Let's Play Partia 2: I Can't Believe It's Not Fire Emblem!

[TheMoniker]

An escape mission that force-deploys your people? It actually seems like a good concept, but there should be better ways to keep your army safer if you haven't been using a lot of them.

[epilepsyduck]

An escape mission that force-deploys your people? It actually seems like a good concept, but there should be better ways to keep your army safer if you haven't been using a lot of them.

I actually like it a lot; the map's laid out in such a way that keeping your weaklings safe just requires a bit of carefulness, and it's one of the few times I felt the game was actually making me strategize a bit. My only complaint is that I wish the game has said something before the chapter started, but that's a minor issue.

Our army has grown bored of killing everything in sight, so now it's time to experience the opposite side of the coin! Get ready...

Chapter 12: Mountain climbing for dummies

Before we start running for out lives, let's visit some lowly peasants. There's a lot of houses in this chapter, some of which have treasure, and I'll be visiting them all to make up for previous failures to do so.

This old man will hold them off as long as possible to give our army a chance to escape. We'll never forget your sacrifice, old man!

There's a house that starts right next to one of the enemy armies. I have Ravn move down to get it. Can you see where I made a mistake?

If your answer was "Nal'at is already in range to do that", you're right!

Not even a ghost haunting the place? What a ripoff!

Nal'at is commended for her bravery in checking whether the house was haunted or not.

No, I don't know why a deserted house had a promotion item in it.

Since our current theme is "tactical mistakes I've made in this chapter", can anyone see the one I've made here?

Come enemy phase, our fleeing troops encounter their first obstacle. Thankfully for Quent's tissue paper durability, he manages to dodge this one.

And this one too, just to further put my mind at ease. Given that either of those attacks probably would've pulped him, I was extremely lucky there.

Nal'at is considerably less fortunate on her turn, when a wind spell packing mage blasts her hard. If she didn't have such a high magic stat, this likely would've ended things.

The enemies try to chase after us and move past each other in that slightly bumbling way of theirs. Half of them choose Nal'at as their future target and just refuse to move.

The dudes on the other side of the river are a little more efficient about things.

I really, really don't want to deal with that meteor mage for this entire chapter, so we're sending Serene on a special assassination mission.

I imagine he thought he was very smart, developing a cheater 10-use meteor tome and just sitting miles away from us, hurling fireballs at his leisure. Hypothetically smug little bastard.

Eat shit, asshole.

Since Kori is nearby, I give him a potential chance at redemption by having him hack away at this ballista. It's slow going.

I figure it's time to check up on the villagers again. What secrets will they impart to us?

The previous old man's twin doesn't give a rats ass about helping us escape, and is more concerned with someone slipping food coloring into the water supply. What a jerk!

A lot of my units are already in place to begin our great exodus, but the armors and ballista are still in the way.

Worse still, these cavaliers are catching up to Raf's team fast. Charlotte's going to lag behind a bit to prevent them from catching up to losers like Asif and Est'aio, who would die almost immediately.

My incredible tactics continue; Serene is now stuck in a corner, and, being an archer, can't extract herself without the AI bumbling out of her way first. She's not in any real danger, but it limits her ability to babysit the weaklings.

Doesn't stop enemies from foolishly positioning themselves in her range, though.

Kori kind of bungles his second chance at the ballista, so I give the opportunity to Herman. Unbelievably, he crits and kills it. Way to overcome the handicap of being who you are, Herman!

Unfortunately, he's unable to move out of the armor's range, leaving him and Kori open to attack. Since Partia 2's AI isn't as obsessed with avoiding counterattacks as FE's, this guy will almost certainly ignore Serene to snatch up such juicy prey. They can probably survive a round, but that's about it.

Kade'll be in position to help them next turn, at least. Admittedly, I'm rushing the map a little bit, but trust me when I say not rushing this map is asking for trouble.

On that note, Mary here is having serious trouble getting away from the approaching enemies. Nal'at and Ravn will have to take turns shielding her, but neither of them are exactly tanks, so it's all a bit risky.

Banoss is gonna park his ass here to stop the enemies from getting any funny ideas about going for Kerns or Est'aio. Shitty inn recruits unite!

I totally won't regret this decision at all.

Charlotte, meanwhile, will block the other enemies from crossing the bridge and attacking Asif or the rest of Raf's team. Yes, the enemies could just go around and get him next turn instead of pointlessly hacking away at someone they can barely dent, but they're not terribly good at thinking ahead like that.

Herman defies the odds and dodges the enemy despite the crippling evasion penalty. He even manages to hit!

In stark contrast to Banoss, who gets two chances to hit the enemy, misses both times, and gets hit. Glad I can count on you.

An enemy is in such a rage at having half his movement range blocked by his own allies he spontaneously combusts into a supernova.

Or maybe he's just using a potion. It's all for you to decide!

Speaking of blocking, the cavaliers shall soon realize their hubris in attacking the first thing they saw instead of going around her.

I try to let the Riffraff Regiment deal with this one guy. Quent actually accomplishes something...

Unlike Bendt, who can't even aspire to the level of mediocrity that Kori lives up to. Fuck you and your stupid name, Bendt.

I considered letting Mark handle this, but oh how the mighty have fallen. I remember when I thought he was better than Charlotte.

Since Kade's team is mostly rather pathetic, the man himself has to finish the job.

On the other side of the river, Olivia shows the world what overkill is all about.

I then foolishly let Banoss try and handle the situation, despite more competent people for the job being present.

Nope, no regrets yet.

Alduskeng similarly muffs it. Way to impress me in your first real battle, buddy.

There must be some divine intervention going on or something; even Serene fails to hit him!

Unable to help his team stop sucking, Raf goes down to share tanking duties with Charlotte.

Nal'at finally gets some healing for her little mishap. Now I'm a bit less wary of letting her tank for Mary.

Since Kori won't be needed for combat, I decide to have him go visit this house that's a bit away from the main battle. He can't fuck this up, at least.

And then this guy crits and kills Banoss, I have to restart the turn, and I didn't record the second attempt. It didn't exactly go wildly differently, so I hope the time gods can forgive me.

Still not regretting relying on this useless fuck, though.

Come next turn, we have some new friends. No, I don't know why the ones on Kade's side of the river start two spaces from the edge of the map. Maybe they teleported in.

Shall we see how they stack up to the guys we've been dealing with this whole time?

About the same, really. You could conceivably deal with these reinforcements if you were still withing range of them, but if you're this late in the chapter... well, let's just say you really don't want to be anywhere near them by the time they arrive.

Enough about them though, we've got houses to visit!

Aw, the general guy we haven't seen for seven chapters is dead? I'd honestly hoped we'd recruit him just so I'd have a lance cavalier that didn't suck.

Then I guess a kit just randomly appears and Kori takes it. I know it's a FE tradition for random houses to throw items at your for vaguely-defined reasons, but usually they mention they're giving you an item first!

If you haven't seen these yet, they're basically Hammerne in usable item form, like Tear Ring Saga's Repair Hammers. The shop's actually been selling these for a little while (only one per chapter, though), I just forgot to mention it because I am a terrible LPer and you shouldn't read this thread.

Most of my dudes have arrived at the choke point massive gate that leads to freedom. We've got a few stragglers, but most of them should be fine.

Mary, of course, is still lagging behind by an unbelievable margin. We're getting worryingly close to the point where everyone needs to be north of the gate, and she's still way behind. It's times like this I miss rescuing.

While the enemies aren't able to reach her yet, it's only a matter of a turn or two until they're right on top of her. Since she's your stereotypical defenseless healer, that's bad news.

The lower half of the map is becoming a bit of a clusterfuck. Some of the enemies literally can't move because their friends are blocking every possible direction they would want to go.

This gets worse. Oh boy does it get worse.

Unlike Mary, our resident tanks can handle these guys just fine. I still want them past the gate ASAP, though.

Let's see what this villager has to say about the situation.

Y'know, it would've made more sense to put the kit in this guy's house, like he's offering a gift if you leave him be or something, as opposed to an old lady reminiscing about a dead general and then just throwing an item at you with nary a word.

Kade'll be holding this gate so the squishies can get to safety. It's basically a perfect place to stall the approaching onslaught of foes, though it does make extracting whoever you left there a bit difficult. Still, Kade's tough, he can handle it.

Our favorite dragoons engage in some precise assassinations to stop the red assholes from targeting the staffbot.

It's at this moment I realize I didn't move Kori last turn, and almost forgot to move him this turn, too. Thankfully, there's a path around the gate he can take so he doesn't have to chance it by getting close to any enemies.

Good thing, too, as they've pretty much overrun the map at this point.

If you noticed these mountain tiles in the way and thought the cavaliers would have to dismount to cross, you're mistaken; they can go over not only the mountains, but the "peak" tiles too! In fact, everyone can, though it comes with a very high movement cost.

I'm still not sure what dismounting exists for, except for the fact it existed in older FE games and TRS, I suppose. And Berwick Saga, but that games way of handling mounts is pretty wildly different in general.

We're nearly safe. Nan couldn't quite make it across the gate, so I have Kade and Charlotte block the way so she doesn't have to fight. Mary and the dragoons are almost to safety too, but they're still a bit behind where I wanted them to be by this turn.

The huge mass of enemies continues to bumble forward.

By next turn, they're joined by a new wave of foes, every single one of whom is promoted. I'm sure they can't be that much more threatening.

They certainly can be when led by the Hot Topic employee!

You'll have to wait for the next update to see how we deal with this new threat. Hint: it involves a lot of running away.

[Tamanoir]

I first read Kit at "Kilt".

It also sorta looks like one too.

And no true FE5-style escape map without his Galzus, I guess...

[TheMoniker]

A lot of running away? A lot of running... away from the escape point? A lot of running... away from all the areas that DON'T contain tons of promoted enemies? HOW WILL YOU HANDLE THIS? I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH INFO!

[Baldrick]

No, clearly they're RUNNING to find A WAY to kill Midnight Shadowraven.

[epilepsyduck]

I first read Kit at "Kilt".

It also sorta looks like one too.

And no true FE5-style escape map without his Galzus, I guess...

Someone needs to hack the game and make the Kilt item a reality.

The Galzus comparisons will be even more appropriate when you see what one of his skills is!

A lot of running away? A lot of running... away from the escape point? A lot of running... away from all the areas that DON'T contain tons of promoted enemies? HOW WILL YOU HANDLE THIS? I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH INFO!

No, clearly they're RUNNING to find A WAY to kill Midnight Shadowraven.

This was funnier than any joke I've made in the entire course of the LP and I'm ashamed for life.

Were you interested in Partia 2's complex, deep characters, but let down by this game's lack of support conversations? Fear not, everyone gets a line this chapter, so we can re-experience the majesty of meeting rich characters like Bendt and Asif once again! Proofreading optional!

Chapter 12 Conclusion: Acquire hope, all ye who exit.

Where we last left off, the enemies had finally bought some promotion items and brought promoted enemies into the field en masse instead of, like, one dude with crappy bases surrounded by even crappier goons. Let's take a peek at what we're facing!

This guy's strong enough to blast pretty much all your units to smithereens in a single round. His tissue paper defenses are his only saving grace.

The generals are basically unkillable without magic. Their armor would simply take too long to wear down for you to do it with melee weapons. One of the lance ones cheated and got extra movement despite generals not gaining movement on promotion.

The paladins are similarly tanky, and unlike the generals, you'll almost certainly have to deal with them regardless of if you run or stay and fight. Probably the most annoying enemies to handle.

Probably the least threatening enemies on the evil side, but still not pushovers thanks to their armor. I don't know why almost every class in the game is allowed to wear armor.

The warriors can deal some pretty heavy damage, especially if they crit, but overall they're not as ridiculous as some of the others.

They're leader had the best armor of the bunch and stats roughly on their level, if not slightly better. That speed in particular means he doubles some of my best units.

His skills are the same as when we first met him, and make him even harder to deal with then his stats and armor. Storm Attack in particular makes attacking him head on a lost cause.

The other enemies have a few skills, too, but nothing like Fenril's. I didn't take pictures of this because this is a bad LP.

Now, it is possible to beat these guys. The game even considers you to have won the chapter if you kill every enemy on the map, regardless of whether everyone's escaped or not. In practice, though, this requires a ton of grinding, both so your stats are stronger than theirs and so you can afford enough equipment to slowly whittle their armor down until you can actually damage them. Even then, a poorly timed crit or Storm Attack can end things. Basically, beating them requires far, far more time and dedication than it's worth, and you're better off just running away. I imagine that's kind of the point.

Thankfully, I've nearly gotten everyone to safety. Mary is still dangerously behind, but she'll be past the gate by the time Fenril's forces could potentially be a problem. Kade'll just have to hold his ground until she's at the escape point.

Kori visits this last house before running for the escape point. Fenril and his army could potentially take the same route as he did to block off our escape, but the AI isn't smart enough to do that if anyone is still hanging out south of the gate, as they'll consider that unit closer and chase after them first.

Wow, not even an uninspired fantasy name for the mountains, like the Death Mountains or the Mountains of Fate or something. Just "mountains", but capitalized.

"Tribe people" sounds kind of stilted, too. Why not just "tribes"?

It's time to start our great escape. Herman'll be first, because of everyone out here I was most desperate to get Mr. Ungodly Terrible Evasion out of here ASAP.

Me upon seeing Herman's 2 base speed and 25% growth.

Random units like Alduskeng don't get escape quotes, understandably. I suppose they could've given all of them a generic one, but then I'd have to see the same line four times, and that would be stupid and annoying.

So, what's Fenril's master plan to chase us down before we escape into the Mountains of tribe people and spend the next few chapters in another subplot?

Just immediately chase down the closest enemy. Fenril is the second guy to move on every turn (the first is just some random fighter who came with the reinforcements a couple turns back), so he's less likely to get blocked by his friends than others.

And if you, like me, have been avoiding combat and rushing straight for the exit as much as possible, that quickly becomes a problem for the red team. Some enemies literally can't take their turns at all because there's too many of their allies blocking the way.

The last bit of combat anyone but Kade faces. It ends predictably in Ravn's favor.

This archer also gave him a bit of a scare, but I hesitate to call dodging an arrow "combat".

There, Mary's more or less safe now. Still in range of the archers, but not in immediate danger otherwise.

There goes Serene, auntily as ever. My aunt also uses vaguely stilted and awkward phrases that sound similar to a robot learning English for the first time.

I'm never going to get over the game calling her aunty, no.

Fenril approaches, ready for Round 2 with our hero. Of course, if Round 2 is anything like Round 1, this means Kade's wearing his plot armor and everyone will be missing over and over again.

It probably won't be anything like Round 1, but that'd be nice.

That's if he's lucky enough for there to be a Round 2, however. The island is filling up with enemies, and there won't be much room soon.

Despite Mary being in range and being considerably more delicate then Kade, the archers go for the main character instead in some futile attempt of forcing a game over, I'd assume. Naturally, it doesn't pan out.

It's certainly the end for you, Bendt. You will never take the field again if I can help it.

Please follow Arthur to the Useless Loser corner, where it's currently nap time. After that there'll be storytime and coloring books, but be sure not to accidentally kill yourself with the crayons.

Fearing for Kade's life, I have Mary start a bit of a trade chain so Petros can get the Rescue staff and use it in case something goes wrong. Here's Nal'at trading it to Ravn, who ends up giving it to Kori.

I've never seen a conga line that goes directly through a flowing river before. It must add a lot of danger and excitement!

As you can see, things are kind of crowded around here. The upside is that it blocks Fenril and the other promoted enemies from catching up. The downside is it means a large part of the enemy turn is spent watching units move between the same two spaces because there's nowhere else for them to move anymore.

Time for more escape quotes!

Indeed it is! I never realized you had a monocle! That makes you instantly cooler and I take back all the mean things I said about you, even though they were true.

Me, a couple turns from now.

Quent likes to live dangerously, teetering on the edge of mortality and staring death in the face. This is mostly because he has the stats of a toddler and has simply learned to enjoy his crippling uselessness.

I accidentally uploaded the above quote twice somehow. I guess imgur really liked that image!

Since Fenril is getting uncomfortably close, and almost everyone is ready to escape, Kade starts pulling back. No need to give that jackass a chance.

If Awakening did anything right, it was letting you skip the enemy phase. Watching 40 guys inch forward is boring.

While most of the promoted enemies have fallen behind, two of the paladins have not. They'll be on top of Kade's ass next turn.

The others are stuck behind an impenetrable wall of their own allies. This is why leaving a lot of foes alive in this chapter is ultimately more worth it then killing them for their paltry XP gains, at least in hard mode.

Brace yourself for the incoming deluge of escape quotes. After this, all that will be left are Kade, the dragoons, Petros, and Mary.

You lead a sad, shitty existence, Asif.

Your 30% speed growth would beg to differ.

You are indeed. I don't think the story even attempted to explain who you are or why you're here, in fact.

That lackadaisical attitude probably explains why you're an armor knight with 9 defense at level 12, Mark. This is not Thracia, 9 is not an acceptable defense stat!

Charlotte is a woman of few words. Mostly because she only gets two lines, one of which is two words long while the other is just an ellipses, but still. I can respect that.

Kori understands his time in any sort of combat scenario is finished today, and he finally leaves us forever. Good riddance.

I could just have Petros rescue Kade and get everyone to safety, but I'd rather not use a valuable staff when I don't have to. Besides, it could potentially put our staffbot in danger.

The biggest threats (Fenril and the archmage) are both out of range now, so it's not like it matters. The paladins are still in range, but Kade should be able to handle a few rounds with them before it really becomes problematic.

He takes a couple hits, and can't even scratch either of the paladins, but comes out of the enemy phase relatively unscathed. Better than I feared, worse than I hoped, but ultimately what I expected.

I don't know if I'd ever shown what the "Vampire Attack" animation looks like; it's basically just the one used for healing staves and potions. Makes sense, but it's a bit underwhelming.

Fucking shields, I hate them. Having your damage randomly reduced is annoying.

Everyone's in range of the escape point now, so we don't have to deal with these jerks anymore.

Don't let Richard Dawkins hear you say that, or he'll try to pick fights with you over Twitter about it!

This is perhaps the most generic possible line they could have given him. Poor Petros.

Ravn isn't doing too much better on that front.

In the spirit of Thracia 776, I have Kade go last. It's sweet of him to show such concern for allies he never talks to.

Fenril's forces are unable to use the mystical powers of the escape arrows, and are forced to let us flee.

Aw, I was hoping last chapter's huge gold bonus meant the game was going to be less stingy from now on.

We cut to a forest scene that I'm 98% certain is a pixellated photo. I guess the art budget ran out and they just went out to a nature preserve to get more backgrounds.

Unimportant child: He's a Granian soldier, isn't he? Is he dead, Sigrid?

Here's Sigrid, who will be semi-important for the next few chapters. Her hair is very minty.

Hold on, how did we fall into the stream up river and end up in the north? From what I saw of the last chapter's map, all the rivers were flowing south.

Does this mean we're separated from our allies and have to get back to them?

No, no it does not, they're just magically with us next chapter with no explanation.

The chapter ends. Next time, a completely unique and engaging chapter with an enormous amount of space, almost no enemies, and a pair of suicidal NPCs!

[TheMoniker]

I love it when enemies get stuck behind impenetrable walls of their own allies. It's just hilarious to see the massive numbers FE games tend to spawn work against them so.

[epilepsyduck]

I love it when enemies get stuck behind impenetrable walls of their own allies. It's just hilarious to see the massive numbers FE games tend to spawn work against them so.

Truly, the best defense is your enemy's offense.

After that epic-scale battle, the devs decided to wind it way the fuck down with the following chapter, which is short and vaguely pointless and filler-y. Such a shame!

Chapter 13: My kingdom for a Warp staff

In the last chapter, we fled to the lands north of the Wall the generically-named Mountains mountains to ally ourselves with the wildlings the "tribe people". Here's some Grade A worldbuilding to ease you back into things.

Before we start the chapter proper, though, we've got a promotion to take care of.

Alduskeng decides he'd like a little of every stat.

A new look for the new class, as usual. He looks like a sniper on a horse now.

Indeed, that's basically what he is. You're embarrassing Serene, dude. The only thing that makes her arguably better is Rapid Fire.

One day, I'll figure out what these bonuses actually mean.

Alduskeng kills a man to feast on his immortal soul, creating a black bar at the bottom of the screen. That's certainly why it's there, and not because I didn't crop this screenshot properly. Honest.

not many people joining Kade this time around; it's just Olivia, Ravn, Nan, Charlotte, Mary and Alduskeng. Mary and Nan are just here for the treasure, while everyone else is here because they're a bit behind levels-wise, and I'd like to give them a chance to catch up. They'll probably make up next chapters lineup, too, minus the thief and healer.

Kade knows who's not being faithful in their marriages around here, and will release a tell-all book in the summer.

Given you found him shot with an arrow and magically floating upriver, against the current, I'm sure he's doing swell, Sigrid.

The devs remember Kade's smiling portrait a whole eleven chapters after they last used it. I'm sure you wouldn't have noticed if I didn't point it out.

I'm glad they didn't hobble the main character's movement for the purpose of a story-related injury, but it makes me wonder why they bother to add this detail in the first place. I guess they thought it'd be stupid if he was just magically better with no repercussions?

Sigrid, Kade already has a Generic Implied Love Interest. Her name is Erin. Don't try to muscle into her territory with flattery.

We're warned of an impending attack by a faceless specter! Given that there's an NPC visible on the scene right now (see that axe poking out from the dialogue box?), I don't know why they didn't use a portrait for this.

Some enemies appear, very far away from us. Typical.

The nameless leader of these forces flies to us v e r y s l o w l y. Sigrid runs over to meet him, and is considerably more prompt about the matter.

WHERE ARE HIS EYES OH MY GOD THAT'S TERRIFYING!

Okay, I know generics in Fire Emblem often lack visible eyes, but usually there's well-placed shadows to imply they actually have eyes! The shadows on this dude's face are too high up to adequately hide the fact he doesn't have eyes, and their color being almost the same tone as his flesh makes it worse!

So because no able-bodied men are around to lead, you just don't have a leader? I think a break from tradition is allowed in that case, guys.

Terrifying wraith: Who are you?

That somehow doesn't equate to you being the chief, or at least some sort of authority figure, though?

Terrifying wraith: Tsk, this land and you lot now belong to lord Gunnar.

Sigrid: We are poor but free people. We do not belong to Gunnar or his mother.

Damn, someone sure is touchy. What she said hardly registers as impudence.

He proceeds to fly back to his buddies, again, v e r y s l o w l y. Sigrid runs back to where she was at the start.

Cutscene's over, now the chapter begins. Believe it or not, we've already seen nine-tenths of the enemies in this chapter. Once again, there's a vast amount of unused space for a battle where the enemies outnumber us by a whole single person, provided we count the NPCs as being on our team.

Speaking of NPCs, let's take a look at our future teammates. They're staying NPCs for this chapter, but will join us in the next two chapters.

Damn, Sigrid, those stats sure are lopsided. Her speed and skill are fantastically high, sure, but that 10 strength is appallingly low for this point in the game, and she doesn't start with any cool skills to make up for it! Getting her up to par will be an ordeal.

She just might be worth it despite that, though, for one reason; she gets Storm Attack and Soul Attack on promotion, this game's version of Astra and Luna, respectively. Compared to most of the skills units get on promotion, that's an incredibly potent combo. It makes me wish I still had that Vampire Attack skill so she could have Sol, too, but that'd probably be overkill.

This unit is Una, and I'll admit my first reaction to seeing her was "FEMALEBERSERKERFEMALEBERSERKERFEMALEBERSERKER"

Once I got a hold of myself, though, I was dismayed to see her skills; just a crappy "fighter" skill and Counter-Attacker, which is the absolute nadir of this game's skills. Her speed isn't as unacceptably low as Herman's, so this hopefully isn't too crippling a disadvantage, but that still put quite a damper on things. I hope she's got okay growths at least.

Surprisingly good!

If you were wondering why Kade was all alone with Sigrid and Una, don't worry; everyone else was sitting just offscreen. No, I don't know how they got here after Sigrid's rescue. They just did.

Here's all the enemies lined up to greet us. Let's see how they stack up.

The dragoons are pretty tough, though not too threatening. Still, they can give Una and Sigrid plenty of trouble.

The fighters are just cannon fodder, not even worth being concerned about.

The swordmaster, like Sigrid, is a master of minmaxing more that sword swinging. Still, he can crit pretty hard, so it's best to deal with him from range, just in case.

Sitting all the way on the other side of the battle is this one lonely thief and a few treasure chests. Evidentally these tribe people care so little for their valuables they leave them in easily-unlocked chests outside their homes.

The thief will go about unlocking all three of these chests before fleeing the map with whatever valuables he's pilfered. There is no way in hell your thief can beat him to the first chest; he'll always reach it first. Since this game doesn't give enemies the ability to drop items on death, that's a major problem.

Or, at least, it would be, if we didn't have a warp staff.

I bet most thieves wish they had the incredible warping powers of Mary and Nan.

Speak of the devil. Randomized loot can lead to beautiful things, sometimes.

Ravn flies down to deal with the thief before he pilfers the next chest over.

Everyone else will run over to meet with our dragoon friends. It's important you get someone in their range before they get into Sigrid's range, as she and Una will suicidally try to take them all on at once.

Unlike last chapter, this is not a signal to go make yourself a sandwich.

Nothing of note happens this turn; just a lot of moving around.

Haha, dick. No stealing for you!

Kade and Alduskeng are the only units in range of the dragoons at this point. I'm sure they can handle it.

As usual, the enemies pick on the main character, despite him having impenetrable flesh.

These losers are still lagging behind. Not that it matters, they aren't going to make much of a difference in the fight anyway.

These screenshots are slightly out of order, don't tell anyone.

On the NPC phase, Una bravely rushes forward to do basically nothing of any real consequence. This is why shields are the worst thing ever.

Since the dragoons are the only real threat in the whole chapter, I start cleaning them up.

Mary has done the one thing I needed her for in this entire chapter, but I let her move forward anyway.

Before the turn's over, though, let's take care of this pest.

To say this wasn't a fair fight is an understatement.

Some strength or defense would be nice, Ravn. Nal'at is beating you in both.

Una manages to dodge despite her Counter Attacker skill. That's certainly encouraging in regards to your usability.

She's a bit less successful in that endeavor the next two times, but gets some savage crits in to make up for it.

Let's see what was so valuable it was worth dying for to that thief.

Remember when I said "Randomized loot can lead to beautiful things, sometimes." This is the "sometimes" part of that statement.

Nan trades her key to Ravn so he can go unlock the last chest.

As long as it's not another fucking wooden weapon, it can't be worse than shit-tier studded armor.

Well, that certainly isn't worse, but it's still useless. Of all the ideas to copy from TearRing Saga, why does this game always pick the stupidest ones?

I try to get Alduskeng to perform a little assassination, but it doesn't work out. Ah well, the swordmaster's not much of a threat anyway as long as he doesn't crit.

Kade gets rid of some of the riffraff.

It's the age old debate, Swordmaster vs. Hero. Who will win this epic clash of destinies?

Certainly not Una, who frankly should've stayed home.

Unfortunately, it seems we'll never know which class is truly better, because Olivia toddled into range.

Burn in Olivia's holy light, heathens!

After that display, there wasn't much left to do but mop up the remnants.

Can you even read that? Maybe borderless white text wasn't such a great idea here.

A pitiful sum for dealing with pitiful foes.

If you thought we'd actually see a cutscene after all that, you don't know this game very well.

Next time around, escaping was so fun last time that Kade and his buds decide to go for a double, and we recruit yet more redundant cannon fodder into our team!

This may be a little premature, since neither is on our team yet, but let's check out Una and Sigrid's growths.

Growths:

Sigrid

HP: 40

STR: 20

SKL: 40

SPD: 40

MGC: 5

DEF: 20

LUK: 25

MOV: 5

I'm getting terrible Lyn flashbacks looking at these growths. Sigrid needs to have a strength ring in her inventory basically permanently in order to be viable, though I suppose there aren't many other candidates who truly need it. Still, it's hard to turn down a unit that gets Astra and Luna basically for free. We'll see how she turns out.

Una

HP: 60

STR: 40

SKL: 25

SPD: 25

MGC: 5

DEF: 30

LUK: 10

MOV: 5

Surprisingly good as far as Partia 2's low-ish growths are concerned, and on a prepromote no less! I can see this working out, even if she's outclassed by Raf for a little while. I just wish there was some way to get rid of that Counter Attacker skill, but I guess chucking her a defense ring or the dragon book might mitigate the issue.

[TheMoniker]

For a moment, I thought it was going to be an interesting chapter where Kade had to work with the NPCs to hold off the enemies all alone. But no.

Also, you needed that Warp staff to get... another warp staff? For some reason, I'm reminded of Tower of Druaga, a game I'll be shocked if anybody else knows about.

[Tamanoir]

For a moment, I thought it was going to be an interesting chapter where Kade had to work with the NPCs to hold off the enemies all alone. But no.

Also, you needed that Warp staff to get... another warp staff? For some reason, I'm reminded of Tower of Druaga, a game I'll be shocked if anybody else knows about.

I only knows about Tower of Druaga because of Tales games (Narikiri Dungeon 1 and 3, more specifically.)...

[epilepsyduck]

For a moment, I thought it was going to be an interesting chapter where Kade had to work with the NPCs to hold off the enemies all alone. But no.

Also, you needed that Warp staff to get... another warp staff? For some reason, I'm reminded of Tower of Druaga, a game I'll be shocked if anybody else knows about.

To be fair about the warp staff, treasure chests are mostly randomized in this game. I've received different treasures from that chest the few times I played this chapter. I guess I just lucked out the one time I was recording.

Guess who didn't murder a member of her extended family over the course of the holiday season! Thank god, it would be very difficult to LP this from jail.

Chapter 14: The true meaning of friendship

We open this chapter with Nal'at finally reaching level 20. Finally, she's ready to promote into godhood.

I appreciate the fact the game gave pirates the ability to promote with this item, and then failed to actually let us recruit any pirates.

Minor spoilers for future recruits, I know, but still. I don't know why they bothered.

Dragoon promotion bonuses are kind of ridiculous. I think wyvern riders might be these guy's favorite class, given how strong they are.

No new sprite, sadly. I think Nal'at deserves one after all she's done for us!

So much better than Ravn.

I weep for this game's difficulty curve.

The shops have stopped selling longbows, sadly, but are now selling a bunch of fairly strong weapons. I don't know why the lance is the least durable and the most expensive.

There might actually be some plot development this time around. At the very least, they can't do it worse than Game of Thrones.

This is the aforementioned Gunnar, who sent those assholes after us in the last chapter. From what little we see of him here, he's a bit of a pushover.

His mother, Ethra, is the real antagonist between them, I suppose. Figures that the only woman in the game who isn't a doe-eyed anime is a villain.

Gunnar: But...

Ethra: Ubba is a brute! A clever and ambitious one at that. We will allow him for now until your throne is secure. So give him some gold and send him whores. But never allow him to think he is your equal.

You can see what I'm talking about in regards to Gunnar.

Motherly advice.

Ignoring the heartwarming family moments, we cut to Kade and friends with a bunch of villagers. People who have played Thracia probably have an idea what this chapter's kinda-sorta based on.

Sigrid is very grateful for... something. Maybe us helping her suicidal ass in the last chapter?

Kade: I owe my life to you.

Sigrid: And we owe ours to you.

There you have it, folks. To truly be someone's friend, you have to have mutually saved one another's lives. You may now reject all your current friendships, for they are meaningless.

Is it me, or does Sigrid's portrait make it look like she's throwing bedroom eyes at Kade? I don't think that was intentional.

I did a bad job of showing this, but the camera cut way across the map where the Magic Escape Arrows live. Unfortunately, unlike the last escape chapter, this one doesn't do a great job at pressuring the player to actually escape.

Once again, i am denied my female berserker. I am not happy.

Sigrid: Please take care now.

We finally get control of our units. This map is pretty huge, but at least this time there isn't that much unused space. Maybe they're reigning in their excesses a little now.

Let's take a peak at our villager friends.

I'm only showing one of their stat sheets, because all five of them are identical save for their portraits (and two of the others share a portrait anyway). They lack not only Cart's immense strength, but also an even remotely acceptable movement stat. Even armor knights have 5 move by default, guys.

This chapter is loaded with foes, mostly unpromoted ones. We're over halfway through the game now and enemies still don't know how promotion items work.

Are they any tougher than the losers we've been dealing with before?

Kinda, I guess, but still pretty feeble. I know my party is massively overleveled, but I'm pretty sure these guys wouldn't stack up even if I'd been leveling normally.

Somehow, the promoted enemies are only barely better.

Dragoons, as usual, are the most threatening enemies around. A reasonably leveled team might actually have trouble with them, at least.

There's a ballista on the map, and boy is he annoying. Not really dangerous or anything, unless you're a flying unit, but still. Annoying.

Gunnar is actually pretty threatening. His defense is a bit eh, but the armor compensates for that a bit, and he packs a mean punch.

Despite her weathered appearance, his mother is even more dangerous. A fight with her would be quite the struggle.

These two end up leaving long before we get a chance to fight them.

Sigrid is on our side now. Every time I see that 10 strength I just want to cry, but I'll still do my best to make use of her. Those promotion skills are too good to pass up.

Here are the escape points we ostensibly have to get to. Why trudging through the forest is impossible is beyond me.

We never even reach them before the chapter ends!

For our first item of business, Raf visits this random house.

Much like the women of our army, Ethra was once a beautiful anime waifu, but as she got old her heart turned towards villainry.

It seems Ethra's been living vicariously through her kid. He never asked for a crown, all he wanted was to be an exotic dancer!

I will never get sick of this game's AI and its penchant for making archers the most suicidal idiots imaginable.

These five will be s l o w l y plodding towards the exit. It doesn't take long for them to become nigh-irrelevant to the chapter as a whole is you maintain a brisk pace.

GAH, YOU AGAIN! Why do Ethra's soldiers have to look like extras from Jacob's Ladder?

This signals exactly what you think it does.

Ethra and Gunnar are gone, never to return. They sort of just teleport out, which I couldn't adequately represent with screenshots.

With the scary bosses out of the way, we're free to move forward. Nal'at will be heading for a pair of houses with some valuable items in them.

Everyone else will be working to clear a path for the villagers. They, much like Cart before them, don't give a fuck about the enemies and will charge forward with reckless abandon.

Come enemy phase, the axe fighters prove slightly more strategic in their choice of targets than the archers ever were.

But only slightly more.

This priest also starts moving around for seemingly no reason. He'll be doing this for the rest of the map.

God, why did they make these villagers so damn slow? Actually trying to usher them to the exit is tedious as fuck.

Thankfully, a new pair of allies have arrived to speed things up.

This is Rok, another axe fighter, a whole fourteen chapters after we got Raf, and a whole one chapter before we recruit Una.

Over here is Sten, who gives us our first lance fighter that isn't a complete pile of rancid shit.

Is it me, or are neither of them wearing a shirt? Not that I'm complaining or anything...

Rok's bases are fairly good, though his skills are rather disappointing (at least he doesn't have "counter-attacker"). His growths are pretty great, marginally better than Una's but a little lopsided compared to Raf's. Overall, he's roughly on par with Raf, and probably better than Una.

Unfortunately for him, I had my heart set on using Una the moment I saw her, so he'll probably sit on the bench.

Sten's pretty eh, to be honest. He's not bad or anything, just eh. If I hadn't trained up Charlotte, he might have a place on my team, but as it stands Charlotte simply outclasses him in everything.

Now, his class has a special ability that could have served as a possible niche for him. Unfortunately for him, though, the other two lance fighters are among the worst units in the game, and even if they weren't, they left when the rest of the caravan units did. Such a shame.

Just because he doesn't measure up to Charlotte doesn't mean he can't be useful this chapter, at least.

Like I said, though...

I honestly feel a little bad for doing so much level grinding at this point. It makes the game a lot easier than it probably would be if I wasn't basically cheating.

Nal'at continues her treasure trek. Sorry for relegating you to house-visiting duty in most of the chapters I've used you in, Nal'at. I promise I'll give you a taste of combat soon!

Here's a screenshot of where she's heading. Nope, I am most certainly not making any sort of tactical blunder here.

It's been a while since we've seen a blank screen because I suck at timing screenshots, so here's another one of those for fans of my previous work.

Those weapon triangle bonuses really don't help much when you're so outclassed, pal. I'd reconsider that plan.

Nal'at's ready to visit some houses next turn. No mistakes being made here, nope.

Check in tomorrow to see all the mistakes I've made!

Growths

Rok

HP: 80

STR: 50

SKL: 25

SPD: 35

MGC: 15

DEF: 25

LUK: 25

MOV: 5

Like I said, his growths are slightly lopsided but still pretty good. 50% strength in particular is Lilina levels of overkill in comparison to most of the other units in Partia 2. I feel almost foolish for using Una over him, but what can I say? I refuse to pass up the opportunity to have a female berserker/warrior on my team just because she's sub-optimal!

Sten

HP: 70

STR: 40

SKL: 30

SPD: 30

MGC: 15

DEF: 25

LUK: 25

MOV: 5

Much like his bases, Sten's growths are just kind of eh. That's a nice strength growth, I guess, but the rest is pretty iffy. It's a shame that he's the only choice you have for a usable soldier/halberdier, because he's just not that interesting.

[TheMoniker]

The civilians are like copies of cart, but bad enough that they insult the ORIGINAL Carts! They could have been brought back! Give them an excuse about "carrying the villagers"!

This chapter seems interesting, or it would be if it wasn't for the spam of unpromoted units that can't do much other than hope you left a gaping hole in your defenses and then they can get to the villagers.

[epilepsyduck]

The civilians are like copies of cart, but bad enough that they insult the ORIGINAL Carts! They could have been brought back! Give them an excuse about "carrying the villagers"!

This chapter seems interesting, or it would be if it wasn't for the spam of unpromoted units that can't do much other than hope you left a gaping hole in your defenses and then they can get to the villagers.

One day Cart will get the spotlight he deserves.

I've found in the course of this LP that "tomorrow" has a very loose definition. Let's pretend it hasn't been four days and get on with the rest of this chapter!

Chapter 14 Conclusion: Jesus was a staffbot

Let's open with a glimpse at the fruits of my labor. The moral of the story is I'm really great at strategy games.

Like, really great at them.

I also have a firm grasp of the weapon triangle.

These failures continue their march of misery. This is around the point they become irrelevant to the chapter as a whole.

Nal'at flies past the bow-wielding menace to grab some fabulous items! I don't learn from my mistakes, no.

I know a myrmidon who'd love this. Her name isn't Earlin.

Much like the villagers, Sigrid and Rok have trouble keeping up with the rest of the army because of their 5 move. It makes feeding them without arena grinding marginally less easy.

Nal'at draws the ire of a few flying freaks, determined to prove their aerial superiority.

She also has to deal with this inaccurate assclown. I really thought this plan through.

The main group isn't struggling nearly as much, since theirs basically no meaningful opposition.

In hindsight, bringing Ravn probably would've been a good idea, if only to offer an alternate punching bag for all these enemies. Nal'at can handle it, at least.

Nal'at kills the sniper and retreats, while everyone else continues with the merciless slaughter of the innocent.

The dragoons relentlessly pursue our favorite flier, determined to win their futile sky war. It doesn't go well for anyone involved.

Sigrid gets her first taste of combat, starting down the road to becoming the badass she always should've been.

She even manages to actually kill him, amazingly enough. Maybe I overestimated what a handicap 10 strength was gonna be to her.

I hope presenting all these tantalizing targets will makes the dragoons leave Nal'at alone. She's kinda getting low on health.

Nal'at enjoys the sweet taste of revenge as she runs her lance through an archer's heart.

My plan sort of half-worked; one of them still went for Nal'at, but the others target the nigh-unhittable Serene instead. That's FE AI logic if I ever saw it.

On the player phase, retribution is had.

Olivia helps out, too.

I try to let Charlotte deal with this one, but it doesn't pan out.

Alduskeng is similarly unsuccessful.

Why is everyone performing with such intense mediocrity?

Dammit! Not you too, Kade!

Nal'at finally deals with the pest. Your pathetic shield won't save you from a crit!

Why

This priest is still moving around aimlessly. Oddly, he was on the other side of the river last turn, and he couldn't have crossed the bridge that fast with his amazing 5 move. Perhaps he's got some hidden Rewarp staff that he's using to accomplish nothing in particular.

Speaking of warps, we have another warp staff! Unlike the last one we got, this isn't a case of randomization; a warp staff is always the reward for visiting this house. I'm glad the player gets a chance to play around with warp in this game, usually they're too rare to do much with.

Another day, another failed assassination, right ballista?

Try taking incredibly ineffective shots at me now, loser!

If I was using Rok, this would be a welcome sight. As it stands, the only units I have who can promote with this are either already promoted or permanently benched. What a shame.

Moving her there may not have been the world's greatest idea, though, because everyone in range zeroes in on her in a heartbeat. Here's her breaking her lance off in a man's neck.

Breaking her lance may have been a blessing in disguise, since it means these jerks no longer get weapon triangle bonuses on her.

I start moving everyone forward again this turn, and discover an unusually solid part of the river. I guess this is how our priest friend has been flitting back and forth.

The game seems to consider it a "grass" tile for... some reason. It makes me wonder how terrain data is programmed in this game that terrain can appear to be one thing when it's actually another. Someone should tell BwdYeti to make this a feature in FEXNA.

Just showing this to prove it's the tile that's doing it, and that Charlotte hasn't learned how to walk on water or anything.

I use this magical bridge to cross over and try to kill the healer, but the stubborn little shit dodges. Maybe a skill ring would be a good investment for you, Raf.

Since her weapon's broken, I want to have Nal'at retreat a bit. The ballista has a pretty extensive range, obviously, making it difficult to move Nal'at to safety.

Thankfully, she can just barely make it out. No having to start all over here, no sir.

In the absence of a flying unit to murder, the ballista instead chooses to annoy Raf. Revenge will be had, fool.

Raf finds more success in his second attempt at killing the helpless priest. That will teach you to mill about the map with no particular goal in mind!

To say the following enemy phase ends poorly for the red guys is an understatement.

Begone, you insect!

Instead of pressing on to the escape point, I figure it couldn't hurt to deal with these enemies instead and finish early.

Theoretically speaking, anyway; Alduskeng isn't as successful as I needed him to be. I move him just out of their range so they don't swarm him.

Next turn, Raf calls the afterlife and alerts them to some upcoming new arrivals.

The result is predictable.

The mage chooses to suicide on our nomad, despite Raf literally being right there. Maybe he realizes the futility of it all and wants to end it now.

Within a couple turns, only one cavalier remains. Raf dispatches him.

For an escape chapter, there wasn't really a whole lot of escaping done, or even any real pressure to do so. Maybe having Ethra and Gunnar return at some point would've been a smart move.

A more bountiful reward than the paltry funds we received last time, thankfully.

We cut to Ethra, riding her dragon indoors while getting mad at a hapless archmage.

I don't know this guy's name, but he's ugly and must therefore be a villain.

Ethra: I don't care and I'm running out of patience! If King Malak is an ally as you claim he is, you will take care of this Granian interference, no?

Totally Not Evil: Absolutely. I carry out my king's will and it is to aid you in all matters.

Ethra: Good! Take care of it now!

Pronouncing "sigh" isn't a substitute for actually sighing, bud.

He sounds completely 100% sincere about that. I trust this man with every fiber of my being.

Back to the base menu.

When we come back, the peace talks will be 100% successful and the game will become a sort of peaceful farming sim.

Edited December 31, 2015 by whenbananasattack

[TheMoniker]

Man, I'm so happy they gave an alternate option to all the murder we've been doing... though, "Plight in the Valley" seems like an odd name for such a chapter. Maybe its a typo.

[epilepsyduck]

Man, I'm so happy they gave an alternate option to all the murder we've been doing... though, "Plight in the Valley" seems like an odd name for such a chapter. Maybe its a typo.

Yeah, I'm pretty glad that the player CAN show mercy, at least, even if I'm a violent psychopath who chose not to.

I've had a few technical difficulties that made getting this chapter out a bit troublesome. Sorry for the delays.

Chapter 15: A wrinkle in space-time

Nobody said a thing about it, but I forgot to show off tavern lady's irreplaceable advice last chapter, revealing what a sham of an LPer I am once and for all. Here she is again to tell us about Alfred's interesting new collection and possible ancestry.

Joining Kade today will be Nan, Asif, Raf, Serene and Olivia. I bought a promotion item for Asif so he doesn't get pulverized by a gust of wind anymore, but he's still not much to look at. Why we need him will become clear shortly.

Despite Ethra being mentioned in this screen, she doesn't actually appear in this chapter at all. Such a shame!

That's clearly the perfect shot to open the chapter on.

Damn, look at all the activity going on at this castle/manor/whatever! With all this hustle and bustle, it's easy to see why the weasel guy brought us here for his 100% trustworthy peace talks.

In an interesting tidbit for nobody but me, this particular line isn't specifically designated to be said by Nan; instead, it's said by whoever you picked first for the chapter. A little unusual, but I like it, and it makes me wonder if the game's done anything else like this before now!

I am shocked and offended that you would besmirch the integrity of a noble hero like Alfred. Don't ever sully my ears with your treasonous lies again!

I read that as "slay together" at first. Odd, given that there's absolutely no enemies to be found anywhere in the chapter, no sir!

Before we begin, look who's finally on our team! Please prove me wise in picking you over Rok, Una. I really want to like you.

We start just outside the castle, ready for our peaceful conflict resolution. Just traipse into the courtyard to make everything rainbows and sunshine!

Instead of moving into the courtyard like the game wants us to, though, let's try unlocking a few doors. No worries, no quadruple doors this time, though the doors in this chapter can be far more... unusual, let's say.

Oh my god, saboteurs, intent on ruining the peace talks that Alfred totally intended to follow through on!

Or, actually, the enemies he planned to ambush you with if you went forward into the courtyard. This chapter has an interesting thing where you can stop the ambush from triggering if you decide to take the fight to the guards instead of the other way around. Of course, this plan has its own... difficulties, let's say. You'll see what I mean in a bit.

These guys, if anything, are a step down from last chapter's enemies. I suppose it doesn't help that Serene has like three stat-boosting rings equipped.

By the end of the next turn, they've all met a ghastly fate.

One gets his revenge by giving Serene a bland level.

Everyone's in place to see what's behind Door #2.

Answer: same old thing.

I find it a little hard to say anything interesting about the combat this chapter, since it's mostly pretty easy. Shit like this makes me wish I hadn't abused the arena so much.

Note to self: being shot in the face with an arrow can make you even stronger than before.

Since Asif is on the team at least for now, I thought it might be fun to try and mug some of these losers.

Those aren't great odds, to be perfectly honest. Is this what Nan's running up against every time she pickpockets somebody?

He doesn't manage to snatch up the coin. Better luck next time, my shitty thief friend.

Nan does better on that front.

But not on all fronts, certainly.

This guy shoots Kade straight through the walls. Arrows in games like this tend to play by their own rules.

I'm skipping a lot of combat here, because I just can't say anything interesting about it. These guards can't even handle a thief.

There, that's the last of these dicks. Now onto more interesting things.

Our thieves are ready for synchronized door opening.

I kind of forgot to take an establishing screenshot of this room, so let's just cut to Kade hitting a man so hard his head explodes in a shield-shaped pattern.

I didn't make the same mistake twice, at least.

The knight takes off his helmet, revealing his literally radiant beauty. Olivia shows him a mirror, and his mind cannot handle the sight and implodes.

This mage tries a similar trick on Asif, but Asif is hideous, so it's unsuccessful. It doesn't help he tried to do it through a wall.

Hard times are what drove Nan to thievery; in truth, all she wanted to be was an abstract artist. With the help of this sniper, though, she can be abstract art herself.

Serene, who fancies herself an art critic, takes it upon herself to end this mockery of creativity.

This is the part where the chapter starts getting a little... bizarre. Nan pops this door open...

To reveal a hoard of treasure stowed away! Nothing strange so far, or so it seems. However...

Unlocking that door seems to have... somehow turned the stairs into a chest and blocked our way into the room. I have no idea how.

And yes, the "chest" is perfectly functional, and can be unlocked.

Sweet, the Odo Scroll Book of Sword! I have now idea how or why, but we got it!

That doesn't seem to have fixed the issue, though; we still can't pass the stairs.

A look at the terrain window reveal why; there's... somehow some invisible boxes in our way now. Those weren't there before; they appeared after Nan opened the door on the other end of the castle. Okay, Partia 2, I think you've had enough to drink for one chapter.

Unlocking the stair chest seems to have opened an actual chest in the treasure room. If you thought this was some exploit to get double the treasure, you're mistaken.

Bizarrely, there's ANOTHER stairs-chest here too, and there definitely wasn't one before. I have no idea what's going on anymore.

Noba Scroll Book of Lance makes itself known! Una'll be getting this one too.

Just like before, a chest in the treasure hoard is opened from half a mile away. It's like the thief staff, but glitchy!

Let's see what other kinds of treasure this weasel's got stowed away!

This "Coins" is worth 10000 crown. Pretty awesome!

A very nice sword! Admittedly the shop's been selling these recently, but given that they cost like 2000 crown apiece, it's nice to get a freebie!

Our third scroll book, the Heim Scroll Book of Light! Olivia will be capping magic in no time!

Y'know, the name "Eastern Sword" being the name of both a class AND a weapon kind of bugs me. Why couldn't they stay myrmidons?

While Nan was busy unlocking chests, I moved everyone around the wall to the other door leading into this room. That'll teach you to mess with my progress, weird glitch!

The true tension in this game is this: will Raf cap Strength, and will it be at the expense of all his other stats? Stay tuned as the drama unfolds.

Una also wants to cap strength, but will snatch up a few other essentials too. Get levels like this every time and we'll get along famously!

Let's hope no more funny business happens after I open this door.

There are some ladies in a cell. I don't remember hostages coming up in the cutscenes.

Bizarrely, they have the portraits of the innkeeper and item shop girl! Maybe there's a gaiden chapter where the other town NPCs team up to rescue them.

Oh for fuck's sake!

So, the door has become invisible and turned into a cell door? Whatever, I'm beyond questioning it at this point.

Opening the invisible cell door causes the actual cell door to open, too. The prisoners don't budge an inch, though.

I have Kade try to say something to them, but no dice. In hindsight, maybe Una could've, since she's force deployed. I don't know.

Let's head on through to the end of the chapter.

Your incredibly advanced security system did most of the work, to be fair. It's hard to compete with magically appearing, impassable boxes!

He spawns a bunch of his goons all about the room. They aren't any tougher than previous opponents.

Alfred himself is a step up from the first two mage bosses we dealt with, and he's packing meteor to bring the hurt to your physical dudes from afar. He's not much ina melee battle, but he can be troublesome before you close the distance.

He's also more of a genius than them by realizing that, as a boss, he doesn't gain experience and doesn't need the "Genius" skill.

I don't know why two bosses are the only units in the game with the game's version of Paragon.

There's really not much to say about combat, so I'm gonna skip straight to the disappointing part.

Asif also manages to steal something this time. Impressive work, maybe you're not as horrible as I thought.

Oddly, despite better targets being available, the boss keeps targeting Olivia with Meteor. Maybe he doesn't want to actually hurt us at all.

Out of curiousity, I decided to test if the ambush still happens if you do all of this first.

The text event for it still plays...

And the green guards go red, but no other enemies show up. I take it that's because we've killed them all.

Serene ends things in that aunty way of hers.

Keep the cash coming!

No ending cutscene. Are we not as done with Alfred as we thought?

Sadly, you'll have to wait until the next chapter, where a truly unbelievable number of dragoons pay us a visit, to find out!

[TheMoniker]

"Open Share"? That feels like a stock-marketing term. Will we be doing world-building with a stock market crisis?

But wow, I knew this game had to have a collapse of stability at some point, but I wasn't expecting glitches like that. Probably because you didn't do it the "intended" way, but... it seems like it would have been incredibly easy to prevent players from opening the doors. At LEAST put a green guard in front to make it slightly more difficult!

[Vahne]

Moooooorrrreeee.......

[epilepsyduck]

Moooooorrrreeee.......

Ask and you shall receive.

Hey, sorry this update took such an unreasonable length of time. I've had to wrestle with some recording issues, mistakes that forced me to start the chapter over, and switching antidepressants all at once that tanked my motivation to do this, but I'm back. I'm gonna try my best to get a more consistent schedule (once a week maybe?), though I can't promise anything.

Also, we're being watched. I'm kinda proud that someone who made the game actually enjoys this crappy little LP of mine, as well as however many of you are reading this!

Enough yammering, though, we must continue Kade's magical journey!

Chapter 16: Go kill it on the mountain

Due to some of thos aforementioned recording issues, I don't have photos of the prep work going into this chapter. Sigrid is now promoted, and with it brings her wonderful skillset. She promotes with the Pride item, but I didn't realize this and foolishly sold it, wasting money when I had to buy it back. Such is life.

We're bringing Kade, Raf, Serene, Olivia, Nal'at, Mary, Nan, Charlotte, Ravn, Alduskeng, Sigrid, Una, Rok and Sten. And we're going to need all of them...

Ethra has been killed and secretly replaced by a doppelganger.

Out army starts surrounded, but in an easily-defended location. Defense/Rout mission ahoy!

We're not really given an explanation for why the sanctuary needs defending, but it's probably because there's civilians in there or something.

He SAYS friends are not far, but if there's a turn limit that lets you win without routing everyone, I have no idea what it is.

There's are two huge groups of non-flying enemies. They're stronger than last chapter's, but still a bit behind us.

THESE guys are a lot deadlier, but there's only six of them

At least for now...

I didn't get the screenshots of the tavern lady explaining that the mountain his supposed to be a holy site, so this sounds weird without that context. Sorry.

Gunnar is sick of everyone tracking dirt into his home, and demands they clean up the mess.

Before combat begins, I'm sending Nan to get the only item in the entire chapter. The cave here and other houses on the map ARE visitable, but after the fifth playthrough of this chapter, I couldn't be arsed to visit them all again. There dialogue is sadly lost to antiquity, unless the devs drop a script dump someday.

In fact, I forgot to get the dialogue for the one house I did visit, too! I'm truly the world's worst LPer.

Sigrid and Kade will be defending this side by themselves. At this rate they'll be S-Ranked by the next chapter. Sorry, Erin!

Speaking of which, here's Sigrid in all her ridiculous-skillset glory. All she needs now is the Book of Lance to fix her only real weakness and she'll be golden!

One of the only timex this chapter that these words didn't inspire dread in me.

Una starts us off with the traditional helping of murder.

Sigrid seems to have some accuracy issues for some reason. I've seen her miss over and over when her hit rate was almost 100%! I hope Storm Attack doesn't have some sort of accuracy penalty, that'd make it kinda useless.

Kade proves that you don't need a million hits to be useful when one gets the job done.

Una gets the "not-actually-perfect-but-may-as-well-be" level after getting shot by several arrows.

I gave Mary Rescue so Nan doesn't end up stranded on an inaccessible cliff.

Now she's back to accomplish nothing else of note for the whole chapter!

Sigrid, you've got plenty of speed already. Please get strength sometime in my lifespan.

I honestly thought Una would be getting hit all the time with that Counter Attacker skill, but she still dodges like a champ!

Olivia, Serene and Raf start too far from the action to do much right now, but the former two contribute at least a little. Sadly Hand Axes aren't a thing in this game, or Raf could help out too!

Here's the obligatory white void screenshot, brought to you by the letter L for Longbow.

Rok contributes quite a lot this chapter, which almost makes me want to throw him onto the A-team with Una and Raf. We've got a few too many good units at this point for me to want to train another one, though.

Our dragoons are as deadly as ever.

Charlotte doesn't care about your pitiful weapon triangle bonuses. She is unbreakable.

By the end of the enemy turn, Ubba shows up with his enormous swarm of dragoons to give us hell.

The man himself is nothing to scoff at; these numbers are better than some of my guys! He must be terminated with extreme prejudice.

I figured it would be prudent to show the other bosses off, too. And their allies aren't even that much weaker!

Before they get here, we need to finish off all these assholes. Sigrid starts the cleanup.

Good on you, girl. Keep the strength rolling in!

Our other North(wo)men aren't quite as capable. The North might remember, but it certainly doesn't accomplish much.

Their failure means we still have a few enemies left, but we've got a couple turns to deal with them at least.

It helps when they more or less kill themselves on the same turn.

The priest tries to help his allies not die, but it's a fruitless endeavor.

The cry of dragons fills the air as the swarm slowly flies our way. They'll be on us next turn.

Kade and Sigrid team up in the forest tiles to bring the dragoons down...

... but only one of them actually takes the bait.

:|

Skipping to the next turn, once again all but one of them ignore our dynamic duo.

The others all head straight for the sanctuary, AKA their objective. You certainly don't see that everyday!

Just when you thought it couldn't get worse, Ethra announces her intentions to attack as well. This is getting out of hand!

We need to take this dickcheese out .

The pallid-fleshed heathen has fallen.

A robot mourns his fallen leader.

Ubba's death causes his allies not just to flee, but to literally teleport away!

Ethra and her posse are flying up to avenge their friend.

Unfortunately for her, Olivia brought a Meteor tome.

The cosmos have declared you a false queen, and shall smite you were you stand!

Oddly, she doesn't get a deathquote, even though Ubba did. Unfortunately, her dragoons aren't huge wimps and/or don't have invisible Rewarp staves.

Clearing these guys out nets Alduskeng a mediocre level.

We're done with the chapter at long last.

I think giving this text an outline would've solved this problem.

We need every penny.

Again, no ending cutscene. We were on such a roll earlier!

On the next chapter, we recruit various b-listers by saving them from less-than-overwhelming odds. See you then.

There'll be another post coming soon with a special announcement. Stay tuned!

[TheMoniker]

Poor Gunnar Men and Ubba Men... always dying, their names are super stupid...

(Also, "Kill it on the Mountain"-don't know why it was so funny...)

[epilepsyduck]

Poor Gunnar Men and Ubba Men... always dying, their names are super stupid...

(Also, "Kill it on the Mountain"-don't know why it was so funny...)

It took me like half an hour to think of that title for this chapter, so I'm glad you liked it. (The actual chapter title is just "Holy Mountain", if you're curious).

So, I have no idea how many of you are around to read this, but we've got a dilemma; we're approaching the end of Partia 2. We've got six more chapters of fun left before the grand finale. Not only that, but stalling out as I did helped me reach an important conclusion; I really like doing this, but LPing just one game is getting stale.

With all that being said, I'd like to see whether or not anyone's interested in me continuing with this little hobby, and if so, what I should go to next. Don't worry; I will finish Partia 2. But I'd like to offer up a few choices, along with what I think of them;

Sword of Heaven and Earth

Sword of Heaven and Earth is a Japanese FE7 hack, and a surprisingly good one at that. Don't worry, this is no FE7if or FE Girls; this is a proper hack, relying more on generally good design instead of fancy gimmicks. It seems to be set in Elibe, but stars a mostly-original cast with cameos from FE6 characters here and there.

Pros-

Very well done hack, not a complete cakewalk but not annoyingly difficult and unfair.

Has some interesting and unique chapters.

Large amount of unit variety given to the player very early.

I'm reasonably familiar with most of the early chapters, so I can be at least a little informative.

Cons-

Not in english, so I don't know what the plot's about

No documentation, so I have no idea what everyone's growths are and the like.

Green Patch

The Green Patch is an FE8 hack in a similar vein as FE Girls. It stars many of the green-haired characters in the series, and has a number of unusual mechanics that make it far more than a simple FE8 reskin. From what I've played of it, it doesn't get quite as ridiculous as FE Girls does, either. The only problems I have with it are the one-tile fog and that I'm like 80% certain some of its art assets are stolen.

Pros-

Unique mechanics like CON and MOV growths

Route split

Crossover hacks are always fun

Cons-

Potentially stolen artwork

Occasionally unfair difficulty and bullshitty chapters that might take some time and effort to muscle through

Once again, in Japanese and with precious little documentation.

Fairly long, meaning it might peter out towards the end

FEBinary

FEBinary is a FE4 hack. Unlike the previous two, it follows the same story and (roughly) the same structure as its base game, but adds all sorts of interesting twists to it without going overboard.

Pros-

Has a lot of cool additions to FE4 that make it more balanced and fun imo.

Since this is based on FE4, I might let people vote on pairings

My personal favorite of the hacks here, so if you want FE I'd really appreciate if you chose this.

Cons-

There's already a really excellent LP of this, so this might not measure up to it

Can occasionally be unfair (I'm looking at you, Silver Card village), meaning some chapters will take a while to get through

Chapter 2 is almost as annoying as in vanilla FE4

Probably requires familiarity with FE4 to be enjoyable to read

Again, in Japanese, though I at least am pretty familiar with this one so it shouldn't be that much of a problem

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together

Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together is a spiritual predecessor to Final Fantasy Tactics, and in many ways a better game. Though it was only officially translated on the Playstation and PSP versions, we're playing the SNES version with a fan translation, as the PSX version isn't as good and the PSP version is basically a different game.

Pros-

My favorite game on the list, period

A really deep and engaging strategy game that I've got a lot to say about

Multiple story paths that I might do a poll for

Cons-

Might not actually be that fun to read about

Has obtuse side missions that are a pain in the ass to do and that I might end up skipping over

This War of Mine

\

This War of Mine is a game about warfare from perspective of a tiny group of civilian survivors trying to eke out a living. It's brutally difficult and harshly bleak, but surprisingly engaging nonetheless.

Pros-

A game that's eaten away my free time as of late, so I'm pretty familiar with it and can be pretty informative

Rather customizable and semi-randomized, giving some unpredictability and uniqueness to an LP

Cons-

Not a turn-based game, so doing a screenshot LP of it might be less than ideal.

May not be all that fun to read about.

Since losing everyone deletes your save, the LP might end early

Darkest Dungeon

I almost feel condescending for explaining this game given how much press it's gotten, but Darkest Dungeon is a Lovecraftian dungeon crawler with roguelike elements. It's pretty difficult in the moment to moment gameplay, but gives players a way to make up for their mistakes in time, so unlike your average roguelike, the player can never truly lose. This makes it a far safer option for LPs than most roguelikes, I feel.

Pros-

The other major thief of my free time, so I know a shameful amount about it.

Aesthetically really lovely.

Random nature keeps things from getting too monotonous.

Game is still updating, so new content may appear as I play.

Cons-

Everyone and their grandma has LP'd this at this point.

Doing this through screenshots means you're missing the music and narration, some of the game's strongest stuff.

Involves a lot of often tedious grinding to get to the fun bits.

May get repetitive as things go on.

Exit Fate

Exit Fate is an RPG Maker XP game, and despite the immediate revulsion you undoubtedly felt hearing that, it's actually very good. Nice art, an engaging battle system reminiscent of the Suikoden games, large-scale tactical-style battles at certain points, and a story that isn't half bad make it better than the usual inept garbage produced by RPG Maker.

Pros-

A game that's very near and dear to my heart despite its flaws

A large and unique cast of characters to choose from.

Really cool strategy battles that are sadly underused but still engaging nonetheless.

Cons-

Some minor text errors since I had to change the default font to get the game to run

Pretty long and kind of gets less engaging towards the middle, though it picks up eventually.

Please tell me your thoughts, and thanks again for reading my garbage!

[Baldrick]

It'd be too bad if this thread ended with Partia and we all went our separate ways. So, let us cling together.

[TheMoniker]

Now, all of those are really interesting... hmm, what to pick, what to pick...

I guess I'll have to say either Darkest Dungeon or This War of Mine, they look the most interesting of the bunch.

[Vahne]

FEBinary I guess, though would be nice to see you slog through the first Partia as well :D

[TheMoniker]

FEBinary I guess, though would be nice to see you slog through the first Partia as well :D

Wait, this is Partia 2... that... means there must have been a first??

I never realized this before...

[epilepsyduck]

It'd be too bad if this thread ended with Partia and we all went our separate ways. So, let us cling together.

I'm tempted to give Tactics Ogre a second vote just for that and not because it's my favorite of the games on this list and I want to rig the vote in its favor, no sir.

FEBinary I guess, though would be nice to see you slog through the first Partia as well :D

I contemplated adding the original Partia to the list, but I'm broke and can't even afford its measly four dollar price tag at the moment, so it'll have to wait if I get around to it at all. Although...

Wait, this is Partia 2... that... means there must have been a first??

I never realized this before...

Perhaps I should've started with the original so people didn't have their entire worldviews shattered over the course of this LP.

I'm a little surprised FEBinary is winning the poll, given that there's already a fantastic LP of it out there, but I'm cool with it all the same. I'll leave the poll open for a while longer before I start preparing a new LP, though.

We're ready to get back to the main plot proper, and not a chapter too soon!

Chapter 17: Missing Thief Woman Syndrome

I'm sorry I've been stealing all this valuable screentime from you, tavern girl. I'll make it up to you somehow.

Kade will bring Serene, Olivia, Mary, Charlotte, Ravn, Alduskeng, Sigrid, Nan, and Una this chapter. At least in theory anyway; not all of them will be making it to the chapter proper.

The Tywin comparisons I've made in regards to Malak have proven pretty apt, haven't they?

Mysterious Narration: Rebel armies were defeated and many went into hiding or surrendered, but few received any mercy from the cruel king. It all seemed so bleak, with only a tiny hope kept alive with rumors whispering the prince and princess were still alive.

If by "tribes" you mean "four people, five if we count the blonde dude we met in the desert", then yes, we have the Northern tribes as allies.

Damn, it's been a while since anyone's mentioned that place, hasn't it?

Apparently the characters can also read the chapter's opening narration.

Sooner than you think, in fact.

I don't know why, but I got a chuckle out of Raf referring to Malak's army as "damn enemies".

Mantel here has led his tiny, feeble forces to camp out on a crappy peninsula in a last-ditch defense. Guess what the objective of the chapter is.

Natalie is just about the only competent person on his side, in fact! Not that this is a problem, for reasons you'll see shortly.

Mantel: Dear, you should run from here.

Natalie: Never, m'lord. Please be strong!

Meanwhile, the boss Zavier notices our motley band marching his way.

Zavier Heh, doesn't matter. We'll put them out of their misery!

The chapter kicks off to a roaring start. Please, before we begin, tell me if you notice anything missing.

If your answer was "Nan", you are correct! For whatever reason, despite giving me ten slots in the chapter prep screen, the chapter itself only has nine slots for your units, meaning one of the units you selected just fails to show up! Don't worry, she's not gone, but we won't be seeing her this chapter.

There's a wide variety of enemies this chapter, and a good chunk of them are even promoted and have the stats to show for it! The main body of enemies will be coming after us...

... while these guys will try to kill Mantel and his soldiers. For reasons that will soon become apparent, though, they're gonna have a tough time.

One immensely fucking annoying thing about this chapter is that ALL the enemies that can wear armor have good armor this time around. That chain armor adds 6 defense to anyone who wears it, and the shields add anywhere between 2 to 4! Their stats are still below ours by a fair margin, but this addition makes them annoying as shit to kill. It makes me wish I'd leveled Kerns and Quent alongside Olivia instead of just having one mage.

Thankfully, this little trick isn't exclusive to the enemies; these armor knights are incredibly hardy despite their mediocre stats. Mantel is basically untouchable almost solely because of them.

The archers... they're less of a boon, to be perfectly honest.

Here's the man himself, who'll eventually be joining our party along with the other named NPCs. To be honest, he's rather lame for a level 20 paladin. Thomas was 5 levels behind Mantel when he first joined us, and had better stats in almost every area. Mantel doesn't even have any skills to make up for it! I suppose he can serve as a crutch for people who didn't train the Terrible Trio of Herman, Kori and Bendt, though, at least until the royal cavaliers return.

Come next chapter that niche is rendered obsolete!

Natalie is at least a lower level to make up for her rather lopsided bases. She has some skills (one that gives her Canto and a couple really crappy and pointless ones), but another sniper when I've already got both Alduskeng and Serene seems a bit unnecessary. Oh well, I guess she'd make halfway-acceptable filler if we need it.

James is our third healer, and sucks about as much as the others do from a stats perspective. He also can't level ever again, so he's not getting any better. He has the Blessing skill, but I don't think I'll be shuffling Mary out of the team for him anytime soon. At least he comes with Hammerne.

The boss, for whatever reason, lacks a portrait despite having one in the cutscene. He's nigh untouchable by physical attacks because of his armor and shield. I think you know how we'll need to deal with him.

Great, another supposed "genius" who doesn't realize that he can't gain EXP and thus his skill is useless for him. Why is the game's version of Paragon an enemy-only skill?

I decided to warp Charlotte down to deal with the "damn enemies". In hindsight, this was a totally unnecessary use of a Warp staff, but I've got like four of them at this point so whatever

Good on you, getting the essentials, Sigrid!

The enemies having stupidly effective armor combined with Charlotte having naturally high defense means everyone here is doing pitiful damage to each other.

Slightly less pitiful now, but still pitiful.

Damn, girl, two levels in one turn? Either these guys are worth a lot of EXP or somehow Expert Mode got turned off.

It's the latter! Whoops!

Since the boss obligingly waddled into range, I have Olivia do what must be done.

She gets results. Not impressive results, but still results!

Hiding behind an HP bar won't save you, you craven fool.

I had Ravn fly to the cave directly north of our starting location. Usually I wait till level 20 to promote people, but he's fallen behind and could use the boost, so I might let him use this early.

We're ready to slay more arms than you can ever imagine with a second ArmSlayer!

You were doing so well. :(

Obligatory White Void Screenshot ahoy!

Getting on the right track, just don't give me HP-only levels again.

Damn, it's been a long time since I've had to think of interesting things to say about this many level ups.

It's at this point that Charlotte's lance breaks, presumably snapped in half by Charlotte herself in frustration at being unable to deal any real damage to these dicks.

None of the green jerks lift a finger to help, of course. Then again, they're more a liability than a worthwhile ally.

We're still maintaining a slooooow march south, chipping away at the chaff as we pass by.

For some, this proves a fruitful venture.

For others, not so much.

This asshole held things up by stubbornly refusing to die no matter who attacked him. This is why armor and shields are nothing but an annoying waste of the player's time.

Serene eventually Luna'd him dead, at least.

With that assclown dead, we're ready to march to save people who weren't really in danger in the first place! Unless Zavier's plan was to bore Mantel to death, I suppose.

Charlotte, despite being unarmed, is still receiving experience from taking a million hits.

One of the enemies actually tries attacking his supposed targets, the Everun guys. He's not terribly effective.

One of them also moves into range of the NPCs after attacking Charlotte for no discernible reason. They don't really do much, though.

I used Charge at one point, having forgotten what the command actually does at this point. The feeble bonus is gives doesn't really help when you've got no weapon.

This level just doesn't help in general.

The third and final cave on the map provides yet another fantastic gift. Who knew such valuable treasures were just left laying around in random caves!

I hope nobody minds if I skip about 85% of the combat that happens in these last few turns, because it's tedious as fuck and I can't think of anything that'd make it engaging.

Not really helping on that whole "engaging" part, are you Ravn?

Somehow, this almost totally blank screen is actually more interesting then the slow, boring combat of the chapter.

These numbers are a complete and utter lie, by the way. He's not dealing anywhere near eight damage per hit.

At least not until he crits, that is.

Isn't it nice when you can read the "Stage Cleared" text instead of just " Sta lea d"?

My money woes know no end.

Kade; I've only done what I could, lord.

Mantel: And I'll be forever in your debt. Are you among Duke Aran's men?

Kade: Yes we are, lord. We are on our way back to Elsace.

Mantel: I'm afraid the situation is not so well there either. The city has been enduring many months of siege.

Smells like a siiiiiiiiidequeeeeeeeest!

Kade: Where would you go, lord?

Mantel: It's... it's hard for me to say, but...

Wait, Princess Erin as in our Erin? Wasn't Malak trying to kill her and her brother before?

Snape Severin has been nothing but honorable, heroic and friendly and everyone thinks he's the worst thing in the world. You guys are so unreasonable.

Trust me, I'm having as difficult a time believing it as you.

James, eager to prove he isn't a no-lines loser like Kerns or Alonso, butts in to remind us of Erin's various war crimes.

James: She killed many of our good friends- loyal friends. Lord Mantel will stop her. I know you are in a hurry master Kade, but could you aid us in this endeavor?

Kade remembers the vaguely-defined romantic tension between himself and the princess, and wishes for a way out making this terrible choice.

He gets it when the game spits us back into the town menu.

Next time in Partia 2, we see some familiar faces wearing some new colors, and get ready for a fabulous wedding!

Growths:

Mantel:

HP: 80

STR: 30

SKL: 30

SPD: 30

MGC: 30

DEF: 30

LUK: 5

MOV: 5

To be honest posting this is pointless given that he can never level again, so it's not like it matters what his growths are. Even if he could level again, these are pretty average by Partia 2 standards, so he still wouldn't be anything to write home about.

Natalie:

HP: 70

STR: 25

SKL: 40

SPD: 40

MGC: 20

DEF: 20

LUK: 10

MOV: 5

Sort of a bow-Sigrid, I guess, but without the skill combinations that make Sigrid actually useful. It seems like there isn't a single bow unit in the game that can compete with Serene's Rapid Fire skill.

James:

HP: 10

STR: 10

SKL: 10

SPD: 10

MGC: 10

DEF: 10

LUK: 10

MOV: 10

These are some Gaiden-level growths here, and once again, he can't level so it doesn't even matter! If that Repair staff isn't unique to him I can't see much point in swapping out Mary for this loser.