"Big Sexy" Kevin Hash is mortally wounded, thanks to that brutal battle we just had. And it isn't over yet...
He gives Orsted his sword, the Bryon. It doubles his attack power at this point. With that, Hash dies.
The castle crumbles as we try to escape, trapping Straybow inside. That's half the party gone in a matter of minutes.
Orsted and his one remaining ally Uranus make it back to town, but there's no celebration. They don't have Alicia, and half the Fellowship is gone. Right about now, these guys look like a couple of buttholes.
There isn't much left to do but get a well-deserved rest and figure out the next move.
In the middle of the night, Orsted wakes up to find a demon in the hallway.
It's this guy again! Orsted defeats him in one hit this time, which makes no sense.
The lights go on, and it turns out that it was actually the king. And Orsted just killed him, fooled by some sort of illusion/projection. How'd that happen?
The soldiers arrive, and now they think Orsted killed his two compatriots as well.
Orsted kills a bunch of soldiers as he makes his escape. The people here want nothing to do with him now.
That goes for everyone. Even random townspeople cower in fear from him.
The soldiers eventually catch up to Orsted and haul him off to prison.
He breaks out of said prison quickly and ends up in front of the demon's cave again. Not sure why he even needed to get captured if he was just going to break out, since I was on my way to the cave regardless. Just wasted some time.
Flashback to the past, when he was with Alicia. The hell happened to Alicia, anyway? This nightmarish scenario is bizarre.
After the flashback, Orsted has to fight a very weird-ass boss. It's an easy fight, and over quickly.
And another! This dungeon is basically just a string of boss fights.
And a pack of them! What the hell is this? Victory is a matter of moving to the leader in the upper left and taking it out.
Fourth and final fight is actually difficult, unlike the others. Still no idea what these fights represent or what the heck is happening.
Orsted breaks into the castle again after that, and he's back in the final room. This statue should be of the scenario boss, but I don't know if it's the Demon King I fought earlier.
Outside...STRAYBOW LIVES! I'm like a broken record asking this, but what the hell?
Turns out that he trapped himself in the "collapsing" castle so that he could separate himself from Orsted and save Alicia himself.
Why? Because he's sick of living in Orsted's shadow. Always playing second fiddle. He also really wants to plow Alicia, I guess.
He's such a complete dick that he wants to destroy Orsted's life over some imagined slight.
So he framed Orsted with that illusion. Yikes.
"IT'S MY TIME NOW!" says Straybow.
One quick fight later, and Straybow is beaten.
Alicia appears...and thinks Orsted killed Straybow. Well, he kinda did. And apparently she loved Straybow too. It's Fuck With Orsted Day, and everyone's celebrating.
Alicia now whips out a knife and kills herself. You'd NEVER see suicide like this in an American game in 1993. Wonder how they'd have translated it. FFVI is the closest example I can think of, but Celes' dramatic fall onto the beach isn't really comparable to a character knifing themselves on camera.
An anguished Orsted has more flashbacks.
Even though he gathered a party and defeated the Demon King, Orsted is now a complete outcast, hated everywhere he goes, and without the woman he loved or his "best friend".
And there's nothing left for him. Yikes, this is dark.
Orsted goes full Mass Shooter mode and decides it's time to punish humanity for all the shit he's gone through lately.
That's the end of the eighth chapter: Orsted has become the new Demon King himself.
Now, for the ninth and final chapter, you choose one of your earlier characters as a main. Then you travel around collecting the others for your big showdown with Orsted, the Demon King.
...but what happens if you choose Orsted? Find out, on the next episode of Live-a-Live.
...but what happens if you choose Orsted? Find out, on the next episode of Live-a-Live.
This is so nuts, but I'm totally with it and admire the game for going so far out on a limb. This was a great chapter. I'm also a huge fan of them doing the last scene at very early dawn, a time we don't normally see in games, or real life either to be honest. But a time very suitable for such drama.
ReplyDeleteWow, this is just like in Highlander. Poor Richie.
ReplyDeleteEven if Alicia loved him, Straybow is still a dick.
Heh, I was about to ask "what happens if you choose Orsted?" myself, but you beat me to it.
This right there is the biggest plot twist in the history of video games. It's so fucking deep too, the demon lord isn't a guy who's evil for fun... The demon lord is made that way, he isn't born evil but becomes evil
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