DQXIS Act 3 Exploration 3: Trials Ahead

We start the third part of the Great Exploration in Sniflheim. Not many new places to see, but we'll have a lot of revisits to make to finish up all that miscellaneous stuff we did.

Veronica: The monsters may be causing trouble, but Krystalinda and the royal army look like they have things in hand. It's so nice to see her fighting to defend the kingdom. I always knew she wasn't really bad, deep down.
Erik: Sniflheim, huh? Actually, there's... um... There's this thing I wanted to tell you... ...No. Forget it. Now's not the time. Pretend I didn't say anything.
Jade: I'm getting used to the cold, but we still need to be careful. We don't want to end up with frostbite.
Hendrik: When this kingdom was frozen, I was dispatched from Heliodor at the request of Queen Frysabel. I entrusted the hunt for the Luminary to my deputies and rode out here to see what was happening... But of course, I could do little for the kingdom in the end. It was you who saved it, Erdward, and yet I did not know you were a force for good at the time...
Serena: It seems that the monsters in this area have been acting up since the dark star appeared... Sniflheim is a long way from Erdwin's Lantern, but there doesn't appear to be any part of the world that its evil can't reach.
Sylvando: Oh, that's right! I remember hearing that the buildings in Sniflheim all had a snowflake theme. I hadn't noticed before, but now I can see it. It's just perfect for such a fabulous frosty place!
Rab: If the beasties in the sea are acting up, it's sure to disrupt the trade routes into Sniflheim. We cannae allow the kingdom to become cut off from the world. We need to do something about that dark star, laddie, and fast!

So it was "Frysabel" who asked for Hendrik's aid? Hm... when do we tell Hendrik that was a trap message?

...Come to think of it, this feels like it should be pointing at a Quest, but I know no such objective. Maybe it's something so minor it hasn't been picked up on yet.

Sniflheim is far enough north of Gallopolis that the people do not have a good view of the Lantern, although I feel like they should be near enough south. Maybe the wrap-around effect obscures observing the south coast from the north in that direction.

This nun points you in the direction of Mia, if she wasn't on your mind already. Without Mordegon's influence, she should still be a gold statue right now.

That's a novel reason to think of the local witch. I guess she did make her start with her seductive powers.

The black dragon sealed in an ice cube has gotten out. Is this Morcant's fault? It was probably Morcant's fault. Serenica and Drustan at least sealed Calasmos in something the average person couldn't open with a pickaxe.

Meanwhile, in the castle, everyone is glad to hear that Frysabel's decisions were vindicated. She has a head on her shoulders- unlike her predecessor, who started this rumour.

DQXIS Act 3 Exploration 2: The Real Super Power of Colaboracion

Our next stop is over in Gondolia, and... does it feel empty for anyone else?

Veronica: Do you remember Noah, our old friend from Hotto? It looks like he's here in Gondolia. We should go and have a word with him. He's bound to know what's going on.
Erik: It looks like most people have fled from Gondolia, but that doesn't mean we can just let the monsters overrun it. We need to fight back, and fast!
Jade: Monsters have always posed a threat, but they've never been as brazen as this. This is a full-blown invasion! The dark star must be to blame. The evil that's emanating from it seems to have fired the monsters up...
Hendrik: It seems the dark star is doing its baneful work—it has driven the monsters to overrun the town. We will not leave it at their mercy, however. We shall not rest until every last one of these beasts has been slain!
Serena: This is terrible! With all these monsters around, who's going to make Gondolia's famous sweet treats? We can't allow this! We need to fight back, for the sake of all the people of this town... and their baked products!
Sylvando: Oh darling, this is a complete calamity! The town's full of hideous monsters, strutting around like they own the place! Gondolia's supposed to be all about Signor Universo, not... ummm... Signor Monstero! We can't stand for this! Come on, honey, let's show those monsters what we're made of!
Rab: These beasties are no pushover, laddie. I know ye want to rid the town of every last one of them, but there's no shame in beating a tactical retreat every now and then. If ye're not feeling up to the task, maybe it's best to head off and build up a wee bit of experience by fighting some slightly softer monsters.

Noah's here, and if we want to invite him to Cobblestone, we'll need to do something to help out Gondolia first.

Not a problem.

...I thought these two would exposit the gimmick of this section now, but I guess not.

There are 10 monster encounters to find, the lion's share being these two. I think there are six total encounters with these ones?

Ah, that's where I remember it from: Dave will tell you the gimmick. There are 10 monsters running around Gondolia, but if you want to save the place, you have to take out all 10 without reloading the map.

Dave will let you set sail, although he points out this is a bad idea.

Two of these guys, both playing lookout somewhere, I believe.

One of this guy.

The Gondolia spawns don't have drops and can't be stolen from with Half Inch, so this is not a chance for Red Wood. As nice as it would be.

Muscle-bound monsters so tough, it's said they could tear the stars from the sky and punch holes through space itself.

This is where we first bump into Badonis outside the Wheel of Harma. New to DQ11, it has the usual variety of flurry-of-punches attacks associated with these monsters. It can apparently spend one of its turns assessing the situation, too.

He still hurts like hell.

...Really bad.

Eventually we'll make it through a fight without being murdered.

DQXIS Act 3 Exploration 1: The Essential Gear

Anyway, now that we've dealt with Cetacea's golden armour, it is time to begin the Great Exploration: We'll be going all over the overworld, starting quests, finishing some of them, and in general getting a grasp on what's going on with the world now.

And we start, of all things, with a visit to this Quest NPC on top of Mount Pang Lai. There is a good reason for this, although I will admit the jump is hilariously jarring. Nice view of Yggdrasil from here, though.

Hugo wants us to find a spectacular view somewhere in Erdrea.

Incidentally, this Quest is actually much different in the vanilla version of DQXI: Hugo starts on top of a different mountain and wants you to scope out a different view.

I much prefer the Definitive version of the Quest.

In the vanilla version, Hugo could be found on the Cobblestone Tor, and wanted you to see the view from atop Insula Algarum.

In the Definitive version, he's on Mount Pang Lai and wants you to see the view from Cobblestone Tor. Combined with the campsite right next to him here, this is so much more convenient.

What I'm doing here is getting this Quest, because Cobblestone is otherwise my first destination and it's good to have an excuse to get to the top of the Tor while I'm there.

While I was up here, I tried the Meteorite Bracer forge. I wound up getting it, for whatever I'm worried about speed control in. Could come in handy.

Right, back to Cobblestone. At last, really: It's been the Last Bastion in Act 2, but without the Fall to require it, it's back to being "just" a ruined village now.

DQXIS Act 3 Seedlings: The Dark One

Today's post was intended to be the beginning of the Great Exploration, and some of the content we'll see will be in this vein. However, it turns out that the game is somewhat picky about Party Chat if you play it that way, so by the end of the update, I switch gears to finish up everything relevant to the main plot before we do a proper Great Exploration.

Starting up, this guy over here has a Quest. Act 3 Quests, as a rule, are a lot more difficult and send you all over the world. Still nothing as tough as getting a Jackpot.

This guy wants us to find a Rarefied monster and kill it. Nothing that special.

The reward is a somewhat interesting axe. I wouldn't say it's worth it, but if you're in the area...

He means the South Hotto Whale Way Station.

Someone is excited. And honestly, it's not me.

Heading over here, to the pink dot, we get introduced to some of the... changes that pink dots have undergone for Act 3. There is a short plot that we'll be doing, but after that, Act 3 is entirely optional content. Every nugget of additional content you can find that the game deems worth doing is represented by a character with a pink dot somewhere relevant to the content (for example, although this is not a Heliodor quest she's describing, it does concern Derk, so this is where you'd look first), pointing you to it. We will later get an item that can hunt down these pink dots for us, but for now, we'll be relying on the old standby: I know where all this stuff is.