Part 23: Chapter XXI: Family Reunion

Chapter XXI: Family Reunion

Welcome back! Last time, we entered a room that looked like a forest but was actually inside a metal room.



After crossing this bridge, the bird gets startled by our presence.



And seeks sanctuary with this...person.



And we startle them again. Though to be fair, if I were a bird and saw a man sized cat, I'd be shitting my feathers.



Unfortunately, the bird doesn't realize it's inside and hits a wall



"They can't tell that they're inside a room, and when they try to fly they only end hurting themselves..."



"I suppose I should have known you'd come here eventually. You are Brood, after all..."

: Who...? Teepo!? Is it really you, Teepo!?



Yay

: Teepo! You're alive! I...I thought...

: Be silent! I must... talk with Ken... Welcome, Ken... Unfortunately, your journey ends here...




: And explain... why our race had to be destroyed...





: Why... why did they do this to us?




: My body...It's...!

: I'm no different from you, Ken...Not since then...Much blood has been shed to reach this point...









: Your own blood... Blood of both the good...and the bad... Nothing but hardship awaits us wherever we go... Violence, pain, blood... That is the Brood... That is what we are!



: The Brood... pose too great a danger to the world... Our power... Our very existence threatens it... We cause war and chaos wherever we go...

: So... Mr. Teepo... The goddess put it into your head to wait here... Wait here to kill Ken, eh?

: NO! She would never harm anyone, nor allow anyone to be harmed! She simply fears... Fears for the world should the power of the Brood be left uncontrolled... ...Ken... We're different from them... We can't be with them... That's why you need to stay here with me. With me and the goddess Myria... You still don't understand, do you...? That's all right... Take your time... Look deep within yourself!



In a flash, Rei and Peco disappear.



Followed by Teepo.



And Ken.




: What do you think, Ken... This is your mind... Your heart given shape... Here, you can enter not only your own heart... But those of your so-called friends as well... And then you'll learn That I... That Holy Myria is right... Go now...Ken

Teepo: Still a douchebag after all these years.

Anyway, this is the Dream Maze, and it's far and away my favorite dungeon in the game. It looks cool, it makes you think and it has character/plot development.



There are only 3 enemies here. These guys try to cast powerful magic, but lack the AP to do so. They drop Rice Balls fairly often.



And here's the gimmick. Periodically, we'll run into one of our party members and we'll see into their deepest thoughts.



: Whenever I decided to do something, my mother would always ask me... Is that what the princess of Wyndia should do...? I would always answer yes...



: When I left the castle with Ken and my other friends... For the first time, I wasn't my mother's daughter... Or the Princess of Wyndia... I was able to just be ...Nina...



: I thought it was very important... That we learn about Ken and the Brood... I don't know anymore... Maybe I left the castle just because I was tired of being controlled by my mother...

Nina's still struggling with her identity. Remember her line after Ken saves her about it being her duty as a princess to help people? Over the course of the game, she's learned that the two things aren't mutually exclusive. She can help her friends more by being Nina than she can by being Princess Nina. Princess Nina would never have been able to come this far, but Nina can and did. She established herself as being her own person. But she still has her regrets over doing it the way she did.



This statue tells us to go back to keep going. So we do.



And we come upon Rei.

: Look at me... I have a power I was so frightened of I swore never to use it, but compared to the power of the Brood... my power is insignificant... Doesn't that just beat all...



: How can anyone handle that kind of power? If it were me, I know what I would do with it... No... I know better... I wouldn't be able to handle that kind of power responsibly... I'm just no good...

Rei still seems to have vengeance on his mind. And he also sees the irony in hiding his Weretiger power from two children who turned out to be members of the Brood.



Just stand in front of this statue. The path will show itself after a while.



Momo!

: My father used to tell me lots of stories about the Techno Age... It was his life's dream to learn all he could about that time and all the machines that were built then... Father... I'm almost there... It's right in front of me...

Interestingly enough, Honey walks in during that line. I forgot to get a pic of that though.



: The Brood... God... I don't know anything about them... The fate of the world? It's too big for me... All I know is... By getting closer to God, I'm getting closer to that age. The Age of Machines...

Momo has never once made it a secret that she's along for the ride for any reason other than learning about machines, so nothing new here. But here she implies that she's kinda in denial. That helping decide what's gonna happen to the world and to the Brood is far outside her comfort zone.



This teleporter takes us to the second part of the dungeon.




Thanatos are basically Kassen McNeil with some attack magic thrown in.



The gimmick for this part is teleporting. Yellow teleports to yellow, green teleports to green, yadda yadda yadda.



Seriously, one of the most beautiful places in the game. Love it.



And...Garr. The last of our party members who can talk.

: I believed that by hunting the Brood, by obeying God... I was saving the world... But now I wonder... Was I...? If they had wanted to, the Brood could have stopped us at any time. What should I have done...?

Nothing new here. At all.



Mad Gongs are the third and deadliest enemy here. They have an extremely powerful Charge attack.



...WHAT.

: I've been watching you for a long time, Ken... You need to do what you, and only you, think is right... The power of the Brood is something to be respected and feared... But it's not enough to save or destroy the world...

Peco doesn't seem to think the Brood are as powerful as Teepo and Myria think they are. And, in fact, Peco is about to show who the real power in the party is.



And, at last, we come upon...Ken.

: Have you come to a decision? You're one of the Brood... You can't afford to think only of yourself like the others, right? Think of what you could do with your power... Think of your people, those who gave you this power... If you have the power to change the world... You have to take responsibility for the world, don't you? There's only one person who can take that kind of responsibility... The goddess Myria!

Ken gets a headache from all this and collapses.



: Rise... Rise and give yourself to the goddess... Become one with the world!

: Who are you!?



: Well, well, well... You count Yggdrasil among your companions! That's a surprise... Still... You understand, don't you, Ken? We share the same blood.. I know you...You must understand... All the others... they're weak and frail! They think only of themselves! What if our power were to be used by them... for their small, selfish ends!? We can only entrust our power to someone who understands... Someone who sees and thinks of the world as a whole... Someone like Myria, Ken...

Ken disagrees. He might have a point with Rei, who actually shows restraint, but no one has shown signs of wanting his power, let alone using it for selfish means.

: If that's your choice then... If you won't listen to me... I'm afraid... I can't let you leave... I'm sorry, Ken... But I have no choice but to leave you here in this dream...



And now we have Ken's cage match against Arwan. Arwan is fairly difficult. He's got 2400 HP to burn through with one character to use and he has access to




Oh right. Kyrie one shots him.

Kyrie is crazy awesome in this game. It kills all undead enemies in one hit, up to and including bosses (which means the dragon Zombie and Arwan). Plus it only costs 5 AP.



Vigor heals tons of HP for the party for a whopping 50 AP.



: So, Ken, you've come back... Why did you fight it? All that would have happened is that you would have lost the power of the Brood... You wouldn't have had to die! If you won't give up your power... If you won't submit to the wisdom of Myria...

I think they missed a cool opportunity there. They could have made Arwan an incredibly powerful boss, but if you lost you would just lose Accession for the rest of the game. As it is, you just get a game over.





Here the game let's you choose who to use in the fight. We're sticking with the party that came into Eden though.



By the way, this fight has some of the best music in the game. Check it out.

Oh and hey, who wants to see an onion slay a dragon?

Dragon Lord plays similar to how Teepo was early on in that he's all about offense. In fact, of the 4 bosses in this dungeon (Chimera, Arwan, Dragon Lord and the final boss), only Dragon Lord and Arwan (being undead and all) can't heal themselves. So that part of him hasn't changed much. He also still only has access to fire and ice spells, in addition to Howling (irrelevant since it's a cage match and confused characters won't hit themselves), Triple Strike (watch out for this one) and 15,000 HP. High defense is a must for this fight, making Peco the most solid choice for this fight. So after the standard buffing, let's try Shadowwalk...



Thank god for that Dragonfang. This fight doesn't last long.



Note that the Dragon Blade can also be stolen during the fight. If you steal it then it doesn't drop. Also worth noting is that this is the only fight in the game that has dead silence during the rewards screens. It's a bitter victory



: ......Ken... Myria... is... right... Look at us... The Brood...all we know how to do is... fight and kill each other...like this... ...but......... I...didn't ask... to be Brood... I didn't ask for be the power... I ...just wanted to be with...you Rei, and you, Ken... ...my family...



Peco showing some tact.



Teepo fades away, leaving a key card behind.

: Ha ha ha... Doesn't this just beat all... Hey, Ken... Maybe you Brood really are cursed... I hope not... I really do, Ken...



And now we have everything we need to meet Myria. It was worth it. Right...?