Side effects of Yggdra Union may include: dizziness, eye damage, confusion, and wanting to punch whoever decided what should be in the tutorials. Ask your doctor if Yggdra Union is right for you.
Battlefield 06: Phelinas Lakeside
Phelinas West Shore: Check Point!
- Durant: This is...!
Lake Town Velas: Check Point!
- Undine: Prepare yourselves!
- Town Chief: S-Someone, help us!
- Yggdra: No...! This is worse than Lorca Lakeside...! We might actually have to try this time!
- Milanor: Looks like the Undines aren't the only ones making trouble...
- Brigand (Bandit): Hey Boss, some tough customers are coming this way!
- Brigand Boss (Bandit): Hmph... Can't a man loot a village in peace anymore? The one black guy in the game, and they make him a bandit... Alright, let's show them the power of the Ortega Brigands!
- Brigand: Yeah!
- Durant: Are those... bandits!?
- Milanor: ...Looks to me like the Lenessey Mountains crowd. It's just like them to take advantage of chaos like this. If we want to restore order, we'll have to beat them first!
Victory condition:
- Liberate Lakeside Town Velas! (Move an ally to "Lakeside Town Velas")
Defeat condition:
- If Yggdra or Milanor dies...
- If you use up all your cards...
Time for an actually threatening map. I've got to deal with both a group of Undines and Ortega the Fire Emblem reject. I have Yggdra eat Imperial Warfare 3 for the morale (because if you'll remember she's still at 563) along with another Medallion (Durant gets the rest of them). I then equip Durant with the Fur Coat, which will improve his chances against the Undines by neutralizing their Rage attacks.
I'm given 8 cards to use this time, so I bring Steal, Shield Barrier, Revolution, Mind Change, Sanctuary, Banshee's Cry, Flame, and Blizzard.
- Milanor: Let's go!
All right, time to fight. My enemies are:
- Ortega, who is a bandit
- Two generic bandits under Ortega's command
- Two assassins, also under Ortega's command
- Three Undines (naturally, they have all claimed water tiles)
For the most part, they're not a threat. Ortega, however, has the Kill Blade, which has the powerful 1o1=win effect in addition to a stupidly awesome name. I trust you can figure out what that effect means on your own.
Fortunately, his Gen and Tec aren't nearly enough to take advantage of the thing, so as long as I don't use Durant against him I should be fine.
Now, strategy. As usual, I open with Steal. I then send Yggdra and Milanor up to fight Ortega's forces (specifically the assassins). Yggdra knocks one of them down to very low morale, and Milanor slays the other with a critical hit.
I then proceed to move Durant south from his starting position as far as possible, which also opens up another area of the map with a town in it. There's someone I want him to meet in that town, so I send him toward it as far as I can with my remaining movement.
Ortega then moves one of his men (who was right next to Yggdra) north into a village.
Reich Village: Check Point!
- Brigand: Heheheh... Looting is all in a day's work for a bandit! Don't blame me if life's not fair!
- Port Town Resident: Sieeee! S-Someone...!
Assault! -Under Siege!-
- Brigand: Alright! Hand over your valuables!
Another bandit then attacks Yggdra, setting up a union that has the assassin attack second, followed by an Undine against Yggdra. Predictably, she loses that one, but every other fight is a victory. The Undines, for their part, refuse to do anything.
On my turn, I choose Shield Barrier, then use it to move Durant north one into the town.
Deserted Town: Check Point!
- ??? (Undine): Ah...
- Durant: Is someone there?
- ???: Sorry to startle you! I'm Nietzsche. And I'm amused by that name. I was hoping you'd show up.
- Yggdra: You were waiting for us?
- Nietzsche: Do you know the Transmigragem? It's why everyone's fighting...
- Milanor: The Transmigragem? Parrot Exposition?
- Nietzsche: It's an important treasure for us Undines. Oh boy, here comes the stupid... Nietzsche's older sister stole it, though. A human man tricked her with promises of his love. So... She stole it from its secret hiding place. But all he cared about was the Transmigragem. When she found that out... she kept crying, "I'm sorry..." And she... killed herself...
All right, let me set the record straight.
This is the most incredibly stupid thing anyone ever does in this game. Nietzsche's sister belongs to a single-gender race, even! How the heck was she even capable of falling in love with a human?
For that matter, why would she not think about what this would mean? The Transmigragem, it should be noted, is the magical artifact that the Undines use to reproduce. Why would anyone be allowed to take it?
Whatever. Back to the game.
- Yggdra: ......!
- Nietzsche: That's why I... I have to get that gem back! For my sister, and everyone...Please! Take Nietzsche with you! Because of what my sister did... Nietzsche... can't go back home now...
- Yggdra: ...I understand.
- Durant: But, Princess! She's too young for the battlefield...
- Milanor: I'm sure she'll be okay. She looks like a tough cookie. Besides, she's already got a blue field icon. And you know, we can't afford to turn down help of any age.
- Nietzsche: Thank you! Nietzsche will do her best!
Well, now we've got our own Undine. Here's her stats:
- Morale: 3640/3800
- Gen: 2.1
- Atk: 2.7
- Tec: 2.7
- Luk: 3.3
- Abilities:
- Water Advantage
- Void Ice
- Sand Disadvantage
- Weak against fire
- Morale Up in water (from equipment)
Her stats max out like so:
- Gen: 4
- Atk: 5
- Tec: 3
- Luk: 5
In short, Nietzsche is quite good, and even if she wasn't, you still need her to get quite a few items. So she'll be a constant presence on the battlefield from now on.
Anyway, I move her to an island two spaces north of the town she was in.
Herb Garden: Check Point!
- Nietzsche: Ooh... These are good for you! (Item get: Healing Herb) *sniff* It smells good, too!
Also, for moving her next to an Undine...
- Nietzsche: Don't get in Nietzsche's way!
- Undine: Why are you siding with the humans against your own kind!?
- Nietzsche: I'm fighting for my sister and everyone else! Move aside!
I then move her up a bit, so she's in union with Yggdra. Water Advantage lets her fight almost anything effectively.
Yggdra attacks the bandit in front of her, who dies, allowing Milanor and Nietzsche to both fight the Undine that was in his union. She goes down to 528 morale.
Ortega responds by sending the bandit that attacked the village to fight my union, who tear him (and the Undine) apart easily. Yggdra levels off of this, but the Medallion the Undine dropped is lost to the movement of her allies.
On my turn, I choose Revolution and move Milanor up to Ortega.
- Ortega: Where'd you come from!?
- Milanor: Oh, just passing through. But you're in the way. Step aside!
- Ortega: That's it! It's on now!
I then move Yggdra northeast of Milanor, then have Nietzsche take a position in the water east of Ortega.
- Nietzsche: Don't get in Nietzsche's way!
- Ortega: What, you wanna piece of me?
And so I attack with Milanor. In his current position, Ortega has no backup, and won't get any unless the Undines humour him on their turn. While he defeats Milanor, Yggdra and Nietzsche both wipe the floor with him.
- Milanor: Now you've done it!
- Ortega: I ain't so old that I'll lose to a greenhorn like you!
I then start moving Durant back to the fight with the rest of my movement. Ortega responds to this by fighting Nietzsche (and winning, courtesy of the Kill Blade).
- Ortega: How do you like them apples?
- Nietzsche: Owww!
The Undines respond to this by doing nothing.
On my turn, I use Mind Change to attack Ortega, who loses...to Yggdra. Dammit!
Pull back! -Time to regroup!-
- Ortega: ...Dammit! We were winnin'! (Leaves the map.)
After moving Durant up some more, I have Yggdra retake the town.
Lake Town Velas: Check Point!
Liberated! -Freed from enemy control!-
- Yggdra: Did we make it!?
Strategy Succeeded! -Lake Town Velas liberated!-
Lake Town Velas: Check Point!
- Yggdra: Why are the Undines attacking humans now...?
- Town Chief: You there... Thanks for saving us. We owe you our lives. Our town is safe, thanks to you.
- Yggdra: Why are the Undines attacking you?
- Town Chief: Well, what I hear is they need human blood... This is going to be incredibly stupid, isn't it?
- Milanor: Huh? Why would they need that? Milanor's too cool to just take thw noun he wants to learn more about out of your sentence and restate it as a sentence fragment.
- Town Chief: Those Undines are all women. They survive through rebirth. And should have no business falling in love, given that they do not procreate. That Transmigragem of theirs lets them do it, but... Someone made off with it not too long ago. Without that thing, they can't be reborn anymore. So they want human blood to make an eternal youth potion. Called it.
- Yggdra: Human blood...?
- Milanor: What a load of bull! What kind of ass told them that one!?
- Town Chief: I don't rightly know. Craziest thing I ever heard of...
- Yggdra: ............ I already made a Morse code joke! I don't have another one!
- Town Chief: By the way... Have you heard? Imperial Army goons are mixed in with the attackers.
- Yggdra: The Imperial Army? Okay, this is just getting ridiculous.
- Town Chief: Yep. Their clothes made them stand out a mile away. I don't know what they're up to, but be careful.
- Milanor: ...Did he say the Imperial Army is mixed up in this?
- Durant: If that's true, then this mess could be the Empire's doing...
- Yggdra: To ruin our long-held peace... This is unforgivable. First you talk like a Metal Gear character, now this? Do you want to be the lamest protagonist ever, Yggdra?
(An assassin shows up nearby.)
Bushes: Check Point!
Reinforcements! -Help has arrived!-
- ??? (Assassin): Peace...? Waiting for inevitable death... That is your peace?
- Milanor: Well, well, look who dropped in.
- Durant: That's... the Empire's assassin squad!
- Milanor: We haven't got time to waste here! Let's finish this!
(Some more troops show up.)
- ??? (Assassin): Master Zilva, are we doing the right thing...? Guess what happens to this character. Also, Zilva?
- Zilva: Elena... Sympathy has no place in war. Our dity is to carry out our missions perfectly.
- Elena: ............
Victory condition:
- Defeat Zilva!
- Yggdra: The Imperial Army... They've spread all the way out here...
All right, for the crime of having an improbably stupid name, I hereby sentence Zilva of the Imperial Special Forces to be stabbed repeatedly by my forces. She's brought a pair of fencers with her, too.
Anyway, they get the first strike. Elena is no threat, and won't even attack us on her own. She does, however, dash up to Milanor.
- Milanor: I'm not going to pull any punches, you know!
- Elena: ............
The Imperial forces then move in a very strange manner, ending with a fencer attacking Milanor (and dragging Elena into the fight). He wins, but she does not, being up against Nietzsche and all.
Anyway, my cards have reset. I take advantage of this to use Steal to replace Milanor with Durant. His charge against the fencer goes much better, ending with the guy's death. Nietzsche then brings Elena down.
Withdraw! -Forced to retreat.-
- Elena: Master Zilva... I'm sorry!
The Undines attack Durant, which would've gone better if this didn't involve one of them leaving the water (and if he didn't have the Fur Coat). One of them beat Nietzsche, but her Coral Spear will fix that right up next turn.
Also, the one who died was their commander, so I don't have to worry about the survivor stealing the Medallion.
The Empire follows this up by attacking us, leading off with a fencer. Durant wins against him, but Zilva edges Nietzsche out damagewise and Milanor loses to the fencer.
Zilva then moves up to Milnor and Durant.
- Zilva: ......!
- Milanor: I don't know what you've got planned, but I'll stop it!
On my turn, I bring out Revolution, then attack Zilva directly (keeping Yggdra out of it because I want her item). My plan works, and Zilva goes down despite her Night Advantage (which didn't do much for her).
Justice Prevailed! -Zilva's Special Forces annihilated!
- Durant: Foul Imperials! What manner of scheme is this!?
- Yggdra: Deceiving the Undines... Tormenting the innocent...
- Zilva: Scheme? You are mistaken. Tell me, what "scheme" do you have to help the Undines? Without the Transmigragem, their extinction is imminent...
Pull Back! -Time to regroup!-
- Zilva: We are showing charity by ending their suffering now... (Zilva leaves the battlefield.)
- Yggdra: ...What did she mean...?
Excellent. Yggdra wins MVP, which goes to her Atk. I took 15 turns here out of 18 for the quick clear bonus, too.
The items left on the map are the Steel Persona (mistranslated as "Stell" Persona in the GBA version), the Gale Bow, and one delicious Medallion.
Also, I got the card Zilva's troops used, Bloody Claw. Right now all you need to know is that it has 9 move and 1700 power, but I can assure you that the skill's a good one.
- Milanor: It's gonna get rough from here on out. With all the ruckus we made, they must have noticed.
- Durant: Yes... I'm sure they're gathering troops to stop us.
- Yggdra: But we can't simply leave things as they are. Let us go to Elise. I will speak with the queen of the Undines and end this war.
New Items:
- Gale Bow: A lightweight bow that fires arrows as if they were wind.
- Stats: Tec+6
- Ability: Instant Charge
- Duration: 3 maps
- Used by: Bow
- Notes: This thing will always raise the Tec of whoever equips it, simply because both bow users start with at least 3. The ability's not half bad, either.
- Healing Herb: An herb with a soothing effect.
- Stats: Luk+2
- Ability: Cure Ailments (breaks when used)
- Duration: 4 maps
- Used by: All
- Notes: This would be good if enemies had multiple cards, but they don't. So when it takes effect, the enemy'll just inflict the status effect again. Oh well.
- Steel Persona: A perfectly polished expressionless mask.
- Stats: Gen+4, Tec+2, Luk-2
- Ability: Evade Panic
- Duration: 1 map
- Used by: Elena
- Notes: Evade Panic? EVADE PANIC? On an item that only a bow user can equip? AREFNDFHIGHASCNKDJF... Oh yeah, and Elena joins us later. Big surprise, huh?
Music this update:
- Fate
- This is the game's "sad" music. I just want you to remember that it exists, so I can point out all the times it should play but doesn't.
- Nietzsche Sortie - Another reason to use Nietzsche, not like she really needed it.
The next update will be about skills, because they'll actually be usable from map 7 on. Also, no prizes for guessing whether or not we'll meet the guy who stole the Transmigragem.
