The Let's Play Archive

Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight

by Ragnar Homsar, Dr. Fetus

Part 44: I Couldn't Think of a Title

Update 35: I Couldn't Think of a Title



G-good morning, every-- Oh, Realga, Sophie, you both look exhausted...
I'm surprised you didn't hear what happened last night...
Rr?
Stardust and Jackie wanted to read something in that big book of old entertainment methods Colette had similar to that story about ghosts Realga was reading--
I was skimming it. Anyway, they found some...uh, some strange stuff. And then they tried to burn the book. And then Colette got really upset.
We were mediating that argument for hours... At least we saved the book in the end.
No time to be tired. We've got a world tree that needs exploring.

Yep, we're finally going back into Yggdrasil proper after pretty much a real-life month of being stuck in secret areas the game didn't expect us to do as early as we did, and Ginnungagap.




Before we do that, though, let's set up some new ad campaigns, because I haven't done that in forever. I realize I'm really inconsistent with the restaurant stuff, I'll try to get better about it from here on out.




Let's start by investing a little money in town development.



Oh hello, that's new.


Please, can we just stay in the slums until the Gourmet King leaves? He's buying everyone free food!
Staying in the slums for free food, or getting back to our exploration, which the Duchy is expecting us to do. Hard choice.

Regina mentioned the Gourmet King quite a while back, but basically he'll sometimes show up in random wards, and he's your cue to just throw the most expensive food you have at the ward he's in, because it will sell a lot, regardless of the tastes of whatever groups are in the area at the time. He counts for getting better Grimoire Trade entries, too.



...I should've just thrown the most expensive food I have, but this'll do.



And I got pretty lucky with him somehow being in two wards at once.



Better.



This should fit the Survivalists' tastes.



It's so beautiful...
Even after all my years of travelling, only the Porcelain Forest can match up to this.
Isn't that place is restricted to the Armoroad nobility or something? Oh, whatever, this place is a sight for sore eyes after that dark ruin.
Everything looks like candy...


Don't look down don't look down don't look down...
Ooh, the others didn't mention anything about floating islands.



Shortcuts in the 4th Stratum look like these tiny wooden stumps.


Pink vegetables, mm?
Aww, it's not sweet.

First Mine point of the floor.

I dunno how you mine potatoes, but whatever. We're exploring a tree that has different sections inside/on top of it that have wildly different climates and are inhabited by all kinds of weird monsters, I don't think questioning logic is appropriate by this point.



Here's a really small secret, containing...



Another fight basically in front of a chest.



Rrrerrgh...
Makes sense that a bear would be at odds with bees.


Waspior
HP: 371, STR: 30, TEC: 23, VIT: 21, AGI: 32, LUC: 24
Skills:
Drops:
Damage resistances:
100% 150% 100% 100% 100! 150%
Disable resistances:
100% 0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
100% 100% 100%
100% 100% 150%

A dangerous bee with a poison-tipped needle. They travel in swarms!

Firstly, say hi to the new battle music. In every EO game aside from EO3, the random encounter music changes once you hit the 4th Stratum (in EO3, it changes when you get to the 3rd Stratum, and then never changes again). I like Inspecting the Resounding Weapons, but that's about the extent of my opinion.

(Neat bit of trivia: Inspecting the Resounding Weapons was originally intended for use in EO1--an early version was included with the "Sekaiju no Meikyuu PROTO-TYPE" CD given as a preorder bonus for EO1 in Japan.)

Moving onto the actual fight itself, Waspiors are incredibly important enemies. Oh, not because of how they fight--they're honestly kind of boring aside from being pretty fast. No, take a moment to read what their conditional makes.

Yep, Waspiors are what you'll have to farm to make Amritas. I'm lucky enough that I have a Hexer with maxed out Evil Eye, so getting a ton of these things even just doing normal exploration is going to be easy, but man, if you're playing Story mode, sucks to be you, since the only non-Grimoire method you have of doing that before late in the 5th Stratum is Random Disease.



Waspiors really don't take much of a beating, what with only having 300 HP and 21 VIT.


Mmm, finally, something really sweet...


Grr-ROR! Hrhrhr!

Any fight with Waspiors in them from now on, I'm going to deliberately avoid killing any of them on the first turn, and first inflicting fear on them. Amritas are really good consumables, and having a boatload of them in stock at Sitoth is always a good thing.



Why would anyone even take the time to hide this junk? When was the last time we had a chest with something good in it?
The one with the Formaldehyde? Which we used to preserve a frog?
Oh, right. I'm still upset about Sitoth ripping us off. That frog body was worth at least 15k en!


SYSTEM: Could a lake or something like it have dried up? You see only sand in the cavity, apart from withered plants and flowers. Doubting that there is anything else here to be had, you decide to return to your investigation.
What an absolute waste of time.
Are you kidding me? We're coming back here with some shovels later, I can feel there's something good below here.

We'll need to remember this spot for a quest later on.





Prism Ladybug
HP: 384, STR: 31, TEC: 25, VIT: 23, AGI: 33, LUC: 24
Skills:
Drops:
Damage resistances:
100% 150% 100% 100% 100% 150%
Disable resistances:
100% 100% 150% 100% 150% 100% 100%
100% 100% 100%
100% 100% 100%

A giant ladybug with a shimmering shell. It summons the wind to protect itself from harm.

Prism Ladybugs can make certain encounter groups a lot more annoying by making tough, hard-hitting enemies harder to inflict ailments on, and that's about the extent of what's interesting about them.


I helped. Kinda.

These things really do not take much of a beating at all. Those were just normal attacks.


So much sweet, sweet syrup...
How do you eat so much sweet food in one sitting...? Doesn't it get tiring after a while?
Mmmm... Nah!



The annoying thing about Amrita grinding is that Dense Syrups aren't a 100% drop rate. 80% is by no means bad, but it's still annoying enough that I want to comment on it.



SYSTEM: You vaguely recall a story about something being buried under cherry blossom trees...
Dig dig dig dig dig go go go go go!
R-realistically, what are we going to-- A-ah... B-bees...
Hm?!
SYSTEM: As you prepare to dig beneath the tree, you sense a malicious presence and take up arms. The threat reveals itself as a mighty swarm of bees streaming from the brush to surround you!
For me? Aww, I don't know...
SYSTEM: There is no escape from the swarm... You must stand and fight!
Well, if you insist!




Just two Waspiors?


If only someone could just cut out the bee part and give me the syrup part.
I mean, first, we have Regina for that. Second, these things are dropping complete honey already. Why not just eat some of that?
The raw syrup tastes better.


Hrr!



SYSTEM: Another wave of bees, as fierce as the last, is surrounding you once more! Cursing your ill-advised curiosity, you have no choice but to engage in battle again!
Can we stuff the syrup I don't eat in some boxes or something?
I didn't pack anything that could contain that stuff. Unless you want everything in our bag to get really sticky--
Oh, alright.






I'm sure you get the point now.



SYSTEM: There are more here than before, but this does seem to be the last of them... With the end of the battle finally in sight, you grip your weapons tighter to face the advancing enemies!
Why do these bees even care about this spot...?


Doesn't matter now.

Sure, it was tedious, but we got a lot of Dense Syrups out of it.


Alright, people, the bees are gone, let's get to digging, chop-chop!
Why'd you even become a Medic if you're more suited for an office position?
...Long story from when I was a kid. C'mon, just get digging.
SYSTEM: Quite some time later, you unearth a small hempen sack in the ground. You brush the dirt off it and look inside to find a book containing cooking recipes. You place the book with the rest of your things and quickly leave the area before another horde of monsters finds you.
Apicius really knew how to hide his recipes, huh?
I wonder how he even got this high up in the Labyrinth...



Fighting off a couple of bees was definitely worth it for this.


O-over there...


SYSTEM: The bird has evidently not noticed you... It is not yet imperative that you flee. If you are curious about the bird, then you are free to try approaching it.
I do not wanna mess with that thing now. C'mon, back we go.

Luminous Birds are kind of like Ambush Wolves--they change direction every couple of steps, and will aggro on us once we enter their line of sight. However, unlike Ambush Wolves, they ignore terrain, and will pass over gaps we cannot to get to us.



Given that the path from here to that nest is just that small, 1-tile wide twist, evading the bird is effectively impossible. I don't feel like fighting it now, after having our TP depleted quite a bit by the bees, so I just go back to mapping out the central area.





Ptarmigan
HP: 423, STR: 29, TEC: 28, VIT: 22, AGI: 24, LUC: 26
Skills:
Drops:
Damage resistances:
100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 50%
Disable resistances:
50% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
100% 100% 100%
150% 100% 100%

A small bird of the forest who hunts its prey with electricity.

Ptarmigans can be a real nuisance if they decide to target your casters, since the base chance on Sealing Bolt is high enough that even their mediocre LUC doesn't matter a ton.


Okay, I'm going to avoid asking a question for once, and I'll instead theorize: do you make things fall asleep by biting their nerves or something?
Maybe? I was just biting the thing, same as any other time.


Goodbye, foul penguin.




I decided to go back to town at this point to lighten our pack's load a little, and to rest up.




Executor is unlocked by selling 3 Bee Needles. Only 14 minutes or so into 16F and already we have a sword better than the Flamberge.

Prism Vest (+36 DEF) is unlocked by selling 1 Prism Shell. I still care more about extra stats on the party members we have that only equip clothes, rather than raw DEF.

Purple Anklet (+16 DEF, +2 TEC, can be equipped by Beasts) is unlocked by selling 1 Bee Needle. I'd buy a pair for Stardust if she was in the party, but she isn't.

Amrita (restores 50 TP to one party member) is made from 1 Dense Syrup. These things, as I've said multiple times now, are absolutely invaluable and until we can unlock Amrita IIs 12 floors from now, I'm going to make sure we're constantly stocked up.



Wait a minute, why are we even scared of this thing? We've fought worse.
I don't know, is there any reason we should...?
To assert dominance over the Labyrinth's flora.
It's been a long time since I had bird meat...







Luminous Bird
HP: 9330, STR: 43, TEC: 43, VIT: 37, AGI: 36, LUC: 34
Skills:
Drops:
Damage resistances:
100% 150% 100% 75% 75% 75%
Disable resistances:
100% 50% 25% 25% 50% 50% 50%
10% 10% 10%
50% 50% 50%

With its sharp beak and swift movements, these birds are more deadly than they seem...

Luminous Birds suck if you don't have Blast Grenades, and are pretty big jokes if you do. As long as you have at least one way to stop Brutal Ray, you'll be fine. Their normal attacks hit pretty hard, but they're just normal attacks--as long as you remember to upgrade your party's armor (I'm still embarassed by that), you'll be fine.



Sophie has a 28 LUC advantage on the Luminous Bird, so I'm basically 100% sure she'll bind the thing's head. I decided to have Freyja use Cuffs for slightly more damage, as a result.



I'm banking on the fact that the Luminous Bird will just charge up on this turn, so I have Ursa cast Protection Vow.



And like I just said, Sophie will try to bind the bird's head.


D-do we have any of those bombs to startle it...?
They're right here, don't worry.



Oh well.


Guess we don't even need the bombs now.



Immovable's kind of pointless here, honestly.



Still gonna let Freyja try to handle arm binds.



Evidently a mistake.



Bleh. Even with a really good katana, Asriel's damage still isn't great. Probably time to rest him--in fact, I'm gonna do it at the end of the update.


Mm, it tastes like it's already cooked...


Too bad.



I just have Freyja switch to Trance + Ecstasy at this point.



Jesus christ, that's 26% of the Luminous Bird's HP.



Well, knowing my luck, one bind's probably fallen off.



And of course it was the most important one.



Eh, screw it.



Good thing I keep some of these on hand.


Thanks for letting us know before you throw that this time.
That was, like, 6 months ago, come on.



I'm obligated to screenshot every Ecstasy.


What a waste.


I guess I shouldn't have been so worried...

Imagine this party with, like, Zack instead of Freyja. Bleh.



...That's it? That's the floor?
I guess that bird was supposed to make us go through a big puzzle.
...We might be missing some treasure! Alright, let's go map out the rest of this.

Yeah, if you can kill that Luminous Bird, you can basically skip the entire floor. The entirety of the rest of the floor is supposed to lead you to how to lure the bird away from the nest blocking you from the exit.



Might as well just activate the easy shortcut to the exit while we're here.



The other mine point, which gives out Duck Nuts--quite possibly the silliest name for something I've ever heard.


...Well, it's not valuable, but it's useful, I guess.



Another nest, and...



Another Luminous Bird.



I draw aggro from the Luminous Bird, firstly.



And then I bolt for the door.



Notice how the Luminous Bird is now at the other nest, rather than the one it started at. When we leave the room after drawing a Luminous Bird's aggro, it will just perch itself on the closest nest. This is how the puzzles on this floor work: figure out how to draw the Luminous Bird to a nest where it won't impedge your path.





Metal Tortoise
HP: 1416, STR: 38, TEC: 27, VIT: 33, AGI: 17, LUC: 27
Skills:
Drops:
Damage resistances:
75% 75% 75% 125% 125% 125%
Disable resistances:
100% 150% 50% 100% 50% 100% 100%
100% 100% 50%
50% 100% 100%

A giant turtle with a tough shell and even tougher jaws.

Hey, look, a major annoyance. 1416 HP is already kind of a lot for a random encounter, and then we also have to deal with the fact that this thing has 75% resistance to all physical damage. Asriel thankfully has Flame Grater to speed things up a little, but that chews through quite a lot of his TP.



How lucky.



Like I said, it speeds things up, but not by a lot.


Um, how are we going to carry this shell back to town?
Just let Ursa do it, I'm sure she can handle it.
Rrgh.


Ick. These things are kinda tasteless...



Encounters like that make me miss Stardust. That would've been over so much more quickly with her.




Onto the next room, where the intended solution is to get to the path near the door with nothing drawn beyond it, which will make the Luminous Bird settle in that nest, and then head for the other door we can see here.



Killing the Luminous Bird (in a fight where nothing was really that different from the earlier one) is an option too.



Still working on Auto-Lick.




Oh, right. Remember how the Giant Ladybugs in the 1st Stratu could summon Rafflesias if they were left alone in a fight?


Giant blue and purple flowers with lots of teeth. Okay, sure. Why not.
It looks like it'd make for some pretty good garnishings.

Prism Ladybugs can do that, too!

Except that Wrath Blooms are far less threatening to us now, relative to how threatening Rafflesias were to us on 3F.



Cannibalize tries to kill another enemy in exchange for increasing the Wrath Bloom's physical/elemental attack, incidentally.



Easy enough.



And, for posterity, here's the room where we're supposed to be able to solve the last Luminous Bird puzzle.

At this point, I went back to town to save, and because the trek to the stairs from that last room is longer than from the start of the floor.




Ooh, this should be good.



...Why were we not doing this more before?!

Good lord, that's more than we got for that Ginnungagap quest we just finished.



We got a lot of guests in Grimoire Trade out of it, too.



I opted to trade this Beast Roar Grimoire for an HP Up level 9 (+18% max HP) for Ursa...



This Ecstasy Grimoire for a Curb ATK Up level 5 (1.23x multiplier applied to infliction chances) for Sophie...



And this Hit-Taker Grimoire for a TP Up level 6 (+14% max TP) for Realga.





Might as well use some of that money we just got to develop the town more.





And I'm gonna try to get in the habit of consistently setting up ad campaigns before doing more explorations.





Light Blade (+120 ATK, +10 TP, +1 TEC) is unlocked by selling 1 Gold Claw. This is one of the better 4th Stratum swords, and that small TEC bonus is nice for War Magi.

Golden Wand (+79 ATK, +20 HP, +40 TP) is unlocked by selling 1 Gold Crest. At this point in the game, raw HP and TP aren't that great on staff users, and the ATK bonus is terrible if you're using it for War Edge skills or Combat Medics.

Plant Whip (+118 ATK) is unlocked by selling 1 Lilac Vine (the Wrath Bloom's normal drop). I maybe could've bought this for Freyja, since it's an upgrade in terms of ATK and I don't care about Force Up, but I decided to hold off for now.

Morion (+26 DEF) is unlocked by selling 3 Gold Crests. It's a boring helmet with no extra attributes.




NOW we're done with the floor.



And back to town we go.



We're done for the day, but sure, I'll take it!
Today's lunch is special, you know! My daughter made it just for you! I told her all about you, and out of nowhere, she suddenly said she wanted to make you a lunchbox.
Good to see that people like us here, I guess. More than I can say for hat guy's guild back when they were in Etria...
Isn't that precious? Well, she is my daughter, after all. She's growing up to be just like me! Now go up there and find that castle! Good luck! We'll be cheering for you.



Oh, Sophie, the clasp on your boot is loose.
...But I don't wear boots.
...There, that should do it. Not bad, right? I am my father's daughter, after all... I can fix it if you ever need me to!
Thanks, I guess.
I just want to learn more, so that I'll be able to better help you... One day, I'll be good enough to be of proper use to you...so please, be patient until then!



Writing what?
Oh, it's nothing really. I was just putting together the recipes we made into a simpler form. All of Apicius's recipes aren't exactly straightforward, so I thought it might be better to write them simply into a book.
Good idea! It'd be awful if future people lost the ability to make these foods.
...Plus, I think it'll make a good memoir of sorts too, don't you think?


There've been so many useless guilds lately. It's making me sick!
You'd think us getting that high would set a new bar of quality for newer guilds, but I guess not.
Oh, right. I've been meaning to ask-- How high have yeh lot gone now?
T-the 17th floor...
Wh-What!? The 17th floor!? Yeh serious!? Damn, that's really somethin--Uh. Oops. Shouldn't be yellin' like that. Hey, yeh probably shouldn't be braggin' about this to the other guilds.
Why not? We've worked hard to get to this point.
Huh? Why? Ain't it obvious...? Well, 'cause not all explorers are doin' as well as yeh. It'd be a shame if someone holds some grudge against yeh for something silly like that. Best avoid trouble, eh? All yeh really need to do is focus on the Labyrinth and find that castle!



Haughty doctor:

I'd say I'm rather unexciting, and my methods of exploration are thus similarly unexciting. That's simply my way, but... Those rhinos and birds that rush at you... They're simply intolerable! If only they'd follow my lead, and move at a slow pace... Ah, but I suppose it's not like they can move quickly whenever they please. Earlier today, I miscalculated my distance and was spotted, so I ran...but they didn't immediately pursue me. Thus, I was able to return and enjoy the delicious food and drink back home in civilization once more. Life is good. ...For a moment, I believed I would meet my end back there.

We'll meet the rhinos she's talking about on 17F.

Ostentatious woman:

It's almost scary, isn't it...? Have you all heard? It was just a rumor at the bar, but I heard that there are bird people in the Labyrinth...
Tyler said they ran into a winged human-looking person, yeah.
The great Yggdrasil is so vast, and so many monsters live in there, so it's not a surprise that there are people inside... But can bird people even speak!? I mean, birds have beaks for mouths. So... how would they even...? Even if they came all the way to Lagaard, if they can only say “cheep cheep", then what are we going to say? What do you think?
Ever consider that they might just...not have beaks?



We're doing fine. I even get most of my food these days just through our trips into the Labyrinth!
The fact that she hasn't gotten ill and collapsed from eating mostly monster meat... At this point, I'm gonna call it a medical anomaly.
You've gone beyond all we know of the Labyrinth... Be careful. You're on unexplored grounds. I heard the Duke's guards were sent to the fourth stratum based on your findings...but as you'd guess, they were wiped out.
I can't think of a single instance where the guards have been helpful to us yet.
By now, there's only a few explorers remaining in High Lagaard that can keep up with you all... including myself. In a one-on-one duel, my victory would be assured, but against all of you... well. I doubt I'd make it out alive.

I'd be careful about saying that. Theoretically, the action economy would be skewed in our favor, but there's only so much that advantage can afford when someone's massively above your level.

What's the phrase...? Something like: “Many in harmony surpass one in perfection." There is no doubt in my mind. Out of all of us, you are the closest to finding the floating castle. I'm curious indeed to see how far your skills will take you. I wish the best of luck to you, Lumen...



Starts with an L? Ends with "ooh men?"
...Ah yes, it was Lumen! Am I correct?
Yep.
Yes, indeed. How is the exploration going? Did you see the castle?
We're h-high up, but not that high up...
...Ah, so you haven't yet. This is quite the journey for you, is it not? I must say you have worked well for us indeed. Allow me to give you my thanks. I look forward to your safe return. Take care, explorers.




With all that out of the way, let's take on some quests.

The item trade III:

Oh, there yeh are! I knew that yeh folks would take that one.
Rr?
Mmm? Well, yeh already took everything else that shop had to offer. Why stop now? Haw haw haw! Like always, ask the requester for the details. Head over to Sitoth Trading and get the specifics. Awright then, g'luck!

I forgot to do that in my recording. Whoops. The description gives away that they want us to make a Pattisa, anyway.

Before the festivities:

Oh, that quest! See, we got a festival comin' up around here, but we don't have all the materials to set up yet. They need... 8 Arc Branches, seems like. We need that if we're gonna make the stuff for the festival, so make it snappy, awright? The festival can't start until we got 'em! Hurry up and go find some!
Sounds like a job for those creepy Byeahs.
You'd think you'd have gotten over that by now.
Those things are just inherently creepy, okay?

Playing Cupid III:

Are yeh serious? Another one from that sad sack? The lad doesn't know when to quit...
I can probably guess how it's gonna go, but oh well. Tell us what happened now.
Sounds like his last gift was a wash, and now she isn't even on speaking terms with him. This time, he's on the scent of something incredibly rare, and needs someone to fetch it. Have yeh heard of the Small Sandland before? Seems it's a rare sight in the Labyrinth.
A rare sight? It's near the entrance of 16F.
Some say it spawns from rotted trees, some say from monster offal, but no one's certain. I've heard that in the sandland, given the right humidity and temperature, some sandy minerals can crystallize... The crystal form is s'posed to look like a rose, so they call it a Wood Rose. It's one of those things that's supposed to bring yeh luck, but that's all a load of hooey. But the ladies fall for it, so any man that can deliver one is a hero in their eyes.
Mm-hm. Yeah. Sure. Maybe I'd be more impressed with somnething like that if I wasn't exploring the Labyrinth.
I've already got enough luck from this staff, necklace, and hat!
...Oho, Cass, are you mayhaps seeking this Wooden Rose Thorn? That was what it was called, right?
Me? Are yeh daft? I don't need a bloody crystal rose to throw at the ladies! The women can't say no to a man with a bar like mine, if yeh catch my meaning! Haw haw!
I'm going to choose to believe you're talking about the literal bar and I'm not thinking about this any further.
Anyways... I've heard talk of a few of them sandlands being seen on the 16th floor. Dunno if any of 'em would have this Wood Rose, but they say it's probably nearby if it looks like a pond dried up. Alright, it's yer job now! G'luck!

We'll take care of that quest and 17F next time.