Obtained 
Nectar II.
Yes I will gladly take this please thank you.
Let's move onto a proper secret area now though.
...Early sets of stairs always make me nervous.
Fuck me I hate these things.
Giant Shield Stick Insect
HP: 1593
STR: 95
INT: 84
VIT: 93
WIS: 93
AGI: 64
LUC: 85
Skills:
- Grass Shield: Uses the arms. Deals a number of instances of 150% melee STR-based cut damage to random party members at the end of the turn, based on the number of times the Giant Shield Stick Insect or other enemies in its row were attacked with physical damage on that turn. Has a base accuracy of 99%.
- Shield of Vengeance: Uses the arms. When the Giant Shield Stick Insect is attacked, deals 180% melee STR-based cut damage to all party members. Has a base accuracy of 99%.
Drops:
- Normal:
Knightbug's Greatshield. 100% chance. Sells for 452 en.
- 1 needed to make
Hundred Foe Gun (+80 ATK, +50 MATK, TP Up 2, Bronze x4). Costs 25600 en, sells for 10240 en.
- 2 needed to make
Trample Boots (+25 DEF, +6 MDEF, +16 AGI). Costs 6600 en, sells for 2640 en.
Damage Resistances:
Disable Resistances:
Attack a Giant Shield Stick Insect with physical damage at all? Not only is it not gonna be particularly effective, you're going to be on the receiving end of some pretty awful pain after the fact.
(Grass Shield.)
(Shield of Vengeance.)
Uh-oh.
Anyway, let's get back to doing this thing while not being murdered by stick insects. You have to rotate this golem, there's no way forward otherwise.
Rotating this one (the screenshot is post-rotation) blocks the way forward, so, uh, don't do that.
Again, no way forward without rotating this one.
...Is what I'd say if this pillar wasn't there.
fuck me
again
again
Victory Dog
HP: 1793
STR: 90
INT: 85
VIT: 88
WIS: 88
AGI: 69
LUC: 99
Skills:
- Victory Tusk: Uses the head. Deals 180% melee STR-based cut damage to one party member. Has an 80% speed modifier and 99 base accuracy.
- Triumphant Roar: Uses the head. Reduces all party members' max HP by 50% for 4 turns. Has a 60% speed modifier.
Drops:
- Normal:
- 1 needed to make
Fang Helm (+15 DEF, +15 MDEF, +10 STR). Costs 6600 en, sells for 2640 en.
- 2 needed to make
Kutune Shirka (+86 ATK, +93 MATK, INT Up 2, Bronze x4). Costs 20000 en, sells for 8000 en.
Damage Resistances:
Disable Resistances:
Victory Tusk would be liable to one-shot even slightly flimsy party members as-is, and then you get to factor Triumphant Roar in, and then you get to be very annoyed. I would eat a one-turn game over if Shield of Vengeance came out after my party got hit with Triumphant Roar.
(Triumphant Roar.)
(I cannot tell skills that use the same animation apart at a glance, and the fact that both of the stick insect skills use kanji does not help)
Phew.
I think Stick Insects might actually stick to a consistent pattern, but I haven't tested it and they don't show up outside of this secret area nonsense, so...
I think Stick Insects might actually stick to a consistent pattern, but I haven't tested it and they don't show up outside of this secret area nonsense, so...
It takes fucking forever to skill a stick insect when you only have one source of purely elemental damage.
please look at the turn count
insects are the worst
I got annoyed with the puzzle and went up the stairs to see what's up there.
the answer to my curiosity: exactly fuck-all
(this is where a postgame boss will spawn much later in the game)
(this is where a postgame boss will spawn much later in the game)
and then I immediately made the same fucking mistake again
(look at the map)
(look at the map)
Embarrassingly, I spent a long enough time meandering around, looking for the path forward due to that stupid mapping mistake, that I had to go back to town to rest up.
There's...not much else to do but go up these stairs.
Empty, featureless areas are always fun, aren't they?
Oh hey Magda got a level.
Up goes Smoke Solid.
okay this thing's down to that low HP, auto-battling is 100% safe
The adventurers have been wiped out...
god
Turns out auto-battling a stick insect, even if it's close to death, is basically a death sentence.
That was just me being extremely lazy, bleh.
That was just me being extremely lazy, bleh.
these fucking things I swear to GOD
I told you this place is just a big stretch of nothing, punctuated by the occasional near-TPK experience because of a stick insect.
There's a secret passage here.
I shove the golem, which opens a door way to the left, near that passage that I accidentally walled off on the map earlier.
This one. I didn't show it earlier, but this was a glamour wall before.
Before I continue with the puzzle, where do these stairs lead?
To a small area that just gives me a shortcut back to the 4F area.
Sigh.
Sigh.
Okay, to actually solve the 1st Stratum secret area, you have to start it from this set of stairs.
Rotate this one to start.
Because you don't have to rotate the initial statue when you come from the staircase I came from, you can now finally rotate this one.
Which means you can rotate this one.
And then you can get down here.
Which contains one final set of stairs.
Obtained 
Training Orb!
This thing is...a really weird anomaly. When someone in the party has the Training Orb equipped, for every step you take in the Labyrinth, each party member gains the value of their level as EXP.
...Maybe it'd be easier to show than tell.
...Maybe it'd be easier to show than tell.
Obtained Nectar II.
Right after that.
Look at Alexis's EXP bar and his level to see what I was talking about. It's in the top right, just below his level.
Honestly? I can think of worse things for just having on while exploring. It's...not really gonna amount to much, though. Our party currently gains a few thousand EXP each after a given battle, and it'd take about 100 steps to make that through this.
Honestly? I can think of worse things for just having on while exploring. It's...not really gonna amount to much, though. Our party currently gains a few thousand EXP each after a given battle, and it'd take about 100 steps to make that through this.
I begin by killing this thing to save myself a headache.
Obtained Medica IV.
Medica IVs restore 500 HP to one party member.
memes
Blaze Squirrel
HP: 1283
STR: 79
INT: 91
VIT: 93
WIS: 97
AGI: 75
LUC: 82
Skills:
- Wick: Used when the Blaze Squirrel is the last enemy left alive. Uses the legs. Deals 150% ranged INT-based fire damage to all party members. Burns one Ariadne Thread in the party's inventory, if there is one. Has an 80% speed modifier and a base accuracy of 120%.
- Combustion Lance: Uses the legs. Deals 150% ranged INT-based fire damage to one party member, with line-piercing effect. Has an 80% speed modifier and a base accuracy of 99%.
Drops:
- Normal:
- 1 needed to make
Ratatoskr Staff (+93 ATK, +93 MATK, TP Up 2, Bronze x4). Costs 23500 en, sells for 9400 en.
- 3 needed to make
Flare Leather (+39 DEF, +51 MDEF, +30% fire resistance). Costs 18900 en, sells for 7560 en.
- Conditional:
Bound Tail (Kill while fully bound). 100% chance. Sells for 2000 en.
- 1 needed to make
Ninety-Three (Warlock ultimate armor; +74 DEF, +120 MDEF, +18 INT). Costs 225000 en, sells for 90000 en.
Damage Resistances:
Disable Resistances:
fucking MEMES
please look at fucking WICK
Okay this requires explanation. In EO2, once per stratum, there was an event involving a squirrel. If you let this squirrel climb onto your party, it would steal an Ariadne Thread from your inventory. Again, there was one of these every stratum. In fact, in the 5th Stratum version, if you refused the event after having fallen for it previously, the narration would say something like "You won't fall for the demon squirrel's trickery again!"
Because the internet, across the entire world, is inscrutable and mysterious, this became a meme in both the Japanese and English-speaking EO communities. Well, that meme has now officially been referenced by Atlus, and it is excruciatingly painful to deal with. Even if you survive a battle with a Blaze Squirrel, having an Ariadne Thread burned is extremely dangerous--I actually start carrying two with me at all times, because having no Threads is that dangerous.
I also eventually just start running from Blaze Squirrels after I get the conditional drop, because even beyond the Ariadne Thread gimmick, they hurt like motherfuckers and can easily cause TPKs on their own. Also, they're constantly thrown into dickish encounter formations, like this.
please look at fucking WICK
Okay this requires explanation. In EO2, once per stratum, there was an event involving a squirrel. If you let this squirrel climb onto your party, it would steal an Ariadne Thread from your inventory. Again, there was one of these every stratum. In fact, in the 5th Stratum version, if you refused the event after having fallen for it previously, the narration would say something like "You won't fall for the demon squirrel's trickery again!"
Because the internet, across the entire world, is inscrutable and mysterious, this became a meme in both the Japanese and English-speaking EO communities. Well, that meme has now officially been referenced by Atlus, and it is excruciatingly painful to deal with. Even if you survive a battle with a Blaze Squirrel, having an Ariadne Thread burned is extremely dangerous--I actually start carrying two with me at all times, because having no Threads is that dangerous.
I also eventually just start running from Blaze Squirrels after I get the conditional drop, because even beyond the Ariadne Thread gimmick, they hurt like motherfuckers and can easily cause TPKs on their own. Also, they're constantly thrown into dickish encounter formations, like this.
Notice how taking care of the Numbing Cicada has left two party members, including my dodgetank, paralyzed.
(Combustion Lance.)
Every encounter here has a Blaze Squirrel in it, by the way.
Still re-leveling Affection.
I had to run back to town because I wasn't gonna expend Nectar IIs on reviving those two.
The fire spread to an Ariadne Thread!
The adventurers have been wiped out...
Even if Alexis and Mio managed to run away, I would've been fucked without a Thread.
I should note that this is where I start carrying two Threads.
I should note that this is where I start carrying two Threads.
I used Chain Blast on this one squirrel to get an easy conditional drop.
lol at trying to do that with a Cestus or, god forbid, tanglethreads
Oh hey, it's our first bit of ultimate equipment, way earlier than any of the others.
So, here's the thing: I am going to buy ultimate equipment as soon as it becomes available, with the help of the money DLC. It saves me some trouble down the road, and most of them, like I said, are going to become available far later than the Ninety-Three does. I don't buy a Ninety-Three for Kaelin right now, but I do later...if not in this update, than in my raw footage, which also has 18F.
Incidentally, if you're curious and/or baffled at that name, here's an explanation, courtesy of shibbotech on Something Awful:
So, here's the thing: I am going to buy ultimate equipment as soon as it becomes available, with the help of the money DLC. It saves me some trouble down the road, and most of them, like I said, are going to become available far later than the Ninety-Three does. I don't buy a Ninety-Three for Kaelin right now, but I do later...if not in this update, than in my raw footage, which also has 18F.
Incidentally, if you're curious and/or baffled at that name, here's an explanation, courtesy of shibbotech on Something Awful:
Warlock's ultimate armor is called Ninety-Three most likely as a reference to the Thelemic greeting - that whole thing Crowley founded. "Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law; love is the Law, love under will." The key words there being "will" and "love" respectively.
In Greek, the word for "will" is Thelema, and the version of "love" used for this phrase is Agape. When combined with isopephy (assigning numerical values to the letters), the sum of Thelema and Agape each is...93.
This has become a shorthand for greeting both in person and in writing for members of the OTO and other Thelemic practices.
The fire spread to an Ariadne Thread!
fuck me, the one time I forget to buy a second thread
I somehow managed to get Alexis back to the Pole safely.
So that just happened.
Here's the way forward, but there's still one more thing I have to check out.
Monsters jumped out of the box!
Super Lightning Squirrel
HP: 1197
STR: 71
INT: 89
VIT: 91
WIS: 94
AGI: 73
LUC: 92
Skills:
- Alternator: Uses the legs. Deals 220% ranged INT-based volt damage to one party member. Has an 80% speed modifier and 99 base accuracy.
- Dynamo Thunder: Uses the legs. Deals 90% ranged INT-based volt damage to all party members. Attempts to inflict paralysis on hit targets, with a 40% base chance. Has an 80% speed modifier and 120 base accuracy.
Damage Resistances:
Disable Resistances:
Hi, these things can fuck up (but probably not outright kill) your party to open the fight, and can one-shot a given party member, no questions asked. Does this sound like fun? Are you beginning to hate squirrels as much as I do?
sigh
Second verse, same as the first.
(Alternator.)
That box can be a really nasty surprise, especially if you're already hurting from normal encounters.
Obtained 
Worn Book!
All that. For one stupid key item.
(we need it for a quest later)
(we need it for a quest later)
At this point, I was annoyed enough by the squirrels that I said "fuck it," gathered up the funds, and bought Kaelin his ultimate armor.
CORRIDORS
HEART ATTACKS
EXCITING
So this final section of the 2nd Stratum secret area is... Uh... Well... It's something. It's a big, long puzzle involving baboons and getting rocks shoved on you.
Don't kill this one like I did here, or the puzzle becomes unfinishable.
You can keep going if you let the rock fall on you, but I...didn't remember how to do this puzzle on this attempt.
Obtained Ariadne Thread.
Okay, let's do this for real.
First, let yourself get shoved by that rock.
That rock'll then get toppled. It doesn't matter, really, since you aren't (well, shouldn't be) under it.
If you don't launch yourself forward by getting hit by that first rock, you'll be one step too late to get here before that one gets shoved over.
Some corridors later, and we arrive at...
Obtained 
Paralyze Mortar!
YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS
Obtained Formaldehyde.
Formaldehydes, if you're unfamiliar with EO or just need a refresher, force any enemies killed on their turn of use to drop all of their potential drops, even conditionals you haven't fulfilled the condition for.
One last sealed door for the road.
Obtained Hamao Prime.
Obtained Formaldehyde.
Obtained
Hey, I'll take it. Hamao Primes restore 250 HP and 75 TP to one party member.
And... That's it. That's all of the stuff the Yggdrasil Key lets us do. I could do 18F, but that would mean this update would be a bit too long for my tastes. So, uh...
Next time: 18F.
And... That's it. That's all of the stuff the Yggdrasil Key lets us do. I could do 18F, but that would mean this update would be a bit too long for my tastes. So, uh...
Next time: 18F.
(editor's note: that comment was added before it was explained to us)
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