Part 15: Lifespring Grotto (2/2)

Update 3.1 Shinryu and Omega

Patter Song, the update's titled Shinryu and Omega, yet you still have floors 11-19 of Lifespring Grotto to show us.

OK, eagle-eyed viewer. There are four floors of this:



Which are complicated by these guys:



who have 1100 HP and an insanely high attack stat.

Two floors of this:



And two floors of this:



Now, onto the bosses...

Wait, that's only 8 floors. There's a 9th one.

Dammit. OK, here's the missing one.



Who is this fine gentleman?



I'm sorry, I'm all out of rat's tails. Would you accept Zidane from Final Fantasy IX?

Dark Bahamut: Welcome. Here the bold are tested to see whether they are fit to advance beyond. If you would proceed, you must first face my disciples.

White Dragon: 1
Silver Dragon: 1
Blue Dragon: 2



Ah, so you want us to commit indiscriminate slaughter on your disciples until I happen to get the right colored ones? (Note that those dragons living after you win will talk to you and go back to being completely sentient NPCs. Dark Bahamut's a total dick to his people.)

Some of these dragons are pushovers:



Others spam Holy until every non-Wizard member of your party is dead because you didn't bother healing between dragons because, hey, dragons are pushovers, amirite?



(If I had been on my game, my Holy Dragon picture would include Let's and Play dead.)





And with no further ado, boss time.



Shinryu and Omega are the hardest two bosses in the game. Period. The bosses in the fourth and final bonus dungeon are pushovers in comparison, and Chaos is a total pussy.

You can face one per trip.





My party's not tough enough for either, meaning I'll have to beat this dungeon again...twice.

On my way to level up by way of kicking the snot out of Tiamat (I looked hard for Warmech, or as he's called here, "Death Machine" I did, guys, but he just wasn't showing), I noticed this:



Squeenix, you sly retconning bastards.

I got properly armed:



Yes! I have the absolutely, positively strongest sword in the world and no other sword could possibly compare! (Savvy readers can guess what Shinryu's guarding)

On my way back through, our old friend Gilgamesh is still looking for the Excalibur...the one I HAVE. He's in his other spawn point this time, with alternate dialogue:



????: Hahaha! I'm afraid the contents of this chest are already in my possession! Ha! And thanks to you, the route of my egress is clear! But before I go, I think I'll test the power of the Excalibur on, oh...YOU!

I try the Excalibur out on him instead. He doesn't last long.

Anyway, back to the games.



See, the elemental protection spells work in this version (NulShock really prevents his thunderbolt from doing anything). What I forgot is that Flare (NUKE in the original) is not fire-elemental, but non-elemental. Oh, did I mention he knows Flare?

After many, many attempts, I get a pattern down (one that involves spamming the hell out of Healaga while Stuff does specific healing to whomever needs it while a buffed to hell and back Let's and Play hit it for ~3000 damage a turn...did I mention that he has 35,000 HP?)...











Hey, Excalibur?

So, after doing all that shit again to get to Omega:



Omega is dangerous. You need a party leveled beyond your wildest dreams, and a heavily defensive strategy. Omega's "physical attack" (actually magic non-elemental, which there's no protection against and always hits) will one-shot any non-insanely-levelled party member, and even with my party, could take off 3/4s of the health of anyone. His Earthquake is basically a breather round now, as instant death has long ceased to be a concern. His Wave Cannon does over 300 damage to my whole party. So if he were to Wave Cannon one turn that I didn't heal, then physical attack the next turn, he could kill any party member he wanted to.

Add to that his insane defense, and you're in for a long fight. He's resistant to most magic, also has 35,000 HP, and while he won't mess you up as quickly as Shinryu, he will wear you down. I actually had to use a Dry Ether on Bonus!



Poor Play didn't get to see the victory.



It's made up more than enough by him getting the best Ninja weapon in the game.



There you have it. I will never enter Lifespring Grotto again.

Next time: Forty floors. Forty floors. Forty floors.