Xenogears Part #152 - Episode CXLVIII: The Beginning

Part 152: Episode CXLVIII: The Beginning

Episode CXLVIII: The Beginning

Welp. This is it. Time for the final battle of Xenogears. Our closing party will consist of Fei, his teenage nanomachine daughter, and that dick Citan. You’ve skipped out on over a dozen major battles already, doc. You ain’t going anywhere for taking on god.

With that said, let’s get this party started.

Music: Awakening (You should definitely listen to this.)

Upon entering the central core of...whatever the hell that previous area was supposed to be...we come upon the completed form of Deus hanging out in a pocket Kaleidoscope Dimension™. We have culled most of Deus abilities by kicking the asses of its Pillars. So Deus’ ability to heal, steal Fuel, fiddle with status effects, and toss area of effect attacks at the party has all been severed. Without support, its total HP has dropped from 75,000 to a measly 40,000 hits points.

But, everyone’s favorite inter-planetary invasion weapon is not completely defenseless. At the start of the battle, Deus will detach its Angelhands and let them roam free out in the wild.

Like this, they take it upon themselves to blast laser beams at random party member every time anyone attacks their stumpy armed master. This only does around 300-500 HP of damage. But considering they’re blasting away every single round (two attacks for each of our one), that adds up after a while.

Other than that, Deus will occasionally toss dreaded lenses flares at the party to cause confusion and whack folks with his nub arms to lower defenses. Really, without all his tricks from the Pillars, there isn’t a whole lot going in Deus favor. Except if we wait too long Deus may take it upon itself to put that whole “inter-planetary invasion weapon” status to good use with an over the top ultimate attack...

Like any good late ‘90s JRPG, said ultimate attack (originally enough named “Ultimate Break”) takes long enough to take a quick leak in the bathroom and grab a bottle of water from the fridge before concluding.

Click Here to Watch Deus’ “Ultimate Break”

There really isn’t too much of a strategy here other than building up to Level 3 and hoping for some Hypermode. But, if we gave Fei a Holy Pendant with his OMEGA100/GRN50 build so his Hypermode lasts 6 rounds, he’ll basically be able to mop the floor with Deus all by himself doing 9999 HP of damage every attack. Really, Citan and Emeralda are just along for moral support.

After a few Level Infinity Deathblows from Xenogears later...

Click to View Deus Explode

Music: Silence

"My Gear won't budge anymore."

”What else is new?”

"The Zohar Modifier has ceased functioning. That is probably the reason why our Gears cannot move anymore. There is only a slight energy response coming from the core now."

”...”
“...So how do we get out of this thing...?”
“...That is a very good question.”
“Ah...crap...”

"What about Elly? What's happening to her inside of that thing? The Deus system's bind on her should have worn off now. So why aren't we getting any kind of response!? You don't think we hurt her in that battle too...!?"

"Fei, calm down! The sensors are picking up a response from a life form within Deus. It is probably Elly. So do not worry... I believe she is okay!"

”...Probably?!”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly?!?!”
“...In theory.”
“You. Doc. No more talking!”

"Elly! Can you hear me, Elly!? Deus is no longer active. It's all over now... So come out of there. Show me your face! Elly! Elly!"

Deus’ core begins rumbling and churns back to life...

"Doc!? What's going on? What's wrong?"

“It seems as if something that was sealed up till now has suddenly been freed and is growing enormously..."

"It couldn't be... the 'Wave Existence'!?"

"The 'Wave Existence'?"

”God. Or Harold or something...”
“...God’s name is ‘Harold’...?”
“Well it started telling me its name and said ‘Har—something’ before trailing off. I figure it’s got to be Harold or Harry or Har—why are we even discussing this?!”

"That's gotta be it. The 'Wave Existence' was just freed from its 'cage of fleshly existence' in Zohar... It's probably attempting to return to the higher dimension that it originally came from."

"Which means... this is the aftereffect of the dimensional shift!?"

"What do you mean... 'aftereffect'!?"

”That sounds no good...”
“...Very bad...”
“...Rotten.”

"It is like a shock wave that is induced by the dimensional displacement. But...so much energy!? If this much energy is unleashed here now..."

"...If so much energy is unleashed... then what will happen, doc!? Tell us!"

"...Then this planet will be annihilated! These numbers indicate that it has more than enough energy to take out a whole planet!"

"Whatchu mean!?"

"You can't be serious!?"

"We all fought so hard... only to see this happen...!?"

”Did this ‘Wave Existence’ mention that happening, Fei?”
“No... Conveniently enough, he left that part out.”
“God is kind of a dick.”
“...You don’t say.”

"Isn't there... isn't there anything we can do? Can't we stop the aftereffect!?"

"Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do... Almost all machinery, including our Gears, are out of commission due to Zohar having been shut down. This time, there is nothing we can do... To put it to you straight... this is the end for us!"

"This is freakin' stupid! How the hell could it all end like this!? What were we all fighting for up to now!?"

”Game over, chu... Game over!”

Deus’ core begins shaking violently...

"Hold on a sec...! No, these vibrations are different! It has to be something else causing it..."

"Look!"

"Deus is...!"

Deus takes off and begins slowly rising into the sky...

"What is it this time!?"

"Deus is releasing its remaining energy and is beginning to accelerate... If it continues to accelerate at this rate, it will soon leave the atmosphere..."

"You don't think...!?"

"Think what!?"

”If it wants to go blow up in space, I’m not stopping it! Hell, if my Gear could still move I’d give it a shove.”

"That it's Elly!? Elly is moving Deus...!"

”Oh...right... Forgot about that... Sorry, Fei... Heh...”

"Are you sure!?"

"I'm sure of it! Elly is trying to save us by moving Deus away from our planet! She's going to sacrifice herself..."

"That can't be... Oh, Elly..."

"Can't we do anything...? We can't just sit here and watch this happen, can we?"

”Think that cannon you shot your dad out of still works. Cuz...”
“No. And not happening.”
“Well, I am out of ideas!”

"..."

Music: Flight

"What is it, Fei!?"

"My Gear still works. Without Zohar, the power source for your Gears, the only Gear that now remains active is mine. Just like Deus, my Gear and I made contact with Zohar. We are the only ones who can move now. I am going to go save Elly!"

"That is absurd! Even if you were able to catch up to Deus, you will not have enough energy to make it back!"

”Hey, doc.”
“?”
“Do me a favor and shut the hell up for once.”

"Even so, I still must go. Elly's taking the whole burden upon herself! If anything happens to her... I want to be there with her..."

"Hey! Just wait a minute! You know I'm not gonna stand by and let you commit double suicide... if that's what you're planning!"

"Bart..."

”No. You cannot all pile on to go commit triple-suicide.”
“...Not really what I was getting at...”

"...You better come back alive, you hear!? Promise me!! Promise me that you will come back... Then I'll let you go!!"

”Yeah, okay. That makes more sense.”

"...Thanks, Bart. I promise. I promise you that I will return... with Elly!"

"You better."

"Yeah, of course!"

"Alright! Then get goin'!"

"But...!"

"Let's let him go, Citan. At this point, Fei's the only one that'll be able to bring Elly back. There's nothing we can say or do about it."

”But the odds of success a—“
“Goddammit, cram it Citan. Fei is gonna go save the day like a big damn hero and we’re gonna root him on. Got it?!”

"...You are right. Fei, keep your promise..."

"No matter what..."

"Fei and Elly..."

"Both of you..."

"Come back home..."

"We'll be waiting for you chu!"

"I appreciate this... Bart... and the rest of you... Well, I had better get going now... But don't worry! I will be back soon!"

“I'm counting on you... partner!"

As silly as this game can be, I admit I did get a pretty big shiteating grin when Flight popped up one last time before Fei flies off for the ending.

It seems Deus has decided to shed its giant neon green UFO form upon reaching the upper reaches of the atmosphere and is just going to huff it on foot the rest of the way to a safe distance from detonating the planet.

Welp, we’ve had giant robots fight on the ground... We’ve had giant robots fight in the air...

And we’ve even had giant robots fight underneath the sea. So of course, the final logical step of escalation of giant robot battlegrounds is...

...The final frontier.

”...?”
“...Okay. I admit I didn’t really think this one through too well. I already tried punching it earlier and umm...I’ve yelled ‘Elly’ at it. Maybe not loud enough...?”
“ELLLLLLYYYYY!!!”
“Nope... That’s not the trick. Umm...”

“Oh... That... That’s not...”

“...God_{dam_mit!!!!!}”