Let's Play Crystal Project: Obviously Crystals are more important than Adventure.

[Torzelbaum]

Heavy shield complete with a small Vitality boost. This'll go to Frieren since GUTS is busy two-handing right now, but if you're devoted to using a shield Warrior it's good for them too.

Yeah, swording and boarding isn't really GUTS' style.

For reasons known only to me, I decide that GUTS will be our Scholar. He's got Equip Sword now it's fine.

And this seems even less so.

 

[Kalir]

Today we tackle the Seaside Cliffs. It's a pretty large area for this early on.

OH YEAH CHECK OUT THIS VERY HELPFUL MAP OF YAMAGAWA.

As far as progression goes for everyone, the only real oddball here is Werdna. As useful as Rogue is, for him the utility effects like Sleep Bomb and Run Away are going to be more useful to the Wizard set I'll move him back to eventually. And by that, I mean the moves are useful to any team.

Okay, back to it. We only briefly dipped into this area the first go around, but this time we'll clean it out to the best of our ability.

The flames here are very mobile and water-capable in most instances, so don't expect to lose them easily if they do notice you.

Turns out Cliffwolves have a Monster Magic spell, so we'll get that real quicklike.

Four actions in and the Cliffwolf refuses to do anything but basic attacks and its high Accuracy, 50% Variance attack Fury Swipes.

You are not the only seller on the market.

This jump is too far for us and it's very sad.

The Seaside Cliffs are kind of a middle ground between Delende's rolling hills and Yamagawa M.A.'s sheer verticality. You'll have to get creative with your climbing to explore all of it.

Another one for the pile, not bad.

Also like Delende, Seaside Cliffs offers you lots of possible routes to explore.

I head into the cave and get in a fight with this thing!

On top of having a pretty solid physical area attack, the Venus Mantrap is the first foe that can use a counterattack, with its Thorns skill dealing a small bit of damage to anyone using a physical attack. Counters are always listed on the enemy's bio and always say exactly what procs them, so you'll never be facechecked by some effect like, oh say, "counter any ability with instant death".

No, if they have that, you're warned right out.

Werdna is completely unthreatened by this. Even if he didn't deign to use magic, Shadow Cut ignores counters, remember!

Oooh, let's see how high we can jack up a basic Fire hit.

It's overkill, yes, but it's MY overkill.

That's pretty dang nice, yeah. Imagine that but with a Flare on it. Oooh, that's a tantalizing thought.

Oh hey we've relinked with the Soiled Den, that's cool.

There's no actual way to get back to the area where Bone Thief was. They just use the Soiled Den as a generic "under Delende" cavern.

But hey, it's a path, and we're gonna take it.

Unsurprisingly, it takes us to a slightly higher elevation of Seaside Cliffs.

Is that a greenery I see?

Yup, Seaside Cliffs has its own tiny little encampment as well.

I believe that!

hehe sheps.

theyre just fluffy little guys

very fluffy, very normal

Oh hey Reid. No progress on finding the Crystal yet?

Well, don't give up!

Anyway, let's see what all this place has to offer.

I did! But I don't know if you all did, or if I told you. So here, have a primer.

Purple chests hold key items, with the most common ones being a regional collectible that someone will ask for a large number of.

Yellow ones are money, consumables or their pouches, and probably the lowest priority as far as chests go. If you see one and don't know how to reach it, don't hurt yourself getting there.

Finally, red ones have equipment! These can be very rewarding boxes indeed, and are always worth going for, ESPECIALLY if you're playing in an area that's got flames that could kill you.

The Scope Bit is a handy Accuracy booster, which isn't especially useful for this particular team but does have its uses for some.

Tent, as usual for the region.

My current obsession is these clamshell things which are scattered around these cliffs. I am looking for exactly 13 of them. Bring me 13 Clamshells, and I'll trade you something for them.

Yep. Like that weird skeptic that wanted Black Squirrels, our collectible for this region is Clamshells. Any region that does ask for collectibles like this almost always has more sources of the collectible than demand for them, so you can basically take it any which way you like for getting more. We will, naturally, be doing this, Manana Man is as good as his word and has a very nice reward.

If you feel like you're low on healing, just use the Home Point to give everyone White Magic as a Sub-Command.

This is indeed a tactic you can pursue early on if you want. Remember, you always have access to at least one move from any moveset you have a class for, excluding Scholar, and if that one move is all you need for a fight, just make it your Sub-Command and no grinding required! (Well, there might be if that move has a scalar it needs to work.)

Anyway, let's not go down the clearly telegraphed route yet.

Yeeeeaaaah that's more like it. So glad this game doesn't have fall damage.

I will eventually get this spell, and every time I do, remember that I'll be posting an update to the Scholar writeup on the first page of the LP!

Oh by the way I can do Earth Split now.

BOOSH

Hm. Would be better if Meena hadn't started her career as a Cleric, but it's still good.

FINALLY

We already know what this move does, it's an AP generatio option.

And it's ours now.

okay thanks bye

Soon we'll get to see the sea!

Oooh, this looks nice.

A little extra Defense and Resistance, yeah, that's good.

Saaaaand!

That fight down there was enough for Frieren to get Doublecast (and Werdna to get Eye Gouge, and Meena to get Chakra). Now she can really start flexing! With this in play, she's more than ready to switch to another class for a bit. She won't be Doublecasting in that other class, but basically now Warlock is a really strong class for her. As far as what she does with Warlock now, the plan is to go for Remedy first, then Regen. And then... I dunno, whatever really, she'll probably be trying another class by then.

And that's the sea! Remember, you can walk around in water that's exactly one cube deep, so we could even try exploring to the right a bit if I was so inclined.

I got distracted by the prospect of more Monster Magic, though.

And I got excited for NOTHING. These Snails are extremely uninteresting enemies in any regard you care to name.

How do I keep getting levels from extremely anticlimactic fights.

Oh well, moving on.

Just checking out the coast.

I think this is the enemy with the spell.

Yes it is!

Jellyfish, in addition to their basic attack and a Poison Sting, have one Monster Magic spell. But we're gonna need to rough 'em up a bit before they use it.

Perfect, let's see it.

Infusion is a healing spell with a pretty significant bonus to it...

It also heals the caster for just as much! That's really cool thanks for teaching it to me.

Can't go further west along the coast from here, not yet.

Maybe if we found another way there from Delende it'd be a different story, though.

This makes seven Clamshells, that's some progress.

And eight on this route into...

Delende again. Sadly, I think our jump height means we can't quite use this route to get to that treasure, but I'm sure there's gotta be something useful here for approaching from this angle. Then again, I'm pretty sure we're just south of the dog trainer, so maybe not.

Yep, okay. Just another entrance to Seaside Cliffs, then.

YOU FOOLS, I HAVE A MAP THIS TIME.

Okay, back to the camp.

And back to the route Reid went. The Crystal is almost certainly this way.

Pretty offroad around here.

Gotta be pretty quick on your feet and sure of your footing to get past this flame!

In fact, this river path has a few Flames around the borders to look out for.

We get attacked by this one, showing another new enemy of the Seaside Cliffs. The Mountainess is a hardy physical fighter with an imposing physique. If that physique is too imposing for you, you can turn on family friendly mode, but that also filters the profanity the game (rarely) uses, and I find that profanity to be an excellent spice judiciously used. For now, I'll leave the mode as is unless that isn't kosher with some of you.

Oh sick guaranteed steal yes please.

Well... okay then, I guess.

Milk is a pretty decent MP restorative.

Anyway I remembered that I got this spell and kind of bluescreened for a bit as I realized the implications of the power. Let's do a field test.

First, the setup.

Then, a Frost spell. Again, in isolation, the damage isn't great, but we're not here just for Frost, now are we?

Okay cool! That ran Frieren 20 MP, which is about in keeping costwise with spells like Bolten, and it tagged in a damage over time effect and a resist debuff if we time it right. That's solid!

what do you mean by this

Oh hey there's a bit of a structure under the waterfall here!

Let's, like, check it out, Scoob!

Entirely new dungeon? Entirely new dungeon!

Draft Shaft Conduit is extremely short, we're gonna knock it out this update lightning quick.

That treasure up there is an extremely nice earlygame wand. Burn never goes out of style, after all.

The platforming and exploration of Draft Shaft Conduit are incredibly minor, making the real threat of the area...

The Canal Rats! This is the first time we really have a big crowd of enemies to deal with at once, and as things stand even Werdna's going to have issues wiping them all with Firen. If you have two area attackers (which we do now with Meena, and could get if someone else was a Fencer with Swallowtail), they're not too scary, but you'll have to weather a lot of bitey angry rats first.

Since they lived a Meena attack and Werdna's damage on Firen isn't much better, I'm going to give him a bit of extra help.

AND CAN YOU BLAME ME?!

After all six rats attack, Werdna is barely alive thanks to GUTS' intervention. Don't neglect your defenses, those buffs can save lives!

Meena handily cleans house, especially since these Canal Rats are a rare earth-weak enemy.

This is a really short area. Like, as in we're halfway done with it by now.

Literally just circle that Crystal until you find the route in, sometimes fight rat hordes. That's it.

Oh yeah do you remember how starting your turn below half health generates Threat? Heal up between fights! It's good for you!!!

Werdna didn't survive that time, but the combined healing of Meena and buffing of Frieren meant he was the only one who got attacked, which is still good for us overall.

And there's our route in. That was easy.

Just gotta fight this thing.

The Canal Beast, much like Sepulchra, is equally capable of using magic and physical attacks to mess with the team. It's actually roughly equal in stats, albeit preferring Water as its element rather than Thunder. Which means you might want to do Seaside Cliffs first if you have the gear needed to resist that Water damage, and the Seaside Cliffs has a few particular pieces of such gear available to choose from. Hardly a requirement, of course, and in a vacuum I consider Canal Beast slightly easier than Sepulchra anyway since Canal Beast can't inflict Fatigue. Yeah, Ink Blast is an area Blind effect and that's annoying, but it's a single turn debuff you can trivially play around with every single physically-inclined character that's not a Fencer at this stage: Warriors can Taunt, Monks can clear the effect or self-buff with Chakra or Focus Energy, and Rogues can go for the Steal I completely forgot about, do a Sleep Bomb, or, as I elected to do, just eye gouge the Canal Beast first. If you're worried about the steal I missed, I'll point it out later, but simply put, it's a very nice wand. You want a very nice wand? Get the steal from Canal Beast.

I know what I'm about. Frieren gets Scan and Meena gets Focus Energy as well.

HIT ME

Hell the damn yes. As ever, this update will have the writeup after, but Shaman is basically one of the best debuff magicalists in the game. You love to see it.

We'll close out the update with the Proving Grounds, but first, I want to check out the rest of the Soiled Den.

Let's drop down this here hole.

It drops an item which I require. That is, an Earth Bangle. If you find one, bring it back to me and I'll make a trade.

Ooooh, handy. Huntie's trade is very much worth doing if you happen to find that particular monster. Earth Bangles aren't exactly something you want to hoard for yourself in the first place anyway.

Oh I can so make that jump, hang on.

YEEEUH. Dodge Charms boost Evasion and that's nice we like that.

Aaaaaagh we're close but not quite there yet.

The south tunnel just pops out here, which isn't useful but is cool.

Maybe the eastern side of the Seaside Cliffs will have those last few Clamshells.

Well, there's another Wizard, that's worth something.

The Rocker just straight up hands us three Clamshells, more than enough to get Manana Man's reward!

You have been tremendously helpful and I wish you a prosperous journey.

Not much else we can actually do around here right now.

That's okay, I got my win condition.

Let's be absolutely sure, though.

!!!

HELL YEAH DOGG!!!!

Bit of treasure once we climb over this wall.

Great, I think that about wraps it up!

Yeah Gokue here is just saying "DONT FORGET 2 EQUIPPED PASSIVE". Yeah, I know, buddy.

And that's a bit of light armor!

It's nice if Canal Beast is the first boss in the region you're challenging but hardly required.

I APPROVE THE TRANSACTION.

I mean I'll take it?

NO YEAH WE TAKE IT NO BACKSIES

From a birds-eye view, it's pretty clear we're not done exploring the Seaside Cliffs for now, just like we're not done exploring Delende. But that's something we'll do later. Right now, the Proving Grounds call to us!

You know it!

...

Ah, I see that you have already found at least three crystals. Now... you must prove that you are worthy!

You could theoretically find three other crystals aside from the Slate, Aquamarine, and Violet crystals to gain entry here, but I don't want to embarrass this guy TOO hard.

At the most generous, one could call the Knight a statcheck. After all, you need to be able to withstand six attacks in a row without anyone dying! That would be formidable... if the Knight in question didn't have stats roughly on par with the enemies from Spawning Meadows. It's a scary opener, I guess, if you completely ignore the damage numbers.

My back...

The Knight staggers out of the way and we're free to enter.

One more thing before we do, if you don't mind.

No sooner do we enter the Trial Caves than do I get distracted by the possibility of climbing on lamps.

We'll leave that for a little bit though.

Wait what?

Wow, this is a very welcome and distracting reward! I sure hope there aren't at least three points of interest in my current field of view worth investigating!

Yo hold up we haven't seen ANYONE with this class yet. As the name suggests, this is an extremely raw tanking class, built to last.

That's cool and all but first things first.

Fittingly, both pieces of kit up here are very much suited to the new Aegis class.

The Stalwart Shield sacrifices all evasive capability in exchange for both Defense and Resistance, a pretty welcome combo for a shield.

The jump beyond that to the other chest is incredibly hard and I don't want to go into how many attempts it took to do right.

The prize there is a fancy sword, built for piling on the Defense even beyond that which your shield would afford.

To finally address the mushroom in the room, yeah, there's a not-so-hidden path behind the Yellow Crystal.

The mushrooms don't hurt, but they do obstruct, so you'll have to weave between them to progress.

The path eventually leads out into...

...Skumparadise, huh?

This must be where the trial really begins.

TO DO:

• Build the perfect starting team.
• Explore Spawning Meadows.
  • Prove the existence of black squirrels.
  • Try to find another route out of Spawning Meadows.
• Explore Delende.
  • Cross the bridge to the Proving Meadows.
  • Explore the Fish Hatchery.
  • Explore the Pale Grotto.
    • Defeat Guardian.
    • Find the Slate Crystal.
    • Find the Fencer class.
  • Explore the Soiled Den.
    • Defeat Bone Thief.
    • Trade an Earth Bangle to Huntie.
  • Explore the Basement of the Cabin on the Cliff.
    • Defeat Gran.
  • Find the dogs' bones.
• Explore Seaside Cliffs.
  • Trade 13 Clamshells to Manana Man.
  • Find a rare monster that drops an Earth Bangle.
  • Explore Draft Shaft Conduit.
    • Defeat Canal Beast.
    • Find the Violet Crystal.
    • Find the Shaman class.
• Explore Proving Meadows.
  • Find three crystals.
  • Defeat Knight.
  • Explore the Trial Caves.
    • Find the Yellow Crystal.
    • Find the Aegis class.
    • Explore Skumparadise.
• Explore Yamagawa M.A.
  • Defeat Sepulchra.
  • Find the Aquamarine Crystal.
  • Find the Scholar class.
    • Find every Monster Magic spell.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Scholar.
• Explore the Underpass.
  • Find enough Underpass Scraps for a map.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Hunter class.
• Find the Dervish class.

 

[Kalir]

SHAMAN
Sanguine Transmuter

STATS

• HP: 4
• MP: 7
• Strength: 3
• Vitality: 3
• Dexterity: 1
• Agility: 5
• Mind: 10
• Spirit: 4
• Speed: 3
• Luck: 8

PROFICIENCIES

• Weapons: Axes, Wands
• Armor: Light Hat, Light Armor

INNATE PASSIVES

• Spell Steal: +25% Spell Lifesteal.

Our next big offense caster class. In contrast to the Wizard's direct firepower, the Shaman's wheelhouse trends more towards inflicting debuffs, which as we've established are very strong in Crystal Project. Shamans are the fastest access you get to both Power Down and Magic Down on the same moveset, and they're also capable of wielding damage over time and disrupting the enemy's momentum with disabling abilities. They also have much more focused stats than Wizards do, with the highest Mind stat in the game, and a fair bit more survivability with HP and Vitality fueled by their innate Spell Steal passive and the twin Core buffs. Finally, their attack spells are non-elemental to a one, preventing them from getting walled out of their preferred attack spell the same way a Wizard might be (even if Wizard has Element Master for the edge on offense).

Shaman's biggest drawback for their role is that their Hex Magic really relies on the debuffs to do the heavy lifting for them. They're very lacking in raw punch, with the later high-damage spells being overpriced and underpowered on the damage side of things. They really depend on stacking damage over time for the best mileage, and yet the high costs of the spells they use to do that, both in MP and CT, mean they tend to lose out compared to more flexible characters that can apply damage over time quickly and easily, like Fencer or Warlock. And unlike Wizard, which at least has Dexterity as an option for a second moveset if pure magic death isn't working, Shaman's stuck with Agility as their only backup stat, which isn't terrible but does strongly force the Shaman to stick to magic, and leaves them pretty high and dry once their slightly-lower-than-Wizard MP is gone.

That said, Hex Magic is such a universally strong skillset that any class capable of relying on Mind for a while has no trouble whatsoever with flexing over to Shaman. Of our current options, that includes Wizard, Warlock, Rogue, and Scholar. In particular, Wizards that complement their existing spells with Hex Magic (or a Shaman that decides to brush up on Black Magic) will find their offensive and control toolkit to be incomparable, all fueled by the same peerless Mind stat and their vast pool of MP. The rare class that enjoys playing a tank and having a Mind score will also find the parcel of Drain and the two Core spells very appetizing, as well.

Spoiler: MOVESET: HEX MAGIC

Acid
Costs: 12 MP, 22 CT
Single Target Magic
Damage Formula: 60 + 1.5 Mnd
Inflicts Power Down (-35% physical damage dealt) debuff on the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: 1 LP

Higher MP and CT cost than a basic attack spell for Wizard or Warlock, but it comes with Power Down on it. Shaman having easy access to both Power Down and Magic Down here makes for strong control against any boss, but the CT combined with the low duration means that keeping this effect applied will almost certainly be a fulltime job for the Shaman without someone else pitching in. Still, it's an offense debuff that's available even to a newbie Shaman, and that's awesome.

Bio
Costs: 12 MP, 22 CT
Single Target Magic
Damage Formula: 60 + 1.5 Mnd
Inflicts Magic Down (-35% magical damage dealt) debuff on the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: None

Technically different in that you start with Bio outright, but have to do at least one fight as Shaman to get Acid. Juggling both debuffs at once is very hard on your own, so always pay attention to your enemies' movesets and telegraphs, and use the debuff for the job rather than just doing a funny MMO rotation. This isn't really that sort of game.

Drain
Costs: 16 MP, 20 CT
Single Target Magic
Damage Formula: 20 + 2.5 Mnd
100% Lifesteal
Prereqs: 3 LP

Weird as it sounds, Drain is actually one of Shaman's most efficient raw damage options! Like, yeah, lifesteal is awesome, and this stacks with the existing lifesteal of Spell Steal if you're in Shaman, or lets a person with a Hex Magic subcommand enjoy the effect. That's fine, that's expected from a spell named Drain. But no, straight up, if you want efficient single-target damage (and have someone else handling damage over time) Drain is the best bang for your buck. Like, the formula here is almost as good as on Wizard's Bolten. You'll deal big damage with this and probably fullheal off of it. Drain's good.

Instability
Costs: 10 MP, 4 CT
Single Target Magic
Inflicts Instability (+50% debuff duration) debuff on the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: 2 LP

Instability is an extremely strong setup debuff that makes every other effect you throw on your enemy have a "buy two, get one free" deal for duration. For Acid and Bio, that means 3 turns, assuming you're fast enough to cast one or both before the enemy acts and clears this status (not likely). If you're willing to play it VERY slow with your Shaman, I think casting a second Instability while the first is active will refresh the duration to 3 turns, but absolutely do not quote me on that, I like to play a little more directly than that. But that's just me; Instability is a great option for a Shaman in it for the long haul.

Acid II
Costs: 20 MP, 26 CT
Single Target Magic
Damage Formula: 80 + 2.5 Mnd
Inflicts Burn (15% damage per turn) debuff and Fatigue (-50% AP gain) debuff on the target for 3 turns.
Prereqs: Acid, Bio, 2 LP

The beefier version of Acid (curiously not called Aciden) gives up the Power Down debuff in exchange for two new toys: damage over time from Burn, and the Fatigue debuff, which has the same issue MP Sickle does in that it only actually helps if the enemy needs their AP to use their moves, which a fair few enemies don't. Acid II bears extremely special mention for the fact that we have now, before the demo of the game has run its course, seen all possible on-demand sources of Burn that come from player abilities. Poison and Bleed are much more readily available on other classes, but if you want Burn, you're basically stuck with Blaze and Acid II, or using equipment like the Torch.

Bio II
Costs: 20 MP, 26 CT
Single Target Magic
Damage Formula: 80 + 2.5 Mnd
Inflicts Poison (15% damage per turn) debuff and Daze (+100% CT) debuff on the target for 3 turns.
Prereqs: Acid, Bio, 2 LP

Likewise, Bio II (definitely not called Bioren) goes for a more indirect way of countering magic with Daze, a really rude status effect on anyone that depends on CT in the slightest. The Hex Magic spells actually make for a pretty comprehensive array of debuffs that's sure to make any two of them great for most situations. For casters, you use Bio and Bio II to make them take longer than ever to cast and to dull the impact of it when they do. For physical enemies, you use Acid and whichever of Acid II or Drain is more effective. And so on, and so forth. It's like a more committal magical version of Swordplay, actually.

Sleep Echo
Costs: 16 MP, 10 CT
Single Target Magic
Inflicts Sleep (skips turn, removed on taking damage, only works once per battle/death) debuff on the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Drain, Instability, 2 LP

Same effect as Rogue's Sleep Bomb, now tied to a spell. This makes it a fair bit harder to use than Sleep Bomb in isolation, but remember: Sleep Bomb is like the only move you can actually use from Trickery when you're at high Threat. Sleep Echo has no such restrictions, and Hex Magic also comes with Instability as a great way to bump that duration up to 3 turns. Plus, it's Sleep. It's a strong and rare debuff, why turn your nose up at another source of it even if it's not strictly numerically "optimal"?

Epidemic
Costs: 28 MP, 42 CT
Multi Target Magic
Damage Formula: 150 + 3 Mnd
Inflicts Poison (15% damage per turn) debuff on the target for 3 turns.
Prereqs: Acid II, Bio II, 4 LP

Shaman's "capstone" spell is their only area spell, and it's actually pretty solid damage for the MP cost! Somewhere roughly between Firen and Firena, plus some Poison for the hell of it. Of course, 42 CT isn't anything to sneeze at, and Shaman kinda depends on being able to deal regular hits for Spell Steal lifedrain to handle the Threat they build up. For clearing encounters, Epidemic is awesome, and it's pretty good against bosses that summon smaller fish to fry. Just, again, mind the CT and remember that you're not applying any debuffs except Poison here.

Stone Core
Costs: 20 MP
Self Only Magic
Self-applies Stone Core (-25% physical damage taken) buff for 4 physical hits taken.
Removes Mist Core buff.
Prereqs: Bio II, Safeguard, Sleep Echo, 3 LP

Shaman has two pretty unique self-buffs for defense that stack with the usual Armor Up and Resist Up, which allows for even more options to outlast targets. Sure, with their base HP and Vitality they're not gonna usually survive focused pain anyway, and your job is usually inflicting debuffs rather than saucing up with buffs. What sets the Core spells apart is the fact that they don't run out over time, but rather on a per-hit basis. This makes them a little bit better on faster builds, which might run through the duration of a similar defensive ability faster than it would the four hits you'd get off of a Core spell.

Mist Core
Costs: 20 MP
Self Only Magic
Self-applies Mist Core (-25% magical damage taken) buff for 4 magical hits taken.
Removes Stone Core buff.
Prereqs: Sleep Echo, 3 LP

The catch is that you can only have one, not both, of the Core abilities up at once. So, as usual, figure out what ability the enemy can do that you're most afraid of, and kit up for that first. Additionally, the two Core spells have no CT whatsoever, making them uniquely beneficial off of their raw speed.

Spoiler: PASSIVES

Safeguard
Costs: 2 PP
Self Only Magic
Self-applies Armor Up (-35% physical damage taken) buff and Resist Up (-35% magical damage taken) buff when critically injured for 4 turn.
Prereqs: Drain, Instability, 3 LP

This passive is in contention for best possible "critical health" passive available. With Shaman in particular, once you do get dropped to critical health, one Drain later and you're back up to full and still enjoying plenty of defense boost for later attacks, but really anyone who wants some extra insurance from stray hits and won't get instantly pasted by it will find Safeguard an attractive option, if perhaps a little expensive for anyone not already invested in Shaman.

 

[Kalir]

AEGIS
Bulwark of the Weak

STATS

• HP: 7
• MP: 3
• Strength: 4
• Vitality: 10
• Dexterity: 4
• Agility: 4
• Mind: 2
• Spirit: 8
• Speed: 1
• Luck: 4

PROFICIENCIES

• Weapons: Swords
• Armor: Shields, Heavy Helmet, Heavy Armor

INNATE PASSIVES

• White Knight: Automatically Cover allies that are at critical HP.

Aegis is pretty much exactly what you'd expect from the second you grab the Crystal. By far the most defensive tank-focused class in the game, with the best Vitality stat on the market and excellent HP and Spirit to go with it, the Aegis' job on your team is to take hits for your weaker allies, a job they excel at. Instead of Threat manipulation, though, the Aegis uses the ol' standard of Cover mechanics, relying on buffing their own defensive stats and then leaping in front of their allies to take hits. In the likely event the Aegis isn't able to cover everyone at once, they even have some excellent stopgap measures that can bolster their allies in a pinch. Really is one of the most straightforward character archetypes in the game: put an Aegis on your team if you want defense and survivability above all else. Oh, and White Knight allows you to do some REALLY cheesy stuff if you, for example, drop everyone down to critical health just before fighting a tough boss that only has single-target attacks.

Of course, the extreme focus on defense comes with some significant tradeoffs, and as with a lot of classes, there are some you'd expect and accept, and some you don't. In the first category is the stat spread for Aegis, which sacrifices a lot to make those defensive stats shine. Your damage potential basically any way you slice it is gonna suffer, but again, you're here to tank so everyone ELSE can do more damage without danger, right? Unfortunately, there's two stats that are sacrificed and you REALLY don't want to be sacrificed: MP (because the Aegis uses MP for their skills) and Speed (while the lower Speed does let them stretch defensive buffs longer, Aegis is the first class you'll find that uses cooldowns, and slower turns means slower cooldowns). This makes Chivalry a really rough commitment as a moveset. Oh, and the lower offensive stats also means that trying to control enemy hits with Threat, i.e. the usual way you do damage mitigation, is much harder for Aegis than it would be for most other tanks.

The nice thing is that the laser focus on defensive stats, plus the healthy array of useful passives, make Aegis a great pick for literally anyone hoping to stretch their survivability. The two most likely archetypes to flex to Aegis are tanks (Warrior and Monk both love having extra survival and don't need the MP for anything else) and healers (Clerics and Warlocks provide extra MP to work with and are perfectly happy with the Spirit stat Aegis has). But like... anyone can use Aegis levels. It's one of those classes where you probably won't want someone to make it their main job, but which the toolkit is extremely useful for literally anyone to sample.

Spoiler: MOVESET: CHIVALRY

Cover
Costs: 4 CD
Single Target Ability, No Self-Target
Applies Cover (direct single-target attacks are redirected to the target that applied Cover) buff to the target for 3 turns.
Prereqs: None

It's a Cover move, oh boy! You all very well know the drill with this piece of work: stick it on someone that really, REALLY needs to stay alive to do their job, and rest confident that your own high defensive stats will keep them safe until that job is done. This is our first cooldown (henceforth: CD) ability, and a 4 turn CD is a HARSH one for this ability. You can't even realistically say that your target will only have a single turn of vulnerability where they're not covered, because they're almost certainly faster than your Aegis, so those three turns of buff time will wear off before the Aegis works through the four turns of not being able to reapply Cover. Time your usage of this ability well and make it count, and don't forget that a mainclass Aegis can also use White Knight to apply this particular ability even more judiciously.

Entrench
Costs: 10 MP, 4 CD
Self Only Ability
Adds 2 ticks to all active effects.
Prereqs: 1 LP

Entrench is arguably one of the most broken abilities in the game. Like yeah, on the surface, you can use it to stretch defensive buffs even longer, whether self-applied or given by a buddy, and the Aegis is likely to be a popular candidate for both. And yeah, it has an obvious drawback in that it also applies extra ticks of any debuffs they have too, not to mention the CD. Here's the thing, though: those extra ticks are applied regardless of what makes them tick. Sure, most status effects tick by turn. Some tick by hits taken, or dealt. Some tick as a reaction to a specific occurrence. Entrench gives you two extra ticks of any of those effects no matter what they are. So, for example, say you're a Monk using Focus Energy for the crit buff on your next attack, or a Fencer using Eagle Eye for a guaranteed hit on your next attack. Entrench says it's actually your next 3 attacks. You can see how this quickly becomes ridiculous, yes? Hell, even Aegis can abuse that a bit with the Stalwart passive.

Armor Boost
Costs: 6 MP
Self Only Magic
Applies Armor Boost (+100% Defense) buff for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Cover, 1 LP

As you should know by now, Armor Boost does indeed stack with Armor Up. However, the stacking is a little weird here, because Armor Up flat reduces physical damage taken, while Armor Boost doubles your Defense, which is part of the calculation before Armor Up in determining how much damage you take in the first place, and which can be ignored if the enemy is using a sufficiently evil skill. Actually getting into the formula weeds here isn't something I care to do, and from a practical standpoint Armor Boost is still a thing your Aegis will happily apply to more efficiently facetank any blows headed their way. Just watch for the gotchas of Defense-piercing attacks and Silence since this is technically a spell.

Resist Boost
Costs: 6 MP
Self Only Magic
Applies Resist Boost (+100% Resistance) buff for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Entrench, 1 LP

There's only so many times I can point to a similar-but-distinct ability that serves a similar-but-distinct niche to its sibling and say something interesting about it. But in this case, here goes: this is the stronger of the two abilities for a mainclassed Aegis. Remember, heavy armor favors Defense over Resistance, so you may need to lean on Resist Boost a little more than Armor Boost to weather scary magic attacks. For a caster in light armor having Chivalry on deck for pure survivability, Armor Boost is probably the bigger priority, absent considerations of prereqs.

Magic Break
Costs: 12 MP
Single Target Weapon Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
Never misses.
Inflicts Magic Down (-35% magical damage dealt) debuff on the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Armor Boost, 2 LP

Yeah for some reason Aegis has the magic counterparts to Warrior's debuffs? They use MP and that sucks out loud because you don't have much to begin with, so Aegis isn't gonna be a reliable debuffer for your team, but the inability to miss is a tiny bit of insurance that's welcome. As mentioned, a mainclass Aegis will struggle more against magical attacks than physical ones with their heavy armor, so at least this isn't without its niche, but the high MP cost for this move really kills it in my book.

Resist Break
Costs: 12 MP
Single Target Weapon Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
Never misses.
Inflicts Resist Down (+35% magical damage taken) debuff on the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Resist Boost, 2 LP

You've gotta be REALLY desperate for sources of Resist Down to have an Aegis be your primary applier of the status effect. It's the only all-offense move in Chivalry's set, and not only does it, again, cost lots of your limited and valuable MP, Aegis doesn't even have magic attacks to capitalize on this after the attack is made. Still, at the time you get it, your only other source is... what, Frost? I guess it's an option if you're running a team of all mages with an Aegis to cover for them.

Power Wall
Costs: 8 MP
Single Target Magic, No Self-Target
Applies Power Wall (-50% physical damage taken) buff to the target for 1 turn.
Prereqs: Magic Break, 3 LP

The two Wall spells are very much emergency stopgap options for if there's an attack coming through and the Aegis isn't able to cover their target in time for whatever reason. While they're extremely dependent on timing, such that the enemy must be acting before whoever they're targeting, the sharp damage reduction makes for an excellent way to throw them a bone if they're in a questionable middle ground. Hell, sometimes it might be worth throwing this even if they're not in peril just to make sure they start their turn above half health and don't accrue Threat.

Magic Wall
Costs: 8 MP
Single Target Magic, No Self-Target
Applies Magic Wall (-50% magical damage taken) buff to the target for 1 turn.
Prereqs: Resist Break, 3 LP

Again, a mainclassed Aegis might not be willing or able to weather an especially spicy magic attack, so Magic Wall is slightly stronger for a mainclassed Aegis. Again, I'm only gonna have so many things to say about these Luigimode moves, useful though they are.

Crystal Form
Costs: 10 MP, 6 CD
Self Only Ability
Removes all debuffs.
+100% current generated Threat.
Applies Crystal Form (Sets Defense and Resistance to 9999, skips turn) buff for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Power Wall, 3 LP

Remember how I said Aegis has some trouble with pulling Threat owing to their weaker offense? Crystal Form doesn't solve that problem permanently, but it is a last-ditch option to force the enemy to target the user specifically, and to make sure absolutely nothing happens to you for the time it's active. It's also obviously got some usage as a self-wipe of debuffs, especially if you're doing the Chivalry RIGHT and using Entrench to bank points of status effects you really shouldn't be. The heavy CD on this move means that as careful as you were being with Cover? Twice as careful with Crystal Form, and make sure you have enough Threat that you'll at least get SOMETHING done by using this.

Reprisal Aura
Costs: 16 MP
Multi Target Magic
Applies Reprisal (+3 AP when damaged) buff to the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Magic Wall, 3 LP

Huh? What? Why is one of Chivalry's two capstone abilities an AP generation option that expects their entire team to get hit? Like, I'm not gonna complain, it's okay AP generation even if it were to just affect the Aegis and it's a good move, but the existence of this move flies completely counter to everything else Chivalry as a moveset and Aegis as a class is about. With everything else, you're expecting the Chivalry user to be the bedrock of the team that sits there and takes hits, and Reprisal Aura instead expects your entire team to have survivability to work with. I guess it's especially strong against area attacks, a notable weakpoint for basically any tank character, but still. Why are you like this.

Spoiler: PASSIVES

Natural Tank
Costs: 3 PP
Starts battle with a small amount of Threat for each enemy.
Prereqs: Cover, 2 LP

This is a very comfy passive, y'know? Like, obviously a tank wants to start each fight with enemies looking directly at them, and Aegis in particular has some issues actually earning that threat to begin with so it's great for a mainclassed Aegis. But like... if you're doing your job right, this is kind of spitting into the ocean, y'know? If your build has the PP for it, great, throw this on and keep the other guy looking at you, but for 3 PP this is a bit of a tall ask.

Equip Shield
Costs: 3 PP
Allows you to equip Shields regardless of class proficiencies.
Prereqs: Entrench, 3 LP

Probably the highest-demand proficiency passive in the game. Lots of weapons are exclusively one-handed (off the top of my head, Daggers, Rapiers, Katanas, and Wands) and plenty of characters who use those weapons would love having a big slab of metal in their hand to keep them safe. Shields aren't a complete no-brainer to equip, however: in exchange for the significant Defense boost they tend to offer, they also come with an Evasion penalty, making them less attractive to characters depending on a high Agility score to simply avoid physical attacks outright. Still, rare shields tend to have really nice statboosts that more than outweigh the indicated Evasion penalty, so any character that has room for this in their build and uses a one-handed weapon will usually happily equip it.

Stalwart
Costs: 1 PP
Self-applies Stalwart (Survive a killing blow with 1 HP if hit at full health) buff for 1 lethal attack.
Prereqs: Armor Boost, Equip Shield, 2 LP

Not at all useful for a mainclassed Aegis; if they're trying to take hits that can oneshot them from full, you're trying to fight stuff too high over your head in level. No, the real benefactors of Stalwart are characters who have no real threshold between alive and dead. This becomes a bit more significant later on, as enemies start to get really spicy with their attacks and damage-focused characters start running the risk of death if not covered by tanks properly. Like, let's be real: Mind Stance isn't gonna save your Wizard from a boss hammerblow, but Stalwart might.

Stance Tank
Costs: 3 PP
Regain 20% HP on stance change.
Prereqs: Natural Tank, Resist Boost, 2 LP

Aegis doesn't use stances, but lots of classes do, and lots of classes would REALLY like that kind of free survivability. Warrior is the standout favorite for wanting Stance Tank as a passive given their sorely lacking self-sustain for their role, but Fencer can also make some use of it, and you better believe we've more classes to see that toggle stances every so often and have much to gain from a free 20% heal each time they do. This is one I feel very happy spending the 3 PP on in pretty much any build that works with stances.

 

[Mogri]

My first reaction was oh yeah, I like Aegis, but then I read the write-up and realized I was thinking Valkyrie. Valkyrie dares to ask, what if a defensive class was good?

 

[Kalir]

One change-up to the roster to start: it's time for Frieren to get her first class change, this one to Shaman.

Here's her new equipment set. The Torch is an especially nice pick because it means she doesn't have to use Blaze to stick Burn on the enemy, but other than that this is extremely business as usual.

Anyway, on to Skumparadise as a region. If you're curious, falling off the sides to learn what the glowing stuff down there is will tell you that it's magma. Magma works exactly like water does, but without allowing for the single block depth.

The gimmick for this area is that you can use the mushrooms here as NPC platforms to get to specific areas, and are encouraged to do so to avoid the fights here. The flames here have no jump height, so just standing on a mushroom will keep you safe.

Needless to say, the mushrooms also move around, so they can frequently ferry you past danger if used well.

Do you believe in telegraphs?

This goes to Frieren, replacing the Bracer that is no longer of any real use to her build at the moment.

For the sake of being thorough, I drop down to fight some of the equally-fungal enemies here.

The trick to the enemies here is that they all have the ability Shroomy Gaze. With the defiant glare of that which cannot be killed in a way that matters, Shroomy Gaze deals a fixed 150 damage and is a free action, so these guys can then chain it into another attack. It's a far more effective statcheck than the Knight at the entrance, but remember, Skumparadise is designed such that you can try to avoid the encounters as a whole rather than fighting them.

The combo of Shroomy Gaze with a regular attack can easily deal around 250 damage to an unprepared character, so exercise caution.

I'd call that level well-earned.

You can and should use the lampposts both on the course and on the wall to find cheeky ways to progress. Frequently, they'll lead to treasure!

Yeah no this is a warning, and a dire one at that. This goes to Meena, since she and Frieren are the ones who could clear the status effect on the other two.

This particular segment is a minipuzzle where you have to get the leftmost mushroom to progress all the way. Mushrooms don't move unless stepped on, so you have to basically tap each one to get out of the way as you do.

Careful with the last one, it's very unrestrained.

Next up is this area, where the mushrooms will basically try to navigate a groundbound maze. If you don't mind fighting, you can completely ignore them.

They follow a simple movement pattern each time you step on them: one of east or west, then south, then whichever of east or west they didn't go previously, then south again, rinse and repeat.

The second one has a slight issue that makes following it by just hopping on it to reset movement each time tricky. I'm sure you can see what it is, right?

Perhaps, if you time your jump right, you can avoid it. I did not.

I also didn't heal up between fights. Ha ha!!! Darn.

Oh that's very expensive for Monk Meena. This is the price I pay for my sloppiness!

Oh, and check out that Meena got a bit of healing, too! Inner Warmth is great.

Anyway, same deal here. If you follow the mushroom to the end of its route, you'll get trapped in a fight. You have to find a way to navigate to the left exit safely.

What you're supposed to do is use the blocks on the ground to fence off the flame there and completely ignore the mushroom, since it won't be smart enough to path around them. I did not do this. I am doomed.

Didn't heal up again, but I DID get an encounter with a new source of Monster Magic! C'mere, you!

Aw.

And there's our new spell!

Atmoshear applies Confusion to everyone on the enemy team, and as usual, you can check the blurb on Scholar on the first page for the deets. We're... probably not gonna use it, but it's also the only Monster Magic to be found in Skumparadise.

Anyway, if you're using area moves, Confusion doesn't actually impede you in the slightest.

Single target moves, like, say, the bulk of your healing or tanking measures this early in the game, are considerably more likely to fail with Confusion up.

Sun Bath is so slow! Aaaaagh!

I could Run Away here, and it wouldn't be a terrible idea. Just hop back to the Home Point we planted at the entrance to Skumparadise, run outside to the tent, and come back later. But I want to test something.

Got close though!

Meh. I'll live.

More importantly, we kept Atmoshear and there's no other Monster Magic to find in Skumparadise!

Which means back to the REAL class for GUTS. I briefly considered going Aegis or Fencer, but honestly... nah. Warrior is where it's at. Not that Aegis or Fencer would be bad ideas, but they'd commit in directions I don't exactly want to build GUTS for right now.

That's the stuff. Monster Magic isn't a terrible kit option for Warrior early on, especially since moves like Barrier and Regenerate are pretty stat-independent, and Infusion in particular is excellent for a tank. The Plate of Wolf will come in very handy down here with all the fixed damage, thanks to its heavy max HP bonus.

The monsters did respawn, but again, Skumparadise is about avoiding encounters, so that's hardly an issue.

But yeah. Do this for this particular area, and you won't get into any trouble.

The platforming starts getting a little trickier from here on out, but nothing a seasoned adventurer like myself can't handle (and nothing you can't disregard if you'd prefer to just dunk on some Shroomers).

Start the mushroom off near the ledge here, then run over to meet it.

Your time window is very generous.

This baby can handle temperatures of up to 9000 degrees!

Avoiding fights here is simple enough, just hop to the mushrooms along the south.

Oh, and since I know you were going to ask about it: there's nothing in this empty nook. Sorry.

Climb time.

From here, the platforming shifts to the style we sampled on Yamagawa, almost entirely 2D.

Still gotta use mushrooms to get around, but only a little.

The exit to Skumparadise is by that chest.

Wait I know the trick here. Jump back out to the wall and they can't reach you.

There's a few goodies we can access over yonder.

First, let's grab that chest we saw.

Hmmm, tight caverns just like at the start.

And as soon as we reach this we can see more paths.

Coming to the start of the second tunnel rewards us with this nice piece of kit.

More offense-oriented than Help the Prince. We equip it to GUTS like good people.

For this box, we gotta worm on up through here. There's hidden points behind the pillars where you can climb up.

You can either use the bumpers to rotate the camera angle to see, or just mash your head into every ceiling until you find one that isn't there, old school style.

It's the Gem Ring but better! Werdna takes it.

Back to the progress tunnels. You'll have a camera shift every time you reach a tunnel with an opening above you, so don't fret too much about where to jump.

That's our goal right up there. If we were to veer west, we could find a one-way shortcut that drops us at the start of the Trial Caves, which can be convenient if you set your Home Point here first and annoying as hell if you haven't.

We're done with Skumparadise in practice, though.

All that remains is the boss of the Trial Caves.

Parasite's got more than a few tricks above the previous bosses we've fought. It's capable of summoning Funks as backup, it has Atmoshear to screw with our support options, and it can even inflict Sleep, albeit not guaranteed, with Spore. This is the first, but not the only, boss fight where area attacks are especially valuable, and fortunately we have Werdna with Firen and Meena with Earth Split to handle that pretty efficiently. Area attacks are also a great way to get around the whole Confusion thing: don't need to worry about aiming at the wrong target if you hit all of 'em! Confusion becomes much harder to handle if you're dealing with it defensively though, since it makes your healing options much harder to land where they need to. Multitarget healing still works, but this current party (and most parties) only has Sun Bath for that which is strangled by the CT. The next best thing is Remedy, since that both heals and cures the status effect the target has, be it Sleep or Confusion. Speaking of Sleep, it's actually not a huge deal for this fight! It's only a 65% infliction chance, and you can enter the fight with as many as two Awake Rings. Since both Frieren and Meena can clear the status on anyone, they got them. Not an especially fancy fight on the whole, but it's where Crystal Project really starts showing its teeth with boss fights, and they're only gonna get spicier from here.

No Crystals this time, we got that at the start of the Trial Caves. But hey, free cash.

GUTS gets Armor Break, Werdna gets Sleep Bomb, Frieren gets Acid, and APPARENTLY I completely forgot this whole time that I had Focus Energy on Meena? Why would I do that to myself?

Dang, they beat us to it. Oh well, not like it's an actual race, I did my time in Crosscode, thanks.

<Astley> Maybe you'll be able to find what you're looking for in the Land of Sequoia after all!
<Reid> Yeah, not bad. Keep it up.
<Chloe> Good work, friend. Let's catch birds together, soon.
<Reid> I'd say it's about time you really start thinking hard about what that thing is. That thing you're here to find. The start of a new beginning? The making of new friends? ...The passage of time?
<Astley> Pfft, that stoic talk doesn't suit you. Besides, can't you see they're here for the same thing we are? Adventure!
<Reid> Hey! You told me you were here because you wanted to make a real difference!
<Astley> Haha whatever, same thing. Well, we're past the trial and into the real world now so I guess it's time to get serious. Do you know where you'll go from here?

Dogg I'll be real I played the demo and just thought this was fun and now here I am LPing it after at least three playthroughs.

Anyway, the other party heads off, but Talon lags behind a bit.

What, clearing the Trial Caves? Of course not. No, if I wanted to let things go to my head, I would've sequence broken out of the Spawning Meadows and scrapped my way to a far off town.

Okay later.

Yeah, just to really drive it home, everything we've done so far? Consisting of like... at least five updates? This is the very start of the game. We are still setting out proper. The demo isn't even over yet if you're playing that.

Up the stairs out we go. The lamps don't lead to secret treasures this time.

I even checked, all I got was a low ceiling to the face.

The Capital Courtyard, huh? Well, I can see a clear route for climbing to the left, so let's do that.

I can hear birdsong.

That explains it.

Not a lot in the Capital Courtyard.

And these doors are locked. So that's something we need to look for at some point.

Oh well. Clearly we need to go up the stairs to the real area.

Chloe is already enjoying her new fishing spot.

And here we are, the hub of civilization at the heart of Sequoia! There's a lot to do here, so let's take it a bit at a time.

Oh, and don't cause any trouble!

The small camps and Nan's lodge we've seen prior to this point are all baby stuff compared to this metropolis. Loads of vendors, some unique services, and more than a couple friendly faces to chat with all reside here.

Don't cause any double trouble.

And a fair few dumb jokes, of course.

If you got your shots you shouldn't have any trouble. Now outta my way, shorty!

Cool, we can go fishing now! That'd require backtracking to the Fish Hatchery though, and that's so far away...

This establishment right here is where the mechanics of the game will be explained in pretty thorough depth. Outside of staring directly at the code, every question you'd have about what this or that bonus does is answered in here.

Most of this is stuff I've already covered in length, but I'll still use this post for some grouping up of mechanical details.

Threat is already pretty well-established by now: it's aggro. When you damage an enemy, you gain Threat for that enemy equal to damage dealt. Healing earns Threat if you heal the top Threat of an enemy, and being below half health builds some Threat roughly equivalent to missing HP. You also shed some of your Threat at the start of each turn, and since this decay is percentile, tanks have to work extra hard to maintain high Threat levels.

Everyone starts a fight at 0 AP (Adrenaline Points) and has a cap of 30, whether monster or player character. You get 6 AP at the start of your turn, when PHYSICALLY damaged, and when you make a basic attack. Some abilities, like Focus Energy and Adrenaline, can get AP as well.

There are eleven types of weapons in the game, roughly grouped into three subsets. Swords, axes, daggers and rapiers are martial/common weapons. Katanas, spears, scythes and bows are "exotic" weapons that are rarer, more expensive, and less common to find compatibility for. Staffs, wands and books are caster-oriented weapons with generally lower Attack. Daggers, rapiers, katanas, and wands are always one-handed, spears, scythes, bows, staffs and books are always two-handed, and everything else can be either one or two-handed. Each one has their own little quirks, save for the gold standard of swords: axes have Variance, daggers have crit damage, rapiers have crit chance, katanas have AP gain/elemental typing/counter ignore, spears have Defense, scythes have Defense/Resist Piercing, bows have higher power but an Accuracy penalty, staffs have Spirit, wands have Mind, and books have Max MP. While individual weapons may have unique properties or even diverge from the expected statline of their family, every weapon type has a playstyle it supports.

Turn Time is what determines how fast characters act, and is reduced by the character's Speed stat. Every aut, TT for all participants ticks down by 1, and when it hits 0, that participant gets to act. Some status effects, like Slow or Haste, can modify how much TT any given turn gains. On the first turn of most fights, monsters have more TT and players have fewer, to prevent blindsides. CT, or Charge Time, adds the listed number to your TT between selecting a move and that move's activation.

All eight of the non HP/MP stats give bonuses outside of influencing ability scalars. Strength and Mind increase Defense and Resist Pierce respectively. Vitality and Spirit increase Defense and Resistance respectively, with Vitality also reducing damage over time effects and Spirit improving regen effects. Dexterity improves crit chance and damage. Agility improves both Accuracy and Evasion. Speed is covered above. Luck is complex, but generally actualizes the Gambler's Fallacy in your favor, improving the odds of any random chance element (Variance, dodging, crits, status applications) with a greater effect if you've had bad rolls before.

Poison, Burn, Bleed and all other forms of damage over time are percentile, but the higher an enemy's level, the more resistance they have to the effect. In short, expect the tick from damage over time to be roughly equivalent to a basic attack from a competent damage dealer. Vitality, as ever, plays a role in the damage taken, reducing it further.

Percentage bonuses from gear/passives are additive, but any effect that says in text "more" or "less" is multiplicative. So, for example, something that said "Deal 20% more crit damage" would multiply your base crit damage, while a +50% crit damage bonus would just staple on to it, with the two stacking to make a +60% damage increase. Bonuses are applied in the order of flat bonuses first, then additive, then multiplicative.

Most of this I've already covered and it's not worth repeating, but there are a few new bits here.

The Favorites menu is a shortcut to accessing certain consumables and/or tools without needing to futz with menus forever. You start out with Tonics as your only favorited item, and you can pull up the menu with Y on whatever controller I'm using. Having some items be a single button press away gets very convenient, with the Home Point Stone being a popular choice, but I have other plans for this.

Flames require you to not only leave the area (or die) to respawn, but also to get physically far away enough from their spawning range. The broad result here is that as long as you stick to one region, you shouldn't expect flames to come back. Boss flames never respawn.

The first few LP you get for each class comes significantly faster than others. This is "accelerated" LP. It's meant to get you a fundamental toolkit for the class without leaving you at reduced functionality for an extended period of time every time you get a new toy.

Fun fact: one of the mods for Crystal Project "modernizes" the vocab of the Capital Sequoia kids. I'm sure you can see why, and I should hope the mod is regularly updated.

Yeet is eternal though.

Candy's actually pretty excellent for a consumable since it's percentile, but that usefulness is held back by the low carry amount.

No.

The different gear shops are divided by the groupings listed above. So in this store, we'd get...

Light armor of all flavors, plus staffs, wands, and books at the other vendor.

There's also some treasure in the back alleys, but I don't see a good route there yet. It's still very early in our exploration here, give it time.

You don't say. She only sells stew, not the cocoa.

Capital Sequoia actually has two inns, relatively evenly spaced across the capital and both with a charming red door to indicate that it's an inn. That's nice!

But seriously, don't just assume this place is a shop hive. There is offroading and exploring to do even in the capital, and I'll make the most of it.

Rogue Hideout? I have a Rogue! Lemme in!

Hey, remember the Master Scholar back on Yamagawa? Capital Sequoia has masters for the six starting classes here, although all pretty out-of-the-way and requiring some clever platforming to reach. The Rogue Hideout is, ironically, one of the easier ones to find.

Also found in Capital Sequoia are the Craftwork bits of gear. There's one for every kind of weapon and armor, and it is strongly recommended to collect all of them for reasons that will rapidly become apparent. Statwise, the Craftwork Dagger isn't much stronger than Werdna's current Poisonkiss, but Poisonkiss also has, y'know, Poison on it, so we just have it for now and aren't using it.

Hard agree.

Let's see what else we can find!

Yo penguins?

Oh no they're lost!

We'll have to find their owner. Should also be in the capital.

Wheeeeeeee

Oh, just a concussed child. But yeah, chimneys are a fun way to find other secrets.

Another penguin atop this completely ignorable market stall.

From there, we can climb up and get another penguin. We could drop down to the back alley, but I'm gonna save the alleys for a later update, there's still a lot to see and this update's getting chunky.

There's Astley. We'll talk to her later.

Falling down this chimney leads to another floor of the Know-It-All Ducks school.

These concepts aren't super advanced, and honestly most of them cover stuff I've already covered. About the only thing worth highlighting is that physical stats like Accuracy, Evasion, crit chance and damage all apply only to physical attacks, not spells. If a spell has any of those properties, it will A: list them on the spell description, and 2: not use the according physical properties in the slightest. So no matter how high your Dexterity is or how sharp your dagger is, they don't affect a spell's crit chance or damage.

Across from them is a... withered looking place.

Do you need my help? Do you NEED ME TO... hurt you a little?

Sam the Sadist here offers a very... specialized service. For the low price of free, he can drop your entire team to critical HP. If you're relying on the White Knight innate of the Aegis, this can be a great way to set up for certain boss fights.

Like so!

Digested Heads... If you find three of them, bring me them.

I would, but we only got the two now. And as easy as they were to find, the third one is gonna be a WAYS off.

Anyway we all saw that Wizard up there let's go visit.

Two of six found here.

All the Master locations except Scholar for some reason have a special title. It's kinda cute.

My book now.

Again, avoiding the alleys for the moment. They're not super dangerous or anything, I'm just keeping myself from doing all of the Capital in one update.

Boy do they. Common weapons and rare weapons alike are sold here, not that we have much need for either. Our current equipment selection is great.

One curious omission, though: the Exotic Weapons Shop doesn't sell katanas. Not that we have any way of wielding them this early, so it's not a huge deal, but a randomizer run that started with an early katana user might find that class a bit of a problem early on.

I'm skipping over most of the inventory not because it's stuff we've already seen (it isn't) but because most of it is too expensive and not interesting enough to dive into.

The two most interesting pieces of kit here are the Samurai's Glove and the Prayer Beads. Samurai's Glove imparts Katana proficiency on the wearer, which isn't useful to us right now for the above reason, and the Prayer Beads amplify healing by 15%. That's one of the few +healing bonuses we've seen, so that's neat enough to bookmark, if perhaps not buy since we're doing fine on healing right now.

Before I forget, I really do need to heal, so.

Another Craftwork for the pile. Could technically compete with the Bone Smasher if I wanted Spirit over Attack right now, which I don't.

I'm gonna go check out the Rolling Quintar Fields to the east. I've never seen a real, live Quintar before!

A sound idea for a first time visitor. The Rolling Quintar Fields are the next expected area in the progression (although by no means required) and where I'll likely go for the next update absent any other suggestions.

REFUEL MY BLOOD

This price is a bit much, and if I really wanted to I could leap from the Capital Courtyard down to the Proving Meadows and sleep at the tent there for the same effects, then Home Point Stone myself back up here. This is the price I pay for expediency.

What are ya doin back there ya little scamp?

Consumables vendor, yay!

In addition to the fundamentals, he also sells Scrolls, which telegraphs another new class in the future, namely Ninjas. While we could stock up now, 2 silver a pop is a pretty expensive asking price for an unusable consumable.

Heavy and medium armors sold here, as well as shields.

It's dangerous outside this gate. You have to have collected at least 5 crystals before I'll let you exit the city from here.

We could sequence break past this guy pretty easily were we so inclined. I'm not gonna right now, but we COULD. Almost all "you must have this many crystals to ride" checkpoints can be bypassed if you're cool enough.

I'm sure you might be able to at least partially guess at how for now.

So that side of things was the Market District. Now we're going to the Bulletin District.

I wonder how long it'll be before enough people get pissed off and try to take him out.

Don't ask me, I literally just got here. Too noob for politics.

The Training Grounds here are basically a way to measure how well your burst damage builds are doing.

That's why I only ever level up as fast Classes!

True enough. Any bit of kit that reduces TT or CT, or improves Speed, is rare and valuable, with one particularly notable piece of kit being extremely valuable long after where you acquire it for just that reason. Anyway spoilers Ninjas are fast. Wow.

Before I fight the dummy, I'm gonna do some parkour.

There's our first katana. Again, incredibly strong on a randomizer run that really needs one of them to function. Pretty useless to the team now; at most, GUTS could equip it with the Samurai's Glove for...

A pretty minor offense boost and some better AP generation. Plus hardcoding his physical attacks to Fire, which can... kinda be useful sometimes.

Anyway, the dummies can't attack, full heal every turn, and telegraph their expected level when you fight them.

Now that we're out of the Delende baby demo zone, expect new tunes for all fights.

Well that was easy.

The first time you beat a dummy, the next one in the sequence spawns in, ten levels higher. The level cap is 60, so that's how many we can expect to have here. Maybe we get a secret prize if we beat them all.

More rooftop clambering leads us to another master!

Cool cool awesome awesome cool thanks.

(monk chamber monk chamber monk chamber)

There is so much I could explore I'm kinda at a loss. Why is the hub city so explorable? Why is this game so awesome?

CHIMNY.

HELLO HI HOW ARE YOU

<Receptionist> Everything okay in there?
<Gender Changer> No worries, dear friend! False alarm! Please resume work!
<Receptionist> Right-o!

Guess they gotta be sure J. K. Rowling doesn't try to climb in and ramble at them. Fair enough.

Anyway, this couple here can change your gender for a frankly terrifying cost of 50 silver. As you can see, it DOES have some slight bearing on your stats, albeit hardly enough of one to matter, and not nearly enough of one to pigeonhole any given gender of character to a specific role. If you're THAT concerned about minute stat efficiency, the option is there, but if you ask me 50 silver is way too much for that. Five silver would be plenty. At least once you've paid for a specific character to trans their gender, repeat changes for that character are free.

This building also handles growth changes!

Remember how I said stats for each character determine both growths and modifiers? This is what I mean by the growths. Every level you get can be reduced here and then freely reallocated to any other class you have unlocked, at a pretty reasonable price. As with the gender change up above, going back to any level configs you've had on that character before are free, and none of this tampers with your learned abilities or LP in any way. This makes for an excellent way to finetune stat growth for your characters to fit the role they're here for. Here, for example, you can see a hypothetical GUTS that began the game with his three Scholar levels, then immediately changed over to Fencer and spent the rest of the game there, modified by his current, "newly chosen" Warrior class. Not too different from before, just a little faster and frailer, and slightly better at casting. I'm probably not gonna screw with this too much, but this is one of the best respec systems I've seen in many a title.

If you're short on cash and long on patience, you can even level down here for free, and then go out and earn levels the old fashioned way. Could be fun if you're up against a boss you're clearly overleveled for and want to experience on par.

Little buddy.

The level of quality and price between this and the other inn is equal. Use whichever is closer to your entry point.

Instead of a Craftwork item, this inn has a penguin.

How can they expect people to have proper adventures without being able to afford a Quintar Pass? I'm outta here.

What's a Quintar Pass? I'm pretty sure I can just go into the Rolling Quintar Fields, don't need a pass for that.

Whatever they are, Astley doesn't tell us, just storms off.

Let's read the notices for ourselves.

Dang it's like whoever wrote this custom tailored it to hating the writer. That's commendable.

Okay, so with the old rule, we could get a Quintar Pass immediately after entering the Trial Caves. But now we have to go find three other crystals somewhere around here, huh? I will admit I can think of at least three directions we can go from here, but that's still a tall ask.

Speaking of steep crystal requirements...

Do not return until you have discovered at least six Crystals.

This is one of the few crystal requirement checkpoints you can't sequence break somehow. The Quintar Pass, though, that's a different story.

Next up is this place!

The Blacksmith is extremely important for any explorers for two reasons. The first, obviously, is that it's where you can upgrade some of your weapons and armor.

The second is that they only upgrade the Craftwork items. Each weapon or armor requires three bits of Silver, whether Ore, Ingots, or Dust. The Craftwork gear and their upgraded variants are one of the cheapest ways to get your gear to a "standard" level for the point where they can be accessed. This strongly incentivizes climbing all over Capital Sequoia, as well as grabbing as much silver as you can find afield. Later on, we'll unlock other upgrade levels, of course.

This is the most important store of all.

Damn, was hoping they had Draft Shaft Conduit. Maybe I missed that one somewhere in Seaside Cliffs. Whatever, that area's done and we can find it later. For now, I grab the maps for Skumparadise, Capital Courtyard, and Capital Sequoia. The other areas will be added to our list of spots to explore. Note the price differences: some of them are much more intended as your next destinations than others.

The Archivist can, for a price, fill out the bestiary entry for any enemy you've discovered (including steals and drops if you missed them) or highlight where you can find a specific entry you haven't seen yet. Are you a completionist? Great, he's helpful! I'm not a completionist.

That's nice.

Also, sometimes you might wish you could be learning Monster Magic even while you're not a Scholar. Perhaps this could come in handy?

Is it an accessory that grants the Learning passive?

Sure is! GUTS will be wearing this until and if he gets Learning from Scholar the usual way.

Yes I have.

This guy can trade up any map scraps we find, given enough of them, to make maps for areas like the Underpass.

We won't be doing this for a while.

The Rolling Quintar Fields are right this way. Could buy the map for 'em, but I'll wait until next update to see if that's where we're going.

Yeah yeah penguin pen whatever THERE'S AN ITEMANCER CLASS HOOOOOAGH. Slamming this right onto the to do list.

Oh there's also Beastmaster that's cool I guess.

It's not a penguin so I consider this justified.

...Oh wow! Look! Those are some of my penguins! You've found them for me!

Thanks for finding some of my penguins! Please accept this token of my appreciation.

You're so nice! I have a handful of my penguins back! Please accept this reward.

Because we'd found as many as seven penguins, we get two rewards. The first is a Decent Cod, which as established is a pretty good healing consumable.

The second is this vicious piece of work. Prodder is an extremely strong spear this early on for anyone that can use it, and GUTS happily accepts it. Usually, spears don't pack the defense of using a shield with another weapon, but this one's stronk enough to make up for the shield loss here. Plus, Speed on gear and some MP drain! This is a good damn weapon!

So we did! There are still a fair few more around the Capital to find, of course, but this is a good start.

This Hunter is running around the edge of the hedge maze up here.

Leave it to me I got this.

This looks like the site of a mechanic for growing things that I lack the resources and patience to engage with right now.

Well would you look at that.

Anyway, the hedge maze isn't actually solvable, and that's by design: at the "end" of it is Castle Sequoia, which we will not be dealing with for a long time. But we can still fight the enemies inside and loot the treasures.

I'm so glad I have the Learner's Pin now.

Like the Indecent Dweller before it, the Improper Imp is a dick joke that's also an avenue for getting one of the more niche Monster Magic spells.

In its case, it's the spell Insult, aka Magic Taunt. Absolutely no reason for GUTS to use it, but some builds might like it. For the record, Threat doesn't do anything for enemies: we retain our ability to freely target.

More Craftwork stuff! Nowhere near useful compared to Prodder, but hey, more spears good.

Yeah that's fair.

Got ourselves another immunity bit here, this one for Poison. It also grants some Agility, which is nice.

The Improper Imps notably have very high Evasion, so guaranteed accuracy moves like Feathercut, Thunder Chop or spells are the way to go here.

This ought to be the last of these things.

Filling out the collection real nice.

Frieren works on her Shaman moveset some more, grabbing Instability. I also got Pocket Sand as a new passive for Werdna, not that he's going to need it for some time.

You're pretty chill. You wanna join the secret boomer society? I'll give you the password. It's overalls.

Thanks? I have no idea what this "secret boomer society" is and frankly I think I want to dismantle it just by hearing it but thanks.

I swear we're nearly done.

This is arguably the most important place to visit in all of Capital Sequoia. (Very arguably, this place has a lot of value.)

See, this is Gaea Shrine, and Shrines in Crystal Project serve one extremely important service in this game...

FAST TRAVEL!!!

Almost every Shrine in the game has an attendant who will sell you either Shards or Stones depending on your budget. Both warp you back to the Shrine in question, although Stones are the higher priority as they're reusable. They're another popular option for the favorites menu, and any serious explorer will make a point of getting these stones as soon as possible. This frees up our Home Point to go to all sorts of places now, with the Gaea Stone on deck letting us bounce back to civilization at will.

Gaea Shrine also offers four free samples if you're unwilling or unable to shell out for a Gaea Stone.

One last place to explore, but here's the map of Capital Sequoia for now. Two of the three stamps I've placed indicate where the class masters we've found are, I just got the Wizard completely wrong.

Finally, the Deity of Wind makes their home behind Gaea Shrine. Another point for our future Summoner to check out, once we find that class. The level is no less intimidating.

But wow that's a lot of stuff to check out! From here, as mentioned, I'll probably go explore Rolling Quintar Fields next, but one could also try to sneak past the west guard, or explore the back alleys for even more treasure. If I put all the stuff you could do in Capital Sequoia in one post we'd be here all day.

TO DO:

• Build the perfect starting team.
• Explore Spawning Meadows.
  • Prove the existence of black squirrels.
  • Try to find another route out of Spawning Meadows.
• Explore Delende.
  • Cross the bridge to the Proving Meadows.
  • Explore the Fish Hatchery.
  • Explore the Pale Grotto.
    • Defeat Guardian.
    • Find the Slate Crystal.
    • Find the Fencer class.
  • Explore the Soiled Den.
    • Defeat Bone Thief.
    • Trade an Earth Bangle to Huntie.
  • Explore the Basement of the Cabin on the Cliff.
    • Defeat Gran.
  • Find the dogs' bones.
• Explore Seaside Cliffs.
  • Trade 13 Clamshells to Manana Man.
  • Find a rare monster that drops an Earth Bangle.
  • Explore Draft Shaft Conduit.
    • Defeat Canal Beast.
    • Find the Violet Crystal.
    • Find the Shaman class.
• Explore Proving Meadows.
  • Find three crystals.
  • Defeat Knight.
  • Explore the Trial Caves.
    • Find the Yellow Crystal.
    • Find the Aegis class.
    • Explore Skumparadise.
      • Defeat Parasite.
• Explore Yamagawa M.A.
  • Defeat Sepulchra.
  • Find the Aquamarine Crystal.
  • Find the Scholar class.
    • Find every Monster Magic spell.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Scholar.
• Explore the Capital Courtyard.
  • Find the Courtyard Key.
• Explore Capital Sequoia.
  • Find all the penguins.
  • Find all the Craftwork gear.
  • Obtain the Gaea Stone.
  • Clear the hedge maze of Improper Imps.
  • Find a way past the hedge maze.
  • Enter the Luxury shop.
  • Get past the guard on the west gate.
  • Defeat all the training dummies.
  • Find three Digested Heads for Sam the Sadist.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Monk.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Rogue.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Wizard.
• Explore the Rolling Quintar Fields.
• Explore the Underpass.
  • Find enough Underpass Scraps for a map.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
  • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Hunter class.
• Find the Dervish class.
• Find the Ninja class.
• Find the Chemist class.
• Find the Beastmaster class.

 

[Kalir]

Okay, now that I've let some time pass, my plan here is to check out the back alleys a bit, then go to the Rolling Quintar Fields for this update.

Unsurprisingly, there's even more Craftwork items to be found back here.

You can also find people here or there, and there's some tunnels that take you further below Capital Sequoia, so that's another avenue of exploration.

This otherwise unremarkable dude is actually extremely important for his selection of goods.

Because this guy runs the Lost & Found!

The Lost & Found is this game's answer to any source of "missable" items, with a particular focus on steals you didn't get from one-time enemies and items you've sold back to vendors. That Ink Stick there was the steal we missed from Canal Beast, for example.

I pick up the Ink Stick and the two pouches, but I do want to highlight this curious thing. Get seeds, take them to the Capital Gardener, stuff happens! What stuff? You'll just have to wait and see (or play the game for yourself play this game do it do it do it).

That was the easy alleyway to access. The one on the lower level of Capital Sequoia takes a bit more doing.

As you can see, all the entrances are fenced off from this side, although built such that you can climb over them as one-way roads.

Oh, right, forgot this was hiding out in the rafters of the magic shop. Not that we're using any major Scythe classes right now, but hey, I like having it.

For that alley, we're gonna need to do a bit of the ol' Parkour.

Unfortunately, the town entrance here makes crossing over to the other rampart impossible, but this wasn't a waste of a detour. We can actually see some land below us in the moat! Maybe we can explore there later.

There we go, what all is down here...

Yo if you two don't want a craftwork rapier I'll have it.

...Hey! We'd appreciate a little privacy!!!

Ah, they have other priorities right now. Fair enough.

Well, if that makes you happy. Now scooch, I want to explore the creepy alley dungeon.

Oh would you look at that, we've found Jojo Sewers. This area stretches under Capital Sequoia in multiple directions, and while it's worth exploring, I'm not gonna stick around for long, don't want to get sidetracked from Rolling Quintar Fields. I will say that on my first playthrough, I DID explore this area first, and I found it extremely satisfying, so we will be back here later, just not right now.

But hey, cool loot literally right here, I'm taking it.

No Resistance on headgear hurts, but we'll live. GUTS, wear this.

One last thing before Rolling Quintar Fields. Let's try this out.

Oh it takes us to the UPPER FLOOR. That's very good and strong knowledge to have.

This gives us an excellent route for even more exploring of Capital Sequoia from high up!

From here, we can trivially explore the western area blocked off by the guard, and then some. Again, not doing that now, Rolling Quintar Fields comes first... second... next.

Just to really drive it home. Guard can't stop you if you believe in yourself.

Oh, and while we're here...

Another class master location!

Let's extricate this penguin from your plants before any more damage is done.

Oh hey, our first bow! Bows, as I'm sure I've mentioned before, are very strong two-handed weapons, but they come with an Accuracy penalty. This, naturally, makes them very powerful in the hands of characters with high Agility, like Fencers... oh wait, yeah, Fencers are incompatible with Bows. But like... from a statline perspective, y'know?

And this.

Taking a second to grab new maps and we're good to go!

Big open greenery, here we come!

Some hardcore guy named Talon told me that. It might not come in handy in an area like this one, but he said there's a cliff around here where you really need to keep it in mind.

Hm... going off of the other maps we could buy, I'm willing to bet that area is Cobblestone Crag. We'll have to tread lightly if we end up there, then.

That's a later problem. Right now, we gotta find out what the hell a Quintar is!

Oh! Birdosaurs!

Now everything makes sense.

This NPC is so tremendously gatekeepy that he has no actual advice for you, so it falls to me to actually answer the posed questions. Quintars are the birdosaurs in the pen, and just like a similar birdosaur with a similar call you might be thinking of, they are renowned for their overland speed. A Quintar's leap, while lower than that of us trusty bipeds, can even clear a four-tile-wide gap at max speed! Of course, without a Quintar Pass, we can't ride any, so this remains a curiosity for us now, and we will simply have to traverse the Rolling Quintar Fields on foot.

Astley said the prereq for a Quintar Pass has gone up from 4 to 7 crystals, and presumably the dude at the counter there would check our crystal count, but as we're not anywhere near the needed threshold I'm gonna ignore that for now.

Much like Delende, the Rolling Quintar Fields are a big open area with a few changes in elevation to punctuate the landscape, and finding the Cool Stuff is a matter of surmounting the elevation.

It's also where the encounters start actually being a little spicy, such that I can't just have GUTS do Berserker stance 24/7 and expect to be okay.

I'm still gonna do it, but observe that even this small fry enemy didn't flinch at all from a crit Berserker attack with his shiny new Prodder.

Hey look I remembered this move exists!

5 AP isn't very much from it early on, but it's a free 5 AP that also provides a crit buff, making using this to charge up for Beat Down or Earth Split very useful right now.

This enemy only has basic attacks with different names, so we're not in any danger here, but we will be later!

Since Meena is still my primary healer despite her foray into beatsticking, I may as well grab HP Boost as a passive for her. Survivability good, even if it's not flashy.

We're now far enough in that Shaman's debuff spells can even see practical use outside of boss battles. Since Scavengers only do physical basic attacks, Acid shuts down a lot of their power right out.

Does decent damage too.

Lots of treasures here, albeit mostly stuff like consumables.

What.

Reginald here has an attack that can inflict Bleed, which adds up quickly if you aren't prepared for it.

Well, let's see how long we're in for it here.

Lower individual HP than the Scavenger, but there's two of them and they can inflict Bleed. Gotta be careful, as you can tell I am not doing by my choice of actions.

Just because an off-class command has good stats backing it, that doesn't mean it's perfect. Remember, Werdna isn't using his usual Element Master passive that Wizard gets, and while Rogue has pretty good Mind, it also restricts him to daggers, where Black Magic would instead prefer a scythe or wand.

Compare to GUTS doing his usual full-throated Warrior thing and the difference is plain to see.

Oh yeah, if you get into a Flame encounter with another Flame close by and hot on your tail, it'll disable for a few seconds to allow you breathing room... sometimes.

Anyway, Werdna's done with Rogue for now.

Back to REAL magic damage. And Rogue's class passives aren't as essential as Wizard's to their role; the crit chance is nice, but with Rogue stats on deck you don't NEED it.

Werdna's gear is looking a little outdated right now, but hopefully we'll get the dosh to change that with a bit more exploring.

Let's top off that big impressive MP score!

Back at it. This gentle hill seems like a promising place to start doing the parkour.

We can climb on some trees here or there without issue.

But me and my trained eye can already tell you that this is too far. If only we had a reliable Quintar friend to help us out.

Charmions are pretty rude. Not only can they inflict Poison without a duration using their Poison Kiss, they have a counterattack!

They're also the first enemy we've met that has the ability to evade any Earth moves, which is an extremely common feature for any airborne enemy. Due to this, any Earth attacks we rely on (like Meena's Earth Split) have a very common weakness that means she can't just Focus Energy into Earth Split to do big damage to the entire formation. And that Counter Mewl isn't doing us any favors either. You're gonna need some magic, particularly fiery, to take down Charmions.

Fortunately, they don't seem to have much HP relative to the monsters of the area.

So yeah Werdna is very dead here, but at least he Pocket Sands Reginald with his last action, buying everyone else some time.

CT is expensive!!!

GUTS I would really have liked you to land that 91% hit chance!

At least he can live a full barrage from this enemy formation but also ow, ow, please help me.

Werdna I really hope your spell kills at least one Charmion.

Damn it. Ready the desynced XP then.

Not going down without a fight, though! Time to put that high Shaman MP to good use!

BRING IT ON

HOOOOOGH

Now THAT was a well-earned level!

GUTS picks up Blitz Crush, but Werdna's now in the doldrums of Wizard progression. He's gonna need to save up a whopping 10 LP now: 5 for whichever of Boltena or Firena he picks up first (probably Boltena), and 5 for the other one, before that opens up the other spells he actually wants to work with. And, of course, those spells are way too expensive to pull out at this stage of the game. Still, I'd rather handle it now than later.

I do not need to explain myself.

A big part of the danger in Rolling Quintar Fields is that enemies don't just leisurely park themselves in their little Scuttlebug radius. Lots of them go running down the main roads, which means you'll be attacked by them, not responded to for entering their radius.

So while you might be tempted to follow the roads, it's a much better idea to stay adjacent to them, so you can avoid getting rushed down without warning.

You see that, right? That's a silver vein! If we can reach it, we'll find some Silver Ore, Dust, or Ingot to add to our supply, which we can then use to upgrade our Craftwork gear! Always keep an eye out for the stuff.

Hello, very intentional bridge to cross later.

Rolling Quintar Fields isn't all plains, trees, and hills. There's also a few grassy divots leading into mini-caverns that are worth exploring, and hey we're gonna go do that right now.

EGG

Since we want that Monster Magic, I'm gonna Scan to ensure I don't prematurely kill it.

Perfect.

Roost is, as the name suggests, a very strong self-heal effect. As the usual, if you go back to the Scholar post it'll be added there.

Very welcome for GUTS to have in particular.

OK cool bye.

Into the cave we go, to find a shiny treasure of some kind!

Perfect. This axe is one-handed while still packing more power than our old Cleaver. I'll throw it on Frieren for now since GUTS already has Prodder.

Oh yeah you can fight Quintars in the wild too.

They tend to be pretty excellent sources of Monster Magic, and also formidable opponents in their own right with the ability to ignore CT costs on their spells.

UGH. I guess I'll take this fight kind of seriously.

OKAY YEAH IM TAKING IT SERIOUSLY NOW

Didn't get Aero from this fight, but there will be more Quintars later.

Oooh, free eyeball. Dunno what it does but it looks cool.

I'm not underleveled, I'm just not very smart sometimes.

Here, let's see if you don't instantly die to Burn so I can revive a buddy for more XP.

Okay NOW we desync.

If you're dead at the end of a boss fight I'm preeeeetty sure there's no desync, but dead elsewhere and you do have a slight penalty to XP. Not that it makes a huge difference really.

Here, it does mean GUTS and Frieren fall a bit behind their partners in crime temporarily, not that that's a huge problem for now.

Just past this, Talon is running back and forth in front of Chloe.

<Chloe> I just want to get to places without having to fight all these damn Flames.
<Talon> Simple. The technique you require is to Serpentine. If you Serpentine properly, the Flames will never catch you. This technique is simple for a pro such as myself.

I've actually been using this technique a lot in my gameplay already to avoid fights on backtracking.

Talon walks forward in an S pattern. You might recall how I said that pursuing Flames don't "lead their shots", right? Well, the idea is that they move towards your current position at all times, but there's some momentum to account for as they pick up speed. Constantly readjusting where they need to go cuts their speed without impacting yours, allowing you to evade enemies even if their land speed is faster than yours.

Talon talks a big game, but he's right. Serpentining is an extremely useful skill to master for avoiding Flames in the wild. Obviously, more specialized Flames with higher speeds or trickier terrain mean the technique isn't one-size-fits-all, but for going back through areas like Delende or Rolling Quintar Fields, the Serpentine maneuver is perfect.

HELL YEAH

Chloe does more of a zigzag than Talon's precise S shape, but either way the technique is valid.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I require medical attention. This is more expensive than going back to Capital Sequoia to restore fully, but do recall that if I do that, all the Flames will respawn as well, and I can't really afford that kind of hassle.

Oh hey, another Hunter up there. Wonder how we can get that high up.

That's a later problem. Let's check out this little cove.

I would like it on record that screw this treasure chest don't hide things like this.

It's just a Tonic Pouch but STILL.

Oh right forgot I can get Drain now. Looking to get Safeguard next.

A Wizard up there, too!

And a Warrior and a Cleric... all grouped up and looking right at this valley we're in...

Oh, is this a shakedown?

Not even, just your usual bullying for the hell of it.

After you.

Yeah, PVP fights are a thing in this game! Not very common, mind you: Dr. Cool Aids and his party are the main foes you'll encounter. Unlike monster fights, PVP fights don't give you any advantage on TT at the start, so you'll have to be ready to handle the enemy faster than usual, and you can't predict their actions even if you can see what they have available. Dr. Cool Aids' team centers almost entirely around Kuroi Darkness casting Firen. If she charges up enough to get the cast off, not only will she deal big damage to your entire team, she'll also give a terrible speech about darkness just before it. Dr. Cool Aids and Quinsey are on support duty, with the former using Armor Break and a Chivalry sub-command to Cover Kuroi, and the latter using White Magic and subclassed Mixed Magic for pure support and healing. Doist, the team's Hunter, is the odd one out, in that he just shoots you with arrows.

Getting through this fight in a timely fashion means shutting down Kuroi Darkness before she does her thing. You have a few ways to do this. For my part, I had Werdna chuck a Sleep Bomb her way, but Rogues can also use Trick Slash to similar and repeatable effect. A Shaman with Sleep Echo can also do the same thing, and Bio takes most of the edge off of Firen. All of these methods are contingent on acting before Dr. Cool Aids puts up Cover, though. One method that ISN'T is Blackout, since that makes everyone immune to fire damage and thus completely no-sells Kuroi Darkness as long as the buff holds. Once you get past that obstacle, Dr. Cool Aids' team will fold to any properly crafted offensive you can muster by this point, as any individual member of his team isn't very sturdy and Quinsey is the only healer of the group.

Well that was a fun diversion. Moving on!

Please leave me alone I'm low on consumables.

HAHA IM SICK WITH THE SCHMOVEMENT

Another secret cave down here.

Fancy bow! Really telegraphing getting a bow-specialized class soon, huh.

Again, Sun Bath is really good healing even with GUTS' average-at-best Spirit stat... provided you can cast it in time.

Watch out, it's the Aero spell!

Oh okay.

Time for Meena to start working towards Chi Burst. And if the enemies around here are any indication, having Thunder damage on multiple sources will be good for business.

Lots of Quintars up on this hill here.

I believe in you.

Okay so that's a little creepy but who cares about that, this Home Point is HUGE.

See, we can first set our new Home Point to here, which is obviously going to be a very important spot for us to be for the future.

Warp back to Capital Sequoia with the Gaea Stone/Shards...

Restock, check the bulletin board as relevant...

Oh that actually is relevant. See we got jumped by a guy with the best possible name one could give a griefer and

That answer is... terrible! Even for your own stated goal!

Anyway, the important thing is that with our Home Point set to the far end of the Rolling Quintar Fields, and the Gaea Shrine as a convenient fast travel point, we can now take care of stuff on that side of the world without any problems whatsoever!

Oh yeah Dr. Cool Aids and his gang makes their home in the back alleys of Capital Sequoia in between noob ambushing sessions.

Watch your back or you'll be sorry!

Well if you're gonna be like that you're not getting your lunch money back.

Damn, true.

Doist's character gimmick is that he's just a boring asshole.

Whatever you say.

While we're in town, I'm gonna check out the other known entrance to Jojo Sewers. I'm sure there's more though.

The Hoarder here is the managerial side of the Lost & Found, who explains the stuff about how dealing with the hobo upstairs works.

It's inaccurate, too. He's not really moving from place to place as a penniless drifter, he's conducting business in a single spot. Sorta shady business, but I'm not about to tell the city guard.

Anyway, back to the Quintar Enthusiast's House.

The critters inside and out seem pretty happy for living with a person who's advertising an interest in their eyeballs.

Huh, another Mimic. And a green Quintar?

Must be the favorite.

You are permitted to be here so long as you are a fan of Quintar. Are you a fan of Quintar?

I mean I guess?

I feel like we should start off on the strong foot here.

Whoops, my Quintar is rusty. Let's try that again!

I, myself, am a connoisseur of Quintar Eyeballs. I particularly fancy the Brutish Quintar Eye variety. If you find a Brutish Quintar Eye, please bring it to me right away. You will surely be rewarded for your efforts.

Gotta say, I find it at odds that you would love these creatures so thoroughly and yet make a habit of collecting their eyeballs. Eyeballs, I might add, we've only been able to extract by killing them.

Anyway we got a Fiendish, what's that get us in today's market?

I specifically asked for a BRUTISH Quintar Eyeball! Not a FIENDISH Quintar Eyeball! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE

What is it with Quintar fans?! Fine, be that way!

Well, whatever. We can at least use his elevated position on the foothills to get to more routes.

And more routes means more enemies! Green Legs here is another fire-weak plant enemy with a Bleed immunity and a paralytic Vice Grip attack.

I tell you this now because it doesn't live long enough to do anything scary.

How quickly time flies that this is no longer considered a massive amount of money. It's still GOOD, but cash will be in pretty short supply the whole game. This is intentional, to make any purchases you do make that much more committal and valuable.

Well, here's the bridge crossed! Let's go see what's over there!

Hole.

Okay yeah we're finishing the update with this area that's perfectly reasonable.

The terrain in the Quintar Nest is, ironically, very poorly suited to such creatures, full of narrow spires that contain lots of treasure, including Silver veins. Obviously, our ultimate goal is the crystal, but there's lots to find here.

I intend to clean out what I can reach, but if memory serves this area is a little non-linear and some of it must be approached from Jojo Sewers, right nearby.

The crystal is easy to reach, just circle around this way to the north side of the Quintar Nest and then move inward.

The fights here are a little stronger than on the Rolling Quintar Fields, but not by much. Also Leviathan is a bop, one of my favorite fight music in this game.

Still, I was already struggling with Rolling Quintar Fields a bit, so I'm having significant trouble here.

That evened out the XP a bit, at least.

Getting to the point where Tonics are no longer an acceptable post-battle healing option. I should really go to the items shop and restock before next update.

Bearing in mind that I can stock more and more with each expedition I do!

Just go south here for the crystal. I'm gonna look for more treasure first.

There's a treasure gimme that thing.

I BEEFED IT

And now I have to fight this thing!

The Cave Hunter has Pincer Pinch to inflict Armor Down and Vice Grip to paralyze. It's excellent at taking down tanks, but it is fortunately weak to fire.

BUT WHAT IF I KILL YOU FIRST!?

This was an incredibly risky play they also have good evasion GUTS only had 65% accuracy DON'T BE LIKE ME

Nice, another of these! That'll go really well with the Bow class we're expected to have any second now.

Gonna go grab that Silver Dust down there first.

Yeah no boss or anything for this one, you can just go for it.

SAUCE TIME

THERE'S our Bow user.

This is a mistake though. At present, most of our team is unsuited to drop their current role in favor of Hunter, since it's poor at casting and GUTS kind of needs to be able to generate Threat.

But I like Hunter, so we'll try it for a bit.

Did you notice I didn't equip the Scope Bit instead of the Jewel of Defense? Do you think this will be a problem? I do.

Anyway, more yet to explore in the Quintar Nest south of our entry point.

Three Den Bugs guard the path, and I wanted to A: fight them, and B: test out Hunter.

But then I saw this skill, and my hubris and need to show off the game got the better of me. Can you guess the result?

At least Quickshot is a nice trick for GUTS to have right out of the gate.

Not much health to them if you try killing them immediately, but Den Bugs do have a Sturdy style passive that prevents them from being oneshot.

Plus, they Harden before transforming, which works just like it did for the Indecent Dweller. Better use magic!

BECAUSE NOW I HAVE THIS THING TO DEAL WITH

AND IT GETS TO ACT IMMEDIATELY

Thank you Doublecast you saved me.

And we're good and desynced again. WHY DID I DO THAT

Anyway, just south of the Den Bugs is a little lake area that holds many important goodies.

The lake is also circled by two high speed enemies you will want to fight exactly one of.

Looks like we can get that weirdo's eyeball now.

Let's do this at least a little smart though.

After using Sleep Bomb to buy myself another turn, I finally take the area version of Aero face-on.

Nice nice.

Well, one of those wasn't too bad all told, and we have the eyeball we need.

GUESS WHO WASN'T CLOSE ENOUGH TO GIVE US A SECOND OF MERCY THOUGH

SURPRISE MARATHON BATTLE

I still lived it, somehow.

EARNED.

Congrats on finally having a passive, Frieren!

It was only here I started to reconsider Hunter for GUTS. If I'm gonna have him stay in this class, I'll have him aim for Perfect Vision as an insurance piece, then take the self-sustain buttons.

The treasures here are all yellow, so potions, cash, that sort of thing.

Quintar Nest still has more to explore, but I'd like to wrap this up for now.

Head further south from here to find...

Oh hey, Cobblestone Crag.

Really not gonna stay here long but I do want that treasure.

GOT IT LETS LEAVE

If we fight that thing it will instantly kill us and I don't want to show that off right now.

Here's your eyeball.

I can see that you have what it takes to be a true enthusiast. You must experience what it is like to ride one of these majestic beasts. Please, accept this Quintar Pass.

Show that to any Quintar Stable Owner and you'll be permitted to rent a Quintar. Thank you again, friend. And before you go, don't forget: The moment you find any more interesting types of Quintar Eyeballs, come show me immediately.

Yeah I'll get right on that gimme that stupid pass.

Now we can rent and ride birdosaurs! The possibilities this opens up are... not endless but still very real! I'll leave you to consider what that means for NEXT TIME.

TO DO:

• Build the perfect starting team.
• Explore Spawning Meadows.
  • Prove the existence of black squirrels.
  • Try to find another route out of Spawning Meadows.
• Explore Delende.
  • Cross the bridge to the Proving Meadows.
  • Explore the Fish Hatchery.
  • Explore the Pale Grotto.
    • Defeat Guardian.
    • Find the Slate Crystal.
    • Find the Fencer class.
  • Explore the Soiled Den.
    • Defeat Bone Thief.
    • Trade an Earth Bangle to Huntie.
  • Explore the Basement of the Cabin on the Cliff.
    • Defeat Gran.
  • Find the dogs' bones.
• Explore Seaside Cliffs.
  • Trade 13 Clamshells to Manana Man.
  • Find a rare monster that drops an Earth Bangle.
  • Explore Draft Shaft Conduit.
    • Defeat Canal Beast.
    • Find the Violet Crystal.
    • Find the Shaman class.
• Explore Proving Meadows.
  • Find three crystals.
  • Defeat Knight.
  • Explore the Trial Caves.
    • Find the Yellow Crystal.
    • Find the Aegis class.
    • Explore Skumparadise.
      • Defeat Parasite.
• Explore Yamagawa M.A.
  • Defeat Sepulchra.
  • Find the Aquamarine Crystal.
  • Find the Scholar class.
    • Find every Monster Magic spell.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Scholar.
• Explore the Capital Courtyard.
  • Find the Courtyard Key.
• Explore Capital Sequoia.
  • Find all the penguins.
  • Find all the Craftwork gear.
  • Obtain the Gaea Stone.
  • Clear the hedge maze of Improper Imps.
  • Find a way past the hedge maze.
  • Enter the Luxury shop.
  • Get past the guard on the west gate.
  • Defeat all the training dummies.
  • Find three Digested Heads for Sam the Sadist.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Monk.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Rogue.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Wizard.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Cleric.
  • Explore Jojo Sewers.
• Explore the Rolling Quintar Fields.
  • Meet the Quintar Enthusiast.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fiendish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Brutish Quintar Eye.
    • Obtain a Quintar Pass.
  • Explore Quintar Nest.
    • Find the Olive Crystal.
    • Find the Hunter class.
• Explore Cobblestone Crag.
• Explore the Underpass.
  • Find enough Underpass Scraps for a map.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
  • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Dervish class.
• Find the Ninja class.
• Find the Chemist class.
• Find the Beastmaster class.

 

[Kalir]

HUNTER
Sharp-Eyed Survivalist

STATS

• HP: 3
• MP: 2
• Strength: 4
• Vitality: 4
• Dexterity: 5
• Agility: 10
• Mind: 4
• Spirit: 4
• Speed: 6
• Luck: 5

PROFICIENCIES

• Weapons: Daggers, Bows
• Armor: Medium Headgear, Medium Armor

INNATE PASSIVES

• Camouflage: -35% Threat generated.

Here's our first class that really expects the player to specialize in a single weapon. Hunters have the best Agility in the game and wield the best weapon for capitalizing on this stat, bows. Bows have lots of power for a two-handed weapon, but pay for that power with a scaling penalty to Accuracy, making them only useful in the hands of someone who's already been speccing in Agility... like a Hunter! Plus, the whole two-handed thing means no shields, but the high Agility again means that Hunters enjoy excellent Evasion that a shield would get in the way of. Oh, and Hunters have some excellent damage options with no costs for AP, MP, or anything of the sort, just a cooldown for each move. That, plus their utility moves for keeping themselves alive and out of harm's way, makes them potent damage dealers that can stay in the game for a long time if played well.

There's a lot of drawbacks to Hunter, of course. Their Agility doing double duty as an offensive and defensive stat belies their considerably weaker stats in all other areas, with the only other stats being even close to good being Speed and Dexterity. And while not needing to worry about AP or MP is definitely nice... it really hurts that you have to cycle your various damage options on a cooldown. Finally, depending on bows (assuming you don't use daggers like the mod lets you do) means that Agility is going to HAVE to be a huge priority, because you're fighting the uphill penalty of scaling Accuracy as you go through the game, so Hunter is a very committal class in a way lots of other classes aren't.

Hunter is the first class that demands that you build around it, rather than using it as a piece for your own build. Fencers and Rogues have a nearly overlapping stat array that would work excellently... but due to weapon incompatibilities, neither one can use the full Hunt moveset. (This has changed with the mod, where Hunt is now compatible with daggers and thus an extremely strong choice for Rogues, albeit one that doubles up on the big spike damage niche.) Plenty of caster classes, particularly Scholar and Warlock, have excellent Agility scores and don't mind physical moves on a cooldown... but Hunter's low magic stats, especially for MP, make it a risky choice to invest in. Even Warrior, the perennial one-site-fits-all physical class with a fully compatible moveset, is at odds with their own willingness to tank and the Hunter's need to avoid drawing Threat at all. Hunter's a good class, but you have to be there for it completely, not just because you want some splash levels.

Spoiler: MOVESET: HUNT

Quickshot
Costs: 2 CD
Single Target Bow(/Dagger) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Agi + 0.5 Agi
Free Action (does not use the turn)
Prereqs: None

Haha we've invalidated Fencer from the first move. Quickshot is effectively a basic attack that you can, once every three turns, just staple on to your existing turn for the hell of it. This sounds kind of mid in a vacuum, but Warriors thinking about living the Hunter lifestyle should consider: you can use another action that doesn't end the turn between Quickshot and your actual action. Which means you can, say, start a fight with Quickshot, then Defender Stance, and enjoy the first hit not having a damage penalty. There's options here, y'know?

Take Aim
Costs: 2 CD
Single Target Bow(/Dagger) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Agi + 0.5 Agi
+100% Crit Chance
Prereqs: Quickshot, 1 LP

Hell yeah, guaranteed crit. But that's only on a basic attack formula, so while this is a perfectly acceptable damage option with a short cooldown, and something your Hunter will frequently use if they have nothing better to do... they probably DO have something better to do, especially as they get LP and open up later Hunt options. Obviously, much stronger with Daggers if you're using the mod, owing to that tasty tasty crit damage bonus.

Track
Costs: 1 CD
Single Target Ability
Reveals the target's HP.
Prereqs: Quickshot, 1 LP

The other main way you'll have, early on, of revealing boss HP. Again, the main idea here is convenience: if using this is worth a turn for the Hunter, go for it. Hell, with other stuff on cooldown, you probably will have at least one off-turn if you're not feeling like using your other moveset. Compared to Scan, it's honestly just straight up better: Scan costs MP and is competing with a bunch of other Warlock moves, and even Doublecasting for Scan is wasteful in the extreme.

Barrage
Costs: 2 CD
Multi Target Bow(/Dagger) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Agi + 0.5 Agi
Prereqs: Take Aim, 2 LP

Swallowtail... but for Hunter! Everything I said about Swallowtail applies, but now filtered through the Hunter's weapon choice of the bow (unless using a dagger in which case it really is extremely like Swallowtail). Barrage, you will find, trends higher on average than Swallowtail but has higher variance, as more attacks can miss and there's a lower chance to land crits for superheavy damage. This is extremely into-the-weeds talk here, it's still a physical AOE and you're gonna use it if your Hunter can handle the heat.

Unguent
Costs: 3 CD
Self Only Ability
Recovery Formula: 1.5 Agi
Applies Unguent (25% healing per turn) buff for 3 turns.
Prereqs: Track, 2 LP

Hunt does at least have some nice self-sufficiency options if you're not in it for the big damage shots. Unguent is a really strong self-heal that's built to keep the user out of serious danger for an extended period of time without wasting your healer's time on mending a fragile damage class. Course, the problem is you need to take a heavy hit, live to your next turn, and not get enough Threat for the entire table to look at you to death. If that condition is fulfilled, though, Unguent is amazing. I believe we've already covered how regen effects both stack with differently-named effects and scale with Spirit, yes?

Thorned Shot
Costs: 3 CD
Single Target Bow(/Dagger) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 1.5 Agi + 0.5 Agi
80% Accuracy
Weak against high Defense.
Prereqs: Barrage, 2 LP

A straightforward damage button that's not exactly straightforward. First off, the Accuracy penalty of the skill really needs a lot of innate Accuracy to offset, so you'd better have equipment/passives to shore up that difference. Second, while the damage formula is pretty good, the "Weak against high Defense" rider, which I don't completely understand, means more often than not, Thorned Shot isn't going to be much more damaging than usual. Like, it still hits harder than usual, but save it for enemies that favor Resistance over Defense, generally. But hey, enemy stats scale up with level, right? What exactly determines "high Defense" under those conditions?

Hide
Costs: 3 CD
Self Only Ability
Reduces accumulated Threat by 75%.
Prereqs: Unguent, 2 LP

Rogues would really, REALLY love to have Hide as a button they can push, and even before the mod came into play it was something worth considering dipping into Hunter for alone. Of course, any fragile damage dealer appreciates Hide, Hunters included, but the class with by far the best synergy with this move is Rogue. And now that Rogue can also use their daggers with Hunt's attack moves thanks to the mod, the Rogue/Hunter class combo is looking stronger than ever.

Hunter's Mark
Costs: 3 CD
Single Target Ability
Inflicts Hunter's Mark (cannot dodge physical attacks) debuff on the target for 3 physical attacks.
Prereqs: Hide, 3 LP

Hunter's best support option, and also a setup option of their own for some of their less accurate shots. It's a kind of situational ability, especially since magic, again, doesn't ever miss unless it says it does, but again, physical damage dealers CAN miss, and that doesn't just apply to Hunters. It's also a great way to shut down specific foes that use Evasion as their main mode of defense. Hardly an essential tool for everyone, but nine out of ten mainclass Hunters recommend it! (The tenth one is muttering something about skill issues.)

Pickoff
Costs: 4 CD
Single Target Bow(/Dagger) Skill
Damage Formula: 2 Atk + Atk * Agi + 0.5 Agi
50% Accuracy
Prereqs: Thorned Shot, 3 LP

Speaking of abilities that work well with Hunter's Mark! The Accuracy penalty on Pickoff basically requires some manner of guaranteeing your hit to pull it off, even with the statline of a Hunter behind it. The damage is very much worth setting up for, and with the big cooldown on it, it's entirely reasonable for a party without many physical attackers to have the Hunter cycle Hunter's Mark into Pickoff off cooldown for the latter. The slight stratiation makes this a little difficult, mind you, so if you have some other way of guaranteeing hits (like, say, the Eagle Eye passive from Fencer) consider using those first.

Snipe
Costs: 8 CD
Single Target Bow(/Dagger) Skill
Damage Formula: 50 + 2 Atk + Atk * Agi + Agi
85% Accuracy
Prereqs: Hunter's Mark, 4 LP

Best damage formula available to Hunter, and a competitor with a lot of other big chungus physical attacks. The extremely unwieldy cooldown should be planned around, with other teammates that ordinarily wouldn't bother trying setup options for damage lending a hand once Snipe becomes available. As with Thorned Shot, the Accuracy penalty is non-ignorable, albeit to a lesser degree, and by the time you have access to Snipe, you SHOULD have the tools needed to make Snipe as reliable as possible on your turn. There are few things more depressing in this game than a Snipe missing.

Spoiler: PASSIVES

Equip Bow
Costs: 3 PP
Allows you to equip Bows regardless of class proficiencies.
Prereqs: Take Aim, 2 LP

As mentioned, bows are two-handed weapons with above-average attack but an Accuracy penalty. Also as mentioned, Hunter is the main class that really wants to use bows. Consider this a tax passive for if you want to import the Hunt moveset onto someone without the proficiency for it, realistically. Which, to me, makes the 3 PP more than a little overexpensive.

Perfect Vision
Costs: 2 PP
Attacks with 80% or higher accuracy are improved to 100%.
Prereqs: Barrage, 1 LP

For your average character, Perfect Vision is a completely fine passive they'd probably equip if they got it and then eventually ditch for something that better fits with their engine. Hunters LOVE Perfect Vision. Remember, the class lives and dies by its ability to consistently land shots, and Perfect Vision can turn attacks that would be too shaky to trust into surefire options. Hell, if you're running a non-Hunter Bow user for some reason, or even a character that doesn't use Bows but is a physical damage dealer with accuracy issues, Perfect Vision is great.

Covert
Costs: 3 PP
-25% Threat generated.
Prereqs: Perfect Vision, 5 LP

Why is this passive a 5 LP cost?! Like, yeah, it's really good for any damage dealer that sacrifices durability and especially for Rogue, but that's SO MUCH! And its got a lot of prereqs, capping off with a situational passive! Are we just trying to minimize LP costs elsewhere to avoid Hunt being a dead command slot while you're on cooldown for all your shots? Why this? It's not even that expensive to actually equip once learned, 3 PP for a damage dealer's a pretty reasonable price.

 

[Kalir]

Well that was a fun diversion but I think GUTS needs a class better suited for Strength first.

Gonna stay with this party for now. Meena needs to pick up Chi Burst before any class changes, Werdna's staying as a Wizard until a better idea comes along, and I don't actually know what I'm doing with Frieren.

Anyway, you're probably all wondering why I've gathered you here.

We can now rent a Quintar from this stable, for free, any time we want! This is really handy for traversing a few areas in particular.

I'll demonstrate with the guard here, who now lets us freely pass into...

Greenshire Reprise! This area is kind of transitory early on: at the level we're at, any encounters we'd get into here would absolutely kill us.

But for when you can enter it, you aren't actually expected to get into encounters!

This area is very vertical, and falling below at any time means fighting those Flames down there, which as you can see are as red as the defeat we'll suffer against them.

This is where the Quintar comes in. The broken bridges mean you can't easily cross through here without one, since they've got higher land speed than we do and can jump over as many as four spaces.

Catch is, Quintars have tiny little stubby legs that prevent any jumps higher than a single block, and if we dismount here...

The Quintar just vanishes. And to remount, we gotta trek all the way back to the stable.

Still, that Quintar did at least get us to a new Home Point!

So, we could obviously set our Home Point here, but even warping will dismount you as a matter of course, so we can't procure the Quintar from beyond here with the stable again.

And there's another broken bridge that can't be crossed without a Quintar, so clearly we're missing something here.

We can still explore a little bit here, just not much.

And it's very worth it for this thing right here.

Paypirback is an exceptionally strong earlygame Book for one major reason: the CT discount. Remember, CT is a huge penalty to a lot of very strong skills. Anything that can help to mitigate this is already a strong choice, and Paypirback is no exception. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Scholar rocking this particular weapon well through midgame.

I bounce back to Capital Sequoia to check out a few other things.

Get a few more penguins too.

Oh I could totally cross that wooden banner there.

Damn you depth perception. You win this time.

Okay, there we go. And heeeey I see a box!

Nice! One more class master...

And another craftwork item!

I TRIPPED

Grumble grumble hate that this is the most reliable route up...

We're covering a lot of Capital Sequoia today!

Haven't done this chimney yet, so.

Oooh, lots of treasure over there. But that's in the luxury equipment shop, which we're still a little shy of being able to enter.

Another Craftwork item. Let's see... that's the last of the craftwork weapons, and we're only missing the heavy armor and light hat now. That's some progress!

We have enough penguins to get the next reward...

Ooooooh! Gold Dust is like Silver Dust but better! We don't currently have anything we can use it on since that requires smithing techniques unknown to the capital blacksmiths, but still! Good to know the possibility is here!

Back to Quintar riding. This sucker is so fast that we don't even need to use the Serpentine maneuver to juke the Flames. We can just outrun them!

Unfortunately, as I demonstrate here, trying to use a Home Point or Gaea Stone with a Quintar causes it to poof away into nothingness. Just to have it on record that no, we can't rent a Quintar and then immediately yeet over to Salmon Pass to cross the bridge.

And the map prices here are kind of telling me that I shouldn't attempt exploring there right now anyway. Could do Jojo Sewers, but that I'll probably save for the next update.

There is, fortunately, a very gentle slope behind the stable, which you can use to get to higher elevations with your trusty Quintar.

And that means you can leap from treetop to treetop with ease!

Very worth the trouble to do that here, I'd say.

There are several treasures one can find exploring the upper part of Rolling Quintar Fields, and that's best done atop the back of a Quintar.

Oh yeah there's a chest hidden behind this tree. I only saw it from a higher elevation.

Nice. Now that we've got a big collection of Craftwork weapons, upgrading them to Silver is like as not to be our next priority with them, so as to have a reliable stable of baseline gear to work with.

If you're curious, having a rental Quintar of our own doesn't allow us to understand what other Quintar say.

My next step is to go through Quintar Nest to explore a bit of Cobblestone Crag with our new steed.

The terrain down here can be rough in a vacuum, so if you're doing what I'm doing, head for the pool with the Brutish Quintars first.

As mentioned, the boss flame here requires line of sight to hunt you down. You are expected to use the spires as cover, and to move quickly while visible to it. It's not especially fast, but the precarious terrain and need for precision platforming means that if it catches you out, it will usually reach you, and at our current level it will kill us.

Doing this area atop a Quintar is tricky business because of how fast it moves, but falling isn't the end of the world, since the water below will just pop us up to the last point we were standing on, and the boss here isn't the spawn-camping sort.

There's treasure worth finding over here too, of course.

The Skewer is nice, but given GUTS' secondary skillset of Monster Magic, Prodder is still better for him. A more orthodox Warrior will happily prefer Skewer.

Anyway, this jump right here is one you need a Quintar for. Without one, Cobblestone Crag only holds a little treasure and a lot of lethality.

And as you can see, we're forced to dismount pretty much immediately after.

Don't need to be on a Quintar to fail the jumps here thank you VERY much.

If we go back up we can get a bit of treasure here.

And if we go even farther up we can get even more treasure!

Lookit that, Meena gets a weapon upgrade finally!

No way back up without a Quintar though, so IF YOU WILL PLEASE EXCUSE ME.

Here's the map we've got of Quintar Nest for now! The area to the west of it is Jojo Sewers; the two are actually joined up a bit and it's worth your time to investigate that connection.

If we go right after the Quintar jump, we reach a very unique segment of the Underpass that's not technically underground at all.

This part is a lot like Cobblestone Crag or Yamagawa M.A. with the focus on side-scrolling platforming.

As with Salmon River, this part here requires a Quintar to pass, and we can't get one down here since we need to dismount to reach here. Up is a viable direction to go, though!

Doing that takes us back over the earlier part of the Underpass here.

And then back again... they're certainly not making this ascent straightforward, huh.

Another scrap, although we still don't have anywhere near the raw capital to afford piecing them together even if we had enough scraps.

Oh hey! This is actually the midpoint of the ascent from the Underpass, as the second half is taken up by this new area we've discovered, Okimoto N.S.!

Let's see what all we can discover here, and in the meantime, we'll set our Home Point for now.

Okimoto N.S. has two parts to it, the first of which is very much like Yamagawa M.A. in its verticality. I don't know what the N.S. stands for to be sure, though.

The treasure gives us a very nice dagger for anyone more concerned with survivability over crit damage. Werdna's gonna use this as it's still very compatible with his Trickery attacks, and evading physical attacks is a more reliable defense for him than Mind Stance.

Oh, looks like we're a tad underleveled for this area.

At least I can bait the Flames way the hell out of the way. That one's never coming back.

I BEEFED IT

Don't be fooled by the recolor styles of enemies here, they're pretty scary. Both Yamma and the Nut Prophets are capable of using potent offense magic.

And the Yamma has Sun Bath too, gross. Oh well, let's do this.

I might be out of my element here.

Yeah just a little huh.

This is your reminder that you can only flee battles with a command that allows you to do so! The only one we currently have is Trickery on Werdna, and his success rate here is... uninspiring.

Cool we're doomed.

FROM HELL'S HEART I STEAL THY LUNCH MONEY

The Tanto actually let Werdna dodge the Nut Prophets' attacks in sequence! He does not get the same benefit against Yamma's Landslide.

Okay, 20 copper isn't a huge penalty. Still though, if we can't even last a single fight on Okimoto, we'd best go find somewhere else to play and come back later.

Well, there's still the northmost part of Rolling Quintar Fields, maybe something's there!

<Reid> Oh, no idea. Actually, probably not long at all. I think I can see them. Yeah if you look way over there, REALLY focus super, super far on the horizon, I think you'll see them coming!
<Astley> Hmmm... I can't see them. I'm not sure I can see that far.

Overworld vision is both a blessing and a curse, isn't it Astley?

Oh I see, it was all a setup for a

EPIC PRANK HAHAHA U GOT PRANKED DOGG

<Astley> I'm gonna waste like 5 minutes getting back up there!
<Reid> Haha! Better hurry up then!
<Astley> Mark my words, this won't be the last you'll hear of me!

Heehee that was a little silly. Astley almost certainly has a Quintar pass as well, so getting back up there shouldn't be a HUGE hassle for her.

The art of the prankster is a difficult one. One must both ensure perfect comedic timing and caution to not inflict lasting harm on your target, and I think you've nailed it.

I could probably make that jump, but I don't want to right now.

We're where we need to be right now anyway, no Quintar necessary.

I love the Spore Blocker. As a medium headgear it's already solid even without the Poison immunity. Meena's eatin' good this update!

This, right down here, is the heart of where the rest of the update will take place.

Quintar Nest... 2!!!

I drop down to clear the map around the area a bit and get another level for everyone after running over a pair of Reginalds.

Gonna take this upgrade right here hell yeah.

Anyway, to Quintar Sanctum! It's extremely similar to Quintar Nest at first, in that it holds a Crystal unguarded by a boss fight, and a new type of Quintar we can fight. Gonna do both of those, of course.

One major difference is that it holds giant mushrooms!

And they're super super bouncy!!!

Quintar Sanctum is extremely vertical, but unlike most other areas, here it's very wide open, where the big bounces of the mushrooms helps you to reach wherever you're going.

The enemies are also pretty similar for the most part.

So we'll just kinda do our own thing for a while, explore, fight, you know how it is.

The Cave Onion can inflict Daze with Headbutt, and Paralyze with Wrap. That's, uh... pretty much it.

This is about where I start noticing that Frieren's role as backup healer really isn't cutting it in Shaman. It's a good class, but it forces her to commit to offense and buffs only, in a way I'm not super comfy with. Odds are I'll switch her either to a new class or back to Warlock before long.

At least Shaman's high Luck makes her axe attacks pretty good options if she needs to save MP, which she usually does.

Now we can see Meena contribute big chunk damage alongside Werdna and GUTS. Today is a good day! Yeah, I'm mostly taking this as a prereq for Chi Burst, but with Monk's Strength score, even her initial start as a Cleric isn't holding her back on that too much.

Anyway, due to the big bouncy, you can avoid a bunch of the fights in here if you want to. There's some Monster Magic worth grabbing, and I don't get it all this update, so anyone doing the Scholar thing will want to check that out, but it's not a requirement if you're not doing it.

Also a fair amount of Silver to work with, and we are reaching that point where that's a good idea.

I know there's at least one good Monster Magic spell worth fishing for in here, so c'mere you.

Yep, Build Life is a new one.

Mosses work a lot like the usual fights back in Skumparadise, armed as they are with a Shroomy Gaze, so I'm not too worried about GUTS maintaining defenses as usual.

I decided to focus down one Moss owing to the magic they have. Sun Bath makes AOE an unattractive ask, and Build Life... well, you'll see.

Oh yeah just to show this off...

If you aren't respecting Wind Punch you're doing it wrong. Even if it takes two Monk turns to set up, that's some NICE damage.

So yeah, Build Life?

It's a revive spell! Hell the damn yes we want that in our moveset.

Fun fact: revived monsters have their Threat reset!

A quick stop back at the inn at Capital Sequoia, and we're back in business for another excursion.

More levels means more options for exploring later!

As usual, if I get into a fight worth showcasing, you can just trust I will do exactly that.

Another source of Sleep never hurts, especially in the likely event that Werdna decides to drop the Trickery moveset later on.

In my experience, the best spot to ascend through Quintar Sanctum is on the sides, with the right side being especially simple to navigate.

Honestly at this pace we might be actually able to upgrade some stuff back in town!

Hm... wonder what that sign says.

The Flames can bounce too, that's fun.

Oh, I see.

Home Point?

Dunno what a Nameko is, but this is way better for exploring Quintar Sanctum than the outdoor save point.

Does it?

I mean, maps are cool, but not exactly what I'd call shiny, y'know?

Must not be the map, what's up that hill?

OH YEAH THAT'S SHINY AS HELL

SO DAMN SHINY

I could change someone to Chemist here, and it's pretty tempting, but I'll wait until after the update is done so I have time to mull it over. Because there's still more to explore down here!

For example, we can keep going up!

There's a boss up here we can fight, and we absolutely should, but first I have yet more exploring to do here.

Also looks to be a path off to the right, above where the sign was, but that can wait. Still more to loot here.

There's two fungi on either side of the main outcropping, not hard to reach if you either fall from above or approach from the sides.

The one on the right gives a Dress. It's good for anyone who needs an extra bump in MP, which could be either Werdna or Frieren right now. I give it to Werdna since his MP trends towards more punch per use right now.

On the other side is a Circlet, which is almost exactly the same but as a hat. I give it to Frieren, so now both of them can enjoy better MP!

Oh, I can point this out: stat variance between body and head armors can be pretty wild. In my experience, headpieces usually have less variance between defense and resistance compared to body pieces, but I don't have the evidence to definitively state as much.

Anyway, more silver stuff on the right, as you'd guess.

WE'RE RICH

I don't know if I got everything here, but I got a lot!

If I feel like I missed something somewhere, I am reviewing my play sessions so I can eventually go back to specific areas for treasures. I know I left a treasure behind at Seaside Cliffs I should go back for. Backtracking just gets easier after specific points in the game, ya dig?

Anyway LEMME THE HELL IN

We can now enter the Luxury Shop at will!

That's so many crystals! That's gonna be a WHILE.

The gear sold here is very nice! It's also very expensive. I doubt most players would bother with the luxury shop unless they've been somehow amassing ridiculous piles of cash for wherever they are in the game. We COULD buy this (and basically only this), but... nah. 18 silver can do so much more for us.

Darn, can't get back there yet.

Smithing though, that's very much on the table. If you're curious, we need Ore to upgrade martial weapons or medium armor, Ingots to upgrade exotic weapons or heavy armor, and Dust to upgrade magic weapons, shields, and light armor. That's as evenly spaced as you can get, so rest assured that no matter what you find, your team will have a use case for it.

I decide to start with some much-needed armor upgrades, getting a Silver Cape for Frieren and a Silver Vest for Meena. The Silver Cape in particular was a flat upgrade for Frieren from her old Mage's Robe.

I warp back and immediately find Gokue.

The Fancy Quintar's Whirlwind spell is pretty tough to deal with. Try equipping someone with the Shaman's Sub-Command. Their Bio spell should really help you out here.

Well, uh... yeah, that's the boss up top, a Fancy Quintar. Gokue's advice is sound: at this stage of the game, Bio is the most reliable antimagic option you have, so any boss that relies heavily on magical offense (like, say, a Quintar with Whirlwind access) is best handled with a Shaman on deck. You don't NEED one of course, but hey, if they're giving you trouble, why not?

Let's go field test that bit of info right now.

The Fancy Quintar is effectively the boss of the Rolling Quintar Plains in total, and has a moveset befitting of one of the rarest and strongest of Quintars. Unlike others, it doesn't have Sun Bath or Aero as spells, but it DOES have some dangerous self-buffs for action economy in the form of Haste and Quick. The former, at least, a Warlock like Frieren can cancel out, but Frieren is also our only source of Bio, which makes that a hard choice for us to make. Additionally, Dispel will usually annul the Magic Down effect of Bio if used incautiously. Those aside, the Fancy Quintar has no attack moves aside from Whirlwind and its basic attack, and it uses Whirlwind relatively infrequently, so you should prioritize keeping its action economy down over blunting Whirlwind with Bio. Additionally, the random nature of Whirlwind means that it's rarely going to wipe your whole team, so if you get caught without Magic Down on the Fancy Quintar, it's usually not the end of the world. Just play it smart and cautious, because it IS faster than you, and it WILL go for cheap kills even with basic attacks if it gets the chance.

Is that a Fancy Quintar Eye? What a rare eyeball! You should go take it to the Quintar Enthusiast in the Rolling Quintar Fields right now!

Why are Quintar fans like this?! Yes, that is very much the plan, and should you head back to Capital Sequoia first through any method, instead of meeting the Quintar Enthusiast, Marcy will not-so-subtly point you back in their direction.

Where did you find such a spectacular specimen?? Never have I laid eyes on such an eyeball! ... It is decided. You are a true Quintar Enthusiast. It is time you received the true Quintar Enthusiast's metaphorical badge of honor.

Use this Quintar Flute at any time to summon a Quintar to your side. And here's a tip from one Enthusiast to another: Equip the Quintar Flute to your favorites menu and you'll be an expert rider in no time!

Yes, that's right! Our next form of progression is...

On demand Quintar!

The Quintar Flute not only opens up a vast amount of the game from here on out... it's also the point at which the game's demo rolls credits, if you've played this far without yet buying the full version. Yeah, that's right. Everything you've seen so far? That's all in the DEMO. This game is big large huge. The only things we've done that would pass by the extent of the demo is getting the Paypirback in Salmon Pass and reaching Okimoto N.S. through Cobblestone Crag. Well, technically, there's other ways, but my point is this: this is where the real Crystal Project begins.

Also the Quintar Enthusiast is absolutely right in equipping the flute to your favorites. This lets you hotswap on and off the Quintar extremely quickly during exploration, letting you get the best of both worlds: the high speed of your trusty new mount, plus the jump strength of your regular old legs!

Also: the Flute-summoned Quintar is red. Stable-rented Quintars are blue. There is no appreciable difference beyond that.

TO DO:

• Build the perfect starting team.
• Explore Spawning Meadows.
  • Prove the existence of black squirrels.
  • Try to find another route out of Spawning Meadows.
• Explore Delende.
  • Cross the bridge to the Proving Meadows.
  • Explore the Fish Hatchery.
  • Explore the Pale Grotto.
    • Defeat Guardian.
    • Find the Slate Crystal.
    • Find the Fencer class.
  • Explore the Soiled Den.
    • Defeat Bone Thief.
    • Trade an Earth Bangle to Huntie.
  • Explore the Basement of the Cabin on the Cliff.
    • Defeat Gran.
  • Find the dogs' bones.
• Explore Seaside Cliffs.
  • Trade 13 Clamshells to Manana Man.
  • Find a rare monster that drops an Earth Bangle.
  • Explore Draft Shaft Conduit.
    • Defeat Canal Beast.
    • Find the Violet Crystal.
    • Find the Shaman class.
• Explore Proving Meadows.
  • Find three crystals.
  • Defeat Knight.
  • Explore the Trial Caves.
    • Find the Yellow Crystal.
    • Find the Aegis class.
    • Explore Skumparadise.
      • Defeat Parasite.
• Explore Yamagawa M.A.
  • Defeat Sepulchra.
  • Find the Aquamarine Crystal.
  • Find the Scholar class.
    • Find every Monster Magic spell.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Scholar.
• Explore the Capital Courtyard.
  • Find the Courtyard Key.
• Explore Capital Sequoia.
  • Find all the penguins.
  • Find all the Craftwork gear.
    • Upgrade all the Craftwork gear to Silver gear.
  • Obtain the Gaea Stone.
  • Clear the hedge maze of Improper Imps.
  • Find a way past the hedge maze.
  • Enter the Luxury shop.
    • Find sixteen crystals to expand the Luxury shop stock.
  • Get past the guard on the west gate.
  • Defeat all the training dummies.
  • Find three Digested Heads for Sam the Sadist.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Warrior.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Monk.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Rogue.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Wizard.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Cleric.
  • Explore Jojo Sewers.
• Explore the Rolling Quintar Fields.
  • Meet the Quintar Enthusiast.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fiendish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Brutish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fancy Quintar Eye.
    • Obtain a Quintar Pass.
    • Obtain the Quintar Flute.
  • Explore Quintar Nest.
    • Find the Olive Crystal.
    • Find the Hunter class.
  • Explore Quintar Sanctum.
    • Find the Violet Red Crystal.
    • Find the Chemist class.
    • Defeat the Fancy Quintar.
• Explore Cobblestone Crag.
• Explore Okimoto N.S.
• Explore Greenshire Reprise.
• Explore Salmon Pass.
• Explore the Underpass.
  • Find enough Underpass Scraps for a map.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
  • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Dervish class.
• Find the Ninja class.
• Find the Beastmaster class.

 

[Kalir]

CHEMIST
Resourceful Provisioner

STATS

• HP: 2
• MP: 8
• Strength: 3
• Vitality: 4
• Dexterity: 2
• Agility: 1
• Mind: 5
• Spirit: 8
• Speed: 8
• Luck: 7

PROFICIENCIES

• Weapons: Daggers, Rapiers, Wands, Books
• Armor: Light Hat, Light Armor

INNATE PASSIVES

• Efficience: Abilities capped at 1 CD.

I love itemancers. Item-based classes in any game are always something I'm going to heavily consider for my roster, not least because there's a certain kind of charm in a character's strength coming from their preparedness rather than any particular physical or magical skill or power. Chemists are probably one of the more balanced examples of the archetype, due in large part to being one of the ONLY ways to actually use items midfight. For most teams, Potions and Ethers are exclusively for out-of-combat use to freshen up after a roving Flame, but Chemists can pull the Item command midfight to access them whenever they want, and frequently with a lot less commitment than other healers! They also have some more unorthodox methods of using items to their benefit, using things that would otherwise go straight to healing for more technical uses. Finally, Chemists' healing abilities aren't scalars at all: every single one of their moves uses fixed values... unless you equip them with stuff that amplifies healing in any way, which makes those values significantly less fixed in your favor!

Those healing values being fixed, though, means that Chemists can't actually leverage their strong Spirit stat for more effective healing the way a Cleric could. And while the abilities can usually be fairly competitive at all stages of the game, you run into different issues depending on where they are. Early on, the cash supply needed to keep a Chemist running cuts into your ability to get equipment upgrades, maps, and more. Later, the fixed healing values means that some of your commands simply aren't worth using at all compared to the vastly larger HP pools you have to deal with. And, of course, Chemist's stat array makes any kind of physical role, be it offensive or defensive, completely off the table. The potion chucker class is completely unable to punch someone in the face, nor take a hit in turn.

Chemist is a decent option for a lot of possible classes to branch into. In particular, the stat spread leaning hard towards magic combined with the heavy support moveset makes them an ideal pick for offense-focused casters hoping to branch into support, or for generalist casters like Warlock or Scholar hoping for some extra magic kick at the expense of physical power. Physical classes shouldn't write them off entirely, mind you: the fixed value of Item moves means that even someone who hasn't invested one whit into Spirit can still staple the moveset on and be as good a healer as any other. Efficience is also worth factoring in for many classes: single turn cooldowns can be very useful to a lot of characters. Unfortunately, the class is custom built to deny Hunters the ability to cheese an every-other-turn Snipe, with the lowest Agility in the game, and even an Aegis would struggle to justify using Chemist's stat array for long.

Spoiler: MOVESET: ITEM

Tonic
Costs: 4x Tonic
Single Target Ability
Recovery Formula: 200
Next turn charges 50% faster.
Prereqs: None

The main thing that keeps Chemist competitive at all stages of the game without breaking things wide open is that they don't just raw use exactly one item per Item command. Tonic here is actually the same as stapling four Tonic items together, which means that even though a heal for 50 is worthless by the time you get the class, a heal for 200 that also makes your healer act faster for their next turn is pretty good for a patch job! As usual, though, Tonic shouldn't be used for anything but patch jobs. You should be well aware by now that 200 HP is already starting to be small fries.

Tincture
Costs: Tincture
Single Target Ability
MP Recovery Formula: 15
Next turn charges 50% faster.
Prereqs: None

Now, you MP hogs might be thinking that being able to restore MP midfight is absolutely broken, and to be perfectly fair, that is very much one of Chemist's specialties. However, it's not so simple. A standard Tincture actually restores 20 MP if used outside of combat! This means that while a Chemist can restore MP midfight, they do so with less efficiency than one would get by just waiting until after the fight is over. Granted, in longer fights you're not going to miss that lack of efficiency too much, and Tinctures in particular are cheap enough to spend this way if you want to just bump your caster over a key threshold while low on MP. I just want to establish that Chemists do not completely remove the dependence on MP management.

Fenix Juice
Costs: Fenix Juice, 2 CD
Single Target Ability
Revive Dead Formula: 10
Next turn charges 25% faster.
Prereqs: 1 LP

Easiest access to a revive ability we've seen yet, true. However... reviving someone for only 10 HP is not an attractive prospect. Literally any other revive ability will do better, and those can at least hope for an area attack to not immediately paste the target. The advantage to Fenix Juice is that it's fairly noncommittal for the user, allowing them to follow up with a more thorough healing ability of their choice after the fact. So it's kinda like a Warlock doing a Doublecast Life, except you get to use whatever move you like instead of Heal in exchange for not being literally instant. And with Chemist's high Speed, that's pretty reliable. So it does have its uses! Just mind the CD, because you can't chain this three times in a row to revive the entire team even if you have the Juice for it.

Potion
Costs: 2x Potion, 1 CD
Single Target Ability
Recovery Formula: 500
Next turn charges 25% faster.
Prereqs: Tonic, 1 LP

Yep, it's the next step up from Tonic as a heal button. Tape two Potions together and chuck em down the target's throat. This level of healing is enough that it should at least be useful even lategame as a relatively fast heal button. It does have a CD, so you can't use it all the time even if you have the Potion supply to do so, and Efficience doesn't help a mainclassed Chemist spam this every turn no matter how much they wish they could.

Ether
Costs: Ether, 2 CD
Single Target Ability
MP Recovery Formula: 30
Next turn charges 25% faster.
Prereqs: Tincture, 2 LP

This one loses out even more on MP efficiency for the item spent compared to Tincture... but that said, restoring 30 MP at the snap of your fingers midfight is no joke. That's usually going to be enough for a dedicated caster to wring out one more big punchy spell without complaint. As ever, I would like to remind you that using this ability with any kind of boosts to your healing, like Cleric's Pinch Healer or Inner Warmth passives, will completely work! They care not for whether you restore HP, MP, or AP. Used smartly, you can actually IMPROVE efficiency of certain MP restoration items with the right equipment and passives.

Fenix Syrup
Costs: 2x Fenix Syrup, 4 CD
Single Target Ability
Revive Dead Formula: 100% Max HP
Prereqs: Fenix Juice, 4 LP

The most direct full revive ability in the game, and no CT makes it virtually lightspeed compared to other revive options. However, you will not be able to do this more than like... three times, at best, in any given fight, because Fenix Syrups are rare and expensive, and I don't even know if I have SEEN a pouch for expanding how many of them you can hold. You need to measure how much you really need this move on a scale beyond just the fight itself, because while it WILL get your target back up and running instantly... if you lose the fight, that's two Fenix Syrups burnt with nothing to show for it.

Z-Potion
Costs: Z-Potion, 2 CD
Single Target Ability
Recovery Formula: 1000
Prereqs: Potion, 3 LP

This move is exactly as straightforward as the Item command would be expected to be at first glance. You just dump a Z-Potion on someone and they're healed with it! Even lategame characters won't see their HP go much further than 1000 in my experience, so it's a heal that scales decently well even into lategame. Shame about the CD though: if you really need to maintain someone's HP, you'll need a little more than just this and Potion to get the job done.

Zether
Costs: Zether, 4 CD
Single Target Ability
MP Recovery Formula: 60
Prereqs: Ether, 4 LP

If you're using Zether in a fight, you're either desperate or at the point where money doesn't bother you anymore. This one is down to a THIRD of the usual efficiency of the item, and while 60 MP will basically ensure most casters have at least another turn in them to do what they have to do... you really can't afford to use this outside of boss fights. During those, absolutely, use Zether as much as needed, but if your MP needs are so dire that Zether is a staple move in any encounter... seriously, just equip your casters with Books already, it's embarassing at this point.

Levigel
Costs: Fenix Juice, 2 CD
Single Target Ability
Applies Float (Evade all Earth Element abilities) buff to the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: 2 LP

If you want to spend your Chemist's turn on not-healing, there are a variety of creative uses for your items outside of the intended usage. Unfortunately, Levigel both being single target and spending your Fenix Juice, plus its situational effect, makes it a rather awkward choice to use at the best of times. I'm sure there are some foes you could put this to use on, but it's just... I don't want to, y'know?

Smoke Bomb
Costs: 3x Tonic, 2 CD
Attempts to escape from battle.
Prereqs: 1 LP

Probably the best fleeing ability in the game. You should be swimming in Tonics at all times, and spending them to get out of a fight the second it turns sour is an easy choice to make. Compare to Trickery's Run Away, which needs to spend 12 AP to do so and very likely won't have that available if things really get scary. Really nice for exploration.

MP Juice
Costs: 2x Tincture, 2 CD
Single Target Ability
Converts the target's AP to MP until either MP is full or AP is empty.
Prereqs: 2 LP

Extremely technically slightly better than Tincture for simply restoring MP, and that is the extent of the praise I can give this ability. Abilities that improve AP cap are rarer than your favorite gacha character, so at most you're getting 30 MP out of this for your target, and that's assuming they don't need their AP for some other reason and have a full stock to let you deplete with this move. The possible synergies with this move are so rare and niche that I would frankly just recommend using literally any other MP restoration method unless you're hoarding your Ethers and/or Zethers for later. And if you're hoarding them, why are you even playing Chemist?!

Fig Mixture
Costs: Potion, 2 CD
Single Target Ability
Applies a random buff to the target with a duration dependent on the value of the buff.
Prereqs: 2 LP

This move is... kind of nice, I guess? You can get some wacky stuff out of this, and sometimes you won't have much else to do if your more usual Item options are on cooldown. Unfortunately, it doesn't check for what other buffs the target has, so worst case scenario, you refresh the duration on a buff they already have and weren't especially attached to. Still, there's worse things you could do with your turn.

Invisigel
Costs: Fenix Syrup, 4 CD
Single Target Ability
Applies Invisigel (Becomes lowest Threat for all enemies) buff to the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Levigel, 3 LP

"Whaaaaaah my Rogue gained Threat and their turns are becoming suboptimal so I need to burn one of the rarest resources in the game, on a class that lives and dies by the resources you have, just to do something about it!" That is the one instance where I can justify using Invisigel. The effect can be really good, but in no way is it worth burning an entire Fenix Syrup on it. To make matters worse, I'm pretty sure it doesn't actually change their existing Threat values or accumulation in the slightest, it just ignores them for as long as the buff is up, and oh yeah, that's a two turn duration, huh? Two whole turns of ignoring Threat. And remember, your target can still be bonked by area moves.

Heal Oil
Costs: 3x Tonic, 2 CD
Single Target Ability
Applies Recovery Up (+35% healing received) buff to the target for 3 turns.
Prereqs: Smoke Bomb, 2 LP

Want to make your Chemist really good at focusing their healing on the tank? Yes, of course you do! Heal Oil not only makes all your fixed value heal effects that much better, it ALSO improves whatever other sources of healing they get from whoever, including self-healing. If you're depending on your tank to weather the storm for your entire team from the word go, Heal Oil is a great opener. In particular, Aegis makes for a great target for Heal Oil with their Entrench ability letting them keep the effect in play even longer.

AP Juice
Costs: Ether, 4 CD
Single Target Ability
Converts the target's MP to AP until either AP is full or MP is empty.
Prereqs: MP Juice, 2 LP

Unlike MP Juice, this one is really, REALLY good. Even with just the classes we have now, this lets you juice up a Monk on empty for a free Chi Burst, or a Rogue that's taken Threat to just throw a Rupture (haha get invalidated Invisigel). And there's more classes yet that have very strong options that demand a lot of AP, and depending on how they're built their MP may as well be irrelevant to them, save as a cap for how many times they can drink the AP Juice. Extremely worth burning points on MP Juice just to unlock this, if your team has cause to go for it.

Sap Mixture
Costs: Potion, 2 CD
Single Target Ability
Applies a random debuff to the target with a duration dependent on the value of the debuff.
Prereqs: Fig Mixture, 2 LP

Sleep on this move at your peril. There are MULTIPLE status effects this can apply that just straight up shut down even the meanest of enemies for multiple turns, and unlike the more readily accessible Sleep, those status effects can be applied as many times as you can access them. One of the best options a Chemist has for a "throwaway" turn, hands down. Hell, even otherwise mild status effects like damage over time or a common debuff can be useful when they come from a healer's off-turn, y'know?

Spoiler: PASSIVES

Selfless Cure
Costs: 1 PP
Give 100% more healing if you have lower HP% than the target.
Prereqs: 2 LP

The freest real estate for a healer build you can possibly get, especially with Item. Granted, it means the healer has to be A: damaged, and B: lower health than their healing target, which usually isn't a thing a healer wants to ever do. But remember: this passive works with ANY kind of healing, not just HP! This can jack up the value of Tonic and Tincture to be as good as, if not better, than their out of combat usage! Get this it's good.

Item Finder
Costs: 3 PP
+25% drop chance for any Consumables.
Prereqs: Selfless Cure, 2 LP

A nice utility option whether you're using a Chemist or not. Ideally, you aren't overextending on your excursions anyway, but this will ensure a steady income of supplies that lets you stay further afield. A rare non-combat passive, and that alone makes it worth considering if you have a character whose build doesn't have much need for PP. Of course, you can swap it out for boss fights and the like that have no consumables to drop.

 

[Mogri]

Heal Oil
Costs: 3x, 2 CD

FYI: you omitted the item cost here.

I never did get much use out of Chemist; I like my resources renewable. (Read: I finished the game with an overflowing backpack.)

 

[Kalir]

Fixed. And hey, Crystal Project in no way makes any given class mandatory, even for postgame stuff (although some stuff definitely gets EASIER by using specific classes).

 

[Kalir]

Before I forget, there are a few loose ends to deal with in Quintar Sanctum.

First is this enemy, armed with another source of Monster Magic.

I tend to do this a lot when fighting enemies with Monster Magic, just so I know exactly how much room I have to whup em.

Multitarget Sleep! That's... really really good!

Unfortunately for the Wispette, Frieren and Meena still have their Awake Rings on, so all it can do is die.

Fun fact: once a non-PVP enemy queues up a move like so, they cannot change it or who it's targeting unless Threat, or your own actions, forces them to. Which means that while I woke everyone up in time, as long as GUTS remained top Threat, I could leave Werdna sleeping and not be at any risk of Dream Eater. Which, incidentally, is exactly as potent as it sounds on sleeping targets, and completely useless otherwise.

Anyway here is your reminder that buffs and debuffs are really good, use them.

Not bad, not bad at all.

Frieren's new Shaman LP goes right to Bio II, primarily because I want her to get access to the two Core spells from that moveset. Shaman is a strong job, but it's not usually one I like to keep around for ages despite its usefulness, but the Core buffs are great for support characters, and I'm feeling a flex back to Warlock or over to Chemist, y'know?

Anyway, today we're gonna see what all we can do with our new Quintar buddy! Starting, I think, with Salmon Pass.

Oh yeah let's see if we can burst down the next dummy.

Yep. Berserker Blitz Crush, Doublecast Frost/Blaze, Bolt/Bolten, and Spark Shine. Honestly Bolten alone probably would've done it but I decided to go for Bolt for some reason.

Level 30 Dummy unlocked and naught else. This'll go until the level cap of 60.

Clearly the next intended area of exploration is Jojo Sewers, but who said I have to follow the directions ahead of me exactly? It's not like there's a level curve forcing me to stick to... wait, hold on. Damn it.

Anyway, with the Quintar Flute on the favorites menu, getting over that ledge and back on the Quintar takes all of one second.

Which is also exactly how long it takes me to remember I forgot SOMETHING ELSE here. Last time, I swear.

See the path behind the Fancy Quintar's mushroom? That's a legal path to take and we're doing it.

Secret tunnel!

This tunnel goes all the way around the heart of Quintar Sanctum and back outside to...

The Overpass! This is the aboveground version of the Underpass, obviously, and serves as the filler space between different regions that's not intended to be explored super thoroughly (but still can be for mapping or curiosity reasons). Should you go here before defeating the Fancy Quintar, (like, for example, just after getting Chemist), Gokue will be parked nearby to suggest going back in.

It's usually worth briefly exploring the Overpass whenever you can access it to get the Overpass Scraps needed for the map, but again, that's considerably more expensive than we can handle right now even if we had all the scraps.

Plus it might help you map some hard-to-reach spots in the areas it encircles, like Rolling Quintar Fields below.

See, look at that map! Gotta climb a few trees and cliffs to get the full picture, but that's a healthy map all the same.

Okay, NOW we do Salmon Pass.

As ever, the Quintar makes the bridge jump trivial.

Let's see what was on the opposite riverbank from the Paypirbak!

Not a lot, but hey, it's the exploration that counts.

The riverbank over yonder is blocked off by a bit too high of a wall to clear, so instead we go this way.

Doesn't take us long to get out into the open and meet Talon and Chloe again.

<Chloe> You could say I am somewhat of a fan...
<Talon> Well, lucky for you, a pro such as myself knows MANY excellent fishing spots.

Sorry, not listening to your conversation, just how good this specific song is. Go look it up, or hell, have a link.

Anyway, that's something we can do if we go up here, I suppose!

Hey, he was right about Serpentine. Bragging is probably the only way he knows how to communicate.

Anyway, Salmon River is a pretty cool area. Your goal is the expected one of following the river up to its source, which requires jumping across the logs in the river and from bank to bank.

Avoiding enemies can be pretty easy since they usually just rove to and fro on any given log, but combine that with necessary non-trivial platforming and you're gonna mess up here or there.

Oh that's a bit of a problem huh. Maybe we're not quite at a safe level for this one.

Tell ya what, let's test against the one we are rated for.

Salmon Cooks are pretty solid all-rounder enemies with some rude techniques. Mermaid Song does a fixed 50% of max HP, speeds up the user's next action, and inflicts unlimited Confusion on the target, which is a really strong move even before you factor in Harvester as an area attack.

GUTS only has 61% hit odds, that's not great.

Okay so that was a Mermaid Song followed by a Harvester that nearly killed Frieren, and at that low of health she's not surviving another hit no matter how much she Safeguards.

Agh I taunted the wrong one. This is going terribly.

Thank you Drain! Never lets me down.

GUTS, this is unacceptable. Do we need you to reclass over to Fencer to get your jankety ass in order?

Meena missed on a 70%! This is the worst!

Finally took one down and it only cost me this much. Yeah Salmon River's gonna have to wait, if this is the easiest formation here I simply don't have the numbers to survive an inevitable platforming misstep.

At least we got to the end with everyone alive.

I briefly check out the Lost & Found while I'm on my way to Jojo Sewers for proper exploration. Nothing especially stands out though, except for the Iron Guard.

So, the thing that really makes Jojo Sewers hard to figure out is that it's actually three levels, mapped using a single layer. So you kinda have to work your way around different levels to really figure out where you're going. By all accounts there is a path from here to Quintar Nest ahead of us, but we're still too high up.

There's a few enemies down here but nothing that ought to give you much trouble. Sewer Rats can inflict Poison with their bite, and the first action they take is Reckless Assault, which inflicts Confusion on their whole team, so tanking is out the window unless you're playing an Aegis.

By that same token, there's no need for non-Rogues to hold back on generating Threat. What are they gonna do about it, focus you down? Haha, sure.

And now GUTS never has to worry about AP for the rest of the game if he so chooses! Warrior is great.

Hey, a townside entrance we haven't found yet! That's cool.

Oh, no, just a musty old room. Still, looting.

The Narco Beast is a big chunker of a foe with plenty of health and power, but it always starts the fight with four turns of Sleep. And, as you might guess, it can turn that status effect your way with its area Yawn move.

You know the deal with these kinds of enemies: stack your setup for four turns, then UNLEASH.

There's not that much setup we can really do yet though, and I have Initial Focus.

Oh yeah Chomp also inflicts Power Down, so your physical offense will dwindle the longer you let it stay awake. Burst damage!

They're pretty common on this level of Jojo Sewers and I find fighting them tedious, so if you want you can always Run Away or Smoke Bomb basically risk free.

I don't know you! If you wanna come inside, you gotta say the password!

Secret boomer society? I don't wanna, but hell, let's see if we can bruteforce it for the fun of it.

The answers to all of the questions posed are easily learnable by talking to the kids of Capital Sequoia.

When was the last time you heard "on fleek" anyway?

I do remember all of the correct answers, but if you don't you can usually go find the person in question pretty easily.

This is the only tricky one, but it's also the one the girl by the hedge maze specifically cites as the password, so you'll probably remember it.

Welcome back, official member of the boomer society.

Don't call me that.

Anyway he moves out of the way and we can go this way now! To the boomer society, whatever the hell that is.

This tunnel's a little annoying because of how far the jumps are and how often you have to contend with shallow water messing with you. Quintar makes it a little easier.

Hey, remember what I said about setup stacked to the heavens against these guys? That means Instability!

You love to see it.

And that's Meena done with Monk for now! Back to Cleric with her for a bit.

Werdna also picks up Firena, finally opening the door to the holy grail of Black Magic.

Weird little terrain glitch: because I last landed on the ledge next to the chest without touching water, any time I fall in the water, I temporarily spawn inside the chest. This doesn't seem to do anything aside from make my next moves a little more awkward until I jump out.

Next up is this kinda warehouse lookin' area we gotta climb up.

Don't forget the pouch lower left!

This area has a lot of paths that LOOK like they should lead to treasure but don't. It's kind of weird.

This one is REALLY hard for me to make the jump to because I always overcorrect on account of the iffy perspective of jumping to the lantern.

It's pretty good for medium armor though! The self-inflicted Poison is extremely ignorable, either by running one of the items that nullifies Poison (Meena is using two of them right now for some reason) or someone that can clear the debuff on themselves trivially (like Meena as Monk).

Okay, that's about it for the Jojo Sewers side of the boomer society.

Oh, is it a proper noun? Sure, whatever.

There's a few minor things of note here in the Boomer Society. Captain Boomer here, for example, lets you change your name!

Just like changing gender, changing your name has a pretty high one-time fee per character. But if people want to change the names of our party as we keep playing, it's an option. Won't throw me none.

For my money, this is the coolest thing here. Yeah, Crystal Project actually has lore! It's not even slightly relevant to your gameplay experience except in the broadest of strokes, but if you want to figure out what is the deal with the land of Sequoia, look no further, I have you covered.

The land of Sequoia is to be governed by a sole Grand Master. The Grand Master decides everything: the law, the projects, and more. Most importantly, the Grand Master decides what constitutes a Banish.

To be killed in Sequoia is not such a terrible punishment. However, to be Banished is a fate far worse. None can confirm what awaits in the afterlife of a Banishing, and it is in each citizen's own best interest to never find out. To not be Banished is of the utmost importance in the land of Sequoia.

The first Grand Master was elected many generations ago, at the time that the land of Sequoia was conceived. Subsequent Grand Masters are not elected, but rather they are created when an incumbent Grand Master retires. The role is bestowed upon the citizen responsible for retiring the previous Grand Master. When an incumbent Grand Master is retired, they are Banished instantly regardless of law or rule.

Cool lore! Also: messed up. If we take the game's pseudo-MMO framing as the baseline, then it's not hard to figure out what they really mean by Banishing. Even so: maybe don't hand over the full reins of moderation and development to anyone who can 1v1 the current Grand Master? Meritocracy is fallacious as hell!

If you don't care about lore, here's the book in the chest. It's... not terrible for boss fights, on a Cleric. I'd use it for Meena if her staff wasn't so important to her attack moves... then again, since she's changing back to Cleric, it kind of isn't, huh. Something to think about.

Mrs. Boomer gives us 10 copper coins. Woooooo.

It's so secret, keep it a secret.

Right next to Gaea Shrine, just considerably higher up.

more sheps!

jus hangin out

Oh hey what's good.

Free inn stays here. Not exactly required, but it is right next to a home point... then again, just below here is Gaea Shrine, right next to two relatively cheap inns and every shop you could ask for. Time is money, and Home Point efficiency is time efficiency is savings.

Yeah the Boomer Society isn't really a huge thing.

Only other noteworthy thing here is the Boomer Treasury, from which you may take either the Boomer Shield or Boomer Sword, but not both.

I hotswap the two for a bit to register them in our archive. The Boomer Sword is a punchy two-hander that excels at taking on enemies with higher Defense.

The Boomer Shield, on the other hand, is a sturdy choice for a shield that comes with some Wind resistance, making it a good pick if you're struggling against the Fancy Quintar. Of course, both pieces of kit are subject to equipment restrictions. I go with the shield for now, but either way it's gonna eventually be outpaced, so choose whichever you like.

Anyway, moving on. I still don't want to mess with Greenshire Reprise with those scary encounters below no matter how tempting it is.

It does, however, provide a really nice route to this part of Jojo Sewers!

Can't help you there chief, sorry.

Having a Quintar to explore the sewers helps to make those long jumps, but if you can get to the sewer entrance from Gaea Shrine you don't NEED one to explore everything, I'm pretty sure.

Crag Demon, huh? Gonna say that's the boss of Cobblestone Crag that'll kill our ass instantly if we fight it. We can confirm next time, but for now I'll just assume it to be so and put this on the list.

On this level of the sewers we can encounter a Hobo with a bad attitude and a knife.

The Hobo also has a sweet tooth complete with stealable candy, and the Lucky Dice skill as a Monster Magic ability.

Lucky Dice can either be useless or scary and you never know which until you cast it. Again, more on that in the Scholar post.

That's about all to the fight though.

Been a while, but Meena's back to the Cleric role! And the Monk moves she's picked up will make her much more survivable and give her some occasional kick!

Here's the stat differences between the Gospel and her current Walking Stick. Personally, I'm gonna stay with the Walking Stick for now, but there is something to be said for using the Gospel to primarily cast spells and occasionally spend 30 AP to obliterate something with the Satsui no Hado.

With all our mages using light armor, though, her gear is looking a little unpolished right now, so I go grab a Priest's Garb and a Holy Hat.

Back to the sewers. There's elevation changes you can reach between areas, you just gotta know where they are.

There's the Quintar Nest entrance.

Still some silver to get here, although we'll have to figure out a way over there.

I don't know that I saw it while playing, though. I am the fool.

Still got this neat find out of it though!

A few items can turn your basic attack into a different one using a different stat scalar, making them very handy for characters that don't favor Strength like Frieren (who immediately equips this). Some of those moves even have extra effects, like daggers that can Mug to deal Dexterity-scalar damage and attempt steals, or weapons that Aid to heal an ally with a Spirit scalar!

Oh right, I always forget this bonus boss is here. Welp, let's wrestle it.

Remember how Bone Thief was built to teach you "hey tanks are important"? Blood Slop is now here to teach you "hey making sure your tank has support is important". The raw damage of its abilities is very livable since it still checks Defense (except for Blood Extract), but it inflicts two really mean status effects with its usual moves: Bleed we've already seen before, but Weep is new. Weep disables all forms of regen and lifesteal, bread and butter of most tank roles. GUTS, for example, commonly makes use of Roost to sustain heavy damage, but it only cures the Bleed (still important since neither debuff has a duration, they stay there until cured). As long as Weep is up, it can't provide regen, and Prodder can't give him relatively infinite MP. Oh, and Blood Extract also hurts tanks proportionately more since tanks are more likely to dip below that magical 50% max HP number it needs for a kill.

The good news is, we have Meena in Cleric with a Monk subclass, which is probably the best possible answer to Blood Slop's playstyle. Meena can cast Mend on whoever is drawing aggro (or Meditate if she's doing so) and both Bleed and Weep go away instantly. And while she's still using basic Cure for now, her Spirit stat hasn't suffered virtually at all this entire time, so the healing she does provide (and the damage of Chi Burst) is as good as you could possibly ask. That said... I kinda fumbled this fight a lot. I'm forgetting important parts of everyone's playstyle, and to be honest I don't think Defender does anything against Blood Slop's abilities since it only checks Defense, despite being an ability and not a physical attack. I think once Frieren gets the Core spells from Shaman I'm gonna have to change her class again, because Meena and GUTS can't be the only healers on the team since they're also the ones taking hits.

I lived it, barely. Anyway here's the Hemoring, which GUTS immediately equips because he does indeed love that self-sustain and Monster Magic won't be a perfect choice forever (at least not until he switches class again to something with a solid Spirit stat).

So, from the second level of Jojo Sewers we entered the Quintar Nest from, you can find pipes leading out to the Capital Courtyard. We could explore down there, but time is short for me today so I'm gonna save that for another day.

As you can see from the map, there's actually two paths between Jojo Sewers and the Quintar Nest. We entered from the second level of the former and came back through the third, which can be distinguished by its creepy red lighting.

Oooh, that looks cool. Lemme finish the last bit of the Sewers though.

For this treasure, you gotta facecheck walls until you find the hidden passage.

It's around here. Jumping isn't required, thankfully.

Could be useful if your tank isn't expecting any magic from a boss. That's still very much an option around here, just look at Blood Slop.

Anyway, down we go!

After a LONG fall, we end up... in the Capital Jail?

On all sides, we have locked doors, and only the one key to work with.

I remember when I first found this before even setting foot in Rolling Quintar Fields, found the enforcer at the entrance saying the demo didn't go any further, and not even slightly hesitating to buy the full game from there. Capital Jail is a full dungeon and it's one of my favorite spots because this, more than anything, really helped sell the feeling of "you will find adventure no matter where you go" that this game has to offer.

We're doing this next time. Other regions like Salmon River or Okimoto N.S. could be in level range, but I like Capital Jail and want to do it next update.

TO DO:

• Build the perfect starting team.
• Explore Spawning Meadows.
  • Prove the existence of black squirrels.
  • Try to find another route out of Spawning Meadows.
• Explore Delende.
  • Cross the bridge to the Proving Meadows.
  • Explore the Fish Hatchery.
  • Explore the Pale Grotto.
    • Defeat Guardian.
    • Find the Slate Crystal.
    • Find the Fencer class.
  • Explore the Soiled Den.
    • Defeat Bone Thief.
    • Trade an Earth Bangle to Huntie.
  • Explore the Basement of the Cabin on the Cliff.
    • Defeat Gran.
  • Find the dogs' bones.
• Explore Seaside Cliffs.
  • Trade 13 Clamshells to Manana Man.
  • Find a rare monster that drops an Earth Bangle.
  • Explore Draft Shaft Conduit.
    • Defeat Canal Beast.
    • Find the Violet Crystal.
    • Find the Shaman class.
• Explore Proving Meadows.
  • Find three crystals.
  • Defeat Knight.
  • Explore the Trial Caves.
    • Find the Yellow Crystal.
    • Find the Aegis class.
    • Explore Skumparadise.
      • Defeat Parasite.
• Explore Yamagawa M.A.
  • Defeat Sepulchra.
  • Find the Aquamarine Crystal.
  • Find the Scholar class.
    • Find every Monster Magic spell.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Scholar.
• Explore the Capital Courtyard.
  • Find the Courtyard Key.
• Explore Capital Sequoia.
  • Find all the penguins.
  • Find all the Craftwork gear.
    • Upgrade all the Craftwork gear to Silver gear.
  • Obtain the Gaea Stone.
  • Clear the hedge maze of Improper Imps.
  • Find a way past the hedge maze.
  • Enter the Luxury shop.
    • Find sixteen crystals to expand the Luxury shop stock.
  • Get past the guard on the west gate.
  • Defeat all the training dummies.
  • Find three Digested Heads for Sam the Sadist.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Warrior.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Monk.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Rogue.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Wizard.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Cleric.
  • Explore Jojo Sewers.
    • Explore the Boomer Society.
    • Trade a Crag Demon Horn to Marlin.
    • Explore Capital Jail.
• Explore the Rolling Quintar Fields.
  • Meet the Quintar Enthusiast.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fiendish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Brutish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fancy Quintar Eye.
    • Obtain a Quintar Pass.
    • Obtain the Quintar Flute.
  • Explore Quintar Nest.
    • Find the Olive Crystal.
    • Find the Hunter class.
  • Explore Quintar Sanctum.
    • Find the Violet Red Crystal.
    • Find the Chemist class.
    • Defeat the Fancy Quintar.
• Explore Cobblestone Crag.
• Explore Okimoto N.S.
• Explore Greenshire Reprise.
• Explore Salmon Pass.
  • Explore Salmon River.
• Explore the Overpass.
  • Find enough Overpass Scraps for a map.
• Explore the Underpass.
  • Find enough Underpass Scraps for a map.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
  • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Dervish class.
• Find the Ninja class.
• Find the Beastmaster class.

 

[JBear]

I remember when I first found this before even setting foot in Rolling Quintar Fields, found the enforcer at the entrance saying the demo didn't go any further, and not even slightly hesitating to buy the full game from there.

lol, I had the exact same experience.

 

[Mogri]

Somewhere out there, I'm pretty sure there's a killer Lucky Dice build.

 

[Torzelbaum]

Oh right, I always forget this bonus boss is here. Welp, let's wrestle it.

[video embed]

Blood Slop

Hey @Kalir, I'm seeing "Video unavailable Playback on other websites has been disabled by the video owner" for that embed. I can see and watch the video on YouTube.

 

[Kalir]

Weird. I didn't even know there was a way to do that and I sure as hell don't want it deactivated for playback on other sites (and it works for me). I'll see if I can find what might be doing that to fix it.

Edit: found it. Might've been an option I decided to disable without thinking through the ramifications of it. Fixed, enjoy.

 

[Kalir]

Right, Capital Jail. The end goal here is hidden in the Dark Wing to the north, but we only start with a key for the South Wing.

No matter which wing you're in, expect to see rooms along the side, possibly with hostile occupants still within.

It's not until like the fourth set of doors in that anything really shows up, though.

Floating souls aren't healers like the Wisps before them, they're all offense. Their favored trick is using Sear to hit someone with Burn, then following up with Spit Fire for double damage on burning enemies.

They can also hit with regular attacks to inflict Weakness, doubling the potency of the aforementioned Burn.

A single Floating Soul isn't much to worry about, but later formations will have more than one, or slot them in alongside other monsters.

If you're building GUTS like I am and using Roost to self-heal for tanking, do bear in mind that you'll clear self-inflicted penalties from Paragon Crush or Battle Crush that would wear off that turn anyway if they happened before, y'know, four ticks of Burn.

Level and XP desync is a way of life and fleeing from it is cowardice.

The direct route further ahead collapses pretty quickly in, but we can see that one of the more industrious inmates and/or geological processes saw fit to make a shortcut.

Oh hey a zombie. Been a while since I've seen one of those. Zombies are pretty cool off their passives at least: they start with a permanent Poison effect, can inflict the same on enemies with all physical attacks, and take all healing as damage. It's a neat trick for representing them, even if they have no actual techniques to them beyond basic attacking.

Remember, Frieren has a Static Rod now. She can just do basic attacks with her solid Mind score as long as the enemy doesn't entirely no-sell Thunder element.

Loads of Silver to be had down here. Plenty to work with for upgrading weapons and armor.

The cell with the treasure trove we saw earlier is locked, requiring a Cell Key to access. We won't find one of those in the South Wing, but we ought to have more than enough to get this.

The chests down here hold the West Wing and East Wing keys. The Capital Jail is actually pretty generous with route options for a place defined by slate grey hallways and locked cells.

Even without Burn, Spit Fire does a pretty big chunk of damage. If it hits a Burning target, even a durable one like GUTS, it will probably kill them! You have two recourses, the first obviously being to clear the burn, and the second being to divert the Floating Soul to a new target. After all, they can't change the move they have telegraphed unless you make them!

Prodder is really, really nice for this build. Who needs Refresh when I get more MP just by doing the Warrior's actual job of hitting mans?

I WAS NOT JOKING ABOUT SPIT FIRE.

Unfortunately for Frieren, Zap doesn't trigger spell lifesteal effects. It is, after all, not a spell.

Again, I want to grab the two Core spells off of Hex Magic before I mess with Frieren's build further. They're just nice to have.

This cell has collapsed really badly, and I can even see a path further down ahead. We need to get in from the locked cell first.

At complete random, I go with the East Wing, but either one is valid for now. I thiiiink East is technically more optimal if you want to avoid backtracking but eh this area isn't very large.

Another locked door. Don't worry, there's enough keys either way to prevent softlocks.

The left chest was actually empty because it's more ominous that way.

Looks like some moat water has leaked in here.

Like the South Wing, we can't get in here.

The flooded section has a lot of enemies, but they move slowly and don't pursue you, so it's all about navigating around them if you aren't up for a fight.

It can be difficult when entering this area or navigating under the middle part, but it's not like these fights kill you.

They're just beefier versions of the Jellyfish we saw at Seaside Cliffs, easily manageable.

We get two Cell Keys at the end of the tunnel. Let's use em!

Yeah they REALLY don't want you getting softlocked.

The other locked cell in the East Wing has a three-Zombie Flame inside it, so I may as well put some defenses up on characters that need it.

The nice thing about Zombies is that you don't have to devote turns to finishing them off at low health. The blinded one is already eliminated from play, they just don't know it yet.

And that's East Wing done!

Since our Home Point in Capital Jail is right at the heart of it, there's no problems whatsoever with popping back up to the Capital to refresh between fights.

Back to the hedge maze for a bit. I believe I was actually mistaken and there is a way to navigate to the end!

Oh, that's new! Jumping north here was the trick.

Nice, I think that just leaves one last craftwork bit of kit to find, and I think I remember where it is. Can't get there right now though.

Do you see the way further in here? I do.

Yup, that little hole can be accessed from the space we were in before!

The box this leads to gives us a more lightweight version of Selfless Cure, which is... an option, I guess. Not one I'd usually take, but it sure is there. I do give it to Meena since she doesn't need Poison immunity off of the Fang Pendant.

If there's a way to reach this side and thus the exit, I don't remember it for now. Oh well, another time.

I do see that little path though, so there's probably a way.

Oh well, back to business!

GUTS has almost mastered Warrior, so soon I can have him do more goofy things!

Oh, this side is rather nicely decorated for a horrible prison.

Looks like more than a few plants got out of control though.

Cool helmet though. This one boosts Attack as well as the usual Defense/Resistance set!

The locked door is pretty early on here, but with the key surplus from the East Wing, that's no trouble.

Like we still have three keys. They REALLY want you to be able to access everything down here.

Helpfully, they tell you how many keys you have before using one on a door. Nice!

This is the point where you are expected to have another key from the East Wing before proceeding.

These encounters get a lot more scary if they're what you're facing before even setting foot in Rolling Quintar Fields lemme tell you right out.

I am occasionally not the smartest.

I DONT NEED TO BE THE SMARTEST WHEN I HAVE CHI BURST

IM GOING TO SINGLEHANDEDLY BRING BACK THE TREND OF THE 90'S HOOT

HOO HOO HOO HOO HOO HOO HOO HOO HOO

I earned that.

Final stretch of the Capital Jail ahead!

Before we start that, let's finally start working towards Curena. It's near the tail end of earlygame, Meena needs a better heal button than plain ol' Cure.

Aaaaand let's loot that other jail cell!

South first, to that answer to the Battle Helm for body armor.

Behind it, the passage continues further down into an isolated segment of the Underpass.

Unlike most of the Underpass, this isn't blocked off by water, we can keep going.

That's right! Secrets within secrets! Welcome to the Capital Pipeline!

Fortunately for my update length, we can't explore all of this right now, but I do intend to at least show it off at a basic level.

The north passage is blocked, so south it is. It goes on for some time, so mount up.

The pipeline extends out past the coastline and into the ocean, that's cool!

Before long, though, it starts to run into... issues.

The smooth stone of the pipeline is being slowly consumed by a blood-red something, and whatever that enemy is lurking in it, it's miles above our paygrade, I can tell you that right off.

The way further is blocked, but a bit of stealth still gives us some more Silver and a nice shield!

Maybe once GUTS finishes mastering Warrior he can use this. It's a great fit for an axe/shield fighting combo, that's for sure.

Back in the South Wing, I don't want to deal with this configuration blowing people up with Spit Fire, so go to sleep, sleep time.

I love Chi Burst so much it's so goofy

Anyway, last reward for here.

It sure is a Monk option! I won't be using it, because it provides no Spirit bonuses and I actually use Chi Burst now.

Right, let's see what's so dark about the Dark Wing. It probably doesn't even have any ducks, how bad could it be.

Rougher stone, huh? Anything else?

Not yet, but we're still early on, and the other wings looked fine at first too.

Oh, that's nice. Not that we really need it for this place now, but it's nice.

Naturally, this is all just underneath the Trial Caves and a bit to the northwest of Skumparadise.

Hm, another cave-in. Let's detour through this cell.

The Jail Breaker is the only non-boss enemy to be found in the Dark Wing and she does not mess around. She has passive lifesteal and starts with a Crazed buff that gives her double speed, making her a terrifyingly aggressive foe that's very hard to put down. For extra fun, she can cast Barrier!

Unlike with the other encounters, if you aren't confident against a Jail Breaker you NEED to focus on defense over offense. Don't forget that a Warlock with Mixed Magic can nix her Crazed buff using Dispel!

Oh yeah, she can also spend all her AP to do Sever, which is basically Rupture. The only reason GUTS isn't at half health or lower is my stacking of all the defenses I can muster.

She can drop the same kind of sword we saw in Skumparadise, and I will not acknowledge or discuss the steal any more than this screenshot.

Oh, perfect timing. We can't let Meena be our only real nuker, can we?

The Dark Wing has two very important bits of light armor to loot.

Unlike your average piece of light armor, they actually favor Defense over Resistance, same as their heavy counterparts do! THIS IS A WARNING AND YOU SHOULD HEED IT.

Speaking of warnings.

What's not apparent here is that the ceiling is extremely low, enough so that even the Quintar's jump height is checked by the ceiling. This actually makes it a great fit for these jumps that would be rather tight on foot.

Again, the Woven Shirt favors Defense over Resistance. Again, take from this the correct meaning.

I REALLY WISH I COULD MAKE THIS JUMP BUT I CAN'T.

For real though if you enter from the southeast side the magma tunnel is fine.

End of the line, I see.

Yeah that makes sense. Do note that it is very possible to juke out some bosses, including this one, if you want to skip the fight and just get the Crystal, but what kind of LPer would I be if I skipped BIG COOL BAWS FITE

The Warden is a pretty difficult boss, considering how straightforward their gameplan is. Every one of their attacks is a physical AOE, which is why the Woven kit is so important for your lightly-armored characters. At first, they alternate between Harvester and MP Arrest, dealing damage to HP and MP in roughly equal measure, which means you're going to either need a lot of MP or a backup plan if playing a caster. Once you get them down to low health, they instead switch to a trio of Harvester reskins that each apply one of the damage over time sources, which significantly ramps up their output in a way that no healer at level par can compete with. Once that happens, you need to get your burst options in play as soon as possible. Again, not a very complex fight, but when you have that much raw outgoing damage, who needs complexity?

Probably the best individual classes for this fight we could have at this stage are Warrior, Shaman, and Rogue. The first two can inflict the virtually-required Power Down status effect and have ways to stay in the fight despite taking heavy physical damage throughout. Rogue has a rather unique usage that can trivialize the fight if properly managed: Reflex Stance means they basically can't die until everyone else does, and Eye Gouge buys you a free turn from the Warden's attacks as long as you have the AP and low Threat to fuel it! Counterattacks are also considerable if you have access to them, which Wizard and Monk can access (although I didn't get them for Werdna or Meena). All told, I did okay on this fight, although it took a few tries to reach a winning run. Big stupid spike damage off of Flare and Chi Burst really helped cut through the boss' health total faster than the usual gameplan would. Flare and Chi Burst are so good.

Let's celebrate our win with a mastering of the Warrior class for GUTS!

Oh, and of course, a cool new Crystal.

Hold up, Reaper? That wasn't even on our list at all? It's like Aegis, an entirely untelegraphed new class! Badass!

Now, I know a lot of you might be expecting me to put GUTS into Reaper, and for a lot of players it's very expected. But no, he's going back to Scholar fulltime for now.

I do have a slight idea of what I'm doing with him, of course. Like I said, the Lucky Platter rewards the axe/shield fighting style, and if I use Squirrel Dung on top of it I could actually get some shenanigans going with Lucky Dice. Didn't think of it at the time, mind you, had other priorities.

Like making Werdna our Reaper instead!

This does mean he gives up the Trickery moveset that afforded us stealing and fleeing, but to be honest, that was a purely utility option, and one he doesn't really need. Plus, we have GUTS and Frieren that can inflict Sleep if we need it.

Although in Frieren's case, we're also gonna mix it up and change her over to Chemist for a while!

Nothing fancy here, Chemist just goes really well with the Warlock moveset and it has the best fleeing ability in the game (which I do want unlocked at some point), so I'm putting her on Chemist.

The new class changes deserve a new set of gear upgrades, so I splurge at the Blacksmith to kick everyone but Frieren (whose Static Rod is great for her right now) up to Silver weapons for their role.

So, you might be wondering, what does mastering a class get you?

It gets you a Seal for that class! Seals are accessories that boost all LP gained by the holder for the indicated class by 50%. Certainly a convenient prize for grinding people up if you really like that class' abilities and want your entire team to have them, but I wouldn't say it's mandatory, per se. And for those of you that DON'T like doubling up on classes, the seals may seem like a rather underwhelming prize. Fret not, there's a super secret second use for the seals later.

Anyway, if we're running a Chemist, we need to be well-stocked, so I'm gonna go do that first. The rest of this update will be given over to a few loose ends I have to handle.

First, let's go see Chloe in the Capital Courtyard.

I'm fishing for birds. You can have this.

She literally just gives us a thing and leaves.

It's an upgrade? Probably? We haven't used the fishing stuff we have yet but it's there for if we want to do that!

Okay I'll allow myself a tiny bit of sequence breaking.

Nothing we can find inside this part of the Courtyard, but there IS a path to explore in the moat that's tempting.

Doesn't seem to be much down here though.

I STAND CORRECTED

I'll spare you the fine details of this encounter to simply say that Enami here is way too strong for us to fight right now, but with their name onscreen they can be properly added to the list.

Our last stuff for today is on the far western side of Seaside Cliffs. You may recall some unfinished business with Huntie we had to handle.

We'll take care of that in a bit. First, something you can, I think, do before even the Proving Grounds.

Another shrine, just like Gaea Shrine!

If I wanted to, I could take a shard for now and come back later when I have enough cash to buy the Stone... or I could sell stuff. I'm selling stuff.

Oooh, free sword!

It sure is an option if you would rather have free lifesteal forever rather than health. Or if stacked with the Plate of Wolf. Not doing that right now, Werdna's the only one who wears heavy armor and he's sticking with a Scythe as long as he's in the new Reaper class.

Mercury Shrine is a convenient spot to warp to for a few reasons, most importantly that it's right where the Spawning Meadows, Delende, and Seaside Cliffs meet. We won't have LOADS of reasons to return here, but it's a damn sight easier than leaping out of the Capital Courtyard and climbing out of the Proving Meadows to get anywhere. Of note on our list are the Master Scholar and the Deity of Fire, both easily reachable from here (less so for Master Scholar, but still).

This medium headgear is pretty outdated, but the enemy here is exactly what we're looking for.

Earth Spirit, woooo! This thing definitely probably drops an Earth Bangle.

It's also immune to Thunder, making my drastically overleveled gameplay more than a little suboptimal.

Encountered at level par, it can be a bit scary though. Earth Shock is pretty chunky and inflicts Fatigue.

The Earth Bangle is... pretty underwhelming. Remember, we have an ability that can just disable Earth damage outright, and there's more ways to do that. Still, I know of at least one Earth-dependent enemy that can just disable Float as a status effect, so it's not terrible.

I continue to map out a bit more of the Seaside Cliffs before doing the trade and discover this weird thing. It's weird, what is it? Surely we won't be finding out for at least one more update.

By the way this is the jackanape that sells the map for Soiled Den and Draft Shaft Conduit. Finally.

I am wicked jealous. Please trade it to me. I'll give you a Water Bangle in return.

Huntie's offering an amazing bargain here.

And we're taking it. Not only is Water a much more notable elemental resistance for more than a few scary boss fights, the Water Bangle's resistance is up to 25%! And there's no rule saying you can't stack two of em.

I probably won't, but it is an option!

TO DO:

• Build the perfect starting team.
• Explore Spawning Meadows.
  • Prove the existence of black squirrels.
  • Try to find another route out of Spawning Meadows.
• Explore Delende.
  • Cross the bridge to the Proving Meadows.
  • Explore the Fish Hatchery.
  • Explore the Pale Grotto.
    • Defeat Guardian.
    • Find the Slate Crystal.
    • Find the Fencer class.
  • Explore the Soiled Den.
    • Defeat Bone Thief.
    • Trade an Earth Bangle to Huntie.
  • Explore the Basement of the Cabin on the Cliff.
    • Defeat Gran.
  • Find the dogs' bones.
• Explore Seaside Cliffs.
  • Trade 13 Clamshells to Manana Man.
  • Find a rare monster that drops an Earth Bangle.
  • Explore Draft Shaft Conduit.
    • Defeat Canal Beast.
    • Find the Violet Crystal.
    • Find the Shaman class.
• Explore Proving Meadows.
  • Find three crystals.
  • Defeat Knight.
  • Explore the Trial Caves.
    • Find the Yellow Crystal.
    • Find the Aegis class.
    • Explore Skumparadise.
      • Defeat Parasite.
• Explore Yamagawa M.A.
  • Defeat Sepulchra.
  • Find the Aquamarine Crystal.
  • Find the Scholar class.
    • Find every Monster Magic spell.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Scholar.
• Explore the Capital Courtyard.
  • Find the Courtyard Key.
  • Defeat Enami.
• Explore Capital Sequoia.
  • Find all the penguins.
  • Find all the Craftwork gear.
    • Upgrade all the Craftwork gear to Silver gear.
  • Obtain the Gaea Stone.
  • Clear the hedge maze of Improper Imps.
  • Find a way past the hedge maze.
  • Enter the Luxury shop.
    • Find sixteen crystals to expand the Luxury shop stock.
  • Get past the guard on the west gate.
  • Defeat all the training dummies.
  • Find three Digested Heads for Sam the Sadist.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Warrior.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Monk.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Rogue.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Wizard.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Cleric.
  • Explore Jojo Sewers.
    • Explore the Boomer Society.
    • Trade a Crag Demon Horn to Marlin.
    • Explore Capital Jail.
      • Defeat Warden.
      • Find the Crimson Crystal.
      • Find the Reaper class.
• Explore the Rolling Quintar Fields.
  • Meet the Quintar Enthusiast.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fiendish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Brutish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fancy Quintar Eye.
    • Obtain a Quintar Pass.
    • Obtain the Quintar Flute.
  • Explore Quintar Nest.
    • Find the Olive Crystal.
    • Find the Hunter class.
  • Explore Quintar Sanctum.
    • Find the Violet Red Crystal.
    • Find the Chemist class.
    • Defeat the Fancy Quintar.
• Explore Cobblestone Crag.
• Explore Okimoto N.S.
• Explore Greenshire Reprise.
• Explore Salmon Pass.
  • Explore Salmon River.
• Explore Mercury Shrine.
  • Obtain the Mercury Stone.
• Explore the Overpass.
  • Find enough Overpass Scraps for a map.
• Explore the Underpass.
  • Find enough Underpass Scraps for a map.
  • Explore Capital Pipeline.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
  • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Dervish class.
• Find the Ninja class.
• Find the Beastmaster class.

 

[Kalir]

REAPER
Lord of the Bleeding Edge

STATS

• HP: 2
• MP: 7
• Strength: 10
• Vitality: 1
• Dexterity: 6
• Agility: 4
• Mind: 8
• Spirit: 2
• Speed: 5
• Luck: 3

PROFICIENCIES

• Weapons: Swords, Axes, Scythes
• Armor: Heavy Helmet, Heavy Armor

INNATE PASSIVES

• Reaping: Gain 40% of physical damage dealt as temporary max HP. Decays at a rate of 50% per turn.

Players who want to dive into unexplored spooky regions deserve good rewards, and Reaper, a completely untelegraphed all-out offense class, is an excellent reward. Like how Hunters favor the Bow, Reapers favor the Scythe, but not nearly as heavily as Hunters do. Reapers have two major types of moves: Scythe-exclusive moves (now with axe compatibility from the mod) that drain health from their targets, and weapon agnostic moves that spend a percentage of their own HP to hit even harder than usual! They also pack the best Strength in the game and pretty solid Dexterity, so you know those moves are gonna make a mark. And to play into the hybrid flavor of Scythes even further, Reapers have excellent MP and Mind, making them a dream class for anyone hoping to run a hybrid attacker with an answer to any defensive measure! And the only costs their moves use are HP and CD, so flexing to use another resource is easy for them.

Reapers suffer a lot of stats to make their gameplan work, even outside of literally bleeding their way to hits. With absolutely terrible HP, Spirit, and Vitality, Reapers basically depend on their lifesteal to withstand any kind of assault, which is a problem since all your lifesteal moves have CDs to watch. But that's fine and expected from a class like this, if perhaps slightly galling to someone who wants to put lifedrain on their tank. The real danger of their stats is the mediocre Agility and Luck. Reapers have pretty significant accuracy issues, which is a huge problem for a class that literally lives and dies by landing hits on their enemies. Consider speccing into classes like Hunter and Fencer for stats, if perhaps not moveset, or use equipment like the Scope Bit to keep your Reaper happy and healthy.

Given their existing angle as a hybrid offense class, Reapers see common pivots for lots of classes, whether physical brawlers like Warrior and Monk, or magical bursters like Wizard or Shaman. And while their defensive stats are pretty ugly, Reaping still does offer lifedrain, and it's hard for even the most defensively-minded Aegis to turn their nose up at that. Damage dealers who prefer Agility, or healers, are the least likely to pivot to Reaper, the former due to heavy weapon incompatibilities outside of the HP-cost skills, and the latter due to Reaper really not offering healers anything they'd really want.

Spoiler: MOVESET: REAPING

Reaping Cut
Costs: 20% Max HP
Single Target Weapon Skill
Damage Formula Formula: 100 + Atk + Atk * Str + 0.5 Str
Prereqs: None

Basic "hit really hard" button that any Reaper will use often. It also has the lowest cost for HP of the Reaping attacks that need that, making it a relatively safe option for a Reaper that doesn't want to commit too hard but feels like a basic attack is just too weak to consider. And remember, the HP costing skills don't need a specific weapon, so this is an option for a lot of classes that just want their own version of the Warrior's Blitz Crush with zero investment.

Lifedrink
Costs: 3 CD
Single Target Scythe(/Axe) Skill
Damage Formula: 0.5 Atk + Atk * 0.2 Str + 0.8 Str
300% Lifesteal
Prereqs: 1 LP

A full self-heal that merely asks that you hit your opponent with a weaker-than-basic attack. The damage here isn't what you're using this for, although it's still a hit and still procs on-hit passives. No, you use this to immediately top off your Reaper's HP pool, ideally after doing damage with another move to really get it fleshed out. If you miss this, your Reaper is either dead or a coward, and cowardice is worse than death for a Reaper.

Rending Cut
Costs: 30% Max HP
Single Target Weapon Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
Ignores 50% Defense.
Inflicts Armor Down (+35% physical damage taken) debuff on the target for 3 turns.
Prereqs: Reaping Cut, 1 LP

Armor Break Plus. Great way for a Reaper to set up their own damage later (and remember, lifesteal is based on damage dealt!) while being a slightly-punchier attack that also has pretty good defense piercing. You won't be using this all the time, of course, because the Armor Down debuff is more generally useful than the Defense-piercing, but against some foes it may be more beneficial than any other move you've got.

Bloodwell
Costs: 4 CD
Multi Target Scythe(/Axe) Skill
Damage Formula: 0.8 Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
50% Lifesteal
Prereqs: Lifedrink, 3 LP

Slightly lower damage than Swallowtail or Barrage, but it's an area attack that also heals you for all that damage you're doing, which is good because you just drew all that Threat right to your Reaper. Best used to finish off enemies after another, bigger, meaner area attack, rather than as a move to be used because it's off cooldown. Like... you CAN use it for the single-target lifesteal, but it won't be very effective, so only Bloodwell for such a purpose if all your other lifesteals are on cooldown.

Frenzy
Costs: 15% Max HP
Single Target Magic
Applies Frenzy (+1 AP per turn, on basic attack, and when physically damaged) buff on the target for 3 turns.
Prereqs: Rending Cut, 1 LP

Reaper does have two situationally-useful buffs they can use to accelerate themselves or teammates. Frenzy is a nice way to bump up AP gain for anyone relying on it, but in a small way, the same as might be expected out of Refresh. Course, AP doesn't scale as you play the game and there are few ways to instantly gain lots of AP, and your average Reaper isn't very likely to use their turns applying a buff to an ally, so Frenzy isn't generally seen as very popular, not least because Reaping as a moveset doesn't need it. But it's there!

Expertise
Costs: 15% Max HP
Single Target Magic
Applies Expertise (-1 CD on all abilities) buff on the target for 3 turns.
Prereqs: Bloodwell, 1 LP

Expertise is one that can and likely will see application to a Reaper, since all their self-heals are cooldowns. It's also obviously useful for anyone else using cooldown moves. Do note that Expertise does not deduct from abilities that have already been used, only those used while the buff is in effect, so apply it early for best results. Does you no good if you're sitting around for 3 turns to get one of your moves back only to need to re-apply Expertise because you misunderstood it, right?

Satanic
Costs: 4 CD
Single Target Scythe(/Axe) Skill
Damage Formula: 50 + Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
100% Lifesteal
Prereqs: Expertise, 4 LP

Want to deal good single target damage but don't have the HP needed to use one of your other Reaping moves? Satanic is a nice middle-ground option that does reasonable damage and packs enough lifesteal to make it safe to use. It's also nice for a mainclassed Reaper to open up with if they want to immediately set their HP higher with the Reaping passive, since you do use the lifesteal from the attack to fill up however much damage you deal. I'd still personally wait until after at least spending a little HP one way or another, mind you, but it's a good option.

Nightfall
Costs: 40% Max HP
Multi Target Weapon Skill
Damage Formula: 100 + Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
Prereqs: Blood Spiller, 2 LP

Incredibly strong physical area move, but the huge costs to HP means that unless that move wipes the encounter (and in a lot of fights, it might) you will absolutely need to either cover or healer the Reaper that did it immediately after. For best results, just like a Wizard uses Initial Focus to kill the hell out of encounters turn 1, you should definitely back this up with Initial Oomph to really clean house.

Guillotine
Costs: 50% Max HP
Single Target Weapon Skill
Damage Formula: 200 + Atk + Atk * Str + Str
200% Lifesteal on kill
Prereqs: Nightfall, 5 LP

One of Reaper's two capstone attacks, Guillotine allows them to effectively full heal off of precision kills without risking a cooldown, and that's cool as hell... for non-boss encounters. It's not hard at all to leave this or that target alive for a Reaper to finish off, and the heavy damage and lifesteal of Guillotine means the Reaper in question will basically be set for the remainder of the fight. Against bosses, unless they make a habit of summoning foes you can realistically kill, it's just a spike damage option that costs half your health. And while those fights do exist, they're not common.

Moon Slash
Costs: 3 CD
Multi Target Scythe(/Axe) Skill
Damage Formula: 10 + 0.1 Atk + Atk * 0.1 Str + 0.15 Str
35% MP Absorb
Prereqs: Equip Scythe, 4 LP

I mean... it's a way to restore MP midfight, and that's great for anyone using Reaping as a backup for their primary magical toolkit. It's also a way to add a little Threat from everything on the field, which does virtually no damage, and requires at least two targets on the field to really get any kind of returns outside single digits. It definitely is an option you could pursue, and that's more than a lot of caster builds can say. I personally wouldn't, but it's there.

Spoiler: PASSIVES

Blood Spiller
Costs: 2 PP
On hit, inflict Bleed (15% damage per turn) debuff on the target for 1 turn.
Prereqs: Frenzy, 4 LP

One could make a case for this being one of the best passives a physical attacker could use. 2 PP for the extra damage of a basic attack at virtually no cost every time you land a hit is amazingly economical and goes a long way towards making anyone hit harder. Blood Spiller does lose out on its shine if you already have Bleed infliction as a regular part of your gameplan, however; any applications of existing effects merely set it to the tick count of the new application if it's higher. So Blood Spiller does absolutely nothing to an enemy that's been hit with, say, Rupture.

Equip Scythe
Costs: 3 PP
Allows you to equip Scythes regardless of class proficiencies.
Prereqs: Satanic, 2 LP

We've covered weapon families very thoroughly by now. Scythes are very much intended as hybrid offense weapons, which grant the wielder a degree of piercing for both Defense and Resistance. Like Equip Bow, it could be considered a passive tax for using the Reaping moveset, but not even by that much even without the mod to give the moves axe compatibility. Remember, all the HP-costing moves are weapon agnostic!

Initial Oomph
Costs: 4 PP
Self-applies Power Up (+35% physical damage dealt) buff at the start of combat for 1 turn.
Prereqs: Blood Spiller, Satanic, 3 LP

Hello yes it is the Encounter Obliterator Passive... 2! Physical attacks are a little harder to spec for wiping encounters in a single turn owing to AP costs and lower ceilings compared to, say, Firena or Whirlwind, but it's not out of the question, especially not for a Reaper. And if you're far enough in the Reaping skill progression to get Initial Oomph, you definitely have a moveset for abusing this. It's nice to go for, but for boss fights, 4 PP is a pretty tall order.

 

[Kalir]

HEDGE MAZE JUMPSCARE! That's right, I looked this up and found the way through. I always only ever sequence broke it long after the contents ceased to be relevant.

So yeah, go to that area just below us, then instead of emerging at the center with the fountain, go left to find a hidden tunnel under the hedge maze.

We can get this key as well, which helps me cross off at least one important goal for later.

And we can grab the final penguin!

The bridge to the castle is up, but that's no obstacle to our ever-reliable Quintar.

This, however, is. That's three tiles high, so even our unmounted jump can't clear it.

No routes around either. So no entering the castle without some way to clear that height.

Oh well, let's go over here.

That's the last piece of Craftwork gear, too! We still don't have nearly enough Silver to upgrade everything, but we have our options all the way open.

Two seeds, huh?

May as well see what we get out of 'em.

Walk away, do other stuff, come back later, I hear ya.

Yep, that was the last penguin! Now we are the proud owner of...

Fancy dress wear, huh?

Pretty solid for this stage of the game, but we don't have anyone that uses medium armor. Kind of an issue with how we've built everyone, honestly: three primary casters and a single physical character. I did technically have Werdna grab some Rogue levels, but I still want him in Reaper, and while I could have Frieren go something like Hunter right now, I like Chemist more so nyeah.

<Shadowmaster> I think I heard someone named Astley was up to something over there. I wonder who that is?
<Shafta> But I don't even get why messing around the castle is bad. What's up with that?

Ah, we probably just missed her. We'll backtrack over now that we know how to. Also: Shadowmaster is an Assassin! New class to look forward to later!

So, in other words, if someone wanted to get at the administration responsible for being a dick about adventure, the castle is the place to go. Got it.

The warning here isn't lying, though: there are no Crystals within the walls of Castle Sequoia, so if you want fun new classes, don't stress out about getting inside.

No sign of Astley, but there are two other characters here.

We're not gonna risk letting anyone in! You'd ruin everything for everyone else! Get outa here!

Guess these two took the warning pretty seriously. Orchard's teammate, Little H., doesn't say anything, but I don't think anyone would be surprised to learn that he's running a Samurai, which also goes onto the list.

<Astley> Who made you guys in charge of who can go over there?
<Orchard> Are you stupid or just living under a rock?? Read the bulletin! Nobody can go in, or else we'll get more stupid laws slammed down on us.
<Astley> That's bullshit! If you're afraid of doing anything because you think you'll have your fun taken away, then that's your own problem. It's not your call to tell anyone else what they can and can't do. Big changes are coming to this world, whether you like it or not.

Honestly I think Orchard kinda has a point. The GM is already not averse to messing with the laws of the land to ensure people explore in the "right" way, even before we arrived here. Who's to say they won't get aggressive and start doing things like Banishing anyone that enters or even approaches the castle?

Whatever the situation may be, Astley runs off and Orchard remains on guard. We can fight them, but uh...

We're extremely out of our element. Orchard runs an unorthodox but effective Ninja/Hunter build for speedy damage, and Little H. plays the Samurai archetype to a hilt with combo attacks that hit more than once a turn.

Without plenty of levels under our belt, we're not getting past them.

Let's try Salmon River again. The enemies in Greenshire Reprise are now orange Flames rather than red, so that's a promising start.

Oh this is so doable let's go.

As mentioned, Flames here don't pursue you, just run to and fro on the logs they inhabit. Which means perfect platforming can avoid most, if not all, fights in this region.

They also solely inhabit the river part, so any offroading you can get away with on the banks, you should go for.

This absolutely includes the trees. Like the ones in Greenshire Reprise, they can't be climbed from ground level, but if you can reach any of the branches you can reach all of them.

Your end goal is still upriver, of course, so focus on going that way.

No matter what route you take, you WILL have to use the logs. This area is a really cool and unique challenge, I like it a lot.

This jump is very tricky to do. You have almost exactly enough space to make it to the log from here, but you gotta be precise. It's probably easier on the back of a Quintar, but the terrain makes Quintars pretty poor choices for the most part, to say nothing of having to jump over all the Flames.

Like I said, eventually you're gonna get caught unless you have peerless platforming skills, which means a fight. Bass Hunters have similar movesets to Salmon Cooks but focus more on single-target power, with a Fierce Stance that has the best of both Berserker and Defender stances, Impale as a heavy Defense-piercing attack, and Adrenaline to help them use it more often. Oh and Mermaid Song of course.

This hit rate is killing me. Salmon Cooks and Bass Hunters are both pretty high-Evasion foes in general, I think.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LIVED A MAGIC UP FLARE. NO. NOT ALLOWED.

Well, I did try to spec GUTS for Lucky Dice, let's see how that works.

Very well, turns out! So even though GUTS can't reliably land hits yet, he CAN still output some nice damage with Lucky Dice. Y'know... sometimes. It IS Lucky Dice.

Still, the Variance is working in his favor, and we only need a few more levels to get our Accuracy to reasonable levels. This is also the case for Werdna, who can't hope to actually land his funny new Reaping moves on these guys.

There, that ought to help.

Plus, again, we shouldn't be in too many fights here.

We are intended to go right here... so we won't.

Not that this actually takes us anywhere that has anything. But still! It's the principle of the thing!

As you go further in, the jumps will have tighter windows to avoid the Flames and require even more precise platforming to make. Falling in the water returns you to the exact tile you started on, and it doesn't care if a Flame occupies that space when that happens.

This can go very poorly. I took a break from this region for a reason!

Still, my characters are earning their levels, even if it hurts. And Frieren's grabbed Smoke Bomb, so we can always just leave any given fight if it's too hairy.

Back in town, let's see what our gardening has gotten for us.

OH, OKAY.

Yeah the entire gardening thing is a way to do some hidden extra fights with some hidden extra rewards.

Dye Khan is pretty simple: got debuff clearing? No? How about revives? Yeah that's what I thought.

I'm in town I can spend what I want.

Neat! Guess we're that much closer to Nan's Secret Recipe. Just need some meat. Gardening is, naturally, the best way to grab such ingredients.

Back at Salmon River, I show off how much an improvement Werdna having a Scope Bit is to his damage output. I did remove the Mana Ring rather than the Learner's Pin to do this, though, so he's gonna have to take it easy with the magic for a bit.

There's more than just these guys here, of course. Cappers are hardy support casters with Atmoshear, Sleep Aura and Dream Eater, plus a basic single-target water spell, Pressure Squirt.

I did mention how I gave Werdna the Learner's Pin, yeah? Remember, making someone else a Scholar is as easy as throwing them in the class or giving them the Learner's Pin and just going to fights that have the spells you need!

Also I can actually hit these stupid things consistently!

Which is VERY NICE.

That's enough putting this off. I do want Curena up and running, area attacks are getting more and more common and GUTS can't tank them all, nor can Werdna or Frieren actually take lots of hits head-on.

What Werdna IS built for is heavy damage output!

Remember, this is a basic Reaping move that you start with, and it's not like Werdna's been speccing for Strength in the slightest. But with the Reaper's base Strength, the damage formula of Reaping Cut, and the Silver Scythe's built in piercing, even the shell of a Capper can't hold off that kind of offense for long. And with Reaper's innate giving extra max HP to play with, that's more buffer for an ally to heal him with, or for him to heal himself using Lifedrink.

Werdna still absolutely folds to magic, and unlike with the Wizard statline and armor, Mind Stance doesn't help. Quite the opposite, it actually takes away the existing benefit of heavy armor. However, Storm Stance on a Reaper is another question entirely. I'm one LP shy of being able to grab that, and I probably will (not least because I do still want Werdna to master Wizard).

If you want treasure, go this way first. It'll be the default instinct, since clearing that jump at the other branch requires a switch to Quintar.

We can also climb up the ledge in the lower left, and I'll be back to do that later.

Ten silver coins is ten silver coins, we take those.

Look out! A bear has entered the house!

It is not interested in nuts and/or berries, it can just grab some salmon instead.

It can also do boatloads of single-target damage with Maul, which not only ignores Defense but inflicts Armor Down too. Needs some AP saved up for it, but outside of the first few turns of the fight it will basically always have enough.

GUTS can take a Maul, but only barely and with help from Frieren.

With the fights getting this rough and needing so many resources after each one (no thanks to the Salmon Cooks' MP Sickle), I pop back to Capital Sequoia to restock. It's expensive, turns out, to have a full supply of items to work with all the time, and I'm still very much in the early stages of Chemist so I'm not even using them all that often during fights.

I also decided to use the Mercury Shrine to revisit some stuff around Delende. First up, Wayfarer Joe and the fishing minigame.

Sorry, did I say minigame? It's not. You choose a rod and lure, pay him the cash, and he gives you a random item from some table or another.

This is the sign of a good result.

It's a little awkward for this team to put to use right now, but it would be solid for GUTS at the very least. I think I want the Hemoring and Squirrel Dung right now, but if I move on from Lucky Dice it's a good pick.

This is the easiest way to get Secret Meat early on, if you want to have some of Nan's Secret Recipe in your pocket at all times. That means only the Secret Herbs aren't renewable right now.

I'm not spading out the rest of the fishing rewards. They're probably good and I do think some Silver or the like is hidden behind it but I simply elect to Not right now.

Good news! We missed one last enemy in Salmon River and they have a new (NEW!) Monster Magic spell for us!

As usual, I will add it to the Scholar writeup on the first page. It is indeed a spell that GUTS and Werdna can now both cast if they want.

Anyway, Shelldin can act again immediately after using any move that isn't an attack, and has loads of defenses to ensure it can always get Overload off. So you need to bring your own Defense-piercing methods to hit back as hard as it hits you. Werdna and Meena's spike damage options both work excellently here.

Remember, the four basic Up/Down buffs and debuffs don't actually check the Defense calculation, they just modify the end result! Even a Defense-piercing attack benefits from hitting a foe with Armor Down!

I've had to get into a few repeat fights during my retry attempts here. Fortunately, I have my Home Point in Salmon Pass, so it takes little time to get back to things, but I am retreading a lot of ground that I wouldn't ordinarily have to. That's the downside of Salmon River, I suppose. And, as mentioned, Salmon Cooks can use MP Sickle, so each encounter costs me a little more than I'd like.

Progress, slow but steady.

This jump in particular is super annoying because of how narrow of a window you have to get past the Flame on top, plus the high level of accuracy needed to actually make the jump from your starting point.

Anyway, up on the middle bank we've spent all update going around.

Even slight changes in elevation are enough to get you access to some treetops for peak exploration!

Ooooooh new gear.

Getting a lot of cursed blood swords lately. That's neat. It's a two-hander so we can't cover the HP loss with a shield, but stuff like the Plate of Wolf still helps to ameliorate the penalty, even if it's starting to become outpaced. Could actually be a strong choice for a Reaper that doesn't use the CD draining moves and just wants the damage stuff, letting them do both at the same time. I'm still sticking with the Scythe though since it helps Werdna with spells, which he is still very much using.

For best results on this jump, backtrack to the first post and start running from there. Quintars need a bit of acceleration to reach top speed and it's hard to do that with a single platform.

This is probably the last tough jump before our destination. VERY narrow window of timing.

I pulled it off, but if you aren't too confident, remember they don't go in the water, so you can immediately do a second jump to get to the single-block depth behind it.

No, I already did this assignment. I don't need extra credit.

And there's our goal! Welcome to the Salmon Shack!

<Talon> Huh? Look, it's right here! Come on over! Check out how many fish are in here!
<Chloe> Err... fish? Are you stupid or something? Who wants to waste their time fishing for fish? It's all about the BIRDS, dude!
<Talon> Umm... what?

See, what we have here is a failure to communicate.

I mean, if you're talking fish, you can't do better than the headwaters of Salmon River. Probably. I don't see Wayfarer Joe here.

Sad thing is, I think I believe that.

But you still need to try to understand whoever you're talking to. How would you like it if I said my monster avoidance technique was "just facecheck 'em and Smoke Bomb if it gets tough"?

Have you explored past the Capital Courtyard area yet? If not, Reid's willing to give you our key to the area if you'd like.

Well, that would be more convenient than the old route we had of jumping across the palisade with a Quintar.

Chloe gave me that key. She told me I can use it to reach a great fishing spot in the Capital Courtyard. Of course, she meant fishing for birds... But you know, if you use that key to get up the courtyard wall, you can reach some pretty cool places to the east.

This is, if I recall right, another hint to go check out the area past Cobblestone Crag, like Okimoto N.S., since a lot of players might be scared off by the Crag Demon patrolling the area. I didn't show it off a lot, but you can totally climb around the courtyard wall from there. To the west, you can reach other parts of Greenshire Reprise and the very northwestern reaches of Delende we haven't seen yet, and to the east, as established, is another route to Cobblestone Crag that doesn't require climbing to the Quintar Nest.

So yeah, we'll take that key.

Anyway, go check it out. And thank me later I guess.

Emphasis on later. We just got to the Salmon Shack, which is much more important than the rustic exterior belies.

For starters, the interior holds the Salmon River map we've been missing all update.

For another, it's time for an actual damn minigame, and a VERY worthwhile one to at least try.

The Salmon Sprint is a special racing minigame! 16 waterfall-capable contestants race from the stadium we saw out at the Seaside Cliffs all through Delende and Salmon River! And we can rent a salmon to participate! Granted, the rental salmon are perpetually exhausted and won't likely get you a first place victory without a LOT of cheese, but still. Sign me up dogg.

We stand ready and have our countdown. Three... two... one...

SALMON!

It's immediately apparent that the rental just does not have the speed to match the other salmon, but you can still use some clever techniques here to get a better position or some... interesting rewards. For now, we'll treat it like a sightseeing tour. I can and will make a video of this, but for this first run we'll stick to screenshots.

Importantly, you can not only stand atop the other contestants (and vice versa), but doing so also inherits their momentum! Climbing atop the pack is an excellent way to take the lead.

You can totally grab treasures along the way, but I'm gonna focus on the race for now.

When climbing waterfalls, the trick is to enter them as you're in midair and already ascending. That keeps most of your momentum going upwards, whereas most contestants just leap into the air constantly unless a low overhang like this is in the way.

Fortunately, you already likely have a map for the entire route, so getting lost isn't likely unless you make a wrong turn. This is the first major place where that happens, so just use the lilypads as an imaginary guiderail.

Hey Wayfarer Joe! Hey unnamed warlock lady!

Here's somewhere I messed up. Remember the side path here that led to a pouch or something? Well, in my infinite wisdom, I thought it might lead to a shortcut despite doing this race several times before.

Salmon can totally go on land, but they're only as fast as your walking pace and their jumps here have abominable air control.

So, this isn't a shortcut.

It leads to the Pale Grotto. And we can totally grab this stuff here. The only thing that disqualifies you from the Salmon Sprint is running out of time, or choosing to dismount.

This means that, if you know what you're looking for, you can reach some areas you VERY MUCH ARE NOT INTENDED TO during the Salmon Sprint. Those of you who have beaten the game can probably think of a few possible things, but I'll ask you to keep it quiet. Just know that I will be using this to sequence break for exactly one thing besides this accidental one, and whether that's a true "sequence break" or not is debatable, but it will happen this update.

We do eventually catch up to the rear of the pack, but far too late. We'll have to retry. Here's my run.

Honestly, I wasn't intending to place off of this one, but getting ahead of so many other racers in the last round convinced me to spring for it. If I didn't get chainstomped at the finish line, I could've gotten 9th without much trouble, but I'll settle for an 11th place run. If you look very closely at the start, you can see the silver-colored crowd favorite moving even faster than everyone else. They're the one to beat, and it's absolutely not happening on a rental. Maybe if we had a Salmon of our own, we could pull it off, but that's a ways off.

Getting higher placements means better rewards, many of which are well worth the trouble. In our case, we secure the prizes for clearing 12th and 14th place, plus the consolation prize that is, for most players, the real reason to try this at all.

And for that reason, we show it first. That's right! We just opened up another fast travel point for effectively free! Rockin' omega!

The other prizes are nice too. The Trident gives you free Armor Down with each hit and has enough power to make it very attractive for anyone who could wield it at this stage (i.e. just a Warrior... for now).

The Parry Knife is also a great pick that combines Evasion with level-scaling Dexterity. Obviously, it's perfect for a Rogue, and even someone who doesn't need their weapon slot for much else, like Frieren, might find use for it.

Anyway, the sequence break. For this trick, all you have to do is run the Salmon Sprint as normal, but this time ignore the goalpost.

Just past it is a waterfall coming from the mountaintop. It's not against a wall like most of the others, so you gotta position yourself pretty precisely, and with an unforgiving time limit, to make this work.

At the top is an elaborate fountain! We enter, naturally.

We have only twelve seconds to pull this off, but the River Cat's Ego is our goal for this one.

Before us is a crystal we can't hope to jump to given the low ceiling, and a salmon that has a quiz for us.

Time doesn't pass during the quiz, but remembering the answers, even if you saw them on the way in, can be harrowing under the limitations.

No matter your answer, you get this reply to each question.

If you're doing the sequence break like we are, this is free, but getting here through other means might mean the Salmon Sprint is too far back in memory to cleanly get. No big deal, just retry if you get it wrong. At least YOU wouldn't be under a time limit!

I can see someone answering Catfish due to the whiskers, but no, Salmon is the answer.

Great! Do we get a cool bridge to the Crystal now? Is the stress over?

Nope! You still gotta do a jump with the Salmon's poor air control to where the River Cat's Ego guardian or whatever elects to float as a stepping stone. DON'T MESS UP DON'T SCREW IT UP C'MON

And that's the sequence break. As mentioned, there is another one you can do for a much later reward, but I won't do it because I think it's an extremely bad idea to go for it this early, much like sequence breaking past the Proving Grounds is.

Cool people get untelegraphed rewards those are the rules. Nomad is a very well-respected class that's also just downright bizarre in execution, and I'm going to make sure I put it through its paces as part of this LP. (Mostly because I usually don't.)

Do what you will, I have already won.

I'll have GUTS be our Nomad for now. Scholar's still not an exact fit for what I want from him, and one of Nomad's idiosyncracies is that it can technically work well with almost anyone.

Also it can use medium armor so let's see what exactly it means by an appearance change.

hehehehehehehe

I'm gonna immediately use the shard because I want the stone. Poseidon Shrine is comfortably perched above the Salmon Shack, making it a very nice fast travel point considering how far we've come from the capital and the Gaea Shrine.

GIMME THE WEIRD TELPROT ROCK

Due to my earlier expenditures, I can't also buy the map for this place... yet. But I will soon, believe me.

TO DO:

• Build the perfect starting team.
• Explore Spawning Meadows.
  • Prove the existence of black squirrels.
  • Try to find another route out of Spawning Meadows.
• Explore Delende.
  • Cross the bridge to the Proving Meadows.
  • Explore the Fish Hatchery.
  • Explore the Pale Grotto.
    • Defeat Guardian.
    • Find the Slate Crystal.
    • Find the Fencer class.
  • Explore the Soiled Den.
    • Defeat Bone Thief.
    • Trade an Earth Bangle to Huntie.
  • Explore the Basement of the Cabin on the Cliff.
    • Defeat Gran.
  • Find the dogs' bones.
• Explore Seaside Cliffs.
  • Trade 13 Clamshells to Manana Man.
  • Find a rare monster that drops an Earth Bangle.
  • Explore Draft Shaft Conduit.
    • Defeat Canal Beast.
    • Find the Violet Crystal.
    • Find the Shaman class.
• Explore Proving Meadows.
  • Find three crystals.
  • Defeat Knight.
  • Explore the Trial Caves.
    • Find the Yellow Crystal.
    • Find the Aegis class.
    • Explore Skumparadise.
      • Defeat Parasite.
• Explore Yamagawa M.A.
  • Defeat Sepulchra.
  • Find the Aquamarine Crystal.
  • Find the Scholar class.
    • Find every Monster Magic spell.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Scholar.
• Explore the Capital Courtyard.
  • Find the Courtyard Key.
  • Defeat Enami.
• Explore Capital Sequoia.
  • Find all the penguins.
  • Find all the Craftwork gear.
    • Upgrade all the Craftwork gear to Silver gear.
  • Obtain the Gaea Stone.
  • Clear the hedge maze of Improper Imps.
  • Find a way past the hedge maze.
    • Either defeat or circumvent Orchard and Little H.
  • Enter the Luxury shop.
    • Find sixteen crystals to expand the Luxury shop stock.
  • Get past the guard on the west gate.
  • Defeat all the training dummies.
  • Find three Digested Heads for Sam the Sadist.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Warrior.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Monk.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Rogue.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Wizard.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Cleric.
  • Explore Jojo Sewers.
    • Explore the Boomer Society.
    • Trade a Crag Demon Horn to Marlin.
    • Explore Capital Jail.
      • Defeat Warden.
      • Find the Crimson Crystal.
      • Find the Reaper class.
• Explore the Rolling Quintar Fields.
  • Meet the Quintar Enthusiast.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fiendish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Brutish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fancy Quintar Eye.
    • Obtain a Quintar Pass.
    • Obtain the Quintar Flute.
  • Explore Quintar Nest.
    • Find the Olive Crystal.
    • Find the Hunter class.
  • Explore Quintar Sanctum.
    • Find the Violet Red Crystal.
    • Find the Chemist class.
    • Defeat the Fancy Quintar.
• Explore Cobblestone Crag.
• Explore Okimoto N.S.
• Explore Greenshire Reprise.
• Explore Salmon Pass.
  • Explore Salmon River.
    • Win the Salmon Sprint.
    • Explore River Cat's Ego.
      • Find the Goldenrod Crystal.
      • Find the Nomad class.
• Explore Mercury Shrine.
  • Obtain the Mercury Stone.
• Explore Poseidon Shrine.
  • Obtain the Poseidon Stone.
• Explore the Overpass.
  • Find enough Overpass Scraps for a map.
• Explore the Underpass.
  • Find enough Underpass Scraps for a map.
  • Explore Capital Pipeline.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
  • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Dervish class.
• Find the Ninja class.
• Find the Beastmaster class.
• Find the Assassin class.
• Find the Samurai class.

 

[Kalir]

NOMAD
River Wanderer

STATS

• HP: 3
• MP: 2
• Strength: 7
• Vitality: 7
• Dexterity: 4
• Agility: 4
• Mind: 7
• Spirit: 6
• Speed: 4
• Luck: 5

PROFICIENCIES

• Weapons: Swords, Axes, Daggers
• Armor: Shields, Medium Headgear, Medium Armor, Light Hat, Light Armor

INNATE PASSIVES

• AP Focus: Abilities that require AP deal 1.5% more damage/healing for every AP spent on them.

Nomad is... weird. It's very much meant to be a versatile caster like Warlock or Scholar, but it goes about that versatility in extremely unusual ways. For one, they actually have pretty solid Strength and Vitality, so they can do some damage physically if the situation calls for it. And their equipment set is more like what you might expect on a skirmishing physical damage class rather than a caster. They still use spells for the most part complete with CT, but as the AP Focus passive suggests, they use AP instead of MP for the cost, which means Nomads can usually do a pattern of basic physical attacks to charge up flashier spells. Weirdest of all is that Nomads, as versatile as they are, have very few active abilities they can use, but they DO have more stances than any other class in the game, supporting a wide range of playstyles.

The biggest drawback of this is, well. You've already seen how Monk has to save up lots of AP for their bigger attacks, but at least has Focus Energy to use, right? Nomads don't have that luxury, and they have a further issue that Monk doesn't have in that they also have to contend with CT. Nomads are slow in far more ways than their otherwise competent Speed would suggest. And while you can do some VERY broken things with a Nomad lategame... that kind of assumes you have a lot of the right pieces put together for your lategame builds. Throwing yourself into Nomad expecting to use it as-is like you would a Wizard or a Monk is asking for disappointment. And like Wizard, Nomad only uses two elements, but since those elements are Water and Ice... that's a lot of overlap. An enemy that resists or is immune to one isn't gonna be weak to the other.

I'm not saying that Nomad is BAD, mind you. Far from it, I've seen people make the case that Nomad is one of the strongest classes in the game. But you really have to be ready to combine whatever it is Nomad has to offer your existing build in creative ways. For AP-using physical classes (i.e. every AP user that isn't Nomad) the AP Focus innate lets them kind of play the game of a Reaper but in the other direction, using their magic to supplement a physical moveset. Casters of any stripe, in turn, find value in Nomad making use of the AP they're always going to be accruing without requiring them to dip into stats they don't really use, although the low MP stat does hurt on that end. Still, Nomad's capabilities do let them extend their resources, and considering how many people would have to drop their damage-amplifying stick in favor of a book otherwise, it's an attractive prospect.

Spoiler: MOVESET: WATERBEND

Healing Spring
Costs: 8 AP, 10 CT
Single Target Magic
Recovery Formula: 100 + 1.8 Spi
Water Elemental
Prereqs: None

Ever so slightly punchier than a Cure, but it costs a non-trivial amount of AP instead of a comparatively trivial amount of MP. It's also Nomad's only healing move, which does matter for the purposes of Therapy Stance. I have no earthly clue how the Water element factors into it, and a quick field test shows that Water resistance doesn't actually reduce the amount of healing received. Weird.

Water Blast
Costs: 8 AP, 20 CT
Single Target Magic
Damage Formula: 150 + 2 Mnd
Water Elemental
Inflicts Resist Down (+35% magical damage taken) debuff on the target for 1 turn.
Prereqs: Healing Spring, 1 LP

Heavy Frost. Pretty decent damage for the costs, but again, capitalizing on a single-turn Resist Down basically makes this a setup tool for your other casters' spike options, now with its own CT to really mess with the mental calculus. At least Warrior and Aegis get two turns off of their defense debuffs, this just feels clunky. It's still not bad and you can make decent use of it with timing, just don't expect a ton.

Chill Blast
Costs: 12 AP, 22 CT
Single Target Magic
Damage Formula: 150 + 1.5 Mnd
Ice Elemental
Inflicts Chilled (+35% Ice and Water damage taken) debuff on the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Healing Spring, 2 LP

This one is obviously more intended for the Nomad themselves to set up a funky spike damage combo for themselves, and in that regard it's theoretically possible... until you factor in CT, again. The CT on anything you're trying to pull here leaves you with an extremely small window of time to land a follow-up with the bonus in play, and of course it's no good to anyone else on your team except a Warlock or someone with a very Interesting loadout of gear. But, like Spotlight, it does stack with Resist Down, so there's definitely some shenanigans to be had here. Plus, you can also use En-Water or En-Ice to make the follow-up a much faster physical attack, like, say, Snipe or Guillotine.

Therapy Stance
Costs: 4 AP, 6 CT
Magic Stance Change (does not use the turn, but still has to resolve CT first)
While active, single-target healing abilities are now multi-targeting but have -35% healing.
Prereqs: Healing Spring, 1 LP

This is where things start getting wacky. Sure, Waterbend as a moveset can only use this with Healing Spring. But let's compare with other heals we have. Warlock can use this with Remedy to combine area healing and debuff clearing into a single delicious package. Cleric has enough raw healing potential that they can just use Curen (or Return) and not mind the penalty. Chemist enjoys a similar benefit to Cleric but with fixed values and also they can do it with MP. Remember, so far the only area healers we have are Cleric and Scholar, the former of which has it near the end of their tree and the latter of which is ordinarily chokeslammed by CT.

En-Water
Costs: 8 AP, 20 CT
Magic Stance Change (does not use the turn, but still has to resolve CT first)
While active, physical attacks gain Water element and calculate crit chance/damage from combined Mind/Spirit instead of Dexterity.
Prereqs: Water Blast, 2 LP

What's that? You keep playing classes like Monk that really want crits but have a dogwater Dexterity score? Here's a fix for that. There are EXTREMELY few "just sub in another stat for the one you dumped" abilities, and let's not forget that this doesn't use the average of Mind and Spirit, but their COMBINED value. Goes without saying that Nomads themselves can and will use it with a full heart and a joyous disposition.

En-Ice
Costs: 8 AP, 20 CT
Magic Stance Change (does not use the turn, but still has to resolve CT first)
While active, physical attacks gain Ice element and use the target's Resistance instead of Defense.
Prereqs: Chill Blast, 2 LP

Sometimes, your physical character just gets vibechecked by an enemy with far more Defense than Resistance. This is a button to say that doesn't actually happen. It's... less valuable than Wizard's defensive version, Mind Stance, because there aren't many enemies with extremely lopsided scores here. Still, if the use case applies, it's free real estate, why not do it, y'know?

Wave Armor
Costs: 6 AP, 12 CT
Magic Stance Change (does not use the turn, but still has to resolve CT first)
Damage Formula: 150 + 2 Mnd
Water Elemental
While active, spends 12 AP at the start of the user's turn to use a multi-target magic, Ripple Wave.
Prereqs: En-Water, 4 LP

In order to use Wave Armor properly, you need to be playing a caster that builds up lots of Threat from the field and can withstand the punishment of such an assault. Then, and only then, will you have the AP necessary to both get Wave Armor up and running and actually use the rest of your Waterbend moveset. If you can pull that off, your encounter-clearing potential will skyrocket, making it an especially useful option to, oh say, a Shaman with Waterbend that will also be draining life off of every Ripple Wave and has further self-preservation buttons. Without that kind of ability to draw and withstand Threat, though, Wave Armor is a button you push if you never want to have more than 6 AP for the rest of the fight.

Shrapnel Armor
Costs: 6 AP, 12 CT
Magic Stance Change (does not use the turn, but still has to resolve CT first)
Damage Formula: 200 + 2.5 Mnd
Ice Elemental
While active, spends 8 AP to counterattack any damage taken with a single-target magic, Shrapnel.
Prereqs: En-Ice, 3 LP

On the other side of things, if you're going to be attacked and are relying more on your other non-AP moveset than you are on Waterbend, Shrapnel Armor is an extremely strong counterattacking option for a tank. Unlike the previous counters we've seen, Shrapnel fires off in response to ANY damage you take, which means you can get excellent damage no matter whether your foe is physical, magical, or a bit of both.

Drown
Costs: 24 AP, 40 CT
Multi Target Magic
Damage Formula: 120 + 3.4 Mnd
Water Elemental
Ignores 50% Resistance.
Prereqs: En-Water, 4 LP

Imagine if Firena/Boltena pierced Resistance and cost AP instead of MP. Weird as it may sound, it's the second part that matters more. Lategame, a Wizard that really wants to open encounters with their area-vaporizing spell can and will do so. A Nomad will struggle to replicate this without any kind of AP generation options, with Drown only coming online by default, at BEST, by turn 2 and more realistically by turn 3 or even 4. This makes it better for mop-up duty than as a fierce opener.

Shimmertide
Costs: 26 AP
Single Target Magic
Applies Resist Up (-35% magical damage taken) buff to the target.
Prereqs: En-Water, En-Ice, 3 LP

The AP cost here is monstrously high for one and only one reason: Shimmertide does not expire. I'd like to chase that statement with a definitive "Ever." but I can't actually do that, because it does have one extremely notable flaw, and that is that all buffs, debuffs, et cetera on a target all go away on death. It's very tempting (and a good idea) to throw Shimmertide on the team's tank and then not worry about it for the rest of the fight, but again, how long did it take your Nomad to build up the 26 AP to cast it? And are you CERTAIN your tank won't die once during the fight? Oh, and if you're curious, no, Therapy Stance doesn't make this an AOE.

Icicle Barrage
Costs: 24 AP, 30 CT
Single Target Magic
Damage Formula: 100 + 4.4 Mnd
Ice Elemental
Uses the target's Defense instead of Resistance.
Prereqs: En-Ice, 4 LP

Hmmm... nah. This ain't no Flare, Star or otherwise. For single target spike damage it's still good, that scalar's nothing to sneeze at, and 30 CT is actually pretty fast for these kinds of spells, but it's still not gonna reach the heights of other classes' spike damage options. Even if you can self-facilitate it with Chill Blast, the CT means you're at the mercy of the enemy's turns to actually line up that combo. And again, the Defense instead of Resistance targeting is... fine, I guess? Gives casters that are getting hard walled by enemy Resistance another option, I suppose, and Nomad's got the Strength to get some Defense piercing on it. Yeah, Strength improves the Defense piercing of spells too. Don't worry about it.

Spoiler: PASSIVES

Frenzy Stance
Costs: 4 PP
Gains 6 AP on stance change.
Prereqs: Water Blast, 3 LP

Like Stance Tank, this is incredibly valuable for anyone hoping to use stances in their gameplan with the possible exception of Wizard. For a Warrior, this makes a stance change actually net positive on AP, to say nothing of classes like Fencer and Wizard that have no need for their AP in the first place. Hefty PP cost for it, but again, if you're using stances regularly, why NOT get the AP off of it?

Attack Focus
Costs: 2 PP
Basic attacks have 35% more damage/healing.
Prereqs: Chill Blast, 2 LP

Pretty good for a Nomad that's gonna be doing regular attacks a lot anyway owing to needing AP all the damn time and not having a built-in fast-charge button like Focus Energy or Adrenaline (unless you do have those, of course). It's still only 35% on a basic attack formula, so it's not gonna be the supergood win button, but it's easy to forget that a basic attack is a universally available and FREE option that every character has. Why not just make it better?

 

[Mogri]

Those of you who have beaten the game can probably think of a few possible things, but I'll ask you to keep it quiet.

Don't worry; I couldn't spell it anyway.

 

[Kalir]

From Poseidon Shrine, we can get on top of the Salmon Shack for mapping purposes.

But the only other thing we can reach here is the Overpass.

Not even high up enough to get an Overpass Scrap. Darn.

Oh well. Today we're gonna use the Courtyard Key to revisit Cobblestone Crag and Okimoto N.S.

Got my earlier guess of where the west wall led slightly off, we can't reach the area I was thinking of from here. It ends early into Greenshire Reprise.

No reason that should stop us from exploring a bit.

Technically speaking, we CAN facecheck the encounters here if we're fine with risking it all.

But this is more of a side dish for today, so nah, we'll avoid 'em.

The ground layout of Greenshire Reprise can best be described as fjord-like. Lots of steep valleys and ridges, with plenty of water at the base. Our jump height just isn't up to realistically navigating this area, sad to say.

The best shots we get at ascending are any of the low tree branches we can reach, same as in Salmon River.

This bridge is higher up than most, I think. Might be there's a second bridge through the region aside from the ones we crossed to hit Salmon Pass. We'd need a map to be sure, or we could try reaching it from Gaea Shrine.

Back to the main event. This route is much faster to reach Cobblestone Crag compared to the Quintar Nest route.

Also gonna fill out my map for everything else. Map completion in this game, especially later on, involves a lot of walking over bigass stretches of nothing, but it can be a nice meditative thing to do if you want a break from death hell combat.

And it's that easy, literally an adjacent walk.

This one's pretty easy to see walking over the wall towards the area proper, and you can either drop down from above then and there or double back.

And then there's this even further below, just above the chest that held the Battle Scythe in Proving Meadows.

Anyway show me the fight.

MESSAGE RECEIVED LOUD AND CLEAR

You do not get Monster Magic if you are wiped due to it. Good to know.

Now that's out of the way, let's redo Cobblestone Crag. We already got past the Crag Demon once, after all.

Again, all we gotta do is hide behind the spires until we can make it to the lower right side.

Oh hey it's these two again!

<Astley> ...I'm not falling for anything again.
<Reid> No no, I'm serious. Look at all these birds! We should tell Chloe about this spot. She could actually literally fish for birds here!
<Astley> Hmm... Oh, actually, you're right! This spot might work, for real!

Oh, you mean you have a legitimate point to bring up and it's not a ruse for a prank?

Sounds like the perfect opportunity for.........

Haha! Oh shoot... I can't help myself.

A PRANK! AHHHHHH OHHHHHH HUAAAAAH U GOT PRANKED!!!!!

Considering falling into the sea below will just respawn her on this ledge I'm gonna say it's sooner rather than later that it'll happen.

Speaking of falling into the sea, I spy this massive cavern in the area just under Okimoto N.S. on my way past a missed jump. Cool, but I don't have a way to get in there on account of no land.

Anyway, back to this. We're high enough in level that we can probably handle the encounters on the way up at least, and I can vouch for the upper half of it being the easy half.

Not gonna try to bait this or that Flame off the side this time. We're doin' this raw.

By the way it turns out AP Focus makes those Crush moves that Warrior has really dang strong. Sure, there's also an Armor Down from Werdna in play and Variance to keep track of, but dang.

Nut Prophets still deal bit strong damage with their spells, but this time we have enough offense to put them down in turn.

Missed this the first time on account of instantly dying.

Monsters are not alone in being able to no-sell Earth element. This is the bulk of the reason why the Earth Bangle is such a free trade to Huntie, although one must consider that the buff only applies at battle start, so if you die, it's gone. If Earth immunity isn't enough to ensure survivability, the Earth Bangle may be a considerable backup option.

NOT AGAIN

At least I have Curena now to deal with the constant barrage of magic. Note that Inner Warmth only procs once, but sums up all the healing done across the table not applied to the user. It's a nice bonus considering Meena is using HP Boost right now.

I actually have a lot of potential healers on this team. Meena is still the best of the lot, but Frieren's not far behind. GUTS and Werdna are pretty limited right now though, with GUTS suffering from a lower Spirit stat and Werdna solely limited to self-heal with lifesteal.

This is the ideal use case for a Tincture. Frieren is only lightly scratched and Meena is at full health, so it has double efficacy, making it BETTER here than using it out of combat.

I'm still having lots of trouble with this fight though, mostly due to lacking damage output. My main attackers are GUTS and Werdna, and they can't really withstand a magical offensive, so I spend a lot of time playing catchup. I should consider flexing one of the others to a different class, maybe put Meena back into Monk for a bit.

Should also put Frieren back into Warlock for Life at the very least at some point.

I do have Fenix Juice at the very least, but that's expensive and unreliable, especially with Nut Prophets everywhere slinging Firen like it's a closing sale.

And if I run out the clock long enough, Chi Burst is always there for me.

Fortunately, this climb isn't as long as Yamagawa M.A. and the bulk of the stage happens at the top.

I flubbed up a jump and immediately make the worst possible mistake for recovery. On Okimoto N.S., if you miss a jump, you want to lean into it and get as much distance from the ground as possible. Doing so will send you out to the sea and respawn you harmlessly where you started, but panicking and going inward will set you back, guaranteed.

All right, let's do this.

Unlike the other foes thus far on Okimoto, Axebeaks are vicious single-target physical attackers. Which is a problem considering GUTS is trying out the funny new Nomad class and the only person actually wearing heavy armor right now is Werdna.

For extra fun, they can inflict Bleed and Weakness to add damage over time to the problems.

So yeah I can't really get past 'em right now. I'll have to get the treasure they're guarding another way.

Let's retry and tackle a single-Axebeak Flame from earlier.

Hrmm. Pecker Slice has a bit of Variance, so a high roll that crits can oneshot GUTS. Not great. He really needs those Nomad levels.

AAAAGH! MISSING A LIFEDRINK SUCKS! DAAAAAAAAGH!!!!

I bungled the hell out of that fight. Like, queueing up a Raise on an alive person levels of bad. But I won with everyone alive and THAT'S WHAT MATTERS.

For GUTS, my primary goal is to get Frenzy Stance and both of the Armor stances. I certainly won't turn down En-Water and En-Ice as part of the package, of course.

Been playing for twenty minutes and only now am I getting to this point. Okimoto N.S. fights aren't even hard I'm just doing badly and trying to get GUTS into a new class.

Oooh, more silver. But do remember that the goal is at the top, and you can always set a Home Point up there and then yeet to all the rewards pretty easily.

NO HEALING. I FORBID IT. KILL.

Like the Salmon Eater, Nut Prophets can self-heal with Nut Crunch.

Every fight I live, I can fully recover from owing to both Meena and a pack of consumables. It's nice!

Oh we're very close.

Just up here!

How did I find the one block that wasn't.

Mulligan and we get it. I don't know my Japanese very well, but "yashiki" seems to mean a residence or fancy estate. I can't really tie that into the N.S. of the Okimoto region unfortunately, so if you all have any ideas what it stands for, I'm listening.

I SET MY HOMEPOINT YOU CAN'T GET ME NOW HAHAHAHAHAHA

The Butterfly is a rare defense-only knife. It's good for the class that we get here which is Ninja of course nobody is gonna be surprised by this.

Now that the hard part is over, I pop back to town to buy the map and head in properly. Only thing is, heading in properly isn't actually the right play.

For some reason, a bunch of Ninjas are camping the area here and will engage you if you approach.

I guess it makes sense. This is where you get Ninja, lots of "badasses" trying to prove their worth would hang out around here to bully prospective newbies. If we try to enter the door in this shot, Sauce Skay will fight us.

So we won't.

You do have to actually pass through the front entrance with what we've got on us now, though.

We can avoid Sauce Skay on this side, but not...

...Moruto, huh? That's the name theming here, I guess. Utsusemi is a massive self-buff for Evasion, so magic attacks or guaranteed hits are the way to go in this fight.

Moruto's attack of choice is Fire Seal, which does only basic damage but sets up a debuff on the target that causes them to take extra Fire damage.

He also can dual wield, which is a well known capability of many Ninjas in these sorts of games, so he gets a follow-up attack that immediately gets the debuff benefit.

That's his one and only trick.

Once inside, we can climb around the sides of the yashiki for some prizes. Garden side first.

Silver over here. The jump is easier than it looks once you consider the water and that the peg platforms have larger hitboxes than first appearances show.

If you look carefully, you can see a few koi in the pond!

Nice. It's an alternative to the Smelly Gi if you don't want to spend anything for Poison immunity, but it is a bit weaker.

This particular jump requires some very fancy footwork to accomplish, and I got so focused on it I forgot I can just climb up on the garden side again.

The route I first tried to work with is this one, which is still worth taking.

It lets us get up to where Sukara is perched. We have to fight her to enter the lower level of the yashiki, unfortunately.

But yeah, don't fuss with climbing up over here, just use the garden spot.

The yashiki has multiple levels in a kind of confusing layout, but they're arranged simply enough if you know where the secret paths are.

I LOVE RAMMING MY HEAD INTO CEILINGS LOOKING FOR SECRETS ITS THE BEST

Plenty of Silver here, too.

Back here is a secret passage that leads to two places.

But before I show that off, I try to sneak in through the front and find Sukara's detection zone is simply too large.

Everyone has slightly different movesets. Sukara comes packing a Counter passive which means Frieren's default opener of a Zap and my fried attention span at the time of recording means she's dropped to critical immediately.

Dodging not allowed please.

Probably should've sprung for Blackout rather than saving for Return in retrospect. Would've saved me a lot of trouble with the Nut Prophets. Oh well.

Inside, I have to find a secret passage to get past the blocked door. Not a big deal, just hug walls until you find it.

There we go.

The Magic Finder is a very fun bit of kit that lots of people could make use of. With our team, it'd probably be best on either Frieren or GUTS. I give it to the latter, replacing the Squirrel Dung for now.

The other side has a conspicuous little hole that likely holds some conspicuous little treasure, but pay attention to the right side. There's a staircase over there, which is the only way to access that part of the map. A secret clue!

No secret passages further than here, after all.

I finally have the good sense to come over here for the silver and hey look, some more training grounds!

Good thing we've already been practicing jumps like these since we set foot in Capital Sequoia.

Okay, back to the secret passages. The first location you can reach is back here, but the tunnel itself is also the top of the staircase we saw earlier, leading to the room below.

In the here and now, we get our first non-craftwork Katana. Still don't have a class that can equip it, although the accessory shop sells a Samurai's Glove for the occasion if you really want to use this. More realistically, you'll use this as an earlygame option for your Samurai if you were cursed with one as part of a randomizer. Remember, prior to the Craftwork Katana and this thing, there are no katanas available.

Oh by the way there's a Samurai lurking down here.

I'm not gonna break down exactly how the Samurai class works until we get it, but suffice it to say they like doing combo attacks that don't use their turn until the big finisher.

Not that Mitsuroogi needs a combo with a Strength score that high.

The basic idea behind Samurai is that most of their moves don't consume their turn and apply a Combo token to the target, and their Ken moves use Combo tokens on the target for a big flashy finisher of spike damage. Again, more on that when we get to them. As far as this fight is concerned, just know that Mitsuroogi has absolutely monstrous single-target damage and literally nothing else going for him.

He drops a VERY nice bit of gear that Werdna slaps right the hell on instead of his old Scope Bit.

Going down the stairs leads us to a very powerful book for a specific kind of strategy.

The Art of War isn't too bad on its own merits as a Book weapon, but the real prize on it is that it also awards extra AP per turn. Most classes that use AP don't want to be stuck using a book as their weapon of choice, but two notable exceptions come to mind: Nomad because they're already naturally hungry for AP all the time, and Monk because Chi Burst. It's not a perfect fit for either since both of them would still usually like to have physical attacks available and would rather have more fitting stat boosts from other weapons than MP, but it's definitely a strong pick if you've got the build for it. Since Meena isn't doing physical attacks all that often right now anyway, she equips it. It does make her Chi Bursts a bit weaker without the extra Spirit from the Silver Staff, but the faster charge time ought to make up for it and then some.

Once you're done looting and fighting off anime edgelords, the only thing to do is head up.

At this level, the roof for the next step up is close enough to jump to.

And our goal is a single floor up from there.

There's no way there isn't a boss fight up here, of course.

Yup. If you go up the stairs too fast, they charge down and attack you, but I stepped forward just enough that I can skip the boss and get the crystal first.

This saves me having to warp back to town for a heal, at least.

And now we can be Ninja. As usual, writeup in the following post.

HAHA YOU FELL DOWN THE STAIRS, YOU GOOF

In theory, Kuromanto can be a very scary boss with incredibly high Evasion, the ability to raise it further with Utsusemi, both physical and magical area attacks, and the Death Sentence ability that applies a doom-like effect to the target. In practice, they spend so many turns setting up that you have loads of room to clown on them, provided you have any sort of debuff clearing. Warlock is the standout winner for classes to bring into this fight, with Remedy and Dispel on deck to handle Kuromanto's nondamaging tricks and the durability to handle area attacks sufficiently. Should you somehow not have a party capable of clearing debuffs at this point, you can also use a revive ability with CT to go after the second turn of the character with a Death Sentence to "immediately" put them back in play. And, of course, Kuromanto's actual attacks have plenty of methods of neutralization, including Eye Gouge, Blackout, the usual debuffs and so forth. Shouldn't give any party much trouble.

Finally got Satanic up on Werdna. I'm aiming to have Moon Slash so as to limit MP dependence from Frieren, but Moon Slash is also a very... iffy option. Still, I want to try it out. I also grab Sap Mixture my beloved for Frieren.

Anyway, that's Okimoto N.S. basically done! But we can climb up here to see more!

Looks like another Overpass section.

Don't remember how many scraps it takes for a map, but it takes a lot of cash we don't have right now, so it's gonna wait either way. Still, nice to be up here.

I could go to that grassy area down there if I wanted to die ignobly. I don't.

A little west of Okimoto N.S. we find this curious tower. It's too high up to reach for now, and the terrain around here offers absolutely no clues as to how to get there, so we'll shelve this for now.

However, we do find a similar hideout not far to the west! That's worth checking out.

Turns out, these towers are where other class masters reside!

You usually have to do some creative platforming to access them, though.

Dogg I haven't even started using the Aegis class. Probably will sooner than later though, it'd be a good fit for Meena.

Since we don't have the Overpass map, we can't pin down our exact location, but given that we have Okimoto N.S. and another tower to the east and Rolling Quintar Fields to the north, I'm comfortable with pinning it here.

So then I threw myself off of Okimoto N.S. to reach the Underpass area a little faster. Remember, there was a jump down there we couldn't access without a Quintar.

I missed.

Here we are. The purple lanterns are the sign you're headed the right direction.

Shoudu Province is the last area you can access with the Quintar outside of some VERY specific sequence-breaking platforming you won't know to do unless you know it's there.

However, from the route we're taking to access it, we can't actually see that much of it right now.

Still, let's observe what we can. Like this mountain goat friend.

Doesn't say anything, just climbs up the three-block height like it's second nature. Wish that were me.

Lacking the means to follow it, we instead have to go down through this wrecked cargo area.

Well, at least we're gonna get some nice rewards over here.

That's a nice start.

Oh that's just hurtful! I'm injured by this, physically!

Wait hold up belay that complaint what is THIS doing in a random purple chest?

A Stone for a shrine we haven't even SEEN?! Yes, hell yes, we're using this right now.

I have no idea where we're gonna end up but I'm looking forward to it all the same.

A desert? Have we even SEEN anywhere that might be near a desert?

No acolytes running this shrine, it looks long abandoned.

I can't even find out where we are on the map to reference. AWESOME.

TO DO:

• Build the perfect starting team.
• Explore Spawning Meadows.
  • Prove the existence of black squirrels.
  • Try to find another route out of Spawning Meadows.
• Explore Delende.
  • Cross the bridge to the Proving Meadows.
  • Explore the Fish Hatchery.
  • Explore the Pale Grotto.
    • Defeat Guardian.
    • Find the Slate Crystal.
    • Find the Fencer class.
  • Explore the Soiled Den.
    • Defeat Bone Thief.
    • Trade an Earth Bangle to Huntie.
  • Explore the Basement of the Cabin on the Cliff.
    • Defeat Gran.
  • Find the dogs' bones.
• Explore Seaside Cliffs.
  • Trade 13 Clamshells to Manana Man.
  • Find a rare monster that drops an Earth Bangle.
  • Explore Draft Shaft Conduit.
    • Defeat Canal Beast.
    • Find the Violet Crystal.
    • Find the Shaman class.
• Explore Proving Meadows.
  • Find three crystals.
  • Defeat Knight.
  • Explore the Trial Caves.
    • Find the Yellow Crystal.
    • Find the Aegis class.
    • Explore Skumparadise.
      • Defeat Parasite.
• Explore Yamagawa M.A.
  • Defeat Sepulchra.
  • Find the Aquamarine Crystal.
  • Find the Scholar class.
    • Find every Monster Magic spell.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Scholar.
• Explore the Capital Courtyard.
  • Find the Courtyard Key.
  • Defeat Enami.
• Explore Capital Sequoia.
  • Find all the penguins.
  • Find all the Craftwork gear.
    • Upgrade all the Craftwork gear to Silver gear.
  • Obtain the Gaea Stone.
  • Clear the hedge maze of Improper Imps.
  • Find a way past the hedge maze.
    • Either defeat or circumvent Orchard and Little H.
  • Enter the Luxury shop.
    • Find sixteen crystals to expand the Luxury shop stock.
  • Get past the guard on the west gate.
  • Defeat all the training dummies.
  • Find three Digested Heads for Sam the Sadist.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Warrior.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Monk.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Rogue.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Wizard.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Cleric.
  • Explore Jojo Sewers.
    • Explore the Boomer Society.
    • Trade a Crag Demon Horn to Marlin.
    • Explore Capital Jail.
      • Defeat Warden.
      • Find the Crimson Crystal.
      • Find the Reaper class.
• Explore the Rolling Quintar Fields.
  • Meet the Quintar Enthusiast.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fiendish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Brutish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fancy Quintar Eye.
    • Obtain a Quintar Pass.
    • Obtain the Quintar Flute.
  • Explore Quintar Nest.
    • Find the Olive Crystal.
    • Find the Hunter class.
  • Explore Quintar Sanctum.
    • Find the Violet Red Crystal.
    • Find the Chemist class.
    • Defeat the Fancy Quintar.
• Explore Cobblestone Crag.
  • Defeat the Crag Demon.
• Explore Okimoto N.S.
  • Defeat Kuromanto.
  • Find the Shadow Crystal.
  • Find the Ninja class.
• Explore Shoudu Province.
  • Obtain the Mars Stone.
• Explore Greenshire Reprise.
• Explore Salmon Pass.
  • Explore Salmon River.
    • Win the Salmon Sprint.
    • Explore River Cat's Ego.
      • Find the Goldenrod Crystal.
      • Find the Nomad class.
• Explore Mercury Shrine.
  • Obtain the Mercury Stone.
• Explore Poseidon Shrine.
  • Obtain the Poseidon Stone.
• Explore the Overpass.
  • Find enough Overpass Scraps for a map.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Aegis.
• Explore the Underpass.
  • Find enough Underpass Scraps for a map.
  • Explore Capital Pipeline.
• Explore Poko Poko Desert.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
  • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Dervish class.
• Find the Beastmaster class.
• Find the Assassin class.
• Find the Samurai class.

 

[Kalir]

NINJA
Kabuki Shadow

STATS

• HP: 5
• MP: 3
• Strength: 3
• Vitality: 5
• Dexterity: 8
• Agility: 7
• Mind: 3
• Spirit: 2
• Speed: 7
• Luck: 6

PROFICIENCIES

• Weapons: Daggers, Axes
• Armor: Medium Headgear, Medium Armor

INNATE PASSIVES

• Dual Wield: May equip two one-handed weapons. Weapon skills activate once for each compatible weapon, but at -35% Attack.

On paper, I feel like I should really love Ninja as a class. Dual wielding in job system games is such a tremendously useful thing that has never really been balanced, so locking it to Ninja is a cool way of ensuring it doesn't become mandatory while still being a strong selling point. Using Scroll items as the primary resource for moves gives them an offense/tank itemancer feel, a job at which they excel. Ninjas have a lot of tricks to avoid danger despite their Threat and can enable some seriously ugly elemental spike damage as a supporting damage dealer. And, of course, they have a very nice array of stats that doesn't sacrifice a lot to enable a solid core of Dexterity, Agility and Speed, making them an ideal flex class for many builds. If you know what you're doing, Ninja is, theoretically, one of the best classes in the game.

That said, there is so much working against Ninja that I do not blame many players for just not bothering with the class at all. Ninja has no attacks except for six different flavors of Seal, one for each element, and those only do basic attack damage, so you NEED an auxiliary moveset, or more likely, a teammate to capitalize on them. The Seal debuffs also only last for a single turn and until damage is taken, making them even frailer than comparable timing-based debuffs like on Frost or Water Blast. Committing more than half the moveset to a single move with six flavors also makes Ninja extremely inflexible for what it can offer to a team, and the moves that do remain, while certainly nice for tanking (a strategy with Ninja can do with some success) just are not enough to bring it home compared to almost anything else. And unlike Chemist, which has several different flavors of items to use that all have different expanding caps, Ninjas only use Scrolls, which cost 2 silver apiece and cap at a stock of 30. You WILL run out of Ninjutsu moves eventually, especially in early-midgame... assuming you have them unlocked, Ninja really frontloads the LP costs for some reason.

Ninja is probably the first real flex option for a Rogue that doesn't try to do a completely different gameplan: Dual Wield makes spike Backstabs even better and the different Seals can enable even more spike damage without drawing much Threat. Other physical builds happy with daggers or axes (or katanas with the mod) can also just staple their moveset onto a Ninja for Dual Wield, uninspiring as that is. It's also nice for tanks that don't plan on attacking or using their second moveslot much anyway but still want to enable big spike damage hits. Casters shouldn't bother; Ninja has too weak of caster stats in basically every aspect and you're not gonna be able to chain a Seal into spike damage off of a spell. Better to run a caster alongside a Ninja, and have them enable bigger hits.

Spoiler: MOVESET: NINJUTSU

Utsusemi
Costs: 2x Scroll, 4 CD
Self Only Ability
Applies Utsusemi (+90% Evasion) buff for 4 physical hits evaded.
Prereqs: None

Very nice survivability tool for physical attacks, especially if you've been gunning for Agility and can make that Evasion spike all the spikier. Hits that actually manage to land will not consume a tick of Utsusemi, which is nice because guaranteed hit moves ignore it in a way that most other guaranteed dodge moves wouldn't. By that same token, if you DO have a guaranteed dodge and Utsusemi up at the same time, Utsusemi will still decrement, so watch out if you're using it alongside, say, a source of Blind.

Fuzake
Costs: Scroll, 1 CD
Single Target Ability
Applies Fuzake (Forces you to become the highest Threat of the target) debuff to the target for 3 turns.
Prereqs: 3 LP

VERY nice on tanks that have trouble outputting enough damage to stay at high Threat, like Aegis. The cooldown just means you can't spam it on every enemy in the encounter, which is completely fine in boss fights since you'll still have 100% uptime there. As with Invisigel, it doesn't actually change your accumulated Threat for the enemy, they just ignore the listed values and say you're the biggest threat. If you really want a Rogue to draw aggro for Pocket Sand reasons, this is a way you could do it, but surely you have better uses of your time.

Fire Seal
Costs: Scroll, 3 CD
Single Target Dagger/Axe(/Katana) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Dex + 0.5 Dex
Fire Elemental
Inflicts Fire Seal (+65% Fire damage taken, -65% Ice damage taken) debuff on the target for 1 turn or until damage is taken.
Prereqs: Fuzake, 2 LP

Yeah, you have to time it expertly, it doesn't do much damage by itself, and the cooldown means it's wasted on a fumble. It's also one of the few sources of a 65% damage boost. You can technically even use it yourself with your Ninja since the follow-up attack will get the Seal benefit and immediately reapply it, but let's be real. The best place to use this on is a big chunk of spike damage, whether that's a spell (Flare, the one you want is Flare) or an elementally-typed physical spike attack. I don't quite get why the debuff also adds an elemental resistance, it's not like you're gonna immediately use Icicle Barrage or something after it.

Ice Seal
Costs: Scroll, 3 CD
Single Target Dagger/Axe(/Katana) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Dex + 0.5 Dex
Ice Elemental
Inflicts Ice Seal (+65% Ice damage taken, -65% Wind damage taken) debuff on the target for 1 turn or until damage is taken.
Prereqs: Utsusemi, 2 LP

And here we are. Ninja's biggest flaw by a mile is the fact that all of its attack moves are taken up by the same move with different flavors. The use cases are exactly the same, but now instead of fire it's ice. So, who are our element sources that can use this? There's three primary casters (Wizard, Nomad, and one we haven't unlocked yet), each with a distinct pair of elements (Fire/Thunder, Water/Ice, and Wind/Earth). We also have Warlock and Monk in the starting classes with an array of three elements, but the elements aren't really their selling points. Scholar and one other class have access to Fire and Wind moves, although it's a little weird. The only other class aside from Ninja with access to every element is... Special. And, of course, certain weapons may have their own innate elemental affinities, like the Wind Sickle scythe. So all these different options, and a Ninja still won't need more than one or two in each fight. Just make them a submenu for elemental selection!

Wind Seal
Costs: Scroll, 3 CD
Single Target Dagger/Axe(/Katana) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Dex + 0.5 Dex
Wind Elemental
Inflicts Wind Seal (+65% Wind damage taken, -65% Earth damage taken) debuff on the target for 1 turn or until damage is taken.
Prereqs: Fire Seal, 2 LP

I don't have enough patience to talk about the same move six times, so let's talk mods. In addition to the mod seen here, Asema also made a mod that revamps the Samurai class a bit, and the two of us have discussed a potential Ninja rework mod. One thing we'd do is trim the Seals down to two moves at most, so as to make room for some fitting replacement moves that give Ninja more of an identity (probably leaning into the PVP asshole angle the game characterizes it with).

Earth Seal
Costs: Scroll, 3 CD
Single Target Dagger/Axe(/Katana) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Dex + 0.5 Dex
Earth Elemental
Inflicts Earth Seal (+65% Earth damage taken, -65% Thunder damage taken) debuff on the target for 1 turn or until damage is taken.
Prereqs: Ice Seal, 2 LP

One of the moves we came up with was Tagen Battou, which is probably sounding real familiar to the oldheads around here. The concept is simple: it'd still do basic attack damage, but it would get extra activations, with even more activations if you had Utsusemi up, consuming it in the process. Modding for Crystal Project is a bit tricky and doesn't allow for truly radical changes to the game, but I think it'd be cool conceptually while also covering a niche that most classes can't, of really leaning into multi-hit moves.

Kawakage
Costs: 4x Scroll, 4 CD
Self Only Ability
Applies Kawakage (Always evade magic) buff for 2 magical hits evaded.
Prereqs: Wind Seal, 4 LP

This might just be the only method I know of that can dodge magic. Every other evasion tool only works on physical attacks. Course, this cuts both ways; as long as this is up, you can't heal the target with stuff like Curen or what have you. It also has a huge cooldown and only works twice per usage, plus it consumes a boatload of Scrolls to activate. Still, there are few ways to just outright no-sell spells, so Kawakage is extremely valuable on that front.

Vanish
Costs: 3x Scroll, 2 CD
Attempts to escape from battle.
Prereqs: Earth Seal, 2 LP

Worst fleeing ability in the game, easy. 3 Scrolls is not an equivalent price to 3 Tonics, nor is a total of 6 LP to access it the same as the whole 1 the Chemist needs for Smoke Bomb, or even the 4 that Rogue uses for Run Away. I would price this at a single Scroll with no cooldown and not one bit further.

Thunder Seal
Costs: Scroll, 3 CD
Single Target Dagger/Axe(/Katana) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Dex + 0.5 Dex
Thunder Elemental
Inflicts Thunder Seal (+65% Thunder damage taken, -65% Water damage taken) debuff on the target for 1 turn or until damage is taken.
Prereqs: Earth Seal, 3 LP

Another move concept was one we didn't actually settle on a name for, although "Iwanuga Hana" was the closest one. This would be really simple, just a Silence ability. That plus Kawakage would give Ninja a very strong identity of being an antimagic fighter, something that isn't nearly as prevalent as the many ways of mitigating physical damage that Warrior, Monk, and Aegis have.

Water Seal
Costs: Scroll, 3 CD
Single Target Dagger/Axe(/Katana) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Dex + 0.5 Dex
Water Elemental
Inflicts Water Seal (+65% Water damage taken, -65% Fire damage taken) debuff on the target for 1 turn or until damage is taken.
Prereqs: Wind Seal, 3 LP

The only other move we've gotten so far is Obake, a buff-cancel that would only work on the four main buff types (Power/Magic/Armor/Resist Up). In exchange, it would be able to wipe all four at once. As most players will attest, there's a serious lack of buff-cancel moves in the game, with only one non-Warlock class having it and that particular class being pretty hard to find, to say nothing of Warlock not having the MP to cast Dispel very often. This is all in the conceptual "we was just talkin" phase but it's been fun to brainstorm about it.

Spoiler: PASSIVES

Smokescreen
Costs: 3 PP
Applies Smokescreen (Dodge all physical attacks) self-buff for 1 physical attack taken.
Prereqs: Utsusemi, 3 LP

This is another passive that looks kind of mid at first for a few reasons. Remember, due to how Threat works as a mechanic, the average combatant is never going to take exactly 1 attack: it will either be zero attacks or the bulk of them. And then you realize that it doesn't decay and Entrench is a move that exists. Yeah you wanna just turn off the first three physical attacks you face in a fight? I knew you would.

Perfect Dodge
Costs: 2 PP
Incoming attacks with 30% or lower accuracy are reduced to 0%.
Prereqs: Fuzake, 3 LP

Dodgetanking passive! For best results, obviously combine it with Utsusemi. Then again, one does have to consider that whole "enemy stat scaling" problem. Even with fiending for Agility and using Utsusemi, it's hard to be certain that you can even drop enemy Accuracy that low. Not saying that it's bad, just that building for this as a strategy feels a little weaker than the alternatives considering the necessary investment.

 

[Kalir]

For now, Frieren has everything she needs from the Chemist class, so we're going back to Warlock to polish that off.

Today's focus is on Poko Poko Desert, naturally. This area is huge and completely disconnected from anywhere we've seen on the map, so finding where exactly we've been warped to is almost impossible as things currently stand.

Furthermore, the vast flat terrain means that navigating it all but requires a Quintar to get through in a timely fashion. So far, the only information we have is that the northwest side of the shrine is the fastest way to reach an impassable wall.

Similarly, the desert Flames have a very high speed, making avoiding them pretty much impossible without a Quintar.

The main feature in the desert are these cacti. You can't jump on them, they possess fierce cactus techniques that will repel you the second you make contact.

You might stumble across minor ruins like this while you're traversing the sands, forming some of the only features to the wastes.

These usually have veins or treasures to go for that make them very worth checking out.

There's also these lookout towers. Always make an effort to climb 'em if you see 'em.

More detail on these later, but still. It's a feature in the desert, you don't need me to tell you to investigate it.

Cactims are the rank and file enemies you'll meet in the desert. Not especially scary, but they do have Counters.

This set of levels brought to you by BEAT, who was hanging out while I recorded gameplay. Hey what's good.

The lookout tower has an extremely functional interior that we can easily ascend.

A purple box with a thing in it! We can exchange this and its partners for Nice Things!

It is possible to make this jump with a Quintar, but the closest point being an awkward single-block post with no good leadup makes it very difficult. Takes me a good number of tries and you can't really do a LOT with it right now.

Eventually I give up and just follow the wall south.

Before long, we reach a settlement!

Good thing you've got a Quintar. It's nearly impossible to survive out in the desert without one.

Sara Sara Bazaar isn't quite the hub location that Capital Sequoia is, but it's also the closest site of civilization to the Mars Shrine, making it valuable for us.

Many of the NPCs here comment on the difficulty of traveling the desert, and there are two Quintar stables. If you got here without using a Quintar, why? Stop doing that.

The stables aren't useless to us, though. For 5 Silver, we can get a temporary Desert Quintar steed, adding to the base high landspeed of a regular Quintar with the kind of lightweight speedy mobility needed to get through the desert. A Desert Quintar is much faster, which is a nice convenience if you have cash to burn and want to explore the desert fully.

Naturally, Sara Sara Bazaar holds a lot of merchants with some very cool wares that could be well worth the cash for an interested party.

Of the accessories, while they're all strong, the only ones we can use right now are the Shifters, which spike one of either Defense or Resistance at the expense of lowering the other, which is handy for this or that boss fight.

This fish store over here has a fun little sidequest to it.

If you can find fresher fish, which you can't, I dare you to show me!

Boastful, aren't we?

Check this thing out though.

Please, can you help me? Can you find something incriminating about the store that sold you this Fresh Salmon?

Oh that store? Yeah a guy outside sold me this garbage-ass fish check it out.

I hope you're ready because it hasn't gotten any better since we picked it up.

Wait, did you buy it from the same store that sold you the Fresh Salmon you showed me before?? Oh holy cow! I guess I don't have to worry about that store after all! What a relief. That puts me in a good mood! How about I give you this ol' thing for your trouble?

Sure, I'll take a free thing in exchange for two fish.

For his part, he sells some pretty Decent Cod, and an upgraded fishing rod if we want to do that.

The Fish Skewer is a very strong Rapier with a lengthy Bleed infliction on it, making it a fun toy for someone using Swordplay as a backup moveset that lets them throw two DOT effects whenever they want.

This guy sells maps for both Sara Sara Bazaar and the neighboring Sara Sara Beach. I'm not gonna explore the latter this update, I have PLENTY to do in the desert.

My stupid son went adventuring into the desert hours ago like an idiot and he isn't back yet. I fear the worst! Please go find him and bring him back!

There's a sidequest up here at the eastern gate, and it's very important for people exploring the desert to realize there's two gates.

I didn't check it out this time, but the door below us is locked and requires a Tram Key. It'll be a while before we find that.

Especially with all these Banishes we've been hearing about lately. You never know, your time here could come to an end at a moment's notice... So you really have to make what you do now, in this moment, matter. You have to make it matter to you, you know? Have you ever thought about it?

Sage words, not just in this Crystal Project thing but as a rule.

I'm choosing this answer partly as a bit, and partly because I am really enjoying doing the class writeups, even for classes we haven't used at all yet like Fencer or Aegis.

But you know, so many people make it seem like there's some kind of a choice you have to make there. Adventure, or Crystals? The interesting thing is, you never know what kind of adventure you'll run into while hunting for Crystals. And likewise, you never know where you'll find a Crystal while you're out looking for adventure.

I agree! Capital Jail is the best example of this we've found yet, containing a hearty serving of both in a delightfully offroad location. But, of course, it's not the last one we'll see, and there's plenty of cool things to find in the game besides adventure or Crystals. Maybe some awesome gear like the Art of War, maybe a new shrine as a fast travel location, who knows? Knowing would spoil it.

Three lookouts can be found throughout the Poko Poko Desert: the north, central, and west lookouts. If you can prove that you've visited all three, I'll give you something really important that I found.

You're on. The Courtyard Key you gave us earlier made getting this far easier, after all. Plus, we already have the west one, even if that's the easiest.

The inn here has a cute feature. You stay the night the same as ever, fading to black on the spot, but on your first stay, you get a room key that unlocks the nearby room with treasure in it.

So after we sleep in the lobby on our Quintar, we go unlock the room we've gained access to forever.

Inside we can find a primo quality uglystick that any Monk would be happy with.

Anyway, there's a big concentration of shops and facilities down by the ferry dock here.

Over here is a very important place to go, owing to holding a map to a place we haven't really gotten to explore yet.

It's also the home of the potion mixer. They can combine a bunch of low-tier consumables into a higher tier one if you're so inclined, folding the cost of stuff like Tonics and Tinctures into a 1:1 discount for the more powerful variant. Could be nice for a diehard Chemist main whose starting to hit those higher level powers, but even then I'd rather wait until those items become available more regularly. In the meantime, the Item command on Frieren is as solid as I need it to be.

I came here to take the ferry over to Shoudu Province, but I didn't realize you need a Ferry Pass. Alas, I've resigned to my fate, and will sniff the ocean breeze until then.

There's more than a few people here trying to grab a ferry over to Shoudu Province due to the Grand Master's crackdowns of late.

That's so much silver! I wonder if I can reach this place from the Salmon Sprint start point...

To be eligible for me to give you a Ferry Pass, you must have discovered at least fifteen crystals. Unfortunately, you are not yet eligible to receive a Ferry Pass. You must discover more crystals. Go out and continue adventuring. Good luck.

FIFTEEN?! As of this writing, we have 9 crystals, and the Nomad one was arguably a sequence break. You want us to pull 6 crystals out of the damn aether given that this is the furthest we can possibly explore at this time? That's no exaggeration either: you might remember I was hinting at the Spawning Meadows having a sequence break to an area that would kill us to pieces if we went there before Proving Meadows? This is it! We are at the point we could access! Not to mention that the Shoudu Province area, accessed properly from the ferry, would give us access to at least three crystals. Whose idea was this I just wanna talk.

In less outright garbage news, this guy does advanced armorsmithing!

He can take any Silver gear we have and, using Gold Dust, Ore, and Ingots, upgrade it even further. Too expensive to do now, but good to know.

<Chloe> I dunno about this...
<Talon> What do you mean? Astley said we have plenty of time to check things out.
<Chloe> Yeah, that's not what I'm worried about. Have you seen that tiny ass raft thing? They call that a ferry?? We are SO gonna fall off of that thing and DIE!
<Talon> So you're worried about THAT? Haha! You crack me up.
<Chloe> Yeah ok well if we die then it's your fault.

We can't see the ferry because we don't have the Ferry Pass yet. It's pretty small but it does the job.

That about covers Sara Sara Bazaar. Back to the desert. Bear in mind that although we don't have a map, the eastern and western exits DO lead to very different spots. Notably, the eastern exit has a significantly higher elevation, so it can access areas the western one can't.

We can also see this here. We came from the south, so it highlights the height difference between the two areas pretty clearly.

The central part of the desert has lots of these spires and mesas to explore. Getting a handle on navigating them is key to reaching the north and central lookout towers.

There's also plenty of sandstorms near this area, especially in the north and east parts.

To wit. The Central token is easily reached from this mesa, a short jaunt from the eastern exit from Sara Sara Bazaar, but good luck reaching it from the lower level.

Backing up, let's try hugging the southeast wall.

More ruins down there. Tempting...

SILVER! I WANT.

Another accuracy booster over here. It's pretty comparable to Werdna's Crit Fang he got from Mitsuroogi, and an upgrade to all the stats in question save crit chance. I'll have to think about it.

Rhino! Big rhino. Big rhino can self-apply Harden to reduce physical damage and is already plenty sturdy, but it takes a while to actually start attacking, so you can gear up and beat it through raw numbers pretty easily, it just takes time.

It's very, very difficult to really give context to the desert since so much of it just looks like... this. Quick, experienced Crystal Project players, identify exactly which part of the desert we're in!

There is a cool pyramid in the middle of the east side of the desert, at least.

Locked though.

Do you get the reference? DO YOU!?

The Cactooer isn't especially dangerous unless you actually physically attack it, because it counters with Thorn Barrage to hit the entire party.

Progression continues apace. Frenzy Stance is a very good new passive for GUTS, but he's now hitting an issue in that all of his preferred passives costs too much PP to run together. So we have to pick and choose which ones are most valuable for the playstyle. Since nobody's really tanking right now, Grudge isn't as useful to him as Adrenaline, so it gets sidelined.

We wandered a good deal west of the pyramid and found the north lookout, but we're too low to reach it. Gotta climb up from the mesas again.

A hair north of there, we find a thirsty lad dying of thirst, and only milk made from the finest ingredients can quench this thirst.

Take it, I don't want it.

He reluctantly hands me a forbidden technology for storing more Milk than before. I take it just as reluctantly.

Oh that's VERY high up. There's a lot of area around Poko Poko Desert that requires some very thorough exploration and mapping to reach.

I'm trying to just hit the highlights of my wandering here, but it's the desert. Having no landmarks or maps is kind of its thing.

This particular enemy can only be found in the stormy parts, which makes sense. It packs Aero, Whirlwind, and the self-buff Star Glow that grants Magic and Resist Up. Speed is key to taking it down.

They also have very good Evasion, which means GUTS has to stick to magic. He's pretty decent at it now, actually.

The Dust Devil doesn't really NEED Star Glow to cause problems given the randomness of Whirlwind, so be sure you can take it down before it gets Whirlwind off backed up by Star Glow.

To get to the north lookout tower, we gotta hit this ruin here. It's a bit southwest of the tower, and it provides the easiest way to get up to the mesas.

For extra fun, the south corner of this mesa has this!

I miss a jump and fall onto a scorpion armed with defense-lowering grip attacks.

Oh yeah, cool feature: if an enemy is blinded, its physical attacks all miss even if they're procced out of turn. Blinded enemies cannot use physical counters! And Werdna's got juuuust enough survivability that he's actually getting a lot of use out of Pocket Sand here.

I take the south side of that mesa one more time and find a path I can traverse by jumping pillars.

Another rapier, eh?

That's VERY nice for a Fencer speccing for crit damage, especially if they're using stuff like Nighthawk and Eagle Stance. Some really solid alpha strike damage.

After grabbing it, I pop back to Capital Sequoia for healing and find the noticeboard updated yet again.

So, obviously, if there's gear or a service in Sara Sara Bazaar's shops that we want but we can't remember that it's stocked there, going through every possible vendor's supply would be a massive pain. Fortunately, all of those services get ported to Capital Sequoia on discovery! Every matching shop for a given thing now has the same things for sale here as they do in Sara Sara Bazaar, without overwriting the older stock if that was a thing you wanted. Which is cool!

It's because they're not collecting Crystals. Serves 'em right I guess. Why else would they have come to the land of Sequoia?

By having this asshole talking with a sense of superiority about randomly being on the right side of an unfair status quo, Crystal Project has better political commentary than the vast majority of games out there. Good job, Crystal Project! Eat an entire box of Legos, Morton!

More skills! Meena has Blackout now and Werdna's got Equip Scythe.

Poor Werdna. Just barely behind the curve. Not by a huge amount, mind, he usually matches the party level one encounter after they do, but still.

Oh right, some lady wanted us to go find her son. Let's do that. The route is pretty simple, leave out of the gate she's standing by and hug the wall on your righthand side.

It's only possible to get up there from either the eastern gate or playing very cautiously with climbing up the ruins that had the Scope Lens.

You'll know you're close when the sandstorm starts dying down.

Oh, hi! You don't have cooties, do you? Wait... Ugh, oh shoot! How long have I been out here?! My mom's gonna kill me!!! Sorry, gotta run!

That's it. There's no way to progress past this point given the walls... and yet, we could actually come from around this area if we so chose! This is right around where the sequence break route from Spawning Meadows leads to.

Anyway, that's done.

I don't have much money, but I do have something of value which I can give you as a show of appreciation.

I would never take my idiot son across the ocean anyway, so I'll never use it.

You are perhaps not acting very grateful that your flesh and blood has not perished ignobly and been eaten by coyotes.

It's still a free Ferry Pass, and under no circumstances would we be able to get one legit. That might actually be good for a challenge run, now I think on it. You don't strictly NEED the Ferry Pass to access Shoudu Province; if you can get here, you can get to Shoudu in full, rather than just where the Mars Stone is.

Yo does anyone here like Fruits Basket.

Before we hit the ferry, a foodie approaches us.

I am CRAVING some foreign treats from across the ocean! Please go buy some local delicacies and bring them back here! If you do, I'll give you something REALLY valuable.

Well I trust you a hell of a lot more than the mom we just "saved" the son of. Sure, we'll bring you vittles.

Hey look the raft spawned in. Nice.

If you would.

The raft sets off and it doesn't take long before we're over terrain we can't even try to cross.

I should note that we have full control over our character during this time, the raft is just a moving object we're standing on.

So we can just do this if we want to.

Doesn't cost anything, and it's funny. Throw yourself off of a raft today!

If you look carefully, you CAN see terrain as you pass over it, but most of it is far below the surface of the sea and can't be observed from this tiny raft.

As we reach Shoudu Province, the sky takes on a gloomy tone.

And that's it! We have now reached Shoudu Province!

<Chloe> Hmph, nah. Last time you showed me a fishing spot, it was a total failure. It was for FISH, not birds.
<Talon> No no, I get it! I totally get it, and I found this AMAZING spot! You'll see! You'll totally agree.
<Chloe> ...OK, fine. But it BETTER be good! This is your second and last chance! If this spot sucks too, then I'll consider you a hopeless idiot forever.
<Talon> Ha! Well you won't be disappointed! Right this way! Follow me!

Still on that, huh? Well, have fun.

Anyway, first priority is this guy.

Hell yeah Shoudu Stew. It's good. We need one for the guy back in Sara Sara Bazaar, but they're worth picking up here, and this is the only place you can get it.

Is it true that we won't be Banished if we stay here? Does anyone even know for sure?

I'm pretty sure the only thing that keeps you from being Banished is just finding Crystals. I know there's a RUMOR that Shoudu Province is outside of the Grand Master's reach, but rumors are just that, rumors.

Someone really oughta put an end to the Grand Master. It's the only way we're gonna get out of this.

Note that all of the people panicking over Banishes are hovering around level 30, same as us. And Hector here is even rocking the heretofore-unseen Beatsmith class! There's even a Nomad you can find in Shoudu thinking the same stuff as everyone else. We are at exactly the level range everyone in the narrative that's panicking is at, with not much more or less completion than any other person here. The Grand Master's laser focus on Crystals is proving to be a strangehold.

Unfortunately, despite arriving in Shoudu Province for the second time, we're still not really able to explore it too thoroughly. The jumps are simply too far out of reach.

Yeah, there's Fathom, wondering how to climb up higher. We don't know yet, but we DO know that we're gonna access whatever we can.

There's a shop or something here who cares I'm climbing to the ceiling.

The Plague Mask is a very nice hat. Poison immunity is always a welcome prize, and being able to inflict it with physical attacks gives even casters with bookslaps something to do.

There's a staircase leading down to an unexplored area there, but I'm leaving it alone for now. We wouldn't be able to get very far down there either, right now, but maybe later.

There's rare enemies here, but they all run away from us and are faster than we are. Grinding fans, take note. These guys are important.

Consider this area a taste test for Shoudu Province proper. Even this tiny street is hardly straightforward, given the houses full of hidden routes and traps.

This salesperson is very important. The bag for fish is basically useless unless you specifically like Decent Cod as a restorative.

But still, buy it anyway.

Because that opens up sale of the map of Shoudu Province. You will Want a map of this place, even if not necessarily right now.

This treasure chest at the end of the road (just above where the black goat we saw our first time was!) has stumped many players as to how to access it. I don't think we can right now, but we'll be back for it.

It is Chinese for "capital", that checks out.

That really about does it. Shoudu Province holds a lot to it, but we can't really reach any of it yet.

Also nuts to the ferry I have a Home Point Stone.

Sure did!

Enjoy your stew!

As a token of my appreciation, please have a map of the local wilderness.

YES HELL YES IM HAPPY TO HELP MAPS MAPS MAPS MAPS MAAAAAAAPS

Let's also buy the Sara Sara Bazaar map. We now have plenty of context to figure ouy where we are.

As you can see, Poko Poko Desert is very large... but not impossibly so! It compares to Delende more or less evenly, but the lack of landmarks and a map makes it extremely hard to figure out where you are at first. Once you get the map, figuring out where you are and where you need to go becomes much easier. We still have a lot of it to fill in, but that can happen later. That verdant bit in the corner is, of course, Spawning Meadows, helpfully putting Poko Poko Desert into context with the world at large.

Anyway, we still gotta hit the North Lookout Tower. That's right here. As you can see, if we approach from the ruin south of it as mentioned, we can climb up to the mesa, and get from there to the tower, so LET'S! GO! DO THAT!

Having a map also means I can clean out ruins along the way without totally losing my bearings on where I was going.

Plus, I can fill out the map on my way AND take notes if I see cool stuff I can't currently reach. Or I can just reference this LP screenshot, complete with minimap being charmingly filled in!

See, we've confirmed the tower location already. I love having a map.

There we go, all but guaranteed now.

Perfect. Let's get back to Reid.

I think this proves it. You must have the same craving for adventure that I do. So, take this, and use it.

Whether you're looking for Crystals or adventure, this'll bring it to you. Trust me! Maybe it'll also help you discover the real reason we've all come to this world.

Lofty promises, but I'm sure not gonna turn down...

The Pyramid Key! And we know exactly where to use this thing!

GO AWAY IM ADVENTURING.

Oh dang, Reid wasn't kidding. Frame 1 crystal.

Well, let's get that under our belts real quick.

Dervish! Gokue's been showing off this class for a while and he's not the only one to do so. It'll be in the writeup as usual.

As for the Ancient Reservoir itself, that'll be next time, but there are two very well-hidden treasures to grab here. The first is directly above the crystal.

The Red Coat is a super nice bit of medium armor for lots of builds, with GUTS being most able to use it out of our current party. A more conventional Rogue/Wizard hybrid would also be a great pick for it, and it's great for the new Dervish class too.

The Hat counterpart is hidden under the entrance. It's possible one could find it without a guide on their first time given that the chest is right in the middle of what would otherwise be a "hidden" pathway. I'm pretty sure I found that but not the Coat.

Coat, but for head.

The rest of the path heads down below, and we'll tackle that area next time.

TO DO:

• Build the perfect starting team.
• Explore Spawning Meadows.
  • Prove the existence of black squirrels.
  • Try to find another route out of Spawning Meadows.
• Explore Delende.
  • Cross the bridge to the Proving Meadows.
  • Explore the Fish Hatchery.
  • Explore the Pale Grotto.
    • Defeat Guardian.
    • Find the Slate Crystal.
    • Find the Fencer class.
  • Explore the Soiled Den.
    • Defeat Bone Thief.
    • Trade an Earth Bangle to Huntie.
  • Explore the Basement of the Cabin on the Cliff.
    • Defeat Gran.
  • Find the dogs' bones.
• Explore Seaside Cliffs.
  • Trade 13 Clamshells to Manana Man.
  • Find a rare monster that drops an Earth Bangle.
  • Explore Draft Shaft Conduit.
    • Defeat Canal Beast.
    • Find the Violet Crystal.
    • Find the Shaman class.
• Explore Proving Meadows.
  • Find three crystals.
  • Defeat Knight.
  • Explore the Trial Caves.
    • Find the Yellow Crystal.
    • Find the Aegis class.
    • Explore Skumparadise.
      • Defeat Parasite.
• Explore Yamagawa M.A.
  • Defeat Sepulchra.
  • Find the Aquamarine Crystal.
  • Find the Scholar class.
    • Find every Monster Magic spell.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Scholar.
• Explore the Capital Courtyard.
  • Find the Courtyard Key.
  • Defeat Enami.
• Explore Capital Sequoia.
  • Find all the penguins.
  • Find all the Craftwork gear.
    • Upgrade all the Craftwork gear to Silver gear.
      • Upgrade all the Silver gear to Gold gear.
  • Obtain the Gaea Stone.
  • Clear the hedge maze of Improper Imps.
  • Find a way past the hedge maze.
    • Either defeat or circumvent Orchard and Little H.
  • Enter the Luxury shop.
    • Find sixteen crystals to expand the Luxury shop stock.
  • Get past the guard on the west gate.
  • Defeat all the training dummies.
  • Find three Digested Heads for Sam the Sadist.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Warrior.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Monk.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Rogue.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Wizard.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Cleric.
  • Explore Jojo Sewers.
    • Explore the Boomer Society.
    • Trade a Crag Demon Horn to Marlin.
    • Explore Capital Jail.
      • Defeat Warden.
      • Find the Crimson Crystal.
      • Find the Reaper class.
• Explore the Rolling Quintar Fields.
  • Meet the Quintar Enthusiast.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fiendish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Brutish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fancy Quintar Eye.
    • Obtain a Quintar Pass.
    • Obtain the Quintar Flute.
  • Explore Quintar Nest.
    • Find the Olive Crystal.
    • Find the Hunter class.
  • Explore Quintar Sanctum.
    • Find the Violet Red Crystal.
    • Find the Chemist class.
    • Defeat the Fancy Quintar.
• Explore Cobblestone Crag.
  • Defeat the Crag Demon.
• Explore Okimoto N.S.
  • Defeat Kuromanto.
  • Find the Shadow Crystal.
  • Find the Ninja class.
• Explore Shoudu Province.
  • Obtain the Mars Stone.
• Explore Greenshire Reprise.
• Explore Salmon Pass.
  • Explore Salmon River.
    • Win the Salmon Sprint.
    • Explore River Cat's Ego.
      • Find the Goldenrod Crystal.
      • Find the Nomad class.
• Explore Mercury Shrine.
  • Obtain the Mercury Stone.
• Explore Poseidon Shrine.
  • Obtain the Poseidon Stone.
• Explore the Overpass.
  • Find enough Overpass Scraps for a map.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Aegis.
• Explore the Underpass.
  • Find enough Underpass Scraps for a map.
  • Explore Capital Pipeline.
• Explore Poko Poko Desert.
  • Find the three lookout towers.
  • Find the terrible mom's son.
  • Explore Ancient Reservoir.
    • Find the Pale Rose Crystal.
    • Find the Dervish class.
• Explore Sara Sara Bazaar.
  • Bring the food enthusiast some Shoudu Stew.
  • Obtain a Ferry Pass.
  • Find the Tram Key.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
  • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Beastmaster class.
• Find the Assassin class.
• Find the Samurai class.
• Find the Beatsmith class.

 

[Kalir]

DERVISH
Supplicant of the Sands

STATS

• HP: 4
• MP: 6
• Strength: 6
• Vitality: 6
• Dexterity: 3
• Agility: 2
• Mind: 7
• Spirit: 3
• Speed: 5
• Luck: 7

PROFICIENCIES

• Weapons: Scythes, Books
• Armor: Medium Headgear, Medium Armor, Light Hat, Light Armor

INNATE PASSIVES

• Aura: Gaining AP also restores an equal amount of MP.

If someone was to say "I'm running a Dervish" as a class in a video game, usually one would assume a nimble damage class, matching with the whole expectation of the whirling dervish one sees from certain kinds of dervish. Weirdly, Dervish in Crystal Project is a pretty apt representation of such a real-world role, but NOT one built around dancing. It's instead modeled after the monastic definition of the dervish as represented by Islam. Dervish is built as a kind of hybrid offense class like Reaper, but to a less extreme angle and with their main Prayer Magic moveset focused on the magic side of things, obviously. It also boasts a surprisingly amount of longevity for an offensive caster class, considering the Aura innate, the stat spread and the decent amount of self-sustain moves Prayer Magic has available. So in that vein, it's a good option for a magic tank, if you will.

Dervish doesn't have big pronounced weaknesses like many other classes so much as it has a confluence of little annoying things that add up. The only major weaknesses of the stat spread are low Dexterity, Agility, and Spirit, most of which is fine but kind of limits flex options. Their favored spell elements are either Earth (which many enemies are immune to) and Wind (which has high randomness to it, including crit and miss chances). Their biggest spells are area spells, so they suffer in single-target bullying compared to a Wizard or Shaman, especially given their huge CT. They have a pretty good equipment selection, but most players will prefer the raw power of a Wand, which means an entry into Dervish requires some Wizard investment. The self-sustain options only cost CT, which is like the one resource you really don't want to spend for self-sustain. It has an even uglier LP bottleneck than Wizard does. Even the stat spread is good, but hardly excellent, making it a kind of tepid pick for a character that just wants to pick a clearly defined role.

Dervish is attractive to exactly the same kind of characters that would run Reaper but are too afraid to completely shred their survivability for killpower. In particular, tanks that want to flex into magic offense will find Dervish a VERY nice choice given the access to medium armor and Aura letting them effectively never run out of MP. The skillset of Prayer Magic is also a very handy toolkit, boasting offense, debuffs, and self-sustain that's valuable to anyone with the Mind stat to run it. Pretty simple really. It's also decently useful for a more traditional caster, like Shaman or Wizard, that wants a stat spread more suited to taking the hits they'll accrue from Threat.

Spoiler: MOVESET: PRAYER MAGIC

Quakesand
Costs: 10 MP, 30 CT
Single Target Magic
Damage Formula: 250 + 1.8 Mnd
Earth Elemental
Inflicts Power Down (-35% physical damage taken) debuff on the target for 1 turn.
Prereqs: None

Solid base damage and a handy debuff on the opening Prayer Magic spell make this nice for someone even if they don't have much of a Mind score going into Dervish, but the costs are pretty high for a spell that really isn't going to scale very far into the game, and being Earth element means that lots of enemies that you'd love to debuff are just going to not even slightly care. And as ever, a single-turn debuff plus a load of CT makes that debuff very hard to wield.

Tornado
Costs: 10 MP, 40 CT
Single Target Magic
Damage Formula: 200 + 1.8 Mnd
50% Crit Chance
25% Crit Damage
Wind Elemental
Inflicts Magic Down (-35% magical damage taken) debuff on the target for 1 turn.
Prereqs: 1 LP

Earth spells are obviously gonna run into a lot of no-selling down the line, but Wind spells, at least in isolation, should suffer no such problem. And Tornado here is a perfectly reasonable alternative to Quakesand, trading a bit of the base power for some pretty high crit chance, and the physical debuff for a magical one. The extra CT is the only problem I have with Tornado, at least.

Fissure
Costs: 21 MP, 50 CT
Multi Target Magic
Damage Formula: 350 + 2.9 Mnd
Earth Elemental
Prereqs: Quakesand, 2 LP

50 CT for this?! This is Firen with better base damage and an Earth element! It's good, mind you, that still kills the hell out of a lot of encounters as well as Earth Split does, but that CT is WAY too high for a mid-tier spell on a primary caster. Again, Dervish as a class is really good on paper, but the more you look, the more you find little bothersome things that make it just kind of tepid compared to the alternatives.

Cyclone
Costs: 23 MP, 60 CT
Multi Target Magic
Damage Formula: 360 + 3.15 Mnd
90% Accuracy
50% Crit Chance
25% Crit Damage
Wind Elemental
Prereqs: Tornado, 2 LP

Here's where the issues with the Wind side of Prayer Magic kicks in. Like Scholar's comparable spells, Cyclone suffers from an accuracy penalty. It also has a lot more CT on it in exchange for the better accuracy and crit chance (but not damage) than Whirlwind. Accuracy on a spell is a very frustrating issue to deal with because there are no ways for any class to mitigate it. And this being an area spell, Cyclone is still gonna hit at least one thing you cast it on... unless you're using it in boss fights for the higher damage compared to Quakesand or Tornado. Then you have contend with burning 60 CT to do nothing.

Magic Prayer
Costs: 30 CT
Self Only Magic
Applies Magic Prayer (immune to Silence and MP damage, -10% magical damage taken) buff for 6 turns.
Prereqs: Quakesand, 1 LP

Magic Prayer is nice if you're tired of your casters getting shut down by traditional antimagic methods... but the thing is, those aren't usually methods you'll encounter. Silence and MP damage are both only found in specific areas, and they're annoying and it's nice to disable them, sure. And if you're playing a caster as a tank, it's basically free to use given the only cost being CT and the huge duration. It's just a very situational tool, which is fine and okay.

Rockslide
Costs: 40 MP, 70 CT
Multi Target Magic
Damage Formula: 500 + 3.9 Mnd
Earth Elemental
Prereqs: Fissure, 5 LP

One thing Dervish definitely has going for it is supreme raw damage on its area spells. Rockslide might have more CT than Firena or Boltena, and it might be Earth element, but it also outputs enough damage to flatten anything that's not immune to it. A combination of heavy base damage and a phenomenal Mind scalar make Rockslide one of the beefiest area spells in the game, with the only major competition existing only in the spell list of Prayer Magic and one other class.

Soul Prayer
Costs: 30 CT
Self Only Magic
Recovery Formula: 50 + 1.5 Mnd
Removes one debuff.
Prereqs: Cyclone, 2 LP

It's a self-heal that uses Mind as the scalar, which is certainly nice given Dervish's mediocre Spirit, and since it's both a heal and a debuff clear it's pretty nice on that front. Again, the main concern here is that it only costs CT, which is the one resource you don't really want to spend on self-sustain. Hell, Dervish has no problems spending MP considering their decent stat and Aura innate. It's still nice, especially for the aforementioned tanking role and if combined with Focus Shield, but I'm just looking hungrily at Roost.

Vigor Drain
Costs: 30 CT
Single Target Magic
AP Damage Formula: 6 + 0.03 Mnd
100% AP Absorb
Ignores Resistance.
Prereqs: Rockslide, 2 LP

This is a weird one. If you're up against an enemy that depends on using AP for a murder move and will definitely have that AP due to taking damage, Vigor Drain is a funny way to say "nah do a basic attack instead". If you want to speed up your own AP gain, it's... probably not as good as doing a basic attack unless you're using a book or something. Dervish gets some extra mileage out of this thanks to Aura, letting Vigor Drain also function as MP restoration. It's a cool option, if a situational one.

Typhoon
Costs: 43 MP, 80 CT
Multi Target Magic
Damage Formula: 550 + 4.1 Mnd
90% Accuracy
50% Crit Chance
25% Crit Damage
Wind Elemental
Prereqs: Cyclone, 5 LP

Again, once Dervish gets to the later end of Prayer Magic, the damage on those area spells gets scary. This has damage competitive with Flare, but instead of ignoring Resistance, it's AOE and has a crit chance. Flare level damage getting to crit is scary. By that same token, Flare level damage missing is scary but in the wrong direction. And, of course, the CT here is absolutely colossal, putting everything we've seen so far to shame. At least it'll obliterate the hell out of wandering Flames.

Meteor
Costs: 80 MP, 80 CT
Everything Target Magic
Damage Formula: 1000 + 5.5 Mnd
Prereqs: Vigor Drain, Typhoon, 6 LP

So, obviously, using Meteor seriously in a fight is just gonna end with you dying. It's overkill for randoms, and even if you somehow survive hitting your entire team with the best spell damage in the game, any boss enemy will still live it, and they won't have to spend time on putting the pieces back together for it. So for like... 99% of players, Meteor is not a spell they will cast more than once for the hell of it. Still, remember this is here. We may find just the piece we need to make it work.

Spoiler: PASSIVES

Focus Shield
Costs: 2 PP
-50% damage taken during any ability's CT.
Prereqs: Tornado, 2 LP

This is another passive where I can definitely see the applications, especially with Dervish being used for a tank build and with other CT-heavy classes, but which I feel most players will disregard in favor of just mitigating CT as much as possible. Action economy is king in any game that affords it, and Crystal Project is no exception. Reducing damage during CT is a consolation prize, and usually an insufficient one, but it's an option if you want it, and it's not like Dervish will turn it down.

Critical Power
Costs: 2 PP
Self Only Magic
Self-applies Magic Up (+35% magical damage dealt) buff when critically injured for 4 turns.
Prereqs: Magic Prayer, Focus Shield, 2 LP

I mean... if you're playing Dervish as a magic tank using Focus Shield to weather hits to the point where you hit critical HP, you'll get to the point of tripping this passive, sure. But if you're at critical health, Magic Up isn't the buff you're gonna want. At least one turn of that buff is gonna be lost to defensive measures, or all of the turns are gonna be lost by a follow-up attack. Just isn't hitting for me.

 

[Kalir]

It's not a very large dungeon, but the implications of completion, so to speak, mean that Ancient Reservoir is the only thing we'll be taclking today.

The Ancient Reservoir is largely divided into these small pools, which can have boxes floating in them as moving platforms. Sometimes they drift to and fro as here, sometimes they sink briefly.

Enemies are freely patrolling the corridors, but in the pool rooms they lurk beneath the surface to ambush when your platform gets close.

Off to the furthest east side, you can find a collapsed passageway with some veins of silver. Still got a fair bit left to get before we can upgrade everything, to say nothing of service costs.

On our way back through the pool, we get attacked by this water ghoul thing. As you might expect, its got a decent physical move with Fury Swipes, but it also has some water magic that does chunky damage and can inflict Confusion.

Shouldn't be an issue to your team no matter how it's built.

The pool rooms aren't too hard to traverse if you just keep calm.

Yeah the hallway enemies jump out of the water too.

The Sand type enemies down here all resist Water, annoyingly for GUTS, but the Sand Crab at least has a Thunder weakness. It's also capable of paralyzing or lowering defense with its big pinchy moves.

Lots of gates down here, but at least if you go down a tunnel towards a gate you get a consolation prize. That's nice.

Anyway, because I remember most of the layout, I'm gonna basically take exploration here by sides. Explore every avenue from the eastern pool here, then from the west.

The water-ambushing enemies are faster than you, but they also have very short patrol ranges. If you move fast you can usually get them to lose interest.

Western room has the sinking boxes. Just timing of a different flavor.

The furthest west branch passageway isn't collapsed and is very worth checking out.

Got an automated raft and another enemy!

Bandages is basically an upgraded Zombie. Their Wrap attack can paralyze, and they don't start out poisoned. Far from it, they're immune to Bleed and get extra strength healing, a perfect combo for their Regenerate spell! A neat set of tricks, albeit not one likely to kill you to pieces.

As far as builds go, I'm still not sure what I'm doing with everyone. The lack of an Agility/Dexterity focused character is kind of a thorn in my side that's limiting my options. I could probably respec Frieren or Werdna for that if I arsed myself into going to the growth facility, but I decided GUTS should be a hybrid caster because I wanted to give Nomad a try and now I have to live with that. Maybe after Nomad I actually commit to the bit and make him a Hunter or even a Fencer for a while. He doesn't have to be a tank anymore, Meena's got Monk levels and HP Boost and Frieren's good at healing.

Anyway, raft!

There's two places you can depart, and the raft doesn't brake for the first one. I get there because I remember where it is and I wanted to be cool.

The stairs here lead us to a passageway over a few pool rooms!

This room here is not only the front door of the final chamber, it's one worth investigating because the map is right down there and I forgot it. At least this area is easy enough to work out without one.

This path is just past the gate with the Potion Pouch we got earlier!

Oh no, new enemies! I probably don't have to tell you that Sand Bombs are powerful enemies with a lethal Explode move that kills the user and most likely whatever they're aiming at. I DO have to tell you that they also have Barrier, resist Water, and are immune to Earth because floating. Wanted to take your cool new Dervish class for a spin? NO! YOU USED THE EARTH CASTER! HUMILIATION, NOW!

If you're wondering whether I regret changing GUTS over to Nomad, the answer is no. Nomad playstyle is awesome. These En-Water and En-Ice stances are cool and I really want to get those armor stances.

By the way, Explode is Monster Magic, and anyone with Learning needs to actually survive the move being used to learn it. And GUTS isn't a Scholar right now. Guess we're gonna take a brief detour back after this.

Anyway, button. That's a progress button if I ever saw one.

Hey, don't gotta twist my arm on it. We're currently in the southeastern pool room, so logic dictates the southwestern one has its counterpart.

If you went straight south to the best of your ability, you'd see that sign on your way to the locked end of the dungeon complete with map. So at least no matter which way you go here, there's progress. That's cool.

Anyway, what's over here?

Oooh, another autoraft!

Unfortunately for it, I know where it goes, and it's a one-way path to a pool room we don't need to go to, plus I'm low on items and need to restock.

Actually y'know what? Yeah, Frieren's good at healing! Meena, you're also gonna be a tank!

My heavy armor's looking a little outdated, but that's what the blacksmith is for.

Perfect. No matter what, she's still using a staff, because either her subcommand is White Magic and she wants Spirit, or her subcommand is Martial Arts and she wants compatibility with that (and Spirit for Chi Burst). And once I get some Aegis tech under her belt, we can also go back to Monk for Counter! I do also put on the Aggro Band for the extra Threat generation, since Aegis has some trouble with that.

Been earning plenty of cash lately, so I also grab some stuff I've been long overdue on, like cleaning up my maps.

As you can see, Greenshire Reprise has barely been explored since we've been there. Not a surprise given how scary the fights there are. Don't worry, after we finish the Ancient Reservoir we're well overdue for a cleanup run.

Speaking of, the map for Poko Poko Desert is still pretty splotchy. I cleaned up the area near the pyramid on my way there, but everything else definitely needs some combing.

Yeah, reviewing everyone's stats, it's quickly becoming apparent that I'm sacrificing Dexterity and Agility pretty hard. Not that that's bad in and of itself, gotta sacrifice something, but I'm going to curtail myself too hard before long. I'll have GUTS go Hunter or something soon.

The person with the best Dexterity right now is Werdna, and while he's definitely doing great on the stat... Rogue's a very committal class that I'm not entirely prepared to throw all-in on just yet. It doesn't help that the only other Dexterity class we have right now is Ninja and uhhhhhh you might have noticed that I don't like Ninja.

Frieren's at least got generalist enough stats that we can take her in any direction, although odds are I'm gonna have her stay as a support character for a while.

Meena hasn't skipped Spirit day once in her life, but that kind of hyperspecialization really limits her other options. Hence my recent decision to flex to Aegis for a bit, since it doesn't sacrifice Spirit and gives her a new avenue to explore in an area she's okay in.

A more standard player would just have everyone commit to focusing on a single stat. GUTS stays on Strength, Werdna on Mind, Meena on Spirit, and Frieren on idk magic stuff. I don't roll like that. We're Johnny as hell in this house.

Oh yeah one quick change, I do want GUTS in Scholar to pick up Explode. Not that I expect to use it often, if ever, but it's there, so I want it. Of course, Werdna's still using the Learner's Pin and will get it too.

Right, exploring. West, then south today.

I GOT THE BOX HAHAHA

This time, we take the raft all the way.

So, with this in mind, it's easy to think of the Ancient Reservoir as something of a 3x3 grid of pools. We're in the southwestern one now, of course.

We passed over this in the raft tunnel before, but approaching from the south we can get there pretty easily.

The box here floats lazily in a diagonal swerve and isn't too hard to get onto.

Leads to some cash and a Defense Shifter, not bad.

FOR SOME REASON, I could not for the life of me make this jump back up. I tried like ten times in a row and beefed it every single time and I have no idea why. I eventually just used the Home Point Stone to get out of there.

MOVING ON.

That's the central southern pool area, of course.

We're now in the central one, having arrived from the northwestern route. Both northwest and northeast go here.

Yeah you better hide.

Central eastern has a wire crossing all through it that undoubtedly leads to some goodies, probably.

Note that for convenience's sake you should really dismount from the Quintar on this thing. It's not built for fine control.

Oh, nothing here. Yeah the southeast raft would take you here, but it would crash and sink at the end since the path is collapsed, so this is really only a return route for that. WHOOPS.

Anyway, time to start building Meena's Aegis moveset. Nice of them to put the passives early on in the tree. They know what you're here for.

To go further south to the end, you have these two boxes moving back and forth at different rates. It's not too hard, but it might take an inexperienced platformer a few tries.

And if you mess it up, this happens.

Cover in action! No touching my squishy damage dealer.

Nailed it. Now back to Nomad for GUTS.

And now with Moon Slash available, Werdna has a way to restore MP midfight! Not, y'know, an especially effective one. Per enemy he's only getting about 10 after you factor in defenses. But that's something!

Let's see how Dervish suits him!

Also: I'm far overdue for restocking my supplies. I can't get Ethers off of this without burning much more money than I'm comfy with, but Potions, Fenix Juices, and Tinctures are fair game.

Oh yeah one other thing. I haven't really checked the stores for high-end gear lately, I've mostly been spending on consumables and maps and using either treasures or crafting for my gear. Disregard the stores at your own peril. I've seen people make a very strong case that the Baton, with its ability to halve CT for the user, far outweighs the stat penalty using it would have... as an ENDGAME weapon. The other weapons from the stores are cool too, with axes having lots of extra AP on battle start and two kinds of staff for either brawling or healing complete with replacing the basic attack with a zero-cost Aid heal. But the Baton is seriously strong, because action economy best. It's available as soon as you hit Sara Sara Bazaar, but affording it is another question entirely. Nothing a few trips to the Ancient Reservoir can't fix, of course.

I will at least grab this Cleric's Hood for Frieren. If I'm casting Blaze as my basic attack most of the time with her, why not make it better?

Back into it.

This southernmost section is where the blocked paths to the switches is. It also has an enemy that I elect to fight for the sake of more Dervish LXP.

That's a nasty piece of work. The Sand Blaster is an aggressive Water element caster with a Thunder weakness and Earth immunity.

Again, Frieren isn't a magic offense powerhouse like Werdna is, but the Doublecast Frost/Blaze combo does decent damage while also setting up for allies.

Problem: Werdna's got Prayer Magic now. No Bolten.

Also this team only has Frieren as a source of revives right now haha whooooops.

At least the Sand Blaster isn't very sturdy.

Anyway, if you go this way first, you can see both switch rooms clearly from the hallway.

And south of it is the Main Reservoir Chamber, which we already hit the switches for!

Had we not yet hit both switches, the hole there would be blocked. The goat and Home Point would still be there, as would...

This map that we no longer need. But we have it now and that's great.

If the hole was blocked, the goat would just screech at you. But now, it's free to leap down.

See? Once you know what you're looking for, the Ancient Reservoir is pretty simple. Don't mind the weird offset of the pyramid part, it just does that for some reason.

For Werdna in Dervish, the main thing I really want is Focus Shield. Don't get me wrong, bit stupid blaster spells for randoms is good too, but I expect I'll be fiending for CT pretty hard with Wizard and Dervish among his movesets. Any insurance for those spells I can get, I take, plus he's pretty light on passives right now.

Speaking of passives, Meena gets Natural Tank. It's not a big amount of Threat, but if she wants to tank, she needs to be able to output Threat, and she's kind of lacking in that department right now. Once I get this and Counter online, the engine will sustain itself a little more effectively.

DON'T MIND ME JUST FILLING OUT MY MAP A BIT MORE.

Since I smell a boss coming up, I change Meena back to Monk for that LXP we need for Counter.

Going down the hole, we land in the middle of a verdant patch full of goats.

Oh, my mistake, these are ibeks. Not to be confused with the very similar real-world animal, the ibex.

This one is freaking out about something down this path.

Don't worry, we're professionals.

Professionals at MONSTER ASS-WHUPPIN

As you can already see from the timestamp here, Possessor is a fight that can drag on for a long amount of time. Possessor itself isn't especially deadly, it only has basic attacks, Atmoshear, and a Fireblast spell with heavy Variance and a Burn rider. The problem is that it summons Petrified Masks more or less constantly through the fight, and you can't afford to ignore them since they can Possess your team, preventing them from taking any actions until the effect is cleared or the Petrified Mask responsible is destroyed. This means that you either need to have lots of status clearing or lots of strong damage output, and our team mostly has the former, so we're stuck taking the long road through this fight. If you used Dervish as your new job from the start of Ancient Reservoir, the heavy AOE of a Cyclone would be more than sufficient to keep the masks in check, and a Wizard using Firena/Boltena, a Reaper with Nightfall, or a Fencer spamming Swallowtail could get similar results, but I kinda left those options in the shop. That's my mistake to make, though. If playing on your own, bring lots of strong AOE options as well as debuff clearing to get through Possessor in a fraction of the time I did.

With the Possessor slain, the ibeks cautiously crowd around us.

Oh, cool! Thanks guys!

That's right! Quintars aren't the only things you can ride in this game! Slam this sucker on the Favorites menu immediately and be amazed!

In exchange for being no faster than our default walking speed, the ibek has a charge-up jump. Hold the button down long enough...

And you can clear three blocks in a single jump!

Getting the ibek, or any other new mount, will drastically open up the game world for us to find all sorts of things. I'll let you all stew over the ramifications of this for now and just take the ibek here out of this cavern in the expected direction.

Because, obviously, we have this fun new area to get used to our meteoric new jump height.

Thanks again, guys!

Natural sunlight and a Home Point await us at the top.

Oh hey, Sara Sara Beach! We must be right by the Bazaar.

Well, first things first, we're setting this Home Point as ours. Ibek's Cave here is a great point to start from with new three-height jump technology.

But like I said, we're gonna just do a little bit today. This small section of Sara Sara Beach, plus one other important thing, are all we're covering for the rest of this update. This kind of jump height needs time to sink in, y'know?

Oh hey Astley, haven't seen you lately.

Hows it going? I'm glad I ran into you. I've been wanting to say, just based on all the stuff going on lately with the Banishes. Just... try not to get too wrapped up in it.Keep your sights set on the important things. You'll hear people argue about whether you should be a crystal collector or a non-crystal adventurer or whatever. But none of that matters. What matters is that these rules are bullshit. And we have to do something about it.

I mean I'm largely in the same boat as Reid here. Why even draw a distinction, y'know?

Well, we're going to find out if that's true.

NEVER MIND MURDER THE GODS AND TOPPLE THEIR THRONES I'm so down for this you don't even know.

Anyway yeah, we're right by Sara Sara Bazaar, so I'm stopping by here to buy a beach map.

When we get back to Capital Sequoia for the final thingy we're doing today, we're greeted with a new notice.

Have I mentioned that MURDER THE GODS AND TOPPLE THEIR THRONES

I've been so caught up in tweaking my build that I haven't found any new Crystals in forever! I'm so done!

Seriously, why are you trying to come down so hard on people not exploring Sequoia the right way? Marsel ain't done nothing wrong, and while I don't think I'm quite the kind of player that, oh say, Sven Everwinter is, I don't think he deserves to get Banished for, and I quote, "wasting time".

Things are really getting messed up around here these days. But, I heard a rumour that anyone fleeing to the Shoudu Province is safe.

I wouldn't put a lot of stock in a rumor like that. If what we know about the Grand Master is true, they are likely omniscient and could see people hiding out in the Shoudu Province trivially. Only safe way to go is to get Crystals, and that's easier said than done if we don't know where to look.

Anyway enough about that. We're gonna crawl all over the capital with our trusty new ibek. There are two points now accessible that previously weren't here. (Technically three, but we're ignoring that one for Reasons.)

First, this jump here.

Yep, Master Warlock. But more than that...

This interacts with the garden here in Capital Sequoia in ways I'm not bothering to investigate.

I use the map and stamps to not only mark master (and summon) locations, but check off which ones we've done. While we're here, you can see some spots we can access now, right? Specifically, that chimney to our west?

That's right! Our ibek can get in here now!

What

I... see?

Yeah they hide a crystal right in Capital Sequoia! Now that's cheeky. This is a big part of what I'm talking about when I say that there's almost always something new to discover even in places you've traversed loads of times in your adventures.

Unsurprisingly, this crystal awards Beatsmith. Not gonna have anyone use it just yet, but I probably will later down the line.

You can drop down here to reach the Master Cleric and otherwise exit the secret Beatsmith rave.

So yeah, we have an ibek now! This opens up a whole truckload of possible places to investigate! What I'll probably do for the next update is use this time to comb the Overpass, finding enough scraps to get the map once it's available, and clean up maps of existing areas in need of some grooming like Poko Poko Desert and Delende.

One thing I am considering for you, the reader, is bolding specific options in the to-do list that would be especially worth investigating given the point I end any given update at. I don't expect or intend for this to become a full user participation LP, but I do know where the Good Stuff is, and giving readers somewhat unfamiliar with the game the chance to steer towards certain flavors of good stuff sounds kind of appealing to me. Let me know if you want me to highlight stuff in the to-do list for later updates to focus on!

TO DO:

• Build the perfect starting team.
• Explore Spawning Meadows.
  • Prove the existence of black squirrels.
  • Try to find another route out of Spawning Meadows.
• Explore Delende.
  • Cross the bridge to the Proving Meadows.
  • Explore the Fish Hatchery.
  • Explore the Pale Grotto.
    • Defeat Guardian.
    • Find the Slate Crystal.
    • Find the Fencer class.
  • Explore the Soiled Den.
    • Defeat Bone Thief.
    • Trade an Earth Bangle to Huntie.
  • Explore the Basement of the Cabin on the Cliff.
    • Defeat Gran.
  • Find the dogs' bones.
• Explore Seaside Cliffs.
  • Trade 13 Clamshells to Manana Man.
  • Find a rare monster that drops an Earth Bangle.
  • Explore Draft Shaft Conduit.
    • Defeat Canal Beast.
    • Find the Violet Crystal.
    • Find the Shaman class.
• Explore Proving Meadows.
  • Find three crystals.
  • Defeat Knight.
  • Explore the Trial Caves.
    • Find the Yellow Crystal.
    • Find the Aegis class.
    • Explore Skumparadise.
      • Defeat Parasite.
• Explore Yamagawa M.A.
  • Defeat Sepulchra.
  • Find the Aquamarine Crystal.
  • Find the Scholar class.
    • Find every Monster Magic spell.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Scholar.
• Explore the Capital Courtyard.
  • Find the Courtyard Key.
  • Defeat Enami.
• Explore Capital Sequoia.
  • Find all the penguins.
  • Find all the Craftwork gear.
    • Upgrade all the Craftwork gear to Silver gear.
      • Upgrade all the Silver gear to Gold gear.
  • Obtain the Gaea Stone.
  • Clear the hedge maze of Improper Imps.
  • Find a way past the hedge maze.
    • Either defeat or circumvent Orchard and Little H.
  • Enter the Luxury shop.
    • Find sixteen crystals to expand the Luxury shop stock.
  • Get past the guard on the west gate.
  • Defeat all the training dummies.
  • Find three Digested Heads for Sam the Sadist.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Warrior.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Monk.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Rogue.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Wizard.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Cleric.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Warlock.
  • Find the Chartreuse Crystal.
  • Find the Beatsmith class.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Beatsmith.
  • Explore Jojo Sewers.
    • Explore the Boomer Society.
    • Trade a Crag Demon Horn to Marlin.
    • Explore Capital Jail.
      • Defeat Warden.
      • Find the Crimson Crystal.
      • Find the Reaper class.
• Explore the Rolling Quintar Fields.
  • Meet the Quintar Enthusiast.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fiendish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Brutish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fancy Quintar Eye.
    • Obtain a Quintar Pass.
    • Obtain the Quintar Flute.
  • Explore Quintar Nest.
    • Find the Olive Crystal.
    • Find the Hunter class.
  • Explore Quintar Sanctum.
    • Find the Violet Red Crystal.
    • Find the Chemist class.
    • Defeat the Fancy Quintar.
• Explore Cobblestone Crag.
  • Defeat the Crag Demon.
• Explore Okimoto N.S.
  • Defeat Kuromanto.
  • Find the Shadow Crystal.
  • Find the Ninja class.
• Explore Shoudu Province.
  • Obtain the Mars Stone.
• Explore Greenshire Reprise.
• Explore Salmon Pass.
  • Explore Salmon River.
    • Win the Salmon Sprint.
    • Explore River Cat's Ego.
      • Find the Goldenrod Crystal.
      • Find the Nomad class.
• Explore Mercury Shrine.
  • Obtain the Mercury Stone.
• Explore Poseidon Shrine.
  • Obtain the Poseidon Stone.
• Explore the Overpass.
  • Find enough Overpass Scraps for a map.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Aegis.
• Explore the Underpass.
  • Find enough Underpass Scraps for a map.
  • Explore Capital Pipeline.
• Explore Poko Poko Desert.
  • Find the three lookout towers.
  • Find the terrible mom's son.
  • Explore Ancient Reservoir.
    • Find the Pale Rose Crystal.
    • Find the Dervish class.
    • Defeat Possessor.
    • Obtain the Ibek Bell.
• Explore Sara Sara Bazaar.
  • Bring the food enthusiast some Shoudu Stew.
  • Obtain a Ferry Pass.
  • Find the Tram Key.
  • Explore Sara Sara Beach.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
  • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Beastmaster class.
• Find the Assassin class.
• Find the Samurai class.

 

[Kalir]

BEATSMITH
Performing Icon

STATS

• HP: 7
• MP: 3
• Strength: 7
• Vitality: 3
• Dexterity: 6
• Agility: 4
• Mind: 3
• Spirit: 3
• Speed: 10
• Luck: 2

PROFICIENCIES

• Weapons: Staffs
• Armor: Medium Headgear, Medium Armor

INNATE PASSIVES

• Rhythm: Repeating an action grants it a stacking 20% damage/healing bonus, up to 60%.

Crystal Project doesn't really have a buffbot Bard or Dancer class. No, its got a cooler idea. Beatsmith is a generalist with a very strong twist, with access to all sorts of useful things in their Beatmaker toolkit. It's actually a lot like Rogue, where it offers some very strong advantages counterbalanced by a significant drawback to the entire playstyle. You want physical damage? Magic damage? Support with healing or MP recovery? Debuffing and shutdown? Good news! Beatsmith can do all of that, and do it very well. In fact, Beatsmiths have the best Speed stat in the game, so they can even do those things much faster than any other class, which is a lot to offer.

The catch is that all of their moves self-inflict a debuff called Encore, which competitive Pokémon enthusiasts might already recognize. Every one of the Beatmaker moves locks the user into repeating it three times, which is a major thorn in the side of a generalist class. If you want to, say, use Defense Style and Bass Kick to lock down a physical attacker? That's ALL you're doing for the next three turns. The high Speed and Rhythm innate both definitely help to take the edge off of this, but ask any FF5 fan how much they appreciate losing their ability to choose actions. Note that Encore, being a debuff, can still be cleared with effects like Mend and Remedy, but that's taking one of your teammates' actions to cover a relatively minor inconvenience of yours. Are you SURE you want to do that? Just commit to the bit and ride the Rhythm, it's more fun that way.

Beatsmith generally leans towards a physical bent given the respectable Strength and Dexterity stats, but I really do have to stress how strong having the highest Speed stat in the game is for literally anyone. And Beatmaker has three very strong spells later in the tree, two that scale with Spirit and one with Mind. So if you want to have a caster flex to a physical-ish bent for a while and get some much-needed speed in the process, Beatsmith is a very nice choice (especially if said physical character is something like Reaper or Monk who can absolutely use magic on the side). Just... don't expect to import the Beatmaker moveset onto literally anyone. It's not a bad moveset, but you really gotta be sure about whatever move you're choosing to wield from it for the next few turns, which isn't exactly great for a subcommand.

Spoiler: MOVESET: BEATMAKER

Bass Kick
Costs: 3 AP
Single Target Staff/Spear(/Axe) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * Str + 0.5 Str
Self-inflicts Encore (automatically repeat last move used, cannot reapply Encore if active) debuff for 2 turns.
Prereqs: None

Beatsmith's basic physical attack move. It does a little more damage than a basic attack at the cost of forcing you to do a little more damage than a basic attack for your next two turns. A mainclassed Beatsmith will use this often; anyone using the Beatmaker moveset as a subcommand is almost certainly armed with a better use of their time. The 3 AP cost is notable for being cheap enough that most classes can still gain AP while using it, and even while using a Style you break even.

Beat Roll
Costs: 6 AP
Multi Target Staff/Spear(/Axe) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.75 Str + 0.5 Str
Self-inflicts Encore (automatically repeat last move used, cannot reapply Encore if active) debuff for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Bass Kick, 1 LP

Area physical move, and a slightly spicier damage formula than just a basic attack. That's honestly not half bad to use for clearing out encounters, especially backed by the Rhythm passive. Note that if Encore cannot pay the costs of the previous move you wanted to use (say, because you don't have enough AP to use it for Style reasons), the debuff instantly clears and you're free to switch it up to a new move that turn. You can use this creatively as a manual shutoff for some Beatmaker moves if you want.

Defense Style
Costs: 15 MP
Stance Change (does not use the turn)
While active, -3 AP per turn, and on hit, inflict Power Down (-35% physical damage dealt) debuff on the target for 1 turn.
Prereqs: Bass Kick, 1 LP

A very strong control option that turns every physical attack you do into Power Break, at the heavy cost of reducing your AP income. Obviously, if you have other methods of getting AP (because you're playing a tank, for example) that's less scary, and as mentioned, Bass Kick costs exactly enough that you can use it with this or its sister stance more or less at will. Plus, you can still, like. Just use a basic attack. Those are free and give even more AP.

Resistance Style
Costs: 15 MP
Stance Change (does not use the turn)
While active, -3 AP per turn, and on hit, inflict Magic Down (-35% magical damage dealt) debuff on the target for 1 turn.
Prereqs: Beat Roll, 2 LP

There are some big issues with the two Style moves. You need to keep turn parity with your opponent, and switching Styles costs a lot of MP that Beatsmith generally doesn't have. Furthermore, if the enemy uses both physical and magical attacks, you're gonna have to be able to switch your Style on the regular if using Beatmaker for your debuffs... and switching quickly isn't really a Beatmaker specialty. As such, these moves work best supplementing a different physical attack moveset, one that is fine with the AP costs and can just flex on a whim. Like Hunter. In fact, Quickshot can get the benefit of both if you're okay with spending 30 MP on a Hunter.

Rhythm Break
Costs: 4 AP
Multi Target Staff/Spear(/Axe) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
Inflicts Rhythm Break (repeating an action gives it a 35% stacking damage/healing penalty, up to 105%) debuff on the target for 2 turns.
Self-inflicts Encore (automatically repeat last move used, cannot reapply Encore if active) debuff for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Defense Style, 3 LP

Rhythm Break is an incredibly funny move that almost never sees use for its advertised purpose. Which is a shame, because if the enemy DOES elect to repeat the same move that many times (as a rare few do) you can legitimately prevent them from doing any damage/healing whatsoever! The debuff is, of course, wildly situational since most enemies have at least two moves to use and happily flex. Rhythm Break's more common application is to use Defense/Resistance Style on an area attack, since 4 AP is considerably more sustainable and Rhythm Break still does basic attack damage.

Third Act
Costs: 8 AP
Single Target Staff/Spear(/Axe) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
+65% damage dealt if you are the target's top Threat.
Self-inflicts Encore (automatically repeat last move used, cannot reapply Encore if active) debuff for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Resistance Style, 4 LP

Bruiser Crush except cooler. Obviously, if you're using your Beatsmith as a tank, Third Act is a great way for them to keep Threat while still outputting respectable damage, although a mainclassed Beatsmith suffers in terms of Vitality and Spirit. The AP cost is also significant, especially if you're using a Style. Good news is, if you stop drawing Threat, you might be able to cancel the move early due to AP deficiency. But still, you'd probably prefer just hitting really hard with top Threat if you're using Third Act.

Mana Song
Costs: 8 MP
Multi Target Magic
MP Recovery Formula: 10 + 0.02 Spi
Self-inflicts Encore (automatically repeat last move used, cannot reapply Encore if active) debuff for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Resistance Style, 2 LP

Yeah that's right! AOE MP RECOVERY, RIGHT HERE. The formula is weak, since most casters will be burning more than this each turn, but it's free for the user in practice and the restoration is for, y'know, the whole team. For best results, use Mana Song with a team that's actually going to be using MP with every party member, rather than a single caster aside from the Beatsmith. Loads more efficient doing it that way compared to Warlock OR Chemist. (For single-target MP recovery, Chemist still wins.)

Rhapsody
Costs: 14 MP
Multi Target Magic
Recovery Formula: 80 + 1.3 Spi
Applies Recovery Up (+35% healing received) buff to the target for 1 turn.
Self-inflicts Encore (automatically repeat last move used, cannot reapply Encore if active) debuff for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Rhythm Break, 2 LP

Can you spot the problem with this move? I can. The Recovery Up buff is extremely nice considering this move is gonna repeat... but also, most of your teammates are going to take another turn in between receiving the buff and the repeated Rhapsody. It's still an instant area heal, albeit not for much, and slower teammates depending on CT who probably need the extra help MIGHT get two-tapped by Rhapsody for an exceptionally strong follow-up since Beatsmith is so fast. This move just... I dunno, unless you have some way of getting more buff out of your buff, it feels like it doesn't work as advertised. Like, even with a backup healer using this to capitalize (which they likely can and will and should), that feels less like a feature and more like a bug. At least it's guaranteed to affect the user.

Requiem
Costs: 12 MP
Multi Target Magic
Damage Formula: 200 + 2 Mnd
Inflicts Resist Down (+35% magical damage taken) debuff on the target for 1 turn.
Self-inflicts Encore (automatically repeat last move used, cannot reapply Encore if active) debuff for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Third Act, 2 LP

Again, applying a damage debuff for only one turn is extremely unlikely to get extra returns for combo attacks even with Beatsmith's high speed. You're likely gonna get one if the enemy tries to use a move with heavy CT which definitely makes it stronger against those foes, and Requiem at least has solid damage for a cheap, instantly casting area attack spell. So if you want to use Requiem, it'll probably serve you well, especially with a good Mind score backing it. Plus, timing it just before your buddy uses an even more brutal area spell like Boltena or Typhoon means you don't care if Requiem itself doesn't do as much damage.

Crescendo
Costs: 14 AP
Single Target Staff/Spear(/Axe) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
Gains bonus damage for every buff the user has active.
Bonus Damage Formula: 60 + 0.6 Str
Self-inflicts Encore (automatically repeat last move used, cannot reapply Encore if active) debuff for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Rhythm Break, Third Act, 5 LP

Haha good luck getting this one to go off. It's definitely possible for Crescendo to do big dirty damage, especially if you're using some esoteric way of increasing buff duration like Entrench. There's a lot of problems, though. First off, Beatmaker's only real self-buff move is the Auto Speed Passive, which is nice, sure, but you're not gonna be able to use Crescendo right out of the gate without some boosts to starting AP. Speaking of AP, 14 AP on a repeated move is a BIG demand. If you want to spam this move, you either need to be drawing a LOT of heat from the field or getting an ally like a Chemist to spoonfeed you extra AP. There are simply too many issues with setting up this move to really wreck things compared to much simpler buttons like Snipe or Flare.

Spoiler: PASSIVES

Auto Speed
Costs: 3 PP
Self-applies Haste (Turns charge 25% faster) buff at the start of combat for 3 turns.
Prereqs: Beat Roll, 2 LP

This is just a really nice passive for anyone, and it doesn't take much investing into Beatsmith to get. Who doesn't like going faster? Who doesn't like action economy? As you've no doubt noticed, external sources of speed are extremely rare, so this is one of the few ways to apply a go-faster button to anyone, and it's worth it for that. The only real caveat is that it's not AS good with buff-heavy builds since buffs expire with turns, so faster turns means shorter buffs, but that's not enough to turn this away from being a solid pick for almost any build.

Critical Turn
Costs: 2 PP
Immediately charges your turn when critically injured, once per battle/death.
Prereqs: Defense Style, 2 LP

This is probably the absolute best danger passive. More than anything else, what you want to be able to do at low health is fix being at low health, and while applying defensive or offensive buffs can help, those all assume you'll be back to full health and not immediately pasted by a follow-up attack. Critical Turn works on the opposite assumption, that you'll be dying no matter what, so why not stab at them from hell's heart? Oh, and you can also use this for self-healing moves, of course. That's both allowed and encouraged.

 

[Torzelbaum]

Let me know if you want me to highlight stuff in the to-do list for later updates to focus on!

Sure, sounds interesting.

 

[Kalir]

Today is a cleanup post. Now that we have the ibek, I intend to get a lot of mapping done and trawl some of the Overpass for map scraps. Not that I can afford the map, that's still one whole gold coin, but just saying, this is the part of Crystal Project that has a whole lotta nothin' but walking and jumping. To that end, I recorded for twice as long as I usually do, so as to ensure I could get as much mapping in as possible and account for so little to say between screenshots. There will be some unique content to see in a bit, but if you aren't up for seeing loads of screenshots of empty wasteland, which is still a fun and meditative part of the Crystal Project experience but incredibly boring to watch, that's fine, skip this update and come back next time.

But at this stage, going back through older areas and filling out the map is not only possible, but recommended. You can still find useful things here and there this way, it's just that most of it isn't terribly exciting in the way that finding a Crystal or a broken new bit of gear like the Art of War is.

About the biggest discovery we can find doing this is another shrine like Mercury or Poseidon Shrine, and I'm sorry to say that we won't be finding those for a while. They certainly exist in far-flung reaches of the map, we're just not gonna get to them.

Anyway, to stuff. This jump is pretty easy with the Ibek, although a Desert Quintar can also make it.

Not that there's much in here, the storage room is a little cluttered, but it's worth doing for the hidden treasure at the back.

This is a 3-dimensional maze. Press X if you give up.

Hey, a Static Rod but better! Mostly, anyway. It does heavily curb the damage Frieren would deal with a casting of Blaze, but also you don't cast Blaze for the raw damage so it's fine.

Anyway, our mapping will start with Sara Sara Beach's eastern half. It extends to both directions from Sara Sara Bazaar, but trust me when I say going east first is the better idea for most players.

What the Hunter doin

Oh, I see.

Yeah that's Dr. Cool Aids and his party again. And if you all-terrain over them, yes, you can skip the rematch. I will not be doing this, I just wanted to prove you can.

It is actually possible to reach Dr. Cool Aids' gang before they ambush you in Rolling Quintar Fields. However, doing so requires you to sequence break like an absolute loon, going from Spawning Meadows through Poko Poko Desert, "rescuing" the kid for the ferry pass, taking it to Shoudu Province, then from there to Okimoto N.S. and getting a full 7 Crystals so I can use a Quintar Pass obtained "legitimately" to get behind them. I've done it before, but also don't do that they have the same dialogue as here.

So you can just transplant these guys from the beach to the fields and imagine them saying the exact same things there. Cool? Cool.

I like that we don't count up until we walk down the beachside here. I dunno what your criteria is.

Anyway let's get this over with.

I did actually lose the first fight against Dr. Cool Aids' gang this time around. Fundamentally their moveset isn't too different, Dr. Cool Aids even simplifies what he's doing, dropping Armor Break from his moveset. Kuroi Darkness has upgraded to using Firena as her initial spell, and Quinsey has moved up to Curen and Curena. Doist is the biggest glowup of the set as he's filled out his Hunt roster with moves like Barrage and Snipe. I actually lost my first fight against them, as seen by Quinsey having his health displayed because I did defeat him once. Other than that, the principle remains the same: neutralize Kuroi Darkness' fire damage output somehow (for this run, I had Meena cast Blackout) and then pick off the others one by one. Area attacks are good if you have 'em, but since Quinsey now has Curena they aren't a guaranteed success in much the same way that even Firen spam won't kill your party here. Still, that's basically my plan here: Werdna and Meena sling area attacks, GUTS focuses on single targets with stanced up physical damage, and Frieren runs support alongside Meena's punchy but limited healing.

Anyway, back to the beach.

The ibek handles very unusually, because while its walking speed is the same as yours, you slowly lose speed while charging a jump and the jump height is still variable with how long you hold down the button. So while going up tall heights is a simple matter of hold, then release, more nuanced platforming requires a softer hand or a dismount.

In any case, this side of the beach only has Dr. Cool Aids as a threat. It is incredibly chill and has lots of Silver and minor treasures, so it's a great place to get a handle on the ibek.

This could also be the "recommended" initial route out of getting the ibek.

It leads to Beaurior Volcano, which thorough explorers around the Seaside Cliffs might've been able to peek into the corner of but not actually progress into. Now that we have the ibek, we can, and it's a pretty good bet for entering once you have the ibek.

Since we're doing cleanup, I burst down the level 30 dummy. It takes a while since everyone's actions are kinda slower now, turn 1 kills aren't as easily within my grasp before but my spike damage remains unreal thanks to things like Chi Burst.

I don't yet have the materials to upgrade all the Craftwork gear left, but I'm getting close and it's very much worth doing. Remember, those pieces of gear form a reliable baseline for wherever you can craft them.

The first stop we'll take for the mapping of today is Mercury Shrine. It's right at the midpoint between Spawning Meadows, Delende, Seaside Cliffs, and technically Beaurior Volcano but I'm not gonna try to map it from this side.

Mercury Shrine has a few of these strange structures surrounding it. If they have a meaning, I do not know it.

After some cursory mapping, I decide to look over the map nearby. I'm going to do the best I can to clean out all of the nearby regions except Beaurior Volcano map-wise, although I recall Delende having a few spots not even the ibek can reach right now.

There are, of course, many spots it can.

As mentioned, the Overpass largely marks the "filler" spaces between established regions on the Overworld. Traversing it is very possible now with the ibek, but we lack the cash and map scraps to fill it out, so I won't be going through it a lot, just checking out the places we can reach through it.

Not to say there's no benefit whatsoever to exploring the Overpass in this state.

You might recall we discovered the Aegis Outpost in the Overpass a while back, right? Most every class master aside from the seven in Capital Sequoia and the Master Scholar are found in the Overpass or similar regions, within towers like these.

Some of them have tricky interiors to navigate, but the general rule is if you can reach the tower at all, you can get to the top and meet the class master.

Hell, we get rewarded with knowledge of an entirely new class' existence by doing this!

The number one goal on random expeditions into the Overpass is scraps. Flying blind is bad enough in most areas, but stretches of the Overpass make Poko Poko Desert feel vibrant.

Speaking of, this is the route from the Spawning Meadows I hinted at the existence of long ago. We can easily reach it with the ibek, but it is possible to get here with a well-aimed jump from the top of Yamagawa M.A. that plants you at the top border of the Spawning Meadows.

Specifically, if you can land up here with the jump, you can make it. Not super hard but hardly trivial.

Note the narrow unmapped stripe between Spawning Meadows and Poko Poko Desert. That is more Overpass section. Turns out that going slightly into a new zone isn't enough to actually put you in there fully, you have to really commit to going to the new zone for it to count. And since the Overpass there isn't big enough, the game transitions straight from Spawning Meadows to Poko Poko Desert.

We can even trace that path by walking around up here.

That stripe of Overpass even extends all the way down here, to where Poko Poko Desert, Sara Sara Bazaar, and Sara Sara Beach meet!

Given what info I have, I'm going to estimate the position of the Valkyrie's Watchtower to be around here. Once the Overpass map is in our hands, I can correct my estimate, and given that we have fragments of the inland part of Beaurior Volcano mapped I probably should've corrected significantly further east, but it's close enough for now.

Hold up that's new. I guess it just kinda respawns in the Spawning Meadows every so often. Good to know, I suppose!

And before you know it, I have the Spawning Meadows in almost its entirety mapped out.

Moving on to Seaside Cliffs, starting with what else but the Salmon Sprint stadium.

Like I said, you can see Beaurior Volcano from the bottom-most corner of Seaside Cliffs.

This area is one that's very satisfying to comb over with the ibek, because mapping it beforehand meant sticking to the valleys for the most part, and infuriatingly-meticulous platforming when it didn't. Ibek just trivializes that and you can go where you will.

Also makes backtracking for treasures easier.

Oh hey, new Home Point! Just as well, I've basically finished mapping the west half of Seaside Cliffs.

Delende Peak, huh. Could probably also access it from that path below.

Yup. It's considered more Seaside Cliffs down here, mind.

Important note: while each area can have one map per layer, two areas occupying the same vertical space with different zones can provide different maps depending on which maps you actually have collected and what areas you've seen. So while the Seaside Cliffs area below has the cavern view as "Overworld" since that's its highest possible point in the terrain, the Delende "Overworld" overlaps it.

Delende Peak is home to another boss fight way the hell above our paygrade, but since we literally just tagged a Home Point I can showcase it momentarily for the to-do list.

You can get up here pre-ibek if you know the platforming well enough, I just usually don't bother because a Tincture Pouch in isolation isn't worth it and the boss isn't any easier ten levels earlier.

If you want a sample of what to expect, I'll leave you a few choice screenshots.

This is a fight like Enami, where we technically can act and damage the boss, but we're still too far below even the boss' weaker stats to meaningfully impact it, and it simply outspeeds us and gets more turns.

So yeah, not happening for a while.

Down by this bay, we find the medium headgear answer to the old Storm Helm and Storm Hood, long after we've grown far past the stats it can afford us.

The center of the bay doesn't seem to hold anything that we can interact with, not that that stops me from trying a few times for mapping's sake.

One big annoyance with climbing tall surfaces on ibekback is that it's difficult to tell sometimes where a doable three-block height jump is and where it's only impossible four-block height walls. This is made worse by the fact that there usually IS gonna be exactly one spot the ibek can climb up at, you just gotta circle around the entire sheer cliff face to find it.

In fact, I circle around this particular mountain so hard that I branch into mapping out the southern side of the Proving Meadows!

May as well map this out too. It's a small area, the most annoying parts are the trees. And if I wanted to get goofy with it I could just Gaea Stone up to the Capital Courtyard and hurl myself from the top ropes repeatedly to every tree.

Anyway, if you really want to map out this mountain, approach from the west in Delende.

This is what awaits us at the top. This isn't too far from where we got Shaman to begin with.

Can't climb the inside without an ibek.

One quirk of the automap is that it will happily draw stuff you can reach on foot no matter how far below you it is, but it will never draw anything three blocks or higher up, so you get a lot of instances like this, where we'll fill in a chunk just by ibek-hopping up and to the left. By that same token, cartographers must be careful to not let the compulsion to Map steer them off a ledge that's too steep to get back up.

In any case, that's the Seaside Cliffs just about fully mapped! Decent progress, let's see what else we can map today.

Delende is right next door, but I'm not gonna try to map all of it. A lot of those isolated trees are pains to climb even with the ibek.

Again, plenty of little treasures along the way, just nothing very exciting.

Yamagawa is its own weird thing. It's very useful as a mapping tool since it's so high up, but due to the mentioned issue of falling down being an issue with mapping from high up I'm not gonna mess with it too much right now.

Oh right hang on while I grab Reverse Polarity for Werdna. These mapping expeditions are nice ways to fill out a party member's Monster Magic roster.

This mountain, despite not being named Delende Peak, is surrounded by four-block high cliffs on each side. So unless we find a coiled up snake mount, that's not happening for now.

Another tower over here. Could probably get there from Yamagawa.

From the west onwards, we get a large chunk of Overpass. There's quite a bit of distance to cross before we reach Poko Poko Desert this way.

But hey, an enemy? Overpass doesn't have enemies! Let's investigate.

Huh! Pretty dry for a lake, maybe it's like Lake Bonneville and it was only a lake in the past.

The main feature of Lake Delende is this Summoner smack in the middle.

Again, not happening for a long time. Did I mention the base level cap is 60? I feel like I should clarify that. Summoner is an EXTREMELY endgame job.

The map is, fortunately, not too far off, nor is Lake Delende a very large region.

Are you trying to hint at a strategy for the Deity of Earth?

You can get to Lake Delende as early as your first time in Delende, with some clever platforming, but there's not much to do there, as you can see. You can't even use it to reach Poko Poko Desert, that bit of grass has a three-high jump.

As before, there's a narrow stripe of Overpass separating Lake Delende and Poko Poko Desert.

We don't need to cover a lot of it before we get back to already mapped area, so I decide to circle around to climb Yamagawa M.A. again. It's MUCH easier with the ibek and with encounters too low level to pursue us.

It's not that Yamagawa has a lot to map that pulls us back here, mind. It's that Yamagawa makes mapping the surroundings much easier by virtue of altitude.

The topmost parts are still four blocks high from the next part, so barring some fancy footwork from those treetops we can't really map it out fully anyway. To the north, a massive steppe leads down to Lake Delende, and mapping that absolutely sucks because each terrace is ever so slightly higher than the ibek's jump so you gotta typewriter it.

Just past that to the east is a curious patch of greenery!

If we fought whatever that was, it'd kill us and cost us money and I don't want to do that. I will, however, put it on the map for now because these spots are IMPORTANT for a lategame thing.

Like so. Trying to map any more of Yamagawa's surroundings at this stage would be pointless without the Overpass Map.

So we'll go towards that Overpass Scrap and the tower.

Okay. So Fencer, Shaman, Scholar and Beatsmith all have their class masters close to the crystal that grants them, relatively speaking. Not a certainty of course, but it might be a good way to guess what classes we find. Maybe Valkyrie is found in Beaurior Volcano.

I could get so much mapping done from here if I HAD A MAP

Fortunately the enemies in Lake Delende are very placid and won't rush you. Makes sense since you can reach them before Proving Grounds pretty easily.

That's all for the Delende mapping for now, Lake Delende included.

Most of the other areas I could try to map now are pretty pointless to actually attempt given the Overpass. Cobblestone Crag and Okimoto N.S. aren't worth attempting. Rolling Quintar Fields is iffy, since while we CAN still map a lot of it... it's mostly just filling in treetops rather than discovering new areas.

We can explore more of Capital Sequoia, of course, but we basically have everything mapped here. The Chartreuse Crystal was the last big secret.

Do note that now that we have the ibek, we can try to get past Orchard and Little H. with some success. I'm not going to, because Castle Sequoia isn't worth investigating right now, but we COULD enter it.

What IS worth mapping out is Greenshire Reprise and to a lesser extent the Boomer Society. The ibek makes exploring Greenshire Reprise in particular a piece of cake, and by now we ought to be able to hold our own against the encounters there.

You may recall from our time in Salmon River that the lowest branches of this style of tree are exactly three blocks high. So we can use them to traverse Greenshire Reprise pretty handily.

The main enemy here, which will absolutely kill you to pieces if encountered below par, are Cultists, armed with Bolten, Boltena, and Regenerate.

Even at level par, Boltena is almost a guaranteed wipe.

Not a lot of levels this update. That's fine and okay.

Even with the ibek, the sheer altitude differences throughout Greenshire Reprise make this tiny stretch of land very hard to map in detail.

Does make a decent place to clean up the Delende map a bit more, not that I need to right now.

The ibek really makes these hook jumps easy since you can charge as you slip to the edge, giving you exact timings for your inputs. Got this one in a single try.

Oh hey, the allowance you get from Mrs. Boomer does scale the further in you go. Should keep an eye on that.

The furthest north zone has a lot of bridges to it. Not that we can easily get here without the ibek, but the bridges are useful since the railings can help you reach some tree branches.

Most of the items here are duplicate accessories of stuff we've had for ages, but there is at least one bit of kit worth trying to go for early on.

As ever, the water is the hardest part for us to map, preventing us from fully filling the area out.

One nice thing about the area is that the music has an extremely slow start but a relaxing vibe throughout. So if you're crossing through to Salmon Pass, you aren't gonna hear much save for some early mood stuff, but the more you play the closer it gets to lo-fi hip hop beats to study to, which is the perfect mood for mapping this place out. I especially like climbing the trees and watching the map for each treetop fill in inward.

There's our early pull.

We've since outgrown it, but for a dagger user willing to explore, the Ambush Knife is an amazing find you can get as soon as reaching Capital Sequoia.

I SEE YA!!!

There's an alternate path into Salmon Pass way up here!

Also a lot of snow!

This leads to an entirely new area which has nothing to do with the same area from Super Mario 64.

This wintry wonderland is very much only accessible after obtaining the ibek, and if you go here right after doing so, like we are, it will kill you to pieces. Not happening right now.

Going south from the Salmon Pass entrance takes us to another section of Overpass, unsurprisingly.

There's Wayfarer Joe's fishing dock down there. Wonder if he's dodging the Banishing wave.

A little ways in, we find another little grove and can see Salmon River clearly in the distance.

Spikes, huh? Think we saw some of those in Shoudu Province briefly.

They're lava tiles but instead they're spikes yeah.

Anyway, the north entrance to Salmon Pass now.

Very vertical, this. I think we can either enter from the bridges using Boomer Society's route or just have an ibek.

A very precise angled jump with the Quintar here could probably also do it.

Say, remember that time I went wildly offcourse during the Salmon Sprint? There's another place you can do that! Salmon River has a lower body of water devoid of enemies that's most easily accessible with the ibek.

This borders the north side of Lake Delende with some ramparts in the way. Neat!

Not entirely sure what's going on with the map here. If I had to guess I'd say the upper segments not being mapped here are just Overpass again, but this time it's elevated above the actual mappable segments of Salmon River and Lake Delende on the overworld layer.

Again, gonna try to keep Overpass roving to a minimum and focus on existing areas, specifically Salmon River for now.

As before, Poko Poko Desert will invariably be reached if you head west from Capital Sequoia or any of the neighboring regions. Deserts are pretty big.

I still have to do SOME roving, and there are some areas you can more easily reach via the Overpass than in other ways. It's designed to be explored, it just takes a long time and you are expected to supplement it with the regular exploration of fleshed out areas.

Salmon River terminates into a huge waterfall over here. I don't want to go there right now. Not that it's a bad idea or anything, it just doesn't spark joy.

IT HAPPENED AGAIN! THE TOP OF THIS TREE IS IN OVERPASS ZONE! AGHAGRHAGRHAGHRGHAGHHHHGRH!!!!!

Could probably grab this during the Salmon Sprint if you avoided the goalpost. But nah, I did my time going for Nomad early, and Nomad is way better than an Ether Pouch.

Poseidon Shrine also gives us a good vantage point for mapping out even more of the area.

Secret zone?! This is just to the east of Poseidon Shrine, although you aren't getting here without an ibek.

Not turning that down, even if mapping the Underpass is a ways off yet.

The cave walls quickly go from stone to ice.

Oh, I think this is another route to Tall, Tall Heights.

Yup. Good to know, not doing that now.

West it is, then. We won't do much more exploring for now, we kinda have already hit most of the points of interest today.

Not to say the Overpass can't still surprise us, of course.

Another grove, north of those mushrooms.

If I had to guess, I'd say we're right around here.

This area can be very tricky to platform through, so remember the golden rule of 3d platforming: watch your shadow. I'm using Quintar here for extra speed, trusting the mushroom to boost my height.

Hell yeah. This is useless but I feel accomplished.

I'll close the update out by exploring a bit around Rolling Quintar Fields. The map for that area is basically complete, but there's some stuff nearby worth seeing.

North of Quintar Sanctum leads us to this sharp cliff. Getting here with the ibek is trivial, but scaling this will be impossible for now.

But hey, Overpass Scraps. Still can't afford the map, but the scraps ain't gonna collect themselves!

This one is very easy to put on the map thanks to the convenient landmark below.

Right here.

This interior jump sucks actually though. It's only doable with Quintar, and even then it requires some VERY specific speed and timing. Might even be frame perfect.

I think I proved my worth plenty just going up those stairs.

Our last destination for tonight is a pretty wild one to go for.

They said there were no Crystals in the castle... but they didn't say anything about Crystals being ON the castle, now did they?

While we technically could climb the Castle Ramparts to its ultimate goal right now, that requires A: dipping into Tall, Tall Heights, and B: getting past some seriously brutal Flame encounters. As such, I'm not gonna be doing it for now, but I do want to throw this on the radar as a spot we CAN explore.

The surrounding cliffsides provide excellent points to scale the Castle Ramparts from.

Without them, we can't do much.

But that's okay! We still found a lot of places and got very close to the Overpass map. Certainly aren't hurting for new regions to explore now, eh?

TO DO:

Spoiler

• Build the perfect starting team.
• Explore Spawning Meadows.
  • Prove the existence of black squirrels.
  • Try to find another route out of Spawning Meadows.
• Explore Delende.
  • Cross the bridge to the Proving Meadows.
  • Explore the Fish Hatchery.
  • Explore the Pale Grotto.
    • Defeat Guardian.
    • Find the Slate Crystal.
    • Find the Fencer class.
  • Explore the Soiled Den.
    • Defeat Bone Thief.
    • Trade an Earth Bangle to Huntie.
  • Explore the Basement of the Cabin on the Cliff.
    • Defeat Gran.
  • Find the dogs' bones.
  • Explore Lake Delende.
  • Defeat Troll.
• Explore Seaside Cliffs.
  • Trade 13 Clamshells to Manana Man.
  • Find a rare monster that drops an Earth Bangle.
  • Explore Draft Shaft Conduit.
    • Defeat Canal Beast.
    • Find the Violet Crystal.
    • Find the Shaman class.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Shaman.
• Explore Proving Meadows.
  • Find three crystals.
  • Defeat Knight.
  • Explore the Trial Caves.
    • Find the Yellow Crystal.
    • Find the Aegis class.
    • Explore Skumparadise.
      • Defeat Parasite.
• Explore Yamagawa M.A.
  • Defeat Sepulchra.
  • Find the Aquamarine Crystal.
  • Find the Scholar class.
    • Find every Monster Magic spell.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Scholar.
• Explore the Capital Courtyard.
  • Find the Courtyard Key.
  • Defeat Enami.
• Explore Capital Sequoia.
  • Find all the penguins.
  • Find all the Craftwork gear.
    • Upgrade all the Craftwork gear to Silver gear.
      • Upgrade all the Silver gear to Gold gear.
  • Obtain the Gaea Stone.
  • Clear the hedge maze of Improper Imps.
  • Find a way past the hedge maze.
    • Either defeat or circumvent Orchard and Little H.
    • Explore Castle Sequoia.
      • Explore the Castle Ramparts.
  • Enter the Luxury shop.
    • Find sixteen crystals to expand the Luxury shop stock.
  • Get past the guard on the west gate.
  • Defeat all the training dummies.
  • Find three Digested Heads for Sam the Sadist.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Warrior.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Monk.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Rogue.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Wizard.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Cleric.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Warlock.
  • Find the Chartreuse Crystal.
  • Find the Beatsmith class.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Beatsmith.
  • Explore Jojo Sewers.
    • Explore the Boomer Society.
    • Trade a Crag Demon Horn to Marlin.
    • Explore Capital Jail.
      • Defeat Warden.
      • Find the Crimson Crystal.
      • Find the Reaper class.
• Explore the Rolling Quintar Fields.
  • Meet the Quintar Enthusiast.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fiendish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Brutish Quintar Eye.
    • Show the Quintar Enthusiast a Fancy Quintar Eye.
    • Obtain a Quintar Pass.
    • Obtain the Quintar Flute.
  • Explore Quintar Nest.
    • Find the Olive Crystal.
    • Find the Hunter class.
  • Explore Quintar Sanctum.
    • Find the Violet Red Crystal.
    • Find the Chemist class.
    • Defeat the Fancy Quintar.
• Explore Cobblestone Crag.
  • Defeat the Crag Demon.
• Explore Okimoto N.S.
  • Defeat Kuromanto.
  • Find the Shadow Crystal.
  • Find the Ninja class.
• Explore Shoudu Province.
  • Obtain the Mars Stone.
• Explore Greenshire Reprise.
• Explore Tall, Tall Heights.
• Explore Salmon Pass.
  • Explore Salmon River.
    • Win the Salmon Sprint.
    • Explore River Cat's Ego.
      • Find the Goldenrod Crystal.
      • Find the Nomad class.
• Explore Mercury Shrine.
  • Obtain the Mercury Stone.
• Explore Poseidon Shrine.
  • Obtain the Poseidon Stone.
• Explore the Overpass.
  • Find enough Overpass Scraps for a map.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Fencer.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Aegis.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Hunter.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Valkyrie.
• Explore the Underpass.
  • Find enough Underpass Scraps for a map.
  • Explore Capital Pipeline.
• Explore Poko Poko Desert.
  • Find the three lookout towers.
  • Find the terrible mom's son.
  • Explore Ancient Reservoir.
    • Find the Pale Rose Crystal.
    • Find the Dervish class.
    • Defeat Possessor.
    • Obtain the Ibek Bell.
• Explore Sara Sara Bazaar.
  • Bring the food enthusiast some Shoudu Stew.
  • Obtain a Ferry Pass.
  • Find the Tram Key.
  • Explore Sara Sara Beach.
• Explore Beaurior Volcano.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
  • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
  • Challenge the Deity of Earth.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Beastmaster class.
• Find the Assassin class.
• Find the Samurai class.
• Find the Valkyrie class.