Returning to the inn in Watt will turn up nothing, as the scholar researching the “darkness” isn’t there. Speaking with your party suggests he lives somewhere in the city, so you’ll need to search all of the normal houses. Lucky for you, this is a walkthrough and you don’t have to do that mindless searching yourself. From where you enter at the North Gate, there are some stairs off to your east. Go down them and there will be a house right there, which is the one you want. A scene will play out upon entering, where Obaro drops some knowledge on you. You may have seen a large tower while exploring, but it was lost, and it is this that is the spritnite column.

Read the same book Obaro was looking at to get the chance to make a memory (Chrono Memory). That means you can get more by inspecting the other bookshelves in the house. The one in the southwest has another memory (Dusk Memory), while you can find a third on the desk on the bottom floor (Night Memory). For the final one, you will want to talk to the scholar, who goes on a bit before revealing the last memory (Dawn Memory). Exit the house and get back to the overworld, then look for the very tall column to the southwest of the capital. Restore it, then touch it once more to activate it, which will grant Obaro’s vulcosuit his Paradigm Drive, Attunement. In addition to that, you gain more artifact knowledge (Primordium) and also Fablulesco’s link skill, Judgment.

Infiltrating the Base¶

It’s time to finally sneak into the jail portion of the command base, so head to the actual base and drop down the ladder to the left of the main entrance. Head straight north once you can for a short scene, where Van causes a distraction to allow you to slip past the guard there. In the northwest corner of this small area is a chest, which contains a Camo Vest. Grab it, then climb the ladder on the opposite side, where a save point will be waiting for you at the top. Enter the doorway and you will receive a short spiel about the guards here. Since you’re not technically allowed inside here, being caught by the guards is not something you will want to happen.

Essentially, if a guard notices you, then you will be forced to repeat the room you’re currently in, which isn’t too punishing. Where you begin, move north until you have the guard at the top on your screen, then simply wait until he moves up and to the right. This is your cue to quickly run north, then left on the pipe, dropping off at the end onto a lower pipe. Follow this pipe to the east, until you can drop off again (there’s another sparkle item at the end to the north), then enter the duct not far from your location. Once inside, simply move north and you will fall into a hole that’ll bring you to the cell area.

An old acquaintance is locked up and he wonders why he is, while your party discusses the empire’s true intentions. When you can move again, there might be a guard off to your east, so be careful when moving that way. When he moves to the right, sneak into the open cell at the end to grab an Illusion Memory from the sparkle there. Wait once more for the guard to go up, then quickly grab the glittering item on the desk for more artifact knowledge (Mysticism) and sneak down to the stairs. When the guard walks to the left, that is your chance to quickly snag the chest at the top, which contains a Night Coat.

Exit to the south and climb up the ladder to the roof, then find the ledge that lets you drop off of it in the northeast corner of the roof. There will be a guard in a tower slightly off in the distance and yes, he can spot you and force you to redo this little section. He’ll only look to the right and forward, so wait for him to look to the right before dashing across the pipe. You can go up or down here at the end of the pipe, so go south and drop off to find a treasure chest (VP Charger). There’s a door to the right, which will lead you around and on top of the nearby roof, which allows you to drop back down to the same pipe as before, but on the right side.

On the pipe again, follow it to the north to come to another ladder, then one more beyond that, bringing you to a roof with a bunch of crates and guards. There are three guards up here, so you will want to be extra careful in navigating the area to avoid detection. Feel free to pick up the sparkly bits up here if you want, but it’s nothing important. At the far eastern end, you will find another duct to enter, which will drop you into another prison cell area. There’s nothing you can do immediately, so continue to the right to initiate a scene. After all is said and done, Sherra ends up joining your party and you’ll have to make a choice now. She will be forced into your party for a fight in a little bit, but you can opt to continue using the same party you have been at this point.

Once you’ve decided on a team, check the cell just above where you regain control to see a sparkle that will grant you a Dark Memory. Head into the room to your left, where you’ll have to fight two guards, who are pushovers at this point. Note that you have access to quicksave again at this point, so utilize it if you want. The middle cell at the top has Torgo the merchant, which is a good chance to upgrade Sherra’s armor/weapon (should you have the money). The cell next to Torgo has another memory you can create, which is the Heartless Memory. Follow the path to an elevator, then keep going until you come to a room with two chests, which contain 2 M Ethers and 2 M Potions. Beyond that is another elevator, then as you travel south, a boss will appear.

BOSS - Death Rattler¶

You will want to pace yourself in this battle, as it is split into three different parts. The first instance of Death Rattler isn’t too bad, but it does tend to open up with the Proton Beam skill, which will instantly kill whoever it hits. That means you will need to revive them and quickly heal them before the boss gets another move off. Luckily, the boss’ other moves aren’t too threatening, as Fusillade will do single digit damage multiple times and Flamethrower only hits for minimal damage. It can also use Sleeping Gas to put characters to sleep, although any attacks will wake them up.

Eventually, Death Rattler will use Barrier, which makes your attacks do less damage, but heavy damage will still do a decent amount. It will go down on its own, which is when you can resume your attacking to its fullest. There’s not much of a strategy here, other than reviving the fallen and then chipping away at the boss’ health until you defeat it. Note that the boss is weak to water, so Obaro’s Aqua is a good move to use, plus you can use the vulcosuit version in a later phase.

After the battle is over, heal up anyone who needs it, then head south to start the second battle against Death Rattler. Its attacks are a little bit stronger, but it mostly has the same moves as before. New moves include Hatch Open, where it will spawn some Soldiers into the fight, so use of area-of-effect or line attacks should get rid of them quickly. Toxic Gas is similar to Sleeping Gas, but it can poison you. Lastly, Light Surge will make the boss fire two lasers straight ahead from its two cannons on the front. Luckily, these have a small hit window, so you can avoid them easily.

The third battle will take place once you venture south a little more after the second fight, so use the downtime to heal your HP/MP. Once again, it retains most of the moves from before, is a little stronger and even has some new skills in its repertoire. Bullet Blast is similar to Fusillade, but the move will hit everyone. Nerve Gas is almost the same as the other gas moves, but it will paralyze characters. Lastly, Mega Proton Beam is just a sucky move, since it can instantly KO multiple characters, so you hopefully will never see this move.

Note that you are forced to use Sherra in the third battle, so substitute someone like Van as Obaro’s water attacks are good damage. Spreading out your party isn’t necessarily a useful thing, but do it anyways to avoid Flamethrower hitting more than it should. Kanata’s Calamity is a great skill to have here, as the Physical/Magical Mar will hinder damage. Otherwise, it is a straight-forward battle, where you just need to keep everyone’s health up, especially once you finally defeat the boss. This is because it will perform a final attack, called Meltdown, that can deal 100+ damage in human form (around or a little lower while in vulcosuits).

The party will carry on a conversation after the battle is over, where we learn of the empire’s plans and where they might be heading next. Carry on south and then west to find a chest with 5 Bronze Coins, then continue east to an elevator that will bring you to the Catacombs not far from the capital. Some more talking will happen, then you will be free to start making the trek to Maarport, your next destination. Note that despite all of the things that happened, you can still enter Watt and rest up/do some shopping. There will be a new bow for Sherra, as well as a few new skills, although you can’t really get anything. Additionally, there is actually a new upgrade spritnite in the shop, but this one costs 2,000G (boy, upgrading equipment is getting expensive now). Make your way to Maarport when you’re ready.