As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- While Carol may jokingly call Neera "scary lady", there are some scenes where she lives up to the moniker adequately.
- When Carol reunites with the group with Serpentine in tow, a brief argument ensues between Carol and the snake, only to be interrupted by Neera flying off the handle and chewing out the wildcat, complete with a bloodshot Death Glare that depicts her as supremely pissed off. To be fair to the lieutenant, she had a really shitty day up to this point - having to put up with Carol ducking out on the group twice, being lured away from Shang Tu Palace with Mayor Zao as bait, losing Shang Tu Palace and Pangu to Merga, being betrayed by Captain Kalaw and Askal, having Spade sneak away with the Syntax drone, and now having to put up with Serpentine on top of all that - but Lilac's intervention is the only reason Neera doesn't put Carol on ice, figuratively and very literally.
- Another unsettling Neera moment is her version of Diamond Point. Unlike the other girls, who just want Askal to get out of their way, Neera makes it clear that she wants nothing more than to end her former comrade for his betrayal. And after the boss fight, she freezes most of his body in ice and prepares to finish him off (with him even goading her into doing it), only relenting at the last moment because she has more pressing matters to attend to.
- Players who have seen the launch trailer and/or have been following development knew it would come. Enough hints are dropped throughout the game where even non-savvy players who are nearing the end of the Parusa Arc could sense it. Sure enough, while it is a downplayed example, The Rise of Bakunawa counts for how absolutely breathtakingly intense it is, especially for players who experience the story with Lilac first, if for nothing but the “It’s not if, it’s WHEN” factor. After clearing all 3 Parusa arcs late in the game, the party gets a message from Merga, who expresses a desire to talk to Lilac alone. She obliges, with the rest following her through Gravity Bubble. That gut feeling you have that it’s probably going to go south? It’s correct, even if Merga actually is sincere at first. What might you be expecting? Another round with Merga like many games do with their main antagonist? A pre-climax like Globe Opera? After Lilac cannot bring herself to accept her offer to abandon Avalice and join her - an offer she was tempted by, if her dialogue in the final hub area is anything to go by - Merga casually incapacitates Lilac with a bomb and drops the heel-face charade, not even being fazed by Serpentine’s (failed) sneak attack or the rest of the party joining. A sudden jolt of seismic activity alerts the party, with Merga simply stating those three beacons you trashed in Sky Bridge? Yea, there were more all over Parusa, and she didn’t just wait around occupying Shang Tu - she had Pangu installed ''immediately''. Sure enough, as the riff from the trailer kicks in, there is a full blown earthquake as the gigantic starship wakes up, rendered in low-poly 3D, and so massive its head barely fits on screen at the scale the game’s screen is in. The proceeding “boss battle” is more of a "battle for survival" as your player scrambles for dear life to the surface. The Bakunawa repeatedly fires a MASSIVE laser at you, cleverly utilizing the level’s background layers to make it seem like the laser takes up the entirety of the screen- which, by the way, at close enough proximity and full power, is capable of shattering planets, is what wiped out the water dragons, and is more than capable of shaving your petals to nothing even if it grazes you. When you surface, all you can do is watch the behemoth take off, sending a colossal tidal wave your way as you climb a little bit more to the Star Card to officially end the stage. As Zao’s airship is not built for space travel, all Lilac can do is stare at the starship floored. "So that’s it. Merga really has won." Thankfully, Serpentine's arrival and subsequent plan do help the heroes stand on equal ground against Merga again.
- Speaking of Syntax, she spent the first game merely being Brevon's villainous AI assistant, but here, like Serpentine, she gets a chance to float out of his shadow, and she is terrifying.
- Her first appearance is emerging from the wreckage in the Robot Graveyard, which is flooded with remnants of Brevon's robotic army. She maliciously misinterprets what the characters say (Black Comedy ensues when she calls Lilac "squidhead") before "executing Slaughter Sequence #2", and after her machina goes down, the grinder starts coming down on your character, saved by dint of Askal punching a hole in the wall. While the team womans up for the fight for obvious reasons, Milla is clearly spooked; given what Syntax's master did, can you blame her?
- "Initiate Code Black." While commandeering Brevon's own robots is easy enough, this command from Serpentine enables her to hijack any AI in range, including Aaa's various automata, expanding their army immensely on command. The implications are nasty enough that Neera, who otherwise suffers from a case of Black-and-White Insanity, immediately proposes a truce with the tarsier just to survive the ordeal. It's worse for Aaa of all people because he has no friends that he didn't build himself, and now has to cope with all his "buddies" betraying him. To say nothing of what happens in the Inversion Dynamo...
- Weapon's Core, the secret level unlocked in the Golden Ending. The entire level is completely pitch black aside from your character, some of the platforms, and the various enemies. Then Syntax's eye appears in the background, declares that she sees you, and begins projecting a searchlight (which may or may not be working in tandem with a targeting system) that follows you. Stay in the light too long, and a meter begins filling up, with Syntax demanding you to Get Out! in an increasingly angry tone the higher the meter fills up. Let the meter fill up entirely, and Syntax suddenly one shots you with an unavoidable attack. And as a final touch, this attack is one of the few in the game that causes you to outright explode instead of simply being knocked out. The actual fight with the Bakunawa Fusion has this impalement as an actual attack while its horn is intact; it's no less powerful.
- When you finally confront Syntax herself, it turns out that she's fused herself with Bakunawa's systems, becoming a combined version of her original form and a form similar to both Merga herself and Bakunawa's own design. And then there's her pre-fight dialogue, which suggests that despite her earlier claims, Syntax may be losing herself the more she's in control of the ship.Parasites...crawling in my veins...kill you... kill you...KILL YOU.
- Oh, and if you pause at any point in the Weapon's Core? At the top of the screen is text from Syntax addressing the player directly.You can't hide here.
- One last thing: while unused, there is some dialogue that's listed right after all of Syntax's used lines, presumably Syntax's distress beacon.Incoming distress call. Origin: autonomous drone on the planet Avalice. Located in Sector 1407. Threat level: minimal. Last update: 3 years ago. The fleet stands ready. Shall we proceed with the extraction, Lord Brevon?
- Best case scenario, Syntax is somehow still alive. Worst case scenario, Brevon's hearing this, and is ready for a planned attack on Avalice.
SEE YOU. GET OUT. GET OUT. GET OUT GET OUT GETOUTGETOUTGETOUTGETOUT- (impaled)
