Part 30: The Ultimate Employee

UPDATE 30: The Ultimate Employee







Pluto (Expanded)




GOLDENVENGEANCE



















Expanded Pluto was a really tough fight for me on my first playthrough. He's a mountain of health, defense, and attack. Pluto will, thankfully, prefer single target damage compared to multi target-attacks, but if you don't drop his attack he can knock a party member to low health or even one-shot them. That all sounds pretty scary, huh? Well, I'm gonna go ahead and break him over my knee.





Absolutely make sure you drop Pluto's attack, you do not want this guy to start throwing punches at full strength.





Secondly, we're going to make him sad. It's tried and true, and we've got a few more tools at our disposal to really start showing why sad is the best emotional debuff.





Now that we have megaphone, we're going to be making everyone angry. It's easier than just having Aubrey angry, and Omori can really start contributing now too. Hero... well, if he throws a punch or two, this will deal more damage.





Dropping his defense on the first turn is also real good. Pluto has a ton of health to work our way through, may as well make that go by quicker.





This is with Pluto's attack debuffed, as well as the anger bonus against sad. I am not kidding about Pluto's attack stat!!





Next, Omori needs to use Shun on Pluto to get rid of the defense bonus he gains for being sad. This means Pluto's defenses are now debuffed, so we can start actually doing more damage against him.





Gotta make sure we have a screengrab of Aubrey headbutting another planet. Believe it or not, Aubrey will not be our main damage dealer for this fight.





That honor goes to Kel, who can do about 350 damage a turn with his ricochet ability. Kel's main worry in this fight is that he could get oneshot at any point by Pluto, so spam his expensive abilities while you got him.













At half-health, Pluto now gets his attack and defense back, though he's now guaranteed to go last in every turn. So fast food is worthless for this fight, best to have other healing abilities on Hero.







If you flex with Kel, Pluto will comment on it - which is quite neat. You know what's more neat?







Flex + Ricochet. If we had managed a crit, Kel would have done 400 damage on just his first of three attacks.











Honestly, there was several more things I could have done to really be able to do a lot of damage quickly to Pluto. But that's for another time...





Enchant is an ability that always goes first and forces the enemy to target Hero that turn, as well as turning the enemy happy... I will not be using this one.



















Sigh... Cool it, Pluto. I'm already losing one ultimate employee today. I don't want to lose two!

But sir, I can defeat them! Just give me a little more time.

Don't sweat it, Pluto. I ain't risking any more assets today.













Just get out of here! You've all been nothing but a pain in my tail anyway!

Th-Thank you, sir. You won't regret this...

Hmph... Yeah, yeah. There's really nothing I can do to get you to stay, huh? It's a pity. You could have reached your true potential here.

Mr. Jawsum... Before we go...I just want to say that... Even after kidnapping all my friends and tricking us into signing an ambiguous contract... I sometimes still thought you as a pretty decent guy.

Hero... This might come as a surprise to you, but... I always thought of you as the son I never had. I know you'll do some great things out there.


You would kidnap your son and his friends and work them to death for no pay just to make more profit? And then sic mafia gators and a freakin planet on him if he tries to leave? What kind of monster are y- oh right, a boss.







Thanks again, Mr. Jawsum.





It's been a long journey, but I just know that we'll find him... as long as we don't give up!

You're right, Hero! We're almost at the finish line... I can feel it!

Wait for us, Basil! We'll find you in no time at all.

JAWHAWHAWHAWHAWHAW!!! Now that's the dedication I like to see... Go get 'em, you crazy kids.





We've finally got the whole gang back together! It's been quite a while since we had a full party, so we've got quite a bit to do! First thing, it's quite important to follow Pluto into the hole he made in the elevator.









GWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! I understand you well... I am still feeling the aftereffects of our heated battle. It was a memory I will cherish forever! You've all grown incredibly strong, but as with everything, there is still room to improve. Flex for me, Kel! Show me what I've taught you!

Yes, sir! Pluto, sir!





Kel is ready for action! Now, who am I punching!?

...

No, I think you are mistaken. In this challenge, I won't be testing your power. I will be testing... your endurance.









GWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!





Now that we've entered the late game, we can finally get some upgrades for other characters. It's it been a while since we got Aubrey's upgrade, and Kel's comes none too soon. You could tell in the last battle, but Kel's health is just so much lower than everyone else that an extra 50 HP puts him on par with Aubrey and hero now. Believe it or not, Omori is actually becoming the liability party member shortly. He's going to have the lowest stats, though his skills are still quite good.





Kel only has 1 HP after the thrashing Pluto gave him. Small touch, but I like it.













There... Now all the elevators should run faster. Just a warning, though... Sometimes it gets bumpy!


I'm actually shocked that we haven't come up with a way to make elevators work slower unless you pay to unlock full speed. Think of how much more nickels people who have more money than God could make!







Jeez that was fast. I guess the boomers were right, and you really can just find a job anywhere _{so long as you're willing to not get paid.}





Now that we have the whole party filled out again, we are clear to just leave the Last Resort, but with Aubrey in tow we can head back to floor 4 to bust our way to the top of the construction tower.





Hero can also check out the solid gold statue of himself that will also shoot out fire and occasionally say "REMEMBER ME". Even though we can have a picnic here, there's no special dialogue for it.





The Gator Guys no longer attack us like when it was just Omori and Kel. You can talk to them... but they don't really have anything important to say.





There's a lot of barrels here and they can drop computer parts for breaking them open. This will be quite important in about 10 updates for making my life just a little bit easier. The barrels respawn if you leave and come back, so you can get quite a few bits of junk this way.







This is the reason to head to the top of the construction site:





R





Another incorrect key, as expected. We're still missing the three correct keys: W, S, & T. From the looks of it, we're about to change Omori's name to Jonah! Before we head down and leave this place, now that the party is together... let's have some fun!







Yes... such... fun.





Alright, one last trip down to the basement to check in with Berly. I promise, it's worthwhile.







Berly: My only problem is that I am lacking inspiration! What I'm looking for is the perfect material to make the ultimate weapon... Something pliable, yet sturdy... and perhaps... a bit buoyant. If you can find something like that for me, I'll definitely make the ultimate weapon for you!


Just needed to get this quest in here real quick. We'll have to come back whenever we find some kind of material that meets those requirements. Not sure what yet, but there's surely something out there.





...Alright, I'm not intentionally trying to tease everyone by continuing to delay the simple matter of leaving this place. But, remember those golden doors? Well... we may have a use for those now.





I love these guys! They're loads of fun.









Gator Gambol





Now THIS is a swanky place.





All of the golden doors we've seen so far take us to a different Hoagie's place. In that, there's different characters there; the layout is still the same.





I'd come to a bar like this, hell I'm pretty open to any kind of bar right now.





Reuben also says he can't serve fruit juice to minors. Something which he will forget in about 10 seconds.





Sounds like someone didn't take the marriage all that well.













A nice moment where the kids can all get drunk on fruit juice.





And of course, my ulterior motive has been revealed. On release, this was 20 juice... but the other bars didn't give you anything. So now there's a reward for going to all the bars. Which we will get!





MR. SCAREBRO: My friends tell me that I'm a good judge of character. Ah. Yeah, I can see it now... You there, in the striped suit! You know what your problem is, bro? You're just way too nice. I could insult you, insult your friends, and insult your mom, and you still wouldn't lay a finger on me. Isn't that right, bro? So now what, bro? You just gonna take that? Nah... You can't just let me slide, bro. Give me a good punch, bro. Go on. Do it, bro.





Well, I mean the bro has a point. Hero's attack stat is garbage. Throwing jacks does more damage at this point.







MR. SCAREBRO: What was that, bro? You wouldn't be holding back on me, would you? A bro wouldn't do something like that. Try again. You can do it, bro.







MR. SCAREBRO: Bro... Yeah, bro. Just like that...


And now Hero has the highest attack of the group. Everyone except Omori has now gotten their late game upgrades. When there's no one to heal, Hero can get a good jab or two in there now without it just being kinda worthless. This also helps on fighting the regular enemies to help speed things up a bit.





Passing by the bathroom, and a mirror has appeared next to them now that the party is back together.







Guess what else we can do now that we have a certain member of our party back?





Head into the girl's room! If you go into the boy's bathroom, Aubrey doesn't follow in. And only Aubrey can head in to this bathroom. I like that it's incredibly clean and nice in here, proving that Sunny has never been inside a girl's bathroom. Alright, no more teasing... let's leave this joint.





High-five everyone!









There we were... All of us falling down an endless black hole. And then, next thing I know, I'm signing my life away through a contract!

You know what they say... It sure is strange where life takes you!

So what where we doing again? We were looking for Basil or something, right?

Yes, that's right, Kel! We were looking for Basil.

Hmm... Do you think Basil could be somewhere in the Last Resort?

No way! Basil wouldn't be caught dead here! Does he seem like the type of person who would enjoy things like this!?





Good thinking, Kel! Though... I guess we are pretty far away from home. I don't think anyone here would know what he looks like.

Oh, oh! I have an idea! Why don't we all draw a picture of him? Maybe people will be able to recognize him from the drawing!

You two are full of good ideas today! That sounds like a plan!

Cool, I'll start!









Hmmm... No, wait... That doesn't look right either.

Hey! What are you doing to my masterpiece!? And when did Basil have such a big nose!?

Alrighty... Let's see how we're doing.





Ugh... I can't look...

Sigh... Well, that didn't go so well.

Don't be so down, Aubrey. We can just look for Basil ourselves!

Yeah, it'll be okay! There's plenty of places we haven't looked yet.

Hmm... Why don't we start searching around the Deep Well? You can get there pretty easily by taxi. There's always one in front of Last Resort!





It's not uh, the best but I guess you can see somewhat of a resemblance there.





And we're out of there! Let's celebrate with a picnic!







So Mari... What do you do when you're waiting for us?

Oh... Nothing out of the ordinary. I say "hello" and try to make small talk with the folks who pass by...

That sounds exhausting... I can't small talk at all!

Mari, tell us! Who's the most interesting person you've come across?

Well, let's see... Around this area, I typically see cranky tourists and Gator Guys.

The Gator Guys are a little rough around the edges... but once they open up, they'll share just about everything with you!

They're even nicer than most of the tourists!

Yes! I agree! All the Gator Guys I've met have been really nice to me!





Let's see... What else...

Ah! Come to think of it, I do remember a chronically unlucky fellow named Snaley...

I used to see him a lot around here.

But the one time he tried to walk up to greet me... he suddenly fell into a hole. I never saw him again after that...

BORING! Next!


Poor Snaley, should have never stood in our way back at the Junkyard. It's been downhill since then.







Why you... you stole our money!! Oh well, may as well check it out.





Eh, boring!





Would you like anything, sir? A fruit juice? A back massage? Some croutons?

Wow! I could get used to this!


Aubrey better hit the gym if she wants to be the muscleman of our party, she's getting outshined by Kel right now.





Strike a pose! Hoo-hah! I'm gonna get all the girls. Just you wait.

Not like that, you won't.


Cmon Sunny, we already know Kel's built like a basketball player. Dude doesn't want to be that big.





Ewwwwwwwwwwww! Stop it, Hero! Or else I'm telling Mari!

S-Sorry.


Hero... that just doesn't fit you at all, sorry.







And we're finally back here. Now that we have our friends back with us, we should be able to easily get past this dumb toll road.