Part 29: Balal Quo Naga

Last time, we exploded one of the Ark's mines again, deliberately this time, and the Prophets decided to become demons.
Today it's a short one, we fight serpents and goddesses.

Update 29: Boss Gob could kill this guy

We could go straight to see Halle in Baskar Colony, but there was something I wanted to do first.




There's an inland sea on the map, but we've never been able to access it because each entrance is blocked off with rocks.

In Humphrey's Peak


The dunes west of here are the <<inland seas>>, but it's blocked off. In any case, it's not a place for half-baked Drifters to venture into.
<<Inland seas>>
Even if you try to get through from the seaway, the shallows and reefs make it difficult to get through. I even hear that the inland seas are home to many powerful monsters.

We do have a good reason to check the area out though.

In Jolly Roger


By the way... I want to tell you the real reason I asked you to help me with my research and sailing tests. Can I ask a favor of you? I really need you to do something for me.

You bet.
Sorry, we're busy.

I... I want you to avenge someone for me... on my Sandcraft. Let me explain. Surely you've heard about the merchant ship that got attacked by a gargantuan, and how many people perished. Well, three months ago, the ship carrying my sweetheart disappeared. Since then, I've been too busy to cry. I devoted myself to researching a new kind of vessel with more speed and firepower. One day, when I was out searching for clues, I found the lair of Balal Quo Naga! Please... take my Sandcraft and go slay the beast! You must avenge my Mario, restore peace to the region, and deliver our souls from bondage!

Hey, we're heroes, right! Of course we can take it on, no matter how monstrously powerful it may be!



Balal Quo Naga lives at the southern entrance to the inland seas, an area currently blocked off with rocks. As we approach, the rocks begin to shake and the beast emerges.

Something huge slides towards the Sandcraft through the quicksand!

BOSS BATTLE: BALAL QUO NAGA



This guy is pretty much the main boss battle for the entire ocean, and the only mandatory Sandcraft fight.



He has a meaty physical attack, and annoyingly can use Critical Heal, healing himself for ALL of his HP every two or three turns.
His most powerful attack is a real monster:



Current Spark deals over 80% of our HP in damage, and is pretty much the game telling you to hurry up and kill him faster next time. Because honestly, that's really easy.



Helmsman > Feint and Pursue Target

Gunner > Fire all ammo at once

Done and done. The beast was both monstrously powerful and utterly, utterly trivial.
I suppose it's weak because it's been available to fight since we got the sandcraft at least five levels ago, but that's still hardly an excuse considering this is the part of the game where you'd need to fight it. It's not like the game has shyed away from letting me get in over my head on land.
In the end it all comes down to if you upgraded your gun or not. If not, you simply won't have the burst damage needed to kill him before he gets off a Critical Heal.



Reward is very nice though. Everyone got two levels out of this completely trivial encounter. I have more than enough Dragon Fossils to buy the biggest gun now, though based on what just happened I may not need to. Maybe I'll put those fossils into another part of the ship - the frame or the engine.



Balal Quo Naga's death throes break the rocks, opening the way to the inner sea. We'll check that out in a future update.

The fight with Balal Quo Naga was so fierce that it crushed reefs and altered the very shape of the land. Bits of wood and cloth were scattered among the chunks of broken rock, like the aftermath of a great shipwreck. Most of the baggage was smashed to pieces, but a single suitcase floated defiantly. Pearl tried to retrieve the luggage before it sank again beneath the waves of sand.

This gets us a Suitcase. Lets head back to Emilia.

We have completed your quest. And... We would like to return this to you.
I just wanted proof that Mario was still alive. But, if that's not possible... Then I wanted proof that he died. Because I love him. That's why I didn't want our souls tied to the past. I wanted a blade to cut away the past so I could live in the present. Besides, Mario hated being hesitant over the same thing all the time. Thank you... for avenging his death. And for bringing back one of his things. There's something inside that I want you to have.
An odd-looking statue, ain't it? But it doesn't seem sinister to me. I think it looks kind. Well, that settles it. I want you to have it.
Oh, that Mario... Always bringing the weirdest things home. I never knew what to do...
But it reminds me so much of him. That's why I want you to have it.

Her present is the Goddess Idol, a very important item.

It's part of a required subquest we've not been introduced to yet, but we can start it now. If we head back to the Fallen Sanctuary, where we got our Mediums in the first place...



There are jump pads in the area with the carvings, and we can use the Radical Sneakers to reach a set of four more mediums.
Yes, the Baskar religion requires its high priests to have old '90s trainers just to get to the altars. Halle's sneakers are and Shane has the most awesome set of Reeboks. Boone, being the black sheep of the family, wears Nikes.



Boone can use the Goddess Statue at these altars.

The monolith is decorated with runes symbolizing Raftina, the Guardian of Love. One can cause the guardian to materialize by focusing everyone's willpower together with the Goddess Idol. Will you show your will to the guardian?

Yes
No

The visions in your minds are bound together. A faint light purges your soul of stagnation. You feel a presence of limitless kindness and passion. The power of love tests your mettle. The bearer of the Ark Scepter's light must have the strength to fight that which has no form. Fight, and show your strength to Raftina!

BOSS BATTLE: RAFTINA, GUARDIAN OF LOVE



MUSIC: Blood, Tears, and the Dried-Up Wasteland

A dangerous boss with some neat tricks. She's also about nine levels higher than me, so I'm doing this early.



She'll use Copy Ability on her first turn. This lets her copy some of our abilities, specifically all kinds of attack Arcana.
(Mechanically this is just window dressing. I tried removing all mediums that had attack arcana, and she was still able to use them. But it would have been interesting if, say, you could remove all but the fire medium and then cover everyone in fire wards)
The thing to take away from it is she can attack with all elements (except maybe Dark)



She'll also cast Weaken on all of us, giving us weaknesses to all elements. Thankfully it doesn't override any wards we have, but its still a big increase in damage for her.



Finally, she'll start spamming us with elemental spells. This is brutal - look at the 906 damage Boone took. The only thing saving Billy is that I'd cast Protect on him.



Reflect will save your life. Her arcana are reflectable so you can deflect the worst of her damage and focus on doing some of your own!

Eventually she'll use her Summon - Sacred Blood.



She cuts though the screen several times, and raises her sword. You don't see numbers, but apparently this move restores about 4000 HP to her.



Her one remaining attack is a strike with her sword, which feels like a break from the elemental chaos being thrown around.

Its important to make sure Reflect is maintained. (Doc died at one point when I didn't notice it had worn off) Aside from that, keeping the damage up and healing occasionally will bring her down.

VIDEO: Raftina Battle



Oh come on, that's less than half the XP that wimp Balal Quo Naga gave...

Well, our reward is the Love Charm medium, a rather nice one and the first Guardian Lord we have. It will go to Boone, as it also increases his magic stats.

Arcana
Weaken (32FP): Forces an enemy to be weak to an element. Fantastic arcana that can help your damage skyrocket, especially since many bosses are more vulnerable to it than you'd think. The one catch is the caster needs to have access to that element - if Boone has only Love Charm and Aqua Wisp equipped, he can only force an enemy to be weak to Ice or Water, not any other element.
Copy Ability (64FP): Many enemies have special abilities you can copy. I tend to not get much use out of this, since it's expensive and its value varies wildly depending on the enemy, but maybe I'll find somewhere where its severely breakable.
Status Lock (38FP): A wonderful ability. Makes the target immune to all negative statuses except for Fallen. Absolutely invaluable in some situations.
Requiem (24FP): Instantly kills undead enemies.

Personal Skills
Inoculation: Protects against status effects that persist after battle - Poison, disease, misery and amnesia. A great gear slot and PS point saver.
SOS FP Charge: When knocked to low HP, this can greatly increase your FP.
Life Charge: Restores up to 20% of your max health every time you guard. Neat, I like it.

Summon
Rather than attacking the enemy, Sacred Blood heals us by FP%. If summoned at 100FP, it's a 100% heal.
She also lifts status effects if summoned at over 25FP, and revives dead characters at over 75FP. Extremely useful.



In addition, Guardian Lords are golden, not silver like the others. Each lord we get lets us convert two silver mediums into gold ones, conferring better stat bonuses.

Next Time: We do something else. Hmmm...


A Day A Day

Hey! You can't expect me to have a new day up yet! It's not been a day since the last update! I know I complained about your long pauses between updates before but you're going too fast now - you need to take a break and play something else for a while.

... maybe she has a point. What should I play?

Well, there's always evil Nega-Okami



or Rapid Reload



or Dragon Force is an old favorite...



or I could just continue with the main plot of this game and go see Halle.

Thoughts, goons?