Part 48: Wrap-Up

Okay, so I've got enough stuff to show/talk about for three more updates before we shut the lid on this thing. The updates are like so:

1. Wrap-Up: This update. Random stuff like storyline clarifications, Furdo's Workshop, and the ever-popular Porn Book.

2. Debug Room: There's a debug room you can access via GameShark. Most of it is just silly stuff, but there's a handful of really interesting things in there. Plus nudity.

3. 2nd Div: The big one, this is the reward you get for beating all seven quests. I'm saving it for last mostly since it's the best way to end the thread, but also because I'm an ass.

So let's get started.

Summary

So here's a nifty little image I cooked up of my save files:

So there's how long this whole thing took me, minus the actual updating and whatnot (Which probably takes longer than the gameplay). Red's quest took longer than necessary since I was running around and re-familiarizing myself with the game for the later quests. However, his is still one of the longer quests overall, so it really only tacked on about 2 hours or so. Also, these are all point of no return saves, so in some cases (Red, T260G, Blue), the final dungeons tack around an hour more to the total time.

In Emelia's case, not only did I manage to get through her quest in under 5 hours, her last dungeon is about 5 minutes long so I probably finished that whole thing in 5 hours. And I still beat the hell out of Diva. I've probably said it before, but if Emelia didn't have such a good recruit pool, I'd probably hate her quest more than Riki's.

And Asellus's save is the only one not in Koorong because she has the only final dungeon that you can actually leave after going there. I still recommend saving about halfway through (right before the Griffin) so you can mess with her endings, however.


Wall of Text Storyline Notes

All seven quests are assumed to be taking place at roughly the same time, with Lute's being the last to finish (I think he's supposed to be kinda wandering around with some of the other characters before he meets Hamilton and takes on Mondo).

Red - There was originally plans to have a sort of "love points" system in Red's game where you could affect some storyline stuff based on how you treated Yuria (his co-worker he had the hots for). This was scrapped, and is probably why she pretty much vanishes from the quest about halfway through.

Slime (the useless monster who tags along with you in Tanzer) actually plays a part in Red's ending: he hops on top of BossX's giant eye and blinds him, allowing Red and co. to finish BossX off.

Blue - While Blue is said to get Time Magic and Rouge gets Space Magic, none of the other ones are decided. Rouge somehow gets Space Magic without killing Kylin, and later gets kicked out of Kylin's realm for "being rude." Rouge is the official winner of the duel between the two, as he is the "good" side of the personality.

Rouge goes into Hell alone, as he knows that the other wizards in the Magic Kingdom are going to seal him in with Hell's Lord. He later escapes somehow due to the calls of his friends.

Riki - The rings, much like the Monkey's Paw, always pervert the wishes they grant. Somebody from the Magic Kingdom in the past collected the rings and wished for a heaven, which then created the Hell you visit in Blue's quest. That's why it's all heavenly and full of angels. Nobody knows who it was who made that wish, but I've seen theories that it was Mei-ling: that's why she had the Black Ring and is good at magic. This theory is, of course, retarded. She'd have to be hundreds of years old or something.

Emelia - I'm not sure which of Emelia's endings is the correct one. I believe Essence states that she frees Ren but later leaves him since she doesn't want to deal with him anymore, which doesn't happen in either ending. Emelia is dumb.

She DSCs Fuse as revenge for tossing her in jail. I suppose Liza taught it to her, it's hard enough to get her to learn it naturally.

Asellus - From what I know, the half-mystic ending is the correct one for Asellus. It's also worth noting that nearly every piece of random unfinished storyline/areas seems to be mentioned as once being planned for her quest (the Biolab, as well as Furdo's Workshop, which we'll see in a minute). Considering how she probably has the fourth most "complete" quest (after Red, T260G, and Riki, respectively), I can only imagine how much stuff must have been cut from Emelia and Lute's quests.

The whole gay thing is supposedly explained by her having Orlouge's blood in her veins: since he's the Charm Lord and thus wants to fuck every woman with a pulse, it rubbed off on Asellus a bit, which is why she acts like she does. Whatever, I still think she's a lesbian.

T260G - This one is fun: if you look back to the beginning of T260's quest, you'll see that scene with the weird winged captain guy in a spaceship. That ship, or rather the core of it, was T260G. That makes his role as an anti-RB3 unit a little easier to understand, since Giant Spaceship versus Giant Spaceship makes more sense than Tiny Robot versus Giant Spaceship. Anyway, the ship crashed, as we see in the intro, and that little mutant Thyme digs up T260G's core and we go from there.

But here's the kicker: T260G's personality/operating mode, when part of the ship, was set to female. So T260G is technically a chick.

Lute - Lute's storyline takes place last, and Mondo is pretty much the final villain as far as the overall storyline is concerned. I assume that the game would have painted Trinity as a more overall villain if things had been completed. It seems that Lute basically gathers a posse of all the other characters to help him out in the fight, including Rouge who had managed to escape Hell by that point.

Slime once again plays a role in the fight: he sits over the Spriggan's cockpit and releases acid, burning Mondo.

Fuse - Yeah, poor Fuse, his quest got cut. Essence supposedly has a short novelization of his quest's storyline, but nobody seems willing to share the information contained therein. He does visit Mosperiburg at some point, just as he does if you go on the Shield Card quest. He manages to free Suzaku from the ice, and drafts him into IRPO.

Here's a list of all the game's known IRPO agents: Fuse, Doll, Silence, Cotton, Ren, and Suzaku. Note that Roufas and his ilk are of Gradius, a separate organization (and a much smaller/less official one).

Here's some character art of Fuse, by the way. He looks like a mix between Lupin the Third and Cobra of Space Adventure Cobra.

Porn Book

In Shrike, near the inn and playground, there's a bookstore. The only real purpose of this place is to give you a little info on stuff like Sei's Tomb, but there's also a porn book hidden between the two shelves. You don't get to see the book, of course, but each character has a different responce to it.

Red

Life long mission of vengeance? Screw that, I like boobs!

Riki

Oh, Riki. You're so retarded.

Emelia

Standard female response, I suppose.

Asellus

And the non-standard female response. Seriously.

T260G

Oh, robots. You guys are so funny.

Lute

Spoken like a true neckbeard.

And finally, Blue

Furdo's Workshop

This is another hidden, optional area. I figure it's another one of those unfinished places that they decided to leave in for kicks. Unlike the Biolab, though, it serves no real purpose, which is why I saved it for here (also because this update needed more meat).

We start off by going to the Magic Kingdom, another place that is entirely useless except for the end of Blue's quest.

It's pretty big for such a useless area. Also, note that I decided to use Riki for this, mostly due to masochism.

You can buy Realm Magic here, but only EnergyChain, Implosion, and PsychoArmor. Also, it's impossible to get the gift unless you're Blue or Rouge (apparently Magic Kingdom citizens are born with it).

Perhaps the same could be said of all relig-, ah screw it. It's a church.

Anyway, the path to Furdo's is hidden between these rows of trees.

At first glance it may not seem like you can go between them, but you can. This, combined with the fact that there's no reason to ever go to the Magic Kingdom unless it's been destroyed, is why people tend to miss this place.

We come to the entrance, another vaguely church-ish looking place.

Inside we find...statues. Yup.

Pretty much every enemy type can be found in here, but as of right now they don't do anything.

This is also the only place to find the Giant and Dragon sprites "in the wild," as it were. I think they're both fixed encounters though (the Dragon is a Minidragon and the Giant is either an Ettin or a Demongoat, so no easy Obsidian farming for us).

Anyway, we get down to this little stem looking thing and inspect it.

This wakes up all the fairy statues on the above floor, who then disperse.

Now we can go back to any of the other rooms and find a fairy, who...

...uses their magical pixie dust or whatever to wake up the statues.

Anyway, that would be pretty much it, unless you manage to stumble upon this hidden door here, which looks exactly like the rest of this room and really gives no indication that it's a door.

We follow the path to a back room...

And here's Furdo.

He jumps forward when you approach, but...

That's all he does. He doesn't speak or move or anything. Touching him leads to a boss fight.

Video: He's stupidly easy, which is why I didn't lump him in with the other optional bosses. He does say some stuff in battle, though.

And that's it. No items, no message, no nothing. Just a silly, unfinished area. Whoopie.

Debug mode is next.