Last time, we got to Baramus, where the citizens refused to fight. Leonard revealed the plan all along was to disguise ourselves as Gargastan soldiers and murder the citizens, forcefully inciting a revolt from the unknowing population. The game presented us a choice, with each answer guiding the story in a radically different direction. We could either murder the citizens of Baramus, or refuse.
We choose the latter.
This music starts playing.
God damn it, I really hate the one Youtube video per post limit.
"No way!" Orcus shouts. "How can you achieve peace by murdering innocent people!?"
"You are still young..." mutters Leonard. "I envy your pure soul... if you can't stain your hands to achieve that ideal, you have no place being involved in this war!"
He attacks us. We stumble back just in time.
◊ Vice and Kachua come out.
◊
"Orcus! Orcus, are you all right!? Vice, come here...!"
Vice is unmoving.
"Vice... what are you...? No, don't do this to us!" I guess they heard the entire exchange.
"Kill them, Vice! Kill them both!" shouts Leonard.
Vice comes forward. He has a new sadistic portrait.
◊
"...What an idiot! People with no will to fight for their freedom are... already dead. No matter how many we kill, it doesn't matter. These people should be happy to die for Walsta."
"Are you serious!?" asks Kachua. "What has happened to you, Vice!?"
"Shut up, Kachua. Stop treating me like a baby. And you, Orcus! How did you become leader in the first place!? You suck as a leader!"
Leonard whistles, and a bunch of enemies appear.
◊
"Vice, leave them here and follow me. We are going to wipe out the town with or without them!"
They walk away.
"Wait! Leonard! Vice!" screams Orcus.
Before we head out to the final battle of this chapter, the game lets you change classes and equipment.
◊ Our HP levels are carried over from the last battle.
I take out Canopus' spear and replace it with a short sword. This increases his attack to 109. I replace his battle boots with a short bow.
With that out of the way, let's begin the final battle of Chapter 1.
Our position.
◊ Freesia is at 1, Belgger is at 2, Julia is at 3, Canopus is at 4, Presance is at 5, Orcus is at 6, Area is at 7, Bruno is at 8, Leon is at 9, Delta is at 10.
The victory condition. The enemies can be seen in the background.
◊
Some truly awesome, climactic music starts playing. If you remember, this was the music that played way back when we stormed Amorika with the help of the Zenobians.
So remember that last battle, where we had the uphill terrain, and all the enemies were soldiers? Now we have the terrain disadvantage, making archers largely ineffectual for most of the battle, and the enemies have classes, including 2 archers, who will have great range compared to our meager one, and also have superior equipment. This isn't going to be easy, folks.
I move my troops up the stairs here,
◊ except for Canopus, who was able to get here
◊ using his great moving range. My plan is to have him start attacking enemy melee units once they head towards our troops so they'll be softened up for us.
So pretty much, this battle is an endurance test as your soldiers trudge through arrows and magic. Try to get archers to the highest positions you can, but they'll still be a bit ineffective.
A wizard hits Canopus with a Thunder spell for 26 damage.
◊ He shrugs it off, but this shows the game isn't screwing around any more.
Also, the enemies have a witch. GAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH.
The enemies, in case you couldn't see them before.
◊
Belgger, whose sub-weapon is a short bow, hits this knight.
◊
Using Heal's large range, Presance heals Canopus from the attack of the wizard.
◊
A witch casts Poison on Belgger which, luckily, misses. Poison, as you probably guessed, deals damage over time. Since we don't have any status-healing spells yet, this can get annoying.
An archer attacks Canopus, who stops moving and blocks the arrow.
◊ A nifty way to tell if a unit that is being attacked will defend or not; if he stops moving, he'll block. If he keeps walking in place, he'll be hit.
Try to keep your healers as away from the battle as you can. Those archers have awesome range from their position, after all.
I finally get my archers some semblance of a high ground.
◊ At least it's high enough to attack the melee units.
Canopus is low on health from two attacks from an archer and a knight, the knight who he killed in his counter-attack.
◊ I decide to take a risk and attack this archer.
◊ He's then attacked by the mage, Spike (odd name for a wizard, no?), but is not killed. Luckily, Presance and Freesia heal Canopus.
Delta and Belgger both have really low health. Luckily, they block a succession of attacks that probably would have killed them otherwise. Damn, damn, damn, need to be smarter about this, damn it! And trust me, this isn't the last time units will survive by a hair.
Canopus flies over and kills a knight. Here's where we are. It's Delta's turn.
◊ I have him run over and grab the treasure next to Canopus, and heal himself using his single cure leaf. The witch stuns Orcus. Goddamn it, you stunned our best fighter!
Canopus kills the wizard. The only person left is the witch.
The battle is pretty much over. Witches can only stun you and cast poison on you at this point in the game. Poison isn't that effective unless others are attacking too; we can easily heal the poisoned person until it's effects run out.
The loot we pick out of the battle is great; notable are two great bows and a heal staff. I'll explain what these do later.
Area kills the witch, ending the battle.
I get 2100 Goth and a clear staff. I'll explain what that does later, along with the heal staff.
Vice says from off screen, presumably hiding in the shadows,
◊ "...After this, it's your turn. Until then..."
This definitely won't be the last we see of Vice.
Yeah, if you choose to slaughter the citizens, he gains a "nobler" portrait and refuses to kill innocent civilians. So either way, Vice is programmed to take the opposite moral position of you and become your rival. His fate, much like many others, depends on the choice you picked here, and a choice later if you're playing the Chaos route (which we are).
The screen fades away, and then opens on Baramus.
◊ So yeah, no matter what you do, the citizens are still massacred. The sad reality of war, eh?
Oh my god... this is horrific...
◊
These haunting words flash up on screen to end the chapter.
◊
I'll transcribe the opening narration of Chapter 2 before ending this part so you can see what lies ahead.
"Three weeks have passed since the Baramus massacre...
◊ the tragic incident caused the Walstanians to unite and urge anti-Barbatos groups in the Gargastan Kingdom (yes, that man in the portrait is Barbatos)
◊ to revolt. The Gargastan government is divided into two factions; the Anti-Barbatos and Pro-Barbatos. Barbatos tried to eliminate those who were opposing him, but the Walsta Liberation led by Duke Ronway liberated a city close to the capital. The Cardinal (Barbatos) then had to fight to retake Coritani Castle (the aforementioned castle close to the capital). Since the Gargastan government was in disarray, the number of people enlisting in the Walsta Liberation Army tripled. It is only a matter of time until Coritani Castle surrenders. Meanwhile, Duke Ronway plotted to make Orcus responsible for the massacre. Now Orcus has a bounty on his head. The Walsta Liberation Army and a lot of bounty hunters are after Orcus. He is hiding in the port town of Ashton (note everyone's location, including the location of Ashton in the upper left).
◊
Well... that doesn't sound good. The Baramus massacre happened anyway, and now we've been framed for it. Things must be pretty dire for Orcus...
Next time: we start Chapter 2!
