Void Stranger - Final Guardian of DIS
7This was a long time coming, though not for a lack of trying! It turns out when you face a final guardian, they're not going to be easy to defeat. Sure, there's a fast way out of this fight; and god knows that a (relative) newbie will be more keen to take the faster option when presented to them. But sometimes, what you want to do is just have a big, long, arduous combat with someone who vehemently defends the gate.
(also, spoilers aside, there is a fair bit of flashing near the end of the video - not full-screen stuff, but there are plenty of things that are looking to strain the player's vision during the final sequence - please consider yourself warned about this!)
Hopefully with this little string of text, the rest won't be so easily seen by accident. This is a video for the fight with Cif's "Lord" form - though if you know the backstory of this character, you'll know this is only a simulacrum. The fight can be rendered null and void (hah) if you just go up to the correct option and lop their damn head off with the Void Sword. But Cif wants a fight, and didn't pour all those points into Bluff, Disguise and Stealth just to have a visage that's brushed aside as fake - best to give 'em what they want, no?
Specifically, this shows the intro to the fight, and the sixty-death-long speech that plays as you try, die, and try again to outlast the final Void Lord, before the successful run at 27:15 that winds up taking three and a half minutes to play out. Considering this took nigh on fifteen hours? That's less than 0.5% of the footage I collected that's ultimately interesting to watch if you're not a fan of failure (though if I wanted to make some sort of guide to show the myriad attacks, I'm not gonna be lacking in images...)
With some little notes for clarification, for those curious:
• Cif requires 16 hits to start the phase transition, and a further 13 hits to start the final phase; I don't recall if damage from Phase 1 carries to Phase 2
• You can phase-skip, ignoring Phase 2 (and its transition) to go straight to the jump-rope section if you deal 29 hits before Cif can prep the next attack (though this is difficult to pull off - missing the window means having to see the regular phase transition as well as having to deal the 13 hits for Phase 2 again)
• Cif's HP can't be drained for a quick-kill; you HAVE to jump the rope
• Damage dealt during the phase transition is ignored, presumably to keep people from refilling the arena for free
• This video doesn't have all of Cif's attacks - I strove to avoid Phase 2 as much as I could once I had a plan of action, and whilst most of their attacks are just beefed up in some way, there are also some new attacks that don't get shown, such as a move that transforms a few panels into zap-panels
• Yes, the game does in fact expect you to jump those last two lines in pitch darkness - it's thematic!
• Once Cif's speech is done, they start sparkling, as a hint that something is up with one of the Big Cif's options; if you don't WANT to run the full fight, run up when they're charging up a cast, and introduce them to your sword. You don't get the end screens and it feels rather anti-climactic, but you can then go to the next area.
And now, for the sake of completeness (and to let people see the full speech): timecodes!
00:00 Intro
00:24 Cif Appears
01:35 Add...
01:50 Long time ago...
02:14 You created me and my sisters.
02:21 Nurtured us.
02:36 Guided us.
03:04 You made us immovable.
03:30 Everlasting.
04:13 So that we'd be able to continue your work...
04:24 Manusya.
04:44 Their minds are so frail.
05:02 So volatile.
06:16 So misguided.
06:39 So easily frustrated.
07:02 They're lost.
07:23 And even then...
07:31 Their dreams are filled with stars.
07:48 Time and time again...
08:10 They reach for them, fruitlessly.
08:25 Repeating their mistakes.
09:15 Even in death.
09:32 They never learn.
10:00 They never give up.
10:56 Why?
11:17 What drives them?
11:29 I gazed the stars.
12:02 I studied their movements.
12:31 I named all of them.
12:46 I was unable to find any purpose in them.
12:52 What is it that I...
13:02 ... We lack?
13:38 Finally I realized it.
13:48 Even the brightest star...
14:15 Eventually burns out.
14:40 Just like manusya.
15:40 Their feeble life...
16:17 Gave them meaning.
16:31 Gave them purpose.
17:21 Gave them a reason...
17:38 To shine even brighter.
18:31 Me and my sisters...
18:40 We're unable...
19:03 To bask in the light of the stars.
19:12 Our very existence...
19:45 Desecrates them.
20:04 We're beings of dark.
20:12 Beings of endless despair.
21:25 Or so I thought.
21:42 A wistful feeling...
22:09 Started to grow inside me.
22:21 Was it hope?
22:38 Love?
22:46 Or something else?
23:09 Add.
23:29 I'm not sure...
25:04 If this is the answer...
25:23 ... You were searching.
25:56 It's all I have left now.
26:11 I'll make sure you'll see it.
26:42 Let me show you...
27:08 Your evening star's light!
27:15 [ More than fourteen hours later... ]