Part 24: Loose Ends

Last time, Euchre went to Infern Isle and freed Wildcard from the dark matter's influence.

Music: Appearance of the Town



This time, he'll be going around all of Green Bays looking for things to do before going into the final dungeon. Starting in Domus Isle seems reasonable.



Breaking news! Disaster strikes Infern Isle - MSO issues travel warning! Make sure you check it out!

The local reporter, as usual, is talking about the latest news. Of course, we already know about this one, and as far as I know this will always be the case since her dialogue updates upon first going to Infern Isle.



Must've decided anywhere was better than here. I don't think we'll be seeing him again.



People are saying that the Commissioner went to investigate the disaster on Infern Isle.

It looks like people are starting to notice that Snap's disappeared. It's a little surprising that news has gotten out that he's on Infern Isle, though - it would be more likely for him to be on Fert Isle, sine he went there via jetski and flew to Infern later.

Music: CELL Headquarters



But the ship ain't come, so I'm stuck 'ere. The challenge is over. It's time I left for an 'oliday. Dunno who to take with me, though. 'Eligator or mechan-o'-wyrm?



So this choice is actually somewhat important. Whichever one Euchre doesn't tell him to take, he'll give to him for free. As such, if Euchre chooses yes here...

All right, it's settled then. I'll take mechan-o'-wyrm. And you can 'ave me 'eligator! Don't forget to name it!



We haven't seen a Heligator yet, but they're quite difficult to get. It involves a relatively short chain of synthesis recipes to get, but it's still longer than anything Euchre's done so far. Inaction Ward is kind of hard to get, too.



On the other hand, if Euchre says that this guy should take the Heligator...



...he'll get the Mechan-o'-wyrm. This guy is considerably easier to get than Heligators, requiring a Metal Dragon, which can be found in the wild, and a monster that can be made through generic synthesis. Whack Ward is much more difficult to get than Inaction Ward, though, and much more useful, too.



Sadly Euchre gets nothing if he refuses to pick one, although he can just initiate the conversation again.



Euchre will be picking the Heligator. These are some surprisingly high-rank monsters, and both are definitely very welcome.

Music: Appearance of the Town



Actually, we're looking for him too. Until the Commissioner gets back, we can't move on this Infern Isle situation.

Back out of the sewer, it turns out that the MSO is in disarray. You'd think that giving relief to the people of Infern Isle would coincide nicely with looking for Snap, given that he's rumoured to be there. The MSO are a bunch of idiots, basically.

Music: Contest Castle



I suppose I should ask her to leave, but she is somewhat...stubborn. I'm afraid I'm not very good around such forceful women.

Backing that statement up is the fact that Solitaire hasn't been kicked out of the Commissioner's office yet. Is there no security staff here?



It's like sitting on my dream man! Kicking back in your very own office is one of the perks of being commissioner. Ah, if I had won the finals, this chair would have been mine.

And, of course, Solitaire continues to be the worst person. Now with sadism!

Music: Scoutpost



Anyway, that's enough messing around. It's time to actually get things done, and for that Euchre needs stronger monsters.



Putting Vlad together with Octorok doesn't result in any new monsters, but they're still decent.



Dark Slime Knight seems like a good choice here, purely because it has Psycho. Sadly its stat growths aren't particularly suitable, but there aren't a lot of Wisdom-focused monsters with that particular Trait.



Fortifier and Frizz & Bang III are the Skills that Vlad II will be going with. Wisdom Boost really doesn't matter; there's no way he'll be getting enough skill points to make it worth investing in any time soon.



Next up is this synthesis combination. I ignored it a couple of updates ago, but now the required monsters are a high enough level to make it worth doing.



The result? Malroth, the final boss of Dragon Quest 2.



Unfortunately, despite being a final boss, he doesn't have a unique Skill. Instead he has Healer, which is both boring and unsuitable for this particular incarnation; he'll be sticking with Red Horn's skillset.

Music: Ambiance of the Night



With these new assets under Euchre's belt, it's time to challenge the arena again. Rank B awaits!

Music: Monster Battle



Because it's impossible to turn off the AI yet again, these battles will unfortunately be flying by without the chance to see full movesets.



In this case only the right Scissor Beatle got a chance to do anything beyond attacking, which was casting debuffs. It's got Kasap...



...and Sag. Since the latter is Weakening Wallop without the damage, it can be incredibly annoying to be hit by it.



The theme of the second battle is monsters that hop around a lot.



It's a little difficult to talk about these monsters beyond "they exist". Fuddle Dance is kind of nasty, at least.



Sidoh here absorbs Zam, so this is no problem. Not that it really matters, since this whole rank should have been done a while ago.



The final battle in Rank B is against a bunch of fast monsters. Just remember that the Great Sabrecat will always go first.



The left Jumping Jackal has War Cry and probably some other things, but whatever they are they're not important.



The right one did get to use its abilities, though, and it had a surprising variety. Physical attacks from lower-level monsters basically can't touch Team Euchre right now, so Multislash is a non-issue.



Weakening Wallop is a problem, of course, but Vlad II's presence renders it pointless on half of Euchre's damage dealers.



And finally Sandstorm is kind of just there.

Music: Ambiance of the Night



And with that, Rank B is done. Let's see what Euchre gets.

Here's ya prize then. Ya very own Minus sceptre.

Euchre receives a Minus sceptre!

Minus sceptres are the same as Plus sceptres in that they influence the result of synthesis recipes. It's not hard to guess how, but in case you don't remember what the latter does, here's a reminder: the result will always have a positive polarity. In this case, though, it's always negative. And no, you can't guarantee a neutral result by equipping opposing sceptres on the two components.



Next up is Rank A. Unsurprisingly, the price has doubled from 500 to 1000 gold coins between ranks. It's still just peanuts to Euchre.

Music: Monster Battle



The first fight of the new rank features a Grim Rider, which we haven't seen yet. I've mentioned the Bone Baron a couple of times before, and this guy is its palette swap. Or is it the other way around?



The right Demonrider has Cold Blizzard. It's not half bad, and might actually be somewhat threatening if it repeats it.



Thankfully, the very next turn, it gets disabled by Breathtaking Bash. I don't think we've seen this ailment yet, so here it is!



Nothing else did anything interesting, so it's time to move on to the next battle. This one features a Trap Box, which was a boss in Dragon Quest 8. Watch as it gets upstaged by its friends in this game!



Kaboom is what it is, that being a decent amount of damage. That's not the main problem here.



This ability is why this fight is really stupid.



It causes a great big explosion. Funnily enough, though, it doesn't do any damage.



Instead, it tries to inflict instant death all of the opposing party with a fairly high chance. I have no idea if this is Whack-based or unresistable, but it does have a unique message for when it inevitably happens.



As the name suggests, though, this will instantly kill the user. This aspect of it, at least, is definitely unresistable. It's a decent ability to have if the user can be easily revived, although this particular team seems to lack anything like that.



Compared to that, Venomous Volley isn't very good. That's especially true due to one of the enemy team being down at this point and ailments wearing off after battle.



Now that that fight's over with, let's move on to the next. This one has entirely new monsters.



The Mumboh-jumboe is a bit weird in that it has a unique message when it does nothing. The reason for this is that it's made up of four other monsters, unoriginally named Mum, Boh, Jum and Boe. They don't exactly get along.



And then, of course, there's Weakening Wallop. Maybe the game is catching on that Attack-lowering effects are broken, since they've come up a lot around here.



And that's the end of Rank A!

Music: Ambiance of the Night



Here's ya prize. A dragontail whip - perfect for the man who longs for fulla lashes! Don't be afraid to use it, sonny - cos ya worth it! Hahaha!

Euchre receives a dragontail whip!

This thing is a really strong whip, but it's probably not going to get any use. I just don't like whips that much. And, of course, there's also Rank S. That one's being left for the postgame, because it's rock-hard.

Music: Island



Instead, it's time for Euchre to go around and collect those hard-to-scout monsters from way back when. First up is the King Slime up on top of Infant Isle.

Music: Monster Battle



Even though Euchre already got one (or even two) of these, I'm still going to cover this one. After all, monsters tend to behave very differently in the wild, and we haven't seen what Skill this one gets from scouting either.



As it turns out, they can only defend on top of their regular attack. They get Agility Boost, too, which is available pretty much anywhere. Overall, they're deeply boring.



Next up is the Gigantes down below. Hopefully it'll be more interesting.



It just so happens to be the strongest monster on the island, and it's in a battle with the weakest. Funny how that works.



It's got Hatchet Man, which lets it do fairly high damage to anyone - around 120 or so, in fact - but only if it hits. Remember, Hatchet Man, being a critical hit, ignores Defence.



Probably the most fascinating thing about them is the huge disconnect between its stats. Just look at how bad its Defence and Wisdom are, and look at how good its Attack is.



The third monster that Euchre's paying a visit to today is the Dessert Demon in Xeroph Isle's shrine.



It comes with an Imp, which makes sense. What doesn't make sense is why it doesn't come with two. Maybe it's to make the fight more fair for the level Euchre first gets here.



Unlike the last two monsters, the Dessert Demon is actually fairly versatile. Acceleratle won't do much for it now, but it's the thought that counts.



And Zing is completely pointless, since it can only revive the Imp. If you're fighting the Dessert Demon with the intent to win, Imps probably aren't much of a concern.



It's a little weird for one of the harder monsters to scout in an area to fit a support role, but there you go. This probably should have been done a while ago.



Anyway, here's the last monster that Euchre will be going after. It's a Seasaur, which he's beaten before but not scouted.



As such, there isn't much reason to go over its abilities again. And on that underwhelming note, that's the last scoutable monster outside of the final dungeon that isn't a Metal Slime or any of its relatives. Unless I missed something, of course.

With that, that's all the loose ends I wanted to tie up before going back to Infern Isle. Next time, Euchre will be doing just that, and tackling the final dungeon.

Extra: The Monster Library

Seasaur





Seasaurs have the Skills Dragon Lore and Water Ward when scouted, and just Dragon Lore when synthesised. They have the Trait Artful Dodger and are immune to Fizzle.

Dragon Lore was first found on Green Dragons back in Part 9.

Water Ward's effects should be self-explanatory. Stat boosts, Magic Miser/Magic Scrooge and some Water Guard passives. In this case the stat boosts are Maximum HP +20, Maximum MP +20, Defence +5 and Wisdom +5, and there are two Water Guards. It's pretty decent, just like every other Ward Skill.

Heligator





Heligators have the Skills Naturalist and Inaction Ward when received as a gift, and just Naturalist when synthesised. They have the Trait Artful Dodger and are immune to both Fire Breath and Ice Breath.

Naturalist was found on Platypunks back in Part 2.

Inaction Ward is another ward Skill. It gives three Inaction Guard passives as well as Able Ambusher. As for the bonus stats it imparts, there's Maximum HP +20 and Defence +10. It's pretty standard, and as such has pretty standard uses.

Gigantes





Gigantes have the Skills Anti-metal and Attack Boost when scouted, and just Anti-metal when synthesised. They have the Trait Last Word, making them always move last in a turn, and are immune to Whack.

Anti-metal was first found on Hunter Mechs back in Part 12.

Dessert Demon





Dessert Demons have the Skills Bolsterer and Wisdom Boost when scouted, and just Bolsterer when synthesised. They have no Traits and are immune to Dazzle.

Bolsterer was first found on Shell Slimes back in Part 9.

Malroth





Malroths have the Skill Healer and cannot be scouted. They have the Traits Artful Dodger and Psycho, absorb Zam, and are immune to Whack and Confusion.

Healer was first found on Healslimes back in Part 5.


Extra 2: Synthesis Recipes

Seasaur + Hades Condor = Abyss Diver (Rank B, not scoutable, available through generic synthesis)

While this might be a decent recipe earlier in the game, it's overshadowed by another including a Seasaur that Euchre doesn't have one of the components for yet. Still, it's an easy way to get an Abyss Diver, since both components are fairly easy to get right now.


Gigantes + Boss Troll = Atlas (Rank S, not scoutable, not available through generic synthesis)

This is a pretty good recipe. It's one of three ways to get an Atlas, with the other two also requiring a Gigantes. Honestly, I'm not sure which I would recommend, but this is the easiest to do as a one-off using that Boss Troll from Fert Isle. Atlas itself can be used to make some nice monsters, too, so definitely consider this one.


Heligator + Jumping Jackal = Riptide (Rank A, not scoutable, not available through generic synthesis)

This is the only way to get a Riptide, and it's a decent physical-based monster. Since this recipe is the only use for a Heligator, it's probably a good idea to make one like this for library-filling purposes.