07C: The Weight of Vengeance

07C: The Weight of Vengeance

Orion Battle

You are fighting an Orion, and its attack is crippling.  If you try to take it on tow-to-toe (I did) you will quickly find that it does WAY more damage than your wimpy potions can restore - and you are down to just potions as you are fighting alone and so have no medic to help you.  After burning through 40 potions I finally understood that this tactic was not going to work, and I summoned Shiva, who pretty much twisted Orion's scrawny neck off in like 5 seconds, ending the match with a 5-star rating!

Orion paid off 307 CP  and a credit chip in spoils - and speaking of CP, we have not updated Snow's jobs in like for ever...  But before we get to that we need to view the CS as Snow explains the situation that they are in - and about their new ally.  Hope finds it very hard to believe that the army is anything but a threat, but Snow seems convinced. 

This triggers a mini-tutorial on the Sentinel job - you should probably read this if you are not already sure that you have that data cold.  We have already been using that job so we have a working idea on how things like Stealguard works, but Provoke is new to us as is Vendetta.  According to the tut we should switch to Commando when we are down to just a few enemies because Sentinel is not effective unless we are fighting a large number.

After the CS ends take a look at Snow's Crystarium - he has a boatload of CP of course, because we never updated his jobs, so before we hit the nearby save point how about we go ahead and do that?

After you update you will have taken Snow's Commando job to the Level 2 Stage 5 cap, Ravager to the Level 2 Stage 5 cap, and Sentinel to the same.  In addition though you will have unlocked an additional Accessory Slot when you cap Sentinel - which is a good thing - so go ahead and load the Equip menu and see what we can put in the slot!

Now that you have seen to Snow's Levels and Kit, it is time to re-supply and sell off any resources that are marked to sell at a Premium (anything marked like that - credit chips are a good example - are items that you should be selling and not using for upgrades anyway).  As I burned through the bulk of my potions before realizing I needed to summon my Eidolon to win the fight with Orion, I need to replace my potions, and while I was doing that I made sure that I had a few Antidotes and a few Holy Waters just in case I end up in a fight without a medic again.

Alright now, hit the save point and then head up the stairs for our next fight, which includes a PSICOM Bombardier - which is new to us!   After you ID him, head into the ice cave and up the sluce for a brief CS and then your next fight with a PSICOM Scavenger  and a pair of Pacifex.  You should already have the Pacifex ID'd but not the Scavenger as he is new to us.  As that battle ends a group of Pacifex with a PSICOM Predator will show up - the Predator is another new mob to us, so try to ID him as well.

The path we are on dead-ends in a fight with a two PSICOM  Pacifex and a PSICOM Warlord - we need to ID the Warlord as it is new to us, so go ahead and take them out, then empty the Treasure Sphere of its Fortisoll vial, and then bactrack to the jump point and cross over.  Halfway along the crystal ramp is another battle with a pair of Tranq's and a Scavenger.

Towards the back of this area (not up the ramps) there is a battle with another Warlord, a pair of Tranq's and a Predator that turns out to be quite a fight, but once you get the Warlord staggered he goes down pretty quick.  If you head up the ramp now you will fight a group of Tranq's and then empty a Treasure Sphere for its cache of a Paladin - which is one of Snow's weapons.  Excellent, we can tick another one of those off of the list!

Now return tot he path and follow it through he hole in the wall, head left and grab the Insulated Cabling from the Sphere there and then turn around and follow the path to the save point and use that.

Use the nearby jump point to drop down and follow the path to the next CS - Snow has a chat with Hope as they observe some enemy troops, then the conversation turns to what little wisdom Snow has to offer.  It looks like Hope still wants to put a knife in Snow's gut - cannot blame him.  Snow gets a call from his boss - and Lightning - and then we get a CS of the troops, as the Colonel tells them there are no rules of engagement anymore.   Nasty.