Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Let's Play Monmusu Quest: Paradox! part 49

The End

The insanity is nearly at an end.  I knew it would be a tough ask (and fun!) to let's play Monmusu Quest: Paradox, and keeping to a roughly daily schedule has been fairly brutal.  But it was asked for and I was going to play the game anyway.  The start of the madness began back here.

We're right near the end.  We went through Tartarus and came out in a dying parallel world.  The only thing here is a tower and at the top is its mysterious master, someone who can hopefully fill in more of the puzzle of what's happening.

(Before I go on a slight correction from yesterday.  I said the tower section was a potential lost forever as the player can't get back to it through Tartarus.  This isn't correct.  As Yuuto Amakawa pointed out in the comments, after the events I'm about to describe below the ruins of the tower appear in the main Paradox world and can be re-explored as usual.)

The master is up on the top floor.  It's a straight run past some bookcases and they're the mysterious figure in black standing at a desk.


So, is this the final boss fight for Paradox: Chapter 1?  There are other monster girls in the room.  They look like statues of the resurrected monster queens from MGQ: Chapter 3.  They don't interact with the player.


Now, just who is the mysterious master of the tower?  (It probably goes without saying there are going to be a lot of spoilers from this point on)


La Croix?

D'oh.  Of course, the coffins scattered around the room and the presence of the zombie queens should have made it obvious.

La Croix is Chrome's sister and was Promestein's villainous right-hand in the original series.  She resurrected former monster queens and turned them into her personal fighting force.

That was her role in the previous series; it doesn't appear to be her role here.  Here she's the last thing holding out against complete and utter obliteration of this world by apoptosis.  She explains to us what happened here.

Again you'll have to excuse my shitty interpretation of very rough'n'ready machine translation.  I imagine this will be a lot clearer when Dargoth and team have completed their full English translation.  Chaos leaked into this world and started to consume everything.  The big surprise is it wasn't something in the past of this world that caused it.  La Croix and others studied it after retreating to this tower.  She gives us a notepad detailing all their findings.  She thinks something went horribly wrong not in this world but a parallel world.  History was not followed.  This created a paradox and the effects of that paradox caused chaos to leak into this world, ultimately destroying it.  Now that same leak is starting to affect Luka's world.

There's another shudder.  Apoptosis, or rather some powerful representative of it, is coming.  La Croix tells us to run back to our world while she tries to hold it off.  Luka tries to talk her into coming with us, but La Croix won't have it.  This world is already lost.  She wants Luka to take what they learnt back into his world in the hope of avoiding this world's fate.  She also tells us to take Radio with us as she's grown fond of her and doesn't want to see the little machine girl broken.

Gameplay-wise, there are no choices here.  La Croix won't let us go back down the way we came in as a powerful enemy is approaching.  The only thing we can do is exit through the pentagram at the back of the room.

After we leave, the agent of apoptosis appears.  I'm not sure what her name is – A-do-ra-na-re-ku?  Translator gives it as Ad Lam Rek.  Some play on Ragnarok?


We don't see the fight.  The action switches back to us as we escape a tower that now has chunks eaten out of it.


Uh oh.  La Croix didn't slow her down for long.  She appears to block us just as we're running for the exit.  I'm guessing this is the endgame (or rather endchapter) boss.  Her battle with La Croix knocked her down to only 10% power, so I guess that gives us a chance (and is a neat explanation for the power creep problem RPGs always have, where a powerful boss of one area would be beaten to a pulp by the lowliest wandering monster of a future area of the game).

Ad Lam Rek has some fairly cool battle music.


If you lose to her, she gets on top of Luka and slurps up his energy to repair all the damage she's sustained so far.  (through sex obviously – this is MGQ after all!)


After repairing herself she gobbles up Luka's soul/will with those mouths in ways I don't really understand.


This doesn't happen to us as I manage to beat her despite forgetting to remove bondage ropes off my backline and Ad Lam Rek one-shotting my main priest, Remi, repeatedly.  Yep, probably over-levelled (I'd already hit the level cap of 30 with Luka by this point).

Defeated, Ad Lam Rek fades away and we have to run for it from the collapsing world.

In true Hollywood-antagonist-style Ad Lam Rek is not done yet.  Her damaged and failing form grabs Luka as we're running across the bridge back to our world.  She's determined to drag him down into extinction with her.

Then a mystery person shows up and cleaves her in half with a sword.


So this is Marcellus, Luka's father.  Badassery apparently runs through the Luka family genes.  Maybe even more so for Marcellus, unlike Luka I don't think he has a half-angel side to draw power from.

The family reunion doesn't last long.  As Marcellus points out – Luka is trying to save one world while Marcellus is trying to save them all.  He leaves to do what he has to do elsewhere while Luka escapes back to his own world.


Yep, dramatic.

And that's it, credits rolls.  The end of Monmusu Quest: Paradox (although after the credits finish rolling control reverts back to the player, giving us the option of grinding up to challenge Nanabi, Sphinx, even Death).

Not bad.  Not bad at all.  I'll give my thoughts on the story and let's playing this tomorrow.  That will end the series (for now) on a nice round 50 posts.

35 comments:

  1. *First thoughts* Huh, she looks kind of cute.
    *Second thoughts*... Dear me, it would appear that the poor dear is all tattered and torn. Perhaps she could use a bandage?

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  2. ... GOD DAMN, that was intense. And yes, this Marcellus is clearly a top tier badass, unlike what happend to him in the main/true/whatever the fuck we call it timeline where he got smashed by angry child Alice (surviving that at all still meant being way tougher than most other humans in that world though). This Marcellus has (it looks like) become an awesome cyborg, at least, that looks like a cybernetic left arm and shit.

    Can't wait to see part 2. That's bound to have more awesome shit, as well as unlock the 3rd tier jobs/races (the only reason any exist at all right now is because Nero (who you played as for that one fight) has levels in them, yes all of the currently visible 3rd tier stuff).

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    1. Also, am I the only one who thought "Wait... is Luka's dad wearing a skirt?"

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    2. it's a known fact that shotas tend to like to be traps XD

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  3. "As Yuuto Amakawa pointed out in the comments, [...]"
    Third time I'm mentioned in a post. I hereby declare myself internet-famous.

    "La Croix is Chrome's sister [...]"
    If you take Chrome with you, you get a few "......."'s between the two, both in the introduction and when La Croix decides to stay behind to hold Adramelek (her spelling in the game files) off.

    "She also tells us to take Radio with us [...]"
    She also mentions Radio was build by a collegue of hers. And while exploring the tower, you find some kind of "anti-apoptosis generator" that protected the tower so far, and Promestein mentiones "Hey, that looks like it was build by me."
    Basically, the Four Seekers of Truth (the Homunculi and advanced Iron Maidens hint at Lucia, Radio hints at Laplace) were probably the last ones holding out in that tower.

    "We don't see the fight."
    We do see La Croix getting ready for it.
    Her Cirque du Croix getting up in pairs and taking position beside her, ending in her saying "Although there's no audience, let us dance to our heart's content."
    This was cheesy and epic enough to turn her (in my eyes) from an "meh" enemy in MGQ to an epic side character in Paradox. I'm so gonna recruit the heck out of her once she becomes recruitable (and I'm sure she'll become recruitable).

    "Then a mystery person shows up and cleaves her in half with a sword."
    The cheese is strong in this ending. I'm not complaining, just pointing it out.
    Although I still wonder *where* Marcellus went to afterwards - each Tartarus seems to connect only two worlds. One just crumbled down (so he can't go there), the other is the "Paradox" main world (which he didn't go to - Alice/Ilias reminds Luka that he has no time to chase Marcellus, which wouldn't be a problem if Marcellus took the same route the group did), so where did he go to?

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    1. The Plot Tunnel. It's how people besides the player characters travel from place to place with ease.

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    2. I was curious how that scene would go if Chrome was in the party. If I remember right Chrome didn't think her sister was still alive after the accident and this universe's La Croix would have known her sister died a long time along with everyone else.

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    3. Heh. Technically, Chrome was right. What she didn't know was that Shirome didn't let death stop her.

      Although, actually...
      I'm not entirely sure, but I think Chrome thought her sister was *missing*. Iirc, Shirome had an lab accident (which might or might not have been the fault of Chrome screwing up), but patched herself up instantly as to not worry Chrome (who blamed herself) - but then went missing a short while after when she noticed that being dead influenced her mind, and didn't want Chrome to notice.
      That's also why she wanted to find a way to truely ressurect herself.

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    4. So Yuuto, you mentioned that the succubi sisters said killing off the people of the town "didn't matter" or something like that and that it would make sense by the end of the game why they did it, but I'm still not too clear on what you meant.

      I mean if killing them off is slowing down/preventing the destruction of the universe then killing them "does" matter, doesn't it?

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    5. I guess that they where suposse to destroy the village but as the three of them like killing humans it dosen't matter if they kill them or not wile destroying the village

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    6. What the Sisters said, IIRC, was:
      "Since the original time line had no machines, there was no anti-machine group. Therefore, there is nothing protecting you.", suggesting that they're banned from going genocidal on any group that's part of the main time line.
      Basically, Luddite Village dosn't seem to be important enough to affect the time line (for comparision, Luka and Alice prevented Ilias from completly remaking the world - so, they're literally the most important people in the world). Still, killing them might be a minor improvement, and it's quite likely that the Succubi Sisters are fighting Apoptosis, in their own way.

      But so do the Angels, too, who also wage an open war against the Succubi Sisters.
      Remember the Angel Gnosis on Holy Mountain Amos/Mount Saint Amos/Whatever that mountain where you get Mithril was called?
      If you're with Alice, it actually lists some numbers - the percentual divergence from the original timeline (I forgot the actual number, but I think it was a bit above 20%), that this means that this world might still survive, and explains that killing Luka now would speed up Apoptosis by [another percentage].
      Hence, it can't kill Luka and Alice - yet. It will come back should they diverge to far from the original time line.

      So again, Angels and Succubi Sisters both obey the original time line. And the White Rabbit? It does stuff like making sure you have Gnome, and it was the reason Alice met Luka in this world. It's essentially guiding them along the paths of the original time line - that's probably no accident.

      Everyone who knows what's going on wants them to follow the original time line.

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    7. Well, we don't know about Black Alice, she might just want to take over the world even if it means dooming it.

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    8. While it's quite possible that she wants to destroy the world (At least in her last form, it was pointed out that she had gone mad and wanted to *devour* the world), she most likely doesn't want to fall to Apoptosis herself. So that has to be fixed first. Otherwise, why wouldn't she kill Luka and company at the Pupeteer Tower? She was right there, just a few floors away. She could have eaten them all.

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    9. Hmmm... makes sense, so, you think that she plans to wait and see if Luka somehow fixes the Apoptosis problem, and then try to take over the world? Or something along those lines?

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    10. No idea, to be honest. Insufficient data, I's say.

      Although I *hope* that she'll propose a truce and become recruitable...

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  4. Hey! Play now Card Quest 2

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    1. On the list. Will probably just be a review though. Camel's work is less sex and more om-nom-noms. Draws a great monster girl though.

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  5. Desert Eagle13/05/2015, 15:14

    (Weird. Did my comment get deleted?)

    Congratulations on beating MGQ Paradox part 1! If you want to defeat Nanabi, Sphinx and Death, that would be fun to see. I think you need to be seriously over-leveled in jobs before you attempt to defeat Death though.

    The name of the final boss is Adramelech, by the way.

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    1. Was wondering that. I saw it appear in my email inbox, but not on here for some reason. Blogspot has always been a bit skwiffy with comments for some reason.

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    2. Is Death a boss rush first? I challenged her in Hades and got old Alice 16th with her 1st Bad End from MGQ the result for losing. I thought I saw a Bad End with Death in some of CGIs that have been posted. I'm thinking I have to defeat various bosses she throws at me first before actually fighting here, but want to check if that's true before getting stuck in with the necessary grinding.

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    3. Desert Eagle13/05/2015, 16:55

      Yeah, Death thinks you're not worth fighting. In order to prove your strength, you have to defeat Alipheese the 16th first. That's the only boss you have to defeat; You can challenge Death afterwards.

      I think you already saw how strong Alipheese the 16th is. Even with my seriously over-leveled party, she pushed me to the limit. And Death, she's... a LOT stronger than Alipheese the 16th.

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    4. Yep, Alice is strong. I might see if I can get close with a full party of 8 in sensible jobs and with sensible gear. If not I was planning to leave the game where it's at and wait for the full English translation to play around with grinding all the jobs.

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    5. Some crazy people beat death on paradox mode

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    6. asians XD

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    7. Desert Eagle14/05/2015, 01:10

      It's quite possible to do. I defeat Death on Hell mode. Following the same tactic, I could have defeated her on Paradox mode too.

      But that tactic is no longer viable. My tactic relied on the ability "Endure" keeping me alive, always stopping a heavy hitting attack from K.O'ing a party member. TTR never intended it to work more than once in a single battle.

      If I want to try defeating her on Paradox mode, I gotta think of a different strategy. I think someone has defeated her without abusing Endure.

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  6. Great job on finishing MGQ Paradox! I've been following it all the way and it's really been a fun read. I really wish you'd do more of these Let's Plays.
    Marcellus looks totally badass. He looks like he's been through some crazy shit haha

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  7. ... I just thought of something. You know how I compared the original trilogy to Final Fantasy IV? Well... what if THIS game is Final Fantasy IV The After Years? I mean, there's the admission of different "worlds", the main character's is almost the last one to die, and Adramalek, though she appears to be one individual, could very well be one of several, each of which under the control of The Creator, who's trying to destroy all worlds because they delineate from what it wanted them to become in the first place!... Dang, I hope Square Enix doesn't make those connections, they're kind of... TRIGGER-happy when it comes to people making similar games to theirs.

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    1. Considering that Paradox involves alternate worlds and the ability to recruit random encounters (and quite a few bosses) I doubt that's a problem. Really, though the similarities are there, they are also vague and most likely would not work in a court of law (even if I have no idea what a court of law in Japan is like).

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  8. By the way, i played the 1.03ver. which had no translation, so....could smb tell me what happened with Illias at the end when you lose against the Agent of apoptosis?
    Kinda curious and surprised he didn't mention that part.

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    1. Perhaps because he has Alice as a party member and not Ilias?

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    2. Yep, I picked Alice. I'm curious to know if there is something different there for the people that have Ilias.

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    3. Sorry, misunderstood. I beat Adramelech first time. I didn't realise TTR had hid shenanigans in the evaluation session (I really should check that part more!). Yeah, Ilias is giving tips on fighting Adramelech when Adramalech appears and deletes her. Something weird happens when Luka loses to Death also. She goes a bit funky and needs to be rebooted. Not sure if any of this links in with the plot or TTR is throwing in some random japes.

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    4. Huh... well that's certainly strange.

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  9. (I picked Alice too...wonder who would take her as a 1st playthrough knowing the story of the original)
    Well i mean when i lost against the End Boss, don't remember if it happened immediately or had to pick the choice to speak to Illias, but after the fight, the place where Illias gives us advices through the game, the End Boss appears and does smt to her, just wondering what: erase her?, bring to her master? dunno.

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    1. The Evaluation highjacking happens no matter who you picked.
      And it's more like the end boss hijacking the video call. It notices "comunication between worlds" and shuts it down.

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