Quesada's Swan

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

After an out of town trip and tons of offline stuff, I'm back and ready to finish this game!

I check the guide and find there's cutscenes inside the prison I haven't gotten to yet. I rest up at the prison twice to see them.

Dyle and Benwick are arguing again...

Benwick calls Dyle an "old man", and it's almost to blows here...

Velvet does her "I'll eat you" threat again to stop them!

Eleanor points out the inconsistency of the bickering of the pirates who are "friends," while mentioning they would rescue sailors allied with the Abbey even though they're sworn enemies...

Benwick doesn't get it.

Eleanor: "You're treating your ally like your enemy and your enemy like your ally."

Benwick tells her "she has a lot to learn."

Dyle adds on to the Abbey's flaws.

Dyle: "You talk all about going around helping people, but you don't know the first thing about sailing."
Eleanor: "Are you implying that the first thing about sailing is to help your enemies?"

Dyle gives the mic to Benwick. Benwick sees people stranded at sea as people stranded at sea, not allies, not enemies. He tells her about "how vast and deep the ocean is." And also how dangerous and merciless too without a ship...

Benwick: "Out on the sea, even a single board of driftwood can mean the difference between staying afloat and [sinking] to the depths..."

They take any prisoners, because of the ocean's mercilessness. Dyle's aware of the hypocrisy of saving Abbey people too.

Eleanor calls them "an interesting bunch."

Benwick: "Plus, if the people we rescue end up getting another ship, we can attack them again and take all their new loot." Oh my god...

Dyle compares it to hunting every last prickleboar in the wood. Velvet seems to know that analogy.

Eleanor: "...and my faith is gone."

Velvet asks about the bickering.

Dyle's angry that Benwick put lemon juice on his fried chicken! Too much lemon juice! Benwick, that only works on fried fish, not chicken!

Velvet thinks of splashing water on them...

Eleanor suggests the water be cold.

These two, they do think alike...

---

The next skit...

Kamoana tells Dyle that Medissa's planning octopus daemon for dinner and wants to catch some!

Eleanor brings up Dyle and Kamoana's friendship...

Dyle's sweating...

Laphicet points out Kamoana mentioning his warm heart beneath his cold-blooded lizardness...

Dyle mentions his tail. Has it grown back? It's going to...

Kamoana: "Boo!"

Dyle jumps!

Laphicet: "Oh no, his tail!"

Lol...V erzrzore Lhev chyyrq n fyvtugyl fvzvyne fpner gevpx ba Xneby va Irfcrevn.

Kamoana mentions Dyle being "soooooo slow."

Kamoana: (looks down) "But...I'm sorry..."

Dyle tells her not to worry and mentions that "lizard tails" are good bait to lure octopus daemons with.

Dyle and Kamoana go off to hunt some dinner...

Now we head off to the Aldina Plains...

It's raining...the dragon must be at the mountain peak...

After reading a tumblr post, I realize I can cook multiple times, not once before a battle.

I do several warmup battles on the way to the mountain, almost close to building up Velvet's cooking level to 10...

---

The dragon's up at the summit, her oozing malevolence behind her wings...

Zaveid's also before her too...as she hits him!

And he's talking to her, mentioning the good old days...the dragon whips her tail at him!

This is not good!

Zaveid's flung off!

Laphicet tries to save him, but Eizen holds him back, telling him to watch!

But Zaveid notices the party!

Zaveid: "So you're just waiting for me to die so you can help yourself to her heart, is that it?"

He's not going to go down, and he will not let the crew take the dragon's life...

Eizen, in his pro-free will bluster, says that only he gets to "decide what to do."

Zaveid prepares to power himself up with Siegfried but the dragon breathes a fireball!

Laphicet: "Then I'm deciding to help Zaveid no matter what you tell me, Eizen!" Oh, Laphicet...

But Zaveid's down and the dragon flies away!

Eizen goes to him...

Eizen: "This dragon won't hesitate to attack a child, or the man who risks his own life to protect it."

Eizen asks him who the dragon is...

Eizen: "You said that your creed was to never give up on living, no matter what may happen. If you really believe that...would you say that you're living right now? Because to me, you don't look like someone truly living."

Laphicet realizes Eizen's planning a mercy kill on Theodora...

Eizen: "It's time to lift this curse."

---

Zaveid's theme is still strumming, as we face the dragon again...

Laphicet joins in!

Eizen warns him about the dragon's malevolence, Laphicet returns the warning!

I start attacking the dragon directly at the front, but that's a bad idea!

From the guide, I decide to approach her from the sides and back...

She's a bit tough, but after fighting Phoenix, everything feels a bit easier...

I finish her off with Rokurou's Mystic Arte!

Eizen moves forward to carry out the deed.

Zaveid: "If you kill her...I'll never forgive you, Eizen!"
Eizen: "I know."

He punches the dragon out!

Eizen catches the dragon's malevolence...oh god...

So does Zaveid!

Laphicet goes on ahead, but catches it too!

Then his silver flame purifies him and the two malakhim!

Rokurou points out Laphicet's power once more.

That was close...

Magilou looks serious, though fascinated...

Laphicet uses the silver flame, and she awakens!

As he goes to her, Zaveid stops him!

Zaveid's resigned to Theodora's fate...

He takes a knee, exhausted from her malevolence...

Zaveid: "It's over...thank you." No...

Eizen now uses Siegfried on himself and the rock part of Zaveid's theme plays...

Eizen punches the dragon once more, and absorbs her! Or has he vanquished her?

---

Zaveid: "Why didn't you break your Reaper's Curse?"
Eizen: "What, did you want me to eat its heart?"
Zaveid: "Don't answer a question with another question."
Eizen: "The Reaper's Curse is mine to bear alone. The danger of becoming a dragon, however, is a curse upon all malakhim."

Zaveid warns him about malevolence again...

Eizen: "I can already feel it starting. It won't be long before I wind up like her."
Zaveid: "You'll have to leave your pirate buddies before things turn ugly."
Eizen: "I'm the first mate...so to be honest...it's probably just as well...I'd rather end up a dragon than have this curse hijack my ship and my life any more." Looks like Eizen knows how he's going to end up...

Laphicet's not happy...

Eizen: "But I do fear one thing...I'm afraid that when I turn into a dragon, I could end up hurting the [...] people I want to protect."

Zaveid's aware that Theodora's not herself anymore, and tells him that "he saved her."

Zaveid: "Theodora was a kind woman...she never wanted to hurt people, and she loved more deeply than anyone I've ever known."

And they bring up mercy killing again...

Zaveid mentions Eizen's protectorates, namely his sister...

Eizen describes her: "She's like an early blooming flower. Wise for her age. She's got it all together...she cries easily, too...but...she's so strong."

Eizen smiles.

Zaveid thinks of marrying her. I... don't think she'd want you, Zaveid...

Zaveid "promises not to do anything" until he's taken care of Eizen.

Zaveid: "Consider it revenge for Theodora. I'll be the one who finally puts you out of your misery." He smiles one of his winning smiles.

Zaveid: "But I'll only kill you once you've stopped being yourself...Only then." Naq your riraghnyyl qbrf...

Zaveid swears it, using his true name: Fylk Zahdeya, or Zaveid the Oathkeeper...

Eizen mentions his true name too: Ufemew Wexub.

He hands back Siegfried to Zaveid.

Laphicet looks down. Poor him.

Laphicet: "Is there really no other way?"

Eizen: "In the end, what matters isn't whether we get killed or not. It's whether we can take control over [...] our own lives."
Zaveid: "That's what it means to really be alive."
Laphicet: "That sounds sad...and hard...But...I understand. And I'm going to live life in my own way too!"

Zaveid walks off...

Zaveid: "...Wherever the wind takes me."

---

I boost Velvet's cooking level to 10, and I'm rewarded with another skit: What Celica Taught Her.

Laphicet compliments Velvet's cooking.

Velvet mentions that she did the cooking after Celica passed on...

Velvet: "The most important thing is adding just the right amount of salt, and the final adjustments of flavor...and you have to make a wish that it turns out tasty."

Just like how Celica taught her...

Laphicet, amazed, points out Celica's "masterchef" skill. Velvet believes that "she'll never be her match."

Velvet: "I've lost my taste...but I've also forgotten what it even feels like to taste something delicious. What I make isn't really food...it's merely sustenance..."

Laphicet: "I don't think that's true, Velvet." He eats Velvet's cooking, and calls it the best!

Velvet mentions another thing Celica said...

Velvet: "She always wished for our food to taste good because she wanted to see us happy when we ate it." Isn't the whole idea of good food to make people happy?

Aside: I think that's also the reason why I'm also a bit of a food and cooking buff too. I probably make food, mostly baking, to make other people, mostly myself, happy, since I'm a bit of a food lover. But I'm only interested in cooking as a hobby, so I can still enjoy it...

Velvet also points out that Celica said that "she ate like a pig." That's probably how good Celica's food is!

Velvet: (to Laphicet) "It's a good thing [to eat like a pig]. You should eat a lot too, so you can grow up big and strong."

And I'm rewarded with a Jacketless Outfit for Velvet!