Part 94: Episode XCI: Surprise! It’s Another Awful Dungeon!

Episode XCI: Surprise! It’s Another Awful Dungeon!


And so we bid adieu to Babel Tower forever. I don’t know about you all, but I’m not particularly going to miss it.


Anyhow, onward to the Thames. I’m curious what they’re still doing in the ass-end of nowhere seeing as their employers for scavenging in this region were wholesale slaughtered and what was left of their stronghold was just blown to bits. Hmm...if I had to guess, I’d imagine copious amounts of alcohol was involved.

The party docks with the Thames and heads up to the bridge. There sure are a lot of bridges in Xenogears...

Music: Thames, the Men of the Sea


”Need to know about the sea. Know anything about this dot on the map?”
“Point x1507, z1235? Hans, does that sound familiar?"
"It's Sargasso point."
"What? The Sargasso?"
"Sargasso, what's that?"
"It's a cave formed from microbes over many years. It's supposed to have hidden treasure but no one's ever returned from there. The story is that the cave itself is alive. Are you going to the Sargasso?"
"It looks like it."
"Your Gears can't dive that deep. If they did, you would not be able to move. Equip your underwater gear here. Then take your ship as far as you can and dive in with your Gear. I'll go wake those winos up, right now."
"Really? It's okay with you? Thanks for always helping us out, Captain."
"Don't mention it."

Some time passes in which the drunks on the Thames magically make our Gears able to handle the pressure of the depths of the ocean floor...


"That was fast."
*pulls out cane* "Of course. We're..."


"Blimey. I think he's got it. Take care then."
"Yeah."
”Yeah. I learned him good.”
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you how to operate them underwater. It's easy. You can jump in water without your feet touching the ground. Keep jumping to build up speed. You can swim pretty well in a Gear, but there may be places you can't get past if you don't do it well."
”So...we’ve got to bunny-hop...?”
“Well, if you wanna get all technical on me.”
"Got it. Thanks."
"No need for thanks. Maybe you can buy something from our Gear shop. Looks like there be some new booty to sell."


This is good advice to heed. Andvari is still kitted out with equipment a few levels above what’s available right now.




But, Weltall can definitely use an upgrade. It’s pretty sad for the main character’s giant robot to be the third wheel in a party.




We’ll also be upgrade Heimdal since goddamn it Citan, you’re helping out in a fight for one of these frickin’ Gates if it kills me.




Returning to the Yggdrasil and speaking with Sigurd will automatically bring us to the third and final Solaris Gate. We are quickly nearing the point of no return for Disc 1  and the last time we see the World Map for 30+ hours... 




So, welcome to the newest terrible dungeon I had clearly blocked from my memory. It is basically a long tunnel we need to bunny hop through to move. No music. No sites. Just dark, murky textures and high random battle rates.




Down in the depths of the sea we have freaky human face sporting fish monsters.


Electric jellyfish, featured previous but for the first time in...ya know...water.


And a few angry scavenger Gears hanging in this tunnel waiting to electrocute people for unclear reason. None of these enemies are particularly dangerous. Merman Gears and Death Scythes can both deal 1000-1500 HP of damage and given the high encounter rate, that can add up. There’s no place to refuel between the start of the dungeon and the boss at the end. So, it’s best not to get bogged down while getting inevitably lost. Why would you get lost, you ask?


I guess I didn’t mention this was a maze dungeon. Or rather, one with several branching paths that may or may not lead to dead ends. If you’re lucky, said dead end might have a treasure chest or two. If not? Well fuck you, you just wasted a few minutes of your life.


There is also one fun section where you have to bunny hop through a swift current that knocks you back if you stop. And there are still random battles during this segment.




After about twenty minutes of this bullshit, we finally reach the surface and hopefully the last stupid Solaris Gate.


”Well, it looks a wee bit like the place we waxed Shakhan’s bald head for the last time. But uhh...I think we gotta problem...”
"Who are you?"

Music: June Mermaid


”Yeah. Take a number on that one, kiddo.”

A second, rather nasty looking Gear drops from the ceiling. What is it with Gears hanging out on the ceilings of these Gate rooms?


”Umm...yo?”
“Please excuse me, I'd like to show you my face but as a result of the human-machine fusion..."
“A follower of Krelian? Not Ramsus or the Elements?”
"Our current task is totally about inspection of the evidence. It'll ruin everything if someone as dead to the world as he appeared here. A person who's calm and cool like myself would be perfect for the job. Oh, but don't worry. I'll just be inspecting here. Emeralda here, will take care of you."
”...M’kay. Just...no healing between rounds like Ramsus’ secretary lady.”


Alright. Time to take on that Nanomachine Troll Doll from Zeboim. Well, at least Krelian was nice enough to finally give her some clothes. Maybe he’s not such a bad guy.


I guess they dug up a Gear from Zeboim for her to pilot too. Since everyone needs a giant robot in Xenogears. Even 4000 year old nanomachine children.


Emeralda’s Gear, Crescens, isn’t too much of a problem. Really, the fact that everyone is rather worn down from just getting here is the only thing going in her favor. It mostly sticks to smacking around people with its bizarre head wings/hands. Bart’s Wild Smile can nip that in the bud in short order.




Crescens can also pick up people and lob them across the room for shits and giggles. She only did that once and only to Fei. Frigging everything in this dungeon ganged up on poor Fei. He had like 3000 HP when I reached the area outside the boss chamber.




Emeralda also has a pair of lightning based attacks. One that hits a single target for 1500 or so damage. And another that hits the entire party for over 2000. The latter only comes out if we take way too long fighting Crescens. So it’s not too much of a worry.


In any case, there’s not much to this battle at all. Crescens has extremely high evasion. So sticking to Medium or Weak attacks while building up attack levels for Deathblows is a fairly decent idea. But, other than that the fight is quickly over with little fuss.


And we get a metric ton of experience for our final Gate story arc victory. Level Ups for everyone!

After the battle...


*Crescens starts tweaking out and shaking violently* “Ah, ah-a-a, I..."


“You should view it as a release of... memory, or maybe a recording. It turned out just as Krelian said... It is a manifestation of the imprinting. At any rate, it is proven. With that, excuse me. I must report the results. Oh yes, go ahead and take the girl. Use her anyway you like. After all, she is your 'daughter'..."
”Uhh...que?”
"You got me. I was just told to tell you that. You know how the higher-ups are with the vague mutterings."
"And how."
"Well, take care."

Rattan zooms off...


”Hey, doc?”
“Yes, Fei?”
“Did we umm...did we have an escape plan for when the giant power reactor goes critical while we’re 10,000 leagues under the sea...?”
“...”
“...Oh dear.”
“GODDAMMIT, CI—“




Welp. This went about as well as every other plan we’ve had thus far... Good old Xenogears...










Crescens Render