#Inominox

[pikatjejen]

I did a thing!

I drew the Abyssals but. As. Humans. Yee!

So. I'll go dex order for simplicity.

Helovolk

He still has no eyes... :p

Volcel

Caelesa

My horse gurl

Pluvean

The sacrifice

Inominox

Rotramus

Kroma

Venefelis

And group photo for hight comparison

I just wanted to make Salem the shortest

[crystalelemental]

With the Abyssal portions defeated, time for the final thoughts on Nexomon Extinction.

The Abyssals are exactly what I wanted out of the Tyrants.

My biggest complaint story-wise for this game was that the Tyrants themselves really didn't matter much. There's a thousand-year war among the Tyrants going on, that pushed humanity so far that one Guild leader created a cult to revive Omnicron, and their successor created artificial dragons to hunt Tyrants, an artificial Tyrant to command them, and then another, bigger one when that plan failed. But despite how significant this war was...all of the Tyrants we meet are pretty inconsequential, and most are associated with a human who does most of the talking and planning to begin with. I understand that this game is the human errors side of thing after the last game's presentation of the threat of Nexomon, but it's still kinda rough to go through all these story segments with the Tyrants not producing anything substantial. You get to postgame where you can hunt them down, and they're all a pain in the ass to find, with nothing drawing me to them.

The Abyssals, though? This is what I wanted. A thousand years ago, the first Abyssal arrived. And their first act? Killing Hilda. Another is stated to have made an attempt on Eliza's life. These are a much more pressing, salient threat. Sure, Tyrants destroyed cities, but we've never seen them do anything. The Abyssals have personal connection.

Despite their power, the Abyssals are odd in that they never aimed to become Sovereign of Monsters, and they seem immune to Solus' influence as the current Queen. What's presented is a pretty interesting mystery that builds up more questions than it feels like it wants to answer. What's the deal with these weird engravings? Why are Abyssals so weird? Apparently each is born with a clear goal from its creator, but this creator is unknown to them, and their specific goals are incredibly simplistic, with no known overarching goal. They're super unusual.

By gameplay, the Precursor Island is really fun. It might be an odd comparison, but it reminds me of the bonus dungeon of Ib a bit. There's a central location, and your goal is running around everywhere to collect the things you need to progress, solving puzzles that sometime intertwine a bit. It's a really fun system, finding each of the Abyssals and solving their puzzles. The only annoying ones were the flying one (Inominox) and the electric one (Volcel). The rest was really fun. Even the weird maze puzzle was fairly clever, though the final solution was a little...obvious but still hard to figure out the hint.

I think what really sells me on the Abyssals...well, two things. The smaller one is design. The Abyssals are just really cool concepts. Venefelis shows up and is immediately incredible, being super imposing but kinda goofy, and stated outright that he shouldn't be strong enough to pull off the nonsense he has. Kroma is my absolute favorite, and she's set up as super imposing given her drive is killing Eliza, only for Venefelis to rant about how incompetent Kroma is for being the only one of them to fail in her mission. Then there's Screaming Fire Velociraptor, who is hilarious in concept. And Inominox, who is such a coward that it won't face anyone with more than one Nexomon, and that one Nexomon needs to be weak to Flying. Or the soup for Volcel. There's Caelesa, who ran across the world, and was attacked by the Guild for little reason other than paranoia, since she hurt no one in her efforts. There's Pluvian, whose entire goal was to show up, scream, and then get killed by the Guild for no clear reason. There's Rotrimus, who you try to order around, and initially agrees, but is intercepted by the force of their creator bending its will back to refusing your call. It's a really interesting and dynamic group, that apparently has no clear association. Many of them insist they worked alone. They had a creator, but they themselves don't even think of themselves as a unified group. Only Venefelis seems to confirm that they have association.

The other is that this group is delightfully aligned to the themes of the game. Nexomon Extinction has two general themes I can identify. The first is a bit more obvious and repeatedly stated: second chances. The children of Omnicron refer to their support as their redemption, the entire plot is Deena attempting to grant a second chance at saving the world, your resolution of the central conflict is trading the destruction of your direct enemy into granting them a second chance at life. There's an ongoing importance to the idea of getting a second shot at things...but a second shot isn't necessarily going to mean doing better. The former hero comments that your actions amount to the same thing she did, and despite the failures of the dragons, Amelie's second chance is doubling down on a decision that worked out poorly. This leads into the second theme, and the one I like a lot better: the limits of personal agency.

The former hero is a good lens for this one. Repeatedly throughout this game, their actions are referred to as if it was a huge mistake. They themselves talk about it as a mistake. Deena outright calls it stupid decision made by her moronic friends. Even Ulzar, who is more sympathetic to the situation, talks about it as if it were a mistake, if an understandable one. Absolutely everyone treats their actions as something that led to the present problem, and thus was the wrong decision.

But...we were there. Omnicron was going to completely destroy the world. You can argue that the destruction of his soul in the netherworld wasn't necessary, and that was the mistake. But it's well known that he'll come back time and again; it'd be pushing the problem out to the next generation. And Omnicron could follow through. When you fail to destroy him in the Netherworld, Omnicron devastates an area so badly that entire maps are wiped out of reality. This was done in hours. Omnicron tells you outright he could've annihilated the planet in a day, but he stopped solely to challenge his rival, the strongest human, as a matter of pride. This wasn't an idle threat. It was an active, immediate devastation looming on the horizon.

Faced with that, what choice did you really have? Yes, there was a technically a choice. But who could choose the alternative? When humanity is faced with its destruction through the war of the Tyrants, yes, you had a choice to make those dragons or not. But faced with the destruction of multiple cities and further looming threat, what choice did you have? When those failed, you had the choice to stop. But then the destruction of the Tyrants continue unabated. Who would choose to stop? Vados embodies this. He's a creation of Amelie, born to hunt Tyrants to protect humanity. The thing about Vados is that he has agency and beliefs of his own. When told to destroy Petram in spite of the Laterians interfering, he refuses to harm humans. But we know that will happen anyway. We're told repeatedly that the Tyrants will continue to rise, until Vados has destroyed so much that the world is inhospitable to humans as well. He has his own agency, his own desire to protect humanity and protect the world. But he'll betray that through his own actions, regardless of what he wants. He was made to hunt Tyrants, and so he shall, til the end of days. The only way to avert this is to refuse to fight every Tyrant, to refuse to wage this absolute crusade. And that's the only choice he cannot make. He doesn't get a choice.

The Abyssals continue this theme. Like Vados, the Abyssals are created for a singular purpose. They are born with a goal, and that is all they have. They have their own personalities, but few of them seem interested in the specifics of what's going on. Kroma doesn't seem particularly interested in killing Eliza, she just has to. Pluvian doesn't seem to function as a willing sacrifice, but she does it anyway because that's her goal. Regardless of what they want, they will carry out their goal.

Unlike Vados, though, they have no overarching philosophy. Nothing that specifically guides their actions beyond the immediate. Caelesa runs around the world, but she doesn't seem to understand why. So when their goal is accomplished, despite getting a second chance at life...none of them know what to do with it. So they just sit around, completely docile, until you strike them down again. What other choice did they have? They never knew what they were aiming to do in the first place.

Except for Venefelis. The first Abyssal. At first, he had no idea what his point was. He had a goal, carried it out, and got sealed within the woods forever. Not ideal, but mission accomplished. Then 300 years later, another entity like him appears, carrying out a similarly short-sighted goal. Then 200 years later, another. And another 100 years after that. They appear faster and faster, until we get two within ten years. And as the only one to really survive, even if just as a spirit...you recognize the pattern. After all, Venefelis understands Caelesa's goal better than she understands it herself. She thinks it was just running, but Venefelis identifies it as a scouting mission. You know there's a grander design here; a purpose. But you can't figure out what. Because no one will tell you. You creator, the one guiding your motions, won't speak to you.

What else can you do but try to divine their intent? With nothing else to go off of, you watch their actions, and notice only one thing stands out. Kroma failed, and following that, no other Abyssals were created. Maybe your creator quit. Maybe it's because of Kroma. You don't know that, but what else could it be? You don't understand your purpose, but you desperately want to understand it; to know why you're still here. What choice do you have but to force a second chance on her? To enforce your creator's will, regardless of what she'd want? What choice does she have but to obey?

The twisted thing is, there really is nothing else for them. Rotramus shows this definitively. When you attempt to issue a command, he thinks about it, and passively decides sure, I'll help. It's not the resounding success of an authority check commanding its allegiance. It's someone making a choice, as if it has nothing better to do and no reason to argue. But its creator's will forces it to refuse. Even with its goal accomplished, and no reason to refuse, they interfere, denying your freedom. Quite literally, you have no other choice.

Everything that happens in this arc is driven by Venefelis' desires. His agency, his desire to understand his creator, drives everything forward. No one else even understands why they're here. They didn't have much choice either way. He brought them back, gave them a second chance they had no use for. But what else could he have done? To see what he wanted done, all he could do was solve Kroma's failure by pushing her into another attempt. And it wouldn't have even worked. It was entirely for nothing. But what can you do but try? You technically have a choice. You finished your goal, you could just let it all rest. But faced with the dread of an eternity devoid of purpose, who would choose any different?

Despite how many open-ended threads there are, and how many mysteries we're left with, this does feel like a self-contained story. We don't know what the point is. We don't know what it means. But neither did they. And the result of that ignorance, that impossibility, is they existed unable to live for themselves, and no second chance could get them to defy that fate. Which really resonates with me. I loved this side story a lot, and these open questions have really gotten me interested in the sequel game. I've heard they officially announced its existence but not a release date or any details. I can be patient. But I'm really invested in this one. They really hit a sweet spot here.

[player-1]

Oh…That’s a wonderful piece of lore but now that’s going to be a doozy to fit into the main story (mostly figuring out how long each Abyssal were alive before they were killed by the Guild or Lateria). Also ignore the different avatar, I did encounter this convo before in my playthrough but didn't get the chance to get screenshots :')

And HC Abyssal timeline below

Venefelis (1,000-0): The real polecat (HC that she has phantom paws cause she has Pummel in her skill list :) and Operation Kill the Witch. Of course, after being forced to stay in the timeout corner for 1,000 years, she became really existential about her own existence, her creator's absence and trying to figure out why the Abyssals were made except being overpowered cannon-fodder.

Rotramus (700 [-300 yrs.]): Considering that the Guild would be at its infancy and still aware of Venefelis' impact, it makes some sense if they started hunting down Rotramus to prevent a repeat incident. Also consider he's a twisted mirror to Nara's personality (anti-human but will possibly answer any question to anyone that finds him) and might've been a rip-the-bandage creation due to Nara's infamy with her family's downfall.

Pluvean (500 [-200 yrs.]): Yet another pacifist Abyssal that was found by Palmaya and just waited for the Guild to kill him (but I like to believe he discovered Cadium at some point and was disgusted by the humans "corrupting the waters"). Even if he's the contrast to Arqua's short temper and drive for human adoration, Pluvean is also a bit snippy about stating the obvious and being revived past his expected lifespan.

Inominox (400 [-100 yrs.]): And just when the Guild develop a false sense of security with dealing with the Abyssals, Inominox comes in with the big guns and starting picking off any weak tamers he could find (possibly making the Frozen Tundra his main hunting ground). But with Ventra's pride and cockiness spelled his downfall when the Guild intervened during one of his attacks. But whether the victim was too traumatized to recall his trigger or the information was lost to time, the Guild was back to square one when the Abyssal was revived.

Helevolk (350 [-50 yrs.]): Of course, there's not a lot to say about Helevolk besides being a more unstable version of Fona despite having a surprising amount of mental/emotional strength (mainly with him breaking through the N1 Nightmare mind-wiping to an extent), but it's a bit of a mystery on how he got his name despite being just as mindless and violent as a normal Nexomon [Hele: "to hide" + volk: "army" or "person/people"]. And I assume Lateria killed the beast by redirecting his tunnels or cornering him in the tunnels.

Caelesa (310 [-40 yrs.]): But to make matters worse for the Guild, they have to deal with another pacifist, human-avoidant Abyssal that will surely make them doubt their anti-Tyrant campaign. Of course, there's no real explanation how she was taken out or how long she evaded the Guild (and/or Lateria), but she clearly had enough time to believe that humans were dumb and violent brutes that have nothing better to do in their lives besides hunt what threatens them (though mostly directed at Finn the second he explains the Guild’s history with her). And fun fact, despite Caelesa being Normal-type (like Metta), she has a interesting set of elemental moves under her belt (also like Metta) so do with that info as you will :) [Base moves: Rocknite Blast, Thunder Blast, Plasma Star, Psy Field]

Volcel (280 [-30 yrs.]): Then after that wild-goose chase comes the giant electric moth(?), also being human-avoidant but will also mock everything and everyone below him for being simple earth-dwellers (really embodying Luxa’s superiority complex, huh?). While there isn’t any concrete evidence on how he was caught (since the Guild jumped to making a standard Tyrant bait), I’ll assume it was Lateria and their extremely heavy ordinance.

Braccus (260 [-20 yrs.]): Here comes the boy~! :D And unlike the older Abyssals (and being the second-youngest), he’s the only one that specifically mentions hearing his creator’s voice and learning his mission to attract the world’s attention by any means necessary; which he easily turns to destruction and carnage (becoming the Grunda he was meant to be) until Xanders “Bare Hands” Nexomon killed the beast and earned his Gold Tamer promotion. Also his dex entry mentions him destroying multiple cities before reaching Lateria and/or Grunda’s Chasm, so I’m betting he started his rampage at Royalle City since a “unnamed Tyrant” was the reason for its downfall.

Kroma (250 [-10 yrs.]): And finally, Operation Kill the Witch: Electric Boogaloo. And what better way to complete her life's mission is to plop her right into the Immortal Citadel while having the handy-dandy ability to mind-control ghosts. Whether she can control both human and Nexomon ghosts is up to debate, but I'm all for her being a tiny menace using the IC residents, the Greater Drake Krainnull, and Ulzar himself when the going got tough with Deena the one-woman army.

Either way, I mainly followed the Abyssals locations on Precursor Mountain from furthest left to right (apart from Venefelis being past Kroma's position), though it's extra funny that both Braccus and Kroma's places are almost melded together (with the haunted woods being halfway through the Braccus’ maze) so that's kind of where the idea came from. Either way, how in the world was I supposed to expect that these two were the YOUNGEST!?!?

And I love that this were the first thing I thought of (if anyone’s willing to make an artist’s representation of the disaster siblings, I’m all for it :)

[player-1]

If anyone wants some move references for the Abyssals (cause I'm going to use them in the future for my fic and it's not like the wiki or Nexopedia is going to include it anytime soon), here you go! I put the lists in dark mode so they're easier to read, but I want to also put in my two cents on their potential battle style below (and any moves present in the main story or excluded from main moveset is marked with a +):

Venefelis: While being the "ringleader" in this whole mess, Venefelis sure knows how to throw down some pain in a pretty reckless manner; obviously after going through a crisis about why the Abyssals even exist if all they're meant to do is kick the bucket however they want to (and with Kroma failing...again). And yes, even if she kept using Psy Ray every chance she gets in the gauntlet battle, it made a bit of sense why she used the Ghost ultimate too (though Phantom Abyss is moreso speculative since every single time before she can use all four moves, she gets knocked out :'). Besides, she lived in super-undead limbo for a millennia so she must've tapped into that spooky power one way or another...Also fits the Schrodinger's Cat allegory all the way for me (fic-wise I mean, but that's going to come eventually 🙃).

Rotramus: A good chunk of his moves inflict status effects that could easily slow down anyone chasing after him (ie. The Guild); and even if he doesn't use it battle-wise, I like that his only healing move is Natural Heal that connects to his dex entry with just sleeping deep in the woods whenever he wants. Still, I'll try some other time on how similar his moves are to Nara if he's all about vibing with everything but betraying his mission/the other Abyssals.

Pluvean: First off, for someone so desperate to be killed, why in the world was he so tanky!? Nevermind being the first Abyssal you typically fight, those scales must've been a pain to get through before...-Anyway! Besides being really trigger happy with Tsunami in his battle, his moveset does connect to his desire not to fight and instead inflict status effects and/or absorbing or reflecting anything that comes his way (still ironic if his whole mission was to die). Other than that, I like the little touch of him also using Solar Charge despite being in a ice cave since it possibly connects to Palmaya (or even using Sonic Scream to get someone's attention and receive the axe too).

Inominox: So many Wind moves, so many...Which is an given since he's a petty vulture, and a good amount of his moves connect to slowing his enemy down w. ailments, ignoring defense and speed to make them more easier pickings while also making himself more agile and evasive against any stronger foes; also having a good chunk of Freeze status wind attacks since I hc that he made the Frozen Tundra his previous hunting grounds. The one thing I was confused about was him using Double Slash, but I guess it was a tiny filler move (or just to imply his wings are sharp enough to cut through earth/stone too).

Helevolk: He is angy all the time and it shows on both ends, which is fair for a giant blind lizard that does nothing but dig wherever he wants. But one thing I noticed while going through the roster was Helevolk knowing Conflagration (the Nexomon equivalent of Explosion/Self Destruct) which gives me the very interesting thought on if he used it when he was finally cornered by the Guild or Laterian hunters...If Nexomon 3 has the chance to finally explain his backstory or when he was killed, I'm all for it.

Caelesa: Ah yes, Caelesa "everything but the kitchen sink" Nexomon. For being a mystical deer that was literally born to run away from danger, I find it extra funny that your first (and only) battle with her has her throwing out purely offensive attacks at you that aren't even in her main moveset; especially when Rocknite Blast replaces Rock Wall and Thunder Blast replaces Dark Flow (increases enemy stamina use). Still, isn't it strange that the Normal-type Abyssal that knows nothing of her creator has almost all the hallmarks of using multiple elements like Metta? Other than that, I headcanon that she uses the crystals around her rings for her elemental moves, so I'm all for her creating a bullet hell or just making that giant patch of land in the game into a rodeo ring :).

Volcel: Volcel has a similar move scheme as Rotramus with status moves and Inominox's accuracy and evasion, but I was interested to see that all his main Electric moves that mostly use Puzzled instead of Paralysis for obvious reasons (especially when his story moveset uses Thunder Blast for paralysis and Blooming Spores for poison...Maybe his scales are poisonous in some way?). Besides also avoiding conflict and a Guild member mentioning offhand that Volcel actually vanishes from their radar for months at a time before they caught him (most likely exploring/resting on Precursor Mountain), his aversion to humans as a whole does make sense in not understanding their culture as a whole (since he sees a giant pot of soup/Tyrant bait as poison).

Braccus: It's already a given that Braccus is a walking bulldozer move-wise, though I was also surprised that he uses two ultimate moves like Venefelis (Solar Flare and Meteor Shower respectively), though the former could relate to his location in the depths of a molten-hot cave system (though the reason why that wasn't where Helevolk was or just switched the gimmick to that other cave is beyond me). Still, he also has a good amount of physical moves (which he has clear jock vibes to me) and even using Pummel in his story moves, though I doubt he's that fast since he's the slowest of the Abyssals in Speed but pure size and strength will do the talking for him.

Kroma: And finally, here's to the youngest Abyssal and the necromancer supreme of Immortal Citadel, with her moveset being pretty keen on the ghastly vibes of her powers to control ghosts and possible mind-control techniques (Haunting, Arcane Curse, Snake Eyes, Sleep Song, and such). With her story moves, I was honestly surprised that she doesn't naturally know Dark Mist (since she possibly uses it to kidnap Eliza to finally finish her goal); though EMP and Psy Field also fit the psychic/ghost theme too for obvious reasons. And even if it sucks that we don't get any additional info on Kroma's impact of the Citadel, I was pretty interesting on why she has Constrict in her main moveset (since it's a chance kill if the target is 15 levels lower)...Does she just use her ghost powers for it or what?