Clockwork Castle - Enemies
- Boulder Douche - 155 HP - Weak to Moon, resists Sun
- Clock Zombie - 155 HP - Weak to Arcane, Moon
- Cukoo Monster - 105 HP
- Rochecrossidere - 90 HP
- Strife Minion - 375 HP - Weak to Moon, Sun
Your final stop on Mesa Island, Clockwork Castle is not quite as chipper as the last two areas. Before you get started, this is a gentle reminder that there was no campsite at the end of Songshroom Marsh, and your team is probably in a bit of pain. Settle down for a quick rest before you head into Clockwork Castle.
Approach the front gate and you'll find it locked and barred. Look west of the gate and you'll find a path up the cliffs that will lead you to a Boulder Douche, which is accompanied by two Rochecrossideres. You fought both enemies on Glacial Peak, and should be fine to face them again. There are Berry bushes growing near the enemies.
Pull the lever that is also near the enemies to open a gate on your right. Go through to make your way to the east side of the grounds. There's a Berry bush down a ledge at your feet, and further east are some prowling Rochecrossideres. Go down the cliff to the east of the monsters and you'll find a path to a chest, which contains a Cog Prototype.
Climb back up the cliff and head north. There's a campsite and save point up some ledges. Climb up and over the wall on your right and you'll be near the front door of the castle. Climb up and over the west wall and you'll find a chest containing a Sturdy Cog, a weapon for Garl. Snag the treasure, then approach the front door for a cut scene. Uh oh.
Erlina and Brugaves
Yiiiikes. This battle was bound to happen eventually, but it still hurts - and is made all the worse by the fact that only Valere and Zale get to fight. Erlina and Brugaves use the following attacks:
- Nunchuck strike (Brugaves)
- Moonchakus, a two-Lock, projectile attack against one target (Brugaves)
- Sunchakus, a three-Lock projectile AOE attack (Brugaves)
- Line beam against both characters (Erlina)
- Healing Rain, a two-Lock restorative spell for both enemies (Erlina)
- Searing Pyramid, a four-Lock spell against one target (Erlina)
All in all this isn't too difficult. Aside from Healing Rain all of Erlina and Brugaves' moves are straightforward attacks. Unless you have poor luck with Locks (two Suns, for example) you are fully capable of breaking all of their charged attacks. The one you should prioritize breaking is Healing Rain, as it prolongs the battle. Use the Mending Light Combo to heal your party.
Unsurprisingly it is to your benefit to focus on one of the pair. Brugaves takes quite a bit more damage from magic than Erlina, making him the quicker target to take down, but you should probably focus on Erlina. Her attacks are a bit harder to block, and the fact that she can heal is a problem. Once you get rid of her Brugaves will no longer be able to use his Sunchakus attack, and is a simple opponent.
Defeating Erlina and Brugaves will send them packing, and allow you to enter Clockwork Castle. The castle's main gate will also open, allowing you to come and go without using the cliffs. Heal up back at the campsite to the east, then head inside.
The castle's entry corridor is lined with Grains, Berries, Tomatoes, Onions, Bell Peppers, Lettuce, Apples, and Peaches. This makes a great harvest point if you come back later, once everything has regrown. In the north you'll fight two Clock Zombies and a Cukoo Monster. The Cukoo Monster acts as support by casting Haste while the other two attack. Go after the Cukoo Monster first.
Here the path splits in two. Start by heading east. The next room has two upper landings, as well as a pit patrolled by a Clock Zombie and a Strife Demon, the latter another returning monster. Moon attacks will wipe out both rather easily. There's a golden floor tile in the pit that will extend a bridge between the two landings. Climb back up on the western landing and use the bridge to get at the chest in the east, which contains a Garden Key.
Return to the main hallway and try the western door. You'll enter a vertically-inclined chamber, and if you jump into the pit below you'll fight a Clock Zombie and a Cukoo Monster. There's a grappling mechanism that will move three blocks forward, but they quickly retreat again.
The trick here is to use the cog-topped block in the southeast, which you can blow around with the Mistral Bracelet. Blow the block into the right hole by the grapple block and you'll create a path back to the entrance. Use the Graplou to pop the box out of the niche, then blow it south. It will hit a floor tile and stop. Blow it to the left and then north to get it into the wall hole on the left. This will create steps up the wall, and if you grapple to the left from the top step you'll activate a cog, revealing a lock on the door in the main hall. (Make sure you grapple the cog repeatedly, in rapid succession, or it won't work. Thanks for the heads-up, Joe!)
Reposition the block in the right hole and leave.
Use the Garden Key on the lock in the door to open it up, then head north. You'll find another puzzle room. Use these steps to get through:
- Pull the lever in the northwest corner to reveal a moveable block
- Blow the block left
- Pull the lever in the northeast to raise several barriers throughout the room
- Blow the block down and to the right
- Blow the block up, into the center hole in the wall
(If you blow the block in different directions from the start the puzzle will take a bit longer, and you may need to raise and lower the barriers a few times, but it's fine. Get the block to the southwest corner, then over to the center barrier and up into the hole.)
This will raise some steps. Climb to the upper level and you'll find another sliding block, along with two grapple blocks and two barrier fences. Your goal is to get this block down to the lower floor. Do the following:
- Grapple the wall block to the north of the first block to start a timer and lower the nearby barrier
- Run west and grapple the next wall block to lower another barrier
- Run back east and quickly blow the block left, up, right, and down
Do all this in time and the block will slide down to the lower level. Follow it down, then pull the grapple point on the right to pop the other block out of the center hole in the wall. Blow the blocks into the east and west holes. This will raise a staircase that will take you into an otherwise unreachable hallway between the two floors.
Down the hallway you'll find a room full of kids, making this an unexpected little rest stop. The Merchant nearest the door will sell you a bunch of equipment, the only new piece of which is the Bamboo Slicer. In the northeast you'll find an older (but still young?) fellow named Caël. The cut scene that follows will clear up a few things - including the northwestern doorway.
Hop into the pit in the next room and check to the west. There's a grapple block over here that will raise a platform to the south for a limited time. Set it up, then quickly climb the ladder on your right and cross the bridge spanning the room. Hop across the platform before it falls to get at a lever. The lever will remove the bridge. Step on the gold floor panel back east to extend another bridge, which you can use to reach the western exit.
Over here you'll find an elevator. Pull the right lever to rise up one level. There's a lever over here, as well as two floor tiles. The lever controls which tile is active, and if you step onto the tile it will extend a bridge to doorways in the east and west.
- Through the eastern doorway you'll find a Clock Zombie and two Strife Minions. In the north are three levers, each of which raises a platform. Pull the lever on the left, then the lever on the right, to create a path along the top of the room. Grapple the cog in the northeast to give the elevator some extra height.
- Through the western doorway you'll find a sliding block puzzle. If you slide the block in the south onto either the northeastern or northwestern tiles on the ground you'll move a brick platform into place. Climb to the upper level and grapple over, via the pole sticking out of the moveable block, and you can use the Graplou to pull a ring block on the north wall. Do this on both sides of the room to remove the barriers protecting the chest in the north. The chest contains an Evergreen Leaf.
- Move the ladder block all the way east
- Pull the lever to the north of the floor track to raise and lower some barriers
- Push the ladder block so it is positioned beneath the upper-right lever, then climb up and pull the lever
- Climb back to the ground and pull the lever to remove the barriers
- Push the ladder block to the west so it is positioned beneath the upper-left lever, then climb up and pull the lever
- Push the ladder block all the way east again, so you can get up at the cog device
Grapple the cog device and you'll change something back by the elevator. This will also remove a barrier in front of a chest in this room. The chest contains a Rainbow Conch.
Return to the elevator shaft. There are now stepping stones that can take you to the golden floor tile in the north, which extends a bridge to the elevator. Jump down on the thin walkway to the right of the floor tile and you can grapple a nearby ring block, which creates a path over to the doorway in the east.
You'll find a room with several platforms in the middle of an abyss. Hop along the platforms until you can grapple at a ring block. This will raise the rest of the floor, bringing a Cukoo Monster, a Clock Zombie, and a Strife Minion up with it. With the floor in place you can now get at a spinning cog device in the east, which improves the elevator, and a chest in the northwest. The chest contains a Blue Leaf.
Use the elevator to make your way back to the room with the kids. Speak to Caël and he'll outline the plan he has in mind. Use the Master Key on the northern door and head through. There's nowhere to heal - but you should, as well as save. A nasty confrontation awaits.
One, Two, Three, and Four
The whole crew! The Acolytes are pretty much the same as before, only you're now fighting all of them simultaneously. This makes the battle quite a bit more dangerous... but you're also stronger, so you can handle this motley crew. The Acolytes use the following attacks:
- Single-target melee attacks (One, Four)
- Two-target melee attacks (Three)
- A weak AOE attack against the whole party (Two)
- Group Heal, a three-Lock restorative spell (Two)
- Todome, an eight-Lock Combo attack against one target (Two)
- V-Attack, a three-Lock Combo against two characters (One) - Will counterattack if targeted with normal attacks while charging
There are no crazy tricks here, just four enemies you need to take down. For the first section of the fight you'll likely want one person on healing duty while the other two go after a single target (or the whole gang of Acolytes, if you prefer AOE Skills). Two needs to go first before they can heal anyone, and Three's two-part melee attacks make them the next best target. This will leave you with only two melee attackers who can't use Combos, making the rest of the fight a cakewalk.
You'll receive the And stay down, too! Achievement for defeating the Acolytes, as well as a buttload of experience. 13,000+? Niiiiice.
The group will immediately run into the next room, where a campsite and save point await. Beyond here is a bridge, and something will ruin it as you try to cross. Make your way across anyway and you'll come across the Merchant kid, who offers some last-minute vending services. Climb the nearby tower, and... it's finally time.
People have been talking about this thing the entire game, and now you're face-to-face with the almighty Dweller of Strife. You won't have Resh'an for this battle, but... you can manage, right? The Dweller of Strife uses the following attacks:
- A single-target beam
- Eye Beam, a five-Lock attack against a single target
- Crash, a four-Lock AOE attack
The point of this battle is not to defeat the Dweller of Strife yourself. Your attacks will do piddly amounts of damage. Instead, you need to use Valere and Zale's Moon and Sun Skills - or Boosted attacks with those elements - to hit the Dweller. This will charge up the nearby crystal, installed by the kids. Charge it enough and the crystal's Eclipse Laser will inflict heavy damage on the Dweller of Strife. Build up Live Mana with melee attacks, break Locks as best you can, and use items to fully restore HP. Eye Beam is very painful.
Hit the Dweller of Strife with the Eclipse Laser three times and the tower beneath the group will collapse. Head east and Valere and Zale will face the Dweller of Strife solo... at least for a few rounds. Something bad will happen, and though you'll get the Dweller of Strife Achievement... well, just watch.