And so, it looks like Cierra wins! I'll be doing my best to ensure that I get her ending from now on.
Right, back at it.
Last time, we left off with Ein and Ledah at the start of stage 1-7: Remote Sanctuary. After a bit of banter about how long it's taken to get to Riviera, I examine the only thing on the screen: another treasure chest. Unfortunately, it has a poison gas trap on it. One easy command minigame later, I discover that the chest doesn't even have anything in it. What a ripoff.
On the next screen, Rose mentions Ein's lack of wings again, before asking Ledah once more about his sacrifice. This time, we're interrupted by another vampire and her pet naga. In this one, Ein masters the Power Wrist and gains the Strength Blast Over Skill (raise everyone's Strength). There's also some cracks in the floor on this screen that I can examine. Rose notices that they contain something, so I pull it out. One mash minigame later, I am now the proud owner of the mighty Longinus, the basic model for all Diviners. Ein (and only Ein) can use it to perform a magic attack that does 7 hits, each with a power of 777.
It's amazing. Amazingly useless, that is. You see, there are three problems with this thing. First, it has only one use. Second, its only attack isn't an Over Skill, so if I finish a battle with it I can't possibly get an S rank (and I'll want to S-rank as many fights as I can).
Lastly, there's the little matter of the item it replaces. You see, Longinus is only here if you've S-ranked the final boss on a previous playthrough. Otherwise, there's a Rosier (strongest rapier in the game) there instead. The Rosier isn't nearly as powerful, but it can be mastered. So, in unlocking this, I've effectively screwed myself out of optimal stat progression unless I delete my system data.
Oh, and the game has no option to do that, so I'd have to do it manually. Incidentally, I wonder how many copies of the GBA version still have the Rosier here.
Anyway, I move onward and Ledah tells me that we're almost at the gate (it's about time!). Before I move on, though, I enter Look mode, and Ein promptly notices a fairy fluttering about in front of him.
Those of you playing the PSP version might want to turn down your volume before examining her.
The fairy requests our aid in the most incredibly horrible voice possible (imagine Cream in Sonic Heroes, only a thousand times more poorly-acted). She also introduces herself as NoNo, which has to be one of the worst names ever devised (though far from the actual worst). She claims to have no idea why she's here, though Ledah suggests that there was "a distortion in space". Ein wants to bring her along, and I do so. She responds by restoring Ein's HP and increasing his Magic before undergoing a magical girl transformation into a key item.
Onward, then, to stage 1-8: Gate to Riviera. It's the final stage of Heaven's Gate, as can be inferred from the sudden change of music. As we enter, a mysterious female voice tells us to turn back and return "from whence we came". Hector calls us again and claims that its owner has been planting demons for us to fight. I examine the corridor, and Ledah mentions that he feels a powerful aura.
On the next screen, I examine the corridor again, and because I examined the last one, I'll actually get something out of this. Ledah says that whatever has that aura he mentioned is nearby, and gives Ein an Elixir. This will restore 99% of the imbiber's HP in addition to healing all status effects, but I only have one so I'm never going to actually use it (after all, if something can do enough damage to warrant its use, then I'd want more than one).
I then move on to the last screen of Heaven's Gate, which contains a huge magic circle. Hector arrives to see us off, before a strange woman shows up in the center of the aforementioned magic circle, wearing bandages and not much else (though her sprite makes it look more like she's covered in seaweed). Hector identifies her as Ursula, claiming that she's an enemy. Ursula responds with some random runes (sorry, "a spell in the Sacred Tongue") that summon a hideously deformed phoenix. Our heroes then have to fight the phoenix, whose name is Aghart.
Ledah: "The Accursed..."
Boss battle: Aghart
- HP: 6000
- Strength: 44
- Magic: 76
- Agility: 10
- Vitality: 0(!)
- No weaknesses or resistances.
Normally, this fight takes a while and there's a very good chance that Ein could faceplant before it's over. Aghart's break out, Flare Tempest, does heavy Fire damage. The battle comes down to either using the Fire Orb to ensure that Ein lives or jest keeping a Potion on hand.
I, however, have something else in mind. I have Ein use Longinus on the first turn, then Ledah finishes with Lost Seraph before it can even attack.
Results:
- Time to victory: 16 (normally this is 100 or so)
- Final attack level: Execution
- Score for victory: 23700
This nets me an S rank and Aghart's item, the Ignis Spear.
Ledah moves to finish Ursula off, but as it turns out, she's not stupid enough to actually manifest in physical form before someone who intends to kill her. She then uses some weird teleport magic or something on Ein and disappears along with him.
Ein wakes up on a completely black screen (aside from his sprite, of course) with no idea what just happened. After he wanders around for a while, Ursula shows up and hits him with some magic in an attempt to mercy-kill him. Meanwhile, back at Heaven's Gate, Hector demands that Ledah continue on without Ein.
Meanwhile, somewhere else, Ein is apparently still alive, surrounded by fairies. They discuss how Ein's still in pain, and determine that he has a pure heart (and this is related to his current state how exactly?). The fairies tell Ursula about this, and she confirms their suspicions. She then decides to entrust Ein with Riviera's welfare, and I get my result screen for this chapter.
- Turns taken: 60 (Rank A)
- Items left: 12 (Rank S)
- Score: 164700
- Starting TP next chapter: 5
Ursula, the mysterious woman who appeared at Heaven's Gate, used the Sacred Tongue to summon the holy beast Aghart.
The Grim Angels succeeded in defeating Aghart, but in the midst of battle, Ein disappeared.
Meanwhile, Ledah crossed Heaven's Gate and finally set foor on Riviera's soil.
After all that, Ein wakes up in a house inside a hollowed-out tree. He's promptly greeted by two girls: one younger-looking with yellow hair, and the other older-looking with green hair. As you've probably guessed, we've just encountered Lina and Fia.
The two (well, mostly Lina) talk about how they found Ein, applied ointment to his wounds, and washed his clothes (Fia: "I didn't peek! I didn't see anything!"). They then introduce themselves, and Fia says that they're in a town called Elendia (which, as you've no doubt guessed already, is in Riviera). Ein remarks to himself that the name "Riviera" sounds familiar, revealing that he has convenient plot amnesia. He does remember his name, though he knows absolutely nothing else. Fia and Lina are nice enough to let him stay at their place, fortunately.
With that, I have control again. Looking through my key items, I see that I've lost everything except the Album and the Rusty Sword (all my battle items are still there, though). I then check Ein's stats and discover that he's been nerfed. All the stats he got from item mastery are still there, but he's otherwise been reset to the basics. He's also lost Double Slash, and Einherjar has also had its power cut roughly in half (down from wherever it was before to 39).
At any rate, there's stuff to examine. First, I check a nearby table twice to get some bread. The bread has 10 uses and heals half your health, and it respawns every chapter. I also talk to Fia, whose name is mysteriously blanked out. This gives me a chance to remember it wrong (Ein" Hey, Chia.") and drop her affection by 3 (it starts at 13, if you're curious). She corrects Ein, then talks about how wonderful Elendia is for a bit.
I then head upstairs to Lina's room. She asks if I'm all right when I talk to her, and since she only starts with 4 affection I tell her I am (Ein: "Yes, thanks for asking."), raising her affection by 3. There's also a fairy named CoCo here, and thankfully her voice isn't anywhere near as annoying as NoNo's. She complains about how much of a slave driver Lina is after introducing herself.
Anyway, the reason I came up here is because the save point (or "Book of Memories" as they call it in-game) is here, and this has gone on far too long.
Total score: 164700
Next time: Elendia!
