Well, Ronaldo’s plan is pretty much off the table due to it screaming “this is a bad idea!” like whoa, and Yamato’s is pretty blatantly the “true” ending (it’s even go a slightly altered Golden Ending version like Daichi’s old one did)...so it looks like I’ll be going with Al Saiduq’s then this time around. Godhood, here I come!
Thus we choose the “A Human Shall Rule” event where Miyako and Al Saiduq reiterate the plan to create a world run by humans, for humans and upon agreeing to it Al Saiduq says he’s glad while Miyako admits to being a little surprised that we’re taking this option. Then we’re told that a decision of utmost importance still remains, and here is where Hibiki proposes that he will become the Administrator, the one who’ll remain forever in the Akasha Stratum while the rest of the world and people in it continue to advance. Al Saiduq grows melancholy and Miyako says that if that’s our will it would be best to hide it from the others for now, though we will still need to tell them that we’ve decided on this plan. They leave Hibiki be and Nicaea starts up so that Tico can put in his/her last appearance on this ending route to comment on our decision. They’re sad that we’re sacrificing ourselves, kinda, but since we’re doing it for the fate of the world they’re not going to say anything to stop us. They wish us luck in the battle against Canopus, and it’s time to save the game and head on to the final day.
Last Day - Our Final Stand
We don’t actually go to bed and wake up later this time, after saving the game it picks up right where it left off at midnight Saturday morning just as the date changes. The last day is really short no matter which of the three paths you choose, but this one is especially short as there’s only a single event before the final battle becomes available, called “A Single Lie”. There we break the news to everyone that we’re going to make a human Administrator and after summarizing its merits (closes loopholes, provides security for mankind) everyone decides to agree to it. At least it’s better than fighting all the heavens. Al Saiduq tries to steer everyone’s attention over to the upcoming battle, but Io speaks up and asks what about the most important part: who’s it going to be? He simply tells her that they can decide on that after Canopus is slain, and though the others aren’t sure about putting that discussion off, they’re convinced to depart to make their preparations for the final battle.
All except for Yamato, who growls that he’s not as easily deceived as the others and that he knows that this’ll end with Hibiki being the one to remain in the Akasha Stratum. We tell him to keep this from the others, and after a pause he repeats what Tico said before, that he won’t stop us since we chose this path on his own.
The final battle becomes available now and we can see on the top screen of the overworld that Japan’s now reduced to the same few chunks it was in on Day 8 before we fought Polaris. My preparations involved cracking Megidolaon, Samarecarm, and Ice Drain from one of the available free battles as well as trying to snag a few more Auto Skills from the data cards that show up. I managed to get Wall, Barrier, a few Ban Elements I didn’t have, and most importantly Magic Yang. I wanted to see if I could get Pierce + or Endure + from them too, but ended up not having the patience for it. The cards are located so far from the mission’s starting points that the only way to reach them quickly before the demons dogpile you is by combining the Racial Skills of a Wilder and Fiend, and currently there aren’t any Fiends available for me to fuse. Magic Yang’s enough for now.
So, at 12:30 we return to the Upgraded Terminal where we see that in addition to the sparkles and red and black paneling Al Saiduq and Miyako have added a bunch of interconnected rotating rings that are floating in the air in lieu of the giant globe the normal Terminals have. I wonder how they changed it anyway. Manipulation of dark matter, perhaps? Anyway, they announce that all the necessary modifications to the Terminal and the Skill Crack function have been completed and our summoning apps are updated accordingly, and Al Saiduq explains that the new Skill Crack function does not require a specific target to be designated, nor will the power of the stolen Factors be limited to just one person. Once we tell Miyako that we’re all ready everyone goes through another round of pre-final battle declarations of confidence before the Terminal is activated. The rings up ahead start spinning around faster and faster, the sparkles coalescing into a pillar of light as we leave the human world once more.
The Terminal takes us to a realm beyond even the Akasha Stratum known simply as Providence, a space absolutely choked by a mass of purple tendrils radiating out from what seems to be a single point. Daichi hesitantly asks where Canopus is supposed to by and Miyako startles him by claiming that all they see is Canopus, a realm unto itself. Naturally, we’ll have to destroy a core if we want to take the whole thing down, which I suppose would be like attacking its motherboard given the whole computer metaphor. Al Saiduq tells us to look, and we can see some activity over by a nearby cluster of tendril, until a bunch of bubble-like protrusions appear on the surface. This is the first of the four Factors, he explains, the Factor of Heat
◊. It summons a few Shards, but this time the Hotsuin twins step forward and annihilate them with the Dragon Stream, prompting Yamato to utter his trailer line that it will take more than a few pawns to stop them. It tries again by summoning a bunch of demons, so everyone takes out their phones/draws their sword/does nothing in Al Saiduq's case for one final round of demon busting!
Final Mission: Upon the Throne
- The Factor of Heat must be defeated
- The whole party cannot die
The first phase in our battle against the Divine Order of the Universe is an uphill battle - literally. The battlefield consists of three loosely-connected tendril strands that snake upwards towards the Factor of Heat. The demons on the way are the same endgame stuff we encountered in the Polaris battle: Murmurs, Grendals, Feng Huangs, along with some slightly weaker stuff like Rangdas and Decarabias mixed in. Nothing that’s too too threatening at this point, though the Grendals can be nasty if you let them live too long for they specialize in setting up Tetrakarns then blasting enemy leaders with Assassinates. I felt that fielding Hinako, Al Saiduq, and Miyako were decent choices, the latter two for their story relevance, for this ending especially, and Hinako for, of course, that sweet Multi-Strike action. It does pay to have maybe an Avian or Genma like Feng Huang, Garuda, or Jarilo on hand in case you need to quickly jump between the tendrils, which you may very well need to given what the Factor can do.
Factor of Heat (Lv. 60)
HP/MP
- ???/???
- Weak to Ice; Absorbs Fire; Reflects Force; Nulls Curse
- Inferno - Deals heavy Fire damage to entire enemy party and may affect self as well.
- Agidyne - Deals heavy Fire damage to one target.
- Mazandyne - Deals heavy Force damage to entire enemy party.
- Fire Drain - Grants absorption of Fire attacks.
- Mana Aid - Recovers 10% max MP at the end of battle.
- Dual Shadow - 25% chance of repeating last action.
- Factor of Heat - Has an attack range of 10 panels.
- Flame Fanfare - One of the three paths will begin to glow, dealing a small amount of Fire damage to all enemy parties standing on it.
- The Origin Flame - Deals very heavy Fire damage to all enemy parties standing on glowing path; glow fades afterwards.
Despite being advertised as having a ten-panel attack range the Factor of Heat never actually directly attacked us, or at least never got a chance to, as it instead spent its turns using its Field Skills. When I say that Flame Fanfare deals a small amount of damage, I mean it. It’s Scratch Damage in every sense of the word, barely poking above a puny 5 points. The Origin Flame, on the other hand, is very powerful, and can easily one-shot or almost one-shot units with low Magic or no Fire protection, to say nothing if it has a weakness (though why the hell would you bring something with an exploitable weakness into the final battle anyway?)! It’s incredibly telegraphed though so the only way you’re getting hit by that is if you can’t get out of the way in the little respite you have in between those two attacks. It always seems to target the third of the map with the most characters on it, I noticed.
When we get around to fighting the Factor, it is one sturdy son of a gun. Ice Dances and Multi-Strikes were only dealing around 60-70 damage per hit while the Assassinates that Hinako’s Koumokuten was throwing out were barely breaking triple digits. Nothing we can really do about that, especially since it loves using the trick Feng Huangs love of using Inferno’s friendly fire attribute to heal itself, but we can out-damage it, and naturally Fire protection nullifies much of its threat. Once we defeat it there’s a rumbling as the eyes/bubbles fade away and each of the four party members glow as the elements of the defeated Factor enter them. This isn’t simply for show, the Factors really do power us up in different ways, and the Factor of Heat’s effect is to greatly increase the power of Fire, Ice, Elec, and Force attacks. Al Saiduq says that this is a start, but we still have a long way to go so it’s time to move onward. So we get a little FMV sequence of the camera panning away from the mass of tendrils that we were on and zooming up the stalk up, up, and up, until it begins nearing the center point where all the tendrils of Providence are radiating from, where they become more uniform and a golden, haloed light shines.
The party reappears at a point just below the tendrils’ source, if the Amazing Technicolor Battlefield is any indication, where the remaining three Factors appear: the dodecahedronal Factor of Space
◊, the hourglass of the Factor of Time
◊, and the...guitar pick-shaped Origin of Gravity
◊.
Factor of Space (Lv. 62)
HP/MP
- ???/???
- Weak to Force; Resists Fire and Ice; Absorbs Physical; Nulls Elec and Curse
- Drain - An Almighty-based attack that absorbs some HP/MP from one target.
- Mazandyne - Deals heavy Force damage to entire enemy party.
- Dream Eater - An Almighty-based attack that absorbs some MP from one target.
- Physical Drain - Grants absorption of Physical attacks.
- Attack All - Normal Physical attacks hit entire enemy party.
- Drain Hit - Absorbs HP when using Physical attacks,
- Factor of Space - Grants self and allies infinite attack range; can change allies’ positions.
Factor of Time (Lv. 62)
HP/MP
- ???/???
- Resists Fire, Ice, Elec, and Force; Reflects Physical; Nulls Curse
- Megido - Deals moderate Almighty damage to entire enemy party.
- Prayer - Fully restores entire party’s HP and cures negative status ailments.
- Swift Step - High chance of acting first.
- + Stone - Physical attacks may petrify enemies.
- Dodge - Raises chance of evading Physical attacks.
- Factor of Time - Allows self and allies to initiate battle twice in one turn.
Origin of Gravity (Lv. 62)
HP/MP
- ???/???
- Weak to Elec; Resists Physical; Absorbs Force; Reflects Fire and Ice; Nulls Curse
- Piercing Hit - Deals moderate Physical damage to one target while ignoring Physical resistance, absorption, and nullification.
- Hassohappa - Deals heavy Physical damage to entire enemy party.
- Avenge - High chance of countering Physical attacks.
- Physical Amp - Physical attacks powered up by 50%.
- Factor of Power - Grants usage of Gravity Anomaly.
- Gravity Anomaly - Deals heavy Physical damage to two enemy parties within two panels of each other.
Don’t ask me why the Origin of Gravity is the odd one out name-wise. The layout of the map is a little bit confusing because the floor is invisible; we’re pretty much standing on thin air. Basically though it’s a straight line that splits into three short paths that each lead to a Factor. Their Racial Skills are pretty troublesome what with supporting each other like they do, with the Factor of Time’s being the most dangerous since it allows each Factor to attack twice each turn and it meshes well with the Factor of Space’s infinite range (otherwise the Factor of Time and Origin of Gravity each have a ten-panel range like the Factor of Heat allegedly did). The Origin of Gravity is the closest and here we can witness the effect of cracking the Factor of Heat: elemental attacks will deal upwards of three-hundred damage a hit, even when striking a resistance, and if you have an Amp in play or hit a weakness you’re easily looking at 700-1000 damage, enough to effortlessly wipe out the Factors. Thus they’re only really fearsome until you can actually fight them. Each one powers us up even further: the Factor of Time powers up Curse and Almighty attacks while the Origin of Gravity does the same for Physical, while the Factor of Space is the craziest of all in that it bumps everyone’s movement range up by four panels, no questions asked. I really wished that I had a Wilder demon with me at this point just to see how that would interact with Devil Flash.
Each Factor spins off into the abyss above our heads once defeated and Al Saiduq, Miyako, and Yamato appear regardless of whether they’re currently in your party or not to comment on how with the Prime Factors cracked we can now do battle with Canopus on equal ground. Thus we get another FMV sequence that shows the ascent even higher up, to the very origin of Providence, and thus the center of Canopus itself. The site of the final phase is a little less trippy than what we’ve seen of Providence so far, consisting of another invisible floor with the background resembling the wormhole graphics on the covers of my old elementary and middle school science textbooks. Canopus descends, looking like a gigantic amoeba rather than something abstract like the Factors and most of the invaders we’ve fought. Al Saiduq announces that the very core of Canopus now lies before them, and both he and Miyako say that they are pleased that they’ve their faith in us and we’ve never faltered despite all the trials and hardships we’ve been through. Hibiki’s optional responses to this pep talk are “To live is to keep making choices.” and “To live is to move forward.”, call backs to the character bios on the official website for the DS game way back when where they listed what it means to live for each character (for Daichi it’s to enjoy oneself, for Keita it’s to get stronger, for Makoto it’s to be resolute, etc.). Al Saiduq responds that humans are capable of change, spending every moment of their lives growing, changing, and learning. We must show Canopus what it means to truly be alive!
With that we get to start moving. The map’s basically just a long, open incline leading up to Canopus, and along the way we have to tangle with enemies known as Genes
◊, which are basically slightly buffed Shards. Their main thing is that they have three-panel-attack-ranges and also have Beast Eye, which is rather annoying. They’ve also got an enemy-exclusive attack known as Fringer’s Brand that is one of the very, very few offensive Curse spells (and it can curse too). Aside from them, three of Canopus’s tendrils known as Matrices lie across the battlefield. Each Matrix has successively more HP than the last, and their role is to basically just stall you since they’ve got both Life Aid and Life Lift (apparently they can be stacked. The more you know.) and little means of offense aside from Deathbound. They’re not too hard to deal with though since all our attacks are powered up. Finally, there’s Canopus itself.
Canopus (Lv. 65)
HP/MP
- ???/???
- Weak to Ice; Resists Fire, Elec, and Ice; Nulls Curse
- Earthly Stars - Deals two hits of moderate Physical damage to entire enemy party.
- Master of Life - Instantly kills enemies inflicted with a status ailment.
- Megidolaon - Deals heavy Almighty damage to entire enemy party.
- Dual Shadow - 25% chance of repeating last action.
- + Stone - Physical attacks may petrify enemies.
- Universal Law - Automatically damages and attempts to curse enemies at the start of battle.
- Culling of Roots - A tidal wave sweeps the field, dealing heavy Almighty damage to all enemy parties.
I’ll start off with what Canopus does have going for it. It’s got a lot of Vitality, like seriously a lot. 35 to be exact. As a byproduct, it has an assload of HP. Universal Law and Master of Life is the same as the recurring Death Call insta-kill strategy and it’s still effective. Culling of Roots is a field Megidolaon, and it’ll use that on every single one of its turns instead of attacking conventionally.
As for what Canopus has going against it... Well to start with there’s the fact that it has a weakness. Yes, this universe’s version of God has a weakness that can be freely exploited and it can even be frozen or shocked so that Physical attacks can wreak havoc. C’mon son! Moving onto its attacks, the only one that can’t be gimped is Megidolaon. Earthly Stars can be blocked with Physical protection, and since Universal Law acts like an Auto Skill that gives you enough time to cure anyone who’s cursed with a casting of Prayer before Canopus can whip out Master of Life, and there’s no excuse not to have it by now since you can start fusing Norns at Lv. 64 and you can crack the spell off of one during the first phase against the Factor of Heat. Canopus has no defense against Physical attacks, so it’s just as vulnerable to Multi-Strike/Deathbound spamming from Hinako or Jungo. The high Vitality and HP does mitigate its lack of defenses and balances out the power up we got from the Factors, but that’s about it.
But wait! Canopus does have a second moveset that it’ll switch to once it’s down to about a third of its HP:
Canopus (Lv. 65)
HP/MP
- ???/???
- Weak to Ice; Resists Fire, Elec, and Ice; Nulls Curse
- Megidolaon - Deals heavy Almighty damage to entire enemy party.
- Master of Life - Instantly kills enemies inflicted with a status ailment.
- Heavenly Rule - Recovers some HP.
- Dual Shadow - 25% chance of repeating last action.
- Extra One - Guarantees the user an extra turn.
- Universal Law - Automatically damages and attempts to curse enemies at the start of battle.
- Culling of Roots - A tidal wave sweeps the field, dealing heavy Almighty damage to all enemy parties.
- Heaven’s Gift - Recovers some HP.
Replacing + Stone with Extra One is good since now that means its extra turn is safe. Unfortunately its new healing spells are more a product of desperation than anything else. Both of them can only heal something like 250 HP, which is literally a drop in the bucket. That’s not even close to slapping on a band aid. Canopus’ll also spawn some more Genes, but at this point we can just ignore them and focus on taking out their boss since it has so little HP left compared to the start.
So yeah, in the end the Divine Order of the Universe is pretty much the chumpiest iteration of God since Brahman. It’s problem is just that it doesn’t have anything quite as deadly and hard to deal with as Polaris B’s infinite-ranged Multi-Strikes. I dunno, the very least that I would do to make this fight more challenging would be to make Canopus neutral to Ice instead of weak, and then fill out that empty Passive Skill slot with something that gives regen, like Victory Cry or something unique, and maybe give it the ability to pierce. Anyway, we’re stuck with what we’ve got, and once Canopus’s HP is fully depleted we get a third FMV sequence of it falling into the abyss and disintegrating, along with all that remains of Providence.
Following the battle we see Hibiki floating in the starry void alone just like he was at the start of the arc. Al Saiduq appears alongside him and says that now it’s time for him to ascend the Heavenly Throne and warns again that once he becomes Administrator he will no longer be able to exist among humans as a single entity, share the same time, or interact with his friends and loved ones in any way. He asks if we’re sure we want to do this. “Dawn” starts playing as we say yes, and our friend says that he understands.
Switching to the real world we see the party lying unconscious around the Terminal until Daichi wakes up. Groggily, he realizes that Hibiki’s gone, as are Yamato, Al Saiduq, and Miyako, and with a horrified start he realizes what’s happening and runs off. Over at the device we can see that Hibiki is now the one inside the small central tank and the other three are at its control panel. Yamato is sighing over our his choice but decides to be supportive and promises to remain in the world to guide it to the best of his ability. He and Al Saiduq retire to the lower level as Miyako activates the device, and as she does Daichi runs into the chamber yelling that they have to stop. Yamato stands in his way and tells him to stand down as this was Hibiki’s decision, leaving Daichi with no recourse but to hurl insults for a bit before finally breaking down. Miyako walks over and tries to comfort him by explaining that Hibiki won’t be alone; she intends to leave the world as well to serve as his Sword, since the device was always intended to transfigure all four Triangulum, herself included. The plate on the fourth holding tank retracts...but at the last second Al Saiduq knocks her aside and jumps into it himself, and when the dumbfounded chief tries to ask why he says that it is because she is human; he will suffice as an Administrator’s Sword. The lid slides closed as he announces that the Shining One’s long battle is finally at an end.
...
We then jump forward in time. We see the outside of the high school where the mock exams were held at the very beginning of the story. It’s now spring judging by the pink cherry blossom petals drifting through the air, as well as the final day of school for third-years. As soon other students are overheard talking about what to do for their next break, Daichi and Io are seen exiting the building, and suddenly Daichi stops and looks up at the sky. Io asks if anything’s wrong, and he says nothing, but he just can’t shake the feeling that he’s forgotten something, something important...
Melancholy piano music plays as the ending illustrations show landscapes of Tokyo, restored and whole, as well as an empty classroom, blackboard covered in messages congratulating the graduating class. The narration states that their battle was indeed long and hard their sacrifices great, but now humans can walk forward, fall, and pick themselves up again as they forever strive to meet their potential. And shown in the sky watching over everything is Hibiki Kuze in his new role as the first and eternal human Administrator, and with him is Al Saiduq...who also seems to have created a copy of the bunny-ear hoodie to wear, for your recommended dosage of bathos. Heh, well that’s one way to take the sting off of a bittersweet ending.
The credits roll, and once again the BGM for them is “Memories of the Firmament”. As during the Septentrione Arc each of the three endings come with a short message from Nicaea at the end, and this one really drives the point of the ending home:
The world goes on.
Let’s survive.
The illustration on the save screen that keeps track of your accomplishments is the same as it was in the DS game, only the silhouette of the Tokyo Skytree has been added alongside the ones for Tokyo Tower, the Tsuutenkaku, and the Nagoya TV Tower, and the Big Dipper and Polaris have been shifted over a little in the sky above. Finishing this ending adds two new stars to the sky. The first I assume is Canopus given how low to the horizon it appears, while the second is or Cor Caroli, and if you look closely enough you can see that even its companion
◊ is visible, which is a nice touch. Naturally we get Survivor Award titles as well, and many of them will be familiar:
- Survivor - Beaten the game once. (70p)
- Ronaldo’s Confidant - Ronaldo achieved Fate Stage 5. (10p)
- Io’s Confidant - Io achieved Fate Stage 5. (10p)
- Yamato’s Confidant - Yamato achieved Fate Stage 5. (10p)
- Daichi’s Confidant - Daichi achieved Fate Stage 5. (10p)
- Jungo’s Confidant - Jungo achieved Fate Stage 5. (10p)
- Makoto’s Confidant - Makoto achieved Fate Stage 5. (10p)
- Al Saiduq’s Confidant - Al Saiduq achieved Fate Stage 5. (10p)
- Miyako’s Confidant - Miyako achieved Fate Stage 5. (10p)
- Guardian - Completed Al Saiduq’s Triangulum Arc ending path. (30p)
I guess eight out of fifteen isn’t too too bad for a first run given that the Triangulum Arc doesn’t have as much time for Fate grinding as the Septentrione Arc does. Better than my very first runthrough at least, where I only maxed out six Fates. Kind of a bummer that I only got 140 points though. There are a few new titles to get aside from the obvious one for maxing out Miyako’s Fate, such as “Dual Survivor”, which requires beating both arcs on one file. As I said earlier, it’s impossible to get the Demon Wrangler and the Skillful titles on a single playthrough given the unique skills and demons available on each arc. Also there’s one for defeating “???”... Intriguing, huh? That won’t be tackled for a while though. For now I hope everyone enjoyed the first runthrough and ending for the Record Breaker content, and there’s more of that to come in the future!
Compendium
- Sraosha
◊
- In Zoroastrian Sraosha are heavenly beings not unlike angels who serve as the ears of the supreme god Ahura Mazda, being intermediaries between their god and his worshipers. Their names mean "observance", reflecting their addition duty of guarding mankind from demons.
- Fafnir◊
- A dragon from Norse mythology who was formerly a dwarf before being transfigured by his greed for a horde of cursed gold. His brother sent Fafnir's nephew Sigurd to kill him, which he succeeded in doing by hiding in a pit and stabbing his heart when he walked past, after which he cooked the dragon's heart and ate it.
- Jahi◊
- In Zoroastrian lore Jahi is a witch that personifies the negative qualities of the female. From looseness to temper to menstruation, it's all there. She's the consort of Ahriman, the Zoroastrian counterpart to the Devil, and her basic epithet is "the Whore".
- Canopus◊
- Named after the navigator of King Menelaus's ship during the Trojan War, Canopus is a white supergiant star in the constellation Carina and is the second brightest star in the night sky, though in absolute terms it is brighter than Sirius as it is much further away at a little over three-hundred light years. As it is much more easily visible in the south Canopus has been a figure in many southern myths, such as the Indians believing it to be the grandson of Brahma and the calmer of the Indian Ocean, while the indigenous people of Australia viewed it as brother to Sirius and the bringer of fire to mankind. Due to the motion of the stars, Canopus actually used to appear brighter than Sirius until Sirius moved close enough to Earth to appear the brighter of the two, but in a half million years their positions will be reversed as Sirius begins to move away, and Canopus will once again become the brightest star in the night sky.
Soundtrack
- Break the Record
- This Boss Remix of "at Last" serves as the battle theme for all of the Factors and Canopus itself, featuring even more of the classic Meguro guitar.
- Providence
- The final phase against Canopus itself gets another remix of "at Last" and it's pretty suitably climactic. The opening few notes synch really well with its initial descent.
- Grand Finale
- And finally, it's a bit of a tradition ever since Nocturne that no matter how metal or otherwise eclectic the soundtrack may be, Meguro will get in at least one subdued piano piece. It's used to pretty good effect on this ending.
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