Part 3: Sector Antlia

A Scorched Nation



Welcome to Antarctica. Here's your requisite Ice level, so be thankful we're getting it out of the way now.



Inexplicably, this needs to happen the first time we enter any sector. It's kind of pointless and redundant because all it does is enable the HUD. That we already had enabled.



So we ARE in Antarctica... though I've never seen a place like this.



Good thing I have m Demonica here to help me get around!



No, it's still inside the Schwarzwelt... and we're...
(A) Hey this is no time to panic! Get it together!
(A) Let's move double-time and rescue those crewmates!

So now we actually have full control and can explore Antlia at our leisure. Kind of. There's not many places to go right now, so we'll just walk forward two whole steps...



And get forced to talk to this guy. He doesn't do much, and we can ignore him forever afterwards at least.



He's just here to give us tutorials on the Mission Log (irrelevant), the Demon Proximity Indicator and the Automap.

The DP Indicator is that blue bar that's at the top of the screen. The one in the middle. It changes color as you walk and once its red, you're about to get into a fight. It's a very Etrian Odyssey way of handling random encounters.

The map is entirely automatic and on the bottom screen. It updates itself automatically and there's no way to make notes that you'd want to or anything. If the developers deign it worth mentioning, it'll get added as/when you find it. If not, you gotta remember it yourself.

The Fear of God



The instant we step through the door, we run into this thing. It's our third fight so it can't be too difficult, right?



Well, that's different...

Malevolence and Benevolence



So c'mon, let's play!

Encounter



So... let's talk!

We'll just gloss over this, because it's the only time in the series where we explicitly get what this is. It's a tutorial. For talking to demons.



All that's actually relevant from this is that Pixie forcibly joins us at the end of this.



It's so bizarre that this is the only way they could figure out how to force a Pixie into your stock right away. It's not like it was even a thing that they had to do either.

A Scorched Nation



Regardless, now that we're done with that CAN actually begin to explore Antlia. We'll just immediately hang a right, and then head south at the first opportunity.



This immediately has something ping up on our Demonica. Let's just run down here and see what it found.





I tell ya, they came mighty quick, so I ran outta there without so much as a gun.
Demons, huh...? We're sure up against some tough varmints.
Critters like that, you gotta treat 'em like we treated coyotes back home... a faceful o' shot!
Promise me you'll stop by my lab when ya get back to the Red Sprite, y'hear?

And with that, Irving heads back to the Red Sprite. That's one found, three go to!

Encounter



As we head back to where the Demonica found Irving, we get into a fight with a Pixie and an Unknown. We could easily end this fight in any number of ways but let's try talking to the Unknown.



.....That wasn't supposed to happen. This almost never works and that's by design. I skipped over the dialogue options here for two reasons by the way. They're complete jibberish, and it doesn't matter which one you pick. Conversations are semi-random, as per usual, but there's a few things that are a bit different. We'll cover those later though, so as to avoid too many game mechanics infodumps in rapid succession.



Instead of anything bad happening, we immediately get a free Revival Bead. Okay then, sure.



Oh right and while I remember, here's Pixie's initial stats. She's surprisingly... okay well no, she isn't good or anything but she's functional. Easily the best thing we could've just been handed for free at least. Can heal, hit a single thing with light Fire damage and has no weakness.

Except weaknesses on your demons don't really matter much. You'll see!

The Fear of God
hey this is the random encounter music it has an insanely metal name and is pretty good



These guy'll do nicely as test dummies. We know they're weak to Fire so they're perfect.



First, Pixie can hit one with her Agi. The damage increase from hitting a weakness is semi-variable and almost always underwhelming. Fortunately, the main mechanic related to weaknesses makes up for it!



Demon Co-Op is a strange system. It's poorly thought out at best, and seemingly untested at worst. It hits every enemy who's weakness was hit with unblockable, undodgable Untyped damage. This is done by everyone in the active party except the initial attacker. The only things that can participate in Co-Op is whoever shares the attacker's alignment, because making that gameplay based is not going to cause balance problems. I mean, it's not like there's an obvious objective right choice for alignment now or anything. That'd be silly.

Demon Co-Op's damage is stat dependant so it can be increased/reduced based around that at least. You can use or ignore this system as you wish, but you're simultaneously expected to be using it and yet nothing is statted on that presumption. You'll see. You'll see!

A Scorched Nation



Anyway, directly north of where we found Irving is a door that's currently locked. We'll be able to open this a short while in the future.



Directly opposite, is an open door that we... run into another fixed Unknown right outside of. Sure, why not.

The Fear of God



This fight is here exclusively to... tutorialise Demon Co-Op. Oops.



Anyway, that Unknown is also weak to Fire. Convenient, really.

The End



So now we know that Slime is weak to everything but Physical, Gun and Dark. For Fire, Ice, Electric and... Wind (yes, really) this amounts to taking 125% damage. For Light, this means Slime has a 300% chance of being hit.

Also the Unknown was a Knocker, huh? We know he's weak to Fire. This means he takes.. 110% normal damage. Yes, really. I told you weakness damage was unimpressive.

A Scorched Nation



A little ways south of the in-game Co-Op tutorial fight, we can find a random floaty cube that contains a Chakra Drop.



While heading back to that door from before, Pixie got fully analyzed. Right now this doesn't mean too much but each stage of analysis does let us know something new about demons.

First stage is their race, name, level, max HP and max MP.
Second stage is their abilities and elemental weaknesses/resistances.
Third stage is their drops. If you go menu-diving.

Thankfully the third stage does also have something else special to it... but we can't access it yet so we'll get to that later.



Every random encounter demon has 3 drops that almost all follow this simple pattern. Their common drop is something we can't use right now, but it's almost always unique to each demon.

Their uncommon/semi-rare is... a Life Stone. That's not just Pixie. That's not just Antlia. That's almost every demon. Why? I'unno.

Their rare drop is virtually guaranteed to be a consumable item of better use; in Antlia, it's a Chakra Drop or Revival Bead. Not only are rare drops not that rare, but this is two-fold useful. They're good consumables in general but also they sell for 500 Macca a piece. This is a great way to earn money early game.

Or you can just not bother because Strange Journey quickly decides that it wants to shower you with tens of thousands of Macca. Constantly.



Beyond the door, we run into this guy who hands us a datalog note on Analyzing and Unknown Demons. There's some new stuff in there, but it's kinda irrelevant right now. Cliff notes of the important stuff is that your demons analyze quicker from longer fights. Enemy demons analyze quicker from being hit with Co-Ops.



Just past that guy is someone else, huh?

In The Master's Name



A demon is looking this way...

Th-These demons... They're going to kill us all!



Forced fight against another Knocker and Slime. It's functionally identical to before in every way; use Fire, win fight.

Malevolence and Benevolence



I'm MacCleary, on the monitor team. You just bought me a little more time to live.
Real demons... what kind of place is this...?
I'm not so sure anymore I'll be able to do what I'm supposed to...



I'll send a writeup over to your Demonica.
I gotta get back to the Red Sprite and check in... Thanks!

Rough summary of moon stuff that matters right now: can't talk to demons on a full moon. There's more moon related things (it does get its own part of the HUD after all) but they're not relevant right now.

A Scorched Nation



Anyway, there's another locked door in this room. We'll have to come back here later as well, I suppose.



There's also another floaty cube that lets us snag a Revival Bead. This seems to be a dead-end, so we're gonna have to head on back to the first open room again.

The Fear of God



...And get surprised en route. This just means the enemy gets in a free shot first. Normally here it wouldn't be too dangerous, but I'm running low on HP and Pixie's got enough MP for one more spell.



So instead I'm gonna talk to the Knocker. Slime's Dark-Chaos so he can't be negotiated with at present. Knocker's negotiation is mostly boring save for when he does this. Sometimes, demons randomly ask for exorbitant amounts of Macca. More than you will potentially have at that point in time, but very quickly your earnings outstrip their scaling.

You can tell it's not meant to be serious from the third option being there.



Anyway, it goes off without a hitch, because negotiations here are dirt simple, and we get a Knocker. He's.. okay, I guess.

And because we have one now, his Analyze gauge shoots up to the second rank by default.

Prayer



We'll take this opportunity to head back to the Red Sprite and get a free heal from Zoe. Irving's chilling in the lab now and forever. This means that he has dialogue now and Chen's has been updated.



I'm trained to make supplies, not war.
But if we leave the fighting to you guys, everything should turn out just fine!



Though believe you me, I'm stronger'n I look. That won't faze me none.
So never mind me, and go tend to the others who need yer help.
Go on! Git!



The other change that Irving being back makes is that we don't get free Medicine from Chen any more. Instead, we have to buy it at 50 Macca a piece. It's the only thing we CAN buy right now so there's that at least.

Oh that thing at the bottom left? Ignore it for now. It doesn't mean much of anything at present.

A Scorched Nation



Anyway, back to Antlia we go and we'll head to the far north of the first chamber this time. There's a door there we just glossed over before.



Immediately after stepping through it, we get forced into a conversation.

Oh, thank God you're not a demon! Whew...
I'm Muccino, on the Comms team.



I saw the demons chase her a bit farther away from here!
I'm not armed, but you... you can save her!
I'm going back to the Red Sprite. Help her, please!

Muccino makes three. There's exactly one path I can see that leads further in, so first we'll head over to the left.



This just lets us grab a couple hundred macca, but that's never a bad thing to have.



If we head a little bit further north from where Muccino was, we can see this thing. That's another locked door AND it's a different color to the previous two as well!



So we'll head head over to the right and follow the wall. Yep, looks like Maebe is over here.



In The Master's Name



I'm Maebe, in Maintenance!
Help me... Help me...!



Same as before, except Knocker can use Bufu on the Slime to take advantage of its Ice weakness. Doesn't help against the Knocker itself because he resists it, and resists are insanely good here. On paper that means he takes 50% damage. In practice however...

Malevolence and Benevolence



Look at this boulder, though... The demons were climbing over this rock to get here.
Could be their nest is beydon the boulder...
...Yeah, I'm thinking I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to.
I'm going back to the ship. Don't worry about me, and good luck with your mission...

A Scorched Nation



The crewman you rescued just now seems to be the last one who was unaccounted for.
Well done, soldier. Your mission is complete.
I'll deliver further briefing at the Red Sprite.
Come back ASAP.



We do, of course, have to manually walk back to the Red Sprite but it's not that big of a deal. It's not too far and it lets us examine this "boulder". This marks it on our map as something important.

That done, we'll just head on back to the Red Sprite.

Malevolence and Benevolence



But the mission has also taken its toll in lives. A moment of silence for your fallen comrades, please.
......
Now, on to the next order of business.
Comms has got the radar working again, and they've performed a scan of our surroundings.



I think we can safely assume it's one of the ships we lost contact with before.
Though there's been no sign of the other two yet...
But as for the ship we just found, worst-case scenario, we'll have to send reinforcements.
...Commander, as stated in my report earlier, the casualties have left us short-handed.



So I'm aware, and I've already devised contingency measures.



In our emergency state, I have little choice. Strike team, I look forward to working with you.

Silence



What!? Patch it through to our Demonicas!
Copy that, Sir! Patching it through now!

The Fear of God



Hey, is anyone out there...? Any survivors...?
Someone... Anyone...!
Arrrrrrrrrrgh! Someone answer me, goddammit!
This is Commander Gore of the Red Sprite!
We have picked up your signal! Do you copy?



Are you a member ofthe Blue Jet crew? State your name and team!
What's the status of the Blue Jet?



I don't give a damn who you are, just hurry and send help!
Jimenez...? Did I hear you right!?
Calm down, soldier! We'll confirm your location and dispatch reinforcements!
What's the status of the Blue Jet? Is it still in one piece!?



It was those monsters...! Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!
We lost contact, Sir!
There's no time to waste! Have you got a read on his position yet?



Well now, that's both convenient and tells us that the ship found by Comms was most likely the Blue Jet.



Not only is he one of us, he's a witness to what happened aboard Ship 2.



The fate of the earth rests on your shoulders. Never forget it!

Gore is kind of awesome, jeez. He's not a Strike Team member but he's still more than willing to go out there just to rescue Jimenez. His original reason might be superfluous now, but he's still got a job to do, goddamnit!

So I suppose that just means that next time we're going to head on over to the general area of what is almost certianly the Blue Jet and see if we can't help out Jimenez.