7th Dragon III Code: VFD Part #16 - Update XIV

Part 16: Update XIV - Featuring: New faces

Update XIV - Featuring: New faces

Music: Cladeon - An Undersea Shimmer

First, we have a bit of cutscene that I skipped over last time.

They might drag you down at first, but they'll catch on quick. I promise.

*nods*

Preliminary research gave us a general idea of the topography. The forge seems to be up ahead through this mine shaft.

It's basically become a breeding ground for monsters because of the High Dragon. If you let your guard down for even a second, you won't make it through to the forge.

*nods*

Music: Endless Attack Cycle

Grr...! They're here again!?

Lookout Girl: Th-There's a large group of monsters coming out of the west passage!

Blockade the surrounding area immediately!

Lookout Girl: Yes, Sir!

Let's go everyone!

Militiamen: Sir!

Chief Toglau: These travelers from a foreign land... Are they our saviors? Or maybe...

Music: Cladeon - An Undersea Shimmer

And to go with our new classes, we have a new tier of items to get them some better gear.

Now get out there and take the initiative back from those ISDF bitches!

Also Nagamimi is here.

Due to the wonders of LP recording, we will not be getting Team 2 here.

Music: The Daily Grind

We'll be doing that at home instead.

Say hello to Team 2!

The backrow teams will show up on the touch screen while in the menu.

And if I do as the game says and press X...

I can swap between teams whenever I want!

Only between full teams, mind. If I wanted to swap someone from Team 1 to Team 2 I'll have to head to a Terminal.

Look at them go!

A small perk with the Atlantis classes is that their default gear is on par with what we have now, so you don't have to deal with outdated gear from the word go.

Aiden will still need a quick shopping trip, however.

Music: UE77 Tokyo

Now, I could just stick Team 2 in the back and push into Cladeon.

But I left the grinding DLC open for a reason.

Music: Atlantica - The Emerald Afterglow

I can give the new team some easy levels and SP, so I can use them the moment we go back!

...did the devs really put a fixed encounter behind where you first spawn them in? Wow that is rude.

Music: Battlefield - Atlantis

Figures Team 2 starts with a big crowd.

Rune Knights start with two elemental attacks, a taunt that lasts for several turns but has no counter attached, a full party heal, a party MDF buff, and a self-buff for their own LF.

Agents start with an accurate gun attack, a hack that makes enemies hit their allies and themselves, a hack that restores the party's MN, the Hack itself, an item booster, and a self-buff that reduces the odds they get targeted for attacks and boosts their crit rate.

Finally, Fortuners start with two moves that inflict Sleep and Bleed, two moves that hit everyone with a certain set of ailments on and heal the Fortuner, and a generic party defense buff.

Fights like this are a bit rough at level 1, but that'll fix itself soon enough.

The party gets a bit dinged up.

But hopefully Provoke fixes that.

oh god even her model is terrifying

Now, you may be wondering why I don't just have Team 1 deal with this.

Because the backrow gets full rewards, and I already said I don't want them to get too powerful compared to what the game expects. The game forces you to make a leader for Team 2 the moment you unlock it, so I had to make Temp 3: The Original Temp anyways.

Also, Aria is doing a lovely job at showcasing a Fortuner's durability!

Anyways, Buddy attacks:

Whoever's action is being selected the moment you select a Buddy skill will have it tied to their turn.

When they go, the Buddy skill activates.

This happens on any action, even supporting ones, so if you really want to hit someone fast to break a buff you could guard or use an item to take advantage of their inherent priority.

I only managed to kill one seed, everything else ran.

Music: Finish Them Off

On the plus side, Aria gained a level for that fight, reviving her for free.

Music: Atlantica - The Emerald Afterglow

Even this early on, getting 400 SP a kill isn't really doing much.

Anyways, Rune Knight's can learn Substitute, a strange move that lets them redirect single target attacks towards themselves, and a pre-battle AUTO skill that buffs MDF.

Agents get two new offensive moves for their guns, both TROYs inflict Hack Weakness and aid in hacking, and just below this are Withdraw, (flees battle with a massively boosted chance) and Quick Hack, letting them automatically hack things and get some MN in the deal.

Fortuners, meanwhile, get Psychic's old Mana Float, plus two skills that give LF and MN regeneration.

There are a few more fights you have to backtrack for.

The next fight got two Queen Rabi kills.

Which, when combined with VFD's EXP scaling, gives Team 2 a bunch of levels.

And a second kind of cat food.

That one fight pretty much caught Team 2 up with Team 1, so I'll be ignoring any other Queen Rabis.

A few more fights later, and I get to the end of Atlantica, but it looks like I've missed one along the way.

Where is it?

Inside a building.

Hm? Unit 13, go check out the Sanctuary. I'm sensing a big one hiding back in there.

That's all 10 enemies dead, but we're not quite done yet.

After going to the Sanctuary for nothing, we have to head back to finish this up.

Yeah.

It has 20 LF, which is honestly huge for a Seed, but I'm not entirely sure it can run. I think this thing doubles as a pity reward in case most of the Seeds ran away from you.

And despite being that big, it only gives about a third more SP compared to the other DLC Seeds.

Anywho, things should settle down a bit now. Come on home, Unit 13.

So, our total haul for all that?

About this much.

If I wanted to do this a second time, I'd have to go back to Nodens, turn the quest in, retake the quest, go see the quest giver again, then go all over Atlantica while dealing with effortless random encounters. Even if every fight was against 2 Seeds and you manage to kill all of them, you're only looking at 8600 SP a run at most.

So yeah, I'm never doing that again.

Music: The Daily Grind

And now to turn in the quest.

~~Opal~~Valerie nods.

Yui: I'm glad to hear it~! I'll let you know right away next time we have one of these outbreaks! We need you to get as strong as possible, after all! Oh yeah! Here's your reward!

With that quick bit of grinding done, we can go grab Opal and the gang.

I do make some changes to team composition, however.

See, Agents and Rune Knights are the only classes with a backrow charge time of 1 turn. This means that I can break enemy buffs starting from turn 2, but it also means that running them in a team together is a bad idea. If I ever want to use Team 2 in combat, I'd end up having to wait 4 turns to use a Buddy skill.

So I put Aiden in Team 1 with Opal and Yuno.

And Inoue in Team 2 with Valerie and Aria.

This setup will end up having a good bit of team synergy. Yuno can use her heavy focus on fire damage to constantly set off TROY: Fire, ramping up the damage of ~~X Burn~~Ookazi. Inoue, on the other hand, gets both Windy Canopy and Destructive Sweep next tier, letting follow up on Valerie's elemental attacks with Dual Blades or help Aria inflict ailments with Single Sword.

Alright, back to Cladeon.

Music: Cladeon - An Undersea Shimmer

As the last hub of the militia here, the town has a lot of people for us to talk to.

Lookout Girl: I wish I could fight alongside him... but all I can do for him is watch over the town.

And by 'we' I mean Team 2 gets to do it.

...Ma'am, you are talking to a Lucier. In fact, there's nothing stopping you from making your entire team Lucier at this point.

This is the chest on the far left.

Chief Toglau: These travelers from a foreign land... Are they our saviors? Or maybe...

~

Rude Militiaman: The hell? You think you're better than me just cause you're a little bit stronger? I still don't trust you guys! Keep that in mind!

Keep in mind that the Atlantica recruits were specifically picked by Eigur to help Nodens out. This guy is a dick.

~

Young Militiaman: No matter how many we kill, they simply do not stop. I wonder if we will ever find peace again...

~

Novice Smith Cub: Even though my master Auroth is blind, he's the best craftsman in all of Atlantis!

~

Blind Smith Auroth: Hm... I am sensing a strange scent. Are you the from the surface?

Now we're at the bit on the right.

And here's the chest.

There are also a few indoor areas in Cladeon.

Longing Lucier: But where can I go? Where can I find a safe haven!?

...You think we should tell her about the time machine?

Up ahead is a bridge leading to the top.

Yuma and Yoritomo are up ahead, so that's clearly the plot.

The bridge to the left leads to this chest, but it has no way to get to the lower area.

So I have to run all the way back to check it out.

The hellish amalgamation of three girls from 10000 B.C., 2021 A.D., and 2100 A.D. can deal with it.

The top left segment has a lot of doors.

Inept Militiaman: Why am I shaking? I'm scared as shit! I don't get how you guys can be so brave out there!

...Is that a kid's model?

~

Anxious Old Woman: Wh-What do you want...? Wait, are you going to eat me!? I-I don't taste very good, I swear! ...You don't want to eat me? But I heard you surface people are all savages...