Part 25: Mini Update: Gathering

Mini Update: Gathering



Time to take the farming team out for a spin.





Right away I level up Healer, Cure, and Take. In the first game, gathering skills could be leveled up to 10, and each level gave 2 uses per gathering point per day, and increased the chance to find something. Here they can only be leveled up to 5, and give 1 use per level. So yeah, a maximum of 5 uses compared to the first game's 20. Ouch. Atlus also decided that wasn't enough and nerfed gathering even more, which we'll see later in this update.



Bellamy's gathering skill is chopping, which we can't make use of until the third floor. So he takes points in Fire Up and Ice Up, which unlocked Fire and Ice spells. I make him learn the art of pyrotechnics.



Pauline here is a Survivalist, and has access to all three gathering skills. I have her level up Escape Up, Take, and Mine for the gathering points on the 2nd floor.



Emilia's gathering skill is Mine. She levels that up, and levels up Swords, which unlocked Cleaver, and she also takes Escape Up.



Aegis' gathering skill is also Mine. He levels that up, and Escape Up and Shields as well.

: Everybody ready? Let's get going!



: Alright, says here on the map it's around here someplace. Oh, here it is!







We only have two uses of Take, so this is all we can get for now. Now you would think taking a team of 5 Survivalists and having them all level up the Take skill, would be more efficient, right? Well, yes it could make you more money, but that is a risky team to run with. Mainly because this could happen. I had to make a new team to show this off since the chances for this happening are pretty low.










Raflesia
HP: 220
AT: 20
DF: 15
Exp: 831

This is a Raflesia. No, it's not an FOE despite what it looks like, although it was one in the 4th game. It's a random encounter from the 5th floor. A party normally doesn't stand a chance against these until they're at least level 9. If your party is capable of taking one out at this point, enjoy all the exp they weren't supposed to be getting.

What happened here was a gathering ambush. A new “feature” Atlus decided to put in to nerf farmbot teams. A popular strategy in the first game in order to make money was to gather a team of weak Survivalists, and have some stronger party members escort them to gathering points, Warp Wire out, sell the stuff, and repeat. There was pretty much little to no risk in using that strategy, so Atlus decided to make it harder to make money off of this. No, you don't get any warnings that these are about to happen, nor does the game even tell you about them in the first place. These encounters will always blindside you, and there is no way to prevent these encounters, or the blindsides. Not even the Survivalist's passives will prevent these. These ambushes generally pit you against the stronger or strongest monsters in the stratum. Gathering can be a decent way to make some money in the beginning of the game if you're willing to take that risk, but eventually we'll get a much better way to make money. After the first stratum, all gathering is really good for is for completing quests, and for 100% completion. The chances of running into an ambush are as follows:

The first floor of a strata has a 1% chance of an ambush each time you gather. The 2nd and 3rd floors have a 3% chance of an ambush. And the 4th and 5th floors have either a 5% or a 10% chance of an ambush. This does not apply to the 6th stratum, it has different chances for each gathering point, and some of them are... special.

: Are you quite done? I don't have all night. _{Working as a babysitter, how humiliating.}

: Hang on. Okay, we're done. Sheesh, you couldn't have waited for a few more seconds?

: Well I have better things to do and- oh my.



: Uh, should we fight that thing? It looks pretty tough.

: We don't need to worry. We have a holy knight to protect us all!

: I don't have a death wish, so goodbye!



: Same here!

: Ehhh- oh fine.

Escape up is a really good skill that you want your whole team to invest in at some point. It increases the escape rate by 30% for the class that takes this skill.



: Oh wow, is this that dinosaur they told us about?

: Uh, didn't Fedot say not to disturb that thing?

: Oh I'm sure it can't hurt to get a closer look.





In case you thought I was kidding wanting to avoid the FOEs, I wasn't. And yes, a dinosaur did less damage to a party member than a flower. This isn't a really strong FOE. The main party will be able to take this one out soon enough.

: Okay. Maybe that wasn't a good idea...

: Pfft, what an idiot.

: Uh, Maverick, you can fix her up, right?

: Sure! At the hospital. Huh? OH CRAP!

: Uh, we better run. I think we just pissed it off!

: That idiotic Survialist!



We unlock Nectars and Ward Chimes for purchase. Ward Chimes decreases the rate of random encounters. Not too useful for our exploration team as less encounters means less experience, although it could be helpful for farming teams. The Nectar is too expensive for us right now, so the hospital is gonna have to be our main way of reviving party members.

: Oh my, are you all explorers?

: Uh, yes we are. Who are you?

: Oh good! I've been trying to explore the Labyrinth by myself and it hasn't been working out. I am Gilbert, a Troubadour. Please let me join, I really need a job!

: Ehh, I'll talk to our leader about it. I guess some songs could help our morale.

: Oh thank you! I'm still learning, but I hope you all enjoy my music anyway.