Someone's gotta get him off that throne.
(This exchange is also full ambient noises.)
If you are correct, that is simply more need to dethrone you. The last days of humanity should not be spent in fear.
And yet you're scared of us.
I love how Mordegon compares us to Erdwin. It really gets us in his headspace.
...Also, I just noticed he went to the Ike school of armour and is wearing most of it on his left forearm.
Sounds like the words of a man whose own dreams won't come true.
The evil overlord who caused mighty Yggdrasil to come crashing down from the skies, and brought Erdrea under his calamitous command.
??? family
6000 HP
999 MP
Mordegon, Lord of Shadows stands tall with a massive set of skills to worry about. Blade of Ultimate Power, Cut Above, Kacrackle Clash, Kazam, Kafrizz, Negagash, and oh yeah- he has all seven Powers of the Orb (Tyriant's Summon Shadow, Booga's Giga Drain Magic, Alizarin's Crimson Cloud, Gyldygga's Kaching Kaclang, Indignus's Blazing Blue Blast, Jasper's Silver Spark and the Fell Flash Jasper used on us at Yggdrasil). He can also block your attacks, too, just because he's that much of a bastard.
We've got a new boss theme to play, and today, I think the right people to bring against the man are the ones who were most soundly robbed- the Princess who lost her father, the King who lost his friends and children, and the Sage who lost half her soul.
Had I substituted Jade for Hendrik, this would be the game's opinion on Erdwin's party reborn. Screw it.
That's a block.
Sap might take a little effort.
...Come to think of it, just what is this protecting against in Mordegon's set? Not saying I don't think it's a good idea, just saying I don't know what Insulatle covers. This is when I wish I had the Benevolessence.
Silver Spark continuing to Silver Spark.
And there's Blazing Blue Blast. Disruptive Wave is a pain in the rear end, but usually, the buffs can be re-applied relatively painlessly. Dragon Quest 8's Tension system hinges on not getting hit by Disruptive Wave at the wrong time, but in anything else, Disruptive Wave is, if anything, a turn not taking damage.
DQ11 bosses seem to be a little more aware of how much you're buffing when selecting when to Disrupt you. Older bosses typically performed Disruptive Wave randomly or on timers.
As mentioned earlier, Blazing Blue Blast apparently misses Pep, but that's no excuse to count on any Pep as a plan.
But when you get it...
??? family
800 HP
999 MP
The Shadow of Shadows isn't much of an extra hand- he can guffaw ungraciously, throw out A Cut Above and Kabuff, and also has the blocking thing, but he's there to be a pain to deal with and little else.
Wow, Rab's angry!
Lucky!
This is me having a laugh.
This is the game joining in.
Erdward works on the Shadow of Shadows while I soak in what just happened.
Well, there goes some of the Sap.
That wasn't lasting long.
All right, Erdward/Jade Pep Power at some point.
Got him out of the way, now then...
Good going, Rab! I suspect one of those was a Rake 'n' Break, perhaps, or maybe he just got blocked on a few hits.
Ah, there's Giga Drain Magic.
And someone was going to show that off, since I'm not that interested.
Good time to pop a Fullheal, though.
At any rate, Erdward and Jade, it seems, only have one Pep Power as a combination.
...And I swear to Yggdrasil I didn't expect it to kill the guy!
You weren't expecting the final boss to just end like that, were you?
Dragon Quest invented sequential bosses. While it doesn't always use them as final bosses, there is always a sense of change fighting them.
Mordegon shoots his own roof down.
He needs a little more... room.
When I first saw this, I thought this figure was riding the dragon shape like a wyvern. It's not quite the case, but it's a good guess.
Mordegon's ultimate form is a twin-headed... actually, I'm not entirely sure what it is.
The Lord of Shadows' final form, revealed when he brought the Sword of Shadows' full power to bear. His desire to rule over the world is so desperately deep that he would destroy everything in order to achieve it.
??? family
5500 HP
999 MP
Mordragon has an assortment of nasty things to throw our way. To enumerate them, we've got Disruptive Wave, a ferocious war cry, a c-c-cold breath, Lightning Storm, Kacrack, Kaboom, Kazam, and one very special trick we'll definitely get the chance to see him attempt.
The Sword of Shadows reborn as a brutal, bony dragon. The potent power of the World Tree, once the Luminary's greatest asset, now stands arrayed against him.
??? family
5500 HP
999 MP
Mordragon's Tail, it turns out, is what happened to the Sword of Shadows- neat. You can expect to see Scorch, sweet breath, an eerie glow to lower magic resistance, Disruptive Wave, Kafrizz, and Zing. Zing is a deadly one, and means you should throw as much as you can to making sure the tail dies first.
The tail has another secret move we'll see in time, just as devasating as Mordragon's.
All our HP and MP has been refilled, and this menu would let us use a new line-up for free even if it didn't. I think I'll stick with these guys.
Mordragon's boss fight is set to Stake My Life On It, a slow, tense theme that really ramps up the worry the longer the fight goes on, as you watch Serena's MP slowly whittle away and wonder "can I take him down first...". DQ's final boss themes are actually, for the most part, of this variety. There are a few more familiar "super-triumphant last stand songs" in the bunch- 3 and 8 especially- but they also have tense phases.
Mordragon's first action is to "snake through the sky", making Mordragon's Tail the only target. Mordragon himself may still act, but I think less opportunities to attack are available.
We know what to do.
Not mentioned in the briefing notes, both Mordragon and the Tail can guffaw ungraciously and waste a turn. I chose not to mention it because I had this hilarious moment where both did it at the same time.
Back to your regularly scheduled actual fight scene.
Something's telling me Dirge of Dundrasil isn't as smart an idea here.
Proof of concept, Mordragon is able to deal actual damage to us despite the reverse not being true.
This is basically Anathematise but on everybody. Also with a miss chance, thanks, girls.
Rab, on the other hand...
Take this.
Unfortunately, this doesn't get rid of the debuffs. It's only worried about your current stats, though, I believe- if I had Serena Magic Barrier to bring Erdward and Rab to -1 Magic Resist, they'd still be on -1, rather than knocked back down to two.
I'm still not sure if Disruptive Wave clears negative status effects on the user- like your Sap effects. I imagine the answer differs by game, if it ever did that at all.
After a few turns, Mordragon snakes through the sky again, making the only target himself. Similarly to before, the Tail may still attack.
Serena has too much other business to get up to, Rab will have to remember he's a staffbot.
Thanks for the second Oomphle, although annoyingly, she casts it on Erdward again and wastes it. Some Enchanting Echoes just don't work. If multiple people are dead, Kazing bounces to someone else who needs it.
Yeah, that's just another buff to have taken away.
That almost feels like a haywire spell.
Thankfully Serena has us covered.
Yeah, let's not bother with Right as Rain.
Eventually, Mordragon will snake through the sky once more, placing both targets in the fray. In my experience, he never does the "takes one target away" thing again.
Here's the secret weapon of Mordragon's Tail, his wicked bite. He'll be chewing for a little bit, and while he's chewing, the character he swallowed (in this instance, I believe it's Erdward) will be completely unavailable for any sort of healing or the like. When he's spit back out, he'll be envenomated and stunned.
Thankfully, he's on orange HP and Sapped, so we can get some solid damage in even without Erdward.
That felt kinda pathetic.
Chomp chomp chomp
OK, that's a lot of extra damage for that to be covered by the Magic Resist down. Does Rab just have less Ice Resist in his kit? I guess Serena does have the passive skill for elemental resists.
And out Erdward comes.
Thank you, I appreciate that. Sarcastically.
Here's Mordegon's secret trick- Pep Up. He can Pep Up both himself and his Tail, and once Pepped Up, they have two deadly tricks to throw our way- Black Mark and Mighty Magic Burst. Black Mark is a Dark rune, like Scorched Earth, while Mighty Magic Burst deals raw, massive damage. You do not want to get hit by either.
This theoretically helps, but not specifically.
Ow, that's a lot of damage.
Well, so much for that.
...Jade. Thank you. There goes the need to get hit by Black Mark or Mighty Magic Burst.
If Jade didn't choose that exact moment to Declare Victory, this was the real plan. Like Disruptive Wave, this can clear Pep.
Between Pep Up and the Pep Powers, Mordragon actually needs to restore his MP- I suspect Pep Up costs him all the MP he has left, although perhaps it's something else. He has just the skill to do it, but it does eat up a turn.
Thanks, I guess.
Erdward takes on healing duties, since we're in some serious business and Serena's out of commission. Also Erdward doesn't actually have Fullheal yet.
Oh wow, I should mention that I eschewed Jade's Belle's Bow. Jade is out of MP.
She can Pep Power next turn. Erdward/Jade/Serena's Pep Power is actually really good, but it's a buffing Pep Power. Also Serena is asleep.
I was a little too close to victory for that to be the tide-turner. Although it would give her some MP back.
Yay?
It should be noted now that Dragon Quest XI does not allow you to screencap anything from the ending cutscenes. Fortunately, I found a workaround, which is good, because apparently this block extends to making any footage of them hard to come by.
And we were multiple people, masters of separate things, working together. So much for your "omni" mastery.
Whatever last-ditch effort he hoped he had, he was far too crumbled away for it to work.
Big explosion, but still basically a monster explosion. Befitting the final boss, after all.
For the record, I think even when you get this in context, all the costumes get reset.
Through context and voice, one can assume this is the Seer, although she is never explicitly identified as such. I think it is right, though, that the Seer be the one to congratulate us on this victory.
Erik, if you'll recall, met a male Seer. I wonder if each character has their own versions of the Seer to see. There are whole-party scenes with the Seer, but in each one, I'm fairly sure everyone sees the same Seer.
"Life and light will return to Erdrea" counts the destruction of the Fortress of Fear.
...The same Fortress we're standing in.
We, uh... better get going.
Starting now is an explicit cutscene.
Well, this could pose a problem...
Thank you, Cetacea!
We get to see the two characters best at dramatic landings, but do recall Rab was here too. Also Hendrik, probably.
Although apparently Erik's landing was a sight to behold.
Now that we're in a place that isn't about to fall out from under our feet, we can really appreciate the fact that hey, that thing we've spent all of Act 2 and about half of Act 1 trying to do has now been done!
Perhaps not as cleanly as we had expected, but a victory nonetheless.
...So hey, about "restoring" light to Erdrea...
Yggdrasil's back! Hopefully, it won't take too much to reconnect the path to the afterlife and everything else that's been severed since it Fell.
We even get an Okami-style Rejuvenation of the Land. There's something about the watercolour style of Okami that really gives it the edge, but this artstyle is no slouch.
Yggdrasil tugs itself back out of the ground to resume being the flying World Tree.
Cutscene is over, we're back to "normal".
With the Heart of Yggdrasil no longer fuelling Mordegon's... whatever it was it was fuelling, it goes back to doing as it pleases. Yes, I am fairly certain the Heart has a degree of sentience, and acts as the Source of All Life because it wants to.
.......
Wherever that may be.
We're coming home.
And the credits roll. For DQ11, this is no time to just sit back and relax- they've used the time to show off some details that, in earlier DQs, came before the credits. The stuff we'll see here is just as much content as the final cutscenes. Honestly, probably moreso.
The backdrop for the credits is a very fancy-looking tower. If you've been following along, you haven't seen this place yet.
We'll be seeing some movies in that massive empty space to the left.
Starting with Sylvando's return to the Soldiers of Smile and his father.
Don Rodrigo stays out of the huddle, although that's very clearly just him being his usual stern self.
Each visit we make in the credits actually leaves a party member behind- everyone's going to their home.
With that said, though...
Rab's going back to his family.
...Are you sure you want to stay here? It may be home, but I don't think there's shelter. All the dragons probably have the food, too.
Erik checks in on his friend-
Before everyone eventually decides it's Rab's business where he goes from here. The rest of us have other places to stop over in.
It seems Mum and Dad have something to tell Rab, though.
This is the one informal stop in the credits sequence: This is the Mechanically Important scene, although there's more clues than just this one squeezed in the otherwise narratively satisfying credits.
Erik spots a sparkly outside Octagonia. Someone needed to spot it in order to get the characters on this path- this is where the post-Mordegon story starts.
Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled stops Home.
Serena's come back to her parents and all the Keepers of Arboria.
Incidentally, the fact that Cetacea stops in Dundrasil and then flies over Octagonia to get to Arboria shows off that the wraparound world mechanic is canon. Other DQ games that have endings like this one often show off the wrap-around in the flight, too.
I've gotta wonder what the Keepers get up to now that the Luminary legend has been finished.
Serena waves us off from Veronica's grave in the Grove of Repose. Veronica's Staff has also been left there, although we had that throughout the journey- not that we had much need of it.
Our next stop, of course, is Sniflheim.
Erik's gotta see his little sis, after all.
The light streaming the window glows brighter as soon as we show up, so there's something more to her sudden reawakening than just convenience. I think it's Yggdrasil's blessing this time.
Mia, because she's Mia, opens with a punch. Erik's come a long way from just getting hit.
And gives her a hair tousle.
Yeah, I think Erik's got a sister to refamiliarise himself with.
She'll be just fine.
There's only one place we'll be making our last stop, though...
Cobblestone, Great Land Spirit's hearth and home.
Also, since Carnelian hasn't set up back home, this is Jade and Hendrik's stop anyway.
Hi, Mum. Hi, Gemma.
They still don't let Erdward hug her.
Hendrik salutes his King first.
Before Jade steps forward. There is a line of dialogue if you think to bring Jade back to the Last Bastion before now, although it's very short, curt, and this moment feels like it's shot as if you didn't do that.
Jade is prepared to step forward without worrying about the father she might have had.
And Carnelian is happy to respond in kind. Let it be so forevermore.
Erdward comes out to Cobblestone Falls.
He's come to stand where Chalky stood. Chalky was an adventurer, too, and now we've certainly made him proud.
Jade and Hendrik come over to join him.
And so do the rest of the party. I get a very DQ4 vibe from this ending- everyone went home, but came back to take the Hero's side in the end. There's a certain charm to everyone sticking together, but in both cases, I feel bad for some of the happy family situations some of them left behind.
Besides, there's always time for visits.
After the credits, there's some additional emphasis placed upon that key to the postgame plot.
Even in the vanilla version, a Tockle will appear to take a peek at this treasure. Although in the Definitive version, where we know what a Tockle is, one might have a clearer idea of what it might do...
No comments:
Post a Comment