Part 3: Heaven's Gate, Part 3

(SERENE WINS. Apologies to all you Fia/Cierra fans. Don't need to apologise to the Lina fans because apparently there aren't any. She is a sad loli. I hope you're happy.)






Notice that tiny, tiny bar just left of Ein's sprite? (The one on the right, that is.) That indicates how much the selected item will add to your "Wait" gauge when you use it.

Although the game is turn-based, it's not a simple "Your turn, enemy turn, your turn" deal. Instead, each character has a "Wait" gauge that decreases over time, and only once a character's gauge hits 0 are they allowed to act. As a rule, Over Skills add a lot more to the Wait gauge than standard ones, and attack items add more Wait than healing or utility items.

Your enemies are subject to this rule as well; when they use their more powerful attacks, they will have to wait longer before they are able to act again. Also, certain items and attacks can add points to the target's Wait gauge; the Spider Web we picked up earlier is one such item, adding 20 points to all enemy gauges.



Although you can use stat-boosting items multiple times on the same character, the benefits are greatly reduced after the first use. Here, we can see that using the Power Wrist added 30 points to Ein's Strength. However, if we use it again, it only adds 3 points, which really isn't worth spending a turn on.



Mastering the Power Wrist gives Ein the Strong Blast Over Skill, which boosts the Strength of all allies. It also gives him boosts to HP, Magic and Vitality. For S-ranking the battle, we received 10 Naga Fangs, which can be used to attack all enemies in the back row.



When we enter Look mode here, we're informed that we hear a sound above us. Checking the source gives us...



Like the Orihalcon we found earlier, the Angel Bell has no actual use; it's just for the points. Now let's head back to the previous screen and cross the chains.



...OK, these would be the same kind of demons as the one we ran into earlier. Right?
Right.
And you're absolutely sure about-
-the teeth. Yes.
Damn it.



Pressing the Start button in battle brings up a menu that provides you with quite a bit of extra detail. Here, you can check the values of everyone's Wait gauge, find out who will attack next and view the HP and status of both your allies and your enemies; it'll give you their exact stats and whatever elements they happen to be strong/weak against. There's even a "Tactics" option that'll provide tips catered to each individual battle. How many other RPGs are this helpful?



These Succubus-type enemies are vulnerable to Holy damage, so Einherjar works well against them.



Mastering the Naga Fang gives Ein the Lightning Call Over Skill, (level 2) which strikes a random enemy with lightning magic. It also boosts his HP, Magic and Vitality.



OK, how long is this path? I don't mind the walk, but my shoulders are getting tired lugging all this junk around.
Pansy. What do you want, a backrub?
Yeah, that'd be nice. Thanks.
...um.
What?
I was mocking you. I didn't think you'd actually go for it.
oh man shipping fuel


Let's loot the chest here before moving on.



This gets us a Fire Orb, which, oddly enough, raises your resistance to fire. Its Over Skill is Katon-no-Jutsu, insert Naruto joke of your choice here. This is a fire-based magical attack that inflicts 15% of the target's maximum HP in damage, and also has a chance of causing the "Heat" status, which removes all elemental resistances. And yes, it's going to be quite a struggle to refrain from making jokes about characters afflicted with this status being "in Heat". Thanks for asking.





You know, when Hector said we were going to Heaven's Gate, I was expecting a gate, not an obstacle course filled with monsters.
Are you bellyaching again?
Look, all I'm saying is it would have been nice to know in advance that this was going to take so long. I thought we'd be about five minutes, tops. Now my whole day is pretty much gone.
Well what else have you got to do? Hmm? Come on, let's hear it.
Hey, screw you. I'll have you know I'm writing a Let's Play.
...oh my god. A Let's Play? Are you serious? Are you actually serious? You are, aren't you? Sweet tittyfucking Christ, Ein. I knew you were a loser, but WOW.
It's a valid medium for creativity and humour!
Yeah, sure. "Hey guys, come watch me play video games over the Internet! This is a completely legitimate pastime and not just a hopeless cry for attention!"


Let's open this chest and see what happens.



Not all chests are safe; many of them contain traps that you will have to play a minigame in order to avoid. Of course, there's no way to know in advance which chests are trapped and which aren't unless you read a walkthrough, so if it's your first time playing then you might as well open 'em all anyway.



Wow, that was close. Too bad none of us took any Rogue levels.
Good God. D&D references as well? I just keep thinking you can't possibly get any lamer and you just keep on proving me wrong.



Ein lost his wings when he received his Diviner. (Yes, she actually says this. Of course she does. Are you really surprised anymore? "Hey Ein, guess what? YOU'RE STILL ESSENTIALLY A CRIPPLE. I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU HAD NOT FORGOTTEN THAT.")
What did you lose, Ledah?
His manhood.
What? Really?
Heck, I don't know. Could well be true, though, judging from-
...
...what?
Go on. Make the Freud joke. Say I'm compensating for something. I can just tell Hector you choked to death on your own tongue. He'll believe me.
...actually, I was just going to point out that you look like a girl. But it's nice to know how secure you are.
Oh. That is true.
Seriously though, what did you lose?



OH LOOK A DISTRACTION



Here you can see the "piercing" effect of Ledah's attack. Of course, it isn't really that helpful here, since succubi are resistant to fire. This particular succubus is called a "Lilith", by the way. The scaly guy is a Naga.

No items from this battle, even if you S-rank it. Total gyp.



Who are you comparing him to?
You.
...
Idiot.



Examining the cracks here gets us a button-mash minigame. Success rewards us with a Rosier, which is the most powerful rapier-type weapon in the game. It's not unique, but it doesn't appear regularly until much later on. Unfortunately, we only get one use out of this one before it breaks.



Best to save it for now. You'll see why later on.



We're getting close. Brace yourselves, ladies.
Finally. Any longer and I'd be late for my photo shoot.
Wait, what? Photo shoot? As in, modelling?
Sure.
...but you're a cat.
I know! You'd think that'd be a problem, but apparently there's a really good market for photos of cats doing goofy things. You know, making silly faces and stuff. People like to put captions on them and post them on message boards, or something. I dunno. It's dumb, but it's a living.
Story of my life, right there.


Entering Look mode here results in a fairy appearing.



Waaaah! Please help me! I don't know how I got here, and there are demons everywhere!
You're not a demon?
You're kidding, right? I am entirely too adorable to be a demon!
Yeah, I'm not falling for that. Those little guys with the hammers were cute too. Next thing I know, half my health is down the crapper.
I'm not a demon! I'm a fairy!
Well, what's your name?
NoNo.
...what, you're not going to tell me?
No, no. That's my name.
What is?
NoNo!
Look, you don't have to be difficult about it. I'm just asking for a little courtesy here.
In the interests of preventing this from degenerating into a catastrophically hackneyed comedy routine, I'm going to suggest that we move on and leave the fairy to get eaten.
...wow. You're kind of a jerk, huh?
You know what? I get that all the time, but I really don't know what people expect. I mean, do you see a halo? Hmm? Do you see a little white robe and a fucking harp? I'm a GRIM Angel. I'm not a Happynice Unicornshitting Sugarfarts Angel.



OK, look. We'll take you with us, but you have to promise that you're not going to turn into an annoying sidekick. No giving out advice or calling for attention every five seconds or anything like that. Got it?
Got it. I promise. I never even went to annoying sidekick school.


You can leave NoNo behind if you want. Doing so is extremely silly, however, because she'll heal you and boost your Magic stat if you help her out. Besides, look at her little face. How could you say nono to that, ahaha SO MUCH FRESH MATERIAL.



IN THAT NAME.







NONO.





Come on, just one. Just ONE. I think I deserve it after this long.
Fine. Just one. Make sure you get it out of your system.
OK. *ahem*
ARE WE THEEEEERRREEEEE YEEEEEEEEEEEET?
Better?
Much.



Oh God. Voices in my head. I've snapped. I knew this would happen someday.
Relax. We all heard it. It means we're nearly there.


We're going to examine the corridor here. You'll see why in the next screen. Moving east!



It seems we've reached the gate.
About time. I think the gods must have some kind of stair fetish.
Just be ready, alright? I don't want to have to explain to Hector that you pussed out and ran away.
Hey Ledah. Two things. First of all, "up", and secondly, "yours".


Now we examine this corridor. Provided you also examined the one in the earlier screen, you'll receive an elixir, which restores all your health when used.



It's not as useful as it sounds. Potions already restore 75% of your HP, and you can use them several times before they break.



Oh God, a Star of David. We're dealing with Jews.
That's not necessarily true. The symbol of the hexagram can be found in many different religions, such as Hinduism, and is also commonly used in occult-
There isn't a single word coming out of your mouth right now that I am interested in hearing.



G to the A! My Grimslices! Your boy Hector needs an update. You got some good news for him, right?
Yeah, we just reached the gate. We're all set.
Word. Alright, you boys know what you gotta do. Haul your asses up them steps and let's get some Retribution up in here.



Whoa. Who's the girl?
Ursula? Aw shit. I knew this skank'd be all up in my grill. Angels! I need that bitch iced, yesterday!






I'd like to give her some Sacred Tongue.
Phoenix, huh? Suits me. I could go for some hot wings.



And here's our very first boss battle! It's actually quite possible for Ein to get killed here, so we're going to bring a potion in just to be on the safe side. Otherwise, standard fare; Power Wrist to boost Strength and Einherjar for smackage. I'd bring the Fire Orb, since Aghart uses fire attacks, (being a phoenix) but it only has one use left and I want to save it.

(In hindsight, what I really should have done is held off on mastering the Fire Orb until this battle. That way I could've got the benefit of the fire resistance and still had some uses left over for the future. Too late now, though.)



You'd expect Aghart to be fire-resistant, but he isn't. Lorelei works just fine here.



We are, of course, aiming to end the battle with Ledah's Lost Seraph attack, but it'll be a while before we whittle Aghart down enough for that to finish him. In the meantime, we just have Ein spam his Double Slash attack to keep that Overdrive gauge from going to waste.



See, this is why we brought a potion. Luckily, Aghart won't be able to act for a while after using that.



Lost Seraph generally does around 1300 damage, so that should be enough. Let's finish this.





That is one badass attack.



S-ranking a boss battle will usually give you a unique and powerful one-shot item. Here, we received the Ignis Spear, which delivers a powerful fire attack when used...provided it's by the right character.



One chick down, one to go.
The Retribution must not come to pass. Why must Riviera suffer due to the arrogance of the Magi?
Baby, why you gotta be like that? You know this ain't a personal thing. Hector's just a playa. If you wanna hate, hate the game. And speaking of game...L! Let's see some game!



...
Huh. Ideally, that would have worked a lot better than it did.







...well shit.





Where is...everyone? Ledah...Rose...Hector...hot chick...
Gaaaaaaaaah!
Enemy of Riviera, your pain shall end. Your rage shall be your blessing here.
Fall into eternal slumber, peacefully...





I would like to say for the record that I totally saw this coming.
No way! Ein! Hector, you have to do something!
Actually, I'm pretty sure I ain't gotta do jack. Ein got screwed. Shit happens. Deal.
Are you crazy?! I can't just forget him!
Sure you can. It's easy. Watch.
Ein? Who's that? I have never heard that name before in my glorious, Ein-free life.
Alright. Ledah. My dawg. Looks like you gotta handle the Retribution yourself. That gonna be an issue?
Psh. No problem.





The angel's still here.
That's weird. He should be gone by now, shouldn't he?
And he's still in pain.
Could it be that he's not a threat?
An angel? Nah, couldn't be.
But he's in agony!
So go get him some Vicodin. What do you want from me?
I just get the feeling that maybe he's not so bad.
Ya think?
Let's tell Ursula. She'll know what to do.



You are correct. Indeed, he has a pure heart. Perhaps this young one is...
...yes. I know. I agree with you all. Let us entrust him with Riviera's welfare, as well as our future.
...um.
Yes?
Don't you think that's a little extreme? I mean, all we were saying is that maybe we shouldn't let him die horribly if he's not a total jerk. How did we get from that to "Let's put our lives in his hands"?
Do you have any better ideas?
Uh...
Because I don't hear you coming up with any better ideas.
I'm...just not following your logic. That's all.
Listen. I've been around for a long time. Much, much longer than you. I've been through enough to know a protagonist when I see one. If anyone's going to save Riviera, it's this guy. Understand?
Yes, Ursula.
Good. Now go find me a shirt to wear until my next appearance. Stupid fanservice bandages are getting on my nerves.







What will become of our beloved Grim Angel? Who or what is the mysterious entity known as "Ursula"? Why is Hector a white man pretending to be black?

At least one of those questions will be answered in the next exciting update!

(NOTE: Next update might not actually be that exciting.)







---NEW ITEMS---
Elixir: Support item. Restores all HP and cures status ailments.
Ignis Spear: One-shot boss weapon.
Naga Fang: Misc. weapon. Physical damage to enemies in back row.
Rosier: Rapier-type weapon. Holy damage.




---NEW OVER SKILLS---

---LEVEL 1---
Fire Resist
Item: Fire Orb
Effect: Raises Fire resistance.
Target: All allies.

Strong Blast
Item: Power Wrist
Effect: Raises Strength.
Target: All allies.


---LEVEL 2---
Lightning Call
Item: Naga Fang
Effect: Three-hit Magic combo, power of 72.
Target: Furthest enemy.
Additional: Unblockable.