LogFAQs > #961145837

Trekking through the marsh, I beat up a bunch of weak monsters (one of which was a "Code Red" and it was just as weak as the marmots) as well as a Dire Foe - the wolf thing from earlier that I finally get to kill. I also burn vines off boulders to push them to become stepping stones. Seeing as this was indicative of me being the first person to come through here in the last 3,000 years, I was surprised to see two goons guarding... something? I kill them and their malakhim and it turns out they have the guy I'm looking for and many others mining for vermilion ore that apparently a dragon left behind, since there's no volcano nearby. This is used to make opiate nectar that we burned at the port - it's an addictive drug. This is all starting to come together, and I presume task #3 will be the same way.

I still have no answer for why nobody else had burned or cut those vines to utilize the boulders like so. It's really dumb and adds nothing to the game, and is put in for "realism" reasons when it does the opposite. I certainly haven't seen any boats here, so how did those slaves get there?

One thing I'm not really enjoying here are the winquotes. They're all very generic and impersonal, and nothing hilarious like Graces had all the time, and nothing badass like... at all. I wish those were better, though I do wonder if Magilou will have some good ones once she's playable. What's taking her so long?

Something that irks me is the kill recognition in battles is wonky. I get a kill sometimes, but it's credited to someone else, and with souls and whatnot, this matters a LOT. In other Tales games, I go "oh well" and it's no big deal. Here, it is a big deal because it can disrupt my ability to battle. It's minor, but worth noting that I've noticed it. Another annoyance? Spending 40 minutes at a weapon shop just unloading everything, making sure you make no mistakes. The weapon drops are excessive. All that said, I'm still loving the game, but thought I'd let you know why this update is pretty paltry for how much time I played. That and, well, that lake road was also quite lengthy with very little happening.

The third objective is to foil an ambush on the Royal Medical Society - in other words, it definitely has to do with opium smugglers. It's, uh, nothing epic or anything - I just beat up three weak Gibbons who can transform into humans. Apparently that makes them daemons even though they're even weaker than the apes I've been fighting, probably due to numbers. The smugglers run off during the fight, but it was that medicine - the same stuff we blew up in the Zekson port. Laphicet starts wondering if he's useful, and Eizen says his healing artes are indispensable despite his gloom. He's not used to freedom. Poor kid. He's too young to have to deal with this. At least Velvet calls Magilou dead weight, and she doesn't reply. Isn't she with us? We took her with us after we beat up Eleanor in the port...

QUESTION: Can I sell the salvaged items with no penalty? Or is there some reason to keep them? (This counts the chipped copper coins, pirate flags, and whatever other junk that's not used in smithing weapons.) Let me know, thanks!

Speaking of Eleanor, my theory that she's actually Niko from the opening of the game, who somehow survived and was brainwashed by Artorius, feels... right, to be honest. He's controlling her because she's useful to him, like a malak often is to these bastards. I'm also toying around with the theory that malaks themselves are reincarnations of humans, but that's probably too next-level for now and probably as wrong as Marta's never-ending wet dream for wimpy Emil was. Uhh... never mind.

Entering the capital, I get a skit about wanted posters that reminds me of the horrendous likeness they used of Yuri. Laphicet doesn't understand and wants one. Rokurou uses it as an opportunity to create a little chaos. I go back to the hideout, expecting to see thugs taking our contact away. But no, Tabatha's there, and she tells me that Artorius and his cloister of villains has headed to some cave... but they used artes to erect a wall to seal it off to intruders. Velvet infers that they must have a key, and Tabatha (Baskerville is her last name... wasn't that the last name of the one we were looking for?) says her people are looking into it. In the interim, she gives me the bounty to get that: Kill High Priest Gideon, the guy who's at the center of the opium ring. Hey, I get to take out some trash early - yay!

Velvet thinks just like I do - she noted that the tasks were all related, related to that opium distribution, and interprets this task exactly for what it is and the reasons why. I would have simply said "He's got something to do with the opium, right?" The Church is smuggling this "medicine" that's extraordinarily addictive, so we gotta put a stop to that. She's having anger issues, because she's not cutting off Artorius's fingers one at a time. He's trying to summon Innominat, and methinks he'll succeed - and that becomes the new threat, and we get to travel the world as perception of Artorius changes from him being Jesus Christ to him being the world's most hated fiend. It's gonna be glorious. But I must stop there for tonight.