Tales of Graces f Part #27 - CH27: Riot Peak

Part 27: CH27: Riot Peak

CH27: Riot Peak

: After the brief interruption to deal with Oswell, the party departed by boat for the neutral island of Riot Peak

: Oh! Sibling alert!

: Not particularly.

: Oh, right... 'Cause he knows all about your childhood secrets or whatever, yeah?

: This isn't a vacation, you know!

: Fine. Whatever. Ignore my questions.

: So, Asbel? Got any embarrassing stories about your little bro?

: Are you even listening to me? And while I'm at it, just how were you able to solve the valkines problem so easily?

: What, that? Oh, I dunno. Just intuition, I guess.

: You can't fix a problem like that with intuition!

: It's okay, Hubert. That's just how Pascal is.

: My favorite food is bananas, and my favorite color is yellow! ...Hey, this is fun! What else ya wanna know?

: Ugh, never mind.

: Okay! But if you ever think of anything, just lemme know!

: Ridiculous. I've never met a more suspicious character in all my life.

: I know she's kind of...unusual, but we couldn't have survived this long without her.

: I'm not denying what she's done. I'm saying it's dangerous to put blind trust in her.
I can see this is lost on you. Very well. I guess I'll just have to keep an eye on things.

: Hubert, come on...

: Riot Peak allowed warriors from all three nations to fight and challenge each other.

: Looks like our agent hasn't arrived yet.
Fendel Soldier: Say, you got one of them new models too, huh? How do ya like it?

: Oh wow, they can do that now?! Here, wait, lemme see!
Hmmm... So the cryas goes here... And the transformer circuit is that little ka-tangy bit there...
Fendel Soldier: Hey! Stop bothering us!

: That's weird. I wonder who designed that. I better take another look.

: What are you doing? Stop that! Do you want to get us all killed?

: Don't worry, Little Bro! I'll keep my distance.

: (Those guns were unfamiliar to me as well... Is the military up to something...?)

: What is it, Captain?

: Hmm? Oh, nothing.

: I don't like it here. Everything seems so... aggressive.

: Skilled fighters come from across the world to compete at Warrior's Roost. Power is the only law in this place, and battle the only justice.

: Conflict should be a means to an end. Why would anyone fight just for the sake of fighting? Why does this place even exist?

: Skilled fighters need a place to test their mettle and aspire to new heights. Perhaps this is a world that only they can understand.

Swordsman: I have a letter from her.

: Mmm... This is bad.
Our spy's commanding officer has grown suspicious of her actions. She will be unable to meet with us.

: So how do we get to Fendel?

: It would seem we'll have to find another way...

: Sophie! Pascal! Are you okay?!

Fendel Soldier: That wench tried to steal our weapons!

: I just wanted to look at 'em! Come ooon!

Squad Captain: And who would you be? Perhaps the friends of that little spy? Oh yes, we know all about your plan to infiltrate our ranks.

: I will thank you to avoid such filthy accusations, sir.

Squad Captain: Is that so? Then you won't mind if we're your first opponents! And while we're at it, perhaps a small wager will make things more interesting. If we win - and we will win - you're going to tell us everything we want to know.

: That seems to be a fair challenge. We accept. We're here to fight, after all. ...And to win.
Squad Captain: Haw haw! Bold talk from a little mama's boy! See you on Riot Peak!

: Was that a wise thing to say, Hubert?

: It seems our agent friend has been taken captive. If we want to reach Fendel, we'll have to rescue her first. As such, we'll need to defeat those men and set her free.

: Riot Peak, huh?

Skit: Observing the Observer

: How come?

: You seemed pretty obsessed with those soldiers' weapons.

: I don't give a hoot about the weapons. But the mechanism that extracts eleth from the cryas looks like an idea I had a long time ago.
They're clearly made by someone super talented!

: Huh. Pascal, you really are some kind of genius.

: ......

: Hey, what was that? Did Little Bro need something?

: (And the spy escapes to snoop another day.)

Skit: Knight Moves

: Pfft! Does that sort of thing interest you?

: Back at the academy, we used to talk all night about one day challenging the guardians of Riot Peak.

: Well I'm glad you boys had something to get excited about! ...Now please don't tell me you miss those days.

: No, not really. But it wasn't just boys, you know? Maybe one of every three students was a girl. Probably not what you expected, huh?

: Wait, hold on. Seriously? And you talked...all night?

: Yeah. Is that weird?

: N-No! Of course not.

: So jealous. Kiss him already.

: Yeah I think he'd have realized if she'd done that right there. He's not quite as dense as you'd expect.

This is a retarded password. The only part that threw me was the space there. Looking at the text entry dealie there, how do YOU think a space is entered? You select one of the blank spots on the right.

I don't use this book much

Anyway, Riot Peak is the arena that's in every modern Tales game.

: I'd say it was a fight for the ages, but ...nope.

Emcee: In order to stand in here, you must cut the other man down! Do not let your opponent's cute facade fool you, lest you end up with a face full of green thorns! And now, get ready... for the first-stage... baaaaaaaaattle!

Embarrassingly enough the difficulty was still set on "normal" from the earlier bit where I fought Hubert. I didn't want to go back to record it on a higher difficulty because this fight is straight-up not difficult at all.

By the way, you see those wheels at the corners of the platform, and the tracks in the walls? The platform raises between each "floor" of fights.

Emcee: Has the young man's naivety left him for good now?! The challenger has completed the first floor! Connnngratulations!
Next up... They float like a butterfly, but sting like a bee! They come from air and ground! They strike with spear and sword! Get ready... for the second-floor... baaaaaaaaattle!

Emcee:A storm of talons and beaks were no match for the new second-floor champion! Victoryyyyyyyyyy!
Next up... Crawling dread! A dragging form! But...but where is it?! IT'S BEHIND YOOOOOOOOOU! Get ready... for the third-floor... baaaaaaaaattle!

Emcee: Challenger wins! The-e-e-e-e challenger wins! The challenger has conquered the third floor! Victoryyyyy!
Next up... A roar followed by flames! An enemy beyond any man! More god than monster! Get ready... for the fourth-floor... baaaaaaaaattle!

Emcee: Down goes monster! Down goes monster! Down goes monster! The fourth floor is conquered! The challenger wins! Victoryyyyyyyy!

: Awaiting on the fifth floor were the Fendelian soldiers.

: So, we meet again.
Squad Captain: You've got guts, mama's boy. I'll give you that. Oh, and we brought your little spy friend so she can watch us thrash you.

Squad Captain: Try not to die too quickly, now. That would be such a bore...

: Are you finished? If this was a battle of grandstanding, I'd have surrendered my dualblades long ago.
Squad Captain: Time to die!

This isn't a terribly difficult battle. I did get a chance to fix the difficulty back to Evil, but this is a filler boss.

None of these guys have anything especially threatening.

Focus on eliminating the little guys and they'll be gone before you know it.

Despite having a rotary gun, dude isn't firing that fast. Only 2 or 3 rounds in a burst.

: Their skills were simply superior to the Fendelians'.

: We should be on our way. ...Although come to think of it, we never did decide on our half of the wager.

: Well then, as the victor, I demand you release the prisoner. Miss, you're free to go. Perhaps you would care to accompany us?
Squad Captain: You can't have her!

: We were ready to shank him in the back to save her, when Malik reminded us of the rules.

: Stand down! It is forbidden to draw your weapon after a match has been settled. If you do...

: It's too late now.

Squad Captain: Y-You!

I hate hate hate it when they use "screen fades to white" to avoid showing a sword hit for bullshit reasons.

: That is the guardian of Riot Peak. All who come here dream of one day facing him in single combat.
Hey guess who's a future boss.

: Our opponent broke the rules, and thus was punished.

: As long as we obey the laws of this place, we have nothing to fear.
Spy: Many thanks. I'm sorry you went to so much trouble on my behalf.

: No apologies are required. However, we must now get to Fendel as quickly as possible.
Spy: Of course. When you're ready, come see me by the Fendel boarding point.

Skit: En Guardian

: What is it, Asbel?

: I was wondering if maybe we could get that guy in black to help with our mission.

: Doubtful.

: You seem sure.

: Some time ago, Strahta made covert inquiries into that very idea.
But the guardians are judges who have proven themselves the strongest warriors of Riot Peak.
Apparently, they will leave this place only if they are defeated in battle.

: Wait, did you say "they?"

: Yes. We heard there are three guardians.

: Wow, really?

: It's a conundrum: To earn their help, you must defeat them in combat. But if you had such power, you wouldn't need their help in the first place.

: Huh... Then that settles it. I'm gonna defeat the guardians myself one day!

: Defeat the judges? I can't imagine how long you would need to train! ...But, in the meantime, I'd be happy to assist with your daily regimen.

: By that he meant beating the crud out of him.

: It's not necessary to spell this out.

: Sorry. Usually when I tell this story it's to a little kid.

Anyway the tournament is open now, even if we'll get demolished pretty easily.

Video of me doing the first section with Asbel.

These guys aren't very tough at all.

Even in groups of three they're pretty weak.

Anyway since we just got Hubert I'll go over a few of his attacks. Covering fire is a burst arte shoots out several glowing shots.

Radial Arc is a burst arte targets a patch of ground centered on an enemy.

Gravity Blast is a burst arte that has a cast time like a spell.

It creates an awesome energy ball that damages every enemy in it.

Aqua Bullet is a burst arte that inflicts extra damage on aquatic and machine enemies.

Flare Shot inflicts burn status, which prevents the enemy from healing.

That's the impact from Flare Shot there.

Scarlet Salvo is a nova attack.

Aerial Barrage knocks a dude into the air...

...then barrages them. It's sort of like a smaller Broadside Waltz.

Let's talk about Assault Artes too.

New Moon, despite not being very glowy by their standards, is a Nova attack. 2CC

That's still part of New Moon's animation, not Full Moon's.

Yet another circular spin attack. It has slightly higher damage per hit in the PS3 version for some reason. 3CC

This one is pretty cool. 4CC

Gale Fang is a spin-slash. 2CC

Dual Shredder features increased slashing and kicks up a ton of dust. 3CC

Dualblade Dance is actually pretty long and involved for an Assault Arte, lasting a whole 3 seconds or so.

This is pretty much the only time he'll separate his dualblade but use it as a melee weapon rather than opening it up to shoot in a normal move.

Let's have a look at someone else for a bit.

Most of Sophie's burst artes are spells with an emphasis on healing, but she's got a set of attack spells that she copies from people in the party. They all involve her creating a "photonic" copy of the party member's weapon and attacking with it. This is Cheria's technique.