Answers to Quests

[warlord_x]

Ah, of course!
"when the temperature drops"
D'oh!

...
wow. I have 628 items in my email inbox...

[Kimiko]

Also,
[spoiler]You can walk around the long way to reach the other side of that first patch.[/spoiler]

[warlord_x]

yes, & u can activate the
[spoiler]secret pasageway near the GP[/spoiler]
that way, but that doesn't help u get through the
[spoiler]patch blocking the door on the middle-left.[/spoiler]
I've explored pretty much the entirety of the available floor, & I think that's the only way to progress...
unless...
[spoiler]the pasageway blocked by a Helldra on the middle-right is da way...[/spoiler]

[scy]

Floor 15
[spoiler]You have to do the floor at Night to get to the first Boss fight of the floor (D2). The rest you can go the long way around.[/spoiler]

Map of Floor 15
[spoiler][/spoiler]

[warlord_x]

'k thnx!
goodie, this map worked! the 1st 1 didnt...

...

ow...
I just got my ass handed to me by
[spoiler]Wilheilm & Artelind ...[/spoiler]
Got some interesting background story info, though.

help?
I barely scratched them...
(although, I prob. shoudn't be surprised, what w/ my mid-30's lv. party ...)

[scy]

Floor 15 (BOSS)
[spoiler]Cut Mists (1x Narcisuss from 3rd Stratum Take Points; the one on the 14th Floor has the best chance of them) reduce Artelind's damage greatly and allow you to focus primarily on Wilhelm. Specific tactics depend on the classes you have though so I can't say much else without that but, for the most part, it's just beat on Wilhelm and use Force Skills if you have a particularly useful one (ie, Alchemist's to damage them both or DH to fully bind Wilhelm).[/spoiler]

[Kimiko]

For that fight, just level up some. You'll want to anyway, because the next is waay harder.

[warlord_x]

[scy]

I wouldn't say that you NEED to level for the fight; I did this fight and the Boss after in the low-30s (mid-40s for my trio group) and even then it wasn't so bad. A group not capable of debuffing the next Boss (ie, Dampen) or with bad Defenses may find it troublesome, however.

Mists are a five-turn Buff and you can stack multiples of different types (ie, Cut Mist + Cut Mist won't stack but Cut Mist + Stab Mist will), though you're limited to 3 Buff slots total.

Anyway...
[spoiler]Hrm... I'd suggest Force Grinding (find a fight with a Blue Gel and just Defend over-and-over) to get the Alchemist to max Force. To be honest, the group isn't that great but I'll leave that for another time (ie, if you want to actually do replacements).

I'd definitely suggest NOT getting Loyalty very high on the Beast since the majority of the group is pretty squishy; you could probably make good use of En Garde, Preen, and Bristle so Der Freischutz focusses on the Beast and you don't have to worry about the damage being randomly distributed. Unfortunately, he doesn't really have any set pattern I know of for his shots so not much luck on using the Elemental Mists here.

Also, a suggestion, Midareba is pretty much the definitive Ronin skill; even a target weak to the Elemental attacks will take more damage from Midareba unless they also heavily resist (ie, 50%) Cut Damage. Just a note, I guess.

For the next Boss fight, she's weak to Volt so something to keep in mind for your Ronin/Alchemists Elementals.[/spoiler]

[warlord_x]

[scy]

Floor 15
[spoiler]Ah ... Metopon casts Erasure, which strips Buffs; Dampen changes Resistances and no item in the game does that.

Loyalty is pretty terrible and I'd never put points into it if not for some being required for their Provoke/Fortify (Preen/Bristle). I'd get En Garde anyway since it's a 55% Chance to halve any damage they take (not counting damage they take from Loyalty as that functions totally different).

Also, Volt Jars will by no means cut it for Volt Damage; they only cast Level 5 Volt. Volt Oils will do you more good as they grant Type: Volt to Weapons, though that only applies to normal attacks, not Skills. You'll be better off attacking normally then using a Volt Jar, really (unless it's your Medic since they're in the back row anyway).[/spoiler]

List of Items and their appropriate Spells (only the ones that come from Player abilities):
[spoiler]Soma: L4 Salve (M)
Soma II: L4 Salve 2 (M)
Soma III: L1 Salve 3 (M)
Therica A: L5 Unbind (M)
Therica AX: L1 Freedom (M)
Therica B: L8 Refresh (M)
Therica BX: L10 Purify (M)
Metopon: L1 Erasure (T)
Laudanum: L1 Nihilo (T)
Bravant: L3 Warmight (W)
Stonard: L2 Fortify (P)
Blaze Oil: L1 Blaze (T)
Freeze Oil: L1 Frost (T)
Shock Oil: L1 Shock (T)
Ward Chime: L2 Stalker (S)
Beast Bell: L1 Danger (T)
Warp Stone: L1 Return (A)
Guard Sole: L2 Patrol (S)
Lure Bell: L1 Luring (T)
Fire Jar: L5 Fire (A)
Flame Jar: L2 Inferno (A)
Ice Jar: L5 Ice (A)
Frost Jar: L2 Cocytus (A)
Volt Jar: L5 Volt (A)
Storm Jar: L2 Thor (A)
Cut Jar: L2 Blades (A)
Bash Jar: L2 Gravity (A)
Stab Jar: L2 Piercing (A)
Poison Gas: L1 Poison (H)
Stun Gas: L1 Paralysis (H)
Blind Gas: L1 Blinding (H)
Sleep Gas: L1 Torpor (H)
Curse Gas: L1 Corrupt (H)
Antivenin: L2 Health (T)
Charm Gas: L5 Provoke (P)
Sleep Bell: L1 Slumber (T)[/spoiler]

[warlord_x]

Alright, I'll see what I can do.
Thanks.

(why would u need to play w/ resistances, though?)

The intel is really helpfull.

...

Gah!

I managed to take down the G, but the WM did something that wiped my whole party...

[scy]

Dampen has no real effect on the fight you're on as they're both 100% Neutral but for, say, the next Boss ... she has high Physical Resistances (about 50%) and takes extra damage from Volt. If you're lacking a strong Elemental damage, you can just Dampen and she'll take 120% Damage from ALL six Elements (Cut, Stab, Bash, Fire, Ice, and Volt). Physical Resistant enemies are the most common in the game so it's nice to be able to set the damage they take to 120% with a single cast.

To be honest, I've never actually had this fight go on for multiple turns so I honestly have no idea about all their abilities or anything

[warlord_x]

120%?!?!
..wow...
I'll definitely keep that in mind.

a thought:
Maxed Medigo = 1200-1500% dmg + 55% from analasis + 120% from dampen...

...those are some scary numbers...
{warning: Mathmatics ahead!}
let's postulate 100pts of dmg normally (just 2 mk it simple{& actually not all that far from the norm...})

so: conservative estimate =>
((100 x 12) + ((100 x 12) x .55)) x 1.2 = 2,232 dmg

liberal estimate =>
((100 x 15) + ((100 x 15) x .55)) x 1.2 =2,790 dmg

that's nearly as much as a lucky Estacion

blast, rinse, repeat...
Nothing's gonna survive that for long :!::!:


(BTW, what class can use dampen?)

[scy]

Megido isn't a Damage Percentage; Alchemist spells are treated as "Weapons" and are given an ATK stat (Megido is 180, the Elements are 113, and Eschaton is 200). I know the Damage formula but I haven't figured out the Defense one which is a huge reduction (something around a factor of _600_ even at like 7 VIT). This is partially why Alchemist damage eventually falls pretty hard (against the optional bosses, my 99 TEC Alchemist will Megido for around 600-800 compared to ~1500-2000 [2500 Hexer] for the rest of my group).

Also, Megido is typeless Damage so Dampen doesn't effect it and neither does Analysis.

As for Dampen, it's a Hexer spell.

Edit: Would probably help to include the Damage Formula if I'm going to mention it:

Weapons: (20 + STR) * (STR + [wATK / 6]) * (20 + [wATK / 3])

Spells: (20 + TEC) * (TEC + [basePWR / 2]) * (20 + basePower)

[ ] means to truncate the values (ie, drop the remainder). 10 / 6 = 1, not 1.666...