Part 93: Chapter LXXXIV - Hello? Why are you like, dead?

Hello? Why are you like, dead?




With Loki’s quest completed, he’s back on the bench, and so this will be in essence our final party makeup. People will switch around from time to time, but we won’t be swapping any of the active party to the bench for any notable reasons.






Our first stop is to Nagapur to outfit Khrynia. In addition to all the money it cost to hire her, her specialty is Shards, which are sold at Items by Dorenzio, to the right of the bar.




Naturally, they are the most expensive Item Art. It costs in the ballpark of 180 THOUSAND G just to get 50 of each Shards. Shards are super-expensive.




But selling a half-dozen Bai Ze dragons helps a lot towards paying for it though. So does the Heaven’s Lord we caught from Mt. Vackel, who is worth 75,000 G. Shards obtained, let us move on to the meat of the mission.






Near the end of the Realm of the Sea Monster zone in Fornstrand lurks the Eldritch Dragon, one of the bonus bosses. It’s one of the bonus DLC monsters added to the Xbox version (and integrated into the PC version.

For those who are wondering about “post-game content”, well, this is one bit of it. Its base BR is 90-92, it has over half a million hit points (584,707-609,329), and it has a whole slew of really painful and damaging attacks. It also gets an additional attack at the end of every second turn (either a breath attack, or a wail if your morale is too high).

Extra Mission: Defeat an Eldritch Dragon!

Music: Clash of Opposites







This will eat up a lot of screenshots if I try to go turn-by-turn for every attempt, so I’ll just do the highlights (or rather, lowlights) of the failed attempts.






The Eldritch Dragon has a large set of devastating abilities, like Mystic Mine V. It did 3700+ damage and that’s with one of my units dodging it completely.




It can choose to use breath attacks during its turn, in addition to the ones it gets at the end of every other turn.




You all right?
Yay! We’re totally BFF!






Well fought…






I look like I’m mostly in good shape to survive this end-of-turn attack, right?




I shan’t lose to the likes of you!

Wrong! I actually did recover from that situation, believe it or not






Without Cachexia stripping the dragon of its AP, that would have easily one-shot any of my unions, but definitely Wyngale’s.




As if he didn’t have enough nasty powers.




Once again, I’ll note that everyone except Jager’s union was at full HP, and they got one-shot.






Hey, have some life, okay?

Moonlight is the Shards healing art, and it’s pretty good. It’s 1000 HP per unit at the base level, and it goes up from there, so with our current HP even the base art is a full heal.




He can do Arcana as well?






The KO effect hit on Rush, but because he’s a Ninja, he resisted it.




Finally, 17 turns and 20 minutes in, the Eldritch Dragon is in critical. It looks like we may be able to pull this off!






Are you kidding me? This too?




Don’t let him take you out!






Rhagoh…



That was one long failure.







Okay, I’ve re-organized my unions. After one battle, it became very clear that the Eldritch Dragon hits too hard for me to try this with 5 unions.

I broke Jager’s union up, and sent him to Rush’s union, Gaou went to Ghor’s union, and Paris went to Wyngale’s union. Before that, I also swapped Violet and Caedmon, to make sure that Ghor’s union had someone who could use Vivification Herbs.

Of course, one big issue which completely slipped my mind is that only Rush has special arts or Arcana available as a leader. This was not exactly a fight I should have been neglecting those.






Only 19000 damage? I guess all that resistance counts for a lot.






This guy has a huge list of arts.




Sure, let’s show that off. We haven’t seen it yet.






He’s in critical on Turn 7, which is really fast. Hitting that critical trigger on a perfect was a TERRIBLE idea though, I should have missed it on purpose. It’s hard to not hit them because of muscle memory.


- Video: Bel’kwinith’s Fury










Because Ghor moved before the Eldritch Dragon, his special move happened first, and after the special move goes off, you lose your 98% dodge chance. So on turns when you’ve got a special move coming, do NOT hit your critical triggers unless that will happen before the enemy’s turn anyway.

Three of my four unions are dead and Ghor is at half-health. This is a death spiral.









Fights like these are perfect for Summons.






Turn 3 just finished. The next turn will be Turn 4, which means that there’s a breath attack coming at the end of it which I have no chance of stopping, 3/5ths of my unions are dead and the others are at half-health. This is such a bad situation so early on that it’s better to just abandon the attempt now.









I once again get the chance to summon.








Hello? Why are you like, dead?




Khrynia survives that, but Rush doesn’t. And this is an even-numbered turn, so…




W-Wait…



I need much better tactics. I also need a much better brain because after 3 failed attempts I still don’t have Irina, Kate, or Emmy leading any of their unions.





Okay, I’ll give this another shot. This time, I’ve put all my unions into the Batwings formation, in the hopes of spreading them out enough so that not all units take damage. I’ve also decided that whenever possible, only ONE union should engage the dragon at a time, for the same reason, to limit damage from the breath attack AoE’s.

I’ve now realized that I am using non-ideal leaders. Still not doing anything about it, thought! If this does not work, my next step will be to put Emmy and Irina in charge of their respective unions so they can use Rejuvenating Water as a command.


- Bonus Boss Video: Eldritch Dragon


Everyone will stand by except Wyngale, who will lower the morale of the dragon, and Khrynia who has no standby option and will attack from long range.






W-wait! I don’t wanna fight the guys that might win!

Not much happened last turn except that the dragon took a chunk out of Pagus. Rush will lower morale, and Paris will throw up an Orphic Ward, Khrynia will continue attacking from long range.






That was superb timing from Paris.




That did nothing thanks to the Orphic Ward.




That got the morale into a pretty good spot.




Damnit…
Gird yourselves, men!

Unfortunately it didn’t do anything to help with the end-of-turn attack.




Ghor is in the best shape, so he’ll engage the dragon while Wyngale revives and Khrynia heals.






Duke Ghor’s union had the highest health, and he was uninjured.




I’m doing the Rear Assault less for the damage boost and more for the morale boost.






The Earth Bind Shard art.




Oh!
There you go!

You won’t have to do that again!




Come on, we’ve caught ‘em with their pants down!




Son-of-a-!




I can’t believe this!

AoE weapons sadly don’t seem to care about Rear Assaults. So half my unions are dead, and normally this would be a sign of a death spiral, but I’ll keep going anyway.






Oh come now, walk it AGH!

Okay, so now I decide to have both unions break to resurrect.






Pagus!

Gee, that went well.






This is the end…

That Cachexia really would have come in handy happening BEFORE the Darkbreath. Luckily for me though, I had sent two unions to resurrect Rush’s union, so I had a spare revive waiting to get Wyngale back on his feet immediately.




Oh hell yes. This right here will be my key to victory. Fights like these are the reason Summons exist. Wyngale will attack, everyone else will stand by.








Great, now there’s a Curse to deal with.




What the Cyclops allows me to do is to keep a deadlock going even if all my other unions want to do other things. Rush will clear that curse, Ghor will be doing a full attack, and everyone else will be standing by except Khrynia because again, she doesn’t have that option. I think it’s because she has Combat Arts, Item Arts and Mystic arts all enabled.






Annoying, but at least Gaou got his attack off first. Unfortunately, Caedmon missed completely, some of Gaou’s Rift Cleaver didn’t connect, and Emmy was blocked.




We’re actually in good enough shape to not need the arcana. Caedmon will be reviving Gaou, Kate and Paris will be using Cachexia and Orphic Ward respectively, and Khrynia will flank.






Caedmon revives Gaou, just in time for the entire union to be easily one-shot.




Thank you Kate, that could have been really ugly if not for your very well-timed Cachexia.




Painful, but it didn’t finish Rush off, so he can use Mixed Message to get morale up.




Breaking deadlock is a great idea for Rush since Cyclops will prevent any Raidlocks, and also Rush can only do a Rear Assault if he is not currently in a deadlock. Wyngale’s union will be doing a massive attack with mystic arts including another possible Cachexia. Irina will go revive Ghor’s union.






No good luck with Cachexia this time, and no healing for Rush.




Still at least that attack did a decent chunk of damage.




Hello? Why are you like, dead?




Good, I can use this turn to bring back both Rush and Wyngale without getting Raidlocked.






This right here is the ideal scenario for this fight. All my normal unions are at full health and not engaged with the Eldritch Dragon. Cyclops is deadlocked with it, preventing it from attacking anyone else.

One thing I’ve mentioned before is that if you get a Rear Assault in one turn, you get that option in the next turn as well because you had it in the previous turn. I’m going to have Rush do constant Rear Assaults while the other unions ONLY heal or stand by. They will never attack if possible.






Of course the one flaw in the plan is that if Cyclops dies, then the Dragon will engage someone else.




Like, don’t be such a klutz!

But all this healing should help a lot.




This boss is annoying.




No, seriously, past me, don’t attack the boss. Hello? Anyone up there?






I meant to do that!

There we go. Finally the dragon is in critical… again.




Just keep repeating the Rear Assaults and this should finish it off eventually.






It’s not a perfect system, I’ll admit, but it’s the best I can do.




Awww…
Stop slacking!




Hang in there!

Rush is hit by the end of turn attack, but that’s no reason to stop Rear Assaulting.






Have some life, okay?




Get ready for the best move you will ever see!






Aw, what are you doing?!
I meant to do that!

The Eldritch Dragon has an impressive amount of health.




It’s hurting enough though, that it’s using Desperate Wail to alter morale instead of doing a breath attack.






It’s too little, too late though, as Cyclops polishes it off.

learned Protection II!
learned Vivification Herb IV!
learned Confuse IV!
learned:

• Rejuvenate!
  
• Vivification Tincture!

The Eldritch Dragon drops the Witch’s Seal which, it shouldn’t surprise you after all the “X’s Witch” quests, is an accessory requested by Khrynia.




Okay!
Great! Then let’s get going!

Rush, you ever heard of Necrotic Metal? I was hoping you’d come with me to look for some.
Alrighty!
It’s appreciated.

Hey! You know what would be super-special awesome? Tough Killer Insect Husk! Let’s find some!
Yeah, let’s go.
Awesome-possum! So let’s saddle up!

Rush, I have need of a Mystic Skelenyte. Have we the time to obtain one?
Yeah, let’s go.
You have my gratitude. Let us be off.

What’s good? I’m thinking we should get some Demon Mane? It’ll be the jump-off.
Alrighty!
Word. Then let’s roll.

Oh, so like, Tough Killer Insect Husk? I totally need some? So, like, let’s go on a harvesting journey!
Like, totally for sure!
Sweet! This is totally not uncool of you.


Ergh, more requests. Well, I guess I should do another round of them. Not now, but soonish. There’s still a couple more dungeons to unlock before all areas are open. I won’t have to worry about Darien’s though, since as soon as I pop into Elysion, he says he wants to fight, which means he’s upgraded his stuff and probably has a different request now.




Defeating the Eldritch Dragon completes the hidden quest Gwayn’s Bellow.




Okay…
Wow. You’re so attentive of my needs. Do you like me or something?

Hey, Rush. I’ve been thinking about learning Traps… What do you think?
Go for it!
You think? I don’t know how useful it’ll be, but you never know until you try, right?

So, you gonna let me borrow your Holy Relic, or what?
Okay.
Seriously? You aren’t half bad.

After fighting a bunch of battles and visiting a few locations Khrynia finally gets around to asking about the Witch’s Seal. I’m turning Emmy’s Traps off. Now after all this hassle, you have to be wondering what the big damn deal is with Witch’s Seal. Well, I’ll show you.

learned Dual Snowpetal!


- Video: Rare Monster Sugriva


The Witch’s Seal teaches Khrynia the very special art Dual Snowpetal.


- Video: Dual Snowpetal


This art requires both Khrynia and Irina in the same union with one as the union leader. It’s our version of Hannah and Hinnah’s Twin Snowpetal.














Totally worth it. Also some helpful forum posters have provided translations for the Japanese:




class changed to Lordly Ninja!
learned Permafrost II!

learned Moonset II!

That’s enough for today. Next time, a history refresher.






New Arts Summary
class changed to Lordly Ninja!
learned Protection II!
learned Vivification Herb IV!
learned Confuse IV!
learned:

• Rejuvenate!
  
• Vivification Tincture!

learned Stun Trap!
learned Dual Snowpetal!
learned Permafrost II!
learned Moonset II!



Bel’kwinith’s Fury
Eldritch Dragon
Rare Monster Sugriva
Dual Snowpetal

Next time won’t be a normal update, but a bonus one recapping what the game has revealed to us so far about the Imperator, an important historical figure. Then a really big sidequest, before we head into the final parts of the game.

Next Time: Bonus: The Imperator