Geoffrey's Charge

[Anouleth]

Does anyone know where I could find a turn-by-turn walkthrough for Max BEXP?

[Interceptor]

It's hard to do a Turn by Turn on this one, since much of what happens is somewhat random. It is also somewhat difficult dependent (a bit different on HM than NM). I have a list of tips that I came up with a million years ago, I don't have it handy though.

Basically you want to have Geoffrey land on the Arms Scroll square on Turn 2. If you can get there with the CRKs running interference, you can block off the lower 2/3rds and work on the top part. Difficulty there is mostly the Horseslayer guy. Keep in mind that Kieran can OHKO the boss door with a poleaxe, and that he has a Bond support with Geoff to cut crits for both of them. Etc.

Trial and error for this one.

EDIT: I found my post elsewhere on the internets. It's not the best version, but it's good enough and I don't feel like fixing it again.

Here's something that I posted for getting max BEXP in Normal mode. The difference in Hard Mode is largely that you can't rely on Battle Saves for the guy with the Horseslayer, so I'd advise using Marcia w/her own Horseslayer to take him out. One advantage that you have in HM over NM is that the enemies don't die so easily. Good luck with it, so far it sounds like you have the right idea. I usually go for max BEXP in Hard Mode even though the BEXP is worth much less, and use something pretty similar to this.

- Don't deploy Astrid, we're not using her for this.

- Give everyone a bronze weapon that they can use.

- Make sure that people have at least one 1-2 range weapon as well.

- Vulneraries all around, and suggest Concoctions for Geoff and Kieran.

- Geoff needs a strong lance. You can use the Brave if you want, it makes this easier.

- Kieran needs a strong axe, and at least one Steel Poleax (for the door).

- Begin.

- The overall goal here is to not put your units in a position where they can get surrounded, or put the enemy units in a position where their only option is to suicide on one of your CRKs. Geoffrey is the worst at this, he can ORKO even with a Bronze Lance. Only equip weapons on people if they cannot ORKO, or if it is otherwise safe to do so.

- On the first Turn, use Direct to have the yellow units run up to the boss door. You may want to adjust the Direct point to your taste. Their function is to absorb hits and take up space. You don't need to use them if you don't want, but it makes it easier.

- Move the CRKs ahead. I prefer to leave Danved and Malakov behind, in thickets, unequipped. Together they can keep 8 guys busy for the rest of the map.

- Make sure that the units stay touching each other. It's tough to describe, but if two CRKs are next to each other, they can pass through and it's harder to get boxed in.

- Marcia needs to fly around and run interference. Always keep her back to a fence or a tree, so that she can escape if need be. Unequip her, obviously. She's an enemy magnet. Watch out for the bow knight, though. Marcia should never be going into the top third of the map.

- Work Geoff and Kieran up to the boss doorway, making as much progress in one turn as you can. Use the ally screen if possible. If you get boxed in, feel free to kill a unit or two, but be very careful about leaving a weapon equipped on Enemy Phase. Kieran should kill if possible, since he can fail to ORKO.

- A strategy that I briefly toyed with but never perfected is to have Geoff rescue Danved so that he doesn't double. Makes a pacifist run easier, in theory.

- When you get to the top third, watch out for the enemy with the horseslayer. He's in front of the door to the northwest. Either Battlesave first, or let the NPCs lure him out and then either 1-2 range him to death or Brave Lance him.

- Kieran can kill the door in a single shot with a Poleax. Don't use Geoff for the door. If you want the Speedwing, hang around for a couple turns so that the Halberdier jumps down to play.

- Let the boss come to you. Those archers with longbows are really nasty. Once you kill the boss, and are satisfied with item collection and the number of the enemies on the map (if you look at the strat overview, you can see how many enemies are left without having to count manually), Seize and be done with the map.

Edited March 1, 2010 by Interceptor

[Original Alear]

I'm afraid I don't. I don't think there would be an absolutely perfect turn-by-turn walkthrough in any case. There's too many variables involving hit rate; a character you'd normally use to break the door or something like that might need to heal. If someone else posts up a turn-by-turn, feel free to refer to that, but here are my suggestions:

-Make sure all your characters have vulneraries. Geoff and kieran should probably have concoctions or elixers. Makalov and Devdan probably don't need weapons, but you can give them some if you want.

-Having kieran, geoffrey or marcia w/ stat transfers helps a lot, especially on Geoff IMO. Def, spd (he's normally doubled by tashoria), and HP give him a wider window to eat a critical from the boss if he has to, and that means you might be able to take off turns you'd normally have to spend using healing items. (Tash doesn't get one rounded by the brave lance, right??)

-If you're on hard, have the yellow allies target geoffrey each turn. Leave Astrid out. Geoff or kieran to kill enemies.

-If you're on normal or easy, just have the yellow allies flee to the bottom left. Advance geoff, kieran, marcia, makalov unequipped in a box of ownage - they should have enough dodge and defense to make it, and you don't have to worry about enemy units getting killed by counters or anything.

-Either way, once you get to the top you should have dev, mak and any yellow units left block up the little hole in the center of the fence. You shouldn't have to worry about any guys working their way in further.

-Give marcia the horseslayer to kill the enemy cavalier (or paladin? don't remember) w/ a horseslayer.

I don't think I've ever gotten the max amount on HM, but I can definitely get 45+ like this.

Basically you want to have Geoffrey land on the Arms Scroll square on Turn 2. If you can get there with the CRKs running interference, you can block off the lower 2/3rds and work on the top part. Difficulty there is mostly the Horseslayer guy. Keep in mind that Kieran can OHKO the boss door with a poleaxe, and that he has a Bond support with Geoff to cut crits for both of them. Etc.

Do you usually do HM w/out the NPC CRKs? Also, he just said BEXP so he can probably forget about the arms scroll, but he should definitely go for the wing if he can.

Never thought of the bond support. However, do those actually work? SF says:

• The bonus is to both Critical and Dodge (AKA Critical Evade).
• Bond supports cannot be removed.
• A-rank supports from Path of Radiance (via Transfer Data) will manifest as Bond supports, with a bonus of +5, in this game.

But when I've tested it, I don't see "dodge" in the character's stat screen go up by 5/10, even though crit updates accordingly.

Edited March 1, 2010 by SeverIan

[Interceptor]

I don't think I've ever gotten the max amount on HM, but I can definitely get 45+ like this.

This is what I usually recommend to people trying to do this. Getting 50 is possible, but a bit luck-based. Shooting for 45+ though, that's kinda easy by comparison, and it's still plenty of BEXP.

Speedwing is possible, but also luck-based. The Halberdier does come down to play, but it can be a little dicey depending on your assets at this point. It is usually worth killing him off even if it means you lose out on a few extra guys.

[Interceptor]

The bond support DOES actually work, it just doesn't show up on the character screen for whatever reason. You'll see it in battle.

And yeah, I usually use the NPCs in HM. But in HM, the BEXP does a lot less so I don't go crazy with it, I mostly try to get the Scroll and the Speedwing.

[Anouleth]

Yeah, I want to get the Scroll and Speedwing. And this is NM. I wouldn't bother on HM.

-If you're on normal or easy, just have the yellow allies flee to the bottom left. Advance geoff, kieran, marcia, makalov unequipped in a box of ownage - they should have enough dodge and defense to make it, and you don't have to worry about enemy units getting killed by counters or anything.

-Either way, once you get to the top you should have dev, mak and any yellow units left block up the little hole in the center of the fence. You shouldn't have to worry about any guys working their way in further.

I tried this, but my units just end up getting surrounded and being stuck.

But thanks for all the advice, I'll have another go at it tomorrow.

(I would just have Danved/Geoffrey kill everything, but they get so little EXP from kills it feels like a waste.)

[Original Alear]

Hmm, NM? From what I remember, it's tougher to deal with the boxed-in parts without killing off a fair number of guys. On the other side, once you get to the top-third of the map, the enemies aren't as tough which means you probably don't need to kill as many in order to guarantee your survival each turn.

Well, I'm pretty sure if you block your yellow units around the PC CRKs, they will kill tons of your enemies on enemy phase since they are pretty strong compared to the unpromoted guys at this point. (whereas on HM they aren't doing that much besides absorbing hits) You'll want to direct them to the bottom left, otherwise enemy units will stick on them.

If you're having problems getting boxed in, are you sure that you are keeping your units next to each other? You might not be able to move every unit at their max move range every turn.

To clarify, you WILL have to kill some units when you get boxed. For instance, in the second third of the map there's a part where it gets very narrow, and enemy units WILL get you stuck as you move along. Keep in mind that any enemies over 50 arent' going to add to your EXP at all in any case. You want to have geoff kill whatever unit is necessary, and then use kieran to trade-off so geoff is unequipped. (they should be next to each other until the top 1/3 so this shouldn't be a problem). On NM you probably don't even have to do this with Geoff - I bet Kieran can easily manage some one-rounding here.

By the way, I think Tashoria moves on HM at least and he might on NM and EM as well, once the door is open. You can use that to your advantage, and position Geoff back a few spaces so the archers can't hit him.

- Move the CRKs ahead. I prefer to leave Danved and Malakov behind, in thickets, unequipped. Together they can keep 8 guys busy for the rest of the map.

You might try this. I normally use them to wall the area between the second and third part of the stage so that you can take out a couple units (namely, speedwing halb) without getting a bunch more killed in the process. But on NM this might not even be necessary. You might be able to use kieran to do it and handle the top-half stuff with geoff only.

Edited March 1, 2010 by SeverIan

[Anouleth]

I just finished it. I got the Speedwing, Arms Scroll, and completed it with 56 enemies remaining in 11 turns (I finished off 2 enemies on the last turn for more EXP, so it's really 54).

All the advice here was really useful. I had to RNG abuse to keep Danved and Astrid alive... even on a thicket, Astrid gets 3HKOed at 30-40 display hit, and Danved ended up being the plug for the Arms Scroll chokepoint.

My main issue was simply the first turn. If everyone isn't placed correctly, the enemies just mob you and you need to kill to advance. This chapter would be impossible to do this way if the Knights didn't canto away after attacking.

[Interceptor]

56 enemies left on Turn 11, plus all items, that is pretty impressive. I usually bite the bullet and take a less than 50 clear on Turn 5, but looking at the reqs for BEXP, I was clearly being far too conservative. I am pretty surprised that you used Astrid, though.

I agree about the first turn. I'd say that Turns 1 and 2 basically dictate whether you will succeed or fail at max BEXP.

[Original Alear]

All the advice here was really useful. I had to RNG abuse to keep Danved and Astrid alive... even on a thicket, Astrid gets 3HKOed at 30-40 display hit, and Danved ended up being the plug for the Arms Scroll chokepoint.

Ah. I usually don't even bring her on HM. On NM and EM I run her to the bottom left space and have the entire yellow force surrounding her. Usually 1 enemy (I think a warrior) ends up attacking the yellow force so I figure I can use her to take hits if the enemy manages to kill all 2 range yellow units.

My main issue was simply the first turn. If everyone isn't placed correctly, the enemies just mob you and you need to kill to advance. This chapter would be impossible to do this way if the Knights didn't canto away after attacking.

So did you get through the first and second sections of the map without kills??

[Anouleth]

Ah. I usually don't even bring her on HM. On NM and EM I run her to the bottom left space and have the entire yellow force surrounding her. Usually 1 enemy (I think a warrior) ends up attacking the yellow force so I figure I can use her to take hits if the enemy manages to kill all 2 range yellow units.

I put her on a thicket to the left. Occupies 3 enemies... but she has like a 4-5% chance of dying on any given turn.

So did you get through the first and second sections of the map without kills??

I think I needed to kill one guy on the second turn.