Part 18: Jungle Japes
Last time, Euchre fought off pirates and recruited their leader to his cause, making the waters of Green Bays safe again. Until he synthesises away said leader, anyway.Music: Island
This time he'll be doing something completely unexpected and actually exploring Fert Isle. Hopefully the shrine here isn't too well hidden.
Also, you might notice that I changed the graphics settings back! That was an accident and I didn't notice until I'd already taken all the screenshots. It'll most likely be changed back once again next update.
The first order of business is to turn right from the jetty, since every other direction is a very quick dead end. The first monster of Fert Isle is also in that direction, so this is a good opportunity to get to know about it.
Music: Monster Battle
Bodkin Archers are distinctly non-threatening on their own due to their relatively low attack power. They do have something going for them, though...
...namely Buff. Increasing the survivability of themselves and whatever they come with really drags out battles. It gets used pretty often, too!
They also have Stupefying Strike. How nice of them. Something about Wisdom in this game that I only learned about recently is that it affects the intelligence of the party AI, so this attack might actually be useful for changing monsters' targeting. It's a good thing, then, that I prefer giving out orders most of the time.
Other than those two attacks they don't have any abilities, so let's move on to scouting, shall we?
I don't think I've managed to get a critical hit when scouting yet, so here one is. They're pretty rare and increase the scout chance accordingly.
Music: Island
I have plans for this little guy, mostly because I really like Fortifier. It teaches all the stat-boosting moves, so it'll likely be put onto one of Euchre's more permanent team members.
Continuing onwards, there's a huge tree stump here that Euchre can get on top of.
Not worth it in the slightest.
Then again, it allows Euchre to find a new monster, so it's not all bad. These guys swoop down from the sky, much like Hades Condors and Gargoyles before them. They're just as obnoxious, too.
Music: Monster Battle
Hell Hornets are obnoxious in battle as well as out of it, funnily enough.
They have Paralysing Punch. That's their gimmick.
They don't even need it, since they paralyse with their normal attacks. Fun!
Music: Island
This name isn't even a reference to anything. I was just annoyed by the constant paralysis and all caps seemed the best way to do it. Did you know that a paralysed monster drops to 0 tension? Well, it does!
Past the Hell Hornets are a load of Argon Lizards. We'll be ignoring those today because they're basically the same as they were on the uncharted island. The ones here are the only source of Poison Ward, though, so maybe consider picking one up for completion's sake.
Even further past those is a junction. The way forward is to the left, so Euchre goes right.
There's a gate there, because of course there is. There's no way through right now, so back to the junction Euchre goes.
He's immediately greeted by even more new monsters. Fert Isle has a pretty good variety of monsters inhabiting it, so it's no surprise that there's another already.
Music: Monster Battle
Frogfaces were a gimmick monster in their first appearance, being able to switch between their two faces by being hit. Sadly that gimmick is completely gone here, and they're pretty boring monsters.
Fire Breath is just kind of bad right now. It also seems to be all they have.
Music: Island
Healer seems to be on a lot of monsters, doesn't it? It's on these guys too. Euchre's filling up his monster library, at least.
There aren't any more forks in the path or any new monsters for a while, so Euchre's free to continue until he reaches this cave.
Music: Seeking Treasure
Going in results in...another two-way split. Joy. Again, heading left leads to progress, so Euchre goes right. This time, though, there's actually something at the end of the path.
More specifically, there's a non-respawning miniboss here. That's, what, the second we've seen so far? There just aren't that many in the game.
Music: Monster Battle
Anyway, the Boss Troll. It's certainly a fight.
It hits super hard, unsurprisingly. Just look at that huge club!
And of course it has Psyche Up. And that's about it. But when you hit that hard and have Psyche Up do you really need anything else?
Music: Seeking Treasure
Er, yes. Attack debuffs and and Defence buffs make the fight a joke, as does Dazzle. Just like Green Dragon, though, it can be scouted, so that's exactly what happens.
The reward for getting past the Boss Troll is an Obsidian Blade, a sword that is less than or equal in power to everything that Team Euchre has right now and yet is still better than everything available in the various shops around Green Bays. Wildcard's already got one, even, because of a very lucky drop from a Hunter Mech.
Backing out of this dead end and heading left instead of right at the junction results in Euchre finding the cave exit incredibly quickly. For some reason there just aren't any monsters in here.
Music: Island
Of course, outside is a different story. There's one just over there on the right behind some grass. See? Lots of monsters out here!
Music: Monster Battle
Seriously, though, there are plenty of monsters around. Starting off, here are some Scissor Beatles.
They cast Snooze! It's not very accurate!
They also use what I'm pretty sure is Double Up. It lowers the user's Defence for one turn but does much more damage than a normal attack.
Music: Island
They don't use Double Up nearly enough to be threatening, thankfully. Next!
Before Euchre got into the battle with the Scissor Beatles there was yet another junction ahead of him. This time it doesn't actually matter which route he takes, since they join up fairly quickly. This ladder is behind the pillar formed by the wall and the circular path.
The plateau that it leads to doesn't have all that much - just a chest and a monster that doesn't appear elsewhere on Fert Isle.
Oomph Powder is welcome now that Wildcard has given up Oomph.
The monster up here, meanwhile, is a Hacksaurus. It's not really worth taking a look at, since it's pretty much the same as it was in the Temple of the Moon.
Back down the ladder, there's a bridge nearby.
And across the bridge is another ladder, leading up to a spire.
On top of the spire is this chest, with yet another seed in it. Underwhelming, all things considered.
Incidentally that volcano-looking place off in the background of the last few screenshots is CELL HQ. Sadly it's not possible to revisit it right now.
By the way, do you like bridges? Because the latter half of Fert Isle loves them.
And on the other side is a new monster.
Music: Monster Battle
Beetleboys are kind of just there.
Wow, Body Slam! Such a good ability that's sure to be a mainstay on all good monsters.
Oh, and that Hades Condor over to the right? Don't worry about it. Those also crop up here from time to time.
Music: Island
It's still worth it to get one despite their suckiness. They have a really annoying synthesis recipe associated with them.
As well as really liking bridges, Fert Isle has a loving relationship with ladders. They're everywhere! This one is on the same spire that Beetleboys spawn on.
Up top is a water spout at the river's source as well as a blue chest. No prizes for guessing what's in this one.
To be fair it's pretty nice to get if you haven't done any sidequests. This is, what, the twelfth in the game? Since two of those are from the Monster Scout Proficiency Test and the Xeroph Isle arena that makes ten now obtained from just exploring.
Back down the ladder there's another almost immediately. Euchre's almost done with these, I swear.
I'm really running out of things to say here. It's another bridge! Crossing it will bring Euchre closer to the shrine!
To be fair this bridge has a Hades Condor waiting to ambush any unwary scouts that dare to cross. Still not very interesting, though.
Just past that are some more Beetleboys...
...as well as the island's final ladder. This one starts a cutscene when Euchre gets close.
Right lads, put some muscle into it!
That's certainly one way for the game to tell us that the ladder's unblocked. Yes, the cutscene really was that short.
If you'll remember, on Euchre's first visit to Fert Isle the ladder was blocked off. Now that he's gotten to the top all the crates have been moved and he's free to use it as a shortcut. This is especially nice since there really isn't much more of the island left to go through.
Returning to the task at hand, Euchre heads back up the ladder and goes straight forwards. There's no chance of ambush on these bridges, thankfully, but Euchre's not out of the woods yet.
Instead the ambush comes straight afterwards as a monster drops from the ceiling!
Music: Monster Battle
Or, rather, three of them. Gorerillas are kind of tough monsters, and they're the reason why this stretch of Fert Isle is much easier at night.
They have War Cry and that's about it. It's mildly annoying on its own, but they also sport high attack power and bulk compared to other monsters around here.
Music: Island
Honestly it's kind of an uphill struggle to scout one when there are three in battle, especially with the way Team Euchre is set up. Having only one monster available for dealing with their onslaught while the others set up gets kind of painful.
That's pretty much it for monsters on Fert Isle, at least during the daytime. All that's left to do is make a beeline for the shrine.
It's not particularly far, and it's an entirely linear path. One last bridge and Euchre's there.
The contents of the blue chest is highly predictable...
...while the contents of the red chest is not. A Special Medicine is somewhat welcome, although it's not at all necessary with how good Li'l Green is at healing.
The shrine is tempting, but Euchre's going to resist for now. It's time for some night-time monster hunting!
Music: Ambiance of the Night
First off, pretty much every flower on the ground of Fert Isle has a chance to spawn one of these guys.
Music: Monster Battle
We'll be looking at Wailin' Weeds first. They're very much support-based monsters.
Fuddle Dance isn't all that accurate, thankfully, but if it hits it can be very dangerous. Be careful of this one.
Not so much with Critical Miss. If it hits...
...it stops its target from getting critical hits. It's remarkably useless, since critical hits aren't common enough to rely on. Arguably it would be useful to stop Hatchet Man, but there's not much reason to use it around here.
Music: Ambiance of the Night
Anyway, Wailin' Weeds aren't too bad. One interesting thing about them is that they're considered to be Undead monsters, unlike their palette swap the King Kelp.
Music: Monster Battle
Speaking of undead monsters, Hellhounds are everywhere around the start of Fert Isle. War Cry is a mild nuisance, as it usually is.
Music: Ambiance of the Night
I find it kind of funny how these guys have Crack & Zam when they come with 5 MP. Unlike Imps there isn't really a reason for that.
Next up, these guys replace Argon Lizards during the hours of darkness.
Music: Monster Battle
Giant Moths apparently like coming along with Metal Slimes. I get this enemy formation two battles in a row, in fact.
Thanks to those Metal Talons, which seem to give a +2 damage bonus instead of the +1 that I had originally assumed, Metal Slimes now have the potential to die in one attack. Useful!
Anyway, Giant Moths. They have the ability to poison with their normal attacks, which is actually pretty harmless. At least it's not paralysis.
Swoosh is there too to fill most of the screen. It's the second-tier Woosh spell, in case that wasn't clear.
And it wouldn't be this game without something having Heal. It's terrible, as always, and heals about one tenth of the moths' maximum HP.
Music: Ambiance of the Night
Now that that's over with, it's time to move on. What could possibly be next?
Why not a monster that Euchre used to have?
Music: Monster Battle
Mud Mannequins in the wild aren't impressive attack-wise, but they have a particularly irritating trick up their sleeves. If they don't start out confused, that is.
Weird Dance is a drain on resources and nothing else, and a loss of 20-ish MP is not insignificant. It's best to stay away. And since Euchre already has one of these in his monster library, there's little reason to scout another.
Music: Ambiance of the Night
Heading up to where the Scissor Beatles were before, something else has appeared.
Music: Monster Battle
Dingalings also really like coming with Metal Slimes, at least for me. Another two battles go by with this formation, making it impossible to actually scout one without forgoing the Metal Slimes' high experience payout.
Fuddle Dance is just like it is on Wailin' Weeds: dangerous if it hits, pointless if it doesn't. I should really get Li'l Green some way to cure status effects soon...
While Euchre's monsters are reeling from the confusion, Kabuff comes out to make the Dingalings harder to kill.
Music: Ambiance of the Night
It also makes them harder to scout, but it's not too much of a concern overall.
The final new monster on Fert Isle appears over where the Beetleboys were during the day. It should be somewhat familiar to those who remember the start of the game.
Music: Monster Battle
Jargons are decent physical attackers, so that's something to be aware of.
Other than that, they have Sandstorm...
...as well as Flame Breath. The latter is somewhat damaging, although it's not really that bad any more. It's really just there to wear Team Euchre down.
Music: Ambiance of the Night
And that's about it! Scouting them can be more difficult if Euchre's monsters are Dazzled by Sandstorm, but that can be easily remedied by just waiting for the ailment to wear off.
Oh, and there's one last monster around: Lump Wizard! It's where the Hacksaurus was earlier. It's kind of just there and isn't anything to be concerned about.
Next time, Euchre will finally be finishing off Fert Isle and seeing just what Wildcard's final form is.
Extra: The Monster Library
Jargon
Jargons have the Skills Toughie and Fire Breath Ward when scouted and just Toughie when synthesised. They have no Traits and are immune to Drain Magic.
Toughie doesn't seem to have much of a focus. Sandstorm, Sultry Dance and War Cry fill the quota for ailments, as well as Blowback and Counter for counterattacks. On top of those there's Hustle Dance for multi-target healing and everyone's favourites, Body Slam and On-on-One. Overall Toughie is a little too unfocused for my tastes, and Body Slam and One-on-One make the whole Skill worse by their inclusion, so I don't really recommend it.
Fire Breath Ward is exactly what you'd expect. It gives two instances of Fire Breath Guard, Magic Miser and Magic Scrooge, and the stat boosts Maximum HP +20, Maximum MP +10 and Attack + 15. It's yet another Ward Skill, and if you've been reading this section then you probably know my opinion on those.
Hell Hornet
Hell Hornets have the Skills Diminisher and Defence Boost when scouted and just Diminisher when synthesised. They have the Traits Artful Dodger and Paralyser, are weak to Frizz, and are immune to both Poison and Paralysis.
Diminisher was first on Demonriders back in Part 6.
Scissor Beatle
Scissor Beatles have the Skills Hive Mind and Defence Boost when scouted and just Hive Mind when synthesised. They have the Trait Psycho, are vulnerable to Frizz, and are immune to Sleep.
Hive Mind was first on Scorpions back in Part 5.
Beetleboy
Beetleboys have the Skills Hive Mind and Attack Boost when scouted and just Hive Mind when synthesised. They have the Trait Psycho, are vulnerable to Frizz, and are immune to Sleep.
Hive Mind was first on Scorpions back in Part 5.
Giant Moth
Giant Moths have the Skills Toxifier and Defence Boost when scouted and just Toxifier when synthesised. They have the Traits Artful Dodger and Poisoner, are weak to Frizz, and are immune to Poison and Paralysis.
Toxifier was first on Dragonthorns back in Part 9.
Gorerilla
Gorerillas have the Skills Huntsman and Defence Boost when scouted and just Huntsman when synthesised. They have the Trait Critical Massacre and are immune to Dazzle.
Huntsman was first on Hammerhoods back in Part 7.
Bodkin Archer
Bodkin Archers have the Skills Fortifier and Attack Boost when scouted and just Fortifier when synthesised. They have no Traits and are immune to Fizzle.
Fortifier is a Skill that I'm a big fan of. As well as Heal (which is nearly useless at the moment) it teaches every stat-boosting spell in the game. This means Oomph, Oomphle, Buff, Kabuff, Accelerate, Acceleratle, Ping and Kaping. It's arguably the best Skill for buffing in the game, and my recommendation reflects that: get it and don't look back. Put it on a mage or something, though, since it can get fairly MP-intensive. The main problem with this Skill is that it requires a fairly good chunk of skill points to get good, but that's not much of a concern when Seeds of Skill and Metal Slimes are in such abundance. And there's an easy way to encounter the latter very soon...
Dingaling
Dingalings have the Skills Materialist and Defence Boost when scouted and just Materialist when synthesised. They have no Traits and are immune to Confusion. They're also kind of terrifying to look at.
Materialist was first on Muddy Hands back in Part 6.
Frogface
Frogfaces have the Skills Healer and Defence Boost when scouted and just Healer when synthesised. They have no Traits, are weak to Frizz, and are immune to Dazzle.
Healer was first on Healslimes back in Part 5.
Boss Troll
Boss Trolls have the Skills Anti-Dragon and Earth Ward when scouted, and just Anti-Dragon when synthesised. They have the Trait Critical Massacre and are immune to Whack, Dazzle and Sleep.
Anti-Dragon was first on Restless Armours back in Part 12.
Earth Ward is yet another Ward Skill. It's another Magic Miser/Magic Scrooge one, but it's actually not that good. You see, the only Earth-elemental abilities are found on the Incarnus Skills, and I don't think there's anything that's actually weak to Earth. For reference, though, it grants two Earth Guards and the stat boosts Maximum HP +10, Maximum HP +10, Attack +10 and Defence +15.
Hellhound
Hellhounds have the Skills Crack & Zam and Attack Boost when scouted and cannot be synthesised for some reason. They have the Trait Psycho, are weak to Zap, and are immune to Sag.
Crack & Zam was first on Skelegons back in Part 11.
Wailin' Weed
Wailin' Weeds have the Skills All-Rounder and Attack Boost when scouted and just All-Rounder when synthesised. They have the Trait Artful Dodger, are weak to Frizz, and are immune to Fizzle.
All-Rounder was first on King Kelps back in Part 8.
Extra 2: Synthesis Recipes
Dingaling + Demon Family = Anchorman (Rank D, not scoutable, not available through generic synthesis)
This is the only way to get an Anchorman, as far as I know, so this isn't a bad synthesis recipe to do for completion's sake. Sadly Anchorman isn't particularly good, even having the same Skill as Dingaling, and it's a lower Rank, too.
Dingaling + Satyr = Pan Piper (Rank D, not scoutable, not available through generic synthesis)
Again, this is the only way to get a Pan Piper as far as I know. Also again, Pan Pipers aren't very good and a lower Rank than Dingalings, but they're pretty much a direct improvement to Pan Pipers as a contrast. Just get one to fill your library and forget about them.
Boss Troll + Frou-Frou = Night Clubber (Rank S, not scoutable, not available through generic synthesis)
This is a phenomenal recipe. Not only are Night Clubbers very good monsters, but they can be used to make some even better monsters. The only real downside is that Boss Trolls are very difficult monsters to come by themselves and there's another recipe that involves them.