Join me on a Blind Ironman of Berwick Saga

[Saint Rubenio]

On 4/27/2020 at 3:26 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

but it wont make much of a difference unless his price drops afterwards, which I doubt.

It does. R.I.P.

On 4/27/2020 at 3:26 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

Horse thieving was a lot more serious of a crime than they imply here.

I mean, it was, but compared to the rape'n'murder routine these guys have going on... the point is, go kill them. They're bad and ugly and brigands and they deserve it because we're the good guys.

On 4/27/2020 at 3:26 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

This shift to a domestic servant, who admits to not being violent leads to a different dynamic, and also emphasizes the shift in focus towards the town as a major element of the game.

It helps that the one who'd usually be the advisor is instead the game's second lord (Ward), so the job can be given to somebody a bit different (Tianna).

On 4/27/2020 at 3:26 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

...Its a little worrying that the only competent member of Volcens's advisors is volunteering for such a task, but it should prove unnecessary.

Keep in mind, the fact that Herman's the only competent member of the Wonderful Three isn't necessarily a good thing for you.

On 4/27/2020 at 3:26 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

...sigh I hope this doesn't mean I have to deploy Elbert on the next map for anything.

Not in this case, actually. I think they wanted to cut the player some slack in the first character-based citizen request. In the future, though, most requests will require specific characters, so be sure to deploy them just in case.

On 4/27/2020 at 3:26 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

Huh, does this mean there will be more complicated requests at the mercenary guild, like recover an item stolen by some named thief. I kinda doubt it, as there aren't consistent ways to acquire items other than having it drop on death, and dropping on death is functionally identical to the basic kill enemy objective given out by the guild.

Keep this statement in mind, going into the next chapter.

On 4/27/2020 at 3:26 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

Thanks for the capitalism lesson mercenary guild. He start by describing the idea of multiple people pooling their capital to accomplish task they couldn't alone, and then emphasize how the lower supply of troops for peacekeeping increases the value of their still in demand services PMC mercenaries are performing. To keep the capitalism lesson going he is completely oblivious to how heartless his enthusiasm about the benefits he has seen as the result of such a tragedy emphasizing how much of a sociopath you have to be for success, especially when you are war profiteering.

Valery is the greatest villain in the game.

On 4/27/2020 at 3:26 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

I wonder how they prove its the right dead man.

Ward carries the body over his shoulder all the way to the guild and plops it on Valery's desk so he can compare the guy's face with the corresponding poster.

On 4/27/2020 at 3:26 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

it sounds ridiculous that someone could kill 50 people before some action gets taken against them.

Keep in mind that this is a thousand-man bandit gang because Volcens let it exist for months.

On 4/27/2020 at 3:26 PM, Eltosian Kadath said:

...+1 Move on a horse. I wish I could afford that. Maybe after a few bounties...Sigh,  I may have spent too much on mercenaries.

You lucky bastard! I'm up to chapter 3 and I still haven't seen a special horse, much less this one! Yes, these are random. The selection changes every chapter, though there'll always be a few thin horses for cheap mobility. I would advise you try your best to nab this one. You've still got three maps to do it, I'm sure you can make enough money in that time.

 

[Eltosian Kadath]

Spoiler

 

All right lets look over this map to get an idea of what we are dealing with.

So that is a free bag and resupply of vulneraries, if I can reach him in time.That is a solid incentive for pushing forward hard here, as those vulneraries will help me make due without a real healer for longer. I wonder what crippled him before the map started.

This must be one of those more interesting arrows I have heard so much about. Too bad its on an enemy. Hopefully this one started depleted, as 3 uses max would be kinda sad.

So its kinda hard to see on a screenshot, but there is a shining spot on this house the cursor is on, which makes me think I may have finally found what Search is used one. Also note the investigate icon on the on house on our side of the river as well.

So the conquistador of Peru is vilified as a brigand in this game, and looks like a jerk to boot. He has one of our Horses, fire arrows, and is poised to shoot at us from across a river while we move. Hopefully I can kill this guy early and get one of my guys mounted on the horse he drops. Speaking of which it is kinda odd to see a horse in the inventory, but it works as a way to indicate that he drops it.

This is something that seems familiar from Vestaria Saga, but some enemies are given names (or portraits) to indicate that there is something dangerous about them that you should take note of, and that terrifying swordbreaker that can just wreck our gear is clearly what earned this guy a name.

There is another named generic close to the fort, whose most notable features are some buff stats, and the new counter skill. I wonder how relevant that skill will actually be. His beefy stats might make him a real hazard to deal with, but than again I can just range him to avoid counters, and enemy hit rates have been kinda embarrassing so far.

There is also a bagged item deep in the forested area above the cliffs.

Alright its time to chose our team. Sylvis, Axel, and Ruby are the obvious mercenaries I want to bring, and the support pair are also a no brainer, but that only leaves one more unit to pick, which I eventually decide on as Sherlock. Looking at this overview of the map, the terrain looks really terrible, which I was kinda expecting. Now onto

some more prebattle scenes.

You mean the broken bridge literally right in front of Reese... I think he can see that. I guess Axel can help get the drop on some of those across the river, but this river is basically doubling the size of this map.

And we have a turn limit on this one don't we. Figures the map with terrible terrain that basically doubles its length would have a time limit. Also it sounds like Ward missed that the king himself is a bit irked at Reese as well.

You are working on it Reese. You might not be in the king's inner circle, but you are making friends with Duke Roswick and his family, as well as the princess, which are notable political allies to make.

Ward is over generalizing a bit, its just the King's posse that have shown that attitude about the knights of Sinon.

There is the bounty we got as a citizen request. I was kinda wonder where he was, but figured he might show up later (plus the empty fort was a bit of a give away that some key boss was missing). They did describe him as a drunk, but I wasn't expecting him to be talking about vintages, that seems a bit high brow for a brigand.

...Ok so that is another boss showing up. I guess Valentin is supposed to be a side objective, so having him show up on the one clearly important fort tile which I am guessing is our objective wouldn't make much sense.

...but you killed 50 people. None of those 50 might have been important to you, but all of them had some kinda friends, or family, or someone that cares about them.

So Bengriton is the real boss of this map, and seems to imply our troops represent greater numbers than we see. Alright with that out of the way

We meet a group of strangers looking for a ring. I guess Savat's request wasn't as ignored as he thought.

If they were able to search a chest, that makes me think one of these three have locktouch.

I wonder what makes these random mercenaries relevant. I guess this is a way to introduce them, and they must be either guests or green units in this map, but it does seem very random.

...the great Kramer? protecting two ladies at once? This fool is so cringe. Hopefully the Faye isn't as full of -

Heh. She must be a thief with hide. I like that brutally blunt, and practical mentality.

Whelp I guess we will have a thief we can hire when we reach Navaron.

Now that is interesting, it specifically says there is a special event if Reese talks with the three mercenaries. Well  I might as well check on the Tactical Hi-

...Ok that is actually a lot to read though. Some of these seem like things I would have seen if I figured out how to access this on the first map...

Well this is written assuming you have already played chapter 1, so it must be at least slightly different from its chapter 1 version. It also confirms both the boss and seize point.

Well that is some useful information both about how to recover from crippling, and how to cause it. I don't think I even have access to Rehabilitate or Panac -

Oh my god there is so much more of it here...Ok so it talks about escaping, I wonder if that is just a command I can use on a crippled unit, or I have to reach some escape point. I don't remember there being an escape point on the last few maps, but I wasn't looking for one either. The random pain stopping movements sounds obnoxious, so I am guessing I have to torture myself by walking them to an escape point. I wonder what it means about units aligned to them specifically is about. Is this just talking about situations like the guest units we saw in the cutscene, or does this mean if for example Ruby gets crippled that Arthur will retreat if deployed. That being said I really like the idea of ransoming, or exchanging prisoners, its such a vital part of warfare that has been ignored in innumerable games.

Once again a lot of useful information about how injuries are recovered. The base injury rate sounds like the percent chance of someone being injured, but I feel like I would have seen more injuries if that is the case. The fact that food bonuses effect this makes me wish I knew what each food actually did.

Seems straight forward enough.

Oh so Czene has Search as well. Seems I was right about the shiny spot I saw on this map being the indicator for the search command.

This sounds a lot like the buff that occurred when I used provoke on Graff, with me clearing it from range... Even if he stacks it to the max (which he almost certainly will) its really easy to remove thanks to him being stationary.

I guess Czene will be my first knife user as a thief (I am almost certain of it now), but I have kinda pieced this information together already.

...mitigate enemy crits. That is a very worrying phrase. Again the importance of a mechanic which so far is a shot in the dark is further emphasized. If only the game would tell us what buffs food would give.

The very technical point about a missed counter skill giving a retry attack is interesting to note. It makes that skill sound like a real risk unless you are extremely accurate.

Its interesting that it mentions what happens when player units are provoked, I may have to keep a eye out for that skill on the enemies. The bit about how it works with Fog of War is also interesting, but if Elbert is the only provoker I doubt it will see much use in my play through.
 

All right, so we finally have control of the game, but there are two new bosses to take a peek at, and three new allies as well, so

A concoction with that massive supply of health sounds like a real chore to work through. Celerity seems like an odd skill to first see on a miniboss. That is a skill that is far better in player hands, but I guess it confirms that this guy is going to move.

Again with the healing items on these foes with massive HP pools. His command radius is covering two named enemies, at least one of whom moves at least, and with this guy stationary on a seize point...well luring seems like a good idea. Now lets take a look at the guest mercs

Whoa, that is a nice personal sword, with intrinsic crit and a brave effect (or something very similar at least).

Sunder sounds especially good when her sword already has 12 crit on it, and adept with that extra attack effect sounds extra nasty. Although durability loos from parry sounds like a bit of a detriment with such a nice weapon in her hands. She looks like a fun unit to use, kinda reminds me of Mareeta with that awesome sword.

...I don't know, he seems alright, but Faye seems more interesting (and his earlier boasting hasn't done him any favors either). Climber ended up pointing out a key feature of cliffs, but outside this map how many cliffs are there going to be? If this guy ends up being a mercenary (like almost everyone who "joins" us) I am seeing a bit of a problem with his skills, the mechanics of this game, and a blind run. All of his skills are situational, if the map doesn't have cliffs in important location, or too few archer, or too few of shields, those skill can be useless. The game has made clear that I don't get to go back to town once I have seen the map, and I have to buy mercenaries in town, so I have no idea if his skills will make him worth his mercenary cost. In fact knock away and Arrowbane have a bit of a counter synergy working against them, as anyone that could trigger arrowbane can't trigger knock away due to arrows having to take up the off hand a shield might go in.

That is a lot of skills. I am probably going to just buy this merc every chapter, or some other locktouch merc. Watchful and hide are an interesting combo, as she can move from hiding place to hiding place revealing those hiding nearby. Mug also gives us another way of getting items, but the use of the word may is worrying. Plus I am not sure what "rare or limited items" means; hopefully its just talking about personal items, but who knows.

I am not going to have these fellows withdraw yet, but I wanted to confirm that the green arrow meant what I thought it did. Now onto the actual map, lets start with

...Reese embarrassing himself. Boy that is some ominous luck to start the map.

She is really a dodgetank isn't she, well

she punishes him hard with that brave sword of hers. Alright, time to

setup

this turn's

Ruby kill.

The guard is a bit unnecessary at this point. Axel is following the river, and Sylvis is ready to cripple the horse thieving conquistador, when I draw him in

...eh she can take it, and dodges anyway.

Faye nabs the kill she started enemy phase, and Czene is heading straight for that bagged item on the map, but

that swordbreaker is pinning down the combatants on this side of the map. I just can't risk him making anyone there useless.

So ends turn one, and once again

there is an early end of turn event. I kinda like how many of these maps have these early turn events, they start mixing things up before they have even settled.

Is this just a story event to make sure the player notices the search spot? That seems a little redundant.

an 100% accurate attack. The poor fool invites a cou-

...or he can succeed on his own attack.

At least this one missed again, speaking of which time for some rev-

...or she can miss. Luck has just not been with me this map.

It seems this game doesn't have let-ge advantages (or at least cliffs don't trigger them). Radiant Dawn may have went a bit overboard with the bonus/penalties, but it would be fun to see elevation play a part in range attack again. Alright time for Ward

to fix Sylvis's-

...well at least he took no dama-

...What is my luck?

At least Ruby got her kill this turn, and I might be able to take down another enemy over here, with

Sherlock chipping for the

Adel kill.

I can't believe Pizarro just let us get the drop on him like that. The fool hasn't even attacked, and the way things are going he isn't going to get the chance to.

Things aren't going quite as well on the other front, as one enemy revealed the hidden Czene, so the enemy arc-

...3% hit...Ok never mind Czene is going to be just fine. Might as well start

chipping away at the enemies in that direction.

Pizarro probably would have hit harder, so this seems a fair trade.

Back with the mercs Faye gets another kill, and Czene, like any true thief, is slinking her way towards that bagged treasure, which ends off the turn. We start the next turn

with the death of Pizarro. Unfortunately Axel can't mount up on that horse he recovered from the conquistador, but it should get to a mounted knight soon enough. Now Sylvis doesn't have to cover for an Axel miss, she can instead

nearly one shot this archer.

...I really wonder why this archer moved to 1 range to attack Axel. I guess the "1" range of this game still let him avoid any possible counter, but now my archers can take pot shots from beyond the river

if they weren't too busy killing the archer on the cliffs above. I need to start feeding Sherlock some kills, as this guy dropped a bow that he needs one more level to use properly.

Its time to remount...if I can figure out how this horse item works. Maybe I have to "use" it somehow... Well while I fail to figure that out, his support brethren

investigates this key house.

...Another named bandit. I don't see him on the map so far, so maybe he is hiding or a reinfo-

Oh. Or he is in the house across the river that just got a question mark above it.

While my mounted units are pushing forward, with the terrain on this map, that crippled vulnerery pouch might escape the map if I don't start positioning a mercs to intercept him.

Faye should be able to grab the vulnerary bag next turn, and Czene should reach the item bag.

Now if Faye had managed to hit even one of her attacks Kramer might have gone for the kill on the other archer, but instead he gets to miss this one.

Sorry to cut things off a little abruptly here, but I find I needed to split this one into three parts instead of two to get it to post. Hopefully nothing else goes wrong and I can get the rest of these parts out soon.

 

[Eltosian Kadath]

21 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It does. R.I.P.

So much wasted money this chapter.

 

21 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It helps that the one who'd usually be the advisor is instead the game's second lord (Ward), so the job can be given to somebody a bit different (Tianna).

Having a Ward like character in that role isn't universal, but you may have a point there. I get the impression the social stations of Reese and Ward are comparable to Marth and Jeigan, which makes for a very different dual protagonist. Usually when there are multiple protagonists they have them be peers, tied together through either friendship, or family, which is a very different dynamic from the one between Reese and Ward. I guess if you count some of the avatar characters as lords you have that same sorta social status difference, but being an avatar leads to a different dynamic.

 

21 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Not in this case, actually. I think they wanted to cut the player some slack in the first character-based citizen request. In the future, though, most requests will require specific characters, so be sure to deploy them just in case.

Good to know, and I am glad the game indulged my arbitrary dislike of Elbert in this instance.

 

21 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Keep in mind that this is a thousand-man bandit gang because Volcens let it exist for months.

Even more evidence of each unit representing a sizable number of people. I wonder if anyone has used a comparison of the stated troop numbers, and actual units on the map to reach a rough estimate of how many in universe people are represented by each unit.

 

21 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You lucky bastard! I'm up to chapter 3 and I still haven't seen a special horse, much less this one! Yes, these are random. The selection changes every chapter, though there'll always be a few thin horses for cheap mobility. I would advise you try your best to nab this one. You've still got three maps to do it, I'm sure you can make enough money in that time.

If I can't make enough on the sidequests I might look into what I can sell or pawn.

[Eltosian Kadath]

Spoiler

The vulneraries will escape if I don't do this right now at the start of the turn, and I think she is just barely out of swordbreaker range to boot.

I don't know why he even tried.

I forgot Axel had this skill, but that enemy archer was dumb enough to hand him this skill assisted kill with his weird movement choices.

These archers are really ineffective against Reese. Back with the rest of the army

I pass off a vulnerary to Axel, as he has taken a bit of damage, and will likely take more when he goes for the search spot beyond the river.

Kramer makes some use of that climber skill (well sorta) to setup the kill

for Reese. I really should feed more kills to Reese as the poor guy misses out on the possibility of xp from sidequests. Now he cantos as far as he-

What in the...Oh wait, commenters talked about this, with units "waiting" to talk. It never dawned on me that the wait command after Canto might trigger this waiting talk.

...Faye and crew have been fine throughout this battle. This seems strange to me as these mercenaries can hold their own, and don't really need rescuing. The rest of this turn is mostly just moving forward, with Czene

getting us some nice loot. Just in time for

the turn 5 save. Which reminds me this map has a turn limit. It looks like we are going at a reasonable pace to make the deadline, but this reminder of time still makes me worry. There still aren't many nearby threats, so

Kramer gets to talk with Reese by waiting. I guess they did fail to find the ring, but both of those talks have tried to spin this situation as a disaster, which seem of bit unwarranted. I mean these guys could have escaped in the first couple of turns if things looked as dangerous as they are acting.

...all right climbing penalties be damned

its time for some revenge

and a Sherlock kill as well.

Huh, I guess I should try and keep a better eye out for generics with skills, as this throwing bandit was a bit unexpected. Well Ward can chip him down

but I think I will feed this one to Ruby, so Reese has got to move, but unfortunately going forward will put him into range of the sword breaker, so

I have him equip the worst sword we have just in case.

Well we can't hit them all, so I guess this one will be going to Fa-

...seems my paranoia is paying off. Now where was I

oh yeah Faye getting this kill, which basically ends off the turn. Next turn Ward rushes in to try and injure the swordslayer.

Hopefully the extra injury rating on the weapon will help with crip-

...I am so stupid. I saw all that terrain making things miserable for me and didn't even think about how easily thieves traverse terrain. Now Faye has a chance of losing that amazing sword before the end of her first map. I don't even watch the battle as I have facepalmed so hard I miss the battle entirely.

Somehow everything turned out all right. Zacharro missed and Faye even managed to spoon feed another le-

Wait MORE THAN ONE STAT

Three of them...SHE REALLY IS AN EST ISN'T SHE. Well with that dealt with Reese is the first to face the utter misery that is attempting to cross this river

and Ortega is there

to punish him for doing so. On the other side of the river

a hiding Axel starts investigating Maham's hideout.

Huh, I guess this one isn't scripted. Than again maybe Elbert just got lucky on the first map and that one wasn't scripted either.

Axel just can't hit the broad side of a-

Well I guess he only needs one more hit like that...but he doesn't connect. Hopefully Maham's hp doesn't refresh the next time I investigate.

Not much else interesting happens for the rest of the turn

we are just pushing forward, but next turn

We open on an event

with Keltzar spawning with the ring we need for one of our citizen request. I was wondering when that was going to materialize; I was starting to worry we might need Elbert for this sidequest after all.

That is a higher chance to hit Faye than I would like, but I guess she can take the hit, and she even hurts him a bit for his trouble.

I kinda forgot she had hide, but this is the perfect chance to get a potshot from hiding that will really put a dent in this beast's health.

Faye lays down the smackdown with the increased critical from her Sunder skill.

The extra sword rank is just icing on the cake. We are getting close to taking him down, Reese is really close to

...Oww...Ok time for Ward

to put that guard skill to good use.

...I don't why I thought she would stay hidden after she attacked. I really shouldn't have moved her that far forward, she lives this nasty hit

...That isn't good. I have pushed way to hard and too far this turn, and I am finally starting to pay for that. Lets start looking at less dangerous fronts

Leon sets up the kill fo-

...yikes. Seeing that damage scares me, but even in the unlikely event that it hits she still lives it on 2, but I really should not have drawn both of those guys this turn. I might be in trouble. Back to what I was talking about before

Sherlock is inching ever closer to the level needed for that new bow of his with this skill assisted kill. Now Axel

tries this again. Its interesting to note that he stays hidden while doing this.

Fortunately Maham keeps the damage he had before, and

he finally falls to Axel's axe.

Fortunately I got that spare axe from the chapter 1 capture he can use. Back on the front where I have bitten off more than I can comfortably chew I send

Kramer into the breach. Hopefully he can buy some time for me to get this under control next turn.

I wanted to give this kill to Ruby, or Reese, but the miserable terrain is such that Ruby can't actually reach, despite them being two hexes away, and Reese is a little too low on health for me to risk it, so another Faye kill.

Another levelup with multiple stat growths! Hopefully this is a sign my terrible luck with level-ups may be turning around.

...those numbers show a chance of game over

Good. Things are going according to plan. This is the first time I have really used guard, and I am glad it worked as expected.

Ward may have taken an uncomfortable hit, but did remove all chance of a game over with that guard maneuver. Time to start working on the next HP sponge

She finally manages to hit one of these guys, but I don't think she does quite enough to have a cripple chance here, which is unfortunate, as he is worth extra money alive. Speaking of being alive

the vulnerary patches Reese up enough that I shouldn't need to worry about a game over.

...I wince every time he tries this. He keeps missing, but those are actual percentages, and if it tries enough 1/10 chances... If she gets hit again, it might attract one of the others into going for the kill.

Hopefully the extra injury chance from the harpoon will make him easier to capture.

Might as well setup a kill for next turn with the last action relevant on this front.

Yeah I make a bit of a blunder here. I regret it almost immediately next turn, but I shouldn't have sent the supporters in separate directions here.

Looking over the battlefield this looks like a bit of a mess. The shoals and sand have so thoroughly crippled my cavalry's move that the infantry have pushed ahead, and those buckets of enemy HP have gotten into the middle of our forces. At least this delay is letting Czene catch up to get her wait talk with Reese done. Lets finish the turn off

with more healing. Next turn I start off

with a crippling attempt that hits, but fails.

And then he backs off to heal. Well at least it gives me another chance to try for the capture.

Its been a while thanks to the terrain, but Ruby finally gets another kill. Back on other fronts, I still need to grab that ring for the citizen request, so

Leon goes for the deathmatch kill

Well that's interesting, vantage can trigger during a deathmatch. It is far less useful in this situation as if Leon had just attacked he could have had his attack blocked.

...this was only a few rounds into the deathmatch. He has to just sit there taking the rest of the hits. Thank goodness I learned this against something that wasn't dangerous like a thief

otherwise he could have died.

I mean he has a chance of killing, even if it isn't very-

Nice shot, and level Sherlock. Now you have the levels to use that Longbow you got. That took care of one citizen request, lets start dealing with the last.

The higher injury chance of the Harpoon is just not triggering.

Huh, she has an actual talk action. I honestly wasn't expecting that after all the waiting. I wonder if this is unique to Czene, or simply because she is the last to talk to him.

How does Reese know Czene isn't an enemy? There have been plenty of thieves like her among the enemy, and why is she afraid of soldiers when she is trying to escape the bandits? I guess Faye, or ...the other one...wait a minute...Kramer, might have told him about her. Speaking of Kramer

He can chip this monster down a bit while we are at it.

Not bad kid.

This was long overdue, the first use of the search command!

Whelp, that was easy. Now to end off the turn with

Reese chipping this guy down.

We reach the turn 10 save, and we are getting close to the end here. Just got to finish off Valentin, and the main boss Bengriton. We have plenty of turns left. Lets start this turn off with a bang

...or she can miss.

Ouch, that hurt Kramer. He can take another of those if he has to, but it wasn't pretty.

At least it hit, but getting that higher injury rating to activate would have been nice...

If Reese can land this I might be able to feed this kill to Ru-

...sigh

After that broken weapon deathmatch he needed the healing.

...the enemy's weapon literally broke on the first attack he made. That is kinda funny. Then Sherlock just randomly injures this guy on the counter.

let's test out the new bow.

...eh at least he setup an easy kill for Adel.

His supporter's iron spear broke moments before, so its not that surprising. Fortunately they both have a replacement weapon, but it was bought last chapter, so they are worse.

Ruby can't quite get the kill, and who knows she might only hit once.

Oh well. Missed the higher money capture, but I am fine with Faye getting the kill.

That just leaves Bengriton on the fort to deal with. Next turn I mostly just reposition in the south, preparing to hit him with everything the turn after, so lets look at the three regulars in the north.

Weird luck, as he gets another injury, while Ward keeps failing to do so with an increased injury rate of the harpoon.

...looking at the sprites, I don't think either of the supporters have weapons equipped right now, due to their old equipment breaking.

Lets fix that, and kill as well.

Enemies have been spawning from those cave for a while now, so there is plenty for this trio to do.

Next turn we jump the boss with everyone.

...What caused the named edgelord to spawn?

He drops a broadsword if killed, but he looks rather tough, and something about him is giving me some recruitable edgelord vibes. Then again it also feels like we are full up on the playable edgelord quota...shrug if I get the chance to kill him I will go for it, but if not I wont worry about it.

Time to clear the boss's buff

...seeing as you must be stationary, you literally can't deal with her, and her arrows.

Nice to see Adel shutting down one of the enemies with Vantage.

This might look risky, but I can have Ward guard her if things go poorly, and if she can trigger mug to nab his vulnerary that will make dealing with him far less annoying. His health is just low enough that I will be surprised if it isn't his next action.

She hits, but the Mug attempt fails, and I still have one more action before he acts. I don't want to feed the kill to Ward, so I try for the low odds crit kill...

which fails, after which he uses that Vulnerary like I feared, and I cut things off here. Next time I will finish off this map, and get through all the end of map scenes.

 

 

[Benice]

17 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

If Reese can land this I might be able to feed this kill to Ru-

...sigh

The story of my life.

BTW, I would reccomend using Faye, as she has easily been my MVP and is the only one of my units who hasn't died more than once. (I reset a lot, all right?!)

17 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

...What caused the named edgelord to spawn?

He drops a broadsword if killed, but he looks rather tough, and something about him is giving me some recruitable edgelord vibes. Then again it also feels like we are full up on the playable edgelord quota...shrug if I get the chance to kill him I will go for it, but if not I wont worry about it.

Hecking Zallyzo, he did exactly enough damage to OHKO both units I had near him when he spawned. He's tougher than he seems.

[Eltosian Kadath]

Time to finally end this three parter.

Spoiler

Ward needs to power through that health this bastard got from his vulnerary.

Unfortunately it is going to take another turn to defeat him, but if she can chain two successful attacks together she can get this boss kill...and she lands this one. Alright time to work on the other front.

Sherlock sets the kill up for Adel

...or he can miss. Well I guess that leaves it for Le-

...an enemy just went into this forest and disappeared with the hide skill... It was some kinda reinforcement, but I honestly don't remember what it was.

That takes care of him.

This is where we end the turn off, Ruby backed off in case she needs the extra charge damage, but the more I look over my situation, I rethink the idea of giving Ruby the kill. Reese is a level lower than her, and can't get any of that sidequest xp, so instead

I give it to him. And to answer Bengriton's question, he is burning in-

...a crit chance...I don't like this, if he crits with enough bonus damage that could one-shot him...

...Yeah this guy is kinda scary. I think I can sneak in a victory by using my skills to avoid his attacks but

...Well he has enough defense to take a normal hit, worse comes to worse I seize before Zalius's next action, or have Sherlock flee... Eh why not

Nice shot Sherlock. Really pulling through in the clutch, now I have Adel throw a pi-

...wait, he gets a counter attack?

...Nope. No. No more, we are done here. Adel can't even stop him from attacking with vantage thanks to counter. I could probably still take him down, but I am not facing that many crit chances on an ironman.

In a less scary direction an archer burst forth from hiding, and Kramer shuts him down with arrowbane.

Actually I forgot he was damaged. I probably shouldn't have sent him that direction, especially when

he is drawing the axe bandit in as well. And then the axe hits...Whelp I am sending people that direction to go save him

but she is the only one close enough (more that she ignores enough terrain) to attack this turn. Speaking of which, I could just seize and end it here. Its tempting, but Reese is just one kill away from a level

and if I move Sherlock first I should be able to outrun Zalius this turn.

Might as well get in some chip while he is heading in this direction, but he managed to miss.

...I don't know what it is about Kramer that makes me overlook him, but that is a lot more danger than I should have left him in. I suppose it wouldn't be the worst loss in the world, but he manages to dodge it anyway. I then have him back off as far as I can, while Ward

prepares this archer for death. Fortunately Kramer shuts him down again with arrowbane, so Reese

gives us the kind of disappointing level we were seeing before this chapter. On the plus side I should be able to canto him back close enough to seize next turn if I have to.

Oddly enough the enemy handaxe means neither of us have the chance to counter attack eachother, as Leon is trying to setup the kill, but

its just not enough with the worse weapons these two have been reduced to. Plus Sherlock missed.

Faye starts chipping that axe bandit down, preparing for another kill next turn, but

the terrain just isn't on our side. With that clear pathway even if I move Sherlock away, Leon will be right in this monster's attack range, and I don't want to face that crit again.

So I end it, despite all the enemies on the map being wounded.

You said it Reese. There were quite a few tight moments there near the end.

One can only hope, but...

Well at least Reese agrees with my misgivings on this one.

The troops need the rest, but we are dropped straight into

an audience with Volcens the Unready.

Shut up Padolf, you were trash talking like we wouldn't even be able do it before.

I would like to see you try it then, you pompous-

...Me and Reese seem to be on the same wavelength on this story segment.

That exasperation puts a smile on my face.

Reese has gained a bit of political capi-

...yes Herman?

You know that is kinda odd. I mean there was a little bit of loot collected on the map, but nothing like the sorta stockpile, or treasury you would have expected from such notorious bandits. Heck we only found one of our horses.

...I kinda see where Herman is coming from here. It is odd that we didn't find their treasure, and if I had I would want to spend it. I wouldn't risk lying to the king Herman to keep...ok I would probably conveniently misplace enough to cover my mercenary costs...

Roswick is nice enough to get Reese out of there before anyone says anything regretable.

The other ones? I am kinda excited to get those awesome horses back. Speaking of which I never did figure out how to use the horse we got on the map.

...well they had one of them.

They might even conveniently have that hoard of treasure Herman was so hot and bothered with.

Czene? Is this the result of having them all talk with Reese on the map?

Poor Ward, he really doesn't look that old, Czene is just incredibly young. He may be our Jagen protagonist (a Sigurd if you will), but he isn't Jagen old.

Ward just does not take any crap from...Wait a minute, how did she hear about the missing horse? Was she eavesdropping on their conversation before?

Bah let him be enthusiastic. After the bandits stole those horses I had the feeling this was just the games way of taking away those awesome late game ready horses they let us play with to get a taste for them, but we not only got one of them back, but the promise of more. Well its something to celebrate.

I get the hint Czene, I will hire you right away

I guess you did have to spell it our for Ward. He may be less naive than Reese, but he is used to the more legal life of a country knight.

Wait, is she coming for free? Ward don't you dare make this a one off thing, I don't want to have to keep hiring her on the chance thief utility is necessary.

Should have known that stick in the mud Reese was behind your reluctance to accept actual recruits.

I guess horse items have to be returned to the stables before people can ride them. I wish there was a way of using them the moment I get them, but at least it wasn't me doing something wrong that kept me from mounting earlier. Well lets go out to town and

check on the followup scenes to those citizen requests.

Seeing as you weren't even deployed, you really didn't do anything special.

Oh for the love of...Don't you be doing that shit with me too Elbert, Reese's version is annoying enough, but you can't get away with that like the far more likable Reese can (...kinda).

That is a nice sword to get, glad you didn't prevent me from getting it Elbert. I am going to have to think about who to give it to.

I wonder if this scene would have changed if I actually captured him.

...I spent way too much money on mercs this chapter. I am just hoping I can scrape together enough cash for that amazing Ishs horse in this chapter's side quests. Which reminds me, while I am here lets take a peek at

Well the bounty hunting has certainly opened up. I was about to claim foul when I saw Pisaro on there, but looking at it while writing this that is not the same spelling, and the face is very different as well. We still have the medicine sidequest to check, so

Am I not going to get a reward? If so that is kinda fascinating, finding some of your quests are rewarded solely with the satisfaction that you made this world a better place, by helping those in need.

...Well it was an interesting thought.

I should probably check on if I can make anything at the Atelier's shop with th-

...Ugh. Clifford is Ruby's terrible father isn't he. Well hopefully this develops Ruby's story a bit.

So Clifford is a drunk. No wonder he became such an awful father.

I wonder if he is talking about Ward, Clifford, or both deserving respect for bearing arms. ~ Also of note, I do kinda like how they move the little sprite to help in telling this story, its a small, but nice touch.

I think Ward may have assumed Clifford was actual injured by that scene, before he smell him.

Ruby's interactions with her father were in private, so it makes sense that Ward would not know they are related.

Wait, are they bring a drunk back to the bar? That seems like the last place he should go. Hopefully they just go there to gather information about his home, and then escort him there.

...this is a regular occurrence for him? Poor Ruby deserved better.

Its kinda touching that Ruby admires the man he used to be enough to follow in his footsteps. Too bad he decide to drink his life away, when there are still people who care...well at the very least cared about him.

I don't want to facilitate his slow, and alcohol assisted suicide by hiring him.

I find that unlikely...

...sigh.

I might hire him if the game make some kind of hint that doing so might be important to seeing Ruby improve and grow as a person. I don't have to like it though.

Alright just a few last things to do before I end things off, first

we can see Kramer here. That is fairly cheap, but I have other things I want to spend my money on. Like

What can I say, she is a fun unit to use

and at that price

how could I not.

Now one last thing

Adel gets the Sinon horse we recovered. And with that I will end things off. Take care everyone.

 

[Eltosian Kadath]

On 5/1/2020 at 10:04 PM, Benice said:

 

BTW, I would reccomend using Faye, as she has easily been my MVP and is the only one of my units who hasn't died more than once. (I reset a lot, all right?!)

On 5/1/2020 at 10:04 PM, Benice said:

Hecking Zallyzo, he did exactly enough damage to OHKO both units I had near him when he spawned. He's tougher than he seems

I find these comments amusingly prophetic given the update I just posted.

 

[Benice]

32 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I find these comments amusingly prophetic given the update I just posted.

 

I don't want to spoil too much, and I'm only on chapter 8's side missions, but enemy mercenaries are TERRIFYING.

And there is nothing worse than getting mad at Zalius after he makes you reset and sending Ward after him only for Zalius to crit him twice and kill him. Urgh, but Zalius is nowhere near my least favorite named enemy. A single enemy has killed twelve members of my army.

(Izerna, Dean, Faye, Czene, Reese, Perceval, Aegina, Adel, Leon, Christine, Ward, Axel.)

40 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

What can I say, she is a fun unit to use

and at that price

how could I not.

In my run she currently has a 50 percent chance to proc adept. And don't get me started on the damage she can do with Astra. It's hilarious to just eradicate enemies who could OHKO most of your other units.

42 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Its kinda touching that Ruby admires the man he used to be enough to follow in his footsteps. Too bad he decide to drink his life away, when there are still people who care...well at the very least cared about him.

I don't want to facilitate his slow, and alcohol assisted suicide by hiring him.

I find that unlikely...

...sigh.

I might hire him if the game make some kind of hint that doing so might be important to seeing Ruby improve and grow as a person. I don't have to like it though.

Would it make you mad if I told you that he was one of the best units in the game? He's insane. I refuse to use him because he's just that good.

[Eltosian Kadath]

8 minutes ago, Benice said:

A single enemy has killed twelve members of my army.

(Izerna, Dean, Faye, Czene, Reese, Perceval, Aegina, Adel, Leon, Christine, Ward, Axel.)

Yikes. That is absolutely brutal. Don't spoil who it is yet, I want to see if I can guess who it is.

 

6 minutes ago, Benice said:

Would it make you mad if I told you that he was one of the best units in the game? He's insane. I refuse to use him because he's just that good.

That does annoy me, just a little bit.

[Benice]

7 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Yikes. That is absolutely brutal. Don't spoil who it is yet, I want to see if I can guess who it is.

I honestly doubt that you'll have problems with the enemy; it's a combination of Supporter, Godlike equipment and my terrible tactics that made them lethal. Plus the fact that there was almost always a few crippled units on my side at the time.

And this was over about eight attempts on the chapter.

9 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

That does annoy me, just a little bit.

I didn't use either him or Ruby, (Because she was absolutely cursed and had no chance to reach promotion; 3 s shield at level six was inexcusable, not to mention both swords and spears also being at ten-ish.) but I'd imagine that they'd have good story arcs together.

 

[Eltosian Kadath]

Spoiler

Lets jump straight into the great horse rescue with the first side quest of the chapter. Interesting that Ward is the "client" for this quest.

Alright lets take a quick peek at the map.

The horses sitting in the cells are an adorable touch. Also note the two chests sitting under those enemies in the southern room. Czene has a lot of work cut out for her this chapter.

I recognize the boss from the bounty list, but other than his health, and avoid he seems rather underwhelming.

I guess that star means Czene is the de facto lord of this sidequest.

At least she doesn't take a unit slot, but this was another hard choice to make. Volo is coming just in case some terrifying reinforcement shows up to ruin our day, as for the rest, the supporters, Ruby, and Faye are coming due to blatant favoritism, but that last slot was a hard choice. Axel was tempting, but there were neither search spots nor water to let him take advantage of his skills, Sherlock is also tempting due to favoritism, but I ended up going with Sylvis, because I want to see what happens if I capture a bounty target, and she has the best chance of making that happen.

I wonder if this changes if you avoided killing Val.

Right, now they all have to deal with Gariad's cr-

I am starting to get some Gen 2 Team Rocket vibes from this. The leaders lack leadership, and the organization is pathetically trying to return to an empty age of prosperity and glory that is beyond their reach.

I hope that doesn't mean I am on some kinda time limit to get the horses...

She is just a can of confidence and sass. Well lets get to that lock opening then.

It is weird to have a seize map without the main lord, but I guess Czene is taking his place.

My opener is to put Ruby into range, trusting in her Axe bane to give her a counter chance close enough in that I can surround and kill this guy with the rest of my troops.

They gave a nameless and faceless generic a battle quote? I am somewhat intrigued, where are you going with this Kaga?

 Perhaps a little wasteful, but I know I can buy replacements,

and it is accurate.

And he is down.

...Buddy. I kinda like how they are trying to humanize these bandits. They are still the villains that terrorized the city with their banditry, but even bandits are humans.

These tight corridors are really restricting our movement, so I am sending Volo ahead as my best chance of enemy phasing this foe into kill range.

Its working, now with him dead I should be able to...or she can miss

...What else can I even do at this point.

Even his men recognize how underwhelming Gariad is.

...I am beginning to wonder if any enemy are going to threaten the loot on this map. None of the enemies currently on this map look like they can, and I am not seeing any place that makes sense for reinforcements to arrive (other than maybe inside the treasure room) that wouldn't be trivial to stop with choke-pointing. Speaking of which

lets unblock the enemy choke-point.

The Volo enemy phase plan seems like the best way to not be frustrated by these one hex corridors, although I guess he can't counter an archer

or when he gets hit...

That should leave him easy picking for

some of my units? I kinda wish she got more hits, but I should be able to work with this.

Actually Faye does a good job at this counter tactic

especially when she is repeatedly activating her skills (now if only she could hit more)

Not this time archer.

Terrible hit rate, but Ruby pulls through, and now I can continue the

Volo counter stra-

...Sigh.

That was 5 turns already? I guess there just hasn't been much action so far.

I was just trying to setup support for his Adel, but I guess the counter chip is nice.

and the enemy got two actions in a row, so Volo gets a chance to redeem himself

...I just wanted you to chip him Volo.

At least we are done with those tight corridors, now we just have the two rooms to deal with.

Now a part of why Volo and Faye have been primarily on counter duty is that some of these guys have had their choice of 0 or 1 range, so I needed the ludicrous speed only those two reach to have a counter chance.

Plus I was waiting for both the enemies in the treasure room to wait before opening the... Sorry I missed the screenshot of it this time, but she got some xp from opening the door. Also it is kinda odd how they wait for me to specify which door I want to open, which seems redundant unless there is going to be more than one door in range of opening in the future (so either more than one door on different edges of the same hex, or a means of ranged opening).

...I am getting kinda used to her missing half the time at this point.

...Fine next turn I will AIM to get this hit. Ugh why did I let the enemy take a chokepoint into the room. If the enemies even pretended to be dangerous these tight corridors  might be useful, but these enemies are only hard to kill, which makes it annoying instead.

Here is hoping things are less annoying next turn.

She did get the kill after the adept. Sorry for how negative I have been on this map, but having so few spaces to attack enemies really makes the accuracy rates of this game kinda aggravating. When I have the space to compensate for a miss with my other units its just fine.

At least Volo is dishing out the kinda damage that makes it easy to follow up with a kill.

Just look at that, he is dealing 1 damage at best. That is just plain sad.

Looks like we are back to . Time to start breaking through the enemy's next choke-point

...that was unlucky breaking the Cutlass so early. What makes this worse is I don't think I actually have a sword for her to use at the moment. Yeah that was an oversight in planning.

At least these enemies are embarrassingly bad.

Caught an image of her gaining xp from doing thief things. Its not much, but nice considering we don't even get xp from chipping.

That is a nice looking knife. I doubt she will see much combat, but having this dagger in her pocket makes it a better prospect.

Eh, with how many 50s she has hit this map that seems fair.

...I guess I am going to have to ai-

Oh, well that works. Choke-point deleted, but with Faye disarmed I don't have anyone in position to burst through the breech.

I should really put this sad display of enemy incompetence to an end.

With another Ruby kill. I guess this is where all of my luck with hitting went, as she keeping getting these clutch low accuracy kills.

Huh, she keeps her personal weapon as a broken sword. I hope this means there is some way of repairing it. Also perhaps that 20 rank when she is level 2 is part of what broke it so quickly.

...Shrug perhaps I will use a healer eventually.

Another faceless nameless bandit getting some humanizing lines. I bet this was the 'buddy' to that 'pal' we killed at the entrance. I am getting the strange feeling I missed something by killing him, but avoiding their deaths would not have been easy to deal with.

I have a turn of repositioning before

I draw in one of the last mobile enemies.

Nice, but unless I want to feed the kill to Volo

Turn 10 already huh.

Ok that was a bit of a goof, as I shouldn't have wasted my first move on Czene, but Adel vantaged again, so no real loss.

With her track record this map I was honestly expecting that to miss.

She really earned this level with all the hits she is getting, and she gets so much better levels that I always seem to screenshot them early

I mean look at that, 4 stats. Those growths are amazing from what I have come to expect from this game.

Czene is finally freeing the horses. I do find the utter lack of any information when cursoring over the Horses somewhat odd, but if last map taught me anything, its that I don't understand whatever logic was used for horses I gain in map.

...I was kinda expecting something to happen after the boss announced that.

I figured 'buddy' would have a battle quote after 'pal' did.

That kinda hurt, but it could be worse.

Finally Sylvis is pulling through, helping to feed the kill

to Adel.

Even villains such as these can still form friendships. Even when the seemingly faceless and nameless enemies die, there are still people who care, even if we view them as equally faceless and nameless. Pro points to Kaga for this little view into the tragedy of those we so often kill with nary a thought.

...feels a bit gauche after that sobering moment, but Faye needs that mans sword.

Is there really going to be a moment when there are two horses adjacent to the same hex? Having the select a horse choice seems ridiculous.

With debuffs like that I am kinda glad none of my combat units have had to lug these horses around.

Might as well try. She will have better accuracy next turn with Aim.

Gariad, I literally saw your face on a wanted poster before reaching here. Why would us seeing your face matter in the slightest.

No surprise here.

Ugh, that accuracy is with the throw bonus.

At least he hit

while his supporter had whiffs all around.

I want to give Sylvis a chance to hit him as hard as she can

like so, but alas, she didn't get the cripple.

At least he can take another hit like that, even without the shield, so we can keep pressing.

...more misses on both side.

...Ok that is where we have to stop. He could fall if he takes another hit like that, and I only get one slot at the top, which will be him moving away. If anyone else takes a counter they will then be risking death, so

With that we are

still in danger, but he still has an action to flee, so

Faye drags him into an easy kill range.

...at least this is a seize map, so we have plenty of time to have someone else grab the horse.

I was kinda expecting her to miss, but I am glad it ended this way. Her luck if fully justifying my favoritism (even if all the numbers on the screen aren't)

Huh, so anyone can seize? I guess this means I don't have to drag Czene back to the throne, but I still have to grab that other horse.

Turn 15, with no enemies left on the map, so lets skip ahead to

Czene passing the horse so she can go grab the other

and end it with Ruby, who deserved the seize.

Heh, he really was pathetic. I am rather liking this overconfident bit of comic relief from Czene.

So am I, but getting the three we did was better than I was expecting from that sort of plot point.

Ward don't blame yourself, the power of plot, and classic videogame tropes were clearly against you here. Unfortunately I then drop the controller, and skipped some of dialogue

I don't know what was actually said, but from context I am guessing Ward suggested they ask Reese's father to send more horses, and that stick in the mud Reese told him no. That ends off Ward and Reese's discussion, but Czene catches Ward in the halls.

Oh no. Don't do this Ward. You were the cool counterpart to Reese, don't ruin this now by taking on his role

Reese I could kiss you. For once you are stopping Ward from bringing us misery instead of the other way aro-

Oh, never mind, she is just lying to him. Got to admire Czene's craftiness, and how kind she is to the player by forcing these fools to recruit her.

~

Well I guess I better go out and

report on my bounty.

I wish I could have gotten more cash from that sidequest, but I am to the point that I could sell off the killer sword to get that +1 move horse if I had to. I really hope there is a more lucrative sidequest coming up, as I would rather keep that sword, plus I really need to keep some mercenary money in reserve.

The first horse was kinda obvious, as the other supporter needs a mount, but the second is a bit of a trickier decision, but I decide to upgrade Reese's horse.

Unfortunately it seems I lose the horse he had. It was one of the cheapest horses, and heavily damaged, so its not the biggest loss, but I wish I could keep that horse around to either give to someone else, or just in case his new one has a tragic accident. With that done, next time we can look forward to some

 

[Benice]

2 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

especially when she is repeatedly activating her skills (now if only she could hit more)

Oh yeah, Faye becomes terrifying; for me she currently has 58% chance to proc adept, Sunder or Astra allow her to ORKO literally everything, she's pretty great. Just get her to be pretty strong so things don't weigh her down and she's good to go.

And yeah, tons of rando generics have battle conversations, skills, names, etc. The supporter enemies later on are... Well, one group of them caused me to spend 134 turns with a tank killing their horses to neutralize them.

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I wish I could have gotten more cash from that sidequest, but I am to the point that I could sell off the killer sword to get that +1 move horse if I had to. I really hope there is a more lucrative sidequest coming up, as I would rather keep that sword, plus I really need to keep some mercenary money in reserve.

Your wish has been granted; one of them can net you tons of cash.

3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Heh, he really was pathetic. I am rather liking this overconfident bit of comic relief from Czene.

She has lots of dialogue early on...Unless you miss something, but I'll not say anything.

[Eltosian Kadath]

Spoiler

How self aware of them to tell us that the bandit maps are about to end...although I will note that Reese has forgotten about us fighting some enemy cultists in the poisoning sidequest.

Way ahead of you Ward, that is what Volo is for.

Reese's motives seem a little too meta. Now if he only recognized that he should go on one of these xp sidequests...

They have no faith in our little army at all do they.

I kinda hope they do this eventually, where deploying units in a sidequest will impact the main story quest, but I don't think even Kaga had the guts to go for that.

All right, time for the literal XP sidequest to commence.

...I am far too amused by the honesty of that sidequest name. All right lets start by looking over this map

The drawbridge is the most notable and central feature of this map, as it lets me bypass this army if I want to, speaking of which

First we have a ballista, which only has 3-7 range instead of the 3-10 I have come to expect from fire emblem.

Then a named enemy, with some dropable gold, and not much else interesting, and finally

this enigma. Those kinda defense stats are almost unbreakable, and his skills... Mercy is a strange one to see on an enemy, and he has throw without any throwing weapons. Something is up with this guy, I get the strange feeling he is recruitable, but there haven't been any hints so far as to how he can be gotten. Hopefully the story intro gives me some sort of idea.

Finally there are two other strange units on the map

these transporters that I can get at directly if I can just lower the bridge. Of particular note is that one drops a repair stone, which I am going to use to repair Faye's personal weapon. Not quite sure what is up with the old bolts, as these units seem like the kind of pinata enemies that aren't dangerous and drop loot everywhere when killed.

The only tricky choice for which unit to deploy was which of Axel or Czene to deploy. Its clear based on the map design that I want to lower the bridge, but how to do that isn't entirely clear from the prep screen. Now FE4's thief lowering the bridge of chapter 4, and the bridge keys of Archanea hint that Czene may be the best choice, but the building on the other side is giving me some Vestaria Saga vibes. What decides it is that the locktouch skill doesn't talk about bridges in its description. I also spend a bit of time setting up my unit's placement.

5 turns is a really tight turn limit. I am fairly certain getting there in time will be impossible unless we lower the bridge.

Alchemy-wait is this one of the options from the Atelier? I guess I wasn't thinking about weapon repairs until Faye's personal sword broke, and didn't notice...

...really going to keep me in suspense about how it works are you game.

I guess this does emphasize how hard these will be to come by if the clerk could barely get his hand on one, and the enemy doesn't have any at all.

I find their politeness surprisingly charming. That being said the Clerk is clearly a traitor. I did note that the space there is a shop, and I wonder what the traitor is willing to sell to us.

Wow did that soldier jinx it or what.

Unless they can swim. If they defended the guard station Axel wouldn't be able to slip past to open the bridge for us, and their supplies would be safe.

Oh...I hadn't even thought about the fact the ballista didn't have any ammo. I guess that is what the supplier that doesn't drop anything is for.

Hamilton is really treating Arden Derrick like dirt isn't he. I've seen his stats, this Derrick would kick your ass if he tried.

I guess that is fair, we are explicitly here for xp, and that requires killing (or capturing I suppose)

I guess having the objective be escape is used as a default objective. Its not route, its not kill boss, its not defend, and while it probably should be seize, they didn't go that route, so what is left. I guess it does give you a sense that you can end it whenever you want.

Looks like I made the right call bringing Axel, speaking of which

he is crossing the river, and should lower the bridge at that start of turn 3 at this pace. My plan is to sick my cavalry on those across the bridge, and flank the larger force while my infantry start threatening them the south, and the nearer force

starts by dying.

Eh, I easily have enough time for her to get a kill and canto back in the time it takes to lower the bridge.

...shrug Oh well lets

chip with Sherlock and Fa-

...Uh that was a bit surprising. This hidden crossbowman just attacked in the middle of my turn when Faye got near him

but it just let Faye get in a lot of chip damage this turn, speaking of which

Ruby gets her kill

and the amazing levelups just keep on coming.

...I am starting to feel like Sylvis missing (and me deciding to aim next turn) is starting to become a bit of a cliche on this run.

Derrick is getting dangerously close, and the only one who has a slight chance of dealing with him is Volo. Hopefully he gets some good enemy phase chip on him, as it is going to be hard to get through the defense of that monster.

Next turn is going to be a major one, the bridge will lower, and the raging hammer of Derrick is about to crash into our lines.

might as well get rid of the chaff.

Urgh, now I have another timer to deal with. Axel might be able to run him down, but it is going to be close, as he has to lower the bridge this turn, giving this guy even more of a head start. In retrospect I probably could have lowered the bridge a turn earlier, but I thought the raised drawbridge tiles would block Axel's movement.

Waiting for the hammer of Derrick to fall is getting a bit nerve wracking. Volo is even rattled enough to miss this fool.

The bridge is down, and Derrick

...doesn't attack? Do I want to anger the beast by trying to fight him? I think I will put off that question, and deal with

the only other soldier threatening us, that way if I decide to take on Derrick I can concentrate on him.  Meanwhile

the caravan's defenders try to mount a defense

...Holy smokes that is lucky. No one is close enough to finish him this turn, but

Faye can finish one on the other front for us, for a level as well.

Sherlock literally can't deal damage to Derrick, so for now I am having him pull back.

...the infantry are in really dire straights now. I need to pull back to the bridge, but they just get so many more actions than we do. I think its time for

Sylvis to hide herself.

At least they waste one of their early actions across the bridge in their ineffective defense of-

...Axel just interrupted that enemies turn and killed him. I guess this is one of those mechanics of hide that I am only starting to understand, and appreciate now. At least they gave me some time to continue my retreat in the south, as Faye pulls back and

...Volo does good work chipping them down, but with a broken weapon even he has to pull back

and get a spare from Faye.

...that could have gone worse. Unfortunately the cavalry have a job to do on a time limit, so

Sherlock has to hold the bridge. If the enemy blocks the bridge they have effectively split our army, and kept me from using the best defensive chokepoint in the area. The chip is a nice addition, but he is just going to have to

take what punishment the enemies can dish out to hold that bridge.

These guys can really hit hard, but thankfully Faye punishes them instead of the other way around. Time for the cavalry to claim that repair stone

I do really like how they show how our army is viewed by the enemy with all these minor enemy battle quotes. Its a nice touch that makes the enemies feel more human, and real than most games like this.

That did empty the first Pilum, but I needed the extra accuracy after that miss, and I have a full use one in his bag.

Nice of Ruby to continue her lucky streak to cover Leon's miss. That secures us the repair stone.

To end things off Axel tries to chase down that bolt carrier. With the movement penalty for crossing the cliff he should just barely get one attack in two turns from now, just before he reaches the ballista.

Turn 5... I wonder if I had any of this turn to finish that transporter off, or if he departed at the start of this turn (or on his action). That was perfect timing, but things are still FUBAR in the south.

This one had to die so my allies can get to the safety of the bridge.

You are an annoyance that I wish I didn't have to deal with right now.

Wait did that enemy just trade for a vulnerary to use?

...I needed that enemy dead, and instead she is now dangerously low on health for the kinda damage the enemies on this map can dish out.

ow...Derrick, while not directly dangerous did reveal Sylvis, which is letting the enemies really harm her

...why wont he die. Well at least Sherlock's bow rank increased.

She is in trouble. I guess if I give her the first action next turn I can get her to safety, and

she can thin the enemy ranks while retreating.

With Sylvis needing first move to run I don't think he will get the chance to attack before the Ballista gets its bolts, but I might as well have that option available.

I was kinda hoping Leon would be lucky enough to not be hit and get the canto, but that enemy needed to die, and

I must make my retreat and continue this in the next update. Nice Bismix reference, but I think this update is big enough to need to be cut in half. Take care and see you all soon.

 

[Benice]

6 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The bridge is down, and Derrick

...doesn't attack? Do I want to anger the beast by trying to fight him?

SF kinda ruins this because Derrick is one of the badges people have.

7 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Faye can finish one on the other front for us, for a level as well.

Stick with her, and (unless she dies) you will not be disappointed. 60% chance to proc adept=good times.

8 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

out.

Oh boy, Sherlock and Sylvis are in trouble!

Also, you may get a laugh from visiting the shop.

It'll be interesting to see how you get out of this!

Spoiler

Um, but you do know that "Escape" means that

Spoiler

everyone has to escape, not just one unit, right? 'Cause Sherlock/Sylvis are in a bad spot right now.

 

 

[Eltosian Kadath]

5 minutes ago, Benice said:

SF kinda ruins this because Derrick is one of the badges people have.

You know, if you didn't mention it I don't think I would have noticed that @Saint Rubenio has Derrick as his badge on this very page. That throw skill that is useless with his inventory already told me something was up about him, and the badge confirms it, although whether this means he is recruitable, or a popular recurring villain hasn't become clear to me yet (although recruitable seems far more likely now).

 

11 minutes ago, Benice said:

 

Also, you may get a laugh from visiting the shop.

Funnily enough as things developed on this map...I completely forgot to check it.

[Benice]

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Funnily enough as things developed on this map...I completely forgot to check it

Ah, I don't remember it being particularly noteworthy in terms of items sold, but the clerk is very friendly for a guy who is at war with the people he's selling to.

[Eltosian Kadath]

Spoiler

Sylvis reaches safety, but with her taking the first move

the ballista becomes fully operational.

Volo is doing great chip work down here, as Faye pulls back as well

Sherlock manages to dodge another hit.

Volo is doing his job really well, distracting and chipping most of these guys

Although getting a kill is a bit unfortunate as

here comes the cavalry!

...at least she hit, even if it was the second chance hit without the bonus damage needed to kill.

Unfortunately he misses without the extra hit from supporter

So Derrick has decided to simply walk past my forces down the road. Does he have some escape point off the map in that direction?

Glad I noticed this before the ballista opened fire. He gets out of the way.

With the cavalry here, Volo can just wait for them to pickup all the kills you prepared for them, speaking of which

Ruby nabs that kill she missed before and canto into position to draw a lot of fire. Her 6 raw defense is the best of my deployed forces, so I have faith that she can take the hits that come

and Adel's vantage lets him prevent damage as well.

Ruby's boundless luck continues to shine through.

Adel's support partner arrives on the scene with a kill, but

he does drop dangerously low on health as the last enemy to act hits

See you Derrick. I am glad you didn't kill any of us when you had the chance, and hopefully your next appearance is equally pleasant.

With all the enemies down here having already acted, it is time to strike out with my weakened forces. I have enough action left that I should be able to fix thing with my top initiative slot next turn.

Now there is only one heavily injured enemy left. We will be fine.

Don't even need Volo to fix my mess, although in retrospect moving him one down would make the move I ended up making a bit safer.

He did end up dying in the end just fine to a pilum, but I could have played a little better (as if Volo were one down I could have blocked him off from attacking Sylvis with his positioning, or used aim with Sylvis for the 100% accuracy kill).

This is just some petty vengeance (and free xp...eventually).

Huh, that was kinda lucky double checking the ballista's range just before he changed his arc. That is an interesting mechanic...

With that last easily gotten bit of xp, I need to think about what to do now. A lot of my troops are damaged, and that last force is protected by that ballista. Its tempting to escape now, but Hamilton drops some money, and I desperately need more money. Plus I think I can take advantage of that attack arc to minimize the threat posed by that ballista.

We are getting close to striking as turn 10 arrives.

Might as well do this while I am thinking about it. I wonder what dictates the repair costs of weapons, as repairing that burned through half of the stone.

Notice that line to the left out of ballista range, Ruby should be able to

...canto into it to avoid the ballista. Oh well, she is my most consistently tanky unit, so she should be able

to tank them even without the canto.

I am going to need Leon, and I should have probably had him vulnerary before.

Ruby is surviving just fine.

Adel presses in for some chip, but my positioning is getting a bit sketchy

Did Hamilton just give off the most massive death flags by declaring himself so close to retirement?

...You do know you are the invaders deep in occupied territory right? Now that was the saddest attempt I have seen to cast us as the villains of this game.

Vantage has really been pulling through for me this map.

I should probably get a less pathetic shield on her eventually, as her current one only adds one defense when it activates. Still she is tanking things just fine (especially when the more dangerous ones miss her)

Time to chip this guy down enough

...for him to go back and chug his vulnerary. I wasn't expecting that actually, but I guess it pull the pressure off, and gives Ruby the space to

chip and pull back.

I need to really clear out the enemies here, and after that vulnerary he can take a few hits

and the level he got from it is nice as well.

...Vantage is almost too good in this game.

That was a bit unfortunate, but with the rest of the enemies pulling forward to attack he can get at the ballista without worry.

I wish Adel got experience for all of this amazing vantage chip he is dishing out.

Honestly, after all the luck he has had with vantage, I am fine with him missing here.

Ouch. I guess he can't vantage cheese an archer...

This was a mistake. I meant to move her one space the northwest to be

outside the ballista's arc...

...phew. That was too close.

I am getting lucky, but I have put myself into a terrible position. Leon is isolated from the rest of my forces, Adel, Sylvis, and Faye are dangerously low on health, and I have one action at the top of next turn to find some way to salvage this mess...

This is the best I can come up with, but that ballista cou-

...My luck is holding, with two more actions

I am back to something that resembles safety. Not sure what happened but I get the next action as well

...wow, I am honestly impressed with Axel right now. That was brutal and efficient.

He even leveled off of it too.

Adel's vantage streak continues. Vantage really kept us alive this chapter, and I can't emphasize enough how powerful it is in this game.

That archer can dish out a lot of punishment, so its time to start de-

...Well that as lucky. Probably should have paid better attention to his range there. I wonder why he went for the only unit that could counter him?

Volo is working through the boss's health, and Sherlock

nabs the kill on the archer.

Much as I want to send Faye out there, the boss could chance a kill on her if she goes for the other enemy.

Oh well, Leon may have missed the kill, but he setup the easy kill. But first

...Hamilton has not landed a single hit has he, and with him injured now, I doubt he will live the tu-

...You know what the best part about this is? With him captured he is going to live to see retirement, defying the classic trope.

After all the key vantage procs Adel deserved it, and the level as well. I wonder if the capture quote is different from the death quote in this game.

Of course the last kill goes to Ruby, and with that done it is time to canto over toward the escape poi-

Not gonna lie, I literally yelped out load when this hidden crossbowman got a free shot on her after her canto

Ouch. Then again this chapter is effectively over, so there isn't much left to really fear at this point.

Huh, instead of attacking Ruby again he activated overwatch...I think. I haven't actually used it yet, so I am just assuming that is what the bow symbol means he did. Time to take advantage of crossbow ranges to get some free chip with

Sherlo-

...Ok he can go for the kill

Shrug.

I probably should have seen this coming, but after moving Ruby away he went back into hiding, so

Leon had to risk a hit to reveal him (despite everyone knowing where he was). Unfortunately he deals enough damage that I don't want to risk Faye missing the kill, so instead

Adel gets it

Huh, that is a nice way of dealing with me routeing the map. I end up taking the game up on the offer, and instantly regret it, as I wanted to check that shop, and completely forgot to.

I wonder if this dialogue changes if someone died, was crippled, or captured.

They, and I, deserve the rest. That was a real roller-coaster of a map, at multiple points I felt like I was at the edge of breaking, but we pulled through. Most of the trouble I got in was entirely of my own choosing, and I should have played better on an ironman, but my luck held, and we made it.

We have literally just started this game Reese, your countrymen have barely started to fight in this war, it feels a little early to hoping for the end.

Just wanted to see him in jail before I let him safely enter retirement.

Every bit helps, but if I go for that move horse I am going to be extremely low on resources. In fact lets

sell off the extra heal orb. I have gotten away without a healer so far, and the second orb feels extra redundant.

...I am going to have to think about if I want to ruin my finances for a +1 move horse, and if I do who do I give it too. Ward is the first to come to mind, but he already has a horse. Sherlock still needs a horse, but isn't the highest priority of such thing. Alternatively, arbitrary Ruby favoritism has yet to let me down.

 

[Benice]

27 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I wonder if this dialogue changes if someone died, was crippled, or captured

It does indeed!

27 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Might as well do this while I am thinking about it. I wonder what dictates the repair costs of weapons, as repairing that burned through half of the stone.

I believe that it is one charge per level of broken-Green costs one, light yellow costs two, etc. It's best to repair items when they're at green for that reason; a green weapon that breaks still costs five charges to repair.

29 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

You know what the best part about this is? With him captured he is going to live to see retirement, defying the classic trope.

Oh dang, you actually got him! They'll probably pay quite a lot to get him back too.

Whew! I'd say that after this chapter, the difficulty starts to ramp up. Good luck on your next one!

[BrightBow]

You can tell how many charges you need for a repair by the value of the weapon. For each 1000 denarii it costs 1 charge to repair from red durability. And it always rounds up. So an Iron Spear with a value of 1000 requires only 1 charge to fully repair from red durability while a Longsword with a value of 1200 already requires 2 charges.

That being said, since Prefs cannot be sold, they don't actually have a value. So they do have their own repair costs. Seems like they are all somewhere between 5 and 8 for a repair from red to 100%, as far as I can tell.

If you want to hold on to a pref, it would most certainly be advisable to repair it as soon as it hits green durability. The cost is relative to the durability lost. So there is no need to risk it breaking prematurely.

Edited May 28, 2020 by BrightBow

[Eltosian Kadath]

Spoiler

Well its been far closer to a year than I would like to admit, but I am back, and when last we left off I was in a bit of a financial conundrum...Whether or not to trade my kingdom for a horse, and in the end...

The horse won out. Although that just led into the other half of the conundrum, who to give it to...well I ended up going with a bit of a cop-out...

I give to Christine with the plan of using her next map to trade horses around until I am satisfied with the results. And with that resolved

Now I mess up a little here, as I planned on taking a look at the merc costs on this screen, and comparing them to when I get the chance to rehire them next chapter, but I miss the screen-shoot of it...

...Huh, this mission happened off screen. It bugs me slightly that we don't see our characters do this mission (and meet this Duke Warrenheit of the Lowlands ourselves...)

Well that is worrying, as from what we have seen so far the Berwick League is stretched thin already, and its doubtful that Volcens can really afford to send help

even if he did want to.

Then again can Volcens afford to ignore this entirely? If Duke Roswick's fears are right, this might be vital enough that Volcens should give ground elsewhere to ensure they have the means to prevent this breakthrough.

That is a low blow from Padolf.

And now Padolf has tried to use this to accuse Roswick (as well as this Duke Reed of Bornia) of being traitors.

...Ok he might have something with calling Duke Reed a traitor, but Roswick is literally the Duke in control of the very castle they are in, if he had turned traitor things would be going much worse for Volcens already.

Even Roswick is starting to worry about the behavior of his friend Duke Reed...

As paranoid as this sounds, I can kinda see where he is coming from (barring Narvia being included in that list). Bornia's clearly up to something, and with the timing of it, Duke Warrenheit's request for aid could be a trap (although I suspect one of Reese's people would have noticed something suspicious if it was, but its not like Herman would trust their judgement...) and as I said before the king's army is stretched thin enough (and lets be honest Volcens is enough of an asshole) that being deposed is a real concern...

Even Herman is trying to go in on Padolf's incompetent plan to undermine Roswick's position.

But even the incompetent Volcens recognizes that Roswick isn't a part of this plot

or at the very least recognizes the precarious position he would be in attacking Roswick in what is HIS capital castle in which Volcens is a guest of...

Seems Volcens has made his decision then. Risk a dangerous breakthrough, but avoiding potential betrayal, a risky move, but its not like he had any safe moves to make in that position...

Interesting to note that Roswick was the one giving orders to Reese, and not the king...Well I guess its time to meet this Archbishop...

That is an interesting distinction to point out to Reese. It could just be him pointing this distinction out to the naive Reese

or he is trying to set it up so he can disavow Reese's actions should we mess up...

...that is ominous...lying to his liege is a dangerous game to play...

That was a little bit of awkward exposition, but this sounds kinda like the Tellius Apostles. It's not a perfect fit, these apostles aren't also the head of state, and being from Lazberian descent is important aspect that seems separate from her heroic ancestor...

...I mean you were literally just doing that...

It feels like there is something key missing from this overview, as it sounds like the Raze empire were made from the remnants of the Lazberian empire, but it seems a little strange that they wouldn't try to invoke the power of the old empire by taking on their name, instead of taking on a new one.

And what about the original inhabitants of the western region we are in now?

Hmmm....it seems the Apostles are strongly tied to the formation of this country, curious, I wonder if it will explain what led to a separation between church and state that we see in Reese's time.

...Brontë? That family had so many famous authors in it that I have a hard time thinking about it outside a real world context, which makes this feel extra weird...

That sounds worryingly like its talking about the racial superiority of Lazberians...

I had heard that there similarities to Path of Radiance in this game, and this child apostle is reminding me a fair bit of Sanaki. Now there are some clear differences already, but I can see why they are compared.

Forest of Spirits...Reusing a classic name from Genealogy I see. It even serves a similar purpose, with both this Apostle, and Dierdre being hidden in it...Ah maybe I am being too cynical here, this could just be the translators adding this cute little nod to Genealogy in there.

her name even sounds like Sanaki, but I think I heard about these before the translation was even in the works...The similarities between these two really became a popular bit of trivia back in the day...

Now that is interesting, the Razites assassinating the apostle is what started this...how WW1 of them...although this conflict going on for 14 years is grueling.

Safety through obscurity is a classic and effective method of security

...up until a leak like this comes out, then you have an under defended target.

Better bandits than some more malevolent forces, like the Razite army...or perhaps even Volcens forces, as it sounds like he is worried about that as well....

That sounds a bit silly of Reese, if they send 3 that means you can lose 2 and still be in the clear...and it gives me an optional object of keeping all of them alive...

...Oh boy, this is going to be annoying isn't it... I guess Reese is kinda right that competition can lead to good results, but...

I appreciate that the game is already apologizing for this...Alright I better go pay for all my merc-

Huh, well that is interesting, I guess I just

Special letter huh, I guess this is going to become a mechanic from now on isn't it...I wonder if the game will tell me when I get letters, or if I am going to have to check my desk every now and then.

That women comment is making me think this is either from his mother, or his sweetheart....

Well the use of Father indicates its from family, and is now making me think sister is actually the most likely (although mother is still on the table).

...20K...oh thank goodness. I am guessing this is what @Benice hid in that spoiler box the last time I talked about my analysis paralysis on the buying of that horse.

Well we have a name at least, Lynette. Yeah Sister does seem the most li-

wait a minute, if Reese is already married, it isn't unheard of to call a father-in-law simply father... I guess Lynette could be his wife...hmm...

That is such a lovely boon. I had ecked out enough money for a few mercs (probably not all the mercs I want though...) , but my troops could use a bit of fresher equipment as well, which I was worried about.

Four events huh, well let me just grab the mercs first

It didn't look like the cost of mercs has changed, although if only some are more expensive, or the difference was slight I might have missed it. I also want Axel, but I am guessing he is in the tavern or something, so I should work through those events then, and I will start from the top

with the bow and arrow shop

...oh Veria no, is this going the way I think it is going...

Kaga is really taking this in a dark direction...I guess they are trying to introduce some doubts, but I remember the milk...

by the grace of Saint Aramgraz they really are talking about this poor girls virginity being forcefully ta-

...Veria damn it Kaga, don't play with my feelings like that...at least the poor girl wasn't hurt...

Yeah I am with you on that one Tianna...

Its just a thing, I am sure your friend will forgive you even if we don't find it. Surely she isn't so shallow as to care more about the mirror than your safety.

I wonder if we will run into this hunter while searching for this mirror.

Oh that innocent kid doesn't have a thought for her safety does she.

Don't worry I was planning on bringing Axel with us already (as soon as I find him), and he can swim

...in fact I think he is the only one we have who can swim....

The Collector huh, I guess this is a new part of the Atelier they are adding...

.......yeah he just had two dialogue boxes in a row of just dots...I guess he is kinda creeping on Ward there

...he is a taciturn sort isn't he...

Ward is giving such a no solicitors allowed vibe here.

and  then it cuts to black as he presumably rambles. I guess that taciturnity was just a front that once broken releases the floodgate of his endless stories...

as long as you will let him Ward.

Just leave Ward, don't let some Canadian level of politeness trap you into another endless story...

Poor Ward...

I do kinda like Ward's skepticism here. Is Erzheimer just some rick rube that a crafty conman has sold a pitcher to?

...erotic curves... they really did work towards making Erzheimer kinda creepy...

Interesting that there is a silk road in this world...I guess it must pass through the Razite empire, which makes it kinda interesting to think about given the ongoing war.

....just stop talking about what you feel when you grip that sword...

Thank you for stopping him Ward, although the fact that easterners were trying to end the old empire (presumably the Lazberian Empire) was a bit interesting to learn.

Man he is spacey...

This poor man is working towards a bit of a hoarder's disease with that kind of collecting zeal...

That fits with his interest in the east...

...this makes missing that earlier version of Dark Mend even more irritating, I mean I did capture the guy that had it, he just broke it before being captured...

Has he grown enough self awareness to realize how creepy he has been?

Looks like I have the opportunity to get one next chapter then, and seeing as it was already pointed out to me it is a magic type I wont have access to (at least not for a long time) I will probably give it to him.

No Ward, the answer to that question is yes, and you then start negotiating...

sigh...Well its something at least. Although I did find it really odd that the girl in his mansion never spoke, or was introd-

Oh that is interesting, that created a new location we can visit, the collectors mansion. Which gives me the perfect opportunity to sate my curiosity

Well that was kinda boring. I wonder if Clara will ever become important.

Legendary Hunter, huh...I bet this is talking about the Hunter that saved Teresa.

Now if he were talking about Volcens I feel this attitude would be warranted. Then again this could just be showing the worries inherent in the class divide between craftsmen and the nobility in this world.

Seeing how uncomfortable he is talking to Ward (as a Knight he would be close to the lowest levels of nobility) that seems likely.

I can't shake the feeling that there is a better word than Fur Craftsman for that job, but it just isn't coming to mind. Perhaps I will ask around the history buffs I know from Ren Faires about it after things open back up enough for those to start up again...

Are they really so rare to catch IRL? Is their fur really that prized? I honestly have no idea....

Yikes, that sounds entirely unreasonable...no wonder he is worried about the Duke's reaction...

It had to connect to next mission somehow...

...Did Reese forget to mention that this mission is supposed to be kinda secret to Ward? This mission is going to come back and bite us in the ass later isn't it.

So he has hide, and will be using that skill in the woods, so bringing Czene around to better see through that with her skill will probably come in handy...

...sigh I was hoping to find Axel, but instead I find this jerk. I better talk to him eventually, but I think I will save it for next time, as there are still a lot of talking to get through before the next map starts...

It has been a while, but this is back, and don't worry there is more to come soon!

[Benice]

Spoiler

 

25 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

...20K...oh thank goodness. I am guessing this is what @Benice hid in that spoiler box the last time I talked about my analysis paralysis on the buying of that horse.

Yup. The Sister comes in clutch!

26 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

wait a minute, if Reese is already married, it isn't unheard of to call a father-in-law simply father... I guess Lynette could be his wife...hmm...

Nah, Reese ain't married. I...Don't think that this is a spoiler, at least.

27 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

It didn't look like the cost of mercs has changed, although if only some are more expensive, or the difference was slight I might have missed it

Basically, how it works is that each merc* has a base cost, and then a price per level-Which is to say, each level a mercenary gets makes them more expensive.

*Except for one, who I think has a random price each month.

29 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I also want Axel, but I am guessing he is in the tavern or something, so I should work through those events then, and I will start from the top

Axel is in the Abbey.

 

29 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

If this is how he is as a drunken sop, imagine his stats when he was in his prime... Why is he so good?!

 

 

[Eltosian Kadath]

46 minutes ago, Benice said:

Nah, Reese ain't married. I...Don't think that this is a spoiler, at least.

At least its not given a bit of information that I will be talking about in the next update.

 

48 minutes ago, Benice said:

Basically, how it works is that each merc* has a base cost, and then a price per level-Which is to say, each level a mercenary gets makes them more expensive.

That makes sense...although given I have to put in the work to get them those levels makes them feel a bit ungrateful.

 

49 minutes ago, Benice said:

*Except for one, who I think has a random price each month.

...interesting... I am not actually sure which one it is...

 

51 minutes ago, Benice said:

Axel is in the Abbey.

He might not be there until after an event in this chapter, although I am not entirely certain...

 

54 minutes ago, Benice said:

Why is he so good?!

Just to annoy people (and give them a Ward replacement crutch they can buy for the optional maps...)

[Saint Rubenio]

Ah, this is back! I took a break from reading this when I started my own LP, but since I've had time to finish that, I'll return to this now! Looks like I missed chapter 2... I'll take a quick read through it later.

Spoiler

On 5/28/2020 at 2:15 AM, Eltosian Kadath said:

Just wanted to see him in jail before I let him safely enter retirement.

But before moving to the update, let me just say I love how you managed to spare Hamilton. The poor guy deserves that retirement.

Also, you let Derrick through. Good. You'd lose out on far too great a reward if you hadn't...

6 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The horse won out.

The real reason the LP went on hiatus for almost a year is that you just couldn't make up your mind about this.

How ironic that this update would come out just as I'm having the exaxct same dilemma in my current run of Berwick. Perhaps I'll follow your example. I'm sure I'll still be able to buy those quality furnishings...

6 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

That is a low blow from Padolf.

"That is a low blow from Padolf," "Herman is being an asshole" and "Volcens you idiot!" are three sentences that can all be used to summarize these throne scenes.

6 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Risk a dangerous breakthrough, but avoiding potential betrayal, a risky move, but its not like he had any safe moves to make in that position...

You know, you make a fair point. I always thought it was just Volcyboy being a moron as usual, but I see there's actually some reasoning to be made for his choice beyond just "Volcens you idiot." Huh.

6 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

...that is ominous...lying to his liege is a dangerous game to play...

We already saw it with Quescria and her daughter. Volcens is hell to work with, and the church's higher-ups have clearly long since decided that it's more efficient to work around him.

6 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

...up until a leak like this comes out, then you have an under defended target.

Not really under defended. When you see the person in charge of the apostle's safety, you'll realize just how safe she really was all along.

6 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

...20K...oh thank goodness.

Hahahah... Oh, yeah. This is a mechanic that I like calling Dad Funds. Not that they'll be funds every single time. Just you wait...

6 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

It didn't look like the cost of mercs has changed, although if only some are more expensive, or the difference was slight I might have missed it. I also want Axel, but I am guessing he is in the tavern or something, so I should work through those events then, and I will start from the top

You were probably told back in the day, but I'll refresh your memory: Mercenaries begin to charge more when they level up.

As for Axel, as Benice said, he's in the abbey.

6 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

...he is a taciturn sort isn't he...

Erzheimer? Taciturn? Pfffhwahahahahahahah... That's a good joke.

6 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Now if he were talking about Volcens I feel this attitude would be warranted. Then again this could just be showing the worries inherent in the class divide between craftsmen and the nobility in this world.

Roswick's still a noble, and judging by the opening scroll he had been in Valemtine for some time. A simple merchant like Nieves probably doesn't want to risk enraging a noble... even though, Roswick being the sweet grandpa that he is, he probably wouldn't mind a delay that much.

6 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

So he has hide, and will be using that skill in the woods, so bringing Czene around to better see through that with her skill will probably come in handy...

More or less, yes. If you don't have Czene, though, you can turn on the full map view and watch the field closely when the yellow army's turn arrives. Rodin will move around, and he'll leave a trail of leaves behind him for a short time. You can use that to pinpoint his general location, if nothing else.

6 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

...sigh I was hoping to find Axel, but instead I find this jerk. I better talk to him eventually, but I think I will save it for next time, as there are still a lot of talking to get through before the next map starts...

Yeah, Clifford... The game spends his first two scenes making him appear as despicable as possible, and then he shows up at the tavern and he's the best unit in the game. With a price to match, too. The asshat must've accumulated a titanic tab... He also has by far the hardest recruitment requirements in the entire game.

4 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

...interesting... I am not actually sure which one it is...

You haven't met them yet. It will be very obvious who they are when they are introduced.

 

Edited April 7, 2021 by Saint Rubenio

[Eltosian Kadath]

15 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

But before moving to the update, let me just say I love how you managed to spare Hamilton. The poor guy deserves that retirement.

With how random the capture mechanics are, I am glad that actually managed to work out...

 

16 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

The real reason the LP went on hiatus for almost a year is that you just couldn't make up your mind about this.

You joke, but that certainly had an impact on it...

 

17 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

We already saw it with Quescria and her daughter. Volcens is hell to work with, and the church's higher-ups have clearly long since decided that it's more efficient to work around him.

That is a fair point, the church really has just been working around him the entire time...

 

18 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hahahah... Oh, yeah. This is a mechanic that I like calling Dad Funds. Not that they'll be funds every single time. Just you wait...

This is making me think free recruits, or horses may be arriving in the future...

 

18 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Erzheimer? Taciturn? Pfffhwahahahahahahah... That's a good joke.

Yeah it is, but he also has disproportionately many dialogue boxes filled with just dots... I mean his first two lines are

.........

.........

and those aren't the only dialogue boxes like that I have seen from him.

 

20 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

More or less, yes. If you don't have Czene, though, you can turn on the full map view and watch the field closely when the yellow army's turn arrives. Rodin will move around, and he'll leave a trail of leaves behind him for a short time. You can use that to pinpoint his general location, if nothing else.

That is a useful technique to know...

 

21 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah, Clifford... The game spends his first two scenes making him appear as despicable as possible, and then he shows up at the tavern and he's the best unit in the game. With a price to match, too. The asshat must've accumulated a titanic tab... He also has by far the hardest recruitment requirements in the entire game.

Yeah, I very much doubt I will manage whatever that might entail, as I find it unlikely I will use him much.

 

20 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You haven't met them yet. It will be very obvious who they are when they are introduced.

I guess that is not that surprising...

[Saint Rubenio]

10 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Yeah, I very much doubt I will manage whatever that might entail, as I find it unlikely I will use him much.

(Un)fortunately for you, Clifford's recruitment requirements... Actually do not require that you use him. They involve a different unit. So yeah. You might end up accidentally getting him.