Summary: Side stuff in Leide and Duscae. Reviewing techniques and ascension.
Note: No main story progression here. My next step for “Burden of Expectation” is to meet Iris in Lestallum to the west, but I’m working on as much side stuff as I can before moving on to that.]
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Side Stuff
-The map says we’re in Duscae, between Leide and Cleigne.
-I hear a radio ad for EXINERIS, which sounds like Lestallum’s power company.
-The nation is mourning Lunafreya’s “death.” Lord Ravus is her brother!
-Prompto continues to be adorable, singing “I want to ride my chocobo all day” to the chocobo theme.
-Met a bio professor at Coernix Station named Sania Yeagre. I love her. She seems simultaneously aggressive and absent-minded.
-She’s investigating changes in the natural world, like the appearance of red frogs, that may foretell greater change.
This was a major thing in FFXIV, with smaller things acting as harbingers for a possible Calamity.
-The garulas are so cute! I’m sad I have to kill the flock of snuffleuppageese for this hunt.
-Two hunts push me over to rank 3: Chaser.
-Took on some higher hunts, like one at level 29, against some of Leide’s giraffe monsters. These fights set off a weird saltiness in me. I KNOW in my head that it’s tough and unforgiving, and that it takes time to learn. I know that I should be kind to myself as I learn their attack patterns.
Warning: some cursing in video.
I can’t help but get angry at myself. Not really angry – video game angry – but I still want to practice being calmer as I approach these tougher fights.
-Found my next fishing spot. A dude named Navyth challenges me to catch a crag barramundi. Hell yes.
-There’s an Ice Bomb lure next to the dude. I take that as a hint that I need it for the barramundi.
My reward: a tonberry lure.
One of my favorite animals in XV so far, hanging by the fishing spot.
-XV’s item strength nomenclature is strange. It so far goes slightly, then incrementally, then nominally. Nothing about “nominally” stands out to me as being better than “incrementally.”
-I saw a timed quest available past chapter 1, and thought, “Yeah! Let’s do it!” Went to the quest marker back near Longwythe and the timed quest began. WHAT A BANGER OF A PIECE!
-oh and a flock of level 62 enemies started charging my level 19 ass. Nope nope nope.
-Got a new level 20 training vs both Ignis and Gladiolus. I get destroyed. Will try later.
-Ooh, camping that night gets a little quest where Ignis invites me to help him cook breakfast! I’m so in.
-The conversation is nice, and I like to see Ignis’ care for Noctis. But the cooking “mini-game” is just me moving the left joystick back and forth. That’s the best they could come up with?
(I don’t mind it being simple, but I wish it didn’t make my middle-aged fingers sore.)
A Keycatrich salad. I’m not usually one for salads, but I may have to learn. This looks delicious.
-The bomb lures for fishing seem to work really well on treasure fish (the blue nodes).
[Non-rhetorical question: How do I see details on each side skill, like for survival and fishing?
I just see the skill list with no way to click in for more info.]
-A tooltip popped up randomly, telling me I can use items to enhance and change my spells.
…SERIOUSLY? That’s awesome! It explains what that bottom elemancy slot is for. I gotta explore this.
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Technique Review
-I just noticed that each character’s starting tech is maxed. I’ve been using them kind of mindlessly; let me review what they do and when to use them so I can act more intentionally.
Prompto’s Piercer (firearm): Hits multiple enemies in a line. Reduces enemy defense.
This doesn’t sound that great, since enemies are not often just lined up in front of Prompto – and because I can’t control him, I can’t set it up that well. Still, defense weakener is nice.
I also notice that this ability (currently maxed) has a 99% crit rate. [Non-rhetorical question: Do critical hits just do extra damage, or do they also do other stuff like give an increased chance at making an enemy vulnerable?
Also, are those two things the same, or can an enemy have a broken appendage without being vulnerable/be vulnerable without a broken appendage?]
Prompto’s Starshell (firearm): Draws attention across a wide area. Weakens daemons.
The weakening daemons thing is great, but I’m not sure what drawing attention actually means in terms of game mechanics. Stuns them for a bit maybe?
-I don’t know what counts as a daemon, so off to the archives.
-The only daemons I’ve encountered so far are flans, goblins, and spiders. That last one surprises me; I thought they’d be beasts.
-The background image of the daemon archive page hints at others. I see bombs, skeletons, weird horse things, tonberries, wraiths, and iron giants. I assume this is not a complete list.
[Non-rhetorical question: Have I encountered that sparkly magic-type that flans are weak to? If so, what is it?]
Gladiolus’ Tempest (greatsword): Sweeping attack. Fantastic when enemies clump.
Gladiolus’ Dawnhammer (greatsword): Heavy damage single target damage. Swap to this against a single target. Straight forward.
Dropping the hammer.
Ignis’ Mark (daggers): Sets up Noctis to warp-strike multiple enemies in succession.
Seems great against multiple enemies. I’ll have to test out whether he sets Noctis up to warp-strike multiple times on a single target or if it just hits once against a single-target.
Ignis’ Regroup (no weapon): Rescues allies from danger and restores HP quickly.
YES GOOD YESSSSSS. How was I not using this before now?? So glad I’m reviewing my stuff.
Ignis’ Enhancement (no weapon): Imbue Noctis’ weapon with the element his target is weakest to.
HOLY SHIT NOCTIS IGNIS IS SO GOOD! Break this out against a tough enemy with an elemental weakness. Remember this even more against stuff like flans that are resistant to all but their weakness. I wonder how long this buff lasts.
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Ascension Review
-I’ve also been working on the ascension tree but not really acting on it. Let’s review what I have. I’ll also try to pay more attention and learn as I pick up abilities going forward.
Daemon Destroyer: Warp-strike to break daemon appendages. So when against daemons, I should warp-strike frequently.
Blink: Phase through an enemy’s attack without using MP by pressing square at the last second.
Blink Boost: Recovers MP when blinking at the last second.
I’ve been using phase kind of mindlessly. This is a great incentive to treat it more like a Soulsborne parry and time it precisely.
Airstep: Use the left joystick plus circle to step in midair after attacking with a sword or polearm. Costs MP. One time only.
I don’t understand the benefit of this. Try it out.
Airslip: Dodge enemy attacks in midair by holding square. Sounds useful! Maybe this’ll be the antidote for when I commit to an attack just as I see the enemy wind up. This’ll let me defend mid-air.
Warp-Ambush: During Wait Mode, warp-strike an enemy not targeting Noctis to increase the likelihood of breaking its appendage. I haven’t been using this at all and it sounds really good. Not sure how to tell if an enemy’s targeting me. Will check that out.
[Non-rhetorical question: Are there any enemy-types that don’t have appendages?]
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Next time: Explore elemancy and continue Duscae side quests.
