Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds: Duel Transer (Part 2)

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5Ds: Duel Transer - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Legacy of the Duelist - Part 1 - Part 2

Why is it that most characters in this game have hair that you'd seem able
to pull off their heads like they're some LEGO minifigurine wigs?

In Part 1, I explained the gameplay mechanics of this particular Yu-Gi-Oh game, and touched on the plot a little. This time, I will be discussing the plot in greater detail.

Duelist Nicolas completes the area at the entrance of Yggdrasil and is allowed to walk inside, moving forward in this competition. I should note that the Personal Digital Assistant, sent to each duelist invited to the tournament, grants access to many of the main menu’s features, like editing your Deck or viewing your Status. You also get access to the shop, so every time you gain DP (Duel Points, the game’s currency), you can use them to either purchase new booster packs or recipes of decks you’ve defeated.

Just a big can loaded with knowledge of the cards.
It can go down like any other duelist.

I said they had good decks. That means they can still get screwed
over by bad luck.

Surtr, creator of this tournament, boots up the system required for Stage 2. An odd robot walks into the area, with a light samurai-like design to it. This, Surtr explains, is a Transcender. It has the cards, power and wisdom of a duelist, all it lacks is the soul. So, basically, it’s just a big robot programmed with knowledge of how the card game works. Just a CPU to defeat. One loser from the previous area tries to brute-force his way into Stage 2 but is defeated quickly by the Transcender in a duel. Surtr says that in order to get to the next floor, duelists will have to duel each other to remove weaker duelists, but also defeat the Transcender, which is using a deck modeled after one used by an early opponent in the anime. And from what I understand, it’s going to be that way for each floor of the Yggdrasil tower: Duel adversaries, duel a Transcender(s), move up. That tower seemed to have only 5 or 6 floors, it should be quick.

It's pretty cool that some Duelists have their key cards.
Even Carly! The... Dark Signer... oh crap.

What I love about a game like this one is that you get to duel against the characters of the show, experience their strategies as if you were in the series. Characters start with weaker versions of their own decks, improving over time. Before you know it, you have to duel against the best decks they’ve used in the anime.

I should also mention that among the secrets in the game, there are areas gated off from the rest, containing extra duelists. Those can usually only be accessed by owning particular cards. Those usually lead to the Dark Signers, major villains from the first season of the anime. All of them can be found and fought.

Leo sports the kind of adorableness that can kill.

Can I add something else that I actually like about this game? I like how every character of the anime was given a CGI body that appears in duels. Each one has a duel start animation with a line of dialogue, then other animations when they summon a monster, declare an attack, or get hit by your attacks. Last but not least, they have both victory and defeat animations depending on the duel’s outcome. That’s pretty cool. A lot of important Synchro monsters from the anime also get their own animations, when they’re summoned or when they’re attacking, and those can be collected in a gallery in the game’s Database section. It’s a self-imposed challenge to collect all these animations.

In Part 1, I mentioned that this game was up-to-date with the banlist of the physical card game, up to 2014 when the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was terminated. This game, which updated until the end, thus has all the Forbidden, Limited and Semi-Limited cards of the time. However, the game is difficult, so we were given mercy by Konami, and we’re allowed a single Forbidden card in the Deck. You’ll be grateful for it. Choose yours wisely…

Yet you can use as many Limited cards as you want..
But only one copy of each.

Ha! Right! There's literally four dozens of you
out there. All small names with big egos!
Now I, Nicolas, will knock you all down!

The second floor of Yggdrasil features the next addition to the room tile puzzle: Locked gates, with one duelist in the room possessing the key. You have to find that duelist, defeat them, get the key and move forward. Keep in mind that the key you get can be used to unlock only one panel - stupid one-use, breakable keys! Things just get more complex from there. On the next floor, you have to defeat two Transcenders. Floor 3 is also where you start to properly duel the Signers, heroes of the show, with Akiza Izinski as one of the first, and she uses a mean deck with plants and effects that steal your monsters. As for the Transcenders themselves, they’re using a Toon deck and a Lightsworn deck respectively. I could say what each opponent uses as an archetype, but those of you who don’t sufficiently know the card game wouldn’t know them.

So we get to the fourth floor, and I have a bad feeling about it. Just remember what the Japanese word for “four” sounds like in Japanese. As if to confirm my thoughts, Surtr says that there are three Transcenders to defeat here! Oh great, just add one more to each floor, why don’t you? There aren’t only Transcenders here, though; there’s also a strange machine that speaks like a human, as if it was some dollar-store Iron Man clad in red and white, that goes by the name of Odin (if the text boxes are to be believed, anyway). If this is just a suit of armor and not a robot, it must be mighty impractical for the person inside. Look at those stupid shoulders!

Forget the silly haircuts, the lucky draws, the weird card-based drama.
These shoulders are the dumbest thing in the entirety of the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise.

The majestic performance of Nicolas in this tournament so far has attracted a lot of eyes. There are darker forces at play here. A lot of characters are discussing the Transcenders and how those robots getting proper souls would make them undefeatable. Aw, come on! Card games aren’t a thing of soul! What you need is a good Deck that can beat your adversary, that’s all! Don’t give me that do-goody-good “Heart of the Cards” bullshit!

Odin, huh? The All-Seeing Eye of Norse mythology?
Where's Thor? Still playing Hero on Earth?

Oh, and Odin has to be defeated, as they block the way to the exit. Get ready, though; they’re the hardest boss thus far. That Aqua Deck is surprisingly versatile and strong - and, like every other adversary deck, actually usable once you unlock it and get all of the cards! (Note that, in order to be able to use a Deck recipe, you have to buy it from the Shop, you don't instantly unlock it. You thus need to gather the currency of the game in order to purchase the recipe, then get the cards in the Shop's packs.)

Past Odin is a Transcender using a Monarchs deck, and once it’s defeated Nicolas moves to the next floor. Meanwhile, other characters (such as Tetsu Trudge) lose to the latest opponent. Someone on this floor uses an Earthbound Immortal card, which is the strongest weapon of a Dark Signer. Now, if you actually know the real-life Earthbound Immortal cards, you know they kind of suck, but then again so does every “overpowered weapon” card used by villains of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime that get a nerf when it’s time to bring them to the actual game.

In the real card game, they suck.
They look pretty cool, though.

All of the locks.

The fifth floor is also the last, so it’s where the competition shall end, right? With Nicolas still in the race, Yusei and Jack still around as well. Hm, that game was shorter than I thought. On this floor, there’s no shortcut. You have to go on one path, defeat all the duelists there (including Jack Atlas), then unlock the gate that leads to the second path, on which you duel all the duelists and then Yusei for another key, which unlocks the way to two Transcenders, which must be dueled, after which we go against Surtr. Seems simple enough. Let’s do that.

For the record, there are three levels of locks, with associated Key Cards LV1 to 3. Part of the puzzle aspect of the grid-based levels is to not only find out which character has a key, but also which has the key with the correct level that you need right now. Goddammit, this system’s overly complicated for no good reason.

Fighting Jack? Oh yes, the spot of King of Games is mine!

With all the major duelists on this floor, it feels like the final level. Many memorable duels take place here. Since I’ve had so many hours on my save file, I’ve collected all the cards in the game, all in three copies. Thus, I’ve been able to build for myself a custom deck that relies on the easy summon of Level 8 monsters (mostly Blue-Eyes White Dragon - yes, I am going the Kaiba route), along with ways to bypass the nasty little tricks opponents can have on their side. While replaying through this last floor, I have been saved multiple times by the Fusion summon of the Ultimate Blue-Eyes White Dragon, a monster with 4500 ATK (for the record, the maximum printed value on a card is 5000).

I can't see a thing! I can't play card games in this
situation!

Yusei, Jack and the others desperately wanted to ask Surtr about the Earthbound Immortals. Since the organizer of this tournament would only answer to its winner, Nicolas accepts to ask that question for them… But before Surtr can give a proper answer, Odin intervenes. It first mocks Surtr for thinking it’s human (apparently he’s just an advanced Transcender believing to be a human??? What???), and then causes an earthquake that sends everybody tumbling down the tower, ending up in a dark basement. Everybody turns out fine. The plot armor is strong with them. They make sure that everyone’s alright, then wonder where they are. Odin, who is also there, explains that this is Bifröst, located underneath Yggdrasil. And that if anybody wants answers, they’ll just have to go down the floors of Bifröst, all the way to the bottom one, which Odin claims to be Valhalla. Still rocking the Norse theme, huh?

Okay, who applied the purple filter to Armstrong?
Cut that out!

The first floor of Bifröst (which I guess could be called Floor Minus 1) uses the breaking floor tiles explained earlier. Those can severely hinder your movements around the board if they break. All the heroes can really do is explore and defeat the various Transcenders. Forget the faceless human duelists. Now, you’ll be duelist robots almost all the time. With, of course, the occasional battle against the major anime character. As an example, here, after you beat up the three Transcenders (and three is nothing compared to later floors), Chief Armstrong appears covered in darkness, like something’s controlling him. We have to duel him in order to reach the end of this floor. And this, conveniently, frees him from the spirit. Or whatever it is that has taken control. I didn't know a children's trading card game could do that.

I'm trying to stay away, but you're the one challenging
me to a duel right now!

So what now? Well, on Floor Minus 2, it’s Hunter Pace who gets possessed and has to be defeated. Still not that bad. Expect this to become a regular thing on each floor of this “building”. Floor Minus 3, it’s Randsborg’s turn. Floor Minus 4? It’s Leo’s turn. Floor Minus 5? It’s now Crow who gets possessed. Meanwhile, Odin just watches and gloats. Because, y’know, they're a generic anime villain with no real reason to exist. Nah, worse than that; feels like a generic anime filler villain. “Here, your friend is mine now, you’re getting weak, haha, goodbye, see you at the end!” Floor Minus 6 continues the trend with Luna, and Floor Minus 7 sees Akiza being possessed as well. So, if I understand right, only Yusei, Jack and the protagonist are strong-willed enough to not fall into the villain’s trap.

And the award of "Most Unpronounceable Name" goes to...
Llanfair­pwll­gwyn­gyll­go­gery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch!
...But Hlidskjalf is a close second.

Past Bifröst Floor Minus 7, we reach… Um… Okay, I’d like to buy a vowel. I’ve done well so far, but I don’t think I could pronounce this. I can at least try writing it correctly. This is Hlidskjalf. Hey, I thought we had been promised Valhalla?  Both Yusei and Jack have decided that enough is enough, and are ready to stop Odin if that’s the last thing they do… But the protagonist, Nicolas, is there as well and only one of them can go duel against Odin.

First the past King, then the current King of Games...
And then, the Big Bad!

Only one way to settle that out: Duel! And this is the last floor of the actual Story Mode, so as you can expect, the battles here are going to be very difficult. Yusei and Jack are at full power, and will use every trick they know. Mass summon of Synchro monsters? You bet. Crazy powerful effects? Certainly. Still, they’re not impossible to defeat. You might have to customize your deck to counter their tactics, though. Both Yusei and Jack have a Level 3 key card, and two Level 3 lock panels block the way to Odin, so you need to defeat them.

You're saying this like I'm the bad guy!

So much stuff in this maze. So complicated.

Disadvantage of the board game panel system: You won’t be able to get every item on a board unless you’re extremely lucky, the rolling of Action Points can be a pain in the ass, and there are hidden Transcenders on bonus levels that you won’t know about till you’ve rolled for AP enough times. Makes completion very difficult. The advantage is that the boards are made so that many duels can be skipped, if you’re not aiming for completion. The plot-relevant duels can’t be avoided, and if you’re looking for a key card owned by a nearby duelist you might have to duel (and defeat) everybody around you before finding what you need. At least you don’t have to duel every single opponent on a floor unless you do it on purpose. I made use of a guide from GameFAQs after a while, once in order to beat the bonus floors, once more in order to find the Transcenders and other duelists I still hadn’t defeated in the game.

Oh, also, every opponent has a Level, from 1 to 50. What does it do? Almost nothing. Your character levels up by gaining experience from duels (measly amounts, no less), up to Level 50 as well. The only reason you could ever be interested in that grind is that various packs are unlocked when you reach a certain level - though they also require you to defeat the final boss. As you progress, other packs are unlocked permanently, so you should be able to get all the cards after a while. The grind to get all the cards and reach Level 50 yourself is easier if you duel many opponents who own high-level Decks (which is the only real reason why opponents have Levels in the first place). The rewards in Duel Points for winning duels are also greater depending on your level.

So far I'm coming out on top.

So, it’s the final duel against Odin, and the red and white robot is using a Fairy-theme Deck reliant on the easy summon of strong LIGHT monsters through the use of Spell cards. Its Level 40 deck is pretty tough, relying heavily on Special Summons - so if you can block that, it should be much easier to win. When it’s defeated, it wonders how the protagonist can be so strong… only for Surtr to arrive and, having learned the true path of the duelist from his defeat against Nicolas (geez, you just lost a duel at a children's card game, dude, it’s not supposed to be a life-changing revelation), strikes Odin. The armor shatters, revealing…

Thank Slifer, the shoulders are gone!

…whaaaaaaa? There was a woman in that suit of armor?

As a Nintendo fanboy, I really should have expected that as a possible twist. Shame on me!

Augh, Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon!
A behemoth of its time.

Odin hasn’t been quite defeated, as she (they?) now has a second deck for the real final battle. A LV50 Deck, no less. This one relies on Special summoning Dragon-type monsters en masse thanks to its key cards (especially Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon), while also setting up the hand and Deck in order to summon enormous Dragon-type Fusion monsters, especially Five-Headed Dragon, which has 5000 ATK and DEF, the highest values that can ever be on a card.

Odin’s weaknesses here are pretty much the same as they were in the Fairy Deck; since she relies so much on Special Summoning, any card that prevents those will stop her strategy dead in its tracks. (All alternate summons, whether they be Ritual, Fusion or Synchro, also count as Special Summons). Her Deck is all about dragons and much of it focuses on DARK monsters, therefore anything that can stop dragons and DARK monsters easily will be a plus. Not only that, but since she’s so reliant on Special Summoning high-level monsters (Level 5 or above, which need a Tribute for Normal Summon) from her hand, if she’s stripped of her Special Summoning trick she ends up with a hand full of monsters she can’t even bring out! Personally, the card below has become one of my favorites, since it destroys the strategy of both decks used by the final boss… as long as you can keep it on the field, that is.

The Koa'ki Meiru archetype is willingly OP, with
cards having amazing stats and effects, but huge
drawbacks as well.

Time to leave that damned island for good!

With the boss defeated, the protagonists manage to convince Odin that their soul, which has been rotting for millennia and lived in hatred for so long, is no longer pure enough to represent true power, hence why it was defeated. It can now move on in peace - Ha! Nope. Instead of seeing the error of its ways, Odin decides to bring the place crashing down again, in hopes of killing everybody. But that fails when some of the minor characters - Tetsu Trusge and Mina Tidewell - find an exit at last. The entire group flees as the place crumbles down, and they reach the ground floor of the island and the boat that will take them back to land. Geez.

The end!

Well, okay, that’s the end of the Story Mode - there’s much more to see. This will be continued… in Part 3!

Woo, rhyme.