Shining Force II Super Mode Playthrough

[Narga_Rocks]

Like herself? She can heal herself and still get the exp.

Pretty sure she'll only get 1 exp if she's at full hp before doing that.

And I think my most hated enemy is the goblin archers due to terrain ignoring abilities. The flying stuff I can expect them to fly. The archers, not so much. I don't always remember.

And does anyone else try to force the blaze 2 bats to attack at 2 range rather than 1 range due to their massive melee attack power and the games love of unexpected doubles/crits/heavy attacks? I'm pretty sure it's impossible for them to double attack with blaze and while crits can actually happen, they don't cause enough of a damage spike to OHKO anything anyway.

And I'm still burning through her entire supply of MP by like two thirds through a map. Like battle 8. Had to use a couple of herbs to prepare for the final enemies. Well, battle 10 wasn't so bad. If not for an annoying move order I would have won that without burning through all her mp.

[Colonel M]

Yeah, Battle 8 is getting annoying as hell. I think I'm going to try to split the team up with Kiwi going the bottom route for absorbing the Goblin / Green Ooze.

[Narga_Rocks]

I hate this game sometimes. At least in RD you can anticipate possible crits or doubles and arrange to not have that happen. I hate getting to the boss (who happens to 2HKO my entire team if he doesn't simply OHKO) and having him decide to double. When even Jaha or Peter would be KOd by that, you know you are screwed if he decides to hit the "I win" button that moment. Battle 13 is really screwing with me.

I'm thinking of just abusing save states so this crap doesn't affect me but I don't really want to. It feels better if I just restart battles from the beginning rather than reset until the game decides not to hit the "I win" button.

At least Fire Emblem doesn't give the enemies an "I win" button. Or you could say it does but at least the game warns you it exists and if you really want you could play in such a way that the enemy can't actually press that button. Just attack that enemy with a unit that doesn't face crit, or use a unit with nihil, or something like that. There is always a safe method. Except perhaps fe5.

Edited May 8, 2010 by Narga_Rocks

[Colonel M]

[spoiler=Lunch Time!]Battle 8

Ah, South Parmecia. The first battle is rather tedious just because a lot of new things happen. I don't get how Hunter Goblins are much more durable than regular Goblins. Huh. Unfortunately I have to do this stupid backwards c route in order to clear the battle. Going north is suicide. Splitting up is suicide. You don't have enough power between single units to take these guys down in two hits. The Green Ooze is probably the closest ones, and even then it can be 3HKOes. The good news is if you aren't Kazin or Sarah, your durability should be ok. There's quite a bit of terrain to use (so just make sure you stay the hell off of the 0% Terrain, or the "Death Zone" I call it). Obviously use it to traverse forward as effectively as possible.

Kiwi had to lure the Goblin that lagged behind closer to the team. So after I beat the Witch and the Hunter Goblin, the other putz Goblin was alive. . It's alright though, I got him eventually! Still, playing this map quickly is okay, but I'd still take a little precaution with it.

Bowie (8.91) - 23 HP | 10 MP | 22 Atk | 12 Def | 12 Agi
Sarah (7.63) - 17 HP | 18 MP | 16 Atk | 10 Def | 11 Agi
- Heal 2
- Detox
Chester (11.54) - 25 HP | 27 Atk | 17 Def | 17 Agi
Jaha (9.68) - 20 HP | 26 Atk | 19 Def | 15 Agi
Kazin (9.36) - 19 HP | 25 MP | 15 Atk | 11 Def | 18 Agi
- Blaze 2
- Muddle
Slade (10.58) - 17 HP | 24 Atk | 15 Def | 15 Agi
Kiwi (7.59) - 8 HP | 16 Atk | 23 Def | 10 Agi

[spoiler=The Messengers from Granseal]Battle 9

*Jaw drops at 32 Atk*

What my friend, Narga, said about luring these guys to hit 2 range is the best idea. Granted, I wouldn't want to take a close combat hit from this guy. 32 Atk? 32 Atk!?! Blaze 2 isn't as threatening as it seems. It can 2HKO Jaha, but units such as Chester and Bowie are 3HKOed by the attack. Nothing to worry about.

I had a lot of dumb resets because the Hunter Goblin decided to nearly double attack each time someone got Blaze 2'd. Chester thankfully can take such a situation as that, so I take advantage of it. Basically mash everything up close and attempt to help Bowie a little bit. Granted he didn't take a mooch kill all the time. After you clear the first section, the Green Ooze, Witch, Vampire Bat, and Goblin are a bit easier to handle. The Green Ooze was taken out with Slade + Bowie. The Vampire Bat was drawn in then taken out. Then the Witch. Finally the Goblin, who was too stupid to realize he takes terrain penalties.

Bowie (10.85) - 27 HP | 11 MP | 25 Atk | 14 Def | 14 Agi
Sarah (8.19) - 18 HP | 20 MP | 17 Atk | 11 Def | 12 Agi
- Heal 2
- Detox
Chester (12.21) - 27 HP | 28 Atk | 18 Def | 18 Agi
Jaha (11.50) - 22 HP | 28 Atk | 22 Def | 17 Agi
Kazin (11.59) - 20 HP | 27 MP | 16 Atk | 12 Def | 19 Agi
- Blaze 2
- Muddle
Slade (11.53) - 18 HP | 28 Atk | 16 Def | 16 Agi
Kiwi (7.64)
Peter (9.22) - 22 HP | 26 Atk | 16 Def | 12 Agi

[spoiler=Saving Polca Village]Battle 10

Now we get May the Archer! Well on the bright side: hitting the Vampire Bats isn't as difficult anymore! She's also useful just for the 2 range alone. Also her Atk, while lower than most of the force, is still enough for the job with my other overkill offensive units. The two Goblins + Hunter Goblin should be simple to take out at this point. The Vampire Bats should be lured 2 range. One of them I screwed up and got Luke + Chester caught up in a Blaze 2, but nevertheless they stood to tell many tales. The Witch + Dark Dwarf can be a scary combo, but it's best to take advantage of the Dark Dwarf's weakness: its 4 Move. After the Witch is lured, just destroy her. Speaking of the Witch, she didn't drop the Power Ring on me. So I had to pay 3000 Gold for it instead. Balls.

Bowie (12.61) - 30 HP | 12 MP | 27 Atk | 16 Def | 16 Agi
Sarah (8.95) - 18 HP | 20 MP | 17 Atk | 11 Def | 12 Agi
- Heal 2
- Detox
Chester (12.57) - 27 HP | 28 Atk | 18 Def | 18 Agi
Jaha (12.38) _ 23 HP | 29 Atk | 23 Def | 18 Agi
Kazin (12.22) - 21 HP | 29 MP | 17 Atk | 13 Def | 20 Agi
- Blaze 2
- Muddle
Slade (12.80) - 19 HP | 29 Atk | 17 Def | 17 Agi
Kiwi (7.64)
Peter (9.22) - 22 HP | 26 Atk | 16 Def | 12 Agi

I've pretty much given up on Kiwi. Not that I put much faith in him in the first place, but his bases are just too atrocious. He's barely making it as some random lure since his 5 Mov still gets in the way and even with his monstrous 23 Def it looks puny to the other enemies that are starting to climb on offense. Oh, not to mention that Blaze / Freeze might as well be a near-death or death situation. If the numbers roll right, he's a downed turtle. Definitely not climbing tiers.

So comments on the Force so far?

Bowie - Feels like FE9 Ike, in a sense. Required to be used, nothing horrible, but at the same time nothing spectacular. 6 Mov is pretty nifty since it means that he can at least reach an enemy in time. His gargantuan HP is great for sponging magical damage too, and it certainly helps his durability. I think he's getting my Power Ring atm, but May might be able to make good use of it too.

Sarah - Level-wise, this doesn't surprise me one bit. I'm a little scared actually as to when she can even hit Level 20. I'm having her heal at almost every sane opportunity, but she runs out of MP or she can't reach without Heal 2. She's definitely pivotal at the very least though. I'm just a little shocked at how much lower in levels she is in comparison to everyone else.

Chester - At first he looked a bit mediocre. Then, well, I don't know what happened but dayum. He practically holds the best offense, best movement, and even has a healthy amount of durability with him. Definitely a monster. 2 Range on top of it? YEAH!

Jaha - Jaha certainly isn't disappointing all the way. His stats are pretty awesome when you figure that he's the most durable unit on your team and his offense is pretty high. His 5 Mov is a small drawback though. He reaches the enemies, obviously, but it really sucks that I can't use that durability more often. On the bright side: no one is dying in one hit unless you're Sarah / Kazin. His low Agility is fixable early, so that's the good news: I can hopefully use him to lure things from time to time at the start of battle.

Kazin - Blaze 2 is pretty awesome. Hitting multiple units, doing near-consistent damage, and being 100% accurate is pretty awesome. His MP isn't even that great of a drawback either. He seems to have just enough MP to cast what I need. Of course there are times he runs a little dry, but in the end it's all worth it. Kazin was also MVP against the Dark Smokes.

Slade - The Power Water was an excellent investment. Not being completely barred by terrain and carrying offense (with the Power Water in him) near Jaha and Chester is great to have. His durability could obviously be better, but it's sufficient enough to some extent. He's not someone that likes "random events", but otherwise he's doing much better than I thought he would earlygame. Definitely a powerful contributor with that Movement too.

Kiwi - Sorry Kiwi, you suck. I don't even think investing a level in you is good. 16 Atk also sucks balls even if you were able to grow 2 Atk per level up. Not to mention Magic screws you to hell and back. Even your 23 Def isn't enough to take 1 damage all the time like it did in NM. He looks to be the worst character overall still, in the end.

No comments on May yet. I just got her. :P

P.S. I have Cheerful Bread, Warrior's Pride, and Bright Honey sitting in my inventory. I think Cheerful Bread I might wait on. Bright Honey is going to Slade to help him out with spellcasting. I think we all know where the Warrior's Pride is going once a certain someone hits a bit closer to promotion.

The stats were taken after I beat the battles and bought the weapons. Sorry, the Atk levels will look a little inflated because of this. >_>;

@Narga: Yeah, I know how you feel. This just feels like a psuedo-FE5 / FE6. Just have to go balls to the wall and hope for the best.

Edited June 4, 2010 by Colonel M

[Narga_Rocks]

Now we get May the Archer! Well on the bright side: hitting the Vampire Bats isn't as difficult anymore! She's also useful just for the 2 range alone. Also her Atk, while lower than most of the force, is still enough for the job with my other overkill offensive units. The two Goblins + Hunter Goblin should be simple to take out at this point. The Vampire Bats should be lured 2 range. One of them I screwed up and got Luke + Chester caught up in a Blaze 2, but nevertheless they stood to tell many tales. The Witch + Dark Dwarf can be a scary combo, but it's best to take advantage of the Dark Dwarf's weakness: its 4 Move. After the Witch is lured, just destroy her. Speaking of the Witch, she didn't drop the Power Ring on me. So I had to pay 3000 Gold for it instead. Balls.

Did you kill her with someone that had a full inventory? It won't drop, then. The killer has to have space. If they had space, the game bugged, I guess. And I'm wasting good stuff on the turtle in the hopes of making him useful. When he levels he gets +2 def more than some other people. Trouble is, his mt even with the power ring is pretty bad. And I gave him the bread to prevent 1HKOd from blaze2 and freeze. Actually, it went okay because one time he got hit for 9 damage from freeze and then 1 damage from some random thing and he lived! Amazing. 11 hp is still horrid, though, especially now that he has 25 def against ~40 mt enemies. There isn't much he can do, and his starting location always seems to be away from the enemies. On the other hand, he reliably goes last, so that can be used to my advantage sometimes, I suppose.

And it turns out that the faq I was using is wrong about there being a boss in battle 13 and thus my "draw the boss and rush him while ignoring nearby enemies that won't matter when he's dead" strategy was a complete and utter failure. At least I know this now and will have to adjust for it in the future. If I have to rout it just means that I can go down the east stairs where the enemies are more spaced out. Middle stairs = death and left stairs works some of the time.

And why can't this game be like FE. Imagine for a moment if every time you wanted to switch Miledy from the killer lance to the javelin that you had to tell her to equip the javelin before attacking. Wouldn't you forget sometimes? I love in fe how you go to 2 range and the game gives you the option to attack and can figure out how to switch weapons on its own. The number of times I've had Chester go to 2 range and then I hit "A" and suddenly his turn is done... I hate it. He's supposed to pull out his 2-range and attack the bugger, not sit there and say "hi".

[Colonel M]

Did you kill her with someone that had a full inventory? It won't drop, then. The killer has to have space. If they had space, the game bugged, I guess.

Honestly, I played so fast that I forgot. @_@; I don't want to watch the video to be honest. The 3K wasn't a major killer. Okay so it drained 3/4 of my funds. You get a fair amount in this game anyway. If worse came to worse I could attempt to sell a Mithril. The main reason why my inventory is full is for two reasons:

1) Lack of a Caravan

2) Emergency Medical Herbs / Seeds

Except I haven't pulled those out often, which is rather shocking.

And I'm wasting good stuff on the turtle in the hopes of making him useful. When he levels he gets +2 def more than some other people. Trouble is, his mt even with the power ring is pretty bad. And I gave him the bread to prevent 1HKOd from blaze2 and freeze. Actually, it went okay because one time he got hit for 9 damage from freeze and then 1 damage from some random thing and he lived! Amazing. 11 hp is still horrid, though, especially now that he has 25 def against ~40 mt enemies. There isn't much he can do, and his starting location always seems to be away from the enemies. On the other hand, he reliably goes last, so that can be used to my advantage sometimes, I suppose.

The cool thing about Kiwi is that he can "float" after promotion. I guess my major problem is whenever I look at Kiwi and think about favoring him it just doesn't feel right. I mean, yeah, I could give the Cheerful Bread and the Power Water on Kiwi. But why not on Slade? He doesn't even completely need the Cheerful Bread (it'd just maybe help him from being 2HKOed once in a while), just the Power Water to boost his offense near the right levels. He's even got the Movement to make use of it too. Kiwi isn't the only one I'm scared to put investment in though. I'm afraid of putting anything on Chester. I do remember many people ragging on him because of his durability issues later on. Still, I really wonder how freaking terrible it gets. It also is probably easy to fix (keep him as a Paladin and Defense Milk or w/e it is), but I'm going to wait and see what happens. Until then, Chester is definitely being cooperative with me. A large help.

And it turns out that the faq I was using is wrong about there being a boss in battle 13 and thus my "draw the boss and rush him while ignoring nearby enemies that won't matter when he's dead" strategy was a complete and utter failure. At least I know this now and will have to adjust for it in the future. If I have to rout it just means that I can go down the east stairs where the enemies are more spaced out. Middle stairs = death and left stairs works some of the time.

I'm guessing you're using this.

Very odd that the Master Mage isn't a "kill boss" option. I could've sworn he was, but maybe it's been such a while since I've played the game. I guess I'll test it to personally see. I don't completely doubt you: the guide isn't 100% accurate (I was hoping Moogie would put Super Mode Atk stats in and the ?? being filled with actual stats).

And why can't this game be like FE. Imagine for a moment if every time you wanted to switch Miledy from the killer lance to the javelin that you had to tell her to equip the javelin before attacking. Wouldn't you forget sometimes? I love in fe how you go to 2 range and the game gives you the option to attack and can figure out how to switch weapons on its own. The number of times I've had Chester go to 2 range and then I hit "A" and suddenly his turn is done... I hate it. He's supposed to pull out his 2-range and attack the bugger, not sit there and say "hi"

You gotta remember how old this game is. Then again I agree with you: it gets annoying when you accidentally press Defend instead of Item -> Equip -> Attack or Spells -> Pick it -> Choose who to use it on.

Edited May 8, 2010 by Colonel M

[Narga_Rocks]

Honestly, I played so fast that I forgot. @_@; I don't want to watch the video to be honest. The 3K wasn't a major killer. Okay so it drained 3/4 of my funds. You get a fair amount in this game anyway. If worse came to worse I could attempt to sell a Mithril. The main reason why my inventory is full is for two reasons:

1) Lack of a Caravan

2) Emergency Medical Herbs / Seeds

Do you actually get one later on? I know you get this thing later on that lets you arrange party members, but if it does let you store items I can't figure out how.

Except I haven't pulled those out often, which is rather shocking.

I'm too cheap to use them if I can help it. It's all sarah for me. But then I get to a point where I need to get an item and either need to sell an herb for 7 gold or just drop it in order to get something else.

The cool thing about Kiwi is that he can "float" after promotion. I guess my major problem is whenever I look at Kiwi and think about favoring him it just doesn't feel right. I mean, yeah, I could give the Cheerful Bread and the Power Water on Kiwi. But why not on Slade? He doesn't even completely need the Cheerful Bread (it'd just maybe help him from being 2HKOed once in a while), just the Power Water to boost his offense near the right levels. He's even got the Movement to make use of it too. Kiwi isn't the only one I'm scared to put investment in though. I'm afraid of putting anything on Chester. I do remember many people ragging on him because of his durability issues later on. Still, I really wonder how freaking terrible it gets. It also is probably easy to fix (keep him as a Paladin and Defense Milk or w/e it is), but I'm going to wait and see what happens. Until then, Chester is definitely being cooperative with me. A large help.

Woah. Who said anything about wasting a power water on the guy? The ring is transferable and hence I'm not worried about it. If my guys are mostly 2HKOing I think I'll live for now. I can move it elsewhere later. Now, if I really wanted to favour him he'd get the water/wine as well as the ring (and still do about 4 or 5 less damage than most of my better units) but I definitely gave the water to slade before his first battle.

You gotta remember how old this game is. Then again I agree with you: it gets annoying when you accidentally press Defend instead of Item -> Equip -> Attack or Spells -> Pick it -> Choose who to use it on.

Um, it shouldn't be any older than fe4. You could do the same thing there as in other FEs. Walk up to enemy, if any of your weapons are capable of attacking then there will be an attack option (though sometimes annoyingly the default will be talk or heal or something weird), choose attack and if at 2 range select from any 2 range weapons you own, if at 1 range select from any 1 range weapons you own, and attack. Easy as pie.

Edited May 8, 2010 by Narga_Rocks

[Colonel M]

Do you actually get one later on? I know you get this thing later on that lets you arrange party members, but if it does let you store items I can't figure out how.

After the Taros Battle. By the way, have fun with that thing on No Deaths. I know I won't.

I'm too cheap to use them if I can help it. It's all sarah for me. But then I get to a point where I need to get an item and either need to sell an herb for 7 gold or just drop it in order to get something else.

Medical Herbs are insanely cheap. 10 Gold for extra 10 HP when Sarah is out of range or you have nothing better to do. The Seeds I might give you since they have a rather hefty price tag.

Woah. Who said anything about wasting a power water on the guy? The ring is transferable and hence I'm not worried about it. If my guys are mostly 2HKOing I think I'll live for now. I can move it elsewhere later. Now, if I really wanted to favour him he'd get the water/wine as well as the ring (and still do about 4 or 5 less damage than most of my better units) but I definitely gave the water to slade before his first battle.

Don't worry, I wasn't pointing and calling you a witch. Some people have used the Power Water on Kiwi before (you wouldn't believe what some people do with favoring units. Using Claude...). On the bright side Kiwi can get extra Power from using the Ring, so at least you can make him pass offensively.

Um, it shouldn't be any older than fe4. You could do the same thing there as in other FEs. Walk up to enemy, if any of your weapons are capable of attacking then there will be an attack option (though sometimes annoyingly the default will be talk or heal or something weird), choose attack and if at 2 range select from any 2 range weapons you own, if at 1 range select from any 1 range weapons you own, and attack. Easy as pie.

Yeah, the mechanic sucks ass. Then again a lot of the SF mechanics need a serious revamp. RotDD was the right direction at the wrong time (it should've happened back at SFII / CD IMO).

[Narga_Rocks]

Kazin has got to be the laziest 20 Agility unit ever. Jaha and his 17 went before him. Of course, I wouldn't care had an 18 speed Zombie not decided it wanted to go before 20 speed Kazin and OHKO my sarah. jerks. I can live with a 1 speed differential going the other way. It ticks me off when it screws over any strategy I may be contemplating, but I can sorta live with it. There is no excuse for them making it possible for a 3 speed difference to go the other way. No excuse. And that 2 speed differential is ridiculous, too. I'm thinking of bailing on this entire game and finding the GBA one somewhere so I can play one that is less insistent on screwing you over without at least having the courtesy of telling you first so you can maybe prepare for it. And my right staircase idea takes too long so it's back to hoping for good timing on the left staircase. Middle staircase can get you swarmed by like 5+ enemies at once with half of them able to easily 2HKO. Easily enough that one of them + one of the weaker enemies can still 2HKO you.

I really don't like battle 13. It makes me rage.

If I could accept the temporary death thing then I suppose I'd have an easier time. Might finish a couple of maps with 3 or 4 units, but at least I'd complete them.

And what's with 40 atk Zombies, anyway? Couldn't they at least be called something else? Zombies are supposed to be weak. Anyway, it should be more like D&D. If they absolutely must make the order random, how about doing a few things to make it more bearable?

a: roll it at the beginning of battle and keep it the same for every single round

b: have the option to delay a unit's turn so that your priest doesn't go before all the enemies attack or so that your strongest attackers don't go before the enemy gets in range (this idea would of course result in the order becoming permanent barring other delays in the following rounds, just like D&D)

c: TELL ME THE ORDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Every single one of these are options in D&D. Well, I suppose the last is only if the guy in charge is nice, but it's still more predictable. After the first round of combat you at least know the earliest an enemy will activate. It may decide to wait a bit and then move, but at least you can count on one thing:

If it didn't go before your priestCleric last turn, IT WON'T GO BEFORE IT NEXT TURN.

Edited May 8, 2010 by Narga_Rocks

[grandjackal]

Chapter 13, that battle after visiting Volcanon, right? I know I've ended the battle without having to kill everyone, and if I may say that the mage is not the guy you need to kill, oddly enough. I think it's either the monk or the sniper.

[Colonel M]

Chapter 13, that battle after visiting Volcanon, right? I know I've ended the battle without having to kill everyone, and if I may say that the mage is not the guy you need to kill, oddly enough. I think it's either the monk or the sniper.

Your thinking Battle 12 where the Dark Sniper is your bosskill option. Battle 13 is the Master Mage.

I also did another dry run of Battle 13 where May died to a Dark Sniper. From my perspective the left bridge is the safest alternative. The right one has the Zombie and Evil Cloud. Both ganged up on a unit, even with LE, likely KOes you. 40 and 37 Atk, respectively. The middle path is just asking to get your ass kicked. If you allowed deaths it might not be as absurd.

To be honest, Narga, if you want to do this with deaths, by all means. I think my tier list is going to assume that we're using deaths "efficiently", which also minimizes the haphazard amount of luck in Battles such as 1 and 7. It also makes the Chess and Taros battle much easier to handle. Ill take 2 rounds of Bolt 2 before 2 consecutive attacks from that asshat any day of the week. I'm doing this no-death style because the people at SFC supposedly like to play like that. Which is fine, but obviously deaths can save turns and painful resets overall. I mean, I have Kiwi the Death Fodder. I can't even use him for an efficient strategy such as luring and then dying. Instead he plays Healbot that gains no EXP.

So yeah Narga, if you want to do this with deaths, do so. After all, deaths can be seen as efficient overall sometimes, right? Its not like people can throw the "we're allowing deaths but No Egress / Angel Wing" argument without clearly knowing the major differences between the two.

[Narga_Rocks]

Well, I'm not doing it because you are. I'm doing it because I seem to be treating it like Fire Emblem. If I went and played Bahamut Lagoon right now I'd probably make sure nobody ever dies. And it has a life spell!

Oh well. It's not usually too bad to try and keep everyone alive. Oh, and I guess you must be going faster than me because when I tried going right I didn't move in until I could target that Zombie with enough units to KO it before it could get an attack in. But the single staircase + the single path under the building make it take far too long. And yeah, down the middle staircase lies only death. The left is your golden ticket.

[grandjackal]

Narga, I have to wonder. How often you pack healing items?

Besides, this is nothing. Wait till Willard's Cave. That's going to suck for you. One thing you have to accept in this game Narga is that inevitably, people will die, especially if you're going quick. You're playing on Super, where Colonel has demonstrates that the enemy has the "I Win" button will have you tearing your hair out if you try to get through without a single death. Even worse, another reason Agility is so downplayed is because if the enemy can, the game WILL gyp you and hand the turn over to a unit that is likely to kill whatever's in their range on occasion. I don't mean that as a joke, someone hacked the game and discovered that it will mechanically do that from time to time with it's AI. So just get over the death hurdle.

Also, I might start a RotDD playthrough once I get the game, which should be coming any day now. I would emulate, but screw that. I tried it once and it constantly kept freezing on me, which is absolutely infuriating when it comes to tactics games.

[Narga_Rocks]

You know, I thought battle 14 was going to be easy. First time I tried it I had no problems destroying everything on the way to the final two enemies and wasn't thinking which allowed two enemies to attack Bowie on the same turn.

But now it seems like an extremely painful map where I'm having issues getting past the start and the one time I did I failed when there were 6 enemies left. I have no idea what went so well the first try or what is going so badly now. Makes me really regret not paying more attention that first time, though. Now I have trouble with each group of enemies and it seems on each group I have a >60% chance of failure. And the first group is causing problems about 80% of the attempts. Most attempts someone dies on one of the first ~5 enemies. I had one good attempt going and then Jaha/Bowie decided to move before an enemy that had 1 agility more than them one turn (screwing me over because I would have been able to assault a golem had they let it go first) and then let the enemy go first the next turn (with obviously bad results, especially considering I made a mistake in Jaha's positioning due to forgetting about grass on the side that resulted in even more issues including causing the Golem to move out of range of two of my other attackers).

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I was actually having fun up until chapter 13. Then I had fun again in my first attempt of chapter 14. Now it's pissing me off all over again. Why couldn't they just give me a list of turn order? Letting me select enemies to see their range would be a bonus. Or having a terrain penalty guide somewhere that was actually correct and complete.

This one is dead wrong in places and makes no sense anyway. How can the spot they start on count and give Chester 7 move? They say that his starting position counts and thus he can go two tiles in the desert, but then how is he able to go 7 on normal land? It doesn't work. It's also incomplete because it doesn't explain slade and his differences before and after promotion.

It sorta works if you assume that their starting position = 1 is dead wrong and then round down all the time like in FE. But if you listen to them completely then Chester should move 6 on even terrain and Jaha should go 2 on desert (5 / 1.5 = 3.3333, round to the nearest whole number which is 3, and if his starting position counts as 1 then he can go 2 squares. Anyone with a save of battle 14 should be able to tell you Jaha/sarah/Kazin go 3)

Also I'm fairly certain that land effect is damage x (1 - land effect). so 30% land effect is a 30% reduction in damage rather than an increase of 30% to defence. If I was wrong than Kiwi and his mighty 24 attack would cause 1 damage to things with 19 defence on desert instead of the 3 or 4 he actually causes. 5 * .7 = 3.5. But 19 * 1.3 = 24.7 defence and he should be causing 1 damage all the time. Maybe 2 sometimes.

Oh, and there is no boss of battle 14. One faq says one of the Golems. I killed everything but the final Evil Cloud and had to kill it to end things. Another faq says no boss and I'll go with it on this one and assume that killing the cloud earlier would have no effect.

I used one save state in the Kraken battle after like 2 or 3 turns because what I did for the first 2 or 3 turns was not particularly affected by luck. In the Taros battle I made a save state before encountering Taros and only needed to load once. First attempt I had two non-Bowie units go down to Bolt 2 when Taros was at 5 hp (and if Bowie had've gone first with his 22 agility to its 23 agility as happens so many other times when I don't want it to I would have gotten it first try). Next attempt was cleaner and had no problems. I didn't see much point in going through all the random enemies when I already did it once without having Taros attack me in the process.

Edited May 11, 2010 by Narga_Rocks

[Colonel M]

[spoiler=Hobgoblin was Here; Bowie is a Loser!]Battle 11

I had Bowie, Chester, and Kazin go on one side. Everyone else went the other way. The enemies are getting too easy I think. The Dark Dwarves are kind of threats, but the Hunter Goblin is more of a pest than he is a threat. Jaha is easier to position in here, so I used him offensively a bit more. Chester and Bowie drew in the Vampire Bats to be taken out. The Witch and Hobgoblin were the next threats. Had Jaha pull those two in, then took them both out just as quickly. The Vampire Bat was the last unit left standing only to be taken out very quickly. Bowie had the Power Ring here, so I made use of it to boost his levels a little.

Bowie (13.40) - 31 HP | 12 MP | 33 Atk | 17 Def | 17 Agi
Sarah (9.59) - 19 HP | 21 MP | 18 Atk | 12 Def | 13 Agi
- Heal 2
- Detox
Chester (13.04) - 28 HP | 29 Atk | 19 Def | 19 Agi
Jaha (13.44) - 24 HP | 30 Atk | 24 Def | 19 Agi
Kazin (12.82) - 21 HP | 29 MP | 17 Atk | 13 Def | 20 Agi
Slade (13.45) - 20 HP | 30 Atk | 18 Def | 18 Agi
Kiwi (7.65)
Peter (9.22) - 22 HP | 26 Atk | 16 Def | 12 Agi
May (12.78) - 20 HP | 26 Atk | 14 Def | 16 Agi

[spoiler=Investigation of Volcanon]Battle 12

Congratulations Bowie. You officially have the best Atk on the team without the Power Ring! I give the Power Ring on Sarah to help her out catching up in EXP. Not sure if she's going to use it in Battle 13. It looks pretty frightening with all those Zombies and I need as much offense as possible.

To show how easy this battle was, I almost had it down on my first try. Unfortunately the big Kiwi got drawn in by the Witch and her Freeze, so I had to restart and try again. Jaha didn't draw in both Hobgoblins. Yeah, supposedly they're too stupid to know that both of them could attack Jaha at once, so the first one blocks the second one from attacking me. What a dumb AI, amirite? Oh well, this battle is so easy that I could almost do it with my eyes closed. The Evil Spirit probably won't come close to attacking you since the Death Archer can be drawn in. So basically ganged up on him and his buddy Dark Monk and finished the battle. Good thing this was a boss kill. I'd be bored to tears.

Bowie (14.66) - 32 HP | 12 MP | 33 Atk | 18 Def | 18 Agi
Sarah (11.07) - 21 HP | 23 MP | 27 Atk | 14 Def | 15 Agi
- Heal 2
- Detox
- Blast
Chester (13.63) - 28 HP | 29 Atk | 19 Def | 19 Agi
Jaha (14.07) - 25 HP | 31 Atk | 25 Def | 20 Agi
Kazin (13.43) - 22 HP | 30 MP | 21 Atk | 14 Def | 21 Agi
- Blaze 2
- Muddle
- Dispel
Slade (14.21) - 32 Atk | 19 Def | 19 Agi
Kiwi - Same
Peter - Same
May (12.88) - 20 HP | 26 Atk | 14 Def | 16 Agi

[spoiler=Betrayal: Volcanon and Polca Village's "Thanks"]Battle 13

Bowie had the Quick Ring. Peter had the Power Ring.

I take the bosskill option. Right side is suicide pretty much. 37 Atk and 40 Atk consecutively? No thanks. Middle might be possible with deaths allowed. The left path is the safest path here. Granted, there isn't that much to clear. The first round is a Zombie and Hobgoblin. Just avoid the Zombie's range and you're good. After that, again, stay out of the Zombie's range and let the Death Archer attack you. The key to this battle is just killing the Zombies as quickly as possible and moving in on them after they move near your units. After that, storm the bottom of the bridge, wait for the Master Mage, and kill him off. This battle shouldn't be too difficult once you realize enemy placement and such. Not much to discuss strategy-wise.

Bowie (15.60) - 34 HP | 13 MP | 35 Atk | 19 Def | 24 Agi
Sarah (11.70) - 21 HP | 23 MP | 22 Atk | 14 Def | 15 Agi
- Heal 2
- Detox
- Blast
Chester (14.31) - 30 HP | 34 Atk | 20 Def | 20 Agi
Jaha (14.07) - 25 HP | 35 Atk | 25 Def | 20 Agi
Kazin (14.72) - 23 HP | 32 MP | 21 Atk | 15 Def | 22 Agi
- Blaze 2
- Muddle
- Dispel
Slade (15.50) - 22 HP | 38 Atk | 20 Def | 20 Agi
Peter (10.67) - 23 HP | 34 Atk | 18 Def | 13 Agi
May (13.45) - 21 HP | 32 Atk | 15 Def | 17 Agi
Gerhalt (13.21) - 23 HP | 36 Atk | 21 Def | 20 Agi[/Code]

[spoiler=Why Am I In The Desert?][b]Battle 14[/b]
Gerhalt had Quick Ring, Peter had Power Ring.
This battle just sucks for some reason.  "Desert".  All that needs to be said.  3 Mov Zombies.  Golems with 43 Atk.  4 Mov Death Monks.  What the hell?  I had a perfect round going then Peter got counterattacked.  Restart.  Moving north and sort of "sitting there" helps.  I had Jaha / Peter / Slade handle the east side at least.  Chester and May sort of suck here, but they did contribute nevertheless.
[code]Bowie (16.21) - 36 HP | 13 MP | 37 Atk | 21 Def | 20 Agi
Sarah (12.69) - 22 HP | 24 MP | 23 Atk | 15 Def | 16 Agi
- Heal 2
- Detox
- Blast
Chester (15.10) - 32 HP | 35 Atk | 21 Def | 21 Agi
Jaha (15.53) - 26 HP | 36 Atk | 26 Def | 21 Agi
Kazin (16.51) - 25 HP | 36 MP | 23 Atk | 17 Def | 25 Agi
- Blaze 2
- Muddle
- Dispel
Slade (17.27) - 25 HP | 40 Atk | 22 Def | 23 Agi
Peter (12.75) - 26 HP | 38 Atk | 20 Def | 15 Agi
May (14.63) - 22 HP | 33 Atk | 16 Def | 18 Agi
Gerhalt (14.64) - 24 HP | 37 Atk | 22 Def | 26 Agi
Luke (14.23) - 29 HP | 30 Atk | 19 Def | 22 Agi

Edited June 4, 2010 by Colonel M

[grandjackal]

I don't usually find the desert a problem, but then again it's probably because I don't tend to play Super mode.

and use Luke more seriously, pack herbs and stuff on him so he can act as a flying healer

[Narga_Rocks]

1 battles from Kraken. The map where the generic enemies are tougher than the boss even though the boss moves twice per turn and has an atk stat 10 higher than the strongest other thing.

[grandjackal]

Yeah, the kraken battle is weird like that.

Also, check out my new RotDD playthrough! It's super nifty!

[Narga_Rocks]

Also, check out my new RotDD playthrough! It's super nifty!

I read yours. Cool.

As for the chess battle, can you use fewer than 12 units at a time? Probably.

If not, then I think Kiwi is essential for it. Hear me out. If you don't have Kiwi but have 12 other guys then Kazin is directly beneath where the king goes for his first of two moves. If you drop one of the first 5 units (4 not including Bowie) then slade gets to be directly below that spot and he (promoted) actually has the move to draw the king. surround and butcher. Fin.

sarah needs the early agility booster and a speed ring to have a chance of going before the queens, though, and you'll need it for healing slade from the King's Blaze 2. Either that or she must be so slow that she goes after the King's second attack. slade actually needs to be one closer than the King's max range with Blaze 2, though, for some reason. King Blazes, next turn a Queen may attack slade and perhaps KO if the Blaze 2 wasn't healed. Then you need a bunch of units that are not 2HKOd by Blaze 2 and have them all bunched up and hopefully the King will be an idiot and blaze them rather than KO slade. As you get turns, attack him. Probably going to be a 7HKO or something insane like that, but what can you do?

But I hate being "efficient" sometimes. I feel like I'm losing so much exp. And it was a 3 turn anyway because one of my units (forget which) missed the King and so sarah had to KO on turn 3. Good thing she goes first, eh? Only takes +4 from the stat booster and the +5 ring. Yeah, I know other units are capable of getting beyond 35 agility with just the ring. I don't care. I had her Blast 2 the 6 hp away rather than kick-box the guy. Blast can't miss, right? ~8 damage, in general, won't deal 5. I attacked a queen once. With Luke. The King was already surrounded on all 4 sides.

And I forgot to pre-buy a Robin Arrow for Elric so he's sucking hard with 39 mt right now. May has 49. He'd only be at 44 anyway if I could get him one, though.

At least everyone is either promoted or level 20+. I'm waiting on Chester because he's a douche statistically and I don't have any weapons available for which a Knight needs to be promoted to Paladin to use anyway. Waiting for Rick because of needing a wing to make him a peg.

And Kazin grows worse as Mage than as Wizard but his MP (the main thing) is fine as a mage. Hence, I think since I'm planning to leave him a mage/wizard to use desoul and Muddle that it'll be fine. But then, as we discussed on IRC, Blaze 3 is really bad. I don't get more than 2 enemies in that little 5 square area most of the time and "up to 15 damage" is not much different from Neptun against 2 enemies. But Neptun is so much better when there is only 1 enemy. In fact, with def so high among enemies I find my characters frequently doing under 15 damage with physical attacks, so level 7 sorcerer Kazin getting Neptun is pretty cool.

But then insane speed Wizard Kazin with Desoul may actually be able to get 2 or 3 enemies at a time. If even 1 dies...

[Colonel M]

[spoiler=A Route Back To Grans Island?]Battle 15

Luke had the Power Ring, Peter had the Agility Ring.

This battle isn't too difficult. Pick a side and do work. Draw in that Gargoyle on the left ASAP so that it can be KOed faster. I'd consider taking the left side. I took the right, but you get chocked easily. The Gargoyle is also in a spot where he can't really "reach" you until you least expect it. I killed the Arrow Launcher with Peter I think. Otherwise, this battle really isn't difficult at all. The Power Ring on Luke is a good idea though just to help with extra damage.

Bowie (16.89) - 36 HP | 13 MP | 37 Atk | 21 Def | 20 Agi
Sarah (13.27) - 23 HP | 25 MP | 24 Atk | 16 Def | 17 Agi
Chester (15.55) - 32 HP | 35 Atk | 21 Def | 21 Agi
Jaha (16.50) - 27 HP | 37 Atk | 28 Def | 22 Agi
Kazin (17.62) - 26 HP | 37 MP | 23 Atk | 18 Def | 26 Agi
- Blaze 2
- Muddle
- Dispel
Slade (18.86) - 26 HP | 41 Atk | 23 Def | 24 Agi
Peter (14.41) - 28 HP | 37 Atk | 22 Def | 22 Agi
May (15.04) - 23 HP | 34 Atk | 17 Def | 19 Agi
Gerhalt (15.13) - 25 HP | 38 Atk | 23 Def | 22 Agi
Luke (15.05) - 30 HP | 36 Atk | 20 Def | 23 Agi

[spoiler=You're Kraken Me Up!]Battle 16

lolwutKraken? I've been trolled my entire life, only to find how damn simple this battle is. All it requires is a little Peter getting the Attack boost (as in using the Power Ring on Peter) then having him chip at the Kraken. See if you can draw the Kraken near the placement of your other units in the northeast corner. This helps eliminate it a bit safer. Unfortunately Luke would only do ~4 damage per hit, so the Attack boost wasn't worth it.

Kazin draws in the Leg as well as Jaha. Kazin draws it in so that 2 units can hit it at 1 range, thus Sarah can finish it off. Jaha's is drawn in so May can just 2 range it. Slade goes up north to help out with the Kraken. I recommend him or Bowie since they likely have the most Atk without the Power Ring (provided you give the Power Water on Slade, which I say is the best damn investment earlygame). Bowie and Kazin take on the one leg to have it finished off by Sarah. May just chips on the other Kraken Leg until it dies.

This battle can be over in 5 turns minimum. I did it twice, so I can guarantee everyone else can do it too. This battle is not hard at all. At all.

Bowie (17.17) - 38 HP | 13 MP | 45 Atk | 22 Def | 21 Agi
Sarah (14.00) - 24 HP | 26 MP | 25 Atk | 17 Def | 18 Agi
- Heal 2
- Detox 2
- Blast
Chester (15.55) - 32 HP | 35 Atk | 21 Def | 21 Agi
Jaha (16.50) - 27 HP | 37 Atk | 28 Def | 22 Agi
Kazin (17.72) - 26 HP | 37 MP | 23 Atk | 18 Def | 26 Agi
- Blaze 2
- Muddle
- Dispel
Slade (19.41) - 27 HP | 42 Atk | 24 Def | 25 Agi
Peter (14.77) - 28 HP | 37 Atk | 22 Def | 22 Agi
May (15.78) - 23 HP | 34 Atk | 17 Def | 19 Agi
Gerhalt (15.31) - 25 HP | 38 Atk | 23 Def | 22 Agi
Luke (15.05) - 30 HP | 36 Atk | 20 Def | 23 Agi

I am going to see how I can get Sarah boosted in Levels. To be honest, if she had Blast 2 she'd be alright. It would still be difficult to leave the enemies at that specific HP, but the 2 range is the kicker here. May and Chester are going to be semi-useless again. So will Rick Astley when he joins. I think Kazin might be able to promote by the time we get up to the Secret Book. I'm going to do my best to put the reins on Slade a little bit to help others catch up. Still, he proves himself to be a pretty competent unit overall. Him and Bowie with their high Movement and decent Mov penalties (atm this is Chester's problem) is what helps them both. That's why Jaha looks a little behind. Peter is catching up. He will be slightly behind for a while, but he'll still be getting almost full EXP a kill. I'm not worried otherwise.

Edited June 10, 2010 by Colonel M

[grandjackal]

Very well done indeed.

Also, dn't be too worried about Sarah not being able to promote by the time you kill Taros, just remember that she prefers the Vigor Ball, which is still a ways off. She doesn't mind waiting.

Also, it turns out the save battery on my game IS dead, so there will be no more RotDD, as my file 2 is now fucking up as well.

[Colonel M]

Yeah, the problem is getting it reliably fast enough. Kazin looks good to go for Sorcerer though, which is great. Slade being a little overleveled worries me. He can't kill Golems now since he gets 1 EXP. XD Sucks about your RotDD game, but if it's like the GB carts the battery should be replaceable. You just need to take it out, take it to the store with you, get the battery, reinsert. If it was a DS cart I'd be more pissed.

[grandjackal]

True, but it's still annoying.

And yeah, Golems give shit for EXP.

[Narga_Rocks]

Also, dn't be too worried about Sarah not being able to promote by the time you kill Taros, just remember that she prefers the Vigor Ball, which is still a ways off. She doesn't mind waiting.

Um, not very far. You get one immediately after battle 18, which just so happens to be the Taros battle.

[grandjackal]

WHATEVAH!

Anyways, go check out my SF1 playthrough, since my RotDD cartridge turns out to be defective...