Teq plays what Klok says: FE8 randomized [COMPLETE]

[Tequila]

Teq here, with yet another LP. I too feel the need to investigate this hot new randomizer schtick, and I shall do so in the most obnoxious way: by making y'all watch me play it.

I'm following Klok's rules in his randomizer thread, with one exception: all growths have a minimum of 5%. This works out to 1.8 levels over 38 level-ups on average, so it's hardly gamebreaking.

The rules!

I'll be posting growths at the end of the chapter; until then, I don't know them. For the most part I expect my characters to be absolute shit and my life will be a living hell because of this.

[spoiler=Prologue]

Yeah, let's make things a little more lively, shall we?

Well, our lord has swords, which is nice in the earlygame, has halfway decent stats, and a really nice HP pool. I think I could like this one. Only drawbacks are his low movement and strength, and that slim sword isn't helping his damage output.

Our Jeigan is...holy crap, 19 speed? Sure, that's 17 speed with iron axes, but this gal is going to double pretty much everything in the earlygame. Great defense and HP; I don't care how bad her growths are, she's getting used.

I'm really glad Eirika didn't become a revenant or something; O'Neill would rip her apart with his thunder tome. Fortunately, my guys can handle him.

Saleh starts this run off with a bang. Tana nods approvingly in the background.

Saleh goes on a forest to gain some evade.

Tana runs off, just in case that fighter decides she's a more tempting target.

And now I need her. Lovely.

She can ORKO, but she'd get OHKO'd if she didn't crit, so I have her heal up as a precaution.

She gets the kill, no big deal, no big fuss. End of Prologue

[spoiler=Growths (Saleh, Tana)]

Saleh:

HP: 15

Strength: 70

Skill: 60

Speed: 5

Luck: 5

Defense: 35

Resistance: 55

He has a pretty high HP base, so I'm not terribly concerned about his low hp growth, but the speed is disheartening. He'll just have to whip out lots of crits. Defenses aren't terribly bad, either. Definitely not as bad as Terrador's revenant Eirika.

Tana:

HP: 20

Strength: 10

Skill: 60

Speed: 40

Luck: 60

Defense: 100

Resistance: 5

Her high speed base and ok growth compensate for the low strength growth. In fact, it's even better, so she function as a chipper and not steal so much xp. Can actually hit things with axes. Great defense and is guaranteed to cap before 20/20, but she'd better avoid mages like the plague.

I actually had chapters 1 and 2 written up as well and accidentally backspaced. I'll rewrite them tomorrow.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Tequila

[DizzyWaddleDoo]

Hey, another. Keeping track of this too.

[B.Leu]

Watch out ! Saleh have a rapier ! :o

[Tamanoir]

Yet another one ! Great !

You seems up to a good start.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

this is looking good already

[Klokinator]

I've started a trend... and I like it.

I also like how apparently my randomizer settings are like... the settings everyone uses now... XD

I can't wait until random chests, villages, and RANDOMIZED ENEMIES!

[Tequila]

[spoiler=Chapter 1]

This is even more unbelievable than the vanilla version.

Soldiers got a little speed boost, but that's partially negated by their low con.

Should not be a problem to defeat.

Tana boldly goes forth while Saleh runs away.

I love the sound of tink in the morning

Alright, two new units! Let's take a look at what we have...

Not too bad...not too bad...Ephraim's gonna have to hit that HP and speed often. Forde's ok.

I moved Saleh up because this guy would die, in theory.

She misses. Twice. .36% chance of that happening, and she fuckin' nailed it.

The newcomers have a bit more luck dispatching their foe.

On EP, Ephraim takes a beating, getting hit by one of Breuget's soldier bodyguards and doubled by that fighter.

Things looking kind of bad here.

But actually, the situation is under control.

Soldier misses Forde, he doubles and kills, and then he and the fighter exchange blows.

Tana gives Forde one of her extra axes so he can actually HIT things. Then again, he's done a great job of that so far.

Saleh was 4 exp off of a level, so I decided to let him chip. I rue this decision immediately.

...Better?

I don't want to use vulneraries or rig dodges, so I just send my tank over to deal with the reinforcements.

Which she does.

Saleh can't damage Breuget with the slim sword, so Ephraim gets the kill and some ok levels.

14 turns. Not too bad, considering Ephraim had 50% hit chance and didn't double.

[spoiler=Chapter 2]

Buy ALL the iron swords.

New guys. Ewan's entirely dependent on his growths, unsurprisingly, while Seth looks...pretty balanced, actually. Got a bit shafted on move, but I'll still train him in case I don't get a staffbot.

Bone's actually worse than his troops.

I like the look of Ismaire: she's an all-around tank. I sincerely hope her growths reflect her bases. Hayden's not bad either, but the lousy move is a bit annoying.

Movin' on up.

Looks like Ross Hayden can actually take care of himself this time. No event shenanigans required.

Saleh finally gets an iron sword. Ass-kicking will commence shortly.

Mad loots.

Ass-kicking has started...except not really, cause he can't double.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, the greenies have their side under control.

Forde and Seth kill the brigand to Saleh can get in range of the next ones and do some chipping.

Somewhat to my chagrin, I left Ephraim standing right there instead of moving him onto the store. Fortunately his counter connected anyway.

Ok greenies are fine.

Tana misses her first attack against the brigands in the mountains, but her first crit of the game comes through at a perfect moment.

Ewan sees some action, and the game informs me that T0s aren't allowed to have above a C rank. Like Klok's run, all units have A ranks.

Ephraim runs away from the bandit that will almost certainly kill him if it can catch him. Which it can't.

Saleh actually doubles Bone. Unfortunately, this won't matter.

Forde's gonna snag the village before everyone dies.

Both Bone and the other brigand decide Hayden's an easier target, and kill him. REWIND!

He survived.

I got lucky, since I forgot Ewan would get doubled, but the brigand missed the second attack. Therefore, I shan't begrudge him this level. Of course, if he does suck, I wouldn't mind not using him.

No! My experience! YOU WANKER!

Had I gone back and rigged a miss, Ewan would have died, so I just kept going. There'll be plenty of opportunities later.

Last loot. Ewan or Seth finishes off the final brigand.

[spoiler=Growths (Ephraim, Forde, Seth, Ewan, Hayden, Ismaire)]

Ephraim (replacing Franz):

HP: 5

Strength: 65

Skill: 70

Speed: 65

Luck: 80

Defense: 20

Resistance: 5

This is a glass cannon, emphasis on the glass. He'll need every robe under the sun, and his defenses are rather bad. But he just might be useable.

Forde (replacing Gilliam):

HP: 5

Strength: 5

Skill: 55

Speed: 15

Luck: 20

Defense: 40

Resistance: 175

Nope, sorry. Not going to waste my time with you.

Hey, he procced hp with a 5% growth!

Ewan (replacing Vanessa):

HP: 70

Strength: 5

Skill: 105

Speed: 20

Luck: 5

Defense: 20

Resistance: 90

Bad strength and speed, and being a T0? You'll get leveled up in the tower, just because, but you sure won't be an integral part of this run.

Seth (replacing Moulder):

HP: 35

Strength: 55

Skill: 85

Speed: 5

Luck: 40

Defense: 85

Resistance: 5

This is like, Tana-lite. The lack of speed is really disappointing, but I'll probably use him anyhow. Unless I get a staffbot.

Hayden (replacing Ross):

HP: 20

Strength: 5

Skill: 70

Speed: 5

Luck: 85

Defense: 15

Resistance: 55

Bad growths where it counts AND lousy movement? Sorry, bye.

Ismaire (replacing Garcia):

HP: 5

Strength: 105

Skill: 20

Speed: 55

Luck: 40

Defense: 5

Resistance: 55

Eh, I reckon she's salvageable. Her HP's already kind of high, so it's not such a big deal that she'll almost never gain it. She can be the mage tank to Tana's regular tank.

[Klokinator]

175 goddamn resistance ahahahahah

easily the best part of that update right there

[Nintales]

If Tequila started a run, does that mean once my FE4 run is over, I've gotta do something even harder?

If I do something, that would sound like FE13's Lunatic+ with all the BS around.

[TheMoniker]

Looks like we have another trend going... I must read ALL of these!

[RandomSwordmaster]

Looks like we have another trend going... I must read ALL of these!

resists urge to start own LP

[Tequila]

[spoiler=Chapter 3]

I buy some hand axes, javelins, and iron lances.

Introducing...the older smoldering shoulder of Moulder the Boulder, Neimi's replacement.

It's a shame about the move, but I think I can work with the rest. Then again, it depends on his growths.

Seth opens up with a crit against the brigand behind the wall.

TASTE POISON, WALL!

I hate poison weapons. They're weak, they're inaccurate, and to top it all off, they're unsellable.

End of turn 1.

Good man. I forgot speed also affects avoid, so I cherish these moments while I can.

The next turn, Colm's replacement arrives. I think I'll use her simply because I need more than one staff user, and the odds of me getting a staffbot are slimmer and slimmer. I could, of course, cheat and see whether I do eventually get one, but I shan't.

She's a female mage, btw.

Seth hitting that 5% growth? I am not complaining AT ALL.

I decide to let Ewan do some chipping, just 'cause.

I'm surprised he hit. Ephraim did get doubled though.

End of turn 3. Hayden lures northern brigand, Seth will counter and then kill the archer, and Tana picks up Tethys to chip without killing that other brigand.

All according to keikaku.

"Sir, are you familiar with the term 'copyright infringement?"

Yes, get that speed up.

Seth holds Ephraim's vulneraries so that he can go in front and...

...tank.

I want to see a Moulder level-up! But this chapter isn't exactly the best place for it.

REALLY?

*grumble grumble*

I realized I never showed off a picture of the boss. Here he is, in all his scruffy glory.

And here's his sidekick, with an antipoison I can't steal. Not gonna dodge these guys, that's for sure.

But first, we have brigands to get rid of. Which we do.

I did say we weren't going to dodge this guy. But we sure as hell don't need to.

Defense is good. I'll take it. Should work on that hp, though.

IT'S THE FINAL SHOWDOOOOOOWN

According to my calculations, Tethys should have been doing 2 damage here. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

*15 minutes later*

It turns out that the 3 def thrones give is only for physical damage. Thrones actually give +5 res, but it's not shown. Today I learned!

Tana chips, Saleh clips, and off we go.

[spoiler=Chapter 4]

Introducing the Crimson Flash! It seems she's given up one potential critty class for another potential critty class. She's a T2 recruit, btw.

The boss is, quite frankly, pathetic. I had hopes that bow bonewalkers could promote to obscenely good bow wights, but...no. If I get one, it's benched. I don't care how good its growths are.

My team. Yes, Hayden's benched, but I brought him along because he's the only one that can lift Ephraim, the fatty.

Revenants are a teensy bit more threatening now, because they can actually hit and they have 6 move.

Ismaire chips (I actually intended to have Ephraim do it and I got mixed up) and Moulder finishes.

Hayden hoists Ephraim by his own petard

He and Saleh will come under attack, but they should be ok.

Yep, fine. Saleh actually crits in return.

Moulder kills and gets a decent first level.

Ismaire for best tank.

And here's why! In fact, she could have soloed this entire chapter (except the boss, maybe) without vulneraries. The most damage she'd take is 1. Maybe 2, from the reinforcement bonewalkers.

A sneak peak at...holy crap, playable gorgon!

DIS GUNNA BE GUD

The incoming horde is a little too numerous for everyone not named Ismaire. Unfortunately, Seth cannot fully escape due to his piss-poor movement.

Monsters do their best to kill Seth, but they fail. He even crit someone.

Hmm...yeah, I'll probably still keep you.

Seth's hiding behind Tethys, who can tank the monsters even if they both go for her. Also, I put Ephraim on a mountain so he could kill the reinforcements whenever they showed up.

Not too shabby.

Mogalls got screwed in the movement department as well, it seems.

Getting tanky, are we? I approve.

AT LAST! EPHRAIM SHALL FEAST ON ROTTING FLESH...on second thought, ew.

Pictured: Ephraim feasting on rotten flesh.

Looks like this incarnation of Moulder isn't getting luck, either.

In my infinite wisdom, I thought the boss didn't move and figured it'd be the perfect opportunity to train Marisa. Fortunately, it didn't crit.

I retreat everyone except Ismaire, who will lure the wight to its second death.

...Looks like it was a good thing it wasn't anyone else (she survived).

The Lute replacement.

NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE

And just in case it wasn't clear...

NOPE

Marisa trains, take 2.

Yes, you must get dodgy. Because you sure as hell won't survive otherwise.

Boss down. Let's take a look at Marisa et al's growths now, shall we?

[spoiler=Growths (Moulder, Tethys, Marisa, Duessel)]

Moulder (replacing Neimi):

HP: 15

Strength: 55

Skill: 5

Speed: 55

Luck: 5

Defense: 50

Resistance: 105

I actually like this. He may need skill books, but lances aren't as bad as, say, axes, and he has an ok hp pool. Will use unless something better comes along (not looking likely)

Tethys (replacing Colm):

HP: 30

Strength:45

Skill: 30

Speed: 15

Luck: 115

Defense: 75

Resistance: 30

Not too sure about her, but I don't have any other decent looking staff candidates. We shall see.

Marisa (replacing Artur):

HP: 35

Strength: 10

Skill: 45

Speed: 25

Luck: 80

Defense: 40

Resistance: 45

Nope, sorry, I don't think so

Duessel (replacing Lute):

HP: 130

Strength: 35

Skill: 55

Speed: 50

Luck: 25

Defense: 5

Resistance: 40

2-range locked, shitty movement, and not too great survivability. I think I made my opinion clear earlier. NOPE.

[Terrador]

For what it's worth, Tana's double miss was a 0.000784% chance, or one in about 127,551. Skillionaire.

E: That boss has almost no personal bases to speak of, which implies that the game natively doesn't really give him many (if any) levels to generate him. Don't use him to judge all Wights.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Terrador

[Tequila]

Oh right, I forgot about true hit.

[spoiler=Chapter 5]

Introducing Natasha's replacement. Dear god, she sucks.

The crew.

You know what? I think I can work with this guy.

At least, I hope so. This run needs some WOLF CITY lovin' too.

These guys are not fucking around. 11 speed on a fighter is pretty scary.

Ephraim lord with javelin. Tana is pretty much the only one that can take this guy on.

Hello, housewreckers!

My strategy is pretty much thus: In the interest of saving the houses, throw Tana at just about everything.

The 6 move of the fighter is really nice because it means I can lure them without pulling Joshua Kyle and accidentally killing him too.

Saleh's facing off against a fighter on the west, and Tana's coming under heavy fire. She'll be fine, though.

She even gains a level. I'm pretty happy with it.

Saleh's unfortunate lack of speed is rapidly becoming apparent.

Tana still preparing to beat things up.

Beginning of turn 4, I believe. Got a few tangos in range and I don't think I have enough people to deal with them.

Gotta get Kyle recruited, which means moving up and keeping Amelia alive, who only had 4 move. So this archer had to go first.

It also allowed me to plop Tana in range of Kyle, and trade Amelia her weapons so she doesn't kill him.

No screeny, but Seth actually crit this guy, so the problem's been resolved, since Tethys can now go for the other archer.

Seen here.

Oof. Remember, Ismaire's second tankiest behind Tana. These guys are not fooling around. And she even gets doubled.

WOLF CITY draws near.

DOGGEH

Tethys kills...something.

I think I know who this is going to...

Useless for now

Hmmm. Let's put the doggy to the test.

I am pleased.

NOT PLEASED ANYMORE. BAD DOGGY.

Redeemed doggy.

No idea who gets this one. Maybe I'll make a poll, but probably not, because fuck y'all

There is no way this can go wrong.

Levels are gained in the course of killing things.

Tana's the only one who can deal with the boss. Instead of using the iron axe, I switch to the poison axe and let that wear him down a bit.

Guiding ring obtained.

Eh, why not?

...Surprise?

Everyone that's at full HP goes for a round (much savestate abuse was performed) and I get some money and quite good levels.

Toss-up between Seth and Tethys as to who gets this. Personally, I'm leaning towards Seth.

[spoiler=Chapter 5x]

Introducing the new lord...hang on, I thought the whole point of this run was to get some different people in the lord slot.

Hmmm...defense is nice, but I still don't want to get into close quarters with anyone in here. They all have 15-20 attack.

This guy will chip and tank.

And this guy will be A COMPLETE AND UTTER ASSHOLE

18 def and res

I hate everything

Orson Scott Tank gets ready to chip by picking up Joshua.

You've just been...SPIDERED

Really?

REALLY?

I mean, he would have doubled anyway, but that's just insulting.

A little rng abuse results in this.

Shamans are kind of dangerous.

Eirika training montage. Basically, Orson chipped and she killed. I didn't want Joshua and Knoll getting in direct combat to save elixirs, since I STILL don't have a healer.

Even Orson needs to heal eventually.

He even gets a good level. Bastard.

Eirika doubling things!

As far as I can tell, she is tanky as hell, but doesn't know what skill is.

Ew.

Ok, fine.

Sure ain't gonna let Orson get the kill, so the only other one who can actually do damage will get it.

Much rng abuse later...

Oh, you too?

Youch.

[spoiler=Growths (Amelia, Kyle, Eirika, Knoll, Joshua)]

Amelia (replacing Natasha):

HP: 15

Strength: 25

Skill: 85

Speed: 5

Luck: 115

Defense: 20

Resistance: 50

Heh. Heheh. HEHEHEHEHEHEH.

Kyle (replacing Joshua):

HP: 65

Strength: 70

Skill: 55

Speed: 45

Luck: 5

Defense: 50

Resistance: 5

Oh.

My.

God.

SENSIBLE GROWTHS, PEOPLE! THE MONKEYS HAVE TYPED OUT HAMLET!

Eirika (replacing Ephraim):

HP: 25

Strength: 65

Skill: 5

Speed: 40

Luck: 85

Defense: 80

Resistance: 85

The skill's kind of lacking, but I'd be a fool not to use her.

Joshua (replacing Forde):

HP: 5

Strength: 50

Skill: 60

Speed: 5

Luck: 25

Defense: 35

Resistance: 75

You can have crappy hp, or crappy speed, but you can't really have both. His base speed just isn't good enough to cut it. Alas.

Knoll (replacing Kyle):

HP: 20

Strength: 5

Skill: 90

Speed: 5

Luck: 5

Defense: 15

Resistance: 120

He's like Amelia, but somehow worse. Not sure how this is possible. And the best part is, he still has no luck. Poor sod.

[Klokinator]

Hey man, at least your lord isn't totally fucking useless, bro.

[Tequila]

[spoiler=Chapter 6]

Ok, I'm just going to note that RNG and savestate abuse runs RAMPANT in here. Because fog of war is a bitch. I apologize if this offends anyone's sensibilities.

Brought Marisa and Forde as extra torch-bearers because they have the highest defense out of the shitty guys.

Plan: move north, kill boss before bael shows up.

Along the way, some hostiles are negated and levels are gained.

This is turn 6 or so. Progress is slow, because I can't survive too many people piling on at once, and the reinforcement cavaliers have shown up. And they're tough.

Fortunately, Amelia came with a horseslayer, which is being put to good use.

And now, I have a problem. Ephraim will die to either the cavalier or the fighter, both of which double with 80-odd hit. Not worthwhile rigging 2 dodges. What do?

Easy. Surround him. I wanted to leave Saleh there to tank the fighter, but the fucker just waltzed over the mountain and smacked Ephraim anyway. So Kyle and Saleh went on bodyguard duty.

Guy went after Seth and doubled, but missed one. Didn't even have to rig!

And she survives too.

Seth gets revenge. Kind of weird that the AI didn't switch to the halberd, isn't it?

So far, all visible enemies are down.

Uh oh. Better hurry up.

Guess Tana's taking this one again.

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME

Looks like I'm not getting that Orion Bolt.

Sorry chica, you're SOL.

So instead, I decide to take my time and kill all the other enemies. We start out with by wrecking something.

:(

Dunno if I showed off the mage before, but the priest is new. And has 7 move. This is what Seth could have been...

Moulder's not doing too badly.

A level-up montage, with Kyle showing the rest of them what's up.

Tethys is the only one who can do damage without being counter-killed.

But she's pretty high-leveled as it is, so I feed the final hit to Ephraim, who seriously needs some hp. Chapter 8 robe is going to him.

[spoiler=Chapter 7]

Look at what I'm not getting, because the game decided not to assign me a thief!

No throne for this guy, so Tethys and Seth can take him out, no problemo.

Same crew as last time, although Forde and Marisa are back on the bench.

The first turn, Tana tanked those two soldiers. Now, Saleh and Kyle get some experience.

I'm sort of running away from the fighter/mage combo northwest. The ballista is useless to me, and they'll come to me anyway. Here, the mage tanks prepare to face the thunder fire.

Mage goes for Tethys, realizing that it will tink on Ismaire. She does a lot more damage in return.

Feel the tankiness!

This fighter actually doubled Saleh. Majorly uncool.

Tanky mages are a thing.

She didn't crit, but dodged the return, and Moulder finished off for an ok level.

Seth killed the fighter.

Meanwhile, Joshua sits on a forest and gets ready to tank.

It takes a very long time, but he eventually kills the fighter.

Other levels, including TETHYS GETTING SPEED ON MY GOD

Ballista tanking time. Spoiler: None of them hit her.

Moulder takes no damage from those hyper-accurate and speedy but low strength mercs.

Finally, she can progress to REAL weapons.

Ephraim needs speed, and Saleh actually gets hp, surprisingly.

No melee unit's gonna touch this guy and his 22 defense.

Kyle gets a great level killing the last archer.

This is how the boss goes down.

Probably going to Ephraim.

Still not as bad as Eirika and Orson's clear of 5x

[Klokinator]

I love how completely different your characters are to mine XD

[Ansem]

well he's not hacking to make his run easier, i guess thats one reason

[Klokinator]

Good, because neither am I.

[Tequila]

What do you call auto-leveling Vanessa and L'Arachel and moving Cormag?

[Person123]

Or giving Moulder a T3 with obscene promotion gains?

[Klokinator]

'Eliminating tedium'

[Tequila]

[spoiler=chapter 8]

The boss. Not as threatening as, say, Novala, for sure.

The usual suspects.

"Welcome to Chez Tirado's, can I get you a drink to-AAAAARGH"

"Waiter, who let the dog in here?"

"YOUR COMBAT TRIANGLE ADVANTAGE MEANS NOTHING TO ME."

Eirika demonstrates that she has multiple-personality disorder.

Myrmidon and knight almost took the dog out. But almost isn't good enough. Saleh avenges the dog.

Moulder kills the knight and gets tankier.

Eirika lures an archer, the other two get the hell out of the way, and Tana prepares to tank a knight.

I have previously attempted this chapter, and this shaman ruined it because it doubled everything and I didn't bring an elixir. This time, I bring an elixir AND pure water. I can safely say this is the first time I have ever used pure water.

Dog heals up.

A soldier hit him, but thankfully this fighter missed. Good doggy.

Bear in mind, Tethys has the highest resistance on my team after Eirika, and has pure water on top of it. Shamans in this version are insane.

Soldier and fighter go down, the latter netting Tana a nice level (because it has strength).

Eirika for best mage tank. Seriously, once she gets back, she and Tethys are going to wreck together.

Case in point.

Fuck you, shaman. What doesn't kill me makes me stronger.

GO DIE IN A HOLE.

And now...bring on the knight squad.

On the west side, Knoll does the last useful thing in his life: upgrading Kyle to dangerous status.

Knight squad taking a pretty brutal beatdown. He didn't double the last one, so it blocked off the others.

Seth killed it the next turn and got a decent level.

More knights dead.

Killed one of the backup cavaliers.

This time, the elixir wasn't even needed (probably because I killed the shaman before opening the door). That's the last knight.

Until now.

Ephraim's getting this, no question about it.

Kyle takes out a mercenary and gets a good level.

I know you're never gonna get skill, but some strength would be nice :D

I don't seem to have a picture, but I'm pretty sure I gave him the skill book and Saleh the dracoshield. Maybe it's in the next update.

"Walkin' down the street, singin' doo-wah diddy..."

Drinky drinky magic stinky

...Yeah, I got nothing.

BUT NEITHER DO THOSE MAGES HAH

A thief! I traded Seth and Tethy's vulneraries away just in case someone gets itchy fingers.

Tethys gets more defense from those mages.

The thief, with nothing to steal, and being unwilling to knock down the wall and steal the nw chests, decides to waste Moulder's last use of the heavy spear. In hindsight, I should have let the thief get the angelic robe and then killed it, leaving me with enough chest keys to open both northwest chests. I got the whip and left the sword; alas, imgur is being dumb and refuses to upload those pics (why, I dunno).

He finishes it off on his next turn, getting some much-needed strength. So, how about that skill?

Kyle has become quite the terror since he got the fetid claw.

I offload Eirika onto the wall so she can start killing the shaman in that room.

She ends up doing very poorly, so I remove her next turn.

Defense is really nice. I think he finished off a mage.

Have I mentioned how tanky these things are!?

Yay! Defense!

After a long and difficult battle, Tana kills the shaman.

Direct-range combat is out of the question. And since he regenerates 3 hp per turn, this is gonna take a while.

Very nice!

The rest of that time is spent getting supports.

Ephraim tests out the power of his new supports. Not rigged/10

Even though I won't see her again till chapter 15, I get some supporting done anyway.

Was getting low on cash. Thank goodness for Hayden! Seems he's not too miffed about being benched.

I somewhat cheated and looked ahead, and neither Tana nor Cormag are fliers. Therefore, I would have to hack eliminate tedium to get Cormag, and I'd rather not. Apparently I can get Cormag on Eirika's route by offloading Saleh onto a mountain; we'll see whether this works when the time comes.

Besides, fuck Phantom Ship.

I decided to check out the Tower of Valni. Guess which one is the boss?

Tethys is going to hit level 20, because I seriously need a staffbot at this point, and Tana is along to kill that ridiculous Entombed. I picked Tethys for staffbot because the revenants all tink her, and they actually have skill now.

See?

Levels!

Up till this point, no rng abuse was required. So of course, I went back and killed it.

I don't really care what you get, that defense is guaranteed to go up and is really all I'm looking for.

Did another run, brought along Ephraim and Kyle to build up some more supports. Noticed this; was happy because that's worth 4.5k

A couple of more levels and OH MY GOD SHE GOT SPEED

STOP THE PRESSES

Kyle and Tana B supports, Ephraim also gets enough for Tana A at the beginning of the next map.

Feed him the boss kill for a good level.

I went with sage for ease on chapter 15. Extra con doesn't really bother me since she'll get doubled by everything under the sun anyway, and I have other units to do rescuing. Although, in fairness, she would be the only one that could pick up Ephraim. On the other hand, he'll get even more con on promotion, so...yeah. Sage it is.

I dunno what's going on with imgur, but I kept getting an error (something about "an unexpected error, please try again") every time I tried to upload more than 3-4 pictures at a time. And now that I tried to make it happen again, by uploading all the pics for chapter 9 in one go, it worked fine. It's almost like imgur went "oh no plz don't air my dirty laundry on serene's I'll never live it down!"

Whatever.

Chapter 9 coming soon.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Tequila

[Tequila]

[spoiler=Chapter 9]

IN WHICH WE GET A THIEF OH MY GOD @@@@@@@@

This is Tana, in case you didn't know.

Oh Tethys, there's someone here to see you!

*she only does 6 damage*

Fuck.

Boss isn't too bad, but 17 speed pirates? Seriously?

And speaking pirates, I seriously need some sword users. My team, until now, is 3 lances, 1 sword, 1 axe, 1 light, 1 anima, and 1 rip-your-face-off.

As mentioned before, Ephraim and Tana get A support right off the bat. He now gets 4 attack, 1 defense, 25 accuracy, 17 avoid, 20 crit, and 25 crit evade between Kyle and Tana. In other words, this man's DANGEROUS.

I'm not bothering to go south since I only have one healer and a limited time frame to grab Amelia's replacement, whenever they show up.

Supports in action.

Tethys might not do much to that sniper, but, frankly, it doesn't do much to her either.

No way in hell am I going to save that village. Alas, I really could use that dracoshield. I don't really care about the rapier, since I already have one and no Eirika lord.

Mage tank coming along...poorly.

Physical tank doing absolutely amazing, thanks for asking. This guy could have one-shot anyone else on my team with a crit.

SUPPORTS IN ACTION

Which is good, because he got doubled and would have died otherwise.

Ok, I like speed.

Supports in action?

...fail.

REALLY?

Cormag gets revenge and a nice new sword to play with.

Damnit! Why have you given me no fliers, game?! I would have gotten a free robe, too (according to the wiki).

Amelia's replacement shows up. I'm not too keen to train this guy here; 11 attack is really not going to cut it on this crowd. Besides, I already have Seth. We'll see about growths at the end of the chapter.

A LOT of bogeys inbound. Things could get tense. A man could get hurt.

A man could also become even more of a killing machine.

So could a dog.

Oh crap.

Some redoing of moves and some rng abuse later, everyone survives. But now the pirates are getting uncomfortably close, and everyone not named Moulder or Tana is either not doubling or getting doubled. Which means getting rid of this crowd will be problematic.

Ok...slightly less problematic now.

As long as you get speed, I don't really care too much.

SIGNIFICANTLY less problematic.

Oh please, oh please, oh please...

:D

TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE.

An excellent level from the Boulder, who is actually living up to his sobriquet.

...You're making me wish I went Eirika route.

Throw this to Tethys for even more pwnage.

Come to me, Gerik. Embrace your destiny.

He got doubled and they both hit. Remind me why I keep this guy around again?

He's forced, you say?

WELL WHOSE BLOODY BRILLIANT IDEA WAS THAT, EH?

A horde of 17 speed pirates (aka they double everyone except Tana, Moulder, and Kyle, and don't get doubled) is a royal pain in the ass.

"Franz" recruits "Amelia".

Run away from the pirates?

He actually crit. I am pleased.

A turn later, the pirates are no more.

Tethys can finally turn her attention from chipping to healing, getting a good level.

What WTD?

HNNNNG

You got skill, I'm happy.

Every enemy hanging out near Binks does no damage to Moulder. I take full advantage of this.

I'm actually happy with these.

I am very happy with this.

I don't have a picture of killing Binks, which means that whoever did it didn't get a level. Fin.

Back in the tower, I have a brilliant idea of getting my own CAPTAIN PHANTOM. Unfortunately, that means leveling Ewan. So the plan is as follows: get rid of UBERBOSS ENTOMBED (pictured here), while Tethys tanks a revenant that has less than 8 res (actually difficult to find, Ewan seriously sucks) and healing Tana if necessary.

Did I mention he sucks?

Tethys even picks up a level while healing.

Tana gets the honor of destroying the boss.

[spoiler=Growths (Cormag, Gerik)]

Cormag (replacing Tana):

HP: 75

Strength: 30

Skill: 70

Speed: 5

Luck: 5

Defense: 60

Resistance: 40

A thief, so he'll have to be on my team. And hang on, 5% speed growth? And he's procced it twice? There goes the rest of my luck ever.

Gerik (replacing Amelia):

HP: 5

Strength: 65

Skill: 20

Speed: 5

Luck: 100

Defense: 20

Resistance: 40

I never thought I'd say this to the Desert Tiger, but seriously, fuck off.

[Tequila]

[spoiler=Chapter 10]

Dozla replaces Innes. Still bow-locked and has shitty movement. Now you know why i didn't use Duessel (not that I needed an excuse to, with those growths).

The master seal is to promote Ewan. I hacked that in so I don't have to wait until chapter 15 to get one. I decided to use him anyway as a summoner, even if his stats are absolute trash.

AT LAST! A HEALER! After 9 grueling chapters, I am saved. Even though I already have a staffbot now. Still, that base res/speed looks nice, especially on a level 1. Replaces Tethys.

A sword user? I think I might give her a try, despite that poor movement.

I gave the speedwing to Saleh rather than Tethys because she gets doubled by nearly everything even with the wing. Saleh at least has a chance of doubling/not getting doubled.

The crew. Joshua, Marisa, and Duessel are coming along to get me some money in the arena.

Pablo doesn't look too bad.

So...uh...I accidentally overwrote some of my pics. This is taken day 3 or so. I changed the AI for Vanessa and co. to "Stand Still", because otherwise she would run out and get absolutely wrecked by a gang of soldiers by turn 3. So they stand still, while Tethys, Tana, and Cormag head over to recruit them (Cormag is Tana, so he can recruit Innes/Dozla). The rest of the crew forms a cordon north of that pyramid/gazebo thing and hold the fort. Other then that, not much is happening.

You can see the first soldier approaching the greenies.

And see just how bad they hurt. Thankfully, even with that ridiculously heavy blade, she still doesn't get doubled.

And the AI's even smart enough to patch her up!

Tethys and Tana are wrecking down here. Cormag's a little fragile, so he hides in Tana's shadow.

Ismaire drinks a vulnerary after getting on the wrong side of some axes.

Despite my best efforts, Vanessa gets destroyed by a soldier/ballista combo. I rng abused to the ballista would miss, though.

Alas, Tana can't quite ORKO. And she doesn't crit, so that ballista dude will survive for another turn.

Seth does a 1-damage chip (the brigand reinforcements have really high res) and gets a not-so-great level.

Ephraim and Kyle show him how it's done.

Kyle also has some close calls.

The ballista guy ran off, oddly enough not firing, and got healed up. Fucker. No way can I reach him now.

Hang on, there seems to be an extra archer there. Let's have a look, shall we?

Hmm...Doesn't look great. But having a decent bow-user would nice. If I use Vanessa I'd probably promote her to hero, but I dunno. Growths will tell.

Tana looks on in shock as her clone recruits her rather bony-looking brother. Tethys does the same.

I'm feeling Saleh the brigands, since he really needs to start pulling his weight. Tethys is, of course, still wrecking down south.

No restore staves, so anyone going to sleep stays asleep.

Dropping Saleh on the peak for super-duper evasion. I like these new movement values :D

The cavalry arrives, on foot, and quite slow. Alas, he doesn't crit. Also, I made two mistakes here.

The ballista dude didn't attack last turn, so I thought he wasn't going to attack again. Alas, he did. Two soldiers also killed Cormag, so I redid the positioning a little.

Syrene so good.

Moulder...marginally less good.

Now, you dun made me mad. Also got a torch staff (yay?)

Pinning in Natasha. Don't want to bring in the reinforcements quite yet, so I'm waiting until I clear out the rest of the enemies before recruiting her.

Cormag nicks her vulnerary for lulz and gets...more speed!?

3 times. On a 5% growth. That's...pretty freaking lucky.

Moulder and his 0 luck get some help in that department from Syrene's icon.

First level looking good.

For Saleh, probably.

Kyle and his 92 avoid (on a peak) will tank this ballista. Unsurprisingly, he doesn't get hit.

It's a one-stat level I'm actually ok with.

For Natasha/to be sold.

Meanwhile, I start preparing for the reinforcements for when I recruit Natasha.

Ok, bring 'em on.

Goody. Cormag's conveniently-gotten speed will allow me to lift that talisman. And while the stats are somewhat threatening, the hp is laughable. Aren't these worse than normal? How does that even happen?

Ok...this is a bit more of a problem. Still, look at those movement values. Note to self: pray for no falcoknights, and promote to wyvern knight.

She actually hits this without abuse.

An opportunity for Seth to get some levels. If by some fluke he gets hit, Tethys can patch him up.

Meanwhile, Moulder's got things under control in his corner.

I was hoping to pin the ranger using Marisa and Joshua, but he was just too dangerous to leave alive. Tethys gets to kill him.

Dozla killed a pegasus with Natasha's longbow, while she killed another with the ballista. Everyone's out of range of the falcoknight, and the last remaining pegasus should not be able to kill anyone, or get killed, since it has the talisman and I want it to remain alive.

Doubles, but doesn't kill. Whew.

...no room. He drops a vulnerary and steals the talisman.

The benefits of everyone having A ranks: Natasha can use the silver bow after Dozla to finish off...

...like so. Not off to a great start, though.

Seth gets a good level from the cavaliers.

Strength is excellent. Even if you don't get anything else, you can heal and destroy monsters as a bishop, so keep up the strength and I'll use you.

Ephraim kills Pablo and gets the ring, along with a nice level.

Meanwhile, Joshua, Duessel, and Marisa are abusing the arena, with Syrene healing. I think it's a given that she's going to get lots of magic. I'm not going to show their levels since I'm not going to use them.

Syrene's looking good, especially that last one.

Some others get levels (TETHYS GOT SPEED)

Might as well get some supports while I'm waiting. And then I end.

[spoiler=Growths (Dozla, Syrene, Vanessa, Natasha)]

Dozla (replacing Innes):

HP: 105

Strength: 75

Skill: 5

Speed: 50

Luck: 5

Defense: 5

Resistance: 40

I suppose he might not be that bad (except the lousy base skill and growth), but the movement really clinches it for me. Sorry, short green guy. Maybe next time.

Syrene (replacing Tethys):

HP: 55

Strength: 120

Skill: 40

Speed: 15

Luck: 5

Defense: 60

Resistance: 5

Has enough base speed and resistance to negate those cruddy growths, and is pretty damn good everywhere else. Will definitely use.

Vanessa (replacing Gerik):

HP: 50

Strength: 85

Skill: 90

Speed: 25

Luck: 5

Defense: 5

Resistance: 85

I think she's going to replace Ismaire as my mage tank. Definitely using.

Natasha (replacing Marisa):

HP: 30

Strength: 45

Skill: 25

Speed: 80

Luck: 45

Defense: 80

Resistance: 35

...3 almost-balanced units in a row? What is this sorcery?? Will definitely use as well. I think that pretty much rounds off my team at this point.

Edited August 6, 2015 by Tequila