Romancing SaGa 2, Part 8 - Rocbouquet and the Final Emperor

Previously on RS2: I finally unlocked the Final Emperor, AKA the guy I named at the beginning.

Now, some queen is trapped and our heroes have to save her. Unbeknownst to them but knownst to us, the "queen" is actually Rocbouquet of the Seven Heroes.

In other news "Rocbouquet" is probably the coolest goddamn name I've ever heard

After a brief dungeon with a not-bad hydra boss, our heroes find the Queen.

Homina homina.

...oh.

She basically pushes our heroes into defeating another boss. Turns out that you can refuse her (but only if you refuse the first time she asks, as it won't let you any other time). Refusing her triggers the fight with her right then. Would have saved some time because if you play along, there are a couple of dungeons to do now.

"I'm the Guardian" hisses The Guardian. "Duncan Maclooooood!"

After defeating that thing (not sure why Roc couldn't do it herself), there's a confusing dungeon full of teleporters. At least it doesn't have enemies.

This leads to another tower, in the depths of the jungle.

Seriously though, you save like a half hour of dungeons by just saying no to her when you first meet her. The scenario design in this game is so bizarre. There's a ton to learn, at least.

This place is trippy because it really is sunken into the mire.

The bottom floor is full of Water Dragons, some of the toughest regular enemies in the game. It's a good spot for endgame level-grinding, but it isn't the best spot.

This part was super-confusing, because you go in circles and fall down invisible pits unless you walk south at this very spot to find a hidden door.

This whole area is horrendous, skipping it is advised.

Water Dragon is a required fight at the end of the dungeon. I wish all the dragons in the game were as easy as this fight. It's got 10k HP, compared to the 45k the Maze of Memories dragons have (I still haven't beaten any of those...turns out they're like near-final boss strength which is a bit WTF)

After going through all that trouble, we finally reach the "Queen" again. What's the secret of the tower? Who knows, because it's time for a fight with the 6th of the Seven Heroes.

That name is SO COOL.

She's one of the weakest of the Heroes in damage output, but has a secret weapon: Temptation. This AOE charm absolutely wrecks your party by charming all the male characters for like five turns. Most of her damage output comes from YOUR PARTY.

Second try went better once I knew what to expect, though I still had the Emperor take a fall.

One key thing I should have done here and didn't: Drag out the fight (or even flee and repeat it) until your male characters all spark Temptation dodge. This helps a LOT with the final boss. Unfortunately I didn't know about any of that and was just focused on steamrolling this boss before she could really use it.

No one knows. What a weird game.

This is as far as I got with the world exploration. The northeast area is a Japan-themed area with a couple towns and a mountain. Normally that's where you'd deal with Wagnas, the 7th Hero, but now that I have six down he's not there anymore. I can still look around that area, but not annex it.

The southeast area of the world is a total enigma to me and it never unlocked through normal play. Which is nuts, because I'm at the end and have like 40% of the world map never-visited. The esoteric nature of the world-unlocks isn't my favorite style of game (RS3 is the same way). Hopefully the latest remake makes the world-unlocks a bit easier to decipher (or just unlocks things on its own). As it is I just have to hope I'm not missing much with the southern lands. Considering I've fought almost all of the Heroes and done a ton of content, it's hard to believe there's much more.

I should look around the Japan-themed area, you say? Alright, here we go. Here's the northeast island where you normally do the scenario to fight Wagnas. I can't do that scenario since he's the only Hero left. Whatever Hero you leave for last automatically moves to the final dungeon. You can even do that with Kzin if you want, as far as I'm aware, and I think you skip the Sealed Cave under those circumstances.

This area of the game is really charming, with pillows for chairs.

Yeah, I left the biggest and baddest for last.

Even the shops here sell area-appropriate gear.

The big dungeon of this section is Not Mount Fuji.

I've got unfinished business with the Maze of Memories. The four big area bosses here all trounced me earlier, and now that I'm at endgame strength maybe I'll finally have a chance! Weird that they made these bosses so strong compared to the rest of the game, when you get access to them like a third of the way through it.

The dragons speak a lot of nonsense? and seem to think that our party members are the Seven Heroes. Super-weird.

HERE WE GO, REMATCH. What is a Sinful Memory, anyway? ...Is it like adding your sexy experiences to the Spank Bank?

...Alright, I still lost. But wait! I have a secret weapon.

The fire-resistance spell! WHAT SAY YOU NOW, DRAGON?

Nevermind I got steamrolled.

...what am I missing here? Seems like after everything else, my heroes are still lacking. I've been trying to spark the best attack techs, and I'm drawing nothing but blanks. Nuts how the mid-game side-dungeon's bosses are so much stronger than the actual big bosses of the main story. Basically this area is mid-game side-content to help your characters power up, but all the bosses are like postgame-level.

With the 6th Hero down, the final dungeon unlocks at last. It's in the snowdrifts in the far south.

Going for broke and taking on the final dungeon now, but will this party be strong enough?

Before I go, there's an even newer remake of this game out now, and I played through the demo. Some quick thoughts on this new version:

BOOBS. HEAVING BOSOMS. So basically this appears to be Boobs: The RPG because all the female characters are like this.

The juice is worth the squeeze, huh? Is this one of those games where all the female characters flirt with the MC?

Not gonna lie, it's cool to see Gerard and Co rendered in full 3D like this. I also saw Bear The First.

I recognize that world map. Like I was saying before, hopefully the southern areas are more utilized in this one. The northeast island is just a matter of not leaving Wagnas for last.

Not only does this game have boobs, it also has Theresa and her bike shorts. She also uses a bow, which is one of the more OP weapon types in this game.

Kzin...Knesset...Kzelensky...man, it's spelled out on screen and I still can't spell it. He's a huge menace in this remake, very imposing. As well he should be, as he slays the first Emperor.

Next time: Last area, final thoughts, SaGa plans.