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Update 78: Shin
It seems I am going to have to talk with Faye about her methods for picking out teams.
I dunno, I thought we did pretty well!
Before I get into the actual update, there's something I want to cover first.
Once you beat the game, the music player unlocks in the options menu, and you can listen to every song in the game. Including ones you haven't heard yet.
Oh I did say that the New Game option is permanently replaced by New Game +, but if you want to undo that, you can just delete your save data through the options menu to start making regular New Games again. Onto the actual update.
This... This is the party that was voted in to fight the next boss along with my Limit setup and...
Let me sum up exactly what's wrong with this party.
There are two damage dealers, one who isn't that great at dealing damage, and one who's starting to fall off.
One of the party members (Fang) has the potential to be a strong support, except the party he's trying to support cannot capitalize on the opportunities he brings.
You people decided to bring Alice to a boss fight.
Susan is fine. There's enough she can do that lets her practically synergize with most party members. Her main problem is that she is trying to support an incredibly terrible party, though that's not really a problem with her so much as democracy being a complete joke. Whatever, let's get this over with.
It can only be the teleportation device which the Abyssal King directed you to find.
There's the teleporter!
Careful, we aren't alone!
However, the moment you attempt to approach it, you detect an aura of intense menace from behind!
Kujura continues to mutter a string of curses as he closes in on you, his katana held threateningly...
Hey! Same to you, jerk!
You are free to leave. But if you persist in advancing... I will hold back no longer.
I've heard better threats. Go on, and bring it!
With battle seeming inevitable, you ready your weapons when a familiar voice sounds from behind you.
Huh? When did you get here?
Who cares about that? It's six versus one now!
The girl moves as if to shield you from Kujura, fearlessly taking an aggressive stance toward him.
The Abyssal King’s directive is to eliminate all in our path.
...I'm a little conflicted on this. On one hand, he did trick us, but on the other hand we did used to work with him...
TEAR HIM TO PIECES, OLYMPIA! ...What? He tricked ya'll into smashing our Gatekeeper. Aren't you a little mad about that?
With these chilling words, Olympia steps forth, as Kujura laughs coldly.
Interesting. You’re no human, I know that much. Let’s see what power you hide in that frame!
With a loud cry, Kujura produces something from his sleeve and throws it at your feet.
A flash of white.
Proof of Kujura’s words arrives in the form of a beast coalescing from the smoke. You have no path forward save for that directly through this legendary beast! Draw your weapons and slay the beast confronting you!
Olympia can handle Kujura, we should focus on dealing with that! Let's go!
Video: Shin
Shin
Level: 51
HP: 12420
STR: 45
VIT: 46
AGI: 42
LUC: 45
TEC: 50
Attack Type: Slash
Exp: 34800
Item Drops:
-Normal: Coral Shell - 100% Drop Rate. Unlocks the Gorm Glas (Rapier.)
--Tenacious shell quite capable of protecting its host.
-Gold: Fullmoon Crown - Kill while Head is bound. 100% Drop Rate. Prevents normal drops. Unlocks the Ameno Makagoyumi (Ultimate Crossbow. Must be restocked.)
--Crown tinged with magic power flowing from the moon.
Description: A legendary clam beast Kujura retrieved from an eastern land. Its mirages confuse and befuddle.
Damage Resistances: Slash: 100% Strike: 100% Pierce: 100% Fire: 100% Ice: 100% Volt: 100%
Ailment Resistances: Sleep: 20% Confusion: 10% Plague: 10% Poison: 10% Blind: 50% Curse: 10% Paralysis: 30%
Bind Resistances: Head: 50% Arm: 50% Leg: 50%
Other Resistances: Death: LR - 25% Petrification: LR - 25% Stun: 20%
Skills:
Devilish Smile: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Confusion on the entire party with a 10% success rate. Has an action speed of +0.
Misfortune: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Plague on the entire party with a 20% success rate. The Plague ticks for 20 damage. Has an action speed of +0.
Breath of Envy: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Curse on the entire party with a 10% success rate. Has an action speed of +0.
Mist Robe: Uses the Head. Increases Shin's physical defenses by 50% for 4 turns. Has an action speed of +0.
Cold Stare: Uses the Head. Deals 80% Ice damage to the entire party. Has an action speed of +0. Has an accuracy of 120.
Shin is quite frankly a massive joke compared to Kirin. Her gimmick is that she tries to inflict ailments on the party. She will never attack (Until she falls below 51%) while the party has no ailments. So for a good chunk of the fight, having 2 Prevent Order users completely walls her. Note that all of Kirin's skills aside from Imperial Pride dealt damage on top of inflicting binds. Shin only has 2 actual attacks. As long as you make sure to block and clear off any ailments, Shin really shouldn't be an issue, and this should be a fairly short fight.
Of course that's if you're not using one of the worst parties ever like I am. Mere words cannot get across just how terrible this party is, so I'll just show you.
I'll have Susan put Prevent Order on a row to stop Shin from getting out of control.
I'm mainly gonna use Rocket Jump to activate Sleep Mode safely, rather than a means to avoid something.
If you're curious as to what a Farmer can do in a boss fight, it's nothing. Most other classes can already do whatever they could better. Alice is slightly more useful than an empty slot, but for the most part, she's just gonna be there throwing out items because she is not a real party member and you people decided to saddle me with Susan as my only real support.
Anyways, because I have absolutely no form of elemental defense or actual healing, I was forced to stock up on a bunch of Ice Mists to lower the damage from Cold Stare. So I'll just have Alice throw one out.
Asteria is just gonna be alternating between charging and dealing damage.
Might as well try to stop Shin from doing anything.
Boom! There I goooooooo!
Frost, protect us!
I'm not really a fan of using Mists after they got nerfed really hard in EO3, but you all forced me to take some desperate measures. Of course thanks to Rocket Jump, the Mist has no effect on Smith. Though he's fairly durable so it's not that much of an issue.
Don't worry my new subject, I shall protect- ahem, never mind.
Prevent Order also missed Smith, but honestly he has Virus Scanner, so I'm not too worried.
Um... Okay.
Great job Shin, you Cursed someone who rarely makes direct attacks.
Here birdie!
Didn't land the head bind. Oh well.
You'll be in for quite the shock...
Now that Smith is done with setting up, it's time for him to deal some damage.
While Fang doesn't really care about being Cursed, I still want to dispel that to stop Shin from spamming Cold Stare.
Okay, time to let her have it!
Fang will increase Smith's damage while his bird tries to head bind her.
There you go, Fang!
Thanks... I think.
Ow! What're you doing!?
Cold Stare deals a decent amount of damage on its own which is why I brought the Ice Mists.
Watt's up?
...Not much, I see.
That is not a large amount of damage.
And the Goshawk's attack just missed entirely.
Boo!
I'll give her the old one-two!
One, two? Hmm, gonna have to work on that some more.
Yep. This is the party I have to work with. This team has absolutely no damage.
Take a good long look at that HP bar, because outside of Limit skills, that's as much damage as I can deal! I am dealing about an average of 500 damage per turn, while Shin has 12420 HP! This is going to be a long, and I mean long fight.
All I can really do to speed up the process is to have Susan amplify Smith's damage through the use of Attack Order and Eagle Eye. Unfortunately, casting those means that she can't make use of Prevent Order. But screw it, I don't want to be in this fight for any longer than I have to, I'm willing to take that risk.
Because I lack an actual healer, Alice is just going to be spamming Madoras when she's not refreshing the Ice Mists.
Thanks for the free turn, Shin.
I order you to PUNCH HER HARDER!
Oh, thanks for that uhhh, Susie?
It's Susa- I mean MEGAQUEEN! The name is MEGAQUEEN!
Ah, gotcha.
Okay that's a bit better, but not by much.
And now I'll use Eagle Eye to increase Smith's damage output further.
...Everyone, cover your ears.
MOTHER OF $#!%!
Well my damage per turn just dropped significantly. On the bright side, Shin can't cast Cold Stare on the next turn.
Hey! Leave Asteria alone!
There's Blood Return taking effect.
May I suggest striking there?
Uhh, maybe you should suggest a spot that isn't so mobile.
I think we need to install something to help his aim.
The other problem with Yggdroids is that since they have low TEC, LUC, and AGI stats, their accuracy and evasion are terrible. However, they do have a passive that can offset that, but said passive kind of requires you to go into the Labyrinth at night to take advantage of it.
Better revive Asteria.
Asteria? It's time to wake up!
Ahhh, thanks a lot.
I don't think so, clam lady!
Oh and you know how Kirin used an attack every 5 turns that scaled in power as he lost health? Shin just casts Mist Robe every 5 turns, which just increases her physical defense. 
I mean I guess it's annoying if you don't have a way to deal with it, but there are plenty of ways to do that at this point.
Woo! Caw caw!
Oh yeah! That head bind just bought me a few free turns.
Okay, that's much better, but unfortunately, that's as much as Smith can deal since all those buffs are up.
Now just in case the head bind wears off, I'll have an elephant wail on Shin for a while in the hopes of landing Confusion.
Here boy!
Aww, you did your best!
Though it's really lacking in terms of damage.
Now that Susan has her Limit Gauge filled up, I'll have her cast Regroup Tactic, which will pretty much make Shin harmless for the time being. It'll let her do other stuff, such as placing attack buffs on Smith.
Ugh, this is the thing with disables in this game. There's absolutely no control over their duration. The head bind fell off immediately after one turn, so I'm gonna have to switch back to the bird.
Your dirty tricks mean nothing to us! NOTHING!
See?
Shin's skills don't have a particularly high infliction rate, so it's possible for her to waste a turn completely. I mean the same was true for some of Kirin's skills, except those also did damage, so he didn't give out free turns nearly as often.
Oh, that's nice.
Eight turns in, and we've only taken off about a quarter of her HP. 
People are already starting to run low on TP, so I'm just gonna have Alice toss out Amritas because... What else can she do? I mean as funny as it would be to see her proc Kubikiri or Izuna on a boss, that's completely impossible since their 1% resistance would reduce those chances to 0%, and that's not even getting into their Lethal Resistance multipliers which would reduce that even further. Assuming if there was anything left.
Good boy!
Oh hey, now Shin is even more helpless.
Though by the time turn 12 comes around, both of those have worn off and... Okay, here's the biggest problem with Fang. Even ignoring that bosses are fairly resistant to ailments, his biggest problem is that he has an expiration date. If the fight goes on too long, he becomes as useful as Alice, which is to say not very. At this point, I am effectively fighting with a 3 man party. In order to capitalize on the openings Fang gives us, we need a party capable of ending fights fast. Which you did not give me. In later games, this isn't nearly as much of an issue since Accumulative Resistance is not permanent, but it is in this one. At this point, all he can do is spam Primal Drums and stab things. Which only Smith can really take advantage of.
EWWW! That's just disgusting!
...That was something I wish not to experience again.
Don't let Charlotte hear that.
Who's Charlie?
Once Shin drops below 76% of her HP, she breaks out this skill.
Demon's Kiss: Uses the Head. Randomly hits the party with Pierce damage 2 to 6 times, and deals 50% damage per hit. Shin is then healed for twice the damage she dealt. If the targets are Confused, Cursed, or infected with Plague, the damage they take is quintupled. Has an action speed of +3. Has an accuracy of 99.
Oddly enough, Demon's Kiss doesn't check for any other ailments. Which only matters if a Confused party member happens to infect someone else through their ailment forges. Anyways, once Shin falls below 51% of her maximum HP, she will occasionally break this out even if no one has any status effects, but that happens very rarely.
I notice that Asteria's Limit Gauge is almost full, so I have Asteria cast Meteor to ensure that it fills up completely.
OH GOODNESS THIS PAIN IS UNBEARABLE!
Make it stop! Make it stop!
Nice try, but my firewalls are just too good for you!
Virus Scanner is a really good passive since it's effectively a free ailment resistance accessory.
Here's your constellation prize!
Meteor does about the same damage as an Etheric Charged Star skill. The problem is, if I have Asteria keep casting it, she'll run out of TP really fast, and then I would be fighting with a 2 man party after a few turns. So spamming it isn't an option.
Fortunately, Regroup Tactic is back up, and that will dispel the Plague.
YES! I can finally deal actual damage!
Are you sure this'll work?
I'm positive!
1303 points of damage. Whatever, at least it's more than I was doing before.
And it did knock off a good chunk of Shin's health.
...Never mind. Most of that damage ended up getting undone. Though once Shin drops below 26%, she no longer bothers casting Mist Robe and starts using Demon's Kiss way more often.
...A giant naked clam monster was not who I had in mind at all for my first kiss! Pleh!
Somewhere, Charlotte is screaming in agony.
This battle is just going to go on forever, isn't it? 
In the case of Poison or Plague, Regroup Tactic dispels the ailment before they can deal damage, so effectively, Misfortune is a free turn for my team.
I have to deal with dealing so little damage when Shin is capable of healing itself. My hatred for everyone responsible for this abomination of a party knows no bounds.
Ohm my goodness, finally!
Eventually, Shin finally goes down. Remember that Kiring took 9 turns to take down, and he's considered the tougher of the two bosses!
Congratulations. You people have turned what is considered to be an absolute joke of a boss for nearly every player into an agonizing experience. I hope you're proud of yourselves.
From behind you, however, you can hear ragged breathing from the two master combatants.
Kujura glances towards you. His eyes betray his realization of his precarious situation.
I stand to gain nothing here...
With this, Kujura takes a quick leap back, fleeing the room...
Hey, he's getting away again!
Olympia slowly approaches you. Her chassis is shattered and she seems to have difficulty moving.
With this in hand, we are capable of infiltrating the royal forest in the depths of Armoroad. You must inform the Abyssal King. Do what he asks.... Help him. I will catch up... later.
The girl mutters to herself before handing you a key.
You might consider this... a token of my gratitude for cooperating with the Abyssal King.
No matter which path you take, you'll always get the Moon Key after the fight with the boss of the 4th Stratum.
I am finished speaking. Do not concern yourself with me. Make your report to the Abyssal King.
You can obey Olympia’s directive and report to the Celestial Palace or check the teleportation device.
We can talk with her again.
Um, are you sure you're alright?
You can obey Olympia’s directive and report to the Celestial Palace or check the teleportation device.
She'll be fine. Nothing that can't be fixed with a quick tune up and some part replacements! Probably gonna be expensive as hell, though.
And now onto the 5th Stratum!
Hoowee! Just take a good look at this place! Really pristine and all that! No wonder it's called the royal forest!
Indeed it is. OW!
When you touch it, you receive a mild shock and jump back. There seems to be no way past...
Oh, sorry. Probably should have told you about that. Lemme just get the... Oh no. The seal's gone!
Then how are we getting past this?
If we were still on Flowdia's side, she would help us. But we aren't really on good terms with her anymore, so...
Eh, don't worry! I think the Abyssal King also might know. He did used to live in Armoroad after all. And besides, he wouldn't send us here without a plan of his own!
Perhaps the Abyssal King would have some idea as to how to pass this strange barrier.
Oh, and you also lose the seal as a key item on a NG+. So you're forced to go back to town to hand in your respective mission.
Anyways, I'm going to end the update off here. I was planning to show off more and let you all vote on the party for the Deep City route's final boss, but after that poking contest, I am not in the mood for being stuck with a second terrible party right now.