Its been a long time, I won't lie. I haven't forgotten about this "series" of posts, I just didn't find the time, motivation or any incredibly memorable characters in video games anymore. Well, finally I HAVE actually found a character worth doing a post about....after so f**king long. So without further ado...lets get to it. Enter Sterkenberg Cranach from the "Atelier Arland" series, one of the most badass old dudes that you will ever see! (Yes, he is 41 in this picture, 39 in the Japanese version)
*SPOILERS*
Lets start off with some very basic facts to do with the "Atelier Arland" lore, shall we? First off, Sterk has been in every game since "Atelier Rorona" that's a playable character. That means he's playable from "Atelier Rorona" to "Atelier Meruru", in all 3 games, that shows how awesome he is, since the only other character to make an appearance in all 3 games as a playable character is Rorona herself.
In "Atelier Rorona", he is the first "overpowered" character to join your team, and just having him in your lineup already shows you his incredible might. Since he joins you so early on, he pretty much just kills everything in 1 hit. He swings and he swings and he swings that gigantic sword of his....everything just goes down. Of course, this only means that he is the first actual fighter to team up with Rorona, since at the time, all she had going were a couple of teenage shore washers (Iksel and Cordelia). From then on, all you needed was him, since we all already knew him as the badass knight with the giant sword.
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| Who doesn't want to be a badass warrior clad in a long coat, looking cool to other young kids? |
In "Atelier Totori", his role diminished a little bit, but he grew 10 fold in terms of badassery. For one, since Gio left Arland, the knights had no place left to go, from which then on, Sterk went around as a wandering swordsmen, seeking to help the new adventurers that spurred in numbers. He had no real purpose without the title of being a knight, and he just...wandered. Of course, with the scary face of his, everyone just avoids him as much as they can, despite his kindness.
None could deny his strength. He was Melvia's instructor when she was a newbie adventurer, and we all knew how much of a beast she was. Nobody could deal with her, and it was none other than Sterk who took up the job of bringing her up. If you actually bothered to go for Sterk's ending, he ends up being fought for over by Totori and Rorona. As expected, despite having a scary face, he is still a ladies' man. Also, he ends up being Gino's teacher, which is eventually raised into a bone fide swordsman, like Sterk himself.
Now in "Atelier Meruru", here, he is 39/41 years old, an old man in most aspects. He joins as one of Meruru's many escorts later in the game. Through his commitment, he acts as Meruru's personal knight, and if you choose him as an escort, he assists in defeating the dragon nesting in the far east. Its here where Esti admits that despite being an idiot, Sterk is one of the toughest escorts that Meruru could ever get. Also, he constantly tries to beat Gio, but constantly fails.
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| Misetemiro...shin no sugata no! |
Sterk fights with a great sword through all 3 games, and his attacks center around electricity. He likes to coat his blade in lightning, then go forward to deal massive damage to the enemy. Be it attacks like lightning edge or lightning blitz, he WILL end all enemies with a great blitz of lightning attacks. Out of all the characters, he has THE best super in both "Atelier Totori" AND "Atelier Meruru", both in terms of looks and sheer damage (he probably loses out to the likes of Gio though). Come on, I mean, how does he NOT look badass as he performs his supers, its like the 1990s all over again!
Being the boisterous, honor filled badass that he is, you cannot deny that he is probably the best character in the series. Being recurring in all games is good enough, but he just keeps getting better in each one. For all we know, he might not be a married man, but at least he lived his life to the fullest. Sterk is a f**king badass, and he will always be one.
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It was the right choice for Meruru to add Sterk to her harem!
