Part 30: Postgame Chapter 3: Arena Antics

Last time, Euchre synthesised a bunch of monsters, using some of them to complete the Advanced Monster Scout Proficiency Test.

Music: Scoutpost



This time, he'll be doing some more synthesis. Don't worry, it's not as much as last time! This is basically just to get the team up to speed for the Arena, which will also be in this update.



This combination of monsters, as has been previously established, results in a Belial. This isn't the most efficient recipe, but the Great Dragon has a Skill I want and both of these guys have a lot of skill points to pass down.



Bang & Zam II doesn't matter, but the rest do. You see, Abel is getting a Phoenix Sceptre...



...and getting mixed together with Li'l Green. He's been falling behind considerably in terms of bulk, and having a Double Trouble monster around can only help.



The reason for getting Healer on Abel is so that he'll start with more points in it at this stage. He's got all the same Skills that Li'l Green had, but with Wisdom Boost II instead of whatever was there before. It's not like it had any points invested in it anyway.



And that's the team's healer done, but while we're starting on the subject of synthesis, I want to talk about monster generations. This is the number next to a monster's Rank on its status screen. For example, Abel is considered a Rank A+7. That means that the monsters used to synthesise him stretch back seven generations. What's the significance of this number? Well, it affects level cap. Normally, a monster's level cap is 50. At +5, this is lifted to 75, and at +10 it becomes 99. The problem with this system is that it takes ages to even get to level 50 with the amount of experience the game gives out. Oops!

Next up is a replacement for Poppet, starting with a fusion of a Silvapithecus and a Gigantes.



A Pazuzu is the inevitable result. Unlike with Abel, though, this synthesis chain isn't done quite yet.



These Skills don't matter in the slightest, but here they are anyway.



Now for a synthesis involving that Pazuzu and a Drakularge.



This is a recipe that gives a Drakulard. Again, though, this isn't the end result that I'm going for.



Crack & Zap II was on the Drakularge from doing all that generic synthesis. Might as well put it to good use here.



Next up is this synthesis, which should produce a Mechan-o'-Wyrm.





Again, these Skills don't matter in the slightest. Poppet's mostly fine with his current Skills, although there will be a change for Reasons.



The final monster that Euchre will be making today is obtained from synthesising Mechan-o'-wyrm and Drakulard.



This is an Alabast Dragon, and it's pretty decent. Maybe not the best mage, but it's got Psycho and has a good set of resistances to make up for it.



Again, Skills don't matter too much. Crack & Zap III is important, though, and not just because it's filling up the Skill Library.



Like with Abel, Gypsum is going to be synthesised together with a current team member, along with a Phoenix Sceptre.



And again, like with Abel, Gypsum's name isn't being changed. His Skills are, though, inheriting Frizz & Bang III and Fortifier from Poppet and Crack & Zap III from his namesake. It's nice to have some versatility, although there is another reason for this decision. It'll have to wait a couple of updates, though.

Music: Island



Anyway, that's all the synthesis that needed to be done. With Abel and Gypsum grinded up to around level 20-25, it's time to finish the arena.



Rank S is first. At 2000 gold coins, the entrance fee is already up there with the highest question fee in the proficiency test. Sadly Wildcard still doesn't want to fight, so Euchre's going to be stuck with his other three team members. Not that that's a bad thing.

Music: Monster Battle



The first fight in Rank S is a selection of Restless Armour palette swaps. Pretty much every battle from here on contains a monster that was a boss in another game, and this one has Roseguardin from Dragon Quest 4. It's fairly generic here, sadly, not even getting any decent attacks off before being unceremoniously killed. Much like in its original game, then!



The Lethal Armour has Bomb Slash, though! That's something mildly threatening, maybe. Abel being immune to Bang puts a damper on it its plans.



Fight number two's also a set of palette swaps, this time of Dessert Demon. Belial, as well as being a boss in this game, was also one of the late-game minibosses in Dragon Quest 2. It's kind of important that Euchre got a copy recently, though, because it made me realise something about it.



The arena cheats! Abel doesn't have Psycho, and there's no way to get it from Skills, so a monster like this is impossible for a player to obtain.



At least the Archdemon plays fair. Boom is underwhelming, but it's being boosted by Bangmeister so it's more dangerous than average. It's not like that's saying much, though.



Oh, and the Dessert Demon gets Magic Frailty. This is a magic-heavy fight, so it's best if this doesn't hit. It's even better if this doesn't get cast at all and the fight ends quickly, just like with every one of these battles.



With the end of that, Rank S is nearly done. There's just one fight left, and because there are only two monsters that use the Gigantes model, there aren't enough palettes to go around. The boss this time is Atlas, from Dragon Quest 2 again. It's in the same stretch of game as Belial. It's also a postgame boss in Dragon Quest 9, but that game was released after this one so it doesn't count.



Anyway, they don't do anything remotely interesting. They basically just hit hard with their physical attacks, as their appearances might suggest.

Music: Island



Here's ya prize then. An amazin'...er...loyalty card. For shops an' that, y'know.

Euchre receives a loyalty card!

Oh, hey, one of these! It's a key item that lowers the prices in all shops, or at least ones with a shop interface. There's no discount on Metal Tickets, for example. It would definitely be worth getting this even if it wasn't required to get to the fight with Solitaire.



Come back soon. We're lookin' forward to seein' ya fight again... Hooroo!

Considering how horrible Rank S was last time Euchre tried it, this attempt went surprisingly smoothly. On to the next!



Rank X costs 3000 gold coins to enter, which is by far the most expensive entrance fee. It's still a drop in the ocean compared to Euchre's current funds.

Music: Monster Battle



This first fight is unique in that it has two prior bosses in it. I've already talked about Gracos last time Euchre ran into one, but Khalamari was one of the early bosses of Dragon Quest 8. He was much bigger then, and expressed his multiple personality disorder through his tentacles, Tenta and Tickles. No, I don't know either.



Here, he has...Crackle? It's a bit late in the game to be using something that weak, isn't it? The fight ends before anything else can be shown off, which is nice for surviving the rest of these fights but not so nice for showing off what these guys can do.



The second fight has Don Mole as the resident boss fight. He, too, comes from Dragon Quest 8, where he stole a harp which he used to play terrible music. It was so terrible, in fact, that it confused everyone around him. This series is kind of weird sometimes.



While Don Mole doesn't manage to do anything significant this time, the Wight King actively makes things harder for its team by healing Sidoh with Kazammle. If it hit anyone else, though, this would actually be dangerous. And, of course, the Demon-at-Arms does nothing much too.



The final battle in the arena is against these guys. Ruin is yet another boss from Dragon Quest 8! It comes out of basically nowhere and is made from the ruins of the villain's castle, sort of. It's a filler boss by pretty much every definition. At least its design is fairly cool, although its hand blocks most of it from this camera angle.



Anyway, the Megalodons have Kazapple. It hurts! A lot!



In fact it hurts so much that Abel gets killed by it, leaving Team Euchre without a healer.



It doesn't help that Ruin hits really hard too, and with no direct control over the party there's no guaranteed way of mitigating the damage.



Thank goodness for wasting turns with Share Magic. The only monster that's even used MP on that team is the Megalodon who just used Share Magic, and sure enough...



...it gives its MP to itself. Why would the game even allow for this? It's completely pointless!



Thank goodness for incompetence, then. With this, Euchre has conquered the arena.

Music: Island



Now I ain't the emotional type, but you've brought a tear to my eye, ya have. Here's (sniff) ya prize - a m-mighty (sniff) Miracle Mace. Y-You've earned it! (sob)



Aww, he's getting all emotional! Anyway, the Miracle Mace is a high-powered hammer which heals the user for some of the damage done. It's not the best hammer, but it's very good regardless.

You've done it all, ya mongrel! The arena don't have no more ranks! So...I spect you'll be leavin' us then? (sniff) Well, d-don't be a stranger... We'd all love to see ya battle again. (sniff) True blue...

Goodbye, aggressively Australian arena man! You will be missed. In any case, that's about it for this update. Next time, Euchre will be facing off against Solitaire.

Extra: The Monster Library

Mechan-o'-Wyrm





Mechan-o'-wyrms have the Skill Barricade when synthesised, and also get Whack Ward when obtained as a gift (see Part 24). They have the Trait Critical Massacre and are immune to both Whack and Paralysis.

Barricade was on Living Statues in Postgame Part 2.

Drakulard





Drakulards get the Skill Toughie and the Trait Critical Massacre. They're immune to both Zap and Whack.

Toughie was on Jargons in Part 18.

Alabast Dragon





First off, that description is horribly inaccurate. Joker 2 has both Alabast Dragon and the Zenith Dragon in its roster, and it looks like this:



Anyway, back to Alabast Dragons. They've got Cleric for their Skill, and have Psycho for their Trait. They absorb Zap, and are immune to both Ice Breath and Whack.

Cleric was on King Slimes in Part 7.

Pazuzu





Pazuzus have the Skill Bombardier and the Trait Wooshmeister. They're immune to both Crack and Whack.

Bombardier was on Liquid Metal Slimes in Postgame Part 1.

Belial





Belial gets the Skill Bang & Zam II and the Traits Double Trouble and Bangmeister. They're immune to Bang and Whack, but weak to Fizzle. There's a lot of Whack immunity going around, isn't there?

Bang & Zam II is new. We haven't even seen the first tier of the Skill yet! Anyway, it's once again your standard dual-element Skill, so only Bang & Zam III is worth it in the slightest. It's got Kazam, Kazammle, Kaboom, Kaboomle, Blast Slash, Shadow Slash, Zam Guard and Bang Guard. Exciting! It's probably the rarest of this set of Skills, so it might be a good idea to keep it around for completion's sake. Other than that, it's unremarkable. At least it's got varied targeting.


Extra 2: Synthesis Recipes

Mechan-o'-Wyrm + Drakulard = Alabast Dragon (Rank S, not scoutable, not available through generic synthesis)

Hey, it's a synthesis recipe that was used in this very update! This is an excellent recipe to get to know, because Alabast Dragons are used in a decent amount of high-end recipes themselves. Plus they're good monsters in their own right. This is the only recipe that can be used to make them.


Mechan-o'-Wyrm + Hunter Mech = Killing Machine (Rank S, not scoutable, not available through generic synthesis)

Save your Mechan-o'-Wyrms for making Alabast Dragons. This recipe is pointless, since it's much easier to use a Phantom Swordsman if you want to make a Killing Machine.


Drakulard + Malroth = Nimzo (Rank S, not scoutable, not available through generic synthesis)

This is the only way to get Nimzo, the final boss of Dragon Quest 5. He's used in a couple of monsters himself, both of which also only have one recipe. If you want to climb the Ranks, Nimzo is definitely a good stepping stone.


Pazuzu + Drakularge = Drakulard (Rank S, not scoutable, not available through generic synthesis)

It's another recipe used in this update! Drakulard is used in Alabast Dragon and Nimzo and nothing else, but those are really common recipes anyway. It's worth giving this one a go.


Pazuzu + Boss Troll = Night Clubber (Rank S, not scoutable, not available through generic synthesis)

This isn't a great recipe to use for a Night Clubber. Save your Pazuzus for making Drakulards.