Part 18: Wanted criminals

Watch the cutscene!



Heh heh, I told you! We brought the tree back to life.

Rita hits Karol and runs off towards the tree.





Umm...do you mean Flynn?
Unfortunately, you just missed him.
No way! Not again...
He was quite surprised that the barrier had been fixed.
Umm...would you happen to know which way he went?
No...I'm sorry, I don't know... However, he did entrust me with a letter.





Wha? A-a wanted poster? Wh-why?
I guess I made a little too much mischief...
W-what kind of mischief gets you into this?!
I-it's my fault...
Oh come on... Only 5,000 Gald?
That's way too high for just breaking out of jail! You must have done something else!
S-so, what does the letter say?
"I'm going to Nor Harbor. Catch up with me."
"Catch up with me," huh? Easy for him to say.
He also writes that we should watch out for assassins.
Wow, he even knows we're being hunted!
Sounds like this guy knows what he's doing.
Looks like we have some dangerous people after us now. What are you gonna do?
Well...umm...
I'm going to go to Nor Harbor. I could pass on a message for you, if you want.
But...I...
Think about what you want to do. I'm gonna go make sure Rita isn't causing too much trouble.


Before running after Rita, I stop by the shop to synthesize some things.


Backstep: Guard + Back to jump away from enemy.
Evade: Agility +5%.
Recover: Guard when thrown into air / onto ground to jump back onto feet.


Critical: Increases chance of inflicting a critical hit.
Strength: Attack +5%.
Heavy Hit: Increases chance of stunning an enemy with a physical attack.


This is one of the few key items you can synthesize, and you should probably get them as soon as they're available. This one's probably the least useful of them, with it you can change the character you run around in towns, dungeons, and the world map as. It's mostly cosmetic; I can only think of one moment in the game where the character you're running around as actually matters.

With that done, let's go and fetch Rita.




Watch the cutscene!



The flowers are in full bloom even though it's not the season for it... And the barrier's strong, too. Did Estellise really do this?
What do you mean?
Karol let it slip when we were leaving Aspio. You tried to change the subject, but it was too late.
Guess I blew that one.
We mages have nothing even remotely like she has.



Don't be ridiculous! I have a formula that I have to work out!
A formula? What do you mean?
...It's nothing. Forget about it.
So what did you want? You came here for something, right?
Well, that just took care of about half of it.
So what's the other half?
You said that it's easy working with blastia because they never betray you.
Yeah? So?



...Oh, I get it. You're worried for her. Worried I might hurt her.
Estelle's honest. Good. Unlike you or me. I'm just saying... Don't do anything reckless.






Skit: Reviving the Tree
Wow, I've never seen this many flowers on Halure's tree before.
Huh? Doesn't it always get like that when the flowers are in season?
In season or out, I've never seen all the buds blooming at once like this.
Really? Guess we're lucky to get to see something so amazing.
I'd say it's more abnormal than amazing...


Back at the town entrance, we run into some familiar faces.

Watch the (unvoiced) cutscene and battle!



I say, we've come to courteously escort you back to the capital!
And then we can clamp Yuri in chains where he belongs!



Jeez, this guy never lets up, does he?
An old acquaintance you may be, but today I can overlook your transgressions no longer!
Yuri isn't a bad person. I asked him to go with me!
Argh, Yuri, you ruffian! You're coercing Lady Estellise!
No! This is what I really want! I'll go back to the castle. Just leave me be for a little longer!
I cannot allow that! Return to the castle with us!
I can't go back. Please understand this!
We have no choice. We'll have to apprehend the criminal as well...




Kiss your freedom goodbye, for it ends today!
I say, prepare to face the Imperial Knights' ultimate fighting arte, the Over Limit!
The Over Limit doesn't belong to the Knights! Anyone can do it, last time I checked.
I say, be quiet!
An Over Limit...?
It's a technique to increase your abilities while fighting. How do you do it again?
You fool! How could you forget something like that?
I say, I shall jog your memory! But after that, I say, I shall give you a non-stop ticket on the train of death!

Adecor moves in to attack. Yuri just casually moves back a bit.




Oh, right. You attack the enemy, and that raises your battle spirit.
Blast! Your hits are not connecting at all!



Ouch... I say, that hurt... I cannot, I say, stand this any longer...!
Oh yeah, your battle spirit goes up if you're attacked, too. All right...and then, if you release the battle spirit that you've stored up...



Yuri...w-wow...
We mustn't let his power charge up any more!
I've got you just where I want you...




This battle's easy, it's really just an introduction of how to do Over Limits. Adecor and Boccos pretty much do the same stuff they did in the very first battle of the game, except you now have a full party so it's no threat at all.



That said, they can and do activate Over Limit themselves. Although it doesn't really matter.


Nice work, men!
I'm sorry... I can't go back.

Right, so, Over Limit. Over Limit behaves very differently from other Tales games. First off, there's one Over Limit bar for the whole party. Once it's filled (by inflicting or taking damage), anyone can use it by pushing right on the D-Pad (or any direction really but you want to get used to right due to something that gets introduced later). This expends the Over Limit bar, and puts the character who used it into Over Limit.

Unlike the benefits enemies get, you do not recieve immunity to stagger during Over Limit. Instead, you gain the ability to chain any attack into any attack. If you're a spellcaster, you also get the ability to cast any spell instantly, no charge time neccessary. This is incredibly useful and, in some regards, very broken as you might be able to imagine.

Another minor thing you get is your Skill symbol. Remember back when we got skills, I mentioned that equipping many skills of the same type makes a symbol appear on the Skill screen, granting stuff like increased attack at certain times? Yeah, they only activate during Over Limit. Additionally, if you somehow manage to get multiple people into Over Limit at the same time, everyone in Over Limit gets every symbol at least one of the party members in Over Limit has. So if, say, Yuri has Increased Attack and Rita has Increased Magic, and they both go into Over Limit, both Yuri and Rita will have increased Attack and Magic while they're still both in Over Limit.

Over Limit lasts a set amount of time, around ten seconds. There's some ways to increase that time, but those won't be available for a while, so make the most out of your Over Limit when you activate it.






She says she's not going back, so get lost!
Yuri! It's them again!



Damn it, I knew they were still after us.
What is it this time?!
Wh-what do you mean?
I'll explain later! Karol, which way is Nor Harbor?
Uh, ah, it's west! West! You go over Ehmead Hill and Capua Nor is right there.
All right, let's go now, then.



...Argh! Make a decision! Which do you really want to do? Keep traveling with us, or go home?
...I'm going to keep traveling.
A wise choice! And one that those knights surely wouldn't be able to agree with.




...I'm sorry.

Leaving our knight friends behind, our destination is Ehmead Hill to the west.



Here's me showing off the Special Flag I synthesized earlier.



Next time, we're gonna go through Ehmead Hill and meet with a monster many people consider the hardest boss in the game for when you get to him.