(Originally Written May
5, 2014)
The War of Heroes is over. Emperors Beld and Fahn lie buried after their
climactic battle. However there is no
time to grieve for Parn and his allies.
The Grey Witch Karla must be stopped before an even greater chaos can
envelop Lodoss. Joined by new warriors,
Shiris and Orson, Parn, Deedlit, Ghim, Woodchuck, Slayn and Etoh prepare for
their greatest battle to date. All the
while, the leaderless Marmo forces turn to Ashrum the Black Knight for
leadership. Even if Karla can be
stopped, can Ashrum be defeated when he seeks to attain the most powerful
weapon in existence, guarded by the fiercest of all Dragons?
WHAT A STEP UP!!!!
After a decent but flawed start, the second half of ROLW kicks off with
some big game changers. Granted losing
the Kings should have been a crushing blow but did we ever really care about
them? King Fahn, a little bit. But Beld was your generic take over the world
villain. Their deaths didn’t seem to
carry a lot of weight with me.
But…losing Ghim and Woodchuck in the same episode? Wow, that is a pretty ballsy move to make. However, there was only but some much time
Ghim was going to spend with the team before he and his gruffness went off to
finish their own quest. He wasn’t going
to be stopped and he went out like a champ…completing his quest and living long
enough to see Leylia smile again. As for
Woodchuck, dam that is so unfair. Was he
just not popular enough or just seemed the easiest to get rid of in the minds
of the creators? I don’t know but losing
Etoh would have been better, seriously has that guy done anything useful
besides be an old friend of Parn?
Woodchuck becoming Karla’s new host, walking into the desert with a
lifeless look and that freaking tiara is still a bone chilling scene. Speaking of Karla, I’m so happy the team
finally got her to stop her monologues and put up or shut up. Her excuse that power should not be in the
hands of one person in Lodoss hence the chaos is pretty weak and contradictory
since she seems to have more power than anything in the land…and yet gets her
ass kicked by five out of six Final Fantasy party members. It’s such a satisfying moment. Also satisfying is her/his (I guess now)
minimal involvement afterwards. I guess
the possibility of Cardis returning is enough to get Karla to vanish in fear,
thank God. I’m pretty sure during my
initial watch of ROWL when I was younger I had to stop here because so much
happened I had to take a break and let it all sink in. So where do they go from here?
Well onto other adventures of course. We are given two new teammates in the form of
Orson and Shiris. Shiris just seems to
be a pretty face with a sword, very cute.
But it’s Orson that holds the newest element of the series: Hulk like
Berzerkers. Shiris’s attraction to Parn
I think is going to get annoying pretty quick especially since it’s
increasingly clear Deedlit will end up being with him in the end. Speaking of Deedlit, she gets put in the
spotlight big time in this section of the series as her lifeforce is needed to
resurrect Cardis. This leads to some
nice action with her and the Dark Elf Pirotess and her group of Dark Elf
warriors. I guess that leads to another
point of praise, the action for the most part is much better than the first
half of the series. Deedlit vs the Dark
Elves and Parn vs Shiris and Orson are more fluid and vibrant rather than still
photos with sound effects. The same
however, cannot be said for the appearance of Shooting Star, one of the Dragons
we saw arise at the end of the last part of the series. He falls victim to that same frozen in place
animation shortcut and seems to barely move at all. In a time when we know how bad ass dragons
can be when unleashed, this one only gets the look and ferocity right and not
much else.
The final battle on Fire Dragon Mountain may not have an
amazingly great Dragon Slaying scene because of Shooting Stars stiffness. But we do get some nice new moments with
Parn, Ashrum and Pirotess. It’s hard to believe
that the Black Knight who seems set to rule Marmo could have a heart but low
and behold how he embraces Pirotess after she sacrifices herself for him,
clearly a reflection of the bond Parn and Deedlit share. Is Ashrum done for? Well we see him sink into the cave slowly
holding Pirotess but I wouldn’t count him out just yet. His rematch with Parn was really brief and
another sampling of the greater duel to come between them.
So the series does pick up in many way but still
maintains the flaws that progressed through the earlier half of the
series. Still, characters have been
dispatched, others added and the adventure got a small dose of added epicness
with Dragons and the promise of evil goddess resurrections. Can the finale deliver?
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