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

[Torzelbaum]

lo-fi hip hop beats to

adventure to

 

[Kalir]

FLAT FUCK FRIDAY!!!!!

I didn't map out all of Poko Poko Desert that we could access, so I'll give that a bit of a go before we do the main event today.

The Quintar is still the mount of choice for most of the desert, but the ibek makes getting up to key treasures pretty easy.

Want to fish for steals but still be able to do damage? Turn your basic attack into Mug! This isn't the only dagger that can do this, but it is a competitive option for us at this stage.

The desert has gold as well as silver in it, so loot that. Upgrades good, looting good.

Hiding things under scenery bad. At least this has the decency to go visible once you run under.

For this one, we have to climb the pillars over by the gold vein.

Do you have your mounts hotswappable through the Favorites menu yet? Because do that.

Yep, that's goin' right to GUTS. Lower Variance than the Silver Axe, but that's fine.

GUTS is also getting close to the end of what he actually wants from Nomad. Still gonna master it on him for the seal once we find the Master Nomad, of course.

Werdna needs to get back to what matters most: killing the hell out of encounters with a single spell.

Yeeeah that's the stuff.

Cyclone having accuracy issues isn't a huge deal considering the whole area attack thing.

Okay, Meena has Counter now. Now we can throw her into Aegis fulltime and make her a tank that also heals everyone.

That's a fair bit of mapping progress! Still not perfect yet, but considering that there's a segment of the desert you're expected to only reach from elevated areas like the Overpass I'm pretty happy with this, to say nothing of the tips of the cacti too high to climb up.

I'll show off one of those routes over here. Sara Sara Beach extends both ways from the bazaar, with this high-up ledge by the pretty good fishmonger being the intended entry point.

Gonna do that a bit too, but I have to get some up to date gear for Meena now that she's going Aegis.

As much as I'd like her to keep using a staff, I just don't have the PP to keep that with the other passives, so she's gonna have to stick to Aegis' regular sword. The Scimitar is good but a little expensive for where we are right now.

I smith up the Silver Sword and Silver Shield, but for now I'm gonna get cheeky with it and try using Plate of Tiger's HP boost to offset the penalty of Contract, allowing her to leech life off of every counter she does.

Oh wow, look at that map situation there. Some madcap intersection of the beach, bazaar, sea, and overpass, that must be what's going down there.

Anyway, let's see what we can find.

The beach goes for a fair bit of distance this way, keeping up with the area of Poko Poko Desert at the least.

We're basically alternating between climbing the cliffside for silver veins, and splashing around in the coastal waters for a full-fledged map.

Oh hey an enemy! That's new.

If you haven't gotten the ibek yet, this is the only enemy you can fight on the beach, and the end of the line for you.

It's another turtle enemy like Shelldin, but this one has Bulk Up instead of Overload, which grants Armor Up instead of Armor Down. They're big, burly, and brutal.

Still weak to Thunder, so Wizards are as able to tear it apart as ever.

Like with Salmon River, we're just a hair under the level we ought to be for this area right now.

This is the nice thing about Aegis, though. Having a mainclassed Aegis on your team makes risky revive methods a whole lot safer, because those critical health characters will just be body blocked with White Knight if they get attacked. Course, this doesn't apply to area attacks or counters, those still paste 'em.

Anyway, we're not gonna explore much further here, but I do want to show that an ibek is necessary to explore the western part of Sara Sara Beach.

On to the main event for today!

Shoudu Province completely opens up with the ibek and is VERY worth exploring as one of your first stops after getting the ibek. Today, we're going to try to climb all the way up through it, see the important sights, and broaden our options for what we can explore to.

Y'know those images of superdense crowded places that built on top of themselves so often that they're basically urban ruins? That's the kind of vibe I get from Shoudu Province, and what I think it was going for. The former capital simply got too convoluted and crowded to be the center of the world.

It still has amenities, of course, and they're worth checking out, but compared to the current Capital Sequoia, the messiness is clear to see.

Feel like this is a joke with inns in RPGs having scalar prices despite providing the exact same necessary service. This is also one of the last proper inns in the game, actual civilizations don't really exist past here. Still not a bad idea if you want to get full heals without warping out to Capital Sequoia or Nan's cabin and thus respawning all the fights here.

Another pair of class masters reside here as well.

The collectible quest doodad for this area is Elevator Parts. Because Shoudu is such a mess to navigate, you are provided with far more Elevator Parts than are required for the quest.

Atop the Samurai Lounge, we find another cool rapier.

It can be fun if used by or to support a Dervish or Scholar using their Wind attacks. The all-physical statline mostly suggests a Fencer or the like using it for the latter purpose, though, and Magic Magnet is niche enough that I wouldn't go out of my way to build for it.

The enemies in Shoudu Province are largely "dark" humanoid figures that use traditional combat disciplines. The Dark Vagrant here is a straightforward melee combatant that can Bulk Up and has a Counter built in, making magic the ideal strategy for them.

Hi, here is my argument for why Natural Tank is a very comfy passive but not actually that strong. All it took was a single Frost for that Dark Vagrant to forget all about Meena and look at Frieren instead. And considering Werdna's gameplan for the foreseeable future is gonna be immediately opening up with some devastatingly strong area attack like Fissure or Cyclone or Nightfall, Meena's switch to Aegis is ideal anyway because then she can just Cover Werdna and we don't even have to worry about Threat. Plus, the heavy CT on Prayer Magic means that Meena usually has time to squeeze in an Armor or Resist Boost before springing Cover!

Since Meena's doing the primary tanking role for now, GUTS has room to get a little funky with his stances. Wave Armor will let him help Werdna chip down large encounters, although his weaker Mind stat means it's gonna mostly be incidental. He's got the AP generation to keep it up for a while though.

GUESS WHO BROUGHT NO GUARD

I might've given the impression that Dervish is underpowered or even useless with how I've talked about them. This is flatly untrue. It does not take long for Dervish to start being a proper powerhouse, even if their speed is lacking.

They also make for a great Aegis partner because a single Dervish spell WILL get the attention of the entire enemy team, making your Cover choice easy.

And then there's Counter with Contract giving us a heal off of the damage we just blocked! It's good!

Anyway, Attack Focus for GUTS. AP generation is extremely important for him right now, and basic attacks are the least committal option he's got.

West of the Samurai Lounge is a marketplace. Not as lively as some others, but definitely not lacking for quality.

The prices, as ever, are more than a little out of our reach, but the value is inarguable if you're willing to cash out. This is why I make such a big deal out of regularly upgrading all of our craftwork gear; the relative prices compared to a fresh storebought alternative on par with it are excellent. Still, if you know you're keeping someone using a specific weapon or armor class for the foreseeable future and they don't have a cool treasure they're looking forward to, storebought is perfect.

The Home Point here in Shoudu Market is also ideal given how annoyingly vertical this area is.

But yeah. Werdna, for example, is gonna be using Scythes from here on out almost exclusively unless I decide to go to Rogue or something. Not only does Reaping work best with Scythes, they're also ideal for hybrid damage dealers, and Werdna being able to flex to physical or magical offense with almost equal potency is very strong. A more hardline caster would, of course, prefer a Wand or a Book, but in his case Scythes are the ideal.

Grim Reaper, in particular, is an incredibly strong option given the Clarity buff. That would speed up all those chunky Prayer Magic spells even more while still allowing them to punch through pretty much anything he'd face. Wishlisting this sucker.

Throughout Shoudu Province, we'll run into some panhandling hobos here or there. Not only is giving them a bit of cash a nice thing to do if you can, it can prove helpful down the road.

One Silver should be handily within your budget on arriving at Shoudu Province, and there aren't too many hobos around here anyway.

No matter what, you are going to get into fights here. The tight quarters and numerous blind spots make avoidance more chance than skill.

Dark Mages combine Black Magic with the Barrier spell and a unique Shadow Wall spell that grants Evade Up to their team, so they run a tight ship of support and damage, but they're also extremely frail. Focus them down before the Dark Vagrants if you can.

At this stage, you shouldn't have much, if any, trouble with the enemies here.

MEENA WE GOT A NEW TOY FOR YOU

Since our income is going way up, I'm gonna take the time to go down here and buy...

MAP. NECESSARY.

No no, thank YOU.

Again, since Shoudu Province is so huge, winding, and three dimensional, the map is only of so much help, but even some bearings are better than none.

Do you see it? Do you see one of the trickiest secret spots in the game? The only clue to even check there is the ibek down below that teaches you that you can climb up this way.

This is how you get this box.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE. This box is extremely well-hidden and can only be reached from another hidden outside entrance.

In this case, there's a narrow space you can enter through the back.

Oh yeah, remember how some enemies in Shoudu Province run away from you rather than rush you down instantly? In some rare cases you can corner them.

Dry Kids are the Metal Slimes of the game. They're extremely fast, worth loads of LXP, and prone to Escape at the drop of a hat.

While they do sport a wide range of Monster Magics, I wouldn't exactly call them an ideal method of farming those up. And since they always start fights ready to act immediately, you need some specific nonsense to catch them before they simply Escape right away. Still, if you want to efficiently grind up your classes to mastery, Dry Kids are the ideal way to go about it once you kit up for 'em.

A necessary part of this is building up your accuracy for physical damage dealers. Fencer's Eagle Eye can do the trick, of course.

It's extremely easy to get stuck on the Shoudu Market floor for a long amount of time, so word to the wise: you want to enter THIS building from the door in the upper left, then cross these beams. Follow this route to gradually get to higher and clearer ground.

This building here is on the right track, but if you want you can climb the beams outside for some treasure. I do go back for that treasure eventually.

Precious altitude!

OH YEAH I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO VISIT THIS GUY ON THE GROUND FLOOR BEFORE BY THE WAY TIME TO REDO THAT.

yaeey

One last shop in the market.

All generally nice stuff, but for my money, the thing most people are gonna find worth buying is the Mender's Ring. That puppy not only gives you a sizable max MP boost, but also amplifies the healing you provide! And yes, this does work with Chemist.

Dark Archers! They use the Hunt staples of Barrage and Quickshot, combined with landing one tick of Poison on every hit they deal.

Frieren didn't live the fight, but she still got enough LXP to master Warlock. Now, I think, she goes back to Chemist fulltime. I do think my team composition is starting to limit my class choices somewhat, which is why I had Meena take the dip over to tanking, but there's a kind of homogenity with everyone either doing Strength-based classes, casters, or both. Nobody really has room or inclination to switch over to something like Hunter or Rogue, and that's starting to show. I should consider doing something like that with one of them soon.

For now, we'll just give Frieren infinite MP. She already had that thanks to the Item subcommand and her low expenditures anyway, but hey.

Grabbing this. Again, even if we don't want to make anyone else a Warlock, the Seals have a special use later down the road, so grabbing them is always worth the trouble.

I also temporarily swap Werdna back to Wizard for Reasons.

In trying to find ideal light armor for Werdna in the shop, I stumble across the Drifter's Vest as an amazing bit of wear for GUTS. If any single person here is able to commit to an Agility-focused class, it's him, and Waterbend means he can take the elements he has onto any physical moveset without issue. En-Water Snipe off of Hunter is sounding mighty tasty.

Yeah, Boltena versus Fissure is largely a matter of taste. Dervish still wins with their later spells at clearing fields, but we're in Wizard right now and we don't have those later spells for Dervish anyway. I have a specific objective and I'm not leaving until it's accomplished.

You ever just watch a recording of your past self and realize you absolutely were not paying attention? Because that's me here. We could've gotten that treasure already, but now I'm so caught up in going for it I forgot the exact route we already passed earlier needed to get it. Time is an itch you cannot scratch.

At least my meandering did lead to a cool hidden area worth exploring!

Gimme a sec.

Yeah it's just nice medium headgear.

Okay this is just sad. It technically works, its just wildly inefficient.

At least we're getting our exercise in!

This is what we wanted to go back to Wizard for. When Werdna inevitably goes back to finish off Reaper, Storm Stance will be an extremely strong option in the instances where I don't want or have Meena able to Cover him. Remember, Reaper can actually survive physical attacks decently thanks to their heavy armor, and has the Mind to make the Lightning counter sting!

Meena, unlike every other Aegis to ever play the game, is gunning hard for Crystal Form. The passives remaining are basically useless to her; Equip Staff is almost always a better pick than Equip Shield for her given her background as Cleric/Monk, she doesn't use stances, and as mentioned, anyone being the main tank for the party has no business ever trying to run Stalwart seriously.

Got bored with the repeated fights and threw a Fig Mixture onto Meena for the hell of it.

Four turns of Power Up, huh? That's not half bad for a single Potion. Would be useless on a dedicated caster, and Meena doesn't value it as much as GUTS does, but that does make her counters punchier, which translates to better lifedrain. Fig Mixture and Sap Mixture are pretty decent for "I have nothing better for my Chemist to do this turn", even if you can't very well make them the core of your build.

Got what I want out of Wizard for now, back to Dervish.

This chest has been BOTHERIMG ME. I want it OPEN.

Several minutes later I finally figure it out, we can finally move on.

...I want my several minutes back.

Well, they boost MP and steal chances! That's an option!

And now we're on the rooftops of some of the higher levels of Shoudu Province. Not the absolute topmost levels, there's still unadorned scaffolding to fall off of.

Still grabbing Elevator Parts, of course.

If you're keeping score at home, we need 10 for the final thing.

We'll still have cause to dip into the interiors every so often, as well.

Oh hey, another lounge.

May as well mark 'em both down. Don't know how soon, if ever, we're gonna be using those classes, but hey.

FACECHECK EVERY WALL BECAUSE IT MIGHT FLINCH.

See that's more like it. That's a Rogue instant equip right there.

Don't forget to consider every angle when trying to enter a building!

We're able to cross over the market rooftops now!

This area is the eventual goal of going through the Shoudu Province, although we still have lots more to explore.

For starters, we can go through this hole, once we generously donate to the hobo here.

For people hoping to get an ideal reward for donating to those less fortunate than yourself, how dare you. But also you can get what you want from that by donating 1 gold exactly once and then sticking to 1 silver each time. It only comes back to bite you in the ass if you refuse to shell out for anything more than copper.

It turns out that Shoudu Province doesn't just extend up, but also down!

As tempting as going down there would be, we're not doing that until we find a Home Point we can conveniently bounce back to.

Huh, some dudes guarding locked doors. Weird.

WHAT WAS THAT? REF ARE YOU BLIND? BECAUSE I SURE WAS BLINDSIDED!

Since so much of this team's current power is tied up in Werdna's heavy area damage, adding a second Dark Mage isn't appreciably harder than a single one. And Meena has Resist Boost now and has been packing the Shell Amulet for some time, so even sustained fire from stuff like Bolten won't necessarily drop her.

Plus, Frieren can support very efficiently with a Doublecast Protect/Regen on top of that.

Oooooh that's a VERY nice staff. That's tempting enough for Meena to get Equip Staff back in her passives set.

Screw it, Natural Tank isn't doing enough for her since Werdna just unleashes on his first spell.

Future Sight still costs us Defense and lifesteal compared to the Contract/Blood Shield build, but the attack power, non-penalized max HP, and Vitality/Spirit more than make up for it. The Evasion isn't especially amazing given Meena's low Agility, but it's still convenient.

Some more scaffolding up north, and a weird quarry or graveyard to the south, but the real POI here is the building.

The Sky Arena is the main tourist attraction of Shoudu Province. As the receptionist will repeat should you ask, it is sacred ground, but more than that, it's a 1v1 battle gauntlet. You choose one of your party members and they fight their way up the ranks, earning bigger and better prizes the more fights you can pull off.

Fortunately, I can just tell you. To get to the Sky Arena, we have to use the elevator in the back behind the prize chambers. That's what those rooms are that are locked and guarded.

You must win 3 battles in a row at the Sky Arena to earn eligibility to enter this treasury.

Right now, I only need to get into this one. The others are very much worth doing, but it's unlikely you'll clear it out in full before endgame.

But first, we DID just tag a Home Point, so.

Welcome to the Undercity of Shoudu Province. This area is another one very much worth exploring, but right now I'm not gonna do that beyond this little bit.

No matter how you enter the Undercity, you'll have to run into at least one hobo first. The easiest access point and most likely the intended one is south of the vendors at the docks.

...You are marvelously generous!

Hope you were nice to them!

Depending on how generous you were, Kenji and his team will react accordingly. As seen here, if you gave lots of money, Yasumi the Summoner will heal your party, Asakura the Cleric will refresh your MP, and then all three will Escape, rewarding you. If you've been sticking to a reasonable donation level, they will simply not engage you, and a truly miserly sort will find them attacking you head-on.

Right, that was convenient. Kenji and his team will check in on you at multiple points through the Undercity.

The more expected encounters come from the ratpeople dwelling within. They're not too different from the dark enemies above, although Ratatasks can Cover their allies and the Vermage can inflict MP Leak on their unfortunate victims to drain them. The main thing is that their stats are pretty high for the expected difficulty of the region, but we'll cover that after the fight.

Nothing our brave team can't handle, of course.

The gimmick with the Undercity, as its Assassin inhabitants will tell you, is that all the enemies here are effectively blind, and navigate by their sense of hearing. Which means that they can only track you if you move around a lot in their presence. Stand still, and they'll mosey on by. To that end, it's something of a stealth region, although a capable party can punch through without issue.

One last thing before the Sky Arena. I want to climb up the mountainside to the west of the Shoudu Province.

This is one of the fastest routes to do so, but those hooks jumps can be tricky if you aren't accomplished with the ibek yet.

This takes us to the region's farmlands.

Pangolions accompany the obligatory Dark Vagrants up here. They're vicious but straightforward attackers, using the high-variance Fury Swipes or inflicting durationless Bleed and Poison with Rabies.

They can also drop some fun seeds for the garden. Eventually I'll devote some small portion of the LP to playing around there.

And we've hit Overpass again. Good, this is what I wanted. It means that if we head north, we should find...

YES! PERFECT! Ganymede Shrine makes for an ideal point to finish off your exploration of Shoudu Province without having to get through Poko Poko Desert with the Mars Stone every time you want to come here.

And lucky me, I have enough cash to get everything I need here.

Ganymede Shrine is VERY tall.

But for now, it's a convenience. Back to Shoudu Province.

Northeast of Ganymede Shrine is another Summoner challenge.

I misstamped it (I use a star for Summoner deities) but whatever it's on there I need to fix the map anyway.

It needs 10 Elevator Parts to be repaired. If you find them, go underneath right there and put them in yourself.

Right, here we go. And we have exactly enough parts to pull this off.

Every one of those little niches can hold an Elevator Part.

The one just to the right of the first one we did is the hardest to reach, requiring a Quintar jump with very little running room.

It's not too tough, though.

Come on back up, hop on, and take a ride.

Certainly!

We're just gonna take a crack at the Sky Arena and call the update there. The Quintar Reserve can go on the to-do list, it's not really important right now.

Better watch my footing I guess? Terrible accessibility for the Sky Arena.

Yes, this is the intended road to approach the Sky Arena from. Also there's a treasure.

Cool shoes!

The minimap there is a giveaway for where the Sky Arena actually is. Again, this is terrible accessibility.

Anyway, the fights themselves. I'll record a full run once I do a winning one, but that's not happening right now.

We pick one person, they get in there and fight as hard as they can. As a general rule, you want someone who has some versatility and self-sustain over someone with a laser-focused gameplan. GUTS fits the bill the best out of our party, but Werdna as Reaper/Wizard could do some damage, and Meena is almost indestructible if played right and has Chi Burst, so we have options. Frieren is probably our weakest pick owing to her poor defenses.

If you can make it to the Sky Arena, the first three fights should be easy pickins. The Squire has a few different physical attacks, but not the statline to back them.

Really, do anything to win here.

The Nutter at least has some extra tricks, with the instant Wither debuff nulling your Vitality and a self-heal with Nut Gobble, but even so.

The combo of Chill Blast into En-Water Bruiser Crush is GUTS' mode of attack for these fights. Nothing fancy, just big damage and respectable lifedrain.

Round 3 has the Rogue Knight, who takes the gameplan of the Knight from back in the Proving Meadows and somehow makes it worse. Instead of starting with En Guarde, he uses Pep Talk to give himself 12 instant turns, but Pep Talk has a CT of 350, so this is a check for if you can spike them down before they do.

Again, yes, we can.

Here's the end of the line for now. The Mountain Knight has better stats already, but also has Division Cut to halve your HP, Fierce Stance to make her even better at handling physical attacks, and Sever just for big stupid damage with Bleed.

Not that she needs Sever to win against GUTS as is. That's fine, I got my win condition.

Before I go back to the receptionists for my rewards, I check in on Chloe and Talon on the east scaffolds.

<Talon> It's fricken awesome, huh? Riiiight? Look at all those birds!
<Chloe> Yeah, this is actually pretty good.
<Talon> SICK! Another thing I'm pro at: finding fishing spots!
<Chloe> Oh, hey friend. Have you come to participate in the fishing? You can have this lure. I got a new one, so I'd like you to have it.

Nah, I'm good. But thanks for the free item.

Someone who isn't me could tell you how this compares to other lures.

<Chloe> Anyway, we better get going...
<Talon> Oh, yeah. We have that... stuff, with Astley and Reid. All these birds almost made me forget.

Stuff, huh? Why do I have a suspicious feeling about that?

There they go.

I'll grab the loot and then call it.

We get our prize for winning exactly 1 win and are informed that we've also opened up a treasury or two.

Yeah, that sure is a heavy helmet upgrade.

Thanks dogg. What have we got...

HELL YES GIMME THAT

We finally have Samurai, the katana specialist and one of the best physical burst damage classes in the game. It's... not for everyone, but you can wait for the writeup to see why.

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 the Undercity.
  • Repair the elevator.
    • Win the Sky Arena.
    • Find the Sienna Crystal.
    • Find the Samurai class.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Samurai.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Assassin.
  • Explore Ganymede Shrine.
    • Obtain the Ganymede Stone.
• Explore the Quintar Reserve.
• 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.
  • Challenge the Deity of Darkness.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Beastmaster class.
• Find the Assassin class.
• Find the Valkyrie class.

 

[Kalir]

SAMURAI
Champion of a Thousand Cuts

STATS

• HP: 9
• MP: 2
• Strength: 8
• Vitality: 5
• Dexterity: 5
• Agility: 6
• Mind: 3
• Spirit: 3
• Speed: 4
• Luck: 4

PROFICIENCIES

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

INNATE PASSIVES

• Endless Fury: +30 max AP.
• Two-Handed: Using a one-handed weapon without a shield equipped adds 50 Attack.

Samurai is the most ride-or-die class in the entire game. We've seen classes expecting you to commit to the bit, like Rogue and Hunter, but Samurai is so whole hog into its entire schtick that one cannot merely dabble in the class, you either make it the core of your build or admit you're dipping just for lategame passives and grinding Dry Kids for LXP. Samurai is an unquestionaly strong physical burst damage class, with a unique focus on multiple attacks a turn. Many of its moves do not take up the turn and add a combo token to any targets hit, with a handful of Ken moves that consume all combo tokens on their unfortunate target for big spike damage. Combo tokens only last for the Samurai's turn, so you need to make sure your attacks can connect consistently, and with Samurai's pitch-perfect statline for a physical brawler plus the sure-fire accuracy of all Ken moves, that won't be very hard at all to do.

The big problem with Samurai should be made apparent by the fact that they have a cap of 60 AP, and that's because a Samurai burst turn NEEDS a cap of 60 AP. More than any other class in the game, Samurais thrive on AP generation options and wither without them, forced to do nothing but basic attacks or rely on a subcommand and their vestigial MP while they bide their time. And honestly, if that was the sole problem with Samurai, I would find that really cool, if frustrating. But Samurai also has to contend with their weapon of choice, katanas, almost always having an element attached to them and having absolutely NO other usable subcommands without the mod. And they only do damage; no debuffs, no support, nothing but killing enemies to pieces. A Samurai might be completely useless for the part of the game you're in solely because the enemies in that part resist or are immune to the Samurai's only viable katana, and those things don't grow on trees.

Samurai's weapon selection, ravenous hunger for AP, and absolutely terrible casting stats mean that finding other class options for them is more about how much you're willing to put up with as far as inefficiency goes. The mod DOES allow for Jikiden skills to work with swords as well as katanas which at least opens up some of Fencer and Rogue, but even there you're paying AP for those moves. Same deal with Warrior or Nomad, even though they're weapon-agnostic. At least all of those classes offer stances that can be of use. MP dependent classes are also out, not that most of them would dare touching a statline like Samurai's. Aegis MIGHT consider it if they're okay with weakening their already-shaky MP even further. Aside from that, you have... Reaper's HP costing attacks and Frenzy, and Ninja/Chemist just using items (and Chemist has like the opposite statline from Samurai). That's it! Those are your subclass options! The way of the Samurai is whole hog!

Spoiler: MOVESET: JIKIDEN

Swift Wind
Costs: 8 AP
Single Target Katana(/Sword) Skill
Damage Formula: 0.5 Atk + Atk * 0.25 Str + 0.25 Str
Wind Elemental
Adds a Combo token to the target.
Free Action (does not use the turn)
Prereqs: None

Samurai has five combo moves they can use, which apply the combo token for the remainder of the turn to the target IF the move hits. It's not a guarantee that your combo attacks will land, and Samurai's Agility is solid, but not the best in the game by a long shot. If you miss, you don't get a backsies on it, you still only get one of each move a turn no matter how free the action is. And, of course, the wind element means that Samurai's combo potential suffers against enemies that resist that (but gets better if they're weak to it).

Swift Ember
Costs: 8 AP
Single Target Katana(/Sword) Skill
Damage Formula: 0.5 Atk + Atk * 0.25 Str + 0.25 Str
Fire Elemental
Adds a Combo token to the target.
Free Action (does not use the turn)
Prereqs: 2 LP

Yup. Exact same move, but fire element. This at least is worth discussing a bit more given that Cleric exists. If you're using a Cleric, Spotlight can amp up a Samurai's damage even further than the already-applied Armor Down (protip apply Armor Down before starting a combo). It also means that using Blackout will stop your Samurai's damage output cold. So uh don't do that. Cool? Cool.

Ken: Asura
Costs: 6 AP
Single Target Katana(/Sword) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
Gains bonus damage for every Combo token on the target.
Bonus Damage Formula: 0.2 Atk + Atk * 0.2 Str
Fire Elemental
Never Misses.
Prereqs: Swift Wind, 1 LP

The earlygame combo finisher, as well as the only combo finisher you'll realistically be able to use if running Jikiden as a subcommand for some bizarre reason. After all, you already spent 16 AP just doing the basic Swift combo moves, and they don't get any cheaper from there. 22 AP for this one is already straining what non-Samurais can pull, and if you go for Fierce moves that's a full 30 AP. It's certainly impactful enough for the cost, but a dyed-in-the-wool Samurai will quickly drop this for bigger meals... or use it if their existing combo flubs up with misses and they want to cut their losses without going for a bigger finisher.

Fierce Wind
Costs: 12 AP
Single Target Katana(/Sword) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
Wind Elemental
Adds a Combo token to the target.
Free Action (does not use the turn)
Prereqs: Swift Wind, 3 LP

The Fierce moves are punchier, now going up to the impact of a basic attack for a single hit at the cost of 12 AP. But again, if you're doing those off of a normal 30 AP, that's two Fierces and then Ken: Asura, no other options. With the full 60 AP available to a Samurai, your combo options start to open up a lot more, as you can easily stack both Swift and Fierce combo builders into one turn given the AP.

Blade Song
Costs: 14 AP
Multi Target Katana(/Sword) Skill
Damage Formula: 0.5 Atk + Atk * 0.25 Str + 0.25 Str
Adds a Combo token to the target.
Free Action (does not use the turn)
Prereqs: Fierce Wind, 3 LP

Samurai's only way of adding combo tokens to multiple targets at once... which should obviously only be used with the multitargeting Ken: Omnislice finisher. It IS non-elemental, which can be handy for some fights, but at 14 AP it's an unattractive parcel compared to the Swift/Fierce options being far more economical. Unless you're getting AP between your attacks somehow, possibly by aiming at a person who can counter and you don't have Unreactable or a katana that bypasses it, but if that's the angle you're taking... can I see your notes? Because I bet they're a trip and a half and I could use a laugh.

Fierce Ember
Costs: 12 AP
Single Target Katana(/Sword) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
Fire Elemental
Adds a Combo token to the target.
Free Action (does not use the turn)
Prereqs: Equip Katana, 2 LP

Yep. Wind and Fire. Turns out Samurai was a primary caster class all along, they also use exactly two elements! Do note that an attack can stack multiple element tags once you consider the weapon, so if they're immune to your Earth type katana, you just flat cannot hit them no matter how weak they are to Wind or Fire.

Ken: Heavenslash
Costs: 20 AP
Single Target Katana(/Sword) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
Gains bonus damage for every Combo token on the target.
Bonus Damage Formula: 0.7 Atk + Atk * 0.7 Str
Wind Elemental
Never Misses.
Prereqs: Fierce Ember, 5 LP

This is what every Samurai burst turn wants to conclude with. Assuming a full 60 AP to work with, you can drop both Swift and Fierce moves and have exactly enough left to drop Ken: Heavenslash on 'em to finish it off. It does have weaker base damage than Ken: Asura and a higher cost, and it can't be sauced with Spotlight, but the combo token scalar can reach some disgusting heights if fueled properly. I'm talking surpassing the biggest dogs on the market. Snipe, Flare, Guillotine, very little can compare to a full Samurai burst turn topped off with Ken: Heavenslash. It's worth the investment into the class, you will not be disappointed.

Ken: Omnislice
Costs: 20 AP
Multi Target Katana(/Sword) Skill
Damage Formula: 0.8 Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
Gains bonus damage for every Combo token on the target.
Bonus Damage Formula: 0.3 Atk + Atk * 0.3 Str
Never Misses.
Prereqs: Unreactable, 6 LP

If you're trying to do AOE burst as Samurai, or just really don't like the Wind resistance your single target has, Ken: Omnislice is an option. However, Blade Song's awkward 14 AP cost makes the calculus on other combo moves fall short of your true potential. You can, at most, get a Swift and a Fierce in there, which means you can at least do Swift Ember and Fierce Ember against a Wind resistant enemy, or vice versa. You can also spread the love around by hitting different enemies with the Swift/Fierce attacks, although Ken: Omnislice has a pretty weak scalar on the whole. I dunno, it's just not as impactful as Ken: Heavenslash, not when the entire point of the class is hitting damage ceilings.

Spoiler: PASSIVES

Equip Katana
Costs: 3 PP
Allows you to equip Katanas regardless of class proficiencies.
Prereqs: Swift Ember, 2 LP

Does not need to be 3 PP. Committing to Jikiden as a subcommand is already a terrible idea and no other classes want to use a katana for their own moves. Not that katanas are bad per se, they're pretty solid statwise and come with built-in elemental modifiers and other fun toys like extra AP on basic attack or ignoring counters... but if you're taking a katana just for those, I will have to question your choices, aggressively.

Fury
Costs: 1 PP
Gain 3 AP on basic attack.
Prereqs: Ken: Asura, 3 LP

This is Samurai's only built-in way to accelerate their own AP gain. It's... not great? Going from 6 to 9 on a basic attack isn't bad, especially not if stacked with Nomad's Attack Focus, but I've seen other methods. I've seen Focus Energy and AP Juice. I know the possibilities available. Still wouldn't run Adrenaline on a Samurai though. Scholar's moveset might be vast, but the options a Samurai would want are pretty limited.

Unreactable
Costs: 3 PP
Targets cannot counter.
Prereqs: Fury, Blade Song, 2 LP

Not a bad one to go for, although that's a LOT of investment down Jikiden's skill tree just to pick this up as a splash passive. And Samurai, again, uses katanas, which frequently are able to ignore counters anyway. Still, there are more than a few mean fights where counterattacks can and will ruin your day. If you aren't already using a method of ignoring counterattacks, Unreactable is a perfectly fine choice.

 

[Kalir]

I've also added a directory of class writeups and updates to the first post because readers wanted it and I do try to be accommodating. Take that, Sky Arena, we're more accessible than you are now!

 

[Mogri]

Samurai is way too fiddly for its own good. It wasn't enough that it has zero synergy with anything else or that you need unreasonable amounts of AP generation; no, they also made it so the class just doesn't function at all against a large number of enemies.

 

[Kalir]

So you're probably all wondering why I've called you here today.

I wanted to fill out the fishing rewards I could get since Grant was kind enough to link me to a chart of the rewards. Anyway here's a really strong dagger that loses some effectiveness as the fight goes on.

Anyway, today's main goal is finishing up Sara Sara Beach and also doing Beaurior Volcano. Note that the enemies in Poko Poko Desert are now green flames, which also means they go slower and thus make mapping a little easier.

But first: we get a little silly with it.

This is my first time making use of the mod to allow compatibility with different weapons for certain classes. In our case, its mostly so we have someone who's actually got the stats for it using Hunter with a weapon that's competitive at this point in the game. Unfortunately, our Silver gear is starting to get outpaced. So while the Silver Bow is a possibility, the fancy new Cinquedea will be the new weapon of choice for GUTS.

Just to drive it home. The Silver Bow's only advantage is that it has more power than the Cinquedea at max decay... and if we didn't have the mod, it would be the only choice. BUT WE DO!

Anyway, when we last left off at Sara Sara Beach, we stopped around here because this enemy was an orange Flame. But what if we didn't?

Do keep watch for hidden treasures off to the side of the main route.

Danger bird! It's quite similar to the Axebeak of Okimoto N.S., just with a bit of magical power with Razor Wind as an attack and Roost as defense. It's also weak to Ice, which works out nicely for our team.

No complaints here, absolutely not. En-Ice Take Aim is only a sample of what a Hunter with Waterbend can do to their target, and GUTS only has average Agility!

Unfortunately, GUTS also doesn't have his usual durability right now and the enemies here are still a little spicy.

The western edge of Sara Sara Beach is actually pretty verdant! It's quite pretty.

Most of what I'm here for is mapping, to be honest, but I'll get into fights to brush up my skills since I can just barely handle 'em.

Fun fact: Doublecasting two Frosts on these things does a lot of damage and they don't like that!

Hey do you like LP bottlenecks? At least Dervish has more or less everything it needs to operate at this point: poor Wizard has Flare gated behind an absolutely hideous Firena/Boltena/Mind Stance lock.

Should you be so inclined, you can use this Home Point to explore the upper layer of Poko Poko Desert a bit, but I don't want to right now. I have other things I want to do that require still going through Sara Sara Beach. But hey, it's a halfway point so I can go back to Capital Sequoia and restock.

For best results with exploration, you may need to climb atop the different palm trees, which can be tricky. The tops of them are a full four blocks up.

It's necessary to get past this point, though. Can't get up here without Tree Help.

I don't know why it's spelled that way. The Scentaur is a physical fighter armed with Harvester, Adrenaline, and a move for a class we haven't got yet, Executioner, that also self-applies Frenzy. They hit really hard!

Like... REALLY HARD!

Well, we teched it.

Filling out the roster for everyone as we go. GUTS has the most room to advance given he's only just starting Hunter. Frieren in Chemist is mostly picking up extra stuff she doesn't actually need, Werdna has the LP bottleneck, and once Meena gets Crystal Form she doesn't actually need much else from Aegis.

Once you reach this open area that has a hidden pond to the south, you're near the end of Sara Sara Beach's western half.

You can climb up to this rock formation to climb back up to a new section of Poko Poko Desert, but I recommend holding off on that until you find two things here.

The first thing is very, very easy to find.

The interior isn't too hard to climb, but does require the ibek.

There's no sign calling this the, for example, Dervish Temple or anything, but that's what this is and where the Master Dervish resides.

Just some perspective on how far from the explored parts of Poko Poko Desert we are.

SILVER VEIN DETECTED

Okay, here's the other spot.

It turns out that most of the gamebreaking weird gear is secretly Books all along!

Now, I don't intend to equip this to Werdna owing to his devoted attachment to the scythe. That said, the Blank Pages are extremely strong for alpha striking casters, because APPARENTLY being able to act immediately also completely negates all CT from whatever ability you use. My citation is the now-completed LP of Crystal Project over at Something Awful which is very good if you want another LP of the same game to check out. But yeah I don't think I have to explain why a frame 1 Rockslide or Typhoon is really good. Arguably one of the best caster weapons in the game.

Oh yeah there's also an unexplained titanic monolith erupting from the earth here what.

The size of this construct rivals anything else we've seen in the game. Even in this update we will not cover its full exterior, nor find a means to enter.

Climbing it reveals an irregular checkered texture, but we can't get any higher than this for now.

To ascend, we need to climb up these funky little pillars.

The jumps can be tricky with the perspective in play, but the only enemies around here are either atop trees or walking the coast, and we have neither nearby. Take your time, watch your shadow, and keep an eye on your map to see what elevations, if any, appear on the next jump to get a good idea of where to go.

And that does it. First things first, let's check out more of the giant wall.

Goes even higher than the desert!

At this height, we can find certain sections pulsing in the wall.

Touching them causes them to withdraw entirely, but nothing is revealed within. No passages, treasures, or enemies.

We may need another steed to traverse this thing.

Just as abruptly as we encountered it, it cuts off shortly before reaching the Overpass.

Did you know you can bounce on top of a cactus? You shouldn't. It only works if you land directly on top and you bounce for lower height than your jump.

While we can't enter the mysterious construct, we DO, unusually, have a set of clues for how we might do that!

First up is the map for Salmon Bay. We haven't been to this region yet and there is little reason to go at this time, but merely having this available is nice because it is a map and maps are nice.

The three Ancient Tablets are buried somewhere in Salmon Bay. Inscribed on the three Ancient Tablets are the secrets to the Ancient Labyrinth.

The second is this clue, giving not only a name for the construct behind us but a reason to explore Salmon Bay! Of course, those secrets won't help us if we can't ENTER the Ancient Labyrinth, and the labyrinth itself is extremely meant for a late/postgame challenge... but we have something to go off of for this mystery. So that's cool!

That's really all that's up here, but I can map it so I will.

There's also some stuff we can map from the Sea Bird's Nest, but I'm not feeling it and it doesn't lead to anything critical right now. So I'll finish up with mapping and then go back to the east half of the beach and Beaurior Volcano.

Did I mention that Poko Poko Desert is big? It's very large.

At least the ibek makes these areas easier to reach.

Imagine a Dust Devil but it trades Star Glow for Fissure, a magic debuffing spell called Haze, and better physical stats. That's Chimera. I'm just gonna kill it real quick.

Woooo AP Juice! Love to see it.

By the way, we're close to making all the Silver gear! The only things I haven't made yet are the Silver Spear and Silver Pages, and I craft the latter as of this post.

Just missing one Silver Ingot. Screenshot unrelated, where I realize I could buy the Overpass map three scraps ago whoops. But where could that last Silver Ingot be...

Not over here, but I did check again what with the whole "being able to afford the Tough Rod at the Decent Cod store" thing.

OH RIGHT I REMEMBER NOW. Also: Dr. Cool Aids' gang isn't here. Weird.

It's not at the Lost & Found but there is some dust there. Don't need it yet, hopefully won't need it ever. Also a Hope Cross that provides instakill immunity I guess, that was probably a steal from this or that foe. But I am SO GLAD I kept a to-do list this run...

BECAUSE IT'S ACTUALLY OVER HERE.

That's all of 'em! Now we can focus on upgrading to Gold gear! Wooooooo!

On to the main event!

If there was a pathway built up here, it's long since been eroded away, whether by the oceanside air or lava flow.

The weapon here is a pretty neat two-hander sword! Not something the current party especially wants to use, but plenty of characters would.

For whatever reason, the enemies around Beaurior Volcano are extremely passive, such that you pretty much have to pick a fight with them. (Fights here also use the same music as the early parts of the game, rather than the post-Capital music.)

Speaking of, do you see that red flame in the water, off to the west? Yeah don't fall on those. They kill you to death. You are not expected or intended to fight them now, and even if you fall in the water you have to actively try to hit them. But hey! Cool to see!

This is the bird update. It's immune to Burn and can Harden, so it's kind of annoying to take down but hardly invincible.

Feet on the ground means it's not immune to Earth! Woooooo!

We quickly find ourselves on the southern coast of the volcano, which is where we need to be.

There's a small inlet here with a few more bridges, patrolled by...

Distant relatives of Magcargo. They're also immune to Burn, as are all monsters in Beaurior Volcano, and enter play with durationless Armor Up. They use the same Spit Fire/Sear combo we saw back in the Capital Jail from the Floating Souls or whatever they were.

There we are, that's the funny dungeon entrance. And a nice convenient Home Point!

Before we go in, I'm gonna continue along the coast to get the perimeter of the volcano mapped out.

Hm... that's not bad for Frieren, honestly. Amplifies the healing of Item's fixed values and all. I'll think about it.

The Tome of Light is the only major treasure along this side, though. Only other element of note is seeing where the coast meets up with our already mapped region by Seaside Cliffs.

Woooo, Crystal Form! Hard for an Aegis to make use of on their own, but once we wrap up with this class, Monk could take a beating with this and Chakra up AND get lumps in with Counter.

Not entirely sure why the map here is saying there's dry land just off the coast when there very clearly isn't. Anomalous!

Anyway dungeon time.

Weird to call the interior Beaurior Rock as opposed to Beaurior Volcano, but eh, it conveys a difference and that's what matters.

Beaurior Rock is unique for many reasons, the first of which is that it forces a fixed perspective to each room of the dungeon, in an extremely similar style to early Zelda titles.

It's also a multi-level dungeon, where a lot of otherwise normal doors are actually elevators to other rooms.

I will say it's kind of novel for it to be a Zelda style dungeon but with a focus on platforming rather than puzzles and swords.

My key now.

The center door in the first room leads here. Basically just an intro to the mechanics of how Beaurior Rock will work before really starting things.

The music only kicks in once you open that first door to reach the dungeon proper.

Most of the enemies will placidly orbit the room along predictable patrol routes, as though mimicking the simple orthogonal AI of early Zelda enemies as well.

You also have rooms where the doors lock on entry and you must defeat all monsters to open them.

"Defeat" in this case does not have to mean combat.

Hole.

It leads to... I want to say the bottom floor?

Oh no, it's so hidden! How will we get over there?

Crystal Project does not use the same engine as the Zelds.

That is a nice hat, very good. The buff isn't gonna be super amazing but I'm sure not turning it down.

There is a secret treasure to the south only reachable by arriving from a specific room above. I don't pull it off this update because I forget where you enter from, but I'll go get it later off-camera.

To the right of Hole is this room. I don't think it's possible to make the jump across with a Quintar but I can be wrong sometimes.

That's the way forward and we want to go forward so we will go forward.

Fights in Beaurior Rock are unique because they inflict Burn on all combatants on account of that whole convection thing. The usual enemies are immune to Burn and can thus just glide by at their full capacity, but on a randomizer run you could see some considerably more flammable foes in here.

Devil Bombs, as you might guess, are almost completely fireproof and use Spit Fire to capitalize on the guaranteed Burn, plus the whole Explode thing.

The Burn effect is permanent and re-applies if revived, but can be cured like any other debuff, so Beaurior Rock gets a little easier if you have someone capable of doing that. Clerics in particular are well worth it since they also bring Blackout to the table.

Gotta approach from the south to get that item. Shame, that.

I don't think I'm avoiding the encounter this time.

This takes us up to here. The right door started out locked, but all of them slammed closed when we entered.

The Salamander absorbs Fire damage, and packs Spotlight and two mean area moves: Cauterizer as an AOE physical that inflicts Burn, and Fire Breath, one of the few remaining Monster Magic spells.

For reasons I cannot fathom, they drop this crappy thing, quite often. By the time you're here, this shouldn't even slightly be a consideration, and even if we were in earlygame Delende the MP penalty would make it unattractive. Maybe it's like a joke callback to FF1 just having A Staff as an item in a bunch of treasure boxes? Who knows?

Like, just to drive it home. What exactly is the point of the Digested Staff?

That ledge over there is where the dungeon boss is, but A: it's too far to jump from here with the Quintar, and B: obviously we gotta get the Boss Key first.

Don't wanna.

We are once again at Hole.

Bottom floor, as before.

This key is nice, but y'know what's even nicer?

SURPRISE BOSS FIGHT WE CAN DO!!!

The Ancient Sword is an entirely optional fight that can be pretty dangerous if you don't have good answers to its kit. It's a pure physical attacker that combines strong single and multi-targeting attacks with inflictions of both Bleed and Burn, plus an En-Fire stance that kicks that damage up even further. This kit is very, VERY vulnerable to a few handy options that most parties will have access to, even outside of the usual method of just hitting them with Power Down constantly. Clerics in particular excel at this fight given the Blackout and Mend spells, the former of which completely shuts down the Ancient Sword after it uses En-Fire, but you can also run Rogues that can throw Blind as often as they can hold lowest Threat. I personally elected to show off one of my funniest countertanking strats here: Werdna using Reaper with Black Magic makes Storm Stance an extremely effective option for taking hits and dishing them out, even without Blackout support. You also have Frieren doing an admirable amount of sustain for everyone and GUTS just throwing knives and waves off constantly. The most important things here are having good debuff survival and good ways to handle physical attacks. If you feel like your party can't do either, there's no shame in coming back later, especially as Beaurior Rock hosts a very strong option on both ends once you clear it.

GUTS grabs Unguent and Werdna gets Frenzy over it. Meena is a scant single point away from finishing off the White Magic spell list with Star Flare.

This sword is a very nice prize for the fight, even if most sword users won't be doing much Fire damage. With the mod, it's especially strong for a Samurai, but even without it it would be very considerable for Meena if Future Sight wasn't so very much her exact vibe.

With our winnings, I finally go buy an Overpass map! Now we can see how far off our estimates of the class master towers were.

The Valkyrie Watchtower was the most offbase.

Anyway, this door. I think the left one goes to a treasure but I don't remember for certain.

Guess we'll see after these messages.

I TECHED IT

The left door leads to progress. You can actually see it as you come up the elevator, but that divider is a clever ruse. You can walk through it without issue.

We can't make the jump from here either.

A map! Beaurior Rock is one of maybe three dungeons in the game that doesn't just use the Overworld/Caves/Dungeon layers, but specifically the Dungeon B1/2/3/4/5 map layers.

Platforming gets a little trickier. Those extremely heatproof cubes sink at intervals, so time your jumps accordingly.

Do you see it? Do you see the secret route?

Gottem.

Guard Crown, but as a dress! No, you don't get 4 turns of Armor Up for equipping both. Very sad.

I think this place would be easier to navigate if the up/down elevator doors were properly signposted as stairs or something.

It's not especially difficult, just mildly annoying, but it IS annoying.

Rock Lizards have En-Fire like the Ancient Sword and a Crunch attack that ignores Defense. They're pretty rude.

Here, it's the right two that sink and rise repeatedly. If you're quick on your feet, you can jump from one to the other exactly during the sink interval, which is the best way to get those treasures over there.

Note that this bridge leans slightly to the west. We CAN and will make that jump over there.

The enemies here run away if approached, but if you catch one...

You get a fight with a Magic Well! These enemies will cast Curena on your party and then leave. It's a cute way to emulate the whole fairy pond you often find in the Zelds.

You can jump to this chest or run along the hidden underside path, but either way be mindful of the enemy lurking down there. Falling here takes you to another room we've seen before, just outside Hole 2.

Smooth move, lumpy.

Our prize is a VERY nice Nomad sword. Incompatible with the Hunter moveset, but given the lack of recent bows I might switch GUTS back to Nomad for a bit to use this instead. Cinquedea is nice and all but it doesn't feel the same, y'know?

That moveset is pretty nice though, since we're getting a lot of good options here.

Anyway, now down here to the boss.

TWO BOSS UPDATE LET'S GO

Iguanadon and Iguanadin (the Iguana Twins) aren't especially complex enemies. They both have a physical and a magical attack, and can use Fierce Stance when their teammate goes down to get very strong physical stats. Conventional strategy involves taking down Iguanadin first, as they sport both Spit Fire for big mean damage, and Harvester for an area attack that gets VERY scary if backed by Fierce Stance. Iguanadon, by comparison, only has Fighter Crush and Sear, which are mean but single target and thus can usually be handled by a proper tank. Of course, area attacks are allowed and encouraged, and there's no rule saying you can't take down Iguanadon first if you can get your Burn clears up and your entire party is durable enough, but for most teams focusing on Iguanadin is the way to go. This fight actually started to wear our party down, with Meena running out of MP right at an inconvenient point at the end. Not that this cost us the run or anything, but it is an important reminder that pure MP-reliant casters will need to consider stats beyond "how much Mind/Spirit can I get from a wand/staff". Book-wielding Aegis is actually a pretty reliable defensive pick if you can swing it; not like they need to actually do physical attacks for damage, right? That snafu aside, this fight is almost pure fundamentals: do lots of damage, heal your team, clear their debuffs, keep the other guys off-balance.

The Bone Armor they drop is cool or whatever but the real funny prize is the Bone Trophy. This rude piece of work, in exchange for halving the max HP of the user, lets them begin fights in Fierce Stance, granting serious bonuses to physical damage dealt AND taken! You need to be comfortable with the HP penalty to pull it off, but if you are, this can be a very powerful bit of kit for, say, a Warrior or Reaper expecting to take hits and dish them out equally.

Werdna now has some very scary damage potential for killing fights to pieces.

The door behind the boss leads to the top of the volcano.

Note that since GUTS ended that last fight in the dirt, Werdna takes over as the party lead.

From here, we can map out the rest of Beaurior Volcano easily, especially with that Home Point on deck.

Well, except for the mouth of the volcano descending into Beaurior Rock. Even the most adamant completionist will have to accept their Overworld map having an uncomfortable hole in it.

But for most people, the real prize here is...

Valkyrie! This class is considered by many to be the best defensive class in the game, but I'll leave that to the writeup to judge.

Hi again GUTS.

I'll end it here: while I did play a bit more after this, it was merely mapping out Beaurior Volcano and trying to get that one treasure in the bottom of Beaurior Rock I missed. Turns out you just gotta walk into a passage hidden on the north side of the islet, easy; the reward is a Halberd, a very strong Spear that boosts Resistance as well as Defense.

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 the Undercity.
  • Repair the elevator.
    • Win the Sky Arena.
    • Find the Sienna Crystal.
    • Find the Samurai class.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Samurai.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Assassin.
  • Explore Ganymede Shrine.
    • Obtain the Ganymede Stone.
• Explore the Quintar Reserve.
• 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 Salmon Bay.
• 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 the Ancient Labyrinth.
• Explore Sara Sara Bazaar.
  • Bring the food enthusiast some Shoudu Stew.
  • Obtain a Ferry Pass.
  • Find the Tram Key.
  • Explore Sara Sara Beach.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Dervish.
• Explore Beaurior Volcano.
  • Explore Beaurior Rock.
    • Defeat the Ancient Sword.
    • Defeat Iguanadon and Iguanadin.
  • Find the Deep Sky Crystal.
  • Find the Valkyrie class.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
  • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
  • Challenge the Deity of Earth.
  • Challenge the Deity of Darkness.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Beastmaster class.
• Find the Assassin class.

 

[Kalir]

VALKYRIE
Glorious Envoy of Battle

STATS

• HP: 6
• MP: 4
• Strength: 9
• Vitality: 9
• Dexterity: 4
• Agility: 4
• Mind: 3
• Spirit: 3
• Speed: 2
• Luck: 5

PROFICIENCIES

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

INNATE PASSIVES

• Immortal: Self-applies Immortal (Revive at 25% HP when killed) buff at the start of combat.

Many people would call Valkyrie one of the strongest tanking classes in the game, and as someone who used it the same way many other players did from the start... can't say I disagree! Excellent Strength and Vitality stats plus decent HP give it a decent niche as a brawler, but more than that, the Immortal passive and the extremely strong Valhalla moveset give Valkyrie an excellent repertoire for keeping their entire team standing in situations where they really shouldn't be. In particular, Valkyrie excels in two situations most tank characters struggle with, dealing with multiple enemies, and being able to support their team indirectly with area healing and buffs as well as directly. For extra fun, all of their moves are the only Vitality-scalar moves in the game, obviating the need for a character whose built for durability to also splash other stats!

But, again, that's a serious problem we can't ignore here. Valkyrie's stats outside of HP, Strength and Vitality are meager at best, with their Spirit being incredibly low for a tank. Sure, Warrior might also have low Spirit, but they have HP to match it. Valkyrie's HP is good, but only slightly above average. Adding to the complications is the issue that Valkyrie uses both AP and MP for their skills, and yet their MP is about the same as most other tanking classes, which is to say... not good. It's very easy to get blindsided by the flashy AOE options they have and the good-at-first-glance stats, but those stats WILL come back to bite you in the ass if the class is used incautiously. Again, I point out that a tank really wants to have high Speed, especially if you're using that tank as a backup healer, and Valkyrie's Speed is simply too large of a weakness to ignore.

With all of that said, Valkyrie is still an extremely strong class that can see a lot of flexing for physical characters like Reaper and Warrior looking to tank, or defensive characters like Aegis looking to spice up their Strength stat and improve their Threat generation. It's very much one of those classes where you'll know which member of your team needs it the second you get it, y'know? Casters that want defensive help will go with Aegis, Dervish or Nomad instead depending on their playstyle, and physical attackers relying on Dexterity or Agility will just laugh at the prospect entirely.

Spoiler: MOVESET: VALHALLA

Warcry
Costs: 6 AP
Multi Target Ability
Threat Formula: 200 + 8 Vit
Prereqs: None

Get out of here Natural Tank, it's time for a REAL field-wide pull. The Threat draw isn't as strong as Taunt or Insult, but it more than makes up for that by targeting the entire field. From the word go, Valkyrie gives any tanking character that wants it an extremely valuable niche that forces enemies to look their way and opens up the rest of your team to do whatever the hell they want.

Healing Breeze
Costs: 18 MP
Multi Target Magic
Recovery Formula: 100 + 0.55 Vit + 0.55 Spi
Applies Regen (+15% healing per turn) buff to the target for 4 turns.
Prereqs: Warcry, 1 LP

Valkyrie gets quick access to a very potent area heal... for certain definitions of "very potent". Applying Regen to literally your team is incredibly strong, and splitting the scalar between Vitality and Spirit means that you're definitely going to get SOMETHING out of this. However, because the scalar splits between two stats, the individual scalars are weaker, and it's not like a single 1.1 scalar on an area spell is, y'know, good. Even Beatsmith does it better. Plus, this sucker costs 18 MP. A traditional mainclass Valkyrie will only be able to cast this a few times in each fight, so the class is not going to cover the needs of a full healer like Cleric or Chemist.

Bracing Strike
Costs: 12 AP
Single Target Spear/Sword(/Bow) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * Vit + Vit
Generates double Threat.
Prereqs: Warcry, 2 LP

I could see an especially reductive take saying that Bracing Strike completely obviates almost the entire Battle Skill tree and a decent amount of the Martial Arts tree. I think they're wrong, but I can see it. Bracing Strike is a simple, somewhat expensive attack that just does pretty good damage and generates a lot of Threat. Who wouldn't want that on their tank? As far as the mod adding Bows to the weapon selection... I think that's primarily a flavor thing more than a game balance consideration since Hunter and Valkyrie are almost complete opposites as far as gameplan goes. But it's cool and thematic so it stays.

Steel Heart
Costs: 10 MP
Stance Change (does not use the turn)
While active, gain immunity to poison, bleed, burn, fatigue, and daze.
Prereqs: Warcry, 1 LP

This is really really good?! Damage over time gets more common the further into the game you go (as this update showed) and there are NO passives that block these effects, only equipment that's usually better spent on things other than a single damage resistance. Turning all of those off plus fatigue and daze for the hell of it is extremely strong, and affords any Valhalla user a lot of durability that few others can match without spending precious actions on self-sustain or getting a supporting character to clear their debuffs.

Steeling Strike
Costs: 24 AP
Single Target Spear/Sword(/Bow) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * Vit + 2 Vit
Generates double Threat.
Prereqs: Bracing Strike, 4 LP

Bigger than before. This is Valkyrie's strongest attack and an incredible way of keeping the heat from a boss off of your team no matter what they do... but also it costs 24 AP and that's not exactly ignorable. Do recall that Valkyrie's more powerful support options also require AP to use. It may be better for you to hold off on this and stick to a Bracing Strike, especially if accuracy doesn't favor you. Burning 24 AP on a miss stone cold sucks.

Thawed Heart
Costs: 10 MP
Stance Change (does not use the turn)
While active, HP healing and damage over time effects have 35% extra potency.
Prereqs: Steel Heart, 2 LP

Oh no, you're in a situation where Steel Heart doesn't apply and now your stance action is useless without a specific subclass! Y'know, most classes would just accept that on the face of it and move on with their lives. But Valkyrie gets to have this instead, so all the Regen they're applying to themselves gets even better. Or, y'know, self-applied regen from other sources, like Chakra or Unguent. You all like full healing every turn, right? Yeah I thought so.

Steeling Wind
Costs: 18 MP
Multi Target Magic
Recovery Formula: 100 + 0.55 Vit + 0.55 Spi
Applies Armor Up (-35% physical damage taken) buff to the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Auto-Revival, 2 LP

This, right here, is one of the ONLY area statbuff moves in the game. And I do specifically mean stat buffs. Sure, you have other moves like Reprisal Aura or Blackout and those are sure nice or whatever, but this move not only heals your team, it applies Armor Up, a very convenient option, to your WHOLE TEAM. And you almost certainly have at least one person stacking Power Down on the boss as well. This is one of the best moves in Valhalla, already a very strong moveset, and may very well be one of the best moves in the game. It's still 18 MP to a Valkyrie, but even then it's worth it.

AP Transfer
Costs: 8 MP
Single Target Magic, No Self-Target
AP Transfer Formula: 6 + 0.06 Vit
Prereqs: Thawed Heart, 2 LP

Yeah Valkyrie can help teammates generate AP too, why not? The high (for an AP gain move) scalar and low MP cost is offset by needing to pull that AP from the user, which isn't as big of a deal as it sounds at first. Valkyrie generally wants MP more than AP, and if you're playing them RIGHT they should be flush with it anyway on account of taking hits on the regular. Plus, the other options for speedy AP gain are either self-targeting or are Chemist's AP Juice, which is expensive in terms of both items and MP for the target. This is one of the most efficient-yet-potent options on the market, which would be wild on a lot of movesets but mostly comes out to "eh it's an option I guess" for Valhalla.

Re-Raise
Costs: 38 MP
Single Target Magic
Applies Re-Raise (Revive at 25% HP when killed) buff to the target for 6 turns.
Prereqs: Steeling Wind, 3 LP

In the unlikely event your Valkyrie has 38 MP and an action they can freely donate somewhere, you can give someone on your team immortality!!! For 6 turns. The turn limit here isn't that big of a deal in practice, but it does add a weird and uncomfortable calculus to the usage of Re-Raise. After all, using it means you expect the target to die sometime within those 6 turns, right? You could use it with, say, a Scholar casting Explode, but that's pretty inefficient and a very niche use of both characters' actions. Surely you'd be better off just healing them or using another mitigative tool. Then again, sometimes lategame damage is so intense that there is no better option for the job than Re-Raise. Still, I rarely find it worth my time to use this on a Valkyrie.

Call To Arms
Costs: 38 MP, 16 AP
Single Target Magic, No Self-Target
Resets all CD.
Prereqs: AP Transfer, Re-Raise, 4 LP

I guess it's just the style for tanks to have really weird capstone moves, huh. Anyway, Call To Arms is a move that CAN be useful with the right team composition and can enable some very cheeky stuff, especially since Call to Arms itself has no cooldown. This lets you enable things like a back-to-back double Quickshot/Snipe on a Hunter, just to give a nice normal example, or letting your Aegis (why are you running an Aegis and a Valkyrie on the same team) Cover multiple targets. There's stuff you can do with this, that's for sure, but that cost is wildly expensive for a lot of characters, and especially for a Valkyrie.

Spoiler: PASSIVES

Auto-Revival
Costs: 3 PP
Self-applies Re-Raise (Revive at 25% HP when killed) buff at the start of combat for 6 turns.
Prereqs: Healing Breeze, 2 LP

Do you not want to die when you are killed? Cool, here's a thing. Unlike Stalwart, which expects the user to have no effective gradient between dead and alive, Auto-Revival is good on literally anyone that has 3 PP to throw into their build, including and especially tanks. However, don't assume it to be a get out of jail free card, as you lose all your other effects, including Threat, on death, so Re-Raise puts you back about as much as dying would anyway. Only major difference is you don't interrupt your turns too hard forcing someone to revive you... which is still good! It's just not brokenly good.

Equip Spear
Costs: 2 PP
Allows you to equip Spears regardless of class proficiencies.
Prereqs: Bracing Strike, 2 LP

Finally got our last weapon proficiency passive! Spears are decent enough two-handed weapons, most notable for affording the user a bit of Defense when wielded. Compared to a combo of a sword/axe and shield, they trade a bit of Defense away for power. Obviously it's nice if the class in question can't use shields, like Valkyrie, and there are a few classes with Spear-compatible movesets and no other good options (Beatsmith in particular, but Monk can also use them with the mod). I can't help but notice that compared to the other "exotic" weapon classes like Bow, Katana, and Scythe, this only costs 2 PP. I have no idea why.

Commander
Costs: 3 PP
-50% Threat decay each turn.
Prereqs: Steeling Strike, Thawed Heart, 4 LP

Another nice passive for tanks to have that costs a lot. Many people feel like tanks in Crystal Project are starved for PP because there are so many "must have" passives for them to equip, and I certainly can't disagree that a lot of a tank's power is tied up in passives. Commander in particular is one that I do feel is actually one almost any serious tank would want to keep so they can hold top Threat on the boss for as long as possible. But like... how many passives do you have to spend on controlling Threat, as opposed to handling the heat from that Threat, or giving yourself self-sustain? Surely you have options, yes?

 

[Kalir]

Okay! Today, I intend to get the Undercity done and dusted. It's likely going to be the only thing I tackle, not because it's so large, but because anything else I'd go for is either not really useful to us right now, or is Tall, Tall Heights and thus big enough to warrant its own update proper.

First, though, I wanna finish mapping Shoudu Province.

Continuing to plug away at everyone's movesets as I go. For GUTS, I'm probably not gonna fully complete Hunter but will at least get Equip Bow and Snipe. Werdna's gotta flesh out a lot of the movesets he's working on but has some major LP hurdles for Dervish, Reaper, and Wizard. Frieren is perfectly happy in Chemist and will stay with it until mastered and then go... I dunno, Shaman maybe. Meena has everything in the active moveset for Aegis she wants and is gonna grab a passive or two before the change to Valkyrie, which she'll be in for long enough to get the fundamentals and then probably go back to Monk and/or Cleric.

Oh yeah this goes to GUTS. Excellent medium armor at this stage for a Nomad, especially onc using En-Water as often as he does.

Anyway this here ought to be the path to finishing our map of Shoudu Province.

Oooh, boxes.

To reach that box, we need to go through here.

A precision jump can get you atop the lantern and to the other side, and a door in the wall leads to the gold vein and the chest.

The door is hard to see in the lighting. Remember, if you want to be certain, you can rotate the camera somewhat to see things along walls more clearly!

Damn, thought this box was red in the lighting.

That about does it for the Shoudu Province map. Now to get some Gold gear for our entry into the Undercity, starting with a Gold Scythe for Werdna. I also get a Gold Cap for GUTS and a Gold Robe for Frieren.

Anyway, in we go. I think there's meant to be a hobo down here as well to ask for money, so as to ensure you don't enter the Undercity without having something for Kenji to judge you by. Maybe they all go away after you give 1 gold?

The intended entryway is from the docks but you can get in from multiple points in Shoudu Province.

Be brave; stand still and these monsters will not hunt you.

Anyway, remember how there's the whole stealth mechanic down here? If you move at all, the monsters will approach you; move enough while you have their attention and they will beeline for you, with incredible speed and jump height. Standing still will lose the aggro of any flame not actively pursuing you.

It does help if you don't park yourself right along their ordinary patrol path, of course.

Koh-Mouri is an absolute jackass: high Agility and a free Evade Up buff makes it incredibly hard for physical attackers to hit, and it has the Reaping passive to extend its max HP with hits, Drain Life to get the regular number back, and Plague Spreader for AOE physical damage and poison.

Dispel can help with the Evade Up buff, or the other class that has buff canceling can try it if you have that class (at this stage you probably don't).

Do recall that Frieren begins the fight with Armor Up from the Guard Crown. This thing hits hard enough that your squishy characters will feel the burn after a single attack.

Anyway, the aggro range on these things is obnoxiously far away. Even as you stealth past a lot of encounters, you will get just as many that hear you from what feels like offscreen and come down off the top ropes to mangle you. We're in range here, easily.

That which doesn't make noise, is not seen by the monsters of the Undercity.

The Assassin players here won't PVP you, they'll just give cryptic advice on how to navigate the threats. All the same general advice of "stay still to avoid notice", but worded differently.

When not fighting giant killer bats, the enemies are rat people, as you know. Plague Bows are sharpshooters that inflict Poison with every hit and counter physical attacks with Pocket Sand.

Fortunately for us, every rat enemy is weak to Water, and we have GUTS (and to a lesser extent, Frieren) primed to capitalize on that.

To get to these treasures, you can go under the bridge and stairs, or fall from the first spot we found the Undercity from and head right.

This one requires either the latter or going across the lampposts shown here.

We'll grab it and then go do a little class changing.

These jumps can be made on foot if you don't want to deal with the charge time on the ibek or the slippery speed of the Quintar, but you do have to use the ibek by the crates to get back up.

Once you get there, be sure to ibek jump up. The side near the stairs doesn't go all the way, so you can easily fall back down and have to redo it if you aren't ready.

From there, walk across the fence and you're golden.

The reward is an... unusual, but potent wand. The trouble with Mute Sentence isn't that Silence is weak, it's that lots of enemies you could force into a fumble with it are already perfectly fine just using a physical attack anyway. It's at least nice if their spells are more dangerous than their physical moves, and if your caster is fine with burning a turn on doing virtually no damage to set that up.

Here's where we landed earlier. Kenji would ordinarily jump down from the ledge up there to judge us.

Oh yeah I got Typhoon on Werdna did I mention that?

Like, I've been getting into fights here or there and building LP and levels, they just don't make for exciting screenshots.

The ideal point a newcomer to the Undercity should shoot for is just south of here. You have to kind of loop around the main area, starting southeast and ending up southwest.

Just across this channel here.

Waiting.

And there's our Home Point!

But if you are willing to put in the work, your efforts will not be wasted. In The Undercity, three masters reign. Find and defeat them all, then come speak with me.

I WONDER WHAT OUR REWARD COULD BE.

Like the merchant outside, this guy sells you a consumable marketed as "a drink", which is a Z-Potion, and then a piece of paper.

You ought to be able to afford both by now, so buy em.

Anyway it's Valkyrie time.

The expectation for a Valkyrie is that you will be using a spear, or a sword and shield. And those are probably what I'm gonna use for the most part. Future Sight will get better once I start filling out the Valhalla moveset.

Here's the stat comparison between the Halberd and the combo of the Burning Blade and Blood Shield. I think the sword/shield combo comes out ahead given the passive bonuses of Burn and lifesteal, but for pure tanking's sake, the Halberd would be the way to go.

Anyway, there's three "masters" here, all hidden more or less in a row spanning from west to north from the shady guy. We'll start with the one in the middle. They're all minibosses, but if you can get to the Undercity, you can handle them.

The stealth element is still in play, by the way.

We get jumped by another rat gang, this one including a Squealitt. In addition to sharing the same Evade Up buff that Koh-Mouri has, they also have the Dual Wield and Critical Turn passives, and apply Evade Down on hit. This massive block of text leaves no room for a Water vulnerability, sad to say.

Using Cover is too hard let's just control Threat from frame 1.

Forgot to look at the Squealitt's actual moveset but they have Skewer! Watch out for that Bleed!

SICK OF TYPHOON HAVING MISS CHANCE AERGH

Check the walls check the walls check the walls! Treasure!

If you're having trouble with the stealth in the Undercity you can skip it if you want. Koh-Mouri out front is the scariest threat in my experience, the rat gangs aren't too bad if you have the AOE to cook em with.

Anyway, we need to get to the top of this small room we're in.

Hi again, Kenji.

Because he shows up repeatedly, you can make this dungeon easier or harder on yourself. A true philanthropist like myself gets full healed on approaching certain regions, while a miserly sort could have even more minibosses to contend with.

That said, Kenji kind of raises some questions for me. Within the kayfabe of Crystal Project, I have been largely assuming that anyone with a class and level listed is another "actual player". The vast majority of people we've seen seem to fit this vibe, whether it's Astley's party, Dr. Cool Aids' gang of noobstompers, Orchard and Little H. protecting the castle from meddling, the PVP dickheads in Okimoto N.S. or even just the randos we've seen. That said, there are some people around that have a class and level listed but seem to have more of an NPC like function, such as the Summoner guardians. And then you have characters like Kenji or the Quintar Enthusiast. Again, within the verisimilitude framework of the game, I could see arguments for them either way. Perhaps Kenji is just a scripted encounter that checks how generous you are, but I think it equally likely that the hobos throughout Shoudu Province might not have an actual function, and Kenji's party just gets their kicks out of seeing other people interact with them, rewarding charitable players and attacking greedy ones. Something to think about, y'know? Like, I'm sure you lot that still plays MMOs have seen players go off the beaten track to play the game and interact with its world a different way.

Once he leaves, you're free to explore and loot the sheds here.

Slim here offers players who have not been wild enough to donate 1 gold to a hobo a means of recovering just before a fight with one of the masters. It's nice and all, and while it's useless for us given Kenji literally one shed over just full healed us, I also want to touch on the rep of the Ninja and Assassin players we've seen. All the Ninjas (plus the lone Samurai) we saw in Okimoto N.S. were just a bunch of off-brand Naruto names doing full PVP, while the Assassins in here have been helpful, maybe a little too into the game's roleplay flavor but helpful all the same. It's a cute distinction to think about. Anyway, Slim charges 2 silver for a rest, which is fine at this stage.

If you're walking along the outside main road you might see this gold and not be sure how to get it. Just go along the backside, easy.

Anyway, we gotta climb the scaffolding here to get to the master, but first, do you see that little ledge down south?

SECRETS!

The Brigandine is... odd. Good armor, don't get me wrong, even if the recommendations it's giving are wildly inaccurate for my party (even if it beats the raw defense/resistance stats, GUTS and Werdna both enjoy better side benefits from their armors). It's just that for anyone hoping to use Medium Armor... weapon proficiencies aren't really what I'd sign up for? It's good on a Beatsmith at least, that gives them Spear access (and, with the mod, Axes), and a Fencer can flex to Swords with it if they don't want to use Rapiers or spend 1 PP on Equip Sword for some reason, just... not especially handy for anyone else that could use it.

Anyway, up we go.

FIRST CHALLENGER

The Blade Master is a very dangerous enemy capable of dealing damage while also slinging a slew of debuffs your way. Main Vitals gives TWO turns of Blind AND Silence, which is rude enough alone. Maim Focus applies 2 turns of Fatigue and Daze, Brutal Venom applies durationless Poison, Burn, AND Bleed, and Coup de Grace lets them deal spike damage to a target scaling with the debuffs they have. Getting through this fight intact means you NEED ways to handle this storm of debuffs headed your way. The obvious method would be to bring people capable of clearing them, with a tanking Monk and Cleric in general being the ideal choices. However, one other method you can use, unorthodox as it is, is Confusion. Blade Master doesn't have the strongest damage output and is very dependent on using shutdown and debuffs to win the fight, so preventing them from bullying any one target means they can't stack up on one target for a Coup de Grace finisher! So if you can keep them confused, the cooldown on their different debuff moves will prevent them from incapacitating anyone.

Also this is the first boss we've had that has Born Soldier as the theme and that is a bop, check it out.

After every defeated master, you get a reminder of your progress.

Gouger is... Very Unusual. The raw attack value is extremely low, but with how much bonus crit damage it affords, it can afford to be low. Consider it to be a 90 Attack weapon normally, and a 290 attack weapon if you have enough crit chance to land them consistently. Considering where our other weapons land right now, that's pretty dang good!

Before we challenge the next master, I decide that we could use an upgraded shield as well. Again, note that the Evasion is actually improving from the Blood Shield, which just flat disables the stat rather than lowing it. The lifesteal we can make up for with a spare Hemoring.

Let's hit the west master next, down the canal.

Unlike the rest of the Undercity, the route here is extremely linear. The side branches are virtually impossible to reach and usually don't have any treasure there (well, unless you count getting the Brigandine from the opposite side).

Still went there to prove I could.

You can easily avoid the patrolling enemies by ducking down into these little crawlspaces.

ROCKS FALL, RANDOMS DIE.

This would've been great for the first master, but eh, I take it now, happily.

For some reason, I decide this is the time for everyone to work through their backlog of vicarious LP, grabbing whatever passives I can and investing towards whatever those characters would find useful. By the time you master a class, everyone else will get a grand total of... 2 LP for that class. Wheeeeee. You can still do stuff with that, but if you really want to grab those other passives, equip a Seal and change to that class proper.

HI, KENJI.

And off he goes, leaving us to wander into the den of the next master.

Can you see them? No? Because they can see us.

Next up is the Shadow Master, the magic specialist of the lot. Most of their moveset is stuff we've already seen before; Maim Vitals makes an unwelcome return from the Blade Master fight, Haze lowers a target's magic stats, and Division Cut is still able to halve HP. The big threat here is Dark Overture, a lategame spell you'll see on more than a few enemies with high damage and Variance that makes it always a move to keep an eye out for. Fortunately, that's Shadow Master's only major threat. Like the Blade Master before them, their damage output outside of Dark Overture is tepid at best, relying on softening up your targets with Division Cut and Haze so the kill can be secured with Dark Overture. Keep their magic in check any way you can, whether by lowering their stats, interrupting the CT, or just facetanking it and healing up with area healing after.

If you say so, I can't see for sure.

Anyway, the Elven Bow the Shadow Master drops is a very very welcome prize for any Hunter that would have it. Hell, it's even better for a Hunter that hasn't got a lot of Agility from the rest of their classes (like GUTS) owing to the passive Accuracy rampup that eventually bring it to a net positive. Goodbye Cinquedea, you were valuable to us.

Also Werdna is done with Dervish for now. 6 LP on a spell we're never going to cast is pointless at the moment, even if we did want the Dervish Seal. Maybe later, after he's got Reaper and Wizard cleaned up, we'll go back to Dervish. I do want to get all the seals eventually, for reasons that will eventually become apparent.

I'll finish up Wizard first, since we haven't found the Master Reaper yet. The Silver Crown I eventually replace with a storebought Wizard's Hat, available from Sara Sara Bazaar.

As a refresher, here's where Werdna left off in his starter class. Leaving Equip Wand aside for so long is probably pissing off a lot of other players, but I'll be real with you, the Scythe letting him flex to Reaper damage and lifedrain is really nice. No regrets on that one. Plus, you've seen his damage output. Do you really think he NEEDS a wand?

To find the last master, we gotta stick to the upper levels as much as possible.

They're up north, but consider: going the other way to look for candy.

Candy status: acquired.

Through here. This area has the highest density of enemies in the Undercity.

This includes... a gray flame? What?

...Buddy.

Anyway, there's a lot of flames, so you're gonna get into fights basically no matter what. You can still avoid them, either with stealth or losing them on the complex terrain.

For example, that flame below us got baited down to a much lower level, too low for even their massive jump height to get out of.

Armor that is heavy. Heavy armor, if you will.

By this point, if you aren't used to using the favorites menu to hotswap mounts, you will be.

FROM THE TOP ROPES!

North from there leads to some elevated terrain we can cross.

Just weave back and forth and gain as much altitude as you can.

DON'T MESS UP

And that's it, last one.

In comparison to the other two masters, the Duel Master feels... weirdly unfinished? Their stats are fine, the issue is their moves. Voracity is a basic attack on a cooldown that self-applies the Debuffer buff, making their debuffs stronger. Executioner hits pretty hard, costs 20 AP and 4 CD, and self-applies Frenzy. Those, plus their basic Attack, are their only moves. Neither self-buff does anything useful for the Duel Master, since Frenzy's benefit is outweighed by the 4 turn cooldown making AP income a given eventually, so you basically just have a boss-stats enemy that pulls out a kinda strong attack every four turns and then does basic attacks otherwise. And even Executioner is incredibly survivable! If this particular master is giving you trouble, you are straight up too underleveled to be in the Undercity, no matter how good your stealth is. Relocate, please.

A whimper rather than a bang, but oh well.

So I've heard.

The shady guy unlocks the door for us.

Cool, gimme that crystal.

Ooooh, looking at it, maybe you could use Salmon Sprint to sequence break into the Undercity and get to this? I don't think anyone's ever tried it, compared to the other known breaks, but maybe!

Surprise big not.

That's the Undercity done and dusted, but this update feels a bit too short. Lemme see if I can't squeeze in a little more before we go.

That'll do.

The stop is only just above the Sky Arena, but too high up to really reach by platforming.

We have to cross to these tree roots to reach the Quintar Reserve.

We were overfull on these when I got the map. Any further ones are brownie points.

Same music here as in the Rolling Quintar Fields. It's actually directly adjacent!

Treehouse? Are you in there, Nich?

Just a Quintar... kinda.

In addition to standing taller than your average Quintar, this one has two eyes rather than the usual one. It's actually a furry, wearing an expertly made Quintar fursuit... or would that be scalesuit? Feathersuit? Someone who exists in this space help me out here.

Still fluently speaks the language, of course.

There isn't actually a lot we can do in the Quintar Reserve for now. There's not NOTHING, but if I wasn't fighting off the urge to go play Steamworld Heist 2 right now I could get some stuff done.

Well, good to know the furry's ensemble is ethically sourced.

There's an authentic Quintar here looking out over the cliff toward the sea. No idea what they're looking at right now, of course.

Maybe it's just me, but the platforming here feels decidedly inconvenient for the species meant to reside here. Have you considered chipping some of these mesas away?

There's a tall and imposing structure here, but the entrance is too far to reach even atop a Quintar. A Desert Quintar could do it, but you are not gonna be able to get one all the way from Sara Sara Bazaar to here without warping, that's for sure.

Yeah I don't think those are for the Quintars.

Yep, two more furries in here. They refuse to break character, so we cannot talk to them.

Yeah, can't even climb to the entrance. Ibek can't scale that.

Depicted: me clipping the corner on this jump, missing it, and deciding that the Quintar Reserve can wait for another day I have heisting to do. Speaking of, I'm gonna go do more of that.

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 the Undercity.
    • Defeat the Shadow Master.
    • Defeat the Blade Master.
    • Defeat the Duel Master.
    • Find the Silver Crystal.
    • Find the Assassin class.
  • Repair the elevator.
    • Win the Sky Arena.
    • Find the Sienna Crystal.
    • Find the Samurai class.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Samurai.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Assassin.
  • Explore Ganymede Shrine.
    • Obtain the Ganymede Stone.
• Explore the Quintar Reserve.
• 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 Salmon Bay.
• 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 the Ancient Labyrinth.
• Explore Sara Sara Bazaar.
  • Bring the food enthusiast some Shoudu Stew.
  • Obtain a Ferry Pass.
  • Find the Tram Key.
  • Explore Sara Sara Beach.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Dervish.
• Explore Beaurior Volcano.
  • Explore Beaurior Rock.
    • Defeat the Ancient Sword.
    • Defeat Iguanadon and Iguanadin.
  • Find the Deep Sky Crystal.
  • Find the Valkyrie class.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
  • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
  • Challenge the Deity of Earth.
  • Challenge the Deity of Darkness.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Beastmaster class.

 

[Kalir]

ASSASSIN
Undercity Cleaner

STATS

• HP: 4
• MP: 5
• Strength: 4
• Vitality: 2
• Dexterity: 10
• Agility: 7
• Mind: 3
• Spirit: 1
• Speed: 7
• Luck: 6

PROFICIENCIES

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

INNATE PASSIVES

• Assassination: +100% physical damage if this bonus would kill the target.

Assassin is another oddball of a class, and in true Crystal Project fashion, it's odd in a completely new way from everything else. With the best Dexterity in the game and respectable Agility and Speed, Assassin exactly fits the bill of what you're expecting for it: an all-out physical damage class that gives up every stat not related to efficient murdering so as to facilitate that efficient murdering. Assassination is a ridiculously strong class passive for clearing out wandering encounters, and boasts a wide variety of powerful techniques compatible with a similarly-wide variety of weapon types to use them with. And just because it's strong at non-boss fights doesn't mean it sacrifices boss-killing potential; the Execute moveset affords a massive slew of self-buffs and control tools that let an Assassin with time to kill really unload on their unfortunate targets.

Assassin's downside is that their massively versatile moveset is hamstrung by one major, major caveat: it is literally impossible to use the entire moveset at once, and it splits its physical attacks between THREE stat scalars, including Strength. This idiosyncracy was preserved in the mod as it is clearly intentional, but generally speaking, you have three "families" of move. The Dexterity scalars are compatible with only daggers and rapiers, with the mod adding scythes. Strength scalars ask for daggers or axes, with the mod adding swords. In previous versions, all of the Agility scalar moves were SOLELY bow-accessible, but two of them have become agnostic. The remaining bow skill has gained staffs as the alternative. All of this, plus the combination of both AP and CD costs on every move, and the Dexterity and Agility scalar attacks having an accuracy penalty, mean that the Execute moveset can NOT be the centerpiece of your gameplan.

We've seen classes expecting you to commit to the bit to the exclusion of all else. Assassin is, if anything, a stark opposite to this playstyle. It's more kind of a capstone physical damage class for any character that's been speccing for Dexterity or Agility, or even Strength if you want to get really funny and have a Strength-focused attacker flex to Dexterity and/or Agility. As you might guess, the class is not for most casters despite a functional MP stat: Mind and Spirit render most scalars useless. But in practice, if you have someone who's been using Rogue, Hunter, Fencer or Ninja as their main for the bulk of the game, they WILL spend time as an Assassin. It's just how it is. Special notice to dagger users, who only lose a single move from the moveset if that matters to you.

Spoiler: MOVESET: EXECUTE

Bloody Slice
Costs: 6 AP, 4 CD
Single Target Dagger/Rapier(/Scythe) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Dex + 0.5 Dex
90% Accuracy
Inflicts Bleed (15% damage per turn) debuff on the target for 4 turns.
Prereqs: None

Lots of duration on this Bleed... and that's honestly about all I can say on this move. It's a really, really nice way to land Bleed. Not that that should be a problem for most characters that want to do this, considering Fencer and Reaper both have easy access to the effect and it's not exactly uncommon to find on weapons, but hey! Damage over time. It's nice, sure.

Harm Power
Costs: 6 AP, 4 CD
Single Target Weapon Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Agi + 0.5 Agi
90% Accuracy
Inflicts Power Down (-35% physical damage dealt) debuff on the target for 3 turns.
Prereqs: 2 LP

Eeeeeeegh. Don't get me wrong, it's Power Down and that's a very vital debuff to have access to in almost any boss fight. The accuracy penalty and the fact that the debuff lasts shorter than the CD really makes this one hurt to look at. But, like Shaman's Sleep Echo, it's not about whether the move in isolation is competitive with others (and hey, it costs fewer AP than Power Break), it's about how it fits into the moveset as a whole. And an Assassin using something that can reach the Strength scalar attacks can use Avid Assault or Voracity to turn up the heat properly and maintain full uptime... or you can get an assist from a Shaman with Instability! Or both! Both is good too!

Avid Assault
Costs: 4 AP, 4 CD
Single Target Dagger/Axe(/Sword) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
Self-applies No Cooldowns (Negate all CD) buff for 1 turn.
Prereqs: 1 LP

Obviously, this has strong self-synergy with Assassin and lets them basically doubletap whichever move they want to do. But there are other use-cases as well, of course. Unfortunately, those use cases will have to be okay with using a dagger or an axe (or a sword with the mod). Speaking of the mod... remember how Hunter can use daggers with Hunt now? Everyone's saying "oh this makes Rogue/Hunter so strong" but whatever, that just doubles up on the spike damage gimmick. Move the hell over it's Hunter/Assassin hours.

Maim Focus
Costs: 12 AP, 4 CD
Single Target Dagger/Rapier(/Scythe) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Dex + 0.5 Dex
90% Accuracy
Inflicts Fatigue (-50% AP gain) debuff and Daze (+100% CT) debuff on the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Bloody Slice, 2 LP

Both strong debuffs to apply, don't get me wrong. Halving AP gain can keep your team from taking some hammerblows against scary bosses, and Daze absolutely ruins casting enemies. But putting both on the same move and then balancing it with a 2 turn duration... I dunno. I'll still use it if the situation is right, I just think I can get better mileage from other movesets applying this, like Shaman.

Harm Magic
Costs: 6 AP, 4 CD
Single Target Weapon Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Agi + 0.5 Agi
90% Accuracy
Inflicts Magic Down (-35% magical damage dealt) debuff on the target for 3 turns.
Prereqs: Harm Power, 3 LP

Yeah this right here, this is another part of why Harm Power can stay competitive with Power Break. Both offense debuffs on the same moveset is cracked, ask anyone who runs a Shaman. And Shamans have to deal with CT messing up their game! Provided you can land the hits (protip: Perfect Vision) there's nothing stopping you from having full uptime on both debuffs for as long as your Assassin can stay standing! I even joked about how Shaman can't really do an MMO style rotation but Assassin actually CAN. Voracity, Harm Power and Harm Magic, then whatever the hell you want on the fourth turn.

Maim Sustain
Costs: 9 AP, 4 CD
Single Target Dagger/Rapier(/Scythe) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Dex + 0.5 Dex
90% Accuracy
Inflicts Weep (disables healing per turn and lifesteal) debuff on the target for 4 turns.
Prereqs: Maim Focus, 3 LP

Healblocks in RPGs are... funky. Obviously, used against a player who has healing baked into their groove, it's extremely strong. But for enemies to have methods of healing, even subtle ones like lifedrain, it can be seen as a way to pad out an already-inflated HP meter to drag out the fight. So it's nice that we have a slight answer for this. Not foolproof, of course, it only applies to passive effects like regen and lifesteal, but sometimes those can be really annoying and you want them to stop. Assassins can make it stop.

Voracity
Costs: 4 AP, 4 CD
Single Target Dagger/Axe(/Sword) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
Self-applies Debuffer (+1 tick on inflicted debuffs) buff for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Avid Assault, 3 LP

Yes yes yes this is a good dang move. It DOES require your Assassin to commit to the bit with debuffs over their next two turns for best results, but come on. You literally have access to Harm Power and Harm Magic in the same moveset. Can you imagine how much it must have sucked back when those were bow exclusive? What does that even leave you with? ...Okay yeah you can still stack debuffs for Coup de Grace and that's valid. And, as mentioned, this can stack with Instability. Don't know how hard it stacks though, not my style, but I feel like there are some players who already saw the possibility and could tell you more.

Harm Memory
Costs: 12 AP, 4 CD
Single Target Bow(/Staff) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Agi + 0.5 Agi
90% Accuracy
Resets all party members' Threat towards the target.
Prereqs: Harm Magic, 3 LP

This is a nice escape tool if you're mad enough to use bows (or staffs) with Execute. Say your tank bites the dust after taking one too many hits. We've all been there. And now your Wizard or whoever is getting all the Threat on the table and your healer needs to patch up the tank but forcing them to immediately split their focus between tank and damage dealer is too much pressure. That's okay! Delete that focus with Harm Memory! Note that for best results, you will need a team capable of taking a beating in the interim, which is, in my experience, rather uncommon. Also this doesn't work if they do area attacks but you already knew that.

Executioner
Costs: 20 AP, 4 CD
Single Target Dagger/Axe(/Sword) Skill
Damage Formula: 150 + 2.5 Atk + Atk * Str + 1.5 Str
Self-applies Frenzy (+1 AP per turn, on basic attack, and when physically damaged) buff for 4 turns.
Prereqs: Voracity, 4 LP

One of Assassin's two capstone spike damage options, and the less committal of the two. In fact, Executioner's big skrong damage boost needs no setup aside from the high AP cost, and even chains into making other setup easier by self-applying Frenzy! Considering every other Execute move has the base damage of a basic attack, this one hits like a truck even if the Assassin hasn't got many Strength levels under their belt. So yeah, it's nice. Not exactly easy for an Assassin to get that 20 AP going, but we've seen worse.

Coup de Grace
Costs: 8 AP
Single Target Dagger(/Scythe) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Dex + 0.5 Dex
Gains bonus damage for every debuff on the target.
Bonus Damage Formula: 100 + Dex
Removes all debuffs.
Prereqs: Maim Sustain, Harm Memory, 4 LP

The other finisher for Assassin is a scalar that works off of every debuff the target has. Assassin, of course, has no trouble stacking debuffs to the heavens, and you can absolutely tag in your team to help facilitate this. And for a bunker buster attack, 8 AP is basically free! There is a catch, of course: all that time you spent applying those debuffs is effectively wasted if Coup de Grace doesn't land the kill. Because now the boss has no Power Down or Magic Down, no Poison or Bleed for chip damage, and all the Threat in the world coming from your squishy physical attacker. Still really really strong, just don't forget that a move's costs aren't always in the little number of resource.

Spoiler: PASSIVES

Venom Coat
Costs: 2 PP
On hit, inflict Poison (15% damage per turn) debuff on the target for 1 turn.
Prereqs: Maim Sustain, 2 LP

You can stack this with Blood Spiller. I really don't have to say anything else about this. Free Bleed AND Poison on every physical attack you make for 4 PP is one of the best deals your physical attackers will ever make.

Crippling Coat
Costs: 3 PP
On hit, 35% chance to inflict Fatigue (-50% AP gain) debuff and/or Daze (+100% CT) debuff on the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Harm Memory, Executioner, 2 LP

This feels like a passive you can only really put into your build if you're out of ideas and happen to notice a confluence of stat and moveset synergies. Obviously it works well with Execute's Coup de Grace and Voracity, and a higher Luck stat can help ensure the afflictions actually land every so often. Plus, unlike Blood Spiller or Venom Coat, these last 2 turns if they hit! That's comfy! But also... 3 PP can do a lot of things for a build, and I think those things would be better than a 35% chance to inflict one or two situational debuffs.

 

[Kalir]

Amazing what you can accomplish when you're not blueballing for a new release.

Most of the rest of the Quintar Reserve is pretty easy to traverse, especially given that you need an ibek to even get here.

The few parts that are tricky to manage usually have some gold veins or even Quintar Shedding (not that we can use it yet) to work with.

Anywhere you see a sparkle like this, it's Quintar Shedding.

As with Rolling Quintar Fields, there are some small grassy caves hidden in the lower parts of the area.

Woke Eggs, huh? Uh... they can use Aero in addition to Roost and have more competitive stats for our level. That's what it means to be woke, I guess.

Quintar snacks? We can feed them?

Moving on, we see another signpost detailing an... exhibit? of the reserve, and someone else bothering the Quintar.

Dude your accent sucks.

Imagine having a sign in your home that tells visitors how bad you are at something.

Huh, a set of stands over there. Maybe racing stands?

Nice to have some degree of orientation here, even if this tiny island of Overpass isn't that useful in practice.

Just below us is the Quintar Enthusiast's house. If we were to go down there to link up the map in full, we'd have to take the long way back, warping to Ganymede Shrine and using the Sky Arena elevator, and I would prefer to not do that.

The chest had some more Quintar Grass in it. I don't know if I like them introducing an entirely new Quintar-related family of items. It strikes fear into my heart, a nameless fear.

Harsh but fair.

A short distance northwardish, we find a new Home Point. Good, I want to bookmark this area for a bit.

Wait this is a new shrine? Hell yes.

So we might have a slight problem.

We can't actually interact with any of the services at Dione Shrine, as it is staffed entirely by Quintar who do not speak our language and vice versa.

To make up for it, a handful of chests around here hold Dione Shards, enabling us to warp back here a limited number of times.

The worse news is that I meant services, plural. Did you think because you did your time in FF7 you were safe?

No, I am sorry. Welcome to the worst part of the game, a part that more than a few people eagerly use mods or assist options to skip.

We are only one language barrier away from Quintar breeding.

The exact mechanics aren't anything I plan to get into now, not least because we can't actually do any of them without being able to speak Quintar and there's a lot of complexity involved. The ultimate goal of Quintar breeding is still the same, to secure a shiny new Golden Quintar with the power of all Quintar combined. This means securing Quintar from all across the globe and causing them to mate in a horrible incestuous pile of rotating properties and natures, and running punishing races with them so they will deign to the pile. And while it's not required to beat the game, there IS one thing I very much want to showcase that does require it, so that's what we're gonna do.

Anyway, without the ability to understand the Quintar, we lack the ability to buy a Dione Stone from the shrine attendant.

The only people we can talk to are the ducks, who give us information but nothing we can act on.

Like, sure, we have our Quintar appraised and it's a completely standard Quintar. We already know that red and blue Quintar are the same, and Desert Quintar go faster, but there are other Quintar with other properties we can't get yet, and we couldn't get a blue or desert one up here anyway.

So we'll just see what we can see from here and then stop stalling on Tall, Tall Heights.

Flyer's Lookout, huh?

At least we can use the Home Points if we don't want to burn Dione Shards.

Owl!

The owl flies off into the mists as soon as we try to interact with it.

Out of curiosity, I try jumping after it, but as you can see we can't get very far. I doubt even a Quintar could get to wherever that owl was headed to.

Anyway, let's check out the exterior of Dione Shrine a bit from this side.

More of this, sure.

I'm getting better at precision platforming atop a Quintar.

This is probably all we can pull off for now though.

Just in case you were wondering, Flare hasn't stopped being really strong. That's the level 40 dummy down.

Before committing to Tall, Tall Heights I decide to do a little mapping and check in on the bosses we have on the list. Crag Demon and Troll are now orange flames! That's cool!

Okay, enough stalling. Let's do this.

Lots of spikes up there, and no way to even consider approaching for now. That's fine, that's something we can do later.

COLD BIOMES MEANS ICE BLOCK PUZZLES EVERYONE KNOWS THIS.

Number one rule for freeform ice block puzzles: figure out your destination and work backwards from it. Remember that corners are dead ends you can't push from. Follow those rules and you'll be able to trace a route to push the block from. The switch there will reset the block.

Trivial in this case. The chest contains a Tear Seed.

The first Home Point isn't very far in, but it's necessary considering how much ground you have to cover in Tall, Tall Heights and how many enemies you have to contend with.

Not every ice block has to be part of a puzzle. Sometimes its just a thing you can push around and thats perfectly fine.

LEAVE ME ALONE IM PUZZLING

We're now in lategame proper, so the music for battles changes again. Rabbites aren't too bad, but they do pack Rabies, Sever, and Division Cut as a rude set of moves, and Hibernate to shrug off magic damage, as well as the Critical Turn passive. A lot of enemies in Tall, Tall Heights resist Ice damage, which... is fine, honestly? Like, what sources of Ice damage are you bringing into fights, anyway? Even a Nomad has En-Water, Wave Armor, or Drown as decent options. Really it just means you can't use certain weapons with Ice elements.

Welcome to lategame, everyone!

A lot of the puzzles are pretty simple environmental stuff. There's an ice block on the ledge above, one or two pushes get it in place.

Yeah, simple as.

And while I think the intent is to get the ice block somewhere more convenient to platform up... you can just make the ibek jump from the chest. Ain't no thang.

Anyway, there's a lot to do in Tall, Tall Heights, but of specific note is that I'm going to try to reach the upper levels of the Castle Ramparts through it.

This is the access point. To get there, we gotta do a pretty involved, but intuitive, set of ice block pushes.

What makes it intuitive? Easy. Just make sure wherever you're pushing it to, you can then push it again. Practically plays itself.

The main problem is being distracted by flames aggroing from an entire screen away and beelining across the snowfield to murder you. Despite expectations, neither of these enemies are Ice resistant. Snow Nymphs are shutdown casters with Speechless and Sleep Aura (and should die first), while Sabertooths have Rabies and Blood Extract.

This is the problem with Mute Sentence and similar effects. I doubt this monster will get to take more than four turns before the fight is decided, almost certainly in our favor.

Yeah... yeah.

Did not think through more than a single step to get here. Maybe it's because I've done it already but it straight up feels like this puzzle plays itself. Don't worry though, there are later iceblock puzzles that can and will kick your ass.

Anyway, let's take our time to really check out the Castle Ramparts and surroundings while we're high up enough to do so.

Use either of these... parapets, right? That's what they're called? Anyway climb up them to get to the meat of the challenge here.

Before we do that, I'm gonna check out the east side of the castle real quick.

Oh dang new thing already.

Sick, we almost have Chemist mastered.

Slight problem though: we can't actually get to the Master Chemist yet from how I understand things. Obviously they're nowhere to be seen on this floor.

The only entry up top is the chimney, which we can't reach.

Oh well. Just past it is another one of these jokers, taunting us with challenges we can't accept.

We'll get Summoner soon! Are you all excited to have to do level 50 boss battles back to back to access anything in the moveset? I'm not!

Before I hit the Castle Ramparts proper I want a better Home Point than the one at the entrance to Tall, Tall Heights. There is a very real chance that we wipe up there, and that's a hell of a distance to backtrack.

I know there's one northish worth doing, just don't remember how far north.

I always like this fence. It doesn't actually obstruct you, you can just climb the tree south of us with an ibek if you're down there. Legitimately, I think the intended purpose here is to provide an easy bridge to the other side, but even then there's nothing worth doing over there. Anyway, we're still going north. Home Point ain't gonna find itself.

Plenty of trees here, and many dangerous enemies below. You can get some safe travel by jumping from tree to tree, and they're dense enough that you can do this for a while without risk.

NEVER MIND AERIAL ASSAULT

These things are rude. Fire and Ice resistant, Earth immune, and they counter physical attacks with Poison Kiss for the hell of it. They have three mean moves: Frost Bite is an Ice attack that makes the next instance of Ice damage to the target lethal, Head Smash inflicts Daze, and Waste Away inflicts Power and Armor Down.

I forgot how much of Tall, Tall Heights is just... snowfield. Tree. Ice. Navigating it blind is like Poko Poko Desert but worse because you can't even just be on a Quintar and outrun everything.

Wait, here we go. This is the gamechanger we needed. This is a bit northeast from the Delightfully Passable Fence.

Do as he says, you won't regret it.

This ice block is something of a red herring. You'll want one a bit further north to bring to Hector.

Yup, this one.

Hey do you want another Ice-resistant Ice-typed caster? Yeah you do. Also comes with Hypnotize for a lengthy single-target Sleep effect if you're into that, and Icy Chill targets the party and Slows them as well as dealing damage.

As usual, work backwards. Hit this wall from the right, that's necessary. And the only way you're doing that is with the north ice block, pushed down and likely left before that.

Birds! They have Marrow Slurp like the ol' Bone Thief from way back when, so be sure to tank unless you want to burn some Ethers after a painful fight.

Soon we'll have Wizard mastered, for reals this time. Equip Wand is only 1 LP, I can stay in the class for a bit.

The renowned winter scary woofus. It's immune to Ice, has Fierce Stance and Crunch, and can cast Cold Embrace as an attack spell that inflicts Stop. Unfortunately, I have a Wizard.

Die out of my way.

I mean I guess sure that can be a fight for a level.

This ice block is still good for something, and I noticed it before I noticed how to push the north ice block, so.

See? We can use it to climb this ledge!

There it is, there's our Home Point!

This souvenir shop happens to stock a plethora of valuable equipment that's way too expensive for us, be it armor or weapons.

Like... by a LOT.

At most we can get this thing. I will simply not do that, this party isn't starved for early AP.

This guy sells several maps, and while we CAN afford them, there is little reason to buy them at this stage. We haven't even SEEN these areas yet.

What we really need is a map for Tall, Tall Heights in general.

If only a kindly person could give us one for free!

That'll do.

YEUSS

Yeah I don't know if I got the point across but this area is HUGE. We started down offscreen at the bottom left and there are still at least four more landmarks we haven't found yet.

Anyway Home Point which means checking in and getting everything I've been doing restocked.

Aaaaand Castle Ramparts is a go!

The thing about Castle Ramparts is that it's secretly a stealth stage. Enemies have the same kind of thing where they don't aggro unless they hear you, and even then they have to have line of sight. So while you may very well get blindsided by encounters if you can't see them but they can see you, cautious movement can keep you protected from anything here.

Also as a counterbalance they're mean as hell. Hello.

These swords don't mess around and I need to get past them with minimal expenditure of resources so haha byee.

It's a good thing spikes just harmlessly warp you back to where you last stood on solid ground, otherwise this sequence of jumps would be really scary.

If we go up here, we see a door locked by the Ramparts Key, whatever that is. Don't have it, can't use it. Noting it for later.

There's also two bonus boss fights up here. We, uh... can't handle them right now.

Murasaki has evasion with Utsusemi, Counter even if you hit, Thunder Seal for spike damage that stacks with all of the rest of their damage being Thunder type, and also Bloody Slice for funsies. On the east side we have the Samurai Masashi, and while I don't fight them right now, I'm sure they'd beat my ass just as hard as Murasaki does.

I did get close at least. Maybe a few more levels.

Anyway now to have Werdna be a Reaper for a while.

Frieren also masters Chemist, but the Chemist's Hut being what it is, we aren't gonna be able to grab the Chemist Seal for a while. No biggie. In the meantime she'll run Shaman for a bit, get that fleshed out and then... dunno, we'll see!

We'll ignore Murasaki for now and head along the upper areas of the south wall. That's where the Good Stuff is.

YES! There's a Home Point on each southern corner, this will save SO much time if we mess up.

As mentioned, encounters here are very scary, but you also have to be moving to get their attention, which means that as long as you're patient, you can clean out the three most important treasures here risk-free.

For starters, here's a sword you can use if you want to run a two-handed sword on a caster for some bizarre reason. Surely there's SOME build that benefits from this, I'm just not seeing it. Even a Nomad would prefer a one-hander for shield reasons.

The top of this tower is our ultimate goal for the Castle Ramparts. Since we don't have the Ramparts Key, this is as good as victory for us in these parts right now.

I believe no further explanation for my reasoning is necessary.

Just one small problem. A small one, mind you; the boss flame here is beholden to the same restrictions as the other enemies, so patience will win the day. Note that the first time I tried doing this without a goofity-ass skip, I did NOT know they stopped pursuing if you stood still, I thought you had to break line of sight. But even without that knowledge I PULLED IT OFF.

Anyway, the map. We'll check out the east side shortly, but it's very symmetrical. Don't expect the rest of the castle exterior to be mapped any time soon.

Getting up here requires a lot of patience and a lot of hookaround ibek jumps. It's very boring to depict in screenshots, so let's skip ahead to the good stuff.

Wow we made it!

AND ABOUT DAMN TIME. Beastmaster is a class that's been hinted at for AGES and only now, with ibek and plenty of levels under our belt, are we finally getting it, as our... 15th crystal, dang! That's one more before the luxury shop is upgraded. But it also means you have to put off this class for SO LONG, and as a class it really doesn't deserve to be put off for lategame. I'd personally swap the positions of Valkyrie and Beastmaster. Anyway we have Beastmaster now and the writeup is at the end of the post but for now we're slamming GUTS into the class instantly.

Like, instantly instantly.

And immediately to the east side for looting!

I think I like this as a weapon for Meena. Only a 5% Paralyze chance isn't much, but it can be re-applied and she has Counter, so it's a nice bit of insurance. Plus, with Frieren in Shaman with Mixed Magic, Burn application from the Burning Blade isn't too important.

Let's actually fight this one for once though. Rampart Infantry are Earth immune and wield Division Cut and Sever, but mostly are threatening off of numbers. Heavy AOE keeps them in order.

Yeah Conquest is a good idea for a Counter-tank.

Oh right. Ordinarily Beastmaster is only compatible with Axes with the Wild Arts moveset, but the mod opens up daggers. Back to the Cinquedea we go!

There's Masashi. We'll leave him be for now.

Hi ignore us please.

Okay, that's the Castle Ramparts mapped. Let's get a little more of Tall, Tall Heights done for today.

While looking around the eastern side of the area, we find this curious bit of land well out of reach. Something to look at later. It's directly above the Quintar Sanctum, you can see the entrance on the map.

Going further north from this side is impossible. Too large of pits with too many spikes.

Maybe we can take the boss flame!

OR MAYBE NOT. A frame 1 Fire Breath before anyone can act, where have I heard that one before?

We CAN do this fight though, and indeed should.

Rampart Scouts will open up with Death Stare to inflict a 2 turn Death Sentence and then spam as many Flares as their MP can handle. Simple enough, right? You can handle that, right?

If you can, you get one of the best medium headgear items in the entire game. Sadly, Warlocks can't wear it no matter how badly they want to. Eh, they get Refresher, they're fine.

By the way, spoiler alert, Beastmaster's kinda nice though. Not sure what to run as GUTS' secondary moveset, although Waterbend and Battle Skill are both compelling choices.

Skill issue, Werdna.

To wrap up, I'm gonna check out the area to the west of the fence, just to humor it.

A few treasures here and there worth getting.

Baaaaaah I missed the jump. Another time then.

Oh yeah I forgot that I had Shaman mostly done already. That's nice, but also I really need to figure out what else to do with Frieren. Honestly my brain is saying to grab the Wizard and Cleric Seals and just have her go full castermode to catch up to Werdna and Meena in their starting classes. I have my reasons.

Hold up, we've explored that spot before...

Right, the passage up by Salmon River! This is where it ends up! Nice. That's actually halfway convenient.

It's so convenient that I'm going to actually go dick around with the gardening minigame. On the top row is a Tuber Seed, a Gourmet Seed, and a Tear seed. On the bottom row is a Gourmet and Tear Seed in the same spots, but watered with the Watering Can we found in the Warlock Clubhouse. What are we gonna get I dunno.

Ooo cave.

A Northern Cave even! With two possible entrances here. Maybe I'll buy a map next update.

All we can do right now is loot this seed and get in fights. That ledge is too high for us.

Ice Elementals! They have Icen and Cold Embrace and are weak to Fire. Be surprised by this.

No luck on the west entrance either.

Out in the middle of this lake, we find the Ice Fisher's Hut.

Wayfarer Joe is here! You remember him, right? Fishing in Delende? Well he's back, and now with a new prize table. Don't bother using the Fly Lure in here, no ceiling room for it, but everything else gets us prizes just fine.

Let's just speed through the rewards. The Gusto Charm is worth 2 extra AP on battle start or basic attack, decent but not amazing.

The Bronze Hairpin is amazing caster gear that Frieren jams right onto her head.

The Pirate Hat is great for a Rogue and still pretty good for anyone else that can use it at this stage.

Glasses give Blind immunity, which can be nice for some fights (the masters of the Undercity come to mind) but only 10% extra Accuracy makes it unattractive as a stat stick. There's also a Gold Ingot in the prizes somewhere.

Anyway time to get a box.

Jam this cube against the back of the hut and it's perfectly lined up.

I sure hope you weren't depending on a Scythe drop to maintain a Reaper through Tall, Tall Heights because hahahahaha no. The Gold Scythe cleanly outpaces it here. It does at least boost all Ice damage, whether it comes from the Frost Reaper doing physical attacks or using Mixed Magic or Waterbend.

That's almost everything I want to do today, but first let's head a little further west, see what we can see. There's a land bridge above us that's cool.

A Wizard and a Hunter camped out on a high-up ledge, huh. I know those two.

Wait what? Quinsey?

I mean, if you say so, but isn't Dr. Cool Aids usually leading the charge here?

What has the world come to. It makes us quite upset. Alas, we have recruited Edge Master here to take his place.

Okay that does it. The Grand Master has gone too far. NOBODY gets to mess with Dr. Cool Aids except us.

You think you can replace Dr. Cool Aids with that kind of opener? Get outta here.

Unfortunately we're a little too underleveled to take on Quinsey's gang right now. Not that they have any real new tricks, they don't, we're just a little underequipped, especially if random chance decides Frieren dies first. We'll have to stomp 'em next time.

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.
        • Find the Ramparts Key.
        • Defeat Murasaki.
        • Defeat Masashi.
        • Defeat the Ramparts Demon.
        • Find the Orange Crystal.
        • Find the Beastmaster class.
  • 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 the Undercity.
    • Defeat the Shadow Master.
    • Defeat the Blade Master.
    • Defeat the Duel Master.
    • Find the Silver Crystal.
    • Find the Assassin class.
  • Repair the elevator.
    • Win the Sky Arena.
    • Find the Sienna Crystal.
    • Find the Samurai class.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Samurai.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Assassin.
  • Explore Ganymede Shrine.
    • Obtain the Ganymede Stone.
• Explore the Quintar Reserve.
  • Explore Dione Shrine.
    • Obtain the Dione Stone.
    • Learn how to speak Quintar.
    • Breed a Golden Quintar.
• Explore Greenshire Reprise.
• Explore Tall, Tall Heights.
  • Get Hector an ice block.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Chemist.
• Explore Salmon Pass.
  • Explore Salmon River.
    • Win the Salmon Sprint.
    • Explore River Cat's Ego.
      • Find the Goldenrod Crystal.
      • Find the Nomad class.
  • Explore Salmon Bay.
• 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 the Ancient Labyrinth.
• Explore Sara Sara Bazaar.
  • Bring the food enthusiast some Shoudu Stew.
  • Obtain a Ferry Pass.
  • Find the Tram Key.
  • Explore Sara Sara Beach.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Dervish.
• Explore Beaurior Volcano.
  • Explore Beaurior Rock.
    • Defeat the Ancient Sword.
    • Defeat Iguanadon and Iguanadin.
  • Find the Deep Sky Crystal.
  • Find the Valkyrie class.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
  • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
  • Challenge the Deity of Earth.
  • Challenge the Deity of Darkness.
  • Challenge the Deity of Ice.
• Find the Mimic class.

 

[Kalir]

BEASTMASTER
Ambush Predator

STATS

• HP: 7
• MP: 4
• Strength: 6
• Vitality: 6
• Dexterity: 5
• Agility: 5
• Mind: 3
• Spirit: 4
• Speed: 4
• Luck: 6

PROFICIENCIES

• Weapons: Axes, Daggers
• Armor: Shields, Heavy Helmet, Heavy Armor, Medium Headgear, Medium Armor

INNATE PASSIVES

• Savage: +35% Variance.
• Morphology: Reveals all enemies' HP.

I hate that Beastmaster is hidden so late in the game, because if you ask me, it's an excellent midgame class! It fills an obvious niche of a berserking axefighter with appropriate tradeoffs, serves as a kind of physical answer to the different generalist casters we've seen so far, packs incredible debuff control gameplay, and has Morphology as an incredible passive for anyone hoping to have a better idea of what they're up against. It's also incredibly light on resources used, and one of the best classes for stacking Luck and Variance to enable some cheesy spike damage hits few other classes can match. But because of Beastmaster's location, hidden atop Castle Ramparts behind a stealth challenge that isn't clearly shown as such, it's often the last job a lot of players get, and by then they're already happy with their builds and see no reason to fuss around with Beastmaster.

I can't even say that I blame them, to be honest. Beastmaster's statline is rather uninspiring, and while you spend no resources on its moves, it instead uses CT for all costs, ranging from 20 for its fundamentals to as high as 80 for its biggest hits. Beastmaster's heavy firepower is extremely curtailed by these two things. And while it does also have some fun control tricks, those are also held back by their CT, or occasionally an additional CD. Beastmaster's speed is nothing to write home about, so your turns will certainly be infrequent no matter how you go about your day. This can make it seem like an unappealing class compared to faster damage dealers like Rogue, Hunter, or even Warrior. Oh, and it's limited to either axes or unarmed attacks by default, which in practice means just axes for almost any character. (The mod adds daggers, which helps.)

Beastmaster isn't hopeless, far from it. The even spread between Strength, Vitality, Agility and Dexterity means it's an ideal flexing point for physical characters of any stripe who want to branch out to other physical classes but lack the stats for it. Hell, it's not even half bad for casters wanting some bulk, although they'll usually prefer to run Dervish. And being locked to axes isn't as big of a hindrance as it sounds at first, since that still opens up Ninja and Assassin as alternatives. Hell, if you've been playing as a Shaman specifically to fiend your Luck score and wanting to find a strong avenue to abuse it, Beastmaster is ideal for that.

Spoiler: MOVESET: WILD ARTS

Feast
Costs: 20 CT
Single Target Unarmed/Axe(/Dagger) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
100% Lifesteal
Prereqs: None

Basic attack with a decent chunk of lifesteal baked in and that's awesome and cool. Less awesome and cool is the CT, but we're doing Wild Arts, we're on Beastmaster. At some level, we're going to have to accept that. Also: while I personally have never done it, I did hear from someone that the Attack scalar on the Brawler passive is actually really good, citing astronomically strong Wind Punches from their Reaper/Monk. So if you just want raw power, you could use this unarmed and get some solid returns. Unarmed tech is probably far from your mind by the time you get Beastmaster, sad to say.

Gouge
Costs: 20 CT
Single Target Unarmed/Axe(/Dagger) Skill
Damage Formula: 50 + Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.75 Str
Inflicts Armor Down (+35% physical damage taken) debuff on the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Feast, 1 LP

One of Beastmaster's best selling points is its capability for setup for other damage dealers. It's the only class in the game with access to both Armor Down and Resist Down on the same moveset, both with a decent 2 turn duration. Beastmaster's debuff game is much more team-offense-oriented than the stall playstyle of Shaman, or the setup spike damage of Assassin. You can put out a lot of pain if you time your debuffs just right, and you better believe Wild Arts synergizes extremely well with the above two classes.

Wild Stance
Costs: 10 CT
Stance Change (does not use the turn, but still has to resolve CT first)
While active, -50% Luck and +100% Variance
Prereqs: Feast, 1 LP

Maybe I'm missing something here, but Wild Stance feels... bad. Bad and not good. Variance as a stat extremely depends on access to Luck to make it work, and while an extra 100% Variance is an obscene amount allowing for some truly heinous damage ceilings... how often are you gonna realistically see them with your Luck tanked to the waist? I suppose if you have some obscene source of loads of Luck, like... I dunno, two Squirrel Dungs? Maybe this could be worth the trouble, but I can just think of so many other, better stances I'd rather use, even if it means a subcommand for the Beastmaster.

Furrow
Costs: 20 CT
Single Target Unarmed/Axe(/Dagger) Skill
Damage Formula: 50 + Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.75 Str
Inflicts Armor Down (+35% physical damage taken) debuff on the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Feast, 2 LP

Something worth noting is that Gouge and Furrow also hit harder by default than the assorted Break moves. This is a very consistent thing with Beastmaster that will seem quite familiar to Dervish players: in exchange for that decreased action economy, expect even heavier hits than usual, even on your utility options. Also this costs 2 LP rather than Gouge's 1 and I don't actually know why.

Balm
Costs: 30 CT, 3 CD
Single Target Ability, No Self-Target
Applies Balm (30% healing per turn) buff for 3 turns.
Prereqs: Gouge, 3 LP

Beastmaster can see some decent utility as an off-tank for a party, with Balm being an incredibly strong form of regen that unfortunately can't be self-applied. Even with area attacks factoring in, a Beastmaster is likely to stay standing even if they aren't trying to tank, which means they can spend some of their time backing up the main Aegis/Warrior/Valkyrie/Monk trying to hold down the fort for their team. Remember, Balm stacks with other forms of regen, and 30% regen is a LOT.

Feral Stance
Costs: 30 CT
Stance Change (does not use the turn, but still has to resolve CT first)
While active, +25% Attack, but randomly choose targets.
Prereqs: Threatening, 4 LP

Assuming you have only one target to worry about and aren't using your Beastmaster for support in the slightest, Feral Stance is just straight up free damage. That alone makes Wild Arts worth considering for any physical damage dealer during boss battles. In crowds, it's a little weaker, but still basically free damage, especially if applied to a physical area attack like Earth Split or Barrage. If you have to single out a target on your team for any reason (like, say, Balm), change out of Feral Stance first.

Hew
Costs: 30 CT, 1 CD
Single Target Unarmed/Axe(/Dagger) Skill
Damage Formula: 400 + 1.5 Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.75 Str
Removes one buff.
Prereqs: Gouge, Furrow, 2 LP

WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?! Forget gating the only other unarmed-compatible moveset to Beastmaster, hiding the only other buffclear outside of Warlock's Dispel halfway into the Beastmaster moveset is rude as hell. Remember, many players, myself included, might not discover Beastmaster until like their very last class, and just accept that buff clearing is a Warlock only thing. That's a damn crime is what it is. Oh, and Hew also hits like a truck just for fun, that's nice. Do note that if Hew misses, you don't get the buffclear, so between that and the CT, Dispel is still better... but it is another option that doesn't require you to use (or have, in randomizers) Warlock.

Famine
Costs: 20 CT
Single Target Unarmed/Axe(/Dagger) Skill
Damage Formula: 20 + 0.1 Str
200% MP Absorb
Prereqs: Furrow, 3 LP

It's... probably better than Moon Slash for MP restoration during a fight? Better drain scalar, and not being multitarget isn't a huge issue because Moon Slash kind of needs more than one target to get any returns worth discussing. And hey, Wild Arts isn't a bad moveset for a caster that's okay with using an axe, like... well, I guess just Shaman, huh.

Jugular
Costs: 80 CT, 2 CD
Single Target Unarmed/Axe(/Dagger) Skill
Damage Formula: Atk + Atk * 0.5 Str + 0.5 Str
Inflicts Death Sentence (inflicts Instant Kill on expiration) debuff on the target for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Feral Stance, 3 LP

I mean... we have an instakill here. That sure would be nice if we were up against an enemy worth dropping this on and then stalling out for 2 turns rather than, say, using 3-4 turns just killing it directly. You all already know the catches here: any boss enemy is already immune to Instant Kill, and any enemy we encounter on the overworld that's not a boss is far more efficient to just fight head-on than to timer scam them with Jugular. And that's 80 CT on a basic attack level of damage, huh. Yeah how about not.

Odor Deposit
Costs: 40 CT, 3 CD
Single Target Ability, No Self-Target
Transfers all accumulated Threat to the target.
Prereqs: Famine, 4 LP

Here's Beastmaster's other off-tank utility choice. It's assumed that a Beastmaster is gonna be dishing out hits often enough to get Threat, and it has enough durability to weather the storm a bit, but not forever. Odor Deposit is a nice answer for them, or any class that builds up Threat and needs a quick and dirty way to get rid of it, to pass off everything to a main tank. And hey, with the mod, even Rogues can use the rest of the Wild Arts tree without feeling like the backup moveset is wasted!

Rigid Stance
Costs: 30 CT
Stance Change (does not use the turn, but still has to resolve CT first)
While active, +50% CT, and -50% damage taken during any ability's CT.
Prereqs: Hew, 2 LP

I don't know if this stacks with Dervish's Focus Shield passive, or if it does, to what degree. Depending on how well it does, Rigid Stance could be a great way to tank for exactly one hit and then lose all your threat as your entire team and the enemy takes two turns to every one of yours. Seriously, we've already made the argument on how huge of gamechangers anything that can ameliorate CT can be, and now you want to INCREASE it. No, I don't actually think you do! Remember, that's twice the length of time where you're not generating Threat and your team sure as hell is.

Spoiler: PASSIVES

Threatening
Costs: 2 PP
+25% Threat generated.
Prereqs: Gouge, 2 LP

This is a nice passive for a tank that's having trouble outputting Threat, or a burly damage dealer hoping to divide the heat a bit more evenly. It's also inexpensive enough that most characters can trivially splash into Beastmaster for it, or even pick it up just by being around someone taking the time to master Beastmaster. And for a tank passive, it's on the cheaper side, too! That's certainly welcome.

Duel Ready
Costs: 3 PP
Self-applies Duel Ready (Guarantees a crit on the next attack) buff for 1 physical attack at the start of combat.
Prereqs: Feral Stance, 3 LP

Not to worry, Fencers, you can have a little cheese as a treat. A free crit on your first hit is certainly nice, although I don't think I'd price it at 3 LP. But it does open up some funny options for opening moves, like Eagle Stance Swallowtail, or Nightfall. If you really want crit sauce, play a class with high Dexterity, or scam your way to crits with Monk or Nomad, though. One crit to start the fight with isn't gonna cut it as a long-term solution.

 

[Mogri]

The ultimate goal of Quintar breeding is still the same, to secure a shiny new Golden Quintar with the power of all Quintar combined. This means securing Quintar from all across the globe and causing them to mate in a horrible incestuous pile of rotating properties and natures, and running punishing races with them so they will deign to the pile. And while it's not required to beat the game, there IS one thing I very much want to showcase that does require it, so that's what we're gonna do.

If the thing in question is getting to the top of Sequoia, you can do that with some deft mount-switching. If it's something else, then I haven't seen it because breeding is still a pain even with the skips.

 

[Kalir]

It's something else. Hee hee hee hoo hoo hoo.

 

[Kalir]

So, I might have forgotten something that would've made last update easier.

It's not a Crystal Project playthrough until you swooce around something incredibly helpful hidden just off-screen because you didn't think to check it out. Anyway hell yeah Triton Shrine!

Way better than the Ice Fisher's Hut as a checkpoint.

Well, if I missed Triton Shrine last time, this time we're going to get as much as we can out of exploring Tall, Tall Heights.

Rather unforgiving, this.

There we go, worth.

Hey guys how's it going I'll be along to beat you down shortly.

This hut here is the gateway to the next area. We'll finish up getting points of interest in Tall, Tall Heights, then close out the update by clearing it. It's pretty linear, fortunately.

Land bridge overhead! Cool!

Oooh, more Northern Cave? Don't mind if I do.

That wall up ahead might not look it, but it's actually a one-way route from elsewhere in Tall, Tall Heights. Nothing we haven't already seen in practice, though.

We want to stay on the upper level as much as possible here. An opened chest below tells us we've seen this place before.

Oooh, interior block puzzles! Fancy.

Imagine if Ice Elementals were Big.

Hello yes I would like Werdna to get free chip damage with every physical attack thanks.

Cool, now we can open the door we found elsewhere in the Northern Cave! Where was that...

I feel like it's gotta be somewhere close...

Oh, right here, huh. Okay. Cool, shortcut!

This area looks pretty fancy for being in the middle of some frozen cave in the northern snow plains.

These structures here are usually open on some of the sides, so pushing ice blocks into them isn't the end.

And we're actually done with it now! We can just climb to that chest now.

Our reward is a decent new staff. Not as good for tanking as Future Sight, but for the usual staff-needing procedures it's pretty good, and the bonus damage for certain elements doesn't hurt either.

The actual prize of the Northern Cave is down here!

Unfortunately we've hit a slight issue.

There is no way we can clear the jump with our Quintar. I don't even think a Desert Quintar could do it. We'll simply have to come back with a new mount better suited to this sort of thing.

Back at Triton Shrine, I can see another cabin up there, on a ledge too high to access. We'll get there later.

Everything else we can access right now is over to the east or past the cabin by Quinsey's gang, so let's polish those off real quick.

GUTS picks up the most important move in the Beastmaster repertoire.

Oh also Snowbirds are jerks.

Another structure up there. Altitude is really our biggest obstacle lately, huh.

I did take the time to get the map for the Northern Cave at least.

This block has mastered the Serpentine maneuver and successfully jukes my first attempt to land on it. It is a true pro.

Yeah, see how we have the map for the area ahead? That's the one-way route.

Kind of weird, but eh, I got whatever I needed up here and set a Home Point by the souvenir shop.

As they said in the bygone era... D'oh!

And to further quote that venerable sage of the layman... WOOHOOO!

Actually y'know what? Let's put the second element of the mod into play and get Meena going back to Monk but with a Spear this time!

HEY ITS SANTA WHERES MY BRIBE MONEY

Dang, lots of boxes full of money around here.

I swear I know what I'm doing, sometimes.

Hell yeah.

And here's our Meena loadout while she gets to mastering Monk.

Never mind, she's mastering Cleric because that's closer and needs literally one LP for doing it! My plans are as mercurial and surprising to you as they are to me!

Anyway what's this place?

It has an upper entrance, but as usual, it's too high to reach.

Huh, okay. So no getting in until we find the books? No, uh... no clues for that or anything? Okay thanks I guess.

That's really about it, but I do want to point out that boss flame that's appeared out of nowhere down there. For some reason, there's a hidden boss that pops up from the snow rarely in eastern Tall, Tall Heights! We'll fight them later. Much later.

I do like how cryptid-like this one is, in a very videogamey way. "Dude there's a super hard boss that only shows up in the ice area and it pops in and out of the snow so you gotta wait for a long time to catch it!" It's currently in the process of vanishing from view, very adeptly.

Anyway that's all of Tall, Tall Heights that I feel like exploring for now. It does eventually rejoin with the ice summon location and the Chemist's Hut but we can't do anything with those anyway!

Anyway let's mop up these bozos.

The remnants of Dr. Cool Aids' gang have the same general tactics as ever, with Quinsey running hard support for Doist shooting arrows and Kuroi Darkness just casting Firena every turn. Edge Master's addition doesn't change a lot aside from adding Bleed and making it risky to have your tank go without any self-sustain thanks to the Assassinate passive. Even without Pocket Sand absolutely dunking on Doist in this fight, it fundamentally is the same fight you've done twice now, but at a higher level. If you can't handle it, just come back later. You know how it is.

Anyway, that's Shaman mastered on Frieren. Which leads me into my next genius play for her...

Just before we tackle this area in full.

We'll change her over to... Cleric?

Yeah! I do have a madness to my method here, but suffice it to say I want Frieren to eventually pick up Cleric and Dervish in her class lists. As such, she'll be equipping the Cleric Seal until she gets this class mastered. (Which means once Werdna cleans up Reaper he's going to go actually master Dervish to grab the Dervish Seal.) If this seems kind of needlessly stacking my team full of casters... that's because it is. But also, that's what you all started me with, and I intend to make use of this in some Fun ways.

Nice lock, loser.

Let's get that biscotti.

For my own part, I associate "Land's End" with Super Mario RPG, which is basically just Another Overworld Area leading to the next big wacky biome, but otherwise not that hostile. Land's End in Crystal Project really lives up to the name. The frozen wastes, jagged crags (as represented by video game spikes of course) and barely-there structure really gives this place a feeling like it's the actual end of the world.

I have absolutely no idea what governs the aggro of the enemies here and I've given up trying. Sometimes they'll just let you be, sometimes they'll charge you down without hesitation at supersonic speeds, and there is no tell for when they decide to change between the two.

Fancy meeting you here.

As we approach, Astley hurries off further into the cliffs.

Had to check, and yes, walking into spikes from the side still trips them. La-Mulana this isn't.

I could get that but I didn't notice the jump height was manageable think I'll come back to it later.

SKELLINGTONS! Almost every enemy up here is some manner of bone buddy. These ones, in addition to their basic attack, have Bone Crunch to paralyze and a new Monster Magic spell that all of the skeletal foes here have.

Hint: it's a revive move. Kill one of them first.

It's a full revive but it costs the user all but one of their HP. And now we can do that too. Thanks, skeleton.

This area has some of the trickiest mandatory platforming in the game, asking you to switch between Quintar, ibek, and your own two feet to navigate successfully.

This is what I mean by the enemy aggro! That dude was just chillaxing up there without a care in the world, but out of nowhere they decided to fly in from the top ropes and start a fight! I do not understand it.

Dead Warriors have Waste Away as a weak magic attack that inflicts Power and Armor Down, and Fighter Crush. They're tough if you don't have a way to clear debuffs or just kill them before they start actually attacking.

The further in we get, the more the land gets overtaken by spiky terrain. It's enough so that I need a map, so back to civilization we go.

There's not much here left for us without our old leader, Dr. Cool Aids.

I also check in on Dr. Cool Aids' gang and discover that... yeah, having their head honcho Banished has kind of killed the mood.

Like, on the scale of this setting basically being an MMO, it tracks. Dude running your party gets permabanned, ain't much reason to stay, y'know? The game is a backdrop for your friendship, even if you use it to bully weaker characters (and even then that doesn't really do a lot in the fiction).

Doist's line in particular really strikes me. Like, maybe these misfits only ever met because of Crystal Project. Do they even have another way to contact each other? Is their friendship completely gone because the Grand Master's going on some kind of Crystalist crusade?

Anyway, suffer this pun.

Oh yeah let's also do some more gardening. We already did the Dye Khan fight here I'm pretty sure, and after some testing it's revealed the Watering Can doesn't change what you get from the plant, so I assume it affects growth speed.

Next up is Gourmet, armed with Body Slam, Devour, and Spore. Nothing we haven't already seen, it's just three really decent moves on a chunky foe.

Skill issue + L + ratio + I wasn't even speccing for Agility.

We have unfortunately outgrown the Fairy's Crown, but it's nice for when you can get it if you feel like gardening actively. Chemists in particular love it for reasons you already know.

The Red Onion, equipped with Earthquake and Blood Extract, is much more tricky and up at our current power level.

I teched it!

Honestly, for the area you get the Tear Seeds in, the Onion Gi is really really good! Not many fire users up on Land's End or in Tall, Tall Heights, and the stat spread is pretty good all around.

Oh yeah if you're curious what's below the northern bits of Land's End it's really quite simple.

It's the ocean again.

Ahhhh I do so love having a map.

Even if Land's End is a very linear area, there is still plenty of nuance to the terrain and lots of off-track goodies to incentivize map usage.

This part here is effectively a circuit of spiky platforming to get up to where Astley is.

There's no sense being here unless you can do something with the time you've been given. Something meaningful to you. And if it makes the world a better place, all the better. Me and my crew have something big planned. We're finally doing what we should have been doing a long time ago. Every single adventurer that gets Banished from here on out is on us for not acting sooner.

Okay I'm going to have to criticize this plan but not in the directions you're expecting. If you're all deadset on taking down the Grand Master, surely the place to be would be Castle Sequoia? Like, I could probably flatten Orchard and Little H. by now if I was so inclined. You and your party are at level cap! Why are you hanging around at the ass end of the world making dramatic declarations to the first randos that wander up here?

Well, whatever. I'm still on board but maybe actually do it this time.

Meanwhile I have to fail to reach this gold vein an embarrassingly large amount of times and get into fights with two Risen every so often.

Okay got it now we keep moving.

We're now crossing back into the area above Tall, Tall Heights.

Party's moving along nicely. Meena is finishing up Monk, GUTS is working on getting the good parts of Beastmaster and already has Balm for tank support, Werdna's close to getting Guillotine and almost has Reaper maxed out, and of course Frieren is getting the fundamentals of Cleric in order.

WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS.

Yeah this is what I'm talking about. This is the Land's End experience.

Good wizarding gear, this.

Hey, it's the land bridge I was talking about! This would probably look really cool from below if we weren't locked to overworld vision.

And down there is Poseidon Shrine. I do like this about Land's End; by virtue of being so high up and covering so much of the world, we get to kind of have a tour of northeast Sequoia as we traverse it.

The Hollow Traveler always opens fights with Raise Dead to full revive the two Risen that start the fight dead, and buffs them with Rally Call on cooldown for Power and Armor Up. It's about as undead as everything else up here, which is cool. Means Fire works well, and you can also use healing as offense against it if you're so inclined.

Nice nice, can always use more of that up until I very much cannot.

Over by the exterior of River Cat's Ego is... another Blue Cape? I mean I'll take it, just kind of weird to have two.

<Talon> Especially if we stick with Astley. Things are starting to get a bit weird around her.
<Reid> Yeah, I've been thinking about it a lot.
<Talon> But I mean trying to take out the Grand Master? We're just going to get ourselves Banished.
<Reid> You know how I feel about her! I have a lot to thank her for. It's hard to explain...
<Talon> Is she worth getting Banished for?
<Reid> I'm not sure. Up until now, this has been some of the best adventuring I've ever had. Maybe you just have to accept that everything comes to an end eventually. Every adventure you have has a chance of being your last before you even realize it.
<Talon> ...Well, if you're in, I'm in too. You know the only reason I'm here is to take on the biggest challenge, and this is probably it.

I don't... entirely know what your dynamic is. With you, or Astley, or anyone here. It feels like there's a lot more of a history here than you're all letting on.

I also admit I don't know how exactly this whole thing works with each of you wandering around doing your own thing while our party has been a persistent stack of four fighters on one avatar but that's hardly relevant.

At least you're committed to the bit?

Have fun. No promises that I don't get there first.

Moving platforms are now in the mix.

The nice thing is that the fights get easier to avoid, as enemies will haplessly charge at you and not jump except to clear walls. Falling into spikes takes them out of play.

Hey look, Greenshire Reprise over there! We're getting close to the capital.

I had my theories about how enemies aggro here. None of them seem to pan out. They don't care if you're moving or stationary, they seem to wait a random amount of time before charging, and distance is only somewhat a factor. All I know is that they're fast as hell and avoiding them sucks.

Don't know what that graphical issue to the left is, but I do know that this is a dirty trick. It looks like you should be able to make the jump to the high ledge here, but you can't. I think it's even out of ibek range. Go low.

I tried going high and got punked by this formation with a Dead Mage in it. They have Icen, Icicle Barrage (and 30 free AP to cast it immediately because Waterbend), Atmoshear, and of course Lifegiver.

Werdna and Frieren are beginning to feel the limits of their squishiness. It's gonna happen to most characters in this game no matter what.

Anyway once I hit a Home Point I'm sending Meena back to... probably Aegis? That or Valkyrie.

And there's where Salmon River flows into Delende!

For good map reference: we started up HERE. We're nowhere near that now.

Here's our destination. Two very valuable things are kept up here that will break open exploration for the foreseeable future.

The interior of this structure is no less spiky than the exterior.

Moving blocks are the main source of difficulty in the hops here. Had to use one needing a Quintar jump to reach this.

Did this mostly to prove I could. There's no benefit to being up here, not even headroom.

Goes without saying the top floor is our goal.

Summit Shrine? Oooh do we get a stone here? Not that, uh... this place is especially convenient to access, mind you. Even if it does cross through northeast Sequoia, the terrain means you get spiked long before you get anywhere with a leap into the unknown.

GO AWAY I WANT THE THING

That there's a werewolf. Fury Swipes, Rabies, Critical Haste which is like if Critical Turn sucked, and also heavily resistant to Ice and slightly weak to Fire.

Hey that's a cool wand.

Anyway lemme make use of the Home Point to reorganize myself real quick.

Right, everything's in order. Now we just gotta deal with one last critter...

The Owlbear!

No two ways around it, the Owlbear is an absolute brute of a fight. It relies on the fundamentals of Blood Spiller, which you all already know and hate, and Weeping Cry, a Str/Mind scalar non-spell ability that damages the party and inflicts Weep. It also has two really strong but slow single-target physical moves: Hyper Crush deals 110% of the target's max HP in physical damage (and can thus be vibechecked by Power Down or Armor Up) and Hyper Crush does obscene amounts of damage and inflicts four (4) turns of Paralyze. At low health, it adds Owl's Minuet as a free action to give everyone in the fight +100% Variance, and can Stone Skin itself to double its defense. Add that onto a stat spread with formidable defense, offense and speed, and you have a hell of a fight on your hands.

This fight took me like eight tries. The Owlbear not only puts out a lot of direct damage, it saddles you with the ugly combo of party-wide Bleed and Weep that puts even the most adept healers to their limit. And while Power Down and Armor Up both help, Weeping Cry doesn't care about either of those. Your best openings for regaining ground are its single target attacks, both of which have some sharp CT to them and give you a lot of room to revive, heal up, and buff. Having a pure tank in this fight isn't as essential given that the Owlbear prefers area attacks and both single-target moves will basically kill or incapacitate whatever they hit unless they have defensive buffs up. My party comp for this was pretty weird, but that's been my party all game; GUTS running Beastmaster/Nomad for heavy En-Ice attacks to target the Owlbear's significantly weaker Resistance, Werdna as Dervish/Wizard for pure magic offense, Frieren as Warlock/Chemist for speed healing and support, and Meena as Valkyrie/Monk to provide the party with valuable sustain while every so often getting some damage in with Chi Burst or Bracing Strike.

A hard fought battle and a hard won victory! Let's get those prizes!

As we near the top, the blizzard and music both die out.

Oooh, a Callisto Stone? Then this must be Callisto Shrine.

Let's ask this owl, which is not a bear, for more info.

It doesn't answer us, but flies off, leaving behind...

The Owl Drum! New mount new mount new mount new mount!

The owl lets us glide indefinitely, in exchange for not having a sudden jump upwards but more of an ascent (still goes up two tiles). We just got the Callisto Stone, allowing us to warp to one of the highest points on the map at will. We just unlocked a HUGE amount of potential exploration!

The owl also makes mapping way easier, since you can just glide over terrain far below you to add it to the map without fussing over climbing this or that tree in Delende. And there are loads of high up spots to explore from outside of Callisto Shrine; Yamagawa M.A., Ganymede Shrine, the Capital Courtyard...

This also means we can no-sell a lot of frustrating platforming segments, and obviously access some previously inaccessible areas.

Oh, the classic. Defender gang where you at?

Seriously though, we can see SO MUCH STUFF that we couldn't before.

Including the edgiest tower yet!

We're close, miss, don't you worry.

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.
        • Find the Ramparts Key.
        • Defeat Murasaki.
        • Defeat Masashi.
        • Defeat the Ramparts Demon.
        • Find the Orange Crystal.
        • Find the Beastmaster class.
  • 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 the Undercity.
    • Defeat the Shadow Master.
    • Defeat the Blade Master.
    • Defeat the Duel Master.
    • Find the Silver Crystal.
    • Find the Assassin class.
  • Repair the elevator.
    • Win the Sky Arena.
    • Find the Sienna Crystal.
    • Find the Samurai class.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Samurai.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Assassin.
  • Explore Ganymede Shrine.
    • Obtain the Ganymede Stone.
• Explore the Quintar Reserve.
  • Explore Dione Shrine.
    • Obtain the Dione Stone.
    • Learn how to speak Quintar.
    • Breed a Golden Quintar.
• Explore Greenshire Reprise.
• Explore Tall, Tall Heights.
  • Get Hector an ice block.
  • Obtain the Triton Stone.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Chemist.
  • Return the library books to the Sequoia Athenaeum.
    • Explore the Sequoia Athenaeum.
  • Explore the Northern Cave.
    • Explore Slip Glide Ride.
  • Explore Land's End.
  • Defeat The Owlbear.
  • Obtain the Callisto Stone.
  • Obtain the Owl Drum.
• Explore Salmon Pass.
  • Explore Salmon River.
    • Win the Salmon Sprint.
    • Explore River Cat's Ego.
      • Find the Goldenrod Crystal.
      • Find the Nomad class.
  • Explore Salmon Bay.
• 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 Reaper.
  • 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 the Ancient Labyrinth.
• Explore Sara Sara Bazaar.
  • Bring the food enthusiast some Shoudu Stew.
  • Obtain a Ferry Pass.
  • Find the Tram Key.
  • Explore Sara Sara Beach.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Dervish.
• Explore Beaurior Volcano.
  • Explore Beaurior Rock.
    • Defeat the Ancient Sword.
    • Defeat Iguanadon and Iguanadin.
  • Find the Deep Sky Crystal.
  • Find the Valkyrie class.
• Find the Summoner class.
  • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
  • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
  • Challenge the Deity of Earth.
  • Challenge the Deity of Darkness.
  • Challenge the Deity of Ice.
• Find the Mimic class.

 

[Kalir]

Oh, and another reader of the LP figured out the Strength scalar for Brawler. It sets your Attack stat to 1.6 Str, which is... pretty good! If you're consistently running high-Str classes, that keeps you ahead of the curve as far as what weapons your explorations will yield.

 

[Kalir]

Now, one might expect this update would be another intermission, mapping-only, "we got the owl" sort of day. But no, that's not what's happening. Weirdly, most of the areas we can access with the owl are almost entirely new, and while the owl facilitates mapping for sure, it doesn't let us get a lot of previously-inaccessible treasures. Besides, there is one area that a prospective owl-flyer will want to hit before the cleanup phase, one that will add a lot more spice to that phase. Those of you who've played know what the end of this update is as a result. But I'm getting far ahead of myself.

I really must stress that point about how much easier the owl makes mapping. We're above the tallest point in Delende now, previously very inaccessible back when we thought of progression in terms of block heights.

This also clearly indicates that we need some form of swimming to really get our explorative kit fleshed out. Perhaps some kind of piscine mount, one fast enough to race with... Ah well, idle speculation~!

While I can get a lot of the area around Callisto Shrine mapped more or less trivially, there are some regions where we just can't get enough distance with the owl to cover them. That side by the corner of the Castle Ramparts, for example, is more easily traversed starting from there. Beyond this, we need to find other high points to launch from for ideal mapping, and while that's worth doing, it's not exactly something I want to commit a full update to. For those mapping at home, ideal points to start from include Yamagawa M.A., the peak of Beaurior Volcano, Ganymede Shrine, and the Quintar Reserve.

The owl isn't just for mapping, though. The tree-dotted plains of Tall, Tall Heights also become far more navigable from atop an owl!

Lookit that! One whole button press to reach this shack. That's trivial!

Final tier of upgrades. While neither we nor Sauce Skay have found any diamonds yet, the Diamond gear is notable in that upgrading to any of these requires but a single bit of Diamond of the matching type. Also, this guy only does armor. Weapons remain off-limits until we find the weaponsmith, who I will simply say is not anywhere near Tall, Tall Heights.

And now we're up here! What's up here? Not much but this treasure!

Yeah we wear that.

I love being able to completely disregard the Overpass as an area it's great.

Another one of these unidentified glade demons for the map.

A bit of a distance north of the armorsmith, we find... another region with the same music and palette as Tall, Tall Heights.

This looks like another race track, probably for that whole Quintar breeding thing we eventually have to put up with.

It's a pretty small area with the map contained within, so we'll go about exploring it now. The actual area we can properly show off once I record a run of the race. Suffice it to say that getting the map during the race is impossible and not even a good use of your race time.

See, while the track goes through a tunnel system under this hill briefly, the map is at the top.

The ibek still has its uses for climbing up to high spots as a mount. The Quintar is... faster in general, but the owl's glide speed is at least as fast if not faster, so it's not going to see as much play for a while.

There we go. One map, and one more class master.

Soon.

Not soon.

Anyway, basically every race course has a pretty small area it covers in practice. Northern Stretch is the shortest, while the Quintar Reserve is... extremely difficult if you don't cheat and trivially easy if you do, and winds all throughout the range to get past the tiny little two-block Quintar's Lament ridge. I thiiiink there's one longer course but I'm not sure, haven't measured them and most of them suck anyway for one reason or another.

I'll get a little more mapping of Tall, Tall Heights done but I'm not gonna fill out the full thing for now. The Sequoia Athenaeum is a nice place to get on the map with how valuable it can be later.

In fact, is that a hidden route I see?

Not much of one. It only curves around to the symmetrical exit on the other side...

...only briefly affording some ceiling room for clues as to the locations of the missing books we need to enter. I will, naturally, be adding all of these to the list, although I'm doubtful as to how many we can even access right now. For example, all of this here requires a way to swim, as this is basically the two layers of ocean below The Open Sea.

I don't even know if these are real words, and Google certainly doesn't think so, but Google ain't what it used to be. In any event, we don't have any leads on this location either.

Okay! This one we at least have a frame of reference for! We've tried poking around the eastern side of Tall, Tall Heights, but without the owl, we were limited in what we could really do. But A: we have the owl, and B: even if Tall, Tall Heights is a bust for exploring the Chalice of Tar, it's also located conveniently between Tall, Tall Heights and the Quintar Reserve. I think we can do that soon.

Not doing that right off, I have other priorities, but we do at least have to head east for mapping/Master Chemist reasons, so we can at least get the area pinpointed.

Missed this ice puzzle. Gotta reach the top alcove, so the first move is... to the right.

Easy easy.

It is a good helmet.

I'm busy! Go away!

We're very close to the side with the Deity of Ice and the Chemist's Hut. Permit me to do a little mapping.

There's that boss again, but it's orange now. Should try to fight it soon to see what we're up against.

The backside of Castle Sequoia has no entrances, but you can climb on top of the lamps and I think that's neat.

Right, so given where we are, the Chalice of Tar has gotta be atop that big-ass wall over there.

And you can see the Rolling Quintar Fields juuuust to the southeast. It's nice to see all the areas we've explored connecting together.

Anyway, down the chimney we go with the owl.

Don't wanna get cooked on the fireplace, after all.

Anyway, check this out. Almost the entire surrounding area of Castle Sequoia is mapped out, leaving this tidy little box of unmapped structure we can save for the very end of the game!

As for Tall, Tall Heights, we're almost done with it. At the very least, the mapping side of things is done.

Right, right, I found the armorsmith. Let's get that notice cleared.

Insubordination, huh?

Astley can't dethrone you fast enough. You monster.

...Ugh, what's the point anymore. The Grand Master probably Banished her for no reason, just like they Banished everyone else.

I'll be real, I'm amazed you haven't gotten hit yet either. But seriously, screw the Grand Master trying to force people to play the game the right way. I've seen online gaming communities disintegrate for less toxicity than this.

Anyway, I think we're high enough in level to tackle a few bonus bosses.

COME GET SOME

Yeah no, the Crag Demon isn't happening without some serious reworking to my team composition that I don't feel like doing right now, or a smattering of extra levels.

The Troll, however, is another story.

The Troll is a pretty simple opponent in practice. Wind-Up and Hyper Slam both output huge, disgusting amounts of single-target physical damage... which means that tanking it can quite trivially dispense with the bulk of the threat it poses. They're joined by two Meats armed with Blood Suck and a basic attack, and they can Consume them to take 400 HP from them. At low health, they'll also throw out Berserk, which randomizes their target and speeds up their actions, making tanking trickier without the buff-clearing of either a Warlock or Beastmaster. But really, tanking is 100% the way to go with trivializing this fight at least until Berserk enters play. In fact, I decided to use this fight as a case study to see how well I could really get that single target mitigation up and running. Results were promising; with Regen, Chakra, and Balm all backed by Thawed Heart, Meena full heals every round and then some, and Protect is all she needs to ensure that the other guys can't kill her before her next turn. With that in play, it's no challenge at all. If Berserk DOES enter play, and you have neither access to nor inclination to obtain a buff dispel, you can also just sub in fast revive effects. Troll's damage output is still slow thanks to CT, even with the Berserk buff, and if you're acting on the assumption one good hit will take you down, all you gotta do is get revives out faster than the Troll can sling damage! And, of course, sources of Blind or Sleep can shave some precious time off of that later phase by letting you set up.

That's Reaper mastered on Werdna, and Steeling Strike for Meena. Not bad at all.

I'm also switching him back to Dervish and getting him killed for Fire Breath. I keep this because I teched it! Do what you will, I have already won.

I didn't check Enami yet but I don't think we can handle them yet. Maybe, though. In any case, next we go check out the western edge of the Salmon River area.

We've been here before, but we didn't have the Overpass Map at that time. So I want to see what else I can do with mapping here.

Ah, interesting. We should explore here a bit.

Salmon Bay has no enemies, so you're free to map to the best of your ability. I think you can get here with just the ibek, but there isn't much for you here until at least owl time.

That waterfall comes down from the southwestern end of Salmon River.

Anyway, you might recall we found out that Salmon Bay had some clues as to the mysterious Ancient Labyrinth out in the north stretches of Poko Poko Desert.

Green, blue, blue, red.

This clue alone does nothing for us. The exterior has no color adorning it whatsoever.

It's very pretty here, and the music is tranquil. Even if Salmon Bay isn't a highly important location, it's nice.

There's also plenty of coral in the bay if you want to challenge yourself to platform across the water, but I'd rather wait.

Here's the other side of the Ancient Labyrinth.

Just checking, but no, no treasure under this bridge.

Not a lot of treasure here at all really, aside from the Ancient Tablets.

C1, B3, and D2.

Speaking of.

As you can see, there isn't really much of Salmon Bay to explore. Spawning Meadows has more depth to it. Still, we should glide out across the bay to find any secrets in the heart of it.

Yep, that'll do.

This is Ancient Tablet A, for the record. These are the only three tablets, and none of them give a clue as to entry. We'll have to figure that out ourselves.

So I've heard.

Okay, now for the main event today. We saw an area in the depths of the Northern Cave but weren't able to check it out. So let's do that!

Again, the entry here that once blocked us off is now easily done with the owl.

Are you ready for another sidescroller area? Are you ready for it not to be vaguely Japanese flavored?

Slip Glide Ride takes place in two and a half "stages". Clear the stage, get a Red Door Key.

There are lots of blocks that quickly fall out and vanish once landed on, and the enemies are slow-moving if not stationary, so this is really a test of how well you can handle short-length owl flights rather than easygoing mapping sojourns.

The fights are more of the same usual style of icy enemy, with Gelid Slimes being the introductory mob. In addition to Icy Chill, they have Goop Expand to shave 90% of the target's HP off in one go. This makes this area one of the best ones for abusing strong critical-health passives.

Absolutely do not quote me on this, but I think Slip Glide Ride is the only area to have these slope tiles. Climbing them is basically impossible, and even brushing the tip of them trying to jump over one will catch you.

Ibek is still really useful here for clearing higher jumps that the owl can stumble on.

Can't reach that from here. We'd slide right off and into the enemy below.

A few areas require you to get creative with the falling blocks. They descend very slowly, and about halfway to the next block or so they vanish, but even that brief bit of descent can be enough to rob you of jump height needed.

Oh yeah I got the map for the area. It's useless. Wow!

This is not useless and is very very good and Frieren wears it now.

I already know from experience not to climb that slope to the left honestly. We're gonna glide over it.

But first we go this way for treasure.

This mushroom runs out over the tar and returns, giving you a bit of extra range to glide from. You inherit some momentum from it, but not enough to do anything.

Ehhhhh no. We're long past the point where raw HP values are gonna compare to actually having a Resistance stat in my book. At most it can be used as insurance for some other gear that penalizes HP, but even then, that tradeoff had better be worth it.

Levels coming along decently. Not a lot that's exciting to say about them, its more stats and we love more stats. I may end up going to the growth respec facility once I hit 60 to finetune everyone's builds for what I'm kitting them for.

Hell yeah, this holds the key.

Stage 1 complete!

Obviously we gotta go left first, obviously.

We do not, in fact, have to go left first.

Oh no, the enemies have started moving! Scary!

Their patrol paths are very slow and their aggro radius is virtually nonexistent. They are floating obstacles you have to time your glides around and nothing more.

The jumps aren't too tricky. Even without a lot of platforming experience, just take it slow and the glide will solve most things for you.

For extra convenience, at this part of the stage the slopes are primed to dump you into the tar, which is a hell of a lot gentler as a reset than climbing back up.

See it's fine.

Okay so getting the chest is easy, but there's an area up above. I'd guess we go down to the key, then glide left again.

Yup. Tight quarters here, but at this stage we're playing for optional cookies.

I graze one of the flames and it pursues, ending up with us in this fight. Hardship is a sleep specialist, with a permanent Magic Up buff, Hypnotize, Spore, and a new AOE version of Dream Eater titled what else but Dream Feast. It also has Icen if it can't land any more Sleep inflictions.

This is what I mean about the slopes. Remember, owl jumps don't have the same vertical speed boost that other jumps do. So you ascend upwards and hold right, you end up hugging that slope and losing your momentum. An ibek jump is ideal but I think even unmounted could do it.

Complicating this is the weak aerial acceleration of the owl. It's about the same as the Quintar, which means if you hit a wall, you may not have enough time to pick up speed to make the ledge past and under it, as here. To avoid these, consider releasing the glide to drop altitude and dodge the obstruction, which keeps your horizontal speed.

Still a few treasures worth getting, including one in the previous room over that big bridge behind us.

To reach it, we have to do this very infamous jump. See, in order to make the jump, you have to land on the platform below, then ibek jump up. But the platform descends a bit and then crumbles, so you don't have the time to charge an ibek jump before either getting tarred or missing your height window. So the solution is to start the charge while moving toward the ledge, using the deceleration of the ibek to slide off the edge and land on the platform right as your ibek jump charges to max. It's a tricky maneuver that demands exact timing. I manage it on my fifth try, which is a hell of a lot better than my first playthrough.

From here, reaching that treasure is simplicity itself.

That is a nice dang healstick I tell you hwat

On to stage 3, the shortest of the lot.

Not a lot of platforming here; go left to the key, right to the door.

Shrimple.

Mess it up and you get Hardship plus an Icy Wing that did not get the team chat indicating the sleep bomb strategy. They have Blood Suck and Poison Barb, which inflicts both Poison and Weakness.

Right in here.

And there's a boss flame. As usual, there may be deep magick letting you bait it into the tar. As usual, I disregard this completely.

The Red Guardian is another Ice-immune enemy with a Fire vulnerability, and a huge amount of bulk. Even outside of its formidable defenses, it packs Bulk Up to grant itself Armor and Power Up, and Nullification to wipe all effects, including stances, from the field. With Body Crush, Fighter Crush, and Thunderbolt, it packs a punch, although it is limited to single-target attacks. And it can even Call Elemental to get an icy buddy in play. Really, the idea here is much the same as with the Troll: because the Red Guardian has such a focus on single-target moves, proper tanking with a Valkyrie, Aegis, Warrior, or whatever you've got renders much of the threat it poses a non-issue. Nullification can throw this off since tanks tend to rely on buffs, but then again... so does the Red Guardian. As far as offense goes, magic is the way to go. Even without Armor Up attached, it has a monstrously high Defense score.

Anyway we did it let's get a crystal.

I appreciate that the crystal refuses to be limited to a simple 1x1 hallway. It's more three-dimensional than that.

Okay. NOW we can do a cleanup.

The way out is just past the crystal.

Mushroom elevator!

And here's the exit, just outside the souvenir shop.

Let's take home two more prizes.

Northern Cave's final hurrah.

It is a cool spear! We appreciate a cool spear.

Anyway, while I will cover Summoner in the following post, I do want to point out that as per the FF tradition, we can't use the vast majority of Summoner's moves, or even learn them, without defeating the deity in question. So uh... get ready for that in a while. Probably not next week, work's starting up again. But soon.

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.
        • Upgrade all the Gold gear to Diamond 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.
        • Find the Ramparts Key.
        • Defeat Murasaki.
        • Defeat Masashi.
        • Defeat the Ramparts Demon.
        • Find the Orange Crystal.
        • Find the Beastmaster class.
  • 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 the Undercity.
    • Defeat the Shadow Master.
    • Defeat the Blade Master.
    • Defeat the Duel Master.
    • Find the Silver Crystal.
    • Find the Assassin class.
  • Repair the elevator.
    • Win the Sky Arena.
    • Find the Sienna Crystal.
    • Find the Samurai class.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Samurai.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Assassin.
  • Explore Ganymede Shrine.
    • Obtain the Ganymede Stone.
• Explore the Quintar Reserve.
  • Explore Dione Shrine.
    • Obtain the Dione Stone.
    • Learn how to speak Quintar.
    • Breed a Golden Quintar.
    • Explore Flyer's Lookout.
• Explore Greenshire Reprise.
• Explore Tall, Tall Heights.
  • Get Hector an ice block.
  • Obtain the Triton Stone.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Chemist.
  • Return the library books to the Sequoia Athenaeum.
    • Explore the Sequoia Athenaeum.
  • Explore the Northern Cave.
    • Explore Slip Glide Ride.
      • Defeat Red Guardian.
      • Find the Almond Crystal.
      • Find the Summoner class.
        • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
        • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
        • Challenge the Deity of Earth.
        • Challenge the Deity of Darkness.
        • Challenge the Deity of Ice.
        • Challenge the Deity of Thunder.
  • Explore Land's End.
    • Defeat The Owlbear.
    • Obtain the Callisto Stone.
    • Obtain the Owl Drum.
• Explore Salmon Pass.
  • Explore Salmon River.
    • Win the Salmon Sprint.
    • Explore River Cat's Ego.
      • Find the Goldenrod Crystal.
      • Find the Nomad class.
  • Explore Salmon Bay.
• 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 Reaper.
  • 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 the Ancient Labyrinth.
• Explore Sara Sara Bazaar.
  • Bring the food enthusiast some Shoudu Stew.
  • Obtain a Ferry Pass.
  • Find the Tram Key.
  • Explore Sara Sara Beach.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Dervish.
• Explore Beaurior Volcano.
  • Explore Beaurior Rock.
    • Defeat the Ancient Sword.
    • Defeat Iguanadon and Iguanadin.
  • Find the Deep Sky Crystal.
  • Find the Valkyrie class.
• Explore the Open Sea.
  • Explore the Deep Sea.
    • Explore the Depths.
      • Find the Cerulean Book.
• Explore the Chalice of Tar.
  • Find the Vermillion Book.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Viridian Book.

 

[Kalir]

SUMMONER
Invoker of Pantheons

STATS

• HP: 1
• MP: 10
• Strength: 1
• Vitality: 2
• Dexterity: 4
• Agility: 4
• Mind: 8
• Spirit: 7
• Speed: 4
• Luck: 6

PROFICIENCIES

• Weapons: Staffs, Wands, Books
• Armor: Light Hat, Light Armor

INNATE PASSIVES

• MP Boost: +20% Max MP.

Summoner is the most casterly caster to ever cast in the game. Best MP in the game and good Mind and Spirit make this an excellent capstone for any kind of magicalist that's already perfectly happy with their base spellset and wants to get some extra oomph, and this being the FF-inspired game that it is, you know for a damn fact that any Summon they care to perform is gonna be a gamechanger. Summoners boast a wide variety of potent area spells, both offense and support flavored, covering every element in the game (formerly only available to Ninja, and we don't talk about Ninja in this house). And with every kind of casting bit of equipment except Scythes available to them from frame one, they don't have to fuss around with proficiencies. You can keep whatever caster equipment you've been happy with throughout the game and it's great and good.

Naturally, Summoners can't do anything on the physical side worth mentioning, with absolutely terrible HP, Strength, and Vitality, and not much better Dexterity or Agility. But whatever, it's the capstone caster class, you were expecting that. But that's where the real problem rears its head. In order to flesh out the Summon moveset, you have to take your prospective Summoner around the world to a bunch of late/postgame tier bosses and kick each of their teeths in with Summoner as at least one character's main class. Which means that Summoner in a randomizer is effectively deadweight until post-Owl, and even in a normal game you have to put a lot of work into getting a Summoner going. And even if you do invest the work, their requirements on MP and CT combine the heaviest costs in both regards. Oh, and every summon is an exactly once-per-fight deal, even if you're audacious enough to stack multiple Summoners on one team. Make 'em count.

Still, if you have a caster who's been comfortable wielding both Mind and Spirit scalar magic, particularly Warlocks, they'll happily move over to Summoner for some heavy gear. And the Dexterity and Agility stats aren't TERRIBLE, so if you want someone like a Rogue or Hunter who mostly sticks with their usual gameplan but has a way to go stupid every so often, you could do worse than Summoner. As with the Scholar post, I'll come back and update this post as we unlock new Summon moves, but even with those I do have to point out that you have to also use LP to unlock new moves. This isn't a full Scholar situation here.

Spoiler: MOVESET: SUMMON

Pinga
Costs: 32 MP, 40 CT
Multi Target Magic
Only usable once per fight for the party.
Recovery Formula: 200 + 3 Spi
Removes all debuffs.
Prereqs: None

You do at least get ONE Summon to start with. Pinga serves as a really nice heal option for resetting the party's momentum, combining potent area healing with a tasty, tasty debuff wipe. It's cool and all, really nice and among the fastest and cheapest of the summons... but it's still very expensive and takes a lot of time to set up, and it can't do anything for the dead. If you have an early Summoner in randomizer, this is the only thing they can potentially do to contribute to the fight. It is, as you can see, far too expensive for earlygame, and far too limited in scope to be able to carry the moveset outside of earlygame, not when a Cleric or Warlock can just do this but with much more flexibility.

Shaku
Costs: 60 MP, 60 CT
Multi Target Magic
Only usable once per fight for the party.
Damage Formula: 400 + 4.5 Mnd
Fire Elemental
Inflicts Spotlight (+35% Fire damage taken) debuff on the targets for 2 turns.
Prereqs: Defeat Shaku (Spawning Meadows), 2 LP

Every damaging Summon you can use has the same formula for the damage in question, which is to say "very very good damage". The main differentiating factor is the costs, element, debuff applied, and whether you can actually defeat the boss necessary to unlock it. In Shaku's case, Spotlight on the enemy team is... not great? Sure, it combos with another Wizard casting Firena, or Flare against bosses, but really, if you're trying to stack Spotlight for big dumb fire damage, just, y'know... use Spotlight. Or Resist Down if you're not specifically about the Fire damage. It's still a big chunky area damage spell, but with a huge amount of MP and CT, and the other Summons give better debuffs.

Pamoa
Costs: 60 MP, 60 CT
Multi Target Magic
Only usable once per fight for the party.
Damage Formula: 400 + 4.5 Mnd
Ice Elemental
50% chance to inflict Frostbite (next instace of Ice damage taken causes an instakill) debuff on the targets for 1 turn.
Prereqs: Defeat Pamoa (Tall, Tall Heights), 2 LP

Nope. No thanks. Crystal Project is EXTREMELY averse to letting the player do any instakills that it does not personally allow as the solution to a puzzle boss like Gran or Tira. The fact that you have to queue up an Ice attack (meaning a Warlock, Nomad, Ninja, or someone with an Ice element weapon) between Pamoa connecting and the enemy doing literally anything is one thing, even if they aren't immune to instakill... but even then you only get a 50% chance of the Frostbite effect. And like... I've been running GUTS as a Nomad with En-Ice on tap for half the game now. If anyone was gonna find a use case for Pamoa's debuff, it's me, but I'd sooner use Jugular on an enemy that lets me actually inflict instant death. Again, you're casting this not to line up a sicknasty instakill combo, but because you want your Summoner to hit lots of people for damage and their other Summons are already used.

Niltsi
Costs: 65 MP, 60 CT
Multi Target Magic
Only usable once per fight for the party.
Damage Formula: 400 + 4.5 Mnd
Wind Elemental
Inflicts Silence (cannot use magic) debuff on the targets for 1 turn.
Prereqs: Defeat Niltsi (Castle Sequoia), 2 LP

Niltsi's one of the more regularly used Summons in my book owing to their ability to simply shut down a cast entirely. With the right timing, you can have Niltsi hit the field between an enemy queueing up a deadly spell and them actually casting it, serving as a comfy alternative to Trick Slash that forces them to lose the action. This obviously doesn't work if the enemy has a non-magical move ready, and if they haven't started the CT yet they just cancel the move and switch to a non-magical move they can do. So it's not perfect shutdown, but it is pretty solid all the same, especially if you have better physical defenses than magical (and a Summoner team usually does).

Guaba
Costs: 70 MP, 60 CT
Multi Target Magic
Only usable once per fight for the party.
Damage Formula: 400 + 4.5 Mnd
Thunder Elemental
Inflicts Paralyze (skips turn) debuff on the targets for 1 turn.
Prereqs: Defeat Guaba (Salmon Bay), 2 LP

Best offense summon, easy. Sure, it costs extra MP compared to your usual summon attack, but A: you're a Summoner, if you don't have enough MP for the fight that's straight up a skill issue, and B: Paralyze is the best status effect the player can access in the game. Nothing's immune to it and no finicky timing or conditional effects around it, you just straight up get a free turn of them not doing anything. And, of course, this comes on top of your usual big huge summon damage that Summons get to do. Nice nice good nice.

Tira
Costs: 70 MP, 45 CT
Multi Target Magic
Only usable once per fight for the party.
Applies Blink (Always evade physical attacks) buff to the targets for 2 physical hits evaded.
Prereqs: Defeat Tira (Shoudu Province), 3 LP

Tira is an immensely powerful support option that just straight up disables your ability to be physically hit for two turns. And like... obviously this has many applications, especially for enemies doing area physical attacks that require constant maintenance for the party. But hey, remember how there's ways to amplify your own buffs? Like Entrench? Yeah, an Aegis played right can stretch this effect out from 2 dodges to 6, easily. It's good without those effects and great with them. Just one problem: no defenses against magic, and if you drop to an attack spell, all your Blink stacks are gone and they're never coming back.

Spoiler: PASSIVES

MP Boost
Costs: 4 PP
+20% Max MP.
Prereqs: 3 LP

Better than Refresher for boss fights, easily. Like, consider that you're already gonna be at max MP for them, and by the time you get Summoner, your average caster ought to have an MP total somewhere around 150-200 points if they're not using a Book (by the way Books still exist). An extra 20% max MP means you start out with likely as much MP as you'd get with Refresher anyway, and being lategame means you very likely have at least one other source of either Refresh or some other way of restoring MP. Plus, you don't run the risk of losing some of your Refresh MP by getting pasted by a stray hit! For the upkeep of regular encounters, Refresher is still better but I personally prefer to just use items.

Initial Resist
Costs: 3 PP
Self-applies Resist Up (-35% magical damage taken) buff at the start of combat for 3 turns.
Prereqs: 3 LP

Yeah, this is nice. A lot of fights lategame like opening with a rude area attack to immediately put your party on the back foot, so having your defensive buff of choice up immediately means A: less time picking your party up off the floor, and B: fewer actions dedicated to self-defense measures as opposed to immediately cutting loose into the enemy at top speed. Certainly no complaints here, not from me!

 

[Kalir]

Let's not waste any time. Y'alls know what we're here for, let's get right to it.

Our mission for today is simple: fight as many summons as we can to flesh out Frieren's fun new moveset. We have six of them currently available to fight, although whether we can defeat all of them is another question. We're starting down here, in Spawning Meadows, for the first intended summon.

I'm close enough to level 50, which is an ideal range to tackle most of the summon fights. Let's rock.

First up is Shaku, the Deity of Fire!

So, obviously, for this fight I chose to trivialize Shaku with the Blackout spell in the White Magic set. But I would be doing a poor job as an LPer were I to simply say the strategy for Shaku is "get a Cleric to high level then cast Blackout". Who do you think I am, a GameFAQs writer? Hah! Anyway, Shaku has a number of traits common to all Deity fights, namely a near-immunity to her preferred element and a marked weakness to another, in this case Water. She's also immune to Burn and can use her self-buff, Star Glow, without taking up her turn. She won't do this until later in the fight, but either way her moveset is pretty standard for a fire caster: Spit Fire to capitalize on the Burn inflicted by Fireblast, and Firena for area damage. Assuming you don't (or are unable to) cheese the fight with Blackout, your best bet is to prioritize magic defenses and status effect curing, which is also a pretty safe bet for most of the other boss fights. Valkyries are especially handy as tanks given their ability to no-sell the Burn, and Nomads are well-equipped to output loads of damage if built right. You may also want some form of buff-clearing for when Star Glow hits the field, as that WILL turn the heat up enough that the usual stable of defenses might not cut it.

And there you have it. Now the entire party can spend their hard-earned Summoner LP to wield the power of Shaku for themselves! Course, Frieren's the only one with any Summoner LP to speak of right now, but hey! The option is there.

Let's waste absolutely no time and get to the next summon.

Niltsi doesn't have a gameplan quite as easy to cheese as Shaku does. Her offensive moves are simple enough, Whirlwind and a single-target Razor Wind, but her other moves are what make the fight tricky. She can self-heal with Curen, Silence the party with Hush, and even neutralize all of a target's buffs with Nullify. Before you can handle this fight at all, you need an answer to Hush, since shutting off your casters usually means shutting off your healing, which is a necessary part of getting through any fight. There's a few ways to do this, of course. First of all, Chemists as healers don't care about being Silenced, their drugs still work the same as ever, although without Therapy Stance they may struggle to patch up the team after a Whirlwind. Second, gear exists to help you no-sell Silence as a status effect, with the Bronze Hairpin you can fish up in Tall, Tall Heights being a very strong pick. And, of course, having ways to clear debuffs from your team, especially non-magical ones like the Monk's First Aid, can deal with Silence quite handily. And, of course, you only have to worry about clearing Silence from casters, so focusing your team on non-magical offense can ignore the threat of Hush more easily.

Remember, we still gotta do the LP earning manually! Only now is Frieren actually able to use the summons we have beaten.

Oh yeah, I'm also using this update to clear up some map stuff and finish mastering a few classes, like Werdna's Dervish. We are, mind you, at the part of the game where using mastered classes might be worth doing, but I'm not feeling it yet.

Okay thanks!

I'm also gonna put our massive amount of cash to use by grabbing cool upgrades from the shops as needed to take on this or that enemy.

Before we take a shot at the Deity of Earth, I'm gonna see what the surrounding guys are.

Ooooh cool beetle! They start out Hasted, and can Harden and Regenerate, and use Chomp as their main attack. They take a pretty solid amount of effort to take down, and even at level par you'll encounter some difficulty.

Unfortunately, despite my best efforts (including a few solid hours of attempts) I was unable to beat the Deity of Earth.

I could go into a long involved discussion of why Ioske, the Deity of Earth, is far and away the hardest of the summon fights, or I could just point to that halved CT cost and say that his spellset is all of Dervish's Earth moves, and he can clear out the Float status effect whenever he wants. Ioske sucks! I'm skipping this one for now!

Moving on to the Deity of Darkness.

And this time, we DO have cheese.

Tira has a fairly intimidating moveset: Dark Overture is THE late/postgame area attack spell, and Star Flare needs no introduction. Doom Song applies Death Sentence to the entire party, once again requiring some manner of debuff clearing to fight, and Nullify, as before, clears buffs on the target. However, Tira's signature gimmick is what makes this fight as scary as it is. Tira only has 1 HP, but their Veil buff lets them effortlessly dodges all physical and magical attacks, 18 times. There is a very notable hole in this otherwise impenetrable defense, however: it ONLY works on moves that are either physical or magical. Untyped abilities can get through. There are a few methods that can exploit this weakness, but none so drastically as Chi Burst, which does damage on an ability that is neither physical nor magical. One Chi Burst puts down Tira instantly. Assuming, again, that a player may not have invested in Monk enough to use a Chi Burst, you still have some clever moves you can pull. Any class with access to multiple actions per turn, such as Hunter, Ninja, Samurai, or Warlock, can effectively double their "damage output" against Tira, burning away layers of Veil faster than anyone else. Likewise, counterattacks like Counter, Storm Stance, or Shrapnel/Wave Armor can add to the number of hits you dish out. This isn't a battle you can win by just doing the usual gameplan for your team, Tira's simply too strong for that. But there are ways to make victory yours, quite easily.

And your prize for doing so is very, very tasty indeed.

I think we'll next take the summon in Salmon Bay. This one I had to get a bit clever with, coming back to it a day after my initial attempts, but most of the day before was just failed runs at Ioske, so I'll cut ahead for everyone's sake.

The important part is that I'm a genius.

Guaba's main hazard in the fight is her counterattack. Unless you find a workaround, everyone's physical attacks will provoke a Counter Stun, Paralyzing them for a turn and depriving them of half their actions. Aside from that, she has the usual moveset expected from a deity boss: Thunder, Thunderbolt, and Thunderstorm give her plenty of offense, specifically for single targets, and Stun Lock gives her extra Paralyze capability even if you don't trip Counter Stun. But really, the primary obstacle is dealing with the counters. Because Guaba has so low of both Defense and Resistance, if you can bypass the huge turn deficit of being Paralyzed half the time, you can blast through her health in no time at all. There's three ideal methods of doing this. First, as with the Niltsi fight, casters won't have to worry about the counter, so loading your team with explosion mages can subvert that threat. Second, Rogues can use their Trickery moveset to ignore counters pretty safely with Shadow Cut and Sneak Attack. And finally, Samurai, armed with either Unreactable or a proper katana, can just ignore the counters with anything. Which is where my genius plan came in: while I didn't have any of that for GUTS, I DID have access to the Samurai's Glove back at Capital Sequoia's accessory shop! So I went back there, bought the glove and the finest katana they had to offer, and would you look at that, first try is a win. I love it when a plan comes together.

At some point during my constant refights with Ioske I also got bored and decided to see about fighting another non-summon boss. Enami fight time!

Enami has two big tricks to watch out for. Curse of the Moat is a debuff that drastically amplifies all water damage the victim will take, ensuring that either Jet Pulse or Hydro Spike will be lethal. Kneurotoxin is a mean trick that can actually be used helpfully if you're properly kitted for it: in exchange for applying a huge amount of damage over time, it also bumps up the victim's turns to happen immediately, one after the other. This sounds really bad until you realize there's no rule saying those turns can't be taken for self-sustain purposes. Hell, if you have enough regen, it's practically a free speed boost! It will cut through your self-buffs extremely quickly, of course, but action economy of three instant turns is SO worth it. To that end, debuff clearing and regen on your tank are the two key things to bring to a fight with Enami. Since it only has single-target moves, you don't even have to worry too much about the rest of your team's defenses until the tank gets proper busted!

Which means we can FINALLY complete this sidequest.

Please take this...
fu fu...

Perhaps you could... "use" my services to unleash the FULL potential of this axe.

A cool axe, you say?

A cool axe!

The Ragebringer has a fun feature where if you're attacking with it at critical health, you get a +50% physical damage boost. That can be very hard to leverage in a vacuum, but like Sam says, you can use his services to drop your axefighter to critical health, and as we've already covered, a mainclass Aegis can just step on over and block any hits they'd take! This does make area healing a more dicey prospect since it cuts into the damage potential of Ragebringer, but also you can use moves like Blitz Crush or the Reaper moveset to just disregard that and get back to the razor edge.

Sadly, in order to reach the Deity of Ice, I gotta trudge all the way across the north half of Tall, Tall Heights, or cut from there across the Castle Ramparts. Everyone else it's basically "warp to nearest shrine, Engage Owl, and go". Here, I run the risk of actual non-trivial encounters along the way. Not a fan.

Oh well. Let's finish this today.

Pamoa is kind of like if Guaba didn't go all-in on counters and simply decided to rely on high-speed magic offense. She can disrupt your movement with Icy Chill inflicting Slow and Cold Embrace inflicting Stop (although as you can see, she doesn't need the debuffs on those to just kill you to pieces). Additionally, she's got Hibernate as a self-buff to no-sell magic, and Deathly Chill as a funny gimmick that applies Frostbite to the team, making the next attack she lands on them an instakill even if it wouldn't already. Not really a lot to say on this one, there's not really any kind of counterplay aside from, y'know, what you'd bring to any summon fight. Pamoa's fast and strong, but so is every boss you have to face. By now, you have your gameplan for your party solidified. For us, we have GUTS throwing out big physical hits, Werdna using either magic or cutting as needs be, Frieren on full-time magic, and Meena doing a bit of tanking and healing. I trust your party to manage this fight.

That oughta do it for this update. Shorter post, but hey, I fought six bosses for you. Appreciate this.

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.
        • Upgrade all the Gold gear to Diamond 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.
        • Find the Ramparts Key.
        • Defeat Murasaki.
        • Defeat Masashi.
        • Defeat the Ramparts Demon.
        • Find the Orange Crystal.
        • Find the Beastmaster class.
  • 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 the Undercity.
    • Defeat the Shadow Master.
    • Defeat the Blade Master.
    • Defeat the Duel Master.
    • Find the Silver Crystal.
    • Find the Assassin class.
  • Repair the elevator.
    • Win the Sky Arena.
    • Find the Sienna Crystal.
    • Find the Samurai class.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Samurai.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Assassin.
  • Explore Ganymede Shrine.
    • Obtain the Ganymede Stone.
• Explore the Quintar Reserve.
  • Explore Dione Shrine.
    • Obtain the Dione Stone.
    • Learn how to speak Quintar.
    • Breed a Golden Quintar.
    • Explore Flyer's Lookout.
• Explore Greenshire Reprise.
• Explore Tall, Tall Heights.
  • Get Hector an ice block.
  • Obtain the Triton Stone.
  • Prove our skill to the Master Chemist.
  • Return the library books to the Sequoia Athenaeum.
    • Explore the Sequoia Athenaeum.
  • Explore the Northern Cave.
    • Explore Slip Glide Ride.
      • Defeat Red Guardian.
      • Find the Almond Crystal.
      • Find the Summoner class.
        • Challenge the Deity of Fire.
        • Challenge the Deity of Wind.
        • Challenge the Deity of Earth.
        • Challenge the Deity of Darkness.
        • challenge the Deity of Ice.
        • Challenge the Deity of Thunder.
  • Explore Land's End.
    • Defeat The Owlbear.
    • Obtain the Callisto Stone.
    • Obtain the Owl Drum.
• Explore Salmon Pass.
  • Explore Salmon River.
    • Win the Salmon Sprint.
    • Explore River Cat's Ego.
      • Find the Goldenrod Crystal.
      • Find the Nomad class.
  • Explore Salmon Bay.
• 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 Reaper.
  • 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 the Ancient Labyrinth.
• Explore Sara Sara Bazaar.
  • Bring the food enthusiast some Shoudu Stew.
  • Obtain a Ferry Pass.
  • Find the Tram Key.
  • Explore Sara Sara Beach.
    • Prove our skill to the Master Dervish.
• Explore Beaurior Volcano.
  • Explore Beaurior Rock.
    • Defeat the Ancient Sword.
    • Defeat Iguanadon and Iguanadin.
  • Find the Deep Sky Crystal.
  • Find the Valkyrie class.
• Explore the Open Sea.
  • Explore the Deep Sea.
    • Explore the Depths.
      • Find the Cerulean Book.
• Explore the Chalice of Tar.
  • Find the Vermillion Book.
• Find the Mimic class.
• Find the Viridian Book.

 

[Mogri]

Heck, that's more summons than I ever managed to pick up.

 

[Kalir]

No update this week, work's been brutal on my everything. Next week though, for realsies.

 

[Kalir]

Get me out of this stupid thing. I still want Cleric and Dervish on Frieren, and Cleric's nearly mastered, so we'll get to that.

Anyway, now that we've done the summon cleanup... we're actually kind of running out of new places to explore! The Chalice of Tar is the most obvious option, but there's also Flyer's Crag and Flyer's Lookout to consider, especially given the owls there.

Wooo, BOGO!

Either way, Dione Shrine is an ideal point to start from. It's right by Flyer's Lookout, and if you get up on to these spires you can make your way to the Chalice of Tar's upper levels, i.e. where the fun begins.

Lowkey kind of messed up using an Overpass map where our actual maps fall short.

More of these glades! All still too high level to mess with! And we're nearly level 50 out of a cap of 60!

Anyway, Chalice of Tar. Climbing up this thing is an exercise in finding out where you can owl glide to given an impossibly steep natural rock formation.

Since a lot of this is offscreen, you're gonna have to "fortune favors the bold" a lot of it, but there's plenty of spikes if you happen to mess up and don't want your elevation reset.

ACTUALLY NEVER MIND I DON'T NEED FORTUNE ANYWAY

I'm considering myself lucky I got this much. Damn, I forgot Chalice of Tar has actual enemies on it. We'll come back to this place later.

No sweat, we can do exploring elsewhere. Unfortunately, this is just kind of how lategame goes: encounters got hands! Even at-par enemies are gonna be rude.

So, while I could glide from here like this owl does and sail off into the misty unknown, my inability to climb the Chalice of Tar has me chafing and irked.

So I piss off into completely different directions. Remember this? This is the Underpass by Okimoto N.S. and Flyer's Crag, and now that we have an owl, we can check it out!

Oh COME ON. I forgot about this one!

FINE LEMME GO BACK AND CHANGE FRIEREN BACK TO SUMMONER. HER LP AIN'T GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU, WISE GUY? At least I got the Underpass Scrap over there.

And we have enough for the map!

Wow! We still lack any way to really explore the Underpass in full since we don't have a swimming mount outside of stealing the Salmon Sprint rental, but hey! Maps.

Sadly, Pah, the deity of reflection, is too far outside of my capabilities, and also I don't especially care for the unlocked ability. Shelved for now. Gotta be some other way I can dick around while still exploring, though...

Got it. We'll swing by the Lost & Found on the way, grab some bags and the Hope Cross because I think the bosses hoarding instakill immunity is unethical.

Remember this? Secret path down the backside of the south wing of Capital Jail?

Time to get this thing actually explored!

We are now, finally, at full capability to fight these enemies patrolling the Capital Pipeline. Remember, we got down here at like... what, level 10? And only now, at level 50, are these guys on par with us.

We coulda just used stealth and the ibek to go here, but I put it off on account of other, more interesting things. Now's as good a time as any to knock this out!

Hm... a fork in the road. Could go either way, but I know this place well enough to know that you go left first for best success results.

Loads of tunnel meat this way.

A tram, huh? I guess that would explain the long hallways, but I'd expect, y'know... trams. Vehicles. Transportation. Not meat.

The meat continues as well as the hallway.

After a while, the meat amps up in intensity.

That's got hella Pulsating Mass vibes down there. I think we save that for later.

No more meat past that point at least. That's nice.

Just an extremely long, extremely featureless tunnel.

Hey, a tram station!

Guess that cuboid is the tram. It's the most convenient style of transportation in Sequoia, after all.

Nomad's Guard? I'm using a Nomad!

That's a good enough shield to ditch the Ragebringer in my book.

Anyway, anywhere that tram could reach, we already came from. I wanna see the station.

Lots of stairs and a decent blue carpet, but the place is abandoned.

We can just barge right into the ticket office.

A map and a key... And we saw a door that uses that key, didn't we?

Oh. Yeah, that makes a disappointing amount of sense.

Anyway, the tram says it'll depart for Capital Sequoia.

For what it's worth, it is VERY fast, much faster than a Quintar.

Which is great because LET ME PROPERLY HIGHLIGHT HOW MASSIVE THIS TUNNEL IS.

Yeah, that makes sense. Whatever is causing this meatplague, it shut down the tram. No wonder nobody's down here.

Hell, it looks like they even took steps to barricade it off from whatever's this way.

By the way, the enemies we can fight here are these Corruption thingies. Each one is far more dangerous than their ordinary fungus appearance indicates. They have Headbutt, Devour, Shroomy Leer as the upgraded 500 damage version of Shroomy Gaze, and Hemoplague. They also are immune to Poison and Bleed, and have the Reaping passive to increase their max HP. Fighting them below par is a great way to die.

We can pull this off at our stage, we just take some lumps in the process. No big deal.

For how sloppy that barricade is, it seems to be holding. No further meats to be found!

And we make it to the end of the other route! So, one was intended to reach Capital Sequoia, one from Sara Sara Bazaar... where could this one be headed?

There's two locked doors here, but this switch unlocks both. Let's see where they go!

Beaurior Rock style elevators, I see.

Jidamba Tangle, you say? We've heard that name before.

Spoilers: both Flyer's Crag and Flyer's Lookout also lead here! The owls perched there glide towards the island Jidamba Tangle is situated on, and as you all know, the world is square. This makes three possible ways to approach this area, which is very much intended as the next stop for any adventurer that isn't bothering with Castle Sequoia until they're good and damn ready.

Okay, how about the other elevator?

This takes us to a sequestered section of Jidamba Eaclaneya, and if you know what that word means, you know more than I do.

Only thing we can do here is grab this diamond. Nothing else to be discovered here from this side. I can at least tell you that gaining access to the Eaclaneya proper is the goal of exploring the Tangle, and it's also the location of the last library book we need to access the Sequoia Athenaeum.

Let's get to exploring, then!

Damn, Jidamba Tangle got hands.

These flowery enemies have a Thorns counter and an assortment of vicious techniques between them, including Marrow Slurp, Thorn Barrage, MP Arrest, Blood Suck... you get the idea.

Anyway, while we can technically triangulate where Jidamba Tangle is on the overworld map, we don't need to. Let's just fly over this time.

The owls do fly out at a slight angle, but you have plenty of room for error. It turns out islands usually trend towards the bigger side.

See we got this.

Now, flying over every time is tedious, and the encounters around the Pipeline entrance are clearly rude as hell, so the first order of business is finding a Home Point or even another shrine. For this reason, approaching from Flyer's Crag is ideal.

The interior of the island is basically divided into three layers, all of which you are expected to explore. The canopy layer has loads of twisted trees stretched out as natural bridges over the foliage layer below, full of ruins and vegetation. And, of course, you have the cave layer below that. All of them are swarming with deadly encounters.

There is in fact a shrine directly south of where you'd land approaching from Flyer's Crag.

They sell the Europa Stone and shards but no map. Fine by me, a stone means fast travel.

Getting higher up is best done directly west of the shrine, and high up means the only encounters you have to worry about are canopy level, which means sudden altitude drops can usually juke them quite conveniently while still allowing you to reach basically anywhere you need to.

Not kidding about that! The canopy layer is the place to be!

Oh yeah we still haven't got all the gold we need for upgrading everything.

I should still get into fights for both demonstration and XP purposes.

Greenjackets are ultra hardmode lethal bees. Their Brutal Venom inflicts durationless Poison, Burn, AND Bleed, and they sport Kamikaze, a vastly upgraded Suicide Sting. Oh, and they have Critical Turn too, so they really are that baseball meme of "better hope you kill me in one shot".

Suffice it to say I did not.

Eventually I figure out to change Werdna over to an actual physical damage build for a bit and configure his passives accordingly. Hopefully that helps.

Let's play around at low elevation for a second.

This must be the cave we failed to escape from.

DROP BEARS!

Oh, just a solo Perennial. I think we can take that.

Yeah, much easier.

Anyway, cave comes later. We really need a map of this place.

Perfect. This is the exterior of the Eaclaneya. Plus, I can see an encounter down there that's orange. Gross.

We'll want to get around to the south side for the front entrance.

I do want to pivot to the southeast corner of Jidamba Tangle for a tiny bit, but let's stay focused.

I can probably handle this one.

That sure is a name you could give this enemy. Anyway, in addition to entering the fight with permanent Haste, the Cockachicken sports a lot of the bird-flavored moves we've already seen. Pecking Flurry, Fury Swipes, Roost, and Stone Skin as a self-buff. Thankfully, it doesn't have a way to petrify us.

Single enemies that self-buff aren't very scary at this stage. Here, encounters get a little rocket-taggy. Shoot first or not at all, y'know?

Jidamba Tangle is about as big as... hm, actually, it's more like halfway between Rolling Quintar Fields and Delende. The elevation changes add more complexity, but you should be able to hit the highlights without much trouble.

Worm worm worm worm. They've got Marrow Slurp, Poison Barb, and Harden, which is an infuriating moveset that a Valkyrie can effortlessly shutter. Valkyrie is nice like that.

Oh yeah, we're gonna master a LOT of classes today.

Surely all this switching of classes will not have tactical ramifications beyond this point.

Anyway, this requires going to find masters we technically could have reached before now, but who are hidden at the ass ends of the world with nothing else to recommend in that region. Still, y'know, loosely by where the class is obtained (except Reaper) but not exactly convenient. So for the Master Nomad, we gotta climb around River Cat's Ego some more.

MUSHROOM.

And that's it. Easy easy. It's the Nomad's Outpost and... why are so many of these just Outposts? Come on, live a little? This could at LEAST be a Lodge or a Basecamp or something!

Whatever, got it.

Gonna clean up the map as I go, but not gonna make a huge deal out of it.

Hehe catfish.

More treasure, hopefully fewer diversions.

I SENSE DANGER

Just like a real boar, the Jungle Boar kills you in one hit with overwhelming physical damage using Head Smash, counters when hit, and can Bulk Up if it feels like it's not indestructible enough. Fortunately, we have four people and it doesn't have 30-50 of itself, so we might win this.

ANOTHER DIVERSION, THEN!

Thanks.

Right, let's get to the main event. The safest route is along the high elevation west coast.

In addition to the Eaclaneya entrance, two major discoveries can be found here.

The good news: this one tells us about an entirely new class. Bad news: USE WORDS OTHER THAN OUTPOST.

Anyway, yes, the last class we have learned the existence of is the Weaver. More on that once we, y'know, get it, but the existence of the outpost here should pretty well telegraph where it is.

The other thing is just past this ruin.

YES, IT IS ANOTHER SUMMON!

Like Pah, I'm not really suited to fighting this particular summon and a cursory attempt should have made that clear.

Unlike Pah, I spent a full hour of my recording time on Juses attempts anyway. It wasn't as frustrating as Ioske, and I can see routes to victory here, it just needs a little more level than I've currently got, that's all. Or I go back to classes I've mastered but MAYBE I DON'T WANT TO DO THAT.

No sweat, we go south. We still have to get to the Eaclaneya entrance, TODAY.

Here we are, here we go.

The entrance has four sealed doors, three of them locked conventionally, and one less so.

Unlock all three side entrances and you can unseal the main one.

Anyway, here's the main points on the map. We still have a lot of ground to cover, but a lot of Jidamba Tangle is largely filler. The important part is that it's kind of like the Poko Poko Desert segment, where we gotta explore the tangle in full to find the three keys needed to open the Eaclaneya.

So I'll skip past the several Juses attempts in favor of my mapping.

As a general rule, there's no treasure anywhere except the ruins, so you can fly over the rest pretty safely.

Of course, your top priority ought to be the purple chests.

Every layer has one key to it, and we need all three.

There's some really nice treasure here too. The Partizan is an endgame-capable spear with some Strength and Agility on it, perfect for basically anyone who wants it.

The Tower Shield is funny as hell. In exchange for being unable to dodge anything, including magic, it gives boatloads of Defense and the Thick Armor buff, setting your Defense to 9999 for the first physical hit you take. An Aegis favorite!