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

First things first is to fall back a bit and let the enemies come to you - they'll only get closer together as they approach, and they have very few field attacks of any worth.



And when they get close enough, nail them with Garuda and take them apart.



Honestly, it's almost unfair how easy it is to take apart the smaller enemies. I guess it's to make up for the unrepentant cheapness of the Wraiths in the previous chapter, but damn if it isn't fun to have the advantage for once.

Oh, right. Remember when I said that you can bait the enemy into killing themselves? Every enemy on the map save for the boss will Self-Destruct when they go critical, sacrificing themselves to kill one of your allies. However, instant death isn't a big deal if it's one target, and the dragons are even immune to it, so you can save yourself a lot of time and let the enemies kill themselves instead.



Three turns later, and most of the enemies have been wiped out, easy as pie.



I wonder how it must feel to have your sacrifice miss its target?

Heh.



A few more enemies bite the dust...



You know, sometimes I have to wonder why the enemy's AI compels them to target my dragons with attacks that will never miss. I mean, it's not like no one else is in their range - a few paces more, and I'm sure he could've targetted Rush with Bionics. It just doesn't make sense!

I'm not above taking advantage of it, however.



One of the enemies self-destructs on the unfortunate Wagahai, while Polaris smashes the other, a Hell Chimera.



The Mage Glaives then fall soon after, leaving Dictory alone on the battlefield.

Normally it's a good idea to wipe out the boss's subordinates before taking him on, however...



A new trend amongst bosses starts up in earnest in this battle, in that they can call for an unlimited number of reinforcements to back them up. Theoretically, you could probably harvest them for an unlimited amount of EXP, but that is hideously cheap in an already somewhat-easy game and is otherwise an annoyance if you just want to win.



Anyway...

Jormungand is probably the strongest dragon BRIEFS can summon right now, but with his extremely-limited range and the fact that he goes obsolete kind of renders him useless for most of the time. A shame, since his attack animation's kinda cool.



Moving on now, the usual boss beatdown ends with the usual conclusion.

Short, sweet, and to the point. Best battle in the game, or greatest battle?

Matelite: Look!! The sky's closing!! Look out!! Everyone inside Papillon, now!!



True to Matelite's word, the sky's closing back up again.



Unfortunately, not before another enemy party manages to sqeak through. Looks like this isn't the last time we've seen of them...



Back in the Granbelos Empire...

Sauzer: Palpaleos... The sky... I want to look at it with you when the end comes...

Palpaleos: When the end comes?

Palpaleos: Sauzer...

Sauzer: Am I... human...? The emperor of the human world...?

Palpaleos: Sauzer...

Sauzer: There were children who looked up to me... "If it's for the Emperor we'll risk our lives and fight..." This empire that I created... The children born there will wage war... They will follow the same path as I have... This is all mine... What I have been wanting... Palpaleos... There is someone you must protect... As Emperor of hte Granbelos Empire I order you... General Palpaleos!! Go to Kahna!! Protect the skies of Orelus with the Resistance!!

Palpaleos: Sauzer...

Sauzer: That is the order of the Emperor... Do not disobey, Palpaleos... Protect the one most important to you...

[Palpaleos leaves, reluctantly.]

Sauzer: The sky... The light of the sky... Do you know the depths of darkness... I am in darkness... The very deepest darkness...

And with that...



Next time: The Resistance follows the orb of light to The Promised Land.

Holy carp, that was a lot of update.

Um... I don't really have anything productive to say, so I'll mention that it would be totally awesome if anything from this game actually shows up in the new Blood of Bahamut DS thing. Thanks to Papillon, the Tyrants can now spot the cameos (if they exist)!

Seriously. That made my morning coffee-drinking waking up time terrific. I think I like dragon feeding the best. What form will we see next?!

Welcome back. Last time, the Holy Dragons had attempted to open the door to a New Era, which lead to disasterous results and nearly cost the lives of those on the Papillon. With their ship still intact, the crew contemplates what they had just seen.



Leviathan: Where is this...?

Garuda: What is happening...?

Valitora: The door to the new era... Has it opened?

Jormungand: We can go no further...

Garuda: Can you not see it...? It is our...

Leviathan: Him...? What is arising...?

Jormungand: Bahamut. It is him again...

Valitora: But why...? If things are to continue at this rate...

[Holy dragons vanish.]

BRIEFS: Holy Dragons, wait. Is it my fault? Because I can't become a Dragnar? Because I'm weak-minded?

Join us now as we are led to...





Back on the bridge, we find ourselves milling about with nothing to do - with Matelite and the others working on their gameplan, everyone else has been given a nice bit of shoreleave to content themselves with. Might as well take this time to check up on the others, hmm?

Reeve: Why? It's not the same as it used to be... My arms... they're so heavy...

Reeve's feeling a bit down about things, citing exhaustion as one of his main concerns. I wonder why?



Frenze: I secretly switched Reeve's spear with an especially heavy one. It feels good, he deserves it for betraying our friendship.

Hell hath no fury like a lancer scorned. (And wait until you see what else he's got planned...)



Barclay: Now I don't want to anymore. Please don't tell Matelite.

Barclay's having second thoughts about running his armor shop after retirement. Though, uh, why was he thinking about the armor shop lady in the first place? Is running a shop one of those things you have to inherit?



Gunso: ((I want to return to Mahal very soon... There are a lot of things I will do. *scratch* The first thing I'll do is take off this armor *scratch* and have a nice bath... *scratch* I will feel completely refreshed. *scratch*))



Ah, here's Zora's Son, We haven't seen much of him, have we?

Zora's Son: I guess I'm better suited at this than being a Lancer. I'll probably be a cleaning boy like this for a very long time.

Back in the women's barracks, Anastasia's gushing about Barclay some more.

Anastasia: I heard this from Barclay, he said that General Irvine of the Empire has Excalibur. Isn't that the legendary sword that every knight wants? But Barclay only has axes...



Meanwhile, Donfan's still trapped in the bar...



Nelbo and Joy are continuing their daily torment, this time trying to trick Donfan into eating... less than wholesome goods.

Donfan: ((Which should I choose... I'm so confused...))

Diana: The other day, Matelite cam by and asked what armor was currently popular. When I answered him, he then asked me what staffs were popular. There aren't any popular staffs, I told him! Then he asked what dresses were popular. His face was bright red. Does he have strange hobbies or something, I wonder? What a weird man!

There are no words, really.



Frederica: Why... Oh... PANTS... I can't stop shaking. Oh... M-medicine...

Anyone out there in the medical community with an idea of what Frederica has? She isn't looking too good...



Ectarina: [I]Hee hee... I'm on the same ship as him... Hee hee.

...I'll be slowly inching away now.



Mist: ((Hmph! There are no good men on this ship. Tee hee hee...! I don't feel like getting up either.))



Bikkebakke: We're returning to Kahna soon and... But I just don't have enough... I know it's not someting I should be doing... But this is all I can do now. I can't help it, that's just the way it is...

No, he doesn't mean that. He means he'll be selling Matelite-brand merchandise and books from now on. Sickos.



Back in the shop area, the Mini-Devils are proceeding to beat Wagahai within an inch of his life. Whatevs, so long as they're leaving the others alone.



Saijin's planning his attack, nothing to see here.



Zeroshin, meanwhile, is writing a letter back like the good son he is. Gotta admire a man who keeps in touch with his mother so frequently.

Truffle, as you can tell, is busy scouting ahead, so he won't be here for feeding until later on. Speaking of which, time to feed the dragons, gang!



A lot of the form-changing that'll be going on for a while will simply be switching back and forth between Gladiator and Grand Dragon forms, so I won't be showing all of the transformations for now. In any case, watch as Wh.MAGE gets a kickstart to her fire stat.

Yep. Nothing to see here.

Hmm? What's going on here?

Matelite: Bwahahaha...!



BRIEFS: But... PANTS and the others aren't...

Matelite: Hah! Forget about them!! Those who oppose me shouldn't get to hear what you have to say, BRIEFS!! Don't worry about them... I'm almost certain they're watching or listening!

What can I say? It's their own fault they had it coming.

Matelite: Well? BRIEFS, speak up! Tell us what the Holy Dragons are saying!!

BRIEFS: Matelite, do you remember how the legend of the Holy Dragons goes?

Matelite: Of course, BRIEFS! In my own words, it goes something like... The Holy Dragons defeat the Granbelos Empire and the new era of Kahna is ushered in! I think there was more after that, but... Well, anyway, that's how it goes.

......

BRIEFS: The legend of the Holy Dragons... The one who can speak with the Holy Dragons shall open the door to a new era... The one who can speak with the Holy Dragons shall open the door to a new era... Yes... the door has now been opened... That door in the sky is the door to a new era... The Holy Dragons opened it. No, that is, they tried to open it... But... they couldn't... But then... I...

Matelite: ((!!! I remember it now, BRIEFS!! The rest of the legend... A weak-minded person... From the heavens a disaster will fall...

Taicho: Hmmm... Door, door, door. Where was there a door...

Matelite: Hey! Taicho! Prepare for departure!

Taicho: ((Matelite... you do not seem to understand... Shall I explain it to you?))

Taicho has an idea what's going on, it seems. Or is he just doing this to spite Matelite?

Taicho: BRIEFS! Might the door be that hole in the sky?

Matelite: Quiet! Taicho! Stop your complaining and leave at once! Everybody leave!



Zora: ...What was that about?!

Hmm...

Truce: The door to a new era... Did it really open? If it did, then what about those monsters from the other world?

Rush: Yes... That's how! Later, PANTS!!

[Rush leaves.]



Following Rush leads us back outside to VicViper, where he plans to ride him onto the Terrace outside BRIEFS's room. Since we've got nothing else to do and Matelite's barricaded the room, it's the only thing we've got to go on.

But like every good plan, it runs into problems. Let's listen in anyway...

BRIEFS: ......

Matelite: The door to the new era... It still might not open, right? Have you forgotten about our Holy Dragon? Bahamut, the guardian dragon of Kahna! Until Bahamut wakes up the legend won't be fulfilled! BRIEFS... Believe!! You mustn't think of yourself as a weak-minded person! You're not alone, BRIEFS! We'll always be together! If monsters from the other world show up through the door in the sky, we'll protect you from them! That is the way I live! I will never change that!

BRIEFS: ...Thank you. But... Matelite... It appears that Bahamut is despised by the other Holy Dragons...

Matelite: Bwahaha... I wouldn't be surprised! Take a look at me! Matelite the Hero! Matelite the Famous! Matelite the Knight of Kahna! Strong people have many enemies... I'm hated by everybody... I'm the Bahamut of the human world! And Taicho is...

BRIEFS: Leviathan? Or maybe Jormungand?

Matelite: Taicho is... Bahamut's Tail!

[BRIEFS laughs.]

Matelite: BRIEFS... I know... I am an old, fussy man... I talk too much, and am easily flattered... As a knight... as a soldier... I might not be qualified... But! I can't leave now! I can't leave it all up to them... PANTS and Rush... The Freedom Revolutionaries... They care only of appearances... Only cheap words... They're right up there with... the Mini-Devils...

Hey! I resent that.



Must... resist... Martin Luthor King joke...

Matelite: Kahna is revived, and you become the queen... And I am always at your side to serve you! However... Even I... will become old someday... I'll become an old man like Sendak... If I started rambling all the time, I'd think of retiring too... If they'll take my place for me when that happens... If they become excellent knights who will serve you, BRIEFS... I would be happy... But, even when that time comes... Even when they become my age... If they want to make Kahna free... I will let them... You will too, certainly... And then, I'll retire... By then Sendak will probably be gone... When that happens, BRIEFS... I might want to start rambling about when you were a kid... About the king of Kahna... about this war... Rumors about PANTS and the others... I would like it if you could come and visit me some time, so we can talk... And then, I'll ask you to rub my back... To give me a massage... My body will be stiff, you see... My bones will rattle as I walk... When that times comes, wearing my shining armor, I will say farewell! Oh, no... I'm already rambling... I'm going to be an old man soon too... Okay...! Time to go make fun of Taicho or somebody! Oh yes, BRIEFS. One last thing... After I retire... I want you to come to my house alone! Especially, don't bring the new king of Kahna over! Whenever I think of you married to someone, it pains me!! The only one I will ever serve is you, BRIEFS!!

A poignant and touching speech from Matelite... who knew he had it in him?



Time for us to make an appearance.

Or... talk to Truffle instead. Whatever works, I guess.

Totally my fault here, since I thought you had to grab the Princess's ??? at this point.

Truffle: ((The results of the sky reconnaissance: It has been discovered that in the vicinity of the Church of Memories in Kahna, the monsters from the other world that appeared from the hole in the sky are malevolent, Presently, in order to protect the Church of Memories, the Granbelos Imperial Army is in a state of war... Furthermore, the whereabouts of the crew member who had gathered this information is unknown.))

BRIEFS: PANTS... Please... Protect the church... The memories of the people of Kahna and lovers rest there... Unforgotten by time... Memories that must not be lost... Ours too... Do you still remember our promise...?

Referring to the scene way, way back in chapter 1. The scene flashes back to it at this point, but I'll just link you back to the one in chapter 1, since it's almost entirely unchanged.

BRIEFS: I've changed a lot since then, haven't I? [beat] I'm sorry... I want to look at the sky a little more. When I look at the sky... I feel better...



Heading downstairs, you can grab the third Princess's ??? at this point. It goes into the inventory as usual...



Rush is feeling a little grumpy about PANTS's rendezvous. Somebody's jealous~



The people Matelite threw out of BRIEFS's room earlier are hanging back up here, wondering what the heck went down.

Matelite's mutterings have mystified Taicho a bit, since he hasn't the frame of reference to understand them. I wonder what he thinks Matelite has planned for him...



Right, let's start our assault on Kahna! ...Wait.



Back on the terrace, BRIEFS is deep in thought...



Palpaleos: I have received permision to take off from Sauzer. Okay... Princess BRIEFS... Let's go. My dragon is waiting outside.

BRIEFS: Just once... Several hours until night comes... Will you really fly me anywhere?

Palpaleos: Anywhere you wish...

BRIEFS: ((No... It's a lot faster than VicViper!))

Palpaleos: ((VicViper... He can really burn things...)) Princess BRIEFS... You don't need to hold on so tightly...

BRIEFS: Please... Stop calling me a princess... ((I want to fly... To the ends of the sky...))



Palpaleos: Is this the place of your memories, BRIEFS...?

BRIEFS: No... It's not a place of memories. You see... we... We've just started.

Palpaleos: We've just started...

BRIEFS: There's an old legend about this church...

Palpaleos: Legend...?

BRIEFS: It's a dreamy story... But... I won't make you listen to it now. Someday... Just the two of us... This church... When that time comes, it will become a church of memories.

Palpaleos: Someday just the two of us...

BRIEFS: We don't have time now, so... Please.... Freeze time just like the way it is now...



...Well, melancholy aside, it's about time we started our assault. Let's get to it, shall we?



Same as usual - at this point, our teams are changing about as much as a sitcom lineup. Not that there's anything wrong with that!



Taicho: Look, an Imperial general... It is General Palpaleos!

*gasp*!

The arrangement is pretty much the same as the last battle, except spread out over a much larger area. Nevertheless, the plan is the same as last time - head for the boss and crush everything on the way.



As mentioned, General Palpaleos will be joining us for this battle, except instead of fighting us as our enemy he'll be joining us on the frontlines as the game's very first (and probably only) NPC character. For the entirety of the battle, he'll be parked on the church shooting down whatever passes by, but otherwise he's just there for flavour - the other enemies ignore him in favour of charging us, and he won't move from his position for the entirety of the battle.



Another new twist to the battle is this enemy here, an Alchemic. This monster is far stronger than what we normally face at this point in the game, and can easily one-shot any of our human characters with his attacks. For the most part, it's not worth going after - the EXP isn't really worth the risk of losing a character, and even dragons have trouble facing off against him.

Thing is, though, is that he'll be zeroing in on us during the battle, so if we want to finish the battle before he reaches us we'll have to haul ass and rush northwards away from him towards Ixsett.



The battle begins with Palpaleos playing the environment card and sets the forest north of the church aflame. Interestingly enough, the state of the Church of Memories is irrelevent to the battle - you can raze it to the ground for all you care and still win the battle (and, in fact, that's what usually happens - unless you make it a point to keep it intact, the Church of Memories and pretty much everything around it is rubble by the end of the battle).



First things first, we'll be making use of our Summoners here and freezing this lake solid to cross. It's much faster if we head this way, since a) straight lines are faster, and b) there aren't any forests in the way to slow us down by crossing the lake.

Aside from what I already mentioned, the battle pretty much unfolds like every one before it. Enemies head towards us, we take them out with our maxed-out skills. Piece o' cake.



Might as well freeze the entire lake as we cross it. You know, I have to wonder what the citizens of Kahna will think of the destruction from this battle, seeing the entire lake frozen solid and a good number of the forests razed to the ground...



Anyway, the killing continues as per usual.

It's almost silly, really.



The Alchemic from earlier is pretty slow, but since his path crosses with ours on the way to the boss, you have to be really, really careful on your approach. You don't want to end up in the situation where a weakened PANTS gets one-shotted by him.



You know, now that I think on it, it's kind of odd they would include such an overpowered enemy and make the rest of them a cakewalk like this. I understand that the challenge is in avoiding it and finishing things quickly, but still - why couldn't they just even the others out a bit more and make it tougher, but fair?

Garuda's still awesome, by the way.



I love it when a good sacrifice misses its mark.



The boss zeroes in on our position at this point, shooting a shockwave at one of our dragons. Thankfully, they're all but indestructable at this point, so VicViper shrugs it off like water off a bird's back.



Holy- All right, I may be repeating myself at this point, but this is why you do not mess with the Alchemic. Seriously, a few points more, and he would've outright killed PANTS at full HP.

With that in mind, it's time to take on the boss. Commence the usual softening up!



Things go as planned at first, but...



Our Wizards get killed as the Alchemic snipes at us again. God damn, do I hate overpowered enemies.



Anyway...

Ixsett, like his brother before him, can call for Reinforcements indefinitely, so weakening him with Field attacks beforehand isn't as effective as it normally would be. Still, every little bit helps, so wail away at him like you normally would, and he'll fall in no time.



Curioser and curioser...



Alchemic aside, things went according to plan.

Matelite: To the Church of Memories!!

Seems Palpaleos was more exhausted than he let on...

Taicho: Matelite!! Endure it! We had hoped that this day would come someday...

Rush: ...... Let's get going!

Sendak: PANTS... I am of no use, am I...? PANTS... I... I cannot take the place of the princess...

[Matelite, Taicho, Rush and Sendak leave.]

Palpaleos: I want to talk with PANTS. Can you wait for me inside...?

BRIEFS: Please, PANTS... He's very important to me...

Palpaleos: PANTS... Sorry... Help me up, if you could...



Palpaleos: ((I lost her... I couldn't forget her... That's why I'm here... Why I've returned to this church... To start moving again the time that stopped... To bring back the things which I had given up on as being impossible dreams... PANTS... You hold memories of the past... But from here on out, I... No... You don't understand... This is... a battlefield. Yours and mine... Victory will not be decided until the very end... And we're not the only ones fighting... Sauzer... Matelite... BRIEFS... I can walk by myself from here. BRIEFS is waiting for me...))



BRIEFS: But... I... can't go back. Back to those happy times... The way... The Holy Dragons... Being a princess... Back to when I didn't even think of such things... But... I'm sure that is a good thing. For you, PANTS... And for me... Do you understand?

I... this is sudden...

BRIEFS: You know, PANTS. Growing up is such a sad thing... You hurt someone... You lose something... Someday you'll realize it... And gradually grow used to it... They say we can't see tomorrow... But... What we really can't see is ourselves... I wonder what it is we come to see... A person's feelings and thoughts... They are why people can become gentle... For the sake of somebody else... A person can become gentle...



For the most part, I've kept silent during these scenes because I wanted to let them speak for themselves, but this scene here really captures a lot of what I love about this game, as well as what initially convinced me to LP it in the first place. The feelings of nostalgia and melancholy that drive a lot of these scenes gives it all such a feeling of raw emotion to it, and really echoes a lot of what most of us have probably felt at some point of time. Feelings of loss, regret, and a want to return to simpler times, but... things change, people change, and sometimes you'll be left behind. It's a fact of life, but even knowing it as thus doesn't make it hurt any less when it happens, and the way the game has captured this is truly remarkable, especially for an SNES-era game.

Well, in any case...



Next time: Join us as we bid Farewell, Matelite!

Hey peanut gallery!

Next chapter, the Dragonkeeper will be giving us the chance to mate two of our dragons together, and unlike most of the other choices in the game so far, there's no real right answer to this. So! What dragons are your favourites so far? Which ones do you want to see paired together?

I guess what I'm asking here is what is your draconic OTP?