Part 37: The Dragon Rider's Identity

Watch the CG cutscene! (recommended since it's kind of hard to tell what's going on from the screenshots)























Barbos exits from a nearby door.





You... You've destroyed the blastia!



Three fireballs come in from off-screen...



...and hit our dragon rider!




Hey, are you okay?!

Yuri glances off to the side and spots the people who shot the fireballs.



Bastards...!



Yuri jumps onto the platform the mages are on.





Barbos follows.






Now rip him to pieces!





Barbos throws a bunch of those guys at you, but for a 8 vs 1 battle they're fairly easy. Just be careful of eventual stunlocking and throw a gel if you need it.








Looks like I'm gonna have to teach you your place.

Barbos shoots some kind of shockwave from his sword, disarming Yuri.



Huh... That's a handy sword you've got.
Think you lost because of this sword, huh?
I don't know, what do you think?
Yeah, talk it up while you've the chance. We've got a nice painful death all set up for you.



...




Watch the cutscene!





Guard: Now shut up for a while!
What's the deal...?





It's not polite to point sharp objects at your elders.

The guard prepares to attack Yuri.

Guard: Yah!










Guard: Damn it...

The guard leaves.






Are you all right? Heh, sorry.



Ba'ul?
Yes, my friend.
Oh, you mean that monster.




...
Not a big deal if you don't feel like talking about it.
I'm afraid it's not as impressive as you might think. I'm destroying them because I want to.
You're right, I'm not all that impressed. So that's why you mashed up Barbos' blastia too.
Yes, but I didn't finish the job.



...There wouldn't be any fun in destroying something like that.
...Huh. Hey, why don't we work together a little longer?
Hmm... It's true I wasn't able to finish off the blastia on the roof.
Okay then.
So what do we do?



Well, if you think it might work, what's the harm in trying it out? I always say, "Those who can, should."
Okay, just go along with me on this.




Yuri lifts his arm and...





She counters.




Oh, that is it!



Yuri hauls her across the room.





Cut it out!
You cut it out!
Guard: I said that's enough!
I've had it up to here with you!
Somebody get me away from this psycho!

The guards opens the door and goes in.











Thanks for your help.
I think I still owe you one more.





There, that makes us even.



They high-five.

Judith.
Judith...? "Judy" is easier to say.
Fine by me. All right, on to the next objective.
Next...? Well, we could check out the blastia on the roof. All we have to do is go up.
Won't your friends be waiting for you?
I don't mind taking care of the blastia first.



And how exactly do we go up?
...This is heavy.



A princess?
Never mind. There's gotta be a way up around here somewhere. Let's see what we can find.


Ah Judith, our last party member. Well, in the Xbox 360 version anyway. She's quite fun to have around and very neat in battle, if you manage to adapt to her playing style. She uses a spear as her weapon of choice and focuses on aerial combat - that is, throwing the enemies into the air and juggling them around up there.

Right now, though, we should concentrate on our equipment which was taken when we were thrown into jail. Let's look around and see if we can find it.





Skit: Judith's Armor
Hey, why were you wearing that stuffy-looking suit of armor?
Oh? You didn't like it? It's pretty sturdy, and protects my body quite nicely.



Very nice... I'm actually worried where my eyes might wander.
You don't look all that worried to me.
I've just got a good poker face.
So, you're okay? You don't mind leaving your armor behind?
It's sturdy, but it's heavy. Walking around with that on tires me out.
Hey, no complaints here. I prefer eye candy to scary armor any day.




Up here's just a couple chests with restoratives.



One of them has a Specific, which is a pretty useful - and rare, at this point - item that recovers 30% of everyone's TP. Note that if you've played Tales of the Abyss, they swapped around Treat and Specific for some reason, so now Treat is the HP item and Specific the TP one.

No equipment up here, let's check to the left.






Yuri looks over to Judith, who is clearly searching for something.

What's the matter?
My spear is gone.
Things might be difficult without a weapon...
...



Did the aer here do this?
Hey, you're more fashion-conscious than I thought!
This isn't fashion... You go like this, and...



It hits the lever.

It moved.
It's powered up...
I'll bet you could move other levers with that, too.
You think it's okay? I'm afraid it might blow up or something.
If it happens, it happens. For now let's pull that lever over there.
If something this tiny exploded I guess it wouldn't be too dangerous...


Skit: Strong Bonds
Was that fancy ring a present from someone?
Hmm, I guess you could call it a present.
Well, well, looks like you're quite the ladies' man!
No no no. I'm just a big sucker.
Oh? It's amazing enough the ring holds power, but it even reacts to aer and becomes stronger!
You must have a very strong bond with the girl who gave that to you.
That's one bond I wouldn't mind breaking...


The Sorcerer's Ring Lv. 2 upgrades our ring so it can actually move around physical objects instead of just activating blastia. As you might expect, we're gonna use that in this dungeon a couple times.

Checking the room to the left of here...





Can't find yours?
Someone might have just took it.
Maybe. Why don't you just pick one here.
Un... right.
...Was that something special for you?
Yes it was. Well, this should do for a while. I'll take this.
Are you fine with that?
I don't think I will find my weapon here, I'll look for it as I go on.
I'll try looking for it too.
Thank you.


This starts a game-spanning sidequest in search for that spear, which is a pretty awesome weapon and, of course, missable.

The weapon she picked up here is much worse, but alright for now.


Backstep
Roll: Halves damage taken while staggering.
EXP Share: Gain Bonus EXP even when not in the active party.


While we're at it, she also comes equipped with Boots, her subweapon.


Aerial Artes: Able to perform base artes in mid-air. Judith's whole moveset revolves around juggling things in the air, so this is very useful.
Recover
Taunt


In addition to that, she's got a couple pre-learned skills:
Strength
Defend
Critical Guard: Advance towards enemy with Guard + Forward.
Magic Guard
Guard Plus
Evade
Vitality


If we walk back to the cell we were locked in, we can find a save point.



I think that's enough for this update. Next time, we're gonna walk up this tower and confront Barbos!