Shadow Hearts: Covenant Part #30 - The Émigré Manuscript

Part 30: The Émigré Manuscript

Now that Karin has been snapped out of her little episode, it's time to continue on.

The next puzzle consists of a series of stairs. Sections of the stairs can be made to rise or fall by stepping on the colored stones. The goal is to line up the stairs so you can climb to the higher ledge.

To solve this one, we push Blue once.

Then we push Green twice to finish the puzzle.

The next section has two stairs, and each one has four buttons instead of three. We have to solve the one on the right before we can solve the other one.

We push Yellow once.

Then we push Green twice. This stair leads up to the next area of the ruins, but we'll solve the other stair first before leaving.

This stair leads to a treasure.

We push Blue three times.

Next, we push Yellow twice.

Last of all, we push Red twice.

The treasure chest at the top of this stair has the Berith Crest (Evil Born).

After grabbing the Crest, it's back to the right-hand staircase and on to the next room.

No puzzle here, but...how the hell did THEY get here?!

That's so rude! Don't be so cold! And, do you want a dress?

Um...no.

We moved heaven and earth to beat you here! The blocks, the stair puzzle... It was hard! You better buy something!

Um...no.

Gerard doesn't have any new weapons or armor, but this is a good place to restock if you've run out of healing items.

Exploring the bottom-right corner of the room reveals...Ring Soul!

How's your wife?

What?!

Your wife...how's she doing? You mentioned her last time, right?

I did?

Oh, God, it's like talking to Gepetto.

Yeah!

...Ahem! I can see your future... I entrust this to you...

You got Attack Boost

Hey, I asked you a question!

Um...you know the drill.

You ever get the feeling that you're being ignored?

What?!

Okay, time to go! I can't put in any overtime today!

.........

Poor Yuri. All he wants is to make friends.

Anyway, we take the red block up to the next and, thankfully, the last puzzle room.

The next puzzle is a bunch of blocks floating over the room the Magimel Brothers are in.

Stepping on the gold blocks makes a trail of light appear and follow a path to the next section of blocks.

Stepping wherever the light trail was makes that part of the path light up permanently. If you forget where the trail was, you can step on the gold block again to make the path briefly appear again.

You have to be careful because, unlike any other part of the game, you can fall off if the entire path hasn't been lit up.

AAAAAAAAA_{AAAAAAAAA_AAAAAHHHH!!}

You just end up in the last room, though. I don't think it even takes any health off.

We complete the first path.

Then we finish the second.

We take the third path partway across so we can reach the fourth gold block.

We use that path to make it to the upper right corner and get a Mana Extract from the chest.

Then we finish the fourth path which loops back around to the entrance.

Last of all, we go back and finish the third path to get to the exit.

Going up!

We've finally reached the final save Save Point before the boss fight.

Before going on, I make sure that everyone in the battle party has a Leonardo's Bear equipped; then I heal them up.

Following the blue path brings us to a room with an altar. As soon as we get here, the entire room starts shaking.

No shit, Sherlock. This is a dungeon; there will always be a guardian. You should know that by now.

There are actually three guardians here. The big one is called Grail Gazer, and the two minions are called Star Gazers.

I Fuse Yuri into Grano for this fight.

I get rid of the Star Gazers first before tackling the big guy. It's important to take them out as quickly as possible; they can cause Instant Death (hence why I equipped the bears), and I believe they can heal themselves and the boss.

During the fight, I'm reminded of why I usually NEVER use Lucia's Tarot skill.

Even once his two buddies are gone, Grail Gazer puts up quite a fight. He has two hard-hitting Water-based spells: Icicle, shown here, and Hail Breeze.

Eventually, the boss goes down.

We get a bunch of stuff for defeating him: a Talisman of Mercy, the Ose Crest (I forget what spell it casts) and the Ring Effect Instant Death.

Oh, don't be so melodramatic, Karin. Lucia was the only one who died, and she got better.

Sorry 'bout that. Roger put that sentry here so the book wouldn't get stolen.

Welp, there it is. I still think we should've just gone straight to St. Marguerite. I mean, do you really think Nicolai is going to keep his word?

Now, if you've played Koudelka, or watched the video playthrough on YouTube, you know that this is actually a copy of the Émigré Manuscript that Roger made for the Vatican because the original was so ancient it was falling apart (which ties into how he became immortal by using the knowledge in the tome). I wonder if the original manuscript had its Latin name spelled out in Greek letters, or if Roger just did that as a joke.