Basically as you’re carrying Zulf you start off getting shot at. Eventually, the fire becomes sparser and as you’re carrying on you run into a bunch of spearmen. You kind of go “oh shit” and then they… get out of your way. You keep walking down and a single crossbowman fires at you and an elite Ura STRIKES HIM DOWN FOR FIRING AT YOU. As you get closer to the skyway, you see scores of Ura just standing there, watching you, as if they have tremendous respect for what you’re doing.
One question about the story.
Caelondia, specifically the Mancers, create the superweapon to use against the Ura. IIRC, some part of the narration suggests it would be a weapon of last resort, only to be used if war broke out again. But it’s also suggested that Zia’s father rigged it to backfire - but not to go off on its own, which suggests that Caelondia decided to use it proactively to wipe out the Ura.
Am I forgetting any particulars? Which was it? Did Caelandia deliberately and aggressively try to wipe out the Ura, or was it some sort of malfunction that activated it?
Not the crystal ones. I’m talking about the ones that look like little grey city crests, half-buried in ash. I’ve decided they’re just fragile scenery.
[spoiler]I haven’t chosen not to carry him, but I gather that you rampage your way out with the battering ram. (I think you get some sort of buff that makes it easy). If you choose to restore at that point, everything starts over. If you choose to evacuate, you, Rucks, Zia, and whatever critters you’ve acquired and kept alive blast off for parts unknown. If you carry Zulf, the ending scenes include him, looking sad.
Jragon covered what everyone has found cool about carrying Zulf out. You saw exactly the same thing; it’s not a glitch. It’s the Ura slowly realizing what you’re doing, and going “Holy shit! That guy waded through overwhelming odds to…show mercy to one of us. Who had betrayed him.” They’re being forced to reassess the Kid, and by extension, Caelondians. By the end, they’re actually kneeling as you pass. For whatever it’s worth at that point, you’ve made peace with them.[/spoiler]
[spoiler]At one point–in one of the dreams, I think–Rucks wonders how Venn felt when the Mancers ordered him to pull the trigger, but it seems pretty clear that’s not what happened. After he and Zia failed to escape the city, and he agreed to return to the Mancers in exchange for Zia’s safety, he told her to run back to their den and hide. That’s how she survived the Calamity–just as Zulf survived inside the War Memorial, which was designed like an Ura den.
Why did Venn tell Zia to seal herself in their den? I think it’s because he intended to sabotage the Calamity weapon and destroy the city. Presumably, he knew–or at least believed–he could do so in a way that would spare Ura dens. It seems to have worked, at least partially; obviously far more Ura survived than Caelondians.[/spoiler]
In regards to the ending:
[spoiler]I chose restore for my first (and currently only) playthrough. There is a chance that everything will happen again, but as Rucks says, we just don’t know. It’s possible the Bastion, since it’s supposed to be this technological and magical marvel, will allow the memories of what led to the calamity to stay with those who survived it. It’s not (necessarily) a “reset the time loop” device. It’s unknown what it will do other than reverse the calamity’s affects.
And it wouldn’t be the first storyline to have a reset ending, but change the initial parameters due to events, so that in time those trying to stop the ultimate destruction will eventually succeed.
[/spoiler]
You may note several points in New Game+ where Rucks says something slightly different in the narration, stuff that suggests he almost remembers something–“I feel like I’ve told this part a thousand times…” To me, that suggests that it does reset their memories. Not perfectly, but thoroughly enough that they don’t remember anything that will enable them to prevent the Calamity–assuming there was anything they could do even with intact memories; the Kid was in no position to act, Zia might have been able to affect the timing at most, and Rucks (though clearly a man of some influence) might not have been able to convince the Mancers with no evidence to support his story. (I have a purely speculative notion, based on my impression of his character, that Rucks had already tried to talk the Mancers out of creating the weapon, and broke with the group to build the Bastion when he failed. I want to believe that the war-weary old coot was trying to make things better.)
Can you guys expand a little more on the gameplay itself?
The aesthetic and narration seem really really cool, but I’m worried about the game itself not being particularly challenging or rewarding.
The gameplay is pretty standard isometric-view adventure action: left and right clicks trigger attacks with your weapons, shift shields, space does an evasive roll, and Q triggers a special attack. You fight things and smash stuff. The variety of weapons and skills allows a fair amount of choice in your tactics, though. Enemies are fairly varied both in form and tactics, requiring some adaptation to deal with them. The combat in the city areas often takes place in very constrained spaces–you’re fighting on narrow, ruined remnants of paths in the sky, and you can fall off (doing so is damaging, but not automatically fatal). That adds challenge to some areas.
All that said, the baseline gameplay is not very difficult. It’s fun and rewarding, in my opinion, but not difficult. If it’s not tough enough, though, there’s the Shrine. There are ten gods you can invoke in the Shrine (though it only starts with a few); each god makes the game harder in some way, while giving you a bonus to XP gain and material drops. Here are the ways they make things more difficult:
[ul][li]Enemies deal more damage[/li][li]Enemies drop a live grenade when they die[/li][li]Enemies slow your movement when they hit you[/li][li]Enemies move and attack faster[/li][li]Enemies resist damage[/li][li]Enemies cause damage by touch as well as by attacks[/li][li]Enemies never drop tonics (and tonics don’t appear between waves in the dreams)[/li][li]Enemies regenerate damage[/li][li]Enemies randomly become intangible and invulnerable for brief periods[/li][li]Enemies randomly deflect attacks[/ul][/li]Some of the achievements for the game are tied to completing the four dream gauntlets with all gods invoked. I’ve managed to complete two of them that way and come close on a third with weapons and level maxed out. Trust me, they’re plenty challenging that way.
[quote=“Balance, post:27, topic:602606”]
[li]Enemies never drop tonics (and tonics don’t appear between waves in the dreams)[/li][/QUOTE]
:eek:
Yeah, I think I have to actually get ambitious enough to max everything out to even think of using that god with the nine others in the dream stages. Especially with my tendencies to accidentally hit the wrong thing and quaff a potion before I need to.
And I got many other games I want to play, so I don’t even see myself playing the new game+ much. After all, youtube allows me to see the alternate ending anyway.
Thanks for this thread, it sounds/looks awesome. I’m going to pick it up later today I think on Xbox Live.
There is a spirit which gives you some health when you damage enemies. That’s the only way to even start getting through the dream sequences with that god activated.
Unfortunately, Leechade has the downside of reducing the effect of your health tonics by 66%. In the long run, that still puts you ahead in the dream sequences, though.
The load-out I’ve been using is:
Leechade–Heal on damaging enemies.
Mender Mead–Heal on successful shield counter.
Cinderblock Stout–Plus 33% speed while defending. (Mobility is at a premium with Lemaign invoked.)
Hearty Punch–Plus 1 continue.
Bastion Bourbon–Tonics fully restore health and adds 2 health tonic slots. (Actually restores 1/3 health with Leechade equipped.)
Black Rye–Adds 2 black tonic slots
Bull Brandy–15% damage resistance.
Lifewine–Gives you a chance to survive fatal attacks. (I’m not sure exactly how it works, but I’ve seen it trigger a lot when I’m in trouble.)
Stabsinthe–Causes damage in an area around you when you’re damaged.
Squirt Cider–Add 10 max health.
Weapons: Flame Bellows, Calamity Cannon
Skill: Mirror Shield
I’ve cleared the Singer’s Dream and the Kid’s Dream with that, and gotten to the last stage of the Survivor’s Dream. (The hardest stages of the Survivor’s Dream are the last one, and the one with a bunch of the things that launch Stinkeyes at you.) I haven’t tried the Stranger’s Dream with all the gods invoked yet.
From my experience what it does is allows you to survive a single attack that would kill you and that attack actually does no damage at all. However, there’s a slight time delay before it activates again, which means another attack that will kill you within that reset window will finish the job. Also, attacks that don’t kill you still affect you. (Though, I believe you get a slight invulnerability window right after it fires, the idea being you have time to quaff a potion.)
That seems consistent with what I’ve seen. It doesn’t always help much when you’re getting swarmed, but against one or two tough opponents, it can save your bacon. (Especially in conjunction with Leechade and Mender Mead.)
And then he falls to his death.
I’m just foolin’.
A fully upgraded mortar is by far the most effective weapon for clearing the dreams with all idols activated, IMHO. I used the spear as my secondary.
Even better than the cannon with guided missiles? I’ve been considering swapping the bellows out for the pike, but I can’t see giving up the cannon.
When I activated all the shrines, I found that mortar + spear made even that level of challenge fairly trivial, including the dreams. I had to keep switching weapon combos until I found something that I still enjoyed but didn’t completely break the game in my favor 
I suppose I haven’t used the mortar much–does it damage burrowed rattle-tails? That could put it over the top. Those things are annoying.
Pretty sure it also kills rattlers.
Mortar is, by far, the best weapon in the game once it’s fully upgraded.
I am intrigued. Anyone have thoughts on PC vs. Xbox for the game?