Page Eight- Worst birthday ever. - FlamesofRebirth
Completely Random Introductory Quote-
Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything.
Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle
Chapter 5
A Strategy for Change
The Gapra Whitewood
This chapter follows Lightning and Hope on their journey to Palumpolum. It's another one of those "walk in a straight line and fight random monsters" chapters. At least this time we won't be switching team members every five minutes, this paradigm deck will last you the whole chapter.
| Paradigm Deck- Lightning and Hope | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slash & Burn | Commando | Ravager | ||||||
| War & Peace | Commando | Medic | ||||||
| Dualcasting | Ravager | Ravager | ||||||
| Yin & Yang | Ravager | Medic | ||||||
| Symbiosis | Medic | Synergist | ||||||
| Supersolier | Commando | Synergist | ||||||
"Why don't you let me take point." - Hope
Lightning lets the kid have his way and take the lead for a while, take her advice and just follow the one and only path up to the glowing light ahead of you. These keep you from accidentally turning around and going backwards since the path winds a little bit. Before you start off, use up your CP, work on Hope's Synergist role first so he can get another Accessory slot. For Light, get Fire from her Ravager tree, then go through Medic to get her next Accessory slot.
Battle- Frag Leech x 4
Nothing to worry about from these guys, Blitz and Fira will take them out in a hurry.
Battle- Frag Leech x 2, Thexteron
Yeah, these are the same enemies from last chapter. They're not any different here.
Battle- Thexteron x 2
After killing them off, go up to the lift and activate it to move on.
Weapon of Choice?
You scared?
Lightning
You really shouldn't be.
Battle- Thexteron x 2
Battle- Frag Leech x 4
Battle- Thexteron x 2, Frag Leech x 2
Battle- Frag Leech x 2, Vespid
Vespids have an attack called "Flurry of Fire" which I believe they can only use when alone. It casts three consecutive Fire spells, so it's pretty dangerous. You may want to go to Dualcasting to stagger them quickly.
Battle- Thexteron x 2, Vespid
Battle- Frag Leech x 4
When you reach the next light, turn left to find a dead end and the next battle.
Battle- Alpha Behemoth
He's very easy to preempt because he walks away from you toward the barrier. After you finish him off, pick up the 3 Antidotes behind him.
The Price of Vanity
Move ahead and see some more talking, mostly about Hope’s homicidal monomania, then go up the next lift.
Battle- Frag Leech x 6
Battle- Alpha Behemoth
Battle- Vespid x 2
These guys are guarding a Hawkeye, a boomerang for Hope. This is a good choice to upgrade for his ultimate weapon later on because it gives a big magic boost. Equip it now.
Battle- Thexteron x 2
Battle- Thexteron x 2, Vespid
Battle- Alhpa Behemoth, Thexteron x 2
No Rules
When you walk forward into the next area, a laser barrier will block the path behind you. You have to defeat all enemies in the area to open the way.
Battle- Silver Lobo
These things like to Poison you, but it isn't a big deal. Since you get healed after every battle anyway, don't waste time using an Antidote. Killing this one will open the barrier behind you, but there is another one ahead.
Battle- Silver Lobo x 2
After defeating them the path forward is cleared.
Battle- Silver Lobo x 3
Battle- Silver Lobo x 2
Battle- Crawler x 4
You can use Fira and Blitz to take them out quickly. The treasure sphere beside them holds 6 Antidotes.
Battle- Crawler x 4
Defeating these will drop the barrier.
Battle- Silver Lobo, Crawler x 3
Battle- Feral Behemoth
This enemy is sort of a mini-boss because of the intro scene and the barriers going up around you, but you will fight several more as regular enemies in the next area. He is more powerful than the Alpha Behemoth, but much easier to stagger. Run him up with Dualcasting and Launch him with Light.
After the battle climb up the plant at the end of the area to move on. Lightning will become the party leader, but it doesn't change anything as far as strategy goes.
"Let 'em come." - Hope
Battle- Crawler x 10
This is a large group, so make good use of Blitz to hit as many as possible each time. Jump down the next plant and move forward until you see two Silver Lobos ahead. Don't fight them just yet, to the right you can go behind that large pipe.
Battle- Silver Lobo x 2
After defeating them, the barrier is removed to allow access to the Star Pendant. It provides only some resistance against Poison, so it's not really worth equipping. Now go back around the pipe and fight those Lobos you saw a minute ago.
Battle- Silver Lobo x 2
Go up the next plant to see yet another cut-scene.
Of Revenge and Regret
Sorry won't cut it.
Hope
Battle- Crawler x 3, Silver Lobo x 2
Battle- Barbed Specter
This is a new enemy, the only thing to watch out for is Spin Attack. Just heal afterwards and you'll be fine. To finish him quickly, switch to Dualcasting after you hit him with one round of Slash & Burn. Behind him is an Edged Carbine, pick it up but don't equip it.
Battle- Crawler x 2, Barbed Specter
Battle- Feral Behemoth
Defeating him clears the barrier, so go down the next plant.
Battle- Crawler x 4
To the left of this group is a barrier with a small opening near the entrance to this area. Go over there for the next fight.
Battle- Feral Behemoth
Wait for him to face away from you, then strike. You may not be able to kill him during the stagger, but he'll be incredibly weak when it ends. The treasure is 1,500 Gil. The barrier will drop, not that it really matters.
Battle- Crawler x 2, Barbed Specter
Must... break... wall of text
Battle- Barbed Specter x 3
There is a small dead end area just to the right of this battle, when you enter it a barrier will block your escape.
Battle- Crawler x 5, Feral Behemoth
Defeat them for the treasure of 8 Fragrant Oils, then move on to the next area.
Battle- Silver Lobo x 3, Feral Behemoth
This is a three way battle, so use the initial stagger to drain the Behemoth down to almost nothing, then switch to the Silver Lobos. They may finish off the Behemoth for you, but if not just hit him one or two times more and he'll be gone.
You should see another plant to climb up to the next zone, but before taking it go off to the left for another treasure.
Battle- Feral Behemoth, Barbed Specter
You only see the Barbed Specter, but the Behemoth will join in the battle. When it's over pick up the Watchman's Amulet, then go back and up the plant.
Battle- Silver Lobo x 4
Operation Nora
If you wanna survive, you forget about sympathy.
Lightning
Looks like PSICOM finally found you. The new enemies here are unique to this area, so you should Libra each of them at least once if you want to get all of their info in the datalog.
Battle- Corps Watchman x 2, Corps Marksman
Take out the Marksman first, and make sure you stay on top of healing.
Battle- Milvus Velocycle
Like all cycle enemies, you want to stagger him ASAP so you can avoid his big attack. In this case it's Triple Beam, if you see him ready this while he's staggered use the triangle button to execute whatever attacks you have charged up to interrupt him.
Battle- Corps Watchman x 3, Corps Marksman
Along the path you will find a treasure sphere with an Ethersol. These are rare, and they recharge your TP. Don't waste them.
Battle- Corps Marksman x 2, Milvus Velocycle
After this battle, use up your CP (you should be able to max out your Crystarium easily) and set your default paradigm to Symbiosis. For accessories, I put the Power Wristband on Light and the Magician's Mark on Hope, and gave each a Silver Bangle. You could also go with a Doctor's Code on Lightning or a Black Belt on either.
Boss Battle- Aster Protoflorian
I have a feeling something bad's about to happen.
Hope
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Driving Forces
Don’t get all hot and bothered
Fang
After the battle your Crystarium will expand again, and you will gain access to the Creature Comforts store. This is where you can buy organic components for increasing your multiplier during equipment upgrades. If you must buy things for upgrading now, use Sturdy Bones for your organic component of choice. 36 of them will get your multiplier all the way up to 3x, and its low cost makes this the most efficient organic component in the game (tied with Vibrant Ooze.) Before you walk out of the woods, take off your accessories. Once again, the chapter will end with some scenes checking in on Snow and Fang.
"Operation Nora Stage One Complete." - Hope
Flames of Rebirth walkthrough page 8 complete, on to page 9.