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Part XXV: The World We Changed
That was a pretty cool shot of everyone walking toward the volcano at the end of the last update, with the main theme of Berseria swelling, right? It's also like the only time where a song that plays in a cutscene carries over into normal gameplay, albeit just for the last few moments of the song. Time to totally kill the mood by taking care of some random business in town before we go. As you can see, a number of conversation have sprung up, so let's just take care of the before we go.
First up, our latest Class 4 island. Abbey stories, pfft. Who would believe such nonsense?
Next, a conversation near the inn with Medissa and Kamoana about what is to come. With backup like this, how can we lose? There's also a short skit right after this conversation, for the record.
In the igloo, an interesting skit with Grimoirh about therions and malevolence. These are definitely some very curious points, and maybe the Abbey is more self-sacrificial than we might have been led to believe. Well, it's has nothing directly to do with us right now, so let's just leave it at that...for now.
Before we go, one other thing I should mention is you'll want to upgrade a Void Ring to at least +5. There is...something very gimmicky coming up shortly, and there's one more ingredient we'll be getting shortly to make this upcoming fight "work". Well, there is a workaround if you don't wanna do that, but I can explain more soon.
Before you leave town, you'll also get a skit about what's to come. Gonna be some fireworks, any way it shakes out.
Also got more treasure. Let's see...
This is a very rare stone called cryas. And it's clear as a crystal, which is rarer still! For us to find this fragment, it was a lucky break!
A fragment...a lucky break?
Uh... I wasn't trying to make a pun, I swear!
Well, I thought it was funny, anyway.
W-Was it? Heh... Well, I guess there's no turning off this sharp wit of mine!
And you said it with such a straight face, too! That's the funniest part!
It wasn't supposed to be a joke!
Eizen really loses his cool when it comes to crystals. Good to know.
Back on the road. Steam erupting from the land, a blood red sky, a volcano in the distance... Endgame as hell. That conversation icon's about Killaraus melting the bottom of a glacier. Gotta be damn hot, even in the middle of an ice field. The red icon on the mini-map is the direction we *should* be going on, but we're headed for the yellow diamond now.
After following the path for a bit, make sure you pick up this Mythril Garment and equip any of the girls with this and the Void Ring +5 I told you to get. I haven't really mentioned since there was never any particular need to, since it's so gimmicky, but there are ways to reflect back certain types of damage, like Void or Fire. This is really more preparation than necessary, but for this Code Red hunt, it has to be done. Kind of. Anyway, I decided to put the two things on Eleanor. If, for whatever reason, you don't have any Void Rings, the other chest in this area, the non-Katz Box chext, of course, has one in them. The box is located at about 10 o' clock in that circular area, by the way.
All this effort for this goofy thing. Welcome to the most gimmicky enemy in the game, the Spectral Crystal
Yeah...you can probably tell there's a catch here. Well, when it says "Resistances", the game is lying to you. What these icons *actually* mean is that the Spectral Crystal will *reflect* all damage, not just resist them. Which means there is absolutely no source of damage you can use to defeat this thing. Or is there?
There are two strategies for this strange fight. First is switching the difficulty to Easy. Doing so will remove all of its resistances and make this a 2-second fight. But that's cheap. Let's do the "right" way, which is why we needed a Void Ring and Mythril Garment on one of the girls. So the Void Ring at at least +5 will give the bearer a 5% chance to nullify Void damage, which, as I mentioned long ago, is the most common damage source in the game. However, this very small chance is not going to be enough to defeat Spectral, which is why the Garment is needed. The Garment we just picked up has a Random Skill that reflects 10% of nullified damage. These two items in tandem therefore provide a 5% chance to reflect 10% of that damage. For every other bit of content in the game, this is entirely pointless, but it's the trick to how we beat this thing. Basically, we have to keep getting hit by Spectral until we hit that magic 5%, whereupon that reflected damage, ideally, should defeat it instantly.
Should also mention, either before or during the fight, go into the Strategy menu and switch everyone to Defense Only. Only your player character should really be doing anything.
What you're seeing here is about 99.9% of the fight. You'll *want* to take damage from this thing, just so you can have a chance of triggering that 5% that'll kill it. There's really nothing more or less to it than that. I think even sidesteps can potentially trigger it, because you're still taking 1 damage. It's the one fight I cut any part out of, because there's no point to the footage. You just have to keep getting hit until you get lucky.
For the record, I think it was rearing back for its Void Cannon, its Break Soul technique. Took me just under 6 minutes to get lucky...this time. All told, my efforts when I was recording, it was probably more than 10 minutes. The Luntic's Ventite it drops unlocks Chaos, the hardest difficulty. If you want to do an all-Chaos run, you'll need to carry over Glacites and Ventites.
Although we're not done in Amarcia, I should mention this particular location. This particular area is a reference to Legendia. The entire game took place on what was called the Legacy, a massive, and I mean massive, ship that supported all kinds of life and aimlessly drifted throughout the sea. The other half of this description references the native oresoren tribe, but I already told you about what they were back when we fished up that accursed pot.
Getting back on the critical path, apparently celestial alignments are what cause a Scarlet Night, nothing about humanity's sins or anything. But you definitely can't help but feel something is very wrong when the entire land is bathed in red for a night, is how I feel.
Oh yeah, when you're back in normal fights, don't forget to put everyone's strategy back to normal...
Huh, that was a short trip. Before you go in, there's a Gloire des Mousseux Sash for Velvet (Sparkling Glory), but otherwise the only way is forward.
Inside, well...did you expect an exit strategy from an erupting volcano? I'd say that's high on the list of completely hopeless things, but if Velvet says she won't die, you can't help but feel it'll be fine. Well, mostly.
By the way, new duds, and Eleanor's back in her Natalia clothes because I only realized when I was having Magilou cosplay as Arche that there were two cameo battle themes, not including the victory theme. Time to make my unintentional omission right. The rarer battle theme for Natalia is Awkward Justice, and in the continuing theme of obvious victory theme names, the victory theme is Victory!. Exclamation mark and everything. Since the enemies in Killaraus are decidedly not the variety you can really bully, I'll have to get Natalia's quote somewhere else. Laphicet's too, of course.
In particular, these armadillo enemies are very annoying to fight. Probably only Velvet can sweep them relatively easily, but again, enemies around here have lots of HP and this isn't really a great grinding location. Well, it is the penultimate dungeon, so you'd think as much. As for this first area, no notable treasures, so let's move on.
Velvet, appropriately enough, says if Magilou takes a nap here she's on her own. Also, the geoboard for this area is unlocked right near the very end, but you won't be missing out on any awesome treasures if you don't remember this gap. There's just a Grape Gel over there.
Hey, Shigure's no doubt lying in wait. Gotta take the edge off somehow. But like a fine young man, Laphicet says nothing. And that meets Eizen's and Rokurou's approval.
Well, Shigure might not be in this pass, but lots of daemons sure are. As you might guess, there's no dodging around the great mass of these enemies, and it's very easy to trigger a Dangerous Encounter, which can be pretty dangerous. As you would also think. I'd try to get through here as quickly as possible, but that's just me.
Well, Rokurou sure knows his big bro. Brothers Forever
*goes toward him*
Rokurou...?! *begins after him*
*stops her* It's OK.
Okay okay, I know he's supposed to be taking...uh, Kurogane out of Rokurou's gigantic scabbard, but doing the same animations with the hammer just couldn't be beat. If you're familiar with Xillia 2, you should also know why the Ludger costume is particularly fitting here, and indeed, I can't help but feel like that might have been some of the inspiration for Rokurou getting this particular costume.
Incredible. The old bastard forged HIMSELF into a sword.
...Indeed. That blade's the embodiment of Kurogane's centuries of study.
The "Kurogane Stormquell". I like it.
Just "Kurogane" for now. He will be the blade that surpasses both Stormquell and Stormhowl. And when it does, then he will have earned the name "Kurogane Stormquell".
*stands up, walks back to the party* Sorry to keep you waiting.
Watch out. I wouldn't be surprised if he used an armatus.
*stands up, tosses cup away* An armatus? It's not my style to rely on anyone's help.
Hah! Says the big, bad exorcist. Look, you'll even ask a tubby kitty for help.
Shut up! I'm totally not!
:o
He isn't. Quite the opposite, actually. Shigure asked me to restrain his power.
Restrain his power...? Wait, you don't mean--
Morgrim, release my bindings.
Can a human even be this strong?!
Kitty-wampus was holding him back?!
With enough will, humans can do anything. This was to be my secret weapon against Artorius.
...I'm impressed.
Rokurou!
Sorry, but we're pitching in.
Good! I'll take you all at once! Forget about fighting fair! You won't beat me unless you use everything you've got!
*draws swords* I know. All too well!
So Shigure is probably one of the funnest bosses in the game. You have a nice atmosphere, you have a strong enemy...enough to get the juices flowing. First up, since he didn't waste any time in demonstrating it...
Yeah, so Mystic Arte Gimmicks are another pretty common way to spice such things up in these games, and this is Berseria's. During this fight, if Shigure's AI decides to use his Mystic Arte, if Rokurou is not KO'd and is on the field, he'll automatically counter it and prevent Shigure's Rangetsu Eagle from devastating your party. If either of those aren't true, it's coming right at you.
And since I mentioned this trophy / achivement last time, you have to see both a successful AND unsuccessful Rangetsu Eagle to see fulfill everything you need from Shigure for that accomplishment. Coupled with the fact he has to use it normally in that fight at Port Cadnix and yeah...he's a jerk on this particular point.
But let it never be said a Mystic Arte was the only one of his new tricks. In addition to all the powerful artes he used at Port Cadnix, he'll add on a new Break Soul, Rangetsu Owl (in addition to his previous one, Cleave). This is a really powerful melee combo that, if the first strike hits (and since it's a Break Soul, it will go through your guard). Your only hope at that point for avoiding major damage is one of your spellcasting friends hits him with something like Kaleidos Ray, lots of little hits, and hope he staggers from one of them.
What the? How did I manage a 108 hit combo? I totally didn't notice this while I was recording.
Overall, Shigure's biggest weakness is, aside from his Mystic Arte, he has no real way of piling on major AOE damage, as long as you're not regularly running all four melee fighters. He'll also waste a lot of time hunting down his current prey, which can cause him to lay off the pressure when he has someone in the corner. It's not hard to avoid that killing blow as long as Rokurou stays healthy.
You people are really something, aren't you...
Don't act like you're impressed. I haven't even shown you my true blade.
...Your true blade? *stands up* Well then, no time for me to take a break.
Shigure...!
Keep out of this one, Morgrim. *gets into stance*
Rokurou, he's still got plenty of power left...
Of course he does. He's Shigure Rangetsu, after all.
Two blades? You sure?
Why dontcha find out? It's your life on the line.
...The same goes for you.
*grins*
*grins*
Sharp hammer. Man, we've come such a long way from Tales of Symphonia 3D models moving around like marionettes during cutscenes.
Three of them...? So this is your "true blade"...
That's right. I developed this technique to defeat you.
Not bad at all. *collapses*
One last thing... Please, let this fat cat go...
Shigure...
*picks up Stormhowl* Shigure... You were ordered to be executed because I--
I was already planning on leaving. I was sick of living the life of a chained dog.
...
Idiot... Stop worrying about the little things. Rejoice when your blade finds its mark. Seethe when it doesn't. Die when one finds you. That's all there is to it. The way of the sword is a simple one... That's what makes it so much fun.
Heh... That's the vicious face I'm lookin' for. If only Artorius' stony face... Could smile like that... He'd be a lot happier...
Yeah...
We're good?
We're good. My blade found its mark.
*approaches Shigure, arm unsheathed*
After the fight, we have a few things to take care of before we move on. First, learning what yozakura anmitsu is. Sounds uh...exotic to my sensibilities, if you ask me. But eating to someone who understood you? Makes sense to me.
If you examine Stormhowl itself, you get another skit about Rokurou's history with the guy. Might be a lie, but it seems to have worked out nicely for Shigure's choices in life.
And finally, Morgrim has this update's final conversation. She seems like a fine malak. What a shame we had to meet under these circumstances. There is one bit of translation silliness here. When the text says "That has to be good enough", her voice actress actually says "But enough".
Close enough. But our job is here is far from finished. Moving on... Toward the summit
It's scorching! No, it's torrid! Wait, no, it's HOOOOOOT!
Can you please stop making a fuss?
Anyone who can keep their cool inside a volcano needs their head examined.
I can feel the power of the earthpulse flowing upward. This is the lifespring.
That's odd. Melchior isn't here.
??? Have you devoured even Shigure, Lord of Calamity?! But remember! The only exorcists whose souls are worthy of sacrifice are Shigure, Oscar, Teresa...and me!
He's above us. At the volcano's peak.
If you are missing even one, awakening them will cause this volcano to explode, with you inside it.
If you seek to awaken all four elemental Empyreans, then come, try and take my soul from me!
What do you think, Magilou?
Trap. Melchior's greatest strength lies in his power over ice. I only wish we could lure him down here.
But we dare not forget. He's an exorcist who's spent years plotting to awaken Innominat.
Exactly. He could be capable of anything. It'd be dangerous to assume otherwise.
...Maybe this is the wrong time, but Magilou, you're related to Melchior, right?
You better believe it's the wrong time. Long ago, I was Magillanica Lou Mayvin, Melchior's foster daughter, and before I was cast out, his disciple.
Magillanica...? Th-The lost legate!
Heh. So even after ten years, my name still lives on...
I'm impressed. You must have commanded a lot of respect.
Not in the least. The relationship between Melchior and I was like that between Velvet and Artorius. The debts owed, and the grudges held... Velvet, you don't have to believe me. You may never believe me. But I tell you now, I want to settle my--
I don't much care about the affairs of a witch, now do I? I'm going to the peak to find him. Just doing what I want. Like always.
Yup! That's right! And I'm going with you! Like always!
Wouldn't have it any other way.
I like those made-up words, and it's good Velvet is still amused by Magilou's antics. Obviously. She's a bit more high maintenance than I would have guessed, judging by this skit, though.
If you're going to be fighting on the road to Melchior, watch out for these Lizard Paladins. They're fast and powerful, with a good amount of HP to boot. They can be very deadly adversaries. Especially if they have other powerful comrades, like this fight.
Got a pretty funny victory screen for this fight, though. So it was worth it.
I swear, volcanoes or volcano-like areas have to be one of the most ubiquitous video game locations. I think like half of the games I've LP'd have had one.
A bit further on, one of the most obvious Code Reds in the game. By the way, that northern cave had a Mythril Doll in it. We'll be seeing that in greater detail later. As for now...
Not you guys, but since you're in the way, I'll get rid of you. Getting back to business... Titan
Titan is such a tall enemy that this is about 90% of what you'll see of the thing, except for the times you run clear across the field from it and have the camera zoom out. There's certainly no tricks to this guy, except for a big one.
Yep, reflects Fire and Earth damage. It has basically all the same "Golem" enemy attack patterns, by which I mean, if you're good at dodging swings, you'll be able to dodge quite a bit of what it can do. Aside from it slamming that big spiked ball on its right hand down at you, its Break Soul attack and foot stomp actually hit twice, instead of what it looks like, which is just one. All this means is you just have to remember to dodge not once, but twice. Do that, and you'll be clear. An unblocked attack, though, is a lot of damage from this thing.
Aside from those specific strategies, Titan doesn't really have any glaring weaknesses and you can't really just take it to school with a particular character's move line-up. Just a mountain of HP you slowly have to whittle down, simple as that. Do note that sometimes this thing's moves have a much larger hitbox than you might think. For example, its foot stomp attack hits behind it, as well.
Not the kind of thing I'd brag about... She's taking about eating powerful exorcist souls, for the record. The Katz Box for Killaraus is right next to where Titan was, for the record.
Pfft. I made that trip for nothing.
Not as much of a waste as here, though. So much land traveled for relatively little gain. The nearest chest to where I came in had 11500 Gald, and the other is some treasure I already maxed out. We do get an interesting story from Magilou on the way, though.
Basically, guys like Melchior work in the dark to serve the light, if I may borrow a phrase from Assassin's Creed. They're the fixers, the ones who stain their hands to serve the greater good. As for Magilou's relationship with Melchior? He was grooming her to be his successor in this ignoble position, and if things had gone slightly differently, Magilou might have been our adversary, as Rokurou says. Which is funny when you think about it, because it's definitely not a super rare thing when you fight future or former party members in Tales games, but with Berseria, every non-Velvet party member is fought at least once...except for Magilou.
Nice view, but watch your step... Those chests have Mythril Earrings and Standard Tempering Powder.
Even closer to the summit, since Magilou knows the old coot best, this is her opinion about our odds of victory. So what she's saying is...it's not 0? There's always a weakness to exploit...somewhere. Sometimes when you're standing right on top of it, too.
Near the southernmost exit, you can find the geotree for this area (and also where you have to go to find Melchior), finally giving us the chance to Hang 10 around here. This leads to a rather large branching area, but you should be most concerned about an Elixir, a Soul Bottle, and a Red...something. Not really important, when we've got the third act to wrap up, in the other direction. Beginning of the end
The four elemental Empyreans are the beings that maintain the balance and harmony between earth, water, wind, and fire. *turns around* Have you even stopped to think about why they sleep? About what waking them will do to this world's order?
Not really. I don't much care.
They sleep because of arrogant, insolent wretches like you. The Empyreans derive their power, and that of their blessings, from the prayers of the pure at heart. But humans became corrupted and neglected their prayers. The forgotten Empyreans drifted into slumber.
Human prayers are the source of their power? Just like the malakhim!
Are you trying to say that Innominat "blesses" someone when he eats their soul?!
As the fifth Empyrean, Innominat's purpose is to eat human souls, malevolence and all, and to wipe the slate clean. When all mankind is once again pure as a newborn babe, the elemental Empyreans can be safely revived.
Wipe the slate?! But that means--
Yes. Civilization will crumble. The spread of malevolence, the cleansing of Innominat... The cycle has repeated countless times over the eons. That is why human civilization rises and falls. But if this continues, humanity will never surpass a certain threshold. Thus, the Abbey will control Innominat's power, so that we may guide humanity into a new, better era!
...It all makes sense now. You developed the arte of armatization to control Innominat.
And in order to create the armatus, you needed the technology found in Siegfried, didn't you?
So that's why you got Aifread involved in all of this.
...Just as light cannot exist without darkness, no great achievement comes without sacrifice. Even I must be made tribute for the sake of our ideal world!
Armatus!
No you don't! *rushes at him*
Eizen, stop! *runs back*
*jumps back*
I told you. He's a crafty old buzzard.
So in this first part of the fight against Demi-Melchior, his most common attack is this one, where, after a short wind-up, he'll fire four orbs in a D-pad like direction around him. The orbs aren't particularly threatening even if you do get hit by them, so don't sweat this one so much. His other attack is a short-range water attack, but as you might guess, only capable of damage if you're right next to him. Another is Phantom Curtain, which, as Magilou warned us about, is a massive ice attack that's also concentrated around where he is.
So, notice how Melchior instantly lost his cast? That's due to Magilou's Break Soul, Spell Absorber, where she eats all currently casting enemy spells and translates that into a Finishing Arte, much like Velvet's. What Finshing Arte she uses depends on the power of the spell she ended and how many enemies she stopped from casting. I don't know if there's an additional thing you have to activate, but I didn't see anything from AI Magilou's end, and frankly, the reason I didn't mention it before now was because I almost never play as Laphicet or Magilou, because mages in Tales games are typically pretty boring to play. The AI can easily handle either of them, if you ask me.
And yep, he has a Mystic Arte. Not sure if this one's a group attack or not, but it seems like it should be. Luckily, any of my buddies were far away from me playing as Eizen, so nobody but me got caught up in it.
Melchior actually has quite a few tricks up his sleeve, also as Magilou warned us about, but the only real biggie you have to watch out for is Gravity Storm, which is his most powerful spell. Remember that weird creeping skeleton we fought in the Aball shrine after taming Orthrus? Yeah, it's the same spell. This has a huge AOE radius and can easily level your entire party if everyone's bunched up. Better hope Magilou stops that one or you get enough hits on Melchior to break him out of his iron stance.
Just a little more...
Had to use a Life Bottle and Soul Bottle to get Eizen back on the field, but that's how it should be.
A hundred?!
He's used an oath to add years to his life. Centuries, even.
Is that what you call rational? Sounds like an obsession.
Hmph. I've said the same thing thousands of times. If it were my choice, I'd have let myself die naturally long ago. *stands up* But did he not say...
So were the words of the exorcist Claudin...
They were foolish.
...Think what you will. I'll show you the truth of his words.
You think illusions will work on us now?!
Not in the least. But it bought me enough time to finish my arte.
Are you trying to set off the volcano?!
You'll die too!
*turns around* As long as I take the Lord of Calamity with me, I have no regrets. That's because...I follow reason!
*rushes at him*
How dare you...insult Claudin's ideals so...
Hey, master... Emotions are a real pain, aren't they?
A changed world
Velvet! Do it, now!
You're damn right I will!
Hey Empyreans! The Lord of Calamity is here! Wake the hell up!
We are free. We will no longer be your tools. *both disappear*
Oh dear. What's happening?!
Outside Mount Killaraus, we get this skit about what happens next. Floating dungeon above the planet? Now that's an endgame dungeon. In spite of the fact it's four versus one, Innominat is not taking this lying down and is fighting back against them. We need to defeat Innominat while he's weakened and before the Empyreans are defeated which means...we have time to goof off with sidequests, if you ask me. But of course, this is the end of the third act, so we have a whole mess of skits on top of the one we just got.
So the geography of this world changes a lot between Berseria and Zestiria, and apparently this is the reason why. The legacy of Velvet's deeds will echo long past her time, it seems.
With a face like that, that might even be possible. Also, the one "progress-based" skit we got was the last one, Brawny Bienfu?, which I think triggers when you defeat Melchior, at the earliest? You'd think it would have popped up, if it was just based on the number of geotrees you unlock, back in the dungeon when we actually did that. Just a curiosity to wrap things up for today. *Breyve* sure does talk a lot of shit.
And gets his just reward for asking for a massage.