Check? That's chess, not checkers!
When checking K. Round
C. Round is a Darkner from the Card Kingdom. C. Round is a harmless enemy encountered after Susie joins the party, but Susie insists on using violence against it.
It becomes crowned at the end of Great Board, transforming into the recurring mini-boss K. Round.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
C. Round resembles a red uncrowned checker piece with brown legs protruding from its edge and a smiling dog-like face on one of its flat sides.
When turning into K. Round, it appears as a bigger checker piece with a crown and tall muscular legs.
Personality[]
Despite always appearing to smile, C. Round is described as doing things it does not seem to be aware of. C. Round does seem to be unaware of its surroundings and does not speak a known language, nor understand one.
Main Story[]
Chapter 1[]
C. Round first appears in the Field after Susie joins the party. Ralsei suggests that Kris includes Susie in an ACT in the upcoming encounter, and Kris remembers this advice as the encounter starts. However, C. Round does not understand the warning about Susie's attacks and gets hit, causing it to run away.
Later, on the Great Board, C. Round is introduced by Lancer as "something terrible" that even he is afraid of. The C. Round steps on the last row of the Board and transforms into K. Round for the battle. After the party makes K. Round's crown fall off, it transforms back into a C. Round and rolls away.
On Floor 5F of Card Castle, Rouxls Kaard summons K. Round as his third attempt to thwart the party. He does not seem to know what it is, but claims to have created it by placing a "Control Crown" on a C. Round, enabling him to control any disc-shaped life form.
After being defeated, C. Round remains in the same room, its viciousness having changed to benevolence. If the party defeats King without harming anybody, they can find C. Round by backtracking to the Throne Room, where it blocks the southward exit and prevents further backtracking.
Chapter 2[]
C. Round can be found in the Castle Town prison, where narration states that it's violently guarding the prison.
In Battle[]
- C. Round
C. Round is only fought once when not in K. Round form. It has no attack, as the party's first action ends the battle.
- Taking Ralsei's advice, Kris can ask Susie to participate in an ACT and COMPLIMENT the C. Round. Susie attacks it instead, knocking it away and ending the battle (her Attack stat is temporarily set to 90 for this attack, dealing up to 630 damage).
- If Kris and Ralsei warn the C. Round about Susie, she asks why they are giving the enemy advice and attempts to attack it. However, it worriedly walks away at that moment, causing the attack to miss and ending the battle.
- Any other action the party performs results in C. Round being knocked off screen, ending the battle.
Attacks[]
- K. Round
K. Round cycles through the following attacks in order:
- Stomp: Jumps high into the air and attempts to stomp the SOUL several times.
- Star Kick: Kicks its leg a few times and fires star particles from it that roughly track the SOUL's position.
- Charged Stomp: Jumps high into the air, flashes a few times in mid-air and stomps the battleground, leaving a trail of stars that damage the attack's targets.
- Star Jump: Jumps over the bullet board and rains star particles from its legs.
If it takes too much damage, K. Round uses the following attack, then returns to its regular cycle:
- Self Care: Shows a stock image of an almond milk carton, then heals itself. It first uses this attack after taking 300+ damage, healing 300 HP; subsequent uses heal 700 HP. Each use also increases its Attack by 0.5, up to a maximum of 10.
Strategy[]
- K. Round
Regardless of whether K. Round is warned about Susie, it cannot understand the warnings and therefore gets damaged by her attacks. Warning K. Round three times increases Susie's Attack by 50%.
In the battle on the Great Board, the first time K. Round's HP falls to or below 1000, it heals 300 HP. After this, Ralsei tries to alert Susie, but Susie keeps attacking throughout the rest of the battle.
Whenever K. Round's HP falls to or below 600, it heals 700 HP. This makes it impossible to kill K. Round under normal circumstances.
Defeating K. Round can only be done by ACTing to cause its crown to become loose. Once it's 100% loose, it falls off and the battle ends. The Bow ACT loosens its crown by 15%, while Deep Bow takes up Ralsei's turn and loosens the crown by 20%.
In the battle in Card Castle, Deep Bow is replaced by another ACT which allows Susie to throw Ralsei at K. Round and loosen the crown. The trajectory of the throw must be determined, then the power. If the crown is hit directly using this ACT, it loosens by 35%; hitting another part of K. Round's body loosens the crown by 20%.
Quotes[]
- C. Round
- [Susie] ... what? Why the HELL would I do that? [X-Compliment]
- [Susie] IT attacked US. Let's smash it before it moves.
- [Ralsei] Aww, look, Susie! It seems harmless!
- [Ralsei] If you act nice, we might win without hurting it!
- [Susie] ...
- [Susie] ... okay, okay.
- [Susie] Hey, little guy.
- [Susie] I really like the ax in your face.
- [Susie] Where'd you get it? Heh heh heh heh.
- [Ralsei] (Umm, Kris, maybe I should talk to her...)
- [Susie] Hey, wait. Why the hell are you giving the ENEMY advice? [Warning]
- [Ralsei] Umm, so we don't accidentally hurt it...?
- [Susie] ...
- [Susie] HURTING IT's the point, you MORON.
- [Susie] It attacked us. So it dies. Simple, right?
- [Ralsei] B-but Susie, what if the enemy might be, um, nice?
- [Susie] ...
- [Susie] Okay, yeah, there's a word for that.
- [Ralsei] Oh? What is it?
- [Susie] Striking first.
- [Susie] Urgh, you IDIOTS! It got away!
- [Ralsei] (Wow, that was close, Kris...)
- [Ralsei] (M-maybe I should talk to her...)
- K. Round
- Great Board
- [Ralsei] Susie! Stop attacking it! You're making it stronger! [Self Care #1]
- [Susie] Pssh, and let it think I'm AFRAID? No way!
- [Ralsei] That's it, Kris! If we can get its crown off... [Bow/Deep Bow #1]
- [Ralsei] It should turn back into a little guy...!
- [Ralsei] Susie! Help us bow at it!
- [Susie] Nah, it's crown'll come off...
- [Susie] When I smash this guy into the GROUND!
- [Ralsei] ...
- Card Castle
- [Ralsei] Huh!? That hardly did anything! [Bow #1]
- [Ralsei] How can we push off that CROWN...?
- [Susie] ... Hmm.
- [Ralsei] It's still hardly working! [Bow #2]
- [Ralsei] Whatever can we do, Kris...?
- [Susie] ... Hey.
- [Ralsei] Sometimes persistence is key, Kris!! [Bow #3]
- [Ralsei] It'll be hard, but we can do it!!
- [Susie] HEY YOU GUYS!!!
- [Ralsei] Susie? You want to ACT? Aww, what's your idea? [Susie's Idea]
- [Susie] Umm... well... how do I say this.
- [Susie] I kind of... Need you for this one.
- [Ralsei] That's fine, Susie! I'll help!
- [Ralsei] You want to apologize to it for earlier, right?
- [Susie] Nah, I just need you to stay still.
- [Susie] Kris! We gotta get that CROWN off its head!
- [Susie] Help me throw Ralsei at it!
Flavor Text[]
- C. Round
- Despite appearances, it's trying its best to defeat you. [Check]
- C. Round attacked violently! (You recall Ralsei's advice to include Susie in an ACT.) [Encounter]
- C.Round continues to act extremely violent. [Neutral; unused]
- You ordered Susie to flatter the enemy! [X-Compliment]
- You warned C.Round about Susie. It seems barely cognizant of what that means. [Warning]
- K. Round
- Any encounter
- K.Round shuffles furiously. [Neutral]
- K.Round looks weak. [Tired; unused]
- K.Round's shuffle becomes lethargic. [Low HP]
- K. ROUND practiced self-care! [Self Care]
- The crown is <number>-percent loose! [Turn after Bow/Deep Bow/Throw]
- Great Board
- Check? That's chess, not checkers! [Check]
- That's better. [Checkers]
- Here it comes! [Encounter]
- K. ROUND felt stressed out and attacked! [Self Care #1]
- K. ROUND practiced self-care!
- K. ROUND's HP and ATTACK went up!
- K. ROUND practiced self-care! [Self Care #2+]
- You bowed to K. ROUND. [Bow]
- It bowed back. Its crown loosened a little.
- You and Ralsei bowed. [Deep Bow]
- K. ROUND bowed back. Its crown loosened!
- You explained to K. Round about the importance of dodging Susie's attacks. [Warning #1/#4+]
- But it didn't seem to understand...
- You started making siren noises with your mouth and looking at Susie. [Warning #2]
- K. Round still didn't understand...
- You started explaining that Susie is really dangerous and strong. [Warning #3]
- Susie got a large boost to her morale.
- Susie's ATTACK went up massively...!
- Card Castle
- It's being controlled into attacking...! [Check]
- (Though, wouldn't it just attack anyway...?)
- Watch out for its Flying King attack! [Checkers]
- (Also, you need to get the CROWN off of its head.)
- Here it comes. Again. [Encounter]
- You bowed to K. ROUND. [Bow]
- [Susie's Idea/Throw]
- Press [(MENU)] to determine the ANGLE!
- Press [(MENU)] to determine the POWER!
- The crown loosened a little! [Ralsei hits K. Round's body]
- The crown greatly loosened! [Ralsei hits K. Round's crown]
- Missed! [Ralsei did not hit K. Round]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- C. Round is presumably short for "Checker Round", while K. Round is presumably short for "King Round". Both can also be read as "Crowned."
- C. Round is the only enemy in Chapter 1 who can be defeated violently without affecting the Chapter 1 ending.
- During battle, C. Round appears to be dancing to music.
- C. Round becoming K. Round is a reference to American Checkers, in which pieces can be "kinged" by reaching the far end of the board. Kinged pieces gain both a "crown", usually another checker placed atop the first one to visibly differentiate it from uncrowned pieces, and increased mobility, a powerful advantage.
- However, it does so by moving forward orthogonally, which is an illegal move in checkers.
- While only a red C. Round is seen in the Dark World, both red and black checkers are strewn on the board in the Empty Classroom.
- If Susie's attack stat is edited in the save data, C. Round can survive one hit, but this causes it to become tired the next turn. Attempting to "Pacify" it causes the game to crash due to the game attempting to display the spared sprite for C. Round, which doesn't exist. C. Round never attacks, even if it survives multiple turns.[1]
- If the damage of the party is modified by external means, it is possible to "kill" K. Round, knocking it back much like C. Round, by outdamaging its heal.[2] However, this does not generate any additional dialogue or alter the story, as it is not supposed to happen.
- K. Round is the only boss without any dialogue.
- It is possible to interact with the control crown as it slides away after the second K. Round battle by skipping the post-battle text (requires the Wrist Protector prior to v1.07). The first interaction brings up "(Thar she blows...)" and further interactions bring up "(It's going off to live a better life now...)"
- The growing and shrinking sound effects of K. Round are a reference to the Super Mushroom sound effects from the Mario series.
- There was merchandise planned for K. Round, but it was scrapped after people pointed out that K. Round bore a striking resemblance to the Japanese mascot, Nishiko-kun (にしこくん).[3]
- The almond milk carton sprite used by K. Round is also used in the Sweet Cap'n Cakes battle.
- K. Round's Self Care move may be a nod to the move Milk Drink from the Pokémon franchise, which allows a Pokémon to heal itself in battle by drinking milk, much like K. Round.
References[]