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World Map
- Return to the map from Everlast Tower, exiting via the patch of open land to the east of the Tower. As soon as you take off you'll hit a cut scene, and that'll give you your new course: the oceans off the southeast edge of Ancheim. Fly there.
- The Pillar of Light is waiting. Approach and enter after saving your game on the Grandship.
- Cut scene ahead. Airy will ask if you've anything left to do; this is a good time to finish off any sub scenarios you've ignored up 'til now. Once you're ready, head in and agree to probe deeper.
- Cut scene. Oh noes! That's where he went!
Alternis
The Black Knight of Eternia is very straightforward in his strategy, but that's not to say he isn't a frightful opponent. Alternis is all about offense, and he'll spend every turn attacking you. No healing, no buffing, no Defaulting, only straight out offense. He'll hit you once each time, and it's guaranteed to hurt. Either he'll use a normal attack, a special attack that will hit one person or the whole party for a lot of damage (2,000+ HP!), or, late in the fight, Minus Strike. Minus Strike does damage equal to what the user has lost, to a maximum of 9,999. When Alternis uses it... well, yeah, it's gonna be 9,999. Instant death. It's quite difficult to keep up with the casualties in this fight.
The key to victory is to slow Alternis down so you have a chance to heal each turn. I used a Pirate ability to do the deed; if you have an alternative, by all means, go for it. You want to obliterate Alternis' HP as quickly as possible without exposing yourself to too much abuse. Fortunately Alternis has no elemental strengths, so simply go with your strongest attacks. Anything that leeches his HP and gives it to you is especially good. Specials are an absolute necessity here, especially one that heals. Hit him hard, hit him fast, and heal constantly. If you let up on healing for even a single turn, you're probably doomed.
- Completing this battle will earn you the Dark Knight asterisk. Your whole team now looks awesome.
- Cut scene follows. Shocking revelations! Confusing ones, anyway!
Chapter 5: Yesterday's Scenery
World Map
- You'll wake up in... Caldisla...? Huh. Something is very strange.
- Tiz goes it solo for a while. Walk around and discover that, yeah, events have seemingly reset to much, much earlier in the game.
- Head for Norende Ravine. (You may want to turn off encounters. What's the point? Everything's super weak compared to you now.) You'll find a cut scene at the end as Tiz investigates the chasm, which is... still there. Party Chat afterward.
- Return to Caldisla and speak to Ringabel on the ramparts. Another Party Chat follows.
- Look for Edea near the cemetary. Same deal. Then back to the inn for a snooze. A cut scene follows...
- ... and, hey, you have the Grandship again. Woo! This second crystal hunt will be slightly easier with that in your possession.
- Take to the skies. You'll discover something rather terrifying: not only do you have to revisit the four crystal temples, but there are sub scenarios everywhere. Fear not: these constitute a series of battles against the many asterisk enemies you fought earlier in the game (maybe). Partake of them at your leisure. Be warned, as they're scaled to your current might... and then some.
- Also be warned, if you hadn't noticed already, that the enemies in these lands are much, much stronger than they used to be. The creatures 'round Caldisla are pushovers, but elsewhere... just be careful. It's a whole new world out there. (That said, if you want to level, I recommend the area 'round Hartschild. The enemies here are universally undead, day and night, and a Crescent Moon attack or two with, say, a Holy Spear, should kill the whole lot instantly. Quick levels for thousands of experience and hundreds of JP!)
- Oh, and one other warning: you have to perform that dumb tapping game four more times. Sigh.
Temple of Wind
Orthros
Wow. That is a power jump. Orthros fights the same as before, but the damage it deals is substantially higher. The two heads will use elemental breath weapons that hit everyone, and if you fail to Default on these turns you're going to take a lot of damage. Let your BP build up and use corresponding elemental attacks (fire on the blue head, ice on the red head) to bring this thing down as quickly as possible. Once one head goes down, the other will be a lot easier to handle.
Temple of Water
Rusalka
Aaaaand another significantly stronger monster. This time around Rusalka is made more dangerous by its annoying ability for charming your characters, and it will do so consantly. A Rebuff Locket on your healer at the least is highly recommended. Beyond that, Default whenever it uses seep and pull out all-hitting attacks so you can wail on Rusalka's duplicates and get them out of the way. They have a lot more HP than before, and will not go down nearly as easily as during the first fight.
Temple of Fire
Chaugmar
Wow. The battle brain is the one big exception to the resurrected bosses in that it's actually a fair bit easier this time around. Energy Burst is still dangerous if you're not using Default, but you'll probably be strong enough while using Default to shrug off the damage as little other than a normal hit. Heal, then rip Chaugmar apart. Chaugmar also seems more inclined to use Soul Suck in this battle to steal your MP, which, so long as it's not coming from a healer or dedicated mage, is easier to handle than Blood Suck.
Temple of Earth
Gigas Lich
Gigas Lich is about on par with how he acted in your first battle, and his power hasn't scaled considerably since the last time you met him. (Wasn't that long ago, o be frank.) He'll use all of the same attacks as before, though he seems more hung up on Fear now than before. Annoying, yes, but hardly devastating. Gigas Lich will also very occasionally use Quaga to heal itself, an attack that's almost a waste of a move in how little it brings back to the beast. Stick to holy attacks and you'll bring it down easily enough.
- After completing two of the four crystals, you'll be prompted to visit the Sage. He'll tell you to head to the Vestment Cave. What's more, only Agnès and Tiz are to enter.
- Go inside and trek down to the bottom floor, where once you fetched Rainbow Thread. You'll watch a nifty cut scene that explains a few things. Well, back to the quest...
Beating the Game
Beginning with Chapter 5, you have the option of 'beating' Bravely Default and earning one of the game's endings. All you have to do is proceed with the crystal awakening ceremony... tap the button to awaken the crystal... and then keep tapping, past Airy's insistances that you stop. Doing this will trigger the game's final dungeon. Alternatively, you can go on awakening crystals to see what happens. A future article will describe the final dungeon; you'll wind up going there eventually whether you awaken crystals or not. For now, we'll assume you're proceeding as planned.
- Awakening all of the crystals will, once again, trigger the Pillar of Light to appear in the southeast seas. Head that direction when you're prepped and enter the Pillar of Light. World saved...?
Alternis
Ah, shoot, right. This guy again. Alternis has not changed one bit, really, though his attacks will probably have less weight against your party if you've taken advantage of the stronger enemies in this world. He typically only attacks once per turn, doesn't use his all hitting attack as often, and doesn't hit as hard on average. That said, he tends to spam Minus Strike a lot more once this fight gets past the halfway mark, so you can expect to lose a character each turn when that happens. Nevertheless, holy attacks and strong strikes in general will bring him down quickly enough.
- Familiar cut scene interspersed with some new stuff. Oooo, memory's back!
- Bright light... once more unto the breach... and...