Shangri-La Frontier: Episode 12 Review

Another proud user of the Black Fist

The twelfth episode of Shangri-La Frontier is out. The party heads to ancient ruins that look way more sci-fi than they have any right to in order to grind for EXP. There we get to see Oikatzo’s build in action and Sunraku reveals a new weapon.

Let’s go over it in my Recap and Review.

Recap

The episode picks up with a look back at the strategy meeting they had in United Rounds on how to deal with Wethermon by going over a part of what she knows. At the start of the battle, the boss activates a skill that reduces everyone to Level 50, while he remains at Level 200. For this reason, she needed Sunraku and Oikatzo since they have the skills needed to make up the gap.

But she needs them to hit Level 50 at a minimum and gives them a map to a grinding spot within the ruins, which they proceed into. The ruins are a sci-fi marvel with floating platforms and freaking drones, giving Oikatzo a chance to show off his Spirit Fist Monk build. He explains it has high HP and Vitality, allowing him to tank hits and dish them back out, which fits his playstyle from being a fighting game professional.

That done, they head into the depths of the maze until they reach a hole. Since they don’t know what’s at the bottom, Oikatzo jumps down first while Sunraku explains the concept of G.I.R.L (Guy in real life) to Emul who didn’t know that they were a boy despite the female avatar they use. Anyway, since it’s clear, they descend into the depths and find an underwater cavern called the Tearlight Lake.

The pair then fish up a giant serpent worth a crapton of EXP, which gives Sunraku a chance to show off his Empire Bee Twinblades he had forged by Bilac after the other main weapons were rendered unusable at his current level. He does worry about managing the affection level of all the rabbits being too similar to a Dating Sim game (fair enough considering Emul can turn into a bunny girl), which gives him trauma flashbacks from a trash game dating sim where he had to balance twelve girls at once or suffer a bad ending.

Back with the fight, the pair are too low-level to harm the mob normally. However, Bilac gave the right-handed blade a corrosive poison quality that allows one to “corrode” a part of the body they strike and creates a weak point they can attack for extra damage. Since that strips the scales from it, Oikatzo dishes some damage and then takes a hit for Emul before they pull an All-Out attack and take it down.

It was tough enough that Oikatzo gained four levels immediately and got new skills, at which point he explained how the skill link system works to combine them. You were supposed to learn it in Firstia, but since Sunraku skipped that town he lost out on that information along with how to level them up, sub-jobs, and guilds. Sunraku chooses to start grinding again instead of lamenting his screw-up.

By the time Pencilgon reaches them, Sunraku and Oikatzo have hit Levels 42 & 40 respectively. Sunraku stops Oikatzo from snitching on his incompetence and instead gives the credit to Emul since she’s Level 56. They also find the Save Tent handy since having a portable save point means they don’t lose their progress or drops, though she states they’re horribly expensive for such a limited-use item.

Since it’s a full moon tonight, Pencilgon explains they need to visit a Unique NPC to take on the quest. She’s called Setsuna of Bygone Days, a ghost who sits beneath a withered tree. There she sings a solemn song into the night while red spider lillies sway as the episode ends.

Then we get to the SLF Mini, which covers the Animalia Guild’s search for a rare monster called the Rabbit-Eared Shoebill. They track humanoid footprints and then hear a scream before they see a silhouette of what was Sunraku with Emul. Ignorant of that, they continued to search for it while our group basically walked behind them and Oikatzo noted that Sunraku got sent flying by a huge beetle.

Review

This episode has our group dive into a hidden area of a Dungeon, where there’s a mob that gives out inflated EXP values that they can grind in order to raise themselves to Level 50 within the two weeks before the Wethermon fight. In the process, we get to see Oikazto’s build at work and discover more about the game system. Along with a reason why you don’t speedrun your first playthrough if you’re not going to look up a guide.

Let’s get into it.

First off, Wethermon’s boss fight inflicts a condition that lowers all players to Level 50 while he remains at Level 200. The Level Cap is already either 99 or 100, and you cut that in half against an enemy twice as strong as the cap itself? No wonder the Ashura Kai didn’t think the Unique Monster was for beating when they hamper you that hard.

Pencilgon brought up before that there was still a victory condition, so you can assume it won’t depend on stats so much as skill. It does follow what Sunraku said about Lycangon being incredibly hard but beatable. So they have a chance to win despite the overwhelming odds and they can give it their all.

Then we see that the Iron Ruins from the inside and discover it’s basically ripped out of a sci-fi game. We’re talking floating platforms with circuitry, drones, and all that jazz just sitting in the middle of a forest. You wouldn’t expect that from a game that’s clearly heavy into fantasy, but Wethermon being an Undead Cyborg Samurai should have been the first clue.

It gives me the vibes of the backdrop of the game being post-apocalyptic. Like there was a massive war that resulted in technology, barring a few exceptions, being blasted back to the Middle Ages. I kind of want to see what the Age of Divinities looked like personally..

Anyway, inside the ruins, somehow Pencilgon managed to map it out until she came to what appeared to be a pitfall trap. But instead, it contained a secret area with a High-Level Mob called the Lifestide Lake Serpent. The encounter gave them a chance to demonstrate new weapons and skills.

Oikatzo demonstrated the capabilities of his Spirit Fist Monk, a class that can’t use weapons but can cast buffs on themselves to enhance what they’re capable of doing. He also demonstrates that he can actually take hits from monsters above his weight class and dish the damage right back out. Sunraku states that for someone who plays fighting games, it was the perfect build for him since it allowed him to transfer over his gaming skills.

As for Sunraku, he picked up a new set of weapons made from the Queen Bee that got axed by the Quad Beetle. The Empire Bee Twinblades consist of a Rapier and Main-Gauche, with the main weapon being the Rapier in his right hand that contains a “corrosive poison” quality. We’ve known weapons could have unique attributes like the Vorpal Choppers dealing extra damage on critical hits and the Marsh Daggers halving durability loss on critical hits, and this one builds on it.

Basically, when it strikes an enemy, it lowers their debuff resistance for the area towards the “corrode” attribute. That attribute shows wounds on the avatar that make them vulnerable to critical hits. So, the more they get struck, the weaker that area becomes until it creates a lasting wound that can be struck to inflict criticals. You basically make your own weak points if the enemy has none.

Bilac did good work, even if she’s not on par with her father yet. Though unlike Emul she’s a bit more apprehensive of Sunraku. Plus, the design of those weapons appeals to my tastes.

Anyway, we then discover even more about the combat system that Sunraku missed out on because he was intent on rushing to the second town. You can apparently link the skills you learn at a Skill Garden to create combo skills, such as linking a Fighter Skill with a Critical Enhancement Skill for a chance to knock out enemies on a critical hit. You can also learn when your skills will level up or evolve, along with the condition for learning new ones.

All of this information was in the first town you were supposed to go to after signing in like most new players would. And because Sunraku doesn’t party with other players often, he didn’t know about it until now. So, he has basically been making things even harder on himself because of it.

Pencilgon would probably be laughing her butt off if she knew.

Anyway, it seems like we’ll get to meet another Unique NPC called Setsuna of Bygone Days. She’s probably like Emul in the sense she opens the quest up, meaning you would need to meet her to gain access to the boss fight. I suspect this is the NPC that Pencilgon mentioned waging everything on.

We’ll find out next time.