Optional Super Bosses

Final Horizon

The Final Horizon resists 80% of gnostic damage, so Choropleth Survey will only deal 200,000 damage and diminish afterwards. The easiest way to beat this boss is to abuse its weakness to the apathy state by using John's Ad Hominem skill. At the beginning of each turn it will clear its Apathy condition, unless it has been stunned with the self-loathing state. Simply use Seduction on it to skip its turn and let the Apathy count down its WP. Of course, the self-loathing will be automatically cleared in three turns as it will continue to get its bonus turns (using EP Drain, Spear of Longinus and Tabula Rasa).

For winning, the party is awarded with a level up (since the creature is level 28, the bonus experience for the level difference will not run out like on other enemies), 1-2 Epiphany items, 20 AP for their skills and a new MacGuffin called the Horizon Mastery.

Although it seems to be a simple token to confirm your victory over the creature, it is actually used to open up the path to the game's final optional boss, The Composer.

Creator Commentary: The look of the Final Horizon, its strange name, and the fact that it roams around like a normal enemy are all taken from Omega Weapon, an optional boss from Final Fantasy V. It is a tradition in the Final Fantasy games to have boss creatures that are much more powerful than even the final boss as well as to name them with appropriately menacing or abstract names. As an example, there is an infamous boss in Final Fantasy XI called Absolute Virtue. Whatever your opinions on that encounter, the name is pretty awesome.

After being defeated once, a message appears announcing that the Final Horizon has been imprisoned. This is a clue that it now appears inside the Aspect of Imprisonment if you would like to fight it repeatedly. The Aspect of Imprisonment can be accessed by knocking twice on the southern door in the Aspect of Blood. After completing the Haunting Memories quest (at the time the door only opened into darkness), the door opens into a staircase that leads to the beach that was at the end of John's area of the quest.

The Final Horizon learns how to resist the Apathy and Self-Loathing states the more times it is defeated. After one defeat, it will gain a 50% resistance to the two negative states. After 2 defeats, its resistance will increase to 75%. Finally, after 3 or more defeats, it will become completely immune to Apathy and Self-Loathing. This means the Horizon will have to be fought more traditionally by stacking debuffs on it and using the devastating effects of the party's ultimate elemental skills.

Eve Angelus

As you'll recall, Eventide said that she was interested in a rematch after convincing her to part with her Tempetes Tuxedo. Finding her in the Mindscape to start a rematch is going to involve a few extra steps.

In the northwest part of Ordolus, just behind Epherus' house, there is a man looking into a pond. If you talk to him, he will mention that he is afraid of throwing an entire pound of salt into a well while it is raining. This is an important clue that lets us know what we need to be looking for, namely a well, a rainstorm and a pound of salt.

We can actually buy salt in 1/4 pound increments from one of the red-hooded merchants in the Seaside Bazaar. Buy 4 1/4 pounds of salt to have enough in your inventory for a full pound. Next, head to Johan Oppangelsk's hat store in the Mindscape.

If you have successfully solved the Hat Puzzle side quest, then you may have wandered further into the Mindscape beneath Johan's hat store. The path there leads to a previously sealed off area of Sindarin's house in the Mindscape with a conspicuous shining treasure chest that contains a new MacGuffin, the Weather Totem.

Eve Angelus

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The battle with Eve Angelus is quite difficult and lengthy. As mentioned above, she will automatically counter many different cheesy tactics like Self-Loathing and Apathy. She even has separate skills and dialog for the Perfect state which can only be applied by parties at level 25 or higher. Nonetheless, a traditional approach is best. It is recommended to have access to either the Perfect Pathos or Perfect Ethos state. Perfect Ethos can be applied by using Cynthia's Null Hypothesis ultimate skill which she learns at level 25 (John picks up Onus Probandi at 26 and Ardus learns his Flawless Deduction at 27). 

Assuming Cynthia has access to Null Hypothesis, the following is a good strategy. First get to research level 5 and use Treatise to put Eve Angelus in a vulnerable state. Then use the Null Hypothesis skill to apply the Perfect ethos state. Eve Angelus will counter by using Proofread on herself (which will restore about 100,00 WP per turn). Have John use Ad Hominem to remove the WP Regen state and apply the Apathy state. Eve Angelus will counter this by using Second Wind, but the important fact is that she no longer regenerates WP each turn and still has the Perfect ethos state applied. Have John or Ardus use the Moralize skill to apply the regular ethos state. Both the regular and perfect versions stack. Finally, use a Lily's Vichyssoise on Ardus and have him use his Tautology skill. With the ethos, perfect ethos and vulnerable debuffs stacked and the PER and ELO boost of the vichyssoise, Ardus should be able to output at least 100,000 WP in damage in a single turn. Have John keep Ardus' EP up by using Solidarity or Memory Roots and have Cynthia use her Substitution skill to give Ardus an extra turn. 

In this way, it is possible to beat Eve Angelus in only a dozen turns or so, depending on luck. As soon as she dips below 50% WP, you will have to deal with the effects of Absolute Weakness, so just be aware of that.

For winning the rematch, you receive 2 Mercantile dominances, an Epiphany, 100 AP for your skills and the MacGuffin, Rhetorical Mastery!

The Rhetorical Mastery is one of the items needed to open the path to the final optional super boss, The Composer.

The Composer

The Composer has been at the edge of the story of the Logomancer for the entire game. He appears at the beginning and end to give Ardus a purpose and lead him out of the Abyssal Fragment once the Malformed Thought was destroyed. He also appears in hidden locations throughout the game, keeping a watchful eye of Ardus and his friends:

In the Edited for Content quest, he appears at the bottom of 3F once the 9 grammatical errors are corrected.

In the Louder Than Words quest, he stands half-obscured in the shadows above the hallway behind the waterfall after Ardus picks up the Eye of Greed.

In the Soldier’s Heirloom quest, he is standing in the shadowy stairs just west of the room where the party encounters the Eistancian Soldier.

In the Fill in the Blank quest, After the Mindscape's purple haze is revealed, he can be seen standing just to the east of the Terradin Mountains.

Despite being so central to the story, not much is revealed about him or his motives. Fortunately, it is possible to find him if a few conditions are met. Firstly, the party will need to have beaten Eve Angelus and received the Rhetorical Mastery item. By going to the Mindscape version of Camp Courtesy (where the Final Horizon was first fought), you can use the Rhetorical Mastery on the suspicious rock to the north behind the Courtesy Cabin. This will reveal a secret area called the Mindscape Hidden Footpath.

Easter Egg: There are three shining treasure chests here that will disappear once used, but respawn if you leave the map and come back. The top chest will turn all of the party members into their 8-bit versions seen in Winthgraden Tower. The bottom chest will greatly increase the speed of all the character's walking animations (which looks ridiculous). Finally, the right chest will return the party to normal.

In the Mindscape Hidden Footpath, there is a boardwalk that looks out into the purple haze of the Mindscape. If you have seen the True Ending and thus have the True End item in your inventory, then the edge of the boardwalk will sparkle. Finally, if you have at least one Horizon Mastery (from beating the Final Horizon), then you will be asked to throw one into the purple haze. Doing so will consume the Horizon Mastery and transport the party to a bizarre shop inside the Mindscape called the Pathos Curse Shop.

The shopkeeper here identified himself as a Variable Gnome and will sell all of the consumable items available in the game including Trout Fillets. He also sells Epiphanies, Memories of Experience and Virtuosity of Practices for 500 gold each. Note: You will only have one chance to purchase items for each Horizon Mastery you spend to get here!

Creator Commentary: The Variable Gnome is the default character (he's named Diogenes if you must know) I used as a placeholder when testing parts of the game. I'd throw him into a level in order to change the variables and switches needed to test a new boss or ability. Diogenes as a character is from an earlier version of the Logomancer story that had a much larger scope and had the character's going to New Cadence, Reineros, Valdonstek and beyond.

If you follow the path through the cursed elemental realms, you will also come across a gigantic version of John named Big John. Moving on, you will eventually make it back to the Composer, still waiting in the same place he was when he led Ardus out of the Abyssal Fragment during the True Ending.

Easter Egg: Big John was a test for scaled up versions of the sprites that eventually got turned into the giants for Harlon's quest. The image of a gigantic John was too amusing to cut, so Big John wanders the halls of the Logos Curse now.

There is no way out from the Caranthian Field map except for the freshly installed bed. If you use the bed to exit, you will have to find another Horizon Mastery to come back in. When you speak to the Composer, he is surprised that you made it back to him and shocked (as much he can be) that Ardus has managed to remember some of the things he was told through the medium of fiction, i.e., the novel he plans to write. He thanks you again but says he has no other revelations and turns his back on the party. At this point, it is recommended everyone is at least level 27 and knows pretty much every skill in the game as well as all of the stat bonuses. The Perfect elemental skills will be invaluable to beating this nearly impossible boss.

If you talk to the Composer again, Ardus will try to convince him to reveal more of his nature. Since the Composer is disinclined to do so, he insists it will take a phenomenally convincing argument. Thus begins the rhetorical fight!

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The Composer is immune to Self-Loathing and Apathy and resists 95% of gnostic damage.

When above 50% WP, he can use any of the following skills at random on his turn: Apathy, Modus Ponens, Stack Overflow, Sarchasm or Doublespeak.

Once he has reached 50% WP, he will automatically use Absolute Weakness and clear all negative state including the Perfect elemental states and enter a new repeating 6 turn phase.

On the first turn of the new phase, he will ask for the answer to a multiplication problem. The two digits are randomly chosen between 11 and 25. The party has 30 seconds to answer. On a correct answer, the Composer will use Analytical Mercy which restores 20% WP and EP to the entire party. On an incorrect answer, he will use Aphasia.

On the second turn of the phase he will use Deep Breath, Coordination and Bravado.

On the third turn, he will use Haggle and then randomly select one of the party members to use an ultimate skill on. The skill chosen will be used on turn 6.

On the fourth turn, the Composer will ask you to add the last math problem’s answer with a random number between 103 and 208. On a correct response, he will use Analytical Mercy. On a failed response, he will use Tabula Rasa and remove any Perfect elemental states on him.

On the fifth turn, he will use Deep Breath, Tongue Twister and Guarded.

On the sixth turn, he will use the ultimate skill for the randomly chosen party member from turn 3. After this, the turn order resets to turn 1 and a new multiplication problem will be asked.

In addition to the turn order above, as soon as he is at 50% or less WP, the Composer can randomly use any of the following skills: Compound Sentence, Flirtatious Smirk, EP Nullify, Thanatos Instinct, Spear of Longinus, or Prismatic Claw.

The Composer is a character I made for another game that hasn’t been made yet. This is also where the Ion Cannon and Satellite come from. I have the entire plot and gist of the Composer’s character in my head, I just haven’t had time to make any thing with him in it yet. This means that this entire character is a reference that only I (and my brother) will get. Hopefully, I’ll be able to share the rest of his story one day!

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The Composer’s Ion Cannon is immune to Self-Loathing and resists 90% of gnostic damage.

Every turn it will randomly use either Pathos, Logos or Ethos argument.

After each turn the Ion Cannon will charge an additional 20% of its ultimate attack. After 5 turns, it uses the Ion Cannon skill and is then afflicted with the Demoralized and Disarmed states while it recharges for another 5 turns.

The Composer’s Ion Cannon is based off of Mega Man’s Mega Buster. This one takes much longer to charge up, though.

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The Composer’s Satellite will randomly use Indictment, Guarded, Coordination, Interruption or Bravado on either itself, the Composer or the Ion Cannon.

If it is afflicted with the Demoralized state, it will gain the ability to use Aggravating Fist.

If it is inflicted with the Disarmed state, it will gain the ability to use Library of Babel.

It does not resist gnostic damage nor does is it immune to Self-Loathing.

The Composer’s Satellite is based off of the Lavos Bit from the final boss of the Square RPG, Chrono Trigger.