Welcome back, record keepers! Let me begin this next update by pointing out some tiny errors I made last time. This isn’t a good sign for a self-proclaimed Grammar Nazi, is it? Anyways, I said that you could upgrade ‘four Major Stats’ in the level-up menu, when all five are accessible. Also, the wonderful MFM pointed out that I kept calling Sieghart ‘Siegfried’ at the end of the last update. Too much Soul Calibur, or did I miss it because my writing program actually recognizes it as a name and doesn’t put a red line underneath like it does for ‘Sieghart’? The world may never know...
Now, before we get into some action, let’s take a look at Eugene! Our blue-haired jokester is a Warrior that, now that Sieghart’s weapon of choice has changed, will be our main swordsman. Eugene has B-level growth in STR and VIT, and C-level growth in the other three Major Stats. Said stats begin at 13 STR, 12 VIT, 7 AVD, 6 MAG, and 9 LUK. While this means that our magic-focused main character has better stats overall, considering that he’s the only other member of our party right now, Eugene’s physical prowess will definitely be useful. He begins with two General and two Combo skill slots, though one of those General slots is vacant, and will gain room for a Fire and a Wind skill upon promotion. His current job is “Doyen’s Left Hand”, and as I have no idea who or what Doyen is, I’ll just assume that it’s the last name of this Ernesto bloke I’m supposed to report to.
Before we get to Ernesto, though, Sieghart and Eugene are going to have to perform a few mandatory battles. There are two red dots on the map between where we are now and a place that says ‘EVENT’, signifying random encounters that we must beat up before progressing. Once beaten, these spots turn blue, and we can return anytime we want to grind for experience. The first red dot, named Esto Steppe, pits the duo against a pair of Hornets. I soon learn that Varacade must have been a real wimp; while these bugs are barely doing any damage to us, it’s not like I can wipe one out with a single combo. I manage to Overkill one, which happens if a chain of attacks not only kills an enemy, but deals enough additional damage to surpass its maximum HP. I get a trophy for that, “It’s The Only Way To Be Sure”, and then win the battle with a D-Rank. Getting ranks higher than D gives you additional rewards at the end of battle, and they are obtained through using a minimal amount of turns.
Before moving on, I choose to fight in Esto Steppe again. I find that your HP is restored to maximum after any battle, which is yet another similarity to other games Compile Heart worked on. Also, after getting a C-Rank this time, I realize that Eugene joined the party at Level 3. Moving to the next node, I fight against 2 Hornets for the third time in a row, and I get a B-Rank. I now have access to the ‘EVENT’ area, but it’s not Ernesto’s place; it’s the Duma Footpath. Here, Mimel suddenly senses that something bad is about to happen, and she couldn’t be more right. With a screech and a rumble of the controller, our next major opponent falls from the sky. It’s...a mess of contradictions, if you ask me. It seems to be a plant, which doesn’t explain the screeching or the jumping. In battle, I find out that it’s called a Worm Tail, despite the only worm-like appendages on the thing being the two vine arms at its front. And while I’m pointing out things that don’t make sense, Sieghart pulled out his sword when the beast started to approach, yet goes back to the scythe in actual combat.
For this battle, Mimel was told to back off, but we do have Friedlinde giving us temporary support! The girl’s a tad nervous, and Eugene’s usual quips aren’t really helping, so Eugene decides to make a bet: whoever slays this thing gets to boss around the other two for the rest of the day. Sieghart decides to play along to increase team morale, and Linda does get a bit more pepped up for this, though Eugene starts to fear what will happen if he loses his own bet. The game then takes over for me for a turn and a half, making the three fighters Standby in each other’s Extended Zone while the beast slowly approaches. At the attacking phase of the second turn, we are now introduced to Extra Skills. Basically, once a character has enough AP and SP (the latter earned through various means, such as dealing and taking damage), they can unleash a powerful move against their foes. Sieghart’s, which you’re forced to utilize first, deals good damage and lowers all of the foe’s Major Stats. He also says the following when he unleashes it in this tutorial:
“Illumination...Impale my enemies...! Howling Storm!”
I don’t know about you, but if I ever met someone in real life that called his or her attacks, I’d question their sanity. Going back to the game, the group now discusses how to Overkill, and that it will guarantee a rare item drop from the deader-than-dead enemy. Since they’re discussing the concept now, I assume that I can actually Overkill this thing...but I don’t seem to be able to. Either I accidentally kill the thing before telling everyone to Standby and gain more AP for the major assault, or the major assault falls flat because I’m off by a hundred or so points of damage. After quite a few reloads, I decided to just train up Sieghart and Eugene some more at the previous node, Dodoma Plains. After a while, with some fights actually having an extra Hornet, I get a bunch of Overkills (these things always drop Poison Needles when Overkilled), 2 C-Ranks, 1 B-Rank, 1 D-Rank, and 1 E-Rank. If this is anything like Cross Edge, these rankings can drop all the way to H and I, and can lead to less rewards than usual.
After my first Surprise Fight, in which my party is split across the field due to being ambushed, Sieghart finally reaches level 3. Since I desire power, I put 8 points into my INT to make it 21. Now that it requires 3 skill points to level up again, and I only have 2 left, I put them all into LUK and raise it to 15. With renewed confidence, I prepare to tackle the Worm Tail again...and yet again fail to Overkill it. I briefly consider using the Party Points I began the game with to improve Sieghart’s stats even more, since PP are like skill points, but can be used at any time and on any character. However, I A-Ranked the fight this time, giving me enough experience to level up both Eugene and Sieghart, and the beast dropped a Vigor Ring accessory. So, why strain myself trying to gain slightly better stuff? I should also mention that this means, completely by coincidence, that Linda dealt the killing blow. If there was another cut scene after this battle, it would probably be about Eugene dreading this outcome...
As this is the first time Eugene has levelled up, I can’t help but notice how much harder it’s going to be to make him decent. Remember how I said that his growth rates were overall worse than Sieghart’s, and that it cost Sieghart only a single point to upgrade any Major Stat below 11? Well, it would cost Eugene 3 skill points to upgrade AGI and LUK, and 4 points to upgrade AGI, all of which start below 10. Deciding to just go with what the swordsman does best, I pump everything into STR, bringing it to 18. As for Sieghart, since I don’t want to have any unspent points if I can help it, I use six to bring his INT to 23 and the remaining four to bring his AGI to 16. And while we’re on the topic of menus and organizing the party, even though Friedlinde was in that last battle, I can’t officially put her in my party quite yet. Also, that Vigor Ring gives a boost of 1 VIT (Major Stat), 3 Def and 3 Hit (Minor), and is going right on Sieghart.
And I think that’s enough for now. Next time, there’s only one red node between Duma Footpath and the next EVENT, which I’ll assume is where I’ll be meeting Ernesto. Ta-ta for now!
