Part 5

"Based on latest reports, it's becoming more difficult for capsules to spawn, so we are implementing the Visions' latest technology. It's called the "Arsenal." Go to Ubiquitous for more details... that's his message."

I'm convinced that Spokesman doesn't actually understand Leader, and he's just using leader to Leader to justify his position of authority.





"We can't just leave this to you two. At some point the Visions must take official action."



"But the results can also be attributed to the collection of information by the Visions."



"Everyone's Level seems to start at 0. If we can't use our latest technology, the arsenal, we'll be useless."

Uh-oh. Let's check out one of the memory boxes we received from completing the last mission of chapter 2.



We will never see this enemy again. There are three things of interest here.

1. "(I)t will counter with Paralyze each time it is attacked."

That never happened, no matter how many times we attacked it.

2. "At the right moment, use your Defense then Attack skills."

Can you blame me for leaving most of these memory boxes out?

3. "Attack it after the barrier has been destroyed, and then focus on the two core targets."

As far as I know, we can't destroy the barrier. You saw that we bypassed it with a [Pierce] attack skill, and once we destroyed the first core target, the barrier didn't go up anymore, but as far as I know we couldn't have destroyed it at the start.



We're going to talk to everyone before we head to the lab.



"What? Freia? She has caused the surface to change? Who cares about that? More importantly, what about tomorrow's food supply?"



"You can still use it without changing anything inside it."

We won't know what she's talking about for a little bit.



"Well, I don't think anyone except me can use it properly."

I wonder if Know will ever lighten up.



"Doing something might take away your memory, but doing something is better than doing nothing."



"Ah? What are you looking at?"



"I have some recollection of what the surface was before it became uninhabitable. I'm probably the only one with this recollection, but listening to everyone it sounds strange. My memory of the surface isn't filled with destruction and bent objects. I don't know what's going on. I want to see it with my own eyes ... I'm not an adventurer so I can't get past the gates. Such a let down."




"Also, some say sleeping helps memories lock onto the brain. Probably just a rumor."



Meister's gone.



We'll head to the battle terminal.



"I might just be babbling myself."



"If it's calling, it must be calling. U'how! Call! Uhowowoooo!"

Maniac is kind of like the Malkavians from Vampire, meaning it's hard to sort out the nonsense from the statements that bring insight.



"Not having to deal with it yourself--I'm envious."



"It's revolutionary, improving the way we conduct battles."

Now to the lab.



Okay, Meister.



Important
Watch Cutscene




"... token of gratitude ... go to Mac ... get arsenal."



"He's the head of the shop. Profits from the shop fund the Visions activities. To get to the shop, from the Lab go toward the Main Floor and the hall will be on the left."



That was a pretty long-winded way of saying just out the door.



Let's listen to: Mac's Shop (Mac's Shop)

Uses the Russian folk song Troika.



Uh huh.



"An original one just for you. There are 3, with different content ... your choice. Choose!"



We're going to go with short range.



"Lots of close-range skills. Blast away anything that gets too close. They'll flee. ... it's you. I'll give you a basic lecture on your arsenal. Once you see this, you'll be good to go!"



Watch Tutorial


The low quality of these tutorial videos is not a fault of mine. They're actually like that in-game.



"When you do this, your arsenal gets more powerful. You'll annihilate the enemy! I'll show you how, okay?"

Watch Tutorial




"You'll annihilate the enemy! I can show you how. What do ya think?"

Watch Tutorial




"Buy them with your stored credits. It'll be a cool and rockin' shop. Five skills--content unknown. With 500 credits you can purchase then open it. When you don't have a lot of skills, I recommend buying Junk!"



I want to keep the feeling of uncertanty in terms of what skills we have during battle from the earlier missions, so I have decided to do the skill buying and arsenal editing behind the scenes. However, if there is a skill you want to see -- Interactive Skill Encyclopedia is available here -- let me know and I'll try to acquire it and show it off as soon as possible. Keep in mind that we are limited to only Psycho and Ki skills right now, but I'm going to be buying every new skill I can get, so that should change sometime in the future.



We'll learn more about arsenal cases in a little bit, but right now we're limited to only 2-school arsenal cases.



We're also limited to only buying two packages of Junk at a time. As we get farther in the game, the amount of Junk we can buy between missions will increase.




As you saw if you watched the tutorials, this terminal is how we edit our arsenals.



"Want to see?"

Watch Tutorial




"Want to take a look?"

Watch Tutorial




Anyway.



This is the base arsenal we're given if we choose close range. I'll not show you the skills for the reasons above. Let's head to the battle terminal.



"Watch out, some information will disappear after time."



This is the only mission available.




We'll go with the only arsenal we have.

Watch Arsenal




"Let's trade those skills you didn't use in battle with those you'd like to use. Starting here is the first step in improving your arsenal. You can purchase skills in Mac's shop."



"That's why ... you leave skill here. Arsenal ... you create here. Terminal ... there."



"Well, it's folks like me who enjoy life who are the true winners."

Something's up with Edgar?



"Even if you don't use it, you can fill in the empty slots. Some important skills might be Junk."

Junk is a great way to get a bunch of skills fast, which is what we want at this early point in the game. A bad decision by the developers, in my view, is that the amount of Junk that's available to buy follows an upwards slope as we get farther in the game. I say that's a mistake because later in the game you've got enough skills where buying Junk results in almost all duplicates in almost all cases, so you eschew Junk in favor of buying individual skills.



"Well, I did see a frantic Edgar run to the surface. I just assumed you were with him."

Uh-oh. Well, let's talk to everyone else before we go to find Edgar. Hopefully he won't lose his memory by then.



"Hearing an argument in a place like this makes one uneasy."



"just by switching out one skill."



"The case will carry 30 skills into battle, but to use those skills you need to increase your Level. To do this, you need a special skill--Aura Particles. Research shows that 15 skills in your arsenal should be sufficient."

I usually have about half and half.



"To him, Freia is the key to unlocking his memory. But for us, the Visions, she's a dangerous woman."

She did try to kill us twice.




"For example, the 5 schools: Psycho, Optical, Nature, Ki, Faith. You can't include all the different school skills into 1 arsenal. With the current technology, you can only place skills from 2 different schools into 1 arsenal--did you know that? If you do, you'll bust the case."

For the record, our cases don't break and become unusable if we try to put more than the amount of schools it can hold. When we try to do that, it'll say "This arsenal has skills from too many schools. You are limited to X schools."



Here's a memory box explaining the differences between arsenal cases.



No one else had any new dialogue.



Watch Emergency Signal


That's where we're going to leave off. I'm unconsciously replacing terminology from the Phantom Dust universe with standard rpg terminology, so sorry if I'm confusing anyone.