Okay, so in Chapter 3, we tried to cheat our way through the first mission, but that didn't work. Now, adequately protected with protective gear, our brave heroes prepare to delve into the unknown!
Okay, back in the forest. Let's talk to that guard again anyway, see what he says.
Same answer as before. Okay.
Now, the top part of the map has a tough enemy as a regular encounter, and at the party's current level, they'll get slaughtered. Let's use that clearing ahead of the stairs from town to do a little training.
But first, some extra help to move things along. Thanks to the wonders of emulators, we can use Gameshark and Codebreaker codes without needing an actual Gameshark or Codebreaker! Or in this case, Action Replay.
In particular, I will be using four codes for this run:
- EXP x 4
- SP gained x 4
- 100% drop rate
- 0 TP cost
I'll talk about SP, TP, and drop rate in a minute, but first, let's start a battle.
That colored circle in the lower right corner of the top screen is your "Encounter Gauge". It starts at blue, and turns red as an encounter approaches. You will only encounter enemies if it is red, but it may go from blue to red in a single step, so be careful.
Oh yeah, groove that kickin' battle music. Okay, so my first battle is against a Fanged Fish and a Forest Frog (say that five times fast). It's a regular encounter, so no free turns for either side. Now, there are two phases of battle: The "command" phase and the "action" phase. I'm in the command phase, so let's do some commands.
...Okay, nobody has any skills yet, and I'm not running or defending, so I'll have everyone attack.
Once the command phase is done, it moves to the action phase. Like a standard turn-based RPG, party members and enemies take action in order according to speed.
The battle proceeded as follows:
- Ranko was the fastest. She hit the Fish for 21 damage.
- Gabe is next. He hits the Fish for 22 damage and takes it down.
- Report moves next. He hits the frog (the game automatically retargets) for 6 damage. Granted, he's in the back row using a melee weapon, so damage is understandably lower.
- Axel's move. He hits the frog for 26 damage with his Shortsword.
- The frog's faster than Ere, so it goes next, hitting Axel for 15 damage. It may not seem like much, but Axel is 6 DEF stronger than he was in chapter 3.
- Ere's last. She crits the frog for 48 and kills it dead.
All of the enemies are dead, so I win! The game moves to the battle results.
Time for a little math. Experience is divided evenly between all party members standing at the end of a battle. This group nets me 444 total, so that's 88 percent per person. However, the code I used to boost exp gain is in effect, so I actually got only 111 from them, which is pretty discouraging for the first battle.
My 100% drop code works like it should, and I get a Red Scale and a Sharp Tooth from the fish, and a Slimy Leg and Frog Cheek from the frog. The importances of these will be explained soon, too.
>Discovered stuff!
Whenever you defeat a new enemy for the first time or acquire a new loot, you'll get that message. That means, when you next access the Compendiums, they will be updated with those encounters. I'll talk about them later, too.
Okay, let's go for another battle.
Doot doot doot...
Now it's a battle against two Fanged Fish. They're exactly the same as the one from the previous battle.
The Fanged Fish were faster than Axel, so the surviving one got to act before him. It attacked Report, but due to being on the back line he only took 6 damage.
304 experience this time, which was less than the frog, but everyone gained 60 and a level.
Let's do some more training; I'll check back when I'm level 3.
...
Or not. Okay, I ran into another pair of Fanged Fish, but this time I got blindsided (denoted by the red leaves that swirl when the battle starts), so they got an extra turn. They used both to just attack.
Same as before, so I just attack. Axel hit for 40 and took down one of the fish in a single hit.
...
Now that I'm level 3, I think I'll stop the update here. Next time: The first mission still has yet to be completed!
