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[R^2]

Since the battles for Mind magic are, well, inside the character's minds, no one else is technically present. Red can change into Alkaiser if he wants.


By the power of Grayskull, I HAVE THE POWERRRRR!




The transformation looks a lot like MysticalChange, with an extra spinning kick at the end.


Look at those HP! KICK, PUNCH, IT'S ALL IN THE MIND

[R^2]

Anyway, now that we're hunting down the BlackX Emperors, the game has opened up. We could trail the drug-dealing monks from Kyo, or pursue Cindy Campbell in Manhattan, or follow up on the shady activities in Shingrow. There's also Shuzer running around somewhere, but we don't really have a lead on him.

Every time you go to Kyo, you see a monk walk into the Syoin.










There sure is, little buddy!

[R^2]

One of the rooms in the secret Syoin is a greenhouse, where presumably the monks grow their opium poppies. This is one of the monster formations in there. I am kind of not okay with this.


Red runs around planting invisible explosives.




After he leaves, the screen is rocked by a massive explosion!


Hah, nice.


Oh, hey. You're that overly-philosophical mec from before. What are you doing overseeing the drug trade? You don't even have a metabolism! ...or does that make him ideal for the job since he'll never be tempted to do his own product?

Mec: You destroyed the base? I see. But can you beat me?


Metal Black is his name, so I don't have to keep calling him "that mec".


Anyway, I have the DSC. This is not a long battle.


He doesn't even get to do his signature move.

[R^2]

Threatening the receptionist? Come on, Red.

Anyway, Campbell lets them in.


Ya think?


Explosion!






H... how did you get here?


This woman is dedicated to her job.

[R^2]

The CTC building is a combat slog, with multiple monsters in every room and some narrow passages that keep you from avoiding them. You might as well have had some loser threaten you with having to defeat all 100 beasts in Magus' castle in the foyer.


Nice thing about Red's scenario is that mecs are kind of common enemies, so Rabbit gets plenty of opportunities to download and develop software.










Mmm, copypaste environments chock-full of time-consuming battles.


H-how did you get here?! (She gives you a Thunderbolt, which is nice as heavy weapons go but I never use 'em anyway.)

[R^2]

Guy in office: This is breaking and entering. I'll have to clean the building of scumbags like you!


So the guy attacks, with three Roombas. A... are we fighting the janitor?


In a sort of "this could have been a lot more interesting in a better game" thing we're all used to by now, the monitors in the back of Campbell's office change after each turn. Here they are doing Yell to buff the janitor and his Roombas.


Should have probably put that twist into a harder fight, though.

[R^2]

Red: Time to morph into Alkaiser!

So, I'm not sure why killing the janitor makes the lights go out, and I'm not sure why Red thinks that no one will question where he went when Alkaiser shows up... but sure enough, nothing comes of any of it. At least Red had the foresight to use a thought balloon instead of a speech balloon announcing his intention to change.

Um... let's see... oh, to hell with it. Moon Prism Power!




Campbell reveals herself to be some sort of spider creature.




The fight goes about how you'd expect.




A reskinned, renamed LifeRain again.


Huh. That's new.

[R^2]

Despite Red's hunch, there's actually nothing to be found in the Shingrow palace.


You have to follow Doll's lead and find her "brother", totally not a cover story, in the ruins.


The ruins are filled with minibosses, though. First is a Gaeatoad with more than usual HP.


Second is a SwordValkyrie and SpearValkyrie who have an annoying habit of speaking in unison.


Last is a HugeSlime/BigSlime respawn battle.

[R^2]

Red: Who are you?
Giant: My name is Berva, one of the four Emperors of BlackX!
Red: So, this ancient ruin is actually a trap built by BlackX.
Berva: Exactly. All the greedy losers who come here are converted into BlackX soldiers. Of course there are some weaklings you can't really use. But even they could serve as slaves. Ha, ha...


I guess code 20348 is "slave labor"?

Berva: A patrolman?
Red: You're a cop?
Doll: Yes, Red. R^2 spoiled that several updates ago. Fuse told me all about you. It was very easy to find you because of your hip-hop hairdo.
Red: Fuse... Now, Berva, tell me about BlackX.
Berva: Dream on, brat!




Berva's up to old tricks.






The Type 2 Bit system normally fires a few tiny lasers into a random target at the end of each turn. But if you have the SatelliteLinker skill, using that after the Bit System is triggered synchs up with an orbital satellite instead. The larger satellite has better laser cannons, increasing the damage around tenfold.


He keeps saying that. Is he warming up for his signature attack?


Nope. Super run away!

[R^2]

With everyone exhausted after the Berva fight, I have the second-string party of Gen, Cotton, BJ&K, EngineerCar, and SuzakuJr take out all of the BlackX mooks on the map to restore some WP and JP.


Once you reach Berva, he escapes into the palace.




Oh. I guess letting the second-string get us here wasn't necessary.


Okay, so there was a secret passage here. It only matters if you lose to Berva in the first fight, though. If you lose, you're captured and have to escape before you're turned into another BlackX soldier, rescuing your other party members in the process. This is the area where you escape from.

[R^2]

Berva has replaced his normal SwayBack with BervaCounter. Not only does it evade the attack you tried to hit him with, he smacks you back for almost-always-lethal damage. Carefully choosing non-contact attacks is important here.


But as we discovered against Jotnar, the DSC doesn't count as making physical contact.


Berva has a lot of HP, so it's a long battle, but if you don't let him BervaCounter it's not a particularly difficult one.


So everything can return to normal at the Shingrow Palace.




...o... oh.

[R^2]

In the Koorong sewers is a tightrope. Every character who walks by it -- and everyone does, it's the quickest way to get from the Victory Rune caves back to the city -- asks the player if they should take the chance to cross it.

No one can, of course.


Red: Have we met?
Annie: You're the guy asking about BlackX. I've got some juicy info, wanna buy it?

I hope the irony of one of the members of Gradius, the greatest collection of special-needs freedom fighters in all the regions, works as an information broker is not lost on anybody.

Red: That depends on the info... and the price.
Annie: It's about Shuzer.
Red: Let me have it!

Way to play it cool, Red. "I don't know if I'm interested." "Shuzer." "GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME!!!!!!" He's like a Labrador retriever when you mention the word "ball".

Annie: Well, I'm kinda hungry. I heard this restaurant's great.
Red: All right.


Red: Boy, you sure know how to take advantage of people.
Annie: Take advantage? This is what I get for being nice? Oh well. Why are you so interested in BlackX anyway?
Red: Revenge. They wiped out my entire family. Mom, Dad, and my sister.
Annie: You're breaking my heart... But I still got to charge you. Business is business. I know the exact location of Shuzer Base, and I can get you in there.

Annie if you tell me Shuzer base is in Despair and you lead me through that prison again I swear to God...

They argue over price, but since it isn't actually charged to my party funds anyway I'm skipping it.






Which is why I mentioned it before. Why does everyone get the option to try to cross every time they try to avoid the nearby slime encounter when only Red can do it, and even then only after Annie tells him he can?




Give Red a break, Annie. The writers forgot his girlfriend exists two acts ago.

[R^2]

Red: Thanks. Here's your reward.


Red: I don't have any more money.
Annie: Didn't I tell you I was charitable?


Annie joins. yay.jpg

If you head back to the restaurant, you can pick up Roufas or Liza permanently now -- not only is Liza the better choice anyway, you can still get Roufas in Shrike when you do the Rune quest. But I have my party gimmick set already (and it's too late to start grinding up new party members) so I don't bother.

Although if you want to double gimmick, the scenario lets you pick up every member of IRPO and Gradius and have them fight together.

For justice.


Shuzer Base is a ramshackle apartment building. With a barber.


There's a miniboss fight partyway through when the Cyclops erupts from a rooftop, but he's slow and apparently extra-vulnerable to stunning so if he has any dangerous or special attacks I totally missed them.


I think we're here.

[R^2]

Shuzer: But this is where you will die.


Shuzer flexes his giant cybernetic claws and licks his chops as his idle animation.




The fight goes about how you'd expect.


There's the sound of a helicopter closing in.




Shuzer buggers off again.






Red grabs onto the bottom of the helicopter as it departs, leaving the rest of IRPO standing around uselessly.

[R^2]

Blabberin' Blatherskite!




Alkaiser: ...your infamous terrorist activities have been spreading fear across the regions. Many innocent people have died by your wicked hands. Justice finally catches up with you today. Get ready to face Heaven's wrath.
Shuzer: Ha! Like you're better than me. I say let the one without sin cast the first stone! Now no more of this BS... let's rock!

The number of times people have responded to an indignant speech with "NO U" in this game is sad.




Hey Shuzer, guess what.


I still have lots of WP left.








Now sit down and shut up, or I'll belt ya again.


Shuzer: Can you really do it, Alkaiser? Can you kill your own father!?

Some supplementary materials expanded on this: Shuzer has Okonogi's brain implanted into the cybernetics of his body. Whether Okonogi still lives in any practical sense or whether this is a bluff by Shuzer is never elaborated on, and it's never mentioned again, so I wonder why they even brought it up.

But notice that Shuzer realizes that Okonogi's son is Alkaiser. Shuzer put two and two together after the helicopter ride, so Red's been made -- technically Alkarl should be swooping in to terminate him any minute now.

But nothing is ever made of that threat either, of course.










Alkaiser walks away, probably hoping for something behind him to explode so it'll look cool. Sadly, unlike in Kyo or Shingrow, nothing explodes here. Sometimes you just can't count on drama.

[R^2]

Endgame happened. You beat the four Emperors, so now you can board the Cygnus to get to the final dungeon.


Some other stuff first, though. To the Bio Research Lab, with a party full of mecs!






So Red can practice enough to get his Alkaiser skills developed. Al-Phoenix was the only one I really wanted, but switching to the RaySword to see if he'd learn KaiserSmash, he learned GaleSlash instead. So that's pretty cool.

I also get Silence to absorb the standard three Suzaku so he's at endgame level, too.


The kids on the playground will charge you 10 credits to not tell you where Sei's Tomb is. The boy in the yellow cap will take you there, but since there's nothing inside but the standard treasures and the possibility of picking up either a semidecent sword or a monster recruit... well, there was probably a point to Sei's Tomb in Red's quest at some point in development...


I head to Paradise to buy some better attack magic for Doll, too.


All right. Enough of this BS... let's rock.

[R^2]

You can explore the Cygnus if you want, but nobody is here but the pilots and Hawk. Even Yuria is gone, since the romantic subplot between her and Red was also scrapped.


Hawk: I've got a BlackX disguise. I figured it might come in handy for you.
Red: How on Earth did you get...

Red, you've beaten up dozens of these guys. You could have taken the clothes off of any one of them. It's not that Hawk had a hard time getting the costume, it's that he thought to do it and you didn't.

Alternately: Hawk's secretly a member of BlackX omg you guys what a twist

Red: Oh, well. Now I can get on the Black Ray. From there I can sneak into their main base. Thanks Hawk.




Japanese narrative, as a whole, is bad at foreshadowing.

[R^2]

You're given free roam of the ship. Make a map.


Especially if you want some of the better treasure here, because the BlackX mooks won't let you take it now.


In the cockpit...






Ready for the most frustrating dungeon in the entire game? Seriously, it makes Virgil Palace a cakewalk by comparison.


Every screen you step into, you get 1000MM -- millimeters? That can't be right -- closer to BlackX base.


You have to go through ten screens of the ship without ever doubling back onto a screen you've been to before. This is mainly a problem because the better treasures -- the SprigganSuit, the OctopusBoard, and the Silvermoon -- are in dead-ends.


If you ever go to a room you passed through before, Metal Black is waiting there for you.

[R^2]

He's been upgraded.






MoonScraper is his signature move, although it looks like it could be defeated by... not having everyone in your party stand in a perfect crescent pattern. Alas, this is not a tactical game. Once he's done, everyone bleeds a dozen comically huge gouts of arterial spray, but only takes a couple hundred HP damage.


I still have the DSC, guys.


The fight with Metal Black in Kyo gives you TigerProgram, this one grants DragonProgram. If Rabbit had more equip slots I'd give him a SecretBoard, but I have him specced purely for gun use (since he got ShootingMastery early on).










Win or lose the fight with Metal Black, it's game over.

[François]

Give Red a break, Annie. The writers forgot his girlfriend exists two acts ago.

To their, um, "credit", so did I.

Alkaiser walks away, probably hoping for something behind him to explode so it'll look cool. Sadly, unlike in Kyo or Shingrow, nothing explodes here. Sometimes you just can't count on drama.

It's kind of poignant, in a way that is probably unintended. Dude gets his revenge, but there's no freeze frame on a heroic pose and a cut to the next scene, there's only the silent runway and the long walk back home.