Part 42: CH35: Round One: Fight

CH35: Round One: Fight



: So your guess earlier turned out to be totally wrong.


: We just captured one of the soldiers from that airship.
: Wow! How'd you pull that off?
: Actually, he seems like a pretty strange guy. He actually turned himself in!
He said he'd like to speak to Rowen.
His name is Julius. Do you know him?
: Lady Driselle, would it be possible to see him now?


: At your service.
And you must be Carrie's husband... Julius.
Julius: I should have known the Conductor would already know the score.
: You give me too much credit. Carrie and I merely met by chance in Elympios once.
My question is, how do you know about me?
Julius: Carrie had a ring with your name engraved on it when I met her.
When I saw her using calculatrics without a spyrix, I knew she had to be from the otherworld.
I volunteered for the Otherworld Reactor Plan expedition so I could learn more about her past.
: Why would you risk so much? You already know she loves you.
Julius: Because I hid the ring from her! The one with your name on it.
I didn't want her to have anything that would remind her of her past!
I'm a coward who took advantage of her amnesia in order to steal her heart.
: I saw for myself how deeply Carrie loves and trusts you. It was clear from the way she smiled.
Even twenty years ago, I'm not sure I could have ever done anything to make her smile like that.
Julius, you must make it back to Elympios alive!
Your wife and daughter are waiting for you.
Your only sin is abandoning the people who love you.
Julius: But, there isn't any way for me to get back.
: Not to worry. We will escort you home ourselves.
In fact, I insist upon it. However...
: There's no telling how long the dimensional breach will last. We should hurry.
: Thank you.
Julius: Rowen, it's been an honor to meet you.
: The honor is all mine.


: Yeah. Carrie was overjoyed to see him.
: You should have gone with them.
: Oh, no, that simply wasn't possible. The way my back has been acting up.
Carrie: Well, that won't do. You must take better care of yourself.
: That voice...
Carrie...
Carrie: I just had to come and thank you all in person.
Thank you so much. If it wasn't for you and your friends, we might never have seen Julius again.
Rowen, how have you been?
: My beard's a bit longer, but other than that, not much has changed. And yourself?
Carrie: Apart from a few more wrinkles, nothing.
: Haha, those aren't wrinkles. Those are laugh lines!
You seem very happy.
Carrie: I am. You do too.
: Oh yes. Spending time with so many young folk makes me feel a few decades younger myself.
Carrie: That's wonderful.
But do take care of yourself.
: I will. Thank you.
: Rowen...
: Are you sure about this?
: Please cheer up.
: Haha, how could I possibly think myself unlucky in love when I have three lovely ladies looking after me?
Now then, let us be off!
: I hope I grow up to be someone like you, Rowen.
: Then you'll need another fifty years of training. It's not as easy as it looks!



: They had a lead on a Devil's Beast in Elympios, near the research facility. When they went there, they found out about one drawback to the spyrite program.


Boy: Thank you so much!
Woman: Oh, really? That's wonderful.
: Wait, aren't you from Rieze Maxia?
Woman: You all are too?!
: How did you get here?
Boy: Hey, can you believe it? I can see now!
It's all thanks to the spyrite this lady made for me!
: They're already making spyrites?!
Uh, we've seen some spyrites already. I think this might be a mistake of some sort, or a mis-translation of something. Maybe "they've already put spyrites into production" or so?
: This must be Balan's doing.


: Whoa, this place is amazing!
: We're getting some very valuable data here. All thanks to the cooperation of these Rieze Maxians.
: Have you learned something?
: Oh yes, many things. For example, we've confirmed that Elympions and Rieze Maxians are biologically identical.
: Really? But I thought Elympions didn't have mana lobes?
: As it turns out, Elympions have the same mana lobe region that Rieze Maxians do.
The only difference is that ours has devolved to the point where it no longer functions.
: Makes sense. Sometimes you got the lucky ones who can still use artes without spyrix.
: It's very, very rare, of course. They're usually famous entertainers or religious figures.
: So why did your mana lobes devolve in the first place?
: One reason is that we no longer needed to use them once we developed spyrix. But the biggest reason--
: Is that Maxwell took all the people with developed mana lobes when he created Rieze Maxia.
: Correct. In legends, this is referred to as "The Great Departure".
When Rieze Maxia's existence was confirmed, and we learned that the legend was true...
It was a huge surprise, not just in scientific circles, but to all people of Elympios.
: So basically, we're all the same kind of human, and we're all from the same world, right?
Then I'm sure we can all work together. Just like you guys are doing here!
: Leia's really bad at the whole "optimism" thing.
Reize Maxians: ......
: Wh-What's the matter?
: Wait a minute. How did these people get to Elympios?
: W-Well, I, uh...
: Given the current circumstances, there is only one possible explanation.
: They were brought here under duress after your military invaded Rieze Maxia. Correct?
: ......
Boy: What's "duress"?
: As an Elympion, I apologize for the actions of our military.
But I promise you their rights have not been violated! They're cooperating with us of their own free will.
Man: What else could we do? There's no way for us to go home.
Second Man: Really? I kind of like it here, to be honest with you.
Back there I was just a fisherman, but here I can help save an entire world!
If this research succeeds, the repercussions will be huge! Right, Dr. Balan?
: Absolutely. And I'll make sure you're properly rewarded for your cooperation.
Woman: We don't need your rewards. Just get us back to Rieze Maxia.
Boy: ......
Woman: I know what we're doing here could help the people of this world.
But is it so crucial that you had to rob us of our lives?!
: ......
: I know we're acting very selfish here. I do understand.
But we Elympions are quickly reaching a point where we may not survive without help.
Please, help us.
Boy: I'm sorry.
Woman: No, I shouldn't have said that.
This shouldn't have been one of the first things for you to see. I'm sorry.
: I've never seen Balan so desperate.
: But the Rieze Maxians do have a point.
: Yeah...
: In the end, we're all human. I guess that's what makes this so difficult.



: The Devil's Beast was a little closer than they expected.


: Does that monster have a sword stuck in it?
: Can you tell me what that thing is?
Soldier: Beats the hell out of me! It just attacked out of nowhere!
We tried to fight it off with new spyrix weapons designed to repel Muzét, but they did nothing!
You guys get out of here. We'll hold it off for as long as we can!
: Those weapons were probably not up to the task of defeating me if they couldn't deal with that thing.
: You know Jude's group had already beat you when they were weaker than that before, right?
: I was weaker before too.
: And leave a lady to fend for herself? That's madness!
: Right, because picking a fight with an indestructible monster is the very height of sanity...





Looks like a job for Rowan. Also this guy's model gets reused in Xillia 2 for one of the more annoying bosses.


Electroshock Skull fires an orb of electricity that...


Terminates in a column of lightning


Thunder Clad is a point blank AOE and a buff too, shrounding him in lightning.


His tendency to do burrow attacks (and the fact that it's impossible to damage enemies doing that) makes this take way longer than it should.


Thunder Blow hits a huge AOE repeatedly.


I really need to replace the armor on these guys, we're dying up a storm here.


I'm not 100% sure what "Thunder Stav" is because he does the same move earlier with no popup name.


Fuck you and


And Leia finally manages to not bop Milla on the head during their end battle skit. Woohoo.



Soldier: I can't believe you beat that thing.
: An electrifying performance, wouldn't you say?
Soldier: Oh yes, I was positively shocked.
: What is wrong with you two?
: All that electricity must have scrambled their brains.
: Is that really possible? That would make sense.
Soldier: Forgive me! Just releasing a little tension!
I really am impressed that you were able to defeat such a powerful monster without using spyrix.
: Oh, that was nothing. My only fear was that it wouldn't stick around long enough for us to deliver the finishing blow.
I was afraid it might... bolt.
: ... Now I'm the one who's shocked.
: Perhaps the lightning really has affected Rowen's judgment?
Soldier: I think that hit harder than the monster.
: All that hard work, and now we're coming off like a bunch of idiots...



: There was one last Devil's Beast, but while tracking it down...


: What is it? What's wrong?!
Victim: I... I came to investigate reports of the ground collapsing.
But then poisonous gas started leaking out from that fissure... Get out of here... while you still can.
: Milla...


Miasma is most famous among Tales fans for its appearance in Tales of the Abyss (and this dungeon is named Tatalian Abyss, which is a play on Anise Tatlin's (from Tales of the Abyss) last name.
It also appeared in Tales of Phantasia.
: Miasma?
: It's a cursed substance that was sealed underground when this world took form.
Prolonged exposure to it will kill anything. Humans, spirits, plants, animals...
: It seems to be welling up quickly.
I doubt that merely covering the hole would suffice when it's under this much pressure.
: Wah-hey! Run for your liiiiiives!!!
: Sylph!


: Whoa. A wall of wind!
: How do you intend to stop the miasma, Milla?
: If the Four protect us with their spirit artes, we should be able to survive within the miasma.
Then we can go in and seal the leak at its source.
: Go inside of that? Are you serious?
: I'm always serious.
: Now look, Mil--
: Come on, Alvin! Your hometown is in danger!
: You've got a point there, little lady...



Dungeon Video! Not too long, either the last or second-last one I'm going to do.







: As soon as the wind stone shattered...
: A ring of light appeared on the ground!
: What's going on?
: It appears there were two seals placed on this cave.
They seem to have been arranged so that when the wind seal is disabled, the earth seal is activated.
: An excellent conjecture, Rowen. The Four are telling me you're right.
These seals were placed here by spirits of an older era in order to keep the miasma at bay.
Originally there were four seals: one each for earth, water, wind, and fire.
But the fire and water seals have broken, which allowed the miasma to seep out.
: Who'd be crazy enough to break those seals?
: No one. It was simply a matter of time. Those seals were placed here eons ago.
Probably long before Elympios and Rieze Maxia were separated.
: Seriously? But, everything within the cave seems so new.
: Perhaps the combination of the four seals was able to effectively halt the flow of time within the cave?
: Correct. That was the only way to stop the miasma.
: So in order to get to the miasma's source, we have to disable the wind and earth seals.
: The wind seal was merely hidden, but the earth seal could be a problem.
We don't have much time. So I suggest we use the power of gravity to destroy it.
: In other words, leap onto the seal to crush it? Sure, what could go wrong with that?
: Alvin!
: I know, I know. If I can't suggest a better plan, I should shut the hell up.
Sounds like we've got some climbing to do!



: This seems to be the source of the miasma.
: Wah-hey! We've got company! And it's the scary kind!


: What's it doing down here?
: Isn't that one of those--
: Save the questions for later! Our wall of wind won't last much longer.





Wind weakness = get fucked.


The guide says its attacks are slow than the other Devil's Arms bosses but I'm not seeing it.


Gotta say I hate 360° attacks.


Ugh, finally using a skill. No points for guessing what Evil Breath does. I feel like the fights in Xillia are just less interesting than the ones in Graces were.


He does a loop-de-loop and then charges forward.


Not sure what Shock Howling does. Maybe a chance to stun? And it can't get you in the middle of a linked arte?


I think I've been underutilizing Alvin, after I brought him in this dumb dragon has been taking a lot of falls. Although maybe that's because it keeps using Shock Howling, which does nothing but leave him open to getting whacked it seems.


Spit Bomb is self-explanatory.


Nice aim dummy.


So uh Shock Howling ladies and gentlemen.




: Good. The Four will now seal away the miasma.


: Go!
: It worked! The miasma is fading!


: Jude, are you okay? Did you breathe some of it in?!
: No, I'm fine. I was just wondering why that monster was here.
That was a Devil's Beast, wasn't it?
: I believe so. One of the monsters that was designed to get stronger every time it fights.
: We're lucky we met it when it was miasma-sick! If it had been at full strength... Yikes.
: It must have been traveling underground and accidentally burrowed its way here.
A stroke of luck, to be certain.
: You may be right. But I can't help but wonder...
What if that monster came here to die of its own volition?
: Huh? Why would it do that?
: Well, it was designed to do nothing but fight, right?
Maybe it got tired of fighting, and it thought the miasma could help it die?
: A noble end for a noble beast. It's almost poetic.
: So when we defeated it, its wish came true?
: I suppose we'll never know what it was thinking.
But the idea of a being created for an unwanted purpose, desperately battling with its own destiny... It doesn't sound so far-fetched to me.



Skit Video: Devil's Beast Extermination


: Indeed. The last remnants of the Battle of Fezebel.
: After twenty years, I'm glad we were finally able to put them to rest.
: And since we got the devil's arms, it was a win-win.
: We got a twofer!
: They sure weren't easy to find, though. I guess the devils were in the details.
: Jude. Seriously?
: Alvin, what's wrong?
: It's probably nothing, but don't these weapons seem a bit strange to you?
: In what way?
: I don't know quite how to put it, but they feel like they're not as impressive as they should be.
: Now that you mention it...
: These are weapons not forged by men, but born from beasts. They may have special properties.
: Maybe the old man who told us about the Devil's Beasts knows something?
: That's true. We can head back to Sapstrath Seahaven to see him.
: Perhaps he can tell us more about these devil's arms.
So yeah, the Devil's Arms right now are maybe about as good as the weapons you were using to kill the Devil's Beasts. But we can't do more about this until we beat the final boss.



Skit Video: Fists of Jude


: Ah, that's quite a layer of calluses forming around your knuckles.
: Yeah, probably from all the people I've hit.
: Didn't you want to be a doctor? That's kind of ironic.
: Do you regret this?
: ......
: No, these calluses are proof that I'm striving to do the things I need to do.
: That's the spirit! They prove you're no quitter!
: A man's hands always reflect the path he's walked in life.
You have the hands of a true man.
: Your calluses are the coolest!
: I'm going to keep fighting until I have calluses too!
: Haha, thanks. You guys are the best.





: We did as you said.
: Are you going to show us the cute pink thing now, or not?
Girl: What's your name?
: Elize.
Girl: Well, you beat us fair and square, Pro Pinkist Elize.
Second Girl: Super fair and square!
: Thank you!
Girl: Come with us. We'll show you the cute pink thing.


: It's so cute!
: It's adorable!
: I've never seen anything so pink and cute before!
: I can't believe how pink it is!
Second Girl: Super pink, right?
Girl: Here Elize, this is for you. Congrats on becoming a pro pinkist.
They hand over a weapon with pretty good stats but nothing else exceptional about it. Saves me some money though!
: Thank you!
: You did it!
: That was a well-earned victory.
: Thank you for all the help. I'm sorry I got you involved in this.
: Don't worry about it. But I am curious what the cute pink thing was.
: I, uh... I can't tell you!
: It's a secret shared only among pro pinkists!
: It is? When you put it like that, it makes me super curious.
: Ha ha! You're starting to sound like them!
: But we still won't tell you!
: Heh heh. I think becoming a pinkist has been good for you.
: I don't know what it is either.



: There was still the matter of that odd mandala.




Patel: The Transcendental Ring has been restored to its former glory!
: It's so beautiful.
: It's very impressive.
: So, about that ancient secret...


: Something's coming!
: Get back!




Well hello there. Whatever the hell those things are. Milla confirms that they aren't spirits.




"Tail Rush" seems to be a bit of a misnomer, since it's the only limb they're not pummeling you with there.


They have some of Elize's darkness spells.


Incidentally I'm absorbing dark damage


Chaotic Soul spawns darkness projectiles...


...and then darkness pillars.


With one down it gets a fair bit easier.


Although his rush attack still hurts.


Nice XP for that.



: Did I miss the part where you warned us about the monsters?
Tess: I am so sorry! We had no idea the Transcendental Ring was sealing away monsters.
: Maybe we should destroy it.
: There's no need. All of its spirit power is now gone.
Besides, it would be a shame to destroy something so beautiful.
: Totally. And if those monsters show up again, you better believe I'll send 'em packing!
: It's settled, then. Leia's in charge of monster control.
: No! We'll all do it together.
: All right, we should be on our way.
Tess: I never imagined they would best our minions!
And we were so close to breaking Maxwell's seal.
Patel: But it was kind of fun having those humans around.
Tess: Indeed. Out of respect to them, we shall temper our efforts... for the moment.
Patel: Ha! Just admit that you actually enjoy having our soul split in two and sealed in these bodies!
Tess: Well, I'm certainly not in a hurry to break free. After all, you and I have all the time in the world.
Patel: Yes. Death comes to everything in due time: Lives, worlds, and... even seals.
The only thing that transcends death...
Tess: ...is -----, Lord of the Underworld.
Patel: ...is -----, Lord of the Underworld.
So uh you're probably expecting a follow up to this. NOPE! There is none. Until Tales of Xillia 2, which has a thing that doesn't mesh 100% with what just happened here.

I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be a throwback to Phantasia, where you fight Pluto, King of the Underworld. As demons, his followers would be neither a beast nor a spirit, so it'd make sense for Milla to be confused as to what they are. Too bad the back end of this game is rushed as fuck.



: They wanted to train a bit more, so they hit the colosseum for some more practice.
Receptionist: Welcome to the Xian Du Coliseum! Where pain is the game and blood is the currency!
How can I help you?
Apply to fight
Wonderful! Okay boys, we've got a live one here!
At what level would you like to fight?
OK, so there are basically four options here at the arena. Basic/Advanced singles, and Basic/Advanced group. I'll be showing you the Advanced for both, since during the course of each you do all the fights from basic.
Advanced Single
Receptionist: Excellent choice. So who will be recklessly risking life and limb today?


Receptionist: You sure you're ready? If you've got unfinished business in the mortal world, you might regret stepping into that ring.

Receptionist: These are the items you can use during the fight. Use them wisely if you want to survive!


The items we can use are restricted, which in my opinion is a step up over the "no items at all" of some previous Tales games.
Receptionist: All right then, it's off to battle with you! Have fun!





OK so take a look at the edge of the arena. Anyone who falls/gets knocked off it insta-loses. I've had a few failures in the past due to around-step of all things taking me off the edge.


Most of the enemies here can be blitzed down by summon spirits. I'll be skipping over non-notable enemies because there's a lot of them.


Not a lot of damage, but I'm really, really scared of any attack that pushes me.


Bullshit unstaggerability working for and against me simultaneously.


Ledge working in my favor.


These guys aren't so tough, and in Beginner mode are the last enemies you face.


Dialog for the end of Beginner Mode:
MC: This Beginner Single battle has concluded, with Milla Maxwell as the victor!
You did it, Milla!
: Yes, I suppose I did.
MC: You've won over a lot of fans with your bewitching fighting style.
Is there anything you'd like to say to them?
: Well, I'm no stranger to being worshipped. Feel free to revere me in whatever manner pleases you.
MC: A comment fit for a queen! Thank you, Milla!
: The body pillows were pretty creepy if you ask me.
: I have no idea what you're talking about. Or why you're looking directly at me.

Anyway, continuing...


Treant can get good distance on a knockback but is otherwise weak.


The first difficult set, since they have a fair chunk of HP and will block if you're facing them. They can also knockback and fire line attacks that have knockdown and knockback in that order so you can't block-cancel the knockback.


These guys got me a few times because they have some really huge knockbacks.


Fucking close. I started off next to the green thing. The earth and wind guys are probably the easiest to kill but the dragon has the nastiest knockback.


Now we fight 5 gentlemen, four of which are elemental.


This is all about bursting them down to a manageable number.


Not the strongest healing item, but I have time to dodge these guys.


Holy Symbol + Free Run = Super Good


This isn't too bad, but the tortoise has cannons that can take off 1100 or so from me with each shot at a decent range.


If you set it up right you can just absorb most of this guy's attacks but FUCK IT so I pushed him off the edge.


: And then it was time for my daring arena debut!
: You were fighting against Milla and didn't goddamn recognize her.
: She was covered in monster blood! It could have been anyone.
: Anyone commanding the four to smack your dumb face.


Asshole hands out arteseal so fuck that.


So yeah the way to go here is to just burn him down when you can and run around healing up when you can't. BTW note that the arena has a railing now, so that you can't win by tricking Ivar into ringing himself.


I think his AI is set up to mostly fight Jude, he's too far away from Milla to hit with that.


I did in fact die to his Mystic Arte once. Well, fail the arena. You can't actually game over here.


Finally.





MC: As elegant as she is beautiful! As grand as she is graceful!
With her fast and fluid fighting style, I know I couldn't peel my eyes away from Milla's stunning athletic form!
: I noticed that. There was a certain part of my "form" that seemed of particular interest to you.
MC: Ha ha... ha... I don't think we need to get into... specifics.
: Oh, no need to be shy. Tell everyone what you were so impressed with!
I'm sure everyone is eager to hear your expert analysis.
MC: How... How about her, folks?! That's our Queen Milla for you!
No one can stand up to her relentless offensives! Not even me!
And with that, I'd better conclude this interview before I get myself in even more trouble!
So long!
For our reward, we get the Jude Sync skill for Milla, which lets her Snap Pivot when linked with Jude.



So uh warning, Advanced Group arena has over an hour of total video because Xillia bosses. If you want to skip to the good part, go to the third video.
: And there was also Team Battles, since it seemed likely to them that Gaius wasn't going to insist on a one-on-one duel.


So uh every single enemy here is a thing we boss-fought earlier. EVERY SINGLE ONE. The only difference is that their stats are different and we fight them in pairs. At least the solo arena had a few unique enemies.


So we're basically fighting nearly every single non-humanoid boss in order of appearance. I didn't really like fighting most of these guys the first time and it's not like they have any new moves. Let's skip ahead.


This is where Beginner mode ends.

Beginner mode victory dialog:
MC: Jude and Milla's team has emerged triumphant in a thrilling Beginner Group battle!
Tell me, what do you think was the most important factor in your victory?
: It was teamwork that won the day.
: I would attribute it to our strong personal bond.
: I'd call it the power of friendship.
: We all worked together!
: This battle was won on mutual trust.
: Good friends and effective cooperation!
MC: Um... Is there a reason you're all saying the exact same thing in different ways?
: That's just the kind of team we are.
Our reward is 10,000 gald.


Second verse, same as the first. The rest of the non-humanoid, non-spyrite, non-devil's arm boss monsters.




The two outdoor optional bosses at once is kind of annoying. This will take the entire rest of the video.


I switch in Leia to conserve a life bottle. Took a lot of maneuvering to get the party back up. Also if you watch, you realize I forgot Leia can't cure statuses.


I didn't like either of these bosses by themselves, and fighting them together sucked balls. Graddic Claw won't last much longer.


Oh dear. Had to use a life bottle there.



And now, for the actual good fight: people!


So I wonder how many of you thought it was a lost opportunity that we never fought the Chimaeriad at full strength? Well now we can!


So, notice how there are two red links? Yeah.

: Uh, aren't 3/4 of them dead?
: I heard a guy in the stadium say that those are replicas, created using fomicry.
: WHAAAAAAT?
: Is that bad?
: I, uh, may have to make a call. BRB real quick.


So I can't quite recall why I chose to take Jiao out first. Maybe because he's easier to hit?


Fatal Crossing is Jiao and Wingul's linked arte, which I don't think we've ever seen before.


Jiao knocks a victim into the air, then they charge through them in mid air. It gets foiled if the initial toss fails for whatever reason, like many of our linked artes.


I don't think Jiao and Presa have any linked artes.


I don't remember Presa's "fling cards/pages in a circle" move before.


Now that's a well-timed Opportune Moment. Thanks Rowen!


One down, three to go.


Agria next.


Halfway there Presa's about halfway down too.


So Presa/Wingul do have a linked arte.


Which appears to be trapping a target in a water bubble and then slashing the hell out of it.


WHOOPS! His Mystic Arte trumps my super mode.


And with this I think we've been hit by every single mystic arte in the Chimaeriad.


Somewhat annoying.


Getting a little low on life bottles.


And then this happens. Man, if I'd lost here after like an hour of fighting with the Chimaeriad almost down I'd be so pissed. Fortunately Leia and some lemon gels see me through.


And then there was one.


That battle time doesn't count time spent in menus or scene transitions, so the real time for the videos is OVER AN HOUR. Note that due to the raw brute strength of the revive mechanics in Xillia, I beat this on the first try.



MC: This Advanced Group battle comes to a thrilling conclusion with Jude and Milla's team as the triumphant victors!
So what was the secret to your success?
: It was all thanks to Milla.
: I disagree. We couldn't have won without Alvin's considerable combat prowess.
: Hey now, I wouldn't have stood a chance out there without little Elize doing her best.
: Oh no, I couldn't have done anything without Rowen watching out for me.
: You flatter me, my dear. In truth, we would have been lost without Leia's hard work.
: Don't be ridiculous! It's all because Jude kept us together!
MC: Um... This is because I scolded you about everyone saying the same thing last time, isn't it?
: Well, to be honest...
: I'm afraid so.
MC: I see. And yet despite seeming to disagree with each other, you've all said the exact same thing once again.
: I guess we really are just that kind of team.
For winning, we get a skill tome that grants everyone the Linked Action skill, which gives us an extra AC and is shared with whoever we're linked with. Not really that great, I'm almost never really constrained by AC, usually my problem is enemies not being staggered or breaking out of combos.



So, aside from the stupid black feather quest (which I just need to grind some for) that's all the sidequests we can do before actually defeating the final boss.