Part 46: NG+ Update 18: A Friendly Wager

NG+ Update 18: A Friendly Wager

Music: TopSector Borough







There wasn’t much to do in TopSector the first time we came through, and there’s even less now. The only thing left to do is to stock up on items and head up into Power One.

Music: Power One



Since we’re going through this area again I have to praise the music once more. Hitoshi Sakimoto did a fantastic job with this game.





That’s a good thing too since none of the enemies in Power One present much of a challenge. The deadly Karons can all be taken out in one shot with Kyrie, and while the Crushedhearts are not undead and therefore immune it’s trivially easy to freeze them and smash them to pieces before they can blow themselves up.

That being the case I’ll be taking this opportunity to show off some of Lin’s new combos and how ‘Kidding!’ fits into them.







The first, ‘C’mere’ followed by ‘Kidding!’, pulls an enemy in before hitting them back for enormous amounts of knockback. Even weighty enemies like this Mama Nugget go flying back a hefty distance.





The second, ‘Stay Here’ and ‘Kidding!’, lowers an enemy’s movement range and then knocks them back. The knockback effect isn’t as strong as the previous combo, but the movement debuff might be more helpful against enemies whose movement ranges are lower to begin with.





Using ‘Outta My Way’ and then ‘Kidding!’ has the opposite effect to the first combo in that it massively pulls the enemy towards Lin. It also affects an entire group rather than a single enemy, making it especially useful for pulling in enemies that come in swarms like Crushedhearts and Buzz Militants.





But all of the above combos are window dressing compared to the final one, which involves using ‘Go On’ and then ‘Kidding!’ to inflict instant death on a single enemy.



Like the Death spell it doesn’t always work, but even if it fails it still deals a small amount of damage and doesn’t interrupt your attack chain.







Power One is definitely one of my favourite areas. It’s challenging on your first time through, has some interesting scenery and a great theme playing in the background.







As before, the journey ends at the roof.





There’s a brief conversation about how the party are nearing the end of their journey while the teleporter warms up.







In the process Lin proudly displays her tsundere credentials.



Music: A Moment’s Joy





Deamoned beams down and challenges the party to a duel to the death, triggering the first Regent battle.





Like Rebuilt Bosch, Deamoned and the other Regents are always tough regardless of how many times you’ve finished the game.







Eventually however Ryu and company manage to overwhelm his defences and give him the warrior’s death that Elyon denied him. On this playthrough it also triggers an SOL Scene.





















:…about your vision.



: Why?



:…the power to open the world?







: It was a mistake. He shouldn’t have linked with a Dragon.



: If that’s so, Hortensia…











This scene explains Yezuit’s death quote, in which he claims to have won a bet he and Hortensia made in the past. Yezuit’s views on D-Ratios are oddly progressive for someone in such a high position, and could suggest that he himself might have a lower D-Ratio compared to his fellow Regents.