Part 45: Shadow Dragon?

Update 45: Shadow Dragon?

Not much I can say now that I haven’t already. Let’s dive into the final cave of Rune Factory.





It’s Spring 1 again, and drazi is joining Donnel on his final quest.




Flowers still need one day before they sprout, but that’s alright, I’ve got the sleeping bag for a reason. I went ahead and cleared the dungeon up to the point that the canonical dream sequence stopped last time.





Turns out this goes way better if you don’t get shot.




RP limitations hurt, though.




The Goblin Snipers were guarding some more farmland, and another set of steps, but if we head south of here…




Additional steps! I’ll be taking these, leaving the others for later.




Almost immediately I run into the final bug. It’s a Death Scorpion. They inflict poison or paralysis, but it’s trivially easy not to get hit by them.




They also bear gifts.




Sort of an underwhelming gift, if I’m being frank.




Anyway here’s the last unique model enemy in the game! This is the Mini Dragon, it shoots fireballs and that’s about it.




It’s also sort of a chump. Of note is that these enemies can drop the “Emery Flower Seeds”, the rarest seeds in the game, that take a full 120 days to grow. They are also Mist’s favorite gift.




This isn’t one of them, but I like it better anyway.




Another staircase, and we’re going deeper.




So...once this horrible mess of particle effects goes away and my system stops chugging…




Aha! A...purple Fairy? No, this is HADES somehow. It’s a real motherfucker, it can heal itself, seal you, and cast that giant AOE Storm spell.




Or you could be cheap, like me, and just backtrack to the stairs and kill the spawner before it spits one out. I’ll take it.




The way forward is blocked by...are you fucking serious rune factory you’re pulling this shit again





Fine. Unfortunately the shot I got of the monsters from this spawner got lost somehow, but they’re the “Goblin Masters”. Imagine the Snipers but with swords and that’s your model. They hit fairly hard, but that’s about it.





They also don’t mind if I nap behind their spawner, thankfully. You don’t have to be “Out of Combat” or anything to Sleeping Bag. You just can’t use it in a boss room.





And then I just ambush the spawner like an asshole. It’s Greed Cave, it’s actively encouraging me here.




Surprise, more stairs.




This, however, is very, very new.




That looks final boss-y.




Definitely not doing that yet. I planted those flowers for a reason.




While Donnel orbs out, here’s the gimmick for Greed Cave. That’s a Teleporter, instead of a door, and it doesn’t stay open if you leave. You have to clear all the spawners and the boss without leaving the cave. It’s not too bad, but worth mentioning and a nasty surprise if you think you can dip out to Melody’s or something.




That’s why planting crops here? Not a waste of your time.




Each Rune is 25RP, so four of them maxes Donnel out.




Oh, by the way, that staircase we skipped earlier just had farmland and a few rocks. There, no more loose ends.




Here’s a final stats screen.




The destined day of Spring The Third.







...Huh.








: But I destroyed your new weapon! There’s nothing you can do now!

Donnel, she just explained this last cave.


: Oh, the tank. Yes… Heh heh heh… That was the final piece we needed to complete our plan.


: The final piece?

I’m not gonna make the joke. There’s an eyepatch on screen, make it yourself.


: That’s right. And it fit beautifully into our scheme.


: Hmmm…


: Behold! This is what all our efforts here have been for!




I like the convenient arrows that point to the evil science machine.




Lightning crashes down!




The screen shakes!




Well. Hello.


: No...It can’t be!







I have no idea what the fuck that has to do with anything.




Oh my god. The awful name was foreshadowing all along!


: So it exists after all…


: “Grimoire” is the name of Terrable before its ascension to being divine! Our investigation lead us to this cave, where we conducted research for years!




: You mean, you knew the Grimoire was in this cave?


: Of course! Why else would we build such facilities here?


: But why then did you put shifts in the other caves?


: Hah! I suppose you deserve to know. After all, we put them there for you!

If you thought Lynette’s last appearance was a plot dump, oh man. We’ve got a while to go.


: For me?


: The Grimoire is still sleeping. Ever since we found it years ago, we haven’t been able to awaken it. But finally our research revealed that only the “chosen Earthmate” can rouse the Grimoire.


: The chosen Earthmate…





: Me?


: You played right into our hands. You battled numerous shifts, monsters and you cultivated the dungeons. All the while, a portion of the rune energy you amassed was funneled into the Grimoire! Thanks to you, we have gathered enough rune energy to bring the Grimoire to the verge of awakening!


This is dumb.


: You mean all that fighting and cultivation I did in the dungeons…

It was really mostly mining.


: Yes… It was all staged by us. You played your part even better than we could ever have hoped!


: No…


: You may not have noticed, but you’re clearly different from all the other Earthmates.

I haven’t seen any other Earthmates! They’ve barely been a plot point!


: That’s why we monitored you, waiting all the while for the right chance.


: “All the while”? Exactly how long have you been waiting? Did you know me...before?




Honestly surprised that wasn’t Mist.


: What?


: In order to awaken the Grimoire, we needed you to live in this town. But honestly, would you have moved here if we had told you the reason?




Okay, this line totally loses me. Is he saying he would have complied with their evil plan? Did someone just forget a “Not”?


: So we used a slightly unorthodox method. We used medicines to erase your memory and placed you near this town. Everything after that proceeded like clockwork. You settled down in this town. After all, what else were you to do? You had no memory, no place to go! Then you cultivated all the caves and continued to build up rune energy...to awaken the Grimoire. Then in Danaan cave (sic), you destroyed our new weapon. That was the trigger that awoke the Grimoire. Everything went exactly as planned! Bahahahahahaha!






This screenshot encapsulates the entire plot of Rune Factory 1.


: Donnel…


: Please...tell me one thing. Who am I?


: Why bother asking? There’s no way for you to recover your memory.


: Even so, I want to know!


: It appears I’ve talked to long… The time has come!


: The time?

DONNEL COME ON THE DRAGON IS RIGHT THERE


: Time for the awakening! Bahahahahaha!

I preferred New Mystery.








: It woke up…


: Now the world belongs to the Sechs Empire! Now that the Grimoire is awake, I have no more use for you! In appreciation for your help, I will grant you the honor of being the first slain by a Dragon God!




Lynette really, really likes Escape.





: B-but!


: I’m the one responsible for waking this thing, so it’s my responsibility to send it back to its world!


: All right…




Finally here, Boss #8, it’s Grimoire! For real this time. He’s got 2600 HP, equal resistance to all elements, and-




Hey, get back here!




Here’s the first of Grimoire’s attacks, lightning will keep striking at Donnel’s position, five times. You just need to keep moving to dodge it, failing to do so could get you paralyzed. He can do this multiple times in a row, so be ready.





You have a window to get in a few attacks when it lands.




He’s got a circular tail whip that will punish you for getting close, unless there’s an opening. If you’ve been playing the game this long, you can probably guess…




The remainder of Grimoire’s attacks are channeled ranged abilities. There’s the breath from Chimera, but it poisons you…




Here’s the strategy for basically this entire fight, stick to the side. If you do this, you’ll be pretty much unhittable for his entire first “phase”.




There’s also a laser, but it doesn’t track you like the Battle Tank one, and it’s easy to dodge and counterattack.




So far, so good. Not much more than a punching bag from the sides.

But then he turns red.




At 25% HP, Grimoire gets MEAN. His lightning strikes ten times now, and much faster.




Also, all of his attacks come out much faster. You’ll be lucky to get more than one hit on his side between moves, unless you want to eat a ton of damage.




This? This is a bad idea.




Nearly dead here, but maybe if I drink some Milk…




Milk restores no HP.




R.I.P.

This second phase is really a killer, either you outlevel and damage race him, or you have to be extremely careful. I don’t do the former, so…just have to make sure I save both my potions for the second phase.




Here’s Grimoire’s final move, he rears up and fireballs rain from the sky. This one feels super cheap, because they can land anywhere, and that includes “directly on top of you”. They also knock you down. This is, at least, a good time to get damage out on the Dragon.




Also by the way, poison can’t kill you. Grimoire can! But this poison did not.




So, basically, stick to the sides and hit after he casts, run from the lightning, and in the second phase, do all that, but better.




Eventually you’ll break 2600 damage.




And Grimoire will fall.




How did she get back in here?




You can teleport, I get that.


: I staked my life on this plan...and now…




Well this is new.







It’s the Sechsy Emperor!


: It’s a pity… I too had hoped the Grimoire Project would succeed. You know the penalty for failure.

(i might have had to make my own portrait for Ethel here. Please thank Lotus for the whole LP not looking like this.)


: Yes, Your Majesty. I hereby take my life, to atone for the dishonor I have caused my country.


: W-w-whoa! Hold it right there! You have to commit suicide? That’s crazy!




I love Ethelberd’s face.


: What kind of crazy talk is that?


: Lynette’s plan failed. She cannot return to her country. She must either die here honorably, to fulfill her obligation, or die a dog’s death later.


: If she has no place to return to...then she can live in this town!


: Don’t be a fool. Lynette tried to kill you, remember?

It was literally like a minute ago.


: That doesn’t matter anymore. The war is over! Nothing good can come of hurting even more people!


: Oh, but the war is not over. In fact, it has only just begun.


: What?


: Lynette’s failure merely means we must execute our secondary plan. That is the nature of war.


: Your secondary plan?


:The Sechs Empire’s main tank division is on the move.




The 100 Tanks was Plan B?


: One hundred?




That’s more “ha’s” than Lynette, proving this is our REAL big villain.




Donnel, I really don’t think anyone would have minded if you sliced that guy.







And we’ll do that in the final Rune Factory update!

Next time Donnel fights 100 Tanks I guess.