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Part XXI: The Crisis of a Village
And we're back at the Glaivend Basin. In typical Tales fashion, now that we've seen the "Quiet moment before the final battle" scene, there's not much else between us and the final dungeon, though Berseria was a bit unusual in that there were *two* dungeons left in the plot after that scene. There's absolutely nothing stopping us, however, from warping to the save point just outside Aroundight Forest and proceeding from them. If you try to warp straight to Elysia, or Mt. Mabinogio Ruins, however, all of those save points are unavailable, which is Zestiria's signature "There's big plot stuff awaiting us there", so we'll just have to go back through the forest.
But, of course, this is a Tales Endgame, meaning a lot of sidequests and bonus locations are available. In a lot of these games, though, there's usually something that opens up if you see the final pre-final boss scene, but both Zestiria and Berseria don't do that, so there's no sidequests that require you to even step foot in the final dungeon to begin. So, sadly, it'll still be a while yet before we get there. But there's certainly a lot to do before then, so that's why we're here in Glaivend.
Unfortunately, there are still hellions lurking around Glaivend, likely attracted to the residual malevolence still around here. What I *do* know is the skeleton mages are incredibly annoying because of how they move on the overworld. For example, this screenshot? I'm about a second away from getting into a fight, despite the fact there's no one close to me. It only *appears* that way.
These two guys are just north of the Rolance Army camp, for the record. You can freely pass through that without any issues, as well as the Hyland one on the other side of the former battlefield.
I'd ask the same. Is something the matter out here?
We are part of the joint border guard between Hyland and Rolance. But we spotted a village that's not on the map. We were about to investigate.
... Would it be all right if we handled the investigation instead?
Good call. If it turns out those two are actually back...
I'm not sure I take your meaning.
There's a high chance you might encounter danger there that only the Shepherd could handle.
But...
Please. I'm worried for everyone.
*looks at each other* Understood.
Yep, that's why we were asking. We passed by the place when we went to fight Tiamat, but obviously we had bigger concerns and had to ignore it. Not that there was much to investigate while we were there, but yeah. Now there is. The sisters
And none too pleasant, given their current state. Yes, it's Euryale and Stheno again, both identical to the fights you've had with both of them. Despite it being at the same time, this fight isn't too much more difficult than the ones you fought against both individually. Although there are two to look out for, just keep in mind that the Gorgon abilities, without exception, will always only affect the area where the boss is facing, or slightly to either side. So if you see them busting out a Gorgon ability, just sidestep around 'em.
I'm...really surprised Lailah went down, but not Rose. I guess just because she has higher total HP? Very rare to see that.
Actually, it took me a few watches to get why I had been Petrified in the first place. From watching it, I guess Stheno had used Gorgon Eye in the milliseconds just prior to when Calamity Flare got to her, because Euryale was looking in the opposite direction from where I was. So I guess that just goes to show Gorgon Eye, at least, is basically an instantaneous thing, not just when the eyes come out.
Anyhow, the rest of the rest proceeded pretty uneventfully, nothing particularly worthy of comment. Fire!Form is, as usual for boss fights, the best, because it's just so darn good at close-range dogfighting. The only times where I wouldn't recommend Fire is if the enemy has a resistance to fire and none of Fire!Form's artes or spells can hit the enemy's weakness, like most [Dragon] enemies. If either of those things aren't true, then it's definitely your go-to.
Good work!
You too.
Shepherd! What was that?!
Who are these women?
They collapsed. Please take care of them.
Will do. Most likely they fell victim to the sleeping sickness.
Sickness?
We consulted older records pertaining to this area. It turns out there was a village here called Forton that was wiped out 20 years ago. The records indicate that everyone in the village caught an illness that made them lethargic and constantly sleepy. As if they were trapped by the illusions men call dreams.
Sorey, do you think...
...
In addition to getting an Angel Halo accessory from this fight, you also get a skit at the save point just outside the town speculating on the "razor's edge" Rose speaks of in regards to where people fall on the great coin toss known as life. Shocking no one, Rose believes that there's no fate but what you make for yourself.
This enemy, the Dragon Warlock, is hanging out near where Tiamat was. I say "near", because remember that little sand slide we saw in the mid-battle cutscenes during that fight, where all the armies came together to watch the battle? Yeah, this is where they were, down that little slide. And that's where you'll find this guy.
Zaveid is certainly on-point to worry about this thing's size and strength. Although certainly no monster on-par (plot-wise) with Tiamat, the Dragon Warlock is a very dangerous enemy who requires your utmost attention and effort.
So you want a good, nearly foolproof strategy against it? These last two screenshots just about cover it. Molten Wall hits the Warlock's [Armored] category, and will begin a Power Hit combo against it, where it's almost guaranteed to stagger and, most importantly, not allow it to do any damage to you. The advantage with this particular strategy is that the sidestep avoids the most dangerous part of Warlock, its front, and Molten Wall, which is the second part of the "combo", begins the damage. The Warlock is strong against all four elements, but as we saw in the previous fight, even elemental resistances don't override a Power Combo started by targeting an enemy's Type weakness. It really is just as simple as "Sidestep, punish, sidestep, punish", and, because the Warlock has no damaging attacks that hit all around it, there's not much it can do.
The Warlock does have a guard-breaking roar attack that can inflict Slow (it only does negligible damage, if that), and if you do get hit with Slow, make sure to cure that, pronto. As I've mentioned, Slow both vastly decreases your movement speed as well as disables quick steps, both of which do not serve you well here, at all. It also disables healing, so yeah. Definitely a nasty one.
When it gets low on health, its only trick is this, Head Splitter. This is identical to what we saw some bosses do in Berseria, and it's not any more deadly here. Just jumps in the air to try and hit you from above. Of course, this attack is very powerful, and don't even think of blocking it (much like almost all of its attacks), but it has a very small area of effect, so as long as you sidestep it, not even timing it right to get the SG / BG bonus, it is of no consequence, and doesn't change the above strategy at all. Oh, and another thing that should go without saying, make sure you keep an eye on your armatized character's SC bar. You definitely don't want to run out, simply because you were too aggressive and not paying enough attention. When you need some back, just block and sidestep when necessary, don't attack.
You might also see Strength Regression, shown here, but it only ever did this once to me, so it definitely doesn't seem like you have to constantly play around.
Since this fight has a skit attached to it, you can restart if you Game Over straight into this fight and this skit is more important than you think, because this hellion isn't just some enemy who was randomly wandering about. There is a bit of epilogue here, but we'll get to that once we've finished all of our business in Glaivend.
Full map of the area. The northeast, through the Hyland Army camp, is where we went through on our first trip to Glaivend back at the end of the first arc of the story, just prior to when we met Heldalf. We started out in the far northeast, slid down the sand slide in a cutscene to fight a bunch of Rolance Army soldiers, noticed Heldalf making his appearance as we moved to the southwest, fought Landon on the plateau across from where I am now, then cut through Rolance's camp to encounter Heldalf in-person. So, we never saw Forton, nor got the opportunity to check out that ???, until now, even if we wanted to.
Thankfully, in spite of its size, this is the only landmark in Glaivend, these nearly impossible to miss horses just outside the next optional dungeon. Feels like it's been quite a few updates since the last one, hasn't it? Well, if the horses from both countries can get along, why not the humans?
Walked right into that, kiddo.
Horses Returned to Nature posted:
Warhorses that fled the battlefield and became wild during their abandonment. Once at the whims of mankind, they have now reclaimed a peace of their own.
Welcome to the last optional dungeon. Outside of the one that opens after you load a post-game save, of course. Merchior is a distinctive dungeon, sorta, because it's only populated by slimes. That's it. No random wolves or bees, bats or trees. Just slimes.
As for the name, well, there's no obvious Knight of the Round I'd associate that name with, so it might be another nod to Meirchion Gul, that obscure king of post-Roman Britain that Meirchio in Berseria was also (probably) named after. In case you're curious, the geography doesn't line up at all, if you were thinking the town and this dungeon might overlap, hence the "Remains". Not only because this place isn't a town, not even close, but also because the remnants of Northgand would be beyond Zaphgott Moor, long away from where Glaivend is, in the obscure "northern territories" that are referred to a few times.
I don't recall these Slimeroots in any dungeon prior to now, and seemingly this is the only one they're in, but there's no combat dialogue for them like almost every other generic enemy in the game. To be fair, I could see no one having much to say about pink slimes in a dungeon overflowing with slimes.
As far as notable treasures, there's not much. There's this Photonic Ray in this part of B2, the normin Acqua if you go into that dead-end that you can see on the map, and that's it for this.
And, in another part of B2, there's also this landmark. Oh, you can't see it? It's those supplies in the corner there.
Well, to be fair...we don't KNOW that, but hanging around in some dank ruins with a bunch of slime hellions... Not exactly my idea of a good time. Whatever happened to whoever dropped this, well, let's just hope they made it out with their lives.
Merchants' Abandoned Wares posted:
Abandoned travelers' possessions in want of their owners. What became of them, none can say.
See? Even the little commentary there backs me up, that we don't *know* they were devoured by slime. Anyway, aside from a decent amount of generic consumables, those three points are just about it.
Well, aside from B4, of course. What kind of slime hierarchy doesn't have a much more powerful leader?
Certainly not our most aesthetically pleasing adversary, is he?
Yes, that's it wheezing something out, but this doesn't do anything. I think, if it does this, it's prefacing that it's about to do something, or at least that was the impression I got.
No, what you really have to watch out for is this, where it'll stop for a split second, then launch itself forward. This move tends to hit twice, covers a good amount of ground, and does a lot of damage. Definitely its more dangerous ability. My advice for dealing with this dangerous technique is basically just to watch and respond. If you're at a good distance from it and this attack comes out, that's good, you have time to dodge out of the way. If you're close to it and it launches, that's bad, since it will immediately start doing damage. If you don't see that glint, the only thing you have to fear is a short range biting attack, and if you do see that glint, you can interrupt it if you're fast enough, but I wouldn't swear on you always being able to do that.
If you're playing as Fire, I'd advise just throwing in a sidestep by default, just to throw off the damage-dealing radius of that jump attack and also progress the combo further, since only the third hit of a standard combo will actually open up a Power Combo, so you're not really losing anything. Overall, play aggressive, but not so aggressive that you're just pounding your head against its jelly form.
Its added desperation arte is Maul, where it'll quickly lunge forward, attempting to eat whoever it grasps. If it grasps onto an unarmatized character, they'll be trapped in its mouth, slowly losing health. I don't believe you can knock someone out of this, but if you have BG, you can armatize to escape from it. Overall, you'll like when this move gets added because its damage dealing potential is very easy to predict and a whiffed Maul leaves it wide open for a counterattack.
There are a LOT of boss fights in this particular part of the game, dontcha know. After you clean up Maneater, the other two rooms have a Monocle accessory in the eastern room, past a grate, while the northern room has three treasure chests with random garbage in this room (what kind of idiot would put Gooey Stuff in a gold chest? I don't think I wanna know who did that), and if you couldn't tell, this is the dungeon I mentioned as part of that treasure chest loop that was a location I mentioned we hadn't been to yet. The nearest save point is just across Maneater's room and up the stairs, so this is part of that loop, by the by. Anyway, doing all that means we're totally done with the Glaivend Basin, except for that epilogue thing I mentioned.
Please, Shepherd... Leave me be.
Remember this woman? She was here before we fought Tiamat, saying her husband had been captured by Heldalf. If you need it piecing together, that green-haired seraph we saw during the anime cutscene was her husband, or partner, or whatever the terminology in the seraph world is, that became Tiamat after being at the center of all the malevolence created by the human war going on around him. Reacting to that, sometime after the battle, this seraph became the Dragon Warlock, a subspecies of dragon, apparently. That's why Rose said she felt a particularly large amount of resentement towards us after that fight, and you know that also because she only shows up after you quell the Dragon Warlock.
*sigh* The reason we're in Ladylake in particular are two reasons. One, it's close to Aroundight, which is where the plot continues, but first...a little diversion, towards something that needs doing, and that we've been neglecting entirely too long. The first skit is important. It's a conversation between Sorey and Zaveid about Eizen, seeing as how both have business with him. Zaveid speculates about using Siegfried on him, but thanks to Zaveid's pointless battles with us before, we're only down to one shot, and we need something against Heldalf and Maotelus. So using it on someone's personal issue...just doesn't seem to be in the cards. They do speculate on whether one bullet would be enough, or even that there might be a way to do without Siegfried, but I'm just gonna level with you, there ain't. Or at least, one you'll not find in this game. This skit prompts the Eizen battle to become available, which *technically* has been available ever since we gained Edna's map action, but, I guess at some point, he just flew off to another corner of Rayfalke and you can't actually fight him. Once you see this skit, he becomes available for the rest of the game.
The other skit is less important, but also worth seeing. When you're faced with such an avatar of destruction, whatever your current feelings, you gotta stop it, is how I feel.
Uh-oh, there's that signature again. Yes, for reasons other than thematic appropriateness, this is the earliest you can fight Eizen. I'll certainly have things to say about why I'm phrasing it like that in particular when we actually go up the mountain, which we are doing...now.
Oh yeah, new, powerful enemies have replaced the previous early game trash that were wandering around here when we went up here with Dezel.
(Elder Treant) Oh, it's an elderly. How graceful and cute its name is!
If you say so!
She does. These aren't the most dangerous enemy in the world, because they don't have much answer to Calamity Flare spam, but battles with them tend to go on longer than they should. Not my faves.
Okay, so, allow me to pause here before we get to this scene. If you don't see this coming scene, you're not doing this sidequest right, and if you're not doing it right, you're doing it wrong, and it's impossible to finish. So if you come up here with Dezel, you can actually get to the summit where Eizen is hanging out, and you can actually fight him. But right at the start of the fight, Edna will get pissed off and immediately leave the party, meaning you only have three seraph to work with through the entirety of the fight. You can run from the fight, just like we did with Sorey and Mikleo the first time we "fought" Eizen, and she'll rejoin, but if you stand and fight, it gets more curious.
Yes, this is the infamous Luminous Gain that the Dragon Resurrection Orb we got from Tiamat, or was given to us at some point during the fight, negates. If you have this orb, Eizen can't use this arte and the battle will proceed normally, albeit slowly. When I went up here with Dezel, by reloading the post-Water Trial save, and saw him use this arte, I just assumed it was impossible to defeat Eizen, that if he ever gets too low on HP, even at like, 75% HP or 80% or whatever, he'd use this, and since it's nearly impossible to knock a dragon out of casting something, that's just it. You'd never be able to do so much damage that you'll negate 12k worth of healing.
Apparently, though, I was mistaken. Not on the point of him being impossible, but apparently if you just have incredibly awesome NG+ equipment, and are on Simple (presumably), you can outdamage that healing. So what happens if he hits 0 and you win? Trick question, you just don't. If his actual remaining HP hits 0, his HP will then become, no joke, "???", which represents infinity as far as this game is concerned, and you just flat-out can't win. I've seen a screenshot of someone doing this, so I know it can happen. Apparently, though I certainly was not able to confirm this for myself, Eizen can also start spamming Luminous Gain to restore his HP if he feels like it, and in effect, the same thing occurs.
What does all this add up to? If, under any circumstances, you fight Eizen (even during the first encounter with him) before defeating Tiamat, and you look at his HP total, it is a lie. It will *say* Eizen has a certain amount of HP remaining, but between all of what I just mentioned, for all intents and purposes, he has infinite HP. Oh, and speaking of that first encounter, nothing special happens if you "drain" his HP to ???. Lailah will keep yelling at you to run.
And if you think about it, it certainly makes sense. Dezel has no business at all with Eizen, never even says the guy's name, so how would Zaveid play out at all if his primary character motivation was no longer present before he was meant to not be present? You'd have to change skits and cutscenes and all that, all to represent the fact you defeated Eizen before you were supposed to, especially since his situation isn't part of the main story. Just doesn't add up to put all the effort into something basically no one would ever see. No choice
What are you after?
*turns around* Well...
We're going to kill Eizen.
*pained grunt*
Wait. What about our promise?!
Sorry. But I need to keep my promise with him. I've got my honor, you know.
I see... So you've figured it out. That the only way to save my brother is no different from the way we'll beat Heldalf. I should have known as much. There is no other way to return a dragon to its original form. Unless you kill it.
Edna...
*turns around* It's okay. There's nothing anyone can do about it. I've always known it was true. He's nothing but a monster now. A monster who's devoured countless humans and seraphim alike. He's so far gone he doesn't even recognize me anymore. But I kept holding on. I just couldn't give up on the possibility of him turning back to the way he was. I've held onto that silly desire for thousands of years... I knew the truth in my heart, but I just couldn't abandon my brother. I know we have to kill him... As long as he's alive, I...
"I don't want Edna to suffer for it."
Huh? What does that even mean?! That's so selfish of him! Leaving on a journey without me! Becoming a dragon without telling me! Didn't he even think about how lonely I'd be without him?!
After that scene, both Zaveid and Edna both leave the party, but you can probably tell where Zaveid went... Also, I didn't want to interrupt the cutscene, but Zaveid allegedly quoting Eizen, he definitely didn't say that in Berseria, at least not on-camera. If you'll recall, during their last encounter, when Zaveid offered to kill him, it was only after he became a dragon, which Eizen resigned himself to. If you think about it, this outcome is probably the one Eizen feared the most, that he would become a dragon who was endangering the life of his sister because of her lingering affection for him. Zaveid basically offered to do it himself, and Eizen's attitude was more or less "If that's the way it's gotta be, that's the way it gotta be".
It's just so stupidly good.
Song of Wind
Weren't we always?
Please don't carry the burden alone.
Man, what a bunch of idiots. I can't believe you're dragging yourselves into this mess.
Yeah, keep dreaming.
You say that now...
Let's finish this. Right here, right now.
Yes, it has. Now that we have the Dragon Resurrection Orb, this fight is eminently winnable, but it's definitely not much like the vast majority of other fights in the game. Not surprisingly, he's most like Tiamat; just a huge wall of HP and damage that, instead of quickly bursting down, you have to endure against.
I got this to happen a couple times on camera, but suffice to say, stunning Eizen is *incredibly* unlikely, and like what I said with Tiamat, when an enemy doesn't stagger, you can't launch Mystic Artes. So Stunning Eizen is your only way to launch your most powerful techniques.
You're most safe from the big guy at range. Only his tail and spells can threaten you like that, but how to stay safely at range while doing the most damage? The combo you'll want is like, Saint's Arrow -> Blistering Fang / Shattered Deluge -> Six Falling Stars. Six Falling Stars is the most important one, since that hits Eizen's [Dragon] category, and it gives you a meager Power Combo. But again, if he doesn't stagger or Stun, you can't Mystic Arte him. The reason for that combo in particular is because the shooter doesn't have to get close at any point in the process to continue the combo, so you can keep yourself at your preferred range.
Without Luminous Gain, he only has two spells, both easily sidestepped. Earthquake is the more dangerous of the two, because a missed sidestep + no blocking Earthquake will do a ton of damage. May not outright kill, but it will do a lot of damage.
The tail has a huuuuge hitbox that he swings across nearly the entire field, so if you see it coming, just block. Not worth the incredibly tight backstepping window to style on it.
Considering the Aqua Limit here, well, maybe it's a good thing he gets Stunned so infrequently.
His bite can inflict Fatigue, which drastically slows SC regeneration, but luckily, Elixir Vitae both heals that and lots of HP. Again, given how few Mystic Artes you'll realistically get to use, you'll have to spend your BG on something. This is that.
This is like the one time I was able to style off of the tail swipe.
Because Eizen's hitbox is so massive, things don't usually hit the things you might expect them to hit, since the game is not primarily designed against fighting these massive enemies, so stuff like Six Falling Stars has weird angles it'll work best at. Hitting Eizen from the side is safer but I *think* this angle on him tends to do more damage. Doing the above combo while close to his hind legs is, I believe, the best angle for attacking him. However, being there does leave you less reaction time to a lot of his techniques, and also be careful of attacking too much and allowing his spells to fire faster, before you have a chance to mentally adjust to them. As far as I know, seraphic artes are basically worthless against him.
It also depends on a lot on what he's doing. If he's rearing back to throw out his Fire Breath, yeah, not much is gonna do damage from this angle, but if he's thrashing around with his Bite attack, yeah, you'll interact with his hitbox the most.
At 50% HP, his added trick is Neigh, where he rears back like that and throws out an air-shattering howl, which can stun anyone close enough to him up to a couple times. Thankfully, it's a pretty long animation, so he can't really take advantage of the stun. Maybe the danger is to like, throw you off or something now that you've settled into the rhythm of the fight.
Yeah, it's stuff like this than can get you, even if none of the individual attack / casting patterns are that hard to defeat. You just get into such a rhythm, that if you get busted out, you're attacking or dodging when you didn't exactly mean to, that he can very easily kill you. I wouldn't normally have revived Mikleo with a Life Bottle, but I mean, let's face it. I am not going to get an amazing Grade score here, no matter what I do.
In spite of what they talk about here, yeah, don't worry about it. You can end this fight however you want, as long as you end it successfully.
(tearfully) Don't say anything. I think I understand.
...
I'm sorry it took so long, Eizen.
This...humble monument is the only remnant that Aifread's first mate ever lived.
No matter how much she was prepared for it, this couldn't have been an easy thing to do. Was there a better way? We'll never know.
Grave Atop the Mountain posted:
A small grave imbued with a sister's love for her brother. What was the earthbound girl's prayer to her brother in Heaven?
None are necessary.
If he says that's the way it is, that's the way it is.
As long as they're both satisfied with how things turned out, I'm sure Eizen would be, as well.
But there is a bit of an important epilogue to this sidequest. You don't need to be in Ladylake to see this skit, but it's where I went, and you need to see this skit to see this epilogue. The skit doesn't exactly point you in this direction, but the final scene of this whole Eizen business involves you going back to his grave at the top of the Spiritcrest. Final farewell
Since you always gave me souvenirs. Is this what it felt like to you?
You may not have journeyed together, but with this you can share the memories.
Heh. The words of a hopeless vagabond.
That's not the way you feel, Edna?
It's not. But that's the most I'll say.
Haha! The words of a hopeless Edna.
I guess. *sighs*
You and Eizen are different people. It's okay if you feel different things, isn't it?
... A mind-reader!
For real?!
No way.
*giggles*
Yeah... You're right. It shouldn't really mater if I'm seeing the same world my brother saw.
It's not that it doesn't matter.
Right. I just mean, even if you don't share the same feelings as your brother, it's okay.
Yup. After all, your journey is YOUR journey.
*sigh* You kids... Don't worry. It hasn't exactly been a bowl of cherries, but I'm enjoying it so far.
Whoa!
Man, straight talk from Edna!
This calls for a feast! I hear that's human custom!
Wait, wait. Let's calm down. It must be a trap.
Now then, let's go.
Yeah.
Keep sailing those seas in a better place, man...
So by finishing this sidequest, Edna has received her second Mystic Arte. Notwithstanding armatized Mystic Artes, which don't count, everyone has two. Lailah and Mikleo's second can only be unlocked in the post-game, Edna just got her's, Sorey's is learned from a little sidequest that starts in Pendrago, Zaveid's is also earned from a sidequest, ditto for Rose. Dezel wasn't in the party long or permanently enough to get one, and I believe Alisha also gets a new one, but certainly not from anything that happens in the main game. All of them have the same activation condition, which is the exact same as the normal one, except you need at least a 4-hit combo in normal state and 5 BG, rather than 3.
I'm...not sure that applies here.
Uh, how do you figure?
Yeah, how do you? I couldn't just leave that hanging, you know?
This is the final final bit of this Eizen business, Edna talking about why she likes sweets so much.
Back in Ladylake, one last time this update, I got this skit...somehow. The Ladylake region doesn't exactly strike me as known for its abundant and world-renowned hot spring scene, but I guess I was wrong. Zaveid "reading the wind" to try to peep on the girl's sauna, but Lailah's not the Prime Lord for nothin'.
Hm, does this place look a lot more...not good, to any of you?
Huh?
Oh no...
Mikleo...
Yeah. I don't feel Gramps' blessed domain...
DId something happen in Elysia?
You guys! Let's hurry!
Yeah!
No joke there. Wolf Berserkers are highly dangerous and resiliant enemies. Definitely not ones to play around with, especially in Aroundight's obnoxiously tight corners.
But nowhere is Aroundight's obnoxious battlefields more obnoxious than against our next powerful hellion, the Demon Rodler.
This is another unique specimen, in that 99% of the time, the only things he'll do is use Impact Wave and teleport around whenever he's being attacked but not staggered. Impact Wave fires in a cone-like wave in front of him, doing quite a bit of damage, and I mentioned the terrain being awful. Well, it is. This screenshot is one of the very few times I was able to sidestep off of it, so yeah, the timing is super tight and the punishment for not is severe. You just don't have a lot of room to dodge around it,and the camera is far from cooperative most times, which may be in the intended experience.
The good thing about Fire!Form in particular here is Tower of Blood will send the bony bastard *flying*, so high up into the air that you'll actually be able to recover and begin another couple attacks before you'll be drained of SC and need to recover.
Overall, once again, Fire!Form is just about as good as it gets in terms of attacking most enemies in this game. If we're being real, there are very few instances of it *not* being ideal.
If you make accessories with it then it's even more rare...
Stay focused, you two!
Who says they aren't? Yes, those odd blue lumps were always supposed to be these Mythril Giants, but thanks to Zenrus' domain, they were never able to move or fight or anything. Speaking of, if Zenrus' domain has weakened this much...we need to get to Elysia, pronto. Shaking him down about Camlann can wait until we know what's going on.
Rose was saying this a *lot* during the recording of this update... The bait
*hops out* Someone who could wield their powers even within Zenrus' domain must have led humans and hellions to this place.
Heldalf...
Maybe he was trying to get the humans to destroy the seal so he could get to Camlann.
I dunno about that. Remember, he's linked up with Maotelus. He could probably cut through that seal like butter.
Yeah. No doubt Heldalf is already camped out at Camlann, waiting for us. This is likely just his way of tormenting me.
Well then, if we waste any more time here, we're just falling into his trap.
Then let's press on to Elysia. *the guys leave*
Pretty obvious what kittybeard is after.
Yes...
Corrupting Sorey with malevolence, I take it.
*nods* Sorey's aware of it. You can tell he's trying his best to keep it together, despite the circumstances.
*grunts* Ugh... Screw you, Smelldalf! No one can keep their head on straight when their friends and family are in mortal danger.
Who knows what evils he may be plotting, in order to cause Sorey further heartache...
I can hazard a few guesses. We gotta stop him, no matter what!
*nods*
Let's go.
Indeed. Smooth and steady...
Just as feared... And even a literal guard dog. To the rescue
Darn it!
A powerful hellion like this, right at Elysia's gate...
Sorey!
Yeah. Take this one out!
Cerberus is certainly a pretty fun fight. Its primary attack, as always, comes from the front, consisting of a Water attack from its blue head and a Fire attack from its red, but, as always, it's a waste of time to play against either of those, and just focus on circling around to the enemy's blind spots, either behind it or to either side, and strike from there for maximum advantage. The reason I played as Rose here is because of an arte she recently gained, Deathblooms, which strikes Cerberus' [Beasts] category, is fast, and hits numerous times. Perfect way to open a Power Combo.
Yeah, when it gets low on health, it can start getting very aggressive with the breath attacks, and since they're unblockable, you really need to keep on top of trying to stagger it. All of these screenshots were taken within like a 10 second window.
I was unstoppable on the paint this time.
Sorey, let's hurry!
Right!
It looks like a battlefield. They must have become hellions, losing themselves and turning on each other.
How could this happen?
It's possible they simply had the same thought that Heldalf also had back in the day. Elysia and Camlann are strategically valuable, right?
But the war is practically over already!
Which goes to show you how much some morons don't want it to end.
...
But they're not the only ones responsible for this. There's massive amounts of malevolence pouring out from somewhere.
Probably a sign that the seal my mother forged has been broken.
Gramps... Everyone... Please be safe.
You don't think everyone--
Please, both of you, don't assume the worst.
Yeah. They had to have gotten away safe and sound.
You're right.
Let's keep up the search.
Lailah is right. Let's not jump to any conclusions...again. Let's just see if Gramps' house has any clues for us. A village threatened
Ow!
It's a barrier. It must be something Zenrus set up to prevent humans from breaking in.
Gramps! It's me, Sorey!
??? Sorey?
You're back!
You're back!
Thank goodness!
Sorey!
Oh, thank goodness! I'm so glad you're all okay.
Where's Gramps?
He told us to wait here. He said that he was going to go drive out the humans.
He went alone in all this malevolence?!
I'm sorry... We should have been there with him.
But even if we had, we would only have gotten in his way...
We left him out there to die...
...
Hey! Like Lailah keeps saying, reflection good, regrets bad!
There's no way Gramps would fall so easily.
Sorey...
I'll go find him! Kyme, everybody, stay right here!
Well, Mikleo, I would say that does not necessarily follow, particularly if the guy was going out into harm's way. Nevertheless, we do need to find him. But first, there's a couple important points in his house.
They both involve this bookshelf. The skit involves Zenrus writing down the history of Sorey, Mikleo, and Camlann as he understood the events, without reference to how it all happened, which does make sense, since he only showed up for the aftermath. The one new thing contained in here is the actual chain of events afterwards. After Lailah and Michael had split up, and after the events of Camlann, Zenrus and Lailah crossed paths, and he told her all of what transpired, without making exact reference to Sorey and Mikleo's names. Upon learning this, she took the oath that allows her and her underlings to wield the flames of purification, and began waiting in Ladylake for the appearance of the new Shepherd, and that's where Zestiria started.
The other point is Gramps' Pipe, instrumental for getting into Katz Korner, as we've heard, more or less, from a few Lords of the Land. I imagine in the alternate chain of events where you don't pawn off Gramps' Pipe to the Sparrowfeathers earlier in this game, this plays out much the same way, with Sorey returning the Pipe to Zenrus if you do that mid-adventure pit stop at Elysia and it being here, like this, at this point in the story.
Oh, and speaking of that pit stop, I missed a save point skit at the save point outside Sorey's house afterwards, but if it's not in the skit player, well, I'm dusting off my all-purpose "I make it a point not to cover *absolutely* everything in an LP" excuse for not including some content.
Anyhow, that's all relevant business in Elysia.
The air changed again around here, and still, not for the better.
Uh...this is the first I'm hearing of such a thing, Rose. Provocation
It's her!
We can no longer tell how you will respond. And so, as you can see, we determined this to be the only remaining option available to us.
You did this?!
Whatever plots you hatch, it doesn't matter. I already have my answer.
Do you hate me, then? Do you wish to plunge that sword into my breast?
Where is Gramps, Symonne?
*looks away briefly* He went to the Gate of the Dawn of Chaos to drive away the earth-dwellers flooding in. Though it's far too late at this point to do anything. *disappears*
That's sure what it sounded like to me...