Venus unleashed!

It took some doing, but I finally tracked down the remaining two Demon Circles, which let me summon Venus.  Unfortunately for me, she was a good distance from where I found the last circle, so it was a bit of a trek to her enraged form.  Good thing I have the spell that reduces the number of random encounters (from very high to merely high, it feels like).

Her design is a bit racy, so I'll put it after the cut.

Searching for Venus

I was thinking about making the title something like "I'm your Venus" or "Venus Envy", but I decided to keep it simple.

Well, that and the fact that I'm still trying to find the last few circles to stop said demoness.  But I suppose I should take a step back and give a brief description of what the funny quest was after I beat Jupiter.

Jupiter Falling

How I have managed to get this far without throwing an astrology term in, I'm not sure.  But there it is, and I have a feeling that coming up with titles for the entries is going to be a lot easier!

Before I begin, I should mention that I was playing the game with a friend came over.  He asked, "Are there really vocaloid songs playing in each encounter?" and I realized that's the sort of information about Demon Gaze that probably doesn't get out.  So, yes, there are vocaloid songs playing for all the non-boss encounters.

I'll discuss the Jupiter fight after the break.

Still plugging away at Grimdor Castle (now with an addendum)

I'm close to finishing Grimdor Castle.  The reason it's taking so long is because not only is it a difficult dungeon, but it's also very, very large.  With all sorts of areas that are sealed off, it's as much an endurance run as anything else.

On the bright side, I now have the ability to have 3 Demon Keys active.  That's made things a lot easier.

Addendum: My apologies for this entry being so much like the last one.  I think it's probably worthwhile going into why the large areas are a problem for this dungeon as opposed to the other ones.

Encounters: I've mentioned the encounters being more difficult.  What this dungeon has liked throwing at me are enemies who make multiple attacks.  Holy Shield is only good against a certain amount of hit points, and these multiple attack enemies make mincemeat out of it.

Because the encounters have been so difficult, I haven't been able to use the Demon Circles as much to upgrade my gear until recently; no point in putting multiple gems in a circle if they're going to summon enemies that kill you.

Also, because I rushed through the water area, I think I was underleveled when I first entered the castle and that's made me a bit gunshy.

Equipment: As I said, I haven't made great use of the Demon Circles until recently, but the equipment I've got out of them seems to have become more specialized.  There's a great armor that I found that allows my character to heal while walking...unfortunately only Shannon-nii and Miriya can wear it.  I would really prefer it to be on Deslocke.

Layout: Other dungeons have been big before.  However, there are a lot of passageways with set encounters in this dungeon.  Until you unlock gates and do sidequests (for the previously mentioned followers of Lord Shark), you have to go a roundabout way through the dungeon.  I'm still unlocking stuff.  Even now that I have most of the layout set, there's still a fair amount of travel time if I want to get to a specific part of the dungeon.

Individually, each of these isn't too much of a problem.  When put together, it's a jump in difficulty.

Still plugging away with Demon Gaze

I am still playing Demon Gaze, but the castle is much more difficult than the previous areas.  It's also a lot larger with multiple levels and gates blocking off areas until you do certain portions.

One thing worth mentioning is the followers of Lord Shark.  The party originally met them in Neptune's domain, which makes sense.  However, you meet his priest in the castle, and for a follower of someone named Lord Shark, he looks very bunny-ish.  It's a WTF, but unlike the other WTFs in the game.

Out of the water and the imprecision of progress bars

I finished Neptune's dungeon.  With the underwater conveyor belts and the inability to cast spells, how can we cap the area off?  How about Neptune healing herself for outrageous amounts of HP?  Ugh, ugh, ugh.

I know I should mess around in the area a bit more to use the demon circles for some gear, but I dislike the area so much that I don't want to be there.

Anyway, making it back led to the "just beat a demon wackiness" that I've come to expect.  The catgirl maid is finally not afraid of the character, so that's good news.  Why?  Even though I don't care for her, I've been picking up these mushrooms, so I'm able to offload them on to her and get a bunch of MP recovery items.

Then we had a tea party!

I have a bad feeling about this...