powerful. The latter can deal over 150 damage to every party member and will usually kill Lin outright. He can also cast Sirocco, which does slightly less damage than Valhalla but will still normally bring all your characters into critical health. Habalk will also use Leech Power to steal 30 MP from your characters.

Thankfully, Habalk is a bit of a glass canon and goes down fairly quickly as long as you nail him with Kaiser Dragon at the start of the battle. Having Bosch along to constantly cast Vitalize is pretty much required to keep up with Habalk’s colossal damage output, but as long as you keep casting Vitalize every turn things shouldn’t be too hard. For some reason, in the video Habalk just kept spamming Leech Power every turn. He literally used it every turn until I killed him – I don’t know whether he got stuck in a loop or what, but it made the fight pitifully easy. At least I got to show off Nina’s Valhalla and Sirocco spells.

Capcom's original script had a rather embarrassing translation error (More so than usual, I mean) - in the original Habalk was called 'Habaruku', which was misspelled 'Babaruku' for this boss fight.



--



: Fools…your victory is only temporary! Our God still lives, and that is all that matters!

: That doesn’t matter, does it? The gate is still shut!

: I may have failed to open the gate…But our God’s power is limitless…



: And when that day comes, the entire world shall bow before our God! His rebirth cannot be denied! Not by the Dragonbrood! Not by anyone! Ha ha ha…ha ha…ha…

: Just shut up and die, already.



Music: 25 – The Flower



: He was a mere puppet of the Dark God…exchanging the souls of others for what he thought was paradise.



: Thanks to your efforts the High Priest and founder of the corrupt Church of St. Eva has fallen, and with him the Church itself. The Dark God will never again receive power from his unwitting worshippers. However…

:…Is something wrong?



: The Dark God has been thwarted for the time being, but he can now gather strength even without the Church. One day he may be able to break through these gates without any outside help.



: In any case, the Dark God does not yet have the strength to emerge. While I draw breath these gates will remain sealed.

:…Well isn’t that an anti-climax? You’re saying we might never get a chance to kick that monster’s ass once and for all?

: Even if it takes a hundred years for that bastard to wake up…I hate the idea of leaving things half finished.

:…Hmm…



: Only you can decide how, or if, you shall all face the Dark God. Do you wish to wait for the day the Dark God emerges? Or will you open the gate yourself, and defeat the Dark God before then?



:…The…Fated Child?

: Ryu…Fated Child…you must now choose…



: If you wish to confront him now, then I will open the gate for you.



Here it is, the choice to end all choices. What will Ryu decide?

:…I think…we should wait. We should make sure we are fully prepared to face him, and fight him on our terms. Let him rot for a while whilst we gather our forces.



: The Dark God obtained most of his power from the Church of Eva…





Music: Township Well













--Bad End

…Huh. I guess that wasn’t a But Thou Must moment. It’s nice for games to have a bad ending once in a while and actually show what happens if you screw up. I feel it adds a sense of urgency to the whole thing. I think a lot of games could be improved with the addition of a “And then the demons ate everything” ending.

Now, let’s talk about Patty. It seems pretty obvious to me that she’s actually Yua. She has the same hair colour as Yua and Ryu, she is confirmed as a member of the Dragon Clan by Habalk and she has intimate knowledge of the Dragon at Gate. Nina comments on how alike Patty and Ryu look during a party conversation, and when Habalk is about to kill her she cries out for her brother to protect her, just like how Ryu protected Yua from the Gunhead at the same place all those years ago. Ryusui’s notes mention that Patty is never explicitly confirmed as being Yua in-game, but the mountains of circumstantial evidence put the theory beyond any reasonable doubt. I agree with him on that at least.

Anyway, that’s the Bad Ending out of the way. We have two more to go, but first we have to make it through the final dungeon. And before that, we need to look at our new Shamans.