Part 63: Chapter 5, Prologue: Underground

Time to start the final chapter.



These guys don't really have anything different to say. I guess they'll protect the castle from the zombie dragons that were following Alm around at the end of the previous chapter, because they sure aren't coming with us.



Your Highness, please take care!

Someone built a tunnel all the way from the basement of Rigel Castle to beneath Doma's Tower. And in case you weren't sure about these stairs leading to the end of the game, you get a final warning. Any more grinding or promoting you want to do, take care of it now.



We've got no time to lose, Celica's been trapped at Doma's Altar for months now with the slow pace of my updates.



A rather nondescript cave awaits us.



Advancing into the next room causes the ceiling to collapse behind us somehow. I'm starting to think those Rigel folks weren't actually all that happy that Alm killed their king and took his place.



As Alm moves along through this area, these messages will pop up. As you might suspect, when we do eventually reach the final battle, the condition of Celica's army will be affected by how long Alm took to get there. These messages only start once Alm has passed the point of no return, so you're not penalized for leaving Rigel Castle to do some more XP grinding.



The screen actually scrolls a little bit before giving way to another identical passageway. It's a long way from Rigel Castle to Doma's Tower, you know.



There's probably a formula to how often these show up. It's about once per screen. This time two people got hurt (Jenny lost 4 HP).



A couple more long hallways later, and we see some walls that look a little more finished. The gaps on the bottom of the screen can't actually be entered, but we'll see the other side of that room soon.



The next room contains more dark alcoves and a treasure that we can't reach. Plus Leo takes some damage.



I take the time to double-check that none of the alcoves hide a secret entrance. No way to go but forward.

Final Map (Opponent)


That cave looks somewhat familiar. We also get some new music for the final chapter.



Approach the gate for a brief cut-scene.



I did say brief.



Still only one direction open to us.



It's the lower half of that room we passed through earlier!



Up here, there's a secret.



We're taken inside the walls of a different screen.



Go up, right, up, right....



Secret treasure!



Oh hell yes. The Gladius (sometimes called the Gradius) was one of the super-weapons of the previous game. Here it's got 15 Might, 100% Hit Rate, and 0 Weight, and can also be thrown for a 1-2 tile range just like in the last game. A nice little easter egg to find at the end of the game.



None of the other alcoves are hiding anything. You can safely ignore the stairs, for now, too.



To the left, we have more alcoves, and four holes in the floor. The alcoves are just for show. The holes in the floor take you deeper into the dungeon. We need to find a way to get to Celica, and hopefully recover the Falcion along the way.


Next time:



The Final Dungeon.