Part 13: FINAL CHAPTER: Homncruisin' Our Way To Victory

Hello this is Kaiser Mazoku and welcome to Let's Play Secret of the Stars! Yes! Fantastic!

On our last episode, we unlocked the secret of Mylawn and unearthed a hidden UFO which took us into the Jeep Volcano. Now, we must step into the abyss.





The next screen over contains a room with warp tiles. We take naught a step before a voice calls out.



Homncruse: I've been waiting, how stupid of them to oppose me! The powerful ruler of darkness...Homncruse!! Recover my followers! You'll be the ones to destroy the Aqutallions!

I do NOT like where this is going.



In a moment of innovative game design and this-is-totally-not-padding, the Four Great Followers are brought back to life, good as new.

Homncruse: You'd better come...come to my lair and perish Aqutallions! Aha, ha, ha, ha!

Why don't YOU come greet us? Some host you are.

The followers all retreat to their respective sectors of the dungeon and we have to hunt them down, one by one in order. Dram's tile is lit up first, so we warp to his dungeon.



Dram's chillin' just a few feet away, but we have to take the long way around to get to him.



The dungeons all follow the same gimmick. Gold doors can only be passed by Aqutallions and silver doors can only be passed by Kustera. The monsters here are pretty tough too, so the Kustera are going to need to be at a respectable level.



The doors with the notches here can be opened by anyone, but only from one side. We can't access it, so we'll have to get the Kustera to open it for us.





They save our bacon. After some more fun with doors and gold/silver gates, we confront Dram.



Dram: Down with you!

What am I, a dog?



Dram has his colors changed and has more HP, but otherwise is completely unchanged from before. The usual strategy works. (Fast 3 on everyone, Burn/Freeze Blade, Bomb 3, I've also found that with the Bestclaw and a Power buff, Leona's melee attack does around the same damage as her Bolt 3, so we'll stick with that from now on)

There's also this little beauty as well. If you combine everyone's top-level magic attacks, you get...







Not bad at all. This would be handy for taking out groups of enemies, but our usual strategy is less MP-costly so we'll stick with that. After Dram falls, we get 9383 exp, which is enough to boost Tina to 33 and Leona to 32.



Dram vanishes without so much as a parting word. They really didn't put any effort into this, did they? Time for Booth's dungeon.



Second verse, same as the first.



Hey look, Golan's back! And he fell in a bucket of green paint.



I give the Cure Cane to Beth. Fitting, since she's a doctor.



Hmmm, I wonder...



Booth: We both bid you a farewell fight!



Yeah, the Kustera get their asses kicked. Best to leave this to the professionals.



Going back to the main party, they go up against Booth. Booth wields more powerful magic this time, such as Bomb 3 and Fire 3. I have Leona use Mirror 1 on herself to reflect Booth's magic back at him (NOW THAT I KNOW THIS IS THE ONLY ONE GOOD FOR ANYTHING) and Dan use a Mirror item on himself, which provides the same effect. Dan's our best healer so we'll want him alive as much as possible. After a rather tough battle, Booth goes down and gives us 10,543 exp. Gara's room is next.



Nothing new or exciting here. Just more door nonsense.



And Golan's twin brothers who fell in orange paint this time.



Hey Jubei, stop hitting yourself!



These skinny corridors are a pain in the ass, because if you camp here, you'll block the other party, so you have to keep walking until you find a section that's at least 2 tiles wide.



Then you give the game designers too much credit.

Gara: This time, I'll destroy you!



Wait, did they even change her colors? Per formula, Gara is stronger and has more powerful spells, and just like before, she's easier than Booth.





This is the first time ever that I've used Evade. Apparently it reduces the target's accuracy, but as far as this battle goes, it doesn't seem to do anything.





Did I show you guys Ice Slash yet? Well, here it is. Basically the same as Burn Blade...but ice. Useful if you need Cody to provide Power buffs for that turn or something. Down Gara goes, leaving behind 11,873 exp in her wake.



Contrary to the other boss rooms, we can just go right over and fight Godem. However, we actually don't want to do that, because...



We'd be missing out on the Bolt Sword, which lies near the top of the dungeon. When combined with Leona's Bolt spell, it creates Bolt Break. We give it to Cody, as it's more powerful than his Fire Sword.



Godem: Take this!



Godem has a rapid attack now, which can do upwards of 100 damage. And of course, he still has Bolt 3. Anyone else find it funny that his in-battle sprite and field sprite colors finally match?





That was a sharp hit, but even on regular hits Bolt Break does a nice amount of damage. Bio Godem is a tough customer but we take him down eventually.



The center tile is lit up and we can finally delve into Homncruse's sanctum.



We could just go straight down the ladder, or we could go around and grab the treasure chest. I opt to go for the chest, as it contains a Plumwater item which provides healing. What's with this game's obsession with plums anyway?



The enemies here look pretty cool. And of course, there's at least two other palette-swapped versions for each enemy here.



I don't even want to try and guess what the original, non-Engrished name was supposed to be.



OH GOD RUN AWAY



After grabbing the Plumwater, we loop back around and head down the ladder. We do another loop-de-loop, grab the Mirror from this chest, and head down the next ladder.



Ah I love the inexplicable giant robots amongst all the demon-type enemies down here.



Remember what I said about the palette swaps? There's also a bright orange version too. Tecmo has absolutely no shame. I also just realized that the bull enemies follow the exact same color pattern as the Golan clones. Brown, green, and orange. If this were any other game, it could be a clue or symbolism, but here it's just good ol' laziness. Also, I didn't capture them, but there's also a set of ghost-looking enemies called, and get ready for this, "Wyte", "Lace", and "Rich". I actually WAS able to guess what the names were supposed to be here.  Wight, Wraith, and Lich. 



So after doing some more loops, we come across a warp tile which takes us to Homncruse's room.





Behold, the final boss. A chair.



Jaguar and the big blue meanie appear out of nowhere.

Homncruse: Welcome Aqtutallions, your powers can not harm me. Jaguar! You are the first to greet our guests. What's wrong?... Jaguar...? Why don't you fight?

Probably because he's smart and he saw us beat up the Four so-called Great Followers. Twice.

Oh wait, actually, this happens.



Homncruse: I knew you would betray me...Jaguar...no! Bosen!

Wait what?

Homncruse: I already knew that you were a spy sent from the future!

Hold on-



Bosen: Look at my face! You should recognize this face! ....You...you! Homncruse...it was I who helped you when you came to the future. I have taught you all of the science of the future...however, you betrayed the future and wanted to rule with darkness...I knew it was all my fault. So, I have come from the future to destroy you myself! Homncruse! You shall fall before me!

Homncruse: Aha, ha, ha! ...Fool! I don't remember you! Now, feel my wrath!

Homncruse zaps Bosen.

Bosen: Look...Homncruse!

Homncruse: Aha, ha, ha, ha! Now it is time for you children! Come Aqutallions!

OK, let's back up here. So, after Homncruse went to the future, he met Bosen, who showed him the ways of science. Homncruse took advantage of that so he could go back to his time and "rule with darkness". Bosen followed him back and masqueraded as Jaguar, his closest servant, while secretly helping the Aqutallions (which involved blowing up our GODDAMN TOWN YOU DICK). This would make sense, except for the fact that if Homncruse knew Bosen was going to betray him, why didn't he kill him earlier? Without Bosen's help, Ray would have never been able to escape from the volcano and Homncruse could have gone on to conquer the world unchallenged.

Bah, this game.



Homncruse is completely immune to all our attacks, melee and magic. We just have to let him kill us. Fortunately, it's part of the plot, so we don't get a game over.



Bosen: This...this is just an illusion of Homncruse...Ray...the Metlswrd...without the Metlswrd...you can not beat Homncruse...

Really? I thought our plastic and wood swords would work just fine.

Bosen: Go to the Red Fountain with this...

Got Aqt-Stone!

Homncruse: I won't let you do it!!

We immediately leave the volcano and head for the Red Fountain. First though, I want to show you something.



Remember the town of Likado that got blown up?



It's completely intact. The only difference is that all the people are gone. So we finally have an explosion that CAN kill people, but doesn't destroy buildings.  More like the designers forgot to implement the "destroyed" texture. 



We go to the Red Fountain, which before was a complete mystery, but now that we have the Aqt-Stone, it will produce the Metal Sword for us. Ray takes the sword and his father shows up.



Ray's father: Homncruse is shrouded by a false appearance, break it by this orb!

Got Lightorb!!

The Metal Sword boosts Ray's attack from 152 to 192. It also gets sharp hits every time. You know what's also awesome? We get to go through the volcano again. Other games would give us a courtesy warp or something, but not here. The designers wanted to throw in a bit of last-ditch padding. So after going down yet again and running from enemies of every color in the crayon box to conserve HP and MP, we confront Homncruse yet again, this time fully prepared.





The Light Orb turns him red and makes him vulnerable to our attacks. We take him down with Bolt Break and other melee attacks (again, to save MP).



Homncruse: I was defeated by the last Aqutallions because of it. But I'm not afraid of it any longer. I get new power owing to Rimstera...

What the hell is Rimstera?! It's almost the end of the game and still no one has explained what it is. OK, fuck it, I'll just say it's the generic "evil power" to conflict with the heroes' "good power".

Homncruse: This time, a final battle!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...kvO92-tyI#t=26s



Homncruse transforms into his inexplicable giant demon/dragon/god form and has some pretty awesome music to go along with it. We go with the usual strategy of buffing on the first turn and-





He immediately erases it all. OK, screw buffing then. It's all out attack. Ray hits him with the always-critting Metal Sword, Tina heals and uses Freeze 3, Cody and Leona Bolt Break, and Dan Bomb 3's and Regains when necessary. Homncruse himself has all the most powerful attacks and magic in the game and he puts up a fight. Some of our guys go down once or twice but thankfully I remembered to go back and buy some Restores. Homncruse is toast and victory is ours.





The perfect response to being beaten by your mortal enemies upon attaining godhood.

Homncruse: Aqutallion...I will be reborn...I...born into...darkness...hate...humans! I...will hate...you...who...brought me...back to life...forever!



Parakless appears.

Parakless: Come back to me...to me...

Homncruse: Parakless! ...You I hate you too! Uh...wooow!





The volcano blows and we hightail it out of there via the UFO.



Bosen: Tina...Cody...Leona...Dan...thank you...farewell!

No parting speech or anything.



The UFO beams the town back to where it belongs.



Uncle Save: I couldn't imagine what could have happened to us.

Kid: ...Where is Ray and his friends?

Robo: S-still i-in-s-side t-the u-uf-fo-o.

Dynamite: ...Maybe those guys are going back to the future.

Great scott!

Kid: ...What!?

Morgan: We destroyed Homncruse anyway...so...

Baz: They can't taste my Plum-Plum crops that I planted?

Uncle Save: ...Kid, we finally got a new home.

Oh, so I get it now. "Kid" actually is the kid's name.

Uncle Save: But, their real home is somewhere in another world. I bet everyone wants to return to his or her true home. They are our one and only friends. You shouldn't ask for impossible...

Kid: .......(way too many dots) OK...

Uncle Save: ...But, I believe that they are coming back here again, someday. ...Why don't we wait until then.

What kind of lesson is that? I thought THIS was our true home. You know, where we grew up and met all our friends. Well anyway, looks like we have to go off to the future for whatever reason.



Ray's father: You've fought enough. You are from the future...you will soon greet the future. Come here Ray...Ray...







Oh, I guess we don't have to leave after all.

The credits roll...





Uncle Save: Well, I've told of a rare adventure...

Excuse me, but I ordered it medium-rare.

Uncle Save: But that's OK. I wonder what kind of adventure awaits...



The UFO just flies to infinity. This is the very last screen in the game.

Well, there you have it. Despite all its faults, inconsistencies, nonsensicalities, and such forth, Tecmo's Secret of the Stars is at least enjoyable and coherent enough to be worth one playthrough. This game could have done a lot better had it been released on the NES. Or at least not right next to freaking Final Fantasy 3 and Chrono Trigger. Also, Breath of Fire 2 totally did that "heroes return home to their floating town after the villain spouts his generic hate darkness etc. speech" scene so much better. If you feel up to it, give Secret of the Stars a go. Thanks to everyone for reading.