Well, folks, it's time for the update. Specifically, the update I started this whole LP in order to do (well, one of them). Honestly, it's somewhat fitting that it happens to be my fortieth update, but that's not important right now. What is important, however, is that we're headed into area 6-6: Aquarium Springs.
As we enter, Fia asks what Ein's job as a Grim Angel is, which is something he honestly isn't too sure about. Perhaps Hector should've looked for better stooges, then. I then open a rather obvious treasure chest that contains a fairy. She claims that she was waiting to ambush the enemy, then got stuck in the chest when she hid in it. After a bit of nonsense, she offers to power up my Mithril Sword. Naturally, as I am always looking for more power, I accept her offer and she transforms it into the Zephyr, the second-best sword in the game (I would have the best one if the damn fighter in the last encounter hadn't blocked so much).
The fairy then requests that Ein bring her with him, and I accept. She then remembers that she should introduce himself, and promptly gives us her name: KiKi.
To the north, I find a strange monument that looks suspiciously pasted-in. Examining it reveals that it's written in the same language as the Lala Sutra (remember that? The book we found back in Tetyth?) As such, Cierra can translate it based entirely on the language's grammar.
I don't think languages work that way, Cierra.
At any rate, the monument supposedly seals something away; in essence, it's a magic safe. I have to enter the combination in a rhythm minigame, which reveals the Magic Mirror. This opens the Face Collection, which is completely removed from its stated effect of letting you see into your own heart.
Anyway, that room's a dead end, so I backtrack and head east. Serene starts getting angry that we have to fight Sprites in order to protect the Sprites, because apparently there's no concept of war on Riviera (?). Ein then starts angsting about how this is supposedly his fault, until Cierra snaps him out of it. There's only one other thing of note on this screen, and that's a shiny jewel in the water. It only exists for the purpose of being handed to one of the girls for an affection boost, so naturally I give it to Cierra. Note that this jewel does not appear in the inventory at any point, and that this event is basically just a repeat of the Angel Gem sequence back at Tetyth. Heck, it even gives the same amount of affection!
Anyway, about now I remembered that I need to master the Zephyr:
Ein:
- Zephyr: Mimic Ray: Level 3, 7-hit physical lightning-elemental attack, power of 166, last attack hits all, absorbs HP and gives it to all party members
Fia:
- Zephyr: Ether Edge: Level 1, 4-hit magic lightning-elemental attack, power of 127, can't hit flying enemies, absorbs HP
Serene:
- Zephyr: Voltek Wave: Level 1, 4-hit magic lightning-elemental attack, power of 124, absorbs HP
Cierra:
- Zephyr: Plasma Blade: Level 1, 3-hit magic lightning-elemental attack, power of 162, absorbs HP
With that, I head north to the next screen, where some bishies are already waiting for me. None of them have anything I particularly want, but I S-rank them anyway for a worthless Viper Whip that is immediately dropped. I then open a nearby random chest, which also contains a worthless whip that I get rid of. That is, I believe, the very last we're ever going to see of those blasted things. With that done, all that's left to do here is head north.
The next screen contains some feathers, which Fia notes are warm. We're catching up to Ledah now. The Aquarium's right on the next screen, but first I examine a nearby shadow, which contains another fairy for Ein's collection. She heals any temporary damage we might have had (not bloody likely), then leaves the item acquisition screen to name her, probably because her name happens to be PiPi. I then head east to the Aquarium itself.
Now, for this next scene, I'm going to do something rather different, because I feel that I ought to relate it a bit better than I usually do. As such, I'm going to use a script format for it. The name of the character speaking will be bolded, my snide comments will be in italics, and I'll temporarily break the format for any particularly long comments. So, here we go.
(Ledah approaches the Aquarium and cuts it down, as noted by a helpful "Aquarium Destroyed!" message. Ein then enters the scene.)
- Ein: Ledah...? You knew he was here, man. Why act surprised?
- Ledah: It's you... Ein. (turns around to face Ein) You're too late. I just destroyed this Aquarium.
- Ein: How could you!?
- Ledah: Ein... It seems that you're all talk. Where did that come from? You don't even know what the Retribution is... Remember that Ein was the one who explained it way back at the start of the game. The Aquariums are the units that protect Yggdrasil... I've already destroyed the first and second unit. There's only one remaining... There will be no one to stop the Retribution.
- Ein: The Retribution lies within Yggdrasil...? Actually, I'm not sure the writers are even fully clear on what the Retribution is.
- Ledah: That's right. (He starts to walk away.)
- Ein: Ledah, there's no need for the Retribution anymore!
- Ledah: What!?
- Ein: We've already sealed away all the Accursed! If by "sealed away" you mean "horribly murdered". Riviera won't become another Utgard! There's no reason to destroy it!
- Ledah: (He turns to face Ein again.) Haha... The Accursed? You were after such petty things as that?
- Ein: Huh!?
- Rose: (What do you mean!?)
- Ledah: The Accursed are mere tools of destruction.
- Ein: Tools!? Man, they're really overusing that particular punctuation formation here.
- Ledah: They merely trigger the demon's [sic] activities and the Sprites' souls flow to the one who governs death.
- Ein: The Sprites' souls!? Metal Gear?
- Ledah: Collecting souls. That has always been our objective. And Ein never knew this?
- Serene: Then the soul-hunting at Rosalina Island was...!?
- Ledah: ...all part of the gods' plan. This is the gods' reasoning for Riviera...
- Serene: Then what about my friends in eternal slumber? The game's rated T, Serene. You can say they're dead.
- Ledah: That slumber is unchanging... They will never awaken. Again, we've already established that they're dead. (He draws Lorelei, shown in a full-screen image.) Ein, stop deceiving yourself! The gods who are dead decide the role of the Sprites, not us angels.
- Ein: So? So what? They still have no right to play with their lives!! I will fight to protect all of my friends! It doesn't matter whether I'm an angel or not! Even if I'm going against the still dead gods, I will fight!
- Ledah: Hmph. You have fallen far. Without the Aquariums, Ursula will be unprotected. And Rivera will be finished.
- Ein: I won't let you do it!
- Ledah: Knowing you, you will catch up, no matter what happens...
- Ein: .........
- Rose: (Ledah...)
- Ledah: So I'll finish this now! Come, Ein...! I bet the slashfic authors went wild over that line.
- Ein: Einherjar! No... Everyone! Lend me your strength!
So, now I have to fight Ledah. I bet absolutely everyone saw that one coming.
Ein: Ledah...
Boss battle: Ledah
- HP: 5500
- Strength: 98
- Magic: 30
- Agility: 10
- Vitality: 70
- Immune to fire
- Resists holy
- Weak to ice
As you can see, I've got my work cut out for me. Ledah is so resistant to physical attacks (thanks to that high Strength) that Ein will be pretty much worthless here. That being the case, however, you'll note that Ledah is highly weak to magic attacks, especially ice-based ones. Furthermore, he does not count as a flying enemy despite his wings. As such, the strategy is fairly obvious. Cierra. Blue Stinger. Fia with Silvia for backup. He stands very little chance against that.
As for what Ledah can do, it should be fairly obvious. He can swing Lorelei around for some decent physical fire damage, and he has a Break Out called Crimson Courreges that can probably inflict Heat, but I'm not sure (it also seems to paint the entire screen white for a brief moment, which is probably a graphical glitch, though it's a rather cool one). He also has the ability to boost his stats when he takes enough damage by using an ability called Angel Awakening. This also changes his Break Out to a new one called Rose Kreuz that's more powerful.
However, with the strategy described above, he's rather easy to bring down, especially if you use Magic formation (which speeds up all magic-based attacks). However, do remember to finish off with a level 3 Over Skill or you'll miss out on your S-rank.
Results:
- Time to victory: 104
- Final attack level: 3
- Score for victory: 17700
My S-rank gets me Lorelei, as you've probably guessed by now. It's significantly upgraded, allowing Ein to do a 3-hit magic attack called Shining Flare. It's fire-based, has a power of 292, can't be blocked, and inflicts Heat. As such, I drop the now-obselete Wyvernzem for it.
- Ledah: Tch... I never imagined I'd lose to you in battle... Having an easily-exploited weakness will do that to you.
- Ein: Ledah...! (He walks up to Ledah.)
- Ledah: Now... Finish me!
- Ein: I can't do that. You're my friend. We've all heard this one before, no doubt.
- Ledah: What are you talking about? That is the most practical action to take... in battle... This is Sting's idea of an ideological conflict, ladies and gentlemen.
- Ein: No, I can't do it!
- Malice: (Suddenly appearing out of nowhere): Then I will! (Slashes Ledah)
- Ledah: Hnnnnnnngh! I had to look in a script on GameFAQs to get this one, because it scrolls automatically.
- Ein: Nooooo!! (cue image)
- Malice: *chuckle* All too easy...
- Ein: Malice... !!
Wait, are we missing something here? Who's this "Malice" person?
The answer is simple: Sting are idiots who have no concept of "internal consistency". Malice is the blonde woman from Lacrima. You know, the one who refused to introduce herself to the party when they last saw her? Simply put, it seems Sting either forgot the scene where they introduce her or refused to care.
Anyway, back to half-baked script format with us.
- Malice: I'm sure he's happy to have been done in by an angel.
- Ein: I wasn't going to kill him... That's why she did it, Ein. She said it herself.
- Malice: What are you talking about? What were you doing up until now? That's what I would call hypocrisy. She's got a point there, actually.
- Ein: But...
- Malice: Now then, hypocrite... So you know why I'm here? Oh boy, here we go...
- Ein: ............ This is far from the worst use of ellipses in the game, I'm afraid.
- Malice: I, too, am a Grim Angel. The music and Diviner kinda gave it away, honestly. Not that Ein seems to have remembered that, given his shock at this statement. With my Diviner, Skadi, I am sworn to Master Hector. In order to revive the golden age of the gods... Someone must become the one and only god. That should be capitalized, then. Only then will Asgard gain eternal power. That is what my master said, and his word is absolute. Note that Malice seems to care more about Hector than about the actual purpose of Grim Angels. I started collecting souls at Rosalina Island... All for the sake of Asgard... We have no need for a Grim Angel that loses to Ein! Asgard needs an absolute god... Someone like Master Hector! I knew that if I left you to carry out your mission, you'd defeat all the Cefiro for me. Someone's good at making plans up. I'll take over from here. Go die in peace. (She flies off. Ein tries to give chase, but can't.)
- Ledah: E...in... (Ein walks over to Ledah.)
- Ein: Ledah...! You're alive!
- Ledah: Go... Stop Malice... She does not... follow... the will... of the gods... She... has become... Hector's puppet... No, this isn't it either.
- Ein: Ledah...
- Ledah: Hurry... There's no time to waste...!
- Ein: But...! I can't leave you here! Your dated single ability and now-underwhelming stats are too important to me!
- Ledah: How strange... You still think I'm your friend...? Besides... I'm not one to die here. You know that... I heal like 250 HP a round, you know. Ledah... the Grim Angel... will not fall here...! (Ein remains.) Now what are you doing!? I said go!
- Ein: ...Okay. But I'll be back... (He leaves the area.)
Notice that there's something that seems to be missing from that scene. You'll remember, back at Lacrima, that Serene joined up with the team entirely so that she could fight Malice. So, why the heck does she have no reaction whatsoever to the reappearance of the person she has been waiting the entire game to be able to kill?
Really, I suspect that Sting were running against an increasingly tight budget and a rigid deadline by this point, but that doesn't explain why they didn't fix it for the remakes. Seriously, there's no excuse for the plot holes in that scene when the PSP version of this game (and the GBA one, for that matter) was self-published in Japan.
Whatever. At any rate, I think that's enough for now. I hope that this approach to the major cutscenes was at least somewhat entertaining. Next time, we'll wipe the smug grin right off Malice's face.
It'll hurt her far more than it hurts me, that's for sure.
Edit: I was wrong about Crimson Couregges inflicting Heat. I just checked a boss FAQ, and it actually inflicts Purify. Didn't happen to me, though.
