Part 22: I've been battered, but I never bruise. It's not so bad (Dungeon)

Update IX (Dungeon): I’ve been battered, but I never bruise. It’s not so bad (Dungeon)
Song Title Reference: Ordinary Day by Great Big Sea


Note: I intended to do another Boss Fight video for this dungeon, but I found out while typing the update that the audio didn't record for some reason. I'll put one together for the next Labyrinth. The battles aren't particularly interesting, but I do want to show off each batch of Star Child Teams at least once.


We did our catching up with the new Star Maiden, Alfie, but we’re not going to follow that up with another batch of bonding updates. This update will mark our third Star Offering and we’ve already burned through 2 out of 5 sets of bonding events. The story is also moving at a suspiciously fast pace, so I’m starting to think that this game is incredibly front loaded with its content. Wouldn’t be surprised if Star Offerings 5-11 end up zipping by without anything of note happening.

With that said, we do still have something to look at when it comes to the Star Maidens. Alfie’s introduction triggered another Focus Maiden Vote and the thread has made some notable changes.

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Alfie managed to just barely pry away first place from Arie (by a single vote), which doesn’t come as much of a shock considering the generally positive reception she got from the thread. That’s not to say that Arie’s popularity has waned at all. Both Alfie and Arie were the only Maidens to break 30 votes (39 and 38 respectively).

The rest of the Top 6 all had over 20 votes each and were only separated by 1 or 2 votes each. Femiruna managed to secure the third place spot, no doubt spurred on by her swift and determined efforts to improve her spoiled behaviour. Ruka gained a little ground and moved up two spots from the last poll. Farun and Mirei also stayed in the Top 6, although they both slipped in support. Farun dropped from a tie for third to coming in fifth. Mirei definitely did something wrong in her events, because she dropped from second to sixth.

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The biggest changes happened in the Bottom 7. Mahiru slipped two spots out of the Top 6 after having previously scored fifth place. I guess the novelty of her personality-flip weirdness has run its course. Yuzuha maintained the same position she had last time, so there’s nothing to comment on there. Reone… oh, poor poor Reone. Reone had been tied for third place and now finds herself all the way down in ninth. Not even a solid ninth, a tie for ninth. Her creepy brother complex absolutely destroyed her support, even as the thread learned that she used to be a badass underground pit fighter or something. Joining Reone in ninth, we’ve got Sue. Sue’s fall from grace really surprised me, because she only missed out on Focus Status in the last poll due to RNG. Personally, I thought for sure that the heartwarming and emotional events she’s been having would have easily propelled her to Top 6, but I guess the thread thought they were just sappy garbage.

Collette, Lillith/Lillie, and Tarua rounded out the bottom. No surprises there.



Moving on from that (since it won’t be relevant for a while), we’ve also got new Star Children to introduce. Our previous teams did great work, but they are physically incapable of keeping up with the enemies due to their low level caps.



First up is Team A(wful) 2.0, which consists of Alicia the Magic Knight (Mother: Mirei), Roy the Paladin (Mother: Reone), Olivia the Berserker (Mother: Lillith/Lillie), and Amelia the Sage (Mother: Alfie).

What you see with Team A(wful) is basically what you’re going to get with the other two teams. There’s a Magic Knight and a Sage on all three teams, so the stat spread and skill availability will be very similar. That said, each team does still have their own personal strengths.

Team A(wful) is very heavy on physical defence and can also dish out the damage (both physical and magical). Speed and Magic Defence are fairly lacking, while their luck is downright horrid.



Team A(wful) has a standard assortment of skills, largely due to the presence of Alicia and Amelia. In terms of skills that are unique to Team A(wful) 2.0, we’ve got Rite of Auras which deals damage and also casts a general defence boost at the same time. Team A(wful) also has Cyclone, which is a Wind element spell that will come in handy for the upcoming Labyrinth. Outside of some unique attack skills which don’t especially stand out, they also have Paladin Wall, which is a 30% Defence boost.



Team Psycho Knight was actually built by Commander Keene. There were only two suggestions from the thread for Team C. Commander Keene had suggested Team Give Psycho Some Goddamn Magic, but RNG went with the other suggestion. However, I thought Commander Keene’s idea was better than what I had in mind at the time, so I decided to repurpose it for Team B.

We’ve got Magnus the Sage (Mother: Arie), Luna the Blacksmith (Mother: Mirei), Riko the Ranger (Mother: Farun), and Natasha the Magic Knight (Mother: Femiruna).

Commander Keene’s team building was on point, as Team B is the powerhouse of the current batch of Star Children. They have a similar stat spread to Team A(wful) 2.0, but without the loss of Speed. They have the lowest HP of the teams, but their MP beats out Team A(wful).



That MP is helpful, because Team Psycho Knight (as built by Commander Keene) is the only team with Shine (Light-based magic attack). Shine is incredibly useful against the Micros enemies (those floating eyeball monsters) and Team PK’s great magic attack makes it even better. They can reliably one-shot Micros enemies by themselves, which is a big help since those things had been the bane of our last group.

Anyway, I should note that despite me using the team that Commander Keene put together, Team B is still Team Psycho Knight. That means I’m still beholden to the rule that I slot in any other players’ Star Children which randomly appear at the Inn. This team is the powerhouse right now, but that could quickly and horribly change at any moment of the RNG’s choosing.

Also, you may have noticed that both Riko the Ranger and Roy the Paladin have Star Icons in their character portraits (they will also have stars underneath their character models in the dungeon). This signifies that they are "Genius" Star Children. Genius Star Children are rare occurrences during Classmating. You'll know right away if you got one because the Matryoshka will have stars floating up from it during the "birth" cutscene. Genius Star Children automatically have a level cap of 99, regardless of what your bond level is with the Mother Maiden. Roy was actually born just before the previous Labyrinth. I pulled him off the bench when Paladin was chosen for Team A(wful). It's nice to be able to keep one of your favourite Star Children with you all the way to the end of the game, but it's not particularly helpful for the purposes of this LP. Level Cap or not, Roy and Riko will be set free once the next Team Vote comes around.



Team C will be known as Team Canada 2.0 this time. User Balache404 submitted an updated version of the team they suggested during the first vote which didn’t get chosen. RNG was kinder to us Canadians this time around.

Team Canada 2.0 is made up of Alberta the Lancer (Mother: Reone), Nunavut the Sage (Mother: Amelia), PrEdward the Magic Knight (Mother: Farun), and Manitoba the Archer (Mother: Arie). Not sure why Balache went with an Archer instead of a Hunter, but whatever.

Not much to say about them in terms of stats, as they are the same as the other teams. They do have the best TEC stat though, so they will probably be a bit more capable of scoring criticals.



Team Canada 2.0 is the only team with an attack skill that greatly boosts the Chain Drive gauge (Temple Chain), so that will come in handy during certain boss fights as well as against Sagitta enemies. They also have a skill called Ranged Lance which gives them Penetration, which bypasses enemy defence. In terms of spells, Team Canada 2.0 has the widest variety. They have Fire, Earth, and Ice spells, including a specialty ice attack called Icicle Fang which has a high chance of inflicting Seal. Their stats might be a little lacking compared to the other teams, but they definitely have the most diverse move pool.

Users Ashsaber and Commander Keene commented on the suggestion of Team Give Psycho Some Goddamn Magic by suggesting that my constant whining about the lack of magic power in the thread teams would come back to bite me, perhaps when the thread created nothing but magic casting teams and I found myself entering a dungeon containing high magic defence enemies where I would need physical teams.

Didn’t count on the thread giving me the best of both, did ya?!

Now for the inevitable moment where I enter a dungeon with incredibly fast enemies that are able to run circles around these teams. It won’t happen this time, but I’m sure it’ll happen eventually. Karma is funny like that.



Anyway, after running around for an hour or two and getting the new kids leveled up to what you see above, we turn our attention back to the story. It’s currently Summer and we’ve already been to the Spring and Winter Labyrinths, so that means we’ll have to tackle Autumn.



The Autumn Labyrinth is very… desert looking. I kind of thought the dusty/ruins look would be more of a summer kind of thing, but okay.

We’re going to skip right past Floors 1-5 because there is nothing of interest there.



Well, nothing of interest outside of Team PK wiping the floor with Micros with Shine. For comparison, Itsuki and the other teams can only hit them for about 2000-3000 damage.



There is also a new enemy type starting on Floor 3-4, but there’s not really anything to say about them. They might be a bigger threat once we’ve reached Floors 10-15, but at the moment they don’t even approach the level of nuisance. Cool design though.



That thing really needs to go on a diet…

He’s not fat, Mana. He’s just got very broad shoulders. Shoulders that he plans on using to ram us to death.

Doesn’t seem like he can move very well. We could probably dodge around him pretty easily.

But you have to defeat it to move forward. Itsuki! Go show it what a proper diet can accomplish!



You know the deal. Monoceros is the type of enemy that we’ll be seeing a lot of from this point forward (at least in the Autumn Labyrinth). Like the bear enemies, they have no magic offence at all. They like to ram you and that’s really it. Thankfully, I now have some magic offence at my disposal, so Monoceros winds up dead before it can even get a turn.



Team A(wful) shows us something that sets them apart from the other teams. Thanks to Roy and Amelia, Team A(wful) has Wind-element attacks. A lot of enemies in the Autumn Labyrinth are Earth-element, so Team A(wful) is going to be putting in work here.

After killing Monoceros, Mana informs us that the Twilight Labyrinth is up ahead, then yanks us out of the dungeon and back to the world map. Nothing else happens, so I turn right around and head back in.

All the same enemies are present for the next few floors. That new skeleton man enemy is here and still boring, Bootes and their various palette swaps, and generic versions of Monoceros. There’s also a fire element version of the Fornax enemies (floating skulls with spine tails), but Team Canada 2.0 handles them without breaking a sweat by weaponizing their natural Canadian abilities to shoot ice out of their hands.



Also, a new trap type! Yay! I sure was looking forward to this! Panic Traps start showing up in the Autumn Labyrinth. Thankfully, all three teams have the ability cure status effects, so as long as one of them manages to dodge the trap then we’re golden.

I make sure to carry Maiden’s Slap items for the times when everyone gets hit by it.



Or for the times when the game decides to be a total fucking asshole and stick multiple floor traps right next to each other. Yes, this is the same room as the last screenshot. I rounded the corner from that first trap and ran straight into this one. You can see that Riko’s text box from the previous trap hadn’t even disappeared yet.



Are these similar to what you’d call angels on Sora?

I don’t remember angels being depicted as this… creepy… Wait, now is not the time for this!

I was just trying to relieve some tension for you. But we’re good now! Go, Itsuki!



Aquila is our Floor 10 boss. Just like with Monoceros, this is an Earth enemy, which means Team A(wful) is about to embarrass it.

Aquila is backed up by two Fire-type Fornax (actually called Fergaras). Team Canada 2.0 and Team Psycho Knight will deal with them as they both have Ice attacks. Itsuki just helps out with general damage dealing.

Not much to say about this fight either. Aquila lasts longer than Monoceros did, but that’s only because it has helpers. Team Canada 2.0 actually hits it with Poison early on, so it winds up eating about 2000 HP in poison damage throughout the fight. If it weren’t for the momentary distractions, Aquila would have been dead within the first round.



I was a little worried at first when I saw that all three teams were basically identical and none of them were particularly fast, but goddamn if their overwhelming offence isn’t putting my mind at ease. Don’t really need to worry about things outrunning us when we can kill them in one or two hits.

That said, their Magic Defence is nothing to brag about, so karma has an opening to punish me for my arrogance sometime down the road.



After beating Aquila, Mana once more drags us out of the dungeon. It’s time to introduce another “Seasonal Event”. I’m referring to the events that Mana is told about (like Cherry Blossom Viewing and Christmas), not the pre-established events that Itsuki is forced into (like Star Maiden Camp or the Sports Festival).

Hm… Speaking of the Autumn Labyrinth… I heard from Mahiru that on Sora, there’s a country called Japan…



Yeah, that’s right.

So I wanna ask you… How about we recreate this festival from Sora?

Why would you want to recreate a Japanese festival here in Granvania?

Because it sounds like fun. That’s all.

Man, just how culturally barren is Granvania? Do they have any events of their own?



Itsuki, won’t you help? It’s for the people!

Well, I guess it couldn’t hurt. We can tell Shangri-La about it and see what he says.

I knew I could count on you, Itsuki! We can totally enjoy these festivals in Granvania too. Let’s ask the king to make this Autumn Festival more widespread!

*Going straight to the Palace, because apparently this just cannot wait until the Star Offering is in place*


~Palace Throne Room~

All right. Then let us host this Autumn Festival in our nation. It appears correcting the Star Chaos will take longer than anticipated.



Narcisstes, I trust you will arrange for the people to attend this festival every autumn.

Understood, Your Majesty. Itsuki, do teach me about this festival from your world. If you can tell me which parts are the most exciting, that would be helpful.

It’s mostly about getting together with friends and going around to the different shop stalls.

Let’s discuss this in more detail later.



We are about to move into Autumn (in-game I mean), so I’ll show off the Autumn Festival events during our next break. Spike Chunsoft decided to inject a random shot of effort into the Festival event for some reason or another, so I had to get input from the thread on how to handle showing it off. More on that when the time comes, though. For now, let’s cap that Labyrinth.



Speaking of, we’ll be tackling the Libra Labyrinth this time. Mainly because… uhh… at the time I recorded this we were still going by the previous Focus Maiden order and Mirei had been in second place and Arie’s Labyrinth was already finished…

I didn’t have a justification for this, okay? We were already in the Winter Labyrinth and Autumn isn’t for another 8 months. Also it’s currently Summer in the game so we can’t go to the Summer Labyrinth because the enemies are getting a BS boost to their stats. This is the best I could come up with.



The Libra Labyrinth is very… Mirei. I sort of wish they had taken this a step further and made the doors more futuristic/scientific looking, but what are you gonna do?



Lower-tier Aquila now join the cast of regular enemies. There’s nothing else to talk about on that front just yet. However, I did pick up a new “book” in this section of Labyrinth. I wound up getting two copies of “Book of Hidden”. This brings our total to 6 unique book items out of the 9 I think we need. We’re two-thirds of the way to getting one of the remaining Star Child classes. This is probably the most difficult one, as it relies entirely on RNG. You need all 9 of the books and they only appear randomly in treasure chests within dungeons. Getting multiples of books you already have is also possible (as you can see above), making it even more of a pain in the ass to get the last few that you need.



The rest of the dungeon goes by without anything of interest happening. All the enemies are ones we’ve already seen before or that were introduced earlier in this dungeon. We got Aquila-type enemies, the fire Fornax, those skeleton guys, Bootes, Monoceros-types, you know the deal. We don’t get any fancy new equipment (at least, nothing that outclasses the stuff I picked up from the Spring Dungeon while training the Star Children). Itsuki is using an upgraded version of the sword “Second Out”, which he got almost immediately after the last Labyrinth. It’s fairly boring as far as swords go (the description calls it a great sword).

Other than that, the Star Children teams have picked up a few more levels. Some of them are starting to break into the 40’s, while others have only just barely gotten to the 30’s (Sages seem to level up slower than the other classes. Maybe because they are more advanced).



Whoa… that’s a different design than what I’m used to. Creepy.

We must defeat it and enshrine the Libra Star Offering! Let’s do this! This is Furiae of Libra. It’s a Dark element Impurity God!

Dark? HA! You poor sack of shit, you are about to get blasted.

It’s pretty good with magic attacks, so watch out for those!





Furiae is not going to have a good time in this fight. It has well-rounded stats and if we were still rocking the previous Star Child teams then it would have been a difficult fight. It has 2 Dark Craters as helpers, but they don’t have any healing spells. Not that it matters. They are Dark Element—



And Team Psycho Knight is all about Dark Elemental enemies.



Furiae itself is still dangerous, don’t get me wrong. Dark Element spells still hurt like a bastard since our Star Children teams have the four base elements as their defence and Dark is super effective against those. If this battle was a marathon then it would be a lot more problematic.

But it’s not a marathon. Thanks to our Star Childrens’ insane damage output, this battle is a sprint. Dark Crater A is already dead by the time that Furiae makes its first move. Dark Crater B uses its only turn in the entire fight to defend and then promptly dies when Team Canada 2.0 kicks its shit in.



By the time that Furiae has wasted its next turn trying to move into attack position, both of its helpers are already dead and Itsuki/Team PK are taking the fight straight to the boss. Team Canada 2.0 is the only team to have taken damage by this point, which Team A(wful) rectifies by casting Extra Heal and fully healing the team.



Furiae gets a solid hit in on Itsuki that would have killed him if Furiae was able to immediately follow it up, but it has no such luck. I heal up Itsuki and have the teams use some skills which buff up their defences a little (although this is completely unnecessary). Furiae uses its last turn to cast Curse on Team Canada 2.0. Team Psycho Knight then shaves another 6,000 HP off of its HP with Shine, Team A(wful) brings it down to near death with 3,000 damage of their own, and then Itsuki/Team Canada 2.0 finish the job.



This fight went much better than the last Labyrinth boss. Granted, I lucked out because the Libra Labyrinth wound up being custom made for this new batch of Star Children. They all had the right elemental attacks needed to blitz their way through all types of enemies with little hassle. Then the boss turned out to be of an element that the strongest Star Child team was great against.

I’m sure the good times won’t last, but for now, I’m loving this overwhelming power the thread has gifted me.