#Elk plays TLP

[elkian]

chapter 23

“lol elk you’re a bit behind did you forget-” no. this chapter fucking murdered me.

First thing’s first

Ivan is a cheating cheater who cheats, so he has a crit rate at range with the shadow sword, which in theory is not supposed to be possible. I found this out 20+ turns in to this 24-turn map.

THINGS I’VE CHANGED:

I tried to train some of my lower units (Itsuke, Yue, Arthur, and Rex; Lirin to an extent) on my previous attempts. I will not do that. I am bringing Team Steamroll because I need someone who has a fucking chance to hit the boss.

re: having chance to hit the boss: I cheaped out on weaponry last attempt, and what few attacks could hit couldn’t finish him and he would murder anyone on a counter.

What do these four shots have in common?

...

These are my only units with 20+ Skill. I have 33 Units - including a number of Prepromotes - and a grand total of 4 of them have 20 or more Skill.

I’ve said it before on previous chapters, but this playthrough more than anything burned into my brain that, at the very least, Skill is not a dump stat when you don’t have enough of it.

With his paltry Defense but excellent Luck, Anakin had the least chance of being critted to death but could barely survive a regular hit. And a 4% chance to lose a Plot Character is officially Too Damn High.

Levion will be my Tactical Nuke of choice this run. Not only does he have the best Skill of most of my army, he has the defenses to tank return fire and enough Con to keep his Speed above being doubled, not to mention access to Lances.

While I was in here - and I need to clear some Inventory space for this and the next stage - I realized there’s no reason not to promote Kelik. He’s capped, Anakin’s promoted, Shon’s going to promote this run, and Sieg can’t use it.

Note that Kelik cannot go head to head with Ivan either. I’m not really sure what Blazer was thinking - Shon’s promotion gains are far better (though that might be a slight on Shon, since he needs all the help he can get).

Oh, and his official titel is...

Suuuuuure, Blazer. Sure.

Actually, he has a support with Althares and Levion, so it may be worth bringing him next attempt.

Anyways. Upon actually checking the numbers, trying to Dodge Ivan is nigh-impossible, which is a useful consideration.

I’ve replaced Yue, Itsuke, Arthur, and Rex with Levion, Inanna, Tamiko, and Ace.

Yes. Inanna. Why?

Because Triangle Attack if Levion can’t nuke Ivan in time is why.

Alice is an absolutely amazing Prepromote and comes equipped with an Elixir, Silver Lance, and Wind Sword(40 charges!). She doesn’t take up a deployment slot nor require inane recruitment shenanigans to start. One of my few regrets on this level was not requipping her better so that she didn’t need to keep using Wind Sword charges.

Oh, and I have a save file from my failed previous attempt if anyone wants to figure out how to kill Ivan with 4 turns to go and a passel of units that would melt if he looked at them wrong.

I just noticed that Inanna and Alice are the same level. After being fed like 3(?) Angelic Robes, Inanna is +6HP, -4 Skl, +1Spd, -6Lck, -3Def, and +1Res. Ouch.

Some inventory management. One of my BIGGEST regrets on my last attempt was only bringing the Armor Cutter and then the person wielding it always being in the wrong spot.

Oh yeah, I promoted Mark. He and his shiny new stats look super sweet. He’s a few points up on Liquid, who was my first pick for this level.

If I have to repick, I’ll probably trade out the pegs for Eduardo and Liquid, or possibly Shadow there.

OH

YEAH

THAT

An important consideration for Shon’s (absurdly heavy) super-special sword is that the Brave Effect takes place before enemy counterattacks. And he caps for-

-oh god, this is going to be one of THOSE runs isn’t it.

Anyways, Shon fulfills his Destiny(TM). Something I realized is that his sprite looks oddly probably because it’s a recolored Eliwood sprite. That hair in particular.

Again, the stat gains! +2 minimum in everything but luck, +3 and +5 to Def and HP respectively. Did Blazer use standard gains for Kelik and not Shon, or the other way around?

I recommend following along Blastinus’ LP, btw, since I’m very tired and not going to go over every detail, especially inventory management.

I’m more careful re: positioning, so the steel Lance cav closest attacks Inanna (miss)  and this mage attacks Mark. I’m kinda surprised he managed that counter, to be honest. No one else is in reach.

And here we have the True Boss of the map. This Bishop is equipped only with Physic, and is bound and determined to make your life a living hell.

:( even with Effective Weaponry Karina cannot 1-shot this cav. She and Innana do not have Delphi shields, so I need to be sure to knock out that archer before proceeding. (Archer is also in the outmost range of the hand axe Fighter nearby).

Lirin eats the Steel Lance Cav that attacked Inanna. 

On one hand, I’m enthused that she can almost double this archer to death. On the other, I’m sad she can’t double this archer to death. Also, 33 HP feels like a lot even for a level 16 Archer.

I always forget about Berserker crit rates

Everyone piles on the Steel Sword Cav, the last living foe in range. Sieg was doing this on my last attempt, too, as if to taunt me.

I was wrong, Karina’s in range of the Fire mage and a Javelin Cav to the north. Ace runs up to switch her to Javelins.

Anakin refreshes Tamiko and she takes out the Axereaver Soldier through the wall.

Dream big, buddy, dream big. (She crits them immediately)

And again! Crit on the second hit.

This is important: this is the range of the Bloody Rifle Sniper. I’d forgotten that Bloody Rifles are Killer Longbows.

Also, you can see that the jav cav stayed put since the mage moved first (and missed on 70+%. glad it’s not just me.)

Parking Mark on that hill just out of BR range leads to some unexpected hilarity and an excellent level.

This Fighter makes some questionable choices, though I will say I think this is the first time Alice took a hit on any of my attempts.

Jav Cav runs into melee range and joins the ranks of mooks who failed to hit Tamiko. The level’s a bit meh but she’s already incredible.

Lyam managed, across two turns, a pair of BR hits vs the stationary soldier indoors. I guess the first hit didn’t bring their health low enough to proc the Bishop.

Anakin Motivates Mark and gets this timely, if not exactly impactful, level.

Why did he refresh Mark, you may ask?

this is why. GET BENT.

By coincidence (Mark) and design (Shon), this plants my dudes right out of mage range. I will walk someone in there in a second though.

By luck I manage to Rescue-chain Althares to just below that zone, with Alice and Emma and no real wasted movement.

That Knight has the Brave Lance, btw, so be sure to keep them switched to the Javelin til you can kill them.

oop. Forgot that indoor Knight had a Jav too.

OH. THIS MAGE HAD ELFIRE. THAT’S RIGHT.

Karina misses but doubles since Elfire is heavy, and gets a timely level.

This troubadour is bugged or something - this is the second attempt in a row they’ve run up to a wounded ally and done nothing.

Of course it’s the redundant (Knight Levion just damaged) that you get a crit on. Still better than Storm.

Mark and Shon team up to kill the Knight (Shon has a free inventory slot and I don’t want the Brave Lance ending up with Liuke) and Karina takes Lirin’s Delphi Shield and soars up to switch Shon back to javelins.

Honestly one of the biggest crimes of this level is there’s no chance Liuke will be mobile, so if you mess up on inventory management sweet, useful loot will drop and have nowhere to go. There’s no shortcut back to him - it’s turn 6 and we’re just now in sight of the door.

that lower Mage has Dasher, which apparently has an animation in other versions of this Hack, but not this one.

Probably the smartest move in terms of survivability. Shon’s high Luck negates the Short Bow crit.

jeeeeez-us. Shon doubles the Dasher mage to death for a decent level whilst I contemplate how close we came to a reset here.

Aircalibur mage. The tome is fittingly as light as air, so they can put their full 11 speed to work fwiw. I will not be parking Karina in range.

That Fighter has a Steel Axe and the Sage has Thunder. Tread careful.

Mark dispatches the archer for this dodgy level.

It’s a good idea, on a map like this, to manually end each unit’s turn. For example, while paging through Units, I’d totally forgotten Anakin to the south. That would have been a pain to make up for. Instead he runs up to refresh Lyam for giggles.

Althares is on a House so he has some terrain advantages. Kinda wishing I’d brought his promotional now. Ah well.

Oh and I lied. I put the Short Bow (remember, Blazer hacked it to have 1-2 range) on Lyam and put him on the forest in front of the Fighter just to see, and he ends up melting the AC mage for no damage himself.

I actually got a crit on this potshot on the next turn only to realize that wasn’t the Sage and to reset. Sage does not get hit and I reset again because that was for actual joaks. I have no idea with the Bloody Rifle, honestly.

7 turns in to a 24-turn level and we are just now in sight of the door. A thief is about to spawn btw. The Door Key Knight and Chest Key Mage are buggy - the Knight will unlock the door, while the Mage will step on, but not open, the upper-leftmost chest, which is the first one the thief can reach. It can be pretty hilarious actually.

God. Even Sieg’s super-special effective sword isn’t enough to keep his ass intact. We don’t do this. instead, every non-magic-proof ally moves up to just out of range and every magic-proof one walks in.

Almost forgot to finish this joker off.

All the enemies on this level are high enough that low-promos can get decent chunks off them. I’d complain, but honestly I’m okay with these stats.

Every single JaveKnight goes for Lyam. He crits one, fells none, and doesn’t get hit once.

Lirin, meanwhile-

OH SHIT HE’S FAST ENOUGH TO DOUBLE

Yeah, I did not brain that good. Thankfully her Luck-Res-HP are all high enough to keep her in one piece.

Crunch the numbers, kids. Don’t end up with dead ponies.

Tamiko restore Lirin to full and she annihilates the Sage for a decent level. Wish she’d had that strength before - she could only do 14 with an Iron lance so I gambled on Steel instead.

Cia incinerates a remaining Knight for her first Sage level. Outstanding.

I doofed up and had Cia end turn after refreshing her so Levion and Lyam step into Hero-Merc range

Ow. Also, wishing I’d brought a sword for him after all. Didn’t use it at all last attempt. Guess I could have trade-scummed it.

It’s a good thing none of them can double him. He can’t double back, though (Cia can). He misses the Hero, too.

Shon smacks the Hero down and snags the Angelic Robe from them.

Lyam notches the Steel Sword Merc for a level I have no right to complain about.

Liring and Innana finish off the Mercs; Emma and Althares dash for the left side treasure. I come to the realization that Emma could very likely solo the entire left side, since the Mage drops the Chest Key. I want to try grabbing the Lockpicks this time, though, so Althares joins her.

Okay, solo is an exaggeration but not by that much. Also, dammit, I should have kept her at the edge of range. Ah well, Javelin drop is good too.

...well okay then (that’s the Emblem Axe btw)

I’ll take it!

The chest key Mage steps down to fail at hitting Althares, but the Thief still goes right. Maybe the Mage isn’t meant to move.

Althares, with Anakin’s help, steals both Lockpicks and Dracoshield. Howard kills the mage (needing a steel sword for it too) and Emma obligingly melts the thief for an odd-for-her but very welcome level.

Right side needs to be cautious. I don’t think it’s an accident that this Cappricio-wielding General is right in range of that cracked wall. The Shaman just has Flux, but that Physic Bishop is right there. That Warrior at the bottom is carrying a silver axe, too.

Yowch. Alice and the Shaman both land a hit, Alice whiffs the second.

Althares grabs the Earth Master Animate Seal and the squad swings back around.

Levion gives no fucks about your critty lance, though I actually sit him on a pillar instead.

Enemy phase, everyone misses.

not Levion, though.

Honestly, having this guy out of my hair is well worth the Silver Axe uses.

Innana and Lyam knock down the wall and Mark has better odds with Iron. He gets up to 98 EXP too.

Ace and Levion finish off the General for a surprisingly decent level.

Thanks to some trade shenanigans, Alice pops the chest. I decide to send the Axe on since Levion is about the only person who has a chance landing a hit on the boss with WTA

ACE IS BA-

-ck?

Halberdier with Drizzle

Archer with Steel and Longbows

I really wish Anakin had a prestige class of some kind. His high utility means he earns EXP super fast - ten per phase just from Motivating - and he’ll ram 20 sooner than later.

Innana and Lirin kill the Archer and Alice grabs a Bloody Rifle from the chest.

Levion and Mark move into Drizzle range- thanks to WTA Mark can just scrape by not getting critted to death and Tamiko heals Lirin for a decent level

times like these I really wish I had the Heavy Lance. I keep forgetting to trade the Armor cutter off Howard too - all the armored units have Lances so I keep forgetting.

OH SH-

THANK GOD

Mark initiates The Slaughter and gets a great level for it.

Drizzle’s low hit (Ace’s on a pillar) means that no one has gotten hit yet, thank god.

Inanna finishes the job and gets a level.

Yup. That sure is a level.

We don’t start the final offensive just yet, but I check the numbers of Swordslayer vs Swordmaster and conclude that I love Levion.

One of the biggest problems I had in my last attempt is that no one had the HP to tank a crit from that damn thing. Levion can take a crit, as well as a single Silver Sword Crit I believe and the double.

Also, I can’t tell if this is deliberate or a coding bug/fail, but unlike other ranged swords the Shadow Sword uses Strength at both ranges and can crit at both ranges. Don’t get crit if you can help it.

Althares opens the leftmost door and Karina snags this, sending the now-redundant Delphi Shield back to the convoy. Be absolutely sure you have space before you play this level. The next one gives you a ton of shopportunities too.

Alice and Lyam take down the Shaman. What does it say when it takes two prepromotes to kill an unpromoted enemy, I wonder?

Oh, btw.

Ace can double a swordmaster.

we won’t be doing this (jfc that crit) but still.

It takes Howard (2 misses with the Emblem Axe) Sieg and Cia to kill the true boss of the level.

NOW we can start on Ivan.

Bad: Ivan doubles and hits twice while Levion misses.

Good: He doesn’t crit and has switched off of distance attacks. I forgot about plinking.

Althares grabs the last item - an Eclipse tome - leaving boss and throne all that’s left undone.

Even with his Accuracy woes, Ace whips out two Javelin hits. I love you, Ace.

just for chuckles, I let Howard take a shot with the Killer Lance. No one dies and he doesn’t hit.

I move Anakin up for Motivating Ace before having second thoughts.

Remember what I said about Light Magic being a good finisher due to its high accuracy?

No one dies, but he makes both hits.

Oh. Huh.

I’ll take it.

And this chapter is FUCKING FINISHED. I have so many regrets, largely due to making bad starting choices and not knowing how to finish. I probably didn’t need to steam roll it this hard, but Aside from some scares no one was actually at risk of death at any point. And there’s an arena next map for actual training and purchasing purposes.

Night all.

(if you have interest in my failed attempt, it’s a private post over here)

[elkian]

Elk still plays Fire Emblem: The Last Promise

Chapter 23: Reasoning

I managed to get my saves off my comp before it crashed! So I’m finally picking this back up.

Chapter 22 LP by Blastinus that I’m using as a guide of sorts

Amusingly, this preset combat scene apparently still gives weapon XP, or Blazer has an odd sense of humor. Sidenote: this pop-up is accompanied by a version of the LOZ “you got a thing” jungle that I think came from one of the GBA games.

Siegfried is very pretentious about “oh so you want the enemy to win? Huh? is that it?” and Anakin is like “no dude your army is human, act like it”. Again, I consider Anakin the best protagonist, arguably the only good one.

Ah, we must be in Hell

(because the snow, you see, and- never mind.)

Huh. I am... actually impressed by Kelik here (this isn’t all the lines, but the highlights of the sequence).

Siegfired claims to be a knight who know how to protect, then follows up with this. This can be annoying or very, very sad if you think about it too hard - the only way he knows how to protect people is to slaughter any threats (and, uh, in the early chapters he had to be reminded of that).

“It’s not that I don’t understand, it’s that it’s stupid.” why is this so funny

I meant to skip ahead to the chapter content but... is Alice wearing a headband under her handkerchief? Odd. I guess it’s warm.

I will say that overall the writing on this opening segment is quite solid and pretty good character-wise to boot.

Alternately, the Sieg-Shon scene preceeding this was kind of a mess.

Oh yeah, bonus weaponry.

You know what? This is a pretty good portrait. Blazer did well.

Unlike other swords, which are used to drive divots into soil for planting- wait.

I’m borrowing Blastinus’ map. 24 turn time limit, 4 chests, Droppables I very much do not want to miss, and I have to loop up the outside before I can even get in.

i’ve been (re)reading Melth’s minmax Ranking Run of FE7 and it’s actually started to affect my own tactical planning, in that I now have some.

Almost everything on the field has a sword, lance, bow, or tome - all anima tomes, too. So Dark and Anima magic and Lances are the pick of the day.

This post got longer than expected so I’ll outline some main tactical points and then do an actual run post separate.

Droppables: The Emblem Axe, a D-Rank Unlimited-Use axe. It’s held by the Warrior on the upper left there. Silver Sword (Ivan) Brave Lance (Knight). Notably, the Knight ALSO has a Javelin, and if I bait them into switching I can kiss the Brave goodbye, so I need to be careful there. Door Key (Knight) - this Knight will also use it on the door to the north due to a coding glitch. Chest Key (Mage) Angelic Robe (Hero) Lucky Charm Goddess Statue (That General with Cappricio) Drizzle (Halberdier)

Stealables: 2x Vulneraries 1x Elixir

Notable:

Longbow

Axereaver

 I think this is a custom tome? 

Blazer’s custom Killer Bow thing

[elkian]

I was gonna do chapter 19 but this is actually just a big chunk of unit review

Previously...

So aside from kinda-meh stat gains, Anakin gets the ability to use staves (keep in mind Heal staves grant base 22 EXP as I go forward)

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s actually kind of a pain how much utility Anakin has, because everything he does gives EXP, but he only has 19 levels left to grow. There’s no reclassing, there’s no rolling back levels. I mean, hell, look at his Light level - some of that had to come from the promo, cause he wasn’t even at C last I checked. Getting any kind of rank in staves is gonna fill up a lot of EXP.

Can you imagine being mad about your protagonist being too useful? It’s fucking bizarre.

ANYWAYS

We’re past the midgame, here, so it’s about time to start figuring out our end team and capping them for promotion time. We’ll be getting technically-Kelik’s promo item next - I think it can be used on Shon, but I’m not entirely sure I’m supposed to yet. 

Also to note: Both Shon and Kelik get Heaven Seals they can use when they feel like it. Which means that, by gameplay standards, Anakin is the main character.

Sadly, Eduardo and Anakin don’t actually have a support. A shame, because look a this. All Corben and Shon really have going for them is Luck and Resistance, a touch of Skill - they have higher Speed, but a few lucky levels will fix that, and if not, we still have Charge, which is a brave-type lance.

In fact, based on this screenshot, I’d have to say Corben is officially benched.

Shon is a required character, and I think I know what to do with that Energy Ring we’ve had forever

(also, Eduardo and Emma are our only Dark-type support options. Just an interesting note/)

Zach is as fast as and almost as tough as Lyam, but that skill hurts me just to look at. We’ll see.

imma just clump all my magic types together

We’re getting the first of two Dark wielders in a bit, but in the meantime:

Itsuke’s claim to fame is supposed to be being stronger and tougher than Cia where she’s faster, but he’s not really living up to it. Speaking of tough, jfc Emma - that Res is even better than Tamiko’s, and she had an additional 5 or 6 levels of growing room. Emma’s also blazingly fast, though her luck - like her brother’s - is a bit on the low side, and her magic is unimpressive. All in all, she reads as a healer you can send into dangerous situations with little worry.

I don’t particularly dislike any of my mage-types, so I might well keep running multiples on upcoming maps.

My current Axers (note, again, that we did not get Noah because however you trigger his appearance never works for me). What I’m seeing is that Mark is likely to be much stronger, maybe more skillful, and even faster than Asch by the time he caps. His luck’s already higher, though his defensive skills might be a problem. All in all, Asch really doesn’t measure up.

Speaking of measuring up, Shuuda’s weaker but more Skillful(!!) and faster than Asch, has twice as much Luck, and nearly double his Resistance. Hell, with some lucky levels and the ability to use Axes to offset his weak ass, Shuuda will definitely be better than Asch in every way. The problem is that we’ve got a glut of sword users that he doesn’t measure up to comparatively.

Short answer: Asch sure is a prepromote.

like so. Remember, Althares has +15 crit for no real reason. Tekun, a Myrmidon, is 3 levels lower than Shuuda but already stronger, not to mention 5 points more in Speed. Their defenses and skill are mostly the same, but Tekun has more room to grow, and frankly better prospects if I can avoid throwing him into near-lethal situations on the regular.

Kelik is supposed to have absolutely amazing growths, but all he really has going for him is a little more Strength and defenses. At least he has Flamberge as a fallback.

Althares isn’t nearly as amazing in comparison, but again, +15 crit - and he can promote into Assassin, which uses Crit chance to activate Lethality.

Our fliers - not to Spoiler too much, but we have a decent Falcoknight recruit coming up.  That said, they’re not too bad - though I’m now realizing that Lirin is as good or almost as good as her +8 levels and promoted sister in everything except Speed and HP (the latter of which is due to supplements).

I’m really not sure how to feel about our Wyvern Riders, especially in the series that they get Swords instead of Axes on promoting. Ben’s got decent Con and a potential support with Emma, but his first and so far only level was absolutely underwhelming. This chapter is his proving grounds - if he doesn’t average 3-4 points a level, I’m just giving up on wyverns all together, I think.

What the fuck are you doing, Ace? Recall that Althares, at level 17, has not yet capped Speed. Not to spoiler again, but we - thank fuck - have a shopping opportunity involving Secret Books coming up soon, which will absolutely launch his viability into the ceiling. And Kellum Kevin’s always the best wall.

We have a reason for not using Siegfried, but even with his dandy growths, he just kind of sucks. All he really has going for him is a potential support with Shon and a sword that deals effective damage to mages. I mean, hell, aside from Skill (SKIIIIIILLLL!!!) and Con, he’s literally worse than Ace in every way (and Ace is so goddamn fast that he doesn’t give a shit about weapon weight anymore).

[elkian]

chapter 22!

Shon’s personal sword weighs a fuckton but brings his speed up... a bit. It also has a Brave effect.

Funfact: If I hadn’t finished Shon’s sidequest prior to this chapter, it would have 13 might but only 16 weight.

This chapter has a an interesting gimmick, and I’m largely bringing dodgetanks because of it

The gimmick?

every enemy has Lethality.

Fortunately, Shon and especially Anakin are blessed in the Luck department, but we will be taking our time on this one.

there’s... a lot of enemies

Althares crits one in the face and finally caps speed

Ed don’t care about getting doubled when he can Charge

Tekun is tired of the Bench, it seems

Karina is too slow to double but fast enough to dodge, making her an excellent chokepoint right here

decent luck and two b-rank supports makes Ace excellent for this mission

Karina caps out with an excellent level. She’s pretty decent all around.

And now Mark can promote

Ace frontlining is probably a waste of EXP, but the chance of instant death makes me twitchy

LIKE SO

I forgot to check this bastard’s range; fortunately they miss and Ace stabs them

twice. Did I mention Ace is fast enough to double Swordmasters?

not bad

fuck you. Karina crits em in the face for making me waste EXP

this is just adorable. Ace crits on the second hit

guess what time it is!

Cia can double a Myrmidon while wielding Thunder because she’s so stupid fast

except she misses the first attack. I blame Storm for this

Ed decides to save me a Charge use and crits

There’s an archer with a Short Bow nearby, so Anakin Motivates Ace to put them out of our misery for an okay level

more okay than I expected, since he capped speed. Makes me sad I can’t have a 30/30 Anakin tho

ugh...

Ace shares my fears and crits on 8%.

That huge group of enemies sure has pared down. We’re descending at a slow but steady pace, too. I actually like this chapter - it’s got an interesting gimmick and some pressure, but it’s not overwhelming if you’re careful

hey! you cribbed that off of Tekun!

Ace might be a little overkill for this chapter, honestly, but I think I’m okay with that

Cia caps in style

holy SHIT Shon!

...i’ve spent too long complaining about Skill to say anything, but Tekun...

then again, he’s STILL stronger than Shon

As far as Ed capping could go, I’m okay with this

Ed’s pallette works pretty well here

Also, this. This is good.

I’m pretty sure the HP cap in the GBA games is 60, and he has a 100+% growth, btw

Didn’t someone else cap out?

oh yes!

Cia’s understated pallette looks good in the Sage, and those stats aren’t too shabby either

Funfact: Shon’s natural Luck is just high enough to negate the Short Bow crit

SHIT. I forgot about this asshole, who drops Shon to 2 HP

sigh

Yeah, so since I have no Siege tomes and didn’t bring any archers, the only way to get this Sage is to loop all the way around. One of their tomes is droppable, but the chance of grabbing that Bolting for myself is pretty much nil without a Bloody Rifle shot

look at this. Karina can double this Archer to death with an Iron sword: Sai couldn’t do the same with a hand axe

Somehow, robbing his buddy strengthens their friendship

Will you quit that!? Shon dodges this time.

not bad

i’ll take it

here’s a thing about Silvans - I gotta remember to have someone trade-shuffle it off Shon every turn, especially in range of that Bolting asshole. Brave effect is useless if you get doubled to death by lightning at a distance

fuck. both Bolting asshole and Cero attack Shon, so I have to reload

Karina softens the Sniper up for Shon to finish off with a Javelin. Wonderful.

Terrifying. He can’t double her, by the way.

Get fucked.

I tried planting Ace in Thunder range, but no dice, so we deal with just getting a Thunder tome out of it

Bye

[elkian]

chapter 21 appeared nonetheless!

oh lord, this map. this map is where i got stuck on my last play.

as Blastinus repeats, Show, don’t tell (especially with the Golden-Sun-esque wordcount already established). Absolutely none of this is reflected in gameplay, and we (spoilers) recruit the dude responsible immediately following this chapter with no real consequences either way.

My suggestion is to rewrite this to be a) shorter and b) be about Risk running off on his lonesome because of duress and because he’s not great at thinking things through/rash, the latter of which was established 4 chapters ago.

yeah, these are actual enemies in the upcoming map

we won’t be deploying Shon because I don’t have a fucking death wish, but we will be distributing some ‘roids

Part of me wanted to help pump Anakin’s luck up even further so he could cap, but I only have one of these things, and Emma is a Luck-starved staple unit

i stumbled upon this as I was paging through units, seeing who’d get what. Lyam is actually barely better than Asch, and that makes me sad.

his name is literally Blaine King

lastly, here’s Zach compared to a generic enemy archer. he’s better in everything except Skill(!!), and his defenses are only a touch higher. He’s really not that good, though his ridic speed and decent Con make up for a lot

How is Karina faster and more skillful than Lirin? What the fuck?

Lirin’s taking a hike to make room for Tamiko.

ha!

Cia wastes a Merc for a fuckin’ amazing level. That makes four units to have capped speed so far.

Anakin Motivates Ed to succeed

this poor cav can’t double Ed even with an Iron Sword

Rex decides his performance so far isn’t impressive enough and crits a fucker

look at this shit!

Not including the three we just murdered, there’s 38 enemies on this field. The good news is that the promoted enemies will not move.

further good news is that aside from Ed, no one’s taken a single hit

pffft!

Karina can’t land a crit with the Killer Lance, but 3% is apparently enough.

speaking of crits

between his relatively decent skill gains and his support with Ace, Ed is now primed to Charge

a good level!

okay, that one actually hurt. Ed doubles the fighter exactly to death for

strength cap and an okay defensive gain!

...tekun, you’re in range of both your supports, have capped speed, and are sitting on a forest. HOW DOES THIS RANDOM CAVALIER HAVE 42% HIT ODDS

(fortunately, said cav misses)

rex has nearly the same odds near ONE support and no terrain bonus

also, he can outdamage Steel with Iron. I love Rex.

see, this I can understand.

fuck you (it misses)

i’m really glad this missed, to be honest.

fffffff

FUCK

welp

let’s do this a little differently. Emma is so stupidly stacked that no enemy can deal more than 5 damage at a time to her, and too fast to double

YOU ARE A VALKYRIE

I mean, I’m sure as hell not complaining, but what the shit?

I’ll take it.

Ace overkill crits the FUCK out of this mage on the second attack

the nice thing about our crew is that they’re too fast to be doubled by practically anything on this map, and my defensive formation keeps multiple attackers off most of the weaker units. so Ed takes a hit, but pretty much nothing can get in range of him to capitalize

Ace counterkills a luckless Fighter for an excellent level

this is just sad

the only one of three enemies to land a hit on Tekun

they were at 1 HP you bastard!

also, apparently I was wrong, the Bishop DOES move.

I don’t think I realized how underleveled Kelik was. He’s gaining levels practically every skirmish

oh ho!

Tempting, but then Ace can’t A-Rank Ed or Anakin. I’ll think about it.

I... yeah, okay. You’re still awesome, Kevin.

Mark breaks his Hand Axe for... a level.

Ed breaks an enemy to again cap Strength

Karina and Sai tag-team a Mage for an excellent level. Also, I don’t think Karina has procced a crit with the Killer Lance on a single ‘canon’ use.

Siegfried is required on this map. I’m largely not using him, though he handily clears out this peg

whatever

this asshole was directly responsible for me resetting on this turn - he hit Mark and someone else followed up. This time it misses. Also, I don’t think the AI is programmed to recognize Aircalibur as effective vs fliers, this is the second time one has ignored a flier for another unit.

Karina dodges, crits, but can’t ORKO this hefty Fighter

I thought maybe the Dephi Shield also blocked Aircalibur, but clearly the AI does not take that into consideration

get fucked

Zach nails a Merc for a great, if Skill-less, level

...so either Aircalibur’s description of ‘Tears through the wings of Pegasi’ is an exclusive statement, or the Delphi Shield DOES block it.

Devil Axe Fighter eliminates themself

the chainsaw is fucking ridiculous. Look at that Crit!

...well okay then

she got an unnecessary crit and a pretty good level

this took a year off my laugh. Thankfully she dodged and didn’t get doubled

Ace helps finish the Paladin for a good level

Anakin helps Cia murder the Warrior for nice levels all around

Not being about to ORKO this cav is actually a blessing, because Javelin Cav decides to try a different target

 said target crits em right in the face

cav reinforcements keep occurring. There’s also allied cav reinforcements but they mostly exist to screw up my formation

The rest pile on Ace, who gives 0 fucks

fuck you guys

the enemy AI hasn’t lost its penchant for targeting allied units, slowing the slaughter down further but also drawing heat off my weakened units

oh yeah, I forgot about this!

now there’s some REAL prepromote stats

arthur is so fucking underleveled at this point, I kinda feel bad

fuck you. Literally the only thing Storm has on Zach is a point of Skill and a unique weapon

Fun fact: Liquid apparently has innate Lethality.

Emma tops Sai off for the one stat she actually needs, besides Luck

Tekun decides Effective Damage is not enough, and crits the shit out of a poor cavalier

She’s close

oh shit i didn’t realize this druid moved

ed saves me some charges by critting on the first hit and OHKOing this Druid. He gets a weapon level and a renamed Luna tome for his trouble

Rex kills a Merc for a fantastic level

Mark caps out okay.

Kevin actually doubles this sad fighter, though he misses both times

man tekun’s underleveled

ZACH

in another universe this was skill-speed, I’ll take either

Kelik tells this Sage to get bent

i’m sure we’ll find someone who wants this

Liquid wastes the Sniper...okay

Also, jfc, that’s on the middling-low side of HP considering our crew

we snag Kelik and Althare’s B Rank

Tamiko tops Tekun off

Tamiko now has more HP than Liquid, who is a Berserker

incredible boss

Karina kills a reinforcement for a good level

so I totally forgot to bring Risk’s recruiter. Oh well.

Kevin, I still love you, but I need more than this. I only have one Amulet.

Funfact: i brought the Seal Silence staff but didn’t use it once. Oh well.

get fucked

And Kelik caps speed!

there’s plot, but otherwise we’re done

[elkian]

whats up you memeloving fucks it’s time for more TLP

ch 20: Battle in Blaine

I feel I should point out that in Blastinus’ LP, this is one of the few -if not only- chapters where they had to do separate Plot and Gameplay posts.

I’d also like to mention that Writing is not Blazer’s strongest point.

This is legit part of the first opening lines:

“I assure you the information I have to tell you is important for you to know.” “Although I've already heard this, I feel I should be here to discuss it. This discussion affects all of us, after all.”

riveting

The first segment has, as I roughly estimated, around 1,000 words of dialogue. Then there’s a scene change to the antagonists. Then like four more scene changes. Keep in mind that this is all across dialogue boxes that can hold roughly two lines of 10 total words at a time.

tldr (can’t blame you): I skip the shit out of this part and go straight to play

The map is largely Wyvern Riders, Cavaliers, and Knights, with a few Wyvern Lords and Generals and a Physic Bishop too far removed from the meat of the map to really contribute.

Also, this. The Bloody Rifle is an upgrade to Blazer’s Rifle Bow, basically a Killer Longbow I guess? The problem is that, if you recall, no one in my army has any fucking Skill.

Blastinus’ helpful map. We left a word slog for a literal slog.

Here’s something neat: Halberdiers were introduced officially in FE9, meaning someone took the time to make this exceptionally nice class portrait. Their sprites are pretty obvious, especially in combat, but not bad - just not quite Intsys-like.

Hey, I just realized it skipped over 19x even though I have Rex in my party. Is my game just bugged?

The map is not kind to sword units, and I almost bring Shuuda, but there’s a buttload of Vuleraries and Elixirs for the stealin’

Our ultimate team. Remember Levion’s Dragon Axe way back in our first Kelik chapter? Yeah, it’s Mark’s now.

It says a lot that my Knight is more useful on this godawful slog that a Wyvern Rider is. Karina’s here to decide her benching or not.

this is Yue, almost certainly a Cardcaptor Sakura reference and also responsible for like a third of the 6,000-something words in the pre-chapter. He decides he needs to not only introduce himself fully but also explain why he is introducing himself. Not a great way to enter my good grace, bucko.

Howard, who we (barely) kicked the shit out of two chapters ago, only has two lines of dialogue before finally letting us fight. Also, considering how shitty my cavaliers not named Eduardo are, he’s probably gonna be a staple for a bit.

At the very least, I get a hyper-strong Paladin and an okay Shaman on a long, Wyvern-heavy map. They can make themselves useful, unlike, say, a level 1 shaman and an incredibly shitty Valkyrie on a desert map

Also this dude was in the starting village. (he has 7 Def and 4 Res, pretty okay for a level 8 Fighter.) He comes with a Dragon Axe (and C Support with Mark), too.

Zach hops into the Ballista

also here’s Yue’s stats

Lastly, he has this Amulet, which gives the holder +10 Hit/Avoid. Blastinus doesn’t think it’s worth taking up 20% of a unit’s inventory, but Blastinus isn’t completely Skill-screwed. Seriously, the Shaman has better Skill than like four or five of the units I’m fielding.

please note that if not for the Weapon Triangle, Ed would being doing as much damage with a Sword as these fools are with Lances (and have like +30 on their hit). I love Ed.

not entirely sure about that lime green lining on the bottom, but Yue’s sprite is pretty decent

So. Uh. If that second Wyvern had hit, Ed would be dead. -_-’’’’

this is the start of turn 2, and we’ve killed like two wyverns. You CANNOT rush this chapter - the Wyverns are just strong enough to overwhelm a unit if they pile on.

Kevin: Still awesome.

While everyone else is getting like 15-20 EXP from a kill, Rex is in the 40s. Not bad.

Mark gets our first level of the map, and it’s gorgeous.

does skill even matter when Ed can hit on a 68 but i have consistent misses on 80+?

I don’t think I really looked at Howard’s battle sprite before. It’s not bad, though part of the recolor on the horse’s tail is done wrong and looks off.

I piled like 3 units on this damn Paladin who kept dodging at 1 HP, but Yue, of all people, brings us home. (this is especially surprising because I stupidly sacrificed him trying to make a Nosferatu hit on the guy one loadstate ago)

Emma patches Karina up for a totally acceptable level.

good thing that was the last enemy in range

Anakin Motivates Zach to disappoint me.

Mark revisits his old friend Effective Damage.

So here is a fucking quandry. No one in range of this Wyvern Rider can OHKO them. Karina might be able to with the Killer lance, on a 75% hit chance, but if she fails she dies.

After some agonizing, she trades Zach for his Elixir (and to equip him with the Short Bow) and doesn’t attack. Everyone else in range can take a hit and most can counterattack, so worst case, they’ll go for Althares, who’s sitting at full HP on a fort (and wielding a Lancereaver).

I so want to do this but she would be murdered by all the upcoming enemies.

Howard is a great Panic Button for this mission - he’s not indestructible, but he can be alone for a turn or two without dying.

Oh Fuck(TM) 

fortunately, between Zach’s lightning Speed and the weight of a Steel Lance, he doubles in return, but this was an unpleasant surprise. I’m glad the Wyvern Rider I was worrying about flew off to heal before this.

Zach and Karina double-team the Wyvern Lord (who Zach can double even with a Steel Bow). Karina apparently fears the bench.

So here’s something fun:

Emma, at technically the same level, has more Defense than Howard., Hell, aside from HP/Con/Attack Stat (and, for some reason, luck), She’s better than him in every way. What the hell.

I was gonna Motivate Zach to retreat towards heals before remembering that Anakin could do that. His Magic is so high that just a Heal staff is enough, too.

This rude-ass motherfucker whacks Mark, so Mark procs a goddamn 26 (before True Hit!) to nearly murder him in response.

FUCK

We make this happen again.

but not this :(

rude

Acceptable

I know Ace is on Forest, but look at that hit rate! It’s hilarious!

A GOOD LEVEL

I was trying to soften the Cav up for Lirin but Mark decided to proc both hits for an okay level. He’s getting a lot of mileage on this map - and I have an Animate Seal (basically Master Seal for non-Lord-likes) but I know there’s an Ocean Seal coming up.

I wasn’t expecting Lirin to dodge, so this is already going better than my pre-loadstate (>>)

I’d complain, but Defense. On a Peg Knight.

We put Sai to the test, and he works out rather nicely, landing both adn dodging the counter. I’m ambivalent about his spritework.

I had to reload several times trying to push this segment before finally going the patient route.

Sweet Jesus, that was close.

Sai apparently lives to impress.

So glad i put her on Forest. Cia’s Speed is nearly as hilarious as Ace’s, so she’s a great dodge tank if you place her right.

Even moreso now. What a great level.

That’s adorable

Sadly Sai is not strong enough to one-shot a Wyvern, but give him time.

We all pile on to the Wyvern Rider, with Zach surprisingly hitting on the first Rifle shot to finish it.

We’ve been taking potshots at this Physic Bishop for a while - to the point that he ran off to drink vulneraries instead of use Physic for like three turns - and Inanna finally puts him out of his misery.

I’m glad later FE games thought that Falcoknights should get Staves and Wyvern Rides->Lords Axes->Axes and Lances, cause the whole Sword thing just seems silly to me.

Goddammit Zach

Emma patches Keving up for a nice level. Aside from her frankly terrible luck, Emma is basically untouchable.

hey hey! Ace and Ed can support again! Since Eduardo is only second to Kevin in my physical-units heart, this is fine.

Like so. Ace’s Avoid should only be 45 ((17x2)+11) with the weight of the Javelin, Eduardo’s ((11x2) +12) 34, so both of them are gett +15% Avoid at B-rank. Not to mention Hit, crit, and Dodge

Ow.

Why is this random Knight so fucking strong

I feed Yue the kill for an acceptable level.

Not bad! Love to see some speed, but I’ll take this.

...speaking of strong randos, this cav- which is one of the weakest enemy types in this map - is meeting Sai’s damage despite WTD

Lirin chips at ‘em for a pretty great level, though that Speed is scaring me.

also there was a Secret Shop right above the village, so Inanna’s going shopping

except we can’t afford the one thing I wanted. oh well.

Anakin throws some Motivation at Althares for a pretty great level. Keep on truckin up that Avoid, bro.

lol

oh.

Sai unexpectedly procs a crit for his first level. Not bad for a Fighter, especially since he hasn’t doubled anything on this map.

Karina pokes this (weirdly healthy) Soldier, careful to stay out of Bloody Rifle range.

So Sai can Support with Mark but Mark can’t do the same - I’m guessing that Talk options fall under this menu.

considering my options. That bow weighs in at a whopping 12, so the Sniper can’t actually double Kevin. They can, however, crit him exactly to death.

Ed’s faster but has lower Con and Def, but higher HP and Luck. But that Defense difference means a crit will also kill him.

My best bet is probably luring over the other nearby enemies, then swooping in with high-Move and Motivated units and trying to one-round the bastard.

A Cav was pestering Sai, so I tried to chip em down only for Zach to crit on the first Rifle shot. And apparently he’s realized his precarious position.

----

So I went though.... a LOT of reloads before deciding that maybe I should actually act on that plan to draw out the Sniper’s buddies. They’re surrounded by Wyvern Lords with high-class gear, and I just kept losing Althares and Lirin to focus fire.

It’s kind of funny, because the object of my caution - the sniper with the Bloody Rifle - was NEVER the actual source of a game over.

It may be due to the support with Mark I just grabbed, but I like that Sai has a better hit chance despite the weapon types and WTD. He also dodges.

You know, I totally forgot about his Dragon Axe?

The fucker doubles Lirin with her Javelin disadvantage and misses twice. This particular Wyvern Lord was the source of at least four resets because they kept double-killing Lirin with that fucking sword. I don’t know whether to be pleased or pissed here.

Karina FINALLY proccing a Killer Lance crit almost soothes the pain of her getting no level.

oh, and also this. She has this now.

How did you MISS

Inanna cleans up for a- sigh.

Yue joins the miss club.

A big theme of this map is piling multiple units onto one enemy in order to kill them in one turn, lest they murder a weaker unit. Having such low Skill all around is part of the problem.

Lirin finishes this fucker off for a good level. Maybe now not everything on the map will double her.

So here’s Anakin’s base Avoid stats.

And here he is with the Amulet, in range of Ace, on Forest terrain.

In range of the Bloody Rifle Sniper.

This is the funniest fucking thing

How’s that 21-Damage 12-Crit working for ya

Ed didn’t ACTUALLY need to crit that Wyvern Lord, but he did anyways, because he’s awesome. I love you, Eduardo.

Ace finishes the Sniper for a pretty excellent level

Anakin gets hit on some amazingly low odds and decides it shouldn’t happen again.

can you imagine how sadlarious it would have been if that had hit

And now that it’s our turn again...

Aw yisssss. Look at those stat gains! 3 con! He can use Javelins without his ridiculous Speed going down.

A refreshed Sai brings down a Cav for a mediocre level. I’d like some Skill or Speed in the future, buddy.

good thing we fed Cia all those Robes way back when

you know, this is the second thing we’ve stolen with Althares all map? There’s just too many enemies and too little space to work him.

Zach somehow hits twice and finishes an enemy Halberdier. I wish I could show off the animations; they’re pretty good.

sure

Karina definitely fears the bench.

Sai gets what would be his second Hand Axe crit for... you know, I’m okay with this. He’s actually doubling people now.

Lirin chips at an enemy halberdier for this phenomenal level

Rex does the same, but better. Also, he has more Speed than the Peg Knight, at a lower level. We also grab his and Kevin’s C Rank Support.

Anakin Motivates Yue to actually do something useful, like get a good level. Goddamn.

Also, he still has more Skill than Ace

We’re finally down to the last enemies and the boss. The General has a Spear, and this Bishop actually has a tome, so we’re treading lightly STILL.

Sai borrows Mark’s Hammer.

aw sick

Sai is actually in the Bishop’s range, but not to worry - I park Lirin two spaces above him, blocking him off. Hilariously, Lirin (and Inanna) will only take 1 damage from that Bishop.

Said Bishop couldn’t even double Sai before this level. This Bishop is clearly a healbot.

Zach finishes the job for a decidedly defensive level. Not bad, but look at that fucking Skill! He has more Defense than Skill!

btw, here’s Lirin and Inanna’s stats.

If Lirin promoted right now, she would outdo her sister in everything except Speed and HP, and remember that we gave Inanna like 10 points in HP with stat boosters.

On the other hand, Lirin’s Speed and Con are so abysmal that I’m not sure I should be using her...

the boss, of course, hits like a fucking truck and has a unique 1-2 range weapon.

....and then Sai fucking OHKOs him with a Dragon Axe crit

I... yeah, okay.

Thank you, Sai, for putting this chapter to rest finally.

[elkian]

ch 19

my post keeps getting eaten so let’s keep this quick.

we really don’t need this many units but whatever.

Some people get good levels, others, not so much.

Althares takes a bit of a beating

Not entirely sure why I brought him in the first place. He does okay.

Lirin was in range of this mage, so frankly I’m grateful they went for Althares.

Cia semi-avenges Althares with overkill crits

This is Rex. His growths are a few points tweaked from Ace’s, but check out his starting stats. Ace is so fucking fast and decently healthy, but Rex has a lot more balance happening.

There’s a side chapter immediately following this one where we fight Cid, a sort-of recurring protagonist. The only way to get that chapter is for Rex to be alive, but that’s not particularly difficult.

This is Ben’s last hurrah, and he is determined not to do well.

Kevin’s still invulnerable so eh

I’m not a huge fan of Rex’s color scheme, it’s rather murky.

This Warrior is slightly scary, especially since Ben there didn’t have the Delphi Shield.

Mark....

Secret shop! I buy a Killer Lance and Hero’s Flare.

Ben can’t ORKO anything, though to be fair, the enemies are healthy and beefy enough that many units have this issue. It makes him a decent chokepoint since he can’t clear out space.

Here’s a gif of Anakin’s new crit animation. It’s kind of adorable (and very flashy)

The running theme of Anakin’s levels is ‘can’t touch this’. He’s already, by far, the dodgiest unit in the entire army.

Zach actually makes an effort!

Mark and Effective Damage are good friends on this chapter. VERY good friends.

eh

EHHHHHH

Much better.

Remember what I said about little to no ORKOs? These cavs have 31 HP. The next one has 1 less Res and dies.

to Itsuke’s minor profit.

Tekun’s general level theme is ‘weird but good’.

CAN’T TOUCH THIS.

I like this support. It really characterizes both of them well without beleaguring the point.

His name is Earnest. Zach won’t land any hits on him, but at least he won’t be in danger of counterattacks.

As Blastinus’ LP already points out, this chapter is very, very big with not nearly enough or strong enough enemies to make it interesting. There’s a minor squad of cavs to the left, but it takes them 2 turns to get in range in the first place.

ouch.

see? pointlessly huge.

Seeing the generic, standard stab and hearing the SFX as Ace casually OHKOs an entire horse and rider is just hysterical.

yeah okay

yeah WOW

also wow

Lirin tries to weaken this cav and crits em down to 1 HP in the process.

Anaking refreshes her to finish the job. eh...

there’s a paladin here with a weapon that’s effective against the Hero class, for some reason. It doesn’t deal extra damage to Shuuda, so idk.

fuck off

Rex weakens the Paladin and seals the deal on me using him. Keep in mind that he’s gotten 13 points in stats (3 HP, 2 everything else, 0 Res) in 3 levels, or slightly more than 4 points a level. Rex is turning out awesome.

 Sweet, sweet Skill! Honestly, especially with all the Knight Crests being thrown at me, I might just run Ace/Eduardo/Kevin/Rex.

see?

Anakin Motivates Althares into further kleptomania for an aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

AAAA

A- 

okay whatever Zach

AAAA

alright, the boss. Earnest is fucking HARD to hit, and with that Silver Lance, there is a really good chance of him one-rounding anyone adjacent to him.

see? if I use the Horseslayer on Rex when he’s not on the Pillar, he will literally get doubled to death.

Ace has no such concerns (still doesn’t hit)

better

I actually had to reload in here because Tekun got Javelin-doubled to death trying to rescue Althares (Earnest has an Elixir)

Zach, after the reload, is the first unit to actually HIT Earnest. Then I have a bright idea...

Check it out: Mark has a one in three chance of

instantly... killing...

holy shit

bonus!

we’re almost set to seize

first Tamiko grinds up them heal ranks

and gets her B support with Cia (which is in another post because i’m afraid i’m gonna lose this one a FOURTH time)

NOW we can seize.

[elkian]

Chapter 18: Holy shit suddenly we’re in the not-endgame

the thing about that sidequest is that what little build up to this end-of-Part-1 kind of deal there was is completely obliterated. The sidequest probably should have been placed after chapter 15 or 16, really, or even before that.

(also, the Inuyasha main BGM is playing during this, it’s interesting, and not entirely inappropriate)

I will say that Blazer’s sense of gameplay and gameplay lead-up (especially in when you can gain items) is pretty good, though.

Also, Here’s the more completionist LP by Blastinus if you like more detail

there is a metric buttload of foes on the field, though thankfully they’re mostly sporting E and D rank weaponry; some of the archers have Long or Short Bows, there’s a cav with a Cappricio (the low-hit crit lance) up top, and a knight with a Short Spear, but other than that it’s fairly generic.

We’ll be bringing Cia for plot reasons; speaking of which, those levels last chapter will serve Anakin well, since he’s due for a Plot Promotion at the end of this chapter. One nice thing is that if your Anakin didn’t turn out really combat-viable, you can still grind him up to level 20 by Motivating people.

Considering I’m fielding 16 units, another healer probably would have been a good idea. Especially when Corben can’t outdamage our Archer.

...man, Lirin’s doing the same fucking damage with a SLIM LANCE

i have her take down the archer instead, and her first hit is a crit. Beautiful.

there’s a Sage with Thunder and 2x the magic of most of the mages in the middle of the map, lest you get complacent

Shon lands 4 of 4 shots at 86% and only gets hit once. I’m kind of proud!

Ehh, still kind of proud. I’ve been so starved for Skill levels that this is fine with me.

the Knight in range of Emma decided to loop around to take a potshot at the now-healed Shuuda. Whatever.

now we’re talking. Shuuda went from being equal to venom blades with steel to outdamaging Steel with Iron. It’s all in your foe.

in both of my attempts as well as Blastinus’ LP, this Allied Merc is just invincible. They dodge two attacks entirely and take about 2 damage from the third attacker.

that upper Cavalier on the left moves before the mage, saving Corben some burning - there’s no space to attack from now. And that Cav didn’t have a ranged option.

the generics were going to kill a sniper, so cia runs over the finish them for....

anyways

starting to regret not training Tekun. We break out the Lancereaver instead (and I really should have grabbed the Armorcutter earlier)

a) Mark can double this poor sod

b) look at the fucking size difference, it’s like they were built on different scales

idk it’s just jarring.

I possibly-foolishly free up the chokepoint in front of Corben for a pretty okay level.

I have no idea why you are so hell-bent on gaining resistance, but I will not argue.

Also, the sheer amount of Skill makes me so happy.

Supporting Ace with both Eduardo and Anakin may work out well, since it means he either has a high-Move decent frontliner watching his back, or that our squishy mage of a protagonist has a physical unit nearby

Also, Eduardo is getting better Hit with WTD and Steel thanks to Javelins being heavy and the support. And just Ed being Ed.

Refresh Units+Healers is always a great combo, and this is an astounding level.

good thing Ed has so much HP, cause he can’t dodge worth squat at the moment

ow. Mark missing both counterattacks is also an Ow moment.

it takes something like 7 collective attacks, but dodgy Merc is brought down.

Ace’s high luck and HP makes this viable. Good thing, too, cause he takes the hit.

Tekun kills the Knight for an okay level.

i don’t know whether to be mad he didn’t crit or glad he landed both hits

i leave Emma in kind of a bad spot, and she gets a level to help mitigate my fears (she’s carrying the Guiding Celestial Ring but I didn’t think to throw her a Fire tome)

this cav rides over to... deal her No Damage.

weirdest. troubadour. ever.

Zach kills the cav and breaks into double digits with an okay level.

keep in mind that at level 14, Corben has 2 less Strength

the cav that’s been harassing Tekun is much less scary against someone with defense and no WTD

are... are you fucking with me, Ben?

this is the second time this phase that a sword user has missed on high-70s odds

and again!

Emma caps out with - sure.

this boss’s palette is just... bad.

this mage did more damage than a cavalier with a sword

worried now

dodging a hand axe gives eduardo... even more HP and slightly more dodge

so Noah is supposed to appear here instead of this NPC, but i’ve never gotten it to trigger and I don’t know why.

Itsuke takes some heat off Cia for a pretty solid level.

all those Res levels pay off.

I was wrong about her promotion item somehow, but anyways, Emma promotes. Look at those defenses!

Mark’s been taking potshots at the first boss, and it pays off okay.

i don’t do this, but again, HP-Luck-Res levels are underrated

i’ll take it

what hurts even more than the lance is the miss on the first counter.

uh oh

fuck

reload

my last save was apparently several turns ago

Mark gets the HP-STR-DEF level again

one nice thing is that for some reason the enemy AI prioritizes attacking Allied units, so I can use them for a bit of a screen

(the downside is that allies will gank kills on enemies you were planning to feed on your phase)

that is fucking weird but okay

(it’s literally his alternate level inverted)

Shon crits on the first hit and subsequently buries this fucker, taking no damage in the process (and jumping to 99 EXP)

there’s something so hilarious about an Archer killing a General with an Iron Bow, 2 damage a hit, 52% hit chance.

this.... this is a peg knight level minus the skill.

where Eduardo  failed with 3 out of 4 55% Charge attacks, Ace manages with one 53% Javelin. Whatever.

One thing that’s interesting and good attention to detail is that there’s actually 3 enemy factions: Ft. Darner, Magnians in general, and Howard’s Unit (Hwd’s Unit)

it’s been a while since i’ve used Kelik, and enemies are just homing in on him. somehow he’s been avoiding 65%+ hits so far.

Shon fails to hit the Thunder Sage but gets a dodgy level for his troubles. Also, Jesus, that Strength.

This enemy archer was in range of Ben because I am a fucking genius (Lirin has the Delphi Shield) but decided to attack an Allied AI instead.

possibly because it couldn’t OHKO him? idk

Ace’s first level in quite a while. He’s the first on our team to cap speed, and Luck and Defense ain’t bad.

I grab Tekun and Kelik’s C Support. (Wind and Fire.)

an Allied AI baited the Sage over - Lirin takes a chip at him for a strange but good level

see, now I have to deal with this

Eduardo brings us home and nets 60 EXP in the process

Tekun kills a cav for an excellent level

and then almost dies to my carelessness. I can’t even be mad that he missed on 75%

this random-ass NPC has a Brave Sword, btw

sure

look at this shit. Howard is EXTREMELY dangerous - his attack’s always in the 30s and his base Speed is 20, so you need to make sure whoever’s in his way can live through that. He’s also got one of each physical weapon (sans bows) so getting WTA is tough

That NPC baits him into using his Spear, but that’s not a bad thing - in my previous play, all the Allies zerg-rushed Howard, and he expended something like half his Spear uses on them. We’re going to be employing that plan again.

Yes, Kelik (plus Tekun and a Javelin-wielding Ace) is our bait. He’s got the HP to tank a hit, the Speed to not be doubled, and just enough luck (+crit dodge from his support) not to chance being critted.

Ace actually manages to land on 19%

Anakin can actually survive one hit, so I leave him in countering range to motivate Emma

not bad!

and now Emma can out-heal Howard’s damage to Kelik with her Heal staff.

Zach actually manages to land a hit on like 5% with the Rifle Bow, apparently using his entire store of non-ironic luck in the process.

Howard’s down to 1 Spear use, and we need Shon to go a round and survive for quest reasons.

Kelik breaks out the Armor Cutter and brings him down. We’re ALMOST done.

NOW we’re done.

[elkian]

I somehow accidentally totally intentionally got the turn-based sidequest so we’re into 17x

oh yeah i forgot about this part

long story short we get to pick 3 characters to take on a mess of pirates and myrmidons

Anakin’s required, and Ace is nominally appropriate, but i’m gonna want to out-sword these enemies too.

yeah

also apparently Oni Giri ignores defense. That’s a hell of a thing.

The enemies generally don’t have much in the way of dangerous weapons (though it is totally possible to get poisoned and fucking die if you’re not careful) but have a lot of stats in the 10-17 range, so we’re gonna need people who can actually take a hit.

I kind of want to bring Shuuda and take Kevin out of mothballs, so I’m giving them the first shot. Otherwise it might be Althares-Tekun.

look at this shit. Both pirates are currently in range of Anakin, and Shuuda there is his closest backup. Best be careful.

there’s a couple of options to take here - i decide this is the best. The Pirate-pirate off the to left there is just out of range, and this tree is one square out of Zoro’s range as well. I’m not sure if he moves, and I’m not planning to find out on the first turn.

Anakin is primed to take 20 damage (out of 28 HP) if the Fighter chooses to attack with Steel. Hence why I want to be very careful.

the good news is the chance of that landing is 20% before true hit, but still

Shuuda’s stats - Steel Sword versus a merc with a Venom Edge, aka one of the weakest swords in the game.

the tree is within range of that archer- this maps is a real wake-up call in terms of strategy, when you bring units that can’t afford to take many hits.

the hit rates on Hand Axes is a joke, so I decide to move him to the square directly under the house and end turn

thank fuck.

sure

this pirate was also in range, but Anakin will be fine.

Shuuda’s poisoned, by the way. And had a 1/3 chance to lose more than half his remaining health. Starting to regret bringing him.

I want to bring Kevin over to help, but I cleverly locked him in here til he kills this merc. The merc can actually do (a single point twice) damage to him! Except said merc misses both counterattacks

having no means of healing, the Merc is forced to impale themself on Kevin’s... uh. anyways.

fucking ridiculous

Shuuda bravely runs away

giving Anakin the Boots was a fucking masterstroke

Well, at least he hasn’t pulled a Storm yet

Thought I jinxed myself, but on the Player phase he delivers!

Anakin puts some pep into his step for a decent level.

You get points for actually dodging all the hand axes so far.

I know he’s underleveled, but Shuuda can’t double this Pirate with anything heavier than an Iron/Emblem sword and it’s making me sad

I determine that Shuuda can survive a hit from the archer and give him another turn to finish the job

that’s... okay. Not really a Redemption Level(TM) but i’ll take it. Strength!

Blessedly, the archer doesn’t think to use the Short Bow, which means a) no crit and b) no melee counter

With Anakin’s help, he kills the archer - one thing Shuuda does have going for him is both high Skill and an accurate weapon, so there’s no sweating over misses that there might otherwise be

I totally forgot this Pirate had a Venom Axe, so Kevin also gets poisoned, which is p much the only way this poor Pirate can deal him any damage

he pokes the Pirate for an odd but totally acceptable level. I don’t think I realized his Skill was so low, either, but since almost nothing can damage him it’s not nearly as much of an issue.

Fortunately, Shuuda was standing on Forest and thus does not get his Poison status topped off. Seriously, he’s almost cured, that would have been really annoying.

You now have more Resistance than Defense. What the heck.

one thing this game really impresses on you is how important HP in levels can be. Even those Archers had 30 HP - making them hard to kill even with their low-ish defenses. And Eduardo’s tank of HP makes him hard even for mages to kill.

another trick weapon is gained

We’ve killed everything but the boss, so we’re doing visitations. I COULD use Anakin’s Cavalier Move(TM) to zip around and do it, but I could also pick up some EXP while we’re waiting.

Anakin’s (voice-acted) Motivation quote varies whether or not you have his animations on. It’s a nice touch. Also he and Kevin are a good pair here, since he has enough Move that essentially two turns of Kevin running around and he’s still in range.

ayup. Zoro moves. Glad I didn’t put Anakin in his range earlier

thankfully, he manages to miss Kevin twice thanks to the Forest and WTD

now here’s something interesting: Onigiri ignoring Defense apparently also applies to the Forest bonus. just a neat little thing.

Also, if not for WTD, Kevin would actually be a bit at risk here, since it DOES take Advantage/Disadvantage into account in terms of damage dealt. Meaning that two connecting attacks would kill Kevin outright.

Fortunately, Kevin is absurdly dodgy for some reason and takes not a single hit from the thing.

Anakin kills him for nearly 100 EXP and a Very Monk level. I’ll take it. (and the sword)

funny thing: there’s a convo after the battle where Zoro reference’s Kelik’s swordplay (because he’s fought Kelik’s brother and we need to know this) but Kelik wasn’t in the actual fight. I’d go as far as to say that Kelik should have been required instead of Anakin, but there could be coding issues preventing that.

anyways.

[elkian]

ch 17: Rescuing Siegfried (side A)

THANK SWEET MERCIFUL FUCK

he’s right in front of you

comparing and contrasting our actual-Cavalier stats. How the FUCK does Eduardo have the same skill as you, Corben? In fact, the only place he falls behind is in Resistance and Luck. I’m bringing Corben (and Ace) along, but if he doesn’t get some good levels, it’s Bench time.

I swap Ben out for Althares at the last minute - Keys aside, there’s a lot of looting to be done this map.

by the say, here’s Shon (and Kelik’s) stats. 3 Levels above Corben ans he has -2 HP, -1 Str, +4 Skill, +1 Spd, +1 Luck, +3 Defense, +0 Resistance. I’d complain, but Skill is weirdly rare in my party right now, and that okay Defense is probably going to be a godsend.

Also, Mark recruits himself. ...he has more Skill than Eduardo, I’m going to fucking cry.

Anyways, Mark is our second Axe user (chapter 17!). I have no argument with his stats but his portrait is just... off.

There’s worse 2-stat levels

godDAMN, Cia!

Also note that she and Itsuke brought down a General together, so she got 63 goddamn EXP from that

That General had a Steel Lance and started in Range of Cia - as did their Javelin-wielding counterpart. Now we only have to worry about Javelin General (and a Hand-Axe wielding Fighter, but the hit chance is pretty laughable.)

this is Shon vs an Archer. End me.

one thing of note is that Kelik’s not getting crit chances on these enemies -at least not with the Iron Sword - I don’t know if they’re that lucky or what. Shon’s Piercing Sword had a chance, after all.

Ed dodged both General Javelin strikes (our phase and enemy phase). Didn’t dodge the Hand Axe, but still managed to hit on those odds. Remember that Ed has no supports at the moment.

taking nearly half her health in Javelin damage works out alright for Lirin.

complaints aside, Corben is doing okay

i’m surprised this monk didn’t go for Ed, who has 3 less Res than Corben. Neither had a chance of ORKO, though, so I guess that affected the choice

again: Resistance and LUCK are not dump stats. That 2% made me sweat

a good level from Zach. Nothing but acceptable levels so far!

don’t start

one problem with having Kelik and Shon away from the team - they spawn in this corridor to rescue Sigfried - is that it’s too easy to go ‘okay, I don’t need to move any more units’ and end turn without doing something with them, as I did last turn. Out of sight, out of mind.

Note that we have a bit of a time limit on that rescue.

how did you miss!? did Storm send you a telepathic message or something???

those are some uncomfortable numbers. I probably should have trained Tekun a bit before this.

I’ll give him this: Shon has yet to take a hit all mission. Our myrmidon-like godmoder, not so much.

i actually had to reload a state here, I pushed forward too far and Lirin got piled on and killed.

I have no complaints, but also, what the fuck? Ed’s Skill growth is 40%, Resistance 30%. While he’s not as blazingly fast as Ace (though that massive Con makes up for a lot), he’s nearly twice as Skillful at a lower level, with a lower growth. What. The. Fuck.

hoo boy. Fortunately, this is the last enemy in range this phase (unfortunately, Ed misses the counter). There’s Soldiers on the stairs, and in my previous attempt, I pushed Lirin into their range - she had the Javelin to counterattack, but that weighed her down and ruined her Avoid.

oh yeah, the Secret Shop.  None of our Lance wielders except Lirin have more than 12 Skill currently, so the Cappricio will not be bought. There’s also a poison tome, but, well, Blastinus has enough to say on the matter. Mithril is a steel-ranking material that’s between Steel and Silver, not too shabby. I grab that, a Halberd, and Aircalibur.

The Rifle Bow, by the way (Zach started with one) is a 2-3 range Bow with okay crit but low hit, kind of like a longbow. Since its uses don’t go down unless it connects, we will not be needing a new one for some time.

speaking of which, he somehow DOES connect this time.

one thing both Ace and Eduardo have going for them is massive HP, allowing me to throw them into fairly dangerous situations without too much fear. I have no idea how Ace managed to land both hits here, but I ain’t complaining

What the fuck. What the actual fuck.

re: what the fuck. I used the Lancereaver to optimize both his chance of hitting and killing, and not getting hit, but he still takes the hit! On 17% before True Hit. That’s like... what, 6%?

there’s worse things for a Myrmidon to get. I didn’t realize just how much speed Tekun starts with - he’s already pretty close to capping.

in the reloaded state, she got Speed as well, but I’ll take this. Also, note that with a Mend staff, she could restore 36 of Eduardo’s 40 total HP. If he was still at 1 HP, she still could not restore him to full in one turn.

Corben is fast enough to double fool Soldiers who think they can Javelin him. All things considered (and complained about), this is a good level.

Cia tells the magic triangle to go fuck itself and gets even more speed

I think we are officially over the hump - the mercs have iron and steel swords, and the shaman just has flux

Tekun, I think we’re gonna get along just fine.

Anakin’s defense is a little worrying, but he’s rarely on the front lines, so eh.

we do the ‘how did you miss’ song and dance again

guess who hits S-rank on a weapon first

I was gonna say something about this game’s level of executioners, but this Soldier is actually pretty dangerous, and Siegfried still sucks.

Connecting once (and failing to crit) with the Killer Bow nets Zach a pretty good level. But why is my entire party so skill-screwed?

Althares chips at a fight for.... eh.

he missed the first attack

“Um, pardon me,

Sure bud

that support is enough to let him break down this Mage, if nothing else

the power of Love Friendship(TM) allows Ace to bring down a Knight for a GREAT level. Skill! Also, he is now as fast as our Thief, at a lower level, with better Con. What the fuck.

Sometimes, I feel bad for the AI and its ‘Must attack whatever’s in range’ coding

Tekun, I know Mercs are accurate, but you are a myrmidon sitting on a Pillar

well, you sure know what you want. Also, might cap Speed before Althares. weird.

you missed twice and got hit. why.

I’ve always loved the Pirate animations in the GBA line. They’re so slick.

not bad!

see above. That HP is especially nice, since I don’t have any Robes to throw at people right now, and a lot of our crew is in the 30s

(this is an accurate description of this conversation. definitely in need of proofreading.)

whatever

excellent

note that at the same level, though, Ed only has one more Defense than Itsuke. Weird, weird character growths here

“I didn’t need the Delphi Shield after all, there’s like one archer in this whole level” welp. She survives with 2 HP (a steel lance cav landed a hit on her previously) to get

a pretty good level.

nice

lyam reaveals himself and almost gets killed by a fucking soldier (albeit one with a horseslayer), and we seize.

[elkian]

I do have to agree with Blastinus: Blazer’s writing isn’t bad, but it is in desperate need of proofreading. In the span of four lines both of these characters have contradicted themselves, and it’s extremely unclear what they’re trying to accomplish, aside from the mention rescue.

“You didn’t call me an idiot! And so my decision stands.” I love Anakin.

Also I know Blazer wasn’t going for this but too bad, all these characters are gay now.

(This is what happens when all the plot-critical characters are male)

I’ve mentioned before that Blazer’s custom characters are pretty good aside from, on occasion, the eyes, and Ben is a good example. His eyes just look a little off.

(bigger)

his fave is angled/implied angled in a way the straight lines on his eyes just don’t match correctly. anyways.

i call bullshit, your hair and eyes are completely different colors! what series (fanwork) do you think you’re in!?

I am, for some reason, still trying to make something of Ace. This may be his last hurrah

See, at least Eduardo has swords to fall back on. Ace is shackled to Lances.

a very acceptable level

HOW DID YOU MISS TWICE

Ben here is literally the worst at his supposed profession (mage-killing) - he’s not fast, strong, or critty enough to ORKO them, and his luck is in the single digits at level 10

seriously?

gfdi

we reload and do things smarter. Speaking of smart, this Mage decides the best way to kill Ace is at melee range. whatever.

this mage decides to save me some Flamberge uses (Kelik’s holding the bridge 1 space in front of Itsuke) and confronts me with the uncomfortable fact that Itsuke is not a very good anti-mage. He doesn’t even double here.

itsuke dodges on 10% lower chance than- does he have more Defense than Anakin!?

that 1% Crit chance took years off my life. Thankfully Thunder tomes are heavy as hell.

that mage also took up the only place this fighter could attack from range, so they rush in for a face full of lance.

ffs Kelik.

.... holy shit all is forgiven

guess who we will NOT be attacking at melee range

Zach fails to crit and gets an okay level

i’m glad she hit, because that mage could have doubled her for 14 total damage. Yeah. Our Peg Knight is at risk of death from weighed-down mages doubling her.

Of course, AFTER all that - I used the Javelin to keep her out of archer-accessible space - i remember she has the Delphi Shield

now here’s a more traditional troubadour level. In both my and Blastinus’ playthroughs, she gets a lot of early defense - despite having a supposed 20% growth in it. I think that growth might be wrong.

longbow archer amazes me by not going for Ben

ohhhh that’s not good

i think i would have literally rage-quitted (rage-quat?) had that hit

fuck you

ben lands both hits (he’s got the DS, though his Defense is high enough and Longbows are sad enough that it’s not really an issue)

BENCHED

Zach hasn’t hit anything in the last two turns. The cav on the Fort is one thing, but a Mage, even on Forest, with a Thunder tome?

nice

nice

Kelik and Ace were contributing to these weren’t they

how did you miss!?

some Actual Combat(TM) gets Anakin an okay level

Corben’s back too. He has -2 HP, -2 Str, +3 Skill, -5 Spd, +4 Luck,+0 Def, -1 Res on Ace at the same level. I have no idea how to feel about this.

Finally! The nearly-40 EXP isn’t half as sweet as the fact that I can now have him use something other than Lightning.

she’s got the DS, but not the DF (defense) for this. good thing she dodged

Anakin gives 0 fucks about the Weapon Magic Triangle, hitting twice and critting once.

I don’t know if the EXP gain is due to him not fighting thus far or what, but he is leveling up hells of quick, and not badly, either

not again

Eduardo’s low Resistance is giving me a lot of scares today

SWEET MERCIFUL FUCK

thank god the last mage missed and ed can’t be doubled by this guy, or he would be VERY dead

look at this shit. Fort or no, Ben is no kind of mage-killer

Fun fact: Ed is so HP-blessed that a Mend from Emma is not enough to refill him completely

acceptable. That speed!

...what?

this is actually quite fortunate: like the last few chapters, we have some chokepointing happening, so no one else can reach Ed thanks to this mage

and apparently he was at 99 EXP! This is a good level.

can you not

(fortunately, Elfucker here moves last, so no enemies can capitalize on this)

Zach hits something again - and crits to boot, making my day much brighter

this isn’t even that bad considering all her other levels

i want everyone who thinks Luck is a dump stat to ponder this screenshot. The 2% crit chance will haunt me

Meanwhile, Ace could take a hit on both the enemy and player phase and hang on by 2 HP.

case in point. He even landed a hit!

Ace is a bit of a quandary right now. His non-skill stats are pretty great, and supports will make him more accurate... but if he ends up not working out, i’ll have wasted those support slots

goodness

i just noticed her luck - i wonder if that runs in the family

...you’re not making this any easier, Ace. That speed is incredible, but still

poor Itsuke is the target of choice, but that’s not entirely a bad thing - he’s relatively dodgy, can’t be critted, and has a good chance of hitting Roarik even though Roarik is on a gate.

additional note: that point of speed makes Ace capable of doubling Roarik now

but it is, in fact, Cia who wins the day, for a pretty alright level

Emma tops Anakin off, and we seize.

Anyone got opinions as to Ace’s destiny? He’s got pending Supports with Anakin (B) and Eduardo (Dark)

Fire (Ace): Attack + 0.5, Accuracy + 2.5, Avoid + 2.5, Critical + 2.5 Light: Attack + 0.5, Defence + 0.5, Accuracy + 2.5, Critical + 2.5 Dark: Accuracy + 2.5, Avoid + 2.5, Critical + 2.5, Critical Evade +2.5 

If he supported both now, his Hit would be ...+15, Attack +2, Def/Res+1, Avoid +5, Crit +10, Dodge +2.5, if I’m getting this right

that accuracy boost is akin to the Weapon Triangle Advantage, and I generally keep all three of them in the same place at once. Anakin is useful AND mandatory, Eduardo’s been moderately blessed, and Ace is okay in non-skill areas (and has almost as much HP as Eduardo, despite having 80% growth to his 120%)