Shadow Hearts: Covenant Part #149 - Episode CXLIII: Suddenly Susano-O

Part 149: Episode CXLIII: Suddenly Susano-O

Episode CXLIII: Suddenly Susano-O

We have come this far. We may as well finish the fight. Ahead is Takamagahara -- the Plains of High Heaven where the Shinto gods chill out. This freaky dragon bridge is Amanoukihashi or the Floating Bridge of Heaven which connects the mortal realm to the gods' doorstep. There is no prep work necessary before we go forth. Everyone is equipped with their best weapons, armor, unique accessories, and a Crucifix for good measure against a final boss encounter we could have taken without touching any of the end game content. We're good to go!

But don't tell Kato that... He's trying his best as the final challenge of the game. He took extra care to make sure he was standing at preciously the right spot to have his cape billow in the wind to distant lightning strikes for maximum effect to impress Yuri and the gang when they arrive.

Can you see it? The other side of Time?

Yeah.

...Well, no. There's that big thunderstorm blocking the view. But, I'm sure it's a hell of a sight to see.

Well, then!

That's it? We're just going to go at it?
Enough words have been spoken. Let's decide this!
No, that's cool. I'm fine with it. I'm good with rambling last boss gloom and doom speeches for a lifetime.

Let's go!

Once more, the Kato intensifies. Unleashing his power demands intense stores of energy warping the very essence of time and space, lowering the resolution and bitrate in the process drawing from the technologies of the far future of 2004 movie file compression.

A great stream of energy rockets down from the heavens and surrounds Kato with three powerful allies to his cause. Such fearsome foes as...

A Jpeg of Hien doing his best Jojo's Bizarre Adventure character pose.

A vacant Y-posing Jpeg of Raiden from the model viewer.

And most importantly, from the archives of Kato's own personal spank bank -- a low-res concept art of Ouka.

Why didn't he just have the remaining Mutant Apes fight with him if he was just going to summon their souls back in the next room?
I dunno. I've stopped trying to figure out boss transformations.
Bah. This rain is making my glasses fog up.

With their powers combined, they are the sword, shield, and uhh... bling of...

Susano-O! I am going to be perfectly honest... Battling an enemy that looks like a mid-game boss fight out of Nioh or a Ninja Gaiden game in the middle of a barren, stormy field is a little bit of a final encounter downgrade from tangoing with an eldritch abomination from another galaxy atop a magical glyph in space floating over the planet that we had to get to going through an ancient aliens flying castle. Especially, when the stakes with Meta-God were will annihilate the entire planet versus... will send a swole Japanese guy with a big chin back in time to do incredibly vague time fuckery. Doubly so when we don't know the rules of time travel in this universe since it's literally never been a thing until now. We can't even get resurrection right and that seems less advanced than time travel.

NEW Music: The Three Karma ~ Decisive Battle (It's the final battle theme. You should probably listen to it!)

The Mutant Apes are indeed joining the transformed Kato in this battle. Sort of... Each is its own entity. Hien has become the Kusanagi Sword a Non-Elemental class enemy with 1590 HP. I'll just save us some time and say all four enemies are Non-Elemental class. The Kusanagi is one of the Three Sacred Treasures of Imperial Japan. I'm not getting into the etymology of these. They are a ton of Japanese-related media. It's a rad mythological sword. Go play Ōkami or something. Just because it's a really good game. A rundown of Japanese mythology is just a nice bonus.

Ouka has been transmogrified into the Yasakani Gem with 1250 HP. The Yasakani no Magatama is where that hook-shaped gem that appears all over in Japanese business (like Yuri's Malice build-up detecting necklace.)

Meanwhile, Raiden has become the Yata Mirror. Which doesn't seem the most fitting form for a big bruiser like that guy. But what do I know? The Yata Mirror also has 1250 HP.

Finally, Kato has become Susano-O the Japanese god of storms. He boasts the highest HP of any enemy in the game at an even 10,000 HP -- the only baddie to make it to five digits of health. Impressive glow-up, Kato. I find it a little bit disappointing that the game never lets us fight any of the major human villains in, you, a human form before they get an upgrade into a monster mash. That massive chin of Kato's goes unpunched. It's nearly criminal.

Now to the actual mechanics of the fight!

The Yasakani Gem only has one offensive spell in Fearsome Thunder which hits a single character for exactly 100 HP of damage. Technically, it hits them for 1 HP of damage 100 times. But who's counting? The transformed Ouka's true role is the healer support unit and debuffer. Namely, it has the spells Supreme Divinity which heals all enemies for around a quarter of their maximum HP. It can also cast Profound Purity to negate our party's suite of buffs applied and that sucks. I like having those buffs. They make us punch better.

Needless to say, we want to smash this thing ASAP and can easily do so in an opening Combo laser targeted against it. Sorry, Kato. Your girlfriend has to die a third time. That's rough, buddy.

The Yata Mirror also only has only one offensive ability in Frenzied Surge which hits the entire party for moderate but none too impressive damage.

Its real role is as the designated enemy party buffer. It has Spirit Grace/Aegis which bolsters Special Attack/Defense power respectively. Ecstatic Grace/Aegis does the same for Physical Attack Power. And Tempest Grace/Aegis which increases Action Speed and Evasion Speed depending on the flavor.

The Yata Mirror should be our second priority in crushing in this fight. Enemy buffs are not great, to a 30% difference in either direction is not earth-shattering.

As for the Kusanagi Sword? Umm... it just flies over and takes swings at a single target. That's it. No special jazz. No magic attacks. It's a sword. It does what a sword does. What more do you want out of a flying giant sword? Hien was not a complicated man. He had giant blades coming out of his elbows. As such, the Kusanagi Sword can be ignored for last.

Finally, Susano-O is 100% on the offensive. It has the [Silver/Azure/Black/Ancient/Infernal/Twilight] Howl series of attacks. One for each element that is appropriately colored. It basically just coughs up a flaming elemental fireball. It's kind of gross, honestly. I would think Kato would have more honorable manners in matters of combat. The Howl attacks are a very small AOE attack and hit for the 250 HP ballpark of damage. Tack on an extra 100 HP to that value if it hits the elemental weakness of the target.

Susano-O should be our final target after we defeat his minions. He can't get cheeky and resurrect them or anything. Once one of the Mutant Apes Sacred Treasures is done they're done for good. However, technically... Susano-O is the top priority target because it's the only one that actually matters. If you completely ignore Kato's support staff and defeat Susano-O, the battle is over. We don't actually have to kill the lesser bosses.

But... we do want to take the three Sacred Treasures out fairly quickly and not let them linger on the battlefield due to the big gimmick of the fight. After everyone gets two turns...

Everyone on the enemy side will combine with Susano-O to begin a Combo attack against our party. The Kusanagi Sword, Yata Mirror, and Yasanaki Gem can no longer be targeted. Susan-O only remains. This does not actually buff Susan-O in any way as far as its speed or damage taken is concerned. But it IS fixing to push our shit in on its next turn. Especially, if we were negligent enough to let all three Sacred Treasures remain in play.

The Kusanagi Sword gets a real attack in Extinguishing Blade which hits the entire party for around 100-120 HP of damage. The other two will both unleash their offensive magic skills in turn immediately after that. And since this is a Combo, even if they're all one entity and that seems like cheating, they are racking up bonus damage for this.

After the Sacred Treasure gets their licks in, Susano-O will unleash its ultimate attack, Final Revelation. This just rains a devastating flurry of fireballs down upon the party. Hey! That's Vegeta's move! And for once it will actually completely fuck up someone's day instead of the smoke clearing and they're completely fine like every other instance in history.

After Final Revelation, the Sacred Treasure Mutant Apes will disengage from their master and the battle returns to normal. In all, letting all four bosses get to participate in the team-up Combo with Susano-O did 600+ HP of damage to the entire party. Except for Karin, who got sent to the Shadow Realm with over 1000 HP of damage since she got hit with Yasakani Gem's Fearsome Thunder. Remember how I said it technically hit for 1 HP but 100 times? Yeah, stick that in the middle of a Combo and that caused a +484 HP damage boost on top of the base damage. I can't believe Karin Koenig is fucking DEAD!

That's about it for the final boss of Shadow Hearts: Covenant. One final note, you know those Fifth and Seventh Keys you've likely been hoarding for a rainy day? I'm just saying, there might never be a better day to use 'em.

The game at least has some class and just fades to white without a victory celebration or Level Up screen. That'd be rather disrespectful putting down Kato like that and then having Karin remark to stop looking at her tits or Joachim talking about the next week's episode of his fake anime series.

Music: ICARO Piano Arrangement ~ Main Theme

Kato... is having a rough day...

Dang. We bopped him so hard his cape is embedded into the ground.
Seriously.
C'mon, guys. Not now...

Yuri bends over and lifts the dying Kato up.

Kato...

Ugh... It's good... that it ended... this way...

Soon Takamagahara and the vessel will disappear within the time warp.

......

Once you've set foot here, you can't return to the present.

<looks around> Yeah. It looks that way.

I don't even remember which direction we came from... There's a point of no return and then there's this.

You must pray...

Huh?

Pray... as hard as you can... for the world... the world you want.

The world I want?

Yes... The best... one... you can... imagine...

Is... that... that's really vague, Kato. How were you going to do this if we didn't stop you...?
I... do not... really know... how... this works... I... was... driven by grief... and was... really winging... it... Why... did you think... I was... still here... waiting... for months...?
Frick... That makes a lot of sense now.

Uuugh...

Kato closes his eyes.

H-Hey!

Then... you can... return...

P-Probably... I pray... that you... do...

Kato.

Thank you... my friend...

And so Kato passes away. Hopefully, he'll find Yoshiko Kawashima in the afterlife. And the sexed-up clone he made of her. And have a very awkward-ass afterlife conversation as to what the fuck, guy.

......

Kato gets the dignified evaporating into sparkles upon death that Albert Simon got. Given Yuri's history, this means it'll be around two to three months before his ghost ends up chilling on some couch in Yuri's soul.

Yuri!

So umm... that's sad and all... But did he mention... umm...
How the heck we get out of here?
Leaving seems smart and that's coming from me.
Indeed.
Mhm.
Awroo. Awroo... (I could hear them. We're screwed...)