Ocean Palace
-LOVE the look of this place.
Has this golden-brown hellish glow.
-Oh. Great. This chapter is called “Lavos Beckons.”
-THIS MUSICCCCC
-A pig goblin in the palace starts freaking out. Someone’s waking up. I wonder who.
-We flash over to the Mammon Machine, where the Queen has Schala amp it up to 11.
I thought she’d say no, but she does it anyway.
-The enemies here are really interesting. They’re not brutal or overpowering, but they each seem to have a quirk I have to learn. For instance, a Barghest has a shield I have to hit enough times before it becomes vulnerable. A Red Scoper is healed by all magic except fire. A Jinn retaliates each time it’s hit with aoe damage so I have to take it out in one big shot to not soak too much damage.
Always up for puzzle-type encounters over raw damage and healing tests.
-Found a balcony off the side, though not sure what to make of it. I see a sparkle of a Tab to try for.
-Going down a super long stairway, with each plateau filled with tricky monster packs.
-Masa is on the stairs, telling us of the red rock. He and Mune are somehow tied to Melchior.
-The camera switches to the Mammon Machine. Shit’s really going haywire, with flashing lights and the Queen turning even more power-hungry. Poor Schala, forced to help here.
-As she feels the oncoming power, the Queen pulls an Exdeath and literally says “Mwa-ha-ha!”
-Crono got his ultimate ability, Luminaire. I want to try it, but it is TWENTY MP JEEZ.
-Save point.
I imagine that we fight the Queen next, and that Lavos somehow emerges, but I have no idea what form Lavos will take. Will we see the full on Satan Hedgie? Or will he somehow possess the queen and turn her into a mutated thing?
-Deeper in, this place aesthetically reminds me of the city of the Maenads from FFIV: The After Years.
-Elevator time! This palace is ginormous.
-Falcon Hit is my all-star here.
-Reached the bottom after about four big fights on the elevator.
-Crap.
-I was unprepared for the Giga Gaia popping up into the middle of my screen on the Mountain of Woe, but I’m prepared now. The room I just walked into is a massive pool of lava.
Lavos is gonna pop up there, right?
-lol. I was so trying to be prepared, and I was wrong. Pulled two switches and a bridged emerged allowing me to cross over the lava pool. It was just a barrier.
-Another save point. Deep breath, Coldrun.
-Dalton again? And he summons Golem TWINS? Crap. I had a tough enough time with just one of them.
-One down. A few hits of the colorful Luminaire hurt them.
-VICTORY! Marle went down, but we made it.
-DALTON STAHP WTF. We beat the twins, and now he’s calling for “Golem Boss.” How high up the golem hierarchy are we going?
-Not that far apparently. Before Golem Boss arrives, a red glow suffuses the room. Dalton panics, peaces out.
-On we go.
-The next hall is dark, but flashing with colorful lights. A Nu identifies this as the hall of the Mammon Machine. He then jumps off the bridge we’re standing on!! ???
-We arrive at the machine. The Queen is there, courtiers/guards, the Prophet, and Schala. Where’s Janus? That seems an important question.
-Schala is resisting, but getting shocked by the lightning energy output of the machine.
-Masa and Mune take the red blade (or they are the red blade? I think I missed the details on that) and STAB IT INTO THE MACHINE, GO GO YOU BADASS WIND PIG GOBLINS
-SCHALA SAYS THE SWORD IN THE MACHINE ISN’T ENOUGH
OH
HOLY
SHIT
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Lavos
LOOK AT LAVOS
LOOK AT LAVOS’S FACE
HE ONE-SHOTS US
AAAARAGH
(A scripted loss clearly, but that doesn’t undo the fear this hedgie inspires through combination of sound effects and art design and expectations built and raw size.)
-…The Prophet appears?
-Aha, he IS Magus. What the hell are you gonna do, buddy? Negotiate with the destructive space alien? Try to get him to wait a few thousand years to pop out and destroy Guardia? I can’t imagine that Lavos will be that interested in helping you.
-uhhhhhhhhhhh
He wants to destroy him?
Wait wait is Magus Janus?? No, jumped the gun. But what happened to Magus wanting to summon Lavos to doom the humans? What am I missing?
-The Queen and Schala arrive. Schala tries resisting again, despite the queen’s wish that Schala join her.
-Hee! The Queen hops up on Lavos’s back. That seems like a bad idea.
-Lavos starts to drain Magus’s energy.
MAGUS: “I survived the darkness to beat you, Lavos!”
-There’s that darkness again. Janus talking of the black wind, and I’ll bet that darkness/black wind is the same thing that briefly sucked in Marle.
-Getting MAJOR Golbez vibes from Magus.
-Magus leaps at Lavos, tries to stab him with something. It doesn’t work.
-Crono gets up. Everyone is weak, on the ground, fallen but not dead.
-Boss time? Are we actually supposed to fight the Queen or Lavos now?
-Crono starts to do some magic thing. He summons a twinkly star. The pendant maybe? I really don’t know.
Crono seems to disintegrate. The scene fades to white.
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Ocean Palace
-Now we’re back in the hall of the Mammon Machine. The twinkly star brings everyone back. Well, not the Queen, not Lavos… and not Crono either.
-The Ocean Palace seems to be in bad shape, zapped with lightning and on the verge of destruction. Schala uses her pendant’s power to send us back.
-In a really wonderful touch, Schala’s parting words aren’t “Avenge me!” or “Take care!” Instead, she asks them to forgive her mother. She knows not what she does.
Noooo!!! Don’t go. I was holding out hope that Schala might join us as a party member.
-This is heartbreaking.
Schala, alone in the collapsing palace.
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Overworld
-We see Lavos half-emerged from the ocean floor.
Blasting beams of destruction onto the world that rip apart the kingdom of Zeal.
-The sky island crashes down.
-Crap. The Earthbound emerge to see a tidal wave streaking towards them caused by the destruction of Zeal.
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Island
-Some Earthbound escaped to an island.
-Ayla and Marle wake up there. No Crono.
-Something about a black portal opening up. A gate perhaps?
-The Earthbound Elder Marle’s pendant on Marle’s shoulder. As if it were guarding her… Did Crono transmute into the pendant somehow, or transfer his soul into it?
-WAIT REALLY?>?
I get a screen to select a replacement for Crono. I know this’ll probably be short-term, but it’s awesome anyway.
Marle, Ayla, and Lucca. How often is it that I get to play an RPG and have a non-player-created team of all women? GO TEAM!
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Next time: exploring the island, hunting for Crono.
