Part 69: To Fight Family

Last time, we ran around doing some sidequests. Now, let's head to Yulia City and find out how to stop the Planet Storm.

Secrets of the Jewel



: “The Planet Storm is controlled by a giant fonic glyph. It's said that Yulia used the Sword of Lorelei to carve the fonic glyph into the land.

: “So we have to do something about that fonic glyph.”

: “The Sword of Lorelei gathers Seventh Fonons, and the Jewel disperses them. If Yulia gathered Seventh Fonons with the Sword of Lorelei and opened the gate, then we should be able to disperse them with the Jewel and close it.

: “Do we even know how to use the Jewel?”

: “Let us use documents from the time to analyze the Jewel here.”

: “Thank you.”



: “That's unusual, coming from you Tear.”

: “I don't see why not.”

: “Then we'll meet back here later.”

Another “talk to everybody” section. Welp, no use standing around.

Guy & Jade: Love Counselors



: “Fine, right now... but Tear and Mieu found out.”

: “Mieu, I know...”

: “I see... so Tear knows. Poor thing...”

: “Yeah... I feel bad for making her worry about me...”

: “...You're amazingly dense, aren't you, Luke?”

: “I don't think so...”

: “Oh? Then perhaps you're so preoccupied with her that you haven't noticed. Or maybe it's a self-defense reflex. Oh, well, it's none of my business.”

: “What are you talking about?”

: “I'm just telling you to go see Tear. Go on.”

: “O-okay...”



: “What do you mean?”

: “...You haven't really seen her at all.”

: “Sure I have. She's always hard on me. Well, she's nice sometimes, I guess.”

: “Are you stupid? Only a child needs kindness to be blatantly obvious in order to see it.”

: “If you haven't realized it for yourself yet, go and look for her now and see what you find.”

Compiling on my blunder form last update, I also totally forgot to talk to Anise here. I don't have any screen shots or video, but here's the transcript:

: “Wow...Ion managed the Order in conjunction with this place...”

: “Yeah. This is like the real core of the Order of Lorelei.”

: “I'd better shape up. I've got to beat the people here.”

: “Why?”

: “It's still a secret. ...Anyway, do you think Natalia's okay?”

: “Hmmm...”

: "Hmmm"? You've been friends since you were kids! Go and cheer her up!”

Well we've been berated into talking to both Tear and Natalia, but neither seem to be here. Let's check Tear's room.

To Fight Family



: “When you learned that Van... that your brother had this terrible plan.”

: “Hmm... it didn't sound real.”

: “Real?”

: “Yes. It felt like I was listening to a story. I didn't understand what he was talking about.”





: “And I decided I had to stop him, no matter what. Even if it killed the both of us.”

: “How did you become so determined?”

: “Van was the only relative I had in this world. As one who shared the same blood, I felt I had to stop him.”



: “When I first confronted Van, turned my blade on him, I was like a cornered animal. I couldn't see anything at all.”

: “Tear...”

: “You shouldn't make the same choice I did, and I don't think you need to.”

: “I want to save this world. Even if the planet's memory really is absolute. Yulia left behind an absolute Score, yet she didn't read anything in it about replicas. I want to bet on that – on the hope that Luke represents.”

I see Natalia hasn't read my analysis yet.

: “Yes. Luke taught us that people can change. Watching him, I put to rest the old me that thought of nothing but killing my brother. I was able to try to understand Van's real feelings.”

: “...But... I have a feeling I understand why Largo is supporting Van. I don't mean to say that he should be allowed to do what he's doing! But...”



: “...! I never thought I'd hear you say something like that.”

: “I can say this only because I hold on so hard to being rational. Some answers you can only find by letting go.”

: “Tear... thank you...”



: I'll head back to Teodoro.

Skit: Thinking of Tear

: “Tear's in the same position as Natalia, isn't she...? She never shows it, so I tend to forget.”

: “Tear's a nice person, so she doesn't let you see when she's hurt.”

: “Yeah, I know, but....”

: “So just be nice to her.”

: “I said I know, Thing! You don't need to tell me!”

: “Mieuuuu.... Master, can I ask something?”

: “...What?”

: “Why do you call me Thing?”

: “Oh... well... you know... You're blue, have weird ears, sound like a girl, and breathe fire... you're a thing.”



: “Mieuuuu... I don't understand.”

: “Don't worry about it. Anyway I'll... I'll try to keep Tear in mind.”

I do like how we were set up for some big romantic scene, and instead we got Tear and Natalia talking about shit that actually matters, sparing us more awkward anime romance. Don't get me wrong, I like the Tear & Luke dynamic, but I think we've hit our quota for now, eh?

Right, back to Teodoro.

The Next Mission



: “Please focus Seventh Fonons into it. It's dispersive power and fonic arte will activate, stopping the glyph.”

: “That'll close the Gate, huh?”

: “Yes, I would seal it off at the Absorption Gate. That's where the Planet Storm finishes its cycle. Closing it there is the most logical choice.”

: “The Absorption Gate... that's where we fought Van.”

: “Tear. If we stop the Planet Storm, we'll be able to approach Eldrant. It may be painful for you, but let's do our best.”

: “Right.”

: “...What about you, Natalia? Are you going to be okay?”

: “I'm fine. Thank you.”

: “Hey, what about me?”

: “And me!”

: “Okay, okay! Is everybody ready?”



: “Then we're off the the Absorption Ga-- wait, one of those responses sounded weird.”

: “Oh, details, details. There's no time, Luke! Let's go!”

Jade.

Skit: The Final Confrontation

: “So we're finally going to confront the New Order of Lorelei...”

: “Natalia looks really troubled.”

: “She doesn't have much time to make her decision. And she knows that, which makes things even harder on her.”

: “Why doesn't she just run away? She doesn't need to fight her own father!”

: “Yeah, you're right. But she is who she is now because she's never turned aside from the obstacles in her path.”

: “She won't run away even if we tell her to, huh...?”

: “Well, if she's a burden, we'll leave her behind. If she doesn't want that, she'll have to settle her feelings.”

: “Tough as usual, huh?”

: “I'm only stating the obvious.”

We've still got time to kill on the way. More skits!

Skit: A World Without the Planet Storm?

: “Once we stop the Planet Storm, fonic artes and fontech will all get a lot weaker, right?”

: “Well, that wouldn't happen right away. Things shouldn't change too much for a few years.”

: “So we'll have to figure out a new source of energy in that time.”

: “But that'll probably take a while, so fonists probably won't have much to do...”

: “Those with sufficient abilities will still be able to use fonic artes. Those without will likely be out of a job.”

: “The Seventh Fonon will become harder to use, too...”

: “Yeah, there's a lot less of it. And without the Planet Storm, no new Seventh Fonons will be made.”

: “Yes, I expect Seventh Fonists will encounter particular difficulty.”

: “Yeah, but we don't have time to be thinking about the future, we need to focus on the immediate danger.”

Back to Beginnings



: “A lot more people have died since then...”

: “We've got to put an end to this.”

: “That's why we've come here, right?”

: “Yes, but it looks like we're not the only ones who've come.”

: “That's an Oracle ship. We'd best be careful.”

Not pictured: the Oracle ship. Guess it would have been too hard to model.



: “Colonel, how do we do that?”

: “Let's head for the absorption point at the bottom. There should be a fonic glyph controlling the Planet Storm there.”

: “Below the passage ring.”

: “All right.”



Infuriatingly, the game forces us to manually walk all the way to the bottom of this dungeon again, despite there being literally nothing new to do or see. It's the exact same dungeon with the exact same enemies, except now we've already solved all the puzzles, so we just have to waste five minutes getting down there. Fucking really, Namco?

...Whatever. Still not as bad as the water ruin in Megaman Legends 2. Don't even get me started on that one.

Prepared to Fight



: “Legretta, Largo, or Sync...”

: “Or possibly all of them.”

: “Largo... I...”

: “Natalia... are you okay?”

: “You look pale. Don't push yourself...”

: “I'm sorry. I'm ashamed of myself for becoming so distraught.... but I'm all right. Let's go.”

We've finally reached the bottom. Let's roll.

The Rebirth of Mastery









: “Asch! Largo!”











: “...I'm finally able to maintain a physical form again.”

: “That voice...”



: “Ah! Van! I'll forgive you for all your insubordination. Now, hah hah hah! Give me the Seventh Fonstone!”

: “...This is the fragment of the Seventh Fonstone that sank into the core.”



: “Hah hah hah hah hah!!”



: “Stop!”





: “Master...”

: “To think I would be bested in battle... replica or not, you were magnificent.”

: “Van...! What have you done with Lorelei?”

: “Lei van nue kuloa tue lei lei.”

: “That's... Yulia's fonic hymn.”

: “My body, its fonons separating, was drawn into the Planet Storm. Just as I thought I was going to vanish, I remembered Yulia's fonic hymns and sang. Those were the words of the covenant. Lorelei responded, answering his pact with Yulia.”

: “The separating fonons composing Van's body were drawn in by Lorelei...”

: “And reconstructed...?”



: “I finally succeeded in putting the struggling Lorelei to sleep and left the Planet Storm.”

: “Commandant, I think Mohs will go mad soon.”





: “I won't let you interfere!”

: “Damn it! Get that stupid mound of flesh out of my way!”



: “With your hyperresonance, we can erase the memory of a future destined for destruction. Man will be set free.”

: “...I refuse!”



: “It seems I underestimated you. You are worthy of my attention. If you would come with me, I will welcome you just as I would Tear and Guy.”

: “I...”



: “Heh... I expected no less.”









: “This world is rotten!”





: “How many lives have been thrown away for it?!”

: “What you're doing is no different in the end!”

: “Van's plan... our plan is twisted. But without a medicine this strong, the world will follow Yulia's Score... and die. As long as the originals remain, so will remnants of the planet's memory.”

: “The idea of killing everyone alive today is crazy!”

: “This, coming from the man who massacred replicas to consume them!”





Boss Battle: Largo



If you haven't figured out the format by now, this is another battle fought on Very Hard, this time using Natalia.

: “Largo...”

: “Never show your enemy mercy, princess. No matter who he is, mercy has no place once you meet... as enemies.”

: “And so, you are an enemy we shoud kill.”

: “If that is what you wish then we will face you as warriors.”

: “For you, Largo. Simple. Honest to the very end, I will fight you with everything I have.”

: “You're an idiot, Largo! A huge idiot.”

: “It's too bad. I don't mind idiots like you.”

: “Hah hah hah! That's good! The Black Lion might be a fool, but he's not weak!”

: “We're not weak either! We will win!”

: “I will give you fair warning as a fellow Oracle Knight.”

: “I will not lose either!”

: “Very well. Come children, let me crush you!”



Largo's thing remains the same: he's slow, but hits like a colony drop. See Natalia's health? That's after two hits, from full health. There's a reason why the first thing I did was drop barrier on Luke.



Not that it saved him.



Unlike Tear, Natalia can put up some respectable damage using her normal attacks. I was worried about this fight going in, but my fears were alleviated quickly. Natalia's kind of a beast, and honestly this fight made me want to play her more.



Let's stop beating around the bush, shall we?



Let's rock.









: ”Oh fragments of the fon verse, heed my call and become power incarnate!”





: ”I will finish you: Noble Roar!”







Noble Roar is Natalia's second mystic arte, and in my opinion one of the more awesome ones. Natalia summons a bunch of glowing orbs that shoot around damaging Largo, trapping him in some kind of energy bubble. Then Natalia charges up and fires a giant laser beam arrow from her bow, all coming together for 12k damage. Against Largo. On Very Hard. That's fucking Indignation level numbers right there.

In exchange for it's raw , Noble Roar has some really dumb requirements. Beyond the usual second playthrough and arbitrary number of uses for a specific art (150 uses or more of piercing line in this case), Noble Roar requires Natalia to be equipped with the elven bow, which if you recall I spent ages grinding for at Din's shop. Does the game ever tell you the elven bow has this power? Of course not.



The rest of the battle is pretty generic. Largo is strong as hell but he's too slow to really get close and lay into my casters, so he basically just kills Luke over and over, after which I res him over and over. Meanwhile Natalia and Jade pump Largo full of arrows and spells.



Well, mostly generic. Then Largo gets down to about 50k health and pulls this one out.









Brimstone Tempest is Largo's one and only mystic arte. It looks cool but is the usual single target kills anything it touches arte. Also Largo really didn't want to use this move for some reason. I actually had to re-record this battle because the first time I fought him, he refused to use it.



A little more punishment though, and he's down for good.

Also if you're not watching the video, this battle ended in a really cool way. Largo died just as Tear was finishing a fonic hymn. Since time slows slightly when a battle ends, it elongated the last syllable of the song in a really pretty way. Moreover, just as it ended, Largo goes “Beautiful...” I don't know, I thought it was really thematic.



Also thematic: Natalia landed the killing blow.







: “I'm taking you with me!”

: “Ugh!”





: “Good shot... Meryl... how you've grown...”

: “Largo... we both want the same thing. We're both trying to get away from the Score. Why do we have to kill each other like this?”



: “Listen... boy. This is a battle of beliefs, of convictions...”

: “Convictions...”

: “We think... that this world should be destroyed and reborn... you think that... people should start over again... the result may be the same... but they're different...”



: “Farewell... Meryl...”









: “...I'm sorry to sound cruel, but we didn't come here to defeat Largo. We came here to close the Absorption Gate.”

: “I know. But Natalia...”

: “...How about you wait here, Natalia? There's no reason to push yourself.”

: “No... no... I'm going with you.”

: “Okay. Can you stand?”

: “Natalia. You don't have to force yourself.”

: “I'm fine. Let's go.”

Goodbye, Largo. Dist may have been a riot, but in terms of actual characters, I liked you the best out of the God-Generals.

Skit: Largo's Death, Natalia's Feelings

: “I wonder why Largo said all that to us...”

: “All what?”

: “'Show your enemy no mercy. With shallow feelings like that, you'll never defeat him...'”

: “He probably meant that for Natalia.”

: “For me?”

: “As his final wish, that you – his daughter – should survive.”

: …

: “Hmm... but Largo's not the type to push guilt on Natalia for killing her father.”

: “Then what did he mean?”

: “'I'm your enemy, so don't pity me. Defeat me and Van, and do it ruthlessly.' Something like that?”

: “Both of those make sense to me...”

: “...Only Largo knows the truth, and I will keep my own belief in my heart.”

: “Huh? What do you think he meant?”

: “...I'm not telling.”

Dispersion



: “It's a giant fonic glyph. It's just like the legends. Yulia opened the Gate here with the Sword of Lorelei.”

: “Then we need to use the Jewel.”

: “Got it... I'll give it a try.”











Next Time: The Memory of the World

Synopsis:

Teodoro told us that the Planet Storm is controlled by a fonic glyph that
was drawn using the Sword of Lorelei, so we'll need to use the Jewel of
Lorelei to close it. We decided to split up while Teodoro had the Jewel
analyzed. Surprisingly, Tear was the one that suggested we split up, and she
took Natalia with her. I wonder if something's wrong? Let's go see...

Tear had taken Natalia out to cheer her up and give her a chance to
collect her thoughts. It looks like I shouldn't interrupt them. Let's go back
and see if Teodoro is ready.

Teodoro said that there was a fonic arte inscribed in the Jewel of
Lorelei, which could be used to close the Gates by focusing Seventh Fonons
into it. Okay, let's head for the Absorption Gate and close it first.
When we reached the Absorption Gate, we found an Oracle ship there as
well. They must be here too. Let's be careful.

A lot of things happened at the Absorption Gate. Let me see if I can get
them all straight.

When we reached the place where we fought Master Van before, Asch and
Largo were glaring at each other, and Mohs was there with a boy that looked
just like Ion, protected by Legretta and Sync.

And then Master Van appeared, in the very place he fell into the core
from. It looks like he had been able to stay alive by drawing Lorelei into
himself and using its healing power. Master Van gave the fragment of the
Seventh Fonstone he had taken from the core to Mohs, who left with Sync and
the boy that looked like Ion. Apparently Mohs wants to use that fragment to
read the Seventh Fonstone's Score. Only the Fon Master can do that--so that
boy must be another replica of the original Ion, like Sync. Ion had seven
replicas made, after all...

Master Van asked Asch to help him. Asch refused, of course. Then he turned
and offered his hand to me.

If this had happened long ago, I just might have accepted his offer. But
now I know the truth. There's no turning back.

When I refused, Master Van looked surprisingly satisfied, and left with
Legretta. We tried to follow him, but were blocked by Largo, so we let Asch
go after Master Van instead.

Natalia tried once more to convince Largo to stop. She probably knew it
was useless, but still had to try one last time. Largo, of course, stayed
firm, and we ended up having to settle things in a battle.

Largo fought, and died, like a soldier. It must have hurt Natalia... But
this isn't the end of our battle. We came here not to defeat Largo, but to
close the Absorption Gate and stop the Planet Storm. Let's head downward and
find the fonic circle controlling the Gate.

The instant I used the Jewel of Lorelei to close the Absorption Gate, I
felt myself being sucked down into the core.