I'm skipping the obvious 300 joke here.
Dycedarg: That business with the duke? Larg was long dead ere my dagger found its mark. Think, brother. He was a weak man, who relied on others to fight where he could not. More fool he for starting a war he could not stomach.
Zalbaag: Our liege lord's murder bothers me not half as much as our father's! How could you dirty your hands with his blood? What manner of son are you?
Dycedarg: I am my father's son! I know naught of his murder!
Zalbaag: Duke Larg's dying words. I could scarce believe my ears, but there was no mistaking what he said. Why did you kill him, Dycedarg? Why!?
Madness?
THIS. IS wait I said I wasn't going to do that one.
One of the more well-known bits of mistranslation in the original PSX game had your goal be to "Defeat Dycedarg's elder brother!", which would be difficult, as Dycedarg is the eldest Beoulve here.
While Hydras have only Triple Attack, hitting three adjacent panels, for their movelist, Greater Hydras like the Stooges here have Triple Flame. It works a bit like Rapha and Malak's skills in that it targets several panels for multiple attacks, but it's quite a bit better because it always hits three times (rather than randomly 1 to 6 times)...
...and does a LOT more damage.
Dycedarg is a Rune Knight, not that you'd know...
...since he just uses the same Magic Sword skills Agrias, Orlandeau, and Delita do.
Zalbaag: Dycedarg enkindled this war and slew the duke. All to feed his own ambition. He has sullied our name, brought scorn upon our house -- he must be made to pay!
Yeah, think of all the shit we could have avoided had you just listened to me back at the start of Chapter 3.
Way to not call him on it.
Zalbaag is an Ark Knight, not that
that matters either.
The choke point under the arch is bothersome (especially with Dycedarg's area-effect sword skills), but Triple Flame and Dispose allow me to keep attacking as I move around to the stairs to the upper level.
Dycedarg: The powerful must rule the weak! It is our duty! The Crown once held such power, but no more! See how fate has brought it low? Why should we not rule in its stead? We must wield our power and sieze the reins of Ivalice! Why will you not see this?
Zalbaag: You feast on power, brother, but leave no place at the table for justice. The name Beoulve befits brave men who raise their swords in justice's name. You are no Beoulve!
Man, Zalbaag really likes to tell people that.
Dycedarg: Justice? I'd die of shame to hear the word from my own lips! Such lofty ideals cannot rule a people so common. Who has earned you the right to wield your sword of justice? To be hailed as a hero? Is it not I? I, who have dirtied my hands to keep yours clean? All that you are you owe to me! You ought be on your knees thanking me, yet here you stand in judgment!
"You know what running gag hasn't come up in a while? The one where shields are useless against Lightning BrAAARRRRRGGHHH"
I accidentally made R2 even more useless than I'd planned. I was going to give him Bardsong so he could at least do something during this battle, but accidentally left him with Martial Arts. So here he is using Chakra to help out Zalbaag. With an Arithemetician's PA, I might as well have used a Potion.
Triple Flame wins the day. I guess that's over with, since
absolutely nothing has happened that could complicate matters further.
Except that.
WHO COULD HAVE POSSIBLY SEEN THIS COMING?Man, Japan is so terrible at foreshadowing.
Adrammalech is a tidy beast, using his magic immediately to clean up all the knight corpses lying around.
Triple Flame has no vertical range, so it's perfect for hilly areas and slopes where you can narrow down the number of panels it tries to target. On flat floors like this, there's not much of a way to limit the number of panels, so sometimes you just miss.
Adrammalech doesn't have any special Move options like Fly or Teleport, so he runs back into a corner to try to keep the Holy Dragon and Dark Behemoth away.
I'm pretty sure I've never seen Adrammalech move, since like the Balias battle, there's plenty of time to power up before he transforms -- and unlike the battle with Balias, I have Shout now. Even in a single-character challenge I usually beat him down before he gets a turn. What I'm trying to say is that I had no idea he could cast Holy.
Dark Behemoths: still really strong.
One more otherworldly groan, and...