Shadow Hearts 3: The Gate, Part One
Into the final dungeon! Well, technically we started this with the Malice Killer fight, so the dungeon's already off to a good start. It doesn't let up from there. The randoms here are probably the toughest in the game; the only area I think really compares is the Caribbean. (2 resets on the randoms.) One thing that makes this area tough is ALL enemies start with enough stock to double or combo first turn. They don't always take it, which on the one hand is nice but on the other hand means I sometimes see a D-Combo if I leave one alive and untouched for a couple rounds.
Ispus are these little frog pests, and the dungeon's swarm enemy. Johnny can only one-shot them with Gale Blast if he goes Awaker (slightly problematic since Johnny only gets two turns of Awaker before I need to SP heal, so I have to use those wisely), Shania of course goes Thunderbird and can do the same. Up to six can appear at a time. Their base damage is 5HKOish, but their physicals add Sp-Def Down which pumps magic into 4HKO (theirs) or 3HKO (others') territory. Their Double is to use Sp-Def Down followed by Rock Javelin, which hurts. They can be instant deathed, which goes on Johnny's ring.
Larilari are only slightly more durable, but it's enough that Johnny can't one-shot them unless he uses Red Crest which is laggy and pricy. They'll use Hail Exceed (which Shania can avoid in a flying fusion) or Black Hole (non-elemental, Malice Edna's signature) as their magic. They can also cast Entrance to make an ally's spell a nasty bitchslap. Fortunately their allies aren't all too bright about using this properly. They'll combo with Black Hole as their use of stock.
Phobos is a big pain in the ass. Their magic isn't the big problem, and they only rarely use it (it's Gale Vortex, which misses non-flyers anyway). Their problem lies in their Blood Loss physical (strips away half the target's HP AFTER dealing damage). Remember Alyosh from Garland Residence? The mercy with them is they only ever used it at the end of a double or combo. Phobos is not so kind. They use their stock to Blood Loss and combo into something else, which can now easily kill. Three Phoboses alone is a tough fight, as their combo damage with each other ramps up very quickly. They have enough HP to need 2-3 attacks to drop, but are vulnerable to petrify, so that goes on Shania's ring.
Finally there's the Bokrug, the most durable enemy who generally needs 3 attacks. They'll cast Red Gravity which not only hits hard if your Sp-Def is lowered, but eats your stock. They'll also cast Cure, and seem to do it intelligently unlike Chakmols. Their physicals add Reverse Ring. That's their idea of a ring status this late? Pfft whatever, not even worth the trouble of healing.
Ispus and Phobos are definitely the more dangerous, and they're also the most common, so randoms are dicy for quite a while. Then we reach...
Malice Soaker (1 reset)
This friendly little tree root uses random battle music and doesn't get a special portrait, but don't be fooled, he's a boss, with the high offensive stats and fast recharge property we associate with SH3 bosses. You have to fight several in the second half of the dungeon, but I'll only cover the one you fight in the first half, as my levels are lower then.
First off, they're immune to magic, and, like Procyon, only use the damage type they're immune to (so they're pure mages). They have every Level 3 spell at their disposal, and these generally do high 3HKO damage, along with Ivy Bind, a wide-area magic spell that airs targets (it looks like earth, but it could easily be non-elemental as well... no way to tell with my party). Their final skill is Mental Breakdown, inflicting the 20% MP Poison. It's perfect accuracy as far as I can tell. I don't bother blocking this (it's not commonly used) and one Arc Heal will patch me up, although this is still a losing proposition on overall turns.
The real danger in this battle comes from how relentless the Malice Soaker is in attacking. A lot of its attacks will hit two people (it's a smaller than normal battlefield), and it gets a LOT of turns, with faster-than-Johnny speed and its rapid accrual of stock. If it doubles it may do any number of different things, but two spells that both hit both people really hurts. His favourite combos are Evil Servant into Bright Decide and Ivy Bind into Rock Javelin (will miss floating Shania). I need to be especially weary about turns and recharge times as a GT spell followed by a double of GT spells really, really hurts. He only rarely attacks stock, so I'm free to hard hit him in a rather paranoid fashion, and of course do so.
The main mercy of this battle is that Malice Soaker is kinda dumb, and will use Hail Exceed on flying Shania and Gale Vortex on Johnny quite willingly (both miss).
Otherwise the fight is mostly a lot of healing (and I do mean a lot). Johnny defends sometimes if he's hurt a bit and Shania isn't in hopes of Arc Cure, especially if the two are far enough apart that they can't be hit by GT (defending doesn't make you move). Johnny's Cure Plus is definitely showing its age now, as it doesn't nearly heal off two attacks; I should probably have grabbed Cure All after all. Shania's keeps up fine though. There is of course also a lot of Hard Hitting, casting Arc Rage regularly to up my damage, and Air Edge on Shania to make her hit harder. I don't use Awaker in this fight, because I fight it with my random-encounter equips by mistake. Twice. I do use La Sirene almost exclusively for Shania (except when I need Arc Rage or Howling) as it makes a big difference, especially with Bright Decide in the enemy arsenal.
I'm Level 39 for the first fight against a Malice Soaker. I'll be at least two levels higher for the rest.
Anyway, with him out of the way, a return to the save point is in order, followed immediately by someone I definitely DO change to my boss-fighting equips for.
Malice Gilbert (3 resets)
One of these three resets (the second, if you're curious) happens before I even get a turn. I roll badly on initiative, Gilbert goes first, and wipes out the party.
And that, in a nutshell, is the problem with this battle. Gilbert has two main gimmicks; one is attacking your sanity relentlessly (and look at him! If anyone could do that, it would be him). The other is doing metric craptons of GT/MT damage if he gets a Double off. He is the first of two bosses in the game who can wipe a full-HP party with a Double.
The good news is that, after the first turn, he usually doesn't (though usually, it must be emphasised, is not good enough). To understand why we need to take a look at those Doubles. One of them is Gathering into Deep Grudge. This is pretty lame. Deep Grudge inflicts Chain status and is borderline 2-3HKO, and hits a large radius. Due to the Double lag time, he won't be able to take advantage of chain, so all this is is a more damaging Vice Blade that has lag and eats a stock gauge. You're welcome to do this, Gilbert! I only see it once.
His other two Doubles both involve starting with Deep Grudge. One is Deep Grudge into Evil Crest. Evil Crest is dark damage, misses aired targets ('sup La Sirene), and makes your special attacks crap for five turns. This does enough damage to kill full-HP unfused PCs. The other is Deep Grudge into Malice Dirge. Malice Dirge is, as you may recall, full multitarget, stock-destroying, chain-inflicting madness. It's also stronger than Evil Crest and isn't resisted/immuned by Shania.
So what does this mean? If two PCs are grouped closely together, Deep Grudge -> Evil Crest will kill them unless Shania is flying (and survives the initial Deep Grudge) or the PCs are both at full HP and fused. If they're close together, Deep Grudge -> Malice Dirge is a trip to the game over screen. This means we have to avoid Doubles at an extremely high priority. It's almost impossible to avoid them -completely- due to various factors in the battle, but coming as close as possible is necessary.
Malice Gilbert's normal turns are spent on physicals which half the target's SP (this can be blocked with Will Power, but I don't) and do quite a lot of damage (usually 2HKO, may be only 3HKO against La Sirene though), Evil Crest (as mentioned, Shania can troll this), Panic (3x recharge 100% status, causes the target to lose Sanity 3 times as quickly), and Deep Grudge (as mentioned. Evil if he doubleturns someone after using this).
Accessory setup for the fight is Johnny with Ashra's Earrings, Blood Jewel, and a Flare Brooch. Why the Flare Brooch? Because with only the Blood Jewel, panicked Awaker loses 12 sanity a turn... more than the Blood Jewel restores unless I perfect its highly difficult ring, so it might not save me! Blocking panic would work, but the Flare Brooch also avoids this problem while giving me beefier stat boosts. Shania, meanwhile, gets Ascetic Earrings, a belt, and a Cosmic Bracelet for panic immunity, since I don't need someone losing 12 sanity a turn (or even 6, with a Flare Brooch, as there's no Blood Jewel to save her).
Beyond this, the fight proceeds normally enough, just with extra paranoia for stock destruction. On the first turn, I Double Vacuum + Hard Hit with Johnny, and in general, I'm not shy about using Doubles if necessary, despite the lag they cause and the problems that can cause down the line, since stock destruction is so important. Due to the Blood Jewel, Johnny is frequently without stock, so Red Nova works as a backup despite its lag (and ability to nearly tink if Johnny is hit with S-Atk Down); Shania occasionally has to do this too if she needs to Double, although it takes her into Ta'tanka so if I can shift back into La Sirene on the back half of the double (e.g. to heal/revive) I do so. Arc Rage is used in place of Rage as both PCs may wish to Hard Hit (and Johnny's physicals are actually good now). Light Edge ups Shania's damage until she dies (which I try to avoid); I never get a chance to cast it on Johnny. Howling is used when Shania's running low on sanity; it's essential to use when she's at 9 or below as at that point, one SP Lowering attack from Gilbert will knock her into the red. Healing and occasional MP healing is required as usual.
A rough fight, certainly. Perhaps the only good news is that there's no low-HP trick waiting, Gilbert stays the same the whole way through. They could have made him extra rough with a stretch of Gale or Surge in there.
Levels were 40.
