Screenshot LunaticScreamer takes a stroll through a randomized run of FE8

[eclipse]

IMO Cormag to sword-whateverisbest.

Also, why not the Dragonspear?

[LunaticScreamer]

IMO Cormag to sword-whateverisbest.

Also, why not the Dragonspear?

Honestly, I didn't even think of it at the time. I just wanted the boss dead, heh.

That being said, time for an update.

[spoiler=Ch13 Part 1: Difficulty Spike I]

Well, I decided not to do that Valni training I said I would. I did toss my Dragonshield over to Saleh though since he's my best flying unit right now and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

That being said, this chapter is quite the step up in difficulty compared to the last couple. Three ballistas in a tight formation ensuring that you'll be in range of at least one if you try to go after another one most of the time. To boot, there's two Archers stationed at each ballista, meaning you need at least two units going to each ballista if you don't want that second Archer taking the fallen's place.

Also, if you thought promoted enemies were bad, there's a triple threat of them here. Luckily, only one of them ever moves on their own. The other two only move if there's a valid target in range.

Two Priests that are annoying for their own reasons.

Top that off with a boss I'm not going to be able to approach easily, if at all, and you'll know why I wanted to strangle the chapter 7 fucker of a boss that turned himself into a Thief and randomly added a Lockpick to his inventory. I'd love that Knight Crest, but between the Ranger trio & Priest duo, it's going to be damn near impossible to even get close to him. Had the Priests not been there, killing him would be possible. As such, I'm just going to skip the crest sadly. I may be able to get one next chapter anyways.

Despite the fact I'm going to skip that Knight Crest, there are going to be things I can get on this map. Ross could have been recruited back in chapter 9, but I didn't get him there so he makes an encore appearance here. Luckily, he doesn't stay still and will lurch towards the party, meaning he'll be easy to recruit with either Hayden or Saleh once the chance arises.

First order of business is to nuke the operators at one of the ballista locations. The east one is obviously out for good reason so it's either the northern or southern ones. I decide to go for the southern ones and watch as Eirika & Innes kindly boot out the first Archer with ease.

With some Dancer assistance, Innes is able to take down the other Archer, giving me full control of the southern ballista.

This was probably a little too risky, but it's still the early part of the chapter. Luckily, Amelia lands both hits and takes out the Mercenary. Both of those Archers aren't anywhere near strong enough to take her out by their own.

Fado decides to join Amelia. Despite having no magic growth to speak of, he's reasonably sturdy (And, to boot, these Archers have about 13-15 defense & resistance so that's that).

Everyone else bolts as far south as they can with the exception of Tethys & Rennac. Tethys is where she so she can get some light damage going on the one Ranger that will be coming in her direction on the enemy phase while Rennac will hopefully draw enough fire so that the one position the Ranger can attack Tethys from isn't occupied.

Welp, that didn't go quite as well as I hoped for the Ranger. Still, he can't reach Fado or Amelia up here. Amelia backs off to stay out of range while Fado smacks the Archer in the ballista twice.

After some Dancer usage, this is where I stand at the end of the 2nd turn. Everyone's far away from the horde to the north with Tethys acting as a wall for any enemies wanting to go straight south. The Dancer in the forest by that fort is Rennac so any enemies feeling like going his way and attacking him are going to do little damage, 15 hp max be damned.

Oh yes...those Soldiers you saw up above before the first enemy phase? They all died to counterattacks. Thought I should mention that.

The dingbat Ranger decides to take the Rennac bait. This works well actually.

An Archer challenges Tethys to an archery competition. He loses big time.

Big whoop sir. Amelia can tank that damage easily.

Also, you're on 16 hp.

Say hello to the afterlife, courtesy of King Fado.

Also, the king gets a solid level. More of these and he can start meatshielding it up something fierce.

Finally, take note of the enemies just outside the stat screen. A Mercenary & Fighter combo have been spawning in from the northwestern forts for a couple turns (and will do so for at least one more turn).

After Tethys shoots down a Soldier, I have a nasty situation on my hands...I have 8 potential shots of Thunder from Innes to use. A total of 6 will kill the Ranger, but those aren't the best odds for landing so many required hits.

Especially when the last two hits decide to whiff. Now I have to put someone's life on the line.

Oh dear, oh dear. You can probably guess what's going to happen if he misses.

Thankfully, he doesn't miss.

A little rescue, take, and drop sequence ensures Hayden gets back to a safe place.

Wondering why Saleh's all out here by his lonesome? He's got an Axereaver for a reason.

Yup, those enemy forces from the northwest are getting into fighting range.

Time to get Ross recruited. Hayden & Tethys remove the obstacles in his way.

With some Dancer help, Hayden moves north and talks to Ross, bringing him to my side. Ross then gets his ass behind my wall of blockers so he doesn't drop instantly.

Rennac then moves forward and gives Hayden another turn so he can likewise get to safety.

My final Dancer uses his turn to let Tethys go sailing west and nail a Mercenary just north of Saleh. She gets a Zanbato for herself in the process.

Saleh pokes a Fighter with his Axereaver.

Rennac plays tank for the team this enemy phase. These two along with an Archer attack him, but only the Knight's hit gets through.

Fado takes a hit from the ballista.

Suddenly, I'm so glad my Eirika replacement is a flyer because I'm going to need it for this new unit.

In terms of combat effectiveness, Syrene's not exactly going to be the best. Only 7 speed at lv11 will do that. Still, perhaps her growths will tell a different tale.

The main reason I want to recruit her...that Elysian Whip. The two high end bows are good too.

Oh yes, she comes with some guards.

I don't want to see what their promoted forms are like because oh god those stats. Luckily, I have plenty of effective damage options for them.

Tethys shows off one such option. The Wyvern Rider dies after eating two arrows to the face.

Saleh kills a weak Fighter.

With some Dancer assistance, Innes blasts through the two enemies nearest my main party.

One last Dancer turn allows Innes to try luring in one of the incoming enemies from the northwest. The less Fado & Amelia have to worry about, the better.

Baiting successful. Innes even lands his counterattack.

Not much coming from the enemies this turn. The Wyvern Knight's high stats fall flat in the face of Tethys.

That's good!

Oh you dirty little bastard.

Proof that the Wyvern Knights are secretly females in male clothing...Tethys misses a shot at 95% odds. Luckily, Hayden was in range to help Tethys mop up the dingbat.

Innes takes out a Fighter. Take note of the enemies up near Fado & Amelia. Going to need to do some quick clearing here.

Well, this should be an easy...

Damn!

Double Damn!

After Eirika likewise fails to land a hit (and eats some counterattack damage in the process), another turn for Ewan allows to finally land the killing blow on the Mercenary.

The good news is that this ballista is finally out of ammo.

The bad news is that I have some Cavalier reinforcements coming in from behind.

Part 2 of the update should follow soon.

[eclipse]

I just finished my Chapter 13. . .you'll have to trust me when I say taking Aias down is something you can do!

Hey, your boss doesn't have ranged weapon, AND he's got 10 RES! You have three magical units and three dancers. I think it's possible to one-shot him, assuming that everything goes your way.

Otherwise, Tethys can fill him full of arrows.

[LunaticScreamer]

I just finished my Chapter 13. . .you'll have to trust me when I say taking Aias down is something you can do!

Hey, your boss doesn't have ranged weapon, AND he's got 10 RES! You have three magical units and three dancers. I think it's possible to one-shot him, assuming that everything goes your way.

Otherwise, Tethys can fill him full of arrows.

I suppose, yeah. Since I have a save before the battle, I may try it here after posting part 2 and see what happens.

Anyways, time to wrap up this chapter.

[spoiler=Ch13 Part 2: Difficulty Spike II]

That's a lovely way to start off. Innes missed his counterattack.

Of course, Innes can double his attacker and he decides on glorious overkill for his second hit.

Hayden recruits Syrene.

Fado & Amelia were able to make it safely down south and begin doing work. They double team one of the approaching Cavaliers to kill it off.

A little healing chain begins here. Can't afford to have anyone far under their max hp until the dust settles.

Innes uses an extra turn provided to him to go blow up a Fighter and get a level from it.

Oh for the love of...

Die you idiot, thank you.

Dozla gets an extra turn to go patch up Saleh.

Saleh then gets an extra turn himself to go destroy the Mercenary lying about in the west.

Eirika patches herself up with a Vulnerary since the only two healers are too far away from her. She'll also be picking up Syrene and getting her to safety.

Not much left now except what's to the east. If I was smart, I would have tried to see if I could assassinate Aias right here and now, but I wasn't smart sadly.

Nor was this Cavalier who attacked Fado. He got smacked kindly in return for almost half of his hp.

Eirika picks up Syrene. I should also mention I Syrene's equipment into storage.

Tethys is about to murder so much now.

One very dead Cavalier thanks to her. As for the Cavalier down by Fado?

He's dead now thanks to Ewan.

While I would be annoyed by a random Archer being healed...said Archer went from full to 1 hp thanks to Tethys and her Silver Bow. This Priest can't heal all that up with one Physic use.

Oh yay, look who's back.

Not much has changed about him. No idea why he felt like packing two Brave Lances, but whatever. So long as he doesn't get near any of my low defense units, he'll not be an issue.

A group of about four Brigands might be though. A pinch slower than Mercenaries, but with much more hp and 7 move to compensate.

Then, there's this guy. Thankfully, having only 4 move limits just how nasty he could really be.

Innes blows up one of the approaching Cavaliers, but takes a hit in the process.

Innes gets granted another turn, but more importantly, Tethys moves into a forest in the west. She's going to slow down Pablo's group as much as possible so I can make it to the end.

Innes blows up another Cavalier.

Then he get another turn granted to him. He'll eventually use this to dive into safety in the south and get healed up by Dozla.

With a bit of Dancer help, Amelia & Saleh do some cleaning up of a few Cavaliers impeding on my sanctuary.

Nosferatu gives Hayden so much more utility. Normally, he could have been ORKO'd by the Archer on the enemy phase, but the counterattack with it equipped allows him to get back all the hp he lost from the first arrow so he can survive the second one.

Also, eyeballs don't seem to take effective damage from bows. Lulzs.

Ah, the ever so awesome earth shattering kaboom as performed by Tethys.

The same girl who's not getting hit by the enemy team right now for that matter.

Not much happening at the moment. Tethys decided to step back near the party, probably to blow up something that got near them, then get an extra turn granted to her.

Meanwhile, Dozla gets some healing done on Fado, then is rescued. That way, Gerik & Rennac can back up into the safe area as much as possible.

Tethys dives right back in to slow down the horde some more.

Still need Amelia to wall up for me so she uses a Vulnerary to heal herself.

More enemy phase shenanigans show that Rennac is quite adept at dodging attacks.

A couple of Cavaliers try their luck against the Saleh & Amelia wall of doom. They do not survive.

The poor Warrior still can't hit Tethys. Worse yet, he eats a counterattack for 1 damage.

Tethys then becomes even more awesome.

A couple more Cavaliers try their luck, but either they can't hit hard enough or they don't do enough damage to kill anyone.

Final turn. Just got to ensure my defense is solid enough and I've got this.

Innes hops in a forest and pokes a Mage. He'll be safe here from the horde up north.

Rennac uses a Vulnerary. I'll need him to tank for me one last time.

A little bit of shuffling around allows Hayden to poke the same Mage that Innes hit from the safety of the mountains. Hayden only gets one stat, but it's one he can always use more of.

Dozla heals up Amelia.

Amelia then walks up to the nearest Cavalier and OHKOs him with her Horseslayer.

As the final enemy phase begins, that silly Mage decides he wants Hayden to kill him. Hayden obliges.

The enemy force can't kill anyone this turn, meaning...

Chapter over with, sweet. That was one I had to think long and hard on in order to get out of it in one piece.

Free money is always good.

So is seeing your enemy die by an Entombed's hands.

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Syrene)]Syrene's growths:

Hp: 25% Luk: 35%

Str: 40% Def: 5%

Skl: 120% Res: 50%

Spd: 30%

Not sure of how much prospect Syrene has given her low speed and low growth. Still better then some of the units I've been getting as of late though.

[LunaticScreamer]

Been a little busy the past couple of days, but I got most of my Valni grinding out of the way. Here's a quick highlights reel of what transpired.

[spoiler=Valni Grinding Before Ch14]

Before kicking off the party, I tossed my Elysian Whip to Saleh so he could promote. That +3 con is huge, allowing him to wield most spear with only a -1 or -2 AS penalty at best. Could do with more speed, but given his growth, I'll have to take what I can get.

Couldn't think of anyone else in dire need of some extra strength or magic so I tossed the Energy Ring to Innes.

Being able to set up defensive walls like this allows me to train low leveled units such as Cormag with Javelin spam until they get enough levels or enough defense to fend for themselves. Since my frontline isn't totally immune to damage, Dozla's there along with two of my Dancers to ensure I can get any unit healed as it is needed.

Clusterfuck 3: Revenge of Clusterfuck!

The upper levels start featuring Wights (promoted Skeletons) in both melee & ranged varieties. Low move, but certainly not lacking in the other stats.

Got a ton of useful supplies. A few killer weapons, a pair of Wyrmslayers, a siege tome (which Innes will need to work up his light rank in if he wishes to use it), Fortify, and some gold. Think I have enough to get what I want from chapter 14 so that'll come next time.

Oh yes, one last thing...levels!

My gamble on Cormag payed off handsomely. Lots of hp, speed, defense, and resistance as expected along with a nice amount of strength & luck plus a surprise point of skill on top of it all. I think he's staying around for a good long while as one of my better tank units.

Hayden managed to pick up a point of speed from the 3 levels he had remaining.

The wonders of chipping away at an enemy one hit at a time does wonders for promoted units and their levels like Fado here. Lots of skill & resistance with some precious speed tossed in there too.

Innes picked up a couple levels and grabbed a couple weapon ranks (B-Staves and C-Light). He also capped his resistance.

Saleh decided to tell that 25% strength growth of his to take a hike as he hits it three times in the four levels he gained at Valni. A rare point of speed helps too.

Eirika will make a good backup flyer for Saleh to have on his side. She's not as strong as him, but she has much more defense, giving her a better edge when it comes to luring out a powerful foe (hopefully one that can't double of course).

Ewan only got a couple levels before I ran out of Valni enemies to blow up. If he had more of a chance to level, he'd be a magic tank compared to Eirika's physical tank. Certainly not bad for a flyer to have so I may give him a chance to train up some more if no new useful allies show themselves.

Tethys got a few levels too. Most of that was from guarding chokepoints while equipped with a bow to minimize counterattack chances. Oh yes, two of those three levels gave her strength. She probably won't cap strength unless she gets really lucky, but she'll come damn close to it.

Now then, I think I'm ready for chapter 14 so that'll be coming up next time.

[LunaticScreamer]

Been a couple days, but here's an update.

[spoiler=Ch14: Where Did the Difficulty Go?]

Considering the challenge of the last chapter, this one's completely and utterly docile. Very few promoted enemies and the only reinforcements that come at the start of my turns come from the southeast and are easily dealt with. Just going to show some highlights from this chapter like this door that Dozla opens up.

Lots of enemies inside, but the interesting one is that Great Knight in the back. That's the replacement for Rennac and I need Gilliam to have a conversation with the unit and he/she will come to my side.

Some Dancer help gets Innes up to start breaking down the guards inside, but one of his attacks misses the Knight. Since I don't want him dying, Cormag comes up and swaps inventories for the upcoming enemy phase. I want to get Innes to A-Light as quickly as possible and want to leave as many viable targets as possible for him.

All these minor chance to crit makes combat for Innes a little scary as any one of the triggering means a very dead Innes or damn near it. Luckily, this was not a crit.

Also, Cormag gives no fucks about your puny magic ways.

On the next player phase, Innes takes back his weapons and throws one last Shine blast over to the Knight, killing him and picking up both A-Light and a solid level which caps his speed. Now you just need to get magic like the damn blazes there sir.

With some Dancer help, the entire room gets cleaned out sans the Great Knight. Fado killing a Fighter nets a Swordreaver for the pile, yet another axe I can't use right now.

Welp, nevermind that issue with the axes because Marisa here ends up being my first possible unit to use axes. That speed base is bad though. Considering I have Amelia & Cormag who are prospective units that can promote into classes with axe using capabilities, I'll have to see how her growths shape up before deciding if I want to use her.

Also, she has the Member Card. Very very important and the reason I went through Valni beforehand to get some gold built up.

With Innes at A-Light, he's now going to be healing at every opportunity he can get in order to hit A-Staves and use that Fortify staff.

Meanwhile, a small group is checking out some of the other doors. The poor Soldier in front of this one got owned and, on the next turn, Dozla opened up the door with his Unlock staff, then got rescued by Eirika so Hayden & Tethys can double team this Knight and kill him.

With some Dancer power, Dozla's able to act after being dropped by Eirika and heal up Hayden.

The other team continues to go north with Innes blowing up this potentially nasty Myrmidon with 20 str/skl/spd and a Killing Edge. He drops a Hero Crest for the pile.

Fado kills a Fighter, Innes moves forward a bit and grabs Fado's Elixirs to heal himself up, and Cormag moves forward, then gets his Javelin equipped thanks to Gilliam.

Gotta love Canto on mounted units. Not that Gilliam was going to be in any danger though.

After a very uneventful enemy phase, Tethys opens a chest revealing a Guiding Ring. Dozla's going to like this when I'm past the upcoming desert chapter.

Nothing in the northeast treasure room is alive right now. Half of them suicided on my team in the enemy phase and the rest got picked off just now.

Nice loot in the northeast.

Here comes the turn based reinforcements. Three Cavaliers now with three more coming the next turn and the turn after that.

Meanwhile in the northeast, there's a good reason I had Innes packing a Restore staff. Insurance just in case one of the Berserk charges lands.

Also, Cormag lost hp because he lured in a Luna Shaman. Unfortunately, that Shaman had to get into Saleh's attack range and,, well...

Yup!

Another enemy phase passes and Saleh got hit by the Berserk staff. Innes is right there for the status removal though.

Saleh then kills the status jerk (the only one on the map and the sole healer of the enemy side to be honest). A free Mend staff is nice.

Eirika's been acting as the guard for the team down south while Tethys gets some target practice against some Longbow using Archers. Those Cavaliers do sting as a couple have just enough speed to double Eirika while she has the Horseslayer equipped, requiring some healing from Dozla to patch her up.

Still though, she's doing her guard duties well. Nothing short of dumb luck will allow the Cavaliers to kill Eirika.

Also, as you can see in the above pic, the last group of Cavaliers have come in.

After a few turns, I decided to have my nuclear weapon of doom go and speed up killing the Cavaliers. With some Dancer help, Tethys kills three of them. Two more that were weakened beforehand die by Hayden and Eirika's hands.

After another boring enemy phase goes by where Gerik takes a hit, Eirika pokes the only living Cavalier left and gets a solid level. More levels like this girl and you'll make a fine tank.

Since the northeast team ran out of Door Keys, I need Dozla up there to open the door to the throne room. Innes is sent down south to be that team's healer (and they have enough Door Keys to open up the rest of the rooms there, no worries.).

Tethys kills off the last Cavalier that draws breath.

This is, quite literally, the only extremely dangerous enemy besides that Myrmidon back in the northeastern treasure room and the Berserk wielding Priest. Capped strength and a Silver Bow makes it very dangerous. Since I'm too lazy to bring Tethys up here to lure out and tank the Sniper, I'm going to have Fado do the honors as he has just enough speed & hp to take one hit, assuming a crit doesn't happen.

First though, Fado is going to counterkill the Knight over the wall to the south. He has a Javelin and I don't need that around when I'm trying to lure the Sniper out.

Meanwhile down south, Innes is going full blast with his healing duties, picking up more magic in the process.

Fado didn't have quite enough oomph to kill off the Knight on the enemy phase. He finishes the job now and...oh, some of the enemies from the throne room are moving. Well then!

Luckily, the Sniper is not of the enemies that moves suddenly. This Knight though got a little too close to Fado and not only missed his strike, but got doubled & killed in return.

With a bit of help from Duessel, Fado kills one more Knight and leaves another on 1 hp. Saleh kills that one, leaving me with only the Sniper to worry about now.

Good thing I have Dozla nearby for healing as this shot was taken after patching Fado up. He can just barely survive one hit.

After one more turn of Fado luring in the Sniper while at full hp, the Sniper gets surrounded and maimed over the next few turns.

Last of the treasure chests. Also, Tethys got an empty level cleaning house down here.

As for the boss, Carlyle owns himself for two reasons. First, despite having good stats and a batshit high amount of avoid, he only has a weak ass Iron Sword as his offensive choice. Second...remember how Murray back in chapter 7 moved because he was a Thief?

Yup, Carlyle will move to steal something as well. Say goodbye to your throne bonuses sir!

Fado has the Member Card and is going to make his way to the Secret Shop. He kills a Knight first to pick up a level though.

Some Dancer help ensures Fado is just outside of Carlyle's range.

Buyable Knight's Crests, yay. I pick up two for Amelia & Cormag, then after selling a pack of Vulneraries, I grab a Physic staff. If I had more money, I'd have grabbed a couple of every Killer weapon and perhaps another Barrier staff.

Carlyle's about to engage in a losing battle. Neither Saleh or Dozla have any items that he can steal and since Carlyle doesn't move, he'll be forced to attack Saleh all the time. So long as Dozla heals Saleh if he's in any danger of dying, Carlyle's dead.

Like so.

Awesome.

Anyways, there's nothing else of interest in this chapter so the remaining enemies are cleaned up, then Hayden gets over to the throne room to seize.

Dude, you didn't even kill her in one hit. Unless you have a poisonous weapon and Ismaire just forgot to pack Antitoxins for the trip.

Oh yeah! Tethys and Innes are going to LOVE these weapons.

That being said, I might as well show off some potential promotion choices.

For Dozla, going Bishop knocks his move down 2, but gives him utility versus monsters via the Slayer skill. As for going Valkyrie, there's no Slayer skill, but he keeps his 7 move, gets a horse to ride on, and gets a bit more magic & con to boot. Leaning very heavily towards Valkyrie here, but I'm not going to promote him right away since the desert chapter is next and his movement rate would likely get cut very hard if he had a horse.

Regardless of which path he chooses, Dozla will gain access to Light magic to defend himself with.

As for Cormag & Amelia, both have the same promotion choices and the same promotion bonuses. No move change at all going to either General or Great Knight which is nice as is gaining access to swords & axes no matter which route is chosen. General provides stronger stat boosts and the Great Shield ability while Great Knight grants a horse and starts out a rank higher in axes (D-Axes compared to General's E-Axes). Definitely could go any way here with these two.

Finally, a bit of a preview. Berserkers appear now which is bad.

Well, assuming they didn't get the negative growth curse placed on them in a stat they really need to be, well, deadly. I very nearly considered changing their growth in the Nightmare editor to fix that strength growth honestly, heh. If people want me to do that so this guy and the one down south are legitimate threats to me, say so in the thread and I can do that.

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Marisa)]Marisa's growths:

Hp: 30% Luk: 30%

Str: 145% Def: 95%

Skl: 10% Res: 5%

Spd: 40%

Not all that bad, but note that Marisa has 5 move while Cormag & Amelia, both potential Great Knight prospects, get 6 move if they go that route. Still, Marisa has better growths than some of the other units I've picked up so perhaps I'll give her a go at Valni and see if anything comes of it.

[Lopey]

You should totally fix the berserker's strength growth. You can handle it.

[LunaticScreamer]

Time for an update.

[spoiler=Ch15 Part 1: The Return of Kyle McFailsalot]

Time for some promotions! Cormag went for the Great Knight while Amelia went with General.

Statboosters get used too. Cormag uses an Energy Ring while Saleh gets fed some Speedwings.

This map provides quite the challenge initially. There's a ton of enemies, most of them confined to the southeastern corner, with more on the way as the chapter progresses. Also, a certain failure lord makes his return and he's going to need help.

Also, remember that Berserker with all of 7 strength? Everyone mocked him for this.

There are two things that you don't talk trash about if you're some kind of FE enemy. One is Rex from The Last Promise obviously. The other...

Berserkers. This guy took offense to being called a weakling and took measures to correct it (In theory. In reality, I fixed the Berserker's strength growth in the Nightmare editor. Hopefully I don't have to do that again for a promoted enemy).

That being said, while there are only two Berserkers in this map, neither one is to be fucked around with. Remember how Tethys has capped defense? Well, this guy decides to crit her with his Dragon Axe and she's dead in one hit. Luckily, he's an idiot and also brought a Hand Axe, meaning he just needs to be enticed to use it. For the record, this Berserker is the one just to the east of where the party starts.

Tethys is going to be getting comfortable to the east of Jehenna for awhile. Not only to intercept the incoming Berserker while picking off this Mercenary, but to deal with reinforcements that'll be coming in after a few turns.

Innes & Saleh perform a bit more cleanup near the start.

Eirika has an important job to do early on and that's to get Dozla shuttled to the southwest. Standing on the fort means nothing will be able to target her on the enemy phase.

Speaking of the enemy phase, nothing of importance happens other than a Mercenary eating a crit from Cormag and Tethys luring in the Berserker (but missing one of her two counterattacks).

Tethys tries to weaken the Berserker with a Killing Edge crit, but fails to get anything of the sort. Not wanting the Berserker to live past this turn, she gets an extra turn and breaks out Audhulma to finish him off and pick up a Dragon Axe.

Eirika has her Javelin equipped while Gerik & Rennac are also in the southwest to help out the incoming group of people. Also, a wall is formed around Duessel back up to the north so the Wyvern Rider doesn't gank him.

Oh yay, Kyle's back. Wonder who he brought along this time. More on that in a bit.

First, some random enemy combat. A couple of the enemies survive, but two Mercenaries get torn apart by the wall duo of Cormag & Amelia.

Well then, I really hope he's brought some competent help for once.

And apparently Kyle bringing in people with severe offensive problems rears its ugly head again. Promoted and with 10 strength? Lovely. At least Artur has some good defensive stats and has a Silver Lance if some significant combat is required of him.

As for the other person? Well Caellach, you should have made sure your prey is actually, you know, dead. Why?

Queen Ismaire is back for revenge! She's also level 10, but she's unpromoted so those bases are not bad at all besides speed & resistance. She also has a Swordslayer so if something like a Myrmidon wants to get close, she can probably smite him or her down in one hit. Considering one of the items hidden in the desert here, I'll have to see if her growths are good enough to possibly get a spot on my team.

Now, I need to get this team up north and quickly. At the start of turn 8, there's going to be a group of problems emerging from the southwest. Eirika skewers the Shaman to start.

Fado or Hayden could get some good use out of this on high resistance enemies. Remember, both have A-Dark so they can use stuff like this.

With some Dancer power, Dozla visits this village and picks up a Master Seal. If Ismaire turns out to have potential, she can have this to promote.

The one Wyvern Rider that Innes hit in the enemy phase last time gets a face full of Excalibur and dies.

The other one eats arrows and dies as well. Note the Pegasus Knights in the northeast. Tethys will be parked near them over the next few turns to make sure they die quickly.

Want to get someone with good offensive power to the southwest so Saleh begins his trip there. On the way, he skewers a Mercenary. Despite the other Mercenary there being able to double him, he can take a double from that guy plus hits from both Fighters and still live so he'll be just fine.

Well, that was a fail. Artur even took a hit in return to boot. Still, this Brigand is the only enemy in range of the southwest team so he'll be ok as well.

As the next enemy phase begins, this Pegasus Knight survives simply because she attacked at melee range

This one also survives...until she realized Tethys gets to counterattack and takes an arrow to the face and dies.

Saleh's doing just fine, killing two of his attackers. One of the Fighters decided to keep on going north.

Axe using enemies did not fare too well this enemy phase.

More Pegasus Knights have spawned to the northeast as well as to the north. Innes removes one of the northern ones.

Cormag doesn't give a damn about effective damage as he doubles this Fighter and kills him off.

Amelia can OHKO a Fighter, but she decides on overkill instead. Fine by me!

None of the Pegasus Knights in the northeast are going to get past Tethys sadly.

Well damn, that's not nice. However, Duessel's right behind Fado which means...

One dead Fighter!

Saleh skewers another enemy, this time a Mercenary. Once that Brigand dies, the southwestern team can dive north.

Said Brigand goes down to a combination of Eirika, Artur, and Ismaire.

Healing & extra turn granting round out the southwestern's team turns for the time being.

More Pegasus Knights making poor life survival decisions.

Poor Myrmidon can't damage Eirika. She responds with a crit & normal hit, putting the Myrmidon very near death.

More reinforcements mean more Excalibur & bow deaths.

Saleh skewers another enemy while Amelia heals up.

One last Myrmidon gets speared in the face thanks to an extra turn granted to Saleh.

Part 2 should be up later today.

[LunaticScreamer]

Time to wrap up chapter 15.

[spoiler=Ch15 Part 2: Desert Goodies]

At this point, the reinforcements from the northeast and north are drying up. Just a couple left to mop up now.

Going to be using the northwestern quadrant to defend myself for the next wave of reinforcements coming in. That means everything here will die.

Tethys finishes off the last Pegasus Knight in the area. She can now head west and rejoin the rest of the crew.

1 range only weapon? Say hello to cheesing your ass out Caellach. Decent evasion though.

Plenty of enemies spawn at the start of turn 8 in the southwest, namely everything to the west of that Mercenary. Paladins also make their introductory appearance. Slow as hell, but lots of hp, decent defenses, and high strength/skill/luck.

I had Ismaire poking away at Caellach with her Hatchet for fun, Not a bad way to start out really.

Eventually, Caellach falls to Saleh.

Saleh is goddamned awesome. He also picks up a Hoplon Guard in the process.

Shamans are starting to appear, but with my whole team together, any that appear are quickly dealt with, be it on my turn or the enemy's turn.

While Dozla gets some healing maintenance done, he picks up the first of the hidden items on this chapter. This oughta makes things much easier for reaching important landmarks quickly.

On the next turn, Dozla isn't planning to move around several squares at a time for the rest of the chapter so he takes a chance to promote to Valkyrie.

Cormag's going to wall off the entire army coming from the south. He heals up with a Vulnerary beforehand.

And now the enemy has no chance of getting past Cormag's defenses unless some extreme luck happens.

Shamans: Still getting their asses nuked very quickly.

Tethys is here to pick off any sword bearing enemies that get near Cormag since I want him gaining axe ranks from this horde.

This isn't good!

This though is good. More defenses are very good for Cormag.

Innes finally hits A-Staves and can start using that Fortify staff if needed.

Cormag's levels as he finishes off the horde from the south. More strength is always appreciated.

Uncovering more of the hidden treasure in the desert. Despite not having a Thief around, I'm getting these items within 2-3 turns of waiting.

Ahahaha, nope. Amelia is going to have none of your damage dealing shenanigans there sir.

With a healer and Dancers nearby, Amelia has no trouble chipping down the flying beast.

She also has no qualms luring in two of them at the same, picking up her first level since promotion.

Saleh gets rid of one of the Wyvern Riders since he's in the area.

Amelia still gives no fucks about taking damage because Great Shield is awesome.

And that's the last of the flying enemies in the east for now.

And there's the near-useless Eclipse tome, lovely.

Only one more hidden item in the desert to get now.

Lovely, another Berserker. This one can OHKO anyone on my team if a crit goes off. Luckily, Amelia dodges the strike and delivers one of her own in return.

The Berserker is then brought down by Innes & Amelia, the latter picking up the defeated's Devil Axe and S-Spears.

Meanwhile, Cormag's been luring in the enemies down south. While that Ranger can double him, he's kinda standing on a fort so the damage he takes is nullified on the player phase.

These enemies could hit Cormag all day and they still wouldn't be able to kill him. He's simply too highly defensive for them to get past.

Ismaire can completely ruin a Myrmidon's day with her Swordslayer, awesome.

This though wasn't awesome to see.

Then again, that healing doesn't matter one bit when Ismaire can strike each one down in one hit of her Swordslayer. Getting some speed is nice.

Well, this guy is dead. I ended up having Cormag waste the Ranger's Steel Bow uses for kicks so all he has to attack with is a melee weapon.

Ismaire picks up another level poking the Ranger.

Eventually, Eirika picks up the kill.

And there's the last buried item. Somehow those enemies aren't moving so maybe they all stand still until I get into 1-2 range.

I am completely and utterly wrong. Apparently they conform to the "wait until one person is in range of another enemy, then bum rush the entire team at once" type of plan.

Since all three of my Dancers are on the eastern side, clearing out a big chunk of the incoming horde is easy.

Not that it matters when you almost lose one of your units though.

Still dangerous, but there's a decent wall line available. Would rather have Amelia in Rennac's spot, but she was forced to pickup Duessel so he doesn't suffer a stabby death by the Wyvern Rider.

Rennac heals himself up. Both the Wyvern Rider and the Ranger have to hit him to kill him off at full hp.

Think I'm in the clear.

Definitely in the clear. Only the Ranger remains now.

Tethys & Innes finish off the Ranger.

Cormag's been cleaving through the horde in the south with minimal issue.

There goes the last couple non-boss enemies.

As for Valter, he's much more competent than Caellach. Even more evasive, tanky, and two nasty weapons.

Tethys is about the only one who can really beat down Valter at an appreciable rate. She gets a level early on while chipping him down.

Eventually, she gets the kill with a crit from her Killer Bow and scores a Fili Shield for the storage pile.

More sacred weaponry, nice. Gleipnir's not going to see a whole lot of use unless I can get someone like Fado up to S-Dark though.

That's the end of chapter 15.

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Artur, Ismaire)]Artur's growths:

Hp: 100% Luk: 0%

Str: 0% Def: 80%

Skl: 55% Res: 0%

Spd: 45%

Eh, not the best if only because I already am in possession of several units that can be good frontline meatshields. Still better than some previously acquired characters though.

Ismaire's growths:

Hp: 40% Luk: 50%

Str: 110% Def: 80%

Skl: 0% Res: 20%

Spd: 40%

Hmm, she's got some potential. Decent enough growths at least. Might give her a run in Valni and see how she turns out.

[LunaticScreamer]

Update time!

[spoiler=Ch16 Part 1: Castle of Tanks]

Did a full run of Valni to get Ismaire up to speed and picked up some useful loot on the way.

This was the boss of the final floor. Cute, isn't it?

Apparently Ismaire didn't want speed all that much despite it being at a 45% growth (An extra 5% provided by having her use Metis's Tome). Still, she has capped strength & defense along with plenty of luck so she can wall up fairly well. The extra +5 speed is being provided by equipping Garm while the +2 move is due to handing her the Swiftsole.

The tank duo spent their Valni time boosting their weapon ranks for the most part. Amelia could do with another Angelic Robe at some point though so hopefully one pops up as a drop soon.

Tethys hit lv20 and picked up a couple points of luck from the two remaining level ups she had left to grow with. Audhulma helps patch up her low resistance a bit if she's forced to deal with spellcasters.

Innes got some more magic which is all he really needs right now (and skill obviously so some Secret Books best be appearing soon). He got the Body Ring I had in storage so he can wield Elfire with a bit less of a sting to his AS (currently -3 AS if he uses Elfire). His low luck is covered by having him hold on to the Hoplon Guard to nullify crit chances.

Dozla only got one level which I think was just skill & resistance, but that's fine. He's not really going to get into heated combat, but rather he's going to make sure nobody hits the floor by tossing heals everywhere when it's required.

As for Seth, he didn't get grinded up, but that's because he only joins when you enter Renais Castle. Decent bases so hopefully his growths are acceptable enough that he could possibly replace Eirika on my team as my secondary flyer unit.

Definitely got to go a bit quick here to reach the spot I'm going to camp out at which is where that group of spellcasters is hanging out. Also, I figured out a mystery.

This would probably explain why the Berserkers in the last chapter initially came with no strength whatsoever. I may just fix this too before the next chapter, but we'll see.

Said spellcasters have a sword bearing buddy with them. You can tell that enemies are starting to get very tanky if nothing else as most are coming with capped defensive stats or very close to it and tons of hp.

This is going to be fun right here. The two Priests have Physic with one of them dropping said staff upon death. The Sages?

Say hello to capped magic siege tome spamming assholes! Tanky as hell too.

The Heroes are no less threatening, but luckily they will not move unless someone enters their attack range so it's simple enough to bait them out one at a time once the siege tome charges are depleted.

If two Physic users wasn't bad enough, how about a third with Fortify on top of that? Offensively, Orson is weaker than most of his throne room cohorts, but with ranged healing and his high magic, it means I basically need to drop whatever it is I'm attacking in one combat round or he and his healer buddies will patch it up instantly.

Breaking into the castle isn't exactly a hard task right out of the gate. Amelia & Ismaire drop the first pair of enemies with ease.

I do need to go quick though. In roughly 5 turns, enemies are going to show up where my one Dancer not inside the castle just yet is.

Cormag is a defensive titan right now. Not much in the way of offensive power, but when this happens to him most of the time, he could care less. This Fighter dodged both of Cormag's attacks and lived.

The same could not be said for another Fighter that wanted to get up close and personal though.

Dangit Amelia!

Also, Saleh kills the other living Fighter.

I shouldn't be using Garm for weak enemies like this, but I need to reach my destination quickly before the enemies arrive.

The same could be said of Audhulma really, but Tethys will be able to start chipping down the spellcasters in the south next turn. Innes gets rid of the other Knight with Elfire.

Hayden grabs my Purge tome out of storage. I'll be needing to hand it off to Innes later to take care of an enemy that appears.

I was hoping for the siege tome jerks to start flinging their spells and target Innes & Cormag, but they decided not to bite just yet sadly.

Tethys gets a use of the Barrier staff applied to her before she rushes to the spellcaster group and begins chipping them down. The extra res should help if the ones with Flux decide to connect.

Did I say chip down? I mean crit the face off the Luna Shaman and kill him instantly. Tethys is awesome.

Ismaire gets some Dancer assistance to reach the Swordmaster and whack him with her Swordslayer for 42 damage. She gets a quick heal to prepare for when said Swordmaster ends up suiciding into her on the next enemy phase.

Oh, NOW they wake up. Luckily they don't move so it's just a matter of getting whomever can tank the hits to do so and deplete those siege tome charges quickly.

And the bullshit hit connecting hijinks begin anew!

Here comes the backup for the enemy. In addition to all the Warriors on the map (5 in total) starting to move, 4 Cavaliers and 6 Great Knights appear.

Great Knights are dicks. Not only are they very physically tanky, they have crazy avoid. This is why I need to get a defensive perimeter setup so I can take my time in chipping them down. Luckily the healers in the throne room don't have enough reach to hit these guys or things would be really nasty.

Then, there's this guy. He's going to be making a beeline for the chest past the door the Druid is in. Innes is going to make sure he gets put down before that door is opened.

As a precaution, Hayden grabs some Elixirs out of storage and passes them to Cormag, just in case my healers get too busy with patching up wounds.

After Innes patches up Amelia with Physic, Ismaire & Tethys start cleaning out more of the spellcaster squad.

Dozla picks up a level healing up Tethys.

A couple Knights attack from the north, but Amelia & Saleh hold them off easily.

Another charge of Purge down the drain. Didn't have anyone in range to tank a Bolting shot though.

Tethys shoots down the last Knight while Innes throws another Physic charge over to Amelia.

Well that's not nice sir! Ismaire does get another turn and lands her strike, meaning one more Garm hit and I'll have full control of my camping spot.

And the Warriors begin attacking. This non-crit is going to hurt.

That is, assuming Amelia doesn't trigger Great Shield like she did here. Good thing too because the Warrior doubles her and said shield does not trigger for the second hit.

Rennac dodges. The Druid is dying on the next turn I reckon.

Siege tome draining tasks are going off without any hitches.

Cormag takes Amelia's spot in defending against the Warrior horde while Tethys takes Saleh's spot and introduces a Warrior to her Audhulma sword.

Eh, it was worth trying.

Ismaire takes out the Druid she started with last turn. Still refuses to get speed (on a 45% growth no less!).

This guy refuses to get any stats beyond hp.

Dozla puts the Fortify staff to good use.

After one Warrior decided to attack Cormag, two decided to attack Tethys. It didn't end well for either of them. One actually had a Hand Axe and attacked Rennac with it and connected. Thank god for Fortify saving his ass!

The siege tome jerks are slipping a bit. Bolting guy missed last turn and Purge decides to whiff on this one.

Thief is going to open the door next turn. Innes puts that plan on ice after shoving a few charges of Purge down the Thief's throat. Should have only been 2 charges, but the Thief dodged the first hit. Having three Dancers is pretty beastly to execute strategies like this one.

Part 2 of the update should come later this afternoon.

[LunaticScreamer]

[spoiler=Ch16 Part 2: The Tanks Go Down]

Amelia spears a Cavalier in the face, then gets a heal from Dozla. The other two Cavaliers are so dead on the next enemy phase which is good because if you can tell, there's a few Great Knights coming my way.

Tethys & Saleh finish off the last of the Warriors.

Amelia skewers the last two Cavaliers near her while Innes eats the last shot of Purge. Think there's only a couple shots of Bolting left to tank and that'll be it for siege tomes.

Doesn't take long before the first Great Knight gets into combat. Since they can double most of my army, making sure hps are at full or close to it is vital so nobody dies.

Dozla's keeping the frontline against the Great Knights healed up, picking up another level for himself.

Doesn't take too much effort before the first Great Knight falls.

As I continue to chip down the Great Knights, a Thief appears to the northeast. Since I missed a shot of Purge against the first Thief, I don't have charges left to safely blow up this one. Luckily, I planned for this and came with a Plan B for this jerk.

Tethys stands next to Innes and gets an extra turn granted to her, then Innes uses a Warp staff to send Tethys over to the Thief (and picking up some glorious magic for himself in the process).

Tethys then annihilates the Thief. That was the last one this chapter will dish out so I can get the loot in the northeast when everything's dead.

God I hate how dodgy these asshats are. Going to have to back off a bit since a couple more are incoming from the north.

Tethys has some company joining her in the northeast. Sadly, it's just a total of three of these guys which have a 0% chance to hit her while she's standing on a pillar.

It's hard to put this into words, but Innes got really lucky here. Had he not dodged the strike of this now dead Great Knight, the other one in range would have had a chance to kill him. And yet, that's not why I had to reload a save state a couple times here. Why?

Because I'm using classic derpy strategies which involve getting Tethys into Bolting range, not equipping Audhulma for the res boost, and her getting OHKO'd by Bolting on 21% odds because the game is a dick. On the plus side, this is the last charge of Bolting since Saleh took another shot a bit earlier.

Cormag & Innes eventually knock off another Great Knight. Only one more to worry about now.

Apparently one Great Knight and one Cavalier have been sitting here for the past few turns. I want to say they were intending to go through the door the first Thief was going to open up, but since I stopped that plan from happening, they're content to just parking their asses there for the rest of their lives. Makes it easier for me at least.

Much like how Cormag getting speed will make his tanking duties that much more easier for him to perform.

Finally, the team can rest easy since the last Great Knights threatening them are dead.

Ismaire's been doing some target practice with the Great Knight (and killing a regular Knight for a Chest Key). She gets a level and gets some badly needed speed. Honestly girl, if you get just this for the rest of your leveling career, I'll be perfectly fine with it.

Cormag begins luring out the throne room occupants one at a time. He misses one of his strikes which means...

Yup. However, one Priest decided to come forward and heal up the wayward Knight a bit first.

You can go fuck off and die now, thanks. I'll be swiping that dropped Physic staff too while I'm at it.

At this point, the strategy is to just lure out the throne room enemies one by one, then kill them off quickly before they can be healed up. One of the Heroes dropped a Hero Crest which will probably get sold for some extra gold.

As the wave of death dealing reaches the two Sages, Saleh is awesome by getting more precious speed for himself.

Pretty sure this is payment for Saleh's level.

No, scratch that, THIS is payment.

Doesn't take too long before both Sages are dead. One dropped a Divine tome.

Orson won't take too long to drop despite low hit odds. He simply doesn't have a high enough damage output to keep my squishier & powerful units from wanting to risk combat with him.

Eventually, Amelia gets the kill on Orson and picks up some speed for herself.

Chest report.

Hell, might as well use it for both of them. What's the worst that could happen?

Well, Kyle clearly drank something strange because there's both a mini-decoy of himself and he's class changed to the Ephraim Master Lord class which, if you payed attention to his class, probably shouldn't have happened. Oh well, not like it matters for someone I'm not going to use.

Sacred weapons only Kyle (Siegmund) and Hayden (Sieglinde) can use. Lovely!

Hayden used his bracelet right away when the chance presented itself, turning out like this. As you might notice, he's still got his dark rank, but it went from A to C. Still good enough for Luna which is nice.

The big thing by doing this is giving him access to a powerful sacred twin weapon which is also very accurate. Of course, Hayden's frail as fuck. 4 move doesn't help either. Still, he can finish off a weakened enemy so my other team members can focus on dangerous targets if desired.

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Seth)]Seth's growths:

Hp: 150% Luk: 80%

Str: 40% Def: 45%

Skl: 30% Res: 20%

Spd: 0%

Of course, 0% speed growth. Still, his growths elsewhere besides resistance aren't that bad. Will probably give him a chance in leveling as he could make a fine replacement for Eirika if he gets lucky.

[LunaticScreamer]

Been awhile since an update, but I'm blaming that on getting sucked into Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst once again.

[spoiler=Ch17: Cheesing It!]

While training Seth up to 20 in Valni, Innes picked up more magic and I got a Spear for my own use.

As for the next story chapter, it's a bit of a doozy. Lots of promoted enemies all around and a bunch of green army units in the center that need protecting if you want a reward at the end.

New promoted enemies running around too. Valkyries are slow as hell, but they aren't weak in the offensive department (even if both Valkyries decided to use the weakest Light tome available).

Flying asshole Wyvern Lord? Yup!

With regard to those green army units, one of them is a potential new recruit for the team, Knoll. Those bases are lulzy though so hopefully his growths are good (Then again, it IS Knoll so that might mean he's screwed, given the luck some other LPers of randomized runs have with him).

Finally, there's the boss. Sad to say, but he's not surviving past the first turn. How so?

First, Tethys & Saleh get into position here.

Next, both are given extra turns.

Innes uses the Warp staff and sends Tethys over here.

Tethys walks up to Lyon and plants a couple arrows into him. No crit sadly.

Decided to warp Saleh up near Tethys as well, but then I realized his only viable attack spot put him in range of both the Swordmaster & Sage so he takes up refuge one square north of Tethys.

Tethys didn't get critted, that's good.

This is even better. The Druid taking up the spot it did here prevents the Sage from coming over and blasting Tethys.

Lyon tries for a killshot, but fails. He's also about to get double attacked so...

Actually, scratch the double. Tethys decides to end this chapter instantly with a critical arrow to the face.

Rewards! The two sacred weapons are always obtained, but the Rescue staff comes from allowing no green army units to die.

As for Knoll? Well, he joins the army. Nice I guess.

[spoiler=Growths & Comments (Knoll)]Knoll's growths:

Hp: 45% Luk: 0%

Str: 50% Def: 0%

Skl: 50% Res: 70%

Spd: 40%

Surprisingly, Knoll's important growths aren't abysmal. A shame about his bases though. Then again, it's either him or Syrene (If I train her up) if I want to use Nidhogg.

[eclipse]

. . .can I have your Knoll please? Mine's like yours, but about -20% in all the important stuff.