BrightBow Posted July 22, 2022 Share Posted July 22, 2022 9 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Seems Kaga is starting things off with even more social commentary on capitalist democracies. It sure is nice that a creator from the NES age is still making games like in the good old days before video games were "ruined by politics™". Spoiler 16 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Its funny to start with taking an unassailable city, as the first we take, but I guess the taking of Ostia in FE6 was a kinda similar situation...actually those are very similar from a story perspective. It does feel like it's overselling it a bit. Although I suppose it might help getting the point across that a direct assault may backfire spectacularly. 18 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: It grants you immunity to crits. Too bad you have no way of knowing that you only get the ring if you pick her up with a female character. Not a fan of that, I gotta say. 19 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: these 6 doors in the north, which has lots of ranged defenders to pepper anyone trying to work through it. And some of those guys are more trouble than this scrub here, and while I consider making this attack, I am not entirely certain if all these guys are stationary, so I hold off. Now you could just brute force your way through these door, but you would have to deal with things like The Bow Knight is not stationary. The other 3 are. 20 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: On an enemy that has a 25% chance of attacking first. Now truth be told, Theodel can take that fairly well with Prody support. but Well, if you have Prody support Theo, he is just gonna attack Prody instead. Also keep in mind that Dark magic has Weapon Triangle advantage against the Spirit magic that Theodel is currently restricted too. When I use the front door, I have Zayid take this guy down with a counter attack. Even if he fails to kill, he survives easily and you can just keep trying until he does. But his odds are fairly good. He gets +20% hit from Sheela and Zade with proper setup. 25 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: There is also a 2-3 range bow with a crit rate in there as well. If you can get into the ramparts with all those ranged units, you can trigger a switch that opens the whole way through, and get the drop on all of those enemies with Bows. Thank god for that Ring of Bliss. It's kinda funny how the Ring of Bliss also gives +5 Luck. Considering the only thing Luck does is negate crits in the first place. 31 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: While our pre-promote grabs our first promotion item. It is only for non-magic infantry units, and none of my non-magic infantry are quite ready for it, as they either aren't close to even level 10, and/or are waiting for a few skills from level-up first. There is no level requirement for promotion. A fun thing you can do here is to buy items at the nearby shop, then pick up the Champion Mark so you can send it to the convoy and use it immediately. The Eagles' starting equipment is overkill anyway and rather wasteful to use on these guys. So a shopping trip is most certainly in order either way. 35 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: I do find it really funny that a unit with a generic portrait has a battle and death quote. Might be the only one in this game. Probably just an oversight. Not like there is a lack of portraits for generic soldiers. 37 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: On the flier front, they are doing fine. Actually this is a little bit of a misplay, as I meant to put Yaeri on the "entrance" for her to get healed, but I think it is actually the other space that looks like an entrance that the game meant. Yeah, this could be communicated better. You can tell by the tile description, if nothing else. 39 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: This is another little stumbling block for Merida's advance. If this guy moves, he can use that high damage brave effect (plus a crit rate) to possibly even one-round her. I have a plan to deal with him, but it is going to cost a turn or two to pull this off. Yeah, but critical hit immunity is one of the many perks of the Wargoddess Sword. So she is fine on that front at least. 42 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: That Thracia crit skill of hers is very potent, and removes this future obstacle. Critical Reprisal + build in crit immunity + Commander. Aslanne is pretty amazing. She is pretty much the key for removing Beorn and Marlena. 47 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: As you can see, Nim has no innate crit, he has none of the crit skills, he doesn't have a bond, he doesn't even have a displayed crit rate on his stats screen from the start of the map here...is this some kind of bug, or display glitch, or something? Weapon Triangle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltosian Kadath Posted July 24, 2022 Author Share Posted July 24, 2022 On 7/22/2022 at 5:16 AM, BrightBow said: It's kinda funny how the Ring of Bliss also gives +5 Luck. Considering the only thing Luck does is negate crits in the first place. The Benison skill procs off of luck, so you could add 10% to avoiding a fatal blow skill with it as well... On 7/22/2022 at 5:16 AM, BrightBow said: There is no level requirement for promotion. Huh, I guess Fire Emblem has really ingrained in me that you need to reach level 10 to promote, that I didn't even think about it otherwise. On 7/22/2022 at 5:16 AM, BrightBow said: She is pretty much the key for removing Beorn and Marlena. Murdering them with Aslanne was how you played when you just broke through the front door, isn't it. I guess it is the only way to get them gone before turn...15ish On 7/22/2022 at 5:16 AM, BrightBow said: Weapon Triangle. Weapon Triangle gives crit? Weird. Spoiler When last we left off Rubina died...you also might notice that we have a new unit over there as well, little Nina, another healer who is going to leave like Alysia. In fact she is only available on this chapter, so don't get used to her. I then get revenge on the archer that killed Rubina. Really the only area left with much action is with the infiltrators, and with all the fluff over here dealt with, we can finally turn our attention to the terrifying Matagroth with that double pilum. With the crit immunity item, he can safely take a round of combat with him, but This is definitely an enemy phase thing. Speaking of which Come enemy phase, Dolge Ritton has surrendered to our enemy Although he is still too defiant to hand over the keys to the kingdom to the traitorous Dulles. He is even willing to let himself, and his wife, die which is going to put a serious roadblock in Dulles whole rebellion plan. And now Ritton and Beatrice are added to the prisoners, and they are both putting a lot faith in our little army. Probably more than we deserve... As it turns out, I will end up proving that it is both by the fights I have with you, but for now The answer is clearly stupid, as I almost got a gameover right there, by not noticing that there was still an Arbalest in range. Orison skill from Edelstern almost certainly saved him here, but that was still almost a 30% chance of a gameover. And I really thought I had better healing items in the stockpile, as I only have herbs in there...this isn't going well I can finish him off with Merida, but Thanks to this little skill here, she basically has an 18% chance of dying...I don't want to risk Merida, at least not now... Its unfortunate that Zade didn't get one more crit, as that would leave him at 6 HP, which would be an incredibly reliable kill for Cezar with the Starfall Dagger. Instead Merida will kill this fellow. Hopefully after we wipe that Arbalest we can try this again, but at this rate, I will probably have to run through his entire Tisane before we can safely kill Matagroth. And that is an excellent level for Merida. I also have Troy draw the the mounted archer in. I have Yaeri get herself a cutlass, as I have gone overboard with the Doyenne already, although it will be a while before she has anything to use it on. ...hmm...the fact that Matagroth moves is a bit of a mixed bag. Hopefully this is just part of the healing AI or something. In the meantime, Troy wipes out that mounted archer. And Cantos him in a way to deal with that Arbalest. And this jerk has moved into some obnoxious terrain, while healing all the way up. And now that Arbalest will never bother me again. Now its just the Matagroth beast I awakened in here, and in the North Nina is about one turn away from accomplishing her main objective for the map. Which is to deal with those scary mercenaries up there. I am preparing for my cavs to break into the ramparts there, while I am going to try get Matagroth to burn through that last Tisane use Fortunately these two aren't monsterous enough to murder a child in cold blood, so she has some scripted misses here This is a terrifying event the first time you try it. That is the breaking point for these two, they become green units, and hint at their own history with a mysterious child. I guess she also has a talk with Zade to do at some point. And he will put this promise to test Immediately. Back with our little group of infiltrators Troy is opening up that bridge for Merida And part of his dialogue references the dialogue of his daughter from before, which makes me wonder if this is alternate dialogue, or if that talk is required for this event. Although that is some dark commentary about the price these common folks will pay for helping us...unless we succeed. Now Merida can deal with the last real guard of the ramparts And the poor fool acted like he was invincible. And I am sure you can see how I proved the half of Matagroth's about me being stupid here As he can definitely move, and avoid Zade being able to hit this guy on enemy phase, which means killing this guy, no matter how I do it will be a risky maneuver... Well, I am going to have Cezar open the bridge into the city, as my horsies start flanking those ranged defenders, and the army in the north prepared for the flood gates to open. And I utterly waste a turn being overly cautious. Lets start by t- I guess try to take out the Scorpion user. And my over-abundance of caution means Troy can't finish the job this turn... Although Merida does tank the Nim hit like a champ. And that Magic level changes the scales a little, as now Merida has the damage to kill Jimsund, while keeping the massive Resistance boost of the Wargoddess Sword. Although the miss isn't that surprising... Although at this point, the guys on the other side of the wall should be able to crush these crippled foes. Goodbye August ~ Eh...its a levelup I guess. Yeah, this is kinda reckless, but the odds of him missing twice are less than 1%, and I am tired of being as cautious as I have been. Never punished it seems. We still have 10 turns before the situation worsens, and we are in the city. OK, I could have taken a few turns making that safer, but the stupidly reckless moves don't stop there... We have a few turns of moving ahead of us, and one turn of absolute stupid, but first Nina needs to talk with her uncle And he makes some bold promises to his little niece. And gets her to promise to stay safely beside him, although its hard not to question Zade's logic here. He hasn't seen Batrice in about 10 years before this little trip, so he can't have made too many promises to the kid before this little trip, which he has spent a lot of in the field. I also have my fliers visit one of the houses as people are making the slow march to the palace. Also, the two green unit mercenaries leave the map. I hope I live long enough to see you latter Beorn and Marlena. Also, I think you can see where that crowning turn of stupid is coming... I really shouldn't be doing this, but I want this guy dead, and after having lost one of my flyers to a moment of absolute stupid, I am tilting a bit. Plus Zade needs to get over to the other island to trigger a key event before turn 30, which is giving me an extra time constraint to further addle my tired mind, as I only have a turn or two left to think about this, or miss the opportunity entirely. And I even got the extra crit here, but dumb-dumb that I am, Cezar isn't close enough to take advantage of it to go for the ~95% odds of the kill before Matagroth's murderous counter so I have to go for the 82% chance instead. Well I guess its a bit better than that, as she could proc Mutlichance to force him to get two Great Shield procs to ruin everythi- And I see that great shield symbol appear alone at the start...sigh there goes Merida too...worse yet, I could have waited a single turn for Cezar...oh well, this is probably game over, as Zade will probably die one enemy pha- SHE DODGED ONE OF THEM....I didn't even think about that as one of my outs here. Alright, that was overly reckless...I promise, no more trying to throwing over Rubina's death. Also, I get the other house visit out of the way as people are shuffling around. I also collect another Cezar's Lucre while we are getting into position... yeah lets just jump to Just before Zade crosses the bridge here at the end of turn So with 2 turns to spare, Zade enters that last section of the city To trigger the event where Dulles to realize how dire things are. Making the path to the palace open up, and getting them to start killing the prisoners before turn 30 And Dulles continues to be the cowardly fool that he is, hiding beneath his bed as his little rebellion crumbles around him. And the first thing I do is take down Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Yaeri And the flirtatious fool dies before his 4 attack brave effect bow can cause any chaos in our ranks. She even has enough move to get out of range while she is at it. Also that brings the Doyenne to exact 1 use left... What a goddess. I have fond memories of this little bow utterly carrying Sheela through the majority of the game on my last run. Next Troy destroys this mage before it can even attack, so I don't even have to think about that effective damage it has. This is just the palace of excellent levels isn't it. This even takes care of the merely two hit brave bow that was there as well. This starting assault is going rather well Honestly, this is a bit overkill, but I needed to clear out some space. The island's levelup luck continues. Eh...honestly, this is the only thing Ash can reach this turn, and in my original plan Theo was going to finish off the sword guy, but it wasn't til after I made the Ash attack that I realized This guy had a Cavalry effective weapon, and I wasn't willing to risk Merida having to take that much chip damage, so I had to change my plans a bit. This funny little death quote is referencing the fact that he drops 750 Denarii on death. Poor guy died thinking about the money he lost. Seems the magic of the palace level-ups is starting to cool off. Unfortunately, this is the last thing I have the room to kill this turn, but I think its enough. One cowardly archer fails to kill one of the prisoners And Harald here kills himself on Merida on enemy phase Never mind, seems the palace tier levels are back baby. And the return of those reinforcements was almost disastrous thanks to how far Nina fell behind in the march to the palace. Both of them appeared uncomfortably close to my slow moving healers... That deals with the coward that was trying to kill the helpless prisoners. This is a bit of revenge for him getting a free hit on her on enemy phase And that deals with all of the enemies around the palace, except for the boss sitting on the seize point, Vilweiss himself. Yaeri is doing her job now, moving on an intercept course with the soldier making ground against the defenseless Nina, while Prody and Troy killed the one that spawned next to Athol. Next turn its time to start looking at Vilweiss And he has some dangerous weaponry. For now he is rather vulnerable to range attacks, as he has a sword equipped, but it is a rather power brave weapon, and he has that 18% chance of ignoring attack skill on him too. Also the better version of the command skill Zade has, which was helping most of the enemies we killed before hit things. And if he changes to his 1-2 range weapon, it has the obnoxious ability to disable our troops with Paralysis status effect. I want to take this guy out before he can switch weapons, and I both need some maneuvering of my troops to prepare for that, and I kinda want to get Zade's talk with Ritton before dealing with him as well (just in case that does anything). Prody also gets the double hit, so he doesn't even need Troy's help to kill the reinforcement this turn Next turn, ...uh, these new reinforcements complicate things a little bit, but taking one out, making sure the Cav can't mess up any troops I have in the palace district, and hitting it as hard as I can will probably work...I really hope this cav doesn't try to threaten Nina for some reason, because Yaeri is going to have an uncomfortable dance in the sky to deal with what is heading for Nina already. Nice level-ups in the palace distrct continue as Ash finishes the cav on enemy phase. When we get back to player phase Zade finally reaches his brother-in-law, and there is a touching little reunion And Ritton is insistent that Dulles be spared, which is probably important. Back with the desperate defense of Nina, Yaeri gets this kill, but has to canto to the south to use the houses to avoid the archer which means Nina needs to move back a little. Prody also gets some chip in, and Ash gets healed a bit. Seems that little fly trick got the other archer to head south around the houses, instead of keeping up the pressure on Yaeri and Nina, so this is an easy kill. Although the reinforcements have changed up again. Prody lucks into this kill here, which makes thing a little easier to deal with this turn. Although at this point, Zade is close enough that I can try dealing with the boss next turn. I am going to want his command boost, and He is not the worst option to start chipping (which also ensures all my ranged attacks get the command boost) . Now Athol can take the ranged hit here, so this isn't quite the point of no return, but eventually I will fill that space with ranged attacks Unfortunately he got one great shield proc, but He didn't great shield this hit, so he is past half health. In fact he is to the point where Theo can finish him, if any of my other range attack hits... Although this missed one missed, she actually levels off it Heh, figures another prepromoted gets another blank level-up for me. Not the best odds, and another failure And with this critting, I can fairly safely use the Starfall dagger as a worst case scenario. But it proves unnecessary as Theo killed this power hungry fool. With this after that blank level-up, it seems that the luck of the palace district level-ups have run dry. Now we aren't quite done with this map yet, there are still those reinforcements to deal with, and I want them gone so I can shop in peace. Prody, and Ash together kill the archer, while Yaeri is getting ready for an enemy phase kill that is close enough that she can then jump the archer, which will in turn be in range to enemy phase the last of the Cavalry. Fortunately, killing the boss has ended the stream of reinforcements, and just as Yaeri is killing the last of them Is the moment she both gets this defensive level, and it is exactly her last use of her cutlass. Now it does take me a few turns waiting here as I have a lot of shopping to do, and a little bit of item management, as Zade repairs his Edelstern, and I end up giving Theodel the Agility stat booster I had gathering dust in the stockpile. It took a little while to get to all the shops I wanted to, and while I might regret it, I did spend the big bucks for an extra Siurian Thaumite while I was at it. Alas, the weasel Dulles is captured, and continues to embarrass himself with his attempts to avoid the consequences of his actions, but Ritton is insistent on him facing justice Ritton might have faith in these values, but we are seeing first hand in the US, how few consequences exist for the political leaders that organize coups. We also get a nice little talk with the flier. And she reveals that poor Nina is to be one of the circlet maidens. And then poor Yaeri alone joins us in order to protect Athol...yeah this is obviously a minor change from the last time I got this scene thanks to Rubina's death. ...Well one flier, is better than no fliers. In an odd way, there being a second flier makes her one of the more expendable units, but they had a bond together, so Rubina's death has diminished the power of Yaeri in turn. Then poor Theo reveals he had a crush on his best friends much older big sister... Its interesting how they reveal that Nina is a bit empathic here with her knowing not to ask Athol about being a circlet maiden. It puts some of the way Athol talked about Alysia into a slightly different context with this somewhat mystical reveal. Also, it seems Theo has rebelled against church precepts by taking up arms in this conflict. Ah, a "Black Death" plague hit the world of Vestaria saga as well. I bet this is the illness that killed Athol's mother way back when as well. Poor Theo has had a harsh life to live through thanks to his monster of a step-mother. Unfortunately she hasn't gotten what she deserves yet. Hopefully I can follow in the footsteps of my last run and give Theo the kill me most righteously deserves. It is kinda interesting how they write around this scene that must have occurred in the background, where Aslanne said everything in her power to try and get Athol to return to the circlet tower. Alas poor Nina is about to be taken from her family to the circlet tower, and become the earth maiden. I do like how they lean into the emotions of this departure through out this little ending scene. I guess it has tripled hasn't it, we went from 5 (Zade, Prody, Bonacel, Troy, and Athol) to...well we could deploy 11 this map, and had to leave 3 behind (so 14 at map start) and with me only getting Yaeri, we are at exact triple, with 15. Really this is signaling that we are wrapping up the Venecia arc, with the next map as part of the transition into the next little arc in the steppes. Given the conflict we are about to walk into, it makes you wonder what chaos is happening in Sphire at this point doesn't it. How could things be going so badly in Sphire that crossing the Vestaria equivalent of the alps, into a war torn steppe, and then through a Vesta forsaken desert map is a better option... Seems we go full circle here, and return to the first object of chapter one for answer...actually I kinda like how the game uses this to prop of the relevance of the Lucca militia a little more in the story. And this is a bit of serendipity, as the Lucca elder didn't have an answer, but the guest there happen to have just the answers we need. And we have another bandit map to deal with to end this little arc off And it is an escort mission. At least most of the characters with events on the map tell us to bring them along, like Dune here. The only that didn't is Troy, but I guess Troy wouldn't know ahead of time about his event, as he is more of a passive participant in it. It is also the first map where we can not deploy our lord, which is a fun little difference. Well, I probably should have split this update in two, but here we are. Next time we start an escort quest, and in the meantime, I hope you all have fun, and stay safe out there. 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BrightBow Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 (edited) 59 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: The Benison skill procs off of luck, so you could add 10% to avoiding a fatal blow skill with it as well... Yeah, but only Athol has that skill. Also Cromwell, but you can't give him any items, so it's a moot point. 1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Murdering them with Aslanne was how you played when you just broke through the front door, isn't it. I guess it is the only way to get them gone before turn...15ish It's more a matter of whether or not I want to fight Ashuram and Sujata in chapter 18. 1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Weapon Triangle gives crit? Weird. It's nice. Doesn't make the damage calculation needlessly complicated. Spoiler 1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said: AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! 1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said: I also have my fliers visit one of the houses as people are making the slow march to the palace. Okay good, it's like I remember. He moves but he doesn't chase if you step out of his attack range. Crisis resolved. 1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said: And he has some dangerous weaponry. For now he is rather vulnerable to range attacks, as he has a sword equipped, but it is a rather power brave weapon, and he has that 18% chance of ignoring attack skill on him too. Also the better version of the command skill Zade has, which was helping most of the enemies we killed before hit things. I usually have Aslanne with the Doyenne destroy him with Critical Reprisal. All that's needed is for the 18% Stun chance to not trigger. So at worst, I risk a few turns. Edited July 24, 2022 by BrightBow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pépito Posted July 25, 2022 Share Posted July 25, 2022 Losing half your combat fliers really sucks but it's probably better to lose Rubina, since you can still recruit Maya at least. You probably should turn on the option that ends your turn when you have moved all your units so that doesn't happen again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltosian Kadath Posted July 27, 2022 Author Share Posted July 27, 2022 On 7/24/2022 at 5:57 AM, BrightBow said: Yeah, but only Athol has that skill. Also Cromwell, but you can't give him any items, so it's a moot point. Technically Lyttia too, but that is even less significant than Athol having it. Mostly I was noting that the bonus luck does something, even if its effect is rather minor. On 7/24/2022 at 5:57 AM, BrightBow said: It's more a matter of whether or not I want to fight Ashuram and Sujata in chapter 18. Are those replacement enemies, for that chapter? On 7/24/2022 at 5:57 AM, BrightBow said: I usually have Aslanne with the Doyenne destroy him with Critical Reprisal. All that's needed is for the 18% Stun chance to not trigger. So at worst, I risk a few turns. Does that kill him outright or just cripple him for someone else to grab the kill? On 7/25/2022 at 9:43 AM, Pépito said: You probably should turn on the option that ends your turn when you have moved all your units so that doesn't happen again. It probably wouldn't have helped in that case, I wasn't moving most of the units waiting for the doors to open, so I would have had to end phase manually anyway. Plus I like being able to get screenshots of where my units all are at the end of the turn, so people can follow the moves I am making overall, and notice what has been done to prepare for enemy phase, etc. Time for another short chapter here... Spoiler On this update we have A little escort mission. I think Kaga is emphasizing the difference between videogame, and actual violence with this interaction between these two. Ash is coming in with the very videogame violence mentality here, why are you worried it is just a bandit map, and Lilia responds with a starkly real response about the sort of brutal consequences real violence can have. It kinda reminds me of something Jim Sterling did a long time ago, using some footage of a politician killing himself to emphasize how ludicrous it is to act like videogame violence is similar enough to real violence to desensitize people to it. Poor girl is suffering from survivor's guilt over this last round of bandit attacks Its kinda adorable, how the two of them are so mutually worried about each-other. Alright this is just silly, but the game is giving some clear childhood-friends to lovers cliche with these two, even with this goofy little secret, just between the two of them. We also get a little tool tip about the new Sutler feature. Now this has the tightest deployment so far, and both Zade and Athol aren't available. Lilia is mandatory, Jean, Dune, and Troy are all needed for event reasons, Ash makes sense for bond bonuses, Yaeri makes getting some of the loot much easier, leaving one slot open, which I give to Haldyn, as I have ignored him unfairly. In fact, I put off talking about him as a unit, until I first used him, so I guess I can do that now, and talk about the other new unit, Lilia as well Spoiler Haldyn is fairly good, and his main issue is that he naturally draws a comparison to Troy. Haldyn mainly uses swords (and has no 1-2 range), and multi-chance at base, making for the similarities to Troy, but there are a lot of obvious differences. First, Haldyn is a light infantry, which generally makes Troy better, but Haldyn can climb crags, so he has his moments. Haldyn also has Mettle (the increase crit at low health skill), and Critical Edge, so Haldyn has some crit, although Troy unlocks the far better Triple Threat skill rather soon, and Haldyn learns no new skills. Haldyn also gets access to Great Swords, which is probably a bit better than the Standard Spears Troy gets. All this comes together to make Haldyn come across as an unmounted Troy... Lilia fares far better in comparison to her competition. She is a healer just like Athol, but has the massive advantage of being the only healer able to promote. Skillwise she gets the Industry skill, which is the equivalent of 3 Thracia movement stars, which helps to mitigate her aweful 4 move, and also the Herb Forager skill, which gives her a 15% chance of getting an herb at the start of every turn (SF main site says that stops at turn 23, which seems kinda random...), which is useful for either gaining money, or simply increasing your supply of healing items. To be fair, Athol is a better healer at base, with skills that match a healer a bit better, but if you bother to train and promote Lilia, she turns out far better, and her skills tend to support people in a different way.... Ah, a bit more of Vestaria Saga humor here, as that is clearly said wrong. I wonder if this from Kaga, or the translation team... Also, these are apparently still the Gallachian Bandits. Or at least this group is trying to claim the reputation of the Gallachian Bandits. I thought we were done with those guys, but I guess this is one of those hydra things...alright enough story, onto the map With Yaeri immediately wiping out one of the archers, and cantoing out of range of the other While Dune draws in a 1-2 range axe thrower, and we learn this is apparently 50 miles in universe, and 1/2 a days ride. Yaeri continues to jump these archers before they can become a nuisance, but I make a bit of a boo-boo here As I didn't notice this Arbalest here. I keep overlooking these red-hatted arbalests, but this isn't the biggest deal in the world, as Yaeri lives the hit just fine. Although I jumped ahead a little here. Haldyn finished the brigand Dune chipped enemy phase And his mounted counterpart wipes out another all on his lonesome. We are doing a solid job wiping things out, but I can't actually ignore that archer in the south there, as I need to rout the map before we are done for one of the events here, so I lure him in with Dune. Come enemy phase, Libbon the Arbalest manages to miss Yaeri, which makes it fairly safe to Wipe out another archer, which happens to be inside the Arbalest's range. In fact she is outside all enemy ranges, so I don't think the dodge actually mattered that much. It seems not noticing the Arbalest was a happy little accident. Now Jean tries to finish off the one he chipped on enemy phase, but he isn't as lucky here, so Dune has to clean it up for him This lets Haldyn deal with the other Bandit clogging up the road, so Troy can kill this bandit blocking the bridge ahead. Finally, this little archer gets to die by Ash's Hurlbrat, as otherwise he could get a free shot on Haldyn. With that done we have cleared out this bottom section of the map, and if I were going to split this map into parts, this would be one of better options, although I decided it is a bit too early into the update for that. The simplicity of this map makes it difficult to split in the same way I did most of the previous maps, as there is one single object, which doesn't change. Basically all of the side objectives come at the very end, and this here is the best physical split of the map, which comes far too early, so I think we will go all the way to the end of the map this time. Now the Libbon gets to die by flyer Don't sell yourself short Libbon, your bow did a lot better than the other archers she killed before they could even fire off a shot. Huh, you know, the flyers in this game don't get the kinda resistance the peg knights do in Fire Emblem, so getting some resistance is kinda interesting in this game. Now I didn't Canto her, as she is both out of range here, and can jump that archer in the forest in the north from here. Troy also wipes one Bandit on player phase, and stares into the face of the last one blocking the road. He is also drawing the archer into leaving the high ground, letting Haldyn dice him up. Now I don't want to wait for the healer to catch up, so he just chugs an herb, as he moves ahead. I also decide not to jump the archer to the north for two reason, first the space she would end up would leave her open to enough attacks she could die, and second with the extra evasion from the forest, I don't even like my odds of killing the archer, so instead I turn my sights towards a different archer And I finally have the spare turn to repair the Doyenne. Troy continues to dominate, as my infantry very slowly march behind him...Move really is the best stat... I also use the high exp gains of the staff of Beatitude to give Lilia a level. There is a bit of a lull here, so I think I will jump to what little action there is Like Yaeri taking two turns to take out that archer near the mountains (although she can safely canto back out of range) And the Strength levelup she gets when it finally dies. And just when I try to draw in this trio of 1-2 range bandits with Troy, we have an event where some enemies appear, so the infantry actually have something to do. But with the 1-2 range bandits proving to be rather passive, Troy can still jump the archer. Ok, the infantry are still mostly out of range, but the one attack they are close enough to make Did manage to get the unlikely kill. Although it seems all the luck for the levelup was wasted on the kill. Yaeri's simple strength level-up made this little kill far more reliable, and with it she can again Canto back into a safe space that is in range of hitting that archer in the woods. With that Hurlbat dead, it makes it far safer to go for that kill next turn. At least the infantry saw some solid action on enemy phase. Although that really is a terrible level for Haldyn. This is the first time Lilia procced...any of her skills. Actually, I am unlucky enough to not see Industry proc this whole map.... Now Dune finished off the last of the bandits that spawned directly by the last event, but this also triggered some reinforcements to spawn in the cave in the center, and we need to rout this map to accomplish a side object I want to complete, so I am going to find a way of dealing with these reinforcements. Although there is something that has been turns into the making to deal with first Killing this archer, whom drew my ire just after the death of Libbon. The use of Doyenne makes this slightly more reliable, so she should be fine if she kills this guy (although this is also dependent on the AI of those three Hurlbats in the path not suddenly changing their AI as well, as Troy showed them to be passive...) Now I am going to have Haldyn sit here, and kill all the reinforcements. A bit wasteful, but somebody has to do it, and he really is the best option. Dune can't counter on enemy phase so he is a bad option; Lilia can;t even attack; Troy and Yaeri would be wasting their move by sitting around dealing with this; Jean has to reach the end of this map for a side objective, so he can't spare the time, and Ash's bond helps Jean along. Oddly enough, nothing moved in to attack Yaeri, so she can easily wipe out another archer, and just in case this triggers the hurlbats next to him to move Troy can wipe one of them out as well. Although that proved entirely unneccessary, as none of these guys move, and instead just sit there while we kill them And Haldyn is advancing a little on the reinforcements. Odd as this sounds, its a bit unfortunate that these aren't ambush spawns, as it means Haldyn can never block up this cave, and prevent reinforcements from coming from it. I guess the axe bros can work on killing one of these passive fools Although Ash missed the kill While Yaeri deals with the other. Such a random little sign here, but after the fact, I think its to show the trigger to a very minor event that occurs when that green unit wagon we are supposed to be guarding (but have basically left in our wake) reaches it. I guess this is the first time I really noticed, but reinforcements are also coming out of that cave in the north as well, and those seem to be the only enemies in this area that actually move. Although the injured bandit is willing to sit there and kill himself on our axebros come enemy phase. And Troy breaks another cutlass, which gives Dune the kill on player phase instead, while Yaeri flies up to grab one of the two examinable spots on this map...sigh, now its time to look at the thing that worries me most about the end section of this map. This promoted enemy with a 1-2 weapon with a crit rate. I didn't bring the anti-crit ring with me (it was on Zade at the end of last map, and I don't know if I could even access it in the preps screen of this map), so I have to face a small crit chance. Troy can take a crit, although not well, but at least that is the only enemy that can target him from here...but continuing a trend of the latter half of this map, he doesn't move. Yaeri gets this stat booster from the other examinable object on this map. Also of note, Haldyn has finally exhausted the reinforcements on the central cave, but I don't think he has to move to be relevant for the rest of the map. Well Jean misses the enemy Ash chipped enemy phase, and missed, so Dune cleans it up instead Which clears the way for Troy to deal with this immobile Battleaxe that made Yaeri so afraid to attack the archer in the woods. Ash also gets some free ranged chip on the mobile enemy, but misses all his hits enemy phase, so Dune cleans up again And Troy kills another Battleaxe This is a bit awkward, but Troy doesn't actually have enough weapons uses left to kill this guy on enemy phase, so I kinda need some of this Ash chip to kill this guy. Now next turn Yaeri can pass what is left of her cutlass over to him, which will hopefully last the rest of the map... ...I am keeping Jean out of range for now, but I am starting to feel a bit of a time pressure Which wasn't helped by little event as the wagon passes that signpost. The new dusk coloring of map helped even less...hopefully enemies stop spawning from the northern cave so that Ash and Dune can support my mounted force. OH...I wonder if it was the color change that made them mobile, or if they have a linked AI. As it could be either. Fortunately this mockery of Amundsen isn't something I will have to deal with on player phase, and with him dead I can reach the far scarier Lubboch ...he needs to die, but I don't like those odds ...the worst part about this was having Troy trigger Multichance, and miss the kill three times in a row...oh please die... Phew...well that is one problem dealt with, but with the wagon right on my heels, I might have run out of time to access some of the excellent loot hiding at the very end of the map This will hurt, but he should be able to li- That was kinda lucky. And some Agility is a nice enough thing to get on my Axeyboy I wonder if that Agility levelup made the difference between doubling, or not here. And to then take all the pressure of time off of me, the bandits must have blocked the path enough that the wagon thought going around was its only option, so it moved backwards. In fact, I think I can rout this map this turn, with Troy finishing this one off Dune and Ash then work together to wipe out that other named enemy, so that Jean can use his movement after we have routed the map. Don't worry, they are already there waiting for you. ...that is not the kind of levelup you need Ash Although I guess this makes it a move levelup for him. And like that, the map is routed, causing The Hulking man to appear. Getting this hulking man to appear, was why it was so important to rout this map, as he is going to give us a personal weapon. Although routing the map also increases the wagon's move, so you have even less time to get the last minute loot from the map. Thanks to him moving backwards last turn, this is kinda unnecessary, but blocking his movement like this does give me an extra turn to finish things off. Lets start by visiting Tasha with a certain "Ravishing" gold haired knight Who interrupts the poor girl mid fantasy. And the poor girl becomes awkwardly tongue tied by his handsomeness. The girl is so desperate to give Troy some of her cake...is that innuendo...yes, yes it is. And that water cake is a stat booster only Troy can use, and give him +5 max HP. Now its time for Jean to earn his personal weapon, with his amazing tree chopping skills. It really is a beauty of a weapon. When Jean has it equipped he gets the Industy skill, which gives him a 15% chance of taking another turn, plus he gets a +2 to both defenses. All of this is on top of the 14 might, and 15 crit on it. I will also note, this village can't actually be visited, its just where the wagon has to reach to finish the map. Despite how horny the dialogue here is, the actual loot is nowhere near as good as Tasha's as its just an herb. And on the NPC's turn 20 We finish the map as Maechen reaches the village of Folley. And thanks to us bringing Dune, he gets to ask about his past Especially the fate of his mother. Poor Dune's mother, a refugee to the village of Folley, who died with an infant child, before she could reveal anything about the boy's past. Although the Elder Cornelius did take him in, and had his raised as his own in Lucca village, where we met Dune. Dune is still trying to unravel the secret of his parentage, and hoping to find the fate of his father as well. At least there is one hint towards his past, and as luck would have it, our ridiculous path back to Redessa leads through Solis, for him to investigate further. Although Andrew is hinting that his father might be an important Solisian, as one further clue... And he even has something Dune can use to prove his parentage, a keepsake from the dead mother he never knew. And when Dune finally meets his father, he gets his excellent personal bow, which is a part of what makes Dune so good into the late game. Back with the main plot, we have found a map through the impassible mountains and its sounds beyond perilous... We will see if it happens this run. Last run I didn't end up promoting her to high priestess, but I might this time. Now Garlan is promising to get Lilia the future she has dreamed of... after we have completed the game of course, which conveniently means we get her as a permanent addition to our army. Although I skipped over it, she took Garlan aside before, to ensure this would happen, it was all a part of her plan. We have a far happier family departure to Vesta for Lilia, than was had for poor Nina's family... Also its funny to see Tasha mentioned...speaking of which, if Lilia visits the house with Tasha before, there is a unique scene, with much worse loot. Admittedly I haven't seen it myself, and with Lilia's 4 move it is kinda difficult to get to it in time, even if you wanted to see it... And we finally get the recruitment box for Lilia. The contrast between how Lilia's, and Nina's family are taking their daughter going to the island of Vesta is stark... And now we hear about how impassible the desert is, after all that talk about the Krall's being impassible...The decision to take this path, instead of the Sphire route just makes less sense, the more you hear about it. Think about how much of a reversal it is to have that"foreign" influence saving the sanctity of their republic from an authoritarian local... Ritton also fills our coffers with 7000 Denari, which is a nice little chunk of change for us. An excellent little parting gift for our army That was another full chapter done, but it was another little side chapter anyway. I get the funny feeling the next update will be just after Vestaria Saga 2 is out, so have fun with that, and stay safe everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pépito Posted July 27, 2022 Share Posted July 27, 2022 (edited) 44 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: I think Kaga is emphasizing the difference between videogame, and actual violence with this interaction between these two. Ash is coming in with the very videogame violence mentality here, why are you worried it is just a bandit map, and Lilia responds with a starkly real response about the sort of brutal consequences real violence can have. He probably forgot how scary it is for normal people too after successfully fighting so many of them and just having conquered an impregnable city. 44 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Also its funny to see Tasha mentioned...speaking of which, if Lilia visits the house with Tasha before, there is a unique scene, with much worse loot. Admittedly I haven't seen it myself, and with Lilia's 4 move it is kinda difficult to get to it in time, even if you wanted to see it... You can just block the village with one of your units to get as much time as you want. And if you visit with Troy and then with Lilia you can get both items. 44 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: And now we hear about how impassible the desert is, after all that talk about the Krall's being impassible...The decision to take this path, instead of the Sphire route just makes less sense, the more you hear about it. I don't know, I'd rather deal with small mountains passes and rough deserts than berserk siege tomes and 1-3 range 3x brave tomes when no one has RES other than Merida. Also, having Zade's army march through Sphire when they don't want anyone to cross their borders right now could be considered an act of war. But even if they wanted to let us pass, the empire could see that as support for the Meledans. So the tough route might be a lot less bothersome overall. Edited July 27, 2022 by Pépito Adding the bit about Shire not wanting us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltosian Kadath Posted August 3, 2022 Author Share Posted August 3, 2022 On 7/27/2022 at 4:26 AM, Pépito said: And if you visit with Troy and then with Lilia you can get both items. You know, I am just so used to villages closing up after you get something from them, I don't think it even crossed my mind that you could get both. On 7/27/2022 at 4:26 AM, Pépito said: Also, having Zade's army march through Sphire when they don't want anyone to cross their borders right now could be considered an act of war. But even if they wanted to let us pass, the empire could see that as support for the Meledans. So the tough route might be a lot less bothersome overall. You could probably say the same thing about their little trip through Solis as well. This sort of problem crops up, no matter which nation they pass through. It has been a bit longer than I expected, as I got invited to a surprise camping trip that took up the entire weekend (and the latter half of Friday) but here is the first part of chapter 7 Spoiler Now this justification for why we have to take the overland route, I kinda buy, but Its the choice of this overland route which I find rather suspect, as they not only had to cross a mountain range, that they were not even certain of there being a pass through, but at the end of it We are going to have to deal with the tortures of a desert map. Further more, storywise they face the same issue as with the Kralls, this is nightmarish terrain to bring an army through, and they don't even know how it will be possible to cross yet... Furthermore, the region between these two bits of nightmare terrain is embroiled in a civil war, which will be the focus of this next arc of the game. Seeing how political turmoil in Sphire is why we aren't passing through there, it seems strange that the political turmoil in Solis doesn't provoke the same response from Garlan, although I suppose a land route around Solis would be a long one... It seems this kingdom was never very stable, even before the civil war... I rather like this little turn of phrase. Now we have the major players of this little civil war so far, the young naive (and questionably competent) rightful heir, his too competent (but also too honorable to claim the throne from his incompetent relatives) uncle intent on pressing his claim, and the usurper. Now this was a serious gamble on Gyskhal's part, that probably contributed to the bad position he is in right now. Honoring his commitments to the Vestaria alliance after most of the island abandoned Meleda, almost certainly contributed to his poor situation militarily at the moment, but it is about to pay off thanks to our little army's arrival, and it will pay off even more if we can retake Meleda, as it is bound to strengthen the bonds between Solis and Meleda. Now for a map that is half filler, and I am sorry to say it, but this update will just be the filler half. ...I know they are trying to reference the famously impossible act of Hannibal taking his army over the alps, but this just doesn't land as well without something in the gameplay to emphasize that difficulty, like they do with the desert. The first little hint about how sketchy this "revenant" attack is, has got to be this garbage bag cultist here. Said with all of the sensationalist energy as "think of the children". Alas, Zade is eating this con-mans words up. As for my deployment, I end up leaving the Axe bros behind. I did consider bringing them along to trade chain some Morning Star effective damage, but I just couldn't decide on who I should leave behind instead. I guess the first half of this map gives us a little taste of what the Sphire route might have been like. Interesting that Hedonism has been tied to the land of mages, and lies in such stark contrast to the other branch of magic being a religious order (or I guess two orders, if we add in the Margulites). Then again, I guess the other male Vestal mages don't indicate that chastity is a major virtue to the holy order of mages either. I don't think we see any of the vestal magic users follow this creed (other than the Circlet Maidens I guess). I am a bit surprised Kaga didn't try to give us a unit that does follow this sort of creed, like a unit that can't attack on player phase, and only in self-defense on enemy phase. This seems like a rather practical, and logical. Now I miss the exact line, but Garlan adds more hints that something is off, when he mentions that some think necromancy is done with illusions. Although what most sells the idea that something is simply Wrong with the start of this map is The visitable houses. They all give this impression that something else is going on here, and that we are in the wrong somehow I mean this woman just paid us off in fear that we would kill her child. We are being treated like some invading aggressor. We also get a major hint that the Revenant Witch in particular is an important part of what is going on here. Also another trash-bag cultist cutting the young Sestra off makes it clear that these guys are covering something up here And them giving you an item that makes your units berserk like that is a good thing makes it extra clear that these guys do not have your best interest in mind. I guess I am building up to a little quirk of this map. You don't want to hurt the revenants. These five at the front are the little formation I have setup to deal with that. Bonacel at the top, then Zayid, Troy and Sheela supported by Prody's Good Neighbor skill, with all of them unequipped but Sheela (that is using the Defense bonus on her personal weapon to reach a defense threshold). You might also note that Dune has hit up the strange shop called the Devotionist. Most of what is there is garbage, and to further hit home that something is off, the trash-bag cultist shop-keeper is perfectly happy to sell you a Ghoul Spear, which is a weapon only demonic units can use, but the one exception to the trash is the Thief's Repeater, which Dune bought a few of. Also, I am actually using the Staff of Beatitude for its effects, instead of for its massive exp gains. Zade has to travel over to the other side of this little valley while unequipped to not kill any of the revenats here, and progress the map. Although our issue with the Sphire necromancer isn't the only thing going on, as one of our timers for this map is we have to complete it before Thamthir's army can wipe out all of the yurts. Although this does emphasize how dire Cyltan/Gyskhal's situation is. We are about to arrive at their last little supply point, as it is being destroyed. Also, Cyltan could even be killed here, and these vultures will have no mercy on him. Although Tamthir's daughter is a lot less bloodthirsty. And there is some clear romantic tension between Jamulan and Neira, despite the clear age difference. ...You know, when I set this whole plan up, I did not notice that this was a magical weapon. It is fine, I have two healers that were just sitting on their thumbs before. For now, it is just 2 axemen attacking the yurt, so we have a fair bit of time to work with This is a bit of a side effect of how high the defense of my line is, that the ones that hit the physical side of things are chasing Zade, as he has the lowest defense of those within reach. Meanwhile, with the far more plot relevant half of the map, we are introduced to Aynellia, a secretly more important character than she seems. As she is more than simply Gyskhal's effective (but technically not) wife... Honestly, I kinda see both sides of this. Cyltan fighting for his people in these desperate straits will improve his position with his people, strengthening moral, and his legitimacy as a ruler, but if he dies, everything is lost. And Aynellia is probably right, he isn't strong enough to solo this kind of force yet, at least not without some creative canto positioning. Also, it is a little odd how motherly Aynellia seems in her relation with Cyltan, as I don't think they have that large of an age gap between them...well maybe its just anime face, as I don't remember if they address how old Aynellia is. I will keep an eye out for that. Although she did talk Cyltan into hiding...for now. Not much happening on this front. When doing this the proper way, its mostly just Zade walking... And we have another little event, as the destroyed yurt timer ticks closer to defeat And we get a taste of how awful this slaughter is. Its things like this that emphasize why simply following orders, isn't a defense against war crimes. Both of these people know exactly how monstrous this act is... Neira at least is opposed to the Ordum being monsters And takes advantage of her noble privilege to save this child at least Although the blondie is rather slow on the uptake. The sadness of this little white lie. Unfortunately she will spare the children from this conflict no longer But at least she takes Jamulan with her. It seems that once Zade gets far enough, the revenants start backing off, which gives me a bit of times before the next stage of this conflict, by which I mean, trade everyone that was unequipped their weapons back. Huh...this pile of bones was a house before. It almost feels like we raided this house... Finally Zade can talk to this Diabolist, and reveal the truth of this map It is kinda funny seeing Zade make all these accusations, while the "Diabolist" just makes these muffled noises, until The illusion is broken. Although is kinda odd that Zade just assumes someone pretty like Roland can't be a Warlock. And he reveals that all the red units were secretly green units Although the "self-defense" claim is rather suspect given our unequipped tactics this map. Making this "self-defense" claim even more suspect, we aren't the first crew they tried to butcher after falling for the same trap. Although perhaps the illusion was influencing the green unit's behavior as well, as Accorte seems to indicate that it did...Something to her... And she gets all angry at Zade for walking past her... As she was the Revenant Witch this entire time, so sparing her has earned us a new recruit. People never seem satisfied with apologies...although to be fair, there are a lot of very insincere apologies out there too. Yes, this little section of the map actually was part of Sphire the entire time. Seems we couldn't avoid passing through it, even with this route. Also the way this is phrased makes it sound like the troubles in Sphire have kinda resolved themselves by the time we get here. Seems Garlan's worries may have been a bit outdated. And we hear about the atrocities of the Margulites. There is no ambiguity like what Thracia gives to the child hunts, the Margulites just sacrifice maiden, and children like monsters. I guess this is why that lady who gives us the money was so worried about her daughter. Yep, they are the classic Kaga cultist, but much more demon based, and what little sympathy/ambiguity about them is removed this time around, as they are super evil. Given that the demonic Margulites can just come back to life with enough human sacrifice, it is hard to sympathize with their slaughter much. ...Ok, dealing with some Margulite demons really would be annoying if we had to take the Spire path. And now for the meat of this half of the map, killing the Margulite cultists near the monastery. And we even get Accorte right now, although I will wait till next update to talk about her, as she is too far away from the action to do much at this point. This dialogue seems to assume we dragged the whole army with us to talk to Roland...I guess I probably could have done that given my setup, but now I can steamroll the Monastary enemies, before doing the same to Tamthir's in the next update. It did take Zade a while.... I don't really see how, as we never killed any of the secret "green" units, or helped with the human sacrifice stuff. Now I start by securing the droppable weapon before moving on to the boss, whose death poofs all the Revenants. This both kills one of the mages, and gets Sheela in position to support Zayid's effect Morning Star hit And I will gladly take a magic level on her. The boss has a damage halfing effect, so I will need quite a few people to work on chipping, and its best to start with those that can canto away... Sure it is, you crazy culti- ...Oops. I guess this is a bit a weakness of giving her the Multichance skill, as it kinda slipped my mind that the +6 Agl gave her such a good chance of proccing it on every hit she makes (which is what she needed to do to break it like this, as it was at 7 uses...). In retrospect, I should have chipped him with Zayid's Morning Star first, that way he didn't have enough health for her to break the Dandelion, but hindsight is 20-20 Well now that he is almost dead I can Give this kill to Haldyn with perfect accuracy And he is probably right, as the Margulite's demon forms can revive when given enough human sacrifices (although I don't remember this one specifically reappearing in this game). Those really aren't the kind of stats he needs. And I am glad we don't have to fight his demon version now, as they are obnoxious to deal with. Since I didn't need this to chip I boss, I can instead wipe out the one effective against cavs, And Troy can do the same to the one that is effective against infantry And there goes the last of the combat units. The two mages in burgundy are healer, and becuase they will never reach the rest of the map in time, Prody and Bonacel will spend the rest of the map chipping these two, and letting them heal themselves to earn more exp. A little gimmicky I know, but they need something to do for the rest of the map. Accorte also has alternate dialogue with all these houses, which I might as well get while we pass through. Thanks to us not killing any of the "Revenants" at the beginning, he will, and we will get some minor loot thanks to that. The houses at the start also have new dialogue for us, which I have the time to get, although its mostly just people being glad we saw through the illusion, and plan on dealing with these monsters and concern over the REAL abbot. Also note that the house that turned into bones, is back to being a house again. Although we don't get any more loot from any of these houses, just the well wishing. The villagers really care for their lord's daughter it seems. At least they acknowledge how we held back on killing those deceptive revenants here. ...Ok this feels a little like stealing, especially with it being such a mundane item. Its interesting to note that the massive volcano/mountains block our flyer from crossing over to the other front all that easily. Probably done for timing reasons, and to make sure we don't break any story based events up there using them. Yeah, there is still a lot of walking ahead of us to deal with the other half of the map And we are still on that dead yurt timer, but For once I have learned my lesson. Things started going horribly after I thought 10 turns wasn't enough map for an update, even though I reached the natural break point in the map I was striving for, and we are in the exact same position here. I took a break in the map here while playing, and it only makes sense to do so with the update as well. See you all next time for when we finish off this little map here. Whew, that took longer to write out than I expected, as I guess I am still a bit fatigued from the camping trip. Have fun, and stay safe everyone, and soon enough I will have the next update for you all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pépito Posted August 3, 2022 Share Posted August 3, 2022 3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said: You could probably say the same thing about their little trip through Solis as well. This sort of problem crops up, no matter which nation they pass through. Yeah but Meleda has better relations with some influential people in Solis like Gyskhal. 3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Now for a map that is half filler, and I am sorry to say it, but this update will just be the filler half. Well, it does give us a proper introduction to the margulites. 3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said: I don't think we see any of the vestal magic users follow this creed (other than the Circlet Maidens I guess). I am a bit surprised Kaga didn't try to give us a unit that does follow this sort of creed, like a unit that can't attack on player phase, and only in self-defense on enemy phase. It is supposed to be represented by holy magic cutting damage in half and granting defensive skills (regenesis, first blood) as well as being extremely rare, so not a good offensive mainstay. But having some sort of pacifist unit would be nice. 3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Also, it is a little odd how motherly Aynellia seems in her relation with Cyltan, as I don't think they have that large of an age gap between them...well maybe its just anime face, as I don't remember if they address how old Aynellia is. I will keep an eye out for that. I think we learn later that she is in her thirties or something, so over twice Cyltan's age. 3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Huh...this pile of bones was a house before. It almost feels like we raided this house... If you let the skeletons get to the houses, they get destroyed. 3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said: The illusion is broken. Although is kinda odd that Zade just assumes someone pretty like Roland can't be a Warlock. If you look good you must be good. We play by disney rules here. 3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said: ...Oops. I guess this is a bit a weakness of giving her the Multichance skill, as it kinda slipped my mind that the +6 Agl gave her such a good chance of proccing it on every hit she makes (which is what she needed to do to break it like this, as it was at 7 uses...). In retrospect, I should have chipped him with Zayid's Morning Star first, that way he didn't have enough health for her to break the Dandelion, but hindsight is 20-20 She still has the magic swords but this is really bad. Losing an amazing weapon that also helps her grow better that soon will definitely make the game harder. Better pray she gets strength blessed. 3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said: And he is probably right, as the Margulite's demon forms can revive when given enough human sacrifices (although I don't remember this one specifically reappearing in this game). I don't think we see him again. The one we see again and again is the one from chapter 11. 3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Also note that the house that turned into bones, is back to being a house again. Although we don't get any more loot from any of these houses, just the well wishing. That's weird. I guess having the skeletons destroy the houses is just part of the illusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltosian Kadath Posted August 6, 2022 Author Share Posted August 6, 2022 19 hours ago, Pépito said: If you let the skeletons get to the houses, they get destroyed. I didn't let them reach the houses, Troy was sitting on that space since he visited it, specifically so they couldn't reach it. 19 hours ago, Pépito said: If you look good you must be good. We play by disney rules here. I don't know, Valerius is a bit too pretty to be a villain by Disney logic, and he is the worst guy of all. 19 hours ago, Pépito said: I don't think we see him again. The one we see again and again is the one from chapter 11. I remember him showing up twice, but there are a couple other demon form enemies that show up, and I will keep an eye out to see if any have a familiar name. On 8/3/2022 at 7:20 AM, Pépito said: She still has the magic swords but this is really bad. Losing an amazing weapon that also helps her grow better that soon will definitely make the game harder. Better pray she gets strength blessed. Eh, the growth rate bonus is kinda minor, only a point or two on average in the long run, Although that is a really nice weapon to loss thanks to that AGL bonus on it, and the brave effect (although I find the effective damage bonus is usually worse than just using a magic weapon). Spoiler When last we left off, I had completed the mandatory half of this map, with an optional half left to complete. I will do my best to keep her alive generic Girl, but this is an ironman, so who knows. Funnily enough, I think it will serve him well, as a high use generic sword. Although this is the last one I will have Zade grab, the rest of the army can grab the last one on the way through. Now lets jump past a bit of walking, to the next notable thing, the special powers of the scale house, which give the character that visits it an extra turn afterward, which slightly mitigates how difficult it is to cross the bridge. Its ironic how he says this to the only character that didn't actually cross those mountains Really this is just the turn for house visits it seems, as we reach the last of those houses in the Sphire half of the map with a Lilia that has procced a few extra turns of industry to reach here. Prody also gets his first level grinding against the healers, with some nice defense on there. All of this tiny amount of excitement on the same turn. Also the Axemen have been really splitting their attacks on the yurts, as the keep moving on before finishing the job on any of them. Just wanted to emphasize that the girl with the scales has different dialogue for the ladies. My first troops are getting close to the axemen. They are usually too distracted by the yurts to attack anyone, so I still have time to get more of my other troops in position first. Honestly, this is probably about one turn too early to start chipping, but this has been a lot of walking around, and I want a little action. This should trigger the enemies to rush in the enemy turn after this one (unless he double crits I guess), as they only start moving after I kill one of these guys, and they have already shown they wont attack Zade over the yurts, so I can have him chip the other to make easier kills for the two ladies next turn. ' Given what we learn about the old Khar latter on, I am not surprised there was an uprising. This is a bit of a biased source, but I wonder how Thamthir justifies him claiming the throne. She makes it sounds like he is just a usurper, claiming the authority of an unjust conqueror, but even William the Conqueror started with a claim to his own to the English throne. In a way you can see this as both a weakness, and strength to Gyskhal's character. Gyskhal shows himself to be more competent than the brother that was overthrown, and Cyltan at the start of this whole civil war. If Gyskhal had claimed throne for himself, I think she is right, he would have an easier time claiming it, as he can rely on his own reputation to unite more tribes than Cyltan can, and reduce the misery of this war by shortening it, or if he had claimed the throne from his brother instead of Thamthir, thing may not have spiraled into civil war to begin with. Meow indeed. Yeah I should have waited another turn to get more troops into position, but Merida should be in abo- Well that is a valuable bit of AI behavior to learn with just a single axemen in range that can't actually kill Accorte. I remember these guys being so obsessed with killing yurts, that I didn't really expect this, especially after seeing them ignoring both Zade and Yaeri last turn. I guess I didn't check the yurt's stats, perhaps they have a higher defense than her or something, but this does mean that these enemies start moving a turn earlier than I expected, and I was already starting this a turn earlier than I should have...sigh whelp, this could have gone worse, but it isn't a great position to be in, all thanks my own haste. Glad I bought these on the siege map. I probably should feed this kill to her, but Zade might need that health latter in the map, as there are a lot of cavs coming there way, and my units are not in a great position to distract them. On a lighter note, Bonacel gets a kinda disappointing levelup, but I need to do something in the steppes... She should be able to cross the river next round if things go poorly here, but I kinda expected this, but I was hoping I was wrong about enemy turn order, and that the yurt would die before all of the ones in melee range of her attacked it. Sigh, it had to be a cutlass and composite bow group that pulled ahead like this didn't it. This might be a mistake, as if they focus on Merida she has a chance of death, but I am hoping that effective damage will draw the archer into attacking Yaeri, and I need to deal with some of these guys, so the group as a whole is more manageable, but she ends up getting one of the three dodged she needed instead (saved if for the last one too just to make it tense). Technically this yurt dies before that, but it worked better narratively this way. Also of note, the boss has put himself exactly one space out of Zade's deletion range. I am a bit glad he didn't tempt me to try that. Fortunately an extra archer got within kill range, which helps a fair bit, and There go three of them in that little dangerous maneuver. Well I moved Zade out of the bosses range not to tempt fate, and Accorte can take the one coming his way (the ranged cavs have one less move than the melee ones). On the other side Troy Enemy phases one of the cutlasses easily, and can live the boss's hit (if he went for it). He even gets extra survivability just in case. Not sure why he got a battle quote for killing this yurt, and not the last one, but he has utterly wasted his action Then Accorte dodged an 80 from the scimitar cav. The scimitar cavs are utterly embarrassing when their weapon is inferior in every single way to the cutlass ones that ride right beside them. ...of course she gets a blank levelup. I guess she wasted all her luck on that dodge she didn't need. Second turn in a row this boss has stayed one space outside of Zade's range of wrath... oh well, I have a much more interesting plan for him, which you might have noticed from last turn. Unless he wants to die by Zade like this poor fool This is what I meant, I can put Sheela into the edge of his range, while chipping this guy just enough to Let Merida go for the 100 accurate kill After trade-switching Sheela to a weapon that can better deal with the boss on enemy phase. Meanwhile my armor knights have been grinding up on the healers this entire time, and Prody gets an excellent level off of this. I also finally find the time to visit this last house for this cougar of a comment. And she is clearly a fan of growth units. Nice to get this warning now, before we get him. Too bad she doesn't mean dancer in the fire emblem way, but I guess she is a fairly useful unit when you finally do get her. Time for the boss, last enemy on the map (other than those healer I guess), to pick who will kill him, and he chose He has chose a quick enemy phase death. But I guess he enjoyed toying with me this map. ...Shrug, crit avoid is underappreciated, but a bit of extra Str, Mag, or Def would be nice for her. Well one turn before 20, and all that is left is a long walk ahead of us. Well there is a little bit of stuff before we are done, like A Lilia levelup grabbing this status healing leaf Getting another repair stone from a chest, and of course more defense levels on my armored knights. I could technically clear now, but those healers are technically still alive (I have let them heal each-other up till their staves broke, and missed a few times) And killing them gets Prody a nice Str levelup And Bonacel some spare change. So we seize on turn 31. Honestly, I didn't handle this map very well, breaking the Dandellion by accident in the first half, and playing way too dangerously in the second. Perhaps I should have just taken the earlier seize instead of fighting the other half of the map, but that would have certainly lost me the Siurian Thaumite at least... Perhaps I shouldn't have left them trapped there for an extra half of a map like this for story reasons as well... Now to meet the real abbot, instead of the illusory Margulite ...Oof, that is a nasty bit of punishment there. Also Garland pointing out that the monsters that did this probably thought it was karmic justice is extra nasty. Thankfully this is a magical world where such disfiguring injuries aren't as permanent as they are in our world. Tamthir's raiding party was routed by us this time, and Cyltan didn't even take the field... At least this scene acknowledges our deeds there. Ouch, harsh words from Hoelun there. Hearing about Zech talking well of Zade reminds me of one of that little conversation between Prody, and Bonacel on the very first map of this game. Zech seems so certain that Zade would be a success in military matters, and hopefully I can help see him fulfill that hope. Shots fired, from the coward who sat in his great yurt during that last attack. You shut that embarrassing gossip down Gyskhal. You would think Cyltan would see the similarity between Zade's position, and the one Aynellia put him in this chapter... Gyskhal is really playing up his relationship with Zech for Zade. I wonder how performative it might be... At least he knows to apologize when he is in the wrong, instead of trying to double down like an idiot. It is interesting to see this brought up now, as they state a few times latter on that this was part of the problem with the poor rule of the older kings of both Solis, and Meleda, that they didn't know enough of the world to form an opinion of their own, and ended up believing poor council. I guess they are priming Cyltan for becoming a better ruler, by following us whole game long. Sadly, Hoelun doesn't earn her spot in these council meeting until her solo map. Ah yes, taking a Ward as a hostage. That is a heavy handed way to try and maintain control, and really shows how little trust the old Khar had for the ~ And it seems that the old Khar was a garbage parent to her (and lets be honest, probably both of them). Gyskhal really did just try to clean up after his incompetent brother's messes, instead fixing the problem at the source... Cyltan really is a kid isn't he... This is a small detail, but having her dialogue move closer to his implies them coming physically closer together, similar to some of the things they did with the old head sprites on the GBA, which I kinda appreciate. Don't worry Gyskhal, as soon as I get ahold of it, I will use it plenty. They really had Hoelun awkwardly staring Athol... They really are cementing Cyltan as a gossip (especially of things he shouldn't talk about) as one of his key character traits. Arranged marriages in media always come across especially weird after the story of a friend from college, whose family come from Sri Lanka. He ended up walking in on his parents discussing the marriage they arranged for his brother, and was too afraid to ask about if they had arranged one for him as well. Poor Cyltan, having to deal with that half-best friend, half-worst enemy relationship of siblings, with the person everyone expected you to marry... He has had a few levels to gain some iron abs for defense 😛 I have skipped past most of it, but Athol and Zade have been forming a very awkward relationship between them, that Zade is extremely (probably willfully) oblivious to... But these two do manage to start forming a friendship, which Athol in particular almost certainly needed. Poor girl has been desperately lonely this whole game through. What is this scenery? There are like 4 moons, and extremely scifi partially seen structures...Also it is fitting she describes it as past tense, as quite a few of the circlet maidens are wandering around right now (herself included). Hmm, I guess that is a good explanation for why so many magic rings are around in this game. Did she listen to Athol's story about how they are all SUPPOSED to be living in the circlet tower. It didn't really sound like a way to be free. Also Accorte and Zade apologize to eachother for real, and This is just the chapter for young ladies to fawn over Zade and his iron abs. Of course we have the worst possible path through this conflict possible... ...sigh, I guess if we took a logical path to Meleda, there wouldn't be a game. Plus stabilizing Meleda's neighbor, and the close ties this mutual military aid will certainly forge will have some long term benefits for the kingdom anyway. And we have another map full of those cavs and axemen to deal with next map, with us still on the defensive They really are bickering like siblings, but Gyskhal is right, quiet you two, I need to rap this up. Of course we will be taking the lead, as Gyshkal's forces are far more depleted by this conflict than our own. Plus we are the player controlled units Although trying for the optional boss kill ending sounds like a good idea to me, And we have to babysit a moronically green Cyltan next map as well. Fortunately she will abandon this duty to join our forces instead next map, but I think most of these allies will end up doing that next map, just as useless green units instead Well that was a bit short, but this month has proved more busy than last month. I will try to get at least one chapter out a week, but int the meantime, take care, and stay safe everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pépito Posted August 6, 2022 Share Posted August 6, 2022 49 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: I didn't let them reach the houses, Troy was sitting on that space since he visited it, specifically so they couldn't reach it. That's weird... 50 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: I don't know, Valerius is a bit too pretty to be a villain by Disney logic, and he is the worst guy of all. Nah, there is way worse than him in this game. But he does look pretty good. 51 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: I remember him showing up twice, but there are a couple other demon form enemies that show up, and I will keep an eye out to see if any have a familiar name. He shows up three times and another one shows up twice but I think that's it. 54 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: This is a bit of a biased source, but I wonder how Thamthir justifies him claiming the throne. She makes it sounds like he is just a usurper, claiming the authority of an unjust conqueror, but even William the Conqueror started with a claim to his own to the English throne. I think he just says that Halym was a tyrant and that he overthrew him to better the lives of the people. And from what we hear of Halym, he may actually be better than him. 57 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: ell that is a valuable bit of AI behavior to learn with just a single axemen in range that can't actually kill Accorte. I remember these guys being so obsessed with killing yurts, that I didn't really expect this, especially after seeing them ignoring both Zade and Yaeri last turn. I guess I didn't check the yurt's stats, perhaps they have a higher defense than her or something, but this does mean They attack the yurts over your units only as long as you don't attack them I think. 1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said: So we seize on turn 31. Honestly, I didn't handle this map very well, breaking the Dandellion by accident in the first half, and playing way too dangerously in the second. Perhaps I should have just taken the earlier seize instead of fighting the other half of the map, but that would have certainly lost me the Siurian Thaumite at least... If you seize before clearing the top part of the map, I'm pretty sure it just sends you there anyways. It isn't actually optional. 1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Thankfully this is a magical world where such disfiguring injuries aren't as permanent as they are in our world. If a powerful mage like Roland only "may" restore his eyesight then these injuries are permanent for 99,99% of people. 1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Shots fired, from the coward who sat in his great yurt during that last attack. To be fair, he wanted to ride out. 1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said: You would think Cyltan would see the similarity between Zade's position, and the one Aynellia put him in this chapter... Cyltan will learn self-reflection in a few chapters thankfully. 1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Ah yes, taking a Ward as a hostage. That is a heavy handed way to try and maintain control, and really shows how little trust the old Khar had for the While it is horrible for the ward, it is also a pretty bloodless way to ensure no more rebellions spring up. Definitely better than razing villages to the ground and the like. 1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Poor Cyltan, having to deal with that half-best friend, half-worst enemy relationship of siblings, with the person everyone expected you to marry... Having to marry a bratty younger sibling sounds worse than hell... 1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Although trying for the optional boss kill ending sounds like a good idea to me, Don't mess this up like I did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltosian Kadath Posted August 10, 2022 Author Share Posted August 10, 2022 On 8/6/2022 at 6:24 AM, Pépito said: They attack the yurts over your units only as long as you don't attack them I think. I am not so sure, those enemies seem really attracted to yurts, unless you lure them with particularly squishy units, which makes me think it is a defensive threshold thing going on... On 8/6/2022 at 6:24 AM, Pépito said: If you seize before clearing the top part of the map, I'm pretty sure it just sends you there anyways. It isn't actually optional. Ah, I seem to remember hearing about there being alternative ending dialogue if you haven't wiped out the enemies up there, although I haven't ever tried to go for it myself. Honestly it sounds difficult to get, if you have to trek up in that direction with Zade anyway. Spoiler Stubborn fool is going to insist on being a green unit... And the fool thinks he is ready to solo this map, by just sitting on a tree. Now if he has a 1-2 range weapon that wouldn't be an impossible task for him, but he is stuck with 2 range. At least he isn't suicidally charging in, and instead is ready to let us protect him. Hoelun on the other hand, is perfectly happy to become a blue unit right now, and actually will get to practically solo a map for her people... I do appreciate this little warning about the ambush spawns. I wonder if people would hate ambush spawns less if they got this kinda warning about them in Fire Emblem games. And I literally have more deployment slots than I do units, so everyone gets to join in on the fun. The only big thing deployment wise, is I make sure my cavs are to the front and south, and my armor knights are as close to Cyltan as they can be (as they will be his primary guardians). Good luck dealing with Gyskhal, as he is a beast, but if you could actually reach Cyltan he would be in trouble. Too bad both of you are stationary. Most of the visitable yurts give you nothing, but failed offers of tea. As a fan of tea, I will visit them all, and be sorely disappointed. Although this one is spilling the tea with some hot gossip. How bi of you to say so old man. Yeah, this is the only one to give us an actual item for our trouble. The most interesting thing on this first turn is getting Troy in position to enemy phase one of them. It is nice how accurate this is, and now In a bit of poor planning, I needed to grab the Phalanx spear over. Then again the difference between some enemies being able to do 1 damage to Prody, and all of them doing 0 is kinda minor. ...seems it is the wrong time for tea from these houses. The other one is just for an event with Zade, which I don't plan on using. Now with the group that is going to press forward, Zade chips one for The Dune kill, and Sheela kills another With Merida leveling while killing the last, for a nice defense levelup she could use. But I did make a tiny bit of a goof here, as I forgot to account for the ones I was expecting to attack the armored knights being in range of Sheela So I had Troy spending his action to grab and repair the 1 use Soaring Flame, before it can break on enemy phase. Too bad I can't trade it back onto her yet. Now Sheela did take a hard hit while killing the one with a ranged attack So Lilia gets this level while healing her from range. Bonacel also gets a kill on his front, but the horses charging make me feel uncomfortable enough That I only leave my high defense units in range, and most of them on a forest for some dodge tanking potential as well. I think we will have enough fire power to wipe these guys out on player phase, although that plan gets a little complicated by the yurts drawing some of these guys instead of my units... And we get another blue unit, and a powerful green unit to help out. Given this game making it clear that each unit is implied to be the leader of an unseen larger force, I wonder how many fighters Roland represents. Seeing as it was us that helped him out, its appro- Huh, so he is here to help us out. How nice. Although he isn't close enough to help with our very immediate problem So Prody finishes the one that pointlessly attacked him last turn. Ash misses one Jean uses his awsome personal weapon to wipe another, and Haldyn crushes the one Ash missed. Merida uses her high movement to reach one of the ones further back, Theo gets halfway to clearing the path for Troy to reach the one furthest back Honestly, some of these guys are a bit hard to reach, so Yaeri Doyenne's this one at the edge of her range. Then Cezar manages to contribute thanks to the ludicrous number of attacks of the Starfall dagger, which clears the way for Troy to wipe out the furthest one. I should have given another ranged axed, but this will do in a pinch. This feels kinda wasteful, but I wanted the accuracy on this kill, as he can threaten some of my troops attacking the cavalry. Hard to complain about that kind of levelup That deals with another, but it is kinda clear that I am going to have to leave one of these guys alive as Sheela can't get the one-shot here, so Dune has to cleanup For a level I also pass Accorte another tome, in case I can afford to spare the Nashorne on this map. I had planned on Hoelun passing this off, as I was not expecting Accorte to catch up to the convoy, with her late arrival here, and I wasn't sure if her temporary disappearance would mess with her inventory, if I left it with Accorte at the end of last map. Unfortunately one of the cav has kinda free reign to attack most of my units, but alone it can't do much, and the invincible armors are distracting all the axemen. And Prody even manages to level form this distracting action. As for the cav, he attacked the yurt behind Cyltan Which lets him waste some of the Am Solim chipping this guy down for an easy Haldyn kill. Time to wipe out the rest of the starter enemies This is a little risky, but Prody just missed this kill, and I have enough units that I can still wipe these guys out, but it will delay the main press if I have to resort to bringing one of my mounted units into this. But neither of these miss...although I guess Dune is going to have to play a little catchup, as I planned on him being one of the ones in the main press. Although I wasn't planning on sending Houlen that direction, so she has the time to awkwardly flirt with the worst possible partner for her. Such the teenager move. Back at the battle, I lead with my defensive units again, to draw in the first wave of reinforcements heading our way. Zade also grows more aggressive on this enemy phase levelup. I also get a little luck on the industry proc from Lilia, so Zade gets a real heal, instead of chugging another herb. I then let Theo chip one to So Sheela can get a Rambling Rose kill I was kinda hoping she would get some HP with the bonus growth rate, but I can't seriously complain about this levelup, especially when It earned her the Flurry skill. There goes the last of those enemies, and we can start pressing forward. Although Troy needed an herb popping session first. You also might notice that he is holding the damage halving Iron Duke, I plan on using that to help him survive certain encounters ahead of us... I think you can see my army split fairly well here, although poor Dune is struggling to keep up after helping out the other Lucca troops from before. Although here comes the next round of reinforcements And they make a bit of an awkward split for my amry to deal with, but first I grab what is probably the best stat booster in the game. As for the split, I have Zade choke one point, while Troy does what he can to block the others, and I am going to try and get him to kill as many as he can on enemy phase as well. Merida having to do some item management with Zade unfortunately leaves her in range of a ranged attack, but oh well. Aynellia is shown to be right for the rather practical reason that Gyskhal is too far away to seriously help Zade, but is definitely in range to help Cyltan... And Aynellia immediately abandons her duty to defend the great yurt to become a temporary unit for us, who comes far too late, and too far away to see any real combat... Back at the actual battle, the ones heading around the top of the plateau killed themselves on Zade and Sheela enemy phase, so I only have to deal with the ones around the bottom. So Cezar again gets to pretend he is a real combat unit with the Starfall Dagger finishing off the one Troy managed to miss. The blank levelup is not helping his case here... Theo then pops one with magic, while the cavs Wipe out the others, so I don't waste too much time on these guys. Although the forces around the boss are kinda dangerous to deal with, so it will take a bit to dismantle them. Then there comes the army that required me to leave some of my troops behind, as One even spawns close enough to attack Cyltan as he spawns, even with my little armored wall. Although Rolad does also use his siege magic to kill this swordsman that chipped itself on the armors, before I can even look at him. Bonecel then wipes out one of the ranged ones before it can waste more Am Solim uses with its death For a sold level to boot. This is a bit of overkill defensively for the mounted archers here, but this is another trio with mutual supports, and I don't want to risk it. I also grab the item from the other plateau while I am maneuvering. On the other front, I have set things up, so that Accorte should kill one of the swordsmen on enemy phase, and the only 1-2 axe in range of Cyltan should target Ash instead. And only two of the three brothers actually attack him, and one of them even missed... Two of the red goons pick a fight with someone way out of their pay grade, and both miss wildly. His daughter on the other hand kills the one attacking her, and its a good thing she was using the Nashorne, as she missed the first shot... Gyskhal also overkills one of the many that chipped itself on the armored wall. Time to wipe this little group here out, but things don't start out great, as he manages to miss this shot. It prompts me to go with the overly reliable Harpoon with Bonacel's attack. Fortunately Accorte fixes Prody's little mess. Haldyn easily solos one on his own For a nice strength levelup on him. Then Hoelun gets her one moment of combat for the map, killing this injured axethrower. Back on the other front I open with Zade for better future accuracy, and he gets the kill here anyway His Raecryst is getting low on uses, but its things like this that it was made for. ...sigh It would have been nice to have one more strength to save a cutlass use, but this is a clean kill. Although I don't press in more on that front, as I know another round of reinforcements are about to show up, and the next stage of this assault is by far the most dangerous. I did also lure in one of the last axemen with Ash But I am not sure why I bothered, as its minimal chip exp And the green units finish both of them off before I claim the kill on any of them On the only remaining front, Troy enemy phased one of the ambush spawns, but we have to be a little careful here, as there is a particularly dangerous enemy whose range is going to make wiping this group out a little awkward. This Sheela kill on the most distant archer is a solid start though. This image is from a little earlier, but I figured I would point it out, but the two different flower types here are giving you a visual indicator for the two most dangerous ranges on this map, the yellow one my cursor is on is the edge of Baymonk's range, and the pink flowers inside of that are marking the berserk mage's range. The yellow and pink flowers above the tree are doing the same... I then fully heal Troy, kill the other archer, and leave him in range of the dangerous foe, as I am going to use the Iron Duke, and crit immunity ring to survive a round of combat with a monster... The reliability of Theo one rounding these guys is nice A little greedy here, but if one of them missed I could have fixed it with Yaeri This is a little uncomfortable to do, as I kinda need this kill, and she is the only one who can canto to safety, and I kinds need the spa- ...oh...well hindsight is 20/20 I suppose. I was going to say I needed the space Zade could use to give her his accuracy boost to reach 100% to canto back tosafety , but looking at it now, I could have also Cantoed back to the space behind Troy as well. I got the kill anyway, so no harm done, even if it was a slight misplay. On the other front I have the time for Hoelun to talk to Cyltan, as she is worried about his incompetence, And given how incompetent he is talking to women, and following orders, I don't think I blame her. Sorry, Baymonk, I haven't gotten around to playing Vestaria Saga 2 yet Look, I am in the middle of this ironman right here, as soon as I am done with it, I will probably start VS2... ...ouch. Seems I wasn't the only one worried about his safety. So dies Baymonk...non-canonically at least. Actually, I think Baymonk may have been nerfed in the English version, as the Aggro Incarnate info, that was made for the Japanese version originally, list him as having a "Bowbreaker" skill which supposedly caps bow accuracy against him at 33%. Then again, I think Kaga did update the game once or twice, so perhaps the English version is just based on a latter build of the game than that info is from... Hopefully I get to see your legend unfold in the next game. ...Eh I will take it. Its a good stat, but not really a stat she needs right now. I also luck into another timely industry proc, as Lilia manages to double heal up Troy. Although there really isn't enough map left for him to burn through that health, as I am drawing in the rest of the mobile enemies this turn And she gets an Agility levelup, which is nice for her. This guy gives me a bit of a fright when he procced Multichance, but with 13 Resistance, and crit immunity Even if all of his attacks hit, she still would have survived this just fine. I am just glad he procced it to get me to take a second look at this guy's stat screen. A large group of fliers has arrived, the last of the reinforcements, but if I have my way, this will be the last turn, and killing The siege weapons with my Cavalry is the first step to that plan Not really the kinda stats she wants right now, but at least it is something. This is only about ~85% chance to kill, but he gets it. Also I cheated bit Sarajevo, the only reason Dune doubled is because of the brave effect of the bow. And that is an excellent levelup for him, strength, agility, and getting just enough profficiency to use the Seriatim Bow...what a level. ...24% chance of multichance proc, and a 20% chance of ignoring an attack...this guy is rather scary to deal with... I think this is my safest option. She has a roughly ~80% chance to kill, and only a ~2% chance to die from this A well earned level. With that kill gotten, I can go after a couple of drops from the fliers. I can't reach the one that drops its generic spear, but this one drops A nice sack of coins Unfortunately this is my best shotting of killing this pinata, that drops both a basic healing staff, and a far range healing staff, And she both procs Flurry, and hits with every attack, just to mock my worry. Alas there is just one last piece of loot I can grab before I end things And this little bit of funny chipping Makes for a more reliable kill on the bird carrying the other bag of coins. That is a levelup I will take, but it is now time to end thi- You know, I almost forgot to get thins conversation before we end thing. I do end up forgetting to check the shop, but it looks like the shops in the next chapter are similar enough that I wont worry about it. Her healing capabilities are limited enough that it only happens with minor events like this. I think she also acts as a back seat healer for him in another chapter, but by the time we get to use her for real, the healing is all gone... On 8/6/2022 at 6:24 AM, Pépito said: Don't mess this up like I did. I don't, because I have already shown that I would much rather face a brave weapon than the terrifying uncertainty of a Stun Pilum. Even if you are, you aren't better than Zadrian. Nicely done you powerful liege, keep growing strong off the blood of our enemies. Good thing too, as that hoard of fliers would probably mess us up if they got another turn to. More than held our ground, we took that army out, and captured what remained. And Cyltan's petty insubordination gets briefly hidden from Gyskhal. Although Cyltan is giving some sound military advice here. Staying on the defensive like this is going to lead to a slow defeat, but that can wait til after some gossip, and far more importantly tea. Really this is just showing that the two of them are fast friends, who will do reckless teenager antics together in the future. We also get a bunch of free money to spend on Cutlasses next chapter. Although we have one last little discussion with Roland before we get there As we need to justify getting Accorte to join us on our adventures for the rest of this game, and the next one As she is crushing hard on Zade, and even her dad is acting as a wingman. He also talks a little about the troubles in Sphire And it seems plagues are very common in this world... I really hope this isn't saying that this mother-son pair were intimate... Ah yes the Red Wedding Night. That is not the kind of "scandal" that it is physically possible to keep secret... ...really Roland, you think the death of her father, mother, and last remaining brother all in the course of two years wasn't going to have a negative impact on her. Death, especially of close family, is a rather traumatizing event for most people. Poor guy is afraid he is about to fall upon his own sword in a desperate, low odds attempt to save his pupil, and nation; and he don't want his daughter to face the consequences for the failure he anticipates. Even now he is trying to set her up with Zade... Alas the poor girl finds his heavy handed attempt to hook her up with her crush utterly embarrassing, but at least we officially get Accorte to join our army. I might get part of next chapter up by the end of the week, we will see. In the meantime, have fun, and take care everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltosian Kadath Posted August 16, 2022 Author Share Posted August 16, 2022 I almost got this out earlier, but it took a while to finish the write-up. Now for the start of chapter 9 Spoiler Time for us to move to the offensive, but we have a bit of a problem with that Which this independent kingdom to the south can help with. Although its an interesting contrast between the Aragoths, and the Ordoms, while the Ordoms would rebel and usurp the kingdom of Solis, the Aragoths achieved independence instead. Depending on how long Halym was king for, these actions may have been in response to the same tyranny... Although the narrator seems extremely dismissive of Aragoth king's achievements. I mean look at that snide qualification, "by Solissian standards"... The narrator is doing its best to insist this whole land is barbarous. The issue we are having with moving onto the offensive come from these guys here, the Shyft Clan Which means we must deal with the Shyft in some way first, but if we strike at them now, it leaves us open to Tamthir doing the same thing to us. We need some way to distract one of them while we wipe the other out So if we can just get the Aragoths to join our side... Conveniently they are coming to us for the alliance we need. What a convenient stroke of luck. Don't worry Helme, most of the people here are warriors, and not diplomats either. Seems the Aragoths need our help, as our enemies have made a move against them already. She definitely does have feeling for him, she is just a bit of a sadist about it... That poor guy takes a lot of punishment throughout this game. I kinda pity the poor kid. It is amusing to see people use Helme's nickname...Lion of the Steppe. The Shyft leader is not subtle about them having kidnapped Lyttia. They really seem to think the Aragoths are harmless. Also, Lyttia is a rather creative swearer. Although this is really the plan of Tamthir, trying to get the Aragoths to join their side of the conflict. It seems he hasn't been idle, but again these heavy handed hostage tactics are backfiring. You would think he would know how dangerous this can be, given these kind of tactics were exactly what he was rebelling against before. That is a clear diplomatic NO, Tamthir. Take the hint... In what should be a surprise to no one, this plan is an utter failure, and did far more harm to his cause than good. You just can't negotiate with people using these kind of tactics. Although I am guessing its this perceived pacifism is why the Shfyt felt safe kidnapping Lyttia. I am reminded of that classic quote of Theodore Roosevelt, walk softly, and carry a big stick, and the Ordom and Shyft are about to learn the sting of that stick, despite the Aragoth walking softly before. And that is where we come in, Gyskhal will attack the Shyfts as a distraction As we rescue the princess while their army is distracted. The actions of Tamthir have backfired dramatically here, as he has given me exactly what we wanted on a silver platter. ...Given how she acts now, that sounds miserable for Cyltan, but she is still a teenager, and many people go through an asshole phase in their teen years, so hopefully she mellows out into a less awful person by the time she is his queen. Zade entering this little conflict has really turned the tide; before his arrival Tamthir had the Malayas on the ropes, on the brink of wiping them out, but now the conflict is at a stand still again. Just like we are, he is trying to gain the advantage, and the Aragoths are in a clear kingmaker position, as whomever they side with will turn the tides in this war. Zade is so considerate here, but given the clear political situation here making Cyltan's answer clear. If he want to he Khar, he is going to have to accept this marriage, and his betrothal to Hoelun broken. Zade is also insistent on including Cyltan in the rescue mission. And Garlan is rather right here, Cyltan needs to learn from experience how to lead troops, and joining our little mission here is exactly the kind of experience he needs. Fortunately he is willing to be a blue unit this time... Dune also informs us that he is part of a vital event this map, which will get him his personal bow, by the end of it. As he is about to find his Solissian father. And so our mission begins... Fortunately Hoelun is defiant enough to help us anyway. Although Tallan is not a green or Blue unit this map, just a background NPC. As for our deployment this map, Prody and Bonacel are left behind, as this map ends with an escape, where I don't want to worry about their low move. I ended up leaving Theo behind to train up Accorte a little instead. As for the Axey boys, I might regret it, as crag climbers do well in this map, but I had to leave some people behind. Cyltan is far too impatient for his own good, at the start of this map As our guide warns us of an obvious trap, And the fool walks right into it. literally It helps that the player gets to experience the frustration of Cyltan's stubborn ignorance first hand, so we can really relate to Hoelun now. And she then has to double crit to save Cyltan. Fortunately her stubborn disobedience constantly makes our lives easier. And much to everyone's surprise, he actually does, and starts turning into a far less obnoxious fool from here on out. I do love the imagery here, and fortunately for them, our moppet and wet nurse are far more mobile than this crew of bandits. Stones for brains really, but storywise that means these two are in trouble. As they now have massive targets painted on their backs, although fortunately for us, they are all too cowardly to approach enemies they aren't in range of attacking. Seizing is the first main objective of the map, but for this update, our objective is just to save Cyltan and Hoelun. The first step in that process is having them save themselves. Its a shame he doesn't start with one more strength, but oh well he gets this kill And Hoelun gets some minor chip and the closest thing this area has to a boss, but I did make a small error in my placement of Cyltan. I played it too safe, and while I was fairly certain the yellow full enemy range indicator doesn't update until after you are done cantoing, I didn't want to get an embarrassing gameover here if I was wrong, so he is not in range to attack and Canto back next turn This is kinda minor, but a nice little bit of world building, that this reminds of the physical relations of the clans to the Shyft lands. It is also now time to talk about this bit of Kaga shenanigans, Assassins, which all have a skill that make them invisible on the map. There are a couple of ways to spot these guys before they can get the drop on us; the most reliable way is to look at an enemy's stats, and then cycle through enemy stats until you find an assassin, and back out, which will show you their location (I believe this even works on the old Japanese version); the other is to notice discrepancies in the yellow full enemy attack range like this, and look for the assassin that is causing it. So it is time to prepare my favorite Assassin counter. With +1 Mobility Zade can move in to get the first strike, and the reliability of the Edelstern deals with their otherwise very high avoid. Although the only thing I aggro with the main army is the axeman with the 1-3 range axe on the cliff there We also get an enemy phase events where we meet Ma'aya, one of our future recruits, and Ke'mar her father, whom has a particularly important event that will make this map far more manageable if we can trigger it. And her love of the Doyenne makes it clear that she will be a flyer like her mother (and father) before her. And she also reveals the main thing people tend to use her for, her superior bargaining skills, that lets her buy things for far cheaper. I was a bit of a goof on my first run (and love dragons) so I ended up doing the secret event where she trades that skill to immediately promote to a Dragon knight, but I doubt I will end up doing that this play-through, oh no, I have a far stupider plan for her this run... We also get some clear evidence that Ke'mar is a nice guy that you should probably talk to instead of killing. I did have Hoelun and Cyltan end their turn adjacent last turn, so they can start triggering an event which gives them a bond support with eachother. I need to make sure they end turn adjacent until they get their bond on turn five, which is going to restrict how much they can do for these first few turns... Her little speech about how his normal royal bloodline gives him a greater opportunity to become a legend on his own merits, instead of those of his royal ancestors does fall a a little flat here. I guess they just did a better job of it with the similar speech Ced has with Lief in Thracia 776, where the mechanical benefits of people's lineage is far more apparent from Genealogy of the Holy War, whereas here they game isn't as explicit about what magical benefits being of Udagal descent has for characters. It is really easy for a modern audience to see things from Hoelun's perspective here. Although Cyltan just talking shallowly about Lyttia's beauty makes you think he might deserve her personality. The thing is, Cyltan is kinda right. She is the bride that shall give him his Kharate, and brings the kingdom of Aragoth back into fold. Political marriages like this are the kind of price people pay for power. Although thanks to my poor placement last turn, I just have these two reposition. The important thing is to make sure these two stay adjacent for the bond. Far more importantly for their survival Yaeri jumps the three range Axe, and cantos in the directs of those eagle knights on the cliffs. Having a mage that can double with basic spells is such a nice feeling. A And that is the kind of levelup I would want to see her doubling more often. Seems the Shyft leadership isn't exactly popular, even amongst his own people... Don't worry old man, I already cover the ways you can see them, although that Assassin I pointed out before is making thins a little more complicated by moving around... ...Oops. I had her visit that yurt, and forgot she gets moved off after visiting it on this map. See this map gives us the option to attack the yurts for some raiding loot, and that yurt becomes on of those enemies after visiting it, which displaces the unit (onto the rocks you otherwise can't move onto...). Although attacking the yurts will antagonize Ke'mar, which is a very bad idea. This should give her the defense to make sure her accidentally entering Arablest range isn't a disaster. The original plan was to have Zade start just out of range of the Assassin, and have Sheela just out of range of the Arbalest, and jump both next turn, but that just wasn't going to happen thanks to Sheela's surprise forced move, and the assassin continuing to move around aimlessly. Again Ke'mar is introducing us to the important players here, as Tamberg is a shadowy sack of shit Assassin boss that we will have to defeat, with obnoxiously high avoid (that the Ke'mar event really helps with). At least Lyttia isn't likely to be hurt during her kidnapping incident As long as we rescue her before "tomorrow", whatever turn that means. Also Ke'mar is right with his assessment of the situation, and Tamberg knows it too (even if he is willing to follow his stupid orders). Although Ke'mar can be a bit naive as well. Does he not know what the word assassin means? And Tamberg does lay out how the very gangster like Waguri Assassin organization works. It also gets revealed that Ke'mar is the goody two-shoes brother of the evil Shyft clan chief, who would be perfectly happy to use Tamberg to assist in fratricide . Back at the battle, Cyltan is chipping the "boss" of his attackers, as he can't get the kill with his personal weapon yet. On the other front Sheela wipes away the Arbalest I have Zade buy a bunch of Cutlasses on his action. I have Zade do the shopping in the event I wanted to sell anything from the convoy, but we were sitting on enough money that I didn't feel the need to. Meanwhile Troy triggers a weird little event in this yurt, while baiting in the rather sizable force around the village As the owner of this yurt is a bit of a psycho. He gives us a free sword, and attacks us anyway with a goldne Axe. This technically kills the yurt, but it doesn't count as us attacking any of the yurts for Ke'mar's event, as he attacked us, not the other way around... It is also time to start baiting in the eagle knights, as I want to get Yaeri in a position to safely wipe out all the reinforcements from that cave, as those guys are aggressive, and have 1-2 range weapons, making them the most dangerous threats to Hoelun and Cyltan's safety, and to safely attack those reinforcements I need the eagle knights out of the way. ...The position Lyttia would have to get into to bite off somebody's tongue is odd to think about. Also Ke'mar makes it extra clear he wants to help in her escape... Also, we get a nice bit of confirmation that Ke'mar and the eagle knights at the end of the map wont attack us. The way I am doing this, they wont face any arrows til the end, but at least it was timed for the first time they are anything resembling danger. Although the women in his life seem to know this is what his uncle wants. Aynellia said something similar about the importance of Cyltan's survival, although was less morbid about the means of his survival. Now lets put her sentiment to the test, as she helps to protect Cyltan If it hit that would have been a lot of damage, but I think health on Cyltan is more valuable at this stage, and she dodged anyway Which gives Cyltan the no damage kill. The reinforcements from the cave are actually willing to move, and attack, and with 1-2 range are by far the biggest threats to these two's survival. ...sigh. This should take more of the pressure off of those two. They will have to deal with one more of those tomahawk clansmen, but she unfortunately needs all 4 hits, and is starting to run low on cutlass uses... As for the large group of enemies I aggroed, I start by moving in Zade, as he was one of the further away, and I want his high defense on the front lines here, as I don't think I can wipe all of them out. Merida grabs some fresh cutlasses, and immediately kills an archer with it, which clears the way For Sheela to get a kill, and still have the room for her defender to body block any melee attackers from her. The Assassin made his presence obvious, as he took up space others should have inhabited. Fortunately this is a surprisingly reliable kill for how dodgy these guys can be, and with him being the only one of my front liners in range of an extra enemy, it will help him survive. I also far-healed the two font liners that took damage getting their kills. Athol also levels for a tiny bit more survivablility. I also have Haldyn draw in the last eagle. Everyone should be able to survive enemy phase, but if they focus on one of my front liners, it will hurt them a lot. Haldyn gets a nice strength levelup while breaking his cutlass. Now for how well the front-liners do. There goes the extra attack on Troy. And the rest of them all focused on Zayid. It is an interesting contrast between the two, Cyltan being a more realist (in universe) and practical person, while Hoelun is more adventurous, and fantasy focused (which is more similar to the role the player is in when they play this game). And then Cyltan's more realist approach lets him save Hoelun, although in reality they aren't in that much danger at the moment. And like that, they have strengthened their bond with eachother. Which reminds me, I haven't actually talked about these two units yet...in fact I think I forgot to talk about Accorte too, so I guess I will include her in this little unit review Spoiler Lets start with the one who has been around the longest, Accorte. As a mage who has a bond with Zade, it is hard not to compare her to Theo, and it really is a toss up. You get Theo earlier, but Accorte gets her personal weapon sooner; Theo is more accurate, and Accorte is faster. Accorte gets access to Dark magic which you can get earlier, and is more offensive, but Theo gets Divine magic, which is far more defensive. While most of these are arguable wins for Accorte, Theo does have the advantage of his bond being mutual, and having slightly better skills. Both of them are really good, so if you only want to use one mage, it is all down to personal preference, but having a second good mage I can use is rather nice. Although there is the argument to be made that the promotion item for mages is rather rare, so you should use one, but I doubt that will end up being a big deal, 15x isn't that late to promote... Next lets talk about Hoelun, whom isn't a great combat unit, but does have some utility as a mounted lockpick user, and as a potential replacement unit. One problem she has is her story based promotion/class change doesn't reset her levels, so she can only get to level 20, and she doesn't have the kind of bases (even with promotion bonuses) for her stats to ever be good. They aren't even great right now, and she doesn't have the levels to gain to make them good later in the game. Admittedly she does get a rather good personal bow that she can lean on to act like a real combat unit, but that isn't til late into next chapter. She also has access to quite a few really good skills, like Multichance and Lockpick at base, with the potential for Critical Edge, or Flurry depending on the oddities of the chapter 12 choice. The chapter 12 choice is an odd one, as it gives her the option of change her class to either a promoted version of what she is now, to a swordswoman, to a mage, or to a healer. This is a nice option for creating a replacement unit for any of those niches, but she can't promote after those class changes, so she will be worse than any living alternative to those classes in the long run. It is also important to note that there are a few chapters where she is a game over condition, which is kinda unfortunate. Cyltan is rather good, but a bit of a growth unit. He already has his solid brave personal bow, which helps him in combat, and despite acting like a second lord, he promotes exactly like a normal unit. Right now, he has Lightfoot,for +1 Mobility, which is excellent on a canto unit like him (and is what is letting him safely kill/chip all the enemies he has been facing so far), and he eventually gets the Commander skill just like Zade, to support allies. He tends to be a game over unit, but he has a lot of potential. Back with the other front for now, Accorte gets this excellent level killing one of the bowriders. She is doing her best to try and usurp Theo's space on the team, but I rather like mages, so fielding both may be in the cards on a few maps. Yaeri gets close to capping her strength on the levelup she gets killing the cave reinforcement, although I canto her back a bit differently this turn As Zade spent his action to load Haldyn up with some spare Cutlasses so he can cross the crag and resupply Yaeri next turn. Cezar also does a minor amount of chip So that Merida can break a 3 use Cutlass with this kill. I also give Sheela a chip level with the Rambling Rose I guess I was hoping for HP, bit something else along with it would have been nice...eh It lets Troy get a defense levelup with the kill, so not the biggest deal. This has just been the turn for levels, as Lilia gets anive little avoid + crit avoid levelup And even Hoelun gets one doing the same sort of chipping maneuver (even dodging when she does it) she did last turn. Admittedly it is a terrible levelup given how few she can even get... Although Cyltan doesn't levelup off of the kill. Not sure why I bothered to keep the two bow knights adjacent for another turn, I think I just fell into the habit after so many turns triggering their bond. This is such a random event. Koguro has been their invisibly guarding that treasure the whole time... While Haldyn did manage to resupply Yaeri in time, that Strength levelup last turn meant she actually had another turn before that resupply was strictly necessary... Now that the reinforcements aren't breathing down their necks, Cyltan can finally get the kill on that bossish baddie If you were only less...or more I suppose, bloodthirsty, things might have went differently fo- What a level. Now if only Hoelun could get three or four (lets be honest, probably more) levels like that... With the rest of the army I am being a bit cautious as I want Zade to ensure this bad boy doesn't hurt any of my troops. For a bad level for him. Although I am getting a little ahead of myself As Yaeri got her reinforcement killl And Cyltan is careful to chip one without dropping it into herb healing range before Zade makes that attack. We are getting close to saving the bow-knights, our first objective for the map. You might notice I am having a smaller force break up to start probing the defenses of the other side. Sheela is in range of exactly one archer where she is, but I have the faint memory that a lot of guys over here are not mobile... For those paying attention to Yaeri's health, she has the regeneration ring on her, so even though a lot of these 30ish accuracy attacks keep hitting, she is regenerating enough to keep going... Don't complain too much Zade, her disobedience saved Cyltan's life. Don't worry, the only thing that could kill them now is my own stupidity... Which might be this turn, as I am Very tempted to have Hoelun finish this off with imperf- Or Cyltan can crit, and kill it all on his own. Didn't even need to chip him with a crit like that... But it might happen any way, as I have done something a little foolish, as while Hoelun can survive an enemy phase hit from the only archer that can attack her If she had double crit, double Multichance procced, or a mix of both she could have actually killed something, which would then leave her vulnerable to another attack, which had a much higher chance of happening than I feel comfortable admitting. Fortunately she was as useless as she normally is, and thus is fine, as my position makes it easy to wipe out the rest of the enemies around there. Although in a far more sensibly cautious move I let Dune hit this on enemy phase, that way this guy couldn't kill (even if he did manage to hit). Well Hoelun perfectly chipped this guy into basic bow kill range for Cyltan And more strength on Cyltan is something I will gladly take. Haldyn then kills the archer he lured in by slowly going down the long side of the cliff. If reinforcements were still coming from this cave, that maneuver also tricked the enemy into blocking their own reinforcements for us, and this is an easy kill for him Merida takes out the one that was drawn in by Troy And Yaeri kills the last of the axemen, and like that the bowknights are safe. I also give this kill to Cezar for funsies and that is a second blank levelup on him in a row...not sure why I bothered to even train him at all. Oh who am I kidding, a second blank level on him is just hilarious. I also have the time to visit another yurt on the other side of the map, who lays out the dichotomy we have already seen, clan chief Ku'than is the evil brother, and Ke'mar is the good brother. Our army is extremely spread out right now, but We have hit our first object, saving Cyltan and Hoelun, by almost exactly turn 10, which seems to be a perfect stopping place for this update. Didn't quite get this out last week, but I should be able to finish this chapter up this week easily.In the meantime, stay safe, and take care everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltosian Kadath Posted August 20, 2022 Author Share Posted August 20, 2022 Time to finish this little rescue mission. Spoiler Time to start this update up with a little action, as Zade jumps another assassin, For an underwhelming level. Athol also uncovers a magic stat booster That I have Accorte immediately chug. I can just barely show my whole army with a single screenshot (although Athol, Zade, and Accorte are slightly cut-off). Of particular note is Sheela (who is unfortunately difficult to see under the terrain box, who is in range of the Arbalest, if it moves. If it doesn't she gets an easy reliable kill on the thing without taking a hit. There is a lot of small plans in the work for the end of this turn. Sheela is in range of an archer, whom she can safely enemy phase thanks to her personal's Defense bonus, and Troy is testing the AI of one with the scary quad-hit brave bow, and Yaeri does unfortunately have to dodge (or take and wait adjacent I suppose) to Kill the siege mage. Unfortunately the rest of those plans have underwhelming results, as none of the units want to move. Although that kill did cap her Strength. I guess Sheela can just go for the kill she would have enemy phased before, but I do want Zayid in bond support range, just in case the scary quad-hit bow starts moving. Although I do end up messing up my placement for Cyltan, and Hoelun here, as if Hoelun could occupy the space Cyltan is in right now, her bond support bonus to hit would ensure he hits 100% hit kill on the three-hit brave tome sitting on that cliff side there (and then he could canto out of the archer's range just in case). So the next turn is a rather boring one. Main thing is switching Hoelun and Cyltan's positions, although I am pressing in from the other side with Haldyn and Zade, as there are some assassins up here for Za- ...uh oh. I might have goofed a little here, as all those stationary units start moving.... Fortunately I made all of my actions expecting them to move at some point, so it isn't disastrous, just viscerally scary. Fun fact, when I was planning I thought she was in more danger here than she was, as I forgot about her bow adding +5 Luck as well, so I was worried an all hit, double single digit crit might kill her, but figured the odds were low enough to risk it. That extra defense is honestly really nice on her. Well this goof just walked out to his death thanks to no one being in their range, but the Nim wielder moving away is a bit irritating, the bow knights were going to kill him this turn, and thanks to the +20 evasion skill A lot of otherwise reliable kills (like this one here, or Cyltan just using his personal bow with no bonuses) aren't. I don't risk this here, but if he keeps moving this direction, the plan is for Zade to get close enough to make this kill 100% reliable. Although I did make a bit of a mistake here, as While Haldyn did herb up enough to survive this hit, I did not notice until he attacked me that he had a crit rate. He did live though it, but that was an entirely unnecessary risk. And then that Nim wielding goober just walked back to his original position, so Cyltan can get the easy kill I originally planned for. Although things are getting a little boring for a little bit here, as before I can start break that rock with my main force, Zade and Yaeri are going to have to deal with the assassin and internal siege mage, as there is a deadly knife assassin (with a droppable jeweled knife, so it can secure a kill if it has to) has a lot of overlapping attack range with the seige tome that can easily finish off whomever the assassin attacks... Although there is a less dangerous assassin to deal with before that. Unfortunately his extra range means Zade can't do the move from outside range to kill maneuver I have been having him do do far... but the Edelstern kills him all the same. Although I don't want to waste too many turns, so Yaeri hands over her healing ring so he can get back to full health next turn with an herb, as This position, while in range of the siege tome, is the ideal position to deal with these two next turn, as Zade can kill this terrifying beast with extreme prejudice For an excellent levelup. Then Yaeri can kill the siege tome while avoiding The attack range of the last assassin. And I made dumb decision with regard to attacking the rock, especially when The enemy healer will use its far healing staff on the rock... Although Cyltan does get another strength level when he finally gets the kill on the rock. And Merida gets an excellent survivability levelup from killing the healer that is willing to "heal" a rock. We are getting close to the end of this thing, as you want to ignore the three eagle riders, so there is just This assassin here to kill There is the Arbalest in the bottom That Cyltan can easily kill ...Man he is rather strength blessed this run. I think he has missed a strength level-up once so far. Next we need Cyltan to Trigger the Ke'mar event, where he helps us deal with that slippery son of a bi- As he gives us the Seeker Bow, which grants it's wielder the Deadeye skill Which makes the attack hit, no matter what the accuracy says, which is a good thing, as he has 128 Avoid... ...sigh. Why would I think she could do anything. Oh well, she waste's the use anyway just in case, but Dune shows it was rather unnecessary, And gets an underwhelming levelup on the kill. On the same turn Yaeri attacks the last real threat on the map. She could have cantoed back out of range, but She procced multichance to secure the kill despite misses. This guy can be kinda annoying to deal with as he has the sleep strike skill, so anyone he hits will be put to sleep... I guess she did already cap strength, but it would be nice to get some other stats when she levels. Like that we can seize next turn On turn 24. Although I do open that chest before we Which lets us Rescue the princess. Seeing Tallan ::grovel grovel:: is walking into these two's fetish play... Read the room Garlan... Lyttia is incredibly clueless about affairs of state that she should understand... And she even mistakes Zadrian for Cyltan. Honestly, this sounds like the kinda thing Cyltan would say in the same position, so they might be a better match than most people think. Although that is just an embarrassing lack of world knowledge. It is very clear that despite being the heir to Aragoth, she was not prepared to become the queen of Arargoth... I do kinda like how she is clearly saying this to Tallan because she cares enough about him that she doesn't want him to die... Although this map isn't quite over yet, as we need our entire army to Arrive at this little wooded signpost here. I kinda knew this was happening beforehand, so I have been moving the troops in that direction for a little bit now, but there isn't any real danger here. We have a few free turn to move as far as we can, And we get people a fair distance before Ku'than returns to threaten us. And he starts to figure out what went wrong with their little kidnapping plan As it has backfired, and given Cyltan a secret alliance instead. Although there really isn't much to indicate Aragoth involvement, for whatever that is worth. The thing is, these aren't ambush spawns, so we still have plenty of time. Just in case I am wrong about that, I have been letting Troy man that choke point, but Even with an entirely mounted force, we still have time to escape. Although sending Zade down the ladder is a bit annoying, as he can only move down it one, space, at, a, time. Although seeing as Dune went around, and is still two turn behind him, it is probably still faster overall. But this is as close as they really get, as I can fully flee with everyone next turn. Theoretically I could stick around and get some exp, and a few dropped items, but I would rather take the safer option, and skedaddle. I will note that all of these units have escape quotes to them, but I will only highlight the ones I find kinda interesting, like poor Accorte, still building up the nerves to confess to Zadrian. And a reminder that Dune is still looking for his father. Don't worry, we will find out the truth by the end of this update. That he will, but your disobedience saved Cyltans life from his own stubborn disobedience. What a curious statement to make. What are the other 35 strategem? Whose strategems are these? Why is Merida the one who mentions them? She was the first (after I had Haldyn be my example) to leave, so leaving will bring you to the starmaiden's side. Wanting the best advisors, and being able to recognize their competence is a critical skill for a ruler to have So we end on turn 32 with Zadrian's escape. Now to fail to hastily get through the story content at the end here. Seems we got everything we wanted, although it is interesting that the Aragoths are specifically going to war with the Shyfts, and not the Ordoms as well. Poor Cyltan, his dom of a future wife already having a sub lover... Poor Lyttia knows she is getting into a situation similar to Hoelun, due to the cruelties of politics... Although she is rather vocal, and willful in her dislike of this political situation. If she does have a good heart, it is hiding under the angst of being a teenager. That is a promise to drink lots if I ever saw one. Makes me think of @Sidereal Wraith I do like how awkwardly he has to name Cyltan's former fiance here. Now for the Dune event, as thanks to him visiting Folley village, he has the bracelet that his father recognizes. And Dune has to break the unfortunate news that Naccara's former wife is dead. Although Dune didn't figure that out until this admission here. And he is so shocked that he tries to deny his royal lineage. Again, I wonder if this was Cyltan's father that the Aragoth's rebelled against, or one of his earlier relatives... Three years of conflict seems brutal, but is kinda short compared to a lot of wars... A brutal practicality of war, but also explains Dune's separation from his father. It is hard not to look at this a bit askew, as we just crossed those with an army just fine. It also makes me wonder how the Aragoth's might have fixed their clear gender imbalance this would cause, did the Aragoth just start raiding local areas to replace their greatly reduced female population, or did they have a more diplomatic approach, perhaps aiding their small people in arranging far off marriages... I guess Lyttia's mother was one of the lucky survivors...for a brief time at least. Also interesting to see that the Aragoth (and presumably other tribes of the Solis) customarily take consorts as well as their wives... It is such a convenient coincidence. I guess Dune gets to be a king, should have known Kaga would make the blue haired kid a royal. I respect this refusal of the call, and his admission that it is probably temporary Seeing as they don't rescue Sestra Alysia in this game, I am guessing he will return in Vestaria Saga 2...which I will probably get to after this Ironamn, and assuming I keep this more relaxed pace, and reach the end, that wont be til early November... And now he gets his amazing personal bow The simply named Bow of Aragoth, which have preposterously good stated two-hit brave bow that gives him canto when used. Hoelun sees the tragic similarity between their two fates, although the girl ends up a little too abrasive for this to blossom into a friendship. Hoelun striking at the miserable reality of their situation, much like someone with a modern perspective would. And Cyltan is to busy trying to mansplain the situation away to get it. The Solissian not inventing it, and other places doing it doesn't make it a good thing for the Solissian to do. This is an obviously rotten thing that these young girls are put through for the sake of cruel politics. Although the willful princess is going to try and change her fate, by her own hands Only to fail miserably And poor Tallan has to take the bullet of punishment for her... Oof...this kinda makes me think of especially with Garlan hinting that the princess will confess while Tallan is being whipped. He has already keyed into her loving Tallan, and he knows she was behind the escape attempt. But she passes out before then... I do appreciate that they have this small snippet to explain how Gyskal knows what was happening in places he wasn't. And that we get the credit for securing this alliance. She is a piece of work right now. Don't worry about her, she is free and going to make her place in the world real soon. It is interesting to see them considering Lyttia's feeling, considering how little they cared about Hoelun's feelings all these years. Then again, it sounds like Cyltan's feelings were an important part of both of these considerations... I mean she probably would prefer kidnapping at this rate. You don't need to rub it in Hoelun... Too bad you couldn't use that common ground of experiences to make friends here, but Lyttia is particularly abrasive. That really was unfair of them, as she basically is a princess...or was at least, as will be explained soon. Poor Tallan is suffering, but at least Lyttia is showing how much she cares by going to take care of him She had to learn that from Zadrian...Naccara has really done nothing to prepare this girl to rule has he. I bet he is glad to be rid of her as an heir, and has Dune back. Athol has clearly picked up on how much she loves her little subby love slave. A bit more evidence that Garlan know he is not really at fault here. Oh Tallan, I know you want the best for you dommy master, but saying this will just end up hurting her, as You are the one she loves... Cousins are they? It is a little suspicious that the only way for us to permanently recruit this cousin is to make sure Hoelun doesn't marry... ...hmm... I mostly took a pic of this comment, as Hoelun is going to admit this is a lie very early on into next chapter As he is going to talk her into going on a solo mission to claim her birthright. Also I do love how he is just admitting that they are going to go out and cause trouble in the homeland And she gets the chance to avenge the murder of her father too. Seems Tamthir's murderous revolt, also inspired a murderous revolt of the Nymans people as well. Which means they need to unite multiple of these minor tribes together Under an ambitious young princess, like you Hoelun. You are the heir to the dynasty which once led the lot of these people, ironically protected by your own effective kidnapping as ward to house Solim. Who could ask for a better reason to leave on an adventure? Honestly the girl has been practically begging for an excuse to leave this place, and this is a perfect excuse. Although the petty motivation of shoving this achievement in her younger brother's face is an iconic sibling moment between those two... Although Athol surprises her just as she is leaving, for one final scene. As she was apparently eavesdropping on that whole conversation (same as us). Also, what was Hoelun expecting, Athol to cover her ears? Honetly, the whole eavesdropping is rude idea has always been kinda dumb, as you can't point your ears away to control what you hear. Of course she understands, heck she is about to offer to join you. It is hard not to read into this the dark undertones of suicide here, that she is so excited to risk her life to find meaning. It reminds me of a comment about a character that noticeably never buckles their seat-belt, as they don't have the guts to commit suicide, but still are so depressed that they want to die. Hoelun really brings out the worst in Athol, as this is the first kinda stupid decision that Hoelun inspires her to make. But her help auto-healing Hoelun will be much appreciated on this near solo mission of hers, that we will play-through in the next update. Yeah, having a rough schedule now has inspired me to put this update off til late into the week, but here it is. Next time we start Hoelun, and Urven's solo mission. In the meantime, take care, and stay safe everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltosian Kadath Posted August 25, 2022 Author Share Posted August 25, 2022 Now for Hoelun and Urven to take on the world. Spoiler Hoelun must now reclaim her former home Held by the kinslayer Gansuk. Also him having half of the league's total forces, makes a bit of sense for why none of the other clans risked going to war with them, they would all have to actually work together to match his force. Which Urven then introduces us to. The idea is to try and get each of the clans join your little revolt, so you have an army of green units to match our foe's force when we do face them. This process is the map so I plan on visiting them all. I think I will even follow the order you gave for them. Also to make things less obnoxious, Athol isn't a unit on this map. At the start of every turn she fully heals Hoelun, and Urven if he is adjacent to Hoelun. Hoelun has a talk with Urven, which strengthens their bond, and there is no reason not to do so immediately. And she immediately admits that she lied about not remembering Urven. The poor girl is a bit haunted by how traumatic being a hostage was, especially when it feels like the father she thought loved her, betrayed her by so willingly giving her away. Never having the chance to confront him about it didn't help either. That must make the revenge aspect of this very complicated. I guess it would be more accurate to say, that she didn't want to remember. I wish I could find a clip for it, but it reminds me of scene from Full Metal Alchemist, where they "burned down the family home, and all the familiar things inside, because some memories aren't meant to leave traces". Honestly a kinda touching scene. Despite her attempt to forget, confronting this part of her past is the best thing for her, and Urven's comment...I guess Kaga has had incest pairings before, although mere cousins is tame compared to some FE incest-y pairing. Hoelun also has a comment upon entering Ulavs lands, and the handful of green units milling about... And when she does talk to the chief, he is a leering creep Who wants to force a girl at least half his age to marry him. Although she does try to be more diplomatic with the man than he deserves, and has the awkward realization that one of the constants in her life, her betrothal to Cyltan is no more... Ugh...he really is a slimeball thinking he can buy her hand. This is especially the case, as accepting this marriage also ensures that Urven leaves after this map. A bit more evidence that he is in love with his cousin... She finally tells the little creep how she feels, although that does mean that we wont have the Ulvas help in the end And have to fight those green units, as he shows he is cut of the same cloth as Gansuk. Also it is a bit deceptive showing her greyed out like that, as she gets immediately refreshed, so she has a chance to react to the impending violence And I will try to feed her this kil- ...uh-oh, he missed that 94. For a bit I think I might have just earned myself an embarrassing gameover from this attempt to feed her a kill, but Thanks to how I cantoed Urven, I could canto her into a position that only one of these guys could attack her. I also wanted to emphasize that Athol can heal both of them on the same turn, so expect me to position them adjacent a lot on this map, just in case. Well I can feed Hoelun her kill this turn and Given how frail she has shown herself, I will gladly take a defense levelup. Urven also gets a kill for himself while I am at it, and thankfully The crags on the entrance to this place means I have a chokepoint I can use to keep Hoelun alive from this little onslaught. And there will be a few turns of reinforcement I will have to deal with. I can even get Hoelun another easy kill before this group even reaches us. Some of the swordsman also drop some free loot that Urven easily claims. Unfortunately Hoelun doesn't have quite enough defense, or move to risk getting this chip on player phase... Urven does get his first levelup here, and I will certainly take that. I have already seen his accuracy be a slight issue, and he I think that AGL would let him double (and thus enemy phase this guy). Although the levelup Hoelun gets on player phase is less impressive, as neither of those are the kinda stats she needs. With Urven killing the other, and now enemy phasing the other Axe, that just leaves This last little swordsman, whome I can feed the kill to Hoelun Plus having him attack from range preserves more uses on the Cutlass Hoelun claims from his corpse. Whelp our diplomatic effort in the Ulvas failed utterly, so We console ourselves with a little shopping. Despite how many turns of walking...well riding I guess, but I digress, point is I will spare you that and jump straight to Negotiations with the Finns, and it seems there are some problems we will have to fix in the Finn lands first. As their are raiders in their woods we will have to deal with alone, as Gansuk's little scum spawn means the Finns fear the consequences of killing the lad. The dangers of criminal nepotism. ...that is a darker way of putting it, but she is kinda right, given what we plan on doing, its not like a little murder is worse than the treasonous rebellion we are about to enact. Now we just have to wipe out the Finnwood bandits, and as it turns out some of them are heading our way Some of which have some dangerous brave effect weapons, but thanks to that one defense levelup Hoelun can actually take a hit from him And thanks to a multichance proc, she even manages to enemy-phase kill him for a levelup, although with how few of those are available to her, this is a bit underwhelming. She even gets to kill the other on player phase too. Now it is just Urven drawing in the first of these thieves with this positioning. And as luck would have it, he chipped the guy enough that I can continue my attempts to turn Hoelun into an actual combat unit with lots of levels. This time Urven draws in the thief, and Hoelun chips the mounted archer What an excellent levelup he gets on the chip too. ...Come one Hoelun, I went through all that effort to feed you the thief kill, and this is how you repay me? You do not get enough level-ups to afford blank ones like this... Well, Urven gets the bow knight kill Hoelun teed up for him, and we prepare for the next onslaught of reinforcement bow knights First Hoelun grabs this kill, and then I get a bit of an idea To then feed her two kills on enemy phase, as her one defense, and one HP level ups are just enough to survive enemy phase with both of them, and as luck would have it, That ungrateful little monster insists on being a garbage unit the whole game through it seems. Two blank levelups in a row...sigh. This is a terrible sign. This next round of reinforcements is actually kinda dangerous, as both have brave effect weapons, but We have just enough fire power to kill one right now, and thus even Hoelun can survive enemy phase. I guess I will take that over the blanks she has been getting, but a little bit of strength, or heck even some Agility, or even another defense would be so much better on her.... Well that is the last of the reinforcements, now its just the boss to deal with, and Sadly enough, the extra weight of the pilum is the only way he doesn't one round this guy, which he does two turns in a row, as Our garbage Hoelun would be easily slaughtered by this guy otherwise, and I want her to get the kill, and Their battle quote, as Kukuma is a creepy mofo That deserves to die at Hoelun's hands. Now that him and his bandits are dead we need to return to the Finns To tell them about our success, for a little bonus prize, on top of A small green army to help deal with the endgame of this chapter. Who are preparing in secret For us to announce our final assault by reaching that little signpost. Now my original plan was to end it off here, with half of the clans visited, with me finishing the chapter next time, but I realize I forgot about this little flower up here, and I was waffling a little as to whether or not I wanted to do one more of these, as the final assault is a bit intense, and one of these negotiation sessions is actually kinda minor. So I end up skipping past the turn 25 save point, so I wont forget To pick this up next time, and the talk Hoelun has when she enters Houras lands convinced me to do one more The free heal every turn is the only reason this girl even resembles OK... ...feeling her breath on her neck, yeah that is kinda creepy thing to say. Alright game, I will take the hint, lets hit up the very minor event with the Gallians before the Houras. It is rather small event, so it shouldn't overburden me too much, and there is still close to half the map left for next time. Plus Urven was still trying to catch up anyway. A few things to note is first the small green army sitting there, and the second is that Hoelun will have to use her lockpicking skills to lower the bridge first. This scarecrow is another small hint about Urven's attraction to Hoelun, as he is violently opposed As it is acting as his rival in love (at least as he probably sees it) Cyltan. Seems your son has help see that wish come true. At least Hoelun hasn't lost all of her relatives in the Nymans league at least. After two blank level-ups, and 0 strength or agility gains, I kinda agree with him. On this run you are way too terrible to lead anything, and that is with a fair bit of favoritism on this map. ...Good luck with that one Hoelun, usually those thing are tough in general, let alone being embarrassing enough that you could deal with one. Fortunately this fire wyrm must be dying of cancer, as it is designed to be fought be a Hoelun, although by one this bad... Unfortunately I need her to get that personal bow of hers. It is going to have to carry her even harder than normal on this run. Unfortunately this one gets the drop on her for free. Although for reasons I cannot comprehend it decided to voluntarily attack the person with 1-2 range instead of the free hit on the far squishier unit at one range. Did that one Resistance levelup really make the difference here? Just look at this sad creature, although even then My sad excuse of a Hoelun can't even double it, and takes enough damage that she can't risk attacking it on player phase unless she kills. I guess that deals enough that she can kill it next turn. Although it takes the opportunity to attack her in melee this time. I do not understand this things AI at all, it must be kinda random... Not with the levelup you have been getting Hoelun. Feel glad you even get this kill. I guess that probably is her best levelup yet, and now she can even Double the beast, although she didn't need it for the kill And she gets more defense on the kill. At least she is less likely to die randomly now. I wouldn't believe it either. A lack of fire and courage have never been her problem, its her terrible stats that are holding her back, like her base 2 strength... Oh no Stoelan, frail is definitely an accurate description of her, although admittedly the last two levelups have been a serious improvement. And her personal bow is secretly her birthright. That is kinda tragic. Perhaps he was so willing to let her become a ward to protect her from his murderous kinslayer cousin. Then again that plan only came to fruition long after Hoelun's captivity. We also get the next group of green units to join our forces. Although it is time we ended this update for today. Next time we take on the Houras's little problem, before we avenge the murder of Hoelun's parents. In the meantime I hope all of you take care, and stay safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltosian Kadath Posted August 27, 2022 Author Share Posted August 27, 2022 Lets finish off this walking heavy map. Spoiler We open on me skipping over more walking, and jumping straight to The Houra's tribes telling us the issue we have to fix for their aid in our little rebellion. And in one of the most classically Fire Emblem moments, once again greed in the hearts of men have awakened an ancient evil, requiring us plucky heroes to deal with it. By bravely returning a magical gem to a shield monument. Hard to argue with Hoelun's logic there, but she is still going to have to fight her way through a bunch of Wraiths to do so. As Hoelun has to walk up and interact with this monument here. And by far the most annoying part of that is dealing with this siege tome here, as when it hits, it causes paralysis, a lingering status effect which prevents people from using physical weapons, and items. And some of them have droppable loot, so I hold back a little here to ensure he doesn't reduce its value by attacking us with it. The main value of this is to be sold, as we never get any zombies in our army that can wield this...probably. Depending on how my money situation turns out, I might just save one to test a theory I have heard about a certain event in chapter 19 (assuming I make it that far...) Funnily enough they all have this battle quote, to ensure you see the creepy vibes of this message. And I will gladly take an agility levelup on Urven. Meanwhile, Hoelun's personal weapons is utterly carrying her. Also of note, some of these jerks can cause paralysis with their swords alone, so even more reason to avoid some enemy phase with Urven. Hoelun can even kill some things on her own now thanks to the Ariadne. Which lets me take down two in a single turn. Now I am fairly certain the siege tome doesn't actually move, so I should be safe until I reach the diagonal of where I placed my cursor there. ...I sorta missed how this happened, but somehow this guy was teleported over here. Now it spent its whole action, but I am not entirely certain how it did that. Also, a bunch more reinforcements to deal with have arrived. While this is random, but it is kinda funny to see a skill that is so useless on an enemy like this. Just something I wanted to point out that I noticed while trying to figure out how the teleportation happened... This one was a fair bit faster than those last turn, so It takes a full turn to secure this burial blade loot from this one. Yeah, I have been playing this bit rather slow, but I do not want to deal with paralysis, but unfortunately I kinda have to. A lot of those brown spaces are waste tiles, that slow down cavalry, so I can't reach the siege tome, or the monument, without it getting some free shots on us. So Urven gets paralyzed . At least Hoelun can deal with some of these guys while Urven is useless. But before he can fully recover, the crafty witch has crippled Hoelun as well. This slows this section down a fair bit, as we just have to wait for paralysis to recover (usually its in the 2-3 turn range per proc it seems) so one of my units can then kill whatever is clogging up the path. Although we do luck our way into a dodge with Urven there, but He can't secure the kill... so I wait a little, and Urven gets a mediocre level from being crippled, but Hoelun deals just enough to kill it. That way I don't have to think about its other tome at all. And Hoelun finally gets her first strength levelup. I think the 3 strength she has really emphasizes how much that bow of hers is carrying her in this fight. She also has to get another kill while Urven is recovering, but next turn We can finish our task While Urven kills the last of them. Now lets save us all the time of watching me walk back and We report back to Houras about our success, and get a stat booster for it as well. Now all that is left is to declare the opening of our assault Although there was one minor thing I wanted to point out first, a small detail that might have been missed while I was skipping all the walking, that the Green units actually have to move into position. This was the last chance to show that off before we Although the game is nice enough to make sure you are ready before it begins. Given how this game's narrator treats Solis as a barabarian backwater, I doubt many ever thought of the Nyman as a bastion of honor, or integrity. And this even moves Hoelun onto that tree, so that Gansuk gets a glimpse of Hoelun, and starts his assault. Unfortunately our bad relations with the Ulavs mean they Send the force that would be our green units out as enemy units instead. That will distract some of our allies, but We should be able to turn the tides with our units, especially with me being a bit aggressive with Urven's enemy phase. I might not be able to safely keep him next to Hoelun for healing, so I have him use this for some passive regeneration in the meantime. And Urven gets an excellent level while enemy phasing two of the melee enemies. Now a fair number of the enemies here can drop stuff, but by far the most notable is The first cavalry promotion item, on the cav that is staying back. Keeping the green units from getting all the drops is difficult to do safely, and I almost make a bit of a mistake in my placement here. I had this whole plan for cantoing back, and getting Hoelun behind him for a full heal, and even some safe enemy phase exp on Hoelun, but I missed the fact that Urven's original location was restricting this guys movements by being between the two trees... Which forces me to hold back, which is going to make it more difficult to secure that loot... As the green units really slaughtered thanks to getting the drop on the enemies (even stealing a gold drop from one of them). It is difficult to notice here, but only 4 of those in that cluster are red units, and this is about to kill one of them And there goes the melee one that survived the onslaught. Also of note, you can see some of the green units that headed of to intercept the Ulavs's force in the bottom left hand corner there. I guess more agility is nice to have. Its just hard to get excited about these small leveleups after the double blank... Perhaps I will regret this, but I did avoid aggroing the one with the good drops. I was kinda hoping I could send Urven and Hoelun around more to the right to draw him that direction, but Hoelun didn't have to move to safely head that direction last turn, and now I had to wipe out two of the green unit's distractions, just in case they focused on her frailty... Next turn, the healer body blocks most of the greens at this chokepoint, and they almost kill it after slaughtering the other two over here...I think I can get away with securing this drop... On the other front, the Ulvas managed to whittle their part of the fight down to their last unit, versus two of our greenies. The greens knew to outnumber these fools on the outset, so this was a bit of a foregone conclusion. Unfortunately I miss the promotion item drop. The sad thing is if he didn't miss his initial hit with the Cavalry Lance, he would have one-shotted the first greenie immediately, would have avoided the 15 damage that one would deal to him over all, and would have survived with less than 5 hp, even if all of the greens that could attacked him...sigh... Well, I guess I can play it safe against the boss, get come chip enemy phase, and some greenie help to make it safe to see Hoelun's battle quote with him... And of course he switched to the droppable bow to kill all the ranged green units instead of attacking Urven...well at least this gets him low enough that Hoelun can personally kill the cousin (once removed) that killed her parents. How would you? She was already a ward of the Solim family by then. Plus you could have killed her now if you bothered to move... And that is blank levelup number 3...let that be a lesson to you all, revenge just leaves you feeling empty inside. Well here we are on turn 67, and We liberate the Nymen league, and end this map. It feels a little odd to mention Tamthir now, but I guess here ascension does break whatever ties the Nymans had with the Ordoms. Such a contrast of truth and fiction. Those green units helped too much, and Hoelun has gotten far too many blank levelups to ever call strong. It does seem kinda odd how secretive Hoelun is being about Atholphis. I kinda wonder why, is she worried about Athol's safety if her identity is revealed? Is she worried her presence will diminish Hoelun's accomplishments? If only she got over those nerves enough to become a better unit. Also it is easy to seem brave when you aren't on the map, and thus not risking death. You don't need to lie so much in your flirting Urven. You did a LOT of the heavy lifting there. It is interesting that concerns over the Nymans hadn't come up in Zade's strategy discussions yet, it was mostly the Shyft. I guess they were next on the priority list due to how far north (I think) they are. Hoelun, don't you dare try some Reese nonsense where you try and talk our recruits out of joining us. And we can see more of that jealousy from Urven, over the guy she little brother zoned over the years. I mean kinda. It wouldn't surprise me if Kaga was trying to write a romance between those two, but they really do have a brother-sister like relationship between them. I wonder if the thing that "will never be" is his chances with her, or Cyltan's chances with her... I do like how saucy she is being here, as it is just the right amount of sass for this moment. That sad face on Hoelun is a nice detail, and I do feel they did catch some aspect of that awkward aspect of being a teenager, where being overprotected feels more suffocating, and damaging than the danger could be. Seems Garlan has a rather utilitarian moral, unlike Gyskhal. This little exchange does make me think of little of the clashes in ideology of Augustus and Dorias in Thracia 776... Such a teenager exchange... Now for the slightly angry face on Hoelun...Also not seeing the concern behind people's action; they really are just hammering home how much of a teenager she is. Lioness is she...well I guess I did put a lot of work into making sure she got lots of kills, so I could see how she makes that mistake. To be fair, Athol really did help out, a LOT on that map. If she wasn't providing free heals every turn, Hoelun would be rather useless, and the little mission there would have been a lot more tedious. Athol does not appreciate the value her healing has provided. To be fair, while healing is an important aspect of most maps, it is very easy to skim over. And Athol is starting to swoon over Zade's muscles, like most of the ladies in this game. She definitely will, but it will be a little while before Hoelun talks her into doing something reckless like this again. Well that wasn't a great end to that map. I guess I am still on schedule, but I meant to get this update out a bit earlier, but I was too exhausted to get the writing done on Thursday and Friday. Hopefully this coming week is less busy, and in the meantime, take care, stay safe, and sleep better than I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrightBow Posted August 27, 2022 Share Posted August 27, 2022 (edited) 2 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Now for the slightly angry face on Hoelun...Also not seeing the concern behind people's action; they really are just hammering home how much of a teenager she is. I don't think it's quite as easy as that. Hoelun was most certainly able to recognize Gyskhal's tough love for Cyltan as just that: "You're his sun, moon, and stars. You're the future. What am I but a burden to him? Dying here would give my life meaning." I don't think Hoelun is meant to be unjustified in feeling like a piece of trash that no one has yet bothered to throw away. Gyskhal obviously doesn't like doing that whole "show people that you care about them" thing. It's something that both Aynellia and Garlan called him out on. And if he doesn't show affection to Cyltan, what chance does Hoelun have? She is not related to Gyskhal and that whole political marriage thing was meaningless long before it was officially annulled. She has no reason to think he cares about her. She most certainly didn't grow up with the luxury of being able to take love for granted. We know she felt loved by her father... until he just gave her away to an abusive monster. So yeah... would probably be crazy if she did feel like people's love for her extends beyond her use to them. Edited August 27, 2022 by BrightBow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltosian Kadath Posted August 31, 2022 Author Share Posted August 31, 2022 On 8/27/2022 at 3:04 PM, BrightBow said: It's something that both Aynellia and Garlan called him out on. And if he doesn't show affection to Cyltan, what chance does Hoelun have? She is not related to Gyskhal and that whole political marriage thing was meaningless long before it was officially annulled. She has no reason to think he cares about her. Gyskhal shows his affection in that toxically masculine way, through unspoken deeds, rather than words, or physical affection. Hoelun shames Cyltan at one point for not trying to protect her from his father, as it was always Gyskhal that protected her from Holym. Just before that quote of Hoelun you use, she lies about Gyskhal telling her to sacrifice herself to save Cyltan, and Cyltan calls her out for lying, as they both know he would never say that, she claims Gyskhal thinks it, but I think she has misjudged the man here as well. When Garlan and Aynellia try to delay the reltionship between Cyltan and Lyttia, he lets slip half his motives for breaking the Hoelun and Cyltan betrothal was that he thought they both hated the relationship, and Hoelun made that far more apparant than Cyltan ever did, and the way she acts about her betrthal, her freedom from it is far more a gift to her than Cyltan's change of fiance is for him. You point out that Hoelun can recognize Gyskhal's love for Cyltan, but by the same token Cyltan sees the ways Gyskhal show his love for Hoelun. When she makes claims about her "uncle" not caring about her, Cyltan is always the one to push back against it. In many ways her perception of Gyskhal not caring feels like an extension of a very teenage sense of self loathing, like she is something that is unlovable. Spoiler Coincidentally it has been about 2 months since I started this. Although Zade really has helped turn this situation around. The Malaya, and by extension the Solim dynasty, were on the brink of defeat, but now They have an alliance with the kingdom of the Aragoths, which can deal with the Shyfts clans to the north, and has the added benefit of bringing this independent kingdom back into the Solisian kingdom it was once a part of. Huh, I forgot the Nymans were so close there. I guess Hoelun's little coup has given us a clear path to the capital, and given us a bit of an advantage clan-wise in this war. Another famously unassailable capital. I guess they can't make it seem any easier than the taking of Venecia. Also it is rather concerning that they out number us 3 to 1 still, even after all these clans started siding with us. Still being outnumbered makes this a bit of a pickle, as the power of those walls strengthens their forces further, although they also engender passivity. To put another way, the way for Tamthir to get the the Solim forces to loss their momentum, is to surrender their own momentum themselves. This change of pace probably would benefit the Ordoms here, but passivity has never been in Tamthir's nature As just like with the kidnapping of Lyttia, it is his own hasty actions that give us the opportunity to defeat him. Once again, a clan leader comes to Gyskhal for help, giving us an opportunity to turn the tides, although this time it is Hoelun's uncle. Tamthir keeps showing how heavy handed, and like his predecessor he is with how he rules... Now Gyskhal is obliged to aid his ally here, but instead of falling into Tamthir's pace, and simply responding to his attack We are going to try for the classic Ender's Game strategy of going straight for the goal. As he has to leave the capital far less defended to commit to this attack on the Nyman This is still a big gamble here. Even before splitting the army they are outnumbered, and a battle in which you plan on distracting an enemy, is a bit of an admission that it is a battle you will probably lose in the end (you just want to lose slowly, and without too disastrous of loses). I like this admission that this is about balancing the scales, that Gyskhal holding true to his alliance to Meleda in their most desperate hour, is why Zade's army is here for him in his. Gyskhal is finally including Hoelun, as she will be riding with him to help defend the Nyman (as well she should). He really has come a long way, he is even letting Cyltan endanger himself to secure his throne. Some kind of inspiring advice from Gyskhal about how to become a good leader here. It is all about humility, and serving the people is the best way to rule. Also accepting the sins of his father, and trying to make amends for them by being a better leader than he ever could be. Interesting to see them give a number to the size of our army. Although it looks like we got a little more than the 1/3 of the army we were promised. Unless the extra 200 is the knights of Redessa, who weren't included in Gykshal's count. ..Getting over stat booster hoarding is so hard. I will use some of these this map, I promise. As for deployment, I went back and forth a bit whether to leave the armor knights behind, or the axey boy. I might regret this, as their low move might bite me latter, but I liked the way the armors are growing. I wonder if one of the translators (or perhaps Kaga himself) is a Dark Souls fan, and named this Sphirian city Londor as a reference. Also of note that even the Solisians don't recognize the desert route we are about to take as a route worthy of a gate. That bodes ill, as I doubt we have that kind of numbers advantage here. I suppose that is how we took Venecia in a sense, a traitorous boatman sneaking us past their walls. Although perhaps we can get a larger scale rebellion like this, as Tamthir is not the most gentle of rulers... Yeah, I guess this is where we finally go all out on talking about how awful Cyltan's father was. I seem to remember her calling Cyltan a coward for not trying to protect her from his father, and always having to rely on Gyskhal for protection, so I am not surprised she talked about how much of a monster the old Khar is. I like that Cyltan does not accept Athol's easy out of a little white lie. Instead he embraces the uncomfortable truth. Seems Gyskhal fighting in Meleda literally lost the Solim's their throne, as he wasn't there to keep his lunatic brother in check. As he really leaned into the tyranny when he was off the leash. Yeah this talk of mass execution is the kind of thing which gets you righteously overthrown. Funnily enough, that banishment probably saved his life, as I am guessing Hoelun had to flee for her own safety from the mad king somewhere around then as well... Those poor kids were basically homeless and on the run for 6 months... Bit of a tone shift here, but I also like how Zade is coming to the same sort of conclusions about how heavy the debt Meleda owes to the Solisians is But as Cyltan points out, even if Gyskhal was around to prevent this disaster, some other straw would have broken the camel's back, as the problem was always with his father, and Gyskhal was never willing to do what was necessary to permanently fix that issue. Also, Zade is giving us the most important part of these brilliant Siege maps, asking around about all the events we can use to turn the tides... I do think this is an important part of the budding friendship between these two. Zade hands command over to Cyltan, as this is his battle. It puts them on more equal footing, after Zade was in command of their last few battles, now it is Cyltan's turn to lead. Also Aynellia is a "joining" us on this map. Not as an actual unit mind you But in the same way Athol joined Hoelun in the last map, with all of that vague ambiguous healing she does before joining us for real. He did, but I understand Tamthir's suprise. Splitting your army is an extremely dangerous maneuver, even when you outnumber you opponent. It opens you up to being taken out piecemeal, and destroyed in detail. If the full size army figures out what is going on (or just getting into a heated battle with one of the smaller armies) they can focus on one of those forces alone, destroy it far easier than if the two were together, and deal with the other. Being split up does open up opportunity like the one we are taking now, but it is still a massive risk. He really spent a fair bit of the treasury on mercenaries. Fortunately there are a few events on this map that let me deal with each of these threats, and I will be taking a fair number of those opportunity. 5,000...That is more than our entire army if we were combined. Fortunately they are outside the walls, have questionable stats, and there is an event to help mitigate them, but I do remember them having some rather hard hitting weapons at their disposal... Well that is enough story for now, lets get to another excellent siege map, which are the best maps of Vestaria Saga 1. And this guy here is the first threat we have to deal with on this map. He has 1-2 range, a 13% chance of ignoring an attack, boosts his allies, has a situational crit rate, and always hits, no matter what that 68 accuracy on his stat sheet says. First I get Zade in there to buff people's accuracy, and chip him with Troy Oh no, I looked at your skill list, you Horrid beast, you are no easy kill...unless Troy procs Triple-Threat with the brave weapon and gets 6 hits immediately And if he didn't proc his axe-shield once he wouldn't have even gotten the opportunity to counter Troy. Yeah, it kinda was. I hyped you up a fair bit, and Troy just procced a skill and popped you like a bubble. I guess this means Merida doesn't have to pick up the kill As Sheela extremely reliably deals with the only other of these three we can even reach. We visit our first little yurt hear and learn about some indescribable Cthulian horror, he will now describe Pfeeehh, oh, I can't help it, the contrast between the dark idea of children...being...Eaten, and the silly onomatopoeia of this act, is just too funny. ....This is the kind of monstrous act that will loss Tamthir his throne. Sacrificing their children to demons is the kind of thing that makes people want to kill you. He just couldn't help doing it again could he. Well lets take a quick peek at that demon, shall we He has a 1-2 range weapon that sets people's HP to 1, heals all damage he deals, heals every turn, and while alive buffs every enemy on the map by giving +3 to both defenses. The astute amongst you might have noticed that on that Horrid guy I looked at before. Since Merida didn't have to finish anyone off, she can instead Visit Destroy this little supply depo. Next turn I should hit a yurt that explains why I am doing that, but it is one of many little objectives I want to accomplish this map. And I plan on moving my army around the west side this time (I went around the east side last time I did this map). Seems there is a contingent of eagle riders from the Shyfts here to tell us about how that Ke'mar guy who helped us out a few maps ago, is paying the price for his betrayal, and His daughter is being forced to fight, or else... What a judgemental ass this Your Mama joke is. Her frugal nature is going to help us a fair bit, and she is a lot less ugly than Your Mug. And he just wants her to die...Guess which on of these two characters we get to recruit 😛 ...Yeah, I kinda missed that her and Troy were in Arbalest range here. They both live the enemy phase just fine, but I should be a bit more careful...kinda. This does give my healers something to do I guess, and with a lot of my units I am willing to take the damage to not have to slow down to avoid this range. Way ahead of you Aynellia, I already looked at that demon. And I want that defensive buff gone as soon as possible. What a foolish idea. The cliche is that power corrupts, which would imply the crown would make him worse, although I have started to prefer an alternative version of the phrase, which rings more true. Power reveals. When someone is given power, they show what they always wanted to do with that power. Tamthir has never been a subtle man here, and I doubt he has changed all that much over the years. Ah yes, he is going to tell us how to deal with the 5,000 conscript without killing them all. It is always said that an army marches on its stomach. Keeping soldiers hungry is always a bad idea. And now we only have to deal with two more of them to starve them out. Admittedly each of these stores are guarded by some scary enemies... My opening chip for the turn was an attempt to get a level, but alas, he is left at 99 exp at the end of this hit. Also, its time to use some of those stat-boosters. Her low HP has been a rather noticeable weakness of hers for a while, so this made sense to me. Accorte gets a kinda sad levelup getting the effective damage kill here. Although she has been growing well enough she can take a dud level like that. My flyer is going around the other direction as the rest of my army, to trigger a few events in this direction, one of which requires flight. Unfortunately those recruits are active enough that some will move without us even being in range, although that does let me get the drop on this first one but a fair bit of bad luck means Merida needs to pick up this kill (really Cyltan, missing 3 87s...) Dune is intentionally in Arbalest range here, as It gives him the kind of level he deserves. Well that is kinda annoying, but not a big deal, as I have plenty of healer, and far-heals if I need them. At least he can only poison one unit. Not regretting bringing those armored knights around yet, as they just one-shot both these recruits. And Athol gets a level while healing. And then I make a bit of a goof here. This is a simple act of charity, to save a life at the cost of a healing item, but I don't have one Because I messed up my menuing. I meant to have him trade Cyltan's herb over before that visit, but accidentally mashed my way into visiting first. Time for anothe stat booster. He has not been getting the Dex to be as reliable as I would like him to be, and I will probably use the other Dex potion I have lying around eventually...once I get around to grabbing it from the convoy. He is also covering Athol by taking it slow, and using the item here (another accident there, I keep forgetting the melee horse classes have one higher move than the mounted archers). Circling around like this is taking a while, and the recruits are only really dangerous against our squishies... Although the poisoning is rather annoying. But it is funny to have these unarmed goofs around afterwards. but some of these guys do have quality weapons, like this cutlass cav here. I guess Theo is going to be the tanky mage on this run. I just wish he would get a little Agility, as the only agility he has gain is from an agility potion. I don't mess this up again, so I can get this little Cyltan PR going, to hopefully inspire some peasant revolt to open this place up for us. The people are starting to turn on Tamthir, and look favorably on our little Cyltan. Eh, kinda meh level for Lilia given how many stats she got. Then again, I never saw what she is like as a combat unit. On the other side of the map, we get to hear about how to deal with those mages in the castle. They aren't a big deal yet, but they do have siege tomes... And siege mages are an expensive type of mercenary, which gives us an opportunity to steal some gold directly from the Ordoms. And send the mages packing at the same time. I will try, but we have to fight our way past the demon to get there, as that was the direction I took this time. I end things off by testing the AI of these terrifying three at the end of this turn. I can't believe I didn't screen-shot all three, as they all have supports with eachother (which give +10 hit and avoid each, so +20 to all for now...), and have skills of their own. Two of them have brave melee weapons, and the scariest has a 1-2 range weapon. One brave wielder has the simple +20 avoid skill, the other has the increase evasion at low health skill (and 1.5x terrain bonus from her weapons), and the scariest of all has the Axe-block skill (str% chance to avoid a hit), Ambush (AGLx5 % chance to attack first in any combat), and the Critical edge kill (and an uncomfortably high crit rate). I do no know how to deal with that 1-2 range monster, as she has an extremely high speed, such that she doubled uncomfortably many of my units, and she has a lot of skills to ensure she gets the first crack at criting one of my units. In retrospect, I should have had more confidence in their reluctance to move, and brought more units to bear against this monsterous group, but instead, like an idiot, I decide to reduce her support By working on removing the scariest of those brave weapons, but I have already messed up here, as Troy is occupying the space Cyltan needs to canto back to, to block him off with only two units... So after Zade finishes the job. And Zade does his best to prepare for the consequences of my reckless stupidness with an amazing level, but the reason this is so stupid is now I have to risk Merida, as I don't trust Cyltan to not gameover from these beasts. On a less disastrous side of the map, my flier has reached another key objective, the outpost of the Waguri assassins, where we see how flexible that rule of theirs is, as They will definitely accept a bribe to abandon Tamthir. I don't want to deal with them, as at least one has a deadly edge, so I will gladly pay the price. Interesting to see that the Waguri Assassins see how the winds are shifting, and think we are about to crush the Ordoms, despite all the ways the story tells us they have the advantage. To be fair, all of them (but a boss one for some reason) were invisible on this map, so I can see why Tamthir would think that. Ah yes, Tamthir's mysterious strategy. Expect this to be a bit of a running gag. Time for me to phase the music. To be fair, she is one of the units with enough speed not to be doubled, and has a lot of avoid, which is an alright chance of survival. Alss she would need is to dodging this hit (like she did), or even just avoiding the crit and instead dodging one of these brave hi- ' GAAAAHHHHAHAHHAA.....huh...huh..huh... she is OK...she dodged two hits...so she can take a...a... Phew...whelp that was the most never punished of the run so far. That was so stupid, and by all rights, I should hav lost Merida here for my incredibly stupid actions. Although I still have no idea howto deal with Illisse I guess I have to start somewhere... ...I do not deserve this luck. She procs nothing, and Troy not only gets a multichance proc, but crits her for the kill too. I guess the goddess of luck is smiling down on Troy's golden locks. Sorry you met such a tragic end mysterious Axe trio, but I need to starve some conscripts...Don't judge me, the Ordoms are feeding children to demons. Well that makes things kinda easy then. There goes supply cache number two, with just one more to go. Altthough we have a demon between us, and it. I guess we could thread the needle of the seige tome ranges instead of passing through woods, but I want to kill that demon, with his +3 defenses buff. Plus I would want to test if they move with someone with solid resistance first... These recruits are still rather aggressive. Now Cyltan could get the first shots on this demon here, but I know how he works. If he hits, he will heal 25, and gets two chance to do so. If I wait instead, he can get some solid chip on this thing for next turn (when I can bring more weapons to bear against it). Meanwhile, I let the mages wipe away the advancing recruits. On the other side of the map, I actually have a bit of a problem here. I want to visit that yurt over there, but It is covered by this heavy hitting conscript. It has a low chance to hit, and she can take that hit, but if it does, she can't take any other hit that turn, hence me trying to bait out, and kill those that could get the potential followup kill first. Note she has the healing ring to deal with any damage she picks up while doing so. We have a fair number of heavy hitters in position to hit that demon next turn, but It is Cyltan who hears this ominous prophecy about Margul. And he unfortunately missed one of his hits. ...Oh that is actually rather annoying, for this fight in particular. A trick to this is letting people that have been dropped to 1 HP attack him so he doesn't heal, but Aynellia is preventing Cyltan from being as helpful as he could be in this fight. This has a chance to kill but instead everything whiffs. Shame she can't double here, but that is some good chip on him But thanks to him hitting in return, he comes away healthier than he started. Yaeri in the meantime is still trying to make visiting that yurt perfectly safe for her. Hopefully this demon fight doesn't take too long, I have a gold caravan to catch on the other side. In a way Voxevald getting the luck hit here is good, as Merida is no longer a source of healing for him, so Sheela can setup the kill Or she can proc Flurry and solo him all on her own. Funny thing about Voxevald is that he is the Margulite demon that best shows the player their immortal nature. He returns in this very game, and his power is so prominent enough that you will recognize his presence on a map. What a beats, killing the demon, just taught her how better to kill. We also get an excellent sword for our trouble. In a way I kinda pity Tamthir for this. It is the most monsterous act we have seen from the Ordoms, and what I feel is what pushes the citizenry into being willing to betray him And it was all that scumbag Valerius's fault. As he is as disgusted by the monstrous act as we all are. And it does rather cement that Valerius is an ally of the Margulite. Seeing as he captured one of the circlet maidens already, that is a very bad sign for the world of Vestaria Saga. Tamthir was always on for hasty, but decisive action. I do rather like this exchange And it shows that Tamthir has some serious convictions. Perhaps this is what the citizens saw that made them hope the throne would change him. Unfortunately for the world, Valerius is a cheating dastard with the ability to teleport away from his execution. I wonder if there is an alternate ending scene of him teleporting away if we leave Voxevald alive. Perhaps I will test that one of these days... I do end up repairing the Soaring Flame again. I am tempted to risk another attack with it, but if she procs Flurry at the wrong time, it could just shatter... Back on the flyer solo mission, she has finally made it safe to visit that other village, and It is another charity PR stunt for Cyltan's image, and come enemy phase Word has gotten around that Cyltan isn't like his monster of a father, Halym. Plus Tamthir is looking more and more like the old Khar, with his unwitting child sacrifice, and everything. And they are about to open a pathway into the city for us. Truth be told, opening the door is kinda minor, given we brought Cezar, the bigger thing is killing the main defender of that gate, Pathram, the Arbalestier that wields the strongest, and most dangerous great bow in the game, the Penelope's Longbow. It has the highest might, highest accuracy, the most uses, and lowest weight of all of the great bows, and even has an innate crit rate just to add insult to injury. I missed an image of it, but the NPC actually crits this guy. You took advantage of that very same treasonous worms before to claim your throne. Things have been going bad for a while Tamthir. You started your reign with a slaughter, try to force diplomacy with kidnapping, you are literally sending your army away to punish another clan for disloyalty, and let your advisors sacrifice the children from the capital. Although you are a slightly better ruler than Halym was. We got a glimpse of that with your announcement that there were lines you would not cross, even if it cost you your throne, and I think we have found another of those lines here. And then he almost lets slip the secret of Aynellia, but that will come back to that at the end of this map, and the heart of the next. And opening up a gateway into the city sounds like a perfect place to stop, but we have a few turns before we reach the next map save. It is mostly just trying to get by troops through these woods, and the single point of movement that my armored knight make through this quagmire is a bit torturous, but We have gotten most of our troops through by the time the savepoint comes. Here on turn 15. Not quite sure if I will finish this map off next time, or the update after, we will see. I wasn't sure where to end this update off when I started it, and not entirely sure of the next one either. I had to rewrite part of this update after my browser crahed, but I don't think it will derail my loose schedule. Take better care than I have this map, and stay safer than my browser was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltosian Kadath Posted September 3, 2022 Author Share Posted September 3, 2022 Sorry to drop a bit of a spoiler here, but this seems to be never punished the chapter Spoiler After my little break in the chapter I realize that moving Yaeri through the archer range should be safe, as they surly have the same AI behavior as the other food guards, and wont move until one of them is attacked. Still is a bit nerve wracking though. Otherwise not much activity, as I am preparing for a major event in the north that I do not want to miss. We also hear about those bandits to the north east, whom are guarding that chest. Don't worry old man, we will deal with them soon enough That is a harsh criticism about the rule of the Khars. Saying the small folks care not who sits the throne is a bit of a cliche, but it is usually said from the opposite perspective, that expecting the small folk to resist a conqueror is foolish, but that mentality has been defied already this chapter. There is a sense here that him not caring is a failure of the ruler, not something universal. Now I will continue my habit of skipping the walking to When the gold caravan that we are ready to slaughter arrives. They will not get the chance, as we get the first shot. And I will gladly wipe out one with a crit rate without any chance for it to attack. And she gets an interesting levelup, as it is her first Res levelup. And there goes one of the few 1-2 range enemies. Despite their one move through the woods, one of the armor knights just barely gets the opportunity to contribute. There goes the last of these enemies with a crit rate and by a similar token, there goes the last one with any 2 range. Cyltan grows strong wiping out his target in the shooting of fish in a barrel this has become. He is turning out rather strength blessed this run, which is a good thing given how meh Dune is turning out. Merida on the meantime is getting the stats of a cliche FE lord from her kill (admittedly, she was just finishing off the one Prody chipped). The level Accorte collects from her solo kill is great, extra defense and speed is nice (here is hoping Theo takes the hint about speed...) ...sigh. Theo, a blank levelup on this chip is a bad look, after Accorte's level. Please just get some speed next time... Now this heal here is necessary to get This funny kill safely And there goes the last of the defenders, now all that is left is to claim our prize. You most certainly have Mr. Wagon. ...At least its better than Theo's blank levelup. And that is a nice chunk of change for my trouble. That takes care of that, and we even did it without using Yaeri, so she can take out one of the Bandits, that drops his 1-2 range axe. With their pay captured by us, the Sphirian mercs decide to skedaddle And it gives Tamthir to discuss the robustness of his "strategy..." The next two objective we can work towards at the same time, taking out those bandits, and burning down the last of the food supplies. Theo easily one-shots the Vampire wannabe enemy phase with effective damage (even dodges the hit to save my healers some work) That just leaves the kinda scary bandit left, but I know how to deal with him, and I am dealing with the archers far better than I dealt with the axe-women, by pressing in a bit more with my army before jumping them. 35 damage...Thank goodness Cezar has enough avoid that the terrifying Crooked Axe can't hit. That lets Sheela take him down with a basic Thief Repeater, so that Cezar can claim The first mage/healer promotion item. All the candidates for its use have plenty of levels to gain, so I am not sure who will end up using this... Honestly, the bow group are by far the least dangerous of the bunch, mostly because all of them have 2 range, but also less dangerous skills than the axe ladies we faced in the last update (these are more on par with the first group we faced). Theo can rather reliably pop one of them So Zade can kill the named one ...Props to Kaga on this little moment of morality. I can really empathize with this guy, he doesn't want to kill us, he just wants to keep his friends fed. He has a really relatable motive, whereas our motive, killing him so we can burn the food that is supplying the recruits, is a lot less so. There goes the last of them, so that Cyltan can destroy the last of the food supplies. Although he is going to pay for it, as One of the recruits has a Francisca, one of those 1-3 range axes, and burning these only prevents them from returning, not instantly removing them like the assassin, and mage event did. The one with the axe trio especially...honestly, I should have lost Merida there (if not someone else as well), but luck was really on my side there. Heh, I am more amused than I should be, by being called cheeky. What even was a part of this "strategy" of your Tamthir? Well we now have quite a few turns of walking ahead of us, as I plan on taking the open door into the city instead of opening a new one myself. Although the mages being gone means it is a lot safe to go below the woods (I don't have to count out spaces to check siege tome ranges anymore), and there is the last of the recruits to deal with on enemy phase, and Merida dodges, and kills easily for a surprise herb drop, which I guess refunds my charity in the other yurt. I also have a chance to check on the yurt which could deal with the Arbalestiers, but I don't particularly want to poison the city's water supply to do it. That will deny me a valuable recruit I have been looking forward to. ...Yeah, you aren't terribly convincing there you mysterious poisoner. I should have gone back after entering the city to show you, but he gets really defensive if you talk to him after breaching the city, without doing his poisoning plan. Also, the bones between his yurt and the river, are an ominous detail... Yeah, there is a lot of walking to do. Now the first thing that happens when someone enters the city limit, is those flyers try to jump us, and there are both kinda dangerous, and I have to talk to one of them, so I am going to try and lure the group in with my armors, who have the defense to take everything these guys can dish out After my flyer "breaches" the city I get the feeling the translators inverted their words here, as citadels were generally smaller, more defensive positions in, or near a city/castle. Also it is kinda funny that I can trigger these events with an errant flyer. Yikes, offering a dead man the corpse of his child in "tribute" is such a dark sentiment. Shows how awful Halym was to Tamthir to inspire such vengeful malice, even long after his death. 'You heard it here folks, Yo'Mum is coming to crush us. Don't worry Ma'aya, I will find a way to help you. ...and she immediately proced Industry to waste 4 Doyenne on our lead armor. This puts me in a bit of a conundrum here. I could recruit her with Yaeri now, but she would have to weather the rest of the eagle-riders...and one of the arbalest hits. I just can't do that, so I think I am going to have to pull back, as I am either giving Ma'aya free rein to wreck one of my squishier units, or not have my troops really ready to wipe out the enemy flier This should work...unless... Oh wow, Ma'aya let us see a battle quote I didn't know about, which reveals how to recruit he- OH GOD...SHE PROCCED INDUSTRY AGAIN...I am the worst Vestaria play, I should have anticipated th- Sorry for how bad this image is, but (depending on your contrast) you can just barely see that Ma'aya missed one. This is by far the most Never Punished map for me. This lets us have Yaeri talk her Into faking her own death. Unfortunately this means I don't get to use her until next map, as her fake death will let us help her father... As the Shyft have threatened to kill him if she doesn't cooperate with them by fighting us. Now my armors can switch to 1-2 range to get some enemy phase chip on the advancing group, and thanks to the double industry, I can delay the flyer fight for another turn Against another target, that Double Pilum (with its brave effect) might seem dangerous, but Bonacel is taking literally 0 thanks to Prody's buff. In retrospect, luring them in so close to the moat was a bad idea, but I think I can still wipe them out with my range options. Yo'Mum really gave us a blank levelup for our efforts... Unfortunately these guys are all promoted, so I have to pull out the big bows to deal with them I will gladly take a strength, and his first res levelup on this promoted kill Unfortunately Sheela misses two of these hits, so someone is going to have to clean that kill up later At least this one got some armor knight chip on him, so I only have to hit one of these Save some of that speed for Theo girl. Yaeri picks one of with some Doyenne uses For a kinda meh levelup (at least for her stat spread, Troys at the point where he would probably appreciate a levelup like that). Cyltan finishes the one Sheela missed off. Wow, Cyltan is turning out great this run. Just look at that levelup... Now I do spend a little bit of time maneuvering, as I have a plan to deal with the Arbalests, as from this position Troy can jump one While Sheela burns another across the wall While Cyltan jumps a third. I start that turn with all my units outside their range, and with only one left, they really aren't that dangerous. Truth be told, if I were more confident in the rest of the troops in here not moving I could have started Troy in range of a few, healed him on player phase of the assault, had him jump the furthest one, while Merida deals with the one he did, and wipe them all out this turn, but I don't trust my memory of the enemy AI Which is why I am testing it a bit more carefully then that. At least the swordies don't move, so I can wipe out the next Arbalest For just the kind of levelup he needed, but thanks to missing the first cav promotion item, he is uncomfortably close to his level caps for now... This time I am testing the archer, and He actually does move, with his brave effect bow. And while I didn't notice before, that was also testing the 2-3 range bow wielder over here. That deals with the mobile one rather comfortably He is growing into a very potent player phase units, but with those defenses on him... I then spend two turns positioning myself to more certainly Wipe these two up here out It most certainly is . It was as soon as the eagles fell in a sense, thanks to how passive the rest of you are proving to be. Still no defense Haldyn? I guess I can't complain too much about an Agility levelup, but that is still base defense you are sitting on there. This guy can take a fair bit of a hit Even from this strength blessed Cyltan. Then we double miss him, but The Harpoon's high accuracy finally does him in. I can also start wiping out these two immobile swordsmen as well Now you are just rubbing that higher speed in Theo's face. Poor guy just can't compete with that kind of speed, but I suppose he is more accurate with the one attack he does get Which sets up the kill for Dune nicely ...Not the stats you need at all Dune. Although learning mutlichance is an excellent boon to him. Now it is time to test the AI of the last little group of them The most dangerous Sinnes doesn't move, and while approaching him with the fire power I need for that beast, I can also test this 1-3 range axe's AI as well. Ugh...physically tanky, a solid dodge rate, a crit rate, and passive healing if I can't wipe it out in one turn. That is a good start at least Don't be hulking out now Sinnes. ...75 hit, not great, but this could kill Thanks for being so strength blessed Cyltan, this chip is going to help out a lot As it lets me finish him without risking him hitting back Zade then casually wipes out the 1-3 range Axe and I will gladly take more Agility on Zade. Troy also needs to move here, to block this guy from moving (just in case hitting one of those guys aggroed the group, like the food defenders), and gets some ch- or he can proc something for the kill. The last of them just took a hit on Troy before Accorte roasted him to cinders At this rate she is going to cap her speed... Now there is a few nice things to pickup before we leave, and this is probably the best of them. Now technically this image is from last turn, but it important to look at the boss for this last stretch. First he has the best version of the command skill, with a comically high 7 range. You might have seen that +20 accuracy a few times on enemy stats thanks to him. More importantly he has a full heal item ,and multichance, so any time he attacks he could double it Which is why this little moment here, where Prody's Good Neighbor skill Makes it safe for Cyltan to go for this narratively satisfying kill so amazing, and I feel fully justifies bringing those two over my little axey boys. Tamthir sure knows how to make the one liners. Sad to say, but his level has finally caught up to his strength. Although the perfect damage on him was down right beautiful. I joked about his not fall here moment, but it is really about giving him a story death a little later, that way even if I did not arrange for the Cyltan kill here, they will get their confrontation in the end. Now Cyltan has to seize this map, so we have one more turn, but truth be told we have a bit to do first anyway. Like collecting another item, and more importantly hitting up all of the shops here, as there is some excellent stuff. Mostly I buy some useful magic here, like another Raecryst, one of the armor effective magics, one of the triple brave dark tomes for Accorte. I also get a few other things as well, but I also have enough for a promotion item here (and I could probably sell a bit of treasure), and I think long and hard about this. Now doing this now will let me get another 1k over all from a Cezar Lucre this map, but what I really need is a horse promotion item, and I looked ahead, and I can buy one next chapter with this money instead. Now that does mean waiting for chapter 15 for the next chance to buy a lot of these promotion items, but by then I can use Ma'aya's 33% discount to get them for cheaper, and I have a handful of promotion items lying around for those that level cap before chapter 15. I might regret not buying one now, and seeing stuff for the discounted buy next chapter, we will see... So we manage the clear here on turn 43 With our commander Cyltan's seize. It is interesting that Tamthir seems to be implying that he let Cyltan go back then, and then decided to wipe him out after the fact. Its a bit late for that now, and it seems like you were trying to very recently...Also odd to see Cyltan get so defensive about his father. Odd that the people were so trusting of Halym's right hand monster to be the one that replaced him. Although perhaps he let his distaste of his role be known Plus such a personal tragedy inflicted by the Khar probably earned his some sympathy Sorry, Tragedies, plural. Man Halym is both a monster, and clueless if he did this to one of his main advisors. And she is soon to make her appearance on this little tragedy. He was a far more patient man in his past it seems. Most of his problems in this campaign was him acting with haste, instead of waiting for his opponents mistakes like we are, and he clearly did in his first campaign. He was forced for 6 months to face a world which would throw him out into the cold. His own father banished him from his home. He had to face the fact that his father was a monster, and the grim thought that he might follow in that monster's footsteps. Smaller tragedies perhaps, but Cytlan has had no perfect life either. Had Tamthir faced such hardship when he was as young as Cyltan? No, I think Cyltan, my readers, and myself can empathize with your judgement against the monster that was Halym. It is the actions you did as Khar, and in the old Khar's name which are less defensible. It is interesting to see where Tamthir's ... I think I will describe it as code of ethics, arise. Like with his insistence that he would rather lose his throne then sacrifice children to a demon. Here that he is willing to die, if he finds that Cyltan has become a more noble man than his father. Then he asks his long lost daughter to be the judge of Cyltan's character. In some ways I find it odd that she mentions Cyltan, and not Gyskhal, but I think she both sees him as like a son, and understood what Tamthir was really asking. Although the tragedy of him sacrificing himself for that response, reminds me of the tragedy felt by Arione when he knew his words had killed Travant. Funnily enough this green Cyltan is a lot tankier, and a bit weaker than my own. Also it is odd that Tamthir gets a scripted crit, despite 0 displayed. Was courage really what that monster lacked? Interesting tree imagery here, and it reminds me of a habit of some trees, that when cut down at the trunk, clones sprout in a ring around the old stump (often going by the name of fairy ring). Look at that sad Aynellia face there. Flippant as that comment was, the poor girl is now having to bury a father, for which she might feel some guilt towards his death. Although I guess I am a bit of ahead of the story in recognizing their familiar relationship. Oddly enough, this is one of the few times I left some enemies alive at the end of this seize map. I wonder if this dialogue is different if I routed the enemy. Thanks to your strength blessed growth, you are forgiven for your stint as a green unit, and walking into an obvious trap. Yeah, you did have a cute little rivalry, although I don't think Zade really noticed, or reciprocated. ...Really blushing with the feeling behind this bromance Zade? Ah yes, the love between "friends"...sigh, much as I find it funny (and so easy to find that it must be intentional) to point out the homosexual subtext to this, I do still appreciate them talking about the kind of love that blossoms between friends, although it is frustrating how encompassing the word love is in the English language. It is used in relationships as different and distinct of those between family, friends, and lovers, despite how fundamentally different these relationships tend to be. This humility in him, thanking those who aided him along the way is a change. It is nice to see him taking Gyskhal's advise about humbling himself to heart, as it is an improvement in the man. That is such a condemnation of Halym from his son, that he would rather give up his throne then turn out like his father. I wonder if he means that Zade was an attainable role model, or that he inspired Cyltan to take the scarier step of forging his own path. It is subtle, but Athol has changed faces here into one that I think I will describe as more piercing, to emphasize the more serious topic at hand. She is grappling with the issue at the heart of an inheritable rule. Why should she be seen as more important thanks to some nebulous heritage she had no part in building. It leads to an interesting contrast to the Udagal blood (that she has), which the story almost treats like it is special somehow, but it not appearing to be in the gameplay is very telling, especially in a Kaga game, as blending story and gameplay is not only one of his most notable stylistic preference, he has already shown us how he can show the power of bloodlines in the gameplay with Genealogy of the Holy War. Seems Athol is the one who would have best understood the tragedies Tamthir faced, although the difference in their character, and how they responded to their tragedies are so different. Athol pointing out that Zade isn't that into her (is that how he is so like Zach at times...), seeing it here, after his Cyltan blush...they really are emphasizing the homosexual subtext in this end scene here. Still trying to rub his successes in his "sister"'s face I see. I guess he has changed entirely here. Also, I wonder if it is just the context, or if it is slightly different from other Athol happy faces (like the slight difference I pointed out above), but this "happy" face seems a little forced... Don't worry Theo, after that blush, I am sure you can find plenty of fan fiction of that. And much more than that... Next time Lyttia not only joins us, but ascends to new levels of brathood. In the meantime take better care than I did with this chapter, and stay as safe as my units managed to anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites
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