Part 54: Update 46

Update 46

Today, let's get lost in a good book.

: You're right. What does it say?
: It's written in the angel language. Let's see... "Seal"?
: Shoot. I remember SOMETHING about that book. The Seraphim... something. ARGH! What is it?
: It's some kind of seal.
: It doesn't open...

: Cursed?
: It doesn't open. The Exsphere seems to act as a lock. Horrible cries are heard from that book at night....
: Whoa! That sounds scary!
: I heard that the book leads to Niflheim, the Underworld. You better be careful.
: Oh dear. It's... DARN! Lost my train of thought.
: I think this is the time for Dwarven Vow #108: Let sleeping dogs lie.



Well, we can't exactly go ask Cruxis about the book.

Fortunately the elves aren't completely useless here.
: What are we going to do? We hadn't burned it yet.
: Why are you burning books?
: They are cursed books that tell the story of the war of the Underworld. Within the book are sealed evils who vied for the throne of the Underworld.
: That sounds like a pretty dangerous book....
: We also lost the Sacred Stone that is capable of burning the book. We lost the chance to burn it.
: We found a Sacred Stone in Derris-Kharlan.
: Really? Then if you find that cursed book, please burn it! If that book is set loose, the sealed evils will escape, and this world will be transformed to Niflheim, the Underworld.
: Man, this place is just too fragile to survive.
: If you use that Sacred Stone, the mana from your body will convert into a holy flame. Please use that to purge the beings of the Underworld.
: So if we find the Book of the Underworld, we need to burn it, right? ...I don't really like it, but anyway, I'll do it.



There is literally an hour of dungeon footage.
Viddler dungeon stream Part 1.
Viddler dungeon stream Part 2.




: You will be sucked into the book if you do not do something.
: Origin! What are you talking about?
: There is no way to know if you will be able to escape once you are in. I can still protect you with my power for now. What do you wish to do?

: Understood.




: We seem to have been pulled into the book, just as Origin said.
: Inside the book? Is that possible?
: What do we do now?
: Lloyd, the Soul Stone!
: That is Soulfire.... Are you here to destroy us?
: What's that voice?
: ...We are the next kings of the Underworld. If you diminutive beings believe you can vanquish us, then place your lives on the scale and put yourselves to the test!
: This book...must have been the one stolen from Heimdall.
: Can you hear me, bearer of the new pact?
: Origin!
: This book must not be allowed to remain on this earth. This book contains the spirits of demonic lords who plot to transform this earth into the Underworld. The spirits gain power with the passage of time and will one day drive the possessor of this book mad.... And then the world.
Earth? I think they mean "planet".
: ...All right. What do we do?
: This book can be destroyed by burning the Soulfire in the deepest part of this Underworld inside the book. However, even the Soulfire cannot eradicate the book with only a small fire. You will need to increase the Soulfire until it is enough to destroy the book. There should be candlesticks where the Soulfire can be burned. Light them to increase the strength of the Soulfire and continue increasing it. The Soulfire is also the light of your lives. Do not forget that when the Soulfire burns out, so shall your lives.
: Gotcha. So let's strengthen the Soulfire and head for the lower level.




Most floors have a "Floor Effect" that gives you bonuses or penalties. This is a "green" floor, which means it has platforms connected by pathways on which we must find the exit. Your soulfire constantly depletes, so you need to be quick. Also, enemies respawn indefinitely on green and blue floors. This can be used with a turbo controller and a party set to all auto control to farm indefinitely without player intervention. You can even farm Soulfire this way, since the battles will award you some if you're fast.

This device here is a "candlestick" and you can ignite it by firing the Sorcerer's Ring. Firing the Sorcerer's ring costs 10 Soulfire however.

They give you 30 net Soulfire though.

And this is what an exit looks like.

This is a "blue" floor. We have to extend bridges between platforms by firing the Sorcerer's ring.

We have a particularly lovely floor effect here.

Notice the difference in damage between me and them. I'm not even particularly high-level for this. Earlier floors are just weak.

FLOOR EFFECTS



After every 5 levels there's a circular platform. This one has no boss. You can go out and back to Sybak by selecting "no" when the teleporter asks you if you wish to go to the next level.

: They must have changed the inside of the book to be like Niflheim. Don't worry. Since they are sealed, there is a limit to their power.
: ...Yeah, you're right.
: Whoever sealed them had to have been immensely powerful.

This is a really cool floor effect, you start each battle with a full U-Attack gauge. Or at least it would be if you didn't have weapons powerful enough to smash through everything in seconds.

Some floors give you this in addition to a floor effect. You get bonus soulfire and healing based on how bad the restriction you get is. NEVER EVER select random character. You'll see why in a second.

This is a red floor. Red floors hide their teleporter until you kill everything. Enemies don't respawn on red floors, obviously.

This is why you don't want to use random character.

MOTHERFUCKING PETRIFICATION THAT'S WHY. One time I set my game running for 2 days in order to farm grade, then while I was going down to the exit I got petrified after selecting random character. I was level 250 but that didn't actually matter. That was a bit of a rage I can tell you. You can make some characters immune to petrify but I don't think you can make all of them unless you like farming way too much.





Bad boss, bad boss.
Viddler download
YouTube stream.

: I shall give you death as a reward. Be honored....
: Shut up! That's my line!
: You reward people with death? You sure you're not Mithos?
: You do not stand a chance. Die!




Hell Knight is one of the most disappointing bosses I've ever faced in any game.

You'd think a giant demonic skeleton riding a velociraptor wielding a lightsaber would be cool. You're wrong. There's an enemy in Derris-Kharlan you might have seen that looks really similar. It has no special attacks and just runs around swinging its sword. HEY GUESS WHAT.

I kept waiting for it to do something interesting.

It doesn't even hit particularly hard.




At this point the decision to euthanize him was made.


He did manage to kill Regal at the end though.




This is not the bottom.

: The Hell Knight would have been destroyed by me once Niflheim is revived upon the earth. I...am the King of the new Niflheim.
: ...What?!
: For the conquest of the earth and the restoration of Niflheim, I will not allow you to burn this book.
: So that one wasn't the only sealed monster?
: ...So it would seem.
: Humph. All it means is we just take out the next one, too.
: Yeah!
By the way, I made a mistake before coming in here. See if you can spot it.


You can use burning candlesticks to get various bonuses.

Sheena's personal skill gives you a chance to not go into a random encounter when you normally would. This is a bit frustrating on red floors.

Yeah, I forgot to fill up on life bottles before I came in here. I started with ONE after Abyssion. Fortunately they drop here.

Arch Demons are capable of inflicting actual damage, and Medusas can petrify. We're out of the kiddy pool.



Slightly better boss.
Viddler download
YouTube stream.


: I will not let you pass. I have built up my power inside this sealed book, and when evil fills the hearts of men, I shall be released from this prison.
: ...I don't think so!

Honestly this guy is a bit better than the Hell Knight, but even Vidarr (who was literally the first boss we fought) is better.

I equip "normal" weapons on everyone in the interest of an honest fight.

He has the same HP as Abyssion, but HP doesn't make you difficult. It really feels like for Symphonia difficulty is equal to level difference X numbers / size. And this guy is big and alone.

One thing he can do is just crap out spells randomly. No casting time, not even a notifier at the top. Boom there's a spell.

Dreaded Wave

Earth Bite. I don't recall another boss using it.

That was a decent unison attack.

Because of how big he is you'd think Meteor Storm would wreck him. No, he's too easily pushed off to the side and too willing to go along with it.

Here's his knocked down pose (after a Unison Attack).

He hits decently hard, if slowly. He's no Abyssion but then who is?

Conserving Life Bottles.

Forgot to stock up on Lemon Gels too. Fortunately I've got Miracle Gel aplenty.


This is probably as close as it got. I really should have equipped the Devil's Arms at some point but I wanted to fight "clean".

It happened again.

I think he heard me talking trash about him.




Prism Sword works fairly well.

I used Unison Attack maybe six times.

Presea's kill.

Sure FELT longer than seven and a half minutes.






You can actually fight this guy more than once if you choose not burn the book. You can't get the boots again because it's a cutscene. They're really good boots, giving you resistance to all elements and physical.
: ...Did we win?
: Oh, I remember now! Mithos and the Seraphim tried to do this long ago, but were unable to burn the book. So they sealed it.
: It seems that way.
: Come on, let's hurry up and burn this book. We don't know when the monsters may revive again.
: But what do we...
: I think we just need to burn the Soulfire upon that altar.

: Oh, no! This world was created by those monsters. If they disappear, we'll be expelled from this world as well!
: Less talking more burning.
: Then we can't burn the Soulfire.... So this book will continue to exist forever, and...
: ...the monsters will revive. ...Lloyd, hurry!
: If we don't burn the Soulfire here, they'll revive....

You have the option to NOT burn the Soulfire if you want to do the whole dungeon again or something.


: I thank you.
: Holy shit. These guys really are capable of anything, aren't they? Although if the Sacred Stone Mithos had brought with them had been prepared properly, they'd have annihilated this place 4,000 years prior.
: But...is it really over? At the end, he...
: Yes...but whether his words come true or not is up to everyone that lives in this world.
: No one's a saint.
: ...It's very convincing coming from Zelos.
: ...I'll go ahead and assume you meant that in a good way.

This stuff is actually mentioned again in the sequel. Anyway, this dungeon's "plot" is a lot different (better) in the PS2 version. Unfortunately I can't show it today because part of it isn't translated anywhere, at least not that Polsy or I could find. If anyone's willing to translate a few lines, let me know.



Now that Presea is level 80 or higher, we can go talk to Ralph again.

Acquired Gaia Cleaver.
: This is?
: When Sieg left the Papal Knights, he entrusted that to me.
: Daddy gave this to you?
: I think you can handle it now, so I brought it.
Uh...yeah.
: And I think Sieg would be happier for you to use it than me.
: ...Thank you.



Regal has a similar thing. They're the only two to do so. I guess they realized towards the end that they forgot to put in enough stuff for Regal/Presea.

: What happened to Levin?
: He got out, too.
: Who is Levin?
: He is the master who taught me to fight with greaves. If it were not for him, I might have lost my life in the arena.
: What? Why would you die in the arena?
: Prisoners must fight the beasts in the arena.
: Nice and civilized.
: I had given up fighting, regretting that I killed Alicia with my hands.
: Levin then told him to fight with his feet. Of course, that's merely sophistry, but...
I don't know what's up with that line. It seems like it should be spoken by Regal, and it says "told me" in the game, but the prisoner is the one speaking, and has the talking animation going on.
: He persuaded me to continue living until Vharley was captured. And that is why I am here today.
: And yet, your face looks troubled.
: I feel that not using my hands when facing a powerful enemy is burdening my companions....
: So that's why you've come to see Levin. Go to the hot spring at the House of Guidance. He should be there.
: May we go there?

: Thank you. I want to clear away my hesitation.




: Levin! I'm glad to see you are well.
: Hahaha! What brings you to this old man?
: I've got to wonder why he was in prison? I guess he's a dirty old man or something.
: Circumstances have lead me to fight against a powerful enemy. However...I am feeling the limit of my fighting arts. As things are now with my hands sealed, I worry that I may eventually become a burden on my companions.
: Hmm.
: ...Levin, you told me, even force used in the name of justice is still violence.
: Yes. The reason I taught you the Traubel style is because I believe you understood that.
: That I understood it?
: Why do you not remove your shackles?
: Because I do not wish to use these hands as tools of destruction ever again....
: So then, it's all right to use your feet?
: No. Not using my hands serves as reminder that even when using other methods, what I am doing may only be needless destruction....
: Then why do you hesitate? You have given yourself an admonition against the violence you committed. And you have friends who watch over you, aid you, and accept you as you are. What is there to hesitate?
: ...Yeah. If you say you've decided not to use your hands, that just means we have to take your fighting style into account. Because, the admonition that you put on yourself is the very reason we're fighting.
: ...Yes. It is true that we desire the elimination of senseless violence.
: You have companions that understand you. There is no reason for you to hesitate.
: ...Yes. Thank you, Levin. And, Lloyd, as well.
: Heheh. Let's do our best together, okay?
There's also a scene where he gets a weapon if you're 80+.
: It looks like you've finally gotten over it.
: Yes, thanks to everyone's help.
: Yes, that's what's known as trust. Don't betray that trust.
: I shall take that to heart.
: Hahaha. Ah, yes...I think you are now ready to use this weapon that I once used long ago.
Acquired Dynast.
: Thank you, Levin.



Someone wanted pictures of Spiderman Lloyd in the Pirate Suit using the squidswords. Here you go!





Here's one way of getting through the arena with Raine (Devil's Arm).
Viddler download
YouTube stream.




Here's some super attack footage from Lloyd.
Viddler download
YouTube stream.
In order to pull this off, three things must be true: 1) your HP is red (I think this happens at 20% of max), 2) Lloyd must be wielding the Material Blade, and 3) Lloyd's title must be Eternal Swordsman. The first two are a bit onerous to meet - on Mania having low HP means you're going to have ZERO hp in a second, and the Material Blade just isn't as good as the Kusanagi Blade you get right before or after (assuming you didn't forget to fight Sword Dancer at some point). To trigger it, you have to hit the attack, block, and special attack buttons all at once.



Note Lloyd is using the actual Eternal Sword here.







Even if you miss with it, some of the projectiles are still seeking.

I had a lot of trouble triggering it because I'd never used it before.



A slightly more "honest" arena with Raine.
Viddler download
YouTube stream.
By the way, Raine will have a conversation with Lloyd when she goes out to fight in the arena. So Lloyd and whoever his best bud is will have conversations when either of them goes out.

: Professor! You can do it!
: I'll be counting on you to cheer me on.



I'm not going to post screenshots, but here's some rare footage of that wyvern that I considered a joke kicking my ass. Colette's air attack is the most awkward thing ever.
Viddler download
YouTube stream.



Skit #051: Corrine is Calling Me

: Sheena? What is it?
: I have this feeling...that Corrine is calling me...
: Corrine?
: ...Lloyd! In this area, where's the place with the strongest connection to Summon Spirits?
: In this area...The Martel Temple, I guess. It had a seal and all...
: ...I have this feeling that's where Corrine is.
: But it can't be...
: I'm sorry. Forget it.
: Sheena...





: But there wasn't a Summon Spirit here, Sheena.
: I can sense it too. Of course there wouldn't be a summon spirit here earlier.
: But I can feel him! I can feel Corrine! Let's go further in! Please, Lloyd!
: Okay, sure. Let's go.

: Was it just my imagination? He doesn't seem to be here....
: Sheena...
: ! What?! Corrine's bell is!...






: Corrine! Corrine, is that you?
: Sheena, descendent of those who control powers of summoning... You, who showed me the human heart...
: You're...not Corrine?
: Desire, generosity, laughter, sadness, anger, violence, concern, love, hate...
: What the heck is it saying?
: What will I ultimately gain from the human heart? I, Verius, pose this question upon you. Now, show me.
: Here it comes!

: I have felt your hearts.
: Right after you scare them isn't the best time for that.
: Anxiety, regret, impatience, loneliness...but even greater hope, courage, and love...
: ...We're not going to fight?
: I exist to observe all beings that possess a heart. I form no pacts, I will be bound by no one.
: You said your name was Verius...Who are you?...
: Sheena. I am the one who was once known as Corrine. The Summon Spirit that's had the longest contact with the human heart.
: Contact with the human heart...
: When my strength was fading, human hearts held on to me. All human emotion, both negative and positive, changed me into the Summon Spirit of Heart, Verius.
: So you're Corrine! Right?
: Yes. Yes, you can say that. I am Corrine.
: We can be together again, right? You'll come with me, right? Corrine...
: No. I shall become part of the world and watch over all those that possess heart.
: No...
: Sheena, descendant of summoners, I cannot go with you. However, my heart will be with you. For my existence as the Summon Spirit of Heart was established by touching your hearts.
: Our hearts...will be together....
: Yes, they will as long as you... as long as people have hearts, I shall be with all people.... And I shall continue to walk with you, Sheena.
: As long as we have hearts?
: Never forget. Your promise with me is your heart.

: Our hearts...
: This is great, Sheena! Corrine is back!
: That's right. If it was the human heart that brought Corrine back as Verius, it was your heart that did it, Sheena.
: ...No. It was...because of all of you. It was your hearts that brought Verius and me together. Thank you, everyone!

Because we didn't make a pact with him, Sheena can't summon Captain Planet. Anyway this guy is important in the sequel.



By the way, here's links to the two extra battles from the PS2 version:

1. Desian Loyalists: Pronyma, Forcystus, and Magnius. I have no idea what they're saying. I assume it's something like "Oh crap we died and went to hell, let's get revenge." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8SF...feature=related

2. (Three of the) Four Seraphim: Mithos, Kratos, Yuan. I'm pretty sure this is before Martel died, because Mithos isn't a dick, however she's not there. I guess they didn't want you to fight her, or didn't want to give her a moveset. Or maybe they intended it to be after she died, and Mithos didn't go to the jackass side immediately.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU7T...feature=related <- Subbed intro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFZILPEr2DE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_bej2L36-c <- Fight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS1F...feature=related <-Subbed outro

Also, you might notice something in the videos.