Part 43: Update Forty One: Ain't Quite Over Yet

Update Forty One: Ain't Quite Over Yet

Welcome back. Today, we're fighting Zemus, so let's mosey on into it. If you're interested to see it all in video, then click that link there. You'll also see some of the jerkiness of the GBA version, which is only slightly compounded by recording it, too.



Puddin and Golbez beat us here. They're ready to take down Zemus.





They don't even bother to reply to Cecil. Zemus doesn't even acknowledge that he's there.



Golbez has a sweet-ass sprite in battle. I really wish we could have teamed up at some point.



As we saw before, Golbez is a pretty fearsome Black Mage and he's got an alright amount of health.



Well, fearsome in the sense that he knows a lot of magic spells. I don't know how good his stats are.



In this fight, which is entirely automated, by the way, Puddin serves as a support to Golbez, starting out by debuffing Zemus.



Golbez is here to kick ass, pure and simple.



What the fuck Puddin. Just...Hold, seriously? Goddammit.



Golbez finishes off blasting him with the trio of elemental spells, while Puddin...



Steps in with a hell of a way to make up for trying fucking Hold on Zemus.



Holy is also really powerful, even if it doesn't hit something's weakness. Rosa, who learned it before this fight, was dealing about 8,000 damage a hit, and then the quad-9 when it hit a weakness.



This is all leading up to Meteor. I don't know why old men have such a boner for this spell. I'm not all that impressed with it.





Zemus doesn't give a fuck about Meteor.



...Double Meteor? Well, shit, maybe you two are onto something.



Well, it hit the damage cap at least. Unfortunately, it's animation is literally just that of Meteor, so it's not all that fancy.



Err...What?



Oh, Christ, he's going to come back as a ghost.



And then we'll fight the ghost of the hatred of the people, on the Moon, after killing a Canadian water-serpent for a ninja sword.

I like this game.





Zemus has one hell of a thump! as he hits the ground here. Check it out in the video if you'd like.





Even though that battle with Zemus doesn't show it very well, Golbez is actually very strong. At least, in the same sense that Kim is strong; we've seen his HP total, which is a touch less than 3,000. For reference, Cecil has about 2,000 HP on his brother.

The last time we saw a real showing of Golbez' power was back in Giott's Crystal room and even then, he was still under Zemus' control. Now, I could be talking out of my ass here, but we don't know how much Zemus influenced Golbez's amount of power. Sure, he had the mind control over Bowser, but remember, Golbez still had Zemus backing him up at that point.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that yes, Golbez is powerful, but we can't accurately measure his strength. Seeing him fight against Zemus, the numbers he put up were probably lower than what Kim could have done. Was he necessary in that fight? Or does Puddin share a slight sentiment with his Lunarian brethren and tend to look down (if even slightly) on those people of the Blue Planet?

I'm probably full of shit, but I just considered that. Feel free to pick it apart and point out that I'm an idiot.





Speaking of idiots, Goemon is jumping around in victory.





It doesn't seem that Puddin even noticed we were here.



I'm starting to wonder why we did. It seems that we weren't needed.



I don't quite see why, Goemon. I mean, in defeating Lugae and Rubicante, we kind of finished up everything important involving you.





Besides, you self important twat, Cecil still has some issues to work out with his brother.



As he still can't bring himself to actually say anything to Golbez.



I still don't think is a matter you should prod him about, Rosa. Though, Golbez helping to defeat the big bad guy around here certainly does award him some points. But is it enough to--



Zemus just twitched.



People, Zemus is still moving!





Sweet mother of all beef patties, he's not dead!



Still not turning around? Um, guys...



Oh, Christ, he's not dead, he's not dead



And he seems to be doing something terrible!



And then with a tremendous wave of power, he utterly fucking knocks out party out of commission.



Oh, imagine that, hitting the guy made out of hatred with angry and harmful spells made him stronger.



What the fuck kind of name is that, Golbez?

Sure, someone just pointed out that Zemus himself uses it earlier, but c'mon, Golbez, recognize that it's a stupid fucking name and let it go!



Maybe you're tougher than I gave you credit for, Golbez.





Once again, the battle starts.



...What the fuck is that?





...He--He absorbed Meteor. I think now is a good time to enter freak the fuck out mode.



Puddin, you didn't catch how not-effective Meteor was the first time?





Oh, it took two castings for you to catch on?



Like that'll do a much bett--



Wait, what the hell is the Crystal?



Aside from Flare recolored to blue, it looks like a hell of a thing.



But not in Golbez's hands.



There is too much blood on his hands, too many lives wearing on his heart.





Hatred knows how to cut the shit and get to the core of things.









For those of you who were wondering why Puddin is named that, just look at him there. I don't mean to detract from this scene, but c'mon, he's melted into a puddle of beard.



And, on a lighter note, we're all fucked.



Completely fucked.



There's got to be something that we can do. We didn't come all this way to just die now.







Or maybe we did...



Psh, like hell we did.







But you're all so far away. What can be done?



I can accept that. Last time you prayed real hard, we got a spaceship out of it.



A legendary spaceship, I might add.



Leave bows his head and simply says our Paladin's name. Not much, but it's the sentiment that's important here.



Champ may not be very strong or powerful, but he has his own sort of strength.



And considering what Cid has survived, I'm sure he knows better than anyone what it takes to really kill someone dead.



Cid's assistants pray for us, as well, since they know damn well if Cid's rooting for you, you're doin' something right.



King Giott says his piece, too. Short and sweet.



Kinda like Luca here.



Oh, huh. I forgot Troia existed. It's good to see they're not sore about how we stole their Crystal and helped fuck over Earth with it.







Here's something interesting: in the SNES version, instead of praying, they were "wishing".

If you renamed Cecil "Jesus", then at the end here, the Elder says, "Everyone, send your wishes to Jesus!"



Back on the Moon, things aren't looking so hot.





That is, until Cecil gets to his feet. He's a tough son of a bitch.



Interesting. Rather than Rosa, the woman he loves, or Bowser, his former best friend, he calls out to the brother to whom he hasn't said a word to.



The brother who is filled with evil and darkness, as opposed to Cecil's Paladin ways.



The Crystal is just what Cecil needs here.



And with that, Cecil declares his will to fight.



So, let's rock.



...Oh, Christ, Cecil, this is already--





Well, I'll be damned.







Even Gustav's shown up to save our asses. I guess we really are the last hope.



Can do, Gustav.



You just go back to resting in peace, old friend. We'll get this taken care of.



Their prayer restores the girls to full health.



I'd like your Focus up around here, Leave.



As well as that damned orneryness of yours, Cid.





Goemon and Bowser are restored to full health.





The Lunarians don't have much to say, like the others, but their words are enough.



holy power within you.





And, finally, Cecil is filled with strength.



Oh, by the way, I did a bit of level grinding. I figured you all wouldn't mind, since I really held back on it during Earthbound, Mother, and up to this point.





We can't touch Zemus during this point in the fight.



And, why yes, I did equip Rosa with a bow for this. I got the rare drop from one of those Selene Guardians, which is a kickass bow.



Cecil uses the Crystal against Zeromus, as he is the only person around who will be of any use using it.





Oh, hell, we just pissed him off.



Or just gave him a stroke.





...What the hell is that?



Oh, it doesn't matter. In this fight, Goemon is going to be throwing all of the shit I have at him, as I haven't really utilized Throw.



Kim's duty is clear; I'd be blasting him with Flare, but he seems to counter our Flare with a Flare of his own and his Flare fucking hurts.





He seems to counter Bahamut with Bio, which I'm fine with.



Bio and Sap aren't even close to being something I'll concern myself with in this fight.



Goemon flings the Knife, which we received from Leave's Wife, at Zeromus. This is the best place to use it in the SNES version and you bet your ass that's where I'm using it.



It's a guaranteed 9,999 damage, so what better place to use it?



This is the attack that scares the shit out of me.





As Big Bang deals some big fucking damage.



Thankfully, Rosa was ready to go with a Curaja.



It mostly nullifies the damage taken, but not 100% of it.



Bowser Jumps off, while Cecil is going to pound Zeromus with regular attacks. Goemon still has shit to throw.



Cecil's Strength is solid and it really shows here.



Excalibur is thrown at Zeromus next, dealing another 9,999 damage.



Bowser stylishly drops in from above and it looks that he is mooning Zeromus in the process.





Zemus doesn't appreciate that, though, and promptly blows the party up.



And then receives a face-full of Bahamut blasting in return.



And then he blows Kim up. He wins this round.





Goemon and Cecil do a bit of hacking and slashing, while Rosa prepares to keep everyone alive healthy.



She's got a bit of a talent for it.



Zeromus is a bit of a cocksucker with how he uses Big Bang.



Goemon flings a spear into...What the hell is that? I want to say it's an eye, but I don't think it's an eye.



But, hey, who gives a shit. It was effective.



Black Hole sounds a lot more intimidating than it really is.



Had I raised any buffs/debuffs (y'know, Slow, Haste, Protect and the like), this would have wiped those away.



Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about that. And Curaja is hella effective when there are only three targets.





One thing I like about this fight is that, after using the Crystal, it becomes a Goddamned slugfest. We're fighting the largest threat the world has ever faced and we're the only ones who can even have a prayer of defeating it.

There are no fancy tricks here. At the end of it, we're just a bunch of fighters punching each other in the face as hard as we can. The only difference there, between Zeromus and our party, is that we have Rosa to keep us alive.



I found this off a random Red Dragon, by the way. Ten points weaker, attack wise, than the Holy Lance, but it's effective against Dragons. Goemon is going to throw it into Zeromus' face.



Right after he nukes Rosa a new asshole.





That's nearly it for effective throwing things that Goemon has. All he's got now is some Fuma Shurikens and his old ninja sword.



I don't think I can even pronounce that word, much less attempt to spell it. Rosa gets an Elixir. I might have had enough funds after grinding to buy about fifty of them.





Goemon is throwing shurikens at Zeromus now.



While Kim finally gets brought back to life.



Zeromus then takes that moment to give me the finger and blast everyone's face in.



Bowser is going to be biting it here, but with Kim back on her feet, my big number gal is back in action.



Curaja is expensive, but with my stock of Elixirs and around 15 Dry Ethers, I'm not too worried about it.



These are the last of the Fuma Shurikens. Thanks to whoever told me about their name, by the way.



Zeromus, you're a cunt, you know that?



But, it's nothing too severe this time. He follows it up with Black Hole and, just as it was last time, it's a wasted turn.





I love Kim. I really do. She's a dynamite lady.





He casts Bio again.



It's practically a wasted turn, but this is damage that still needs to be healed.



This is a clear-cut sign that we're coming to the end of this fight. Meteor is treated as serious shit by the plot and should be no less thought of here.



Or maybe Meteor kind of sucks.



Even so, Rosa keeps the three standing healthy.



And thank God for that. Maybe that last one was just a warm up Meteor and this is the real deal.



Or...No, Meteor just sucks, I guess. Or maybe Zeromus just sucks at using it.



Cecil chucks a revive at Goemon, as he was contributing fairly well to the fight.





Zeromus apparently agrees, so he blows Goemon back to Kingdom Come.



And Kim, deciding she's had enough of this shit, finishes it off by summoning a God to blow Zeromus' brains out.









And we come to black, having defeated Zeromus.



You may not be able to perish, but as long as there is good to battle your evil, you will never succeed. For as long as there is dark, there is light. No matter how deep your blackness stains the world, remember this: it is always darkest before the dawn.



And dawn always comes.



Everyone approaches as the room begins to shake.



Zeromus shudders again, possibly trying to bring himself around for a second wave of battle...



But he cannot. Light has triumphed over dark this day and Zeromus will never forget that.



That'll teach you to look down on those from the Blue Planet.



Remember, I got three more friends and Champ who could do this. I think it's safe to say that, while not necessarily more evolved, we're certainly close to the same level.





Bowser, c'mon, I wrote that whole thing to make you not worry about it.

I thought it was cool.









I really like these last few lines. And the next couple.







You weren't saying that when it was hateful space rocks smashing your face in.



Yeah, just imagine the ass kicking we could have given him!







And Puddin just passes over that shit. He is not a fuck-giver, so no fucks are given.





It's too bad that we can't do that Moon-to-Earth radio Prayer like they did.



And Champ.



No offense, old man, but I dread that day. Last time we met was because everything was about to get fucking wrecked. If I ever see you again, I'm assuming the universe is about to end and I should panic.







It seems that Puddin assumed Golbez would go with Cecil.



Would you even have a home, Golbez?



I'm sure they're just waiting to welcome you with open arms.





Right now, in Golbez's eyes, a nap must be sounding just wonderful.





Ah, so Golbez, too, noticed that Cecil approached him first.





Golbez didn't seem to expect to even ask that question, much less receive an answer he'd like. He backpedals pretty quickly.





Well, if any bad shit crops up, I think we've got a fairly talented team to take it on.





Cecil just watches them go. Now would be the best time to say something, Cecil.











I understand that it's a hell of a thing, Cecil. But he did help save your planet. And he was here, at the very end, to see this thing through. You could at least say goodbye.





Atta boy, Cecil.





There are certain things in this world that will never fail to warm my heart.







Of course, we know that this isn't the end. We've finished this part of the journey, yes, but we've got quite a bit more coming.

Like what, you ask...?



Well, now, ain't we found somethin' interesting on the moon.



And now we've blown it up. I like the way we do things.



I guess we stomped Zeromus' ass so hard, there are some new suckers who want to play.











Those doors correspond to who we brought along to defeat Zeromus. There's a few more of those doors, just as there's a few more people we know who'd probably like to come to the Moon and wreck some shit.



But, that'll come next time. For now, let's all just relax and figure out who is leaving the party now, barring Cecil.

Next time, we'll be starting some of the bonus shit, so stay tuned.