Part 69: Day 31 - Gameplay

Day 31: Gameplay

Music: neutral 4



Well… that sucked.

Do you just immediately screw up whenever you meet a new Sephirot?

I didn't have any problems with Chesed!

He was fine with most of the upper layer, too.

Maybe you two just intimidated him, hmm?

It doesn't matter now. Let's get back out there.

Hold on a sec. Are the newbies still ready to go?



Fresh out of training! They won't even remember getting sucked into Blue Star, manager.

Alright, let's get this back underway.





Time to kick some ass.



Credentia. Mizu. Good to have you.

Good to be here.

I just came for the brand new cutie.

Get to it then, I guess. I hear we've got someone coming down to handle things after that.



These clothes are kind of…

They're a colorful mess. Hope we get new ones soon.

Bad news about that. Since they're good all-around but not great at anything, those are the new agent suits-we're just now putting them to work. Also, they're bright and colorful!

So you can pick our bodies out quick after a breach.

Um… yes, actually, though with the protection they provide it hopefully won't be necessary in your case. You're with Laetitia, Chiral.

Ooh, I've heard good things.

How about me?

Well… Hod was really impressed by your approach to handling Abnormalities, so we've decided to send you to Disciplinary today to work with the new one.



Let’s make the best of today as always~

Gee, Talow, you look great.

Just a good night's sleep. You know how it is, right?

Sure do! I use a dreamcatcher to take care of nightmares so every night is a good night of sleep.



Anyways, let's meet our new Abnormality properly. It is a bird carrying a lamp.



My, your eyes are lovely. Can I stare into all of them? Uh-one at a time of course.

It deals Black damage and likes Attachment work, making it a very useful Abnormality.



Test one: discuss hobbies. Hmm… Do you have any favorite ways to pass the time?

It's actually particularly useful for training new Agents, since it deals a decent amount of damage but probably won't kill them even on a poor result. Our overall strategy today is to have Robin work with Big Bird, Chiral with Laetitia, and as for Morgan…



I appreciate your blessing, Miss Knight. Please be kind to the next agent to come along-she's brand new here.

Knight of Despair will work fine.



How was your first work? Aren't these cuties wonderful?

I feel about half-dead and half-crazy. ...I'll have to see if that happens every time.

Robin's work gives us enough boxes to unlock the basic information, so we do that.



Say hello to Big Bird, everyone!



...no, not that one. Anyways, Big Bird is the last of the Bird trio that I've been hunting for the entire game, and is our first Clerk's Rights Squad Abnormality. Those useless Clerks who have been running around all game now matter-but we'll get into that later.



Violet Dawn coming soon, manager.

Should be easy enough. When it gets here, we'll crush them before they have a chance to go off.

You're well-prepared for this.

Obviously. 'Know your enemy' is rule number one.

Overall, Chiral can work Laetitia about twice as often as the other two can work with KoD and Big Bird every meltdown level, since I'm trying to play things very safe. Keep that in mind for later.



I always feel a little bad about doing Repression work on you, but it feels safe enough so I guess you don't mind.

The rest of the works are getting filled in by rounding out stats on our other Agents who still aren't maxed-like SeyserKoze here.



My own hobbies include creating and testing hypotheses. From the way you stare, I assume you do not particularly care. ...Interesting.



Oh, hey there kiddo. Where have you been?

Compulsory therapy session… It waas… baad…

Huh. What for?

Medea thinks I'm craazy… That's soo silly, riight..?

We're all a bit crazy around here.

Yeaah… The ones of us who aren't aalieens, anywaays…

Oh? And who would those be?

Ooh… yoou knoow…



We'll have to wait on Punishing Bird, Hod. Meanwhile-

All agents, engage and destroy the closest enemy! Show no mercy!

Uh… that's usually my line.

Suppression is my life, newbie. Given how yours went last time, you can just leave this to me.



That wasn't the usual guy giving the order, was it?

You mean the manager?

Definitely not. I think we've got a new character.

That'd be the new Sephirah. Her department's just opened up.

Definitely a new character.

I bet she's got some kind of dark backstory.

...real life isn't those shows you guys watch, y'know.



You smell your friend again? Well, I definitely hope you find them.





Violet Done.

Suck on that, Ordeals.

...Y'know what, this is fine. At least she likes her job.

Our models have shown that enjoyment of one's position increases work productivity by 5%. It is negligible enough to be ignored, however when a synergy occurs it is not a bad idea to keep it in place.

Why am I not surprised to hear that job satisfaction is optional..?



And now, I shall tilt all the woodland pictures in your room so that they're a little bit off kilter! Muahahahaha!!

...speaking of job satisfaction…

They're a natural at being exactly too much of a jerk to set the Woodsman off. It's commendable.



Late noon today…

Knowing when Ordeals can spawn can be useful for trying to plan our way through some of the harder missions and Core Suppressions. For Noons, they have a roughly equal chance to spawn on levels 4, 5, and 6. Since our 4 and 5 are both now confirmed to be meltdowns, we know that it'll come when we move from level 5 to 6. That's pretty good for learning about Big Bird in peace.



Speaking of, we've just hit all of the information on Big Bird. To summarize: it has a QC of 5. Every 5 deaths in our facility (Clerks or Agents) lowers its QC by 1. We can raise its QC by having Good results, meaning that we should be fine so long as we don't have a lot of deaths in a short period of time.



Oh, hey, that's a Green Noon next, right?

That is correct, manager.

Should be fine. You ready to go, Gebura?

Born ready.

And Yang is melting down again…



Tiphereth, have Fat Sam return it immediately.

Yes, manager.

This time, we don't accidentally murder the entire facility. Progress!



I've heard you don't quit days before we've got the new gear. Is that right?

You heard right. Thanks for the update, Angela, but we'll keep going 'til we have all the new stuff.



Everything's been going super well today. The training videos really make it all look much more dangerous than it is.

Oh, yeah, it's not really all that dangerous around here at all.

Really?

Yep! Right up until something happens that kills all of us clerks, but we have Tenebrais to protect us so we'll be fine.

...the Disciplinary captain?

She's incredible.

...huh. I'll have to meet her.





It's good that you're getting exercise, but I'd really rather you stayed in containment.





Here it comes.



First target's directly east, in the Bird Corridor. Get to it!

Finally!

Hey… wasn't Big Bird at 5 a second ago?

Green Noons are suddenly dangerous again due to their ability to shred Clerks like nobody's business. Since it only takes 25 deaths to go from full QC to a breach, and our facility currently has ~70 Clerks, the 8 Green Noons that spawn now will quickly chew through enough to cause a problem.



We've taken care of one in Central, but we suffered some losses.

It took a moment to get into melee range, sir! The fault is mine!

It's just two clerks, it should be fine.

Yeah, Clerks don't-uh. I mean. You did the best you could.

...appreciated, manager.



Where's our backup?

I'm sure it's on the way.

Manager, Welfare is…

Music: First Trumpet




Ah, it's no rush I suppose. _{They're all dead now, anyways…}



When Big Bird breaches, the department it's in is shrouded in darkness. This is important as it shows the Bird's area of control.

All agents, engage! Show no mercy!



It's… biting the head off of our clerk!

That explains what we saw last time…

Big Bird's only attack is an instant-kill chomp in melee, which decapitates the target. However, there are conditions before it can be used on an Agent. When suppressing Big Bird, there's a tell to look out for-we want to watch its lamp.



It's trying to do something! Everyone, fall back!

When it starts to shake it, we want to have our Agents retreat. This is because it's trying to activate its special ability.



This manifests as a yellow halo over an Agent's head. Once they're marked Big Bird will bite their head off when gets into melee with them, becoming invincible until the chomp is completely finished. The halo does protect the Agent from other sources of damage, but over time it turns red-when this happens the Agent is removed from our control and forced to walk up to Big Bird. When this happens, they're doomed.

How long are we retreating?

Until this tingling down my spine stops.

Luckily, all we have to do to clear it is leave the department! Thus, Big Bird suppression has a simple pattern: attack, wait for the lamp to shake, disengage, send everyone out (or just the person affected, if you prefer the added micro), and then re-engage.



We've got this cutie taken care of!

Thank goodness it's simple-

Don't jinx it!

That said, it's vitally important that we pause all work whenever suppressing Big Bird, and also to make Punishing Bird go back home before any time we might suffer lots of casualties. If not...

Let's have everyone get back to work. We can finish this off while we're letting the newbies train.



Huh… Punishing Bird seems really restless. Is there something the matter?



It's just Punishing B-



That can't be good.

Judgment Bird just breached containment as well! What are you doing, manager?!

When two of the Bird trio have escaped, the third automatically breaches and starts this event. During it, all three of the Birds are completely invincible and cannot be suppressed.



I came up here to get away from the combat, and now there's this door..? Uh… Is anyone getting this?

Manager, it looks like the birds are trying to head over there.

Contact the others, have all available agents try attacking it.



_{Oh hell, already?} Twee, come on.

Huh? Oh, sure. What's up?

We need to destroy that door or we're all dead.

Oh… okay!



Judgment Bird's almost in the portal!

If we manage to destroy the door, we can end the event early. However, the door has a lot of HP and 0.3 resists in all damage types. Moreover, whenever a bird enters the door it gets healed. It's very rare for the event to end by having the door die-but this actually happened in the last update. The dragon's flight freed multiple birds, but the door then spawned in its path, and… well, it was at full health and not immune to dragon.





Ooo, the door got a new bit..!

That's bad, isn't it?

Very bad.

We've got every agent in the whole damn facility focused on the door right now. There's no way it can hold out.

Pay careful attention to the HP bar here vs the next time we see it.





All that work undone.

HAHAHA! I never expected that a piece of architecture could possibly be so resilient!

Who cares?! If we just keep smashing it, it's sure to-



Oh, crap.

The lights…

It means the last thing is near. We don't have much time.



Big Bird is also almost always the last to arrive during this event, since it stops to chomp on any Clerks it sees along the way.

There's no way… this door's too sturdy to break! Let me out there, I'll-

You are forbidden from taking the floor at this time, Gebura.

We don't have any other choice! Chesed, prep an E.G.O for me!

You shall do no such thing, Chesed.

If Lady Angela says so, I'll have to hold back~

If that bird gets through that door, what will happen?

That is unknown at this time.

Alright. Then there isn't any other choice.



Freeing the birds cost us 11 LOB, but it was worth it to show what happens.

What?! We could have taken it!

Not without a plan.

This could have been avoided if the clerks weren't left to die, manager.

Yeah. I guess they do count now, huh. Man, I didn't get to extract that new gear...

Congratulations are in order for Omni and SeyserKoze for hitting the maxout club. I also want to draw attention to one other thing, the stat gains of our newbies.



Chiral had more works with Laetitia than either of the other two had with their WAW-class Abnormalities, but the damage the WAWs dealt was enough to let our other Agents max out while leaving Chiral in the dust. There was even time for some Prudence and Fortitude work. The takeaway from this is pretty simple: Once Hod's suppression is complete, we really should be using WAW or better Abnormalities to train our Agents if we can. There is one exception to this, which I'll get into later, but for the most part WAWs are the most efficient way to get our stats up now.

Music: never frozen bottom flows


F-01-18: Over time, her unbearable sorrow grew into a mournful obsession, covered in countless, lengthy hairs.
T-04-53: Bearing the hope to return to dust, it shall go back to the grave with all that desires to live.
D-04-108: 'Ease yourself, do you not have need of the blessing?'

Oh! It's been a while since we've had a choice like this! Actually, we might never have had a choice like this. Welcome to 'three options and they're all terrible.'

I think we've discussed -18 before. It's bad because it's a TETH and therefore doesn't have any meaningful gear or training ability to contribute to the facility. It'd be a wasted pull that doesn't give us anything, but it is the 'safe' play. Then there's -53 which... will probably drive us mad. It's an incredibly escape-prone WAW that teleports all over the place and while it won't kill anything but Clerks unless we're careless… it'll kill a lot of Clerks, and we have a Bird to think of. It's a very pretty Abnormality, but it's not a good take. Lastly there's -108. It's an unusually needy WAW which forces us to work with it frequently or else it punishes our facility. It deals White damage, makes an alright Insight trainer as a result, and if we ever fire off its secondary effect then we're going to have some big problems.

With -53 being a hard no, I'm left to choose between -108 (kind of annoying, but with a decent reward) and -18 (TETH, but free). Honestly, in a normal playthrough I would probably pick -18 just because it's a safe pick and this week is going to be a problem already.



This is not a normal playthrough, and I have a certain reputation to uphold. Let's do something stupid and risky.

Next time, on Lobotomy Corporation: Angela talks to us about humans and also robots.

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