Part 78: Battle: Shadow Dragon

Finale: Shadow Dragon (Battle)

Well, guess this is the last time we’ll be doing this. It was a good run, but it’s got to end this time. This map, it ends with slow advancing through a room full of hell dragons. One part of that sounds fairly exciting, at least.

And now, the last How’s Everyone:
















What a way to go out. Goodnight, sweet How’s Everyone. You were fun.




Now, to be fair to Marth, Medeus didn’t always look like that. The purple? Fairly new.



: With the princesses around him, sire, you'll be unable to strike down Medeus. If we don't do something soon, then the other dragons will awaken, and this battle will rapidly escalate into mayhem.

Jagen is right on two fronts here. If you kill Medeus with one of the Bishops still alive, he will eat them and regain full HP. They function as extra lives.

Also, unlimited reinforcements on this map. And they’re, as far as I know, almost totally randomized. Welcome to the dragon pit.

: Then, what do you suppose I do? How on earth can we save them?! Tell me, Jagen!

It’s alright, Jagen always knows.




Oh we are in some deep shit.

: But, if we are to defeat Medeus, we must stop at nothing…

: What?! ...You can't mean to kill them?!

: It may be... necessary. As they are now, they suffer greatly. We must save them, even if it should cost them their lives...




: You are Altea's crown prince, sire. A ruler must be ready for anything, though it may cost them their happiness. That is all.

This moment is a lot more sobering if you don’t know you can save these characters, but the game makes it pretty clear.

: Enough, Jagen. I understand. Still, I cannot accept it. There must be another way. Even till the very end, I will never give up!!




: Please, I beg of you... Please find a way to save them.

How is this on Steve?

: Understood. I will try my best. But if the occasion should arise... Even if Prince Marth himself refuses, I shall release them from their misery... But for now... I don't want to think about it. I still want to hope.

: Steve…




We start with a celebratory flash of the Emblem…




And all the Earth Dragons fade out of existence. Keep in mind this always happens at the start of our turn. So, on any difficulties above Normal, these guys can get one move in if they spawn as reinforcements.




Starting off, I want to try and establish a wall of guys here. There are way too many dragons here to kill aggressively and keep everyone alive. I’m using a stall tactic here to thin the numbers before I get closer. This also keeps Julian/Sirius/etc. from being one-shot while I move up.




I used this just in case he gets attacked by a Mage Dragon. It’s the Final Chapter, I can be wasteful as hell!




And the Dragons are incoming.




These guys are surprisingly fast, Steve and Luke can’t double them.




Oh, the clerics have long range healing staves too.




Several of them. This is a war of attrition.




Turn 2 and already an absolute fuckload of Dragons bearing down on us.




Barst advances and does what he does best.




Luke softens up his dragon too.




Fortify is pretty key to this strategy. That or a shitton of Energy Drinks/Elixirs.




Time to show off the Gradivus. Catria CAN double these jokers.




Might as well do this.




So, here’s a reference. I need Julian to get at least here before he can get to Lena and talk to her in a turn. Otherwise he’ll get obliterated. I need to start pushing up a little eventually.




And here are the reinforcements.




From Turn 2 on, 1-4 Dragons of any type will spawn in this little circle around Medeus. This is a way bigger deal on anything over Normal, because they can move on their turn, so you can’t really prepare well for them.



This whole map is basically..




Our best units…



Doing chip damage to Dragons.




For all eternity. Or just wiping them out like Luke here.




I do want to be careful here though, these guys can do a lot of damage, so if I get too many lucky crits, like Luke was, someone could die just from being far too good at Dragon owning.




Like Marth here! Well done, Marth!




Also well done, Marth!




Oof. I’m going to have to be a little offensive here too.




Also, one of those reinforcements was an Earth Dragon, so he gets deleted on the start of the Player turn.




Hand Axe keeps Barst out of danger, but still lets him chew away at some of the dragons.




Oh, and there’s this. At least all these guys only have 1 range. Good thing the game would never do something like give them 2.

only a LUNATIC would do something that shitty.



Steve gets a pretty sweet crit right off the bat.




This may be Steve’s final level. Cherish it.




I love this stupid thing.




I have revoked Luke’s weapon privileges for being too crittastic for life.




If you peek between the Y and P there, you can see turn 3’s Reinforcement, a Magic Dragon.




Barst, be careful with that.




That works.




The Mage Dragon opens his dumb mouth to giggle at the unarmed green hair man. Truly this is a dramatic fight for the fate of the world.




Ow. Resistance would be nice.




Ogma takes no damage, gives no fucks.




Gets 1 Skill.




Another dodge results in this dramatic standoff.




Physics and Fortifies from afar make our chip damage still pretty negligible.



No more fuckin’ around, bringing out the Falchion.




Gradivus brings down another Mage Dragon.




The Dragons are starting to thin…




Barst, expert thinning assistant.




I probably shouldn’t have done this, because I would have had to have Merric heal Steve if she got hit. She didn’t, though.




So I can do this.







Minerva wanted to help. She didn’t, but it was a decent effort.




Bad luck this turn, 4 Dragons on Turn 4.




One more down.




Still holding these Fire Dragons off.




Well, barely.




These Mage Dragons just hate poor Luke.




Ogma hits hard enough to take this guy out. He’s really proving himself in this last map.



Not too bad of a level either. Not that it really matters now.




Okay, time to push forward. Merric can deal with the Ice Dragon.







Ogma closes off the corner while finishing off the leftmost Fire Dragon that went for Steve.




Our resident Swordmaster doubles a dragon here.




Basically, I’m trying to form another wall here, just in case of a surprise Wyvern.




But I’m doing that while moving everyone forward, thankfully the enemies are in position for that.




I lied this might be the last Steve level.




Oh, someone gets to use a consumable item this map.




Another pro Fortify. Also, note that Julian is tucked safely away from harm, but still close enough to talk to Lena.







A Fire Dragon and a Wyvern this turn. Also an Earth Dragon, but he’s slightly offscreen to the left there, and too far away to hurt anyone.




Navarre makes that the shortest lived Fire Dragon in the universe.







And then the shortest lived Wyvern.




That went...really well.




Bye bye, Earth Dragon.




Okay, so since slow-ass Merric can’t reach Elice in one turn from that position, I need to move up a little further.




Behold the new wall of people. Clearly I have not fucked anything horribly up in this screenshot.




Turn 6, a Fire Dragon.




And an Earth Dragon. Wait, don’t Earth Dragons…

have 2 range



OH HOLY FUCK that was the luckiest dodge.




AND IT WAS A DOUBLE, PRAISE JULIAN’S CASUAL DUCK FIRING OFF TWICE IN A ROW.




Begone, hellspawn. Fuck off into the ether.




And now this guy’s in Merric’s way.




Nababble makes his final move and takes care of business.






You done good, old pal.




And now, the rescues begin.




: I was too foolish... I hurt Hardin... I drove him to despair.

That wasn’t really your fault.

: My queen... Prince Marth has ended Hardin's suffering. The Emperor loved you till the very end. He was sorry for what he'd done to you. It's alright now. You need not worry. It was all just a bad dream...

: …… Who?



No, that’s dumb. You’re dumb.

: Why... Why are you... This is a dream, isn't it?

: Nngh! ...My queen... You are mistaken... I am Sirius, a soldier of the allied forces. I know not of this Camus...

: Sirius...?! ...It can't be... No! You're wrong!! You're...

: Please, calm yourself; you must be exhausted. I must depart soon. Queen Nyna, listen to me... You should head to Prince Marth.

: You... Where are you going?

: I must go to my country. There's... someone waiting for me.

: Is... Is that so...? I see... Sirius... Thank you. I am most grateful.

: ...Forgive me…

: Pardon…?!

: No… It is nothing… Now, Queen Nyna; go!




So attacking Medeus with Sirius would be a...poor decision.




All four Bishops have growth rates and stats like everyone else, so they are technically full fledged characters. You only have them for this chapter though, so I’m not going to go in depth with all of them. Basically, they’re extra staff uses if you need them. They can all use Rescue, so if you need to take more than one turn to kill Medeus and one of the talking units can’t survive, those are handy. However, reinforcements could still fuck you over. It’s best to do all this in one turn if at all possible.




Number 2!




: I know I'm a good-for-nothing scoundrel, but for you, I'd do anything. I don't want anything else-- I just want to see your smile again. Hey, Lena; could you smile for me? Please...

(Also you cannot use Matthis to save his sister, because Matthis is a massive fucker forever)

: Oh... Julian...? You came. I knew you'd find me. I knew it. That's why, I could continue struggling in the darkness of my soul... Julian, I'm sorry. I've always been a bother to you.

: Are you kiddin' me, Lena...? I'm just happy to hear your voice again.

: Julian, there's something I'd like very much. Will you listen?

: Huh? Sure, Lena, hit me. So long as it's within my power...

: Could you call me... "honey"? You're always "Lena" this and "Lena" that. You speak as though we're barely friends-- and I don't like that feeling. That just won't do, especially not after we settle down together in Macedon.

: Huh? ...What're you talking about, Lena...? Er... I mean... H-honey... Don't tell you and I are gonna...

: Uh-huh... I'm sure God will forgive me. After all, you... You mean the world to me.

Please do not have premarital sex in front of the Shadow Dragon.







: Unh... Ah... Minerva... A-ahhhhhh! Medeus is...


: Shh. It's alright now. Everything's going to be okay. I'm so sorry, Maria. I've left you alone for so long...

: Minerva... I was scared... I was so scared... Oh! How is Michalis? I think he fought Gharnef to save me.

: Michalis... is fine. Don't worry, Maria.

The dialogue here kind of implies Michalis is dead, which makes sense in the original game or if you didn’t know about his weirdass recruitment.

: Really? Then, once we go home, we'll be together again just like before? I'm so glad, Minerva! Oh, I hope we can see him soon.

: Maria...




Finally, the wizard crush.

: Princess Elice! It's me, Merric. Snap out out of it! I--I studied magic ferociously, all so that I could protect you... I'm sorry... I failed. I couldn't be by your side, when you needed me most. Elice... Please. Please open your eyes!

: Merric...? ...Ah! Oh, Merric! Help me... Gharnef is... I'm so frightened... Please help me!

: Elice! Thank goodness, you've come back! It's alright now. I'm here, so... Oh... but Prince Marth is... Everyone's watching, so we can't... Oh well... *ahem*


“Jagen is here. This is awkward.”

: Elice, I'll never leave your side again. No matter what may come between us... Never again shall I abandon you!




Finally, someone who can go for the big guy and not get eviscerated.




Reign of Despair, Medeus’ Theme




Medeus has a really cool battle model, although if you look, you can tell that the wings are just part of the background.

Once you save all the Bishops, this dialogue triggers.












: Your kindness has saved their souls.

It was literally 4 people, none of them Marth.

: Thank goodness. I'm too happy for words. I suppose some battles require sacrifice... But that matters not... I won't give up--not now, not ever! Together, we will win this battle!




: Shadow Dragon Medeus! Now, nothing stands between this blade and you. Come, let's settle this!

Time to go dragonslayin’




Get all the Bishops the hell out of there.




That’s the power of the Falchion, it absolutely shreds Medeus.

: DO YOU PLAN TO... DEFY ME ONCE MORE... DESCENDANT OF ANRI...?

: No matter how many times you return, mankind will never surrender! This long battle... I will end it here, once and for all!




Marth does some serious damage to the Shadow Dragon.




I could just use Malicia’s Again Staff on Marth to finish him off, but…





A few more of our heroes need a shot at this guy.




And only one person can REALLY finish the job.







THE MOTHER OF ALL UNNECESSARY CRITS.





: IS THIS... THE POWER... ...OF NAGA'S... BINDING SHIELD...? KNOW THIS, HUMANS... THIS LIGHT IS ONLY A BRIEF RESPITE... SO LONG AS EVIL LURKS WITHIN THE HEARTS OF MAN... SHOULD THIS ACCURSED SHIELD BE LOST, WE SHALL RISE FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL... DO NOT... EVER FORGET...







And Medeus fades away.



Until there’s nothing left but the XP.




I believe my feelings have been made clear at this point.




Okay.

And that’s how things end.







Next time:

Ending: Hero Of Shadow