Part 15: Ants? Ants.

Part 14: Ants? Ants.

Previously on the best current EO1 LP on the forums:

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Now, the nailbiting conclusion:



Ah, geez. Ow, ow, ow.

Everyone alive?~

Unfortunately.

I seem relatively unharmed since I landed on something soft.

Yeah. Me! Everyone get off!

Sorry.



Let's never do that again.

We most definitely will with this party~

And lo, back to town.





1 Elastic is required for Gum Helm (DEF+3, TP+9), sells for 780en.

3 Elastic are required for Stud Vest (Light Armor, DEF+17), sells for 1680en.

1 Glass Eye and 3 Gum Throats are required for Fancy Coat (Clothing, DEF+11, VIT+3), sells for 1560en.

5 Gum Throats are required for Gum Whip (Whip, ATK+70), sells for 1710en.

5 Bone Shards and 5 Steel Bones are required for Flute (Troubadour Accessory, TP+20), sells for 3800en.



Nice nap, but falling on hard ground, then having four sacks hit me in the back sure takes its toll.

You were an honourable cushion!



I don't know where you got it, but with that old scroll, you can register ronin now. Go ahead, try it.



Two updates in a row with unique Guildmaster dialogue? Weird. Anyway, level 1 Ronin, have fun getting them to like level 30.

EO1 is actively unfriendly to grinding, I don't know what the hell Atlus was thinking with having unlockable classes.

They were meant to be prestige classes. An advanced version of Landsknecht, if you will in this particular case. Deals more damage in exchange for losing out on crowd control. It uhh, didn't work out too well.

The Thousand Year Old Blue Woodlands



Such a deafening call. Seems I need to teach everyone how to surpress certain sounds.



Alright, let's stop being so chilly. Right from the start it's a 50% reduction on all Ice attacks, which means we could take on those turtles if we wanted to. You know, if we did any damage back.

50% damage reduction at level 1 would be super good in any other EO game. But for the purposes of this game, it's really not enough.



Ah, here's another one.




Just one left and they can all rest~




But I'm at the end of my rope out here! I can't take another step! I'll ive you what I've done so far... maybe you could finish it...?

The soldier takes out a parchment and thrusts it into your hands.

Oh, yeah, before I forget, my buddy told me there's a lot of pitfalls on this floor. Watch your step out there, okay? I mean that.

Before you can protest, the soldier turns and walks away quickly. With the terrified soldier's map in hand, you continue through the forest.



I'll punch that guy the next time I see him.

They all look the same, but I hope that was the last one~

Thankfully the game never does this bullshit again. Waste of goddamn time.



...well I'm already halfway through the door, so I guess we're killing this ant.

Like we could back out with this party.

Let us duel, insect!

I think this FOE patrols in that room, but it'll walk into you when you go through the door anyway, so this is basically an ambush that the game, or indeed the series, never really repeats.

Ah EO1, even when you go easy on the player for a bit, you still can't resist the opportunity to be a dick.




Bloodant

Level: 29
HP: 800
STR: 134
VIT: 58
AGI: 51
LUC: 51
TEC: 34

EXP: 650

Skills
Acid: Uses the Head. Decreases the entire party's AGI by 50%. Has a 200% speed modifier.
Summon: Uses the Head. Summons a Deathant to the battle under certain conditions.

Damage Vulnerabilities
75% 75% 75%
50% 125% 100%

Disable Vulnerabilities
25% 50% 5%
50% 50% 50%

Drops
Normal: Steel Bone. 60% chance. Sells for 51en.
5 required for Shamshir (Sword, ATK+63)
5 required for Flute (Troubadour Accessory, TP+20)

Rare: None

Conditional: None

Do you like ants? What about ants that summoned ants? Well here you go, have fun. Bloodants are like Wolves, so they're not very impressive, but you should focus on them, otherwise the summoned Deathants will be endless. Since it's just a big Deathant and they weren't impressive either, it's not much to worry about. However, due to the door, we can't run away from this battle, so if this had been a Shelltor, we would've been FUCKED.

It's a beefier Deathant, but with a big difference. It can summon a bunch of flunkies to draw out the battle. Not really notable otherwise.



And now there's more~

Oh goody, here's a sack of 180HP to chew through. Joy.



Okay, well, I'm just going to keep killing this thing. It can do whatever it wants.



I hope that wasn't the best you've got.

You're welcome!

This party will crush ants.

CRUSH THE ANTS UNDERFOOT, MAKE THEM PAY FOR WHAT THEY DID TO ME



You know it's scary when even our diva kills something.

I shall take that as a compliment.



Simple enough, Multihit was good to soften up the Deathants while still putting pressure on the Bloodant. We could do that a few more times before Aryll collapses from exhaustion.



Ain't this labyrinth just riveting?



We've reached the strange markings that idiot made, so let us follow in his footsteps.

Uh, well, I don't think-



-we should. Oh will you listen to me!

Guess we're going around~

If you've got a big square, you can be sure the direction you pick will be the opposite direction to the Shelltor.



Man this place is boring.

We're kinda deep into the floor and while the enemies hit hard... okay hit Aryll kinda hard, this is nothing compared to B6F where we faced all kinds of nasty creatures including those goddamn Sloths.

The earliest parts of the earlygame tend to be the hardest parts of EO games. EO1 just happened to extend that for 2 whole Strata.



...allllllright.

First to charge in, first to be disappointed.




I guess a pit is slightly more exciting.

You don't have to force some commentary if there's nothing to comment about~




Okay, one of these has to be the way forward, otherwise why would ants be here?

Feel free to find out. You could always solve the puzzle.

We'll be here all day, I'll just tell him later, it's so obvious.

...what is?



This will save some floor travel. Of course, we'll be going around the rest of this floor before we start jumping down holes.



Multi-Midareba!

Wait why did the worm get sliced after Aryll sheathed her katana?~

Oh I get it, this time we're the ones doing the 2HKOs.




You have obtained the articles left behind by the three adventurers.

I don't know who you all were, but you were honourable and strong to make it this far alone.

B11F C1 Mine Point

Crab Leg. 50% chance. Sells for 68en.
1 required for Wind Whip (Whip, ATK+79)
5 required for Shred Whip (Whip, ATK+94, STR+6, AGI+3)

Rock Coral. 25% chance. Sells for 80en.
1 required for Sea Charm (Accessory, DEF+1, TP+20)
10 required for Medica IV (Medicine, restores the target by 350HP)

Corundum. 15% chance. Sells for 130en.
1 required for Blue Ring (Accessory, DEF+1, Ice Resist Up 15%)
1 required for Love, cast in silver



...add it to the list.

Running out of space on this parchment.

Surely we'll get the key before too long, right? Hmm, give it five updates at most. Maybe. I'm terrible at guessing this LP's length.



So who wants to guess if this turtle will walk into us?

You know it will~



Congrats on your guess, now get moving!



See, if we didn't have this tile to step back to, then we would've gotten trapped. Sometimes the developers are merciful.

Appreciate what few moments like that exist. They aren't too plentiful.



I have not tasted such a thing yet.

Karin's stockpiling them for some reason. I think she strokes the rarer medicine sometimes.

My preciousssssss.

me with the Balance and the Spear



Charging through doorways hasn't failed yet! Nothing heeeeeeeeeeeeee- _oof!

Hmm, 2 seconds. So multiply by terminal velocity... account for resistance... probably about 15 metres deep.

Alright, I better go heal the idiot. Hup!

I shall fall down this hole with honour!

At least wait until it's clear to ju- oh why do I even bother.




Well that's one way to finish a floor. Let's return to town...



5 Elastic and 5 Steel Bones are required for Shamshir (Sword, ATK+63), sells for 1900en.

5 Elastic is required for Self Bow (Bow, ATK+59), sells for 2090en.



I keep admiring all the swords being made that I forget to get my own. Especially since SOMEONE keeps practising with them.

Who, m-me? Naaaaaaaaah!



Welcome back. I'll make sure to give these to our clients. Thank you very much... I understand why adventurers are drawn to the Labyrinth's mysteries, but... looking at the things they leave behind... I feel awful, giving requests like this. But your work does save the lives of many people... so all I can do is pray you'll return safely every time you go down there. Promise me you won't do anything stupid, okay kids?

Come now, we won't die that easily.

Pfft, I'll keep everyone alive. It's what I'm here for, but I can't promise they won't be idiots.

cross are you sure you're not just writing a thinly-veiled version of me when i play healer roles in multiplayer games

Playing support tends to be one of the more stressful and harrowing roles.




Now it's time to actually map this floor. And by that, I mean step on enough tiles until the game says you've mapped this floor. Not too fun, but hey, we'll need this exp.

Ah, the days of pre-"map fog" Etrian Odyssey.



Relaxing heals 4% TP per turn with a 79% speed modifier (boosted by Songs, of course). And you might be thinking I've gone mental, putting a point into the worst tree, Iai, but you'll see.



Okay, we'll kill this ant before we finish the rest of the floor. Do you know why?

Uh, killing is good?

Don't strain the poor lad.



We must find new enemies soon, going through the motions is not proper training!



They're not that interesting to fight and they're not even good exp. Anyway, Salve is still useful, as Salve II is mostly for full heal emergencies right now, but we won't go further than level 5 for it, where it'll be a good middling heal for 94HP.

If you're thinking these FOEs seem oddly weak, there's a reason for that.



Radha Hall will be quite pleased to see your handiwork. If you are done mapping B12F as well, then return to the Radha Hall and show them the results. If not, then move along to the next floor, and complete the second half of your task.

I think this will be sufficient data.

There's still like 10% of the floor left.

Do you want to keep walking around?

Oh hey, what do you know, we've completed the floor, good work team.



Third hit soon! Two 117% hits, because scaling sucks until level 10.

I'm really glad Atlus stopped with weird skill power scaling starting in EOU...for the most part.




See how it all matches up?

Hmm. Hmm. Yeah, I figured it out earlier, good job catching up.

I still don't get it.

...hate you. Hate you both.

Exploring B12F is a good idea to figure out which hole to drop down. Because of course you have to do that to continue.



Exercise great caution as you venture forth... it's likely that many ants will appear to stymie your progress through this floor.

ANTS! You will return what you stole from me!~

I really doubt these are the same ones from your convoluted and probably contradictory past.




A nice free upgrade, but I won't bother buying them for Ryu and Cheese, it's only +1 DEF and +2TP from their current stuff, yawn.



Ah, well, good hit.

I haven't prepped the positions yet, get back here!



Ants.

Ants.

Welcome to Anthell.



40% Ice damage reduction, which would be impressive on a regular skill, but of course it goes much further than this.




I... I don't... sure.

Oh, EO1 map design!



Deeper into B12F is when enemies could start getting tricky. But they're just the side dish to the main course of crap we're about to find.




Ah, finally, something to do.

Again it's a Bloodant, but they're also mandatory respawning Bloodants. We'll need to take care of that asap.



It's still a Bloodant, so we'll kick its ass, but we're not here for that.



Ahah, thought you could hide from me, motherfucker?

I feel like everyone's getting more violent~

A Sudden Gust of Wind Before Your Eyes



Foolish creature, feel the might of my blade!

Hmm, I feel like the other ants aren't a fan of your threats.


Servant

Level: 30
HP: 1300
STR: 140
VIT: 61
AGI: 53
LUC: 53
TEC: 35

EXP: 1320

Skills
Crusher: Uses the Head. A Bash attack that deals 120% damage to a single target. Has a 90% accuracy modifier and a 10% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities
75% 75% 75%
50% 125% 100%

Disable Vulnerabilities
25% 50% 5%
50% 50% 50%

Drops
Normal: Bone Shard. 50% chance. Sells for 53en.
1 required for Tabar (Axe, ATK+86)
5 required for Hunter Bow (Bow, ATK+75)
5 required for Flute (Troubadour Accessory, TP+20)

Rare: Ant Honey. 40% chance. Sells for 79en.
1 required for Amrita II (Medicine, recovers the target by 50TP)
3 required for Bravant II (Medicine, increases the target's ATK by 125% for 5 turns)

Conditional: None

Like the Bloodant to the Deathant, the Servant is just a bigger Guardant. However, you'll want to kill these guys because they're the ones that infinitely spawn Bloodants to patrol around this floor. They can be pretty tough to deal with, especially since Bloodants will go after you when you're fighting a Servant, but with some damage mitigation and some nice big numbers, you'll be able to clear these corridors out no problem. Unless you like burning your TP on Bloodants.

kill these bastards as soon as you see them or you will regret it

These are why the Bloodants are so easy to kill (and give pitiful rewards). Servants will be spawning a ton of Bloodants. They're not too interesting by themselves though, being just beefier Guardants.



Gah, tough little thing, but mind this newcomer, it looks angry!



Well, those are some mighty mandibles...

Ah, finally! I mean, uh, oh no, Aryll, stay with me.



Boosted Revive is useful in a pinch, but fighting two FOEs is always tricky, even if they're only ants. It sucks that the harder hitting Servant goes second and thus avoids F.Guard.



Woah that's some strong stuff!

Maybe Karin really does care~

Sucks to use a Soma, but we're in a bit of a pickle. Also ants.



If they continue to come, then I shall continue to strike.

Even I'm losing track on which one is the leader.

Thankfully Aryll did monstrous damage before she died, so the Servant is toast, along with the other patrolling Bloodant. All that's left is ants.



At least there's no ants in heaven...

Ah come on, you choose NOW to die?



Well this will take a few hours to wash out.

How strange, everyone seems so drained~

Ants.



Don't just immediately die after we start!

But they must taste my honour!

Through all these fabulous shortcuts, we can get back to where we were pretty quickly and since the Servant won't respawn for a while, we can continue on no problem.




Still have regular encounters, but whatever, onto the next main event.



Alright, they can stay down there and then there's one right up here. Hmm, I wonder where the leader is...

Oh, just in this corner here, I know the different sounds they make~

What, were you raised by ants?

Ah, it's a long story. For another time~



There's 3 Bloodants in this room, which can quickly get out of hand when they keep getting in your way and respawning. We'll go through this one to reach the Servant in the top right, the battle was as riveting as always.



I will not be made a fool of again!

Woo, I love a good slice through the heart.

With the other two Bloodants too far away to do anything, this battle is the same as the other easy ones. Using a Ronin is almost cheating in this FOE heavy floor.



Ah crap, what do we do after Relaxing? Elemental songs? Elemental songs.



I'll never get tired of this.



Ah, geez, this smoke is way too thick. I feel like it's burning my mind!

Hmm, perhaps this sensation can be reversed~

Less thinking, more killing!

I'm glad Curse doesn't apply to the final hit of the battle, oh boy.




Come, let us exterminate these pests too!

Ease up, chuckles, this room has too few ants for its size. I don't fancy battling another lot this close to the _potential end.



Ah, a door to dive through~

It's what I was born to do.



Watch your step.

Ah, child ants. We must honourably kill them too!

There's nothing here, unless you make a racket, so zip it!

It seems to have been a nest of some kind, but nothing is emerging from it now. You carefully tiptoe around the hole, so as not to disturb whatever sleeps there.

Since regular events are no longer a thing, this is something quest related. Not very often we find the location before we can take the quest.



Yeah we can keep the ants alive. For now.

Perhaps my bloodlust song is working too well~



Ants for later. Latants.



No curse, no problem. Gahahaha!



This is as far as I'll go in the Iai tree, since Kubuichi can be useful in certain situations. It's notable in being the only multiple target katana skill, which is useful for dungeon crawling Ronin that really doesn't need to use Midareba. It's also got a 40% base chance of Instant Death, which has a different resistance to regular ailments, so that's also kinda nice. I'm not interested in levelling it up further, 130% damage is perfectly fine coming from a Ronin.

Definitely a good pickup for a Ronin. It makes them contribute more to encounters, which you'll be running into a lot of.



Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.

Hmm. Well, it's for the benefit of the guild, so hey, when in Romulus... Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill~



A dishonourable dead end? It must be destroyed!

Oh like it's ever that simple.




See, as easy as that. Let us move oooooooooooh crap.




That's, uh, a lot bigger than Cernunos.

Hell yeah it is!

Straining your eyes to see where the noise is coming from, you see a gigantic ant! You realize with alarm that you have trespassed into the ants' forest nest... if you are to proceed, battle with the devilish ants will be inevitable!

Surprise, it's boss time already!



That's a lot of goddamn ants~

To take on all five at once will be honourable! But not in our current condition!

The smartest thing you've said all day. Come on, the rocks echo differently on this wall.




I don't think we'll map out the floor with that thing in the way.

Feels like we're missing a few floors, but hey, we kill that, we move on to the next stratum!

Ah, to be able to eradicate the whole stinking horde~

Indeed, we must deal with this threat as soon as we can!

Then we'll do so when we get back, I doubt it'll go down that easily, especially with all its annoying cronies.



Good work destroying most of the ant horde, now my masters have a new base of operations. Now fly my pretties!

...why did you attach feathers to my back?

They want you to fly, pretty. Duh. Have fun out there, the rest of us will plan on taking down this ant menace.




Pfft, fine, ants make me crabby, but I'm stuck between a rock and a hard gem. Huh, I'm getting weirdly good at puns that no one can hear. That's depressing.



I wonder what kind of ring he's got in mind... I hope we get a peek before the proposal!

What a wedding I would have... we'd both look good in a suit. Tehehehe.

Ryu looks excited to face the boss, that's my kinda guy!



10 Rock Coral is required for Medica IV (Medicine, heals the target by 350HP), sells for 1200en.

Huh, interesting, the online list I'm foolishly using for unlocks has the Blue Ring requiring 1 Corundum and that's it. Well, clearly not, so perhaps a later item is also required. We'll find out. Medica IVs are a bit annoying to get and they're unnecessary since Medica IIIs are still full heals for us. Always nice to have regardless.




Here's something else I stumbled upon, some people in town have new dialogue. For accepting the mission? I dunno, I guess they have an end of stratum Boss defeat dialogue and then general new stratum dialogue after a floor or so. Guess I'll need to check more often!



If you have some time, I know they'd be grateful if you could take care of some of them.

I don't feel like I missed much. And that was all of it, so half the town doesn't even change anyway. Regardless, next time, well, more ants, but you knew that already.