The Baron Balloon, Flotsam Balloon, Count Balloon, and Duke Balloon are Magical Creature monsters encountered in Dark Chronicle. They are animated balloons that wear top hats and have detached gloves for hands.
Uniquely, these balloons are also seen piloting various large Windup machines throughout the game. The Baron Balloon pilots the Vanguard, the Flotsam Balloon pilots the Sonic Bomber, and the Duke Balloon pilots the Yo-Yo Barrel. Variants of each of these have differently colored balloons on-top not seen normally.
Characteristics
Appearance
The Baron Balloon features a blue body with a yellow star on its left eye, a smile with sharp yellow teeth, and a silver top hat. The Flotsam Balloon has a clown-like appearance, with a white face, red nose, yellow star eye, and a blue hat. The Count Balloon is pink with a heart shape over its left eye, two large pronounced incisors (as a reference to Count Dracula), orange gloves, and a red and gold striped hat. The Duke Balloon has a green body, a green hat, and a more distinguished style with a bowtie, monocle, and a Bold Chevron-style moustache.
Personality
The Balloon family monsters are highly focused on appearance, age, and social hierarchy. They exhibit vanity concerning their looks, with the Count Balloon boasting about their "baby-soft" skin and the effort required to maintain it while working nights,[1] and the Duke Balloon revealing that they must shave three times a day to maintain a smooth face.[2] The Baron Balloon variant laments the youth of others, admitting to having wrinkles despite looking young, and frequently offers age-related advice, insisting on gentlemanly behavior ("ladies first") and the importance of pride.[3]
Their lifestyle is inherently precarious due to their physiology; they are described as "delicate creatures." The Baron Balloon must maintain a careful balance of air, risking loss of balance if they loosen their neck to breathe,[3] while the Duke Balloon constantly fears their balloon body will burst during a fight.[2] The high-level Duke Balloon is particularly focused on status, claiming "noble blood" and asserting that the top hat is both their pride and an excellent weapon, and advising others to learn to be "snobby" to reach the Duke rank.[2]
Gameplay
Appearances
The Baron Balloon first appears in the "Battle with Rats" and "Ghost in the Channel" floors of the Underground Water Channel. The Flotsam Balloon appears as a minion in the "Channel Reservoir" boss floor of the Channel. The Count Balloon appears in the Moon Flower Palace on the "Ancient Wind" floor. The Duke Balloon is found in the Zelmite Mine on the "Road to Truth" floor.
Combat
The Baron Balloon and its variations all float slightly off the ground, but use their hands to move, and crawl toward the player to engage in combat. They possess two short-range attacks: one where they use both hands to smack their target, and another where they swipe horizontally with their hat. Both attacks share the same range and damage, and neither can pierce a block, making them relatively low-threat enemies if approached carefully.
Due to their magical nature and specific resistances, they are highly vulnerable to ranged weaponry. Max's pistols inflict significant bonus damage (170%), as do Beam and Grenade weapons (150%). They are also weak to elemental damage, taking 150% damage from both Flame and Lightning attributes. However, they are resistant to melee blunt force; wrench/hammer attacks deal only 50% damage to the first three variants, while the Duke Balloon takes only 10% damage from either.