Part 17: Old Trade Sector

Update 17 - Old Trade Sector

Hello again. Last time we finally made it out of the Industrial Sector and entered a new habitable area.

Music: MidSector Borough



Welcome to MidSector Mall. This run-down shopping area isn’t especially big, but it provides some welcome relief for us.



There’s a save point by the entrance, the first one we’ve encountered since leaving Storage.





Leo has set up shop here, and has begun selling the lovely Mega Aid Kits that restore 100 HP to the entire party.







We can also find Jaju hiding in this extremely easy to miss alleyway…





…as well as the fairy we released from BioCorp. She lets you access the Fairy Colony, and gives you some more Fairy Drops if you managed to lose them.



Rounding out the vendor trio is Arma. This marks the first time all three have been together since BioCorp.



Arma has a few nice upgrades to buy, including the vital Pyromania+5 for Nina.

Aside from that though that’s pretty much it for MidSector Mall. It’s not a very big place, but the NPCs have some interesting things to say.



: It’s a black market. Government rations…just aren’t enough, you see.

Even the residents who are marginally well off sometimes have to resort to crime to make ends meet.



:…of the MidSector living area. I guess we’re next…

Being underground doesn’t make Sheldar immune to natural disasters. Earthquakes and flooding pile additional dangers on top of the pollution and corruption already running rampant inside.





:…to be eaten… Did you know that?

Still better than the oversized maggots LowSector denizens have to chow down on.









The Rangers’ gassing of LowSector has been blamed on Trinity, proving that the Regents still have a firm grip on the flow of information.





: If you just came to shop, go back the way you came.







Once we’re done talking to everyone it’s time to move on to MidSector Borough.





As we were told, it’s a collapsed, flooded mess. There’s nothing to do but head on into…



Music: Old Trade Sector



…the Old Trade Sector. No, your eyes are not deceiving you. The very first thing we see on setting foot inside is a closed blast shutter.



The reason for this becomes clear as soon as you open it up. Old Trade Sector is a decaying ruin infested with the undead.



Zombies are by far the most common enemy we’ll be encountering in this area. They’re shambling horrors with lots of HP but fairly poor defence and movement range.





They carry axes that deal moderate damage, and can infect party members with the AP-sapping Virus status effect.



On the other hand they’re hilariously weak to fire and rarely last more than a couple of turns with Nina’s new Pyromancy+5.





The trouble is that they don’t stay dead. If you don’t follow the correct procedure any Zombie you kill will simply reappear on the field immediately after the battle ends.



If you want to stop the Zombies rising from their graves, you’re going to have to seek out and exterminate these little green guys instead.



These little ghosts, or Brokenhearts, are the source of our troubles. Each one is linked to a particular Zombie, and as long as they’re alive the latter will keep on reviving. Kill the Brokenheart and the Zombies will die immediately and never come back, but there’s a catch to this too.





Brokenhearts have a tiny amount of HP, but also an insane dodge rating that ensures they’ll evade most physical attack thrown their way. They also have sky high magic resistance so Nina can’t cheese them.







One way to make things easier is to use Ryu’s Third Eye skill to guarantee that his next attack will hit. It’s a LV. 1 Skill so it’s cheap to use, and it can’t be comboed so you won’t accidentally waste it.





After that two Deathbringers are enough to take them out. Now the Zombies they were linked with won’t respawn anymore.

With that said, the regeneration aspect does let me show off some of the new skills we’ve picked up.







Here’s Ryu’s Crimson Raid. The HP recovery isn’t exactly stellar, but Ryu doesn’t have a lot of options for Lv. 2 Skills at the moment.





Here’s Spiritcharge. Like Third Eye, it can’t be comboed.







With the influx of language skills Lin has a couple more special combos to show off too. Normally her ‘C’mere’ skill only pulls one enemy towards her, but if you use ‘Hey, Hey!’ first it’ll suck in every enemy in her line of sight.







That’s not all. If you use ‘Greetings!’ and follow it up with ‘C’mere’, there’s a chance you’ll suck up any items the enemy is carrying. It’s basically a Steal skill from other jRPG titles.



Anyway, let’s get back to business. The entrance to this area is full of both item crates and Zombies. Unfortunately the relevant Brokenhearts are hidden away in another part of the level, so we’re going to have to go looking for them.







Ducking right through the hole in the wall leads to a run down store of some kind. One of the Brokenhearts is in here, with three more at the end of the hall behind the door. Killing them will get rid of all the Zombies in the entrance.







Doing this lets us access another derelict shop.



Unfortunately for us, its proprietor doesn’t appreciate our intrusion.



Worm-Men are another common enemy in this area. They aren’t undead, so they won’t resurrect, but they do have a powerful area of effect attack so it’s best to kill them quickly.





In the storage room behind the counter we find a new type of crate - the red crate. Red crates are superior to gold crates and give out nicer rewards.



It’s at this point that real life decides to kick me in the nuts and I wind up losing some of my footage. Not much, but enough that I need to explain that this room is beyond the corridor where the trio of Brokenhearts were, and that there used to be two Bandits hanging from the ceiling.









The next room is a fairly big mall infested with Worm-Men, Rustphages and Zombies. It also contains a Treasure Chest, so we’re going to have to kill them all.



This isn’t too difficult, but again, the Brokenhearts hosting the Zombies are hidden away in a neighbouring room.



It’s all worth it in the end though since our reward for doing so is another page in our inventory.











Past the mall is a winding network of narrow tunnels. There are the usual crew of Worm-Men, Zombies and Rust/Petrophages, but there’s also a new enemy we need to be wary of.





These Rafflesia reskins are Trilizards. Don’t let their similar appearances fool you, however. Trilizards are very different beasts.



While Rafflesias could absorb magic to strengthen themselves, Trilizards switch up their elemental affinities every turn. This changes both their weakness and the attacks they use.





They only have access to the first tier of elemental spells, but can attack up to three times per turn and gain combo bonuses for doing so, meaning they can easily deal over 100 damage to one or even multiple characters.



Thankfully working out a Trilizards current weakness is pretty trivial. If it uses Flare, it’s weak to ice. If it uses Frost, it’s weak to lightning. If it uses Jolt, it’s weak to fire. Just have Nina hit them with the appropriate element and they’ll go down pretty quickly.



One good thing about Trilizards is that their potential steals changes depending on their current element. If it’s ice, they drop Iceblast. If it’s lightning, they drop Lightning. Fire, and they drop Fireblast. Useful if you missed getting them in the past, and of course Iceblast is an entirely new skill for us.



You can also find the occasional Kanaphage roaming the halls. Same rules apply - kill them quickly to earn more zenny.





There are two exits to this part of the Old Trade Sector, one in the east and one in the west.









The western exit leads to three Brokenhearts hanging out by themselves and gives us access to the large shutter we need to go through in order to progress.





The eastern exit leads to a sealed off room in the same area with a Treasure Chest and a large group of Worm-Men and Petrophages. If we had come here first it would also have included the three Zombies belonging to the Brokenhearts by the western exit.





Killing everything and opening the chest gives us Circle Stage, a Lv. 3 Skill for Ryu that hits everything in a 360 degree radius.





Returning to the western area and going through the door triggers a cutscene.

Music: Trinity Pit









Lin seems glad to be back, but Nina appears to be lagging behind























: I’m impressed. Thanks.



: I’ll stay with her, Ryu. Have a look around.



The cutscene ends and we regain control. Trinity HQ is an important area, with a number of cutscenes and a non-vital but very rewarding sidequest, but I think we’ll save those for next time.

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Bonus Art: Vendors