Well, I'd say I'm pretty much ready for this last episode of Disgaea. Off to Celestia! If you're wondering, Socrates is around level 90, and should be able to do pretty well against what I'm thinking will be massively powered up enemies. Or at least tough bosses, or something.
The first level is the "Field of Virtue". If you've played Star Ocean 2, I think there's a similarly named area in the second half of the game.
Laharl and everybody are at the gate to Celestia, and Flonne gives us some nice history lessons on Celestia. The gate apparently can only be opened by people from Celestia. Celestians? I shouldn't have to tell you who's the one to open the gate.
Awaiting them is the mighty... Mid-Boss. It seems he just... got in. Nothing behind it, no secrets, nothing. He got inside Celestia, just like that. Huh. Anyways, he's going to test my resolve, to see if we actually can avoid dying horribly here in Celestia against angels and hippies and whoever else lives here. Now, serious battle time!
This... is the plainest battlefield ever. I guess it really is a field! There are three demon guys (one amusingly named Falus) and Mid-Boss. So, not much of a challenge, plus there are +100 EXP panels everywhere. Go, Socrates!
She actually levels up with her first kill. Plato goes out and does some kill stealing to level up, and Socrates sits down for dinner to heal.
Mid-Boss' new move is him riding a moon down on my characters. That's actually pretty badass. Reminds me of Arcueid. He's weak against fire, though, so a single Graviton Bomb drops him to about 100 health. Another win, and another level up for Socrates!
Mid-Boss congratulates the team for winning. He then embarks on some deep, meaningful dialogue in response to Laharl. It's all philosophical and now I'm getting the idea that he's been raiding the angels' stash. In any case, it's cool to see Mid-Boss of all characters acting like this. Etna picks up on this just as I write that. Then, Mid-Boss The Dark Adonis runs off to do whatever he does while I'm fighting people.
The Burger King is back, and he's in Celestia again. He claims Flonne (seriously? The loli angel in training, of all people?) is invading Celestia, and he wants to lead the armies against her. The Seraph is all "'Kay, sounds pretty chill, bud." then fades to some other place.
Now I head to Paradise. Er, "Paradise", the next level.
It's the Celestial Host! I hope they have good hospitality, as these folks seem rather richly dressed and all that. They're here to execute Flonne, so scratch that then. Some mysterious Seraph dialogue, then it's time to fight these angels while awesome music plays!
The ground is covered in Warp tiles, so this battle might be rather interesting. We'll see soon enough.
For some stupid reason, they actually heal me. Unfortunately for them, this isn't one of those games where evil creatures get healed by good magic. The only annoying thing is that Socrates doesn't move very far. I really should fix that sometime. Once I've killed off a few enemies, the map gets really annoying, since I'm usually very far from any angels and, again, Socrates can't move very far at all: only 5 tiles. After a while, though, I manage to kill them all.
I'm kind of tempted to go to the Dark Assembly and upgrade Socrates, but that would feel too story-breaking so I don't. Time to visit the "Angelic Choir"!
Vulcanus and his moustache are here! Even the characters can tell that he's totally evil. He looks like the Burger King, what more do you have to say? He sure does like his ham in heaping slices, regardless. Then, Flonne totally outwits him in dialogue and he's really set aback at her verbal awesomeness. Go Flonne! Each of the characters also say their variants on that, funny enough. Gordon even goes to the extreme of naming her a Defender of Earth. Man, Defender of Earth is popular, now it sucks!
Vulcanus is too much of a wuss to actually fight me, and leaves some pathetically easy angels behind. This fight was far from hard, thanks to some +DEF/Recovery panels.
Now for the "Coliseum". Oh god, the Inevitable Tournament!
Everybody's finding the fact that the Seraph hasn't shown up kinda suspicious, and Flonne is sad. But she will continue to believe to the bitter end!! All she needs is love. Also, it really seems like the guys who translated this were consciously trying to make Love Freak a trope. I mean, it's even capitalized! Basically this whole section of levels is dedicated to Flonne and her Flonnliness. Such a nice, heartwarming cutscene, then INTENSE BATTLE ELECTRONICA!!
Woah. This level is a labyrinth! A lazy one, too: why didn't they just use walls with No Entry panels on them instead of blank No Entry ground? That would look far better than this.
I go through this maze, and get bombarded by spells and die. Wait, what? On my second try, I fail yet again. On my third try, getting annoyed now at the unskippable cutscene, Socrates manages to destroy the Geo Symbol in charge of the maze, but dies soon afterwards.
You know what this means? Time for a new character.
I'm making a Blue Mage. Her name is Boudicca, and she will be super powerful and awesome.
-One Training Montage Later-
Whew, that took FAR too long. Socrates is now level 126, and Boudicca is at level 100, after being transmigrated into a Star Mage. Now it's time to try this level again.
I got a good laugh when I skipped the dialogue through: when Flonne's doing her inner monologue, if you skip her lines correctly, you can get her to say ,"Everybody, I'm so glad I harmed my own kind." Hidden messages, eh? An interesting twist to Flonne's otherwise peaceful character...
Stage Start! I would cross my fingers for good luck, but if I did that I kind of wouldn't be able to play the game. Not easily, anyhow. Boudicca lays down some Omega Ice on an Ice-vulnerable enemy, and they die pretty easily. Turns out these guys are actually lower in level than the demons in the Field of Virtue I used to level grind.
I actually have Plato, Socrates, Punchmaster, Don Quixote and Boudicca all out in that order, and the weaker ones (Punchmaster, Don Quixote) are both there mainly to act as meatshields. I'm cruel like that. Another Omega Ice, another enemy down. an Omega Star the next turn takes out two Angels. With a Mage, this level is much, much easier. In fact, Boudicca is killing so much that I can't keep typing up all of her kills or else there would be little else to this entry except which spell is used and how many enemies are dying each turn.
Socrates gets to the Geo Symbol and destroys it, then she and Plato run over to the enemy's half of the map and kill the rest. Bictory is had.
Okay, that was the hardest level I've faced in Disgaea yet. However, it was also by far the best one. Now that is how you design a challenge, folks.
Now I'm off to the "Divine Prison" and I'm really really hoping that it's not like the last level. One maze challenge is okay, but any more than that is just insane.
Cutscene with the Burger King! For once, Gordon actually acts Genre Savvy. I'm impressed. Then the Burger King Vulcanus is a little miffed at being called a villain, and immediately afterwards states that he's calling on the powers of evil. Holy crap can this guy get any more hypocritical?
Some Middle-Eastern sounding music starts up and he summons some demons. I can tell that they're high level because I've seen them in some of Socrates' bouts in the Dark Assembly. Vulcanus, of course, runs away like a silly girl.
And then, a voice! Who is it? It's... a green Prinny. A Prinny who is, in fact, Kurtis. This is... amazing, but also highly unerwhelming. Everybody laughs at him, in fact. However, he's here to help atone for his sins by kicking ass.
Flonne knows the power of friendship is growing the group and, as she says, "Friendship power beats anything!!" Excellent words, Flonne. Excellent words.
Intense Japanese insert song! Surprisingly low level enemies! They're only level 70-75! Friendship could beat these weak guys any day, really. I win, thanks to the Power of Friendship! Wooooo!
There's a new area to go to, the "Seraphic Sanctuary". We're getting into the core of Celestia now, and hopefully we'll fight Vulcanus soon.
Some forcefielded Angels arrive and tell us pretty casually to leave. Apparently these Angels are entirely invincible! Etna and Laharl do a combo attack thing, but the Angel's shield just reflect them. Now Gordon, Jennifer and Thursday try to attack them. Again, no effect whatsoever. Then, Kurtis joins their combo, somehow making it stronger, but even that does nothing to these Angels. Then Flonne has the bright idea of using... well, love and friendship. I don't think her "uniting hearts" speech was literal. It has the same animation as Omega Star, and it makes me wonder if they could have just used Boudicca and succeeded. No worries, though, the forcefield shatters like so much glass, and now I get to fight these Angels normally.
Underneath their super shields, the Angels are actually pretty weak enemies, making for a pretty easy victory.
A cutscene starts off the "Hall of Justice".
Vulcanus has been cornered, and he gives a relatively small villain speech on how he wants to bring the Burger King franchise to every corner of the universe, and the only way he can do that is by becoming the sole ruler of the universe. Of course, he's out to battle us this time, for once.
Holy crap! This level is absolutely HUGE! I have to ascend a Stairway to Celestia, and on the way kill off tons of Angels to get to Vulcanus himself. Luckily, most of them aren't very high leveled.
I boost Boudicca's INT to 4000, and have her use an Omega Star on a group of six Angels. They all die, but she doesn't gain any levels.
As I go farther up the stairs, the enemies increase in level, which is cool and makes sense. I'm almost at Vulcanus.
When I get to him (nicely enough, he comes down to meet me), Boudicca boosts Socrates' ATK, and Socrates uses a Graviton Bomb, since Vulcanus is weak against fire, which doesn't really make sense for a guy with the name "Vulcanus". That attack single-handedly halves his health, and when I repeat that he dies and Socrates levels up.
Cutscene! Even though I blew him up, Vulcanus lives, and says he's going to turn the Seraph against us. Flonne's okay with the prospect of fighting the Seraph, and I've now unlocked what is probably the very last level, the "Sacred Altar".
WE enter the Seraph's personal room, and he's floating there, probably having one of his crazy psychedelic experiences. Flonne is asking the Seraph all about the angels that were helping attack the Netherlands, and of course Vulcanus, who is still inexplicably alive, tries to refute all of her questions and claims. The Seraph sides with Flonne, and reveals that he knew all that Vulcanus was doing the entire time. Vulcanus tries to run away, but gets turned into a plant, symbolic of the better dietary choices he could have made instead of sticking with Burger King fast food.
Even though Flonne has been all good and nice and stuff, she still fought some angels and stuff and hurt them and that's not good at all. So, there must be punishment, which comes in the standard form of an SRPG battle. No, not really. First, Flonne's friends stand up for her, and she asks the Seraph to forgive them, which he does pretty easily. He's a cool guy that way.
Remember that pendant Flonne had lost long long long long long ago? Well it's brought up again here. She brings it out, and it doesn't burn him, showing that he's now a good person!
Then, Flonne goes to receive her punishment: after saying goodbye, she is turned into a flower. Laharl isn't going to stand for that and decides to kill the Seraph. He's pretty cool with that, too.
Final Battle time! The music indicates that is so.
It seems that Laharl literally exploded with anger, as the stage is all ruined and whatnot. T He Seraph is casually floating above his demolished throne thing like it's nobody's business. Yeah, I'm pretty sure now that he's constantly stoned.
There are some Angels around, but they're nothing compared to the Seraph. His stats are just ridiculous! He has 20000 health at only level 90! I wish Socrates had that kind of endurance.
Once all the Angels are dead, I turn my attention fully to the Seraph, who's been teleporting around and messing with my characters for the whole battle so far. He takes a while to defeat, but I manage it. An Omega Star from Boudicca does him in. The final bictory has been achieved.
In the cutscene, the Seraph's body is just laying there, with Laharl standing over it. Apparently the place has been rebuilt right after the battle. That was quick. Suffice to say, though, Laharl is certainly depressed. A single, ridiculously shiny tear falls from his eye, and of course, being Laharl, he doesn't understand it.
He feels the best route to go on is to kill himself to bring her back, then of all people, Mid-Boss shows up! Again, he's way more serious than before, and it's still rather odd. He manages to talk Laharl out of suicide, then Flower!Flonne turns back into normal Flonne. So, she's a Fallen Angel now! ...so, what does that mean? Oh, her wings are different and stuff.
So, that's what the Seraph was going to do in the first place!? Jesus Christ, why didn't he just say that? He apparently wanted to restore relations between the Netherworld and Celestia, and that Flonne and Laharl are the keys to making that happen.
Then Mid-Boss leaves all spirit-like, more of an enigma than before. Laharl says he'll be an even better Overlord than his father, then the credits roll. There's a set of pictures that show what happens afterwards to all of the main characters, and it's all nice and happy.
The End! I hope you enjoyed this live blog of Disgaea!
Comments
