Picking up where we left of, the Sultan maintains his ignorance. I do kinda feel like this is willing at this point.
It's just as bad for the Sultana, although perhaps for different reasons.
...Chain and sword? What purpose does the chain serve?
The bard is still having trouble.
And poor Faris is having more of it.
This is a true statement. Knowingly or not, the Sultan has just sent his beloved son to his doom, and only the son seems to be aware of it.
Erik has more faith in Faris than... literally anything has indicated.
Genuine question, how did this work? What did his training entail, how did his vassals complete it in his place, and how did he hide this from whatever supervisors he's supposed to have? The answer to that last question is presumably "because he's the prince".
...Not actually an A to B.
This, though, is a little bit more of such. Faris's parents seem to have skipped a few crucial lessons in their adoration for their only child, and Faris learned the wrong lessons first... and the right lessons too late.
Faris, it is at least partially your fault still. I agree you're doomed, and I agree you deserve to be bailed out, but I do believe you need an attitude adjustment.
If you say no, you'll get a repeat of his begging. Both this and the first shot are actually three angles, one after the other. I'm not sure if we're supposed to believe he's actually slamming down to the ground three times.
Faris makes a very convincing argument to survive this But Thou Must question- obviously, part of the reason we're killing this Slayer is to bail out Faris's wretched hide, but we're also doing it because Gallopolis is in genuine need of having the Slayer dealt with (this is why Faris is tasked with it at all) and us doing it is still a good deed.
I have faith. Still. But this better be the last time.
Although Veronica is keenly aware that we're only pushing the buck on to the next poor sap.
Honestly, considering the environment in which they grew, I think this might actually be personal for Serena. Still, though...
Erik: I just want you to know, I'm only going to help capture this Slayer thing because you made the call, okay? I'm not doing it to help that useless prince. Now, where did he say he'd meet us again? At the castle gates? Come on then. Let's get this over with...
Veronica: I'm not making any excuses for Prince Faris, but what Serena said is probably true. I suppose we'd better make sure he doesn't get himself maimed or something. In any case, we really can't let this Slayer of the Sands keep rampaging around. It's already hurt at least one innocent person. So come on, Erdward! Let's go and capture the Slayer and finally claim that Rainbough!
Serena: Prince Faris is being forced to live a lie, and all because he doesn't want to let his parents or his people down. I can't help but feel sorry for him. I mean, imagine the kind of pressure you'd feel, growing up a prince and knowing all the expectations people had of you!
Well, heading into danger, I decide to actually buy a Dancer's Costume for Serena. This'll lock her in her dancer outfit until I source something better. The Dancer's Costume is good for defence, charm and evasion- 4% for the latter. I forget why Serena wants Charm, but I won't say no to Evasion yet.
This is Serena's Dancer's outfit. There's normally a few fanservice costumes scattered about the girls, and as dancer's costumes go, this one isn't terrible. I'll confess fanservice Serena usually makes me feel weird, though. She's too innocent.
Cheerful? His smile is remarkably strained, but perhaps that's not visible at a distance. You can also see a bunch of the usual suspects (yes, including the two lovesick girls) giving generic statements of praise for Faris- these people are presumably who the smile is for.
(We're outside the city walls now).
Guards: Have not considered the fact that Faris is either fated for certain death or this expedition is going to be fine.
Faris is surprisingly open with the nature of his deceit to these guards. I assume that means these guys are in on how Faris got to this point.
This checkpoint has prevented us from going to the north early even if we wanted to.
The guards return his "for Gallopolis!" chant with much less vigour than Faris himself.
...Oh hello.
Sylvando! Sylvando?
Erik: "He's good at being an entertainer and maybe he can wrangle a horse, but fighting a monster? Gotta be out of his ballpark.
...Well, you can throw knives made out of juggling balls and you know Hot Lick... but on the other hand, I have a party of four and you really don't seem the type.
That is not particularly what I wanted to hear. Sylvando marches to the beat of his own drum, and sometimes... he kinda strikes out.
Sylvando: Okay, honey, listen up! If we head west from Gallopolis, we'll come to two checkpoints. The northern one leads to the Celestial Sands, where this horrible Slayer thing is. We really shouldn't let little Princey-poo get too far ahead of us, so let's head over there without further ado!
Erik: Listen, Erdward... Are you sure you're okay with having this Sylvando guy along for the ride? I kind of feel like he's forced himself into the picture... I mean, we're still on the run, and he's not exactly going to help us keep a low profile...
Veronica: Sylvando might be a bit different to most people you meet, but having him with us could be fun. I bet he'd be useful in a fight, too! It certainly doesn't sound as though he'll slow us down- and if he's going to help us capture the Slayer, I don't see what we've got to lose!
Serena: I feel a lot safer out here now Mr Sylvando has joined us. I mean, you saw him at the circus- not to mention the Sand National! He's clearly ever so talented... Yes, the Slayer of the Sands sounds terrifying, but I know we'll be able to capture it with Mr Sylvando on our side!
(Veronica kinda selling the message a little bit.)
Sylvando is certainly a swordsman, and a Guest. He'll stab things and use Hot Lick, mostly. He does have one heal-type Ability that'll come in handy- it's something Serena can't do. Sylvando doesn't have anything to heal HP, though.
The checkpoint has now opened!
These dapper dancers are said to have the deftest steps in the business, and spend their days sashaying across the sands with friends and family.
And right away, we meet... two new enemies. The haystack needler is new to 11, and in addition to the ability to make you dance, it can also throw bombs.
These razor-clawed rotters are said to have crawled up from hell itself. Endlessly drooling at the thought of dinner, they love nothing more than making a meal of an unsuspecting passer-by.
And the other enemy is called, and I'm not making this up, crabber dabber doo. It's an upgraded crabid, all right, and appears in all the same games. His JP name is じごくのハサミ, and his other name is usually something like "hell crab"- which matches the description.
Bye bye, haystack needler.
At least Bang is good for the crabber dabber doo.
Out back here we can find a weird Stonehedge thing. I'm sure it's nothing.
Hellish hounds endowed with dragon wings. They are unwaveringly loyal, and as such, are highly prized as guard dogs in the underworld.
Spitzfire is another of the monsters found in that book about dangerous desert monsters, and if you'll remember correctly, we were also tasked with showing our Wild Side to one. This guy is new to DQ11.
And he hurts. Multiple turns, his normal attack hurts, his burning fireball hurts, he can War Cry, and he also gets Pep. At least, in the daytime, he starts asleep. Usually.
I can't do anything about that, dang... time to try again later.
Once earnest students of spellcraft, these weak-willed sorcerers were seduced by the illicit allure of black magic, and are now no longer men.
Oh dear, this one's tricky... Prestidigitator is an enemy that appeared in DQs 1, 3, 5 and then not until here. Unlike usual for Dragon Quest, though, all three of DQs 1, 3 and 5 have different designs for the things. DQ1 makes them look like this, and DQ5 this. DQXI uses the DQ3 design.
Yes, they have the same name in JP, too- まほうつかい.
This is Veronica's only healing spell in the game. Serena gets plenty of attack spells and both get a solid number of Abilities, but for some reason, all Veronica gets for healing magic is the ability to get rid of Blind.
Slowly but surely, Erik will get to the point he doesn't need to focus on this one path.
All right, you...
Time to treat you like a boss.
Veronica can also Use her new Wizard's Staff to throw a fireball instead of using Frizz. If you really wanted to. You could also give it to someone else so they could cast Frizz. Again, if you really wanted to.
This gets worse before it gets better.
Serena's Pep is good for resilience, MaMend and critical spell chance. Crit spells also apply to healing, of course!
And even if they didn't, there's her offensive one. Woosh is 24-48 damage to groups, scaled on MaMight, of course. Serena gets some with her equips, but still...
+30? Serena's really doing good when it comes to healing.
Which is good when fighting Spitzifres, because this can't end well...
...I got it. Veronica's dead, but I got it.
...Apparently I wanted to leave that fight first, though.
Only 100 gold for Veronica right now? This thing feels cheaper than I remember. Then again, they don't really want to make our bottom line hurt until we can resurrect people without the church.
Showtime.
Time for the Wild Side!
Erdward and Serena throw golden orbs forward at Erik-
And he howls into the moon. You'd think this symbol would have meaning, but I can't pick out what it is. I have a guess, but I haven't checked it out.
Erik gets a stat boost and a second turn. When Erik gets good lategame, this gets scary. For now, though, it's just moderately good.
And of course the first thing he does is take one of Erik's turns away.
Just one, though.
POW!
This message is always satisfying to get. Making sure you did wind up clearing that sidequest. Time to move on.
There's one of these in a corner. The treasure chests in the overworld always feel harder to find than they really ought to be. Probably because of scale.
Maddening little blobs that, despite being made of solid metal, are so easily scared that they scarper at the first sign of trouble.
Well, hello there! The metal slime first appears in Gallopolis, and usually these things just pop up from time to time. They and their ilk are the best source of EXP in the game, no questions asked- obviously, of course, there are better ones later. Metal Slimes first appeared in DQ1, and they've maintained a perfect attendance record since. If there's one enemy that can challenge the Slime's iconic staying power, it's Metal Slime. Even if it is a recolour.
Say hello to the essentials of Metal Slimes. They are utterly immune to magic, take one damage from any physical attack, and like to run away. All Metal Slime relatives have these traits. If they stick around, they have regular attacks and Frizz/Sizz spells.
Oasis water? Turns out it's in two recipes. This feels like something you may want to nab some of, but those recipes aren't exactly things you want to repeat.
Also, you can kinda notice it from here, but we are behind Gallopolis right now. There's a little continuity between maps here.
We're here to stop with Faris at this Campsite, though.
And we thought Faris was going to kill himself fighting the Slayer!
You can't hide it from us. We were going to use this campsite anyway, but...
Savage.
So, while Faris is off in the corner being a complete embarrassment to himself, Gallopolis and the entire concept of chivalry, we're going to talk a little more about who Sylvando is.
...Ish. He's more interested in us than sharing about himself.
Incidentally, despite this line and this setup, the romantic angles between Erdward, Erik, Veronica and Serena lie relatively untapped. If the game ships any of these pairings, it's Erdward/Veronica and Erik/Serena, but the evidence I have for both is significantly lower than many other RPGs make do with.
We don't exactly have a goal. We have a direction and we have a motivation to walk. We're just hoping there's something at the destination.
Because, you know, this is something that very few people would be happy about not doing anything about. While simultaneously being something many people would be content not being responsible for doing.
Oh, now you have opsec, Veronica. Erik must be steaming on the inside.
Sylvando's one mission in life is to bring smiles and laughter to all corners of Erdrea. This is why he views the arrival of the Dark One in terms of how miserable people are going to become as a result. And this helps keep him grounded on a single perspective- of course the Dark One's arrival will be bad, but how bad and what bad, we're kinda keeping out of our minds.
Hey, Erik, this is a video game that I am playing for fun. I don't have grounds to criticise him.
So then, I believe I promised some backstory on Sylvando?
My apologies, he's got no interest in delivering. Which certainly makes the reveal all the more tantalising.
I don't know, but I am inclined to ask him to spin around and stop flashing the fire.
And with that over, it's time to resume our adventure!
Sylvando: The little Princey-poo's already dashed ahead into the Celestial Sands! Let's follow him, darling, and show the Slayer of the Sands who's boss!
Erik: All that stuff we were talking about with Sylvando—about the Luminary and the Lord of Shadows- that was pretty wild, but he seemed to take it all in his stride. I guess he's not easily shocked... Anyway, enough about him. We need to focus on capturing the Slayer and getting hold of that Rainbough!
Veronica: Prince Faris really doesn't know what he's doing, does he? He just charged off into the Sands without waiting for us! I mean, enthusiasm's all very well, but honestly... Come on, Erdward. Let's get after him. I dread to think what might happen if he were left to fend for himself against the Slayer!
Serena: The Slayer of the Sands sounds rather fearsome, I must say. Let's make sure we're properly prepared before facing it.
That campfire scene does give you the North Gallopolis Zoom point.
The wing-like expanses of skin on the sides of these snakes' bodies enable them to sail through the air with astonishing ease. Rumour has it that once they reach one hundred years of age, they soar away into the sun, never to be seen again.
The flython comes from DQ6 and appeared in DQ9. He's about what you'd expect from a snake. Haven't seen one fly before.
Well, everything seems to be in order, time to check in on this front.
Time to track down our wayward Slayer.
...That's not how that works, Faris. And I suspect you know it.
...Whuh oh.
...That is rather a lot of bug, and rather a lot of pinchy. Entomophobes, I wouldn't entirely blame looking away.
Bold words, Sylvando.
...What did you expect from him, anyway?
Or five.
The citizens of Gallopolis have lived in fear of this giant scorpion for centuries, and its unquenchable appetite for carnage has earned it a truly intimidating nickname: the Slayer of the Sands.
Nature Family
712 HP
180 MP
All six of them, Sylvando? The Slayer of the Sands is the often called the gatekeeper of Draconian Quests, because this is the fight that sends those with Stronger Enemies quivering in fear. He is an expert in confusion, multi-targeted attacks, desperate attacks, and also inflicting blindness. If you don't have a plan, you're going to be in a much worse position.
This is not a plan.
This is, though. One thing about Sap versus bosses with multiple turns is that each turn they take runs out the clock on their status conditions faster. But still, it's the only plan we've got.
Any defensive buff you have needs to go on.
And that's our damage output on Hero. Fairly solid.
It's good to see low numbers on a multi-target attack- not only is that good, it means your defensive power is more than prepared for the fight.
I think this was him attempting to confuse- his confusing ability is the single-target one.
Veronica starts casting Frizz spells, even if they're not as impressive as Cutting Edge.
You really want to stay on top of your HP to avoid these.
It's times like this you wish you had Kabuff.
...And we're blinded. The Dust also damaged us, to boot. Fortunately, Erdward can still see what he's doing.
Erik takes the chance to use one of his Herbs to take the heat off Serena.
Veronica, because I never remember Dedazzle is in her toolkit when I need it, focuses on keeping Erdward's damage up. The sooner we can get out of this fight, the safer we are.
Blindness sucks.
...You could not have picked two worse targets.
Fortunately for us, though, Sylvando demonstrates his healing Ability- Sobering Slap. Named after the ツッコミ that is part of the Manzai comedy routine, this ability of minstrels and the like can cure sleep, confusion, beguilement and... paralysis? That doesn't sound right. Whatever it is, AI Sylvando is ready to perform it when necessary.
And Erdward is ready to finish us off before Serena being unable to contribute actually hurts. Confusion mostly involves attacking either the enemy (usually missing), attacking allies or trying to take actions that make no sense (like running away- although that will never work). Confused is not the worst thing you can be- that is beguiled. We'll be seeing beguilement later. And yes, we would rather not.
The Slayer reels in fright, but rather crucially, is not actually killed.
...I am having an alarming number of questions about Sylvando.
Faris, who has spent this encounter... somewhere, has finally returned to notice the job he had been tasked with has been completed while he was sleeping.
Sorry, knocked out from fright. Much better.
...Faris. This can't go on. You can't seriously pretend you actually did this.
...Fucking hell he can.
When Serena is starting to worry you're in deep, perhaps you might legitimately be in deep. Erik, of course, is feeling a lot like Tuesday.
I did roughly 100% of the work- quite valuable indeed.
You keep saying that.
Sylvando decides it's about time Faris heard something that he really should've learned years ago.
Faris, there is a great deal of difference between "your hero isn't quite as powerful as you expected" and "the people will not be going without freedom from their oppression". Both suck, but if you do not let them experience one, they will quickly learn the other.
Sylvando decides to take his hands off for a little bit. See if Faris can't learn something for himself for once.
Faris, Faris, Faris...
Erik realises that yeah, the thing Faris needs right now more than anything is a good kick up the pants- or at least stops trying to pretend any alternatives are true.
Sylvando appears to be considering actually giving him that kick. Although, of course, aimed somewhere less painful.
Sylvando leaves to go do... things. This applies to the mechanics, too- not that we'll miss Sylvando.
Erik: Why did Prince Faris insist on having us capture the Slayer? Wouldn't it be better for everyone if we just finished it off when we had the chance? I bet he just wants to show off to his adoring public back in the city. Man, that guy's an idiot!
Veronica: Did you see that little exchange between Sylvando and Prince Faris, Erdward? The Prince didn't seem very happy at what his life has become... It's almost enough to make you feel sorry for him, but we don't have time for that! The Rainbough should be ours now. Let's head back to the city and get the Sultan to hand it over!
Serena: I wonder where Mr Sylvando went... I know he was only with us for a little while, but I really feel we'd have been lost without him. Still, I mustn't think about that now. We need to follow Prince Faris back to Gallopolis, and get the Rainbough from the Sultan!
Up at the very back of the Celestial Sands, behind where we fought the Slayer, one can find a Yellow Eye sparkly spot. The eyes make nice alchemy ingredients, and it's good to know where to find them in a pinch.
We're going to switch over to night time real quick, and...
These curious creatures are able to store the power of their beastly brethren within their bodies. Apparently, they shroud themselves in shadows in order to hide their identities.
Shades are... weird. They have appeared in DQs 3, 8, 10 and here, and to my understanding, Shades are somewhat randomly generated? They can be based on monsters you have encountered, with drops to match? I don't understand it, but this is a thing that only DQ3 really had- 8 and 10 made them proper monsters.
You know stuff's weird when this is your damage comparison.
Woo hoo! Adding a monster to your beastiary requires besting one, so you do have to wind up finishing one of these eventually if you want to complete that.
Everyone levelled up! Also everyone (except Veronica) learned new spells. I say "new", but the only new one in this bunch is Erik and Cock-a-doodle-doo. Obviously, this is a cure for sleep, but it's worth noting it targets the entire party.
Animated suits of ancient armour in which the souls of fallen soldiers have settled. Their long years of experience make them formidable foes.
The restless armour is an enemy from DQ3 that has a fairly solid representation- DQs 3-5, then 8-11. An enemy that is a suit of armour is a very useful way of representing knightliness and the Restless Armour design is often put to that use- especially in Rocket Slime. DQs 6 and 7 also have a "suit of armour" enemy design called the harmour- that one's not in this game, but both DQs 6 and 7 got good use out of it for human enemies too. (Restless armour and harmour appeared at the same time in DQs 9 and 10, but apparently 11 didn't feel the need.)
...Oh yeah, and as for what the restless armours can do, they're mostly what you'd expect out of a knight, and can summon Healslimes as allies.
There's supposed to be a nighttime only narspicious spawn around this part of the map, but I couldn't find it. That's going to annoy me...
We Zoom back to Gallopolis, and are immediately roped into a scene where Faris has returned with his giant bug.
And the Sultan lavishes praise upon him.
This is only going to end badly...
Faris, Faris, Faris. You had every chance to fix your mistakes.
...
Well, I think we really needed something to happen, but I'd be lying if I said this is what I had in mind.
The Slayer of the Sands is freed from its chains and ready to start killing people. And there's a lot of people here.
They're ready to sell this moment. Faris has dug his own grave. And now he's forced to watch as other people prepare to fill it.
All under his father's watchful eye.
Faris is trembling, and this time, I'm positive it's not excitement, Sultan.
Faris overcomes his hesitation and admits, at long last, that he is not the man he pretended to be.
The Sultan has the perfect expression. The character saying this, though, is not him.
Faris begins to recite the Pledge- despite his hesitation to study, he does in fact know his country's legacy by memory.
Sylvando, you-
...
...Wait, what are you doing?
Faris is certianly emboldened by his words.
And with another push from Sylvando, Faris is prepared to at least prove that he is a genuine man, just an unskilled one.
Although, saying that, that whole "unskilled" thing? Kinda important.
Fortunately, Sylvando is able to prevent something more disastrous from happening- something like someone in the crowd dying, of course.
Sylvando gives Faris quite possibly the first bit of praise that Faris has earned- and includes a reminder that Faris can earn more of it by actually putting in the work he's been avoiding all these years.
Faris is completely dumbfounded by the skills Sylvando demonstrated in those five minutes.
And Sylvando has to go now. He is needed elsewhere.
I think that's Sylvando in a nutshell. In more ways than one.
Faris, emboldened by Sylvando's words and the deeds that occurred in the square, becomes the bigger man and comes clean about what has happened.
The Sultan, on his part, accepts where he erred and is quick to claim his share of the guilt. Whether this really colours him well depends on your opinion on why he did so- like Faris, he is nothing if not genuine.
The Sultan also has some encouraging words for Faris. He, too, will be happy to see Faris turn out right this time.
He's certainly in good spirits.
Although Erik would really rather not be present when Hendrik shows up.
Faris, at last, makes good on his end of the deal and requests that the Rainbough be handed to the man who helped Faris become a greater person.
...
I beg your pardon?
This is officially the weirdest Gift of the Magi plot I've ever seen.
Faris has no response. Honestly, same.
The Sultan tells us that our quest may have been in vain, but he is happy to faciliate access to some place where our quest might actually go somewhere.
And once again, Faris is left begging at our feet.
Without the goodwill Faris built up by actually trying his best to hold up his end of the bargain, it would be impossible to take his side in this scene. It also helps he is just as clearly dumbfounded by the Sultan's decision as we are.
And he finds another item of great value to give us. "Great", of course, is relative, but at least as far as Faris is concerned, giving us a goodie like this is better than leaving us empty-handed and disappointed.
The Crackshot Crossbow can be used to shoot enemies in the distance. Most of the time, this will attract their attention and make them head your way- this is really good on bird enemies that fly out of your range. Sometimes, I've noticed you don't actually get the enemy running, though- this is mostly in the real lategame. One major downside to this is that this uses the same controls as your pre-emptive attack- if you're too far away from an enemy or not pointed correctly, you'll use this instead of making a pre-emptive attack, leaving yourself open to the enemy coming your way. This is why it's a good idea to practice pre-emptive attacks before getting to this point.
In 2D Mode, I'm told this is actually the equivalent to the Whistle ability in that it summons enemy encounters- 3D Mode has no equivalent. The PS4 original version also included a long sidequest that tasked you with finding and shooting five targets in every major region of the overworld for Seeds and a Happy Hat, but this sidequest is removed from the Definitive Edition.
And, of course, Gallopolis is ready to lend its assistance in any other ways that might be necessary.
...Not really that funny...
Erik: So after all that- all that running around after Prince Faris- we're still no closer to bagging the Rainbough? Great. Still, I guess this place is in better shape than when we found it. The Sultan's seen the error of his ways, and even the Prince looked like he might pull his socks up... Right. Come on, Erdward. Let's stay on the trail of the Rainbough and head west to Gondolia!
Veronica: I thought the Sultan was finally going to give us the Rainbough... and then he goes and tells us he sold it to fund that ridiculous horse race! I'm speechless, I really am... Still, Prince Faris did stand up to that monster, and that never would have happened if it weren't for us. That's something at least...
Serena: When the Slayer of the Sands broke free of its chains, I feared the worst. I really didn't think Prince Faris would be brave enough to face it alone! That wasn't the most surprising thing, though. Did you see Mr Sylvando with that sword? And he seemed to know all about the Knight's Pledge, too... He's fascinating, isn't he? I hope we'll get the chance to meet again someday!
At least Faris is happy to claim he's changed.
This line is mostly to tutorialise the Crossbow sidequest that got removed. The guy is still there, but he doesn't do much.
And the Sultan is in much the same shoes. At least he's not going to follow up on Hendrik's train of thought and arrest us. For, uh, anything.
And he's very interested in Sylvando. He's still performing around here, isn't here? I suppose he is a traveller.
And the Sultana is in the same shoes as the Sultan. Her expectations are more maternal than the Sultan trying to make a Prince and hero.
...Are you sure you're even a bard? I'm also not really sure that's entirely the best message to be sending to Faris after this ordeal.
I love how the cat guy is just happy to be back with the cats, though.
Oh wow, I missed this sidestory! Lucky girl.
Oh great, now the Rainbough is my birthright, too?
...I mean, interesting how they highlighted the Rainbough as being Drasilian in origin. I feel like that means something.
You know what, that's a good point. Faris improving himself has shown the people of Gallopolis that anyone can improve. It's an excellent message, if they take that message away from the experience.
...Sylvando has certainly left an impression as great as the Prince's own, huh? I guess that's his fault.
This is the guy who starts the Crossbow sidequest in the PS4 version.
Now he's just a tutorial NPC. And not a particularly fantastic one at that. Sorry, chum. He does dress like a bodkin archer, though.
This guy's masterpiece is now finished, at least. He somehow saw the whole fight with the spitzfire from here. And yet somehow, the battle against the Slayer of the Sands where Faris did nothing went unobserved.
Yes, best get on with that. I'm not posing for you again. This is a terrible environment in which to paint.
And with that recipe book, we get two particuarly good recipes- the fur hood and the fur poncho. The fur hood appeared in DQ3 and had regular appearances until now, while the fur poncho came in DQ8. It wasn't until around that time that the fur hood acquired the quality that makes it interesting now: Ice resistance. The fur hood gives us 10% Ice Resistance, the poncho 10% Fire/Ice. This is the first real set of armour that adds elemental resistance to our repertoire, and elemental resistance is much more valuable than raw defence when picking out an armour.
You'll need Magic Beast Hides for these, and you can mostly get those from Spitzfires right now. I've been stealing regularly, but I still only have so many...
...Erdwin's Lantern is ominous? First I've heard of it.
Here are the Fur requirements. Fine Fur, I think you can get some of that decently from stealing in the next area.
I make some ponchos, mostly.
Finally, Erik has something to replace the Wolf Wear. He'll still be wearing it cosmetically, but...
I think it's still a little early to be betting on Faris in the horse race.
...Oh boy, this guy's back at it, is he? A fool and her money are soon parted.
...I can't decide if you're deluding yourself or you're genuine. Nor can I decide which outcome I'd prefer.
Yay, fans!
...Actually, probably not the best idea.
It doesn't stick, of course.
...There's a stage door in this place? We can Zoom away (well, I think that's not an option when a plot event like this is lying in wait), but I don't actually think there's any other exits to Gallopolis, and considering there's an oasis behind the place, I don't think that's just a gameplay thing.
Hello, Sylvando. A lot of people were wondering where you got off to.
Erik is wondering why he popped up here.
...He has a point, I guess. If he didn't come with us, he'd still be somewhat important.
I have a controller in my hands, this is a game.
Sylvando is taking this seriously. Or at least, as seriously as Sylvando can take anything.
Sylvando is an entertainer, but he knows how sometimes the solution isn't as easy as a juggle.
Sylvando is here to bring happiness to people, and he has the very reasonable observation that his job is going to get a lot harder if there's monsters terrorising them.
...I mean... did anyone here know of you before this? Erdward certainly didn't.
And our fifth party member joins! The nuts and bolts of having a fifth party member will be interesting mechanically, but we'll get into that a little bit once we see it happen.
Erik kinda resents the fact we kinda didn't ask for him to join, he just... did that.
Not that this gets Sylvando to leave the party. I'm sure the other three party members are giving him inviting body language.
Fortunately for us, though, Sylvando has some helpful advice for us- going to Gondolia and expecting to find the Rainbough is foolish.
Serena is left to flounder- of course we have to find some way to get on a boat and follow him. She doesn't even touch on the difficulties of completing either of the tasks implicitly set about in that sentence.
...Sylvando? You, uh... really wanna say that?
Sylvando's plan is to have a boat of our own! A cunning plan, but a very ambitious one-
Well, that's one problem solved.
...In my opinion, Sylvando's attitude is my issue with him, not his success, so I'm not in the same boat, pun not intended.
If nothing else, Sylvando is still a helpful character. I like how, despite his flaws, he's still genuine. I'm not entirely sure on how much the game's aware of Sylvando being... a little condescending.
He's definitely controlling the party mood.
Sylvando: My ship's waiting for us over in Gondolia, darling. We'll need to pass through the western checkpoint in order to get there. Gosh, I can't wait to find out what adventures are waiting for us on the high seas! Onwards!
Erik: That Sylvando guy talks way too much... but he can really fight. I guess it makes sense to let him tag along. Okay, Erdward. Let's head for Gondolia and see if we can't track down the merchant who bought the Rainbough!
Veronica: Isn't this just great? Now that we've got Sylvando's ship, we can head out onto the high seas and visit all sorts of new places! I still can't believe he owns his own ship, though... He must be someone pretty important. I wonder what his story is?
Serena: I feel a lot less anxious about the journey ahead now that we have Mr Sylvando along with us- and I'm sure we're going to have a lot more fun, too! I mean, I have fond memories of when it was just Veronica and me, but it really is true what they say about travelling- the more the merrier!
And this is the part where we can see the major importance of Sylvando in this party- only four characters can be out at once, and we can freely choose which four they are. We can also freely edit our line-up mid battle- however, anyone who gets switched in does not get to act "that Turn". If your strategy requires a character switch, there's an art to timing it such that you don't trip over yourself in the act.
Also critical to understanding the art of changing your lineup, anyone who is Pepped Up in the background stays Pepped. If you really want to fire a Pep Power, the sane strategy is to Pep up your characters naturally, and then put them in reserve positions until you reach whatever you want to target. This makes sidequests requiring Pep Powers so much easier. We still need a sixth party member before it is possible to make "Walk on the Wild Side" easy, but having one Pep storage space is so much better than zero.
This is how I kit Sylvando to start with. Sylvando starts with a sword, but most people like giving him Knives in the end. Admittedly, this is partially because of the status combos. Poison Moth Knife feels like a good pick for now- Sylvando doesn't really care about his weapon for a while.
Time to see his Skill Trees.
Swords:
- Attack +9 (2 panels)
- Critical Chance +2% (1 panel)
- Pep Chance +5% (1 panel)
- Flame Slash
- Sword Stance
- Dragon Slash
- Metal Slash
- Miracle Slash
Knives
- Attack +15 (2 panels)
- Critical +2% (1 panel)
- Nastier Knives: Makes it more likely that a status condition inflicted by a knife successfully lands.
- Sleeper Hit
- Persecutter
- Cobra Strike
- Victimiser
Whips
- Attack +15 (2 panels)
- Hypnowhip
- Starstrike: A normal attack with a light-element that has a chance of inflicting the dazzle effect.
- Lashings of Love
- Trammel Lash
- Hit the Hay
- Wyrm Whip: A three-hit combo of half-hit attacks that, once landed, removes any and all buffs on the opponent. This is a valuable effect, but it's not something I think about and not something I build towards.
- Lash Batter: An attack that deals 1.5x damage to a group and attempts to apply beguilement. This is the only status-applying whip attack with a significant damage buff, but you're not really using Whips for damage.
Litheness
- Charm +40 (2 panels)
- Agility +20 (1 panel)
- Deftness +20 (1 panel)
- Hot Lick: Deals 10-40 fire damage three times. What a Skill.
- Sobering Slap: Cures a single ally of sleep, confusion, beguilement and paralysis. This is the second best skill Sylvando has.
- Tap Dance: Doubles Evasion for two turns. Pretty good, but very passable.
- Pied Piper: Attempts to beguile a single enemy. ...Why would you want that?
- Have A Ball: Deals six half-damage hit randomly across the field, with a chance of inflicting confusion with each shot. This is surprisingly one of Sylvando's better bosskillers.
Showmanship:
- Charm +40 (1 panel)
- Dual-Wielding
- Fuddle Dance: Attempts to confuse all enemies. Something to pass on.
- Hustle Dance: Heals all party members for 75-262 HP, scaled to Charm. This is Sylvando's best Skill. Serena won't get multiple-target healing spells for a long time, and you can get this Skill pretty fast if you focus on it- this makes Sylvando indispensable for boss fights.
- Kiss Me Deadly: Deals a tiny bit of damage and attempts to inflict Poison on 50% odds. I feel like Sylvando usually has better options.
- That's Amore: Deals a respectable amount of damage (60-345 scaled to Charm) and attempts to Confuse on 25% odds. This might just be the other boss-killer Sylv has. This says a lot about Sylv.
- Pink Pirouette: Deals wind damage on everybody with a 10% chance of inflicting Confusion. Really, everybody would like something that hits all opponents, and this is what Sylvando really has. Well...
- Gold Rush: Deals around 300 damage to everything... but instead of MP, it costs 1000G to cast. Money isn't really much of an object late in the game, but I still don't like using this. Feels too decadent for my blood.
Sylvando is a character that is not particularly good at anything. He's based on the Jester/Minstrel class from DQ3 and reappearing in all games with classes, and being... kinda a joke in all of them. Usually, you had to spend time in it to unlock some actually good class. Sylvando has some good skills to call back to those benefits, but really, the only reason to use Sylvando is because he's good enough at several things to fill in for other party members- Hustle Dance for multi-target healing, the Oomph spell for damage buffs, Sobering Slap for healing, Wyrm Whip to disable enemy buffs, excellence applying Knife bonuses...
So yeah, no surprises, I'm going for Hustle Dance. I was hoping I could get closer than this, but it'll happen on its own time.
So let's get started with the horse races. Each horse race lasts a little over a minute played well, and gives a unique prize before mostly being an expensive way to buy ores. Our first go gets us some Slime Earrings- not worth it, but it's a first prize, it's usually Slime Earrings or something.
Each race has a different path, and also the way the stamina swirls, ramps, and obstacles are arranged makes each round play differently. You can see the other paths being blocked off here.
...No overtaking this time, but somehow it was pretty close again.
It says that, but I think your Record is different for each individual race. Of course your records for each Cup are different, but...
After each race you participate in, even if you don't win, you get some ores. What kind depends on the race. If you replay the race and win again, the victory prize is replaced with rarer ores. For Bronze Cup, it's Copper for completion, Iron for victory.
You also need to beat a Cup to access the next one.
This isn't normal, though- each Cup has a "Champion's Time", and beating that time gets you an Accolade. This has no mechanical benefit, of course, you just need to win at all, but it's something to go for if you're into racing games. If you're playing an RPG, that's not necessarily a given.
Over a page are the Difficult Cups. These are the same tracks and same track setups, but the enemy AI is better. There's another prize for each round, which might be the real point. Gold Bracer, though, that's pretty passe by this point.
...That is an improvement on last time. I think I thought it wasn't and was commenting that the "New Record" is reset for Difficult Cups, but that might just be because I missed it. I'm sure one of the later Difficults contradict that.
Difficult Cups also give double Ores.
Anyway, time for Silver Cup, and rewards that mean something... well, Gallopolitan Garb is really good for Defence and provides a costume, but what you see is what you get.
The Silver Cup is the only Cup to include an explicit shortcut- that path on the right in this screenshot. It's a little tricky to navigate, but it's worth taking every lap.
I think this cup also has the main gimmick of lining up its stamina swirls in bunches like this. The main thing getting in the way of the shortcut is that the swirls are on the main path in Lap 1, and you kinda want those. You can make do without, of course.
And thus I do.
Silver Cup gives Silver Ore for completion, Gold Ore for winning.
And that time wasn't only good enough for Champion, but it was a large margin. I wonder if the Champion's Time expects the Lap 1 shortcut.
The Difficult Cup got me some close margins. The main thing about the Difficult Cup is that the opening movement gets difficult, since all the opposing horses have collision and will push you around.
Oh yeah, and a demonstration that the Last Lap gives you a stamina bonus on its own. If the swirls weren't in the shortcut on Lap 2, this bonus would make using the shortcut all three laps a no-brainer.
Ah, there we go, that's some evidence "New Record" is separate for Easy and Difficult cups.
The Assassin is a talisman that increases your crit rate. This is huge in the right hands, although it's a matter of determining what those are.
The Gallopolitan Garb seems to be largely because they made this design for the Faris scene and might as well let us have it as a cosmetic option. I'm honestly not big on this design, and it also doesn't really feel cohesive with the rest of his designs, as far as the cosmetic options have "cohesion".
It is the best defensive armour I have, though.
These two talismans are good enough that reforging is a no-brainer.
And I managed to get the +3 on the Robber Gloves this time. This definitely feels ahead of the curve, but it's satisfying nonetheless.
With the horse races cleaned up, we have now officially completed the Gallopolis chapter. This is the first real town story in this game- Veronica and Serena in Hotto are pretty close, but Gallopolis involves us coming into a town, finding out why the people there are troubled, and helping solve that trouble to be a good person and maybe find some reward that we kinda need for "defeating evil" purposes. This story is very much in line with what to expect from a DQ Town story.
Despite the efforts of the writing team, Faris is a character it is very easy to hate, or at least heavily dislike. And I feel like this is an intentional thought. Back in Cobblestone, grandpa Chalky highlighted the game's theme as "don't waste your time bearing grudges, and live life with love in your heart". Many of the major town stories in this game are very easy to fit to this theme- there's a character doing something that some games would consider unforgivable, and through a combination of mitigating circumstances and a genuine desire to improve, Dragon Quest XI forgives them anyway. Dragon Quest is a series about the positives of humanity, and that includes the people that messed up.
One interesting thing about this arc is that both Sylvando and Faris have experienced the same problems growing up- namely, being unable to live up to the pressures placed upon them by their parents. They have approached dealing with this problem in different ways, but I find it fascinating that Sylvando is the harshest critic of Faris's life. Going into more detail edges into spoiler territory about Sylvando's secrets, but while it's obvious Faris was not going anywhere on his own, I don't feel Sylvando had the best position from which to cast stones in his direction, especially when it comes to communicating with his father and making compromises.
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