Strata: Down but not out?

[DSOK]

Maybe, and just maybe the "final boss" will have his stats dependant with rhues stats, it could be done.
anyways, the way doesn't seem like a game that will have a normal final battle.

That option has been tried before, and it's generally not received a good response. It could be incorporated into the plot; if Rhue has to fight one of his own auras, then the enemy's strength would logically depend on the hero's own. Of course, a final battle like that would be awfully cliche.

[Berserker]

Of course, a final battle like that would be awfully cliche.

Well, I think it depends on HOW the thing is presented.
Of course, I think we're expecting so much from the game that nothing could make happy all of us.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

I don't think Starta would be a final boss.
I do, however, think he is not gone. He has such a big ego. Rhue deflated it a bit at the end of #5 (if you won) but he will want revenge on "blue boy".

Doesn't "Blue Boy" sound like something Wily would call Megaman?

[Sage Of The Wise]

He's going to become hell bent on killing Rhue, and probably will always appear at the most inconveniant moments.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

Yeah. Strata always seems to appear at annoying times. (Like when a pit is right behind you, when you need to stay with Gaius, when you're about to kill Cetsa, etc.)
He doesn't know when to lay down and die, though, does he? His theme is likely to become very annoying. (about to discover HUGE secret, Strata's theme starts playing, someone drops a torch when Strata talks, building catches on fire, secret lost forever)

[DSOK]

He's going to become hell bent on killing Rhue, and probably will always appear at the most inconveniant moments.

No, because that would be really cliche.

[Sage Of The Wise]

Well what else is he going to do, swear his allegence to Rhue, and help him in any way possible?

[DSOK]

Well what else is he going to do, swear his allegence to Rhue, and help him in any way possible?

He'll show up at least once more, but it won't be at the most inopportune moment.

[Lord_Ehrgeiz]

but it won't be at the most inopportune moment

heh, you wrong,its gonna be SOME moment! lun must check a swich, where you fighting with strata or not. basing on this, we'll get two diferent games, or so i think: 1-st where strata is looser and 2-d, where he steel trying to kill rhue.

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

He'll try to kill Rhue either way. Idiots are like that.

[lonewulf123]

Strata is a great character( I hate his guts!!! but thts not the point..)and i think he will appear again...
i would love to hear his "background story"

Final boss? I dont think so... If there was going to be a final boss i think it would be someone like the phantom slasher...

[Nurazhi]

This has been a particuarly interesting thread. I wanted to get in in the "Is Strata evil" debate, but that's so many posts in the past at this point that it would be just beating a dead subject. So on to the final boss.

Assuming there is a final boss, I definately do not think it will be Strata. The reason is that The Way, from a plot perspective, is about forces working against each other, strange things happening in the world, and above all the mysteries of the protaganist's past. Strata has nothing to do with these. Assuming Strata is still alive and will became a major antagonist of Rhue's at this point, his motive will just be revenge.

Even if he gets a Shadow Sword and becomes a major threat, even if he joins in with one of the important factions doing things along the Way, he isn't and never has been really part of the Plot (capital letter emphasized.) His appearance in the game has always been tangential to the main story(s) going on. In a fundamental way, Strata is a side plot. An interesting side plot, but just a side plot. Killing him can in no way tie the loose ends of the story together into a nice little bundle.

Now, admittedly, I can't imagine who could be the final boss, but that's a different issue. I don't really think there'll be one. Maybe a final battle, but I don't think the actual Plot will be finished with a battle.

[Impossible]

Strata has set off important things like Rhue getting into the Pits, but it's almost definitely true that he has no actual relevance to the main plot... yet.

Rhue killed Lyrra, so I think Strata will chase after Rhue whether you beat him or not. His dialogue will probably be different, though.

[Shade]

What I think: You are approaching the final challenge. Right before you fight the final boss, you see Strata standing in your way. You have a classic battle. After that, you either kill him, he joins you,(insert theory here).

[Lord_Ehrgeiz]

somehow it conected with Gilgamesh to me...