Part 100: DS The End
DS Update 42: The EndHello, everyone! We're almost at the end of this thing. Can you believe it? How about we just jump right in?
We last left off back on the surface, after doing some serious treasure hunting.
Well, now I think I've got enough loot, so I think it's time to finish this thing.
First order of business, let's check out our crew:
Our resident healer. Look at that 99 Spirit!
Mr. Tanky McTankerson himself. Nearly maxed out Strength and max Stamina.
Our favorite little murderess. Maxed out Intellect. Oh, it's beautiful!
Cecil's second fiddle, pretty massive stats all around (especially with that Adamant Armor)!
And... this guy. Nothing maxed, but everything that matters is pretty high. He's turned out pretty well, all things considered!
Now, first order of business: procure supplies. For that, I'll need the Falcon.
Gonna pay a quick visit to Kokkol!
Pfft. Typical. I get jumped in the half dozen or so steps it takes to get from the Falcon to Kokkol's forge!
Hmm, actually, these are new enemies! All three of them!
The flower about to dust us with its pollen is a Blood Flower. It has 1,258 HP and it's weak to fire.
Pollen inflicts Sap on the party. Meh.
The fellow in front should look familiar. It's a Gloomwing, a palette swap of those fucking Eyewing Moths back in Mist Cave. 2,684 HP, no glaring weaknesses.
Has the same attack too: Blind on the party. We're a lot more equipped to deal with that than we were back in Mist Cave, thank you very much!
Our last new friend is a Hornworm, a distant relative of the Larvae back in (you guessed it!) Mist Cave. It has 3,151 and no particular weaknesses. Presumably they're up to the same shenanigans as their cousins, namely casting Slow like it's their job. This one didn't get a chance to.
I elected to just drop an Ifrit on them and be done with it!
No level ups. These are mid-game monsters, after all, but they did drop a Stardust. I guess that's somewhat significant...
Enough! We're off to see Kokkol.
I have some things I want to buy.
First, a few of these, just in case. Not many, though.
I'm mostly here for these. It's a real shame these are so expensive. I really wish I could just fling them at anything and everything! As it is, I've been saving them for Zemus. I buy a few more, bringing me to an even 10. That should be sufficient for the Final Boss!
But I'm not quite satisfied with that. I take a minute to purge my inventory of the last of the useless shit.
To my very great benefit! I sold pretty much everything except for ultimate equipment and the occasional alternate weapon. The rest? Out it goes!
Now I have plenty of money to buy the other things I want.
For that, I'll need to head back to the moon.
We make a quick stop at the Hummingway Abode.
Let's see. I'll take some of these. (I buy 3 in total.)
Mustn't forget these! (I get 6 in total.)
And with that, I think we're ready! Time to take a long, long walk.
Fortunately, you won't have to see any of it. (And I won't have to deal with any bullshit along the way!)
Tah dah! Here we are. Back at the bottom floor of the Lunar Subterrane. Shit is about to go down. You may want to grab a snack!
Before we dive right in, I'll get everyone properly equipped. Cecil will be beating Zemus down with the power of Love and Peace.
In addition, I happen to know that the Final Boss has no physical attacks. In fact, all he has are magic-based, full party attacks.
Therefore, Draw Attacks and Counter will do absolutely no good. Instead, Cecil picks up HP +50% and Brace.
Brace also goes in his Auto-Battle slot.
Make sure Edge has Steal. Everyone else's abilities are unchanged from their usual setup.
With that, I do believe we're ready!
Up ahead is a long staircase.
Once we pass this point, shit goes down. I'll see you on the other side!
Polsy version
The Prologue music continues to play here.
All right so... yeah. Here's our boss,
I'm not particularly fond of that practice.
Anyway uh, we're kind of in trouble here, aren't we?
Fortunately, our friends are here to help!
Let us help you!
Hey, everyone's back on their feet! That's something.
The murdertwins fade away. I miss those two.
Next up is Eddie and... Tellah?!
Trust in yourselves.Tellah, how did you even get here?!
Well, with that, the girls are back to full fighting strength. Things are definitely looking up!
Eddie and Tellah disappear.
Only to be replaced by... Yang and Cid! So much manly awesomeness, contained in one little screenshot.
Come back to us, you hear?
And that brings Edge and Kain back to full health!
Their work finished, the manly men fade away, but they will never be forgotten!
And lastly, Fusoya and Golbez jump in to help!
My brother... Use the hallowed light within you. Allow it to fill the Crystal! Zeromus! Show your true face!
Golbez is the chattiest one so far, but his pep talk brings Cecil back to full health. No complaints here!
Those two fade,
and our ATB bars start filling. The battle has officially begun!
This first phase is a bit of an odd beast. You saw in the cutscene that Fusoya and Golbez couldn't scratch him, even with the likes of Meteor. We can't manage any better, at least not yet.
You also don't want to bother setting up any buffs, as they will just be erased once the next phase begins.
However, Darkness and Focus don't count as "buffs" per se. (Neither does Bluff, incidentally.)
Anyway, I have Kain get a couple rounds of Focus under his belt. Once everyone's ATB gauge is full,
we're ready to get this boss fighting rolling!
Get ready, Zeromus!
We're about to bring the pain!
The music cuts out as soon as you use the Crystal.
"Grr...gh...agh..."
Coherent, isn't he?
The screen flashes white.
So, Zeromus, you show your true form!
All right so. Final Boss, for real this time. Vital statistics: 150,000(!) HP, no elemental weaknesses, resistances, or absorptions.
Zeromus has a variety of nasty attacks, all of them magic-based, as I mentioned. He will counter magical attacks with Flare and counters Summons with Osmose. He does not counter physical attacks at all.
First order of business, I'm going to switch on Auto-Battle real quick.
That'll do nicely.
(I switched it back off right away.)
Remember, Bluff doesn't technically count as a buff!
This is wholly unnecessary, but them's the breaks with Auto-Battle.
I'm sure this will be helpful, too! Kain gets to tell his sob story, one last time!
And Zeromus buys it, hook, line, and sinker!
Ah, this is why you don't want to waste your time with buffs against this jerk.
That... looks nothing like a black hole.
(Then again, no one really knows what one looks like!)
Anyway, Black Hole removes buffs and status conditions (like Slow).
However! Evidently it does not remove Cry's effect!
This will be somewhat helpful. MP recovery over time is welcome.
Now that that's out of the way, it's time to start whaling on him!
That's... um. I have nothing to say about that. Good job, Cecil!
Kain will do his usual. No reason for him to do anything else. Ever.
Hmm. Zeromus begins to shake, and makes a groaning noise. This is a sign that Some Shit is about to happen.
You will want, at the very least, to have Rosa Defend when you see him do that. Ideally, everyone should Defend.
Edge takes the opportunity to swipe this. The Dark Matter has no immediate use whatsoever, but it does have a purpose. I may even show it off. I haven't decided yet... (It requires going deep into New Game+)
Anyway, Cecil smacks the boss again.
And Rydia's Bahamut goes off. Seeing quad-9s from her doesn't surprise me anymore.
As I mentioned, Zeromus does have a counterattack against Summons.
Osmose, on the whole party.
But it's nothing you need to be even remotely concerned about! (This is especially true if you brought a healthy supply of Elixirs to this fight, like I did!)
Basically, Summon to your heart's content. Osmose isn't nearly as scary as Flare!
This, however, this you need to be concerned about.
Big Bang is Zeromus' ultimate attack.
It looks very flashy.
And it hurts like a motherfucker!
Defending will cut the damage from that considerably. Make sure you have everyone Defend when he starts shaking!
Damage cap, Kain. Kain, damage cap.
Oh yeah. One other thing. Big Bang inflicts Sap. That can be a problem if your characters are just barely clinging to life!
Or rather, it would be...
but Zeromus is not very bright.
Thanks, bud. Saves me the trouble of curing it myself!
Now, here's where Dualcast/Omnicasting really shines.
This sort of situation would be a lot harder to recover from without it! If you're lacking either (poor you), you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way!
Kain has little need of healing, thanks to spending so much time in the air.
Ah. I guess Zeromus can also cast Osmose on his own.
Pffft. Whatever.
Hey, Zeromus, I have something special for you.
I've been saving these, just for you!
Hope you enjoy them!
The boys lay down some heavy damage,
Meanwhile, Rosa refills a bit of our MP.
Bah. Killjoy...
I'd better get Kain out of his range, actually. Wouldn't want all his MP drained away!
Edge tosses another Fuma Shuriken in Zeromus' face,
hitting the damage cap in the process! (For the first time, I believe!)
More damage cap from Cecil and Rydia.
He drains our MP again.
But like I said,
I don't give a shit!
Whoops, he's shaking again! That's Rosa's cue to Defend.
Thank you for joining us, Kain,
but you have the worst timing sometimes!
He... actually survived?! Wow. That Adamant Armor really works wonders, doesn't it?
Hey, jerk! Kain needs that MP! Unlike the others, he doesn't have much to spare. At all.
Rosa still doesn't care.
Get back in the air, you fool!
I've still got plenty of these left. I could keep this up all day!
Ooh, yay. This is Zeromus' last attack.
It's sort of a purple, evil-looking Tornado.
Reduces the whole party's HP to critical, much like Maelstrom. Don't know why the devs didn't just give him Maelstrom rather than creating a whole new attack that does the same goddamn thing...
Well,
It's a simple matter to heal everybody up, at least. I'm not worried.
Er wait, never mind.
That Fuma Shuriken finished him off!
Here, sit back and enjoy some ending cutscenes:
Polsy version
The cutscene continues here, with some familiar words. (Presented in both screenshot and video for your viewing pleasure!)
Polsy version
And then, we come to the ending. The scenes that play have been added to and expanded upon compared to previous versions. Again, I'll present them in both screenshot and video to give you the full effect!
Polsy version
This music continues to play here.
We cut to the Lunar Whale,
descending into the Dragon's Maw from whence it came.
Will we ever see it again? Who knows!
The scene fades,
and we go to Mysidia.
Where is Palom? Oh, not again...
You've a deal of growing up to do if you ever plan to be the sort of mage Tellah was. Two more hours of spell transcription for you!
The scene changes again...
I know that!
Then might I suggest you stop chasing after this daydream maiden of yours and start fulfilling some of them!?
Right, right... A little more sincerity would go a long way!
There's not a girl in this world that will ever come close to you.Ooh, somebody's got it bad.
Fade out.
Speaking of Rydia...
Next, we cut to the Feymarch.
And to think she would return here, to us!
"I want to be the same as you!"
The Feymarch is going to become a very interesting place in the days ahead, isn't it?
Most certainly- and one not lacking for beauty!
Isn't that right, Cecil?Scene change...
This time, we come to Fabul.
Honey...
You're a queen now. Won't you make a little effort to speak like one? Yang, you know I can't stand all that prim and proper stuff! Oh no! It's already past time for today's training!
Yang runs off,
followed by his loyal monks.
Hmm. King Yang, huh? Has a nice ring to it!
Scene change...
It seems Eddie is checking in with his loyal subjects.
I would be most happy to- but not until you've finished your chores for the day! You want the castle to be back to the way it was, don't you?
Of course!
All the children agree.
But you promise you'll sing it, right?
The kids run off, presumably to tackle whatever chores are assigned to them.
Be at peace... with Tellah.Fade out...
Listen up, dwarves! We're going to make this castle good as new again!
Then scrap the tanks! They'll see no more use now anyhow.
The lady dwarf runs off.
Cecil and Rosa are to become the king and queen of Baron!They're gettin' hitched? Well, hot dog!
Really!? And not only that- we've been invited to the coronation!
Yay!
Lali-ho!And all the dwarves run off. Dwarves.
Scene change, again!
We find Kain, contemplating on Mount Ordeals.
I will temper myself here, on Mount Ordeals. And then, when I've become an even finer dragoon than my father- perhaps then I can return. Until that day comes, I can but wish you well.
After that scene, the music changes.
Now, we're at Curio's observatory.
I don't see anything odd...
The moons look normal to me!
Still normal...
Still-
Oh god what?!
The hell is going on?
The scene changes once again.
Hey, it's Cecil and Rosa! I wondered when we'd be checking in with them.
You did?
It's a beautiful, sunny day and there's not time to be lounging about! I'm sorry, we must have lost track of time. You'll have all the time you want later to get that lovey-dovey stuff out of your system! Come along, Rosa! Or should I say... Your Majesty. Please, I'll always be Rosa to you, Cid. Really!? You mean it!? Well, then, Rosa- a bride can't be going without her makeup! I've got a maid all ready. We'd best hurry along. Of course.
Cid leaves, and Rosa starts to follow.
They'll be arriving soon. You'd best hurry too, Cecil!
Cecil nods.
Right.Rosa leaves.
And then, we get another cutscene! (The last one in the game, so make sure you watch it!)
Music from the cutscene
Polsy version
And then, roll credits!
Music that plays during the credits.
Polsy version
And there you have it! That's the end. That's it. There's nothing el-
On it's this guy again.
You'll now be given the ability to replay the game, retaining all of the augments and rare items you acquired the first time around! If you would like to have this option, be sure to save your game completion data when prompted. You can play through the game up to three times in a row, so try giving your characters different combinations of augments each time for variety.
This one is significant. It allows you to exceed the damage limit. You can only ever get two of these, so choose very carefully who gets them! (Best picks are probably Rydia and Kain.)
When prompted, I save my game completion data, because there's no reason not to.
And that's all she wrote, kids!
Well... that's mostly it. I plan to show off at least a bit of New Game+. There's an awful lot to go through, though, so we'll see. I for sure don't want to play through the whole damn game again!
But that's unofficially it. Thank you very much for reading, and thank you all for your patience, help, and advice along the way. This hasn't been an easy undertaking by any stretch, but it has been fun!
I'll see you in New Game+! (In a couple weeks. I'll be out of town all next week.)
Super Bonus Content Some of you wanted to see Cecil tricked out in Onion gear.
There! Cecil the Onion Knight!
But that's not all! I went and fought Zeromus with the Onion stuff equipped. Here, have a video:
Polsy version
Surprisingly... I had more trouble with the Onion stuff equipped than without! Whouda thunk?
(Also, sorry for tanking all your browsers last page.
I'm new to this SSLP thing...)