- "Forget you ever saw this book. It's for your own good." —Esmeralda
Esmeralda is a character in Octopath Traveler. She is the final boss of Tressa’s story, appearing in Chapter 4 to steal the young merchant's notebook.
Story[]
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(I don't think this is where I should be going at the moment...) The following section contains potential story spoilers! |
Although not stated directly in-game, Esmeralda is a member of the Obsidians, as indicated by her clothing, her interest in Graham Crossford’s notebook, the crow tattoo in her concept art, notes from the developers, and the presence of the Obsidian Executives in the dungeon preceding her boss battle.
Esmeralda begins following Tressa due to her possession of Graham Crossford’s notebook. At Grandport, she steals the notebook and takes it back to an unnamed man.
As the two are about to escape through the bazaar, Ali distracts the man while Tressa pursues Esmeralda in the Grandport Sewers. Esmeralda realizes the notebook is of no use to her, likely because it was started and finished before Graham Crossford’s involvement with Lyblac. Despite this, she refuses to surrender the notebook to Tressa, resulting in their confrontation.
Upon defeating Esmeralda, Tressa takes the notebook back and leaves her in the sewer.
Battle[]
Esmeralda will begin the battle with 4 shields, but will increase them by 2 after recovering from a break, for a total of 8 shields. She will also change weaknesses after recovering from each break in the pattern shown above.
Esmeralda has several blade abilities that inflict various effects and are visually represented by a dagger sticking out of the target. Blades all have the following properties:
- Multiple types of blades can affect a single target at the same time.
- Blades and their corresponding effects cannot be removed through the effects of Rehabilitate, Rest, or items. The only way to remove the blades and their effects is to break Esmeralda or to defeat her.
- Esmeralda shifts her weight: Used whenever Esmeralda recovers from a break. The following effects occur:
- After each of the first two breaks, Esmeralda will increase her shields by 2, up to a maximum of 8.
- Esmeralda changes her weaknesses in the following order:
(Initial)
- Always followed by Five Strikes.
- Attack: Physical attack, single target.
- Hack and Slash: Physical attack, single target. Strikes 3 times.
- Raven’s Flight: Debuff. Targets entire party. Decreased Physical Defense for 3 turns.
- Five Strikes: Heavy physical attack, targets random allies. Hits 5 times.
- Red Blade // You are unable to attack!: Prevents the target from using normal attacks.
- Blue Blade // You are unable to use physical skills!: Prevents the target from using physical skills.
- Violet Blade // You are unable to use elemental attack skills!: Prevents the target from using elemental skills.
- Black Blade // If you don't act fast, the wound will prove fatal!: Places a timer on the target that decrements per turn, starting at 4. Once the timer reaches, 0, the target is incapacitated.
- Black Blade Rush // If you don't act fast, the wound will prove fatal!: Applies Black Blade to all party members with timers at 7, 5, 3, and 1 turns. Breaking Esmeralda removes all timers.
Quotes[]
- "You've been nothing but a thorn in my side, so I'm going to nip you in the bud." —To Tressa
- "Ahaha! You have no idea who you're dealing with, kid!" —Before battling Tressa
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
"Esmeralda" is a Spanish name meaning "emerald." This name likely symbolizes Esmeralda's beauty and possibly her greed for treasure as well.
Trivia[]
- In her concept art, Esmeralda has the mark of the crow tattooed on her thighs. This detail was omitted in the sprite, possibly to avoid confusion with Primrose's story.
- Esmeralda's concept art also depicts her holding a piece of paper labeled alternately "memo" and "notes," rather than the knives that appear in her final boss sprite. Another version of her concept art has her holding a gray dagger in her right hand, a red dagger in her left hand, and an unsheathed dagger on her back.[1]
- Esmeralda is one of only two bosses to not die in their respective main character's final chapter, the other being the Ogre Eagle. She's also the only surviving Obsidian boss.
- Her battlefield is used as the background in the DLC stage for "Battle at Journey's End" in Theatrhythm Final Bar Line.
- Esmeralda is the only human final boss without her own voice acting, as she reuses short audio clips and never voices an extended section of dialogue.
References[]
- ↑ The Art of Octopath Traveler 2016-2020, page 124.