The Nether Research Squad is now open for business, which allows you send characters (Killia and other story characters excluded) to research other Netherworlds. As you complete battles, either via the dimensional portal or Item World, the party you sent out will be exploring these Netherworlds. They will be fighting enemies, finding items, capturing prisoners and even discovering new Netherworlds. Each one has a specific level attached to it, so it’s best to either match it or exceed the level given.

You can find the free chests at the following locations:

• On top of the tent of the weapon shop
• On the path in between the big open area below the Cheat Shop and Memories/Data NPCs
• On the pathway past the Nether Research Squad NPC

Before any new area opens up for you to explore, there is an intruder in your Netherworld that needs to be found. You are looking for a yellow Prinny, who can be found just past the Nether Research Squad, and beyond the chest there. All of the maps in this area have the Netherworld Effect that will randomly spawn mushrooms at the end of each full turn. These mushrooms usually carry an ailment with them, and you can pick them up and toss them at enemies to inflict said ailments. Of course, the ailments that appear are completely random and you do have to be careful of the one beneficial buff, in the form of the Giant Mushroom, which you can use on your own characters.

Baptism of Spores¶

You are facing off against a total of 12 Prinnies here, all of which but one will have fairly low health. You may be thinking of tossing them like normal Prinnies, but these ones do not explode upon doing that, so you’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way. Their only Evility is Support Attack, which you might remember from a battle in the previous episode, but they have to be right next to you for it to trigger, so it’s not too much of a problem. Besides that, their only attack is Prinny Barrage, which only hits one person up to three tiles away in a straight line.

Rustling Bacteria¶

The first thing you’ll notice is that there are a bunch of Geo Panels on the map, but they don’t have any effect from the start. The only Geo Symbol is an ATK +50% that is being “guarded” by three Orc Captains right in front of your Base Panel. This is where you have to make a decision on whether to use it or not, as if you do, then it’s highly likely that you will give the remaining enemies a slight boost in damage on your party as they move around. The battle is simply a case of taking it slow and dealing with the enemies as they come, as there is nothing here that you haven’t encountered before.

Mischievious Hyphae¶

While this stage is not particularly dangerous, it is still an annoying one due to the Geo Panel layout. There’s only six enemies and the Red Blobs are all standing on the panels, which give off the effects of Clone and Silence. This is an annoying combination, since physical attacks are fairly weak against the Red Blobs, and you can’t use skills due to Silence. However, the Red Blobs also can’t use skills, so they have to resort to physical attacks as well.

Unfortunately, the Pixies are sitting in spots where they’re not affected by the Geo Effects and they have access to debuffs, a skill that inflicts Amnesia (same as Silence, should you manage to get onto those unaffected tiles) and Mega-tiered spells. You can do one of two things here, either throwing a character to the top part of the map to destroy either Symbol, or just play a war of attrition and fight through the enemies without worrying about the effects.

Slime Hell¶

There are two problems with this map, with the first being the layout of it. Despite the way it looks, you can probably only go certain paths, either due to it having gaps or the height being too high to jump. The other problem comes from the Fairies and Hunters, who will likely use their ranged attacks to pick off your characters one-by-one with their spells and bows, respectively. Other than to go around, you can always throw your characters to the higher/isolated spots, so they can get a jump on some of the Fairies and Hunters, who should be your first priority.

Dreaming Mushroom¶

First and foremost, you want to stay away from the mysterious character, because she is quite strong and can do a lot of damage. However, you will need to act quick, as if she dies, then you will get one of the Bad Endings (similar to the one in Sterile Atrium), so taking your time is not something you can do, as she is surrounded by enemies.

The two biggest hold ups will be the Minotaurs, since they have more HP than the others (ice attacks work great against them, as well as the Orc Captains), although their defense is about the same as the other enemies. If you have a strong character, you can toss him/her pass the gap at the bottom of the map, near your Base Panel, to get to other enemies quicker while the rest of your party is dealing with the first set of enemies. If need be, you might need to heal the NPC so she won’t die and cause you to have to restart the map.