The Let's Play Archive

The Last Remnant

by Stabbey_the_Clown

Part 36: Chapter XXXI - It overflows with the desire for blood!


It overflows with the desire for blood!


- Quest Video: The Wanderer


We’re still in Royotia’s Firestone tavern. I saved this one for later because I knew Pagus’s quest had to start in Melphina and it leaves you here.




It fought so much, and for so long, that eventually, it forgot how to do anything else. The monster's heart became hard as polished steel. It couldn't even really be called a "heart" anymore. And eventually, even the monster's body had become a blade. ...Like it?
I don’t think that’s how monsters work.
I know it's just a story, but this weird old man who came by earlier totally believed it! Crazy, huh? Not only that, but he said he was gonna find the sword, and ran off! But there've been a bunch of bandits around... It's no place for senile old geezers, you know? Can you go check on him, make sure he's okay?
Should be... interesting.
Thanks, mister! That’s real nice of you! The cave with the sword is in Lavafender. Be careful, okay?
Accepted quest: The Wanderer




Music: Dark Secrets





Some old guy ran off to Lavafender after a monster that turned into a sword. He's obviously senile. Guess I should save him...

We start at the Royotia side of Lavafender. We can see some guys straight ahead, though.




Huh? No way, it's someone different.
Either way, let's kick his ass!


Mission: Defeat the enemy!





These guys are just trash mobs like any other.






Farewell… cruel world…

Well, except that they can use the same arts as we can, I guess.




Seems bandits are after the old dude. What were they talking about, anyway? What "psycho old man"?

That was actually the first time in quite a long time that one of my unions has been dead at the end of combat. I guess I should have had Rush break to heal, given how slow his union is. As these are not monsters, we get G as a reward instead of monster components.






The enemies down this side passage tell us where to go next.




He's after the sword, right? Hell, let's just let him try and take it. Once he gets close enough, it'll take care of him, heheh.
You've got a point...
Uh-oh.
...Hey! Who's there? Whoever you are, you're going down!




Mission: Defeat the enemy!










We’re counting on you!
I am warmed by the feeling of your love.






learned Refresh II!
learned Mighty Double Strike III!

Good, I should soon learn the next art in the Remedies line. Violet’s development is coming along nicely. As far as I can tell, just increasing an art from II to III is a substantial increase in damage.




I’m clearing these vultures out because they are hard to dodge, and I want to save. What I’m attempting to do might take several attempts.




Generally, it’s better to always take the option which grants the most XP to the most units in your union, so something costing 28 AP that only has the leader casting a single powerful art (Nimble Resonance Edge in this case) is less preferable to something costing 29 AP but has three units casting weaker arts.

Most of the time, you should prioritize how many units will try to perform an art, instead of which union you’re targeting. It doesn’t matter so much if you pile on the same union, or if you get Intercepted, as you’ll perform the arts anyway even if it isn’t on the target you originally planned on.

class changed to Mysticknight!




I think we’re here.




It’s hard to capture in screenshots, but arcs of lightning are coming off the blade and being stopped by a shield around it.




Hey! We've been after that blade for who knows how long! Like we're gonna give it up that easy? Think again!






Maybe you should leave the sword alone? It kinda seems like bad news.




Not again…

Mission: Defeat the enemy!









This one managed to hit a second union at least.




Beautifully done!




These opponents are not to be underestimated!
Ugh! I hate these half-baked mutant punks!











learned:

Revitalize is pretty much the best healing method in the game. Item-based healing heals a fixed amount, but magical healing scales based on your Intellect. Restore heals a single unit for some amount. Revitalize heals EACH unit in the union for some amount, and that often adds up to a full heal for the union.

Also, I redid this fight, so I might not have actually learned Revitalize yet. I can’t bet sure until I watch the Chapter 32 video.




Now… accept my bidding!
Oh, THAT can’t be good.
I don’t think it would be a good idea to let that old guy – or anyone – get a hold of that sword! Dave, we’ve got to stop him!






Then I'll convince it to be mine!
Don’t you bozos know when to give up?


- BOSS Video: Milton (First Attempt)


Mission: Defeat the enemy!




I’m going to do something a little different for this fight. Normally, I only do a recap of the successful run. But here, I’ll recap the first attempt as well.

The elderly man - helpfully named as Milton - is on the field as a neutral union. He will not attack us unless we attack him. Technically, we don’t really have any good reason to attack him… but I happen to know that if you defeat him, you get a higher amount of G for your reward than if he is still standing.

In the last update I posed a question about whether we should attack him or not, but that was just a discussion question. I was ALWAYS going to try to kill him. Because he’s a motherfucker.

The mission specifically says defeat the ENEMY. Milton is not an enemy, so the mission will end as soon as the last bandit union is defeated. Milton has between 36000 and 86000 HP. The bandits are the same enemies we’ve been plowing through all dungeon. We could end this battle in two turns if we ignore Milton, and that’s only because I have 3 unions, not 4.




Rush is engaging a other union to cast Bluff, because I really want my morale higher.




We shall stop them here!




Goodbye!
It can’t end like this…
Lord David!

This is why Milton is such a motherfucker. If his attack connects, it’s got basically a 100% chance of an Instakill. It does no health damage, but with your union leader down, you can’t control what the union does.




Rush gets the morale up, and the enemy union survives, which is good.




I thought that everyone defending might help.




Nope!




These opponents are not to be underestimated!

Darn, I have to kill this union anyway.






With a union Botched, it’s rare to actually land a successful critical chain. That was good, but Milton’s attack kills Nora.




Because they were botched, Emma’s Squad decided on their own to go fight a bandit union. That’s two of the four down now.




I need control of my unions, so I order Rush to go revive someone.




As you can see, Milton is still at about 75% HP. This is not going well.




A lot of units are not actually failing to act while Botched, which is surprising, and ironically, not helpful for this specific fight.




Rise and fight with us once more!
You won’t have to do that again!




Rush will try and revive David’s union, Loki will do whatever, and Emma will fight Milton.




That all you got?







David revives Emma’s union, BUT…




Because they were botched at the time of target selection, they switched to the last bandit group, and even deliberately missing the critical trigger…




And that’s the end of the mission.



That’s not what I wanted to happen. Let’s go back and try this again…


- BOSS Video: Milton (Success)


Now… accept my bidding!
Oh, THAT can’t be good.
I don’t think it would be a good idea to let that old guy – or anyone – get a hold of that sword! Dave, we’ve got to stop him!






Then I'll convince it to be mine!
Don’t you bozos know when to give up?




Mission: Defeat the enemy!

Now, let’s see how this fight can go with a whole lot of luck:




This time, Rush will do his morale-lowering move, but I’m actually having David’s union go after a different union instead of Milton. This is important, because David’s union is my fastest union. Emmy will still go after Milton.






This is weird, because even though this should be a deadlock, Milton does not retaliate.




Three left.




And now one is botched and will act irregularly.




All the other bandits have gone after Milton. They’re not doing much damage, but it should help us.




We need all the luck we can get. Low morale also decreases your chance for Critical Triggers.




Two left.




I think maybe because Milton was invisibly triple deadlocked, he can do nothing? (I don’t know how this fight works.) It feels like he’s taken more damage in turn 1 than he took all fight last attempt.




Now we do a full-on attack. Rush could Omnistrike the botched union, but that’s just a waste. David’s only attack option for Milton is Caustic Blast, though, which I don’t want to risk, so he’ll only use normal attacks. Milton has to die first, if he dies at the same time as the bandits, it doesn’t count as defeating him.






Getting lucky Critical Triggers and landing them is key, so that Milton moves last, letting you pile on the damage before he can KO someone.




Lady Emma!

The remaining bandits attack Emma’s union. The damage they do can be ignored, it’s the loss of the deadlocks that are annoying.




Had enough?

Another critical chain helps.




This helps a lot more.




Stop slacking!




This critical chain did 7117 damage, knocking Milton into critical.




Instead of trying to revive someone, I ignore them and have David continue the attack. I don’t care if I have downed units at the end, I just want Milton gone.








Even with David down, no one gets botched and we land another critical hit.




On your feet!

Baulson, on his own decides to resurrect Emma. Very helpful.




Wait, somebody took me out?

Gabriel following his lead is even more helpful!




The bandits are not anything to worry about damage-wise, and I am not missing this opportunity to take Milton down. Rush will try to revive David, Emma will go after Milton.









Im…possible…

Milton dodges and Baulson botches. Rush revives David. Emma is Rear Assaulted by the botched bandit union, but even that only does 500 damage.




Rush can’t get to Milton’s union, so he’ll have to take on these bandits first. I tried to have him do all normal attacks though, to try and drag the fight out.






Or he could just kill them all now. That works too, I guess.






Goodbye!




Hello!




I’ll send Emma to bring back David.









Gotcha!




And that ends the fight just in time. David ends up being the only one down, which is a really good result versus Milton. Believe it or not, that was actually only my second attempt. But as you can see, it really relies on good luck.

learned Nimble Acala’s Wrath III!
class changed to Lordly Ranger!
learned Earthrender!



And our reward is noticeably larger for taking out Milton.




*chuckle* Holding back your power, hmm? You underestimate me!






Ridiculous! No matter what, I will break you!






Uhhh… yeaaahhhh…?
Thank goodness!
(Yeah, pretty surprising considering we were trying to murder him real good.)
(Sssh.)
Thanks, mister! Here, for your trouble.
Obtained Vys Salia!
Vys Salia – A red stone known as the roc’s frenzy.
What a kooky old guy! I hope I can meet him again.
I don’t, and I wouldn’t.
Completed quest: The Wanderer

The old dude left in pursuit of the sword. The girl who sent me after him seemed relieved. I wonder who he was. No one seems to know.

Salia Count: 7. Just two more stones to get now. We’ll have them all soon enough. I’m not so sure I agree with this random girl having one, they’re supposed to be in the hands of powerful people. If this came off of Milton or instead the white qsiti from Melphina, sure, but this girl who doesn’t get a name?

But this update has been going on long enough. Next time: the Heroic Ramparts, plus a new city and a new-ish dungeon!




New Arts Summary
learned:
class changed to Lordly Ranger!
learned Mighty Double Strike III!
class changed to Mysticknight!
learned Earthrender!



Quest: The Wanderer
BOSS Video: Milton (First Attempt)
BOSS Video: Milton (Success)


Discussion question: Shiny?

Next Time: Shiny shiny. My shinies...