Part 30: Update 28 – Prophecy

Okay, this will be the last update of dicking around before we actually get back to the story. First up, a quick look around the newly populated Delphinus.





As promised, the Delphinus has been adorned with an adorable winged dolphin, as well as Vyse's opinion on thrones.



Tikatika won the lookout position by a landslide, beating Domingo by 15 votes to 4. This pleases me.

Pow and Merida, however, are tied at exactly 10 votes each, which means they now enter SUDDEN DEATH. First vote for either one decides it!



Oh, and the reason the camera is looking up from Tikatika's feet is that he has absolutely no fear of heights.

Anyway, onto the main event! Remember the Ixa'ness village? It's had a ship circling above it for the past few weeks, so let's drop by and say hello.



Hmm! I think this calls for an investigation! Or it would, if they hadn't decided to investigate us first.


Click for video!







Ok, this is going to get hellishly confusing, but since all three of them are more or less indistinguishable it shouldn't matter.



















Ok, I have to admit that I really like the Ixa'ness Demons. There's just something so...Japan about taking the idea of a crew of terrifying Amazons and turning them into giggly schoolgirls. It should be a recipe for the worst kind of disaster, and yet somehow, it works.

But what's that eye patch thing? He's got no fashion sense.

What're you talking about? I think it gives him some flair!

Wow, Tara, you really have bad taste!

Fine then, I'll just keep him all to myself!

Hey, that's not fair!

Wh, who are these girls?

I know! They've gotta be those girls that I read about at the Sailor's Guild! You know, the “Ixa'ness Demons”!!! But who'd have thought that the Ixa'ness Demons would be three little girls?? Kinda anticlimactic if you ask me.



They're probably just jealous because we're so much younger and prettier.

That's why I hate old hags like them.



And Fina! Don't just stand there! Say something! They're insulting us!!!

...Aika? What's an old hag?



Well then, everyone... I hope you're ready!

Of course!

I'm always ready!





For the record, Tera is the one with the spear, Pera has the bow and Lira has the staff.

Anyway, the Ixa'ness Demons. This fight is really, really, tough for a lot of AUGH



Yeah, that. Tera's spear has an added sleep effect, while Pera's bow confuses, and the effect is damn near guaranteed to fire. They also have a nasty habit of sleeping/confusing the character you had set to clear the status on the last slept/confused one, which can and will leave your battle plan in tatters.



Here's the second problem. Pera, with the bow, is hardcoded to spend her first two turns casting Quicka and Incremus in that order. Not only are they all going to outspeed you, so good luck saving an injured character before they finish them off, but they hit really, really hard. Tera can break 1000 damage with a critical. Both of these problems, however, pale in comparison to the third problem.



Tera, ready!



Lira, ready!



Pera, ready!



Chak Mol!



Yeah, they have a team attack. Not only does it hit really, REALLY hard, it also inflicts Fatigue on all characters, making recovery almost impossible. As if that wasn't bad enough, it's not a real team attack, it's a skill that Tera has which just happens to require all three of them alive. The upshot of this is twofold:

1. Chak Mol is affected by Increm on Tera, making it hit, really, really, REALLY hard.

2. Once Chak Mol is done raping you sideways, the other two still get to attack. You are very unlikely to survive this.

You get no warning that Chak Mol is on the way and she can use it whenever she likes, as often as she likes. Including on turn one. Fortunately, they do have one exploitable weakness.



Apart from Chak Mol, they don't have anything but standard attacks and spells. With Delta Shield and Skull Shield up they literally cannot damage you. Annoyingly, the status effects still get through, since mechanically Skull Shield just reduces all attack damage to zero.

My strategy here was a screaming berserker rush on Lira, since she's both the squishiest and the healer of the group. A single Moonberry would have made things a hell of a lot easier with either Fina's or Enrique's next skill, but I didn't have one on hand and didn't want to go grind for one so I decided to just brute force it. The fight took just under 25 minutes. There is, however, another way.


Click for video!

This is the Aura of Valour we got from the Moonfish sidequest. It maxes out SP, and once you become captain of the Delphinus something very special happens at max SP.



The Run Away option is replaced by the Captain command, which has these two special, hidden skills. Blue Rogues I'm saving for later, but Prophecy I am using right now this second before they use Chak Fucking Mol again.



In dire need!



We call forth!



The power!



Of the ancients!



Yep, this is our own team attack, and it is awesome.



It also makes absolutely no sense whatsoever





And then we crashed the moon into them.



Yeah, after that it's just a case of mopping up the remains. Unlike Chak Mol, Prophecy is the real deal, so the other characters don't get turns. In fact, nobody gets a turn, because Prophecy completely overrides everything and just starts the next round there and then, assuming anything actually survived having the fucking moon dropped on them. It also confuses the hell out of Pera's hardcoded buffs – she never got to act on round 2, so she never casts Incremus.

And that's the story of how I used the ludicrously broken item system to kill a bunch of Amazonian schoolgirls. In all seriousness, the Ixa'ness Demons are probably the hardest fight in the entire game. A couple of the other bounties can give them a run for their money, but nothing in the main story can even touch them. That is, if you level up enough – like all bounties they scale to your level, so while there are storyline bosses plenty tougher than these three are now, those are static and can be outleveled.

Anyway, they died horribly, either over the course of 25 minutes or less than 5 depending on which version you prefer.



H, how could this be??

We're the Ixa'ness's most powerful warriors!

I can't believe we lost!!



Hmph!

...Defeat is defeat. You won fair and square, so we promise that we'll behave.

But, finding a good and strong man to marry is one of the traditions of the Ixa'ness warriors!



(One day, we all hope to find a) man like you!

Like me? Well, uh, best of luck to ya.

Next time you come through this area, you best be careful! We just might come after you again!

As for you, old hags, you best be careful, too.

If you don't keep an eye on your man, we just might snatch him away from you both!







Have I mentioned that I love the expressions in this game yet?

Farewell, Mr. Handsome! Don't be afraid to come back and play!



You have no idea how glad I was to finally get a clean run of that fight. On the bright side, this means that basically anything else in the game is going to be plain sailing. Speaking of which, you remember way back when I told you that the name of Piastol's ship is the Avenger. Picture, if you will, what you would expect a ship named the Avenger to look like. Would you expect it to look like, for example, this?



Yep, it's time for round 2 with Piastol!


Click for video!

I am Piastol... I am the hunter of Air Pirates! I am... the Angel of Death! I have come to deliver death unto you. This very place shall become your grave.

You call us out here and then you start spouting all this nonsense? You have problems, lady. And so we beat you once... who cares?! Just give it a rest already, will ya? Why are you being so persistent?!

You speak as though my search for you has been a recent phenomenon, oh red-headed one. These past seven years... I have been searching for you. Looking for any trace of your passing I could find... Vyse.

Huh? What're you talking about?

...I have no other words for you. Today I will have my revenge! En guarde, Vyse!





This is literally the only thing about the fight you need to see a picture of. (It's much better in video form though!) After the Demons this is really nothing. Her Tempest Dance now has a pair of vicious kicks after the brainstab and hits harder than ever, but it's basically the same fight as last time with bigger numbers. That's not to say it's easy, she can still mess you up good and proper if you're not careful, just that there's not nearly as many things to worry about as with the Demons.



H, hey...okay, seriously... what're you talking about?

Yeah! What exactly were you talking about when you said that you've been chasing us for 7 years?? That's a really long time, you know!

S, silence! You could never understand my pain! Remember this, Vyse! I swear that someday, I will defeat you!



Yeah, Piastol has issues. If you were wondering, Vyse, Aika and Piastol are all 17 years old, and I'm sure you can work out from there how old they were seven years ago. Strange.

Anyway, while I had a few more things planned for this update they're going to have to wait. There's another Bounty I could tackle, but I'm going to leave him to stew for a while before taking him on because there's a strategy I want to show off. Next time, we finally get back to the plot and go in search of the next Moon Crystal!

Video List

Ixa'ness Demons
Ixa'ness Cheesing
Piastol 2