Part 73: Part Seventy-Three: Dragonslayer Laguna

Part Seventy-Three: Dragonslayer Laguna


After talking to Rinoa, Squall's passed out in the infirmary.


As usual, someone passing out for no apparent reason means it's time to check in with Laguna and the boys. Before we do, though, take note that this time you can choose who's playing which role in the dream.


Once you do, the scene fades in with Laguna and Kiros near some canyon somewhere.



: Alright, I'm sorry!!! Yeah, so it's kinda my fault that we stayed at the hotel so often. But heck, I'm not cut out to be an actor!

Well, that sets up the situation. Since we've kept up with Timber Maniacs, we have some extra information, such as that this canyon is in Trabia.


Of course Laguna, a known huge dork, is excited to be in a movie.


Before there's much more discussion on that, though, someone butts in from off-screen.

: Man, I can't believe this director... Making a movie with me...an amateur... ...The heck am I supposed to do? Alright, alright... So we were lucky I got the job. As long as we make some money, right...?

I wonder how, exactly, Laguna ended up cast in this thing. And how he got to Trabia.



: Ah, ah, ah... No complaining. Let's go, let's go, let's go!


And here comes Laguna in his costume.


Now we have a better view and can see that Laguna's dressed up in a knight's armour.

Director: This is your co-star, playing the part of the sorceress.


A sorceress and a knight? What could this movie be about?


As the director says this, Kiros wanders into the shot.

Director: Oh...! Perfect. Hey, you back there!
: Yes!
Director: I'm kinda in a squeeze here... The guy playing the dragon is sick... Do you think you could put on the dragon costume and kinda just...walk down here? I'll pay ya...

Gotta make money somehow, right?

: I...guess so.


And so, Kiros fucks off to put on the costume.



There goes everyone else.


Off-screen, Kiros sneezes or something. Beats me.


We'll figure it out after we make this movie.

Director: Ready...... ACTION!!!

While the camera's rolling, let's listen to the soundtrack for this little production:



Even without voice acting, I can hear the actress hamming it up.


And over here, we have the world's most gallant knight.

: (...Darn it. I'm gettin' all nervous here. And what's with this gunblade? Haven't used one of these since training.)

I wonder if there are replica gunblades to be used for movies.




Laguna does a few practice slashes with the gunblade, then strikes a heroic pose. The pose he strikes makes me think that Seifer does it at some point, but I can't find a picture of that particular pose.


Either way, Laguna is deemed an acceptable stuntman, at least.

Director: Ok! Bring on the dragon!!! Hey! Come on, guys! The dragon!


It takes a couple second, but Kiros finally gets his cue.



Pretty good costume, really.


The mouth even works.

: (Man, looks like the real thing...)



And then the dragon roars and snaps at Laguna.



: (G-Geez...! Take it easy, Kiros...)


Always the professional, Laguna takes a swing at the dragon.


It's right about here that everyone starts working it out.



Director: W-What am I doin'...? I'm gettin' outta here! W-Well, Sir Knight... It's all yours!



Leaving is probably the sensible thing to do here.



: Tch! It's not gonna let me go. Hmm... The gunblade...

Laguna, however, doesn't have many options.


And so, a new minigame begins, with Laguna fighting the dragon. Before that, though, take a look at Laguna's stance. He holds the gunblade sideways, in a backhanded grip with the blade pointing out. It looks pretty familiar, because:


If you put the pieces together (this movie includes two characters, a sorceress and a knight), you can tell this is the movie Seifer loves and wants to emulate. That's right, Seifer's "romantic dream" is to be some dork from Galbadia who stumbled into acting in a B-movie adaptation of a fairytale.


Moving on, it's time for Laguna to fight a dragon!


It, uh, didn't go so well. This minigame is a lot harder than it has any right to be, since the timing on Laguna's attacks and blocks are all fucked up. The dragon tears through his health in three hits, too, so there's not a lot of room for error.


Especially because, as soon as this comes up, you have to defend, or you'll take a hit. If you miss the block, that leaves you with one hit to spare.


But, losing here gives us an excuse to jump back a bit.


See, there are actually two versions of this sequence. As you can see, this time I have Ward in the party. This change is triggered by reading the issue of Timber Maniacs in Artisan's house in Shumi Village - if you read Selphie's blog post, she points out that Ward isn't in the photos from that issue.


Like so!


The thing is, I didn't read that issue on this file, so that didn't happen.


And Ward's here!


He has a handful of lines here, but Ward is mute, so...


Ward also plays the role of the dragon's ass. At least, theoretically.



Whether or not he gets acknowledged for it, though, isn't totally consistent.


Anyway, here we are again.

Since I'm going to do this for real, I'll even give you the soundtrack for the dragon battle at no extra charge:



This time, I defeated the dragon. I did this by just hammering on circle for the duration. Like I said, the timing on when Laguna can move is fucked, so blocking and looking for openings isn't an option, but you can interrupt the dragon's animations.


Time to book.



For the record, though, the dragon isn't dead, it's just pissed off.



So, naturally...

: Laguna, did you call me?




And we're reunited!


You can see Kiros tossing Laguna his gun here, but you can also enjoy the fact that this screen is in the middle of his pretty princess twirl changing animation.


Now he's ready to fight!


And they all move in for the kill.


BUT it's important to not just rush in here!


The first reason for this is that, despite the game giving you the chance to choose party members to map onto the flashback, it wipes out Kiros and Ward's junctions.


It also gives you a chance to save (good idea, probably).



And to fight/rob the monsters that show up around here, for some reason.


You can win a Life Ring!


It refines into Life, because it's not the ring I thought it was (Regen)!


If you go all the way up to the top, Laguna even has a line!


So yeah, other than saving, there's not really a reason to go back, but it's definitely important to fix your junctions.


Now, let's fuck up this Ruby Dragon.


You can see here that everyone has pretty low HP. There's a reason I didn't heal.


See, I wanted to show off Laguna's party's Limits.


Let's start with Ward's Massive Anchor.



First, he chucks his harpoon into the sky...


...then he jumps up after it...


...before riding it down into the enemy. Massive Anchor is actually one of the most powerful attacks in the game, with a Power value of 150. It's a good move for taking out one target, I suppose. As ApplesandOranges pointed out, Massive Anchor hits all enemies, so it's good for taking out multiple targets, too.


Next up, Kiros's Blood Pain.




I'm pretty sure I've shown this one off before, but why not? Anyway, it's six hits, each slightly stronger than a regular attack, on one target.


Blood Pain actually killed the dragon.


Thankfully, his, uh, brother showed up so I could use Laguna's Desperado.



This starts off with Laguna digging out a grenade to chuck at the enemy.


Then he grabs on to a magic rope from the sky.



And just shoots the shit out of everything. Bullets everywhere.


Desperado is probably the best of the three Limits in the past party, since it hits all enemies and has high power (140). The dragon did not win this fight.


I got these for winning. Inferno Fangs, besides teaching Quistis Fire Breath, refine into 20 Flare spells each. Flare is pretty good as a miscellaneous junction, or as an actual spell.


Now, back to the plot, which involves Laguna and pals running away from the dragon's nest.



And then the flashback ends with Laguna spotting a mysterious red light floating under the moon...