Part 58: Episode XLVI: Dragnarok

Music: The Strength of Time



Oh boy...
Holy—
Geez.
*unimpressed stare* Why did you lot stop me before if you were just going to let nature take its course anyway...?
Well that escalated quickly... RIP.
BARF!
...
...Huh?
Aww... what? I feel cheated...



Sadly, Beetle Boy didn’t actually get one-shot ganked by Dingus, as funny as that would have been. This isn’t Drakengard, as much as everyone would probably prefer that. The child murder is in another side quest.



A shiny appears behind the stunned Beetle Boy. It could either be the cursed spritnite stone or... another rogue head of lettuce food drop or broken pocket watch. It’s difficult to tell from shiny spot alone. Regardless, Dingus opts to pick it up before Beetle Boy can fully recover from being smacked 10 yard onto hard ice.



All I want is that spritnite. I do not wish to take your life... I made sure not to harm you.
My head hurts a whole lot and I feel like I’m gonna be sick...
That’s probably a concussion, kid.
......
Intent and execution are separate matters.
W-Wait... my spritnite...



If you wish, I will return it to you. However, first I want you to see what will happen to the bearer of this spritnite with your own eyes...
My eyes aren’t seeing very straight...
That’s definitely a concussion. Dingus, you gave him a concussion.



I... I feel like... we should stop this.
Nah. Let’s see where he’s going with this...
Endir, you’re not helping.





This is... It can’t be...
It is the destruction inside me... That is the power this spritnite contains... It is a physical manifestation of my own urge for self-destruction...
So that’s why the stone is “cursed”...
This is why all the humans who possessed it met a horrific end...
You know, in retrospect... we probably should have stopped him from doing this...
*highly disapproving frown*
Stay back... It is the destruction inside me, I am the only one who can defeat it...



Beetle Boy almost got gibbed once today. He is fucking OUT at the threat of a dragon. Likewise, despite Dingus’ claim to be the only one to defeat this beast... he fades away into the Cutscene Dimension™ as the battle begins.


Music: Dance of Death



The final challenge of Dingus’ sidequest is... a rematch with a slightly buffed Dysphormic Monster. This time around it has 7390 HP up from 5000 or so. On the other hand, the party can stuff a salad in their face before the fight to have much higher HP this go around, making it overall a bit easier (Reaper and D. Monster counted as two separate fights so the effects would wear off for Round 2 earlier.)



Beyond that, it’s the same exact fight. He doesn’t even seem to hit any harder this go around. The black dragon does have a solitary upgrade, though.





When it falls below 50% health, the Dysmorphic Monster can use the Dragnarok attack at any time, hitting the entire party for 300-350 HP of damage. Previously, it only used this upon death. Good thing everyone ate that salad and has max HP well into the 600+ range.





Apparently the original fight against D.Monster had this attack but it was just extremely rare to the point I’d never seen it. But, it can straight up just eat one of our characters. Which does 350-400 HP of damage and takes them out of the fight for two turns. Thankfully here, it ate Endir who can take it and isn’t super essential. It might be problematic if Setsuna was devoured given all the full party attacks the dragon does nearly every turn.



Though, I doubt Endir appreciates being briefly swallowed by the manifestation of Reaper’s angst. That cannot be an endearing event.







Regardless, it’s not too bad of a battle. Yet it still gives less EXP than just wasting a mid-game mob of Spritnite Eaten penguins... I’m glad I’m not the addled sort who needs to get my party to Level 99 in a RPG. Shit must take forever in this game.



Defeating Dingus’ Dragon also rains a bunch of rare/unique drops on the party for a healthy payday, if not particularly experience rich. Granted... we’ve got half a million gold in the bank and not a lot to spend it on so...


Music: The Lone Reaper





As with Endir’s sidequest, Dingus receives his ultimate spritnite (stone) as a reward for completing this little side story. In this case, he gets that Dragnarok tech that we just had spammed in our direction.





It’s a big ass explosion of Dark magic energy that gets stronger with each stock of Momentum (up to the max of three) Dingus has stored. No momentum it does around 200 HP of damage to all enemies. 300 at one stock. 400 at two. And... well, you get it. Very few enemies in this game (read: basically none outside a couple bosses if you refought them) have resistances against Dark magic. So it ain’t a bad spell if you wanted to start using Reaper here at the end of the game for some reason.

But back on track...



But I can sense a faint connection to the hatred inside it...
Hatred...?
It appears to somehow be connected to the hatred of my former master...
...Who’s that?
Dark Samsara. Remember? The one locked up in the Last Lands. Who we REALLY ought to go take care of like... REAL soon, guys...
*turns to Beetle Boy* It seems you too sensed this when you held it in your hands.



That feeling of gloom inside me... That urge to destroy everything...
*holds out arms* Those were the emotions of my former master... There is no light... only eternal, never-ending darkness...
Dingus...
Don’t scare him. You already nearly killed the boy.
I am not telling you to forget your hatred. If that is what you choose to feed off, so be it... But remember this... Hatred leads to nothing. Beyond solitude and hatred, there is only destruction... and infinite nothingness...
*yells* What do you know!?
......
This guy is a gloomy stiff but he DID go down that career path for a while and we killed him...
W-Wait... You killed... him...? And he... came back? Huh? Does that mean... you could bring back the dead? Like mama...?
*sucks teeth* Nope... We killed the one that could bring back the dead too.
*crushed frown* W-Why...?!
To go stop the greater evil who Dingus is speaking of and we are completely neglecting to go take care of... REMEMBER, everyone?!
I too was part of that very hatred. No one else needs to feel what I have felt.
! You mean... you did this to save me from destruction...?



I wanted this spritnite... And so, I took it from you. That is all.
A swing and a miss at not being a dick...
Endir knows all about doing that.
*glares*
...That wasn’t bad. I’ll let it slide.
*shakes head* Thank you, Dingus. Either way, you saved this boy...
H-hmph! I hope you’re not expecting me to thank you...
*holds out arms* No, I am not. Let me say one more thing, to make sure that you understand. If your hatred begins to overcome you, come and kill me... Come and release that hatred... I shall be waiting.
I’ll never forgive you for what you did to my mama... So once the sacrifice’s journey is over, come back here. I want to be the one to defeat you. I’ll make you apologize to me!
If you are still alive, that is...
*yells* Hah! I’m not going anywhere!
*frowns* Dingus, please stop antagonizing the child.
I’m merely inviting him to his own demise by my hands.
...You’re still doing it.

The Skinny Child approaches Setsuna.



No, I’m just glad you’re going to be all right...
One day I’ll find strong friends, like you!
*nods* I think this’ll be the last time we see each other... so take care.
? Why will it be the last time? You’ll come back after your journey’s over, won’t you?
Of course she will.
See? Of course we’ll see each other again!
Endir...
And if she doesn’t it probably means the world is ending shortly. So don’t sweat it, kid.
...Huh?
Don’t mind him.
I’m sure we’ll see each other again somewhere. That’s just the feeling I get...
*nods* Yes, I think so, too... Until then, though... good-bye.
*nods* All right! See you!

Beetle Boy trots off, never to be seen again...



I’m impressed, Dingus. Playing the bad guy like that...
That was not my intention. I simply believe it better to have someone to focus one’s hatred on than to live alone... Endless solitude and hatred lead only to destruction. If someone can stop that from happening, then they should do so...
So... Now he’s just going to be on a quest for more power to have his revenge now, huh? Yeah... It’s good to have a life goal like that. Not bad, Dingus.
*heavy frown*
Dingus... Do you mean you saw your former master in that child?
*shakes head* I do not know... Let us hurry on. The time of our final battle approaches.
Yes! Okay. Dingus has made an excellent point. Now let’s go...
Hey, everyone. Do you all think we could swing by my village? It’ll only be for a little bit. It’s not far from here.
What?! No... No. No! NO!



And that concludes Dingus’ side quest. In which we mugged an orphaned monster child who has failed to integrate into society and gave him renewed purpose in a quest for revenge against the one who murdered his mother. All in a day’s work. Personally, I would have just had Reaper kill Beetle Boy because you invited a golem created by a dark god filled with murderous intent into the party with the vetting process being him going “no I’m cool now” and that’s what happens, idiots. He’s still a crass blunt instrument of murder. He didn't chill out at all. He’s just on your side now, you naive dope. Sadly, he heel-face turn in JRPGs party members rarely pan out in that sort of manner.

Beyond that, this definitely feels like a scene that was gutted from a longer game and would have been inserted later. Hell, that entire end talk was speaking like the pilgrimage was still ongoing with Setsuna dying at the end of it and the Dark Samsara killing option wasn't on the table yet. You could have probably done more with adding Reaper in earlier and having him be a pragmatic voice to Setsuna's dipshit way of going about things. But alas, we've only got so much to work with...

In any case, that’s two side quest down! Up next is, puzzlingly, Kir’s side quest. So tune in next time for dicking around with wood elves and pyromancy as the march to I Am Setsuna’s conclusion continues.






Video: Dragnarok Tech