Part 21: The Supreme Graymel

Last time on Tales of Eternia



We completed the Fringe Cannon



and we finally tracked down Shizel, possessed by the God of Destruction, Nereid. We got slaughered!



Part 1 (Supreme Craymels): [YOUTUBE] (~10 minutes, plus SEVEN minutes Maxwellchat)
Part 2 (Aifread's Tomb): [YOUTUBE] (~15 minutes)

Having been beaten back by Nereid, we go on the hunt for new goodies! We discover two previously unknown craymels, along with the the remnants of Aifread's legacy.


Lens found: 48

Bonus: Maxwell Live



Boss Time!



Hmm, uhh... there doesn't seem to be any battle data available to me for this guy. Well that's okay, I'm sure I'll find it eventually!

Once Sekundes joins you, you get Summon Sekundes (pronounced "Seh-Koon-Dez" apparently). He will do a large amount of damage to all enemies, ending with a Time Stop, as if you had used an Hourglass item. And how about that Fringing??

Time alone will give you the spell Distortion. It is an undodgeable magic that does exactly 5000 damage. Handy if an enemy is resistant to other forms of damage! This spell is great for defeating Fake Chests - it only does 50 damage, but it keeps the Fake suspended for so long that the poison has plenty of time to do its work.

20 1 Undine finally gets Resurrection! This spell revives a KO'd party member kind of like Farah's Life skill. Unlike Life, however, it brings them back with almost all their health. While the spell is going off, nobody can take damage - friend or foe. Not sure if that's a glitch. During it, you can see Mind Adenade from Tales of Phantasia in the background (a Mint Sprite will also appear over the person being revived).

10 10 +Mental Up is a passive effect that gives you +1 extra TP when you level up, on top of your normal TP bonus. This is completely useless this far in the game.

20 30 You also get the ability Delay after leveling up a whole ton. This expensive spell will increase the casting time for a single enemy - sounds really useful actually!

5 30 Sekundes can use Celsius to gain the skill Stagnation. This is a unique ability that increases the stagger time for a single enemy. Kind of weird, but neat!

23 18 Shadow gets Bloody Howl, which summons a dark streak of chaos that goes screaming around the screen. It's kind of terrifying, and it does alright damage although by this point it's outclassed a little.

10 5 Rem on the other hand grants +Drain Guard, which is a passive effect that keeps your stats from being lowered. It sounds nice, until you realize that there aren't any debuffs in the game, with the possible exception of some of Sylph's shit from way back in the day. Thanks for nothing!

Sylph and Volt don't Fringe with Sekundes at all.

But wait, there's more!!




Maxwell is a powerful damage-resistant Craymel who will make you suffer pretty hard if you give him a chance! Maxwell will take double-digit damage from Reid. It's common to see Farah only do 1 damage per hit. As a result you may think this fight unwinnable - the secret is magic! Use your magic to defeat him!

Right off the bat, you'll notice a glyph moving around on the ground - that's Maxwell's annoying-as-fuck Tractor Beam. If it detects a character standing on top of it, it will turn red and launch them straight up into the air. To dodge this, either move out of the way or jump. Your casters obviously can't dodge it once they start charging their magic so it's up to the fighters to protect them. The Tractor Beam disarms for a sec after firing so if you set it off just before the caster it will pass underneath harmlessly. For best results, keep your caster in a corner so they don't get pegged by it on the way back (and also to maximize the break between encountering it).

Maxwell himself likes to teleport around and hit you with his scrolls. The damage on the scrolls is disappointing, but aside from that he can also teleport away and use his magic. He likes to cast Stalagmite and Cyclone a lot, and once you deal some damage he'll upgrade his spells to Indignation and Meteor Swarm. Meteor Swarm in particular is scary as hell since it pounds more than half the field with giant meteors. When he hits low health on Hardcore mode he will add Maxwell Minimus to his spells - this is almost impossible to survive even when you are leveled up, so don't let him use it!!

As mentioned, you want to use magic to beat Maxwell. Since he teleports around, you're best off with spells that don't have much startup time - while Indignation is a tempting proposition, chances are he will move out of the way before it can land. Spells like Ray and Dark Force are a little more effective, and Explode and Absolute aren't too shabby either. If you have Distortion, it's the best spell to use on him period. Undodgeable, does a full 5000 damage (probably more than any other spell right now), and it also keeps him unable to move while it's going off, giving you time to breathe and use items. You still have to worry about the tractor beam, but if you keep your Distortions coming out fast and loose, the Tractor Beam will be your only threat.

Once you beat Maxwell, you get Summon Maxwell. This summon will pound the field with some meteors - it's actually less useful than Meteor Swarm. If you've fought at least one battle on hardcore mode, however, then you can hold buttons to extend the spell further, making it the most damaging attack in the game -PERIOD-. And not by a small factor, either. If you have the TP to support all the extensions, there are only two enemies in the game who can survive it: Elementlers (and not by much), and Fake Chests.

Note: the Maxwell extensions don't work on the few bosses left in the game. Sorry, you've got to beat Nereid the hard way!

How about Fringing? We LOVE Fringing!

Immediately, Maxwell gives you Meteor Swarm. Pound that dirt with meteors, baby! This spell is in my opinion the third-most powerful in the game. Now YOU will understand the power of being third!

15 1 Cure is a single-target healing spell, like Heal, which heals 90% of the target's health. That's like a full heal! I never use it though. Restore's serviceable healing, area of effect and invulnerability outclasses Cure any day.

10 10 +Item Plus is a passive buff that "increases Technical Smash bonuses by 2%". What that apparently amounts to is more item drops. Handy!

20 20 +Mental Supply is a passive boost that comes into effect whenenver you take damage. When you get hit, the game calculates 1/64th of that damage, then gives that much TP. Considering that HP:TP ratio, this is really handy in the arena where TP is very limited.

10 10 +Life Up is a passive bonus that gives you an extra +2 HP when leveling up. This is 5x more useless than that TP one mentioned earlier.

10 10 +Poison Guard is another buff that protects you from being poisoned. It likely also works on the TP-reducing Weak ailment as well. At least, a poison charm does so I don't see why this wouldn't.

21 20 Holy Lance is a powerful Light-based spell that spears a single target over and over. If enough of those spears land, it ends with a big crash doing lots of damage. I'd call Holy Lance the second-most powerful spell in the game.

26 26 Here it is. Shooting Star is a fullscreen attack that does a shitload of damage to every enemy in the battle. It also casts faster than Meteor Swarm, too! This, right here, is undisputably the most powerful craymel arte in the game, bar none.

Efreet and Volt don't wanna fringe with Maxwell.