Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana Part #18

Part 18: Delsus is a Jerk

Update 18: Delsus is a Jerk

Music: Town Where the Bells Chime

In preparation for something I know is coming and fear, I decided to do some upgrading. While doing so, I ran across an instances where I apparently matched a Mana to a type of stone correctly or something. This happened with both Deimia and Uru, and the result...

...is reasonably promising. I slapped this on Norn's weapon to help her not die.

Atelier Norman: The Right Way to Eat Buffalo Wings

I know this is a weird request, but...please keep visiting her. She's like a daughter to me. I know she's not good at making friends, so I worry sometimes.

Oh, she's definitely not the friendly type!

Heh...I hope you'll look past that. I'd appreciate it if you could be friends.

I always thought that Veola and Norman's relationship could have been expanded on a little more. They're allegedly very close, but it's really only this scene and the very beginning that I recall saying as much. To be fair, it's hard to establish a relationship between two NPCs who live in different buildings that they never leave, so it doesn't really bug me that much.

Anyway, I experimented a little bit with improving the item quality of stuff I've already made here in hopes that it might give me new scenes with Norman. I don't know if that made this happen or not, but a new scene did indeed occur!

Hmm...maybe you're right. I should create some new drinks.

Yeah, you should. In fact, I have an idea for you!

Really? Let's hear it.

Here's the thing...most of the drinks tend to be sweet, especially cocktails. Why don't you make a crazy hard sake or something?

Ah, I think I understand. I don't have a lot of sake here...And I get what you're trying to do. You want me to make more drinks you like, but have it seem like my idea.

Ha ha ha...you got me. I just want more manly drinks, y'know?

Alright, alright, I'll make you a manly drink.

Hmm, that's an interesting name. The ingredients are easy enough, although I went ahead and subbed in Red Peppers because I believe they're considered higher quality and even if they aren't we all know how Delsus likes everything as spicy as possible.

Here's Delsus' favorite, the Hell Soju.

Finally! This oughtta be good...Down the hatch!

Now THAT is sake. Right, guys?

I wouldn't know. I don't like alcohol.

It's kinda funny how that works out, really. Lita likes sweet stuff but hates alcohol. Delsus likes alcohol but hates sweet stuff. And yet they both frequent a bar that serves sweet alcohol. I guess they just can't resist Norman's raw charisma.

I also made a new variant of the Peach Cocktail by combining Tingleberry and Maple Syrup...

This one's called a Tinglecannon.

It would make a nice centerpiece, at the very least.

I'll have a taste of that...

I'll take some buffalo wings and a lando juice, please.

How can you drink juice with buffalo wings!?

What's so weird about it? They taste good! You're eating them with booze!

But that's normal! Buffalo wings were designed for alcohol consumption!

Well I think they were made for everyone to enjoy. I'll eat them how I like!

Let's just drop it, okay?

Well, that's it for Norman's bar for a bit. It looks like I got the public's opinion high enough that they're saying new things, so that's pretty neat. Anyway, let's head to Arcose.

Music: Anchor and Pickaxe

What a coincidence! Hey guys!

Why are you all the way out here, Pamela?

Tee hee...I don't really know.

...There's a shocker.

Something called me to this town. I feel like I'm...needed. So I guess I'll hang around until I figure it out!

Pamela floats away...

We should go find someone who has a clue.

Hey, don't be like that.

Let's see...Hute is probably the local expert on Alexia Cave, so let's visit her last and check up on Blaire.

Still haven't learned your lesson? Fine, let's go!

Who are you talking to?

You got here just in time!

Who, me?

Yeah, you!

Uh...the root?

It'd have to be! It's a potato.

Root, meow! I love potatoes!

Of course it's the root...

… …

Well then, it's unanimous. I win again. Looks like this week's bread is mine. Don't look at me like that. This is your fault. How could a potato grow from the flower, anyway? Everyone knows that's silly.

Villa leaves.

How...how come everybody knew that?

She's right...It's kind of common sense.

You were just messing with her, right?

I don't think she knew, meow!

Y-Yes I did! I'm not stupid...

...You must have lived a really sheltered life, growing up.

She sounds like a princess, meow!

...What do you mean, “like”? I'm from a very wealthy upper-class family. Isn't it obvious!?

...Upper class? The bakery?

Just because I work here doesn't mean it's my estate.

I come from a long line of merchants .We're well known on the east coast. But, you probably can't even remember my name, can you?

If your family's so rich, why would you work here?

Yeah, it doesn't make sense.

Hmph! It's not that complicated! I came here to train in the art of superior baking.

Superior baking?

That's enough talking for now! Go ahead and buy something, already.

I tried going for higher quality synthesis of Blaire's current menu as well, but no new scenes unlocked here. Oh well, let's see how Villa's doing I guess.

Hey, do you know anything about the Alexia Cave?

Ewww, no. I've never liked that nasty, muddy place. My sister loves caves, though. You should probably ask her.

She's stubborn, as you may have guessed. But she's not a bad person.

Oh, yeah?

She works at the bakery and pretends it doesn't bother her...but she can't forget about how she used to be rich. Sometimes it makes her really depressed.

So then it's true, about her family?

Oh, did she tell you about that? Hm...she never tells anyone about that. At any rate, she's good at baking bread. Be sure and stop by every so often.

Isn't it a little strange that you're worried about another bakery?

Ummmm, Delsus, Villa runs a grocery store. Big difference.

Anyway, Pamela is actually hanging out in Arcose now. Let's see what she has to say before we go visit Hute.

Huh? What?

Klein, who's that dreamboat with you?

Dreamboat? Are you talking about Arlin?

Arlin...What a strong name...

… …

Umm...Excuse me. Do you think we could go out sometime?

Wow, you don't waste any time at all, do you?

I've loved this man ever since I laid eyes on him!

… ...

Music: A Girl's Memories

Oh...Hundreds of years of growing passion were dashed...just like that!

What!? You've only known him for a few seconds!

Leave me be...my sadness is in full bloom. I'd finally found a handsome ghost, and now -

Ghost?

Arlin's alive, babe. Can't you see his legs?

...Really? Oh, that's weird. I could have sworn...

… ...

Okay. We can date after he becomes a ghost!

...It's good to have dreams, I guess.

Man, Arlin's going to be kicking himself when he dies and can't use the no time excuse to get away from her. Oh wait, he won't even be able to kick himself because ghosts don't have legs.

Hey, do you know anything about the Alexia Cave?

What do you need to know?

And yet another fade out and fade in

Actually, yeah. I heard that a long time ago, the cave was full of Mana. It's dangerous, though. You shouldn't go too far into the cave.

Why's that?

Well, there's actually more to the story. See, a fierce dragon once lived there. The townspeople would offer young girls as a sacrifice to the dragon. Scary, huh?

I saw a strange door in the cave. Do you have a key for it?

I do, but...You're not really planning to go inside the cave, are you?

I'm not a young girl, so it should be fine.

...Okay. I can't say no to you, Klein. Here's the key.

And just like that, we have the means of getting further into the cave. Honestly, I'd be pretty okay with taking Hute's advice and not heading that way, but sadly we kinda have to, so...

Here we are at Alexia Cave's unusual door. Hey, see this save point? Use it.

Video: Seriously, Fuck Delsus

Music: Frozen Lithograph

Brrr...It was so hot outside.

Look at that!

I don't like where this is going.

I suppose that's the dragon from the legend.

Poor bastard...his own cave was too frigid for him.

...I see nothing related to the Eternal Land of Mana.

Relax, we just need to look around.

Meow, it's too cold. I can't even move...

… …?

Why's the ice melting, meow?

MEOW meow meow me-eo-owwwww!

What's going on!?

Whoa...I thought all that dragon stuff was just a legend!

Prepare yourself. It's coming this way.

Music: Duke of Stratosphere

So yeah, this is a pretty strong contender for hardest boss in the game. To be honest, I really should have just opened with Arlin and/or gotten Lita into Murder Mode beforehand, and I might have handled the fight a little more, um, gracefully in that case, but...whatever, let's just get this over with.

To start off, I have Norn pop Magical Shield on everyone. This boosts all defenses, and we'll need all the help we can get there.

Klein is going to spend most of his time healing for this fight, but I try to get him to use the Mark of Courage when I can. Lita's the only one who really needs it since Klein and Norn spend so much time on the defensive, but I tried to get everyone at once via Wide Item when it was convenient.

The dragon (Elder Vilum) doesn't have a whole lot of attacks, but unfortunately all of the attacks he does have are pretty brutal. Flickering Flame is a Double Type attack (that is, charge then release). It does about 50 damage to a character with Norn's shield up, and about 100 to one who does not, which is to say way too goddamn much.

Thus, Klein's role as healer.

Tera Flame (not Terra?) is a little weaker but doesn't need to be charged, so he can just use this whenever and hit my people for 40-90 damage. I mentioned both of these attacks hit everyone, right?

The advantage to having refilled Lita's MP is that she can Jump Kick to her heart's content. I still should have let her MP fall further so her kicks would hit harder, though. Actually, this fight is making me think more about how to manage Lita's MP optimally. It's a real shame that, near as I can tell, the mana bath doesn't have an option to only partially restore her MP, besides perhaps deliberately using an element that you don't have enough of. I'll have to try that out.

As if his offense wasn't problematic enough, the dragon also has a ton of HP AND can inflict paralysis to make my characters' attacks weaker. Of course he nails Lita with this.

Healin', healin', healin'

Another issue in this fight is that my characters end up getting misaligned. I don't think I've really talked about this yet; basically, there are three rows and you can choose where your characters start in battle. Using physical attacks and some abilities typically moves a character forward (Lita), while defending and some other abilities will move your characters back.

The thing is, Tera Flame knocks everyone backward, but then Lita's attacks move her forward again, and so she ends up way in front of Klein and Norn, which means that she's now out of range of Klein's Wide Item when he tried to heal/buff himself or Norn, so I have to choose between healing/buffing my casters or my damage dealer. Of course, I can have Lita defend to move her backward, but then that's a turn spent not attacking, and I get a turn closer to losing my damage or defense buffs, and in the meantime Norn is burning through her MP at an alarming rate because she's using Magical Shield like half the time so Klein has to stop and refill her MP every now and then and what I'm saying is that this fight sucks.

One strategy I've heard is to synth a bunch of Veola's Bomb Armor and use it in this fight. You take damage every turn (10 I think) but your characters get a huge Fire Resist bonus so it's like having Norn's Magical Shield applied all the time. I believe this would get further amplified by Lita's Murder Mode bonuses as well, were she in that state. Sadly, it did not occur to me to try this until after the fight, but I might try it again to see if this makes things go a little better.

So anyway I couldn't buff AND heal Lita in time so she died.

I think I might have said this before, but Arlin's Double skill is not only powerful, it also seems to have a really high chance of Skill Breaking, which is a large part of why I would usually open the fight with him. Getting to override the occasional Flickering Flame is immensely helpful in this battle.

I seem to recall Jump Kick being good for interruption too, but it never worked for me here. Perhaps I was unlucky, or maybe I'm just misremembering.

I swapped out Norn for Delsus because at this point I basically had no idea what to do and I figured I'd try and keep Norn out of the fight a bit while Klein did damage control. Then Klein died.

Then I brought Norn back. Then Norn died.

...But apparently I managed to do well enough that once things started going to shit I was able to win a damage race. I am so glad that's over with.

Delsus also nabbed an ability that...well, I don't know if it's properly one of those “half of a double type attack” moves like Lita's normal attack, but the general gist is that using this makes Delsus' next turn come up sooner. I think it's about as powerful as his normal attack and 1 MP is a pittance even for him, so it's pretty neat.