Well, hey there! I'm back, and with a new update too! After combating High School (IBD) Hard Mode, which involves an obnoxious number of research papers, I'm now about to continue this spell of masochism, hopefully with a more interesting account of the trials in Tellius. On with the show!
No base prep yet, but instead of playing the characters we got in prologue, Nephenee and Brom show up. And what is this rebellion we hear of? Oh dear,this sounds problematic. So in typical FE style, we kill things.
Map 2-1
Victory Condition: Kill Boss
Defeat Condition: Nephenee/Brom dies
Roster: Nephenee, Brom
The first key here is to do something about the asshat archer who hits Neph for 14 damage when she doesn't have much to spare to begin with. Also, recruiting Heather who shows up at like Turn 5 is a must, because she's the only thief the G Ms get.
So yeah, 5 turns pass in just taking out the irritants at the beginning of the map. Thankfully, Heather is pretty good at not dying horribly, and takes care of a bunch of idiots who attack her at the bottom of the map. Brom picks up an Ashera icon too, and better yet, the blockade is broken. We'll deal with everyone slowly, but surely, but Heather is the priority here (i.e thief is a necessity).
Two bandits also show up, and while we can't do anything about two of the houses at the bottom of the map, the others are saved by the AI mysteriously choosing to attack Brom instead of the sitting duck House next to him. More turns are wasted in chasing the bandit around, and then Neph and Brom go to take out the other one before he causes any more damage. Heather dodge-tanks a random hand axe wielder who we don't really want hitting our other units who don't have ranged weapons. Also, I'm pretty sure one of the destroyed houses had a Javelin, so fuck.
So uh, this takes a while due to less than stellar stats on everyone. Neph gains a good level though, in needed areas (Str, Skl, Spd, Res), which is cool. Heather steals another kill, and she probably deserves MVP for having survived a ridiculous number of things she should have died to. Same for Neph, who's wrath-critted most of her kills. On second thoughts, that is a little scary.
So I was wrong about that Javelin, thank god. Since shop access is limited for a while, we need all the weapons we can get. Thus wrath crits are useful in a perverse, risky way to prevent wasting that Steel Greatlance.
The mage sitting there next to the blockade hits depressing hard, and so ruins my plans for killing him. On the bright side Neph criticals the boss with her Javelin, thus going 6 damage more than expected. Yay?
Oh wow. That was quite a thing. I get three crits in a row, from Heather and Neph, the former who also dodges the boss handily. Heather for MVP? Yes please. And fuck.
We reset. After all of this. I love this game.
Take two. Thanks Nephenee for missing the boss at a crucial moment.
So, I've changed my approach slightly here. I don't immediately go after the blockade, in the interest of surviving better. The archer is literally my first kill, so yay, he doesn't half destroy Neph with his attacks. Also, I reset again here because darling Nephenee missed on an 83% chance. It's like all the good characters are trying to screw me over this run by not hitting things (NOLAN! *shakes fist*).
Oh frabjous day! Caloo Calay! My exciting plan succeeds, and now we only have idiot with Javelin who Nephenee clearly rejected years ago to deal with. This also happens, and now we deal with the blockade + Heather + Bandits. Don't you love multi-tasking?
Heather thankfully does something drastically different from her usual actions and steals a vulnerary from the myrmidon at the start of the map (who has migrated down after I hit him hard with Neph). The blockade fell on the same turn, allowing me to concentrate my force south, where the Bandits will be. The weird AI helps in this regard, and the houses are saved (!) in this round (because I knew what to expect, no doubt). I also recruit Heather at last, who is doing strange but clever things instead of committing suicide near the boss.
The minor logjam at the bottom thanks to a mage is cleared by further Weird AI (TM) antics as the mage attacks Heather from melee range. Thanks, I guess? Brom's innate Disarm also activates a ridiculous number of times, cementing my belief that this is the ultimate run. *touches wood*
Neph also picks up a good level (HP, Str, Skl, Spd). While I want defense, this'll do nicely. The mage that hits hard also goes down thanks to a Brom-Heather tagteam. All enemies are now dead, so we gear up for the attack on the boss and his lackeys. Sounds fun, eh? Brom and Heather are, for better or worse, necessary members of the team right now (unlike the easier difficulties which were technically a Nephenee solo run).
Oh frigging finally! I discovered that the Boss does NOT move until you attack him (or he attacks you after you plant yourself next to him). His lackeys are the same. I exploit this to take out the Javelin lackey, and then the other one. Heather helps out here, and then flees after they pass on as she can't actually damage the boss. Brom and Neph whittle away at the boss, and after a few lucky hits and dodges, they kill him. Nephenee lands the killing blow and picks up a terrible level for her effort (Spd). On the other hand, she had some amazing luck in the actual battle, so I'm not complaining, nope.
On the whole this chapter is a lot harder than it used to be, and it's kind of cool that I managed a perfect, if slow, run.
After the map, Brom and Neph beat some sense into a few rebellious youths who do not the concept of rebuilding get. They repent after they realise that war is in fact serious business (not that you'd realise this from how colourful the game is, but eh). The two of them leave for Castle Crimea after this, to warn Queen Elincia of Ludveck's nefarious plans.
New Units
Brom (Level 2 Axe General)
Base stats
36 HP 80%
19 Str 40%
4 Mag 5%
17 Skl 40%
16 Spd 30%
13 Luck 70%
21 Def 60%
9 Res 25%
11 Con
21 Wt
It's pretty telling when a mage has more strength than an armour (Tormod). I don't know if this speaks well for Tormod, or badly for Brom. Brom is essentially the answer to all your tanking needs in Part 2, and arguably the most useful Knight in the game (except maybe Tauroneo). While another (for now) unnamed Knight is better from a *numbers!* perspective, Brom is far more useful in my opinion (and I do believe I have a short rant about this that I posted in the FE group I'm a part of). He's also Meg's father which leads to poignant possiblities, in the event that you use him extensively. Not that I will or anything, but he's not a bad character at all. Just that his competition is a bit too good.
Nephenee (Level 1 Halberdier)
Base stats
32 HP 45%
15 Str 35%
16 Mag 15%
19 Skl 70%
20 Spd 65%
12 Luck 40%
15 Def 35%
14 Res 45%
7 Con
12 Wt
She's widely regarded as one of the best units in the game (and is adorable to boot). While her offense leaves much to be desired, she dodge-tanks everything once she gets going, and is prime endgame material. She's also an excellent candidate for BEXP abuse thanks to this. Unfortunately, no transfer bonuses because she turned out terrible in the transfer file I'm using in this run (10 strength at Lvl 20. Really?), but still very solid as a unit. She's had some terrifically bad luck this chapter, but she ought to turn around with a few good levels under her belt, and I absolutely plan to use her. She can also solo endgame chapters if you let her. Seriously.
Heather (Level 7 Rogue)
Base stats
32 HP 40%
15 Str 25%
9 Mag 20%
21 Skl 50%
25 Spd 70%
16 Luck 75%
10 Def 30%
14 Res 40%
7 Con
7 Wt
So, this is Heather, one of the few new characters with a genuine personality, and also a lesbian (though this fact is made somewhat more subtle in the English editions). In any case, she's the standard thief - poor combatant, but very dodgy and fast. She's been kind of amazing in this prologue run, but luck has had a lot to do with this, so yeah. She has to be used because thieves are sort of necessary if you don't want to break the bank spending on chest keys. She has a hidden destiny as well, which is highly dependent on her reaching 21 Strength, so I cannot guarantee anything, but I will inform you of when this destiny is possible. Her crush on Nephenee (and the latter's reactions thereof) is also pretty hilarious.
Items Obtained
1) Ashera Icon - +2 Luck (Top House)
2) Steel Axe (Top Left House)
3) Javelin (Bottom Left House)
4) Concotion - Heals 40HP(Middle Bottom House)
5) Spectre Card - Deals small magic damage with no counter (Rightmost House)
6) Vulnerary (Enemy Drop)
7) Herb (Enemy Drop)
8) Antitoxin - Heals Poison Status (Enemy Drop)
Further comments:
- Leaving alive Volunteer Units (of which there are four) gives ridiculous amounts of BEXP (400 per unit/200 in hard mode). This is a lot easier said than done though, especially since they can and will kill in you in HM. And they die too easily everywhere else.
- This is only the second game I've played where the rebels are the bad guys (the other being Valkyria Chronicles II).
- So slow... and super long update too. Think of it as me making up for the huge gap between this and the previous
- Playing FE to the Xenoblade Soundtrack is an interesting experience. Very zen. Especially with the Satorl Marsh (Night) theme playing.
Next time: Skulduggery? In my Fire Emblem? Oh no!
Major Edit: I had a weird problem just now, so I lost this particular run. Fear not, I replayed the chapter, with things happening almost the same as this, but with different levels. I'll post them here for posterity, so just, er, retcon the previous ones away.
Nephenee (+1) - Str, Skl, Luck, Res
Brom (+1) - Skl, Luck, Res
