Part 67: Episode LV: The Village of Heroes

Here it is! We’re finally at the end of the end game content. I don’t want to leap off the nearest tall building like I did by the end of Final Fantasy X. So at least there’s that. Anyway, let’s move on to the final optional location of the game...


New Music: Dreamer’s Conclave (There’s no piano in this tack...)



Welcome to the Village of Heroes! It’s a little bit different looking from the rest of the game, huh? This place is special. It’s actually the equivalent of the Developer Ending from Chrono Trigger/Cross. Except it’s just a location you can visit at any time after you get the airship. It might have been the FIRST place I visited my first playthrough since I just started in the northwestern part of the map exploring. Needless to say, I was very frikkin’ confused when I ended up here...



For being a dopey developer filled joke area, this location has a remarkable amount of effort put into it. Aside from the Playstation 1 ass looking retexture/model of everything in the town, all of the developers are represented by sprite recreations of characters and monsters from the main game. They’re not static either. They all have stationary walk or breathing cycles.

Let's have a little chat with the devs...



And now they’re making me write this text! I don’t have time! They’re watching me as I write this, too... Hey! What the!? What’re you... AUGH! Making this game nearly killed me... I hope you have a lot of fun with it!
Eh, it was alright.

For the record, I have no idea the role of any of these developers, unless they directly state it. Except this one. This is Atsushi Hashimoto, the game’s director. I’m pretty sure this is the first thing he ever worked on. So this message was probably written when he hadn’t slept for at least a week.

Remember this dumb game, for all its flaws, was pretty much Square-Enix taking a bunch of new developers, casting them into the deep end of the pool making an old school style RPG, and throwing in a life preserver purchased from change found in an executive break room's couch.



Sorry... my joke worked better in Japanese... sort of... I came all the way from an island in the south because I wanted to make RPGs! Thank you for playing this far!
Good to hear someone else has made poor employment choices recently...



Ominous.



I’ll not shame your fetish, but I’ll not allow you to indulge in it either.



As long as it’s not another frikkin’ Purikka Cobbler Salad. That’s all these people eat...



The characters in this game sure are cute!
But... there wasn’t a shrimp character... Was there a shrimp and I forgot about it?
No. No shrimp...
A lot of the monsters were cute though!
Yeah, I woulda remembered a shrimp... What is your DEAL?!



Count me out. Getting sand in this mask is the absolute worst...



Thank you very much for playing!
There were a lot of issues mechanically, but ehh... I don’t think there was a single bug the whole time. Other than the Beetle Boy. And he’s GOT to be dead by now...
*frown*



What kinda stat buff does that give? It better not be like Shadow magic resistance or some crap. You can toss those noodles down that well in that case.



I don’t, though. I don’t want to get wet.
Coward!



When I wrote this message, I didn’t have time to think of anything better to say...
You bring shame to yourself and your family you haven’t seen in eight weeks.



That is demonstrably false. Have you seen Nidr...? Are you telling me there is a sheath equipped to handle a tree trunk...? No... No, there is not. Idiot.



A life of luxury in a winter land! Every day is soda, saunas, and developing! Oh, I think I’m crying...
Yeah... I’ve made enough poor life choices with my employment lately. I don’t need to be a game dev...



What’s that? You need more money? All right, I’ll let you in on a little secret...
I’m listening...
In the furthest depths of a certain place, there’s a powerful enemy... If you defeat it, it’ll sometimes drop a very rare item! I heard it might be someone’s wallet...
......
O-only kidding! Haha! What would a wallet be doing somewhere like that!?
Yeah... money drops in a RPG? That would just be complete crazy talk...
......
By the way... I’m actually a man! Mwa hah hah! Tricked ya! Anyway, hope you continue to enjoy the game!
I’m leaving now.



Eh... Not a fan of the texture of those. Weird... Also not a big fan of snow after seeing it non-stop for four months straight...



My daughter was born during Setsuna’s development... Both her and Setsuna were difficult births
Aww... that’s sweet. Kiiiiiiinda weird you’d choose to manifest yourself as a sprite of the guy that wanted to commit patricide...



Wait, you mean I could have been hanging out with a rad talking shrimp this whole time? And instead we got stuff like playable Reaper and Kir? Are you kidding me right now? Ugh... I’m so disappointed right now.
Aww. Kir is alright... in small doses.
Yeah, but Dingus? C’mon. That guy sucks.



So what, did they like... die...?
That’s dark, Endir.
Look, I’m just asking the hard questions...



Actually, wait... I’ve grown too big!
I think your parents cast Meteo on me before they died. Real dick move...



I feel like a lemon snow cone! Actually, strawberry flavor’s pretty good, too...
Lemon snow cones can be a dangerous proposition...



Let’s make snowmen, too... And an igloo!
Hey, there wasn’t a SINGLE igloo in this whole arctic region adventure. Way to drop the ball! Oh and the lack of MAP! Which one of you do I complain to about that one...?



That’s just about everyone outside. Let’s head indoors to warm up. There’s four houses in the bottom part of the village and one up top (I’m pretty sure this area is actually a repurposed Tenderville?)



AUUUUGGHH!
...That’s a really confusing suicide note.



Takei, I swear if you were the one that was supposed to assign a map button and you flaked, I’m putting you down right here...



Don’t let it snow, snow, snow... In the real world! I won’t be able to get to work!
I’ve been going to work in the snow for months straight now and I’m not even getting paid for this. I don’t even wanna hear it!





The composer felt so sorrowful, he cried while writing the music...
What, did someone tell him guitars or drums exist? Maybe a violin or a cowbell?



If you feel like you’re missing the snow, come back and play any time!
Well... I mean, yeah... It was some good snow. I just also NEVER want to see a snowy field for the rest of my life...



That’s how I tried to design the last boss!
Hey! Spoilers! We haven’t seen Dark Samanosuke or whatever yet! Also WOW a bear with a beehive sticking out of its gut is WAY more disturbing in pixel form...





Thank you!
Nah... *walks away*



Minus 20 kg... I know I can do it!
That’ll be a real hoot!
?
You know... cuz he’s an... aww... forget it...



Same.



We have altered the game, Abe. Pray I don’t alter it any further...





N
K
S
F
O
R
P
L
A
Y
I
N
G
!
That is really, REALLY
A
N
N
O
Y
I
N
G
!
Good work being the bigger man, Endir.
F
U
!



The more you try to make something perfect, the less perfect it becomes...
No... Nope, I’m reading here that this game has committed every RPG sin imaginable by doing the exact same things as old RPGs but not actually being some bad RPG they are nostalgic for when they were an idiot child. Everyone is saying it! It must be true.



But enough about Kir...



There’s one more house to the north of town. This one actually has something special in it!



What? No! That dungeon sucked. I can’t believe you made us go all the way up and down that mountain... Dick move!



What are you like 35? RIP.



Man it’d be weird if we ran into this place as soon as we got the Trebuchet... You think they’re mad we renamed the airship?
I can’t even remember what the original name was...



When is this game going on sale? $40? C’mon, son.





So the last Silver Chest left in the game is located here and wouldn’t you know it... it contains Endir’s ultimate weapon (at default level at least) Momentum. Again, it’s really weird you can access this area immediately after getting the airship. You’d end up getting 3-4 much shittier swords for Endir afterwards.



Before we depart from the Village of Heroes, there is one last NPC to speak with near the entrance to town. This mushroom ape has a unique function. Let’s take a look...



Once you get that strong, I’ll bet it makes getting Exact Kills pretty hard, right? How about I temporarily increase the strength of all monsters to match your strength?
Yes, please!
I decided I wanted to hate life just THAT much more by grinding...
All right... If I just do this with the monster data... and then this...
*WHITE FLASH*
All done! Now the monsters are stronger! If you want to return them to their original strength, come and see me again!



What this does is raise the stat table of all monsters in the game to the level of the party’s strongest character (so Level 50 in our case.) This makes it so they aren’t slain by a menacing snowflake. This is in order to make it possible to perform an Exact Kill on early game enemies we’d otherwise immediately obliterate for the unique drops those garner. Ya know... if filling out ALL the Spritnite collection is your kinda thing. It is most definitely not mine!



I guess this explains all the weird total HP numbers all the enemies possess. All their stats have been fed into some global calculator instead of manually been programmed. Apparently it’s possible to activate this functionality by fiddling with the game’s files, if you want to emulate the feeling of vanilla Elder Scrolls: Oblivion where everything is constantly at your level and you are never particularly powerful without breaking the game. I worry for your mental health in that instance...





In any case, that concludes the last of Setsuna’s end game content. We’ve seen it all. At least everything worth seeing! All that is left to do is to finally return to The Last Lands and go see about dealing with the tremendously patient Dark Samsara. Tune in next time for the beginning of the end of I am Setsuna...







I Am Setsuna Official Sprite Work