Well, I've put this off for far too long. It's about time I got to stealing the Goliath. Yes, it's finally time to leave Kislev.
First, though, I've got some equipment upgrading to do. Elly hasn't been in the party since Blackmoon Forest, after all. I give her a Leather Hat and the Gallant Belt, then equip the Vierge with the Hot RodG I bought earlier.
The Vierge is also equipped with a Lite Ar+1 (15 defense and 5 response, and it weighs half as much as most Gear equipment), a Beam Jammer (reduces beam damage by 75%), and a Frame HP10. I replace the Beam Jammer with the Power Magic, because Elly actually has usable Ethers and thus can benefit from it.
As I'm leaving the house we're hiding out in, Hammer mentions that Rico isn't interested in helping us escape. He also tells Elly something, which he suspiciously refuses to let anyone else in on...
The weapon shop is now selling some new stuff:
- Hot Rod (250G): Rod, Attack of 8
- Metal Jacket (550G)
- Metal Helmet (200G)
- White Beret (150G): Headgear, Defense of 8
I buy Elly the Hot Rod, Metal Jacket, and Metal Helmet, then sell her old PilotUniform for 2500 golds.
I then head to the alley where Big Joe stole some cash from Fei, and to his surprise (but not mine), there is something there: the M Disk, which allows you to listen to the jukebox in the local bar.
Also, every gate but one is closed because the city's under martial law. When I try to leave through the one open gate, though, the guards recognize Fei from a wanted poster. They, however, are the only such people I've ever seen who are smart enough to realize that they'd be annihilated if they tried to take me in. Unfortunately, one moron blows our cover anyway
.
When I try to break through, Rico decides to show up and deal with the guards for me. Turns out he's changed his mind about wanting to help us...for the moment, anyway. It's not like he's going to be a permanent party member or anything. I can, however, switch him into my party at the Wildcat if I want to.
On my way out of town, I meet Big Joe again, asking if we want some "super muchacho information". He tells me how to switch party members, then says to check the back alley I already checked. I talk to him again, and he vanishes.
Well, there's one more thing to do before I go to the Kislev base, and that one thing happens to be Deathblow grinding. Here's what I learn and who I learn it for (plus a description of the Deathblows Rico comes with):
- Elly:
- Screamer: Triangle, X. Elly yells at her target, creating damaging sound waves or something.
- Cyclone Kick: Triangle, Triangle, X. Elly hits her target with her rod three times in a row, then does a somersaulting kick.
- Breakthrough: Square, X. Elly somersault kicks her target, then stabs it a bunch of times with her rod.
- Double Shock: Triangle, Triangle, Triangle, X. Elly pulls out two rods, stabs the enemy with them, then jumps up and dives at them. Finally, she does a backflip kick.
- Sky Attack: Triangle, Square, X. Elly jumps into the air, then strikes her target with her rod.
- Citan:
- Renken: Triangle, Square, X. Citan unleashes a long combo of punches and kicks, which ends with him kicking his target into the air.
- Rico:
- Rico Rocket: Triangle, X. Rico jumps, then kicks off the enemy.
- Death Drive: Triangle, Triangle, X. Rico grabs his target, then throws it back over himself
- Banderas: Square, X. Rico does a forward flip, grabs his target using his legs, and flips it over him.
- Dragon Fist: Triangle, Triangle, Triangle, X. Rico charges up for a moment, then grabs his target. He holds the target so tightly that a spray of blood is seen, then he punches it with his other arm.
- Fire Bomb: Triangle, Square, X. Rico grabs his target, lifts them up a bit, then jumps forward, slamming them into the ground.
My grinding also caused Fei to learn CounterForce, a Chi ability that lets him prepare to dodge and counter any physical attack. Elly, meanwhile, learned Anemo Burn, Terra Storm, ThermoDragon, and Aqua Mist. These are area versions of her normal elemental Ethers, but their chance of actually working is lower than for the normal ones so they aren't really worth it.
The enemies here include the usual Hobgobs, along with Rain Frogs (who can make it rain to do water damage to everyone, healing themselves), Rhinos (who have birds that heal them and buff their Defense), and Pecking Ducks (who have an attack called "Pecking! Duck!" and another called Hitchcock that's about what you'd expect).
Also worth noting is that Hobgobs will drop Hob-Steak if you kill them with a fire attack. This can be sold in D Block for ridiculous amounts of money (one Hob-Steak sells for 450 golds, and Hobgobs spawn in groups of four).
At any rate, once I'm done with my grinding I form a party containing Fei, Rico, and Citan. The reason I do this is so that the next boss has a fighting chance.
I proceed north to the base we're supposed to infiltrate, taking the scenic route around the back of the mountain it's built into. After getting into my Gears and moving forward, I find Hammer selling the Gear parts that were for sale in the hangar earlier. I upgrade Vierge, Heimdal, and Stier to the best stuff Hammer sells for them (especially important for Vierge because it starts with 1500 HP), then move forward.
Once I enter the base proper, I've got a forced battle on my hands. The enemies are HarquebusMk10 walking gun platforms, which die to two strong attacks (or one strong attack from Rico) and give me useless stuff. After walking forward a bit, I encounter three NeoMushaMk100s that aren't any better. This is followed by some more Harquebuses.
The room also contains a Gold Nugget, which is placed in its rightful place in my inventory. With that done, I move onward.
The enemies here include all of the battles I just described, plus the HatamotoMk3 (which is significantly more dangerous) You can also fight the Shinobi Mk0 here.
I think there might be a theme to Kislev Gears.
Some battles also contain Mechanics, who can repair Gears. They die about as easily as any other human-sized enemy does when you're in a Gear.
Anyway, I proceed down a winding yet straightforward corridor that contains a save point and an 02 Cylinder. That raises the user's Agility when you're in water, a terrain type that is only temporarily available to fight in. Yeah, I don't know why I picked it up either.
A bit later, I find myself in another room with forced battles. The first is just against a couple of Harquebuses, but the second contains a couple of Hatamotos and a Mechanic team. I know who to target first.
I then take an elevator that puts me on a conveyor belt. I take it to a roon that contains an Extra Ar+3 and a switch to reverse the conveyor. The room it takes me to now contains some trap switches that summon enemies, along with a switch that makes the conveyor belt move the way I need it to.
The room the conveyor takes me to now contains a save point, along with a switch that dispenses a pair of chests with a Gold Nugget and some Mica (reduces electricity damage to the Gear wearing it by 30%). I then save my game and hit a switch that activates the last conveyor I need to ride.
This conveyor, by virtue of being the last, leads to the end of the dungeon, where I fight an axe-wielding Gear with hover pods (silly Kislev engineers, don't you know what those do to your mobility?). This Gear, stupidly named Fis-6, has the ability to increase its stats with Shift Up, though it will overheat after a while and lose all its boosted stats and then some. It also has the ability to repeatedly target Citan who is the only member of my team without a repair item AAAAAARRRRGH!!!!!
Once you do enough damage, some Fis-6Mechanics will show up to repair it. They should be dealt with using Square attacks, as they have enough HP to survive Triangle ones.
Other than that, the strategy is simple enough: get to attack level 3, wait for it to overheat, and tear into it.
With enough hits, Fis-6 goes down. It drops plenty of XP (enough to get Fei to level 38, where he learned his next Deathblow right away because I'd already mastered it), 15000 golds, and a Ground, which halves electricity damage to your Gear.
With our foe dealt with, we arrive at the Goliath! Citan takes control of it because he's the most likely to have an idea of how it works.
You'll see how the thrilling escape sequence goes next time.
