Part 42: Bio Castle

Update 42: Bio Castle



I may not quite be ready to complete the game, but there's some cool stuff in the final dungeon, and I want it. It's time to return to Rim Elm.





Music: World Map After Juggernaut


Vahn, are you alright? I understand how you feel. Even if we defeat Juggernaut...Your family and fellow villagers may not return to normal...

Vahn! I understand! I understand how you feel, Vahn!So I'll wait for you. I'll wait until you feel you're ready for this. I'll wait until you're ready to fight Juggernaut.

… … … … …





...Heh. Well, at least she tried to be patient.


Before our eyes, we've seen many towns recover from the ravages of the Mist! We have made many miracles happen! So...so...

Vahn, everything we did together, everything we are going to do...It will never ever, ever, EVER be undone! That's why...


I don't remember this scene at all, but I really like it. These three make a wonderful team, don't they?





There's no point fighting Juggernaut from the outside! Juggernaut's weak spot is on the inside!

Are you ready, everyone? We've got to cut an opening and crawl into Juggernaut's body!

We must work together! Let's go!











Wait...







Oh fuck that. I am NOT crawling into that thing's throat. No. You're just gonna have to find another hero for this job.





Goddammit.





Music: The Final Dungeon


Right, so Juggernaut's innards (otherwise known as the Bio Castle) is the final dungeon of the game, and while I wouldn't say it's quite as outright disturbing as Conkram was, it's still really...just...icky. Gross. Blech.

It's also MUCH longer than any other dungeon in this game. I'd say it took me about an hour and fifteen minutes to get through, although obviously most of that was battles.





As far as I can tell, every Seru with an associated magic can be encountered here. One thing I think was a bit of a missed opportunity is that you always fight them in sets of three of the same monster, which makes fights perhaps even more tedious than normal. At least fighting, say, one of each Wind monster or whatever would give the battles a little more variety. We also encounter Seru in more or less the same order we did throughout the game; enemies like Gimard and Vera pop up early, then we start running into monsters like Nova and Aluru, and in the deepest depths we have monsters like Puera and Gilium.





Some of the lvl 3 Seru have new attacks, although most of them are just hit-all versions of their normal specials.





If you're hyper OCD about learning every magic for every character, this is the place to do it. Vahn and Noa picked up a few magics just as a side effect of fighting through the place, but nothing noteworthy.







oh god those uvula things are everywhere.


...Back on topic, this is the first piece of Ra-Seru equipment. There are twelve pieces total, and they tend to come in four groups of three (body, head, legs, arms). All of the body armor is in this room.





It looks like I should be able to make these jumps, but no such luck.





I hate this dungeon.







Oh, baby. This accessory increases EXP gain for the wearer. Absolutely vital to those going for the ultimate magic. It's a bit late to be much use for those going for the final boss right now, though, but better late than never I guess. I slapped it on Vahn since he needs all the help he can get if I want to survive the Arena's non-Beginner courses.





Hey, Mushura, what's up?











The second set of Ra-Seru equipment (headgear) is here. All three are located by jumping into the...uh, bodily fluids. The first is on its own...





And the other two are on either side of this split. Each trip deposits you back at the beginning of this room.





Halfway there!







I can barely stand to be in this thing. If I actually got fused to it like these people I think my mind would just break on the spot.





On a happier note, Lost Grails are cool.





Maya! Are you alright? Are you in pain?

Don't worry. I've still...got some...fight left in me!

Just hang in there! We'll save you! I promise!

OK...I'm sorry...I'm so tired...

Maya!

...Come on, let's go. It's time to take care of Juggernaut!

Hang in there, Maya. We'll get Juggernaut!





Two of the ultimate leg equipments are in here, with the third in the next room.





Yes, I'm alright. But...please...don't look at me. I must look horrible. Don't...look at me! I look awful...

That's not true! You look the same, Mei! Just as pretty as ever!

You're so sweet, Noa. Thank you so much. And I told myself...that I wouldn't cry...I told myself...to be strong!...

Hang in there, Mei! We'll finish off Juggernaut! Then we'll rescue everyone!

Wait, Vahn. Take this with you...


Mei hands over a Life Armband. I have this idea tugging at the back of my mind that she might give you her pendant here if you didn't get it earlier, but I'm far from certain.


Promise me, Vahn. Promise that...you'll come back...alive!









Don't worry about me. I'm alive...What's more important is...What are you going to do?

Destroy Juggernaut!

I see. I'm sure you can do it. Take this with you.


Val gives us a Miracle Water.


Vahn, I'm so proud of you.







This is the last of the footwear, but this chest also is the closest landmark for another important item...





This is another one of those items that you have no reason to believe is there, and it is fantastic. It's a little ways south of the chest.





We've stumbled across a key item or two that doubled as accessories with this effect, but they all vanished on use. This is the first (and I believe only) accessory that grants this effect.

My first inclinatoin was to give this to Noa and never look back, but I actually wound up putting it on Vahn instead. Noa does well enough with the setup she has already, and it's high time I gave Vahn a really good accessory since I've been kind of neglecting him in that regard.





I mocked Puera when I first met it and bragged about how good I am at shell games. Well I don't know if I just wasn't on my game or what, but I managed to lose TWO death games in one fight. Like, I was honestly sort of scared that I'd get a game over (from fucking Puera) but I managed to pull it together enough to beat them at their own game before they killed all three of my people.





Here in the final tunnels are the three ultimate weapons, as well as a Magic Arbmand.





And here is the final save point of the game.

So, where to next? Shall I head to Mt. Dhini, or grind some points at the Muscle Dome or fishing hole? Or should I charge on in and beat the game, then come back for all that other stuff?

Oh yeah, and now that we've gotten all the ultimate gear, let's see what our characters look like in battle.