Part 4: First Mission Cleanup

Update 2.5: First Mission Cleanup



Alright, let's go offload the junk we found off monsters at Sitoth.


Oh, I almost forgot! Have you received a Citizenship Card from the Minister? If it's alright, I'd like to just check that first...
Here it is. Freshly pressed.
Thank you very much! There's a special product that I can only give to customers that have a Citizenship Card. It's called Ariadne Thread, and it lets you come back to town from the Labyrinth any time you want. You should always make sure you have one when you enter the Labyrinth, just in case!

Ariadne Threads (known as Warp Wires in EO1 and 2) are a series staple, and they do pretty much exactly what Abigail says: use them in the Labyrinth, and you are instantly warped out back to Lagaard. They're less useful in EOU and EO2U than they are in previous games due to a game mechanic we haven't seen yet, but you should absolutely still have one on you whenever you go into the Labyrinth in case an emergency occurs, like most of your party dying without any way to revive them.



I sell off everything we found in the Labyrinth, aside from the Rat Needles (I have a good reason for this), and:



New items become available for sale. Green Leaves, unlocked by selling 1 Carapace Piece, are light armor that provide +7 DEF, while Medica IIs, unlocked by selling 1 Small Flower, are consumables that heal for 100 HP. Very useful, but overkill for right now, especially given that we have a Medic in the party.



Green Leaves, on the other hand, are much less useful. They only provide +2 DEF over the Tweed that Realga and Stardust came with, which is not going to save them from anything; if either of them die with the back row damage reduction in effect, they would've died even with the Green Leaf.



I buy an Ariadne Thread, because I'd be a massive hypocrite if I didn't. Some people swear by buying two Ariadne Threads at all times, just in case they forget one before going exploring, but I find that a quick inventory check before going into the Labyrinth suffices.

Abigail's Talk dialogue after you've finished the first mission:

Oh, welcome! How's the exploration going? Um...is everything okay? It's really dangerous inside. Maybe I'm asking too much, but...try not to get hurt, okay? I'll be praying for your safe return!



Remember how Cass told us to leave the bar because we hadn't finished the first mission? Let's go see what he has for us now.


Now, let's get down to business. I get a lot of requests here, and I put 'em all up on that bulletin board over there. Usually, it's stuff like, "Go get this thing," or "Defeat that monster." Pretty damn lazy bunch, if yeh ask me... But the reward is usually worth the trouble. So it ain't a bad way to pick up a little somethin' here and there. Got it?



Like I said in the last update and Cass said just now, the bar is where you go to take on sidequests. Unlike the original EO2, where a lot of the quests were mind-numbing busywork you often had to interrupt your normal exploration for that gave very little reward, quests in EO2U tend to be stuff you would've done normally anyway, or at least stuff that isn't that far out of the way of your normal routine. The item rewards you get from quests tend to vary in quality, but every quest gives EXP much like missions do (albeit considerably less due to how many quests thare are compared to missions), so it's in your best interests to do them.

Blue quests are normal quests that are given through progressing through the game, while orange quests are repeatable DLC quests. All of the DLC quests have floor requirements are attached, and the earliest point at which we can start a DLC quest (all 3 of the grinding ones) is 4F. Aside from that, most of the DLC quests are quite a ways off; the recommended levels for them start at 65, and the floor requirements range from the 3rd Stratum to after the end of the game. As I said, we won't be doing these for a long time.

I, of course, take on every non-DLC quest. Cass's dialogue for Pure mineral water:

Ah, yeh'll take that quest, then? Great, great, good to hear it. This one's from the restaurant down the way. The man there's in powerful need of Rock Water. It's bracing stuff, but yeh can only find it in the Labyrinth. Yeh don't have to go too far in, mind. Should be able to get some on the 1st floor. Just bring back some of that water and the job's done. G'luck!
Oh, that water we drank from the rock?

All we have to do for this quest is go to the tile where we drank the water that healed the party for 35 HP/10 TP.

For The leathersmith's request:

This comes from a local craftsman. He's been in High Lagaard since the old days... Kind of a loon, but does damn good work. Fella uses tanned leather to make clothes. But the leather's all though, see, so he can't stitch it without good sturdy needles. ...And the only way t'get these needles is to get 'em off spiny monsters. Yeh gettin' the picture now? Need yeh to track down some forest Hedgehogs, and pluck maybe three Rat Needles off 'em. G'luck!
We still have a bunch of those in our item pack...

Lastly, for The item trade I:
Haw! I knew yeh'd take the bait on this. Just say "weapon" or "equipment" and the explorers come running! Yeh know Sitoth Trading, of course. The dry goods store just out front...exactly. Never seen Sitoth myself, as the man's obsessed with his job. He never leaves the workshop. Nah, this one's from his girl Abigail. She wants to help yeh lot out by making new weapons. To be honest, I wasn't listening too close. Yeh'll have to go ask her what she needs.

Remember how I mentioned I didn't sell off the Rat Needles?



That's why.

Oh, done already? Let's see... Awright, that's everything! This is yer reward. Go ahead and count it if yeh wanna make sure, eh? Haw!


Oh, nice! I won't have to worry as much about you all dying.
...Please don't say that.
Rr.

3 Nectars is a very nice reward this early on; they give you a lot of leeway in case someone dies during exploring.



And as I said, quests give EXP. We're close to a level up, but not quite.

Note that, for both quests and missions, you can't just have one party member turn in the quest and get a mountain of EXP; quests and missions give each party member a set amount of EXP. The number at the top of the results screen is just that number multiplied by your current party size.



Well, the list of bar patrons has certainly changed since we turned in the mission! Let's start with the depressed Dark Hunter.

Um...we have something for you.
Uh, what? A branch? Sure, it's...cool, for a branch. I don't know what you-- A-Ah! Wait, that branch...there's a whip tangled on it! Did you find this in the forest!? The other day, I was fighting monsters, and my whip got stuck on a branch. I couldn't reach it... I'm so lucky someone managed to get it for me! Yay! Thanks so much--I'm really grateful! Mm... I can't just take this for free. Here--in exchange for finding my whip, I'll give you this fancier one in exchange! It's a little too hard for me to use properly, but I think you'll be able to use it just fine. I'm just happy to have my old one.



I'm so glad to have my old whip again! But...geez, it's really tangled up on this branch, huh... Maybe if I loosen it with some hot water...? I know that works for opening jars... Oh, but this is amazing! Thank you so much for getting it back to me!


Well, it's...unique, but it feels less powerful than even this plain whip.

The Binding Whip is our introduction to something completely useless: disabling weapons. Every one of them has only +10 ATK, but also carries a 30% base chance to apply a status effect or a bind (with the exception of two of them that only have 10% base chances). It's not worth giving up pretty much all of one party member's offense for a small chance to inflict a disable with normal attacks, especially someone you depend on for damage, like a Dark Hunter.

Knight in shiny armor:

Gaaah! I got wrecked again! Why are the monsters in the forest so strong!? Especially that bug! Crawler, or something? Even if I use my deadliest strike, the damn stubborn thing doesn't even care! All my friends say there's other ways to beat it, like Guarding through its attacks, since it's so thick and tough... But I mean, c'mon! I'm all about the deadly strikes! Who ever heard of beating a monster by defending? ...I mean, I'm probably making my life harder by being stubborn... But still.

We didn't run into Crawlers during the first mission, thankfully. Like Not-Hector here says, Crawlers can very easily ruin your day; they hit very hard and can take quite a lot of punishment. They don't resist instant death, however, so Issen will take care of them, and even at level 1, Eschaton will kill them as well.

Bizarrely-dressed merchant:

Ah, so much to do! I need to go forage at the forest to stock up on ingredients! What's a delicate thing like me to do? All the customers want different things...but different things are gathered from different points... Citron to the east, Rye to the west... I have to remember or this whole trip is doomed! Finished! You're also going exploring, right? Do your best out there!

The merchant's referring to the fact that different gathering points give different ingredient drops. We already found the Citron gathering point on 1F, but we have yet to find the Rye one.

Tired hero:

*sigh* Lend me an ear, would you, brother? I...I ended up creating yet another legend. The forest is full of dangers, but I don't think there's a single guild that's faced down as much as I have. And this time I...I actually...forgot my Ariadne Thread... No way to heal, and nobody to back me up... Even the elite guild Esbat's probably never had to deal with anything like this. Heh. But it's only natural. Not many people can drag themselves back from the brink of death, but me...? Well... ...I'm a GODDAMN LEGEND.
...
Someone's certainly full of themselves.

Yes, this guy seems like a cocky prick, but he brings up the same point I mentioned earlier: you really want to always have an Ariadne Thread on you in case an emergency pops up.

And finally, Rozsika:

The first step of forest exploration is to know yourself! Is there anything you're unsure about? Go ahead, ask me whatever you want!

I wouldn't be doing an LP if I needed Roszika's advice.

...I see. Well, if there's anything you want to know, don't hesitate to ask. I'll always be here for you, alright?

Cass's Talk dialogue after you finish the first mission:

Oi! Getting used to the Labyrinth yet? Eh? Why the long face? Ahh... Well, all I can say is, take it slow. If yeh die, it's curtains for yeh. The Labyrinth's huge, but it'll keep. Take it easy, and go at yer own pace.



Let's make a quick stop at the Explorers Guild to see Marion's Talk dialogue after you finish the first mission.

Hm? Ah, you're the ones who established a new guild the other day. How's your exploration of the Labyrinth going? Are you using the guild to its full potential? Depending on the task at hand, you may want to choose different team members. For example, for when you aren't aiming to climb higher, you could assemble a team of specialists that can Chop, Mine, or Take. Taking along the right allies for the right jobs could help you maximize their potential, and improve your versatility. Well, that's all I have to say for now. Try to avoid unnecessary risks.

Well, that's what I have the Byeahs for.

If we go to Sitoth Trading after accepting The item trade I, Abigail will tell us this when we enter:


Whew! I'd never made a request with Cass before, so I wasn't sure if anyone would take it... My dad's very busy, so I'll have to give you the materials list myself. Umm...here it is. 3 Carapace Piece, and 2 Small Nail! Once you have the materials, sell them to me. The reward is on top of the sale price.



Hanna's talk dialogue after you finish the first mission:

Oh, were you looking for mama's advice? Well, don't worry. As long as you're under my roof, you're like my own family! Don't worry, you can tell mama anything. Bahahahaha!
...Quite certain I'm older than you, Hanna.


Man, I'm exhausted after that. I'd heard stories of how deadly the Labyrinth is, but never actually seen just what the monsters there are capable of.
Speak for yourself. Freyja and Ursa are the ones who came close to dying.
W-well, some sleep will do us all well. Good night, everyone.
Night.
Rrrrrrrrr...

Resting at the inn restores all of your party's HP and TP, as well as sets the clock to 7 AM or 7 PM, depending on when you choose to wake up after pressing Stay.



If you have auto-save enabled, as well, resting will automatically prompt you to save your game. Might as well show it off once (pay no attention to the other save):



Saving sure goes by quickly when you save to the SD card.

To make up for the fact that this update is short (even if it was formerly part of another update), expect a game mechanics post later today.