Part 64: DS Mount Ordeals part 2

DS Update 9: Mount Ordeals part 2

Welcome back! It's time to finish up Mount Ordeals. Let's just jump right in.


First things first: I swap my rows back to normal. I don't want that coming back to bite me in the ass later!


Second, our buddy Cecil is going to be getting a makeover. To that end,


I take his stuff. Whatever ordeals lie ahead, he'll have to face them as naked as the day he was born!

I'm sure he'll be fine.


We've reached the summit of Mount Ordeals at last! What's our prize for making it all the way to the top?

Obtained Red Fang

Oh. That's just... fantastic. Yep. Really great.


Let's move on. Our goal is this altar/shrine thingy.



Son? Whose voice speaks to me?


Suddenly, we're transported to sepia land!


And Cecil is magic-ed away!

What fate awaits Cecil? Well, check it out:


Polsy version

Music from the cutscene.

Haven't had to talk about this in awhile! Megan Harvey is the voice of Palom, while Porom's voice actress is Hunter MacKenzie Austin

After that scene we're tossed right into a battle!

This music plays during the battle and it fits really well.


Cecil must face his old self (literally), alone!


As you can see, he gets some new commands to play with! White Magic, we know, but Cover is a new one. Activate it, and Cecil will take all physical damage for the chosen ally for a few turns. Cover also activates automatically for any character at critical (yellow) HP. This ability pairs quite well with Counter, as you can imagine. The more hits Cecil takes, the more he can counterattack!


So, let's get this fight started!


Cecil's sword now makes a little *tink* sound effect, and throws off rainbows!


The damage is... less than impressive, to say the least! Looks like our boy Cecil is in a bit of trouble!


But, the Mysterious Voice chimes in to help us out.

Voice: Sheathe your blade, and overcome the hate!


Easy for him to say! Darkness sword hurts! (I should know...)


The solution is the same as the GBA version: turtle!


Even so, like I said: Darkness sword hurts!


Still, the Dark Knight is doing more damage to himself than Cecil ever could. Maybe this'll work out after all!


And I have plenty of these. I can outlast him, no problem!


Although, ultimately I have to wonder if that was worth it, considering I couldn't Defend for that turn...


Eh, whatever. He's still hurting himself!


Voice: There are victories of greater worth. Someday you will know them.

Tell that to Tellah! He's the one hell-bent on revenge!





Polsy version




Hell. Yeah! Mission accomplished, kids!



He really did it after all.



What is this warmth I'm feeling? It's so... familiar.

That would be the feeling of not being encased in evil armor which is bolted to your skin, Cecil.


Tellah bows his head, seemingly oblivious to the proceedings.

Oh!

Tellah?




Oh. Well, that's nice!

What's this?


That light must have granted it to me. The most powerful black magic of all, mine at long last!


Whoa! Seriously?



Hey, Porom... Don't you think we should tell him now?





You see, we-


Tellah, paying no attention to the twins, strolls over and interrupts.


He starts to walk away.



Yes, of course.

I guess the twins aren't going to get to say whatever it is they were going to say. Oh well, I'm sure it's not important!


Tellah leaves, and the twins turn to watch him go.


Cecil, too, is a bit preoccupied.


Realizing they won't get anything out of Cecil right now, Palom runs off.

Cecil, we'd best go with them.



And with that, we're teleported back to the Mount Ordeals summit!

Let's see what the crew thinks about all this:


You think it meant literally, Cecil, and not just in a "authoritative figure to a subordinate" kind of way?


Hmm. Porom seems to think it's the former, too...


I like the way this man thinks!


And you thought he wouldn't be able to!

Let's take a look at our new and improved Cecil!


Hmm. He needs some work, but he's only level one! He has plenty of room to grow.


For starters, let's get him some gear.


I was able to afford a shield and armor for him back in Mysidia.


He also gets Kain's old Iron Helm, and a Ruby Ring to shore up his defenses.


As I mentioned, Cecil picked up some White Magic. Right now, he only has Cure, but he'll pick up a few other handy spells. Paladin Cecil makes a decent backup support character, but his Spirit stat is too low for him to be an effective healer. Just as well, really. Cecil's too good of a tank to be playing healbot!


I also stick Counter back on him. With Counter, Cecil can still damage the foe even if he plays support for a turn, so long as he gets attacked!


I make a b-line back to the save point, but just before I reach it...


I get jumped. Typical.


Cecil's damage starts out... pathetic, quite frankly! But, his new sword does effective damage to undead, which all of the enemies here are. Plus, he's only level 1. Give the guy a break; he's been through a lot!


Cecil's new victory pose is pretty cool. He waves his sword around in a big arc.


He brings it up in front of his face before dropping it, in a little salute, all cool-like.


And, of course, he gets level ups.


A lot of level ups. 6 of them, to be exact!

Learned Sight

And he learns some magic! Completely useless magic, but it's a start!


Oh, yeah, in all the excitement, I nearly forgot! Tellah got some new spells too!


He now knows all, or darn near all, the White Magic spells in the game! Arise, there in the middle, is especially nice. It revives characters with full health! No more reviving characters to critical health and praying they don't get hit again while you rush to heal them!

The drawback, of course, is those high-level spells are fucking expensive. Arise costs a whopping 70 MP. That's most of Tellah's MP, in one shot!


With his pathetic MP pool, Tellah will never be able to fully utilize all these nice, powerful spells.


Of course, there's a reason for this. Meteor here costs 99 MP. More than Tellah has, or can ever have. The designers probably needed a way to give Tellah Meteor without letting him cast it. A hard cap on his MP is one, albeit lazy and stupid, way to do it.


And that's all I have for today! Shorter update today, to make up for the massive ones I've been throwing out lately. I'm still trying to figure out a good length. Work with me here!