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NeoRonTheNeuron posted:So that's you find the 4th one! I realized too late that there were conversation chains and missed the early ones. Also took a while before I realized that unlocked conversation options are not always correct! I don't think it odd to assume that options to which one has gone to extra trouble will be the best ones - they rather should be given the extra effort. After all, if a player can get a good sword from a dungeon full of monsters or an equally good sword from a pile of them outside the post office, what's the incentive to go delving? Rather cruel of the game to 'bait and switch' people like that.
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Dec 30, 2022 17:10
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It's not a bait and switch so much as the game wanting you to actually consider what you're saying and to whom you're saying it. The different members of the council have their own opinions and things that appeal to them, so you can't just trot out the same arguments and expect to get the same results.
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Dec 30, 2022 17:19
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JustJeff88 posted:I don't think it odd to assume that options to which one has gone to extra trouble will be the best ones - they rather should be given the extra effort. After all, if a player can get a good sword from a dungeon full of monsters or an equally good sword from a pile of them outside the post office, what's the incentive to go delving? Rather cruel of the game to 'bait and switch' people like that. To use your analogy again, I would say you still get a powerful new sword that let's you go new places, it's just that some enemies are resistant to swords so you're better off pulling out your axe for them. It's a new dialogue option that gives you new options, the game just wants you to think about where you use it.
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Dec 30, 2022 17:37
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Yeah, from my experience conversation options you unlock usually are a great choice for at least one character, but you can use the option with multiple characters and for some of them it's not a good idea.
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Dec 30, 2022 18:52
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Quackles posted:The letter: Ha, I love it! Blastinus posted:Triangle Strategy follows a certain amount of event flag logic where dialogue for characters can change sometimes from the first time you talk to them. I think in this case you have to talk to the market stall guy AFTER you've had the talk with Hughette, otherwise the dialogue is different and you don't get the stalls cleared out. Yeah, that's it exactly. You have to talk to Hughette first to start the chain going. Off the top of my head, there are a couple more chains like this in the future. Blastinus posted:It's not a bait and switch so much as the game wanting you to actually consider what you're saying and to whom you're saying it. The different members of the council have their own opinions and things that appeal to them, so you can't just trot out the same arguments and expect to get the same results. Rawkking posted:Yeah, from my experience conversation options you unlock usually are a great choice for at least one character, but you can use the option with multiple characters and for some of them it's not a good idea. Yeah, generally everything you discover can be useful for convincing someone of something. You just need to think about who you're talking to and what your goal is in the conversations when they pop up.
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Dec 31, 2022 20:49
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Update 28: Mad Bastards Welcome back! Last time we finished preparing the town for battle. This time, we’ll be fending off the encroaching Aesfrostis.  Before we jump in, though, we need to promote Frederica. For the promotion, she gets a bit of a magic attack and HP boost, an extra max TP, and immediately unlocks the Fire Eater skill, for whatever that’s good for. I also upgrade a number of people’s weapons, including Serenoa to get the +1 range on his Hawk Dive. With all of that done, it’s time to go.    I will have vengeance for my family, and for my master. Prepare to die. Empty threats from a pampered prince. You will see what true might is.  Very good. Now to lure them where we want them and initiate the device. ...You are aware of what will happen next, yes? Yes, and I am prepared to make the sacrifice. With me, everyone! All companies, advance! Leave no survivors! Hoo boy. Welcome to Avlora’s Assault. It’s a relatively simple mission, beat all of the enemies without losing all of your dudes, but if you want to fight it straight up, it’s one of the hardest missions in the game. However, clever use of the fire traps can take a lot of the sting out of the fight and make it much more manageable.  At the start, it’s a relatively even fight. 10 on 11, with a mix of blades, shieldbearers, archers, and battlemages, and then Avlora herself.  However, Avlora herself is a big advantage. For a brief description, she is an absolute combat monster. She has a massive HP pool, essentially at least 1.5x the stats of all of our characters in every other category but accuracy and evasion, an accessory that just makes her straight up immune to all status ailments, and is both fast in the turn order and mobile. Combine that with her two skills: Desperate Strike, which lets her spend 5% of her HP to deal 1.5x damage, and Risky Maneuver, which multiplies her final damage by another 30% once she goes below half health. Above 50% HP, a full HP Erador, Benedict, and maybe Serenoa can survive a Desperate Strike. Everyone else gets one-shot, easily, and once Risky Maneuver procs those three are likely to get one-shot as well. Staying well away from her or ensuring that she can’t reach anyone on her turn is absolutely critical to success. The rest of the enemies, though still tough since they’re right about at our level, are more of a secondary concern that needs to be managed while we deal with the main threat of Avlora.  For our party, we’re going with the core crew + Corentin and Julio. With high numbers of bunched up enemies coming to us, Narve could have also been quite effective here, but he couldn’t quite edge anyone out for me. The setup is relatively simple. Anna, Corentin, and Benedict are going to handle the eastern side, which is a good bit less intense than the western side. Benedict’s buffs also have a pretty long range so he should be able to contribute at least some to anything that happens in the middle. In the middle, I have Geela and Hughette. Hughette can just fly down the cliff and start fighting the archers on the central buildings, while Geela is only back there because I have a bad habit of sticking her too far forward on this map and wanted to make sure I wouldn’t get her killed stupidly. Finally, on the western side we have Erador, Serenoa, Frederica, and Julio in a group, with Roland on his own on the very edge. This group will be doing most of the fighting centered around the stairs. Serenoa and Erador are going to block off the enemies, while Julio gives Frederica TP every turn and serves as a wall as needed, and Roland does Roland things. My overall strategy for this fight is to rush forward a bit, try and bunch up the enemies as much as possible to take advantage of our AOEs, and then perform a fighting retreat, dealing with the enemies as they approach and trying to wear down Avlora. Generally, the big master stroke of the fight is to lure a bunch of them onto the upper level, set off the flame trap up there to take down a bunch of them and Avlora, and then use the other set of stairs as a choke point to deal with the rest of the enemies as they stream in.  With everything ready, it is time to fight.  Rudely, literally immediately after starting, the enemies receive a wave of reinforcements, putting things up to 10 vs 14.  Enemy reinforcements are past the outer wall!Aesfrosti Soldier: Follow General Avlora! Let no Wolffort cur survive! The town is surrounded, and enemies flood in by the moment... We knew gettin' into this that we'd be outnumbered, but victory's still in the cards if we're smart about it! I cannot bear the thought of sacrificing my people... Must I make a callous choice for the greater good? Avlora... Mark my words—l will send you to the depths of hell by my own hand! As might be expected, Avlora gets the first turn of the fight. Thankfully, she does not start advancing immediately. She’ll generally wait for a turn or 2 before joining the fray.  In the east, Anna moves forward and goes into stealth to avoid getting shot at.  While in the west, Roland takes advantage of his movement and range to trigger the hawk statue without exposing himself to a counter attack. Those reinforcements are basically a big flashing “Use the Fire!” signal.   And I’m not one to pass on taking out 5 enemies with a single attack.  Though sadly Avlora starts off 1 square outside of the house’s AOE. The wildfire has been successfully deployed. The town... How terrible...  However, taking out 5 enemies is enough to trigger a 2nd wave of reinforcements. 2 archers pop up just behind Avlora, and 2 shieldbearers appear on the western edge of the map. Aesfrosti Soldier: General Avlora! The second regiment has arrived! Forward! Leave no trace! Quail not at their numbers! We have a few quiet-ish turns, where both sides advance a bit but no one is in range. As people move, Benedict and Julio buff Hughette and Frederica respectively.  Corentin also scores the first actual hit of the fight on one of the central archers who, for some reason, ran forward and jumped off their otherwise pretty safe roof.  Meanwhile, on the other side, the buffed and promoted Frederica gets to work. With just a basic scorch, she takes out over half the health of both her targets, and sets fire to the nearby grass, which will cause extra damage to the reinforcements as they walk over it.  With the fight having truly started, Avlora takes that as her cue to start moving up, along with the new group of bows.  I consider setting off a 2nd fire trap, but thanks to some slightly odd enemy movement, it would only hit 2 people, so I don’t think it’d be worth it. Instead, Anna just goes over to the archer who jumped down and starts bullying him.  And Hughette moves to the center, out of range of any of the enemies by Avlora, and effectively neutralizes the other archer by blinding him.  Since Avlora is just out of range of our units for next move, it’s time to start pulling back. Roland chucks a fire stone at the nearby blade and then moves up the stairs. Serenoa does similarly, Hawk Diving the shieldbearer and then moving.  Though the retreat does open up some holes, and one of the shieldbearers is able to slam Frederica into Roland for a good bit of damage.  Which is made even worse when the leading blade is just barely able to run around Erador and hit her into single digit HP.  Thankfully, no archers are in range of her, and Erador moves next. He’s able to successfully provoke all 4 basic enemies before pulling back just out of Avlora’s range.  And then, from the back, Geela is able to heal Frederica up to where she isn’t in danger of instant death.  Over on the opposite side, the weakened archer jumps back up onto the house and Corentin starts working on the nearby shieldbearer. Annoyingly, due to the geometry of the houses, Anna is unable to follow the archer up top and attack during her next turn.  However, thanks to the range from Throw Poison, she’s able to reach the hawk statue for the center houses.  With the archer back on the roof, I decide that a 3 for 1 is a pretty good deal and set it off. She then uses her other action to poison the same shieldbearer that Corentin hit.  Back west, Frederica uses her turn to take out the initial shieldbearer and nearly kill both of the bunched-up reinforcements. And then she dashes back into safety behind Erador and Serenoa.   However, that kill was apparently enough to trigger a third wave of reinforcements. 2 shieldbearers and an archer flank our group at the stairs, while another blade and shieldbearer join the fight in the east. Aesfrosti Soldier: The third regiment has arrived! To think we'd need to deploy all our forces... You are a worthy foe, Wolffort, but your fortune ends here! As if to punctuate that, she goes to show the problem with Avlora being so drat fast. When Hughette first moved into the middle, she was perfectly safe. Avlora moved up after her, so one would expect that Hughette remain safe. But because she’s so much faster than our units, Avlora’s 2nd turn comes up before Hughette’s does.   Which results in a dead bird.  With the immediate threat of Avlora abated, I move Serenoa to protect Frederica from the flankers.  And even Julio gets to join in on the fight when one of the provoke blades moves into the spot I wanted him to take.  Though she’s not immediately threatening most of my guys, having Avlora move over here could be absolutely disastrous. Benedict, Corentin and Anna can not handle her on their own, and being on this side makes her much harder to lure into the upper flame trap, which is the typical method of taking her out. However, in a stroke of totally planned genius, it turns out that Hughette was standing inside of the area of the initially hidden hawk statue.  And now so is Avlora.  It’s absolutely worth blowing a trap to take her out on her own, and I have Benedict do so with pleasure. Master… We prevailed!Now, though Avlora is down, we’re not totally out of the woods yet. We’re still outnumbered by enemies who are our level or higher.  Though Frederica can take advantage of their bunching up to deal a ton of damage to the flanking units.  And Erador follows up with a ranged firestone to take out the archer and weaken the shieldbearers further.  Over on the other side, the original shieldbearer is poisoned, and after a whack from Corentin, is weak enough that it will die on its own turn, so Anna goes to block the narrow passage and starts attacking the incoming blade.  With the main group, Roland steps up to fully block off Frederica and Geela from the melee enemies and gets a nice double hit for his trouble.  Though the wall does get a bit weak when the enemy battlemage finally engages and takes a big chunk out of Roland, Erador, and Julio.  But I just have Julio chuck a Ranged HP Pellet to mostly heal off that attack. Frederica also has to spend a turn healing herself after getting hit with a barrage of arrows from the archers.  While holding the line, Serenoa and Erador finish off the flanking shieldbearers with yet more rocks.  Back on the eastern side, Anna has things covered, so Benedict and Corentin move towards the center to help finish things off there. The blade is also going to die on his turn, so I have Anna go invisible to protect against the shieldbearer.  Frederica and Corentin start working on the archers.  And Erador continues performing his job of chucking rocks. This one actually kills the blade as well. Victory is within our grasp! With some support from Roland, Serenoa is able to finish off the last of the enemies on the stairs.   And Corentin and Frederica finish off the archers and most of the central enemies. With them gone, we’re essentially in clean up mode.  Serenoa finishes off the last blade while everyone else runs around grabbing the spoils bags.  Frederica takes out the last battlemage.  And then the last shieldbearer on Anna’s side dies to poison, giving us the win.  Thanks to all of the enemies in this one, we get a million rewards and a ton of money and kudos.  In the after battle cutscene zone, Avlora takes a step back. The mad bastards... To think they would set their own people's homes ablaze!She turns back to her soldiers. Retreat! All companies, withdraw at once!The soldiers run off immediately.  Avlora pauses for a second and turns back, before running away herself. 
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Dec 31, 2022 20:59
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...ish
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Dec 31, 2022 21:42
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When I first fought Avlora, I also used the town square trap, because haha, good luck trying to beat her fair and square. It's certainly possible to beat that map without using any of the fire traps, but it's not easy, nor is it especially fun to try.
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Dec 31, 2022 22:12
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So there is different dialogue if you do beat the enemy without setting off the fire traps? Do you also get a special reward?
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Dec 31, 2022 22:30
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Yes, to both, sort of. The people in the next update will be a good bit more upbeat, and none of the homes will be burnt down. All of the buildings will have items in them at one point or another in future explorations, and if a building is burnt during this fight, it stays burnt for a while and we miss out on those. There are also some story effects later on, but we'll see those in due time.
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Dec 31, 2022 22:38
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OOrochi posted:Yes, to both, sort of. The people in the next update will be a good bit more upbeat, and none of the homes will be burnt down. All of the buildings will have items in them at one point or another in future explorations, and if a building is burnt during this fight, it stays burnt for a while and we miss out on those. I was curious if you knew about that and was wondering how you'd go about this battle
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Dec 31, 2022 22:52
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Blastinus posted:When I first fought Avlora, I also used the town square trap, because haha, good luck trying to beat her fair and square. It's certainly possible to beat that map without using any of the fire traps, but it's not easy, nor is it especially fun to try. I managed to beat the battle without using the traps, but only by virtue of using some grade A Glenbrook cheese. When I realized the course of things, I targeted the archers and healers... ...and then had Hughette perch on one of the roofs at the top of the map. Everyone else died, but since no one could get up to where she was, she was able to take out everyone + Avlora one arrow at a time.
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Dec 31, 2022 23:12
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:I was curious if you knew about that and was wondering how you'd go about this battle Oh yeah. I actually ended up being super stubborn and bashing my face against the wall on my first playthrough until I beat it without fire traps. I'm aiming to show it off in a later run, but for the people we have now and without resorting to ungodly miserable levels of cheese like having Anna/Hughette solo the whole thing, the main way I'd go about it is: First, set up in the very top right of the map in two groups. Group 1 is up on the stone platform by the hawk statue, with Erador 1 space back from the edge to block things. Thanks to the terrain, the archers should only be able to shoot Erador and maybe whoever is right next to the hawk statue. Group 2 sets up on the roof of the house just across the street from the stone stairs. There are only a few spots to get on there, so Corentin and Benedict can generally keep it locked down for a while (though they'll probably end up dead by the end of the fight). From there, since the chokepoints limit who can physically reach you, you have your archers and mages focus on taking out the enemy archers and mages before they can do much to you. The mages are the biggest priority since AOE damage hurts a lot, so ideally you'd have Corentin silence them or have Hughette snipe them from the relative safety of the rooftops. Make sure that regular enemies are always occupying the chokes so Avlora can't reach anyone, and then once the ranged attackers are down, pelt her with everything you can. Once she goes down, the rest shouldn't be too bad. There's also one character that you can absolutely have right now, and who we'll get next update, that can easily trivialize the whole fight on his own.
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Dec 31, 2022 23:15
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I lucked into having a certain character, so I was able to finish the map w/o traps or KOs, on Hard after many attempts. It was very satisfying to see everything come together.
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Dec 31, 2022 23:22
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Quackles posted:she was able to take out everyone + Avlora one arrow at a time. Yuuuuuuuup, that's exactly how my first win came about as well.
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Dec 31, 2022 23:25
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Quackles posted:I managed to beat the battle without using the traps, but only by virtue of using some grade A Glenbrook cheese. When I realized the course of things, I targeted the archers and healers... One thing I love about this game is not only are the Archers useful (a rarity in strategy RPG's), but they're all different
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Dec 31, 2022 23:29
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Pity that Avlora got the TRPG treatment of miraculously being completely healed by a cutscene, I'd have enjoyed the image of some soldiers carrying her unconscious and burned body out of the map.
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Dec 31, 2022 23:51
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By popular demand posted:Pity that Avlora got the TRPG treatment of miraculously being completely healed by a cutscene, I'd have enjoyed the image of some soldiers carrying her unconscious and burned body out of the map. Eh, we get it too. Everyone who bites it during a mission is back afterwards. So I can't complain too much.
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Jan 1, 2023 00:06
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It's always a bit demoralising when the scrub enemies are the same level as the player. It should be calibrated so that the enemies are lower-level and individually much weaker, but so numerous that they pose a threat. Even a level 20 fighter in D&D is hosed if he gets surrounded by enough kobolds.Rabbi Raccoon posted:One thing I love about this game is not only are the Archers useful (a rarity in strategy RPG's), but they're all different Interestingly, in the Tactics Ogre remake they went from god-tier in the PSP version to kind of crap. As is often the case, I feel like the dev team overcompensated. Quackles posted:Everyone who bites it during a mission is back afterwards. I am very much in favour of this - I can't stand permadeath. It serves no purpose apart from frustration for most and 'bragging rights' for a few tosspots.
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Jan 1, 2023 18:53
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JustJeff88 posted:It's always a bit demoralising when the scrub enemies are the same level as the player. It should be calibrated so that the enemies are lower-level and individually much weaker, but so numerous that they pose a threat. Even a level 20 fighter in D&D is hosed if he gets surrounded by enough kobolds. Eh, it changes how you play by adding a soft defeat condition and opens the option of just playing through your casualties. This game is very clearly designed without perma death from those boss stats, but perma death would mean you wouldn't be able to sacrifice your units in order to kill the boss. It's a big change in how the game is played.
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Jan 1, 2023 19:39
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JustJeff88 posted:It's always a bit demoralising when the scrub enemies are the same level as the player. It should be calibrated so that the enemies are lower-level and individually much weaker, but so numerous that they pose a threat. Even a level 20 fighter in D&D is hosed if he gets surrounded by enough kobolds. These are not supposed to be scrubs, but Elite Soldiers.
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Jan 1, 2023 19:53
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And surely a grand duchy can muster more than 15 soldiers to capture the missing prince. There are all kinds of abstractions at play here.
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Jan 1, 2023 19:57
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Yeah it's either abstracted so we're only seeing a thin slice of the siege or we're assuming all the other soldiers involved are a part of the characters themselves. Like that's not just Hughette on a bird, she leading a unit of elite bird riding archers. That's not just one house we burned down, but a district. But this isn't Total War, Langrisser or even Kingdom Come, so we focus on what makes a fun fight for a small handful of units and handwaved the rest as a given.
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Jan 1, 2023 20:13
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FoolyCharged posted:Eh, it changes how you play by adding a soft defeat condition and opens the option of just playing through your casualties. This game is very clearly designed without perma death from those boss stats, but perma death would mean you wouldn't be able to sacrifice your units in order to kill the boss. It's a big change in how the game is played. It's worth noting that the trial demo they released to get feedback had permadeath, IIRC. They changed it after people complained.
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Jan 1, 2023 22:00
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The next update makes it pretty clear it's an abstraction of forces.
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Jan 1, 2023 22:40
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BTW, before I forget, just gonna keep track of this: Protect Roland is color-coded as MORALITY (green). Surrender Roland is color-coded as UTILITY (yellow).
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Jan 2, 2023 00:44
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That was a really well handled battle. My own run at this came on a second playthrough and I had what I would call a rather large advantage as a result.
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Jan 2, 2023 01:38
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Apologies for immediately going dark again. Thanks to an overly enthusiastic nephew on New Years', my capture card suffered a bit of a critical existence failure. My new one just arrived, though, so we should be back up and running some time this weekend.
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Jan 13, 2023 04:54
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Overly enthusiastic nephews help the world go round, in this case, it helped get money in circulation.
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Jan 13, 2023 05:06
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Update 29: Avlora Aftermath      I underestimated the Wolffort army. It will not happen again. Indeed, it will not. I will accept no apology for your incompetence save victory. The Wolfforts may have gotten the better of us this time, but it came at a cost. We must strike again before they can regroup. Rest yourself, Avlora. I will have need of you yet, and soon. I shall not disappoint you again, Your Grace. You have my word.Avlora salutes and then leaves the room. And you will keep it. Nothing—and no one—will stand in my way. Back on the world map, we see that there are another set of side stories to check out. We’ll be starting over in Hyzante.   To think they were capable of driving off the Aesfrosti army forces like that... I suspect the outcome came as a surprise to the archduke as well. And yet, something tells me Wolffort's victory is more than a fluke... I shall keep that in mind. Still, this development is to our advantage. This will only make it easier to carry out our plans. Just so, Your Excellency. Everything is proceeding as you anticipated. ...Yes. We shall have our way. It is but a matter of time.On that ominous note, the scene fades out and we’ll head over to the next side story in the Falkes demesne.  Herald: Aesfrost's army marched on Castle Wolffort in an attempt to seize the prince... ...But they were roundly defeated by House Wolffort's forces. and retreat to the crown City as we speak.  Joyous tidings indeed! I knew the Woltforts wouldn't let us down!Herald: I am also pleased to report that Prince Roland is unscathed. It would seem young Serenoa is more than capable of carrying on Lord Symon's legacy.Landroi’s Subordinate: Triumph as they did, they still suffered considerable casualties in the battle. It is more than likely that Aesfrost is already preparing for a second attack. ...Very well. Take stock of our own forces. and determine how many men we can send to House Wolffort's aid while retaining enough for our own protection.Landroi’s Subordinate: Yes. milord. It is time to take a stand. If the three high houses come together as one, I am certain we will prevail.On cue, the scene fades out and we head over to House Telliore.   House Wolffort triumphed?Silvio's Subordinate: Yes, milord. The archduke's army has already withdrawn to the crown city. That said, it would seem the Woltfort army suffered significant casualties. ...Did it, now? It is not as if I entirely failed to consider the possibility of an Aesfrosti defeat... And yet, it is hardly an ideal development. Whatever are we to do now? Wollfort may have won the battle, but can they win the war? Hmm….!Silvio's Subordinate: My lord? Ready a bird. I have a missive that needs sending.Silvio's Subordinate: As you command. The soldier runs off and the scene fades out. However, we have a bit to do before going to the main story.  That is because we have three more characters that wish to join us. We’ll begin this group with the young blacksmith.   I can't thank you enough for accompanying me to gather supplies, Lord Serenoa. But I hope I have not usurped too much of your time... Not at all, lad, not at all. I was heading back to my encampment anyway. More importantly, this area is rife with Aesfrosti. I hate to think what would happen should they discover you or any loyal to House Wollfort out here. I cannot much bear to think on it, either...The two take about 5 steps forward.  They rush over to the fallen man. He's...he's dead... Those are Glenbrook colors. He must have met his end at Aesfrosti steel. … I...I know him. We're...we were friends. He had such praise for the blade I forged him... This blade, here. The broken one. It failed him... I failed him, and now he's gone. You are not to blame for his death. But— We are at war. …I'm sorry, my friend... I'm not as skilled a smith as I believed... We risk much lingering here. but let us give him a proper burial before we depart. M-my lord, you needn't go to the trouble— It is no trouble. It is all I can do for him now, and I shall curse that I cannot do more. I... Thank you, Lord Serenoa... The scene fades and we rejoin the two back in the encampment. My lord. Ever since that day, I haven't stopped thinking about how I might put my smithy skills to better use... I didn't truly grasp the reality of the situation. What it means to be at war... What duties I have, as one who forges weapons. Though I am but a novice at my craft, I will not ignore the truth I see all around me. I will face it, and stand strong. That's why I...I wish to fight. Are you certain you're prepared to wield steel outside your forge? I am. I need to better understand what it means to live or die by the blade. A lesson I hope to learn by your side. Then you are most welcome among my ranks. A novice you may be, but you have the makings of a master. Thank you, milord! I, Jens, hereby swear fealty to you. I shan't let you down! And with that, Jens joins our party. Next up, we’ll be headed over to Hyzante with the young apothecary.    Both with extraordinary fevers. The Rosellan is unresponsive!Ministry Official: I can't tend to both unless you can give me two more pairs of arms! Let me help! I've just completed my training and I'll do whatever it takes to save them!Ministry Official: Are there no real doctors left!? Fine—come! We're losing precious time!  The apothecary and official start work as Minister Lyla comes in. Ministry Official: …As you wish. But the Rosellan will die unless we do something! Do they not teach the Order of Things in school these days? So what if they do!? What does the Order of Things have to do with saving lives!? Not all lives are weighted the same. You would do well to remember that.Ministry Official: Quickly, Medina! These people are dying as we bicker. …Medina hangs her head and turns to work on the Hyzantian with the official, and the scene fades into the evening.  Orders or not, I was the one following them. It's all my fault.Medina pauses for a moment.  Before rushing out the door.  And past the bewildered official she worked with.  We then go over to the Wolffort encampment.  Medina comes rushing in and essentially shoves the soldier out of the way. Wolffort Soldier: What insolence is this!? Stand down. Pray tell, what brings you before me? It is said House Wolffort possesses a relic known as the Scales of Conviction. Is this true? It is. We turn to the scales for guidance in times of trouble. Then I wonder if they might guide me forward as well. I...l had a crisis of confidence. A man was counting on me to save his life, and I let him die. I cannot let this happen again. I wish to save all the lives I can, regardless of country or creed. Pray grant me the chance to consult the scales, that I might walk the righteous path! … The scales are merely a tool to an end. They are not a magical window into the future. When decisions must be made, all in this house have a say. We choose as best we're able, and strive to ensure we chose wisely. ...You mean you strive not to regret your decision. That is all one can do. Forgive me if this is not the answer you sought. Then...would House Wolffort accept my aid if I offered it, my lord? If you would serve as a physician, that would be a boon, for we fear the war is far from over. I would be honored, my lord. I would see what I can do to rewrite the Order of Things. Then let us walk the path together. I am at your service, my lord. And with that, Medina joins us as well. We’ll wrap things up by going with the merchant all the way to Aesfrost.   Where he accosts two women talking in the square.  Nothing would do Lionel greater honor than to see his powders and perfumes adorn your divine visages. Such honor, in fact, that he is willing to part with them for...practically nothing at all!Aesfrosti Citizen: We haven't even coin for salt, let alone vanity! Aesfrosti Citizen 2: Minds on naught but your ledgers...you peddlers disgust me.  The two women storm off and a band of Aesfrosti soldiers enters the square. Every item has undergone meticulous testing to ensure that they will serve you well on the battlefield!Aesfrosti Soldier: Out of our way, junkmonger. We've important duties to attend to. The soldiers leave the merchant as well. How rude... Where are the smiles and open coinpurses the people used to greet Lionel with? Perhaps Lionel should take his goods elsewhere. War has made this place disagreeable... However... It is the perfect opportunity for the shrewd trader to amass his fortune. And Lionel is shrewd, if nothing else.The scene fades out as Lionel himself leaves the square.  We fade back in in our encampment. Ah, yes. Let him come forth. That he can count House Wolffort among his loyal patrons has ever been a source of pride. Yes, right. What brings you before me today? As my lord is doubtless already aware, war places a heavy burden on the treasury. A burden that only grows heavier as time drags on... However, a skilled negotiator can see his coffers even fuller at war's end than they were at its beginning. If he may be so bold, Lionel would offer his services in that very capacity. ….. He understands your precarious position—trapped between two ravenous wolves. In such times, one can never have enough coin and resources to stave off what may come. Surely you agree? Your words have merit and you have always been honest in your dealings with my house. I see no reason not to welcome you into our ranks. Splendid! You are as wise as they say. Wiser, even! Lionel shall not disappoint! Just the opposite, in fact! From this day until his very last, he shall stake his honor on the prosperity of your house. And if his own coinpurse should grow fat in the process, who could blame him? With Lionel in our party, we have now completed all of the side content. It’s now time to finally head back to Castle Wolffort to rejoin the main story.   I will help as well. My hawk can assist with clearing the rubble. My thanks to you both. Your aid is most welcome. The two women leave the hall and are replaced by Anna. I am ready. Go safely, Anna. And give my best to the others. We take a risk in entreating a powerful nation for aid. I need you to determine to what extent we can rely on them—if at all. Leave it to me.Anna leaves and Benedict turns to Serenoa. I've sent Anna to the Holy State of Hyzante. Our alliance may not be what it once was. but we must seek help wherever it may be found. In a perfect world, we would be able to count on the cooperation of our neighbors here... Indeed. Unity within Glenbrook is of the utmost priority, especially now that we've ensured Prince Roland's safety. And yet...we cannot count on Houses Telliore and Falkes to act in our best interests. We must prepare ourselves for every contingency. You are right as always. Benedict. We've taken the first step down our chosen path, but there is no telling what awaits us.Things fade out, and we come back in just a few doors over in the great hall.  Oh, it's you… As silly as it may sound...I've never truly understood what it meant to be royalty. Does my life carry more weight simply because of the blood in my veins? So much so that the lives of others must be sacrificed in my name? You need not worry about that, Roland. Lord Wolffort speaks true. The Scales of Conviction guided us, but this decision was ours. We have chosen to walk this path with you. l was born the second prince. No one expected great things of me. And yet, simply because I had the good luck to survive, my very existence now necessitates all these sacrifices... If I may be so bold...it was not luck, Your Highness. We protected you. …! I know this, of course. That's what makes this so hard! You all fought—and continue to fight—for me. And I can scarcely take care of myself...Roland slams his fist against the pillar. I need to become stronger—l must! For my own sake, and for yours...
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Jan 15, 2023 21:49
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Lionel is an interesting character. I'm curious to see your review of him
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Jan 16, 2023 00:29
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Lionel has one trick, and that's literally the only trick he needs. It's great.
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Jan 16, 2023 00:34
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I’ve heard quite a bit about Jens and I’m excited to see more of him.
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Jan 16, 2023 01:35
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Ill round this out by saying Medina is great. .
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Jan 16, 2023 14:26
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Rabbi Raccoon posted:Lionel is an interesting character. I'm curious to see your review of him Quackles posted:Lionel has one trick, and that's literally the only trick he needs. It's great. Lionel speaks of himself in the third person, and that makes anything said about him sound like it could have been said by him. Including this.
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Jan 16, 2023 14:48
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That reminds me that talking about yourself in the third person (illeism) is a trait with different connotations. In English it may be associated with alternately stupidity ("Hulk Smash!") or showing arrogance or aristocracy, but in Japanese I'm to understand it's something children who haven't mastered grammar do. I wonder how Lionel talks in the Japanese and what we're supposed to take away from his speech gimmick.
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Jan 16, 2023 15:24
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I'd never heard the term illeism before - fascinating. It can't be a coincidence that il is the third-person masculine singular subject pronoun in French.
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Jan 16, 2023 16:15
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It's from the Latin "ille", a demonstration pronoun, so it's only natural something similar would pop up in French.
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Jan 16, 2023 16:19
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marshmallow creep posted:That reminds me that talking about yourself in the third person (illeism) is a trait with different connotations. In English it may be associated with alternately stupidity ("Hulk Smash!") or showing arrogance or aristocracy, but in Japanese I'm to understand it's something children who haven't mastered grammar do. Huh, very interesting. I didn't know there was a term for it. For Lionel, I'm pretty sure that we're supposed to get the idea of arrogance/general attempt to be fancy. He definitely seems to be a bit of a blowhard, which would fit with the ambitious merchant angle. You could get a taste of his voice here
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Jan 16, 2023 22:56
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Update 30: Character Overview 4 Jens Marcher  Jens is the blacksmith who runs the smithy in our encampment and is almost purely a utility character. Stats-wise he’s sort of like a tank, with the 4th highest HP and defense in the game, and absolutely abysmal speed and magic defense (both essentially at Erador’s level). He also has relatively low strength, sitting just above the more physical mages. On the plus side, he has a weapon upgrade that can swap between boosting his move up to 5 (6 at times, thanks to a passive ability) or his jump up to 3, making him quite mobile. You’ll almost always want to just pick the move boost, though. But other than taking a few stray hits, Jens’ stats are not the reason you take him in a map.  Instead, the reason you take him is to use his abilities, which can break certain maps absolutely wide open. The most important of them is the humble Ladder ability. For 2 TP, Jens can pick a spot next to him, with up to 10 levels of height difference between him and it, and make a ladder connecting them. As might be expected, this is great if you, say, start at the bottom of a giant hill and need to get up quickly or vice versa. But its real strength is the ability to make your own choke points or reach otherwise inaccessible, and thus safe, areas. You can either leave a space open at the top of the ladder and then whale on whoever climbs up with overwhelming numbers, or just block it off entirely. For example, in Avlora’s Assault, you can trivialize the entire thing by having him make ladders up to the roofs of the homes in the top left of the map. As long as someone blocks off the entry space, you’re entirely unreachable by melee attackers, and can have your entire ranged group just pelt people without retaliation. There are a number of other situations where you can do similar things with a bit of thought, and make otherwise tough fights much more manageable. His other main ability is the Spring Trap. For 2 TP (potentially 1 with a weapon upgrade), Jens can put a trap on any square withing 4 tiles and make it face a specific direction. If any enemy steps onto it, they’re instantly flung up to 5 squares in that direction and end their turn. Up to 3 can be set at any one time, and if you place a 4th, the first one you placed will disappear. This is another great crowd control tool, letting you throw people off cliffs from safety, chuck fragile units into the middle of your party, or keep tough enemy units away from you. It takes a bit of planning to realize what paths enemies are likely to take, but few things are as satisfying as placing a trap behind your healer and watching an enemy rush towards them only to get thrown off a 15-level drop to their side. Overall, the Spring Trap adds a bunch of versatility to Jens and makes him at least useable on maps where elevation isn’t a factor. His other two active abilities are just okay, in my opinion. Constricting Net delays an enemy’s turn like Serenoa’s Delaying Strike and has some range, but doesn’t do any damage. Turns are at a premium in Triangle Strategy, especially on hard, and wasting a turn and a TP to delay an enemy’s turn by a bit, and nothing else, does not seem to be worth it unless it’s like Avlora or a full TP Spark mage that you can take out before they move. It can be upgraded to not cost any TP, but that’s mutually exclusive with the Spring Trap upgrade, and I think that the Spring Trap is far more applicable in many situations. Finally, there’s Slumber Stab. It has a 60% chance of putting the target to sleep for 2-3 turns, but if Jens is in melee range of a unit that this matters on, something has probably gone wrong. For passives, Jens are all unsurprisingly utility based. Ensnaring the Enemy increases the range of setting up Spring Traps from 4 to 6 tiles, Ladder II lets Jens set up a second ladder without the first one disappearing, and Hale and Hearty gives him 1 more movement if he starts a turn at full HP. All great ways of making it so that he can get to where he wants to be and affect the map as he desires. His ultimate ability takes 4 TP to summon an automatic turret. It scales with Jens’ stats to some degree, but is really underwhelming in general. It does attack every enemy in its range, but for some reason is incredibly inaccurate, so you’ll hit maybe 1/3 of enemies it targets. And even those it does hit won’t take much damage since it’s a small modifier on top of Jens’ weak strength. Honestly, the most effective use I’ve had for it is as a decoy to take a hit or 2 on some maps. Overall, it’s just too much TP for not much benefit, when Jens could have been setting up ladders or springs instead. In sum, Jens is a great character who could literally have 1 in every stat but movement and jump and still be useful. His viability greatly depends on the map, but he can be absolutely key to beating some of the hardest maps in the game without tearing your hair out. Lionel Khapita  Lionel is an interesting character, who I confess is probably my least used character in the game. Stats-wise, he’s actually very similar to Jens. He has the 2nd highest HP in the game and only slightly less defense than Jens. However, he also has significantly higher (only slightly below average) magic defense and only slightly below average strength. He’s also quite slow, both in speed and with only 4 squares of movement.  Lionel’s abilities are a bit more interesting. Charm is the worst of the bunch by far, and is just a melee range debuff of an enemy’s defensive stats. It does no damage and will result in Lionel being next to someone who will just punch him in the face on their next turn. It should just be ignored. His next one is much better. Ruffle Feathers is a ranged provoke, that targets one enemy within 4 tiles to infuriate. A weapon upgrade boosts it from a 70% to a 100% base chance, so unless you’re vastly outleveled you can rely on this working pretty much every time. Unlike Erador’s general crowd control, this is tailored to go after specific enemy units like mages and healers. Once infuriated, they’ll stop using skills and rush right into the waiting arms of your party. 2 TP can be a little steep to spam, but it’s a very nice tool and is the main point of Lionel’s kit. Inciting Whispers is essentially the same thing, but with a 30% chance to charm the target instead. I find this generally much less useful since it has a low success rate, decent cost, and can be dispelled if a different enemy taps them. It can be nice in very specific situations, but you’re probably better off infuriating someone instead. Next up is Brute Force, which is a high-risk, medium-reward attack. It has a massive modifier, the 2nd highest in the game, but works off Lionel’s low strength and has a 50% base accuracy. Unless an enemy is asleep, you probably have better options to spend your TP on. Speaking of sleep, his last regular ability is Endless Speech, which costs a hefty 3 TP to lower the speed of all enemies within a plus AOE, and then has a solid chance of both putting them to sleep and silencing them. Though it’s expensive, this is a great crowd control tool that again works well at picking out specific enemies on the field. Lionel only has 2 passives and they’re both related to spoils. Lucky Find gives you 20 x his level coins, and Treasure and HP recovers 50 HP, whenever he picks up a spoils bag. The HP recovery is pretty negligible, but the money is a great way to stock up throughout the game. Technically, you can just grind mock battles for as much money as you want, but this cuts down on grinding dramatically, and can help if you’re doing a challenge or something. Finally, Lionel’s ultimate ability is kind of hilarious. It’s effectively the gil toss ability from final fantasy games, where you chuck a bunch of money at enemies to inflict damage to them. The cost scales with Lionel’s level, as does the power, to pretty silly degrees. It also has the highest base modifier in the game by a good margin, so even with Lionel’s mediocre strength, it can still hit pretty hard. Then, to top it all off, it inflicts a guaranteed charm on everyone it hits. It’s an expensive move, in both money and TP, but it does what an ultimate should, in that it makes a big impact on the battle when you use it. Overall, Lionel is a precision debuffer/crowd controller, who has some neat utility on the side. His main downside is that he’s limited to only affecting one person per turn until he unlocks either Endless Speech all the way at level 34, or his ultimate. I can definitely see a place for him in strategies, I just haven’t used him that much. If I missed something about him, please do post it. Medina Alliam  Here she is, The Girl. In my opinion, possibly the most busted unit in the entire game, Medina is a healer and support unit based around using items. Stats-wise, Medina is okay, with mage level HP, below average strength, and just slightly below average stats in everything else but speed, which is tied for 2nd highest behind Anna. She’s also very mobile with 6 movement and 3 jump from the get-go. However, you don’t really care about those stats.  What you do care about is Medina’s defining ability: TP Physick. On the face of it, it seems pretty simple and innocuous; if you heal an ally, you give them 1 TP as a bonus. But once you start digging into it, it gets broken fast. To start, it affects all allies healed with items, so using an AOE heal like the Ranged HP Pellets turns her from giving out 1 TP a turn to 5 TP a turn. It’s also not once per turn, so using double items lets her go up to 10 TP a turn. If she’s in the AOE of the pellet, Medina also gets the TP from her own boost, meaning that she can essentially refund the cost of using the double items skill while also giving out another 8 TP to the team and healing everyone for about 100HP. Effectively, Medina can serve as gas for half of your entire team until you run out of items. Which is honestly hard to do once the shop in the encampment fully opens up its stock. It can be expensive to run, but is an incredibly huge boost for really tough maps. The rest of Medina’s abilities are good, but not as broken as TP Physick. Like I mentioned in the TP Physick bit, she has Double Items, which lets her spend 3 TP to use 2 items in a single turn. It’s TP expensive, but adds a good bit of flexibility to her normal turns, and is a key part of going crazy with her. Next up is Poison Pellet, which uses a Poison Recovery Pellet and 1 TP to poison an enemy. It’s not bad, but you probably will have better things to do with her turn. Finally, there’s Fast Acting Medication which uses a Swift Spice and 2TP to shift the target’s turn right behind Medina’s. Being able to instantly give someone a turn is pretty great, even though Swift Spices are relatively uncommon. You won’t want to spam it since the items are limited, but it is a very nice option to have. Medina’s passives are all based around items as well. HP Physick boosts the effect of all health recovery items by 30%, Long Toss increases the range of all items that can hit an ally by 3 (effectively all healing and buffing items, but no stones or status pots), and finally Lady Luck gives you an extra recovery pellet when Medina picks up a spoils bag. The type of pellet is random, but can be anything from the basic HP recovery pellet to Large Ranged HP Recovery Pellets. It’s a nice bonus, but won’t change your game plan in any real way. In general, Medina’s passives help her use items more effectively and synergize quite well with her initial game plan. Medina’s ultimate ability is Celestial Salve. Fitting her theme of being expensive, it consumes 10 HP Recovery Pellets at once to heal every ally on the map for 150 HP. Sadly, because it’s an ability and not just using an item, it doesn’t count for TP Physick. That said, it’s still a useful backup if you need to heal everyone at once. Overall, Medina is another character who really shines in the latter half of a first run. In the beginning of a run, she’s limited by the relatively small supply of items and limited money to buy them. As you progress and get more money and items, she gets better and better, with a big spike once she unlocks TP Physick, and then becomes absolutely broken once the shop’s stocks fully open up. Using her to her full potential is expensive enough that I only actually use her sparingly, but I generally think you could essentially label her as a walking “Use when you are done with trying this map” button.
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Jan 16, 2023 23:08
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