Dynamic range in music is dead

If you do some searching online, you’ll find blogs & articles by pro audio engineers and audiophiles expressing their frustration over the lack of dynamic range in music today. This has also been referred to as the loudness war. So what is dynamic range anyway? In basic terms, it’s the different between the softest and loudest parts of an audio recording.

It used to be music was recorded to recreate the excitement of the live performance. That is to say, it had a “wide” dynamic range. Want to hear it loud? Turn up your stereo. You can test this by putting your stereo on a low volume, and comparing a modern rock recording vs a Beatles album (don’t use something that has since been remastered). Pretty big difference.

Around the mid 80’s was when things began to change, probably due in part to the competition between radio stations, and bands trying to ’sound the loudest’. Fast forward to 2009 and almost every modern song you hear has close to zero dynamic range. The purists are furious about this because of what is lost in making music artificially loud. Does anyone really care though? For the most part, not so much.





So what’s happened is over the course of the last 25 years or so, we’ve been trained to equate “loud” with “good”. And since the average person doesn’t know anything about dynamic range, we’ve collectively gone with whatever radio, MTV & iTunes tells us is cool.

While it’s pretty clear that it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to keep making albums louder and louder, it’s also unlikely that we will go back to doing things the way they were 25 years ago. Like it or not, dynamic range may be gone for good.

Gutter Anthems - Enter The Haggis

If you have never heard of them before, Enter the Haggis is usually described as a celtic rock band, mainly because of the bagpipes, pan flute & fiddle. They have been featured on Regis & Kelly, Canada AM (video at the bottom), PBS and Breakfast with the Arts (A&E). Back in the early days, ETH made a name for themselves on the celtic/irish festival circuit for their modern/high energy interpretations of traditional celtic & irish songs, but on the past few albums they have been evolving tremendously, taking some exciting genre-bending risks along the way.

Now, i should mention their last album “Soapbox Heroes” - was probably my least favorite ETH album (sorry guys hehe). The production was slick, the musicianship was exemplary as usual and there were a few catchy tunes like new monthly flavour & one last drink, but something was just lacking for me overall. I do not feel this way about Gutter Anthems at all. I cannot stop listening to this album, check my last.fm profile for proof! This album is a very special musical creation and while i don’t usually talk about album reviews here, today i make an exception.

Here are some of my personal favorites:

Litter & the Leaves: a ridiculously catchy nod to Dropkick Murphy’s, Green Day & Freddy Mercury

Cameos: A great poppy folk song many will find reminiscent of Great Big Sea.

Death of Johnny Mooring: A hard rocker that tells the story of a Canadian fiddle great who was killed outside a bar one night in 1974. The vivid imagery in storytelling is prevalent on other tracks as well (check out “Noseworthy & Piercy”!).

DNA: One of the catchiest, radio friendly songs on the album. Love the REM/Goo Goo Dolls’ish guitar melodies.

Lights & Cars: Lush vocal harmonies, the ending reminds me of “They Stood up for Love” by Live. Check it out, i’m not crazy.

Murphy’s Ashes: Rush would be proud of this prog-rock instrumental accomplishment. As a musician myself i can tell you shuffle + hard rock is not an easy thing to pull off but when it works (as it does here) it’s awesome.

Suburban Plains: Fans of Paul Simon’s Graceland or world music should dig this tune, featuring some masterful drumming/percussion and African inspired guitar lines.

These are just my personal favorites, but every track is strong. I think that’s part of what makes this album so special. Like classic ‘rootsy’ albums that came before it such as “Crash” by Dave Matthews Band, Gutter Anthems is a melodic tour de force which i HIGHLY recommend everyone should check out.

You can listen to the whole album for free here. If you like what you hear, share their music with your friends, buy their stuff, go to their shows & be sure to follow them on Twitter / Facebook / Myspace & Youtube.

Zeitgeist: Addendum

A chilling yet fascinating look at the current financial crisis.

Marketers are like VC’s

A venture capitalist may be invested in hundreds of start-ups, the majority of which never achieve their objectives. However, because the payoff can be so high, when their investments do well it pays for the losses and even returns a profit. It proves the model works.

With all the noise out there these days, it’s unreasonable to expect you can hit a marketing homerun on command. However, with enough “at bats” you are going to knock a few out of the park and prove all your naysayers wrong. The question is, how many at bats are you taking with your marketing?

My letter to Go Transit

For those not from the Toronto area, GO transit provides commuter train & bus services from the burbs to union station (downtown hub). Now, GO is waaaaaay behind technologically speaking, and is plagued by constant delays & technical difficulties. As a web developer, i was excited when i learned today that BART in San Francisco is now exposing it’s data to the community. It got me thinking, and a little bit angry though. Why aren’t our transit companies offering the same things? If they are i want to know when we can expect it.

So… i sent them an email with a few recommendations:

1. Create a http://code.google.com/transit/spec/transit_feed_specification.html for the trains, which would get the detailed station & scheduling information into Google Maps.

2. For each train station, come up with a way to track the # of mins until the next train arrives and publish/maintain this information as XML for the developer community on the GO website.

3. Publish/maintain the Go Transit train schedule as XML for the developer community.

4. Publish/maintain all service advisories in XML format for the developer community in realtime.

I doubt i will get a response, but i will update if i do.

February 17th, 2009: Update - i received a response from Metrolinx (who i also sent my inquiry too). Here is what they had to say:

Note that you have sent your comments to Metrolinx. We are a provincial agency created by the Government of Ontario in 2006 and are tasked with addressing the urgent need to improve and integrate transportation in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA). Our mission is to develop a state-of-the-art transportation system that moves people and goods efficiently, economically and in an environmentally sustainable way. In doing so we are working closely with all of the transit authorities in the GTHA. However we are not involved in their day-to-day operations.

The GO Transit website is administered by GO Transit and as such I have passed your inquiry on to their Public Relations department publicrelations@gotransit.com. If you wish you can send further comments on their website to this e-mail address.

Metrolinx continues to maintain a close relationship with GO Transit as reflected in “The Big Move”, our regional transportation plan for the GTHA. You can review and/or download “The Big Move” at: http://www.metrolinx.com/thebigmove/index.html .

Best Regards,
Jacquie

Jacquie Menezes
Senior Associate, Public Affairs and Media
Metrolinx (Greater Toronto Transportation Authority)
Jacquie.Menezes@metrolinx.com
416.874.5923
www.metrolinx.com

And the response from GO Transit directly:

Thanks for writing about the GO Transit Web site. I have forwarded your suggestions to our Web committee for review. In the meantime, thanks again for sending valuable feedback — we appreciate your ideas and links to other sites.

Allison Derin
Webmaster
GO Transit
mailto:webmaster@gotransit.com

Again, i will update as i receive updates. Follow me on Twitter and i will send a Tweet as/if it happens.

Some tips on using social media for bands

Have you heard of Joe Purdy? Me neither. He made a healthy six-figures last year from his music, bought a house & sold more than 650,000 tracks on iTunes. How?

A good friend of mine was over for dinner last night and we had a chat about his band’s marketing efforts for their upcoming album, and here are some of the ideas that came out of our discussion:

- Maintain a blog/podcast, Twitter account, Facebook group, Myspace presence and any other worthwhile social media tools out there (don’t neglect them!)
- Advertise all the above at shows, in interviews, on the band’s website…EVERYWHERE!
- Give away mp3’s of your music for free (from your website), and encourage people to share it with their friends using the above tools. Maybe even seed it on Bittorrent.
- Never spend a cent on traditional advertising. It costs way too much to cut through the noise these days and the ROI is small.
- Use social media to ‘rally the troops’, crowdsource & interact with your fans - keep them engaged!
- Make damn sure all your music is on iTunes & Amazon. Even though they may have a few mp3’s they got for free from you your true fans will buy your music.
- Have a consistent ‘branding’ from the myspace page to the live show

The bottom line is, these days people have too much choice, and to make matters worse there is too much noise in the world. This means people aren’t listening to you. They are however, listening to their friends and people they trust. The key is finding people who have the Otaku for your music and making it as easy as possible for them to do your marketing for you.

I almost forgot - above all else, make amazing music.

Campbell Brown interview with Blago

Man, she goes straight for the jugular and doesn’t beat around the bush!

Is this thing dangerous?

Arvale: Journey of Illusion Walkthrough for iPhone

Note: Credit goes to MichaelTadashi over @ PDAmill for putting this together. Just thought it would be helpful to iPhone users to have this in HTML format (his requires a ZIP file download) - enjoy!

1. Entoque Castle

You play as the character Duncan Forsythe, the chosen Legendary Hero. In the beginning scenario with King Entoque VII, you are told to go to the town of Nikal, north of Entoque Castle, and visit the Tutorial House there to learn more about the world and the Dragon.

As you start, you are allowed to check out the treasuries in the castle. As you talk to the girl name Silk in the prison, she will ask you to help her out. As you agree, she tells you that you’ll need to bring her the Skeleton Key. The guard near the prison staircase tells you to look for Rufus on the upper wall regarding the key. Rufus will require 200G for the key. Now get back to Silk in the prison. She will take the key and give you the Dragon Scroll, and ask you to give the scroll to Breyn in Thimpote.

2. Nikal

In the Arvale Tutorial Room, you will learn about the system of the game. Get a Nikal Genuine Draft from the Inn (for the Beer quest). After you are done here, you would try to go north to Thimpote, but the guard at the bridge tells you to get the Hero Amulet from the Hero’s Cave before you can pass.

3. Hero’s Cave

You must read the book to the right of the entrance in order to open the first door. Get the Hero Key from the treasure chests in the room to the right. Go all the way up and you will fight the Mage. After you defeated him, you can obtain the Hero Amulet from the chest.

4. Gleymdal Forest (Optional)

This is one of the monster camps in the game where you can gain some experience and levels. The only thing you can do here is to defeat the cursed Evil Ent and restore peace to the forest.

5. Thimpote

Talk to Breyn near the well. You will give him the Dragon Scroll in exchange for the Crypt Key which you need to access the Arhaeldem Ruins. He also asks you to get back to him after visiting the ruin. Also visit the Thimpote Conservatory for some information regarding the Dark Dragon and Sorcynth. Talk to Ashe in the conservatory, and he will ask you to bring back some Abesyne from the Arhaeldem Ruins in order to make a powerful potion to put the dragon back to sleep.

6. Arhaeldem Ruins

If you go straight up to the locked door, you will learn that you need to align the spear and the dragon in order to open the door. The spear and the dragon are in the lower floor. As you enter the door, you will see some Abesyne on the floor, but you will have to fight the great Arhaeldem God, Ypolleus in order to get it.

7. Thimpote

Talk to Breyn again, and he will ask you to meet him at the ‘Salty Orc’ Pub in the port town of Dhierce. Talk to Ashe again and he will take the Abesyne and mix the Comapotion for you.

8. Dhierce
Talk to Breyn in the bar. He will tell you the truth behind the Legendary Hero’s quest. He asks you to visit Tsilon’s Lair in the Locrian Mountain, where the Dark Dragon Tsilon asleep. However, you will need the Dragon Key, which the town Magistrate may have an idea about it. Besides that, you will need some potion in contrary of the Comapotion in order to wake Tsilon. Talk to the Magistrate, he will ask you to persuade his daughter Kyra in Nikal to come back to him in exchange of the information about the Dragon Key. Also, if you talk to Rofe in one of the house, he will ask you to deliver the Cook Book to his brother in Idraces. This is just a side quest. Also, don’t forget to get a Dhierce Brew from the bar for the beer quest. By the way, if you go to the dock, you will learn that the ship is under repair.

9. Nikal

On your way to Nikal, drop by Thimpote and talk to Ashe. He will make you an Amonipotion with your Comapotion. Find Kyra in the town (she is walking around outside the inn). In order to make her goes home, she ask for an authentic Entoquian Soldier’s sword. You can get the sword from one of the soldier in the soldier room in Entoque Castle. After you give her the sword, she asks for a new Brooch this time and meets her in the bar (inn) when you get it. You can buy an Onyxide Brooch at 300G from Rufus in the Item house in Thimpote. As you get into the Nikal bar (inn), it seems that a Slimey Sorcynth is teasing Kyra. After you fight off the bad guy, Kyra finally agrees to go home, and you give her the brooch of course. Now that Kyra has gone home, the Dhierce Magistrate will give you the Dragon Key.

10. Locrian Mountains / Tsilon’s Lair

This is a pretty straight forward mountainous area. Near the end of the mountain path, you will fight the Warrior Orc. After you enter Tsilon’s Lair, you will see Tsilon the Dark Dragon lying deep inside. Instead of fighting him, you tell him what Breyn had told you, and he asks you to find and wake the other three dragons.

11. Dhierce

As you enter the town, you will notice someone unfamiliar near the entrance. Talk to the guy (elf) who introduces himself as Brodun. He tells you that the ship has been repaired and is leaving for Klumet on the Stygian continent, where you should go (where else you can go in fact?).

12. Klumet

On your way to Klumet, there is a scenario where a Socynth General is reporting your situation to his mysterious superior. Once you reach Klumet, just walk around and talk to people. Here, you will get yourself into three side quests.

i. In an Old Man’s house, he asks you a favor to help him on the laundry. As you agree, you will soon find out
that you need soap. You can get the soap from Thimpote, in the conservatory, on the long table between the
man and woman where the samples are. You get 400G for the laundry.

ii. Outside the old man’s house, you will meet Aryeill, mother to a sick boy Jephyl. You give her 400G for
buying potion. When you visit the boy is his house, the doctor suggests that the Hydrephyl Herbs may help
the boy. (You will get into this in the later part)

iii. When you come across an Entoque Knight, he mention about his ex-girlfriend name Violet in Dhierce (Note:
This conversation will only happen if you have talked to Violet beforehand), and he asks you for a favor to
deliver a Love Letter to her. When you do so, let Violet write a reply (Love Letter 2) to the knight, and you
have to be the dispatch boy again. Then, the knight asks you to tell Violet that he will meet her. And you tell
Violet about that, she will thank you and give you the Ancient Key.

When you talk to the sailor, you learn that the captain lost his Serpent Compass and the Leviathan Map, which are necessary to travel to other continents. When you meet a man name Runkip, he tells you that he is doing some research on the mines in Pike and that he is working out some sort of map, and he also mention about the Serpent Compass. In the Inn, you need to pay for a sleep in different rooms in order to get access to the treasure chests locked in the rooms. Don’t forget to get a Klu Bru from the bar.

13. Arhaeldem Ruins

With the Ancient Key you get from Violet, you can now enter the locked house near the entrance of the ruin. In the house, you will read some notes left by Blynt and you will find the Dragon Stun, the weapon used to put the Dark Dragons to sleep. Whether you obtain the Dragon Stun or not decides which ending you will get.

14. Stygian Forest

As you get out from Klumet, there is only one place you can head to – the Stygian Forest. As you enter the forest, there is a ferryman offering ferry service, but a ticket will cost you 10,000G! Pay for it if you could afford, otherwise just walk through the forest. Midway through the forest, you meet Rufus, and he informs you about the large Troll blocking the north exit. At the end of the forest, you will fight the Forest Troll.

15. Pike

Chat around and you will hear about the mining business here and the trading activity with Melonchi. You also learn that the only way to go to Idraces is through the Durkire Marsh. Visit the pub and get a Pike Stout. Remember the guy in Nikal hankering for fresh Pike water? Get one from the lady near the well for 10G. Give the water to the guy in Nikal and he will thank you by giving you some magic items. When you try to get into the mine, the Mining Captain rejected your application somehow. Now, you can either go to the Hermit Cave or head to Idraces through the Durkire Marsh.

16. Hermit Cave (Optional)

This cave is just another monster camp in the game. It is a pretty straight forward cave. Near the deep end of the cave, you will fight Iggy and read some notes left by Blynt.

17. Durkire Marsh

This is also optional – provided you have a ferry ticket that can bring you straight to Idraces. This is a rather confusing marsh and it is not in a linear dimension – exits join at points it seems impossible to be, some sort of space warping. In order to get to the right way, you have to follow the directions given by the sign. However, bear in mind that the directions (E,W,N,S) mean the exit to take on that particular room, and not necessary the direction of walking. For example, in a room where you should take the west exit, you may need to walk down then left then up then left to reach the exit.

18. Idraces

Go to the bar, you will meet Silk there. She will tell you about the story of Kryphen and Sorcynth. She also tells you that the next dragon is probably in the mountains to the southwest – which you cannot enter before you talk to Silk. And after you are done with the dragon, you shall visit the Old House to the northeast. Before you go for the dragon, remember Rofe in Dhierce asked you to deliver the Cook Book to his brother in Idraces? In return, his brother will ask you to deliver the Fung Shui Guide to Rofe. You can deliver it now or later. There is another little side quest here. A woman is looking for her cat, which you saw near the entrance.

19. Skaphe Lake (Optional)

Before you go for the southwest mountain, you can come to this lake northwest of Idraces. You have heard about this lake in Idraces. This another monster camp of the game and it is a very straight forward place. In the house at the end, there are two chests locked by the Skaphe Key. Then, a Sorcynth Officer shows up and you get into a fight with him. You obtain the key after you defeated him. That’s it for this place.

20. Klaetrocus Lair

Just as you are about to enter the lair, some Sorcynth Workers notice you and get you into a fight. Continue on and you will see Klaetrocus, the Earth Dragon.

21. Veritaes Base

Go downstair, and you will see all Veritaes members are there for a meeting. Stand next (below) to Silk and the meeting will start automatically. Just as the meeting is going to end, the guard informs everyone that several Sorcynth Soldiers are approaching the base. As you get upstairs, the Sorcynth workers attack you. Finish them off and head out of the base. Now you can go to Pike or Stygian Forest via the ferry as Breyn has given you a ticket.

22. Klumet

Talk to Runkip, and he will give you the Mining Map. Give the map to the Mining Captain in Pike and he will let you enter the mines. Before you get back to Pike, you may want to sail back to Dhierce to settle the book side quest, and also to Nikal for the Pike water side quest.

23. Pike

Talk to the Mining Captain, and then the Foreman will allow you to enter the mines. But before you enter, visit the Item shop and get some mining gears i.e. a Lighter and a Pick. You will find the Serpent Compass in the northwest corner of the mines.

27. Klumet

Talk to the sailor. With the Serpent Compass, now you can sail to Kytar Continent.

28. Blue Harbor

Just as you go ashore, you hear a woman shouting of a robbery. Fight off the thieves. Talk to Fyllos the botanist. He will give you information regarding the Hydrephyl Herbs which you need to heal the boy Jephyl in Klumet. You can find it in the Vastid Cacti Garden on Soneros continent, and he will give you the Trident Spade in order to get the herbs after he bluffs you about the way to get the spade. But how would you sail to Soneros? Talk to Garef the cartographer, and he tells you that the Entoque King has one of the five original copies of the Leviathan Map, and he can make a copy for you. As you wander around the harbor, you also heard about the King Highwatch in the Highwatch Castle, and also Invyl town on Soneros. Before you leave, don’t forget to get a Blue Beer from the bar.

29. Highwatch Castle

Talk to King Highwatch. It seems that Brodun is the prince of Highwatch. He requests you to tackle the Black Thieves in the Chartreuse Forest in exchange for information on the dragon. While the King offers you a rest in the room, you dream of fighting Tsilon and is waken up. As you walk out of the room, you realize that you cannot leave the castle at night. Go upstairs and you will meet Brodun, and he tells you about the story on Kytar continent between the Kytar, Majesto, Dividions and Sorcynth. As you wake up the next morning, you are free to leave. Now you can either head to the Chartreuse Forest as you suppose to, or you can go to the Beylord Castle and Maestyl.

30. Maestyl (Optional)

It is located at the southeast corner of the continent. In the upper big house, the Warrior Spirit tells you that the town and the people are cursed and that you have to defeat him in order to free them from the curse.

31. Beylord Castle (Optional)

Go downstairs, and you will see Beylord the vampire in his coffin. He will tell you his story – and it is related to Sorcynth again. To fight him or not, is up to you.

32. Chartreuse Forest

At the end of the forest, you will fight the Master Thief. At this point, you actually should go back to King Highwatch for information regarding the dragon, but in fact you can actually go straight to the dragon lair through the back door hidden behind the bookshelf in the house.

33. Malzubed Lair

Just as you enter, the thieves notice you are intruder (although you try to bluff them) and will fight you. And you will fight another Master Thief as well. After you answer the questions at the door, enter and you will find Malzubed the Fire Dragon.

34. Highwatch Castle

Talk to King Highwatch for information about the dragon, although you have found it. Now that you are gong to find the last dragon, you need to sail to Soneros. Remember the cartographer in Blue Harbor saying that the Entoque King has the map?

35. Entoque Castle

Talk to the King and he will give you the Entoque Key to enter the chamber. The map is on the table. So now you can sail to Soneros from Dhierce. Note that you must have the map with you in order to travel to Soneros, so don’t give the map to the cartographer for duplication yet.

36. Soneros

There is nothing much beside some information from the town people. There is a side quest here. A Guru will ask you all sort of philosophy questions. You get a mace if you proceed correctly. Also, there is a villa for sale here. You will be able to cut the price only if you have read a book on how to buy expensive house in Pike. Buying the villa or not will not affect the game, but with the Villa Key, you get the Ultiven Wand from the cabinet. Note that there are two beers you could obtain here – Soneros Red from a girl near the beach, Soneros Light from the bar.

37. Werewolves Cave (Optional)

At the end of the cave, you will fight the Pack Leader. You get the Moon Stone by defeating him. You can trade the stone for 1000 gold.

38. Vastid Desert

You can get some latest equipments from Queous before coming here. Here you can find the Hydrephyl Herb needed to heal Jephyl in Klumet. It is near the lower left corner of the desert. At the center of the desert, you will fight the Desert Spirit and obtain the Ice Sceptre.

39. Queous

In the bar, you encounter a few Sorcynth Workers and get into fights. Get a Queous Beer afterwards. Now you can head to Invyl by the ferry.

40. Invyl

Talk to the Guild Master in the top house – he is Silk’s 300-year-old greatn grandfather! He told you that the dragon could be to the west, and if you travel to the Nedge Ice Plains, you will need an Ice Sceptre, which you obtained from the Vastid Desert. While the Guild Master offers you to rest in the Inn, you couldn’t sleep and go outside, and meet Silk and hear her story. In the Guild Master’s house, if you talk to Gyrne and agree to get him some Mithryl from Melonchi, he will make you the best weapon – the Ultiven Sword.

41. Mevallus Forest (Optional)

Before you go to the Nedge Ice Plains, you can come to this forest, yet another monster camp to gain some levels. Near the center of the forest, you will fight the Forest Troll.

42. Nedge Plains

Follow the instruction given by the Ice Sceptre. As you enter the icy room outside Hyandine’s Lair, some Sorcynth soldiers and a Knight are waiting for you. Finish them off and go in to wake Hyandine the Water Dragon. While you have waken all four dragons and have no idea what is next, Hyandine senses that Tsilon is in danger and ask you to look for Tsilon. As you are about to leave, Silk shows up and tell you that Tsilon has been captured by Sorcynth, and that you have no choice but to go to the Sorcynth Factory. But in order to pass the tight security in the Sorcynth Factory, you will need a Sorcynth ID and some disguise. You can obtain them from the Sorcynth Outposts on Kytar and Entoque Continents.

43. Melonchi (Optional)

To go to Melonchi, talk to the sailor in Soneros. After a discussion with the captain, they agree to risk it to go to Melonchi, as you agree to fight the Leviathan. You obtain the Leviathan Scale after you defeated it. In Melonchi, talk to Grwyth the Jewel Master. In order to make a Mithryl Gem, he tells you to collect 5 Gems – 1 Sunstone, 1 Diamond, 1 Sapphire, 1 Crystal, and 1 Ruby, which can be found throughout the cave. Talk to all the dwarves, and the corresponding dwarves will give you the gems. (Hint: All in extended areas). After you get all the gems, talk to Grwyth and he will ask you to bring them to Aybrund to make Mithryl. After you hand over all the gems, talk to Aybrund again and he will give you the Mithryl. (Note: This will only happen if you have wakened all four dragons). Before you leave Melonchi, you can go to the Swelling Slope (far upper left), where you fight a lot of Rock-Head and the Rock-Master. Also, if you talk to the same dwarves again, they will give you the gems again, but you cannot sell them or get another Mithryl.

44. Invyl (Optional)

Talk to Gyrne in the elder’s house whom you promised to bring the Mithryl to him. Talk to him again and he will give you the Ultiven Sword made from the Mithryl.

45. Blue Harbor (Optional)

Talk to Garef the cartographer. You will give him the Leviathan Map for duplication. Talk to him again and he will give you the Duplicate Map together with the original Leviathan Map.

46. Kytar Sorcynth Outpost

As you enter, a Sorcynth Soldier will approach and fight you. After you settle him, get inside the house and out to the yard. You will find the Sorcynth Clothing in the chest.

47. Klumet (Optional)

Go to Jephyl’s house and talk to the doctor. You will give him the Hydrephyl Herb. Now talk to his mother Aryeill. Talk to the doctor again and it seems the herb works. Talk to Jephyl and he will thank you. Talk to Aryeill again and she will give you the Ultiven Shield and Ultiven Armor which belonged to Jephyl’s late father as a token of her gratitude.

48. Entoque Castle (Optional)

Remember the King Entoque VII asked you to return the Leviathan Map to him after use? Well, you will, but the duplicate . He will then give you the Armory Key to access the armory room as a reward for your duty.

49. Entoque Sorcynth Outposts

As you enter, a Sorcynth Soldier will approach and fight you. After you settle him, get inside the house and out to the yard, and you will find a Sorcynth ID in the chest.

50. Idraces (Optional)

Go to the bar and talk to the Kytar soldier who is dying for alcohol. First he will tell you his situation and asks you for a favor to get him ales from all over the world. Talk to him again, and you give him all the beers you obtained prior to this – Blue Beer, Dhierce Brew, Nikal Genuine Draft, Pike Stout, Klu Bru, Soneros Red, Soneros Light and Queous Beer. He will reward you by 10000 gold.

51. Sorcynth Factory

As you try to enter the main door, the Sorcynth Guard stops you, and you are able to fool them by putting on the Sorcynth Clothing and the Sorcynth ID.

1F: Found Blue Key
2F: Found Red Key (From ‘Blue room’)
1F: Found Green Key (From ‘Red room’)
Found Yellow Key (From ‘Green room’)
2F: Found Level 3 Key (From ‘Yellow room’)
3F: Meet Ra, the Entoque chamberlain. Defeat him.
Found Orange Key
1F: Found Purple Key (From ‘Orange room’)
Found Pink Key (From ‘Purple room’)
2F: Found Level 4 Key (From ‘Pink room’)
4F: Found Gold Key
Found Tsilon. Fight Tsilon.
Note: If you have obtained the Dragon Stun from Arhaeldem Ruins, there will be two options during the
last dialogue with Tsilon.
For ‘not-so-good-ending’, choose “Shoot.” and defeat him. Then Tsilon will be gone.
For ‘good ending’, choose “Hmmm…if I use Blynt’s Spear…” and defeat him. Then Tsilon will fell
asleep again. (You defeat him with normal weapon, not using Dragon Stun which you cannot choose).
1F: Found Level 5 Key (From ‘Gold room’)
5F: Meet Breyn – Kryphen actually. And he will reveal the entire shocking story behind.
You fight and defeat him for the first round.
6F: Fight Breyn (Kryphen) again after he drink the Dark Elixir and transforms into a monster.

*Trick: There is an Augment Point before you meet Kryphen for the final battle. If you have enough golds, you
can boost your stats to as high as you like. He will be done by just one hit.

Good ending: After you defeated Kryphen, Silk shows up.
And the prince and princess are living happily forever…blah…blah…blah…

Not-so-good ending: After you defeated Kryphen, Brodun shows up. So, only Hero survives and no fairy tales.

Can Microsoft market a product or what?

Sweet jesus. The best part is the girl is using a macbook pro.