Part 28: Where are They Now...? A Look at Drakengard 2!
Where are They Now...? A Look at Drakengard 2!
So we've come to the end of our journey as far as Drakengard goes. Sure, there are four more endings in Drakengard and they'll all be fun...of a sort. But, as far as the series is concerned, this is what really happened and it leads straight into Drakengard 2 (or Drag-On Dragoon 2: Sealed Red, Corrupt Black.) Granted, when I say "straight into Drakengard 2" I mean 18 years later. Just in time for a plucky J-RPG hero to come into optimum Japanese protagonist age... How about that!
I won't be doing an LP of that title. Mostly because it sucks. Sure, Drakengard sucks too, but at least it's interesting in a fucked sort of way. Drakengard 2 is just dull JRPG rubbish with a few gameplay enhancements to elevate the core gameplay from "slow and godawful" to "bargain bin generic and boring". But, it does have a few interesting connections to this title. All of which I'm going to now spoil because fuck that game.
If you don't want Drakengard 2 spoiled for you: skip this update. Nothing but Drakengard 2 spoilers ahead!
Is that one weirdo who actually cared gone? Good. That guy was such an asshole. So, let's begin... You can go click that first picture for some appropriate mood music.
The Union
Despite the whole aerial Fantasy Nuke bombardment wiping out the greater part of their armed forces, the Union lives on. All of you speculating earlier that the Union were really the bad guys...? Guess what? You were right!
The Union goes on to form the Knights of the Seal, who set up a series of properly defended locks on top of the Goddess Seal - the Red Dragon Angelus. Each lock is defended by a guardian who's formed a pact with some legendary creature not unlike Caim and Red's arrangement. Which seems like a good idea and all, I'm sure. The trouble is they become corrupt fascist assholes in the process and the guardians are almost all nutjobs that would fit in nicely with a Metal Gear Solid Fox-Hound like villain team.
The Empire
In a continued reversal of roles, the remnants of the Empire, now free from the Cult of the Watchers' spell, go on to be oppressed peasants toiling away in squalor. They are forced to live in predefined Union ghettos as punishment for being such jerks during the original Drakengard. In addition, you know that whole system of keys used as the new security system for the Goddess Seal? Yeah...that whole thing is powered by the sucking the life force out of the conquered Imperial citizens.
So, after the whole end of the world was prevented by just Caim and Angelus wrecking up everyone's shit and saving the day, the Union just goose stepped in and bulldozed over the Empire post getting its shit kicked in by Caim, Angelus, and every monster in the world with an assist from the orbital bombardment by the Seeds of Resurrection.
The Union is sort of run by dicks. As a result, Caim and the Union have a big falling out.
Caim and Angelus
Everyone's favorite croc wearing sociopath goes batshit crazy in-between games. He also gained a fashionable missing eye (replaced with a false eye, not an eyepatch. Sorry.) Unlike Furiae's whole Goddess spiel making her a passive muppet prone to collapsing and being kidnapped (with a side of dumping Inuart due to...err...whatever...) The Red Dragon becoming the new seal is apparently painful as fuck for her. I am not really sure what the hell happened in the ending we saw in the last update with Angelus becoming some glowing orb and floating into space.
Truth of the matter is she ended up right where she began in Drakengard: chained up in the Goddess' Castle from way back in Chapter 1. A few years after Drakengard, Caim came back and demanded Red be released and they go find a new goddess or whatever the pansies do. The Knights of the Seal basically told him to fuck off. This was a dire mistake. Pissed as shit, Caim set about doing with he does best.
MURDER.
So, Caim flips the fuck out, kills a shit load of people, and then makes it his personal mission to find a way to free Angelus.
Thus, Caim goes on to be a major villain in Drakengard 2 as well as a pretty fun boss fight. He even kills a major party member and Death itself. Which, I assume eventually gets better...considering there is more death not long after. The party member...not so much. But he had purple hair, a stupid helmet, and possibly was gay with a cowboy hat sporting elf. It's a long story. A dumb story.
Watch as Caim murders the shit out of a guy so hard it kills DEATH... as well as some loser Death made a pact with.
Eventually, Caim does manage to free Angelus. Red, finally released after eighteen years of torment, is fucking pissed! She promptly goes on a rampage and burns half the countryside of Fantasy East Europe (Drakengard 2 takes place in Eastern Europe. The map isn't flipped this time... It's just plain wacky Eastern Europe With Dragons...)
Watch Angelus Wreck Shit Up
Sadly, the toll of eighteen years of imprisonment and no longer being one of the main characters has left Angelus off her A-game. So, after a climactic boss battle, Drakengard 2, in an unsuccessful bid to dethrone Chrono Cross as king of shitting all over its predecessor, kills her off. And Caim. Yup, no happy end for Caim and Red. They fucking die.
Watch as Drakengard 2 kill off Caim and Red because Drakengard 2 sucks.
Of course, seeing as how Angelus was still the Goddess and all this triggers the end of the world...again...
Watch the beginning of the end of the world 2.0! This time it's slightly more dramatic.
Inuart, Furiae, and The Black Dragon
Remember that whole hanging plot thread about Inuart flying off with Furiae's body on the Black Dragon? Turns out they buggered off to produce this colossal faggot: Nowe (pronounced "No way!")
Turns out those whole "Seeds of Resurrection" plot devices were utilized off screen. With instructions from the Black Dragon, Inuart entered one of the seeds with Furiae's body. And via some plot fuckery by the Black Dragon, out dropped this little bastard. Apparently, if used correctly, the Seeds of Resurrection are an instant baby maker. You just toss two bodies in, shake it up a little bit, and presto! Instant anime baby!
I recall reading that the "Seeds of Resurrection" were titled "God Eggs" in the Japanese version. Unfortunately, I cannot find where the hell I read that though...it that title (as silly as it is) does make a few things a bit more clear.
You know how Caim was a somewhat refreshing Japanese video game hero? Nowe is not. At all. Nowe is pretty much every J-RPG cliché rolled into one extremely unlikable Tidus like faggot. He's a teenage pretty boy emo whiny git who comes pre-equipped with staples such as being an outcast because of his mysterious origin (The Black Dragon raises him. This earns him the extremely gay nickname of "Dragon Child"), despite this he still has a female childhood friend party member. He also turns out to be "The Chosen One" as some sort of half-human/half-dragon hybrid. This causes him to go Super Saiyan. Indeed, the final battle is between Nowe with glowing white hair flying around throwing fireballs and the Black Dragon.
But, as far as Inuart goes: he tried to resurrect Furiae. Fucked up and produced an anime protagonist and died. A total fuckstick until the end.
The Black Dragon gets a make-over between games and becomes more of a dark bluish dragon (though everyone still insists it's black.) We readily discover its real name is "Legna". I guess Sulegna didn't roll off the tongue too well. It takes on a kindly old grandfatherly voice, adopts Nowe, and raises him. Legna fills the role of Angelus as the playable dragon. Despite being the black dragon he's fairly nice and encourages Nowe and the others. So...he's about as interesting as dish water compared to Red's pessimistic grumpy ass.
Nowe eventually goes Super Saiyan and kills him at the end of the game due to plot fuckery I cannot be bothered to recall. It would be very sad if I gave a shit about either of them. Nowe's childhood friend, Steiner with tits, goes on to become the new goddess so it's a pretty bad week for Nowe. Unfortunately she, like all JRPG female childhood friends, gets shoved aside when the real love interest shows up.
Manah
Following the end of Drakengard, Caim made good on Angelus' promise to make sure everyone hated Manah. So, he marched the kid barefoot through the snow (uphill both ways) to every pocket of civilization not razed by the events toward the end of the game and held up a sign saying "YOU KNOW ALL THAT APOCALYPTIC SHIT LAST MONTH AND THE WHOLE EVIL EMPIRE THING? IT WAS THIS LITTLE SHIT'S FAULT!"
The townspeople would all look at him with the crying little girl and be all puzzled as to what the fuck, since they're peasants and it's a grim dark fantasy realm thus most of them were illiterate. Caim would then get pissed and decapitate someone then glare at everyone else until they all joined in throwing tomatoes at Manah and calling her names and she would cry and cry and Caim would laugh and laugh. And a good time was had by all. Except Manah. She had a terrible time and was scared shitless of even the mention of Caim to this very day.
Luckily for her, Caim eventually got bored and ditched her on a mountain or something before wandering off in search of something to kill.
Flash forward 18 years and Manah has formed the Rebel Alliance or some shit and tries to free the oppressed former Empire's citizens...who are sort of all having a shitty time due to Manah being a possessed jerk as a little girl. I guess she feels a bit guilty about that whole thing. She fills the whole cliché "hey hero the organization you work for are really the bad guys come join the rebellion and stop them" role and eventually joins Nowe in fighting the Knights of the Seal and yadda yadda yadda...
Of course Caim eventually shows up for his annual "scare the piss out of that dumbass kid that turned into a giant damn that was stupid" reunion (which falls on the Second Monday of Each October unless there is murdering keeping him occupied. Then it falls on the Wednesday of the same week.)
Watch Manah's annual "OH FUCK CAIM!!!" day.
Of course, what is a villain turned protagonist without a host of mental issues? On top shitting her pants whenever Caim is in the tri-state region, Manah goes a bit loony after Angelus bites causing the whole end of the world redux. The Watchers try to set up shop in her head again and all that sort of fun. Nowe...by means I do not think they actually attempt to explain...somehow goes inside her mind and beats up her mental issues. And that's that.
She too turns out to be a remarkably boring character.
Verdelet:
Verdelet goes back to being the Hierarch for the Union for a time. When Caim rolls into town and goes apeshit over Angelus, his first order of business is murdering the shit out of Verdelet. It's really the best plot advancement to come between the two games.
Everyone Else:
They are never mentioned again. Drakengard!
Thus concludes all the canon parts of Drakengard if you're in to that sort of thing. You'll now never have to play Drakengard 2 and all the crappiness it entails. So, now that is out of the way, it's time for the meat and potatoes of Drakengard: The Alternate Scenarios. It's time to back-up in time and mix it up a bit. Try things out a bit differently. And see how far this rabbit hole goes...
Stay tuned...