Part 122: Episode CXVI: Boss Baby

Episode CXVI: Boss Baby




Music: Glint of Light ~ Mid Boss in Europe



We're jumping right into it with the boss of the Queen's Garden -- King Tamakos. Tama being the Japanese word for sphere/orb and koss being a mistranslation of chaos. This enemy appears in every game in the series, including Koudelka. And it has had its name mistranslated in every game except Shadow Hearts 1. You know, the one with by far the worst localization. Don't ask me. Localization seems hard. This ball of flesh with a ghoulish baby sprouting out of it alongside muscular arms and... winged babies with flapping wings sticking their ass out of the lump... is a Wind elemental enemy with 6450 HP.







This thing actually packs quite a punch. Its Bent Space attack hits for 300+ HP and that can outright kill any of our party if they get targeted twice in a row. It also has a handful of Wind elemental magic attacks which are much less devastating but are of the AOE variety.



It can also use Gale to increase its speed and the only counter to that is to use Gale ourselves because trying to negate it will just trigger the AI immediately casting it again in a free turn because bosses like to cheat like that on occasion.





This is also the first boss fight since sometime late Disc 1 where worrying about SP was an issue as its physical attack string can cause SP lowering which reduces a targeted ally's SP by ten. This isn't a huge issue for Joachim or Yuri as they have high SP levels. Karin and Blanca only have 18 and 19 SP respectively and that's dangerously low to have a ten-point hit to sanity



Our attack method is the usual kit. The rudest thing about King Tamakos is the player needs to rally and finish it quickly (read: around 25% remaining health.) Otherwise, it will employ Spirit Ward.



Which just deletes one of our characters from the battlefield. In this case, Yuri was sent to the Shadow Realm. They're not dead. They're just removed from the battle for the remainder of the fight. There is no way to counter this if it is cast and there is no way to bring that character back. They're just plain gone.





But thankfully, the rest of the party didn't have too much issue in taking down the nightmare baby guarding the Moon Crystal. Queen Elisabeth, I feel like there are some questions for why you have a Moon Crystal and a flesh blob baby in your secret villa. But I suppose those secrets of the royal family died with her...


Music: Result ~ Victory





As has been usual with late-game bosses, we get quite the payout to our EXP and Cash flow. Even though Yuri was deleted from the fight he still receives full battle benefits. So that's nice. Nothing is worse than a boss that can eject party members and the game just negates them from the proceedings. Final Fantasy is bad about that. Stupid ass giant worms...



King Tamakos also dropped another of Lucia's tarot cards. As it mentions, this provides double attack power. The Reverse card doubles the enemy's attack power. Likewise, the Special Effect version is quadruple power in whatever direction it favors. I continue to favor not using Lucia.


Music: Spiritualization ~ Holy Land of God



Well, looks like we managed to take care of it. ...Okay, Yuri. You're up.
...Yeah.
I could get it.
I... don't think that's such a good idea. I got it.
Why not?
<glances down> You ever considered wearing shorts...?
No? Why...?
Uh no reason...
I don't see a problem.







The queen didn't horde the crystals for any nefarious reason. British Empire just going to pillage regardless.



We got what we came for. Now, all we have to do is get back to Roger.
......





Do you have the Moon Crystal?
What does this look like?
Ooh! Great!
We had to fight a flesh ball baby to get it. It's probably weird that isn't the first time I've had to do that, eh?
For you? Not particularly.
Let's get back to my place right away!



Huh? Not again!
What is it?
<groggily stumbles forward> Unh... uughhh...



And so Yuri falls to his knees and passes out. It's been a while since we've addressed the whole cursed Yuri thing or seen Jeanne. In fact, I don't think we've done that in Disc 2. Jeanne's haunting must be localized to the greater European continent.


Music: Holy Mistletoe ~ Graveyard



Yo!
Still a ghost in my head, huh?
Yep. Check it out!
<walks through the door behind her> This way!
Hey! Jeanne!

Yuri falls Jeanne through the door to yet another gate.



What is it? Where are we going?
This whole place kind of looks all the same.
<examines the door> I hear something in there. What could it be...?
<gasp> This door...?!

The door opens for Jeanne.



Jeanne runs through the door. It slams shut behind her.



Hey! Jeanne!! Hey!! Wait a minute!! Jeanne!!
Well... That's probably nothing to worry about. Probably...
......
...Probably.



There's no way to follow Jeanne and nothing else in the Graveyard has changed. So our only recourse is to just leave the gates out of Yuri's mind.


Music: Spiritualization ~ Holy Land of God



Yuri pulls himself to his feet and looks around.





Don't worry. We'll discover that soon enough. But for now, our time in the Queen's Garden has come to a close, and with this the chapter. We may have more business here later. Something perhaps involving a bonus boss. But that is a journey for another day. We're going to be railroaded straight to the endgame going forward. So strap in as we reach the upper reaches of the bad idea zone rollercoaster of Shadow Hearts 2.





While the main focus of this chapter was brisk we did encounter a number of beasties along the way. Let's take a look.

Monster:



I'd be a little pissed if I got embedded in a wall too.



You wouldn't think an abomination of flesh with a scorpion tail and gnashing teeth all over would usually be chill. But you'd be wrong.



Nobody inhabits the Sea of Death except for this creature that inhabits the Sea of Death.



Same.



I care not for hunky boooooooys!

......

...Or do I?



You couldn't just let something be cute, could you, Shadow Hearts?

Character:



We must have an eccentric vampire as a party member. Forget even having a core protagonist to last the series. Weird vampires are the key to success.





King Tamakos Concept Art - I wish it looked less a nightmare and more like this dingus.



Moon Crystal Statue Concept Art - Fighting evil by moonlight.