Part 7: King of Adventure and Deidon Hold

We're finally out of town! Vesperia, unilke pretty much every other console RPG released this generation, uses the old tried and true method of a world map where your character is as tall as a town. I like those types of world maps over the point-and-click or realistically sized ones, but your opinion may differ.



Up ahead we can see two areas of interest. We're gonna be visiting both this update.

Skit: Thanks to the Lower Quarter
A map, equipment, and even money. Your friends are so generous, Yuri!
*Sigh* They can't afford this. They can barely get by as it is.
Well, I'm sure they're worried about you, and want you to have a safe journey.
It's more likely they're just glad to be rid of a trouble-making kid.
That's not true!
Guess I can't come back empty-handed, now that they've given us all this stuff.
Now I gotta bring back the aque blastia. No matter what.

Skit: Christening Estelle
...Estelle... Estelle...
She's been mumbling to herself for a while now...
*Whine*
Hey, you coming? We don't have all day here.
Estelle... Estelle...
Looks like she's in her own little world... Hey! Estelle!
Oh, right! Sorry, I'm coming!
Do they not have nicknames where she's from?




In some of the battles here, both Yuri and Estelle learn some artes:




Yuri gets Fang Strike, a pretty good move that throws the enemy into the air.




Estelle gets Sharpness, a spell that slightly increases one party member's attack temporarily,



as well as Pow Hammer, a staple of the series that attacks enemies with a thrown cartoony hammer.

While we're at it, let's also take a look at the artes Yuri and Repede started with.



Repede has Sonic Dog, which is pretty much a dog-themed Sonic Thrust: Thrust forward and push enemies away.



And Yuri has Azure Edge, an insanely good aerial shockwave attack. It comes out fast, can hit enemies halfway across the battlefield, does great damage and only costs a measly 5 TP. It's probably one of Yuri's best artes and should always be on one of your arte shortcuts.



Yuri also gets a Title after one battle, which gives me an opportunity to talk about them.



Titles in this game are purely cosmetic and are obtained from story events, sidequests, or things you do in battles. Some titles, commonly known as costume titles, change the outfit your character is dressed in, which can be pretty fun. However, due to the fact they don't actually affect anything, you can safely ignore titles if you want.

After a short walk, we reach this place:





Yes...I wonder if we're safe now.
Hard to say. Those guys are a sticky lot.
Woof!
Huh...?



Greetings.
Hello!
Welcome, good travelers! ♪
...Is this a shop?
...It's the King of Adventure Travelers' Lodge...
Oh, big brother, do try to be a bit more friendly! ♥
...Sorry, Karen...
Please, you'll have to excuse him. My name is Karen, and this is Rich.
You're operating a traveling inn?
Doesn't the "King of Adventure" refer to something else...something more well-known?
The late emperor's brother, His Highness Regin, was known by that name thanks to his insatiable thirst for adventure.
Indeed! We took our name from His Highness Regin. It's true.
...We respect him...
Hmmm, that's a pretty nice name, then.
So are the two of you married?
M-married...? I, I...
Do we look like we're married?
Oh? It seems I was mistaken. So very sorry! If you're tired, perhaps you'd like to stay the night?
Wh-what should we do?
Sure, we'll sleep here.
Excellent! Thank you very much!
...Enjoy your shut-eye...
Oh, big brother, please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!
N-no, it's quite all right...


Did you rest well?
Yeah, thanks a lot.
I do hope our paths will cross again, somewhere out on the road! ♪
Yes, I hope so, too!
...Later...

These guys pop up on several places on the world map, and you can always rest for cheap (50 Gald) there. They're also important for a sidequest later.



Skit: Nice to Meet You, Repede

Yeah, he's my partner, Repede.
Woof!
Oh, nice to meet you, too.
"Nice to meet you, too?" Did you actually understand what Repede was saying?
No...
Yeah, I guess that was a stupid question.

Skit: On Traveling
I never guessed I'd leave home quite like this.
Are you sorry to be leaving the capital behind, Yuri?
When I was in the lower quarter, I was too busy just living day to day.
Never really thought about it. I guess I did feel like setting out on an adventure sometimes.
I'm so excited just to be outside. I've always dreamed of going out into the world.
Being excited and all is fine, but don't overdo it. We need to find Flynn, right?
I'm excited and worried all at the same time.
Heh, all right.


Shortly before we reach Deidon Hold, Repede learns an arte:





I didn't catch the name on screen, but it's Crescent Fang. Repede jumps up and spins in mid-air, hitting enemies with his tail.


Watch the cutscene!




Do you think those knights followed you here?
I wonder. Well, let's do our best not to stand out.
Okay. And I want to catch up with Flynn as soon as I can.
All right, let's see if we can just pass through the Hold.



Something catches Estelle's interest, and she immediately runs off to check it out.







Merchant: Welcome. I've got some nice gear in stock today.



Merchant: No traveler should be without them. Feel free to give it a try.
Huh? What do you mean?
"The special techniques contained in weapons. These techniques were originally passed down from master to pupil, but the blademaster Assam used a special process to seal them within the weapons themselves. Bodhi blastia can acquire techniques from weapons imbued with this power. With continued use, weapon artes can eventually be learned by the person using the weapon."
Merchant: My, this young lady knows her stuff. That about sums it up.
I read in a book that the Kritya gave this knowledge to humans long ago.



Merchant: In order to find the fighting style that meets your needs it's best to think carefully about weapon skills when choosing your weapon.

I'm gonna cut the game off here because the explaination it gives is a bit confusing and not entirely correct.

Skills are a neat feature of Vesperia, and are the equivalent to EX Gems/Skills in Symphonia and Capacity Cores / AD Skills in Abyss. Skills either give you abilities like Backstep (jump backwards while guarding), or passive stuff such as Attack +5%, an extra hit in your basic combo or reduced cast time.
Skills are learned from weapons and sub-weapons. The game outright lies by saying "some weapons focus on raw power": Apart from your starting equipment and one specific exception near the end of the game, each and every weapon has skills. Each weapon can have up to three skills on it.
If you have a weapon equipped, the weapon's skills will automatically be active with no way to turn them off. If you fight battles while having the weapon equipped, you will eventually learn the skills on it. This is the "LP" you get at the end of battle. Each skill requires a number of LP to learn, and it's different for different skills, though the game doesn't tell you how many you need.
Once you have learned a skill, you can equip it without equipping the weapon it's on. Each skill costs some SP, the more powerful ones usually cost more, and each party member has a number of max SP that you can use at the same time, which increases a bit on level up.

Skills are categorized into four categories: Attack, Guard, Move and Support. If you equip a lot of skills in the same category, a glyph will appear in the Skill menu. Those glyphs actually do nothing normally and only become active during specific conditions, but we'll get to that at a later date.



The weapon shop here sells three weapons, which give us three skills:
- Backstep for Yuri, which allows us to jump out of the way of enemy attacks while guarding,
- Magic Guard for Estelle, which allows us to guard against magic by holding Down while guarding (though you won't guard against physical attacks anymore while doing this!), and
- Item Thrower for Repede, which allows the user to use items on anyone instead of just himself.
All three are basic but very useful skills. You should always check the shop for new weapons - and thus new skills - when you reach a new town.



On the Equipment screen, we can see a bar to the right of a skill which fills up when you gain LP. Once it's full it'll disappear, indicating that you have learned that skill.

Anyway, back to the cutscene.

I can't imagine business is all that great in a place like this.
Merchant: Don't get me wrong, I'm not here because I want to be.



Monsters, huh...?
...Did you hear that?

Estelle's off in her own world while reading books, apparently.

Hmm...
And...she's not listening.
...Huh? Did you say something?
I said I'm going to go get some information, so you wait right there.
Oh, I'll come too.
Merchant: That's all right, go ahead and take it. It's pretty old and it has some pages missing, but it's yours if you like.
Th-thank you very much.



Is that book any good?
It's fascinating. You can read it as soon as I finish.

Obtained Battle Book!

The battle book contains information about battle basics, and will occasionally get updated with newly introduced features of the battle system.

Looking around town, there's only a few places to check. There's a warehouse we can't enter (yet) to the right, the weapon shop by the entrance, the gate to the other side of the Hold, and this place, which seems to be a guard station.



Going through it, we can climb up to the top of the wall containing the gate.




Up there, we find this suspicious guy:

Watch the cutscene!



...Hey, hold on...
Hello...
Um, I beg your pardon, but...what are you looking at?
???: ...Humanity at work. Their tenacious attachment to this life...
...?
???: Why...? Why must humans live the lives they do? They fight for a share of monopolized technology and hurt even those closest to them...
...?
...Are you talking about blastia?
???: ...
I can't speak for anyone else, but... It doesn't seem to me like there's any reason why we get dumped into the world. But once you're here, you just do what you can to give this life everything you've got.
???: Perhaps there is truth in what you say...



He's gone... What was that all about...?
Got me. They say the heat can make people go a little crazy.
Is it hot?

Well I'm sure this guy won't be important!


Next time, we're gonna check out Deidon Hold some more.