Part 18: Zone 3 - Enoch

Welcome back! We're on the threshold of the final rooms of zone 3.



Music - Front Gate (All the music in this update is extremely pro-click, so please be sure to listen.)

And honestly, this isn't the sort of room I was expecting to find.



It's a long winding path of weird narrow beams.



There we go, this must be the final door then!



Oh uh well, nope.



Something about this kind of floor layout reminds me of something, but I can't place it. Anyway, the final, final door is just out of frame here. Let's go meet the director.



Holy shit, he's really, really big.



: Who... Who are you?

: I'm the Batter, and I've come to purify you, mister director.

: Purify? But that's ridiculous! Nothing justifies this drastic measurement! The Queen's sent you, hasn't she? Naturally, it's the Queen. It has got to be her. Whoever it was, I refuse!

: It's no question of choice. You're the monster that rules this horrible manufactory. I'm here to make you atone for your sins.

: Monster? Horrible manufactory? This is my fortress of happiness! My wall against the specters! The people here were happy, before the phantoms came. Incidentally, I still don't understand why the dead won't just disappear.

: The dead?

: Oh, but of course, The ghosts, I mean. They are the souls of the dead... Has that thought never occured to you? It's only logical...

: ... So... You have nothing to do with the phantoms?

: Of course not. I'm Enoch, the guardian of zone 3. My role consists, like the one of the other guardians', of forming the energy sent by the Queen Mother to a solid context. I am the living engine of zone 3.

: The Queen relies on our kind to make living spaces for men. We are a little like gods, drawing the infinite power of the sun to sculpt our worlds into the nothingness. Ahaha, I love that metaphor. Yes, like gods... Precisely.

: You demented child of evil. The last grain of sand has fallen through the hourglass of your life.

: Certainly not! No matter how strong you are, you can't overcome my massive physique!



He leaps right over the fucking desk at us!





Enoch is one giant fucking asshole. He's at least 3 times the height of the Batter here, good lord!



The music here is still Front Gate, by the way, I didn't miss a change.



His first attack is Trigger Element, which does a straight 200 damage.



I won't get to tell you his other attacks just yet, as the Batter interrupts once his second turn comes around.



: Mwahahaha, I am exceptional!

: I think fleeing is our only option this time...

Really, Batter? But the Judge said that was for big losers!



After another round of turns, the Batter stops us again.



Well... Fine.



Enoch is in fact invincible during this battle, and fleeing really is the only option. We'll be here literally forever otherwise.



Fortunately the doorway is small enough that-



Music - The Race of a Thousand Pounds

Oh SHIT.



: I'll kill you, Batter!

Guys it's time to fucking hustle.



That's what the floor plan reminded me of on the way in. Sections in games where something chases you across perilous terrain.



We made it to the next room safely, though Enoch isn't far behind.





: Prepare to join the ghosts! (... Puf...)



Sounds like some giant fat guy is running out of breath.



If we're caught, by the way, it puts us back into the same battle we had in his office, where the Batter insists we flee.



Music - Endless Hallway

For now we've eluded his fat grasp. Let's head back out of here. Maybe that jerk Zacharie will have some advice for us.







Heading back upstairs, however, we find this weird barricade. We've already been to the right side, though?



Why has it been blocked off? I guess we'll have to go left.



Music - Not Safe

...and what the fuck has happened here? The music has become really strange and all the color is gone.



The doors are no longer "locked", just "closed", but we can't open any one of them. All of the burnt Elsen are gone as well.





Every single door is closed to us, including Zacharie's. The atmosphere is sterile and creepy.



What happened to this area?



At least the monorail station is still accessible, though passage to the right is blocked here as well.





Music - O Rosto De Um Assassino

: Miserable runt! Cold water eel! I had to drag my body chock-full of fat substances through the pipes of my own domain... It was hard and humiliating, but...

: I'll eat your hopes for survival like a block of sugar... ...with delight! (... puf...)

: What an idiot... You've tired yourself, exhausting your strength without taking your poor endurance into account! Victory is now within my clairvoyant reach...





: Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah ! You're just a puny pest! I'll crush you in no time at all! Your game is nearing its end, Batter.



Well, time to beat the life out of this mountain of a man. Look at the size of him!! He's gotten even bigger!



Enoch has a lot of health. A LOT of health. He takes ages to take down.



He's also immune to poison, but not blindness, so Alpha can be very useful here.



He can, however, poison us, with Law of Causation.



My basic strategy with Enoch is to blind him immediately to try and cut back on the amount of hits I'll take from him, then hit him as hard as possible as fast as possible. Repeat every time the blindness clears.





Dramatic Crescendo is more annoying than painful as it does 15 CP damage. That's just enough to be obnoxious. Also you'll notice Omega's been poisoned, and how fast his health has gone down to nearly nothing.



I've said it before and I'll say it again, poison in this game is ridiculous.



We're nearly two-thirds of the way through the battle here, and take a look at party health. We are getting totally fucked up here. The Batter has a furious status effect, caused by Enoch's Dramatic Irony attack. It makes the Batter uncontrollable as he furiously beats the shit out of Enoch.



His final attack, Climax, does 80 damage to our entire party. It's very dramatic looking.



But here it is.



The final strike that takes away the last of his massive health bar.



Alpha has torn his head clean off his body.

Music - No Music







The Aquarius-card gives us access to the final level, THE ROOM.









(Abstract Tragedy is an upgraded version of Surrealistic Tragedy, our main multi-target attack.)



: So... the hero has destroyed the beast... But do you know what you have just done? This zone, deprived of its guardian, is now destined to disappear...

: And the men who live here, whether they deserve it or not, will fall into nothingness, never to return.

: You've been defeated, Enoch, guardian of the third zone. This land is now pure.

... The zone will disappear?



The Elsen will fall into nothingness?



Was he lying? We haven't returned to the previous zones since we purified them. Have they disappeared from beneath us without us noticing?



The only way to find out the true consequences of our actions is to find out for ourselves.


Next time we'll be returning to zone 1. I hope you'll join me then.