Let's play Final Fantasy: 4 Heroes of Light! (Done, yay!)

[Crooked Bee]

Part 39: Mysterious Lighthouse

In which we defeat a bro and a sis and get a shiny new crown.

Previously on this LP, we conquered the second optional tower, killed our wizard pal Torte (well, not really killed of course), and were awarded the crown of the Sage. Some of you complained about the lack of variety last time (I'm looking at you, Silellak), so I'm going to make our party set-up more, uhm, diverse in this update. For that, however, I'm going to upgrade our weapons and armour a whole lot, just so the weapons do proper damage and we don't have to rely solely on Magic Might, and the armour protect us enough for our more experimental party not to get wiped out. I spent a lot of time farming for gems, and that's the reason for this update having taken this long to be appear here on the jRPGCodex Playground. In fact, I think I overdid it, and so the boss battles in this tower were totally beatable without any particularly FUUU-inducing moments -- on par with some of the tougher regular boss fights.
So yeah, first thing we do is change our pretty princess Volly into a Sage:




Let's just hope Good and Evil is powerful enough to deal high enough damage to tower bosses. Also, let's make BRO an Elementalist...



...and SMA a Ninja:



And what about Codexer? Oh, this one is probably the most unorthodox choice -- I decide to turn him into a ... Seamstress, yay!



Seamstress is basically a "secret" class. In a sense it remains secret even after you've unlocked it -- and, as you may remember, this was the first "bonus" crown we obtained in this LP -- for the simple reason that you don’t even know what kind of weapon a "needle" is until you find one, which you can only do in one of the bonus towers. And without a needle, the class is useless.
Just our luck that we found the Giant's Toothpick in the last tower, then. It's also an ideal weapon for upgrading:



Yup, an upgrade increases the Toothpick's Attack stat by two points. Nice! We upgrade it to +16.
But it is of course the Seamstress crown which makes our needle especially powerful:



Even though the Toothpick has Attack = 50, Codexer the Seamstress' Attack equals ... 165! Meaning that the needle's attack is tripled by the Seamstress crown. Great!
As for Seamstress' class-specific abilities, here they are:

Patched Up: Increase Defense for non-upgraded armor.
Stitched Up: Increase Attack power for non-upgraded weapon.
Refurbish: Revive a fallen ally.
Sew Together: Sew yourself and an ally together to combine your status levels.

Of all these, only Refurbish sounds useful to us, given that we don't have any non-upgraded armour or weapons and Lux takes care of boosting our status levels. But we will be using the Seamstress crown for sheer melee damage, so the lack of useful skills doesn't really matter.

As you can see, I plan on crawling through the next tower without a healer -- I'm going to count on Good and Evil and Lux to patch the party up -- and that's what all the upgrading is for: to survive without one.
As for armour, BRO the Elementalist sure could use the Unyielding Shield (pure physical defense) and some clothes from the multiplayer shop. Why? Because they look deceivingly shitty but can in fact be upgraded quicker than regular armour. Let's take a look at this Silver Suit, for instance:



Its magic defense goes up by 2 points per upgrade, which is better than the +1 bonus you get with regular armour. Two other kinds of multiplayer armour in this game allow you to raise physical defense by 2 points per upgrade or, akin to the way the Shield of Light is upgraded, to improve three stats -- Evasion, Defense, and Magic Defense -- by 1 simultaneously. Magic or element-enhanced attacks are much more common in this game than regular physical ones, and so boosting our heroes' magic defense will be the highest priority, at least for now. Trylion's Coat, which we equip SMA with, is another armour of the same, magic defense-centred, kind:



Volly won't be using any of the multiplayer clothes though: their downside is that they don't offer any stat improvements to speak of, and that's why I'd rather keep our magic-using princess equipped with the Scholar Gown, which has the Intellect +20% boost. I also distribute the light equipments between Volly -- who gets the Shield of Light -- and Codexer, who gets the rest.
Oh-kay, so after all the upgrading is done, our gear looks like this:




Volly has the Shield of Light +18 and Scholar Gown +17 equipped, which together raise her Defense and Magic Defense to 45, and wields the Sage's Staff +16:



This loli Sage should be p. powerful now. Hopefully.
Codexer, as we already know, wields the Giant's Toothpick +16, but we also give him Artemis Bow +15:



Why Artemis Bow? Because, despite having merely +19 as basic attack, it gains +2 Attack when upgraded.
We also upgrade Codexer's Great Tree Shield to +10 and Armor of Light to (gasp!) +21:




Despite that, Codexer's Defense and Magic Defense remain lower than Volly's. Still, he should be fine.
SMA the Ninja gets King's Shortsword +21 as her main weapon:



She's also carrying the Sword of Light +9 with her, just in case. Her Great Tree Shield is upgraded to +23, and her Trylion's Coat to +20:



As for BRO, I decide not to upgrade his Sacred Tree Staff any further (as it doesn't seem to matter for an Elementalist). He does, however, get his Unyielding Shield upgraded to +15 and Silver Suit to +20:




Yay for OCD! All this should last us through not only the next, but also the fourth tower. At least I do hope I won't have to do any more major upgrading. It's pretty tiresome.
But anywayz. We rest at the inn to replenish our AP and fly to Liberte, the town of art, culture and stuffies. Or, to be more precise, we enter the part of Liberte on top the whale Cetus:



We save our game and, yup, it's :blah: :blah: time!




Meanwhile, our fairy friend Lilibelle cheers the artist Pione up:







The nearby bird is very smug about the whole apocalyptic situation:



Think you can fly away from the end times, birdie?



Sure we can!



Well, it's p. fun, I think.



Right?







Oh really?
But anyway. Remember the kuroneko who came to Liberte on vacation? Looks like she's stuck here:



Poor kitty.



Nope, totally not!



A fantasy adventure? I've no idea what you're talking about.







Hmm, really?




Yeah!







What, no love for whales?



They should have...

...upgraded their equipment, yay!



Hey! What do you think you're doing!?




Yup, we know, Mr. King, but we still have two towers to climb first, sorry.



But can fishies think?
And this ends the blah blah session for today, folks. Onwards to the lighthouse!



Guide: Luckily, your progress will be saved each time you manage to clear ten floors. You can also leave the lighthouse then. But if your party dies or you use a Dragon Wing, your progress won't be saved. Best be careful!

Sure we'll be!

Guide: If you manage to clear ten floors and save your progress, you can continue again from your last save point. Come talk to me and I'll tell you just how many floors you've made it through.



Level three!



Okay, here we go.



The same things said about the previous two towers apply here as well: the floors are random, the exit to the next floor is also randomly placed, and there's no returning to the previous level once you've left it. I won't be describing the crawl itself in detail in this update, as it is quite similar to the last two.
The regular enemies here include Lizardhawks...



...who are sometimes accompanied by Falcons...



...Archelons and Hobgoblins...



...Behugemores, who look really scary...



...Skeletons and Trollud Zombies...



...Big Worms and Lizardmen...



...Boggle Bears...



...Iron Golems (yikes!)...



...together with Rock Golems...



...Evil Knights twisted...



...Wyorms...



...Yotons and Selchies...



...Trollud and Garms...



...Orc Lords and Goblins...



...as well as Wyverns:



On 10F is our first boss battle.



We change SMA back to Ninja, equip the Hermes Sandals on BRO the Elementalist, and approach the monster.

Boss #1: Minotaur



The first boss is Minotaur, and he looks strong and scary.



Luckily, Minotaur's attacks are enhanced with Light (?) element, and so Mysterio helps us resist them:




We put Volly the Sage's new ability, Good and Evil, to use:



First it damages the Minotaur for 486 damage and then heals our party up:



Very nice! It seems that we indeed don't need a White Mage now that we've got a Sage. Nor do we need a Black Mage. Sage's Good and Evil is a bit weaker than Magic Might, but that doesn't play any significant role apart from making boss battles somewhat longer.
SMA the Ninja's Lightning Fists deal 196 points of damage to Minotaur:




The Lightning Fists ability lets SMA attempt to strike Minotaur multiple times (three iirc or maybe four), but unfortunately she misses most of the time and strikes the target only once.
BRO's debuff, Suppress, comes in handy, too:



But even with Suppress on, Minotaur can still deal some p. high damage to SMA:



The damage would've of course been a lot higher had we not upgraded SMA's gear.
Minotaur's special attack, Full Swing, doesn't really cause much harm to anyone but SMA (again):



We can boost SMA's Evasion though -- which also makes the Lightning Fists chain longer as it depends on the Evasion stat:



Codexer the Seamstress is our dedicated melee attacker, and the damage he deals to Minotaur is indeed relatively high:




We should probably upgrade his Giant's Toothpick some more for the next tower, though.
BRO uses Elemental, but it isn't particularly effective:



There comes a moment when all of SMA's Lightning Fists attacks hit the target:




That's 493 damage in toto. Pretty good!
It looks like Ninja is an okay class when properly upgraded. SMA can also use Target Dummy to become immune to enemy attacks for the next turn:



Volly's Good and Evil can get as powerful as Magic Might sometimes:



Cool. In a few turns, SMA's Lightning Fists slay the beastie:




We obtain 100 exp and two Amethysts:



And then go up to 11F:



20F is empty:



And so we go further up!



30F means the second boss battle:



Let's make SMA a Hero this time:




Boss #2: Mythril Golem



One tough-looking bastard!



Mythril Golem can act three times per turn. As with the Minotaur, our luck is that this boss's regular attacks are enchanted, and Mysterio helps us resist them. Even so, they are quite harmful to Volly and SMA:




His regular attacks deal ca. 20 damage to Volly...



...and ca. 50 to SMA, even when he's suppressed:



Her Good and Evil is very efficient against the Golem:




SMA the Hero's Finale, on the other hand, is pretty meh:




(Look at that salto mortale! )
Wrath is much better:



Good.
It looks like the Golem has high evasion since Codexer's attacks always miss:




Nevertheless it doesn't take long for SMA and Volly's joint efforts to bring the monster down:




We get 100 exp, two Amethysts and two Diamonds:



And we crawl on.



Minotaur is now a regular enemy:



And we stumble upon various random treasure chests along the way:



40F contains a bonus shop:



We approach the salesman:



There are three strong weapons for sale here -- a blade called Muramasa and two shurikens, Fuma Shuriken and Shiranui:




Shiranui has a nice evasion bonus and so can be useful to SMA the Ninja; we buy it. We also buy Muramasa, in the hope it can be uprgaded quickly (+2 attack per upgrade); we don't yet know if that's indeed the case though.
That's all we need here. Time to be moving on.



We encounter a group of Metal Flans on 41F:



We kill them instead of running away since they are a sure source of Amethysts in this game:



On 50F is another boss encounter:



Since SMA wields a powerful shortsword, let's make her ... a Dancer!




Unfortunately, her class-specific abilities are useless since they are already included in the Lux spell. Let's just see if we can rely on her as a damage-dealer:



Codexer, on his part, will be our Ranger, equipped with the Artemis Bow:




We approach the boss.

Boss #3: Geri and Freki

It's two bosses actually -- our old pals, Geri and Freki:



As you may remember, we already fought them back inside Rolan's emo soul.



They are magic creatures; it looks like Mysterio is totally indispensable in this tower.
Geri and Freki can buff up their magic and physical attacks:





When boosted, Freki's Ice Breath does deal some damage to Volly and SMA, but that damage is negligible:



As is the damage from Geri's Fire Breath:



Geri's regular attacks hit Volly for ca. 20 hp:



We order BRO to cast Suppress and put Volly's Good and Evil to good use again:




It isn't as efficient against Geri and Freki as it was against the Mythril Golem, though. Suppress, by the way, is a very handy debuff: it auto-targets precisely the foe who isn't yet suppressed.
SMA the Dancer's shortsword attack strikes the foes for ca. 200 points of damage:



Not bad.
Codexer's Smashing Blow is the most powerful attack we have at our disposal, however:



Cool! Too bad "a single blow cannot stop this foe". The only downside is that Smashing Blow, in contrast to Good and Evil, targets only one foe at a time.
BRO's Elemental is still most worthless, alas:



Meh.
Three of our party members are damage-dealers, and the battle is over soon:



First Geri is destroyed -- we get 2280 (!) experience points...



...and then Freki:



We get 2280 exp more. No wonder we all level up, gaining several levels at once:



Volly: level 38 -> 41: HP +13, STR +2, SPT +3, INT +3.
Codexer: level 38 -> 41: HP +19, STR +2, SPT +2, INT +2.
SMA: level 37 -> 40: HP +17, STR +3, SPT +3, INT +2.
BRO: level 38 -> 41: HP +14, STR +2, SPT +2, INT +3.



50 floors are cleared.



60F is empty, and 70F is a treasure floor:



Musician robes, meh.
Reaching 80F means we're in for the fourth boss battle:



Let's make an all-furry party!

SMA will be our Beastmaster:



We use the Transform Staff to turn ourselves into animals.



Let the fight begin!

Boss #4: Dragon



Another dragon, yay! We already fought one in the previous tower.



Dragon's attacks are pretty powerful and, what's more important, non-enhanced -- meaning Mysterio is useless against them:




Poor pretty princess. :/
Even BRO the Elementalist takes some damage:



Good thing he's equipped with the Unyielding Shield.
Dragon's Fire Breath isn't particularly powerful though, probably thanks to our Magic Defense stats being high after upgrading:



SMA the Beastmaster's Command ability comes in handy:



Not bad. Volly's Good and Evil is also useful, of course:




Volly's dead, but Command remains powerful -- Volly wasn't strong in melee anyway:



What's funny is that dead Volly gets revived in her human, not animal, form. Huh.
Elemental remains relatively worthless:



While Codexer the Ranger's Smashing Blow remains cool:





The dragon strikes Codexer for 104 (!) hp in response:



Ouch! And that with the dragon being debuffed by Suppress.
SMA casts Raise to bring Volly back to life, but now the princess isn't protected by neither Lux nor Mysterio and so is vulnerable to Dragon's Fire Breath:





We manage to get Volly to stay alive eventually, though, and the combined strength of Command, Good and Evil, and Smashing Blow allows us to slay the boss:




We get 800 exp and Orihalcon:



Codexer levels up -> level 42: HP +6, STR +2.
Moving on!



90F has another treasure chest:



What, another Giant's Toothpick!?
of treasure chests.

Finally we make it to 100F!



Scary! Let's make SMA a Ninja and Codexer a Spell Fencer:




Who's the last boss, I wonder?



Action time!

Boss #5: Rolan and Rekoteh



Yup, that's Rolan the failed emo hero together with his sis Rekoteh.



Rolan's and Rekoteh's regular attacks are element-enhanced, meaning Mysterio is very useful in this fight.
Rekoteh can cast Silence, which she often does:



Luckily, she misses most of the time thanks to our high Magic Evade stat.
She can also boost her defense with Protect:



And her magic defense with Shell:



She can cast Blizzaga...




...and Blizzara...



...but her most nasty spell is Thundaga, since it carries the risk of paralyzing us:




That's why we shouldn't forget to ask BRO to silence Rekoteh:




Now all she can do is attack in melee:



Weak.
SMA uses Target Dummy to evade Rolan's powerful melee attacks:



They are indeed powerful:




Rolan can cast Darkaga:



And Thundara:



But we resist them.
Codexer the Spell Fencer's Magic Infuse is okay, but alas weaker than I hoped:




Good and Evil doesn't deal much damage either:




It looks like Rolan's and Rekoteh's magic defense is pretty high.
SMA's Lightning Fists aren't of much use:



Bad. It'd be better if Codexer was a Ranger and SMA a Spell Fencer, but meh.
BRO's Elemental deals less than 50 points of damage:



BRO's Suppress comes in handy. But it doesn't prevent Rolan from one hit killing SMA:




Once he's taken enough damage, Rolan starts patching himself up with Cura:



Rekoteh also comes to his aid when not silenced:



It takes a shitload of turns -- I don't even want to start recalling how many -- but finally Rolan is slain:



Yay! We get 756 exp. Rekoteh soon follows her bro:




756 exp more + four Diamonds:



Volly, SMA and BRO level up:
Volly -> level 42: HP +4, SPT +2, INT +2.
SMA -> level 41: HP +5, STR +2, INT +1.
BRO -> level 42: HP +4.



We stand victorious!
Everything goes next-gen and the Crystal makes an appearance:



Crystal: How mighty have you grown. Long, so long have we waited for this blessed day to come.

And we're presented with a new crown, Storyteller:





Now Storyteller is a cool crown: it lets you use any combination of the abilities you've already learned from other crowns. So, to answer Mrowak's question:

I may have missed that but is there any way Bee to return to "general" class like in FF5 where you could mix skills from various classes as you please?

Yup, there's a special class for that here.



We see that Storyteller's stats are pretty mediocre and she doesn't get any of the class-specific boni, but she can freely choose among all the other crowns' abilities instead:




etc.
Of course, in order to get access to all the already unlocked abilities, we must upgrade the Storyteller crown to the full. Which is what we'll be doing for the next update. Hmmm, I wonder what kind of a cool combination of abilities I should go for?

(Funny that this game only gives you the Storyteller crown, which is potentially the most "tactical" and "experimental" one, if you're persistent enough to go crawling through the optional towers.)

 

[lightbane]

IT seems some people don't have a life
But still I the update.

What does happen if you make a full-party of Seamstresses and use Sew Together? Do the affected

PS: Does something special happen if you equip a character with a full set "of Light" gear? I mean, for example wearing the Sword of Light, the Shield of Light, the Cape of Light and so on.

 

[ghostdog]

Let's make an all-furry party !

Jasede would be proud. :eagletear:

 

[Crooked Bee]

Let's make an all-furry party !

Jasede would be proud. :eagletear:

Indeed. Which makes me wonder where he has disappeared to. :/

IT seems some people don't have a life

I dunno who you're talking about.

What does happen if you make a full-party of Seamstresses and use Sew Together?

I don't think anything, uhm, visible would happen, really.

PS: Does something special happen if you equip a character with a full set "of Light" gear? I mean, for example wearing the Sword of Light, the Shield of Light, the Cape of Light and so on.

Nope, nothing special as far as I know. Except the character would be immune to nigh everything.

PS. Thanks to Vendi I've updated my endorsements list btw.

 

[Silellak]

Some of you complained about the lack of variety last time (I'm looking at you, Silellak)

Your motivation is admirable.

Volly has the Shield of Light +18 and Scholar Gown +17 equipped, which together raise her Defense and Magic Defense to 45, and wields the Sage's Staff +16:

I love all the Items +X. Makes the game sound like an incredibly-munchkin-happy D&D session.

At least I do hope I won't have to do any more major upgrading. It's pretty tiresome.

Again, your motivation is admirable. How long do all these item/crown upgrades take, anyway?

Onwards to the lighthouse!

Holy crap. A 100-story lighthouse? What is it used for, guiding spaceships?

Actually...that'd be pretty awesome.

The damage would've of course been a lot higher had we not upgraded SMA's gear.

Hm, since the game (and especially the towers) are so level-scaled, it realy seems like the key to advancement is to upgrade crowns and equipment, rather than gain levels. Not sure if or .

Now Storyteller is a cool crown: it lets you use any combination of the abilities you've already learned from other crowns.

Fuck , that's awesome. I imagine it opens up a whole new world of possible strategies. Looking forward to seeing what you put together.

(Funny that this game only gives you the Storyteller crown, which is potentially the most "tactical" and "experimental" one, if you're persistent enough to go crawling through the optional towers.)

Yeah, I think it'd be better if you got it as a reward for defeating all the demons - ie., between Act 2 and 3. It would make all the optional towers more interesting too, I'd think.

What does happen if you make a full-party of Seamstresses and use Sew Together?

 

[Cenobyte]

Another excellent update. It's somewhat irritating that the mid bosses gave you more experience than the last bosses.

One dungeon to go!

 

[Crooked Bee]

Volly has the Shield of Light +18 and Scholar Gown +17 equipped, which together raise her Defense and Magic Defense to 45, and wields the Sage's Staff +16:

I love all the Items +X. Makes the game sound like an incredibly-munchkin-happy D&D session.

:D

At least I do hope I won't have to do any more major upgrading. It's pretty tiresome.

Again, your motivation is admirable. How long do all these item/crown upgrades take, anyway?

I can't really say how long it took me, as I was playing the game sporadically over the week. All I can say it was pretty monotonous, but not too monotonous. In fact, it was perfectly tolerable; I know where to look for specific gems and can obtain them more or less quickly. As for my motivation, well, I wouldn't want to leave this LP incomplete, so getting all the crowns is a must.

The damage would've of course been a lot higher had we not upgraded SMA's gear.

Hm, since the game (and especially the towers) are so level-scaled, it realy seems like the key to advancement is to upgrade crowns and equipment, rather than gain levels. Not sure if or .

I think it's much better, and slightly more tactical, than the regular kind of grinding many JRPGs require of you. Plus, if you choose not to do the optional towers, you can probably beat the game without grinding at all, which is of course .

On a somewhat related note, I wonder if Azira has already cleared the final tower.

 

[Azira]

Nope. I cheated a bit though, to see what crown lies at the end (looked it up online). I haven't had the motivation myself to grind for gems, personal life taking up a good deal of my time.

Funny really, when I started the game, I tore through most of the content in no time at all, made it all the way to and through Spelvia (floating city) and the the interest just dropped off. Now, seeing you tackle the optional towers, I "cheated" my way through numbers 2 and 3 with the wayfarer and merchant crowns, yet haven't started on number 4 yet, and number 1 rests at level 20.

But I agree that grinding for gems isn't as intolerable as it could be. Make a 4-merchant party, cast lux on the first round and let the regnerate soak up damage while you spam the gem-finding skills on all 4 characters. That way you'll quickly get 99 gems of the variety you want.

So even if it would only take me an hour, I haven't really gotten around to it yet. Instead, I've been wasting my time on a certain rogue-like which is also featured in an LP..

No offense, Crooked Bee. But in that rogue-like, I really hate bees..

 

[Jaedar]

Nice going as always

 

[Crooked Bee]

No offense, Crooked Bee. But in that rogue-like, I really hate bees..

Bees are badass. True story!

Nice going as always

 

[Crooked Bee]

So where'z the new page? I can't see it!

 

[Crooked Bee]

A rabbi, a priest, and a Lutheran minister walk into a bar. The bartender looks up and says, "Is this some kind of joke?"

 

[Crooked Bee]

A potato walks into a bar and all eyes were on him!

 

[Crooked Bee]

Shakespeare walks into a bar and asks the bartender for a beer. "I can't serve you." says the bartender. "You're Bard!"

 

[Undead Phoenix]

Shakespeare walks into a bar and asks the bartender for a beer. "I can't serve you." says the bartender. "You're Bard!"

3 jokes in and they're already cringeworthy Let's hope the incoming update is of a better quality, though I very much doubt that

Page topper

 

[Crooked Bee]

Jokes? Where?

 

[Crooked Bee]

Part 40: Trial Tower

In which we defeat some totally unexpected bosses and obtain the last crown!

Previously on this LP, we cleared the third tower and got the most experimental crown, that of Storyteller. Let's try it out now, shall we? I don’t think a Storyteller can be a good damage-dealer, due to the damage dealt being dependent on the stats (which are mediocre in Storyteller's case) and the class-specific boni (absent here). As for buffs/debuffs/healing, however, Storytellers are ideal. So let's make two Storytellers: a buffer and a debuffer.
SMA will be our debuffer:



Here are the abilities I've chosen for her:

Quell (Scholar): Reduce all enemies' attack power. Lasts three turns.
Subdue (Scholar): Reduce all enemies' defense. Lasts three turns.
Fugue (Bard): Sing a sad song that stops your foes in their tracks. Lasts only one turn.
Applaud (Dancer): Increase one ally's AP by three points.

Applaud is the only buff, all the other abilities -- including the two Dark Magic spells, Silence and Suppress -- are debuffs.
BRO, on the other hand, will be our buffer:



And here are his abilities:

Mysterio (Elementalist): Enhance your party's resistance to elemental attacks.
Motet (Bard): Sing a song to raise party's defense and magic defense. Lasts three turns.
Ditty (Bard): Sing a song to raise party's attack and magic power. Lasts three turns.
Rouse (Party Host): Psych up everyone in the party.
Applaud (Dancer): Increase one ally's AP by three points.
Nocturne (Musician): Boost your party's magic power for three turns.

All BRO's abilities are buffs. The reason I've given the Applaud ability to both BRO and SMA is simple: it's very useful to have our AP replenished faster, since that'd allow our party to use the most powerful abilities and spells more often. Volly will remain our Sage, and Codexer will be our Hero or, alternatively, Ranger.
We deposit the things we likely won't need -- such as the Giant's Toothpick +16 (as I don't feel like using the Seamstress crown for the next tower), the second Toothpick we found on the 70th floor of the last tower, a Raise Tome, a Break Tome, etc. -- for safekeeping at the Urbeth storage shop. Now it's upgrading time! I didn't upgrade much, only adding +5 to +10 to some of our weapons and armour.



Since we're carrying a new piece of Orihalcon, the upgrade limit is raised further:




That's cool, but we won't be upgrading that much, I think. I didn't take any screenshots of the upgrading process or result, but I upgraded everything that contributed to our defense by several points. For instance, SMA's Trylion Coat is now +30, and her Great Tree Shield +25; Codexer's King's Shortsword is +30, and his Artemis Bow +25.
We exit Urbeth, summon the dragon and fly north -- 'coz that's where the last tower is:



We descend and enter it:



In a familiar fashion, a guide is waiting for us near the tower's entrance:



Guide: Luckily, your progress will be saved each time you manage to clear ten floors. You can also leave the lighthouse then. But if your party dies or you use a Dragon Wing, your progress won't be saved. Best be careful! If you manage to clear ten floors and save your progress, you can continue again from your last save point. Come talk to me and I'll tell you just how many floors you've made it through.



Level 4, you say?
We use the Master Key...



...and enter the Tower of Trial:



The final trial, yay!
Random floors, blah blah blah. Random stairs placement, blah blah. Random treasure chests, blah. You know it all already.

As for the regular enemies in here, they include Trolluds and Mandragoras...



...Rattatoxes and Carbuncles...



...who silence us, put us asleep, cast Wood Blast and hit us hard:




Sometimes Mandragoras come together with Carbuncles:



We also encounter some Oceanus fishies accompanied by Vampire Bats...



...as well as Orcs...



...Shade Trolluds and Buffohelms...



...Skeletons and Tokkakus...



...Tokkakus and Scyllas...



...Skeletons, Buffohelms, and Scyllas...



...Succubi and Lamias...



...Hellhounds, Lizardmen, and Gargoyles...



...Medusae and Succubi...



...Pumpkings, Alraunes, and Carbuncles...



...Wyverns...



...Air Rays and Ikkakus...



...Skeletons and Blood Bats...



...Batter Flies and Myconids...



...Demons and Gargoyles...



...as well as Basilisks and Gargoyles:



10F is our first boss floor:



We check our crowns and equipment and approach the foe.

Boss #1: Demon Prince



A Demon Prince, yay!



With all our buffs, this battle isn't tough. BRO the Storyteller uses Motet...



...right before the demon attacks us with Bladeblitz:



He also hits us with regular attacks that carry random status ailments:



Volly's Good and Evil allows us to both strike at the demon and heal ourselves up:




SMA puts Fugue to good use:



Fugue is a pretty cool ability that helps us a lot in this tower.
Another nice ability is Applaud:



The quicker we strike, the higher are our survival chances.
After BRO has used Mysterio, we start resisting the Demon Lord's dark-enhanced attacks:




As well as his fire spells:



Codexer the Hero's Wrath proves itself highly worthwhile:




BRO's Nocturne boosts Volly's Good and Evil even further:




And the battle ends rather quickly:




Looks like both our Storytellers have been pretty useful in this fight.
We obtain 100 exp and two Amethysts:



And move on:



19F hides a random treasure chest:



8888 gil!


20F is empty:



And up we go -- to 30F where the second boss battle awaits!



Neither SMA's Quell nor Subdue has proven useful though, so we change them to Mysterio and Motet:



Action time!

Boss #2: Buffohelm and Ghoul



A Buffohelm and a Ghoul, but much stronger than the regular ones.



BRO uses Mysterio, but it doesn't help:




Looks like the foes' attacks are non-enchanted.



OMG!!
As with almost all bosses, the regular attacks also inflict some nasty stuff on us and/or debuff us:



The Buffohelm starts cursing us like crazy:




Soon everyone but Volly -- who's carrying the Shield of Light -- is cursed.
Volly uses Good and Evil:




Codexer the Hero's Finale alsp comes in handy:





SMA uses Fugue regularly to give us some time to recover from the ailments:



Soon BRO gets close to death again:



Ouch!
SMA spams Applauds like stupid so that whenever a character is recovered from the curse, he or she could use the most powerful ability without delay:



The Ghoul casts Darkaga but we resist it thanks to Mysterio:



And we usually take no damage at all from Buffohelm's Firaga:



Or, at most, some damage -- whenever the Mysterio effect ends:



It's only the physical attacks that we must really beware in this fight.
Oh, and also the Break spell:



But luckily all attempts at turning us to stone miss for some reason. Must be our high Evade/Magic Evade stats.
Finally the Buffohelm is slain:



(100 exp earned.)
Now that we can target him, the Ghoul turns out to be pretty weak against Codexer's Finale:



Naturally, it doesn't take us long to bring him down:




We get 100 more exp, as well as three Amethysts and a Diamond:



Yay!



70 levels to go.
40F is the shopping floor:



Nothing really useful for sale here though:




Nope, nothing we need.
The next boss battle awaits us on 50F:



Boss #3: Greaps



It's Greaps again!



He has again grown stronger since we last fought, though. His regular attacks deal 20-50 damage to us (with Motet+Lux on) and, of course, inflict different status ailments.
BRO uses Ditty to boost our physical and magic attacks:



Which helps a lot, it seems:



Terrific!
Both BRO and SMA spam Applaud. Greaps casts Thundara and Aeroga, but...




Meh.
The only nasty thing is that Thundara can paralyze us:



Oops.
BRO's Finale continues to be cool:



With the help of SMA's Fugue we render Greaps totally helpless -- and soon he goes down:




+ 100 exp and 3 Diamonds:



50 floors to go!



After slaying a group of enemies on 69F, Volly and Codexer level up:



Volly -> level 43: HP +4, INT +1.
Codexer -> level 43: HP +7, STR +1, SPT +1, INT +1.

70F holds a treasure chest:



A Ninja Uniform? Hmm, this may come in handy to boost SMA's Ninja abilities.
80F means the fourth boss:



Scary!
We change Codexer into a Ranger:






Let's approach the evil monster thingie now!

Boss #4: Black Dragon



Another dragon, eh?



Let's show this beastie what we've got!



Oh gosh he's strong.
His Dark Breath isn't as powerful as his regular attacks though:



SMA uses Fugue and Applaud:




With the help of Ditty, we boost Volly's magic attack power:



Codexer the Ranger is pretty powerful, too:



Sometimes the Smashing Blow misses, but it doesn't matter much: thanks to Applaud we can use it every other turn.
BRO uses Rouse to psych our party up:




Which makes Volly's Good and Evil even more deadly:




And finally...



Heh, our party set-up is totally badass.




We get 800 exp and one more piece of Orihalcon. SMA and BRO level up:



SMA -> level 42: HP +5, SPT +1.
BRO -> level 43: HP +5, STR +1, SPT +1, INT +1.

Moving on!



90F is another treasure floor:



Necronomicon?
:twisted:

And finally we make it to 100F:



I wonder who the final boss is.
We change Codexer back to Hero in order to be able to use Finale:



And the battle begins!

Boss #5: Adventurer and Faithful Fox



Hey! It's the Adventurer and his Faithful Fox, yay!



They can't be too tough, now can they?
BRO uses Motet, and the Fox casts Flash but misses:



The Adventurer casts Berserk:



Codexer casts Lux, and SMA uses Mysterio. Volly unleashes Good and Evil:




The Adventurer attacks:



Ouch! Mysterio is of no use here, it seems.

The Fox casts Shell:



And then Death:




The Fox continues casting Shell on both himself and the Adventurer, and the latter casts Protect on himself and the Fox:



Berserk, Magick, Protect, and Shell, huh? They're pretty well-buffed, these two.
And then...




Codexer uses Wrath:



Meh.
SMA uses Fugue to buy us some time:



The Adventurer attacks:



Fuckity fuck.
The Faithful Fox confuses our Codexer:



And the Adventurer finishes poor SMA off:







Uh-oh.



We're totally dead, yay!



Good thing I created a save state right before the battle. I saw it coming, yeah.
So. Let's try it all again, shall we?



Unfortunately, Codexer is confused right from the start, which prevents him from casting Lux:



SMA uses Fugue, and Volly uses Good and Evil. Then SMA casts Suppress:



And the Fox confuses SMA:




The foes buff themselves up with Berserk, etc., and then launch a full-on attack:



One down.



Two down.



Three down.



Everyone is dead.



Now I'm pretty sure Undead Phoenix isn't following this LP anymore. :/
But we shall persevere! Unfortunately the boss is totally broken. Which means we must use a no less broken ability -- Ransom:




Using a four-merchant party would be too uninteresting, so we go for a compromise.
Oh-kay, attempt #3.



BRO and SMA use Ransom:



Now they don't take any damage.
They are, however, still susceptible to status ailments:




The nastiest of all is, of course, Confusion:



It prevents SMA from using Applaud and Fugue, which makes the battle significantly longer.
For damage we rely on Volly's Good and Evil...




...as well as Codexer's Finale:






We leave it to BRO to do the buffing (Motet, Ditty, Applaud, Rouse):



The Adventurer still deals some pretty high damage to Volly and Codexer...




...but now that SMA and BRO are totally safe from harm, that isn't much of a problem.
It takes us a lot of turns, but everything works out well in the end. First the Adventurer goes down...




...and then the Fox:





14 exp? WTF?
But anyways. We get 4 Diamons for loot...



...then everything goes next-gen and the talking Crystal appears!



Crystal: How mighty you have grown. Long, so long have we waited for this blessed day to come.

And we are awarded with...



...the final crown, that of the Scribe!




All the crowns are ours!



Crystal: Use your power well, use it for good...



Yay!



Let's have a look at our new crown, then!



Ah, an obsessive completionist's crown.
Here are Scribe's class-specific abilities:

Time: Unleash a powerful attack. Works better the longer you have played the game.
Wireless: Unleash a magic attack. Works better the longer you play multiplayer.
Crown: Heal one ally's HP. Amount recovered depends on everyone's crown levels.
Completion: Boost your status levels. Works better as you complete more of the game.

Not sure if or , really.
But anywayz...



The Interlude ends here. We've crawled through all the bonus content!

Act III: The Grand Finale comes next. Dark Underlord Lord, you evil bastard, here we come!!

 

[Jaedar]

This update got me thinking... would it be possible to use fugue every round thus turning all enemies powerless?

Oh and big Congratulations for completing all the four towers.

 

[Mrowak]

Good work Bee.

That Storyteller class seems to work wonders. It is my favourite part of FF job system. Combining sets of skills and watching the enemy squeel in agony is my idea of awesome.

 

[Undead Phoenix]

100 levels of dungeon crawling for a crown like that


Poor crown (regardless of its power) to end on, but now I'm reckoning the rest of the game should be mostly a walkover with the gear you have

 

[lightbane]

Well done, you truly have broken the game, I'm sure you'll be able to steamroll over the final boss with a single party member if you wanted to do so.

 

[Silellak]

But we shall persevere! Unfortunately the boss is totally broken. Which means we must use a no less broken ability -- Ransom

The Scribe could be interesting - at the very least, you can see how effective it is based on your current game stats. I wonder if, as part of a bonus update, you could hack your save state's game stats and totally break the game?

The Interlude ends here. We've crawled through all the bonus content!

Well played, sir. I imagine the rest of the game is going to be a cake walk now.

That Storyteller class seems to work wonders. It is my favourite part of FF job system. Combining sets of skills and watching the enemy squeel in agony is my idea of awesome.

Agreed. It's just ridiculous that you have to crawl through the bonus towers to get it.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Thanks for your comments, everyone. They're greatly appreciated.

This update got me thinking... would it be possible to use fugue every round thus turning all enemies powerless?

Yup, I think so, it could work with two Storytellers equipped with Fugue + someone with Applaud. Provided it works, that'd totally break the game, of course, just like the Merchant crown.

100 levels of dungeon crawling for a crown like that

Yeah. :/

Well done, you truly have broken the game, I'm sure you'll be able to steamroll over the final boss with a single party member if you wanted to do so.

Poor crown (regardless of its power) to end on, but now I'm reckoning the rest of the game should be mostly a walkover with the gear you have.

It certainly looks that way. I wonder, however, if this game has any surprises in store for us.

I wonder if, as part of a bonus update, you could hack your save state's game stats and totally break the game?

I could, I guess. You wanna witness the maximum possible damage, I reckon?

That Storyteller class seems to work wonders. It is my favourite part of FF job system. Combining sets of skills and watching the enemy squeel in agony is my idea of awesome.

Agreed. It's just ridiculous that you have to crawl through the bonus towers to get it.

Yup, that's totally unfair.

 

[spekkio]

h4x!

Let's make an all-furry party !

Jasede would be proud. :eagletear:

Indeed. Which makes me wonder where he has disappeared to. :/

He's probably trolling us with an alt as we write.

On clearing all towers and grabbing all crowns.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Okay, folks, before we kick the last act of this LP into motion, I think it's time to sum up the awesomely awesome fairy plot we've been through! In other words, a brief retrospective is in order. It'll mostly cover the first act, as most readers have forgotten it already, I assume.

Part 41: How It All Began: A Retrospective

As you may or may not remember, it all started out, in a true RPG fashion, with Codexer being woken up by his mother Kuore...

...and reminded that, this being the day he officially becomes a grown-up, it's time for him to go to the castle and claim his matury by, uhm, "paying respects" to the king, whatever that might involve.
So off to the castle our Codexer goes. Along the way, he learns that magic is officially prohibited in Horne for some reason -- and yet, the horror!, is secretly being practiced at the castle:

This doesn't of course bode well, but it's only much later, in the second part of the game, that we learn what it's all about. Another thing we learn only much later is what the following sign is for:

As well as the story behind the first quest King Horne gives us as soon as we arrive to the castle -- to rescue the pretty princess Volly kidnapped by the (supposedly) evil Witch of the North, Louhi:

What Codexer doesn't know at this point is that the king is in fact no king, but none other than Satan in disguise, practicing dark magic rites in his secret magic laboratory beneath the castle, that the real king is cursed into a parrot named Ankhel living in Codexer's house...

...and that Volly's kidnapping is part of the contract Satan the King Horne made with the witch in exchange for the access to Horne's forbidden black magic.
That said, it is quite obvious that the point of king's request is not for Volly to be rescued, but rather for the witch to be slain. The witch's death would not only allows Satan to get rid of a powerful foe -- because, as it turns out much later, Louhi isn't an evil witch but rather a loyal vassal to the floating city of Spelvia and the legendary hero Rolan -- but also to inflict further curse upon Horne, bringing the world closer to the apocalypse, which is of course precisely what Satan needs. Or maybe the mighty Satan himself is really charmed by our darling pretty princess? After all,

But anyway. Reluctantly, Codexer agrees to take up the king's quest and goes to the Witch's Mansion north of Horne. In order to make it to the Mansion, however, he has to crawl through the North Caves -- and that's where he first encounters BRO who helps him slay a mighty Minotaur:

Upon their arrival to the mansion, Codexer and BRO come across many defeated soldiers of Horne who warn them of the monsters inhabiting this place:

One of the wounded soldiers introduces another character soon to join our party, SMA, Lady Volly's trusted companion:

And Codexer and BRO do indeed meet SMA soon enough, surrounded by monsters:

The heroes save poor SMA from the monsters' clutches, and she joins the party. After some dungeon crawling and candle lighting, our party of three finally encounters the pretty princess herself:

After a bit of drama, Volly joins the party, too. The heroes of light are united for the first time, yay! That won't last long, though -- soon they are to be separated...
But back to the matter at hand. Just as our heroes get ready to leave the place, the Witch of the North arrives!

The witch tells our heroes about the contract, and that the princess is legally hers. We cannot, however, allow her to take away our darling -- and so fight back! The witch turns into a fearful black bird to fight us:

The starting credits kick in,
Soon Louhi is defeated, and the talking Crystal appears for the first time:

Hell yeah!



"Know that the forces of evil seek to engulf us all", says the Crystal. "As the Dark flows from the hidden world within, our would-be savior stands helpless, bereft of power." (The would-be savior the Crystal is talking about is of course the hero Rolan, as we are soon to know.) Having said that, the Crystal awards us with our first crown, Wayfarer, and send us on the epic adventure of saving the world! "Go forth, Heroes of Light, and seek your adventure!"
As we return to Horne, we discover that, due to the contract being broken and the witch slain, a curse has been placed on the whole town and everyone is turned to stone:



Unfortunately, everyone in the castle is turned to stone, too, and the king's throne is empty!



As it turns out, the strangely-looking fellow standing in the middle of the throne room is head of the Baneful Magick Invenstigation Unit from the town of Liberte. He offers to take us all to safety. Codexer refuses -- he has to find out what's happened to Horne and his dear mother, after all -- but BRO, being totally selfish and mean, betrays him:



SMA asks BRO to take Lady Volly with him to Liberte, but stays in Horne herself, together with Codexer -- meaning our party is broken in two now. After some drama...



... Volly and BRO leave for Liberte, leaving Codexer and SMA to sort things our here in Horne and look for something to lift the witch's curse.




The clues we get from the NPCs around the area all point to there being a mysterious people called the Moon Folk who used to live in the desert to the east but now are long gone, a lonely ghost appearing there at night...



...as well as a magic kingdom called Guera hidden -- by another curse, naturally -- in the sands of the same desert.



It's curses upon curses upon curses! With all three clues pointing to the desert, Codexer and SMA head east.
Having reached the desert and found no sight of Guera, they do indeed encounter a stranger. His name is Krinjh, and he doesn't at all look like a ghost:



In fact, however, Krinjh -- the last of the fabled Moon Folk -- is long dead, as is his lover Ariadne. They both were slain by King Guera who is, of course, possessed by another demon, Asmodeus.
Krinjh joins our party and helps us retrieve a mysterious artifact, Merkmal, hidden in the nearby Moonlight Tower:




As we get to know later, the Moonlight Tower is the place where the Moon Folk used to live before they were driven to extinction. Merkmal is the magic artifact that reveals the location of the cursed kingdom of Guera where our heroes hope to find a cure for the curse and which is their next destination. Krinjh accompanies Codexer and SMA there:



The town of Guera is a centre of magical research and study, and so there's a lot of books of magic for sale here -- except, strangely enough, the Water Tome that King Guera has confiscated:



Coincidentally, water is the element the demon Asmodeus is vulnerable to. We finally do obtain the Water Tome hidden in a secret (and optional) dungeon beneath the Guera Palace, which I am still very proud of.
Also, we learn of a monster called Sand Devil who has appeared in the area and whose curse keeps Guera sealed away in the desert:



When we approach King Guera, he quite predictably asks us to slay the Sand Devil in exchange for helping us lift the curse off Horne. The trick is, being Asmodeus in disguise, he wants the Sand Devil to slay us, not the other way round. What he doesn't know though, is that we've found one of the Water Tomes he confiscated earlier and thus possess the means necessary to easily dispatch the Sand Devil, yay!



Hell yeah!
And so off to the Quicksand Castle, the Sand Devil's hiding place, we go. The Quicksand Castle is probably the best-designed dungeon in this game and a relatively tricky one, but after navigating around all the quicksands, finding all the secret rooms and picking up all the hidden items, we meet the Sand Devil...



...and defeat him, receiving the White Mage and Black Mage crowns.
Once we've slain the demon, he starts fading away... and a fairy beauty appears in his place!



That's Ariadne, Krinjh's lover! In retrospect it's quite obvious that the wicked demon Asmodeus, using a wicked scheme, slayed Krinjh and cursed Ariadne into a demon form. But now that she's freed from the curse, she's bound to die.





Aww so sad. Luckily, when later we go back to the past, we'll rectify this whole situation and turn it all into a happy ending!
For now, however, Krinjh and Ariadne leave Codexer and SMA, and they head back to Guera to hold the king to his promise. However...



...it looks like the king has tricked us! Which is unsurprising, with him being Asmodeus and all. He was obviously disappointed with our victory over the Sand Devil.
Codexer and SMA choose to stay at the inn for the night. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, Codexer wakes up, heads out of the inn, and goes all emo, blaming himself for not being able to help get rid Horne from the curse.




A white cat appears! (We all know it's Volly cursed into being a cat as punishment for her greed.) The cat hands a magic map of the world to Codexer, who gets a bright idea:



Which means he's going to leave our poor SMA behind:



SMA is ditched, and (Volly) the white cat joins the party!
Codexer and Volly the white cat head to Arbor, but the action switches a bit to the past, to the moment BRO and Volly have arrived in Liberte.




After a lengthy sea voyage, BRO and Volly eventually landed at the town of Liberte -- and the pretty princess doesn't like it here, it seems:





BRO tells her to keep quiet, but Volly doesn't really appreciate the idea:

And so Volly goes out to explore the town of Liberte, the centre of art and culture. We know now that the town rests atop the sleeping sacred whale Cetus, but nothing indicates that at the moment. Two problems are bothering Liberte, however: first, the local pirates have kidnapped a bunch of people, including the celebrity artist Pione, and stolen the precious Liberte artworks...




...and second, a mysterious whirlwind is said to appear here at night:



Volly is really troubled by the pirate situation and tells BRO about it. BRO is reluctant at first, but Volly persuades him to go to the pirate hideout:



In order to get inside the hideout, we must know the secret pirate password, which we obtain from one of the NPCs in Liberte:



The hideout is near a cove to the east of Liberte, and that's where BRO and Volly go.



They enter the hideout and make it all the way down to where Captain Drake is hiding:



He doesn't look very welcoming. I wonder why?



Yup, in a way typical for this game, this turns out to be a false Captain Drake -- a monster in disguise:



We defeat the Trollud and now the real Captain Drake, the artist Pione and Apollo's parents are safe.
As Volly examines the stolen Liberte Vase, however, she discover a little fairy inside:



It is only Volly who can see the fairy; BRO can't:



The fairy's name is Lilibelle, and she joins our party.



The first problem is dealt with. But what about the whirlpool? Well, it seems there's treasure hidden inside of it:



Overcome by greed, Volly wants to go hunting for more treasure!



"I just can’t relax in this dingy little room. I’m a princess, you know. I’m used to luxury."

Girls, girls never change.
Lilibelle appears, and Volly tells her she wants to venture inside the whirlpool. The fairy warns her of danger, but Volly ignores the warning. She wakes BRO up.

"Oh, come on, lazy bones, get out of bed. We’re going treasure hunting!"





Our heroes enter the whirlwind...



...crawl through the dungeon they find themselves in and reach an attractively looking treasure chest. BRO feels it's a trap:



But Volly's greedy as hell.

"No way, not when we've come so far. That treasure is so close I can almost taste it!"

As Volly and BRO approach the treasure chest, a monster -- Brainshark -- appears!



He's easily defeated, however. Now it appears that nothing stands between the pretty princess and the treasure... but BRO commits another act of treachery!



He turns around and leaves. Volly is still full of greedy resolve.

"Oh, whatEVER! I'll get the treasure myself!"

But as soon as Volly approaches the chest, everything goes up in purple smoke...



...and Volly's sent back to Liberte...



...in a cat form!



She's totally lost!



And all because of too much greed!



:/
Volly the cat may be adorable, but she can't communicate with anyone but Lilibelle. The fairy, being kind-hearted, suggests that Volly should seek the fairy queen of Arbor's help and offers to guide her through the animal path to Guera and then to Arbor.



Lilibelle also presents Volly with the Fairy Map, which is the same map Volly the white cat will soon give to Codexer in Guera. And so the pretty princess and the fairy leave for Arbor together.
First, however, they have to make it through the Animal Burrow:



A frightening bear blocks their path!



He sees through Volly's appearance and attacks -- slaying our princess in a scripted battle!



Lilibelle sacrifices herself so Volly can live on.



Jumping ahead of ourselves, we're going to prevent Lilibelle's death when we travel back to the past in the second part of the game. So no worries.
Lilibelle gives Volly her wings so that she could cross the Fairy Path in the north:



The Crystal appears and awards Volly with the Bard and Bandit crowns.
Finally Volly reaches Guera and joins forces with Codexer, in a scene we already witnessed earlier.



Volly and Codexer head north and then through the Fairy Path to Arbor, the fairy kingdom:



hings don't go smoothly, however. Once Codexer and Volly the Cute White Cat enter Arbor, Codexer gets enveloped by some greenish tentacles suddenly arising from the ground. Everything goes next-gen and the Codexer gets frozen in one place! Oh noez!



The screen fades to black and the action switches back to Liberte.



It looks like he's still a true BRO at heart.
A mysterious black cat approaches BRO:



The cat keeps on, uhm, hitting BRO's leg, making him think it's actually Volly:



BRO's mistaken, however: as we know, Black Cat isn't Volly's alt. She's just a black cat, pure and simple.



And so BRO decides to travel with Black Cat to figure out how to lift her curse:



King Liberte is totally worthless and no help in this matter:




BRO's next destination is in fact Urbeth, the trading town in the north:



BRO and Black Cat make it through the Hunting Caves...



...and arrive in Urbeth:



Four merchant lords rule Urbeth:



Their names are Bylion, Mylion, Trylion and Thauzand. Later we'll get to know they used to be priests, but then abandoned their faith and got obsessed with money -- which was the work of the demon Beelzebub. Whenever there's evil, a demon is involved for sure! :twisted:
BRO meets SMA who got totally peniless on her way here:



An evil sorcerer lives in one of Urbeth's alleys, and he sells puppets to the local populace:



He's a puppeteer, meaning something demonic is afoot. The puppets are said to keep away bad spirits...



...but do they?
BRO and Black Cat pay the sorcerer a visit:



He offers to lift the curse ... for 10000 gil! What a greedy bastard! With Thauzand's help we do, however, earn enough money to pay him.



The sorcerer promises to lift the curse and takes our kuroneko, telling us to come back tomorrow:



We head to the inn and rest, when suddenly in the middle of the night...



Oh fuckity fuck! And to think we gave our dear Blackity Cat away to that bloody sorcerer bastard!!




It's up to BRO and SMA to get rid of all the monsters! Including the most powerful one called simply Demon:



We emerge victorious, but the sorcerer has already run away, taking Black Cat with him:



An NPC thinks the north is where the Sorcerer is originally from:



All evil tends to be thought of as residing in the north, you know.
Thauzand helps BRO obtain a ship...



...and BRO sets sail after the evil sorcerer!



But only after leaving our poor SMA behind:



Yup, SMA's left behind ... again!



The action switches back to Volly.
Volly's totally upset about Codexer being turned into a plant:



What should she do?



And so Volly decides to explore Arbor and ask around a bit. She discovers the reason behind Codexer's lamentable condition:



Hmm, so there's only one way to fix that...



Yup! Codexer too must be turned into an animal!
But for that, Volly need the Animal Staff hidden among the roots of the Great Tree:



She enters the Great Tree Roots dungeon... and stumbles into a weird-looking mouse!



Volly herself is no less scared:




Having calmed down a bit, the mouse introduces himself as Torte, a wizard mouse:



Torte joins Volly, and together they find the Animal Staff:



And then she uses it on Codexer, turning him into a dog:







Torte suggests they should pay a visit to the Arbor Queen. The queen welcomes Torte back:



It appears that Torte was sent on a mission to inspect the roots of the Great Tree. He informs the queen that the roots are growing weak and then asks her to help Volly and Codexer turn back human. The queen agrees but asks for a favor in return:



Arbaroc, the guardian bird of Arbor, has been possessed by a demon and needs to be cured:



Naturally, Volly and Codexer agree to meet Arbaroc.
A dreadful situation is hinted at, by the way:



It'd indeed be cool if Arbor, so innocent- and fairy-taley-looking, turned out to be a city of the cursed! Unfortunately, however, the game soon forgets about that. :/
But anywayz...



...let's go pay Arbaroc a visit!
Volly, Codexer and Torte climb atop the Great Tree -- and things are looking bad indeed:



Arbaroc attacks and is slain. :/ So much for "bringing him to his senses", as the queen asked us to do...



But did we do the right thing?



Nope, not really. All our heroes have been doing is making things worse, yay!
The queen is disappoint but still thanks us and turns us back human.



The Animal Staff is turned into the Transform Staff, and now we can change form at will!
Torte leaves the party, and Volly wonders about SMA:







Then Codexer asks Volly about BRO:



Volly says BRO got sick of and abandoned her. Quite a situation!
When Volly and BRO return to Queen Arbor, she tells them she can't lift Horne's curse:



She does suggest a way, though:



To get to Spelvia, we must climb atop the Great Tree again and ... jump! Spelvia is a floating city, you know, and it's passing near Arbor at this very moment.



We see Spelvia passing close by the Great Tree.



Our heroes become agitated:



They turn into animals to jump across the chasm! Volly makes it, but Codexer doesn't...



Codexer lands near Arbor, all alone, and returns to the queen:



The queen suggests Spelvia can be reached through Invidia, a town in the north.



Going north and north and north, Codexer finds himself somewhere snowy:



Beautiful!
There's a solitary cave in the north which he enters.



Making his way through the North Caverns, he comes across a hole he can only squeeze through in his animal form:



Yup!



And the action switches to BRO again!



Will he be able to make it?



Invidia is where Codexer is headed to as well!
BRO arrives to a northwestern shore:



Going east, he makes it to the land of snow:



And enters the Ice Caverns from the other side:



Having crawled through it, he catches up with the evil sorcerer!



BRO defeats the Sorcerer...



...but the fight doesn't end here!



Fortunately, Codexer comes to BRO's rescue:




And so Behugemoth is defeated.



Black Cat, however, escapes via the northern corridor!




BRO and Codexer follow the cat and arrive to Invidia:




There Black Cat is revealed to be a simple cat roll...



...and BRO and Codexer meet Rekoteh, a true sis:



In order to fly to Spelvia, we must awaken the dragon!



And in order to wake the dragon up, we must hatch the egg.
Neither brute force nor fire works though...



A song to awaken dragons?



The Dragon Harp is hidden beneath Invidia...



But naturally we obtain it!



We use the harp on the egg...




A dragon appears!



Isn't he a cutie?



Magnificent wings?
Rekoteh asks us to take her along:



Oh, and her brother is the same hero Rolan we're looking for!




And off to Spelvia they fly!



Meanwhile, SMA was still in Urbeth, having been left behind by BRO!







Now that's the spirit!
To reach Spelvia, SMA must climb Urbeth's Tower to the Sky and then use Rainbow Boots to climb the rainbow that will lead her right to the floating city. You see, the Tower to the Sky was meant to reach Spelvia, but they didn't really build it high enough. Good thing the merchant lord Mylion is here to help:



He lets us have the boots in exchange for some Mythril which SMA easily obtains.
And so she reaches the top of the tower:



And climbs the rainbow...



...reaching the dungeon underneath the city:



Here she meets a white cat!



It is of course Volly:



SMA goes a-crying:



Volly didn't quite expect that, it seems:



Why, really?




The two girls join forces...



...yay!...



...and reach the surface of Spelvia:



There's a tombstone to Rolan's companion, Mother Dragon, here:



And Rolan himself has gone insane:



He has surrounded himself by robots who attack human on sight!



That's why we have to change into animals to explore Rolan's palace.



The robots are totally badass:




Per Rolan's diary, he's not really up to being a hero, it seems:



He's totally emo, in fact!




In this game, a lonely emo hero is destined to fail.




And that means Volly and SMA must pay a visit inside Rolan's soul by entering the Fountain of Hope!



Rolan himself -- or rather, a part of him -- joins them here.
In order to change the nature of a man called Rolan and free him from the demons possessing him, they must slay all the monsters inside as well as play an annoying catch-me-if-you can minigame.



Only then can they open the main door to his heart:



A lot of emo dialogue follows, but finally...



...we win, yay! It may seem that everything should be back to normal, but in fact it's not. In fact, Volly and SMA have just kicked the Apocalypse into motion!



It's at this moment that the rest of the party arrives to Spelvia:



A bit of drama ensues...




...but finally the party is reunited!

Rolan himself isn't happy to see us, though:



He's possessed by a demon -- by Lucifer, in fact -- and so we defeat him.
Rekoteh arrives:



We have some more urgent business, however, than looking after the failed hero:



Hell yeah, we must go back in time to prevent the end of the world and slay all the demons!



Witch of the Sky: Brave people -- brave HEROES -- must travel to each nation of the world and quiet this raging storm of darkness...

And you all know what happened next: we slayed all the eight archdemons, and the Schwarzwelt thingie appeared!



So much for reminding you how it all began. Now it's time to deal with the Dark Lord himself! Stay tuned, yay!

The real update incoming in a couple of days.