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With the “evil bandit” ex-knight Heismay’s truths unmasked, it’s time to delve deeper into the mystery at the heart of Martira’s ongoing sorrows. It’s time for Kriegante Castle, the second ofMetaphor: ReFantazio’s more in-depth dungeons afterRegalith Grand Cathedralback in Grand Trad.
Not unlike the Grand Cathedral and early sub-sections, a single jump down the town well won’t be enough to wrap things up. Rather, it’s a prelude, a taste of things to come. From that brief foray, to prepping for the rest, to every zone throughout the Rotting Waterway and beyond, our guide will cover it all.
First Foray Into The Rotting Waterway
This initial jaunt is astraight line to a nearby objective.Grab the blue item, aDamascus Ore, along the way. After the scene,a fight with three Hellhound Diabundoscommences, andHeismay joins the party!
The Hellhound Diabundos are rather weak, but just to get you a sturdy edge over them, know thatthey’re weak to Slash.
Heismay brings with him theThief Archetype. Before we turn our attention back to Kriegante Castle,we’ll be getting some prep work out of the way with our newfound friend.
Don’t panic when the Thief Archetype isn’t unlockedjust yet. Technically, you need toretire at the tavern, which triggers a cutscene that adds Heismay as a follower and grants you the Thief.
Full Dungeon Preparations
Now that you have four party members, it’s a great time toget some levels and equipmentvia places like theAbandoned Tomb, which begins when you havethe second rank in the Kingly Virtue, Imagination, andspeak with the Pompous Man in Martira.
That quest will see you unlock theFaker Archetype, which comes with someinvaluable skills, including theAttack-lowering Tarunda.
Our guide’s combat strategies willoperate under the assumption that you have unlocked Faker.
If you’ve not yetbrought down the Goborn Kingand fulfilled that bounty, go ahead and do so now. With it turned in,the recruitment centre guard will inform you of a quest back in Grand Tradthat willsend you back to the Grand Cathedral’s Mausoleumsection.
Additionally, there’sa new bounty, forAlpha Rockworm Valmoin Man-Eater’s Grotto. What we’re getting at here, of course, is thatyou should consider doing all, or at least most, of these questsprior to re-entering Kriegante Castle.
These do take time, mind you.Travel time for the overworld dungeons, anda day’s actions for the Mausoleum quests. Yet, with nearly two weeks until the deadline, you’ve got plenty of time to spare.
With all ofthatout of the way,do some shoppingwith your hard-earned reeve, outfitting everyone to the best of your ability.Replenish your supply of healing items and status affliction curatives, and remember toscoop up as many MP restoration items as possible.
Don’t stop grabbingMedicinal Leafitems despite their low HP restore. They’re excellent forusing en masse between battlesrather than auto-healing, which expends MP.
Resists Fire.
Pyrite Imitec
Weak to Light. Use the Merchant’s Gold Attack to distract it, reducing its turn actions.
When you’re prepared for a long dungeon,head down the wellagain, retracing your steps to where you fought those Hellhounds. At path’s end,flip the switchto your left tobring down a drawbridge.
Across the drawbridge, a pair ofKapcertosspawn - our first enemies of the day. Behind the breakable jars here is a blue item,Calendula Cotton. Keepnorth, grabbing aThrilling Tintinnabulator(cures sleep) andIron Sand.
Cross the stone bridgewestward.Interacting with the switchon your lefton the opposite side willcreate a shortcut back to the entrance. North from here is an appraisable item,Gritty Longarm. Continue your trek,through the tunnel on the left. North and north we go.
Thefish-headed enemyrunning back and forth up here is nothing like the fellow from Giant Sandworm’s Belly; you can probablytake him out with a quick slashlike other foes in this room.
To the east is a new room, with the quest marker, butlet’s first explore to the west.Here’s thefirst Magla Hollowfor Kriegante Castle, as well asFermis Ointment, Blessed Water, and achest with a Pyrite Imitec.
Within the chest is aProwler’s Pipe, which increasesthe effectivess of the Steal skill. Neat! In thesouthern rooms,there’s aNightlong Candle, a Gritty Polearm,and a chest containing aMagla Injection.
Time for somestealth action. Or, if you’d prefer to attempt the fight,actionaction. We’ll cover how you can stand a chance against this very-much-optional encounter, since we did, indeed, pull it off. But for now,here’s how to get past it.
Collect theMagla Potiondirectly behind you. As you can see,the goal is to get from hiding spot to hiding spot, each of which is a little alcove throughout the path out of here. The creature has pretty terrible eyesight, apparently, sojust hanging back there is enough.
Magic Seeker
Front
Liberal castings of Medi; whenever anyone is at less than half HP, use it for party-wide healing. Sulphurous Salt usage to cure Daze. Corrosive Acid, if you have them, to lower ???’s Defense. If a free action comes up, and you can, use Energy Ray synthesis with Strohl.
Brawler
Perfect Punch when at full HP and not assisting either Hulkenberg with her Leap Thrust or the protagonist with Strohl’s Energy Ray. Otherwise, toss out Dazes (and Medicines) as needed, and help with Corrosive Acid distribution as well.
Magic Knight
Leap Thrust synthesis with Strohl to lower Defence. Hammer of Justice synthesis with the protagonist thereafter.
Thief
Heismay should repeatedly cast Tarunda until ???’s Attack is completely minimized. Two turns later, when the arrows blink, indicating it wears off the following turn, apply Tarunda again.
At first blush, the fight with???(that’s indeed its designation) might seem borderline-impossible. It has high accuracy; itattacks with Shadow Shockwave for heavy party-wide damage, it getsfour turns every round, it usesStaretoDazeyour team… the list goes on.
The trick is tokeep casting Tarunda with Heismay, whose Agility guarantees he’ll evade more attacks than anyone else, therefore protecting him in the process.Use it three timesuntil three arrow indicators are seen under ATK when looking at the enemy.
Here’s the beauty of this process:recasting Tarunda on the turn that the arrows blink,which signifies thatthe debuff is about to disappear,restores the full, three-stage ATK reductionfor another three turns.
With ???’s otherwise-devastatingShadow Shockwavefar more manageable,the protagonist can dole out healing with Medi, which wouldn’t have been enough under normal circumstances. You will need to useSulphurous Saltand/orPatraregularly, asDazeis now the big threat.
Strohl, when he’s atfull HPandisn’t going to be used for a synthesis, should usePerfect Punchfor decent chip damage. Occasionally, he can enlist help from the protagonist with theEnergy Raysynthesis.
Otherwise, he’ll either beassisting Hulkenberg with Leap Thrust, whichlowers its Defense, or assisting her again when that’s applied forHammer of Justicefor high damage.This Leap Thrust->Hammer of Justicespiral is yourmain source of offensive damagewith our setup.
For your effort, you’ll earn oneHealth Incense, as well as a decent amount of EXP and MAG. It’s not a lot, honestly, but it’s something.
Onward
Whether you’ve successfully driven off ???, or shied away from the considerable challenge, keep to the path,defeating weak enemies and grabbing itemsalong the way.
In thefar-east room, the lower chest contains theMatterbreak Hammerweapon; in the upper chest, anotherPyrite Imitecawaits.
This fight’s well worth it, by the way. The Imitec drops aHero’s Leaf of Light, and after the battle, you’ll receive anOrison Xephossword.
Among the scattered blue items on thenorthwest passageis aHero’s Incense.Before going all the way to thenew red quest marker, take a moment toclimb the staircase surrounded by toothy monstersfor aSpirit Dust.
Anotherhide-and-seekwith ??? awaits. Full disclosure:we haven’t tested whether ??? drops a different itemif you fight it again, as we were conserving MP at this point. The chest here contains anAmnesty Talisman.
Do go ahead and grab the blue items along the way, as one of them is a niftyGraced Water. Also, it might be a “me thing”, but we had the hardest time getting past this fellowright at the end, ashis gaze goes diagonallyfor the only time. Keep a look out!
Notes
Homo Casco
Weak to Electric. If stunned heading into battle, you may likely two-hit kill it with Kande followed by Perfect Punch at full HP.
Weak to strike; resists pierce.
Six Floodgates…
This cutscene spells things out neatly:there are six switchesin the Old Reservoir, which must be flipped tolower six floodgates, which will, in turn,lower the water level enough for us to proceed.
What the game doesn’t tell you, however, is thatsome of these switches will need to be flipped in a set order. If this isn’t done, then lowered floodgates will actually bar your access to other switches.
Start byflipping the switches to your immediate west and east. Now, let’s headeastfirst, so go right. Here, you’ll encounterHomo Casco and Ochre Homo Tentafor the first time. The blue items on the first floor here areMagla Pill, andDesert Oakwood.
Withoutinteracting with the floodgate switch on this floor, ascend the staircase. This way,we can cross a portion of the upstairs area via the drawbridgewhile it’s still that high.
Grab the blue items along the way tothe fourth drawbridgem further upstairs, then return to the lower level,drop the third drawbridge here, explore this area, and wrap back around to the center of the Old Reservoir.
With four drawbridges down, Gallica automatically freaks out thatthe monster is coming. Nope, it’s not a timed situation! Take all the time you need here.
The western zone, with the fifth and sixth drawbridges, involvesmoving through a lower level with weak enemies, finding thestaircase at the bottom-left of the map, and then climbing up to another area.
In this new area,switches to both remaining drawbridges can be found. The last of them opens the way to a treasure chest with the fantasticDivine Speed Clothes. Return to the start of the area anddescend the ladder.
You’ll see atreasure chestweirdly close by; we can’t get it from this side.
Aton of weak enemies are down here, the majority of which, or quite possibly all of which,can be dispatched in overworld combat.
Once you’ve swept them all away andpicked up all the blue items, turn around, and if you’ve not yet seen it,the treasure chest is on the opposite side of the structure with the ladder.
Opening the chest triggersone more fight with a Pyrite Imitec. For your trouble, you get aHero’s Leaf of Lightand the Warrior’s sword,Beast Slayer.
…And An Attempted Funeral
Climb the ladderon the far side to exit the section with all the slimes and the Pyrite Imitec. You’ll find thesecond Magla Hollow.This next part hastwo Magla Flowers to destroy.
You can freelyspawn weak enemiesfrom themultiple Magla Flowershere. It’sgood for quick EXP and money, but bear in mind thatthese are fast monsters that can overwhelm youin the overworld if you’re not careful. It’ll eat up your HP!
Finish your reign of terror on the pair of Magla Flowers before catching up to thered quest markerto your right. Be prepared tokeep running during a brief chase segmentwith the big, scary, monster we’ve been dealing with. It’s hard to mess this up, though.
Athird Magla Hollowis ahead in the new area. Save your game, then move into… a trap!
Sinners' Dungeon
Thank goodness Morris didn’t notice Gallica, eh? Once you’ve busted out of your cell, move ahead some more, and during a chat with Heismay,you will be informed that the order within which you open everyone’s cells matters.
Indeed,different monsters are in each one. If you want todispatch them all with relative ease, thereisa bit of an order, but frankly,it’s not terribly important except that you should leave Strohl for last.
The monster that’s freed when you rescue Strohl is aChimenza, and if you have the misfortune of getting ambushed by it (avoid those fast-paced area-of-effect strikes in the overworld!),it can be a right pain.
Chimenzawill start withKandera,which deals medium-tier Electric damage. It follows that up withFire Breath, which is party-wide Fire damage, and thenGakende, which is party-wide Electric damage. If you’re especially unlucky with crits,Skull Crackerwill keep piling on damage.
CastingTarundato lower its Attack will prompt it toconsistently spend a turn action removing the debuff. This probably works with any debuff you cast, but regardless, it’ll lessen Chimenza’s enthusiasm considerably. Chimenza’sweak to Wind.
One of the blue items here is anAmbrosia,whichrestores 50 percent HP to all allies. The three chests containSleepy Eyed Katana, Sapper Pendant, and Antumbra Igniter.
Press on,through the exit to the westand up to another floor. The chest has anotherAmbrosia. The blue item’s aMiraculous Medicine. The final room, with thefour blue items,is a story section -examine each itemas the team pieces together this harrowing tale.
Homo Jaluzo
To wrap up the Kriegante Castle mystery, our heroes must contend withHomo Jaluzo, the dungeon’s boss. Read our guide for a complete breakdown onhow to beat Homo Jaluzo.
