Beyond the Beyond: Update 104: Just A Stroll Into The Abyss (The Abyss pt. 4)

[ladyabaxa]

Beyond the Beyond: Update 104: Just A Stroll Into The Abyss (The Abyss pt. 4)

With both of the sealed doors open it might seem like the team's ready to enter the Abyss's deepest depths but it actually isn't. This is going to be a bit more lighthearted then the last few updates on account of the team doing what it does best: treasure hunting! Consider it a bit of a breather before the game's end.

Attempts to drain MP start pretty much the moment the team enters the Abyss and never really stop. For every success there are typically four or five failures.

With Edward back on the team I opt to use Silence here and there. Although it only costs 3 MP the success rate is too spotty for my tastes. I am surprised by how slow Nightmare Queens are. Edward has no problem getting ahead of them in turn order which means he's got a decent chance of silencing at least one of a group of them in the opening round.

Since Percy was benched all the ocarinas he was carrying get scattered across the party.

Hrmph!
I guess you're right. Sir Samson just doesn't have the same touch.
Hahaha!
I still don't get it. It sounds the same as when Percy tried to play them.
I guess the enchantment only cares that one tries.

Well hello there Shadow Dragons! How nice of you to finally show up. These dragons may appear anywhere in the Abyss but the chances of doing so are small.

Oooooh! Big purple dragons!

AAAAAHHH!
That breath fire!
Fire that's not purple I might add.
Purple fire? Now that would just be silly.

For their rarity there's really nothing special about Shadow Dragons. They're bigger than Red Dragons, have a different palette, can use Fire Breath 3, and have slightly more VP. Otherwise they're exactly the same as Red Dragons right down to usually appearing in pairs and always being in the back row.

Oh and they're highly resistant to fire damage. The team doesn't have much trouble hacking them to death with plain old attacks though.

I remember these fire spirits being more dramatic.
We were all younger and more naive back then too.
Oh I know. I'm just standing here admiring those dragons' ability to shrug the spirits off.

Well perhaps I can keep them occupied for a bit.
Is that the brain melting spell again? I really need to learn that!

Amusingly enough Shadow Dragons are rather vulnerable to the Confuse spell. Since they're always in the back row and usually have other monsters sitting in front of them I bother to cast it on a regular basis when they appear. Even stranger is that sometimes they actually attack each other on the same round the spell is cast! I know... weird, right?

In the B3 south side chamber, tucked away in an alcove on the far eastern side, is this chest containing the Malicious Rod. It is a cursed weapon for Edward and Tont that I'll eventually get around to selling.

Of the monsters that Summon level 4 can call I find myself preferring Ekidona because its Thunder 2 spell always hits all enemies and few (if any) have resistance to lightning. That's 30 - 32 damage per target for 10 MP. If Edward casts the spell it does the same thing but costs 13 MP. Edward also doesn't have the Steal spell and is thus reliant on Mage's Potions and the Drain Rod to get his MP back. Summon 4 does drain Tont's MP in a hurry but it is kind of nice knowing that a successful Steal spell from him steals the same amount of MP - assuming he can get it to land before enemies die or use up their MP.

Other than Barrogs only appearing in the last two rooms the encounter table of the Abyss is essentially the same throughout the dungeon. You never know what you'll roll up with each encounter. It could be a lone Necromancer or Greater Demon (more common than one might think) or a big pack of bloodthirsty monsters.

Did we ever figure out whether these things are golems?
They do radiate magic but I can say the same about, well, everything in the Abyss.
I'll start caring about the answer when they stop trying to kill us.
Agreed.

I do bother to try Void out a couple of times. It isn't all that helpful. With three targets to choose from the odds are good that at least one will die but most monsters appear in groups of two (if they're grouped at all) and those odds aren't so good.

On B3, north side, a Mystic Shield is hidden on an angel statue standing in the middle of the pack.

You didn't notice that before, Finn?
You've only been through there twice now.
It's wedged in between the feet. I guess I just didn't see it.
Don't look at me. I've been taking in the view since we got here.
More pondering your eventual lair?
Oh yes! A wizard must never slack on that!
Funny, I don't remember Edward ever mentioning his future lair.
Well he's gonna inherit a swanky castle. He doesn't need to.

In all the times I've been in Marion Castle the term swanky never came to mind.
Well half of those trips were when the castle was occupied so we kind of had more important things on our minds.
What about Edward? Does he think his family's castle is swanky?
I'm not even sure what that term means.
I'll take that as a yes!

The Mystic Shield only offers two more points of Defense over the Mithril Shield but, again, this would probably be vital if I had skipped or missed the mithril sidequest. One might wonder why the useful upgrades all seem to go to Finn and I suppose the answer is: because he's the only character required to be in the party at all times and thus must face the final boss no matter what.

But hey here's a screenshot of a Nightmare Queen kicking another Nightmare Queen for one damage. She's getting double row penalties on top of not having great attack power to begin with. It sure as hell beats the team getting hit with another Ice 3 or Blizzard Breath 3.

5 MP for Confusion versus 6 MP for Healing Rain. Hmm, tradeoffs...

I think Tont's onto something with his theory, sis.
What theory is that?
You know. That the undead priests are reviving monsters when we're not looking.
Why do you say that?
Because I'm pretty sure we've fought that exact dragon half a dozen times now.
Eventually it'll get tired of facing us and run away on sight!
Assuming it remembers what happened to it before.

At level 20 Finn finally reaches 200 attack power. It took him long enough! I don't notice any difference in random battles but it is nice to see that milestone! He's been dragging his feet these last few level-ups.

Hydra Warriors continue their love of double attacks but it is amusing to see that both attacks combined don't equal a counter attack from Annie. She counter attacks frequently but that could just be a function of being targeted so often.

We could always leave, sis.
No. I'm fine. Just... annoyed is all.
Did you ever get a solid count of all the teeth snapping at you?
I keep trying but I lose count when I'm hit.

Down on B5, north side chamber, the eastern wing has a chest north of a string of demon statues. Inside is the Demon's Fist. If that doesn't scream "Evil!" well then you're not paying attention. Even if Lorele was in the party I wouldn't equip this.

It's all red and spiky.
I don't think this was made for any human to use. We should get rid of it as soon as we can.
None of us are pugilists anyway.
Before you ask I have to agree with Annie.
Are you sure?

I think I'm seeing the fists of plenty of demons already, thanks. I don't need one possessing Lorele.
Well you do make a good case right now.

Annie frequently gets pummeled within a hair's breadth from groggy status. Her Heal 3 and Healing Rain 2 spells thus actually see some use in battle despite the fact that they usually heal for less when cast like that.

Have I reiterated how much I hate this place?
On the hour, sis.
Well... I HATE THIS PLACE!
I think those demons are snickering at you, Miss Annie.
The shouting might attract more of them.
I'd be fine with fighting a huge horde if it meant peace and quiet for a while.

Hidden on a demon statue on the south side of B5 is the last treasure the Abyss has to offer: the Ring of Death. It is the only cursed accessory in the game but actually has a use. It can cast the Void spell in battle at the risk of cracking. That means it's yet another item I lug around "just in case" but never bother actually using because I never think of it.

Despite the fact that the team's almost at the bottom of the Abyss random encounters still include Devil Insects. Those monsters shouldn't even be in the Abyss. They're pathetically weak compared to their peers, with only an ability to paralyze on critical hit, so their appearance just means stronger, more appropriate enemies lost the encounter roll.

Then again the game sometimes rolls ups combinations that put things like Royal Guards in the enemy back row. That's rare though. Since Royal Guards can only attack and they're hit with the row penalty from the back row this isn't good for the Guards. On another note the screenshot above also shows a scaling issue that comes up when multiple Barrogs or Greater Demons appear in the same battle. Sometimes one sprite is significantly larger than the others for no discernible reason. Given the fact the game does have enemies with identical names, sprites, and palettes but widely divergent stats hinted at only because of sprite size differences this actually startled me the first couple of times I saw it. Thankfully just a glance at the formation groupings shows that it's just a quirk of the graphic engine and nothing to be concerned about.

Are the monsters finally getting serious?
There was a time when they weren't?
Sure! Any time we roll right over them!
Maybe the monsters just lack sufficient training.
I would say that if they're being revived then maybe we'll fix that, Lorele, but frankly that entire idea creeps me out.
A fate worse than death?
I hope I never have to find out.

Down on B6 I have the team run laps until they're too low on MP for me to risk nasty Barrog-filled encounters any longer. Having never seen Barrogs cast actual spells and with all Steal attempts against them failing I have to conclude they don't have any MP. Since they're fairly common so far into the Abyss this is a bit of a problem that eventually attritions away the team's mana reserves.

Oh and Shadow Dragons pop up a couple more times. For all their elusiveness they're really not all that noteworthy.

When the team finally returns to Quamdar they have three Angel's Ocarinas to repair. That brings the tally up to five. Will I actually break one of these before the game is out? Odds are pretty good!

In a side note here's what Finn's Mystery spell does. I costs a whopping 12 MP to cast so I actually did this before the bulk of this update while the team was in Marion. That way I could just reload the savestate when Finn ran out of MP and didn't have to worry about dodging Titan spells.

Mystery actually casts one spell randomly from a pre-determined list. I won't cast any spell in the game. As any roulette spell like this the effects can be good for the caster or good for the enemy. Here Finn hits a lowly slime with the Haste effect. It normally isn't possible to target enemies with such an effect. Mystery doesn't care though.

Most of the spell list is populated by status effects: Haste, Slow, Confusion, and Sleep with their differing spell ranks. There are a few actually damaging spells though like this Thunder 3.

About half the time absolutely nothing happens. The game barfs up a "Finn just stands there!" message that I assume is because the spell has glitchy targeting. What I mean is that an enemy has to be chosen in order to cast the spell but if there are multiple enemies the game might decide to hit something other than what the player chose. "%Character just stands there!" is the standard message for an invalid target with other spells. Fortunately this doesn't cost Finn any MP but it does make Mystery even more useless.

And it is a pretty bad spell to begin with.

Effects like Thunder 3 and this Holy Light 4 spell deal decent damage but why bother casting Mystery for it, with its high MP cost and randomness, when I could have another team member just cast those spells directly? That's the main problem with Mystery. It doesn't have any exclusive effects. If I want Finn to deal damage why wouldn't I just order him to attack or cast his Steiner spell?

I suppose the hour or so I spent horsing around with the spell did yield some amusing Confusion effects. How a Tumble Rabbit manages to "smile coyly" is itself a mystery but maybe it's just glad it isn't facing any holy hand grenades.

Oh and to further dilute the spell's usefulness it can invoke varying levels of each spell on its list. This Holy Light 1 spell might be fatal to a common slime but barely tickles anything in the Abyss. What a waste of MP!

The team grinds long enough to reach the cap on gold they're allowed to carry. When that happens trying to sell things can bring up this message.

You can't hold anymore gold. Is that OK?

It is a little weird though because selling Samson's Tempest Axe here brings the party of up 99,999 gold. Yet afterwords I sold things like Herbs and Cure Herbs (which now just take up space I need to free up) and the game didn't give the warning message with those. I guess there is a minimum value threshold before the game bothers to take notice.

I did give some thought about buying Tempest Rods for the staff-wielders who are going into the final step of the game. Ultimately though I decided against it. Annie's so fast that she doesn't really need it while I don't feel like it would make much of a difference for Edward. The Tempest Rod only boosts Speed by 3 points which at this point in the game isn't all that spectacular. Edward's already faster than Necromancers and that's the critical threshold.

The Source of Magic goes to Annie, whose needs for MP are seemingly-endless, while the Source of Vitality goes to fragile flower Domino in the hope that he'll live to see the end of the game.

While looking through the item storage I decide to pull out a number of one-use things that deal damage. Being the end of the game there's no time like the present to get some use out of them!

Then I put 80,000 gold in the chest because, with the gold count maxed out, the team might as well sock away a nest egg for the future. Or for the possibility they all die in the Abyss and somebody else has to take up the cause. Hey, I'm just preparing for anything!

I was also curious whether or not the storable amount exceeds 99,999 and it turns out it does. The team already had 30k in the box. By depositing 80k that brings the total to 110k gold. Maybe Finn will buy a house or something? Or Steiner will waste it all on wacky hijinks.

 

Next time on Beyond the Beyond - I suppose I've stalled long enough. Time to roll out.

Update One hundred and three | Index | Update One hundred and five