HaydenStudios said:
However, that is not necessarily the case. Curly says that when you and she fought him, you were far out of your league. Now this wouldn't make much sense for Quote and Curly TOGETHER to be unable to defeat a Demon Crown bearer with much more health seeing as how Quote later proves himself capable of defeating one on his own (the Doctor). That, and that they together are capable of defeating the sorcerer who created the Demon Crown (Ballos). And I'd bet my bottom dollar that Ballos is more powerful than any other Demon Crown bearer. Therefore, Quote and Curly would have to have had some sort of limitations for their combined forces to be unable to defeat Miakid. I, personally, always thought 3 hp was one of those limitations. Although I guess the lack of a good arsenal could have contributed to that unpreparedness as well. Now I'm not saying you're wrong, but I wouldn't say that's necessarily why he wakes up with 3 hp.
Mmm... well, about having trouble against Miakid. The Doctor as somewhat dangerous as he was, was... or in my opinion, just a normal guy. Maybe a bit wimpy, but smart, and cunning... probably. With the Crown, he gained some interesting powers... but for the most part I assume it's the Crystal (and Misery / Balrog) that he relies on.
Now my theory is that Miakid is probably a General or someone who knows how to actually wage battle. Plus he's hecka macho man, without a crystal. Plus in my theory I'm led to believe that he has experience dealing with robots, and is most likely the one giving the orders directly to the robots.
And, I always assumed that The War, wasn't a quick skirmish where the countries united to quickly defeat the Mimiga. I mean with how Booster and the others referred to the War, and why there aren't any occupying forces on the island tens years later, leads me to theorize the War lasted a decent amount of time. Then, knowing Quote and Curly, I would say they only spent a few days on the island before they would have engaged in battle against Miakid as Curly describes...
Meaning that I assume Miakid didn't die out right, and assuming he was alive waging the War, then he lived past the encounter with both Q and C. However we DO know he died... And perhaps that the Crown was not completely destroyed? As the opening scene of Cave Story is of a large skull with a Demon Crown on top...
In that case, I believe that Miakid must be a superior modern enemy, compared to the ruckus the Doctor attempted to cause. [Though in the Doctor's defense, if he had perfected the Crystal and used it on humans indiscriminately...]
Anyway, I assume the Demon Crown "grants the user monsterous power", as stated, although we never really saw that power, besides controlling Misery and Balrog. If Miakid were a perfect warrior, and he learned to use that "monsterous power"... Mmmmm, perhaps he would be an enemy that even Q and C couldn't handle at the time?
(If Q and C were damaged horribly, did they "auto-repair" over a lonng period of time? That seems kind of convenient, although semi-possible. I might theorize that someone may have aided them, made them into greater fighters than they were even then. I only guess this because, Curly lives apparently right under Jenka's protection; and Quote apparently lies nextdoor to mr. random genius gunsmith...)
As for Ballos, he does WANT to die. My theory is, I don't think he's really trying to kill you, as so much as he can't stop himself. So, far as we know Ballos is being super easy on you, containing his magic to the best of his ability so that Quote and Curly can finish him off... I mean the image of him burning down his kingdom in a single night, doesn't quite fit with the level of attack he uses on Quote. The lightning could start fires here and there, and he could go rock monster and roll around his kingdom... but I get the feeling it was something much more devastating. I mean even the Core seemed to have a more powerful attack than Ballos. [The Orb of doom attack.] Also there's the fact that you're fighting within the Seal Chamber, which I assume limits his magical power somewhat? Otherwise I'd think he'd just break free...
If that theory is somewhat correct, than I wonder what a real Ballos battle would have been like...
Alternatively related to Miakid, there's the little known power of Cutscene Magic! Where Quote can be stomped by Balrog and incapacitated even if you're Johnny Wonder, taking 0 damage throughout the game, with all weapons and powerups. Perhaps Miakid had a trick up his sleeve when things were going south for him...
"NOW BALROG! USE CUTSCENE STOMP!" Q and C : "Noooooooooo ;_;"
Back to the original topic : Why does Quote wake up in the Start Point...
What if Quote were entombed there? Left for dead? It does seem like an oddly shaped chamber, not some kind of collapsed looking area.... He could have been secretly buried as a hero, never expected to wake up again.
For instance if some Mimiga from Mimiga Town (... say... Arthur?) Knew Quote at that time, despite even if he was a hero, could he have been buried properly in the Mimiga Graveyard? Robots slaughtered countless Mimiga. Even if he *was* different, those that are left would undoubtably hold some kind of grudge against robots... At least the ones that didn't know him.
All just theories...
@ Hayden - too bad I never made that Cloud Story mod detailing my version of these events from that time... I have it pretty much worked out, just missing the actual game ><
Haven't given up on it though, but I have little to show for it!