Thoth: Burh hurh hurh, now, let's see. The adventure a' that Sinclair Drake - and that me, natcherly - proceeded about as usual from that point on, although we demons started ta notice somethin'... off about him. New, the real clincher fee this Drake, the Drake who sided with Order, came at the point a' his reunion with his old Commander. Y'all remember that, dontcha? Well, let's say this Drake was a bit less certain that ol' Gore could save the wold than mine was...
(Scene: The RED SPRITE, after arrival in HOROLOGIUM. GORE offers his ultimatum to DRAKE)
Drake: I'm sorry, Commander. I've chosen First Lieutenant Zelenin's side. After all I've learned I'm just not sure that even if we win here, we can prevent humankind from destroying itself again. And Mem Aleph's option would result in genocide the world over! Certainly you can understand that, Commander, with whatever knowledge you've gained, I'll bet you can see that possibility. But listen. I'm in good with First Lieutenant Zelenin. Between her powers and yours, I think the three of us can beat-
(DRAKE is interrupted by GORE's fist slamming into his gut, sending him flying into the opposite wall!)
Mithras: Holy Hell... I don't know what hurt worse; that punch or YOU SIDING WITH THAT TROLLOP!
=BOSS: META GORE=
Level 66. Repel Gun, Repel Phys, Weak Wind, Null Light, Null Dark
Yes, this is the infamous Commander Gore fight, which you get if you pursue any route other than Neutral. Gore is a Neutral Hero, see, and he behaves just like the franchise's Law and Chaos Heroes in that he decides Murder Is the Best Solution on any route not his own. As I mentioned in the Neutral liveblog he will ask you a series of questions to determine your Alignment, but if you make all Law choices, for instance, as I did, he'll simply deem your irredeemable and commence the beating. And what a beating it is!
Drake: Commander, what's gotten into you!? All I said was I disagreed with you; what prompted this!?
Frost Ace: You know, I think he-ho's got a point-ho.
Gore is infamous as one of the most difficult bosses in the game, with many claiming he actually surpasses the Final Boss in difficulty. I managed to beat him in one try here, but just to make sure I ground to Level 70 beforehand. He has 15,000 (yes, three zeroes) HP, the highest of anything in the game bar the Demiurge, and even that's only on a technicality. We'll get to that in a bit.
So, attacks. The one you'll be seeing most often is Rain Strike, Captain Jack's signature move, which is, as before, random strikes of Heavy Gun damage. As such, it's best to bring some repellers, more on that in a bit. I've also discovered that Attack Mirrors, an item that works like a single cast of Tetrakarn, do work on Gore, and thus probably Tetrakarn itself does as well. This is about the only battle in the game where I've found the "Mirror" items actually worth it.
The next-most common move you'll see is Heaven Strike, which is basically the exact same move, but with Phys. Attack Mirrors and repellers will help you with this, too. He has a buffing move called Self-Denial, which heals him for a few hundred damage (thankfully, unlike Jack, this number is not likely more than you can do in one turn) and acts as a single cast of Tarukaja, the attack-buffing spell; I'm not sure how often he uses this as I only saw it once. GameFAQs states that he also has a move called E.N.D., which is essentially the same move as Heaven's Strike but can cause Fear. I never saw this one.
His most infamous move, however, is Adaptation, the strongest single-shot Phys move in the game. Remember in IV's White Rider fight when I mentioned a "certain other boss" was also infamous for buffing his attack to the max, then striking the Protag? This is what I was talking about. If you see Gore use Charge, immediately have the MC defend, because Adaptation is coming on his next turn. I've been told that if your Protagonist is not both defending and wearing something resistant to Phys, a Charged Adaptation is always a One-Hit Kill. I'm note sure how true that is, nor am I sure if 'karns or Attack Mirrors work on this attack, but I wasn't willing to chance either.
Drake: Too... strong.... if I hadn't been wearing that vest Kresnik gave me I'd be... oh God! ...spitting up my lungs right now! Is he defeatable...?
CRASH
My place is here; I fight with you!
CRASH
Drake: Gh... something ringing in my ears... Who said that...?
So, how do you defeat Gore? Well, thankfully, he has a convenient weakness to Wind, and that's how to take him on! For this battle, I brought Cherub, equipped with Zandyne, Erlkonig, equipped with Wind Breath, and Alice, due to being immune or almost-immune to all of Gore's attacks and capable of reflecting Rain Strikes. She's not nearly strong enough to meaningfully damage him, of course.
Alice: Oooooh! We're gone pop the Commander's head! Funtimes!
Drake: No one's... no one's popping anyone's head... not if I can help it...
Cherub: We wage a holy crusade, Sir Drake! There will be casualties!
However, this boss has one last dick move. Once you reduce the boss to 0 HP, he'll immediately heal half of it back, for 7500 more health, putting him as, effectively, the sturdiest boss in the game, with his total 22,500 health surpassing the Demiurge's 20,000 and making the battle 50% longer than it needs to be. He doesn't turn red or anything after this point, though, so by the time you reach it the same tactics should win you the day.
CRASH
Erlkonig: He ist tot!
Moloch: BWOOOOOH! Hey, Drake, what's with that look on your face, huh? Do you even... feel anything?
Drake: ... ... ... ... ... ... .......................what?
CRASH CRASH CRASH CRAH CRASH CRASH CRASH
To be continued...
Comments
- The "Flat "What."" at the end is my attempt to work in the "cold look" the MC gets after killing Gore in the Law route in a (hopefully) sympathetic fashion. Drake hasn't quite processed what happened yet, it seems.
- Also, he appears to be hearing things. This couldn't possibly be important, right?
