Shadow Hearts 3 challenge continued
Next up is Aito Cave. Before going there I take care of a few odds and ends back in New York (South Pacific -> NYC -> South Pacific and not a step lost behind the villains, I am a pro traveller). Lenny-related hilarity nets Phone Call, my first L-radius attack. And a new lotto member has shown up in Times Square; her prize is Cure Plus, so now both PCs can fully heal single targets without expensive/rare items. Also Vilcabama has Ascetics' Earrings which mean more soul gain, hard to argue with keeping this on one PC at all times.
Anyway, the randoms: (1 reset)
They're a step up, which is good. They're the first enemies to cast L3 spells, which mostly matters for spell radius... the power actually isn't anything special.
Cabracan is the most notable. They cast magic (Red Gravity) only extremely rarely. Most often they will use physicals, which hurt quite a bit (3HKO Johnny 4HKO Shania). They start near a full stock gauge and a double involves two physicals, one adding Reverse Ring. They have well over 400 HP, a relatively beastly amount which I typically take down with two Raged Shania physicals and one helper move from Johnny. They have a weakness, though: they can be petrified, maybe around half the time, with Petrify 1. (Shania gets that; Johnny gets poison as it hits most things here, but I don't use his physical often.)
Charkmols are relatively fragile but still out of reach of Johnny OHKO. They sometimes cast Rock Javelin which hits a line (and unlike the previous earth spell, can't be avoided by flying), or Cure which isn't too big a deal as it maybe erases one Shania ST turn worth of damage, who cares. They like to use Random Ring which is annoying as hell though, although it's attached to a relatively unimpressive physical. They seem to know their own damage is unimpressive, as they always Combo instead of Double, and again start close to a full stock gauge.
Saskachilli has Bright Decide, which hits an unfused Shania quite hard and has a huge radius. They also will cast Arc Barrier which makes Johnny particularly unhappy. Thie physical is also extremely annoying, as it both destroys stock and inflicts Slow. Ugh. They are immune to all fatal/fully debilitating status and have a respectable 220 HP so there's no easy out with them, but the decent damage and stock breaking and slow makes them priority #1.
With a Small Jug, a Surged Current Breath can OHKO Saskachillis (and obviously gets the much more fragile Chakmols). Simply casting two successive dark spells is even more cost-efficient but doesn't have the same radius, unless I use Evil Shade which has a huge lag associated so no thanks. Entrance Evil Eye also works if I feel like beatsticking Johnny's MP instead of Shania's. It's not a big deal either way, I have more than enough MP restoring at this point. Otherwise, the usual array of Shania physicals, appropriate magic attacks, and appropriate offensive buffs deals with things. If things go south (and with enemy offence and ring status it certainly can), no need to be shy at falling back on healing and even occasionally Johnny defending as per the Kerufe fight strategy.
Ring status here is common enough that I use a Pocket Watch on Shania to assure that the person responsible for killing things does so reliably. She has that, a Small Jug, and a belt (bit of a defensive hit, but one she can afford). Johnny gets the utility accessories of Warning Device and Ascetic Earrings, as well as a headgear to not die as much.
Delget (4 resets)
He's a pain, but not as bad as the reset count makes him look.
Delget's most memorable gimmick is petrify. It's ~50%, MT, fast recharge like all other status effects (I now think it's about a 3x recharge time). Obviously if you are vulnerable to it, bad things happen. I guess it might be doable with only one Mirror Bracelet, but I bought a second for a reason and I'm not shy about using it. The nice thing is that this means Delget will waste some of his turns trying to stone me anyway. Unlike some previous bosses, there's no statute of limitations on the use of his status move... I get to see it all battle long and it's always a welcome sight, even if it doesn't actually waste much of his time.
His other moves are, as usual, a physical and a spell of his element. The spell, Rock Javelin, isn't too bad... it almost never hits two people and only 3HKOs. The physicals are the problem. Not only do they 2HKO anyone (La Sirene with Shield is the only way to avoid this), but one of his two physicals carries Fast Ring. It's a big enough annoyance that I end up restoring the status, which is a huge waste of time since you also need to heal or die after he uses it.
If he gets a Double, it's always physical + an earth spell (either Rock Javelin or combo magic), either one one-rounds anyone. Again La Sirene in shield can survive, but that's it.
First turn he gets below half HP he'll use Energy Charge. Next is a physical, time to die unless you're defending, or (yet again) La Sirene with Shield.
My resets pretty much all come from figuring out the battle and banging my head against a wall due to Fast Ring. Eventually I realise I should just throw Pocket Watches on both PCs. The last two accessory slots go towards a Blood Jewel and Ascetic's Earrings. This means I have no accessories boosting my offence or defence (besides the tiny boost from the statusblockers) but ultimately all this does is make the battle take a little longer and make Arc Cure a little less adequate, so the tradeoff is worth it.
Besides that, largely the usual. Rage and Air Edge on Shania, Hard Hit if he has more than half a stock gauge to stop that noise. Johnny can Vacuum or Hard Hit himself if necessary... doubles can disrupt buffs and lead to a clear path to defeat, especially if Shania dies since Johnny has no Resurrection and Delget can kill Shania even after a Raise Up + Arc Cure double (you can't use ST healing on a revived PC in a double, sadly). Arc Gale I use once if Johnny really has nothing better to do with his turn, Arc Shield a little more often (it lets Shania survive a few things she wouldn't otherwise, and means Johnny doesn't need to heal/defend after a Rock Javelin, though the physicals still 2HKO him). Johnny defending if he's somewhat beaten up remains a good strategy as attacks against him are largely wasted, and attacks against Shania allow me to more efficiently heal with Arc Cure. Howling if Shania runs low on Sanity, Blood Jewel takes care of Johnny on that front. It's a long fight so I need to use one Mana Root on each PC.
The only other consideration is Energy Charge, since it can of course lead to bad things. Fortunately it's pretty telgraphed, so I can have one PC defending, and the other PC (Shania of course, since she's the attacker) in Shield. Fortunately I discovered the pleasant way that shield does, in fact, just let her survive. Hooray!
Delget's also vulnerable to P-Attack Down 2, which I really should have used but I didn't think to check his immunities until after I beat him. It would help keep some of his damage under control... he'd almost certainly fail to 2HKO Shania and shielded Johnny, and possibly unshielded Johnny as well, under that status. Dunno how accurate it would have been, of course.
Levels were 30.
After he's dead, a bunch of new stuff shows up in Arkham. New lottery member, although at this point all remaining lottery members carry equips I don't care about as their top prizes, so I just grab a new Johnny-only belt, and try to care. I also get the final stellar chart in the game, which doesn't even have as many nodes as the Saggitarius I'm using so who cares.
Most interesting are the new set of Lovecraft battles, most interesting because of how hilariously ill-equipped I am to deal with most of them. There's:
-One that requires me to use the combo magic Air Shot, which is completely impossible with only two PCs.
-One that requires me to do a 70-hit combo. While this can be done with two PCs, the earliest I'll be able to do it is after acquiring Tirawa (or Natan's final gun fu).
-One that requires me to kill Delget before he gets three turns. Um I think he got about 50 a moment ago. This might also be doable post-Tirawa as well, though. Maybe.
Finally, there's one which bans stellars/items and sends me against Vilcabamba randoms with beefed HP and 1 starting stock gauge. This is actually not too bad, as Shania can still use all her spells, so she can heal (Cure Plus), revive (Resurrection), and heal her own MP (Mind Assault). Johnny can't do very much, but Phone Call does some decent damage and breaks enemy stock. He can't exactly spam it due to MP limits but one use per fight is certainly an option and helps. Otherwise I have him poison things with his physical and defend. Not too bad, and gets me the L3 light spell. I already have the L3 ice and wind spells from the previous dungeon, and will get the next three in the upcoming dungeon.
