Part 57: Neameeto. part 2

Neameeto. part 2

Now then, where were we?

Ah, yes. We'd just killed a giant grub. Time to move onward and upward!












The path so far has been, for the most part, linear, but now we get to the interesting section...




The warp maze!

I think there must be a space warp here...



What does that mean?

Well, it means a distortion in the spatial continuum links this place directly to somewhere else.

Oh, well, that explains everything.

Can we go back?

I think so. We can probably go back from the same place where we arrived. The tricky part is that you can't actually see with your eyes where the space warp is.

Ha! So it's like a maze.


Okay, I've marked warp spots on the screen shots. The arrow indicates which side of the warp spot you're forced to when you teleport there. The warps work in pairs to bounce you back and forth. If you know where you're going, you can pick up all the chests scattered around and get to the exit with a minimum of back-tracking. There are also three new monsters wandering around: Black Widow, Red Cap, and Cockatrice (Cockatrice can only be harmed by Special Attacks).


Okay, from the first warp, we follow the stairs down.


We emerge back into the first room. You can see two chests from here, but we can't reach them yet. The only thing to do is go through warp B.


This one lets out on a staircase, and there's another chest we can't reach. From here, we take warp C.


More stairs. We follow them up and to the right.


This leads to a new room. Eventually, we want to get to point G so we can go up the stairs and get out. From here, we can hop through D, grab the Heretic's coat from the chest, and hop back through D to return to this room.


From warp D, we go down one set of stairs and follow the lower curving path to get to warp E.


This brings us past the first warp point. We open the chest, then follow the path to the left.


This path is clear of warps, so we continue to the next room.


We're back in the room with the Heretic's Coat. The A point is the only one way warp; it will bring you back to the beginning of the maze. We don't want to do that, so we grab Blodauth and take warp F.


Now we can grab the last chest and take warp G to the exit of the maze.


Whew, I'm glad that's over!


Spoke too soon.


Our third boss fight, and we haven't even reached Albert. This one is called Scapegoat. This a pretty standard fight. Scapegoat uses Deathtouch and Wind Fang. He can cause Instant Death, but everyone has Crucifixes, so no worries about that.


For a change, I have Yuri use Lobo and cast Charge to up everyone's defense. I also have Keith cast Earth Edge on Yuri since Scapegoat's element is Wind.


Scapegoat go boom.




This is the last chance to reform the party, stock up at Roger's house, and save.


I make sure everyone is healed up and wearing Will Powers, save, and move on. Let's do this.


I'd like to note that most of the monster descriptions call this place "the Castle of Deranged Gods".



Hyahah...I'm impressed! That you of all men were the last to remain standing in my way. Perhaps this was our destiny, even at that moment we met on the train.

Well, considering that Yuri and his group have pretty much been the only people standing in Albert's way...



Couldn't say, really.



I will create a new world, perfected to God's will. A pure world, without deceit of defilement.

Would such a world... be any fun?

Of course it'll be fun! It will be a wondrous place. I really wanted to show it to all of you.


This brings up one of my favorite things about both this game and its sequel. Things are rarely black and white. Villains like Albert (and to a lesser extent, even Dehuai) have fairly good motives at heart. Although they may do reprehensible things to achieve their goals, in their eyes the end justifies the means. Albert is trying to prevent what he sees as a great tragedy, and so, to him, the lesser tragedies he has caused are necessary. Of course, from the point of view of the player, his methods DO NOT justify the result, and Yuri firmly believes that no matter what may happen, mankind can overcome it and survive, even thrive, by relying on each other and their own inner strength.

...I see. In that case, fine. Let's promise then. No matter who wins, no hard feelings, eh?

Leave the surviving world to the mercy of fate? Fine. I promise you. There need only be one fight that determines the course of the planet.

Heheh, now there's my Albert! Glad we agree on something. Then let's get started! We bet our entire future on this fight!

That's what I was waiting to hear!! Let us commence the final battle!!


Time to kick Albert's ass. Again.


A gentleman to the very end.


What the hell?!
Albert doesn't waste any time in this fight. He immediately uses the power of Neameeto to transform into a monster called Messiah. He still has his Holy Chest attack, as well as !!!.


I used Amon for this fight. I also had Keith cast Earth Edge on him because Messiah is Wind-based, just like the last boss. While the boys pounded on the boss, Alice was on healing duty. When she didn't have anyone to heal, I had her use her own attack spells, like Advent.


Messiah also has an annoying spell called Grace. Annoying because it restores 999 health to him.


Luckily, I've never had him use it more than once in any fight, so it just means it only takes one or two rounds longer to bring him down.




Tiiim-beeeerrr!!!



And don't forget when I kicked your ass and stole Amon from you, too.

Shut up, boy. I'm having a moment here.

Yuri...

You've...All of you have chosen your fate... The coming wintry age will be a harsh one. The beginning of the hell that humans have chosen... But, none of this will come true... Unless you defeat the God that is arriving soon...

But it should be fine. With people as strong as you, humans may yet be able to overcome their mistakes. If you really think you can arise victorious, then take my blessing, too. May my soul assist you...

Albert...

Let me take you to God's Throne... with the last drop of my power...








Albert go boom.


After Albert reaches critical sparkle mass, everyone finds themselves standing on the giant seal floating above Earth.


No one ever listens to me.





Yuri: This really is the end of the earth...


While they're admiring the view, everything suddenly starts shaking.

Margarete: Hey, what's going on?!

Halley: Could that be...?!



Zhuzhen: So it would seem!


We've got company.






"God" is a show-off and does a low-altitude buzz of the group.

Yuri: Yeah!! Now things are gettin' interesting!




God is ugly.


Now we get to fight Meta-God. He's got a lot of nasty tricks up his sleeve. His signature spell, Time of Judgment, damages the entire party for 200+ HP, and it also takes away 100MP from everyone. He also has various "Abyss" spells, like Scarlet Abyss, Black Abyss, Yellow Abyss, etc. These spells do elemental-based damage according to their color. And you may as well not bother to do any buffing spells on your party, like Gospel, because the second you do, Meta-God will use Light of Deprivation and remove all the effects.


It take a god to fight a god, so I fuse Yuri into Seraphic Radiance. I've also got my own tricks, like combing a Silver Hand (makes the entire Ring a Hit Area) with a Seventh Key to ensure 21 hits in one turn. If you save your Star Swallows, you can also use them in the combo to make that 21 Critical Hits in a row.


As a testament to how tough this guy is, he absorbs the damage from two Seventh Keys, a Fifth Key, and several high-level spells before he goes down.


Meta-God go boom. (And our party transports away to safety.)


Next time on Shadow Hearts: All's well that ends well


Videos on Viddler
Scapegoat Fight
Messiah Fight
Meta-God Fight


NPC Scorecard