Grandia Part #199

Part 199: Mullen

Black Balloon posted:

I wish they at least chose an interesting boss to fight over and over and fucking over. Having to actually defeat every part of a Gaia Battler might make it a bit more interesting, given the varied defenses each part can have.

More interesting strategically, and also give a stronger sense of how much more powerful you get as the game goes on.

Oh well, that was the last one, at least.

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Welcome back!

Last time we put yet another Gaia Battler in its place.

And we've got some sort of Mega Man-esque boss door afterwards.

Hmm. The camera's fixed and there's no compass. I sense a cutscene.

Oh hey, we caught up with Feena and Mullen!

: What's that!?

Huh. I thought the Gaia Battler sprite was symmetrical, but I guess they're hunched forwards slightly.

: Help! SOMEONE!

: Hold ON Feena! I'm coming!

: Jus... Justin!?

Justin takes a mighty leap....

And annihilates three Gaia Battlers in one go.

: Now I finally understand what Leen was trying to say. The Spirits will bless us if we fight with one heart, together!

: If the will of humanity and the will of the Spirits became one, ANY miracle can happen! We can defeat Gaia and build a NEW future!

: Justin... your sword... I can feel the power of the Spirits in it!

: This sword was given to me by the Spirits. It will forge a new future for all of us together!

: Jus... Justin! At long last... the Spirits HAVE accepted you!

Mullen never explains why he feels this way. Was it something his mother taught him? Is it what Baal told him? Is it something he thought for himself from seeing the people around him and learning about the Icarians? No one knows.

: How COULD the Spirits ever forgive us for what we've done?

: Mullen! The Spirits have never forsaken us. The Spirits have never stopped extending their hands to us.

: Wh... WHAT?!

: What NONSENSE! Justin! What good is all your TALK!? Show me PROOF that what you say is really so!

Mullen status: still a dork.

And fine. You wanna see the power of the Spirit Sword, Mullen?

We'll show you the power of the Spirit Sword.

: All right. Mullen! En garde!

So here we are, the battle with Mullen. We've been building up to this the whole game, and we're settling it one-on-one.

And going in with the Four Treasures actually makes this interesting instead of the usual cakewalk. His normal physical attack hits twice and, without armor, each hit hurts like a bitch. Also, unless you have some level of Move Block resistance, he's gonna get you with it.

: Rip ya to shreds! Yah!

Sonic Boom is a 30-power Wind elemental attack that can inflict Move Block. Since his physical attack has a much higher chance of Move Blocking you, that's probably not going to matter much.

: Tear ya apart! Yah!

Rising Dragon Cut is a 70-power non-elemental magical attack with no special effect.

In addition to his special moves, Mullen has access to a variety of spells. Alhealer+ cures him for 300 HP, which really isn't that much. Fireburner does about 80 damage without resistance.

As you may be able to tell from the way the list is formatted, though, he's got access to a few more: Vanish, Speedy, WOW!, Crackling and Zap All. The damage spells aren't too much to write home about, aside from the casting quotes.

: Power of the exterminating flame!

: Power of the ~~jellybean~~ killing beam!

The first three, though, are more interesting. Obviously Speedy is trouble if he gets it off, though Cold can help with that. WOW! is less worrisome normally, as the only attack he has that's strength-based is his normal physical. While it can't be directly dispelled, it can be countered with Diggin'.

Vanish, naturally, is a double-edged sword. While it will dispel your buffs and get rid of Mullen's debuffs, it'll also reduce any stats of his that are above zero. So if he's getting too strong and/or quick, just cast Diggin' a few times and he'll get around to Vanishing all the buffs away.

Mind you, none of that is really necessary. With the Spirit gear, Justin can win a straight-up damage race. With the Four Treasures, Justin has to take Mullen's HP down before his SP runs out.

Mullen has inherited a few things from his father, though. Specifically a swanky-ass casting animation, and hammy-ass battle quotes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0qI8zce8pM (Polsy link)

For the first time in the main game, and the only time outside of the Tower of Temptation, V-Slash is used for its better SP-to-damage ratio. You'd think that this would be the best fight for Immortal Aura, but it's too costly and doesn't last long enough to be really helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJAs2I5RBsk (Polsy link)

Mullen drops no gold. Not only is his gold drop set at 0, but so is his chance of dropping gold.

Level 39 is not one of Justin's best.

Anyway, we've got one more voiced cutscene coming up, the last one before the ending. Skip down to "cutscene ends" to skip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_yrZXel6s0 (Polsy link)

: Have you been accepted by the Spirits? Has a human been accepted by the Spirits?

: So it was I who did not understand Leen. She put her trust in me! How stupid I was! If I had realized this earlier, I wouldn't have lost Leen!

: No Mullen. It's not too late. We were all wrong!

: And Leen knew that we would realize this. That's why she bought us time!

: We can fight! If we all put our powers together, we'll be much stronger than Gaia!

: Can I fight once again? Have I too been given the protection of the Spirits?

: It's OK, Mullen. Me, and Justin. Mullen, you and Leen.

: All of us live in this world. If we all work together, therein lies the blessing of the Spirits!

: To exhaust myself and fall in this place -- that was the path that I was to follow.

: Let us upen up a new future for Mother Earth and for the people living on it! Let's go together! Justin. This time, I'll use my power for all of you!

: Thank you, Mullen!

And the cutscene ends with Feena Icarianing the platform up the elevator shaft.

Well, the voices end, anyway. As does the video. The cutscene's still going on.

: Herr... MU-lleennnn.... ♪

Liete's shocked animation is literally just her hat jumping up off her head.

: Hm? Sergeant Nana? What are YOU doing here? You were discharged from service...!

: Yes! Our plan was to go TOGETHER!

: Can I help it if you're LATE?

: A NEW contest I seek! I have CHALLENGED the VILE BEAST!

Sorry, Gadwin. You had a good run while you were in the party, but I don't think you could solo Gaia.

: Thanks to you, Justin, there's no more army OR civilian! EVERBODY's got the SAME enemy!

Y'know, I really like that if you look carefully at the Mantas, you can see the people riding them.

: All units in position!