Part 50: What Remains
Welcome back. Last time on Last Scenario, we took advantage of our newfound air superiority and launched an attack on the Kingdom. While the Republic and the Empire attacked from land, we used the Lemuria to head straight into Condor and infiltrate the castle, where we found the king and forced him to abdicate. Now that the Kingdom has fallen, there is nothing left in the world that threatens the new peace... except Castor. But before we take him on, there are still a few things in Last Scenario that we haven't seen yet, and we're going to be spending the next few updates checking out all of the optional content. Let's get to it.
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As in my previous Let's Play, I've taken our party through the final dungeon and back in order to prepare them for the post-game content. This time around, however, I've also had to do a small amount of extra grinding, since a normal run through the final dungeon only got our party to level 61. Level 65, I'd argue, is about the point where beating the final boss becomes feasible (as opposed to technically possible but a real long shot at 61), and also just about the point where our party is ready for the post-game content. A four-level difference may not sound like much, but the 250 or so extra HP it brings to everyone is a godsend.
I'll be covering the final dungeon fully when we get around to it, but for the purposes of this update I should point out that the Hilbert Hex tile is obtained there. Hilbert is a pretty great tile, but if you're planning to do the post-game content, you should probably trade him in. Hilbert trades for the Spring Hat, a fairly powerful helmet with the very useful extra of a massive +500 bonus to the wearer's max HP. This is an incredible help to Lorenza's survivability in the post-game, and she'll likely be wearing it all the way to level 99.
Oh, that black bar?
I may have grabbed another Hex tile before my grinding in order to make it easier. I'll show off what it is and where to get it later in the update.
Now then, it's time to do what I promised last update and tour the world with our new airship. Several new locations have opened to us now that we can fly over any terrain, most of them in the Kingdom. As before, we'll be checking them out in a west-to-east, north-to-south order.
First on the list at point 1 is a small village in the middle of the Kingdom that seems to be cut off entirely from the rest of the country. Why is there a village out in the middle of nowhere?
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Oh.
Cromwell, if you've forgotten, is the town where Ethan and Castor lived as children, and where Wolfram was killed.
There's nothing in Cromwell except a bunch of burned-out houses, so of course the honorable thing to do as RPG protagonists is to loot the hell out of whatever is left. There are a couple of chests lying around the area.
One of them is an ornate chest containing the Wolfram Hex tile. Wolfram trades for four Key Tablet IIIs, which will allow us to round out the spellcard slots of the party members we're not using. If, you know, we ever decide to bring them out again.
At the north end of the town is this small house that pops up a message when we try to enter it. This is the game kindly trying to tell us don't fuck with this place. Opening that chest will lead to Bad Things happening that we probably can't handle at our current level. We'll be coming back here later when we can.
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Southeast of Lawshire is point 2, which turns out to be the third Entalar seal. We visited this place a long time ago, but we skipped over the vast majority of it thanks to the Kingdom soldiers escorting us there.
Now that we're back, the place appears to have turned into a slaughterhouse. Level 65 is maybe sufficient to take this place on, but I'd still like to visit a couple of other places first.
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Point 3 is a tower hidden in the Kingdom forests known as the Hall of Judgment. This is another optional dungeon, but despite its name and appearance, it doesn't have anything to do with the Towers we've been visiting throughout the game. Like the third Entalar seal, we might be able to complete this dungeon right now, but I'd rather gain a few more levels before we do.
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Just to the east of the Hall of Judgment is point 4, which is Condor itself. There's a lot of stuff to see here, as you might expect, and I'll be devoting most of the update to it. We just need to finish the world tour first.
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At point 5 is Northbridge. Despite the Kingdom presence, we actually could have come here as soon as we got the Lemuria and nobody would have cared. Condor would have still given us the usual Hilbert-gets-spotted-and-runs shtick though.
Northbridge is really kind of an afterthought, to be honest. The only things to see here are an accessory shop and a spellcard shop, both of which sell items already available from the merchants on the Lemuria.
Further cementing the idea that Northbridge is an afterthought is all of the Kingdom soldiers standing around, who appear to be a little behind the times.
If we had come here before capturing Condor, they would have had the same lines.
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Next up is point 6, just west of Serinal Port, which is another one of the Towers we know and love. The Tower of Redemption is the final one, and unlike the other places I've been pointing out, we can actually take care of this area right now. We'll be doing just that after we're done fucking around in Condor.
And lastly we have point 7, a small village in the southwest corner of the world that is completely surrounded by mountains.
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(RECOMMENDED LISTENING) And good lord does it have some rockin' music. Click that link. Do it.
Randipur is a tiny village, with only a couple of enterable buildings, but it is very worthwhile to visit. Also it appears to be Saraswati's hometown, though she's not here. She's probably gleefully rubbing her hands together somewhere, waiting for us to show up.
One of the main draws of Randipur is its shop, which sells weapons, accessories, and spellcards.
We take a look at the weapons first, and hoo boy are these babies an upgrade. Randipur sells the most powerful weapons available in stores, and all of them grant pretty huge boosts to STR compared to what we've got. While they are worth the money, though, they are not our characters' ultimate weapons. And since we're going to start collecting those ultimate weapons in this update, I won't be buying anything here.
The accessory shop sells what I believe are the most expensive items in the game, elemental Crests. Each one allows its wearer to absorb one element, and it should be obvious from the names which Crest absorbs what. There's a Flame Crest hiding at the bottom too.
Lastly, we have the spellcard shop, which has one new card for us:
Lucky Break (1MP): Temporarily sets one ally's LCK to 999.Crisis: Fortune (2MP): Temporarily sets the entire party's LCK to 999.
Stat changes: +10% LCK
Like Disenchant's crisis Blessing, which has a similar effect, Lucky Break is a much more useful card than it appears. Giving the entire party much higher hit, dodge, and critical chances can be an enormous help.
The only other enterable building in Randipur is the world's largest Hex trading post.
Despite its size, however, there are only two people here that we can pla--wait, is that a Havali woman?
I traveled all the way here to really learn how to play Hex. I want to compete in the world tournament.
Well you might have a tougher time now that we've taken your star tile.
Lorenza trades for the Sacral Gown, a mage armor that grants its wearer permanent Regen. Not too shabby.
In addition to Lorenza, Diarda carries a few more boss tiles...
... and Prabir nearby has a few more for us. We have well over 80 tiles now.
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Now then, that's all there is to see on the world map, so it's time to head back to Condor. As you might expect, despite the game railroading us away from the city as soon as we captured it, there's actually quite a bit to see and do here. So let's take a look around, shall we?
The first thing to check out in Condor is a rather massive mansion on the east side of town.
Inside, we find a woman who looks rather familiar. Show of hands, how many of you remember her?
Update 4 posted:
In any case, Risanna is still a Hex player, and her tile selection has greatly improved. In addition to Zeitgeist, she also carries the Zawu tile. Zawu trades for twenty Diamond Dusts, which is pretty great right now but whose usefulness will probably fade as our characters' HP starts reaching the "several thousand" level.
Next up, we head to the city's central plaza, where there are a bunch of shops. The equipment shop sells the best armor purchasable in stores, but as with the Randipur weapons, there's better stuff out there in the world (with useful secondary effects to boot) that we won't have to pay for.
Also nearby is the city inn. We've long since passed the need for inns, but there's someone hanging out in one of the rooms here that we probably want to talk to.
You look strong. Tell me, are you strong?
What do you think I'm going to pick here?
Yes. A-ha! I knew it! I have been a martial arts trainer all my life, and I can tell in an instant how strong someone is. But no matter how strong you are, there's always another lesson to be learned, wouldn't you agree? What do you think? Do you think you could learn something from me? Yes.
BOSS FIGHT: Melchior
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Hmm. Well, this guy doesn't look too ba--
what
WHAT
So uhhh, yeah, we're not beating this guy normally, that's for sure. But there's something slightly different about this battle that we haven't seen in other boss fights. Can you spot it?
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Haha, don't worry! It doesn't matter. This was a lesson in humility, one that many great warriors are in dire need of. Remember, it's no disgrace to run from a battle you can't win. As long as you're alive, you can train to overcome your challenges. As a reward for passing this lesson, let me present you with a gift.
Stance (50MP): Causes the caster to defend. While defending in this manner, the caster gains triple normal Crisis.Crisis: Invincibility (230MP): Grants all allies total invulnerability to damage and status effects for one round.
Stat changes: +6% VIT, +6% DEX, +3% LCK
I don't think I really need to explain how incredibly useful this card can be in the right situation.
Since I know someone is going to ask, yes, it is technically possible to defeat Melchior, though he's designed to steamroll even a level 99 party. I'm not crazy enough to try it, because the reward for beating him? Him saying that you failed the lesson.
Now then, let's head over to the west side of the city. The first building we find is a large library. There's not much here, but one of the NPCs inside can help us start a sidequest.
Talking to Zagaro here gives us a few opportunities for dialogue choices. But since the choice is always between "tell me more" and "walk away", I'm not going to bother with ones that don't continue the conversation.
What's wrong?
Look at this book! It's about three hundred years old, and I've only just deciphered its contents. It holds the key to opening the tomb of an ancient king. I know exactly how to open it, but... It says that five magical tomes are required, and they've been buried all over the world! I even have maps showing the approximate locations! It's perfect, except for one thing! I have no way of traveling all over the world to find these tomes! Maybe I can help... Huh? What, you own that huge airship? I don't believe it. All right! I'll give you the pages containing the maps, and you can go look for them! Once you've found all the tomes, come back to see me. I'll reward you for the effort. Oh, and be careful. It says here that there are warding spells on the tomes.
This conversation begins a sidequest to open the most challenging dungeon Last Scenario has to offer. We're twenty levels away from even being able to think about setting foot in there, so this is another item that's going to have to go on the back burner for now, but we'll be taking care of it eventually.
The last thing to see in Condor proper is the spellcard shop, but unfortunately there's nothing new here.
That doesn't mean we're done with the city yet, though. There's still a few things to see in the castle.
For starters, we can find Earp and Flynn hanging around in one of the side rooms.
Did you know I fought against him? I thought he was just a kid, but I was soundly defeated. Instead of punishing me for rebelling, he offered me a chance to work for him. I have to say, in all my life, I've never met a man like him.
After the last war, she took Castor and Ethan back to Condor and started a home for war orphans. I think the longer she watched over these children, the more distant she grew. She left after a year or two, when the two brothers joined the army, but the home still exists. I grew up there myself. I was ten years old when I lost my family. She and Castor gave me the chance to do something meaningful with my life. I hope that the people can forgive Castor for causing the current state of the Kingdom.
Interesting, but not really all that useful. But there's still something to do here, as one of these characters is hiding a deep, dark secret. Can you guess?
That's right, Flynn is a Hex player! And she carries the Castor tile, too. This is the point where I should point out that I actually played with Flynn before doing my final dungeon grinding, and that Castor is the tile that was hidden behind the black bar at the beginning of the update. Castor trades for four Mental Boosters, accessories that double the experience the wearer gains from battle. I used all four to significantly cut down on the time it take to prepare for this update.
The other thing to check out in the castle is this door in the basement. It was locked when we saw it last update, and despite our capture of the castle, it still hasn't opened.
But one of the castle guards knows what to do about it.
I know what's in there. There's a lot of treasures. I've seen it with my own eyes. You want to get in? I've got the key, you know. It's the real thing. Are you interested in buying it? Why do you I want to sell you the key instead of taking the treasures for myself? Hehe, I guess I'd better tell you. There's a guardian beast down there. I'm not going to risk it, but you guys look strong enough to beat it.
This is the point where most players would go
, but we've got 1.5 million gold kicking around. Gimme.
Hehe, nice doing business with you.
Starting from the bottom left and going clockwise, the regular chests contain a Serpent Eye, a Purple Herb, a Diamond Dust, a Mental Booster, a Key Tablet III, a Mind Capsule, a Dexterity Capsule, and a Life Capsule. As for the ornate chest in the middle...
BOSS FIGHT: Paragon
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Uh, isn't this just a recolor of the Belgugon? I feel like bosses normally get their own sprites.
Paragon seems like he's meant to be fought immediately following the capture of Condor. As it is we outlevel him, so he's not too much of a challenge. Paragon is also one of the few enemies in the game who are weak to dark, so Ethan is going to be tearing shit up with his Black Cleaver here.
Case in point.
Paragon hits fairly hard, but at this point we have the HP to simply tank his shots, even without an appropriate Shield.
Still, even at our current level they're nice to have for this fight. Paragon's technique Wind Cannon deals a hefty chunk of damage without one, while also inflicting silence.
Paragon's only other technique is Vile Touch, which attempts to inflict poison and chaos in addition to moderate damage. But with our wide range of status protections, this isn't really a threat.
He goes down soon enough.
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At first, it doesn't really look like the rewards of this room were worth 300,000 gold. While the Erdgeist tile is another boss tile for our collection, the only things we get for winning the battle are a Holy Water and a Luck Capsule from Paragon's steal.
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But the real reward makes itself apparent once we're back on the field. The Artemis Bow, as the game so kindly informs us, is Hilbert's ultimate weapon, and it grants him a pretty massive STR boost. One weapon down, six to go.
Now then, I've been mentioning all update that we're still a bit too low-leveled to take on most of the optional dungeons that have opened to us. And the best way to fix that is to go through the dungeon we can handle now and gain some levels there. So it's time for us to head to the Tower of Redemption.
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As always, the Tower begins with a closed door and two paths off to either side. We'll be heading left first.
It's not long before we come across our first enemies: two Frost Elementals and two Carrion Bugs. Carrion Bugs have very low HP, but are faster than Hilbert and hit for about 600 damage. Frost Elementals can attack regularly for 650 damage or so, use Ice Claw to hit a single character for 800 damage, and can also use Ice Storm, a six-hit combo of ice attacks for about 300 damage per hit. Fortunately, they're unsurprisingly weak to fire, so Lorenza can take them down fairly quickly.
Like the previous towers, the Tower of Redemption is focused on pillar puzzles, but instead of a new type of puzzle, this tower is somewhat of a review of the puzzles from the previous towers. Our first puzzle is this oh-so-difficult task of placing the pillars on the marked squares.
Our reward for this demonstration of intelligence is the Dragon Torch, a gem for Thorve which deals fire damage.
Then on our way out of the room, we run into this fucker. This fucker is a Dracoknight, and while he only has a regular attack, it deals upwards of 1000 damage. He also has 15,000 HP himself, so it takes awhile to take one of these guys down.
The next pillar puzzle is a little tricker. Once again we have to push some pillars into spots on the floor, but there are only three pillars in this room.
Which of course means we need to push in a pillar from the next room over.
Heading through the door leads us to a switch, which opens the central door at the entrance, as well as a shortcut back.
Before we head upstairs, though, we may as well check out what's in the right-side door.
Before we can get a look, we find another new enemy type, the Graven Idol. Graven Idols can attack regularly for about 800 damage, but they're much more fond of using their techniques Mindless, which inflicts 475 damage and chaos on the entire party, and Speechless, which hits the entire party with 225 damage and silence. They're very strong cases for why status protection is so necessary in this game.
Anyway, the next room contains a colored pillar puzzle. This is actually much tougher than it may look, because the pillars can't be moved off that small pedestal they're all sitting on.
It's not beyond our abilities though.
Inside the door is a Serpent Eye and a free copy of Lucky Break. Not too shabby.
On our way back to the entrance, a few more Graven Idols show up with this dungeon's final enemy type, the Booster. Boosters can appear with any group of enemies in this area, but they're weak to several elements and die very quickly. They're still quite dangerous, however, since their only technique, Boost, imparts a massive power increase to whomever it targets. But they're not the sharpest tools in the shed, since they sometimes target themselves with Boost, even though they never attack.
The central door at the entrance brings us to the last puzzle of the dungeon, and what a puzzle it is. This one brings back the dinky pillars from the Tower of Sacrifice that we can lift, but it's not as simple as just moving them out of the way, since some of them are placed so that they will block our way out if we try to move them.
The solution to this puzzle is actually quite involved, but since I don't think you guys want to see thirty consecutive screenshots of the steps required to complete it, I'm just going to skip it. I can put it in a separate post if people want, though.
Beyond the door, a save point lets us know that we're close to the end of this tower.
There's still a few treasures to grab nearby though.
After that, well, I think you all know where this is heading.
BOSS FIGHT: Key of Redemption
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Yawn.
Well, I shouldn't be so dismissive. It's yet another Key fight, true, but this is a pretty powerful Key.
Like all the previous Keys, the Key of Redemption will fuck you up if you don't come into the fight with proper status protection. Its first wave attack, Entombing Wave, inflicts petrification. Good luck getting out of that jam if most of your party isn't immune.
Its other wave attack, Immobilizing Wave, is much less of a threat, inflicting slow.
The Key's status effects are easy enough to protect against, but that doesn't mean the fight is simple from there, as its physical attacks hit like a truck. This is with a P-Shield up--without one the Key can likely one-shot anyone except Matilda. Its Spinning Attack is similarly dangerous, inflicting about 1300 damage before Shields for each of its three hits.
But it's still a Key fight, and we know how to handle those now.
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No items for winning the fight this time, but we can steal a Sacred Orb from the boss.
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With the Key of Redemption in our possession, we now have all four. What do they open? Well, we'll see that in a second. First let's check out the treasure room.
Ooh, ornate chests. This is promising.
The regular chests come first though. The Item Magnet is an accessory that increases the chances of enemies dropping items on death, though the game doesn't specify by how much. As for the spellcard:
Vortex (230MP): Deals moderate wind damage to random enemies around fifteen times.Crisis: Armageddon (1MP): Drains all of the caster's MP to deal non-elemental damage proportional to the amount of MP drained.
Stat changes: +10% SPD, -4% RES, +7% DEX
Vortex is a spell best used against a single enemy, to let all of those fifteen hits (each for around 400 damage) hit a single target. Like Rage, though, each Vortex hit has a chance of missing. As for Armageddon, well... I actually haven't had a chance to try it yet. I'll probably give it a whirl next update.
In the ornate chests we first find the Felgorn tile, which trades for ten Skill Capsules. That's kinda good, I guess?
But the real treasure of the Tower of Redemption is the Dragon Lance, Matilda's ultimate weapon. Look at that STR boost.
Now then, with all four Keys, we never have to see the inside of a Tower ever again. What do they open? Well...
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... if you'll recall, the colors of the Keys we found were red, gold, purple, and white. And that just so happens to be the colors of the gems on the door in the Gate to Elysium.
So what's back there? Well, as much as I hate to be a giant cocktease, I can't really show you yet. Why? Well, let's just say that whatever's behind this door started a battle and used its first turn to hit Ethan for over 4000 damage. Rest assured, we will be checking this place out eventually, as it contains some of the most interesting fights in the game. But we don't have a chance in hell of surviving this area now, so we'll have to come back later.
Anyway, that's about enough post-game content for this update. Apologies if it seemed a bit boring, but just wait--next update is when the really fun stuff starts happening.
Next time: We discover the secret of Hex.