Summary: We finish off Dimension Castle, taking down Halicarnassus and Twintania. Enter the Rift. We again meet the peerless Gilgamesh, and the world is a pretty good place sometimes.
The Rift – Dimension Castle
-Wow! Someone in the prison thanks us for helping them escape and leaves without trying to kill us! She kissed Krile, and didn’t turn into some horrifying and bloodthirsty succubus.
Kind of a nice little change of pace. Makes me wonder if there are other innocent citizens in the Rift who live normal lives when Exdeath isn’t rampaging. I demand a Rift ethnography.
-So many insta-death spells.
-Ok. Throne room, but nobody’s on the throne.
-….Wow. I couldn’t have possibly been more wrong. The woman we freed storms in and says she gave us her “kiss of death.” She is, in fact, a bloodthirsty demon. Halicarnassus, master of the castle.
She toads us all at the start, but other than that does little damage.
-Top of the castle.
-One more Legion of Doom member. Twintania. She says she’s guarding the power of the Void. Exciting!
-AWESOME SPRITE!!
Reminds me of pit lords in the Warcraft universe.
Drawing by Nikoro.
-Died twice. She’s deceptively tough. Very weak defenses and so took a lot of crits and heavy hits, but tons of HP and hard retaliation.
-Attempt #3: Got mega-flared.
-Attempt #4: VICTORY!
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The Rift – Last Floor
A starry and crystalline expanse.
-King Behemoth. Urk.
-Some other Big Bad is guarding a portal.
-GILGAMESH!!
-"Have at thee, vile beast!” I forgot that he was exiled to the Rift.
-His sprite is badass.
-…wait. He doesn’t want to fight.
-GIL: “Oooh… I don’t ilke it here. Creepy monsters lurk around every corner.” Poor Gil
-GIL: “…and I can’t find the way out… Cripes… *sniffle* I’m gonna break down!” I don’t think he’s kidding. Despite being an eight-armed giant, he really is freaked out.
-GIL: “Anyway. How does one exit?”
BARTZ: “Oh. Just go that way, then.”
GIL: “I see! Let us egress, posthaste! Say, afterwards, what do you say we have spectacular adventures, just us five?”
YES PLEASE YES PLEASE YES
BARTZ: “…Um.” DON’T BALK, BARTZ. THIS IS THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME.
GIL: “Oh, yes, that whole ‘saving the world’ thing. Phooey.” Phooey is right. I forgot for a second that we had to kill Exdeath. The thought of adventuring in a five-man party with Gilgamesh was too cool.
GIL: “If you make it out safely – hah! No ifs about it – I’m certain we’ll meet again.” We better. “At that time, I hope you’ll consider me a… Uh… er. *cough* never mind, ha ha! Hasta la bye-bye!”
Gilgamesh: Best character ever, y/y?
Take care, dude. Stay safe. I’ll hopefully see you in the epilogue.
Drawing by GtheStalker.
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In all seriousness, Gilgamesh is easily one of my favorite characters in this game. Probably tied with Galuf and slightly ahead of Faris. He’s goofy, and his sense of humor is unique. It’s jolly and wild and wonderful. But that’s just part of it.
He wasn’t “a good person misled.” He was the freaking high lieutenant of Exdeath, but even then, we get the sense it was because Exdeath was going to give him Excalibur instead of Excalipoor (lol) rather than because he wanted to exterminate the planet.
Two things really define him for me. The first is his exuberance. He takes such pleasure in fighting us, and in being our adversary, and yet he DOESN’T take pleasure in our suffering. He felt sorry for Galuf’s death. And listen to his music!
How could anyone represented by this theme want anything other than the joy of action?
The second thing is his loneliness. In this goodbye, he clearly wants to spend time with us, to be our friend. He can’t bring himself to say it, but he wants to be our friend nonetheless. He doesn’t like living in this monster world. He wants to be on the inside. To be part of a team with someone other than monsters, Enkidu, Exdeath, and the power of the Void.
Yeah, I’m extrapolating wildly, but I believe it. I hope we see this ridiculous, wonderful, selfish, delightful, and terribly sad champion again in happier tmes.
We better have spectacular adventures together. All five of us.
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Next time: Further into the Rift’s last floor.
