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Met is... one way to describe it.
Then you must know of the beast at the end of the 10th floor. Its strength is quite fearsome, but it has an even more horrific quality... You see, Esbat and the other powerful guilds joined forces to destroy it at my request. As one would expect, their combined strength was enough to destroy the monster. But only days later... the monster reappeared as if nothing had ever happened!
Don't tell Alastor about this.
Deal. Now do you understand why I hired Esbat to block the path? While that beast still lives, I can't let any explorers throw their lives away by accident. Only those who have heard the tale I tell you now are allowed to proceed to its lair. Well? Is your guild willing the challenge the immortal beast?
So this is kind of a weird tidbit. In other EO games a boss being able to respawn is kind of lightly acknowledged, but this is like the first time that sort of phenomenon is actually seriously acknowledged in-universe for whatever reason.
It won't be immortal when I'm throo wi'it!
Hrr hrr! I see... I expected as much. Then I won't spare the details. Its den is at the end of the 10th floor, directly in front of the stairs upward. Its unholy power of healing and control of fire has led us to name it Hellion. Countless explorers have met their deaths in combat against the fiend. If you intend to defeat the Hellion, you must face him fully prepared! Still need to reach it first, but otherwise, you seem to be in a lot of pain.
If it's back problems I can kick it into shape.
We received the specially made clothes we ordered for the Duke's daughter. It's almost her birthday... one of the few times each year she goes out in public. She's a wise woman, and very kind to all she meets. Beautiful, too... she attracts marriage proposals from royalty all over the world. Perhaps if you keep up the good work, you might meet her in person. Until then, head back to the Labyrinth and be diligent in your exploration.
I'm never okay. But I assume you meant something else.
What do you mean, "What?" You're up on the 10th floor, aren't you? I heard that's where a huge monster lives! He said it looked just like me! The cheek of that one! Do me a favor, and go see if that monster really is as pretty as me! Bahaha!
that makes one of us
I would be hoping my mannerings would be distinctly enough!
Oh, yes, I heard that you often shop at Sitoth Trading. It so happens that all the medicine they stock is made at this hospital! We're always working on medicine to ease the lot of an explorer. Please take advantage of our medicine for a safe journey through the Labyrinth.
Well I, eheh, have my reasons.
Sigh...
Listen to this! The other day, I got the cutest earrings! They're made of gold, and they shine so wonderfully in the light. They're so, so pretty. Our jeweller does a great job of making them! They're useful in the Labyrinth, too.
But of course, the best necks are the ones I can't see.
Ahaha... but you came for information, not jokes. I've heard that you've gone as high as the 10th floor. It's supposedly home to a fierce monster. Only a few explorers have seen it. One of the survivors gave me a description. Black, bobbed hair, and a horned monster... Honestly, I couldn't make head or tail of his babbling. I don't think the beast looks very threatening, but we only know it's strong against fire. That's all the advice I have for you. Never underestimate the Labyrinth.
Word travels fast, they only just got back. I need a cuntin' drink!
I admit, I never expected yeh to make it up there. Explorers are a dime a dozen here, but not half of 'em could have made it up there. Hey... hold on a tick.. when did the trees start turning red? Around the 6th floor, eh...? So the place changed on yeh after five floors... yeh're on the 10th floor now--think it'll change color on yeh again on the next floor? Wouldn't that be something? I can't wait to see what'll happen as yeh go higher! Yeh lot better get up to that next Stratum so yeh can tell me! He makes a fair point, considering the heat of these floors due to Salamox, and how it'll rise upwards, I believe the next stratum would be a desert.
I love finding precious gems, they make a nice crunch. Well, yeh know the Duke's Palace isn't far off, right? Naturally, his daughter lives with him. Us common folk don't hear much about their daily lives, since they're up in the palace, but... the Duke's daughter is having a birthday soon. There's a big celebration every year, and usually the whole city bands together to buy a gift. Usually it's a jewel. We have lots of jewelers, but not many quality stones. I think yeh can see where I'm heading with this. Sorry to ask yeh to do our dirty work, but... yeh can find precious stones on every floor up to the 10th, in at least one area per floor. Take yer time and find as many precious stones as you can, then bring 'em right here! Best of luck!
Oh baby it's time for a tile hunt quest spanning everywhere we've visited so far! Shame you couldn't find these places beforehand to note them for later, but considering the reward for obtaining more than you need to is money, it's not that important. I'll still go to every spot anyway. Let me tell you that doing these yourself isn't fun. Once again, I sure am glad I'm not the one that has to play through this crap!
I'm not sure who exactly posted it, but it's from the hospital. Just go to Lagaard Hospital as usual if yeh want the details. Helpful, but we need to kathy for something anyway.
Ah fuck.
oh boy oh boy oh boy Oh this is an infamous one. A bit of history to start... yeh ever heard of the Master Craftsman? He lived in Lagaard long ago, and he was so talented, he even made the Duke's throne. His last work was a chess set. Yeh don't know chess? It's a type of board game, see... there's six types of pieces in chess, and 32 pieces all told. Lots of craftsmen give their own special touch to the pieces. Some collect them just as art. It's the same for this Master Craftsman's pieces... yeh get the drift, eh? One of the nobles around here is after the most important piece, the Queen. It's a rare piece, so yeh're on yer own finding it, unless... Well, if yeh meet someone who's got one, they'd want all the other pieces in trade. G'luck with this one! What's a chess? He didn't really explain it very well. Beats me, I don't play board games since they're spawns of darkness. Now as to finding the pieces... oh Cass just posted a request. That rewards us a chess piece. Okay then.
Yeh remember the quest yeh've got going, where that noble wants the Queen piece? I told yeh before, but it won't be easy to come across. Many nobles collect the Master Craftsman's stuff, and they won't part with it for nothing. But they just might trade it to yeh for a piece they don't have. Now then... to tell the truth, I myself have one of those chess pieces! A man were in here once, and he paid with this piece instead of money. It's the only one I have. But it doesn't interest me much, and I know yeh need it, so I can't hide it away. So I'll swap it to yeh for a few things from the Labyrinth. Here's what I want... 1 Blood Rock, 1 Red Pine, and 3 Tri-Fruits. Bring me back all of that and I'll fork over my piece. G'luck! So begins the Queen quest, Cass mentioned we'll likely get one by trading in all the other pieces for it, and we've got a quest for the first one. You can see where this is going, the reward for the Queen quest is a Beast Bell to hide the fact that we won't be finishing this until POSTGAME! Bit of a pain, but we only need to accept it once to get the rest of the quests, so this will just sit on the request board for the rest of the game. Still, it's not too bad if you keep on top of quests, if only they were mostly interesting. EO2U just flat-out tells you at the start that your reward is a weapon, the Yggdrasil axe, in addition to the complete rework this questline got in general. This one is infamous for lasting all game with basically no end in sight until the game is almost over. One thing you can do to make things less of a pain? Just cancel the quest after taking it. Taking it enables the flag for the later quests to spawn, and canceling it doesn't clear those flags, so you don't have this thing eating up a slot in your quest log.
Eh, good enough. What are yeh, a map ninja?! When they told me someone died up there, I was worried it was yeh lot! Huh... so this is how the floors up there are laid out... that's quite a maze! Well, yeh can count on me to deliver the map to the Grand Duchy. Here's yer reward! I'm counting on yeh!
That, and your assistant. Hey, don't glance behind you all innocent like! damn that never works... Haha, we have so many patients these days, it's automatic for me to ask that. Sorry! As for the quest, we need to build up our stock of medicine for times like this. Could you please retrieve some medical components from the Labyrinth? We need 5 Mint Leaves and 3 Beast Hides. I'm fairly sure you can find them all on the 10th floor. We can't let patients go untreated for lack of supplies. If you find what we need, take it to the Stickleback Bar. I have every confidence in you!
you sure it's not already dead? Then Hart will be sad to miss out on a meal. Phew, it took a lot of text but we're gonna play the game again, wow! Before we continue with 10F, there's a couple things here and there to finish up.
The Mint Leaves are easy enough, but we'll need to grind for some Beast Hides.
Huff, huff, need to extend the reach of this slash already!
I'll run, but I wooon't hide! Grrr!
はやい!
Your medic skillfully examines the beast and asks for help in treating the wounds. Thanks to the medic's and treatment, the beast recovers and leaves the area. Once it's gone, you notice that its hulking body has trampled a path for you to use. You can use this path to cross to the other side of the forest wall!
Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.
best of luck cause i'm tapped out We'll be reet as rain!
It required a Medic and trudging across pain floors you should totally mitigate with Patrol, but the reward is pretty worth it.
Let's get back, Hart is starting to get quite irate about all these hides.
Ahh, welcome back! Did yeh find what they needed for the medicine? Perfect! Now I've just got to pass these on to that health freak... gahhh. Here's your reward. Use it wisely! Neat, we can hoard these for now. And while it took half the update, it is time to explore 10F.
Oh not again! Killed by a Griffin on a previous adventure... how embarrassing.
...zzzzZZZZZzzZZzz... Oh fer cu- Hmm! I was about to kick him awake but what is it boy? Shockingly, the guard has fallen asleep on the job in the middle of the Labyrinth! You reach toward the guard to give him a hard shake, when you see something that stops you. There's a heavy-looking money pouch fastened to the guard's waist... It's a tempting situation... the guard's fast asleep, and doesn't realize you're here. You stand frozen between the two choices: filch the guard's money pouch, or wake him up?
Well he's sleeping on the job, but we have plenty of money, something he might not be so fortunate about. We should wake him up anyway, it's a terrible idea to sleep here. You couldn't live with yourself if you stole from one of the Grand Duchy's guard corps! You resist the temptation and tap the guard's soldier, trying not to look at the money pouch. Mmm... whaat...? I'm a little busy... lemme alone... zZzZZ... The guard shakes himself free from your grasp and seems to be falling back asleep. You give up on the idea of waking the guard, and take your leave from the room. No matter, I'm sure he'll be fine. Still, this is a good lesson about how one should never- Holly!!! Wha? A fool an' his money are easily parted. I learned tha' from an ancient thing called crypto-summit. Hehehe! You tell yourself it's what the guard deserves for falling asleep in the deadly forest... Carefully, steadily, your fingertips brush his pouch... suddenly, the string holding the pouch comes loose and it falls neatly into your hand! Inside, you find a considerable sum of coins. It's too late to return it now. You add the coins to your own and hastily leave the area.
We don't really need this, but it is very funny. Ooh, how naughty!
It appears as though the wall might have some sort of mineral inside... you may use your tools to chip away at the wall, or ignore it and move on.
I question Hart using his teeth for it... but he is very good at this. You'd be surprised with his skills, did you know he can breakdance??? As you chip at the wall, you hear a clinking sound as your tool strikes something hard. Upon carefully pulling it out, you discover that it's a large mineral deposit. You recall now the quest you accepted in the bar... the people of Lagaard anxiously seek stones to fashion into jewels for the Duke's daughter. To your untrained eye, this could be a precious stone or simply a chunk of rock. Either way, you decide to stow it in your bag and hope for the best.
Sharp is right, nearly split my head on one of these before. If the gem quest seems like a huge pain in the ass then this basically unavoidable one is a way out. 6 of the 10 rocks you obtain can be gemstones, but the only thing you get for it is more money, and we just got more money from stealin and pinchin and thievin than we'll get from this quest. So feel free to hand it in now. Would be nice...
Don't like the taste of apple? What's an apple?
Ugh, doors. There's a lot of doors and one of them leads the right way, the rest of them will be explored anyway because I hate my life.
Hmm. Hmmmmmmmm. Hm? Hmmm. Hurry up drawin', toots, we're leavin'! Game design is my passion.
GRAAAAAAH!!! Holy shit... I'm glad he's on our side.
You can hear rustling and chirping from within. It seems the tree is home to an animal nest with young chicks inside... you search your belongings for a Tri-Fruit you can feed to the baby birds.
Eat up and grow big and strong and then I can fight you! Hm. You remove a Tri-Fruit from your pack and place it in the hole. The chirping stops momentarily, but eventually resumes as they begin eating the fruit. You feel the warmth of a good deed done, and leave the area behind you. ...there's no punchline, uh, that was it. If you have a Tri-Fruit then you can feed the birds. No reward, no healing, nothing. And hey, I think expecting something in return isn't a good way to live, do it because you want to, to put a smile on their face, to make the world a better place. These are the kind of lessons Etrian Odyssey II teaches us and that's why it's my 2008 GOTY, yes, even above Super Mario Bros. 2! Some events don't give anything, and I think it's fine for some of those to exist to spice things up. Got Japanese Sonic boxart quote vibes from that bit from Cross.
Hey, hey, cunt, yeah, relax, I just wanna talk. I do declare that we're in a spot of bother. You ever realise... that giraffe... is giraffe backwards. Woah. Wow this is insufferable when it happens to multiple people. Hope we never get hit by it. That's my secret, gurl, I'm always crazy.
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100% Remember the owls that put you to sleep last stratum? Yeah that was a bit annoying, so here's the next one, that confuses the entire party. That can quickly become a huge problem, but if you know how to read the AI files like I'm sure you all totally do, uh, then it'll just limply smack you at full health. If it blindsides you, or if it's below 99% health, then it'll guarantee go for Powder. So... don't do that? Basically save them for last or prepare to one shot them to avoid the deadliest aspects of them.
I don't find the invisible enemies that hard to dodge, but you can skip one of them this way.
We can kill it, I'm sure! Pole first, kill later.
Another one for the pile. Can't use them just yet, what if I need it later?
Grr! Grr! Grr...
Ah the classic hidden shortcut in the corner of an empty room. This is something we definitely can't use for 15 floors!
Almost bounced off his fur.
Meh, well, this exploration has been going quite smoothly. Let's fix that.
Woah, I barely reach its knees. You are quite small, but I guess I have to live with that!
75% 75% 75% 125% 150% 125% 100% 100% 150% 100% 100% 100% 150% 110% 100% 100% Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck, Raflesia weren't too bad by the time you properly got to them but they could still wallop you. Poseidon are tanky, can buff themselves and then basically oneshot your team. Best to nuke them down on turn 1 and then Defend the onslaught, but they can definitely survive a max level Poison or being sleep bombed, so your overpowered strats might not work, since Scurry comes out annoyingly fast. Still, all it does is wipe you, if you can avoid that you can deal with its free turn. Or run, that's fine too. The strongest monster in this stratum. Its high STR stat is what really makes it hit hard, so try to either disable them or take em out first in the 2 turn timespan you're given. Or just defend on the 2nd turn. That'll easily let your party facetank the incoming Scurry.
Alright we have it on the back-FUCK! Gahhh, buggeration! Those familiar with later games might be surprised that it just wrecked us since it should go for Charge first, right? Well, that's what they're attempting, but it doesn't necessarily have to use Charge to then go for its nuke, since even if you disable them, the AI flags are still triggered anyway, bit rude. Still, because it didn't get that small boost from Charge, it didn't wipe the whole party. Still surprised the hell outta me, so definitely watch out for second turns regardless. Time to run. Yeah the AI handler in the first 2 games was rather primitive and wouldn't really check the battle state too closely resulting in some weirdness. Sometimes even fatal weirdness.
Cuntcuntcuntcuntcunt... Blehh...
I suppose it had been going too well. I hate this place. Definitely can't get both chests in one smooth line without getting trapped!
They look soft and inviting... it would be an excellent place to take a rest. You're sorely tempted to dive into the fallen leaves and forget your cares for a time.
Doesn't seem like the best idea with- They've already dived in. Wheeeeeeeee! Well what's the harm? Taking turns standing guard, you dive into the fallen leaves one by one. After frolicking in the leaves, you begin to leave when Rajah cries out sharply!
Beasts are such a great class because of stuff like this happening by chance. Who gave the tiger the item backpack??? If you had an Amrita, then you have unfortunately lost the Amrita! If you weren't carrying an Amrita, you lost Rajah's wallet! If you had given Rajah a portion of your money, you lost half the total amount! Whatever you lost, you cannot find it now. You curse your bad luck and move on. What cunt gave the sabre the item pack??? But he looks so cute with it! Hehe! So to add to the pile or weird things this game has... how about stat checks in events? Not the ones you expect like moving something with STR or dodging traps with AGI, but losing an item or money because your party's LUC was less than 100??? So yeah, I'd rather not lose an Amrita, let's reload a state and come back when we're luckier. Also lol that the game highlights "bad luck" as if you can repeat this event and get the good reward later. EO3 had at least one stat check event early on, I remember that much, but EO4 and on ditched them. I don't miss them, personally. Etrian Odyssey really should have more off the wall classes to conjure up bizarre mental images. You lose 1000 en if you don't have an Amrita on hand for the record.
Delicious prey! Please don't make that malicious face with Sophia ever again.
Bit risky at this low health, but I really wanted to unlock the shortcut. We'll use it once before we unlock the pole and then never use it again, but it's the principle!
The walk to 10F. Hopefully the last time! And while we're on the way...
I won't sleep, dammit! I'm not falling asleep this time! The guard seems to be muttering something repeatedly to himself. Er-hem, uh, money problems? N-Not that I would know anything about those. Wow you're bad at this. Oh... hi. Last time I fell asleep here, I lost my entire salary. My wife yelled at me, and I couldn't even get drunk at the bar. What a mess... You're at a loss for words... especially since you alone know the truth of the matter. It must have been some damn monster that eats money! This forest is one big hellhole! You feel as though you should leave before your conscience gets the better of you. After a short farewell to the guard, you walk briskly from the area. So, what have we learned? The ends justify t'means! Yep. There's no karmic retribution for stealing the money. Do so if you wish, you dirty thief!
See, not a problem! Well... for most of us. By using Defend it's like it never used Charge at all! Ow...
There's other doors to go through but dammit I want that pole. Typical Friday night for me.
Not a problem for me! Cough! Please try and keep my blood in my body. Fucker survived on like 4HP and if Hart wasn't weighed down by staves he would've gone before it! Oh well, we're nearly there and everything will be just-
FUCK OFF!!! The suffering of others is the most amusing thing there is.
Well that was... something. Can we go back now? Cannae wanna take a peek? Not really.
You sense a horrible presence beyond the fluttering red leaves. It knows you're here, but for now, it's content to watch your every move. This must be the Hellion you were sent to defeat... draw your weapons and challenge the fiend!
Yoink! And with that, the typical 10F experience is over with. I don't want to fight dinosaurs again...
Beautiful.
Fear me! Now you're getting it!
The tree trunk before you is forked in two, and a shining liquid spills over the center. You came all this way... you may as well see what happens if you drink the liquid.
Hmm? Agreed, but variety is the spice of life. Down teh hatch! You each scoop the liquid in your hands and swallow some. It's faintly sweet to the tongue, and relieves your exhaustion. Two of your party respond particularly well, becoming filled anew with vigor!
Thank god my Troub got a TP refill! Anyway, only available at night, so it's neat or whatever.
Hmm, reduces Fire damage, just before a Fire wielding boss... I wonder if there's a connection?
Uhuh. Like we could've anyway.
It's like we're not even here. I mean, I can stop if you want. It's really hard not using Hexers, but the enemies get really annoying!
Treasure time!
But the way to the path is blocked, and there seems to be no way to walk through it. As you discuss the issue of how to cross the forest wall, you notice a branch jutting out. If only you had someone capable of twining something around the branch, you could pass over it. A simple Dark Hunter check, right? WRONG! The game will actually elaborate further if you do have one in the party: Just as you had despaired on passing the forest wall, the dark hunter present speaks up. With one stroke of the whip, the dark hunter latches onto a thick branch on the other side! Unfortunately, the branch is rotten, and will not support the entire party's weight. You estimate the branch could support three people at most... This game is pretty rude! Still, we have the tools at our disposal to get here with 3 people, but that'll be for later. Now that you know that the game enforces party count checks you may wonder if the game will truly go that far. Yes, yes it will.
However, the wall before you is thick, and passing it will not be an easy feat. However, your troubadour has a keen ear and picks up on an unusual sound. It's very faint, but it's definitely a musical scale. As the troubadour hums along with the scale, something in the forest begins to change...! The troubadour's voice echoes through the forest, gaining volume and strength as it goes! The trees before you suddenly begin to move as if alive and a path opens up. You stand in awe of the event before realizing that the way forward is clear.
How did you do that? Fuck knows. Nice, an accessory for a disabler. Why did a Troub shortcut lead to this? Fuck knows. That's one of the most baffling class events flavor wise. 
And that's pretty much this floor. Next time there's a few things to finish up and one Hellion of a boss to fight. Ugh. I don't have anything to say at the end this time.
With their folded blade of hanzo steel and other such surface level references, Ronin return with a real bang. In the last game, they were an unlockable class and had a few issues, only really useful against one enemy at a time, had to spend every 4th turn reapplying their stance, and being pretty inferior to the Landy. In this game most of these issues are basically gone, their stances are passives now, but that's what kept them mostly in check. Ronins are one of the most busted classes in this game, able to use their powerful attacks without setting up, have new skills that let them cleave through groups of enemies with little issues, and due to the Landy being hot garbage, they have practically no competition, so using them is super easy. They were fun last game, but they're freaking busted this game, and I cannot wait to use one! Ronin got some super hefty buffs going into this game. Enough to skyrocket them into overpowered territory to be honest. One of the main weaknesses holding them back was their stance system. Instead of opting to rebalance it, Atlus just scrapped it entirely. The Ronin can now use every skill in their arsenal without any restrictions whatsoever, making them able to use their overwhelming offenses from the get-go. So what makes the Landsknecht and Ronin stand out from each other? Not much. In fact the Ronin in this game is straight up a better version of the Landsknecht. Almost everything the Landsknecht can do, the Ronin can do better. It's really sad on the Landsknecht's end, but the Ronin is pretty much one of the most reliable front line fighters to put into your party. Incidentally, this class is by far the glitchiest class in the game in the Japanese version. Fortunately most of these bugs were fixed by the time the game was localized, but not all of them.
Ronin have very similar stats to the first game, though took a hit in some in the level 70 comparison. The main one, STR, remains the same, which is the important part, and they even got a very slight buff to TP. It's TEC and LUC that took the biggest hits, but oh no what a shame. Their HP and VIT are comparable, so they're still pretty fragile, but their other various buffs more than make up for it. A few more passives compared to the pretty linear Troubadour, but similarly a Ronin will have a fair few SP since, like usual, only Overhead is the path worth a damn. It's definitely worth getting both Clarity and Shiraha since it'll make your Ronin waaaaaaaaaay more survivable, and a focus into STR Up doesn't hurt. Shiraha unfortunately takes a bit of time, but since your skills are pretty strong, it can be worth heading to it midgame, it's just nice to have. Dead Law is a great damage boost, but also unnecessary if you're running a Troubadour or War Magus. Nothing wrong with stacking Atk buffs though. STR Up is pretty much the biggest must have since they're a damage dealing class. Their defenses may seem rather frail, but don't worry too much about it. The Ronin is a lot more sturdy than it seems. In fact if you build them right, they're not even remotely a glass cannon at all, so don't worry too much about buffing up their VIT or TEC. Their TP pool is really tiny, so they'll appreciate TP Up once you get all of their important skills. Which there aren't that many of, admittedly.
Alright, first skill up is a real doozy. Shiraha can be pretty amazing... when it works. And work it probably will, 30% is a pretty good chance to completely ignore a specific attack and will definitely be noticeable when it does work. It'll take quite a bit to actually get to, those aren't cheap prerequisites, but as enemies get stronger, this will be invaluable in making sure your Ronin won't get pasted. Uh, if it works. Still, because this is a completely separate check to evasion, this gives the Ronin two chances at dodging an attack, very worthwhile. Later. Hoo boy! Shiraha is one of the reasons I said the Ronin was not as fragile as it looked. A 30% chance to nullify any damaging attack is huge for the Ronin. It's the kind of thing you'd expect to see on a tank class instead of an attacker. (In the later games, it's the tank class that gets access to this kind of passive.) And on an attacker, it really increases their lifespan so much more. Not only that, it works with evasion, so the Ronin essentially gets 2 chances to dodge an attack entirely, which is just completely nuts. Definitely a must have pickup after they've picked up their most important skills first. A max level Shiraha is pretty much a 43%~ increase to their base HP, which is just nuts. I did say that Ronin were a lot more sturdy than they seemed. Another benefit about Shiraha is that evasion boosts doesn't really work on attacks that have extremely high accuracy. Shiraha does, so it's a more reliable form of defense for the Ronin. Still, due to the steep prerequisites, I'd recommend picking this up after you pick up Clarity.
We're back to the main reason to use Ronin, this time around the stances are completely passive, instead boosting their unlocked skills by an alright amount. Like before, we'll go into the positives and negatives of each stance and see- oh Overhead is the best. Again. Now each stance has an equal boost this time, as well as equal strength in their elemental attacks, so we have to see which of the regular skills in a stance tree is the best and, as per usual, it's Midareba. Notice this time that you need to invest more into Overhead to get all its skills and that Seigan and Iai don't have an equivalent L10 skill. That's their main issue, Midareba completely crushes the next best skills in Getsuei and Nukechi, so there's never any reason to use them. And the passive buff helps Midareba even more because it gets boosted for each of its three hits! But I'm getting ahead of myself, you could go the other stances, but the only reason to do so is because of their elemental attacks. Now, if you wanted, you could invest in all 3 trees to get all 3 elemental slashes, but then you wouldn't have enough SP for anything else. It's nice that the three stances were all balanced in some way, but because they're now so similar, Overhead only needs a slight advantage to make the other two completely pointless, more so than last game! It's a funny world, but even the other skills in the Seigan and Iai trees just aren't that useful compared to the raw damage Midareba dishes out, you have other party members for being weird, so there's really no contest. Regardless of having to max out Overhead, because you need to get to level 7 for the multi target elementals, having to max out Overhead is a moot point anyway, you're close enough in all three stances that you could just finish it off! In the first game, the stances were active buffs you had to set up to use a certain set of skills. Here, they've been converted to masteries, which pretty much unshackled the demon known as Ronin, and let them go on a rampage in the Yggdrasil Labyrinth completely unimpeded. In fact, with the stance system gone, you could theoretically mix and match stance skills, something that's almost impossible or just a hassle in most EO games featuring the Ronin. However, this isn't as good as it sounds, as Overhead is the only branch that has worthwhile skills. The other 2 stances don't really have any must haves, and spreading out your class too thin just makes a unit that can do anything, but isn't good at any of it. Which is not what you want in a post-EO1 title. Oh EO2, how I love you... this is the first, and only, hidden passive in the game, level up your stances, and your regular attacks, along with a couple others, would also get that boost. Would've been neat, but it doesn't work in any version, so you'd never know you were missing out. It's not a big deal, since you hit hard enough with regular attacks anyway, Sayageki is a bad skill you should never use, and Issen has plenty of damage already. More would've been nice, but such is life, we can't choose what is and isn't bugged in this stupid good game. And here's one of the bugs that the localization missed. Whoops. And since the Ronin doesn't have access to those skills, those 3 skills miss out on the 11% damage boost. What a shame.
Well STR Up is pretty nice, so why not? Combine this with Shiraha and you'll have a Ronin that can become very good at dodging hits. Of course you won't be able to make use of both until much later, but you have SP to spare, so this lets your Ronin do their job with not much issue. Though, since they take a lot of damage when they do get hit, you might skip a few steps, or just die, so those low HP numbers probably won't see much use, especially if you want to keep them as healthy as possible. Even at max health, a 24% boost is still damn good, so it's definitely an option when you've got your standard attacks set up. After you've picked up the Ronin's attacking skills, consider taking this amazing passive defensive. At max level it starts you off with 24% evasion at full HP, which is already nuts. That provides 31.6% more effective HP. If you combine that with a max level Shiraha, they'll essentially have 88%~ more effective HP, which is nuts. Clarity should probably be what you pick up first before Shiraha, as it's just an easier skill to build into. And this skill is more likely to save your Ronin the more they're in danger too, which is just a great benefit, and makes the Ronin really hard to take down. The only downside is that some enemy attacks have high enough accuracy to the point where they can bypass any form of evasion, but thankfully there aren't too many of those. Because this skill is an evasion boost, avoid taking this in the Japanese version, as it makes your Ronin's accuracy considerably worse as their HP drops.
Our first offensive skill is... boring as fuck. This is meant to be a skill to use before you have anything else, I guess? The Bash damage is basically meaningless since there's 2 enemies in the whole game weak to it and while it's slightly faster than most katana skills, that doesn't really cut it! Pun not intended. And you can very easily dive straight for a useful skill with this class by getting Orochi by level 4. You might not even finish the first floor before then, this skill is completely useless, so completely ignore it. Sayageki is a basic attacking skill. Except you really don't need it because it's so weak, and a bit of patience will net you better attacking skills for your Ronin to use. Hard pass. There was an equivalent skill in the previous game which allowed the Ronin to attack from the get-go without setting up a stance. Except the stance system isn't even in this game, making this game's counterpart to that skill completely and utterly useless.
Oh I suppose this skill exists, even if I haven't mentioned it. I guess you could put one point into this so all your attacks early on aren't Fire based, but it's also similarly pointless when you can go straight for Orochi. This does do more damage than Orochi initially, but you'll be maxing that skill out instead of this one, depends if you want to save the single SP or not. I'll do that just for the heck of it, but this isn't the worst skill? Moving on... It's another basic attacking skill. But I'd avoid making use of this for now, as the only benefit it has over their best attacking skill is that it can be picked up a lot earlier.
Guess who's back. Back again. Midareba's back, slice a friend. This skill takes a while to get to, but it's what you were going to get anyway, and Orochi and Kienzan will do you just fine until then. When you do get this skill, you'll then cleave everything in your path because of how STUPID GOOD this skill is. The exponential curve of EO2 blesses this skill with a crazy power up towards the end, going from 232% damage at level 8 to 264% damage to 420% what the fuck were they thinking. This is why Overhead blows the other two stances completely out of the water. Again. Remember the three hits each get boosted by Overhead's passive, to 33%, and since you just got Dead Law to max level for this skill, add another 30% on top of that. It's so STUPID GOOD and that's why this game is so STUPID GOOD. And you wonder why we were so harsh on the Landy... Pretty much the best damage option for a Ronin period. The only reason not to use this is because the enemy you're fighting is resistant to Cut attacks, or you're just doing some sort of challenge run. Or you're out of TP. No other damage option the Ronin has really compares, and this just lets them tear through everything in the Labyrinth with ease! Easily one of the strongest non-conditional damage skills in the entire game, and this alone just makes the Ronin a broken class. Also in the last game, multihit skills were slightly weaker than single hit skills due to how the damage formula worked. No longer the case in this game due to a reworked damage formula, so it's just straight up 420% damage with little drawbacks. The only drawback being is that there's more accuracy checks, though that shouldn't matter too much with the Ronin.
And now we come crashing back down to ground level. Because Seigan doesn't have the boosted DEF or Iai doesn't have boosted... AGI, it's a struggle to recommend them over Overhead when they're now so similar, and skills like these don't help. With Ronin's piss poor LUC, what are you trying to do with this skill? Like, I get it, every skill can't be all damage all the time, but the Ronin REALLY can't do anything else and trying to do otherwise is pretty rough. There are like 5 other classes that can land binds, for the love of god use them instead. You know what's better than a disabled enemy? A dead enemy. Koteuchi is really hard to even recommend, cause binds are a lot harder to land in this game, and there's a sizeable prerequisite in place. Also you can't even settle for a low level version due to the game's exponential scaling in skill design. Not to mention that the Ronin's LUC stat isn't great, tanking the usefulness of this skill further. Most of the defensive parts of the Seigan stance shifted over to Shiraha and Clarity instead, so use those if you want your Ronin to be more sturdy. In the Japanese version of the game, this skill wasn't worth taking at all because it was bugged to not be able to inflict arm binds at all.
Oh yeah, these last two skills deal Stab damage instead of Cut damage, that doesn't matter, there's a dedicated Stab skill in the Iai tree that does more damage and even that doesn't matter, we'll get to that later. In any case, what does this skill do? Well it's fast. And that's it. Ronin are kinda slow with their speed modifiers, but it's not really that much of an issue, honestly, so a fast skill that does mediocre damage does nothing for them. You can use this to snipe Stab weak enemies, and there are a lot of them, but not only do you need to invest in the godawful Koteuchi to learn this one, but they're completely outclassed by Nukechi, as well as, you guessed it, Midareba. Well uhhh, it's a fast attacking skill. That's about all there is to it. While Ronin aren't exactly fast, they aren't slow either, so the usefulness of this skill isn't too great, unless you desperately need to snipe something, which shouldn't come up too often. Also the steep prerequisites make it a very unattractive option to pick up on the side for even that purpose unless you plan on making Seigan your main stance. Now in Sekaiju no Meikyuu II, this skill was broken. And was pretty much the main selling point of the Seigan Stance. The reason Koteuchi couldn't inflict arm bind was that they accidentally set the "can inflict arm bind" flag on this skill instead! This game also has a failsafe where any value set to 0 is automatically set to 100. And since this skill doesn't have an infliction rate baked in, it was set to 0, which got corrected to 100, giving this skill a base 100% chance to inflict arm bind. As a result, it was the most reliable source of arm bind in the game, and super fast too, binding enemies before they can even act. Since the infliction rate is set to 100% at all levels, you can spam this skill from level 1 to disable FOEs and bosses almost instantly wthin a few tries, locking them out of arm skills, and also considerably lowering the damage output of their physical attacks. Sometimes there is a lot to mention with the much buggier Japanese version, but it's something I'll leave to Arax since, well, I don't remember too much otherwise, and also it'll never come up in the LP, so whatever. It's very entertaining to hear how wonky the Ronin was in that version, but it's just some neat trivia as far as I can mention it in any way.
Hello old friend, this was the only real reason to go into the Iai tree last game if you didn't fancy with Climax shenanigans, and it was pretty cheap so it was whatever, you only needed it once. It's much the same in this game, except it's quite a bit worse. Again, Ronin's LUC is shiiiiiiiit and also Climax is FUCKING INSANE, so unless you're not running the best FOE deleter in the series, this skill is completely and utterly worthless. Also just use Issen, but also don't use Issen because it's also not that effective, so I dunno man. But hey, at least you'll max it out to unlock the next skill. Great... In the previous game, it had a rather niche use of being one of the few forms of crowd control the Ronin had since they lacked AOE attacks. That's no longer the case in this game, so that use poofed out the window. As a form of instant death, it's not too great and is weaker than Climax. Granted if you lack a Dark Hunter, I suppose this might be your only way to get certain conditional drops though do be aware it will take a lot of tries on average for this to proc against those enemies, even at max level and a lot of LUC.
Here it is, the big important Stab skill that does a lot of damage. Now, granted, there are quite a few enemies in the game with a 150% Stab weakness. So at max level this skill does 405% damage, which is... that's right, less damage than max level Midareba! Not a single other regular skill outdamages it, no matter the circumstances, unless there's a Cut resistant Stab weak enemy I don't know about. It's likely, but it's still so whatever. So do the other stance trees have anything, ANYTHING AT ALL over Overhead? Well it's the strongest skill in the Iai tree, but even at its best it doesn't outdamage Midareba. Only reason to take this is if you decide to make Iai your main stance for whatever reason. Also not that many enemies are weak to stab, so you're going to be smacking for 270% or less damage most of the time. There's only one FOE in the entire game where this can possibly outdamage Midareba, but the damage difference isn't that much.
No, the other stances do not have anything over Overhead, because Fire is the best overall element to use. Now the single target versions are pretty okay, you'll max these out to get to the group wide attacks, but for single target weakness, they're pretty damn good. Of course, since you're getting Midareba, you might as well get Orochi along the way and it just so happens that more enemies are weak to Fire than they are any other element AND they are resisted the least out of the three, though Volt is a very close second. I don't think it was intentional, but there's no reason to take another element aside from Fire, it'll do you the best out of them and it's the one you were investing in anyway, bonus! Now since the elements and the associated stances are otherwise equal, there's no reason you can't take them, they will work just as well, the Volt ones also deal Stab damage for... some reason, but the whole reason you're doing this is for Midareba and for crowd control with Kienzan, so might as well. Now Midareba won't work on everything since some things are really resistant or immune to Cut damage. That's what these skills are for. They provide additional coverage for the Ronin just so they aren't stuck twiddling their thumbs when using Midareba just isn't an option. As for which skill to go with, Orochi is the easiest option as if you have Midareba, Orochi costs the least amount of SP to pick up. Picking up the other elemental skills would be nice, but Fire already has a ton of places it can strike a weakness, and all of the other stances require a rather steep SP cost, which is the only reason we're not clamouring for you to pick up all of these skills. If you're not making use of Overhead, I'd say to pick up the respective elemental in your chosen stance mastery.
Now for something much needed, Ronin had zero crowd control last game, so this is a way for them to become ridiculously overpowered, since these skills start weak, but then quickly ramp up into pretty powerful mob killers. It seems Atlus looked at every weakness Ronins had and decided to fix pretty much all of them and oh whoops now they're busted, who could've seen that coming. It takes a bit of investment but these skills are well worth it and all three are pretty effective, though of course we've been focusing on Overhead and thus Kienzan. Just add it to the pile of great skills you should max out, and the fact they're only 5SP is even better. Right, onto the next great skill. And even though stances are no longer holding them back for random encounters, Atlus decided to go ahead and patch up another weakness they had while they were at it. These skills can easily clear out most random encounters in the game easily, pretty much making them a non-issue when you pick one of these up. With the Overhead stance, Kienzan is pretty much the skill of choice here since these skills have very steep prerequisites, and it's easier to build into, and Fire is just a really good element in general. Otherwise, just go with the AOE tied to your chosen stance. It's really not feasible to pick all of these up, nor is it even necessary. Just letting your Ronin have AOE in the first place is already a huge boost to their contributions to Labyrinth explorations.
So on your way to Midareba, hey might as well pick this up. It's a nice damage boost even if it makes the Ronin way more fragile, not exactly what you want. But with proper defensive team support, this turns the Ronin into even more of a monster. Of course, because there are other, less suicidal ATK boosting methods in this game, it might be best to ignore it, but since you'll max it out for the best skill in the kit, you can use it every now and then. Shouldn't hurt, right? Dead Law isn't a great skill, as it only slightly increases their damage at the cost of making them more fragile. The overall damage boost comes out to -12%/-10.4%/-7.2%/-2.4%/4%. Yeah that's right, the first 4 levels are an overall damage loss, and the last level is a very marginal increase. At best it's a TP saver, and whether the decreased defenses are worth saving that much TP is up to you.
To top this dumb as hell class off, it's a skill stronger than Midareba! That's about its only real use, as its ID chance is pretty mediocre, it's less than a max level Kubuichi even! So you'll be using this skill to throw out a big hit on Bosses who won't really care about the side effect, might as well, and maybe if you're feeling spicy and happen to have it, you'll use it to try and kill something. Again, it's nice but it's pretty boring and you should just use Climax anyway. It's stronger than the rest of their damage options and that's about it. Throw it out whenever it's up. The instant death component is kind of a non-factor in big fights and if you're trying to go for instant death conditionals on bosses... there are far better options, such as the Dark Hunter's Climax. Or even Kubuichi because this being a Force skill makes it impossible to spam. And that's how not to balance a class, Ronin are so STUPID GOOD and I love them. Overhead is yet again the unanimous choice to go for, Midareba is a dumb skill and everything else just kinda falls into place. Ronin are super busted in this game, their single target damage is undisputed and their crowd control and general skillset is top notch. Sure most of their skills are completely pointless, but I guess that's how Ronin work. They do have some use I guess, but Midareba is just so ridiculously oppressive that it doesn't matter. They can be squishy and they're useless after an Arm Bind, but Ronin are by far one of the best classes in the game. But there's a class that's even dumber, even more busted, and they rose from the ashes of the previous game to shit all over this stupid good game. This is pretty much a textbook example of overbuffing a class by getting rid of every single aspect that made it bad in the last game. The result is that a mediocre class became an incredibly overpowered demon, as the Ronin is the most powerful and reliable straightforward damage class in the entire game. Of course if we're talking conditional damage classes, there are even more busted classes, such as the Dark Hunter, and one other class that's easily one of the most broken classes in the entire series!
Obtained Sharp Rock. Welcome back to a tedious tile hunt. We already dug out the ones on 9F and 10F but the one on 8F is a little tricky to reach. But first: Riveting gameplay, this questing is.
It's a good thing all three heads look the same way. Been a while since I were smashin' pumpkin'! Into small piles of putrid debris?
0% 0% 0% 0% 100% 100% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 10% 50% 10% Let's seriously take these on. And by seriously I mean cheese with Poison because we don't have any strong Ice or Volt attacks yet. Almighty attacks like Megido is also fine but most classes will do sweet fuck all. So yeah, cheesing it also avoids Curse damage and it doesn't really do much otherwise, so hope you gets its drops sooner or later, cause this is a bitch! The Trigourd has a simple gimmick. If you have the improper damage types, you can't scratch this. Untyped damage also works, like a Hexer's Revenge, or an Alchemist's Megido. It's easy to bypass if you're prepared, however if they jump into a battle, which is very much possible as they are invisible, they can be very nasty enemies.
Bleh! Honestly are any of you even trying? Rather try it my honourable way than whatever foul magics you have.
Gonna be real hard to remove these from our staff users, especially because it doesn't put them into negative speed!
Mine's bigger. I don't really want to corroborate that, thank you.
100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 10% 50% 10% So one of the sharp rocks is behind this FOE. How were you supposed to know this? Oh, am I meant to have the answer to that? Still, we can beat it up, and Razekings aren't toooooo bad, they definitely hit hard but only one at a time, while Axe Roar is only an issue for the main target, the splashes are pretty whatever. Nothing much to these FOEs other that they can hit pretty hard. If they jump in on a battle they can be a very unwelcome presence, but outside of that there's not much to say about them. Poor guys got downgraded to a Ginnungagap random encounter in EO2U.
Grah! He's so protective of us, but not to a crazy degree. It's definitely a slugging match so we just gotta kill it before it kills us.
A rock as beautiful as your fur. Ohoho! Hey, uh, you sure you wanna give all of these over? I can tell some of them are r-real lame. Trust me, trust me! I've got a jeweler's eye for those things! Haw haw haw! H-Holy... this is mad! Did yeh lot used to be in the Jewelers Guild? I can't believe it...! Smashing work, Nidhogg! I know the jewelers will be drooling when I show them these babies! Here's the reward for a job very well done! Glad to see I can still count on yeh!
Supremely not worth it. I do not miss EO2 quests in the slightest. Even if you didn't get rich off of Chimaera's conditional, that is shit money for the effort you put in.
She didn't come quietly. well i was on a record 5 hour sleep but i guess this is more immportant. He asked for yeh special, so I s'pose it's good that yeh're taking this one. There was a shipwreck near the city, and the survivors were all sent to Lagaard Hospital. They called in every able body to deal with it, but they're still short-staffed on medics. Lots of medics are volunteering, but the more the better, right? I'm counting on yeh!
Well, come with me. The rest of you know the drill: stay here and watch the shop! wonder how crazy it is, one time i treated a guy with a ship's wheel through his head... "Dead with a ship's wheel through their head" was just the natural state of TF2 players in the immediate aftermath of Love & War. Ahh, sorry about the wait. I walked yer medic over to the hospital. The doc was happy to see the medic, but I hope yer one will be all right... That doc... once yeh get him started on health or medicine, there's no stopping him. "You drink too much," he says, or "You should think about exercising more." What a pill. Speaking of which, while we're waiting, how about a shot or two? Drinks are on me! Tha's a huge mistake. I concur. Geh? Come on now, be reasonable! Don't order the high-end stuff, or the hard-to-make ones... I'm treating yeh here! Yeh gotta be respectful of my feelings! Haw haw haw! Ah, yeh're back! That were quick. nothing interesting, just a load of splinters. Seems like yeh did all right for yerself out there! Good work! Here's yer reward, and I'll be counting on yer help again!
We held out on this quest for so long because the max reward requires your Medic to be above level 20. Well, you get an Amrita no matter what and then 200en for a level 11-19 Medic and an extra 200en for 20+. Again, most of these bonus rewards are super not worth it, so just hand them in when you get them, no point waiting around. I'm wondering what the point of these caveats were. A way to scale up rewards if you tackled them later? Which still has shit rewards.
One, two, three, got them all. Ah ah ah. ...stop looking at me like that, damn squirrel.
If I knew yeh were going to be back that quick, I'd have asked for more! Haw haw haw! Just kidding... here's the chess piece. Good luck getting that Queen! See yeh around!
One down... that's all the quests for this stratum, so there's just a couple things left before the boss.
With one stroke of the whip, the dark hunter latches onto a thick branch on the other side! The rotten branch looks weak, but it will likely support your party until you all cross over. If you wish, you can use the whip strung over the wall to cross to the other side. Why so red, friend? Just hold on tight! Is mister finder a little girly shy? Gah, shut up! Just not used to this... Getting this shortcut is a slight hassle, but with a Stalker Surv it's not too bad getting here, but you will also need a Haltshot Gunner or a Sleep Bell unless you come back to this much later.
These are the only monsters I can't sneak by. With how big they are it's not surprising.
Reach for the Skybox! How is that working...? If you think you can take a Razeking with 3 party members, it's definitely doable with a Climax DH, but not for these three.
Well it's not heaps of gold, but it'll do. We'll unlock these next floor, so pretty handy for the boss!
Ugh, that's every item unlocked for this stratum too. All that's left is the boss! Well, suppose there's one more thing... Once again, fuck the gear registry. And fuck these gear hellgrinds.
Alreeeeeeeeeet! Yippee! Taking turns standing guard, you dive into the fallen leaves one by one. The pile acts as a soft cushion for your bodies, feeling like a luxurious mattress. You frolic amongst the leaves for some time before returning to your exploration. Eleanore, who managed to avoid standing guard the entire time, feels completely refreshed!
Ah, much better than the last time I was lying in leaves and recovering from internal bleeding. It's a good thing these aren't burning leaves. They do taste nice when crispy though. They really don't...
And with that, nothing left to do but the boss. Here's the team that was voted for and it might be light in damage, but it has a lot of support for the single competent attacker! For those of you that have played the later games, consider yourself fortunate that it is much harder to make incredibly shitty parties. Because my god there's only 1 real carry here.
Scarlet Rain
Bout time I smashed a reet big fannae! Like we talked about, you're following up attacks, not going wild! It might be big, and hit hard, and be quite the looker, but I've got some pounding beats for it! well i won't be doing much to start so i'll have a nice sit down. Are-are you eating lemon drops?! ...can I have one?
100% 100% 100% 0% 125% 75% 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% 10% 20% 0% 25% 5% We faced quite the wall with Chimaera and we could do so again with Hellion, she can be quite the terror if you're not properly prepared, but there's a few ways around this big 'un. The most obvious is lopping off around 1000 health and then ending the fight quickly and easily with Climax. It let's you move on to the more enjoyable parts of the game and you get a truckload of cash and exp for not much effort. It also means you ignore Kingfire and Roar, since there's only four AI stages to this boss, though they're not the skills I'm worried about. Without defenses Inferno is just a nuke and Embrace is more dangerous to those next to the recipient, so it could be quite the damage rush to even get to half health. You should also just stick to two Troub songs, especially Health, but Atrocity isn't that devastating, so maybe you can push through it. Let's see how we get on? Hellion is a very simple boss. Even discounting the fact that a Dark Hunter completely lets you skip the 2nd half of the fight, she doesn't actually do all that much. Roar can be annoying, but she only uses it at 2 points in the fight, on the first turn, and when she's about to die. Atrocity only ever has a 50% chance of coming out if you have 11 or more buffs. So just don't have that many on the party to avoid that mechanic. The rest of her attacks just don't deal that much damage, and good enough defenses will reduce their damage to nothing. Embrace is pretty annoying with the nearly guaranteed Fear, but that's the only real obstacle to this fight. Bizarrely enough that's an attack that's more dangerous on the splashed targets than the primary targets. I won't bore you by talking about the fucking NIGHTMARE that this boss was made into in EO2U.
As if you could pierce this veil! Damn, even I'm not flinching to this addling attack, so this is the power of music.
Ice Punch Follow Up Attack! I really don't want to shout these out... Yer part of the combo, yer part of the shout! So the best damage I can dish out with these two is around 160 with Ice and then a chaser. It's, uh, not ideal, but Hellion isn't actually too deadly with how much support there is, but we'll be in for the longer haul. Sure I could rest to get Freeze and a higher level of chasers and deal with this fight faster, but I'm lazy.
Fuck. Holly is pretty durable so she doesn't get one shot, which helps being one of my two damage dealers, but the same cannot be said for Logan or Juthro. "The Survivalist is a class that can be on either line" is an incredibly funny joke by the game. Same with Troubadours. That was true in 1, but neither of these classes will live long if placed on the front in this game.
what a nice hug. i would like a hug. No. Logan to his credit does survive Embrace, so long as he's not getting hit with the splash. Also pretty impressive that Fear landed twice through Health, but it's only annoying if it lands on Corinth.
Huff... huff... looks like... no smashin' today... Well, uh, I said I was thinking about it, I mean you are nice, but- oh wait, the fight. I was getting into an alright rhythm of being able to heal enough for the next one shot or keeping buffs applied. But we're not even halfway through and I had a couple failed attempts when things went downhill quickly, especially if I wasn't keeping the damage output consistent. So this isn't a 25 turn fight, I have my last resort that lets me do these free votes without much worry. Hellion is a simple fight as long as your party is reasonably compotent. This is not a compotent party, it is in fact an incredibly shitty party. That being said it's definitely possible to win with this without resorting to cheese tactics, chances are it just won't be a lot of fun doing so.
Take that ya cunt! Alreet, let er rip! Forgive me, my darling, but I must use... that. Haaaaaaah... SUPERNOOOOOOVAAAAAAAA!!!
They still aren't that obtainable, but Force skills are in the game so might as well use them in a pinch! I could wait a couple turns and deal more damage with Bravery, but let's have a bit of struggle with this fight. I could also use the other Force Skills later on in the fight, but we have two bad ones and an emergency one, so probably not. Those two attacks did as much damage as nine turns of battle, so let's continue where we left off, eh?
Ooh, aah, that is toasty! mmm, it's so enveloping, it's making me... sleepy...
Applying the healing, double time! I read most of Biology for a reason! At half health, Kingfire does a fair bit of damage, but considering the oneshots from before, this is much easier to get back from. 1st Turn Salve II is slightly illegal, but what else are Survs good for? Still, since it requires Inferno and then Embrace to not be rolled for, it's not something we can depend on.
Hold strong, I've faced fires much worse than this! Ooh, such anger and determination, I could write a song about that.
what a racket. We're in the last quarter of health so Roar is added back in. This could really derail a winning run, but with Health it's just free turns. And since it's the first skill rolled for, we could get pretty lucky!
You good?! Huff... huff... hahaha, this a reet blast!
Ugh, that was hell on my hands. Hot, cold, hot, cold! was pretty fun at least, hope i get to see something that cute soon. If you say so, but I'm happy no one died. I hate nothing more than death and, er, you know. Used teh fight fannies like these during mah lumberjack days so no sweat! Uh huh. But you know, with support like this, I didn't find it too bad! Sure I used Force skills to lop off half its health, but it was still a time actually getting rid of the rest. Everyone did their part and it was a pretty tense fight regardless, I had a lot of fun! If we add up the turns from the 2 attempts together and discount the Force usage to skip half the battle, that was about 16 turns of a peashooter fest. How fun. There's a point where playing defensively goes from an interesting strategic exercise into mind-numbing tedium.
Hot air rises and we've got a seasonal theme to continue, so you know what's coming next. It's a real treat for me because this is my favourite stratum in the series. 
Woodland of Frozen Flowers 
What the fuck. This isn't how science works. welcome to the labyrinth. maybe there's something here that's as cold as salamox was hot? Ah geez all my sweat is getting chilled! I was not expecting this! Bleh! Cool off wit' a snowball fight then! Oof! Yeh'll pay fer that! I like snow.
Your mission to defeat the Hellion is complete. You should return to town now and report to the Duke's Palace. Don't look at me like that, we need to tell everyone the good news. And get some more layers on. Narc.
The aesthetics, the music, the cronch, cronch, cronch as you walk, man I love every part of this place. Frozen Grounds is a neat Stratum. Not my personal favorite, but 2 definitely has some of the better looking Strata in the DS era of EO.
This puts you among the elite rank of explorers skilled enough to challenge the third Stratum. Not many in High Lagaard even achieve such strength... your confidence suits you, but do not get carried away as your adventures continue. Ah yes, and as Minister of the Grand Duchy, allow this old man to present your reward.
Meh. No complaints from me, thanks. ah, the resident crow appears. You've outdone yourself this time! It pains me to interfere with your triumph, but... Guild Nidhogg, will you heed an old man's request? I'm sure you remember your mission to help create the medicine for the Duke. But I fear the Fire Plume you retrieved for us... will not be enough. Only lately have we discovered the other ingredients necessary to save the Duke's life. Would you be so good as to lend us your strength to find the rest of them?
Sounds like, uh, reet fun. You've got this, right toots? I'll get a pint for you. Ah hey, wait! Ugh, fine, detailing up a mission sounds like a relaxing time. Then you'll help us? Many thanks... I'll waste no more time in explaining. Your next objective, the Snow Bloom, grows on the 12th floor of the Frozen Grounds. I had assumed it would be a fairly easy task, and sent in the guard corps... But not a single member has yet returned with a Snow Bloom. Guild Nidhogg, I believe you are our best hope in the matter. Go to the 12th floor and work with the soldiers there to obtain the Snow Blooms. We need four flowers in total. I realize it's a lot to ask, but we're counting on you. Well before I start figuring this out, I'll need something warmer. After all, most of the buildings in this place are freezing! Achoo!
Ahh, of course. You've reached the third Stratum, the land of ice... you have my sympathies. If you haven't experience a Lagaardian winter, I know that the cold is considerable. Newcomers to our country often find it difficult to cope. But you're a hardy breed. You should have no troubles. I expect great things from you.
Oh just getting some undershirts, but little busy, so not really. Cause if you are, there was something I wanted to ask you to do for me. There's a big sale on nearby, and I need people to come with me. Ugh, all this shopping is so confusing to me, I find it easier to steal. So unless we're pilfering, nah. Huh? No? Oh... well then, I'll ask some of the barflies. They could use some honest work! Oh, and my daughter might want to come. She'll be back soon. She's out shopping now. Have you met her yet? She looks just like me when I was younger. Can you imagine? Bahahaha!
Don't mind me, heh, just going through each door once. Still don't like it. It seems half the patients I treat these days are talking about you. What do they say? Ahaha... nothing that important. They're trying so hard to catch up to you that they overstrain themselves and get injured. I'm not really thrilled at the prospect... but injuries come with the territory for explorers. We can handle almost any wound here at Lagaard Hospital, so please come by anytime!
Hmm, hmm, oh hey, got any wetsuits? Good lucking getting through north ice if that is your idearer. I heard that you made it to the third Stratum. Are you okay? I mean... I knew you'd be fine. I was just... a little worried. It's your job to explore, but please be careful in there!
We can Climax later, we're not in a money emergency and it just unlocks an axe. I mean, it would be really good at this point of the game, but then you'd be using an Axe Landy in EO2.
so how much fur you wanna part with? Eep! An entire level covered in snow and ice... what causes this climate change in each Stratum? Speaking of which, I don't know if you're aware, but this town gets very cold in the winter. If you walk around in that kind of clothing, you'll catch a severe cold. That's all the advice I have for you. Never underestimate the Labyrinth.
Ah, a cold land you say? Ohohoho, uh, just what I love. I'm gettin' fired up just thinkin' boot it!!! I heard yeh bested a huge fiend up on the 10th floor! No need to be shy! C'mon, tell us all the story! Aww... being all humble about it spoils the fun! Relax once in a while! Enjoy life! Working is good, but yeh need yer downtime!
Ugh, such a nag, I'll cheer myself up with... aww man. You're as pale as me. Ah, I see why. Now I have to warn yeh, this quest comes with its share of sorrows... the client is a poor lass who was all set to be wed last month, but... Just before the ceremony, she came down with a heavy fever. Her fiance, being a helpful lad, went into the Labyrinth to find some healing herbs. The guard corps... they looked for days, but all they found were his things. No body left behind, but we all know what happened. The girl's drowning in tears nowadays. Says she'll have her revenge for her fiance. I thought she'd gone round the twist. So I promised her if she posted a request, someone would take care of it. Nice guy, me! Haw! His things were found on the 12th floor. The monster's s'posed to be some fish-thing. If yeh can't figure out which one it is, just kill every fish yeh see! G'luck. Weird getting this a floor early, especially since it's pretty deep into 12F.
Phew, back for that sit down and a pin- oh dammit. I'll, uh, keep good care o'it! Ah, yeh're taking that quest, eh? Yeh've done work for the Grand Duchy before, right? Then that makes this a mite easier. A lot of guilds are volunteering mere babes. The higher-ups want to see better-quality volunteers, so they're being a mite stricter. I can't let just any weakling work for the Grand Ducky, or they'd lose all faith in me! This time, they need a strong survivalist. I expect good things from Nidhogg!
What would be the perfect gift? Well it would be something unique and wonderful at many things. I guess it's me! Hahaha, anyway what were we talking about? How're things? I was waiting for yeh to take this one... why? Well, cause the client asked for yeh specifically. It's the owner of the Flaus Inn, the place where yeh stay and store yer items. Go ask at the inn for all the juicy details. G'luck!
Bahhhhh! Ugh, ack, downed that pint so quickly some of it went up my nose... Shall we be off, then? The rest of yeh, stay here. This won't take long. Well I suppose I can peruse the different liqueurs, always looking to expand my- I'm back! It looks like the job is to do some exploring alongside the guard corps. With that many survivalsts, the risk will be cut in half! Yer one will be back here just as soon as the job's done. No sense in worrying... let's have a drink while we wait, eh? Ehhh!? Come on, don't be shy! Why don't yeh pour the first shot for me? Hey. Yo. ...gahh! Don't scare me like that! Yeh need to warn people when yeh're approaching! How'd the work go? ...work? Oh I just found him on my way back. It was a little rough, monsters, traps, all stuff I can totally handle! Haha... I see... monster ambushes, traps aplenty... rough work eh? Ah, but yeh handled yerself with no problem. Yeh're a little smudged, but no harm done. Fine work all around. Here's the reward. Come back again, all right?
Since I couldn't be bothered resting to get some measly coin, we won't get any bonus reward from this. You get 300en for having Lv1 Patrol and an extra 300en for Lv1 Stalker. Why are the requirements for the bonuses so weirdly obtuse? What a strange game.
The greatest gift is an area to patrol and a hard tree to kick, I will teach all I know! I'm so happy you agreed to help out like this! It makes me want to give you a great big hug! Do you know my daughter? Oh... maybe you still haven't met her. How silly of me! She knows about you, so I assumed you knew her just as well. Wait here one minute while I go get her!
We have found someone smaller than you! Well she is 10 years younger... I'm not that short! Very good, dear! Now run along and play, all right? Isn't she just adorable!? She gets that shyness from me. I couldn't tell you while she was in the room, but her birthday is coming up. She's taken a shine to you ever since you started staying here. This might not be your usual kind of quest, but I want you to get her a present. Anything will do! Just as long as you think she'll like it. Thanks a bunch! Bahaha!
Is that what she wants- oh hello, uh... Hart?! I dunno, you all look the same to me.
Hey, long time no see! Don't you remember me? You don't? Oh, we see each other all the time. I'm a doctor's assistant at the hospital. Don't you remember at all...? Well, just don't forget next time, or I'll be mad for real! By the way, why the puzzled look?
You're a little girl, I think, got any ideas? Well, that's an unusual sort of quest. A birthday present for a young girl... hmmmm... Hey, I bet she'd like a copy of the Index of Medical Herbs! Or maybe some parasite samples! They're easy to buy. Some are as long as your finger, and some have suckers on their cuticular... Uh... This is weird even for me. Well... maybe not. Ordinary girls would probably want to stay away from that stuff. How about flowers, then? I hear you can find some beautiful ones south of the 2nd floor. Hmmm... that suggestion might be too ordinary, though. Sorry! Why don't you ask around town? I'm sure someone in Lagaard has a good idea for a present. Good luck!
you're still here? Gah, I'm just working up the nerve, it's a big door, alright! Huh? A birthday present for a little girl? Hahaha... why ask me about that? I know plenty about child physiology, but nothing about child psychology. Sorry, but I can't help you. I recommend asking a woman instead. Maybe you could ask my assistant... if she's here. Oh, you already did?
Maybe we shouldn't get her a weapon... It is how I was the raising, could shoot an apple at age four! What's an apple? Eh, maybe Abigail has a better idea. What...? A birthday present for the girl at Flaus Inn? Hee hee! Oh! I didn't mean to laugh at you. I mean, you're such capable explorers... it's funny to see you with no idea what to get a girl for her birthday! It's kinda cute. N-Not that I mean to say I think you're cute or anything... sorry! That came out wrong. I am the cutetist. Ummm... let's see... she might like something that's shiny or pretty. Do you know the Whistling Bird? It has multi-colored feathers, a long tail, and a great voice. It's rarely seen, but it has a habit of collecting shiny rocks and things for its nest. You might be able to take one from a nest on the southeast of the 10th floor. Well, that's just what I would want, though. She might not like it. You should ask other people! Good luck! For the record, EO2U actually gives the innkeeper's daughter a name—Quona—and rewrites Abigail's dialogue so that she's been friends with Quona for a while.
Yeh sell pints to little girls? Eh? That quest? Here, talk to Cass... tell me yer troubles. A birthday present for the innkeeper's daughter...? Alas, I've no clue what she'd want. But look, I'll help yeh out... I know where yeh might be able to find something valuable. Two days back, a caravan of merchants was attacked on the south side of the 9th floor. Then fled from the demons and left behind two wagons full of treasure! I bet yeh could find some nice swag there... oh, and keep this a secret, eh? Why? Well, I want my share! Haw haw! I don't know if they'll have been carrying anything she likes, so keep asking around. G'luck! One has to wonder what a caravan of merchants was doing up in the labyrinth.
Hmhm? Er... eh? I don't have to worry about it now, but I also had gift troubles for young girls. A birthday present for the girl at the inn? What possessed you to come to me for advice...? Y-You fool! Well, I'm sure I can think of something. Let's see... how about a sword? These are dangerous times. If she starts training now, she'll be ready to deal with attackers.
...... ...... The point of people like me is so fragile flowers like her don't have to think about weapons. You seem unsure. Well, perhaps she'd like some berries? After all... who doesn't like berries? You can find high-quality berries in the northwest region of the 7th floor. It's ordinarily not berry-picking season, but I'll grant you special permission for now. But it might be wise to seek more recommendations around town, just in case. That's all. If there's nothing else to discuss, clear out.
Hmm, should I ask an old man in a position of power about a little girl? I'm sure it'll be fine. Ah... a birthday gift for the girl at the inn... a very difficult problem. As a member of our board of education... I still have no insight into young girls. Would that I could help you, but my primary duty is to the nation as a whole. I cannot set aside time for one individual citizen, adorable though she may be. I suggest you ask others in the city... they may be able to offer more useful advice. Forgive me for not being able to help. May you have luck in your quest. The minister does not have any hint to offer for the quest, but the other NPC list out possible choices for gifts. This is similar to a quest last game where you asked around for gift ideas for the recently deceased, though unlike then when you could obtain everything, you can only choose one birthday gift. Which will we choose, what will the new stratum be like? Such burning questions will be answered next time, the real Etrian Odyssey starts here! Surely that should be "freezing questions," given the next stratum.
What a terrible night to have level 10 Curses. Hexers weren't very good last game, you got them 3/5ths through the game and their only great skill was Sapping, since enemy ATK was pretty nuts. They had some utility, but were outclassed by Dark Hunters and were basically useless against Bosses. So of course when it came to this game, they needed a buff. AND BOY DID THEY GET ONE!!! Hexers are the most powerful class in the entire series, the amount of shit this class can do is absolutely insane. Between broken skills like Dampen and Revenge, they have crazy utility in Frailty, Torpor, Poison, binds, Suicide, pretty much everything about them got buffed and despite having a few issues that stick around from last game, this class is another way you can completely destroy any semblance of difficulty this game has. Enough teasing, let's get right into it! In the first game, they were pretty much one of the worst classes in the game, if not the worst class due to being unlocked super late and the actual class itself was pretty mediocre, in a game that makes grinding incredibly difficult. So they weren't worth it to use. Now not only are they available from the start, they also got some MEGA BUFFS in the transition to EO2! They basically went from one of the weakest classes to complete gods of destruction that's basically a walking middle finger to several of the game's mechanics!
Of course, one of the big negatives of Hexers is their stats, it's all gotten a nerf from the last game, mainly because their level 99 stats in this game are the exact same as the level 70 stats in the previous game. Weird, but it does mean that ALL of their stats are worse than before. And it doesn't matter. Their LUC and HP are the two most important stats and they're... fine, it's a little easier to land ailments and binds in this game due to formula changes and like before their large TEC doesn't matter since they have nothing to use it with. For whatever reason Gunners have higher LUC than Hexers, but again, even with these low stats, the Hexer is still the best class in the series, so it's a pretty moot point. Pretty much the only stats that matter for a Hexer are their defensive ones and TP. LUC is used in the infliction formula now, but uh, it doesn't really matter that much because LUC has a rather small effect. So they're basically a stat independent class since most of their skills (barely) scale off of their stats. AGI isn't much of a factor because Staves weigh them down to turtle levels of slow, and they only have 1 attacking skill, which has really high innate accuracy anyway. And one of the more popular ways to use a Hexer turns them into a glass cannon, so if you choose to use yours that way, don't bother investing in VIT. Though HP is probably one of the most important stats to invest in for that playstyle. Just trust me on this. Well that's not very interesting. Scavenge is identical to the Medic's version, so this is one skill you absolutely want to get because of how stupid it is, and you need Scavenge to unlock Dampen, so yes, yes indeed. The 5 points of TEC are a bit wasted, but since the Hexer doesn't need many stats, you can invest in HP and TP and be just fine, maybe even LUC if you have space but Hexer's are very SP hungry because of all their ridiculous skills, so it's whatever.
Okay, uh, not a great start. Last game, Curses was a 30% boost even if the game said otherwise, and now this time the game says this boosts the user's skills, but it actually does nothing at all. So this is a point sink, but since you need to max it out for Dampen, that doesn't matter. Now, if you didn't want to use Dampen, then you should get it up to 7 for Revenge. If you're ALSO not using that skill, then okay the Hexer won't be as good, but you could stop much earlier. If you have a War Magus, then Curse actually does something for once, so Corrupt is worth it, otherwise you can stop at Evil Eye. Also please remember that we still say this is the best class in the series EVEN THOUGH THEIR MASTERY SKILL DOES NOTHING!!! Nothing much to say other than this skill got bugged into oblivion. Now it does nothing, so level it up as much as you need to, and nothing more. Of course if you want access to some of the most broken skills in the game, you'll have to max this out at some point anyways.
It's back again and still as busted as ever. Since you're maxing this out to get to a stupid good skill, this gives another edge to Hexers, as they'll give you lots of drops and thus lots of money, making them even more worthwhile in taking along. It can even be worth taking a Medic and a Hexer to scary postgame fights to get some good rates, but you could also take 2 Hexers instead and have an easier time, so it's up to you. If you saw Scavenge on Medic and wanted some of that action, but didn't want to cart around a Medic, don't worry, this class is here to fill that need! And a Hexer is a much stronger class to cart around so they can completely break the concept of random drops. You also have to max this out to get one of the most broken skills in the game, so there's little reason not to pick this up if you're going for that.
Sapping was probably the best Hexer skill last game due to some dummy thicc ATK stats towards the end of the game that went as high as the 400s, so the 60% reduction could do a lot of work, it was useful all throughout the game. Uh, not that you could use Hexers in EO1's early game when they were most useful. ANYWAY, Sapping got a few nerfs that make it pretty mediocre, enemies now have properly scaled ATK and DEF values so it takes off less of their bite, and it only goes as low as 80%, which is kinda pathetic. Add in a more survivable set of classes and you'll find that you don't really need Sapping that much anymore. It can still be useful, you want to take 1 point to remove ATK buffs, but it's definitely one of the weaker skills this time around, a real shame. Oh dear, how the tables have turned. Sapping was a fantastic debuff in the last game, but it's a bit weaker here. It's an alright defensive though not likely what you'll be using a Hexer for. It's essentially a defense buff that doesn't eat up one of your buff slots, and debuffs are more valuable because of that, so it might be worth investing in slightly. However, this game really favors killing your enemies fast over playing defensively, so this skill isn't really a popular choice as a result. May want to take at least 1 point in it to dispel attack buffs at least.
Frailty has gotten an interesting change compared to last game. It was alright before, but since enemy DEF never got that high, it was never hugely effective. This time it actually makes all enemies weaker to all damage types, which makes it pretty great for other elemental attackers. It's can be useful in making resistances much softer, such as turning a 50% resistance into a 66% resistance, but the main draw is compounding weaknesses, making a 125% resistance into a 165% resistance at max level. Because it only affects resistances, it doesn't change Untyped damage, alas, but if it goes over 110%, it'll activate an Alchemist's Analysis so it is useful in that regard. Because of how little it really changes resistances, Dampen is a better pick for that, but for weaknesses, this is a way to stack good damage fast. Frailty got a really good buff due to a change in mechanics. In the first game it lowered the DEF stat which... didn't do a whole lot in that game's damage formula. Here it affects the damage multipliers of an enemy, which is a much bigger buff! It also combos nicely with an Alchemist, since Frailty can create weaknesses if a damage multiplier goes over 110%! The downside of that is because it only affects damage multipliers and not your party's outgoing damage directly, it won't affect Untyped damage, so Megido and Eschaton won't get a boost. It doesn't stack with Dampen, another defensive debuff, so it has to compete with that. Frailty is better for amplifying normal damage multipliers and weaknesses, while Dampen is far better for dealing with resistances. If you're using an elemental oriented party, you'll want to focus more on this over Dampen.
And we end with a whimper, Leaden has never been all that great, but it is better than last game. AGI isn't divided by 5 this time around for whatever godforsaken reason and it does decrease AGI by quite a bit, so you would notice the difference. However, going first in a lot of cases usually isn't that big a deal, and Hexers have much better things to be doing than wasting 10SP into something like this. It's cool that it actually does something now, but that doesn't make it good. Leaden is still basically the worst of the 3 basic debuffs the Hexer has access to. Due to the still fucked up speed system, it won't change the turn order too much. Fast characters will still go first, and slow characters will still move last most of the time. Reducing AGI does reduce accuracy and evasion, but doing so doesn't reduce it by a huge amount. Frailty is a better use of a debuff slot and the Hexer has a lot of other places they want to spend their SP.
Here it is, the best skill in the entire game. What the heck were they thinking with this? It takes a while to get to, but after this you'll be able to easily cleave through every enemy you encounter and completely sidestep their intended strategy. No matter the enemy resistances or weaknesses, at max level this sets the enemy's resistances to 120%, no matter what. If they had anything below 100%, it's now a weakness, if it was above 120%, that still fucking sticks, all you gain is weaknesses, no drawbacks, use it on any damn enemy you fancy. The biggest boon is it gives physical weaknesses as well, which are pretty rare, making your Ronin or DH even more potent, as if they needed more help. For general weaknesses, Frailty will compound them, so it's easier to use that instead, but if you want to wipe out an enemy's resistances and make them so incredibly easy to burst down, then this all you need, it's so stupid. At least it doesn't give an Almighty resistance, though that's not really a thing until next game. So say hello to one of the most broken skills in the entire game, if not the most broken! Yes that is right, Dampen eliminates resistances entirely! Oh they were immune to fire attacks? Now they take 120% damage from it. It's so busted, that a skill like this was never reused in the entire series, while all other broken skills usually came back in a nerfed form. The concept of resistances is one a Hexer gives a middle finger to, as they can convert them to weaknesses. This skill also especially shines in physical oriented parties (which tend to be the meta type of party) as quite a bit in this game resists physical attacks, and Dampen deals with that issue handily, allowing them to shred their targets within a few turns. It is so stupidly busted and yet another thing that elevates Hexer to a god of destruction.
Now it's bind time! They trade the damage of the DH or Gunner's binds for higher infliction rate, not that it's a huge issue since the game boosts your bind rate if you keep missing, so on average you'll probably land with enough tries on each class. Still, these are nice skills to have, though since it's covered by other classes, ESPECIALLY the DH's Dominate, the Hexer can focus on multi target ailments, which are pretty phenomenal. If you don't have those classes, then Abdomen is usually a good pick due to all the physical attackers everywhere, though Cranial is a very important skill for very dangerous enemies. As always Immobile gets the short stick, but there are some deadly Leg skills out there, though due to the ease of Dominate, there's really not much of a reason. The Hexer is SP strapped, so these are skills you could skip easily enough. Take whichever ones you want. If you wish to avoid Dominate cheese, like I said with the Dark Hunter, Cranial and Abdomen would be good choices for binds. Unlike in the first game, it's not quite as important to snag all binds as the boss AI was designed differently in this game. They won't switch body parts if you bind a specific one. They can end up wasting a lot of turns trying to use a body part that was bound, which is a pretty huge buff. With that in mind, not a whole lot of deadly skills are attached to the legs, and nullifying evasion isn't really a huge deal in this game compared to the later titles, so Immobile is probably a safe skip if you absolutely have to.
Here's a massive glow up from last game. We'll touch on Evil Eye and Poison in just a moment, but multi target ailments are so good, letting you roll multiple chances at once, and a great infliction rate too for how much you invest. While Blind and Paralysis aren't amazing ailments, Sleep and Curse are. Well, the latter is only useful with a Cursecut War Magus, otherwise it's as useless as ever, but multi target Sleep is kind of insane in letting your party get setup and burst the enemy down. Because they have great speed modifiers as well, you're likely to land a few before the rest of your party attacks, which is great for Sleep strats. They're just good skills to spam and try your luck with, you'll get good uses out of all of them if you want to invest a piddly 5SP, but Torpor is definitely the best one. Or at least, one of the best ones, we still have... Now that ailment resistances are separate stats, you don't have to be stuck using the best ailment or not even bothering. Blind can be pretty decent since it reduces accuracy by 75% and can be used to dodge some really deadly attacks late in the game. Paralysis is basically worthless. Evil Eye does the exact same thing and can be used to combo into more of the Hexer's skillset, can be picked up sooner, and Paralysis and Fear have similar ailment multipliers on enemies. Curse is slightly better than it was in EO1 due to enemies having smaller HP pools, but it's the hardest ailment to inflict against FOEs and bosses, and the backlash damage still isn't too great. Though since backlash damage still activates on deaths in the first two games, you could use a cheese strategy where a big enemy kills a bunch of weak party members then dies from that. However Atlus did take some measures against this, as Curse is one of the hardest ailments to inflict, so it's not a reliable cheese strategy. Pretty much the main use is having a War Magus use Cursecut on those enemies, but that doesn't really hold up all game. Now Torpor on the other hand, is the big ticket skill of this lot. It's the Hexer's best skill for dealing with random encounters since it shuts down all enemies while your party sets up or quickly defeats them with little opposition, and this holds up all game. In fact, if you aren't going for Poison, this should be the very first skill you should go for. A Hexer can have a max level Torpor by level 6, letting them contribute heavily to the party from the get-go. Even in the post-game this skill holds up at disabling randoms immediately, so it's one of their best support skills and a real must-have. Oh, and as you can see from this table, infliction skills really need investment to be good due to the exponential scaling. They're terrible at level 1, so don't bother seriously using these until the skill is almost maxed.
Last game this was part of the Alchemist's skillset, and was unfortunately bugged to buggery, making it pretty pathetic past the second stratum, when it really could've worked until the fifth stratum. Now that it's been fixed up, oh look at that, it can be used until the fifth stratum and is yet another reason why Hexers are so gosh darn good. It definitely drops off towards the end of the game, but with a fantastic infliction rate, even if it doesn't oneshot the enemy, it's still a way for a Hexer to contribute in damage with little effort. Of course, Revenge strats are better, but this works at any HP, so it's a great ailment to throw at mobs, you're sure to tag something! This is a skill you could have before you set foot in the labyrinth, but it really needs a lot of levels to land effectively, the exponential scaling works both ways after all. If you wish to shatter the entire maingame at the cost of slightly weakening the Hexer's earlygame, this skill is for you! Poison basically eliminates several random encounters after 1 turn, giving your Hexer another way to contribute to those fights. There are some downsides compared to Torpor though. A Hexer won't be able to get this to max level until level 10 if you rush this from the get-go, which severely weakens how much they can contribute to the party during the first Stratum. It also starts falling off by Stratum 4, at which point enemies can survive the Poison damage, though they'll be severely weakened so they can be finished off pretty easily. But when you hit post-game, this won't do a whole lot, and you're better off using Torpor by that point. Still, this is a good way to utterly shatter randoms during the entire main-game, and using this on a few bosses is a fantastic way to utterly break the economy, another way the Hexer shatters a piece of game design. And unlike in 1, the bugs relating to Poison got fixed, so its damage doesn't cap at 255 anymore. Though now there's a 20% damage variance in how much Poison damage deals, but that's only really a factor once you get to lategame. While similar to the other ailments, the FEAR TREE has some uniqueness that make it a worthwhile venture. Or, well, mainly Suicide so Hexers can contribute "damage wise" in FOE and Boss fights, but Fear is an alright ailment that can stop the enemy from attacking. A War Magus's Fearcut isn't very useful, but they pair together very well, so I guess it could work, you're mainly using this to go into Suicide. I only really suggest this because of how cheap it is to use these skills, otherwise they're not too notable, but it's a bit of fun when you're bored breaking the game's difficulty into smithereens. Assuming you don't want to take the infamous Revenge skill to smash the game into smithereens, this is probably one of the Hexer's best skills for dealing with FOEs and boss fights. It's the most reliable hard crowd control they have once they pick up Suicide. But until then it's just a reskinned Paralysis. To get the most out of Fear, it has to be comboed with one of the Hexer's next three skills.
First skill is best skill in the FEAR TREE. Suicide scales really nicely, becoming super cheap to use while making the enemy deal a lot of damage to themselves. Admittedly it's not as good as the first game because ATK and DEF are scaled properly, but 3 self inflicted hits will do more damage than the Hexer would do otherwise, so why not. There's not much to it, gives you a free turn at least, but it's definitely interesting. Pretty much the only skill in the fear tree worth using. Once you land Fear on the enemy, you can have them smack themselves a few times for some free damage on top of completely wasting their turn. The hits do go through the damage formula, so you won't see a ton of damage from this, but guaranteed stuns on a big enemy is pretty much the Hexer's biggest contribution to those fights that doesn't utterly vaporize the game's difficulty into ashes. And free damage is free damage, hard to say no to that.
These skills, however, are not interesting. Betrayal would be kinda fun if it scaled like Suicide, but one attack on another enemy is pretty mediocre. Paralyze is... completely pointless since that's what the other two skills already do in addition to damage, so I don't see the point of this. Never put more than one point into these if you want to try them out for whatever reason, but otherwise the FEAR TREE only has the one interesting skill. Betrayal is alright, but it's ultimately a worse version of Suicide and there's little reason to invest in that when Suicide is unlocked at the same time as the other 2 skills. Paralyze should never be touched, as the other 2 skills already waste the terrorized enemy's turn.
Phew, lot of caveats, but let's dive into the second best skill the Hexer has, and the best attacking skill in the game. Because it ignores all outside factors, the formula for this is simple, (MaxHP - CurrentHP) * SkillPower, so in a best case scenario, it would deal 998 * 2.55 = 2544 damage. What. The. Fuck. With Stamina and a few HP boosting equipment, you can get to 999HP easily enough and it's very, VERY easy to get to 1HP because of damage tiles, letting you fire off incredible damage turn after turn. Of course, leaving your fragile Hexer at 1HP is risky, but just use a level 1 Revive and oh look, you're back at 1HP again. Hell even using a regular Nectar puts you at 20HP, which is still 2496 damage, so it's really not a big loss. Dampen and Scavenge would be enough to say this class is busted, high infliction rates on Poison and Sleep, effortlessly crushing mobs, makes this class broken, and Revenge, with its incredible damage and ease of setup push this class into the best in the entire series. It's just mindblowing how much they turned this class around from the worst one last game. All hail Hexers, all hail Cheese. 2544 damage may seem like a small amount of damage at first glance, but enemy HP pools in EO2 are much smaller than in the rest of the series. For reference, the final boss in EO1 has 18000 HP. In EO2? Only 8000. And the rest of the maingame bosses don't have as much, so a Hexer can nuke them in just 1 or 2 hits of Revenge. Most classes can't really reach this amount of damage in most circumstances so this actually makes Hexer the best DPS class. Yes, really. It's super easy to reach or almost reach the 999 HP cap, so if you plan things out right, you can have a walking artillery cannon really early on in the game. And damage tiles in 2 deal percentage based damage, so it's really easy to set up a Hexer for fast nuking. If they go down, just use a Nectar to revive them. A Revenge Hexer doesn't give a damn about defenses because either the fight will be over before they can die, or they will die from a single hit (and then can be revived to get back to blasting the enemy.) This is the final aspect that truly elevates the Hexer to a god of destruction, and the best class in the entire series.
To end a ridiculous class is an alright Force skill. Caprice allows the Hexer to inflict every ailment in the game, but which ailment? Well that's its issue, because of the high infliction chance and the NINE rolls you'll do, you're bound to land something. But there's a huge disparity between the different ailments, so unless you're going for something the Hexer can't do themselves, it's better going for the actual skill for consistency, especially when you have additional strategies revolving around that ailment. Still, when you get it, might as well throw it out, you never know what you're gonna get, it can be fun. Or it'll land Stun and you've nearly wasted your turn. In any case, it's for the best this Force skill isn't good, we didn't need it to be. At first glance this Force skill might seem amazing. In practice it's not. While on random encounters it'll land Instant Death or Petrify most of the time, against FOEs and bosses it's a complete crapshoot what will land. You're basically playing a roulette there. You might land an amazing disable like Confusion. Or you could just end up inflicting Blind. Or even nothing at all. If you do happen to get it active, you might as well use it, but surprisingly their Force Skill is the one thing that isn't broken about them. And that's how not to balance a class. Ah, I said it again, but it's true, the Hexer is just so incredibly, phenomenally, positively the best class in the series and nothing really comes close. Sure you've got your Nightseekers and your Fafnirs and your Necromancers, but the sheer amount of bullshit EO2 Hexers have cannot be outmatched. This is even with a mediocre Force skill, a bugged Mastery, a Head Bind weakness and many stat issues, they don't matter. Bow down to your master. Hexers are such a walking middle finger to so many of the game's mechanics it's unbelievable. They went from one of the worst classes in the first game to one of the best in the entire series! Drop rates? Doesn't matter. Resistances and immunites? Doesn't matter. The economy? Doesn't matter. Random encounters? Doesn't matter. FOEs and boss fights? A Hexer cares not for any of that nonsense! They'll destroy them all the same. This is a textbook example of overbuffing a class into godhood and it is a sight to behold.
Not only does does the Trigourd suffer from improperly functioning blindside routines, there is also curiously a routine that checks for an entirely non-existent flag that can never be set. Quite a few enemies have this issue. Unused routines perhaps, or maybe an error in coding somewhere?Trigourd wrote:If the party is blindsided, and flag 1 is not active, cast Pain. (Standard targeting.) Activate flag 1.
If flag 0 is active, deactivate flag 0, then: [NOTE: Flag 0 can't ever be active in this fight, causing this block of code to go completely unused.]
-69% chance to cast Pain. (Standard targeting.)
-31% chance to use a regular attack. (Standard targeting.)
If HP is below 30%:
-59% chance to cast Pain. (Standard targeting.)
-41% chance to use a regular attack. (Standard targeting.)
If HP is below 60%:
-39% chance to cast Pain. (Standard targeting.)
-If Pain does not get cast, 59% chance to cast Whisper. (Standard targeting.)
-Else, use a regular attack. (Standard targeting.)
Else:
-29% chance to cast Pain. (Standard targeting.)
-If Pain does not get cast, 69% chance to cast Whisper. (Standard targeting.)
-Else, use a regular attack. (Standard targeting.)
Welcome back to Tile Hunt II: Tile Harder. Gotta face this way to activate the event or you'll try to open the chest. Can't think of another time this happens in the series. They're more careful about avoiding this sort of thing in later titles, though I believe there's no engine level protection for this so they just have to avoid doing it themselves.
You remember now the quest you accepted from the bar. Your task is to find a birthday present for the innkeeper's daughter. One suggestion you received was to gather beautiful flowers for the young girl. An exquisite patch of flowers is blooming not far from you.
Nothin' adventurous about pickin' flowers, but I guess I can. This smell is a treasure in itself. As you bend to pick the flower, its sweet aroma tickles your nose again. It must be the season for the flowers near your feet to be giving nectar! You rejoice at the serendipitous find, and extract some of the nectar to be used as a gift.
And there we go, all done, you can only choose one gift and this is the easiest to reach, so might as well, there's no difference anyway. We're not choosing this gift.
You recall someone telling you of a place where delicious berries grow... and indeed, you can see the dark green leaves beneath a carpet of purple berries.
Ah, I remember picking berries as a kid in a field by my house. That's all craters now. you don't always have to bring the mood down you know. Being depressed while exploring is the only way! You pluck as many berries as you can fit into the jar you brought along for the purpose. But the patch of berries is not altogether peaceful, monsters still roam the forest! The fiends which feast on the berries for their diet appears and attack you!
I don't remember seeing these here before! This event features an enemy we'll see later this update because it's from the new stratum. Why their food requirements consist of berries 4 floors down where they live is just another mystery of the labyrinth. Probably.
Guh! Sixteen hooves is more than you'd think! Their mane is particularly flammable.
The delicate berries have been smashed, but on opening the jar you still smell their sweetness. You can no longer offer the berries as a present... but perhaps in their place, you can convert the crushed mass into a high-grade jam. You spend some time working the paste into a fine jam, and take it back as a birthday gift.
no sugar and full of seeds and gritty leaves, delicious.
Missed this one, did you? We didn't want to be here for 3000 years.
75% 100% 100% 0% 125% 100% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 15% 25% 3% 25% 3% Can't forget about this red FOE before we properly move on. Firekings aren't that deadly since they only hurt one person at a time but they have the same HP as Hellion and can drag the fight out for ages with Roar. Considering how long the boss fight was, we're just gonna power through this thing without much resistance. They hit pretty hard with their high stats but that's about it. They're just kinda tanky little lizards otherwise.
No... not the doors, NOT THE DOORS! She's, uh, properly sobbing. I think we've been making light of her real trauma.
Back! Back I say, you foul four legged, two horned, spiny bat! you're still cute, but i don't wanna go near you Perhaps I will die of old age at this rate...
That's enough out of you, return to the spawn from whence you came! Useful, but please don't do that again. Ohohoho, that's why you call it Climax! What a way to go... I'm using the voted team for 11 and 12F a little earlier just so I could take this enemy out now with the wildcard Sonia. This party could've used some nice utility and a proper physical attacker and it's as if the Fireking only had 1,155 HP, which makes it much more bearable.
You cautiously approach the cart, wary of any lingering monsters. But none appear... You recall hearing that a poor merchant's caravan had been attacked near here. Perhaps you may find a suitable gift somewhere in the bags strewn across the ground.
I have no need for such trinkets, watch out for traps and fake items, these guys are a shrewd bunch. hmm, not finding much edible. ...ooh a pack of skittles. Heh, I think I found something good, smells nice and expensive, but it's probably fine. The rules of the Labyrinth allow whoever finds an item within to lay claim to it. Regardless of the caravan's destination, it must have carried something worthwhile. You rummage through the bags for something that could be used as a birthday present... before long, Lily finds a candle with a faint floral scent in an open chest. You recognize the candle as a type popular among nobles. It's clean, fresh aroma, created by alchemy, provides relaxation for the owner for years on end. It may be too valuable to give to a young girl, but it would certainly be well-received. Unfortunately, Lily also finds a trap in the chest!
Uh...
Okay phew, here I thought the game was actually poorly made, it was just giving you the ol' tense misdirection. Hah, classic! Lily is the one who checks the chest and gets hit by the trap, losing all her TP, but the game says Corinth is the one that loses all their TP instead. Bwah?
Is that a bird's song...? The flute-like chirping continues for a moment before stopping. You recall being told of a bird that hoards shiny objects. Could the chirping have come from the rarely-seen bird?
Sniff, sniff, I think I can smell treasure from this direction. I'm not even gonna ask. You quietly move up to the bird's nest, taking care not to startle it. Peeking through the bushes, you can see a neatly-built nest with shiny stones inside. You reach to grab one when you hear wings flapping overhead, as something drifts down. It is a multicolored feather, with several radiant hues. The bird that dropped it seems to be gone... in any event, the feather would make a good gift. You leave a few coins in the nest as homage to the bird, and depart the area.
We lose 100en for that, ohhhhh noooooo, and this is the gift we'll go with since it's the last in the path of going from one to the other. Woo laziness.
Quite t'haul! If only I had use fer any of this trash! Guess we can use the jam tonight but I think she'll like this best. This candle will relax me... when I sell it! I'll eat the dew, thanks. Ahhh, Nidhogg! Perfect timing! We're having a birthday bash for the innkeeper's daughter! Why don't yeh join us? Yeh can give her the present yeh found!
...... I-Is this for me? Hooray! U-Ummm... thank you... this is a wonderful present...! Well? Did yeh get a nice gift? Yeh certainly seem satisfied! Haw haw haw! All right... let's get to business, Nidhogg. Here's the reward for doing the job. Nice work! The girl has her gift, yeh have yer reward, everyone's happy! Cheers! Thanks for helping out!
Happy birthday!!! Yaha! Hehe!
Here's the other three reactions for the quest, can you guess which goes with each item? Wow, gameplay! Wow...! ......it smells good. How nice... this is a great present... th-thank you... ......! ......wow... it looks delicious. Can I share it with my mom? Thank you... this is a wonderful present... ha ha... Whoa...! ......I hope my mom won't get mad at me for having this... ha ha... it's a great present! Thank you!
Wish I could wear more armour, cold has never agreed with me. I stay warm through the burning desire to slay darkness. Well, uh, we all have our own ways of keeping warm. were i a different kind of doctor a shot of brandy would do it for me. I prefer to stay frosty, like my outlook.
A doorless exit... heh, but I don't fancy going over these monster infested fields to reach them. Well g-g-g-good thing we c-c-c-can stay in this l-l-lovely cold for l-l-longer! Ohohohochoo! Achoo! Stay near me before you go from white to blue, old man. Now I'll say this is my favourite stratum, but this floor is kinda lame, we'll see why shortly, but we've got a bit of a walk to this stairs.
What a little cutie, heh- ow! Time to melt, sucka. wanna hug the fish.
100% 100% 100% 150% 0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 0% 100% 100% 100% It's time for some chilly contemptions and here's the weak mob of the stratum. It has a small chance each turn of summoning more of itself if they can fit on the screen, but otherwise they do poor damage in all cases, so it's just more exp. We'll see their turn 10+ summon next update but they absolutely will not last that long, so it's just a fun bit of trivia to impress all your Etrian Odyssey friends. Snowsouls are basically the trash mob of this stratum. Don't think you can safely force grind on these things, or you'll very heavily regret it!
100% 100% 100% 100% 50% 150% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 50% 100% 100% 100% Slightly more dangerous but slightly less interesting. Jaws can hit hard if like 3 of them go for the same person, otherwise it's really whatever. They, uh, don't do anything else. With your team starting to shape up and getting to some busted stuff, and level correction not being a thing, you'll find the new denizens of a stratum aren't particularly deadly anymore. The other trash mob for this stratum. These things you can force grind on safely if you have to.
Soon, my pretty. Soon. you're drooling.
Woah, big buggy- mmrmph! Not a problem, its rigid exoskeleton makes it quite the conductor. T-T-That makes s-s-s-sense.
100% 75% 100% 100% 100% 150% 100% 100% 100% 100% 0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Ugh these damn things are back to be annoying. A guaranteed blindside by themselves and a pretty likely chance of someone's accuracy being tanked. Thankfully your physical attackers aren't that bothered but can put your Head based classes on the back foot. They're the deadliest enemy on the floor due to being slightly threatening so definitely go for them first, they're less likely to use Bewilder at low health so it's definitely to your benefit. Solo Moriyanas are guaranteed to initiate a blindside. They can be pretty annoying to deal with. At least their conditional is super easy to snag and is one of the few damage type conditionals to require smacking their weakness instead of a resistance or immunity. And doesn't even penalize you like some conditionals of that kind do. They're also absolutely bizarre in that they invert enemy behaviors where they get more dangerous at low HP. Instead they're more likely to use regular attacks at low HP, so you definitely want to smack them down first.
That's got a nasty glare in its eye, it'll definitely go after us. well since you can see something like that surely you can tell us which way it's facing. Nope.
We'll get this next floor, so neat, not that a power boost hugely matters on a Protector or War Magus.
The enemy's coming from behind! Gahhhh! Siiiiiigh, trying that again...
Chill out. I'd l-l-l-love to!
100% 125% 100% 100% 125% 100% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 10% 50% 10% Ahem, where were we. So Darksoars are aggressive flying FOEs that'll chase you if you walk in front of them. There's just a slight problem, dear readers, HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO TELL WHERE THEY'RE FACING?! So expect to get into a few scraps with these guys unless you have a lot of Sleep Bells. Anyway, they hit pretty goddamn hard, but only to the main recipient of the attack, so you can escape from them pretty easily, but they are a pain to avoid just because you have no idea if you'll aggro them or not and it kinda sucks. Obviously you use Foesense so you never get caught off guard. Hey an actual use for Survivalists, fancy that! 
I guess it's for that reason they made flying FOEs weak as a patchwork solution to issues like that. And yeah it's a flying FOE, so it's really weak. You cna probably take one down at first sight frankly.
Sweet dreams, luv. didn't even know birds could make that face. We now have its drop, so we can ignore it for the rest of the game. EO2, babyyyyy.
Heh, not being seen is quite the adventure.
Between two Darksoars is a nice defense boost we can't unlock until 14F, but the main issue is getting to this item without being seen. Since you have no idea where they're looking, you either get the bells out or just get lucky. I got absurdly lucky that neither of them saw me, but I guess I'm just that skilled.
Woop woop woop woop woop!
Looking around, you see a gleaming stone like a pillar of ice atop a mound of snow. You think you may be able to grab the stone if you reach for it...
it's out of character for me but i could step out of my shell on occasion. Who are you talking to...?
Only at night, we can get a gathering item one floor early, wooooooo, back to town.
Phew, look at all these items, I might even use some of them!
It's hard to tell the exact number against the snow, but there seem to be at least ten. The snow creatures have not spotted your presence yet... you may have a chance to strike first, though it's also an opportunity to leave quietly.
aw, how cute. let's kill them. Bitchin'. As you begin your charge, the snow underfoot melts, revealing another snow creature! This must be their nest! Dozens of monsters, all alike, appear around you. You are grievously outnumbered, but completely surrounded with no chance of escape! Just as you're sure that death is inevitable, the monster's behavior changes... the snow monsters clump up into a single area and begin to combine into one! Its size grows larger by the second, eventually developing into a gargantuan monster! The moment while it's still combining may be your only chance to escape from here!
The bigger they are, the slower they melt! I don't think I'm remembering that right. Close enough! You screw up your courage and face the gigantic monster! Failing to anticipate your resistance, the conglomeration of snow demons stop moving. You wait tensely for it to make the first move, but it begins to fall apart! It seems that it's not a true merging... merely a pile of monsters clinging to each other. Unable to sustain its own weight, the monster crumbles from the "feet" up! The dissolution continues until only one snow monster remains... weapons in hand, you change at the sole survivor!
Just admit you can't handle the cold and I'll warm you up with some fire. N-N-Nonsense, I love the c-c-cold! Ahh... ahh... ACHOO! ...alright f-f-fine, hanging in r-r-rafters is miserable, but I m-m-must do it! Please warm me u-u-u-up... After your victory over the Snowsoul, you find stones at your feet resembling snowballs. You gather the Snowsoul's remains and leave the area.
I was so enamoured by the stairs last time I forgot about this event! Seven drops we don't really need, but hey free money. This event is a bit of a ruse, but if you try and run away from the big monster in the second prompt then you take a bunch of damage and still have to fight it anyway. It's not a big deal regardless. This textbox pops up multiple times instead of saying obtained 7 White Gems. But yeah either way you fight a very non-threatening Snowsoul.
that's not the right plural. Just cause I read a lot doesn't mean I'm good at language! So this floor sucks because it's just a long winding walk to get back to where you were. I'm not a huge fan of when the series just has you snake around to fill up map space, but we'll only have to do this a few times for this floor. Hey, better than the LONG HALLWAY OF NOTHINGNESS back on B10F of EO1. As interestingly labyrinthine as its map design could get in comparison to the later games, it had a buncha stinkers like that as well. Also get used to bizarre plurals for enemy formations. That issue wouldn't be corrected until several years later, in Nexus.
So lovely and quiet back here.
Stop it!!!
If only we had a way of hitting multiple enemies at once. Well, food for thought. Damn Megido delaying the multi hit spells!
Nothing too crazy here but we require other items to unlock these, which is actually a right pain. Get the rare item for the quest and then super scoop outta here.
This seems familiar, take this friends. I'd rather not. It's a War Magus shortcut, same event as last time, lazy gits.
hush little cutie, you're with me now. We're gonna leave you behind if you don't stop petting the weird skull flying thingy!
Ugh! I mean, it's more exp, but ugh!
And we'll unlock this next floor, so that's neat.
Back to where we were, for the last time.
Enough with your endless evil!
Here's another Darksoar that I walked past without incident. Still got it.
It seems that the past continues beyond the wall... you search for a way past the wall, but the forest is too thick and it seems to be no use. Even if you could climb the wall, the branches are too high for you to reach. If only you had someone nimble enough to jump to the high branches, you could cross... Survivalist shortcut, though of course it declines to tell you the important part when you do come back here with one. Or had one in your main party like a weirdo: However the branch is very thin... it would be too risky to attach a rope there. It seems that only a single Survivalist will be able to cross the wall. For now, you give up on crossing the wall, and leave the area. This game will absolutely throw solo shortcuts at you, though it starts off with a very easy one. You'll see next update that it's super whatever but be prepared for lots of Beast Bells in your future if you don't want a lot of solo running away. Yeeeep. The game actually goes there. Better have good party members on hand to handle these sections. Fortunately Survivalists can cheese this one with a max level Stalker. Later solo class shortcuts won't be as generous.
Slushee time. You say such silly things with such a serious face.
There are plenty of dead end rooms in this series, but some do lead to somewhere! And if you can avoid the Darksoar like I somehow did yet again, even better!
Lotta hooves but I got a lotta stam! oh no please don't leave me with nothing to do that would be teeeeerrible...
100% 100% 100% 150% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Oh good there's not just three enemies for the whole floor. Sleipnirs are the usual dodgy annoying enemies that don't do a whole lot since their party wide damage is kinda rubbish. I was using Front Guard in that image, sure, but it's really nothing to worry about. They don't even use their named attack until they're below half health, so despite a cool design they do nothing much with it. A very vanilla mid tier mob. Man I miss EO3 and beyond enemy design, I got nothing to say about a lotta these folks!
If you felt like skipping a nice chunk of floor then there's two ways to do it, though it depends how lucky or belly you are. There was stuff to show anyway so I didn't see the need, also taking the long way round means more exp, stop speedrunning!
Bats and bugs are close enough, right? I don't feel bad in any case.
And that was the end of the 11F gauntlet! Well, it only feels that way cause we waste time with winding corridors, but since the floor is symmetrical I'll give it some points back.
This must be the floor where the fearful beast dwells! I'd recognise the sound of a vile fish monster out for blood anywhere. I-If you say so.
now that's good eatin'. You ever played this series and wonder if a party wide Nectar would be overpowered? Well as always, EO2 has you covered. AHAHAHAHA! There's a very good reason why this item never made a return to the series!
Mmrmmrph! I'm thinking the same thing, ahh... Curse you for stopping my only real damage dealer.
You can rest here and admire the snowman, or ignore it and plow onward.
Come now, we need to head back and- blurf! Ah fuck. A mere glance will suffice to appreciate the snowman, you decide. But as you prepare to leave, you trip over a root and land face-first into the snowman! The Snowsoul that seems to have made the figure appears and flies at you in a rage!
Sorry for ruining your day or whatever. Heh, the story of the furious snowman builder. A fun way to end the floor, or something, if you decide to rest nothing happens. You don't even get healed or anything. EO2! Hey, you gotta have some detrimental events here and there to spice things up! Make everything too friendly and the dungeon loses its threatening and dangerous aura.
Simple enough floor, we'll be back in a moment to fill it out properly.
ah, thanks, would've spilled out onto my floor. That's cause you fall asleep with it still on! There you go, all done. Be careful! Pickpockets could be anywhere, you know? Maybe not around my inn, but... better safe than sorry! Why, just the other day, I fell on the street right onto my keister. My back hurt for the rest of the day! There's danger everywhere, not just in the Labyrinth! Always be careful!
Need someone that could use a... kickstart? I'll give you a kickstart. Ow. I've got a patient here who's badly injured. He's in critical condition... be careful! The third Stratum is filled with strong enemies. If you feel endangered in any way, do not hesitate to escape!
Greetin' ya wee sprog, wanna fight this wee sprog? It would be fair! Just cause I keep my distance doesn't mean I'm weak! Okay, maybe a little... Know something neat? I heard from Cass at the bar that the whole town is fascinated by you. Everyone's saying you'll be the first ones to climb Yggdrasil and find the floating castle. I think so, too! Even when you get famous, don't forget this shop! Don't forget me...!
None taken, they are quite chilly, ohohoho! Sigh, sometimes trying to learn everything is not an easy task. I hate winter, so there's no way I could stay up there for long. It's beautiful, yeh say? Yeh sound like yeh're going there on vacation! The place is packed with monsters! This town gets freezing cold during winter. Icicles as far as the eye can see! I don't even like to get out of bed in the morning cause it's so friggin' cold! I wish I could live someplace warm... and drink whatever I wanted... but for that day to come, I'll have to keep slaving away here! Haw haw haw!
It is only surprising to those southern doltings who know not the danger of northing! Hmhm! Are you used to the ice and snow? Even veteran explorers have trouble with the cold. But for the monsters, it's home. They have the advantage of it being their native environment. If your surroundings give you trouble, you'll have to devise a new strategy. That's all the advice I have for you. Never underestimate the Labyrinth.
Yep, here's the 11F map. Once we got the proper corrections, of course. Purr! Your appearance belies your strength. I have underestimated you explorers. Tell me, what will you do if you do find the floating castle? The Duke has offered a title to those who discover it. Is that ultimately your goal? We consider it a small price to pay, but if you wouldn't accept it, then... I confess I'm not certain those with an explorer bent would be willing to become nobility. Oh, but please excuse me. I am rather getting ahead of myself, aren't I? You are ascending through the Labyrinth so quickly that I got a little carried away!
Oh boy a bunch of rubbish quests to dump on us. We covered a whole floor and a whole quest four times over so we'll leave these til next time and actually get into the good floors of this stratum. I'm not sure how many times I've said this already, but I'll say this again. I absolutely do not miss questing in the older games.
Wielding their neutral special, the first new class of the game starts off with a, heh, BANG. If you ever wanted to use Survivalist or Alchemist but didn't fancy the heavy investment for them, then this is the class for you, since it's better than both of them combined. Gunners dish out a lot of physical damage, as well as STR-based elemental damage, can support with binds and Medishot, and have some other utility in regular attacks. Being one of the new classes, they get some favouritism and they're definitely worth using, because while they're pretty damn squishy, especially with the Riskshot skills, they can hang in the back and fire all day long. It helps that most of their skills are easy to invest in and a fair few can just be ignored. Hey, now we get to the new folks. Welcome to the series, ya'll! If you had woes about Survivalists being unusable or Alchemists just being plain clunky to use, then Gunner is the backliner of choice! Great physical damage, decent coverage, and decent support. It's basically the jack-of-all trades role the Survivalist could fill in the first game. Seriously it's like, why is Survivalist in the game when this class exists? Alchemists have other redeeming aspects but Survivalists pale in comparison to Gunners so much it's not even funny. At any rate Gunners are a very solid unit to put into a party. They may not be overly busted like Ronin, Dark Hunter, or Hexer, but they're a pretty strong class all the same.
At least we don't have to compare these stats to last game, they're brand new! Gunners have a weird stat variation, having the best LUC in the game, something that'll be important later, while having the worst AGI, and terrible HP and VIT. Their TEC is higher than their STR for some reason, since their elemental attacks are all STR based, and their higher than average TP helps with their somewhat cheaper skills, especially compared to the Alchemist's elementals. Do note that their horrific AGI means that Gunners have a bit of an accuracy problem, though their high LUC stat at least mitigates a bunch of that. The effects aren't too great, though the Gunner typically has a lot of spare SP, so it might be worth investing in them later on top help with their accuracy woes just a little bit at the very least. It's probably the biggest weakness of a Gunner, and probably the closest thing holding them back from uh, being slightly more good. Because they're a damage dealing class, they really want as much STR as possible. Their TEC is already pretty high so there's no need to invest in it, especially since it's basically a defensive stat. There are misconceptions about whether some of the Gunner's skills use TEC or not, but they don't, so don't worry about pumping that up. LUC's also not super relevant for them, so that's not really a stat that needs to be invested in either. Take HP, TP, or VIT how you see fit, though the first two have larger priority I would say. Nice and simple, and for some good skills. While you can go all out attacking, the Gunner has the means to support pretty well, you can definitely spend 2SP getting these skills available, the Gunner has plenty to spare.
Ah the standard point sink that you need to max to get all those sweet skills. Gunners start off really well with 3 elemental skills right off the bat, gives them great early game variety, and then they get stupid squishy and stupid strong with the Risk skills. If you wanted to stop there, I guess you could, but Ricochet is like Multihit on steroids, so definitely worth picking up. Pretty much everything the Gunner uses stems from this so you'd best get maxing it as soon as possible, their low level skills will be carried by their relatively high STR for the time being. Hey, yet another mastery skill. Not much really to say here other than it's a rather minimal damage boost, but unlike the other classes, you'll want to max this out fast, as their best skill is locked behind level 10. Won't do much for your Gunner but you don't really have a choice in the matter if you really want them to get going.
So good(?) they handed it out twice. The Gunner can make more use out of regular attack boosts, but they also do incredible damage with their skills, so it's hard to recommend these strats outside of saving TP. Not many of the Gunner's skills actually require 10SP, so they have the points to spare, and this can be something to sink into lategame. But it's only half of the equation. A lot of what I said about the Landsknecht's version applies here as well. You're spending 10 SP to increase your regular attack damage to an average of 135% damage. That's a really terrible tradeoff, and I'd only recommend investing points in this if you really have absolutely nothing else you want.
This can be useful if you hit twice and crit on both of them, but again it only really works out if you're saving TP and get some luck, not that it really takes much to proc both skills. Gunner's have pretty good crit chances due to their high LUC and while a +30 boost is nice, the total chance is capped at 50%, so the enemy needs to have a good amount of LUC so you're not wasting points. This will happen most of the time, so it's not too bad, but this isn't something you can use much when you're newly exploring, this is just a nice thing to do when you're going back to previous floors. Critical hits only deal 25% more damage in this game, so this functionally works out to a 7.5% damage boost at max level. Which requires 10 SP to reach. Which is less than max level Guns, a damage boost that affects everything, not just regular attacks. Not what I would call a great deal. And if you decided to invest in both 2-Hit and Weakshot, congratulations. You spent 20 SP to increase that average of 135% damage to 145.125% damage. 20 SP that could have gone elsewhere. Granted the attacks cost 0 TP and the Gunner will have a lot of SP to spare, but really now. If you absolutely insist on taking both of these skills, take 2-Hit first. It'll do more for your Gunner.
Cheap and dirty binds at the start of battle. Now these are kinda pathetic when compared to the Hexer's version, since these are level 5 skills that are scaled like they're level 10, but the higher LUC helps mitigate that. Uh, well not really, but it's not as bad as it could've been. If you're desperate for binds then these skills are good enough, but you're better off using other classes. It's some interesting utility and can work out fine, but you should you only really invest in Headshot and Armshot, like always. If you want your Gunner to edge more into the support role, these could be possible pickups. But their damage is rather piddly and this is a game where offense and just outright killing the enemy is heavily favored over faffing about. What really sets these skills back are the rather mediocre infliction rates. Don't be fooled by the Gunner's high LUC stat, it doesn't increase infliction rates that much and the small boost will get utterly tanked against FOEs and bosses. The base infliction rates are what has the most effect in the infliction math, and as you can see... they're not great. Whip Dark Hunters and Hexers are far better binders, so if you already have either of them in your party or even both, these skills are very safe skips and your Gunner's better off focusing on damage since the lockdown part is already pretty much handled. Against bosses these skills have 11% to 13% infliction rates at best. Which is an average of 8 to 9 turns of attempts for a successful infliction. And in a well crafted party, chances are the fight has ended long before then. Otherwise if you lack binds or just have a party that's really slow to finish fights, you could take them if you are desperate for binds, though they aren't super necessary to beat the game. Like always, you can ignore Legshot since leg binds aren't too great in this game.
Feeling lucky, punk? The Risk skills do really nice damage, but also come with a huge cost. The Gunner has difficulty surviving hits at the best of times, but adding a ridiculous damage modifier on yourself makes these a little hard to recommend. It's not worth using these skills until they're maxed out, but even at 256%, you'll probably still be turned into a red mist if a butterfly so much blinks at you. The elemental Risk skills have utility in doing big damage on weaknesses, so this skill is only really useful if the enemy doesn't have a weakness. You can circumvent this with 1st Turn or 1 Guard/Provoke, but that means you have a Survivalist and a Gunner on the same team, weird, or your Protector is solely there to stop your Gunner from eating dirt five times a battle. If you think you can get away with it, these skills are great, but they're also... risky. Riskshot is a skill I would say is absolutely not worth taking at all. The elemental Riskshots deal more damage, and actually cover an aspect a Gunner can't otherwise cover while Riskshot is severely outshined by Ricochet. The only saving graces of this skill are that it's one of the most accurate skills they have, so it's unlikely to miss, and that it costs less SP than the elemental riskshots. Which honestly doesn't make up for the fact that until this skill activates, a hedgehog glancing the Gunner's way will instantly blow them up, and that you are forced to use a Survivalist or some other means to reliably use this skill. All of those are bad enough, but skill is just so hard outclassed, that I really do not recommend picking it up.
Hmm, okay, this could work due to its higher infliction rate but of course the main issue is Gunners are slow as shit. You can combine this with 1st Turn and with the higher LUC of this class, could pretty dependably stun the enemy, depending on resistance. It's a bit wonky, but it's basically a free Force skill. Otherwise this skill isn't that useful, since Riot Gun is a guaranteed stun no matter what, so instead of 1st Turn... use an Axcela. Stunshot is basically "what if Riot Gun was completely nonfunctional?" This skill is absolutely worthless unless you're using one with a Survivalist, as Stuns only work if the inflictor acts before the enemy. And the Gunner is slow as shit, and this skill's low speed modifier isn't enough to deal with that issue. It's easier to stun big enemies in this game compared to EO1, as the Stun multipliers are considerably higher, but the low speed is what kills this skill. Chances are you can save that SP for something else unless you deal with that issue somehow.
...uh, okay? While a fast, guaranteed hit is nice in theory, it doesn't do much damage, so I don't feel the need for this. Sure, it could help on enemies with high evasion, but Ricochet will likely land at least one hit in that instance, so this skill is kinda whatever. Nice idea, needs some power to actually work. Snipe isn't a great skill, but it can fill some niches. It's cheap, so it doesn't stress the Gunner's rather tiny TP pool too much. It has a really high speed modifier, so it can bypass the low speed issue, which can be a nice way to bypass that annoyance for a Gunner if you really need to, and being guaranteed damage doesn't hurt either. That being said you're more likely to use this for the speed than for the guaranteed accuracy, as there aren't too many situations where you'd be tagged by blind and absolutely need to get a hit in. This skill is a possible skip but investing in this can cover some niche situations that would really annoy your Gunner.
Ah here's the skills that make the Gunner pretty unique. You can grab two of these before even entering the labyrinth and really gives some early game variety. It's like the Alchemist's spells, but cheaper and much easier to slot into a party. Since you're mostly going to be using them on weaknesses, even at Lv1 they deal a nice amount of damage, so there's not much reason to upgrade them unless you want to be... risky. Still, you can pour some points into these, you have the freedom to, and they're way safer than the Risk versions, obviously, but just think about the DAMAGE you'd do. Well, up to you, but these skills are definitely great, and cheap, compared to other elemental options. And say hello to one of the biggest reasons why Alchemists are a contested class. A Gunner can provide the elemental coverage you need if you truly need it, without having to develop an Amrita addiction. There's not a whole lot of big enemies that resist Stab, but there's enough that picking these up are worthwhile to give them some coverage. Generally there are two ways you can level up these skills. For one, these skills can be considered one point wonders due to rather terrible scaling. You are spending 9 more SP on top of your initial 1 point investment to not even double their damage at the price of more than doubling their TP cost. Not a good deal. The other option is to level them up to 5 to get access to more risky but more effective elemental nuking options. Whichever option you go with is up to you but investing at least 1 point in all of these can be considered a pro move.
Prepare to die. The Risk elementals can do some spicy numbers but of course you need to actually live to pull it off. It offers a barely better protection than the 5 level Riskshot, so it doesn't really matter which one you choose. There are other classes, mainly the Ronin, that deals big elemental hits without the drawback, so there's honestly not much point, but what if you weren't a coward...? It's definitely better sticking to the 1st stage of elementals, it's the main draw for the Gunner because of how easy they are to use, and these either require a lot of setup, or a lot of luck. Since you have a lot of spare SP, you're free to experiment, but just know what you're getting into. You'd have to be crazy to pick up one of these skills, haha, unless... If the previous elemental skills weren't enough for you and you want to nuke enemies harder with elemental damage, these skills are for you! ...If you're willing to deal with the penalties. They could potentially hit the enemy for a huge amount of damage. Or your Gunner gets smacked and whoops, they're dead! This also feels rather excessive when other classes have elemental damage that doesn't put them at massive risk. The risk of losing the Gunner's turn on top of having to spend an action reviving them can be a huge loss of momentum for your party. I'm not a fan of these skills. The other elemental shots cover the factor of elemental damage without letting you gamble. And there are too many caveats if you want to use these skills reliably. You'd either need a Survivalist's 1st Turn, protection from a Protector, or making sure the enemy is completely incapacitated or something to ensure your Gunner can use these safely. They're too unreliable to use seriously.
Let's step down to a much less riskier skill, Wildshot is fine if you want some spread damage on a lot of enemies, but it's also kinda pathetic. Ricochet isn't as dependable but will likely do more to help you, but hey if you're facing 5 enemies and want to finish them off after your party softened them up, it's perfectly okay at that. Wildshot is the Gunner's only AOE attack, and one of the few physical AOEs in the entire game. If your party is lacking in the crowd control department, this skill could be worth picking up for reliable AOE damage. But if you already have other sources of reliable AOE damage such as the Ronin's Kienzan or the Hexer's Poison, you can most likely skip this skill, as it is really slow and the damage isn't super great to make up for that.
Oh hey remember Multihit? That was nerfed into oblivion to 2-Bolt? Well it's actually still here, but better and on a better class, because fuck Survivalists, apparently. You even do 3 hits like Multihit could, but also have a smaller chance of doing even more damage! It's kinda dumb how much better this is than Multihit, and especially EO2's version. But that's what the Gunner is, Survivalist 2. Sure it'll suck if 4 hits just disappear into the ether, but with larger enemy groups this time, you're gonna get a lot of mileage from this great skill. If you don't care about elemental damage, you could just stick to this for the entire game and not even notice much. So let me get this straight. You took Multihit, gutted it into uselessness, and gave the unnerfed version to another class, and buffed it in the process!? Goddamn, I get that Survivalists were broken in EO1, but EO2, did you really have to shit that hard on them!? Anyways, most of the Gunner's skillset isn't really too great. But this skill makes up for their rather lackluster skillset tenfold! This is easily the Gunner's best damage skill in their toolkit, and one of the first things to gun for if possible. The only real downside is that it's fairly inaccurate, as the accuracy modifier on this skill is smaller than the modifiers on most of their other skills. Despite that drawback this skill is absolutely worth taking, but expect to see some misses every now and then. As for how much damage this skill will actually do due to EO2's weighted hit system, allow me to illustrate that out for you. Ricochet dishes out an average of 1.6/2.6/2.6/2.6/3.4 hits which equals 120%/208%/234%/273%/425% average damage. You gain +120%/+88%/+26%/+39%/+152% damage per level. Yeah the scaling is really wonky as levels 3 and 4 don't do much, but there's a huge jump at level 5. 425% damage is higher than Mideraba's damage modifier, and there's a 20% chance to deal 475% damage, or a 10% chance to deal 625% damage! Worst case scenario, you only deal 375% damage, which is more than most other damage skills in the game! Of course due to Katanas having higher ATK and Ronin having higher STR, Midareba still outdamages this skill most of the time, but this one skill truly carries the Gunner class into greatness. This skill was also why I said Riskshot was not worth taking, as even if it rolls for the minimum amount of hits, it still deals more damage, and doesn't blow up the Gunner in the process. And is also faster to boot.
If you didn't fancy the bind aspect of Gunner support, then this is a skill you definitely want to get. Party wide ailment healing is rare outside of Purify and Theriaca BX, so having a really easy version to use is another great point in this class's favour. Sure you could be shooting stuff, but what if you shot your party instead? Going to max isn't really worth it due to speed modifiers being a suggestion for this class, but you've seen all the worthwhile skills, it's up to you how much you wanna go. Somebody please explain to me why shooting your party members is better than a Medic treating them? No seriously, take a look at Purify in the Medic's skillset and come back here. Yeah, Medishot is half as cheap as Purify. Though don't be fooled by Medishot's speed modifier, Purify is actually faster by virtue of the Medic having a much higher AGI stat. At any rate, AOE ailment dispels are really valuable to have, so this skill is definitely a good pickup. Especially if you choose to have War Magus as your healer of choice over the Medic, as the War Magus cannot dispel ailments with their skills. So the Gunner pairs up with them really nicely, and fills up that hole. Even if you are using a Medic this skill is still worth picking up, though lower priority as multiple sources of ailment dispels can really help if one of your dispellers gets incapacitated. And ailments on the entire party are a fast track to a game over!
Oh hey it's Slumber. Sure you can put a point into this, avoiding pointless FOE fights is half the game! But also item, you've heard this spiel before. Unlike with the Troubadour where they had the choice of taking Luring, Gunners are stuck with stunning them. Though there is an item that can replicate this skill, though said item is a bit weaker. Otherwise like I said before, take it or leave it.
To top off this great class, it's one of the best Force skills! So long as your Gunner has a little bit of AGI, as a treat, they can outspeed and land a Stun on A N Y enemy in the game. Like with binds, no monster is immune to Stun, so combine with Dominate and Painless and suddenly you can see how you're able to burst through whatever enemy you fancy. It's kinda crazy how much disparity these Force skills have. Like with most of them, this isn't something you should pull out against regular enemies, so get ready to Axcela for that boss! One of the best Force skills in the game as it fills multiple roles at once, and what truly hurtles the Gunner into a very strong class. It's a good damage nuke and one of the Gunner's best reliable damage options, so there's little reason not to use this when it's up. It's also a fantastic support skill due to the guaranteed Stun buying you a free turn, and the severe speed boost making Gunner almost guaranteed to act first. However there are some tradeoffs compared to the Protector's Painless. Sure it deals damage in the process, but Riot Gun can only lock down one enemy at a time, making it not a great panic button in randoms or battles where there are more than 1 FOE. (You're probably better off trying to run in that case. Unless you got cornered in which case, good luck!) Painless also has priority, but Riot Gun does not, so it is possible for the Gunner to get outsped before they can use this. However I'm only acknowledging that as a possibility. In most cases this skill will move first, so that's not something to worry about too much. If you are worried, just get some AGI increasing equipment and slap it on the Gunner to solve that issue. On the other hand, Painless cannot protect against debuffs and dispels, but Riot Gun can because it denies the action entirely instead of shielding your team. Not to mention that this skill deals a ton of damage to your target, which speeds up fights. In big fights you can stagger this with Painless to get 2 guaranteed free turns! And if you have Dominate on top of that, 3 turns! It's truly absurd how strong this skill is, and you can spam Axcelas once you get access to them in the late-game to make them spam it every turn if you so choose. There's also one more aspect that makes this skill even stronger, but I'll talk about that in the main LP when the time comes. First new class is off to a great stat, since it's just a better Survivalist, Alchemist, hell let's toss Landy in there too, it needs some more kicking. Despite having a lot of naff skills, some super suicidal ones, and a very wonky stat spread, they have just enough positives to keep them on the better side of the class disparity. Gunners are a pretty strong class, though a lot of their strength comes from a few skills that are incredibly strong at the roles they cover. A bunch of their skillset is really terrible and not worth taking, kind of making the overall class design not too great. Despite their issues, they're a great candidate for a backliner. Or some may argue they're the only candidate for an offensive backliner. Still, this class makes a good first impression, and has a strong showing in this game. And will still have a strong showing as the series goes on.
Vote for three party members to be exploring 13F and onwards! 
I have been writing all the descriptions for them, yes. And then Loopy draws the image, very impressively, I might add. They're looking for more details so the guard corps know what to expect in the Labyrinth. Remember when yeh lot brought back those stones for the Duke's daughter on her birthday? The Grand Duchy was chuffed about that! I've been in like Flynn with them since. Yeh're getting better and better at these! It makes my wicked old heart swell... anyways, this job is another one for the Grand Duchy. Just head to the Duke's Palace for more details. And wear yeh best clothes! What do you mean, "Who cares!?" Yeh need to learn a thing or two about etiquette! Get outta my bar and to the Duke's Palace! March! Alright, back from shopping and ready to have a- oh what now?! You know that Grand Duchy place you love so much? Even though we've been doing everything we can, we're just barely short on the requirements for this, we're at like 48 or whatever. But we'll easily do it on this new floor.
Heh, time for the usual one sided creep fest to begin. Sounds like you've got some experience with this. Ah well, no harm in telling yeh. There's a beautiful woman some ways off. Yeh wouldn't know her. She's a fickle one, with a new "type" of man every day. Most men know to stay well clear. But not this unlucky fella... he's an old friend of her, and they're on reasonably good terms. So he figures, "What the hell?" and decides to propose. He lavishes gifts on her, but she refuses every one. He's tried every method of proposal in the book by now, and more'n a few that aren't. All he can think to do now is try stuff in the Labyrinth. There's a solid mineral there, called an Ice Sheet, or sometimes alabaster. It's no easy rock to get ahold of. If a man gave it to a girl, she'd be swept off her feet. It's a silly-sounding request, but... if yeh find some, bring it here, all right? Thanks! Imagine if men could take "no" for an answer. Instead they hear "try harder!". God I hate my gender.
Hrm, where's Holly when you need- Alreeeet, I luv chuckin' rocks! I warn yeh... it'll be rough. This one involves carrying a huge load. Yeh've seen just outside the gate, right? And the shops that line the street... yeh must have noticed that the roads here are in absolute shambles. I'm not just talking about bumps in the road--some of them have huge boulders jutting out! And the problem is just getting worse with all the new explorers. To fix up the roads and add some new ones, we'll need a bunch of big rocks. There's some quarries on the 3rd, 5th and 14th floors that we use for times like these... yer job is to go get the rocks from there, one by one. Backbreaking work, that is. So we figured we'd let yeh do it while we sit back and relax! Haw! Aww, don't get sore... yeh can only carry one rock at a time, of course, because of their size and weight. We need three rocks in total, so you'll have to make three trips. Take your time... it's a brutal job, but it's for the good of the town. Just put yer head down and power through! Long winded explanation for something we can't complete for two more floors? Yeah this'll be sitting in the quest pile for a while. Yet another quest with the same general plot but completely reworked mechanics in EO2U.
Guess we'll wait for Logan to come back to then send him off again, ohohoho. I'm sure he'll figure it out while he's there. Apparently there's a monster going berserk on the 11th floor. It's not yer usual beastie. The worst part is that it's really close to a prime spot for chopping wood. They dispatched the guard corps to take care of it, but yeh can guess how that went. Go talk to the Minister at the Duke's Palace for the details. G'luck! Wow a quest we can actually do right now. Only took 3 tries. Quest availability is so funny in the earlier games.
Yeah you need help filling the Code- As you may have heard, there is a violent monster on the 11th floor of the Labyrinth. The guards tell me that it's unusual for this monster to be on that particular floor. We've determined that it's a mother with child. Its nest is to the northwest of that floor. That being the case, we assume something must have disturbed the nest. It's important that we be able to coexist with the Labyrinth. This cannot go unaddressed. It would be easy to slay the rampaging beast, but the Duke's daughter is firmly against it. To find a peaceful solution, you must first discover what is causing the monster's distress. When you've concluded the investigation, report your findings back here. Remember, don't kill the monster, and know that we are all relying on you! Alright, easy enough, I'll pass it on. Was there something else... eh, whatever, see ya!
Oh, me? I was just walking the dog. Yo! First, let me extend my thanks for all the jewels you found for the Duke's daughter. As for the next job... you know, of course, that we explore the Labyrinth as well. It's an important site for us, filled with natural resources. But our work would go more smoothly if we knew what kind of opposition to expect. We would like your help in researching the habits and characteristics of the monsters. Catalogue over 50 types of monsters in the Codex and show us your work. When your gallery is sufficiently full, you can inform the bar. You're not the only guild we have assisting, of course. I wish you luck, and godspeed. Well I'll pass it on to that shy guy that compiles all this stuff. And credit to the artist, of course. Hehe!
can't wait to be rid of these things, bugs aren't cute. Heh, nearly there at least.
You think back to the quest you accepted at the bar... you agreed to find the reason for a monster's rampage and report to the Duke's Palace. The monster is breathing heavily... it must have picked up your scent! You have been enjoined against slaying it, and you can do nothing now but flee! You must quickly find the cause of its aggression before leaving the area!
Seems like a bad idea, but Logan said to kill it. That doesn't sound right, but I don't exactly remember. I'm sure it's not a problem. Anything in this labyrinth can't be left alive! 100% 100% 100% 125% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Come now game, you can't create a new enemy that isn't added to the codex and expect me to not kill it at least once? I made the writeup and everything! But yeah it's a beefier Sleipnir, but since you either go around it, or Sleep Bell it, it doesn't matter what it actually is. There are a couple of quest exclusive monsters in the series that don't get added to the codex because they're either missable, or you aren't supposed to be fighting them in the first place. This one isn't too hard to deal with since it's just a beefed up random, but you're not supposed to be killing this thing.
You get nothing, you lose, good day sir!
nah
The monster should find it more difficult to follow you now... you head further inward to investigate the area.
This is definitely a nest, but uhhhh, something's missing. It seems we are dealing with a mother, the most dangerous monster of all, ohohohoho. Could this be the monster's nest? But what you find as you inspect it causes your shoulders to droop... contrary to your expectations, there are no indications that it has been disturbed. In fact, you cannot even find the monster's child here! With no other avenues of inquiry, you decide to return to Lagaard. You must be careful, however... the rampaging monster still has your scent! You are aware that if you slay the monster the quest will end in failure. We can leave now, always good to have a couple wires on hand... just in case.
So do we file a missing child report, or...? Mm? The nest was intact? Then what could have possibly caused its rampage...? This is a dilemma. I don't know how best to proceed... but your efforts are commendable. No one else has managed to so much as reach the nest. We must investigate the matter further... please collect your reward at the bar. Should we need your assistance again, we shall call for you.
What an interesting quandary, this must be investigated further. Heh, maybe it went for its own adventure. Flew the coop, as it were. So that's how it went, eh...? Then why'd the beastie go berserk? I hear after yeh left that floor, no one's seen hide nor hair of the thing. I was worried yeh'd accidentally killed it! But yeh did the job, so yeh get the reward. Come back anytime!
A way to heal all ailments from everyone, so we'll keep this close until we can get more. Meaning never using it! A very good reward for a decently easy quest. There's definitely at least one point in this Stratum where it'll come in handy.
Technically all the branches around here are Ice Branches, hehe. Hmm, I wonder if Ro talks to himself like this? Just before we start the shiny new floor, there's a couple of things the gatherers will do, but since we should focus on our own guild during solo shortcuts, we'll just pretend I rested Logan to get Stalker and Chop and all that garbage.
Fighting scary monsters is one thing, but high trees make the best camping spots! You look above the wall and spot the branch you hoped would be there, and leap up to it. You move from branch to branch until you can see a hidden path through the wall below. From here, it would be child's play to move to the other side of the wall.
Easy enough, phew. Good thing Hart is such a... willing test subject for these.
A calming pulse of magic, but it doesn't seem very strong...
And that's the entirety of 11F! Unfortunately coming all this way with a pretty easy solo class results in a mediocre accessory. We won't be unlocking this for another 12 floors but since it only reduces elemental damage by 15%, it's more worthwhile to use the specific element resist, since it's not likely you'll face multiple in a fight outside of overkill ones for Anti skills. Multi-defense accessories like that can be nice for general purpose use when you have no idea what to expect, or when just doing your standard explorations. But if you know what you're going up against, using stuff that defends against a single damage type or disable tends to be better.
so why are we waiting around? It'll be worth it, ohohoho.
AHHHHHHHHHH!!! cute, but i don't get it. You should have a proper scare once in a while, now you all look as pale as me, ohoho- GAH, hothothot! Fuck you.
100% 100% 100% 50% 50% 50% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 15% 25% 3% 20% 3% We'll encounter these red FOEs in like 30 screenshots but you could meet them a floor earlier to get a nice katana earlier? Ehhh, we can't even survive its proper attack, let alone the Poison it inflicts, let alone when it gets low in health and has a high chance of using Fang every turn. We'll come back to this monster later, but thankfully they're easy enough to avoid, especially since you can't bell them. A weak enemy being able to summon sic the strongest FOE in the stratum on you is hilarious. At least you don't have to fucking petrify this thing for 100% completion.
As you pass, he suddenly recognizes you and begins to speak. You're explorers, aren't you? Is there anything I can help you with? know about snow blooms? oh that comes later? fine, ice sheet? You tell him the story of the Ice Sheet, and he gives a slight chuckle in response. Ah, yes, the Ice Sheet. I actually saw someone mining it on this floor. But it's not easy to find... you'll have to look long and hard for that one, heh. You thank the guard and move on. It appears this quest will take longer than you thought. I guess he's here to tell you it's the rare gathering drop so you don't get discouraged, but it's not harder to find than other rare drops, thank god.
Wheeeeeeeeee!
Starting from this floor is a sliding gimmick, you go in one direction until you hit a wall or soft ground. We have a lovely cool blue to denote these and since you don't increase the encounter rate on these tiles, it's really fun to chain these together and go quite the distance. Oh, uh, and this is a nice helmet we'll unlock next floor.
Not the easiest to show in screenshot fashion, but I'll put the exits to rooms with sliding puzzles so you can work back and see how we might get to them. Starting off nice and easy.
Pathetic. Still cold though!
100% 100% 100% 150% 0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 0% 100% 100% 100% Hey it's a Firezard with cold fire, or something. It either hits someone kinda hard or everyone not very hard. It's basically 50/50 at higher health, so who knows what'll happen! But then it'll do more party wides at lower health, surprise surprise. And that's the end. The resident trash mob of this floor. There's not much to these. The damage isn't huge and you should be able to dispatch them easily.
Ohoho! You were so still I thought you were a statue! I'm using my gauntlets a lot more than I thought...
A soldier's forlorn voice pierces the cold air. The soldier walks to you, his teeth chattering as he fights against the wind. We were s-s-specially selected by M-M-Minister Dubois to find the S-S-Snow Blooms, but... The guard falls silent and stares at the ground before he continues, chastened. The forest is t-t-tougher than we thought. The slippery ice g-g-gets in the way... we c-c-can't find any flowers! We only work during the day to avoid d-d-danger, but... The soldier sadly meets your eyes before continuing. We weren't up t-t-to the mission. C-C-Can we leave the rest to you...? The pitiful soldier stands there hugging his own body from the cold and fear. It falls to you to investigate the ice-covered forest and find the Snow Blooms. only chumps do stuff during the day. Not exactly why we're here now, but close enough.
The name of the game is Etrian Odyssey II, haha, but it's also to find the Snow Blooms scattered around the floor. As the guard inferred, you won't have much luck during the day, so you have to come at night, which has a big issue. But first, we need to get across this room. How big is it anyway...?
Well! We'll be slipping and sliding along all this ice to reach all the various exits, see if you can trace the path back! Should be easy, right? Well, watch where you're walking.
How was this hiding round the corner?! It was as still as that guard... Siiiiigh, I walked into it on purpose to reach something, but whatever... There's a few Helldra on this floor and during the day they sit in one spot, forcing you to go around them if you can't beat them. But at night they start walking back and forth, but thankfully they're not aggressive. So let's just get around this damn thing... This is why you don't fuck with FOEs in EO2.
Crikey that's chilly! Gettin' frostbite over here!
Could this be the Snow Bloom that Minister Dubois asked you to retrieve? The flower blooms alone in the frigid night air...
oh hey they keep their shape at night. and they're cold to hold. fancy that. You reach out to pluck the flower blooming quietly in the snow... taking the icy, sublime flower in hand, you leave the area.
You have obtained one of the requested Snow Blooms. However, the number of them you possess falls short of the total required. Resume your search for the rest of the flowers! Three to go, that was the easy one.
We'll be back later for that dang quest, but some good stuff in here. Trivial to get here during the day at least. Holy shit, just look at those stats those accessories give you! Granted VIT is the only one that's an actually meaningful boost, as the other 2 stats aren't great in this game, even with those nutso boosts.
How shocking. You keep this up for the entire labyrinth and it'll go from cute to annoying.
25% 25% 25% 100% 100% 150% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Oh goody, these are back. Bring a conductor or be here for a few turns. It's likely someone will get tagged with their party wide infliction, but what are the chances it hits your Alchemist, right? At least your Gunner and Ronin avoid this nonsense, but it doesn't make them any less annoying. At least compared to last game they then can't gank your party with a regular attack after binding stuff, rip 400+ ATK stats. These enemies punish lack of coverage hard. You'll need to use elementals to take them down in a timely manner. Alternatively, Poison works too. Solo encounters with these are always guaranteed blindsides.
hmm hmm hmm, ladadada... You don't mind the cold, or- wooaahhh, the ice... you're making me look bad!
Has the ice thinned and cracked? You can see crystal clear water flowing beneath the icy surface. If you enlarge the hole, you may be able to enjoy a bit of ice fishing here.
Have you had that the whole time? Yeah, uh, I like fishing. Just never mentioned it before. Eager to try ice fishing, Corinth drops the first line. But Corinth slips on the ice and falls into the frozen lake! You hurry to pull Corinth out of the water, but it's too late... Corinth has severe frostbite! The fishing trip is hastily abandoned...
you don't seem too bothered. W-W-Well I d-d-don't mind the c-c-cold... and sometimes it f-f-feels like k-k-karma... rather me than y-y-you! That's the spirit! Thanks game.
Fun distraction aside, we'll clear the top of the floor first.
Gah, no, come back treasure! Heh, she ain't nothin' but a gold digger...
Eurgh, they got a fishmongers in here?
Sniff, sniff, that is indeed the culprit! that is quite the aroma but what's that in its mouth? Ugh, you don't wanna know. 100% 100% 100% 100% 50% 125% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Two quest enemies in one update, I do spoil you! But yeah, fish, it might hurt a little bit harder but these enemies are designed to be forgotten about as soon as you hand the quest in. Just slightly beefed up to not keel over instantly in 1 basic attack. Kill
The monster that shattered the young bride's heart has at last been stilled forever. After taking a few deep breaths, you notice something caught in the monster's jaws. Looking closer, you catch a gruesome glimpse... it's a human armbone! It must have caught in its jaws as its teeth sank into the surrounding gauntlet. Prying the mouth open, you discover that the dead arm was holding a sheaf of herbs. You now remember the details of the quest you accepted in the Stickleback Bar... a lady of Lagaard lose her fiance to the Labyrinth just before her wedding. This must be the same man. After pulling the arm free, you stow it in your bag to bring it back to the bar. This is the way of the adventurer. Shame we can't bring more back to be buried. Hm, if I had an ental for every time I brought a severed arm back as treasure... well, it'd be two.
You can barely make out a squirrel-like animal in the shadow of a large plant. The rodent doesn't seem to fear your party, and it chirps brightly as it approaches. It seems as though it wants you to pet it. You wonder if you should oblige the creature...
Hmm, it was a while since the first encounter, so I don't recall what happened, did we reach out, or...? Come now, the chance of that happening three times is absurd, you should be more trusting towards critters. Your funeral. You reach out to the small animal... but it takes the opportunity to run up your arm and onto your body! From there, it jams its head into your backpack and runs off with something in its mouth. You hurriedly rummage through your pack to see what it was the thieving rodent stole. It was a Warp Wire, one of an explorer's most essential tools! It's too late for you to catch the animal by now... you sigh, and move on with your journey.
Heh, heh, heh, this is gold! ...well it can't happen a fourth time. i'd bet on that wager. Aren't you glad I bring two? Might have to be three at this rate... HAVE YOU LEARNED YOUR LESSON YET?! I love idiot trap events like these.
Are these guys tossing away wires or what? I almost feel bad for them. Almost. Still, we'll add it to the collection Isdsjjn- what? They didn't give you a name! Er, fine, Tyson? Ugh, of course you like that one.
Oh hey, back from another- GAH what the hell is that??? Hardycorey. Uh, maybe we shouldn't just slam it on the table in front of everyone. Yeh have proof...? What the--these are his bones! Don't do that to me! For the love of... couldn't it have been his gauntlet, or the herbs, or something... nicer? Yeh lot... have yeh no common sense!? Have yer brains turned as twisty as the Labyrinth!? Yeh'll send her into a deeper funk than she's already in! How cruel can yeh be!? Just because yeh avenged her fiance doesn't mean he'll return hale and hearty, yeh know. Taking revenge in anger only makes a body feel worse... but I s'pose it's human nature not to let bygones be bygones. Ahh, listen to me maunder on! I'd say it's time for some drinking songs! The reward...? Yeh have some nerve, asking for that! Take it and get yeh gone! I'll be counting on yeh again, dammit!
why did we bring the whole arm back? It seemed like a good idea at the time... Sometimes the series makes your guild out to be pretty awkward weirdos, but I suppose you have to be to explore the Labyrinth. I love this scene. Your guild is just a bunch of dicks as they just give him the bones of a human arm. I love the interactions with Cass in this game.
Stop it.
While we're fresh and ready, what if we just wanted to head straight to the end of the floor? Wouldn't that be nice?
How many times must I be tortured so??? Guardians of the Sorrowful Ice
The desolate atmosphere is broken by an incongruously cheerful voice. 
Hey... it's Nidhogg! I'm surprised to see you make it this far.
oh hello, as cheery as ever. Indeed... So if you're here... I take it you're looking for Snow Blooms on the Minister's orders. Well, you won't find any past here. Nothing back there but the stairs upward. The girl's eyes flick toward the door momentarily, then back to you before she continues. You're on an official mission, so you'd better finish it before you do anything else. The black-haired witch is none too subtly blocking your progress further. You have no choice but to turn back now... you nod to Artelind and leave the area.
Heh, it even vomits up snow. Oh, right, you seem concerned, Corinth. I'm always concerned, but interacting with Esbat is so strange, there's no warmth behind that smile of hers. And the less we mention her crazed guardian the better!
Alright, next on the random exits...
So carefree, so asking to be slain. i will not allow it. Surprise, it's blocked off at night and was the reason we didn't head down after slaying the fish. Of course it being a shortcut doesn't really matter during the day since the only reason to go up there is for the Snow Bloom but that's at night, so I guess it's easier for the quest, but what do I fuckin know.
Now we'll go straight across and... huh, that was easy.
Ah, pardon me.
Ah, pardon me again. This is where the Helldra would rest during the day, blocking access to the treasure. I'll be putting icons where they would sit when we finish the floor, so don't worry about it.
neat. I would prefer being rich beyond my wildest dreams but fine, have your brimming bottles.
Heh, you keep standing on them. You would be too if you were actually leading the group through doors!
There's one exit left and one Snow Bloom remaining. Don't think they're related.
My, my, so much traffic around here. i will clobber you if you keep this joke up. I will never use this one.
Whatever... Are we doing him a disservice by reviving him...?
Oh hey a free axe we unlocked earlier. We have someone who uses those, right?
Maybe I should try and block some of this stuff? Eh, I'm sure I'll come up with it later.
You succeeded in obtaining four of the requested Snow Blooms! They shine radiantly in your hands... hurry and return them to the Duke's Palace to complete your mission! This would be blocked off during the day, but the flower wouldn't be there during the day, so I guess it doesn't matter? Well I suppose it would entice you to come through this door when it became available to you and- oh whatever, game design, let's finish this already.
A flower as beautiful as your neck, ohohoho. Please stop trying to seduce the Minister. i think he likes it. There is one last ingredient mentioned in the ancient documents... please wait here, brave explorers. I must consult my Lady...
I would express my gratitude to them in person... L-Lady Gradriel... th-that's... Stay. As the Duke's daughter, I must thank those who risk their lives to save my father!
M'lady. Ugh, I don't like bowing, but when in Romulus... It's almost instinctual. He says that the renowned Guild Nidhogg is the one to obtain the Snow Blooms. My father is bedridden with a grave illness... in his absence, I thank you. I had thought to enter the Labyrinth myself to cure my father's malady... but as Lady of High Lagaard and the Duke's only daughter, I was unable to do so. It is through your courage that my spirits are lifted. I understand that no monetary reward is adequate to the risk you have incurred thus far. But that is currently my only concrete means of expressing gratitude. I pray you accept this reward for your hard work in the spirit it is meant.
i'll move this away before it gets any slobber on it. Hey, come on! Only a little... I know I ask much of you, who have only just returned from the quest for the Snow Blooms... but... there is yet more to do. I beseech you to listen to my next request. Our lore stats that the royal family descends from residents of the floating castle. Many ancient texts support the legend, and my parents believe it to be true as well. One source also makes mention of something called the Grail of Kings.
With further research, we were able to identify the components necessary to create this cure. You know them as the Fire Plume and Snow Blooms. By mixing them within the Holy Grail, we can create the Panacea that cures all illness. Thanks to your guild, we have obtained the two ingredients that must be combined. We lack only the container to brew the medicine. All that is left is to find the Holy Grail. Legend says the Holy Grail is enshrined in the center of the castle in the heavens. I would ask that you continue your journey until you gain access to this castle. Should you discover the Holy Grail there... I beg that you use it to save my father... nay, to save High Lagaard!
We won't force you. But if you discover anything of use, I beg you to inform this old man. You'll be rewarded, of course. Forgive us for laying this burden on you... That was Princess Gradriel. She's a reference to one of Atlus's earlier games, Princess Crown, where she was the protagonist of said game. Said game is currently exclusive to Japan, and will not likely receive an international release, as they lost the source code. There is a fan translation being worked on, but it's not finished yet. First time I've heard of this game, here I thought Atlus only had one other game, Persona 5.
So like, this big? I believe their description summons to mind a bigger fish. Ne'er mind all tha'! We gonna beat someone up ta get a cup? That's been my plan from the start. Welcome back, yeh lot. Let's have a gander at all those monsters yeh've researched. Ahh, very nice! Yeh picked up a lot of good info! The other guilds have nothing on this! Not that I ever doubted for a second than yeh'd outshine that rabble... here's the reward. I'm always counting on yeh!
Being 10k ental richer, it's almost time for us to switch teams as we finish up the slidey floor and move on to... slidier. Next time! Mario 64 noises go here
You've seen a Medic that whacks, but how about a Medic that jabs? War Magus are another interesting new class that compresses a few roles and are a weird combo of Medic, Troubadour and Landy. In the right setup they are pretty incredible, but since they rely on external ailments for nearly half their skills, they're otherwise a nice healer and buffer with not much else going for them in some team comps. They really, REALLY appreciate a Sword Dark Hunter or a Hexer to shine, and their toolkit can get some taking used to, they technically perform worse in their roles than the dedicated classes they copy, but having them rolled into one class is quite the strength. And one bonus is they have faster heals due to sword speed modifiers being much better than staff speed modifiers. If you're willing to have some of the best classes in the game with you and want to have some ailment fun, you'll struggle to remember why Medic's are even in this game. War Magi are... well frankly a class that doesn't have much of a right to be good. They're very generalist instead of specialized, so why would you take them over the classes that are dedicated to the role? Well there's one big issue. Those classes got nerfed hard, remember? So War Magus ended up being better than those by default. Unfortunately they do fall a bit into "jack of all trades, master of none", but make up for the latter in various ways. One of which is their flexibility. They're a pretty easy support to fit onto a team with their versatility, being able to heal, buff, disable, and deal damage all in one role. The other reason being that they are a fast class. This allows them to react on the fly to situations in battle a lot more easily than say, a Medic can. They can wield Swords or Staves, but there's really not much of a reason at all for them to use Staves as Swords are a massive speed boost and you can't use War Edge skills with Staves. And using Staves are essentially weighing them down with an iron ball.
War Magus are at least more straightforward than Gunner, having pretty good stats overall, with the main weaknesses being AGI and LUC. They have one of the highest TP totals, which is always nice, as well as a great VIT stat brought down a little by their middling HP. Pretty equally above average in STR and TEC, which is good, as we need both of those. Overall, pretty solid. War Magi have pretty decent stat bodies with only their low points being AGI and LUC. STR is an okay investment if you really want to make use of an offensive War Magus, but not a huge priority since the damage mods on their skills aren't too great. TEC is good for boosting their healing capabilities. Don't worry too much about investing in AGI, as Swords give them enough of a speed boost to act first most of the time. LUC is also not really a priority as their infliction skills have the highest base infliction rates in the entire game. As always, HP and TP are always good investments, though not a huge priority until later as they already have strong HP and TP pools. Now this is very different, but first, one point of TP to get a pretty good utility skill is definitely worth it, though it's up to you if you want to max TP. One of the issues of this class is how interwoven STR Up is to War Edge, technically giving this class three masteries. Now, War Magus do appreciate extra STR points, but we prefer to invest in these lategame due to how little they matter, it's just a nice bonus. But it means if you want to invest in the offensive skills, you have to pay double duty, and that's kinda lame. These skills are also a little hard to use, and have limited utility outside of Cursecut, so it can be hard to recommend them as well, but we'll get to that in due time. 
The first, or maybe second, of the mastery skills, as bland as always. But due to being in tandem with STR Up it's hard to just invest in this skill to get an offensive War Magus, you'll be focusing on War Lore to start with anyway. Its second issue comes with how it's frontloaded, but not with great skills, depending on your setup, and there's a nice abyss of unlocks until Cursecut. Just a weirdly designed skill that you'll max out if you want the best sword skill, but you won't be best pleased about it. These sets of skills are bizarre and are probably the ones you can easily skip if you had to. For one thing, they require you to have access to that specific ailment in the party to really work, so if you don't have access to any inflictors, feel free to ignore this branch of skills entirely. Since requiring other inflictors is basically going to be a given, those skills will be written assuming you do have access to these ailments in the party. Hexers make good partners to these Doctor Magi as a result, since they have access to all the required ailments, so there's something to keep in mind. And remember you need to be using Swords for these skills, so any dreams of wielding Staves are basically thrown out the window, not that Staves are an appealing weapon type to use.
This is where the magic happens. This is a renamed Healer skill, but obviously much worse since maxing it out gives you the same effect as Lv2 Healer. Yeah... add on no Salve III and other useful tools like debilitation healing and, uh, oh yeah, NO REVIVE, makes War Magus a very discount Medic. But it speaks to how nuke heavy this game is when you can use this class as your dedicated healer all game and be just fine. And there's some other tools here that give War Magus the edge. Still, because of the various disadvantages you'll need to squeeze as much as you can from these skills, so maxing is of course the way to go. Though since it's not a great effect, you don't have to do it immediately. This is pretty much one of the big reasons why War Magi are a bit weaker than the specialized Medic. Their healing passive is weaker in comparison. Without this skill, each point of TEC adds on 0.625% to the healing multiplier, capping out at a 61.875% boost to healing at 99 TEC. With War Lore maxed out that turns into... 0.69375% per TEC. Which caps out at a 68.68125% boost to healing at 99 TEC. Yeah, pales in comparison to the potential 95.90625% boost the Medic could have for their healing skills. And the lack of a healing boost actually hurts here, because unlike Medics where Healer's effects essentially become meaningless in the late game, War Magi actually have to care about the amount of healing they can output since they don't have access to Salve 3. You have to max this out at some point to get Salve 2 anyways, so you'll just have to deal with the weaker healing. On the plus side, these and the rest of the War Magus's skillset aren't dependant on having a specific team composition. Not only that, they lose access to a few important defensive skills the Medic had since they're a more offensive oriented support. They have no access to revival or disable purges. You'll have to make up for that with items or other means. Gunner is a popular damage dealer to include in the party since they come with an AOE ailment dispel, though Medics are the only source of AOE bind dispels. Nectars, Therica As, and Therica Bs are plentiful at least for the single target dispels.
Woah one of these skills isn't godawful for once. This is actually pretty alright at the start of the game, but of course falls off a fucking cliff past, like, the first stratum. Honestly not a bad option if you're not gonna invest in the healing skills immediately. At the start of the game it can provide some very nice passive regeneration for the party, letting them last longer in the brutal earlygame. And you'd likely want all the help you can get. An overall 25 HP heal isn't terrible in Stratum 1, but this skill sadly ceases to see use past that point and is just a waste of SP past that. If you're willing to Rest your War Magus at some point to regain the SP in this skill, feel free to take this at the start for a nice earlygame advantage.
Alright, sooooooo, War Magus can inflict binds, but with some prerequisites. Now as sword skills go, these aren't bad, since they deal untyped damage and thus can do pretty dependable damage on all sources, even if the other effects of these skills don't proc. The main issue comes in trying to land the binds, if you don't have these ailments available, and some parties won't, these skills are effectively identically very bland. One issue I find is the combinations of binds and ailments is... subpar. Like Blind AND Head Bind seems a bit reductive. Poison is good, but when are you gonna want a Leg Bind on top of that? Finally, Arm Binds are great in most cases, but Paralysis is one of the worst ailments. The most dependable source of these ailments is a Hexer, which is what most parties will carry, let's be honest. But otherwise, Sword Dark Hunter? Status Survivalist? Seems a little much for relatively mediocre skills, so it might just be worth ignoring them, even if you have the right tools for the job. One of the upsides of the War Magus's offensive skills is that they are guaranteed forms of damage since they are untyped. No form of resistance will block their attacks. Unfortunately this also means that they can't take advantage of weaknesses, though that's not a huge deal in this game. Still it's a nice form of chip damage. That being said the secondary effects of these skills are easily some of the most ignorable of the bunch due to how absurdly conditional they are. If you can capitalize on them, great, go for it! But chances are you can't most of the time. That being said they do have the highest base chances to bind, so that's nice. And of all their War Edge skills, they deal the highest amount of non-conditional damage so it may be worth maxing out at least one of these if you want your War Magus to contribute damage to fights.
This is a little better, mainly because it's pretty straightforward, but still has its issues. Without Sleep, this skill is pretty subpar, but with Sleep this skill is pretty- hang on, I'm getting a reason why this isn't good: Unfortunately this skill does not benefit from the 50% damage bonus from attacking a sleeping enemy since it is Untyped damage, which really brings down this skill further. This skill may look like it's the best damage option for a War Magus, but it's base damage is weaker than the bind cuts, and the problem with attacking a sleeping enemy is that they wake up after 1 attack, so you can't spam the boosted version of this often in big fights. And in those, chances are you want someone else to benefit from the Sleep damage bonus instead, especially since all hits of a multi-hit attack in 1 and 2 benefit from the damage boost! You might get some use out of this for clearing out randoms if you lack damage in your party, I suppose. Ailing Slash this is not. I actually did not know about this technicality, Sleep actually lowers the damage resistances of an enemy, so an Untyped attack isn't affected by it. It still deals more damage attacking a sleeping enemy, but you can't stack the bonuses. Because of that, it's best if someone else on your team attacks the sleeping enemy, but in randoms this is something you can fire out when Torpor has afflicted all 5 enemies. That's about its only use.
Next up is this alright skill, having your healer stay in prime condition is nice, but they could also be more helpful and slap on Salve II, so this skill isn't that great. Fear is pretty uncommon and pretty useless outside of the FEAR TREE, which the Hexer can go for, but they also have a million other things to be doing, so don't count on it. If you're using a Fear Hexer, the enemy will be helpless and you'll be granted free turns to just spam this for free chip damage. However it deals less damage than the binding cuts, so if you want your War Magus to deal damage, you're better off using those to attack instead. And in big fights if the Hexer has the enemy locked down, your party won't be taking damage at all so the heal is kind of superfluous. Could be alright ways to keep your War Magus topped up in random encounters, but you're probably better off using Salve 2 there instead.
Now we're getting somewhere. This skill might seem a bit naff, it does pathetic damage and requires Curse, one of the worst ailments, but it's because of this skill that using Curse is actually worthwhile. TP recovery is pretty rare, and having such a dependable way, after some hefty prerequisites, gives War Magus unmatched utility, especially because they can Transfer it to other members. Also having your healer being at high TP is pretty great, though as you get later into the game, it's probably more worthwhile chugging Amrita IIs while you do something else. Still, if there's one reason to invest in sword skills, this is it. If you're using a Hexer of course, otherwise you better invest in Curse Gas (please do not use the gas items). The best War Edge skill due to the sheer utility it provides. Keeps your War Magus's TP pool heavily topped up, especially since the Troubadour lost Relaxing. And combining this with Transfer lets your party's TP pools stay topped up, though it's a rather tedious way of doing so compared to throwing down Relaxing and waiting back in EO1. And later on it's just far more worthwhile to use Amritas instead.
Alright, discount Medic time. On first glance this looks pretty similar, but the main issue is War Lore being kinda pathetic. What you might not immediately notice is the Medic's version of these skills have better base healing, though it's hardly noticeable at low levels. At max, it's 125 compared to 170, but I wouldn't recommend going further than you have to. Because you don't have the proper Healer boost that in essence levels these skills at the same time you level it, you should just stop at unlocks and move on to the next tier as soon as possible. Thankfully War Magus has very little in the way of multiple prerequisites, so you could skip Cure and Salve and head straight for II, though that could get expensive. Like with the Medic's version, you'll want to invest in this first so your funds don't all have to be blown on Medicas in the earlygame. While War Magi are much faster than the Medic, the issues I've outlined with the whole dividing healing skills into different speed tiers still applies here. The reason being that War Magi with Swords are so fast chances are they'll act before the enemy anyways. As for how to spend your War Magus's starting SP, no matter what you do, you'll only want 1 point in this at the start like with the Medic. At level 1 it heals 37 HP with their starting stats and can cast it up to 8 times for a total healing pool of 296. Level it up to 2 and it only heals 39 HP for a 25% increase in TP cost, reducing the amount of casts to 6 times for a total healing pool of 234. And you really don't want to spend too much in this skill since War Lore can't keep the restoration amount up to date like Healer can, and it really needs to be ditched for better healing skills down the line. Or you can just ignore this skill entirely since Regenall can help quite a bit during the 1st Stratum.
Same as before, but slightly better. Again, even though this isn't as good as the Medic's version, 265 compared to 310, you shouldn't go past Lv4 due to how useful Cure III is as an emergency heal for one ally. It can still be useful as cheap healing outside of battle, but otherwise this skill just isn't too great because it quickly gets outclassed by both Cure III and Salve. Because the War Magus has Regenall, or you're opting to spend more money on Medicas, you can beeline straight for this skill instead and ignore Cure entirely. And you'll want to get Cure 2 at level 4 anyways since it unlocks Salve 2, their best AOE healing skill. Just don't go past level 4 as they still have access to Cure 3 thankfully, and that should be your go to single target healing skill while this skill holds you over until then.
Last one, and it's a good one, since Cure II might not even heal half health by postgame, so something that has a full healing effect is very useful for a class that has this skill as that only option. This is identical to the Medic's version so that explains why it's so good and should definitely be maxed out for a quick and very useful full heal that has a good chance of going before enemies due to sword speed modifiers compared to staves. Like with the Medic, this is your best form of single target healing. Get this whenever you can. And it's extra important here since the War Magus's innate healing capabilities pale in comparison to the Medic's. You'll definitely want to max this out to make things easier on their TP pool and to almost double its casting speed, which does matter since War Magi actually care about the speed mechanic.
Ah, party wide healing, so nice. But of course it doesn't heal a great amount, 91 base compared to 115, but earlygame this is probably the skill to speed towards to be more TP efficient. Unfortunately War Magus will be never be great at party healing, but they'll work pretty well until the postgame. Still, if you're not too worried about early game healing, then you can skip this and move onto the next one. Your earlygame healing skill, and probably one that can be ignored entirely if you play your cards right. AOE healing is good, but War Magi have access to a better skill for that and AOE healing is not super important to have early. And without Healer, this falls off hard past the earlygame, which isn't helped by the weaker base healing either.
And for the upgrade... ehhhh? This is the best healing a War Magus can do for the entire party and it'll be great... for the main game. Postgame will start showing the cracks compared to the Medic, especially with their Salve III that will cost nearly the same TP. Still, you don't need the massive overhealing depending on your team, and this is a pretty great heal with sword speed modifiers, so it's not too bad honestly. Main issue of course is how expensive it is, but with a Cursecut setup and lots of Amrita, that shouldn't be an issue. Oh yeah it's 214 base compared to 230, so not a big a hit as the Cure skills, but it's overall not a massive deal. The lack of Healer is the main problem, but what can ya do? Unfortunately, this is what your War Magus is stuck with in terms of AOE healing. It's basically a midgame healing skill, but this is all they've got since there's no Salve 3. Crank this and War Lore up as best you can since you might as well get the most out of it. At best it can get up to 346 AOE healing which isn't great since that requires 99 TEC but it's something at least. War Magi are at least pretty fast so they can decide if they want to be using Salve 2 or Cure 3 on a given turn where Medics are just forced to spam Salve 3 due to how slow they are.
Oh baby now this is an easy skill to get early. I sing my praises of Bravery often enough, but honestly some of your party won't benefit from the buff, singer included. So having a precise version that gives a better boost is incredible for classes like Ronin, Gunner and, due to the untyped boost, Alchemist and even other War Magus. Shame it doesn't last all battle, but honestly you've got turns to spare, so it's definitely worth it, and combining with Bravery can make some beeeeeeeeg numbers. Get your basic healing then pick this up immediately. Without a doubt, the best skill in the War Magus's skillset and what really carries this class into usefulness. A 60% damage boost is ridiculous, and that's almost twice as powerful as Bravery! That sheer amount is pretty much enough to deal with the downsides of it being single target and only lasting for 5 turns. Oh and it also stacks with Bravery, so if you also have a Troubadour in the party, you can really get up to some absurd shenanigans! Definitely should be one of the skills beelined for and maxed out as soon as possible. Having access to both Warmight and fast healing is the biggest selling point of a War Magus, so ignoring those means you really should be using a different class instead.
Well they won't all be winners, but Rockskin is still pretty alright. It can be useful to put on your Protector or Beast to help them tank more but it's barely better than Shelter despite only working on one target. Still cheap to max out and helpful for the slower strats, but slapping down Warmight and going to town is just way more effective, you don't take damage if the enemy is dead, so it's harder to justify. Functionally it serves as a 42.86~% increase to effective HP, so it's a pretty beefy defense buff. The real problem is that this game heavily favors killing your enemy before they kill you, so Warmight also serves as a good defensive kill in that regard since enemies dying faster means you take less damage overall. Still it can be pretty handy in less offensive parties, though the Troubadour's Shelter would be a way stronger skill for that since while everyone might not care about a damage boost, everyone will care about a defense boost, and a single target defense boost is a bit of a harder sell than a single target damage buff. May be worth taking 1 point in to dispel defense debuffs at least.
Ah, the standard AGI buff, this provides quite a boost, so can be useful in helping a specific ally go faster for whatever reason, but the main issue is going first isn't really that big a deal in this series, and the slower classes won't really get much benefit from it due to their low numbers. The main use for this is using it on the War Magus themselves to help outspeed your own allies for Sleepcut, but damn 5 points in this is really hard to justify. You know what would make you faster? Killing everything in 1 turn with Warmight. This falls under the same problems Mercury had, in that fast classes don't need the help from this, and slow classes can't get the help from this. It's also not that much of an increase to accuracy so it won't help your Gunner's accuracy woes all that much. Even on inaccurate classes, Warmight is a better damage boost to slap onto them since that increases their overall damage more than an accuracy boost would.
Oh hey it's Erasure again. Since it's the exact same skill, don't go higher than Lv2, but it's nice utility to have, quick and cheap to get to, though you won't really need it until later on. Like with the Troubadour's version, it's still really good to grab here. Grab 1 or 2 levels and be on your way. The War Magus doesn't get access to the AOE version of this skill, but that's an even more situational version of this skill so they aren't exactly crying about it.
To round off this interesting class is a great skill, spend some TP, heal some TP, you even get a slight discount at later levels! Now this skill isn't that useful in the lategame when 40TP doesn't massively help, but it's something you can throw out on occasion if you know you'll need something big next turn. It's probably better tossing them an Amrita II when you get that far and just using Cursecut on occasion. Again, it's just some nice utility that's quite rare in the series, won't complain! Part 2 of the TP restoration combo. Slurp up TP with Cursecut, give it to another party member with Transfer. Like I said before though, it's pretty tedious to do to your entire party since it's single target, and eventually this falls off and you're better off using Amritas instead. Take it if you want, can help out during midgame and the early parts of late-game.
And last up is a pretty alright Force skill that isn't as much of an OH SHIT button as Medic's, but also isn't complete trash, so we'll take it. It's pretty nice to turtle down with and be on the defensive, pick up the pieces from the near asskicking more easily. But when compared to other defensive options, like Painless or H. Touch, or the offensive Force skills that end battles nice and quickly, you have to wonder when you'd really need this. Still, can work really well on slower teams that use Sword DH or so to combo with ailments. Those comps exist! They're not as good, but they exist. Oh hey, it's Immunize. It basically got turned into a Force skill here. If you're farming Force, there are far better defensive Force skills to use, such as Painless or Riot Gun. But if you don't have the Protector or Gunner in your party, you could stick with this. And it lasts for 5 turns too as opposed to those skills lasting only for 1 turn. But do be warned, this buff can be dispelled so that is a downside to be mindful of. Otherwise, you might as well throw it out if for a free big heal and a defensive buff. Be warned that unlike H.Touch and Salivall, this cannot dispel disables nor can it revive the dead. Well that was a weird journey, there's some chaff, there's some good skills and there's some mediocre healing thrown in, so overall it's a pretty mixed bag. It still works out because the unique combination of skills make for great role compression and the good skills are REALLY good, but there's definitely some aspects of this class you could leave behind. Last up, it's time for the shitpost class. Oh joy. War Magi are overall kind of a class that's all over the place, but they can use it to their advantage as they can cover multiple roles in one party slot, something that's a bit lacking in EO2's class design as classes got more and more specialized. Also mostly because they are fast and speed is something that really makes this class shine compared to its competition. As a result, it's a pretty easy support to slot into your team.
Welcome back to us finishing this floor. Can't get through here just yet, since it requires a Ronin. Among other things... Class specific shortcuts, as obnoxious as ever.
Hyah! I think that enemy got the point! No.
It would seem so. it's too cold for all these frosty glares. Her enthusiasm is halfhearted, as she wears a dark and rather melancholy expression. She continues in a low voice... Maybe it's useless, but... I have to try. Your quest in the Labyrinth... what would you say if I asked you to give it up and go home?
Well I'm not that bothered, really. Who needs adventure? I'm happy enough with the riches I've gathered thus far. Well, aren't you obedient? It's a good thing, don't get me wrong. You live longer that way. The girl seems surprised at your unexpected answer.
That would be bad... for me, and for you... The black-haired witch quietly mutters the last sentence before turning her back on you. Artelind's cryptic story is finished. You may move on or return to town first. We're joking, we do that a lot, so we'll be continuing on regardless.
Figures... you'd need a better reason than my say-so, I guess. Then I'll tell you one thing. She looks up to the heavens from the snowy forest and continues her speech. People in High Lagaard say there's a floating castle above the Yggdrasil Labyrinth. That's where the ruler of the skies and his relatives live... there, they collet the souls of the ones who die down here. Artelind catches a snowflake falling from the sky and gazes at it in her hand. It sounds like just a legend, but it's not that simple. Something terrible is past here that no one can defeat... I'm warning you now. If you still want to go up there, I won't stop you... not yet, anyway.
Such a shame, there's a sad story here, but she seems unwilling to tell us. Guess we'll find out for ourselves. You know, it just hit me that Artelinde has two swords on her war edge—a longer one attached to our left, and a kukri attached to our right. Weird.
How nice of the game to stop us just before the next floor. So we'd have to come back, reach the next floor, and then head back for new dialogue and quests. Definitely not what they expected players to do, but dammit I'll do it anyway! Roadblocks at the end of a floor are pretty obnoxious for that reason if you like to check out what's changed in town. And man it's coming back to me how obnoxious this part of the game gets with roadblocks.
finally, though what's that you keep writing on the maps? i don't get it. It's like poetry, sort of. It rhymes. Feels like the adventure is only just getting started, heh, why not explore a little bit more?
Ah, what?! I believe it's time for a little rest and for someone else to take the reins.
No, and I wouldn't tell you either. Are yeh sooft in the heed? We gotta go look fer her! I just sent her to the bakery, but she's not back yet, I wonder what she's doing... Oh, she'll be fine! It's the bread I'm worried about! I have a guest waiting for it. My daughter? Bahaha! You're so kind to ask! I'm sure she's just fine. Everyone in town knows her, so no one would be foolish enough to try anything. My daughter and I know more about this town than anyone else! But it's nice to know you care. Thanks, loves! If you had the impression that High Lagaard was a pretty small town, this wouldn't be out of place I suppose. Except it's not, it's actually pretty huge and the size of a city or small kingdom, which the remake makes more obvious.
you love me really. Maybe you are being too familiarry with your volunteerererer. We haven't had many patients coming in lately. It's been a nice change of pace. But so long as the Labyrinth and the Explorers Guild exists, our work is never over. I don't mean to discourage you, but... watch your health while you're in the Labyrinth!
Cold. Need to find warmth in the snow already!!! Yar! I went to the Explorers Guild for the first time! I was on an errand from my father. There were some explorers there waiting around... they all looked so strong... It was strange to think about you going on adventurers and fighting monsters with them... It's really amazing! I think explorers are so, so wonderful!
Could be a sword to consider since a chunk of enemies are weak to Stab, but by time you find most of these, this weapon will be outdated. Gear Registry, thy name is a blight. Just look at those material counts. It probably wouldn't be as bad to fill out if it was stuck in a later game, but this game just makes it so obnoxious.
Frostbite, probably. Eh, what's a few toes? Last thing I need is a cold drink, in any case. I just won big at my weekly card game, and I'm feeling fine! Look at that beautiful sun! Have a round on the house! What... yeh don't want any? Why're yeh got to spoil my mood? Anyways... looks like yeh're doing well for yerselves up in the Labyrinth. But don't forget to have a look at the request board over on the wall now and again! Exploring the Labyrinth ain't an explorer's only calling. Yeh've got a duty to the people of Lagaard, too! Especially since yeh've made a name for yerselves as one of the strongest guilds!
You almost sound disappointed. They'll be fine. Probably. Ehhh... I don't mean to presume, but I should warn you... do you know of Guild Esbat? There are two members to watch out for, both extremely skilled. One gunner and one war magus. I've heard tell that those two are up to something. If your paths should cross in the Labyrinth, just be careful. That's all the advice I have for you. Never underestimate anything or anymore.
Yeah, hopefully this next floor isn't such a pain to colour in. And you call this an FOE marking?! Embarrassing... I'm still here, you know. You are going at such a pace, I must warn you of something. I told you the legend regarding the floating castle, yes...? There is another strange legend we have here in High Lagaard. "God waits in the floating castle for heroes. The strong will live with God forever." It seems every week that I hear stories of strong guilds not coming back from the Labyrinth. Do they fall prey to beasts, or are they truly taken to the floating castle...? It seems something you should be aware of while you proceed. I expect much from you.
Drat, I was hoping for some of this right now. Such a fellow connysore. See, yeh lot are becoming notorious in the city. Yeh heard me! Yeh lot come from nowhere to make it all the way to the 3rd Stratum! No guild's ever done that before. Of course yeh're famous! Never underestimate the power of rumors... thanks to them, I get a lot more customers now. Thing is... well, normal hooch is easy to get, but my secret whiskey's another story. It's darn good, and very popular, but I need herbs from the Labyrinth to make it. Which I'm sure yeh could have guessed... haw! Yep, I'll need yeh to fetch the ingredients. Here's what I need. 2 White Chips, 2 Blue Cores, and 2 Death Stems. Ah, that explains the haunting taste.
And that crunch! Uh, sorry, you're in the middle of something. That's all... some of these yeh'll need to fight monsters for, but no problem, right? There's no rush, so don't feel like I'm pressuring yeh into this. Hmm...? Well, yeah, I don't have much of the good stuff left... I just know yeh're busy too. Awww, I told yeh not to worry about it! When yeh've got everything, just bring it here. Won't be able to finish this for a little bit, while we have two of the items already, Blue Cores are a monster drop from 14F. Such is EO2 life. At least the quest placement is in a fairly sensible place this time.
I heard my name, and here I am. Don't remember anyone saying that... Hm? Ah, surely yeh remember the lass who wanted revenge for her fiance's death? She's since become a troubadour and joined the naval band. I gave her the herbs yeh brought back with the bone... though of course, I kept the bone to myself. She cried up a storm for a spell, but she seems better now. Once yeh'd got revenge for her, she thought she'd spend her life trying to save other people. And she hated to think of anyone feeling as low as she did, so a troubadour was the natural choice. I was surprised myself! But she's a natural at that music stuff. But it seems they don't have enough people for a job they're planning... so she came here, asking if anyone can help out. And that's the story. Bring me a troubadour with a voice like a lark, and we'll get started!
Nothing good comes from holes, from what Hart can tell me. Like that'll stop anyone here, heh. Someone found a treasure in a tiny crack on one of the 13th floor walls. But the man who posted that request is a thief. He tried to hide it, but I know him of old. He didn't cause any trouble, and he left a proper reward, so I went ahead and posted it... I've heard only one body will fit through that crack at a time. But I don't see why yeh have to go alone into the Labyrinth for this one. Mighty suspicious... Well, if yeh're willing, I won't hold yeh back. But don't blame me if anything happens! The wall in question is at the western area of the 13th floor. That thief'll be waiting. Watch yerself, yeh hear?
My, my, such flattery! I didn't say stop. Haw haw! Relax, I was kidding! Yeh there, sing me a song. Ahh... now that's a lovely voice. We had a singalong here the other day, and my ears bled. This one tosser made people faint and dogs howl... it was like nails on a blackboard! That guy, he... oh, I s'pose this isn't the time or the place, is it? All right, come with me. The rest of yeh, mind the bar. Gonna have a big head to go with that lovely voice at this rate. What's wrong with big heads?! I'm back. Thanks for looking after the bar for me. That lass thanked us so profusely for helping that I felt a mite awkward! But I'm sure it'll all work out in the end. To tell the truth, I was more worried about yeh lot here! Haw haw haw! Yer one will be back when the job's done. But until then... yeh have some free time, don't yeh? Well, what a coincidence, I'm a mite short-handed on staff... how about pitching in? ... ... Er-hem. What!? I break my back for yeh and yeh won't return the favor!? Come now... please!? Uh, is this a bad time? Only for a rude barkeep. Ahh, welcome back. Whew... thanks for yer help. The job's all done, is it? Escorting yeh personally... she must have really appreciated yer help, eh? Well, here's yer reward for a job well done. Take it with my thanks!
Ugh, my fingers hurt. Uh, need a Troubadour above Lv2 for the standard reward, but a bonus 600 en for Lv5 Shelter, and an additional 1200en for Lv5 Stamina. I'm good thanks, so let's head back out with a slightly different team.
WA-TAH! The fuck was that? Oh, just something that drives your focus when delivering a strike, I learned about it from a book. never make that sound again. This sleeping Helldra hides a Ronin secret, but there's a bit more to this area as well.
Ah, come on! Heh, something to look forward to.
C'mon, c'mon, gotta be a way in- ahah! Or should I say what-ha? I dunno what this is. Ooh, I know about these, stand back everyone! A row of small, black creatures is lined up here. The group carries a flat pedestal. You freeze, thinking that they may be a new type of monster, but they don't seem hostile. You stand puzzled before the black creatures when your hexer pushes you aside to step forth. The hexer mutters a few words and the black creatures respond with sudden excitement. Your hexer explains that they are called Kotodama, and can be ordered about with curses. With them at your command, you can use the pedestal they carry to climb over the wall.
Eh, kinda cute I guess, not something to be too excited about. i wasn't allowed to take one... Kotodama is the Japanese belief of power or magic in words and their use, so not sure where small black creatures come in. Methinks a translation error. Apparently it isn't a mistranslation, but I still have no idea where the whole deal with black creatures with a pedestal comes from.
A free accessory against Fear and a katana we can't get until 15F. Pretty nice!
And that's the entirety of 12F. Pretty fun floor but mainly cause you can skip a lot of it due to the huge ass slippery room. Good stuff.
What a pretty sheet of ice. I guess. Hmm... that bull seems angreeeeeeep!
100% 100% 100% 150% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Careful while you're out, or you might get trampled. We won't encounter Warbulls for a while, as you can guess, but they're not guaranteed to use Rampage if you're blindsided by them, only a 69% chance, nice. So you could take them out pretty smoothly if you've got some good defenses, though your squishy backline is definitely at risk. Some nice weapons from its drops too! Definitely a nasty gathering ambush encounter. The 31% chance for a regular attack is surprisingly merciful of it. If you can kill it now, the rewards would be worth it though
Best hand this in before it melts. Not to worrying, my hands are always the freeze! If I were yeh, I'd have sold it to the jewellers instead of bringing it here...! I admire yer sense of duty. I'll make sure this finds its way into the right hands! Between yeh and me... do yeh really think this proposal scheme will work? Nope. Nah. Oh my no. Not a chance in hell, eh? The poor man'll end yp with no rock and no girl. Mark my words! But I guess we'll have to wait and see... Well, here's the reward. Keep it up, yeh lot.
Some free Luck, that's nice.
Mining usually unlocks the good shit, though we've still got some other items to get everything. Bug Pieces and Head Guards are very nice against the more dangerous afflictions, so watch out for them in like 20 updates or whatever. Ooh, these are some pretty handy defensive accessories! Except for the Fate Beads. Luck doesn't do much in this game so it's not as big of a boost as you'd think. +20 LUC in a later EO game, especially 3 and 4, would be absurd though.
This sword is reet ready for smashin' ice an' smashin' fannies! Heh, someone's fired up for the cold. Well I have four layers on, so I should be fine. imagine thinking that's enough layers for this. ...do you folks not liking the colding or someting? It's been another 6 floors, so we had another vote for party composition. We had a few ties for 3rd, so I was able to get a pretty balanced party, with Lily being the wildcard so someone aside from Holly could actually take hits.
B-b-bit hard jotting down all these o-o-openings when my hands a-a-are shaking! Maybe I could, er, warm them up fer- ah fergit it! what was that about...? eh, whatever.
Woah, watch those sparks! Apologgies, these shots have the kicking!
Thanks for the dolla I guess. There's a lot of twists and turns on this floor and lots of different paths to go. So of course we'll go down all the million little side paths before continuing on, it's vaguely worth it!
Thought I could sense something around here. Shame we can't really scratch it. she's doing her best.
50% 50% 100% 100% 100% 125% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 10% 50% 10% Like last game, in the third stratum there's FOEs that only show up if you're in battle and would love to rush over and join in. We'll have to wait til later to take them down since they do a lot of damage to one person. I've been focusing on Richochet with Aleks and the only elemental damage on this party is doing... well, you can see. Easy enough to avoid, though there's two tanky enemies on this floor that can waste your time. I'll show their spawn points when we're done with the floor, there's quite a few, just don't spend too long fighting on the horizontal passages! Not sure why they put giant crabs in a snow-covered stratum. Seems like a weird choice. 250% damage to one party member? Yeah that person is so dead after that bisection they'll go through. You could chain revive while you whittle them down, but their defenses are so high that I really would not call that a practical way of dealing with them. And there's so many on the floor too that you'll just exhaust yourself for the troubles if you try this with multiple Killclaws.
Ooh, I'm keeping this shield close to me no matter what! Hey, don't crowd in... Yer me best friend in this weather, even I'm gettin' chilleh! We can only get this shield from a Warbull's drop so nice to get it early or whatever. Since we're quite far from the required path, it's easier to warp back than walk back.
We've got one last sidetrack to visit...
Everyone hit the deck! it's fine, these shots aren't that hard to dodge. I will be the shooting of everyone so long as the crab is the everyone!
50% 50% 100% 100% 100% 150% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% How would you like a second hard shelled physical resistant enemy to fight? Hugecrabs are huge pains that can thankfully be shredded by Volt and aren't too dangerous. Shell is only used if it blindsides you, for whatever reason, so you really don't have to worry about that, and they only have a high chance of using Counter when below half health, so you can functionally ignore them until the end. They'll still take a bit of a beating, and you'd really prefer not taking a counter, so expect some Killclaws to sneak up on you when fighting these things. Again with the crabs. Ideally you burst down Hugecrabs before they become an issue, but they can be annoyances for physical parties. Elementals will bypass those and the counters as well.
About timing, huff!
Ahh, that's a load of mah feet! we hadn't even voted whether we would sit down, but okay. Heh, like you could stop her doing anything. Nothing like a hard pieces of ice to relaxing on! I've slept on worse tree branch- oh what the FUCK is that?! You take off your backpacks for a well-deserved rest. But the chill that soon creeps into your bones is so awful that you jump right back up! You have a terrible feeling about resting here... you leave the area as soon as possible!
that was nasty, but was it natural, or something out there? Honestly have no idea, but I don't wanna find out! Thanks game. We haven't unlocked Amritas yet, so I'm just gonna go back to town.
SLICIN' SHOCKERIN' SHOT! Between both your accents I have no idea what you just said.
I'd just rather not, thanks. Yes I need their drops, but ehhhh later. There's a lot of Killclaws on these floors, so you really don't want to stay in battle for long!
ever get the feeling this place is wasting your time? Well it's not called a labyrinth for nothing. Could be worse. Could be some bits of EO1 map design.
Alreeeeeet, I need a big nelly in mah life! We're listing these flowers and then we're outta here! Honestly... We'll talk about the literal elephant in the room in a moment, cause that's a lotta mist! Also here's some goddamn Amrita, but ahhhh, ahhhh, we need another drop to unlock it for good, so take your party wide bind heals and be grateful! One of the most important take points in the game. Unlock Amritas as soon as you can, because that can extend your trips by a ton after that! Don't even have to worry about restocking them either!
100% 100% 100% 125% 0% 0% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 25% 10% 50% 10% Here's another big FOE with not a great party to attack with. It's fine, I'm in no rush. It'll definitely do a big hit with Charge boosted Bullrush, but there's a small chance it'll just go for a regular attack instead. As it loses more health it'll use Charge less and less and just use Bullrush more often, so if you can survive the initial onslaught it becomes a lot easier. And sure, with my voted in teams I'm making these enemies scarier than they should, but hey, I don't really fancy blowing through everything with Poison and Climax and Kienzan when we first meet it, no biggie. Charge is honestly a breather action with how little it does. The Bullrush spam is more harrowing to deal with as its health gets lower. Definitely an FOE you don't want to mess with since it has a big AOE it can use.
Begone crab. I'm talking to you, too! i can't even see what he's shouting at...
Alreet... huff, huff... I dinnae wanna fight crabs no more... Just buckle down and relax, it's what I'm doing.
Huh. Nothing. Fun, isn't it?
huh. nothing. Fun, isn't it?
We ran out of TP a while ago but we made it back to where we started! Now we can rest up and explore the rest of the floor. Next time.
Alreeeet, let's warm up at teh pub, wanna go wit- oh, uh, see ya then. Yeah, uh, see ya. What is this puzzling timing, Logan barely talking to you? Was talking to us three fine, but yeah, what's going on? Well, uh, I thought we were fine after that night we were standin' guard, but- GAH, whatevah, I'm ootah here! curiouser and curiouser. ah, whatever.
... ... please try and not get us all killed with whatever it is you're doing. There is not the worry when I am the here. Nor me. Though, uh, after you. I'm counting shortcuts as doors. We can get right back to where we ended last time, it's just... really nice after last game. I'm tearing up a little. Ah, sensible map design. Beautiful to see after the first game, isn't it?
You look around and spy an animal club under attack from a forest monster! There is no reason or reward for rescuing the cub, but you feel compelled to act...
Aye, pick on someone yer- well, yer still bigger than us, but no matteh! I've been taking apart the doggies for my entire lifeline. You rush in to protect the cub by moving between the monster and its prey! Quickly understanding, the cub quickly escapes into the forest. The monster, however, is furious at losing its prey, and will not let you go without a fight!
I won't back down from a howl like that, m-mostly!
100% 100% 100% 150% 75% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 75% 100% 100% 100% We've been able to fight these all floor, but here's a fun first encounter for us. Wolfs always go for Evil Cry first and then a good chance of slamming you with Fang. They're pretty rude, but nothing that crazy, since it's basically 50/50 if they use Fang after that point, and they should be dead by that point anyway. The first turn against them will essentially be a free one to whittle them down. Unless they blindside you, though they're still guaranteed to use Evil Cry then. Use that opportunity to neutralize them before they become actual threats. These got turned into FOEs with basically the exact same skillset in EO2U. They had a fairly unique FOE field gimmick, but that's probably best explained another time.
Cu-! self censoring, how nice.
Couple of elephants in this room to dodge, but let's go on this side path first and ignore all that.
Setting up to rush us? I took harder hits at age 7! I should really be getting the better bullets. Least I can actually pierce this hide, so shouldn't take too long! Our offense with this party ain't that great, but our defense is pretty nice. Since Armoths don't hurt that much even with its slight attack boost, we can wail on it while we still have TP to spare.
take your time i guess. I'll stay in this stance until I have summit teh chase! The gap between the first accurate gun and the second accurate gun is too damn long! Hey Gunners need a downside after all! Can't have them be top tier in every game! (Please don't ask about EMD2 Gunner...)
Heh, I'm compelled to say nice, but I'm not sure why. Very decent. Nothing too bad, always give a try against FOEs when you think you're ready, you just never know!
Both Take spots on this floor are awkward to get to, so grab what you need and go elsewhere for money.
why is there a jar of knives in a chest? One of t'Labyrinth's many mysteries. Along with the returning elemental jars, there's also the physical elemental jars, though that brings to mind much funnier imagery. Stab stab stab! Honestly, I could imagine a stab jar just being, like, a jar. You throw it at something and then the glass shattering on impact stabs them all over. Come to think of it, it might also cut them, too. Composite cut + stab damage, now there's something super useless.
Lot of unlocks, nothing too useful. Collars are infrequent enough to make it a worthwhile upgrade, and your Protector could drop their 4th equip slot for some extra VIT. Otherwise whatever.
Easy enough to dodge those lumbering things, right- ah, e-excuse me. ...
The fruits are easy enough to pick up and eat, but would that really be wise...?
What saying you, resident medical experter. i'unno, i'm a doctor, not a botanist. Well I'm always hoping these mystery foods can cure my crippling weakness. Lily volunteers to take a small bite of the fruit. To your surprise, the fruit's bizzare appearance belies its delicious taste! You begin to gorge yourselves on the fruits. Within minutes, the whole crop is gone.
These nice one time heals always feel awkwardly placed so you never make full use of them. It hasn't really been that long since the shortcut!
Hm? Hmm! Hmm... Pretty sure there is the nobody here. This is the spot for the solo quest, but the prompt bugs out if you have more than that and doesn't bring up any indication of such. The game allows you to check the spot, but doesn't bring up a textbox. It'll just keep popping the "Check" prompt in the upper right corner in and out if you keep pressing A to check.
This game likes mixing up encounters by throwing a bunch of previous enemies at you with new ones, but the old ones do pitiful damage and not much exp, so it's really whatever. In games with better encounter design, that could be a good way to escalate things. Ah, but it is the second game after all. Perhaps next title then?
Well it's important to see what isn't there! keep telling yourself that.
Heh, you're a little far from home, off on adventure? After you call out a greeting, he turns to you and responds. Hmm? Oh, explorers. You must be pretty strong... this is one of the higher floors. I was an explorer myself, once. I was here when they discovered the Labyrinth. But I got wounded, so I quit, and now here I am. I'm off duty, so I thought I'd come up here. You wonder what he's doing here, and whether or not you should inquire about it.
Thankies for the life story, did you take an arrow to the knee? that just sounds ridiculous... anyway, what are you doing? The guard blanches at the question, and mutters a reply... Oh, um... I really like liquor. Especially this kind you make from Labyrinth plants. His words put you in mind of a quest you accepted... you agreed to collect ingredients for Cass's special Labyrinth whiskey. Once you tell him of your quest, the guard perks up. You're here to look for the same stuff!? So I'm not the only one! Okay, most of it you can get from fighting monsters around this Stratum. But the Death Stems... you'll only find those by chopping. After he gives you his advice, he disappears into the white forest, as if going into hiding. You decide to proceed based on the information he gave you. Might've been helpful for some, but we already have the Death Stems, it's the Blue Cores we can't get until next floor anyway.
Feels like this Darksoar is always facing down to see you. They're pretty weak, so you should kill any that annoy you by this point, but why not try and deal with the "puzzle"???
I'm lazy enough to be trapped by the FOE, warp back to town and walk back, spending another Sleep Bell, so I don't have to fight it.
Mmmrph!
The last shortcut of this floor, so we're nearly there.
It's a lot of SP for not much of a skill, but hey, not like Landy are doing much outside of chasers.
It is a wonderment we find such small openings! These goggles aren't just for show you know.
With the state of my party right now, thanks for the free escape! I really wonder why guaranteed escapes on preemptives was added in this game, only for EO3 to take that out for some reason. Which thankfully the next game rectified and didn't take that out again.
gonna be a couple months before using medicine this strong.
Two crabs are in the corner so don't take a wrong turn and waste a bunch of steps.
But after a lot of twists and turns, we've made it. Like the sand streams last game, I'm a big fan of maps that loop around on themselves and this is a nice, focused attempt compared to the very open room last floor. Big fan!
I can feel tha' from here! Angry shooty man is giving my professional a bad name!
Remarkably, it's barely cracked, but it won't fare so well if left here in the cold. You can return the egg to the nest at the top of the cliff, or leave it as is.
Can't leave this unprotected, I know what that's like. you've never once implied to be good at climbing but okay. Lily climbs up the cliff and successfully places the egg back in the nest! What's more, Lily returns with a plume as a reward for your magnanimous effort. You smile wryly as the group leaves the area.
Nice deed done, though I feel like a slightly cracked egg might not be in the best condition to survive. If you say no then you'll fight 2 Snowbirds, which we won't see until next floor, which is technically a better reward but whatever. As long as the internal anatomy of the egg isn't damaged, it should still be possible as long as bacteria can't actually enter through the egg crack. And also if the egg was laid a considerably amount of time ago instead of recently.
This is a dead end with nothing in it. For now. Whoooo, mysterious!
Guh, here for a chat I hope. What're yeh...? If you're gonna stand in front of her get behind me at least! ignoring all that, what do you want? I'm not wanting to see who is the faster of the draws! The old marksman Wilhelm keeps a withering eye on you as he speaks.
Ms. Artelind told you that good children don't go deep into the forest, didn't she? I don't know what you're up to. But I do know there'll be a world of trouble if you go on. His gaze pierces directly into your soul as he continues. If you leave, fine. If you stay below, fine. But if you ignore our warning... then the 15th floor... mark me, children: that frosty hall will be your grave. His stern speech concluded, the old marksman leaves the area, marching briskly. It's up to you whether to continue through the forest or return to Lagaard. Went as expected... er, s-sorry, let's head back. ...
I suppose I am tall enough, to reach all the necks I can, you understand. I'd like to see you try with Cass, built like a freaking house that one. Clattery box though, what's in it? Huh? Oh, it's a box of fine china. I wasn't using it now, so I was going to put it away. I brought them out specially for an important guest. Bahaha! You're important to me too, but if you broke them, you'd find some way not to pay! Well, I guess the food tastes the same no matter how you serve it. But my daughter insists on using the nice dishes. The guests do seem happier that way, so... I thought it couldn't hurt to dust them off this once! Bahaha!
Taking shelter from the cold weather to warm my cold heart with some cold hard cash counting. Ugh, and here I am trying to read in peace. I heard the third Stratum is a freezing land of snow and ice. You're veteran explorers, but extreme cold can be bad for the human body. Be careful.
I do that all the time, but juggling knives is fun to do! Sigh. I would stop you, but you're also weirdly improving. It didn't bleed much, but it really, really hurt! It made me think about you, though. You must get wounded a lot when you're in the Labyrinth. Does it always hurt that much? From now on, I'll study much harder! I'll ask my father to make you the best armor! I'll do whatever it takes to keep you from being wounded in the Labyrinth!
No hot springs found yet... I'm havin' bigger problems yeh noo! Why don't yeh ever come in here with a big smile on yer face? Lighten up! Can't yeh feel the way every face in the bar turns in yer direction when yeh step inside? There are even some folks who started their own guilds all because of yeh! Yeh want my advice? Act a little more like me! Haw haw haw!
Hmhm! Even I didn't think we'd get this far. I'm constantly hearing people here talk about your guild. Guild Nidhogg is becoming known as experienced explorers. But don't be overconfident. Always focus on the task at hand. That's all the advice I have for you. Never underestimate the Labyrinth.
Is that some type of eating? paper is pretty bereft of nutrients, uh, not that i would know. It contains a wealth of information on this country. So long as High Lagaard endures, one of my tasks is to update the Chronicle from time to time. Now that you're full citizens of High Lagaard... why don't you take a look at the Chronicles when you have some free time? Poring over the Monstrous Codex is well and good, but you might learn something here too. I expect great things from you.
Ohohoho, I came in at a good time. I might have to slice this guy up if he continues, yuck! Yeh remember when yeh found that Ice Sheet for him? Well, he went to the girl to present his gift to her... and all he got in return was a blank stare! Haw haw! I knew she wouldn't be so easy to flatter as all that. But the lad won't back down yet. If the first gift was rejected, he wants something better. But I doubt he'll find anyone who'd... eh? Yeh're willing to help him!? Yeh're too soft... It's deffo not tha'! Flattery gets you nowhere. Bribery on the other hand... Ahh, now I see! Yeh just want to reward and the joy of seeing him fall on his face again, eh?
This Ice Branch he wants should be somewhere on the 14th floor. Come now, though... don't risk yer life trying to make a fool of the poor lad! Well, g'luck! Due to when this quest is unlocked they're suggesting 14F since it has a Chop point, but it's way easier to go to 11F instead. Also you could've obtained this before the Ice Sheet. Which we've done. I do like how your interactions with Cass characterize your guild as a bunch of dicks. 
She did what?! You've gotta be crazy to solo the labyrinth! Uh... I am crazy. Crazy strong! Ahh, perfect timing! I was waiting to give this job to yeh! You remember the doctor's assistant? That lovely lass yeh took into the forest? It appears she's gone missing. The doctor's desperate, and he was looking for yeh earlier. Run over to the hospital so yeh can get the details from him. G'luck! Dicks, but still willing to do the right thing mind you.
Seems like a poor trade. Let's do it anyway. The client owns a shop, and I hear he's a collector of the Master Craftman's pieces. I heard he wants a Pawn and a Bishop. Yeh've already got the Pawn, of course. So just find a Bishop someplace else! How hard could it be? Although, I dunno who might have one, or where to start looking... well, just talk to everyone yeh know and try to track it down! G'luck! "Hey find a Bishop. Wanna know where to find one? Tough luck, start searching." Thanks game.
Ah, well, I can pass on a message to the main team. Guess it's not the best time to ask for a pint, eh? I asked at the Flaus Inn, and they said you'd gone out, so I was about to search for you. Do you remember my assistant, who went with you to get samples of the withered trees? I haven't seen her all day! A fight...? No! Of course not! The experimental salve for the disease is gone, too. She must have taken it into the forest! But we don't know if it'll work yet--and going in there alone is practically suicide! The trees closest to one of the Geomagnetic Fields are on the 15th floor... she must have headed there! Please don't let anything happen to her! Help her! I'm begging you! Okay, okay, I have all the details, though we won't be able to do much at the moment. Seems she jumped the gun, as it were. Sometimes we get quests for the floor we're actually on, but it happens less than you'd think. Quest distribution in the earlier games is weird. If you didn't have a quest cap, it wouldn't matter, but you do so this just gets annoying.
Browsing, you got any chess pieces? Ah, never mind, what are the chances of that. Peh! Wait, hold on, let me clean this area first... oh no! S-Sorry, I slipped... I was just organizing today's incoming items. After I clean them, I give them to my father so he can check their condition. Some stuff needs repairs and things, so... Hm...? What's wrong?
wat Don't be weird, game. Even in context, this is weird. This is like such a non-sequitor dialogue prompt that was shoehorned in. Did they seriously not have a more elegant and less weird way to show that the Bishop was here in the shop? Dunno what's compelling me to say this, but wow, looking nice. I could be specific to what I am referring to, but I won't be. Uhuh. Oh! P-Please don't look at me like that... I get so nervous. Huh? O-Oh, of course! You meant the items, not me... hee hee! Phew... oh, this? It's some kind of decoration... looks like it's made of metal. Oh! I know! It's one of those chess pieces that everyone's looking for... Oh, you want it? Hmm... I'll have to ask my father... ...Ohhh, all right! I think it'll be okay to give it to you--I mean, you're Nidhogg! But I'll still have to charge you for it... is that okay? Let's see... oh, no! It's so expensive... it costs 2,000en. You're charging us stuff that's like 5,000 en by this point. Even if the player doesn't abuse boss conditional drops, that amount of money is trivial by this point.
Saying no to any of these questions just ends the conversation, so we've gotta to finish this quest. Not that money is at all an issue in this game. Umm... one, two... okay, got it! Thank you so much! I'll explain anything to my father. Hee hee, thanks! Here you go! Don't forget to look around the rest of our current inventory!
How convenient, hopefully the others will fall into our laps like this. Hah!
Did she happen to have the rest of the collection in her collection? Would've been nice... Ahhh! I knew yeh'd find one! Give it here and let's see! Hmm, so this is the Bishop piece, eh? Looks smart... just like me! Haw haw! All right, here's the reward. Great job! G'luck next time, too!
You know what to do with this... jar of blades? Huh?! How's it different to this jar of knives??? I haven't used things like this since my youth. Ugh, I don't want to look at them.
So this is it, eh? Women are like magpies... they'll swoon over anything shiny. True! Meh. I like fine jewellery myself, of course, but only because I can make some money off it! Anyways, here's the reward. I'll take care of the rest. Thanks!
Kept an Ice Sheet in storage since I knew this quest was upcoming, annoying to go back in again!
Ugh, gurk, blehh... These are way too effective on you! Get a grip! There's a few options for the solo investigation, since it's not too far and what entails not being too difficult. Just need to avoid wild encounters.
Ah, greetings metal guy, fancy seeing you on this floor, and all the other ones. It's not the same person each time, they're just wearing the same uniform! Hey, I've been waitin'. You took the request, right? Yeah, the client couldn't make it. He sent me instead. See that crack by your feet? You look closely, and there does seem to be a crack that one person could squeeze through. It must be the one from the quest you accepted at the bar... this crack, and the one that the thief reported, must be one and the same. Take a look if you want. I'll keep watch on this side. His words seem somewhat suspicious, as if he's pushing you into the crack... should you trust the guard and reach into the crack?
This guy seems weird, I dunno if we should- Hey, shoving my nose into small cracks was a hobby of mine, dig in! You reach for the shining object through the crack, but you can't quite grasp it... you feel a faint tremor, then a definite shake. It feels as though you're jumping... you wonder why the guard hasn't warned you of anything amiss, but he's nowhere to be found. The ground's shaking is now incredibly intense... something is wrong. You turn around... a monster is directly in front of you! You were so focused on the crack, you never noticed it! Worse, the tremors you feel are from the creature's footsteps! You dodge its lunging bite, barely managing to unsheathe your weapon! Fight for your life!
Dunno how something so small could make so much noise, but not an issue. Mrrrffrrff mrrrrfufu mrr. Oh I guess I can just think to you instead. Was quiet for a moment at least... This is exactly the same as a normal Clawbug, so take it out how you see fit.
Ah, guess he was eaten alive by the monster we just defeated. What a conclusion to this story! I'm... just not gonna say anything. However, he has disappeared into thin air. There isn't a soul to be found anywhere. You shrug and reach back into the crack to retrieve the shining object. But you stop upon realizing that the shining object has also disappeared! You are forced to admit that despite your efforts, you have nothing to show for them. You must return to the bar and explain what happened! I hope our guildmates won't be angry at us, I shouldn't have listened to you! Yeah, maybe I made a bad call, but the real treasure was the friends we made along the way! Or something.
Heh, long way to go for a piss. I have a very nervous bladder, and while I was there, figured I should just, you know. Ahem. As the team leader, I'm going to be serious and say... good job, I knew you could do it! Sigh, just please don't do it again. Ah, yeh're back! How was it? Yeh see? I told yeh... the guard was really that thief, of course. He used yeh as bait to lure the monster. I'm truly sorry to tell yeh this, but the reward he left has vanished too. motherFUCKER Language. I won't let this go... how dare he violate yer trust like that? Oi, wait here. This isn't much, but I think yeh should have it instead of the reward. Aww, don't look so down! Cheer up! A job well done is its own reward, eh?
That was the original reward, so hey at least the menus don't lie to you. Yeah because of how the rewards interface in the earlier games work, this scene is kind of an awkward moment since you still get the reward that was advertised anyways.
These plants are looking a little sus! Ugh, where do these words even come from?
Our item tab was looking convenient to scroll through, so let's fix that with 11 unlocks. And we're so close to TP recovery, so close! Unlocking them both at the same time makes a nice comparison, Gas items are shit, but Mist items are great, definitely bring some of the latter with you if you're having trouble with a certain enemy! Mists are great in this game! They can really provide a huge boost to dealing with problematic attacks. Don't hesitate to buy them if you're thinking this attack from a boss or an FOE is such a pain in the ass to deal with.
Now that we've unlocked the final shortcut we can go right again to loop round. We won't explore 14F just yet, just one little thing left to do.
Alright, all cle- christ on a cracker where did that thing come from?! i was wondering why that snow pile was moving. and had claws. and looked like a giant crab. Good thing I had a battle here, this crab was not on the Gamefaqs maps. But we're used to that by now.
I am ready to be shelling the shelling! Now tha's a pun an' a 'alf! As a refresher, it hurts someone for a bit, or a lot. The latter is more likely the lower in HP it gets, which is pretty likely since you'll be bouncing off its shell without elemental damage. Woo. Exciting. Yay. Like I said before, the fact it's limited to single target attacks limits its effects. Hell you can also use the newly unlocked Mist items to really neutralize this FOE. You'll want either stab attacks or elementals (Hello Gunner bias.)
Woah! Thankfully I've been dodging bullets for a long time thanks to my siblings, heh. I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that...
Well ain't yeh a cunty's uncle! Remember when Landy's could take hits? Good times... Landsknecht lovers from EO1 in shambles.
Another crossed off the list and to avoid forever more. Next time, part of a floor, wow, crazy times!
It's a new floor, wowee, and it thankfully doesn't take too long to get back to here!
i wonder if this one tastes like strawberry. Have yeh been eatin' the enemies after we beat 'em?! They are the delicious, I should open a chefery. Heh, imagine making meals out of monsters. When we're not all being distracted by fanciful what-ifs...
100% 100% 100% 100% 0% 150% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 0% 100% 100% 100% By heck and by gove it's a slightly stronger Fishman. But hey, if it doesn't end up using Rend, then it has a chance of using a mediocre Ice Fin instead! Might be a pain if they Rend the same person multiple times in a turn, but we're in the part of a stratum where the deadliest enemies aren't the ones that plink you for a bit of damage. More filler trash mobs ahoy! Not sure why there needed to be a second version of an already trash mob before. Sometimes I really struggle to understand what the thinking was with early EO enemies.
More Helldra on this floor, but we'll need to come back at night for some of them.
You could probably sneak around the Helldra at night for this, but it's not really worth it.
What is it with these monsters and spewing stuff! Hopefully this comes off my goggles... Less moaning prancing boy and more shooting!
25% 25% 25% 200% 0% 200% 150% 150% 150% 150% 150% 150% 0% 150% 150% 150% The final step of the cider puzzle we've had for a while! Blue Gels are annoying supports that slow you down, which isn't a massive deal in a game where unit order isn't that important in regular fights, but can still be a problem. They also do some paltry damage that heals them for a paltry amount, not much to worry about since you should have some Fire or Volt damage by now. Ones to ignore, but not ones to count out. Another member of the gel family. That AGI debuff can affect turn order slightly, though fast party members likely won't be affected too much due to this games' speed mechanics. Slow party members on the other hand, will definitely hate that debuff since they won't be able to outspeed enemies after Fluid's debuff is applied. I really prefer the EO2U FOE version of them.
Wonder if we'll ever be ba- no
Encounter orb is wack, man. For whatever reason the encounter orb takes a while to "catch up" to the actual encounter rate in the game's memory. I don't know why. The later games got a bit better about it, with 5 eliminating that problem entirely with the changes it made to the encounter orb UI.
Ugh, when there's multiple I can't figure out where the back of the group is! We'll be back to that room later, not for the gathering spot, that's useless as always. But for now, time to dodge some stupid FOEs that you don't know which way they're facing! I'm sure there's skills or items I could use for this... nahhhhh.
I'm sure that'll save you. Yeah it'll buy them... maybe one more party member attack to live through?
How did you know where to be going? Uh, skill. Yup.
It's mostly covered in snow, making it difficult to tell what it is from your position. You can investigate the shining object further or ignore it and continue forth.
If tha's what I think it is, I call dibs! Er, wait, I don't think that's- Oh, wot's this, prancin' boy finally wants to talk to meh? Well I ain't interested! Guh, I have a reason for that, I mean I've been meaning to talk to you, I just- Yet again yer just not bein' straight with me, spit it out or dinnae talk to me again! Uh, friends? Heh, probably shouldn't go after those two, never get a word in edgeways. not that we can stop her. Now's not the time for this! I have a really bad feeling about being out here, so if you could just- Don't touch me, yeh- yeh damn heartbreakeh! I've had it with yeh! Eh?! This sword is useless! Listen to me!!! Please do not be shouting out here! Ah, oh the noes. When you approach the object and pick it up, it is revealed as a rusted sword. You wonder whether to take it with you, when a low rumbling echoes through the area. It is the sound of snow and boulders sliding down the mountain! The sword's owner must have been crushed by an avalanche! You retreat from the approaching wall of snow at full speed, but it's too late! Your comrades are swallowed into the moving wall of snow and slammed into the ground! Gyaaaaah! Holl- AGH! Waaaaaaaah! Ah fuck! That looked real bad! we gotta dig them outta there fast. hope they're still alive...
Hnnnnggghhh... Yowowowow, meh everythin'! phew, you both got banged up but nothing too serious at least. That wasn't a situation you could've protected her from, Logan you idiot! But, uh... you alright? Huff, huff, I'm fine... just- I'm so glad you're alright, Holly. Sniff... Eh... wha... ye- WHA' TEH CUNTIN' FUCK IS FUCKIN' WRONG WIT' YEH, YEH CUNT??? Yeh give me all these funny ideas after our time togetha', then gimme the cold shoulder, then yeh start cryin' in my arms after jumpin' in front of an avalanche?! Ah, uh, yeah, sniff, sorry. You're right, I've been worried for a while, cause I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. The Labyrinth is dangerous, and we hadn't really been a group for too long, and I was getting in my own head and- AND... AHHHH! I just can't bear to lose you, Holly, I love you!!! Wahhhhh! Oh. Uh. Wow. Okay. Ehehehe, you idiot, yeh should've said sooner, sniff, ehehehe, I love yeh too! Dummy! Wahhhhh! ...uh huh, well, not exactly how i expected this to play out, but that's a relief. Heh, an adventure that'll brings out the unexpected. ...hmm. Aren't we forge- DAHHHHHHHH! I was burying the here as well, had to dig myself out, you moronic party members! Die die die! Gyaaaaaah! Sorry!
Well there's my attempt to pad the floor out a bit. You'll see why in a moment.
We could always be the beating it up. no What's in that chest better be worth the 10 hour wait time!!!
After you, dear, ehehehe. Neh, neh, after yeh, ehehehe. Oh brothers.
And there's the item guarded by the Helldra, wow, gloves we can unlock next floor. Since I'm rude to gloves, you can guess I don't really care. You can snatch both items at night, but we'll go right back to day to deal with some more upcoming Helldra.
imagine being intimidated by such things
Halt! In the name of the love! Feels like sometimes she forgets she can do tha'. At night the Helldra will patrol down the side corridors, making it so you have to fight Darksoar that blocks the way. Uh, not that it really matters, it's just a Darksoar after all. But the puzzle!!!
And that's basically it for this floor, just gonna grab the pole and come back to do the last little bit of the floor. Is what I thought, but lo and behold two seconds later...
Oh shit, that girl! I'd forgotten all about her coming here! Heh, looks like she found out the hard way why this isn't a good idea. You turn and face the screams, and see a familiar uniform against the ice and snow! It's the assistant from the hospital, surrounded by dangerous monsters! You call out to her, but she doesn't notice and runs deeper into the forest. The monsters follow close behind her in pursuit... If you wish to save her, you must defeat all the monsters before they can reach her! Take weapons in hand and destroy all adversaries before you!
Nice welcome to this floor that I totally remembered. 3 quest FOEs will spawn from the north wall, and you don't have much time to chase after the first one before it says adios. But by standing one tile down at the entrance to the room you block them all from leaving. But what are they exactly?
Tasty looking, but not a probleming! This is just a bigger fish! 100% 100% 100% 100% 0% 125% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Hey look it's a Redfish that's slightly more resistance to Volt damage and more susceptible to Fear because all the Quest FOEs have the same ailment attributes. Thanks??? Gotta make things slightly more believable in how threatening the monsters are. Can't have just normal Redfish chasing after the nurse now, can we? We love barely-discernible-from-the-original quest enemies, don't we, folks?
Is that, huff huff, all of them, seems like it, huff huff. you're so exhausted after doing not that much to help.
You succeeded in saving her life! Did you come to save me? I-I'm so sorry... I...
WHA' TEH CUNTIN' FU- ah I'm too tired fer this. Dinnae do it again, alreet! Everyone is being the dumbnuss today. The assistant reacts to your to your scolding with slumped shoulders and closed eyes. I-I'm sorry! But we had the medication, and they wouldn't even let us test it out! Trees are living beings, too... It's unforgivable not to allow us to help them! You forgive her for her rash behavior and ask whether or not the salve was effective. Oh, yes! It worked wonders, and you can see the effects already! Once we manufacture more, we can heal all the trees! Her fear of only moments ago has been replaced entirely with boundless enthusiasm. Startled by her sudden change in attitude, you use her Warp Wire to return her to Lagaard. The quest is a success! Report the results to the bar when you return to Lagaard.
Alreet, now to finish the rest of that, huff huff, floor! Heh, who knows what we'll find.
If you attempt to walk over it now, the ice will shatter and you will never see town again. But should the temperature drop and the ice thicken, you may have a chance... you decide to press on for the moment and leave the area. We'll just leave this for the next lot coming in. If you come back at night and fancy your chances against Helldra, then this patch of ice freezes up and you can skip half the floor! Which is also where most of the Helldra are, so if you wanted to puzzle them out you'd go to that section anyway...?
i can smell the allure of healing items on the other side of this. Random justificatin', but no matteh!
Heh, well that's nice and all, but is that it?! We got robbed of a proper adventure! It is how the crumbling is cookied... uh, the apple falls from the newt? Something like that. And that's all of 14F! For now... there's more lurking that we'll finish up later, not looking forward to that! But yeah, between this and being able to skip chunks of 15F, you could finish the stratum a lot faster than you'd expect. Right, back to town, since I moved this forward a bit just so it would flow a bit better. New floor means a lot of talking after all.
Ah, another completed floor, great work team. I mean I would hope not with how tiny the area is. oh yeah we saved this idiot or whatever, i'm going to bed... Eh? How do I know? Why, because the assistant came by and asked me to thank yeh for her! Looks like yeh really outdid yerself this time! Haw haw! But still... that doctor and assistant are an odd pair, don't yeh think? The girl escaped by the skin of her teeth, and she's just happy the salve worked! She's crazy! Well done, though. Here's the reward! Come back anytime!
Gonna store this away to use in 10 floors, can never be too careful! "That doctor and assistant are an odd pair" yeah they sure fuckin' are. I wonder if EO Dr. Stiles had to deal with some version of GUILT.
Yeh're right at the 15th floor now, right? Great, great, but listen to this... A lot of guilds have been up there, trying to steal yer thunder, but... some huge beastie has been slaughtering every one! I'd hate to see yeh go to the Great Bar in the Sky before yeh find the castle in the sky! Well, whatever yeh do, just be careful, okay? Haw! Well I know one group of bozos that won't stop for anything. He is such a man of the mystery, calming talking to himself while many squirrels stare him down...
I am intrigued and fearful at the same time, call is intriful. Uh no, feargued! And here I thought I came up with that word! I heard there's an ice-woman with more than the usual arms and legs. How disgusting... By the way, how are things going in the Labyrinth? What? You're on the 15th floor already!? Goodness! It's a good thing you came in today! Now you won't be surprised when you meet it. See? Even I can give you helpful information! Bahahaha!
The hell happened?! Ugh, well I found some hot springs! But then a giant frog attacked me! So I had to beat it up while naked! Thankfully there was a lot of steam so I didn't have to worry about it, cause I was fighting with this white haired guy and- wow, I really hit my head something fierce this time. I heard that you've reached the 15th floor. One of my patients mentioned a dangerous monster at the end of that floor... It's probably nothing to worry about, but be careful nonetheless.
Purrrrr! Ehhhhh... I heard you're up to the 15th floor now... it's supposed to be a scary place. Everyone says the ice monster won't let anyone get through to the next floor. You're going to try to defeat it, aren't you...? I'm so worried about you all... Come back safe, okay? I would be so sad if I could never see you again...
And what a time it was too! Heh, no kidding! I must warn you, we've received a report of a dangerous monster on that floor. One of our own was sent to the hospital. Its appearance is deceptive, apparently. He said it came to his party in the form of a human girl, but as soon as they were near... He remembers nothing else of the incident, and he was the only survivor. But something troubles me... I was there with him in the hospital during his treatment. I thought I saw a gunshot wound on his back... Perhaps I'm mistaken. That's all the advice I have for you. Never, underestimate anything or anyone.
Heh, don't doubt it now. Uh, good stuff I hope, I know some in my group are a mess. Oh hello, Lily! ...why are you looking at me like that? You are the ones of Nidhogg, right? Yes, as I thought. They say you are as strong as lions and fast as the wind while in the Labyrinth. That's what the guards claim, at any rate. I wonder... A single guard has spread the word all over the Grand Duchy. The power of rumors... the rumors will only become stranger and more popular as you become more successful. I'm interested to see how high you can rise. I expect great things from you.
Can't imagine what they want now. I'm certain we could procure whatever they need. But yeh're used to that by now, surely? Go by their shop for the whole story. Be seeing yeh!
Might have to wake kathy so you lot can go do this soon. Be my guesting. The Grand Duchy says a monster on the 13th floor is thrashing guilds left and right. Here's the strange part. When they went back to find the items they lost, it was all gone. Yeh think a monster might be stealing them? Yeah, me neither. But something funny's going on. The quest asks yeh to go defeat the monster, but I know what yeh'll be really after... Do I really have to spell it out for yeh? Are yeh that innocent? Think! It attacked all those guilds, and they all lost their items... soooo... I'm talking about the treasure! Wouldn't yeh like a little something on top of the reward? The rules say yeh get to keep anything yeh find in the Labyrinth... it's perfect! Ahhh... almost forgot. One more thing I need to tell yeh. From all I've heard, I gather this beastie comes out only during certain times of day. Must be the thing's feeding time, eh? It'll show on the 13th floor from noon to 1. The place is so dangerous that there's nary a guard to be found. Yeh'll be on yer own. G'luck! Ugh, you love the sound of your own voice. I'll wake everyone else up and relay the message. Hrm...? Uh, I was just meditating!
That quest? It's from the Grand Duchy. Worth taking, if yeh ask me. Eh? Why didn't they make it an official mission? Haw haw haw! Yer sense of fair play is a tad overdeveloped! Look, if they issue an official mission, it's an open invitation to all explorers. Imagine opening up every job to every guild. There'd be nothing left for yeh lot! So some tasks get parceled out to folks like me, so we can choose who gets the job done. When they want a job done right, this is how they do it. Else, it's a bloody free-for-all. So it should be smooth sailing for yeh. Hurry to the Duke's Palace to get the details. G'luck! I have heard of this duke, would love to find more about him, such a role model! Agreed, off to the Duke!
Hmm? Hmm! Are you two putting swords in your mouths again?! I don't get it... The workers gave me a list of what they want from the forest. It's... oh, it's just 3 Pale Arms. I heard you can get them in the white forest. When you have all three, just sell them to me and I'll take care of the rest! Please be careful! The unlock for this quest is the least interesting thing we can get from Pale Arms, but if you insist!
Heh, we've got two more for adventure. Well I'm curious to his sleeping habits. And I'm just curious! Come for the quest, have you? I see... it eases my mind to know that you've taken it. You haven't been in High Lagaard for long, so perhaps you don't know of the Ice Duke. He is one of High Lagaard's legendary heroes... One of its wisest rules, as well. His name derives from his icy calm and snow-white complexion, and a rather frigid bearing. He was a grand master at using whips. Some called him the "White Ivy of Lagaard." A day or so ago, we discovered a secret vault containing many ancient documents. From these records, we have recovered some new information regarding the Ice Duke. "Guarded by the forest, the Ice Duke sleeps amid eternal snow, under the blue reptile's gaze." Those are the words. What do you make of this? No matter how often I read it, I can think of no meaning for "ancient forest" save Yggdrasil. It may well be that the Ice Duke's grave lies within that mysterious forest. Could you enter the Frozen Grounds and locate the grave of the Ice Duke? On reading further, it seems the way there is hidden in the 14th floor. I expect a favorable result. May luck be with you. Darn, well have a good time exploring that section, I'm slightly jealous. Heh, that would explain why the floor is so small, shame there's no clear entry way. We could explore this new section of 14F right now, but the game does intend for you to come back after you finish the stratum since the monsters come in quite big groups and there's some rude FOEs roaming around. So the team that got the shorter end of the stick will return for that bit later.
Also been keeping some Blue Cores around so we can get the last we need to finally finish this fucking quest. Oi, I've been waiting for yeh! Yeh lot find everything? Let me see... Nice! Very nice! Now to brew up a batch and stick the Nidhogg name on the label, and... Eh? I didn't say nothing! Yeh heard wrong! Here, take yer reward! Yeh're satisfied, right!? S-See you!
Cheers, to a good haul! Heh, but maybe knowing what's in it will dissuade me...? Nahhhhh.
I love these kinds of images.
If you're lucky like me, then we can head to the room we skipped earlier for the stone block quest. Only reason to come here, because lol out of the way gathering spots might as well not exist.
As you come closer, they are revealed as a group of miners with a guard standing watch. When the miners notice you, they briefly stop their chatter, then quickly resume it. The soldier, on the other hand, greets you warmly. Hey, I've heard about you. You came to take the rock back to town, right? Thanks a lot! We just finished cutting it, it's really heavy... make sure you don't strain your back. Behind the guard, you see a huge rock that's been carved into a neat square. It's the size of one of your guild... it won't be easy to take it from the Labyrinth. You thank the guards, and the whole party pitches in to heft the rock back to Lagaard. ...you now have the first rock.
oh my god a giant rock. Hrrrrrk... HRRRRRRK... well you could hel- wah! It's alreet luv, I can carry this back maeself. Heh, I'll keep an eye out from the rear. Now that is a surprisement. For whatever reason you can just warp out and finish the quest that way instead of having to head back to a Pole. But then you'd warp out that way, so I guess it's a moot point.
I have to say, I'm not best pleased about it blocking the entrance like that... I'd better tell the guards to get it out of here, quick. Great job, yeh lot. Now for the next two! I don't believe you carried the entire thing by yourself. Huff, huff, nae problem! Off to the next one you pop, er, once Holly recharges with a pint.
The other two are on 5F and 3F, so going from 6F is the fastest way.
GET OUTTA MY WAY!
It turns out to be another square-cut boulder, lying placidly on the ground. You achily remember the quest you accepted at the bar... you agreed to bring three boulders from the Labyrinth for the road construction. You have only delivered one boulders so far... You can choose to have the whole party hoist the rock it for now. Next one, hup! Huff, huff, this one is a wee bit bigger! You sure you've got it? Heh, I think we'd know if she didn't.
I told yeh to cut that out! How are people supposed to come in for a brew like this!? Well, yeh must be tired, so I'll call the guards at once. Just one more left! Yeh can do it! Urgh, urgh, one more... one more... as fun as being your chaperone is, i wouldn't recommend doing it solo again. But if do, it will be very impressing!
He doesn't notice you, so you call out a greeting. W-Whoa! Gah! S-Sorry, I dozed off there... you're the ones who took the quest, right? Good... I had to stay here and wait for you. It's about time you got here. The rock's right over there. Have at it! He grins at you, then jogs back to the Labyrinth's entrance. You wearily think back to your quest... isn't it finished yet? You were tasked with bringing three rocks from the Labyrinth back to town. You've already delivered two, which makes this the last rock! Your party gathers around the rock, pooling your strength to lift the boulder. Alreet, now I'll- gah, huff, huff, now I'll carry it back to- WAH! ...huh? Grrrrrrk, you really need to- to- let others help you! L-Let me help you! Hnnnnngh, but if everyone else could help that would be great!!! heh, sorry, just enjoying the moment, but let's all do it together. I might not show it, but I am fuckin' jacked, so this'll be no problem for me. I am small like Da Vinci, but I am strong like Gollum! Or perhaps I am thinking of other characters. No matter! Awww, yeh guys are as sweet as fannaes!
I can't wait to see what Lagaard looks like with improved roads! Even I 'spected sometimes that all yeh can do is find treasure or slay beasties. Seeing yeh lot help out the town like this... I'm touched!
...... Alright well good work everyone, now time to get the fu- ...yeh left the rock in front of my bar again! Yeh bastards! That were on purpose! I'll get yeh someday for this!
Great ending to a mid quest. Next time, ugh, this quest, but also a new floor! I do enjoy the back and forth between Cass and your guild in this game.
It's the final floor of the stratum, which means we've got a boss upcoming, but this time around is a little special since we have not one, not two, but three bosses to go over!
100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 50% 50% 50% 50% 50% 20% 25% 0% 25% 0%
100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 50% 50% 50% 50% 50% 20% 25% 0% 25% 0% Like the first game, you're fighting an opposing guild, but a bit earlier and in a slightly different situation. I've posted them together because they're definitely intended to be together, Artelind does a lot of damage and can support Wilhelm in various ways, while Wilhelm does a lot of damage! Definitely need to focus on the old man, since he enables a lot of bullshit, but both are quite weak to binds and just nuking strats in general, so they're not too bad. That's because the actual boss of the stratum is a fucking nightmare.
100% 75% 100% 100% 50% 125% 20% 20% 20% 20% 20% 10% 20% 0% 25% 0% Damn that's a lot of damage. Scylla is a definite brick wall that'll pick you apart with ailments and then slam you into the ground with Cry Soul and Embrace. Landing head binds, healing ailments and avoiding leg binds are key to making this fight slightly more managable, but not at all guaranteed. I've been looking forward to this one... In any case, here's the chumps that have all this to look forward to! Holly: Useful to Tornado both guild goobers, but won't do a whole lot to Scylla outside of being a meatshield. She can follow up Volt attacks if she has the proper support, otherwise there to hopefully be a wall. Logan: He's fast! Uh, that's about it, useful for some quick item usage or 1st Turn to get us out of right pickles, but won't be doing a whole lot with 2-Bolt. Won't even really take hits either, but on the offchance he survives, boy can he help with a comeback! Lily: Lots of harrowing damage coming up means good uses for Front Guard. She can't do much against Wilhelm but if she's tagged with a status, she won't have too much issue taking hits from Artelind. She can ensure the front row lives both Cry Soul and Embrace, so that would be nice, yes. Sonia: Poison and binds go a long way to making this fights less of a headache, but she's not at the baits just yet. She might even take a hit or two, and can hopefully bind some arms if nothing else. kathy: We're starting to see some speedier foes, so kathy is settling in as a reactive healer than active one. She can free us from ailments and binds and hopefully there's some of our party left after attacks to fully heal up! Corinth: Now that we have Megido, we should really start showing off the elements, before that formula starts kicking us in the shins. He won't survive most attacks coming his way, but hopefully he can dish them out before going down. Juthro: If the enemy hits hard, hit them back harder so they don't hit you hard, simple as. I could just say Bravery and leave it at that, but being a faster item dealer and Health to reduce all the ailments coming up are also big points in his favour. Eleanore: Midereba. Now that's all I need to say, mainly because Kienzan isn't too crazy here, we would prefer to focus on one target and she has the damage for that. Does nothing else, might be able to take a hit if paired with Lily, and that's all she needs to do. Hart/Sophia: Poison and Sleep can give us some breathing room, as well as Head Binds to pair with Sophia's Arm Binds. No Revenge just yet, but it's a bit harder to use if you get oneshot anyway, rather stick with ailments. Alastor: Someone who can heal proactively, huh??? Warmight to get this stuff over with faster and uh yeah, more heals. Though he's only so useful if there's someone to heal, but at least he can make sure they survive the next hit if nothing else. Rajah: No Loyalty? Then he's usable for this fight! Wildcut for one fight and Bodyslam for the other, can also keep topped up with Devour, and will definitely live all sorts of hits. Amazing what ignoring one skill will do. Gonna be some exciting times for sure. Vote for any three you like to take on all the bosses! We'll be fine, right?