This campfire kinda reminds me of Chrono Trigger. Which figures, because today's episode contains time travel.
Next, our heroes pay a visit to Treacle the faerie.
"You're...a grown man now! And... so strapping!" says Treacle while fanning herself.
After using the horn, we get warped to the Faerie Queen.
"Treacle said you were hot, but daaaaaaamn" says the Faerie Queen.
Look, I know he's a good looking lad, but you all need to lay off! You PERVS.
Illustrating Debora giving birth? Ewwww
The faeries send our hero back to The Past, specifically his hometown. There's an episode of War of the Worlds (the 1991 show) where this same scenario happens and it's a very poignant episode.
21 minutes into this video is the part where they jump back in time. It's too bad the video/audio quality is so abysmal. Better off seeing this on DVD. Regardless, this is what it looked like.
This is also poignant, because you're seeing everyone before all the awful stuff happens to them.
Gaz meets his kid self, and you get to hear what the kid self was saying now. The character you're playing as is still a mute though.
When the kid version lets the adult version see the Gold Orb, he switches it out for something that looks similar but has no powers. So basically he just ROBBED A KID. ROBBER!
Seeing the other side of this conversation is something. Adult version no doubt has sympathy for kid version on everything that's in store for him, that AV is on the other side of now.
With the Gold Orb recovered and placed...
...Zenithia can now take off to the sky, like Heero.
Daaaaamn! All the water pours out and we now have the flying castle of legend restored. However we'll never get all the mildew smell out of here.
Debora is gonna want to join the Mile-High Club so we need to find her next.
The castle can only get us so far. Next we need to find the Zenith Dragon which can fly anywhere.
Our heroes get the Grappling Beam, and I didn't even have to beat Crocomire to do it.
We get Zenithia as a vehicle now, and it's...slightly better than the Magic Carpet. I think it can go over hills and forests but still not mountains. Either way, I only make use of this one for like 15 minutes before we get yet another flying vehicle that obsoletes it.
You need that to reach Ladja's Temple, which is a pretty cool place. Has a vaguely Amazonian theme to it, with green moss covering the exterior. The door is initially locked, forcing you to climb around the temple to get in. Later you can unlock the door to create a shortcut, much like the very first dungeon in the game.
Yeah, I really like the design of this temple. It's atmospheric and feels foreboding.
Here's Slon, the partner in crime of Kon. Surprised that Slon didn't get his own dungeon like Kon did. Instead they just sorta threw him into this dungeon as a midway boss.
This is a potentially tough boss fight since he's supposed to be on the same level as Kon. Maybe it's because I'm a few levels higher now, but I found this fight to be much easier than Kon. Might have lucked out though.
I even turned autobattle on for the last portion of the fight and it was still a foregone conclusion. That's two of Pankraz's killers down, one to go.
We manage to recruit a Moosifer in here. Generally these things are pretty strong in the DQ games they appear in, but as of right now the party is pretty full and we don't have room for 'em. Unless Tony Khan is the president of the group. HIRE 'EM WE'LL FIND ROOM LATER
Finally, here's Bishop Ladja. You can actually fight this guy before Slon if you go the wrong way, which is weird. They're more like dungeon co-bosses.
This was a great fight, and one we waited the entire game for. Here it is in its entirety:
He's a lot more challenging than Slon or Kon, but I was also sufficiently leveled at this point, so the fight went smoothly. Check out the massive strikes being doled out by Golem.
It's been twenty long years, ten if you count the time Gazpacho was blipped.
Ladja realizes his mistake in sparing the kids to be gulag slaves for the commissariat, but it's too late to stop us now. He retreats, so we'll fight him again soon. Slon on the other hand is very dead.
Madchen acquires Kaboom (Explodet) which is as devastating as ever. Let's see what it looks like in this version:
BOOOOOOOOM! ADAM COLE BAYBAY!
Next we meet up with the Zenith Dragon and acquire him as an Epic Mount. That's right, we really did only use the Flying Zenithia for like 15 minutes. Basically just to get to Ladja's Temple.
The dragon can (finally) fly over everything on the overworld, including mountains. This is the final aerial "vehicle" of the game and probably the coolest due to its high speed compared to previous vehicles, though a flying Zenithia was a great idea.
Zenithian Armor acquired. We're in the home stretch now, let's get this game done.
The next dungeon is an uncharacteristically annoying one for this game, where you need to push blocks around to cover up switches on each floor. If you mess up and push a block into an irretrievable position, you basically have to exit out and start the dungeon over. In a game that is mostly well thought-out, it's an unfortunate oversight.
This thing is SO OP. I've mentioned it before in reverent tones. Always critical hits, destroys Metal enemies. Only issue is, it misses quite a bit. I'd say you have about a 50% chance of one-shotting any given Metal enemy if you give this and the Meteorite Bracer to Debora (so she can go first).
The dungeon continues, as I VERY CAREFULLY push blocks around corners, trying not to lose them. The big deal here is the Hela Hammer, and it's crucial to not miss it.
Though this final treasure is nothing to sneeze at either, and is one of if not the best armor in the game for Gazpacho.
Next up is this temple of cultists. And they're led by...Gazpacho's mom??
She's working for some Korol guy. And Debora's statue is here!
Wait a minute, that's not Mada!
Why are they messing with Gazpacho like this?
Gaz's mother now turns into a cyclops and attacks. It isn't much of a boss fight, more of a regular enemy. As if our hero hasn't been traumatized enough in this game. Leave him alone!
After that the game gives you basically no clue what to do. Had to search here. And it's about this time when I realized that this temple is actually the one from earlier that Gaz and Harry worked on building when they were enslaved in the gulag. It's completed now.
Here's Korol, whoever that is. He's some sort of reptile. Far as I can tell he has an even higher stature than Ladja in whatever this organization is.
Next up is King Korol, who seems like he'd be a big boss. I think he's supposed to be. Like the Esturk of this game. No idea who he is though
Annnnd the fight wasn't bad at all. Pretty forgettable, as far as DQ series decisive boss battles go.
Ladja appears and kills him off after he loses the fight, so either Ladja is his superior after all, or Ladja just got a promotion Mirror Universe style.
In any case, he quickly retreats again, allowing our heroes to reclaim the Debora statue and thaw her out.
She was unaware of her statue-dom all that time. I got the impression Gazpacho WAS aware of the passing of time, watching another family's kids grow up in front of him and all that.
Regardless, Debora replaces Sancho as my final permanent party member. As mentioned before, I give her the Hela Hammer and Meteorite Armband and she's ready to obliterate Metals. Unfortunately she also starts at a fairly low level compared to the rest of the party, the same issue Psaro had in the game before this and Terry has in the game after this. Unless you keep your party a little bit underleveled, these characters will join you in an underpowered state. And if you overlevel a bit like me, then they're really underpowered. Debora will catch up, though, with all those Metals she's gonna murder.
Next, we head through a portal to HELL.
Immediately after arriving, we get the requisite Best Item In The Game. Give this to Madchen since she can't heal, and she's now basically a Sage.
Hell is...darker than the overworld, like the previous couple of games.
There's one final town here, and it sells all of the best equipment at ridiculously high prices. I can hardly afford anything here, and even after a large amount of grinding I still won't be able to. Gold drops from fights in this game are generally anemic all the way up to the end.
Priority one is this staff, which lets Madchen revive fallen party members (or try to). Combined with the Sage's Stone, she can be even more of an imitation Sage.
Look at those prices. The Power Shield is another notable item because it lets the wielder fire off infinite Healmores/Midheals and is usable by several characters that can't use the stronger Silver Shield. All of these items are great with one exception: Mirror Armour is ill-advised, because it randomly bounces all spells - even beneficial ones. I've seen way too many heals bounce off of Mirror Armour wearing characters.
Finally, we arrive at the Gates of Doom. Here on the shores of hell, we're soon going to find ourselves knee deep in the dead.
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