We start our third post in Octagonia wondering what happened to Vince? I am at least glad things felt discrete enough to make each chunk feel sensible, but still.
He's... he's not that old, is he?
Delays, delays... at least no one's been sending Hendrik our way yet. I can live with that.
Probably a good idea on both parties' parts.
Erik: Hey there, Champ! Heh. I guess you'd better get used to being called that... You know, I've been thinking. That pair you beat in the final were really something. Seriously, who were they? I mean, there can't be many people who can fight like that...
Veronica: Nice work, Erdward! The Rainbough is ours- at last! I am worried about Vince, though. I've never seen anyone just collapse like that before. I really hope he's all right. Well, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see. For now, let's head back to our rooms and get some rest...
Serena: Oh, Erdward! I'm so proud of you! Well done! You were amazing! It's just such a shame about Vince. I really hope he's okay...
Sylvando: Normally we'd be going wild after your big win, honey, but it seems like no one's in the party mood. No, I guess we've all got other things on our mind. There's Vince, the disappearing fighters...oh, and the burglary at the orphanage. I guess the celebrations will have to wait.
...How many fighters have gone missing since last count?
(Imagine if Sylvando was one of them! Thankfully, he seems to have avoided that.)
...Yeah, no way you could afford me. I have places to be, people to not get arrested by.
At least the Beaty Queens turned out fine. This is the first chance we'd have to talk to them after our fight, though, so they get the chance for commentary.
Whambelina has... a different reaction to our strength. At least we made an impression.
...I have thoughts.
Golden Boy has actually had a life-changing experience talking to Sylvando, and he thinks highly enough of him to adopt the things he learned to his life philosophies going forward.
He's a new man now.
There's a non-zero chance that this was Golden Boy's gay awakening, because now he's not been basking in the attraction of the ladies.
Well, that's just fine with me. Never turn down free bed and board.
...Now that you mention it...
Ah, seems we'll be getting some explanation on this plot point.
Rab wants to have a chat with us- and considering he threw the MMA to take a look at us, I can see why.
...Well, that makes things terrifying.
Did you even have to ask?
...Now I'm concerned on a number of levels.
Rab: I'm sorry to have to ask ye for help like this so soon after yer fight, laddie, but I'd never be able to find Jade without ye. Now, the last time she was spotted was over near the orphanage where Vince lives. I'd say we need to start our search there.
Erik: I wonder why Rab asked us to help him look for his partner? Hmm. I guess you are the best man for the job, being the champion and all...
Veronica: I can't believe Jade got caught up in all this! She's the last person I'd have thought something like this could happen to. I mean, she's so tough. Whoever took her must be pretty scary. We need to be ready for anything...
Serena: I wonder what the relationship is between Mr Rab and Miss Jade...? I mean, I'm sure they must be close- he's clearly ever so worried about her. Let's find her as soon as we can, Erdward!
Sylvando: This isn't good, honey, this isn't good at all. We all heard the rumours about fighters disappearing, and now poor Jade's vanished. Well, it's up to us to rescue her! Come on, we need to get to the bottom of this- and fast!
...This is about Vince. They, uh, know about his weird habit of drinking unknown substances before fights. And this strikes no one as a bad idea.
...Well, I can't fault him for trying.
As for the Beaty Queens...
Yeah, uh... they're gone.
So is Golden Boy. Things have gotten serious.
That's not related, I assure you.
Oh yeah, Liu Za was here too. Then again, he must've vanished along with the Underdigger in Round 1.
...Stay close, Erik.
I have no idea what you think I have, but I'll take your entire stock.
How much money does this kid have to get scammed out of? I thought the first sale had him cleaned out.
And now Vince is gone too?
...You don't say...
Have a little faith in the people who are supposed to be caring for you. ...Hopefully that's "more than Vince".
It was always there, just behind a suspicious pile of "junk" (pictured here scattered everywhere else).
I am highly concerned we'll find out.
...Well, that's not an impressive name, but a new dungeon nonetheless.
Rab: Jade was last seen walking near the orphanage, right? And when we sniffed around there, we found stairs leading down here... Don't try and tell me that's a coincidence, laddie. No, that lass's around here somewhere, mark my words!
Erik: Man, this place is like a maze! Who'd have thought you'd find something like this right underneath that orphanage! Listen, we can't afford to get lost down here- we have a hunt for Jade, and if she's not here, we get out.
Veronica: Caverns like these right underneath the orphanage!? It's all very suspicious... Very suspicious indeed! I mean, wouldn't it be the perfect place to hide things? Or people, for that matter...?
Serena: First Miss Jade goes missing, and now we can't find Vince. I don't know what's happening here, but I know I don't like it! I mean, if the same person is behind all these disappearances, what exactly are they hoping to achieve...?
Sylvando: Can we try not to spend too much time in these caves, honey? The damp is playing havoc with my hair... If Jade's really down here, let's grab her quickly and get back out into the fresh air.
The Caverns Under Octagonia, too, have a bunch of places where you'd think the map connects... but it just doesn't. The destination is that spot on the far-west side, and it should be noted the tunnel directly next to it is a dead end. We'll be taking a figure-S path, in broad strokes.
Oh same to you!
Scattered throughout this dungeon are massive expanses of spider-webbing. Take this as your first warning: Arachnophobes should consider skipping the Caverns entirely.
For the rest of us, walking into it has it disappear just fine, but Erdward will slow down to wave the stuff off.
The rancid sludge that seeps from their every suppurating sore is toxic beyond belief, making most people sick almost instantly.
The toxic zombie is one toxic customer- high in HP, less high in defence, and ready to spit all sorts of poisons your way. He comes from DQs 3 and 7-10: While the walking corpse is iconic, this guy was apparently less such.
Murderous machinces made by monsters. Their wings are as sharp as scalpels, making their ferocious flapping attacks extremely effective.
Clockwork cuckoos come from DQs 8-10 (and the remake of 7) and are about what their mecha-mynah cousins were: Annoying, resilient, and hurty. For some reason, though, I always think of these ones as the weaker one between them and mecha-mynahs. They're not, by any stretch of the imagination. They do turn up relatively early in DQs 8 and 9, but mainly because the Mecha-Mynahs are even earlier- think first encounter tables.
Rab is a guest party member right now, and he knows a lot more magic than he did in the tournament. Chief among his new tools are Squelch, Defuddle and Zing. It's also worth noting that he can't run out of MP, either.
This is in the dead end near the boss's lair.
The Assassin's Dagger is a bit like the Poison Needle, but instead of dealing 1 damage, it deals normal damage, in exchange for a less potent chance of death. This is probably what you're going to want on Sylvando.
Gold!
Strong but extremely stupid, these burly brutes are at their most vulnerable after missing with their colossal clubs. Counter quickly and finish them off before they can attempt another swing.
The troll hurts like hell with powerful strikes and crits, too. He comes from DQ3, and also appeared in 6 and 8-10. Contrary to his beastiary description's impression, he is not any more vulnerable than usual when he misses with his club- but he can miss. He can also lick his club to pass his turn.
...How do you steal a tattoo from something?
You're also going to want to Sap these. They have, by my sources, 513 HP, which is... considerably more than Erdward is doing in a single swing.
There's at least a Mini Medal here.
Sent to hell for murdering their masters, these putrid politicians roam the underworld looking for new sovereigns to serve.
Shadow ministers appear to be new to XI, but they are definitely recolours of familiar enemies. Their cousins are at least in 5. They can cast Midheal and brandish a staff of antimagic to attempt to prevent you from doing the same. They can also call for Toxic Zombies and Deadnauts. I'd also ask if they can murder the guy pulling the strings for us.
The Pep was running out, so I decided to have Erdward and Veronica cast a power. I think the main reason I kept Pep on Sylvando was in case I wanted to use one of his powers on the boss.
Erdward and Veronica have a cute animation for Ring of Wrack and Ruin anyway, might as well show it off. Ish.
...I think I thought this was something else. This, as a Pep Power, is pretty terrible. Veronica likes her critical spell chance increased, and I guess Serena and Rab too, but no one else is really reaching into their spellbooks.
You think you're so funny, don't you?
At least Rab is benefitting from the Ring.
You ever just see something like this happen and laugh at your enemy's misfortune.
Oh hey, a spell for Sylvando to use during Ring of Wrack and Ruin!
And a new Pep Power, too, I guess.
Two treasure chests! ...You smell a trap?
They sit stick still waiting for unwary adventurers to approach, then snap into action, unleashing a nigh on inescapable onslaught.
The cannibox first appeared in DQ3 and has a perfect record since, and it usually pops up in exactly this role: Open the wrong treasure chest and it'll decide it wants to open you up instead. They can hit you with critical hits, Sweet Breath, and Whack, to strike the fear of Yggdrasil into your heart every time you find a treasure chest.
Now that, I can use.
That, not so much.
Tingle is good for curing paralysis: And it works on the whole party at once. Of course, it's not much good if Serena's the paralysed one, but it's good to have.
Canniboxes are guaranteed to drop a Seed of Skill, which basically means "fighting them" is always the correct decision. They're not that dangerous, and while some of their brethren might be, the rewards get even better for them.
This chest is a lot more passe in comparison.
I decided not to keep Sylvando's Pep. Honestly, it's more likely I ran into too many fights on the way. Shame: Erdward+Sylvando is a good Pep Power to start a boss fight with.
There's another one of these, for emergencies.
And we got to the end, so here's our MP stock. One thing about the Caverns of Octagonia that this run failed to show is that it's kinda the best place to track down Metal Slimes? All places where "Metal Slime" is on the table can be a crapshoot, but in my experience, the odds are in your favour a little more here.
So what's behind this door?
Well, good news, we found Jade.
Bad news, we found Vince.
...Bad news?
...I think this is best left unexplained.
What doesn't get left unexplained is the fact that Vince is the one putting all these people here.
For the giant spider. You were warned.
Welp, that sounds very bad.
Vince? Vince, this is...
I'm like 99% sure Jade was foxing to get herself in this deep, and Rab's "oh, I lost Jade!" routine was the backup plan. I can't be fully sure this isn't Jade snarking at Vince's expense, but I wouldn't be opposed to that being the correct interpretation either.
I don't think we get specifics on what, exactly, Hendrik did, but I think Hendrik did catch this guy on the way.
This is more evidence for the "Jade was foxing" outcome, and certainly helps my preference in that direction.
Rab was the burglar who ransacked the orphanage the other night- OK, let's be honest, it was Jade, Rab's not climbing any windows- and he was interested in that peculiar substance Vince has been ingesting.
Rab: Accuses Vince of being friends with a monster and kidnapping fighters.
Vince: "...You're the one who went in my room?"
And the spider is happy to confirm Rab's theory.
This is where we find out Hendrik and this monster have crossed paths. Although it seems Vince's relationship is mutually beneficial.
The spider recovers its energy reserves from the fight with Hendrik, and Vince becomes stronger to win more fights.
Vince, in a moment of weakness, took the offer, because he wanted to proetect the orphanage from closure.
Vince is too far in to let this scheme come to an end. He's going to-
...Well, that certainly can't be helping his cause.
It turns out ingesting something a spider gave you in a mutually beneficial relationship was not a good idea. This isn't even a "drugs are bad" message- this is just a plain "don't put suspicious things in your mouth" message. Sadly, after this game was released, the world climate changed that this became a necessary message again.
The thing about "cheaters never prosper" is that it requires getting caught. Or in Vince's case, using a double-edged method.
The spider doesn't seem too bothered by this turn of events.
This is a quick explanation of why we don't have Jade helping out too- other than the fact I don't think the game is prepared to give us two Guests at the same time.
This monstrous spider spent years lurking under Octagonia and licking its wounds after Hendrik hurt it badly, but restored its strength by having Vince bring it victims from which it could extract an abhorrent elixir.
Nature family
1276 HP
999 MP
Arachtagon is one tough cookie. Although his design is unique in DQXI, he is actually based on a pre-existing design used in DQ10- the Araniad (warning- it looks worse in 2D). Arachtagon is one of the few bosses in this game to never get demoted to regular encounter- and honestly, the size alone is good reason why.
Arachtagon can envenomate you, launch a barrage of spikes that can lower your defence as well as hurt like hell, spin a sticky web to make you pass a turn, and cast Kafuddle to attempt to confuse the entire party. If you don't have Snap, Crackle, Poof or Sobering Slap, you're going to be in trouble.
Rab can help you with Kafuddle and death, but you should really pack Serena too.
She can also do this, which is more than Rab can. Rab also doesn't die even if he doesn't block.
...Yeah, uh, this is why you want Snap, Crackle, Poof.
Unfortunately, it's not a cure.
Thank you, Rab! Little late for Erik and Sylvando, though.
At least we got Greatsword Guard up.
Erik sets his Scorched Earth and gets the hell out of there.
We'll... we'll work on that.
Snap, Crackle, Poof everyone you can reach.
Thanks, Rab.
This'll only get us so far.
And that's how dangerous Black Widow's Kiss is. Should probably tread cautiously.
Thank you Oomph!
...Sap's taking a little bit more.
I'd rather Serena had the chance to apply more Snap, Crackle, Poof, or maybe even Buff someone, but Veronica healing is more important.
Rab, you don't have MP! You're not even draining his!
The stars around Veronica are the sign that Snap, Crackle, Poof did something- if you see those, someone attempted to place a status condition on you. Just attempted- it doesn't need to succeed. If you see it pop up and weren't expecting that attack to have a status ailment, it's probably something like Black Widow's Kiss dropping defence.
Case in point:
How do you like having your defence dropped?
Curing Serena is tempting, but Sylvando should also heal everyone. Rab has Defuddle.
Serena tried calling for help. I wonder if she was looking at Erik or Jade.
Thanks, Rab.
Erdward keeps being awesome.
Sylvando jumps in for a normal attack, because, uh... what else does he have?
Erdward is really hitting hard now!
Veronica's fireballs are... maybe I was better off with Erik. I just like my Frizzles.
Keeping Snap, Crackle, Poof on Erdward is important because him dealing damage is how we're getting out of this fight faster.
Now we're past this? (Also, this make Frizzle less powerful.)
Although I'd rather her not die because of it.
...This feels like a missed priority.
Thanks, Rab.
I was counting on this.
Well, that's for the best.
...That, less so.
Rab continuing to be mostly spamming this spell. Imagine having the ability to dodge Confusion a little better.
About time that happened. I was getting tired of being confused.
...Veronica just got Sizzle. Yeah, uh, her magic hasn't been great.
(I think that means she was using Frizz, not Frizzle.)
Erdward also gets this- whenever he blocks an attack, he counterattacks. It says "a chance", but I think it's more governed by "Erdward won't parry AoEs or comboes."
And we've unveiled Unbridled Blade for later use. This'll make Erdward hit even harder.
That's Arachtagon dealt with. What's Hendrik's excuse?
Jade got everyone down. Somehow. It's not really important how, I guess.
...Vince...
The necessity of money to afford to exist is one of those things that you never really think about until you don't have enough. And when you don't have enough... well, your options are "change that" or "die". Usually a slow lingering death, too.
And Vince wasn't just worried about his own income and heritage- he had somewhere between half a dozen and a dozen kids to worry about too.
Rab decides that, all things considered, bringing the hammer down on Vince for this is... well, for one thing, not his problem, but also, if everyone's still alive...
We can punish Vince, but we really should solve the problem, at least. If we don't do that, some kid is going to wind up taking over where Vince left off- if they get that big.
Now, of course, let's not let it happen again, then, eh?
That's more than Vince was expecting.
With that done, we're off to the inn.
And we're really dug in sleeping there. We did get woken up overnight...
I know cursed items aren't in this game, but did you have to give Sylvando the "cursed!" jingle for waking us up? That's not appropriate.
Yeah, uh, let's do that before it gets sold again.
The arena is circular. I don't think that's much help for waving in your direction.
Erik: Sounds like it's finally time for you to claim your prize! For a minute there, I thought we were going to end up empty-handed- again. The guy at the desk wants you to give him a shout when you're all set. You know the desk I mean, right? It's the one at the entrance to the arena.
Veronica: So it was Vince who was behind all those fighters vanishing... Look, I know he said he only wanted to help the kids in the orphanage, but that still doesn't make it okay! I just hope he's learnt his lesson. If he starts doing the right thing from now on, then maybe some good will have come out of this whole mess.
Serena: Miss Jade is safe and sound- and so are all the other fighters! Thank goodness for that! And it was good to see Vince admitting that what he'd done was wrong. By the way, did you hear Mr Rab telling Vince that he'd have a word with the Mayor? How in the world does he know the Mayor? He just gets more and more mysterious...
Sylvando: Well, we finally know who abducted the fighters, and who broke into the orphanage- that's two mysteries solved for the price of one! It's a shame it took the shine off your tournament victory, Erdward, but don't worry too much about that. I for one will never forget the way you turned Sterling Sylva into a pile of old scrap!
We got money for fighting Arachtagon, and it looks like that got us a financial marker. That's probably a misleading timing- kinda makes me feel like I won prize money for the tournament instead- but still slightly better than getting the 100 monsters with Octagonians.
...
Oh. Uh... I feel like this is going to end poorly.
...I don't think "Golden Boy had a gay awakening by exposure to Sylvando" is subtext at this point.
I'm not sure how much I'm on this train. Ignoring the plight of having fangirls, that's... well, I'm not sure I'm down for their reasons for ditching Golden Boy. To be fair, he is no longer selling what they're buying, but still.
...I'm over here.
Better hair.
...OK, that's not fair. Visible hair.
I'm sure you were. Anytime, you were welcome to lend a hand whenever you felt like it.
...I wonder why she doesn't use Puff Puffs as an enemy unit. Perhaps it's too raunchy for entertainment watched by everyone. (I'm sure Sindy isn't the one who's putting a stop to that.)
Whamby, on the other hand, is a little more shaken by the ordeal, but not so shaken that she's going to do anything about it immediately.
...Can you still do that duplicating thing? How do you do that anyway?
...Not sure I'm down with the "rookie" bit, but that's certainly a great song to be remembered by.
...Actually, probably for the best I'm not named in it.
Poor Liu Za. Shame about the name, too.
A glowing stick beautiful beyond all description... and the only thing that comes to mind is that it could open doors. I don't even think something like that could manage that.
Snorts.
Time to receive our prize. Even though, you know, it's right there.
Everyone is here! I love how supportive the Octagonians are as well as our friends.
...Also, Veronica is adorable in that shot.
At last, we are ready to claim our prize. Uh... wait, how's this going to work with Vince and...
Well, I guess he's still allowed this part.
Vince? What do you have in mind?
...It's definitely that right now.
...I should've figured a tag team match was going to end like this with only one prize.
The crowd's eating it up.
It doesn't seem to be an official thing, though- although I'm sure it's happened backstage.
All right, Vince, let's see how tough you really are.
Vince makes a show of how he's no longer partaking in his pre-fight ritual. Hopefully now the judges are paying attention.
Bring it on, partner.
The muscle-bound former champion of the MMA tournament. Though he lost his way for a while, he was shown the light before it was too late.
??? family
I think I'll keep his HP a secret for now. Vince Vanquish is a proper capstone boss to this arc, and you should be as prepared for it as you would be for any other match. The only skills he knows are Propellor Blade and Hardclaw.
Just do what you've always been doing.
Well, that's nice and convenient. Makes our job a lot easier.
...Twice was funny. Six times is...
...That was pathetic.
At least we now definitely earned the Rainbough ourselves.
Now then, remember what he said about being a third-rate fighter too terrible to be able to bring any sort of prize winnings to the orphanage?
That's true. And he needed people to know it was true.
He had 150 HP and 12 MP, incidentally, at least by my sources. They also
seem to list proper stats for him, which means him missing is probably being governed by some secret flag and not "his Atk being so low he legit can't do any damage".
Vince is publicly conceding the Rainbough to us. And the glory that comes with it.
Vince needs to go and train- properly, this time.
As for the Octagonians...
They admire his resolve.
Something's telling me his retirement won't be spent behind bars.
All right, at last, it's time for us to-
OH FOR THE LOVE OF YGGDRASIL!
...The little...
Rab even gave us a letter to read.
Look, Rab, I'm not sure if you've played a JRPG before, but I was going to go loot Dundrasil eventually, you didn't have to pull this off to get us to wander in that direction.
The barker actually jumps to read the letter over our shoulder to verify that it was indeed Rab who did the nicking.
The Octagonians won't be following us to Dundrasil to watch this go down. Although that would be incredibly hilarious.
Time for us to go to where we were born.
...Well, what's left of it.
Anytime you want a rematch. Although I do think that's probably too much.
Erik: That old guy played us, man, and we fell for it hook, line and sinker! The Rainbough was just bait. He was trying to lure you to him, Erdward. Look, don't ask me why, but I bet you I'm right. Come on, let's head west to Dundrasil and find out what's going on!
Veronica: Gah! I've had enough of this! Just when it looks like the Rainbough's ours, it gets snatched away at the last minute. First the Sultan sells it to some merchant, then it gets stolen in Octagonia... It hurts to think of how much time we've spent trying to track that stupid thing down! Do you think it's cursed or something?
Serena: "Come and meet me in Dundrasil. I've something to show you." That's what the letter said, isn't it? I wonder what it could be. I mean, Dundrasil has been reduced to ruins. What could someone have to show us there?
Sylvando: Why would old Rab tell you to meet him in Dundrasil? Can he really just have chosen your hometown by chance? Well, I suppose there's only one way to find out. Let's get moving, darling! Chop chop!
You had one job.
I'm sure there's some complicated legalese reason for this that I don't understand from my perspective that someone closer to this man's job could explain in reasonable details, but really? You can't accept responsibility for misplacing the prize before it is awarded?
This guy does point us in the direction of Dundrasil, if we didn't know where it was.
You're certainly more optimistic than I am. On the other hand, compared to the rest of my life, this whole business is small potatoes.
...I'm going to be honest, I don't think smooth skin is going to help you aesthetically in this business. Sure, it's probably still a good idea, but with a mask on, how much of your skin is really showing, and the crowd is still some distance off.
Still, though, it's a quest for us.
If you're in the market for cosmetic armour, you'll want to take up this quest.
...What is my skincare routine?
This isn't much of gameplay advice, although the thing we need to do is get a collection point that's one of those weeds you hack down, and this is referring to that. It's way too late for that to be the tutorial.
...I miss Sandy.
Spare me your false pity.
...Not going to lie, can't argue with that.
The mayor doesn't even acknowledge Vince this time, which is... less than promising.
At least he knows we have places to be other than continuing to enhance our legend in one town. Although again, if you want to set up a rematch, I'm down.
(There isn't actually a rematch system, I'm just role-playing.)
Remember how I pointed out it was weird Rab and Jade were using their real names? Their real names do have social recognition, and this rather affluent-looking fellow seems to have connected half the dots. With that said, don't I remember something about hearing about a particularly famous Jade somewhere before?
I'm sure it was in a town I wasn't supposed to be in or something.
At least the scammer has a "happy" ending. Happy overall, although I think the scammer disagrees.
...I have no idea what this guy thinks just happened, though.
...
...Wait, would this have been the sixteenth fighter I didn't spot?
And, much like someone looking for a rare coin in their coin collection, this kid wants an elusive autograph to add to his autograph collection.
...Hey wait, Erik, Sylvando, do we need to add ours?
I'm sure we can track him down. Octagonia isn't that big!
Short quest, small reward.
Not much in the way of advice, although if you're a DQ3 fan, he is wearing the traditional Warrior armour.
Most of you seem to be orphans.
...Which is probably saying something unfortunate about your society.
...A town like this and you don't hear this often normally? What kind of town is this? Where do the Octagonians train?
Xero is over here, up on this ledge kids can't climb.
I suspect the kayfabe has been too heavy for you.
...Do you even count as a participant, then? Like, what's the line here between a gimmick and active exclusion?
...Especially if it means you're not even fighting?
He's certainly wowed by that.
I think that kid might not be the happiest person in Octagonia to receive this. Xero might just have stolen that title without his notice.
The kid, for his part, doesn't realise how bad the gimmick feels to be on the receiving end of.
Although perhaps even now he doesn't fully understand the depth it goes to.
The kid might love him, but I think that's more than anyone else, including him.
You'll want to eat your greens so you can climb that ledge. Or ask for your friends to make you a tower. Although then you couldn't get down.
This is about Vince. Which...
...You know, not entirely a strange conclusion to draw from that outcome. Although hopefully this doesn't end poorly.
And that was the Octagonian story, over at last. I think it's the MMA tournament that made this thing stretch out so far. The tournament was a fun way to add some colour to the setting and set up more characters than just the ones directly relevant to the story, and also allowed us time to build up Vince and establish what it was he was doing while not boring us with mostly exposition. Narratively, as well as mechanically, this truly is a modern incarnation of the Tournament of Endor.
And as for Vince himself... well, when it comes to the game's themes of forgiveness, that requires a villain to forgive, and Vince is probably the most questionable character to be welcomed back with open arms. His ends were just, more than many of the characters we're asked to forgive, but when it comes to kidnapping fighters and feeding them to a spider to drain their fighting energy so he can dope and steal the glory from those who trained properly... the Octagonians certainly forgave him pretty quick. Half of that is probably how ludicrous the story is, and the other half comes with how Vince is earnest about being dedicated to his cause. I'm sure most of us could find it in our heart to forgive Vince for what he did, but the real kicker getting in the way is how little "what he did" seems to be affecting him and his situation.
As for the rest of the fighters... they're a colourful bunch, and being boss fights makes them stick in a player's mind more than the usual kind of NPC, but they're not actually going to be any more narratively relevant than the usual kind of NPC. Their role is to expand the setting of Octagonia and show how other people might react to the place when they're more familiar with it. Rab and Jade are by far the most intriguing of the bunch, although as anyone who's heard of this game before (or even those who looked on the cover of the box and/or the attract cutscene) might attest, their importance is on a far, far different scale. But that's for when we track them to Dundrasil.
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