Toggle Background Color
Part XXIII: The End of a Dream
Yeah, that's...probably good advice. Ground zero
So this is Camlann...
My first time here, yet I already know the place. Feels bizarre.
It's like time has stopped ticking here.
You might be more right than you realize, considering how much power Maotelus wields.
So this is where he died...
Lailah, are you okay?
Thank you, Sorey. I'm just fine.
We got a ways to the shrine, still. Keep your chins up.
Quite.
This is what it all comes down to... But of course, being the epicenter for Glenwood's malevolence, both Camlann and the next area, the final dungeon, are teeming with high-leveled hellions. Most of the adversaries lurking in the ruins of Camlann can be found in Aroundight Forest and the Depths of Mt. Mabinogio, but we do some have special guests in attendance, as well. And what's more special than a skit about Symonne at the first available save point here?
And keep in mind, Camlann and the final dungeon are outside of Uno or Morgrim's domain, who would be the closest Lords of the Land in this part of the world. So you'll have no way to unlock LotL privileges / enemy debuffs while present, which makes it more annoying than anything to dodge like Berserker Wolves and Hydras and all that.
Speaking of LotL privileges, this is another portal you can unlock that connects to a chain of teleporters to be found in the first dungeon or the Depths that we just traveled through. You can warp to and from save point outside a Lord's domain, no problem, but keep in mind it will cost more.
Oh yes, and the name "Camlann". This name comes from the legendary Battle of Camlann, the final battle between Arthur and his treacherous son, Mordred. In the most common telling, after Lancelot had fallen out with the king and went into exile, Mordred had rallied many knights disaffected with Arthur while the king was away fighting in mainland Europe. Upon returning, Mordred had made his claim to the throne and was opposed by Arthur and the remaining loyal knighthood. As always, Geoffrey's embellishments about this conflict form much of what we "know" about it, but the general telling is that Mordred was slain in single combat with his father, while the better part of both armies were annihilated, bringing an end to the legend of Camelot. The surviving knights disperse across the world, and who survives also varies depending on who you're reading, in some tellings going to meet a righteous Christian death in the Holy Land, or committing themselves to monasteries.
As for Arthur himself, depending on the telling, he either outright dies from wounds sustained from the battle sometime afterward, after Excalibur was returned to the Lady of the Lake by his loyal retainer Bedivere, or was whisked away to Avalon by his sister and two other queens of the legendary island to recover from his wounds and await the day when Britain most needed his legendary return.
The general layout of Camlann is the village itself is nestled in-between two ridges, with some settlements outside the valley, but the two new bosses can be found on either side. This one, on the right side of the area map, is Odin, a quite difficult enemy.
It's primarily due to this charging attack, which can tear right through your attackers and do massive damage to anything within the range of Gungnir, or whatever the closest hellion equivalent to Odin's spear is out there.
Really, nullifying enemy Fire resistances is *so* helpful, seriously. Odin is normally strong against Earth, Fire, and Wind, with a weakness to Void, making this a rather difficult fight if you're trying to do it the "right" way.
As a close range self-defense measure, Odin can also call down lightning bolts all around him, appropriately devastating on Chaos. If he does this, just back off. Odin is most vulnerable after a charge. He also gets Horse Neigh while low on health, which restores some paltry amount of HP. Of no concern.
Well, I'm glad *someone* around here used a Mystic Arte. For 2 BG armatized Mystic Artes, AI Sorey is insanely hesitant about using them. It was very strange during the entire recording for this update.
For all the times I lost this fight, I am pretty happy I got a new victory screen after it while recording. Well, I saw this many times during equipment grinding, but that don't count.
Odin's second drop, the Languid Sword, is very special, and it's related to ultimate builds, believe it or not. Before we get into the heavy shit of the final dungeon, let's go over this last important bit of the process.
So bosses in Camlann and the final dungeon, as well as the bonus, will drop these "joke" equipments. Every character gets one "joke" weapon (including Alisha, only available in her DLC), as well as a handful of joke armors (since there are no character-exclusive armors) and what do they do? Well, they're obviously not meant to be used. Instead, these things are related to guaranteeing that 2x normin skills drop. The process is fairly simple, actually. When one of these pieces of joke equipment is Sanctified and brought up to +99, then offer that +99 joke item to the Lord of the Land via the option where you can trade items for Grade. The base parameters of all of these items will never improve, BUT, when you offer up that +99 equipment, the skill in the first slot of the +99 Languid Sword, for example, will guarantee that whatever skill that is, as long as it's NOT a bonus skill (so, not like Blasst here), will guarantee that ALL future instances of that skill are 2x. Every single one. The exact formula is...
GameFAQs posted:
Chance of becoming double (%) = 1 + sqrt(A-Pointsx100 + B-Points)
Chance of becoming triple (%) = double chance / 16
From the process I described above, you would get 100 A-Points for Voyd, for example, which guarantees that any future instance of Voyd will be at least 2x, with a 6.3% chance of it being 3x. I did do some research, and as far as I'm aware, it's completely impossible to guarantee you'll ever get a 3x instance of a skill. Outside of like, blatant cheating with the PC version, but for self-evident reasons, that also does not count. You just have to get very lucky. Now, when you trade the +99 thing in to get A-points, the ONLY thing that matters is the skill in the first slot. Can be locked, unlocked, whatever other skills, doesn't matter. The game will only look at that first skill to determine which one is guaranteed to get those A-points.
In this equation, B-points refer to the chance of ANY skill being doubled, and to max those out, you'd need to offer up 10 of these joke items that all have the same skill in the first slot when they're given to the Lord of the Land.
Now, it's possible to do this +99 thing with any piece of equipment, the joke equipment is not strictly necessary. So why is it very much recommended you get these A and B-points with joke equipment? Well, remember when I said you can only fuse equipment that *exactly* matches the name of the thing you're fusing with? Well, Yggdrasil Earrings, for example, are not technically the same item as the Irminsul, even though that's what I Sanctified to get the former from. What that means if that if I wanted a Yggdrasil Earrings+1, even, I'd need to get 10 more Irminsul from any source, sanctify that, THEN combine them with the thing I already made. Overall you'd need 1000 pieces of the same equipment to get to +99, which is hellaciously dull grinding, I shouldn't have to tell you.
With the joke equipment, when it says "unify all ritual swords", it ain't joking. The advantage with joke equipment is that the Languid Sword, or any similar item, can fuse with ANY of its same type (however, women's armor and men's armor are treated as separate equipment types). So instead of 1000 drops of the same piece of equipment, now you need 100 of that equipment *type* to accomplish the same thing, once you get the corresponding joke equipment. Cuts down enormously on grinding, and the only penalty at the end is you'd have to trade in a completely worthless combat-wise piece of equipment. Sounds like a win-win to me. The only problem is you can only get a certain number of joke equipments per playthrough, and you can't grind for them in any way. But hey, if you're really committed to making ultimate builds, with 2x's all over the place and the occasional 3x, you'd only need...3 playthroughs, by my count, and you can get all the decent skills at 2x in a single playthrough if you know which ones to focus on.
You don't have to worry about us. We're fine.
Oh...okay then.
Yeah. Just worry about yourself.
Ouch... The very conspicuous headstone is, not surprisingly, our next landmark. This is the "Camlann's Founding Monument", actually.
The beginning of many things, to be sure...
Camlann's Founding Monument posted:
A monument with a single inscription that carries the hopes and prayers of many--though, sadly, it seems these hopes and prayers were not realized.
Curiously, the Dark Turtlez shop is carrying a largely similar line-up to the Katz Korner shop... Probably nothing.
Another big guy, huh...
I mentioned what these guys were in reference to in Berseria, and here we're fighting one again. This is basically a non-almost joke Asura fight. This guy's tough, lots of HP, and very mean.
Most of this guy's difficulty will come in the form of quick-firing spells and its sword attacks. It also loves using Energy Shot, which fires straight from its head, which leaves the obvious problem that Hecaton here is much taller than anyone else, so it'll often sail right over the target's head if they're close enough.
Once it gets lower on health, it'll use much more familiar line-ups of devastating sword attacks, thankfully none hitting all around him. Once it starts expanding its lineup, your general strategy will be to armatize with Zaveid, wait for it to whiff a sword attack, then circle around to the back and open up a Power Combo. Do that enough, and even all its arms will not prevent its defeat.
Eh, they'll manage. The last thing of note in Camlann is...
This destroyed house on the way to Hecaton...
In another lifetime, literally.
Burnt Remains of Shepherd Michael's Home posted:
The home where the Shepherd Michael and his sister Muse once lived. No signs remain of the peaceful life they once enjoyed.
In addition to the landmark, a normin has taken up residence in the ruins. You can just barely see its yellow head poking up in the bottom right corner of it, if you're looking at it from the map screen. Let's not let Priventi remain in this blighted place.
The final dungeon, and that name...yes, in another time this was the Empyrean's Throne. The exact significance of the name "Artorius" has been long-lost by this era, but I suppose it's possible that the followers of the history of the Shepherd, particularly those denizens of Camlann, knew Artorius' name and associated it with this place, and that certainly wouldn't be entirely unreasonable. Yes, Berseria and Zestiria technically end in about the same place, and even both begin in roughly the same place, which is pretty cool.
In the ensuing time period, particularly after the events of Camlann, the geography around here has been absolutely decimated, and that certainly holds true of the throne itself. It has now become a twisted maze of walkways and outcroppings that very gradually wind around to the throne room. If you remember this place from Berseria, as long as one had access to the throne itself, it was pretty easy to get to its highest point. Here, absolutely not the case.
You wanna back out now, here's your chance.
Indeed... Even more than Artorius himself, the name "Innominat" has been absolutely purged from the history books.
The nearby save point has two skits available, if you've gotten at least one of the Languid weapons from Camlann, or any other place and go to a save point, whichever. The first one is, well, about what a truly cursed place this altar has become, and the second is kinda hinting at why those joke weapons are important, but obviously they can't entirely go into the details. Oh yeah, and one other thing about A and B-Points, they're automatically carried over in-between playthroughs.
Yeah, appearance-wise, the Languid Sword certainly doesn't match Sorey as well as the Bloodied Sword does. All the same, we'll be sticking with that. Oh, and speaking of fusions, +99 is the max, you can't fuse an item any more past that. So as you're approaching +99 enhancements, make sure the skill you wanna double is in that first slot. For me. Also, learn to love this save point, because it's the only one between now and the end of Artorius' Throne. Gonna be quite a marathon to get up to the highest reaches.
Yeah. We can't afford to let our guards down.
Much of the traversal of this dungeon will take place in these little antechambers and stairwells. The real estate around here is pretty tight, it's hard to dodge enemy groups sometimes. Enemy groups like... Oh, to make progress in the dungeon, go to the central hallway. The left will soon lead to an impassable gap because of blueberry cobbler and the right will eventually lead to a small treasure room, but otherwise a dead-end.
And the tight corridors certainly applies to the actual arenas, as well.
(Succubus) I'll take on this cute looking succubus!
But she's a powerful opponent with few weaknesses!
We've come this far. We can't lose yet!
Ya'll couldn't missed the point harder if you tried.
Don't look at it right in the eyes.
But hey, eye contact is basic etiquette!
Voided Eyes are probably the easiest enemies in this dungeon, as long as they don't start spamming spells. If they do, well, bust out those seraphic artes. Well, maybe the second-easiest, just because of that little caveat.
Damn it, Sorey, starting to regret those lowered Mystic Arte costs. Either way, definitely not the first time Mikleo has seen these types. Or seen hellions that were JUST heads, when you think about it...
There are a number of these little armory rooms and ancillary ones. Usually nothing too important in them, but the one to the left on the radar, yeah, that one is... Oh, that chest has an Elixir in it.
Before we were so rudely interrupted...
Oh damn...
You can certainly tell the subject of Innominat is not one lightly broached in the world of seraphim. For very very good reason... Given that Lailah and Zaveid, who has first-hand experience with Innominat, have the same reaction, that name is probably one that has been passed down in the seraphim world for a long time, and not for good reasons.
The Crest of Innominat posted:
A crest that bears a distinct resemblance to that of Maotelus of the Five Lords. The dark parts are absent, leaving one with an impression of light and purity.
Going to the only available route will eventually lead you back outside, and our latest friend.
Try not to get sucked into it.
Sucked... Into?
Don't ask. Mammoths are probably the easiest enemies here, since, as always, their attacks are slow and their bodies are big. You'd think that would be an advantage in tight arenas, but what it actually means is that they'll be forced to bunch up a lot and groups of Mammoths can be wiped out quickly.
Continuing to follow the path will eventually lead you to this first tower...thing. Whatever it is, it's the first non-linear bit of the dungeon. Solving this torch puzzle (last seen in Igraine) will open the far door, leading to a circular staircase. Going up that staircase...
Leads you to an optional boss, the Catoblepas. A phantasmagoric life. This was a legendary animal, described by Pliny the Elder, resembling the wildebeest, who dwelt somewhere in Africa (at least, the Africa the Romans knew) and could kill a man with either its breath or even just its sight. Here, it's re-imagined as a skeleton-type enemy. It apparently does not have a great variety of spells to fire at you (it just used Vengeant Fangs and Final Embrace against me, and this was on Chaos), but it also has a very powerful staff swing attack that comes out quickly, has lots of range, and does lots of damage. It's that attack you'll most want to watch out for, but thankfully it's quite vulnerable to Fire!Form and does not have much health regardless. Overall, mind that staff and quickly bring it down.
For beating it, you'll get an Imbued Orb and a Decayed Paper, so that's another joke equipment down.
Also, I was playing as Rose during that last fight because I wanted to try and activate Crown of Torment, and the description is translated a bit wrong here. It doesn't mean a 4-hit combo, which is very easy, but what it really means is "After the fourth hit or greater of a combo", which is like, the artes a character can use, not the combo counter itself.
Back downstairs, these rooms leading to bonus bosses are all laid out the same: one branch of the main room leads to a treasure (in this case, a Strawberry Shortcake), and the other continues the dungeon, sometimes passing by even more treasure. In this case, a large room near the exit to this place has an Elixir and Kaleidoscepter.
Don't worry. I'm not here to give a sermon.
Oh yeah, Specters are easy, too. As for other enemies who dwell in the outside areas...
(Garuda) It's said that Garudas possess godlike levels of mana.
And it can totally fly too, so we'd better watch it.
Like with the Wendys in Guinevere, these enemies are actually pretty dangerous, especially since they come in groups.
It's a winged dragon with strong attacks.
We have no chance of winning if we can't avoid getting hit!
Past this enemy, we have our second tower-thing. As a twist, you come in from this one below the map action-themed "puzzle". It's just Wind Rushing three pinwheels, last seen in Guinvere. The bonus room has a Chiffon Cake and Death Sheet. Remember, circular staircase rooms always lead to the optional bosses.
(Arachne) Oh, it's Arachne.
So is it like a spider or what?
It's said the hellion's form embodies its emotions.
So this one used to be a stalker, huh?
The second boss is the Hippogriff, a legendary beast with the front half of an eagle and the back half of a horse. The time for evolution. Despite the Greek name for the creature, it's not Greek in origin, which is what I always thought. No, it's actually from 16th century Italy, specifically related to several of Charlemagne's Paladins, including Astolfo, Bradamante, and Ruggiero, where it is capable of incredibly fast flight, including the ability to go to the Moon and back.
As for Zestiria, the Hippogriff is probably the easiest of these bonus bosses. Its frontal attacks are quite powerful and will occasionally inflict Paralysis, but it just doesn't really have any outstanding features that will keep it from fighting back very effectively. No, my main difficulty here was trying to get Crown of Torment to activate, which is why I had Lailah throwing out so many Arcane Bottles. Victory here will gain you an Imbued Orb and Worn Out Pendulum. Gee, thanks.
Continuing on, the next building has a Caliburnus in one of the storage rooms if you want a cool-looking sword. My first copy of this I got from the Trolls in Aifread's Hunting Grounds, if you want more, y'know. I'm pretty good on not grinding more equipment on this playthrough.
Whew. Big place when you can't just go straight up the main stairs, eh. That building Sorey is looking at has our third bonus boss, up some stairs weakly guarded by blocks you have to punch into dust with Giant's Strength.
Ammit is another mythological creature mostly defined by jammed-together animals. In this case, it's an Ancient Egyptian creature / goddess formed from a lion, crocodile, and hippopotamus. The chains of dependence
Pretty happy I managed that. As an enemy, Ammit definitely isn't too hard. Although it's fairly fast for its size, it has short ranged swiping attacks and strangely weak seraphic artes, for a late-game boss. Armatize with Zaveid and take it to school. This time it's a Mangled Umbrella and Imbued Orb as spoils.
And that's where we came in. Getting near the end...
Still no sign of him or his traps? The wait is almost the worst thing.
I'm starting to feel very uneasy about this...
Hey, didn't I tell us to keep our chins up? Doesn't do any good to speculate.
You're right...
Oh yeah, another cool thing about Earthshaker is that, in spite of the very personal nature of the attack itself, the slam down at the end of the attack is a shockwave, meaning it can hit numerous targets. I just use it mostly during boss fights, where you can't appreciate that.
That door leads to here, a little armory. Besides the 49th normin there, Invalda, there's a discovery point along the right wall, a wooden rack of ceremonial swords.
Yeah, you could say that.
A Hoard of Ritual Swords posted:
Ritual swords of exactly the same make of sword Sorey picked up. It appears this is where they were all made.
You can take a little divergence here to pick up another Marron Glace, if you hadn't already gotten the one back in Galahad.
Hm, maybe they're nice to us and there's no puzzle themed around a map action? You can hope, right?
Oh...yeah... This one's fine, though. Doesn't warp you back to the start of Artorius' Throne itself, it's just there's a small pool of water in the lobby area you'll get sent back to. Anyway, same gimmick as before, fittingly enough.
And the fourth and final boss is Dinosaur, who fights quite similarly to Eizen, including a usual inability to fire Mystic Artes at it and many of its attacks. The rule of living creatures. Sadly, this arena is smaller than the Rayfalke Spiritcrest, and I found this the hardest of the four by a fairly large margin.
But really, it was because I was wanting to be greedy and get Divine Wrath to fire off on-camera. Thanks to a couple of lucky stuns I was able to mulch much of its HP bar, but that last bit, I had to work for it. And here I thought I would kill it too fast. You really don't want to lose this because that means it's back to the start of the dungeon for you. And I certainly did not want that. And rounding out the joke equipment list, the Decrepit Staff is yours if you make this dinosaur extinct. At the heart
Hey, Zaveid. Didn't you say before that you had a score to settle with Maotelus?
Yeah. But it looks like I won't have to kill him.
The fact that you met Sorey opened new possibilities for you, didn't it?
Yes, my fated meeting! Too bad my destiny was a Shepherd and not a pair of hot twins.
Are you dumb?
Seriously. To kill one of the Five Lords... Even to think that you COULD kill them is ridiculous.
Well, you never know what'll happen until you try.
You knew your answer from the start, and you've stuck with it the whole way through. I'm actually impressed.
Why, thank you, Rosie. Care to sign a pact and be my vessel?
Too far. *pokes him*
Ow!
Thanks a lot, Zaveid.
Erm?
Sorey... I swear, you're the corniest guy alive. You gotta stop being such a softie. We still got work to do.
Right.
There's a save point skit right at the base of the final stairs, in fact the final save point before the final boss, but don't worry about those stairs in particular. They just lead up to the highest point of the Throne, but you're not locked into the final sequence of the game until you pass through the throne room's door, in the exact same room where we first fought Artorius.
Oh, and as for these Shepherd outfits? Well, they're the exact same as Sorey's normal costume, they just change the battle music if he's wearing them. There's also a purple warp that can lead you out as far as Mt. Mabinogio Depths, which is mostly to save you gald, since we've long left Uno's domain and save point warping is quite expensive. There is also one final (?) save point skit tied to this last save point of the game.
Huh. Wasn't there a portal here a second ago? Ah well. Probably nothing that can't wait until we defeat Heldalf.
As another little interlude, once you've found 49 normin and rest at any inn, you'll get this skit. Sending letters to challenge someone? At a fiery location? I don't like where this is going, no sir, but regardless, something we can save until the postgame, I should think. The final moment
We're here.
Yeah.
*turns around*
Sorey. No matter what, all of us are here behind you. Never forget that.
So there you have it.
So there you have it.
Let's kick some ass!
Thanks, guys. For everything.
Time to bring an end to all of this.
True. Perhaps they mean to show him that it won't do him any good to bring harm to Zenrus.
I dunno. Looked to me like they're just scared. Like they're afraid to acknowledge their weaknesses.
C'mon.
And this is what it all comes down to...