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Because Trying Times Are Times For Trying - Let's Play "The 7th Saga"!


FionordeQuester
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Hello everyone, my name is Fionordequester, and welcome to...

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Yep, that's right. We're going to be playing THAT game. But before we jump into that, I wish to talk about a neat little gem of an RPG known as Elnard. Designed as an RPG with a much simpler story than say, the SNES Final Fantasy games, it nevertheless featured many revolutionary ideas, such as the ability to pick your main character, animated battle sprites, the ability to actually see random encounters, and most of all, the ability to fight, recruit, or even just chat with whatever characters you didn't choose.

Coupled with these ideas were incredible graphics, a great background story helped by the dark, muted feel of the games landscape and monster designs, an incredible soundtrack by one-hit-wonder Norihiko Yamanuki, and most importantly of all, challenge that was tough but fair.

Unfortunately, it did not seem to be as much of a success as one would hope, though it wasn't regarded as BAD persay. No, in fact, according to someone I once emailed who came from Japan...

from what I've read, the game is described as good, but underknown.

...AAAAAAND then the localization happened, in which some...controversial decisions were made. Oh sure, the translation was fine, as, in the words of "pokeeiyu"...

It's a highly competent localization, though names were the things to suffer the most. 7th Saga even has orphaned lines with exposition. Some flavor text with what could be considered throwaway personality for townspeople was also changed to exposition occasionally.

...so that's not the problem. No, the problem is their decision to make the game harder in just about the crudest way possible, inflating the HP of many enemies and bosses (one boss even has more than TRIPLE what he had in the original version!), hamstringing the growths of many of the apprentices (COUGHKamilCOUGH), and also taking away what was by far the player’s most valuable assets...Elnard growths.

You see, every 10 levels, your characters stat growths per level would increase by one point for every level, meaning that if you got 5 HP per level on average from 1-9, you'd get 6 HP from 10-19, then 7 HP from 20-29, and so on and so forth...or at least, they would in the original version...

However, that is not the case here, which means that even assuming that growths weren't tweaked between versions, you can literally level a character all the way up to Level 46 in this version, and still have him/her only be as strong as their Level 33 selves in the original version. Combine that with the buffed stats of many of the monsters (ESPECIALLY the bosses), and you've got one of the most infamously grind-heavy games on the SNES...

Whether this was by accident or not (monster stats are hard to screw up, but the Elnard levels could have been a piece of data mistakenly deleted while other data was being shifted around), it ended up making the game far harder than it was intended to be...

...even so, I still don't believe it's that bad. It may have suffered a bit in translation, but I still don't think even this version deserves the bad rap it's gotten over the years, and frankly, I'm not really satisfied with either the inefficient strategies or the generally negative tone present on the Something Awful Archive. And even though this situation has been made better by the presence of this LP...

http://telebunny.net/talkingtime/showthread.php?t=12551

...I still think there's more to share and delve into than even the excellent job done by this LPer here given here (in particular, he gets into some good analysis in the "Intermission" segments). So, of course, this is the version we're going to be playing, though one should definitely check out the Japanese version if stuff like exposed breasts (yes, the Japanese version has those on monsters like "Serpant") isn't a problem.

Anyways, let's get on with the intro shall we?

Intro Theme

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Pay attention to the wording of that last screenshot. Once the game ends, it's something I'd like to come back to later on.

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And with that, we move on to the next part of the intro, with this awesome music!

The 7 Apprentices

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Everything from here is a reel of footage showing our seven heroes going about their lives before this old man teleports in and gets them to follow him somewhere. It actually contains some interesting background details about their if you pay close enough attention.

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Spell casting is hard to capture in still images.

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Again, keep notes for later...

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This however, could be several different places, so THIS you don't need to worry about...still, never pegged Esuna for a drunk :dry:

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:(:

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And here we have the ONLY apprentice in the game who shows up WITHOUT permission from King Lemele, traveling pretty much across the continent to do so as well. Now that's awesome!

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So after beginning a new game, we come to our character select screen, where we can give a name in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS or press enter after choosing nothing. Do that, and you'll get the character's default name with letters in the correct case...bet you all didn't know you could do that, huh?

However, rather than selecting the best character, I'm going to give this LP some added punch and let YOU guys choose who I'm going to use throughout the game! To help you guys do that, I am going to be listing the characters in order of who helps beat the game the quickest, so the top character is the fastest, and the bottom character is the slowest. The "Stat Gains Per Level" numbers are the numbers they usually get upon level up, though there is a 50% chance that said level up will give you one more point or one less in whatever stat is raised.

Also keep in mind that, despite the vastly different personalities of the apprentices, there is almost no unique dialogue between them all, so if you're hoping to get entertaining comments with say, Lux, that the others won't get, well, prepare to be disappointed. Every bit of text, with a few exceptions, are the same regardless of who you choose, though Olvan IS given access to some money that you wouldn't be able to get otherwise. That being said, Lux and Esuna DO end up taking a different route through the middle game than the rest do, so if that matters, there is that...

And then of course, since I intend to show off the differences between the two versions of this game, I have also given the original Elnard stat growths of each character in the Elnard version (in bold) alongside the ones they have in the English version (not in bold), just to give you a small sample of how much of a doozy this version is. Enjoy!

Lux.png

Average Stat Gains Per Level:

HP: 8>7

MP: 2>2

Pow: 5>4

Def: 5>5

Mag: 3>3

Spd: 3>3

Lux: Lux is purely mechanical, but also much more human than he might seem, being intelligent, inquisitive, and polite to the point of seeming subservience. However, despite his gentle facade, Lux is an incredibly powerful and is shown to be an effective warrior in his quest to find out who created him, and why.

That said, Lux is pretty simple. He hits hard, doesn't take much in return, doesn't have any non-offensive spells, and is kind of slow. However, his Speed never seriously becomes a problem unless you go into the endgame without a partner (which you shouldn't), and until then, his superior defense and ability to befriend other apprentices allows him to stand head and shoulders above the other apprentices...

And that's not even including a game breaking glitch that you can pull off with Lux, which of course I will show you later on.

Wilme.png

Stat Gains Per Level:

HP: 9>8

MP: 2>2

Pow: 5>4

Def: 6>5

Mag: 2>2

Spd: 5>4

Wilme: Possessing pride and warrior spirit, Wilme is constantly driven to prove his superiority to the other apprentices after many years of being teased because of his appearance. And superior he is, in so many ways...

First of all, this guy was a fricken BEAST in the original Elnard version (no, that's not a typo, he actually DID have HIGHER Defense growth than the fricken ROBOT!), and is still the second best character here despite having been nerfed in almost every stat...

That being said, the lack of Elnard boosts in this version means that Wilme will have serious issues surviving against magic, especially since he hardly has any talent in Magic himself. And while he'll be able to recruit a partner powerful enough to solo the rest of the game before that REALLY starts to become a problem, it still slows him down enough in the midgame that he falls short of Lux despite having higher Speed and HP growths. And of course, the fact that he's so mean to the other apprentices doesn't help any...

Seriously, this guy is nothing if not a pill. He is actually SO MUCH of a rear end in a top hat that if you talk to him after a certain point in the game, he will actually FORCE his way into your party if he doesn't just try to kill you. Yeah, that's right, he's coming along whether you want him to or not, and if you happen to have a partner with you TOO BAD!! Even the supposed "evil" apprentice doesn't do that! Better watch out!

Lejes.png

Stat Gains Per Level:

HP: 6>5

MP: 3>3

Pow: 3>3

Def: 3>3

Mag: 3>3

Spd: 4>4

Lejes: Perhaps because of a troubled childhood, this person is wily, mean-spirited, power hungry, full of malice...and is incredibly valuable in spite of all these flaws. It may not seem that way at first due to his middling HP and lackluster growths in everything but Speed, but he is in fact surprisingly useful despite these shortcomings. In addition to being able a competent physical fighter due to his incredible weapon selection, he also learns Vacuum at a very early level (an instant kill spell), his Speed allows him to dodge and hit enemies reliably, and most of all, he learns the incredibly useful "F.Shield" (or "F.Shid" as the game calls it), which completely negates the next magic attack that hits him...

...this...is simply GODLY. What it means is that as long as Lejes can survive more than two hits from any boss he fights, he's effectively already won that boss fight. And in many of the games most dangerous fights, where powerful magic spells are being thrown every which way, his party's chances of survival increases substantially with F.Shid. With all this in mind, it's no wonder that 7th Saga speed runner PJ is in love with him...

However, unlike PJ, I still don't believe Lejes is the BEST and FASTEST character to choose, Single Segment Speed run or otherwise. Because for as awesomely skilled as PJ is, I believe he has overlooked the true potential of the "recruit a high leveled Elnard partner strategy", a strategy that can be done fairly reliably if you know how, and I've been able to construct a route able to consistently beat even his WR run by 10-50 minutes (the time saved fluctuates a lot depending on who you get, and how soon you get them)...

In any case though, back to Lejes. He doesn't have any particular weaknesses and has an answer for every problem, but, outside of F.Shid and his high Speed, he doesn't really EXCEL in anything either. Combine that with how hard it is to recruit partners with him, and he's someone who's definitely solid, but still not QUITE as good as the two above...

Still, he's your man if you're doing a solo challenge, if that means anything.

Esuna.png

Stat Gains Per Level:

HP: 6>5

MP: 5>5

Pow: 2>2

Def: 2>2

Mag: 4>4

Spd: 4>4

Esuna: As a magician handpicked by Lemele himself, Esuna is full of talent and anxious to prove it. She has the game's lowest growths in every physical stat except for speed, but she makes up for it with her incredible magic, including instant kill attacks in the Vacuum series of spells, and though her frailty slows her down, her mastery of the Defense1 spell helps to make up for that even in the early game (though you will still have to be cautious with her). And of course, the fact that the Magic stat covers both defense AND offense certainly helps as well. Plus, for one reason or another, she is one of the two most popular apprentices, making it easy for her to recruit others to her side.

However, magic attacks still have longer animations than physical attacks, and since there's almost no way to boost the Magic stat like you can the Attack stat (more on that later), she takes longer to kill bosses and other magic resistant enemies (which unfortunately includes Brains and S. Brain's, two of the greatest monsters to grind off of...and you WILL need to do grinding!). So, despite her talents, she is still slower than the three above her, though still a solid choice nevertheless.

Valsu.png

Stat Gains Per Level:

HP: 6>5

MP: 4>4

Pow: 2>2

Def: 3>3

Mag: 4>4

Spd: 4>4

Valsu: A devout and kindly man, Valsu is determined almost to a fault to do whatever he has set his mind to, and has dedicated his entire life to healing and helping others. This lifelong devotion to peace is shown to be both a blessing and a curse throughout his journey, for though he has learned much over the years, he has almost no skill in offensive magic, meaning that his damage output is very limited under most circumstances.

Nevertheless, with his mastery of every kind of support spell, he is easily able to outlast the foe in any fight that he can survive more than one round in, and due to his possession of the fabled Agility spell as well as a high Speed score, he can actually circumvent his primary weakness by arriving at some towns at a lower level than intended. What this means is that he can buy incredibly useful items earlier than intended, including Vacuums, which instantly kill any enemy that they happen to work on. As you can imagine, this makes grinding sessions go much faster...

Unfortunately however, due to the hostility he draws from Lejes and Wilme (and Esuna, but she's not a good endgame partner anyways), his ability to recruit partners for the endgame suffers somewhat, meaning more overall time lost by convincing the apprentices to join him. Because of that combined with his lack of offense, he is still the 5th slowest character in terms of completing the game, as well as one of the more annoying ones to do it with.

Olvan.png

Stat Gains Per Level:

HP: 7>6

MP: 2>2

Pow: 3>3

Def: 4>3

Mag: 3>3

Spd: 3>3

Olvan: Hampered by his size and old age, Olvan is nevertheless a battle hardened warrior filled with dreams and aspirations. By far his most valuable contribution is his ability to halve the physical damage done to someone with Defense1, something that is enormously useful in many spots in the game...

But does that really justify using him despite his decidedly lackluster stat growths? In my opinion, the answer is no, and even though his higher HP goes a long way in making him more durable than Kamil (ESPECIALLY against magic), his accuracy woes, limited magic capabilities (though he does have many healing spells), and lack of good offense outside of extremely costly equipment (Kamil at least has Vacuum) will cause him to lag far behind anyone not named...

Kamil.png

Stat Gains Per Level:

HP: 7>5

MP: 3>3

Pow: 3>3

Def: 4>3

Mag: 3>3

Spd: 4>3

Kamil: As a knight from the nation of Padal, Kamil is level headed and blessed with a strong sense of justice as well as incredible discipline that has allowed him to succeed in mastering almost all forms of magic, including most of the healing magicks. Put that on top of having the 3rd highest HP Growth, the 2nd highest growth in Defense and Speed, and the ability to equip magic resistant equipment, and you have yourself a character that can take almost every single kind of attack AND dish out damage. And to top it all off, he possesses a natural charisma that allows him to easily recruit many apprentices without conflict. Because of all these things, Kamil is easily the 2nd best character in the entire game, and one of the best choices a beginner can make...

At least, that was the case in Elnard. Unfortunately however in THIS version, by lowering defense, stamina, AND speed, the designers have effectively held Kamil in a corner and beat him to death with the nerf stick. The dude not only needs very costly equipment to survive before he even makes it to the midgame, but he will always have constant problems simply landing hits on his opponent. And due to his low HP, magic attacks will be a constant source of headache for him, ESPECIALLY against enemies that are skilled in more than one school of magic (which unfortunately includes about half of the boss fights).

What kills him most of all however, at least in this version, is that even if you can look past all his weaknesses, his lowered stat growths means that he can't do much that Olvan cannot, making him totally obsolete. He may have been the 2nd best character in Elnard, but here, he is without a doubt, the worst character in the entire game.

So, that's everyone! Note that whatever details I've said about their personalities are not made up, but are in fact collected from various sources like Nintendo Power, the game manual (of which two different scans are posted on Vimm), and in the case of Olvan and Lejes, from the game itself (those would be some of the very few times you get unique dialogue, and they're given at the town you start off in). However, because the game itself is so minimalistic despite the abundant potential for story in it, I wish to make occasional updates where I will bring up various fanon theories made about the game by its fans over the years. Would that be alright?

So, here's the way this thread is going to be. I am going to be beating this game as fast as I can using RTA (Real Time Attack) strategies with whoever you vote for, meaning it's a speed run where resets are allowed (as opposed to Single Segment where they weren't). I will be going over sidequests, but only after using save states to make it so that whatever experience, items, and the like that I get during the sidequests will not carry over into my main playthrough. This will make it so that the final time is not affected in the slightest.

Whatever the case, feel free to vote for whoever! I'll be leaving this open for about a day before continuing (since this has already been started on three other boards). Have a nice day!

EDIT: Oh, and here are some ground rules...

1) No spoilers unless you have them tagged with the spoiler tags.

2) No hate speech.

3) I may amend these rules at any time.

Edited by FionordeQuester
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Oh man 7th Saga I remember I had this game for the SNES.

In fact I think I still have it somewhere, but I've actually never really completed the game because I ragequit somewhere when another apprentice backstabbed me and took my runes and I couldn't beat him and take them back. Playing blind as Valsu is suffering.

I also couldn't understand english as well as I do now so I got lost a lot, I wonder how well I'd fare now.

Still, good luck with the game, I personally think it's a decent RPG with interesting elements and will definitively be looking forward to this. :)

Edited by Xinnidy
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Ah yes, that fight. Trust me, there are a lot of people who got owned by that, although you can avoid that if you know how.

Also remember that you can vote for who I use if you wish...For those curious, here's the tally from the other forums thus far...

Lux: 7 votes

Wilme: 0 votes

Lejes: 4 votes

Esuna: 7 votes

Valsu: 0 votes

Olvan: 4 votes

Kamil: 2 votes

Edited by FionordeQuester
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Very well then, I'm gonna drop my vote on Esuna for lolz. (and because Valsu has 0 :x)

Again, good luck and have fun. I'll be looking forward. =)

EDIT: Maybe you should add a poll to make it easier for people to just throw in a vote.

Edited by Xinnidy
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Very well then, I'm gonna drop my vote on Esuna for lolz. (and because Valsu has 0 :x)

Again, good luck and have fun. I'll be looking forward. =)

EDIT: Maybe you should add a poll to make it easier for people to just throw in a vote.

Got it. I have now added it in!

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Cool. Threw in my vote in the poll, just saying so you don't accidentaly add an extra vote. :)

I felt like playing the game again and tried to make justice to my failed run, Valsu took a while to get enough speed to hit the first castle's Chimeras reliably. xD

Forgot how grind-happy this game can be.

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Well guys, voting time is now over, and here are our results...

Lux: 13 votes

Wilme: 0 votes

Lejes: 4 votes

Esuna: 15 votes

Valsu: 0 votes

Olvan: 4 votes

Kamil: 6 votes

And it seems Esuna is the winner! Which I personally don't mind, because this'll allow me to show off a few bits of unique dialogue and help make it a bit different from the other two LPs! So look forward to an update soon! Thanks for voting!

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The 7th Saga Episode 1: Part 1

EDIT: In case you guys are confused, or just want to see the game, unedited, here's the raw video that I got most of my screenshots from...

Raw Video

But onto the update...

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And so, to my relief, we're saddled with Esuna! And while she's not the best character in the game, she's definitely not the worst, and I'm looking forward to giving you guys at least a slightly different experience than Nakar and Mogri gave you.

Esuna Busy (Castle Theme)

One thing to note before continuing on is that a lot of the themes in this game, which are used for things such as dungeon music and the like, actually double as character themes for the apprentice, which makes me think that there was originally intended to be a lot more story than what we ended up actually getting. Still unsure as to whether or not the minimalistic approach was the right one to take, because while I don't like it when a story is super barebones, I also don't want the horrible script that games like Mega Man X5 and X7 had. But onto the game itself...

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Lemele.pngLemele: Finally, the time has come to test your knowledge and skills. Your mission is to find the Seven Runes hidden somewhere on the Planet Ticondera.

That would be the planet we live on. I know we all know that, I just wanted to say it because, you know, it's common knowledge.

Lemele.pngLemele: When you have all of the Runes together, they will give you tremendous power and you will become the leader of this world!

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Lemele.pngThey exist in many different forms, and it is difficult to identify them. I'll give each of you a Crystal Ball. It will help you find the Runes. Now get ready for your journey and bring the Runes back.

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Hmm...I dunno, something just doesn't seem right here...You guys wanna weigh in on this?

Lejes(small).pngLejes: I don't work with anyone. When I get the Runes, I'll be more powerful than King Lemele

You know you're in trouble when your apprentice is not only obviously evil, but flat out TELLS you that he's obviously evil.

Lux(small).pngLux: MY BODY WILL TRANSFORM WHEN I NEED A WEAPON. I DON'T NEED A WEAPON FOR THIS MISSION. DURING THIS JOURNEY, I WISH TO FIND WHO BUILT US TETUJIN AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE.

So...you don't plan on fighting...and you don't want the Runes...so why are you here again?

Olvan(small).pngOlvan: I'm the strongest of us all. I'm a bit slow due to my age, but I'll be young again when I have the power of the Runes.

Kamil(small).pngKamil: I'm a warrior, and the best suited for this mission. I'll prove it when I find the Runes.

...no comment...

Valsu(small).pngValsu: My strength is the magic power of healing. My goal is to find the Runes and drive all evil forces out of this world. I'm wondering why Lejes is involved with this mission.

While I appreciate your zeal and mistrust of Lejes, I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea of someone enacting their own brand of vigilante justice on the world...just saying.

Wilme(small).pngWilme: I don't need any weapons or armor since I have great physical strength. I can't imagine the power I might have when I get the Runes.

And what do we have to say about this?

Esuna(small).pngEsuna: I can take care of myself. I may not be strong, but I know how to use the power of magic.

...we're kind of screwed, aren't we :sob:...welp, may as well go treasure hunting.

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Going into these two rooms gives us an Antidote (restores status ailment we'll go over later), MHerb (restores 20 MP), and an Opal (can be bought AND sold for 100G). You'll want to sell the Opal and Antidote for a total of 140G, but...surely that can't be all there is? Surely there must be...

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AWESOME!! This is going right down my pants!! :drool: Yes, in addition to visible treasure chests, you can also discover hidden treasures by using the "Search" command on whatever square you're on. In fact, funnily enough, this one of a select few acts of mercy the localizers have shown us, as this item, and other hidden items throughout the game, were not present in the original version. And thank goodness too, considering what THIS thing does :B):

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So that's all we can get here. But is there really nothing else that anyone can offer us? Maybe some advice would be good?

Holy Woman.pngYou must go now. I'll hope for your safe return.

Holy Woman.pngThe Crystal Ball will be useful in the fields and dungeons. Follow it's direction.

Holy Woman.pngAfter these five years, I'm quite used to having you around. I'll miss you Kamil, take care of yourself.

Holy Woman.pngWe are always on your side. Remember us whenever you run into trouble.

Holy Woman.pngWhen you look into the Crystal Ball, a moving spot indicates a monster; a large spot, a town; and an extremely bright spot; one of the Runes you are searching for.

Holy Woman.pngIt is dangerous to travel alone. When you meet one of the other six, it will be a good idea for you to travel together. You might be turned down or end up in a fight if you can't get along with each other.

Holy Woman.pngYour experience and years of rigorous training will help you to successfully complete your mission.

Holy Woman.pngTalk to people wherever you go and help anyone who is in trouble.

Ah, thank you, although, it would be even better if there wasn't such a disturbingly low man/woman ratio in this castle here...oh well, I'm sure it's nothing. THAT SAID...

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Equipment on Sale

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Next stop is this store, where you'll want to sell your Antidote and Opals in order to buy 4 MHerbs before spending the rest on Potion 1's. Note that if you're either Kamil, or Olvan, you'll want to also sell the MHerb, get an "Anim" sword from the weapon shop, and then get nothing but Potion 1's. However, if you happen to be either Lux or Wilme, you'll want to buy, IN THIS EXACT ORDER, 3x B. Powers, and then a Potion 2 before getting four Potion 1's. Finally, Lejes will want to just get the B. Powers and an extra MHerb before buying the potions.

The reason I say "in that order" is because there's a bit of an irritating quirk in the menu system here. You see, once you get a new item, you can never change it's position in the menu until you run out of that item. Obviously, this becomes a bit of a problem if you, say, run out of healing items at some point, and then are forced to go ALL THE WAY to the bottom of the menu each and every time you get into a fight (and if you're playing this game, you're going to be fighting A LOT!). So, you're generally going to want to ALWAYS save at least one of each item you use most often before restocking on that item as you go through this game...

Believe me, this saves so much time, and I'd hate to imagine the tedium caused by falling into this trap...

Fortress City

Anyways, after those purchases, you'll want to talk to this lady here!

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Hooded Lady.pngBefore you leave, go to the Item Shop and buy Potion 1. It will help your HP a bit. I'll give you one. Try it.

Woot ::D:!

warrior.pngUse DEFENSE before ATTACK when you are in a battle. This way, your HP will temporarily increase. Remember, DEFENSE first, then ATTACK.

Uh, no, this is wrong. Using DEFENSE cuts physical attack damage in half, which HELPS you to have more HP, but DOES NOT increase it! Wasn't this suppose to be a "highly competent" translation? :huh:

Hooded Lady.pngIt'll be safer to exchange any money left for jewels. Monsters search their victims for any money they may be carrying. They are not interested in jewelry, and you can sell the jewels for their purchase price.

Basically, the jewels act as a portable banking system, which means no need to worry about losing half your money when dieing! Yes, when I talked about "many revolutionary ideas" in the opening post, this is what I mean. Isn't it awesome?

Item%20Merchant.pngSo, you are going to search for the Runes. I've heard that the Seven Runes give immense power to their finder. Good luck!

Old Woman.pngIt's been five years since the King brought you to the land of Lemele. Hope you'll visit us someday.

Woman.pngWhen you reach any town, visit an Inn to record your journey.

warrior.pngI've watched you train hard day after day. The experience you gained then will pay off.

Old Woman(big).pngYou've been so kind to take care of me for so long. I'll hope for your safe return.

I'm emphasizing this particular line of dialogue because this is one of those VERY rare instances where NPC dialogue actually changes depending on who you use. In this case, Lejes and Olvan will get different dialogue from her...

Old Woman(big).png

If Olvan: You wanted to receive training from the King, so you went to him. You were just a tiny person, but you had a great dream and high aspirations. Take care of yourself. Good-bye.

Awe :wub:

Old Woman(big).png

If Lejes: You were a stubborn, difficult child. It took you a while to trust and warm up to us. Be honest with yourself, and don't betray your own feelings.

::(:

knight.pngAre you the last person to go? Everybody else has already left for Rablesk, in the south.

traveler.pngThe Gate of Earth in Rablesk is closed. You can't go further south from there. You are a warrior of King Lemele. Can you open the gate?

I believe you all have a general idea of what we're doing next. Now of course, I have no clue how the others got ahead of us considering they were in the throne room when we last saw them. Unless of course I just spent THAT long raiding peoples stuff, but, enough about that! It is now time for the game itself! Are you all ready? You think you can handle the POWER of this RPG? Are we all ready to DO THIS THANG?!?

7th Saga cover.jpg

Edited by FionordeQuester
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The 7th Saga Episode 1: Part 2

Lux Tizer (1st World Map Theme)

World%20Map%20(1st-Special).png

This is our battle plan for this update and, as you can see, the game wastes no time in kicking us around until we level up, and despite what you might think, this was not at all unique to 7th Saga in the old days. Many RPG's from the past expected you to grind at least a few levels before moving one foot from your home town, and in fact, even Elnard Wilme was required to grind out a level here before bending the early game over his knee...that being said though...

Battle in a World of Light (Overworld Battle Theme)

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!013.png

Meet the first somewhat threatening enemy in the game, pictured to the right. This is the Wyvern, and it was made to troll you, as FusionX916 found out here at 0:33-0:57 and everything after 2:03...

Why 7th Saga Sucks

So here's the thing. This dude has 23 more Speed than you do, and while in some RPG's that wouldn't be a big deal, it only serves to highlight just how critical Speed is in this game. You see, in this game, you can sometimes avoid getting hurt by whatever your opponent does, be it physical or magical, like so...

Kamil%20Dodge.gif

And while this is cool indeed, it is also a constant source of frustration for the slower characters since the chance of evasion runs entirely off of Speed. A list of breakpoints can be found here if you feel like looking it up for yourself...

7th Saga Resources

But basically, the Wyvern has a 98% chance of hitting you while you only have a 61% chance of hitting the Wyvern...And if you try to run, THAT'S based off the Speed stat as well, which means you only have a 5% chance of running from this monster. Fortunately, every single character has a way of dealing with them that either costs no money, or not much...except Olvan and Kamil, which leads me into my next topic.

For those who would argue that he's still the best person for beginner's to use, I read what Seiren said, and while his statement might make sense in theory, it's still completely wrong for two reasons...

1) Healing and buffing items are very inexpensive compared to, say, pretty much all of Olvan and Kamil's gear, and you'll especially see this as we start moving further and further away from the beginning.

2) Kamil and Olvan have almost NOTHING when it comes to killing power or defensive power.

Basically, this is how much damage Olvan and Kamil can do...

7th Saga, The (U) !064.png

And this is how much the rest can do (well, besides Valsu, who only gets his first attack spell at Level 2)...

7th Saga, The (U) !066.png

7th Saga, The (U) !070.png

Esuna Ice.gif

This right here is how much damage Kamil and Olvan take from the Wyvern...

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!065.png

And this is how much Lux and Wilme take...

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!068.png

7th Saga, The (U) !071.png

Yeah...kind of hard to overstate just how much of a disadvantage Kamil and Olvan are at compared to everyone else, isn't it? And that is all at Level 1, without any stat boosters or anything like that. And since Kamil/Olvan and the Wyvern both 4HKO each other, and since the two don't start off with Heal 1 like Valsu does, they literally have no choice but to buy the "Anim" Sword just to survive a fight with a Wyvern without burning through Potion 1's.

And HEAVEN HELP THEM if they get this...

7th Saga, The (U) 139.png

Yes, they do eventually get access to healing spells, but how much does it really matter when you're losing so much more HP than you would with either Wilme or Lux to begin with? Or, for that matter, having trouble just surviving the fights? Yes, healing spells are nice, but I think even in terms of what's easier for a beginner, that Wilme or Lux would be the best, if for nothing else than the fact that their strategies will be a lot simpler (after all, at this point, you haven't been introduced to magic attacks yet...well, aside from the upcoming boss, but, well...)

Anyways, that long tangent aside, let's head into Rablesk...

Lively Village

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!016.png

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!017.png

And get one of the games most valuable items, the Stat Seed! Can't say I know why the "do you want to take this?" message actually changes between items, but I digress.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!019.png

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!018.png

After that, we head to the Inn here and save in order to make sure we get a 3 or 4 point bonus out of this Pr Seed. Now, just so you know, these Inns are the only places you can save, and you do so after saying yes or no to the innkeepers offer. But as long as we're here, why don't we see what the townsfolk have to say?

knight.pngThe Gate of Earth in the Southwest is closed and we can't travel further south. Will you go to the Castle of Aran and get the Key of Earth?

Old%20Man.pngThe traveler who left for Aran to get the Key of Earth has not returned. The castle has been a hideout for monsters ever since Romus arrived there. What shall we do with him?

traveler.pngI can't travel to buy tools and equipment because the Gate of Earth is closed. I wish someone would take the Key of Earth away from Romus.

traveler.pngI need to deliver the medicine to Bonro in the South, but the Gate of Earth is closed and I can't get there.

Master.pngGain: I'm Gain. I came from Bonro to take care of my business here. I'm stuck now because the Gate of Earth is closed. Will you help me? If you open the gate, I will give you this Map to show my appreciation. The Map has magical powers and it will always show you where you are. Your journey will be easier with the map. Will you do it?

Huh...gee, I wonder if we'll have to go to Aran at some point? :drool: You can say no to the man, whom you find in the Tavern at the upper right of this town...

Master.pngGain: You will need the Map later. Are you sure?

But that simply leads to a "but thou must" situation (that's when the game won't let you say no), so we have no choice but to say yes...

Master.pngGain: It's a deal! You can trust my word.

Cool. Anything else we oughtta know?

Hooded%20Lady.pngThere have been a few visitors who inquired about the Runes. All of them left for Bonro.

Hooded%20Lady.pngI met another of King Lemele's warriors only a minute ago.

This...doesn't really make a whole lot of sense with what you find out later, but we'll cover that later.

warrior.pngI've been searching for the Runes, too. I don't have the faintest idea of where they are. Do they really exist?

Bartender.pngAre you traveling alone? You might want a companion. When you get to Bonro or Zellis, you will be able to find a good companion.

Reading between the lines a bit, we can figure that, because the rest of the apprentices left for Bonro, they must be the companions that have so often been mentioned thus far, and they'll probably join us!

...Not really sure why we didn't just join up to begin with, but, details details!

warrior.pngPison, a bounty hunter, has been looking for you. Watch out!

...Great, not even 10 minutes into our quest, and already folks want us dead :>_<:!

Old%20Man.pngMy wife is in a bad mood. You'd better not bother her.

Old%20Woman.pngI have trouble enough, what with Romus and all. Leave me alone!

Woman.pngI can't sleep because every night I hear a dog crying at the Castle of Aran. It's a sound of sorrow that keeps me wide awake.

Huh. I wonder if any of this will become relevant later? Oh well, Castle Aran it is then!

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20059.png

Of course, you'll want to make sure you're at Level 2 before heading in there, so if you haven't gotten there yet, make sure to grind outside of that red square on the orb till then (lest you meet a tougher enemy than the Wyvern).

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!015.png

7th Saga, The (U) !094.png

Fortunately, we got that before Rablesk, so... into Aran we go!

Lejes Rimul (Dungeon Theme)

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!074.png

Can we make it to Romus, and claim the Key of Earth for ourselves?

Edited by FionordeQuester
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The 7th Saga Episode 1: Part 3

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!029.png

Battle in a World of Darkness (Dungeon Battle Theme)

Not if these cool dudes, the Chimeras, have anything to say about it! They're basically just buffed up Wyverns, though they CAN steal your MP, so you'd better finish them quick! And if you fight more than one of them, well, that can be trouble. In fact, you're likely to die if that happens.

So why are we still risking this? Well, you'll see soon enough. But wait a minute, why did I say that these guys are cool?

Esuna%20Spell.gif

Because not only will these guys change their appearance to this when you hit them, they will actually stay that way throughout the rest of the fight. In fact, this enemy and it's recolors (stronger versions of this guy with different colors) are the ONLY enemies in the game who do this, and it really makes me wonder why the designers would stop there.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!032.png

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!033.png

These guys on the other hand are basically just recolored Thwomps, packing lots of Guard, but no Power to speak of. Anyways, the Chimera's are still fairly tough for your level, so you'll want to go straight to Romus like so...

Aran%20(F1).png

Aran%20(F2).png

Aran%20(F3).png

And get ready to rumble!

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!021.png

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!022.png

Esuna(sad).png.......

Esuna(small).png No. I'm sorry, but this has gone on for far too long, and I can't let anybody stop me from pursuing my mission. I don't know how many times you've been abused by us...but, I promise you, this will be the last time you will ever suffer at our hands.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!023.png

Esuna(small).png.......

Esuna(scared).png...AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHH-

Romus%20Round%201.gif

Well, that could've gone better.

7th Saga, The (U) !091.png

"So what in the world was the point of THAT?!?", you may be asking. Well actually, if you talk to a certain old woman again...

7th Saga, The (U) !075.png

You will find that she's suddenly feeling a lot more talkative since our butt kicking.

Old%20Woman(big).pngRomus is not evil, but the King of Aran is.

Wait, did you say is evi? As in, he's still alive? Interesting...one COULD chalk it up to sloppy translation, but, I have my own theory in mind. You'll see later.

Old%20Woman(big).png

A traveler and his dog came to the town about a year ago. He has a strange shiny stone which the King wanted. He would not give it to the King, so he was killed. The dog cried night and day over his master's body until he too died. The dog's name was named Romus, and he's haunted the castle since then. It was a horrible thing to do.

:blink:...is this seriously the same Nintendo that would replace the word "Die" with "Go" in Woosley's translation of FFVI? Because aside from being heartbreaking, this is some pretty graphic stuff considering the time period. "Doing what Nintendon't" my foot, though it's still not as bad as Lavender Town in Pokemon R/B/Y.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!076.png

Old%20Man.pngThis is the Whistle we found on the body of the traveler when we buried him. Blow the Whistle when you meet Romus. The sound of it will put his soul to rest.

Well, you know what we gotta do. And you thought putting down Old Yeller was bad ::(:...

Epic Confrontation (Boss Theme)

Romus Round 2.gif

Yep, that's all there is to this fight. Incidentally, you remember how I said that all bosses were buffed in this version of the game? Well Romus was no exception, as he only had 130 HP originally, and could easily be beaten as low as Level 4 without the Whistle if one was willing. Heck, Wilme could do it at Level 3 with a bit of luck, but alas, that is not the case here.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!035.png

And THIS is why we stormed Aran early despite the risk of death by 2x Chimera's. This is a lot of experience at this point of the game, so the idea was that, rather than slowly digging our way to a high enough level to defeat Romus, we would instead kill him as soon as we could so we could get as strong as we could before having to grind, that way we wouldn't be spending nearly as much time and money resting at the Inn and restocking on MHerbs.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!036.png

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!037.png

And of course, being able to steal the Chimera's technique certainly doesn't hurt.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!038.png

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!039.png

And THIS will be seeing a lot of use soon.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!041.png

And now with Romus out of the picture, all the monsters disappear from the castle, meaning that we can now get those chests that we had to skip before! Not all is worth getting though, so just get the ones marked here...

Re-Aran(F3).png

Re-Aran(F2).png

Re-Aran(F1).png

Re-Aran(B1).png

In total, this gives us the Topaz (Sell/Buy for 500G), an Opal, one P. Seed (1-4 to Power), and a Potion 1 (just because it was near the P. Seed). Of course, since we're Esuna, we won't be needing the P. Seed for a while, but the rest we can use!

Now, we're pretty much done with story progression as of this update, so how about I show off some things?

Battle in a World of Light (Overworld Battle Theme)

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!042.png

This is the last new enemy we can meet on the overworld before the Cave of Earth, and they can be pretty annoying at low levels. Why?

Demon.gif

Because in addition to being able to heal ALL of his HP with Heal 1, he can also halve your Guard with this, Defense 2. So why don't we show him a neat little trick of our own, huh?

MP%20Catcher.gif

Ungh! Wassup now trick?! Of course, the exact amount of MP you steal may not always be so great since the potency and accuracy of spells is based off of the Magic stat, but, as you get up in levels, this'll be GREATLY helpful in not having to burn through MHerbs...

And no, I don't have an animation for the Heal spell yet, but we'll fix that soon. As for the HP Catcher, that's just the same thing, except it steals HP, and the dots are blue.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!048.png

Enemies will occasonally drop items when you defeat them, or they'll simply go to waste if you're already full of them, as is what happened here. For those curious, all the enemies here give either Potion 1's or Opals, and the Chimera's can drop MHerbs.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!009.png

Oh yes, and there's also this. You're supposed to always take at least 1 damage from attacks no matter what, but due to some sort of bug, you can actually reduce damage to 0 if you Defend and have a certain amount of Guard. And no, it has nothing to do with how much larger it is than the opponents, as this will work against the Hermit for many of the characters at Level 1...then stops working once you either use a Pr Seed or get to Level 2. :wacko:

Anyways, we grind between Castle Aran and the Cave of Earth since the enemies at Aran, AT BEST, only give 2 EXP more than the Wyverns and Demons, so obviously this is a much faster place to level. The results?

7th Saga, The (U) !093.png

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!089.png

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!050.png

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!055.png

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!056.png

Awesome! This is what we got after grinding, which I did by basically spamming Ice, MP Catcher, and eventually physical attacks any time there was just one Wyvern or Hermits (those turtle guys) left at Level 6. Purify is basically Antidote, and we'll get into Ice 2 as we explore the Cave of Earth next update. But before we finish this...

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!057.png

We fill up on MHerbs and also get a good amount of B. Defense's, the reason being that the B. Defenses and their cousin, the B. Power, will actually DOUBLE their respective stats...

That's right, an ability that's normally reserved until at least the mid-game in MOST RPG's...is buyable for only 100G right at the start of the game. To put it in perspective, the cheapest armor that Kamil can buy...is 700G and raised Guard by only 2. If that doesn't tell you how insanely abusable these items are...or for that matter how absurdly overpriced equipment is in this game...then I don't know what does.

That said, we still have to use them sparingly for now, both because 100G is relatively expensive for this point, and because Rablesk is the only town that sells these items for quite a while (though that will be solved in very quickly...you'll see).

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!059.png

So that about wraps up this update. All told, that was about 30 minutes of gameplay I just did, which is actually pretty fast for this section of the game. Any comments, questions, suggestions...complaints? Whatever the case, look forward to joining me NEXT TIME on The 7th Saga! This is Fionordequester signing out. Have a nice day, and godspeed!

Edited by FionordeQuester
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Amazing job, I'm getting a lot of information I didn't know about with regard to this game. :)

I didn't knew Romus' backstory branched off like that, this was an enlightening read.

I remember I got the mirror exactly once before but I completely forgot where until now, I don't think I remember its use either. xD

And wow did Kamil and Olvan get the short end of the stick.

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Mini-Update #1: Game Formula's and Monster Stats

Alright guys, I wanted to try to have this update out a week from when I did my first one, but due to a combination of being busy with school, deciding to do some more character portraits, and figuring out how to see the RAM addresses on this game, I haven't quite been able to get it out yet...so to tide you over, I'm going to delve into a teensy bit of game mechanics, and start a section showing off enemy stats, as well as highlighting how the stats were changed between versions. So without further ado, with formula's provided by Nati, Mogri, and Nitrodon...

PHYSICAL ATTACK DAMAGE FORMULA

Now, first thing I want to point out is that Mogri, if you've read his LP, is actually wrong on one minor detail in regards to the physical damage formula, although if he got it from the same source I did, I think I can understand why. In any case, when greatly simplified, the damage looks like this...

Damage = (TotalAttack - (TotalDefense / 2)) * (Random number between 0.75-1.25)

Now critical hits (which you'll know you've gotten if your character attacks twice in their animation rather than once) multiply the resulting Damage by 2, and if you Defended the round before your attacked, your "TotalAttack" is multiplied by 1.5. And then of course, if your TotalAttack is so low that your opponent's TotalDefense reduces it to a negative number despite having been cut in half beforehand, then you just do one damage instead.

Now, Mogri was correct on all counts, EXCEPT for the random multiplier in the right-most parenthesis. What Mogri said was that the random number was between 0.8-1.2, though even Nitrodon, one of the two who worked on the TAS of this game, told me it was 0.8-1.2 until I pointed out that the boss of the next update was doing a damage range that was impossible given that formula. So after looking at his notes, Nitrodon then stated that, according to them, the range was actually 0.75-1.25. So if Nitrodon is where Mogri got his information, his error is understandable.

Anyways, the takeaway from this formula is that for every point of attack you get is one more point of damage you'll be doing to your enemies, every two points of Guard you get is one more point of damage you'll be shaving off of enemy attacks, and that should your opponents TotalDefense ever be so high as to reduce your Damage to 1 or below, then you'll be able to do more damage by a Defend-Attack combo rather than just plain ol' Attack.

Now, let's talk about the B. Items I mentioned this update for a moment. B. Power doubles your Power and B. Agilities (dunno if I mentioned that one yet) raise your Speed by 30, so those do exactly what they said on the tin. B. Protects however...are a different story. They say that they double your Guard, but that's actually not true. What it ACTUALLY does is much more fantastic. You see, no matter what your Guard is, no matter how powerful your foes attack, B. Protects will actually halve the damage of every single physical attack for the whole battle! Of course, it doesn't actually raise your Guard one bit (despite what the game and the status screen will tell you), but does it matter? This thing is basically the reason an Esuna playthrough is even possible at all, as otherwise, the girl would be getting stomped so hard after a point, that it wouldn't even be funny...

And yes, this does mean that, should Olvan and Kamil, with equipment, exceed the amount of Defense that Lux or Wilme possesses...they will actually take less damage than them even when using a B. Defense.

MAGIC ATTACK DAMAGE FORMULA

So here's the formula here...

Damage = Magic1 - Magic2 + SpellBonus

...where Magic1 is the attacker's Magic, Magic2 is the defender's Magic, and SpellBonus is

SpellBonus = (Magic1 / 2 + SpellPower) * (100 - ElementalResistance) / 100

SpellPower is determined by what spell your casting, and in our case, we can cast either Ice or Ice2, which have 36 SpellPower and 80 SpellPower respectively. HPCatcher has it's own special formula.

Now, we haven't introduced Elemental Resistance yet, but for the most part, monsters will have anywhere from 30-40 Elemental Resistances to all kinds of spells (with late-game enemies getting a lot more than that towards their Debuff and Vacuum resistance), meaning that most SpellBonuses will end up being cut by 30% to 40% before the formula coughs it up to be added to the above formula.

So the takeaway points here is that for every point of Magic you gain, you'll do 1 more point of Damage, but unlike with physical attacks, you only need 1.5 points of Magic to shave off one point of damage rather than the Guard stat, where you needed 2 stat points to take off one point. So when your opponent is adept at Magic, you'll want to switch to physical attacks if you can help it...which Valsu and Esuna can't really do unfortunately. Yes, when we meet foes like that, killing them will actually be a bit of an issue for us. Also, despite ICE2 technically having 52 more SpellPower than ICE, it's really more like only 31 extra points of damage since most monsters will have a good amount of resistance (though monsters at this point of the game only have resistances of like, 10-20, so that damage gap is something like 35-39 points right now)

SIPHONING SPELL FORMULA

Damage = Magic/2 + (Random number from 0-15)

Now, these spells count as debuffs, and of course, MP Catcher targets MP, so the "Damage" there is applied to MP instead of HP. Also, the game never allows you to take anymore than 50 HP with HPCatcher nor does it let you take more than 40 MP with MPCatcher...

So basically, while MPCatcher has a niche, HPCatcher is completely worthless, because even if it hits (since it's a Debuff, there's a chance it'll do nothing), it's never going to do more than 50 Damage, and 50 HP back is nowhere near enough to justify its use.

DEBUFF AND VACUUM RESISTANCE FORMULA

Now, here's a very critical formula, for obvious reasons I'm sure, and unfortunately, Nati's Game Mechanics FAQ has it wrong in that there's a bit missing. So here's the ACTUAL formula...

If you're Magic is not higher than target

Success Rate: 100 - Vacuum Resistance of target.

If you're Magic is higher than target

Success Rate: 100 - (Vacuum Resistance of target - (Attacker Magic - Defender Magic)/Attacker Magic) * 256.

The FAQ got the first one, but unfortunately the author wasn't aware of the second one, so, there you go. Except...something weird happens if the second formula reduces the monsters Resistance below 0%. You see, whenever that happens, the game will actually decide to NOT reduce their resistance AT ALL! So basically, whenever your Magic goes past a certain point, and you're fighting, say, a monster with 70% Resistance to Vacuum, you will actually go from something like a 95% chance of landing Vacuum to only a 30% chance once your Magic increases!!

This one here really bites Esuna and especially Valsu in the butt in terms of grinding, and was, as you can imagine, the source of much frustration in the past, as I was still not quite as well versed in this game.

NOTE: Enemies are divided into Class 0 and Class 1 enemies, with Class 1 enemies being mainly bosses with the occasional random enemy. There's no difference between the two, except that Class 1 enemies are completely immune to Debuffs and Vacuum, so there's no MP or HP Catching Romus for example.

So anyways, those are all the formula's that haven't been explain by the "TAS Resources" Link I provide last update. So what about the monster stats? And how have they been changed, if at all, from the original version? Well, starting now, after every update, I will end it with a section of "ALL THE MONSTERS WE FOUGHT TODAY" or something like that wherein I will both the changed and unchanged stats the same way I did when I went over the Apprentices. So here's everything, minus MP and Resistances (haven't figured out if anything has been changed between versions, will update if that's the case).

Also, Nati figured out all the "7th Saga" stats while I figured out all the "Elnard" stats.

************************************************************
*Hermit		Exp:    26      Gold:   12      Class: 0   *
************************************************************
Stats		Resists		Spells		Drops
-------------   ------------    -------------   ------------
MaxHP     18    Thunder   20    (None)		Potn1   1/16
MaxMP      0    Fire      20    		
Power      3    Ice       20    		
Guard      4    Vacuum    20    		
Magic      2    Debuff    20    		
Speed      1

************************************************************
*Wyvern		Exp:    33      Gold:   15      Class: 0   *
************************************************************
Stats		Resists		Spells		Drops
-------------   ------------    -------------   ------------
MaxHP     21    Thunder    0    (None)		Potn1   3/16
MaxMP      0    Fire       0    		
Power      7    Ice        0    		
Guard      1    Vacuum     0    		
Magic      3    Debuff     0    		
Speed     26

************************************************************
*Demon		Exp:    33      Gold:   15      Class: 0   *
************************************************************
Stats		Resists		Spells		Drops
-------------   ------------    -------------   ------------
MaxHP     30    Thunder   10    Heal1		Potn1   3/16
MaxMP     30    Fire      10    Defense2	
Power      9    Ice       10    		
Guard      7    Vacuum    10    		
Magic      2    Debuff    10    		
Speed      1

************************************************************
*Statue		Exp:    30      Gold:   14      Class: 0   *
************************************************************
Stats		Resists		Spells		Drops
-------------   ------------    -------------   ------------
MaxHP     50    Thunder   10    (None)		(None)
MaxMP      0    Fire      10    		
Power      7    Ice       10    		
Guard     10    Vacuum    10    		
Magic      2    Debuff    10    		
Speed      7

************************************************************
*Chimera	Exp:    35      Gold:   16      Class: 0   *
************************************************************
Stats		Resists		Spells		Drops
-------------   ------------    -------------   ------------
MaxHP     40    Thunder   20    MPCatcher	Potn1    1/8
MaxMP     30    Fire      20    		
Power   8>11    Ice       20    		
Guard      5    Vacuum    40    		
Magic      2    Debuff    20    		
Speed     30

************************************************************
*Romus		Exp:   528      Gold:  240      Class: 1   *
************************************************************
Stats		Resists		Spells		Drops
-------------   -------------    ------------   ------------
MaxHP 170>300    Thunder   40    HPCatcher	(None)
MaxMP     110    Fire      40    		
Power  24>30     Ice       40    		
Guard  36>40     Vacuum    --    		
Magic     12     Debuff    --    		
Speed     20

So if you want to know why Chimera's are so tough, well, there's your answer. They literally are doing 3 more Damage per round than they were meant to do in the Japanese version. And don't be fooled by the relatively low buffs now, because I can assure you from what I've already seen that things are gonna get pretty crazy later on :har:

Edited by FionordeQuester
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Ok guys, I'm definitely going to have this up by tomorrow since I've got almost everything done, but I'm wondering, about how long can an update be before it becomes too much for you all? My last one (not the Mechanics one) was 4,538 words, and this update is at 5,246 and not even completely done yet. I was planning on going all the way up to

the 3rd boss

but I've only just now gotten up to

the fifth town

. What do you guys think?

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The 7th Saga Episode 2: Part 1

Alright, here's the video...

Let's Play The 7th Saga Part 2 Raw Footage

...and here's the update!

7th Saga, The (U) !000.png

Good day everyone, this is Fionordequester, and welcome back to Let's Play "The 7th Saga"! Now, we've got a mission to do, but first, let's view some additional flavor text that's now available in both towns!

Lemele:

Child.pngEsuna, do you remember me?

Yes

Child.pngI'm glad we are still friends.

No

Child.pngDon't tell me. You don't remember me. I'm hurt.

knight.pngHow is the life of a traveler?

traveler.pngThank you for opening the gate. You've helped us a lot. Why, he is the warrior of King Lemele!

Esuna(small).pngEsuna: ExCUSE me?!?

Rablesk:

knight.pngYou'll reach Bonro shortly after passing through the Cave of Earth in the Southwest.

Old%20Man.pngThank you for getting rid of Romus. You are truly a great warrior! Please go to the Cave of Earth in the Southwest and open the Gate of Earth. Hurry!

traveler.pngThank you for opening the gate. Now I can go and buy more tools. I'm happy.

Woman.pngI have been sleeping well. Thank you The more I enjoy a good night's sleep, the younger I look and feel.

Old%20Woman(big).pngIf Romus was Killed With Whistle: Thank you. With your help, Romus can rest in peace.

Old%20Woman(big).pngIf Romus was Killed Without Whistle: Thank you. Romus must be happy now.

Old%20Man.pngFinally, my wife is happy. I appreciate what you've done.

Cool. Now...

7th Saga, The (U) !090.png

In case you forgot, this is the Cave of Earth right here, just south of Rablesk...what will await us here?

Battle in a World of Darkness

Undead Intro.gif

Well, this is the Undead, and it will be our rival for this leg of the journey.

7th Saga, The (U) !003.png

As you can see, it hits pretty hard, which is why I had to make sure that my HP and Guard were high enough so as it wouldn't sweep our feet out from under us. In fact, nobody except Valsu has any business being here any earlier than Level 7, and Valsu's only special because he learns the spell version of a B. Protect, and even he needs to be Level 6 (otherwise, he'll be healing too much).

7th Saga, The (U) !002.png

Fortunately, Esuna's spells allows her to get a leg up on the competition in terms of damage here. In fact, once you get up to about Level 9...

Esuna Critical.gif

There will be times where you'll blast off like 77 of the dude's 80 HP, and you'll be able to just kill it with a physical since it's already got one foot in the grave. And yes, that IS a critical hit up there, which for those not in the know, is what happens in an RPG when you get lucky and have your attack hit for more damage than normal (usually double the damage in this game).

In fact, magic in general, even for WILME of all people, has a clear and decisive advantage over physical attacks right now, and if nothing else, you should always try to finish Undead's off with those, because sometimes when you reduce them below half health, this happens...

Undead Healing.gif

It will do this once it's on his last legs, and I'm sure I don't need to tell you how much trouble that is...

So, you may be thinking, "ok, so it's a bruiser, it can heal, but it can't be THAT bad, right? What, between the spells you have, or Lux and-"

Undead%20Revival.gif

"Oh, right...WAIT WHAT?!?"

Yes, that's right, this dude can, and will, actually REVIVE FALLEN COMRADES!! Now, of course, the spell costs it an arm and a leg to cast (that is, all it's MP), we're not in an area where you fight more than one of these guys, nor are there any other new regular enemies other than him, so it's not ALL bad...yet...

Still, this is an ability that, in MOST RPG's, is not given until at least the tail end of the mid-game, so to have it here, well...just goes to show how quickly this game ups the ante, huh? And that's no localization magic, that's in the original version as well.

Undead Running.gif

And then once you level up a bit, there are times where they'll just troll you and run away with their tail in-between their leg and their arm...their incredibly long, awkward looking arm...

I mean, yeah, I've heard of "four legs, then two legs, then three legs", but I didn't think they meant it quite this literally :p!

7th Saga, The (U) !004.png

All kidding aside though, we'll want to grind here until Level 10 (11 for Kamil and Lejes) precisely because of how much more experience we get here. And as for Esuna, the idea is that between using MP Catcher on Chimera's and your 9x MHerbs, you'll be able to last here until at least Level 9 before having to restock at the item shop.

However, as you are grinding, always, ALWAYS make sure you're at full HP, or at least like, 1-2 HP from it, because in addition to being fairly fast, the enemies can also critical hit you, and criticals seem to happen much more often here than in most RPG's, so always try to factor that into your battle plans when possible.

Frozen Depths of the Earth

Anyways, ...I followed the path marked here...once I returned from my shopping trip and grind some...

7th Saga, The (U) !092.png

...I followed the path marked here...

cave_of_earth 1.png

Which leads me to this door here, formerly sealed off without the Earth Key. After that I go back shopping...

7th Saga, The (U) !092.png

But after that, how about we check up on our old friend Gain? Dude promised us a map, so...

Bartender.pngGain: Gain is gone. Were you supposed to meet him?

Oh wonderful, don't tell me I actually spent SO LONG grinding that he actually got fed up waiting for me! I guess all we can do is head back and...

7th Saga, The (U) !015.png

Ah! It's that one dude that NPC warned us about! Maybe Gain had to skip town?

Pison.pngPison: One of your fellow travelors hired me to get rid of you. Are you asking me who it was? I can't tell you. You must die here!

And if he kills you and you talk to him again...

Pison.pngPison: You are still alive! I don't believe I missed! Take that!

Yes, some bosses will actually have extra dialogue that they'll say if you die...

7th Saga, The (U) !016.png

Too bad most people will never actually see it because this is the damage he does after I use my B. Protect, and as you can see, he's really not that impressive. His HP is about 250 HP, but other than that, he's basically just a slightly stronger Undead, and in fact, we probably could've killed him at Level 7 if he wanted to, because that physical attack? That's all he's got...

Interestingly enough, he actually DOES have the Heal 2 spell, but it costs 18 MP...and he's only got 15 MP, so...not really sure what they were going for there. More dumb localization perhaps?

cave_of_earth 2.png

But hey, it looks like we forgot that one treasure chest with the random jewel? Gosh, I wonder what I might-

Battle in a World of Darkness

Trick Intro.gif

...Oh....oh.....ok. I get it now. Well, no problem. I mean, I beat the boss, how much trouble could this possibly-

Trickshot.gif

...Oh...I see. So THAT'S the way it's going to be, huh 7th Saga? And no, that wasn't even a critical hit, that's just how strong it naturally is. No, seriously, look at this...

************************************************************
*Pison		Exp:   264      Gold:  120      Class: 1   *
************************************************************
Stats		Resists		Spells		Drops
------------    ------------    ------------    ------------
MaxHP    250    Thunder   30    Heal2		(None)
MaxMP     15    Fire      30    		
Power     40    Ice       30    		
Guard     50    Vacuum    --    		
Magic     14    Debuff    --    		
Speed     30  

...and compare it to this...

************************************************************
*Trick		Exp:   220      Gold:  100      Class: 0   *
************************************************************
Stats		Resists		Spells		Drops
------------    ------------    ------------    ------------
MaxHP     80    Thunder   50    Heal1		Pearl   1/16
MaxMP     50    Fire      50    Poison		Topaz   9/16
Power    100    Ice       50    Petrify		Ruby    3/16
Guard     60    Vacuum    50    Agility		Saphr   2/16
Magic     20    Debuff    50    HPCatcher	Emrld   1/16
Speed     35   

That's right, the Trick actually has more than double the attack power of the supposed "boss" of this cave, and for that matter, more than almost every single enemy until about halfway to getting the 4th Rune! This right here is one of the biggest "screw you's" in the localization, because you know what? In the Japanese version, all that happened when you opened this chest was that you got a Potion 2, without fighting anything at all, and there will be other instances of this as we go through the game.

So how in the world are we supposed to kill an enemy who can hit for almost double our maximum HP?

7th Saga, The (U) !025.png

Well, fortunately we have B.Protects, however, even if we aren't killed in one hit, we're still forced to use a Potion 2 every time this guy hits, so what are we to do? Well, fortunately, physical attacks aren't the only thing this monstrosity has, for in addition to Heal 1 and HPCatcher, it also has...

7th Saga, The (U) !093.png

...Poison, which actually happens to be a spell...that costs 0 MP...and hits your Guard rather than your Magic...and is powered off of the user's Power instead of their magic...and looks like a physical attack...Anyways, in addition to hitting like a physical attack, it has a chance of inflicting the Poison stat on you that's influenced by how high your Magic is. In this case, it hit, but it's actually not a big deal because in-battle, it only takes off 1 HP per turn...

Trick Speed.gif

This on the other hand can be a problem. And yes, we'll be getting access to that power as well, but things are going to get real tough real quick if it gets that off.

Petrify.gif

This however, is really good! Remember that Mirror we got all the way back at Lemele in Lemele's Castle? Well this is what it's used for! You see, this right here is the Petrify spell, which has a chance of immobilizing you for a random amount of turns if it hits...and you don't have a Mirror. If you do have one though, all of the sudden, the fight just got a lot easier, and in fact, it's basically the only way that most characters can beat this monstrosity at these low levels...

Ice 2.gif

Fortunately, we are not most characters, and though Esuna wasn't lucky enough to get the Mirror Trick to work, she WAS lucky enough to dodge two blows, allowing her to blast this monstrosity with Ice 2, which is basically just Ice, except it does around 30 more points of Damage to most monsters and costs 12 MP instead of 3 MP. Not something you'll want to be using every round, but when you've gotta take someone down fast, well, it's quite cool to have.

7th Saga, The (U) !029.png

At any rate, this is our prize for defeating the Trick, a random jewel that has a 6% chance of being a Pearl (200G), a 56% chance of being a Topaz (500G), an 18% chance of being a Ruby (1,000G), a 12% chance of being a Saphire (2,500G), and a 6% chance of being an Emerald (5,000G). If you get lucky beating this thing, well, needless to say, money isn't going to be a concern for a long while, though with a Topaz, our revenues don't exceed the cost of beating this stupid thing by much. But oh well, at least we didn't die, and in this game, that's something to be thankful for.

Edited by FionordeQuester
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The 7th Saga Episode 2: Part 2

World Map (2nd-Special).png

World Map

So this is what the new part of the continent looks like. Your mission soldier, if you choose to accept it, is to march ALL the way to that there cave to the left while listening to this awesome music, my third favorite track in the game!

Battle in a World of Light

7th Saga, The (U) !031.png

Don't think that it'll be a cakewalk though, because this new guy on the right?

Android.gif

This is an Android, a monster that's as strong as Pison...

7th Saga, The (U) !121.png

...and 15 points faster to boot. Not only that, but they can also heal themselves with Heal 1 as well as HPCatcher. Oh yeah, and then there's the fact that you can fight TWO of them at once...and did I mention that we'll be fighting no less than four new enemies besides this one, ALL of whom are stronger than this, and all but one of whom can appear in groups of two? Yeah, there's a reason why we had to grind all the way to Level 10 before coming out.

7th Saga, The (U) !032.png

Fortunately, these guys aren't very resistant to magic, so Esuna can easily OHKO them with Ice 2. In fact, killing these guys with Ice 2 is what you should do before you do anything else, because even though Demon's and their Defense2 can sometimes show up, they're too low on Speed and Magic for that to actually hit you most of the time...

And I know that I'm contradicting what I did in the actual video, but, though I'm ashamed to admit it, I made several mistakes on this portion of the playthrough, to the point where most of the screenshots after Bonro were from a redone playthrough of this section.

Olvan Jaess

bonro.png

Here's Bonro. Now, do you remember that one guy, Gain, who flaked out on us and didn't give us that map? Well we'll show him!...

7th Saga, The (U) !040.png

Except, that's going to be slightly postponed, because apparently this guy is like, the most awesome, Sean Connery-esque figure ever. Case in point?

7th Saga, The (U) !041.png

The dude wakes up and goes to Church...

7th Saga, The (U) !042.png

And then the FIRST thing he does after the sermon is to get plastered at a Bar...

7th Saga, The (U) !043.png

This of course is immediately followed up by a visit to the Weapons and Armor shops, probably to arm wrestle various contestants or beat them in squatting tournaments...

7th Saga, The (U) !094.png

And it's only at this point, after he's gone to converse with the family in charge of the town harbor (more on that later) that he FINALLY remembers "oh no, I forgot to give my Magic map away to that guy who beat up Romus!", and rushes back home, because apparently the dude is famous enough that someone would just casually know where he lives.

7th Saga, The (U) !095.png

Master.pngGain: I was looking for you. Here is the Map that I promised. It's yours. Remember, though, you can only use it in the field.

7th Saga, The (U) !045.png

Master.pngGain: I got it from a wizard during a journey.

I can only imagine that this is just another typical day in the life of Gain, that is, when he's NOT traveling across the continent to Rablesk to attend to his bar, no doubt fighting Androids and Undead and tearing them apart with his bare fricken hands. I mean, I'm not the most socially adept person ever, but I'm assume you wouldn't be taking a cross country trop around town just to ask "hey, has anyone seen this one random person who doesn't live here, but may or may not have gotten here yet"? In fact, this guy is actually SO awesome, that he actually has different dialogue for when you never talk to him at all...

Master.pngGain: You opened the Gate of Earth for me, didn't you? Because you opened it, I could return to Bonro. I'll give you this Map to show my appreciation.

Yeah...that map? That magical map that he got from a wizard? Well, apparently, the man is rolling in so many magical knickknacks, that he just gives away Maps to random strangers, without any wishes for compensation, hence why the only thing he remembers about it is that he got it from "some wizard guy" on "some journey"...if ever there was a spin-off to this series, THIS is the man who should be cast as the main hero!

7th Saga, The (U) !046.png

knight.pngPeople from all over the world go to the tavern in town. You may find useful information there.

alien.pngI hear an interesting job is available in Zellis, located in the West. I'm heading there right now.

That's not to say Bonro's other inhabitants are slouches either, because I cannot imagine the sheer level of manpower and combat mastery needed to survive stepping one foot out into the harsh overworld, or, for that matter, just defending a frontier town like this from the monsters and Androids lurking outside it's doors. Why, I'll bet the world is practically chock full of...

7th Saga, The (U) !096.pngMy child is ill.

Child.pngUuuugh...

...So I see. Well, don't worry, I'm sure that one guy from Rablesk will be arriving any...

Armor Merchant.pngI've been expecting medicine from Rablesk. What has happened?!

What? B-bu-but....I know he wasn't in the same place he was before we beat Romus, right? It was that same place where that one guy warned...us...of...

Pison.png

...oh...so, if Pison was there...and then there was that one Trick...WAIT A MINUTE, and then Pison also had that Heal2 spell despite not having the proper amount of MP...so...so that means....:sob:...

warrior.pngI'm looking for a travel companion, but I'm having a tough time finding the right person. I need someone who knows the art of magic to compensate for my weakness. Where could I find such a person?

knight.pngWhen you choose a companion, look for a quality which will strengthen your weakness.

knight.pngIf the person you choose turns you down, ask again after you fight several battles. People will look at you differently when you are more experienced.

Man.pngIf I didn't have a family to support, I would have gone on traveling like you.

Well, at any rate, it's in this town that the game REALLY starts kinda, sort of implying that hey, MAYBE you should start considering looking for a companion right about now, because...

7th Saga, The (U) !101.png

This is the time when at least some of the apprentices now realize "oh, wait, we're in 'The 7th Saga', the heck was I thinking?!" and start bumming for a partner.

Kamil(happy).pngKamil: I've been looking for you! I wanted to ask you to join me. Would you be interested?

Yes

Esuna(happy).pngEsuna: Sure, I'll be glad to help you out. But I thought, as a knight, that you were the best suited for this mission or something like that?

Kamil(happy).pngKamil: Well, I just meant in terms of dedication...you know how some of the others can be. But, lately monsters have been getting tougher, and you're so.......strong, so, I just think...

Kamil(relieved).pngIt would be nice if you joined me.

Esuna(scared).pngEsuna: .......Actually...

No

Esuna(sad).pngEsuna: Sorry, but solitary traveling suits me better.

Kamil(small).pngKamil: Is your decision final?

Yes

Kamil(small).pngKamil: If so, then I will have to give up the idea.

7th Saga, The (U) !102.png

Lux(small).pngLux: I NEED SOMEONE LIKE YOU TO HELP ME. WOULD YOU CARE TO HELP AND TRAVEL WITH ME?

Yes

Lux(Elated).gifLux: THANK YOU. JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO.

No

Lux(sad).pngLux: I WISH YOU WOULD, BUT I UNDERSTAND.

7th Saga, The (U) !103.png

Valsu(Happy).pngValsu: I've been looking for you because I need your help. I would like you to come along and help me succeed in this mission. Will you?

Yes

Valsu(Happy).pngValsu: Let's hope we'll have a pleasant journey!

No

Valsu(Invigorated).pngValsu: Do you have a problem with me?

Yes

Valsu(Invigorated).pngValsu: ..........

Valsu(small).pngValsu: If you say so...I'll give up the idea.

Now before you click off somewhere else in exasperation, there is a reason I'm doing this other than just to show off my fancy new pictures. First off, since we're playing as Esuna, we won't be able to get her unique dialogue, so I figured that I'd work them in there somehow at occasional points in the game...and secondly, there's a rather nifty little table here that calculates exactly who is most likely to join or fight whom, right here...

Your Leader
       -----------------------------------------------------
Join%	Wilme	 Lux	Olvan	Kamil	Lejes	Valsu	Esuna	
------  -----   -----   -----   -----   -----   -----   -----
Wilme	   0	  40	  20	  20	  10	  10	  10
Lux	  20	   0	  40	  40	  20	  40	  40
Olvan	  30	  40	   0	  50	  10	  50	  50
Kamil	  20	  60	  50	   0	  10	  60	  60
Lejes	  20	  20	  20	  20	   0	  10	  30
Valsu	  20	  40	  40	  40	  10	   0	  40
Esuna	  20	  40	  20	  20	  10	  20	   0

Fight%	Wilme	 Lux	Olvan	Kamil	Lejes	Valsu	Esuna	
------  -----   -----   -----   -----   -----   -----   -----
Wilme	   0	  10	  30	  30	  50	  30	  30
Lux	  10	   0	  10	  10	  10	  10	  10
Olvan	  10	  10	   0	   5	  10	   5	  10
Kamil	  10	  10	  10	   0	  10	  10	  10
Lejes	  30	  10	  10	  10	   0	  20	  10
Valsu	  10	  10	  10	  10	  10	   0	  10
Esuna	  10	  10	  10	  10	  10	   5	   0

Those numbers are all percentages, and funnily enough, Esuna...does not seem to like Valsu very much, although he sure doesn't seem to mind her (hence what I wrote). And yes, this right here is what I mean when I say that Lejes and Wilme are pills to just about everyone, because as you can see, the only one they're even somewhat likely to join is Lux, and that's probably just because he's a machine...

Also, due partially to what seems to be a localization bug, and due partially to core mechanics, this place is one of many beginner's traps present in this game, because while the instruction manual and the like tells you that you can end up fighting these guys, what it DOESN'T tell you is that once you do, they will STAY enemies FOREVER! No matter what you do, these guys will always be out for your blood once you beat them one time, meaning they'll never join your party again.

Now that's bad enough on it's own, but, well...remember when I was telling you all about Elnard growths in my OP? How boosts were supposed to increase by one for every stat every 10 levels? Well, first of all, as you're leveling up through the game, these guys will always fight or join you at anywhere from a level lower than you to a level higher than you, and when the game gives them their stats, IT WILL GIVE THEM THE ELNARD BOOSTS!

What this means is that, should you recruit any of them at Level 20, they're have 10 more points in every stat than they would normally have, and at Level 30, 30 more points in every stat, and so on and so forth...and there's at least one mandatory apprentice fight in this game, and two if you're unlucky or inexperienced enough....now are you starting to see the problem with this?

And if that's not bad enough, well, as you go through the game and acquire Runes, you'll be able to use them in battle to boost your stats, which will obviously go a long way to helping you overcome this...HOWEVER...if one of the OTHER apprentices win, they will actually steal ALL the Runes that you have, and then, well...I'm sure I don't need to tell you what bad news that can be.

So yeah, no point in fighting these guys right now? But what about joining you may ask? Well, there's also a problem with that, because while that's an extra man to help you out, Experience is split in half between your two members. So suppose you're at Level 11 now, and you get enough experience to get up to, say, Level 35 by going the rest of the game solo. But if you bring a partner with you, that reduces the levels you'll both be at all the way to Level 27 by that point in the game, and while that's not crippling per say (as long as you have a well balanced team), it's definitely not what you'll want, therefore, I still count it as a beginner's trap.

So instead of recruiting a partner right now, my plan is to get a partner for a particularly tough boss coming up, leave that partner dead, through a good chunk of the game, then swap him out for another partner so that once THAT partner comes, we'll both be at higher levels because of that.

And yes, with the exception of the Pison picture above (by MetalMiku), those extra portraits were things I whipped up entirely on my own (though HelloWinter did give me some raw materials for an Olvan one...so you also have her to thank for helping this update come faster). Hopefully you like them, as I thought it would be fun to have them, and plus, I'm wondering if they might be useful for comedy purposes later. So how about that tavern?

Edited by FionordeQuester
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The 7th Saga Episode 2: Part 3

Woman.pngWill you grant me a wish when you find the Rune? Dream? That is...a secret.

I really wish I could either read Japanese or have someone versed in it explain to me what she means by this, because the game emphasizes "Dream", but I cannot for the life of me figure out what it might refer to.

Bartender.pngWhen I was younger, I dreamt of hunting the Rune.

Item%20Merchant.pngCan you tell me anything about Melenam? I've heard of a great treasure...Whoops! I talk too much. No more talking.

Armor Merchant.pngThe civilization of Melenam flourished in an ancient time. People believe it disappeared into the bottom of the ocean, to the west. If you want to know more about it, go to Zellis

But perhaps she falls in line with the rest of these guys not wanting to keep things under wraps? Like, "Dream" was supposed to refer to what she planned on doing with it's power?

Armor Merchant.pngThe regular vessel from Pandam has stopped coming. Something must have happened there. You might want to forget about the vessel and go to another town.

Man.pngIn the House of Healing, you can be treated for poison, and recover your lost companions.

Woman.pngAre you also looking for something called a Rune? I just met a person who said the same thing. Hope you'll find it.

Child(big).pngHave you ever seen a TETUJIN? They are cool.

Child(big).pngIf Lux: You are a Tetujin! Cool! I've always wanted to meet one!

Woman.pngWelcome to the port town of Bonro.

So there's the rest of the flavor text, and it seems there's something going down in Pandam. I wonder what that could be referring to? :unsure:

7th Saga, The (U) !105.png

Now, this here is important. MAKE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN YOU LEAVE MONEY FOR THIS IF YOU'RE ONE OF THE MAGES! This piece of armor WILL actually make the difference between getting 2HKOed and getting 3HHKOed by these monsters, and part of the reason why fighting the Trick is still worth it despite a chance of dieing. Better to risk death in one fight than in several, right? In fact, I would even recommend selling that P.Seed you have should you be unlucky enough to only get a Pearl.

So after buying this and as many Potion 1's as I could buy...

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!107.png

I begin this trek in earnest!

Battle in a World of Light

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!109.png

And yes, that's WITH a B. Protect, though that's about the maximum that Manrots will do, so, it's not as deadly as it seems.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!110.png

That said though, we rely heavily on Esuna having the speed to not get caught in an endless cycle of healing.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!112.png

Fortunately, this guy, and most of the other monsters, are nowhere near as good at taking it as they are at dishing it out, so ICE2 has a very high chance of OHKOing most monsters, which is good because...

7th Saga, The (U) !118.png

Yeah...did I mention these encounters were a large step up from the previous section? You're going to want to save B.Protects for the Cave when you can, but this Manrot/Android group and several others are likely to kill you without it.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!108.png

Plus, Zellis will not be selling MHerbs, so until we get to the cave, we're going to have to rely on MPCatcher rather than wasting MHerbs. Fortunately, Androids have NO resistance to Debuffs, and Manrots only have a resistance of 10, so you shouldn't have much trouble getting it to work on the way to Zellis.

Troglodytes!

zellis.png

Speaking of Zellis, there's some interesting sights to be had here...

Tetujin Warrior.pngI DON"T REMEMBER CLEARLY. BUT I THINK YOU'LL FIND THE ANSWER YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IN MELENAM.

Tetujin Scale.pngTHERE ARE ABOUT 30 TETUJIN IN THE WORLD.

alien.pngI envy Tetujin for their immortality. I wish I were Tetujin!

So in case you haven't figured it out yet, yes, Lux is one of these "Tetujin", and none of them remember their past very clearly. What is their secret? Who made them and why? What was their origin? And speaking of mysteries...

Woman.pngDid you come to Zellis looking for a fortune?

Bartender.pngAre you also looking for Melenam?

knight.pngThis was a deserted town until the ruins of Melenam became a sensation. Now we have many people visiting from the continent.

Item%20Merchant.pngI'll be a millionaire when I find Melenam. Great treasure is hidden there and I'll get it.

Scholar.pngI'll be the greatest scholar when I learn why Melenam vanished.

And I will be the greatest LPer once I complete this really hard game. Seriously, what's with this random emphasis on unimportant words? I was willing to give it a pass before, but this is getting absurd.

Hooded Lady(big).pngOnce I find the treasure, I'll make my son a King.

Hooded Lady(big).pngIf Lux: Walk quietly, will you! You really startled me!

For those who don't know, if you have Lux in your party, there will be a loud CLANGING sound whenever he walks in a town, so this'd be the game's way of making fun of that.

warrior.pngI've heard of the Runes before. They are supposed to give their owner magic power.

Armor%20Merchant.pngI hear there is a Great treasure with mysterious power, called the Wind Rune, in the cave of Melenam.

Yes, finally! After a whole hour and 12 minutes, we're finally getting our first Rune! But who can we possibly get to guide us to this cave, when just about everyone else wants it as well?

traveler.pngRumor says Brantu, a historian, found the entrance to Melenam.

Ack! Oh well, I guess there's no point in being choosy, but who could possibly...

7th Saga, The (U) !057.png

Naw! Could it be? We've struck gold!

scientist.pngBrantu: I found the entrance to the lost civilization. I know how to enter but can't get close because of the monsters. Will you go there with me?

Yes

scientist.pngBrantu: I'm glad you can come with me. You'll be a great help. We can't waste time, so let's get going. The Cave of Melenam is located on the west of the continent. The entrance is deep inside the cave.

Awesome! Then let us be...

No

scientist.pngBrantu: I'm sorry you won't join us. Will you think it over?

...Us? Um...what...

If you don't have Gain's map

scientist.pngBrantu: Have you traveled east to Bonro? Gain, who lives there, has the Map. Your journey will be much easier if you have it.

....Okay...methinks partying up with this guy may not be a good idea after all. Either this guy is a mastermind all to himself, or he's in league with the Dark World, so...

7th Saga, The (U) !179.png

Oh, wonderful, he's coming along anyways. I suppose we would've had to party up anyways, lest the Wind Rune ends up going to one of these guys...

7th Saga, The (U) !188.png

Esuna(happy).pngEsuna: Wilme, I've been looking for you. I'm finding out that traveling alone is not so great. I wonder if you can help me? Would you be interested?

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!114.png

Esuna(sad).pngEsuna: Are you sure you will not reconsider?

Wilme(small).pngWilme: I wish you wouldn't show up again, at least not for a while.

Esuna(small).pngEsuna: You don't think I'm worth it, do you? Thanks for nothing!

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!115.png

Olvan(Happy).pngOlvan: Would you like to join me if you don't have any particular plan?

Yes

Olvan(Overjoyed).pngOlvan: Let's make our dream come true!

No

Olvan(Happy).pngOlvan: That's all right. If you change your mind, let me know.

Sorry Olvan, but as Lejes says...

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!113.png

Lejes(small).pngLejes: You haven't changed, have you? You need to sharpen your skills and get more experience if you want to compete with me. I guess you will never make it.

We're still really, really hurting for experience, and having it split between two party members is the LAST thing we need right now.

Edited by FionordeQuester
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The 7th Saga Episode 2: Part 4

7th Saga, The (U) !116.png

What we DO need though is use this shiny stone in the Tavern for spending on...

7th Saga, The (U) !058.png

Potion 1 and 2's, and even Mirrors! And if you happen to be Kamil or Olvan, you'll also want to get...

7th Saga, The (U) !189.png

This piece of armor here, which is about 2 points weaker than the Scarf, but a heck of a lot cheaper. Whatever character you may be, you don't want to prioritize Mirrors over the Potions since debuffs only belong to Manrot and this dude...

Battle in a World of Light

Despair.gif

Meet the "Despair", the first non-boss Class 1 encounter we get (running, Vacuum, and debuffs are useless), and the monster that was buffed the most from the original game. In fact, it's actually gotten it's HP almost doubled, and had it's Guard and Power raised by around 20 points, so naturally you'll want to use a B. Protect.

Firebird.gif

Of course, that won't stop him from beating you up with this, and since it can do this, you'll want to make sure to keep above 52 HP and 39 HP for Magicians and Warriors respectively (54 for Wilme) before attacking this monster with either Ice2 or a B.Powered Defend-Attack.

And yes, that means that you'll be spending much of the fight just healing, especially if you're either Kamil or Olvan. In fact, really the only reason they can survive this fight to begin with at their levels is that they'll usually have extra money from buying a cheaper piece of armor than the Mages, and, therefore, extra Mirrors.

7th Saga, The (U) !125.png

So here's the place.

Frozen Depths of the Earth

Cave of Melenam.png

Now I think one thing that should be brought up is that, for those of you who've been playing along with Lejes, you may have started to notice that he has a bit of trouble surviving even compared to Kamil, because while everyone else has either had extreme resistance to physical attacks (Wilme and Lux) or healing spells (the other four)...Lejes has neither. And while that's not too big of a deal when grinding, it definitely is on long treks like this, and he's not GOING to be getting any healing spells either...so how in the world can I still recommend him despite such a crippling weakness?

Well, in addition to everything I mentioned in the opening post, there's also going to be a Rune we'll be getting next update that, in battle, can be used an infinite amount of times to heal 50-69 HP, every turn, FOR NO COST WHATSOEVER! Now you can't use it OUTSIDE of battle, and of course you can't defeat your enemies with that alone, but yes, the game actually gives you FREE HEALING, which is why I said that the ability to survive fights is FAR more important than healing spells in my OP.

But enough of future events, how about the Rune we'll be getting now? Well folks...

7th Saga, The (U) !183.png

It's time...time to get the coveted Wind Rune, sitted deep within the bowls of the frozen earth. Can we survive whatever is to come? Do we truly have what it takes to wrest this treasure from it's place of rest? And just what foul manner of beast will appear to drag us down to the very gates of Hell itself? Find out....

7th Saga, The (U) !130.png

...Right now! Yes, that's right, our Wind Rune is actually in a completely unguarded, unmarked chest, right near the beginning of the entrance, so let it never be said that The 7th Saga never gives us a free one now and again! Of course, we can't USE it either in this Dungeon or in-battle, but you better believe it was worth the trip. This thing will actually take you back to ANY town you previously visited, again, for free! So even if you die in this dungeon, you can still go back to purchase more B. Protects.

Battle in a World of Darkness

7th Saga, The (U) !131.png

That being said however, let's try NOT to have to do that. This guy here basically a stronger, faster Android with the same amount of HP, but no spells, so while it's evasion can be annoying, you shouldn't need to use B. Protects unless you fight two of them...

7th Saga, The (U) !137.png

These guys on the other hand are bad news, especially if there's two of them. Their Power is high enough that even single ones warrant a B. Protect for Esuna, and while everyone but Esuna can reliably survive more than three physical hits with a B. Protect, they also have Fire1, and enough Magic to reliably survive Ice2's and dish out the pain with Fire1 (in fact, that can take off half the health of Lejes and Kamil. So again, this fight comes down to stalling them out until you either dodge at least one of their strikes, or get this to happen...

7th Saga, The (U) !138.png

And in Esuna's case, even that's a risky proposition if she's takes more than 19 Damage. Fortunately though, one of them may also heal the other up for 40 HP if ICE2 takes off a big enough chunk of health, so even though this fight can kill you, you can generally get through it so long as you're careful and show good strategy...and don't take a critical at the wrong time.

7th Saga, The (U) !134.png

And then of course, you can also get pushover encounters like these, though you'll still obviously want to kill the Undeads first, especially should one or two be paired with a B.Demon (the only encounters where I would recommend Firebird/Blizzard1).

So unless you get really bad luck with the encounters, you should generally be able to make it to the end so long as you bought the things I recommended, and conserved your resources as much as possible before the Cave. In fact, with enough luck, I can usually end up with up to 3 spare B.Protects, though you should never assume you'll be so lucky in a game like this.

Anyways, here's the exit, and...well...just watch, because nothing I say can do this justice...

Video

:awesome:...Don't you just love it when a soundtrack completely changes in style and mood from one moment to the next? Still not as jarring as certain episodes of Dragon Ball Z Kai (post-Yamamoto), but I find it endlessly amusing!

7th Saga, The (U) !143.png

scientist.pngBrantu: I'll never forget it.

Anytime weird, gameshow tune playing sorceror. So what do we have here?

melenam_1.png

melenam_2.png

Well, let's just say that the Mission Success theme is a very appropriate theme here, because we are practically up to our necks in treasure here, including this thing!

7th Saga, The (U) !144.png

Surprised? Yes, this is actually new armor for Lux, and while it only grants a 4 Defense boost, I'd still equip it over what he currently has. Otherwise you may sell it for 1500G!

Other than that, our loadout here is...

2x Topaz's

1x M.Water (revives dead party members)

1x Antidote

2x Pearl

1x Ruby

1x Potion 2

1x MHerb1

1x B.Power

1x Pr.Seed

1x Opal

So essentially, we just earned 4000G worth of treasure and a whole host of other goodies! When those guys in Zellis said there was great treasure here, they really meant it huh?

scientist.pngBrantu: I'll be all right from here. So long, my friend, and please stop by when you come to Brush.

And most excellently of all, our ol' pal doesn't even mind us taking all this junk! Of course, not everything is so cheery...

7th Saga, The (U) !191.png

7th Saga, The (U) !190.png

7th Saga, The (U) !192.png

:cry:...So there's something I actually want to bring up. Curiosity...is not some robotic thing. The very fact that you're curious about anything means that there's something about it that fascinates you, that you yearn for knowledge, or something interests you. In other words, that's an emotion, meaning that even dudes like Data from Star Trek and Brainiac should have at least basic forms of emotions...and so does Lux, and therefore, these Tetujin probably do as well...

It is for this reason that I find this town to be a rather sad and poignant moment in the game, seeing these robots concerned for nothing but the safety of others even when on the verge of death. It's like they're corpses, but, still alive enough to feel worry, doomed to this existence for all time unless someone puts them out of their misery...

Or perhaps Brantu could fix them :):. After all, all kidding of sorcery aside, he's gotta get out of here SOMEHOW if he's going to be heading anywhere, so perhaps this is the way he does it....

But just how did this happen to begin with? Does it not sound like a cataclysm has just occurred here? Perhaps Lux's past is tied to here, but regardless, what exactly is our plan from here? We've got gold, the Wind Rune, and all that other good stuff so...where do we go from here?

Find out next time on "The 7th Saga"! Have a nice day, and godspeed!

MONSTERS THAT WE FOUGHT TODAY

************************************************************
*Undead		Exp:    88      Gold:   40      Class: 0   *
************************************************************
Stats		Resists		Spells		Drops
-------------    ------------    ------------    ------------
MaxHP      80    Thunder   20    Heal1		Opal     1/8
MaxMP      40    Fire      20    Revive1		
Power   25>30    Ice       20    		
Guard      32    Vacuum    70    		
Magic      12    Debuff    20    		
Speed      28

************************************************************
*Pison		Exp:   264      Gold:  120      Class: 1   *
************************************************************
Stats		Resists		Spells		Drops
-------------    ------------    ------------    ------------
MaxHP     250    Thunder   30    Heal2		(None)
MaxMP      15    Fire      30    		
Power   32>40    Ice       30    		
Guard   40>50    Vacuum    --    		
Magic      14    Debuff    --    		
Speed      30

************************************************************
*Android	Exp:    88      Gold:   40      Class: 0   *
************************************************************
Stats		Resists		Spells		Drops
-------------    ------------    ------------    ------------
MaxHP      80    Thunder   30    Heal1		Opal     1/8
MaxMP      50    Fire      30    HPCatcher	
Power   32>40    Ice       30    		
Guard   40>45    Vacuum    30    		
Magic    5>15    Debuff     0    		
Speed   34>45

************************************************************
*Manrot		Exp:   132      Gold:   60      Class: 0   *
************************************************************
Stats		Resists		Spells		Drops
-------------    ------------    ------------    ------------
MaxHP      78    Thunder   30    Heal1		Opal     1/8
MaxMP      40    Fire      30    Ice1		
Power   38>50    Ice       30    Petrify		
Guard      55    Vacuum    50    		
Magic      28    Debuff    10    		
Speed      30

************************************************************
*Despair	Exp:   220      Gold:  100      Class: 1   *
************************************************************
Stats		Resists		Spells		Drops
-------------    ------------    ------------    ------------
MaxHP 110>200    Thunder   20    Heal1		Opal     1/8
MaxMP      90    Fire      20    Petrify		
Power   50>70    Ice       20    Firebird	
Guard  80>100    Vacuum    --    		
Magic   36>40    Debuff    --    		
Speed      30

************************************************************
*B.Demon	Exp:   165      Gold:   75      Class: 0   *
************************************************************
Stats		Resists		Spells		Drops
-------------    ------------    ------------    ------------
MaxHP      80    Thunder   30    Heal1		(None)
MaxMP      50    Fire      30    Defense1	
Power   46>60    Ice       30    Fire1		
Guard      50    Vacuum    30    Poison		
Magic      30    Debuff    30    		
Speed      30

EDIT: And just because I would feel bad for not posting MetalMiku's magnificent work in full...

Pison by MetalMiku.png

Edited by FionordeQuester
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Before making another message, I thought I'd make a point of taking whatever interesting tidbits about the game that the Something Awful forums posted, and posting it in the other forums I have this on. So this here is from Crosscontaminant...

I really wish I could either read Japanese or have someone versed in it explain to me what she means by this, because the game emphasizes "Dream", but I cannot for the life of me figure out what it might refer to.

I looked up [the "Dream? That is...a secret" girl in] the...text dump. This is just a translation boob - "dream" and "wish" are the same word (yume) in the Japanese version of the line.

There's some other interesting things about this text dump, poking through it.

  • Lemele is still the name of the village, but the King's name is Shiida. I'm not sure what they were going for, but calling him Lemele is probably pulled from an NPC in Rablesk who talks about "Shiida's town".
  • "Aran" is clipped, presumably for space - the actual name is Alance (rhymes with "balance").
  • The "Earth" in the Cave/Key of Earth isn't translated - it's the English word in katakana.
  • "Pison" is somewhat clinical, since the Japanese name seems like a badass name for a bounty hunter in a Western - it's probably intended to be Python.

EDIT: There's a few places where the dialogue changes wording slightly when the PC is Esuna compared to others - that's because the original dialogue has the addresser using a female-specific pronoun, and the reference was excised in translation.

Also the Cave of Melenam isn't called that in the original - it's just the Mystery Cave.

Also also, the robot who just says "I MUST PRO... I MUST PRO..." says something far more ominous and spoilery in Japanese. If the OP gives permission I'll provide a translation.

At any rate, the video accompanying this is uploaded and is located at the top of my last update, so now, work has started on the next update, in which I plan on tackling the next major grinding session of this game. Now, the battles present here are going to be tougher and involve more strategy than what we've had so far, so I'm wondering, would you like me to put up Youtube videos of some or all of the trickier fights that I end up encountering? Or perhaps even do that for everything from now on? I decided next update that I'm going to do my best to convey just how brutal this particular section can be with Esuna if you're not careful.

Also, how are you guys enjoying this so far? Is there anything you wish for me to do differently or anything like that, or is my way of doing things fine? Feel free to let me know, alright?

Edited by FionordeQuester
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Yeah, definitely enjoying the LP as well. I tried playing this game years ago and gave up in the end, but I always wanted to see how it plays later on and what happens to all the apprentices. Thank you for your very awesome and thorough playlog! smile.gif

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The 7th Saga Mini-Update #2: Party Tactics

Well buds, I had some stuff to do, so I wasn't able to get an update up by today, so again, I'll give you guys a short tutorial for how fights work with a partner as well as throw in a few details I forgot to mention in the last update.

Now first of all, remember this guy?

knight.pngIf the person you choose turns you down, ask again after you fight several battles. People will look at you differently when you are more experienced.

As you may have guessed, if an apprentice turns you down at first, the game will change their response five battles after it assigns them their initial response, so basically, all you have to do is fight anywhere from 1-5 fights to get a different reaction. Of course, getting them to join will become trickier as you go further into the game, as once you get to either the next town or the town after that, they will start moving around the list of towns anywhere from 4-11 fights after the game assigns them a location (and that's not me guesstimating, the game is just random like that). And finally, just as apprentices show up at three different spots in Zellis and Bonro now, each future town also has three spots where they can appear at. Because of this, getting apprentices at a high level, while basically necessary to complete the game in a reasonable fashion (

unless you're willing to use a game-breaking glitch to be demonstrated later

), is also much longer and more tedious than getting them at our point in the game...unless you use a very specific method, which I will be demonstrating later :smug:

For now though, onto the actual mechanics!

7th Saga, The (U) !051.png

Now, first of all, let's go over some basics. This game is rather unique in that, like Dragon Warrior 1, you are ALWAYS guaranteed to act first with at least one of your characters, no matter how much faster your opponent is, though your second man may not necessarily be second. That's because at the start of every round, the game will decide which targets the monsters will attack. So if this dude here attacks Valsu like so...

7th Saga, The (U) !048.png

Then you can be 100% sure that the moment Esuna acts, those two Demons will attack her while the Android just sort of futzes about. And to make things even better, the monsters will NEVER attack their assigned target before their target has already taken their turn within that round, so if for some reason Esuna gets reduced to say, 1 HP, and those two Demons are about to attack her, she will always be able to restore to full health after quaffing a Potion 2...

And now for something really awesome that apparently not many people know about.

Tutorial.gif

See this here? This is me actually changing the order in which my characters attack, so if a round of combat starts, I can choose who I want to attack. The strategic implications of this are probably not lost on you guys, and in fact, using the above "Esuna at 1 HP" example, I can actually use my bulkier character to scout out where the enemies are going to attack next. So unless my enemies have some sort of multi-target attack (which a lot of enemies will by the endgame), I have absolutely no reason to fear for Esuna. In fact, I won't even need to heal her that round should I end up having all three enemies attack Valsu.

This right here, I think, is one of the main mechanics that makes "The 7th Saga" more than just an A-Button mashing grindfest like Dragon Warrior 1 was, as it allows for a surprising amount of depth to the enemy encounters that you will get. Learning the subtle intricacies of this battle system was definitely one of the more rewarding aspects of getting through the fights, and to it's credit, the manual does actually explain that to you...just not the game itself.

Of course, we're not going to actually be seeing this in action for large portions of the game, however, I'd say it'll still be around for about 30% of this playthrough, because of course, one can only get so far with only one character if he/she doesn't plan on spending like, 12 hours to beat this game (to put it in perspective, even the speedrunner of this game, PJ, the one who got a time of under 7 hours with glitches a while ago...only managed 11 hours and 26 minutes when trying to do this game purely solo).

Anyways, that's the partner tutorial right there, so...happy Easter, and godspeed!

Edited by FionordeQuester
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Let's Play The 7th Saga: Episode 3 Part 1

Fortress City

7th Saga, The (U) !126.png

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Let's Play The 7th Saga! So what shall we do today? How about some extra Zellis flavor text available after our little trip?

Woman.pngBefore Melenam: Will you buy me a Topaz when you find the treasure of Melenam? If you give me a Topaz, I'll tell you a secret.

Woman.pngAfter Melenam: Did you really find Melenam? How wonderful! Now you can buy me a Topaz!

Woman.pngNo: You are cheap.

Woman.pngYes, but no Topaz: You don't have a Topaz for me.

Woman.pngYes: Thank you. A secret? Oh, I'm getting married soon. I'm very happy! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

...well ok then :blink:. And yes, you actually DO lose a Topaz, so that's another beginner's trap to be wary of. So, back to gameplay matters...

7th Saga, The (U) !125.png

First of all, you ought to get a boost of 3-4 from this...

7th Saga, The (U) !127.png

Grind to Level 13 if you're Kamil or Olvan, and 12 if you're anyone else...

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!001.png

Then, if you're anyone but Kamil or Olvan, recruit Valsu into your partner, and reset if he's less than Level 12. And for those two, get either Kamil or Olvan (whoever you aren't using) to join your party at Level 14, replace their gear with gear from Lemele and/or Rablesk without selling it, then slap that gear on the character you're playing as. THEN get Valsu into your party, because at Level 12, he learns the Agility spell, and I'm sure you're seeing the possibilities for that :B):.

The reason the thing with Kamil and Olvan works is that in addition to scaling to your level, apprentices will also come with gear appropriate for their level, and generally, their equipment will be upgraded every 4 levels until you actually recruit them. And since Kamil and Olvan have a hard enough time surviving even WITH their new equipment, this is almost a necessary exploit to take advantage of occasionally.

7th Saga, The (U) !128.png

As for Lejes, he won't need to do that, so he'll want to buy this Nature Sword with the money from Melenam.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!005.png

And if you're a mage type character, you'll want to buy a Cotton Robe for Valsu without selling his Extreme Robe, put that Extreme Robe on Esuna, equip the Light Robe on Valsu, and save the Cotton Robe for later, because it gives a boost of 20% to your Vacuum and Debuff resistance that the Extreme doesn't have for some reason.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!010.png

So, after doing all that and restocking on everything except Mirror's (only the Despairs use them at this point), it's time to head off into another cave-like area, though it's linear enough that I don't feel a map is necessary. Just take the path north at every split, and enjoy the ride...

7th Saga, The (U) !045.png

Esuna(small).pngEsuna: Well partner, it looks like we're on the road again. How're you holding up right now?

Valsu(small).pngValsu: How am I? Good, but, why do you ask?

Esuna(sad).pngEsuna: Well, I know you possess a lot of power and all of that, being as old as you are...but we've been walking for an absurdly long time, and well...um...it's just that...

Valsu(small).pngValsu: Don't tell me, I know what you're going to say, and...

Valsu(worried).pngValsu: ...While I'd be lying if I said I didn't worry about my age now and again, I can't afford to let that stop me.

Esuna(sad).pngEsuna:...

Valsu(worried).pngValsu: For as long as I can remember, no matter how important I got, and how much effort I put into things, it never truly felt like I could save everyone I want to. Yes, I saved many people from their own guilt and shame, their own self-destructive habits, and yet...I've felt this strange sense of emptiness, like there was some unspoken wound inflicted on my conscious, tearing at my heart. And after all this time...I think I've finally realized what that is.

Valsu(small).pngValsu: I've spent my whole life as a healer, treating the afflicted people of this world. And yet, I never lifted a finger to wage war against the sources of these peoples misery, the ones who would rob their fellows of even their most basic human rights, the ones who rear their children to do evil and iniquity, or the ones who teach them their entire lives to act as though they're worthless. I've spent my whole life chopping at the weeds, but never even attempting to get at the roots of the problem...and then Lemele came and well, the rest was history.

Valsu(worried).pngValsu: My heart is sick...I'm sick...and so are all those who cry out in pain. And yes, it's been hard. I've never liked hurting any living thing, and I've had to overcome a whole lifetime of pacifism to get this far, but, even so...

Valsu(Invigorated).pngValsu: I've felt more alive for these past couple of months then I have for the last 20 years! So don't you worry about me, alright, Mistress Esuna?

Esuna(happy).pngEsuna: Yeah, I think I know what you mean. Times are hard, and the fights are scary, and yet, you know that a life of regret is even worse. There's no quitting for you, because you're much too honorable for that...and a little pigheaded!

Valsu(Invigorated).pngValsu: <<chuckles>>, indeed! Though personally I've always liked the "honor" excuse bet-

R-Pison.pngR-Pison: RRRRRAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHH!!

Valsu(scared).pngValsu: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Esuna(scared).pngEsuna: EEEEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!

R-Pison.pngR-Pison: RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!

Valsu(scared).pngValsu: ...

Esuna(scared).pngEsuna: ...

R-Pison.pngR-Pison: ...

Valsu(scared).pngValsu: ...

Esuna(scared).pngEsuna: ...

R-Pison.pngR-Pison: ...

Valsu(small).pngValsu: ...

Esuna(small).pngEsuna: ...

R-Pison.pngR-Pison: ...Hi. Nice day.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!012.png

R-Pison.pngR-Pison: It's me, Pison. I've returned from the Dark World and have become Red-Pison. It's your turn this time and you will perish.

Edited by FionordeQuester
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Let's Play The 7th Saga: Episode 3 Part 2

Begin!.gif

And there we go. Why are we fighting? Because the game says so, that's why!

Epic Confrontation (Boss Theme)

R-Pison%20Intro.gif

No really, everything about this conversation just cracks me up, from the matter-of-fact way R-Pison pronounces his name change, to what one guy described as "the blithe way the game just pulls a fight out of thin air and expects you to roll with it".

All kidding aside though, this is actually a really tough fight because while the game's story may have been joking around, the localizers sure weren't when they did stuff like boosting his Power by 30!

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!016.png

Again, that's WITH a B. Protect!

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!022.png

Fortunately, the Potion 2's we have restore 90 HP, so that's fixable. Still, getting both of them buffed with that is your number 1 priority for the first turn...

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!019.png

And then here's where Valsu really helps out. R-Pison has an absurd amount of Speed for this point in the game, and neither of them are likely to dodge R-Pison without it. So put it on Esuna and not Valsu...

Valsu%27sSacrifice.gif

Now of course a large portion of the fight is going to look a lot like this (minus the physical attacks), but when you've got an opening, go all out with magic like so.

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!023.png

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!025.png

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!055.png

Yes, that's it! C,mon, c,mon! You've almost got...

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!026.png

R-Pison%20Healing.gif

...oh, right, he can do that...and in fact, if he had 2 more MP, he'd be able to cast a single Blizzard2 spell as well...but he doesn't, so...again, not sure what they were going for with him.

That said, with 270 HP combined with the ability to cast one Heal2, R-Pison is not an easy guy to put down. In fact, taking him on solo, below Level 16 with anyone but Lux or Wilme is tricky at best, and suicidal at worst. Basically, he's the game's way of trying to say "dude, get a partner, or you're gonna get a foot planted up your backside". However, going this route for almost everything past this route is inefficient and slow...

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!056.png

...so, after beating R-Pison back down to where an ICE2 can kill him, Valsu will unfortunately have to go. But he'll be back, you can be assured of that!

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!031.png

And with that, Pison's returned to the Dark World and has become Dead-Pison!

7th%20Saga,%20The%20(U)%20!032.png

Plus, if you search the spot he was standing, you'll find he was even nice enough to leave an M.Water, an item which you can use to revive party members in case it slipped your minds. Oh yes, and speaking of slipping minds, here's what he has to say if you lose and challenge him again...

R-Pison.pngYou're still alive! Don't you understand? You'll never win!

So with that fight out of the way, the cave itself is very straightforward and easy, as you won't be fighting anything better than the last area.

Blizzard1.gif

Though I do have to say I got REALLY unlucky with this Blizzard1 (it's slightly weaker than ICE1, but I still should've been able to kill SOMETHING!

But anyways, out we go...

The Far Reaches

7th Saga, The (U) !036.png

Well guys, we did it. We've finally reached the end of the early game, and, if I may go off on a tangent, I really, really love the way the game's soundtrack almost seems to tell a story with its various World Map themes. Most other games like Dragon Warrior III would've been content simply with one or two really good Overworld themes, but this game has a grand total of four, and unlike the few exceptions to this rule, it isn't even for plot related reasons, it just has different themes for different parts of the world, which is why it's so effective for telling a story.

In the beginning, you don't quite know what to expect, and the apprentices are, presumably, fairly confident in their own abilities, so the 1st theme isn't anything intense or anything, it's just a light, slightly inquisitive theme to make one relaxed...

And then they start actually being places, and it's only now that they find out just how hard the journey is going to be. They have, among other things, had to kill the wretched spirit of a dog who refuses to go to the afterlife because his master was murdered, fight bounty hunters who look like demons have crawled out of Hell, and have even had to fight the walking undead. They've fought through some pretty arduous tasks, and by the time they manage to crawl out of the Earth Cave, they're now decidedly not quite so optimistic, as they now have to march across the continent on a journey more than twice as long as the distance between Lemele and the Earth Cave AND have to face even more monstrous things than they did on the way to Bonro...

But nevertheless, they buckle down, persevere, and eventually, they finally start making headway by getting the Wind Rune and get an absurd amount of money from the discovery of Melenam in the process. And now that they've managed to climb out of yet another cave, Wind Rune in hand, they're...actually pretty relaxed now. Sure, they've got a lot to do, but at least for now, they can relax and know that they definitely got something accomplished...

I love it when a game does this, and yet, the only other games I know of that actually DO do this are the Pokemon series and Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, both of which have incredible soundtracks as well (though I don't know of any Pokemon game besides Colosseum that managed to rival Gen 1).

Now, as for enemies...

7th Saga, The (U) !037.png

Eh, they still don't want to let their guard down, but they're not encountering anything they don't know for sure that they can handle. So that's three themes already, and soon, we'll be listening to the fourth, but for now, a little bit on something I think is fairly important.

7th Saga, The (U) !122.png

See this? This is where the localization team's brain went :P:.

Alright, but in all seriousness, this dude isn't much of a threat NOW, since it appears only by its lonesome here...but it can definitely be a bit of a problem later on, when it starts having partners. So, this may be jumping ahead a bit, but...

Battle in a World of Light

7th Saga, The (U) !059.png

7th Saga, The (U) !123.png

These two encounters are the most dangerous encounters in this entire update. Why?

Edited by FionordeQuester
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