Team Shining in the Darkness #2

[Swalchy]

Good going, zex

Forgot about the Hex Whip. Going to be playing through SitD myself soon, so will have to keep that in mind for when the trader comes along

[MXC]

I hate forgetting the medallion.

Btw, what is with the level 3 hate? It really isn't a bad level.

[zexxar]

Last time I saved in front of the fountain of level 4 without the Medallion but because I already freed Jessa I died on purpose so that I get fully healed and the nwent in another time. This time I took the medaillon with me and rushed through the level straight to the fountain, not much trouble thanks to Bolt + Hex Whip and the Black Box. So I threw in the Medaillon and saved there.

[MXC]

Woot!

Sent a PM to Phill about his battles. If he can't do them, does anyone want to volunteer? We've all done two some I'm not sure if I should split these last two sections up or not. I personally don't want to do the Treasure Hunting

[zexxar]

What I don't want to do is the Treasure Hunting.

Just in case haha But if no CW can't do it and no one else wants to kick Darksol's ass I'd do it

[Swalchy]

I'll treasure hunt! I like wandering around the labyrinth

[MXC]

Hop to it

[Swalchy]

Woo - treasure hunting complete!

After getting the save and starting from my place in level 4, thought I'd hop through the level to see how strong the force was doing.

IMMEDIATELY encounter a Blackbone. Sure thing, I'll test the force with this guy. Should be a breeze.

Princess Jessica hits for 3 HP (what, didn't return the dumb blonde to the king?), Pyra hits for... 6 HP (wtf), Milo misses (god dammit), Hiro hits for 128 HP (that's better). Blackbone does two MASSIVE hits on Hiro, reduced to 100 HP.

Things don't look too good atm...

Next round, we finally finish the Blackbone off (thanks to critical strike from Milo).

Time to check wtf is up with the force.

Hiro - No Shield. WHY IS THERE NO SHIELD? *cries*
Milo - Elven Hood. WHERE'S THE MITHRIL HELMET? *cries*
Pyra - No Hex Whip equipped, and has Mithril Hood. WHY ISN'T SHE EQUIPPED WITH HER MAIN WEAPON, AND WHY DOESN'T SHE HAVE THE ELVEN HOOD? *cries*

Equip Pyra with the Hex Whip, and Egress. Leave Jessica at the Castle, and almost get a Magic Ring, but hands are full (motherfu....). To town!

Sell Thorn Whip and Iron Whip. Also sell the two healer fruits (don't need them really), and go back to the castle and get my Magic Ring. Magic Ring given to Milo. Don't bother getting a shield for Hiro - should be enough to survive until level 3.

Rest up in town, and then it's back to the dungeon.

Firstly, to the Cave of Strength to retrieve the Forbidden Box. First encounter in the dungeon? Slimey Ooze. Oh Mr. Jelly. I really do feel sorry for you.

Pyra obliterates Oozey, but still manages to get tangled in the whip. Pretty much setting the bar for the upcoming battles.

Pyra is one strong bitch, killing anything and everything in the groups' path. Only time Milo and Hiro have to step in is when Pyra somehow misses, or there's more than one group of monsters.

Get through the CoS far too easily. Forbidden Box recovered. Head back out and to the Cave of Courage. CoC is also a piece of chocolate cake, getting the Demon Staff easily.

Time for the Cave of Truth. Slightly more is needed from Milo and Hiro in this cave, though very few monsters survive a crack of Pyra's whipping skills. She very rarely survives a round of NOT getting tangled in the bloody whip. But the second Magic Ring is fetched by the force, and granted to Pyra.

Had yet to heal a single member of the force. Things looking rather boring challenge wise. Maybe level 2 will be a bit tougher?

Get to Level 2 - several groups of monsters now, but all seem to want to run away! Stay and fight you damn cowards! There's 8 of you - 8! Bleugh.

Out of storage space. Quick egress to town to sell the Box, Staff and Dwarf's Key. Don't bother resting up, and head straight back to dungeon again.

Back on level 2. Monsters still running away if there's too many groups to survive a Pyra-attack. Time for more of a challenge.

Sentinels. Sentinels must put up a fight surely?

No. No they don't. All of them go down with barely a scratch on the force. Suffice to say, the force is strong with our heroes!

Have already picked up the barrier ring and given it to Pyra. Have a lovely scenic ride on the outside of the dungeon before getting to the second half of the level. Monsters fall left, right and centre. If they actually bled, this dungeon would be a little blood bath.

None of the sentinels are safe either. Defeat all four of them in the middle in a row. The several attacks that have gotten through to Hiro have built up damage now. A heal 3 sorts it all out. Force more or less at full capacity to tackle level 3 to get Hiro's shield.

Level 3 - now we have some monsters hitting harder than before! Still, Pyra and her Hex Whip cause more than enough damage during the first round to kill, or severely wound them. Milo and Hiro can do nothing but kill a monster in one strike, even here on Level 3. Groups of monsters now rarely less than 3, so Hiro starts getting hit a bit more. Also have some that have breath attacks, which hit all three members for around 20-40 HP. Having to heal a bit more, and have Pyra using her magic spells so she can survive the first round.

Thankfully, the Light Shield isn't too far into Level 3. Recover it, and have Hiro equip it. Now his defence is over 200.

This is the last of the treasure to find, but I still have quite a bit of magic power left. Decide to go through the rest of the level and see how much of it I end up using.

Get to the end of Level 3, and still got half of Milo and Pyra's MP left. Time for some more EXP gaining on Level 4!

Level 4 really starts getting tougher, with them Golems being a bit of a pain to defeat, with Pyra not doing too much to them with the Whip. Blaze 4 seems to work quite well mind

Get to the end of level 4, and Milo has 2 MP left, and Pyra has 13 MP left. Time to end it here, just before the gold fountain

Levels:
Hiro - 39
Milo - 37
Pyra - 38

[MXC]

Good job Swalchy. Yes, I would hope the earlier parts of the game would not be challenging And apparently zexxar really wants them to be since everyone was equipped so oddly

[Swalchy]

I take it we're all okay with waiting for when CW is able to finish the last level?

Try and defeat Dark Sol on the lowest level you can, CW!

[MXC]

He won't be able to so I'll see if someone else wants it. Cull has had the longest gap so first shot goes to him

[Cullsoft]

Happy to give it a shot this weekend, if folks don't mind waiting a touch longer. Only just got back from a short holiday, so hadn't really been around to follow up on this.

An alternative idea that sprang to mind was that, given this was the last section, we all give it a shot and report on how we all fared - what kit we chose, how our final battles played out, etc.

Oh, and having noticed all the chat over being stuck with the Thorn Whip and having to upgrade it to the Hex Whip... you guys did remember the Steel Whip's near the start of Level 4, right? It may not have as much firepower, but the lack of tangling up saves our innocent eyes from yet more of Pyra's BDSM adventures...

And the Elven Hood is one bizarrity. Despite the name, it doesn't fit Pyra, an Elf, but does fir Milo, a Hobbit...

[Swalchy]

Hadn't even crossed my mind about that, Culley. We sure it's not a translational mistake?

[Cullsoft]

Hadn't even crossed my mind about that, Culley. We sure it's not a translational mistake?

This is partial guesswork as I don't have a JP copy of it, but I've tried looking it up in my Japanese guidebooks, and having deduced which item I think is the Elven Hood, it appears to be called...

..."BiRuBo no Fu-Do"...

...which, being mostly Katakana, roughly translates to...

..."Hood of Bilbo".

So it seem it's named after Mister Baggins himself, which would most certainly mean it's for Hobbits like Milo. The translation team sure missed a trick on that one.

I'm now wondering if wearing it to Old Vic's should invoke the cockerel bard to appear with a digitised version of this little ditty...

[Dr. Casey]

This was a fun thread to read, Shining in the Darkness fans being bros together is pretty comfy.

As for which level's my favorite, I'd vote for whichever one it is that has the healing spring. Grinding for experience points has always been pretty relaxing and zen to me in RPGs, and the availability of free HP and MP restoration makes being able to do so just that much more convenient. Though I'm a huge fan of the Labyrinth Proper in general for having such an awesome musical score (the earlier parts of the Labyrinth have an okay and serviceable BGM, but certainly nothing as cool and blood-pumping as the latter half of the game).

Looking forward to seeing the game completed.

[Cullsoft]

And off into Level 5 we shall go...

- First a quick little battle against some Hobgoblins. Pyra gets tangled in her whip, but the battle goes well and Hiro levels up. After a quick test that the medallion is sending me to L4, I egress out - not just for the inn, but also to clear some space in the currently full inventory.

- Out go the Miracle Herb, Barrier Ring, Herb Water, Holy Water and Orb of Truth. I also buy back Pyra's Steel Whip to switch with the Hex Whip... forgetting that the dang thing's cursed her, though it does play that neato jingle. >:D Well, there goes a fiver to the church.

- A visit to the inn, and some handy tips from Edward before bedtime. Then back to the final level of the labyrinth!

- Okay, so Steel Whip's doing about 10 points less damage than the Hex Whip. But it's little difference when Hiro's Light Blade bolting all and sundry for 80-100 points per victim...

- First I turn left to rais the chests down that way... oh yeah, one of them's a Handeater. And they know Freezing Breath. Oh well, it's still down in a round.

- OOH! OOH! GOLLUMS! And you know what that means? Muddle L2 and let them hand over their treasure... Wait, Pyra only knows Muddle L1? A pox on this underlevelled team! Come, my party, there's grinding to be done!

- Ouch. Blackbone unleashes a 167 point critical on Pyra. Down in one. Fortunately she gets Boost L1 on Hiro, who takes the skeletal beastie out while Milo revivies her.

- I knew there was a trapdoor in front of that chest. I fell into it deliberately. Honest I did.

- Okay, I'd forgotten that chest was a Handeater... and that they can howl in pain. Dick took out Milo. Time to Egress out, rest up, revive Milo and sell a few of the goodies picked up so far. And get an emergency Angel Wing in case Milo and Pyra both get downed next time. :P

- I knew there was a reason I wanted to keep hold of the Cell Key. Now, is it worth Making Pyra a Light Robe? I think it is, but later...

- The moment I stepped on that turntable, I knew it was going to send me round to the trapdoor...

- HOLY CRAP! I didn't realise Crystal Oozes appeared before the final trapdoor... and 7 of them too! They are SO getting Black Boxed (good thing I passed it to Pyra for earliest use)! Sadly 5 run away before Pyra sets it off, but 60000 EXP is not to be snffed at - especially if it gets Pyra the mighty Muddle L2!

- And just before the Light Armour, ANOTHER 7 OOZES! Sadly this battle goes far from smoothly, as two immediately get off Freeze L4s which down Hiro, then another casts Muddle L2 successfully on Pyra... fun to see her grab an ooze, hurl it for all she's worth, only for it to shake off the attack... Fortunately, 2 are downed again (as well as a Slimy Ooze who somehow races all the way up from the Labyrinth entrance).

- Whoo yeah, Hiro's now full threaded in his Shining Knight getup. Now back to the pool to get the blessing of... nothing? Oh yeah, first I have to make a little girl cry... wait, that don't sound right, no siree...

- But first, it's through the purple doors back to the start to find them Gollums. After a fair bit of grinding (and about 3 Blackbones in a row), a troop of 3 turn up... and fortune is with me, as the Muddle L2 hits all three and one hands over it's treasure. MXC, the Great Flail may be great... but the triple-hitting Super Flail is - you guessed it - AWESOME!

- Having got what I came for, I egress to sell off some of my goods, get Pyra a Light Robe (it's slightly weaker defence than the Magic Mail, but seems to give better magic defence), rest up and get some of Jessa's sweet salty tears to feed my power.

And that's where I call it a night, as it's now 10:30pm and my body clock still hasn't adjusted to British Summer Time (I should have been waiting for the bus to work by the time I woke up this morning...). The story shall conclude later this week...

[MXC]

Hey, it's Dr. Casey! I agree about the labyrinth proper; I've always enjoyed the BGM after slogging through the trials (in regards to music and gameplay).

Cull is getting a little kinky with whips and flails I look forward the the rest of your report.

[Swalchy]

*le bump*

Culley! CULLEY! Where are ye?

[Cullsoft]

Sorry abput the lack of updates. I'm in the middle of a hectic few weeks at work, and it seems like everyone wants to grab my free time for one thing or another, so on the few occasions I have been able to get some free time for myself I've found myself too exhausted to do much more than cook and eat dinner, let alone essetinal housework and cleaning up. Most evenings I haven't been out I've wound up falling asleep at my desk.

I've tried to make a bit more progress with the final push, but sadly nothing more than grinding a couple of levels in preparation.

[MXC]

No sweat, Cull