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Update 26: Ghost Ship
Ugh, there's no way I can catch up to Asteria, and Sidney's way better than me now. I need to get stronger.
I unlocked some more equipment while grinding for supplies. I stock up on Medica IIs, Amritas, and Nectars. These are gonna be some long fights.
Here's the party that was voted in for these fights.
Ooh, treasure! You all up for this?
Well it could be exciting. I hope we don't run into too much trouble along the way.
Here's the people that will be participating in this Sea Quest.
And my Limit setup. For some reason, I didn't bother putting one on Asteria. Not that it really matters.
Suddenly, the clouds above you turn dark green as a thick mist drifts into the area! And then, out of the blue, a large ship appears without a sound, floating through the haze!
What the hell is that thing!?
Hmm, I believe we read about this. This may be the haunting grounds of the pirate Jolly Roger. Or at least his ship.
Whoa, really? Awesome!
It seems you must eliminate this eerie ghost ship if you are going to deliver these two safely. The sight of the treasure island inspires the two to join your fight! Now, rise to the challenge!
Video: Ghost Ship
By the way, all the Sea Quest fights will be shown in one video from now on.
A ghost ship. We're fighting a ghost ship. Now I've seen everything.
Ghost Ship
HP: 3888
TP: 704
STR: 35
VIT: 33
AGI: 25
LUC: 32
TEC: 34
Attack Type: Slash
Exp: 11961
Item Drops:
-Normal: Ghost Keel - 100% Drop Rate. 1 needed for Helepolis (Crossbow. Must be restocked.)
--Ship's skeleton unaffected by the wake of its attacks.
-Gold: Naval Ram - Get lucky. 10% Drop Rate. Prevents Normal Drops. 1 needed for Jolly Roger (Rapier. Must be restocked.)
--Assault ram that shows its might when ramming ships.
Description: The ghost of a derelict ship that appears near Tortuga Island. It is difficult to intercept.
Damage Resistances: Slash: 100% Strike: 100% Pierce: 100% Fire: 50% Ice: 200% Volt: 50%
Ailment Resistances: Sleep: 40% Confusion: 20% Plague: 10% Poison: 20% Blind: 20% Curse: 10% Paralysis: 40%
Bind Resistances: Head: 30% Arm: 30% Leg: 30%
Other Resistances: Death: 1% Petrification: 1% Stun: 30%
Skills:
Heated Shot: Uses the Head. A party target Fire attack that deals 40% damage. Has an accuracy of 60.
Oil Cannon: Uses the Head. A party target Pierce attack that deals 30% damage. Targets have their Fire resistance increased by 150%.
Ghost Ship is actually a pretty difficult fight if you're unprepared. But right now, it doesn't really do much aside from firing off Heated Shots.
Cassandra will reduce the damage from Heated Shot to nothing, while Faye heals it up. Asteria is my main damage dealer for this fight.
Nothing will burn us down.
NPCs will occasionally do nothing if their AI doesn't cover anything that's happening at the moment.
That kind of stings.
All better!
Protect Order is one of the Prince's best skills. What it does is the for 3 turns, it heals a row for a certain amount of HP at the end of the turn. The amount healed is dependent upon the user's TEC stat, though it doesn't operate like the Monk's healing skills. I'll talk more about that later.
This is Reinforce kicking in. Whoever Dezerte buffs will be healed for a small amount, making them function as a pseudo healer in that regard.
Getting ready.
Pictured: Me making a really stupid move since Ghost Ship has only two single target attacks. (And one of them deals splash damage.)
Let me show you a little trick you can do with the elemental jars.
Frost bites!
The jars actually work with the user's passives, and Etheric Charge. If your elemental stars are past level 6 there's little point to using the jars.
If they're not, the jars make for great nukes if you want more damage.
This is actually the first time the party got hit with a Fire attack. (Without it being guarded against) Those are indicated by that red flame overlay.
Heated Shot ended up missing everyone except for Cassandra. It's not really a threatening move, even if it connects since you can easily recover from the damage. There is a reason I said to bring Antifire though.
When Dezerte has nothing to do, she just attacks. I don't know why Toma defends when the same applies to him. The Ghost Ship only has 2 physical attacks, one of which barely does any damage. And defending doesn't affect elemental attacks in this game.
Whenever Faye doesn't need to heal, I'll have her chuck out Ice Jars since she has a very good TEC stat.
The two big numbers in the front row are Protect Order coming into effect. And yes, it stacks with Royal Veil. Princes can function as healers if you want them to, though it'll take a lot of skill point investment for them to do so.
Strange Seeds is really awful. It's a AOE bind move, but it only chooses one bind out of the three at random, and the bind is inflicted at the end of the turn. Due to the nature of the move, it can either end up trying to inflict a certain bind on a target that's immune or resistant to it, and not really do much. Of course this is all Toma can really contribute to the fight other than healing everyone.
This move is why you want Antifire for the fight.
Its damage output is pathetic...
But it does this.
Gross! It's all gooey and sticky!
That part is the least of our worries. I'm pretty sure that we're all set to be flambéed.
Oil cannon increases the amount of Fire damage the party takes by 150% for 3 turns. By the way, unlike most defensive buffs or debuffs, that number isn't a multiplier. That's added to the party's Fire resistance. So if someone has a Fire resistance of 0%, Oil Cannon changes that to 150%. This makes Heated Shot a much more threatening skill. Fortunately, Antifire's damage reduction/nullification is applied after all that, so it brings Heated Shot's damage back down to a reasonable amount.
Expect to see this often if you're trying to use Strange Seeds against bosses and FOEs.
Missed us!
Once Ghost Ship's HP falls below 76%, it'll start using two new skills.
Barracuda: Uses the Legs. A single target Strike attack that deals 160% damage, and deals splash damage. Splash damage hits for 70% of the damage dealt. Has an accuracy of 2.
Thunder Cannon: Uses the Head. A single target Volt attack that deals 190% damage. Has an accuracy of 5.
Ghost Ship's MO is to try to hit the party with hard hitting, but very inaccurate attacks. Now despite the low low numbers, they can still hit your party every now and again. Barracuda is easy to recover from if you have a Monk, but at this point, Thunder Cannon is a one hit kill on anyone it hits.
Flambéed? I don't think so!
Inspire is a great skill. It removes all debuffs from a row (that the game calls status ailments for some reason.) And restores their TP. Okay that part's negligible. The debuff removal is the important part.
Ghost Ship uses this skill every 5 turns to be extra annoying.
It's too bright! I can't tell where it is!
Dazzling Aurora: Uses the Head. Increases Ghost Ship's evasion by 20 for 4 turns.
Thanks! Maybe I should learn how to do that.
Let's make things go by a bit faster.
Offensive Formation!
Oh that's just disgusting.
Ad Nihilo in action. Dispels all buffs on the enemy and deals some damage. A very handy utility skill.
Ha! I knew those would pay off someday!
Don't get used to Strange Seeds being useful. Most of the time, it doesn't do what you want.
But when it works, it can really help.
Once Ghost Ship drops below 51%, it gains a new move.
Uhhh. This is what it was supposed to do.
Arrest Mine: Uses the Legs. Lowers the party's evasion and has a 50% chance to bind their legs.
Arrest Mine is Ghost Ship's deadliest move. It turns its attacks from powerful, but inaccurate to outright lethal. Even if you dispel the leg binds, the evasion debuff will still give Barracuda and Thunder Cannon a decent chance to hit.
Ice Star still deals great damage, especially since it's affected by the damage boost from Charge Tactic.
Once Ghost Ship drops under 26%, its AI gets a lot more aggressive. While it'll still use Dazzling Aurora every 5th turn, but the chances of that happening are rare, so your party no longer gets a free turn most of the time.
It'll combo its moves a lot more often, such as using Oil Cannon and then Heated Shot, or Arrest Mine then Barracuda or Thunder Cannon.
I guess that didn't float his boat.
Honestly there's not much to say about this Sea Quest. Just do your thing while Dezerte and Toma make your life easier.
As the ghost ship fades into thin air, the two adventurers rush you into letting them disembark. You throw a rope ladder overboard with a wry smile, watching as the clients scramble to the shore. Uttering a silent prayer for their safety as they disappear into the thickets, you set sail once again.
Stay safe, you two.
Hmm, looks like the fog isn't completely gone.
I suppose killing a ghost wouldn't be that easy.
Those cowardly marines have already resumed their investigation of Tortuga. In fact, they found this in the depths of the island, and they delivered it here. I’d like you to have it. I’m sure it’s something you can handle.
Aegis Defense is a very strong utility Limit. What it does is nullify all physical attacks directed towards the party, and their secondary effects for one turn. However, it doesn't work against elemental or Almighty attacks. And it doesn't affect ailments, binds, and debuffs. Still, if you use it wisely, it'll lengthen your party's survivability. You also want to get this before fighting the 3rd Stratum boss. As for the Ghost Ship itself, its not too helpful, so I won't be showing it off this update.
Anyways, let's get the equipment reward from this quest.
Here's Arrest Mine in action.
I can't feel my legs.
Yeah, Barracuda hurts.
Lemme get that off you all.
Thunder Cannon, even moreso.
Why did you let this happen!? I thought we were drinking buddies!
Oh. Sorry, Toma. How about I buy you a drink later to make up for it?
I'm a cold-blooded killer!
Anyways, something very interesting happened after the fight.
OHHHH YES! Let me talk about the Naval Ram for a bit. Despite being classified as a Gold Drop and that it prevents the Ghost Keel from dropping, there's no condition you have to qualify for to get it to drop. It's just a rare drop, so you have to get lucky in order to get this. You can force the drop by using a Formaldehyde or by using another method, but by the time you get access to the latter, the weapon this drop unlocks will be long outclassed. Now if you aren't using a Buccaneer, this won't do much for you. If you do have one? Well, you'll see later. But I'll just say that getting this is well worth it.
...I guess they got a local marine to deliver that message for them. ...They left this with the marine, too, saying it was a token of their gratitude for you.
If you already have this, the Harbormaster replaces his last line with this:
A treasure island, eh...? That’s enough to make any man’s heart race. Ha, even an old guy like me! But treasure isn’t the only thing out there in the deep. Set sail in search of your next mystery!
Eh, I guess this could be useful on a support class or something. Oh well, time to move onto the next one.
Kirizkaze's back?
I guess her last hunt didn't work out.
Here's the party I'm going with.
And my Limit setup. Let's go.
Suddenly, the clouds above you turn dark green as a thick mist drifts into the area! And then, out of the blue, a large ship appears without a sound, floating through the haze! Before you can even make sense of what you’re seeing, the ghostly ship surges toward you!
Okay... That's new.
Ready to see some fireworks?
This is in case she gets hit by Thunder Cannon.
I really can't afford to let Faye die since that would cause a ton of action economy problems.
Kirikaze's Karuwaza is kicking in. What it does is that every time she dodges an attack, she'll restore a set amount of TP, depending on the skill level.
Patch up!
Boom! Ah he he he he!
While the damage isn't much compared to what Asteria can put out, for a physical attack, that's a really good number at this point in the game.
Pump it up!
BAM! POW! HA!
That's some nice damage.
Now this is an interesting ability. Tagen Battou rejoins the clones (meaning that their HP and TP values are combined) and randomly hits all enemies from 3 to 5 times. The real interesting thing about it is for each clone that the Ninja has out on the field (Yes, they can have more than one), the damage is doubled. In fact, it's possible for a Ninja to solo a few bosses because of this, but the setup is really impractical. Good luck pulling that off. Oh, and a neat little thing is that the music cuts out when the Ninja casts this skill. If the Ninja doesn't have any clones, then the damage is really pathetic.
Look at it go!
I saw it go. Straight into the ocean.
While Arbalists have decent LUC, their TEC and AGI stats are really low, so their accuracy isn't too great. They do have a passive that can fix their accuracy woes.
I wonder how hard this will hit.
Really?
Yeah, essentially her damage output is like 60 points per turn. You know, compared to Sidney who was hitting for more than twice that. Although that's because Rose doesn't have her essential skills yet.
Sidney is pretty much the strongest physical attacker on the team at the moment.
Honestly, Kirikaze isn't really a factor in the fight. Though she's does help out a bit.
This missed everyone except for Kirikaze's clone. Now Ghost Ship's AI checks to see which debuff you have, so if you're affected by Oil Cannon, its very likely to use Heated Shot. If you're affected by Arrest Mine, it's more likely to use Barracuda.
While Kagenui can be useful, you don't want Kirikaze using it too early, or it won't do much for your team. I've pretty much said everything I've wanted to for this Sea Quest, so I'll skip ahead a bit.
I can't move!
Oh great, how am I supposed to get these off!?
Like this.
Thanks, Faye.
Not my best work...
Woman overboard...
I'm back and ready for-oh crap, it got Cassandra, too?
I apologize for my failure. It won't happen again.
Dammit. Definitely not my best day…
Okay, hopefully I can revive her so she can get that sweet sweet exp.
Or not.
To the bottom of the sea with ya!
Oh well, at least Cassandra and Faye got-wait wait wait, WHAT!? A second Naval Ram!? 
Usually people have to fight it plenty of times just to get one! Oh well, I'll take it.
In the throes of your celebration, the ninja disembarked in search of the Hourai Jewel she came for. However, she returned empty-handed, unable to find the gem her master was searching for. Still, you encourage the ninja to continue her search, knowing that if she does, she will find it.
She was a woman of few words, but she seemed very grateful for your assistance. Ah yes. She also asked me to give this to you. She hoped you would accept it as a reward.
If you already have the Kirikaze Gi, his last line changes to this:
I’d like to thank you personally, too. Strength to defeat even ghost ships is a light of hope here.
Ehhhh, it could be good for Akatsuki? Not really a fantastic reward.
Asteria is making her way to Binary Fire.
Uhhhh, dress warmly? I'm not too sure on how this works.
Magic.
...I see.
Anticold is the same thing as Antifire, only it works against Ice attacks. I don't have her put another level into Antifire, because I won't need it maxed out for a while. I'm leveling up Anticold in preparation for something later.
And Refresh now affects the whole party. I won't be putting another point into this skill.
And now for the 3rd and final Sea Quest.
Hopefully we'll get rid of that thing for good this time.
Here's my setup. I can't bring any offensive characters since I really need to turtle for this fight.
Suddenly, the clouds above you turn dark green as a thick mist drifts into the area! And then, out of the blue, a large ship appears without a sound, floating through the haze! The pirates charge toward the ghost ship with amazing dexterity for having been drunk moments ago!
I did this fight at daytime to show off the background. Most of the Sea Quests have different backgrounds for each location, and I thought it was a nice detail. And the backgrounds look different between day and night. Like in this instance, the wisps are gone.
Since the NPCs are gonna be doing most of the fighting, I thought I would speed things along with Charge Tactic.
Zaby will primarily attack with Chase Thrust, though she has the other two chaser skills as well. I'm not sure why, since the NPCs only have Pierce attacks.
And that's basically what this fight amounts to. Keep everyone alive, while the NPCs plink away. I'm not really fond of a lot of the 3rd Sea Quests for that reason.
I realized that Heated Shot doesn't do that much damage, so I have Faye chuck Ice Jars until Oil Cannon pops up.
Heads up!
Whoop! Missed me!
Armor Piercer is a pretty strong Pierce attack that ignores any defense buffs the enemy has. It's the 3rd strongest skill the Arbalist has, and typically what people skill if they don't want to take the risk of putting one in the front row. I don't know what the conditions are for Ivil to use it, since it's way stronger than Heavy Shot. Gavler has Front Mortar instead, which he only uses when he's in the front row.
Now if you know how the enemy's AI works, you can try to predict what they'll do. Oil Cannon's debuff just wore off, and Ghost Ship's HP is below 51%, so I predict that it's going to use Arrest Mine.
Not this again.
Saw that coming!
And Faye can do something else for the next turn, instead of wasting it to unbind everyone.
However, the evasion debuff is still there, so I have Cassandra put up a Line Guard, since it usually uses Barracuda after Arrest Mine.
I was right! And the front row barely took any damage from that. The fight goes smoothly until this happens.
Oh dear.
But I notice that Ghost Ship is close to dying, so I leave him dead so Cassandra and Faye can soak up the extra exp.
Whoops.
Crap.
I'm not having Cassandra miss out on the exp!
Aww, looks like we'll have to share with Zaby.
Go back to sea hell! Uh, wherever that is.
...I just stared at the screen in disbelief for a good while. THREE Naval Rams in a row? The chances of that happening are 1 in a 1000! Does the game WANT me to break it that badly? Oh well, no complaints here! Anyways, you might have noticed that the turn counts for these Sea Quests are a bit high. Yeah, get used to seeing that. Boss fights in this game last a long time. Short fights are gonna be the exception, rather than the norm from now on.
Your cooperation has successfully defeated the ghost ship! Ignoring the pirates, who resume their drunken antics, you set sail toward the ocean city.
Hey, the fog's all gone! I think we finally got rid of it!
Hopefully the seas will be calmer now.
It’s refreshing to see a woman like her leading those scallywags. She had a real dignified attitude. Oh, that’s right, she left you all a present. She said that with this, you can sail with her anytime.
Something I want to point out is that the clock actually reverts back to what it was before you started the Sea Quest. I'm not sure why, any time spent on Sea Quests will hardly affect anything. Maybe it's an engine limitation or something. Oh right, the Harbormaster's last line changes to something a bit more generic if you already have the crossbow:
You all did a great job. If anything else comes up, I’ll be counting on you for sure.
It's a nice upgrade for Sidney, and it comes with a Limit Forge! There's actually a couple of Forges in the game that are exclusive to pieces of equipment, and don't have a hammer associated with them. Limit and Speed Forges are some of them. What Limit Forges do is increase the Limit cap and the amount of Limit you receive by 1 for each Forge. Now let's see what Ghost Ship's drops unlock.
The Ghost Keel unlocks a new crossbow. That we can't get because we need a drop from an enemy on the 8th floor that we haven't run into yet.
OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY! Time to break the game into teeny tiny pieces!
Oh. Never mind. In order to unlock this weapon, we need to get a drop from an enemy in the 3rd Stratum. You'll see just how powerful the Jolly Roger is once we get to that point.