Part 100: Episode LXXVI: In Which We Water the Plants With a Bit of the Old Ultraviolence

Episode LXXVI: In Which We Water the Plants With a Bit of the Old Ultraviolence

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Verse 3: Blood and Guts
Music: Exvulsion ~ Battleground

We find ourselves in the Forest of Agony. I think this might have also been the Faeries' Forest and the Forest of Light at different points. It's all blurred together in a sea of reused assets. Regardless, there's no faeries. I'm assuming they are busy with some manner of diplomatic process to select the new faerie king or the like. At least the sickly green filter of Branch B is mostly gone. Or at least subdued to standard ugly filtering affair instead of outright hideous.



Zero! Hey, Zero! What should I do?
Get in the air and back us up.
Okay! Got it!

Look Mikhail, we've been through this a couple dozen times now. Just hang out in the air and wait for blue summon prompts. I know you're a very powerful dragon, that by all accounts has unlimited fire breath, but you know what that does to our poor framerate in these unstable timelines.



Note: All generic soldiers get a reverb of varying severity added to their voice. Not unlike Four possessed in her encounter. Okay, maybe not nearly that bad at any point. Regardless, bad time timeline universe to be an enlisted man!

I have to kill her. I must! Before it's too late!
Can we do this... It's... itchy everywhere...
Where the hell are you going?
Zero's flower... It's calling to me...
Stop it you fool! She'll kill you!
The flower calls my name... I have to go to it.
Damn you, Zero! Damn you to hell!



These men have lost their minds.
Like I care. I've been surrounded by loons from the get-go.
No she's... she's already...
We're still in this!
Are you insane?! We'll be sitting ducks.



By all means, line up lads. This is a Drakengard endgame. You're probably best off being cut down quickly and violently while things are still only mildly off-kilter. I mean even in the really lame Drakengard 2 timelines, entire villages probably got flattened by shards of the frikkin' sky falling on top of them.



I think this is the map that has the pond mid-boss arena. Then the ambush cave mid-way through. Then...some other long arena. Possibly with cliffs breaking the place up? I swear there are two Land of Forests that just straight copy and paste segments of each other and it is done solely to fuck with me. Cuz honestly, who else on earth is going to spend a couple hours analyzing every mission in the Drakengard series to review with others and notice this sort of thing?



Zero! Does your flower hurt? Does it hurt?
No! I'm... I'm fine.
Well... don't fight too hard, okay?
…
Zero! Zero!
What!?
Do I smell bad again today?
...Actually, you know what? I think it's gotten a little better.
Yaaay! I washed myself in a river so I'd be clean from now on! So, um, maybe that means you won't... You won't hate me? O-Or be scared of me?
Come on. I don't hate you and I'm certainly not scared of you.
Aww, thanks, Zero.





Another thing not to be scared of: Centaurs. C'mon game. We've killed like twenty of these dopes by this point. Even for an early mission mid-boss this is some weak sauce. What else have you got?





Aw, nasty! They got maggots comin' outta their EYES! Look at these horror shows! How can they stand it!? They're putrid, filthy beasts... It's so messed up... I LOVE IT! Ha ha! Ha ha ha ha!
Please, Dito. Such thoughts are tasteless.
Hmph. Says the guy who likes being kicked in the balls.
Unnnnhugh...



So there are wolves in most forest maps. I usually just gloss over their encounters because they're a minor nuisance trash mob at best. But while taking screenshots I paused the video at this frame and I just like everything that's happening. You've got one wolf lunging for Zero. Decadus wrestling with a skeleton. Two wolves appear to be bugging out behind some crates to hide, while a third breakdances to the chaos. And finally two more undead rushing in from the distance to break up the whole ridiculous ruckus.

Yep. This is definitely going in the murder road trip photo album.





Ah see! I knew there was the ambush cave here! There's always an ambush cave somewhere in the Land of Forests' maps, but I swear its position wanders. Or I'm going crazy. Little bit of both.



There's actually an unannounced new enemy in this ambush cave: A Greater Spirit. They're upscaled sized spirits with their model's human skull replaced with a goat skull. Greater spirits can almost instantly possess an enemy and it takes quite a few more licks to exorcise them from their victims. Also, you now, the enemy stat boost while possessing fitting of end game numbers.



But here all they have to work with are just standard undead soldiers and if Zero is not in range of a skeleton and pounding their dry bones until they're dust, then something is clearly wrong.



Past the ambush cave, we come upon the final arena. And unlike that mild nonsense with the solitary centaur earlier, this battle isn't mucking about.



The challenge here for the penultimate Land of Forests mission of the game are two undead gigante. But no ordinary undead gigante. These two are permanently locked into their overdrive pissed off mode their armored cousins occasionally fall into near death. Undead gigante almost never get the chance to use their devil trigger form. So this is a new trick from the play book.



Look at 'em! So stinky and slimy and gory and rotten... This battle's gonna be horrible! I totally can't wait!
This sight is beyond imagining. What is happening here?
Really? Who cares!? Me, I feel great!
Seriously? I didn't know you were so big on nature.
The only thing that matters right now is that Five no longer exists! Honestly, I've never felt better! Thank you SO much for killing that pig, Zero. I mean it.
Watch what you say about Lady Five, Dito. It behooves us not to curse the dead.
Whatever! I'll curse her corpse until the day I die! I'll never forgive her! Never!





There is, in all honesty, nothing more to be said about the undead gigas that hasn't already been said. And probably rephrased. The devil trigger variety behaves exactly the same. It's just that every attack it does now takes off a third of Zero's rather lengthy health bar. Just standing next to one and having it pull a ground stomp with a bad camera angle or rough spot on the geometry of a tree can turn Zero from fine to eye flower regenerating off-screen in no time flat.







Beyond that, Mikhail proves useful cover support if summoned for aide, Intoner Mode never stops being the best option in nearly every situation the entire game, and there's no penalty for using health items other than spending money to buy more later. It's the end game. Live a little. Or you're going to grind out the cash for the rest of those weapon upgrades for that Platinum Trophy. In which case, seek mental help immediately. Even I never did anything that self harming. I mean other than Drakengard 2 in general. Three times.



You do know I'm an Intoner too...
Ha ha! Ha ha ha ha!



And Dito's extended happy times brings us to the end of this mission. Tune in next time! We'll kill some folks. Maybe even slice open an Intoner. It'll be fun for the whole family!








Video: Branch D Verse 3 Highlight Reel



Early Zero Concept Art – Flower power! Wait no... TOO MUCH FLOWER POWER!