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Goatse James Bond
Mar 28, 2010

If you see me posting please remind me that I have Charlie Work in the reports forum to do instead
all this time I was assuming the overlord was a unicorn, smh, false advertising

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Slaan
Mar 16, 2009



ASHERAH DEMANDS I FEAST, I VOTE FOR A FEAST OF FLESH
The real unicorn is the overlords we met along the way

Jerry Manderbilt
May 31, 2012

No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.

I think Tactical is a good, decently challenging difficulty and hell, I fit the bill here.


Call to Action Mk. 1





Alain? Why have you stopped?

…We’re surrounded.








Well it looks like we’re holding our own pretty well–

Get your vile claws off me!




reversal of fortune :negative: Remember how one of the mooks who made it to the cathedral got owned when Scarlett bashed him with his staff and how the other one completely missed her?

Chloe!

I should have known you’d be behind this treachery, Renault.

What is the meaning of this!?

Apologies for the icy reception, but we’ve business with the girl.

What business could you have with Scarlett? Unhand her this instant!

No, I don’t think that will be happening. I act under orders from Emperor Galerius himself. As for what he plans to do with her… that’s not for one of my station to know. *picks up Scarlett* Yet I shall see it done all the same!





No… Scarlett!

Well uh poo poo went south fast! Zooming out to the stage…



Don’t worry, boss. I’ll earn my keep ‘n plenty more.





Hear me, soldiers of Cornia! I ask that you stand aside for your returned prince!

Sorry, kid. Can’t do that. It’s nothin’ personal. Just followin’ orders from the guy payin’ the coin.

They’re mercs, we can’t exactly outbid the empire for their services yet, and who’s to say that these particular mercs are even Cornian?

drat… We’ve no hope of overcoming such numbers.




The cavalry has arrived! But we’re still in a deeply unfavorable position.

Your Highness!

With us, everyone! I beg you!

Come, my prince!


Yeah, best we regroup to Josef’s stronghold.




Your Highness. This man is Clive, the knight we spoke of earlier.

A pleasure.

Still… It rankles the mind. I never would have dreamt that Galerius was after Scarlett and not you, my prince.

Who was that knight that took her?

His name is Renault. Formerly a proud servant of Queen Ilenia, not unlike myself. And just as I fell victim to Galerius and his foul magick, it would seem he has met with a similar fate.

All the same, why Scarlett?

Perhaps her role as a priestess has something to do with it. Lately I’ve heard tell of Zenoira’s desire to spread its roots into the orthodoxy.


It’s certainly an answer to “why Scarlett”. But that can’t be all there is to it, right? This’ll be one of the early mysteries of the plot.

In any case, the risk to her safety is clear, should she fall into Galerius’s hands. And sitting idly by only serves to stoke my worry further. Let us be off at once.



And you are?

Don’t worry, he’s a friend. A collaborator of mine by the name of Travis.



And what of Renault?

Rode east, faster than a clap of thunder. I can only assume he’s going for the city.


Guy’s got a way with words and with body language, gotta give him that

Your Highness. We all share your sense of urgency, but we’ve no hope of aiding Scarlett without first routing the enemy before us.

Right. We depart as soon as we’re able.


So the fort is due just east of those gates…


And the port town has fallen into enemy hands, and southwest, over the bridge, is…

So, that fortress over there serves as the enemy command post.

Indeed, Your Highness. And the region will not know peace until we can claim it as our own.



If the enemy overruns it, we’ll have nowhere left to turn.

Then we defend it at any cost, and proceed forth with extreme caution.

Standard operating procedure for a UO stage. Now let’s deploy–






This is for the audience’s sake more than for my own, and hey, we have three new characters all from new classes, all raring to give their spiel.


To begin with, cavalry classes such as mine are quite effective when facing enemy infantry. As such, you may always call upon me to dispatch infantry in your path.

The game even made quite a point of this via cutscenes!


Remember, Your Highness, that danger lies around every turn upon the field of battle. Yet the shield I bear is more than capable of defending our allies from harm.


Defending’s not the only way to survive. If you ask me, you’re better off not getting hit in the first place. If you put me in the front row, our enemies won’t even be able to touch us.

Generally speaking, you’ll find it best to place your sturdiest fighters on the front row, while reserving the back row for frailer combatants.


But before we begin: we have six deployment slots and a roster of eight characters! Even with Scarlett having gotten damsel’d as soon as we made landfall, someone's still gotta sit this one out! Choose that someone here: https://strawpoll.com/eJnvvYmRxnv

You have 36 hours from the time of this post to vote.

Slaan
Mar 16, 2009



ASHERAH DEMANDS I FEAST, I VOTE FOR A FEAST OF FLESH
Clive should sit this one out, vote the strawpoll for Clive. This whole situation is his fault for being slow, after all :colbert:

Rabbi Raccoon
Mar 31, 2009

I stabbed you dude!

Goatse James Bond posted:

all this time I was assuming the overlord was a unicorn, smh, false advertising

Now I'm picturing Laharl with a horn on his head, covered in white fur, and being chased by a giggling Flonne

ChaosStar0
Apr 6, 2021

I say we sit out Josef, everyone else needs the experience. I personally either deploy him last or not at all.

Gilgamesh255
Aug 15, 2015
I would like to remind you all that while Josef is nice to have as an emergency button, he is, in the end, a Jagen. That, and I'm confident in our LPr's ability to manage without him. Let's let the young'ns have some time to grow. :v:

Felinoid
Mar 8, 2009

Marginally better than Shepard's dancing. 2/10
I say Lex should sit the bench forever to reinforce his lovely little brother energy. :v:

Libluini
May 18, 2012

I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...
Grimey Drawer
Yeah, Josef is kind of the obvious choice. When I played through this early bit, I just benched him until I had enough squads open to fit him, he then turned into my emergency unit to deal with my gently caress-ups.

Jerry Manderbilt
May 31, 2012

No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.


Josef it is! Will record after work.

Kanthulhu
Apr 8, 2009
NO ONE SPOIL GAME OF THRONES FOR ME!

IF SOMEONE TELLS ME THAT OBERYN MARTELL AND THE MOUNTAIN DIE THIS SEASON, I'M GOING TO BE PISSED.

BUT NOT HALF AS PISSED AS I'D BE IF SOMEONE WERE TO SPOIL VARYS KILLING A LANISTER!!!


(Dany shits in a field)
Interesting that you went from easily crushing enemies on the tutorial island to getting one hit knocked out on the mainland.

Party composition request: pair up the big sturdy shield guy on the back row with the nimble thief dude on the front row to make an unhittable thief tank.

Jerry Manderbilt
May 31, 2012

No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.
A Call to Action: Fight!


Josef’s out for the Liberation’s maiden battle and here are our units for this stage accordingly.


Now first things first, let’s take the town back. I’ll start by deploying Alain and Travis’ units.


That’s a ridiculously overkill forecast, let’s dig a bit deeper. After Alain and both the Housecarls move…


And that’s the Knight class’ gimmick: where Josef’s offensive skill gives him PP whenever he defeats an enemy, Clive’s offensive skills give him AP upon doing so. Which means…


Clive can keep chaining with Assaulting Lance until either all enemies have been defeated, or until he misses/fails to KO an enemy. After this battle, he then does the former with the other enemy Housecarl unit that had its eyes on our home base.


Now that our game over risk is eliminated, we can focus all our attention on the town. But there is a little something we have to worry about :

Dammit… Looks like they’ve got their guys crawling all over the harbor.

And judging by appearances, I suspect they have more units ready to join the battle at any moment.


Once that red pawn gauge fills up, enemy-held towns/forts/tents will deploy reinforcement units.


You stop that gauge dead in its tracks by attacking the enemy stationed at the garrison.


Travis’ Passive Steal active is a two-hit attack that won’t be killing anything short of proccing two crits; its actual utility lies in stealing the enemy’s PP–well, so long as they don’t guard the skill’s first hit. So not only will this enemy Housecarl not be able to use Parting Blow at the end of the battle…


…it’s another PP for Travis to have to use his Evade passive, which forces an enemy miss for an attack that would otherwise have hit.


But against the surviving Housecarl’s Parting Blow, we get no Evade proc because he whiffed that 47% chance to hit.


The red pawn gauge has been reset and replaced by a green plus gauge, at the end of which the garrisoned unit’s surviving members will heal.

When possible, Your Highness, you should try to avoid using only a single unit in battles. Should their stamina be exhausted, they will have no choice but to rest where they stand until it recovers.


Needless to say, this is a very undesirable state to be in! Unless I have a shitload of stamina-restoring items on hand to brute force things, I can’t just have a single mega-unit juggernaut through an entire stage!
luckily for me the two times a unit actually hit 0 stamina in this stage didn’t actually matter in the grand scheme of things




You know what helps you avoid hitting 0 stamina and having to hit the rest button thereafter? Capturing enemy towns/forts/ruins, for which the arriving unit gets 2 stamina.



I hope this can prove useful in the battles ahead.


:tipshat: You shouldn’t be in danger of units getting knocked out in the earlygame, but hey, it’s nice to have just in case. And I’ll definitely be hoarding these as much as I can.




Anyway, now that the town is ours, I can use it as a launch base to deploy our third and last unit. I’ll be sending Lex and Chloe to capture the ruins.

Hrm. The bridge there appears to be held by enemy spearbearers. Not only are they capable of delivering piercing attacks to an entire column, but they deal heavy damage to cavalry as well. I suggest you exercise the utmost caution in handling them, my prince.

A fine reminder, Clive. Let us consider well the enemy’s strengths before marching into battle.


Like so; per this forecast the enemy Soldiers fail to make anything stick to Alain, and since Clive is sitting in the back row and not in either their and Alain’s column he slips under their radar. But instead, I’ll have Travis’ unit attack twice and win.


Speaking of, I figure now’s a good time for Guarding 101. Everyone has a guard rate, and by default, guards decrease (physical) damage incurred by 25% when procced. Having a regular shield equipped like Alain, Lex, Josef or Clive means that guards decrease (physical) damage incurred by 50%; and if you have a greatshield like Hodrick, guards decrease (physical) damage incurred by 75% when procced. This is another thing which gives Hodrick such an edge in physical durability, whereas I really do not want Chloe or Travis, who cannot equip shields, to get hit.

And since none of the enemies in this stage can equip shields, it’s another reason Travis can so easily steal all their PP with his active.


Anyway, we’ve beaten the enemy Soldier unit occupying the bridge and now we’re making a move on it. We’re getting close to the enemy command post…

Heh, kids aren’t half bad. C’mon boys, it’s time we teach ‘em what they’re up against!



Alas, it is no joke. I suggest we stand our ground and await their advance, rather than charge blindly forward.


We can do that by capturing and squatting on the bridge, which counts as a garrison (albeit one you don’t get any stamina or valor for capturing and which has no healing bonuses); any unit sitting on a garrison won’t lose stamina when they get into a fight. Anyway, once Lex starts approaching the ruins in the east…


Ruins are side objectives and more often than not well out of the way, but hey it’s worth sending someone over to have a look.


Both of the enemy soldier units bounce ineffectively off Travis’ unit, after which I have Alain’s unit go pick them off while they’re stuck in a waiting state.


Lex and Chloe need two rounds to eliminate the Housecarl unit garrisoned at the ruins; still, even if I had to hit the wait button afterward, no reinforcements were coming to gently caress them up anyway.


A stat-booster! This gives +1 Phys. ATK and was well worth the detour. Eventually, our other two units begin closing in on the enemy command post.



That there is Aubin, leader of the mercenaries. Don’t let your guard down for even a second.

Aubin commands a unit of three (:argh:) and his unit is a real motherfucker of a boss for my current team. In particular, his axe grants him a skill, Crush, which inflicts stun on whoever gets hit–and whoever gets stunned is forced to skip turns, being unable to attack or to cover for allies. He’s also hiding in the back row while the two frontliners are Soldiers, who will heal themselves/each other at the end of the battle so long as they stand. Iffy physical durability or not, I’ll have to punch through both of them before getting to Aubin himself.




Needless to say, I won’t be making much headway as is, despite having Alain borrow Josef’s higher-might Templar’s Sword.
it didn’t help any that Clive missed and the cav pain train didn’t get rolling as a result :negative:

Well, look who finally came knockin’.

Apologies, but I fear we lack the time for pleasantries.

Heh, figures. Let’s get it over with, then.

*one inconclusive battle later*

He’s even stronger than he looks… Can we truly defeat such a powerful opponent?

We can indeed. Our morale alone should be more than enough to see us through.


We had to burn one stamina impotently flailing against Aubin just to finally unlock this. After a certain point in long maps you’ll, hopefully, have most or all of your units deployed and more valor than you know what to do with. Which you will then use on these skills. Hell, some valor skills are of a nature where I’d use them over deploying an additional unit to kick off a stage.


The game maxes out our valor just so we can use this mechanic to bring down Aubin. And the first thing I’ll use it for is…




thanks man, every little bit helps :tipshat:


I made a few suboptimal decisions here: this boost, while nice, doesn’t stop Travis’ unit from losing to Aubin’s anyway, and after having Alain’s unit attack…


…we’re still in a situation where one enemy Soldier is standing and Aubin is still unscathed. Still, I have 6 valor left–enough for one use each of Alain and Clive’s valor skills.




Even with that damage reduction against garrisoned enemies…


12 damage is more than enough to finish off the surviving Soldier. And like with FE Engage and Sigurd’s Override skill, Clive and the others in his unit get EXP for using Wild Rush. Or hell, same with all the other offensive valor/assist skills we’ll be seeing down the pike.


Since I had set Wild Rush’s range to end right next to Aubin, Alain’s unit immediately chains right into a battle with him. Once his Soldier lackeys were finally out of the picture, Aubin himself went down pretty fast.






Anyway, we finish the map having gotten Alain and Clive to level 4, and plucked Aubin’s Vitality Talisman along with a nice chunk of gold.


A Call to Action Mk. 2

Alone, are you?

What happened to your friends?

Long gone by now, what with all the time I bought ‘em. Never coulda done it without you lot chasin’ me halfway to hell and back, though.



Guy laid out the bait, and we just had to take a nibble.

I mean hey what else was to be done, chasing after Renault and his cavalry with the rear unsecured?

Strange. Few leaders would play the sacrificial lamb in such a predicament.

Don’t flatter yourselves. I woulda shook you off like week-old mud if I hadn’t hurt my leg in our little scuffle. But hey, that’s just parta the job. Yer gamblin’ with your life the second ya take that coin.

Then you know how this ends.



What does Galerius want with Scarlett?

Ya do realize I’m just hired steel, yea? They keep my pockets nice n’ heavy, and that’s as far as my curiosity goes. So, sorry, but I’m not a “questions” kinda guy. Least not past my bottom line.

Well? What do we do with him?

Let’s say I offered to fill those pockets instead. What then?



If this is supposed to be a joke, I’m not laughing. We’re trying to beat the enemy–not hire them!

It’s not every day you come across a man willing to greet the heavens in order to see his allies safe.
Now. Our aim is to liberate these lands from the oppressive clutches of Zenoira and its emperor.


Let’s see if Alain’s as good of a recruiter as the likes of Lilina or Caeda and if it’s enough to win over Aubin. Dude comes off as very cynical and very mercenary but hey, he doesn’t strike me as a bad person.

Y’know, I’d heard you were nothin’ more than the crumbs of some spineless resistance that got chewed up n’ spat back out. Never woulda guessed you’re really just a pack o’ reckless lunatics.

This so-called lunatic is none other than Prince Alain, true-born heir to the Cornian throne. And our war is a righteous one.

Hahah! You’re trottin’ around the crowned brat of a dead n’ gone kingdom, tryin’ to flip a whole drat empire? Sorry, kids, but I don’t like them odds.

Doesn’t sound like he’s interested.

…Heh. Hope ya know I don’t come cheap.

Does that mean you’ll join us?

Granted you’re willin’ to foot the bill. Kingmakin’s not an everyday job for a merc. But you’ve seen enough to know I’m worth the gold n’ more.


Holy poo poo it worked! Aubin’s officially one of ours now, with payment deferred until the end of the game to boot :toot:

Anyway, fort’s ours, the town has been secured, and we flipped the enemy CO. I think our guys have earned a good night’s rest. Fast forward to the next morning…



Indeed. It’s more than evident Galerius had some grand purpose in kidnapping her. Delivering her from his bloodied talons may strike a heavy blow to the heart of his aims.

Perhaps, but this is far sooner than we had planned. Our allies remain scattered through every realm of Fevrith. Casting the gauntlet at Renault’s feet would only send us to an early grave.

If I may add. There are those among Galerius’s adherents who willfully chose to betray the queen those long years ago. I fear we have no hope of avoiding conflict with such base traitors.

…It would seem we need to bolster our ranks, then.

Your Highness. Upon ushering you to Palevia, I labored tirelessly to build a foundation upon which the Liberation Army can take hold. I have seen great suffering in our lands, ‘tis true. And yet greater resentment harbored by the oppressed and the downtrodden. I have every faith such fierce emotion will spur them to join our cause.
My prince. Fly your crest ‘cross the banner of the Liberation.



Then I will do just that. I only ask that you be the crutch I lean on, when the perils of war grow too great to bear alone.


The cutscene ends by prompting me to choose heraldry and… you know what? I don’t feel much of a need to switch from the default.

Anyway, with this stage finished, we have access to the overworld. There’s plenty of poo poo to do in the overworld! Which is why I’ll be dedicating the entire next update to showing it off.

Units Joined


Hodrick
Starting Class
: Hoplite (Armored, Infantry)
LV 2
Growth Type: Keen (+Accuracy) / Offensive (+Phys. ATK)

Equipment slots: 1 Lance, 1 Shield, 1 Accessory

Base stats
AP
- 1 / PP - 1
HP - 31 (B)
Phys. ATK - 11 (D)
Phys. DEF - 12 (S)
Mag. ATK - 9 (E)
Mag. DEF - 1 (F)
Accuracy - 115 (D)
Evasion - 3 (F)
Crit. Rate - 7% (F)
Guard Rate - 18% (S)
Initiative - 4 (F)
Remember what Hodrick looked like back in the prologue? He’s taken a demotion and a heavy level drop to the point you wonder if Zenoira had him spending most of the past ten years in a basement opening letters. Still, he does his job and he does it well–no-selling physical attacks and protecting his allies. Just keep him the hell away from enemy mages and other anti-armor classes. You can tell from a glance, but you generally don’t want him heading units since as an armor unit, designating him as unit leader will tank movement speed. Still, any character with rear end physical defense will appreciate his presence and his Valor Skill really comes in handy in maps with stage hazards or enemy assists that create damaging terrain.

Fevrith Archive entry: A knight of the fallen kingdom of Cornia, and trusted aide to Queen Ilenia. While he fought at her side during the rebellion at Valmore’s hands, he was ultimately taken prisoner after they met with defeat. Subject to Zenoira’s magick of control, he was made to lead the Zenoiran Army’s clandestine army of Palevia. Upon his defeat, his mind was freed by Alain’s ring and he was returned at last to his former self.


Clive
Starting Class
: Knight (Cavalry)
LV 2
Growth Type: Precise (+Crit) / Defensive (+Phys. DEF)

Equipment slots: 1 Lance, 1 Shield, 1 Accessory

Base stats
AP
- 1 / PP - 1
HP - 27 (C)
Phys. ATK - 12 (B)
Phys. DEF - 10 (B)
Mag. ATK - 7 (D)
Mag. DEF - 11 (C)
Accuracy - 118 (E)
Evasion - 8 (F)
Crit. Rate - 11% (C)
Guard Rate - 11% (C)
Initiative - 16 (C)
Cavaliers Knights are exactly as good as they look, as Clive showed in his intro stage, and have particularly good synergy with each other later on–they get passives to buff each other and to follow up on each others’ attacks, and this is on top of having actives based around giving themselves more AP whenever they defeat an enemy. They also have decent durability and the obligatory cavalry movement bonus. Still, they’re not invincible. Their combat positives are mitigated, somewhat, by having not particularly good accuracy, and one miss can easily cascade into a bunch of undesirable downstream effects. While everyone has mostly same-y accuracy early game, you’ll start feeling this once stat differences become more pronounced. A unit with multiple Knights or their promoted versions can have plenty of feast-or-famine battle forecasts. While they’ll walk over not particularly dodgy and fragile infantry enemies, their class MO can have a lot of trouble getting going against dodgy or tanky enemies. There are also classes like Soldiers and (imo more problematically) fliers that gently caress with them, personally. Still, on aggregate I’d much rather have Clive on hand than not.

Fevrith Archive entry: A knight of the Province of the Ashen Blue, knighted at an early age due to his peerless aptitude and immense bravery. He and Josef have worked tirelessly in setting the stage for the Liberation Army’s eventual rise.


Travis
Starting Class
: Thief (Scout, Infantry)
LV 2
Growth Type: Offensive (+Phys. ATK) / Go-Getter (+Initiative)

Equipment slots: 1 Sword, 2 Accessories

Base stats
AP
- 1 / PP - 1
HP - 18 (E)
Phys. ATK - 9 (D)
Phys. DEF - 3 (F)
Mag. ATK - 10 (D)
Mag. DEF - 10 (C)
Accuracy - 126 (A)
Evasion - 49 (S)
Crit. Rate - 14% (A)
Guard Rate - 2% (F)
Initiative - 25 (S)
Travis doesn’t hit particularly hard and he’s in for a world of hurt if he does get hit. Still, his schtick revolves around not getting hit, with a passive to ensure he dodges should that happen, and being as fast as he is means that he can rob a target of all their PP to start off a battle and keep using his passive when need be. His Valor Skill is also clutch this early on, since I am strapped for gold. He’s overall and particularly in this moment very useful–just so long as I watch out for Truestrike buffs, which will nail him right through his high evasion, and enemy archers and swordfighters, who have high accuracy and more than a few Truestrike-based skills.

Fevrith Archive entry: A spy in the employ of Cornia’s Liberation Army. Though he spent years devoted to the art of gathering intelligence, he now finds himself thrust onto the field of battle with Alain and the others.


Aubin
Starting Class
: Housecarl (Infantry)
LV 4
Growth Type: Precise (+Crit) / Offensive (+Phys. ATK)

Equipment slots: 1 Axe, 2 Accessories

Base stats
AP
- 1 / PP - 1
HP - 25 (D)
Phys. ATK - 16 (A)
Phys. DEF - 6 (C)
Mag. ATK - 7 (F)
Mag. DEF - 5 (E)
Accuracy - 121 (D)
Evasion - 19 (D)
Crit. Rate - 7% (E)
Guard Rate - 7% (D)
Initiative - 19 (B)
At least for the next several maps Aubin will have a niche as our only axe user, and that axe he came with is great early on with that skill attached to it. He’s decently fast and does a good amount of physical damage, even if he has mediocre durability. His biggest problem is that he’ll soon be getting competition from other axe-using infantry classes with their own particular niches.

Fevrith Archive entry: The mercenary leader of a band called the Sand Scorpions, who were hired by Renault to cross blades with Alain as he pursued the kidnapped Scarlett. He held fast to his base at Fort Soligie, but was eventually defeated. Remained in the fort after his defeat in battle to buy time for his companions to escape. Once cornered, he took a liking to Alain and his lofty aims, and thus decided to join the Liberation’s ranks.

Jerry Manderbilt fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Apr 21, 2024

Kanthulhu
Apr 8, 2009
NO ONE SPOIL GAME OF THRONES FOR ME!

IF SOMEONE TELLS ME THAT OBERYN MARTELL AND THE MOUNTAIN DIE THIS SEASON, I'M GOING TO BE PISSED.

BUT NOT HALF AS PISSED AS I'D BE IF SOMEONE WERE TO SPOIL VARYS KILLING A LANISTER!!!


(Dany shits in a field)
I don't know about the plot, but the mechanics of this game look very interesting. They seem to allow space for quite a bit of strategy and tactical considerations.

ChaosStar0
Apr 6, 2021

I specifically stuck Alain and Travis together for this chapter, cause it gives you the info to do that by mentioning suggested team combos. Travis to dodge all the damage and Alain to deal damage. It allowed me to breeze through the chapter and the next two. I also kept Lex and Chloe together and put Hodrick and Clive together. Chloe keeps Lex healthy and Hodrick takes hits while Clive kills.

Jerry Manderbilt
May 31, 2012

No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.
Intermission 1: The Overworld

The stage we just fought in is the first area pacified, and thus the first land available to us to explore in the overworld.

Each country in Fevrith has its own overworld themes! Case in point, Cornia's for day and for night. Same with battle themes, which we first actually heard on Palevia: one for the stage and one for battles.




We’ve a laundry list of tasks to do, and hey, expanding my unit capacity sounds like a pretty good place to start. Just gotta go to A fort.


New recruits will start rolling in before long and I only have so many honors to do either of the aforementioned. And hell, you saw it in Aubin’s boss fight–increasing unit capacity is a good way to get an edge on the enemy, and I’ll be locked in a constant arms race with the game to have as many 3, 4 or 5-man units as I can. I’ll be constantly wanting for honors to add new units or to increase capacity of my existing units–and this in addition to the other gameplay benefits I need honors for.




:toot: We don’t have the renown for it, but what about a 4-man unit?


Oh well! It’ll be a bit of a while before we hit C renown–and mercifully, until we begin regularly seeing 4-man enemy units.




Every quest completed, whether it’s on the overworld or in battle, gets me some honors, renown, and maybe something else. For a lot of the quests that just opened up I get treatises, which give a lump sum of EXP (and thrice the base amount if you’re giving it to someone below a certain level). I’ll hold onto them for now–for the novice treatises, a certain abducted someone is the obvious choice to get them. But for the higher-level ones, I’ll ask the thread for someone to pump them all into.

Nicely done, Your Majesty. You can now assign more members to your units.


Hey, that sounds familiar…






That’s UO’s incarnation of support conversations for you, as well as the associated gameplay benefits. Every character in a unit gains rapport for fighting battles and can go all the way up to A-level rapport, even if they don’t necessarily get a rapport conversation for doing so.

You should review the formation of our units whenever you next have the chance, Your Majesty.



We nabbed some nice gear in that last battle. Well, you did. Anyway, make sure to share the spoils, yeah? We need everyone armed to the teeth if we wanna keep ‘em breathin’.

That kicks off another quest! We got a Vitality Talisman for defeating Aubin, and the quest’s condition is just to give it to someone.




For the purposes of the quest, letting Aubin have it back will do.

I always knew proper equipment was vital, but it truly does impact everything. Thank you, Chloe.

Oh, we’re not stopping there. Come on, let’s head to the nearest town and buy ourselves something nice. We have the funds to spare, after all. Here, I’ll lead the way.



I’ll be sure to make good use of them, then. Thank you again.


But as you can see, the option to station guards (and board a ship, if you’re at a harbor) is grayed out, and will remain so until we deliver the requested materials to restore the town. But first things first, we’re here to buy stuff. All the armories and shops in Cornia (and back on Palevia) have the same offerings–basic earlygame weapons and items–with a few other assorted special offerings.




I’ll start by buying this lance for Chloe. Not only is it stronger than her Bronze Lance, it also gives a boost to her accuracy and has a skill attached to it. What that “True” hit rate means is, it always connects–even against targets with high evasion, like thieves, and hit them despite their Evade skill.

The other special here, the Runic Sword, has a magic active skill and has Phys. ATK of 8 and Mag. ATK of 14. For that, we’ll want a character who can use swords and has enough magic attack to make it not a meme. Finally, all the recruit weapons are slightly stronger than bronze weapons AND provide a slight boost to EXP gained. Still, I don’t have the gold on hand to just clear out the armorer’s stock.


For now, I’ll buy Healing Fonts, since there will be situations where I’ll want everyone in a unit to be healed a little less than I’d just want a single character to be healed with a regular Healing Tonic. The Smoked Nuts restore 1 stamina, and will come in handy in a pinch in battle. Draughts can come later, but you can chug them right before actually starting a battle to see if +20% in attack and defense stats will make a difference.

You can also sell items, and the Buy Back menu lets you get these items back for the same price you sold them at if you have second thoughts. The items will go poof the moment you exit the store.

Looks like we’ve got our gear sorted. Now c’mon. Scarlett’s waiting for us!

Could you spare a word first, my prince?



Our compatriot Miriam lies in wait not far from there. She awaits our arrival with great anticipation.

I’ve readied a map and marked our destination, Your Highness.



As for the route we take to reach it, I shall leave that decision in your capable hands. I’ve also compiled an archive of the intelligence we possess at present. You may peruse it at your leisure.


The Fevrith Archive tells us, among many other things, that Aubin and Travis are actually not from Cornia.

Your Highness… Given our current force of arms, mounting a rescue will likely prove an immense challenge. I suggest we first focus on liberating the people of this region, weakening Zenoira’s forces, and increasing our renown.


Anyway, you can infer from the map and from Josef’s dialogue that Scarlett’s being held deep in uncharted territory and deep behind enemy lines, and that we’ll have to fight for every inch of progress. Taking that ground from the empire will involve plenty of side quests, bring us plenty of new allies and make us (or you, the audience) make a fair few decisions. It’s also going to be a roundabout way to reach the main quest objective–to rendezvous with a Miriam, whoever she is. If it seems like I’m meandering and taking my sweet time to save Scarlett, please bear with me. Every step of our journey to eastern Cornia will be well worth it.


Across the overworld you can find these rays–they’re gathering spots.


That one I just grabbed yielded 3 Cornian Sardines, and the one Alain is now en route to yielded 3 Corvia Herbs. Now that I’ve gathered from them, I won’t be able to get any new materials from them for a good, long while, but they’ll eventually yield something for me again.

Each separate nation of Fevrith has its own distinct saltwater fish, freshwater fish, ore, lumber and herb gatherables. So while these gatherables will be in high demand in the next few updates, they will be useless once we start venturing outside Cornia.


Here and there you’ll find ruins that look like temples, like this one we captured in the previous stage. You can press the A button to have a look, at which point Chloe will assist.



Apparently it holds some kind of divine power, if the rumors are to be believed.

Hallowed Corne Ash can be used to give you 1 valor point, to revive a KO’d unit and deploy them again, or, worst case scenario, as a get-out-of-jail-free card from a game over. Thanks, Chloe! :tipshat:


The overworld also has these shining spots here and there. You get one of either two things from them:


An immediately and obviously useful item…


…or a Divine Shard, whose use case you’ll see after a few updates.


Going back to the town, we…need to patch things up here. Since this is our first restoration request period, we have one very easy ask.






But wait, that’s not all! We can now station a guard at Ouvrir Harbor.


What matters is having a warm body standing guard. For each town you have a guard stationed at, you get some gold and some gatherables whenever you finish a stage. Goes without saying that more gold is always nice, and more deliverables will help expedite the restoration of other towns.


Anyway, for rapport conversations–you can see that some of the hearts have a handshake interlaid in them while others don’t. To unpack, the graph means that Lex has rapport conversations with, among our current roster, Alain at C, B and A levels, only a C-level rapport conversation with Clive, and C and A (skipping over B) rapport conversations with Josef, Chloe and Hodrick. In addition, rapport conversations are tied to locations, and gatekept behind story progression since you don’t get to see rapport conversations in areas you haven’t yet A) found, and B) completed the corresponding stage for. It’ll take a while but hey, if you ask me, this model means that rapport conversations can (and often do) effectively account for the events of the story.

I also get 2 honors for each rapport conversation I see, which is another incentive to actively seek them out.


Alain, of course, gets rapport conversations with everyone. You saw that his C conversation with Lex is theoretically available since we’ve taken the fort it takes place at. Now, to make a point of how rapport conversations being tied to locations means it’s gatekept behind story progression: Alain/Josef C is in Sudd Town, which is also in Cornia but in an area we haven’t been yet. Their B conversation is in a place called Rokkuros Town, and A in Burbury Town. The former is in Elheim and the latter is in mainland Albion, so it’ll be a long while before we can see Alain and Josef’s B and A rapport conversations.


Near forts, you’ll find generics with a yellow sword icon…


…which means they’re raring for a fight. They will give you a short spiel about their class and what it’s about, as well as one of their class’ signature skills.


You will then get the chance to engage their unit in a sparring match.


If you win, you get a few grand and maybe a hint from the generic about what bad match-ups their class has.

Anyway, let’s see about unlocking new unit slots since we have more than enough honors for it…


:argh: that one’ll have to wait a bit. The more units you have on hand, the more honors you need to add new ones. Soon it’ll cost 15 honors a pop, and eventually it’ll be 20 or 25.

…still, figured I might as well expand a second unit’s capacity to 3, since I should have more than enough to get a fourth unit by the time I hit D renown.


In addition to ruins that look like temples, the overworld also has ruins that look like towers. Here, Lex will poke around and get something nice for you.

Here, lemme take a look inside.






Like this +HP stat-booster.


This is another quest! I didn’t really do many mock battles on my initial run, but just for the quest’s sake…


Well, Travis/Hodrick is a horrible matchup for Lex/Chloe, and I didn’t need to do a mock battle to know that. But a mock battle is a mock battle and I’ll take my renown and honors and go. Here’s the play by play if you’re really interested.


There were some quests in the vicinity of town telling me to use their features–restore the town, station a guard, etc–and I can pick up my rewards immediately since I already did them.




There’s something waiting for me once I’ve restored every town in Cornia (and the other countries to boot). Ouvrir Harbor is just the first town out of many, but you know what, I gotta start somewhere.


There will be far more towns to station guards at than you’ll have named characters, but another consideration for posting guards is which characters you want to give gifts to, and boost Alain's rapport with in doing so.


You bet! Though this isn’t one of the items Chloe really likes; Cut Flowers give Alain/[recipient] +30 rapport as a baseline, and for a character who does really likes that, will give double. As for what gifts the cast likes? That I have to google for; as far as I’m aware the game itself doesn’t give hints like “this character likes sweets and books” or “that character is a fitness nut” the way Three Houses did.


Any harbor town you’ve restored will also offer you a destination to sail off to. In Ouvrir’s case, we can go back to Palevia for a stint.



This won’t aid much in the deeds you’ve set out to accomplish, but I’d like you to have this.


Thanks granny :tipshat:

Anyway, Palevia had been, for reasons hitherto unrevealed, left untouched by war or by the empire for a whole decade. As such, its two towns do not need to be restored. That means I can just station guards here right off the bat, and indeed, I assign Lex and Chloe to the two of them.


The rich natural bounty of Palevia… and…chickens?



It’s only natural that you’d worry about such a thing. We would be glad to round them up if we have the chance.


Every country in Fevrith has an overworld quest where a dude’s four chickens flew the coop and you have to roam the vicinity to catch them. There are two immediately due south and northeast of Palevia Town, but when I gun for the one to the south…


…thanks man. The chickens run when they see you coming, and will vanish from the overworld if you take too long. They will respawn once their spawn point is no longer on your screen, though.


Luckily, my misclick wasn’t serious enough for this one to vanish.


This one will run for the woods–be careful, or else…


yeah that’s nice Lex. Had to try again to nab this one.


Anyway, the last chicken is to the southwest. Once I catch them all, I can go back and claim my reward.


The Golden Egg is an accessory that can be equipped to a character to boost the gold their unit gains from battles, that can also be sold for 30k.

Did I mention Palevia gets its own special overworld theme?

Now, back to Cornia proper.


Whenever you see red on the edge of your screen, it means you’re about to enter hostile territory. There will be enemy units roaming and they’ll chase you if you enter their line of sight.


Like so- oh, well, uh, looks like poo poo’s about to go down here!











As if I’d ever cede to vulgar bandits such as you. The Father shall strike you down for your sins!

Not today, he won’t. But I’ll let ya take that up with ‘im yourself. Me, I’ve had enough divine judgment to last a lifetime.



You know the drill, boys. Grab anythin’ that’s not nailed to the floorboards.







You all right?

I… I believe so, yes.

Ugh. I didn’t think the Black Talons had gotten this far.

If I may, ser. Who are you?

Name’s Rolf, with the Cornian militia. I’ve been tracking these bandits for a while now, and this is where it’s led me. Now go get somewhere safe–I’ll handle this.



Oh, sers! You have to help us, please!



It was a pack of bandits. Raided our village in the middle of the night, ser.

A nice man named Rolf came and saved us, but…

He bid us flee, then went off to face them all on his own.

That doesn’t sound good.

It isn’t. Order and justice hold little meaning under the cruel dominion of Zenoira, Your Highness. We’ll need to liberate this region if we wish to proceed with any semblance of safety.

Indeed. It would be ill done of us to abandon these people in their darkest hour.

Oh, thank you, sers!


Well that’s a good segway into our next stage!

Jerry Manderbilt fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Apr 22, 2024

Cattail Prophet
Apr 12, 2014

There's a couple characters who can make okay use of the runic sword early on, but I stuck mine on Josef long term. His physickal attack is going to fall off hard and fast, but his magickal attack actually stays solid for quite a long time.

Cattail Prophet fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Apr 22, 2024

SIGSEGV
Nov 4, 2010


It's a segue, actually.


I wish Vanillaware ported to PC, oh well. So far Cornia's naming theme is mostly French, I'm going to guess there's also England for Albion, Germany and Italy around, perhaps the one to the north will be Russia?

Jerry Manderbilt
May 31, 2012

No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.
oh yeah that surprised me my first go around too. For the time being Josef's current active and Pursuit passive works well enough, but the Runic Sword's definitely a good way to--thread whims notwithstanding--make use of his magic attack stat and keep him relevant in the long run once stat differences become more pronounced and his physical attack really starts lagging.

SIGSEGV posted:

It's a segue, actually.


I wish Vanillaware ported to PC, oh well. So far Cornia's naming theme is mostly French, I'm going to guess there's also England for Albion, Germany and Italy around, perhaps the one to the north will be Russia?

:sweatdrop:

but yeah, you're right about England and very specifically England for Albion; the last three countries have German, Greek and Russian (or some other Slavic language? I can't really discern the differences in the Roman alphabet with what I'm given) naming schemes.

Jerry Manderbilt fucked around with this message at 02:55 on Apr 22, 2024

Libluini
May 18, 2012

I gravitated towards the Greens, eventually even joining the party itself.

The Linke is a party I grudgingly accept exists, but I've learned enough about DDR-history I can't bring myself to trust a party that was once the SED, a party leading the corrupt state apparatus ...
Grimey Drawer
I'm playing in German, so maybe there are differences, but I encountered a lot of Nordic/Germanic sounding names in Elheim, and zero Greek.

I did find a funny error in Beastoria, where at one point the German translation confuses cats and goats :v:

ChaosStar0
Apr 6, 2021

You have some shots of Chloe where there should be ones of Clive. Also never went back to Palevia, so I'll do that once I buy the game and can continue playing. 30K is nothing to sneeze at at this point.

Jerry Manderbilt
May 31, 2012

No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.

ChaosStar0 posted:

You have some shots of Chloe where there should be ones of Clive. Also never went back to Palevia, so I'll do that once I buy the game and can continue playing. 30K is nothing to sneeze at at this point.

Thanks for that, missed that after like three QC passes somehow. and mea culpa on Elheim; in the English version its residents have their own language, which I thought sounded vaguely Greek on first play, but when I actually dig into it... yeah, I can't make heads or tails out of what the hell it's supposed to be.

anyway next update will be Wednesday around my lunchtime, and I'll have a poll to open at the end of said update. Stay tuned!

Jerry Manderbilt
May 31, 2012

No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.

The game is nice enough to let you know what the primary enemy types you’ll be facing on a stage are (though it is of course by no means an exhaustive list), as well as the recommended level. Now let’s get cracking.


A Solitary Resistance Mk. 1



Yes, m’lord. He claimed to be with the Cornian militia.

Hm. I have heard tell of commonfolk taking up arms to defend their fellow man.

He may agree to join our cause, assuming we can happen upon him before the enemy does.

It’s worth the attempt, if nothing else. We should make haste.

Um… Please stay safe out there.

*kneels*





Then ya know what to do. Get rid of ‘em, and fast.



And it seems he’s in quite the predicament. We should speak to him.


So yeah, that’s this stage in a nutshell: recruit the green unit before he really steps into it, capture the enemy fort, check out those shining spots, beat the boss, and figure out how to deal with Travis’ class but as an enemy while doing so.


Did a little reorganization with this stage’s enemy mix in mind. Unit 1 now has Travis up front with Aubin and Lex in the back. Aubin is there to just (hopefully) hit things hard and Lex’s specific purpose in this unit is to shield Travis from enemy Hunters, who can otherwise nail him right through his Evade skill and high evasion. Unit 2 has Hodrick up front, with Chloe in the back to kill enemy thieves with her new lance’s Truestrike skill, and Josef along to play chaperone and mop up anything else. And Unit 3 is… well, Alain and Clive, between the two of them, don’t particularly need help killing the non-scout enemy units.


Alain is the one who’ll be recruiting Rolf. Josef’s unit will bear south to capture the enemy fort, and Travis’ unit will be accompanying Alain’s and nabbing gold from enemies as we build up our valor.


I also took the time to set conditions–or, in essence, to tell the AI for my guys what to do in battle. Since Passive Steal won’t steal the enemy’s PP if the enemy either dodges or guards its first hit, I set it to target the enemy with the lowest guard rate and/or lowest evasion.


Nothing particularly witty is needed with Aubin’s skills; Crush will stun the target so long as it connects, and ideally Parting Blow will be finishing off a straggler. And for Lex, I just transferred the Vitality Talisman to him.


Lean Edge heals extra if it finishes an enemy, and this condition will help ensure it picks off the lowest-hanging fruit.


You saw from the last stage that Assaulting Lance needs to connect and KO the target to get rolling, so these conditions will help with finding appropriate targets.


I set True Thrust to only activate if there are enemy scouts (so, Thieves) in the enemy unit, since it’s a bit weaker than Long Thrust and I would prefer Chloe use the latter in any other circumstance on this map. I should reset First Aid’s condition to Lowest HP, since Chloe is now in a unit of 3 and I might want to be more selective about who she prioritizes for healing; that having been said, in practice Hodrick was the only one taking any damage anyway during this stage.


Lastly, I want Josef’s Slice and Pursuit skills to target any weakened enemies the others in his unit couldn’t finish off.


No matter what, Rolf’s three-man will reach an enemy Thief before we can reach him. Luckily they’re in no particular danger against a singular Thief.

Run as much as you like, Black Talon swine. My arrows will cover any distance in pursuit of justice.




By design, Hunters serve as a hard check against Thieves–and other dodgetanks–by giving themselves Truestrike as they use their active skill. Just so long as a Fighter or a Hoplite doesn’t intercept the blow.


It sure is nice that I still get valor when NPC units kill enemies, as an aside.


Speaking of Truestrike! That’s why Chloe’s new toy is very valuable in this stage.


The enemy Thieves have no choice but to try and steal PP from Hodrick, whose high guard rate will (mostly, hopefully) prevent that. And since they’re neatly lined up in a column…


gently caress your dodge passive and gently caress your evasion stat :owned:


A Solitary Resistance Mk. 2
Luckily for me, Rolf’s unit decided to catch a breather after having eviscerated that lone Thief, allowing Alain’s unit to catch up.

Hm? Who are you?



That depends on who’s asking.

We stand with the Liberation Army. We just spoke to a pair of civilians who claimed you helped them to safety.

So the girls made it out. More welcome news than I’m used to, that.
It’s as you say: I am Rolf, captain of the Cornian militia. What militia we have, at least. If you’re truly willing to brave these bandits, then I’d be glad to have you join me.

That’s precisely why we’ve come. We confront them together.


I love that :yeah: sound effect that plays whenever we slap a blue coat of paint on a red or green unit. Anyway, Rolf isn’t quite one of ours yet; sure, he’s under our control, we can even send him back to the command post to withdraw, but we can’t fiddle with his equipment or reassign him to another unit (same with the generic Fighter and Hunter in his unit, of course).

Not only can I fight battles of my own, but support others from a distance as well. Simply call whenever you need me.


We’ll see what Rolf means once Josef’s unit reaches its target. But as they get close, Alain notes these shining spots on the stage–they’re another side objective.


Now, back to what Rolf was saying: right now, Josef’s unit is falling short of eliminating the enemy unit garrisoned at the fort. Chloe is in the right place to hit a full column, but it’s unlikely that her True Thrust will have the oomph to kill the Housecarl in the rear. And no matter how I shake it, I need for Josef or Hodrick to land A hit on the last Thief if I want this over in one round. Let’s see if hitting Y and having Rolf use his assist skill will shake things up.


Wow, the battle forecast turned from falling short into overkill! Let’s see how.


Units led by bow- and offensive magic-using classes can use assist skills. Their assists trigger at the start of the battle, and the more such units in range, the more assists you can call on. A single offensive assist will never be strong enough to actually kill enemies at full health, but it sure does weaken enemies–and reset the RNG, for better or worse.


The first enemy Thief was a goner no matter what, but Rolf’s assist skill provided the critical mass for True Thurst to put down the enemy Housecarl in the back row too. Now, I still need someone to kill the Thief who wasn’t in Chloe’s column.


Hodrick tries, but only forces him to burn his last PP…


Before Josef lands a 74% chance to hit to put him down for the count.


I have much room to improve.


After the battle, whatever unit(s) used assist skills will gain EXP for doing so. It will also cost them 1 stamina unless they’re garrisoned, so…what, did you think it was just gonna be free damage, no strings attached?


Now that we have some valor to play around with, it’s time to start stealing some gold from the enemy units. After that lone enemy Thief suicided into Josef’s unit, I have them check out that shining spot Alain was talking about.


It doesn’t just yield us an item, but also some valor.


Even for a unit without any Truestrike or “gently caress you, I hit” skills on hand, it’s still possible to win a fight against enemy scout units. I just need for enough hits to, despite iffy hit rates, connect.


As such, with Aubin’s Parting Blow icing the win at the very last moment.


See, Chloe? I can do stuff.

Lex’s voiced line for leveling up pairs quite nicely with Chloe’s “Take notes, Lex”. Still, she’s the one who’s almost single-handedly cleared out the southeast of the stage.


The second shining spot yields a Miracle Fruit, which gives a level. Definitely holding onto this, since right now levels are very easy to gain unless your name is Josef (and for whom an extra level makes no functional difference in combat performance).

As for that blue circle around Rolf’s unit, that denotes the area within which he can provide assists. Same with any red or yellow or green circles for enemy/NPC units who can use assist skills.


That last shining spot can be tricky, because if you gently caress up the routing you can end up walking right into the enemy command post (and thus into Gammel’s unit) en route to it. Best case scenario, you get knocked back a bit and thrown off course, and end up having to fight him again until you correct course. Worst case scenario, you actually beat him and end the map prematurely and you don’t get to reach said shining spot.


Now to make a point of how assist skills can reset the RNG: judging by this battle forecast, Alain’s unit is projected to kill two of the Soldiers, but not the last, probably because Clive will whiff the last hit.


Now we’re getting a forecast where Alain’s unit is destroying the enemy Soldier unit! The first one did not account for the enemy Hunter unit being in range and chipping in with an assist skill, while this one does. The enemy AI is programmed to always use assist skills when able, even if it’s to the detriment of the unit actually fighting. And this time, the enemy assist rerolled the RNG to be very much in my (or rather Clive’s) favor.
just watch out for when the shoe’s on the other foot–when you pick a target over an initially very favorable battle forecast before actually reaching it and finding out you’re getting hosed over by multiple enemy assists


And that’s the last of…seriously, Clive? He’d have had to botch a 92% hit rate for me to get an outcome where that one enemy Soldier was left standing in that original forecast. Whatever, a win’s a win.

As for the enemy Hunter unit, it then got promptly stomped by Alain and Clive.


The third and final shining spot got me a draught. At this point, Gammel’s very close to summoning reinforcements; let’s put the kibosh on that.


Let’s have Rolf’s unit fire the opening salvo.

Ya got some bad luck there, crossin’ paths with us. But that’s nothin’ a slit throat can’t solve.

Not another step, thief.

Oh yeah? N’ why not?


Gammel has a special sword, Viperfang, which confers this self-explanatory skill.


So when this poisoned Fighter is up, he loses a chunk of HP. It’s possible for someone at low enough HP to die from poison (or burn). Luckily for the Fighter, status effects don’t carry over between battles. Now, Rolf and the generic Hunter in his unit are both set to prioritize the back row, where Gammel is the only combatant…




What was Gammel saying again? Something like “well why don’t you make me”?
:smugissar:


Gammel himself may have went down, but the frontline of his unit are still alive. So this stage ain’t quite over yet.


Yes, generics gain rapport (though it goes without saying, they don’t get any rapport conversations).


Anyway, we have just enough valor left to play around with some valor skills, and Travis had already plucked his few hundred gold from Gammel’s unit.


Arrow Rain hits every enemy within its area of effect, though by now Gammel’s unit is the last one standing.




…and it does some pretty respectable damage despite being less effective against garrisoned enemies. Still, I wanted to feed this kill to Travis’ unit, since Travis is now the lowest-level member of my army, and so I had to fire off Arrow Rain again to get my desired outcome.


High evasion can’t save dodgy squishies from offensive valor skills, so this last battle ended up just being Travis delivering the enemy Housecarl a coup de grace.


A little Tricorn pride for ya.


And as a spoil of war, we get Gammel’s sword.




D renown is so tantalizingly close now.


A Solitary Resistance Mk. 3

You dare speak of mercy? What of the mercy you showed all those you’ve robbed and pillaged?

…Please. It’s my sister. Back when our mum n’ dad passed, I was broken. An empty shell of a man. But she never left my side. Stayed right there next to me till the day she took ill ‘erself. Started fadin’, and fast.
I carried her slumped ‘round my shoulder to the best healer my coinpurse could buy, but it was no use. Only thing I could do was watch her wither into dust. You ever seen that? It’s a pain worse n’ death itself. But I didn’t stop searchin’. Day after day after wicked day.
Till finally, I’d got what I asked for… but the cost of the cure would make a weaker man faint where he stood.



Thievin’s all I’m good for… so thievin’s how it had to be. Wouldn’t’ve turned to this if I had another way.

A word, Your Highness. Somber as his story may be, you mustn’t let pity cloud your judgment. Only the town watch can determine the appropriate sentence for his crimes. His fate is not ours to decide.



Gammel’s fate–and perhaps that of his sister by extension–is for you, thread, to decide! Show him mercy, or turn him in? https://strawpoll.com/NMnQ54Mmdn6

You have 24 hours from the time of this post to vote.

Felinoid
Mar 8, 2009

Marginally better than Shepard's dancing. 2/10
Good lord the smell of bullshit on that story could knock out an elephant. That being said, somehow I doubt he isn't going to show up again; escaping the City Watch seems like it'd be one of his core professional skills.

wedgekree
Feb 20, 2013
Voting for Free

There might be a favor for us later from it. It also gives us a reputation for mercy and.. Well, this is a revolution. Beggars, choosers, and it doesn't hurt to have a few assassins/thieves that owe us favors.

Plus there has to be plans for him down the line if he's a named character with a moral choice!

In which case I tend to go with 'mercy' here. Particularly when the extension is about his sister as well.

Slaan
Mar 16, 2009



ASHERAH DEMANDS I FEAST, I VOTE FOR A FEAST OF FLESH
I voted Mercy, not because I believe him, because that story is obvious bullshit, but because gently caress the cops Town Watch

Jerry Manderbilt
May 31, 2012

No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.


By the graces of the thread, Gammel will be a free man; will post the follow-up over the weekend.

PurpleXVI
Oct 30, 2011

Spewing insults, pissing off all your neighbors, betraying your allies, backing out of treaties and accords, and generally screwing over the global environment?
ALL PART OF MY BRILLIANT STRATEGY!
I'm sure that our new pal Gammel wouldn't lie to us and that letting him go couldn't possibly result in anything bad.

SIGSEGV
Nov 4, 2010


Yeah, I'd just propose playing optimally because, well, I'm not going to open gamefaqs and transcribe it in your thread, that'd just be rude.

SIGSEGV fucked around with this message at 21:37 on Apr 25, 2024

Bookthief
Jan 28, 2019
Voted for letting gammel go as it seems like what alain would do.

SIGSEGV
Nov 4, 2010


Probably as part of an early arc about responsibility and consequence.

Jerry Manderbilt
May 31, 2012

No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.

SIGSEGV posted:

Yeah, I'd just propose playing optimally because, well, I'm not going to open gamefaqs and transcribe it in your thread, that'd just be rude.

how do you mean?

SIGSEGV
Nov 4, 2010


Well, it'll likely have consequences and Goon LPs have had an habit of making bad decisions, so when it comes to votes, I often feel like looking up the guide is the best option and, well, since there is in fact a vote, as decreed by the OP, I simply don't vote. (But please don't leave the critical bits up to us.)

Jerry Manderbilt
May 31, 2012

No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.

A Solitary Resistance Mk. 4

Thread chose to free Gammel, so free Gammel Alain shall.

Very well. Redemption is not beyond reach, neither for you, nor your sister. I only hope you seek it in earnest.

You mean to let him walk?







Your Highness, We have dispatched the enemy and secured the safety of the local environs. We may now proceed through this region unimpeded.

So yeah, you can beat up roaming enemies on the overworld for honors OR you can clear the stage they’re centered around, after which all the roaming enemies in the area go poof and you get all the honors you would have had you beaten them one by one. Right now we just get a piddly 1 honor per roaming enemy unit eliminated, but eventually that’ll be upped to 2 and ultimately 3 depending on our renown rank. And as Josef was saying, not only can we now walk around the area without getting chased down by roaming enemies, but now and only now can we visit the towns and fort that featured in the stage we just cleared.




THREE!! points away from D rank renown :argh:



My bow is yours to command from here forth.


Gammel then runs off. Had we chosen to turn him in, the town guard would have given us 10k gold as a reward. As for what would have become of Gammel, his gang would have broken him out of jail overnight, and he would still run off just like in the screenshot above, except instead of (maybe? hopefully?) turning over a new leaf, he’d be swearing that Alain and co. will get theirs someday.

You can tell from that alternate scenario that this ain’t the last we’ve seen of Gammel, or of the Black Talons.




The refugees from the start of the mission are now happily back home. Even talking about how the town’s so much better now, even though we haven’t lifted a finger to restore it yet.


…looks like we’ll have to wait a bit to restore Coquillage Town in earnest.


With 22 honors on hand, we have more than enough to expand our last unit’s capacity (and it should be a good while before my roster outstrips my unit capacity again), and after the next side quest we will have enough honors to not just add a fourth unit, but to make it a three-man too.

quote:

Anyway, back when I first crossed the bridge into the Coquillage region, there was a shining spot on the shore north of the mountain which was inaccessible to me.


Going north of town, running behind the mountain and hugging the shore, I can access that shining spot, which yielded me a Divine Shard.


Lastly, there’s a Hunter in the fort near Coquillage Town who wants a friendly throwdown. I’ll have to readjust my unit configurations if I want to win…


…because the battle is complicated by the presence of an enemy Gryphon Knight. They’re quite dodgy, hit fairly hard, and their actives are particularly specced to gently caress up cavalry. Still, much like in Fire Emblem, fliers in this game get destroyed by arrows, and all the evasion in the world can’t save them from Truestrike. And unlike pegasi, Gryphon Knights aren’t particularly speedy–hell, the one in Morris’ unit is outsped by everyone in my three-man unit above.



thanks for your 2k gold :thumbsup:
Play-by-play, if you’re interested.

We’ll be seeing a lot more enemy fliers in the next stage, due to the southwest–and the game’s just barely begun!


And hell, I barely even made it across the bridge going southwest before a NPC Housecarl started chasing me down.

Units Joined

Rolf
Starting Class
: Hunter
LV 3
Growth Type: Offensive (+Phys. ATK) / Guardian (+Guard Rate)

Equipment slots: 1 Bow, 2 Accessories

Base stats
AP
- 1 / PP - 1
HP - 25 (D)
Phys. ATK - 13 (C)
Phys. DEF - 4 (E)
Mag. ATK - 10 (D)
Mag. DEF - 12 (B)
Accuracy - 137 (S)
Evasion - 27 (C)
Crit. Rate - 11% (B)
Guard Rate - 8% (E)
Initiative - 15 (C)
Rolf is drat solid and thanks to his class, he checks a lot of problematic enemy types. Scouts and Swordfighters? Truestrike and nonetheless superlative accuracy go brrrr. Fliers? I’m sure flight instructors in Fevrith drill it into their students’ skulls to watch out for arrows. Mages? Surprisingly good matchup since Hunters actually have relatively high magic defense. Since his attacks are all ranged, you can have him single out squishies hiding in the back row. His valor skill also helps a lot with softening up enemy units and I can’t say no to more characters who can use assist skills. He does, of course, have weaknesses; he’ll die fast to physical attacks and gets shut down by enemy armors who can intercept and nullify his attacks. Still, he’s got a niche, excels in it, and I can very easily find something to do for him in most any stage.

Fevrith Archive entry: A bowman who started a militia in western Cornia in order to resist Zenoiran rule. After thwarting the Black Talon Bandits outside Coquillage Town, he set his sights on reclaiming it for the good of its people. He bears not only a keen eye for hunting prey and the skill to hit his mark, but unshakeable courage on the field of battle. After working together to defeat the Black Talons, he close to formally enlist in the Liberation’s ranks.

Omobono
Feb 19, 2013

That's it! No more hiding in tomato crates! It's time to show that idiota Germany how a real nation fights!

For pasta~! CHARGE!

Do you get some sort of shared experience from the disappearing roaming enemies? Although going around taking them out one by one sounds miserable so I'll happily accept no experience since the important renown still gets cashed in.
How much like classic Fire Emblem is the game? Is renown a finite resource? Is experience?


Young Gammel there looks completely different than in his later years. I guess he also hasn't learned any magic yet.

I'm referring to another Vanillaware game, Grim Grimoire, where the magic academy headmaster Dumbledore clone n° 454421 is named Gammel Dore

fatsleepycat
Oct 2, 2021

Omobono posted:

Do you get some sort of shared experience from the disappearing roaming enemies? Although going around taking them out one by one sounds miserable so I'll happily accept no experience since the important renown still gets cashed in.
How much like classic Fire Emblem is the game? Is renown a finite resource? Is experience?

No exp from overworld enemies, just honors. There is an opportunity later to grind exp on fairly small repeatable maps, and I think those maps give you small amounts of honors and renown as well.

Jerry Manderbilt
May 31, 2012

No matter how much paperwork I process, it never goes away. It only increases.

fatsleepycat posted:

No exp from overworld enemies, just honors. There is an opportunity later to grind exp on fairly small repeatable maps, and I think those maps give you small amounts of honors and renown as well.

Yeah you get honors and renown each time you finish a stage, and that still applies to those repeatable stages, which also provide treatises for each clear. I'll go through them all as they appear on the overworld; I'm not going to abuse them by any means, but they're a good way to try and shore up lagging but still salvageable characters. They also scale in difficulty, with progressively higher enemy level and complexity.

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Cattail Prophet
Apr 12, 2014

To clarify, even when you kill overworld enemies manually they don't give experience.

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