Part 142: The Necropolis of Nostalgia, Part 2

Continuing where we left of.





This is the third stratum, "Hedgemony".



Floor C-1 / Enemies
Floor C-2 / Enemies
Floor C-3 / Enemies



Not 100% sure if this is actually the first instance, but the game starts putting unique chests that are immune to everything except one element on the map.



If you don't figure them out quickly enough, you'll have to fight another round of enemies!



The correct answer here is Light-elemental attacks.


Critical Hitter: When using Form Change, the probability of entering Critical Form drastically increases.

Floor C-4 / Enemies



And this one only takes damage from Darkness!









Aerial Hyper Ability Plus: Follow an arcane arte with a second arcane arte once in a midair combo.
Hyper Aerial Tension: Enter Over Limit Lv. 2 with a 24 hit aerial combo. Duration of the Over Limit only lasts half the normal time.


Floor C-5 / Enemies - Copy of C-1.



Hm hm hm...

Floor C-6 / Enemies
Floor C-7 / Enemies





Floor C-8 / Enemies - Copy of C-1.



This place is way too big.

Floor C-9 / Enemies





Dum dee dum...


Multi Item: One-use items such as gels and bottles will affect all members. However, the effect of TP and HP recovery items will be halved.
Item Pro 2: Allows movement immediately after using an item.

Floor C-10 / Enemies - Copy of C-6.




Third boss, not one of the interesting two.



In fact, it's just a recolor of the first one with another random fancy mythological name, "Izanami". Great.









Sigh.



This is the fourth stratum, "Fauna".

Floor D-1 / Enemies



If I didn't tell you this was the fourth stratum I don't think you'd even be able to tell.

Floor D-2 / Enemies



More unique chests.





Floor D-3 / Enemies






Floor D-4 / Enemies





Floor D-5 / Enemies


Healing Arrow: When landing a hit with an arrow, recover own HP.
Healing Arrow 2: When landing a hit with an arrow, recover own TP.

Floor D-6 / Enemies - Copy of D-2.
Floor D-7 / Enemies - Copy of D-3.
Floor D-8 / Enemies


Teamwork: After using a Mystic Arte, all party members will gain super armor for 10 seconds.
Shine: Occasionally stuns an enemy during Over Limit.

Floor D-9 / Enemies - Copy of D-4.
Floor D-10 / Enemies




High Magic Tension: Enter Over Limit Lv. 1 with a 48 hit magic combo. Duration of the Over Limit only lasts half the normal time.
Hyper Magic Tension: Enter Over Limit Lv. 2 with a 96 hit magic combo. Duration of the Over Limit only lasts half the normal time.




The boss is, surprise, another recolor of the first boss here! "Odin" this time.





Not too interesting except he has this cool attack:







But that's about it. Moving on.



This is the fifth stratum, "Fatality".

Floor E-1 / Enemies







Floor E-2 / Enemies



So you'd expect there to be something in one of those treasure rooms, right? Haha, got ya! Fuck whoever designed this.

Floor E-3 / Enemies





Oh. Oh wow. That's beautiful.

Floor E-4 / Enemies


Resurrect Cast: Healing artes require no casting time for a short period after reviving from a K.O.

Floor E-5 / Enemies - Copy of E-1.
Floor E-6 / Enemies - Copy of E-2.
Floor E-7 / Enemies


Critical Hold: All attacks inflict critical damage during Over Limit.

Floor E-8 / Enemies - Copy of E-3.
Floor E-9 / Enemies - Copy of E-1.
Floor E-10 / Enemies



Well this looks like a fun floor.



By the way, on floors where you can get to four-way sections it's surprisingly easy to lose track of where you are on the map, especially if you're doing something else while half paying attention to the game.


Limits Team 3: When entering OVL Lv. 3, all nearby allies will also enter Lv. 3. However, the duration of OVL is half the normal time.
Perfect Combo Tension: Enter Over Limit Lv. 4 with a 96-hit combo. Duration of the Over Limit only lasts half the normal time


Anyway, another boss! Let's see if...



Nope. Still a recolor of the same exact boss. Sheesh!





He goes by "Hades" this time but still isn't interesting. He's accompanied by two "Orpheus" who are not only a very slight recolor of him, but also regular enemies from previous floors.



Still got this attack I guess.



Is it really so hard to have some boss variety after so many boring floors of dungeon, Namco? If you're not gonna bother actually designing shit why did you put in six bosses and sixty fucking floors of dungeon?

God dammit...



Meet the sixth and last stratum, same as the last stratum. Named "Abysm".

Floor F-1 / Enemies
Floor F-2 / Enemies
Floor F-3 / Enemies
Floor F-4 / Enemies
Floor F-5 / Enemies
Floor F-6 / Enemies
Floor F-7 / Enemies
Floor F-8 / Enemies
Floor F-9 / Enemies
Floor F-10 / Enemies

Well, actually, they almost do a neat thing with this stratum. The exits here take you to unexpected rooms and in circles -- 1 leads to 4 or 7, 4 leads to 2 or 7, 7 leads to 1 or 4. Seems like an idea, but it involves a lot of trial and error since the in-game maps don't tell you which floor an exit goes to until you've already taken it, and at this point you're fucking fed up with this place anyway.



There are no unique items here, it's all just finding the proper path.



The fastest route is:

- F-1 left
- F-4 left
- F-2 down
- F-8 right
- F-10 right
- F-6 down

If you absolutely need the trophy for saving at every save point, you need to visit floors 3, 6, and 9. The fastest way to do that detour is:

- F-1 left
- F-4 left
- F-2 down
- F-8 right
- F-10 up
- F-9 up
- F-3 up
- F-8 right
- F-10 right
- F-6 down

After that, we're finally at the very bottom of this place. Get ready for an actual boss battle!





Grrrr.
T-that's!
Ohma! He's still alive!
What the heck IS he?!
Any ideas, Mr. Monster Specialist?
D-don't look at me! I don't know either!
Ohma, please stop this! Nobody is going to imprison you any more!



There was only enough Amrita for me, so I alone bore the resentment of my brethren. It will not have been for nothing! I will not let it end here!
H-hey...



What?!
That sword! Is this fate? After a thousand years, I can still sense its splendor. That we would meet again! In the past, we forged it using the best apatheia. And now, I shall become the very being from which it was forged!



Behold the Spiral Draco! King of old, who reigned over all Entelexeia! The Entelexeia were to be struck down by the hand of none other than their own king... but that matters not now. If Terca Lumireis itself would reject us, then Terca Lumireis will DIE, at the hands of its strongest creation!



Ohma!
Estelle, no!







This is the king of the Entelexeia? Just how strong is he?!
I'm sure he's even stronger than he looks.
If this thing reaches the surface it'll be a disaster! What should we do?!
We'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen! Everyone, prepare for the worst!

Prepare for the worst, indeed.

Watch me win against this dude on Easy. / Baldurdash
Or watch him actually do attacks on higher difficulties. / Baldurdash


What else to put at the end of a super annoying bonus dungeon than a super annoying bonus boss?













The Spiral Draco is, from what I remember, the only enemy in the whole game that's made of multiple parts.

[need shots of stats here]

In addition to the stuff you can see, all parts are also immune -- or at least very highly resist -- non-elemental physical damage.



















This thing has a million different attacks, and since all parts can execute attacks individually you're constantly getting barraged by patterns you haven't seen before.















It also goes into Over Limit every few seconds, it's pretty irritating.









It can also dish out status effects. Those balls it shoots from its tail, for example, inflict poison and TP poison if you touch them or the puddles they leave behind.







It's pretty hard to actually hit it if you attack physically, as it dashes around the battlefield all the time.



At some point you kill some parts of it. Yay, less attacks to deal with, and if you kill the body parts it even stops moving around!





Except this dude is a fucking asshole and the main body part can revive the rest. God dammit!





So you'd think most of this could make for a fun, intense boss battle, but it doesn't. It's just frustrating more than anything.



After a good ten minutes of going all-out on this dude I still wasn't even halfway through its HP. On Normal difficulty, mind!



So I was like, fuck it, and did it on Easy instead. Cheap, perhaps, but at this point I didn't care anymore.









Fuck you.

Brunom1 also pointed out some extra info about the Spiral Draco, as if it wasn't enough bullshit yet.



Sheesh.








I can't believe something that powerful used to live in our world...
Ohma hated the world so much that he willingly revived that... thing.
It's so sad... He was revered by all the people of the Waning Moon for a thousand years, and yet it did nothing to lessen his hate.
The others all let go of their rage. They even turned their prison into a paradise. Only Ohma refused to change.
To him, this place was once a prison, always a prison.
One place is both a prison and a paradise at once? Aye, that's pretty deep.
He clung to his hatred for a thousand years. Meanwhile, the other people didn't even know there was anything to be angry about. He must have been lonely.
If he had spent more time down here, I wonder if he would have eventually come to peace with everything.
Who knows how long that'd take? Could be hundreds, or thousands of years...
Aye, but maybe Gran Carei believed that the time would come eventually.
What do you mean?



You mean, he took care to leave enough hints so the city was not forgotten, but not enough to actually open it until the time was right?
Then that book may have been written by Gran Carei himself.
In Ohma's case, his malice may have gotten worse over time. But for the people, Gran Carei's hopes may have come to fruition.
Perhaps that was the hope of the Entelexeia as well.
Aye. I'm sure Estelle's ancestors felt the same way.
In any event, I hope none of you forgot that we still have one last problem to take care of.
You're right. Let's take a quick breather, then get going.




Defeating this asshole gives us a trophy:

Trophy:

Nostalgic Dominator

And that's the dungeon! Let's get the hell out of here.





Once we reach Zaude's entrance, we trigger one more cutscene.



Woof!
Hmm? Aren't these people...
They're from the City of the Waning Moon. What are they doing up here?
...We met, not long ago.
This is the outside. The real world. Welcome home.
Outside... Outside, bright. Air, refreshing. ...Pleasant.
Did you come out on your own?

...Estelle, please.
Oh, yes.



Yeah, they seemed pretty delicate down there, but it looks like they've got what it takes.
Aye, humans are pretty tough.



There are still some people that haven't come up yet, but they'll follow soon.
Wow. That's pretty sudden.

Since we already beat the Spiral Draco the cutscene goes like this:

They told me that they were afraid to go through the gate, but they were even more afraid of what's still down there.
I'm guessin' they mean the Spiral Draco.
I can't blame them for leaving their city after seeing that thing.
But it's safe now. You think they'll go back down?
But they only just came up. I'd like it if they could find a place to live here.
Things are different from how they were a thousand years ago. I'm sure there are places they can make a life for themselves.
I hope so.
I'll contact the knights and arrange whatever assistance will be necessary.



If we went back out after Ohma but before Spiral Draco, we'd get this instead:

Yes. It's just, their reason for coming up is strange. They told me that they were afraid to go through the gate, but they were even more afraid of what's still down there. But, they weren't able to tell me what exactly is still down there.
It's gotta be somethin' pretty nasty to scare 'em out of their city.
Maybe there's someone else like Ohma still down there?
If whatever it is is anything like Ohma, I doubt he'd go around scaring people.
Perhaps it'd be best to err on the side of caution and take a look.
I'd love to, but we've kind of got our hands full with the Adephagos right now.
What about these guys?
I'll contact the knights and arrange whatever assistance will be necessary.
Guess we should go take care of things so they can rest easy.

And if you really want to go back into the dungeon for some reason, there's a warp over here:



But we don't.