Quesada's Swan

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

We make a left from the save point, and a right, and another left to the open warp point...

We're now at the upper part of the Telluric Ring, and there are plenty of places to warp in this area...

I jump the wide gap, realizing that the party can jump long distances...

After a battle, I head west down a slope.

Westward again, I activate the glyph opening up another warp point.

I check around the ring section I'm at before warping back down...

We're now below the upper ring but above the middle one.

Ahead, we see a pulsing orb and behind that, a treasure chest!

I shatter the shell and take the orb inside: it's a Spirit Orb of Twilight!

I take what's in the chest and head back...

The Sub Lords are tough pancakes!

I warp back to the middle ring, now able to use the northeast warp!

Southwest warp next...

There are gaps that need a geoboard to jump over...

I descend another slope, and run to an edge of the ring section, getting a Spirit Orb of Dawn!

In the next area I warp to, I see a bunch of seeds!

There's a warp point at the far end of the ring section that needs to be turned on...

I warp back again to the middle ring, but I turn back, realizing I missed a glyph!

I go back up the upper ring, and scouring for anything I missed.

Back at the lower ring, I save again before taking the next portal...

---

We're now at the Sublime Ring, where the landscape looks so different. This is probably where the malevolence is flowing. We walk up the spiraling way.

There's new Sub Lords to face here too: Mysterious Enforcers, Bastard Followers, Immortal Staves, and Firewing Serpents!

I rescue another Katz trapped in a Katz Box, winning a Battle Music Garb for Velvet!

After tons of battling, we make it in front of a large door with a warp glyph.

We're up in a higher part of the ring now. The look of the place is the same as the telluric ring below.

Rokurou calls this place "odd" since it's hanging "in the sky."

Rokurou: "Wasn't Innominat's vessel supposed to be the earth?"

Magilou explains that part. It's because "gods tend to have a penchant for high places. Gods and other things."

Rokurou thinks she's referring to birds.

She mentions that Rokurou or "people like him" like high places.

The bird motif makes its importance again.

Velvet: "'Birds fly because they must'...Laphi said that, a long time ago. That must be the answer [the Shepherd] was looking for. And yet... is it my answer?"

Skit: Rokurou looks amazed at the view.

Rokurou's also realizing that the world is round. So he's a flat earther?

Eizen calls him out on that. Laphicet also explains that the mast comes first from a ship when one sees it.

Rokurou: "Give you two a sight like this and you're still unimpressed." I'm impressed.

Eizen: "And you're gawking at the sights in our enemy's lair." Rokurou would love Ganon's Tower if he ever went in, I'm guessing.

Magilou notes the "energies" of the domain, and says what the domain is made up of.

Magilou: "The crystallized energy drawn and condensed from the earthpulse by Innominat himself...this place is the Empyrean Innominat's body." Oh my god! We're standing on him!? Or is it inside him?

Eleanor and Velvet are surprised at the news too!

Magilou's enjoying this...she tells them to be quiet.

Eleanor notes that the place doesn't feel different from the earthpulses they've been in.

Velvet wants to strike at the heart of Innominat.

Magilou points out the Shepherd and Innominat's "true body" are the heart of Innominat. She doubts the party's chances.

Eleanor and Velvet know what they're up against, smiling confidently.

---

Back into the core of the domain...

More malakhim Sub Lords to face, Fleeting Cells are the new ones here.

We make it to the other end of area, shattering a huge crystal! That opens the bridge in the middle of the area here! This is a long dungeon!

Before the second bridge, we make it to our second save point!

Warping up again to the higher areas of the ring now...

Inside another warp door...

So we are basically going in and out of Innominat's body.

I notice a geotree inside the sublime ring, but we can't reach it yet, as it's in another part of the area here...

Taking the nearest door back outside, we really to need to open the geotree here.

Back in, I shatter the crystal on the other end of the area, and open the bridge here.

We cross the bridge, and unlock the geotree!

I collect more treasures outside of the core, one of which includes a Spirit Orb of the Pale Moon, and another a Purified Blade for Velvet!

After backtracking, I realize what those orbs are for after inserting one into a monolith's recess. Those are keys to open certain warp points.

But I don't jump it yet, and instead look for more treasures I missed and orbs to insert...

I notice a wide chasm. I don't drop in yet...

Going back to a monolith, which reads: "To the one possessing the spirit orb of azure skies: Trust in its power and deliver it hence. Do so, and the path to the sealed chamber shall open."

We need a blue orb to open this warp point.

I go down to the Telluric Ring again, and insert another orb into a monolith.

Out of curiosity, I warp to the point near the monolith here, leading me into the Chamber of Twilight.

The malak there looks fearsome, so I turn back.

Since we picked up three orbs so far, and we already inserted two...

---

We warp back to the entrance of the Telluric Ring, and go all the way back up to the warp point we activated with the first orb.

The geoboard makes traveling the domain a bit quicker, but the place is still too huge...

The warp point we activated with our first orb leads us to the Chamber of Dawn...

Back in the core, we jump down the chasm, and see another orb: a Spirit Orb of Soaring Trees!

Now where do we go next?

I see another chasm to jump down to, and a crystal to shatter. Hopefully this is the last one...

Down the chasm, we find a chest containing a Bottomless Inoph Bottle!

Like the item's description says, we'll never worry about getting lost again!

Down another hole we go! And we're back in the lower level of the core!

We make our long way up to the upper level of the Sublime Ring, where a skit plays.

Velvet tells Magilou she owes her 100 gald from her Revenge-a-thon. Magilou pretends she forgot.

Magilou: (annoyed) "Ooooh, cold as ever! I think I saw icicles coming out of your mouth!"

Oh, Magilou, it's just 100 gald.

Magilou then decides to "go home." Velvet's like "okay then."

Then Magilou wants to come back, saying she's useful against Innominat. Oh my god Magilou...

But Magilou's mind wheels are turning...

Magilou: "I can ignore these transgressions under the right conditions."
Velvet: (resigned) "Okay, if either of us gets swallowed by Innominat, the other one has to pay 100 gald...we're betting 100 gald on who gets eaten by Innominat. If you win, your debt will be wiped clean."

Magilou starts complaining about the bet again, and the manipulations Velvet's pulling in order for Magilou to help her finish the job. Velvet doesn't know what to say.

Magilou: "I'm putting down 100 bajillion gald! That's how much you'll owe me if you make it out alive!" Ooooh...

Velvet's reaction:

Magilou: "You have three seconds to back out! Three...two...one..." And Velvet's pulled in to the "bet."

Magilou: "Zee-ro! Bet's on for real now!" And she's now found her new motivation to help Velvet beat the Shepherd and Innominat: money.

---

Velvet: (smiling) "You always have to have it your way, don't you?"
Magilou: "That's not what you should be saying. I think you meant to say, 'Thank you, Magilou, my best best friend!'" More like my best, bestest fiend...

Velvet says it.

Velvet: "I'm staying alive on my own terms, not just because you told me to."
Magilou: "And you say I'm the only one who always has to have it my way."

And she goes on overexaggerating her wickedness, which she...don't care about.

Another skit: Eleanor's confidence is a bit shaky. Rokurou knows if one worries too much, they'll end up losing more than they win.

Eleanor: "I wish I knew how to be like you. I mean, except for turning into a daemon."

Rokurou smiles. He knows why she's worried.

Rokurou: "It's about keeping your mind calm, isn't it?"

How Rokurou copes with his worries about a big battle is wondering what he'll do after he's finished winning (like eating, sleeping). Eleanor asks him something.

Eleanor: "You've already beaten Lord Shigure. Once [the Shepherd] and Innominat are [gone], there'll be no better swordfighter in the whole world. What exactly will you set your sights on next in life?"

Rokurou thinks he has a lot of training to do before he thinks he's better than Shigure. Even though he won against him, he still needs to be better at him wielding a great sword.

Rokurou: "Besides it's a big world. The next great opponent could be out there anywhere."
Eleanor: "You really are a man of unassailable conviction, Rokurou."

He's already done piracy, and that's not satisfied him.

He asks Eleanor what she plans to do next.

Eleanor: "I want to keep doing whatever I can to help people...not as an exorcist, but as a human being."

She warns him if he ever goes after humans, she's ending him.

Rokurou: "Oh yeah? I'm pretty tough, you know."
Eleanor: "When we win...I'll have the confidence I need to become even stronger."

Looks like Eleanor's worries are gone...

Eleanor: "We have a fight to win."
Rokurou: "Damn straight!"

I'm going to miss these guys...

---

One final skit: Laphicet and Eizen talking now.

Laphicet asks Eizen if he can see him once the battle is over. Yes, they will. It's only humans who won't though.

Laphicet looks sad. Eizen asks if that fate "makes [him] sad."

Laphicet asks him the same thing as an answer.

Eizen: "It doesn't matter whether they can see me or not. They already know that I'll always be right there with them. When I go back to being a ghost to them, I'll be sure to make their voyages VERY interesting." Oh boy...

Laphicet then remembers that Eizen used to be a ghost to Aifread's pirates.

Eizen: "...our eventual parting is inevitable. That's something we can never escape as malakhim, for we live far longer than any human."

Eizen suggests removing "all contact with humans" to Laphicet if he doesn't want to feel that.

Eizen: "Some malakhim never leave our heavenly realm, where the conflicts of foolish men are but distant rumble, hardly felt or heard. But to me, humans are an inspiration, living to their fullest with the limited time they have."

Eizen: "Not that malakhim are immortal, either. We have our own ends to face, myself included...so I choose to live here with them, moment by moment, giving it everything I've got."

Laphicet points out Eizen won't be sad either when he's gone.

Eizen: "It's okay to feel lost. Let yourself wander [awhile]. But whatever you end up choosing, decide it for yourself. In the end, that's all that matters."

I'm guessing this is Berseria's "final breath before the plunge" moment. Usually, in previous Tales games, these talks usually happen at the night before at an inn, not at the final dungeon itself.

---

I place the Pale Moon Orb on the monolith in the room, opening the portal to the chamber here.

I head east, and go back down to the lower level of the Sublime Ring, where I see another monolith and warp point. This one needs a violet orb to open.

Now to the west part of this area...

We climb higher and higher. We're almost close...

Back into the core again...

It seems we need to break more crystals in order to open the bridges here.

After lots of traversing, I break the red crystal here, and open the bridge!

At the north end of the core, I go to the eastern edge and take the Orb of Azure Skies!

Just one more orb to go!

I take the warp door north, and jump to the chasm east outside and take the last orb: the Orb of Celestial Violet!

I circle around west and find Stygian Daggers for Rokurou!

Back into the core! West warp point, here we come!

I see the last crystal! We shatter that one!

I cross the bridge and see another save point: across it is the warp point that must lead to where the Shepherd and Innominat are.