An angelic archfiend revealed (spoilers below)

That Celestrians are constrained by strict rules makes perfect sense. Angels are considered beings without free will, after all. And so such rules would constrain the angels of the Dragon Quest IX world.

As such, it makes good sense that Corvus the famed and captive Celestrian (who was finally revealed to be the game's big bad) couldn't be attacked when faced in battle because of his senior rank. And after I'd spent a good twenty minutes walking around with the Goddess Ring equipped to refill everyone's MP.

Oh well.

The Oubliette beneath Gittingham Palace was enemy ridden enough to make up for the lack of a boss battle. It's narrow twisting halls also made it difficult (but not impossible) to avoid fights. But I can't see the newly renovated Realm of the Mighty being bigger than the Oubliette. Unless in his ascending to this game's high heaven, Corvus radically redesigned the Realm of the Almighty.

Finally standing at the precipice of Dragon Quest IX's end I am faced with a question. It's the same question that faces any gamer at the end of an RPG. Should I barrel onward or take a step back and do some quests and such to (eventually) get the game's best equipment?

This game's definitely reminded me of Radiant Historia with its limited (though well-composed) music. Maybe its final boss will be just as much of a pushover.

Readjusting to Rosy Rupeeland

Going back to Freshly Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland hasn't been easy. Particularly because I have no idea how many rupees I've already contributed to getting to the next area. As far as I can tell, it's time that I move on, though.

The mapping of the Steamy Marsh has been completed, and it looks like everything else is wrapped up there. Some more rib steaks from the monkey-like things perched on the area's mesas would be good to get, though. That's all I'm missing for the Meat Soup recipe that the town chef is asking me about.

Otherwise, the greatest transition between this and Radiant Historia is the battle system. It's not the shift from turn-based to something more action-oriented, but the tone of them is what makes it a strange jump. Rosy Rupeeland's battles are pure cartoony slapstick. Not to mention the double purpose of rupees as HP. Sitting at 20,000+ makes Tingle alone into something of a tank, though there is a high price on any solo victory.

Notes on Radiant Historia's ending

Wow. What an ending that was. No doubt, it helped that every node was finished and so I was treated to the "true ending."

In said ending, everything works out all hunky dory, and everyone is left living in a world that is on track for entirely avoiding destruction by desertification. Every loose end is wrapped up, and every character's arc comes to a fine end. Plus, as nothing but the best imaginable icing on top of a game that's already a fine cake, what's best described as a mildly upbeat anime-style end them is sung over the closing credits. Incredible!

However. Anything this great stirs some feeling of the opposite sort to. Turn back now if you don't want some of the game's end spoiled.

First, as you may expect, it's hinted that Stocke is still alive somewhere somehow when Kiel and the Rosch brigade show up as Rosch wraps up erecting graves. According to Kiel a man who was accustomed to living off the land helped them - a man dressed in red. After this scene we're shown what happened when Stocke's soul was sacrificed. Long story short, it wasn't.

Heiss, using the last of his strength, peers into the future that Stocke had envisioned and finds that the world isn't as doomed as he had thought. This causes a change of heart, which is enough for Heiss to have the awakening required to make him a proper sacrifice. The awakening being a desire to give one's own life for the sake of another. Heiss, having given up his soul, freed Stocke to return to the world, and this is the final thing that you see before the pitch perfect credits roll.

Within the world of the game this is a great ending, everything is, as mentioned above, hunky dory in the end. Plus, from a storytelling perspective, though it easily could've, the game refrains from going wholly Hollywood with its ending since we don't see any of Stocke's reunions with those who fought for him and alongside whom he fought. This is especially a good move in the case of Raynie's arc, since it's much more powerful to leave it with her waiting for his return so they can begin their life together. No scene of their reunion could match what each player imagines, and so not showing it is the better move.

Breaking up this chronology, though, let's go back to the final boss fight.

After defeating four powered up enemies from earlier in the game, you go on to fight the Black Chronicle itself and then the three layered The World Ends With You/Final Fantasy VI-style Apocrypha.

The first fight of the final set (the one with the Black Chronicle) is perfect.

Just as with Skyward Sword's final battle against Demise, it uses the game's battle mechanic in a way that's practically perfect. In this fight the only way to actually damage the Chronicle is to push another enemy into it/it into another enemy, and then attack that other enemy. Plus - the Black Chronicle can outright disable any of your characters' commands. Being between levels 61 and 64, though, made this battle short and so the book didn't have much chance to wreak havoc with my commands.

The second phase of the final boss battle, as was the case with Skyward Sword's Demise, takes a step back from the genius use of its game's characteristic battle mechanic. Anything to do with the game's featured battlefield grid is done away with as each layer of the Apocrypha fills the entire enemy side of the screen.

Instead, Apocrypha's one claim to challenge is its barrage of status effect causing attacks. Curiously, though, despite its having a group attack that causes "sleep" and another that causes "curse," it had only a single character attack that caused "stone." Needless to say, Apocrypha took some whittling, but Marco, Raynie and Stocke eventually brought it down.

It my have just been character's stats, but there did seem to be some fluctuation in Apocrypha's magic resistance/weakness, but there was no way to tell when this changed, or if G-Frost/Fire/Thunder did extra damage simply because somewhere a digital d20 was coming up with 20s instead of 15s, so to speak.

Overall, Radiant Historia's ending is a truly satisfying way for the game to come to a close. The series of boss battles leading up to the final scenes might not make you feel like you've achieved much, but as a whole experience, the game well deserves the accolades it's been given as a great game and a stellar RPG. 50 hours can't lie.

A radiant ramble

It is done. Vainqueur has been beaten, and the sword called the "Historica" has been powered up "Masamune" style to the "True Historica." What's more, 217 of the total 236 nodes have been finished. I'll be treated to the best ending because of that. Once I actually get through the boss gauntlet that is the game's end.

On the cusp of Radiant Historia's end, I just have a quick bit about the game's time travel mechanic. As a refresher for anyone who hasn't played Radiant Historia, you can time travel from any save point to any critical moment in time. So you're not able to zip around with quite as much freedom as you can in Chrono Trigger's Epoch, but such structured time travelling adds a great deal of depth to the game.

Replaying events over and over again does get tedious, but pressing "Start" or "X" skips you through cutscenes and dialogue. However, it does allow you to see everything in the game without any fear of missing out on sidequests or hidden dialogue. Plus, if you ever do want to go back to get something every event in the game is ordered in a complete dual timeline. And sidequests are set just below or above the regular story event where they're activated.

Thus, as boggling as time travel might be, Radiant Historia's set up makes it easy to find where you need to go and to go there. On this count, Chrono Trigger could be downright opaque in its hinting at sidequests. So Radiant Historia, though frequently compared to Chrono Trigger, bests it in terms of time travel mechanics, particularly because its timelines' organization is perfectly suited to a handheld like the DS.

Grinding for the secret boss

The fight against Vainqueur is frustratingly difficult. The real kicker is that it's a two part battle.

The first part is handled easily enough. A flurry of G-Fire and G-Frost brings the spider-back house and Vainqueur himself tumbling down. What comes next is quite a bit trickier, though.

Vainqueur splits himself into four and the battle begins - with the four of them. More often than not you'll be fighting against six turns with your own three, and truly, as the guide I'm following says, the fight would be practically impossible without one of Eruca's techniques: Divine Light. This nulls two attacks for a single ally, and is what helped me to keep alive until the collective Vainqueur had about 300 HP left.

At that point Marco and Eruca were knocked out, and Stocke was left with 10 HP. Resurrecting the other members, even to draw fire away from Stocke, proved useless, and in a few more turns Stocke and co. were immolated. Considering the fact that Stocke and Marco were at level 61 and Eruca was at level 45 when the recommended level for the fight is 68, I have to say I managed the battle well.

I've managed to grind pretty nicely too. Making it clearer who is available for your party at different nodes would be greatly convenient at this point, though.

Replaying the boss fight at the "Etherion" node to level Eruca up brought her to level 51 quickly enough, but there's got to be another node where she's available and there's a ruin or field to clear the monsters out of. Still, I'll be giving the game's hardest boss another go before pushing the party to level 68 all around.

Radiating spoilers

I was actually kind of right in my previous Radiant Historia entry. As it turns out, Heiss and Stocke don't share a soul, but they do share a function - they're both sacrifices from the ritual used to maintain the world's stability. The thing is, Heiss wants to destroy the world because he sees nothing but the mistakes of the past, while Stocke remains staunchly in favour of saving the world - even at the cost of his life - because he sees the hope of the future.

For the end-game of an RPG, Radiant Historia does a good job of explaining things, too. Like the Chronicles themselves. The two books are given to the sacrifices, and intended to help them build character, to strengthen the soul that is to be sacrificed and immerse it in the power of Flux. Those sacrifices that are particularly Flux-imbued are supposed to be that much more effective. Heiss, were he willing to sacrifice himself, seems like he'd be able to stop the whole desertification thing simply by following through with the ritual himself. He does a lot of jumping around in time, especially as you chase after him.

Oh, and Heiss isn't King Victor of Granorg, but, instead is his brother. Go figure.

On the sidequest front, things are nearly at a close. All that remains now is to fight Vainqueur, and receive the True Historica - the best sword in the game. Apparently this fight is the hardest in all of Stocke's travels, but after the rigmarole surrounding the last item you need to challenge Vainqueur in the first place, it can't be that bad.

At the very least, after fighting those crystal enemies at least four times more than I would've had to had I just beelined to the save point, the skill the "Soul Pact" teaches Stocke had better be good - better than the "Omnipedia" teaching Gafka a move that temporarily raises everyone's crit rate: A move that's good on paper, but antithetical to my magic-heavy tactics.

Guessing ahead in history

I'm finally caught up on Radiant Historia's sidequests. I've still got to find two more of the pacts required to unlock the game's secret boss that's more difficult than the boss waiting at story's end and finish a couple of other quests along the way, and that's it.

Progressing a little bit into the Final Chapter of the Alternative History, a huge twist has been rounded. Heiss is the one with the Black Chronicle - since he disabled the Flux manipulating powers of the chamber beneath Granorg castle. Plus, it's also become possible that Heiss is the previous ruler of Granorg, King Victor.

All I have to back up this guess is Heiss' mysterious origin, his possession of the Black Chronicle (since King Victor was its last owner), and Aht's realization that there's something similar about Heiss and Stocke. If Stocke is a revived half of Ernst's (Eruca's brother, whom King Victor slew for the Flux ritual) soul, then it makes sense that Heiss possesses the soul's other half as the performer of the Flux ritual. In short, such an arrangement means they share a soul, and that's likely what Aht noticed about them.

It all sounds crazy, but that's what makes these sorts of J-RPGs awesome.

Thinking on its sides, a game requiring no guide

Radiant Historia's sidequests continue to be full of character development. From the simple 'the secret of the Beastkind is that they're a balance of humanity and bestiality,' to the final admission of a romance between Raynie and Stocke that's been evident from chapter one, there's a great variety in the game. The discrepancy is, understandably, based on how long characters have been around. Gafka's been around for far less time than Raynie, after all.

Otherwise, the sidequests seem to be entirely fuelled by character development. Mostly because the items and equipment you get from them just aren't any good. Though, as I've mentioned before, this is mostly because the game allows you to skip around so much. As a result you can't really miss anything, and so it's inevitable that you'll wind up with some second tier items from sidequests. Unless you've used a guide from the get go.

Speaking for myself, a guide's not really necessary to  play through Radiant Historia. Because you're able to jump through time with quite a bit of freedom, that's often what you need to do to progress when stuck. Playing it blind as I have does mean you could wind up experiencing the story out of order. However, I think that's a good way to experience the disorientation such constant time travel would undoubtedly cause.

The need for organization

Radiant Historia has an extensive timeline. This is great for the game's story and makes for a lengthy experience. But, for all of it's depth, the game's timeline has no quick sort option. The closest thing to such an organizational system is the quick scroll that you can do with "L" or "R" button.

But, come the end of the game, there are so many nodes for you to scroll through (especially if you're working at finishing all the sidequests) an alphabetical sort option would be excellent. After all, Stocke does travel through time via a book, so being able to sort the timelines out alphabetically would make sense. 

Playing through the game in alphabetical order, though, now that would be downright nonsensical.

Is character development a good sidequest prize side?

For whatever reason my inner-completionist broke free during my run to finish Radiant Historia. So now, along with the help of this handy FAQ, I'm running through all of the game's sidequests. It definitely didn't help when I caught mention of a "true ending" within that FAQ - there's no way that I'll accept a false ending from such a game! Just so long as I can help it, anyway.

Surprisingly the first batch of sidequests was pretty quickly dispatched. There was a little bit of running around for Red-Letter Day, in which Stocke acts as a go between for Sonja and Rosch (even more in the quest to get the Satyros Liese together with a Granorg gateman), but the node and the reward were worth it. Actually, the quest involving Liese and the gateman can be downright heartbreaking, though we don't really see much of the Satyros troupe after the story's finished with it. Vanoss comes back in the Alternate history a few times, but mostly for political plot points.

Though, that does raise a bit of an issue with the game. An issue that weirdly becomes a non issue in retrospect. This is, as mentioned before, the way in which some characters seem to vanish from the story, are gone for a lengthy portion of it, and then brought back in when necessary. Specifically, let's look at the example of Sonja.

Early in the game you see a lot of this Alistellian MD. But, once you hit the sand fortress, or are on the way to Granorg for the first time, she may as well have never existed. At the time when you realize this it's irksome because you know that she has to be a major secondary character. It's obvious that she and Rosch have a history, and that there's more to her than what you see in the story-specific cutscenes.

Then, far later in the game (at least for me, just now completing the Red-Letter Day sidequest from chapter one), it's revealed that she and Rosch reveal their feelings for each other and officially become  a couple. So your sense that she's a major figure in the game's story winds up being true - but only after an extended absence which before had been ended by more story-related events.

It's difficult to say how this problem could be fixed, though. A sidequest, after all, is something that is extra and that some (maybe most) players won't fully experience. In that way, as much of a time sink most RPGs can be (especially J-RPGs), I wonder if the mark of a great one is having meaningful sidequests that add to the game's story and character development or if a truly great RPG is one where such things are just window dressing and the game's main events tell the story and develop the characters well enough.

If you've got some thoughts on this be sure to leave them in the comments.

After a quick stop for a magic sword

No J-RPG would be complete without the need for a magic sword to defeat the final boss. Radiant Historia makes this step quite quick, almost ridiculously so. Especially since the boss you need the sword for waits patiently while you run off to jump through time to get it.

Getting the sword itself is probably the easiest thing in the game yet. You just need to grab the drained sword from the spot in the lab beside the demigod Hugo, hop through time to Celestia, speak with Elm, and then away you go.

Magic sword aside, though, Hugo's something of a pushover. He has stamina, but not nearly enough offense to pose much of a threat to any party. Taking him on with Stocke, Raynie, and Marco, my standard strategy worked fine. Use some Mana Bursts, get Marco on support while Stocke moves enemies into place and Raynie showers them with her powered up magic.

What's missing, actually, from the battles so far is any sort of serious puzzle. Moving enemies around the battle grid to maximize the damage you do and the number of enemies you do it to is helpful, but all it takes is one turn to break an enemy's special attack formation. So, the hope for the game's final boss is that something along the lines of the fight with Magus or Lavos from Chrono Trigger will show up. A battle where you need to pay attention to where you attack and what you attack with to actually do any real damage would really bring Radiant Historia to a masterful close.

Ahistorical villainy?

As Radiant Historia comes to a close, one gripe with the story nags at me.

Heiss, Stocke's mentor and the one in charge of Spec Ops at the game's beginning, is framed as a villain. But this doesn't add up. Maybe that's just the risk that a game that can have its linearity broken, and yet relies on that linearity for its story, runs.

Early on, I chased one of the timelines further than I should have, and so some things were a little jumbled around that part of the story. Stocke fought Heiss at this point...for some reason. And now he's a villain. Chances are, he is, in the end, the one with the Black Chronicle, but the game will have to offer up a good reason for it to keep me on board.

Speaking of story conceits that are a bit jumbled, the fight with Viola is entirely unavoidable. Nonetheless, though she's more or less absent for the middle of the game, her death and the reasons why she accepts it fit well with the story and make it feel perfectly pitched to what the game's going for theme-wise. In particular, her accepting her death as necessary to signify a break from the old regime to the remaining Alistellians really hammers home the destructive power of the blind faith that country's citizens had in the false Prophet Noah.

A fraud and a theory

I'm happy the see that some things, once encountered in Radiant Historia, do not become merely forgotten, trapped around their respective events. In particular, the game had me do a little fist pump when Field Marshal Viola reappeared. She had a few brief lines of dialogue with General Hugo in a cutscene, but since she's the last of the Alistellian commanders, it's quite clear that she'll come into conflict with Stocke and co. sooner or later. That meeting is sure to showcase an excellent bit of the game's story and character development.

Unlike the expected, but underwhelming reveal that the Prophet Noah is a fake. There was someone by that name, once, but apparently for the last five years Hugo has managed to trick people with a dummy dressed in robes. I never got the impression that people in this world were that easily fooled, but it's not as if Hugo started the Prophet Noah cult from scratch. He was just perpetuating it, extending it beyond the life of its charismatic founder.

Since this is a J-RPG, and it seems that things are about to get crazy, my completely insane theory as to how it'll all end goes something like this: Stocke and co. will be faced with a fight against Viola, however, either after the fight or before it, it will be revealed that she and Noah attempted to perform the Flux ritual, and she currently has half a soul or one and a half souls. Noah died because his soul couldn't get back to him quickly enough, and this excess or lack in the soul department is what makes Viola so charismatic and politically dangerous.

There's not much in the story as I have it so far to suggest that such will be the case, but what good is a crazy theory if it's fully grounded in reality - even if that reality is a fiction?

A ritualistic sidebar

It looks like Radiant Historia's Standard History has been set to rights. Except for whatever the game's final boss battle entails. My guess is that the timelines will either reconverge on that battle, or there will be some sort of simultaneous, dual timeline fight involved.

Currently, though, what's immediately up next is another run into Granorg, under the protection of an Etherion stone. This is a magical item passed down through the Granorgite royal family, and is a creation of the same empire that started the strange world-saving ritual that Stocke and co. are helping Eruca perform.

As a sidebar, this ritual involves sacrificing one member of the royal family and then reviving them temporarily with half of the soul of another member of the family. Things remain this way until the two souls involved have matured and then the two are returned to their respective bodies. The displacement of souls somehow balances mana and keeps the world's desertification in check. Pretty crazy, eh?

Needless to say, the ending of this game is going to be epic, and there can't be much of the Alternate Timeline left to play through.

Back again to the Sand Fortress

Once again, Radiant Historia's story has Stocke and the gang go back to the Sand Fortress. Where the road branches off to Granorg, Allistel, and apparently Cygnus. This is definitely the most visited place in the game's story, and it shows, somewhat annoyingly, in the limited exploration of the area.

Having already visited the Sand Fortress on several occasions, it has been entirely looted. The way through the sprawling building has also pretty much been memorized at this point. In a way, the familiarity with the Sand Fortress that you build up to this point really makes you, the player, feel like Stocke and/or Rosch. These two characters were stationed at said fortress for a chunk of the game's story, and no doubt the two veterans know the place like the backs of their hands.

For such a late-in-the-game return, though, there should really be more to do. Maybe a hidden room that couldn't be accessed before, or some sort of chest that can only now be opened. Such a delayed secret is something out of Chrono Trigger's book, but still. Good artists borrow and great artists steal.

Most certainly, it's definitely strange that Field Marshall Viola's nowhere to be found, especially since it's made clear that she's been sequestered in such a remote place as a kind of punishment. Instead, the Sand Fortress is being commanded by a generic soldier who, though decked out in the newest Thaumatech suit, goes down like a failed soufflé. Perhaps Stocke and co. meet her again in Granorg.

A slow squashing

Is a battle that can be won with poison and alternating revivals be considered a hard one, or just busy work?

This is the question that you're likely to be left with after fighting the Mist Spider in Cygnus' tournament sequence in Radiant Historia.

This spider's an enemy you face with Stocke and Aht, one that fills up the field thereby disabling most of Aht's techniques, and one that K.O.s a member of your party each turn it deigns to attack rather than cast "Fear" or "Speed Down." Aside from levelling up Stocke and Aht to the max, the poison/revive strategy seems the best - and sanest - strategy.

Of course, for beating the beast, you don't just complete the "Road to Victory" quest, but also get Stocke's best cloak. Certainly, it is no small prize.

Balancing books and brawls

The introduction of a quest to teach Gafka his best techniques makes it clear that Radiant Historia is winding down. Not to mention that the stores of late have had incredible equipment available, only the smallest amount of which has been within range of Stocke and co's gold, though.

Radiant Historia's been pretty good about keeping an even keel on the cost-to-winnings ratio. If you fight most of the battles offered you'll always have enough gold to equip your party (at least your main party) upon arrival in a new town. The game does tempt you away from this model, though, when you gain the ability to make Stocke invisible. When this ability's enabled enemies can't see you and you can slip through whole areas without getting into a single fight. Doing so gets you through the game a little bit faster, but also costs you gold and experience.

Yet, in a way, in costing you gold and experience for running through chunks of the game invisible, it does something interesting. It plays on your laziness by allowing you to fight strategically even late in the game. Depending on your party of choice of course. But with Raynie, Marco, and Stocke, for example, there's enough balance between techniques to do damage and techniques to cause status effects to open every fight by poisoning the enemy and lowering their stats or raising your own.

Rather interestingly, then, the game's chief mechanic of allowing you to shuffle through time is also present in the way you play the game, since you can shuffle through play styles to adapt to it throughout.

A new challenge

Radiant Historia ticks on. The Alternate History challenge that the Gutrals bring forth is interesting. It's different from that of the Standard History, unsurprisingly, but perhaps without reason.

The Beast Mark that Stocke showed Gafka to move the story on is supposed to show that the Gutral's jungle temple has been braved. All the same, Stocke and co. are doubted. Thus, it would be interesting to have them go back to the temple but encounter something uproariously different there. Perhaps a bunch of Gutrals who are accepting of humans, or some greater challenge in the temple's depths could be found there.

As it stands, fighting further against Alistel as they go on their genocidal march is the order of the day. It's increasingly obvious that the Alternate History's winding down since the cutscenes are coming thick and fast.

Running down the track

A strange question occurred to me while running through the world of Radiant Historia. On the overworld map, towns and explorable areas are joined by tracks that you must follow. Each time you jump around in time, certain of these tracks will be available, while others remain dark. However, at certain points in time, it's possible to travel further down certain tracks. 

So, could there be a way to see places off the beaten path at different times during the game's timelines? Could you go to Alistel after it had been turned against the Beastkind, while you were on your way to Forgia, for instance? Unfortunately, the answer to both of those questions is no. You can exit the explorable areas just about any way, but that won't let you veer from where you need to go in service to the game's story.
It's an unfortunate discovery, but if you could go anywhere at any time there would hardly be any need for tracks between towns and explorable areas. At least Stocke's cloaking ability lets you jet along those tracks and through every point along them.

Trials and top choices

A game with a linear storyline that lets you freely travel to any major, revealed point on said storyline makes it hard to tell when you're overpowered.

The trials in the Holff Ruins were easily overcome. The second boss battle had me a little concerned, since the last giant pale blue arachnid I'd faced handed my head to me, but even that was easily dealt with. The strategy of "poison 'em, bludgeon 'em, heal yourselves, then bludgeon and magic 'em" worked as well on it as it did on the Shadow Gutral faced before it.

Cleaning out the ruins' treasure stores was pretty easy too, since Stocke can disappear. It may force me to grind later on, but for now having a party whose average level is 43 is working just fine.

Interestingly, the top choices, when it comes to forks in a timeline, continue to be the right ones. Choosing the lower option invariably leads to one of the game's many bad endings. It's kind of disappointing, since in the decision to stay or to go ahead of King Garland to fight off Dias in the Itolia Wasteland, the lower option is actually the one to pick.  Being a binary choice, though, a pattern's emerging is inevitable.