Part 108: Flame Demon

Update 17: Flame Demon





Before we go fight the Flame Demon, let's do some more cooking. I went ahead and got the last ingredient I was missing for these recipes.

...Sorry to keep you waiting. Here you go. It turned out pretty well.
...? This is a bit different from the pudding I know.
Is it? I've never seen pudding before.
Yes. To start, the ingredients are quite different as well. First, you would mix flour with beef tallow, then--
Hold on, there! We talking about sweets here, aren't we?
Yes, we are. Did I say something wrong?



You did.
You don't use beef tallow in sweets, right? Wouldn't you use butter?
Huh? But... in my country, that was normal.

Keep going.
Yes, I shall do so. You then add eggs, sugar, some brandy, and dry fruits... Mix them all together and boil.
Then, when it's cooked, you hang it in a well-ventilated place--
H-Hang!?
Yes, you hang them? For about... a month?
...Arianna, you're not trying to fool us, are you?

Dialogue merges here.

Don't be so suspicious of her. Arianna's recipe does exist. This recipe was arranged that so the pudding can be made with much more ease.
I see... The stickiness of the original isn't bad, but this is pretty good in its own right.
Soft and tasty.
Huh...!? U-Um... Where are... our servings?
I was wondering why you two weren't entering the conversation. Why're you eating without us!?
...I'll cut some more slices for you guys.
This'll go on the menu, and I see that some of you already like it, so order it again.



This triples the rate of rare breeds appearing. Handy if you want to go grinding.



...Sorry to keep you waiting. Here you go. It turned out pretty well.
I helped out this time.
Huh!? What'd the hell you do!? Your mother has told you over and over not to touch raw ingredients!
The old man getting that mad... Is Chloe's cooking THAT bad?
Dame Chloe likes to eat, so I would assume she wouldn't make a blunder out of her cooking.
Eating and making are two different things. She thinks it's funny to start throwing random things into the pot.
Trand doesn't trust Chloe at all. Trust me.
Fine. Trand doesn't get to eat. Knight, wanna eat?



There are two different skits depending on which choice you make.

...I'll eat!



...... ......! The chewy and sweet dango matches well with the tangy sauce... It's quite delightful!



Mm-hm! The dango that I skewered are delicious.
Skewered...? Um, does that mean... that Dame Chloe simply skewered the finished dango?
...I originally asked her to roll the dango, but that turned out to be quite a disaster. This is not only for you, but the prototype for the customers, so I limited her role to that.
Kid... That was a fine decision you made.
So, seeing that there's no problem with the taste, I'll add it to the menu. Feel free to order it whenever you feel like.

I refuse!
......
Chloe hates Knight. What about you, Flavio?
...Er, well... I think... I'll pass, too.
You are too cruel, everyone! Dame Chloe worked so hard to make them for us.
If you are all going to not eat, then I shall eat them myself!
Arianna... Thank you.
......
......!
These dango are very delicious! The sauce is sweet and fragrant, and the dough is chewy. This is amazing!
Mm-hm!
Arianna can have all of it.
Huh? What about us?
...There's none for those who refused.
That was your own fault this time.
Whenever you feel like it, you can order ones I made from the menu.



This can come in handy if you want to snag kill with Curse damage conditionals. It's also really handy for a couple of cheese strategies that involve the Curse ailment.



...Sorry to keep you all waiting. It turned out pretty well.
My, how cute...! It is a pretty color.
The texture is interesting. Jiggly, glossy... and sometimes lumpy.
W-Wait, Dame Chloe! You must first enjoy the presentation of the cooking...
Oh, it's already a mess...
It's the same when you eat it. I don't mind the looks.



I agree.
Right?

Looks are part of the taste.
That's a lie. You can make something pretty, but if it can't be eaten, it can't be eaten. Chloe... has been fooled before.
...Oh yeah. You bit into a bar of soap, saying it looked like cheese, huh?
That soap is an unforgivable crime.

Dialogue merges here.

But... Dame Regina worked so hard to make it pretty, I wanted to eat it tidily.
...You don't have to mind it that much. Losing its shape is the fate of all dishes.
The problem is you, Chloe. Your pre-meal snacking is the issue.
Chloe eats when Chloe wants.
Wha-- Hey, you're eating too much! Leave some for me, will you!?
Survival of the fittest.
Hey, don't take the plate and run! Wait!
Don't run in the restaurant!
*sigh* I added this to the menu, so next time, eat with a little more composure.



Increases the party's resistance to Paralysis by 80%. Handy for exploring and a few fights. With that, we've completed all the recipes for the 2nd Stratum.





Welcome! Oh, is this about the request...? I'm so sorry, but it looks like you already sold us everything we needed. So we're all set for materials... There's nothing else we need from you. I should have looked at the stock more carefully! This is all my fault! I'm so, so sorry! But Cass should still have your reward, so you can get it from him at the bar. I can't tell you how sorry I am about the mix-up...

And Abigail's dialogue if you already fulfilled the requirements for the Smithy Tompson's request. There's nothing else left in the Stratum, so it's time to fight Flame Demon.





Okay, we're right at Flame Demon's door, so let's see how Guild is doing.











I have Owl Earrings on everyone since that will be important for this fight. And I am using the TP Up food because Knight really can't outlast Flame Demon. Okay, let's get this started.





In the center of the falling red leaves, you detect an intense malevolence beyond any you've faced until now.



The Flame Demon...

Though the Flame Demon clearly notices your intrusion, it placidly stands its ground. The only emotion it displays is the quiet arrogance of a creature of power.

Looks like it's not going to budge until we make our move.
Then let us take the initiative!

The girl boldly declares her intent and takes a step forth. In your view, you wonder if Arianna may be a bit too worked up...



You're not alone, Arianna.
Hmm?
Knight's right.
There's four of us. We'll manage.
Probably.
C'mon, just 'probably'...?
Such brave compatriots...
...Yes, you're right.

The woman smiles warmly to her guildmates after their show of support. You face a dreadful opponent, but there is no need to fear. Take up arms and fight alongside your guild!





Flame Demon
Level: 29
HP: 8790
STR: 26
TEC: 24
VIT: 24
AGI: 17
LUC: 22
Skills:

• Madness Roar: Uses the head. Attempts to inflict panic on the entire party, with a 45% base chance. Has a 90% speed modifier.
  
• Terror's Embrace: Uses the arms. Deals 170% melee STR-based Bash damage to one target, with splash damage. Has a 60% speed modifier and 90 base accuracy.
  
• Inferno Strike: Uses the arms. Deals 350% ranged TEC-based Fire damage to one target. Has a 60% speed modifier and 120 base accuracy.
  
• Kingly Fire: Uses the legs. Deals 300% (on first cast) or 450% (on subsequent casts) ranged TEC-based Fire damage to the entire party. Has a 10% speed modifier and 150 base accuracy.
  
• Dispersed Cruelty: Uses the head. Reduces each party member's physical/elemental attack by 50% for 4 turns. Has a 120% speed modifier.
  
• Call Ally: Cannot be disabled. Summons Flame Cubes. Summons 1 Flame Cube to the front row on the first attempt, summons 2 Flame Cubes to the front row on the second attempt, summons 3 Flame Cubes to the back row on the third attempt.
  

Damage resistances:
100% 100% 100% 0% 125% 75%
Disable resistances:
50% 100% 50% 0% 50% 50% 0%
0% 0% 10%
25% 75% 50%

Before I get too deep into this boss fight, let me ask you a question. For those of you that have beaten the post-games of the Etrian series, did you enjoy the pattern based true final bosses? If so, great! Because for some stupid reason, Atlus decided to make nearly every boss fight in this game like that! The result is that the boss fights in EO2U are mostly garbage. Now every boss fight is a trial and error fight! Better break out the notebook and pencil, kids. Because chances are you're going to need those if you're doing these blind.









Because I know exactly what Flame Demon is going to do, this fight isn't going to be much of a problem. Unfortunately, that's a big problem with the boss fights now that they're pattern based. Once you figure out the pattern (Or looked them up like a coward), they are mind numbingly easy if you have to tools to deal with the pattern. As I am about to demonstrate here.





Just like I planned!

Oh that's nice.







I have absolutely nothing to worry about on this turn, thanks to Flame Demon using Madness Roar, which my party is completely immune to.







Wow. Yeah, damage wise, I should be fine during this fight.



By the way, if you're playing Story Mode, I hope Scarlet Rain isn't your favorite track.




Because if you're playing story mode, there's a small chance that you may be hearing this song a majority of the time instead.



Also I hope you have a Protector, because a majority of the boss fights in the game were balanced with the assumption that you would have one in the party. Totally not restrictive at all. Seriously, some of their attacks aren't survivable without specific skills from the Protector's skillset.





Okay, let's get some damage going.









Hmph.

Pfft.



That averaged to around 320 damage from Ice Wave, which is a bit less than what Chloe is dishing out. A little girl with a sword is more powerful than a guy with demon powers.



But that's why you set up stuff like Delayed Chase and the like with your Fafnir.



Flame Demon just lost around 1200 HP in one turn. Yeah, time and resources are not going to be an issue here.





Here's the cons of working with only one party instead of multiple in an EO LP. Your basic strategy essentially stays the same throughout most of the essential fights. Why fix what isn't broken and all that?



It'll be a while before Flavio really becomes a damage dealer. Survivalists are not a bad class in EO2U. They're actually really powerful, so don't be too down on using one. Please do not make the mistake of reclassing Flavio into a Gunner or Hexer just because Survalists were garbage in EO2 and EOU. I have seen several players do that and make things much harder for themselves in the end.









While Chloe may seem like an impressive damage dealer early on, she's much better as a support in the late-game. Not because her damage falls off late, but because she has far more of an impact supporting her party. Flavio will take up the role of the secondary damage dealer instead at that point, which is why I don't recommend reclassing him.





Everyone avoided Terror's Embrace there.





Aaaand this is where the fight really starts going downhill in terms of quality.

Flame Cube
Level: 28
HP: 580
STR: 22
TEC: 21
VIT: 22
AGI: 17
LUC: 22
Skills:

• Explosion: Used on the same turn as Kingly Fire. Used immediately after Kingly Fire. Cannot be disabled. Deals 800% ranged TEC-based Fire damage to each party member. Kills the Flame Cube after use.
  

Damage resistances:
100% 100% 0% 150% 100% 100%
Disable resistances:
50% 100% 75% 50% 50% 100% 100%
50% 50% 50%
100% 100% 100%

800% TEC-based Fire damage. That is one of the strongest attacks in the game, and is just flat out overkill. It's to ensure that you get killed by Explosion if you ignore the Flame Cubes, even if you stack up Fire resistance effects. So taking these out is your first priority. Due to the nerfs the elemental walls got in the Untold games, Fire Wall won't protect you against them since they'll block Kingly Fire instead.



Meteor Smash should easily dispatch the Flame Cube.



That would be Sagittarius Shot coming down. Not impressive damage, but his skills are at a really low level right now.



Softening up the Flame Cubes.



Yeah, that took care of it. Really would have liked to hit Flame Demon with that instead, but I didn't have a choice there.



Still, Chloe is making sure that we don't fall behind on damage.





And now it's back to this. I used Transform early because I really want to blow through this fight as fast as possible.



Thanks to Accumulative Resistance, Blind doesn't have much of a chance of landing right now. So I'm switching to Paralysis.



Success!

AHAHAHA, really? I didn't need the Paralysis to proc there, but it's still nice.



May as well power up Flavio.



Chloe status: Still hitting like a truck.



If you haven't taken out the Flame Cube yet, do it quickly once you see that message, unless you want to see the Game Over screen on the next turn. Also yeah, status effects can't prevent this sequence of events. (though Leg Bind can prevent Kingly Fire.)



Knight is stuck with casting Delayed Chase + Freeze Sabre until his Force builds back up.



While you don't exactly need Fire Wall to block Kingly Fire, it is the best way to do so. But if you don't have that, Fire Mists + some Fire resistant equipment may suffice. Though you should probably have everyone defend on that turn for good measure.



Force Boost!



I'm gonna stack AOE Attack Orders on the party for a few turns. This is to deal with Dispersed Cruelty later on.



Okay Flame Demon, do your thing.





Ech. Without Transform, Knight really isn't that impressive.



Though Delayed Chase still hits plenty hard.



A reminder that a little girl is outdamaging Knight.





Kingly Fire may be Flame Demon's “big attack”, but the Explosions from the Flame Cubes are the real worry in this fight. Oh, by the way...



I damaged Flame Demon so much during her second phase, that I skipped the third phase entirely!



Force Boost!



Now I'm breaking out Flavio's Force Boost to deal with the Flame Cubes.







The Flame Cubes are about halfway dead, meaning that Knight and Chloe can just focus on Flame Demon.





Inferno Strike is coming out this turn (assuming that Flame Demon doesn't get her turn canceled thanks to Paralysis.)



I will use all my might!

I'm using Arianna's Force Boost to restore the party's TP. Though to be honest, I really don't need Proof of Nobility in this fight. Even in Story mode, its usefulness falls off as the game goes on. (Where in Classic Mode, its never useful at all.)









This amount of TP is overkill.





I almost feel sorry for Flame Demon. She didn't really hit our party that often during this fight.



Here we go again.



Paralysis wore off, and I don't want Flavio to waste this turn using status effects that have a very small chance of landing. So I'm gonna have her shove Axcelas down Knight's throat. Unlike EOU, Axcelas are very useful in this game in case you want to refill your Force gauge fast in an emergency.



Protecting the party from Kingly Fire again.



Letting it all out!

Flavio's Force Break can easily dispatch the Flame Cubes and deal heavy damage to Flame Demon in the process.



Arianna joins in on supplying Axcelas for Knight to funnel.





The bombs have been defused.









Once again, Kingly Fire didn't touch the party.



Since Flame Demon is no longer affected by any ailments, I'm breaking out Chloe's Force Boost so she can continue running the pain train.



Bertrand joins in on the “Knight chugs Axcelas all day” party.



May as well throw out a Blind Arrow, but discounting LUC, Flavio only has a 12% chance of landing the ailment.



Thanks for the free turn.



Err, mostly. I forgot to put an Owl Earring on Arianna, not that it matters at this point.









Haha, wow. I did so much damage to Flame Demon in her 4th phase, that she only did got 1 turn off in her 5th phase before going to her 6th phase.



Gonna have Bertrand cure Arianna.



I probably didn't need to do this, but whatever.





Oh no, my back row lost their attack buff. Whatever will I do?



You got the wrong row Flame Demon.








No more games.

But enough messing around. It's time to finish this.





Pictured: Playing Flame Demon like a fiddle.







Yeah, that's not gonna help at this point.







We won!

Yeah, I just had Knight guzzle Axcelas just so he could dunk on Flame Demon in style.





If you know the attack pattern of a boss, then you can dance circles around them, like I just did. Flame Demon is a warning of things to come, so if you had trouble with her, you may want to rethink your skillsets and stuff.







The moment you lower your guard, you feel a tremendous rush of power... Some strength not your own is drawing out further power from within!





Oh boy. Extend is only available during Transform, and it resets the duration of Transform back to 3 turns, essentially letting you have 5 turns of uptime with it.

Are you okay...?

Noticing that you had gone still the moment the demon was defeated, the woman addresses you with no small concern.



I'm all right.
I see. Thank the heavens...
Well, our victory over the Flame Demon went just according to plan. How're you feeling, Knight?

You take your friend's inquiry to mean curiosity as to whether any change has occurred in you. You say that you have indeed gained more power, just as the mysterious voice said.

Then... that means we can move on.
Yes! And thus perform the ritual...!

With the fierce battle over and another step taken toward her goal, the woman smiles cheerfully to you.

Okay. Let's stop back in town first, though.
Yes. Then, Ginnungagap.

You decide to return to High Lagaard with your comrades as they happily chat amongst themselves.



Well, we're done with the 2nd Stratum now.





Onto the 3rd Stratum!





It appears to be the mysterious moving plant monster.



Looks different from the one we saw before.
Huh? How's that, now?
Dame Chloe, you have quite a remarkable memory! How amazing.
Yep. I'm amazing.



If you have to say it yourself...
Is that wrong?
Yup. Wrong. Very wrong.
Trand, you didn't even remember. I don't want to hear it.
Dunno what you're talking about. I remember it perfectly well.
......

In the midst of your conversation, the plant seems to react, vibrating slightly in response to your voices.

You know, this situation... feels really familar, for some reason...







It's the exact same enemy as the Yggdrasil Bud, only with a different name and model. Just kill it and take your prize.





But we did get some ingredients.
Exactly. Let's go back and eat.
Any excuse to go eat...
It's fine. I can go eat at any time.
Well, as expected, Dame Chloe! Certainly we can always rely on you.
What exactly are you talking about...?
Anyhow, no point just standing around like this. We might as well get moving, huh, Knight?

You nod, agreeing with Flavio, and set back out on the path through the Labyrinth.

Anyways, further on in the Labyri-



Yeah, let's go report in and then head to Ginnungagap to see if we can move on with the ritual. We didn't come here to investigate the forest, after all.

Your comrades persuade you to return to High Lagaard rather than press on.

Fiiiine.







I want to rest first.
Are you weary, Sir Knight?
We can report to the Grand Duchy at any time. Let us rest before we do so.