Venetica

Exploring the Arsenal District, Scarlett is facing Juma warriors that are the troops of another undead master from the council she's trying to destroy, this one seems to be a princess from some african land.
Seems the undead masters from all over the worlds are part of that council.

They believed their shield would give them an advantage other Scarlett.
How wrong they were.

From a temple overrun by some demons that she helped a priest dealing with, Scarlett enter the land of the dead again and meeting her fallen friend again, she is given another ability, speaking with the spirits of the dead.
An ability that will be useful when finding the corpse of the Sophistos guy that was previously killed before he could tell her some important information.

This growth in power is attracting the attention of another of the leader of the undead masters, that is investigating various places and people Scarlett interacted with .

Well... now a big mammoth post as Star Ocean the Second Story R i basically do now consider as "beaten"... mostly... not entirely; so this is the... for a long time... last post related to this game.

In theory i could now use a New Game+ and still gain even more levels but there is not much hurry doing so as i was already experiencing almost the entire content. The end-game content, which means "Maze of Tribulation and the hardest 3 Arena-battle, including optional (after Maze) boss fights and Unlimited Gabriel" has been beaten in the hardest Game-mode available on Chaos-difficulty. Game time played is around 66 hours at this point.

What still could be done: Using a New Game+ in order to beat the game on Chaos-difficulty right from the start and "all the way and every bosses up toward Maze of Tribulation+" which has so far not been experienced on Chaos-difficulty, as i was in need of the required gears and buildup first. However, right now the party is still below Level 200, max Level is 255, so i still am able to level up on a "New Game+" run for a while or until about the point i was actually fully beating the hardest difficulty.

Anyway, the very hardest content is done now and i do consider it as "finish" for now... until i may have "another go" on a New Game+-run.

I have to say, i was NEVER doing level up "grinding" or item-farming... it was never required as the game is using so many mechanics that can allow for almost any item to be gotten without farming. The only thing that took some sweaty "grinding-hours" was the difficulty of attaching the correct/best buffs on the gears... which was in need of some strategy, knowledge and... a lot of luck with reloads... but... apart from that no grinding-hours.

146.-147. After entering the Maze, from now on everything in Chaos-difficulty... the first gatekeeper was "trying to stop us but we was able to overcome this obstacle.

148. After beating many "mini-bosses" which are acting as a gatekeeper... we found a huge treasure-room. Although almost every treasure is containing trash with the exception of a single one... which would provide Welchs-Signature-weapon, in term she is a party-member.

149. Save-options are limited but right at the middle of the Maze there is a secret-shop with many interesting AND pricey stuff. It apparently was never cheap being a Santa.

150.-151. Another mini-boss which is dropping "Mindhealer"... up to this point Celinas second best weapon. Dependable on the power of the party and if they was previously properly "fishing every single fish" it could stay this way for a good while... yet, those who got a powerful party and was able to catch every single fish so far... they may soon have the chance to get the "true signature-rod" at the bottom of the Maze.

152. This Demon-statue apparently is hungry... but there is a certain secret bound to it.

153. Some upper floor is actually having a "music-goddess"; albeit she is only accepting talented music-artists with a skill of 10 and "nimble fingers".

154. On a rather deep floor there is a secret spell for Celina, the by far most powerful spell that is able to surpass the wildest caster-dreams. If Celina is equipped with this spell and her Signature-rod... she would be able to provide a damage-output comparable to that of our best melees (177-179)... The only issue is, she is only able to become "raised to this level" in the very endgame, very late... while melees can become strong very early in-game.

155.-156. The very last "mini-boss" or gatekeeper.

157.-161. Now this is a test of our strength, only 2 party members allowed... which was sufficient to show them the taste of steel... and a blade.

162.-163. The final test of our strength, this time with a full party.

164.-165. Finally arriving in the final room with lava-water... well... there are fishes inside, hard to believe. This one is the one we will need for completing the fishing-book.

166.-168. Gabriel Celeste, the final boss of Maze of Tribulation... she surely is holy demon but perhaps not much stronger than Unlimited-Gabriel, which both are most likely about 4. place of the strongest enemies.

169.-171. Gabriel Celeste is handing out a special instrument which can be played for creating a special song... and this song will then be able to "summon" Iseria-Queen.. together with "Ultimate-Gabriel" the probably strongest boss ingame... although... ín the arena she will then unlock a battle with both... herself and Gabrielle Celeste at once... which could be nastier than taking her down alone... in the end this "final Arena-fight" is probably the hardest battle ingame.

172. Beating Gabriel Celeste will unlock the Arena-fight rewarding the Planeteer. While... beating Iseria Queen will unlock the final Arena-fight with both Archangels together.

173. Nonetheless... the first final-Arena triple-fight has to be beaten solo... so i was using Dias in order to finally provide Claude with his Signature-weapon... this one is not easy to get.

174.-176. Now the Twin Archangels-fight...

177.-179. Celina "performing" her ultimate Meteor Swarm-spell which is able to even impress the strongest boss-casters ingame... such as Gabrielle.

180.-181. Unlimited Gabriel: He got roughly 12 million HP but the spells are weaker than that of Ultimate-Gabriel, making the survival easier and in the end more of a "endurance-test."

182.-183. Beating him will unlock "The Ten Wise Men" on the Arena. In the Arena Gabriel appears to be about the level of Unlimited Gabriel, yet nothing hits that hard with spells than Ultimate Gabriel.

184. Current party-level.

185.-192. Party-stats.

Venetica

On her way to the Arsenal District catacombs in which she may get something to convince an informant in the tavern, Scarlett explored a bit of the area leading to the Harbor.

She saved a Juma merchant that was under assault from the warrior of the Juma undead master, making more connection is always good to get a better view of what's happening in the world .

After getting a few more side quests done and witnessing the fleet the Doge of Venice is gathering in the harbor, it was time for Scarlett to finally get into the catacombs.

Hmm, living skeletons ! it seems more necromancy sorcery is at play in there

Venetica

The Arsenal District catacombs are filled with living skeletons and raging ghosts.
Those last ones are unbeatable unless you fight them while moving through the spirit world by using your powers, in which case you can break them.

After a grueling amount of battle with those undeads, Scarlett surprisingly meet one of her old informant that seems to have gone through a horrible ordeal himself, having his eyes gouged out by the undead master leader.

But as previously he was usefull and gave more information to Scarlett.
And after using her necromancy abilities she could even get a discussion with one of the spirits left around, something interesting that will make convincing the undead master affiliated women from the tavern to finally help as that was the spirit of her lost beloved.

Now going back to the tavern was another challenge, as bandits are roaming the Arsenal District, but those fools weren't prepared for Scarlett fighting prowess

Venetica


After fighting her way to it, Scarlett is back to the tavern and telling the words of her lost beloved managed to convince the noblewoman servant of the undead masters to give her some help in order to obtain an audience with the administrator of the district.

This so she can finally get her hands on the key to enter Sophistos' tower where his spirit may still linger after he was killed by the persian undead master recently. His spirit still has the information Scarlett is after.

Meanwhile, some side questing lead Scarlett to eliminate some bandit hideouts and solve an issue in the city brothel peacefully this time.
More XP and loot is always good to prepare for the next expedition.

Venetica

Before going for the Sophistos tower, Scarlett is now clearing some of the side quests from her log
Jobs that sent her completing a few errants for the guild she joined , making the guild mistress rather happy as this helps the guild getting more prominence in Venice.

But Scarlett is not saying no to more xp, money and loot from helping the rebels in Venice to sabotage and sink some of the Doge warships. And that's helping her cause too, as the Doge of Venice is a member of the council of the undead masters she's hunting.

And now it's time for the Sophistos tower, getting his spirit to tell us those informations we really need in our undead war.

Venetica

After reaching and entering the Sophistos tower, Scarlett using her powers managed to get into a discussion with the lingering spirit of the murdered Sophistos.

She learned about the specific sorcerous book he was studying that could allow a being to rewrite the rules of the universe. No wonder the leader of the undead masters council was after that book, the guy simply wanted to not only take the place of Death itself but rule over absolutely everything.

The book had to be destroyed, but the spirit of Sophistos seemed somehow corrupted by what he was studying as a part of him is basically not wanting to destroy it, i guess there's a bit of Gollum in that guy "my book, mine"

After investigating around, finally Scarlett managed to discover the book location and using a shovel dig it out of the place it was buried in.

Back to Sophistos tower and big fireplace it was hiding, the book went into ashes, no more anyone would be able to study such abomination.

But gollum.. hmm the spirit of Sophistos went insane and rushed at Scarlett trying to stop her, unfortunately Scarlett was just too powerful and sent his spirit into the other world without much efforts.

Exiting this now useless place, Scarlett ran into an ambush from the juma warriors, she was overpowering them only to discover it was all a distraction, the real threat was observing from above.
The undead master from the juma cast a poisoned needle to her.

Badly poisonned, Scarlett still managed to get away but felt that she was actually dying, how was it possible considering what she became and how she couldn't be really killed anymore ?

What game is this? Oh, and a question for those, who play Star Ocean, those games are not turn based, right?

It's Rebel Galaxy and it's the best space game I've ever played and that's why I keep returning to it. It's on sale for $2 now. Highly recommended.

https://www.gog.com/en/game/rebel_galaxy

Also, on YouTube there's an excellent playthrough of Rebel Galaxy by a guy named Blitz. It helped me learn the game.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4D232HeetQPKKE7ODIBEAhbOzAa2Ntlq

Seems that I already own this game, never played it though. Thanks for the info.

Yes, GOG gave it away years ago with a first purchase during one of the major sales. If you like it, post some screens here!

Venetica

After getting to the doctor of the Arsenal District and a merchant from the juma nation that she saved previously , Scarlett learned that the poison was affecting her because it was something mixed with some necromantic sorcery.
To the surprise of absolutely none, the cure could only be " go and kill the undead master that made that magic poison "

Oh well, just as Scarlett was thinking about her next move, a guild messenger warned her that the juma warriors managed to abduct her brother at the guild.
After getting help from the guild mistress and the gondoliers guild to break the sorcerous barriers protecting the juma warriors, Scarlett launch her assault on the warehouse of the Venice Harbor.

Once the juma warriors were crushed, she managed to free her brother. He was rather furious of himself and of the guild slow teaching because he wasn't powerful enough to defend himself.
He told Scarlett that he was leaving to join a mentor that would make him stronger.
Scarlett rolled her eyes, because she could see miles away who that mentor would be.

Anyways, the undead master managed to escape Scarlett's fury and sailed away toward her nation somewhere in Africa to hide.
Fortunately one of Scarlett's contacts was owing her a lot , allowed her to get aboard a ship.

Next step : the juma nation in Africa, there was more killings to be done.

Venetica

After arriving to the shore of the Juma country, somewhere in Africa, Scarlett disembarked

The land seemed to be covered in some kind of eternal darkness, probably an effect of the undead master sorceress that is ruling that nation. Hopefully once Scarlett would have killed her things will get better.

But as Scarlett noticed, this was definitively enemy territory and they launched an attack on the ship, preventing then any return.

Not much of an issue Scarlett thought, she could always pick a boat somewhere hopefully.

Exploring the land , she battled the beasts roaming around and found what looked like an abandonned village near a massive tree.
Hmm, such a very odd country, where are all the people ?

You must be in the neighborhood of 50 hours playing Venetica. ✔

I haven't counted but i must say that it feels much longer than i remember
Though maybe this time it's because i did a lot more side quests too than last time i played