Part 33: The King of Hearts

Update 31 - The King of Hearts


MUSIC: Heart Fairy





So we just met the best fairy in the whole universe, and found out the giant beast that was tracking us on the mountain is, in fact, the King of Hearts himself. Audrey has promised not to kill him, and help us try and save what's left of him. And how are we going to do that? Singing, obviously! Before we can leave the castle and go find the King again, let's finish talking to the Heart Fairy, as its a good girl and deserves lots of pets.


Bark!!! You give me a good feeling!!! Are you the Hero???

Oh, nope! That's Audrey! But do you really think... I seem like a hero?!

Yes!!!

I like you!!!

Wow! I like you too!!!


New life goal: get a dog to tell me they like me.


The King of Hearts is really good!!! Or at least, he was!!! He's the most sweetest, loving, NICE wolfie!!! He loves everybody and he would never hurt anybody!!!

Yowza, I'm so worried about him!!! Why did he have to start acting so strange??? Do you think he'll be ok???

I don't know! But... we'll do everything we can to help him! Me and Audrey... have a very special agreement! We're working together now!

OK!!! Gosh I'm excited!!! I really hope you can help him!!! And bring him back here!!! He's my most special friend in the whole universe!!! He loves to bark and play and howl... and NOT make evil monsters!!! (Even though that's what he does now!!!) If you can make him normal again... I think everything is gonna be OK!!!

Okay, enough already! Do you talk this much to... everything??? We need to get a move on!


Oh Audrey, you have NO idea. There's entire updates dedicated to talking to people. At least the Heart Fairy is talking about interesting and cool things, and is cool herself, rather than... gosh most of Xiatian.




(Well... bye!)

(Bye!!!)




Name a better fairy... you can't.






MUSIC: Silence







Despite just getting on to us about talking to everything, Audrey is ready for a long chat with Bard before we head on up the stairs.


...

Do you really think singing is going to do anything?

Yes! It has to!

...

I hope you're right. For both our sakes. Remember the Sun and Moon Overseers? When Overseers are dying, they lose their personality... and their shape... by the end, there's nothing left that's recognizable. So, even if the King of Hearts used to love music... there's really no guarantee that part of him is still alive now.

Augh! No way! Music... NEVER dies, Audrey! You'll see!

Hey, hang on a second... Where's... your witchy friend?

Oh, Miriam?



Remember?

Oh. Well, you and her really messed up back then. Letting creatures out of the spirit world.

And she was a real jerk too, but you aren't so bad. I'm amazed you let her hang around you. Her attitude was so bad, she must have been a constant down--

Hey.

...

Don't talk about Miriam like that. She's my friend. And... I'm still mad that you hurt her.

I HATE that you call yourself a hero! You just act like a big bully! When you have a problem... all you do is hurt people. You're no hero at all! And what you did to Miriam... was really terrible! She was just trying to help my friends. She was gonna save the world with me! She's a good person! You didn't have to hurt her, Audrey! THAT... was just plain evil!



...

...Sorry. For hurting your friend.

...

You're sorry?

I'm doing my best, to be the hero, and do the right thing. Maybe I went too far. Is she okay?

I don't know...

...

She had to go home. But I think she'll be okay. I just wish she was here...

...

The things you do with your sword... aren't always good. I know you fought monsters and saved lots of people, but you also hurt us a lot. I think it's good that you lost it... you don't need it to be a hero.

You'll see. We'll work together! And save the King of Hearts!

I hope you're right. You've already surprised me... so I guess at this point, I'll believe anything. I won't be much use without my sword anyway. So, as scary as it is... my fate here rests in your hands.

...

_{(What have I gotten myself into...)}




You've joined Bard's crew Audrey, and that means believing in the power of friendship and the power of song. I'd say that's a joke, but as Miriam established - We are a walking joke.









We've got to climb a long set of stairs since we are still in an Overseer's Castle, and what would those be like without long stairways or hallways?









We're back outside and on the mountain itself. Bard is still not dressed for this weather and is freezing his butt off, while Audrey seems to have realized she was going to climb a mountain and dressed appropriately.













Audrey usually outpaces Bard pretty quickly, especially since he's cold and unable to move that quickly. The platforming here is even a bit tricky since Bard can't make the longer jumps in the cold, compared to Audrey.





We can finally catch up to her and move past her, thanks to her AI bugging out right here though

That happened in the exact same spot my first playthrough as well, I assume these quick jumps aren't well suited for it to handle.

















We found Audrey's sword at least, though I'm not sure that's a good thing. Also, I can't help but want to pet the Overseer, now that I know he's just a big ol doggie.













...Granted, a dog that can teleport.




That stupid dog has it!!! Where's he taking it...? Let's go after him!




I really don't think we should help her out Bard. She seems really insistent on getting that back, and there's still two Overseers alive.











Good news though, she got stuck again

Now we won't have to worry about her anymore!









...Oh, you're back. The blizzard seems to have ended... and the atmosphere seems... warmer? Where are we?








VIDEO: The King of Hearts

(Video covers rest of update)



That STUPID DOG!!! What are you doing...



Holding my sword over lava??? Give it back here, boy!















My bird friend!!!

That was close!

Too close...





That would have been a catastrophe! He's... EVIL!

No, Audrey! Don't you see...



He doesn't want you to hurt him! That's why he tried to take your sword... but he didn't hurt us!





We're lucky we escaped alive! Your bird friend has the right idea... the Beast hurt them too, didn't he?

...

This isn't what you promised!!! You have to be NICE!!! Let me just......

Sing! We have to try, Audrey! I think there's still something good inside him!




Bard does seem right, the Overseer hasn't been hurting anything, though he has been trapping birds in those bubbles. He seems to mostly just want to be left alone... though he is still producing monsters. Well, it won't hurt to try and sing to him regardless.








SFX: Beast Roar


MUSIC: The King of Hearts





Hmm. That doesn't look good. That thing's just a monster now! It won't listen to us.

NOOO! There has to be a way!

There might be! If...



That'll stun it... and then you'd be able to get close.

Will that hurt him?

Yes.

...



?

FINE! But...

Only because I want to help him!

Please don't do more than you have to...




Now... we are helping Audrey fight the King of Hearts... with the hope that stunning him will let us sing to him and bring back whatever's left of his personality. First of all, you really REALLY should click the music link if you haven't. Second of all, the fight will go down like this...





Audrey will begin charging up her attack, and while this happens...









...She'll get attacked by the King of Hearts and be forced to stop and collect herself.




Could you make yourself useful, and maybe... cover me? I can't charge up if he's attacking me...


And after that, we are called upon to be Audrey's shield while she charges her attack. Being her shield is simple.







When an attack comes, we sing in the direction of the attack and a shield forms around us and Audrey. So long as we sing in the correct direction, she's able to charge up.









When she's fully charged up, Audrey will run towards the King of Hearts and...









...COMPLETELY WHIFF IT. Audrey does have a slight chance of missing her attacks, this wasn't a glitch or anything. But it's kinda funny when it happens. Let's... try again, shall we Audrey?











Now, with the King of Hearts stunned, we need to run over to him and sing. Doesn't matter what and how we sing, we just need to sing!





As we do, some of the black particles start to come off of him, and he starts to get a bit smaller over time. We just need to keep singing and...









... The process repeats. Unlike with previous fights though, there are new wrinkles to the pattern.





This attack usually seems to come far away from wherever Bard seems to be standing at. The beam will charge for a bit until...









A gigantic ball of energy falls directly downward onto the platform, if Bard isn't there to shield it. If it hits the platform, Bard and Audrey get tossed into the air, stopping her charge, and making it harder for Bard to protect Audrey from further attacks.





The directional attacks will still come, but will add another direction per wave. Similar to when Hala attacked us in the inn, the attack needs to be met in the order it appears.









So long as we can prevent Audrey from being attacked, the rounds go by quickly and we can start to help the King of Hearts.







We've got two attacks in! He seems to be weakening a bit, just a little bit more...





Similar to the directional attack, the King of Hearts himself will attack Audrey from a direction and this must be shielded in the exact same way.







However, after the attack, Bard goes flying with the momentum of the attack. Which can put him in a bad spot to defend Audrey from future attacks.







It works out well if she ends up following you after the attack, but she won't always do this. The King of Hearts can attack frequently, so being out of place for even a moment could put Audrey down for a bit.





The directional attacks continue again, but add another attack to the wave. Missing one, means Audrey's down and has to regain her charge.









Like that.









The King of Hearts has to be weakened at this stage, his stature has been significantly reduced.









One more hit, and we should be able to talk to him! We've just gotta make it through another round of attacks!!





The directional attacks add another attack per wave. They can seem easy, but can come quickly enough that you lose your footing for one of them... and one slip up is all that matters.





These energy slam attacks now come at double speed, meaning you've got precious little time to make it which can mean...







It lands, and flips Bard and Audrey in the air. It's a neat little effect but uh, we don't want it to happen.







The King of Hearts' attacks are more fierce and are executed with more speed. If you had felt comfortable with the timings before, you'll likely slip up and have Audrey fall. But, stick with it and we can land the last attack.



MUSIC: The King of Hearts - Stunned


















You're the King of Hearts, right...? I bet nobody even tried to talk to you...








NOOOOOO








MUSIC: Silence


You... you PROMISED!!!

Yeah, well. I lied.

But WHY? The King of Hearts wasn't bad! He didn't have to die!

You just don't get it!

And... maybe you never will. This is just how it had to happen. And I did what I had to... to make sure it did. I told you... I can't just... "promise" away my responsiblity. Being the Hero is more than that.

Then being the Hero is stupid! It's stupid and I hate it! It's stupid and I hate it, and... you didn't have to do it! You could have chosen different! We could have healed the Overseer... and fixed everything... and stopped the world from ending! But you ruined it! You ruined everything...












With the King of Hearts dead... the area seems to have lost all life. The skies have darkened, the lightning is striking more often, and even the sounds seemed to have dimmed. The world... is really starting to feel like it's ending.






MUSIC: Mysterious Rainbow Girl




No.

How ya doin!!!

Leave me alone!



I don't want to talk to you ever again.

What?

You're a liar! This is just a game to you! You don't really care about us at all. You don't care if the world ends. You don't care about anything. I thought I could be a hero. I thought I could change something... but it was all a lie to make me feel good... I should have never listened to you...



Lil b... That... hurts... but it's not true!!! I really didn't lie to you, I swear! Actually, I came to tell you, I'm totally on your team now!

Huh?

Yeah! I mean, you're still definitely not the hero, but that doesn't matter! You're good! And there's still a chance to stop the end of the world... there's still one more Overseer... The one we, um... skipped.

The Dream King?

Yeah!!! I told Audrey as much... that maybe she should stop... and give you time to collect the Earthsong... but she really didn't like that... one bit.

Really?

I think... she's really scared, lil b. When I said she should wait for you... She acted like... I was taking somethin from her. I think she really wants to be the hero, basically no matter what. She's... kinda dangerous... I mean I love you both, but... She's gotta be stopped.

Then... there's no time to waste!!!

Yes!!!

We need to hurry! Back to Langtree!

Right! But, first... you gotta collect the King of Hearts' song...

Right!








Before we get to the Earthsong piece, I want to talk about Audrey because there won't be another chance to do so.

I really like Audrey as a written character. She's a prick, but that's part of what makes her good. She is the Hero, and there is nothing in the game that has put that in doubt since we met her. Bard isn't the hero, despite being the protagonist of the game, and will never be the hero no matter how much he wants to be. Despite that, Bard continually puts himself in danger to help others, no matter who they are. Audrey, does put herself in danger, but mostly because she's the Hero, and that's what the Hero does! She happily takes in the glory when she saves a town, and does try to rescue people and be a good person.

The moment she meets Bard however, she antagonizes him and tries to kill him... because she's scared that he may be the Hero instead of her. She's terrified of having to go back to a normal life, just like Bard, and will do whatever it is the Hero is supposed to do... even though doing so will utterly doom the world. Because, she's the hero appointed by Eya, and that's what she's supposed to do. Bard cares more about saving the world, while Audrey cares more about being the Hero. Ideally, the Hero would save the world, but that's not happening here. She's an interesting character, and ends up being surprisingly well written in a game that was just supposed to be "Happy Singing Adventure."

Now then, let's get to these strings.





The string on the far left is powering up, so we'll start it up by singing a note near it.







After a couple of seconds, this airbubble appears with a direction and color on it. We just need to sing that color/direction near any of the strings and it will lock in place.









Then, two bubbles appear. We need to do the same thing near two different strings. As far as I can tell, the string you use doesn't matter.









This pattern starts to repeat for a bit and can take a while. But eventually...





















We will get the King of Hearts' song, and finish act 6. There remains only one Overseer... as well as one more act. The game is coming to an end... and... I don't know if it will be a happy one after all.