Part 27: Guild Beowulf

Guild Beowulf

PC-88 Version



: And that dinosaur STILL hasn't calmed down.

: Seems like that thing needs to be killed at this point. It's an active danger to explorers now.



Finally got a level up here.

PC-88 Version



Ken has mastered Dead Law, so he'll be maxing out Overhead next.



Nick's Climax is a pretty special skill. If an enemy's HP is below a threshold, and Climax is used on it, the enemy is killed instantly. Not only that, but Nick is healed by the amount of health the enemy had left when it got killed. Most forms of instant death tend to rely on RNG, and the chances of that happening is lowered if an enemy is resistant to it. The important thing about Climax is that it's a reliable form of instant death. It only checks for two things when it's used on an enemy. 1) Is the enemy below the HP threshold? 2) Is the enemy immune to instant death? If it's no to the first, Climax will always miss. If it's yes to both, Climax just ends up doing a pitiful amount of damage. If it's yes to the first, and no to the second, the enemy is killed. Climax doesn't care if the enemy in question is resistant to instant death, only if they're immune. Unfortunately, like most JRPGs, bosses tend to be immune to instant death, so Climax isn't useful there.

In EO1, at max level, Climax could kill an enemy if it was below 25% HP. In this game, at level 1 it only kills at 10%. But at level 10, it kills below 55% HP. Sounds pretty strong, especially if there's a problematic random encounter. But there's one aspect that makes Climax incredibly broken, which I'll cover later. We're not gonna take this skill, as we can't really use it that well at the moment. But we do want it maxed by the end of the second stratum. I have Nick learn Cuffs instead. If you're using a Whip Dark Hunter, you want at least one of the binding skills maxed, maybe two. But not all three, since that's a huge waste of skill points.



Frederik has mastered Regenall.



Fedot takes a second level of Medishot, which will make it even easier to deal with the Venomflies, and some future encounters.



Aliara practices her poison curse some more. She'll stop being dead weight eventually.





Perhaps some sort of key is necessary to gain entry.

We won't be able to open this for a long time.

: Okay, Ken. Nick. I know you want to get that door open, but I don't think slashing at it with weapons is- you too Frederik!?

: You never know unless you try!

: Fhgrhff. I can't believe we had to waste our time coming back here, only to find a locked door.

: Not really. Look at what I found!





No prompt to enter this secret passage, oddly enough.

: Hmm, an empty room. Maybe there's more passages around here.

: Let's look around this place.



It seems that the path continues beyond the wall... You search for a way past the wall, but the forest is too thick and it seems to be no use. Even if you could climb the wall, the branches are too high for you to reach.



: No good. Looks like the only way we can get past this is above the wall.

: Hey, what about that Pauline chick? She looked pretty nimble. Maybe she can jump up there and give us a way up.

: Good point, we may have to come back with her later.

: Don't bring me along for that trip. I'm getting sick of this place.

And here's a new feature I am not fond of. Class specific passageways. Basically, if you don't have the right class in your party for these, in this case a Survivalist, you can't pass. And you have to restructure your party and backtrack all the way back here just to get past a wall. This is the reason why I characters had to be made for all the classes, because these things are pretty much everywhere in the Labyrinth. Most of the time these lead to treasure, but sometimes they lead to new sections of dungeon. Sometimes there happens to be a series of these class specific barriers, and you have to bring a specific party to get past them. With absolutely no indication on which classes you should bring since you can only go through them one at a time. Thankfully getting past these isn't required to progress in the game, but some quests do require this. There's a reason Atlus never brought these back in future EO games, and the remake is pretty much guaranteed to not have these because of the story mode.

PC-88 Version



Well this encounter isn't a threat either. Our party can take out the Venomfly before it can do anything, and the damage from the Cactoid can be healed up easily.







A look at our 3 damage dealer's outputs for now.

PC-88 Version



But the way to the path is blocked, and there seems to be no way to walk through it.

: It doesn't look like there's a way around this one either.

Just as you had despaired on passing the forest wall, the dark hunter present speaks up.

: Not so fast! Watch this!

With one stroke of the whip, the dark hunter latches onto a thick branch on the other side! If you use the whip as a line, you may be able to make it over the wall!

: Hmm, nice job Nick.



: Hope you guys know how to climb.



: Oh sweet!

The treasures on the other side of the barriers for this area contains much stronger weapons for the classes used to access them, except for one, which contains a Flame Jar, a pretty powerful attack item for this point.





Now that's a big number. Nick's not gonna be hitting as hard as Ken, but it's still a nice upgrade.

: Uh, how do we get past this one?



What the writing could possibly mean is beyond you... But it's apparent that a spell of some sort has been cast upon the stone monument.

: All I see is a bunch of letters and words I don't understand.



: Perhaps that Bellamy fellow can understand this? He was dabbling in magic, right?

Our Alchemist is needed for this one.



You strain your eyes and discover that it's some sort of emblem engraved into a rock. A shining gem is embedded in the emblem's center... You are certain beyond a doubt that magic is present in that emblem.

: Maybe it's a switch of some kind.

: But how do we reach it?

As the rest of you debate on how best to reach the gem, the gunner pushes you aside.

: Stay back, I've got this.

With a single, well-aimed shot, the gunner hits the gem and activates the spell! The nature of the magic seems to have been wind-based... You can barely remain on your feet as the spell draws you to the other side of the wall! The spell's effect will wear off with time. Now is your best chance to cross the wall.

Okay, so the flavor text explanations for how you get past these barriers for the others are kind of neat, and based on what they're capable of. But for the Gunner, he shoots something and then magic happens. What?



: Whee! Oh that was fun! Can we do it again?

: Please no. I landed on my back when we jumped over.

: Party pooper.



: Oh good, I wanted to get a replacement for this gun. My old one was starting to get worn out.





And now Fedot is hitting as hard as Nick.







Look at those sweet numbers.



This area has two Furyhorns patrolling it.



Also easy to get around.



This is an event that's exclusive to a password game. Unlike most of the other password related stuff, this one's actually beneficial.



You greet him, and he warmly returns the greeting.

: Oh, hello. What are you doing down here?

; I heard that Odyssey had come to the Grand Duchy. Would that happen to be you?

: Yep, but we go by Firefly now.

You nod your assent, and the guard gives you a fascinated look before continuing.

: That's wonderful! To think a guild that famous would come to our Labyrinth!

Obviously impressed, the guard tells you that he wishes to help you with your investigation. He offers your choice of a weapon or medicine for your adventure. Either is 1000en.

: I have a Gladius and a Therica BX. Which one do you want?



You consider lying to him, but realize that no words can take the place of real money.

: We'll take the wea-

: We'd love to take the medicine, but we don't have enough for it right now.

: I see... Well, I'll be here for a while, so come back if you change your mind.

The guard watches you leave.

There was an event in the first game where a guard would offer you a sword or some medicine for 100en. The sword was a ripoff, and the medicine was the better deal. It's the same case here. The Gladius is a pretty strong sword, but at 1000en it's a ripoff, and none of our party members can even make good use of a sword at the moment. The Therica BX on the other hand is a super good deal. What this does is heal every status effect on the whole party, acting like a max level Medishot/Refresh. What makes this an even better deal, is that you can't buy these until you've reached the postgame. Even if you don't want to use it, it sells more than 1000en, so this could also be an opportunity to make some money if you wanted to. Sadly we can't afford it right now. While a password game does have some minor downsides, upsides like these definitely make those well worth it.



: Oh I think we can get through this one without any funny business.





The Color Boot gives some more defense and AGI, but only certain classes can wear it. I have Fedot wear these since Gunners are really slow.



A nice bit of money, but it's still not enough to for the Therica BX.

: Okay, NOW can we buy some food?

: No. The better equipment and supplies are pretty expensive and we need to save up for those. And that medicine that guard had.

: Oh come on!



: You can't expect us to eat snails and hedgehogs forever!





: Oh thanks Ken. That should feed us for the next week.

: GAH!



The Wing Leaf is a very nice piece of armor at this point. I put it on Aliara since she's the squishiest of our back row so far.



I notice our party's close to a level up, so I just wander around this floor getting into fights.



If you run into these encounters though, you may want to run. But eventually our party levels up.



Ken levels up Overhead to 2, Nick puts another point in Cuffs.



I want Frederik to get this skill, so I put another point in War Lore.



While I do want this skill maxed out, we won't see the paralysis and terror status effects for a while.



Instead I'm putting a point into Haltshot. New to this game (and never used in any other game) are FOE manipulating items and skills. Some like Haltshot can stop FOEs in their tracks, while others can lure them away to a certain spot. Not all FOEs are affected by these, and I don't really find them too useful. Still I want two points into this before the end of the first stratum. Aliara just levels up Poison to 5. At this point it can hit affected targets for around 85 damage, but it only has a 35% chance of hitting. Better than nothing at least.



This is all we can explore on the second floor at the moment.



: Ah, a new floor. New things to discover.

: And maybe animals other than snails and hedgehogs that we can eat.

Huh, what's that gray icon?

PC-88 Version





: Huh, a new monster already?

: No, wait. I don't think it wants to hurt us.

But after a second of meeting its eyes, it looks to the north, as if directing you there. A second growl indicates that it wishes you to go there, and it faces you once again. You can travel the northern path indicated by the beast, or continue on your way.

: Huh? Up that way? Alright then.

: Nah, let's check out this path fir-Yipes!





The beast bares its fangs and growls threateningly...

: Okay okay! We'll go that way!

You step back and contemplate whether or not to take the path that the beast indicated.



: Someone's here.

PC-88 Version

Before you can draw your weapons, a figure appears...



: Oh, I'm Fedot. Leader of Guild Firefly. And that's Ken, Nick, Frederik, and Aliara.

: So what are you doing here?

The good-natured protector notes your confused expressions before continuing pleasantly.

: Since you're new to the forest, I thought I should teach you about something useful.

With this, the man points to a mysterious shaft of light in a hollow to the south.



: So what does it do?

: It has the useful function of teleporting explorers from the entrance back to here. All the guilds make use of it when we explore the forest. You should do the same.

: So wait, does this mean we can skip the first and second floors now? Awesome! Wait, how do we use it?

: There's no trick to it, just touch the light. Then you can come here from town in a flash.

: So who made these things? They sound helpful.

: Ah... Who made them, you ask? I'm afraid no one knows the answer to that one.

The man called Flausgul gazes at the Geomagnetic Pole, his long hair blowing in the wind.

: That reminds me... Eventually, you'll encounter what we called the Geomagnetic Field as well. It's even more mysterious. It can teleport you from town to the Labyrinth and back.

: Oh, so this pole's a one way deal.

: Things like that are good to know if you're going to explore the forest.

While the protector speaks, the black beast you encountered before walks up to him.

: Aha... Excuse me, but Kurogane is here for me.

Flausgul calls the beast's name, and walks away... You can activate the Geomagnetic Pole as he instructed, or ignore it and continue on your journey.

In EO1, you never really interacted with any other explorers or guilds. For the most part, your guild was alone when exploring Etria's Labyrinth aside from some recurring NPCs you interacted with. Also fun fact, Flausgul's and Kurogane's names were mistranslated. Their names were supposed to be Hrothgar and Wulfgar. This was corrected in the remake.

PC-88 Version

: Right, let's set this thing up.





New to this game are the Geomagnetic Poles. They serve as checkpoints within the Labyrinth. Every stratum has two of these, on the third and fifth floors. Unfortunately, only one of these can be active at a time. Activating a new one deactivates the previous one, and these can only take you into the Labyrinth, not out. And you can't save your game here like at the Geomagnetic Fields. In the first game, the only checkpoints in the Labyrinth were the shortcuts and the Geomagnetic Fields, so if you wanted to travel down to the 5th floor of a stratum, you had to walk a long way. These are gone in the 3rd and 4th games, but the shortcut placements in each stratum made getting down to the floor you wanted really easy.

: Huh, he was pretty helpful.

: Oh, over here everyone! I think I found another passageway.





: That I can't open up from this side. Open, Sesame! Open, Barley! What's the password for this?

: Uh, you can stop hitting the trees now. I'll just mark it down for later, so we know where to look on the other side.

: Very well then.

Even if you find shortcuts you can't open, mark them down so you know if you're close to opening one up from the other side.

PC-88 Version




Roller
HP: 87
AT: 10
DF: 13
Exp: 265
Skills: Rolling
Item Drops:
-Common: Gum Hide - 1 needed for Wing Leaf and Sherwani. 2 needed for Bullwhip, Hide Aspis, and Rough Hat. 3 needed for Hide Plate. 5 needed for Iron Glove.
--Animal hide with buoyant properties.
-Rare: Shell Wart - 1 needed for Briar Whip. 5 needed for Tshirovha (Axe.) 7 needed for Kurodachi (Katana.)
--Thorns protruding from a beast's carapace.
-Conditional: N/A
Description: A small creature which can curl up in its shell in order to roll around and ram its enemies.
Weakness: Fire (150%)
Resistance: Physical (75%)

Ah, these things pretty much test your party composition. They're resistant to physical attacks, and can hit harder with Rolling. Physical attacks don't do too much against them, but fire will take them down easily.

: On tonight's menu- what is that anyway?

: Armadillo? Armored rat? It'll be nice to eat something new for once anyway.





: Man this thing has a hard shell!

: We can barely scratch it.





: Oh god! They hit hard too!

: Oh for the love of. Okay, this is how it's done.





: Roasted, toasted, and burned to a crisp.



And the party gains nothing from the battle.

: I think you put too much fire in that shot.

: I'm not eating that.

: Yeah I'll settle for the hedgehogs.

: Eh, I'll lighten up on the shots next time. Oh well, I'd say we made some pretty good progress. And we can come back here thanks to that Geomagnetic Pole. What do you say we go back for now?

: OH THANK GOD! YES PLEASE!



I sell off our drops and old equipment at the store, but nothing got unlocked.

PC-88 Version



: Pretty much everyday we go into the Labyrinth is like that. Anything new happen to you lately?

: My father went to market the other day to buy me a new dress. I thought I might wear it in the shop to show it off, but it does get dusty in here. Maybe you can come back this weekend and I'll wear it then!

: I'm sure you'll look as cute as a button then.

PC-88 Version



: We managed to reach the third floor today. And with little to no accidents I may add.

: Good to hear. Though your job as explorers has only just begun. The Grand Duchy maintains a guard corps presence in the Labyrinth, but it is small. Just like this town... It's a shame the explorers can so easily outmatch the guards. Perhaps we should look to the guilds when recruiting new members of the guard corps.

: That would probably be a good idea.

: Either way, we'll need your explorer's strength to proceed with our investigations. Thank you for assisting us. I'm expecting great things from you all.

: We won't disappoint!

PC-88 Version



: Occasionally, you may encounter other guilds in the Labyrinth. There's a man from the guild called Beowulf who's always very supportive for beginners.

: Oh, we just met him. He was pretty helpful.

: Naturally, Guild Beowulf isn't the only guild you can expect to meet in your travels. That's all the advice I have for you. Never underestimate the Labyrinth.

PC-88 Version



: Yep. We're looking to go up to the 4th floor soon.

: What?

: Eh? Yeh want to move up even faster...? Don't be daft! The Labyrinth isn't a playground! I give yeh credit for having guts, but don't overdo it! Know yer limitations, and take it slow! G'luck out there!

: He has a point Fedot. You don't want to tire out the guild now. I think poor Ken's exhausted. So, what's on the quest list?



: Oh, yeh'll take it? S'pose yeh've got a soft spot for this town! Haw! What I need yeh to do is get 3 materials for the hunting horn those guards carry.

: The what now?

: Yeh've not seen it? They blow on the thing to communicate, or when they're in trouble. The more explorers that flock to this town, the more guards yeh see. Think yeh'll sign up?

: Nah, I don't like having responsibilities like that.

: Anyway, yeh can get the Red Shards they need from one of the Labyrinth critters. G'luck!

The Red Shards are a random drop from an enemy on the third floor we haven't encountered yet. Not too complicated.



: Oh, it's that one yeh're aftter? The Duke's guards went on a mission in the Labyrinth... Yer job is to bring them food and other supplies, but I warn yeh—it's a damned heavy load! I s'pose yeh could divide it up equally, but there's a wee problem with that.

: I don't like where this is going.

: If someone carrying the stuff dies, the monsters will scarf it up lickety-split. So yeh can't let a single man die until yeh've delivered the goods, understand? The guards're up on the 4th floor. Careful with that stuff, all right?



I don't know why this quest is given to you this early. The quest distribution per floor in this game is really bad. Also this is another annoying thing with most of EO2's quests. Most of them can be failed, and if you do, you have to report the quest early, and accept it again to get another try. Not many of EO1's quests could be failed, so this is a change I'm also not fond of. Also the condition for failing this one is super easy, and we're nowhere close to entering the 4th floor either.

: Uh, you guys might want to take a look at this quest. Hey Cass? Can you tell us more about this?



: Ah, yeh're taking the quest? This one should make a great warmup for the hard stuff. Yeh knew the huge monster in the northern clearing on the 1st floor? Well, some stupid blighter took a poke at it. It's usually calm, but now that it's been riled... It's attacking anyone who comes near. Bad news, that one. Lotta people think the beastie needs killing, so there's yer job. And if you can't hack it, yeh've no chance of reaching the floating castle. Go get 'em, and g'luck!

: Great. Who's the idiot that annoyed the dinosaur?

: Look, Pauline and the others are here. Maybe they know what happened.

: Oh I would think so. So. Pauline. Care to tell me where you got those wounds from?

: Uhhhh...

: Oh, she decided not listen to your warning about the creature, and poked at it. Then it bit at her and started stomping around.

: Why would you tell them that!?

: I'm not taking the blame for the mess you've caused. For the record, we tried to stop her, but her curiosity got the best of her.

: I hate you so much. _{This was not how my tale of glory was supposed to start.}

: Oh, really now? Oh, here's our main haul of food we got from the Labyrinth. Good work on the gathering. Make sure Pauline doesn't get any.

:

So remember that immobile FOE on the first floor? Once you take this quest, it starts moving around. The Gashtor is actually a weaker version of another FOE in the first stratum, which is why we saw it so early. It's also a quest FOE, so once we kill it, it's gone for good. Unfortunately our party isn't strong enough to take it out yet. Maybe by level 8 or 9.

PC-88 Verison



: You there! Could you please lend me a hand and clear the area?

: Uh, sure! Out of the way people!

: If you could please excuse us, we need to get through here! Phew... thank you. Yet another explorer who got badly injured in the Labyrinth. Even experienced explorers can run into trouble if they're ambushed by monsters. Remember that during your own journeys.

: Yeah that Labyrinth slammed that lesson into our face a few times.



: That was fast! I didn't think you had it in you.

: Hey!

: Oh, I didn't mean anything by it. You just don't look that strong... I was worried. But at this pace, I think you'll do great things! Good luck up there, children!

: Go get some rest guys. We'll try to reach the 4th floor sometime this week.