Part 16: Shaikos Ruins, Part 2

Dungeon video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_GM2fzeNZI



Let's continue on! Right in our first battle, Estelle learns Pierce Cluster in a very unfortunate camera shot.



Estelle stabs the enemy twice, then bounces him off her shield.




Dungeon-wise, this is more of the same we already had. A couple switches, some enemies, a few treasure chests.








This switch is weird, as it only causes some Golems to pop up from the walls.




This guy here doesn't really move though, he just stands there. Killing him raises a bridge, leading to a chest with a weapon for Estelle in it.


Backstep: You should know this by now, jump away from enemy with guard + back.
Evade: Agility +5%.





Karol also learns something, a neat physical healing Arte called Nice Aid Smash. It's not particularly useful right now, but it can help, especially if you have someone manually controlling Karol.


Anyway, our target is actually that huge Golem in the back of the room.

Watch the cutscene!




Jeez, what is this thing?! So this is a blastia, too?
But what I want is the aque blastia, not this this...this puppet.
What are you doing? Don't just go poking at him like that!
If I can just analyze him, I'll finally be able to complete my anima formu--huh?
No! His blastia core is missing!



Rita, looks like one of your friends is here.
Hey! Who're you?



...That sounded convincing.
???: And just who are all of you? This place is off-limits, you know!!
I think you just gave yourself away. I don't know who you are, but you're definitely not from Aspio if you don't recognize me.
...Guess she's got no problems with modesty.







Estelle runs over to Rita.

Let me see...!






W-what?!
How did you...?
I was just trying to heal your wounds...



Hey you guys! Stop playing around and help us!
Grr... All right, all right!



I'm going after that idiot! You all take care of this!
What do you mean you'll leave it to us? How're you gonna get through?!
Grr... That idiot!
I guess we've got no choice but to play with this wind-up toy for now.






Sometimes, the in-battle dialogue has alternate lines depending on who your party members are at the time. I will transcribe everything regadless of who I actually used in the battle (even though it occasionally means that essentially the thing will be repeated with slightly different phrasing), and post an accompanying audio file if you want to listen to the voice acting.

Listen to the full conversation!

I can't believe this thing's moving!
Be careful. He doesn't know how to go easy on people!
Can we really defeat something this big?
Who the hell would build something that's this much of a pain?
Woof!
Please, calm down...
Please, be still!
I don't think this thing's gonna listen.
Can this thing understand what you're saying?
Blastia have hearts too!
W-well, I just thought...
A sword works better on crazy things like this.
It'll squash us before we can tell it anything!
Urgh... fine.
I don't know if I can bring myself to...
We gotta teach him a lesson.
Oh man... this is bad!

Watch the battle (not the same battle as in the cutscene video!)

Our second real boss battle! Usually, Goliath doesn't give me a lot of issues (as you can see in the cutscene video), but for some reason my first fight against him for this LP went terrible.



Goliath is pretty big, and introduces a mechanic that many big enemies, and some small ones, like to use:




He's got a shield that protects him against attacks. Hitting him from the front makes your attack just bounce off, breaking your combo. The solution to that is simply hitting him from behind, which can occasionally be a bit tricky.



After a few hits from the back, the shield breaks. However, it will regenerate after a while.

Goliath has a couple unnamed but pretty hard hitting attacks, such as spinning around and pounding the ground for a shockwave. They have a fairly large range, too.





Then there's this...






X-Buster is a bitch when it hits, but thanks to its long windup you can just evade it. The AI is usually not that smart, sadly. If you hit his feet while he charges up you can cancel it, which is the Secret Mission on this battle, but that's easier said than done, you'll probably only get it randomly.








Yeah, this fight really didn't go very well for me.




He's also got access to Over Limit, which I'm pretty sure all bosses except maybe Zagi at the castle have. Over Limit basically makes an enemy immune to stagger for a while (along with some other benefits we're gonna see in action later), so it's best to just run away and wait it out. If you manage to somehow stun the enemy while he's in overlimit, though, wail on him as much as possible, since immunity to stagger also means hits won't cancel out stun.




After more casualties, he finally goes down.



But wait, didn't we forget something?

Getting the Secret Mission here took me a bit. Aside from the two battles I already linked, I tried switching the difficulty to hard to give me some extra time, which didn't really work out either. Finally, on my fourth try, Karol manages to Dragon Uppercut Goliath just as he starts charging his X-Buster, netting me the mission.




I will NOT let them use blastia for evil!
Let's go chase him down!
Aww man, no break?



Dick. Our reward is a Poison Ward, an accessory that prevents posion 50% of the time and grants resistance to water. Not really worth the hassle if you ask me.


Achievement/Trophy:

Secret Mission 2




All that's left is to cut off its power supply... I'm sorry...



All right, all right!

Estelle stares at the downed Goliath.

Come on! Let's go!
But Flynn...



So you think Flynn is...
I don't think he's here anymore. Come on!
If I'd just had a little more time I could've figured out the anima formula!
Is that why we were fighting that thing?
Of course.
You suck!
You were already here looking for the thief. I just had you guys help out a little.
Let's go! Let's go!



And we have to run out of the dungeon. On our way out,




Rita learns Splash, her first Intermediate spell. (The ones we had until now were all Novice.)

In the room where we entered the underground, we finally catch up with our thief.

Watch the cutscene!






Easy battle against random enemies, not very exciting.

How can he just steal the core and walk off like that...?
???: Aaah! Stop! M-make him stop!



You stole cores from the imperial capital too, didn't you?
???: The capital? No way, not me!
Then maybe it was one of your friends.
???: Y-yeah! It's that creep, Dedecchi.
Where'd he run off to?
???: He's probably picking up his money from the client right now.



???: All I know is he's somewhere in Torim Harbor. I don't know any more than that! He was a huge bruiser of a guy with a scar on his right cheek and one eye missing.
So is this the guy collecting all the cores...?
And where did you steal that Sorcerer's Ring?
???: Wh-who says I stole it? The client gave it to me, said it would be useful for this job!
Liar. That's not something the boss of some pickpockets could get his hands on.
???: H-honest! You gotta believe me!
This thing sounds pretty big. You think somebody important is behind it all?
I think you're on the right track, Captain Karol. This doesn't sound like some ordinary band of thieves.



Knight? Then Flynn was here after all.
???: Yeah, that's him. That damn knight!




Great, Rita. You knocked him out... Now what?
I'll have the city guards come pick him up later.
All right then, let's get back to Aspio.




And back to Aspio we shall go. Next time.