Part 5: Curbstomp
Update 5: CurbstompUpdate has been successfully loaded. Thank you for your patience.
So last time we left off in Protocol Forest. Before we pick up where we left off, though, I went and did some grinding off of Coelamon (what you fish up in the opening areas).
First off, when Kyubimon hits level 20 while Renamon has a base strength of 80, Stingmon is unlocked as a Digivolution. Renamon's gonna be hanging out in Stingmon for a while, grinding it up to level 20 for reasons.
Kotemon also unlocks a Digivolution, Greymon, though this trigger is only Dinohumon hitting level 20. No other requirements.
Finally, Patamon... doesn't get anything. Yet. (Note that Angemon is over level 20. This will be instrumental in shattering the first third of the difficulty curve over my knee.)
Since I did get everyone up to level 11, though, we have a little bit of TP to burn.
Training Results:
Renamon: Spirit +66
Patamon: Power +66
Kotemon: Power +32, Speed +34
Renamon and Kotemon continue to become ridiculously strong for this part of the game. Patamon, on the other hand, gets a Strength boost. This is also important - right now, Patamon has over 100 Strength.
I find it weird how the game gives relative stats (1-5) for the enemies, but leaves them as 'normal' for you. I guess it can be tense? But then why not just leave both sides as normal.
Click for ambience!
We're just going to put that aside for now. Giver was whining that Renamon wasn't getting enough screentime, so I've put her in the lead for now in an attempt to make him shut up. It won't work, of course.
No, it won't because you put away all your Digimon! How am I supposed to keep them in line.
Up to the top is that spider egg tree from last update, but our destination is towards the right.
...Oh dear. Anyone ever play that old Gameboy game, Mario & Luigi? Remember that one part of that dungeon where you had to wander through a maze of barrels?
It was just barrels of fun, Yeti. Especially during low level runs!
It wasn't much fun in that game either.
I hate these kinds of mazes.
While Dokugumon infest the dirt areas, there's a new encounter in the forest.
Name: Goburimon
Level: Rookie
Location: Asuka Central - Protocol Forest, Protocol Ruins
Drops: None
5 STR, 3 DEF, 2 SPR, 2 WIS, 2 SPD,
1 FIRE, 2 WATER, 3 ICE, 3 WIND, 2 THUNDER, 2 MACHINE, 1 DARK
EXP: 22, BIT: 45
Regular Attack: No Element
Technique: None
Goburimon (or Goblimon, if you prefer) are mini-Ogremon. They're not very threatening, but they might hit kinda hard. Y'know, if you let them have a turn. With a weakness to Fire and two of the three packs having access to Fire techs with their first Champion Digivolution, you shouldn't have any problem with these.
It's hard to give directions through this, but you kinda hug the bottom wall, then curve north but not too north and curve left before hooking around and coming out the other side?
When I got out of there, I just kinda sat there for a few seconds and took stock of what I was doing with my life. Sadly, it was a grand total of 'Playing video games for the internet.'
'Getting insulted by Giver every 2 images while playing games for the Internet' Yep, you should kill yourself you worthless pile of trash.
Pictured: Yeti's tomb when he finishes this game.
I'm getting a decidedly Egyptian vibe from this place. The obelisk out in front, though, is remarkably similar to the Black Pillars from Season 2 of the show.
Click for music!
Welcome to the Protocol Ruins! Last time I claimed it was a dungeon, and it is... in a sense.
That sense being that we're fighting Minotarumon and Goburimon. And everyone knows that Minotaurs come from labyrinths, and
Excuse me, sir, labyrinths are mazes. Not all mazes are dungeons. You just been lawyer'd.
Edit from the future: I have been informed by the thread (whom I trust more than I trust Giver) that a labyrinth is not necessarily a dungeon. THE MORE YOU KNOW.
Name: Minotarumon
Level: Champion/Ultimate (it's complicated)
Location: Asuka East - Protocol Ruins
Drops: None
5 STR, 4 DEF, 2 SPR, 2 WIS, 2 SPD,
1 FIRE, 2 WATER, 2 ICE, 3 WIND, 2 THUNDER, 2 MACHINE, 2 DARK
EXP: 27, BIT: 55
Regular Attack: No Element
Technique: None
Same deal as the Goburimon outside. He might hit pretty hard, but with only 2 SPD he shouldn't get more than one turn.
Well, enough about that. The first decision we come to really isn't that much of a decision, though that snake section is pretty cool.
But what I mean by not much of a decision is, the western and northern branches end up spiralling together.
At the end of the spiral, there's two branches. The first leads up here; there's nothing here at the moment. There might be something here later, there might not be.
The other branch shows our destination. There's some guys up there; we are down here, and we want to be down there.
In unrelated news, Stingmon is a giant bug. Who attacks by launching at the enemy with a sweet jump kick.
Holy shit, it's Liu Kang.
Ahem. Regardless of that, since the northern and western paths lead to the same place, and we came from the southern path, that only leaves one path left for us to explore.
It's, uh... not very interesting. It's just a straight line.
Straight lines generally mean you're approaching the end.
Over there is our destination. I'm glad we can see where we're going, actually.
Though really, it's just another straight line to the end of the 'dungeon'. We don't really need to look too hard for figuring out where to go - this will, unfortunately, be a rarity past the East Server.
See, you wrote 'dungeon', meaning even you think its questionable.
Before we jump down, though, there's something a little more interesting to do first.
Pharaohmon: I vow to the Digimon God that I won't lose!
Kite: Then I'll challenge you!
Kite, how does that follow? You dunce.
It doesn't.
Pharaohmon: You show no fear! I must warn you. I am powerful!
Kite: We won't know until we do it!
Pharaohmon: ...Good, you're ready. Then I'll go full force!
Click for music!
Hora hora! Check out that background! That's the Transcendent Sword on the right, and the Berserk Sword on the left (Omnimon and Knightmon's weapons, respectively). Welcome to our first Boss Digimon fight.
Name: Pharaohmon (Boss)
Level: Mega
Location: Asuka East - Protocol Ruins
Drops: Old Wand (After Defeat)
3 STR, 3 DEF, 3 SPR, 3 WIS, 3 SPD,
1 FIRE, 2 WATER, 2 ICE, 2 WIND, 2 THUNDER, 2 MACHINE, 2 DARK
EXP: 120, BIT: 240
Regular Attack: No Element
Technique: Necro Mist (Physical, Chance of Poison)
Pharaohmon! He's a pretty cool dude. At least, his design is; I've always had a fondness for certain boss designs, and Pharaohmon checks pretty much all of the boxes. Much larger than your character, neat music, sweet background.
Pharaohmon's regular attack has him punch a shockwave towards us. It hits pretty hard, at around 200 damage a shot.
His special attack is Necro Mist, which does about ~70 damage and has a pretty good chance of poisoning you.
Now, normally I'd be all over this fight. The only problem is... I might have grinded a little bit too much. Either Pharaohmon was easier than I remembered, or I was underleveled when I fought him as a kid, but he went down like a chump. He also has a crippling weakness to Fire techs; which, as mentioned earlier, you'll probably have access to unless you started with the Manic Pack. And even then, the Accessories in Asuka City can add a Fire attribute to your regular attack, making him a huge joke.
I had the same issue with Battle Network 2's Hard Mode. One of PharoahMan's attacks only hits for 60 damage. And your HP is likely around 800.
He doesn't have that much health, so hitting for 350 a shot... yeah. It chews through him pretty quick. Still, he's a boss, so there's gonna be a link near the end of the update to a video of me fighting him.
Which wouldn't be hard because KITE looks like a dumb teenage kid. (I said KITE, Giver.)
This is why I voted for DumbYeti to be the name. Thread! You've let me down!
Kite: Yeah, of course!
Pharaohmon: As praise to you, I'll give you this.
Kite: Yeah! I got the Old Wand!
Pharaohmon: You're strong. Our gods will be with you!
The Old Wand is an equipment that boosts SPR a little bit. Renamon immediately gets it, replacing that Dagger she was still using, and now has a staff in one paw and Leomon's sword in the other.
Alright, now that we've taken care of the optional boss, let's keep moving.
...Or, apparently, get into a random battle on landing. I swear I didn't touch any buttons.
Well, at least you can throw in some more grinding. This game DOES seem like a slog to play, at times. I get a bit exhausted just co-commentating this.
After we wrap around, we come across who I'm going to have to assume is the Seiryu Leader. After all, he's the only other person in here.
Whiny bitch.
But first, talking to his digimon.
Agumon: One and two, and one, and two. I'm training so I can digivolve to MetalGreymon!
Yeah you are, buddy
(I'll admit to having a soft spot for Guilmon since I played as him my first ever LP of Digimon World 4.)Guilmon: I'm going to be great in the next battle!
Of course, everyone likes Charmeleon.
Well, that's enough chatting with the important people. Let's talk to Seiryu Leader and convince him to come get his ass handed to him.
Seiryu Leader: I'm sorry, but I don't fight with the weak.
Bitch did you not just see me wreck Pharaohmon
He has shades of Giver. Best character so far.Seiryu Leader: But if you really want to then defeat MasterTyranno in Tyranno Valley first!
Fine, fine, whatever. Go kill some other dude and you'll fight us, yeah? Sounds like a plan, you fucking prick.
Now, now, Yeti. You must do this in the correct order. Even MMOs railroad you.
Click for ambince!
Rssm frssm... Stupid quest chains... Ahem. He said that Tyranno Valley is northeast of Seiryu City, and since we can't go any further north of the city that leaves us going to the east - Kicking Forest. And since we're actually supposed to be here, not just playing a game with Veemon, let's go over the bios of what we can encounter in the area, shall we?
Name: Woodmon
Level: Champion
Location: Asuka East - Kicking Forest
Asuka South - Phoenix Bay, Ether Jungle
Kicking Trees: Asuka Central - Central Park, Plug Cape, Shell Beach, Wire Forest Entrance
Asuka East - West Wire Forest, East Wire Forest, Divermon's Lake, Wind Prairie
Drops: None
3 STR, 3 DEF, 3 SPR, 3 WIS, 3 SPD,
1 FIRE, 3 WATER, 2 ICE, 3 WIND, 2 THUNDER, 1 MACHINE, 2 DARK
EXP: 25, BIT: 50
Regular Attack: No Element
Technique: None
Woodmon is pretty simple - hit him with a Fire attack and he's done. You can also run into Gizamon and Vegiemon here.
Name: Seadramon
Level: Champion
Location: Asuka South - Bios Swamp
Asuka East - Divermon's Lake
Fishing: Asuka East - Kicking Forest
Asuka South - Bulk Bridge, Tranquil Swamp, Bios Swamp, Jungle Grave, Phoenix Bay
Drops: Water Power 1
2 STR, 4 DEF, 4 SPR, 3 WIS, 2 SPD,
3 FIRE, 3 WATER, 2 ICE, 2 WIND, 2 THUNDER, 2 MACHINE, 1 DARK
EXP: 58, BIT: 120
Regular Attack: Water Element
Technique: None
Seadramon can be encountered by fishing, but they're still a little bit out of our league for a bit. Our guys can go toe to to with one, thanks to those (relative) weaknesses to Ice, Wind, and Thunder, but the 4 DEF means Kotemon/Dinohumon/Stingmon won't be hitting very hard (our physical attackers) and the 3 WIS means even Kyubimon will have a little bit of trouble. They're good for grinding, but since it's only 18 extra EXP compared to a Coelamon, I recommend against it for now unless you've grinded severely.
But that's the boring stuff out of the way. Let's wander around for a bit.
On the northern side of the lake, Kite admires his shoes and Patamon is shocked by this. (We'll be coming back to the ladder later, don't worry.)
Shovel Knight, don't push Pikachu into the water! No! BAD DIGIMON!
For some reason, we can't fish on the little pier, but we can fish off the edge. I am pretty sure I know the reason why! And because I'm a jerk, I'm not telling.
And yet, Yeti calls me a jerk.
Come shake your body, baby do that conga.
I know you can't control yourself any longer.
As we head east around the southern side of the lake, across the tree trunk, there's another one of those holes on a cliff...
Go into the hole and collect copious numbers of coal, thereby letting us reach our goal.
...and a chest on another plateau. Interesting.
OPEN IT! I MUST SEE WHAT'S INSIDE!
The large clearing there has branches to the south and to the east. We'll be exploring the southern path first.
Nothing down here but another hole.
The amount of holes makes me fold towards the goal. Instead, I will build a pole.
Feel the rhythm of your body getting stronger.
I do like how this waterfall looks. It might have problems with faces, but I do like the isomorphic perspective most of the time.
At the end of this little path, there's something called an East Station. We'll be getting into that next update.
why do you have a shit name
At the end of the eastern branch of that large clearing earlier, there's this old guy.
Tamer Bob: No matter how much I think, I can't find answer![sic] It's no use! I can't fight with this by myself.
why are u so random
Well, that was fun. Existential angst aside, let's go back north and climb up this ladder.
Good thing it ain't windy.
...and then this one too.
Well, whaddaya know? A northern exit. To a screen that seems to be northeast of Seiryu City.
Click for ambience!
Tyranno Valley. It's very, uh... bleak.
Oooo, I like the look of this.
But it's a new area, so that means new encounters. Three of them, in fact, one of which is very important.
Name: Tyrannomon
Level: Champion
Location: Asuka East - Tyranno Valley
Drops: Fire Power 1
3 STR, 4 DEF, 4 SPR, 2 WIS, 2 SPD,
3 FIRE, 2 WATER, 1 ICE, 2 WIND, 2 THUNDER, 2 MACHINE, 2 DARK
EXP: 31, BIT: 60
Regular Attack: Fire Element
Technique: None
As expected in Tyranno Valley. The crippling weakness to Ice means Renamon and Kyubimon will make short work of them.
Or, you know, just show them Ice Ages 2-5.
We're fighting them, not torturing them.
Name: Airdramon
Level: Champion
Location: Asuka East - Tyranno Valley
Drops: Fire Chip
Stats:
1 STR, 4 DEF, 5 SPR, 3 WIS, 4 SPD,
2 FIRE, 2 WATER, 2 ICE, 3 WIND, 3 THUNDER, 2 MACHINE, 1 DARK
EXP: 29, BIT: 70
Regular Attack: No Element
Technique: Air Blast (Magic-Wind)
Nothing special about this one. Be aware that its technique is Magic-based, using its 5 SPR, but it shouldn't be very hard.
That looks sufficiently cool enough that I'll refrain from making a joke.
Name: Triceramon
Level: Ultimate
Location: Asuka Central - Plug Cape
Asuka East - Tyranno Valley
Drops: TNT Ball
4 STR, 3 DEF, 3 SPR, 3 WIS, 2 SPD,
3 FIRE, 2 WATER, 1 ICE, 2 WIND, 2 THUNDER, 2 MACHINE, 2 DARK
EXP: 30, BIT: 60
Regular Attack: Fire Element
Technique: None
Yes, you can run into these guys as early as Plug Cape (that little windy path up top that I showed off). Yes, they will fuck you up, since even if you go to Plug Cape after getting your first Digivolutions you'll only be level 5-6. Now, though, he's basically the same as Tyrannomon. This guy is the important one, by the way.
Those dual candy-corn horns look way too silly. That would just throw you way off balance in a battle.
By the way, what does TNT Ball do.
Both the west and the east ladders lead nowhere, so we're just gonna go straight up the north one!
Not even treasure.
Oh shit! This is pretty neat. I wonder what died to leave these bones.
Your mom
Or these bones, holy shit! Tyranno Valley is shaped like that old-timey AND sign; the one that looks like a curved E with a line on the top and bottom. This spot is the bottom prong of the E, and for some reason it's my favorite grinding spot on this screen. I don't know why, exactly.
Well, it definitely does look cool. If this were a legit MMO, this would be a place reserved for high levels.
Please keep all hands, feet and paws inside the dinosaur at all times.
I'm just adding these here because holy shit this place is badass. We're running around on massive dinosaur fossils. Pretty rad.
I wonder... Quick, someone get some polka music going...
On it.
Forecast for today: Windy, with a chance of death!
Eventually, we follow the spinal cord up to this ladder here.
Oh, hello there. This Digimon is just sitting out in the open, just like... Pharaohmon...
Kite: MasterTyranno, fight with me!
Is this gonna be how this kid introduces himself? "Fight with me, I'm Kite!"?
I'M AN ELEVEN YEAR OLD BOY AND I DEMAND WE DO BATTLE
MasterTyranno: Sure! I just ate, so I'm at full power.
Kite: Right on! This will show how strong I am.
MasterTyranno: You're pretty optimistic kid! But it takes more than that to beat me!
Click for music!
If the pre-fight conversation or name didn't clue you in, the music and background should definitely be a hint! MasterTyrannomon is our second boss fight of the game, and second of the update.
dem swords
Name: MasterTyrannomon (Boss)
Level: Ultimate
Location: Asuka East - Tyranno Valley
Drop: Old Claw (After Defeat)
3 STR, 4 DEF, 4 SPR, 3 WIS, 2 SPD,
3 FIRE, 2 WATER, 1 ICE, 2 WIND, 2 THUNDER, 2 MACHINE, 2 DARK
EXP: 140, BIT: 280
Regular Attack: No Element
Technique: Master Fire (Magic-Fire)
Honestly, he's... not that threatening. He's just a beefed up Tyrannomon that lost the fire element on his regular attack and gained a(n admittedly dangerous) Magical Technique. Still, though, Renamon will mop the floor with the guy.
By which I mean Stingmon will launch a jump kick straight into his fucking chest.
Here's Master Fire. Note the wavy fire background: that's because Master Fire is technically an Ultimate Technique. MasterTyrannomon is an Ultimate Digimon, but he's not very threatening (Hell, Pharaohmon was a MEGA and he went down like a chump).
Still, Stingmon's kick didn't do much, so I Digivolved to Kyubimon. (Ignore the Tech description, it didn't update in time.) I think we can all guess how this ended. Video of the fight at the end of the update.
Hoo hah.
Hah hoo.
MasterTyranno: I'll give you this for defeating me.
Kite: Yeah! I got the Old Claw!
MasterTyranno: Take that to the Seiryu Leader! Then he'll battle with you.
Kite: Thanks, MasterTyranno!
MasterTyranno: Seiryu Leader is pretty tough. Be on your guard!
The Old Claw is also a piece of equipment, but none of our Digimon can equip it. It's okay, we've got a full upgrade set anyway.
Now, what we're going to do is fight in Tyranno Valley for a while.
Grinding time!
Remember how Angemon was over level 20 and Patamon got trained up to 100+ Power? This happened after the first fight. When Angemon hits level 20 with 100+ base Strength, we unlock the Digitamamon Digivolution.
Digitamamon is an Ultimate. 9 levels early.
That cracking sound you just heard was the first third of the difficulty curve snapping in half. But we're not done yet; I just got that because I could. It's not my true goal.
But my true goal will have to wait (Damn, only 4 levels away...) because I got what I came here for. Triceramon will drop TNT Balls on occasion, and you want at least one.
So let's just jump off this giant ledge and land perfectly safely without any problems whatsoever. We don't even get attacked this time! Game, are you feeling okay?
Do you WANT fall damage to be a thing? Pretty sure that would aggravate everyone.
I noticed this for the first time when wandering back to Seiryu City to fight the leader. Weird and neat.
Hah, nice cactuar reference, game.
it's a gyroid/haniwa
Click for music!
Now that the Seiryu Leader is back, a few of his Digimon are out and about.
Guilmon: Tonight's dinner is pizza!
Not that they have anything useful to say, of course.
While I was grinding for the TNT Ball, Angemon reached level 25 and can now load Air Blast. How loading Techs works: You learn them at one level, and then can load them at a second. The level varies per Digivolution (Rookies never learn new Techs), and varies per Tech. Every Digivolution has at least one Tech that doesn't get loaded until they hit level 99, though, so if you really want to load Double Guard better get ready to grind.
Since there's no reason not to, I load Angemon's Air Blast and Dinohumon's Heat Cutter. Loading Techs makes them available to every form of that Rookie so long as the Digivolution is equipped (one of the three slots) but increases the cost a little bit. If Digitamamon, for example, wanted to use Air Blast it would cost 24 MP instead of 20.
But now that all of our pre-fight shenanigans are taken care of, let's get down to it.
Yeah, we're the kid that beat the shit out of a Mega Digimon in front of you. And now we went and beat up a dinosaur
I guess only a scrub would feel good about beating other scrubs.
I would like to submit that jump-kicking a dinosaur in the chest is inherently cool, regardless of the capabilities of said dinosaur.
Kite: Seiryu Leader, I defeated MasterTyranno! Now will you battle with me?
Kite's got a one-track mind and the only destination is WAR.
Seiryu Leader: I see. You have the Old Claw. All right. Make your move!
Click for music!
We're kicking things off as Digitamamon vs. Minotarumon.
Look at that shit. Ultimate Digimon do not fuck around. I'm also fast enough at this point that I'm consistently getting two turns to the enemy's one, so Minotarumon got literally one attack off, doing 160 damage, before I killed it.
Next up is Tyrannomon. Tyrannomon, meet Kyubimon. Remember what I was saying about Tyrannomons earlier?
Yeah.
Hax. The LPer is cheating.
And here's his signature Digimon!
Name: Apemon
Level: Champion
2 STR, 2 DEF, 3 SPR, 3 WIS, 5 SPD,
1 FIRE, 2 WATER, 3 ICE, 3 WIND, 2 THUNDER, 2 MACHINE, 1 DARK
Regular Attack: No Element
Technique: None
I'll give his full bio when we meet Apemon in the wild, but for now look at two numbers in particular. First, his SPD - 5 SPD means that thing is pretty damn fast. You might be in trouble if you're not very quick; unfortunately for Apemon, we're already lapping his team. Second, look at that 1 Fire resistance. Yeah.
APEMON SMASH PUNY DIGIMON
So I'm going to switch to Dinohumon to take advantage of that slightly weaker defense and - oh shit. Is that...
It is! I can't believe I've completely forgotten about this until just now.
Certain Digimon, when you tag out, can DNA Digivolve together. For a (fairly hefty early-game) MP cost from both Digimon, you get a free attack. Each of the starting packs has one; for Balanced it's Kyubimon and Dinohumon, Powerful it's Hookmon and Greymon, and for Maniac it's Grizzmon and Growlmon.
Yeti's pacing sux
Seriously, watch the video after this. I can't do this little cutscene justice just through screenshots alone.
Grizzmon and Growlmon DNA Digivolve to become KendoGarurumon, while Hookmon/Greymon and Kyubimon/Dinohumon become Agunimon. (They're from Digimon Frontier. The shitty show where the humans don't have partner Digimon and instead fuse with ancient artifacts to temporarily become Digimon themselves. Frontier is terrible.)
As terrible as this franchise?
Agunimon, by the way, does FIRE damage.
At this point it's just adding insult to injury.
And we don't even get a level up from beating the Seiryu Leader! Jerk.
Kite: I'm Kite. That was an honorable battle!
Kite, don't lie to the man. That was brutal and unforgiving.
Seiryu Leader: All right then, Kite, take this with you.
Kite: I got the Seiryu Badge and Silver Ticket!
Seiryu Leader: You will need them in the battles ahead. They're important items, so don't lose them.
Kite: Thanks, Seiryu Leader!
Seiryu Leader: You still have a long ways ahead, but you can do it. Good luck!
One down, three to go. We're on our way to being the Server Champ and from there the World Champ.
Here's the video of all three bosses. I plow through them pretty quick, but they all get a chance to attack... once or twice...
Next time: this chucklehead. And cleaning up the rest of the stuff to do before heading South.
Push him off the cliff!