Part 26: Update 15

Update 15

Hahaha... what's an update schedule? Hopefully I get this update posted before we hit the 3 week mark ^^'' Anyway, we were on our way to the tombs to go find stuff about our past lives. Onward!









We came because we have an interest in foreign cultures. Might we be able to see inside?



C'mon man, don' be so stingy! And quit it with the funny talkin'.





Oh, is that right? Man, what's with these gate keepers? Even with such cute girls asking to see inside, they won't listen.







Oh look, it's convenient plot device!



Hey, what's goin' on?







Why don't you exterminate them?





HMM. Wouldn't it be great if our heroes were, I dunno, capable of doing this for them?

I wonder... if we were to exterminate the Armaboars for you, will you allow us inside?



Smackdown.



You should be more honest in asking people for help. Are we in agreement then?

Serena, I do wish you would avoid diving headlong into danger. You sure don't make my job any easier...

I like hard workers. So, Ricardo, I expect you will remain diligent in your duties.

All right, let's wipe these monsters out!

Yeah! Spada, with you around, I know we can beat any monster, hands down!

Heh, you got that right! I just hope it won't be too easy.

All right! We're counting on you, leave it to Lord Spada!

Hahahahaha! Please, you're too kind!



Now we gotta go find some dude, I guess.





We intend to take on the Armaboar extermination. We were told to see you about it.



Yes. We ask no reward, I do wonder, however, if we might be allowed inside the tombs.





Don't go jumpin' to conclusions, we ain't lookin' to do any grave robbin'.



Oh... Well...



Okay Luca. Okay.

Lu', ya got a pretty creepy hobby there...



Oh... thank you very much.





So just take 'em all out, right?

We'll take care of it!

Anyway, let's go murder some animals in order to advance the plot! I'll spare you the details, but rest assured, we murdered these animals good. The best part is, every once in a while, you're party members offer words of encouragement. Moral support!





Thanks Luca!





Thanks Ricardo. Honestly, they're just on the main map-- this isn't that hard to do.



Anyway, we murdered some pigs.

We've killed enough Armaboars now, right?

I regret that it had to come to this.



Chitose said it began when Devaloka collapsed. That's when the world began to fall into decline.

Oh, so now this is about Chitose?

Huh?

Shut up! You know what I mean!

Man, how bout we head back? We gotta report to that old guy.

L-let's do that.

---

Old man! We took out those Armaboars for you.



Then, about Luca's hobby...



Luca, you must be thrilled.

Come on, don't be like that...

Pay me no mind. Mister Jirocho praised you for having such a wonderful hobby, did he not?

You don't really think I have such a hobby...

Luca, sometimes lies are the only things that can protect us from the truth.

(Wait... what part does she think is the truth? Did she just dodge the question...?)

Time to get on with the plot.





Thank you.









Yes, Luca is quite right. Even in death, they want to remind people of how powerful they were.



Then we should be able to find some sort of altar in here.

Indeed. And a memory circle too.

This place makin' anyone else feel a little tense?

We came down a large staircase at the entrance. We're most likely standing well below sea level here.

Man, now I'm really feelin' the pressure...

Time for another miserable dungeoning experience! Video below (again, in beautiful 720p and the crispest pixels you can buy) sped up of this super fun dungeon.

If you hate videos, screenshots are below the video. FYI, for this video, I've set it to 4x the speed (similar to what I did for the Regnum Caverns video), but kept the original audio sped up. In the last video, I replaced all the audio with a song from the Innocence OST, and I think that keeping the sped up audio gives it less of a sense of flatness. That's my opinion anyway, I'd love feedback on which way you guys prefer! Also-- even at 4x speed, it's still 4 minutes of dungeoning. Is 4x speed a good speed? Do you guys want the dungeon videos to be faster in the future? Please, let me know what you think!

Anyway, if you wanted a giant fucking maze, you've won! Congrats, this dungeon is a giant fucking maze! Woohoo! It's miserable!

Ashihara Tombs Dungeon Crawl!

As you can see, it's a giant awful miserable maze where everything looks the same and nothing matters.

Screenshots.























Anyway, towards the right and down a long corridor is the next cutscene.





It's a mural, right? This is the same Devic script that was on the altar on the cavern.

It appears to be quite old. Let's see...



“Lamenting his endless isolation, he formed the world from his body and birthed the gods. And so, all things came to be.”



“And so, humans were cast down. The world so divided, heaven and earth, an eternity did pass.”

Uh... Ange? Can you explain all that?

Simply stated, Devaloka came into being by the death of the Primeval Giant.

Primeval Giant?

Yes, the Primeval Giant.

Metal gear!?

The god of creation. In the beginning, there was no world, just the Giant, alone. The Giant was so lonely, he created the land from his body and the gods from his head. And while the land prospered, the number of evil gods grew. So the gods created Naraka and imprisoned the evil gods there.

That's earth, for anyone still confused.

Those gods that were cast down and lost their powers were called humans. All of this happened ages ago.



We only know because we have memories of our past lives.

Wait, doesn't that mean that Avatars are just like everyone else?

No, that's incorrect. Reincarnation was only meant to occur on Devaloka. Our souls should never have been reborn in human bodies...

Is that right?

The role of the reapers was to take souls from Naraka to Devaloka to be used as its foundation. No Deva's souls should exist on Naraka.

But they do exist. We're living proof of that!

I don't understand how things could have become like this...

Ricardo's wondering who fucked up his job so badly.

So yer' sayin' not everybody's got a past life?

That's correct. If anything, we're the exception to the rule.



Going back to the original topic... If our ancestors were former gods, why was that story never passed down?

Because the Church decided to conceal it. I am sure you can imagine why. If believers knew they were of divine lineage, they would have little reason to pray to the gods in Devaloka.



So they just twisted the truth? It really okay to do somethin' like that?

It might have been mentioned before in the thread but rule number 1 of a Tales game: The Church is NEVER good.

We are talking about the distant past. Without something to believe in, humans grow arrogant. It had to be done. Of course, after The Fall, even that belief began to dwindle.

…..





(No matter what it took, I had to do it...)

And we have gameplay again! You guys still there after all that exposition?







Me and Inanna?



!!







That's it!!

Hey, Lu? Somethin' up?

It's the Overlord... the Overlord...



Lu'?

Oh, it's nothing. Sorry to make you worry, Her'. (So that is what Chitose was talking about...)

Anyway, we need to look around for this memory circle because it isn't in plain sight, what a drag!





Oh, nevermind. It was in plain sight the whole time.



(I'm about to remember something... Something I don't think I want to remember...)

….? Iria!





Inanna?

If you don't... I...

I finally got a portrait for Inanna! Woo.

What's wrong? You look pale.

I'm happy with how things are now. I want us to be together, just as we always have been.







What? That's it?

I couldn't agree more. What a waste of time.

Indeed, that really taught us very little.

You've gotta, you know, be more forceful, Asura!

Indeed, I couldn't agree more. What a waste of time.

…

Hey, Luca, Iria, you guys remember anything?

No... I was just talking to Iria, I mean Inanna about something. I guess...

I feel like if I remember, it's all over... my head hurts...

Iria...!





The Overlord?

So the Overlord used the Manifest?

That would appear to be what is depicted.

The Overlord... Chitose said that Mathias is the Overlord...



Mathias?! It was her fault!?! Arrggg!

Oh my. Are you alright?

I'm fine...

Us Avatars have to suffer like this because of the Fall.. because of what Mathias did...







Okay, I had forgotten about this dramatic pan-up and burst out laughing when it happens.




Anyway, time to leave! And we have to walk all the way back to the beginning of the dungeon! Oh boy!!!!!





Chitose...

Hey look, it's her. Again. SPOILER ALERT, this conversation goes into a boss battle. I'm going to record the before battle audio to give you guys a chance to hear the character's being voiced, which I think is always nice to hear. So without further ado, and including the before-battle dialogue, here is the

Chitose Fight

I'm a bit overleveled, and let me tell you, this fight is still fucking annoying. I'm playing on Mania (the hardest difficulty) and even overleveled, once Chitose gets behind you and pulls her full combo off, you're dead.

You notice I changed Spada's weapon to a worse one a bit into the video-- this is to make him do less damage but still fill the tension gauge up, because I wanted to do Spada's mystic arte, but not kill her with it-- getting her low enough to use her own Mystic Arte, Mortal Shadow.

Which, if you notice, OHKO's Spada. Yeah, that move is kind of bullshit. In fact, in one of my previous recordings (I did this fight a bunch of times to get it go the way I wanted it), she spammed Mortal shadow SEVEN TIMES in a row, and killed my entire party. Yeah. I can upload that video if anyone cares, I thought it was hilarious.

Chitose is beatable if you lock her down with combos. Ange's basic attacks hit a bunch of times, so the full combo I use with her is like 25 hits alone, combined with Spada's basic attacks, into Sword Rain, into Sword Rain Alpha, you can lock her down fairly well, all things considered.

As always, if you hate videos, screenshots of the before battle dialogue and the fight itself are below. Enjoy!


You maniac stalker! What hole did you crawl out of?!

Iria, your tone.

My, what a pleasure to see you out of your hole. What do you want?

Lord Asura, you are essential to Lady Mathias.



Are you just pretending not to know? It was the Overlord who used the Manifest to destroy Devaloka!



No...

Your beloved homeland sinking... all of these wars... Everything started with the collapse of Devaloka!



No! You're wrong, Lord Asura... You obviously still don't remember everything that happened. You must have misunderstood. I remember. The Fall was entirely...



!!

!!



You gotta be kiddin' me! Hey Iria, say somethin'!

…...

H-hey, are you gonna let her get away with that?!



I'm not the same as I once was! I have been reborn... I will not allow you to steal Lord Asura from me a second time!



Why do you protect her? That girl will just betray you again in the end! Do you intend to relive the pain?

Iria brought me out of isolation. She needs me. So I'm going to protect her! She might not need my protection, but I won't betray the trust she put in me!



All along, I was pushing away the people who cared about me.



How stubborn!!






































Anyway, we've beaten the shit out of Luca's crazy stalker. Seems like a good time to stop before I'm attacked by more plot! Thanks for tuning in, make sure to check out the Update 15 Skits , and see you next time!