Part 23: Raussicaä of the Tower of the Wind

Chapter 22 – Raussicaä of the Tower of the Wind

Where we last left off, we competed in the Phorchoon arena and won the Flying Dragon we needed to reach Ellsworth. Rauss, Kazan’s former student he believed dead at his own hands, showed up to confront Lang in the ring, only to be called away by Velna. He now awaits us on Ellsworth, guarding the Aerolith.

But first, before we go to Ellsworth, there’s side content. Don’t you just love it?

First of all, let me show off how having the Flying Dragon changes things.




Whereas before we would have to watch a somewhat longer animation of Lang walking (and the Blood Hawk sailing) if we wanted to, say, go from Phorchoon to Nohl, the Flying Dragon will just go to anything we select on the map directly. It’s not terribly important, but it’s neat to see.

Also notice we can see Ellsworth in the first image. It’s a bit blurry, but the windy thing on the floating island is our next destination. We’ll be taking the side content scenic route first, of course.

Now let’s check out Phorchoon again, which we are done with story-wise.



With our infinite money trick in hand, we can simply buy enough coins to get any reward we like from Phorchoon. At the casino counter, there’s three things worth getting: “Way of Thunder”, “Book of Rose”, and “The Royal Gourmet”. Way of Thunder and Book of Rose teach Kazan and Sharon new Hyper Arts respectively, the best they can get. Sharon’s in particular will level with use into a better one. The Royal Gourmet is of course a cookbook that teaches new recipes. However, despite coming so late in the game, none of them top Atomic Heat.

Also in the casino right now is…




Uh oh, Maya’s developing a gambling problem!

Cocky Lang will be nice and offer her 1000.

“Hey, you can have some of mine. Er….will 1000 of them be enough?”

“A thou…THOUSAND? That’s too much! Um, how about 10….no. If I could have 100, it’d be perfect!”

“That’s all you need? Sure. Here.”

“Thanks, Lang! All right! Here goes! I’ll pay you back double!”

Elsewhere, at the arena counter, we find…



It’s him!

“It is my duty to completely obliterate the coward who killed my brothers! You are….La….La….Rrrrrrghhhgghh!! I will find out your name later, and exact my revenge! Vixon the Great will avenge his brothers!”

Unfortunately, we won’t be duelling Vixon until later on.

With nothing else to do at Phorchoon, we may as well leave.




“*pant pant* Sorry I’m late. I wanted to give those coins back to you, and…I’m sorry.”

We get…5 coins back. We gave her 100.

“I…I promise I’ll pay you back! I’m really sorry!”

“Don’t worry about it. We’ve made bank from exploiting the Jinga economy, remember?”

“Thanks…”

Now, while content in Nohl is done as far as the locals go, there is someone with a scene waiting for us in Nohl right now…



“Now let’s see….Suspicious areas…How about under the bed….and in the drawers…”



“I wonder what I’m going to find…Hm?”



Lang would be a massive hypocrite to make something out of people snooping. We innocently ask what she’s looking for.

“What could I possibly hide in here anyway?”

“Well…What do YOU think? Lang, you’re a teenage boy. I know what you boys do!”

“Huh? What are you ranting about? If you don’t have a reason to be here, just get out!”

No matter what option you pick, Lang denies having any adult material, and tells Sharon to leave. It’s a bit of a disappointment to be honest.



Something I could have mentioned a few times before now is that you can occasionally find Sharon perched over the Aqualith lake. You can’t interact with her when she’s there, but it’s interesting to note.

We move on to Kravia.



I guess we’ll just agree with her.

“I guess so…Yeah, maybe. All different kinds of people, sitting around drinking and talking about grownup things…”

“Yeah! That’s just what I mean! Why don’t you have a drink with me, Lang?”

“Huh? Hey, Maya! What are you drinking?”

“100% pure orange juice. It’s really good!”

Naturally they’re still not letting the kiddies drink booze.

Tanza’s up next.



Satomi is giving out a second quiz.



As we’ve mentioned, Ayne’s 8’8, but I honestly don’t know where that information comes up in game.



The answer here is “Marrons Glaces”, which are “Candied Chestnuts”. Marrons Glaces is not even a recipe in the game, and the only insight we got into what food Marienne eats is the Princess Cake in her room, and that’s neither an option nor the correct one. How the heck is anyone supposed to figure this out without a guide?



Elliott and Marienne’s unit was mentioned way back in Chapter 4 by the Darakin Rag Autumn. However, it was just called the “Special Unit” and had no other name. If the name is in the game, I don’t know where it would be. The correct answer is “Gereha”, FYI.

Completing the quiz earns us the “Spy?” nickname and a Quick Escape Charm, a Curse Remedy, and a Fruit of Stamina. Only the Fruit of Stamina is worth it, being a stat raising item.

Now let’s head to Darek’s Haunt.




That’s Adventurer Miura, the guy who told us about The Forest Maze way back in Chapter 5. Haven’t seen him for some time.

Guntz: “A mistake?! More lies! One more lie out of you and I’m gonna snap your neck!”

Asteya: “Mistake or not, now they know about our little hideout here…There’s only one thing to do.”

Miura: “*GASP* I don’t know anything! I didn’t see anything!”



Let’s not be a dick to Miura, he’s a good bloke.

“Come on, Guntz, let him go. Can’t you see he’s scared?”

Guntz: “….Yeah…all right. You’re lucky he stopped me…He just saved your life. But listen up good. You mention one word about our hideout to anyone and I’ll hunt you down. Got it?!”



And then Miura books it.

But we’re not done here yet.



“Dupon, Yahn…It’s been a long time…I didn’t think I’d ever see either of you again…”

Yahn: “First Officer Nazak! It’s so good to see you again!”

Dupon: “He doesn’t deserve that title anymore, Yah. He…He walked out on the Captain and on the rest of this crew!”

Yahn: “That’s not fair, Dupon! If it hadn’t been for Rauss…”

“Don’t bother, Yahn…Dupon is right. I left the ship….I’m no longer the man they once called Thunder Nazak…”

Dupon: “After you left…Do you have any idea?! Any idea what the Captain, I and the rest of the crew went through?! I joined the crew because I wanted to be like you! But…You…You abandoned us!”

“I’m sorry…But…I couldn’t stay on this ship after taking the life of my apprentice…”

Yahn: “First Officer Nazak! We can make a fresh start! It’d make the boss so happy!”

“I walked out on her father Alphis and the rest of the crew. She would never forgive me. Besides, your hopes and dreams are too much for me to shoulder now…”

Dupon: “Nazak…”

(Master….)

And we’re done here. But before we move on, we’ve camp chats to see.

Peeper Lang



This one is happening now because I didn’t actually trigger the peeping scene until later.

“Yeah…”

“Ha ha ha! I’ve heard lots of guys try to LOOK in…! But to just stride right in like that…?! I understand you being curious, Lang…But did you really expect to pull that off?”

Choice time. Cocky Lang owns what he did.

“I just…I just HAD to see! I couldn’t help myself!”

“I see…Had you THAT riled up, huh? I know, I know. It’s all because of how sinfully beautiful I am…! All right, Lang…If that’s the way you feel…Sharon here will let you look to your heart’s content! Here I am! Stare away!”

“Sharon!!”

“Now, now! Calm down! I didn’t say I was gonna strip! I AM a LADY, after all!”

“Grr!! You need some straightening out, boy! This is no time to be infatuated with girls! You’ve got your training to do!!”

Remember what Kazan said here. It will echo ironically later on.

Flying in the sky

“Whew! What a relief to be on the ground again! I tell you, that Flying Dragon thing is not my thing!”

“How come?”

“All I can do is imagine being thrown off and falling headfirst to the ground! Just thinking about it gives me chills!”

“Hmm. I didn’t think you were afraid of anything!”

“What?! Don’t tell me I’m the only one!! What about you, Ayne?”

“It doesn’t scare me.”

“Argh! Well, what about you, Sharon?”

“No way! If you’re afraid of THAT, shouldn’t you better call it quits? You know, leave it to the younger generation?”

“Why….you….!! Treating me like an old man! That’s it, then! You can forget about ever getting help from me when you’re in trouble!”

Now that’s done with, let’s stoke Kazan’s fears and ride the dragon all the way to Ellsworth!



The moment we enter Ellsworth, we get a cut scene.




“He apparently already had the Sacred Azure Stone and the Sacred Burning Stone. Just to be safe, I’ve sent Rauss to Ellsworth.”

“There was no need. He can no longer threaten my plans…even if he IS a ‘Star Shaper’…”



Ominous. But of no consequence for now. We have a dungeon to fare.



Now Playing – Heaven and Earth’s Valley

“Kaze no Toukou Eruzuwaasu”. Exactly as translated.

Ellsworth is a pretty straight forward dungeon. There’s not as many side paths to traverse for optional treasure as others. This is the first dungeon since Hyper Arts became a thing to not have one hidden somewhere. But there’s still a puzzle or two to solve.



Most of the floors of Ellsworth are fairly linear paths that lead you to a teleporter to reach the next floor.



Here we use Arrode to move this thing, allowing us to proceed. Nothing too complicated. You do have to actually press a button to move it after hitting the switch, which you might not immediately realise.



I don’t end up encountering enemies until a wee bit in because I was still using an encounter negating item (you can see the little glowing effect from when we entered), but they’re mostly the same boring pallet swaps we’ve seen thus far.



Here, you have to hit the leftmost reflector to hit the switch. It’s not exactly a difficult task.



Here is gets slightly trickier. You have step on some buttons (you can see one in the corner) to move the reflectors to enable you to hit the switch. If you step on both buttons once and then on the top-most one again, you’re golden.



Ah, our first and only unique enemy! Arus Auge’s can bewitch your characters, but, as in all things thus far, we kill them too quickly to let them demonstrate their abilities.

And now, for the main event: Rauss.





“Rauss…You…”

“You’re fighting to save the world….That’s it, isn’t it? You still have hope. But not me. For me, there is no hope and no tomorrow! There’s only one thing left for me…! The heat of battle! The blood coursing in my veins during a battle is the only thing that makes me feel alive! I want to feel alive! And I need your help!”

“Rauss…”

“I don’t want your pity…I just…I just want a death match. Right here, right now. I’ve devoted my life to fighting…It’s about time I found out whether it was worth it! What’s the matter? Isn’t that why you’re here? To help me find the answer? You have to fight me…You will never get the Sacred Teal Stone unless you kill me…”





Rauss can actually be quite the challenging boss.



Blocking is one of his pitfalls. He blocks a lot, like a Baki. There’s a technique I could have learned to bypass his blocking called “Absolute Hit”, but obviously I didn’t put in that much effort before the match. Still, we all know I manage just fine.



The next problem is that his Hyper Arts now inflict status effects. Taking a character out of the action even for just a round and change the dynamic of Legaia 2 quite a bit.

Rauss using Ultimate Fang again triggers a cut scene.



Lang starts to think back to Kazan’s lecture.



“He used the Ultimate Fang, a move forbidden by the Sky Fang Masters! Ultimate Fang is dangerous….it does not draw power from one’s fighting spirit – it is fuelled by insanity. Use it too often, and it eats away at your very core…”




(He’s lost his spirit! He’s completely gone!)





As you might guess, this is where you get to use Sleeping Dragon on Rauss. You need to use it, because Rauss has now become invincible and starts hitting like a truck. He can easily KO any character, even Ayne, in one round at this moment.

As you might have noticed, in that fight I screenshotted above, Lang was stunned on the turn after the scene, and thus I couldn’t use it immediately. I ended up reloading, because him using Ultimate Fang on Lang was a matter of bad luck, rather than pre-destination.

Anyway, we use the Final Art…







That’s right, shooting Rauss with a sword-based laser beam cured his bloodlust!




“I regret nothing…nothing! This is the path I chose for myself!”



If you thought being cured of “bloodthirst” would mean the fight was over, you were wrong. Rauss still wants to fight to the death, and so death he shall get.

If we happened to have brought Kazan into this battle, he would have a few moments in the scene. Nothing too special: he remarks on how Lang is using Sleeping Dragon, and would say “Rauss!” when Rauss is getting up.

The fight continues from here. Rauss will start using an all-hitting Hyper Art called “Destruction” now. This Art has, by far, the goofiest dialogue I’ve heard out of this guy to date. It has to be heard to be believed. But here’s a transcript for you readers…



“I give my entire life….to this BLADE!”



“Blade of Destruction, do your bidding!”



“Take this! DESTRUCTION!”



The narration is goofy enough as is, but Rauss’ slimy rogue voice makes it sound all the less intimidating. It’s impossible for me to take seriously.

And Rauss will keep using Destruction intermittently until the fight is over, so you’ll be hearing how much he dedicated his life to this BLADE a great deal.

He still uses other moves, though…



This is a new one. It doesn’t do anything special, although it is hitting pretty hard.

But Rauss inevitably goes down, and receives the death he so desperately wanted.

Click the image below to watch Rauss dedicate his ENTIRE life to his BLADE!


“I…I craved strength so much that I lost my head in search of power…”



“By the time I noticed the madness…I had already lost my mind…I think…I think I just got it back now.”

“Rauss…”

“The one to whom….you will pass on your knowledge….?”



“Don’t say that! We can try again! Together we can…”



“This body was nothing more than an instrument. Now that it’s over, it’s only natural that it wanes… I should thank you for making me feel more alive than I have in many years…”

“…Lang….I will not forget….this battle with you…Farewell….Master…Next time….will be diff…”



Yes, that’s right, Rauss was beamed up to the Enterprise to have adventures in space.



“When I die….If we ever meet again…I wonder if we can become teacher and student once more…?”

“Kazan…”

“I lost my father and I’ve lost shipmates before too…I know what you’re going through…But…We’ve got things we need to do, right? I won’t say anything more. If you tell us that you need to stay here, none of us will stop you.”

“*SIGH* You’re right…Staying here won’t change anything. Not to mention that there are others counting on us.”

Kazan gets up.



For no particular reason, we’re given free movement. It’s pointless, because all we do is move forward and touch the Aerolith…






“It’s calling…”



Now Playing – Shriek of the Earth

Suddenly, everything starts shaking.

“Wha…what’s that sound…?”

“What’s that?!”




“The ‘Source Forge’ is…over there! It’s calling me!”

“So…That’s where the ‘Source Forge’ is…”

“Demiurge Tower….”

“We have all the stones. It makes sense that the path should be revealed. That must be the Demiurge Tower that Reym spoke of.”

”Like I just said, Master…”




I think this might be Arrode’s first line of dialogue.

“I know that! I was just kidding! Jeez! So are we going there or not?!”

The shaking gradually stops.





“No matter what stands in our way…It’s up to us to save the world…”

“Let’s move out, people! To Demiurge Tower! It’s time to put the ‘Source Forge’ back the way it was!”



And the circle of convenience is here to help us exit.

Let’s talk about Rauss.

He’s built up a lot as far as this game goes. He’s mentioned way back on Mt. Gabel, and we discover he’s working for the villains after getting the Aqualith. He’s significant to Kazan’s backstory and even tangentially related to Sharon, as a crewmate of her father’s (not that they really address that).

And yet, he’s got nothing to do with the supposed point of this game. From start to finish, it’s Mystics this, Mystics that. Then here’s Rauss, who besides his connection to other characters, is just a guy who went EVIL and INSANE after using the FORBIDDEN Art. He briefly turns this game into a goofy martial arts flick about a student surpassing his master’s EVIL former pupil. Like the others, he could have been cut from the game, and nothing would have been lost. He could have even just been a background detail of Kazan’s past, and we would have lost nothing significant.

Still, he’s not offensive like Elliott and Marienne. He just demonstrates another piece of padding to this game.

Anyway, this is where we shall end.

Join me next time, where we put off the final dungeon to mess around on side content. Yaaaaaaaay!