Dragon Quest XI part 6

We will follow you to the end of time Veronica.

So was that really the end? Yes and no, you can continue like any other game to clean up quest you didn't do and some after winning bonus... but the after bonus takes the game from 60 hours to around 120 hours. Basically at a reunion at Veronica's grave you all begin to talk and discovers a tale of how one possibly could alter time. It leads to that tower with all the spirits. A special key opens it up and as you enter the dark spirit from the Erdwin's lantern follow you. Inside you meet a spirit towering above all the others that explain the idea behind the time bubble it guards. Only the luminary with the sword of light can break it and doing so will throw the luminary to chosen point of time he/she want to change from their own time. Only an event they themselves lived through and only the sword of light can go through with him... or in this case the sword of darkness, that is the sword of light, but reforged? It was a bit hazy on the details. The act wasn't 100 % either so a person could get lost in time turned to one of the spirits I guess? But everything we now know would disappear. So what are we to do?

Of course we do it at the prospect of saving Veronica and the rest of the world from the cataclysm. We take goodbye of all, especially Hendrick that didn't have his turn to the good side until afterwards. You break the time bubble and is transported back in time to the day you climbed Yggdrasil in Arboria. At the temple I see Veronica alive again, praying for their success. Damn game, you knew how to hit me *sob*. Emotional scene... and all characters are set back 20 or so levels to what they where at the time. That stings too. Game proceed the same again until you are about to grasp the sword of light and be struck down in the back again. Knowing it's coming, the luminary steps away from the dark orb and battles Jasper with the sword of darkness that neutrlizes the barrier around Jasper, enabling the party to defeat him, sir Hendrick arrives with Cornellian to show the truth of Jasper. Mordegon in Cornellians body realises he can't defeat the luminary now when he has grasped the sword of light plays obtuse of Jasper darkness and kills him before he tells them his master have always been Cornellian. The king invites them to Heliodor castle to celebrate.

At the castle the Cobblestonians are released and a great feast is on the way. During the luminary's sleep Mordegon sneaks in to try take the sword of light, but the dark spirit from Erdwin' lantern stops him and awakens the luminary and forces Mordegon to flee to the throne room as sir Hendrick and the others now are shown who really pulls Cornellians strings... this really is the biggest problem with a silent protagonist. He knew who Mordegon was, but seemed to keep it hidden from his companions, which I remind you involve Rabb, your grandfather and old friend of Cornellian as well as Jade, Cornellians daughter? Even worse, he didn't appear to take any precautions that Mordegon might steal the sword since that is what allowed him to destroy Yggdrasil in the first place? Still, you fight Mordegon and releases Cornellion and everything is saved. Heliodor isn't destroyed, Cobblestone isn't turned into a fortress, and no ones suffer the cataclysm. All's well that ends well... wait, what happened to the dark spirit?

Ah, there you are, this couldn't been possible without your help you know!

Wait, what are you doing?

Huh... guess the game ain't over!

Turns out that the dark spirit is actually Calasmos and it was his body that was sealed away in the lantern that now enabled him to take his form. So out you go again to save the world. Basically you have to redo most of the things you didn't after the cataclysm, but do it right. So for instance the dragon in Hotto don't kill the lord and you are able to uncurse him with the power of the mirror. Other things just change the scenario, for example Octagonia isn't overrun by demons this time around, but instead the corrupting influence of Calasmos resurrect the spider-demon so you team up with the champion to fight of the crazed wrestlers and spider-demon once and for all. This time with Hendrick in your party since King Cornellian ordered him to fight with you as the world needed heroes to save it. On one hand it's rather satisfying saving everyone, you even are able to save Michelle the Mermaid... even though I thought she died before I reached Arboria? And that is the small thing, it feels too simple. It's like the theory of Final Fantasy VIII where Squall actually dies after disc 1 and the rest of the game is him in his last moments imagining a better end if it had been a fairy tale. And I can't shake it here for all the side quests as if the temporal shift didn't work or something like that... but still, Veronica lives.

The most interesting part here is that due to the flying islands not crashing all of the keepers survived and could tell the whole story of Calasmos. This evil demon was apparently about to be vanquished by Erdwin, but as Calasmos fell, the dark desires of the sorcerer Morcant was corrupted by Calasmos so that he killed Erdwin and become Mordegon. The sage Serenica and the warrior Drustan sent Calasmos body to the lantern and went their separate ways. Drustan created a kingdom that became Svaardrust and hid a trial for the luminary in order to prepare them to fight Calasmos. Serenica studied and found the Tower of Lost Time and tried to break the bubble herself, but was unable as she wasn't the luminary, and with that grief that she couldn't save her love Erdwin, fell down lying on the floor as the spirits turned her into the guardian of time spirit that sent the hero back to save Veronica. Finding Drustan's trial is like the special section of Dragon Quest VIII, beating a special boss that gives you wishes like a super weapon, a special racetrack in Gallapolis, getting an Ogler's Digest #1 and... the ability to chose a wife for the luminary? FINALLY! Gemma and the luminary wedding here we go!

What, no wedding ceremony? Just, "hey, married now"? Ok!

That's pretty much the last thing I do before tackling Calasmos and it was an irritating fight, since as usual I forgot the first time that you obviously had to use the sword of light to dispel all the damn protection barrier and what not around Calasmos and then fight him. And I was at level 99 with several characters. Still, beat him true ending and feeling rather satisfying. Turns out that Yggdrasil was formerly Yggdragon, a great dragon of light that fought Calsmos and lost, but thanks to the keepers was able to give birth to the world and then help Erdwin fight a returning Calasmos and then you again. Then the luminary restored Serenica and sent her back in time (?) so that she could be with Erdwin again... it's a bit unclear since in that case she would only relive the past, but if she changed the past it would have a huge impact on the present with a millenia between Erdwin and the luminary. What... there's more after this? Yes, only after beating the true ending can you finish the spirit side quest where you play through parts of every mainline game in the series. And then fight of some super bosses. And the very last one works just like the Almighty at the end of Dragon Quest VII, beat him before a set number of turns or try again. Hate that, so I'm done now and that includes this... 6 part series. Good God! And now they revealed they working on Dragon Quest XII? I'M HYPED!

Dragon Quest XI part 5

*SOB*

Of course it continues with a funeral for Veronica, Serena cuts her hair and receives all Veronica's magic in a dream and turns into the real reincarnation of Serenica that helped Erdwin. With that the elder tells of the ancient creature that gave Erdwin the power of flight and gives the hero a flute. Playing the flute on a certain points awakes a flying whale that can let you travel to points indicated by some golden light. Mostly there are one or two hidden areas to the normal areas where you can fight certain monsters and find material spawn points or locked away treasure chests. After going around checking everything and finding some kind of weird temple I can't enter our hero travel to a floating island above Octagonia. Arriving you find a building that looks eerily similar to a crashed building in Octagonia that appeared after the cataclysm. Apparently it just to be a floating town for the keepers, the guardians of knowledge since time immemorial. And now there is only one left, the youngest and he tells them about how Erdwin forged the sword of light. So it's a quest for getting another sword to defeat Mordegon with. You also get some lantern with holy fire so you can travel to a flying mining rock where you get some orichalcum, them travel to Gallapolis to get a hammer in order to bang the metal into shape. And then it's off to Hotto.

Now, Hotto is at the grip of a dragon and have turned into sacrificing to satisfy its hunger. But the ones preparing the sacrifice can't get there since a monster is blocking the way and the protector of the town can't fight it with her injured leg after fighting the dragon in the battle that took her son. So you get hired. Apparently it's the kids for the mother chosen as a sacrifice trying to save their mother. She claims she saw the protector speaking with the dragon and feeding it. As you go to the volcano and confirms this you confront the protector as the dragon appears. The lord stops you from hurting the dragon and promptly gets eaten. Well you beat him, and he escapes to the volcano. You go to the lord's room and reads her diary where it is revealed that the dragon is her son, turned into a dragon by a curse which was the reason the dragon reappeared all the time. She tried to cure him with the mirror of Ra (that have been in several Dragon Quest games), but she couldn't do it without more training... game... I haven't recovered from Veronica yet and now you throw this at me? You get the mirror and kills off the dragon for good, not able to save him, but turn him back to human before he dies. Goddamit game.

You get a key to the inner sanctum of the volcano where you unlock this ancient smith where Erdwin forged the sword of light and now you are able to do the same. So now I just finished sidequest until confident in attacking Mordegons castle. Reach him in his dark castle you have to once again fight Mordegons generals that had the orbs, ending with a fight with Jasper that tells the reason for his betrayal. And it was his jealousy for Hendrick which he felt overshadowed him, leaving him behind as Hendrick became the hero to the people. Well, sucks for you. Defeating him leads to anther awesome scene as you all try to enter the teleporter to Mordegon and all generals appear once again trying to occupy the heroes comrades so that he has to face Mordegon alone, but the power of friendship prevails, destroying them all. You fight Mordegon and kills him, taking the sword of darkness. The world is at peace and you travel around it seeing everyone coping after the cataclysm. And it ends with all surviving heroes standing at the grave of Veronica, taking a drink in her memory for making the sacrifice to save the world... 

So that was Dragon Quest XI. I really liked this game. It was fun and at the same time hitting you in the feels constantly. With 60 hours in it just about the right amount of time... wait, what happened to that strange tower with all the spirits around? Is there endgame content?

Let me just open this door and check!

Dragon Quest XI part 4

Time for a world tour!

Having Hendrick as the voice of the party is actually really fun. He is the most serious of all characters, but at times there is cracks for example when he realises who Sylvando and it strikes him like lightning or when he finds Lord Rabb's Oglers Digest #1 and seems to have a fair bit of knowledge about it. From hated adversary he became my favourite character. So you set off travelling to find your comrades. The bad news is that all the commotion with the falling world tree and all have disrupted the magical transportations of your spells so you gotta travel the world again.

First up Phnom Nomh where Sylvando's Soldiers of Smile have gone to in order to find out what happened to the people. Apparently a dragon appeared and took everything that every one loved, anything from jewels to actual people. Story mostly centers around this boy that runs away from his dad cause he said his wife's jewel is his most treasured possession. The kid goes to get it back, but of course the father's most treasured possession is his son, but he was smart enough to see the trap the dragon laid and lied to it. Stupid kid. You rescue everyone and since you now have the soldiers of smile in tow you go to Port Valour to put them under the protection of Sylvando's father, the greatest knight ever lived. Which put you on the way to Angra-La, a place you never been to. It's a monk monastery up in the mountains that was blocked off by Heliodor before the cataclysm. Arriving you learn that the grand master passed away protecting everyone during the cataclysm and since the hero is a prince of Dundrasill he was supposed to come here as a child and train like all princes, including Lord Robert. Rabb was here, but climbed to the top of the mountain in order to meditate and achieve the greatest attack that the dead grand master could teach him, explaining his episode when he was the main character since it was a trail for him. The hero enters the spirit world to get Rabb before his physical body succumbs to the stress of the cold weather. Both of you learn the best attacks in the game and then the grand masters soul fight off Mordegon from the spirit world, pushing her spirit into the void and disappearing forever.

With four party member it's off to Svaardrust to save Jade, but I got sidetracked with a reacuring dream at the inn with some Dundrasilian spirit haunting everyone sleeping at the inn. Apparently it's the hero's father's restless spirit who haunts the catacombs of Dundrasil so the party sets off to rescue him. Beat up the soul-eater demon and then it's off to rescue Jade from the demons at Octagonia, that was turned into a casino instead. Still, beat them up and now we can... take another detour to Gallapolis where Erdwin's Lantern is about to fall on the ruins in the desert. You escort the prince that found his courage and observe some writing on the falling star or whatever it is. Rabb reads true some binoculars and reads out C.A.L.A.S.M.O.S... what is a calasmos? Maybe a secret weapon? Also there some kind of spirit monster that instead of white like everyone else, is dark that stands just at the centre of the crash site, with arms stretched out in anticipation... maybe it's Erdwin's spirit that is returning and takes form at the worlds darkest hour? Well, jokes on me since Mordregon appears and just slashes the lantern, destroying it shouting that non will rival him. Leaving the spirit wrought with despair. And now I can leave the inner sea. As we do, we found Eric as a stowaway on the ship, having lost all his memories he don't recognise anyone, but is brought in anyway. You try to get to Sniffelheim and onward to Aboria, but it's blocked off by golden pillars. So you travel the seas until you can beat up that damned kraken that attacked Nautica and restore the water travels so you can enter Sniffelheim from the north instead. And get an orb. Do that and apparently Sniffelheim is caught is some gold plauge where people turns to gold, they blamed Krystalinda and locked her up, but also a priest seems to recognise Eric and it is revealed that he was a slave to the vikings in the cave just besides Sniffelheim. He and his sister lived there, but then disappeared. Seeing a way to unlock his memory they try to jog it, but then the vikings arrives, turned into skeletons taking all the people turned into golden statues. Eric follows them and the hero right after.

Turns out that Eric slaved for the vikings together with his sister and one day he gave her a necklace he got from one of the raids I assume. Turned out it allowed her to turn things to gold, like Midas touch and just like that curse it didn't end well for her since she was turned into a golden statue. Yet another gripping scene. Well, he left her statue there locked inside their shack and traveled the world to find a cure or get forgiveness. Meeting the seer, ending up in prison and then meeting the luminary, and now restoring his memory. They travel toward a golden castle where they battle golden enemies (good gold grind-spot) and ends up in the throne room where Eric's sister preside, freed from her statue, but now a demon. The ending scene for the battle is fantastic as Eric jumps in and pulls her out of the demon body. I feel... I feel emotional. Now, everything back to normal we can continue to Arboria. After being faced with the dragon frozen in the lake. And suddenly Serena appears and with her harp banishes the dragon forever. Apparently she got separated from Veronica during the cataclysm and was on her way back to Aboria. You finally get there and it's horrible. The parents that baptised their child the first time you arrived lost the child during the cataclysm, the town is a wreck and Veronica is nowhere to be seen. You go to the clearing just beside Aboria as something draws you there and you see her red little hat near a tree... and she lies slumped toward the tree, dead. You can't do this to me game! My eyes are overflowing with tears... and of course she sacrificed herself to save everyone from the cataclysm by using her magic, I can't take this.

*SOB* She was to good for this world! *SOB*

Dragon Quest XI part 3

So this is how it's gonna be?

After that failure we start with Sylvando on his ship, waking up after the fall of Yggdrasil. He travels to Gondolia that is falling apart with a gang bullying shopkeepers and what not in order to get money and trasures. You trash them and start the Soldiers of Smiles to give the people back their hopes. You get to Galapolis and gather more and then to Hotto where you construct this giant wagon where Sylvando can parade and direct his soldiers. It's a bit... flamboyant so to speak. 

Next is Jade who have travelled to Octagonia where the demons have set up some kind of casino where you always win, being some kind of statement on gambling I assume. You try to fight the head monster, but is transported into a prison dimension where the fighters are trapped which you fought against, losing hope as they fight over and over again. Jade have none of that and fights her way to the guardian of the prison and with the help of a demonic bunny suit that the head monster forced on you, you are able to fight of the guardian and return, but the cursed suit than forces her into serving the head monster. 

Lord Rabb meanwhile relive the fall of Dundrasil, guided by the bunny girl from Ogler's Digest #1. It tells how the luminary parents got married, the luminary was born and the council of the five kings that took place right before the fall of Dundrasil. Apparently the Bunny girl is actually the spirit of the grand master of Angri-La and she does this to test Rabb for being able to get the greatest power the monks of the shrine can teach him. The grand master apparently is something like over 100 years old and have teached the princes of Dundrasil for several generations.

Erik finds himself trapped in prison and with some healslime prepares to bust out, skulking around and avoiding all monsters. Healslime reminds me of the first chapter of IV where Ragnar the knight was followed by a healslime. They are cornered on the edge of a cliff of what I assume is a flying island by one of the generals of Mordregons armies. The healslime is brushed aside and suddenly Erik hears a voice that can give him the power to push back the general, but he would lose what he hold dearest or some kind of things, and that is his memories of the travels with the Luminary. He charge up super-saiyan and almost beat the general, but the power leaves him right before the finishing attack. In a desperate attempt he jumps from the cliff and ends up at the coast near Costa Valor. The healslime then turned out to be the seer that set him upon the quest for the beginning.

Which leads back to the luminary, turned into a fish by the Queen of Nautica as the only way to heal his wounds after he fell from Yggdrasil. As the queen tells of what happened to his companion for the months he was out cold the city's protection is being hammered by another of Mordegons generals. As you are whisped away by the queens magic and turned back into a human as you are fished up by a fisherman near the first continent. You travel back to Cobblestone and it has been rebuilt, into a fortress by the survivors from Heliodor and the Cobblestonians that wasn't killed by Jasper as it turns out, since Hendrick had arrived and stopped it from happening and instead locked them all up. And guess what, both your mother Amber and Gemma survived. And here's King Corneleon and who's leading the soldiers in the search and rescue of the innocent and fighting of the hordes of monster from Heliodor? Well, it's sir Hendrick who sold of his black armour in Gondolia. As the luminary Cornelian asks you to join Hendrick in an attack to first disrupt the monsters and then do a raid into the castle through the sewers that the luminary and Erik escaped Heliodor from. Hendrick and you gets in, defeats the commander and bring back light to the world and now it's back to travel the world in order to save the world.