Here there be dragons. Let's Play Bahamut Lagoon!

A behemoth recolour? For me? Why, you shouldn't have.



Sometimes I wish that the max item capacity was 100 instead of 99.



But who the hell cares? I'm maxing stats like the dickens out here.

One more each to max stats.

Oh yeah.



And another stat maxes out

It's almost silly, really.

Yep.



Yep yep yep.



I think we're ready about now.

BRIEFS is back in the team again, and the two assassins replace our Lancers for the other two slots. They're there mostly for show since the summoners will be the ones busy dealing damage, however their signature techniques and instant-death attacks can be pretty useful in certain situations.



Sendak: Princess... I too can sense it. The Holy Dragon Jormungand is calling.



Defeat the boss is this game's modus operandi, isn't it?



In any case, behold the fruits of our dragon-feeding labour - our mage units, formerly underpowered, have almost their entire arsenal available to them, and at a level of power that they can demolish most normal enemies at a range. The summoners, in particular - once they get their final few summons, they'll be able to crush the game beneath their collective heel.

Another bonus is that the huge boost in Dexterity our dragons got boost our Light Armor's skills up to level 7, increasing their movement range to obscene levels. We haven't quite broken the game yet, but lord help me if we aren't close.



A lot of the victories on the map will be, of course, with fire and ice attacks so that we can finish up the last two stats and get to work on the others.



Pretty standard fare at this point.



Except for these fuckers here. Two direct hits from Infinity is enough to kill any of our human units, so defeating them is of high priority.

...Because if you don't, bad things happen.



Fuck fuck fuckity fuck.



Fortunately, Bahamut Lagoon takes a cue from Final Fantasy Legend II and Dragon Quest by being incredibly forgiving for being beaten. You keep your experience, money and items, and are given a chance to restock at the local shops - a grand opportunity, if I ever saw one.

You're also given the opportunity to feed your dragons again. Bahamut Lagoon, you sure know how to treat a fella right.



Whelp, Polaris is done for now.

Gotta get Truffle's fire stat up higher - the strongest damage-dealing summon BRIEFS and Sendak get are dependant on this stat.

So much dragon-feeding this chapter - something like 1/3 of the screenshots I've taken are for feeding alone.

Damn, so close too. Guess I'll have to max the stat next chapter.



Meanwhile, VicViper's getting all iced up.

That should do it.



And Calzone maxes his fire stat just under the bar.

I also take the time to get around to re-equipping the team as well...



Right, let's try this again...



Oh fuck you. Even with a fully re-equipped team and well-fed dragons, the bastards take out Rush and Matelite with two hits. What the hell?



Let it never be said that I'm not a learning man - if I make a mistake, you'll be damn sure I won't make it again anytime soon.

The boss, Soul Cage, is a real wimp. His major attack, Randomizer, deals status effects.

That's it. That's his big attack.

I mean, sure, the other guys hit you hard, and instant death as a status effect is a bit frightening, but the odds of your entire team being wiped out are astronomically low and are, for the most part, easily reversed by a few heals or a dedicated healing squad.



Then again, you can get unlucky on occasion, but still. Soul Cage = wimp.



Honestly, his buddies are more trouble than he is.



Anyway, let's start the weardown then.

Almost there...



I guess Soul Cage has another attack, Inferno, which is pretty dangerous, but he doesn't use it nearly as often as Randomizer.



A continuation of the previous boss's quote, for those curious. I thought it was a nice touch.

And that's all, folks.



BRIEFS: Everyone, stay here...

Matelite: Princess BRIEFS... I won't leave your side!

Rush: We're in this together!



Jormungand: ((Dragnar. You have done well to come this far. Hesistate note. Now... Open the door, and come to me.



BRIEFS: I don't know whether I will be able to stop it or not... ((Please... Jormungand. Close the door... It is me that you want... Forgive PANTS and the others...))

That doesn't sound good.

Matelite: BRIEFS... This won't do! Please wait for me!

Jormungand: ((Your friends... They watch out for you and they support you... They do not betray you... Nor do they suffer your pain... Long ago... We Holy Drragons too were once as you are.))



Well now... looks like things are finally about to get interesting.

BRIEFS: I am prepared to accept you.

Jormungand: BRIEFS... Dragnar. Listen well... The beginning of it all was a very long time ago... Our hatred... Our sadness... Our anger... Our every thought... Our irreversable past... The War of the Holy Dragons...

Wait, the Holy Dragons fought each other... in a war?

Jormungand: [I]Human... listen... Very long ago... we Holy Dragons fought. We felt hatred... we were twisted... we were cursed... All of the emptiness there was lost... All that remained was our minds... The minds of we Holy Dragons... The door to the new era... When it is opened... WE shall be despised. That time is soon at hand...



A war between Holy Dragons... Lord. The carnage done must have been unimaginable. In any case...



Next time: A Door to a New Era finally begins to open...

Welcome back. Last we left off, we had read the minds of the Holy Dragons Garuda and Jormungand, defeated Emperor Sauzer and General Palpaleos in open combat, freed the Kingdom of Dafila from a tyrannical king, and hired ourselves a pair of assassins to fight alongside us.



But what's this?

Leviathan: ((Why do you hurry, Jormungand?))

Jormungand: ((The human girl... She is at her limit... By bringing we four Holy Dragons together, she has exhausted her strength.))

Garuda: ((However... That means the door to the new era will not open... Without gathering the strength of all the Holy Dragons, the door to the new era will not open...))

Jormungand: ((That is not a certainty... It has never been attempted. The door to the new era... It may still yet open.))

Valitora: ((What will we do about Bahamut? That would mean our minds will not be healed...))

Leviathan: ((Indeed... Without Bahamut... The mistakes of the past shall be repeated...))

Jormungand: ((Can we not wait... For once the door to the new era is opened, time shall be eternal...))

Valitora: ((However, if it does not open... This girl... No, we too will...))

Garuda: ((This human girl... She lacks someting... She lacks something as a Dragnar...))

Join us now as the Holy Dragons attempt to open...



Monyo: Monyooo!! (A message from Rush!)

Manyo: Manyooo!! (We work very hard because we're Mini-Devils!)

Manyo: Manyoo! (Okay, read it!)

Monyo: Monyomonyo!!

"Rush": We can no longer listen to what Matelite says! From now on we're in command of the Resistance! It's better for BRIEFS and everyone this way.

Manyo: Manyoo! (I'm not scared, but don't get mad! Rush wrote it, not me!)

Munyo: Munyoo!! (It's hard for Mini-Devils to read letters!)

Monyo: Monyoo! (Well, bye!)

Manyo: Manyooo! (We're going back to our Mini-Devil hideout!!)

Munyo: Munyoo!! (Take care of BRIEFS! We'll all be praying to the god of death.)

Matelite: !!!??? What were the Mini-Devils causing a ruckus about? ...... Monyooo... Manyooo... They just don't shut up!!

They're also a pain to transcribe.

Matelite: What are PANTS and the others doing at an important time like this? Taicho...!! I'll go get them now. Take care of BRIEFS!!

But wait, didn't they just...? Oh no.



Rush: We can't leave it up to all the adults like Matelite... You know?

Hmm... maybe.

Rush: Do you really understand... Our time... We have to make it change... Even BRIEFS would think that's the best way.

Well, if she wasn't comatose, that is.



>

Monyo: Monyooo! (We told him!)

Manyo: Manyooo! (I won't say that I want a tip or anything!)

Munyo: Munyoo!! (Matelite and the others are scared out of their wits!)

Monyo: Monyoo! (Okay! We'll have our own Mini-Devil Revolution now!)

Manyo: (Manyoo! (No being jealous and acting like us!!)



Wait, what are you doing with Wagahai? Put him down, he didn't do anything!

Munyo: Munyooo! (Even Mini-Devils have ideas too!)

Bastards!!

Bikkebakke: That's out of the question. I can't trust anybody anymore...

Truce: I don't think this method is very good... Please try to put up with it, Captain PANTS...

Seems the others are having second-thoughts. With Matelite about to bring down the wrath of God on them, I'm not sure I can blame them.

Rush: Hey! Come here!

Yeah, yeah, I'm coming.

Rush: Oh yeah... I've always wanted to do this at least once! Shopping!! PANTS... I'll let you choose the goods. This might be your last time to buy anything. I might become the leader, you see... So don't hold back on your spending!

Jokes on him - I'll just use the goods to depose him when the revolution goes through.



It's been a while since I last outfitted the team, so I sell a crapload of stuff and pick up armor for the underequipped. I mean, might as well when I'm forced to, right?

[Matelite starts to bang on the door outside.]

Matelite: Hey, you! What do you think you're doing! Open this door up now!

Rush: You think we're gonna open it? Hah! Okay, on to the next one!



Lots of stuff here to choose between, but we won't need to buy everything - the Lancers are pretty much gone permanently from our teams, and I've already won better for the Light Armors and Assassins anyway. So... yeah. Swords, axes and staves are the order of the day, which I'm barely able to afford from selling the excess goods that have been piling up.



Here's how it stands right now, by the way. Once we get our final (and awesome) recruit, our teams will be prepared to go well into the endgame.

The others... well...



Um, guys... I think we should let Matelite in now.

Rush: You think we're gonna open it? Hah! Okay, on to the next one!

Matelite: I... I've only been thinking about BRIEFS when fighting... I can't help it if you guys have bad things to say... But right now, BRIEFS's...

Is... is Matelite crying? Rush doesn't buy it though.

Rush: Do you really think I'll open it up for you?! Okay, time for shopping...

Matelite: I can't do a thing... Even though BRIEFS is suffering... Come one, PANTS... Rush... At least let me be by your side...



We go shopping anyway. Oh Rush, you heartless bastard.

Rush: Okay, we're done shopping... I guess we should let him in... Don't you think so too, Truce?

Truce: ......

Rush: No... wait... Matelite might be trying to trick us by pretending to cry! A new era...!!! I've decided I'm going to live full of vigor.

Would you say that it is... ample?

Rush: I still have to take care of one more thing... Feeding the dragons to their heart's content!!



No getting around it this time - aside from dying and starting over, this is the only time we get to feed the dragons. So! Let's hop to it, then.

Calzone goes first, and, since his Ice stat is the only one not-maxed, the ice items go to him. I don't have quite enough to max it out though, but I'm dead poor and can't afford to buy the stuff needed to do so.

Also note that Rush is the one feeding the dragons this time - a nice little touch even though he's only doing it for this scene.

Next up is Wh.MAGE, who gets a shot to her Fire stat to bring it up with the others. Since the Earth stat is dependent on it right now and it gives our priests their only attack, this is a good idea.

She form-changes like crazy throughout the process, though, since the only difference between a Gladiator and a Grand Dragon is whether or not her strength is higher than her vitality.

Next up is Brandon, who, already having his elemental stats maxed, focuses on raising his strength with some off-hand items.

Truffle really needs that Fire stat boosted ASAP, so the rest of the fire items spared from Wh.MAGE goes to him. This is because the most powerful summon BRIEFS and Sendak get is powered from it, so, even though we won't be getting him for a while yet, having it maxed out (or near to it) brings a nice little bit of peace of mind.

Next up is VicViper, who is in the exact same boat as Brandon.

Finally, last but not least comes Polaris, who gets a nice boost to his vitality and mind for waiting all that time to get fed.



Rush: This way I'll have no regrest... Okay! Let's go talk to Matelite!

But before he can...

Despite being goaded at, abused and ignored, Matelite risks his life to save theirs. Even Royal Guards have hearts, y'know.

Taicho: BRIEFS is...

Matelite: BRIEFS...!!

BRIEFS: The door will open... The Holy Dragons are trying to open the door to a new era...

Truce: The door to a new era...?! What in the world is happening?

Matelite: BRIEFS... we can talke later. For now we must protect Papillon!! Here we go! PANTS!! Rush!! Follow me!

Rush: Matelite... I...



Save it for later, Rush - we've got company.



Same parties, yadda yadda yadda.



Taicho: They are creatures I have never seen before!! They are not monsters from Orelus!

BRIEFS: Be careful, PANTS. The Holy Dragons are confused too... What are they? I've never seen any monsters like these before...

Sendak: Be careful, PANTS. I do not know what they are... What in the name of Kahna are they?



This is the easiest battle in the game by a fair margin. The terrain favours us, the enemies are clustered together and make for easy field targets, and you can even bait the enemy into killing themselves if you time it right. It's a straight-out slugfest, and all the cards are in your favour.