RAVEN'S SUPER MEGA AWESOME HARD MODE RUN OF WIN AND EPIC AND LOLZ WITH A SIDE OF COOKIES

[Raven]

*Renaming of topic suggested by Zephrion and Nightmare... lol...*

After successfully completing Normal Mode for my first playthough, I've decided to give Hard Mode a bash on the head (or to receive a few myself).

::Index::

Part I

Prologue - Under Gray Skies

Chapter I - Maiden of Miracles

Chapter II - The Dispossessed

Chapter III - A Faint Light

Chapter IV - A Distant Voice

Chapter V - The Lost Heir

Chapter VI - Raise the Standard (I)

Chapter VI - Raise the Standard (II)

Chapter VII - A Gathering Hope

Chapter VIII - Glory Unwanted

Chapter IX - One Survives

Endgame - Daein, Arise!

I'll begin this with details on how I found Ch.1 Prologue:

Part I Prologue - Under Gray Skies

One thing I notice almost immediately is the lack of being able to check the movement range of the enemy, at all. Looks like i'll be doing alot of counting... Also, there's the inability to Battlesave. It's been replaced with "Suspend", like previous FE games. As well as those two for a kick in the balls, they've also thrown the weapon triangle out the window, and dropped it into the sea like a one-ton anville. Good stuff...

Edward's grown a level, got some HP, strength, skill, speed and defense. Good level-up there.

Micaiah's level-up wasn't too bad either, gaining more HP, magic, skill and resistance.

This chapter gave me no problems. Edward had no difficulty with the bandits, despite the lack of weapon triangle. It won't stay like this for long though, as I found out while playing Normal mode.

Next chapter will be edited into this post, or placed in a new one depending on if there's any posts between now and the time I finish the next chapter.

Edited December 24, 2008 by Raven

[Judge Judy]

Good luck then, I played Hard Mode, and its very difficult. I used to rely battle save too much.

[xanatha]

Good luck then, I played Hard Mode, and its very difficult. I used to rely battle save too much.

How many times have you done it before?

And Raven, I wich you good luck, too!

[Raven]

Thanks everyone. I've just gone through the next chapter.

Part I Chapter I - Maiden of Miracles

Gotta leave in ten turns or less. Sounds easy, but most of the enemy units take two rounds to kill them.

Micaiah has grown another level, with magic, luck, defense and resistance rising.

Edward's just levelled up after criticalling the Fighter on the left side of the map. Only Strength and skill raised this time... Meh.

It's the beginning of turn 6, and the boss is the only enemy unit remaining. I've arranged it so he'll attack and be killed by Edward in the enemy phase.

I had my units attacking the enemies that arrive in the south, then had Micaiah exit the map on the very last possible move.

That was a little tricky, but I got it right after the first two failures.

[noremaC]

wow, i would do a hard mode frum through but for 1 i am lazy, 2 i am doing runthroughs on fe7 and 3 i paln to do por runthroughs next

[Judge Judy]

Chapter 1, was a pain. I found it quite difficult to complete the chapter less than ten turns, Micaiah kept on getting killed, she likes to get hit on face.

[Admiral "Bull" Halsey]

Wow...can't really say much. Good luck I guess.

[Songbird]

You're a brave soul. I usually stick to normal mode, and have yet to attempt hard mode. ...And I'm not looking forward to it either, from how it sounds. D:

Anyway, I SALUTE THEE! GOOD LUCK!

[Florete]

I started a hard run, but stopped after losing Leo on 1-6-1. I'll continue it one day. In the meantime, good luck.

[Raven]

Thanks everyone for the good luck, I'll carry it well into the game I hope. Also, the topic rename was a joint suggestion by Zephrion and Nightmare over MSN... Lol. Making my way through Part I Chapter II right now.

[Zephrion]

Hehe...

Awesome.

Either way, good luck. You are a braver man than I.

[DragonBladeSniper]

Nice name... Good luck and becareful with the chapter where you get Aran I hear it's very hard on hard mode.

[Raven]

Part I Chapter II - The Dispossessed

Second restart (messed up the beginning of my first try):

Yay, Laura is here. <3

Micaiah just got a good level-up when she grew to lv4: strength, magic, luck, speed and resistance grew.

Leonardo grew to lv5, getting strength, skill, speed, luck and resistance.

Edward levelled up to lv7, had more HP, skill, speed, defense and resistance. Three good level-ups. What the hell is going on?

Nothing proving to be a great threat yet, I just need to watch my back for reinforcements etc... Taking out the reinforcement archers with Micaiah standing on top of the ledge.

Nolan grew to lv10, but only luck and resistance was raised... Was kind of hoping for some speed since he's been doubled more than I'd like to see, preferably not at all...

Eugh... Leonardo grew to lv6, but only his strength went up... But Micaiah's level-up to lv5 more than made up for it. Everything went up except defense. Awesome.

Even for Hard Mode, the intelligence isn't all that great. Two soldier reinforcements appear, with Iron lances. They followed Micaiah who was at the bottom of the ledge at the time. She climbed up the ledge and then stood there blocking the way with Leonardo. The two soldiers just stood at the bottom of the ledge taking hits, instead of using their heads to GTFO and go round up the steps. Fail.

Laura grew to lv2, in which her skill, speed and luck was raised.

Not much left to do now, other than wipe out the remaining enemies at the top-right corner.

Micaiah killed the boss and grew to lv6 with HP, skill, luck and resistance rising.

Laura's now "Arrived". Chapter complete.

Can't say for certain when I'll begin the next chapter. It's quite late for me now.

Also I'm wondering if people are interested in reading what happens in a chapter before I mess it up and have to restart. I don't mind, or care, whether I do or not.

[Florete]

You're already giving us a better play-by-play than I would ever expect. Keep up the good work.

[Raven]

You're already giving us a better play-by-play than I would ever expect. Keep up the good work.

Thanks Fox. I'll do my best to make my posts here a satisfactory read.

[xanatha]

You're already giving us a better play-by-play than I would ever expect. Keep up the good work.

Indeed! I might even try Hard Mode myself.

[canas is back]

hard mde was very hard for me, I can honestly say that the weapons triangle never made much of a difference in my tactics anyway

[Raven]

hard mde was very hard for me, I can honestly say that the weapons triangle never made much of a difference in my tactics anyway

That I'll agree with. Getting rid of the weapon triangle is something I thought they would have done in Easy mode, not Hard mode.

[canas is back]

I can see it being in hard, that advantage to some people is the difference between life and death

[The Envoy of the Beginning]

I can't wait to see your 1-3 summary. That chapter in my opinion is the hardest in the whole game.

[Florete]

I can't wait to see your 1-3 summary. That chapter in my opinion is the hardest in the whole game.

Everyone says that but I swear I've never had a problem with it, not even in hard mode.

[The Envoy of the Beginning]

Everyone says that but I swear I've never had a problem with it, not even in hard mode.

Maybe you just get lucky very often.

[xanatha]

Everyone says that but I swear I've never had a problem with it, not even in hard mode.

It's the chapter when you can get Aran, right? Oh my, did I have problems with that chapter! on normal mode

[sandmanccl]

Yeah, 1-3 is the one you pick up Aran. It gave me a lot of headaches on Hard Mode, but mostly because I was ridiculously unlucky and also I didn't have Sothe attack anything in the entire map.

[Raven]

This is a long one, I don't blame you if you don't want to read it. Anyway, here's 1-3:

Part I Chapter III – A Faint Light

Some of the enemies have healing items and unequipped weapons I wouldn’t mind stealing, and the boss has the skill Discipline too. Sothe will be busy.

Aran appears on the left, so I’d best get a few units over there to cover Laura.

Edward grew to lv8 after attacking the Fighter on the right with the Wind Sword, first missing on 96%, then pulling a critical on 6%, bringing the Fighter to 2hp. his HP, luck and resistance grew.

Beginning of turn 2, Aran arrives on the map along with two other enemy soldiers. By the end of turn 2, I’ve killed 4 enemies, stolen a vulnerary and obtained those keys for the door on the right. But, I’m going to leave it locked until I’m satisfied with the left side of the map. I’ve placed Edward in a thicket just north of the part of the wall that kinks out, equipped with Wind Edge to damage the Archer that is going to attack.

Managed to get Aran on my side after he and the 2 soldiers moved. I also stole the vulnerary one of them was holding, then killed him. The other one has just 7hp left by the end of my turn, and decides to leg it to the healhedge during the enemy phase. I had Aran go after him and javelin his old comrade to death. I’ve also dealt with the soldier who won’t move for the life of him.

Next enemy phase, there’s an Archer behind the two Armour units. He runs past them and basically stands right beside Aran. What the hell, I ask.

Micaiah rises to lv7 from the Archer’s antics, but only gaining extra HP and resistance. Meh.

The remaining enemies are all behind the wall now, as well as those two Armours blocking the gap in the wall. That door’s still locked on the right side of the map. I’m advancing Aran and Nolan one space per turn until I see some enemy movement…

*click*

Hear that? That’s my head just remembering some enemy reinforcements come from the building behind everyone. With only Sothe, Ilyana and Leonardo able to move for the rest of this turn, I send them back as far as they can go. I can’t remember what turn they appear, but I know they do.

Another enemy phase passes by, no reinforcements yet. I use my next turn to get everyone back to the start of the chapter

Laura grew to lv3 increasing Aran’s health, gaining nothing more than skill and speed.

Enemy phase again now, and here they are. An Archer and a Myrmidon.

Stole a vulnerary off one of them, and killed them both.

Leanorado’s HP, luck and resistance was raised from attacking one of the two soldier reinforcements on the left, as did Nolan, who gained HP, skill, speed and luck. He needed the speed, he’s getting doubled by everything whenever he has his Steel axe equipped.

Enemy phase, and it seems I’ve gotten Aran close enough to provoke the boss into attacking. Two enemy soldier reinforcements appear from the south at the same turn. Aran damages the attacking boss. Player phase: I steal the Discipline skill off him, while Micaiah finishes his off with Thani.

Enemy phase, and there are four enemy units moving towards my group from the south, while another two soldier reinforcements appear from the north. I move Nolan, Aran and Ilyana up north to tackle them. Nolan rescued Aimee earlier just after the first two northern reinforcements, so she’s safe. Kurth’s capable of looking after himself for a while so I’m not overly worried about him. Micaiah kills one of the Armour axe and rises to lv8, gaining HP, magic, luck and resistance. Since the Armour axe is down, I had Sothe move in and steal the unequipped Steel lance off the soldier that was standing behind the Armour axe at the time. He’s just got his javelin to play with now. Laura healed Edward, who had taken damage after clearing the last of the reinforcements from the left.

Next turn, one of the reinforcements are killed up north, while the other chases after Kurth. Both Armour knights are killed by the wall, and Sothe is blocking the way of the other enemies with his Bronze knife equipped, taking the attacking enemies down to low health ready for Edward, Leonardo and Micaiah to easily kill on my next turn.

Aran finished the last reinforcement off at the top of the map, growing to lv8, and gaining extra HP, strength, skill, and speed(!).

A bit of a scrap ensuing at the bottom left of the map, enemy phase, I suspect the surviving Myrmidon will attack Leonardo. Sothe steals his herb.

Enemy phase, and that Myrmidon did attack Leo. Also, a Myrmidon from the right side of the map is moving left, but won’t reach my current position for another two turns. It will take another two attacks to finish this other Myrmidon with Edward, so I get Edward where the enemy Armour axe was and everyone else behind him. Just hoping that he doesn’t get his 2% critical chance in on me…

He got hit, but activated Wrath and ended up criticalling, grew to lv9 and gained HP, strength and skill.

Laura grew to lv4 after healing Micaiah who had used Sacrifice on Edward. Everything except speed and defense was raised.

Leonardo grew to lv8 after finishing that Myrmidon who ran from the right, gaining everything except magic and defense.

Five enemies left.

I’ll use a turn or two to get everyone healed up with Laura and Micaiah.

Micaiah grew to lv9 from Sacrificing, her strength, magic, skill, luck and resistance went up.

Sothe grew to lv2 after stealing a Steel axe off a fighter, having skill and luck rise.

Ilyana and Leonardo finished that fighter off. Four enemies remain.

Soldier down. Three left.

That armour knight’s down, two left.

The last archer that isn’t on the escape spot is also down. Sothe picked up the coin.

Last archer down, now to GTFO.

That actually wasn't too bad. It went smoother than my normal playthrough, if I must be honest. Especially since I never had to restart the chapter at all.

Maybe I'll start on 1-4 right now.

Edited September 10, 2008 by Raven