LogFAQs > #972401104

there is a quest in Zeiss about recovering a book from the hot springs and bringing it back to the factory archives. The reward, accodring to gamefaqs, is Impede 3, a very useful quartz. However, once you complete the story events at the hot spring, the librarian who is supposed to receive the book is traumatized and decides to take a break from her job, only returning near the end of the chapter. That means the only way to complete this quest and get Impede 3 early is to go to the hot spring, pick up the book, go back to Zeiss, complete the quest then go to the hot spring again to continue the story. There are also other book quests that are unlocked then, which you also must complete before going to the hot spring.

Although this game has fun quests, their availability is obnoxious as fuck.

to save Agate, we need a special moss that only grows in the back of a deadly cave. Typical.
Zin, the two meter tall monk, joins the party! 4 party members at last, been a long time since I've had that.

no seriously, his in-game sprite is like twice as tall ad the other party members. it's hilarious

Google says he's 1.98m tall, so I was close

Zin sports a metric ton of HP, a metric ton of Defense, and an incredibly shitty orbment. Like, that's even worse than Agate and Tita. It comes with a free Action 2, though, which is awesome because those are expensive

my orbment setup is the same as last time, so I won't post it.

Estelle keeps her water/wind spellcaster setup, now with Mind 3 and Cast 2 in place of Mind 2 and HP 2. A little more squishy, but casts faster and hits harder.

Josh gets a time + fire set with spiral flare and white gehenna, and attack 3 boosting his physicals. deathblow is also very useful, since he one hit kills enemies 20% of the time.

Tita keeps the same set as before, with earth wall and chaos brand, because she is not that useful for arts. Her EP Cut 2 is downgraded to 1 so I can give the better one to Zin, whose max EP is lower. She also carries Haze so Joshua can use Scent, giving him fire AoE. Earth Lance is also an option for Tita.

Zin gets:

Defense 2 - HP 2/EP Cut 2 - Action 2 - Shield 2 - Poison

This is a wall. He can take hits, and I've noticed he has taunt too, a move I've been ignoring all game that may be finally worth using. He also uses earth wall, which is a little redundant but you know what, too much earth wall isn't bad. His AoE is stone impact, the worst in the game, but I feel like I won't need it. Poison is not great, but I want Tita to have Petrify since she hits more enemies.

Everyone has Action 2, of course.

Zin's crafts lets him increase his own stats, heal himself or other party members, taunt enemies to attack him or confuse enemies to make them attack each other. There's "support" written all over. I'm not complaining

I read the book I was ranting about earlier and it's an interesting piece about woodpecker ecology. Those devs really liked writing random stuff

Josh learns a new scraft, Black Fang, which is basically ridiculous.

nothing screams overkill more than Tita blinding 7 enemies in the first turn. Yes, she is niche, but that niche is "chest enemies no longer exist"

Tita obtains a new gun, G Impact, which increases her attack, but more important, are of effect.

I don't know what "You yella?" is supposed to mean or why enemies get so pissed when Zin says it, but it works.

this cave is a maze.

we find the Healing Herb of Plot, and I brace myself for the inevitable boss. it comes.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/3/4/AAO9CbAAEULi.jpg

Estelle has the same reaction as mine

Zin's s-craft is cool. Not very strong, but cool.

this penguin was the tankiest enemy in the game so far. massive defensive stats and could self heal at will. Also immune to all status I tried to use. I almost lose because I just couldn't outdamage him, until I said screw it and just had all 4 character spam arts. I barely made it

We give the medicine to Agate and wait for him to heal. then we get a sequence where, in his fever, he mistakes Tita for some Mischa. Who is clearly some female love interest or a sister who died when he was young and drove him to a path of edginess and badassery.

Zin leaves in an airship. he has the decency to leave his quartz with us, though

Photographer girl shows up with a photo of a military facility she took for funzies, and the characters all notice there is an airship flying over it. They make it sounds like it's super hard to see, which is not at all. Those people need to play some Phoenix Wright some time.

the ship is from the bad guys, which means I'm back to suspecting Colonel Richard.

we arrive at Leiston Fortress, where no one is guarding the door. Because the plot wants us to go in, I suppose. Convenient.

the guy in charge is a dude named Major Cid, who is a kind of serious, no fun allowed dude. I trust him more than Colonel Richard.

the door to the fortress doesn't work, which suggests the McGuffin is there. Shenanigans are afoot!

we are invading the country's most tight military base, by sneaking into cargo of an airship and using a device that blocks the military's bioscanners, which the professor has just conveniently happened to invent.

also Agate returns to the party, replacing Zin.