Part 35: And All Things Will End

You might remember that we're kinda in Beauty Castle at the moment. This presents a problem, as we could walk out but it would take forever. Instead, we can just use one of these things and be out immediately. For added fun, they drop pretty often from just about everything too if you really want one.

Now, we could head to the Netherworld now and beat the only real optional boss in the entire game or we could go elsewhere and achieve nothing of importance.



And by "nothing of importance" I mean getting the last two puppets (who we'll never use anyway). Now, I didn't fix this by messing with the game data. I didn't fix this by doing anything. I didn't even fix this. I played through the entire game from scratch. In the US version. Which, apparently, has that awful giant font for everything.

...I then realised I could've just transferred my save data across (by doing things I'm sure you're not interested in)!

Needless to say, I then did so rendering several hours work completely moot and loading up the save file I used to beat the game I triggered the scene again.

So, yes, the moral of the story? You can be fucked out of doing things if you live in the wrong country. I don't get how this works either, but from what I can tell if you have the European version you get glitches the US version doesn't and vice-versa.



: I'm Caroline, the former princess of Frogburg. Remember me? I just wanted to thank you for everything... I spoke with Michael, and we decided that we wanted to start our lives over.
: We were being selfish before and didn't think about the others. Because of our selfishness, we had made other people suffer.
: We would like to make up for what we did by joining your quest...
: ...With the hope of being reincarnated.
: I'm sure that we will be of great use to you.
: I would like to repay your kindness by joining you.



So with that, we have our final two puppets!

This means that we can do all three remaining quests, but much like the Terra/Sharte quest this one is awful grindy. All it takes is getting Caroline and Michael to level 30 which doesn't sound too bad, but levelling up is slower than it seems at this point. Even fighting in the Netherworld (the best place to grind naturally) doesn't make it that much faster.




The first thing you'll undoubtedly notice is that the two are, essentially, the same thing only Michael sucks slightly less (even if he is slightly slower). Caroline might have more offensive spells but the ones she doesn't have that Michael does are a bit more, well, important at this point. Water Heal is self-explanatory (and explains itself in the image anyway) and Cool Down... debuffs the enemies attack stat. If I could use Mike in the one fight at this point worth using him in, I would but as it requires a specific party setup to trigger, I can't.






Since I haven't done it yet, here's my current party setup for the Netherworld. Cornet won't be wearing those Robes of Healing for the full thing, but they help reduce the amount of healing needed until I swap them out for something better. Duke might be able to get by at this point without the Sonic Shoes but he'd still be lagging behind a little and might get outsped by most enemies here so I decided to not risk it. If this was the PSX version, instead KnightSpawn would be sporting much better equipment but we'll get to that when we get to that. Sharte's packing +60 intelligence specifically for one fight that might not even spawn (it's the rarest enemy in the entire game) but ideally she'd just be having +40 but with a Holy Charm of her own. Alas, there's just the one available so that's not going to happen.



I'm sure you remember where the entrance to the Netherworld is. You can't access it before starting chapter 7 since you need the Dark Key that Polin gives you, and you probably wouldn't want to go there earlier anway...



...Because it's a giant letdown in terms of appearance. I'm not asking for much but from a place called the freakin' Netherworld I was expecting something a bit more... evil. Even the enemies are a tad on the disappointing side.



On the first floor, you'll only run into enemies you could meet in chapter 6. They might be slightly tougher than the ones from Beauty Castle, but they're all dark elemental so they don't even last as long.


U = Stairs leading up, D = Stairs leading down

To make matters worse, it's not even a complex dungeon in the slightest. Every floor, bar two, looks exactly like this (but with the stairs in different places later on).



At least from the third floor onwards, combat becomes a bit more than just "spam Sisters' Desire or Omega Holy" with the addition of... Chimaeras and Super Bones. Chimaeras are, as we know by now, Fire elemental and giant wusses. Super Bones are, oddly, Holy elemental (which is a rarity in itself) and are amongst the easiest things down here.



Some of the treasure here is just healing items, but the rest is semi-useful equipment (Heros' Charms boost defence by 20). This isn't one of them, since you'll be swimming in them by the time you're done here since they're a common drop from Super Bones, which are fairly common enemies.



Ian Golems are amongst the sturdier things in this place. With just shy of 300 HP and their element being Thunder they can take a little while longer than most to kill... so you fight them on Auto and wait a few seconds. Duke and Knightspawn alone can shred things apart with physical combat.



Further in, you can meet Princess Bee's who are a slightly weaker version of the Queen Bee's that were fighting alongside the Main Heart in chapter 5. They're wind elemental and you don't have any decent earth attacks but she's the least of your worries. The little dinosaur is a Behemoth and... isn't a big threat either. Sure, he's relatively tricky but in a formation like this, he's nothing to fear. He has a high amount of HP (374) and can potentially Paralyse your entire party in one fell swoop... only, he's Dark elemental and with less than 400 HP he's still not too sturdy. If you run into 3 at once you might have troubles but just the one is hardly a threat.



On the ninth floor, you can find the last piece of armour. These are going on Cornet in place of the Robes of Healing. They reduce all magic damage by half, and by combining them with the Defense Robes all damage is halved making Cornet the closest thing there is to a tank. This is significantly less important here than in the PSX version where Cornet's death is an immediate game over, but as Cornet is forced into playing healer shortly this is VERY important.


I = Item, R = Rare Encounter, 1 = Teleport to First Floor

The 11th and final floor of the dungeon is by far the most complex. This isn't saying much since it's still much simpler than pretty much every normal dungeon but it's the thought that counts. The teleporter accessible is one-way only unfortunately, so if you leave to get provisions or the like before fighting the boss you have to walk all the way back down. This isn't as troublesome as it sounds, but it is still a minor annoyance. The item on this floor is unique indeed, and the rare encounter...



Meet the Dark Dragon. Rarest encounter in the game, and yet you'd know it exists if you payed attention at all whilst doing shit at Cape Hope. With over 600 HP he's basically this games equivalent to WarMECH and he's just as rare if not moreso. People have wasted hours upon hours looking for this guy. I ran into him as the first fight of the floor. And the second. Didn't see him afterwards until I was all but done. So, yeah, many folk squander their time trying to get him to spawn and I get the devils own luck and run into him twice.

For the hardest random encounter in the game, he's nothing threatening though. Sure, he's menacing looking but so was the Holy Dragon (who this guy is a palette swap of) and that was a big softy in the end. I actually threw Sharte into my party for the off-chance I bump into him before fighting the boss since he's Dark elemental. If he somehow survives more than a turn or two of Omega Holy/Giga Saint and Sisters' Desire along with Duke and Knightspawn wacking away with their physicals then you might have a tough time with the boss. Of course, this isn't a great representation of how well you'll do anyway since the boss fight is MUCH tougher than he is.



And the item down here is the... final Heartstone? There's no use for this one, sadly, but it looks good in the inventory at least. It has no actual purpose insofar as I'm aware. I expect it might have played a role in the bonus content that exists only in the Japanese version, but don't quote me on that.

If you enter the screen before the boss...



: My spirit leaves, but my puppet is yours. Cornet, I wish you well on your journey to save your Prince.

Unlike approximately every other optional puppet quest in the entire game, Ledgem doesn't need to be in your actual party to complete it. You just have to enter that one screen and you're done. This just leaves two quests to go, and the more astute of you will have realised what the final quest is going to be. We'll worry about that after we're done with Michael and Caroline since this floor is the best place to grind in the entire game.



Oh, and Chaos is Cornet's requisite Dark attack. It's alright, I guess, but there's only one thing left to really use it on and in that fight you're better off using something else. It's good for wiping out Super Bones in a single strike though.



Michael and Caroline both get the same spell (the most powerful muti-target water attack) at the same level, and it's their only one left to gain too which means...



: I think I was able to make up for my sins a little by helping you. Thanks to you, we can have a new life... I wonder if Father, Mother and Portgama will forgive us... that's the only thing that worries us.
: Miss Cornet... I hope you fnid your prince soon. (A little late there, Mikey boy.)
: We know that we can't stay here with you, but we'll leave the puppets behind.
: Our souls will be taken to heaven, but our hearts will always be with you. We will see you again, sometime, somewhere.
: Thank you for everything.
: Yes, thank you, Miss Cornet.



And with that, we have one attack for Cornet that corresponds to every element apart from Earth. I'd presume that the Egg Brother's skill was supposed to say that, but due to their inate mish-mash of elements (one's Earth, one's Wind and one's Fire) it might have been non-elemental instead.



With that done, there is but one quest left to complete. We have done all others; only one trio remains to finish before we're truly done. Only one fight stands before that goal. That fight... is on the other side of this door, and it is a damned good idea to save beforehand because it is a doozy and it triggers the instant you enter the room. You need a very specific team for this fight, and whom that team is should come as no surprise. I've been using it throughout the game solely for this moment.



: ...In order to fight the Ancient Weapon 16 years ago.
: Now is the time to fulfill our destiny!
: Now is the time to give meaning to our existance!



Here we go, the final battle... against the Ancient Weapon for the fourth time now! Unlike the last fight with him, this one should come as a surprise to no-one since Polin basically told you that he was down here. To say he's been sitting down here for a good 10 years or so though, he is the hardest incarnation of this guy bar none (and is the hardest fight in general too). He might not have the most health but you're forced to use a specific party which limits your strategies if you're not used to fighting with this party. I can't say I am (despite using them for 2 whole chapters) but that doesn't mean the best strategy isn't to just bumrush the fuck out of him. If you let this fight drag on, it becomes a war of attrition that you won't be able to win since he can VERY easily reduce you to just one character (if you're lucky it'll be Cornet) and that's without having to worry about his three minions either. The best way I've found to handle this fight is to just never, ever stop attacking. If your entire party drops low on HP then consider healing but other than that just constantly throw your most powerful spells at it. There's really no strategy to it other than just spam shit and hope it sticks.



: But Mustaki betrayed us and sealed our power... He thought we weren't capable of defeating the Ancient Weapon.
: I'm glad we were able to prove ourselves in our first fight with the Weapon. (Silly Chiba, that was your fourth time fighting it!)
: We shall now take our leave... Our mission in this world has been accomplished.
: Cornet, we enjoyed our journey with you.
: We will meet again Miss Cornet... Until then...



And with that... we've acquired our final skill for Cornet and completed all ten puppet quests. It's been fun, but there's nothing left to do... we've seen everything there is to see in this quirky little RPG.

I suppose I could grind everyone to level 99 but what purpose would that serve at this point? There's nothing left to fight. I could try and track down every rare encounter left but that is almost just as pointless since some are only available at specific points and I know I missed at least one already. I managed to circumvent the one glitch that was posing me any real problems and the only things that really remain aren't even in this version of the game. There's bonus content in the DS port, sure, but only if you have the Japanese version. It's not even particularly great content either since it's just the first part of one of the sequels, or so I'm led to believe at least.

One question remains though... just how long did it take to accomplish all that we've seen and done?



10 hours? That's... pretty slow actually. Even when you're not speedrunning you can beat the main game in a single sitting if you really wanted to.

Actually, now that I remember there is still one thing left...

Thank You

Click here for the final part of the ending (Or here for the Youtube version - not recommended unless necessary and in full screen.)