The Let's Play Archive

Etrian Odyssey

by Crosspeice

Part 28: Two Determined Women

Part 27: Two Determined Women

Festival of Worship



Welcome back everyone, congratulations, we exterminated the forest folk.

hooray...?

Nothing will stop us in our quest for 100% completion. Nothing.



Their absence has made exploring much easier... I thank you, on the Chieftan's behalf. Now we can finally enter the fifth Stratum... no human has ever set foot there. It's a pity the Chieftain isn't here to celebrate the occasion... he left, saying he had business in the Labyrinth, and hasn't returned yet. Perhaps he wishes to see the Labyrinth's mysteries solved with his own eyes... Could I trouble you to look for the Chieftain while you're investigating the Labyrinth? It's a personal request, not a mission per se, but I'd be grateful if you did it anyway. The Chieftain is everything to this town... without him, the people will be anxious. Thank you, and good luck.



Thanks. We'll look for the Chieftain.

The Roadside Trees Outside the Window



Just as a fifth Stratum was discovered, the Chieftain of the Radha disappeared. The danger and mystery of the forest are starting to creep into our own home now...

Really now, how crazy. Look, I think I'm gonna need a lot of stuff again, they're going in without me the weirdos.



Hey, tell me true. What did y'come t'Etria for? Money? Fame? Power? Maybe somet'ing else...? Just remember, whatever it is, y'can't take it witcha to t'grave, y'hear? Don't forget it, now.

I... don't remember you being so philisophical when we first met.

It's never the ones you expect.





1 Wine Whip and 1 Rose Whip are required for Dominator (Whip, ATK+180, STR+7, +15 Boost points each action, must be restocked), sells for 78,000en

Here's the best whip in the game, though not the strongest. The Boost generation is the best part, as it lets you do a lot more than you otherwise would. Though since Boost is a meh feature, you could go for the actual best whip if you didn't care, but boosting your bind chances and your regular attack is pretty nice.

Too bad Boost is really not that great in this game due to the meter having a negligble effect in the grand scheme of things.

1 Steel Claw and 5 White Fangs are required for Epee (Sword, ATK+139, STR+8, AGI+5), sells for 7000en

1 Steel Claw and 10 Sand Twigs are required for Labyris (Axe, ATK+162, STR+9), sells for 5280en

1 Evil Shell is required for Demon Mail (Landsknecht Armor, DEF+52, STR+10, HP+20, must be restocked), sells for 82,000en

1 Evil Plume is required for Sylpheed (Survivalist Armor, DEF+47, AGI+11, HP+15, must be restocked), sells for 79,000en

We'll get round to buying class exclusive items much later, but you should weigh it against much cheaper options that have similar DEF options. The best for most classes will be the Blood Mail, something we'll unlock soon for just 5600en and DEF+42 or the Rune Tunic for the other classes, which is 5040en and has DEF+36 and TP+15. Would it be worth spending your cash on lategame weapons instead? Lavin could use his pretty damn expensive armor set, but does Liana really care about +5 DEF, +11 AGI and +15HP for another 74,000en??? Armour in this game is pretty fuckin whack, but maybe those slight boosts will make all the difference.

Ultimate armors are more attractive in the later games, where stats are generally way more impactful. Until EO5 and EON, where the benefits became mostly minor at best (+30% bind resistance, really, come on, game). Exceptions include the Warlock/Zodiac ultimate armors, which give the all-important INT, and the Masurao/Hero ultimate armors, which give +5 all stats.

More EO1 jank. Even the ultimate equipment sucks in some cases.



Did you even hear a single word I said? Ah, forget it, I need a drink.



So that's what was all the way down there... a bunch of unknown buildings. I'm not sure what I expected to be there, but I'm still surprised to hear about it. Just don't get so wrapped up in your discoveries that you forget the work for you here.

Does no one care about the biggest archaeological find in history...?

Well, uh, I care.

I'll craft many a song, though sounds like quite the tall tale~

They just haven't seen it for themselves, something I still need to do, so finish preparations already!

Everyone should be back soon from scoping the situation. No one seems to have any idea of what the Chieftain's up to, which can't be good news. Let's at least go over some quests, they always cheer us up.

yaaaaaaaaaaay

Since there's only three people in town who change their dialogue (the Guildmaster and Quinn has never changed theirs and the Innkeeper has stayed the same since the start of the 3rd stratum), it doesn't mean there's a lot of excitement of an ENTIRE CIVILIZATION being discovered.

EOU is way better about making the town NPCs react to what you do.

Later games in general did that, really. Starting from EO2, the NPCs have at least 1 new line per floor. Unfortunately, EON dialed that back down to 1 or 2 per Stratum.



We must honourably find these vines! Or at least you will!

Ugh, fine, exploring an ancient ruin by myself does sound quite nice...



She wants to wear other crystals besides her usual blue heirloom. That's where you come in. Get her three Shiny Vines, rumored to grow in the forest depths. Vines of beautiful crystal... I'll be interested to see what they look like when you return.

We can find those on a B22F Chop point, but you wouldn't think so since there's a Chop point on B21F that doesn't have them! Yay!



Ah dammit, I come back and find Threw Harm is dead? He was a good drinking buddy of mine! Did this town always suck, or was it just recently?

With a name like that, you have to wonder what was going to happen to him eventually...

Those two... they were both skilled adventurers, and got along very well. They'd talk about how one day, they'd conquer the Labyrinth, and retire with each other... she wants you to find an offering for his gravestone, and I think you should do it. What she wants is a kind of small flower he liked, and something to bring good luck. The flower shouldn't be hard... but something lucky... I wonder what would be good for that.



3 Silver Eyes are required for Moon Aspis (Shield, DEF+20, VIT+4), sells for 1980en

Before we tackle that crazy difficult quest, it's always good to double check you've unlocked everything before moving on. We're done with the 4th stratum, except for the Bud, since that hasn't respawned yet. Love that it's an FOE. Just absolutely FUCKING ADORE IT

Dyed in Blood




Everyone charge!

Hey, just because Liana isn't here doesn't mean you're the lea- oh forget it. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

If you shout too loudly you won't hear my pounding rhythms!

I feel this party can either go one way or the other.

You know which way it'll go more.

With the 4th stratum down, there's some clean up to do. Here's the party we'll be taking for exploring. Yes, I know there's no Karin and we have a ronin for regular encounters. You think I decide this shit?



Oh that's not gonna save you, ahahahahahahaAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

You, uh, sure he's not wearing the Demon Mail?

With 2 ATK buffs, Lavin is doing as much damage in 1 turn as Liana was doing with Apollon, an attack that takes 3 turns each time. This is with War Cry now maxed, but not Crush, not just yet.



Anyway, nice rare drop, but only good to get now.




Why me?! Oh yeah, I'm in the front.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

The voice of an angel...



Don't really fancy dealing with Flood, but the fight won't last too long, ronin are pretty fucking silly.



Hrm. Annoying.

Leave it to me, on my-



-HONOUR!!!

Ugh, I miss sis.

Composite attacks don't give a shit about Aquaveil, though



1 Ice Spine is required for Arc Drawer (Ultimate Bow, ATK+220, STR+12, TEC+8, must be restocked), sells for 114,000en

The best bow in the game is pretty great, even if Liana and Wagner don't care about the TEC boost. Of course, since it's so expensive, only Liana will actually get this.

1 Ant's Jaw is required for Hachi (Katana, ATK+215, LUC+15, must be restocked), sells for 24,000en

The Hachi might seem really good for its price, but it's actually the strongest regular katana in the game, since katanas have high ATK stats to begin with, being slightly more expensive and slightly stronger than the previous katana. So if we wanted to skip all of others, then we can just buy this no problem. And while Aryll running around with 65 more ATK would be hilarious, we can wait.



Ew, I stepped in some shit.

It's a piece of paper with EMD written on it.



A small bouquet of flowers is laid against it... it seems someone visits it regularly. You place the small flower and the Luck Staff on the grave.

It is a great honour to do this for you. Farewell.

In EOU, you instead go around town and ask all the NPCs for ideas for gifts. Some of them give you gifts to place directly, some of them tell you what drops/gather materials would make good offerings.



Even though he passed away... I think he's lucky to have someone who remembers him. But I'm sure she'd prefer if he was still alive. You should keep that in mind.

Why she always gotta bring the mood down?

Because death is a serious problem for adventur- snnrk, I couldn't even finish that.



If it's not too much trouble, could you keep an eye out? He's very important to Etria... I'd hate for us to lose him.

Since I've done some labyrinth stuff, everyone that we care about says some new stuff.



Those guys are so screwed. Now, about these Stonards...

Use a Medic.



The town could... I dunno, make use of the labyrinth's vast amount of resources? Do some research on ancient human history? Supplies and equipment would still need to be provided for the people performing those tasks as well. That is a very good question I do not have the answer to.

It feels like the whole town has gold rush syndrome.

I don't know what a "gold rush" is. Sounds interesting.

The Capital of Shinjuku



Holy shit! Piss! This is crazy!

RIGHT?!

Is this the mystical land of samurai? I read somewhere it was a place called Wano, though it looked nothing like this.

It's bright as hell, but damn it's pretty.

Frankly, I don't have the words~



Oh good, some work for him.

Gah! Need to put more logs on the fire, it's chilly in the pub.

B21F A2 Mine Point

Crystwall. 50% chance. Sells for 650en.
Required for nothing.

Drywall. 25% chance. Sells for 630en.
1 required for I refuse thee, Death
1 required for Gourmand's request

Shiny Seed. 15% chance. Sells for 550en.
1 required for Medica V (Medicine, restores the target by 1000HP, must be restocked)
1 required for Hamaoprime (Medicine, restores the target by 1000HP and 1000TP, must be restocked)
2 required for Axcela III (Item, increases Boost by 100 points, must be restocked)
3 required for Angel Harp (Troubadour Instrument, TP+50, must be restocked)

Ah, new stratum, new gathering points. Or, well, it would be nice if it actually did anything. Crystwall does nothing, Drywall is only for quests and Shiny Seeds are very, VERY useful, but that won't be apparent for a long while yet, so don't get too excited.

Say hello to the most broken gathering point in the game, and one of the biggest reasons why gathering got some huge nerfs in EO2. Not sure what's the problem? Take a look at the map. It's a late game gathering point that's right next to the Geomagnetic Field! It's pretty much impossible for a farming team to get into an encounter here. And even if you never used a farming team before, you can make one now, and they would never be in any danger. It's a safe and easy way to get some quick money. So then gathering got nerfed pretty hard in the later games, and they don't make them that accessible from a Geomagnetic Field anymore.



Ahah, I shall slice you down, foul beasts!

Indeed, since either they got weaker, or we got stronger.


Silker

Level: 53
HP: 429
STR: 200
VIT: 120
AGI: 52
LUC: 52
TEC: 86

EXP: 1675

Skills
Silencer: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Head Bind on the entire party. Has a 40% infliction chance and a 10% speed modifier.
Disarmer: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Arm Bind on the entire party. Has a 70% infliction chance and a 10% speed modifier.
Web: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Leg Bind on the entire party. Has a 70% infliction chance and a 10% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities
100% 100% 100%
150% 100% 150%

Disable Vulnerabilities
0% 100% 100%
100% 100% 100%

Drops
Normal: Gum Thread. 28% chance. Sells for 89en.
4 required for Fur Boot (Footwear, DEF+7, AGI+14)
5 required for Rune Tunic (Clothing, DEF+36, TP+15)
5 required for Gold Cape (Accessory, DEF+3, HP+25)
1 required for I refuse thee, Death

Rare: None

Conditional: None

Finally, we face the enemies we saw like five updates ago. No we're not ready to go through that area yet. Silkers still have a pretty scary level of around +10, so they'll do some damage, but they mostly waste time binding your party. While it can be annoying, you only really care if they use Disarmer. 2/3rds of the time, they'll be pretty ineffective, but when they're with other enemies, binding the wrong body part can be pretty devastating.

These are much more dangerous in EOU, since they abandoned the separate skills for separate binds thing, and their primary skill just tries to bind every body part at once.

If you have a diverse party, then these aren't an issue. That level advantage can be nasty combined with their high STR.



A-Alright, remember your training. Hup, hup, hup.

How weirdly skilled you are at hopping~

It's completely random what groups of Silkers will go for, if you're lucky, they'll go for the same skill and waste your time.



Easy enough, but since it takes a while to fire, I imagine our lack of defensive options will screw us over soon enough.

Always the optimist...



We're not fighting the dinosaur???

At least let us enjoy this area before you try and kill us all.




Can't even enjoy the scenery. I figured they'd show up soon enough.

You strain to see two figures standing in the center of the bridge, blocking your path. If you go to meet them, you're sure to face an unprecedentedly fierce battle. You glance behind you at the way leading back to town... you must be certain you are ready to face whatever may lie in wait on the bridge.



At least tell me we'll fight senpai.

Can't hurt to explore a bit more. That is what we're here to do.



Two steps and there's a dinosaur. Always a fun time.



Mmmmpffer fffmmmmpffer!

I get the feeling Cheese doesn't like spiders.



With a 20% boost to TP, we'll start moving to level 10 versions of the big spells we'll use. Level 10 Thor will also pair nicely with Taranis, which increases weakness by 130% and reduces Volt damage by 60%. We'll also go for Ifrit since Aryll has Orochi. Otherwise, it's a Troubadour, we're not in much rush to do anything right now.



Oh hey, the stairs already. Maybe we don't have to kill those idiots after all.

I wasn't going to kill them! Just beat them up a little, sheesh.





Alright, good floor everyone, seems this is where the labyrinth ends!~

Pfft, I wish we could just stop now.



What are these doors made of that even Lavin and Aryll can't push them aside?

I fear terrible forces at work.

We'll be able to use these things... later.



I'm sure there's more than just spiders on this floor, but I guess not!



These staircases are very nice, but if there's nothing down them, then what's the point???

Since the building's so old, I imagine it doesn't connect as well as it used to.



Before you turn to head back, you notice a paper, yellowed with age, lying on the floor. You can vaguely make out words on the paper, which seems to be on the verge of disintegrating. Holding the paper to the window for light, you examine the blurred writing...

I've never encountered these symbols before. Any idea what they mean?~

I know a few dead languages, François and cockney, for example, but never scripture as complicated as this.

Ooh, ooh, I know this! One of my picture books had all kinds of 日本人 symbols, it's such a magical language!

I have a lot of thoughts about how language in Etrian Odyssey works. Please ask me about them. (please don't actually i have a hard time collecting scattered lore thoughts)



Before you can make out the entire message, the paper turns to dust in your hand... it must have been an extremely old letter. As nothing else here catches your eye, you decide to leave this place.

Well, uh, I only really recognised a few of those words.

The word "Japan" almost has a mystical quality to it. I wonder what kind of person they were.



Ugh, bourgeoisie scum.

We should improve society somewhat.

I hear you can get Gold Fur from a large beast in the Labyrinth's depths. But getting ten of them to make clothes of pure gold... interesting fashion sense. I've seen this Golden Baron before a number of times, too, and... well. If I can't say anything nice, I shouldn't say anything at all. But I'm sure he'll pay a handsome reward, so good luck with the request.

Accessing new floors early means we get new quests way before we can really do them. I forgot Nectar IIIs even existed. Still, this was just a quick pit stop before we do our fourth boss fight in a row.



Now there's something fluffy. Still not as cute as my masters.

They also don't look like they're dying of heat exhaustion this time.


Darkhare

Level: 47
HP: 476
STR: 171
VIT: 107
AGI: 51
LUC: 51
TEC: 51

EXP: 825

Skills
Charge: Doesn't use a body part. Charges to use Headless next turn. Increases ATK by 100% and has an 80% speed modifier.
Headless: Uses the Head. A Cut attack dealing 90% damage to a single target. Has a 90% accuracy modifier and a 10% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities
100% 100% 100%
100% 100% 100%

Disable Vulnerabilities
100% 100% 1%
100% 100% 100%

Drops
Normal: Tiny Tooth. 30% chance. Sells for 86en.
10 required for Warhammer (Staff, ATK+131, HP+22)

Rare: Demon Fur. 10% chance. Sells for 61en.
3 required for Demon Coat (Light Armor, DEF+37)

Conditional: None

With a few more levels on them, Darkhares aren't particularly threatening. With their low HP, they shouldn't be getting a Headless off, not that it's really anything special due to the Charge bug. They're still annoying chunks of HP when they're paired with bigger and badder enemies later on.

Because Charge doesn't work, this just means that they have access to a skill that's worse than a regular attack. EO1, everyone!



If we keep killing everything before it can move, then I think we'll have a perfectly good time in this stratum. Anyway, onto an encounter that can kick our ass.

Rising Again




You've come all this way... but this place was never meant for humans.

The warrior woman Ren speaks, an almost sorrowful expression on her normally severe face.

Etria depends on the constant stream adventurers exploring the Labyrinth... you know this. The town only prospers from the people burning to discover the Labyrinth's secrets. Do you understand now? No one must be allowed to actually solve the forest's mysteries. Curiosity is welcome up to a point, but those who learn too much are troublesome... Thus, the Radha has charged us with eliminating you before you learn the truth of Yggdrasil.

With this, Ren slowly draws her katana, and adopts a fighting stance.

We admire your skill... but for Etria's sake, you will not leave this Stratum alive.



If Ren wishes it, I will fight you with what strength I have...

A confrontation with the two determined women before you is now inevitable. Seeing this, you unsheathe your weapons and stand ready for battle!

Tch, we don't have to do this at all. But we didn't get this far because we let anything stop us. Let alone you two.

This discovery is massive, but there's more to it, right? A massive, technologically advanced civilization doesn't just disappear. We're going to find out what happened.

And when we do discover the vile heart of this place, I will ensure everyone hears about it!~

My masters seek out all there is to find and they've been getting real excited of late. I can't wait to find out what Visil's up to.

...heh. I could never imagine it would come to this. No matter, you know what you're doing is wrong and are willing to fight to the death over it. THEN SO BE IT!

Rising Again VS Ren and Tlachtga




Ren

Level: 47
HP: 7000
STR: 360
VIT: 110
AGI: 102
LUC: 51
TEC: 102

EXP: 13000

Skills
Iai: Uses the Arms. Increases AGI by 200% and reduces DEF by 75%. Has an 80% speed modifier.
Kubiuchi: Uses the Arms. A Cut attack that deals 100% damage to a single target and attempts to inflict Instant Death. Has a 30% infliction chance, a 90% accuracy modifier and a 50% speed modifier.
Hyosetsu: Uses the Arms. A Cut and Ice attack that deals 100% Cut damage and 40% Ice damage to a single target. Has a 90% accuracy modifier and a 100% speed modifier.
Kesagiri: Uses the Legs. A Cut attack that deals 3-6 60% damage hits to random targets. Has a 90% accuracy modifier and a 10% speed modifier.
Ibuki: Uses the Head. Recovers 240HP to both enemies. Has an 80% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities
75% 75% 75%
150% 0% 100%

Disable Vulnerabilities
5% 15% 3%
25% 25% 25%

Drops
Normal: None

Rare: None

Conditional: None

Now who saw this coming? Seriously though, if you went into the EO series blind, then did you think this would happen when you first started? Ren and Tlachtga are a pretty tough fight, or at least Ren is, you can expect Tlachtga isn't much to talk about. If you've got some defensive measures, then Ren isn't that tough, but she'll still really sting and you could get unlucky with a Kubuichi proc. I would think differently about the Iai tree if it was this good! Hyosetsu is the second composite attack we'll face and it'll cut through Defender, but obviously not Immunize, while Kesagiri is a very dangerous attack, since Leg skills are pretty uncommon, so Immobile is still level 1. Best to stick with arm binds to reduce overall damage.

Still, being a Ronin, Ren has to boost up with Iai and it has a working AGI boost, making her go first due to her already high AGI and improves her evasion, though at least when you hit her she'll take slightly less physical damage compared to normal. Otherwise, your Protector and Medic will do just fine against her.

Ren is far, far harder to deal with in EOU, since Hyosetsu (Frigid Slash in EOU) now targets the entire party and deals TEC-based damage (meaning armor does very little to it and your physical damage dealers will likely get completely decimated by it), and Iai (Drawing Stance in EOU) explicitly increases her evasion while not reducing her defense at all. Taking her and Tlachtga on without Ice Wall was genuinely the hardest fight in the entire LP for me.

The first instance of a rival fight in this series and... it's not really that notable. Ren is the main damage dealer of the bunch, so if you take her down first, you've basically won. Kubiuchi is the biggest threat here, since that's one of the few things that can basically pierce Immunize and instantly kill someone.


Tlachtga

Level: 47
HP: 5000
STR: 210
VIT: 105
AGI: 102
LUC: 51
TEC: 141

EXP: 13000

Skills
Sapping: Uses the Head. Decreases the entire party's ATK by 75%. Has a speed modifier of 80%.
Cranial: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Head Bind on the entire party. Has a 25% infliction chance and a 100% speed modifier.
Abdomen: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Arm Bind on the entire party. Has a 25% infliction chance and a 100% speed modifier.
Binding: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Stun on the entire party. Has a 30% infliction chance and a 100% speed modifier.
Chaos: Uses the Head. Attempts to inflict Paralysis/Confusion/Blind/Sleep/Curse/Fear. Has a 13% infliction chance and a 50% speed modifier.

Damage Vulnerabilities
125% 125% 125%
50% 50% 50%

Disable Vulnerabilities
5% 15% 3%
25% 25% 25%

Drops
Normal: Hex Chain. 100% chance. Sells for 6666en.
1 required for Hex Mantle (Ultimate Hexer Armor, DEF+34, TEC+12, LUC+15, cannot be restocked)

Rare: None

Conditional: None

With this party, we could take down Tlachtga in two turns if we really wanted to, though I'll go after Ren first because it adds to the challenge and makes it feel like a proper boss fight. Tlachtga just doesn't do anything all that impressive so you should focus on Ren completely and once she's down, Tlachtga does basically nothing to you. Sapping is a real pain, but when you have a Troubadour, or have ways of boosting ATK, it's not a huge deal, and the binds can be annoying, but it depends who they hit. Stun can also be very deadly, but it's useless if you're faster than her. Finally, she'll only break out Chaos if she's hurt, but since she falls so quickly and you should ignore her until then, this skill also isn't a factor. And of course, if you want her to be a complete non-entity, then head bind her, though your focus should really be on Ren.

Tlachtga gets the biggest changes in the EOU version of the fight: namely, that she's in the back row, where she takes half damage from everything. Which means it's extremely difficult to burst her down like you can in this game. She also becomes an offensive threat since she has Revenge Curse, which nukes a party member based on how much HP Tlachtga is missing. As you might imagine, that gets extremely deadly as the fight goes on.

Tlachtga is basically a support. Kill her first, and you'll have an easier time dealing with Ren since you won't have to deal with the nonsense she throws out. Oh, and notice how neither are outright immune to instant death. Like with Golem, if you want to end this fight even faster, you can just use Climax once they drop below 25% HP. Assuming you even have that skill at this point, anyways. Or fish for death procs with a Ronin's Kubiuchi if you really want to go down that route. Oh and har de har. Tlachtga's drop sells for 6666en. Reeeeeeaaaal clever, game.




This is nothing to us! HHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Your welco- ahem, I said, YOU'RE WELCOME!~

It's buff city around here.



Please, have mercy on us travelling fools.

You always say stuff like that in your usual matter of fact tone that drips with malice. I'm always surprised they fall for it.



Haha, try again!

When Tlachtga spends a turn doing this, you know you have more pressing matters at hand.



Aww, man...

His beautiful buffs!~



Stay still, dammit!

It's her stance, it lets her react and parry attacks much easier than before at the cost of hightened feelings of pain!



Aryll doesn't care about that!



Uh, mostly.





Why me...~

Mmmmrrrmph!

A 5 hit Kesagiri is a bit mean to start off with and this 30% accuracy reduction is getting a bit annoying!



This battle would be going a lot smoother if things started happening!




Hey, hands off the merch!

Man, Aryll is sounding real frustrated under that curse.

I would know about being trapped by a curse! Would not recommend...

It's looking a little bad, especially if she keeps spamming Kesagiri, but we'll get some respite soon enough.



Ah c-c-c-crap!

We're getting frozen in our tracks between these deaths and this sapping~



Pfft, keep trying.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!



...mmph.

While Ren might carve you up no problem, she still needs to refresh her stance every 5 turns.



You MISSED?!

She's too fast!!!

Bah, if you double a large AGI stat like that, then of course it'll affect evasion. Skills with a 120% accuracy modifier like Crush, which is most of them, now only have a 93% chance of hitting, which is a bit annoying, especially combined with head bind.

Oh, look at you, only having to deal with 93% base chances. (fuck enemy evasion buffs)

Oh. Right. Accuracy was a mechanic that actually existed in this game. Missing rarely comes into play due to how accurate attacks are, but when it does, it can be annoying.



Gah, finally! I'm gonna kick senpai's ass!

Humph, you're welcome~

It's alright dude, it's hard being the moral support in battle.



Now this is when shit gets real.

Alright, this kinda stuff would be easier if I increased the binding skills instead of spending all my SP on the FEAR TREE, but it's still a 20% chance of landing.



This is what I was aiming for: with an arm bind, Ren likes going for Ibuki, which is a rubbish skill as Aryll deals 240 damage with one hit of Midareba WITHOUT buffs. Also it heals Tlachtga, but we haven't damaged her at all.



I will keep singing this song and there's nothing you can do about it~



Mmmrrpph...

Hyah! Hyah! Your skill with a blade is admirable, but you are too stuck in your ways. This labyrinth forces you to adapt!



That's not saving you now, ice queen.

Ooh, burn!




Ah, phew, I was getting real sick of missing!

It was four times in a row.

With a head bind, Lavin had a 65% chance of hitting Ren while she had Iai. I deal with these numbers enough in Pokemon, stop following me to this series!

accuracy and evasion modifiers are my least favorite things in any EO game

Eh, later EO games gave a lot of ways to nullify evasion and make it a non-factor. This game doesn't, but evasion rarely comes into play in this one.



Ah, that's much better! How many times have you missed your targets?

Guh, if you want, I can just do nothing all battle!

Alright everyone, let's not fumble at the final step, my songs will push you through~



And this fight is pretty much over.

Honestly, we tried to stop you, but this is what you get. You bit off more than you could chew.

It is such a shame. But there's one important lesson all senpais must learn...




One day, your student will surpass you. It was an honourable fight.

Little bit sloppy, but when you leave Tlachtga alive, you're kinda asking for it.

The Capital of Shinjuku



Ren and Tlachtga have collapsed to the floor, exhausted.

Visil... we failed. These explorers are beyond our strength. We are beaten, adventurers. Continue forth... we will stand in your way no longer. Visil will be waiting for your arrival at the deepest floor. Hear from him there the truth of the Labyrinth, the forest folk, and our mission... I trust that you can make it there.

Saying this, the two seem more beaten than before, letting their bodies droop to the floor. Though winded, they continue to speak.

Go, adventurers, and worry no more about us. Take this and proceed onward.

Ren hands you a small piece of metal.

Keep walking the road you believe to be true... your destination still lies ahead.

Raising their battered bodies, the two women support one another as they walk off.



He better have a damn good reason for all of this.

You know what's gonna happen. I can't wait.

Next time, we'll explore a bit more than a quarter of one floor.