Part 34: Part 6-3

Age: Unknown
Class: Heavy Knight/Adventurer
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Homeland: Unknown

Nothing is known about this man of mystery. After being saved by Lemia according to the ritual of Soul Transfer, he tried to save her by the same law, but his prayers went unanswered and his soul was set free.

Grey is a Warrior, though not a conventional one. Grey has the stat growth of a Swordsman, though he uses broadswords like Arngrim and Kashell. As a character, Grey is not fantastic, as his PWS is the worst in the game, and he doesn't hit as hard as the other Warriors due to his lower STR growth. Energy Cannon is an unblockable attack, which we haven't had on a non-Sorcerer since Llewelyn, which is nice, but it can be hard to use it on Grey since most good broadswords at this stage are one-attack.



Age: 21
Class: Sorceress/Song-Maiden
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Homeland: Hai-Lan

Raised from a young age to be a song maiden whose job was to bring courage to warriors on the battlefield, her human emotions had withered away. But the cries and suffering of the people brought a change to her.

Shiho is yet another Sorceress voiced by Tara Jayne. True to her role in life, she starts off as an augmenter, with a bevy of supportive spells - Might Reinforce, Guard Reinforce, Normalize, Heal and Invoke Feather. Give her a few good offensive spells, and she's good to go.



Shops are upgraded again, and there is some nice stuff in there for every class except Sorcerers. Warriors in particular might want a look at the Violet Forget with its whopping 1200 ATK and 30% boost to PWS damage, though it only has one attack. Lenneth already has a Shiny Rupture from the Sacred Phase.



Shop armour is also significant enough to be worth a look as well.



I haven't mentioned the new support skills for Sorcerers. Stun Magic is very nice, as it gives their spells a chance to Faze their target - this includes Wait Reaction. Concentration allows them to reduce their CT after a PWS at the cost of DME. However, this is glitched and doesn't work reliably - it will only drop the CT of Ifrit Caress, Calamity Blast, Carnage Anthem, Petro Disruption, Cosmic Spear, and Seraphic Law. None of these are Meteor Swarm or Celestial Star, so there are better skills.



We have a single new dungeon this chapter.



So these are the fruits of the beloved land that I served all these years!? What has happened to the people who loved me, honored me? What has happened? Grr! WAAAAAH!!!

Dallas! Gyne!! Walther!!! You were my closest advisors! Where are you now?! No matter what I attain, if I am alone, it is but meaningless! What shall I... What shall I do?!



Hmph! You are the servant of Satan, the evil one. Valkyrie...!! Those cruel eyes, cold as stone. I will never forget them!! You're the one who destroyed our kingdom!

What?!



Do not seek to deceive me! In the name of those you slaughtered, I strike thee down!





Well that's new.



That's right, the game throws you right into a boss fight. Barbarossa is a race - you have to kill him in three or four turns, or he'll brutalize your party with Calamity Blast. With Guts we'll have a chance of survival, but let's try to do this the way he's intended to be fought. Barb has 62,700 health.



He hits hard enough, but not dangerously so. He also has Hellfire, which does about 7k (3k on a character with good RDM), and knows Lightning Bolt.



Shiho will be concentrating on maximizing our damage. We'll start with Sap Guard.



My chosen party is Arngrim, Lucian, and Shiho. Arngrim has high STR and the Violet Forge gives him the most powerful PWS. Lucian will choke out lots of gems with Shining Bolt.



Our next turn, Shiho Might Reinforces the party.



Barb counters with reversing our Sap Guard with Guard Reinforce.



Turn three, and we're ready to set up a PWS chain.





Arngrim's third, and with the massive heat generated by Final Blast we can use Celestial Star if necessary.



Not that it's needed, as Might Reinforced Violet Forge Final Blast is too strong. That's about 45k worth of damage right there.



I... I am the king! Had... had I been in my original body you would never have defeated me! Ah... ahhhhh!

Barbarossa is voiced by Maddie Blaustein.



I cannot... I cannot die!!



And the game makes you fight him again, back to back, which can be a nasty surprise.

I also like that Barb uses his 'head' to cast spells.



Oh well, beat you down again.





Well, looks like he's gone. Let's explore this-



I will become a soul, uncompensated, and I shall save the lost souls of the people and return to them their glory!!

Ah, now I see. 'Tis your vindictive thoughts that bind you to this place. Even though I tell you all is over.

Your opinion!! I do not wish to hear it!! It is not over! The pursuit of perfection has no end!!

To save him, we must cut the chains of attachment which bind here... But the question is how.



With that, we're free to explore Dipan, since there's no point in fighting Barbarossa (again).





Yay new enemies.



Life Stealers are the worst. They have the most health of the regular enemies in here, with 25,700 health. On one hand, they're weak to Lightning, so Grimrist can take them out in one hit. But they often comes in twos or more, and they have enough health that you can't wipe them out in a single cast of Lightning Bolt.



Their most annoying attack is Blood Steal, which does a lot of damage and heals them.



Here's Grey in action I suppose.



We have an upgraded Harpy, with 22,000 health and being weak to Fire.



Victories have 10,000 health and are weak to Lightning. Probably the most harmless enemy here.



Wise Sorcerers have 5,600 health and are weak to Poison. As with most mages, picking them off early helps.



Grey and Shiho PWS



Grey has the weakest PWS in the game. Him doing three attacks is stronger than his PWS.

It's got a cool voice if nothing else.



This is roughly how much Lightning Bolt does to Life Stealers. Not nearly worth it for the CT to use it.



There is really only one way to go, and it leads us here.





What is it?

I realized something interesting.

Something interesting?

If we can do it right, we can send that loathsome dog beyond the reaches of time...

I see.

As usual, your methods are sublime.









---



So after all, that's all you can do.

If I can control time, defeating the Aesir will be child's play.

That's exactly right.



Cliffhanger! We'll find out what happens... next update.

Sacred Phase

Now just because we got trapped in a time mechanism doesn't mean we can't work on Freya's request, right? Here's what she's looking for:

Hero Value 100, Brave, a Sorcerer, Monster Int, Hit.

Here's a tricky one that's again impossible to fulfill on a single Einherjar. There are no Sorcerers that are Brave, and they can't learn Hit. This means that a Warrior will do better than Sorcerers this chapter, since they'll miss out on only one requirement instead of two. A few ways to solve this:

Jayle and Grey are our only Einherjar with Brave; if we had kept Janus around he would also be eligible. If we had to send up only one Einherjar, it should be them, as they'll do best.

Alternatively, we have a few benchwarmers now, and we can send them up in a combination that will fulfill the requirements, since there are Brave accessories in the shop. We could send Jelanda or Nanami, being Sorcerers, with Jayle or Grey, or fellow benchwarmers Lawfer or Aelia, and slap Brave accessories on the latter. We'll lose two Einherjar this way, however.













I'll let you guys figure out a combination you think works best here.