Part 76: Update LIX - So Close To The End

Update LIX - So Close To The End



♪ BGM: Asgar's Castle - blood009.mid ♫

Alright, so before we pursue a new strategy in making our way through the endgame, we have one more thing to work out - and that's the rest of these e-mails. There's a few, so strap in.

Greetings! It is an undescribable honor for me that you elevated me to a sort-of-staff-member of your work. In order to show appreciation from my side, I would sincerely love to include you as a guest in my game creation. If you in all your greatness are willing to accept my offer, I would be eternally grateful. Please send note to me of your decision.
And thus, I sent him note of my decision

What does the anti-conservative youth say with their anglicisms: VD RULES FOREVER!
Exactly!

Topic: VD 1 (VAMPIRES DAWN)
Your Vampires Dawn is Awesome it is the best Rpg Maker game that I have ever played I JUST LIVE IT! I HAVE VALNAR AS A MOUSE ICON AND A JOEMINO OF VAMPIRES DAWN LONG LIVE VD!
Topic: VD 2
VAMPIRES DAWN 2 IS ALSO SOO COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL ;=)
Finally a true fan. With all the flame mails, this feels really good

In Valnar's room there is a convenient menu unpack this version and copy the old save file into it!
Hey, cool, really? Awesome, I didn't know that! Great, then I can finally play Vampires Dawn with cheats! Cooooooool!

Hello, lowly human. I have been banned even though I only had 3 warnings.
Hello, highly human. This incident is unexplainable to me, as you seem to possess a particularly friendly manner of communication!

I thank you! Now I won't be needing glasses as a 16-year-old after all... it's enough to know that I will need them as an old grandma. I believe I still can't think clearly, but I'm really "talking" to the master himself! I'm about to pass out... oh well, that would be at least one person gone from the forums or one beta tester less... and I'm stealing your time, too... *bursting into tears*
Yes, and now your mail is even here in VD2 *preparing the smelling salt* But don't exaggerate so much I'm also just a vampire

Damnit! Can't you please help me, I am writing to you my third mail already and you haven't answered me even once, but you've renewed the VD-site twice already. Here another transcript of my first mail: I'm replying once more because I'm having problems with the RPG-Maker. Specifically with the door animation. Everything works fine, I just can't open it a second time. So help me. PLEASE PLEAS
Damnit! DAMN! IT! Hm, I don't think such an introduction is really something you do when asking for help. But that's just a thought of mine I just can't be bothered to help everyone at the same time. What are Maker forums for!? Especially with problems like these! Those who ask nicely also get a response, that's how it is. And if it's taking a longer time, that person can also go to the forums

Mh I know it's a bit rude but did you receive money for making the game? If you did, how much circa
Thanks to the support of Ubisoft and Electronic Arts, I now have a villa at the beach and four Ferraris in my garage No, I didn't earn anything, the revenues I got from the banner went completely into the cost for the traffic of https://www.vampiresdawn.de as well as for the cost of my graphic artist and musician.

Dear Mr. Koch, we are students of the school ******* and fans of your RPG. This time, we wanted to publish our school paper partially (about 20 copies) in form of a cd that contains RPGs. We were also thinking of your game "Vampires Dawn", because it is a very famous and good RPG. In order to release our cd with "Vampires Dawn" on it, we'll need your agreement.
Ah, another magazine and another school "Vampires Dawn" for school subject!

One question: Do you also work during the night on VD2? If you do, then it might be possible for VD2 to be on the screenfun before Wednesday.
Yes, but despite my nightly endeavors, I wasn't able to finish the game in time, even though the Screenfun theoretically only needs a few hours for printing and bringing it on sale

Screenfun must have had a great impact in spreading these RPG Maker games out. Back in the day, it was definitely the easiest way to get RPG Maker games like this.

Hi, dude, does any of your games even have an ending, I don't know how to proceed in Dunkle Schatten, Feuer um Mitternacht hangs, after I fought alone with Philandora against the flowers, Darr (janom) just kneels down before the goddess and levitates around, Vampires Dawn also doesn't proceed after Apraxsas, not for me, not for my brother, not for one of my buddies, and also not in the internet cafe, I have played all games so far until the point they always hang for so many times that I just want to progress, is it intentional that Darr just kneels down and for ~30 minutes nothing happens, and that everything freezes after abraxsas' death, that there is no solution to the pazzle, or is fate just shi... and I'm just getting broken game copies?
As I have already mentioned, yes it is intentional that you can't finish my games. No one has been able to do so thus far, so I have to say I have done a good job. Especially with "Feuer um Mitternacht" I was very very dilligent. Yes, I can say with pride that I have spent 5 years of life with the development of that game P.S. On this note, huge regards to Missy!

In case you didn't notice, Marlex didn't make Feuer um Mitternacht.

Hello i am chiisai i hove a question i am about to make an RPG, but i don't have the Paintshop Pro 5. if you can ever find the time ...............................................................................................................can you send it to me please?
Again and again, every time ^^ Hey, who else wants a fancy pirated copy?

I'm not kidding with those ellipses, by the way.



Fucking look at this shit.

HI Marlex man you're saying that you will finish it soon but we've been waiting an eternity for vd2 man please hurry a little with the game and please reply
Argh, working tirelessly, having stress with the uni, and also getting whipped! Life can be so cruel...

Srrryy that i have written so many mails it won't happen again ihave changed my e-mail address multiple times because i had too little memory storage all because of Vampires Dawn 2
Wow, so now you even need multiple e-mail accounts for VD2! The requirements keep rising more and more

hello i have another little question i hope i'm not being too bothersome but: Howmuch endcredits are there in vd1?
Um, um, um...

hi i assume you know the chat program ICQ then you can (if you have the time) contact me if you don't know it i'll send it to you for now! if there is anything you can just mail me!
Ah, somebody finally realized why I don't use ICQ I just never found the installation file Thanks for sending it to me!

I Am Nine years old and my brother is a hacker and i have gotten used to brutal things i am not scared and my brother if you want i can ask him if he can help you
I recommend VD2 for ages 12 and up. Thanks for listening :D

Hi man When does VD2 come out and can you give me the German patch for the RPG Maker so it's all in German because it sucks that it's all in English
*sigh* I really wonder why I'm getting mails exactly like THESE about 50 times per week...

hi i wanted to ask if you will be finished with VD2 by tomorrow (the new Screenfun comes out tomorrow)!
Too bad, I'm not THAT fast ^^

I have a question. In VD2, a ring menu pops up when you talk to a person. Are you making this ring menu from the beginning for every person or you just copy the event?
O_o What a question ^^ But in order to release the the game only in 5 years, and in order to withhold the game willingly from the fans, I created the event, which took me almost 2 hours, anew with every NPC ^^

How can I become a moderator in your forum?
Answer: By helping the others, and by proving that you are capable of taking on such a job.
So when you have 3 warnings already you don't really have much of a chance, right?
XD XD XD

awesome totally tutti from you
Hehe, that's how I am. The fruit bomb among the vampires ^^

In the original, that was the last letter we got here. But there's a little bit extra in the translation...



So anyway, I hope you're enjoying the game. I hope I was able to do the game justice with my translation. It's finally here! Sorry that it took so long, but I hope you are still able to enjoy this game just like me and many others did back then when it first got released in 2005. Well, it's been quite some time since then, but again, I hope you're still able to have fun. It took quite a bit of time to translate this giant of a game. :D On this note, shout-out to King Kadelfek for creating the DreaMaker. That tool helped me tremendously with translating this game. And of course, a huge shout-out to Marlex himself for creating this huge and great game. And remember, if some random stranger promises to take you to the location of your dead girlfriend, just say no and walk away. That's how this whole mess got started in the first place, after all. :D Also, try to avoid green glowing pieces of rock. Chances are it's either radioactive, or it's a piece of an ancient magical stone tablet that can destroy the world. :) That's it, that was the last mail. Please enjoy the rest of the game!

And there we go! The DreaMaker is apparently a tool that allows you to basically create a text dump of an RPG Maker game that you can then re-import, which I can imagine being very handy in translating a game. Anyway, big props to kj150 here. This game is fucking *stupid* huge, and I probably would have bashed my skull through a wall several times in trying to translate all of this. You made my work so much easier, and for that, I salute you.



♪ BGM: Endgame Battles - BossBattle.mid ♫

Now, that mail business actually happened after the end of the game because I totally forgot to check those. But now, we're back on track, and back fighting Ustra.



I decided that for the endgame battles, I would give you some video of me winning the fight to see how things go. The basic gist is as follows:

- Alaine casts Ultima 2 and nukes Ustra for about 1000 damage.
- The mage casts Dark Ritual on Valnar and Asgar, who deal about 400 damage per attack.
- Asgar gets paralyzed, which kinda sucks, but whatever.
- Eventually, I just Dark Ritual both Alaine and the mage and everybody just beats up on Ustra until he dies.



And die he does.



♪ BGM: Megalomania - Laughter2.mid ♫

You used us! YOU poisoned us! Now you're going to pay for that!
...how could you become so strong...
NOBODY uses us as puppets!



Well, great, and now what? Ustra is also a Shadow Wraith, and we don't have a banishment stone!

...uh, shit. I knew I was forgetting something.

It's starting!
Quick, think of something!
Oh no!





His Shadow Wraith returned to his dead body?
Impossible... or is it!?
Could it be...
Indeed! Look...



Is this what I think it is?
I think so. There's no other explanation I can think of as to what just happened.
Well, it seems Ustra had a banishment stone with him. And now he's been banished into his own banishment stone. How ironic...
Makes sense, since he had to be prepared in case he had to take out one of the Elras leaders.

So yeah, turns out that the quest to get a banishment stone is a complete red herring. You'll never find one because you're supposed to get it here.

Speaking of which, where did they go, anyway?
Hm...
We'd better take a look around here for a bit, and perhaps we can find a clue for that.
We should take this with us.

Alright, so we scored a banishment stone and removed one major obstacle from our path. Now w-



-e get attacked.



13 Elras take out 15 mercenaries.

Mercenaries Lost To Global Domination: 624 + 15 = 639

That might actually turn out to be the final number. Anyway, now that we dealt with Ustra, let's see what our captives have to say.



♪ BGM: Place Of The Elras - batwings.mid ♫

they want to destroy the rest of mankind. Please... I'm afraid that I have to admit for the first time that I'm not up to the task.
Do you know where those two Elras might have gone?
That false prophet said something about a cave north from here. Supposedly, it was a hideout of the Elras a long time ago. Terrible things allegedly took place there. Human sacrifices, gruesome rituals, and other things that I don't dare to speak of.
Hm, we'll take a look. What was it Jinnai, or rather Ustra, wanted from you, anyway?
The false prophet? He claimed that he wanted to try out his power on us at the moment of his victory. We were "permitted" to be his sacrifices, as revenge for the fact that the Clan had decapitated him back then...
Well, well...
You must stop the Elras!
1) First, let's release you! - 2) We are too weak. (Lie) - 3) Tell that to my blade!

If we were able to lie at level 3, we would get the location of a treasure room in Castle Horan. However, that doesn't contain anything really useful, so sod it. Also, we're a good vampire, so let's free Nyria. It's more fun this way, anyway.

Thank you!



Lady Nyria...



Should my life be forfeit soon, then at least I don't want to die here. Good luck! But also, take this. It is everything I can still give you...
Nyria's items received!
We will succeed!
...



And off she goes.

NYRIAAAAAA!
Women...

So, we get Nyria's items. They're trash. But there's something interesting there...



There's that sailor's hat I was looking for! I did get it with Nyria after all! Which means that given the point we get this, the special prize from the scratch cards is completely pointless! Woooooop!



1) First, we'll release you. - 2) That's right, and you're first!

Again, we're being a nice guy vampire.

I need to get away from here at once! The Elras will destroy everything! I need to notify the Clan!
What Clan? The one that we wiped out?
Oh God!



And he runs away too.

He's gone...
Coward.

Now, let's check out that area to the north - seems like there should be something there now.



And indeed there is! But when we enter the cave...



♪ BGM: Bad Night Story - vamp9.mid ♫

Sudden grandpa segment interruption!

What is it, Simon?
I think I'm having a little trouble following! So Jinnai was really Pharaoh Ustra. And the world had been shifted the first time because of Ustra.
That's right. After Ustra used the stone tablet incorrectly, the whole world changed and took the form you were familiar with from the first part of the story of "Vampires Dawn". That world shifting, however, brought nothing but destruction. Continents sank, cities were destroyed, people died. Nobody got revived.
And Sir Aaron was one of the revived ones from the second world shifting done by Asgar. That's why he never witnessed that Ustra had already taken possession of the stone tablet once.
Correct, correct... by now, you also should have gotten the answer for your question as to why Ghadar and Gorgoth couldn't simply take a new stone tablet and write the spell on that one. The Kaldrium stone was plain no longer available in the sufficient amounts that were necessary to create another stone tablet. And the groundwork for that spell was written inside the spellbook that Ustra took apart in his pyramid back then. It was the spell "Mekados", which he had labeled as useless. The spell on the tablet was an improved version of it.
Ah, that explains why Jayna, or rather Ghadar, was so disappointed about the condition of the spellbook. He wanted the spell...
Among other things, yes.
But what the heck was that spell written on the stone tablet?
That seems to be the most important mystery the three of them have yet to solve...
All right, but can you illustrate the events chronologically again, please? Just for the sake of clarity...
No problem. The story has gotten a little bit more complicated, so some clarifications might be useful. So, listen up...



listed chronologically for now.











Shortly before that, as you may still remember, the last remaining Elras were killed by Ustra, and shortly after that, Ustra then got slaughtered by Sir Aaron. Ustra became a Shadow Wraith and was looking for a suitable host while the stone fragments got taken to the castles by the Clan of Holy Warriors.
Why didn't Ustra simply try to "possess" Sir Aaron?
For one thing, humans are weak. They are not able to collect souls, and therefore don't get stronger as far as the use of black magic is concerned. And Sir Aaron was anything but a mage. He was a warrior through and through. The second reason for that, was the fact that Ustra still had to get used to his new form. By the time he got used to it, and by the time he found out how he could possess a host, the stone fragments had already been distributed. Thus, Ustra had no timely advantage to use the stone tablet in Sir Aaron's body, either.
Right, that makes sense. Okay, go on, Grandpa.



Although, I have to say that Ustra's hunt for the Elras and Vincent's hunt for the vampires were very similar, weren't they?
Well, both times, it was about the extermination of a species. However, Vincent had a completely different goal than Ustra. He killed the vampires so that their Blood Spirits would gather in the Crimson Realm, which he then could drain at a later time. With Ustra, it was simply about wiping out his enemies. Two quite different motives for a crusade indeed, if you can even call Ustra's hunt for the Elras as such, that is. Because, after all, he was alone.
Okay, but where in the timeline can we place the other events?









to properly use the stone tablet, which caused the world to become the way you remember it from "Vampires Dawn 1", my dear Simon.
Ah, very nice, Grandpa. Now I've understood everything so far. And how does the story continue?
Well then, the three of them entered that mysterious cave...



♪ BGM: Cave Of The Elras - Staffroll.mid ♫

Indeed they did. Welcome to the Cave of the Elras, the final dungeon of the game. This dungeon is not fun. It has no puzzles (unless you count dodging traps and finding secret passages puzzles, which I do not), just enemies that will fuck your shit up, and ten floors to get through. Let's get through it...



...after grinding up to level 96 first. Figured I should be a bit more prepared. We also grab the female vampire mage for heals.



Challenge? Pfff... so far, it's all been a real walk in the park! Those Elras have been alive for far too long. Now we're going to finish them once and for all!
They won't make a fool out of us again!
The only thing that counts now is victory! Anything else would be the end of the world!
Oh, it will also end when we do win!
I'm warning you, Asgar! We will not tolerate any mistakes from your side...
Hehe, all right, all right... it was just a joke!
Your jokes were never more inappropriate!
What do you know...
Are you guys mental!? In a few moments, the Elras are going to destroy the world, and you're starting to argue!?
Alaine is right! Now is not the time to argue... let's focus on the Elras!
Fine. We'll do that what we always do... head off, and things are good...



It smells a lot like blood and festering bones!
Yummy, yummy...



Alright, it's time to head in. So like I said, this place has no puzzles or anything.



Just a lot of stuff to walk through...



...and enemies to fight. The Elras here has a spell that hits all party members and has a 20% chance of killing instantly. It's, uh, not fun. He can also cast Mirror on somebody and has strong attack spells. The fire thing just has powerful fire spells, one of which can inflict Burning. This is also not a good combination. I thought I could take these enemies on with relative ease, but, well...

...mistakes were made.

So that's our first wipe, on level three of ten. That bodes well.



♪ BGM: Asgar's Castle - blood009.mid ♫

So, this time, we will be prepared. No burning this time around.



♪ BGM: Cave Of The Elras - Staffroll.mid ♫

Of course, while we can protect ourselves from burning, we cannot protect ourselves from just dropping dead thanks to the Elras's spell. That's just going to go with the territory, I guess.



So we just keep on truckin' on...



...going through level after level. The enemies still stay the same for now, just in larger numbers when in combat.



Eventually, we make it to level six. This is where things take a turn.



We now have a new enemy type. This enemy can cast the death spell we saw earlier, and it can also cast a spell that attempts to inflict the petrified status on the entire party.

Things go very badly.

So that's another wipe. Good shit.



♪ BGM: Asgar's Castle - blood009.mid ♫

So again, we learn lessons and prepare. We grab some stuff that will at least help us with the petrification...



...and also grind to level 99 for extra security.



Also, we use our souls to make some fragments, then make some runes, then make some spells! This gets us Comet, the single target 2000 base damage spell that you might remember me calling the tactical nuke option as opposed to the carpet nuke that is Ultima 2. I like having some more options for nuking. This one goes on Valnar.



We also get another Ultima 2, which goes on Asgar so that everybody has something to nuke with, which I think is good. Now, let's take another stab at this "Cave of the Elras" thing.



♪ BGM: Cave Of The Elras - Staffroll.mid ♫

This time around, I start saving very regularly. I think I burned through like seven save stones in going through this dungeon the third time around after not using any the first two and having to redo the entire dungeon. I also learn that these bastard Elras can actually be silenced with Alaine's Silence spell, which helps a bundle.



We also run into some dragons which can inflict burning and weakness on all party members. Because fuck you. So basically, this mneas that we're always going to be at risk - either we're risking petrification, or we're risking burning. We can only equip one of the two equipment pieces, and there are combat groups that have both enemy types in them, which causes issues.



Some fights are quite close calls.



I damn near shit myself here, because these two Elras guys were casting the death spell like crazy, and I could very well have either wiped or lost the mage here. In fact, at one point, I spent five Eternity Potions just reviving the mage, just for the guy to kill her again. Eventually, we make it through.







Levels seven, eight and nine pass by without major incident. I've gotten super careful now and am saving very often, which is great, because now I'm not dying anymore. Whatever, I'm not going to be using those save stones for anything else anyway. I've also very actively started dodging enemies because fuck it, I'm level 99, I don't need to fight anything anymore.



The enemies on the last two levels are actually much easier than the last ones, because they don't have as much status effect and death fuckery. Though it might also be because I'm more willing to just nuke enemies into oblivion with my spells.



Finally, we make it to the tenth and final floor. Here, the name of the game is finding secret passages. A lot.



And eventually, we make it to the center and through this fuckery of a dungeon.



Only one more room keeps us from the final area, and it's a doozy. Look at that staircase - every single one of those events on there is a trap. That staircase will fucking pulverize you if you let it. Just use the secret passage to the side. It's just not worth it.



On the other side, we find a teleporter...



...which brings us back outside! The good thing of course being that we can now teleport back, so I won't need to go through this fucking dungeon again, I can just teleport down.

Next time, we will take on the final fight and see our first of six endings! Ending excitement hooooooooooo!