Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the TItan - Even in the skies, F.O.E!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the TItan - Even in the skies, F.O.E!

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan is the 4th game in the Etrian Odyssey series, and the first on the Nintendo 3DS. Inspired by older dungeon crawlers, especially the likes of Wizardry. Etrian Odyssey is notable for allowing you to draw your own map on the bottom screen. EO4 made some sweeping changes, toning down the difficulty somewhat, and cleaning up the skill system, but internally it's still got the guts (and formulas!) of Etrian Odyssey III. It's also pretty anime.

It's my favorite game in the series, and I have a 3DS capture card.

Although this game is a little light on plot, there's a few surprises, so please no spoiling those. Especially that one thing. You know what it is.

Update 1: A New Breeze Drifts In
Update 2: Skybound
Update 3: Old Forest Mine
Update 4: Thane of Tharsis 2008
Update 5: Delphi
Update 6: White Fortress Chronicles: Origins

Class Overviews:
Landsknecht

Tyty fucked around with this message at 06:26 on Apr 15, 2017

# ¿ Nov 2, 2015 12:35

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 21:32

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Krysmphoenix's Character, Butterfly

She may seem as sweet and gentle as her namesake implies, but the prodigy of Runemaster Academy dropped out in search of a more...hands-on application of magical theories. Or at least that's what her classmates think. In truth she just wanted to become a sky pirate and every sky pirate needs a cool sword

alcharagia's Character, Lionhart

One thing Lionhart knew from an early age was that he adored maps. Just loved them. Looking at them, making them... Cartography was, as they say in the urban media, his "jam." It wasn't uncommon for him, as a young lad, to not leave his room for days just poring over ancient maps of long-forgotten lands.

So, naturally, when he became of age and his mom was all "Lion dearie, you need to quit these maps and do something with your life, I know this nice girl up in High Lagaard, real proper Overlord fearing lady, I think you'd love her." his immediate reaction was leaving his house within a week and signing on for the profession that makes more maps than any other- adventurers! (What's a cartographer?)

Unfortunately, he never got out much as a kid and wasn't too healthy to begin with, so when he went to a store and bought a mace they laughed at his puny noodle arms trying to heft it effectively (it was a pity laugh!) and gave him the offer of the century- "buy one bushel of medical salves, get one free!" He was very cross that evening, but nevertheless a Medic was born. He still has that mace, and looks at it wistfully about once a week, longing for the day when the physical activity involved in mapmaking will allow his warrior's blood to alight and heft the mace in the proper manner, and go from a D-Tier physical attacker to a C-Tier! Yeah... that'll be the day.

Dr. Fetus' Character, Damien

A greedy man who gets way too much of a thrill out of killing. Doesn't really like helping others unless it benefits him in some way.

megane's Character, Isabel

Her dream has always been to be a famous guitarist, but thus far she's had no luck making it big. Being pessimistic about everything probably doesn't help. She's hoping carrying a big-rear end shield will pay the bills while she waits for her talent to be discovered. But it probably won't.

Mersenne's character, Suzume

A shrine maiden and former Ronin from High Lagaard who made her living by killing the monsters that escaped from the Labyrinth and plagued the countryside. However, she left for greener pastures after a certain guild eliminated the source of all the monsters and drove her out of business. She figured the Labyrinth of Tharsis would be an excellent place to hone her newly-acquired archery skills. Often tends to speak in riddles and proverbs, annoying her guildmates who have trouble figuring out what the hell she's actually trying to say. Despite her intimidating looks, she's actually really good with children. She enjoys sitting on the grass and watching the birds fly by whenever she's not getting her murder on. Also probably the only one who earnestly laughs at terrible puns.

poorlywrittennovel's character, Hans

Despite his appearance, Hans is happy to be along for the ride. He also spends way too much time trying to teach the party about all the stuff they come across. Usually with a pun.

Mysticblade's character, Seth

Seth has only one goal in life. To become the Lord of the Dance. For that dream, he will dance anywhere, even in the depths of a labyrinth or in front of a dragon.

Tyty fucked around with this message at 09:51 on Jan 10, 2017

# ¿ Nov 2, 2015 12:35

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

A New Breeze Drifts In...

And so opens Etrian Odyssey IV, the first game in the series on the 3DS! There's a couple new things to come with the new platform, notably...

There's a demo for the game. I don't have any data to import, so we'll just get skip that.

This game was also the one to introduce difficulties, and we'll be selecting ours here. Between normal, and casual...

Casual mode is easier (Quite a bit, actually), but normal is the series standard. We'll be doing this LP on Normal, of course.

This part is actually silent. There's no music playing when you're standing at the city gates.

Legends say something sleeps within Yggdrasil that calls people to eternal paradise. In order to ascertain the truth of this legend, the Count of Tharsis issued a challenge across the land. "Reach Yggdrasil and uncover the truth!" That summons as drawn countless explorers to the city.

You are among their number; a pilgrim to the city with little to your name but a blade and boundless curiosity. Nevertheless, you aim to solve the mystery of Yggdrasil and win fame and fortune!

The only location inside the city open to us right now is the Explorer's Guild, so let's go there.

: This is the Explorers Guild, where your kind pools their talents. It's something like a mutual aid society.

It's where we go to organize our party, and add new members.

: Now, if you want to operate in this city as an explorer, you have to be part of a guild.

We'll be making our own, naturally.

: Oh, so you want to create your own rather than joining someone else's? Then write a name in that ledger. Though your guild will be your whole identity in Tharsis, so think it over carefully before deciding on a name.

Please avoid names that are offensive, infringe on other people's rights, or contain personal information.

With the advent of Streetpass, the games got a bit more vocal about warning you about sharing info.

For this update, we'll be going with this. It's sort of a tradition I have to name all the guilds/teams in games I play. I'm sure the thread can come up with a better name though.

: Next, you need to register the explorers you want in the Awesome Guild and form an adventuring party.

To register guild members, we start from the register option.

Things have changed a bit from past games. Instead of entering a name, we're immediately presented with all the classes we can make.

Selecting one, we can choose a portait, or...

If we hit y, we can switch to a set of different colors.

Selecting our portrait allows us to name our new character before adding them to the guild. The classes we have now are as follows:

Swordsmen skilled at melee attacks with sword or rapiers. They take the lead, raising the rest of the party's morale.

Heavy melee attackers on the front line.

The jack of all trades, master of one, the Landsknecht got a huge overhaul from their EO1/2 incarnation. They can sorta do everything, support, damage, tanking, but they excel at heavy physical elemental damage with their links.

A class that weakens enemies at a distance from the shadows with throwing knives, or uses two blades to go in for the kill.

Special attackers who work on either line.

Nightseekers are a class that can drop all sorts of ailments on enemies, and then follow it up with incredible damage. They do the most damage from the front line, but are squishy as all hell, so they need some form of protection.

This class uses its heavy armor to act as the party's shield. Their mace attacks give them offensive heft as well.

Defense specialists on either line.

Speaking of protection, here's the Fortress. The fortress act as a damage soaking tank, as opposed to the mitigation tanking Protectors did in past games. They're excellent at soaking up hits and become incredible at it towards the end of the game.

They pick off enemies from a distance with their bows. They can accurately hit enemy weaknesses, thereby binding body parts.

Ranged attackers who work on the back line.

Snipers essentially have two ways they can build, either working as disablers through binds, or backrow physical specialists. Eventually you'll want them to be doing both, as they gain abilities to combo off of binds later.

Healers that treat the party's wounds. Their knowledge of anatomy and biology assists you in disabling your foes.

Healing specialists on either line.

They aren't joking about medics being able to work from the front, but I wouldn't recommend it. Medics are much, much more suited to healing your party's HP and status. They -do- have a few skills that can help keep an enemy down though.

They control elements in the air using runes as a catalyst, which is highly effective against enemies that resist normal attacks.

Elemental attackers of the back line.

The mage of the game! Runemasters are much improved over past EO mages in that their damage doesn't really fall off. This is due to how crazy good their skills are. They can also get around enemies that resist the physical damage types, or have really high vit.

Not only can they assist or heal allies on their line, their sword dances are deadly to behold.

Handles attacks and support in the front.

And lastly, our buffer. The dancer can strengthen your party's attacks, or if you prefer, stand in the front and slash away with sword dances. They can actually use bows and attack from the back, but since your front row will be hit more, you'll more than likely want your dancer up there to buff their defense.

This is the party composition I used when I played through the game the first time. We'll be taking them out for a spin in a battle to show off how they work.

But first we need to actually put our characters in our party.

I put them in in the order I registered them. The Etrian Odyssey series uses a system of rows for the party. The back row takes reduced damage, but unless they're ranged, they also do less damage. We put our sniper back there because she uses a bow, and Scruffy because he'll probably just be healing anyways.

We're done here, so we leave the explorers guild.

Now, before we get into a fight, we have some skill points to apply. Each character starts with 3 skill points to spend, and some skills they can put points into. Putting points into a skill unlocks it for use, and usually makes it stronger.

Unlike past EO games, which displayed their skill lists as, well, lists, EO4 shows them as a branching tree. There are also minimum level requirements for skills, separated by tiers. These are level 0, level 20, and level 40.

For now I'll just throw my skill points down so I have access to some skills. I'll go more in-depth when the LP starts proper.

When a battle starts, a small animation with leaves brushing past you plays.

And here we encounter our first enemies. A pair of Grasseaters.

Grasseater
HP: 38
TP: 11
STR: 5
VIT: 4
AGI: 9
LUC: 8
TEC: 7
Attack Type: Bash
Exp: 55
Drops:
1: Grasseater Leg (70%)
2: Grasseater Jaw (30%)
Gold Drop: None

Resistances:

: 100%

: 100%

Ailments/Binds:

: 100%

: 050%

: 100%

: 100%

Skills:
Jump Kick: 150% damage melee bash physical attack to one target

A Grasshopper that lives in the forest. Their kicks are powerful, but they are no threat when alone.

So there's a lot to parse here, and I'll go over it in-depth later, but the gist of it is the higher the number, the more effective it is. Our friend Grasseater here has 50% resistance to curse. This means, curse only has a 50% base chance of landing. There's much more that goes into it though.

First things first, we input our commands for the turn. We have some options here though. Attack just attacks normally with whatever weapon is equpped. It has a power of 100%. Skills lets us pick from the character's known skills. Burst I'll explain later, but it replaces EO3's limit system. Item is simple, it lets us use an item.... But I don't have any. Defend and Escape are fairly straightforward, but since I forgot to use Switch in this fight, I'll go over it next time.

There are a few types of skills. Some let you buff your characters.

Others do damage to enemies.

Once you've selected a skill, you select a target. Some skills like the dances can only target the user, but
others let you pick your target, like Bolt Strike.

Everyone else I just tell to use normal attacks.

When one of your characters gets buffed, they get a red glow over them. Dances are interesting, as they count as a buff on the user, but no-one else in the row.

Turn order is determined by action speed, which is a combination of your agi, and the gear you're using. Since the grasseaters have a lot of agi, and we have no gear, they get to go second.

Discounting the fact that the landsknecht is using a sword, and the medic a staff, the difference in an attack from the back row and the front can be pretty noticable. One from the back does roughly 50% damage if it's melee.

Since they're early enemies, the fight gets cleaned up pretty quickly.

Once the battle is over, you're shown the rewards screen. Exp is divided evenly through the whole party, and any items collected are displayed. If anyone levels up, it'll be shown here.

-----------------

So that's the beginning of the game. As EO LP tradition, I'll be asking for a Guild Name and party members. One per person, and I'll need a portrait and whether they use their alternate color or not. A little bio would help too, nothing too much, just a bit to add some flavor.

Also, because it's EO4 and there's no bad classes, I'm going to let people vote for my party right out of the gate. Please pick three classes for me to use. Or not. It doesn't really matter I guess.

Tyty fucked around with this message at 08:50 on Aug 18, 2016

# ¿ Nov 2, 2015 12:36

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Guild Name:
Skybound: 2
Awesome: 1

Party Composition:
Runemaster: 7
Nightseeker: 6
Landsknecht: 6
Medic: 4
Fortress: 4
Dancer: 4
Sniper: 2

This is how the votes are so far. I have work tonight so I'll leave the voting/character suggestion up for a little bit.

Dr. Fetus posted:

Also, where did you get those renders? Did you rip them yourself?

You seemed to have left something extra in those enemy bios. Plague isn't an ailment in this game! Or was that leftover code from EO3? Kind of weird how EO4 resused a lot mechanically from it, considering how most other EO games basically overhaul everything. Though this game did have a different director while Komori went on to work on the Untold games. As for a character...

The grasseater I just took a screengrab of the compendium and cut it out of the background, but the guildmaster I ripped myself. There's some fun textures in EO4, including one of the main character of P4 straight from P4:Golden. That was in all of Atlus' 3DS games as a test texture apparently.

And yeah, enemies seem to still have an entry for Plague. I'm probably going to leave it out in future updates since it's unused, and there's no actual icon for it in the game. Most enemies seem to have 100% resistance to it too. They probably just left it in to keep the enemy data consistent between games. I'll check EOU's data as well tonight if I have time.

RareAcumen posted:

Yeah that's what I remembered about them so that's why I didn't think that's what was going on here because I feel like that info is at least a year and half old and something more substantial must've come out by then.

Not really, unfortunately. The options are still pretty much the better capture card that is harder to get and only for regular 3DSes (Loopy's) or the one I have which is much more finnicky but can be attached to the much cheaper 2DS (Katsukity's)

I still haven't 100% gotten a good recording process since Katsukity's software doesn't have inbuilt recording, and I'm having issues recording at 1x size, but I'll probably be able to figure something out before the next update.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2015 01:08

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Alright, I'm gonna close up the voting now. I've got the characters picked and I'll work on an update tonight.

Landsknecht: Krysmphoenix with Butterfly
Medic: alcharagia with Lionhart
Nightseeker: Dr. Fetus with Damien
Fortress: megane with Isabel
Sniper: Mersenne with Suzume
Runemaster: poorlywrittennovel with Hans
Dancer: Mysticblade with Seth

I'll add the bios to the second post once I get home.

Guild Name:
Skybound: 4
Icarus: 1
Awesome: 1

My choice: 1
Considering I can't change the outcome, I'm gonna leave it at Skybound.

Party:
Dancer: 16
Nightseeker: 14
Landsknecht: 13
Runemaster: 13
Sniper: 11
Medic: 11
Fortress: 9

I'm going to be bringing a sniper along first instead of a medic because I'd like to show off everything about landys and bandage becomes very useless very quickly.

This means that our initial party is: Seth, Damien, Butterfly, Hans, and Suzume

# ¿ Nov 4, 2015 01:13

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

You shouldn't really need a medic for them, except maybe around mid-game. Early on they outtank most of the first couple floors, and late-game they take like no damage.

And I am 100% sure I will have to use medics for something other than their intended purpose at some point.

I have the next update recorded, so hopefully in the next day or two I can get it posted.

EDIT:

Cernunnos posted:

I thought it was all equipment, not just the weapon, that influenced action speed?

Yep! Whoops! I'll fix that.

Tyty fucked around with this message at 04:01 on Nov 12, 2015

# ¿ Nov 6, 2015 11:49

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

: ... and dot the i's... Done!

: Of course it will. The grandest sky pirates!

: Ahem... You'll want this. It's a letter of introduction that'll get you into an audience with the Count. Next, you need to register the explorers you want in the Skybound Guild and form an adventuring party.

: A balanced party huh? I'm the captain of course, but...

: Ah, the wind brings us fortune then.

: Oh?

: You see, we're explorers, like you! We're kinda lacking a guild at the moment though.

: And as fate would befall us, my companion and I are not the hardiest.

: Okay, you can be in my crew.

: Crew?

: Yep! I aim to be the greatest of sky pirates, and claim righteous booty!

: Did someone say booty?

: Haha! I doubt she means that kind of booty, friend.

: Yep, I meant riches. Gold. Treasure!

: Did someone say treasure?

: Yes. I am forming the Skybound Guild. A crew of sky pirates out to search the lands before Yggdrasil, and claim the treasures within!

: Oh. I thought you guys were serious. Nevermind then.

: as if I'd let a crew member escape after joining. You leave, you'll be keelhauled!

: I don't think you can keelhaul someone on an airship...

: Pardon my breaking up the fun, but there are other guilds that are waiting to sign up.

: O-oh, sorry!

This is the main screen of the Explorer's Guild, which I didn't show in its entirety off before. Here we have a number of options. Register allows us to make new characters, as shown.

Organize lets us change our characters. We have a number of options here. Retire is greyed out until someone is level 30. I'll explain it when we get to it.

Rest lets us reset our skill points for two levels. It's much more worthwhile in this game if you need to change your party up or messed up, since in past games it cost 5 levels instead.

Dismiss does what it says on the tin, it kicks out a member. They're deleted.

Rename lets us rename our characters. Unlike past EO games, it's now free. Pretty much just for if you typo a name or something.

Formation lets you place your guild into a party. There's a number of options here now.

Arrange lets you actually build your party from your guild members.

Change order lets you rearrange your guild. Useful if you're doing a second run on New Game+, and wish to keep your old guild.

Squads lets you arrange predetermined squads...

Which muster allows you to set as your current party. It only works if you have squads set.

Talk is an option in every area. It lets you chat with whoever runs the place.

: To become fully accredited explorers, you must complete the Outland Count's initiation mission.

: Ah! Yeah, we'll go get right on that!

When you select leave, the Guildmaster gives you some last words before you go back to Tharsis here. It doesn't happen often in the game.

: He's pushy...

: Well, we can't do anything without passing the test, so it's important.

: Then to the Grand Court!

: Oh, none at all. It's quite Grand.

: Indeed!

: Here in my Grand Court, when there are important duties to be carried out, I assign them to explorers as missions. But of all the explorers who arrive in Tharsis, like yourselves, we want only the best on the hunt for Yggdrasil. Before you can set out on your search, you must prove yourself worthy as explorers. What say you to this?

So here we have a dialogue choice. Since I can't use savestates or anything to go back in time, I'll just be picking the option the party at the time is likely to chose. If there's rewards involved I'll still list what they are, at least. This choice doesn't matter beyond what the Count says next.

: Hm...

: The paths we walk may so be intertwined. I believe that this is the best choice of action.

: Yes. I hear becoming accredited is the way to get access to an airship.

: Then we will gladly take the test.

So welcome to the Grand Court. Here we will be accepting missions, main-story quests, to further the plot. They usually give quite a bit of money as reward.

There's only ever one mission at a time. Let's take it.

: We had thought the vein was mined dry, but the other day, a certain explorer found that there was more to be had. The Iridescent Ore is a pretty thing. Shine light on it, and it refracts it into all the colors of the rainbow...

: Ooh, sounds neat...

: Sounds expensive.

: But its true worth is not found in its beauty! Though I'll explain more about that if you complete the mission.

: So I'll pay half of the reward for this mission in advance. Use that to purchase whatever you'll need.

: Great! I didn't have any money when I left.

: ...

: Well, since you're clearly a beginner...

: Once you're ready, head to the city gates, and I'll have a soldier waiting to escort you there. Best of luck!

With that out of the way, Report Results lets us hand in completed missions. We can't hand ours in since it isn't finished.

So let's talk to the Count.

: It's a wonderful place with lovely vegetation, but since ore mining halted, monsters have settled in. As it stands now, it makes an excellent training ground for novice explorers. Train hard against the monsters there for the struggles to come!

: It has been a while since I last trained...

: So where should we go check out first then?

: How about an inn? I'd like to scout where we could potentially be sleeping for the next few months.

: Yep!

: Well, Welcome to the Saehrimnir Inn. Lots of our explorers use this place as a base between excursions. If you get hurt or tired, come back here and get a good rest. We have a clinic in the back, too! You're welcome to use it if you have any ailments or wounds to treat.

So here's the Inn in the game. As with most other RPGs it is a place to stay and heal, with a few other things.

Staying doesn't just heal us.The EO series has a day/night system, and the Stay command is the best way to manipulate it. We can rest till either 7 AM or 7 PM.

The clinic allows us to revive dead party members, and heal a certain status ailment that sticks after battle. We don't encounter that one for a while though.

Store lets us store our goods, and take them back later. Unlike EO3 this is free, but the storage space is much smaller to begin with.

Save is pretty self-explanatory. It saves our game. We're also given the option to save when we stay at the inn.

Let's see what Dalla says to us.

: I think your guild name has a very nice ring to it, dearies. What inspired the name Skybound, if that's all right to ask?

: We're gonna be legendary sky pirates!

: Oh! That sounds wonderful.

: Let's go to the store next, I saw one on the way to the inn.

: Some of them, yes.

: We're from guild Skybound!

: Da Skybound crew, huh? Well, hey, welcome ta Berund Atelier, For alla ya weapon and item needs! Eh... mosta ya needs, anyways. It kinda depends on da materials you explorer folks sell us. We gotta list posted of what kinda equipment we can make, so if ya see something ya want, bring us da stuff.

: Sounds like an interesting system.

: The store in High Lagaard was the same way.

: Well, niecta meetcha! Give us a ring whenever ya need something for ya advencha!

Wynne here brings up a fairly important point, and one of the big parts of the series. Like other Atlus RPGs, enemy drops can be sold to shops, and in turn unlock new equipment.

So, welcome to the shop! In here our characters are shown on the bottom screen, allowing us to equip what we buy immediately.

You can buy a variety of items. I'll go over it a bit more once we have some more money.

For now I buy weapons for all the characters. Contrary to their stat screens, they all started with daggers.

: Though weaponry is nice, we should procure some medicine as well.

Like weapons, almost all the items are locked off for now.

: I'll get some medicas then.

5 Medicas should be enough for our first trip.

Sell lets you sell your items. I get rid of our daggers for 50 extra en.

Equip lets you move your equipment around. There's an option in the main menu that lets you do that already, but this lets you change the equipment of guild members not currently in the party.

: My boss gots da skills ta make useful items and equipment outta dat crap. All our gear is first-rate! An I help make it! Hey, whyncha check out our stuff while you're here?

: But we already did.

: For reals? I wasn't lookin'.

: You sold us our... nevermind.

: So we seem prepared to-

: I think I need a bit of a drink before we go.

: Yes! Nothing is more piratey than rum, to the bar!

: I was referring to water, but I could go for a beer.

: b-but...

: Many apologies, but I am allowed only to parcel out work to explorers approved by the Outland Count. Make sure that you have come back to me after you have finished the initiation mission issued at the Grand Court.

: But I wanted a drink...

: Lord knows I need need one.

Welcome to the bar. Once we're a real guild, we'll be able to take quests here.

But since we're not, we don't have any yet.

We can also hand in quests we've taken here.

Introduced in EO3, we can also talk to explorers here. This allows us to gather some information.

We'll talk to Kirtida first though.

: But it may be good to ask the other patrons the basics of exploration. Those who gather here are skilled. Well then, Skybound Guild. I shall pray for safety in your travels. Kismet be with you.

: Looks like you've taken on a mission. Alright, let me teach you some basic common knowledge. Listen... the paths through dungeons aren't always obvious. If you see a wall that looks a little different, stop and take a closer look. There may be a secret passage. If you find a secret passage and mark it on your map, it'll make exploring much easier. Trust me.

: Thanks for the advice. I like your eye patch by the way.

: Thanks. Made it myself. I expect you guys to pass that down the line once you're senior explorers. That's how this stuff gets taught.

: Are you people new explorers? Did you get your weapons and armor already? If not, try the Berund Atelier. The first tule of battle is to make sure your weapon is sharp and your armor can take a hit.

: We skipped on armor for now to save a few en.

: The shop's also a good place to check and see which materials they need to make the equipment you want. Once you know which material you're after, you can probably figure out which monster drops it.

: Well, that was a bust. To the dungeon?

: Nope! There's one more place we haven't been.

: Ah, the Cargo Wharf.

It seems primarily a place for their business negotiations... You doubt they will sell directly to explorers. Feeling a bit out of your element, you return to the city square.

Welp, nowhere to go but here for now.

: "Before we leave, you're sure you're ready for this? Whatever skills you have are useless if not trained."

You should spend them on skills that will be useful in battle and during exploration. If you have not trained any skills yet, open the Main Menu with the Y button and select the Custom menu. There are attack skills, healing skills, defensive skills... Train the ones you feel you will most need. You are awarded 1 Skill Point each time you level up.

: Uhhhhh...

: Just a moment, if you please.

Welcome to the main menu of the game. Here we have quite a few party management things we can do.

Items lets us use our items. We also have key items in the next tab, but we can't use those. They're mostly just for holding onto. It's worth noting we only have 60 slots for normal items, including enemy drops.

Skills shows us what skills we can use outside of battle. We don't have any skills yet though.

Status shows our stats and our current equipment.

Equip shows our current equipment, and lets us swap it for any we currently have with us in our items.

Custom lets us assign skill points and burst skills. We don't have burst skills yet, but we need to spend our skill points.

Unlike past EO games, our skills are neatly divided into a tree. They're also now separated into 3 tiers. Novice, Veteran, and Master. Veteran unlocks at level 20, and Master unlocks at level 40.

: I'll go first!

Proficiency increases damage and accuracy to 120% for everyone who attacks after you. This stacks multiplicatively.

Sonic Raid will attempt to go first. Burst skills, and faster landys with Sonic Raid will go faster. At level 2 it does 135% damage, and does the same damage type as our weapon, either slash or stab.

: Will you watch my dance?

Proficiency for dancers extends their dances by 1 turn.

Regen Waltz will heal the row with 40% healing power for 3 turns, and Attack Tango increases damage by 20% for the same amount of time. Both are extended, and cost 5 TP.

: Feel the cold steel of my blade.

Proficiency increases damage to targets with ailments to 200%, doubling it. Unfortunately we don't have any yet.

Ice Knife at level 2 does 157% ice/slash damage.

: I'm just getting warmed up.

Proficiency increases the magical damage of the row to 110%, and drops magical damage recieved to 95%. This stacks additively.

Fire Rune increases fire damage by 15% additively, and decreases it by 25% for 8 TP. Fireball Rune does 35% magical damage, with halved splash damage.

: May the wind bind my enemies.

Proficiency increases crit damage to 170%, crit chance to 113%, and allows skills to crit. This isn't limited to bows.

At level 2, Leg Snipe does 124% pierce damage, and has a 48% chance to bind the target's legs. These attacks are interesting, because they will always hit no matter what.

Party lets us change party order just like when we assign our party.

The Book option has a lot of sub options.

Quests shows us our quests. We don't have any.

This is the missions screen. It's what the quest screen would look like if we had any, though we are limited to 5 quests at once.

This is our guild card screen, used for streetpassing people. We don't have any cards but ours, and it's empty. It also shows our guild card, which has neat little things about our guild.

Our monstrous codex, and item compendium both start out empty. These fill up with info about enemies/drops and food as we encounter/collect them.

: Yes. I think we're finally ready.

__________________________________________________________________________

Just as a footnote, no spoilers at all please, even a little. The game does have a few twists to it even if it's still somewhat light on the story.

Tyty fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Dec 3, 2015

# ¿ Nov 18, 2015 08:22

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

I find the level-gating works pretty well, if only because it's analogous to the useless Weapon Masteries from past games, except it doesn't cost you any skill points. Combined with the tighter skill tree, and lower skill requirements, EO4 feels like you have a ton of skill points anyways. Getting all the skills you want is never really an issue. It does seem to cause some weird power spikes at 20 and 40 for certain classes though.

I think EOU/EOU2 have a nice idea with the weapon mastery points also putting a point into the skills themselves, but that wouldn't work very well with EO4's subclassing system (Where skills are capped at half-max level). It might with EO3's if they choose to use that in EO3U if it ever happens, but I don't think they will. Subclassing in EO3 is super broken.

Dr. Fetus posted:

Even though if you asked for no spoilers, it sounds like you don't have a text dump for the game. Fortunately, I have one. You don't have PMs, so I couldn't send it to you through there. There's spoilers in there obviously, but you'd have to dig through the files.

Thanks. The text files I already have are all in full-width shift-jis still, so this will be helpful if I can get it all organized.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2015 21:13

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

The dot the is thing was honestly supposed to be a joke, guess it didn't come across :v:

Dr. Fetus posted:

Oh, and there's a typo.

The Runemaster's runes are actually additive effects, not multiplicative. Could help with getting certain conditional drops.

Fixed, and thanks, I didn't actually know that. Thought it was just their class skill that was. Interesting.

# ¿ Nov 20, 2015 05:30

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

I believe there's also newer art of Derek and Angie from the EOU artbook?

Next update is gonna be a bit late, by the way. I probably won't have free time until friday.

# ¿ Nov 23, 2015 21:04

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

A Monk with a Zodiac subclass.

Holding a pretend sword.

So all around pretty meh compared to a specialized class.

What you're suggesting would be good in a game with a single character, maybe single character runs, or an SRPG where you sometimes need to send a dude out on their own... but in a game like EO where party synergy and character specialization are key it doesn't really work.

Which kinda sucks because that kinda character is one of my favorite RPG classes, but really they just wouldn't be good.

Maybe someone flexible enough to go either way, but not enough skill points to go into both? At that point though, you'd probably just use an alchemist or a landy.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2015 22:22

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

I've made some edits to the first two updates to add new stuff that's come up, namely what the Grasseater's skill does, and Leg Snipe in the second update. Now that I have something coded up to parse the skill table names, I can properly dig around the skill tables. I should be able to get an update out hopefully soon.

Sorry for the delays. I wanted to make sure I had everything good to go for the next bit.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2015 00:36

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Sorry for the wait! Finals are over, so I have time to update again.
_________________________________

Update 3: Old Forest Mine

Look at all the trees...

Doesn't look like much of a mine.

Here's what walking around looks like. Right now our bottom screen is blank, and we kinda don't have a sense of direction.

Everything looks the same.

That's a labyrinth for you. There's a reason they are called as such.

Eenie, meenie, miney, left.

We go left first. As you'll see later, the area on the right is just a little loop.

Hm? What's that?

You pick it up and see that it is a shining, golden locket, with space for a small picture inside. Could another explorer have dropped this...? If you are curious, you can try opening the locket.

Hah! Finders keepers!

It may belong to someone else here.

He's right though. That's the first rule of the labyrinth.

I wonder what's inside...

O-oh!

Sorry...

We're guild Skybound.

Me, I'm Whirlwind," he says. "Though that's really just a nickname.. Nice meeting you, Skybound Guild. You're here for some Iridescent Ore? Yeah, I think there's still some to be had in this Old Forest Mine. How do I know? Because I'm the one who found it in the first place.

Yes. The Count said someone found some.

Pretty lucky too. The town was in a tough pickle...

A treasure map!

It looks very incomplete.

Hm? The map's only half done? Well, that makes this a great chance to learn to draw your own!

With that, the man points to the blank map you've opened and explains how to draw in it...

Try and reproduce the walls and floors as you walk through the dungeon. Your map is an invaluable survival tool.

And we finally get our map! EO4 is pretty interesting in that it makes you do a bit without a map. Probably to make you appreciate it more. It's really easy to get lost without one.

The controls are fairly basic, though thanks to the 3DS's circle pad, it's super easy to double check the rest of your map. This is a big QOL change that I really miss going back to the older games.

The basics are really simple, and haven't changed at all from past games. New from EO3, is we have a 4th color. Since our ground is green like EO1 and EO2, it freed up blue for water.

We use icons to mark things, and can make memos on spaces when more detail is needed. I use memos. A lot. To mark everything.

The man laughs, though you are not sure this is a joking matter.

I don't really have a good sense of direction...

I can maintain the map. I've been a good distance into the High Lagaard Labyrinth with my past guild.

I propose we take turns! I'd like to keep my mapmaking skills above a C-level.

...

Snrk...

But seriously, you need to learn to draw a map if you're going to chase Yggdrasil. That map's your lifeline. When you think you're done with your map of this Old Forest Mine, bring it here and I'll look it over for you.

You glance at the map he gave you and decide to begin your search anew.

Let's just get our bearings here.

The map will mostly remain zoomed in unless I zoom out to look at something.

Your hand is incredibly steady drawing those lines.

Writing scriptures and practicing with a blade, though writing on a map is as simple as a breath. It's actually quite easy.

Our lines snap to the grid, and the game does a pretty good job of it.

I see a sparkle!

Well, I can't swim.

And I'd prefer my knives don't rust.

We'll just go around and...

Look out!

Tch, so they're here too...

Roller
HP: 36
TP: 12
STR: 4
VIT: 6
AGI: 8
LUC: 7
TEC: 6
Attack Type: Bash
Exp: 67
Drops
1: Hard Skin (70%)
2: Roller Shell (50%)
Gold Drop: None

Resistances

: 075%

: 125%

: 125%

Ailments/Binds

: 100%

: 075%

: 100%

: 100%

Skills
Rush Attack: 150% damage melee bash physical attack to one target

Basically a slightly tankier Grasseater. They have higher VIT, and resist physical attacks, but are otherwise weaker. They're really just a tutorial on using elemental skills.

Pressing R lets us see enemy info. It'd actually show us some stats if we had seen the Roller here before. Though, the weaknesses would only be "weak/resist" and not hard numbers. AT is STR and DF is VIT.

Somehow I managed to grab a frame inbetween here... Anyways, Butterfly just attacks for now.

Seth sets up a Regen Waltz, though it doesn't come up.

And everyone else just attacks. Despite resisting physical, the Rollers aren't all that strong with how offensive our party is.

I -hate- rollers!

In fact, We kill it before it gets to even move using only attacks. I'm not actually sure where my shots of the attacks went, but Suzume got the last hit

But I wanted to test my fireball...

A small amount of EXP for just one Roller. It gets divided evenly amongst the party. I was sorta lucky and got both drops!

When you first encounter enemies and items, after the battle the game will tell you.

Maybe I should take the map for now... Oh?

These flowers look funny. Kinda like there's a space in the vegetation.

Hrgh-!.. It's no use, I can't push through

It's a shortcut. When we reach the other side, we'll be able to pass through.

I'll mark it down then!

That's a good idea, marking the other side like that.

You're keeping up with the walls I hope.

I am, geeze...

It's pretty important to keep drawing walls as you go. The automap in this game only places green paint as you walk along. If you don't, you can end up a bit lost. These extra paths here just lead to some twists and turns though.

Hah! Gotcha!

Along the way I get a pre-emptive strike.

They aren't much though. I'm mostly not going to show battles unless something interesting happens.

Uh...

Is that a baboon?

You know that there is no shame in avoiding unnecessary combat... A wise explorer picks his battles. If you wish to avoid an encounter, study the monster's movements and slip past it!

More like a badboon. That's an FOE for sure with how large it is.

Pffthehe... S-sorry... We should definitely avoid that thing.

Meet FOEs, Field On Enemies or Formido Oppugnatura Exsequens. No longer orange fuzzballs of death, in the realm of 3D, actual models of the enemies roam around now. Thankfully they're shown on our map.

New to EO4 are threat ratings. Despite just being based off your level they're actually pretty accurate. In later games they end up inaccurate due to the wild balance issues of some parties being much much better at killing FOEs than they have any right to be.

Consistent throughout the series though is the battle meter, and the FOE meter. It's very useful in cases where FOEs don't show up on our map, or turn invisible or the like.

Another thing to be careful of. If an FOE bumps into you while you're in battle they absolutely will join the fight. Due to the threat they pose it's important to end the fight quick or run away.

This is the path Mr. Baboon takes.

It's pretty easy to get past him. You just walk back and forth until he turns around, then follow him down the path.

Careful... Careful... Phew!

Hm? What's that at the end of the path?

This is a plant called a Traveler's Friend, prized by explorers for the way it stores water in its stalks. If you are thirsty, you can nibble at the stalk, though if you are wary of monsters, you may wish to leave.

Oh! I know of these plants. They have water in their stems.

Well I guess I'm a bit thirsty.

More out of curiosity than actual thirst, you decide to nibble the stalk of the Traveller's Friend. The water stored within has a raw smell to it, but it still helps to alleviate some of you exhaustion.

That was actually pretty good!

I kinda want more...

Uh... guys?

That sure is a lot of bugs.

Watch out, they want to fight!

Despite being a bit nicer, EO4 is still an EO game. It was nice to not throw later enemies, or an ambush at us.

The setup. Due to sheer numbers, this fight actually goes a bit poorly and they land some damage.

That sure is... A dance.

Why thank you, I've worked on it for quite a while.

It's invigorating!

Ow...

Stay focused, they're a threat in a group this large.

... Especially when they gang up on you.

Yeah, if they had both used Jump Kick there, Suzume would've been under threat of dying this fight.

Urgh... Eat ice you oversized grasshopper! :argh:

Hah! Burn to the ground!

Oh...

Splash effects are counted as separate attacks and have their own chance of missing.

Everyone, CHARGE!

Since they're all weak I set it to auto-battle. Basically, everyone does a randomly-targeted regular attack to the first row this turn.

It goes Okay. I probably should've set up Regen Waltz last turn instead of Attack Tango.

You take that thought to heart and resume your search with even more care than before.

Hah... that was tough...

I can't believe we got attacked there.

I'll be honest, I didn't even know that event was there until this playthrough.

Well, it's not happening again.

Another battle. Everyone is starting to get a bit low for my tastes this early on.

My blades feel sharper.

Though I get a level up!

And promptly forget to spend the skill points.

Hm... I wonder...

Darn. Nothing.

... Why did you lead us back here?

It seemed like the perfect spot for buried treasure!

Might I suggest we stop monkeying around? The baboon is coming this way.

Uh....

This way!

Phew!

Okay, my turn with the map now.

Aw...

We just have to walk back around. One-way shortcuts aren't very common.

Okay, that one stung...

Any solutions?

I think I have one, yeah.

So now I spend my skill points.

Call me Doctor Butterfly!

Bandage heals 10 HP for 2 TP at level 1. An okay trade, especially this early.

I wonder if I slide my foot...

Attack tango is now a 123% boost.

Cold to the touch...

Ice knife now does 164% damage.

It is time for them to chill out.

The same as fire rune, but with ice. +15% damage increase, -25% damage taken for and from ice skills.

The shoulder seems like a weakpoint.

120% damage, with a 45% chance to bind the arms.

Then, in the skills menu, I have Butterfly heal up the front row.

There, all patched up.

I'm surprised, I actually feel better.

Hey, I know my way around a bandage!

Ah, that shortcut.

Allow me;

There. It should remain open.

That's convenient.

This door doesn't really match the surroundings.

Yes, it's quite ominous.

But our ore is behind it. We have to go through.

But have a care! The wandering beasts will hunt you mercilessly even while you mine for minerals!

We'll have to get around them.

Well that's obvious. We watch the pattern again.

There is a limit to how many times you can Take, Chop, or Mine a point per day, but the limit resets the next day. Make good use of these skills during your adventures.

Yeah, harvesting points got a big overhaul in EO4. They have a set limit per point, and the skills simply give you a chance of getting extra materials.

These guys just go in a loop like this.

Okay, go!

I sense monsters nearby...

This area has a lower encounter rate. Even though the orb is red, we don't get into battle yet.

Path over there, that's how we get out!

Noted.

Mine Point (3):
Common - Slate
Rare - Iridescent Ore

I don't know the actual rates on these, but it isn't hard to figure out what's common and what's rare. Some points have more items to gather.

Thankfully, I think the game is coded here to always give you two Slates and an Iridiscent Ore. I don't think I've gotten a different payout my first time through the Old Forest Mine.

This has to be it!

It's stunning.

The ore won after many tense moments near powerful monsters is lighter than you'd imagined and feels fragile... After you finish exulting in your accomplishment, you stow the shining stone and begin your trek back.

This is what happens when you try to gather from an exhausted spot.

Hello there.

Wh-when did he sneak up on us?

Using a gathering point takes one turn, as you'll note our FOE meter was increasing.

Oh, nice, a shortcut back to the start!

And something nicer behind us...

Booty!

I wonder what's inside.

I doubt it's priceless, but it might be something useful for beginners. A nectar perhaps?

Someone help me pry it open.

Well that was disappointing.

I'll note it down anyways.

The clover icon is the chest. It made more sense when chests actually had clovers on them in past games.

Let's just get back to to-

Dumb bugs had to get one more battle in.

Anyways, our loop done, let's show our map to Whirlwind.

Hey, Whirlwind!

I'd say it's pretty accurate. I'm missing an event in the upper left corner, but we'll be back.

This is nicely done, considering the time it took. I'm surprised how well drawn it is! Looks complete to me.

Awesome, I was worried my section would be really wobbly...

I guess you could call us graduated-map makers now!

... As I was saying,This is your map and yours alone. You never know when you might need it again, so take good care of it.

Pffheeehehehe, o-of course. Ahem. A map is what connects an explorer to Yggdrasil itself.

Yep! It's quite pretty. I'd like to keep a piece!

And I'm sure it'd fetch a pretty penny.

You can always come back for more tomorrow. Anyway, that wraps it up for your mission.

The man congratulates you and you thank him before parting ways.

Let's get back to Tharsis everyone. I'm beat.

Tyty fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Jun 4, 2016

# ¿ Dec 18, 2015 13:00

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Junpei posted:

I thought this game was balanced.

Yes

The downside for their crazy damage is that they're as fragile as wet paper. It's a common way for EO games to balance high-damage front line classes, especially those that rely on status effects . Dark Hunters, Ronin, Shogun, Arbalists, Rapier Pirates, Nightseekers. All of them can't really take a hit as a countermeasure for them being able to do some absolutely dumb poo poo.

# ¿ Dec 20, 2015 18:38

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Nah, you can't solo the game with everything, but I'm fairly sure every permutation of 3 or more characters can beat the game.

Mostly because of the level cap. Since it caps out at 60 you can't really solo with anything besides a fortress iirc. maybe on a new game + file with the dragons beaten? Might try solo landy if I can ever finish 5 landys.

I'll try and finish a class write-up for Landsknechts in the next couple days here.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2015 22:26

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

So hey, just because most of us know the classes exist, even behind spoilers I'd like to keep discussion of the unlockable classes, and subclassing to an minimum if at all possible. It'll be fine to talk about it more when it happens.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2015 23:10

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Just a heads-up. I talk about subclasses here a bit (thanks Weapon Parry) but I'd still like to keep specific skill combos and mechanics discussion to a minimum until we unlock it. I figure it's okay to mention in passing since, well, the option is in the explorer's guild just grayed out.

Still no other spoils though. Sorry I have to be so strict on it and keep bringing it up.

--------------------------------------------------------

Class Overview: Landsknecht

Known as the Swordsman in Japan, Landsknechts have been in 3 of the 4 mainline EO series. They got a pretty complete overhaul this time around, instead of focusing on hitting one enemy or hitting all the enemies, they have a somewhat team-focused design. To get the most out of a Landy you're going to need specific team members for specific skills.

The good thing about this is that you only need that to get the most out of them. Their high-damage melee skills still somewhat exist, so they can slot into any team as a frontline damage dealer. To add to their versatility, along with their high damage, they bring a ton of support skills along as well. They're capable of reducing enemy damage and defense, healing, and even completely nullifying attacks on their row. They end up a staple in most of my teams simply because they can act as the glue that holds a team together gameplay-wise.

As I said before, they are a Jack of all trades, and a master of one. We'll get into that in a bit.

Equipment:
Weapons: Swords, Rapiers
Armor: Heavy Armor, Light Armor, Shields

Since all classes can equip staves, daggers, clothes, and the various other armor slots I won't be listing them here or in other class updates. Just the unique stuff.

Stats:

Level 1:
HP: 48
TP: 26
STR: 9
TEC: 5
VIT: 8
AGI: 6
LUC: 4

Level 35:
HP: 240
TP: 92
STR: 32
TEC: 22
VIT: 33
AGI: 28
LUC: 17

Level 70:
HP: 438
TP: 160
STR: 64
TEC: 39
VIT: 59
AGI: 50
LUC: 31

Level 99:
HP: 583
TP: 190
STR: 81
TEC: 53
VIT: 76
AGI: 68
LUC: 42

Landys are about the same as they are in other games. Second highest STR and VIT, but with the lowest LUC, and their usual abysmal TP Pool. It's not the worst, but it feels like it since they don't have a way of restoring their own TP.

Novice Skills:

Landsknechts follow this skill tree as they level up:

Proficiency/Expertise/Enlightenment
Type: Passive (Class skill)
Requirements: None/Proficiency/Expertise
Max Level: 1

Increased Damage: 20%/25%/30%
Increased Accuracy: 10/15/20

The Landsknecht's class skill. Putting a point into these increases the damage and accuracy of all attacks on any enemy that has been hit by a landsknecht that turn. It doesn't boost poison's damage. For my class posts I will be putting the class skills together like this. Like all class skills, these are important, so make sure to put a point in when you can. Prioritize a skill when you hit a new tier though.

Sonic Raid
Type: Active (Attack skill, Arms)
Requirements: None
Max Level: 10
Weapon: Sword/Rapier
Damage Type: Slash/Stab
Speed Modifier: -3

Sonic Raid is your bread and butter damage skill. It's cheap, and does more damage than a normal attack. It will always go first (In the case of multiple "Go First" moves, it'll be determined like a normal turn using its speed modifier) which makes it very useful for proccing your class skill. The damage type is determined by your equipped weapon, either slash or stab depending.

Blazing/Freezing/Electric Link
Type: Active (Attack skill, Arms)
Requirements: Sonic Raid Level 3
Max Level: 10
Weapon: Sword/Rapier
Damage Type: Fire/Ice/Volt + Slash/Stab

These are the Landy's biggest damage skill, though they don't look like much right now. Strikes with the element + slash/stab damage depending on the weapon to an enemy. After a party member attacks that enemy, the landy will follow up with another hit based on the inital damage. If you have a runemaster, sniper, or dancer in your party this will become one of the strongest attacks in the game, and highest damage per turn.

Power/Mind Break
Type: Active (Attack skill, Arms)
Requirements: None/Power Break Level 3
Max Level: 6
Weapon: Shield
Damage Type: Bash
Speed Modifier: -3

Damages the enemy, and decreases their attack/magical attack for 3 turns. It's incredibly useful when used alongside Fortress skills, and Runemaster runes, to protect yourself from big attacks. Probably not something to put points into on a damage Landy though, as they'll be busy doing other things, but they're still very useful early on.

Power Boost
Type: Passive (Common)
Requirements: None
Max Level: 8

Increases damage. Like most other common passives, you want to max it last. Before you're done the rest of your build, I'd only put 4 points into it tops.

Vanguard
Type: Active (Buff, Head)
Requirements: None
Max Level: 6
TP Cost: 6
Speed Modifier: +6
Extra Damage Taken: 25%

Increases damage taken for 5 turns. Also increases damage dealt, gives the user action priority. In multiple cases of action priority, the turn order is decided for those units as normal. This is a fantastic buff, since Landys are already tanky, and you want them going first to proc their passives and links. Since the damage taken and cost don't increase it's something that can be maxed right away, though I'd still focus on getting new skills first. Be careful with it when going up against bosses and FOEs though, as they hit way harder than most normal enemies.

Mineralogy
Type: Passive (Common)
Requirements: None
Max Level: 1

Gives you a 10% chance to mine extra minerals while mining. Pick it up if you have extra points and need mining materials I guess. It's fairly useful.

Bandage
Type: Active (Field)
Requirements: None
Max Level: 6

Heals, on the field only. Very useful if you don't have an effective source of healing on your team like a medic, or not enough funds for medicas. It falls off late though, as HP bars get bigger and bigger and your TP pool can't really keep up. Maybe take it if you need it early but don't funnel points into it.

-------------------------------------------------------

Veteran Skills (level 20):

Double Strike
Type: Active (Attack skill, Arms)
Requirements: none
Max Level: 8
Weapon: Sword/Rapier
Damage Type: Slash/Stab

Hits twice. A good damage skill for when the Novice tree opens up. Useful for random encounters, but you really only need to take it if you aren't using links for whatever reason. It leads to better attacks anyway, so I wouldn't max it unless you need a cheaper damage skill.

Spiral Slash
Type: Active (Attack skill, Arms)
Requirements: Double Strike Level 3
Max Level: 8
Weapon: Sword
Damage Type: Slash

Splashes to enemies in the same row for 50% of the original damage. I never found it particularly useful, and it does less damage than a Double Strike on one enemy for more TP. Maybe useful if the enemies are in 3/2 arrangement? If you want to use sword attacks, put three points into it initially, max it if you need the AOE.

Penetrate
Type: Active (Attack skill, Arms)
Requirements: Double Strike Level 3
Max Level: 8
Weapon: Rapier
Damage Type: Stab

Pierces through rows to hit the enemy in the back, though it is a melee attack so row damage reduction applies. I found this more useful than Spiral Slash but they're roughly equivalent. 3 points, max if you need AOE. As before, avoid these two if you're doing links.

Iron Wall
Type: Passive (Common)
Requirements: None
Max Level: 8

Same as Power Boost but for defense. Again, new skills are usually more important, so this is more of a point dump for when you have all your skills. Cap out at 4 points until everything else is maxed if you're taking it. I'd recommend it since your Landy should be taking a lot of front-row heat anyways.

Sword Breaker
Type: Passive
Requirements: None
Max Level: 6

Has a chance to block 50% of the damage from any enemy attack on your row. Very, very, VERY useful skill. Keeps your Nightseekers from dying and keeps your Fortresses alive longer to keep tanking. It's a bit RNG reliant, but I recommend it.

Improved Link.
Type: Active (Buff, Head)
Requirements: None
Max Level: 8

For 3 turns, increases the max number of times you can link. Do note that the Dancer's dances and Sniper's Chase Bind do not set it off. This is a necessary skill if you are running a linker Landsknecht, and allows them to easily keep up with (and surpass) the new weapon skills. Your turn order is now Vanguard -> Improved Link -> Link of choice, followed up by a multi-hit move on another character. You should keep in mind that there's a hard cap of 4 links on a single skill, so you'll need multiple multi-hit sources.

Initiative
Type: Passive
Requirements: Vanguard Level 2
Max Level: 6

Increases your damage if you move before any enemies do. Another nice small damage amp. If you're using a Landy that uses Vanguard, you might as well pick this up, but focus on getting the skills you want from the tree first. You can also take it if you're using say rapier, cloth, and boots with no shield. You should still outpace all the enemies.

Muscular Chef
Type: Passive (Exploration)
Requirements: None
Max Level: 1

1 Person: 144%
5 People: 200%

Increases strength gains from food. These skills stack weird. They have an effective % that changes based on the number of party members with that skill, and each class has a different one. It's a nice little strength boost, but only really super useful if you have 5 landys (where it becomes silly). I'd say put points in if you have extra.

-----------------

Master Skills (Level 40):

Sword Tempest
Type: Active (Attack skill, Arms)
Requirements: Spiral Slash Level 3
Max Level: 8
Weapon: Sword
Damage Type: Slash

Has a massive speed penalty, that can be negated by Vanguard. Essentially equivalent to the old Landy's axe skills, in that it's more useful taking out a priority target, or a boss with summons. Does some absolutely massive damage, but needs some work to get it to work with all your passive damage ups.

Swift Stab
Type: Active (Attack skill, Arms)
Requirements: Penetrate Level 3
Max Level: 8
Weapon: Rapier
Damage Type: Stab

Attacks a row multiple times. This is the reason I prefer the rapier tree over the sword tree. It requires a lot less work to keep your Landy going first, and on average does more damage. Just be careful against enemies that summon helpers, as you'll lose a lot of your upfront damage. I'm unsure the chances of it hitting 4 times or not.

Weapon Parry
Type: Passive
Requirements: Sword Breaker Level 3
Max Level: 6

Reduces damage taken when you have two weapons. This is a must-have if you decide to replace your shield with a weapon after you subclass. It's there to compensate for the lost DEF from no longer having a shield, and is a fairly powerful defense boost.

Link Mastery
Type: Passive
Requirements: Improved Link Level 3
Max Level: 6

Increases the damage of successive links. This is the reason why Landys are the highest damage per turn class. With a maxed Link skill and Improved Link, this skill boosts a full 8 links to 1013% damage. That's before considering boosts like Vanguard and Initiative. Links are crazy.

Think of it this way. You have your original link attack hit for 140% damage. Then your follow-ups with Improved Link will hit 8 times. 8x50% is 400%, and 400% of 140% is 560% damage. You'll be hitting 700% -before- the boost from Link Mastery.

How Link Mastery works is each successive link after the first adds its damage, so instead of 8x50, we'd have 50%, 58%, 66%, ..., 106% at 8 hits. That means our chases do 624% of the original hit, or 873% damage. This combines with the initial hit for 1013%.

And we haven't even hit the tip of the iceberg for how we can do on passives alone. I'll keep adding on as we continue along in the LP and class overviews to how much the Landy can do without other classes backing them up with buffs.

------------------

Synergies:

Since EO4 is a pretty open and easy game, there's not much to focus on in synergies. Every class works well together, so here I'm just going to highlight classes that work -exceptionally- together.

Sniper
The Sniper's Squall Volley allows them to very easily get off 7 of the 8 chases required for a Linkshark's silly damage numbers. Just be careful, you'll either need to land a leg bind or eat up a party-wide buff slot to make sure it hits enough.

Runemaster
Probably a better match for the Landy, they can drop an Elemental rune to weaken enemies before using Galvanic Rune to set off the links. Keep in mind, you'll need someone else to increase their accuracy or bind the enemy's legs.

Dancer
Although they can't pull off what Runemasters or Snipers do as frequently, Sword Dance is a fantastic way to set off links and keep enemies locked down, and they provide damage and defensive buffs in the front row. A bit more of a supportive option.

Landsknecht
Though I don't recommend running five casually, two in the front row is a good combo. One focusing on rapier skills can set off the others links fairly efficiently and having two swordbreakers in one row is good. Again the key here is multi-hit moves. They also can make some good strength-boosting food together if you want that.

?????
REDACTED

------------------

Subclasses:

I was hoping to avoid talking about them till we unlocked it, but some of the Landy skills go over it and the thread has been talking about it enough. For now I'll just mention which are good subclasses and why, and when I go over subclassing I'll come back and edit the post to point out specific skills.

Medic
Somewhat useful as a buff/debuff support... Though landys suck at healing. Trust me I've done it. Avoid this unless you absolutely need revive.

Fortress
Works okay as front-line defensive fighter. Landy breaks synergize well with the fortresses' general playstyle. Maybe if you need more defense on your frontline. Just don't expect as big numbers as other options.

Sniper
Works at first, but falls off quickly, Snipers are much better at using their own abilities. Low LUC and TEC make binds impossible, and the lack of decent passives hurts. Not very good.

Dancer
Maybe for chases/sword dance. Another supportive option. Not as reliant on TEC for healing as medic, and the buffs/chases could be okay. Maybe if you have 5 landys.

Runemaster
The absolute best subclass for a linker landy. Their elemental damage amplification is just silly paired with links. Definitely pick this if you're not focusing on sword/rapier skills.

Nightseeker
Status doesn't really work with a landy. Nothing really synergizes here except dual-wielding maybe, so I'd avoid it.

Ahty__dmj-
C u Hfg ------

??

?

Tyty fucked around with this message at 13:10 on Nov 3, 2016

# ¿ Dec 30, 2015 05:30

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Dr. Fetus posted:

Yes, each action can only proc a maximum of 4 chases, and only the first followup per skill is guaranteed. Each followup after that only has a 50% chance of activating, so you want as many multi-hit skills in the party as possible in a Link party. You want to roll the dice as much as possible to get the maximum damage. Link parties do not play nice with classes that deal one big hit instead of several smaller ones.

Hum. I could've sworn I was getting more hits from my Squall Volleys. I'll update the post though since it looks like I was just reading the data wrong. I went to double check with what the @wiki has on the skill and it confused me a bit. The skill does only define max links and TP cost, and nothing more.

Dr. Fetus posted:

And it took me until now to realize that Swift Stab is essentially a slightly better Blade Rave. Too bad Links are way stronger.

It really is. Honestly non-link landys are completely workable and fun to use (if you use rapiers) it's just that they aren't going to hit the crazy big numbers EO4 was known for before EO2U came out.

I think my one was hitting upwards of 2100-2800 damage every other turn on my landy run, can't find the game to double check though, but I distinctly remember ~700 damage hits on the final boss.

# ¿ Dec 30, 2015 10:26

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

It's always fun when a group of 5 level 50 landsknechts can't run away from a single grasseater :v:

So the good news is my screen tear issue I've been having doesn't exist on my laptop, meaning I can actually record at 1x size instead of 4x size, giving me much more workable video. I do need to get a better microusb cable though, since the one I'm using right now isn't particularly good (random input with USB controllers levels of not good)

The bad news is because I've been fiddling with tech issues and gearing up for classes to start again, I haven't actually recorded the next update. Thanks to help from Dr. Fetus though, my enemy and player skill info in the future should be much more accurate. I had no idea that nearly every skill in the game had some kind of speed bonus/penalty, and I'll update past posts to reflect that.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2016 23:53

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Gonna close for now. Technical difficulties making it very very hard to record.

# ¿ Jan 19, 2016 05:09

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Update 4: Thane of Tharsis 2008

Just a note, no music links for now until I finish moving everything over to clyp

------

First things first, we should probably heal up after that encounter. I usually end up staying until morning in EO4, there's not a lot you need to be out at night for, unlike EO3.

The cost is based off the highest level person in your party. Levelx5. It never reaches a point where it's too expensive really.

: *yaaaawn* Maaan, I feel like I was asleep for months.

: Well you better get up. It's already after 7.

: What!? That late already?

: Hans is waiting for us downstairs. We're going to the Grand Court to hand in the mission. Apparently the others are at the bar interviewing some new prospects for the guild.

: Wow, new members already? And we haven't even gotten our airship yet.

: There you two are, we don't want to keep the count waiting.

: I wasn't the one sleeping in.

: Ah, I see you're back already.

: Yep! And we've completed the mission!

: I now pronounce the Skybound Guild to be explorers of Tharsis with my official blessing! And of course, there is the other half of your reward to be given. Here you are, then...

500 en isn't much, but it'll help in getting gear together and stocking up on some supplies we now have access to.

We also get quite a bit of exp. 500 for each character, so they all level up.

: It's a vessel that sails the skies, powered by Iridescent Ore. You'll be searching for Yggdrasil on one.

: Yessss. Finally, our skyship.

: Do we even know anyone who can pilot one?

: I used to, but it's been a while and my eyes aren't what they used to be.

: Well we can ask the others when we meet up later.

: Yes, I hope you can get that all in order before takeoff. Your skyship is ready now at the city gates. Once you claim it, why not make the Lush Woodlands your first stop?

: Lush Woodlands?

: The Lush Woodlands is a large, natural labyrinth currently being investigated by many of our explorers.

: A geomagnetic pole.

: Yes, precisely!

I'll explain those when we get there, but they're a standard in EO games. Each stratum in the other games has one, and each major labyrinth in EO4 has one.

: Well then, may your way be clear!

: Hm?

: But we were just there.

: I'm guessing that's equipment for your skyship? Maybe that's why he can't give it to you by hand.

: Or he forgot.

: Hey, it happens when you get to be that old. Trust me.

: Okay... Well, let's go to the bar now. I wanna meet the new recruits.

Before I can get to that, Kirtida meets us at the door to tell us about quests.

: Here at the Dancing Peacock, you may accept quests and seek information from our patrons.

We already know about talking with the patrons, but quests are similar to the mission we accomplished earlier.

: Completion of these quests is met with commensurate rewards. Many explorers enjoy passing time in this way.

: Oooh, rewards?

: Sure, but we need to do some interviewing first. Now, where are the others?

: I think I see them over there.

------

: ... So I say to him, how could ya forget the threads? That's Explorer 101 right there!

: The straw that broke the crow's back, eh?

: Pretty much. The guild broke up after that and we decided to stick together looking for a new one.

: Threads? What?

: You're tellin' me you don't know what they are? Man, they're lettin' just anyone get explorin' licenses these days...

: Well, I mean... Uh... So, these are the prospects?

: Yep.

: So wait... You're supposed to be the leader? And you don't even know what an Ariadne Thread is!?

: To be fair to her, we just completed our first mission. Most cities don't let you purchase them until your guild is recognized.

: It never really came up either. I just assumed everyone here knew. It's a basic thing really.

: So we're looking at a guild with a complete newbie for a leader. Unbelievable.

: That was my exact reaction as well.

: You aren't helping here, Damien.

: It's okay though, we should head to the shop next anyways. The girl there will probably explain them to us, they usually do.

: If we're heading to the shop I'm coming along. I'm hoping they have a new pair of dancing shoes.

: Hmph, I could use a new blade. Out of the guild coffers, of course.

: Hm, well, okay. I guess it's up to you two now. I'm fine with more people in our guild, so you can decide if you're joining us.

-----

: ... They're gone. Meh, I'm fine with it I suppose, I don't really care. I need to be in some sorta guild, I still don't have the cash to get my guitar fixed... You?

: Well... Everyone else there seems to know what they're doin'. I guess we could make it work.

-----

: Oh yeah, before we leave, Kirtida said she had some quests for us now.

As you can see, there's three quests here. They're all pretty simple. They're basically the same as missions. You accept the quest, then hand it in. You can have 5 at a time.

Typically though, they're much smaller undertakings than missions. Whereas quests are usually like, "get this thing for me," missions will normally be "beat the stratum boss," or bigger things like that.

There's also a lot of new conversations. I'll hit these in the next update, since I'll also grab all the new town conversations we get after passing the test.

For now I'll grab all the quests.

After accepting, we'll get a little spiel about what the quest entails.

: So your task would be to gather food and drop it off for them.

: That doesn't sound too hard.

That's our first available quest. We don't actually know how to do this one until we get to the airship, but it's fairly straightforward. Get food, drop off food.

: He wants you to search for a small grove of kapok trees.

: Why didn't he ask while we were there?

: He probably forgot.

Sometimes the game will have you talk to an NPC or bar patron to get more info about it. The count has a couple of these scouting quests throughout the game, so we'll be seeing more later. I'll talk to him about it once we get the airship.

: They can supply you with more details of the task at the Atelier. I shall await your swift return.

: A new sword, huh?

Kirtida always signs off with that line, by the by. I'll be cutting down on these and just showing her lines in future updates.

: "So I want yas to get me two of dem Rat Fangs. Dem Tree Rats out in da Lush Woodlands drop em.

: Tree rats?

: Common in the Etrian labyrinth, if I remember. I guess they live here too?

Oddly, she doesn't emphasize Lush Woodlands. I almost expected her to.

: Oh, that's good.

: "I'm counting on yas! Buh-bye!"

: Wait, bye? We just got here.

The info about the quest plays before her spiel about threads, for some reason. Also there's quotation marks here. Not sure why. The game is pretty inconsistent about that.

: Now we can finally sell yas dem Ariadne Threads.

Arguably the most important item in the Etrian Odyssey series, maybe next to Amritas. They're your lifeline in the dungeon so to speak.

: Every explorer gots to have an Ariadne Thread. It takes ya back ta Tharsis wherever ya use it from.

: Wait so they're just another name for Warp Wires? I read about those in my old dusty runemaster textbooks.

: They must've been old alright. They haven't been called warp wires in an incredibly long time.

: Well no wonder everyone was acting like they're so important.

: For sure!

At 100 en they're a bit pricey at the moment, but that'll be chump change later. In casual mode they have unlimited uses, so you only need the one. I buy one for now, we should only ever need one as long as we remember to rebuy it.

: Better safe than sorry! Now, let's go get our airship!

And the last of our town NPCs... Is this guy.

The quotation marks are back I guess?

: Yeah! That's us!

: "I got a request from the Outland Count to prepare yeh a skyship.

---------------

And here we go. It's time to Name the skyship. Just like with the guild name, I'll be taking votes in the thread. Suggest a name in bold.

As a note, on my first playthrough I named it Bahamut and on subsequent playthroughs Tiamat, if there's no suggestions (which I mean, there will be) I'll probably go with Tiamat again.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2016 12:36

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Alright, I'm gonna call it here. It's pretty certain at this point that Delphi is the name of our ship.

I'm graduating this week so I'm going to be a bit busy, I'll try and have the next update out by next week though. I don't want to get stuck with months between updates again.

# ¿ Nov 8, 2016 06:02

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

So hey, I have a partial update written, but I heard the autoarchiver is working again for the forum... So I'm just posting to make sure it doesn't fall into the archives for now. I'm gonna try to have the update out this week.

Sorry I'm so bad at this whole LP thing.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2017 23:45

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Update 5: Delphi

-------------

: Hm...

: Darn, it doesn't fit.

: I guess it isn't boundless.

: Snrk... Hehe, here. I've got one.

: There.

: ... "Delphi?"

: The name of an oracle mentioned in an ancient scriptures they dug up from the maze beneath High Lagaard's Yggdrasil. I'm not... entirely sure why, but it seemed appropriate.

: Well I like it!

: "I'd explain the controls, but yeh'll learn faster if yeh try it out. Yeh can outfit it at the city gates.

: I'd really rather learn the controls.

: "Which reminds me, yeh got a piece of kit from the Outland Count right? Yeh can equip it on your skyship. Come by the wharf when yeh're bored and I'll let yeh guys have some other equipment no one else is using.

: Old, beaten up gear?

: Free is free.

: "I'll explain what I mean when yeh stop by. I'll be waiting!"

So we've unlocked the ability to fly around the overworld in our skyship. Before we do though, we're going to go back to town. The Cargo Wharf has opened up so we can take a look there, and there's some new bar conversations to go over.

: Ah, there you guys are! We finished up with the Explorer's Guild.

: We're registered to y- Oh hey, is that your skyship?

: Yep! The Delphi.

: Nice name! You mind if I get her set up to fly? It'll be a little bit.

: Go right ahead. We can take a trip around town before we take off.

: _{That's awfully convenient.}

: I ain't gonna lie, that's the second time I've seen her smile since I met her.

: Oh?

: Yeah, only other time I've seen Isabel look at all like she's enjoyin' anythin' is when she's holdin' a guitar. She's pretty good, hasn't really made it though.

: It can be hard to make it as an artist these days.

: Yep. Ton of troubadors start showin' up and suddenly nobody is willin' to pay a decent wage.

: Oh hey, Let's stop at the Cargo Wharf first!

: "The wharf is where Tharsis opens up to the outside world... Many a merchant comes here to trade. Explorers come and go as the pleasye, too, seeing as this is where we fix up their skyships.

: Hopefully the Delphi will never need it.

: "Oh, speaking of which, let me give yeh this before I forget."

: Heck yes, buried treasure!

: "It'll help to have clues to find some of it, but yeh'll have to ask your fellow explorers about that."

: Always a catch.

: You're probably the only one here that thinks "asking other explorers" is a catch.

So welcome to the Cargo Wharf. Guild card trading returns in this game, however it uses the 3DS's StreetPass functionality and is a lot simpler this go around. With it active simply walking nearby someone who has it turned on will exchange cards.

The options are pretty straightforward. Manage Guild Cards is where we can look at the guild cards we've recieved or change our own.

Our inbox is empty for now. We need to turn on StreetPass before cards start showing up.

Looking at our own guild card, we can see we don't have anything really of note yet. Along the bottom we'll get marks for accomplishments as we proceed through the game. It lists your current party and some stats about your guild, including the name of your skyship.

Hitting Y, we can flip it over to another menu which allows us to customize it. For other guilds, flipping the card allows us to see what character they have set on the card, and recieve their treasure map.

: Hm...

When a character is set to the card you can look at their status. If you have another guild's card, and their set character is below your highest levelled character, you can recruit a copy of that character.

: That looks better!

We can also pick a treasure map to share. I'll explain what these are when we get to the skyship, but for now we don't really have access to many. The way to get more, is of course to recieve them on guild cards.

I mostly change it just because everyone has Sharp Lands to begin with, so if I StreetPass someone they'll get something different.

You can also export your QR code to share online to get more guild cards. The one displayed is Skybound's currently, and I'll keep posting them as we go along.

After changing your card, it'll ask you to confirm you actually want to change it.

This setting just allows us to read QR codes using the external camera. There's a bit more to it than just guild cards I'll go over later.

We can turn StreetPass on or off, check our save file's Player Code (I don't think it's actually used for anything?), or generate Extra Data. EOIIU uses EOU's Extra Data to generate Grimoires based off your party members, but I don't believe any of the future titles ues EOIV's.

StreetPass isn't on by default so I turn it on for the future. We'll probably only see my guild card though, as I don't take my recording 3DS out.

Before we go, let's see what Ciaran has to say.

: If yeh get results, I bet that'll shock them into shape. I have high hopes for yeh! Good luck!

: So none of the other guilds have had much success.

: They've probably got bad maps. Good map makin' is the basis to any good explorer.

We've still got some conversations I skipped over last time to go to. After this update, any town updates with bar patron conversations will have them at the end.

--------

: Quite the boat ride from High Lagaard yes.

: I'm actually from a small town nearby.

: Well, while you are here in my city, feel free to think of it as your Hometown.

: Thank you for your hospitality.

-------

: With shining colors.

: But don't let it get to your head. You've just reached the starting line. Don't neglect your training.

-------

: Now, shall we start over? Welcome to the Dancing Peackock. I hope we will be fast friends, Skybound Guild.

: I hope so too. We'll try to get to the quests quickly!

There's a fuckton of new bar conversations now.

: Have you fought that damned monkey? The Angry Baboon on B1F of the Lush Woodlands? It's the number one killer of rookie explorers in this town! You can't just swing at it blindly!

: Sounds dangerous...

: If you're gonna take that thing on don't skimp on defense! You might even wanna think about running away! Because if you die, that's all she wrote! Bwahahahaha!

: We'll... er, keep it in mind.

: It looks like you finished your mission. Then let me teach you a few more advanced tricks.

: It would be wise to hone our senses.

: Every explorer has some "monster sense," whether it's well or poorly developed. The monster's presence, its breathing, or just the sound of it breaking a twig as it walks, all give it away. That's why you should pay conscious attention next time one approaches. It'll give you a sense for the timing.

: What about the monsters that move around?

: You've only seen the Nomad Baboon at the Old Forest Mine so far, but that kind of enemy is everywhere. They're damned tough. It's usually best to just run away... but even that takes some know-how. Some monsters don't care about you, they're just following their path. And some will actively chase you.

: Yeah, FOEs can be a real pain in the rear.

: It sounds obvious, but different types of monsters have different patterns or senses, so you can't generalize. But if you learn to anticipate their moves, you should start to figure out how to get an advantage.

I missed the third option while recording, but I've got the text right here.

: We don't really -need- help.

: No? Well, learning on your own is one way to do it. You sure don't forget the lessons you learn the hard way. If you ever change your mind, come and ask me. I'll be here for a while.

: You cleared the mission from the Outland Count? Then you should get started taking requests. Request rewards are an important source of income for explorers. The system's win-win for everyone. You can even build experience doing them, if you need to train a bit. Check the quest board when you can.

: Yeah, Kirtida told us about that.

: Heh. Me, I just come here every so often to check out the barmaid.

: I... Er, okay.

: Be very careful of the tornadoes you come across. Come into contact with one and you'll lose all your food... The loss of food before anyone has had a chance to taste it is a tragedy no one should have to bear. Better to throw it to the kangaroos wandering the land! They enjoy vegetables, I happen to know.

: It leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth to feed the wandering FOEs though.

: Well... Ebony Carrots don't have any other use but to lure those kangaroos away. You can even scatter them as bait.

: Only the Xylem is poisonous anyways. You take those out and you can eat 'em. Gotta have a skilled knife doin' that though.

: Hail, explorers. Take a seat and have a drink, why don't you? An explorer's curiosity certainly is insatiable... If they have an errand, they'll even head out at night. Since you seem to just be starting out, let me give you a fair warning. Be careful when exploring at night. You're likely to run into terrifying beasts you don't see during the day. It takes some getting used to.

: We'll keep that in mind. Thanks.

EOIV does this to a much lesser extent than other games do, but encounters vary between night and day.

: To survive in the labyrinth, you need to know your limitations. If you have any questions for me, don't hesistate to ask. I'm usually here, too.

Sophie acts as our tutorial. If you talk to her again she can go over basics that have already been explained.

: Oh, what do you want to know?

: I think we're fine for now.

-------

: Er, we actually haven't flown it yet.

: I'm a Tharsis girl, born an raised, so skyships ain't no big deal for me. But explorers from outside all flip when dey try it. I love seeing da looks on their faces!

: I guess we'll come back after we try it out then.

--------

: Good for you! Now you can go out on your skyship to gather food. Oh, but silly me. I should be cooking you dinner to celebrate!

: I hate to turn down food, but we really gotta get going. We have a skyship to ride!

: Yeah, Isabel should be done prepping the thing by now.

--------

Next time, we actually get away from the town and back to gameplay.

Tyty fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Jan 11, 2017

# ¿ Jan 11, 2017 11:38

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

No, and I completely forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2017 22:23

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

I hate to post without an update but I uh, need to keep this thread alive. I don't want this to end even if it's taking me forever.

The plan is, now that I'm almost out of tutorials I'll have to do less transcribing so it should take me less time to update. I'd like to do the skyship update (the next one), fix the Landy profile, and then finally start the labyrinth in the next update after this one. We'll see how it goes after that... I'm not really sure when I want to mix up the party again.

Sorry I'm so bad at this

# ¿ Apr 13, 2017 06:09

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Update 6: White Fortress Chronicles: Origins

: Ready to go now?

: Yep, I think we've handled everything.

We haven't, I forgot one thing, but we'll get back to that shortly after the skyship tutorial.

At the departure screen we can pick a land, a cave, or change our equipment. Lands are essentially the strata of this game. This'll make more sense once we're out there. Caves allow us to start directly from the smaller caves we can visit, like the Old Forest Mine from the tutorial.

Of course, we have some equipment we can use. Normally you can only drop food below you, but the Foodapult allows you to launch it in front of you. I normally use the dowsing rods, but I plan on showing those off a bit later. They're a part of the streetpass Treasure Map system.

: You guys got the Foodapult loaded on?

: Yeah. Bit heavy but we got it.

: We -should- be using the dousing rods.

: We can look for treasure once we've got our sea- er, air legs.

Foodapult equipped we're ready to explore. Later on we'll get more slots, and there's a couple equips that... Well, I end up not using.

We only have one available to us. The first "Stratum," the Windy Plains.

Each land has a nice little shot like this using both the top and bottom screens. They aren't animated like EO3's and the don't use multiple layers like EO5's but they're nice enough.

I love this shot, framing Yggdrasil in the background like that. None of the other EO games really do this with their tree, though I guess you can see it on the island sailing around Armoroad.

As you would expect from the Windy Plains, strong gusts of wind blow across the skies. Some of the stronger winds seem likely to sway the Delphi from her course...

: We appear to be rocking a bit.

: It's fine. The area around here is always a bit turbulent... Not quite the calm skies of Etria.

But you will never reach it without understanding how to control your skyship. You review the controls...

: Butterfly, you said you wanted to learn to fly this thing? Come over here.

: Oh! Yeah, I'll be right over.

This describes food. It's not super informative, but it's there. The food isn't worth much to sell and unless you're using the skills, neither really are the stat buffs you get from it. There's other effects on some food items though that are very good.

: Wait, that's the guide? It was all about food.

: Not a very good manual I guess. I'll just show you the controls as we fly around.

Yeah, I'm not sure why it's labelled controls, but they're mostly the same as walking around in a labyrinth.

You could head straight for the natural labyrinth, but it might be wise to have a look around first. But be on your guard. Encounters with monsters and tornadoes could cost you your lives.

The blurb isn't lying. The FOEs out here are stronger than the baboons in the Old Forest Mine, and are stronger than almost anything we'll see inside caves and labyrinths. Basically, you'll only be ready to fight them once you're practically done with the Land, and even then there's exceptions.

Tornadoes just knock you out, they send you back to town and you lose all the food you've gathered. Some party members might end up dead but most end up with barely any HP left.

: This doesn't look too bad actually.

: Yeah, you just have to make sure you're careful with the flame and you don't take the corners too sharp, or you'll toss everyone else around. These things can move in all directions so it's better to stop and turn or strafe.

I just fly around a bit before I remember what I'm missing. It really is just like walking around in a labyrinth, just without random encounters.

If you try to go past the edge of the map, it tells you to stay in the area.

: May I look at the map while you're busy flying?

: Oh, sure!

You also have a map exactly like the sailing in EO3, and the dungeons. You have three colors of line, and I use them to mark the walls of different elevations. We can't go up yet, but we'll be able to go over some of the cliffs later. FOEs and food are marked on the map, as well as labyrinths and caves.

: We've got some birds in the nets!

Food has a chance of being rare just like gathering, and these chances are better on tiles where the food icon is golden. There's three tiers of each food in each land, a common one, an uncommon one, and a rare one.

Since we have the foodapult equipped, our food menu has a 3rd option to launch the food.

To the east and west are high mountain ranges, far too tall for your skyship to fly overhead.

Visibility is close to nil in the ravine. To brave it with your skyship would be far too dangerous.

: Yeah, I'm not taking a chance on that.

To the side of the forest is the same stone monument that was next to the ravine. It seems too coincidental to ignore... There may be some connection between the ravine and the Lush Woodlands.

: Should we investigate?

: It's probably better to explore more. You can never be too prepared.

: Bet you couldn't have hit a bullseye from up here.

: Pffhahaha, d-don't you dare question my aim!

Here are the normal and rare animals for Windy Plains. Animals tend to increase strength.

And this is about the point where I remember that I missed something back in Tharsis.

Here's the aforementioned tornadoes. They have their own icon.

And here's the common fish.

: That's a very large kangaroo.

: It's lookin' mighty riled up with us.

These are Bounding Beasts, and they're the major threat on the first part of the overworld. They use the kind of AI where once they've seen you, they'll chase you around one tile at a time. Once the map is a little more complete I'll mark down their patrol patterns. They're not super threatening though. They can't cross water, so you just have to go over the river to avoid them.

: There's a cave up ahead.

: Oh, hey, that's the Old Forest Mine!

There, you met the travelling adventurer Whirlwind, who gave you a blank map and survival advice. You cannot say for certain that there is nothing left to discover there... Perhaps you should visit it again?

: I'll mark it down.

We'll go back once we can handle the FOEs there. There's not really any other reason to just yet.

: You want to go back?

: Yeah, I just remembered there's something we forgot to do before flying out.

Food sells automatically when you return. It's not much but it can help you pick up some early medicas and is usually enough to pay for an inn stay.

What I ended up forgetting was talking to the Count about the quest he placed. We can't really start it until talking with him.

: Are you familiar with kapoks? That tree is not grown for food, but for its several other uses.

: Yes, its seed fibres are used like cotton.

: Interesting.

: Rumor has it that it's somewhere on the northern side of the Windy Plains. The A-2 region sounds likely. Oh, I'm sorry if my terminology is confusing to you. Do you need an explanation of maps and coordinates?

I don't think it really needs to be explained. It makes sense just by looking at the map. Columns are numbers, rows are letters. There's an internal grid as well, but for vague directions like this it's relatively straightforward.

: Nah, it seems pretty straightforward.

: Oh, my apologies. Of course this is basic information for explorers.

: Of course, if you know them already, do not hesitate! Let's have them!

I know where they are already, but for the sake of the quest we'll go to them. They're the only forest tile in A-2.

: So what'd you guys forget?

: We took a quest for the Count and forgot to talk to him about it before leaving.

: Ah, yeah, sometimes clients will have special stuff they want you to do so you gotta ask 'em.

There's actually a couple quests we can handle on the overworld right now, so before we go poking around in caves and labyrinths, I'll go tackle them.

The common vegetable of the Windy Plains. Carrots are what lure the Bounding Beasts.

: Wasn't there a quest to drop off food somewhere?

: Oh yeah. We should go do that.

: Another skyship. Do we want to pull close enough to communicate?

: Yeah, sure.

Its sails are a deep blue. The figure aboard the skyship notices your coming and emerges from the gondola. You mark him as a man clad in steel armor, who bows politely to you.

This is Kirjonen, one of the two NPCs flying skyships around the field.

: Oh, yes. A pleasure.

: How do yo-

: "How do I know of you...? Oh, I am familiar with most of the explorers of Tharsis.

The game really can't decide sometimes.

: No, we haven't come across that type of fish yet.

Should you find a Sakura Trout at some point, you can present it, possibly for some sort of reward.

This is the mechanic of the two NPCs on the overworld. They'll ask for a rare version of one of the foodstuffs that can spawn in that land, and you get a reward for delivering them. We're going to want to do both of these per land at least once (and probably more for the first one here at least) but for now we just continue on.

As always, I like to label everything.

If you mean to fulfill the request, it is best that you drop the food off at the soldiers' location.

: Let's drop some fish off.

After checking the contents, they signal you, satisfied. They seem pleased with the food. The request is now complete! You can turn it in the next time you find yourself at the bar.

If we hand in a rare food (besides the ebony carrots) we'll get an extra two medicas but... I honestly didn't know about that! It's not too big a deal. Next, the kapoks.

You can almost hear the rustling of the trees thick with large, glossy, green leaves. This is the fabled kapok grove! You must simply mark its location so as not to forget and report to the Outland Count to fulfill the request!

: I'll mark it.

Relatively simple. The Count has a couple quests like this for us throughout the game. Some get a bit more vague; however.

Lastly before entering the labyrinth proper, there's two more caves to visit and mark on the map.

: Another cave up ahead.

There are brightly colored fruits on the trees; many animals seem to flock here to feed on these fruits. You grow excited to think of what manner of exotic beasts you may encounter in this forest.

: Marked it down for later.

Each land has a couple caves in it. The general pattern of progression is cave -> labyrinth floor -> cave, etc. This does get mixed up a bit later in the game. This one is about what we would tackle after the first floor of the labyrinth, It's a little dangerous right now.

: You sure about this?

: I can see a cave in the distance over there. We have to check it out.

Our last stop is guarded by some kangaroos.

The game is pretty kind here though. There will always be a spawn of vegetables in this spot.

: Okay, it sees us. Any other ideas?

: The Beasts Bound to roots like moths to a flame.

: Wha?

: Use the foodapult!

: Oh look, they can smell it already.

: We best be movin' while they're distracted.

Its reflection of the surrounding flora is even more beautiful than the real thing, piquing your curiosity. If you could slake your thirst from those clear waters, the exhaustion of your travels would surely vanish.

: Okay, now we need to get out of here.

: Erm-

: Great, we're dead.

I thought there was a shortcut this way. Whoops.

There's plenty of carrots though, so I can weasel out of it, though I do so almost entirely from luck.

They return to their patrol pattern after being lured before they chase you, so we line them up like this, throw another carrot, and slip by.

The shortcut I was thinking of is over here. They function exactly like the ones in labyrinths.

: Oh, come on!

: We have one more carrot left.

Right behind this thing we get an uncommon vegetable.

: Another skyship ahead.

: Let's talk to them too.

She is clad lightly for one who sails the skies. There is a long sword on her waist.

: "It's good to meet you. My name's Wiglaf. You might not have guessed it, but I'm an explorer too.

: We couldn't tell, it's not like you have a sword half as tall as you or anything.

: "And you are...?

: Oh don't mind him, we're Skybound.

: Ah, so you're the Skybound Guild."

: "By the way... do you happen to have any Black Tauruss?

Atlus didn't account for words ending in S here, I guess.

: "I've been looking so long, but I can't find any... If you pick one up, will you share it with me?"

Same as with Kirjonen. We don't have any, and have three days. I'll get to it eventually, though sometimes the food spawns can be a bit rude. These two come out at 8 AM and will stay out in the land they spawn in for three days, or until you deliver something for them.

: If we find one we'll bring it along.

: I think that's everything interesting we can get to for now.

: Then let's get to the labyrinth!

You see a stone monument at its entrance that looks clearly man-made. Who built it here, and why? You wull never know the answer unless you step into the maze... You steel yourself to begin your explorations.

_________________________________________

NEXT TIME:

: AAAAAAAA

Tyty fucked around with this message at 08:24 on Apr 15, 2017

# ¿ Apr 15, 2017 06:24

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

Hah, I was actually unaware that that quest has varying rewards. I'll make an edit, thanks for pointing it out.

Four times through the game and I've only ever dropped off normal food. :v:

# ¿ Apr 15, 2017 08:13

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 21:32

Tyty: Feb 20, 2012; Night-vision Goggles Equipped!

So I've kinda been thinking about it for a while now, and I think I'm going to end the LP. I've been having a lot of problems with actually motivating myself to work on it. It's not that I'm not enjoying writing it, or going through and taking the screenshots, I'm not sure why. Regardless I feel like I'm kind of letting down some people with this, and I'd really like to apologize for that. The updates have been stretching really thin and honestly I'd just much rather end it than have it slowly take more and more time per update, or just die a silent death like the LPs of this series tend to. Maybe in the future when I can figure out why I have such a hard time actually motivating myself to work on things I'll start it back up again, but I honestly doubt it. Thanks for reading anyways.

Mysticblade posted:

tyty ~~sprite the portraits~~ update the lp

come on, man, I almost have more Midori updates than you

And I'm sorry I asked you to bump the thread for me, then went and did this. I was in the middle of writing an update at the time but, well, yeah.

# ¿ Jun 22, 2017 00:12

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Let's Play! > Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the TItan - Even in the skies, F.O.E!