Well hello there, readers all, I thought, as we approach the climax, we might embark on a brief little detour. See, much like IV Vanilla, Apocalypse also has several DLC superbosses. Unlike Vanilla, however, these guys... don\'t really fit well into the story. They seem to be out-of-continuity chapters in Nanashi\'s life, and one literally can\'t take place on the Peace Route at all. I\'ll be summarizing the events of these bonus quests here, but keep in mind they don\'t \"really\" seem to happen in Nanashi\'s adventure.
First off we\'ve got \"Coastal Inverted Pyramid,\" which charges Nanashi with rescuing a large number of women who have mysteriously vanished near the coast. This one takes place \"on a day Nanashi is by himself,\" and after accepting the quest he comes to pick up Asahi from her room. Only... she\'s not there. Yuh-oh. Anyway, we head to the coastline to see, as the quest\'s name would imply, a strange upside-down pyramid. Outside of it are a long row of mummies with roses growing from them. The missing women, 1421 of them (of that number\'s significance I have no idea) all dead and turned into mummies.
Who said this game was twee anyway?
Nanasho follows the line of mummies inside and finds that one of them is still moving under its bandages. It\'s Asahi! Unfortunately, upon freeing her, a very angry horde of Egyptian demons appears, demanding she be sacrificed!
BOSS: HORDE EGYPTIAN ARMY
Level 99. Uncertain of weaknesses/resistances but I know they\'re weak to Ice
These guys can be hard on first try but with a bit of practice, we should get by them just fine. I\'m uncertain of their exact resistances but I know they\'re weak to Ice and can\'t be harmed by either Light or Dark. They typically open with a move unique to them called Royal Curse, a randomly-hitting Almighty move that inflicts every ailment in the game... including the infamous Brand making its first appearance, rendering you unable to heal or remove the Brand itself. They\'ll follow this up with Grave Judgment, which can instantly kill anything with ailments. The trick, though? They\'re actually not invulnerable to Ailments themselves, or at least Panic, which David infected them with several times. Remember to conserve your MP, though...
Upon defeating the Horde a mysterious haze creeps in and a regal female voice rings out - the last of the Pharaohs, Queen Cleopatra VII. She is furious with Nanashi for liberating the last of the 1421 sacrifices she needed to ascend to an almighty goddess - all she needed was Asahi\'s... nose to replace her own. Huh, weird. Regardless, she attacks!
ULTIMATE BOSS: MEGAMI CLEOPATRA
Level 99. Resist Fire/Ice/Elec/Wind, Drain Light, Weak Dark
Even with just 1420 sacrifices Cleo\'s ascended to become a damn impressive goddess. She resists every element and has not just Ice Age and Deadly Wins, but also the tier four Light move, unique to her - Dazzle Ray. This might as well be a Wave Motion Gun as it\'s absurdly powerful even de-buffed. Fortunately it does not pierce so we can set up some defenses that way.
She also happens to be the games one and only Barrier Change Boss; she has a unique support skill, Adaptive Tactics, that changes her weakness the next time it\'s struck after she uses it. The game tells you what her new weakness is, but this generally results in a lot of swapping demons in and out - and, of course, they lose their buffs when you do this. Best strategy is to keep a demon like Inanna with strong moves of several elements up at all times. Oh, and if that wasn\'t bad enough, Cleo has a final unique move, Alluring Banter, which inflicts everyone\'s favorite ailment, Charm, and fully de-buffs defense. Doesn\'t matter if you\'ve already buffed it to max; down to -3 it goes. So yes, she\'s definitely an opponent worthy of Bonus Boss status; especially if the fight with the Horde left you low on MP.
When she goes down she decides to take her own life in emulation of the real Cleopatra. Well, we saved one of the women, anyway. Kinda sucks for the other 1420 but, uhh, victory?
Next up we have... \"A Trip to Hawaii?\" Huh? Accepting it transports Nanashi to a featureless void where he is met by the demon Mephisto, who offers him a chance to experience a place he never could in his ruined city. If he washes to return, he need only say \"Stay, thou art so beautiful.\" Accepting transports Nanashi to, well, Hawaii, where all his friends are, including the now-living Navarre, wearing swimwear. What follows is a bunch of strange beach fun sequences that just seem a little, well... off, including Asahi getting squirted by a sea cucumber.
Incubus: Heh, it\'s funny cuz it looks like a dick!
How did you get in here; this is supposed to be out-of-continuity! Regardless, after each scene Mephisto appears to check in on you. You can say the phrase to cancel his deal, or proceed to the next scene. See them all, though? And they start repeating...
When you\'re ready to go, speak the phrase to end up back in the void. Mephisto demands his payment - Nanashi\'s soul!
ULTIMATE BOSS: TYRANT MEPHISTO
Level 99. Null Phys, Repel Gun, Repel Elec, Weak Light, Resist Dark
Mephisto is the definition of a Glass Cannon. His attacks are much more punishing than Cleo\'s, but he really, really can\'t take a hit - a Hamaon with sufficient affinity will hit him into four digits without buffs. Unlike Cleo, he does have Dark Pierce, which he combines with the Tier Four Dark move, Fear Darkness. His other unique is Growing Hate, an Almighty move that hits harder the more resistant to Light you are. His only other attacks are the basic Hades Blast and Mamudoon; nothing we can\'t deal with.
I wish I could give you a strategy here, but this fight is Rocket Tag Gameplay at its finest; just kill him before he kills you. As his weakness remains constant, he\'s on the whole easier than Cleo. After the battle, Dagda states that his deal never could have gone through as Nanashi is already bound to him, and Mephisto fades away. Definitely the easiest of the three DLC quests.
The last one, \"Explosive Epidemic in Mikado,\" though? Without a doubt the hardest. I\'d even go far as calling it the most difficult challenge in the game, even above the two final superbosses. This specifically takes place on the Anarchy route, and Dagda charges Nanashi with massacring all of Mikado after its people begin behaving... disturbingly.
At the Minotaur Gate, Nanashi is met by two Samurai, who cryptically tell him that he only has \"25 turns\" to defeat the Mikadoites. Yes, the quest is not just one Time Limit Boss but several stacked on top of each other, with no opportunity to heal or save.
The two Samurai turn into demons and attack. They\'re level 80 but pretty weak, attacking mainly with Phys moves. They\'re got no weaknesses so they\'re really just here to bleed out your turn count. After their defeat, Dagda comments that some sort of pathogen is turning the Mikadoites demonic, and it\'ll spread to Nanashi in 25 turns (this quest has a lot of fourth wall breaking).
Proceed to Aquila Plaza to meet Commander Hope. He\'s been demonized too, and obviously he\'s not letting us pass.
BOSS: DEMONIC HOPE
Level 99. Weak Fire, Resist Light, Weak Dark
Hope\'s got only a few moves, but they\'re all he needs. One is just Mortal Jihad, which is simple enough to deal with. The other two are the problem. Revelation immediately buffs his attack stat to the max, no matter where it was beforehand, and gives him a free Smirk. He follows this with Judgment Strike, a tier-three Phys move that pierces resistances and inflicts Bind. Combined with the previous... yeah, OW.
He has several shortcomings, however. Obviously he has two weaknesses, rare for an endgame boss, and he has no way of of cancelling debuffs to his defense or hit/evade. He can, however, de-buff you with a unique ailment move called simply Bind, which drops you attack to zero and inflicts not Bind, but Brand. Upon falling, he reveals that Abbot Hugo is the source of the infection, and he\'s at the Monastery.
After this battle, Dagda uses a spell to determine that everyone in Mikado is infected with a \"Demon Gene\" except Nanashi - and he won\'t be if we take too long. We head to Obelisk Plaza to be faced with three battles in a row!
First up, we have four Demonic Citizens, all level 80. From left to right, a middle-aged man who has Diarahan and is weak to Gun, a young woman,an who uses strong magic and is weak to Fire, an old man who uses the \'karns and is weak to Gun, and a little girl who uses Frenzied Chomp and a bizarrely weak Megidolaon, who is weak to Dark. Defeat them in that order; it\'s perfectly doable in one turn. Next up are two Hordes, the first weak to Fire and the second Gun; highly forgettable and very easy.
At last, the Monstery is in sight; Hugo is out front and reveals himself as the source of the infection. You can hear an interesting Motive Rant from him at the cost of one turn - the Demonic Gene was apparently the result one the angels\' experiments on the Mikadoites at the beginning of the Kingdom, and was designed to create warriors stronger than angels. Hugo is the Monster Progenitor of the demonized people and self-proclaimed \"Voice of YHVH\" - a power beyond even the Four Archangels. He rips open his robe to reveal that YHVH\'s Universe is contained in his chest(!?!?!?) and attacks.
ULTIMATE BOSS: DEMONIC HUGO
Level 99. Null Light, Weak Dark
Hugo wasn\'t kidding when he said he\'s now stronger than the Archangels; he is, for my money, the single hardest boss in the game. He\'s got 20,000 HP and we need to whittle that down in however many turns we have left, while enduring his punishing attacks. Like Hope, he\'s got Revelation, and pairs it with a Gun skill called Heavenly Punishment - third-tier damage, piercing, and dropping all stats to our entire party. He has a heavy Light attack called Evil-Crushing Flash which he just loves to use on your Light-vulnerable Dark users like, say, Mephisto, and Dekunda, which he\'ll use basically every turn to cancel all de-buffs. Finally, he has two more unique moves - Nightmare, which drops your defense to minimum and inflicts sleep, and Forfeit; attack to minimum and Mute.
I really wish I could give you a strategy here but I haven\'t really hit on a good one. Cleo\'s Alluring Banter is useful for keeping his defense low, but, again, he\'ll cancel that every turn. To make matters worse, at half health he\'ll summon a Horde as reinforcements; it\'s the same Fire-weak one as above but still, eats up your turns. When you defeat it, he comes back and always gets the first strike, which he\'ll usually use on the Revelation-Heavenly Punishment combo. In this stage of the fight he also gains an Almighty move called Irrational Glimmer; I\'m... not sure if it\'s any different from Megidolaon.
At the end of the battle, Hugo dies screaming that he just wants to make Mikado a true paradise. Your only rewards are EXP and the entire population of Mikado dropping dead due to their link to Hugo. Congratu-freaking-lations, you ass.
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