Part 33: Sector Fornax
Well, uh, Fornax sure is the next Sector. Let's give it a look-see.
The Land Where The Seed's Memories Lie Buriedjeez that track name sure is a mouthful
Sad to say, but this definitely isn't Earth. We sure got dumped into one crazy place, huh?(B) It feels almost mystical... How was this place made? How far does it go...? Why is it here...?(A) All we know is that it's full of mysteries.
The weird atmosphere spooking you or something?
Nah, man... I'm not scared.
(B) Hmm, unflappable, huh? Wish I could say the same.(A) You too, huh, Hitonari? Stay cool out there. Alright, let's go!
So, Fornax starts off by being... an open corridor. I guess that's something.
Got a couple doors at the end, and we'll head through the right side first.
No real rhyme or reason to picking one over the other, though in the top-right there's a... healing spot? Already? That's pretty weird.
A couple Amrita Sodas just adjacent, so you can cure any and all ailments on a single target.
Fornax is not exactly a bustling hub of content, after how dense Eridanus could be. It has this weird feeling of emptiness, really.
I get that it's totally by design, so it can at least start off as a bit of a breather but it's just... so weirdly barren in basically every way.
The Fear of God
But it has some rad-ass random demons. Emphasis on some in that sentence, unfortunately. Reapers are new, and that's a sensible localisation; their Japanese name is Hel. So, yes, she is Hel Hel. Speaking of which, yes, the lady encased in ice IS weak to Fire! And Elec for good measure. She resists Expel and is immune to Ice and Curse. She can cast Mamudoon and the usable version gets Sabbatma.
Balor has much less going on, but see? He looks NOTHING like Fomor despite being one! Anyway, the first random Tyrant is immune to Fire and Curse. But weak to Expel and 300% weak to Mute.
Kaiwan is keeping up the apparent trend round here and is immune to Curse. He's weak to Ice though, and nothing else. The usable version is naturally neutral to Expel but has Void Expel as a skill which is something I guess. He also has Tetraja which is hella redunant. What are you even doing Kaiwan?
...There ARE more things on this floor, but they only turned up once as Unknowns and then never again. Weird.
The Land Where The Seed's Memories Lie Buried
So, anyway, over on the left-hand side now, there's this one square corridor that has broken panels lying in it. It's actually visually interesting, so of course it's just here and nowhere else nearby.
I don't know what it is about Fornax but it almost feels like it's trying to go out of its way to be as boring as possible.
Like, that might just be me but what you see here IS what you get. There's no locked doors, no hidden doors, no Phase Shifters, no dark rooms...
But there IS a terminal in the top-left corner which is very close to the entrance. What, why is this even here? What's the point?
There's even a shortcut you can open right here. Can only open from this side of course. I dunno, I don't get it. It's not like it's even nece--
In The Master's Name
It's been a while, foolish adventurers! The time I spent licking my wounds was quite disgraceful! But surely you have not forgotten me. I am Morax... Though in this world, I have another name.
In this land of seeds, I can express my true form! See how I overflow with energy to such an extent that my sanity is fleeting! This time, I will show you who is worthy to rule! Learn the greatness of demons!
Demons should die. Gah! Arrogant humans! Do you think yourself to be a saint!? No more! I shall reduce you to ash!
Tyrant Moloch Vehement Rage
It's understandable why Pride and Vainglory were combined into one thing by Pope Gregory I. The two are very similar but vanity originally emerged from a delusion of grandeur whereas pride in oneself usually is excessive arrogance. Vanagloria, the original Latin name for the sin, literally translates as "vain boasting" as opposed to the somewhat more inherently positive concept of glory.
Anyway, Moloch is uh.... Morax. He's just Morax but with more HP and Maragidyne instead of Maragi.
He still has fucking Lunge for God's sake! The one tangible difference between the two is that Moloch resists Electricity. Good for you, Moloch.
They totally went with this design because he looks like a giant furnace and this is Fornax and all. I bet you that's the entire reason why.
End In The Master's Name
Our... revenge... will not... end here...
And give birth... to demons...> Moloch disappeared.
Yeah, yeah, good riddance you fuckin' loser.
Silence
Oh, Jimenez. Did you see what happened to Ouroboros? Moloch got off easy. He's not worth any actual effort.
...This sector seems a little different from the others. Let's both stay on our toes and make sure we don't end up letting out screams like those!I will give him this; it's a good thing he smashed that wall. There's no other way to progress!
> You can hear voices echoing from behind the doors...
In The Master's Name
Oh, what a surprise. The other three Masters are here as well.
So I guess this is Fornax's gimmick. Boss refights but they evolve first.
And regained the glory of our true forms......I wonder if Asura is even going to do anything then. That one was explicitly listed called out as his true form already.
The defiled spirit of Hitonari! Of the humans!
All shall be slaughtered! All shall be slaughtered! All shall be slaughtered! Silence
> You felt a sudden presence behind you!
Chaos Theme
You might call this sector a different playing field than the others you've investigated. Here, the demons you refer to as Rosettas are able to maintain their true forms.
They're very eager to see you again, I think. I will be watching...> Louisa Ferre disappeared.
I have verified strong energy signatures, those of demons, through Hitonari's Demonica. There are three energy signatures. These demons pose a threat to the investigation. Your mission is to defeat them. Note that they do not have Rosetta readings, making it impossible to pinpoint their locations. Stay alert as you go about the mission. The Land Where The Seed's Memories Lie Buried
If Morax/Moloch was any indication, they don't pose much of a threat. We'll go through the left-hand door first and just go in order from there I guess.
There IS an elevator over here, but we'll ignore it for now.
This area is also really, really bland and uninteresting. It has a whole 4 one-way doors. How exciting.
There is a pair of Dekunda Stones in the bottom right corner. Just in case Hare of Inaba didn't you give you more than enough than you'd need for everything ever, I guess.
The Fear of God
But hey, new demons already. Yes, really. Zaccoum is probably one of the more interesting things we'll see; his main stat is Vitality of all things. He's immune to Stone, Paralysis, Poison, Charm, Mute and Fear. Everything else is as it looks.
Clotho is marginally less exciting. She's immune to Sleep and yes Dream Needle is her only offense. The usable version has Recarm as a third skill. Her source upgrades that to Samarecarm (100% HP revive; Balm of Life but worse then) and drops Diarahan for Recovery Amp. Clotho is baaaaaaaaad. I rag on healing spells in this game a lot because they're almost all worthless; there is ONE exception to that and even then it's very niche in its use. Items are just flatout better 99.9999% of the time.
Gurr is also on the first floor. We used one for a while to, like, zero fanfare. He's really not that interesting beyond being a very quick Magic demon who slotted into our party fine last sector.
Manticore is immune to Poison, resists Electricity and Curse and is weak to Wind. He has Ziodyne by default and his source gives Maziodyne. The Ma-Dyne spells are honestly super underwhelming; the MT spells in general are pretty eh since they're way weaker than the STs of the same tier and are barely stronger than the STs of the tier below. And that only applies to the Dynes.
Like, Maragion has a base power of 110. So does Agi. Agilao has a base power of 150; Maragidyne is 160. This holds true across all elements. MT spells are bad, yo.
Rukh is also encounterable on 1F. Resists gun, Weak to Fire and 300% weak to Mute. His source gives Mabufudyne (meh) and Void Gun. Oh my!
Malevolence and Benevolence
Wow, a human!
Hey, um, mister? I sorta have this problem... I was playing with a cute bunny and trying to chase him. But I can't catch him...
Well, a little girl lost her bunny that she was playing with. What kind of monster do you have to be to refuse to help?
Yes. Yay! Thanks, mister. I'm so happy! We'll be the best of friends!
Okay, ready... Go! The Land Where The Seed's Memories Lie Buried
Alice is like the only thing worth caring about on this part of the floor. I really didn't gloss over anything here.
: I have to hurry, or she'll come. And then...: Ohhh... How terrifying...> Hare of Inaba noticed you.
> Hare of Inaba ran away further in.
...Y'know, I'll give the second floor this. It has a few pit drops that are all signalled really blatantly. We'll just go with the top-left one for now.
: Are you doing this for Alice...? Are you here to catch me? Yes.: Eep! I knew it! I don't want to play with Alice!> Hare of Inaba ran away further in.
I am genuinely trying to think of nice things to say about Fornax, in between the steps of this sidequest. The quest itself is functional and works and serves as a good tutorial of the area. Sort of. If you don't know that there's hidden doors here, for example, then you'll hit a hole and be unable to beat the quest in time.
Because the 3rd floor is just a bunch of tiny corridors with a single hole. The corridors are paired by hidden doors. This only matters for this sidequest but it is nice to know anyway; makes it easier to progress on the whole.
> Hare of Inaba ran away further in.
Honestly, Fornax is like... okay, the Morax thing as a concept was really cool, right? Well, it was a neat idea and it had Actual Animation for once and everything. Just a shame it was, uh, Morax.
Oh, finally! Something vaguely interesting! Damage tiles! And here I am without Medic equipped, so this IS the best option here.
...I do have like a lot of Life Stones, so it's not actually a big deal.
: Ahhh...! N-No escape now...> The Hare of Inaba is looking behind you.
Yay! Didja really catch the bunny for me, mister? Hee hee hee! Mr. Bunny, Alice won the game. Since you lost, we need to play a punishment game now. What should we play?
Well, that escalated quickly...
> Alice is moving to skin the rabbit...
Anyway, we CAN intervene but I think we'll just see where this is going. I'm sure the Hare can still escape.
: Ow ow ow! Stop it, stop it!
Ahaha! You look cold, Mr. Bunny. How funny! Hmmm... but just doing this is too boring.
> Alice rubbed salt water on the rabbit...
: Gyaaaaaaaah! It hurts! It hurts!> The Hare of Inaba is rolling around in pain...
*sigh* I'm bored of this. This game isn't fun anymore, so I'm going to kill and eat you. Bunny stew tonight!> Alice is walking towards the rabbit...
That's... pretty impressive. Huh.
Ahaha! Mr. Bunny died. He looks delicious! Hey... Mister, can I ask you a favor before I eat? Ummm...
Fiend Alice Vehement Rage
Man, at face value Alice is way harder than Ouroboros. She's a significantly higher level, she reflects Gun and resists Phys, is a Fiend and thus immune to all ailments...
Except, well, her best stat is her Magic by a mile. And she doesn't use it.
Ever. She'll gladly punch you or shoot you with that needle that she just used on the rabbit but she won't cast any magic.
...Well, okay, except That One but that's a Curse elemental instant kill so Tetraja nullifies it. And if you don't do that, it has a base 80% chance to work. So, uh, nullify it.
The usable Alice is a much lower level than she should be, but she makes up for it by having one of the best Sources in general. As an actual demon, she's fairly eh at first outside of that whole reflecting Gun thing... except her Magic is ludicrous and has a 21% growth rate which is VERY HIGH.
End Sorrow
The mean old man hit me!> Alice disappeared...
> The dead rabbit resurrected.
> All of his wounds are now healed...
: Geez. That was excruciating.
If we did, we'd get a Bead Chain here. We just sat back, so we get no bonus extras.
: That Alice has been doing the same thing to me over and over...: To tell you the truth, Alice is actually some sort of illusion.
: It seems she was given form in this world of memories. I'm just part of the memory, too.: I was manifested so Alice could chase and torture me. Memories of that innocent prank have been repeated... eternally.: But this time there was something different: you. Maybe we've finally been able to replace that memory.: ...Thank you. I want you to have this.
: It seems Alice's memories have changed... Looks like there's no need for me to be here anymore.: Thank you so much. I'm finally free...!
That Hexagram is honestly super-important. It's a sidequest reward, but the game immediately presumes you grabbed it and gates everything worthwhile after this point behind what it gives you. That's why we did this now.
The Land Where The Seed's Memories Lie Buried
But we'll just sit on it for the time being.
Poison was the alternative path we could've taken over the raw damage. It was definitely the lesser of the two evils, yes, but I'd rather just eat the damage since that only costs Life Stones. Poison eats both that AND Dis-Poisons.
I will gladly jump trough these ludicrous mental hoops to justify bad decisions.
The only other thing over in this area is a Strength Incense. We'll put it with all the others, I guess.
Leaving that area thrusts us through a one-way door. We'll ignore that path to the right just below that one for now. The path we will take just forces us towards the elevator. This is why we didn't use it before; it's just a shortcut back to B1F.
Though we will take a brief trip to B2F here, since that's the only way to get to these Beads. Now we'll go back up.
And then walk back to the main part of B2F. There's a few holes here, but we only need to use 3 to explore all the lower areas due to the hidden doors.
There's also a heal spot here as well. No, I don't know why there's another one already, but it is inherently more worthwhile than the other one.
...Just because we don't NEED to jump down all the holes, doesn't mean I won't. It makes it easier to keep track of where we've been if we just pretend the hidden doors on 3F don't exist.
Well, except the one we used for the Alice quest. We'll use that one to explore where the first hole WOULD take us instead.
The Land Where The Seed's Memories Lie Buried
This place is full of holes... Though if you ask me, I prefer that to a pitch-black path.Yeah, I gotta agree with this Zaccoum. Holes are annoying but managable. Dark Rooms are just plain bad and my least favourite mechanic.
...That said, the hole behind Zaccoum is fucking worthless. Great. Thanks!
Back to B2F's main "hub" and, sure enough, there's a terminal here as well. This one makes more sense than the one by Moloch at least.
Hole 3 drops us by a bunch of sleeping tiles. Guess what I forgot to re-equip! We were just given a chance and I sort of ignored it, because I'm a dumbass. Fornax is probably the sector I remember the least, honestly.
The Fear of God
So, look, a distraction! New demons! And by demons, I mean Strigoii. And nothing else. He's, uh, exactly as how he looks. His skills are fairly eh, his resistances aren't lying, he has no ailment resistances, his Strength is his best skill and he wastes it on Getsu-Ei, his source just gives Resist Elec/Wind and Life Drain...
Boy, Strigoii might be genuinely the most boring demon in Fornax thus far. Weird, huh.
An Honor Befitting that Name
So, uh, funny thing about Fornax. It has a Fiend that isn't Alice, sure, but... aside from that it only has one Enemy Search demon. Kinmamon here has a 50% chance of appearing solo and a 48% chance of appearing with a Balor friend.
He's immune to Fire, Expel and Curse. He's technically neutral to every ailment but has the Void Mind passive which grants immunity to Charm, Fear... and Mute, Sleep and Strain. Sure, okay. Strain I can sort of buy, but Mute and Sleep? Weird.
Anyway, you see what's not on that list? Yep, that's right. Petrify!
Oh and he has Megido and his source gives Megidola. That's nice but Kinmamon is an Enigma and so I will never, ever remember to use him.
The Land Where The Seed's Memories Lie Buried
Oh, right and we COULD explore to the right here as well but we're not going to. It's something we'll get to soon enough, don't worry.
So, hole number four then.
Aside from having an obvious hole over to the left, it also gives us a Bead Chain. I guess that makes up for the one I skipped over from the Hare but not really.
So, about that hole down to B5F...
As soon as we land, we get warned about a boss fight nearby. I wonder which of the three it's going to be.
But there's a terminal right behind us, so we'll take advantage of this.
Not for what you would first think. No, we're going back to B2F to see where the next holes lead.
We can deal with whatever the boss is after we've finished exploring the left-hand side of Fornax fully.
...Though I wish I hadn't bothered. Boy was that one a waste of my time!
So, what about the last hole? You'd probably initially expect this one to lead to the inevitable fight.
Instead, it just lets us snag a couple Attack Mirrors. That's oh-so-generous I'm sure. I dunno, they're good but using them ever is kind of a bad idea when you would want to.
Also, one-way door that makes us take damage tiles. This is why I didn't walk over here originally, yes.
...And yet I somehow still forgot to equip Medic. Still. I dunno, I think my brain just kind of checked out here.
So, anyway, back on B5F by the terminal we can see more destroyed panels. I feel like this visual cue would work way better than just having the game scream HEY A BOSS IS NEARBY as bluntly as possible. It's sort of subtle, but after Morax/Moloch you're kind of now expecting it, y'know?
Also there's a rare Forma here. Neat. We'll see what Irving can do with this in a bit.
Just below the Sun Mirror, there's a Heal Spot so I guess the fight is a little bit further south of here.
A couple Somas is definitely a nice thing to get, but I don't think I'm ever going to really use them? I mean, sure, I might because they're good but Beads do the job more'n well enough in almost every situation.
Fixed Rising Core forma nearby and... that's it. There's nothing here. Weird. Guess the Demonica was wrong, then; it makes sense since we're not picking up Rosetta or Exotic Matter signals from those guys. Let's see what Irving can do with the Sun Mirro--
In The Master's Name
Hrrrrmmmm! We meet for the last time, human! I, Mitra shall have my vengeance! Or rather...
"Mitra" is my tame aspect for the humans! You have not forgotten me, I trust? That is right! We were not made to serve humans! Humans were made to serve us! We should rule over humans! That way is wrong. Evil? You claim it is we who are the impure ones!? Do you foolish humans not remember who made this planet!?
And you... you will not escape my curse! No more experiments! The time for research is over! Now is the time for atonement and death, human! Fallen Mithras Vehement Rage
So, if Vanagloria is thoroughly unjustified and borne of delusion how does that differ from Superbia? Pride is generally regarded as negative because it leads to hubris and overlooking ones flaws. Vanity can do the same, but it generally originated from ones own mindset. Pride is made manifest by the environment, hence why I said before that it has a basis in reality. One gains pride by having your own skill or knowledge or capability recognised by an external source. It is the result of an initial praise and then an internal corruption of ones self-worth to an inflated status.
Okay, so Mithras IS notably different from Mitra in a few ways.
For one thing, he's actually a downgrade. Seriously. Mitra is a special one-of-a-kind demon with a unique internal mechanic. Mithras does not have that.
Skill-wise, he's mostly identical to before but with one change.
He dropped Mabufudyne for Ice Breath. Mithras, what the fuck? No, really. He kicked out one of the better ice spells (which is more damning of Ice as an element) for the worst it has?
He makes up for that by being able to just drop a Light of Order whenever he wants now. He doesn't need to prime it with a Waking Dream first. So if he wants, he can just kill a demon at any time. No save.
He CAN still use Waking Dream, of course, and it's just as underwhelming as ever. It didn't even inflict Strain on anyone. At all.
Mithras is a joke. Like Moloch before, his resistances are the same as Mitra's. Except, unlike Moloch, while he does get a Fire resistance added, this gets counter balanced by having something that the game never tells you about removed.
End In The Master's Name
This is the first and last time I will ever say this about literally anything, but this true form thing? Morax did it better.
Not just once, but twice... No, counting my form, three times...!> Mithras disappeared.
Silence
Ugh... That certainly brings back some painful memories... If he couldn't better himself outside of battle, he deserves to die as a mockery! ...I'm sorry for that outburst. Good luck with the rest of the expedition! Crisis
All crewmen are to halt their activities and return to the Red Sprite. A new mission has arisen which requires us to change sectors.
...Wait, again? Didn't we... just do this plot beat? Like, it was a bit different but...
Halt all activites and return to the Red Sprite immediately. ...Man, what now? He really is a slave driver... Let him leave me behind, see if I care. Oh well. Guess it's time to go back, Tadano.Fine, let me just check out the area where Mitra came from and I'll be right the-- wait, why is there a fadeout?
What, you thought you'd get to actually manually go back again? Ahaha, sucker!
I have detected suspicious activity from Jack's squad. This may affect out investigation. We must confirm their intentions. Please set a course to their coordinates in order for us to question them directly.Like, seriously. Didn't we JUST do this in Eridanus? It's been like an hour since we first went to the Lightning and we're already reusing that plot beat?
An emergency? Did Jack's men do something? I thought we promised not to get in each other's way...
Do they have anything to gain from coming after us? They looked like they were serious when we were talking about each other's interests.
However, it is important that we reconfirm their goals in the Schwarzwelt.
So... back to Carina? No. Carina is not our destination.
...Wait, what? How? Why can't we do that? I have so many questions!
They are using it as a base camp to plan their operations. That is our destination. They... made... a space-time location!? They have such technology!? I can only theorize that it is technology obtained after we entered the Schwarzwelt.
Perhaps they tapped into our communications and intercepted the data we sent to the Joint Project.
That's incredible... Am I the only one a little afraid of Jack's squad right now?
I'd feel better if they were on our side, that's for sure...
Like, okay, sure, Jack's Squad has the advantage of having an Anime Prototype ship so it's automatically better than ours. In terms of crew, they lose handily. We're the best of the best. There is no reason to be scared of anything Jack's Squad can do outside of whatever weapons are on the Lightning.
...I am way overthinking this, aren't I?
They were a buncha jackasses when I met 'em inside the Lightning... I definitely don't trust 'em now. Know what I mean, Tadano? We cannot rely on assumptions with regards to Jack's squad. We must confirm their reasons for creating their own space-time location and remaining there.
I have finished calculating the space-time coordinates of Jack's squad. We will travel there immediately. All hands, prepare to plane shift.