Curate of Curiosities

Previously, Alicia found herself trapped in the dream world of Vinclum, where she had to relive her and her teammates' precious memories in order to escape. Now, she's woken up only to find that not they, as well as what's left of the town of Daybreak, has been forcefully dragged into the Expanse in preparation for the resurrection of the Matriarch.

After going through a brief hallway with yet another unique tileset, we find ourselves in this temple-like area.

And who to greet us but Zlonyth, the Evocation who has been giving us loredumps over the course of the adventure?

Sadly, he has no more loredumps to give, his purpose at this point is far more urgent. While he was satisfied with hiding behind secret doors up to this point, but now that the Inner Evocations' plans are about to come to fruition, he's decided to help the party, since he believes that he will die if they're left to do as they please. I guess that makes him one of those "radical centrists" I've been hearing about.

At the end of this, he gives you an Observer's Stone, and tells you to run around the shrine to pick up the rest of them.

In the shrine's basement, you can listen to any of Zlonyth's loredumps. Of course I missed the very first one. This is what happens when you spend the first 50% of the game walking through a mostly empty, maze-like town. I guess this is why they added maps to the update.

In this same area are five treasure chests containing the most powerful equipment in the game. Of course, they won't just let you have them; you need to give them Paininite Shards in order to get them to open.

Welcome to Uratheul, the final area of the game. It may look calm, but don't be fooled--this place is situated directly over the Expanse's equivalent to hell.

The very first thing that a player might do here is go straight ahead, to this cathedral-like area.

The inside is filled with these deformed pale white creatures who are gathering for...something. Definitely a contrast with the peaceful looking outdoor area.

And then you fight a few of them, and upon their defeat, you get one of the Paininite Shards mentioned earlier.

Uratheul is divided into five areas. Each of them contains one of the tiles needed to open the seal to the Matriarch. So why do we even have to go on this Observer's Stone scavenger hunt back at the shrine?

Since Alicia seems to be our most physically oriented party member, I get her ultimate weapon first. The name is an homage to fellow indie RPG Maker game OFF, developed by one Mortis Ghost. Furthering this, it's description calls it a "bat of purification," and the main character of that game had the mission of purifying the world.

The game recommends going to the Centipede Zone first, so let's head on over there---

Looks like we're not quite done trudging through Daybreak just yet.

The area consists of two layers, one with narrow paths blocked by teleporting monsters, and another cave-like layer.

It's the same as before, pick up the tablet and optionally track down the Paininite Shard.

The main boss just hits you with physical attacks, while its flunkies try to harass you with status effects.

But its attack power gets higher every turn, so you get hit harder and harder as the fight goes on.

Lamar gets two ultimate weapons, and has the choice between a Kabbalistic tome and yet another Lovecraft reference.

According to the map, we should go to the Flower Zone in the southeast first, but the Princess Zone is literally right next door. Who cares if it has a four star difficulty rating?

The two main things about this area are as follows; there are these locks that can only be opened by keys found within the area, and all the NPCs here mention something about a Princess, hence the name of the zone.

And, as expected, the monsters here are brutal. Fortunately, they tend to move in predictable patterns on the overworld, so it's not hart to avoid them.

Here's the princess, by the way. It looks like we won't be able to talk with her just yet, though.

So much for four-star difficulty, huh.

One of the strongest defensive equipment in the game, and one that boosts mana by a solid amount. Naturally, I give this one to Lamar.

Up next is the Flower Zone. The main thing there is that you have a limited field of vision, which just makes this place very annoying to navigate.

Oh hey, Lavos. Didn't expect to see you here.

Anyways, here's the Paininite boss:

So, pretty much all the minibosses in Uratheul, barring the obvious joke boss in the Princess Zone, are variations on a theme that has been used for every boss since the cult leader back in City Hall: one main boss accompanied by two flunkies.

Another ultimate armor. It's like the Chalice Charm, but it boosts health instead of mana.

The gimmick here is that there are some paths that are blocked off by one of two immortal snakes. You can change which snake is immortal, and thus will block your path, by stepping on switches. Also, this is the first time in a long while that the encounter meter mechanic comes into play.

Yep, it's pretty much the same kind of boss as before.

And that's all five seals. All that's left is to bring the fight to the Matriarch right? Well, not quite. There's just one little thing that we need to do first.