What's this? Another update already? Honestly, I was just bored.
When we last left our Mighty Heroes, they were headed into stage 2-6: Castle Chambers. As we enter, that same poorly-animated shadow appears again, and Ein actually notices it this time.
As a side note, for this update I'm playing with Japanese voices just for a change, and I honestly lost all respect for them upon first hearing Ein's/Excel's/Ecthel's (delete based on personal preference) Japanese voice, which is honestly the worst "adult female as young male" voice I've ever heard.
Anyway, there's a blue torch in this room that bears examining. I can ignore it, light the branch from before, or stick my hand in it. That last option is what I choose, and it provides Ein with a boost to his magic instead of the expected second-degree burns. I can do any of the options again, so I light that branch to get a Torch. I could also examine the weird modern art in the room, but it doesn't lead to anything so I'm just going to move on.
Ein immediately talks about how the statues were made by the Sprites, something he knows because the statues don'e "seem" evil. Go figure. Anyway, a mage shows up with a horde of undead to kill, and I immediately start kicking myself for getting rid of the Rosary last time.
Oh well. I still S-ranked them (though I used up the Naga Fang in the process) to get a Silver Rapier from a skeleton. Fia then comments on how strong the demons are, and Ein talks about how there could've been injuries if the search had happened (dude, we get it. You think this is dangerous. Now shut up.)
One of the statues here is carrying a spear (...sort of), so I examine it. Ein somehow figures that the bizarre abstract...thing he's looking at is a statue of a knight, proving that he has more of an imagination than myself. I examine the statue again and Lina (or Lyuri, if you really think that's a good name) suggests that we steal the spear. I take it, because that's what adventurers do, and I obtain the first spear in the game, Gae Bolg. A Potion is discarded to make room for it, because honestly healing isn't very important in this game (...he says, after a battle where Fia was reduced to a single hit point). Ein then suggests that the spear belonged to a demon, and Fia says that she senses great ill will toward us, which will never be elaborated on. Anyway, I now have more stuff to master, and here's what I got for it:
Ein:
- Gae Bolg: Demonic Spear: Level 2, 2-hit physical non-elemental attack, power of 80, also damages Ein, does more damage when Ein has less HP
- Silver Rapier: Balestra: Level 2, 3-hit physical holy-elemental attack, power of 72
Fia:
- Gae Bolg: Air Edge: Level 1, 1-hit magic non-elemental attack, power of 82, also damages Fia, Mot-Vit (again, anyone know what this does?)
- Silver Rapier: Brillante: Level 3, 4-hit physical holy-elemental attack, power of 82, last hit strikes enemies behind the target
Lina:
- Gae Bolg: Lancer (No, I think you got that backwards):Level 1, 1-hit magic non-elemental attack, power of 115, also damages Lina
Also, the Japanese voice clip for the Gladiator enemies' Break Out is hilarious (Danshingu Seibaah!).
All right, that's enough of that. It's time to move on. Fia and Lina discuss how there are too many demons to return safely, even though we are now strong enough to quickly and efficiently curbstomp everything here. Fia then apologizes for getting Ein involved, despite the fact that Ein came by his own free will (something the writer seems to have forgotten, given that she claims they forced Ein to come). Anyway, nothing's here but another random chest with nothing I need, so on to stage 2-7: Moonlit Courtyard.
We immediately hear a generic battle noise (the one used for magic attacks, if my ears do not deceive me), and I'm given the option to deny its existence or admit that I heard something. The latter option leads to Lina wondering what Ein thinks the noise was. I can say it sounded like a scream, the wind, or metal. That last one is the correct answer and gives me Lina affection points, but I say that it's the wind because I'm not going for those. This causes Lina to lose affection points for some reason, while correcting Ein.
Anyway, there are some wilted "flowers" here, so I examine them. What better time than when there's a potentially fierce battle raging nearby to do some impromptu gardening, after all? Fia explains that the flowers are called Moon Lilies, and that they only bloom under the light of a full Peace Moon before dying in the morning (never mind that the vast majority of creatures that pollinate flowers are not nocturnal and thus would never encounter these flowers). Anyway, I'll need to get some water for them, so onward to the next screen.
After killing some more generic enemies (breaking the wrapping on my new spear in the process), I head off the beaten path to the south. This leads to a fountain that I can obviously get water for the flowers from (I could also drink the water or extinguish my torch, but those are the wrong choices). On my way back to the flowers, though, Lina trips and I can choose to save her with a command minigame. After saving Lina, I gain affection with her (along with 3000 points), but I lose the water. This forces me to get more from the fountain (sitting through the same exchange about the water that I already saw in the process).
Fortunately, nothing happens to interrupt my task of saving the magic flowers from the forces of natural selection. This gives me 5000 points, and one of the flowers contains a Moondrop (say, remember how there was someone who needed that?). The Moondrop gives me 2500 points. My next course of action is to pick one of the flowers, adding a Moon Lily to my key item list and 2500 points to my score.
Anyway, anything we've forgotten? Oh yeah, that battle or whatever. Might as well check that out while we're here.
As I try to move onward from the second screen, Ein sees something shiny. Picking it up reveals that it's a Black Earring, which can raise Magic and hit rate for anyone not Ein (or Ledah, I guess). It also has no associated Over Skills, and I have an inventory full of items that teach Over Skills, so I toss it.
Moving on again, a girl with black bat wings lets out an obnoxiously high-pitched scream. This makes it clear: there's a battle raging above us. However, there's also some grass I can search. This reveals that it contains clovers. Fia and Lina explain the superstition about how four-leaf clovers bring good luck in various things, such as love.
They then immediately start searching for one, in hopes that it will make Ein fall in love with them. Ein starts searching too, and whether or not you find one is completely random. It didn't happen this playthrough, but if it did, I would've obtained 6000 points for it.
Anyway, what was that about a battle? Oh, right. There's one going on right now. Better check that out.
Looking up shows the girl from before, fighting a blonde woman with black wings and a blue polearm. Blonde mystery lady taunts bat girl about how her entire race is dead, and they fight. Mystery lady claims her blue thing is an axe, too.
Gee, I wonder what race she belongs to.
Anyway, bat girl is heavily outmatched, and goes down quickly. The party then talks to bat girl, who Lina identifies as an Arc. Fia explains how they came from Elendia to help, and mystery lady shows up to fight us. Mystery lady laughs at the notion that she could be a demon, before drawing her axe. Ein then asks her name
Now, I want you to remember what she says now.
She says, and I quote, "The dead need not know my name."
Please don't say her name in the comments. I just want you to focus on the fact that this woman refused to give out her name to the party.
Anyway, what follows is one of the most painfully poorly-planned unwinnable battles ever. The fight ends when she uses her Break Out, but it doesn't automatically fill up unless you take your sweet time filling the Rage gauge. As such, you either have to waste item charges or just throw Einherjar for several turns until she stops messing around. It doesn't help that her attacks are about as underwhelming as they get (she routinely does no damage at all to Ein). After a few attacks, her Rage gauge automatically fills up and she pulls out her Break Out, Blue Sophia (ugh). After doing exactly six points of damage to Lina, she notices Einherjar and recognizes it as a Diviner.
Ein's head starts hurting due to his hearing the word "diviner", because amnesia totally works like that. Mystery lady then retreats because her Diviner is resonating and therefore becoming weaker, a plot point that does not matter in the slightest.
Anyway, Ein passes out for a while, and after he wakes up, the team discusses what just happened. Following that, the Arc speaks up, and our heroes explain who they are and what they're here for. The Arc introduces herself as Serene, and explains that the mystery lady from before killed off her people, making Serene the last Arc. She explains that the mystery lady took everyone's souls, which is totally something you can tell without special training. Serene does the standard "I'll never forgive her!" thing, before joining our party entirely to get revenge on the mystery lady. As such, it's time to explain Serene (after discarding my Pendant to replace with her Hell Scythe because I can get more in practice battles).
Serene: Serene is awesome. She has the highest Strength in the game, can use all sorts of weapons, and is generally a good choice all around. I count myself as a major Serene fan. The only real problem with her is that her Japanese voice is way too high-pitched, a problem very easily solved by simply choosing the English voices. She highly resists ice and slightly resists darkness, but is weak to fire and lightning.
However, she won't be doing much of anything until I train her up, so I'll do that. Here's what I get:
Ein:
- Hell Scythe: Dragon Flash: Level 1, 1-hit physical non-elemental attack, power of 109, low accuracy, unblockable
Lina:
- Hell Scythe: Terror Swing: Level 1, 1-hit magic ice-elemental attack, power of 79, inaccurate, unavoidable
Serene:
- Iron Sword: Sage Stream: Level 1, 2-hit magic non-elemental attack, power of 42
- Flamberg: Volcano Strike: Level 1, 2-hit magic fire-elemental attack
- Rapier: Stinger: Level 1, 1-hit physical non-elemental attack, power of 74, low accuracy
- Silver Rapier: Straight Slash: Level 1, 1-hit physical holy-elemental attack, power of 131, low accuracy
- Gae Bolg: Illuminance: Level 2, 2-hit magic non-elemental attack, power of 66, also damages Serene, can't hit flying enemies
- Power Wrist: High Tension: Level 2, highly increases Serene's Strength, damages Serene
- Hell Scythe: Serene Combination: Level 3, 3-hit physical ice-elemental attack, power of 68, unblockable, last hit strikes enemies near the targets
I should note that Serene benefits from the single best non-HP stat boost in the game. Other characters, when they master one of their signature weapons, get 6 points toward the stat the Over Skill they learned uses. Serene, meanwhile, gets 9 points of Strength for every scythe she masters. As such, she will ultimately leave everyone else in the dust Strength-wise by the end of the game.
Anyway, this is where I'll leave off for today. As far as the voice acting is concerned, I think I honestly prefer the English voices, if only because Serene has an actually-fitting voice instead of the squeal she got in Japanese. The exception, of course, is the Gladiator enemies, for there will always be room in my heart for their mighty Danshingu Seibaah.
Next time: The End of Chapter 2
