Part 30: Episode XXV: In Which Urick Has Some Huge Balls
Episode XXV: In Which Urick Has Some Huge Balls
Welcome to Chapter 7 of Drakengard 2. To make up for the brevity of Chapter 6, this one is friggin' LONG. But that's mostly from a gameplay perspective, so don't fret too much. This is probably one of my favorite chapters in the game, as a ton of shit goes down and the game actually gets pretty entertaining for a while. Yes, I do actually like the occasional part of this game.
With that said, Nowe proceeds to follow Urick straight back to his former home.
But first, it is time to go gather a selection of new weapons from the ever productive Village of Sand. Let's take a look at what they're offering...
Drakengard 2 Weapon Stories posted:
DEATHDANCE - 5100 Gold
History:
Long ago, in a war-torn region where a small nation constantly fought for supremacy, one country thrived under the leadership of a great hero. In time, he became an emperor and his armies conquered the neighboring lands. Exhausted by years of war, the conquered subjects of this new emperor welcomed his rule.
The emperor held a feast from time to time. It was the one luxury he allowed himself. Disregarding the advice of his council, he would even entertain guests from enemy nations. That day, he had invited a beautiful dancer to perform for him. She hailed from a country which had resisted his conquest for several years.
The dancer possessed such beauty and grace, she stole the emperor's heart in an instant. At the end of her performance, he applauded generously and ordered her to approach his throne so that he might reward her. As he reached out to hand her a priceless ring, she stabbed him through the heart with the sword she's used in her dance.
Bereft of its emperor, the empire soon crumbled, and the flames of war engulfed the region once again. War brought suffering and death to the people of every nation. The assassin's sword was lost, but its story and cruel legacy remains.
Description: There is evil in its dance.
Traits: Accumulates MP quickly. Effective magic attacks.
Magic: "Deadly Fang" - Fangs of death slice through the earth, tearing enemies apart.
Seriously, emperor... You let a woman from a rival nation approach you with a sword in her hand during a weapon story...? Talk about tempting fate...
Drakengard 2 Weapon Stories posted:
KNIGHTS OF THE SEAL'S CURSE STAFF - 6200 Gold
History:
Back when General Oror still lived, there was a magician who was assigned to protect the District of Soul Flame. He possessed the ability to control fire.
The magician was a good friend and a confident of General Oror. He used his power to cleanse the land of Soul Flame.
After Oror was killed by an enemy, the magician left the knights. He did not take kindly the new general's methods. Acutely aware of the plight of his former wards, he returned to the district to ease the suffering of the oppressed.
The magician sold everything in his possession to feed the hungry. He even sold weapons which were crucial to his use of magic. When all of his wealth and power had been exhausted, he starved to death.
Description: A staff that belonged to a fire mage.
Traits: Possesses powerful magic and ground-sweep attacks.
Magic: "Vermillion Cell" - A fireball shoots magic arrows which burn the enemy. That's rather mundane for the title of the spell, eh?
The moral of the story: Charity will get your ass KILLED! Those ingrates will let you wither away and starve to death in the streets after they rob you blind.
Drakengard 2 Weapon Stories posted:
FOUL BLADE - 18400 Gold
History:
A twisted magician sealed a fire lizard into this axe. It would whisper words of hatred for others, and drive its owner to madness.
A thief who stole this axe soon extended his territory to beyond the neighboring mountains, and became the chief of a large group of bandits.
A page who acquired this axe became an infamous soldier, and was made lieutenant in an order of knights.
In the end, however, the axe drove both the thief and the page to kill indiscriminately, and they were murdered by their own men.
Description: An axe with a fire lizard inside.
Traits: Powerful and breaks the enemy's guard with ease, but hard to use.
Magic: "Horn of the Nightmares" - Awakens the spirits of the dead, who kill surrounding enemies. Urick gets an awful lot of necromancy spells...
They really weren't even trying with that one, were they...?
Chapter 5's Shadowed Valley and Citadel of Light (outside) becomes available in Free Expedition at this point. I'm not sure why they waited an extra chapter to unlock those maps. Probably to make it more of a pain in the ass to complete them immediately (the latter mission is FULL of mages with no Manah to easily take them out.) Anyway, completing the Citadel of Light mission will unlock one last weapon...
Drakengard 2 Weapon Stories posted:
NOBUYOSHI
History:
In an eastern land, a poet, who made his living singing songs, grew weary of his trade, when he realized he'd reached the limits of his talents. While contemplating what else he might do with his life, he saw a beautiful sword in the window of a pawnshop. Enchanted by its crimson blade, he bought the sword and took it home.
That night he slept with the sword by his side. As he began to dream, an imp appeared and demanded a trade. He said that if the poet gave up his name, the imp would give him talent in return.
The poet gave his name to the imp without a second thought. In return, he received a beautiful body and an exquisite talent for songs overnight.
But without a name, the beautiful poet lost more and more of his humanity as the days went by. One faithful morning, he awoke to find that he'd been turned into an imp! Fearing to be seen in the world of men, he fled and was never seen again. He left behind the beautiful sword, now granted a name.
Description: Kills each enemy with care.
Traits: It chips easily, but...
Magic: "Sonic Burst" - Portable win button.
The poet later went on to take a double-barreled shotgun blast to the face by an angry space marine. Joking aside, Nobuyoshi is a gimmick weapon. Its trait is that it 'chips easily'. You see this sword starts with an Attack Power of 80 and Guard Break of 60. This makes it the best <currently usable> weapon in our armory at the moment. The runner up (Inuart's Long Sword) only has an attack power of the mid-60s. But the thing is...Nobuyoshi levels really quickly. Like, 25 kills will get it to Level 3. Along with the quick leveling...the weapon's power plummets dramatically. Level 2 drops attack power to 40 and guard to 20. Level 3 drops it to a pathetic 10 and 5. From that point, the weapon is absolute shit and the gap between Level 3 and 4 is pretty much the total experience needed to fully level a non-gimmick weapon from Level 1 to max. When it does reach max level, it jumps back to attack power 100 and guard break 145, making it one of the best weapons on the first playthrough of the game. Meh...
Alright, that's enough for weapon juggling. Let's return back to where all this started to uhh...do something...?
Verse 1: The Barrier - Music: Abysmal Earth
"Huh?"
"I've been to this district before, when I still served with the knights. But when I was here, I never crossed paths with the guardian. If the guardian has not returned... This would be a prime opportunity to destroy the district." "..." "...I was just going to take us to that joint with the great gyros I was telling you about. You...are seriously gonna keep up with this district destruction thing...? Really, kiddo...? REALLY?!"
"NO, YOU BRAINDEAD IDIOT!!!!"
Time for yet another aerial mission. Like before, the objective at the start is to just dash through a hail of bullets, cannon fire, and fireballs to make it to the target objective point.
This mission contains a new enemy type: the Barrier Towers. The "Barrier" part of their name is a bit of a misnomer. They don't actually put up any sort of force field over areas or anything of that nature. They're basically the Knights of the Seal's equivalent of the Nod Obelisk of Light from Command and Conquer.
The towers just basically charge up and shoot giant fuck-off laser beams at Legna. Said lasers are sort of difficult to avoid, as their hitbox is a bit larger than the actual laser blast. But, taking the things out isn't all that taxing. Just flying straight at the thing and firing nothing but dummy fire shots can take the things out easily enough. Each barrier tower comes with three small cannonball firing towers for support, but those seem to have terrible accuracy and can be safely ignored.
"But...then how could Manah possibly be responsible for all those terrible things...?" "...The priestess was a small child 18 years ago."
"...?" "...Look. There's another barrier. Go blow that up or something."
There are three barrier towers in the area (and whenever they appear, they seem to come in package deals of three.) Demolishing the trio will end the mission. Time to go check up on that district...
Legna lands outside the District of Shining Life...
Click to view cutscene.
Outside the entrance to the district, we come upon Caim going on a killing spree. Sword in one hand, Manah meat shield in the other. How both of them managed to make it here first...on foot...is a bit of a mystery.
And that's 118...
"He's too strong!" Oh come the fuck on! I've already handicapped myself swinging around this scrawny little bitch while fighting. Do I have to go track down her creepy runt brother and strap him to my other arm to get any kind of challenge out of you pussies?!
"BARF!" <sigh> 119...
And an even 120... 
I gave you Union fuckwits THREE YEARS to get your shit together before I showed up again for another round. I've fought babies that put up more of a fight than you pansies! You're making murder boring... I did not even think that was POSSIBLE!
"Manah! Caim captured you?!" Yeah, well don't give me too much credit on my tracking skills. She kinda goes all 'oh boo-hoo, crippling psychological trauma. Woe is me!' whenever I show up. Heh. I just have that kinda effect on some people.
"Urick?" Huh... Look at the pair of balls on this one. Either you're stupider than you look...and from here you look pretty fucking stupid... Or maybe you actually know how to swing that lump of metal you've got there. 
Take a hike, kid. I'll deal with you later. Go change those pants you pissed in the meantime. "Manah!"
Manah hauls ass out of the chamber as fast as she can to get away from Caim. Nowe proceeds to give chase after her, leaving Urick alone to take on Caim. Thanks for being a bro and helping out, Nowe. You're a shining beacon of camaraderie and competency to the very end.
Verse 1 Cutscene (Probably worth watching.)
Caim Artwork - 18 years later and he's still rockin' the Crocs.