The Let's Play Archive

Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight

by Ragnar Homsar, Dr. Fetus

Part 132: Bonus: The Eldritch Hound

Bonus: The Eldritch Hound





Okay, this update will be covering this piece of DLC. And since Ragnar Homsar won't be covering it in his LP, I'll go into detail on it myself.

Heheh, glad yeh lot are takin' that one for me! This quest is made for yeh. Huh? Why, yeh ask? ...Uhm... Uh... Well, yeh see, the client is a stuffy scholar type. I ain't too good at dealin' with him. ...Haw haw haw! Half the time, I got no damn idea what's comin' out of his mouth! Well, I ain't too bad at runnin' a shop, but I was never really much for studyin', eh? Haw haw haw! The scholar's in here havin' a drink. Let's see... the fella over there, in the white hood. Can't miss 'em. Heheh, sorry about that... Anyhow, g'luck!



...You must be the guild that accepted the quest. Call me Ryle. I'm something of a researcher of Yggdrasil. Now... Let me get straight to the facts of the matter. What I'd like to ask of you is to restore a certain seal that exists inside the Yggdrasil. It was apparently created to seal off monsters referred to as the Hounds of Tindalos... And recently, there's been reports of the seal in question being broken. There's no way for us to know precisely what happened in the forest, but you can see this is something of an emergency. My sources state... the once-sealed monster hunts for power to endlessly self-replicate. The forest would soon be overrun by them. If it can truly multiply itself in such a way, then I doubt the damage will be contained to the forest for long... It's possible the monsters would advance out of the Labyrinth, into High Lagaard and beyond... To prevent that from happening, we must restore the seal by moving its stones back to their proper places. Simple, in theory. Reportedly, the seal's original shape was a perfect circle. Our aim, then, is to restore it to that shape. According to the documents, the barrier exists somewhere in the southeast on the 12th floor. I've heard you're quite famed throughout the city for your abilities... but I suggest you still exercise caution.



Incidentally, Ryle shares a voice actor with a character from EOU. I'll go more into detail on that later.

Also yes, that is indeed a reference to one of H.P. Lovecraft's works. Not the first time this series has done something like that either (See EO3.)





Hmm...
Flavio, you've been acting weird ever since we left. What're you grunting about?
Well, it's about the requester from before... His face was covered by his hood, but I could swear I've seen him before. But I don't have any acquaintances in High Lagaard, and the name Ryle doesn't really ring a bell either...
Hmm... hey, Knight, what do you think?



The requester is a liar!
Huh!? Wait, does that mean this request itself is a lie too!?
C'mon, get a grip. Cass checks up on these things as best he can. I think he'd know if this guy was a fake.
O-Oh, right... so this Ryle person probably has a clean background, then.
Maybe it's just my imagination...? We've never left the Midgard Library, so how would we know some guy over here?
Well then, let us first check this seal. He did mention that High Lagaard might be threatened. We cannot allow that!
Restoring a seal's original shape, huh... Hope we haven't bitten off more than we can chew, here.
We need to go check that.
All this about seals and barriers sounds a bit fun. I'm very intrigued.
Yeah, we'd better check what's going on. Southeast on the 12th floor, right? Let's get going then, Knight!

With Flavio urging you on, you resume your exploration towards your objective.



Could this be the way to the seal that Sir Ryle spoke of?
Seems like it.
But... something smells weird.

Chloe wrinkles her nose in disgust, and you suddenly become aware of an unpleasant, pungent odor.

...Might be the smell of whatever's waiting up ahead.
Hounds of Tindalos, huh... Even the name alone sounds pretty intimidating. We'll have to be extra careful as we move ahead.

You concur with Flavio - absolute caution should be the order of the day if you are to progress further on this path. If you are fully prepared to face a vicious monster, then go forth!



G-Gah... it smells horrible... I-I'm tearing up...



It's big. A ball made of stone...? But a piece has been chipped off.
Great. The seal's original shape was a perfect circle, huh...? That mean we just need to fix this thing?
I hope the chipped off piece is not far...
It may be close by. Perhaps we should search around for it?

You begin searching through the hidden area in order to locate the missing fragment of the seal.

Spoiler alert: It's at the very end. But take the time to familiarize yourself with the area and make a good map of it first before heading there. Oh and the random encounters in this area are the same as the rest of this floor, so don't worry too much about them.















......
What is that? Could that be the Hound of Tindalos?
I-I'm afraid I don't see anything remotely doglike about it...
The guy who named it probably wasn't going off of appearance. But that's not important. Look--its feet.
At its feet...?
Oh, is that... the piece of the seal!?

Indeed, the fragment at its feet appears to be the missing piece of the spherical seal! To make matters worse, the monster is carefully poised before the shard, as if protecting it... It seems that if you wish to acquire the missing seal fragment, you will have to defeat this creature first. You can challenge the Hound of Tindalos to a fight immediately, or you can wait and simply observe.



Interesting, it has a yellow aura instead of the purple one used to denote bosses.













Here's my food and party setup for this fight. If you aren't at level 99, don't bother engaging it.



Here we go.





Tindalos
Level: 99
HP: 135000
STR: 95
TEC: 90
VIT: 70
AGI: 58
LUC: 63
Exp: 666666
Skills: Drops:
Damage resistances:
100% 100% 100% 125% 100% 100%
Disable resistances:
25% 25% 25% 50% 50% 25% 25%
0% 0% 10%
0% 25% 75%
Description: A monster that pursues its quarry like any hunting hound. No one has outsmarted it!

Oh boy, look at that HP count, EO2U broke 6 digits at last, something no other game in the series has accomplished! Anyways, here's the thing with this fight, Tindalos isn't a boss, it's actually an FOE. And yes, there is a reason behind that distinction. As such, it doesn't really have an attack pattern, and doesn't have a wide variety of skills. It's not really an interesting fight, but it has almost as much HP as the post-game final boss! So it's kind of a slog.

A funny thing that can happen in the fight is that Tindalos has the ability to permanently power itself up by draining power from your party members. Now if you let the fight go on too long, Tindalos will absorb so much power to the point where the damage overflows back to 0%, and it ends up doing single digit damage for a good while. (What is it with EO2 and damage overflow?)

Tindalos is susceptible to leg binds, but it really doesn't serve a purpose other than getting its conditional drop. None of its skills use the legs, and it's not particularly evasive.



Oh and Tindalos starts out the fight with an add, because of course it does.

Toxin Gland
Level: 99
HP: 15000
STR: 95
TEC: 90
VIT: 70
AGI: 58
LUC: 63
Exp: 0
Skills: Damage resistances:
100% 100% 100% 125% 100% 100%
Disable resistances:
0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
0% 0% 0%
0% 0% 0%

All the Toxin Gland will do is place an environmental effect that lowers how effective all forms of healing are. If you don't find the need to do so, feel free to ignore it, as that's all it will do. Fortunately, the Toxin Gland will never respawn once you kill it, so feel free to go after it first.











Which is what I'll be doing first after I prep up my party.



Bah. Not that I really expected him to land the Blind that easily with Tindalos' 25% resistance to it.







Okay, kind of off to a bad start here.



...That was only 0.5% of Tindalos' max HP. We're gonna be in for a loooooong fight.



This is the Toxin Gland placing an environmental effect that lowers how effective our healing is. It's not much at first, but it'll keep doing so for every turn it's alive. After 10 turns pass, healing is pretty much gonna do nothing. But once that thing dies, the environmental effect will disappear. Now I kinda need to make use of healing here, so I'm gonna focus on that first.



Sheesh, I'm already being put into a bad position.



I've got Force Reset and Force Charge, so I'm not too worried about Knight's Force in this battle. So...





Let's get going!





Gonna dispel that Poison first.



The first thing I probably should have done is set up Prevent Order, as Tindalos likes to inflict statuses.



Venom claw again. Good thing I had Prevent Order up.





You know, that would be a lot of damage in other cases. But as it stands, Knight has barely scratched Tindalos.



And the Toxin Gland is gonna make it even harder to heal.



Might as well finish up the combo.



I don't like wasting time healing up in fights, but I have to play defensively here since Flavio's having a hard time landing his ailments.



I'll have Arianna chip in some damage.



Yeah, she normally heals for around 200ish.







I'm pretty sure I can take down the Toxin Gland in a timely manner. Tindalos, not so much.



Well, that kinda sucks. But Knight is Transformed right now, and doesn't really care about losing 150 per turn.



You know the drill.



Ha ha! That'll make things easier. Though I'm not using the Blind food at the moment, so Tindalos isn't really a sitting duck. I'll still have to watch out for its attacks.









Ready to see some fireworks?





That was Shock Swing, which only missed the front row. Thankfully Bertrand and Arianna didn't get inflicted with anything.



For the record, Toxic Gas affects all forms of healing, including Vampire. Fortunately Chloe deals enough damage that it still fully heals the front row.









Okay, time to get rid of that gland.



I was tempted to hit Tindalos with Hazy Arrow, but I think I'll use that on the gland, since I want it gone as soon as possible.











Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to kill the Toxin Gland.





Though it got it close enough to death.



This fight is nowhere close to being done, so I'll just cancel Knight's Force Boost for now.



Flavio will finish off the Toxin Gland.



Oh hey, there's Sagittarius Shot.





Don't expect this to last for long. Once your Fafnir knight is in the post-game, they should be spending as little time in the untransformed state as possible.



Alright, that takes off a lot of pressure in this fight. Now I can just focus down Tindalos.





Unfortunately, Arianna got Paralyzed, but whatever. I still have Barrier.



Gonna work on building Knight's Force back up first.



The Blind wore off, so I'm gonna Paralyze Tindalos now. Now I have the Paralysis food in effect, so if it lands, it'll be a sitting duck.



It'll probably take a while for that to happen, but I'm not too worried.



This should get Knight past 100 Force.





Flavio has Hazy Arrow up, so I wanna make use of that. I'll have Chloe protect the team from ailments in the meantime.



Just in case Force Charge decides not to boost Knight's Force all that much, I'll have Bertrand boost his Force with an Axcela.



Oh wow, look at that sweet damage! Flavio is doing as much as Chloe's Ailing Slashes!



Oh uh, this move is something to be mindful of.



First of all, it hits pretty hard if you neglected to use Front Guard like I did. But it places a 50% damage debuff on the target. However, every time Tindalos successfully lands the debuff, its damage output permanently increases by 35%. And no, that's not a buff, so you can't purge it off. So letting the fight run on too long isn't advisable.







Oh wow, just look at all that Force Knight gained! I'll be able to do (almost) back to back Transforms with that!





Okay, now it's time to focus down Tindalos.



Better revive Flavio.







...That was only less than 3% of Tindalos' HP.



But, might as well finish up the combo. Again.



Ha ha! Well now, this is a nice turn of events!





...That, wasn't much better than a Fire Wave.









Everyone who's name isn't Knight is starting to run low on TP. (I love Force Energy. ) So I'll have Arianna use her Force Break in a bit. But I may as well get some mileage out of her Force Boost.









I'm planning on using Flavio's Force Break in a bit, so I also prep his Force Boost.



I want Arianna to use Link Order when Knight attacks, so I'm burning her Force Break a turn early.





1700 damage is decent, I suppose.





Everyone should be able to last a little longer in this fight now.









Okay, here we go!



















You know, that was a nice chunk of damage right there. I wonder how much more of the fight we have left to go?



...We are 14 turns in, and we aren't even close to the halfway point!



Oh well, let's get another Transform going. I'm gonna need it.



And might as well get his Force Break off.











One Delayed Chase, and Knight should be able to Transform again.





And here we go. Again.







Nice. It's been more than 8 turns since I first inflicted the blind, so I got another chance to land it again. I'll be alternating between using Blind and Paralysis.



Okay, you know what? I'm gonna be honest, this fight is boring. Once the Toxin Gland goes down, any tension in this fight is gone and Tindalos becomes nothing more than an HP sponge. It's not a difficult fight at all, just really tedious. The “difficult” aspect of this fight is running out of resources. The worst part is, it was deliberately designed to be that way! Why? Oh, you'll see the reason for that soon enough.





You know what? I think both the FOE and Transform themes are rather inappropriate for such a fight as intense and riveting as this. Here, why don't you listen to some music that's more fitting for this situation?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvwlcr69FAI











Transform Count: 4















Transform Count: 5





















GOOD GRIEF, FINALLY!



It took 37 turns just to kill that HP sponge! It would be nice if this is where the DLC ended. Sadly, there's more to go.





You strike down the Hound of Tindalos, and obtain the barrier seal's shard laying at its feet.

All that's left is to get this back to that seal, and we're done with this request!
The requester made it sound like it was some insane monster... but now that it's over, it really wasn't that impressive.



I expected something tougher.
Yeah! All in a day's work for Guild Guild!
Hey, that's enough messing around. We haven't completed the request yet, after all.
...Hey.

Chloe has been silent until now, but she tugs on your sleeve. She seems to have noticed something.

That monster's gone... but it still smells around here.
Ah... Now that you mention it...? That is curious. The monster that was causing it is gone now.

Suspicious about where the stench is coming from, you stay on guard, surveying your surroundings. ...Could it be your imagination? You feel as if the air around you is starting to become oddly stagnant...

Hrgh!? Th-That stench... It's getting stronger...!
Ah--Please, look over there!





Wh--Again!?

The newly-appeared Hound of Tindalos locks eyes with you before giving an unearthly shriek of raw hatred! ...It seems the hound is after the piece of the seal you hold.

Wh-What do we do!? Should we defeat it again?
The Hound of Tindalos has the power to endlessly self-replicate... ...That's what Mr. Hood said.
Ugh... I was hoping that was just some kind of exaggeration. Don't tell me this thing's just gonna come back...
At this rate, it's just going to be an endless battle.



Let's move onward while defeating them!
Indeed, we did defeat it once already. Surely this cannot be impossible!
Yeah, if it comes to charging forward with blind optimism or running back to the seal... I'd personally recommend running.

You must keep the shard safe from the monsters' grasp as you head back to restore the seal!

Let's ignore it and fix the seal!
Yes! Completing the request is our primary objective, after all.
Then, let's book it, and make sure we don't get caught by this freak!
...Whenever we decide to run, suddenly the old man gets a lot more energetic.
It can't be helped. That's how Trand is.

You cannot allow the seal's fragment to fall into the monster's hands. Now return to the room of the spherical seal!





And here's the actual gimmick of this DLC. Oh, you thought the fight was the main point? No, that was a deterrent. Going through that fight once was awful and boring, and you don't want to go through that again, right? Because running into another Hound of Tindalos will start the exact same fight all over again!





Could the Hound of Tindalos's foul miasma be preventing it from activating?

Yeah no, the thread is useless here.



And Floor Jump is disabled as well. The objective of this DLC is figuring out how to get out of here while a bunch of FOEs pursue you. Oh, and killing it again is pointless unless you get cornered. It will just respawn again and do so indefinitely. I hope you made a good map of this area!



You decide to head towards the perfect circle barrier in order to fix the seal there...

And if you use a Return Flute, this happens. So there is a way to reset the puzzle at least, if you screw up.



I'll mark down the paths you need to take to get out of here. You'll need to use the ice tiles to get ahead of Tindalos. Though in some cases, you'll have to get closer to it, and then double back so it doesn't cut you off later. This room is one such example.





Tindalos typically spawns in alcoves. Oh, and once you get out of a room, all the Tindalos' pursuing you disappear. You can use that trick to retry a room if you mess up the puzzle. I should hope this Hound of Tindalos would be easy to get past for you.





For this Hound, you'll have to lead it around this pillar to get past it.







You have to do the same thing here, but first you need to shorten the gap between you and Tindalos so it doesn't cut you off when you try to lead it around a pillar.



And of course they also put in a few jump scares.



For this room, you want to follow this path first.



Then double back on the ice to give these Hounds the slip.



For the next room, follow this path first.



Then follow this route.



Then use the ice to your advantage to get past this hound.



Here's part one on how to get through this final room.



And with that, we're out!



H-How's it looking?
The shape does fit, but...
Oh!?

As you press the shard against the small gap, the piece suddenly moves on its own, pressing against the chipped sphere! With some small popping sounds, the sphere seems to accept the shard, as if healing its damage...

Ooh...!
...A bit creepy.
I-It seems this was indeed no ordinary stone...

As the last fault disappears between shard and sphere, it takes on a strange, gentle flow... Almost instantly, the unpleasant smell fades from the room, and you sense no more monsters in the area. ...You appear to have successfully restored the seal!

Gah... Well, we just went through hell. This old man could use a nap.
Yeah, I gotta agree with you this time. I still can't get that stink out of my nose...



You gotta shape up, you two.
Shaddup. This ain't something kids would understand. Right, Flavio?
Hey, d-don't treat me the same as you! I'm not an old man yet!
But people inevitably age. If one day, Flavio will truly be an elder, then we must naturally prepare for this...
Nope! Not happening! Forget it!
Forget Grandpa Flavio. The request is now complete. Should we report back to the bar?
Indeed. I'm certain Sir Ryle is waiting on our report, as well... We ought to hurry and get back, so we can inform him that High Lagaard is no longer in danger.

You have now completed the request. Return to the bar and report your findings to the researcher Ryle!

...Ignored again.
C'mon, it's nothing to whine about. Being an old man's not that bad, you know?

...It would probably be best to console Flavio somewhat before you get back.



Now we can use the Ariadne Thread.





Oh, it's you. How is the quest going? ......I see. I appreciate the report. A fascinating case indeed... This means that these documents were correct. But I still have questions... Why was the seal broken in the first place...? Looks like another investigation might be necessary... ...Oh, I'm sorry. I appreciate your help in the matter. It looks as though I made the right choice in asking you. You've done better than I expected, in fact... Excellent work. I left the reward with that Cass fellow. Don't forget to pick it up, hm?





Oh, yeh finish that job with the scholar? ...Heheh, how was it? Did he say yeh did a good job? Ulterior motives!? Of course not! Not at all! Well... maybe just a little... Heheh. ...See, this is a secret, but that scholar is actually kind of a bigshot. Big name. What yeh'd call a VIP. Hmm? What about it, yeh ask? Geez, yeh never learn, do yeh? See, a bar that has folks with connections... well, that bar gets the best-payin' jobs! Good jobs pay well, and they pay up front! Good news for both of us, eh? Haw haw haw! Well, if yeh lot do good, that means the Stickleback does good! Here's yer reward--let's do this again sometime!



Not worth it.



Though I suppose you can grind on this quest if you want to retire at 99, and then grind back up.

Anyways, once we leave the bar...





Flavio, you're groaning again.
Might it be about Sir Ryle?
...Yeah. I still can't shake the feeling that I know him. But according to the bartender, he's supposed to be this big important person.
Hmmm...
And you wouldn't know anyone like that, would you, kid?
Nope!
...Though I guess I can think of someone who... kind of became important through all the things they went through.
Things they went through...? What do you mean?
Well... last year, some colleagues of ours accomplished something huge in a far-off land called Etria. They saved a lot of people. They grew up with us... at the same orphanage, I mean.
You remember them too, right, Knight?
I don't remember them.
H-Huh? Really? They were the talk of the Midgard Library after what they managed to do over in Etria...
An achievement in Etria...? That isn't what I think it is, right? Exploring their own Yggdrasil, and...?
Yeah, that's it! That's the one!
Huh. I heard rumors that the guild had Midgard Library folks in it, but to think you guys were acquainted with them...
But if Sir Ryle is that person, then why would he hide his identity to make such a request...? Since you and Sir Knight are here, couldn't he have requested on behalf of the Midgard Library?
...An appraisal?
What?
Oh, that seems possible. Going undercover to see how folks act when they don't know their superiors are watching...
Hah! Being in an investigation team must be rough, if they pull that kinda crap on you without warning.
Wh... Wh-Wh... What? What!?



Oh crap.
W-We didn't say anything weird, right? We'll... b-be okay, r-right...?
You're both panicking too much... Is that person really that scary?
It's more like... he's intimidating... I'm not that great at dealing with him...
Ahah... Remember, we completed the request successfully, so I'm certain you'll be just fine.
Plus, we don't even know if that's why he was here. Might be totally unrelated to you guys.
...Or he could be watching you from somewhere... even now.
G-Gah! C'mon, don't scare us like that!
Ugh, this is the worst... Please let this just be my imagination...

So Ryle is actually Simon from EOU. He was the Medic in the player's party, and was also from the Midgard Library. If you want more details, play that game. Anyways, let's take a look at what Tindalos' drops unlock.



The Odd Purple Hide unlocks the Toxic Gage, which increases the wearer's defense by a minor amount, and increases Increases Instant Death, Petrification, Sleep, Panic, Poison, Blind, Curse, Paralysis, and Fear resistances by 5%. Yeah, it's trash.



The Bound Talon unlocks the Toxic Cannon, which has a 5% chance to inflict Petrification, Sleep, Panic, Poison, Blind, Curse, Paralysis, and Fear. Also trash, just like this DLC.

Anyways, next time...



A trip down memory lane. Nostalgia, or ? You decide! (It's the latter.)