Part 107: Again and Again and Again... Again

Again and Again and Again... Again



Okay, so we're gonna tackle the 29th floor in this update. Now it's a huge teleporter maze mixed in with actual dungeon. I don't want to spend more time than I need to in this place, so I'm showing you this GameFAQs map if you want to know where all the teleporters lead. Now if you look closely, you'll notice that there are some ares that you kind of have to go out of your way for. I won't be going through all the teleporters, but I'll cover all the important stuff and how to get there. Anyways, let's get started.

PC-88 Version



This teleporter is one of the fastest ways to get to the exit.



PC-88 Version



OH GOD NO!


Cactlord
HP: 745
AT: 62
DF: 62
Exp: 9075
Skills: Needles
Item Drops:
-Common: Dry Thorn - 10 needed for Chidori (Katana.) 20 needed for Volt Whip.
--A durable thorn the color of rotting wood.
-Rare: Cactus Cap - 1 needed for King s Arm. 10 needed for Speed Boot.
--Embedded iron filaments have turned it brown.
-Conditional: N/A
Description: This cyclopean cactus monster glistens in the dark and turns travelers into pincushions.
Weakness: N/A
Resistance: Immune to Poison. Fire (0%), Ice (75%), Volt (75%)

Cactlords aren't too special. They're the muscle of the random encounters on the 29th floor. Needles is a random target attack that deals a decent amount of damage. Don't let fights last too long against them.


Mothlord
HP: 722
AT: 59
DF: 60
Exp: 7717
Skills: Scales
Item Drops:
-Common: Red Quill - 1 needed for Beam Whip, Curse Gas, and Curse Ring. 10 needed for Greed Bow.
--Thin, nebula-patterned wings of the king moth.
-Rare: Red Lymph - 10 needed for Blood Nail.
--Incredibly poisonous moth lymphs.
-Conditional: N/A
Description: This king of moths wears wings the color of death, and its powder carries a debilitating poison.
Weakness: Volt (150%)
Resistance: Fire (75%)

On the other hand, these guys are BUTTS. Scales is an AOE that has a very high chance to inflict Confusion or Curse, which are probably some of the worst ailments to get hit by. Do not let them live past the first turn, you WILL regret it.















I'm not showing ANY mercy here because the encounters on this floor are incredibly dangerous. Every new enemy that shows up won't get a chance to do anything unless I get blindsided.

PC-88 Version



Oh, and there's some Asterios here too.











:

:

:

At least I got some setup for Revenge.



Believe it or not, this could be a potentially useful item on this floor. And there's an Asterios spawn there.



Another Asterios spawn, but I didn't notice that one, and accidentally walked backwards into it.









:

This was the result of my incompetence.



This teleporter doesn't take us anywhere relevant.



But this one is the fast track to getting out of here.





Now you need to take this teleporter next in order to stay on the fast track.



But this one takes us to a side area, so let's take a look at that place first.







And more Asterios spawns. These are the last ones on this floor.



Ugh, would have preferred the Therica BX at this point. Also, there's Hexgourd spawns on the two places I've marked.



This teleporter is where I want to go to explore more side areas.



Just take the bottom teleporter here.



PC-88 Version




Crawlest
HP: 730
AT: 60
DF: 60
Exp: 7875
Skills: Thread
Item Drops:
-Drop 1: Short Nail - 5 needed for Angel Cry (Gun.) 20 needed for Royal Axe.
--Black caterpillar fangs that resemble needles.
-Drop 2: Ebon Skin - 1 needed for Ruby Gage. 10 needed for Moon Coat.
--Highly flexible caterpillar hide.
-Drop 3: Gum String - See 5th Stratum Chop info.
Description: The most lethal of the pillbug family traps its prey and feeds on their still-living bodies.
Weakness: Volt (150%)
Resistance: Fire (25%)

These guys are also butts. They don't hit too hard, but Thread is an AOE that randomly binds your party's body parts. Also if they get paired up with Mothlords, they can completely lock down your party. Once again, kill them on the first turn to ensure that doesn't happen.





: Aliara, you know what overkill is, right?

: HAHAHAHA! I'M A GOD!... Dess. Or something.

: Guess not.



PC-88 Version



Now that's much better.





Now this door does lead to another side area, but the pack got full again. So once again I restock supplies and unlock new things.





The Ruby Gage is the Ronin's ultimate glove. Yes. Ultimate glove. You're probably wondering if the other clases have other pieces of ultimate equipment aside from weapons and armors. They don't. Only the Ronin does. In fact, they actually have a full set of ultimate equipment while the other classes are just stuck with a weapon and a piece of armor. This speaks volumes about the class balance.





Anyways, back to the 6th Stratum.











Now that's more like it!





Though coming here dumps us back at the entrance.

: AaaaaaaAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!

: I think he's starting to lose it.

: Yeah, this place already feels worse than that other floor.

: I wonder if we're ever getting out of here.

Anyways, back at that door earlier.





There's a new FOE here.



: We are the masters of thinking things through.

: I don't need any lip right now, Frederik.

PC-88 Version




Iceking
Type: Red
Behavior: Patrol, Bloodthirsty
Aggressive: Yes
HP: 7000
AT: 82
DF: 82
Skills: Ice Blow
Item Drops:
-Common: Ice Horn - 3 needed for Polar Rod.
--Iceking horn that's as sharp as a sword.
-Rare: N/A
-Conditional: Ice Bone - Kill within 5 turns. 1 needed for Gungnir (Gun.)
--Blade-like spines from the Iceking's backbone.
Description: This dragonlike monster can freeze the water in the air to entrap its enemies whole.
Weakness: Volt (125%)
Resistance: Physical (75%), Ice (0%)

This is the last FOE in the game, and it's can tear through your party if you're not careful. For one thing, these guys are aggressive, unlike the other elemental kings. They do have the same movement pattern of moving only once every two turns, but this changes if they detect a fight going on, at which point they're movement pattern changes to one tile per turn as they hunt you down.

As for the Iceking itself, its regular physical attacks hit hard. Ice Blow is a light hitting AOE Ice attack, but it has a decent chance to inflict sleep. Not too bad if you're dealing with an Iceking on their own, but if they join in on a fight, things can get hairy.

















Well, crap.





: Mmm... 5 more minutes... boss...









: Mmph... Goddammit... Nick... Can't you stay standing for more than mmmm...

: ...Really!? REALLY!? That's what he dreams about!?



: You'll regret that...





I wouldn't say that Icekings are that tough, but for an underpowered team, it's really unlikely that you'll manage to get their conditional drop off of them.

PC-88 Version



Anyways, these are their patrol paths. The Icekings travel in opposite directions, so it can be pretty easy to get boxed in if you're not careful.



It probably wouldn't take much effort to climb the tree, take the fruit, and eat it.



: So, who's going for that fruit?

: Uh, not me. I don't need another one exploding on me.

: I'll go for it.

Ken climbs the tree and takes a bite from the fruit.

: MMM! This is DELICIOUS!



The sweet-tasting fruit's juice instantly washed away the tension and exhaustion. Extremely satisfied with the fruit, you resume your journey.

You really want to say yes to this event because not only is it a HP and TP restore for your first character, but saying no gets your party ambushed by 3 Mothlords. So you'll actually pay for your paranoia here.



Here's this floor's Mine point.





This was actually a detour, but it does lead us to this teleporter, which is the fast track out of here.



I won't take that one just yet. If you weren't taking that detour, this teleporter would be the one you would take next.





Through all your travels in the Labyrinth, you've never smelled anything like it. You may investigate the smell or proceed with your journey.



Frederik takes a few steps towards the source of the smell.

: Mmmm... That smell. It- AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

Immediately afterward, you hear a thud, followed by a scream! You run into the direction that Frederik went!



: GRAMPS! You okay!?

: Holy crap, he's not moving!

: I don't feel a pulse either! Oh wait, there it is.



Three N’s?

You stay where you are until Frederik wakes up, then leave the area.



Down here is the floor's Chop Point.





And that door takes us back to this teleporter I skipped earlier.



Which takes us to this door. But the pack got full, again. So back to Lagaard!









Now the Pain Aspis is an odd piece of equipment. It provides a huge increase in armor and STR, but it comes with an all stats down penalty. See, the All Stats down penalty decreases the character's resistance to all elements, so they take more damage from everything. But the amount of defense provided by the shield actually cancels that out, so this is essentially a shield that provide 0 defense and a 30 point increase in STR. Sounds good right? Not really, because All Stats down also includes ailment and bind resistances. Which means that whoever equips this would be hit with stuff like instant death or confusion a lot more often than normal. I don't recommend equipping this on a Protector, unless you want yours to be a damage dealer for some reason. Could be handy for a Landsknecht, but I'd say this shield isn't worth it.



Anyways, back to where we were before.





Here's another shortcut, but this one has a specific condition you have to fill in order to go through it.

The forest wall blocking your way has a passage you may be able to squeeze through.



: There's no way I'm splitting us up in this place. We'll just have to come back later with a smaller team.

Your party reaches the consensus that it's too dangerous to get separated in the Labyrinth. You give up on the passageway and leave the area.

Yeah, you have to go back through that teleporter maze again with only 3 members to get through here.



And here's more Icekings.



OH COME ON!





: Keep that whip... and stake away from me...



: You'll pay for this. You'll all pay for this!







And there's another Iceking.







: A curse best served cold.

: That's not the same one that took you out.

: I don't care! They can all die for what they did to me!



These Icekings are easier to get past because both of them travel in the same direction.



It's difficult to make out, but shaking the tree would likely cause it to drop.



: Now, what's up there?

: Nick, what the hell are you doing?

Nick grabs the tree's trunk and begins to shake. The shadow from the branch above does indeed fall to the ground, as expected. But it is a giant, vicious-seeming bug! It chitters angrily and attacks your party!

: Goddammit Nick!

PC-88 Version



Yes, Scatter About actually plays here. If you get into a fight through an event in this Stratum, that song plays. I think this is just a programming quirk that's the result of something the game does later.



But these fights aren't that much of a threat.

PC-88 Version





There's a couple of Riptors that patrol this area.





Now this teleporter...





Leads to the stairs! And that teleporter in front of me is just the exit.

: OH THANK GOD WE'RE OUT OF THERE!

: It seemed like we were constantly going in circles.

: Now I just hope there's not one on the next-

: Don't say it. Don't even think about saying it!



We're not completely done with this floor yet, but I'll check out the unexplored areas in a bit.



Ominous.



A shortcut for later.



And now I never have to go through that floor again. Except to check out that secret area. But first, selling to Sitoth Trading!





And now let's check out that secret area.



But its floor doesn't look as if it would support the weight of more than two or three... You should be able to pass with the size of your current party.









Here's this floor's Take Point. Now this Take Point is special.



It has Pop Leaves as its common item. So this is the best place to farm for them to stock up on post game consumables. There is a Take Point on floor 30, but it doesn't give out as many Pop Leaves. Also, gathering on floor 30 is a bad bad idea. For one thing, you have a 15% chance to get ambushed there. And for another thing, the single biggest fuck you in the game is involved. Yes, worse than this teleporter maze. That's all I'll say about that for the moment.



And with that, we're completely done with floor 29!