Part 67: Update L - We're Basically At Double The Updates The First Game Had, Fucking Hell

Update L - We're Basically At Double The Updates The First Game Had, Fucking Hell



♪ BGM: Rakar Dungeon - Unavoidable.mid ♫

Alright, so we're back to the puzzle, and it turns out that yes, I was being stupid, and the solution is actually easy.



Here it is. Mix blue and yellow and you get green. Mix red and yellow and you get orange. Mix blue and red and you get purple.



And here's the stone tablet piece.



♪ BGM: Asgar's Castle - blood009.mid ♫

Back at the castle, we set our next target. Since we're now at level 35, we can now head out and find the second key.



♪ BGM: A Truth Revealed - WraithTouch.mid ♫

We find the place we're looking for here in the desert.



♪ BGM: Sandy Deserts #1 - Wald3.mid ♫

Hm, maybe there is an oasis or something like that somewhere nearby...
At any rate, let's find the key quickly!

Yes, I know the track for this area is called "forest". Don't ask me why.



Now, this desert area isn't too interesting. There's a lot of area to cover, but I took a scan of the loot around, and it's nothing I wanted to go out of my way to collect. So instead, we're just going to beeline for the key, since there's no puzzles or gimmicks for us like in the first key area.



However, we are suddenly accosted by some other person. What could this be?



Who are you?
There has been a bounty put on your head worth 6600 Filar. I'm going to collect it now. If you hold still, it won't hurt as much, hehehe...
We'll see soon enough who is going to hurt who...



Surprise!

Bounty Hunter 1:

Recommended level: 25

HP: 1000
BP: 100
Attack: 240
Defense: 150
Intelligence: 10
Agility: 100

Behavior List:

- Attack
- Destroy Weapon (decreases Attack with a base 50 damage, hits one party member)
- Sweeping Strike (attributeless skill with base 60 damage, hits all party members)

This isn't really a thread for us at this level.



In fact, she gets exactly one attack off before dying.

However, this means that it's finally time to explain the bounty system. I mentioned this in a Behind The Fangs chapter, but here it shows up to attempt to bite us in the ass for the first time.

Now, the basic gist of the bounty system is that all the shit you pull isn't going unnoticed. So the vampire shit you do actually increases your bounty, and once you hit a certain threshold, these bounty hunters start showing up on random maps. Well, not random maps, but just certain maps Marlex put the event on. The first type of bounty hunter with a recommended level of 25 shows up at 5000 Filar and higher. The second type of bounty hunter with a recommended level of 50 shows up at 20000 Filar and higher. The third type of bounty hunter with a recommended level of 75 shows up at 50000 Filar and higher. There are a total of 45 bounty hunters spread around maps in the game, which are all one of the three types.

What raises the bounty? There's a few things, but before that, a note - the bounty system does not exist on easy difficulty.

Now, we have a few different things that raise bounty.

- Turning a human into an item: 300 Filar on normal, 800 Filar on hard.
- Turning a human into a vampire: 150 Filar on normal, 700 Filar on hard.
- Sucking blood from a human: 25 Filar on normal, 100 Filar on hard.
- Killing a human by sucking blood from them: 150 Filar on normal, 700 Filar on hard.

If there's more that does it, I don't know about it. Anyway, if you paid attention to how many times we turned a human into a vampire, you should be able to calculate how many times I've been using humans as free blood refills. It's a lot.



However, this bounty hunter isn't a problem for us right now.

That's what she gets! It's a bad idea trying to mess with us!



Anyway, we hustle to the south of the map without further incident, since that's where the next part of the map is.



Just a small transitional map, nothing special.



And from there, we move to the last map of this area.



Here we have something actually interesting!



We find this weird temple thing, and just... waltz up and grab the key from a chest! Huh. That was easy.

Excellent, we got the key!

Note that right now, we can totally use the Retreat spell and head back to Asgar's castle while completely avoiding the obvious boss fight that is coming. Of course, we want to see boss fights, so we just try to exit the normal way, when suddenly...



Be careful!
Behind us!



Boss fight time!



♪ BGM: Stronger Enemies - VD2Kampf3.mid ♫

Seraphim:

Recommended level: 35

HP: 3500
BP: 1000
Attack: 400
Defense: 290
Intelligence: 10
Agility: 140

Behavior List:

- Attack
- Light of the Heavens (light-element spell with 200 base damage, hits one party member)
- Light Explosion (light-element spell with 190 base damage, hits one party member)
- Traitor (inflicts Confusion with a 80% base success rate, hits one party member)
- Attack

Alright, those spells can hurt. Thankfully, Asgar's sabre procs its Silence effect immediately, so that's no longer a problem. From then on, it's business as usual - use Black Ritual on the main three, tear the enemy to shreds with approximately 220 damage per attack.



He never stood a chance, really.



♪ BGM: Sandy Deserts #1 - Wald3.mid ♫

I'm slowly getting good at this...

And then the sandstorm just starts up again.



There's something here...
Status Rune obtained! Light Rune obtained! Ankh of the Desert obtained!

Never forget to check the pockets of those you've beheaded! Anyway, that's it for this area. Let's head back home.



♪ BGM: Asgar's Castle - blood009.mid ♫

At home, I figure it's time to take another party member for a spin. This time, let's check out the vampire warrior.



The warriors aren't all that special, but they get Sweeping Strike at level 30, a free "hit all enemies" skill, which can be useful for soul grinding later in the game. For now, though, it's mainly because what follows next.



What follows is some grinding, where the mage isn't really useful, since all I do is spam melee attacks forever. The goal here, IIRC, is to hit level 40.



On a trip back to use the souls we collected while grinding, we get attacked again.



17 knights take out 7 mercenaries. Pretty good fight, that.

Mercenaries Lost To Global Domination: 548 + 7 = 555



We hit level 40 fairly quickly after that.



♪ BGM: Syrahs - field4.mid ♫

And that means another gear upgrade! We've hit the point where by pure stats, the Sabre of D'Amore is being outmatched by the new weapon on sale, but the double attack thing is going to keep that sabre going for quite a bit past its stats' shelf life.



♪ BGM: Asgar's Castle - blood009.mid ♫

We make a very useful new spell out of five blood runes - Normal Healing. This is a healing spell with a base heal of 250 HP - more than double than what Slight Healing 2 did - and is going to be very useful in keeping us healed up in the future. This goes on Alaine.



And then, back to grinding! I've completely forgotten why I'm grinding now. I think I'm beelining for level 50 because I was under the false assumption that something particularly useful unlocked there. However, getting to level 50 also does unlock something particularly useful, it's just not the thing I was thinking of!



At some point during the grinding, around when we hit level 44, we take a trip back to buy some mercenaries - ten, that is.

Ongoing Costs: 191020 + 8800 = 199820 Filar

Almost hit the big 200K!

And now I run out of footage again. For reference, go back to the last time I said that (it was in the last update) and realize that that new batch of footage I started back then was two and a half hours long. That went by fast! Please stand by for rendering...



♪ BGM: Syrahs - field4.mid ♫

We hit level 45 and get another gear upgrade. The grind is real.



Since we got new gear, we also get new enemies on the world map to beat up. Not that it makes much of a difference. The grind continues...



...until we hit level 50. And do you know what that means?



♪ BGM: Asgar's Castle - blood009.mid ♫

It means level 2 skills! We start off with Treasurer, since that's the most useful the earliest you get it.



And since we've now finished the grind, it's time to get back our boss-killing unit.



♪ BGM: Syrahs - field4.mid ♫

And there we go, another gear upgrade! We also grab some items from the store to prepare for the next parts we're going to take on, and that was it for an hour of footage. Guess that's how it goes when 95% of the footage is just the same thing over and over.



♪ BGM: A Truth Revealed - WraithTouch.mid ♫

Alright, so now that we're level 50, we have some things to pick off. Our first target is this ice cave in the bottom right corner of the map I've stumbled over before.



♪ BGM: Icy Caves #1 - Eisdungeon.mid ♫

This isn't that large a cave, but it hides something very nice in it.



There is basically nothing in here except the thing we came here for, so let's get to it.



I'm afraid it's hungry!

Boss fight time!



♪ BGM: Stronger Enemies - VD2Kampf3.mid ♫

Ice Lizard:

Recommended level: 50

HP: 6000
BP: 300
Attack: 450
Defense: 450
Intelligence: 10
Agility: 220

Behavior List:

- Attack
- Icy Spit (inflicts Paralyzed with a 70% base success rate, targets a single party member)
- Claws (inflicts Blind with a 40% base success rate, dealing 20 base damage, targets a single party member)
- Attack
- Attack

Well, Icy Spit can be a real motherfucker, since we still don't have a real answer to Paralyze, but screw it, let's just engage the regular plan and go to town!



We also proc Bleeding on this guy, so he's also taking 240 HP in damage every single action on top of what we're dealing to him.



He doesn't last long.



♪ BGM: Icy Caves #1 - Eisdungeon.mid ♫

And with that, behind a secret passage, we get to claim our prize - the final member of the Children of the Apocalypse!

Yes, we've taken it out.
Thank God! I almost froze to death in here! All of a sudden, there was this white light, and when I regained consciousness, I was stuck on this damn island! I found this cave, but then suddenly, there was that monster, and I needed to hide in here! Thank you!
Aren't you one of the Children of the Apocalypse?
How do you know that?
Well, your leader Lord Mandrake is in our castle.
Lord Mandrake is alive? That's wonderful! But how do I get there?
I'll teleport you there.
I am really forever indebted to you!



And there we go, we have now collected all of the Children of the Apocalypse and gotten all of the perks that go along with it.

Excellent, with him, that Lord Mandrake guy is surely going to make even better blood potions...

Alright, let's head back home and see what we got.



♪ BGM: Asgar's Castle - blood009.mid ♫

You just make your blood potions, and we are happy!



And here's the most important part! We can buy new learning points here. They're very expensive, but very necessary on this difficulty.



Here's Mandrake's new assortment of goods - we can now buy the best blood healing item in the game, the elixir, which will definitely be getting some use in the endgame. Now, let's jump right into the next thing we're going to be getting.



♪ BGM: Rynik - Wuestenstadt.mid ♫

It's time to organize a prison break! As a sidenote, we can no longer talk to Inspector Denton here in Rynik because we have more than 5000 Filar bounty. If we do, he will attack us because, well, we're wanted criminals. Also, there will be wanted posters for us in the room where Denton is. On normal difficulty, we can actually tear those posters off after killing Denton, and as a result, we will no longer be bothered by bounty hunters. On hard, we're just shit outta luck, we have to always deal with them.



Anyway, we add one of the guards to our vampire collection - now we're just missing the female mage for a complete vampire set - and that aggros the other guards, so time for the slaughtering!



These guards aren't that tough. They're no boss level encounter and have fairly low HP, so we just beat up on them.



After we kill the last one, we get a cell key! To note - this key is fixed on the guard on the right, so you could technically just transform this guy and blitz for the prisoners. However, that's really hard to pull off while avoiding the other two guards, so we just did this at level 50 so the fights are doable. Now, time to rescue the prisoners.



What happened?
Melsan has been completely destroyed! There were fissures in the ground everywhere, the houses collapsed! My husband, my son, and I are among the survivors. We wanted to get help, but instead of helping us, these guards here have put us into prison!
That is truly bad.
And now, we don't even have a shelter where we can stay for the night. And it seems I can also forget about my armor shop.
Armor shop?
My husband and I had taken over the shop some time ago.
I have an offer for you. You come to my castle, and then you can open a new shop there.
Really?
Yes, really.
I really don't know how to thank you. But without my husband, I don't want to run the shop.
I will send him right after you.
Send? What do you mean?



Asgar just really loves teleporting people.

I'm sure Ronak will take care of her. At least I hope so...



I recall someone saying that paper is supposedly quite nutritious...



lackeys cause nothing but trouble. I'm just going to quickly pack my things, and then I'll be gone in no time...

Well, so now we worked for the guy, then narced on him, then busted him out of jail. We just do whatever the fuck we want, really.



You'll be right with her, kiddo.



I'm sure Ronak will take care of him. At least I hope so...



has changed! There was a white light, and then everything was different. Melsan has been completely destroyed! There were barely any survivors. My wife, my child, and I headed out and tried to get help. Then we got arrested by that detective and his men! Unbelievable how ignorant and stubborn these idiots are.
Don't worry, we believe you.
Ah, finally someone with a brain. So, as I was saying, Melsan is completely destroyed. Whether there are still any survivors, I doubt that. But at least you have freed me. I'll have to search for a new home with my wife and child for now.
Well, if you can make yourselves useful, I have something for you.
Hm, don't I know you three from somewhere?
No, I don't think so.
All right. But to come back to your offer... back then, I've been running an armor shop together with my wife. Perhaps I might be able to help you somehow with that?
Ahhh, that's just like the old times. You don't want to open up a new shop by any chance, do you? My castle has enough room.
Castle? You have a castle?
Yes, it was even very close to Melsan...
The castle of the Aldaines belongs to you?
I don't call it that anymore these days, but yes, it belongs to me.
Thank you for the great offer! Of course, I'm going to accept it! I hope my wife and child won't be a problem?
Um...
No, of course not!
Okay, but how do we get there?
Just a moment...



I'm sure Ronak will take care of him. At least I hope so... just like old times...

Alright, so that's that dealt with, let's head back and see what we now have!



♪ BGM: Asgar's Castle - blood009.mid ♫

I'm sure the service of your family is something we'll have good use for.
I'm now starting to build a shop in here. The first goods are already here.



Stuff!



So basically, Cyphren's shop sells accessories. We have a whole bunch of resistance stuff which we could use for specific bosses if we need it. We're not buying anything from there just yet.



I just can't stand those little rascals.



to help you!
I'm sure of it.
Speak to my husband if you wish to buy something.

Now, I get confused here because there's something I expected to happen that isn't happening. One look in RPG Maker showed me why, and I'll bring it up later when we get to the point where this thing I expected will actually happen.



We set our next target: Killing the guy looking for the pink rabbit in the forest west of Jhalum. There is no way to kill a pink rabbit to resolve the quest that way.



♪ BGM: A Truth Revealed - WraithTouch.mid ♫

We find the forest here. I mean, I could actually search the area to find these places, but fuck that, I have shit to do, so RPG Maker-vision it is.



♪ BGM: Snowy Forests #1 - FrozenFlame.mid ♫

Again, we just have a small area with exactly one thing of interest, so let's get to it.



What did you see?
The pink rabbit, of course!
Ah, you are the one who is searching for the pink rabbit...
It does exist! I've seen it! Honestly!
Yeah, yeah, right.

Damn it, I don't have anything to drink with me! The pink rabbit especially likes to show up after drinking a few sips of rum! It probably likes the smell of alcohol...



Alright, let's take the converting system for a quick spin.



We get a little animation...



...and we get an item! It's as simple as that. The item is random based on a specific list, which is based on Valnar's level. So the higher our level, the better the stuff. We also get a soul fragment every time we turn somebody into an item. Now, let's turn in that quest.



♪ BGM: Jhalum - IceWasteland.mid ♫

No, there is no pink rabbit. But we did take out that stranger.
No pink rabbit? Thank God, I was already questioning my own sanity. And you took out that guy?
Yes, he won't come back.
Excellent! Thank you! I guess I owe you something now because of that...
Life Ankh received! 3 Venomous Potions received! 5000 Filar received!
1) Thanks. - 2) Actually, it does exist! (Lie)

If we managed to lie at level 3, we could get 10000 extra Filar here. Alas.

Since I now have certainty, I can finally sleep soundly once again.
29700 Experience Points gained!



No sense dilly-dallying, on to the next quest. Our next stop will be finding the culprit of the murders in Ordun.



Well, if you remember, I think the people in town made enough references to going south that finding the spot in the forest here shouldn't be all that hard.



♪ BGM: Werewolf Forest - blood005.mid ♫

Anyway, here we are in the werewolf forest. And yes, I don't think this is a surprise anymore - I'm pretty sure that either the game foreshadowed it or I did. The things that killed those people are werewolves.



There's not a lot going on in the map.



The enemies wandering around are werewolves, which we will want to avoid fighting at all costs for a particular reason that will come later.



Now, it's time to take on the source of the problem.



The werewolves have killed the citizens of Ordun!
Hehe, yes, they are hungry. Very hungry!
Why is this guy still alive? Why do the werewolves not attack him?
HARHAR, of course it's because I AM controlling them!
How is that possible?
You fools are so pathetic. I have the power! Just until recently, I was still a nobody, but then I found this beautiful amulet, and all of a sudden, these ferocious creatures are obeying me! And now, I'm going to eradicate you all!
Yes, yes, always the same games. You give a new toy to some small kids for a few minutes, and then they immediately want to take over the world...
Get them! Shred their bodies!

You know, I thought Asgar was going to take offense to Alaine's line there. I guess shade being thrown by Alaine is OK with him. Anyway, time for a boss fight!



Asagrim:

Recommended level: 50

HP: 5000
BP: 1000
Attack: 400
Defense: 500
Intelligence: 40
Agility: 180

Behavior List:

- Attack
- Rage (inflicts Rage with a 90% base success rate, targets a single party member)
- Poisonous Rain (poison/water element spell, 50 base damage, can inflict Poison, targets all party members)
- Black Ghosts (shadow element spell, 100 base damage, targets a single party member)
- Attack
- Attack

Werewolf:

Recommended level: 50

HP: 2500
BP: 500
Attack: 370
Defense: 400
Intelligence: 50
Agility: 220

Behavior List:

- Attack
- Regeneration (heals base 20 HP and inflicts Regen 1 on self)
- Berserker (increases Attack by base 40 and inflicts Rage on self)
- Bite (deals base 100 damage and causes Bleeding with a base 70% success rate, targets a single party member)
- Wild Rage (deals base 100 damage, targets all party members)
- Attack
- Attack

Ha, the werewolves are smarter than their master. Anyway, this boss is quite tricky because there are four tough enemies to deal with, and all four can lay down the hurt on all four party members if they want to. We're going to need some strategy here, but it's not going to be complex. Basically, we're going all in on the damage race, so we need to deal a lot of damage and deal it fast.



The damage dealing comes twofold. We use Blood Sucking on the werewolves repeatedly in order to inflict Bleeding on them for some nice damage over time, and use Black Ritual on the main three for that Attack boost. The loss of control is more than made up for by the extra power. We also hit Asagrim with Silence to deal with those pesky spells of his.



We manage to hit all three werewolves with Bleeding, so they're actually dealt with fairly quickly - them taking 100 damage every action means they're taking 800 damage per round, so they're basically dead by the third round after getting hit with Bleeding.



And a silenced Asagrim is no match for three berserk vampires and one casting spells.



♪ BGM: Werewolf Forest - blood005.mid ♫



Sadly, the enemies just explode here. No fancy decapitations this time.



Where did he get it?
Hm, who cares. What's more important is the fact that we definitely put it to use!
✝ Wolf Amulet obtained!



Blood Rune obtained!

Alright, and now we see why we avoided the werewolves. When we now approach one, this happens:



ROAAAAARRRRRR...
That's a good boy...



And the werewolf gets teleported to our castle. So now, whenever we find werewolves out in the wild, we can press them into service! Werewolves are the strongest attackers in the castle battle mode and can also be useful as a fourth party member. We get a couple more werewolves in this forest, but I've only ever found one other werewolf out in the wild - but I don't explore the different wilderness areas that are just sprinkled around the world map. These usually only have some assorted loot that isn't too valuable, so I don't really bother with them. Anyway, that's another quest done!



♪ BGM: Ordun - Wald2.mid ♫

Yes, we have hunted down the culprit.
What, really? Where were they?
South from here, hidden deep inside the forest.
So you truly have dispatched them? Was it a man? Or was it a monster?
1) Werewolves - 2) A horde of murderers (Lie)

We would need lying skill at level 2 for this lie, but really, we don't care here at all. The difference is 5 healing potions without the lie, and 3 healing potions and a life ankh with the lie, which is really a wash.

Werewolves? Well, that figures. Good thing you took them out. That means this town has one problem less. Thank you, strangers. Here, take these potions. I assume you've taken one or more wounds with you.
5 Healing Potions received!
Thanks.
And here is a small financial appreciation from the citizens of this town. I've actually received this money so I could solve this case, but I guess you deserve the money more than I do...
5000 Filar received!
All right, I guess now I can take care of removing this body...
50490 Experience Points gained!



♪ BGM: Asgar's Castle - blood009.mid ♫

Heading back home, we're going to take the werewolf for a spin.





So here's a comparison between Valnar's stats and the werewolf's stats. For periods of time when we're going to be melee-spam grinding or soul grinding, there's really nothing better than the werewolf. We don't get any equipment for it, but the stats are great enough anyway.



And here's another attack. It's two attacks in one update, but given that we grinded quite a bit in the middle, it's actually been quite a while between attacks.



13 Elras take out 17 mercenaries.

Mercenaries Lost To Global Domination: 555 + 17 = 572

Anyway, I think that's about enough for one update. Next time will be more grinding and more stuff. Basically, I'm going to put the regular Behind The Fangs updates on hold for now under the "holy shit this game is taking forever" rule. We'll bring it back once we either get closer to the endgame or after the game itself is done as a sort of bonus feature. I just want to concentrate on the game itself for now.