Part 75: Endgame: Beyond the Darkness

Endgame, Part 2 - Chapter 25: Beyond the Darkness





You're the Dark Priestess... No, the Dark Dragon.

...Why do you hinder my path?

What...?

I have been commanded to lead this world. I shall make the world a better place. Why do you stand in my way?

...You're wrong. You were only told that the world would become a better place. The person who ordered you is already dead. So stop! You no longer have any reason to fight!

...

You... No, we... We have no reason to fight.

...A long time ago... I have a feeling that I heard those same words. Soft words, like a warm breeze... But that was long ago... I have been asleep for too long. In the darkness, I was dreaming... An empty dream, white, colorless... But now I am awake. His Majesty willed me so.

Majesty... Zephiel!

I have woken. I am no longer who I used to be. I now clearly understand what I must do.

...



Hello again.

No matter how many days or nights pass, I must. I must...

You insist on fighting us?

If you stand in my path...

Such strong...will...

His Majesty wishes it to be. And I was woken to answer his Majesty's calls.



It's showtime. Cue the peanut gallery:

...Do we have to fight...sniff...

I will win. I will win!

Father... Watch over us.

I'm not afraid! This time I'm not afraid!

...We've finally come this far.

If we take our time...we can win.

This is the end... Finally, it'll end...

Well, well... Let's go, I suppose.

I must fight a worthy battle as an Ostian knight!



I have the sword of Hartmut, who pitied you and did not kill you! Everyone, leave the final blow to me!



So, time to throw down with Idoun. Before we talk about Idoun herself, note the four flame sculptures on either side of her. Every turn, the game spawns a manakete from one of them at random. They aren't quite at Yahn-levels of competence, but they are a cut above your standard manakete.



Jesus fuck IntSys, what the hell were you thinking not giving any of these dragons ranged attacks.

The funny thing is, they evidently realized this with Fire Emblems 7 and 8, then forgot it again for 9, and relearned it for 10. 10 is notable for reprising Ch24 of this game and doing it competently.

Ignoring that very obvious and super-crippling flaw, Idoun is pretty tough. She hits like a truck, is quite accurate, and she has maxed Def with solid Res. She did get shorted about 40 HP, but this is somewhat counter-balanced by the fact that the Divine Weapons are not effective against her. Forblaze, for example, does about 13 damage from a maxed-magic Lilina.



These guys lack a similar immunity.



The first turn spawns one right next to Lilina.



She says hello.



Just to demo it, this is the Saint's Staff in action. This animation gets reused as the Fortify staff in FE7, and I believe the Latona Staff in FE8 as well.

So remember how we established that the Sword of Seals was not a Divine Weapon?



Yeah. See, the game really wants you to kill Idoun with the Sword of Seals. To the point where the game considers it a different ending if anyone else does the deed (even though all it does is cut a scene from the good ending). This is helped by how goddamn absurd the Sword of Seals itself is. With 18 Mt, you're looking at 54 Atk minus Idoun's 30 Def, so even if Roy literally had 0 Str, he would be doing 24 damage a pop with the SoS. Any Roy with at least 15 Str is capable of two-shotting her, and if you have 20 speed on top of that, you can one-round her. Idoun is easily the worst final boss of any modern Fire Emblem, and possibly the entire series.

Now that I think on it, FE10 redeemed this one too.



You know what, Roy? I'll admit, that was pretty fucking impressive. It took you the entire goddamn game to do it, but I'm proud of you, son.

Let’s just all conveniently forget about Roy being handed a designated, purpose built superweapon that basically automates the completion of this task. He sure did press that killswitch though! Roy’s our boy!



...alone... Dark... Alone...in...darkness...



So...yeah. FE6, everyone.



What's happening... The temple is starting to collapse! Everyone! Hurry outside!

Roy...

I know. Leave the rest to me. Now go!



Yes... But the temple is gone.

It is over a thousand years old, and a lot of energy was released in the battles that we just fought. Probably the building couldn't withstand it.

I see...

So, times are changing again. And... Who is that you are carrying on your back?



Merlinus, I need to ask you something...

Can I just interject here with a few observations about that last scene?

• Unwilling to contrive an explanation for Idoun being a load-bearing boss, IntSys decided to suggest that the temple’s collapse was due to collateral damage from the battle, despite this never being used as an explanation before or since and how little sense this makes even with some generous assumptions concerning how abstracted fighting in Fire Emblem is.
  
• Merlinus literally asks Roy “So, how about that glorious new age?”. Actually, he doesn’t even use that many words. “So, times are changing again.”. He sounds like he’s talking about the fucking weather.
  
• Only after this does anyone question why Roy is ferrying the main antagonist. Well, actually, no - that only happens after they wonder who Roy’s carrying because somehow no one who would recognize her has noticed her yet.

OK, carry on.

...oh, that’s the end of the chapter? Alright then.


You said it yourself, she’s clad in a black robe. How are they supposed to identify this ~mysterious girl~ Roy is carrying?

_{And if you want to get technical, I kind of cheated, the chapter actually ends when you kill Idoun, and that scene is the first part of the good ending. Not that it makes a transition any less abrupt.}

-----



Idoun official art.

Fa vs. Idoun



By request, what happens if we take Fa's Flame Stone against Idoun?



Well, so far so good...



Well alright then. Fa's dragon head causes the background portion of Idoun's sprite to glow orange, leaving the animated foreground parts like normal



Idoun also shows off her other attacks. I don't know what triggers the different attacks, but it's nice to see that IntSys at least gave her a couple different animations.

Perhaps the biggest question, however, is what would happen if Fa killed Idoun?



Oh god you broke the background what the hell did you do Fa

The rest of the army's pre-battle lines

I will protect Master Roy with my life!

Master Roy, Lord Eliwood... I shall show you my gratitude now!

Master Roy, please be careful.

No matter what happens, I will protect Master Roy...

Saint Elimine... Give us strength!

Whoo... Now there's something you don't see every day!

This is it! The great battle I've been waiting for!

We must be wary...

All right! Chaaaaarge!

...I won't lose. I can defend us all!

I have friends I can trust. There's no way I could lose now!

This is the end! We mustn't lose now!

...It begins.

Can we win...? No, we have to win!

Is this the end? Or is it the beginning...

Now, Ilia will know peace...

Sigh... Give me a break...

Yeah, we'll be fine.

This could be dangerous... Well, I've been in enough dangerous situations already.

You'll be fine, Wendy... Just trust in yourself.

We cannot afford to make a mistake this time.

I know I've become strong... Now's the time to show it!

I hope this'll be the last battle.

The long battle is about to end.

I...will not lose!

It's...huge...

Let there be peace in your dying heart...

Aaaaaarrrr! My blood boils!

This is the Dark Dragon...! Such immense power...! Yes...!

Well, let's go then, shall we?

I will not lose... For the troops back in Bern... ...For Gale...

Roy, concentrate.

I can sense...a sad heart...

Now...peace shall come again...

A truly powerful enemy! Haven't met one in years!

Whoa! We gotta fight that thing!?

I'll focus all my strength into this one thrust!

This is it! Yes! This is the power that I have been searching for!

The time has come...

This is the Dark Dragon...

Finally, the battle between Dragons and men will end at last...

So, let's see the power of the Dragon.

Karel, you know the power of a dragon, you were there 20 years ago. God, you must be getting old to forget something like that.

Also, apparently no one has ever used Douglas on the final chapter. I looked at a couple scripts and not a single one had his line.