Let's Sperg Skies of Arcadia: Legends - A JRPG that is not permanently stuck up its own ass

Last update was a bit of story, but I missed some bits. Let's check in with our favorite asshole, Lord Galcian! On board his flagship "The Serpent" (Could this fucker get any more obviously evil, I swear), he requests Fina be brought to him. Galcian calls her by her name, which confuses Fina. How does he know? There's a reason but it's a massive spoiler, open the below spoiler at your own peril.

Ramirez is actually Rami, and a member of the lost Silver Civilization like Fina. Since Ramirez led the ground troops on Pirate Isle I have no idea how they missed each other, but I guess it makes it more dramatic this way. Fina remembered the phrase of "replace Rami" in her little unconscious dream when Vyse and company rescued her the first time, and the reason Rami needs replacing is he's firmly on Galcian's side now.

Galcian ignores her question and says that, as a member of the Silver Civilization, she has information that can help them. Fina in turn ignores the shit out of him, mostly because she's still cuffed. She's smart enough to not try to barter for her freedom with the obviously evil prick, which makes her smarter than like, 90% of Valua. As Galcian is getting nothing from the brick wall of Fina, he tells her to enjoy the comforts of the brig until they reach Valua.

Valuans are dicks counter: 3

This all happened before we left Pirate Isle a second time, by the by. Regardless, back on the Little Jack, our course is set for Sailor Island. Before we get there, we're interrupted by a free doctor who asks us on board. He introduces himself, and the girl with him, as well as her bird Piccolo. He asks us to seek out Moonfish, creatures invisible to the naked eye, but gives us a special crystal lens so we can see them with Vyse's first person camera mode (press Y to do it).

We can get three of them right this moment. If you head back to Pirate Isle, head to the underground hangar. From the save point, turn to the ramp and go towards the edge on its left side. Down below, you'll see a faint shimmer and your audio cue will go off. Look down and find the moonfish. There's a second one on Pirate Isle but it's on the Lookout Island which is currently inaccessible. We'll get it in a bit.

Once you have your Moonfish, head to Sailor's Isle. We have a lot of business here, but for starters, Drachma ditches us. This will be a common thread, to the point the game makes a laugh of it later on with "Drachma has left the party...again". First off: There's better weapons for Vyse and Drachma in the shop, but don't worry about upgrading armor for Vyse at least-we're about to get an upgrade anyway. Secondly, head to the inn and go to the second floor. In one of the rooms (the one with the blue bed) is a treasure chest, and on the balcony, you can pick up another Moonfish. Similarly, in the alleyway next to the tavern, you can grab another moonfish. The small garden-ish area next to the Sailor's Guild also has a treasure chest. Finally, ascend the light house and find a balloon caught on a window. Interact with it to get a Message In A Bottle. This will come into play much, MUCH later.

After you've bought your shit and collected the collectables, head to the ship's merchant store, marked by a Ship's Wheel. The guy inside will tell you about a Harpoon Cannon in Valua, something that can allow smaller ships to go toe to toe with bigger ones. Say...Drachma did say he needed a cannon that could take out that space whale...

Head back to the tavern. Drachma is here. When given the option, choose to beat around the bush. This frustrates Drachma, and with the help of the tavernkeeper Polly, he agrees to take us back on board. There is a problem, we need a Valuan passport and Drachma doesn't have one. Neither do we.

Asking at the Sailors Guild, the guy in charge says it'll take a full lunar cycle. Aika asks about a forgery and the dude flips his fucking stack, worried about, you know, being found out and executed for it. Aika calls him a coward, which I think is somewhat unfair to a man attempting to run a legit business. However, a nearby merchant overhears us and offers us his passport in exchange for an escort home to the desert country of Nasr. A ruthless pirate has been spotted on the route, hence his need for backup.

Accept and return to the little Jack. Head back to the ship with the doctor on it, a red sailed ship near Sailor's Isle. Cash in your moonfish for the following rewards: A Riselem Crystal, a crystal that duplicates a high level Silver spell that revives and fully heals a knocked out ally. Allies don't stay KO'd in this game, after the battle, anyone at 0 gets up with 1 HP left. They also get no XP. Riselem allows us to rez an ally mid battle. We also get the Warrior Rune and the Flame Mantle, a high powered accessory that boosts Attack, Defense, Hit% and Dodge chance. Give it to Vyse, along with the Flame Mantle, a kick ass piece of armor that is supposedly a dress, but neither of the female characters can use it. Drachma is beastly enough to not need either item, you can give the warrior rune to Aika but I figured I'd boost my other physical fighter.

Now it's time to take to the skies. Head east into the desert, and we'll eventually hit a cutscene trigger. Said trigger is running into Black Pirate Baltor's ship, the Blackbeard. He calls the Little Jack an old ship, and says they have nothing to fear. How wrong they are...

Welcome to Ship Battles. Yo-Ho-Ho, bitch!

SHIP BATTLE 1: The Blackbeard
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The first ship battle is not too difficult. It's mostly an intro and a warm up. Bear in mind that each cannon requires Spirit to operate, and note that the stats of the acting character do apply: Aika gets more out of a guard, for example, while Drachma is a million times better on the cannons.

My technique for this fight was to focus on the entire first turn, use second turn to heal and take a pot shot on the C! space (those spaces have you dealing extra damage) and then guard on the yellow space (enemies are more likely to attack and deal more damage on Yellow and Red Spaces). The third turn has a choice before it-Balfor attempts to maneuver behind the Little Jack. Counter by getting around him, and you'll have a full turn to blow his ass away.

One last detail: Spells are cranked up to ship scale when used. Right now you can only use heals and buffs, but even Sacri is cranked up to 4,000 HP instead of 500. Same with Sacres, it does 8,000 instead of 1,000. Sacrulen is a full heal either way. Increm and Quika last for only a few turns, so make the most of them when you do use them-typically right before a "full broadsides" turn.

Once he's down, you'll get a Captain's Stripe and a Bomb. The Stripe gives the Little Jack 1,000 extra HP, and I believe any used on the Jack carry over to our next ship. Continue heading east, and you'll complete your mission, escorting the Nasr merchant home and getting our Valuan Passport.

Next Time: Valua! Attempted Child Murder! Plans that would make Jack Sparrow proud! All this, and more!

BONUS CONTENT: Music: Sailor's Island (Plays on Sailor's Island...duh)
Little Jack (Plays when piloting the Little Jack)
Bombardment (Ship Battle Theme)

Blackbeard Battle Video
 
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God we need a SoA rerelease, I saw Legends on sale at a local game shop and it was priced at a hundred bucks.
 
d12 said:
God we need a SoA rerelease, I saw Legends on sale at a local game shop and it was priced at a hundred bucks.
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It's going to be a few months until the next Sega Questionnaire.

They just had the Sakura Wars one and it's asking about stuff like the other 5 games and the new and old anime series and the OAVs which means those are probably next to be re-released.
 
So I took a day off updating because of D&D (who would have thought, the Let's Sperg guy is a NERDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!) but now I'm back, and we're going to Valua. If you haven't cashed in the Moonfish, do so now, we're not leaving Valua for some time. Also, there's a tiny ass island just a little east of Sailor's Island. Investigate it to find the Signposts, a minor Discovery.

After feeding two Moonfish to the bird, we get a cutscene of Doc explaining that Maria hasn't spoken in years. Aika thinks Maria is his daughter, but Doc explains she's actually the child of a Valuan admiral named Mendosa. Mendosa has a massive impact on the plot despite already being dead. All we have of him is this image, with Maria on his shoulder and Doc in the background. Doc explains that a terrible accident happened and Maria was the sole survivor of the family. Doc then begs Vyse to get more Moonfish, however, we will not be getting any new ones for an update or two.

Flying North from Sailor's Island gets us to Valua. You'll know you're there when the sky turns black and thundering. A cutscene plays and we are introduced to the Grand Fortress, Valua's front door. So yeah...getting in is tough. Getting out is harder. The gate opens twice a day for merchant ships and that's it.

So of course we're heading inside.

The party docks in Lower City, the poor section of Valua. It's definitely got an Industrial Revolution vibe to it, and looks all kinds of nasty. Speaking of, this shot is to make things easy: Head to that location on the minimap and enter the mini tunnel, heading to the end to get a pair of Sacres Crystals. We can buy some upgrades for our party but the only one that won't be instantly replaced is the Valuarang for Aika (which sounds like a bad joke-"Who rang? Valuarang!"). Vyse with his Flame Mantle is already packing way more defense, we'll get better weapons and armor for Vyse and Drachma shortly. Spend your cash on healing items instead. Get some Curia Crystals as I think this is the first place you can buy them.

Speaking of, Drachma ditched the party to go oversee the installation of the Harpoon Cannon. He'll be back before we do any fighting.

Head along to the next area to meet an NPC that'll have some story significance: Marco. Right now we just trade some barbs, and eventually move along, taking an elevator down to where the "inn" is. It's practically a ramshackle hut, but it's our room for the night.

Vyse comments that he's been having issues sleeping, as he's been stuck on a hammock in the Little Jack's engine room. Drachma comes in right behind him as he's complaining and points out the Jack was only meant for him. The party discusses the plan after learning the execution is tomorrow. We get a choice and the correct one is to sneak into the Coliseum, where the public execution will take place. After deciding on the plan, a noise is heard-we have an eavesdropper.

Aika helps Vyse just anime jump to the inn roof, and then we engage in a chase across rooftops. The arrows tell you where to go. My walkthrough says you can get a sacri crystal here but I never found it and it isn't a chest so I don't think it counts.

In the end, Vyse catches up to and grabs our eavesdropper, it's Marco from before! Marco threatens to tell on us to the guards, and Drachma calls his bluff in the most brutal way: He is ready to fucking kill Marco by way of Rocket Fist to the face. Marco dares him to do it, as he has nothing to live for, and Drachma gives not one fuck for his pity party, possibly only hesitating because Aika implores him not to murder a literal child.

Vyse asks him about the sewer grate Marco opened in an effort to flee us. He says it leads to the Catacombs, a sewer system that's been there since the Old World. Vyse asks if we can get to the Coliseum from there. Marco says yes, but considers Vyse crazy. Vyse responds by comparing his situation to a maelstrom, and that even in the middle of a storm, there's always a way out. Might be hard to see, but he's going to press on. Vyse then tells Marco to come to the Coliseum tomorrow, so Marco can see something he's never seen before.

Vyse has some gigantic balls.

With that, we return to the inn and spend the night. It's time to head to the Catacombs, but before we descend, note this map position. There's a ramp that goes down to the East, descend it and slip through the barrel filled tunnel to find a small house. Upstairs is a chest with a Moonberry. Give this to Drachma to unlock Tackle, it will be insanely useful for the next few fights.

Next time: Catacombs and the Valuan Boss Rush!
 
So this next part can cause some problems for lower level parties. I recommend a baby bit of grinding down in the Catacombs, if you get Vyse and Aika to level 10, you should be able to handle what's to come. Keep that in mind.

The Valuan Catacombs are the king of linear dungeons, it's literally a single straight path with two forks, that's all. Head east at the first fork to pick up a Pyri Box and a few Curia Crystals. Boxes are interesting, they have multiple charges of a single spell and can therefore be used repeatedly until they break. I ended up not using them much though. At the next fork, head south for an Assassin's Blade and a set of Heavy Armor. Give Vyse the blade and Drachma the armor.

Now, enemies: The little bats called Tsirats are the weakest here, they possess 42 HP and go down quick. However, they do have the Electri spell (a line based lightning bolt) and HP Absorb. You also may have fought them outside Valua if you got into a random encounter on the way here. Next, we have Drallnogs, a slime type enemy, with the power to inflict poison with its basic attack, as well as a poison explosion-think if Final Fantasy Bombs had poison tacked on as well. it can also use the Eterni spell, the first "Instant-kill" spell in the game, and also has "Magic?" an ability that literally wastes a turn. It's basically the Splash of Skies of Arcadia. A quick Pyri will usually take out any of these guys that pop up.

Here, we have the Dementis, originally known as the Mind Stealer. They're tanky, but only have a physical attack with a poison chance tacked on. No biggy. They can drop a Mace Hand for Drachma, a powerful but inaccurate weapon. If you want to min-max you can swap his arm out mid battle, and use the Mace Arm for his Super Moves, but Tackle does enough damage without having to min-max the fucking thing.

Crylhounds are next in our wonderful mystery tour, they're fast, but that's it. They also have the Quika spell. They're getting blown out here by Aika's Alpha Storm because they're green, and red is good on them. They can drop their claws, an accessory that increases Attack by 2 and Accuracy by 20%, useless if you have the Warrior Rune. Rounding out the monster list is a Basillah, aka a Rodent of Unusual Size. Nothing to them besides basic attacks.

Most of the monsters are pretty easy, Poison is the one thing to really watch for. Poison won't last after the fight, but it is annoying during it, and your only way to heal it is the Curia Crystals that I fucking told you to stock up on. Did you? Oh you didn't? Oh this is gonna be rough for you. (If you did stock up, then congrats! You're a smart cookie!)

While the area is linear and at times, not super visually appealing, it does have an awesome moment of running over a storm cloud on a damaged section of floor. When you get here, you're close to the end, if the immediately following save point didn't tell you that. Save and heal, the boss fight is a bit of a doozy...

BOSS FIGHT: BLEIGOCK
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Our boy has three moves, none of which are honestly that scary, but still, eyes open. His basic attacks can inflict Poison, and he also has a Poisonous Bile move where he literally upchucks all over the party, dealing damage to everyone and potentially dealing poison. He also has a Frost Breath, which also hits the whole party for some damage but no extra effect.

So here's the plan: Aika should Increm both Vyse and Drachma as they lay down the smackdown. Set your physical fighters to using Red element for extra damage. If anyone gets poisoned, use a Curia Crystal, preferably with Aika. Build up Spirit and let Drachma let loose with a Tackle when you can. Have Aika Focus when she isn't healing, and use crystals to heal, we'll need as much MP as we can going forward. Honestly this boss isn't tough, he's just tanky and has some hard hitting moves. Last note, the Drallnogs (the slimes) cna drop an Ivy Band that renders the wearer immune to poison. Useful if you're worried about it.

Once the boss is down, save your game before heading on, as yet another boss fight awaits. Climbing the ladder, we reach the Coliseum, where big dog Dyne is about to get his head lopped off. Marco appears in the crowd, and thinks we gave up-only for Vyse to appear, tackle the guard on his dad, and bust everyone else of the crew out, leading them below ground. The Executioner, a little pissed at us, jumps down and begins battle with us!

BOSS BATTLE: EXECUTIONER
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The Executioner is tough, and appears with a pair of guards for backup. These guys are called Venificus, and they die first. They can cast Crystali, Increm, and Sacri. If they get an Increm off on the Executioner, this fight becomes miles more difficult than it needs to be, where it would almost be better to reset. Luckily, Vyse and Drachma can, with Increm buffs, handle each one in a turn's worth of attacks.

The Executioner doesn't have any status tricks, he just hits like a runaway truck looking to Isekai some unlucky protagonist. Unfortunately, the only other world he sends people to is one of pain and misery and death. Watch for Tackle, a literal runaway truck of a move, it's a souped up version of Drachma's super that hits all enemies on a line, not a single target. Also, he has Sonic Wave, a much wider line attack (you can see Aika got hit too). Not as painful, still something to be open for.

Since you have no elemental weakness to exploit (stupid Yellow element enemies!) just buff up Vyse and Drachma, kill the spell slingers first, get your Spirit up and have Drachma use his own Tackle. Basically as long as you don't walk in half dead, you should be okay. It ends up being a slugfest...so slug it out.

Once he's down, Vyse takes a bow and drops back into the sewers. A new door is open for us, courtesy of Marco, and our crew is behind it. We'll get to them in the next update, where we go and save Fina once again!

BONUS CONTENT: Bleigock Boss
Executioner Boss Fight
 
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Gravityqueen4life said:
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For the confused, we're going to meet him in this update!

So there's actually been quite a bit of action on the villain front I've been skipping lately. I will fix that. While Vyse entered Valua, Galcian was busy summoning all Admirals of the Valuan Armada. Galcian reports that they now have a member of the Silver Civilization in custody. Our friend Alfonso tries to claim credit, but we know the truth...and so does Galcian.

An older admiral, Gregario, speaks little through this meeting. He's old guard and probably hates being stuck here. His personality will become more apparent later.

Our Chad friend is named Admiral Vigoro, and immediately works himself into a frenzy of how sexy the captured lady might be, hoping that Fina is feisty and into leather. Vigoro would definitely want someone to step on him.

Our token diversity hire, Admiral Belleza, is the sole lady of the group and also the espionage expert. She already knows exactly how Fina looks and acts, and that she is on her way to the Imperial Palace.

De Loco is our last admiral, and if you don't immediately get Kefka vibes, it's because he doesn't have enough clown makeup on. De Loco is the Weapons R&D guy, a fact that will come to hurt us in a short time.

Galcian states that Fina will assist in the gathering of the crystals, but he has other business first. Alfonso is high on his shit list, and he reveals to all the admirals gathered that he lied in his report, his men returned to Valua safely and filed a "full and ACCURATE report" as Galcian puts it. He strips Alfonso of his command of Mid Ocean and sends him to Ixa'taka. We don't know what that is yet...or at least first timers don't...but we will.

Back on the hero front, we meet up with our crew in the secret room Marco has graciously unlocked for us. The two chests in this room have some healing items for us, make use of them as you may be running a bit low-especially on MP (there's 4 Magic Droplets here). Don't heal Drachma however, as he's about to temporarily split with us.

Speaking with Dyne, he chides us for being late, and Vyse snarks that he's not ready to take over as head of the Dyne family yet. Head. HEAD. HAAAAAAAAAAA-

Dyne reveals that they split Fina from the rest of them, and Vyse thinks up a plan. Selecting "we have to save Fina" is the correct option, and Vyse, reading the situation he's just caused, knows the guards are scattered and the island is in chaos. It'll be tough, but now is the best chance to save Fina. Vyse demonstrates he has real intelligence! And doesn't just go charging it like 90% of other JRPG Protagonists! Good writing, it's POSSIBLE!

The plan is to get to Upper City and board a train to the Palace. Luckily, the new route we've opened allows us to get there. Drachma splits to go get the Little Jack ready, leaving us with only Vyse and Aika. To aid us, Dyne gives us his Yellow Moon Stone, allowing us to use and start learning Lightning attacks and spells. We're going to spoiler the stat discussion, see below.

The first, third, fourth, and sixth spells we pick up are the Electri chain (Electri/Electres/Electrum/Electrulen). The first two are lightning damage on a line, while the third and fourth are cone shaped "V" attacks. Powerful, especially against Silver and Blue foes.

The second and fifth spells are the Drillnos line of Drilln and Drilnos. These spells are the opposite of Increm, reducing attack and defense by 25%. Drilln is single target, Drilnos hits everyone. If affected, not only is the debuff permanent unless cleansed or otherwise removed (it doesn't "wear off" except in ship fights), it also makes any Increm spells "miss". Drilln can overwrite Increm I think, but not the other way around.

Did I mention bosses are not immune to everything like they usually are?...Bosses are not immune to everything.

Continuing on, there's no treasure on the next path so just book it for the ending, a ladder leading up to Upper City. Marco begs us not to go because in the few moments he's known us, we've become the coolest fuckers he knows. Vyse, however, explains that he has no cares for the word "impossible", and he is always looking to challenge the unknown. Don't know your limits unless you push them, right? Marco asks if Vyse thinks he could ever be a sailor. Vyse says he'll be waiting in the skies for him. Turns out it'll be Marco waiting for us in the end, but hey, the thought counts.

Meanwhile, at the Imperial Palace, we meet Empress Teodora-or "Queen Bitch" as the friend who introduced me to this game calls her. She proclaims that Valua will rule all, and that Fina will help them...however, her son, Prince Enrique raises a few small objections. Teodora ignores him completely. Mom of the year! Enrique is actually going to end up one of our party members for a long ass time. As a Valuan, he learns Yellow Magic even faster than Fina does, but as for the rest of him...we'll get there.

Teodora explains the plot for us: There are 6 Moon Crystals throughout the world, able to control powerful beings known as Gigas. Teodora demands that Fina tell them where they are. Fina says, quite bluntly, "I will die before I tell you". The sheer brass balls on this woman...in the middle of the Imperial Palace, surrounded by enemies, and not only does she proclaim she would rather die first, she also calls Teodora a power hungry dictator to her face.

Teodora predictably flips out and demands that Fina be executed for her insolence. But wait, isn't she the only way you guys will find the Moon Crystals? Yes, Teodora is not the smartest Empress in the universe. Fina doesn't get killed but does receive a bonk on the head for her actions.

Galcian manages to cool things down and requests permission to add a new Admiral to the ranks. He has someone in mind...Ramirez. The name shocks Fina, perhaps she recognizes it? SPOILER: She does.

Back to our heroes. Upper City is kind of uninteresting, you can get insulted by a few nobles, but that isn't what we're here for. Instead, we head across a bridge that has Vyse and Aika see Fina being loaded onto a train, and Vyse decides its time for a train job. They jump onto the train from the bridge, Vyse lands fine, Aika...not so much.

The train does have random encounters, the enemies are not too scary. They can heal each other and cast a couple spells, that's it. The real threat is Galcian...

Galcian shows up at the Coliseum, way after all this. He knows instantly what's going on and who we're gunning for. He quickly takes control, ordering the gates closed and the royal rail car dispatched, all so he can show up on the train right behind us. He throws off his cloak to reveal a massive fuck off sword, and Aika correctly states that we can't handle him.

Galcian will slowly advance towards the party. As long as you are at least half awake, you can outrun him. Head towards the front of the train, and Vyse and Aika will jump into the train car holding Fina, for a...sort of boss battle? (Incidentally, I think dying to Galcian prompts a continue with Vyse saying it won't end this way, but I didn't feel like checking)

BOSS BATTLE: ROYAL GUARD
Pictured: Fina being useless.
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The bosses here are a pair of Royal Guards (Sceptrum Praeses in the GC version). They have access to Sacri and Electri, and with the narrow field of battle, Electres is more likely to hit us both. They also have a Counterstance for their Guard, this is similar to Vyse's Counterstrike but with no fancy animation-they just guard, and guarantee a counter attack on normal physical hits.

Strategy is simple: Increm Vyse and have him use Cutlass Fury. These things have about 600 health, and go down pretty quickly. The hard part is just how beat up your party is with no time to rest, hence the need for tons of healing items.

Once you've beaten them, Galcian shows up in the train car. He promises to spare everyone in exchange for Fina, but we, as good Swashbucklers, tell him to get bent. Just then, the Little Jack shows up, and blows the train car in fucking half! Dyne says we were late, so they came to get us. Somehow, Vyse and Aika board the Jack, and we take off towards the slowly closing gates with a blockade in front of them...oh joy.

This fight is meant to teach you about Special Cannons. Don't attack, and instead Focus on round 1. Then in the second round, have someone use Increm just before the Special Cannon space (marked with a spear-like symbol), and have Drachma use the Harpoon Cannon. The enemy ship should go down in one hit.

Once the blockade is blown to shreds, the Little Jack just barely manages to escape the closing Grand Fortress Gate, and having humiliated the entire Valuan Empire, the crew all flies on home to Pirate Isle. Congratulations-you've just survived the Boss Rush.

(Videos will come later, fuckers gotta upload) BONUS CONTENT:
Royal Guard Video Fight
Valuan Blockade Shipfight
 
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Welcome back, good Hunters.

After escaping the Grand Fortress, the team heads home to Pirate Isle. After the requisite thanks for saving her, Vyse asks Fina why the Valuans are so keenly interested in her and what her mission actually is. While she is sworn to secrecy, since we've saved her ass twice, Fina opens up to us. Her mission is to go around the world and collect 6 Moon Crystals, one for each of the Moons, and prevent people from using the Gigas ever again. She also tells us she is a descendant of the Silver Civilization, a mystical, long lost precursor type civilization of highly advanced tech. She also tells us of the Rains of Destruction that put an end to the War of the Gigas by killing untold millions and breaking the world into pieces.

Wasn't this supposed to be a lighthearted game? Guess not.

Regardless, Vyse jumps at this opportunity. Fina asks us to go along and Vyse was already all in because hey-explore the world and see what's beyond the sunset, right? Fina also introduces us to her shapeshifting weapon, Cupil. Fina has 0 weapon training so Cupil is her weapon. Leveling Cupil requires us to find Chams throughout the world and feed them to him, along with special Abrik Chams, to achieve higher forms. Cupil starts weak, not helped by Fina's abysmal physical stats, and doesn't really finish strong, but we're gonna get as much use out of him as possible.

Fina also gives us the Silver Moon Stone, which allows us to finally get an elemental edge on Yellow aspected enemies. It also lets us learn and use Silver Magic. Finally, Fina joins us for real. I've already mentioned her physical abilities are trash, however, her magic is through the roof and her specials...oh boy.

Special 1: Lunar Blessing: 1 Moonberry, 12 SP. Fina asks the moons for their blessing, granting the party Regeneration of 200 HP per turn. As you may suspect, this is a pretty laughable amount once you're able to cast this at will. It has its uses, but don't expect it to really help. This is also the only known way to get a Regen type effect in this game, so bear that in mind.

Special 2: Lunar Glyph. 1 Moonberry, 3 SP. Fina asks the moons to petrify her enemies, and the moons answer. Lunar Glyph does a tiny amount of damage, but it has a chance to petrify an enemy. This chance is way higher than you think, and even works on some bosses. Petrification is temporary, but while it lasts, the enemy takes no actions. Since it wears off, it will not result in an instant win, nor will it result in an instant loss if you're hit with it. Very potent and very cheap, with just Vyse, Aika, and Fina around you can use this every turn.

Special 3: Lunar Cleansing. 2 Moonberries, 6 SP. Fina simply purifies all status ailments on the party, including the weaken effects caused by Drilnos. It's essentially multi-target Curia, and very potent. Since it's not magical, Fina can use this move while silenced. Quite potent against bosses that dish out multiple people worth of status ailments.

Special 4: Lunar Winds. 2 Moonberries, 6 SP. Cupil takes the wheel on this one, sucking in a bunch of air before blowing out a windstorm that whispers a little something in your ear: "Nice buffs you got there...be a shame if something...DISPELLED THEM!" Lunar Winds does a small amount of magic damage to all enemies, but that isn't what we're here for. It dispels all buffs on the enemy, and as far as I know, is the only way to do this. On bosses, this typically causes them to casts those buffs again...only for Fina to smack 'em back down. It's fun to AI Loop!

Special 5: Lunar Light: 4 Moonberries, 18 SP. If Fina is not dead, the battle is not over. Lunar Light does the following: Revives all party members, heals all party members to full, and cleanses all debuffs on all party members. It's a full party Riselem, Curia, and Sacrulen all in one, tidy, 18 Spirit package. Whoever said being the healer was boring never played Skies of Arcadia.

Curia is the first spell of Silver Magic we learn, and it simply cleanses all debuffs for 2 SP. Very nice, very useful, Fina starts with it and only it.

Risan and Riselem are the second and fourth silver magic spells learned. Risan has a 50% chance of raising an unconscious party member with 50% of their health. Riselem is a guaranteed rez with a full heal attached. Risan is basically useless, Riselem is awesome. Done.

Eterni, Eternes, and Eternum are the third, fifth, and sixth silver magic spells learned. They all have a chance of causing Instant Death. Eterni is single target, Eternes hits the entire enemy field, and Eternum is the same but with some potent magic damage if it fails to kill. Bosses generally won't go down to these, and they are much more lethal aimed at you. Do bear in mind that Eterni and Eternes do not do damage on a failed attempt, only Eternum does.

After the cutscene, we're on Lookout Isle. Grab the Moonfish and head on out. Down in the underground harbor is where Fina introduces us to Chams-we can't see them, but Cupil can, and will make noises based on how close we are. Yep. Another frustrating game of hot and cold for our collectables. You'll know your close when this symbol appears in the upper left.

Making it downstairs, Dyne waits for us at the Little Jack. We discuss our plan of action. The nearest Moon Crystals are the Yellow one in Valua, so fat chance of getting that one. The Red Moon Crystal, however, is in Nasr to the east. We can make it there pretty easy, since Dyne points out the Little Jack's Harpoon Cannon will let it punch right through stone reefs, which block us from getting to the part of Nasr we wanna go to. That said: We have some side business to conclude first, so let's handle that, then get going to Nasr!
 
Guess what? It's side content time.

Our first stop is, weirdly, Shrine Island. There's a Cham to be found and this one is permanently missable if you get all the way to endgame without grabbing it. You have to go down a level until you reach the staircase to where you fought the boss. Face the staircase from the top, and go to the left. At the end of the raised platform is a Cham. Aim for about this position on the map.

Now for some Discoveries! Head east from Shrine Island and punch through the stone reef. You'll be in a narrow corridor flanked by sky rifts with a couple islands. Head to the island furthest south before you reach the Rifts and spam the A button to find the Sky Coral. Spin your ship 'round north and fly along the east side of the grayish island, spamming A again to eventually find the Silver Moon Pit, about here-ish.

Return to Sailor's Island and claim the 1,000 G bounty for Blackbeard. You'll also be given a Black Spot, a message from the Angel of Death. We're not going to mess with it right now, no one in our party is tough enough to take it on at the moment, especially not Fina who started at level 1. Cash in your discoveries too, or wait til later. Also, after escaping Valua, when you return to Sailor's Island, we'll meet our rival for Discoveries, Domingo. He finds stuff first if we do plot without going and finding these invisible bastards, so I guess we have to go find them now...

You can fly back towards Valua to engage in ship battles against Valuan ships. You actually need to do like 12 of them to get the Legend Pirate Rank, so give it a go-they're powerful, but not too tough.

Head east from Sailor's Island, and then a bit south east through a stone reef. DON'T fly directly to Maramba, the town in this area. We have stuff to do. When you enter, Aika shares some tall tales from sailors about the desert, how your hair catches on fire if you walk around too much. These strange tales are amusing and accompanied with silly drawings that I like.

Yafutoma gets the best one-you'll see it.

Fly southeast from the town of Maramba and spam A while flying at the little mountain range to find Topple Rock. Head further east to find a floating and moving island. Examine it to get the Wandering Lake Discovery. You can continue heading east, fighting or dodging the Black Pirate ship, and find the Temple of Prynn-the exact dungeon we need to go to next! Drachma, however, refuses to let us land the ship there.

Head southwest from the temple, flying along a strip of desert into a large circular area. In about the center of this large circle is the Oasis, and no, I cannot get more precise then that. Once found, turn northwest and ascend as high as you can, there's a small island just below the cloud line. Slip the Little Jack through (you can fit) and mash A to find the Sandfalls. Why did we find all these? To get TONS OF CASH at the Sailors Guild of course!

With all the discoveries found, now we can head to Maramba. Once we land, however, Drachma instantly undocks his ship and sails off without us. He has no interest in this quest of ours and only cares about finding Rhaknam, so he says adios. This leaves us with our three main characters for now, and just when we had a full party to play with. Ah well-there's an Excavation Arm in the weapons store here, so don't think the old salt's gone for good.

Next Time: Exploring Maramba!
 
MOONSTONE CANNON, FIRE!

I played the original on the Dreamcast way back when, and I used my Radeon 9700 Pro AIW capture card so I could play it on a ViewSonic CRT instead of a shitty television. Man, those were the days. I was so fucking bummed when that card died.

sasazuka said:
I don't understand why Sega hasn't "shut up and take my money"ed Skies of Arcadia on modern consoles or Steam.
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I don't understand why Sega would tease us with Vyse and Aika in Valkyria Chronicles way back in 2008, but they never did a Skies of Arcadia remake or sequel using the Valkyria Chronicles engine. Maybe in a timeline where shit made sense, that would've been a thing that actually happened.
 
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I know it's been a while. Don't hurt yourself with the excitement. Today we're exploring the town of Maramba and hoovering up everything of actual use. Cash in all your discoveries, and look at the Wanted List. Hmm...some Rupee of the Larso Clan? Eh, maybe later. Speaking of sailor stuff, I want to note: This is the guy that sells you parts for ships in every town. I really don't understand how this character model meshes with anything else in the game.

Head to the northmost dock, stand on the end of it, look farther north, and you'll find a moonfish, yay. Now we head from docks to city proper. Head to the first building on your right, the inn. Go up to the second floor balcony to find a treasure chest and a Cham (stand there to grab it). Everything else requires the use of this...camel...thing, called a Dhabu. There are only two places of note-a building where the village elder is doing squats, heading downstairs finds you a treasure chest with a Nasr Combat Mail in it. It is blocked off from the ground floor. The Northwest building has a treasure chest on it and allows you to snag another moonfish as you also grab the Slipara Box.

Once you've raided the main town, head through the gate on your Dhabu to the southeast part of town. You must ride a Dhabu to get there. Dismount on the larger building to get 300 gold from a slightly hidden chest. Now, dismount at the provided ramp and head to the ladder that goes underground. There's a few things to get. First, ignore the corridor filled with gates and go left. Go all the way to the end to find another ladder, Ascend it and you'll get a Moonberry. I recommend getting Fina's Supers started.

Now for the gates. They requite a little manipulation. Start by pressing the first switch you see, then take a left at the T-junction to get an Excavation arm. From there, head east on the map and go in a big circle, hitting switches as you go. You'll end up where you started, go to the top right corner for a now exposed chest with a Gem of Fluidity...one of which we already have, thank the collectables for giving us early items. To get out, simply back track, hitting switches as you go to open gates.

That Excavation Arm is a weapon for Drachma. He ain't gone completely...yet.

Leave the area and head into the larger building in this part of town. it's a little Arabian style tavern, complete with horny patrons. Talk to the dancer to initiate a cutscene. Aika tries to figure out a plan to get them a ship...only for Vyse to be instantly and easily distracted by the sexy. Aika gives him the greatest look, and accuses him of zooming in (which we know from the Valua Train Job, his glass eyepatch can do). We actually have a dialogue choice, agreeing to stop staring gives us a small boost to Swashbuckler rank.

Vyse says he thinks the dancer is eyeing him. Aika says she'd have no reason, and asks Fina...who responds bluntly that Vyse is very attractive. Love Triangle incoming...Aika wonders out loud where the dancer has been, only to find out she's standing right behind them. Said dancer asks if we're the Air Pirates that broke out of the Grand Fortress. Normally a bad idea to admit to, but we are in Nasr, a country established to fucking hate Valua, so they say yes.

She introduces herself as Bellena and says she'll be arranging her ship for us at the docks. For good measure she also arranges a free night at the inn for us!

All is not well however. In the dark of the night, Drachma pilots the Little Jack. He tries to drown his guilty conscience, only to see a ship on the other side of the stone reef. He recognizes it, and seems more worried than normal.

In the morning, we head on down to the docks and meet up with Bellena. Aika throws some suspicion her way, but Bellena spins a story of her father dying in war, leaving her family with nothing and left on the streets. Now she hates the very concept of war, and wants us to use her ship to get to the Temple of Pyrynn...which is something I don't think anyone in Vyse's crew has mentioned to her? Maybe she overheard us talking in the tavern. Or she knows something we don't...

Well, next stop: Temple of Pyrynn, to begin our Moon Crystal gathering adventure!
 
One of my favorite games. Always a pleasure to see someone else giving it a whirl. Still holding onto a shred of hope for a port or remaster even though I know it'll never happen. :semperfidelis:
 
sharky said:
One of my favorite games. Always a pleasure to see someone else giving it a whirl. Still holding onto a shred of hope for a port or remaster even though I know it'll never happen. :semperfidelis:
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I really hope for a remaster. There's a couple dungeons in game that I feel are just boring shit, a remaster would let them rework them to be something more interesting. We'll get there but not for like...several updates.

Speaking of updates, we have a temple to raid! First things first: Stock up on healing items, and make sure Fina knows Crystales as a spell before going into the Temple. It'll make your life a million times easier.

Sail east from Maramba to reach the temple. Bellena stays outside as a non-combatant. Vyse says it would be rough in there for a beautiful woman like Bellena, which prompts Aika to tease him and float the idea of leaving Vyse behind to Fina...who says they might find it faster without him.

We have two screens to go before we can get into the temple. Save your game if you like and head inside. First thing we encounter is a barrel puzzle, that isn't really much of a puzzle, it's more "use barrels to cross room" but it sets up the idea of using these stone barrels later. The Temple of Pyryyn has some very good level design and I like it. However, there's a room off to the side-once you cross, go on the barrel on the left side of the room, and use it to access a side hallway. Open the chest to get OH FUCK MONSTERS

These are Magma Tikis. They guard every chest in this temple except for one. There is an easy way to deal with them: Have Vyse and Aika switch to Purple element (the enemies are red aspected) and team up on one. Have Fina use Crystales on a second. This will leave a third who will either A: Attack someone, or B: Use Tremble. Tremble signifies that they'll use Lava Storm next turn, but your guys are faster so you'll be fine, just beat him up next turn. Sometimes, the one that Aika and Vyse attack on turn 1 will have a smidgeon of health left. Fina can clean them up with her own physical attacks.

(This first chest contains 300 gold, yayyy)

Other enemies will appear in this section, mostly Dung Flies (Scarabees) and Death's Heads, all of which are renamed in Legends. I don't know if Legends keeps the two varieties of beetles that appear in here according to the wiki, or if they just merged them together because the stat differences were completely pointless and they all had the same moves. Death's heads are renamed to just Deatths here. The beetles can cast Slipara (causes sleep) and Drillin (causes Weak), and have a 3% chance of dropping a Behemoth Ring that grants +5 Defense and Magic Defense, a 20% resistance to Yellow Magic, and immunity to Weak. Has its uses. Meanwhile, Deths can cast Stone Breath which can petrify your characters, and can drop a Storm Wing, an upgraded weapon for Aika. It isn't worth grinding the 5% chance though, we'll get a weapon that is only slightly weaker than the Storm Wing in a chest here, and we'll pick up an upgrade in the next town that blows both out of the water. The Storm Wing does have 69 attack on the dot though, so...nice.

There are also Red Loopers here known as Loopalons. Same deal as other Loopers, hard to hit, but they come packing Increm instead of Pyri. It actually makes them less lethal.

Head further in and ignore your Moonfish detector. We can't get it right now. We'll eventually reach a corridor where boulders are sent to crush us. Run after the first boulder passes and duck into the nooks-in the left nook is nothing, in the right is a ramp to another chest that contains an Ancient Robe. Said ramp also takes you where you can grab the Moonfish we skipped earlier.

At the bottom of the boulder ramp, proceed on to a room with a few barrels. We need to sink a barrel into each hole. Use the ones on the sides first, then use the one at the bottom, rolling it all the way over the first two to sink it into the last hole and open the door onward.

The next room is a bit of a treasure rush. The first chest contains 3 Sacres Crystals. From there, head East to another chest to get the Dancing Arc, the aforementioned upgrade for Aika. Head north for two rooms to find another chest with some more gold. Head south one room, then go all the way west to reach another puzzle room with barrels. This time they're color coded, an extra layer of difficulty. Not too tough: Use the barrels on the top first, then the ones on the side. This will make the entire floor go down like an elevator, to a new area. The next room is another boulder trap, but it won't spring until after you run past it. Run and dive into the nook on the left for a Cham for cupil. The nook on the right has another chest, this one containing a Moonberry.

A quick thing about Chams-I missed one back in Sailor's Island, it's on the top floor of the lighthouse. But between the one there, in Maramba, and here, we should be able to upgrade Cupil to Cupilcone, a spear like thing with more attack. Proceed down past the boulders, and open the door to the next room...

...A very lava filled room. Dwarf Fortress would be proud. We have to actually pass *behind* the lavafall, though we take no damage because superheated magma only hurts if you directly touch it and doesn't raise the ambient temperature by a gazillion degrees. We can encounter a new enemy starting in this area, the Salamander. They can cast Pyri, but are also quite brittle, and even Fina has a chance to one shot them with the right element (purple). Which is good as they come in packs and we don't have a good area hitting purple or blue attack yet.

Along the way is a chest with 5 Magic Droplets, good for Fina since she's been casting Crystales all goddamn day. Keep descending and you'll pass by some lava fireballs shooting like this is a Mario level, it won't hurt you though. Head through the door to a new area. The first switch you see will flood the area, but then drain away. Head up the ramp to your right. Follow the path, but heal up before you open the chest: This one is guarded too, but NOT by Magma Tikis, instead, a minor, reoccuring side boss known as Zivilyn Bane.

While he is dangerous I'm not planning a full write up for him. He's red aspected in all of his appearances, and has the same tactics: He hits hard, has good stats, and also has a "Burst" attack that is basically a grenade (and was called such in the Dreamcast version). Beating him usually awards a seed of some kind for stat boosts, and in this case, the Rune of Ill Omen, a treasure that can be cashed in for 1,000 Gold.

At the end of the path we have one last barrel puzzle. This one includes the holes in the floor going up and down to block certain barrels. The entrance to this puzzle is on the East side, so use this to orient yourself as I explain the puzzle: Start with the west barrels, using the one that isn't blocked first. Then get on the north barrels, starting with the one closest to the door. This will end with you being able to roll the last blue barrel over the red switch which will be raised, and let you slide the red barrel into position. Completing the puzzle raises the lava level. Return to the switch that flooded the area with water to create obsidian-I mean, create a path to the save point and inevitable boss room. There's also a moonfish you can grab if you stand close to the pillars on the right and look almost straight up.

With that all done, it's time for a boss, who actually doesn't attack as soon as you enter. Heal up and consider equipping some Gems of Fluidity since you have two now. When you're ready, walk forward to initiate the boss fight against the Rokwyrm!

BOSS FIGHT: ROKWYRM
​
I was dumb when I fought him and misread the weakness chart. Thought Blue would be better. It is good, but purple continues to kill Red pretty well, and you guessed it, he's red aspected. He has a pile of health, a lot of defense, and hits hard like any good boss. Luckily he has no dodging abilities.

His normal attacks do about 250ish damage at our level. He also has Cinder Storm, which does less damage, but can Petrify. Use Curia or crystals of the same spell to cure it. Finally, he has a group wide attack called Volcanic Blast. This thing hits like a truck, and hits everyone. Be ready on heals. Hopefully you have some way of picking up dead party members if someone goes down.

The strategy is simple: Increm Vyse at least, maybe others. Aika and Fina should heal as Vyse uses Cutlass Fury and other attacks to chip away at his health. If you have some extra Spirit, have Aika or Fina use Crystales for extra damage. Use healing items so your spirit can be spent on damage. After some time, he should go down.

After the battle, the party crosses over Rokwyrm's body to enter the chamber of the Moon Crystal. We now claim the red Moon Crystal, and the game opens a Skyrim style door to the outside that would have been super helpful when this started (you can, in fact, actually see it when you're entering, behind the statue, just not access it). Save your game, I beg of you-we have two ship fights to do, and that will be covered next time, because good god this update is running long already.

Bonus: Temple Bosses
 
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