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heroiccreampuff posted:Actually speaking of Randolf's name, I apologize if this has been brought up before and I missed it blitzkrieg-ing through the thread but: isn't his name actually Rudolf? Both names were changed for localization purposes. With the exception of Nana's name all name changes are for localization purposes. I'd rather not go into details on this because of plot spoilers. Valkama fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Apr 6, 2014 |
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Apr 6, 2014 03:11
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...I don't suppose anyone knows a quick way to grind in the next Story dungeon? Kumo's not going to get to level 25 by himself.
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Apr 6, 2014 06:45
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Okay, it's probably a way off, but I'm looking forward to this full-bells-and-whistles final battle.
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Apr 6, 2014 08:32
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Einander posted:...I don't suppose anyone knows a quick way to grind in the next Story dungeon? Well... There's a quick level-up method included in the debug stuff. I don't think there's any shame in using it on Kumo, since you won't be using him afterwards anyways. Just bring him up to speed with the rest of your crew, since he doesn't have the relaxed EXP curve of Nana. Select a character in the menu (use "Equip" to get the character selection rectangle) and press ALT + right arrow to bring the character very close to the next level. /edit: Alternatively, the room with the Daybreak Club has a lot of mobs close together and might be good to grind in. HenryEx fucked around with this message at 22:49 on Apr 6, 2014 |
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Apr 6, 2014 13:32
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In the end, I just did it normally. There's a loop you can do in the first room that results in you fighting three and four enemies most of the time, so it only took a bit over half an hour. On the plus side, I got about 13500 gold out of it. Not very much by late-game standards, but it means less money grinding later.
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Apr 6, 2014 20:42
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HenryEx you messed up that spoiler tag.  Also, I guess that just means you'd be doing the grinding eventually anyway, so why sweat it?
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Apr 6, 2014 21:17
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Eh, I'm totally cool with normal weapon and armor names being unspoiled. There's three weapon names that are very obviously spoilers--one that's come up already, one that's your reward for finishing a dungeon, one that's at the bottom of a hole--but saying "Majestic Leviathan" or "Daybreak Club" isn't going to affect anyone's enjoyment of the story. And yeah, I'm not too fussed about the grinding... Though the people who have high Annihilation Count votes may be. 
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Apr 6, 2014 21:27
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See, without having heard of it before, I thought the Daybreak Club was the name of an area, not a weapon.
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Apr 6, 2014 22:54
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Well, at least you didn't get spoiled on the consumable drop of the big (mostly) non-respawning enemy in the next area. It's pretty  I mean, i know what it's supposed to be, but still.
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Apr 6, 2014 22:58
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Chapter 12: "It's a beautiful story. However, reality doesn't work that way." (The Mirage, Kumo 7&8) Welcome back!    This looks like a perspective shot, doesn't it? Must be a long way down...  The Desert Crows wander slowly but become more erratic when you fight something else. The Desert Hawks stay still and become aggressive when you get into a fight with something else. Both are fairly fragile, especially the Hawks; Camil, in particular, can take out two a turn with a little double swing/critical luck. On the other hand, the Hawks also do 40 damage to either character, so "fragile" doesn't mean "weak." The Hawks drop a Beak, which give +18 Attack, +8 HP, and +5 Speed. The Crows drop a Stained Bird Wing, which give +8 HP, +15 Defense, and +10 Agility. The red enemies here are of a completely different type than usual: for once, they aren't the deadliest things in the area. They're just red to change their respawn settings.   Biter Vipers are fairly weak (I was taking about 15 damage from them, which is pathetic; at least they can poison, I guess?) but highly aggressive--they'll head towards you from wherever they are. The primary threat they pose is that they'll draw in other enemies, so take care of the birds first and the Vipers are barely a blip on your radar. Their drop, the Poison Fang, gives +8 HP and +10 Attack.   This is the best example of the general strategy: engage a bird, draw in Hawks, avoid the Vipers (it's generally pretty easy) and continue on. I could fight everything here--they're not very dangerous--but I won't. Bad habits. Besides, both characters have almost all their gear mastered.  The right exit has treasure.   The items are a Glass Fragment and a Marbled Meat. The Marbled Meat is a blast from the past; +15 HP hasn't been impressive for quite a while. I head back one room and go south.  Pictured: why these areas can turn into clusterfucks. Add two more birds to the fight and this is actually dangerous. Prioritize Hawks--Crows do two-thirds their damage and are twice as tough.  Camil gets particularly unlucky and goes down. One of each healing item; I could probably just use an Energy Restore and gear her out for Magic, but eh, no point in taking risks.   The other one is a Glass Fragment. It's a dead end again, so I head back one room and go south this time.  Long, winding corridor. The Biter Vipers are harder to dodge, but it's otherwise not anything too special. There's a chest with 160 gold. I head left this time.  We're back here already! The Mirage is short.  ...... My enemy is too strong. Standard guest rules: if we leave this area, he leaves the party. Sadly, he counts the rest of The Mirage (that isn't directly up from here) to be "leaving this area."   Honestly, Kumo is no Nana. Even when he's fully leveled, he's not going to get anything nearly as ridiculous as Wish, Passion Burst or Happy Ending Supremacy. I replace his gear with the Book of Manslaying and the Black Dress, but both equips deserve notice. They're very, very special items.   The Praying Mantis Axe is +30 Attack, 32 Range, and +5 Speed. As an All-Purpose, it's +12 Attack and +5 Agility and gives the Cutthroat instant death skill. The Mask of Determination gives +10 Skill, +5 HP, +11 Defense, +3 Critical, and -10 to received magic damage. As an All-Purpose, it gives +5 HP and +10 Agility. Neither of them seem all that impressive, right? Well, the Praying Mantis Axe gains +90% of its original stats each time it levels, and the Mask of Determination gains +100%. So, fully leveled? +111 Attack, +17 Speed or +42 Attack, +17 Agility for the Praying Mantis Axe, while the Mask of Determination is either +40 Skill, +20 HP, +44 Defense, +12 Critical, and -40 to received magic damage or +20 HP and +40 Agility. For reference, my next-best attack weapons? The Amaryllis is +44 and the Book of Manslaying +64 if both are leveled to max. (Edit: Valkama points out that the Praying Mantis Ax's quote is a reference to a Japanese folktale, where a praying mantis raises one of its arms to try and ward off an oncoming car. A mantis is therefore a symbol of the weak facing down a superior force without flinching... But it's kind of up to the viewer in any particular case as to whether the weak one is being brave or foolish. It's pretty obviously symbolizing Kumo here.) I stick both of them on Camil immediately. Leveling it up once will be enough to make the Axe better than any other weapon I have, and while the Mask's Skill bonus might be better on Randolf, there's other +Skill armors but nothing else that gives +Critical.  Pictured: Mage Camil. Until the Axe levels up at 15 enemies, she's going to be rather weak physically... But if you unequip and then equip a high +HP item, such as the +40 HP Deli Meat, after each fight, then you ensure she's below the 85% threshold for Inferno. Only ever use Inferno if you're building her as a mage--Fire Wave and Flame Fang are not strong enough at this point. Since she needs to circumvent her HP threshold, her Skill can't get as high, so "almost as strong as Light Axe" doesn't cut it with her stats. Inferno, meanwhile, is stronger than Light Axe, even if it lacks the defense-ignoring. She's currently ridiculously fragile (+11 defense and 1.5x damage taken, ouch), but the idea is to murder everything before that's a problem. Shouldn't be an issue with her spells so long as nothing's too far away from the other enemies.  Mage Camil at work. 26 SP per spell and she lives right at the edge of the Valley of Death, but it's worth it.     Pictured: the Valley of Death. Picking up the Daybreak Club sets all the birds to wandering, and quite quickly too. The top row are Hawks, the bottom row are Crows. The Daybreak Club itself gives +52 Attack. As an All-Purpose, it gives +20 Attack, +25 Defense, and Occasional Guard. Like the Axe, it immediately eclipses all of its competition. I give it to Randolf. Normally, this valley is scary!   It is not scary with Mage Camil using Inferno. If there was a Doppleganger quick-equip-switch option, then continually switching Camil between physical attacking and spellcasting would be best. The only thing not making Mage Camil clearly superior against random enemies is that 26 SP cost, and SP regenerates... Just not quickly enough to use Inferno every battle, and Mage Camil is not useful without that spell available. That said, even a physical Camil can make pretty good use of Inferno, since Attack is also involved in the formula. That's another reason to get the Praying Mantis Axe on her when it pops up.  Basically, this about four times. The Valley of Death has good rewards... Shame Kumo didn't come with. (One of them gets a bit tense--I forgot to restore Camil's SP beforehand--but Randolf is tough and sometimes dodges attacks. I revive her and pull through.)  This is what I mean with Flame Fang, by the way: that damage just isn't good enough. Use Inferno or don't bother. Before we talk to Kumo and explore his Story, let's look at the area past him. The Dragon Mountain and the Tower both had something on the other end when the main character wasn't there to summon the Story.  ...huh. Tiny ship! Tiny model chests. Guess it wasn't a perspective shot after all. You can't open the tiny chests, by the way.   You can, however, move the rocks around. There's a red chest, and there's a dark area of sand at the top, but both are blocked off by tiny, differently-colored rocks... Rocks about the same size as the treasure chests, actually. And when you pass through again with Kumo...    ...the Story takes hold. While this was a short update, the ones on either side of it were long ones, so there wasn't any real way to join them. Sorry. Here's Kumo's last two personal chapters, the last two of the game.   (blank screen) Aeritz just disappeared. On that day... We escaped to this island, and Aeritz barely survived his brush with death. Aeritz, with a wild look in his eye, swore to attempt the plan once more. Even though one eye was missing, he was still the same man he always was. I promised I would follow him anywhere. Aeritz was my savior; the man who gave my life meaning. Aeritz slowly began to recover while recuperating on that small peaceful island. Every single day, Aeritz took his sword in hand and reforged his broken body. I began to draw up a plan. Those were very productive days. However, one day... Aeritz just disappeared. He went out to fetch water, and never returned. I searched through Aeritz's belongings. Along with his junk and supplies, a very old book was tucked away. "Demon King Chronicle" It wasn't even a full book. It looked like half was cut away, with only Chapter 2 remaining. From that day, I began reading the "Demon King Chronicle" I made a habit of reading it every day. I wanted to see and experience the same things as Aeritz did. If not for The Mole's Glossary entry, you'd think The Mole is Aeritz (one eye, training every day to defeat Zelphie), but... No, apparently not. It's just an odd coincidence. Also interesting: "half was cut away, with only Chapter 2 remaining." You can't read too much into exact words of a translation, but this implies that Aeritz got a copy back when Chapter 3 wasn't yet written.  (two blank screens) We planned to defeat an evil force, and be hailed as heroes by all. (blank screen) It was a very clear cut story. At one time, this was the story Aeritz and I had envisioned. Now it is just a fictional story, like so many others. Somewhere along the path, something got set off track. (blank screen) It's clear to me now. During that final moment of triumph, Aeritz just couldn't rid himself of mercy. It was just like Ritzea in the "Demon King Chronicle." Having won the battle with the demon whale, Ritzea knew pity, and returned it to the sea without delivering the final blow. It's a beautiful story. However, reality doesn't work that way. Our merciful actions didn't lead us to some wonderful ending. I will carry on Aeritz's will. However, before I can do that, there is an enemy I must defeat. Beyond the endless sand dunes, deep inside The Mirage. My enemy awaits me there. This story brings up something interesting: Aaron Aaron's theory mentions the three heroes of the Chronicle and their three inspirations, one per chapter. Randolf of the Chronicle is based on Flodnar, and he's Chapter Three. Ritzea is based on Aeritz, and this story tells us that he's in Chapter Two. Sera, and therefore Ares, must therefore be Chapter One, Tower. Here, have a couple of screenshots from the impending bonus update on missed content. It'll go up after the next dungeon, but these two are relevant to my point here:   After what we've seen, we have pretty good reason to suspect that Randolf isn't just indulging in solipsism. The dungeons, and their contents, are what the Chronicle holders wish them to be. In this case, The Dragon Mountain fulfills Randolf's wishes and the Tower fulfills Nana's. This raises an interesting question. The Tower had Ares's Clothes in a red chest. It's highly unlikely to be named after the Greek war god Ares at this point. But if they were put there by Nana's imagination, wouldn't it be Sera's Clothes instead? Sure, she lives in the same place as Aaron Aaron, who knows that Sera was based off of Ares, but that still seems unlikely. She'd have a much stronger tie to the imaginary hero. What about Randolf, then? Well, Flodnar knew Aeritz, and Kumo tells us (another missed conversation, it's in that impending update) that Aeritz talked about Ares all the time. They saw each other often. So it's possible that Aeritz told Flodnar, and that Flodnar told Randolf... But if that's the case, wouldn't the chest have been in The Dragon Mountain instead? So either the Chronicle holders don't wholly influence the Story, so things can appear without their knowledge or desire, or Camil has some personal tie to Ares strong enough to influence The Tower. Either way, we know a little more about something that the game's in no real rush to explain. Next time, The Leviathan Depths. Annihilation Record: Annihilation count:29 Current winner: Cake Attack (29) Next: Feldherren (35) Battle Record: 2014/04/03/ 20:49:30 Demon King Chronicle ■Battle results Playtime:11:52:10 Save count:137 Steps taken:63194 Battle count:661 Max damage:479 Max damage taken:105 Items:57 Types 154 Items ■Treasure Chests The Nest: 6/8 Demon King's Castle: 26/26 The Hamlet: 31/31 The Snow Fields: 20/20 The Dragon Mountain: 6/6 Sands of Remembrance: 26/26 The Tower: 11/11 The Seashore: 12/12 The Mirage: 8/10 The Disease: 1/20 Unmapped area: 7/10 ■Camil(23) HP:142 SP:62 Attack:99 Defense:11 Range:32 Critical:17 Skill:112 Agility:51 ・Praying Mantis Axe(0) ・Mask of Determination(0) ・Deli Meat(0) ・Bookworm Girl(0) ・Fake Medicine(3) ■Randolf(22) HP:112 SP:57 Attack:127 Defense:55 Range:32 Critical:15 Skill:155 Agility:51 ・Daybreak Club(0) ・Soul Shackles(3) ・Magnificent Zenith(3) ・Varnished Bird Wing(3) ・Bookworm Girl(1) ■Top 10 defeats Green Mud Man(178) Toothy Piranha(135) Rat(135) Abominable Snow Monkey(97) Wake-Eater(89) Monkey(83) Mutt(80) Scorpion(79) Scorpion(40) Scorpion(38) Glossary: No new entries. Einander fucked around with this message at 03:16 on Apr 8, 2014 |
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Apr 8, 2014 01:59
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You got another Roland in there.
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Apr 8, 2014 02:09
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ultrafilter posted:You got another Roland in there. fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffixed.
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Apr 8, 2014 02:16
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I would suggest before you post an update use Ctrl + F and search for Roland. The Praying Mantis Axe is originally called the Ax of Mantis. After you pointed out what happened with Bluestockings I decided to go look this up and it actually means something. The Ax of Mantis means the weak without acknowledging their weakness face a foe of a much more considerable strength, or something like that.(From what I've read it seems to be from a folktale of a praying mantis and a car.) I assume this is why it has the cutthroat skill on it. It's description also seems to be a direct quote from the story.
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Apr 8, 2014 02:22
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SSNeoman posted:Functional skill increase. Partly because I'm mostly sure it's a bug and partly because ~more numbers~ I played way too many terrible RPG Maker games back in high school, so I've seen the error that keeps coming up in the thread a few times. If it's only happening in a few places, there's a way to fix it manually. Although it's tedious enough that I'd only recommend it if you're having trouble getting it to work even with locale changes. When you get an error like that, hit ctrl-C on the window to copy the message, paste it into whatever word processor you have on hand, and copy the name of the file it can't find. In that case, 174-Chest01銀. Then go into the directory it's looking for ([game folder]/Graphics/Characters/) and find something that says 174-Chest01. There'll be an incorrect or garbled character on the end of it, which is what's throwing the game off. Paste the correct file name on it and you've got it. The reason this is more of a last resort is that if you do it you'll probably have to do it for every file that's got a Japanese character in it, and to get the proper file name you're going to have to crash the game every time a new graphic pops up. Plus you'll also see all the game's graphics short of the fancy pictures, so you could run into spoilers pretty easily. Still, if you've got the problem down to a couple postgame bits of scenery, it shouldn't be too bad.
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Apr 8, 2014 02:54
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I really like the next area, it's really neat. First time i walked into that tiny sand maze i was like "How do i open these chests? I can move the rocks to change passages? But not these small ones. Do i have to activate things i a certain order or something?" And then i entered the next area and was like... "OH SNAP! A MAP!" That's awesome. Zinglon posted:I played way too many terrible RPG Maker games back in high school, so I've seen the error that keeps coming up in the thread a few times. After the latest occurrence with the chests, i took the time to search through the game's code for appearances of every single graphic with japanese letters. Apparently, it's only the one panorama and the chests that actualy occur in the game, so the updated crashfix that makes these ASCII friendly should eliminate all issues of this kind.
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Apr 8, 2014 03:01
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Valkama posted:I would suggest before you post an update use Ctrl + F and search for Roland. I usually do that, but it's not much of a priority and I usually do the last check on these updates right as I get home. Yeah, I know the saying you're talking about, though I can't seem to find an English translation of it... What a pain. I'll edit a bit of basic information in. (Also, I've always thought it was "Preying Mantis" instead of "Praying," so I need to change that. My mistake, not theirs.)
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Apr 8, 2014 03:12
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Is it viable for everybody's endgame equipment to just be the guest equipment from various chapters?
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Apr 8, 2014 21:55
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Glazius posted:Is it viable for everybody's endgame equipment to just be the guest equipment from various chapters? So long as you don't exclude all the slots that aren't covered. Trying to beat the game with one weapon and no All-Purpose equipment would be rough. The Soul Shackles aren't great at endgame, but Randolf likes the additional HP and SP well enough. Defense really jumps upward at the end (the best armors have 65, 75, 80, and 85 defense, and only one of those is postgame), but the Mask of Determination is otherwise exceptional, especially with its massive magic defense. Notably, the only other Armor-slot items to offer magic defense give one or two points. There's only two weapons better than the Praying Mantis Ax before the last boss and neither of them have the +Agility that the Axe does (and both of them keep their big selling points as All-Purpose items besides), so there's also a strong argument for keeping it on Camil. And when she does switch away, Randolf will want the +Agility and high attack power. Either way, someone's always going to have it.
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Apr 9, 2014 01:32
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Yeah, you'll definitely use the Mask of Determination and the Praying Mantis Axe all the way down to the optional super-boss. They're both incredible items for an offensive character thanks to their great agi/crit bonuses, which become more important than raw ATK later on.
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Apr 9, 2014 02:09
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Chapter 13: "Because we live in such a world, we continue to write stories." (The Leviathan Depths, Aaron Aaron 5)  Welcome back! Despite the ship, this is essentially a standard area. Movement and encounters and even treasure all work basically the same. As you may have figured out, the non-Story version of this area serves as a map. Moving the boulders also has a tangible effect here. Here are two shots of the area from last time, the better to keep track. It may be easier to follow along if you keep them open in another tab.  The normal enemies here are Mermaids, which are fairly tough and hit decently hard. They're aggressive when you fight something else. Their drop is Mermaid Blood, which gives 33 HP. The giant shadow is a Leviathan, the red enemies of the area. They're generally aggressive and will usually move towards you, if someone erratically. Unlike red enemies, they generally don't respawn.  At this point I switch him away from the Book, since I want him moving sooner than that.  A typical Kumo level. Unlike Nana, that HP growth doesn't really slow down, so it gets absurd very quickly. (Thanks to HenryEx for fixing the level up screens, allowing us to actually see his Skill go up.) I head east. The map tells us that there's a dead end with treasure there.  This is one of those Leviathans. This one sticks very close to the town, so fighting him is basically inevitable. Heart of Stone, learned at level 5, is Kumo's main use. Defense affects both physical and magical damage and it's highly effective, especially compared to the zero damage Kumo will be doing for a long, long time. Being a physical attacker who can't use items like the Chatty Barber or any of the +swing items is rough. (You could always let him keep the Praying Mantis Axe, but... Why?) Plus, I've never seen it fail. If it doesn't have perfect accuracy, then it's drat close.  Without it, Camil would be doing a lot less damage here. Once it's up, Kumo guards...   Because holy crap does Surge hurt. The beginning of The Depths is kind of tough, mostly because someone will be using a still-weak Ax and Mask. I got them up to level 1 before entering and Camil's still much less effective than she was before. The town has a Skill Up. I fight the one on the first screen on the way back, which provides a better look at Surge's damage:  The add here is a Merman. They're basically the same as the Mermaids, except that they're a return of the White Dragon Wisp strategy of enemies: they're blue on blue, so they're really drat hard to see. Their drop is the Slime, which gives +5 Attack and +28 HP. Then I run back and heal. Fighting two Leviathans is rough on your potion supply. There's an exit up north, but the map already tells us it'll be blocked. I head west.   Leviathans are actually pretty fast-moving. Best not to mess with the one here. Now, do you remember how I said that the boulders are moveable last update? There's nothing really stopping me from leaving, kicking Kumo out, and moving the boulder to block off the area east of the entrance; that'll allow me to skip the hex north of my current location, which I already know has no treasure. But I need Kumo levelled anyway, so I won't bother.  Heaven's Blessing is a skill Camil and Kumo share, though they have different HP thresholds required. (Camil's is 60% instead.) It's similar to Nana's Prayer, granting +30% flat chance of evasion and +5% critical. Note Kumo's HP. His Defense never gets very high, so he'll spend a lot of time below the threshold for Heaven's Blessing.   The volcano here is the boulder that blocks off the first square from the one north of it, which is where we are now.   I'm pretty fond of the map gimmick. It's a neat revelation the first time you get it, presuming you think to check the area behind Kumo before completing the dungeon.   This is the tiny rock blocking the way to the square two right of the first one. For some reason, you can break this as a ship but not as an immensely larger person. This strait counts as a room barrier, so far as the map is concerned.  Sadly, there is no giant red chest looming in the Depths. You need to go back to the real world to collect. I'll keep going until I can break the second rock, though. No reason not to, I haven't used any healing items yet.  See that blue spot on the upper-right? That's a Merman.  Look at that same area now, when everything is tinted the same way. Can you see it? I can, barely, but largely because I know it's there. They are, for all intents and purposes, invisible. This mostly comes up when you run into one by accident, immediately prompting Mermaids to go aggressive and swarm you. So, uh, watch out for that.  Leviathans can't fit through narrow straits. This sucks, because this combines with their aggressive AI to make them camp you at these points. They go down in two turns if I'm willing to use Light Axe+Lightning, though, and I'm getting positive HP/SP economy from single fights, so they're not a big deal. But it's a pain.  Off through the north exit.   The strait is a room divider again, so this counts as moving into the upper-right corner room. There's a new serpent-looking enemy on the map called the King of Herrings here. You'd expect it to be special, with that name, but... That's a nickname of the Giant Oarfish. It's apparently thought to be responsible for a lot of sea serpent sightings, but here it's just another enemy. It doesn't quite go down in one turn to two Camil swings + Heart of Stone + Lightning, and it does give about twice as much experience, but it doesn't do anything special. Their drop is the Mystery Scales, which give +20 Defense.  Off to the west, now.    The King of Herrings I mentioned.  This strait puts us in the same room as the boulder blocking the way west.  Said boulder. The amazingly oversize desk saves as normal, and the whirlpool is a teleport back. I break the boulder, kill another Leviathan (still no drop) and use it.  Back in the real world, I kick Kumo out, move the boulder in the first room to the right, and grab the red chest. You'll note that the chests I grabbed in The Depths show up as opened here. It's a nice touch; you really have no excuse for missing normal chests here!   +56 Defense as a normal Armor, +10 Attack, +15 Skill, +30 Defense and immunity to Stagger as an all-purpose. I stick it on Randolf; it'd be good to have on either character as a switch for enemies that Stagger, but Camil wants the Mask of Determination levelled more than she wants a swap armor ready. (That said, most of the Stagger immune items are Mage ones, so Randolf probably won't actually use it. Oh well.)  I move the boulder down for whenever I go after the boss. I wouldn't be surprised to see that the positioning blocks off the chest here, but... Well, as I said back in The Tower, I need Kumo at level 25 if I want to get his Glossary entry. Having to go back and move it twice more isn't going to throw me into despair or anything.  Camil levels up the Ax and Mask on the way back to the Desk.   The area to the west of the desk.  We got one of these ages ago and it was too weak to use. It's not used in any recipes. Off west again. I kill a Leviathan mid-screen and get one of the most pathetic red enemy drops in the game:  Come on, +28 HP and +5 SP? That's sad. (Spermaceti is a kind of wax.) Through a strait, into the upper-right corner:    The Speckcinder is very straightforward: +52 Attack and 64 Range, or +32 Attack. Unfortunately, it's basically just a worse Chatty Barber when it's an All-Purpose, so it's basically worthless long-term. It's better than the Amaryllis, though, so Kumo gets it.  Kumo learns Wave Cutter at level 17. It has a high base power, higher than Light Axe and equal to Inferno, but gains a below-average amount of power from Strength. It does ignore 50% of defense, though.  It does about about as much as Lightning right now. It's not very good, and only Kumo's very high HP keeps the HP threshold reasonable. Half HP is about full HP for the other two.  The way to the boss. Kumo is level 17 of 25. Unfortunately, unlike The Tower, I don't know any really quick way to grind in the Depths.  It's a little faster with Mage Camil, at least. Safer to engage larger groups.  Poetic Justice is Kumo's final technique, learned at level 19. Just as Heaven's Blessing was a version of one of Camil's final (normal) spells, Poetic Justice is his equivalent of Randolf's Hero Supplement. It's a very strong self-buff, giving the Hero status, and Kumo can use it below 60% HP instead of below 40% like Randolf. Hero status multiples Attack by 2.8, adds +10 Critical, multiplies Skill and Speed by 1.5, and increases maximum HP by 30%. It's kind of a big deal. Arguably, an end-game Randolf should therefore switch to physical attacks, but... There's only so much physical gear, and he's better at magic than physicals when he hasn't activated Hero Supplement. Plus, Dragon Slayer has a required HP threshold and uses 60% of Attack as additional spell power, so the status isn't wasted on spellcasting or anything. Then I level Kumo to up 25. It sucks, but I do it. There's a couple spots on the first screen where you can fight four enemies at once, but it still takes about 45 minutes. In the process, I finally learn to spot a moving Merman, at the point when I'm already done with the dungeon. Naturally.    Camil is a lot stronger now than she was before. Kumo will contribute, at least. Even without Poetic Justice, he can still use Heart of Stone and Heaven's Blessing.  This isn't actually that much money, by late-game standards. It's about 3/4 of the cost of the Expensive Stone and about 5/8 of the Decorative Plant. And it'll going to cost me about five times as much to buy everything in the crystal room before the doors.   No wind-up this time. You just go north, and...     Meet Geyser Gazer.  Breach is his first attack; it's not very scary. It does let Kumo use Heaven's Blessing, though.  Kumo has three cut-in attacks here, not two. Any skill aside from Heart of Stone will trigger it.  Then the boss just kind of dies on turn 3. Um. Yeah, Geyser Gazer is kind of a wimp. My higher levels do not help. This next dialogue is probably my favorite in the game.     That's what I was told by the man to whom I owe my life. If that does come to pass, then it will not be in vain. My sacrifice will become someone else's courage. That's the kind of story I'd like it to be. That's right, just like your own. Thank you. Kumo leaves The Nest and The Island. I really like the name "Holy Sword that Cuts the Dark." It's just so earnest--very much like something from a children's story.  The Gold Doubloon the Geyser Gazer dropped is a pretty good item, giving +15 HP, +10 Defense, and +5 Critical along with the Item Drop Rate Up skill. On the balance of things, the higher critical and the hidden evade bonus make a fully-leveled Lucky Rabbit better, but if you don't know about it, then this is a good item to have. If I ever want Drop Rate Up on Randolf instead of Camil, he'll get this one.  Aaron Aaron again. I guess he's the one who stole the white slime, too...  Huh. I guess not! Let's check it out.  The White Will Stone is fantastic.  +30 Skill, +15 SP, +5 Defense, +8 Critical, +5 Agility, Recover SP when Defending... And equipping it is the lesser of its two uses. Randolf gets it for now. The description is interesting, too. First, whose memories are these? It's in Kumo's room, so I'd guess Aeritz. Second, whose memories are in that Blue Will Stone Aaron's had in his room for a while? Let's go check on him.  When you go check on him, the music abruptly stops. The Blue Will Stone and all three Demon King Chronicles are gone. (No, we're not allowed to steal from the kleptomaniac. Unfortunately.) All of the papers on the ground in the following areas say the same thing:  But down the stairs, there's a book that explains a number of mysteries.  However, since the successful eradication, this is a thing of the past. Even still, the people have not been able to forget their fear, still cowering at the sight of a rat, and continue to cut down the flowers that serve as their food. Why are flowers rare? Because people cut them down, since the rats here eat flowers. Why the paper in The Sands that mentions the kids seeing rats and says that they hope they were wrong, because they don't want to leave? Because rats carry The Disease. Why is the Demon King's Castle abandoned? Because it's filled with rats.  As you walk down this hallway...  It abruptly transitions to a field.     It is now time to end this story. Time to finally fulfill the promise that I made. (That's one hit. Aaron Aaron is a skinny book nerd, not a fighter.)   We hit him so hard he goes flying backwards. So we go check on him, because he's an rear end in a top hat klepto, but dammit, he's our rear end in a top hat klepto.  Harold Dieter's Blue Will Stone moves to the center of the circle...  ...the three Demon King Chronicles move there, and they become a single book. The pages turn, it flashes gold once...  ...and then it   As we follow, we leave Aaron Aaron's Story and continue to chase the Chronicle through The Nest.  It's heading for The Mole's tunnel.  The fake wall flashes repeatedly, then fades out, and when we walk through...  ...we find ourselves in another flower field.  Touching the single flower here teleports you.   The Imagination is the final dungeon, the Story of Harold Dieter. As you can tell by all of the flower teleporters that had yet to bloom, it's also very big. It's the place where Camil can fulfill her promise. Accordingly...  ...the Demon King Chronicle is on the Final Chapter. But not now. First, we've got to head through the Disease. As the Final Battle As Planned put it:  First, though, content I missed, featuring solo Camil. That'll be Friday's update. Annihilation Record: Annihilation count:29 No new entries. Current winner: Cake Attack (26) Next: Feldherren (35) Battle Record: 2014/04/06/ 11:30:18 Demon King Chronicle ■Battle results Playtime:14:10:54 Save count:150 Steps taken:69827 Battle count:813 Max damage:479 Max damage taken:119 Items:66 Types 161 Items ■Treasure Chests The Nest: 7/8 Demon King's Castle: 26/26 The Hamlet: 31/31 The Snow Fields: 20/20 The Dragon Mountain: 6/6 Sands of Remembrance: 26/26 The Tower: 11/11 The Seashore: 12/12 The Mirage: 9/10 Leviathan Depths: 5/5 The Disease: 1/20 Unmapped area: 7/10 ■Camil(28) HP:149 SP:84 Attack:266 Defense:64 Range:32 Critical:40 Skill:74 Agility:89 ・Praying Mantis Axe(3) ・Mask of Determination(3) ・Zara Sword(3) ・Chatty Barber(3) ・Zara Mantle (3) ■Randolf(28) HP:102 SP:49 Attack:182 Defense:121 Range:32 Critical:23 Skill:152 Agility:57 ・Daybreak Club(3) ・Splendid Leviathan(3) ・Magnificent Zenith(3) ・Varnished Bird Wing(3) ・White Will Stone(0) ■Top 10 defeats Green Mud Man(178) Rat(155) Mermaid(143) Toothy Piranha(135) Abominable Snow Monkey(97) Wake-Eater(89) Merman(84) Monkey(83) Mutt(80) Scorpion(79) Glossary: (Unlocked by levelling Hiku Kumo to level 25) ■Hiku Kumo His parents were good people. Being good people made them many enemies, and they died as a result. In despair he wandered aimlessly looking for a place to die, when he was approached by a strange person. Without really knowing what happened, Hiku Kumo was dragged along against his will. Just like that, he became a member of the Criminal Action Plan Committee（Total Membership: 2） A lot of things happened, and for Hiku Kumo who had always lived so seriously, The free-spirited Aeritz was exactly what he needed in his life. (Unlocked by defeating Aaron Aaron) ■Aaron Aaron His dream was to be a writer, but his talent never bloomed. Now he is researching the "Demon King Chronicles" on the island. He's hoping his research will pay off, and he'll strike it rich on the continent. (Unlocked by entering The Imagination) ■Flodnar Born in a village on the Plateau. Tall mountains surround his town. For the visitors to the mountain, the blizzard from the intensely cold mountain often steals the warmth from their bodies and the sight from their eyes, and many have died this way. An imaginary monster called the White Dragon was born from the fear the villagers held for the ferocious blizzards, and the story was passed from parent to child over the generations. The story of the White Dragon planted fear of the snowy mountain in the hearts of the villagers. It began to be used as a way of teaching that stepping onto the snowy mountain meant throwing away your life. However, hearing that story as a child, Flodnar instead grew more interested in the dragon. As Flodnar grew to the age where he no longer believed in dragons, he left the village on an adventure and ventured across the continent. ---- One day, Flodnar found a child on the side of the road, and took it in as his own. For a long time the boy had no name, but after a certain event he named him Randolf. ---- Randolf had a weak body as a child, so Flodnar often told he stories of a certain hero. It was the story of one young man defeating a monster lurking high in the mountains. It was a dramatization of the story from his own village. (In the original the dragon ruthlessly killed people, it had no discretion at all.) After telling the story, Flodnar always said "Become strong enough that you can defeat a dragon." ---- When Randolf was 8, he came down with a very terrible cold. With proper nourishment, it could have easily been overcome. However, the continent had fallen on hard times, and someone like Flodnar could barely afford any food. Flodnar crossed to the island, and found proper food and nourishment for Randolf. Soon after, Randolf made a quick recovery. ---- They lived on the island for some time, but one day Flodnar suddenly disappeared. After that, Randolf no longer had anyone to depend on. Slowly dying of starvation, his consciousness became hazy. A rat ran right near him but it took all of Randolf's strength juts to follow it with his eyes. At that moment, the sword leaning against the wall fell and struck the rat. Taking that rat in hand and gorging on its meat, Randolf decided he would survive on the island no matter what. That sword was left to him by Flodnar. (Unlocked by defeating Geyser Gazer) ■Geyser Gazer Hiku Kumo has lost many people close to him just because they were good people. This monster takes on the form of the enemy from the second chapter of the "Demon King Chronicles" combined with the "Weak-willed Goodness" ideal that he wants to overcome. Remember the place where we found Rat Slayer? That's probably where they lived, and where the last part of Flodnar's Glossary entry happened. That's why that sword has its name, and it's why Randolf eats rats: it's a reminder of his promise to himself.
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Apr 10, 2014 01:49
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I burst out laughing at that blown-up picture of wingedwhalewithwrongeyes-boss. I think it looks like a derpy smiling moon-face upside down. Kumo and Nana both get some neat parting words, huh. And I was certainly expecting my annihilation guess to be a huge longshot, but man, I think you've barely died at all since you got Randolf. Is that normally how the difficulty curve goes?
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Apr 10, 2014 02:23
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booksnake posted:I burst out laughing at that blown-up picture of wingedwhalewithwrongeyes-boss. I think it looks like a derpy smiling moon-face upside down. Basically, yeah. The Snow Fields and The Sands of Remembrance are the game's big challenges, but having a second character means there are many fewer situations that are flat-out hopeless, especially with Light Axe. The Disease has a nasty trick that'll catch you off guard the first time, and there's one part in the final dungeon that's generally a giant pain in the rear end, but it's fairly smooth sailing from The Tower to The Imagination.
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Apr 10, 2014 02:33
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Honestly, the game's "training" areas are unfun, pains in the rear end filled with enemies. The dungeons are mostly pleasant. I actually find the second and third to be pretty relaxing. And Kumo's lines feature the best pay-off and probably my favourite bit in the game. Einander posted:but it's fairly smooth sailing from The Tower to The Imagination. Yeah, now that you can survive against Shout'd enemies. Seraphic Neoman fucked around with this message at 02:53 on Apr 10, 2014 |
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Apr 10, 2014 02:50
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I love Kumo's parting speech. The sad thing about overleveling is Aaron Aaron can actually be a somewhat decent challenge normally. Basically if you let him get off his first spell he debuffs your characters to hell and your main attacks won't even scratch him. It's a rather interesting idea even though it's easily countered by high attack and agility.
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Apr 10, 2014 02:54
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Aaron, what did you THINK would happen when you stole the psychically active books?
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Apr 10, 2014 04:50
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So everytime we ruin someone's self-righteous attack on us, we get a Ruined Story item? Nice. I do like the game's theme of what experience stories have on people. Would it be ok to discuss/speculate here?
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Apr 10, 2014 06:24
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Einander posted:Basically, yeah. The Snow Fields and The Sands of Remembrance are the game's big challenges, but having a second character means there are many fewer situations that are flat-out hopeless, especially with Light Axe. The Disease has a nasty trick that'll catch you off guard the first time, and there's one part in the final dungeon that's generally a giant pain in the rear end, but it's fairly smooth sailing from The Tower to The Imagination. I'm going to be exceedingly happy if my bullshit guess actually ends up winning this for me. ~I believe in you Einander~
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Apr 10, 2014 06:26
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SSNeoman posted:Honestly, the game's "training" areas are unfun, pains in the rear end filled with enemies. The dungeons are mostly pleasant. I actually find the second and third to be pretty relaxing. Really? Huh. That's actually the opposite of my opinion. Personally, I like The Snow Fields and The Sands of Remembrance better than any of the Story dungeons (except The Imagination); they're hard, but they're a Dark Souls kind of "yeah, that was definitely my fault" hard. I like that the part before the fight is the fight in those areas, and that you're at a very real risk of dying if you screw it up. (The Seashore is kind of like The Sands, but the devs were trying to make it so you could go there early, so nothing has numbers high enough to challenge you by the time you "should" go there.) Meanwhile, the three Story dungeons are all a bit too straightforward for my tastes. The Wisps in dungeon one, the Eaters in dungeon two, and the nigh-invisible Mermen in dungeon three basically ensure that you fight a lot, but they're not especially dangerous fights. Nana makes The Tower a lot of fun (LIGHT AXES FOR EVERYONE), but I'm not very fond of The Mountain or The Depths. Mind, my perspective is probably sort of altered by all the grinding this playthrough. Stupid Glossary entries... Valkama posted:I love Kumo's parting speech. Fear not; I'll be showing that off in my alternative playthrough on Friday's update, which is also going to be lower-level and have worse items. I haven't done The Depths yet, so... Maybe Geyser Gazer will also be vaguely threatening this time! (no, he won't) EagerSleeper posted:So everytime we ruin someone's self-righteous attack on us, we get a Ruined Story item? Nice. By all means! I certainly do enough of it in the posts, and it's fun to read theories for things that are purposefully left opaque in any story. I doubt we're ever going to get a tell-all Glossary entry on Camil, for example. (I'm half-expecting the optional boss to unlock a Glossary entry for Camil. It'll be like Irisu.txt in Irisu Syndrome: three dots, each on their own line. End of file.) Cake Attack posted:I'm going to be exceedingly happy if my bullshit guess actually ends up winning this for me. I am doing my level best to make that happen, because it would be the funniest outcome. But I make no promises!
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Apr 10, 2014 07:37
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Einander posted:Really? Huh. That's actually the opposite of my opinion.
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Apr 10, 2014 19:05
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I actually quite liked the seashore. It was a pretty neat area with relatively easy enemies and some neat puzzles. The mountain can eat a dick though. That filter is awful.
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Apr 11, 2014 00:40
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SSNeoman posted:I actually quite liked the seashore. It was a pretty neat area with relatively easy enemies and some neat puzzles. Completely agree on the mountain though.
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Apr 11, 2014 02:57
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Just... just... die two more times before the end of the game, okay? It's nice to finally be able to read Kumo's story. I also missed out on his glossary entry. I think I laughed when I first saw this area, playing through myself, both because it's a sudden switch in environment and because it's JRPG Moby Dick. I rather like Speckcinder. All the range of the Book, with a fair amount of attack and without Slow Attack shunting the character to the end of the action order or requiring a slot spent on something with Fast Attack to balance it out. I think I had it on Camil for quite a while. It's kind of terrible as an all-purpose item, though. That said, I didn't notice the Preying Mantis Axe and Mask of Determination had such good gains for a while, either.
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Apr 11, 2014 13:45
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Well, gently caress. Bonus update may be slightly delayed; it looks like resetting Aaron Aaron's "Possessed" flag value before Geyser Gazer isn't enough to keep him from tripping the flag that leads to the fight against him and the opening up of The Imagination. Unless there's a flag elsewhere that I'm missing that can return him to the room, I'll have to run through again to get the last couple of Aaron Aaron talks. (At least debug mode makes that easy. Some of the lategame/postgame stuff is absurd.)
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Apr 11, 2014 20:34
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Ah yeah - the problem is that entering his door with the Mole's, Laylaria's, Nana's and Kumo's events complete will always flick the switch to make him disappear. Flick the "Aaron to war!" flag off when already inside his room to make him come back. Honestly, i'm not sure how you are ever supposed to get his post-Kumo talk unless you never trigger Laylaria until the very end. As it is, him leaving even ignores whether or not he ever encountered Harold's willstone (it's originally above the Nest entrance and relocates to Aaron's room when you reach it, like the expensive stone and the potted plant).
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Apr 11, 2014 20:49
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Ah, okay. So that's the trigger for him leaving? Hmm. At least I can just (in theory) never talk to The Mole. Yeah, I noticed the Will Stone thing. Mostly because the Zara Mantle hole basically ensures that you'll trip it heading to Aaron Aaron's room before The Tower in every playthrough. Rather annoying. Well, either way, I have to do things over again to see the "after Nana without the Will Stone" conversation, and I messed up getting Fire Wave on Randolf, so it's not too big a deal. Update sometime today. Offer not valid in all timezones
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Apr 11, 2014 21:00
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Chapter i: "It is there because I decided so." (Missed Content) Demon King Chronicle has a lot of stuff, and that means there's a lot of opportunities to miss material. Some of it's important! And I didn't even know about the existing Japanese documentation stuff when I started, so I didn't do all the planning that I should have. So this update plays catch-up. First! As pointed out in the thread, there's a special bonus for playing in a rather unconventional way: instead of talking to Laylaria at the start, just turn right around and head for the Demon King's Castle.    No one shows up until you talk to Laylaria, so you can't get Glass Fragments. Talking to no one means the shop doesn't open, so you can't get Fire Wave. (Though you get something for holding off, so I do.) And no Fire Wave and no Glass Fragments means you can't get the first Empty Bottle near the entrance to the Demon King's Castle. Thankfully...    ...getting to the Demon King's Castle is enough to trigger the event that you unlock by doing this. The Hair here allows you to get a second Chatty Barber, if you're so inclined.  Camil's room opens up as if you'd talked to Laylaria afterwards; she won't ever do her whole "here's your room" thing if you get the Hair this way.   Why don't you pick a time when everyone is in and try visiting their rooms?Instead, she moves right into her "visited the Demon King's Castle" talk, which I missed the first time. Still no idea as to whether or not the stories on their desks actually exist. Maybe they do but the pictures don't? Demon King Chronicle's whole "everything is half metaphor" makes things like that kind of complicated, and that's before you get into "press x to open the menu" half-fourth-wall stuff. Anyway, I don't go talk to Randolf. The "why" is a little complicated. You see, I mentioned before that characters are still around even after they head off to their dungeons. This isn't quite true--rather, it's not always true. Some spots are special, and the characters appear there only if they haven't headed off yet. There's two of these locations for each character. I've already seen both of Nana's missable conversations (at the scorpion house in the Hamlet and in the Sands) so I go talk to her in the Demon King's Castle instead of Randolf. Between there and back, Camil hits level 3 and levels up the Glass Fragments, allowing her to achieve proximate competence, by which I mean "can fight two rats at one time without being horribly mauled." So I go and get the Glass Bottle on the way to the Demon King's Castle. This is also strong enough to fight one Frog at a time and one red rat if I'm willing to use a Stamina Restore, so I get the 5 gold, Magic Bean, and 5 gold from the area west of the save point. That lets me buy the Fine Pajamas, which get me through the rest of the area without any potion use at all. This includes the boss. (Who I very nearly die on, due to attacking when he seemed near-dead instead of healing. It worked out.) Good thing Aaron Aaron doesn't care if you buy things without talking to him. Interesting fact: as an All-Purpose, the Fine Pajamas give -20 magic damage taken. Leveled up, that's -32. This is actually the second best magic defense item in the game, despite its poor stats otherwise. Additional random fact: apparently the red frog between The Demon King's Castle and The Hamlet drops 1 gold. Well, that explains that old question from the second update! The problem with the Hamlet without Fire Wave:  That's the aftermath of one Monkey. Two would kill me, no question. If the normal Hamlet is survival horror, The Hamlet without Fire Wave is stealth action and all the guards have real guns. Fight log. First screen: one Monkey. Second screen: no enemies. Third screen: one Monkey.   This wide field area makes it easy to avoid enemies. It's a good place to go. Fourth screen: no enemies. Fifth screen: no enemies.  Sixth screen: this monkey, because it's basically required. The Coat and the Salad let you breathe a little easier, since Monkeys become much less dangerous. And even with the two Glass Fragments I have equipped, I have enough Fragments to get a third Bottle! ...then I promptly fight a Turtle + Monkey combo by accident, during which I use two Stamina Restores. Seriously, you don't have much margin for error here. Not much at all.  On the way to plant the Magic Bean for the Kelde Laude, I fight one red Turtle. A single one takes a Stamina Restore to kill, even with two Glass Fragments leveled up twice. Without Fire Wave, they are even more ridiculously tough than usual. I hunt down a Glass Fragment or two, get a Monkey Tail, and build a fourth Bottle.  ...which I need, because red Monkeys are goddamn MEAN without Fire Wave available. Ow. It drops an item I never mentioned, in hindsight:  +9 HP. Basically no reason to get one when Turtle Blood is in the same area.  This is a little trick that was actually pointed out in the thread.  See this monkey?  Wait for him to wander over this way...  ...then engage him and walk right through the trigger in the doorway, preventing the Killer Rats from flooding the house. All tile-based triggers are deactivated when you're preparing to fight--the best example of that is in The Tower, when you're around switches.   I have an inkling that this is probably not intended. Do you remember what else Death Rat House is connected to?  The answer is, "the Her Memory area that connects The Tower and the Zara Mantle hole." Camil is now, by the standards of the areas she should be in, a living god. (I do forget to open up the way back to The Nest before dropping down the hole, though. Oops.)  And hey, the Wheat at the top of the cliff is great at this point, too! +7 HP, +7 Attack.   Camil versus a pack of Ferocious Rats, the red enemy of the Castle. Pictured: pretty much what happens with this gear.   Accidental discovery: you can press x just as you open a chest to have the menu up while you do it. It jumps straight to the item menu, for some reason? I'm sure there's some way to exploit this. I go back and collect some of the chests I was missing. In the process, while considering what to level on the harmless enemies, I decide to show off the less invincible but even more ridiculous equip option:  ...where the one actual downside of the Book of Manslaying, Slow Attack, gets negated by the Fast Attack on the Zara Mantle. Coupled with the higher Agility and the Extra Attack+1 on the Zara Sword, this is a much more offensively potent set-up.  Something I forgot to mention: the first time you move through the passage to The Snow Fields, it's about five screen-lengths long and ends with a fade of several thin horizontal lines, an effect not really used anywhere else. And as mentioned, there's generally not really screen transitions unless you're going in or out of a Story. I like to think that this means Camil gets annoyed by the length the first time and just edits it out of reality. She's the narrator, she can do that.  Correction from way back: Apples are actually the Abominable Snow Monkey drop, not a Mutt drop. Mutts drop Bushy Tails. Red Mutts are actually still a little dangerous--they did that 7 damage to Camil in one hit.  I collect the Magic Bean and plant it. Then I clear the rest of the area, because frankly nothing is a threat. Along the way, I make a Twin Tail and pick up Critical +3, HP Regen Up, and Agility +4 Crystals for Camil, opening up to the third room. Shout next.  See the Lucky Rabbit? Isn't it cute?  As I recall, it's the only enemy with a real map sprite instead of the silhouettes you usually see. (Not counting Laylaria or Aaron Aaron.)  The first missable in-dungeon conversation that I missed; Randolf's other missable one is just inside The Snow Fields, two screens before The Dragon Mountain. This one is just outside the entrance to Her Memory that also leads to The Sands (the front door, not The Tower). It's a shame it's missable, because if you talk to him again, he has one of the most interesting lines in the game: The way stories warp reality on this island seems to be common knowledge.  I didn't actually show off this exit before. (Randolf says this, but he doesn't join up and there isn't an entrance to The Dragon Mountain here. It's weird. He does, however, leave that spot once he says this.)  This leads to a hole. It's the deepest one in the game...   ...and surviving it is its own kind of challenge. It is very definitely postgame stuff, especially since getting to the bottom isn't the end of it. I don't pick up the Rat Slayer, for mentions already mentioned in the thread. I'll grab it once Randolf joins up. That'll be a while, though. Randolf shows up at the end of The Seashore, so I won't be recruiting him until Camil can get to the end of that area on her own. The Magic Beans in both The Hamlet and The Snow Field have grown in, so I pick up their items... Including the Lizard Tongue. So I speak to Randolf a couple more times, triggering him to head to The Dragon Mountain, and head up.  This is the Decoration the White Dragon Knights on the mountain drop. It's a pretty good item for the period, giving +2 HP, +2 SP, and +10 Skill. Also, note Randolf's stats. It's a shame I won't be keeping the Hair much longer...  ...but it's really, really nice to get the Chatty Barber this early.   Camil is now strong enough to venture into the Sands on her own... So long as I'm careful. Red scorpions take anywhere from 2-4 turns to kill (Extra Attack +1 and criticals make it pretty variable) and do about 11 damage, but normals go down in one turn and blues in one to two. That means this area is pretty easy. When you can take down most enemies before you ever get hit, then staying at high HP is a breeze. There aren't enough red scorpions to cause you serious problems.  Mostly this means taking out all the red Scorpions and taking advantage of their respawn timer.  Only instance I know of where a character says the same thing both times (excluding "......", that is).  See? I told you this isn't that hard. If you can clear out Scorpion Island, then you're stronger than the Sands expects you to be.  Alternate playthrough Camil is basically the biggest badass.  Still haven't spoken to Aaron Aaron at all, so Laylaria's still hanging out here. She will be for a while.     Basically, this is just the Sands all over again. Spiny Eels are basically red Scorpions, Pirahna and Slippery Eels are Scorpions and blue Scorpions. Camil books them to death, same as always. Just about the only difference is that she's already near to maxing out her items, so she won't suddenly jump +15 attack mid-area like she did last time. That said, pirahna are more aggressive, so they're more likely to be a problem than scorpions. But it's not really any harder.  It's a shame Randolf stops talking once he joins up.   Also, he's definitely going to be horrifyingly underleveled when he joins up. Oh dear.  And again:  Sadly, not all conversations are very interesting.  Maxed out Camil in her current configuration. She's pretty drat impressive. The next step is to talk to Kumo repeatedly, grab the Mask of Determination and Praying Mantis Axe, and use those. Camil can essentially simulate having the Book's attack range so long as you're judicious about your Inferno useage.  This is missable. Not that there's dialogue to miss, what with the "......" both times, but you won't get the Glass Fragment. I do the Mole and Coward events. Aaron Aaron doesn't try to teach Camil Fire Wave any more. Kumo has a dialogue I missed, accessible if you talk to him after finding him four times.  Sounded like a real fun person to know. When Aeritz talked about Ares, he always had a really happy look on his face. He said Ares used to come and go from the island often. I wonder where they are now? Aeritz promised he would take me to see Aeritz some day. ...but that has nothing to do with you, huh? Forgive me.Similarly, if you leave the room and talk to Aaron Aaron after the Coward event...   The only weapon she carried from the start of her journey was just a single Long Sword. That Long Sword was, without a doubt, a magical sword of enormous power....man, you are poo poo at stories, Aaron Aaron. The point of identifying her weapon in the story as a simple Long Sword is to show that the wielder, not the weapon, was the source of her strength. That's really basic! ...which is actually probably the point. Remember Aaron Aaron's Glossary entry from last time? He's a bad writer. He can recognize a quality story, but that doesn't mean he can analyze it or really understand it. The fact that he's bad at it is entirely consistent with his background! I find it interesting that Kumo doesn't know Ares's gender--"I wonder where they are now?"--when Aeritz apparently talked about Ares a lot. Sera is based on Ares, so Ares was probably female... Which puts Aeritz always happily talking about Ares in kind of a different light, doesn't it? Ares often returned to the island, so she's probably a native, and all of the stuff with Aeritz, Flodnar and Sera took place around twenty years ago. Camil's probably about that old. In another story, Camil's parents never being mentioned would disqualify anyone as important as Ares and Aeritz. This one isn't really bothered with that sort of thing. She's the storyteller, not the subject... But it certainly does put her quest to complete the Chronicle in a bit of a different light if it's true, doesn't it, though? It'd be a pretty direct connection, and it'd lend a little more weight to Nana's description of Camil as "someone burdened by other people's stories" and Aaron Aaron's statement that "only you can finish this now"--Aeritz and Ares may or may not still be alive, but between Camil and Randolf, all three of the heroes would be represented. Of course, this is only a theory.  Randolf gets the Book of Manslaying, Camil gets the Kelde Laude, and both get anti-Poison gear. She wipes the Dragon while Randolf plays cheerleader. Hey, she's like 10 levels higher than him, I'm not expecting miracles here. Randolf gets Light Axe and +15 Skill in a desperate bid to remain relevant. He does not, however, get Fire Wave. You see, if you skip talking to Aaron Aaron the first time until after The Dragon Mountain, he's supposed to teach it to Randolf... But talking to five people, which starts his trap for the Coward, means he'll no longer teach you magic. Oops. This means you actually can't see all of Randolf's conversations if you want Fire Wave on him, and you have to walk right past most of the others. You are incredibly unlikely to get Fire Wave on him without an exact guide to the process.   Randolf: still no conversation portrait. But yeah, as I mentioned back at the very end of Update 13, Flodnar's entry heavily suggests that we're probably in Randolf and Flodnar's old house right now. And the kid managed to get back to relative civilization by himself while very nearly starving. Randolf: kind of a massive badass.  Another missable Kumo location. I haven't journeyed through the second part of the Demon King's Castle, so I've talked to him six times. Again:  Back at the Nest...  He leaves. I almost forget to grab the last Nana conversation. Behold, the single most ridiculous replacement of one of these conversations:  For extra style points, get this conversation while the birds are active and attacking. (Her second conversation is just "....." this time.) And with that, I've shown off all the in-dungeon character dialogues! That's one thing ticked off the list. The next step is The Tower. Camil's Ax and Mask are still level 1 and Randolf and Nana are horribly underleveled, so the first couple of floors are a pain in the rear end. Then there's a few levels all around and the rest goes smoothly.  The boss basically just consists of Camil hitting it over and over while the other two play cheerleader and die a lot.  There's an internal counter that governs Creepyglasses Mode. I'll talk about it later.   So I use debug mode and lower it a bit. Thanks for the debug mode improvements and the specific advice on what to change, HenryEx. There are three more conversations I missed with Aaron Aaron. This is the first.  Avatars are a projection of the author allowing them to insert themselves into stories. They exist in every narrative. An Avatar doesn't always appear in the form of a character. In the lines and actions of the various characters. In the story's setting and the description of the scenery.  Some of Aaron Aaron's conversations have this minor graphical bug. Apparently some of Laylaria's do as well? It's fixed in HenryEx's localization fix patch, though. (I'm doing this on my first, pre-LP game folder, which I'm leaving unpatched for something later.) The Avatar can take on many forms. Even the author's ideal portrayal of the opposite sex, or the opposing morals being played out by the main enemy of the story. Well then, the Avatar of the Demon King Chronicle... Where do you think we will find it? Here's what I think. Harold's Avatar appears in the final unseen chapter. I believe he was supposed to be introduced in the simplest form possible. The conversation then ends abruptly, but it's continued in a fashion in his notes--remember, Aaron Aaron believes that Harold Dieter intended to finish the series with a sort of revenge-by-proxy, with his in-story doppleganger mercilessly slaughtering Sera, Randolf and Ritzea, all three based on people who had wronged him.  This is my status preparing to enter The Depths. I've got lower item levels, lower levels, fewer skills, less money, and fewer drops. This is going to end in tears. I end up needing Light Axe to do much damage to the various Mers; Camil's lower level means that even her great equipment largely just balances out the 40 less attack she's sporting. Fighting a Leviathan is just not going to happen.  Thankfully, their aggression makes them easy to lure away.  This is a bit of a running theme this time around: since a Leviathan can probably kill both Camil and Randolf in one attack-all skill, I don't fight any. Too risky.  If you were wondering, no, touching the shadow on the map where Geyser Gazer appears in The Depths doesn't do anything. I know, I'm disappointed too.  Fighting this boss at these levels is a bad idea.  drat THE TORPEDOES, FULL SPEED AHEAD   This fight... actually goes sort of badly early on. Its Pitch Polling attack can do quite a bit of damage if you're unlucky, as shown in the second screenshot.  It also has an attack-all skill that does half as much as the other but also Skill Binds. If it hits Kumo, that's a problem.  When Geyser Gazer is down to about half-health, it'll self-target with the skill Geyser and give itself the Seriousness buff. Before Seriousness, Camil with Yell was doing about 80 damage. After, she was doing about 10. Normally, you can just use Heart of Stone to bring its defense back down, but I got pretty unlucky with Barkington Thru silencing Kumo. Thankfully, Light Axe's ability to partially ignore Defense allows Randolf to keep doing damage, even when it's tanky as hell. You'll also remember that Wave Cutter ignores 50% of Defense.    Despite my disparaging remarks about him last time, Kumo is enormously useful here if you're underleveled; he stayed alive through my unlucky early turns, kept Geyser Gazer's defense lowered most of the fight, and managed to land the final blow in fine style even without Poetic Justice. You did good, Kumo. You did good.  I hack Aaron's Possessed flag back down to zero...  ...but, unfortunately, that check has nothing to do with this. Besides, the Avatar conversation with Aaron Aaron earlier replaces another conversation that he does after you complete The Tower, and it's triggered by the Blue Will Stone showing up. So I'd have to replay the game anyway. Oh well. Debug mode time.  Yeah, that looks about right.  Hi, other Randolf! Aaron Aaron's dialogue is exactly the same the first time if you have Randolf in the party. But this time...   This Fire Wave is exactly the same, it's just on Randolf instead. You don't get a choice--if he's in the party, it goes to him. Theoretically he can make use of it, especially since Camil can still pick up Flame Fang and Inferno, but it's really nothing special once you're past The Snow Fields. Sadly, having Randolf in your party already and then recruiting Randolf does not result in Double Randolf, nor does he fuse with his twin and double all of his magic-related stats. Camil pastes the White Dragon in a single attack sequence, thanks to two Extra Attack procs and a critical.  Huh. I guess that's The Mole up top? It's either him, the ghooooost~ of Harold Dieter (okay no that's the Blue Will Stone) or a debug-related glitch.   Another correction: there's two Cutters, and therefore two sets of Demon Wings, in The Tower. The first is near the bottom of the stairs past the "kill green slimes" floor, the second is where I said it was in the last update (past the timed floor).  Passion Burst is stupid strong with postgame gear, especially since that's when Nana can actually get +Skill on good armor.   Thank you, Aaron Aaron, for so concisely summarizing how I feel about this last hour spent getting this conversation.  Removing Kumo from the party while in The Depths has interesting side effects. You can't use the D button to swap party leaders in The Depths, probably to prevent this exact situation, or possibly because only Camil can walk on water.  This still got the Cut-In. That's funny. Thankfully, Kumo's absense doesn't break anything.  I don't remember if a shot of the area above The Nest ever showed the Blue Will Stone just hanging out there.   Okay, correction: we've gotten a book lodged in Aaron Aaron's head. Presumably that's the reason for his "Dragon King Chronicle" slip-up. (I really don't think you're meant to actually SEE this conversation, judging by the effort put into the foreground/background layers here.)   As HenryEx pointed out in the thread, the trigger for the final dungeon is completing each of the three Story dungeons, defeating Laylaria, and sending off The Mole. Despite the Blue Will Stone appearing from Aaron Aaron in this scene, its presence or absence in The Nest doesn't matter. I drop down the Zara Mantle hole and then down the cliff above The Nest, triggering the Blue Will Stone to appear in Aaron Aaron's store. This trips the internal "Possessed Aaron" counter to 1 and replaces his conversations with the one about Avatars from earlier. Each battle makes it iterate once, and the "Avatar" conversation appears when the counter is higher than 0 but lower than 5. At 5, it switches to the Creepyglasses "Only now do I truly understand Harold's feelings" conversation.  Back in the non-cheaty bonus playthrough. Let's fight Aaron Aaron again.  Rule Enforcement: No Violence gives your party the No Violence status, which drastically reduces your damage output. But, uh, he has like 250 HP.  Randolf's Light Axe may only do 22 damage after this, but he still goes down. Even at lower levels, Aaron Aaron is not very tough. He doesn't hit that hard, either. That's everything I can think of that I missed, going through things. There's miscellanea (I forgot to mention a couple of drops, stuff like that), but this is basically everything important. Next time, The Disease. Einander fucked around with this message at 02:16 on Apr 12, 2014 |
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Apr 12, 2014 01:43
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It feels so good to get actual visual feedback on the hours spent learning Ruby and coding the stuff being put to good use. 
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Apr 12, 2014 02:08
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HenryEx posted:It feels so good to get actual visual feedback on the hours spent learning Ruby and coding the stuff being put to good use. Really, it's thanks to you that the tail end of that update happened at all. Everything after Geyser Gazer would have taken about four times as long without debug gear, and the idea of doing everything over again in more-or-less the same way wasn't very appealing. Solo Camil and lower levels kept it interesting this update. (Plus more stuff I tested for the next update, since one of Aaron's lines got me curious. It didn't come to anything, but I wouldn't have bothered otherwise.)
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Apr 12, 2014 02:15
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Fire Wave's not that great even with Skill-based Randolph? That's a shame. Ah well,thanks for showing off that run! I love this sort of thing
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Apr 12, 2014 02:32
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(Almost to the next page!)SSNeoman posted:Fire Wave's not that great even with Skill-based Randolph? That's a shame. Ah well,thanks for showing off that run! I love this sort of thing Basically, it has a lower power than Lightning (18 vs 60), but in theory makes up for it by gaining 20% more base power from the Attack stat than Lightning does (60% versus 40%). So Fire Wave is stronger at a little past 200 attack. Skill impacts both of them the same way, serving as a multiplier on the resulting damage. The problem is that Lightning ignores 30% of defense and Fire Wave doesn't, and defense gets fairly high later on. Lightning doesn't do enough damage even with the partial defense-ignoring, so "weaker than Lightning" isn't a ringing endorsement. Additionally, if you're fighting multiple enemies at once, it's generally because you messed up. Enemies are strong enough that you should eliminate them one-by-one to avoid being overwhelmed, so it's just not a very good fit for the game. Inferno works because its base power is really drat high, so it gets to ignore the usual rules. Of course, there's two points where Fire Wave is arguably very good on Randolf, but I haven't done either of them yet. I'll return to the thought then.
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Apr 12, 2014 03:06
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