LogFAQs > #946467723

Phew, time for a proper update.

First time through today and I reset on the castle gates map after losing a unit thanks to Raise failing an 87% success rate three times in a row and Chemists not being in the right place. Oops!

But then again, people are satisfied being used... 'God' is nothing but an image created out of their insecurity. It's their fault for knowing they're comfortably numb, and not doing anything about it.

Wiegraf returns, sadly seeming to have lost his humanity. He doesn't care about his sister's death anymore, and his worldview is a darkly twisted mirror of his previous ideal. Poor Wiegraf :( He still makes for a challenging conversational adversary to Ramza, who I've noticed is now speaking with more and more confidence whenever he's challenged. The battle is, of course, dreadful, but after the reloads it's no issue with Ramza healing 150 of the 168 damage he receives *almost* every time (Auto-Potion's random miss rate keeps my heart rate elevated constantly).

Ramza gets the better of the 1v1, which is a very cool thematic idea it just sucks gameplaywise when you're given no preparation. Velius comes out properly, and I fail again the first attmpet today. Turns out Auto-Potion isn't very useful when you get one-shot by his summons! Second time round I do as Leon suggests and rush Velius with everything I have. My Ninja gets off a double backslash for 300 damage, Ramza hits him for a solid >100, Agrias gets off one of her powers, Ramza takes precisely 178 damage when at 178 HP (>_>), Mustadio hits him and takes the brunt of the summon alone off in the corner, and my Ninja hits again for another 300, finishing him off. Aries get. Finally!

Don't worry. No need to fight anymore.

Velius dies, hooray! But that means Wiegraf is gone for good, boo! Izlude also sadly perishes in front of Alma, a shame as I was hoping for more scenes with him. He does pass on the information he has, and a stone (I believe I read it was Pisces he had somewhere in the records) to Alma, who does a good job comforting him in his final moments. So he was mortally wounded by the demon that merged with (?) his father, then is left to slowly die gruesomely on the floor while pondering his mistakes. This game is really grim, man. Can nobody catch a break? Well, not Alma! Vormav returns in human form ready to kill Alma until his own stone (Virgo, I'm trying to keep track here) responds to her presence. My secret princess theory grows stronger yet again, although given how he speaks maybe it's more than that... She's kidnapped again and the stone is left on the floor.

Cut to the roof, where Barinten is arguing with Rafa (Why did Vormav leave him alive?). Many dramatics ensue, Malak dies, Barinten is yeeted off the roof by a new character, and Marquis Elmdor shows up. I'm pretty sure I saw a rumour in the bar of him having already died, so he's Lucavi for sure! Ramza is convinced too, and we're in for another bizarrely unfair fight. The goal is to protect Rafa, but the first two attempts I make she wanders up to her own doom before any of my party can fight. Then I equip my Ninja with Sprint Shoes and a Green Beret, increasing his speed to 10. I also put a Beret on Mustadio to get him to 9, but it's not necessary. My Ninja Heinline gets to move even before the Marquis now, and walks right behind one of the girls and double backslashes them, instantly ending the fight. Phew!

The villains leave, Rafa mourns her brother and her stone lights up. Ramza wisely warns her away from the stone, but it instead brings Malak back to life. My first thought here is that Malak is now a Lucavi demon, but the game treats this as a positive miracle moment so I'll assume it's sincere. The gang now assumes that the stones aren't inherently evil, and take on the form of whoever is holding them.

Ramza picks up Izlude's stone (a shame his couldn't bring him back to life :( ) and after a chat about who the real bad guy is, he decides to go after Delita. Feels like it's been ages since we've seen him, I'm very curious to find out exactly how much he knows and what his plan is. Hopefully he's not been twisted the way Wiegraf was. There's another scene with Olan and Orlandu where he reveals to the audience his own stone (be careful Orlandu!), and I'm just relieved to see the World Map so that's enough for now.

Trying to account for all 12 stones- we have the one Mustadio found, Draclau's, Wiegraf's and Izlude's. Vormav has one, presumably Elmdor and his assistants have one each, Orlandu has one. That leaves 3 unaccounted for. Ramza doubts the High Priest has knowledge of the stones so he probably doesn't have one. Hmm... Delita is possible but I'd hope not, maybe Dycedarg or the princes but they seem preoccupied with their own war. Which one was Rafa's? Oh I don't know. RIP Wiegraf and Izlude, we lost some good ones today.

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