Screenshot LunaticScreamer plays The Last Promise

[LunaticScreamer]

Well, I think I'm finally ready to kick off my next journey and it's...

...This?

Yeah, I did say I was going to hold off until the Hard Mode version to do an LP of this hack, but sod it, I'm an impatient critter and I could use a hack I'm quite well experienced with to do a nice relaxing run after suffering through FE7if.

But yeah...long story short, this hack is near & dear to me, being one of the first FE hacks I ever played through and beat multiple times.

Is this hack perfect? Not at all. There are a few minor nitpicks I have with it, but they're much more bearable than what irked me about FE7if. Also, since this is an english hack and I can read the text, that means I might make some random quips about the story or whatever. We'll see.

Anyways...I say we kick this journey off, shall we?

[spoiler=Prologue & Ch1: Dammit Shon!]

Long story short, humans & dragons lived together in peace, but dragons are dingbats and decided to revolt, forcing the humans to bail out and start new lives in non-dragon populated zones. Peace would prosper for some time, but...

The empire of Magnus decided to invade Castle Aegis because, hell, some empire or nation has to be the power hungry one, am I right?

On the right, Emperor Louis just woke up from a siesta and decides to imprison everyone in Castle Aegis, including Duke Paul on the left. Louis MIGHT have wanted to just straight up kill him and the rest of Aegis's inhabitants while one of his lackeys assumes leadership of the castle. This will no doubt come back to bite him in the ass sometime in the future.

Flash forward to the present where a father & son are forced to fight a small ragtag band of Magnus lackeys intent on taking the father's life because, eh, random lottery winnings I guess.

Anyways, enough talking, time to talk about our father & son duo. This one is Siegfried, a promoted unit with oddly low bases. This is the result of taking some nasty injuries some amount of time ago as his description states. Luckily, this isn't going to hamper him right now as he can hold his own pretty well against the current enemies. Should he get some levels, you'll be well rewarded as his growths are pretty good, especially in strength, skill, and speed.

While Siegfried might only being using a sword here, he can also use spears if you happen to stumble across any.

Meanwhile, Shon's more in line with your typical early game unit. His issue is not his growths which, while not as high as his dad's, are still respectable aside from defense & resistance.

No, the issue is his con. While he also has the option of using spears, anything at an Iron Spear level or higher is going to slow him down fairly decently. Thankfully, he's got his own personal weapon, the Piercing Sword, which is effective on mounted & armored units, to work with early on.

Siegfried kicks it off by visiting this house, getting some useful supplies for the early game. Why not send Shon to do this? He's got a personal sidequest to do that spans two thirds of the hack, that's why.

You see, Shon has to kill every single enemy on this map, including the boss, without Siegfried getting into any battles of any kind, even if it's just to meatshield.

Shon goes here to lure out the first group of enemies. Might seem risky allowing him to be attacked from two sides, but he'll be fine. He's got Vulneraries. Worse comes to worse, he can backup a bit and make them come one at a time for easier handling.

Oh hey, enemies without 40+ hp from the word go. That's nice! Shon dodges quite well here and damages both of his attackers good.

To boot, he kills off his first two attackers and keeps on dodging a third one, gaining his first level. Could be a bit better, but it's still the early game so no worries.

Shon moves to his second point of interest with the intent on luring out the last Soldier and wiping him out over the course of the next turn or so. He does take a hit from the spear user, but that's fine since the Fighter whiffed and got killed on an enemy phase.

Boss time! Byron's nothing special, but take note of his Elixirs. Shon can't one round him with the Piercing Sword, doing just enough damage with two hits that Byron would use his Elixir to heal up. As such, Shon's going to start out with the Iron Sword to do some chip damage, then finish him off with a double whack of the Piercing Sword. This will all be done via counters because Byron can easily two shot Shon from full health, meaning Shon needs to use Vulneraries to keep healthy.

As opposed to Batta the Beast? Anyways, he & Shon trade blows with one another. Shon heals himself with a Vulnerary after switching over to his Piercing Sword.

The next enemy phase is basically the RNG screwing over Byron hard, resulting in him taking a critical to the face and going down, netting Shon a good level in the process.

Now that Magnus knows where Siegfried is, he needs to leave, deciding to tell Shon to effectively fuck off because he doesn't want to put his son in harm's way more or less, ending part 1 of the prologue.

Yes, there's a part 2 to the prologue. By having Shon solo everything, you'll have fulfilled one of the three parts of Shon's game spanning personal sidequest and get a chance to pick up a bit of extra experience.

Only one enemy in prologue II to take out and that's Shon's best friend, Corben, in a friendly duel. Corben's quite well equipped, even having a Javelin for ranged combat. Basically, Shon can end this fight in two hits with his Piercing Sword, but he can't miss once. If he does, he's likely getting taken down between counterattacks and Javelin hijinks.

Also, after this chapter, Corben will join the team with the exact same stats & equipment seen here. Growths are roughly on par with Shon with the exception of a pretty good luck growth and decent defense growth. More importantly, 10 con is going to allow him to handle spears much better than Shon can.

*Price is Right losing horn sound effect here*

Note to self: Don't attack Corben on a tile where he's going to duck into a forest for more evasion (62% chance to land a Piercing Sword hit in a forest, yay).

This is where I should have begun the assault from. That way, Corben won't move into a forest for more evasion, giving Shon a much better chance to land the finishing blow on turn 2 to end the prologue and send everyone to chapter 1.

This is your fault Siegfried. If you actually brought Shon with you and protected him like a good father would, you wouldn't have to pull out your dammit card so soon.

Pictured: What every enemy in chapter 1 is more or less. Some have different weapons like a Steel Axe or Hand Axe. Siegfried handed off his equipment to the ones who can actually get good exp here and acts as a meatshield in a forest.

Shon was pretty close to a level up at the end of prologue II so it didn't take long to get this. A pretty good one since he could really do with the extra strength & defenses.

After a couple turns, this curious fellow appears. He's an enemy and, yet, he decides to report back to his superior rather than take down Siegfried now. Probably for the best, who knows?

Corben sure knows the best way to get rid of any pesky enemy.

Despite all the Brigands that have been attacking Siegfried, he's only taken one hit so far this chapter.

Not like the other Brigands are having any better luck landing hits though.

Corben finishes off a Brigand, getting a solid first level up.

More misses from the enemy units!

Shon prepares to lure out a pair of Brigands by the boss by killing one in the south, getting an acceptable level up. He keeps this up and he'll start doubling more or less everything in the first part of the game quickly.

Not much else needs to be said. The rest of the Brigands fail to take out Shon or Corben. Corben picks up this good level dropping one of them.

As for the boss, he's apparently decided to equip some armor so he can tank while using that Steel Axe.

"But my weapon is effective on armored units. Are you not wearing armor yourself?"

"...Oops."

Yeah, the boss is easy with the Piercing Sword. Shon can even afford to attack on the player phase if he wants. If he gets hit, Corben & Siegfried can do some rescuing hijinks to get him away to safety.

Praise is good and all, but this dingbat was proclaiming that Magnus wouldn't bother attacking a quaint little village like this. Wrong! Siegfried & the others set out for their next destination as chapter 1 nears its end.

Kevin reports back to his superior, General Howard. Due to his failure to even keep tabs on Siegfried, Kevin gets reassigned to some random outpost that Siegfried will probably pass by in due time. That probably means he'll be recruitable, who knows.

Death Count: Shon (1)

Next time: Actual non mounted units for Siegfried's army!

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Siegfried, Shon, Corben)]

Siegfried's growths:

Hp: 120% Luk: 40%

Str: 70% Def: 60%

Skl: 90% Res: 40%

Spd: 90%

Siegfried's status as a promoted unit of sorts is going to hamper his chances to level easily early on. A pain, given his bases and how they could use some work. Once he can get levels though, those growths will help to get him on track pretty quickly.

Shon's growths:

Hp: 70% Luk: 35%

Str: 40% Def: 25%

Skl: 50% Res: 25%

Spd: 45%

Shon's growths aren't too bad besides those defensive growths, but given his bases in strength, defense, and speed, he'll need to hit those three at a decent clip if he doesn't want to be left in the dust.

Corben's growths:

Hp: 85% Luk: 50%

Str: 40% Def: 30%

Skl: 50% Res: 20%

Spd: 35%

While that speed growth is a bit worrying, his excellent luck growth combined with his good base there is likely going to allow him to stuff enemy criticals pretty well. Having 10 con also helps him to wield a good selection of spears with little to no AS loss early on.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Tangerine

[RandomSwordmaster]

finally, something that isn't terrible as hell....now I'm suffering withdrawal! HALP!

[Upside-DownFish]

Oh boy, this hack. Seeing your vids on this is actually how I found your youtube channel, so it's sorta odd seeing you doing it again. Oh well, not complaining seeing another one of your lp's :P

On another note, will you be doing the postgame this time around?

Also is it bad that I kind of want to see your Rex get hilariously stat screwed just to see your reaction

Edited January 26, 2015 by Upside-DownFish

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

this was a fun hack, not perfect, but one of the better ones imo.

[fengaridotdll]

Holy crap, you're actually playing something good for once

So much for being a Lunatic Screamer

Edited January 26, 2015 by Yahoo (2)

[RandomSwordmaster]

Holy crap, you're actually playing something good for once

So much for being a Lunatic Screamer

we finally have an LP of a good hack that isn't FE7CM

[Klokinator]

As long as you don't do stupid inside jokes like that one Tekun guy and you make the LP enjoyable for those of us who have not (and never will) played TLP, I'll watch this.

[LunaticScreamer]

Oh boy, this hack. Seeing your vids on this is actually how I found your youtube channel, so it's sorta odd seeing you doing it again. Oh well, not complaining seeing another one of your lp's :P

On another note, will you be doing the postgame this time around?

Also is it bad that I kind of want to see your Rex get hilariously stat screwed just to see your reaction

Postgame will indeed be done here, no worries about that.

Rex getting stat screwed? Probably, considering how he usually turns out for me otherwise, heh.

As long as you don't do stupid inside jokes like that one Tekun guy and you make the LP enjoyable for those of us who have not (and never will) played TLP, I'll watch this.

Well founded fear. I doubt I'll do any inside jokes since I'd sooner just poke fun at random moments of stupidity both sides seem to exhibit alongside explaining things as the game progresses.

With that out of the way, here's an update to kick off the morning.

[spoiler=Ch2 & Ch3: Non-mounted Units Finally!]

Siegfried, Shon, and Corben make a pit stop at a local blacksmith. Siegfried commissioned this blacksmith to make him a sword before arrival, but there's currently a problem with getting said sword.

Bandits! That's not the blacksmith on the right there, but the bandits don't like being played with and their leader here, Jaled, goes a round with Kelik. He fails to connect and gets hit twice in return, forcing Jaled to run to his throne for passive heals like a dingbat.

Also, the bandits are holding the blacksmith hostage. Siegfried's not standing for that because he wants more power and vows to make the bandit population here extinct. That girl you see there?

She joins the team right at the start of the chapter. Tamiko's your sole healer for the first third or so of the game so get used to her presence. Bases are a bit weak, but she has staves for healing which more than makes up for it. Hopefully she'll get some magic to help ply her trade a bit better.

Also, Heal staves provide 22 exp per use right now. She can easily max out before part 1 of the game is over with if she's healing at every opportunity with little, if any need, to boss abuse.

This is actually a decently challenging chapter compared to the last two. Plenty of enemies around to swarm you. As such, Tamiko steps back so she's not in range of any enemies.

Corben & Shon double team a Brigand to take him out with Shon getting a...well, expected level to be honest. I've never really had good luck with getting even a half decent Shon in all my playthroughs. On the plus side, that resistance boost will help in a few chapters.

Siegfried, who was given an Iron Sword via trading before the end of the last chapter, even has to get his hands dirty here. This Archer will run off to heal with a Vulnerary, but that's still one less enemy that's going to attack on the upcoming enemy phase.

Ok, maybe I shouldn't have had Shon there because he gets targeted by literally half of the enemy forces. Luckily, he evades every attack thrown at him and even inflicts some wounds on the few Brigands that engaged him at melee range.

As for that Archer that ran off to heal? Kelik pays a visit to him, ending about as well for the Archer as you can expect. Luckily, Siegfried can get up here on turn 2 and rescue him, thereby preventing Kelik from stealing valuable exp Shon & Corben could use.

Siegfried has done his rescuing duties, Shon moved into a forest to attack a Brigand, and Corben killed off a weakened Brigand. Tamiko moves a bit closer to the action, being careful not to step into the range of any Hand Axe using Brigand.

Nothing exciting from the next enemy phase occurs unless you want to count bad levels being gained something exciting.

Next turn begins and Tamiko visits the village on the east side, getting a Javelin for her efforts. That Brigand does have a Hand Axe and will likely come to attack her, but she can take one hit just fine and either of the boys can run over here and kill him off once the next turn rolls around.

About the only things of note that happened on the enemy phase this go around.

Shon takes out the Brigand that attacked Tamiko, then Siegfried gets close enough so that Tamiko can pass the Javelin over to him.

Where's Corben during all of this you ask?

Nearly dying, that's what! I wanted him with the Javelin so he could counter every enemy that attacked him, but I'm so good at counting ranges and he got attacked by two Brigands, not one as I was expecting. I'm good at this hack I swear, heh.

On the plus side, the next player phase means that Corben can damage a Brigand and get this good level for his efforts. He's gotten 3 speed over 4 levels. Not bad for someone with a 35% growth.

A protective formation is made so Tamiko can be close enough to drop a heal on anyone that needs it during the next turn.

Shon learns very quickly on effective methods of dropping enemies quickly it seems.

At this point, there are very few enemies left before Jaled is the only one left standing. Shon shakes off the residue from his bad levels this chapter with this good one weakening an Archer.

A couple turns later, every enemy that isn't named Jaled is dead.

Before engaging the boss, you're going to want Corben to visit this house. Why? He gets a nice weapon, the Emblem Lance. Infinite uses, and is effective on everything. Basically, you might as well say it has 8 mt, slightly stronger than an Iron Lance.

More importantly though, the Emblem Lance is the first of four weapons required for a sidequest that spans a large portion of the game.

Might as well take down Jaled now. He's not much different compared to the last boss besides those Elixirs of his.

Jaled thinks he can hit Siegfried with his eyes closed. Not one of his better ideas I assure you.

Also, Siegfried equipped with the Emblem Lance here was intended. Tamiko's nearby to heal him if he gets hit and, despite hauling Kelik around, gets two chances to land a hit and gain a bit of exp. He does indeed get one of his 48% strikes to land.

Shon softens up Jaled enough for Corben to get the killing blow, netting even more speed. Keep on trucking my man.

Before Siegfried seizes the throne (and talks with Kelik to find out he works solo more or less), Tamiko does some scratch damage healing, netting her a solid first level up for her efforts.

Siegfried pays a visit to the blacksmith and gets the weapon he was asking for. A fine weapon I must say with lots of uses and being effective on mages, meaning Siegfried can and likely will one shot any he runs across. On to chapter 3!

Chapter 3 begins with Siegfried seeking more help, enlisting the services of two mercenaries for his quest to conquer Yulia Castle.

Meanwhile, the local boss of the area has to hold out until Cid, also known as the Golden Spear, arrives with reinforcements. Too bad this guy is about to get steamrolled into oblivion, but first, let's see what our new team members are like, shall we?

First up, we have Shuuda who's only concern is planting a sword into the head of any enemy he comes across. His offensive stats start off strong with good growths to match, but his luck, defense, and resistance growths are weak, meaning he's a glass cannon and best used to spearhead an attack, followed by your more tanky characters coming in to fill the gap he creates.

Finally, here's Inanna, the first flyer of the game. A bit of an odd one as she starts with a higher defense base than resistance, but her growths will likely correct that. Hopefully that speed of hers goes up quickly because she's getting slowed down using an Iron Lancer or better.

Corben crosses the bridge and tanks for the first turn, weakening a bunch of enemies on the enemy phase and scoring a good level for himself in the process.

Turn 2 is pretty much clean up duties for what survived the first enemy phase. Only a very weak Cavalier & lone Soldier remain from the first wave of opponents before enemy phase #2 kicks off.

A Cavalier suicides on Siegfried since he was the only one in his attack range.

Flyers make an appearance here. Oddly enough, all the enemy flyers present here are the only ones seen in part 1 if my memory serves me correctly.

Turn 3 is more of the same "murder whatever survived the last enemy phase" routine really.

Another enemy phase means more counterkills for the pile.

Next player phase has Inanna weakening an Archer for a pretty good first level.

Meanwhile, Siegfried & Shon have rushed ahead to deal with a Knight by the river, both gaining solid level ups for the effort.

By killing that Knight, it allows anyone to visit this village and get a bridge to be set up, allowing everyone to cross and head towards the fort where the boss is. Inanna could just ferry people over with her flyer credentials, but that's a slow way of doing things unless you're going for speed.

Inanna is the only one who can end her turn here and get this hidden Elysian Whip. Whether or not she gets to an acceptable enough level to warrant me using this on her before part 1 is over with remains to be seen.

As for that village to her northeast, she gets a Torch from it, something that will come in handy for the next map.

Tamiko's doing some quick scratch damage healing before everyone rushes forward, gaining an ok level as a reward.

I did say Shuuda's best used to spearhead an attack. Then again, if the enemy comes to him first, that also works. He gets his first level swatting aside the poor sucker who attacked him.

With some effort from Shon & Inanna (who borrowed Siegfried's Emblem Lance), the Knight guarding the way to the boss goes down.

Tamiko performs maintenance on everyone in preparation for the boss. She could really do with more magic, but more speed's never bad either.

Another boss that Shon could tear up with his Piercing Sword, but since he doesn't have the defense score of the previous bosses, that means other people can easily chip him down instead.

Yeah, don't even need more than a few units who get picked up and ferried away to keep Jarod using his Steel Sword. Inanna gets a non-level doing the finishing blow. Siegfried seizes the gate.

Inside the fort, some prisoners are found & released, amongst them this enigmatic man who says that not all Magnians are bad people. This will have more meaning when we get into the next chapter.

Also, he suggests that Siegfried hook up with leader of the Phora who goes by the name Haas. Siegfried seems to think it's a good idea. Any more able sword arms for his quest is useful.

Death Count: Shon (1)

Next time: Part 1 of my master plan approaches!

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Tamiko, Shuuda, Inanna)]

Tamiko's growths:

Hp: 65% Luk: 30%

Mag: 45% Def: 25%

Skl: 45% Res: 40%

Spd: 40%

Tamiko's got decent enough growths, but even if those fail her, being a healer gives her a spot in my army until my primary healer appears (which is still a long ways away mind you).

Shuuda's growths:

Hp: 75% Luk: 25%

Str: 50% Def: 20%

Skl: 50% Res: 25%

Spd: 50%

Shuuda's certainly got the makings of a glass cannon going on here with his growths. Very offensively stable, but his defensive growths are weak so be careful around dense groups of enemies.

Inanna's growths:

Hp: 60% Luk: 50%

Str: 40% Def: 15%

Skl: 50% Res: 35%

Spd: 55%

Inanna's your typical Pegasus Knight, but with a quite acceptable strength growth. If anything, she needs to get a good helping of speed in order to offset the weight of the heavy spears she'll likely have to take up before her chance to promote arrives.

[TheMoniker]

I actually like this hack, looking forward to seeing you play more of it! I'd do an LP of it myself, but there's already 2 LPs on Serenes Forest now, and a comprehensive Something Awful LP on the LParchive, so I'd feel redundant.

[Tangerine]

Start setting first tag as prefix please.

[LunaticScreamer]

A quick update here. Would have tossed this in with the last update, but that would have gone well over the image limit for a post.

[spoiler=Ch4: The Solemn Knight Approaches]

The enigmatic man who goes by the name Galagar has lead Siegfried's team close to the realm of the Phora, then leaves to attend to personal matters.

Of course, this path crosses right by the area where Kevin was recently assigned to. I see where this is going.

As the chapter gets underway, you can see why Inanna's going to be a bit restricted in what she can do here. The enemy force is very heavily cluttered with Nomads. Any using Steel Bows could probably one shot her from full health unless her defense growth got lucky

Of course, the Nomads here aren't exactly going for durability. Anyone capable of doubling is likely going to one round them or come extremely close to it.

Corben comes up to slay the Nomad to the north. He & Shon are going to form a wall to keep Inanna protected and clean out the northern route while Siegfried, Shuuda, and Tamiko handle the forces coming in from the east.

Ada isn't exactly the patient type, that's for sure.

Looking pretty good here. Shon & Corben can counter any Nomads that attack them with their Javelins while Siegfried & Shuuda can tear through the rabble coming in from the east.

Something to take note of...the Short Bow got changed into a 1-2 range bow. Keep that in mind if you send in anyone especially prone to getting critted and with low defense.

Anyways, Shuuda & Siegfried destroy the two Nomads in their range with ease.

Tamiko gets some more magic patching up Shuuda.

Ada finally decides on a very stupid move...send Kevin out to greet Siegfried.

More murder and dodging hijinks occur on Siegfried's side.

Shon & Corben have just about got full control of the northwest side.

No other Nomads in range so I let Inanna kill off the weakened one in range. The Mercenary on the fort doesn't last long either to be honest.

Ada is now cursing herself for letting Kevin go wild. Siegfried is able to talk to him and convert him to our side.

First thing to note...you can kill Kevin here, but it'll lead to a game over if you do that since he plays a key role at the start of part 2's story.

That being said, Kevin is the first part of my master plan down the road. He's a beast, plain & simple. Typical Knight-like bases, but they make him damn near invulnerable to anything with even the slightest intention of doing physical damage to him.

As for his growths, they're also quite good. Has a chance, however slim it may be, to get 2 hp per level, as well as strong growths in strength, skill, and defense. His speed growth is also quite nice for his class. Only luck & resistance are his bad growths.

You can expect anything that isn't a boss to do no damage to Kevin. Do also watch out for Longbow using jerks in the mix as Tamiko finds out the hard way.

Even when he's not going to take damage from any physicals right now, Kevin feels like adding insult to injury for the poor bow users.

Oh yeah, there's a couple Myrmidons in the mix. Still frail as all hell, meaning they go down hard when they find my giant wall of doom known as Kevin.

Kevin gets his first level shaming the entire squad coming from the northeast. A bit of an odd level for him, but I won't say no to levels with luck and/or resistance for him.

This, on the other hand, will serve him much better.

Some others can get their murder on, taking care not to go too deeply into the northeast. Inanna & Tamiko's levels are meh, but Shuuda gets exactly what he needs right now.

Ballista in the extreme northeast. Don't want Inanna getting near that, but I question this mindset of what this one was trying to accomplish by attacking Kevin.

Inanna takes Shuuda's Red Gem and Kevin's Blue Gem, then takes a trip to the local armory to sell both of them off, then use a portion of the funds to purchase two Iron Swords, one of which is going to Shuuda.

Kevin takes out whatever still breathes in the extreme northeast, including the ballista jerk, leaving only Ada to deal with.

Ada's not that much more threatening than the Nomads. If you get her to switch to the Iron Bow, Inanna could try to get in a counter-free shot for some damage if she gets rescued out of range. Just make sure not to leave Ada low on health so she can use those Elixirs.

Ada feels really dumb now letting Kevin go like that, doesn't she?

Why act so surprised Ada? You're the one who let Kevin roam as he pleases and join whomever he feels like joining.

Also, Kevin won't be the last Magnian recruit in our squad I feel. Just a hunch though.

Kevin just continues to get better and better.

Shuuda shuts her up in short order.

Well, she at least admits to her fuck up. Good for her I guess, heh.

Death Count: Shon (1)

Next time: Odd gaiden requirements & Cid's introduction.

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Kevin)]

Kevin's growths:

Hp: 105% Luk: 25%

Str: 55% Def: 40%

Skl: 45% Res: 15%

Spd: 35%

Kevin's a very solid Knight, simple as that. Solid bases in hp, strength, and defense with matching good growths for each one. He's also got a surprisingly good speed growth for his class. He'll need to be careful around spellcasters with that res growth of his, but that's about his only significant weakness otherwise.

[Klokinator]

Fact: The first video ever put on my channel was of this chapter in TLP, but it was called Tactics Universe back then.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

i swear that peg knights in this hack needed a buff

[Nintales]

i swear that peg knights in this hack needed a buff

I don't think so. Triangle attack is the most OP thing in this game, considering it can be done on most, if not all the bosses of the game once you get Alice. (I think it's her name)

It can even wreck the final boss.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

you are right, of course this assumes that their under 50% speed growths with awful speed bases doesn't ruin that chance for a triangle attack in the first place.

[Nintales]

you are right, of course this assumes that their under 50% speed growths with awful speed bases doesn't ruin that chance for a triangle attack in the first place.

I think Silver Lance!Lirin with A Inanna B Alice can kill some bosses with triangle attack before they even get the chance to hit. (not that sure, however)

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

translation of what i meant: if the unit's speed turns out to be below 20 because of the bad base and growth, then chances are someone isn't gonna use them for the triangle attack.

alternatively, lets say your two peg knights never get out of 12 speed, would you really use two slots for them and alice just for a triangle attack?

Edited January 26, 2015 by HF Makalov Fanboy Kai

[Nintales]

translation of what i meant: if the unit's speed turns out to be below 20 because of the bad base and growth, then chances are someone isn't gonna use them for the triangle attack.

alternatively, lets say your two peg knights never get out of 12 speed, would you really use two slots for them and alice just for a triangle attack?

I agree.

However, the speed growths in TLP are around 40-55 for each character, and Lirin has one of the weakest, which is only 40%. It's not that bad.

[Upside-DownFish]

I remember I really tried to train up my pegs when I played this hack, and was somewhat disappointed. Innana was the best simply due to her early promotion that she received in chapter 10, and managed to get S rank lances. However, she really didn't end up being that good as she just couldn't do enough damage to warrant a spot on my team. Same story really for the other 2. Sylmeria triangle attack only helped me take out one boss (the swordmaster in the chapter that alice joins in,) so honestly training them up just isn't worth it imo.

[LunaticScreamer]

Might as well toss out another update here.

[spoiler=Ch5 & 5x: Kevin Is God]

Siegfried's group manages to hook up with Haas, leader of the Phora. If nothing else, Haas is a very smart man, saying he has reinforcements on the way to assist Siegfried with taking the fortress that's about to be invaded. Haas himself doesn't join though as he's got other important work to do.

Meanwhile, inside the fortress, Majaraon (on the left), is already trying to outbid Ada as the individual with the biggest delusions of victory. See that guy on the right?

Well, he basically tells Magnus to fuck off as he runs up to Siegfried's team and joins the party for some slaughter.

This Monk known as Arthur is your first offensive magic user and, as he clearly states, is designed to tell enemy magic users wanting to damage him to go take a hike. He does have a bit of a slow start since he could use some extra speed and his low defense & luck scores force him to be cautious around any physical bearing enemies, but that's about it.

As for his growths, he has precisely one bad growth, defense. Everything else is at least 40% or better with his strongest growths being in magic and, surprisingly enough, hp. How good is that hp growth? It's the same as Siegfried, 120%. Yeah, this one has potential, but there's another downside to him which I'll explain in my usual growths & comments section.

The Kashaya tribe is heavy on the magic users with a few more over to the west by where Majaraon is. While they have only around 7-10 attack power at best, most of your units likely only have a couple points or so of resistance so caution needs to be taken when engaging them.

At the start, there's a pretty dangerous group of Nomads. Not because of FE7if levels of stats, but mostly because Inanna is not safe no matter which way she flies. Hell, there's a Longbow using Nomad offscreen to the west who's going to come in for a visit.

First priority is to clear out a side so that Inanna can stay alive. Of course, these Nomads aren't the weak ones from the last chapter and are harder to double.

Then again, Shon can completely nullify that concern by critting and killing this Nomad in one turn anyways.

A combined effort from Kevin, Corben, and Arthur drop another Nomad while Siegfried drops a third thanks to his good speed & Nothung, meaning Inanna can fly up a bit and get out of a Nomad's attack range.

Like I said, magic users right now might not have much attack power, but when two thirds of your army likely has low resistance, those 4 or 5 damage shots will add up.

Turn 2 begins with Shuuda & Arthur dropping the second to last Nomad from the starting area.

Something tells me my luck for getting good levels this chapter isn't going to be present if this is anything to go off of. Corben gets this weakening the Longbow using Nomad in the west.

Poisonous to magic users my ass. Nothung is more like an instant death sword to anything that uses magic. Siegfried doesn't follow through with this action though since Kevin & Shon can easily take him.

Shon's impressive amount of resistance he's gained means he's one of my best options for luring out the magic users so others can pick up kills. Of course, he'd rather just dodge magic for that little extra insult to injury like Kevin does.

This will be very important as there's two doors that can be unlocked, exactly the number of uses this Door Key has. This will eventually find its way to the group that will go in from the door to the west.

Siegfried takes a loan on Kevin's Javelin. He's going to lure in some magic users to the north and either kill or severely weaken them.

Apparently I haven't learned from FE7if to not leave my flyers in range of bows like an idiot. At least she survived.

There may only be two Flux users on this map, but they're some of the stronger magic users on the map. Luckily, Siegfried counterkills this one with a pair of Javelin tosses.

Longbow Nomad gets a sword to the face thanks to Shuuda who picks up another level of precisely what he needs. He even gets some luck out of the deal too.

More magic user hijinks. Kevin doesn't care about the damage he takes, but can't double the Mage. Shon though can double his attacker, a Shaman in the eastern treasure room. Good thing because...

Chest Keys from the Shaman! Full inventory though so Shon gets rid of the 4 pack of Vulneraries to make room for the key.

Down here, this group is going to assault the fortress from this door. Corben has the Door Key for reference. Technically, he could have opened it before the next enemy phase, but that Mage in the screenshot has a Thunder tome and could possibly one shot some of the units there if his attack crits.

Fucks given by the Mage: 0

Siegfried's taking a bit of a beating. Might want to heal him soon.

Turn 5 rolls around and those reinforcements promised by Haas arrive. While this one leaves the scene afterwards, the other five Nomads he brought will be enough to stall the impending wave of Nomad reinforcements.

These green army Nomads are quite combat capable. Two have Short Bows, two have Iron Bows, and one has a Steel Bow. One of the Short Bow & Iron Bow Nomads even have Vulneraries.

Skipping ahead a bit, Siegfried gets knocked down to 7 hp. You'll see why I mention this in a bit.

Reinforcements! The green army is going to stall the reinforcements long enough for us to hopefully finish our mission here.

The good news: A solid first level for Arthur. It's not going to stick though. Why?

I kinda forgot that Siegfried's resistance is terrible and he gets sent packing by a nearby Mage and this Myrmidon (not the one that brought him to 7 hp before though). There goes that level Arthur got, yay.

Ok, I'll actually remember to heal up Siegfried this time.

Shon doesn't kill a Myrmidon, but he does get a good level out of it.

Arthur re-gets his first level. No magic & speed sadly, but he does pick up some helpful luck & defense.

Shon gets to raiding the pair of chests in the eastern treasure room. One chest has a Lancereaver in it. Shon has to toss his other set of Vulneraries away to make room though. The other chest nearby contains 5000 gold.

Competent dodging green army units? Shocker! He even dodged the other Short Bow Nomad that attacked him this turn too.

Corben gets to murdering the last magic user in the throne room. There were a couple other magic users there, but he counterkilled them with his Javelin on the last enemy phase.

Seriously, what is up with all these 60%+ dodges I've gotten thus far in my playthrough? It's a bit unnerving if you ask me, heh.

Tamiko gets magic doing healing work, good.

Kevin though...holy crap this guy only has a 15% resistance growth and yet he's hit it at least three times so far. The extra speed only serves to make him even more dangerous.

Rarely does Siegfried get a bad level. Today is not one of those days, even if he didn't get strength.

Some of my units get in range to engage the boss. He's basically Ada, but a bit stronger and standing on a throne. Unfortunately he's an idiot and left two pillars to either side of him from which you can get a defense & evasion boost if you wish. Otherwise, having no Elixirs makes him easier to deal with.

Shuuda gets the party started, hitting twice and knocking the boss down to 11 hp.

There goes her first Heal staff. Luckily she has one more in reserve.

Shuuda counterhits the boss twice, bringing him down to 3 hp.

Steel Bow Nomad: Still a dodging psycho!

Majaraon gets booted from the throne by Corben. He's still a bad level lightning rod it seems.

One of the Vulnerary using Nomads wandered up here while healing. Tamiko heals the last point of his hp up for some easy exp.

Also, note the open door which Kevin unlocked the last turn.

Kevin goes inside and ends his turn to find a random Talisman lying around. Kevin is going to use this to boost his resistance to 8, but more importantly, finding this Talisman means you'll get to go to chapter 5x after this.

Meanwhile, Corben took Shon's Chest Keys and went to loot the last treasure chest. Usually, I give this to Shuuda to bolster his defenses, but I'm going to hold on to it for a bit this time and see how a future party member turns out.

There goes the Steel Bow Nomad. As a final screw you, it took all three enemy reinforcements to bring him down this turn.

Tamiko picks up a defensive level doing some last minute healing before Siegfried seizes the throne.

No, Hass isn't a typo. Haas actually corrects Siegfried's mistake right afterwards.

Haas is going to take his Phoran tribe and go blow up some Magnians to the north. That way, everyone can fall back to the Atheya region if things turn sour. He also suggests that Siegfried travel through Sark and the Focal Mountains if he wants to get to Yulia Castle quickly, capture it, and have a good foothold to go rampaging through Valencia.

Haas isn't going to let Siegfried go without some assistance, that being a new party member, Storm. He's the one that brought the reinforcements earlier on that no doubt saved the team some hassle.

Meanwhile, on the Magnian side, Howard once again brings up the question of where Cid's men are. We'll find out soon enough.

Howard has some business up at Aegis to take care of so he has Pellenore defend Yulia Castle in his absence as chapter 5 comes to a close.

Chapter 5x starts out with a group of enemies about to besiege Siegfried's army. Basically, experience for anyone in my army more or less.

You get the option to bypass this chapter if you feel you're too weak or running very low on weapon uses. Of course, I'm not doing that.

Storm joins the party! He's your first bow user and starts out reasonably well. Good offensive bases and a personal weapon with good power and a +2 boost to his speed alongside a Short Bow if he wants to get up close and personal as well as a Killer Bow for high chances of critting. Pretty good growths too with his only weak ones being defense & resistance.

Gotta survive for 12 turns here. This highlighted Cavalier has a Killer Lance and is going to scream southwards. A dangerous threat that needs to be stopped when he reaches your army.

As for the Generals in the middle? Very tanky and hard to take down. Good luck getting up there though with the sheer number of enemy forces you'll have coming your way though. At least the Generals don't move along with the boss.

Actually...who is the boss anyways?

Well, look who's finally gotten his lazy ass into gear and arrived. Cid, otherwise known as the Golden Spear, can double just about anyone on my team and probably one round them too. He even has droppable Boots, but if my memory serves me right, I think I read somewhere that killing him, if you could do that, results in a game over or something, but don't quote me on that. Luckily, he doesn't move at all.

Of interest though is his class, the Halberdier. This is actually the class a Soldier promotes into. It'll be awhile before we get a Soldier for our army though.

The formation I'm going to be sitting in for most of the mission. Kevin is going to tank every single enemy that comes in his direction while Inanna waits here for a few turns. If she were to go for those ruins now, she might lure some Cavaliers over to here and possibly endanger the rest of the team.

Oh hey, another Cavalier that lost his arm trying to damage Kevin!

Turn 3 and...oh boy, that Killer Lance dingbat is in our base.

Not anymore! Corben gets the Killer Spear that drops.

Arthur gets to pick away at any targets that stop in the forest. Every bit of experience helps.

Kevin is still awesome.

Inanna gets her chance to go search through the ruins, grabbing a Killer Edge from it. Shuuda's going to like that weapon.

Tamiko gets a level patching up Storm after he took a hit attacking a Shaman. More magic!

What is it with Magnians and being idiots? If he were smart, he could walk on over now and probably end this single-handedly.

See this Nosferatu using Shaman? Kevin doubled the dingbat. Awesome.

Kevin's first bad level still manages to be beneficial. Getting 2 hp is nice. Also, the sole non-hp stat that went up is one that he can make use of.

Storm's been chipping away at random target from a safe distance, getting a nice first level up with exactly the stats he's looking for.

Kevin is back to getting more speed, nice.

Last turn right now so Arthur takes this chance to kill a weakened target and get some badly needed magic & speed before the chapter ends.

Seriously, this is as far as the enemies could chip down Kevin before the chapter ended. Dude just tanks like a beast and is only going to get tankier as the game progresses.

Death Count: Shon (1), Siegfried (1)

Next time: A Thief approaches!

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Arthur, Storm)]

Arthur's growths:

Hp: 120% Luk: 40%

Mag: 65% Def: 20%

Skl: 45% Res: 40%

Spd: 40%

Arthur's a magic user, yet has an absurd hp growth to help offset his low defense. No important growths under 40% either so he seems like a good candidate to grind up, but there's a small problem. After part 1 ends, he will not return for a LONG time. As such, if you plan to use him long term, you need to put some heavy work into him so he's not a liability to grind up on his return.

Storm's growths:

Hp: 70% Luk: 40%

Str: 50% Def: 25%

Skl: 50% Res: 20%

Spd: 60%

Storm is in the same boat as Arthur with regards to not returning for a long time after part 1 of the game ends. Hell, he returns at the same time Arthur does in part 2. The same applies to him as it did to Arthur if you want to use him long term. Luckily, he's got strong offensive growths. Weak defenses though with a low luck base so make sure he doesn't get too in over his head.

Edited January 27, 2015 by LunaticScreamer

[LunaticScreamer]

Morning update time!

[spoiler=Ch6: A Thief Finally!]

Siegfried's army has arrived in the town of Sark, but it's infested by bad guys that need to be driven out.

This guy, Shinshou (on the left), is another in a long line of idiotic bosses, though to be fair, he didn't know there was a secret wiretap installed in the base that allowed the player to listen in on what he's saying. Regardless, you need to pay attention to what Shinshou says and make sure nobody squishy is around the start when they do start pouring in.

Those reinforcements don't come in for awhile though, giving you ample time to begin murdering everything within a three mile radius as Shuuda does to this Fighter.

This Soldier falls to a combined effort from Storm & Arthur. That Fighter directly to the west of Inanna gets killed by her after being softened up by Corben.

Kevin tried to hit this Fighter, but missed. No biggie since Siegfried just one rounds him effortlessly.

Theme of the first enemy phase. Enemies failing to hit Shon or Soldiers suiciding into Kevin basically.

As turn 2 starts, this Thief appears in the west who seems to know about Kelik, the man we saw back in chapter 2.

Siegfried runs over and talks to the Thief, Althares, thereby enlisting him in his army.

First thing's first...Althares has an innate +15 boost to his crit rate. Considering he can promote into an Assassin far into the future, that is quite nice to have.

For the present though, Althares is your typical Thief. High speed, ok strength, low defenses. No points for guessing what his best non hp growth is, but anything besides that not named defense or resistance has at least a 40% or greater growth. Here's hoping he turns out half decently.

More murder occurring on the east side. I need to get to the northeast so I can wall up for what's coming soon.

Tamiko heals Kevin's missing point of hp and picks up a level. More defense is always appreciated.

Shuuda reverse heals an enemy and gets a good level. Any kind of defense or resistance is a godsend for him.

Armory! I grab some Javelins to help out with my walling up plan.

More murder means Arthur picks up a very typical level for himself.

A spare Lightning tome is snatched up for Arthur here, just in case his current one breaks during this next part.

Gotta love forcing ranged enemies to attack your bow user.

Storm was going to kill the Cavalier he counterattacked on the enemy phase, but missed one of his hits. Althares comes in for his first combat and decides to crit on his first attack. Nice!

Another turn passes with Arthur & Storm working together again to drop a Knight. Storm's level is minimalistic, but it's exactly what he's looking for right now.

Shon & Arthur have been harassing some of the enemies inside the base, but more importantly...Shinshou saying this means the fun is about to start. Reinforcements will start pouring in from the south, but these ones are the kind that appear at the start of the enemy phase and get to move & attack.

The reinforcements still need a couple turns to get anywhere near my team so Arthur finishes nuking an Archer to get some more magic (but no speed, oh dear). He also nukes a potentially nasty surprise waiting for the unwary if they open the door leading into the base on the turn afterwards.

Reinforcements are finally in range. Kevin & Siegfried are taking point, weakening anything that gets close. The Javelins are there because the reinforcements include some Hand Axe using Fighters who could be annoying to deal with otherwise.

Tamiko is going to keep Siegfried nice & healthy as he isn't as defensively sound as Kevin is. Can't ever complain about speed in a level up to be quite honest, even if nothing else goes up.

This is going to be a very good opportunity to train up Arthur & Storm some if you want to use them in the future. Whatever Kevin & Siegfried don't kill, those two can usually mop them up.

Counterkills work too as Arthur finds out when a 1hp Hand Axe user decided to forfeit his life to him.

Not bad, but get a little skill please, thank you.

Of course, I can't help it if some enemies want to suicide into Kevin. More luck for him is always appreciated.

You're terrible for missing two high end growths.

See Siegfried, this guy gets the concept of getting good levels. Learn from him.

Oh god I'm going to have a Tamiko with 10 defense or more by lv20 like my first playthrough I can tell already.

There's some skill for Storm finally.

Siegfried, you're still terrible. Hell, look at the two who you infected with your case of the bad levels!

Althares isn't having any of Siegfried's sickness though. It is his first level after all.

DAMMIT SIEGFRIED!

Reinforcements have died down so Tamiko gets a chance to patch everyone up. She still has Siegfried's sickness though.

Althares gets over the sickness quite quickly as he starts cleaning up the last remaining enemies in town with the assistance of Corben.

Oh god now Siegfried's sickness is mutating and causing everyone to fail at dodging.

More strength for Corben. Can't complain about that too much.

Sir, that's not how to use a spear you turned into a scythe, but if it kills that Knight, so be it.

Here's the other dangerous enemy sitting right above Shinshou. You don't want to lure him out with a low defense unit, that's for sure.

Althares with his first actual application of stealing. Good job! The Archer gets a spear in the face thanks to Kevin, leaving Shinshou as the sole enemy alive right now.

Shinshou subscribes to the school of min-maxing. He's not terribly accurate, but if he hits, it's going to sting quite a bit.

Stalling while doing a run around town visiting the houses. The Light Rune has 3 uses now and might actually be useful for the next chapter. I don't need it though so it gets sold along with some Elixirs and that Elysian Whip I've had since chapter 3.

Let Corben stay at Hand Axe range so Tamiko can get some easy experience while I finish my purchases and whatnot in town. Looks like she got over Siegfried's sickness finally.

As for Shinshou? He's an axe user and Kevin got the Axereaver delivered into his hands. Kevin wipes Shinshou off the board effortlessly and gets more speed. Seriously, I think this guy has had all of one or two bad levels in his leveling career thus far...and even those weren't completely trashy bad levels and at least had a useful stat for him to boot.

Death Count: Shon (1), Siegfried (1)

Next time: Nomads...again!

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Althares)]

Althares' growths:

Hp: 75% Luk: 45%

Str: 40% Def: 25%

Skl: 45% Res: 15%

Spd: 70%

Typical high speed growth as befitting for a Thief, but for Althares, has some acceptable enough offensive growths that he can be an attacker if he gets lucky. Squishy though due to low defenses so hopefully his evasion ticks on up nicely.

[LunaticScreamer]

Last batch of updates from my morning play session.

[spoiler=Ch7 & 7x: Nomads & The Eternal Rainstorm]

The quest to Yulia Castle is taking Siegfried's team towards the Blaine region. All seems fine, but dammit we need a boss to kill. The murder quota needs to be met!

There we go!

This happens to be the first chapter where you can rearrange everyone's inventories, change the formation for who goes where on the map, and select who gets to come with Siegfried for the chapter. Thankfully, everyone that's joined thus far can participate.

Right as the chapter begins, this girl, Cia, joins up right away. She's a more proper magic user than Arthur with the typical magic user weaknesses (hp & defense). Her best growths are the two stats any magic user wants, magic & speed. She could go places if she gets lucky, that's for sure.

Not much that needs to be said for my first turn setup. Just everyone getting into position for the large glut of enemies that are going to attack. Most have poisoned weapons which, while not exactly threatening damage wise, will poison if they connect. The poison status is a bit more potent in this hack, doing 2-4 damage at the start of the player phase or enemy phase, depending on who's afflicted. Not that much more, but it's something you'll want to pay attention to.

Of course, not all the enemies are weaklings. This Nomad has a Killer Bow and can be quite the threat. Luckily, Shon wasn't critted here.

Nomads have gone back to having the durability of a wet paper towel. Kevin just counterkilled this one with a single Javelin.

The new leader of the Taos though wants a word. He's a Nomad Trooper and can cross the rivers, slip past your defensive lines, and gank your squishy units. He needs to die on turn 2 or there will be problems.

Luckily, a combination of Siegfried doubling with his Nothung and Kevin's Javelin drops the boss. Yes, I said boss because he forks over 100 exp for Kevin, giving him yet another good level. I think part 1 of my master plan is going to be just fine, thanks for asking.

Also, the now dead Taos leader drops an Angelic Robe. It's been slightly nerfed, boosting hp by 5 instead of 7. Still good though.

Corben weakens a Myrmidon that Kevin failed to hit during the first enemy phase (and gets poisoned!), allowing Cia to come up and roast the dingbat.

As for the Killer Bow jerk? Shon finished him off on turn 2.

It'd be more threatening if the critical hit someone not named Kevin just so you know sir. He dies on the counterattack from him.

Somehow I knew this was coming. It is Shon after all.

Inanna hasn't gotten too many kills besides that one last chapter. She gets one now killing a Myrmidon.

Magic acquired, thusly the level is a good one for Tamiko.

Got control of the start now, but I do need to make sure not to dawdle. Access to 7x is granted if the chapter is cleared within 17 turns. Still plenty of time though as this is turn 3 right now if my memory serves me right.

More hidden rewards! If anyone steps onto that small platform south of where Inanna is, this lively fellow and his cohort appear on the scene and begin moving. Shon was the one to trigger his appearance, but his sprite is being covered up by the fellow on the right.

The route to the west is now completely open and free for me to dig into next turn.

If you're magic user with 1 magic, using Sleep Paralyze isn't going to be very effective. Just saying.

Reinforcements from the north. One of them has a poisonous weapon and this will persist for the next few turns as reinforcements appear from that direction. Corben has other ideas though, namely the swift death of the Longbow jerk.

There goes the Paralyze failure user. At least she forks over the staff for Tamiko to play around with later on.

While the northern team is kicking all kinds of rear end, that man from before, Noah, decides to talk with Shon, joining the team. Won't talk about his growths now since it won't matter until he rejoins in part 2, but for now, he's your part 1 Jeigan styled unit, able to soften or kill a nasty enemy if the situation calls for it. He also happens to be your only axe user for part 1 as well so there's that.

Northern team is still murdering everything in sight. Those reinforcements can't even do anything as they get quickly snuffed out when they appear.

Inanna rescues Althares and shuttles him northward. I need him to steal something from a Troubadour in the area.

I needed an excuse to break my 1 use Short Bow so Storm picks a target, connects, and gets some speed & resistance from a level up.

Cia got her first level finishing off the Nomad that Storm weakened. Not too bad.

Everyone wants resistance today it seems.

Here's a surprise if you bring up one of your mounted units. If a mounted user can't use the Lancereaver, don't send them in to attack this one. Siegfried obviously doesn't follow through with this action.

Kevin's not letting his good fortune with level ups falter yet.

As for our boss, Seigram, he can be a decent threat for once. Good strength & speed coupled with strong weaponry and a ranged option as well. Toss in respectable avoid and he can be annoying to take down.

Kevin stands in front of Seigram and uses an Elixir, just in case the boss lands a hit on him.

Cia may be low leveled, but that extra speed she got helps her more reliably double the reinforcements from the north. Also, poison weapons are weak as hell. All of four damage on Cia who's got jack squat for a good defense score? Yeah.

At least the poison is a goldmine for boosting Tamiko's level.

Seigram attacks Kevin and connects, but Kevin's much better at the whole damage dealing gimmick, taking off well over half of Seigram's hp in one bow.

Althares swipes another pack of Elixirs and gains an acceptable level while Inanna decides to end the healer's life and...gets a good level? Shocker, considering her past couple of levels.

Shon decides to mess around and visit some houses. He finds this...peculiar guy. I suppose he hasn't heard of what my master plan is all about, heh. All in due time though.

At this point, the map is more or less over with. Just need to wait for Seigram to kick off against Kevin.

Not before this guy kicks off first though. He got doubled by Seigram.

This one's on you green army jerk! At least Noah kept Seigram within one hit kill range for Kevin.

You really shouldn't take after your son and get crappy levels Siegfried. Just saying.

Stop dodging you idiot!

Thank you.

Turn 13 and Siegfried's going to seize the gate. That's with a few turns of having to deal with dodging hijinks from Seigram to boot. Not hard at all to get under the time limit for 7x here.

Speaking of 7x, looks like there's going to be company to cut down on our way through here. Sounds good to me!

Actually got to decide on who to bring for once. Noah's not coming in my party unless I have space, Inanna's take a breather, and there's no stealable trinkets so Althares can sit out for now.

See all those Brigands? They're going to lurch slowly over to your team, each carrying something they drop when killed. Some are rather damned dangerous.

"Some", not all. The Axereaver makes Kevin laugh at any feeble attempts by the enemy to even try putting him in danger. This one drops an Unlock staff which could be useful during the next chapter.

There's asshole #1. High strength coupled with a Killer Axe means this one can probably one shot anyone with a critical aside from Kevin.

See that Brigand? Don't get too used to his presence because Storm is about to critical him to death, low hit odds be damned.

Not a good level, but at least that's the Killer Axe jerk dead now. He dropped an Energy Ring as well.

Kevin could probably solo the entire group of Brigands on the west side if I let him. Think this one had a Red Gem on hand.

I suck at placing characters correctly to counter incoming enemies it seems. Close one!

That enemy phase near death combined with the next player phase allowed Cia to drop her attacker, netting herself a Thunder tome in the process.

Tamiko's defense is STILL going up, haha.

Oh boy, this could be useful for the final part 1 chapter. We shall see.

Also, before I forget to mention it...I don't like this map one bit. It's raining the entire time, meaning everyone has a movement range of 2 at best. Storm has 3, but still...this just turns the map into a boring slog once the worst is over with.

Kevin hasn't gotten any defense in awhile. He corrects this by dropping one of the last remaining Brigands.

Can't argue about defense on Cia, even if she went down to 1 hp attacking this Brigand.

Dingbat! Storm invalidates that healing with a double from his Iron Bow though.

Cia gets to start frying enemies easily with no other enemies to distract her. She'll be able to get a good chunk of levels this way with all the enemies' movement range reduced in this rainstorm.

Well, there goes her shot at hitting 10 defense by lv20. At least she got speed.

Cia's not going to worry about not doubling things at the rate her speed is ticking up. Still plenty of time for her to get that magic up though so no worries.

Going south enough with Cia causes Lorraine to move up into a forest and make a couple Soldiers spawn. Said Soldiers will eventually get close enough for Cia to fry with her Thunder tome.

Like so. Yes, both Soldiers died in this exact same way.

At this point, Cia can operate on her own with regards to taking out enemies here. If she gets hit at all, she has Tamiko on hand to heal her up right away.

Houses with loot. Another Axereaver is nothing to complain about.

Cia gets one more level before running out of targets aside from the boss to fry. Hp is actually good for her since it gives her more room for error if she finds herself on the business end of some physical brute's weapon.

Tamiko visits the last house on the map for a weapon that'll prove useful in a few chapters.

As for Lorraine, he doesn't have Seigram's strength or speed, but he makes up for that by having a Silver Sword. The catch? He drops whatever weapon he doesn't have equipped upon his death.

Tamiko maxes out by getting even more defense. She's not doing too bad to be honest. I'll probably toss the Energy Ring to her if Cia gets enough magic before the end of part 1.

Not hard at all to kill Lorraine once he equips his Javelin with enough ranged attacks and another spear related stab of doom. That Silver Sword could be useful for Shon later.

Death Count: Shon (1), Siegfried (1)

Next time: Closing in on part 1's endgame!

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Cia)]

Cia's growths:

Hp: 55% Luk: 45%

Mag: 50% Def: 15%

Skl: 40% Res: 35%

Spd: 65%

Cia's got potential to be a star player and make it to my endgame team. Her defense will never really amount to much, but being a whirling tornado of high magic & speed is all she really needs to be good. Even if she doesn't turn out, worry not because there's another potential Sage candidate in the future.

[fengaridotdll]

I find it funny how the Monk is named Arthur and the Monk in Sacred Stones has a similar name (Artur), and there's a character in FE4 named Arthur

Not a Light Magic user though.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

not to mention both hair colors of the arthur's are purple

[LunaticScreamer]

May as well wrap up part 1 of the game with the last update for today. This will have to be split into two posts due to the amount of images here.

[spoiler=Ch8-Ch9: Closing in on Part 1's End]

Yeah, the conversations are more or less the same from here on out until the end of part 1. Siegfried finds a base to liberate, enemy commander tells everyone to prepare for war, the usual really.

Before the chapter begins proper, Cia gets that Angelic Robe to boost her survivability a bit.

As the map begins, take note of the two green army units in the room to the northwest. We'll need to save them before the enemy wipes them out, but that will be easy.

Everyone will be going into the base except for Kevin who's going to wipe out the few stragglers outside the base.

Soldier with a Horseslayer? Do not want!

Siegfried weakens a Knight so Arthur can kill it, picking up a pair of Door Keys as a reward.

Definitely can't underestimate the enemies here. Most of the units I'm employing are a little lacking on the defense so caution must be taken. This is the only enemy that attacks Althares though so he's fine.

Up north are a couple unarmed Troubadours. The ranged crew up there will waste time killing them off, buying you some time to finish work in the southern half of the base and prepare your defense to combat those forces.

Someone's quite the sleeper I see.

Kelik's here too, but that's because he got some help from Mina (chick on the right) in acquiring documents about the Raison Runes which will let a famous blacksmith he knows create a powerful sword. In return, Kelik agrees to find someone by the name of Rana and pass along a message because Mina knows her life is soon going to be snuffed out.

No sense in showing off Kevin's battles because he takes no damage from anything over there. Also, if he wasn't fast enough, he's going to get even quicker because he'll be using those when he gets a chance.

The Soldier that decided to be a jerk and block the door I need to go through gets shown out the front door by Storm. Arthur then opens up the door so Siegfried can go in and talk to Anakin, bringing him under our control.

Now, while I would show the usual stat sheets, Anakin and the other two units to be recruited here will have their level & stats reset once part 2 begins, hence there's no real reason wasting experience on them.

However, Anakin is not without his uses here. He's got a unique ability, Motivate, which grants an adjacent unit another turn. With this, Siegfried recruits Ace, then moves to the west to intercept a pair of Soldiers.

As for the Soldier that attacked Althares, he got a heal from Tamiko and took the enemy down with help from Cia.

Did I say intercept? I mean Siegfried will kill them viciously with his Lancereaver.

Kevin's about to give less fucks then he already does.

See this highlighted Knight? He has a Killer Lance so be very careful if you plan to engage him at melee range.

Storm kills a nearby Cavalier for a good level.

After dealing with a Mage on the previous turn, Althares swipes some Elixirs, then gets another turn from Anakin to step back and out of range of the Knight.

At least the Lancereaver gives Siegfried a good chance to dodge the hit, but it's still scary. Also, one of his two hits critted so that's one big threat out of the way.

Kevin decides he's not fast enough and claims even more speed for himself.

Cia gets a perfectly selected three stat level for a random enemy she murdered.

Storm clears a spot out for Siegfried to stand and block the central enemy group from advancing any further. Those Troubadours are dead now so I need him to tank until my team can organize there.

Siegfried recruits Eduardo before moving to his tanking position by the Knight.

Fun fact about Eduardo...if he's still a green army unit and his cell is open, he will charge at the nearest enemy. The guy has no weapons (until Siegfried talks to him of course). Considering Eduardo's personality, it makes perfect sense.

Siegfried's getting quite a few criticals with that Lancereaver.

That's not a good level, but it does mean that Siegfried can go west and lure out some enemies from that area now that Kevin's caught up and can take Sieg's spot.

Of course, having to hope your leader doesn't get fried by a critical is always tense.

The three Knights seen here don't move, making them easy pickings for Cia as she picks up an ok level.

Althares gets to looting the northwestern treasure room. Cia appreciates the spare Thunder tome, but more important is the Emblem Blade, the second of two emblem weapons for a sidequest and the last one you'll find in part 1. The last two won't show up for a very long time.

For kicks, I tried having Tamiko put this Shaman to sleep. It missed, but...

Apparently, the square Tamiko moved to had this. No bullshit, I never knew this was here. I literally just stumbled onto it blindly when playing through this chapter tonight, heh.

In any case, this is an interesting weapon. It can only be used by footsoldiers, namely Ace. Has the same stats as an Iron Lance, but a few less uses. There's a catch though...it's effective on other Soldiers. Too bad Ace doesn't get to keep this when part 1 ends.

Thanks for the free gold sir.

Thanks again for giving Cia a good level.

Mina's no more threatening than the other Shaman besides the extra avoid she gets from the throne.

More free Elixirs!

Kevin gives her a quick & painful death before Siegfried seizes the throne.

After freeing the prisoners in the fort, Siegfried runs into Kelik. Siegfried tries to get Kelik to join, but he refuses, saying Siegfried's rushing antics is going to come back and bite him in the ass one day before leaving and chapter 8 comes to a close.

Per Siegfried's request, Anakin is going with Ace & Eduardo to Regalia in order to recruit new members for Siegfried's rebellion. Too bad I don't get a chance to grind those three in the next two chapters.

On the plus side, Chief Haas decides now would be a good time to join the team. Like with Noah, I won't bother showing his growths until he rejoins later in the game, but for now...well, let's just say he's Kevin on a horse and leave it at that, heh.

Cue anime type shocked face from Liquid on the left. Simply put, Pellenore wants him to stop Siegfried's army, then leaves. Pellenore's going to flip when he realizes what I have in store for Liquid.

Oh yeah...see how Althares is on a peak there? You can place someone not normally able to traverse peaks there in your pre-battle preparations. What does that mean?

Sword users are basically immune to any axe attacks while they stand on that peak. Hell, Shon or Corben would be just fine there, even with their lower speed scores.

This is going to be Althares' chance to get some serious grinding in. I'd like to see him cap speed before I hit the boss.

Some enemies won't likely go after your peak member. That's what everyone else is for of course.

Kevin is effectively a "delete this enemy" button on any enemy he chooses with his sky high speed.

More speed!

More murder!

Still more speed!

Getting a sword into your eye has GOT to hurt.

Around this time, the Brigand reinforcements have dried up so Althares can start carefully treading up the west side of the map, luring out one or two enemies at a time.

Oh yeah, there was a rain gimmick going on here. It doesn't last forever like it did in 7x as it'll start & stop at specific intervals. If Siegfried says this, that means the rain isn't coming back for the rest of the map.

Althares just levels up extremely quickly here with his higher than usual exp gain as befitting of a Thief.

Althares does have Vulneraries should he require some quick healing.

I think this also demonstrates a problem some of the maps have...narrow fighting corridors combined with enemies that only attack when someone in is their range. This isn't going to be the last time such an issue crops up though.

*Glares at Siegfried*

Don't you love it when enemy Archers move to a spot where you can trap them & completely nullify anything they can do?

Also, see that Myrmidon down there? He has a Killing Edge so be careful.

Speed cap, good. More defense can't hurt either.

Althares lives through the Killing Edge Myrmidon's turn. Good thing too because he makes sure the Myrmidon can't use that weapon ever again.

Oh hey, a promoted enemy. Nothing super special aside from a modest hp total though.

Killing Edge > Warrior. Althares picks up his last level of the map. He's looking pretty good right now besides the low defenses.

Well now, this might be a problem. Liquid has a deadly weapon combination that ensures he can get a weapon type advantage on almost anyone if they stay in range of him. Worse yet, he's a Berserker with high strength & speed. I don't think I need to tell you what's going to happen if he crits.

I'll deal with Liquid in a bit, but for now, might as well do some selling of goods while Althares waits for assistance.

One last thing...take a good look at the bar for Liquid's strength. Berserkers have a higher strength cap than normal, like 33 or so I think. Only one other class is going to have a stat that caps higher than 30 and we'll not see that one for some time.

Armory has Iron & Steel in every weapon type as well as Hand Axes. Best to stock up now before the final chapter of part 1.

Quite a bit of gold here. Wonder where I'm going to spend it all...

Haas is in range of Althares so I set my plan in motion. Althares opens up by stealing some Elixirs for profit, then Haas comes up, rescues Althares, then waits.

Liquid attacks as planned. Even with Althares making Haas get doubled, he dodges both Tomahawk strikes like a champ. Still though, was that worth it?

Damn straight it was! By having Haas engage Liquid in combat, be it from him attacking Liquid or vice versa, you'll get a cutscene where Haas repays his debt to Liquid by allowing him to escape from Magnus's grasp. This is going to pay quite handsomely down the road, trust me.

Anyways, just before seizing the gate with Siegfried, I finish my selling of some excess goods. That 44k gold is pretty high, don't you think?

Death Count: Shon (1), Siegfried (1)

Next time: Part 1's final hour!