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Update #41: Echo of Thunder + Last Will and Testament Cu Sith still has another quiz for us, we've still only seen the quiz for 1 of the 2 books we got from our first trip returning to Ivalice, but I'll be posting this next update. First, we'll warm up with a side mission, before taking care of the main one.  - Echo of Thunder: A powerful scion lurks in the Ymir Qul Underground. The sound of thunder rolls from the cavern, shaking the foundations of Arda. There will be danger aplenty, but don't say I didn't warn you.Soundtrack: Boss Battle 4 (Esper)       "Rage he seems intent on directing at us."- Objective: Defeat Shemhazai! At least one ally must survive. -  Vampires are pretty common in this fight. Vampires are weak to Holy, and are the only common foe who is weak to that. We have Ultima, who could hit that weakness, but I'm a genius who didn't think of that during recording. My choice of level III espers was Exodus, who actually isn't bad, considering the lightning foes we have to face. Soundtrack: Boss Battle 4 (Esper) continues.   First to capture the nearest summoning gate, to the west. Then, we swing back around (NOT going north - sticking to the south, as the boss is up north) to the east and capture that gate. Before finally dogpiling the boss.  After capturing the first gate, I dismiss my level I espers to free up affinity points for level II espers.  Some systems I haven't been talking much about in my commentary have been the astral crystals, and managing affinity points. They're both pretty background tasks, that just take a moment to do, but I think I should remind people they exist. Also, vampires spawn from the pool in the center of the arena, in pretty frequent waves, and are fairly dangerous.  Here's another wave of vampires right now. I take them out here. Astral crystals, if you remember, are up to 5 crystals that accumulate on the map screen, and can be used to raised the level of Espers temporarily, for the duration of the battle. I usually use them at the same time I'm summoning Espers anyway, as I'm doing here. I've been doing this for all missions since the system appeared, but I've not been mentioning I've been doing it. So... I am.  Heading northeast, killing more vampires. Getting some distance from the pool helps.  Flying units will fly right over the pool, and other units will walk over, so if you're ordering them both to do the same action, they'll take the fastest respective route for their unit type. It's important to keep this in mind, and watch your movement. Maybe even order them to move along the land manually, to make sure they take the same route? Not that it's terribly important here, but approaching all those ranged units, Llyud (or Filo) can be feebled easily.  From here on out, things get... messy.  Using Penelo's quickening at the last moment lets my level III esper (who is Exodus, by the way) live to fight another day.  Jut focus on killing the boss, wherever they are.  Soundtrack: Air Castle (Abandoning Power)   "As rage spreads through the sky continent, more such scions will stir." "We can't let that happen." "The fewer complications, the better." "Complications?"    - Element of Treachery transforms the user into a shooting star, dealing devastating damage to one enemy. - A few side missions ago, Filo wanting nothing more than to see a shooting star. And now Balthier has stepped up to the plate to fulfil her dream, that's... really nice. Wow. Thanks, Balthier. As with most quickenings, we won't see this one this update, and we'll have to view it another time. This means we're waiting on two quickenings, so... I'll try to show them soon, as usual. Now, as voted by you, it's time to head to the Glabados Ruins for some investigation! - Last Will and Testament: The search to uncover the mystery of the Cache has led back to where it all began. What secret lies locked in the cold stone? The answer waits in a hidden chamber of the shattered ruins.Soundtrack: Field 1 (Giza Plains)   "Counting the Stone Mydia has, there were three treasures in the Cache, yes?" "Then that must mean there's a room here we haven't been to."     "The way to the hidden chamber lain bare." - Objective: Find the hidden chamber! At least one ally must survive. -  We get no warning here again, but there are no Espers for this battle. So it's just our leaders. I've gone for a thematic party selection - Vaan, Penelo, Balthier and Fran return to the ruins - and Kytes is the only strategic selection I've made. If I were going entirely strategic, I would have picked Basch in place of Fran probably, but I'm not, so. We're going to see 2 level III Espers here. One is Ifrit, and the other is the Elder Wyrm, a recolour of Tiamet. (Who I'm showing off in my party. But there's no Espers for me in this fight still.) Soundtrack: Dungeon 1 Field - Dungeon 1 Battle  These ruins don't look too tricky.  Not many Espers show up at the start of the fight. There's a big, empty L shaped hallway behind us on the map.  Along this way is the hallway we travelled through in the first mission. Aww. But like I said, it's empty, I'm kind of sad there's nothing to see here but... whatever. Let's get into the mission for real!  The first group of Espers is easy to fight. Just attack. However, there's a gate standing in the way of us progressing.  To the northeast, down one of the forks in the path, is a little statue with a crystal in it. It looks cool, but it doesn't do anything.  However, to the southwest, there's an identical statue, and this one can be searched.  The results are entirely expected, it opens the gate, and some new Espers are summoned up here.  In one scrapped recording, I died to these Lamia. There, I said it, now I can't be ashamed of it.  But in serious, these Lamia are dangerous for the same reason that I use them to my advantage. Their attacks can cause confuse, which turns party members against each other. You can equip items to some party members to prevent them from getting confused, but I just used some buffs and killed them quickly here.  Vaan, they're dead, it's over, stop. Penelo's Esunaga can heal confusion on the fly, and also can clear away confusion from any party members left after the fight. So yeah I use it.  Northeast, another useless statue except green.  Southwest, useful statue, opens the gate.  Ifrit is summoned up from summoning this gate. Ifrit was the first Esper we fought, in the second mission in the Glabados Ruins and the whole game.  Since 4/5 of my units are ranged, Vaan gets himself in trouble a lot... also a physical Esper like Ifrit isn't a good opponent. Luckily, Vaan gets his quickening, and then... dies.  Oh no. This is what I get for picking thematic party members rather than going strategic. Luckily, Penelo can bring Vaan back to life.  And his quickening cleans up. Phew. Close call.  Gotta wait to bring Fran back to life. There's some more statues on either end of the fork, but neither are functional.  Our switch to the next gate is in much plainer sight. Soundtrack: Boss Battle 1 (Slash of the Sword)  - Objective: Defeat the Elder Wyrm! At least one ally must survive. -  This is sort of how the fight goes.  After all that other nonsense, this guy is pretty easy.  Soundtrack: Dungeon 4 Field (An Imminent Threat)   "No, I sense something on the Mist. The other treasure was here."  "There's something etched in the stone. Can you make it out?" "It's written in an ancient hand."  Soundtrack: Theme of Love (Ai no Theme)  "Why would a god from Lemurés build a temple in Ivalice? And what's this about a wife and children?"  "The Cache of Glabados was a father's legacy to his family."   "The hearts of men are wont to pursue ambition." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Feolthanos took a viera as his wife. Their children are surely the fair-skinned viera from whom Mydia is descended."   "The Gilgamesh started moving when we brought the Cache onboard, right?" "Yeah, but what's that got to do with anything?" "The Gilgamesh must've been called to Ivalice when we took the Cache! Feolthanos made the airship to bring his family to Lemurés!" "All this time we've been travelling in a vessel of the Eternal." Neat, I always wondered what sort of airship god would ride in. Turns out it's the same as Vaan's. Next time, we'll see what the Giza Plains has to offer.
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Jan 25, 2014 01:36
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