Off-site Screenshot test poster

Part XIX: The Resolution of a Conflict

And we're fast barreling towards the end of our story, but there's still...a decent amount left. You'll see. So we have our destination now: Elysia. Well, we're technically headed for Camlann, but given that Zenrus and the rest of the seraphim there seem to have been purposefully not telling Mikleo and Sorey about the Origin Village, it's safe to say we'll be getting some clues there. The trouble is...every save point past the Great Camelot Bridge is unavailable for warping. Sounds like trouble, but we won't know until we actually cross it.

Let's just say, looking back at this footage, I'm *damn* glad I got that Draupnir, but for reasons I entirely unappreciated at the time. Because of something coming very shortly, I'm very glad I got this from an Elephant / Blade Beak encounter.

Yeah, looks like both Roland and Hyland are ready to take the kid gloves off. It's gonna get ugly!

Yeah, and I hear it's all going down at Glaivend Basin.

This is too good!

Damn straight! Food and weapons!

Medicine and coffins! We're gonna make a fortune!

Another war?!

You mean Heldalf, yeah?

Let's go take a look. Sounds like it's around Glaivend Basin.

That it does, but we do have business in Pendrago and the Pendrago Area while we're passing over Camelot. Most importantly, when we defeated Euryale, we got the notion to look into the family history of the Forton sisters, so the church is a good place to start.

Forton Family History posted:
Enid Forton. Eldest of the Forton sisters. A pleasant and cheerful nun. However, she engaged in relations with Father Eric and bore his illegitimate child. Both were excommunicated from the church and exiled to Horsa VIllage, on the edge of Zaphgott Moor.

Rodine Forton. The middle Forton sister. A nun with great compassion and sense of service. Some of the faithful refer to her as a Saint. She approved of the land-reclamation project in Plitzerback Wetland and relocated there with a group of believers. For details of the land-reclamation project, please refer to another resource.

Runette Forton. Youngest of the Forton sisters. An eloquent nun rich in knowledge. Made her name as a reformer in church politics and financial affairs. Following the disappearance of Pope Masedra, she demonstrated a number of miracles, leading to her election as Cardinal.

Note: The hometown of the Forton sisters is the village of Forton, located beyond Glaivend Basin. The village is one of extreme poverty, and it is suspected that the sisters were strongly pressured to take their vows in order to reduce the number of mouths to feed.

If you can't trust Rose's intuition, you can't trust much, is how I feel. But, as Lailah rightly points out, plunging deep into Glaivend right now is simply not happening, but we stop this war, we may very well figure out the riddle of the Forton sisters. Speaking of lore, the priest next to the bookshelves has a surprising amount of it for us. Let's see...

Up until now, there have been four periods of danger severe enough to bring about a break in the course of history. First was the end of the Era of the Gods, in ancient times. Then the Era of Darkness, when we were invaded by those from other continents. Then came the Era of Disaster, a thousand years back. Finally, there was the Unprecedented Cataclysm of two hundred years ago. I hope that this doesn't turn out to be the fifth, but I suspect is just might.

Told ya he had some lore for us. The Era of the Gods, as far as I'm aware, is never commented upon outside of Sorey exclaiming at this monolith and this guy, just now. Safe to say that the time between this time period and the Era of Darkness, which we have heard about it, was a long-ass time because it's only during this era that Innominat would have been reversing the course of human civilization over and over, as Melchior said he had.

As for the Era of Darkness, Laphicet goes into this one during a skit in Port Zekson fairly into the game, but essentially, as the dude said, invaders from other lands invaded what would become known as the continent of Desolation, ending when Claudin Asgard (and presumably with Artorius and Melchior helping out at some point) expelled the invaders, united the land, and created the Holy Midgand Empire. The legend of the Shepherd apparently began during this time.

Era of Disaster, obviously, is the events of Berseria, with the massive, sudden continental shift happening shortly after the cameras stopped rolling, along with the political upheaval following the fall of the Abbey and eventually, the Asgard family, which would eventually result in, as I've mentioned, the Rolance Empire. Even though we have at least two party members who were alive during that time, as well as some other figures (Eizen and Zenrus, to name a couple) from that time also being alive, fair to say they're not too chatty about it, assuming they remember those days much. Whether "The Lord of Calamity", as the supreme antagonist of the Shepherd, was even a thing before this point in history, it being explicitly used as an epithet for Velvet is certainly how this title acquired its current reputation.

As for the Unprecedented Cataclysm, well, this one's a bit curious. We heard about it shortly after Sorey became the Shepherd, but we've never really heard much about what happened. Sorey says that the Celestial Record, Michael's travelogue, says that no Shepherd has appeared for 200 years, which would match the timing of this Cataclysm, suggesting that this event, whatever it was, marked the end of the legend of the Shepherds, but Michael's life itself contradicts that, since he has been explicitly referred to as "Shepherd". Several times in the last update alone. Granted, Human!Heldalf was probably sarcastically calling him that.

Now, it is telling that when Mikleo and Sorey were talking to each other about this, Lailah doesn't chime in about it nor adds to that particular line of discussion, suggesting she doesn't know what they're talking about or is upholding the terms of her oath. While on the one hand you could dismiss this as Lailah's usual "No talking about the previous Shepherd or Maotelus", it leads me to two possibilities about what that all could have been about.

The first one is Michael was flat-out lying in the Celestial Record about the last Shepherd appearing 200 years ago. While we have independent confirmation that *something* happened 200 years ago, the Celestial Record is the only other source that draws that connection. He may have done it to obfuscate his own identity, to protect his life in Camlann from outsiders nosing around, or for whatever reason. Either way, don't blindly believe everything you read in a book.

The other theory is a bit more generous to him. In this theory, he was correct about Shepherds disappearing 200 years ago, but did not consider himself a "true" Shepherd, since he abandoned his duty to keep the land clean of malevolence (there was apparently no Lord of Calamity while he was traveling with Lailah, or at the very least, not one that is ever referred to) to live a peaceful, grounded life, protecting Maotelus from humanity. I find this one pretty plausible; you would think Lailah would have spared no expense in educating him about his duties, but when it came down to it, all he wanted was to live peacefully with his followers and turned his back on a humanity that he thought had learned nothing. Since nothing suggests Lailah was around during the events at Camlann, she must have abandoned Michael at some point after he squirreled Maotelus away, and thus, he lost his right to call himself a Shepherd, except by those who always had called him that.

Huh, that was a long divergence, wasn't it? Well, I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it, y'know? Before you leave Pendrago, since we're out of relevant business here for now, there's an 18000 gald chest in the amphitheater, so no sense in not picking it up, and we also have someone to talk to in the shrinechurch...

But I did hear there was a high-ranking seraph, a lightning-user- who went to their village frequently.

Hm, an actual lead. Zenrus might be connected to the Katz, eh?

Welcome back to the Gaferis Ruins. Now that we have so many save point warps opened up, and the Gold Chest, we can go back and do some backtracking for unique equipment that we necessarily had to skip over. First, here in the depths of Gaferis, you can find Direct Appeal Paperwork, the Weylish Ruins has an Exile Hat and Rare Butterfly Tiara, Yder Cave has a Rainbow Arch, and the Ganglen Ruins have an Aqua Marine Blue and Elder Garden. That's obviously not all of the gold chests we've had to skip, but those are the ones with the most interesting rewards. All of these treasures can be found in decent proximity to the save point you warp to, thankfully, except for Yder Cave, which requires you to travel south from the save point to a large cavern with two gold chests in it. Can't miss it.

I also ran into a Mimic Zombie, a couple times. Mimic Enemies have another curious thing about them: which one appears depends on how highly-leveled your highest-leveled party member is. The starting Mimic is a Spider, then a Treant at level 26, Zombie at level 46, and finally, the most valuable of this family, the Giant, spawns at 76. Why are they valuable? gald grinding. How do you gald grind against them? It involves Drop Bottles. Drop Bottles increase the amount of gald gained from a successful battle, but here's the key thing: they stack with each other. So using 15 Drop Bottles (30 if you have some paid DLC or are on NG+ and select the applicable option) in a single fight against a Mimic Giant will result in an absolutely massive gald payout, but of course, you have to actually kill the enemy for any of that to matter. Although higher difficulties result in higher gald payouts, it's not really worth the added potential one will escape to play on higher difficulties if you're money grinding. In addition, higher difficulties increase the item use cooldown, so it slows down grinding in that sense, too. Simple + 15x Drop Bottles + Mimic Giant is the safest, most efficient way to grind. There's an added trick that involves Lohgrin's inn. If you stay there enough, you'll unlock Deep-Fried Prawns as something you can eat. This increases the gald payout of a fight by 75% if the Max Damage done in a fight is 10000 or more. Basically, the amount of damage done in a single combo, I believe. As for Drop Bottles, they can also be acquired from Lohgrin, for the low low price of 20000 gald from the shop (once the shop is at 4 stars), but considering the payout, if this method is done successfully, is in the millions, yeah, they're worth it.

As for how you get treasure chests to respawn? Well, obviously, you need the seraph perk that actually makes chests respawn, and they naturally come back after like...5 or 6 locations visited in-between when a chest has something in it versus when it will respawn. For example, a common loop is Tintagel -> a dungeon we haven't gotten to yet -> Arctus Ruins -> Ganglen Ruins -> Gaferis Ruins -> Weylish Ruins. What all of these locations have in common is at least 2-3 chests in close proximity to the save point. So, if you don't get run into a Mimic Giant, once you've unlocked the ability to fight one, in this loop, then start over at Tintagel and all the chests will be back. Simple.

This is also a very good method to grind Grade very quickly. Once you win a massive payout, go back and buy up all of a shop's consumables, then offer what you just bought to the Lord of the Land you want to level up, and all that Grade will go towards leveling them up very quickly. In addition, you can also grind equipment via this method, since there is a chance of finding equipment in any chest type, I believe, and all chest types will respawn. The normin skills you have set in a region will have a higher chance of appearing on equipment acquired via any method, either chests or enemy drops, so you can also use this method to grind what skills you want. Really quite an effecient system. And, again, given you can get more than 6 million gald every 100% successful Mimic Giant, yeah, you'll pretty much never run out of bread.

Once this timer starts going, I'm pretty sure there's no way to stop it outside of killing the enemy before it fills. I wasn't successful this time, but I am on Intense and I also didn't use any items here, so I wasn't out much except time. While I was in the Gododdin area for that Rainbow Arch...

However, they're apparently quite easily dazzled by social status. Perhaps you could get in if you carried something to suggest you knew a high-ranking seraph.

Hm, these Lords of the Land are more helpful regarding Katz Korner than I thought. And it seems Zenrus is connected to them, as well. Sounds like, next time we're in Elysia, we could bug Gramps for something for an in.

But I have no idea where one would find a Katz in the first place.

That...is a good point. Sorey has yet to run into any.

And we're back here. Let's hope this particular trip to Glaivend doesn't branch off into losing another party member... By that way, that woman on the hill?

Remember this lady? We first met her on our first trip to Aifread's Hunting Grounds, with her seraph husband, saying they had no interest in the affairs of seraphim or men and wanted us buzz off for good. Now it seems her beau has been captured by Heldalf. That...can't be going anywhere good.

Anyhow, back to the Rolance camp... Prelude

Report! Approximately 50 casualties on the enemy side!

Is it over already?

Don't kid yourself.

It's no more than a skirmish along the front lines.

If both armies were clashing full-on, the body count wouldn't be anywhere near this low.

This...LOW?

Where are the Platinum Knights?!

Can't they see there's no time?!

Sorey, there's no point in just staying here.

The Platinum Knights are in Lastonbell.

Let's go see Sergei.

Yeah...

Well, let's not waste any time, shall we?

Talfryn! What happened?

We were all...captured in Pendrago... *collapses* They said we murdered the Cardinal... At the behest of the kingdom of Hyland...

*goes over to him* What?! But I was the one who--

It was Lunarre. He approached the empire and suggested they frame it this way.

Of course. The empire was just itching for a justification to launch a war...

If they could tell the world that Hyland had assassinated their Cardinal...

Almost too perfect.

*stands up* Lunarre laid an ambush for us... If Eguille hadn't shielded me, I would've... I'm sorry... I couldn't do anything but run away.

We knew this might happen sooner or later. Part of the job description. But still...

Rose. You should go.

But we have to stop the war!

We all know what they'll do now that they've trumped up a justification.

Dispose of the evidence.

You can't leave them like that. Can you?

After all, they're your family.

You said it yourself, didn't you? You and I have two very different jobs.

*nods* Thank you! I'll be back!

Both are vital, but we can't be in two places at once.

Sergei's in Lastonbell.

Alisha's probably at the Hyland army base.

Then...

It's a bit curious they bring this up *now*, since you had to use that hidden path back when we were doing the elemental trials, to return to Hyland for the sake of the Water Trial, but I guess it's just a story thing.

Well now, Zestiria's going off the rails a bit here. As Zaveid implied, both have to be done, but we need to make a decision about what comes first. There's no issue with save point teleporting over to the Hyland side of the Basin, or you could follow Rose to Lastonbell and follow-up with Sergei there. For our purposes, we're going to give Alisha her time in the spotlight again first. Do note, however, that your party is back down to a very small size of only two characters on the field again since we don't have another human anchor, even one who can't armatize like Alisha. So fight with that in mind, or don't. Warping back to the south entrance of Marlind...

Is that... An awkward order

Once we receive the royal order, our entire forces will destroy the Rolance army!

Perfect. We are moments from receiving the royal order authorizing our assault. And the messenger will be an old friend of yours.

You can't mean...

You're making Alisha do that?!

It's cruel of Bartlow, but still, an ingenious plan. If she brings the order, the war is on. And should she refuse, he can have her court-martialed for treason. I can only imagine her dismay.

You disgust me.

Will you attack me? Please, be my guest. Then I could reasonably claim that spies from Rolance were in our camp. No need to wait for a royal order.

Rgh!

Looks like the odds are stacked against us.

We're going to need Alisha's help to hold back the army.

Alisha, is it? Go ahead and try, then. I'm very curious.

Yes...it will be curious to see how she reacts, if we haven't even told her Maltran is a hellion yet.

She'd be hurt for sure.

I'm aware. But there's no other choice.

Indeed. Things as they are, Alisha has a right to know the full depths of what's going on. You're now free to warp back to Ladylake, and I'd suggest the sanctuary, since there are some chests you can pick up now. As for Uno's Katz Korner info...

Katz? ...I'm sorry, I haven't the foggiest idea. You don't mean the cat seraphim, do you?

Well, to be fair, at least we weren't counting on Uno to give us the skinny on this place. Anyhow, as for the sanctuary treasures, there's an Arcane Bottle and a Genius' Staff.

This can't be good. Painful truth

You're a disgrace to Hyland!

What's gotten into you?!

Alisha!

Yes! I've reactivated her Squire's pact!

Despite these enemies seeming like the most grunty of the grunts, these are actually pretty dangerous enemies, and it's not because Alisha, they're just naturally fairly strong adversaries.

Oh yes, and Alisha. Alisha has been doing some major powerleveling off-camera, and she rejoins the party here at like...the average party level? Something like that. Point us, she can more than hold her own, stat-wise, even without being able to armatize. She also has access to her Mystic Arte, and if you have the Legacy DLC, she also has her Legacy Mystic Arte available, with the same activation requirements as Mikleo's and Lailah's.

I see...

Zaveid always talks about himself.

*chuckles* Heh. We'll fill her in later.

Probably because I've been stalling the war. I have yet to deliver the royal order authorizing our attack. *takes the letter out*

And they hate and resent you that much?

You can see for yourself. There's not a thing in the world that can prevent this war now.

You're giving up?

What else can I do? What else do you expect me to do?! The King has commanded that we launch an attack on Rolance. An official royal order has already been issued!

If that dumb piece of paper's causing you all that grief... Why don't you just chuck it?

"Just chuck it"? What exactly do you mean by "chuck it"?

Just what I said. Tear up the damn thing like it never existed.

I can't!

You can't expect Alisha to do something like that!

Hey, no pressure. I don't mind seeing her beautiful face all scrunched up in pain.

...

She decides to go up to her terrace to continue this conversation, so just follow her.

Would you be willing to assist me in this?

Are you sure about this? You would be rebelling against your own country.

I know the risks.

*nods* All right.

Well, if Alisha's made up her mind, we can't refuse her, can we?

Zaveid, may I trust you in this matter as well?

I can't decline a heroic princess. Your face looks better with a smile on it anyway.

...One ray of hope is that Lady Maltran is the one commanding the army. She is bound to cooperate with us.

What's wrong?

I hate to tell you this, but Maltran's not gonna help you. She's a hellion.

She serves the Lord of Calamity. She was the one pushing for war in the first place.

Edna!

We had to tell her at some point.

Yeah. Better she hear it now than get stabbed in the back later.

That can't be true! Don't you even dare joke about such a thing!

Alisha! Please calm down!

No... Lady Maltran... She always encouraged me, even when...

*looks down*

I apologize. I will see Lady Maltran and verify this for myself. *leaves by herself*

Back to that scrunched-up face of hers.

Despite her leaving by herself, she's still in the party, and will remain so until we confront Maltran. Another one of those very brief windows in which Alisha is playable, this little section. There may or may not be one more, but yeah, enjoy Playable!Alisha while she lasts.

Don't forget to pick up that Diphdan Tie in the corner there, either. One of the first gold chests we came across, actually.

All of Alisha's titles have become fully-leveled, too, which also makes sense since the actual opportunities to level those up are so limited.

Speaking of her limited status, it is curious that, if you include Dezel, Zestiria's party has an even Male/Female split, and is also an 8-person party, hardly an uncommon sight in Tales games. Again, Alisha was originally meant to have a far more prominent role than she ended up getting, but Dezel's a bit more interesting, since there would be obvious Wind seraph redundancy with Zaveid. Hard to say how it might have all shaken out if Zestiria ended up closer to how it was originally envisioned. I very much doubt, just based on that, that Dezel and Zaveid were *ever* meant to be playable at the same time, but maybe there was a Kratos/Zelos-esque choice at some point in the original game where you had to choose one or the other as your Wind seraph for the rest of the game.

Oh, and speaking of our two temporary party members, notice how Alisha didn't say anything about how Zaveid is there and Dezel isn't. She did meet the party once after the latter had joined, but that was at Griflet Bridge, long after her Squire's Pact had been dissolved. I presume Lailah had done that on her own recognizance at some point, but while, certainly, she'd assume she was in the presence of seraphim at the Griflet Bridge, she could neither see nor hear any of them, so it certainly makes sense why she wouldn't ask about it.

It's fine. My vision's good.

Oh, good. So that means you've become stronger.

Just a little bit blurry, is all.

A little bit?! That could cost you your life in battle!

Perhaps. But this is something you need to see through to the end.

Well, I...

We've got way more important things to worry about.

Sorey needs you. Nothing will change that.

Let's go, Alisha.

Okay!

If you talk to her after this little scene...

I shouldn't have kept quiet about Maltran. I'm sorry.

It... It's fine. I understand you were only thinking of me. I should be apologizing. I succumb to the power of my emotions far too easily.

Hm, she seems to have taken things pretty well so far, but it does raise an interesting question of how differently things might have played out if they had told her after the Water Trial, before the preparations for a new round of hostilities had begun on both sides. If it had come straight from Sorey's mouth, I'm of the opinion Alisha wouldn't have doubted Maltran's hellion status at any point, but if she had insisted on a confrontation with Maltran then, before current circumstances, I'm also of the opinion it probably wouldn't have changed much. The party likely would have created another Forton-like martyr for Hyland and things would have spiraled in a different way, but with the same result.

But before we confront anyone, Alisha needs to show off the last Evangelion costume.

On your way out, you may stop by the item shop and notice Mythril equipment being stocked. Apparently Lohgrin's trade routes are not to be underestimated, and Mythril equipment is beginning to be sold all over the continent.

Oh, they do tell you how to activate the Legacy Mystic Artes in-game. That's nice, but they're still super impractical to use. The ultimate in impractical Mystic Artes, however, isn't even until the post-game. It's uh...wild how you pull that off.

Under Lady Maltran.

Oh... I see.

Tales games will usually do this, that if a character has been missing for some time in terms of being a party member, then when they rejoin, they'll be at a much higher level and usually using much better equipment. Chester in Phantasia was the first one to *kinda* do this. He first joins the party as the second member of the crew, but since the Present of Phantasia is a small section of the game (maybe like 5% of the runtime), he'll only be about level 10 or 11 by the time he rejoins the party on a permanent basis, once the party goes to the final act of the game, in the Future. He rejoins the party at the same level / equipment he had when he had Cless and Mint ditch him under very extenuating circumstances, but when he realized how weak he was compared to the rest of the party, which had gone through all of the Past's events, he did some massive powerleveling if you rest at inns that quickly catches him up. To their confrontation

Milady!

... So you finally figured out who I really am.

Why?

For the ideals I cherish most. Now, messenger. The royal order, if you please. We have a war to start.

*grimaces*

Then I'll take it by force. *begins walking off* This way. Too many prying eyes out here.

Whether anyone likes it or not, it's the truth. Maltran has decided to host this battle in the depths of Bors Ruins, and we have no choice but to oblige her.

Man, three encounters in one update? Sheesh. Well, I made a video of this one, for a very good reason.

Yeah, that. And I actually managed to beat the Zombie this time. Soulstroke Celebration originally belonged to Leia Rolando from Tales of Xillia 1 and 2, and well, she used a staff in-battle, so it stands to reason one can do much the same with a spear.

Good work, Alisha. Not good work on clipping there. Pull it together, guys. Or pull apart, more like.

So all we know is she's one to watch out for, huh?

That's for sure...

A strong, sexy lady. I'm not seeing the downsides, myself!

Yes, thank you Zaveid.

It's beautiful. But it is an umbrella.

Let's do this thing... Graduation

Why, Lady Maltran? Why?!

You are disgracefully slow to catch on.

*scoffs*

What you see before you is reality and truth. One who cannot accept reality for what it is has no hope of being a leader for the people!

I acknowledge my lack of resolve. But...

Then you have realized by now that your naive ideals have no meaning whatsoever in this present state of affairs. Not to the kingdom, not to the citizenry. Certainly not to me.

Then-- Then why did you act so encouraging and supportive to me all this time?!

Because you served two vital functions. One of which was your utility in getting Hyland and Rolance to finally clash with their full military might. Your incessant whining was just the thing to provoke Bartlow and the others to action.

...

Alisha's ideals DO hold meaning and value.

That's right. Sorey believes in her, even if you don't.

And he isn't the only one.

I'm giving my dear pupil her final lesson. Kindly stay out of this.

What, you can't deal with reality and truth?

So many empty words. Who's slow to catch on now?

A fair point. No need to exchange words when blows will suffice. ...For your other vital function.

*everyone gets ready* Stand back, Alisha!

All right.

Alright, so, let's be clear about this. Maltran is a *very* hard fight, maybe the hardest in the game so far, and that's not entirely because Alisha can't armatize, though that's certainly part of it. She's fast, has powerful combos that cover her like a blanket, access to a Mystic Arte, and Earth/Water/Void resistances. She is a very dangerous enemy, and one that needs to be played completely seriously. I would highly recommend you play as Sorey and armatize with Lailah, since she's better at dogfighting than Wind Form is. Second, that Draupnir. Its innate skill is Fairax, which has a 20% chance of multiplying the power of an individual Fire hit by 4x, quite a boost in power, and was the difference, for me, between victory and defeat. I had spent nearly an hour on this fight before I got the bright idea that maybe I *really* needed to play into using Fire against her. Even so, this fight is something else alright.

Lailah! What's her weakness?

I don't know! I can't tell! She's a hellion, but she's suppressing her nature!

Which is yet another advantage Maltran has; although she's a hellion, for the purposes of this fight, she's a Person enemy, and there are no artes, I'm quite sure, that can open up Power Combos against Human enemies without elemental vulnerabilities. Another thing you should keep in mind her status as Alisha's teacher is not for show; nearly all of her artes are stuff Alisha can use, and they're far deadlier in her hands.

Maltran getting stunned, and with enough BG, is how you *really* lay on the damage, especially with Fire-boosting equipment. Mystic Arte + Banish Blast is very simple to pull off, and remember to do both while she's Stunned - enemies take far more damage in that state. There is absolutely no shame in using Arcane Bottles in this fight to give you that crucial ammunition.

Once she's below 50%, back. off. The next arte she'll do, if it's a named arte (with a banner flashing at the top of the screen), it's basically 100% sure she'll use her Mystic Arte right after. This one can also hit slightly behind her, so just stay. away. from her. Better she use it against a fairly worthless target, like the seraph tied to Alisha, than go after you. If she does aggro against you, just block against her until you find an opening and can retreat. The punishment for getting hit with one of her Hidden Artes is tremendous.

In addition to the main target getting skewered (Maltran's and Alisha's Mystic Artes have the same animation, I believe), plenty of AOE damage on this one, so get a downed character back in the fight and get back to work. In spite of her not doing that much damage, keeping Alisha fighting is a good strategy. She does a surprisingly good job of harassing her teacher, though obviously you'll need to do most of the work.

Phew...

It's not working?!

*gets up* Heh heh... I'm not letting you "purify" me. What truly needs purification...is this entire world!

Please, Lady Maltran! Stop! You are just being deceived by the Lord of Calamity!

*falls over*

I have proven my dedication to my Lord... I have...no regrets.

*takes after her*

Growing up

Alisha...

I can't do this... I can't! I can't! I want to go home! I don't care about all this anymore! About the war! About our nation! About our people! I'm sick of their gossip, their mockery, their lies... Everything! I quit! I'm done being a princess, being a knight... Bartlow and his goons can do whatever they want!

And... Still, I...

And yet, you still want to stop the war. Right?

*lets go of Sorey* "The strength of a knight exists to protect. Their kindness serves the people." Lady Maltran's words still linger in my ears. I know she undoubtedly meant nothing by it. Just some pretty nonsense to lead me on...

Maybe. But even if she did... You took those words to heart, didn't you?

And the Alisha standing right here is as real as it gets. You can count on it.

Heheh... I'm sorry to had to see THIS side of my reality. Let me see what I can do about the Hyland army. I'm naive and soft and whiny enough to think it'll work. That's just who I am!

*nods, Alisha leaves*

Young folks. Always with the melodrama.

Sorry 'bout that.

*looking at Lailah* What? Are you crying, too?

It's...so beautiful...

You say something?

Everyone: Nothing.

That just makes me worry even more...

Hm, quite right.

The vanguard of the Rolance army is probably at Lastonbell by now... Why don't we go check it out?

Different conversation...

I wonder what Rose is up to. I hope she isn't doing anything unwise...

It'd be unwise to hope for that at all.

If it bugs you that much, why don't you go to Pendrago?

We're actually doing both, but this is the end of Hyland's side of this upcoming conflict. The Pendrago one you actually can't do first, because that ends with Rose rejoining the party, so if you did that before Alisha's stuff, she'd be in the party, and we simply can't have those two in the party at the same time, or something. Before you go, there's also a save point skit, speculating about that "second purpose" Maltran had for Alisha. Without the person around to confirm or deny, we'll never truly know what she meant by that. Back to Lastonbell, there's another skit about Maltran if you rest at the inn, and given the fight you just went through, you'll probably need it.

Appropriately enough, the sanctuary is the focal point for much of the action in this town, and this time is no exception. Looming conflict

Yeah! Why aren't you fighting back against Hyland?!

Please! Calm down and listen to me!

Approach Sergei and talk to him to continue.

I'm sorry. I couldn't stop war from breaking out.

There's time to prevent the worst.

Yes. I'm trying to minimize the casualties. That's why I'm asking the citizens to evacuate the--

Screw that! Did my dad and brother die 'cuz of those Hyland bastards so you could run away?!

You useless bleeding-heart pacifist!

So we just hand Lastonbell over to Hyland, is that it?!

Never!

You must understand the danger here! Hyland is sweeping towards us with their entire army!

Then we'll fight BACK with our entire army!

The killing will never stop at that rate!

A knight afraid of killing his enemies?! You should be ashamed of yourself!

Yeah! Get out there and slaughter those Hyland scum!

It's our city and our property! We'll never surrender it!

You coward! You don't even care!

Your job should be to protect us!

Let's step outside of town for a moment.

The reception is no less cold on the way out, but nonetheless, no productive discussion is indeed going to happen in town. Back in the forest... Illusions in the forest

Nevertheless, I can understand where they're coming from.The clash with Hyland has already cost us many lives.

But still...

The citizens' malevolence has suddenly increased.

It's like there's something else going on...

Sergei, we'd like to help you with this. There's still a chance we can stop this war. Alisha's doing all she can to rein in the Hyland army as well.

I have heard the tales of Princess Alisha. Perhaps, one day, the two of us--

*screams*

*rushes forward*

Sergei! Watch out!

Daddy!

There's something wrong here. But... Men! Take Formation 3!

Run, child!

*runs off*

We should join them!

Right!

So you were behind this!

She may be toying with us, but we still gotta hunt her down.

Huh? Sergei and the knights? *hops out*

Yes, we were able to drive off the attackers.

Zaveid!

*slashes forward*

Woops. Don't respond to the seraphim, stupid.

To fool even the wind... Impressive illusions.

Good thing her acting sucks.

What are you up to, disguised as Sergei?

The question is, what am I not up to. *transforms back into Sergei*

But I know what he's up to right now... And that's getting torn to pieces by hellions!

So this fight can be pretty hard (again, Intense), actually, because you're alone, and there are four sources of damage. The skeletons will *mostly* stay at a distance and throw magic orbs at you while Symonne goes in for the kill.I had wanted to cheese this with Calamity Flare, that seraphic arte that throws a huge flame wall forward, and that is possible, but it does require the enemies not be on lots of different sides from you.

In particular, watch out for Tornado Drive. Although it seems like you can make it whiff just by baiting it out and dodging backwards, this arte ends with Symonne throwing an energy wave-thing forward to do a good amount of damage. Make sure to block that second hit.

Once you're down to the skeletons, don't worry about their spell line-up. They only have Flare Vortex, which only works at short ranges from the caster. Wait for a gap, move in, and crush them.

Why would we? You're not Sergei.

But of course. You and Chivalry-Timbers, two peas in a pod. Friend equals "save". Enemy equals "kill". No malevolence equals "protect". Hellion equals "exterminate". What a simple and beautiful world you live in. How utterly convenient.

Alright, I know she's the enemy and all, but that might single-handedly put all of Lailah's puns to shame.

Huh?

What are you getting at?

I'm saying that all it comes down to is your ego. An ego that is the foundation of malevolence.

That's not true!

Yes. I fan the flames--I won't deny it--but it's perfectly natural for the people to be filled with rage and hatred. But you call it malevolence, and you try to stamp it out. The mission of the Shepherd, the code of the knighthood... Whatever name you devise, the excuse remains the same. Tell me, Shepherd. What definitive proof do you have that you yourself are not corrupted by malevolence, hmm?

Nonsense! Sorey is not corrupted!

Of course not. As pure and righteous as your previous Shep--

I'm not doing this for the sake of some mission or person... I'm doing it because I believe in it. That's all. And Sergei is the same way.

A lame stab at justification.

Wrong. I've always been like this.

And he always will be.

With the support of your friends, huh? So that's what sustains you. *disappears*

What's worse that is that as intelligent as Symonne seems to be, she appears to realize what she's doing is "wrong", but simply doesn't care. Truly far gone.

Sorey...

Let's go back. Sergei will be all right.

It looks like Zaveid is saying something, but as usual, Zestiria has these voice prompts trigger way to close to the "cutscenes take over now" part.

Sergei!

I'm... I'm fine. However...

Captain Sergei.

I...I just wanted to avenge my father and my brother...

I know how you feel. But if you act on every impulse, you're not different from the beasts of the forest.

I don't care about any of that. I thought, if I could kill even one Hylander, I could die happy...

You should know better than that! We're all human! There's no reason we can't find a better path to follow!

Can we search for that better path together? So that no more have to die?

Very well. We'll hear you out. That's all I can promise.

I am honored. *the crowd leaves* The truth is... I too yearn to fight like a beast. Everything I say is a lie. I must be entirely corrupted by malevolence.

Not at all, Sergei.

Yeah yeah, we've heard this one. I don't actually know what happens if you go Hyland -> Pendrago -> Lastonbell, since I mentioned Rose rejoining at the end of Pendrago. My personal guess would be that she only rejoins once you complete the final prong of this sequence, since you'd need to write a rather different version of these previous scenes to account for Rose being there. Ditto with Lastonbell -> Pendrago -> Hyland. Although we can't warp straight into Pendrago locations, we can warp to the save point in Pearlots that's right outside the city. So let's not tarry.

Oh, we can tarry on one point. Rohan's words on the Katz Korner thing.

I have heard the legend of the turtle who saved a cat and was spirited away to the village of the Katz. Perhaps cats and Katz are related in more than just name.

Hm, interesting proposition. One we'll have to explore another day. Intrigue in the capital

Look! Another one!

That's number five.

What happened?

Didn't you hear? Every night, lately, someone raids one of the nobles' mansions.

Funny sort of burglar, too. They leave one of those notes around every time they pull off a heist.

Huh, a decently-drawn sort-of wanted poster in a Tales game. Will wonders ever cease?

"Scattered Bones - Boss"

And then they toss the stolen money all over the streets. If only we'd gotten here a bit earlier. We coulda snatched some of it!

Who would want the rotten charity of a thief, anyway?!

Any move she makes is bound to be under the cover of night. Let's wait until dark.

There's a lot of this Drago Waymarker lore... The Xillia 2 equivalent would be the Long Dau's Dust. Upon leaving the inn, now that night has fallen, Lailah will direct you to the "nobles' district". Unlike Ladylake, there's no place that's obviously reserved for the nobility. What she's referring to is that elevated area of this first part of Pendrago, where we found Edna after Dezel's passing. Bait

What do you mean, you can't pay me as promised?

Of course not. Do you realize the extent of our losses?

30 guards injured. Over 20 million gald's worth in damages.

So what?! Not my fault your guards are such incompetents.

Be that as it may, it is you whom the thief is after.

*scoffs* The Scattered Bones' execution will be early tomorrow morning .Settle your problems there. After THAT, we'll see about your reward.

And how am I supposed to find her?

That sounds very much like a problem that is not mine. You used to work with her. You're a creative fellow. I'm sure you can come up with something.

Whatever...

Hellions?!

The game really loves partnering you with Zaveid for this part of the game. He's also the default choice when you go into the Shadow Sergei fight, and also the next boss fight. I would suggest you switch over to Lailah, since Fire!Sorey is just flat-out better at fighting solo.

Let's get hunting. We need to find him before dawn.

If there's any civilized place to have a duel on Pendrago's streets, it's in the amphitheater. Weary bones

So, Lunarre. We meet again.

Yes. Just the way you wanted it.

Good. This would have been a bit trickier if you'd been stuck in a jail cell.

*cackles* I didn't want to be here. But now I'm thinking I just might enjoy this... *charges at Rose* when I kill you with my own hands!

Boss!

Forget it! Just run!

*jumps at Rose* What's wrong? You're looking ragged!

Sorry. A certain fellow would never forgive me if I let her die like that.

Leave him to us!

They need you, Rose!

Got it! I'll be right back! *runs back to the stage*

Shepherd...

They're not wrong. Lunarre is definitely more dangerous here than he's ever been. His Flame attacks, a projectile and a swipe, two different attacks, can both do quite a bit of damage if he hits you with the whole thing, and Shot will even leave that orb that does damage if you run into it before it disappears. As you continue to drain Lunarre's HP, you'll get more lines between Rose and her Scattered Bones friends.

There's that Draupnir in action. Once Lunarre is about at 75% health, the next phase of the fight takes over.

You're first!

Wha--

*jumps down*

Thanks.

Guess we're even.

Good to go?

He's my family. I'll handle this.

Shut up!

Man, feels like so long since Rose was in the party, eh? Amazing how fast she made herself indispensable. Although he recovered some HP in the transition, it's not much, and having a partner makes this a simple engagement. Lunarre will also bust out a new arte called Explosive Hammer, where he'll slam his fists down in front of him and throw out a powerful burst of fire in front of him. This can easily lead into...

Yeah, I didn't know he had one, actually. But there we go. First boss of the game got a Mystic Arte. Good for him.

Heh-heh-heh-heh... What's wrong, Shepherd? Can't purify me?

He's...

It's the same as the Cardinal.

B-Boss...

What on earth...

*steps forward*

Rose.

*shakes head* This is my job.

Gugh?!

May these weary bones find peaceful rest.

The hell with that... I...spit on your "peaceful rest". For all your fancy words... You're nothing but a street thug.

I know.

A murderer and her fake family.

So?

Makes me sick!

Huh?!

Boss!

Hopefully that's the last time we see that guy's ugly mug.

There's a skit at the inn afterwards speculating on Lunarre's motivations, but a guy like that? Maybe he's better off stewing in his own misery, if you ask me. Anyway, looks like that wraps up all three prongs of this sequence. Even though this whole business in Pendrago didn't directly have business related to the oncoming war, hey, it needed doing.

Is this really the time to be dawdling around here? What an embarrassingly poor Shepherd you are.

What are you getting at?

You're missing the war. The Rolance Empire and the Kingdom of Hyland. Battle of the century.

What?!

If you run, you might still catch it. I hear there could even be an extra-special guest star. Bring your popcorn. *disappears*

Looks like that's our next job.

Rose?

You'll need friends to get the job done, right?

*nods*

There's a weird shot at the very end of this scene where Lailah is just walking right into Rose. She's not doing the usual *disappearing into Sorey* thing again, and it's not like a little hint that she's renewing Rose's pact, since in the battle with Lunarre, Rose was fighting like normal. Very odd, but never mind that, because sounds like things are goin' down at Glaivend Basin. And we certainly have no better place to be. Birth

Yeah, no kidding...

She's not wrong. We'll have to cut through the Rolance Camp to get to where the dragon is, because, honestly, doesn't look like anyone's up to stopping it except us.

There are, of course, random hellions wandering about the perimeter of the battlefield.

(Lizard Warrior) A veteran hellion... We can't let our guard down even for a moment.

Maybe so, but they were losers from the moment they became hellions.

(Undead Sorcerer) The undead pack some powerful artes, brah.

They can also warp, so keep an eye on them.

Hm, an abandoned village deep in Glaivend Basin? Sounds like a Forton Sisters plot thread location, but obviously, we have no time to investigate. There are some minor treasures there but obviously, the main event is our primary attention now.

The bravest Turtlez in all the land.

...

Together as one

Friggin' huge!

Yeah...

Sorey, over there!

So this is what it's like to die...

*lands* Stand up!

Run!

*runs off, picking up his men*

What on earth is going on?!

Sorey is back there fighting it... A dragon!

Welcome to Tiamat, our first real dragon fight. Oh boy...Tiamat. That name is associated with a foundational figure in Mesopotamian mythology (mostly Babylonian), where, according to the most common version of the story, Tiamat is a monster that not even the gods could slay. Instead, the new kid on the block, Marduk, assumed this enormous task and was eventually able to defeat it, using Tiamat's body parts to create the heaven and earth, the crying eyes the water sources of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and her tail becoming the Milky Way itself. As a final reward for this task, by destroying Tiamat and overcoming Kingu, one of the beast's offspring, Marduk claimed the Tablets of Destiny and became the King of the Gods.

As for Tiamat's dragon form, apparently none of the primary sources of this story, primarily the Enuma Elish, reveal her form in so many words, but it's certainly true today that the primary interpretation of Tiamat today is a monstrous draconic form, like what we see before us. Apparently this became popular via her introduction into Dungeons & Dragons in the 70s, and hey, it stuck.

As for Tiamat here, she is our most formidable adversary yet, with an absolute mountain of HP that gets very slowly drained. Interestingly, Tiamat cannot be staggered in any traditional way, and indeed, it's not possible to launch Mystic Artes against her at this phase of the fight.

As for her attack line-up, fairly simple stuff, actually. She can cast the Burning Strike spell that Lailah also has, a stomping attack after flying into the air for a few seconds, and a swiping attack. It's the final one that you should be most on the alert for, since it's very hard to sidestep or backstep off of, and it also comes with a decently-high chance of inflicting Paralysis.

After about 10% of her HP...

Tough old lizard...

It's feasting on the malevolence generated by the humans' fear.

Sounds, uh, tasty.

So even the power of the Shepherd is not enough?

It's a genuine miracle they're even standing...

*jumps at the head* HAAAAAAA!

How can he fight like that?

He's the Shepherd.

No, that's not it.

It's just who he is.

And now the second phase of the fight begins. Identical to the first phase, this one lasts quite a bit longer and you have to drain more of its HP to continue. Wind!Form will be your primary means of attacking here, since Dragon Blitz, the second hit of Wind!Form's neutral combo, will target Tiamat's Dragon vulnerability. Although it's technically weak to Void attacks, again, you can't really stagger Tiamat, so it's *kind of* a moot point. Another thing I should mention is Tiamat casts both quickly and has an insane amount of Iron Casts. Basically impossible to stop a Burning Strike.

At about at 75% HP...

*catches self* Well, crap... I can't do this much longer...

Rose!

Sorey, we will fight by your side!

Who's afraid of a dragon!

Just a big ol' lizard!

*stands up* Heh heh. Suddenly things aren't lookin' so bad.

Yeah. We still got a chance.

That we do, now that we can finally use Mystic Artes against her. In addition, the true battle theme of this fight begins playing, called Rising Up, with vocals by Courtney Knott, who also voices a song in God Eater, also in 2015, so yeah, another member of Bamco's talent stable.

But Tiamat's not fully out of tricks, either, like this spell

Yep, whenever Tiamat begins to cast whatever spell this is intended to be (Meteor Storm, I think) you'll get a supporting fire volley from the Hyland / Rolance / mercenary army that will hit Tiamat enough to stop her from casting, and also give you a brief stun. And I do mean "whenever". The first few volleys do have voiced dialogue associated with them, but even after those run out, you'll still get the support fire.

Tiamat's other new one is Fiery Breath, but like in Berseria, this one is very easily dodged by just not being directly in front of her. Or I would say that, if the fire breath was the only damaging part of this attack. Tiamat will step forward with her left foot, and that part also does damage. Not sure about her right, but she doesn't move that one. So if it does do damage, it's very hard to unintentionally tell.

And of course, when Tiamat gets stunned, either by you or support fire, Mystic Artes are fully available.

And we wouldn't have it any other way.

There's also this curious move, I only noticed upon watching this fight again. Tiamat just stopped and...did something. I wasn't sure exactly what was going on here, since nothing appeared to happen, but you know what? I can tell you about it next time, since next update ain't exactly gonna be a lot of gameplay.

Your overall strategy for this final phase is "Harass as normal -> support fire volley comes in -> Mystic Arte if available" to most efficiently wear Tiamat down.