Lunatic Classic Mode Details

[Paperblade]

Since I'm baller, I used an RNG to decide My Unit's details.

I got a Female Mage with +4HP, +1 Defense, and... Luck/Resistance growths? Whatever the last option was with the HP and Defense ones removed.

As far as I can tell, the Prologue is the training of My Unit, since all but one boss are characters you get next chapter.

P-1: I'm not sure how the female Mage is going to beat this without a durability boost.

Turn 1: Hit Soldier. Soldier hits My Unit and Soldier counters.

Turn 2: Kill Soldier.

Turn 3-5: Use Vulnerary. Jagen attacks me, counter.

Turn 6: Finish Jagen.

She's at 2HP with no Vulnerary uses... Yeah. I actually had to restart this chapter once because I accidentally attacked instead of healed. Brilliant, eh?

P-2:

My Unit to fort, Ryan hides in corner. Luke attacks My Unit, she counters.

My Unit uses Vulnerary. Ryan hits Luke. Luke hits Ryan.

Finish Luke.

Ryan uses Vulnerary and is on Fort, My Unit baits Luke.

Hit Luke twice. He attacks Ryan.

Finish Luke.

P-3:

WHAT THE BALLS CAEDA WHY ARE YOU SO FAST AND STRONG

Position units so that Luke is on the lower fort, the upper Fighter and Caeda don't get baited, and My Unit can only be attacked by one guy. The Merc goes after Luke and the Fighter after My Unit.

Move My Unit to upper right corner and attack Fighter, Ryan attacks Fighter, Luke finishes. Rody prevents My Unit from being attacked by Merc. Merc attacks Luke.

Finished Merc with My Unit from Fort.

Healed Luke up to full and gave him the Iron Lance, then baited Caeda (she does 9x2 damage to him, everyone else has less HP/Defense)

Ryan attacks Caeda, My Unit attacks Caeda, Luke finishes her. Rody baits the Fighter. It attacks him.

Kill Fighter.

P-4:

Move Caeda to chokepoint, put Ryan behind her, Wrys to his right and trade Vulnerary to Ryan. Luke in upper right corner of that area, My Unit to his left, and Rody to her left. Myrm runs up and attacks Caeda, Archer attacks Luke. Everything else rushes me.

Caeda takes Vulnerary and uses it. Ryan finishes Myrm.

My Unit moves to only open spot and attacks the other Myrm out of spite. Luke moves to her old spot and gets healed. A Soldier attacks Caeda. Archer attacks My Unit.

Luke moves to his old spot, My Unit to hers. Wrys heals her. Caeda uses her Vulnerary, Ryan finishes Soldier.

Athena attacks Caeda. Ryan moves to open spot. My Unit attacks Athena. Archer attacks Ryan.

Ryan finishes Archer, My Unit finishes Athena. Caeda backs off. Wrys heals Luke and he takes the point. Luke gets attacked.

Finish enemies.

P-5:

Use Athena to bait 2 Bandits. She hax dodges them both. Finish Bandits. Team up on units, Athena haxdodges everything. I think this was one of the easiest Prologue chapters so I don't remember it very well.

P-6:

Fielded My Unit, Caeda, Athena, Wrys, Luke, and Cecil.

Backed up so that the Mage and Archer couldn't attack me. Soldiers attack me.

Kill Soldiers, bait Archer.

Kill Archer, bait Draug.

Kill Draug, bait Mage.

Kill Mage.

P-7:

Fielded same team as last time but without Cecil and plus Merric.

Baited Knight with Merric.

Finish Knight with My Unit, heal Merric with Wrys.

Caeda and Luke team up on the northern Archer (Caeda on the Fort, Luke to its left). Athena kills Archer. Merric hits the other Armor. Other Armor suicides on My Unit, Myrmidon attacks Luke, other one attacks Athena.

Athena finishes Myrmidon, Wrys covers up lower right fort, Caeda the far right one, Luke the one Caeda was on and heals. My Unit and Merric kill the other Myrmidon. A Cavalier spawns and goes after Athena. Cain attacks Luke.

Athena finishes Cav, team Mage and Caeda kill Cain.

P-8:

Marth, My Unit, Caeda, Wrys, Athena, Luke, Merric, and Cain.

Form a wall with melee units with Athena at the far right. Fighter and archer attack Athena. A thief attacks Marth and Luke. Luke kills Fighter. Athena kills Archer. Merric kills Mage. MU + Caeda kill other Thief.

Retreat to upper left with Luke on throne to wait out reinforcements (there's 2 Thieves followed by 2 Hand Axe Fighters). Bait Fighter + Archer with Marth. Kill.

Kill Fighter and 2 Mages. Heal up before baiting the last 4 Thieves and Katrina. Katrina has 30HP, 8 Speed, 3 Defense, and 24 attack, making her a huge threat. Two Thieves have 13 Speed and 23 attack (Silver Swords...) and the other 2 have Levin Swords (13 attack). I bait with Caeda.

Mages gang up on the full HP melee Thief. Wrys heals Caeda. Marth Rapier crits the Levin Sword Thief that attacked Caeda. Athena + Luke kill Katrina. Caeda crits the other Levin Sword Thief (... I had a Save square, otherwise I probably would've had to kite so that I could use the Merric to kill the Levin Sword Thief with counters to have enough units for the rest).

I'm currently at the start of Chapter 1 and wrote that from memory, so a few details on the more difficult chapters (4, 7, and 8) may be lost. However, I do recall that I felt that with the team I had, there was no alternate way to do P-4 and P-7, and room for error in all chapters was minimal.

Bandits in Chapter 1 have 31-32HP, 27 attack, 117 Hit, 10 AS, 2 Defense, and 0 Res.

Archers have 27HP, 22 attack, 113 Hit, 9 AS, 2 Defense, and 0 Res.

You gain access to class change in this chapter. I was messing around with options and discovered something nice about the Swordmaster class.

17 Speed and 4 Luck should give Arran 19 Avoid, but instead he has 29. This means that the Swordmaster class now has +10 Avoid.

Stats, discounting units that left me

Name     Lvl/Class          HP   Str   Mag   Skl   Spd   Lck   Def   Res
Marth    7.17 Lord          27   9     0     11    11    10    8     0
My Unit  9.14 Curate        27   4     4     9     7     6     3     9
Arran    3.00 Swordmaster   26   8     1     18    17    4     8     3
Draug    6.00 Mercenary     22   8     0     11    14    3     5     0
Gordin   5.00 Archer        21   9     0     7     6     5     8     0
Cecil    3.50 Archer        17   6     0     9     7     6     4     0
Luke     7.07 Cavalier      25   11    0     8     10    8     10    0
Rody     2.05 Cavalier      21   7     0     5     7     6     7     0
Ryan     2.47 Archer        19   7     0     5     5     3     7     0

Also, I have no idea what My Unit's name says/means/etc.. I don't know any Japanese and selected randomly on the naming screen.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Paperblade

[Momo]

The name is probably Chris, since that's what they apparently used in all the advertising.

That said, shine on you crazy fool.

[grandjackal]

You'd be wrong, it says Ikuse-some symbol I cant see because the hand icon is blocking the last symbol.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Etzel's Hips

[eclipse]

My guess is Ikuseko.

[Rewjeo]

I'd actually guess Ikusese or Ikuseto with possible tenten on either.

Anyways, this would be why if I do Lunatic any time soon, I'm playing Casual. Yup, I'm a casual lunatic!

[Super Mecha Death Christ]

Is there a Magic triangle?

Edited July 15, 2010 by Super Mecha Death Christ

[Colonel M]

P-5 was easier once I realized the North Hunter likes to go after My Unit / Wrys. It also seems that the Bandits near the Thief could be AI triggered or something.

A good idea in P-5 is also having Caeda lure in one of the Fighters just for the sheer damage, then having her retreat so the Hunters can't reach her.

Also, in P-4 I find it better to have Ryan move toward where the Archer can hit him. He only needs one swig of the Vulnerary to do this. After that he should just hang tight until Athena comes. Have Wrys heal Caeda the first round, then have Ryan and Wrys "switch places". Of course, My Unit Mage (or Archer I guess if you swing that way) also works with the Archer, but I'm thinking MU Mage will need a +HP / Def somewhere.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Colonel M

[Rodykitty]

*skips entire topic*

This means that the Swordmaster class now has +10 Avoid.

Oh wow! I remember suggesting this exact buff in the early SD days. It's great that IS had the same thoughts.

[Super Mecha Death Christ]

*skips entire topic*

Oh wow! I remember suggesting this exact buff in the early SD days. It's great that IS had the same thoughts.

What was the SM's critical rate in SD again? Too many difference I can't remember them all.

[Colonel M]

What was the SM's critical rate in SD again? Too many difference I can't remember them all.

Zip, zilch, zero.

It only added +10 Hit.

[Rodykitty]

I felt that an evasion boost suited the Swordmaster more than a critical boost that a Beserker gets (and would help more on WiFi anyway).

[Super Mecha Death Christ]

Man, I must be getting old. I could have sworn they changed the critical rate in SD. Oh well, no matter, I just thought I ask to make sure. I'm guessing now they changed it to +10 avo instead of +10 hit.

[Colonel M]

I felt that an evasion boost suited the Swordmaster more than a critical boost that a Beserker gets (and would help more on WiFi anyway).

It'll probably help with some of Maniac Mode, but of course I can't really "confirm" that since I'm not that far. At least it can give a lucky dodge.

[BEST TRYNDAMERE PLAYER]

It'll probably help with some of Maniac Mode, but of course I can't really "confirm" that since I'm not that far. At least it can give a lucky dodge.

It helps quite a bit on Lunatic. Bandits in Chapter 1 have about 49% displayed hit on Swordmaster Alan when he's on a fort. Even without the fort 64% is still pretty nice.

[Paperblade]

No magic triangle. Everything is still one magic...

Chapter 1:

My Archer strategy didn't work (Archers sucking, who would've guessed) so I sent Ryan and Gordin to Cav. I had the melee line up to bait the Bandits, cleared that group out, baited an Archer, killed it, baited a Bandit, killed it, recruited Mallesia. Killed a Thief with a Levin Sword (I could've sworn it was a drop item but I cannot find it anywhere).

The next part requires some luck with the RNG, which is why Swordmaster Arran is awesome. I put him on the fort and he had to dodge 2/3 hits (Axe users had 48%...). This was right after a save tile thing though. I picked off the weakened Bandits (did I mention he leaves everything in kill range with Iron?), had him move forward and hit the Archer with Luke finishing it. They got attacked, killed those enemies in a similar fashion, and talked to Lawrence. He does his thing, chapter's done.

Hand Axes and Javelins are significantly weaker, sporting 4 might/60 hit and 3 might/70 hit respectively.

Chapter 2:

We continue our saga of every bloody enemy on the map sporting silver weapons, this time with Dracoknights and a Thief that I want to kill for the Lady Sword. Base convos give me items

E Bow with 6 Might, 100 Hit, 10 Crit

E Lance with 1 Might, 90 hit (...)

Spirit Dust

And I get some random (?) boost to My Unit's stats, giving her +2 Strength/Skl. Since her Strength was already pretty good I decided to throw her into Myrm so she could attempt to replace Athena.

You can also get her name without the cursor in the way. >_>

The Dracoknights in this chapter are a massive pain in the ass, what with the 36HP and the 9 Defense and the 11 Speed and the 2HKOing my entire team (oh wait, every enemy does that...).

I sent Arran to Sniper, Ryan to Archer, and Draug to Hunter for bows vs. the Dracoknights.

I sent Katua west to pick off the Thief, and huddled up in the bottom portion of the map. Cord is in a village, but he sucks. I made the enemies slow their movement by baiting them through the forest with Arran, picking off the 2 Archers (or were they Hunters) while leaving Luke in range of a Soldier (he 2HKOs them with Iron).

Next turn, Draug and Ryan finished off that Soldier, and Arran and Luke teamed up on another. My Unit, Cord, and Marth formed a wall to stave off the Cavaliers, and Katua harassed the Thief.

The last Soldier attacked Arran, so I had Draug and Luke kill it, Arran double (!) and kill the Cav that Cord countered, Marth finish off the one My Unit countered, and have Ryan + Gordin team up on the last. Katua killed the Thief (Steel Lance!) and the rest of the team healed. I had Rody take Draug's weapons since Warren seems to have a death wish and I'm sick of him suiciding on Draug/Arran (he got crit at least 3 times...).

I spent a couple turns healing up for the Dracos and having Katua fly back to recruit Warren.

Now for the Dracoknights. There are 5, two with Silver Lances, two with Silver Axes, and the boss (who has a Silver Axe and 15 Speed). If any of them is pulled, the rest will follow. However, due to the way they are spread out, I can bait all the generics at once. I could bait the boss, but his 15 Speed means only Catua can take a melee hit, and she's better off countering a Silver Lance user. My Unit doubles the generics but not the boss, and 3HKOs them with the Lady Sword.

Luke, Katua, Marth, and My Unit counter. Ryan + Luke kill one. Cord + Rody kill the one My Unit countered. Draug attacks the one Katua countered (with the 6 might bow), Katua finishes. Arran attacks boss, Warren finishes. Mend My Unit, attack higher HP Draco. Gordin finish (

). Rody hits the dude My Unit hit, Marth finishes.

Seize Throne.

It seems the random bonuses go away at the end of the chapter, so back to Mage for My Unit next chapter, it would seem...

Name     Lvl/Class           HP   Str   Mag   Skl   Spd   Lck   Def   Res
Marth    8.54 Lord           28   10    0     12    11    11    8     0
My Unit  10.84 Myrmidon      28   7     3     17    16    7     6     1
Arran    4.00 Sniper         29   10    1     15    13    4     9     3
Draug    7.42 Hunter         23   10    0     7     12    3     3     0
Gordin   6.45 Cavalier       24   9     0     6     8     6     9     0
Luke     9.20 Cavalier       27   11    0     8     11    9     11    0
Rody     2.60 Cavalier       21   7     0     5     7     6     7     0
Ryan     2.86 Archer         19   7     0     5     5     3     7     0
Mallesia 3.48 Curate         17   0     2     2     5     14    1     6
Katua    7.28 Pegasus Knight 23   7     2     9     15    10    9     6
Cord     2.00 Fighter        22   9     0     7     8     5     5     0
Warren   3.00 Hunter         22   8     0     6     8     2     4     0
Cecil    3.90 Archer         17   6     0     9     7     6     4     0
Linde    4.00 Mage           20   0     4     5     8     8     2     4

[Rewjeo]

Ikuseto! I was right!

Also, does P-8 seem like a difficulty spike? Chapters 1&2 don't seem to have been nearly as difficult as that.

Also, good luck getting all the treasure in Chapter 7. I think that Feena would be vital to that, but she's probably 2HKOd at best (and I expect OHKOd,) meaning she needs to be pulled out ASAP.

[AstraLunaSol]

Killed a Thief with a Levin Sword (I could've sworn it was a drop item but I cannot find it anywhere).

It's not an item drop, it's forged to have 7 more mt.

[Paperblade]

It's not an item drop, it's forged to have 7 more mt.

This is what I get for not paying attention.

Chapter 3:

Sent My Unit back to Mage, Catria to Cavalier. Forged a full use Steel Bow so that Arran can OHKO Dracoknights, because fuck those guys. Unfortunately Resire cannot be forged. A sad day indeed.

Fielded Marth, My Unit (I guess I’ll call her Iku then), Arran, Draug, Luke, Mallesia, Catria, Linde, and Gordin.

I get Palla at the start of the chapter, who is awesome as ever other than suffering from being 2HKO’d by the entire map like the rest of the team. She can still use Silver, which is neat. I run my team west to go around.

Palla kill a Thief, a Cav spawns and hits her. I kill it, and decide I need to run away since reinforcements are going to overwhelm her quick. Meanwhile, Marth grabs a Door Key and finds Bord as a village. He manages to be worse than Cord, but I got a Hammer from him! 3 of the Dracos start moving, but they’re a joke to dispatch with my awesome forge, Linde, and re-Magified Iku. Paola hides out in an area the Cavs can’t reach as they charge my team one by one (they have 27 attack, I don’t want to fight more than 2 at a time…). It turns out the Dracos on the mountain no longer trigger from visiting the Armory as one attacks Paola. Fortunately she 3HKOs and doubles, so I kill it. He drops a Master Seal, free of charge.

The Cavs aren’t that difficult to get rid of as Arran and Catria double them…

I decide to go around to recruit Julian to recruit Matthis. Apparently the Dracoknights will now fly out and attack you if you cross a certain bridge, so I formed a line, got my melee hurt, and let the ranged finish them off, netting myself a third Silver Lance.

And then the last 3 Dracoknights fly over (jerks). They get picked off just as easily, and then I spent like a dozen turns running to Julian and healing. I seem unable to pull the Cavs from just the furthest, so I have to move in so the Shooter can hit me. Julian is barely out of range of Matthis, so I have to defend Linde (who was hit by the Shooter) from him as I kill the Cavs. He almost dies to Luke (Good thing Javelins were nerfed), left with 1HP after a crit. Next turn I have Luke and Catria kill the Shooter and recruit Matthis.

I have Paola go into melee of the boss to counter, and naturally she misses one of her attacks. However, he no longer has his forge equipped, so I make short work of him with my mages and Arran, getting the shard for Luke. They don’t appear to boost growths anymore, instead boosting stats as a held item (similar to FE4’s rings, only balanced). This one (Taurus I think it is) gives +1 Str/Def. The Iote Shield appears to no longer be in Chapter 3. Due to dicking around with unsure strategies, I took 36 turns.

I still got the gaiden, so I highly doubt it is from turns if anything.

Chapter 3x:

Holy snap that is a scary boss. Good thing she leaves after turn 2…

Since I can have up to 6 Cavs, I make Palla one. Field Marth, Iku, Luke, Catria, Palla, and Arran. And the chapter starts with Wrys doing what senile old men do: Disregarding their surroundings. Now I have to rush to save him.

To accomplish that, I have Arran + Palla team up on the middle armor, Iku, Catria, and Marth on another (Fire, Javelin, Rapier) and Luke use his full move to run ahead and off an Archer. This causes the Armor to attack Iku, while the other one attacks Marth. Wrys goes as far down as his move will allow.

On turn two, I have Luke move as far as he can again and equip a Javelin, which will attract the Archer chasing Wrys. Iku and Marth kill the other Archer and Arran kill the left over armor. Catria and Palla sally forth to save Wrys from himself. Wrys goes as far right as he can.

Palla finishes the Archer. Catria gets in range of the armor, and Wrys moves out of his range. Luke covers the fort (I forgot when dudes spawn, but neither Arran nor Iku could reach it).

Palla finishes the armor and Catria covers up the other Fort, Wrys heals her. Rest of the team moves forward.

There are only 2 armors left at this point, so they’re easy to pick off and sieze.

More unit levels! Interestingly, the item I thought was a Spirit Dust only lasted one turn. I was probably wrong then... Anyway, gonna stop listing units I don't plan to use.

Name     Lvl/Class           HP   Str   Mag   Skl   Spd   Lck   Def   Res
Marth    9.65 Lord           29   11    0     12    12    12    8     0
Ikuseto  12.10 Mage          29   4     7     10    8     9     4     4
Catria   9.81 Cavalier       27   10    0     8     16    12    12    0
Palla    11.91 Cavalier      27   11    0     9     15    10    11    0
Luke     11.74 Cavalier      29   11    0     8     13    11    11    0
Arran    5.21 Sniper         30   10    1     15    14    4     9     3
Linde    4.68 Mage           20   0     4     5     8     8     2     4
Draug    8.55 Hunter         23   10    0     7     13    4     3     0
Mallesia 6.59 Curate         18   0     4     2     7     16    2     7
Julian   6.00 Thief          20   7     0     8     14    7     6     0

Chapter 4:

From one of my failed attempts. That's the weakest Pirate.

Had Draug and Marth kill the Thief to acquire his Armorslayer. Ogma and the twins retreat as to not pull half a dozen pirates and their hunter friends (on top of Sirius…). Arran + Iku kill a bandit, Catria blocks off another so it can’t attack Arran, killing it on counter (Lady Sword). Linde and Palla kill another. Linde is Rescue’d by Yumina.

Marth grabs Shaver. Iku goes onto the rightmost Fort and finishes the Hunter. Luke covers another fort. Paola kills a bandit, and Julian covers up a fort. Castria is healed and runs off to get the Devil Sword Thief. Arran chases after Castria. Linde + Yubello kill a Thief, Ogma baits a Pirate. The Devil Sword Thief kills itself (I was planning to have Iku -> Arran -> Catria trade to give her a Vulnerary to bait the next Pirate, but this works just as well).

Iku runs off, gets healed by Mal. Julian covers up Fort. Arran runs ahead. Linde finishes the Pirate Ogma baited, as Ogma vulneraries and Yumina heals. Marth recruits Castor, who baits a Hunter. Castor trades hits.

Ogma’s group retreats to block the squishies, Castor Vulneraries. Warp Palla in. Catria moves diagonal to the reinforcement fort near Sirius. Draug takes over a fort for Palla. The Hunter suicides on Castor, and the rest of the Pirates can’t reach, instead opting to chase Catria, leaving the Hunter alone to die.

I have Catria retreat to heal to full (yay Mend). Palla one rounds the lone Hunter, and Ogma’s group begins the move closer, baiting a Pirate. On enemy phase, one suicides on Catria, the rest turn back (make up your minds!).

Castor and Palla finish the weakened one, and Linde and Marth kill another. I have Ogma and Palla block off the river, the bad AI preventing them from teaming up on Ogma (the one closer to him that could attack from another space opted to attack from the river for +20 Avoid).

Next turn, I finish off the Pirates and recruit Ca-I mean Sirius and have Iku bait a Hand Axe wielding Pirate.

Spend a turn healing and mucking through the forest and desert. On turn 9 I bait the last 3 generics on the map. The Hand Axe one attacks Castor (you know, as opposed to Sirius or Ogma, both of whom have swords equipped). The other Pirate attacks Ogma.

Linde + Marth finish off the melee one. Palla and Iku kill the Hunter (12 Speed!). Catria kills the Hand Axe guy.

Spend a turn running towards the boss.

Catria doubles him with the Lady Sword (28 damage!), Iku finishes him, Marth seizes.

Chapter 5

I recorded it. This chapter forced me to promote Catria at Level 10. I had Sirius go Sniper so he could double shit. Wing Spear has a +3 forge.

Edited July 16, 2010 by Paperblade

[Don Draper]

I noticed that your character levels are a good deal higher then mine were, but I assume that's mainly from higher enemy density (you can really tell from that video that the map is more populated), and more "hit" experience.

Great playthrough so far, I'm looking forward to seeing how you handle some of the tougher chapters (I don't know if I want to see what the Flying Dragons look like on Lunatic).

[Rewjeo]

I'd expect the flying dragons can be handled pretty easily with Excalibur, but if they all move in on you at once...

[CO_Fimbulvetr]

They already move in groups of two... so I guess that means four at a time?

[Rodykitty]

I have not played the game yet, but I am 90% positive that flying dragon difficulty is going to depend entirely on if they have 1-2 range on their breath or not.

[Rewjeo]

They do NOT have 1-2 range with their breath. Just 1 range. Although, it wouldn't surprise me if IS gave them 1-2 range in Lunatic from what I've seen.

[Ryan7556]

Those flying dragons have 1 attack range, but 12 move.

EDIT: Ahh beaten too it.

Edited July 16, 2010 by Axefighter Barst

[CO_Fimbulvetr]

Whatever you do, do NOT bring Feena. Or any healer that can't defend themselves for that matter. They couldn't even take a hit on Normal, so I doubt it'll get any better on Loony mode.