Part 52: Part H6-1

We recruit Shiho and Jayle again, defeating Genevivie in the process. We'll be sending Jayle up this chapter.



We'll end up with a seal value of 20 after all that (-4 for recruiting two Einherjar, +12 for sending one up).



I end up selling a few things for MP this chapter. I mean, I'd been sitting on a few Golden Eggs and Crimson Edges anyway.



I bring Shiho for the Barbarossa fight for one main reason. Unless you're lucky enough to find a Mage Lord in the Cave of Oblivion, Shiho is the only source of Might Reinforce before the Chapter 7 Sacred Phase (or if you're playing on Hard, Chapter 7).





Next, Dipan, where we stomp Barb fairly handily. Twice.



With the Unicorn's Horn, it's now incredibly satisfying to just waste the annoying Blood Stealers in the castle with Gravity Blessing.







We then go on to solve the mystery of the past, and return to our own time.



There's a change in Hard Mode - aside from one of them near the start of the castle, all the Harpies in Dipan Castle are replaced with Evil Eyes.



They have considerably more health, but singly they're not that much of a threat - we've taken down tougher in one round. Magic works well on them, so a good Celestial Star or Meteor Swarm will easily take out half of their life. Physical attacks will still work decently.



Yeah, that's a little creepy.



Like the Hel Servants, the Evil Eyes' gimmick is their ability to Restore dead allies.



Unlike when we fought the Hel Servants though, we now have a reliable source of Great Magic, so it's easier to take out both of them in one round if you weaken one first.



The Three Mages fight is largely the same.



Namely, Reflect Sorcery putting the kibosh on them.



I'm going to love that second Fairy Ring. Sure, I could just buy one, but I'm saving my MP for something. In fact, we'll do it now.



Starting from this chapter, we can buy the Orihalcon from the shop, for a very costly 100,000 MP. If you did something like miss the ingredients for the Creation Jewel, like sending up the Fairy Bottle for Asgard, this is your chance to get it again.

Now that we actually have the Creation Jewel already, we can do something else with it.



Namely, transmute it into Gram! 2000 ATK power on Chapter 6? Yes please.

In theory you could get infinite Grams this way, but they're not exactly cheap.



And time for our Hard Mode dungeon.



OST: Crumbling Identity

I actually really like the Sunken Shrine. It's got a nice dungeon music (linked above), the puzzles aren't too hard, and it's just challenging enough without being tearing your hair out in frustration.



As one might imagine, we're going to be going in and out of water a bit, and facing underwater based creatures.



In conventional RPGs, you might be forgiven for thinking they're weak to Lightning. Actually, most of the enemies in the Sunken Shrine are weak to Poison and Holy. Poison Blow and Mystic Cross both work well here, and Glare Swords will kill most enemies in one hit.

We've seen Giant Squids in the Cave of Oblivion before. High health and they can deal some heavy damage to one character, but with the aforementioned weaknesses they're not difficult.



For the first part, we'll just have to step on pressure plates to get the statue heads to drop low enough for us to hop on; once they rise back to the surface we'll just jump to the other side.



Red Lobsters (...), like their other crustacean brethren, have high RDM, but magic will pierce their defenses. The Glare Sword still works well on them.



First, we drag this stone slab to the left, so it won't block our progress later.



We then have to hang on this clockwork mechanism till it drops down to the bottom.



Finally, it's this mechanism. We can push in or pull out the basins from either side. Here, we'll push them both in...





...and the shrine starts filling up with water.



With the room now submerged, we can jump through the water to reach the top passages. (Still no explanation why Lenneth can't just fly through the dungeons...)



I think Bream Giants can inflict Darkness, but they're pretty weak anyway. Ropers behind them also have low health.



...They're pretty disgusting when they attack, however. They can inflict Paralyze and Petrify, as well.



One of the rooms has a copy of the Dark skill. We've already learned it, so we can transmute it with the Creation Jewel into a nice skill, Reverie.



As the description says, Reverie will have a shadow copy of the character attack slightly after it, also adding to the hit count, and doing about 30% of the character's damage. Shadows can be killed, but they can take a bit of punishment, and will come back in the next battle anyway. It takes a bit of CP to max out (720), but we're not exactly short on that, either. Only Warriors can use Reverie (so no Archers).



You can see Arngrim's shadow here. Anyway, the tough enemy for this dungeon are Inferior Eyes (we've seen them in the Cave of Oblivion as well). Being upgraded Evil Eyes, they have no weaknesses and are pretty tough. They're also notably more resistant to physical attacks, so blow them away with Great Magic.



Taking the top passageway, we'll find this room and hit the crystal twice to shift the alignment of the room with the stone slab.



And back through the rooms, collect some treasure, then go back and readjust it with the crystal.



Pull out the basins this time.



This time, the water drains.



And we can progress further in.



Inferior Eyes start to become annoying when they're backed up with more creatures. We can't reliably hit the Eye at full power (though we can still do a decent number because we've got two archers and a mage), and the Eye will keep Restoring its dead allies (it can only do so one at a time, however). While wearing it down to the point where a Great Magic will kill it, forcing it to use its turns on Restore is still better than letting it attack.



This next part's not so obvious. First, you have to create a crystal and slash it, picking up a fragment and taking it with you into the water.



Then when you're under this switch, you have to release it and have it float up, hitting the switch.



Next up is a reused puzzle, from the Oddrock Caves.



Namely, the 'bounce the beam onto the thing' puzzle.



Gill-Men are weak to Poison (but not Holy). They have the least health of anything in the dungeon, and aren't really noteworthy.



Onto the subject of re-used puzzles, we have one from the Cave of Thackus. Again, we bring a crystal fragment into the water...



When we get to the other side, we release the fragment and quickly jump onto it before it floats out of our reach, letting us jump to the other side.



Just a few more puzzles to go. Once we enter this archway, we have to quickly jump up through the water.



Do it quickly enough, and you'll make it to the top right before the walls close in on you.



And just up ahead is this dungeon's Flame Jewel, right in the open.



For the final puzzle, we have to bounce the beam off two crystals again. This time though, as the beam's hitting the second crystal, we have to shatter it into dust, which will deflect the beam onto each of the eyes in turn.



There are no less than three Inferior Eye groups in the room with the save point.



This is actually a pretty annoying fight with double opportunity for Restores. The best way to go about doing this is to use a Great Magic right off the bat, then holding off your attacks, chipping away at the other Eyes til your mage recovers her CT, then do another one. If you have enough MAG, you should be able to kill all of them with the second.





It's very satisfying when you pull it off though.



Not complaining about this either.



In any case, boss time!



I've been waiting all this time...!!

Undead counting the passage of time? Don't make me laugh!! You still have human traits, creature.

Human, you say? I have passed beyond the realm of such small-minded, short-lived fools!

You shall pay for the sins you have waged. In the name of Odin, I shall sanction thee!!

Fifty-five thousand days translates to roughly 150 years, 212 days, and 12 hours.



The Wraith is a tough fight, if you choose to fight him fairly. At 100,000 health, he has more health than any boss we've fought up to this point. He'll throw out a few spells, sure, but the worst part of it is what he does every other turn.





Hark, lightning that writhes within the ashen depths, descend down as a storm upon my foes! Gravity blessing!

Well this is going to hurt.



Ouch! Paralyze Checks are a good idea here, as they'll cut Lightning damage by half, cutting the damage from a painful ~60k to a more manageable 25-30k. You'll still desperately want to Heal after that, though.



If one wanted to cheese this fight, the Holy Water of Mithra does 100,000 damage to it. Which, coincidentally, is how much health it has.



I was silly and decided to do fight it fairly, however. You practically need Guts for this one, and almost certainly Auto Item. I imagine it could be possible without them if everyone has a Paralyze Check, but it's going to be rough.



It's also quite resistant to physical damage, if you were wondering. Having Sorcerers around helps to circumvent this, even if they're unlikely to be able to withstand a Gravity Blessing.



It is... i-inconceivable! How could pathetic little... I have fallen.... nooooo.... ahhhhh!



The Magic Charm immunizes its wearer from magic damage, but has a 25% chance of breaking.







The Reflect Armor has 1500 RDM and cuts Holy damage by 90%. Not bad for Warriors. Slashing Sword "Farewell" has a measly 320 attack power, by its damage increases by 5% for each hit it does, up to a maximum of 200%. Still not really a match for the Creation Jewel swords, but it does sell for a decent 10,000 MP. The Tear of the Cosmos transmutes into a Holy Water of Mithra, so you essentially get one back if you used yours on Wraith.



We'll get into Chapter 7 next update, where Things Happen.