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When last we saw Hahn he had defeated Dark Force and cleared the first story arc in the game. Now with the Ice Digger in hand he was free to explore Dezolis searching for the cause of the continuous blizzard ravaging the planet.
Alright so now we're on Dezolis and we've got the Ice Digger. We have to take this baby out and see what it can do!
Napalm has the Ice Digger shoots reams of fire that totally wreck anything native to the ice planet. As if Wren wouldn't have thought ahead and had the Ice Digger outfitted appropriately.
Cruising around in the Ice Digger we can also run into LW-Addmers, palette swaps that prompt me reaching for the flyswatter.
Really though I just wanted to point out the fact that something other then the final boss uses Ray Breath. Groups of LW-Addmer actually do pose a threat to the Ice Digger but even just spamming the default attack option pretty much always wins and if victory seems dicey a shot of N-Sphere will usually kill them.
Speaking of palette swaps the second Gy Laguiah got to taste the power of Hahn's improved Mental score. Ok so this was still pretty much a drag out trying-to-explode-each-other-quickly type of fight but Hahn wasn't in as much danger this time.
While on that initial trip to Dezolis Hahn picked up a Flame Sword, Tornado Dagger, Thunder Claw, and a Reflect Shield. When he reached the Esper Mansion I made sure to grab the Laco Rod in the chest just in case he needed it later. I didn't anticipate he'd need it for the Xe-A-Thouls but that Laco Rod has always been useful for killing Dimension Worms in the Air Castle.
Other than that I had to choose whether or not I was going to avail myself of a shop change and buy a Cyber Suit. Normally this item isn't up for sale anywhere in the game. You get one when Seth joins later if you bother to strip it off him before he leaves. The Cyber Suit is the last of the suit line and while Hahn will eventually get a body slot upgrade with the Mahlay Mail that isn't until right before the final boss. Yes, Hahn can equip it even though it doesn't appear in the vanilla game until he already has something better handed to him so the developers obviously did have some intention of letting him use it. The party select hack, however, dummies the Cyber Suit out. This was probably not intentional. Seth starts the party select hack at level 1 decked out in leather gear - no Cyber Suit in sight.
Hahn eventually gets something better but Seth does not. I felt that it would be unfair to Seth to have his best gear (and his alone) dummied out. The question, therefore, was to decide which shop would sell it. The last shop to open in the game, in Reshel, struck me as too far because it doesn't appear until after the Garuberk Tower is cleared. I instead settled on Meese which is as "late" as an equipment shop can get in the game without being endgame only.
Thus with the Ice Digger I made the trip to Meese and finished up my expensive shopping trip by picking up a Cyber Suit for Hahn. Here are its stats: +5 strength, +3 mental, +3 agility, and +50 defense. It is actually a rather nice piece of body gear and the stat boosts are not game-breaking but a welcome help for two of the more fragile characters in the roster.
At level 42 Hahn was off to the Air Castle. He had no trouble getting around with a Plasma Field + Laser Barrier combo although he didn't actually stop to fight anything. Nope. He grabbed the Swift Helm and hurried towards the trio.
It was quickly obvious the fight was doable without any grinding provided Hahn could scrape together enough Agility to consistently go first every round. Using the Swift Helm for the temporary 32 Agility bonus was an option but as the screenshot above shows the trio's Giwats would take off almost half of Hahn's health from maximum per cast. Hahn could get lucky and not die that first round.
Or he could simply equip the Swift Helm for its +6 Agility bonus. This wasn't guaranteed to keep him first every round but it was enough to make it likely enough to be worth the attempts. In the interest of full disclosure this isn't possible in the vanilla game. Expanding how many characters can equip the Swift Helm to include Hahn and Seth (the base game only allowing Chaz and Gryz to equip it) was one way I strove to make sure that Hahn and Seth can continue to be viable as the game goes on. I could just grind levels for +Agility. I could also just run the battle again and again until Hahn survived using the helm in the first turn.
Alright, digression about game balance over! Let's get back to that fight.
This is a screenshot from after the fight but it shows the stat differences between equipping the Swift Helm and the Silver Circlet. Hahn usually wore the circlet at this point because the +3 Mental was a little more useful than the +defense and +Agility. It's not that Agility and defense were useless but that extra damage from Hahn's various magical attacks was sorely needed in order to kill bosses before he ran out of juice.
The battle itself was another instance of chain-casting Nazan while hoping none of the trio won initiative. Hahn needed all three of them dead before his hit points ran out (preferably all three dying on the same turn) because stopping to heal could itself be lethal. That's pretty much how this boss fight goes for a solo character. Spamming a group attack like this prompts a REACT from the three of them to use their combo counter Thunderblast. When the Plasma Field is equipped this attack deals pitiful damage. As long as Hahn goes first it also cuts the number of attacks he suffers each round down from three to one.
One jumped the queue one round but Hahn still managed to survive. That meant it was time to plan for Lashiec.
Thinking about Hahn's offense I considered the options. Using the Flame Sword for its weak Flaeli effect I reached an estimated projection of... 46 uses. That would be tough considering Hahn's squishiness. That's a minimum of 46 rounds in battle before the need to spend time healing is taken into account. I took one look at Hahn's hit point total and returned to the Air Castle's entrance to grind up to level 46. This didn't take long with Hahn dual-wielding shields and a combo of Laco Rod + Nawat + Savol. I don't often grind in the Air Castle because of all the differing resistances that random monsters appear with but Hahn was well equipped to meet that challenge.
At level 46 Hahn started serious attempts on Lashiec. He went in with 2 Reflect Shields but the best he could do was to inflict 2933 damage (9 Astrals + Flame Sword) against Lashiec's 6383 hit points. I decided to grind a bit more (Hahn will have to grind for DF2 anyway, that's unavoidable) to reach 260 hit points. When he hit level 50 Hahn had 269 hit points and a nice even level.
He would use two Reflect Shields + the Silver Circlet to maximize his magic defense and Mental. Swapping in one Psy Shield to try to block Possession crossed my mind but Hahn was already having so much trouble surviving and the success rate of Possession was already so hit or miss I decided not to bother unless Hahn suffered a string of Possession-induced losses. I also decided not to equip the Swift Helm. Sure the +Agility and higher defense would be helpful but he wasn't having so much trouble winning initiative that I was worried about agility. I preferred the +Mental on the circlet to get a small damage boost out of Astral. It would also slightly reduce the damage of Another Gate, reduce the effect chance of Possession, and if Hahn was actually put to sleep his odds of immediately shaking it off were a little better.
It was go time!
Hahn used some Trimates to heal himself when Gires couldn't cut it. This wasn't because I was planning on splitting his tech point pool but because I knew it was going to be a long fight and that Hahn might run out of tech points on Gires alone.
Astral was again a staple attack, doing twice the damage of the Flame Sword's Flaeli which was itself significantly better than what Nawat or Nazan would do. (Lashiec is weak to fire and that multiplier pushed the Flame Sword's Flaeli ahead.)
Fortunately Hahn won initiative on the round he needed to Psycho Wand away Lashiec's Reinforcement boosts. This was important because Lashiec used his turn that same round to put Hahn to sleep then Thunder Halberted him. If Hahn had failed that initiative roll he would have been put to sleep and suffered attacks while Lashiec still had Reinforce active! It was still a rough fight and shortly after the prior close call Hahn was battered down to 1 hit point by a Thunder Halbert - Thunder Halbert - Another Gate combo where the Another Gate won initiative. Remember kids, the only hit point that counts is that very last one!
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMv_gXc-Rns
Here's the video of the trio and Lashiec. (It's mostly Lashiec due to the vastly different hit point totals.)
Hahn opened up the Garuberk Tower and settled in for the long hit point grind to survive Shadow Breath. Unfortunately he quickly found out that Nazan was not much help against Garuberk Tower ghouls.
Naturally Hahn was immediately paralyzed after that prior screenshot. Argh! Paralysis! *shakes an angry fist at the game*
Hahn was getting ambushed a lot but using 2 Reflect Shields put a huge damper on how much enemies could hurt him so he was in little danger... except for all the times he was paralyzed. That he just had to grin and bear as I reloaded by latest savestate.
Savol was the main workhorse tech but it was less effective against Chaos Sorcerors than I would have liked. Savol has a base power of 64 but Chaos Sorcerors partially resist several factors (and are immune to factor 11 outright) alongside having a Mental of 49. That meant that at slightly better than 50% of the time they would succeed in the resistance check and just shrug Savol off.
Astral and Nawat could take care of them, as could Eliminate if Hahn could actually afford to swap one of his Reflect Shields for a knife. He couldn't so he didn't use Eliminate.
Savol was also not as useful against Radhins, but it's not as if Radhins could do anything to Hahn. They're not immune or resistant to factor 10 but they have a higher Mental than Chaos Sorcerors (65). That just meant several casts per formation. Amidst all this I just let Hahn walk around until he ran out of tech points then Escapiped out as pipes are cheap, made a quick trip back to the local inn, then came back rested for more grinding.
With 300 TP Hahn could theoretically kill Dark Force 2 as 30 Nawats would do around 7200 damage but that would require Hahn to use 100% of his tech points for that one tech. I didn't think it feasible to expect he wouldn't need to cast Nares. Some of the damage-dealing load would be taken by Astral charges but just how much was an ongoing question in the back of my mind.
When Hahn hit level 60 he had 331 hit points and I decided it was time to seriously challenge Dark Force. Hahn thus passed any gear he wanted to hold onto (or in the case of the Psycho-Wand couldn't drop) to other team members. This freed up as much space as possible for Trimates. Hahn's inventory thus became: Land Rover, Ice Digger, Tornado Dagger, Swift Helm, Eclipse Torch, 3 Sol Dews, and 32 Trimates - that 40 item limit is merciless! Well we just have to work with it as best we can. Trimates heal about 320 hit points per use so at 331 hp max that would pretty much always fully heal him. The Tornado Dagger was there as a failsafe just in case Dark Force was still alive after Hahn ran out of Astrals and Nawats. I didn't expect it would be needed but in the unlikely event it was, it was there.
Hahn began the fight by using the Swift Helm for the Agility boost then learned there's no kill like overkill, as Demi was immediately flattened by Shadow Breath. Yeouch!
Hahn weathered Shadow Breath better but it was still a big ouch. I didn't add all those levels for nothing! Even with the levels two Shadowbreaths back to back without a heal in between were an easy way for Hahn to die. He went in with two Reflect Shields for maximum magic resistance. Dark Force 2 has Evil Eye but any solo humanoid character who would fall prey to that would be destroyed by Shadow Breath long before Evil Eye ever came up in rotation.
Astral was once again a staple skill. He had 15 charges and they racked up a respectable total of 3759 damage.
There's that pile of Trimates Hahn bought to heal himself without burning up all of his tech points. Hahn has 321 TP in this screenshot but that evaporates in a hurry when he has to cast Nares a whole lot. (At 9 TP per cast 321 max tech points comes out to 35 casts of Nares. That sounds like a lot but you burn through that pretty fast in a fight like this. Keep in mind that Shadowbreath potentially does more than half of Hahn's full lifebar in damage so each and every high-rolling Shadowbreath requires immediate healing just in case DF2 decides to chain two or more together - which zie easily can. Hell, if Hahn isn't at full health even a low-rolling Shadowbreath requires me to heal.)
Once the Astrals were gone it was again time for Nawat. That dealt with the remainder of DF2's health. Actually, though, Hahn had to beat Dark Force 2 twice because the first time I forgot to bring Demi and was forced into an empty party game over afterwards that I didn't grab a screenshot of because I had turned off video recording in Kega. Whoops! There's not much to see anyway. Just know that I was kicking myself.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzHcazQ0z7k
Dark Force 2 and Dark Force 3 take so long to fight (and Hahn is pretty quick compared to some characters) that I just did a separate video for each one.
Afterwards it was off to Motavia after restocking Trimates. I also decided do a quick inventory test with the Eclipse Torch for Hydrofoil exchange. I made sure my inventory was completely full before speaking to the arch bishop. It is obvious the game is programmed to go straight from the arch bishop in Gumbious to the spaceport on Motavia to make it so that exchange cannot be interrupted. As expected the Eclipse Torch was pulled from Hahn's inventory while the Hydrofoil was added as a new item at the bottom of the item list.
For those who aren't familiar with the game or don't remember: speaking to the arch bishop initiates a cutscene in which the player hands over the Eclipse Torch, is told to seek out Rykros, is automatically sent to the spaceport on Dezolis, and from there to the spaceport on Motavia where Demi contacts Wren and gives the player the Hydrofoil. This sequence of automatic actions masks the fact that the Eclipse Torch functions as an inventory slot placeholder that guarantees the player WILL have a slot for the Hydrofoil.
Sneaky, but effective.
Hahn then went and completed the Silver Soldier job to open Vahal Fort. I'll cover that in the next update.
Still at level 60 (since Dark Force 2 didn't grant Hahn a level up), with a full stock of Trimates, I faced down the third and final form of the recurring boss. I was a little worried because I stowed the Flame Sword, Tornado Dagger, and Thunder Claw away but DF3 only has 1k more hit points then DF2 and Hahn killed DF2 with plenty of tech points to spare. Still, I wasn't going to take any unnecessary risks of running out of tech points and relied on Trimates to keep Hahn alive.
I equipped the Swift Helm (for that snazzy +6 Agi) and a Psy Shield for factor 11 resistance, as Mind Blast's success rate is too high to be ignored. On the first round of combat Hahn boosted his Agility... which DF3 then immediately debuffed with Shadowbind. Grr! Then he boosted it again and the fight began.
Swapping out a Reflect Shield hurt Hahn's defenses but Corrosion was still much more manageable than physical attacks.
Astral was again the lead of Hahn's offensive strategy.
Still, Hahn could not afford to be reckless as this 181 damage critical hit demonstrates. Dark Force rolled well for this particular hit but also got several other nasty criticals in during the fight.
Mind Blast was blocked by the Psy Shield and Hahn's high Mental which gave me a few turns where it wasn't a constant cycle of heal - attack - heal - attack. Hahn almost ran out of Trimates so those freebie rounds were appreciated.
Defeating Dark Force 3 earned Hahn a level up. Woohoo!
It took 15 Astrals and 22 Nawats to reach the endgame. Hahn didn't cut it quite as close as some of his prior battles but his tank was almost empty.
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxkpk_cQVmg
And of course here's the fight in video form.
(no subject)
That means I had to strip out the video embeds because Dreamwidth requires each and every video to have its own embed ID which the site generates when you embed things. Since there's no Rich Text editor right now there's no embed function. I left the video links so the videos are still accessible. Thank goodness I put some redundancy in these things!