Part 46: Update -XXXVIII- Finale
Time to end this LP. Before we go after the super special secret ending and all the shit that has to be done to unlock it, I want to clear out the remainder of the game first.
The Coliseum has a few special battles open. Most of them are just special battles against multiple bosses (like fighting all the Exnine Knights in a row). I won't bother going over those because they are just the same fights we've already seen.
There are a scattered few Mirages that haven't been obtained yet.
First, I pick up Omega Bane. It needed to be dealt a lot of damage at once, which I have Macho Man for.
Next is a Shiva-Ixion of our very own. She needs to be hit with ice attacks, which is a very simple capture condition that I really like. No fuss.
Then we get Syldra. Once again, dealing a lot of damage at once is the condition. Macho Man drops a flying elbow to trigger it.
After that, I go on a treasure hunt to track down the chests that I apparently missed. I didn't get the achievement for opening every chest, which means that I overlooked some.
When you use the Treasure Tracker from your item menu (it's under the Miscellany tab), it will give you a jingle and a notice telling you if there is an unopened chest somewhere in the dungeon. If it is responding faintly, that means the chest is in a different section of the dungeon.
When the tracker reacts strongly, it means there is a chest in this section of the dungeon. In my case...
It was in section 2 just out of frame from the main path.
I also missed two in Crystal Tower. They were behind two pillars that I didn't realize were smashable. Of course it had to be Crystal Tower, one of my least favourite dungeons.
Anyway, with that done, it's on to Sunken Temple. There is a very special achievement that can be obtained here (at least for the Steam version). I don't really care about achievements, but I do care about this one because I have a crush on Quacho Queen and this achievement makes Lann look like an asshole, which is funny to me.
Quacho Queen hangs out in her Throne Room where we can catch her story version (another reason I'm doing this, because it's needed for completion). You actually can't talk to her with Hauyn.
You also can't challenge her with Lann. You have to speak to her with Reynn as the lead character.
So, uh, Reynn, what brings you here today?
Is that so? How very... courageous... Challenge accepted! Ho ho ho! I've been waiting for a chance... to let my quachos and I hone our battle prowess. The two of you... should make for worthy opponents! Now! Quachos, attack!
Miney and Mo can't be imprismed in this fight (you have to do the Coliseum battle for them), but story Quacho Queen just needs to be healed. They are tougher than they were when we first met them, but we've far outclassed them by this point.
If you do fight them, be careful of Rage Bomber/Extreme Bomber. It's a type of counter that gets stronger when more damage is dealt. Hit them with a super powerful attack and they might turn it around on you.
And with that, QQ falls to the ground and conks out for a while. You actually need to leave the Sunken Temple and run all the way back here in order to challenge her again.
She has some sleepy dialogue if you try talking to her with different characters while she's knocked out, though.
Anyway, the achievement in question requires you to defeat QQ with Lann. Not Lann's stack. Just Lann. Take out Miney and Mo first, then keep an eye out for how much damage your different attacks are doing. This will let you whittle her HP down as low as possible. Remember that Elemental Attack items can deal flat damage (as long as the element is neutral against the enemy).
This is a little tricky to pull off. Unstacked Lann, even at a very high level, does not hit very hard. He also doesn't have the AP necessary to pull off a lot of his abilities. Quacho Queen is also capable of healing herself for a few thousand HP. If you have Haste, then casting it on Lann is a good way to set up the finisher.
The Achievement is "Accursed Man-thing!", but unfortunately it doesn't get any special dialogue or anything to go along with it.
Anyway, that's all that's needed here.
With that, the Mirage Manual is 100% complete (sort of). The other Mirages that I was missing were all ones we've already seen. However, in order for them to count you actually have to transfig into them (it's not enough to just unlock the Mirage board). Because of that, you didn't miss any new ones that I haven't previously shown off (unless I forgot to show the description for one over the course of the game). It was just a lot of boring grinding and transfigging.
Speaking of boring grinding, I also spent several hours on the Legendary Caretaker Achievement. Legendary Caretaker requires 100 mastered Mirage Boards. That was fun. Even more fun was me seeing that one of the achievements for a full completion was "do every Coliseum Battle Time Attack". I already had Legendary Caretaker at that point, but seeing that as one of the achievements just caused me to throw my hands up and go "Fuuuuck that."
Achievements don't tie in to 100% completion for this game. I had just decided that if I was in fact going to completionist after all, then I may as well go all the way and nab all the achievements. I changed my mind upon seeing that Coliseum one. I'm not battling through the same 50+ fights again while also under a level cap and time limit, all for the sake of a digital sticker.
With that done, here is a look at the final party that I finished the rest of the end game content with.
Lann and Reynn's stacks are still the workhorses, largely because I need them to summon Macho Man (who is my boss breaker).
Finally, it's time we take a look at the DLC quest "A Bridge's Woes". I have been saving this the entire time because it relates to Enna Kros, who disappeared for 99% of the game.
Update 38 Highlights - A Bridge's Woes
*Big Bridge Alexander lets out a whale noise or something*
Ohhh. So then you are from the same place as me. Whooooa, wait, I know you! Come to think of it, even back then you used to tower over everyone else.*Big Bridge Alexander lets out a whale noise or something*
You don't remember? You came and challenged me so you could be next in line for the throne.
What a state we left that part of the palace in! They were cleaning that mess up for quite a while.*Big Bridge Alexander lets out a whale noise or something*
Haha! Well, don't sound so surprised. You know, this world you're in is a part of me. Oh, now I see. The summoner who brought you here so long ago was similar to Lann and Reynn-- someone who had inherited some of my power. The bloodline of Grymoire's first summoner has been so busy. Those Farnas! There are so many like you in this world now.
It's only mentioned in Edgar's Who's Who entry, but the Midgardian Ormr is actually the Mako Reactor/Underground Prison. The Who's Who entry says that Edgar watches over it, but there's also evidence that points to nobody being aware that it is an Eidolon (except for Enna Kros anyway). Edgar certainly never makes mention of it, and he isn't a summoner like Eiko, so it's hard to know how/if he is really aware.
There's you, of course. And who else...*Big Bridge Alexander lets out a whale noise or something*
Hm? What do I want with you?There is a fifth Eidolon (the Who's Who entry and this Intervention hint at its existence), but it isn't named at any point of this game. There are a few places it could be, (assuming the theme of Eidolons being structures holds true for all of them) like Tometown, but nothing is confirmed or hinted at. It could also be the Coliseum, as that is said to be an Eidolon as well, but whether or not the Coliseum counts as part of "this world" or not is a little questionable.
Actually, I'm not here to see you. I'm here for the one hiding in you... You there. Show yourself!
The hell is this thing doing here?
Oh well. Champions will show up there in due time. Just like they have here in Grymoire...
Huh?!
D'ah! Wh-wh-wh-what the?!'Kay! It's all yours now.Wait, all of what is?
It's the-good to see you again!Hi there, Tama! So, it feels like it's been a long time for you?It sure the-does!You ditched us within the first hour of gameplay and only showed up again 40 hours later. You bet your ass it's been a long time.
E...Enna Kros?! But, how can... When did you...
I like how the giant Gundam/Gurren Lagan thing is just standing around back there. Not in a rush or anything, just patiently waiting for someone to fight.
I guess it must be the most powerful Cogna in Grymoire right now.You don't even know?!This world looks to the two of you as its saviors now. Go make us proud. Okay Tama! You can go ahead and take it from here.Roger the-dodger that! See you the-real soon!*And then Enna Kros just poofs away*
But what are we doing?!Hey! L-Lann, heads up!
E-Enna Kros! Don't just leave us here! Tell us! What is going on?!Update 38 Highlights - Blade Dance, Atomic Impact, Soul of Chaos
Omega God is fairly powerful if you try and take it on before the post-game. After that, it's kind of a pushover.
It's especially a pushover when I'm hitting it with Thundaja backed by Garland's "Ultimate Focus" magic buff.
Atomic Impact is its special move. It grows super large--
Extends the big hand over the little hand.
And then just punches you really hard.
Also, I can confirm that Garland does not say his infamous line "I, Garland, will knock you all down!" For shame, Maxima developers. For shame. Sure, you made reference to it in the description by making him a master of toppling, but that's not good enough. You got Christopher Sabat/Koji Ishii in to voice some attack lines and yet you didn't do the most important one of all.
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I was wondering about all the ruckus. What are you up to now?Eiko?Whoa whoa whoa. It's not like it's our fault! We didn't cause any ruckus.Well, someone must have woken Alexander up, 'cause I could hear him making all kinds of noise and--
Some pest was bothering him. He said he was in pain until you showed up, or something like that. Hmm, I don't know what that's about. But, I guess I'd better thank you too. Rescuing Alexander like that was very brave!
And that's all! We just get an Omega God for completing the quest. No need to imprism. I'm unsure of whether or not Omega God is a reference to another game.
Oh, and because Enna Kros is a dick, we get dumped off at the base of Big Bridge after this quest is done. The problem with that is it takes a good 30 seconds to a minute to get to the nearest return gate (there is no return gate at the bottom of Big Bridge). You either need to climb up the side of the bridge to where the elevator stopped during the story, or you need to head back along the desert path to the Phantom Sands.
Anyway, that takes care of all Interventions. So why was I saving that one for so long?
Because of this guy. If you haven't picked up on it yet, Enna Kros is actually Alexander. Well, she's an Alexander anyway. Alexander is the greater god in the World of Final Fantasy universe. It is the creator of the A-Worlds and takes various forms.
So back before the "Realms of Fantasy", a woman named Roksanne (which Enna Kros is an anagram of) caught the attention of Alexander and it decided to merge with her. Alexander (as Enna Kros) would go on to meet Anamika, who had powers over time and fantasy. By using their powers together, the "Realms of Fantasy" were created.
Enna Kros is just one of many forms that Alexander takes. She isn't so much "God" as she is an avatar of one (although some people may just consider these to technically be the same thing). As mentioned above, there is a guy named Aris that used to be Serafie's master and was also an avatar of Alexander, although I think it is implied that Aris was killed off or vanished or something.
Speaking of Anamika, she is actually Neon Tsukiyumi sometime after the events of that Sigma Harmonics. I won't go into details about what happens,
Good stuff. With all of this knowledge under our belt, it's time we go beat the crap out of Enna Kros.
Enna Kros hangs out in Nine Bean Coffee, which lies at the end of North Promenade. Before starting the battle with her, here are a few tips to keep in mind:
-Have Dispel
-Be fully stocked on healing/AP items
-Have Ice or Dark attacks. Blizzaga is a good choice
-Reflect is useless
I can't give you a particular strategy, just because there are so many approaches to this fight. Everyone has their preference based on what Mirages they've trained up (I'm operating with a random assortment, because I'm mainly using ones that the thread decided to nickname). Either way, you need to be ready for a very long war of attrition when it comes to this fight.
You can't use Champions first of all. Serafie and Tama will also be fighting alongside her.
All three of them have about 40-50k HP, which isn't too bad for a super boss. Serafie is the only one with a elemental weaknesses (resists Wind, weak to Dark and Ice).
Serafie can use Loud Whisperwind, which damages you and heals her. It's not a lot of HP, though. Overall, Serafie isn't a major threat in this fight. The one thing she can do that you need to be careful of is Rumor Radar. Rumor Radar is basically "Libra". She'll use it on one of your stacks and it will tell Enna Kros what Elemental Weakness that stack has. Enna Kros will then use that information to hit your stack with a -ja spell on her next turn (of the element the stack is weak to).
Tama is the support character. She can cast stuff like Haste, Faith, Regen, and Focus to buff Enna Kros' attacks. This is why you need Dispel. Tama also has Foxfire, which can be a problem if you have a heavy fire weakness (which Reynn's stack actually had in this fight).
Meanwhile, Enna Kros has permanent Shell/Protect (which works against Gravity), and she can also pierce Reflect.
Overall, it seems pretty manageable. Just knock out the support, then Enna Kros, and pick off Serafie (the weak link) last. So what's the big "war of attrition" thing I mentioned?
Tama has an automatic ability called Timewalk. Timewalk triggers immediately upon any one of the three getting KO'ed and restores them to full health. It's essentially an Auto-Mega Phoenix.
So how are you supposed to deal with this garbage? No, taking Tama out first won't do it. Timewalk still triggers. However, if you remember correctly, Tama has to sacrifice one of her lives in order to reverse time. That means she has a limited number of uses before she needs to rest and restore her lives.
That means the goal of this fight is all about repeatedly KO'ing EK/Tama/Serafie until Tama runs out of Timewalks. She has about 7 or 8 uses of it. I don't know for sure, but I would guess that 8 is the maximum since Tama only has 9 lives. Be careful about multi-target attacks, though. If you knock out two or more of them in the same turn, then Tama only has to use 1 Timewalk to bring everyone back. You want to stagger the KO's so that Tama keeps using Timewalk to restore individual characters.
Enna Kros also has a multi-target Holy spell with Topple that hurts like a bitch. She doesn't seem to use it very often, but it's quite potent if your HP is running a little low (or if you are unlucky enough to be unstacked).
Outside of that, the fight is just a slow grind towards stopping Tama. Once Tama's lives are used up, the three of them should start to fall relatively quickly. If you've been hammering them with Blizzaga (or other multi-target abilities) then they may be only a few hits away.
It's not exactly an exciting fight to be honest. My strategy involved doing the back and forth dance until Tama only had 1 or 2 Timewalks left, then tagging Macho Man in and letting him take a beating before Revenge Blasting everyone into dust.
He ended up seriously overkilling her. That would have one-shot her at full HP.
The rewards are a joke, but everything is a joke at this point because we have access to EX Dungeon D.
We also get an Initial Regen mirajewel, which is... kind of terrible. It grants Regen at the start of battle, except the start of battle is when your HP is already going to be full (and if it isn't, then just pop an X-Potion/Elixir). Lann and Reynn's turn also usually comes up first, so if you really wanted Regen then just equip a Regen mirajewel. At least with a Regen mirajewel you can keep casting it throughout the battle, whereas Initial Regen becomes worthless after it wears off.
Moving on. Time to check out the creepy vortex in Crystal Tower.
It leads to the not real Ultima Gate location. Going up to the big tablet gives us this note.
We need to break six seals before we can fight this super boss. This is incredibly boring and kind of time consuming.
The seals are found by flying around in the airship. There is no icon or anything that points to where they are, you just have to fly near them and look for ??? prompts.
There are six of these that correspond to six elements. Each one has a switch that has to be activated. The Fire switch needs a weight of 15 and a Fire Resistance of 150 or greater. This will more than likely involve a bunch of rooting through your Mirage case to track down the exact combination of Mirages you need, because these switch conditions are pretty difficult to meet.
For the fire switch, I use Flammantoise, Bihydra, and Ghildra.
The Water switch is near Besaid. It requires a Weight of 14 and a Water Resistance of 150 or greater.
Stack I used: Water Toad, Sea Snake, Sea Worm.
Wind switch in the Windswept Mire. Weight 14/Wind Resistance 175.
Stack I used: Wind Toad, Dualizard, Shiva-Ixion.
Earth switch in Pyreglow. Weight 14/Earth Resist 200.
Stack I used: Flammantoise, Sistertaur, Titan.
Ice switch near Saronia. Weight 14/Ice Resist 150.
Stack I used: Death Searcher, Master Tonberry, Shiva-Ixion.
Thunder switch at the tip of the mountain near Nibelheim. Weight 14/Thunder Resist 175.
Stack I used: Sandicore, Master Tonberry, Syldra.
After activating all six switches and returning to the vortex, we find someone waiting for us.
Update 38 Highlights - The Immortal Dark Dragon
World of Final Fantasy Music: The Immortal Dark Dragon
I'm not sure if The Immortal Dark Dragon is a reference to something. He kind of looks like a Dragoon, but he's using some kind of rifle with a bayonet. I'm unaware of any character that "Tristan" could be a reference to.
Oh well. He's kind of a disappointment either way. He mostly uses Slash, which hits for about 3000 damage. He has about 100k in HP. He has Magic Counter, Counterstance, Focus, and Bravery. That's... kind of it.
Oh, he also does this. The replicas only have a fraction of his HP and will sometimes just stand around and do nothing. I think they mimic whatever actions the real IDD does.
Update 38 Highlights - Dragon Dive
His special move "Dragon Dive" hits like a damn truck if he uses Focus and/or Bravery the turn before. Thankfully, the replicas don't seem to be capable of doing Dragon Dive. They proceed to just attack with basic physicals.
Oh, and just as a final "Fuck You", when you KO Immortal Dark Dragon, he will automatically attack and then follow it up with Dragon Dive. Dragon Dive is a single target move though, so unless you only had one stack standing and it was badly injured, there isn't really anything it can do to screw this up for you.
After the battle, you can approach the tablet to get an Initial Haste mirajewel. This is just as useless as Initial Regen. Again, just equip a Haste mirajewel. Or use a Haste seed on one of your Mirages.
That was the last stumbling block to the secret ending. When we return to Nine Wood Hills, a new Rumor Radar rumor will be added.
The door that (I assume) Anamika is talking about is just to the right of where we are now.
Specifically this shiny door on the right side of Plaza 99. Be prepared for a tough 2-stage battle.
Entering the door restarts the "Good Ending" events, beginning right at the moment that Brandelis explodes onto the scene after Segwarides and Pellinore get taken out.
Everything proceeds as normal from this point on.
The difference is that Exnine Bahamut is quite a bit stronger than he was before. His HP for Stage 1 is boosted to about 160k. He also has new abilities, such as Dread Spikes (Dark element counter attack that drains a little bit of HP), Dispelga (multi-Dispel), and--
Update 38 Highlights - Brandelis' New Attack
It's pretty powerful (if it hits. You rock, Optimus). If you fought him in the Coliseum Boss Rush he has a chance of using this attack as well. There are different variants of this attack where he chooses a different trio of weapons that I believe changes the elemental type of the attack.
He also gets Haste after using this attack, although you can Dispel it.
Other than a bump in stats and that fancy new attack, he's the same boss as before. He still prefers to just spam Double Cut most of the time. He also still has Slow, Meteor, and Doom as well (Doom is a 30 second timer).
Arcarmament 3-11-12 is Fire element.
Maybe it's just referencing the different jobs? Katana=Samurai, Bow=Archer, Lance=Dragoon, etc, etc.
User Leraika correctly identified Brandelis' weapon wheel as the Sealed Weapons from FFV. The 12 weapons were used to defeat Enuo, a wizard who gained control of the Void. The FFV heroes unseal the weapons late in the game in order to stop Exdeath/the Void. The weapons consist of a Dagger, Sword (Excalibur), Harp, Whip, Katana (Masamune), Bell, Lance, Rod, Axe, Staff, Short Sword/Ninja Blade/Katana, and a Bow. I am once again ashamed that I had trouble recognising that.
After beating Stage 1, we have to fight a powered up Stage 2. I personally found Stage 2 a bit easier. He still has his crippling elemental weakness while charging his Megaflare Cannon. He seems to have about 160-180k HP. Not much different here.
Oh, he also still has his bullshit "speed up as HP drops" crap.
Maybe I just found it easier because I was using Macho Man.
Megaflare Cannon doesn't really hit any harder.
But as I said, crippling weakness to an element while charging is still a sore spot for him.
After beating the powered up Exnine Bahamut, the rest of the ending proceeds exactly the same as in the Good Ending.
That includes the credits... which you can't skip.
World of Final Fantasy: Maxima Finale - The Secret Ending
Finally, the post-credits stinger is where things change. Let's see what this "Secret Ending" is all about.
*Hauyn sees something and starts slowly walking towards it*
Huh... that looks familiar. Doesn't--
Yeah. Him.
*Diablos goes after Hauyn but Tamamohime fucking wrecks him*
Uhh, okay? Looks like whatever world he is tied to wants him back.
What is this...? What is going on?![???]: Ngh... stop...
*Looks like there's someone on the other side of that portal*
Huh?!
[???]: Please help me... Sis...
...! ...ann! Is that you?!A voice...?Hold on! I've got this!
The camera is slowly rotating around edgy Lann while these voices and the sounds of a battle are heard from somewhere.
[Diablos]: Heh. Ha ha ha ha ha! So, does this mean I can let loose?
[Odin]: As you command it...
[Diablos]: Despair.
End it![Odin]: Shin Zantetsuken.
[Diablos]: As if you could ever hope to defeat me.
[Odin]: Hardly worth cutting down in the end.
[Tamamohime]: Whew... Another bridge crossed.
Lann! Are you alright?! Hey! Lann!...?!
...Whew... Now, onto the next world.
Wow... you guys are really fucking optimistic about a sequel to this, aren't you?
Fat chance of that happening. Well, there you go. That's the end of World of Final Fantasy Maxima. It all culminated in a gigantic sequel hook that I highly doubt will ever come.
I will admit though, that was definitely very interesting. I'd like to know what the hell is going on with the real Lann (the Reynn and Lann following Hauyn around are Champions, not the real deals). Also, what in god's name happened to Reynn that resulted in her gauntlet getting on to Lann's arm? Too bad we'll probably never find out.
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this 120+ hour investment of my time. That's not sarcastic, I had fun too. Got a lot of good moments out of this LP, like Dutch Oven, and Macho Man, and Basil, and--
NO! FUCK YOU! We're not going out on another god damn cute kiddy dance number! I was already forced to watch that shit twice, I will not end this LP by watching it again!
Theatrhythm did it better, so we're going out on that.Theatrhythm Final Fantasy - Curtain Call: Special Arrange Medley
Granted I do wish they would have done a higher resolution version for non-3DS purposes, but whatever. Also, XV isn't there, but that's because it hadn't come out at the time.
Still better than the dance ending.
Brings a tear to my eye every time.