Part 68: Snow Chronicles 12: End of Journal Entry

Snow Chronicles 12: End of Journal Entry


Music: The Winter Breeze



Yeah, yeah. We’re getting to the ending. We’ve got one final Snow Chronicle mop-up operation before hitting the end game. And it’s slightly beefy thanks to all the sidequest business we’ve endured. Let’s get to it.





This was the critter we encountered during Setsuna’s sidequest. I have no idea what it’s talking about with that Empy Rebirth business since I fought that giant hunk of HP for about ten minutes straight. It at no point was stun locked from attacks and made no effort to respawn its grotesque brood.



Little did they know the seas between Floneia and Nive were in fact infested by an unending swarm of Schwarzstrom. The seas will never be free from their peril.



Ah yes. The secret monster old man who looked 100% human, fought like a human and died like a human. I think Endir just murdered an old man with early onset dementia.



Moms are tough.



Not going to mention where she obtained the Soul Edge, huh?



At least the anime sisters’ character bios confirmed the humans behind their bad time was the Magic Consortium being huge Umbrella-esque assholes. Shame they never really went anywhere with that. Not that evil magic scientists is treading new ground. But if nothing it would be an improvement of the token evil organization being a totally not Catholic Church analog. Come to think of it, they really aren’t very religious folk in the Land of Snow, huh?



Remember when she managed to call out for her mother before bleeding out in a field? That was a fun time.



As if their attacks weren’t enough... fucking DRAGNAROK!



Now that is TWO entries in the Snow Chronicles lore that reference knowledge of harnessing nuclear energy. I feel like it’s going to turn out the Land of Snow is just some backwards Luddite continent that hasn’t embraced an otherwise modern world.



Just a bit of latent cannibalism. It’s fine.



I’ve grinded roughly 40 of these to gain a few levels incredibly quickly. They’re by far the best bang for your buck Spritnite Eaten super enemy monster mob.



Yeah the lore part of this description isn’t remotely correct. There was an entire quest that was about Grinche’s origin. C’mon, get it together data logs!



Most of the ancients were docile peace loving folk. But there were a small handful of REAL assholes that ruined it for everyone. I guess some things never change...





Transcending history and the world... a tale of souls and swords, eternally retold...



I feel like I’m missing some obscure reference this sword is making in some RPG blind spot I possess.



It is most excellent and will be adorning Setsuna’s head until the very end.



DOINK! It’s kind of strange only a couple people got joke weapon designs like this. You think that’d be easier to do than overly ornamental dagger #9.



If they were going to straight up copy and paste weapons from other Square-Enix titles, I’m disappointed everyone didn’t get one like the Chrono Trigger reference set. Or at least give Endir a Sephiroth Masamune that clipped through everything 12 feet behind him constantly.



That hilt looks like it will crack in half the very first time it strikes something particularly sturdy. But what do I know about thin magical energy films?



In the end I’m fairly certain I used Kir less than Rico Banderas in Xenogears. At least Rico was a mandatory character for a couple areas and boss fights. It’s entirely possible to play through the entirety of I Am Setsuna’s content, sidequests included and never use Kir, Julienne or Dingus in a battle. Then again, I think it’s possible, if highly unlikely, to do the entire game with Endir solo. He’s a hard working mercenary...



Usually I have a strong aversion to multiple belts strapped to a single surface. Not sure why such a distain manifested at some point... Total mystery. But, I do like the detail here of the weapon handle just being hastily strapped to this huge ass horn.



This would just be a mediocre scythe design if not for the bent handle part. It looks like someone dropped it down a flight of stairs. Awful.



Ah yes the fearsome dragon spoken of only in hushed voices... the pelican.



I’m sorry. Gold is now officially the color of gaudy dipshits thanks to a certain gaudy dipshit’s recent rise to power. Ugly!



Dingus, give that Tron-scythe back to Cyber-Death. It’s too good for you.



It’s fine. Magus didn’t need that scythe anymore after getting transported to 1020 by the Dream Devourer, lost his memory, got a spray on tan, and became a middling magician in the El Nido archipelago. FYI Chrono Trigger DS added an extra end boss and ending that made this canon!

ADDENDUM!



I mentioned earlier that you could make a save and reload the game at the final checkpoint after the ending. Hello from the future. That has been done later in the LP! The only thing unlocked is a new set of weapons at Weppy & Talli's all going for 20,000G. The weapon merchant also starts selling Orichalcum tempering material, which lets you upgrade any weapon to maximum stats. You can gain Orchialcum prior to that point in a few places (mostly Silver Chests) but the most that could be bought was Crystal material (3/4 max upgrade to weapons.) You know, if you wanted to make the game even easier than it already was...

Anyway! Here's the post-game weapons available. One of these is clearly the best...



It's this one. It's the Emperor (Penguin) sword. I'm disappointed it's not possible to take on Dark Sammy with Endir wielding this.



Setsuna gets what might as well be the game's logo (it's the same snowflake design that appears every time anyone casts magic.) It's no penguin chakram.



Aeterna just gets a generic ass dagger. It's certainly no penguin dagger.



Nidr gets a Monster Hunter ass looking monster crafted weapon to go with the others in that series. I'm glad Nidr's tree log was viable the entire remainder of the game. Mostly by Nidr himself getting bumped into the B-Team by the final third of the game.



Kir gains a shell on a stick because Kir is an idiot child.



Julienne gets an ugly golden pointy mess. It seems like they weren't particularly keen on designing too many lances. Kir only joins the party as a battle participant a chapter and change prior to Julienne yet he got almost twice as many weapons overall.



Yet Reaper joins with about 90 minutes left of the game's plot and he ultimately ends up with one less weapon overall. And it's not even a good looking weapon. It looks like some grimdark toucan on a stick. Shameful.

And... that's it! That's all you get for a bonus unlock upon completing the game.





Endir is a very self-sufficient mercenary. At this point he probably could solo the entire time game.



This spritnite’s overall power is tied to the Flux system meaning it will absolutely not ever reach its full potential unless you see it fit to grind in I Am Setsuna for tens of hours after all content has been exhausted.



Yeah... you could do this or ya could just, I don’t know, use a Remedy consumable which the game begins selling for like 1500 G by the third major area of the game and about 20 hours before Setsuna gains this magic spell. To make no mention Endir could already do the same thing with Momentum buffed Aura since an hour into the journey...



This is probably the easiest ultimate tech to damage boost to its full potential since Setsuna ought to be healing regularly (other characters healing also counts to her total.) But in practice, it would only ever get used at the very end of a battle when making a final push to beat a boss.



Just use a third of Aeterna’s total MP to draw a random status buff out of a hat for twenty seconds. Not the best bang for your buck... Man, Singularity was a poorly thought out system...



You’d think this would be useful in coordination with Endir’s Battlecry. But almost every late game enemy and super boss has an ability that will negate buffs so...



Well I guess that is why Aeterna was so pissed with the Magic Consortium during her plotline. They stole this from her mom! What a bunch of jerks! Also I find it pretty funny some middle-manager clerk in a refugee camp had a stone that could obliterate the universe in his pocket the whole time.



This is absolutely worthless. The only time I’ve used consumables in this game during a battle, they fully did their maxing out HP/MP (Hi-Potions heal like 500 HP. Mid-Ethers restore like 200 MP.) Or they negated status effects. Once in a great while an Athenian Water was employed to revive someone. The buff to that item from this Tech would make them be restored with like 200 HP instead of 100 HP...



REBELLION! A spritnite Nidr receive by... following his master’s teachings while traveling on a sacrificial journey performed traditionally for a millennium...



Sure, maybe this Tech was locked away due to its immense power. Or maybe it was the fact it team killed everyone around the user in most situations. Goddammit, Kir...



I wonder why Julienne has so few overall Techs compared to everyone else. I didn’t use her much. But honestly I’m only missing like... three techs that would require spamming her less than effective Ice spells on trash mobs.



Unless I’m mistaken, this Tech is like the only means of inflicting Sap against enemies. Not that this game’s equivalent of poison is remotely threatening or effective.



Another one in the pile of elemental buffs that have zero use unless grinding out missing spritnite.



I have no idea what enemies are susceptible to Death. I didn’t even know there was a straight up Death spell in this game. I’m going to guess very few that matter...



Not gonna lie. This was a real dick move when you used it against us, Reaper.



Sure... you could do that. Or you could just use Blowbeat to inflict Paralysis and Stun, the only two status effects worth a damn in the game.



Psst... This is just Demi. You’re using Demi. Stop treating it like it’s a special technique.



Yes, let’s drain the HP out of an already somewhat fragile mage. And convert it into damage for one of those attacks that require (out of the player’s hands) positioning. Hard pass!



Dingus your boss music theme isn’t in the same continent as Magus’ battle theme. I’m taking issue with you borrowing so much of his routine.



Ah. A shitty version of Battlecry that only buffs Reaper and also disables Momentum. That sounds like it is worth a third of a mage’s total MP.



Goddamn Dragnarok... Still mad about that name!





It was a perfect replica of the lost at sea Nive-Floneian ferry to honor the lost sailors from that faithful voyage.



They put so much effort into that dumb town. ??? indeed!





Lutius, the solitary other member of the Magic Consortium we ever met and who has followed us around the entire game, has NO IDEA who the president is! None! It’s fucked up!





And finally, if you need a refresher on events thus far before we took a month long trek into end game content... That is it for the Snow Chronicles. There’s a sprinkling of last minute entries as we carve our way through the final chapter of the game. But I’ll just include them in the relevant update they appear.

Tune in next time when we find out what the hell a Dark Samsara actually is!