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Journeys of a Wheeling Gamer (August 28, 2017)
Time for another entry, this time with the Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume Semilocke! I'm so close to the end of the path, and with my overpowered weapons, it should be easy to make it…
Mostly.
The enemies not doing a bunch of damage doesn't prevent them from swarming me. A group of enemies surrounds my sorceress, Liselotte, and destroys her. The poor girl has so far been the only character to die in this run, revival or not. At least this time I have Perfect Clears…
But there is another problem I am facing.
Meteor Swarm.
Meteor Swarm is one of the many Great Magics, and like Soul Crushes, the power is devastating. It only hits one person, but is almost always an instant kill.
And poor Wylfred gets to find out just a devastating it is…
Firsthand.
A Meteor Swarm smashes into him, killing him instantly.
At least he has revival chances…
But this not my only encounter against sorcerers.
My next opponent is the fearsome Langrey and I am thrust straight into battle. However, Langrey is no pushover. He has many powerful underlings that I must get past.
Among them include sorcerers that boast the spell Reflect Sorcery. As the name implies, the spell turns my party's magic back against it. Powerful monsters also line the halls, and they're out for blood.
Speaking of which, some of the problems are the halls themselves.
Traps designed to wear my party down are scattered everywhere. They include a poisonous room that damages the party for the entire duration of the battle, and cracked floors that damage all who step on them.
I have to use a lot of my healing items, but in the end, I make it Langrey. However, he isn't willing to go down without a fight.
What Langrey lacks in defensive power, he makes up for in offense. He has magic, which means a lot of attacks will tear straight through my units. Furthermore, he also has the dreaded Great Magic.
Which he doesn't hesitate to use against me.
Both Wylfred and Lockswell fall to the magic, but in the end, Langrey's mediocre defenses get the better of him.
However, that is not our last battle. Kristoff appears, ordering me to spirit Langrey away to a dungeon in secret. So of course I oblige.
But there's a bunch of enemies to deal with first.
This battle is noted for having the highest Sin count in the path, at 450.
However, the enemies are weaker than what's been faced thus far. Perhaps as a way of compensating.
With Ratatoskr's Scandal to lower their HP, they don't last long.
Except one of their sorcerers still manages to fire off Meteor Swarm.
And still manages to kill Wylfred.
Thankfully, I still have revival chances.
The battle is over quickly, but a cutscene still looms.
The nobles aligned with Kristoff has found me with Langrey, and we are declared traitors. Langrey is immediately killed.
Kristoff appears that explains with happening, but it is all too late. The only thing he receives his mockery for believing he could end the war with his brother alive. Kristoff is only left to grieve, lamenting about how things shouldn't have ended that way.
And I feel sorry for him too.
After all, he is both a prime and literal example of poor communication kills.
If Kristoff had just communicated with someone he trusted about his brother, it may not come to that. Of course, that would've also meant asserting his authority and making sure no one attacked Langrey behind his back. It would go against his initial character, but it would be a suitable development. Unfortunately, this is not what happens. Kristoff leaves some parting words to Wylfred, before saying he will be reunited with his brother soon.
He then heads off to do… something.
If it's what I think, that I'm glad that the game doesn't show it on screen, but it never specifies either…
But there's not much more I can do about Kristoff.
Because our next foe is the Valkyrie herself.
She fights exactly the same way she did on other path, but the battle itself is fought quite differently. She brings along generic soldiers instead of fallen comrades, and one is not required to complete the battle. Instead, one is required only to bring her down to half HP. After this, the second half of the battle plays, and completing that half unlocks the ending.
So the battle is easy enough.
Except I make a mistake.
For whatever reason, I believe that getting the Valkyrie to use her Soul Crush will end the match and advance the game to the second part.
However, that turns out not to be the case, and I end up getting Lockswell killed.
However, he can still revive.
As an extra precaution, I use Fury of the Aesir to negate all her physical attacks.
After that, I advance to the second part easily.
But now I have to fight someone else.
The someone whose death I've been trying to give meaning to for the entire game.
Wylfred's father, Thydor.
Turns out, he's the one who asked the Valkyrie to not take Wylfred to Valhalla. Thydor had hoped the resulting journey would help his son to move past the revenge he sought.
But Thydor was wrong, and now he fights me as an Einherjar.
Thydor has massive HP and defenses, along with good range and a powerful Soul Crush. He also starts with a few other Einherjar, two sorcerers and an Archer.
And they will not hesitate to attack me.
So I cast the spell Gelphir's Bonds in order to prevent them from moving.
But one of the sorcerers evades the spell, and starts to heal the others.
While the enemies are wasting time healing each other, I take them out.
But they are not my real concern.
It's Thydor.
And he moves.
But that's I discover something else.
Thydor is very weak.
He doesn't seem to do much damage, and has horrible defenses against my magic. His Soul Crush doesn't even kill Liselotte, despite every other Soul Crush almost instantly killing whoever is hit.
Perhaps the game just does not expect the player to go for 200% Sin, and get the best rewards constantly?
Whatever the case, Thydor goes down quickly, and the B ending plays.
And I love to reminisce on how much I like it.
Not only does it have the most interesting characters, like Kristoff, but it also drives home the point of the game about how damaging revenge can be. Wylfred spends the entire game trying to give meaning to his father's death, but then his father is taken from him even after that event occurs.
And all because of his wish for revenge…
But I shall save further commentary for when I complete the game in full. After all, there's still a third left and the true ending to uncover.
And getting said true ending involves going through some of the most difficult missions of the game…
