Part 9: Episode VIII: Shadowfox
Episode VIII: Shadowfox
Well, that was certainly a
Since it was Cutscene Vincent we were dealing with, the force of coming to a dead stop on the back of a runaway camper trailer flying through the air and doing fifty has done little more than ruffle his already ruffled hair a bit.
"I'll be fine. But that's more than I can say for the engine."
"I'm fine too. Thank you for asking." "..." <glare>
"The transmission we just saw troubles me." "The one about mass murder through a laundry list of means?" "Yeah, that's the one. I mean... It was just weird, you know?"
"The what now?" "The Shadowfox. She's more durable than she looks." "This?" "Yes." "Shadowfox?" "Are you going somewhere with this, Vincent? Look..."
"Join them and help liberate the city." "I guess I have no choice." "That's the spirit, Vincent." "No, I mean I am stuck in the middle of the desert. I literally have no other choice of places to go." "Oh..."Vincent storms off...
Right... Edge... As luck would have it, it's the only path north. Just past a field of rocks the tin can here clearly cannot make it through, then past the BOSS FIGHT HERE field. Great...
While we're in the area, I might as well mention the hidden targets scattered about areas.
In each area there are a number of hidden capsules which can be shot to gain additional experience as well unlock a number of utterly useless bonus features. Bonuses include a model viewer, art work gallery, music player, and the like. So, if you really really fucking like your Dirge of Cerberus, knock yourself pixel hunting every obscure inch of the questionable rendered landscape for these trinkets.
I, for one, will not be.
A short jog down the beaten path and Vinnie comes upon the alpha male of the Guard Hounds - the Crimson Hound.
And he's brought a bit of back-up. I guess they aren't too happy with that wholesale slaughter of their pack.
This mini-boss is one of the few times in the game where melee becomes remarkably useful. The basic Guard Hounds have incredibly bad AI. They can get up to Vincent just fine, but they seem to have the need to 'tard out and realign themselves with him before actually attacking. Two smacks sends any of them to the big Random Encounter in the sky. In addition, melee attacks can kill multiple hounds at once.
It's highly recommended to kill all the Crimson Hound's sidekicks to make the fight itself easier; as well as to nab a randomly dropped Thunder Materia. The Thunder Materia behaves exactly the same way as the Fire version. It's just electrified, as the name would suggest.
The Crimson Hound itself behaves exactly like its buddies, only it can leap in for an attack from three times the range and knocks Vincent on his ass upon impact. The best strategy for the fight is to get this: shoot while backing up. I know, you wouldn't think it possible. What's next? Circle strafing a target?
The Guard Hounds aren't all that dumb, though. I mean, they were clever enough to erect electric fences about their stalking ground.
The Crimson Hound even managed to pocket a card key. Truly, a sad day for these noble beasts.
That was a bit anticlimactic, don't you think? I must say, I'm disappointed in Dirge of Cerberus here.
Oh, wait. Here we go...
Vincent proceeds to punt that sonuvabitch twenty feet in the air.
And follow-up by uploading his entire clip into it before it hits the ground.
While still having time to strike a pose before it impacts. That's much better...
No less than twenty feet from the first battle, Vincent is once more ambushed.
This time the combatants are Deepground troops... on ridiculous hover bike/platform/wild safety hazards.
Meet the Pegasus Riders. I literally have nothing constructive to say about these guys. Eight or so of them circle around Vincent. Occasionally one will stop to shoot at him for something in the ballpark of 40 HP of damage. They might even try to run him over (by aiming for his far right side so two steps to the left will evade the charge.)
Each one of them goes down in 2-3 shots (one if critical) or a single magic blast.
Really, this isn't one of Deepground's better efforts. I mean maybe if they went and attacked the stranded Reeve, a hundred yards back. Taking on a guy who shot down multiple helicopters with a handgun... it just seems a bit foolish.
And, of course, there is always time for a pose. I think we might need a pose tally in this thread.
And so ends Stage 2. I told you all it was a short one.
Fourteen minutes? Now I know for certain they tally time during cutscenes for the total count. That whole section couldn't have been more than eight minutes of gameplay.
I wonder if this is considered poaching? Is there poaching in Final Fantasy VII's world? Maybe Chocobos?
9 Intelligence...? I guess Vincent must have really high functioning autism. Maybe the game is like some emo fantasy Flowers for Algernon. Vincent will finally learn to love again...and stop dressing like Halloween is a fashion statement, not a holiday.
You may notice there's a bunch of new upgrade options PM and S, to be exact. I'm not even going to make a joke there... It speaks for itself.
We're going to stick with the Cerberus until we can unlock its special upgrade options. Or rather, Cerberus is the only thing worth a damn and we're sticking with that for now.
And there you have it. Stage 2/12 is complete. What have I gotten myself into...?
Special Feature:
Vincent's Limit Breaks are going to gain quite a bit of importance in the next stage, so I might as well go over them now.
Back in Final Fantasy VII, Vincent had four limit breaks. Each a transformation into a different monstrosity. Unfortunately, Dirge of Cerberus will only be dealing with two of them.
We've already seen the Galian Beast. You know...in Final Fantasy X... When he was called Kimahri...
Needless to say, it's had quite a make-over from its previous incarnation. Whether for the better or worse...I'll leave that to your discretion. It's attacks included "Beast Flare" (fireball) and "Beserker Dance" (melee string).
His Level 2 Limit was "Death Gigas". Or, basically, low-poly Frankenstein. His attacks were "Giga Dunk" (Frankie slam dunks his opponent) and "Livewire" (electrical attack)
Vinnie's Level 3 Limit is the "Hell Masker". Better known as 'We can't come up with another original horror theme...just stick Jason together with Leatherface'. It's attacks included "Splattercombo" and "Nightmare". I cannot, for the life of me, remember what either of those do. But, there you have it.
Finally, there is Level 4 "Chaos". A nice little callback to the final boss of the original Final Fantasy. Chaos does make an appearance...of sorts...in Dirge of Cerberus... But err...well...you'll just have to stay tuned to see what that is all about...
Tune in Next Time For:
Ghost Towns!
Rain!!
Cyclops Chicks!!!
Bonus Movies:
Crimson Hound Overkill
Pegasus Rider Overkill
Cutscenes Present: 5
Cutscenes Total: 35