Part 58: 20,000 Years of Solitude

So here we are, running into Yorath once again. I'm sensing an incoming plot dump...













Once again, we are back in the Arena...





















This seems to be the ship where the whole story started...







































I guess, we relived the moment of the Qualia's appearance here?











But it's true. It'll happen in just a few hours from now. And that is only the beginning.
From the moment of my birth into this world, I've been destined to fight the Qualia. My existence had to be kept secret from the Almighty. For twenty thousand years, I was hidden away in a room like a prisoner. Do you think it was cruel? I don't.
As long as I had Cyllis, I was content. I didn't need anything else. I didn't care about the Qualia. All I wanted was the love of my mother.
I realised it, you know. I was aware that what Cyllis gave me wasn't real love... Perhaps I was jealous of you people--envious of your real bonds with one another, envious of the natural way you were created and came into existence.
I began to think of my own existence as an unnatural, warped and twisted patchwork... But I could still grant Cyllis her wishes. If she wanted me to be fused with Ohm, I could do it. If she wanted your people wiped out, I would do everything in my power to make that happen.
And if she wanted me to fight the Qualia, even though there was little chance of winning, I would gladly go to my death.
But somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew. Even if I could defeat the first Qualia, I realised I could never create a future in which the Qualia likely to return could be wiped out entirely. Even though I am complete, I do not evolve, and I cannot reproduce. Only a race capable of growth and reproduction could secure a future in which the Qualia could be defeated once and for all.
Cyllis hadn't realised this, and it didn't seem important to me.
But now I want to know. Is it important? Is it all right for me to become the chosen one? These questions started to nag at me when I was battling the former Olgar.
If I win the battle against you, I somehow feel I will learn the answers.



Honestly, at least he apologises!















Actually this little conversation from Vieg and Vahti nets us a bit of a powerup which you can see noted with that little symbol next to our characters' stats. Unfortunately, like in a typical Final Fantasy game, if one of our characters gets KOd, the powerup will also be lost with no way to get it back on. But that's ok, since with the right strategy, we are not going to die here (even if Yorath does still have a ton of HP to work through).



He likes to cast fire spells and his attacks are generally fire based, so this will help reduce the damage massively.



On the other hand, we aren't doing badly against him at all.



Sigh. Not again.



But thanks to the previously obtained skill, it just does 1000 damage to all now. This, we can deal with.



Ha ha.







Suddenly there is a flash of white...



...and a change of scenery. What is going on?























No matter, we have to keep going...



And here is the fire spell...



Thanks to our water element, it does practically nothing.



But now our attacks are damaging him even more because he's just acquired fire element. I must say this system of elemental characteristics/counters is one thing about this game's battle system that I really like. It makes for a small bit of fun strategising in addition to just blindly casting whatever elemental spell.





...and switch!



That stuff in the background looks interesting...































...and switch!





And we're done here. He has about 40,000 HP and this battle can be a bit more difficult if you don't take precaution to "immunise" yourself against fire, or if you get a bit unlucky with his choice of moves and so on. But in general, it should be possible to make it through within a couple of tries really.









Not again (or, uh, for the first time since this is happening BEFORE the other game).



























What are you doing, Yorath?



Ah right, what everybody always does in this game, the magical healing spell.

























We earn a couple of not-bad skills. Flawless Counter gives us a certain probability to block all damage and do a counter attack, which is pretty good; and the other skill allows us to attack for the value of lost HP.



So, there is a teleporter here in the top right corner. I wonder where it goes.

I'm sure you have some idea where it may be leading to, but I will tell you right now, whatever you are thinking, you are almost certainly wrong. You'll see.