The Let's Play Archive

Demon King Chronicle

by Einander

Part 21: "Fairytales don’t tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist."

Chapter 20: "Fairytales don’t tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist."
(Cave Chronicle 3)



Welcome back! "Back" in more than one sense--we're going retro for a little while.




Thankfully, there's no random battle system here. Getting into fights works the same as it ever has.



Nothing in the town right now.



The Orcs are incredibly aggressive and have huge detection radiuses... Or, rather, they seem to have the same size radius as ever, despite the smaller characters and vastly larger scale. They don't hit very hard, but they can use Call Friends to call another, identical Orc. This can be a problem if you have low offense or you've been leaning too heavily on Cutthroat, but it's hard to imagine you'd get here in that case--it's the same problem as Spears in the last area.

Their drop, Meat, gives +2 Attack and +50 HP. It's a good item for falling down holes, if nothing else, and we've got a big hole still coming up.



This size mismatch is so goofy. Unlike the Mirage's tiny chests, you can open these huge ones just fine.






The first chest had an Orc guarding it as well. The first one is a Glass Fragment, second one is a Stamina Up.

(Still haven't used most of my stat-ups)





I Yakkety Sax this one orc all the way to the exit. Not because I have to, but because I can.




This one was also guarded, naturally.



The green orcs are yellow on the map. They hit harder, but their summons only summon regular orcs, thankfully.

There's another Glass Fragment chest behind them.



Ehh, I think the cave will work out! I don't trust holes.




oh god where's Gandalf when you need him

The Balrog is not actually that tough!




Flame does about 20-30 to the party, or it can do a double-hit version that does the same twice to one. All of that low, constant damage makes it very easy to trigger the HP thresholds on Yell and Dragon Slayer, so he goes down without issue.

I use an Energy Restore on Randolf afterwards. Still at 7/20 Stamina/Energy.



For vanquishing the dread foe, I acquire this recipe. It requires you to use up the only Lucky Rabbit and is therefore worthless, even before you get into how disappointing the item produced is.



I think I'll leave these guys alone. They're slow and easy to avoid--no reason not to.

There's another Orc and yellow Orc guarding a chest in the upper-right. I fight them one-by-one. Aeritz masters the Three-Legged Frog while I do; +28 SP, +104 Defense. It's nice.



Did you expect anything else?

Exit to the south.



Both of them leave me alone after a little bit.



Several orcs of both vareties guard the way around.



11 Glass Fragments now.

(When I start saying "this is how many I have," that's when I've run out of things to say about Glass Fragments for the update.)






Once again, there's a hole just south of the cave. But let's ignore that and go through.



Shelob is pretty straightforward. It hits about as hard as the White Whale ZellGaizer.



It also has instant death.

Still, I only have to revive twice. Sitting on 7S/18E Restores.




The Clam is your reward, giving you +70 HP and Slow Attack.





Naturally, the big reward of a Lord of the Rings self-insert fanfiction section is a ring. The Slippery Ring gives +45 Skill, +10 HP, +15 SP and +8 Agility, and it's very definitely the best item for Aeritz to replace the Footfalls with in a boss fight... If not for the Extra Attack + Recover SP when Defending thing, anyway. In light of that, it probably won't see use. Randolf could replace the Varnished Bird Wing with it, but the Varnished Bird Wing has almost a 1/5 chance of evading attacks. Even 30 more Skill isn't worth losing that.






If you have a very good memory, then this might look a little familiar. Remember that hole in The Snow Fields that I showed back in the Bonus update? This is the other end of it.

It has the same music as the optional superboss area. That is worrying.




Will Stones. A lot of Will Stones, at least two to three dozen. Coming down here unlocks the Will Stones Glossary entry, which is creepy as hell. I mean, mental back-up or no, ugh. Harold and Aeritz had strong contitutions if they were willing to use these things.





This is the same fanfare as the one you get for recruiting the faceless shade of Aeritz. Much like our Aeritz, the Long Sword is probably not actually "real." If a strong enough story can warp reality on this island, then a place with this many Will Stones is essentially a nuclear dump site. This area is at the bottom of a deep, dark hole in an incredibly remote corner of The Island, so this may be a more exact analogy than it initially appears.

Carrying around the main product of all that radiation seems like a questionable decision, but we're already carrying around one plague, why not add a second? Camil can heal Story Heart Disease and Story Blindness, so Story Cancer probably isn't much more difficult.




While this weapon based on Sera's (entirely mundane) sword would be incredibly appropriate in Camil's hands, it isn't very good for a pure fighter. Much like the Dagger, it upsets the delicate stat balance a fighter has going on. Camil can afford to lose 11 Agility (Long Sword gives +8 levelled) a bit more easily than 19, and gaining 57 Attack is definitely nice, but 8 Range isn't exactly sweetening the deal.

Still, high Attack and +Agility make it a pretty good Mage weapon... Except for the Extra Attack + Recover SP when Defending thing. So Randolf keeps the Dagger.





(Another localized fix by HenryEx--originally, I believe the English translation says it wants a Magic Bean here, even though it uses Imaginary Seeds.)

This ivy isn't persistent, but if you don't have one already, then there's always a new Imaginary Seed off to the side, waiting for you to plant it...



...which is why the Imaginary Seed itself is special. It only gives +18 SP, but it's the only way to get Pinch Compensation.

You know the idiom, "in a pinch"? It's been adopted in Japanese, where "pinch" is used in the same sense as "crisis." So "Crisis Compensation" is really more of an accurate name.

Pinch Compensation apparently multiplies your damage by (1+(%HP missing)). So if you're very nearly dead, it's about double damage. Powerful! Very useful for that 1000 damage trophy, and it's useful for Inferno or Star Fall Magic set-ups, which go into battle with missing HP anyway.



First, though, I head back to pick this up.



Also, this is an Uruk-Hai. They're Orcs, but stronger. They still summon red Orcs.

Then I head back and head up. If I want to keep an Imaginary Seed, then I can come back for one later.

I redeem my bottles (up to 45 now; I go with a 15/30 split) and head into The Imagination to set up.



Yeah, I think Aeritz can survive that drop now.

(Also hahahaha look at that experience display. It isn't quite designed for numbers this high.)

More importantly... I just about cleared out Cave Chronicle. There's just one chest I missed, and there's the two from the Chimney. If you have no more than three chests missed, then you pass the 260 chest threshold to open a door in His Memory.




The Perfect Hero is Camil's answer to Hero Supplement. Shout 2.0 requires 30% HP instead of the 40% of Randolf's version, but it's a massive increase in stats. It'll get shown off soon enough.

It's also tied to the dumbest, most obscure secret in the game, which I'll also show off. (Unfortunately.)





Eluonto's Sadness is one-of-a-kind. Like the Aegis, you can only make one, despite its relatively simple recipe.




I also pick this up while I'm here.



Worthless.



That is a weird-ass recipe right there.

The Imaginary Seeds requirement means that if you want to make one, you've got to get to the very end of Cave Chronicle, either by jumping down the 400 HP hole or by walking to the very end, and then you've got to get out again without using up the Seeds. That's pretty easy if you bring 4000 gold, though, since you just have to get through the Orc section.

So I try jumping down the hole to Cave Chronicle again.



RNG promptly fucks with me, just for the hell of it.




Then the game gets in on the action. The screen always does the fade-to-black-oh-no-you-died here...



Even if you survive. It even does this before showing the numbers, just to be suspenseful.

Notably, though...



...this route doesn't destroy any of your Restores. I use Energy Restores on Randolf and Camil and a Stamina Restore on all three, then I'm good to go.



Shelob is back. It actually respawns every time you move through this cave.

You can skip Shelob if you're coming from the left, since the hole below the cave teleports you past it, but if you want to keep Imaginary Seeds, then you need to fight.

I use The Perfect Hero on Shelob, because it's funny. The status it gives you is called "Perfect," naturally.



These red enemies here in this forest are Ents, who are bad guys now I guess? Fanfiction is weird.



Oh no! The town! The town that we can't enter or interact with!

I WILL SAVE YOU, TOWN



oh god why



Unfortunately, this is kind of random. If you get drowned in Orcs summoning more Orcs, then you lose. It's like the hole down to here: sometimes, you're just going to die, and there's not too much you can do about it.

(Except coming back here after the superboss, anyway, which is a totally legitimate decision.)

So I come back. (404 damage from the drop this time.) This time, I kit out a little differently.



You may be confused. I've spent all of this time talking about the delicate balance of Agility, Critical and abilities, where Agility is king--it's what determines how often you activate your vital offensive and defensive abilities, after all. Why am I disregarding that now?



Because Camil's still nearly at 90 Agility once she uses Shout, at which point she'll be criticalling nearly two out of three hits and dodging nearly a fourth of the incoming attacks.

The one risk here is that I can't heal Camil until turn two--Randolf and Aeritz are both faster than her before Shout. I'll take that risk... But if she only very nearly dies, then she can use The Perfect Hero and clean house.

Randolf has the Long Sword, replacing the Dagger. He can't heal SP very well as he is, but I'm going to be using Restores with impunity; I got a bit unlucky with Shelob on the way here, but I'm still at 12 Stamina/26 Energy. I can afford to burn them.



It's notable that the red enemy on the town spawns more Orcs as you engage the ones around, and he can make two or three in the game it takes the fight to actually start. This is five. Thankfully, as turn 1 demonstrates, it's not TOO bad... So long as they don't summon too much more than this.


Motherfucker

That's the product of three of three Orcs going after Camil and swinging through her 23% evasion. (The other two summoned.) Admittedly, I didn't heal her when I could have, but that's still atrocious luck.



...yeah, I think this is a good time for this. It'll bring Camil and Randolf to nearly 50% dodge rate. I need that level of bullshit right now.

Aeritz uses an Energy Restore on himself.



Naturally, two Orcs hit Camil just fine. Only one attack gets dodged this round.

I think the game's just being a dick at this point.

Next round goes better. Dragon Slayer's taken out two Orcs at this point; Camil's one turn attacking under Yell went very well, and Dragon Slayer can swing for up to about 600 damage.



Honestly, my strategy going in hinged on Camil not getting screwed over EXACTLY the way she was. So it's better to go for an actual chance of success than to repeatedly fail.

Randolf uses a Stamina Restore, Aeritz heals himself.



Camil survived! And Random paid off for the other two.

The Perfect Hero multiplies HP by 150%, SP by 200%, Attack by 160%, Skill by 150% and Agility by 200%, and gives +15 Critical. It's Shout on steroids, and it's damn impressive in action.

Randolf uses an Energy Restore on Camil, Aeritz uses Healing Magic on himself again.




Beautiful.

Camil takes a beating but survives narrowly, as expected. Randolf uses an Energy Restore on her, Aeritz uses a Stamina Restore on Randolf.



The purpose of the Energy Restores is to keep Camil alive but not TOO high on HP--I've still got a fight after this, and I'd like her to at least Shout early on there. Additionally, she can always use Shout or The Perfect Hero again here to stay buffed before it runs out, and I have more Energy Restores than Stamina Restores.



Whew. Now to run forward and start the fight before he can summon too many more Orcs!



Okay, never mind; he only summons so many from the town. Okay. Something to remember if I fail here.

Sharkey summons orcs. Sometimes he skips his turn instead. Thankfully, the Dagger's huge attack radius makes Camil uniquely predispositioned to deal with that exact problem. She Shouts, the other two use Light Axe and attack the Orc.



The Orc also summons. Dammit.

Camil attacks Sharkey; unfortunately, the two at the bottom were summoned too far away, even with the Dagger's 64 range. Randolf uses Light Axe on him as well, while Aeritz heals Camil.

Another summon, attacks aren't too bad. Sharkey's about down to 2/3 health, and I want him dead before Shout expires.

Another two rounds pass. Camil is not criticalling and she actually managed to only hit once one round. That's bad.



Sharkey is very nearly dead; his health bar is entirely red. I use Lightning and hope, while Camil Shouts again and Aeritz uses Healing Magic.

Healing Magic may not produce huge numbers, but that's actually very useful at times like this--Camil being restored to full health is actually bad here.



Good news: Sharkey is dead. Bad news: Randolf is dead and also HOLY SHIT, look at all those Orcs.



Camil dodges a death blow and gets an opening to use The Perfect Hero. I take it.



...and then Aeritz somehow goes before her, despite her 86 Agility to his 75. Well, there goes the neighborhood.

I really don't like this fight. Between the sheer number of attacks, the lack of competent non-Camil AOE, the random placement of summoned enemies, and the inconsistencies inherent in Extra Attack and critical rates, you're throwing dice way too many times to feel entirely in control of this fight. It's aggravating.

So I go and grind two stars on the Dagger against rats, during which time Randolf masters the Cordelia and gets two stars on the Long Sword.





Stop wasting my goddamn time, game. Please.



OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE

It works on the third try. Thankfully. This is about at the other edge of my bullsht tolerance.

I head back. As I do, I experiment a little.



This time, I don't go in with Shout. I go in with The Perfect Hero.



This time, he doesn't do anything the first round. The fight ends up a total joke.




The Biter is the only source of 3 Hit Combo. It's 2 Hit Combo, but it hits three times instead of two. Yep.

It costs 36 SP per use (12 per hit) and requires 70% HP. It has very low base power (10) but high influence from attack (70%) and the usual Skill modifier (100%). Let's say you kit out to about 400 attack--that's doable, if your goal is just high Attack and high Skill. The base power is going to be about 290, while Inferno will be 360 at that point.

Inferno is not especially good damage against a single target, and neither it nor 3 Hit Combo ignore defense. Additionally, kitting out this way means that your Agility will be poor and you may not have Sporadic Guard. In other words, trying to use 3 Hit Combo is suicidal.

There's really no reason to fight Sharkey outside of bragging rights.

I head back. I forgot the Imaginary Seeds, and that's the main reason I came down here.



The hole to skip the Balrog takes you right to the other side. Shelob's, on the other hand, takes you way over to the corner chest here.



I ransack essentially my entire inventory, including some of the more useless unique items, to buy this.

(If I really need them back, I'll just debug. I just didn't want to grind more at the moment.)



You examine the chimney in your room, and it puts you up here.

I have two Glass Fragments, and I don't think there's another one anywhere. That's because I didn't talk to everyone at every place, but... Still. That sucks.

The other item is a Skill Up.




The Fillet is a drop at the Seashore.



Thanks again to HenryEx for his localization fixes--since Randolf and the book's hero Randolf have the same English name, it doesn't seem to trigger properly normally.

This entry was unlocked by getting Randolf to level 45. It all-but-confirms that Randolf really is Nana's little brother, and also explains the White Dragon.

(I guess the Demon King Chronicle didn't have any illustrations, huh?)




Invisible passage. That's the last chest of the game.

I did some grinding on the Spear Glandelians here to level up an item for Aeritz, then headed back.

I sold all of the items I'd gotten and stopped by His Memory.



I bought all of the crystals except two Energy Up crystals for Camil, because seriously, she has enough already.

Total bounty:
Camil: +4 HP
Randolf: +19 Attack (three crystals), +18 HP (two crystals), Waterboy Resolve skill

The three recipes are Eluonto's Sadness (+50 HP, +28 SP, and Stagger immunity; when used as an item, restores 80% HP and 80% SP and cures all statuses for party), Rabbit Stew (+35 HP, +10 Critical, +8 Agility, +5% evasion; when used, restores 80% HP), and Nine Tails (+10 Attack, +30 Skill, +5 HP, +1 Critical, +4 Agility, +6% evasion, Fast Attack; when used, heals 50% HP and 10% SP and increases Agility by 4).

Eluonto's Sadness is a great panic button; it's always worth making the one you can make. The Nine Tails is a good Fast Attack item, but at the point you get it it's usually better to just cram it into someone's mouth.

Speaking of which...



Total stat-up distribution:
Camil: +30 HP (8 Stamina Up, 1 No Name Choice Wine), +8 Attack (4 Attack Up), +3 Critical (1 Chatty Barber)
Randolf: +12 HP (4 Stamina Up), +4 SP (1 Bluestocking)
Aeritz: +6 HP (1 No Name Choice Wine), +10 SP (3 Energy Up, 1 Bluestocking), +6 Skill (3 Skill Up), +4 Agility (1 Nine Tails)

I save the I Believe I Can Fly! for use just before the boss. Both the No Name Choice Wine and the I Believe I Can Fly! give special (but sadly temporary) statuses that give +Critical.

Next time, the optional superboss.

Annihilation Record:
Annihilation count:36 37
[2014/04/29 ??:??]Defeated at Cave Chronicle by Orc.
[2014/04/29 15:18]Defeated at Cave Chronicle.
[2014/04/29 15:16]Defeated at Cave Chronicle.
[2014/04/27 17:42] Defeated at Cave Chronicle by Orc.
[2014/04/27 17:08]Defeated at Cave Chronicle.
[2014/04/27 14:48] Defeated at Cave Chronicle by Daisy.
[2014/04/27 12:22] Defeated at The Imagination by Catharsis.


(For some reason, it didn't update properly here--it didn't show the death against Sharkey himself. I added it manually.)

Battle Record:
2014/04/29/ 17:36:49
Demon King Chronicle

■Battle results
Playtime:23:18:26
Save count:221
Steps taken:111696
Battle count:1380
Max damage:632
Max damage taken:605
Items:52 Types 130 Items
Turns to defeat Last Boss:53(Best Record53)

■Treasure Chests
The Nest: 8/8
Demon King's Castle: 26/26
The Hamlet: 31/31
The Snow Fields: 20/20
The Dragon Mountain: 6/6
Sands of Remembrance: 26/26
The Tower: 11/11
The Seashore: 12/12
The Mirage: 10/10
Leviathan Depths: 5/5
The Disease: 20/20
The Imagination: 32/32
Cave Chronicle: 46/46
Unmapped area: 10/10

■Camil(45)
HP:239
SP:84
Attack:327
Defense:95
Range:64
Critical:44
Skill:132
Agility:73
・Dagger(3)
・Mask of Determination(3)
・Aegis(3)
・Zara Mantle (3)
・Holy Sword that Cuts the Dark(3)

■Randolf(45)
HP:202
SP:100
Attack:354
Defense:200
Range:8
Critical:14
Skill:181
Agility:79
・Long Sword(3)
・Cordelia(3)
・Delusion Cocoon(3)
・Varnished Bird Wing(3)
・Black Ladybug(3)

■(42)
HP:200
SP:80
Attack:202
Defense:152
Range:15
Critical:26
Skill:75
Agility:81
・Rat Slayer(2)
・Three-Legged Frog(3)
・Parts(3)
・Footfalls of Hope(3)
・Helm(3)


■Top 10 defeats
Rat(301)
Green Mud Man(178)
Conflict(160)
Toothy Piranha(157)
Mermaid(143)
Deformity(98)
Abominable Snow Monkey(97)
Wake-Eater(89)
Monkey(88)
Merman(84)


Glossary:

(Unlocked by reaching the Long Sword)
■Will Stones
Strange parasites that live on
people's backs. They can store
the host's memories, and transfer
these memories to their next host.


(Unlocked when Randolf reaches level 45)
■Randolf
A certain old man beat his mother
to death after she gave birth to him,
and ordered a servant to get rid of the baby.
(The reason he didn't take care of the
baby himself is because he was afraid of it.)
 
The child was taken in by a man
named Flodnar. He was a poor and
homeless man, but since he found
the child, he had no choice but to raise it.
 
Some years later, Flodnar read the
"Demon King Chronicle" and named him
after the fictitious dragon slayer.
He hoped he could raise him to be
healthy and strong.
 
-------------------------
 
After Flodnar died, Randolf lived on the
island for 8 years. In order to live up to
the expectations of the parent that raised
him, he went to slay the imaginary beast,
the White Dragon.
 
By the way, what kind of creatures
are dragons? I am pretty sure they
spit something from their mouth at least.