Etrian Odyssey Part #16 - Ant This Fun? (Guild Edda VS Royalant)

Part 16: Ant This Fun? (Guild Edda VS Royalant)

Part 15: Ant This Fun? (Guild Edda VS Royalant)

We've got a boss to fight today, but some of the team is a bit behind in levels, so let's go over the best grinding method for this game. I'm being serious, killing Treefrogs is the fastest way to gain exp in this game.

Where do they keep coming from?

Just stay behind me and you'll be fine!

My masters need to learn these techniques.

It can get a little out of hand, but if you stay on top of things, you can have Treefrogs spawn endlessly. It's pretty easy too, they either spawn in if there's just the one Treefrog on the field and it's past turn 2, or if a Treefrog is below 50% health. Easy.

Hopefully we can kill them before we run out of TP, but all they do is attack and bind your head, so they're not deadly even if you have less than 5 members to get more exp.

Not bad for an example fight. You need to keep count on how many enemies you're killing, since after 30, the game stops counting exp gain, so there's no point fighting them after that. Items drops also stop after 8, but that's just a cool fact. So if you've got 2 in the party and kill 30 Treefrogs, that's 10,800exp, which ain't too bad, even if it'll take forever. But yeah, aside from killing FOEs or Bosses, this is the best way of gaining exp in this game. Woo.

i offered to write a save editor for EO1 to cross before the LP started, for what it's worth, because i remembered how awful this shit was. i was willing to spend time writing code so someone else didn't have to suffer this nonsense (AR codes sufficed in the end)

Say hi to the other main reason people don't bother with a Ronin or Hexer, other than them being bad. Grinding is super slow in EO1, and this is the most reliable grinding method in the game, I'm afraid. Killing 30 Tree Frogs over and over takes a good long while. It's also why people don't bother with resting (let alone retirement!), which applies a whopping 10 level penalty in this game compared to the 5 in the later DS titles, and 2 from every title afterwards.

We're taking on Royalant at level 30, so Ryu and Cheese need a few offscreen levels (through AR codes of course, Treefrog grinding is too slow), but there is something to do in the meantime.

Ooh yeah, guess who's finally strong enough. I'll cure this little kid in no time, gahahaha!

Just what I'd expect from our "holy" Protector.

Come to think of it, he seemed pretty healthy... well, at least he was happy, I guess.

That poor kid... he'll never be strong, so he wants to meet a powerful adventurer. He's hoping to meet a ronin above level 20. Do this for him, okay?

You're up, Aryll.

Ah, shall I teach the boy the way of the blade? A simple, honourable matter!

Bit annoying if you had no plans of raising up a ronin, but that's a katana we won't be unlocking for a couple floors, so that's real nice.

He seemed almost... too happy, you know? You've done three things for him because he's weak, but he doesn't seem so weak to me... is that kid sick at all...? It's not a very funny joke.

Wow way to be suspicious of a terminally ill kid, Valerie.

By us helping him, we're making his soul shine and improving his condition. Do not suggest something this dishonourable again!

Oh... so you think he got better because we met all his requests? Aww, that's a sweet thing to think. We'll just go with that theory, then.

Guess Valerie's extra dialogue is a curse, since we're finding out she's a horrible person. Anyway, this katana is a +45 ATK boost, so Aryll is, yet again, an absolute monster. She's gonna wreck this boss! Oh... she wasn't actually voted in. Oh.

3 Corundum is required for Blue Ring (Accessory, DEF+1, Ice Resist Up 15%), sells for 3000en.

Since we blew all our money on healing items, the negative of not running a Medic, at least I found out how to unlock the Blue Ring.

ANTS~

Oh great, the conclusion to this story.

Should I burn ants? Freeze them? Zap them? Should I try Poison? Man too many options, I need better focus.

Just focus on the murder and I'll focus on zero murder on our side. Hopefully.

We'll be just fine, I've been developing some strategies from watching you lot. We're ready!

Lord have mercy on my Medic-less soul.

amen

Warning: Do not try this at home!

While it would be nice to grind on Treefrogs for Boost, going through Medicas isn't a lot of fun. Not having Salve really sucks when you're all slightly damaged. Need to unlock Somas already.

I can hear them all around us. This will be quite the fight.

I know, I can barely wait!

We shall charge through this disgusting horde, come on everyone!

Wagner leading the way seems like a bad idea, but hey, let's get to bug killing.

There's only one scurrying mass in this labyrinth, and they're under my command!

Dyed in Blood

VS Royalant

All prepped and ready!

Feel the bloodlust, like I once felt upon saving my beloved from these accursed creatures.

Royalant

Level: 32
HP: 5500
STR: 204
VIT: 80
AGI: 74
LUC: 37
TEC: 74

EXP: 12000

Skills
Crunch: Uses the Head. A Bash attack that deals 120% damage to a single target. Has a 95% accuracy modifier and a 50% speed modifier.
Hammer: Uses the Arms. A Bash attack that deals 75% damage to 2-4 different targets. Has a 90% accuracy modifier and a 10% speed modifier.
Duster: Uses the Legs. Reduces the entire party's accuracy by 90% and attempts to inflict Blind. Has a 40% infliction chance and an 80% speed modifier.
Ant Aura: Uses the Head. Recovers 300HP. Has a speed modifier of 100%.

Damage Vulnerabilities

100%

100%

Disable Vulnerabilities

15%

65%

65%

Drops
Normal: Death Claw. 85% chance. Sells for 1600en.
1 required for Executor (Sword, ATK+97, STR+6, TEC+4)
1 required for Shred Whip (Whip, ATK+94, STR+6, AGI+3)

Rare: Ant's Jaw. 10% chance. Sells for 2400en.
1 required for Hachi (Katana, ATK+215, LUC+15, must be restocked)

Conditional: None

So who here watched the video? I KNOW RIGHT? This really isn't the party to fight Royalant with, but if there's one thing I'm good at, it's pulling victories from nowhere. Standard opening fare, Royalant hits really fucking hard, so we need some real damage mitigation, but we'll need to be careful with healing items and TP, cause this can be a long fight. The main problem is Hammer, since the more damage is dealt out, the more we need to heal, so Arm Bind is necessary. Duster will be annoying, but the slight accuracy reduction isn't a big deal, so with Crunch mitigated, I think we'll be just fine!

Royalant can be very annoying to deal with normally, and she hits pretty hard. Though we'll see just what can make this fight so harrowing a bit later.

A good attack, but soon I'll freeze you in your tracks.

Okay, songs are all well and good, but don't start trying puns.

Wagner has laid down Bravery, so he's basically done for the fight. He'll be a good item user, as well as an oil recipient. See, oils are actually composite attacks, so they'll deal more damage than a regular attack, since they have that additional elemental attack added on, and they can hit for weakness. Sure, Royalant isn't weak to anything, but this is still more damage than he'll be dealing otherwise, and that's very helpful in a long fight like this.

In short, regular attacks and Oils actually used to be worth a damn in EO1. Assuming the target doesn't resist both elements, that's 100% STR + 100% TEC damage for 5 turns right there! All for 0 TP. Yeah, and then Oils ended up getting nerfed to the ground with how they changed how composite damage works starting from EO2. Which also made regular attacks no longer worth it aside from an emergency option.

Hah, not a fan of that!

I wish you weren't so fast, you missed all the weak points...

Oof, that's some tough jaws you've got! Looks like the others are stirring!

Alright, something else to target.

I wish I could always do this kind of damage. Well, time to set it up again.

Ahh, I'm not used to firing these frozen arrows!

Breathe easy, man, we'll be fine, especially if I'm in top condition, hyaaaah!

Ah dammit, you've got to link up more! Work on your coordination!

Alright, that's all I've got for random fire. Incoming!

Oh hey, it's that one you've killed loads of.

Indeed, they just keep coming back.

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%

50%

125%

100%

Disable Vulnerabilities

25%

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

Now the fun begins. However, one of the ants disappeared since they both tried to enter battle at the same time, weird. We've faced a good number of Bloodants before and they're just here to waste time since they constantly keep respawning, so we'll ignore them completely. They'll make you slower so Royalant gets to go before you, while summoning Deathants is actually good, since they're considerably less scary than another Bloodant entering the battle. However, the first Bloodant only has a 50% chance of summoning one, otherwise they won't bother since you need less than 3 enemies for them to try.

This is a good time to note that there are two limits on enemy party size in the DS EO games: there's a hard cap of six in battle, but what takes precedence is whether or not all the sprites can fit on the screen at the same time. If an enemy tries to join in on a battle where there isn't enough space, other enemies will get erased IF they're a higher tier enemy (so Bosses to FOEs and FOEs to regular enemies).

Though the game can most certainly fit in more Bloodant sprites than that. It must have registered both of them trying to enter the battle at the same time as only one of them trying to join in. Anyways, this is what can make the battle extra annoying to deal with. Bloodants themselves don't do much, but that extra bit of support and additional damage they deal to your party just keeps stacking the deck against you.

Excellent, cooling her down and slowing her makes stopping her limbs a breeze. Good work, Wagner!

Never heard Cheese thank anyone before, must've hit my head pretty hard.

That was pretty damn lucky since Royalant specifically has AI that makes her not use attacks that are bound. Sure, this makes binds less useful, but it also makes her incredibly predictable. Now she has a 60% chance of using Crunch and a 40% chance of using Duster so long as she's bound. I want to avoid Hammer that much. Especially with another ant entering the fray.

see i would've locked off Duster but maybe i'm just overly paranoid about blind

Blind is pretty terrible in this game and is easily dealt with. Only a 30% accuracy reduction, and most attacks in this game are already pretty accurate in the first place. Unlike in later games where it reduces accuracy by a whopping 66%, and attack accuracy isn't nearly as reliable as it is in EO1.

Cheese only has one level in Immobile, so binding the legs isn't as useful and stopping Hammer is super important since we have no Medic and therefore the less damage we take, the less of a headache I have.

I've been blinded by rage! Also by this irritating dust.

Ugh, I really liked this coat too, now it's covered in ant slime and dirt.

Alright, the whole gang is here. There's one ant leftover, but it can't fit in since there's no more space for sprites! This is why I won't bother dealing any damage to any Bloodants, since one will just replace it immediately. A complete waste of resources, since we're already running low on TP for Liana.

Bit more to the left and, uh, adjust this plate like so...

Then you fix this curved attachment to the shield. Ryu, more to the right please.

Huh? What are you doing?

This is a dangerous situation, so if I help out, then we'll be done much faster! I've been watching you guys long enough, I know how to help each one of you!

...oh lord I've found her.

Remember when it's time to refresh your buffs again, since the game sure as hell doesn't tell you. 1st Turn is just wonderful.

The rule of thumb in the first two Etrian Odyssey games is that all player buffs that aren't the Troubadour's (which last indefinitely) last for 5 turns. Though it can be worrysome to forget to reapply them on the turns they're about to wear off.

She wasn't even looking at the shot when it landed. That's scary.

Back up, here comes the disgusting onslaught!

Huh, I forgot 1st Turn went before Apollon. Very few things do, such as F.Guard and maybe the fast katana skill? Well who cares about those. Unlike other EO games, using the same buff or debuff when it's already active won't add onto the turn count, it'll just completely refresh it. So in future, it'll add on 5 turns to whatever you've got left, whereas here it'll just be 5 turns from now regardless of what it was.

It's a very important distiction in the mechanics to keep in mind, since it changes how buffs can be used big time. (And is also why almost all player buffs in EO3 ate a turn duration nerf from 5 to 3 turns due to a change in mechanics.)

See, all alive, thanks to you.

Uh, w-well, it's what I do!

Ah it's good to see again. Time to flame a cowering ant.

The best kind of ant.

Gotta reapply debuffs since damn is that some damage when I'm not using F.Guard on top of Sapping. Ryu has just been using Flame all battle, but it's too easy to get distracted managing everything and forgetting to keep the damage up. After all, priority one is killing Royalant, so we'll keep the pressure on.

Move them around here to cover the most lullaby ground.

Uh, right, you heard sis- I-I mean, the lady.

Hey, two out of four ain't bad, just puts them out of the battle for a few turns.

Gaahhh, why is it always the damn eye with you damn things, dammit!

Let's keep everyone alive, regardless.

Hah, how do you like your accuracy reduced, eh? Amazing how they all fall for it.

Ah... R66kscjscdfm, you saved me...

Ahah, found you!

We're getting worn down, but I think that applies to both sides.

Alright, another landing. Mind... too frazzled... to try again...

C'mon, let's keep it up. We're definitely winning this!

I will never understand where his energy comes from...

Damn... look after them, my masters...

Should've healed up Cheese earlier, but I'm juggling a few hundred things, so oh well.

Keep them guessing! Welcome back, sis!

Ugh, I'd rather be dead.

Hey, catch!

Ah, right, here you go everyone, drink up.

1st Turn Soma is where we're at. Desperate times, y'all.

i mean, if it works...

C'mon, we're almost done here! I can see you weakening!

Better hope so, cause these guys are gonna stick around for now.

Only the fourth Apollon of the battle, what of it?

Alright, one hit left!

When even my shield is too heavy... all I can do is swing my sword!

That's the hardest part of the fight done... now to take down 3 FOEs and we're home free!

Ah dammit, I guess the Bloodant will have to do in a pinch!

Let's keep them cowering, cause they're gonna hurt.

Died like you killed my lover! Matthew deserved a better death!

Wait I thought the other two members were your lovers.

We were all lovers with each other! How did you think we got so famous? The drama and scandals were off the charts!

i wonder what kinda tabloids they got in Etria

We need to focus down one Bloodant at a time, or we'll die to a thousand cuts. This is the main reason for Wagner having a Freeze Oil.

Alright, keep cool, stay behind me and we'll get out of this just fine!

That's the spirit. Keep that shield up, we're counting on you!

You might say using Torpor and Thor at the same time is a bad idea. I agree with you, but hey, I was on edge from getting this far, so I'm kinda just throwing everything out to kill these asap.

Well, this is enough ant death to satisfy me. I'm running out of arrows.

Wagner has used one (1) skill this battle and everyone still has it aside from Cheese. How the fuck did this battle go so well?

sometimes you get undeservedly lucky with the RNG. please let me have some of it

I cAN'T believe how long this battle is going.

I'm only keeping everyone alive just to spite those who love ant puns.

ryu why

One left. Well three left. Well, you get what I mean.

Just stay... behind me... alright even I'm getting sick of these damn ants!

I've never seen these squirrels so tired before.

It's way past their bedtime.

Oh yeah, the new ones aren't afraid of us. Damn... they hit hard...

Two left, ahhhhhhhhhh!

Rest in peace Matt, may we hate fuck again someday.

Alright, I'm falling asleep now, goddamn.

I'll sleep when I'm dead.

There we go, a 22 turn fight without a Medic. I, uh, would advise not doing this. Especially cause I cheated with this fight. Well, half of it. See, since I savestate just before the fight and restart when things go south, since this game has static RNG, I know exactly what's going to happen. You'll notice it in the video since I'm pretty speedy at the start of the battle, but slow down towards the end when I don't know what's gonna happen. I just kept restarting until I got to the combination of attacks that made things go smoother, such as 2 hits from Hammer instead of 4, or Abdomen landing turn 4 instead of turn 6. Pretty cheeky, I know, but I also can't help it, it's not my fault the RNG stays the same.

Reseed your RNG regularly, folks! Don't just do it during boot!

Well there's no need to be ashamed of taking advantage of it. You see, the RNG staying static in EO1 was a deliberate design choice, and one of the few forms of mercy they gave the player. It's so that battles play out the same way every time if you take the same actions. Meaning that if a battle went poorly, you should try something else, while battles that went well (before going pear shaped) can make it so that the player can continue off from where they "left off." They eventually dropped this design decision for the 3DS games.

Next floor. Then we'll map this one. Then we'll explore more. First we sleep. Aw geez my arms.

1 Death Claw and 5 Crab Legs are required for Shred Whip (Whip, ATK+94, STR+6, AGI+3), sells for 2610en.

The Lounge Where We Speak of Tomorrow

Oh hey you're back. Wow are you guys beat up. Did you win?

Of course we did.

I wish I was there for it, seems I missed out on ant goo, dust and all kinds of bite marks!

Treat us... and we'll hear these damn requests.

The pearl our client lost was a precious gift from her lover. If you search the habitats of monsters with large horns, you may be able to get it back. Careful, though. That monster was too much even for someone as strong as her.

Ooh, wrestling with horned beasts again!

I am so jealous!

That text is misleading, the only real horned beasts we've encountered are Warbulls on B5F, but the quest is for B11F. Go figure.