Theodora Chapter 8 exploration: Repeated reloads for gathering led to a missed preliminary matchMajor spoilers

Original video: First playthrough walkthrough: Theodora Chapter 8 exploration, part 1 | Bilibili creator JeM_TraDer

Before gathering or leveling, plan the return trip around the earliest competition on the calendar. I thought returning by the 16th was enough, but had already missed the qualifier on the 14th.

Reserve the return trip for qualifiers before exploring#

During this exploration in Rendezvous With Troy, I wanted one trip to cover gathering, quests, and leveling. It kept growing, and problems led to reloading and replaying. Only while checking Supports back in town did I notice Orchel had removed her mask, though I had missed the relevant qualifier.

Testing the sea route and managing funds in town#

Before setting out properly, I had restarted the chapter to test the map. The ruins to the upper right were still inaccessible, while a thorough trip through the sea area to the lower right would take a full two weeks. The problem was that I had no clear goal there. Revealing an area does not automatically make the journey worthwhile.

Back in town, I handled exams, requests, temple service, meals, and training first. Gifts and meals helped with recruitment bonds, but I quickly ran out of money. I could not even afford the 600 gold training fee and had to find something to sell. Materials were needed for future forging, and I needed to keep exam certificates, so I looked through weapons and accessories for items I could sell.

Check Renown gates before planning gathering routes#

Some places on the road required Renown 7, which I had not reached. That blocked my planned route and added several days to the journey to the next destination.

I also wanted to collect all the specified fish, but the ones I needed never appeared while other fish kept turning up. My units gained levels, but I still lacked request materials, and staying longer squeezed the return journey. Trying to finish quests, leveling, and gathering at once kept making the trip more demanding.

Reloading loses the current attempt's rewards#

An accident midway through battle forced me to start over. I had to earn the battalion soldiers and gather the materials again, then replay the dungeon. That made me increasingly impatient.

On the second attempt, I wanted to reproduce the earlier good results and considered restarting whenever the rewards were slightly worse. The more impatient I became, the more likely I was to send someone into danger and have them knocked down in one hit. At that point, I decided to return to the main city and end this exploration trip.

Finish reclassing after returning to town#

Once I finally had enough quest materials, I returned to town, saved, and sorted out new abilities, training, and exams. I also discovered that someone was still a Hunter because I had forgotten the planned class change. No wonder their Movement was low. Focusing on materials had made me overlook even that.

At Renown 7, the weapon shop starts selling +1 forged weapons, and the quality of recruitable battalion soldiers improves. Raising Renown earlier would have made the previous exploration much smoother. But the most frustrating discovery was that I had missed the preliminaries. Materials could be gathered again, while that story scene had already passed, and I needed to recalculate the schedule.