Exit Fate Part #56 - The Last Vestiges

Part 56: The Last Vestiges

Welcome back. Last time on Exit Fate, we got the shit trolled out of us by Yan Angwa. With that, we've seen all the optional content that this game has to offer, and there's nothing left for us to do except take on the final dungeon. Brunhild is waiting for us in Vanaheim, along with a few other characters whose stories haven't been quite wrapped up yet. Let's not keep them waiting any longer.

As I mentioned a few updates back, I used a bit of save shenanigans when it came to showing the optional content, so for the final dungeon we're going to be heading back in time a bit and using a party that isn't horribly overpowered. Along with the six characters you voted in, we're also bringing along Tarlia, since it seems appropriate to bring her, and Royston, because he's Royston.

Let's do it.

Music: Empire - Final Fantasy Tactics, "Anxiety Before The Battle"

As the final dungeon, Vanaheim is appropriately lengthy, but the castle itself isn't all that large. A lot of the length of the dungeon comes from the fact that the most direct route to our destination is usually blocked off by locked doors, and we have to find a way around. In the end we want to end up back at the throne room, but we'll have to traverse a lot of the castle to get there.

And of course, it wouldn't be much of a final dungeon without enemies.

The generic soldiers here are Almenga Elites, and they're an upgrade on the soldiers we saw at Shiva Passage. But as with pretty much all the soldiers we've seen throughout the game, regardless of nationality, they aren't much of a threat.

Almenga Elites always show up with a commander who has a few more tricks up his sleeve, but it's nothing we can't handle.

As we head down the left hallway to get around the locked door in the center, we also run into a Grand Conjurer and her pet Lightning Bolts.

Lightning Bolts exist solely to be fast and get in several quick attacks before you kill them. An individual attack from one of them isn't a huge deal, but...

... just like the summoners we saw in the Shiva Passage, the Grand Conjurer will use her turn to revive the Lightning Bolts if they're dead, and with a significant amount of HP to boot. So they can wear you down with their repeated attacks if you aren't paying attention.

In addition, unlike the Shiva Passage summoners, the Grand Conjurer will not stay idle on her turn if all of the Lightning Bolts are alive, and will instead start buffing them. This isn't really a big deal, but it makes a hell of a lot more sense than the Conjurer just skipping her turn.

At the end of the hallway we find a room with several exits.

The way to the north is locked though. We'll just have to try the other doors.

The southwest door takes us to a small room with a Purple Bandana, which grants +16 SKL, but is a dead end otherwise.

The eastern door gets us back to the center of the castle.

As proof, we can head south from this room, which leads us to the locked door we saw as we entered. Unfortunately we can't open it from this side either.

The door to the north leads on, but we're not going to head that way just yet.

Instead, we're going to go east first, where we find a room symmetrical to the one on the west side. There's even a symmetrical locked door.

The room's southwest door leads back to the castle entrance, but the southeast door leads us to another dead-end room with a treasure chest, this one containing a Purple Herb.

Right then, let's keep moving.

As we continue through the next room, Daniel abruptly stops.

There's someone standing in our way.

Music: Tears - Xenogears, "Tears of the Stars, Hearts of the People"

I know you are all disappointed in me, maybe even angry, and I... I can understand that.

I am not a leader like you, Daniel. I am not as intelligent as Keyser. I am not as audacious as Knight. I am not as strong as Eander.

I was never treated as an equal. I was made fun of, by all of you. You didn't even have the courtesy to do it behind my back. I just wanted some respect. I know they approached me precisely for that reason. Not because I was special, but because I was weak. I knew that all along. And yet... they told me that they needed me, that I was essential to their plans. They told me all those words that I'd been craving to hear.

A request?

I am not a warrior either. It would be hopeless trying to stop you all by myself. Daniel, I'm asking you to fight me, one on one.

Why? Do you really think you can still win? It's over, Leonius. Surrender and return with us to the capital.

I cannot do that. I have sworn that I would never return to St. Reinard again. There is nothing left there for me.

You know, I want to laugh at this, but it's just too goddamned sad.

BOSS FIGHT: Leonius

(no music change; Tears continues playing)

Christ, even his battle sprite looks pathetic.

Anyway, as a one-on-one fight, there really isn't any kind of strategy here. I'd argue that this battle only exists to ensure you've used Daniel enough to bring him to a reasonable level. If you have, Leonius will barely be able to touch him.

This is how you actually use magic, Leonius.

Leonius has a physical attack that can do about 250 damage, but he'll miss more often than not.

Likewise with Poison Sword, whose effects should be obvious.

He doesn't have that much HP, so it only takes a few rounds of back-and-forth to bring him down.

We get Battle Plan #4 as a reward, the plan for the battle at Matrech Coast where we faced him. There's no music change here, Tears continues playing through the end of the fight and beyond.

Of course... After all, I am no one. To think that I could defeat the Hand of Fate on my own would be... folly.

If you had surrendered, your life might have been spared. There was no reason to do a thing like this.

You still do not understand. There are many like me... who have no strength, no power. We are weak, Daniel... This is what weak people do. I have no regrets about what I have done. All in all it was nothing but a gamble... and I lost...

Music: None

Jovian will chime in here with some extra dialogue if you have him with you. He's not the only one who can, either:

Did you ever realize what an incredible honor it is to be one of the four legion commanders of the royal army? Do you realize what you've thrown away, Leonius...?

Perhaps he was just weak... but that's not a justification.

Is it really over, Anna? Can you finally rest in peace now?

... Farewell, General.

Though I have to say I'm a bit confused by Rorschach's line. Wasn't his sister named Rosa?

Fade to black...

Music: Empire - Final Fantasy Tactics, "Anxiety Before The Battle"

Control is returned to us here. Leonius's corpse will just kind of lie there until we leave the room, after which it will vanish.

However, as it turns out, the door behind him isn't actually where we want to go.

Instead, we need to head through one of the side doors. Let's take the western path first.

If we head south from there, we find ourselves behind one of the locked doors we saw earlier. There's a free Heal-All lying here.

There's a symmetrical room on the eastern side of the castle as well, but it's empty.

If you try to head north from the western path, though, you'll run into a locked door before you can get around to the other side of the door that was behind Leonius. From the room he was in, you need to head east, north, and back west to get to this room.

Heading north from here brings us to a staircase that takes us to the second floor of the castle.

Once we reach the second floor, new enemies begin to appear. This fellow here is a Dracoknight and he is a jerk.

Dracoknights have very high HP totals for regular enemies and will often spend their turns using the Zeus's Wrath skill, which deals a decent amount of damage to the entire party. They also have a fairly powerful regular attack.

Regardless of which direction you head around the stairs, you'll end up in the same room. From here, though, we have a choice of which way to go.

Scratch that, let's head east.

The next room is a storage room of sorts, containing a bit of treasure. If you never figured out how to get a Black Ruby or never realized that you might need to find one, SCF throws you a bone here and just gives one to you. This is rather nice, since I'm pretty confident most people won't find Marcello on their first playthrough and it'd be a pain to search for a Black Ruby after you've overlooked the hint you find in the Hall of Memories.

As we're heading back through the storage room, we run into some more Almenga Elites. The ones in the back have bows, but still have the same name.

The Almenga Elite archers are nothing new. They can attack anyone on the field for minor damage and have pathetic HP, just like every other archer we've seen in this game.

Heading through the northeast exit of the storage room brings us to a room that looks like the path onwards, but let's check out the western part of this area first.

The west side of this area is another storage room, containing Menu Set #10.

Menu Set #10 is the last menu set and is known as the Imperial Set. I want to say that this is an original look, but if anyone has seen it elsewhere, feel free to chime in.

As we're heading back we encounter Apocalypse. That's this guy's name, anyway.

Apocalypse is basically Catoblepas version 2. His Horrid Visage attack acts just like his little brother's, dealing moderate damage and inflicting both Poison and Chaos.

They also have a rather powerful all-hit attack in Stampede.

Anyway, we head back to the central room and continue on.

This spits us out in yet another storage room, with a choice of paths.

The eastern room in here contains the last battle plan, Battle Plan #21.

Battle Plan #21 is Almenga Assault, a reimagining of the battle at Vanaheim. This time around Brunhild is backing up Gudrun at the capital, but the battle doesn't look too bad...

... until you realize there's also an entire army to your south, led by Ash, Regin, and Tarlia.

The door on the eastern side of this room is locked, so we head around to the west instead.

That brings us to another staircase, leading to the third floor. There are an awful lot of save points around here...

The third floor brings with it a new look, as well as new enemies. This fellow here is a Red Dracoknight and he is a bigger jerk.

Red Dracoknights have even more HP than their green counterparts, as well as a very powerful physical attack.

Along with that, they also have Fire Spear, which hits a column for similar damage...

... and their biggest asshole move is Ares's Wrath, which is like Zeus's Wrath but also has a chance to inflict Berserk on the entire party.

Afterwards, we head northeast from the room we were in, but we run into a locked door pretty quickly.

So we head back and go through the northwest door instead. Didn't we just have a save point like two minutes ago?

As we continue past this save point, though, Daniel abruptly stops again.

Looks like there are still more people willing to stand against us.

Music: Redemption - Chrono Cross, "Prisoners Of Fate"

There's no need for this. You know that. It's already over. Almenga is finished.

For decades I stood by Siegfried's side, even though he rejected me, even though he would never forget that woman... Even then... I continued to protect him. I did everything I could for him. Then you, his own son of all people... You killed him!

BOSS FIGHT: Gudrun

(no music change; Redemption continues playing)

Gudrun is pretty much guaranteed to get the first move in this battle, and she will always open with Asgard Winter, which deals moderate damage and has a chance of inflicting Slow.

She also has Row Strike, which hits fairly hard. Apart from that, though, she doesn't have much in the way of variety. She just kept using those two moves again and again for her next 3-4 turns.

She carries the Valkyrie Dress, a female-only armor that grants +25 PDF, +25 MDF, and +80 max HP for only 13 weight. Not bad.

In all honesty, though, Gudrun's not that tough. She's got a bit of power behind her attacks, but none of her moves are seriously threatening and we can heal the damage from them fairly easily.

As with Leonius's battle, we don't get any victory music and Redemption continues through the results screen and beyond. Our reward is a Crystal Battlehelm, which grants +18 PDF for 10 weight.

Also like Leonius, there's a scene afterwards. All right Tarlia, now's your time to step up and--

--hm?

Fade to white...

(Gudrun and Freya don't have portraits in this flashback.)

Ugh... you know how difficult they can be. It's the same as always.

Are you feeling okay, Gudrun? You don't look so well...

I'm fine, it's just that...

Fade to white...

Westwards? Is this going to be another training mission?

Yes... and no.

What do you mean?

The Hazan? Those nomads? But they're hardly a threat to us.

You must've heard that Emperor Sigmund is planning a war against Kirgard. He's saying that to fight the war properly, we need a united Almenga. But I know that's not all of it. This is also a "test run", to see how our army performs in a real battle.

You mean... we're attacking the Hazan just as some kind of target practice?

Those are the Emperor's orders.

You can't be serious. Are you really going along with this, Gudrun?

Those are the Emperor's orders.

You know as well as I do that it's no use. Sigmund would not listen to me. We've tolerated the Hazan in our lands for a long time. It's not asking too much to have them bow to the emperor.

Fade to white...

We have to set an example for the rest. Another village and they're sure to surrender.

Stop it, Gudrun... Why are we doing this? This is madness.

...

You know it, don't you? It's pointless. Uniting Almenga? Expanding our territory? It's none of that. It's just... a massacre.

Freya...

Even though you're my closest friend, I couldn't tell you this before. I was ashamed of my background. I was afraid of being seen as a lesser person, too afraid to speak out even when you told me about this... mission. I've been killing my own people because I was too worried about how others would see me if they knew. I should not be ashamed of being Hazan. I should be ashamed of myself, of my own weakness.

It's going to happen either way. This is just something we... have to do. We don't have a choice.

Yes we do! No matter what, we still have the option to walk away!

If you don't do it, someone else will. If you run, you'll throw away everything you've been working for, your entire future... and it's not going to change anything.

Even so, I will not take part in this any longer.

It's too late, Freya. Our hands are already stained. You're no longer innocent. We cannot escape.

Fade to white...

I'm sorry, Gudrun.

Don't be... This is what... I deserve...

Music: None

So. That whole scene we just watched? This is your only chance in the game to see it. If you don't bring Griever along for this fight, then the scene will not trigger, and your chance is gone forever. There are a lot of hints throughout the game that Griever is Freya, mostly from townspeople, but the only way to get the full story on Griever's past is to bring her along here.

Tarlia also has extra dialogue here, but Griever's scene supersedes it, so you can't see both. If you only bring Tarlia, she'll have this to say:

I'm sorry I had to do this, Gudrun. I'm so sorry...

Music: Empire - Final Fantasy Tactics, "Anxiety Before The Battle"

As with Leonius, Griever's body will remain where it's lying until you leave the room. Thankfully the door behind her is actually open, unlike with Leonius.

The next area brings with it another change of scenery.

Before we head onwards, though, we take the southeast exit in this room to get behind a locked door we saw earlier. A chest here contains the Imperial Boots, which grant +10 PDF for 8 weight, along with a +2 boost to MP+, oddly enough.

The northeast exit of the room behind Gudrun is locked. So we'll have to use the northwest one.

The next room has a branching pathway, but the western branch is a dead end.

And as we head back we run into this guy. This is the Sirius Lux, and he comes with two Starshine flunkies.

The Starshines have only two moves. One is Warm Light, which deals a bit of damage and inflicts Stun.

The other is Soft Light, which heals the Starshine or one of its allies for a fair amount.

The Sirius Lux itself is a bit of a gimmick. On its first turn, it will use Lv. 1 Ray Burst, hitting a single target for a bit of damage.

On its second turn, it will use Lv. 2 Ray Burst, hitting a column for more damage.

And on its third turn it will use Lv. 3 Ray Burst, hitting the entire party. After that it goes back around to level 1.

Taking the north branch brings us to another room with four doors, one in each corner.

The southeastern and northwestern doors are locked, though.

And the northeastern door is a dead end, but the room contains the third and final Topaz Amulet of the game.

The southwestern door takes us to a small room behind a locked door we saw earlier.

And west of there is this large room, which contains a bit more treasure. As with the Black Ruby, SCF throws you a bone here and hands you a Rainbow Ore if you never picked one up.

All of the exits in the large room except the north are locked or blocked off, so there's nowhere to go but up. This room contains the final save point of the game. Let's do this shit.

Fade to black...

Music: Brunhild - Final Fantasy VIII, "Find Your Way"

Once again, you've been waiting for me.

And once again, you came after me.

After all this time, I finally understand now who I really am. My long search for the truth about myself is finally over.

I was an accident... or maybe it was intentional, but in either case I was something the Hand of Fate was not expecting.

An accident?

You already know that Sigrid was meant to have a child with the destined power, and you also know that she gave birth to two children instead of one. Siegfried didn't know whether this was supposed to happen or not, so he treated us both the same. That's why we were both sent to Levier, in accordance with the Hand of Fate's wish, in order to gain influence in Kirgard. But my existence was obstructing the Hand's desire to take over your mind. By protecting you, I made you strong enough to resist. That was not my own wish, but that of the other element.

The other element?

You could say that I am here to carry out Sigrid's will, to do what she was unable to do herself. Perhaps it was the Hand of Fate's own power that inadvertently gave her that ability.

A part of mother exists within you?

He thought I was somehow her reincarnation... That's why he began to follow me instead of the Hand of Fate. In any case, Sigrid's wish was fulfilled. You became strong enough to withstand the Hand of Fate and complete your destiny on your own strength. I don't know if it's because of that or because Siegfried is dead, but her will has finally begun to fade. Only now, I feel truly free.

Wait! Why do we still have to fight!? Weren't you working together with Siegfried? Our three countries are united, just like he wanted. Isn't that what you wanted as well?

I was no less destined than you were! If you didn't need the Hand of Fate, then neither do I! It was you, under the influence of the Hand, who had me sent back to Almenga. You tried to get me out of your way, but I refuse to play his game! I wanted to take your place from the start!

BOSS FIGHT: Brunhild

(no music change; Brunhild continues playing)

And it's time for another go-around.

Brunhild's stats have been beefed up since our last fight with her at the Kelsinger Pass, but other than that she's pretty much the same. She still has Bladestorm, which deals heavy damage and has a low chance of inflicting paralysis.

She's also got Surge Laser, a rather weak attack which can inflict Enfeeble...

... as well as her regular attack Cherubim, which has a bit of power behind it. I don't think she has any new moves.

Just like in the previous fight with her, Brunhild's main threat is her high speed rather than high damage. None of her attacks are threatening on their own, but the fact that she can perform several of them in a short span of time is what makes her dangerous.

Still, she doesn't get turns as often as she used to, so it's not too much of a challenge to bring her down.

Music: Boss Battle Won - Chrono Cross, "Victory (A Cry In Summer)"

Hm. A Purple Herb and no money. Something tells me we're not done here.

Music: None

Are you satisfied? Will you finally give up now?

Let's stop fighting, then.

I should accept my own fate too, huh? Well, I guess I knew from the beginning it was going to fail.

What is it?

It's a book that was removed from the Hall of Memories before you arrived there. This is the real Last Report, written by Mimir shortly before his death.