Part 24: Chapter XXII: Did I Mention You Can Turn Into Dragons?

Chapter XXII: Did I Mention You Can Turn Into Dragons?

Welcome back.



And that means we have our last cage match, Garr versus the final boss. Guess that means it's time to train his ass up.



And with the keycard we got from Teepo, nothing can stop us from meeting Myria.



With our third and final Light Bangle out of the way, we're ready to move on.




That door on the west end of the hub area is our final destination.



And our last set of enemies. The Mist Man is similar to the Armor, except it has Thunder Strike instead of Frost Strike, which makes it much deadlier. Thunder Strike inflicts paralysis instead of sleep, which does NOT wear off on it's own. And if you kill them before the armor cracks, they have a chance to drop the Mist Armor, which is some of the best in the game.



And oddly, that was the only encounter I ran into in this room. It's a small maze, and this is the exit.



And this here is another fun section. One of Capcom's favorite things, the Boss Rush. Here are a bunch of old boss fights, some with multiple copies, including one new boss monster and an old one with a twist. And in an extraordinary bout of luck, the number of these coincides exactly with the amount of dragon forms to show you.

That's right, you finally get to see the dragons. Back views anyway. It wasn't until recently that I realized that's all they were, so in the bonus update I'll show off the front views too.



It's actually less of a Boss Rush and more of a Boss Maze. Whenever you enter a room, it starts off like this. Then the lights come up along with your party being surprised (by having big yellow !'s over their heads).

Yep, that's 3 Nues.



And for our first form, we've got the Pygmy. Combine the Mutant and ??? Genes.



It has no legs and is adorable



But it's weak as hell.



Not even enough to kill any Nue's.



So let's try another. The Tiamat combines the Trance and Shadow Genes.



Like the Behemoth, it combines the entire party into one big form, but unlike the Behemoth, it makes you totally immune to all status changes.



This is either Shadow Breath or Doom Breath, I forget.




And this is the other one. The Tiamat also has access to Venom Breath, for god knows what reason. If you're using dragon forms to inflict status ailments, you're using them wrong.



Moving right along.



Next up is the Mammoth. By combining the Miracle and ??? Genes, you get...



This. Take a look at that HP. You get 1000% HP, 320% power, but your defense gets lowered by 30%. Crazy strong.



Hey, remember when I said Mikba was difficult way back when?



At the end of the maze, there's a ladder that leads to a rest area. There's a bed, a camp diary, and the entrance to the final area.



And the final treasure of the game is utter crap. Seriously, there's no reason to use this. EVER. You recover 1 HP per round.



Now let's talk about the Fusion Gene. This Gene is special. Based on your party configuration, you transform into a dragon based on one of your characters. Alone, they're pretty powerful, but they each have a second, powered up form by combining the Fusion Gene with another one. If the dragon would be a Garr Dragon, you transform into a whelp, which makes sense. Why would they let you fuse with your races sworn enemy?

Anyway, the Super Rei Dragon is formed by combing the Fusion and Force Genes with Rei and either Nina or Momo in the party. It's fast and strong.



And it's a tiger with wings which is pretty scary on it's own.




Hurricane is it's special attack.



Next up is the Myrmidon. Combining the Force and Trance Genes gives you another glass cannon. Your power is raised by 500-600% (randomized), but your HP and defense barely go up. Used when you want a boss to go down fast.




It's got all the elemental strikes to help with that, plus Aura Breath.



Which is pretty.



I don't think I've mentioned this, but by now everyone's HP and AP should be well enough that they can be apprenticed to Ladon. The stat bonuses and and hidden boosts are just to awesome.



Next up is the Super Momo Dragon, combining the Fusion and ??? Genes with Momo and either Peco or Nina in the party.



Yes, that's a bazooka on it's head.





Combustion drops a literal bomb on all your enemies.



Fusion and Shadow form the Super Peco Dragon, with a party that includes Peco and either Rei or Garr. It's slightly less powerful offensively, but it has the highest HP and defense of all the Fusion forms.



And this guy, dubbed by fans the Dodo, is the unique boss here. Very powerful, it actually poses a challenge and is there to catch you off guard. No real tricks other than high stats and Evil Eye, which paralyzes someone.




Plus look it even attacks adorably!



See?!



The last Fusion Form is made by combining the Fusion and Eldritch Genes with Nina and either Peco or Garr in the party.



And I like to think the Super Nina Dragon is Capcom's way of apologizing for not letting you fight with the Great Bird in the previous two games.




OK, it missed because it's a boss, but the Super Nina Dragon's Temptation (sounds like a Sailor Moon attack to me and I hate myself for even being able to reference it) lowers all the stats of all targets. Sounds useful, but you really shouldn't be using dragons in random battles, where it might be handy.

And that's all she wrote about dragons, folks. All the others are elemental copies or slight variations. I'm not gonna show off each and every possible Gene combination because I'm not crazy. Plus I've already showed off Kaiser.



And for our last fight in the Boss Maze, I think this party deserves the honor.



No, not this one.



THIS one.

Stallion with a twist. One each for fire, ice, and lightning. So let's knock out Balio and Sunder one last time for the road.



And, appropriately enough, Rei learns his final spell after destroying them. Nina learns it too.

And that's it for today, kiddies. I was gonna include the final fight in this, but I decided it didn't seem right.

Next time, hopefully tomorrow, I'll have the final confrontation up.