Part 116: The Eternal Battle

Entry 107: The Eternal Battle

This is the last entry dealing with Eternians. Most of them, at least.



We thoroughly know these guys by now.

I won't have him barking at me later. He wants you to lead, so you're the leader.

B-b-but that's mad! If you're high up enough to call the g-grand marshal "Braev," you should be the one in charge!

I prefer to hang b-b-back in the shadows. And why is nobody else t-t-tt... TALKING here!?

Ugh, leave me out of this.

I rather like this arrangement. It'll give us some playtime alone, eh, Mephilia?

...And its not as though their characters are particularly deep, either.



But just how many Eternians have we dealt with? Let's count numbers.

Two jiggly sisters at once!? Ooh, count me in!

Aaah! Help!

I'm m-mm-more the lone wolf type! How am I supposed to fight with, let alone lead you lot!?

There are 23 Eternians with asterisks. Four each in Caldisla (Sky Knights), Harena (Khamer & Profiteur Merchantry), and Florem (Bloodrose Legion); five in Eisenberg (Black Blades); six in Eternia itself (Council of Six, including Yulyana).



"Don't."

The only problem would be if we get carried away and used up all our MP!

You'd think this was a hint on how to defeat these guys, but remember, Qada's abilities don't even use MP.



Plus, like all bosses, they have 9999 MP so hah ha ha, not an option.



23 Eternians repeatedly fought over the course of five worlds. Some of them, like Khint, more than once per world.

...My fire, er...fira will... No, make that, my--

Oh, stop your prattling and let's get on with it!

Ho ha ha ha ha! To battle!

...What a waste of my talents.

But of all the Eternian combos we've fought, this one is arguably the toughest.



Believe it or not, these four work well together, and getting caught unaware can easily insta-kill the party in a firestorm.



To start, Qada routinely debuffs the party's fire resist. This debuff overwrites all elemental resistances, including those from equipment and Spiritmasters, so Enigma or other elemental protections need to be reapplied if there's any chance the party will take an attack.



Ominas has upgraded to firaga, and Mephilia's switched to using the fire dragon-train summon.



Yulyana uses black and white magic to supplement his conjurer buffs, backing up the firepower of the others and keeping the party from using reflect as a defense. Altogether, if you get caught without protection of some sort...



...your team will die. Solutions?

Being able to reapply fire protection is a must. Qada's debuff is key to the whole strategy, so taking him down first makes the battle significantly easier. So long as Qada is active, ensure the party has another form of anti-one-shot defense, such as Reraise or Stillness.



Having a character who acts first is a huge benefit to keeping the flow of battle in your favor, but keep in mind turn order has a 25 percent margin of error based on agility, so if you want to guarantee a character will go first, they need to have a substantially higher agility stat.

Other critical health lines:

You mean little rascals. It's not nice to bully old folk.

Careful now, you are all using far too much MP.

I still haven't p-pulled my best spells out of my hat...

Once you make a team overpowered enough, you can use virtually the same strategy for every single boss in the game. Even against a fight like this, all I did was play slightly more defensive than usual, reapplying Stillness after my fast attacker acted but before Qada and co. could set the party on fire.

KO exchanges, starting with Ominas and Qada:



Alright. If you're done here, clear the way.

Qada and Mephilia:

Rrgh! Did I use the wrong salve?

Ugh, gross! Out of my way if you're done!

Yulyana and Mephilia:

Ho ho! I'm getting careless in my old age.

Sage, please, fall back!

Mephilia and Yulyana:

Eeeeeeeeek! Einheria...!



There's never just one solution that works for these battles. The jobs aren't equally useful, but there are several good job combos you can use in endgame battles. There's also enough leeway that if you really love an underpowered job like, say, black mage, you can fit them into an endgame team without too much consequence. In the end, what matters is playing in a way that makes you happy, and the game does a decent job of allowing for that.

Final KOs:

Gah! Where'd everyone go!? This is...insubordination...

......I know my...sister would be proud.



Battle four is done. Of the 23 Eternians, we've now fought 15 on our way up Central Command.



In the first world alone (Intro - Chapter 4), we fought 20 battles with the Eternians and fought different instances of the Eternians 26 times. Which is a lot, but they were the main plot enemies at that point.



Even back then, almost every single Eternian battle was optional. In the first world, you're only required to fight the Sky Knights, Victor/Victoria (twice), Braev, and Alternis. The Merchantry, Bloodrose Legion, Black Blades and vampire-man are optional.

Not at all. Our course of action is already determined.

Obliterate the enemy's hopes of victory in a merciless hail of status ailment attacks?

Send man and woman alike fleeing from all manner of malicious magical molestations?

Use my dark rituals to cull their lives before they've the chance to fret over their health?

Make that vestal and her minions taste rapture brimming with despair?

After the first world, every Eternian fight is optional except fighting Alternis a second time at the end of Chapter 5.



Not at all, there are plenty more where these came from!

I had prided myself on being rather twisted, but you three are warped beyond measure.

No doubt this pretense at strategy is Braev's little revenge upon me for never listening... Heh heh, then so be it. Challenge accepted, templar.

If someone just burned through the game's main storyline and ignored all side content, their only knowledge of most of the Eternians would be a few stray cutscenes. They'd never even see Jackal or DeRosa.



Which brings up a question: is getting to know these characters worth the time and effort the player spends pursuing their side quests?

Now, join me. Let us torment the enemy with all our might.

...In moderation, of course.

Most of them have nothing to do with the main plot, but considering how much they fill out the backend of the game's content, should they still be considered mere side characters?



Without the Eternian side stories, you're left with a bunch've scenes in the first few chapters that go nowhere, then doing the four crystals -> holy pillar -> four crystals thing over and over. That's it.

It'd be a story that barely counts as a complete game, let alone a decent-lengthed RPG, with the majority of battles being the exact same four bosses, unchanged from chapter to chapter.



On top of that, without fighting optional Eternians, your gameplay options are reduced to a mere nine jobs: Freelancer, White Mage, Monk, Black Mage, Knight, Spiritmaster, Arcanist, Templar, and Dark Knight.

We will annihilate you in a hail of crippling ailments!

Speaking of jobs, after that last battle, a player might worry about what the game's got in store next.



If you don't have Spiritmaster or Salve-Maker leveled, this next battle can be a nightmare.



But if you do have some sort of protection against sleep, fear, poison, charm, doom, paralyze...



You're fine. Because ailments are all these guys do, even DeRosso.



Without their normal damage attacks, these guys actually end up easier than they were in other fights.

I suppose the eldest ought to pick up a bit more slack.

I'm far from sated... If you know what I mean.

I won't be bested by the likes of the vestal!

KO exchanges, starting with DeRosa and Victoria:



I agree! Now move your miserable carcass out of my way!

DeRosso and Victoria:

Hmm, a most spectacular failure...

Retreat! I'll handle matters from here.

Victoria and Khint:

This is no fun at all...

Stand back and let the grown-ups handle this!

Khint and DeRosa:

So, it ends here...



And a couple of the final KOs:

I fought to my fullest. I have no regrets.



Team 5 is out of the way, bringing us to four Eternians left to fight.



Led by Braev himself, of course.



In chapter 5 (world 2), we fought 19 battles against 24 iterations of the Eternians.

I understand. I shall leave the offense to Your Lordship and the beast woman.

Yes, Artemia beast! Beast crush enemy! Rawr!

My Lord Templar, 'tis an honor to be chosen to join in this final stand. Your visionary--

In chapter 6 (world 3), we fought 17 battles against 25 iterations of the Eternians.



In chapter 7 (world 4), we fought 10 battles against 26 iterations of the Eternians.

Four! Here now... Exhausted, but courage full!

As well they ought be. Nay, must be!

Although the number of Eternians fought went up, the battle count went down because we started fighting them in clusters rather than one at a time.



Which brings us to motivations. In worlds one and two, the goal of the Eternians was to stop the vestal from awakening the crystals at any cost. The intra-personal relationships of the Eternians was kept to a bare minimum.

We shall be the crucible to fire their steel. Give them the training ordeal of a lifetime!

In world three, Braev originally intended to work with the vestal, but the Eternians each became caught up in their own personal ideals/schemes/personal failures.



In world four, Braev and the Eternians were downright jolly, battling the party over silly matters. Braev trusted the vestal to do the right thing and cheered the party along.

...Sure enough, here's Father at the end of the line...

The rest of his band seems like no easy task, either.

Now, world five:



Every battle has been in service of the Ultimate Training Session for the vestal and her party.

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but we'd best be careful here!

But enough talk. Now is the time to brave the storm!

The Tiz of this world died when the Great Chasm formed according to the graveyard in Caldisla, and there's been no sign of Edea or Agnès. How does Braev know about the party's backgrounds? How is Tiz a hero if the Sky Knights were already leaving Caldisla as we arrived? Is this Braev aware of events in other worlds, or are we to assume the party's done a ton of heroic things in this world behind the scenes?



Let's take a breather from that mess to focus on gameplay.

This team has a traditional RPG setup of tank (Braev), healer (Victor), physical DPS (Artemia), and magical DPS (Khamer).



Braev's rampart and Victor's heals make it the most defensive of the bunch, but it's nothing a semi-decent party's damage can't outpace.



Moderation is a new ability for Victor, potentially lowering the party's BP, but its effects are minimal if you have any way of manipulating BP.



Focus down one opponent at a time to be more efficient vs. rampart and do the occasional heal if needed. If you got through Ominas's team, you'll be fine here.

Rawr rawr!

I am Time Mage Khamer, king! Know your place!

This will not do. I can afford no further blunders.

Braev and Victor:



Lord Marshal, be prudent. You must retreat.

Viktor and Khamer:

Ngh! The rest is in your hands, Lord Khamer.

In my hands!? I shall do my best, my good doctor!

Khamer and Artemia:

I've...failed to meet...the grand marshal's...expectations...

... Loser, run. In Artemia's way.

Artemia and Braev:

Ow!



Yeah, this is definitely a healthy and okay way for Artemia to be treated by all of her superiors and parental figures.

Solo KOs:

I've...failed to meet...the grand marshal's...expectations...

So, it's come to this. ...Well done!







So, why did Braev pull out all his troops from foreign occupation? Why did he halt all his Anticrystalist planning, virtually all the duchy, to accomodate the party?

Use that same steadfast determination to fulfill the hope that lies deep in your heart!

What was all this training for?



The final boss.

We will remain here. Should your heart waver, return to us at any time.

...I thank you.

We'll be back, Father!

I'll watch out for Edea. And this rascal here, he'll--

I'll protect Agnès!

If only the Braev of world 1 had been so well-informed about Airy and the vestal's intentions.



But we aren't done here yet.



We can talk to Braev again for something really special:

Is there something more I can do for you, Lady Vestal?



Of course, if you're sane, you can turn him down.

Very well, then. The future of Luxendarc is in your hands.

But instead, I'm doing this LP. So:



Asking to battle again means repeating the six Central Command battles.

What, again? Zis is abuse!

Back for another lesson, are you? I've a few things left to teach!

I do love a good fight!

Insolence!

Vestal, Edea, you're as bloodthirsty as I.

We'll not hold back, Lady Vestal. Now, my sentinels, take up your positions!

This time, however, there are no breaks between the fights. This is when abilities like the Conjurer MP regen come in handy, allowing a team to fight infinitely if needed.



The battles themselves are exact repeats of what we've already seen, so I'm cutting those out.

After the Brave Points Galore team is beaten:



Prior to this no-breaks version of the gauntlet, Chapter 8 consisted of 11 battles against 42 Eternian iterations.

What? Wait, what!? No break?

There is oft no rest for the weary in battle.

Is this part of that "no holding back" that was mentioned earlier?

Fight!

Each run through this gauntlet consists of six battles against 23 Eternians.



Defeat the Iron Wall:



Add up the total tally of what we've fought across all worlds, including this final run through the gauntlet and...

Ha ha ha, must be your lucky day, Barras.

I must say, I'm impressed you passed the swordmaster!

Prepare to fight, you bilge rats! Gah ha hah!

Here's your encore performance!

This LP has a grand total of fighting 23 Eternians in 83 battles.



With the Powerhouses downed:



In those 83 Eternian battles, we encountered 166 iterations of the 23 asterisk Eternians.

...We know! No need to gloat, you little weasel!

(...He really is.)

Ho ho ho.

No argument here.

You insolent little--! And that goes f-f-for the rest of you, too!

Mm, it's sweet of you to give them this time to recover...

S-silence! I'll show you all! My f-ff...my f--

Forward! To battle!

All but eight of those 83 battles were optional.



Overcome Mega Magic:



So if you don't feel like battling the Eternians, good news: you can skip almost all of them!

A pity your struggles have led you to us.

But we wouldn't be us if we let pity sway us.

If anything, kicking them while they're down is our forte.

But all this talk is a bore. It's time for violence!

Just keep in mind that, all said and done, they make up a huge amount of the game's content.



After taking a break with Ailment Hell:



And if you do find yourself skipping that much of the game due to finding it boring...

Yes, but for them to truly make it this far...

It is but a taste of the bitter task that lies ahead for their fellowship of four.

May this prepare you for the darkness ahead, Lady Vestal!

What does that say about the game overall? Does the main story, involving repeatedly fighting the four demon bosses and awakening the crystals, stand up well enough on its own?



Once Braev's final battle is complete, we get our reward!



It's a shortened version of the same cutscene we got the first time the gauntlet was defeated.



But then you can choose to redo the fights if you want! Again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and


Next: Suddenly, awakening the crystals doesn't seem like such a bad idea.

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Event Viewer
Sub-Scenario:
Mega Magic
Showdown: Mega Magic
Welcome to Ailment Hell
Showdown: Ailment Hell
Showdown: The Last Sentinels
Onward, Warriors of Light!
Hospitality, Eternian Style
The Iron Wall to Battle!
The Powerhouses to Battle!
Mega Magic to Battle!
Ailment Hell to Battle!
The Last Sentinels to Battle!
Save the World!