Part 36: Update XXXVI - The True Grand Finale

Update XXXVI - The True Grand Finale



This is it, folks. Update soundtrack. Proceed without playing at your own risk. Now, I believe we had an appointment with von Junzt during the evening?



Well, not quite. We've still got some walking around and some things to be doing. Surprisingly, the door to the harbor master's office is open this night.



Yeah, when I said Artifex was going to get a visit from a certain vampire, I wasn't just pulling that out of my ass. Who do you think I am, somebody who doesn't know this game inside and out at this point?



So yeah, now we get to beat the shit out of Artifex. Standard vampire battle, nothing special.



Like with Trudel, he doesn't have the common courtesy to explode when we beat him up...



...and much like Trudel, his coffin is right downstairs.

Not again...



Looks like he's gotten used to it by now. Also, the chest back there? 9000 bucks. Which you literally can't spend. None of the shops are open, and we can't even spend the money on beer because we now get it for free. Now that's a nice kick in the balls. Here, have this free money! This utterly useless free money!



Now, let's check in with Genji, see how the date went.

Oh, Grandy! Many, many thanks! Yesterday was so wonderful. We went for a walk and then Kati sang a song for me and then...
I can imagine the rest...

...what am I supposed to infer from that? God damnit, game, stop pussyfooting around this stuff, you're making me very confused as to whether or not you actually went there or it's just my dirty mind!



Anyway, the next step is to just walk around for a while until this happens.

Stop!
What is it?
I feel the wind of evil. His breath lies over the city.
Can't you be more precise?
Sorry, I can't. I suggest we visit Wilhelm von Junzt. He might know more.

This is basically a reminder saying "oi, you dumb cunt, you forgot to go to von Junzt". The way I read the FAQ, it seemed like this was not an optional thing, but it is. Oh well. Off to von Junzt it is!



My friends! It's good that you've come - I finally managed to decipher the old prophecies!
You don't exactly sound like the result of your research will make us happy...
Indeed, there is no reason to be happy. I studied the old scriptures until my eyes teared up: The result is terrifying!
Wahnfried plans to open a gate into our sphere for the Dark God - and your daughter is the key!
We've already gotten that far...
To successfully hold the ritual, it must be held under a certain stellar constellation, and I've found it.
It must happen tonight! And it must happen at a special place: A place where the Dark God has triumphed over his most powerful enemy!
THE CHURCH!
This place and no other! This night and no other! This child and no other! HURRY! TO THE CHURCH!

Let's get moving!



What's going on here?

We see the guards run away from the church, and Reyven stagger forwards, then collapse.



Reyven Krähenschwinge... dead!

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Look at the bite wounds in his neck! This one's getting back up soon!
We could take care of him with Sarabian fire...
1) Yes 2) No

Yeah, why not. Not like I was going to use the stuff anyway. This nets us a bit of experience... and not using the fire nets us the same amount of experience. I only just now realized this. What the fuck is up with that? There's no consequence if you don't blow the guy up, so that's just confusing.



Final look at our party. We managed to get some pretty good level numbers together - I recall being somewhere around 30~35 when I first played this, and with not nearly as much fruit roids in my system, and with not as top notch equipment either.



When you step through this door, there's no more turning back.
There hasn't been any turning back ever since Wahnfried declared himself duke.

Just one last "save your game now" warning.



Are you playing "Mars, Bringer of War" now? Because you should.



Let's do this.

The presence of my Dark Father is becoming more and more powerful! He wants to invade our sphere at this place - I can feel it!
Well, he'll have to get past us first!
Then let's get going, I've still got unfinished business with this Dark Guy and his henchmen!



Then we're set upon by bats.



Wahnfried has stayed polite to the very last. He even thought to arrange a welcoming committee.
For Tarius!

However, that's all we're being set upon by. However however, that is because we were diligent in our hunting duties. The vampires we didn't stake would turn up here, so if we didn't stake the one at Wahnfried's mansion, Trudel and Artifex, we'd end up with six enemies, three of them strong vampires and two of them bats that love fucking with your stats. It would get rough. As it stands, though, this isn't a big deal.



The bats then evaporate in a massive holy magic effect. Guess that would have made more sense if there were vampires in that group.

He'll have to try harder than that to stop us!



And there's the missing coffin!
That was quite the smart move by Wahnfried. First he has his cronies defile this place...
...to then hide his coffin there. At the place where we would least suspect it.
But this time, he underestimated us!

NOT AT ALL!



WAHNFRIED!
Your presence here will only make my victory all the sweeter.
The world as you know it will no longer exist by tomorrow, because this day will have no name.
Sadly, your little daughter won't be able to live through those glorious times. I've really grown to love the little thing...



After all, it is her who will give the Dark God his form!



Do you really think we're just going to let you do that? First we'll chop your bodyguards into pieces and then it'll be your turn!
The lovely Libra... just like always, she's one step behind.
I've taken a very special guard into my employ, just for you!



Suddenly, a bat comes flying in from the left.



OH SHIT.

TARIUS!
...
...
The only thing we can still do for him is release his soul from this curse!



So yeah, surprise! Wahnfried had one final ace up his sleeve, and it's one hell of a card to pull. Turning a family member and then sicking them on the family - he did the same thing with Doria, and it worked really well there too. However...



Grandy! There is another way...
This isn't the right time to be discussing our options, Malthur. Now it's steel versus fangs!

Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down just a second.

So, this is it. You've been expecting it all this time, and here it is - it's finally time to explain the Good Thing and Bad Thing... thing.

Now, the thread had some theories...




...and Tarius being involved was right on the money, but it's not Tarius you have to convince, it's Malthur.

Welcome to the "Malthurmeter", the most mysterious thing about Unterwegs in Düsterburg. The way it works is that during the entirety of your visit to Königsberg, a lot of your actions have an impact on Malthur's opinion of you, which is represented by a number starting at 0. If you can get it higher than 3, then you'll get this option during the final battles. Now, what has an impact on the meter? Nobody really knows. I suppose one could go through the entirety of the code in RPG Maker and find out just exactly what impacts it, but as it stands, only a certain amount has been found. I'm now going to list everything listed in the walkthrough, plus a few extra I found.

Good Things:

- Insisting Malthur use the Brain Melter on Grimor is a +1.
- Letting Tarius go out when he wants to on the first night is a +1.
- Saying "listen here, Tarius" when Tarius comes home late is a +1.
- Giving Natascha her treasure is a +1.
- Shouting at Libra to get herself together when you find Tarius's corpse is a +1.
- Blowing up in Reyven Krähenschwinge's face after you exit the ransacked church is a +1.
- Helping Göfla by paying his debts is a +1.
- Digging deeper when talking to Malthur in your room in von Junzt's house is a +2.
- Supporting Malthur in the scene in front of the church after Tarius has been killed is a +2.

Bad Things:

- Giving Frägelschö a dragon slayer sword is a -1.
- Eating the eyeballs out of the little bag is a -1.
- Going "We're the wild highwaymen" in Naggash Izzar's house is a -1.
- Threatening Grimor with violence is a -1.
- Being down for a night on the town yourself when Tarius wants to leave on the first night is a -1.
- Saying to "just forget about it" when Tarius comes home late is a -1.
- Changing the topic when talking to Malthur in your room in von Junzt's house is a -1.
- Accusing Tarius of killing von Junzt is a -1.
- Letting Libra stay with Tarius's corpse when you find it is a -1.
- Getting caught breaking into Katzengasse 5 is a -1.
- Getting drunk at the Flying Fish is a -1.
- Stealing the 6000 bucks from the dark priest's house without having visited him during the daytime is a -1.
- Destroying Trudel's husband's corpse with Sarabian fire, even though you wouldn't have enough to destroy Wahnfried's coffins if you did that is a -1.
- Trading in Natascha's treasure at the fence is a -2.
- Supporting Libra in the scene in front of the church after Tarius has been killed is a -2.
- Fucking up the monster cat sidequest by not going into the shack after hearing Julie, then later going into the shack and finding her dead is a -2.
- Talking to Natascha after trading in her treasure is an additional -3.
- Attempting to steal Baha's holy sword is a -3.
- Talking with Tibor Arekna about the eyeballs after having eaten them is an additional -3.

For those that aren't mathematically inclined, that's 11 possible plus points compared to 28 possible minus points, with room for more. And if you don't know what you're doing (like when you're playing for the first, second or probably even third time) you don't have an idea what's going on, because bar a few comments by Malthur calling Grandy an idiot for doing the Bad Things and lauding Grandy for doing the Good Things (and they don't happen for all of them either and happen for some that don't actually have any impact) there is no indication something's actually happening here that's different from the rest of the game, and odds are you won't end up with the +3 you need at this point unless you're aiming for it, since it's about as opaque as they come.

Now, in our run, we ended up with 9 of the plus points (missed the one about digging deeper) and 1 of the minus points (intentionally got caught breaking into Katzengasse 5 for the prison scene), coming out to +8, which is still one of the highest possible values. So getting to +3 is a pretty major accomplishment, given all the pitfalls strewn around Königsberg. Anyway, what does this even do? Well, if we go through a round of combat...

My Dark Father has given me many skills for my task!
Listen to me, Grandy! We might still be able to save Tarius...

And after another round (after which we've already taken out one of the two other vampires)...

Alright then, out with it, Malthur: What's your plan?
We need to spare Tarius. After we've taken out the other two bloodsuckers, we can incapacitate him without killing him.
That'll be tough! Tarius is right in the middle - I can barely get around him!
You've taught me that the easier way is not necessarily the better one!

This doesn't really have any gameplay impact, since you can just select who you want to attack. If Julie kills Tarius with her random attacking, you've been doing something terribly wrong. So we bang on the other guy a bit longer...



Excellent! We've isolated him! Now, be careful, we need to incapacitate him without killing him!

Read: We need to get his HP down to a certain amount. I can't find an exact number for this, though. Suffice it to say, this is quite tricky, especially given how powerful our party is. Then, in the next round...

One more thing: If we do manage to overwhelm Tarius, I won't be able to help you in your battle against Wahnfried.
And you only thought of this now? We'll barely have a chance against Wahnfried without you!
You still have a choice, Grandy.

Well, we don't, given that the incapacitation could just trigger the moment we hit the right HP threshold. I guess the game didn't expect us to go this fast... Actually, I didn't even trigger this in my run, I was done with the fight before it was time for it to trigger. Whoops. So, we beat up on Tarius a bit more, using low-power attacks, and eventually...

He's on the ropes! Now, Grandy!



And with that, Grandy knocks the shit out of Tarius.



Hurry, Grandy! You need to take care of Wahnfried!
What the hell are you planning on doing?
I'll use the rest of my power to meld my mind with Tarius's mind! Perhaps I'll still be able to save his soul!
His soul?
Trust me!

THE STARS ARE IN ALIGNMENT! TAKE THIS VESSEL, MY DARK LORD, AND DO WITH IT WHAT YOU WISH!



Oh, so that's why the windows didn't get messed up in the attack on the church, they needed them for dramatic effect here.

Holy smokes! What's going on here?
The Dark God is coming to this church!
GRANDY! You have to stop this!



So now we get to beat up on Wahnfried's personal guard. This is significantly harder than you'd think - the vampires beforehand had roughly about 1000~1500 HP. These guys have 3000, and have a healthier MP pool to lay the hurt on our guys with the dark magic that hits every party member. This would be tough enough if we weren't already a man down, and if...



...Wahnfried wasn't also slinging around resistance-avoiding, party-attacking magic. ~100 HP damage to every party member is quite painful, especially on Libra. However, we still manage to take out one of the guards, and then...



Alright, you didn't want it any other way!
That rat disappeared again!
Don't worry, dear... I won't leave until I've finally wiped you off the face of this world!

And now the fight is officially on. 4300 HP, even bigger MP pool, stronger defenses, and since we're above level 37, Wahnfried actually won't use regular attacks - instead, he'll just use his powerful dark magic, bite attacks and strong double attacks. At this point, I have to whip out those Gifts from the Gods, because other healing items are just not efficient enough for this shit, and I even chastise myself for not buying more, because they come in real handy. And as the fight goes on...



TARIUS! Where did you come from?
I don't really know, myself. I just woke up here on the floor of the church and saw you fighting.
But... but... you were...
Could this please wait until later? We've got a pretty big problem here!

That we do. However, with the numbers advantage shifted further into our favor and getting Tarius's anti-vampire songs back...



...Wahnfried eventually goes down for good. And I do mean eventually, this took quite some time and I got lucky with Grandy's aimed attacks to make it end this quickly.



And then he goes and stakes himself on a cross for good measure.



After all the time we've been fighting against him, having him meet his end like this seems a bit undignified.
Well, you can scrape him off that pole and give him a second chance if you pity him so much...
I think my compassion doesn't go quite that far.

What happened to Malthur?
I don't know. Last thing I remember was lady Serena leading me to Wahnfried...
...and the blood spraying from my throat... everything else was like a nightmare - until I woke up here in the church...
...alone.

...he... he sacrificed himself for us...
It was his decision to make, dear. You know, I think he was really very lonely at the bottom of his heart.
I hoped that we could have been the family he never had for him.
I think we were. That's why he did what he did - he sacrificed himself for his family.
Let's go, dear. I think it's finally time for us to care for OUR family.
You're right.

Grandy walks up to the altar and picks the baby up.

Come, my dear.



We're going home.

Next time, the ending, and the credits!