Part 43: Update -XXXV- The End... mostly

Update 35 Highlights - Learning from History




Of course our victory is short lived because Brandelis still has his backpack full of Megalixirs. Oh well, we tried.

No! Is it done yet?!

Almost... Just a little more time!

Really? Is that all?

Get your ass in gear, Hauyn!

Rraaah!



Seems as though history is repeating itself. Lann's going for the double KO again.



Huh? Reynn?

Concentrate! Focus on the cage so it only encases him!

Right!

It's really as simple as that?



It seems so.

Folly!

*Brandelis is not having any of it, though. He starts pushing through the cage wall*

Come ON!

We're not going to make it! Lady Lusse... Help us!



Dad?



Mom?



Thanks ghost mom and ghost dad! Way to make up for your shitty parenting at the eleventh hour!

Reynn. You ready?

Yeah.





Oh god, I do not want to imagine how that must feel.

Such power... It's not possible...



Update 35 Highlights - Deus Ex Machina






Well, they did something. Not sure if it's anything useful though.









Well isn't that just neat and tidy? I mean, a ton of people still died, but at least there won't be any major reconstruction projects needed for the towns.





The Ultima Gate threatens to suck up all the heroes as well, but the various summons pop in to save them.











Not quite sure how summons like Mist Dragon and Valefor are helping to keep Rydia and Yuna grounded. Valefor at least should definitely be getting sucked right up into that gate, what with those giant wings.







Uh... guys? Valefor might be immune to aerodynamics, but Brandelis doesn't seem to be.









Brandelis is freed from the cage due to it being tipped over against the stairs. He also manages to grab Hauyn during his landing.

See guys? I told you to try chucking a rock at it! Lann created a Russian Nesting Doll of cages and they all shattered at once from just tipping over. You totally could have broken Hauyn out of her cage without using the Ultima Gate.





Tama!



Hauyn goes flying, but Tama makes the save.









Shoryuken!



Update 35 Highlights - Lann and Reynn finally do something right




I'll kill you yet!

Man, you are just a giant tick. You aren't coming back from this bro. Give up, because hot damn am I sick of fighting you.



Huh?! Reynn? Lann?!





There! Use those to keep Grymoire safe!

You'll find all the other prismariums with Serafie!

World of Final Fantasy Music: Ending Melody
Huh? Wh-what are you saying?



You can't! I don't--

Everything's going to be better, Wyn. Once we go through, the portal will vanish, so these trash cans won't ever be able to meddle in your world again.

Wait, it works like that? The Ultima Gate just stops existing if you guys leave the world? Man, your family was an even bigger accident waiting to happen than I thought.

But... what about you?

Hey! Get those corners turned up.

You don't want your happiness spilling out.









And thank you for everything!







Good-bye! Take care! We'll see you around!













They brought us so much bad and good. And then they just swept it all away in the end.

I'll say. The two of them were a force of nature.

And much like a force of nature, they were highly destructive and uncontrollable.

Maybe I'll take a leaf out of their playbook and go a little crazy for a change!



They will? Didn't they get sucked into the gate where the Cogna came from?

Yes. If they stay together, we have nothing to worry about.

Oh, right. That stupid "power of family love" garbage.

Okay, it's our turn. Grymoire's gonna need some fixing up.

It's gonna be a lot of work.

Yeah. There are bodies to identify, corpses to bury, cleaning up the giant smoldering crater where a village used to be that Ultima created when it landed. Dismantling the cathedral soul sucking machines and disposing of all the creepy crystal body things.





Where the fuck have you been this entire time?!



Well done.

What an ending. Lann and Reynn took responsibility and sacrificed themselves to correct their horrible horrible mistakes, along with the general stupidity of their entire family. Ah.

Hold on. Why do I hear music?

World of Final Fantasy Music: World Parade


Oh lord. Not the cutesy dance ending! Please!

Update 35 Highlights - Of course there's a cute dance number


Goddammit! What's even worse is they are animated in that super creepy realistic style that DLC Sephiroth was, except it's somehow even more unsettling-ly detailed and... fleshy looking.



Good work Mr. Chiba. It was a weird game, but it definitely had some neat ideas.



I liked the character interactions, although there were some missed opportunities. I also would have appreciated a few more variations in some of the pairings. Namely Tidus and Yuna. It's super weird to see some couples like Cloud and Tifa, or Squall and Rinoa, be kept apart or have very few interactions, only for Tidus and Yuna to get stapled together immediately.

If you're going to play with the Final Fantasy character pairings and mix and match, then give everyone that treatment. At the very least Yuna got interactions with the other summoners. Tidus didn't really get scenes with anyone outside Shantotto and Yuna.





Speaking of, Tidus' Blitzball gets loose and nails Shantotto in the head during these credits and that makes me happy.





There was also a shameful lack of certain characters and songs from some of the games. I mean, they hit all the major memorable songs, but the absence of stuff like Vivi's theme (despite the fact that he's in the damn game as a Champion) is a definite disappointment.



There was also the lack of particular characters from certain FF titles. I find it baffling that they made a big crossover/30th Anniversary celebration game and yet completely left out II and XII.



That being said, the characters that were in the game at least sounded good. It's nice to see them getting the typical VA's in for so many characters, especially for both English and Japanese.



Granted, it wasn't all good. There was a weird recurring issue with the dialog where voice clips would cut off. No rhyme or reason for it either. It could be during a little intervention quest, a minor story scene, or even the final confrontation with the big bad. They'd just be talking and then their line would just stop. It wasn't a lip flap thing, because it even happened to characters like Brandelis who has no lip flaps.

It also wasn't a case of the voice not being able to fit into the scene. The scene would clearly have enough length to accommodate the dialog, but it just cut anyway.



Hiroshi Harata, you've got some damn explaining to do when it comes to those minigames.



I liked the music in the game itself. As in the stuff done specifically for WoFF. None of it was really stand out, but I felt it was serviceable. That could be in part due to the fact that so many iconic FF tracks surrounded it.



Okay, we get it. It's a dance ending. It's cute and kids will love it and you're desperately hoping they will try and imitate the dance.



God that is so fucking creepy looking. Especially considering the close up shots show that the fabric and hair are incredibly detailed.



Anyway, from here we get the typical character parade while the main theme song gives way to generic "we still need to fill out the rest of the credits" music.



Also, Lilikin Hauyn.

Update 35 Highlights - True Ending (of the base game)


That's the end of the game if you didn't finish the intervention quests. The following scene is the "True End" which you only see if you complete every Intervention Quest before talking to Serafie for the final battle (again, this excludes "A Bridge's Woes", since that was DLC).











So now Reynn and Lann are Mirages themselves. Or Champions. Or Mediums. They're something. Whatever they are, at the very least Hauyn now has a way to control the two idiots and stop them from screwing things up again.

After this we get a prompt to save and then we're immediately dumped back in Sylver Park.



A bunch of stuff opens up now that we've seen the True End. First of all, Hauyn is now going to be our main character. Apparently she's the Mirage Keeper now and she can also swap between Lilikin and Jiant forms.





We're told about Mastery Bonuses, although there's a good chance you've already experienced that by now. A lot of people like to stick to their favorite Mirages for a large portion of the game, so chances are at least one of them has mastered their board by now.



Next up, there are three Bonus Dungeons to complete (additional ones will open up as we beat the first three). These dungeons were in the base game, so this isn't part of the Maxima update.



...Also fishing. Super looking forward to that. Everyone knows how fun fishing minigames are in every game they show up in.



This is a bonus for Maxima. I have no idea what it is or does (I didn't look up stuff on Maxima content since I wanted to see it fresh), but I heavily assume it's another bonus dungeon.

On top of that, we get a treasure tracker, to help us find missing chests. New Rumors have also shown up on Serafie's Rumor Radar.

But the biggest change that's immediately noticeable is that--



Lann and Reynn no longer have to be in a stack. There are pros and cons to this. First of all, without Lann or Reynn, we cannot summon XL Mirages. Only Lann and Reynn can use Champion Summons, so you lose those if you remove them both. You also can't use Mirajewels if you remove them.

On the other hand, removing them greatly opens up our options for stack compositions. Although we can't use Mirajewels, Mirages will sometimes have the abilities you want naturally. You can then use Blank Spaces to fill in stat boosts or other abilities.

At the moment, removing the twins from the stacks isn't such a great idea. Post game content is tough, and they are most certainly the highest level "Mirages" that you have, so replacing them with anything else will likely lead to a big stat drop (as seen above with Dingldoink).



New Coliseum Challenges have also appeared. I went through and completed every available challenge before the final battle, but the post-game offers up a few extra tough ones. Those extra tough ones can be captured though, and I have plans for some of them.

Which means that this LP isn't done yet. On top everything else, Maxima also adds a "Secret Ending" which is obtained by basically doing everything in the game. We don't need the complete Mirage Manual or anything like that, but we do need to beat all bonus dungeons, all bonus super bosses, and the new Intervention Quests.



Which means I have grinding to do. Lots and lots and lots of grinding. Woooo...