Part 9: Chapter VII - This calamity is known as the Collapse
This calamity is known as the Collapse
With the new assignment, the party has been reorganized once again. This time, however, its two unions of 5 units each a drastic increase in the overall health. Theres a reason for this which will become clear soon. But first lets take a look at our new leaders:
Emma Honeywell
One of Athlum's Four Generals, Stern and driven, but dedicated to Athlumand her only daughter.
(Voiced by Susan Duerden.)
Class: Swashbuckler
Initial BR: 5
Initial HP: (381)
Str / Int: (28 / 23)
Current Arts
- One-Handed: Knee Splitter
- Dual Wield: Devil's Due
- Remedies: Restore
Future Arts
- Invocations @ BR 19
- Potions @ BR 32
- Hexes @ BR 45
Comments
Emma is one of very few mitra characters who dual-wield. She is combat focused, but knows some mystic arts too. Remedies is particularly helpful. Every character learns at least one mystic art, so I tend to keep Emma as a physical attacker.
Torgal
Leader of the Four Generals, and David's right hand. It is unknown why a sovani, infamous for their pride, works for Athlum.
(Voiced by Johnny Hildo.)
Class: Fencer
Initial BR: BR 5
HP: (419)
Str / Int: (27 / 25)
Current Arts
- Dual Power Grip: Fury Blow
- Quad Wield: Quad Slice
- Evocations: Mystic Missile
- Potions @ BR 24
- Psionics @ BR 45
- Arcana: Whiteout
Comments
Torgal is the first of the relatively few Sovani who join the party. Hes also the first Evocation user you get. Torgal is good at either attacking through physical or mystic arts, although Evocations are better at status effects than at dealing direct damage. Potions dont do a lot and under advice in my previous playthrough, I tended to turn those off. Psionics will take a while to get, but they are pretty useful as morale control gets increasingly important. He gets a unique item through the main story that he can use.
Be careful.
Hmph, youre surprisingly competent.
I was glad to help out Dave, but I was kinda surprised myself. Arent you guys supposed to be Generals?
Still, the next battle stands to be difficult. Make certain youre amply prepared.
Rush, we should not waste any time. Let us rescue Miss Irina as soon as possible!
Rush! Those thugsve probably got a Remnant. Dont think its gonna be a cakewalk, alright?
There is still much we do not know about Remnants. The idea of one that can fly ought not be so shocking
So were now off to the tavern.
Who are you?
Me? Im the monster slayer. Whaddya need?
I need a tutorial!
Tell me about monsters.
Alright, mate. Youve got the time to sit for a spell? Cant rush monsters, yanno!
Im not busy.
Uh I think we kinda are?
(How much longer will we have to put up with this?)
(Well, at least hes trying to educate himself. God Emperor knows he could use more knowledge.)
(Knowledge, unfortunately, is not the same thing as wisdom.)
Alright then! Here we go. Well, when you meet with a monster, take a good long look at them. If you really take a minute, you can tell if theyre ready to rumble or not.
A monsters status can be determined by checking the icon above its head.
Normal monsters on the field have little mood bubbles over their heads. Monsters have four moods. These are:
- Cowering These monsters dont want to fight and will not attack you unless you engage them.
- Neutral These monsters arent too interested in fighting, but will likely get aggressive if you get too close to them.
- Aggressive These monsters will chase you and attack you on sight, but will give up after a short distance if you keep running away.
- Vehment These monsters will chase you and attack you on sight, and wont stop chasing you ever.
- Alerted These monsters have just spotted you or were startled by you, and theyre about to go Aggressive or Vehement momentarily.
Monsters within encounter range that have (a red outline around their icon) are monsters that can be linked into the battle.
Keep your distance, though; if you can check it out without it seeing you, thats best. Thats a hunter trick, eh?
Pressing {F}{G}{Mousewheel} calls up the target cursor. Placing the target cursor over a monster will show its name and stats. Lies! It only shows the name. The target cursor can give useful information not only on monsters too far off to see their icon, but people and things in towns and the field. More lies, the cursors range is shorter than the icon visibility, and it doesnt work on flying-type enemies unless youre very, very close.
Next is the battle! Now, when you pick a fight with a monster, you gotta be careful you could end up fighting him and his buddies, to boot.
Monsters that have seen Rush may bring nearby monsters into battle with them. This is called a link.
If youre hunting for sport, thats a horse of a different colour. If you want rewards, youll want to take on as many monsters as once as you can. But dont play around, doing any funny stuff when they get close. Even if they look calm, you never know what a beasts gonna do, eh?
Pressing {Space} when there are no monsters in range launches an Aggro Pull. Aggro Pulling the enemy makes them angry.
means the monsters are completely enraged and will chase Rush anywhere.
There are two exceptions to this. First, getting into a battle, any battle will make the enraged monsters calmer (back to aggressive at most). The other exception will be mentioned soon.
Remember, practice makes perfect. Have some confidence in yourself and youll do fine.
Cool, thanks big guy!
Well thats enough for now, hmm? Any more and youll be putting me out of a job! The rest youll just have to figure out for yourself. Happy hunting!
- Dungeon Video: Dillmoor
Music: Rolling Hills, Sprawling Plains
Dillmoor Long ago this areas was home to a bustling village, blessed with fertile soil by the remnant Rubber Soul.
Yeah, it does. What? You think shes lying?
Lady Emma is an honest person. I have no reason to doubt her. So this power Can it be used outside of battles?
What do you mean?
Can you show me its power now?
Hmm, I dunno. I can try, though.
Wh-what just happened?
I see It holds the power to manipulate time. Proper application of such a power would give a clear advantage when battling monsters, as well as allow you to engage many foes in battle at once. However, it is almost certain that such a power cannot be applied indefinitely. Use it wisely.
Cool. Okay, Torgal, Ill try.
Its General oh nevermind.
Timeshift is now enabled. Press {Shift} to Timeshift, slowing the flow of time for a short while. When in Timeshift, nearby monsters will be marked as encounterable. Pressing {Space} while in Timeshift will launch a battle with all marked monsters.
Something else to know is that after a battle, your Timeshift is always recharged to full, so if you intend to fight, theres no harm in using it before engaging in battle.
The map of the area.
This dungeon is the Timeshift tutorial. The game wants you to feel comfortable linking together a bunch of monsters at once, which is why they force Rush into one of two unions stacked 5 high, with boatloads of health, so you wont easily die. Thats what the little bar at the right is for, in NG+ you get that immediately without Torgals tutorial messages at the start. Lets try it on these three Divain.
Enemies play an audio cue when theyre tagged for inclusion into battle, and they get a red outline.
Music: Sword Sparks
Five unions versus two unions is no problem with a party this tough. The downside to this is that Rush isnt going to get a lot of chances to attack, because he comes up late in the turn order.
But Im having Rush practice his Mystic arts anyway, because Im trying to get into the Ranger class when I reach STR 29.
By the way, do you remember the some monster are weak to mystic/physical thing from the last two dungeons? Well forget about it. Its not important, any attack will do the job. Besides, theres no way to actually know if an enemy is weak to one or another, so why bother worrying?
Nice view, but man, it must have been tough living here, having to go down the hill to get water.
Im trying to link in that Raptor to the chain before the Timeshift runs out.
I didnt make it. Just like pressing the Aggro Pull key outside of fighting range makes enemies enraged, so does tagging them with Timeshift. However, you can de-aggro enemies if you activate Timeshift again without anything in range. Getting into combat also deaggros anything that was mad at you. Managing aggro, knowing when is the best time to use Timeshift to trigger or avoid fights is something youll learn through experience as you play.
Its actually pretty easy to dodge most ground-based enemies. Running diagonally will tend to do it. If an Aggressive enemy misses their attack (trying to start a fight), theyll usually stop chasing you. Not Vehement ones, though.
Okay my Timeshift bar is charged again, so lets get this party started.
The enemy can only ever field 7 unions at once. And additional ones are held off as Reinforcements, who join in as other unions are killed.
Torgals union kills their intended target, but everyone else piles on, and they suffer an unopposed deadlock, two flank attacks and a rear assault. But even so, theyre merely at half-health after all that. Its hard to lose with a party this strong unless youre trying to.
Long battles and long battle chains have good results for stat and art growth. There is a limit though, only the first 30 turns of any battle count for stat/art growth. Dont worry about seeing 30-turn battles, though.
And item drops as well. One thing I didnt mention is that if you capture a monster, it doesnt disintegrate into sparkles, but remains on the battlefield.
Obtained Dillmoor Map!
Even though youll likely never notice it, because youll usually only view Rush from behind, when Rush opens a treasure chest, he grins. If he has a voice acted line on the field (when harvesting), his mouth will also move. Its the little details that showed the developers cared.
Turn right when you cross this bridge
And youll discover a locked door. Well be back quite a while later.
Thats it for Dillmoor.
- BOSS Video: Collapse
This was once a prosperous town. It was centered around the Remnant of Peace, the Rubber Soul
Was there a war?
No. The one the Remnant was bound to passed away. The world is filled with countless Remnants. No two look alike or share the same power. However, they all have one thing in common.
And, that is ?
When a Remnant is not bound to a soul, it calls forth disastrous misfortune. This calamity is known as the Collapse.
*nods solemnly*
(I have no idea what hes talking about.)
Academy Visistone 18-21 posted:
[Remnants 18] An unbound Remnant is called a Blank Remnant.
[Remnants 19] A Collapse is a misfortune triggered by a Blank Remnant being unbound for too long.
[Remnants 20] The most common effect of a Collapse is the spawning of monsters.
[Remnants 21] Some forms of Collapse are said to affect people's minds.
Ssh hide yourselves.
I see them. Two men, and
a dark-haired little girl.
!
Music: Evils Advance
Emma tries to restrain Rush, but he breaks free.
Blocter misses his tackle too.
WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!
This must be our cue.
Irina!
Irina is flown off.
And the mage in white escaped through a portal. Great job saving your sister there, Rush. But no time to dwell on that. The spell the mage in white cast seems to have had additional consequences.
The Rubber Soul is stirring.
Its triggered another Collapse!
Music: Struggle Eternal
Mission: Defeat the enemy!
So, whos ready for a filler boss?
You start out with unfavorable positioning, but that doesnt usually matter in battles.
The boss will kindly stand by and do nothing if he isnt attacked, so take out his minions first.
I guess he also is an introduction to status effects. This attack inflicts poison, which is mildly inconvenient at full health, but much more dangerous at low health.
Music: Reversal
Emma started out as a Swashbuckler, ostensibly a T3 class, but her stats were only T1, so when her STR hit 29, she was upgraded to a T2 class. Even though she hasnt got any item arts, she hasnt got her mystics enough to qualify for Ranger, so she became a Freelancer instead.
Supposedly you need the sum of Mystic Arts to be 2+ greater than the sum of item arts. I fell into Freelancer myself in a couple test runs, and learned that having two basic Mystic Arts at rank II does not do it, nor does having one basic Mystic art at rank III. What has gotten me to Ranger is that I think you need to learn at least one new Mystic art.
Given something that Im about to do next update, something only possible on NG+, learning Arts quickly will not be a problem. Oh yes
- Video: Going it alone
It was as you said, Lord David. The flying creature is unquestionably a Remnant.
Confirm this with the Academy.
Yes, my Lord.
Rush is not wearing the expression of someone who thinks I did a good job back there. No one actually lectures Rush to tell him that he screwed up. They dont have to. Rush also does not repeat that mistake again.
Who could be behind all this?
We do not know enough at this point. Verily, this situation is more complex than wed imagined.
Yes, we should postpone any course of action until we know more.
What about Irina? Should I just keep my fingers crossed?
*frustrated sigh* We are not dealing with an ordinary foe. A well-researched plan is essential.
Dave, come on!
Even David is only going to indulge Rush so far.
Torgal is correct.
If you have any ideas on how to proceed, then do feel free to share them.
*frustrated grunt*
We are dealing with forces that control a Remnant not even the Academy knows about. Jumping to conclusions will only place Athlum in danger. You must understand my position, Rush.
Where are you going?
To find Irina, obviously. You know how the people of Athlum are the most important things in your life? Well Irinas the most important thing in mine.
Well thanks for the help along the way. Ill go it alone from here.
Rush has no plan, no leads, but if he needs a lucky break to succeed, hed rather strike out blindly looking for it than sit around helplessly and wait for it to find him. But hes still a douche in this scene.
Lord David, we still know nothing about his Talisman. Perhaps we should have stopped him.
Perhaps. I am aware that we need more power, as the Gae Bolg and the Valeria Heart wont suffice.
The future of Athlum is at stake here.
*sigh*
New Arts Summary
class changed to Expert Fighter!
learned Bluff II !
class changed to Freelancer!
learned Restore II!
learned Restorative Herb II!
Dungeon Video: Dillmoor
BOSS Video: Collapse
Video: Going it alone
Irina Count: 4
Next Time: I think Im allergic