As you may have gathered, I have been using another guide with some somewhat improved English for my last few updates... Namely this
one. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but hey, my job here is to simply survive this game and record my process of survival.
In other news, the PS 3 version's US launch is about 2 weeks away. Although it is unlikely that I'll finish this Liveblog before Welsh Accent Drippy's arrival, I intend to continue updating the LB at my normal anemic once-a-fortnight pacing. (Given what I've seen of the guide layout, I would be shocked if there were more than 4 more updates minus a reflection update at the end. That final boss is apparently the next big thing after these rocks.)
Okay, now let’s do that... Wait, what is it that we’re supposed to do with that frog?
“It's the second part of the dungeon. It's a sort of a maze where YOU MUST follow that frog. If you take a wrong turn you'll get cursed (your magic is sealed). There is a HP crystal too.”
Uh... Well... Crud. Anyhow, let’s go at it.
Progressing on into the ruins, we head down some stairs... And... Run into a frog at a 2-way fork... It’s a bit of a colorful critter... Green head with yellow and orange markings... White underbelly with blue sides... And I’m pretty sure those are purple feet. Unlike a skittle, I’m pretty sure that this rainbow doesn’t taste any good.
Oliver and the party try talking to it... Which given how the frog is only speaking in 2 syllables, can’t possibly be helpful...
We reach a 3 way intersection. (This one has a HP crystal nearby in plain sight.) And the frog go- Ah... It’s pretty easy to keep track of the thing here, they pause the camera to let the frog off, and then you just follow. He went south out of the 4 directions possible.
Path’s kinda linear, if infested with those horrid eels which we deftly outran. At the next intersection, the frog keeps on trucking west... And... We got into a place with red and blue gates that trigger upon walking over them... Uh...
“If you followed the frog you should come across a square shaped room. At its corners are 3 chests (two red, one blue), and the exit at the bottom right. However, there is a puzzle: there are red barriers and blue barriers which open and close alternatively every time you cross them.”
Ah. So... Checking the four corners for goodies, then...
The bottom left is easy enough to get to, it has 7000 G stashed in there. As is the top left... It’s got... I can’t tell if that’s supposed to be bread or a deformed piece of amber, but it’s something... Alright, onto the upper right for the blue chest, then the lower right to get out. The top right has a blue dropper... Thing... In it.
Now I realize why the guide didn’t have much to help us out in this room. It’s A: Confusing to map. B: Not too hard to brute-force. Just alternate between red and blue switches while heading in a general direction. Alright, now to get out...
Okay, this one’s a little more complicated... We manage to get jumped by an Eggman lookalike, backed up by a purple unicobra and a... Teal cheese grater robot? I don’t know... But whatever they were, they didn’t hit too hard (probably because we drug Kree back out) and went down with some spell spamming.
Oh, we got another one of those... Bread things? From that fight too. After getting ambushed another time in another largely uneventful battle, we make it out... And... Whelp, guess we’re not going south. There’s a gate here. North it is!
In a later battle, we find out that those unicobras are not so harmless. They’ll hit Oliver for around 30-35 damage consistently from the very back rows. Which gets kinda annoying to have to heal.
Anyhow, eventually, you’ll catch up with the frog at a closed gate, and things transition into a party cutscene... The party gets a little stumped for how to get around the present roadblock... And someone from up ahead mentions something... Hmm?
Well, we can’t see who it is, but sounds like they’re kinda anxious for some help... And we get prompted to break out that stylus wand... Unlock?
... Nope... Uh... Guide? Help me out here... Ah... A spell called “Lantern”... Which should be the 15th one in Trope-tan... It looks like a U above a triangle.
Wait, what, why is it not- Oh. We really *were* supposed to use Unlock... The gate opened for us. >_>
But then where’s- Eh forget it, we’ll find out soon enough.
Pressing on, we enter a dank room with a red chest in the corner... And a small frogman... Oh, that’s who was talking to us...
Swaine doesn’t seem too thrilled to meet him... Or Oliver... Or Drippy. Didn’t you guys know? Humanoid frogs are really just people that have been cursed with awesome! It’s been a fact of life for like 15 years!
There’s a mention of a... “Kaeru” King... (Isn’t that “Frog King”?) And some creepy music box music starts up... Uh... Where’s this going?
Whatever’s happening, Maru seems to have more than a small inkling of what this all is... What’s her angle? She seems to be getting touchy kinda frequently... There’s a name... “Taameru”... And something about the mention of a kingdom’s first king... Is that what this frog-guy is? A washed-up king- Oh wait, no, that’s the speaker. Uh... Well... He’s not exactly an *imposing* king...
And... Oh, so that’s where the snake plays in... So there’s a snake... And it’s being a problem... For some reason or another. (Given that these are frogs, likely an existential reason.)
Whelp, judging by Drippy’s reaction to “Glenn”’s storytelling here, I’d say that we’re pretty close.
There’s quite a bit more talking... Some shouting from Esther and Drippy... Just what is Taameru telling us here?
Some more tense-looking yacking, and the game whisks Taameru away and frees us up. There’s not much in the chest, just some sort of hold item. Anyhow, let’s equip here, since I remember seeing a mention of the snake turning out to be some nasty boss.
After screwing around to buff Rucci, Kree, and Taillow’s stats, we smash up the MP crystal and head back for the gate, which is now gone... Uh... Now what?
“After some dialogue, open the red chest, then return to the fork after the barrier maze. Go south this time around. It is worth noting that if you are willing to risk the curse (some of your magic attacks are randomly greyed out, including heal: you must redraw them), there is to the south a stairway where there is a red chest at the west. But for now, letfs go back to the entrance, and to the save point.”
Back to the save point? ... Okay...?
“This time around go east.”
Oh... That makes a bit more sense...
And true enough, Taameru shows up once we reach a barricade of 4 wooden pylons. Then proceeds to jump over a small stretch of water to reach a switch to let us through.
And now... Uh... Wait, are we still cursed here? Or are we freed to move around? Nope, no mention of a curse, let’s skulk about. (We’ll apparently need lantern after going north.)
We head east, and... Oh THIS must be where we were supposed to use Lantern... Everything’s pitch black! There’s a creepy cry off in the distance... Yes, because turning the lights on right now is *so* going to help us right now. And then the room becomes normally navigable.
There’s a statue by a door... With an exclamation mark over it... Going over to check reveals... Whatever it is, it gave everyone EXCEPT Esther a good scare. And the door to the next room opens...
We head down a narrow but windy path and... Get a notice?
... Oh, this is what the guide meant by graying out spells... Uh... What’s an “esukeepu”- Oh. It’s teleport... Uh... Let’s break out Trope-Tan here... Spell 19...
... Well... Going back outside wasn’t exactly my plan here... Uh... Let’s try that again... Okay so the turn we didn’t take earlier is just an alcove with a red chest on it. There’s some sort of green vial in it, moving on. Oh... So we missed the save point for no good reason... >_>
Anyhow, we’ve saved and healed, so let’s go pound this snake. We wind up progressing to a broken... I think that’s most accurately described as a landing? Anyways, it’s a flat place by a body of water. Oliver starts talking with Taameru...
Who says a couple words... And then everything starts shaking violently as the Boss Encounter music starts up.
Then there’s a rendered cutscene if darkness coming together and coalescing around a nasty-looking purple cobra naga dude with a pincer tail. (To be fair, the head's also snake-like unlike most nagas.) Oh boy... Alright, guide, care to share any tips with me here?
“This boss is weak to ice attacks, and physical attacks. You should have Lv.30 Imagen at this point or it will tear your party apart. You'll have to use one healer, and the only safe squares not spammed by his 130HP attacks are the bottom left ones.”
Hmm... Whelp, I know who’s hugging the bottom corner... And who’s playing healer.
Anyhow, let’s see how accurate this claim is. We’ll set up with Rucci, have Kree take a physical potshot and Oliver try an ice spell.
Well... It *is* weak against ice... And took around 180 HP damage in total from the round. Unfortunately, the guide didn’t mention anything about having to take hits that went down in vertical columns. (Did 65-ish HP damage to Kree, and 75-ish to Oliver.) >_>
Alright, new plan. Heal Oliver, have Rucci chip away, while Kree plays “distraction” in a different movement column.
And, since Kree’s kinda hurting, let’s have him heal himself while Oliver and Rucci work on this boss- Or not. I see pulsing... Let’s have everyone defend and Oliver heal Kree.
... Gee, thanks for the help, guide... >_> Okay, THAT time, it was a move that carried on until it hit its target... Across the entire field...
And guess who was the lone soul not to defend and to eat 90 HP damage? >_>
*sigh* Let’s just stick with a variant of our “corner of power”. Kree takes the outside so that way he doesn’t get Oliver zapped while defending and distracting, Rucci can be a meatshield and jab at this naga with his fruit knife this turn while Oliver licks his wounds.
Alright... That worked. And another turn allowed Oliver to heal fully... Except now Kree’s in the danger zone... Again.
Let’s just have everyone not named Oliver attack and have Oliver heal Kree this turn.
And go figure, the thing zeroes in on Oliver the moment I stop taunting him. >_<
Okay... Let’s try this again... Kree taunts. Rucci attacks, and Oliver uses that Ice Spell of his. Whelp, that time we did 280+ damage to the 40 Kree took, so that’s a start... Let’s try that again.
Whelp, that got us slightly closer... 290 HP damage... Except Rucci’s HP is half gone, and so’s most of his MP... Oliver still needs to heal himself... Hmm... Let’s just try and max out our everything this turn and- Actually wait, scratch that. I see the naga pulsing again. Let’s nail everything down and hope we don’t die. Oliver can heal Kree in the interim.
Whelp. Looks like our meatshielding hypothesis was correct... And Rucci and Oliver both limit breaked. Let’s have them both use their specials while Kree can patch Oliver up with a sandwich or something.
In that lovely turn, Rucci did 589 damage... And took 79 from the boss. Oliver wasn’t exactly a slouch himself, he did 242 damage. That’s about as much damage as we’ve done in all the other turns combined up to this point.
Let’s have Kree play distraction once again while Oliver and Rucci go on the offense. (Plus Rucci would probably keel over and die if he got hit the wrong way at this point, he only has 71 HP left!)
Doing so turns out to have been wise. We got in 300 HP damage. Kree ate 50, and Rucci’s attack boost wore off that turn. Anyhow, Kree only has one turn left in which he can use that taunt attack (12 MP), so let’s see what we can set up this turn...
Rucci needs healing... Kree needs HP AND MP healing... Hrm... Whelp, we’ve got a thing that’ll restore 70 MP... So let’s try using Kree as a distraction while Rucci sets up and Oliver buffs him.
Hmm... 26 HP... Seems worth it. Now it’s Kree’s turn for attention while we hope this jerk doesn’t zap Rucci and Oliver. Rucci can engage with his fruit knife. We got in 150 HP damage while Oliver ate a 60 HP cane smack to the head.
Alright, now that Kree’s back in business, let’s polish off that last third of naga with Rucci and Oliver.
We do so... Get in about 270 HP damage to the 50 Kree takes... And he’s got 117 left... Sounds like a winning proposition to me! Let’s do it again! In the next turn, we got in an additional 260-ish HP in, and have Naga down to his last 20% HP... Unfortunately, he’s going to do his bum rush again, so we’ll have everyone buckle down except for Oliver, who can be the lone soul providing an icy resistance.
Aand we’ve got him tottering!
Let’s have Kree distract once more and hope this final push is enough.
... Nope, but it *did* get Rucci over the hill for his limit break. Let’s heal Kree here to be safe and hope that Rucci can do this snake in already.
Wait, WHAT?! Rucci’s attack was like half as strong as it was last-! Oh, his attack boost wore off...
*sigh* Well, at least we’re all in good shape... Kinda. Anyhow, Kree. Be a distraction here.
After an Ice spell, Oliver FINALLY makes the thing keel over and dissolve into light. For that arduous ordeal, we got 7208 EXP and 378 G. Which was enough to let Phyco, Kree, Swaine, and Seba level up... Oh, and Bruce.
Oh?
Kree is evolving!
Both of his options have the same weaknesses and resists... They are a water-elemental with superior HP and MP and a neon blue color scheme and round the board stats... Versus a fire-elemental form in pink and purple with inferior round-the-board stats...
After the battle, we obtained a lovely blue round stone... And there was much rejoicing... And then Taameru was a downer and cut the music- Eh? What’s with that flash-?
Oh, so Taameru really *was* a cursed human... Basically, take his same appearance, make it taller, and make his red cap fit his head with brown hair. Not too much of a difference there beyond not being green.
... And the creepy music box noise returns... Taameru gives some exposition as Skittles hops up to us... And flashes... Wait, what on earth is he-?!
Oh... Skittles was apparently Taameru’s girlfriend. Ouch at Esther seeing her opportunities for a pickup shot down like that. Though to be fair, it *was* kinda unexpected. I thought that Skittles was just a familiar or something. Human!Skittles and Taameru go over to embrace each other, and... Oh, she actually has a name... ‘Yasumiso’... ... I think I preferred ‘Skittles’.
There’s a cut to the exterior of the ruins, where Taameru and Yasumiso see us off. And then the group proceeds to yack amongst itself for a bit before we leave the lovebirds be. There’s an option to save here, let’s take it.
After a brief pit stop at Ding Dong Dell for cheap lodging, we hop back onto our ship of helpfulness, and set sail for that arctic continent. Swatting off about a half-dozen largely uneventful sea battles with Imagines we’ve seen about 20 times already on the way. The landing site’s a bit tricky, though. It’s in the northeast, which is a kinda out-of-the way place to tuck it.
Let's leave off here and continue our quest in some frigid surroundings next time.
Takeaway Points:
- The VAs didn't exactly do much in this update, the animators were a little better and gave us an introduction scene for the stone boss in this dungeon.
- Note that after the save point we encountered last time, you MUST follow
SkittlesYasumiso around to avoid getting your magic cursed. If you manage to get your magic cursed, you can dispel it by going into the list of hotmapped spells with the Y button (yes, that exists and I totally didn't forget about it) and pick out which ones are cursed by which ones got replaced with a gray question mark. Simply redraw the spell on the "direct cast" menu to de-curse it.- Tameru illustrates that frog curses tend to have negative effects that scale with how active an individual is. Get cursed while being a knight? Become a more awesome knight. Get cursed while being a palace couch potato...? You get to help with mazes. :|
- So obviously, Tameru should take up wrestling bears or something in his spare time. To make sure that he gets cursed with awesome if something like this happens again.
- Tameru illustrates that frog curses tend to have negative effects that scale with how active an individual is. Get cursed while being a knight? Become a more awesome knight. Get cursed while being a palace couch potato...? You get to help with mazes. :|
- Surviving Sir Hiss-a-Lot; TL/DR version: The guide on Game FA Qs actually had some very handy insights for taking this boss on, though appeared to be off on a few notable details. True enough, the boss does seem to be weak to ice (or more broadly, water magic), though his HP stat is insane enough that you'll be working at him for a LONG time. He also hits HARD. As in "50-60 damage from a default attack" hard. It's not strictly necessary to use healing spells, indeed, you may find it easier to simply stock up on hamburgers or sandwiches from a shop (you HAVE a teleport spell, after all) and let whoever's best-equipped to tank a hit handle healing. Kitty cornering as the guide suggested works... With one important caveat: You MUST have someone to draw the boss' attacks away from your column with 2 party members in it, otherwise your arrangement is still vulnerable to his "vertical beam of pain" (also, it helps build up Limit Breaks). Aside from those things, the main thing needed to survive this fight is tenacity, patience, and some coffee for restoring MP couldn't hurt either.
- I am at slightly at a loss to explain the placement of these three rocks... What on earth do a massive icecap and a abandoned jungle temple/palace have to do with each other anyways?
Stats:
- Oliver: Level 27: 143 HP / 103(/114) MP
- Kree: Level 30: 172(/175) HP / 110 MP
- Rucci: Level 30: 227(/228) HP / 80(/120) MP*
- G: 35885.
- Play Time: 64 hours, 48 minutes, 57 seconds.
