Let's Play Tactics Ogre: Princes of the Univ-- err, I mean, The Knight of Lodis

[CyberAngel]

Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis is a Game Boy Advance game from Ogre Battle series. It is, obviously, a tactical game not unlike Final Fantasy Tactics. I prefer this one since the latter has a few features I'm not a fan of. This one keeps things simple, but is interesting by itself nonetheless.

I tried to play this game once, but gave up about halfway. This time I have a nice idea to go with it, so let's see how well we'll be able to do. Now, I won't go into too many details about the story, it's mostly about local politics and religion. If you're interested, that's a reason for you to find a video walkthrough play the game yourself.

So, without further ado, let's start the game.



First thing we see is a cutscene about two young men. They're leaving on a voyage for the first time. The blond guy is Rictor Lasanti. Commander Rictor Lasanti.



On their way, they pass a fortune teller.



The blue dark-haired knight seems interested.

That's our hero, and fortune telling is how we'll generate our character.



The default name is Alphonse, let's leave it that (though I considered something hilarious like Master or My Love). His full name's Alphonse Loeher, by the way.

Next we set a birthday and answer six questions. The scene is damn slow, probably due to AWESOME effects on the crystal ball, but the nice theme that goes along with it makes it bearable. Anyway, here are my answers.













Now that we've chosen our fate, another cutscene starts, explaining some general info about the setting.



Troops from Galius advanced into the regions that resisted.



Many conflicts erupted as these territories were conquered.
But, some countries submitted and accepted Lodis? conditions.
Although supervised by Lodis, they were able to maintain autonomy.
The empire also pledged support if problems were to arise.
Some rulers chose to surrender to avoid pointless sacrifice.



...although that did not stop small conflicts from occurring.
However, compared to the rest of the era, it was a time of peace.

Cut to another cutscene with our heroes.



Caught in a storm, ship needs repairs, no idea where we are... This voyage goes just peachy, doesn't it?



Just great.



Oh, it's a welcoming party for the knights from Lodis - us. Well, there IS one good thing about it - we're on the right track.

...By the way, we still don't know where and why we're going.



Of course, it's not a time for questions. It's time to FIGHT IT OUT! The battle music is awesome, by the way.



...Ahem. Allied units in this battle move on their own, so we only control Alphonse for now.



All right, somebody just signed his own death warrant!

The battle just plays itself, so there's not much that can be said about it.



When you attack someone up close, you get counterattacked. But when you attack from behind, the enemy can't retaliate, and you also have a higher hit chance. So positioning is pretty important.

Everyone has somewhere around 150 HP and attacks deal over 20 damage, sometimes 30 or more. Except archers, who deal under 20, and Rictor, who deals over 40.



Also, you can either dodge or block when you're attacked. It seems to be functionally the same thing. You can even block with your weapon if you don't have a shield.



Eventually, the boss kills himself on his own turn by jumping on Rictor's rapier.



Finally, there's some USEFUL exposition. We're going to an island named Ovis. There are two kingdoms - Anser in the South and Rananculus in the North. They're separated by a huge forest and didn't interact for centuries. But suddenly, forces from North invaded South. So Anser requested Duke of Felis, a protectorate of Lodis, to send some help. He sent a small ship of inexperienced soldiers - us.

By the way, Rictor is Duke's son, and wanted to become a priest for the Church of Lodis.



We're interrupted by an enemy, who...

...Wait, he came out of our ship?

Well, no time for that! Alphonse pushes Rictor away, but gets the arrow himself.



And is pushed into the water to boot.



Good job, girl, but you should have done that earlier. Like when he was still on our ship. Which you probably were supposed to guard. Good job.

More of our troops come in, and Rictor orders them to look for us.



That's a great start for an adventure, isn't it?

[Serela]

Oh man, I like this game a lot. Despite some of it's glaring issues, but I hear easy gamebreak strats are nothing unusual for these kinds of games... looking forward to reading the LP!

[CyberAngel]

So, we died and went to heaven.



Or not. Let's talk to our savior.



We're in a church in Solea and she found us on the beach outside it. She tells us we were asleep for a long time, and that maybe a mermaid saved us. She saw one with golden body a long time ago.



A woman in Rananculus armor comes in. She says she left the army 10 years ago, and informs us that there are foreigners in unfamiliar armor in Scabellum, who are probably our comrades. She even decides to escort us there.

Well, things don't look too bad, I guess.



Finally, the world map. We're at the blue point with a flag, our next target is a red point. The blue point to the south is Lutra islands, where our first battle took place.

Well, we can't do much here yet, so to Scabellum we go.



The people are cautious since White Fang troops from Rananculus roam around.



And what do you know, some are actually here at the moment! The girl in a robe is a wizard and their leader.

Ivanna mentions something important to keep in mind. The game has three sets of opposing elements - fire and water, wind and earth, virtue and bane. Each character has an element assigned to them. Characters of opposing elements deal more damage to each other. Spells also have an element they belong to. If the user and the spell are of the same element, it's more effective. Being hit by an opposing element hurts even more.



Also, terrain can give bonuses to some elements and penalties to opposing ones. Red is fire, blue is water, yellow is wind, green is earth, white is virtue, black is bane. These bonuses and penalties also influence attack effectiveness. Overall, bonuses aren't all that big, but every small thing can count.

We control only Alphonse this time as well, so there's not much that can be said about the battle, except that the music is quite appropriately more serious. The female soldier has a bow, so the girls hang back while the guys rush into melee.

After a few turns, some help arrives!



...We can't control them. AGAIN.

Oh well. Orson, the old guy in a green headband, goes upwards to harass girls with his bow. And he does so quite well, dealing over 40 damage. I guess archers aren't all that bad, after all. Rictor goes to help us in melee.



Here's the screen you get before attacking. You can see everything you need to know here, like approximate damage and hit chance for both attack (left) and retaliation (right).

By the way, the bag a bit below is, well, a loot bag. Every defeated enemy leaves one with either something from their inventory or an expendable item. You can collect them if you stand on that square, but you don't have to since they are auto-collected when you win. But enemies can take them as well, so careful!

Before long, the battle is over. Time for a reunion celebration!



Or not.

So, here's the situation. While we were busy sleeping in a coma, Rictor & Co. came here and waited in ambush for the hostiles. They seem to be exploring ruins in small disorganized groups, but their actual motive is unknown. Rictor suggests we split up and attack where their leader is from two sides. Well, it's a plan.



We'll be going through the hills of Vespa. Rictor gave us some money ("goth") and a few troops for a start. Now we can change, buy or sell equipment, hire or dismiss people, and do training battles (between our own troops). This is where the fun finally starts.

But you know what? I won't be using those troops. I dismiss them and use the money to summon someone special.



: Heya! I really missed you! Need my awesome fencing skills again?

: I'm sure you won't be bored by the many battles we'll have here. Welcome.



: Um... Lady Yuyuko told me to come here and have a vacation, but...

: We could use your impressive sword skills here. Think of it as an opportunity to show them off for real.

: Well, if you put it that way, I'm fine with that.



: You'd better have a good reason for pulling me out here.

: Don't worry, I'll find something you'll enjoy.

: Don't disappoint.

The girls are stuck in the default Soldier class with basic equipment for now, but that'll change as soon as possible. All other classes have stat requirements, and some have other conditions as well. You can change between classes freely as long as you're qualified for them, but I prefer specializing. That said, Soldier isn't a bad class to spend some time as. The stat growths are okay, except MP, which is quite low, and HP, which is quite high.

By the way, Alphonse can already change class to something I prefer.



Beast Tamer can, well, take control of and support beasts. There aren't too many of them, but I like having pets. I'll explain it some more later.

Now is a good time to explain everything you see on this screen. To the left of the portrait are character's name, level and current experience (reach 100 and get a new level, excess points don't carry over between levels), as well as icon showing character's element and alignment. I explained elements (virtue and bane are special and only few classes have them), alignment (lawful/neutral/chaotic) can be a class requirement, but has no other effect, it seems. Below that are the three basic stats - strength, intelligence and agility. Their effects should be obvious. Below the portrait are physical power (sword), physical defense (sword-to-shield), spell power (staff) and spell defense (staff-to-shield). Those are final values that take both stats and equipment into account. To the right of the portrait are current class name, HP and MP. The "boot" and "drowning guy" icons are movement types, in regards to elevation and water tiles respectively. The "move" number is how many tiles you can move. It's decimal, but only the integer part is used. Many equipment pieces slow you down by a certain value, usually a fraction, so it's important to balance between mobility and defense. I actually like this system.

The lower half is equipment and spells. There are four slots for equipment. Common sense works here - you can equip either a two-handed weapon or a one-handed weapon and a shield (or two one-handed weapons, though there's no point to that), you can equip only one body armor or headgear etc. The four spell slots (to the right) are currently closed. The amount of spell slots opened, as well as which spells you can put there, is determined by class.



You can also access character's emblems. They're like character's personal achievements. Each emblem also has a certain effect, so they're not just for show. So far only Alphonse has an emblem which he was given during character creation. This one's Arbitration, which... Actually, I'll explain that in the next battle.



Here are the expendables, items anyone can use in battle. Healing Leaf restores 50 HP, Magic Leaf restores 25 MP (everyone starts battle with 0 and gets 10 each turn, some spells need much more than that). Altar of Resurrection brings a killed character to life. They're expensive, so let's hope we won't need to use them. Stone of Swiftness permanently raises agility by 1. I'll hoard such items until someone needs a slight push for a class change.

Well, we're done organizing. I could give Alphonse an axe we got as a loot in the first battle, but it would slow him down too much. I could buy and give someone a short bow, but it's too weak. Actually, I made it more challenging for myself by dismissing the starting group. There were four people, and one was a healer. Oh well, those healing leaves will see some use, at least.

[notverycreative]

Best of luck, dood. Success in Ogre series games is partially-dependent upon the luck-based elements screwing you over only when you can roll with the loss. By the way, what story path are you going for?

[CyberAngel]

Best of luck, dood. Success in Ogre series games is partially-dependent upon the luck-based elements screwing you over only when you can roll with the loss.

Yeah, Fire Emblem taught me to always take the worst-case scenario into account. Thankfully, this game is pretty fair, and good tactics can guarantee victory.

By the way, what story path are you going for?

Oh, just wait and see


So, onwards to Vespa Hills!





Remember the intro? Yes, it happened on this island. You could understand this girl still being angry, since it's her home and parents that she lost. Except that the lone knight of Lodis in front of her is too young to have anything to do with it. I guess it's this game's way to show that any war has horrible long-term consequences. Well, the only thing it manages to show is that blind vengeance is stupid.

The enemy force is almost twice as big compared to what we met before. That's actually the normal amount of enemies we'll be meeting from now on, but at the moment they have a numerical advantage. Also, they're all at lv.3, while boss is lv.5. Luckily, Ivanna explains that we can try to persuade some enemies to change sides. That's actually... wait, what?



: Uh, I'm glad you're with us and willingly take the role of an "annoying interface-explaining fairy", but didn't you have things to do in Scabellum? You're not a part of our forces, you don't have to follow us, you know.

: There's something I want to talk about with you, but it can wait for now. Let's deal with this bunch first.

We can't control her again, but we could use any help now, so it's fine.

Anyway, we can persuade enemy forces to join us. They will still be AI-controlled in current battle, but if they survive they can join us permanently. It's always a chance thing, but sometimes it can be quite big, depending on your and enemy's classes. Trying to persuade the same class has a 50% chance. Some other combinations also have a 50% or even 80% chance, like Beast Tamer and different beasts. All other combinations have only 5% chance. The emblem Alphonse has, Arbitration, adds 30% chance. But those are nominal chances. The actual chance is always lower, proportionally to enemy's lost health. Lastly, some classes, like Bandits (horned helmets), as well as bosses, can't be persuaded at all.

: Girls, one of the male soldiers has a longsword. It doesn't matter how... He must join our forces and survive.

So, on to the battle at hand. The music sets the mood nicely.



I like this spot. The rock and the bushes are impassable and cover our flanks nicely. Alphonse makes sure that the girls with bows don't have an easy time sniping the others, and also diverts the bandits' attention. Ivanna also has a Heal spell and her AI likes to spam it, so she provides some very needed support.



Let's try out persuasion. The percentage isn't too high, but I don't want to risk killing the guy.

: Hey, that sword looks nice. Mind if I have it?



I guess that's both yes and no, in a way. Failing to persuade someone results in a counterattack.

: Oww! Bully!

: What the hell are you doing?



Alice has to use a healing leaf to keep Tenshi safe.



One turn and one more whack later, the guy does join us.



And his first action next turn is killing his former comrade. The enemy now lost their numerical advantage!



Same turn, Ivanna has to pull back to heal herself, Alphonse pulls back to heal the guy, and the girls form a wall. What followed was awesome. The girls blocked both bandits' attacks, then we finished them off on our turn. Only archer girls remain, and they can barely do a thing, so the battle is ours!



(Yes, it started to rain after some turns.)

One is cornered and persuaded to join. The other refuses and gets killed by the longsword guy. The boss soon follows. Victory!

Everyone gained a level in battle, and Youmu gained one more for finishing the boss. The loot is gathered, it's just some assorted expendables. The persuaded soldiers are accepted, stripped of equipment, and then released from service. We need items, but I'm having only someone I want in my party.



: You did great, girls! Especially you, Tenshi. Good job making that guy join us.

: Ugh, what was the point? You dismissed him anyway. I've had enough of his sword for nothing.

: ...So you don't want it?

: Huh?! You mean you're giving it to me?

: Yes, you can have it. You've earned it alright.

: Yeah! Finally a real sword instead of some toothpick!

: Alice, the leader girl used a longbow. Why don't you try your hand at it?

: Huh? Why me?

: A bow needs hand dexterity more than strength. I'm sure you'd like that more than just whacking things. Besides, aren't you used to pulling strings anyway?

: *giggle* Well, you sure know how to sound convincing.

: As for you, Youmu... Well, you did great but I can't suggest you anything. I?m sorry.

: Nah, I'm fine. Actually, the armor feels a bit too constraining. I'm sure I'll be able to move faster without a helmet.

: Oh? Well, sure, go for it, then.

When characters level up, their basic stats raise as well. That includes agility, and it adds to the movement rate. That said, Alphonse also can finally pick up that axe without losing mobility (well, after using one AGI-raising item, but still).

Anyway, time to listen to what Ivanna has to say.



Daughter of the former lord of Rananculus. He signed the peace treaty with Holy Lodis Empire, but died from a heart attack later that year. Now his brother, Naris Batraal, is the lord. However, she suspected that her uncle killed her father, so she escaped, but wants to find the truth.



Well, we might have to confront the lord of Rananculus about the invasion of Anser, and she seems to be an important character, so if she's fine to fight her own countrymen for revenge, we could use some help. Besides...

: You remind me of someone else I know. She's very wise and beautiful. Like you.

: Why, thank you.



Ivanna is a knight, and knight can cast one basic virtue spell. So far we only have Heal, so let's keep it on her.

Also, she shares some combat experience with Tenshi and Alice in a training battle so that everyone's at lv.3. There's no need to grind levels too much in this game since enemies actually scale to your level. Just make sure nobody's too much behind.



So, next stop is the fortress of Formido, where our target lurks. Let's hope Rictor makes it as well.

[notverycreative]

Enemies only scale to Alphonse's level. This is exploitable as hell.

[CyberAngel]

This is Nichart Briffaut, the man we're hunting for. Looks like they knew we were coming, but as soon as we enter he retreats inside, saying he has no time for us.



Making fun of Alphonse's age again? Sure, he's just 15, but how many of their troops must he go through to start being taken seriously? At least one more batch, it seems.

So, the boss is the knight, and his forces are three soldiers, two archers, a wizard and a cleric. He and soldiers have longswords, and those things hurt quite a bit. Time to apply some advanced tactics.



: So, what's the plan?

: Ivy and Tenshi, you're the most armored ones, force your way straight up and hold your positions, diverting melee attackers. Alice will provide ranged support.

: ..."Ivy"?

: Meanwhile, me and Youmu will use our mobility to circle around and mess up their weaker units. Alright, let's get this party started!

The battle theme is my favorite, by the way.

The plan sorta works and Ivy's group catches attention, but one soldier goes to meet the other group anyway.



That spot had a "buried treasure" which you can get by standing on it. It's a random item, we got an altar in this case. Nice, those are expensive.



As planned, Ivy's group takes position on the wall, with Alice providing fire support from behind the two tanks. What's great about bows in this game is that the arrows fly in an arc, and that's not just for show. This allows shenanigans like extending the effective range while shooting from above (and vice versa). The projectile physics is quite advanced for a game of this genre.

Then things start going not so smoothly. Tenshi's attacks were blocked half the time, and Ivy was constantly busy healing the damage. The group managed to get one soldier, but archers added some pain. Meanwhile, me and Youmu tried to deal with the lone soldier, but that wizard was throwing some painful spells at us, and then the cleric came closer and started healing the soldier. We had to rush onwards to deal with her, using healing leaves ourselves. We managed to catch her, but the wizard made things hard again, forcing us to heal half the time. We were dealing a lot of damage since she was lightly armored, but she was healing most of that damage. Then the soldier caught up with us.



Things turned VERY sour. Alphonse barely survived the enemy turn with 3(!) HP. I had Ivy rush to plant a heal spell on him. As pictured above, the range was barely enough. Had the formation been different, the adventure would have been over too soon. This finally allowed both him and Youmu to plant a solid whack and finish off the enemy healer. Ivy's group was in trouble as well, both Tenshi and Alice needed healing ASAP, so they also rushed forward and used leaves. Ivy was in danger herself, but thankfully the game's AI is unaware of such thing as teamwork. Next turn both groups reunited.



Next was the wizard's turn. He went down in two attacks, Alice finishing him with her bow. It felt so satisfying after all he put us through.



Taking the chance, Youmu convinces the soldier that pursued us to change sides.



Next turn, Ivy convinces the other one. Turns out knights have a higher chance to persuade soldiers.



Archers are quickly taken care of. Only the knight boss remains. Now, he's heavily armored, but by now he's brought down to low health, so he retreats and heals himself (with a leaf, enemy team has expendables they can use as well).



Alice earns an emblem - Sniper, given for 3 successful hits with a bow in a row, which adds 10 agility. Great!

Eventually, the boss is cornered, but is defeated only after a few turns when he decides he's tired of living and stops healing. He drops his chainmail, which will be given to Tenshi so that she can tank better.



But not for long.



A girl appears and casts Sleep on Alphonse. He wakes up in the dungeon.



Quite an understatement there, buddy.

Nichart and the girl come in and start "questioning".



With the help of a whip. Ow!

They want to know the TRUE reason forces of Felis came here. We don't know it, so the girl eventually feeds Alphonse a potion. Blackout follows.



They left him to die, but a mysterious woman comes in and offers to release him if he does a job for her.



Like there's any choice...

We learn that Rictor's troops were forced to retreat from the forest they were going through. Now we'll have to travel with that woman. Her name is Cybil, by the way.

Anyway, the battle was quite a close call. I had to use up half of my healing leaves, but strategically there were no mistakes, the plan was supposed to work. It's just that luck really wasn't on my side this time.

Oh well. Everyone reached lv.5, except Youmu, who's only lv.4, and Tenshi, who's halfway to lv.5. But finally, the girls can change classes!



What's a Japan-made game without an out-of-place Japanese element?

Anyway, Youmu needed to use all of our few AGI boosters, but now she changed to a ninja class. The most important change is the movement. The range is now insane, and the types are awesome as well - she can jump up higher steps than anyone else, and she can walk on water! She can also equip one attack spell and has a ranged skill that uses no MP just in case.

By the way, bandanna is a headgear that gives a bit less protection than leather hat, but gives an INT bonus, which is good for anyone who equips spells.



Alice is an actual archer now, no surprise here.

Tenshi stays a soldier for now.



: Good to see you girls are safe. They didn't harm you, I hope?

: Nah. We were ambushed, but they just disarmed and locked us in a storeroom. They just left all the stuff nearby, so nothing's lost.

: Ugh. It was dark and scary. And there were ghosts in there.

: Well, excuse me for being colder than a usual human being, but you really shouldn't have flailed your arms around.

: So, what are we gonna do now?

: Well, a deal's a deal, we follow Cybil. I promised Ivy we'll be back on Rananculus case as soon as possible, but she seems to be fine following us anyway.

: But you know, I'm quite concerned. There are clearly too few of us. You even nearly died back then.

: I already took care of that. There's a settlement with a shop nearby, and I summoned a few more girls. They should be here soon.



: Ah, here they are.



Dragon tamer is, well, like beast tamer but for dragons. Yes, we'll meet dragons here. Also, funny how she wears a dragon skull but killing dragons blocks a character from changing into this class.



Wizards use elemental attack magic. Their movement is a bit limited - they can go up only one step.

About attacking magic, so far we have access to two types - missiles and AOE. Missiles fly to the target in a straight line. Any obstacle or character on the way will block them and get hit instead. Here's where archers win since they don't have this problem. AOE spells cannot miss, and with high enough INT widen to hit 5 squares in a "plus" shape. The balance between the two types is in MP usage. Everyone regains 10 points each turn. Missile spells cost slightly below that, and AOE slightly above that.

By the way, ninjas can equip both types, but dragon tamers can equip only missiles.

: Wha... IIIKUUU?

: I told you not to shout such things in public.

: Look, I barely got here, so I'm not going back!

: Calm down, I'm not here for that. I heard you could use someone who can talk to dragons, so I'll be providing you with my aid.

: Whatever, just don't nag me.

: By the way, your parents ask you to stay out of trouble.

: YOU!

: Well, if it isn't the bookworm. Whatever made you drag yourself all the way out here?

: The magic of this world is quite interesting. It would be a waste to pass on exploring it.

: Oh, poor thing, it'll be so hard for you to travel everywhere with us.

: At least I'm using some actual magic.

: At least I can dodge if someone attacks.

: I wanna back to the Netherworld already.

: This is gonna be an exciting journey, doesn't it.



Anyway, our path lies westward.

[CyberAngel]

Huh? An encounter halfway?



Oh, just a cutscene.

Well, it's easy to guess that the older man is Naris Batraal. The young man is an enigma, though. They talk about why Rictor retreated from the forest - the ghosts of people who were burned alive in that forest back when Lodis Empire came still haunt it.

Anyway, back to adventure at hand.

: Uh, Cybil, I know I agreed to follow you, but do we REALLY have to cross a lake on foot?

: It should be easy to find dry spots to move between. Or are you afraid to get your feet wet?

: No, but if we get attacked, fighting would be a pain.

: Be serious, nobody can attack us in the middle of a lake.

: Ahem...



: ...You were saying?

: ...Well, that's why I took you and your friends with me.

Quite a change from the humans-only battles we had till now. Here we have three hawkmen, two griffins and two fairies. All of them can fly, so the water won't slow them down, unlike us. We, however, start on a patch of dry land, so let's just wait for them to come. Griffins are beasts, so we can try getting them on our side. Hawkmen have some good equipment (namely, two chainmails), so "inviting" them is an option to consider as well. Fairies are weak ranged units, so they're not interesting.

Anyway, this is a good chance to show off the spells we have.



Air Blade, a circular saw made of lightning.



Crag Crush, a boulder to the head.



Thunder Flare, something Iku should've had.

And yes, Cybil fights with us, is uncontrollable, and decides to take a bath.



Not all enemies decided to rush at us all at once for some reason. Oh well, easier time for us. A griffin and a hawkman reach us first. Griffin is brought to low health and easily persuaded, the hawkman is taken care of on the same turn as well, we don't need him messing with our weak units.



A fairy and another hawkman come next turn. The fairy decides to steal the loot bag from the hawkman, which had Sorcerer's Cup, a rare expendable that increases max MP. Little asshole.

Also, Tenshi gets an emblem - Knight's Certificate, given for getting counterattacked 15 times, which is needed to change into the Knight class. Her stats are too low for that, though, so she needs to get a few more levels.



Time to demonstrate the last spell - Acid Vapor.

The hawkman couldn't be killed or persuaded, so he steals the loot bag again.



Next turn, the rain makes the water level rise!

The last hawkman and griffin reach us. Alphonse persuades the birdie, and one hawkman is killed.



The last hawkman was given the offer to join us. The refusal was not taken kindly. The last fairy was quickly finished as well.



After the battle, we finally get some explanations. Cybil serves the Church of Lodis, and she's looking for the Sacred Spear. Mermaids used to rule the island before humans came. There was a war between the two, and mermaids used the Spear. But Cybil's not the only one who looks for it now. Naris Batraal seems to be interested in it as well. There are still mermaids in the western sea, so that's where we're headed. Cybil plans to get a boat at Urodela Cape, but it seems there are already enemy forces there. Oh well, that's why we're here.

Anyway, we have griffins now, and I'm keeping them.



: There, there. Who's the cute birdie-lion-thing? YOU'RE the cute birdie-lion-thing!

: I have to admit, they're quite interesting creatures indeed.

: Ooh! Can I cuddle one?

: Only if you want to lose a limb.

: Oh come on!

: Will you really keep them? How do you even feed such things?

: There's no need for that. They're still wild beasts, you know, they can hunt on their own. They'll just hang around where we are and come to help if I call them.

: Ooh, you can do that? That's so cool!



So, to Urodela Cape we go.

[Serela]

Hah, you just stayed at the start the whole time XD Not a bad idea when you aren't running with 5 ninjas or something. Especially when the water level rises and basically the entire map is submerged... if only you could have the water units already, instead of getting them as soon as they become nigh-useless for the entire rest of the game.

[CyberAngel]

Suddenly, ninjas (and a witch). The gray one is the leader. Ninjas aren't strong so they deal little damage and take a lot, but they're very agile which means actually hitting them might be a challenge. Some of them have nice items, like chainmails, so persuading a few is a good idea.

And yes, Cybil helps us again.



Initially, only one rushes at us, which allows everyone to concentrate on bringing him to low health and successfully persuading him ...by Alice. Archers and ninjas seem to be on good terms with each other.



Next turn, however, everyone comes close at once. Females have ranged weapons, while males engage in melee. We concentrate on one ninja, but he refuses to join, so we have to deal with him so that he won't give us any more trouble.



The third ninja does the smart choice.

Now, one female ninja has a Necklace of Resist, which negates all magic cast on or from the bearer. We try to persuade the other one, but no success, and on her turn she retreats and heals.



Next turn is the last one since our AI-controlled allies bring the boss to low health and would probably kill him next turn. We manage to persuade the other female ninja. By the way, all this time the witch was pretty useless and tried to cast Slumber Mist about twice, and failed both times.



Iku gets the boss kill with the Air Blade.



This feels familiar.

After the battle, we meet Rictor. When asked about the true goal of his mission, he dodges the question and tries to get us back by promises of high position when he'll become the Duke. That's pretty suspicious. He tries to call out Cybil for acting secretly, but when he gets called out himself...



He flips out and we part ways on less-than-friendly terms.

Following that, Cybil and Alphonse talk about important topics.



After some time, the head fisherman enters.



They don't want to mess with mermaids since they're pretty dangerous. He does suggest catching one and making her call others.



Cybil is ready to go along with the idea, but Alphonse isn't comfortable with it.



Both choices are disagreeing and result in us going through another way towards the mermaids' sanctuary while she waits here, but the former is softer, while the latter is giving her an earful.

This is actually the single most important choice in the game. Here, the game splits into two paths. Between them, only a few maps are different, but some plot points change drastically. Most importantly, the ending is completely different. To give the idea without spoiling anything, this is a choice between Cybil and Rictor.

Now, I planned to let you people choose the path, but as I thought about it, Rictor's path didn't look interesting to me, so I'll go with Cybil's path. It's the canon one, anyway.



: So we'll be going through a swamp? I don't know, we had enough trouble crossing that lake.

: I know, but there's no other way. Besides, it's not like we had much trouble back then.

: You mean YOU didn't have much trouble. I personally nearly drowned because of SOMEONE.

: Look, I already apologized, okay? I didn't mean to push you into the water, the rocks were just slippery, honest! I even tried to save you!

: Uh-huh, by pushing ME in as well!

: Come on, I knew you'd be fine! Let's just put it all behind us. ...Please?

: That aside, will we really be fine with how many there are of us?

: Well, we were doing fine lately, but I still summoned some help once more.



Considering Ivanna was mostly healing all the time, we need a dedicated healer (though Ivy will still be able to provide backup if needed). Cleanse cures status effects, which can come in handy sometimes.



We'll need a spear user as well.

And that's it for backup from Gensokyo.



: Hey, girls. What's--

: Have no fear! Sanae's here! Prepare to witness the power of miracles!

: Stop shouting into my ear, idiot!

: Huh? The shrine maidens? Don't you have duties at your shrines?

: My goddesses were fine with giving me some days off. Plus I might be able to do some business here!

: I think the locals had enough religious turmoil already.

: Me, I just told Kasen to watch over the shrine and Marisa to keep an eye out for incidents.

: As irresponsible as always.

: With that out of the way... Youmu, come here.

: Huh?

: This is the weapon the ninja leader had. It's a special weapon, and the strongest we've seen so far. It's yours.

: Y-you're giving it to me?!

: It seems to be a katana. I don't think anyone could wield it better than you.



: Then I swear that this blade will serve you as long as you need it to!

As for other upgrades, Iku gets the only chainmail we got from the battle, as well as a rapier I bought for her. The necklace will stay unequipped for now since it also blocks heals.



Next stop - Bison, the Paradise of the Beasts!

[CyberAngel]

: Looks like it's time for me to get some pets of my own!

Despite having wings, these dragons can't fly. Actually, their movement is very slow, and further hampered by the terrain. We hang out near the starting point again, and it'll take a while for them to reach it. Fairies decide to pull back for some reason. It should be easy to deal with just the hawkmen, right?

Not really. You see, my party is still lv.5-6, but the enemy levels have been rising steadily, and now they're lv.8. Seems like there's a minimum level for each story battle to make sure the players don't lag behind. The difference becomes really noticeable now - the enemies are hard to hit and take little damage, while they hit us easily and deal quite a lot. Looks like this is where superior tactics really start to count.



Initially, only one hawkman reaches us, and everyone's efforts are barely enough to bring him to low health, but he still refuses to join. Next turn his buddies reach us, so he needs to be dealt with. Reimu gets the kill.



There's more luck with the second one.



But not the third one. By now the dragons reach us, so he's dealt with as well, this time by Iku.



Thankfully, the dragons decide to split, so everyone concentrates on the nearest one and it joins us before giving any trouble.



The other one takes some work, but joins as well. One fairy was also dealt with, so it's up to the last one.



It doesn't take long.



After the battle, Cybil's personal ninja catches up with us. He appeared in a few cutscenes giving her reports. Now she sent him to aid us.

Well, Shiven is a cool fighter and even comes with his own special katana, but I'll decline his offer. It's a good idea to accept him, but I want to test whether he'll appear in the ending or not if he's not in the party. He's not an important character, so the story won't be impacted.



: There, there. Such playful dragons...

: Oh wow! Real dragons! I knew coming here would be worth it!

: I have to agree. Never thought I'd actually see them in my lifetime.

: Can I ride it?

: I don't think that is a good idea.

: These are young dragons. Their wings are too weak for flight, and even their breath isn't as strong as it can be.

: And my griffins can run circles around them even without using wings.

: At least my dragons can do something more than a simple peck.

: Hah...

: Griffins can get magical powers as well. Then there are other beasts as well...

: Oh. Good to know!

: Hmm... These dragons seem to have an icy breath. Unusual.

: Yes, a dragon's breath depends on its element. Different breaths have different effects as well.

: If these are young dragons, I wonder how adult ones look.

: Actually, there are different forms they can grow into. It really depends on the dragon itself.

: That's interesting, I want to see the different form. Make sure that they grow properly, Iku.

: Make sure your beasts grow as well.

: Ah?! What?!

: Oh? The dragon tries to give you something! Hold out your hands.

: Ah, okay...

: Huh?! This is...



: A special ring? That's a rarity.

: I guess that means it likes you.

: Ah, thank you Mr. Dragon!

This ring is an accessory that adds some INT and prevents status effects. A very good thing to equip the healer with.

Anyway, I make sure to train everyone up to lv.7.



We reach the coast where mermaids should be. What will await us there?

[notverycreative]

Looks like this is where superior tactics really start to count.

Or just grinding more. I refuse to play RPGs underlevelled, but there's really no such thing as "overlevelled" for me, either. More like "Taking too long to level up, time to move on."

[Serela]

Or just grinding more. I refuse to play RPGs underlevelled, but there's really no such thing as "overlevelled" for me, either. More like "Taking too long to level up, time to move on."

Well, in a game where the enemies scale to your level, grinding isn't a huge help :V There's a point where it's arguably worse because all the non-humans learn their abilities (however if you want to use them yourself, you -really- want these abilities so they don't suck in comparison to humans), and after that it's just a matter of the classes different stat growths becoming far more pronounced (where physical attacks nearly or do one-shot mages, physical-only units become weaker to magic, etc)

I'm honestly not sure if the enemies there are just -supposed- to be that many levels ahead, but I bet what happened is the MC was lv6 so the enemies were lv8. 2 levels ahead would be expected for this map, I think.

[notverycreative]

Poking around on sites, it looks like enemies in story stages have a minimum and maximum level they'll scale to you vs yours, and after that they won't level up anymore.  I don't think the final battle goes above the early-30s. Random battles on the field will always scale directly to you. So this is a game you can outlevel but it takes more work than anyone will ever care to put in.

Edit: I think the game only uses Alphonse's level for scaling. It's not like this is some SRWs where the game averages the top 15/20 characters.

[CyberAngel]

Well, I really hate grinding (unless it's interesting by itself, but that's rare), so I delay training as long as possible since here catching up with a bigger level difference is more time-effective. But considering I find catching up with one level difference too slow for my taste, I'll probably spend the whole playthrough underleveled anyway. Oh well, I like the challenge.




We come closer to investigate. Rictor isn't there, but...



Some soldiers that Alphonse recognizes caught a mermaid and decide whether to kill her. Or eat her.



Alphonse plays the knight and gets their attention, but he actually does have a pragmatic reason - getting their boat.



Turns out those guys hate Alphonse and are more than willing to use violence. Well, that's exactly what we want.



We start on an easily defended piece of dry land. This should be easy, just wait for them to come, right?



Not if you want the mermaid to survive, since they'll concentrate on her easily. It's not mandatory, but it's a good idea to make sure she survives. And how do you do that? By becoming a serious threat, of course! Ivy is tasked with keeping the mermaid healed, everyone else dashes to the enemy's landmass. After the first turn, the map can get flooded, just like Ardea Lake, but we get lucky this time.



The enemies have no problems to rush into the water to meet us, and the first bandit falls quickly.



Youmu tries to flank the enemy, but unfortunately gets the attention of an archer. Unfortunately for him, that is, since her shiny katana shows its strength and brings down over half of his health in one swipe. He wisely accepts to join us next turn.



Next we try to deal with one of the knights. Since cleric is the boss, we leave him be for now, and he has a powerful healing spell that can heal a group of people. It prolonged the battle with the knight somewhat, but he falls eventually.



Next, some damage is dealt to the other knight as well. Ironically, he tries to go after Ivy, but she convinces him to switch sides.



The other bandit is done in by Reimu. If I didn't mention it yet, spears can hit two spaces away in a straight line. The damage is weaker than up close, but no danger of retaliation is sometimes better than a bit more damage.



I don't even bother with inviting the other archer, so he gets a boulder on his head.



It seems the boss had a mental breakdown and decided not to heal himself after we start going after him.

Overall, the battle was good. Everyone except healers got a level-up, and Alice also got a second one for finishing the boss.



The mermaid jumps into the water, but not before a confused silence and one last glance.

Now, we should follow her as fast as we can, but there's an important event.





: So you're knighting Tenshi?

: Yes, this girl showed both resolve and ability to fight valiantly. She deserves the title.

: My congratulations, Eldest Daughter!

: Awesome! Does this mean I can use some magic as well?

: Not now, we don't have any spare spells on hand, but I'll see what I can get for you.

: Ahem... It's nice and all, but why did you call me, out of all people, here as well?

: Oh, I have a present for you.

: A... present?

: This is the robe the enemy leader had.

: Interesting. It's woven from the magic crystals, which makes it almost as strong as a chainmail.

: It's yours.



: ...Thank you.

: Chainmail, huh? That means you can go into the heat of action without fear. Too bad you'll be out of breath before you reach it.

: ...One of these days I'll use you for spell practice.



Next up, time to look for the mermaids' sanctuary!

[CyberAngel]

We sail as far as we can, and...



This is Aerial, the strongest mermaid, and she's not happy to see us here. Trying to talk her out of fighting us is unsuccessful. Strangely, she knows about Minerva, the mermaid we saved earlier, but it seems she doesn't know enough.

So, we're up against four mermaids, two fairies and two octopi. The latter are beasts, but they're very slow and mostly useless since they're purely melee fighters. As such, we'll just go on and try to defeat everyone.



We start on a nice island where we can hold our ground easily. Also, I finally put up a proper formation.



Mermaids use spears. One thing about that weapon is that not only it can hit two squares away in a line, but also it always hits both squares, so it's possible to hit two people at once with it, even though the farther target gets less damage regardless.



The mermaid that rushed to us first gets everyone's attention and falls quickly. ...Since the battle is just a misunderstanding, let's say we only knock them out.



Aerial decides to attack head-on. During this attack, she even jumps out of the water before striking. Quite acrobatic for a mermaid, isn't it?



Here, enemies are lv.10, and that's when non-humans get their first abilities. Mermaids have Lullaby, which can put the target to sleep. The chance is low, but it's there. Here they successfully land one on Tenshi. Except she woke up on our turn. It wouldn't make any difference, anyway, since people at the front are there mostly for defense.



One of the fairies gets careless and is brought down by Reimu. Their low defense really starts to show by now.



Next, Reimu is hit by Lullaby. One way to remove Sleep effect is to hit the person. Here Tenshi attacked her with a shield. It deals little damage, but always pushes the target back. That's actually how critical strikes in this game work, each physical attack has a low chance of it, but shields get it always. If you push someone into a wall or into someone else, the target gets a little bit of bonus damage (single digits). If the pushback results in someone falling from a height, the bonus damage can be significant, depending on the height.

And yes, octopi, despite being purely melee units, were just moving left and right far away from us.



After Patchouli gains a level in the battle, she finally has enough INT to turn AOE spells into TRULY AOE spells.



Crag Crush still is a "boulder from above", but there's one for each square, and there's an animation before it of rocks lifting up. Too bad it only finishes one mermaid, the other one was still at full health.



The other fairy gets reckless as well, but what's cool is that Tenshi finished her off despite having a very low (under 20%) chance to hit. Fairies have low defense, but their agility is awesome.



Octopi finally come close, and even use their special attack - Strangling Tentacles. It hits like a spear - two spaces in a direction, it's strong and can cause Confusion status. Thankfully, it didn't this time. The animation it makes is a whirlwind around a character (and the character spins as well).



One of the octopi is finished by Iku's rapier. Also, the water level has risen, but we're fine.



This mermaid was... Well, she was casting Lullaby on Patchy all the time. You know, wizard, the high-INT unit with best magic defense in my team. Actually, I'm not sure whether status effects have constant chances or are affected by the target's stats, but she wasn't successful even once.



Tenshi finishes the last octopus. It's only Aerial now.



I decided to try attacking with a spear through an ally. First Alphonse counterattacked, then Aerial counterattacked through him. Bad idea, but hitting two people at once gave Reimu the Lancer emblem, which she'll need.



On her turn after that, Aerial suicided on Alphonse's axe. Seriously, she had low health, but instead pulling back and healing (which she already did during the battle) or staying in the same spot and hitting Alphonse in the back, she moved where he could counter her. Also, for the last few turns, she attacked Alphonse exclusively, even though she had better alternatives like going behind our lines. But no, she decided to channel a certain other "strongest".



After being defeated, she keeps showing off her toughness, even berating Alphonse when he tries to persuade her he wants to resolve things peacefully.



Except her fighting was pointless anyway. She even freaks out at hearing it (seriously, her sprite's quite expressive during this scene).



Aww, just look at her hanging her head...



This is the mermaid leader. She explains the Sacred Spear's history. 400 years ago, humans came to the islands, and a war between them and mermaids started. Mermaids weren't winning.



(Wow, that's a gruesome scene.)

But their leader at the time... well, she just disappeared, and the Sacred Spear was found where she used to be. Using it, the mermaids renewed their battle.



But one day, the spear was stolen by a mermaid that fell in love with a human. The mermaids gave up and retreated to the hard-to-reach Rana Sea. Now they no longer want to fight and regret the needless casualties the continued fighting resulted in, so they're fine if we keep the spear. They don't know where it is, but the mermaid that stole it had golden scales. Well, it's a clue.

Anyway, time for some upgrades.



This place has a shop, and shops are usually run by the same-looking woman, but this one is run by a mermaid. A nice touch.



Reimu finally changes class, and Lancer emblem was one of the requirements. Besides using two attack spells, Valkyries passively give a performance boost to male allies nearby (please ignore the fact there's only one male in the group, okay? ^^;) and have good movement on snow. Yes, we'll have snowy maps later.



: I'm back! ...Huh? Reimu got a cool new outfit?

: Yeah, the mermaids were impressed with our fighting, so, because we went easy on their friends, they taught me a few tips for using a spear and gave me some clothes that better fit that fighting style.

: Wow. That's nice of them.

: But you know, I've been wondering... Why the spear, Reimu?

: Well, I couldn't use my magic here and that was the closest possible thing to poking with gohei. Not like I regret the choice. Also, I did figure out how to use my magic.

: Look, I already explained you. It doesn't matter if you shout Fantasy Seal and Evil-Sealing Circle, those are still normal elemental spells that you're using.

: Whatever. But you know, I still can't figure out one thing.

: What is it?

: WHY THE HELL AM I SUDDENLY BLONDE?!

: You're not the only one, you know. It'll be back to normal when we return home. ...I hope.

: So, anything else happened while I had my history lesson?

: I noticed the purple-haired mermaid we fought earlier giving us strange looks from afar. I couldn't tell what exactly was on her mind, but it's troubling.

: I don't think there's anything to worry. By the way, check out my new weapon.



Each class has a preferred weapon type. Using a preferred weapon gives a small damage bonus, but in this game every small bit counts. For a beast tamer it's a whip, and it's quite a formidable weapon. Actually, it's a bit stronger than a longsword, an axe, a hammer or a spear. Also, it can hit two squares away in one direction as well, but unlike spear it hits only the nearest target.



: ...You ...don't mean...

: A... whip? Really?

: Make no mistake, it's a serious weapon in skilled hands.

: Hey, can you put out a candle with it?

: Dunno, let's try sometime.

: It's probably a bad idea if you say that.

With things here done, we start our return, but at Arena we meet totally-not-Ariel again.



She learned the history behind the spear as well. She can't comprehend how someone could do such a thing for love, but also thanks us for helping Minerva, so she wants us to show her that there are humans that mermaids can trust.

But you know what? I have a different suspicion. Her obsession with Alphonse during battle, her tirade to him afterwards, a pretty flimsy reason to join us...

I think she's head over fins for Alphonse.

: Are you sure that's the actual reason you want to join? And not a personal interest in me?

: Wha... Sh-shut up, human! Or I'll stab you in the back! With my spear! ...Really! ...I-I will!

: Okay, okay, but I meant more like an interest to see how I'll use the Sacred Spear and make sure it's not for something evil that will harm mermaids as well.

: Oh... W-well... Yes. Yes, that as well.

: Alright, but do you really want to go? I mean, we'll be traveling on rough terrain, with little water along the way...

: Look, human, you probably somehow missed that, but our sanctuary is made of stone. We can move on ground just fine. And while we can live in water, it doesn't mean we have to. We don't need any more water than you humans.

: Oh, that's good, I wouldn't want you to go through needless trouble for us. Well, I felt your strength first-hand, and we could use your aid, so welcome, Ariel!

: Stupid human! My name is Aeri--

: Yes, I know. But why don't you pick up an alias while you're with us? That way, you can deny taking part in our journey if you're disappointed with it.

: That sounds shady... but... I guess you do have a point...

: Great! And if something troubles you, don't hesitate to speak up, okay?

: ...All right.



We get her just as she was when we fought her as a boss. Mermaids quite obviously have an advantage in water, but also move better on snow. That might be quite useful later. Since her INT is so high, her Lullaby is AOE. One thing to note is that non-humans have SP instead of MP. It's functionally the same, except it only regenerates naturally, no magic leaves. Now, for equipment. Trident is a bit stronger than pike, but she can keep it for now. Thunder Chain is a chainmail made for air-element characters - it gives a bit of earth resistance, so she can keep it as well. Amulet adds INT and prevents Petrification status. This one goes to Patchy since she could make better use of it.

A few characters reached lv.10 by this point, so with Aerial's help I bring everyone else to that level as well.



Now we need to report to Cybil, then we can decide what to do next.

[CyberAngel]

Oops. Time for our first random battle.



The enemy force isn't too impressive, just six units at levels 9-12. Ninja, hawkman and dragon tamer have chainmails, though, so it's worth to invite them. Plus two more blue dragons for Iku's herd.



It's a good time to show off the new spells. Reimu's Fireball is a standard missile spell.



I forgot to mention it, but I gave the knights Lightning Bow, a virtue-element missile spell. If they kept Heal, I'd end up using it all the time instead of having them attack. Healing is always useful, but a cleric can handle that. And even if not, that's just some additional challenge.

By the way, the hawkman has a pike, and shooting him with a missile from two spaces in a straight line results in a retaliation.



Since he reaches us first, everyone concentrates on him for a turn, and he ends up brought down to low health. He wisely accepts the offer to join. Meanwhile, the ninja tries to wreck our rear lines. Keyword - "tries".



He gets pummeled and agrees to join us as well.



Here's Reimu's AOE spell - Firestorm.



Hawkman shows off his special skill he gets at lv.10 - Thunder Arrow. It's a missile spell. Too bad he finishes the fairy, stealing the experience someone else could've gotten.



Dragon tamers (and probably beast tamers too) seem to be an exception to the "easy to persuade your own class" rule. She and one of her dragons are next who we concentrate on, and the dragon is easily persuaded to join us.



The enemy dragon tamer makes an unwise decision to end her turn waist-deep in water, where her defenses are way lower. Her former pet ends up freezing her with its icy breath.



It's no trouble to persuade the last dragon. (The ground below it has no grass because it was hit by a fireball.)



So, we return to Urodela, and... PFFFFFFFFFF... Ah, I'm sorry but this is ridiculous. Cybil was just standing bored in what looks like a storage shack as if she was waiting for us all this time, and we were away for days!

Anyway, we give her the information about the Sacred Spear, but she doesn't know where a golden-scaled mermaid can be. While Alphonse is no longer obligated to help her, he doesn't want to return to Rictor, wishing to see what he's worth by himself, so he decides to keep helping Cybil. That's actually understandable, since the fate of such a powerful weapon is a serious matter, and who knows what Rictor has in mind. Well, it's fine and all, but where do we find the golden-scaled mermaid?



Oh, that's right, we heard about her before. Time to make a trip back to Solea. Hopefully, we won't run into any trouble on the way.

[CyberAngel]

We reach Solea without a hitch, but it seems there will be trouble anyway.



The girl we look for is standing lonely on the beach. And she's visibly hurt.



She was punished by Father Hamen, the one who's supposed to look after her. When Alphonse asks her about the mermaid, she runs away, upset that he came "just for that". (Gee, what could she possibly mean?)



: I'm more surprised that YOU'RE here. Didn't you say you prefer working alone?

: Shut up and go fight them already.



Turns out Father Hamen already sold her out to them. What an awesome spiritual and parental figure he is.

By the way, the text box covers three more dragons of different elements.

: Ha, some more babies to add to my bunch!

: Iku, I'm happy with your enthusiasm, but this might be a bad idea this time. The enemy leader is a dragoon, and I heard they can kill dragons instantly with special moves. Do you want to risk losing them so quickly?

: Well, I think it's better to give them a chance to survive rather than just killing them ourselves.

: Good point. Go for it, then.



The battle starts quite troublesome, since everyone who can reach Eleanor concentrate on her, and she's unarmed and barely armored. Needless to say, she must survive.



Everyone concentrates on the dragon, and he's quickly added to our ranks.



Iku gets the Arbitration emblem for that. Nice, she'll help Alphonse with general persuasion from now on. Because, apparently, persuading beasts and dragons to do your bidding helps to learn how to do that with humans.

: How long do I have to wear this uncomfortable--

: *whipcrack*

: Okay, okay, I got your point, you can put that away.



Since AI-controlled Eleanor didn't pull back fast enough, she keeps getting sniped by enemy archers. Which puts them right in the thick of our forces, where it's easy to "convince" them to join our side. Good thing Alphonse and Reimu blocked the leader (only fliers and ninjas can scale a cliff that tall).



One archer is persuaded, the other gets somewhat damaged, but not enough to get a good chance.



Green dragons have poisonous breath. Poison deals a bit of damage each turn. Ivy, with almost 200 HP, was getting 7-14 each turn. Not too impressive, honestly.



The dragon we persuaded is a thunder dragon, and its thunder breath causes stun. It's like sleep (which blue dragons' icy breath causes, by the way), but better due to not wearing off when hit.



The other archer is convinced by Youmu.



Next we concentrate on the blue dragon, and it's persuaded to join as well.



The red dragon has fiery breath, which causes confusion. The confused unit is out of control and can attack anyone, but any hit removes this status. Luckily, Youmu decided to attack the very same red dragon.



Allied dragons decide to concentrate on the green one. It's still stunned, and it turns out you can't persuade a stunned enemy. Which makes sense, they can't do anything, seeing and hearing included. Unfortunately, it's brought close to dying, and our dragons would finish it next turn, so Reimu finishes it herself to at least get the experience.

: Sorry, it was more of a mercy kill than anything.

: You can't help it, I guess, babies went overboard.



Red dragon gets persuaded next. Now it's only the boss. ...And he can reach any of the dragons. Uh-oh.



Thankfully, he goes after Iku, apparently angry at her taking away his pets, but she's ready to face him.

: Fool! You can rule through terror alone for long! A soft hand and kind words are much more effective, as you see!



The dragons go straight at him and risk their lives, but their breath softens him up considerably. He is felled by Iku's magic.



After battle, Cybil explains everything to Eleanor, and she tells that she knows Berevra - the golden mermaid, and agrees to lead us to her. But she also wants to go with us. Honestly, I can't blame her, so we agree without hesitation.



The place is half the island away, so let's stop at Scabellum for shopping and organizing.



: Let me guess, you have some treats for us?

: I love smart girls. Here, one of the archers had a special hat. It will look good on you.



Actually, we already can buy a headgear, Plumed Headband, that is almost the same stat-wise, but this one might or might not have some additional effect since it says it "improves attentiveness".

: Ooh, do you have something for me as well?

: Yes. The enemy leader had this blade. It's stronger than the swords we have, and it seems to be even stronger against dragons, so you can take it.



: Oh cool! I can't wait to test it on some!

: ...

: Ah, sorry, Iku. Don't worry, I didn't mean yours.

: By the way, I've bought a present for you as well.

: Oh? Thank you.



Estoc is just slightly better than rapier, but we have enough cash at this point for this to be no problem to afford.

: Next, Sanae, I've bought a stronger healing spell for you.



It's that AOE heal the cleric boss had. It takes more MP to cast, but it's both stronger and heals up to 5 people.

: Great, this should make keeping everyone healed easy. I had my hands full during the last battle.

: Lastly, one of the dragons had another "dragon eye" ring. Patchy, it should be a good upgrade for your amulet.

: It is, thank you.

So, after training everyone to lv.11, we go towards the new destination.

[CyberAngel]

Dammit, game!



There's also a beast tamer off-screen. I don't think there's any point in showing how this trivial battle turns out. Suffice to say we came out with two griffins, one dragon and a few spare chainmails.



Eleanor leads us on the shortest route to our destination through lava-filled mountainscape.



We encounter some gremlins (basically, evil fairies), hawkmen, red dragons and a cerberus.

: Hmm... Iku, it's about time to see what our pets are capable of.

: !

: I thought you'd never say that!

: I also want that puppy.

: P-puppy? That looks more like a hellhound...

: You see a hellhound, I see a puppy.



We start at the top of the mountain, so we wait for the enemies to come to us, making a nice formation of three ice dragons and three griffins. AI-controlled Eleanor tries to help with her bow as well. Strangely, half of the enemies decide to pull back, and even fliers are in no rush to reach us.



The griffins got their special ability, so it's time to show it off. Windstorm is a standard plus-shaped AOE spell that looks like a ball lightning. It's quite costly (20 SP, which takes 2 turns to generate), but we waited up there long enough to afford it.



The hawkman that reached us first was softened up by frosty dragon breath, but persuading him fails. So he gets Iku's lightning bolt for his trouble.



Next, a gremlin and a hawkman come closer. I don't bother with the former and he gets another bolt from Iku. Meanwhile, dragons (slowly) cross the lava crack since red dragons go up along that side. The game doesn't allow walking or standing on lava (thank goodness), only jumping or flying/floating over it.



The hawkman gets softened by griffins' windstorms, after which Alphonse does a pirouette off one griffin's back. Animals are useful, aren't they?



The hawkman is impressed.



One red dragon is surrounded and persuaded to join, the other decides to pull back again.



Meanwhile, Alphonse meets the cerberus near the center. It uses its fiery mesmerizing (causes sleep) breath. Its breath is strong enough to become a T-shaped AOE - one square right in front of it, three more one square away.



Griffins, lightning balls and seasoned handler's hands tame the mutt.



Meanwhile, Iku jumps closer to finish off the last gremlin.



Hunting down the last dragon is no trouble. The battle ends, and Iku gets the Centurion emblem, awarded for killing every enemy with one character (persuaded units not included, thankfully).



Eleanor and Alphonse come to where the golden mermaid lives. They're alone to make sure it stays a secret.



But Rictor and Father Hamen catch up. When Eleanor refuses to go back...



...he shows his "love" by slapping her. Boy, is he lucky I don't have a bladed weapon, or I'd cleave him in half on the spot, priest or not!

Rictor openly admits the Sacred Spear (named Longicolnis *facepalm*) was the goal of the mission, and has his troops attack Alphonse for getting in the way.



However, one purple flash later...



It actually came from her necklace, given to her by Berevra. Unfortunately, more soldiers come in.



In case you forgot the first battle, he can't.



Welp. And so, our heroes die.



Or not.



She explains that she found Eleanor near a burned village and later gave her to a couple in Sotavento. When we explain why we need the spear, she tells us the location. We also pass a message from Chloeri, her sister, that they want her to return, which brings the golden mermaid to tears.

Thus ends the first chapter of the story, and with it the rainy summer.

[CyberAngel]

Some time passes between chapters. Rananculus troops withdraw from Anser, Felis soldiers prepare to return home, and Alphonse & co. stay at Formido.



He took only a few people with him, leaving main forces behind, and Alphonse decides to follow him. Besides, the place where the Sacred Spear is hidden lies that way as well. Eleanor, while reluctant to go that way, doesn't want to be left behind. It's actually important to allow her to join

Spoiler:

or you can say "goodbye" to good endings

, but I decided to wait a bit with choosing what class to make her since she joins as a simple Soldier.



: So, how are you girls doing?

: Everyone got a good rest. They're happy to know we're finally starting a new journey.

: Actually, Tenshi was so bored that she went to explore the dungeon and we had to break her out of some contraption she got herself into.

: Can you blame me? There are all sorts of exciting things down there!

: Listen, I have a few complaints. Why don't you let me fight?

: Don't worry, your time will come. You'll fight so much you won't be able to lift your arms afterwards. Enjoy your rest while you can.

: Rest?! How can I rest when there's a horde of dragons constantly lurking nearby? Or a flock of griffins flying overhead like they're hunting us? Or that hound howling all night?

: I can understand everything, but howling? Please, it's not that bad.

: Yeah, nobody else minds that, and it actually sounds so soothing... Oh, I get it! You're just scared!

: Sh-shut up! Why don't you go hug it if you like it so much?

: I would, but I'm not allowed to.

: It's still a ferocious beast, you know.

: But you pet it all the time without trouble!

: That's because I'm the one who tamed it. By the way, Iku, looks like we have a lot of dragons already.

: Yeah, I even lose track of some of them on occasion.

: You might want to consider releasing a few. It becomes hard to travel with all of them in tow.

: Ugh... All right, I'll think about that.



Someone took hold of Vespa again, and that's where the main quest leads us. But there are also two other points of interest. To the south is Gryllus forest, which Rictor failed to go through. Behind it lies the village of Blete, which was burned down 15 years ago as well. To the West is the fortress of Belleza. Both places have a powerful spellcaster that can join after being defeated. But I won't visit those. I don't feel like making the game trivial.



At Vespa, we meet a beast tamer with a lot of pets. ...This is actually troubling. We already saw the abilities of griffins and cerberi, but cockatrices make their debut, and they have PETRIFYING breath. This effect is pretty much an instant death unless cured before battle ends. I don't even want to have them in my party since I heard petrified enemies don't drop loot (and no experience for the kill either). By turn 3 we'll be hit with all those AOE attacks at once. This will be a hard battle.



: Iku, I'll be frank, there may be casualties, but your dragons are the toughest and have the best chance of survival.

: I understand. They'll do their best.

: And I'm fighting as well? Finally! I'll show you what I'm made of!

: Ariel, prepare your singing voice.

: ...What?

: We need as many of them asleep as possible. I'm counting on you.

: ...All right.

She has enough INT to have her Lullaby skill expanded to that plus-shaped AOE, so it should be very useful here.



The start isn't bad. Cerberi hang back for some reason while cockatrices rush straight at us. And we're ready to meet them. Dragons' breath, while still short-range, is very powerful (60+ damage!) and brings one to low health while everyone else pound on the other. Thankfully, their breath requires 25 SP, so we have one more turn to deal with them. Unfortunately, their boss uses a healing item on one, and bringing their health down without dragon breath proves to be a problem.



Turns out facing influences the chance of status effects as well. From the back, it would have around 40% chance. In this situation it was only 20% chance. Against all odds, Ariel puts both chickens to sleep. My hat's off for this mermaid.



Also, one somewhat damaged griffin decides to switch sides.



Then the cerberi reach us and put two of the dragons to sleep while the boss wakes up one cockatrice. Status effects (except petrification and poison) can randomly wear off at the start of the turn, so we have to finish what we started right now.



Everyone does all they can (Ariel stabbed one chicken with her trident through the boss so hard it got pushed back!) and Patchy manages to bury both rock-breathing birds under her own rocks. She gets the Philosopher's Stone emblem for finishing two enemies with one spell.



But the turn almost ends in a disaster anyway. Cerberi use their breath again and Alphonse gets hit by all three, almost dying. He does tame one of them afterwards.



Out of the other two, only one falls asleep from Ariel's spell. Also, Heal Plus proves vital as Sanae heals everyone who needed aid in one go, including herself (she got quite a slap from the boss that turn).



Next turn results in another cerberus on our side as everyone else concentrates on the third one.



The following turn both it and the boss get some taste of fiery breath themselves, after which it joins us easily.

Now, at this point there still was one hostile griffin around (which was barely any trouble compared to the dogs), but the boss is at critical health already, and he's likely to be killed by allied units next turn, so we finish him now.



Patchy gets the kill... and Centurion emblem.

With all the beasts, our team almost reaches maximum capacity, so one griffin and two dragons are released into the wild.

But there's something else that happens in the aftermath of this battle. Something that makes us backtrack to Scabellum for some shopping.



Siren class requires that Philosopher's Stone emblem. It's basically a wizard with slightly better growth rates, but also she can cast... well, you'll see it soon enough.

Also, her preferred weapon is a fan, a physical weapon unlike staves that mostly just add INT. So why would a spellcaster use a weapon? Well, I forgot to mention the effect Centurion emblem has - adding a whooping 20 STR! The damage ends up being quite nice.



: A fan? Seriously? What will you do, dance in front of the enemy?

: It's a metal fan made of sharp blades, you know.

: And you wouldn't believe what even a simple fan could do in the right hands.

: Meh.

: But Patchy, are you sure you'll be fine fighting physically?

: Yeah, you had enough trouble just traveling around with us.

: I admit, it was quite hard at first. But fresh air and constant movement had their effect, I guess. After that rest at Formido, I realized my body didn't feel so good in a long time. So I'll be fine, but thank you for your concern.



So, time to go through the Naja forest, straight into Rananculus territory.

[CyberAngel]

For reasons I hope I'll have a chance to show off, Eleanor is best made a class with a high INT growth, so it's either a cleric or a wizard for her. I like Sanae having a monopoly on healing, so Eleanor becomes our water-element mage. With this, we have spellcasters for all four basic elements.

So, now it's time to--



what



Huh, looks like a fairy in trouble. Well, why don't we help her? The battle is trivial. We come out with three new dragons. Also, Eleanor got Philosopher's Stone emblem but can't change into Siren since starting as a Soldier resulted in her having half as much MP compared to Patchy, so that is delayed until she meets the requirement.



After battle, the fairy, named Glycinia, says she looks for her sister, Lubina, and asks to join us.

: Hmm... What can you do?

: Well, I can kiss you if you don't feel well or hug you if you're tired.

: Sounds useful. You're in.

: Yay ~<3

Now, the thing about Glycinia is that you can meet her at different spots in different times, and she has different equipment on her in each case, including one extremely good item. In this encounter, she had a unique whip on her. Guess who it goes to.



: Hey, that shiny thing is mine!

: A longbow would fit you better.

: You want to give me just a simple bow for my treasure? No way!

: Look, it would be too dangerous for you to go face-to-face against someone. Your dodging might be good, but I'd hate to see what happens if it does fail.

: Huh? So you're worried about me? Aww, gosh... Alright, you can have my precious thing ~<3



Thought I was kidding about kissing and hugging? Not at all. The Kiss cures status effects, and the Embrace gives a second turn! Given her mobility, this should be very useful.

In other news, I train everyone to lv.13 and release one cerberus, one griffin and four dragons. The remaining ones will stay with us for the rest of the game.



Okay, NOW it's time to go through Naja forest.



Rictor left some of his people to meet us. The siren is the leader, and she and Alphonse know each other. ...Wait, all enemies are female? Anyway, let's try to persuade as many as possible since they have very good equipment.



We start in an area surrounded by swamp which would take time to get over. So what do we do? That's right, use it for our advantage! We'll wait for them to come to us and give our spellcasters time to charge a lot of MP and chance of free shots while the enemy is busy crossing the swamp. The impassable forest in the middle makes sure the offence will be split and easier to manage.

...Well, that's what I thought, but only the knights go straight at us, everyone else hangs back. Oh well, that makes it easier.



I think Ice Field has the best AOE animation since the enemy ends up half-frozen before ice on them shatters and deals damage.



It takes both Ivy and Tenshi to persuade the first knight, but they do it.



Also, good news, Reimu finally has enough INT to have her AOE spell expanded. Youmu does too, by the way.



The second knight is easily persuaded. Now it's time to cross the swamp ourselves.



The enemy spellcasters do come closer to meet us and bombard us with AOE spells. One wizard has Ice Javelin and Firestorm, the other has Air Blade and Crag Crush. But the boss has a new kind of spell. What could have an AOE this big?



Meet the Gnome, a summon spell. Looks scary, doesn't it? But in reality, it isn't. It does about 10 hits (depends on user's INT), but each blast hits only one person, chosen randomly from everyone, friend or foe, who happened to be within the AOE. The individual hits aren't too strong, dealing about 20 damage each, and also they can MISS. The best way to use such spells is to target only one low-AGI enemy, but AI likes to target groups with it, which spreads the damage and makes it less of a danger.



We press onward and deal with the witch first since she has a paralyzing spell. Reimu got hit with it, but luckily recovered on her turn, and we don't want her to mess with our forces any more than that. One strike with a whip is enough to convince her accept Reimu's offer to join us (witches, valkyries and sirens seem to be on good terms with each other).

Meanwhile, the wizards split, and one comes closer to snipe our spellcasters still on the other side of the swamp.



All that does is makes it easy to convince her to switch sides.



Only three spellcasters remain, including the boss. Ariel manages to put a cleric to sleep, and the wizard wastes her turn to wake her up. Meanwhile, the boss is damaged enough to make her pull back and use healing items. We're controlling the situation now.



The witch casts Fascination, which charms the enemy wizard. Charm is like confusion, but the affected unit attacks their allies instead of just anyone. Ariel puts both enemy spellcasters to sleep to make sure they don't mess anything. Then the witch paralyzes them. Meanwhile, the boss has her ass kicked just enough to keep healing herself all the time. Instead of controlling, we're now DOMINATING the battle.



We decide not to risk letting the paralyzed girls recover, so the cleric is dealt with while the wizard is cured and persuaded. It's just the boss now.

...Wait, didn't we forget someone?



The female soldier (seriously, why would anyone still be one this late in the game?) tried to shoot people with a bow, but ends up drawing attention of her former knight comrade. Tenshi and Patchy end her suffering since she was using healing items by this point as well.



Alphonse finishes the boss. Seems by this point the stat growth difference the classes have becomes relevant.



Next, we're shown a cutscene. Naris Batraal orders for Rictor to be welcomed as a guest, but plans to find the spear before him, while Nichart is sent to deal with us.



: It's the best time of the day. Guess which time that is.

: Time to divide the loot!



Ivy gets the claymore, a two-handed weapon. It means dropping the shield, but she gets the new plate mail to compensate. Another plate mail goes to Alphonse. There's also an Earth Shield for Tenshi, which is better than the usual tower shield and, like all element-infused equipment, provides a bonus to offset the elemental weakness, but it's also much heavier and is put aside for now.



Ariel gets our first actual helmet that, unlike previous headgear, provides a sizable defense boost. And Ariel is the only one that isn't slowed down too much by its weight.



Iku gets a Spell Robe. It has a bit less defense than a chainmail, but it also gives an INT bonus. Also, it's lighter, which allows her to pick up the Thunder Shield. We had it since the end of chapter 1, but it's also much heavier than the normal tower shield. (I also needed to train her a bit so that her AGI is high enough for her movement range not to drop.) There's also another Spell Robe, and Reimu gets it.



Ice Wand is a staff that gives more INT than the usual one and has an element bonus (and can also cast Ice Field, but that can break it). Water Garb is a bit better than Spell Robe and also has an element bonus. Pointy Hat is like a bandanna, but with more protection. Overall, just the suit for the ice-element wizard.



Earth Wand is a bit worse than Ice Wand, but still good and comes with an element bonus (and a spell we shouldn't use) as well.

: ...

: Is something wrong?

: ...No, nothing. Just those hats reminding me of something unpleasant.

: Let me guess... A book-stealing rat?

: I hope our cats do a better job just as I instructed them.

Last but not least, Patchy get the Gnome spell. It requires 35 MP, but we can use those Magic Leaves if we REALLY need it.



Our next stop is at Sotavento.

[CyberAngel]

Wait, how did he get here so fast?

Whatever. Besides Nichart, who is an extremely competent spear user, we're up against three valkyries, two knights, a witch and a priest, who is a step up from a cleric.



I decide to wait for the enemy, and it works. Two valkyries and the knights come while everyone else stays away. Valkies decided to stand close to each other, making AOE spells very effective. One gets damaged enough to be easily persuaded to join.



The other valkyrie pulls back, and a witch decides to approach. Ariel tries to put them asleep, but fails. On the other hand, everyone concentrates on the knights, so Ivy and Tenshi manage to persuade both. Tenshi also gets the Arbitration emblem. ...I think I'll stop mentioning those since, with how many people we persuade, a lot of girls will be getting them by now.



The witch comes close to try charming everyone in the back. Not only does she fail at that, she also stands on the cliff edge. Tenshi quickly gets up to her (that's why I keep my troops as mobile as possible!) and pushes her down. A whip from Alphonse and a few words from Reimu and Patchy later, she joins us.



Finally, Nichart decides to go up close instead of throwing Ice Javelins. It's a good thing he stayed away for so long, since his strikes are EXTREMELY damaging, even on our physical units. He's dealt with by being pushed into water, where he's easier to hit. Meanwhile, the second valkyrie is persuaded, and the third one follows next turn. Nichart does get back on the bridge on his turn... only to be pushed off to the other side. Now the path is clear to deal with the priest.



All this time the poor old guy was just running back and forth back there, barely healing anyone, despite having Heal Plus. We don't have a class that could persuade him easily, so units with Arbitration emblem are sent after him.



Nichart (who is somewhere behind the bridge and all the people on it) is finished by an allied valkyrie and hightails it again.



After the battle, Eleanor tells us about her life here. Her parents were good, but she was bullied for being an adopted child. After they died, nobody could protect her anymore.



First thing they tried to do was taking away her necklace. A purple flash saves the day.



Or rather, ruins everything. They chased her out of town, and Eleanor ran all the way to Solea.

Afterwards, Alphonse and Cybil visit the place where Berevra left the Sacred Spear.



It's not there, but Alphonse finds something else and asks Cybil to spread a rumor he has the Sacred Spear.

The loot is mostly what we've already seen. Two more plate mails and iron helmets, a trident for Reimu, one Robe of The wise, one Pointy Hat. There's only one new item.



...which is just a Water Garb with a different flavor.



But Sanae can finally turn into a priest herself! ...Actually, there's barely any difference, just that she can use some good spells now that a cleric can't. Like Resurrection (taken from the priest we persuaded), which works just like an altar item. I also bought her Full Heal, which does just what it says, but has no range so the healer has to be next to his target to balance its strength.



Yes, I'm swimming in money now. How did I get so much? Sold all spare chainmails.

...This update looks too small. Let's do the next map as well.



We meet Orson again. He asks for the Spear, but he and Alphonse show respect for each other. We still have to fight. ...Also, this looks like a male-only counterpart to Naja battle.

The gray-haired dudes are Swordmasters, a new male-only class.



We hang back again, but everyone is hesitant to attack us. Except one archer...



...and the dragon. Well, if they don't want to come over, we will.



The enemy forces respond by clumping together like they WANT to be blasted by AOE spells. Which Youmu, Reimu and Ariel do. Glycinia's hug comes in handy here.

Speaking of which, Ariel got another ability at lv.15 - Cheer. It gives an awesome 50 AGI bonus for a few turns, which works wonders if someone's accuracy or dodging isn't good enough.



Next turn, the enemy is broken completely. Reimu persuades a swordmaster (valkyries are on VERY good terms with them), Youmu persuades a ninja, and after a small argument from Alphonse, Alice persuades the other one.



The remaining swordmaster decides to rush the dragon and gets fried by his former teammates.



Orson is barely any trouble alone.



After the battle, Cybil leaves us to look into something. It's clear that neither Rictor nor Naris have the Spear since the rumor worked, but we might learn something from them.

We got some new loot, but nothing really impressive. Youmu gets Thunder Chain. Reimu gets Flame Leather (which looks like leather armor but is as tough as chainmail). Alice gets Forest Boots, which look like they're a part of a set along with that Sherwood Hat. Glycinia gets Thunder Bow. Ivy gets an earth-element katana.



The battles were a bit unimpressive this time, but that won't last. Now we approach Ostorea Castle, the seat of power in Rananculus. It will be a hard multi-part battle. Let's do our best.

[CyberAngel]

Rictor is visited by Malicia, Naris' niece. ...Hmm, so she's Ivanna's sister?.. Anyway, she warns him about her uncle scheming behind his back.



As they're about to go for a walk, Naris enters and warns Rictor about our approach. He agrees to defend the castle as well.



Meanwhile, Alphonse and Ivanna plan the attack. There are two entrances, and Alphonse suggests to split the forces.

: Are you sure? We don't have a lot of people and only one healer. I guess Tenshi and I could pick up healing spells and--

: No need. I have a plan. You girls go to the west gate. I'll take the south one.

: ...Alone?

: Yes.

: You can't be serious! Take at least someone with you!

: Well, alright. Patchouli should be enough for backup.

: ...I hope you know what you are doing.



I suggest you play this theme when this screen appears.

Due to awesome interface design, the second point is behind the letters. Anyway, Alphonse will go to the first map we choose, so we'll do south gate first.



Nichart waits there, accompanied by the two sorcerers we saw before, Cirvante and Lethe. Cirvante teleports out, but Lethe stays to help.



: Ooh, I'm SO scared.

: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIm5dPp-Owo



: You should be.

Nichart is the same as before, except we do have to take him head-on this time. Lethe is a spellcaster.



On our lever there are two Duke Knights, very tough fighters with strong defenses, both physical and magical, who can't be persuaded to join.



Right path is guarded by a siren and a witch.



Left path has a siren and a priest.



We wait at the bottom and, sure enough, melee fighters charge first while everyone else hangs back. They even stand close enough to be blasted by all the AOE abilities we have. That damages them heavily, but they still stand, and the animals are out of SP. On their turn the knights split up and flee to the sides, healing as they go.



I try to have the griffins keep the pressure on one of the knights, but both siren and Lethe come close and blast them with their AOE spells, weakening them considerably. Then Nichart finishes one with his Ice Javelin.



Going after the other one is more successful, the siren on the left decides to stay away. Patchy finishes the knight.



The griffins try to punish the spellcasters that came too close with their own AOE, but another griffin falls to an icicle from above.



The siren gets really cocky and comes even closer. Unfortunately for her, everyone from the left came to the aid. No time is wasted to deal with her as soon as possible.



The remaining griffin, in critical health, bravely diverts Nichart's attention, but its luck is not eternal.



That does buy us the time to deal with Lethe, who teleports out.



Despite our attempts, one knight still stands, mostly thanks to having a Heal spell that is better than Healing Leaves. He and the witch are put to sleep by cerberus breath, but one falls when Nichart is done with the griffin.



Witch wasn't too much trouble, trying to cast an AGI debuff on Patchy all the time.



We also finally manage to bring down the second knight.

Going up to face Nichart is too dangerous, so everyone dashes to the left path. He still rains icicles on us, but I finally have the time to use healing items (beasts can use them too). Except I run out of Healing Leaves fast, and don't want to use the few Healing Seeds (restore 100 HP) that I have.



We do manage to get up while Nichart stays on the right path, unsure whether to go up or down. The siren is put to sleep, and we deal with the priest. She barely did anything, only healing herself once when we reached her. She has a rare and extremely damaging virtue spell, but she never used it.



When Patchy catches up, I decide to not even bother with waking up and persuading the siren. The cerberi barely hold Nichart back by now.



One falls by his hand. Patchy pours all those MP she managed to generate into summons. ...Which only do five hits. It'll take a while before it's awesome in our hands, it seems.



Our efforts are enough to bring him down before he makes any more trouble, thankfully.

...Victory...

: Well, what do you know. We managed to take the gate all by ourselves!

: ...

: Hm? You're not satisfied that your plan worked?

: Of course I'm not! How could I allow so many losses? This could have been avoided if I did things differently...

: Possibly. Possibly not. What's done is done, and it worked good enough. There's no point to dwell on it.

: ...

: Listen, I know luck has been on our side until now, but nothing lasts forever. It's important to keep moving when things go sour. Otherwise there's no hope for success.

: Well... true...

: Don't get me wrong, I found those beasts quite interesting myself. You gave them a chance to be useful instead of just slaying them, and they did their best. They gave us this victory, so we need to make it count.

: Yeah, I guess. At least we can be sure that our comrades at the other gate have better luck.

[Serela]

Daaang, 4(?) unit losses. At least they were only beasts that you'd recruited a ridiculous amount of XD

[CyberAngel]

: Are you girls ready?

: Are you sure it was a good idea to let him go to the other gate without much help?

: He wouldn't take any more with him. But that strange glint in his eye showed he had a trick up his sleeve. Either way, we'll know it after we do our part here.





: Is that an acquaintance of yours?

: She was my sword instructor, and she helped me flee to the south to hide from my uncle.

: Man, fighting your friends sucks.

: Says the one who fought a lot of people at once to make friends.

: Some playful shoving and danmaku throwing can't compare to fighting to the death. I know where to draw the line.

: Even though I'd rather not, I'll do what I have to. If the rumors of my uncle's ambitions are true, he'll lead the country into ruin. I won't forgive myself for that.



: Hmm... Archers, hawkmen... And who's that?

: Warlock. Like a witch but male and good at melee combat.



: Watch out for those Duke Knights, they're hard to bring down.

: So, what's the battle plan?



: How about waiting for them? It worked all those times.

: You're quite laid back, aren't you? You do understand we're SIEGING the castle?

: Shut up or you're leading the charge.



: That's a nice-looking bow. Girls, would you kindly keep that guy alive and invite him to join us, please?

: OW! Why does he keep shooting ME, of all people? That's it, we're moving out!



: They all hanged back, so we had to come very close...

: Oh, look, some guys got down and clumped together. You know what that means?

: Area-effect spells go!



: Wha... What's this?

: Slumber Mist! Hold your breath until it dissipates!

: Ha! I'm not afraid of any... slee...py... *snore*

: This girl...

: All the guys still stand! We'd be done by now, but one knight has that area-effect healing spell!

: Keep up with the attack, you girls deal more damage than he can heal!

: And I heal more damage than they can deal, so we can stay here all day!

: OW!!! Damned archers! I'll skewer you with my trident!



: OUCH! You'll be sorry you woke me up!

: Morning, princess.

: Whoops!

: Gh... I could use some help, this guy is too strong!

: Everyone, bring him down now!



: Got him!

: My thanks. I've put the other one out of commission for some time.



: Don't you dare hurt my friends!

: Wow, you're actually better than us!

: Huh? I'm... the strongest?

: Seems that way. Could be simply because of the weather, but still.



: Payback time!

: We should deal with that warlock next, but he's too good with that sword...



: Don't lo-ose yo-our WA-A-AY!



: Splendid!



: Ha! Thought I was an easier target? Think again!

: Time to deal with the last knight!



: Bite the dust!

: Get your foot off my shoulder.

: Great. Now get someone to the archers.



: I'll keep them busy from here.

: I'll help.

: Thanks, don't want them to start shooting ME!

: One more joke about that and I'll--

: Chill. Sanae will keep healing you.

: I know it's my job, but taking it for granted feels like an insult.



: Thank you, Margret... Youmu, go!

: I'm on it!



: Tenshi, watch out!

: Ha! Bring it on!



: OWOWOW!

: Tenshi! Hold on, I'm coming!

: Ha! Is that it? You'd have to do this three times to bring ME down!



: (So this is Atropos, the ultimate sword technique, so strong that it damages the user...)



: Here's the guy Alice wanted. I hope everyone down there is doing well.

: Blast, I can't land a hit!

: Pull back and throw magic at her!



: And done. Everyone should be wrapping it up as well.

: No! How did she run past me so fast?!

: She's going for the spellcasters!

: GYAAAAAH!

: Eleanor!

: I-I'm fine! It was just a sword strike!



: (No, I can't come close fast enough!)

: Margret, stop this! LIGHTNING BOW!







https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEJ8lpCQbyw

[CyberAngel]

: Hey, nice to see you two are fine! Your battle must have been quite something!

: ...

: We're fine, but it didn't go all that smooth, to say the least. How about you?

: ...

: Everyone's fine, but...

: There's no time to waste. To the throne room!



Rictor meets us in there. He explains that only Batraal rulers knew about the Spear (and Naris didn't until recently since he killed his brother, because come on, it's obvious enough), but the Duke of Felis was told about it 15 years ago as well. But now Rictor wants the power of the Spear for himself. Well, not like we can give what we don't have.

Let's start the battle as usual - waiting for enemies to come to us.



The all hang back, but Rictor eventually comes close enough to show off his Virtue-element summon - Ignis Fatuus.



...A ...squirrel?

Anyway, as usual, AI tries to hit as many targets as possible, spreading the damage thin. Without waiting any longer, we start advancing.



Enemies clump together, which is great for our AOE spells. Same could be said about us, but we outdamage and outheal them easily. Enemies do have healing spells, but only single-target ones. Plus Ariel's songs are pretty effective, and enemies always waste turns waking up their comrades.



The two knights are the first to fall. They have great armor, but we can't persuade them since they're special. How? Well, remember those two soldiers from the very first battle? It's them.



Next are the wizards. Ivanna tries out Atropos. It's about twice as strong as a normal hit, which is not all that impressive to warrant a sizable self-damage, but I guess sometimes that extra bit is useful.



By the way, look in the lower right corner. Yep, a Duke Knight is behind our lines. He actually has a ring that lets him teleport within his moving range, and he used that well. Except I'm not afraid of things like that, I keep my spellcasters well-armored as well. Everyone concentrates on him while Ivy and Tenshi continue their rampage on the front.



Witch is taken out quickly. She was quite a threat in this battle actually. She kept using Fascination, and since we stayed closely together, quite a few people were successfully charmed. Except Rictor kept throwing his magic squirrels at those very people, snapping them out of it. But that witch also had a Petrifying Cloud spell. Luckily, she used it only once, and nobody was affected.



It took a few turns to bring that Duke Knight down since remaining enemies kept healing him, but Ariel managed to hit him with Lullaby each turn.



Ivy and Tenshi softened the other one by then, and he made a mistake of rushing at us.



Chasing the lonely Rictor down was no trouble at all.



Alphonse shows him the fake Sacred Spear he had. No, I didn't miss explaining it earlier, this is literally the first time he shows it, there was only the talk about spreading the rumor before. You know, while this game's story is ambitious, and actually not all that bad, the WRITING is all over the place.

Anyway, Alphonse finally mentions what he found in the shrine - Lasanti family crest. Rictor has trouble remembering being there...



But Malicia comes out to help him. Ivanna is surprised to see her, while Alphonse... doesn't see her at all. Both of them try to persuade Rictor she's not real, but...



With just a gaze, she sends both of them flying. And so, our heroes die. Okay, it's not funny the third time.

Next up is the last map of Ostorea Castle, and the turning point of the story!

[CyberAngel]

Seems like Rictor and Malicia went down to the sealed family crypt. By blasting a hole in the wall nearby. Considering Rictor was quite beaten up by this point... Ivanna also mentions her sister died years ago. Who the "Malicia" we saw actually is, then?



Rictor remembers he dropped the spear fragment he found in the shrine into this crypt.



"Malicia" turns into a purple flame and possesses Rictor.



The entity calls itself Shaher, and the spear fragment is its part, which it needs to resurrect. Also, it seems possession makes you TALK IN ALL CAPS.



However, it can also summon angels!



Plus some more people come out of nowhere. Really, our forces are at the only entrance here at the moment, where were they hiding?

Anyway, this time enemies have some new equipment, so persuasion is a good idea again.



Most of our forces start on the left side while Alphonse starts in the middle. I try to bring them closer, but enemies don't hesitate to attack this time. One angel rushes at us, so we have to concentrate on her without much time to persuade her.



Something unusual and troubling happens - Rictor uses a summon on a single target. It was actually just luck, other enemies were simply too close for him to include more of our people. But this brings Ivy to near-death. She has to pull back so that Sanae could finally put that Full Heal spell to use.



A knight also came close quickly, but we manage to persuade him easily.



The other angel also came close, and after hitting her with all we have she is persuaded successfully as well.



The rest of the enemies come close to each other after we heavily damage and put to sleep two of them. That provides even better opportunities for our AOE spells. The valkyries and the warlock fall one by one on the same turn.



Second knight is also persuaded successfully.



Concentrating on Rictor is easy enough afterwards.



Regaining his control, he stabs himself.



The entity comes out and offers Alphonse power. It's not effective.



But Naris teleports in with Cirvante and takes the fragment before teleporting out.



Rictor is barely alive, but he uses his remaining strength to ask Alphonse to deal with the demon that possessed him.

Thus ends the second chapter. We're done with the political turmoil, but now we need to deal with a supernatural one. The last chapter will have us chasing down Naris and dealing with this "Shaher".

[CyberAngel]

Some time passes between chapters again. With all the possession and deal-with-the-devil things going on in the ruling family, people of Rananculus actually saw Alphonse and Ivanna as liberators. Naris is eventually tracked down. Time to prepare for one more trip.



Ivanna comes with us to deal with her uncle. Some research was also made, and it seems that this island is a prison for a fallen angel. To think we'll have to take care of someone like that...



Cybil is back, and also joins our forces for good.



She's like an even better Siren and comes with her own summon spell - Thunderbird.

Speaking of which...



: Wow, everything's so beautiful in winter!

: Uh huh. Except it's much harder to walk with all this snow.

: I don't know, I have no troubles with it.

: That's because you float just above it. Cheater.

: But seriously, Ariel, are you fine with having to move on freezing ground?

: Ha, don't underestimate mermaids! We have no trouble swimming in freezing water, and some snow is nothing compared to that. Actually, it's pretty easy for me to slide through it, so I won't fall behind anymore.

: Hey, we could use you as a sled!

: Try that and you'll taste my trident.

: Well, if you say you're fine...

: ...HATCHOO!

: ...Ariel.

: I-it's nothing serious! J-just inhaled a big snowflake! Really!

: Whatever. Well, time to go through the useful loot we got.



: I'd like to keep this blade. It's... personal.

: Well, it's air-elemented, but it's stronger than what you had, so no objections. By the way, Tenshi, we got some one-handed swords too. Any you like?

: No, but I can finally pick up that Earth Shield!



: It's great!

: Nice. Next, Iku.



: The angels we encountered had this rapier. Try it out.

: It's lighter, but stronger! Good one!



: Alice, here's the bow you girls got at the other gate, but the other archer had a special armor. You can have it too.

: Just what I need!



: Patchy, have a fan one of the sirens at our gate had. It looks strong.

: Indeed, but it also has an attractive aura. Interesting.



: Ariel, here's the spear Nichart had. It seems to be water-elemented.

: My thanks, it looks really strong.



: Reimu, one of the enemy valkyries had another spear. It's earth-elemented, but also quite strong.

: Hey, thanks! About time for an upgrade!

: Now, we--

: You're alright!



: Uh oh.



*Fairy's Embrace ensues*

: :blush:

: Okay, okay, you can stop now.

: What are you saying, I was so worried! And you didn't take me along! Don't leave me behind!

: Don't worry, I won't. Sheesh!

Also, Eleanor became a Siren and picked up the Ignis Fatuus summon, while Sanae replaced Resurrection with Divine Radiance, the powerful virtue-element attacking spell.

...All right, it's a difficult thing, but it must be done.



: Hah, some beast tamer I am. I failed you guys, didn't I? Sorry, Dogmeat, but I can't take you along anymore. It'd be even worse for you in winter.



: ...



: I SAID GET OUT OF MY SIGHT, YOU STUPID MUTT!

Really, beasts aren't all that strong or useful, so having them in party may not be the best idea, after all.

On the other hand, there are some good news as well.



: So your dragons have matured. About time.

: All that training paid off, it seems. I wonder what they're capable of now.

: They still have their elemental breath, but each type has unique strengths now.

: Interesting. What are these new types?

: The type depend on the dragon's alignment. The white quadripedal ones are called Mushus and are lawful dragons. They have no trouble moving through the snow.

: Ooh, they look amazing! Can I ride one?

: You just never learn, do you?

: The black bipedal ones are called Vrtra and are chaotic dragons. They're the only ones that can fly.

: Ah, they look so scary too...

: The golden legless ones are called Naga and are neutral dragons. They move in water with ease.

: Well, they all sound great, but I'm not sure we'll see a lot of water from now on, so...

: Well, what can we do?

: Actually, I noticed you had some alignment-changing items. Just use them to change the dragons into another type.

: Good idea.

Tome of Discipline moves a character's alignment one step towards Lawful, while Urn of Chaos moves it one step towards Chaotic. We have two of the former and one of the latter, so we got two more Mushus and one more Vrtra.



I trained everyone who was behind to lv.20 and noticed that experience gain is much slower at this point. This is the last time I train.

There's an optional map to the north, Rebanada, but I won't go there. Normal enemies are lv.25 there. My highest unit is lv.23. There's also an optional map near Formido, and that's where Glycinia's sister is, but we don't have time to go there.

: ;_;

: Look, we'll go there when we're done with current mess, okay?



At Harmonia, we finally face Cirvante and Lethe. But they have daemons with them!



What's more, Cirvante summons two Medusas! They have an Evil Eye spell which petrifies all enemies in front of her. ALL enemies. About time to start the panic.

...Except I have enough people that will be unaffected by it thanks to status-resisting items like Dragon Eyes, amulets that specifically give immunity to petrification, and shields (nice myth reference!).

Also, there are two giants to the sides. They're strong, but clumsy.



There's a good defense position near where we start, so we wait there. The melee enemies waste no time to go straight at us, but the snow slows them down so it takes them a few turns, at least. One giant quickly falls.



: Feel the awesome power of miracles! Daytime Guest Stars!

The blue-white shows off Divine Radiance. It's an unusual spell. It brings down most of enemy's health, but never kills the target. Also, its accuracy is always under 50%. She missed this time, but it's not a bad thing to blow off extra MP on if you have them.



Medusa shows off her Evil Eye. Yes, all that area is more or less where it hits, but it deals no damage. And we're not afraid of it.



WHY YOU MOTHERF-- That was a Snapdragon, a special scroll that can turn a character into a VERY strong sword. Oh well.



The stupid giant gets to be a guinea pig for Cybil's Thunderbird for his trouble. She can land 10 solid hits. It's not enough to kill him, but Patchy finishes the job.



Cirvante stays back, but Lethe comes closer to rain lightnings on us. She and two wounded enemies form a good AOE target. First medusa falls.



Daemons are melee fighters, but despite good equipment they're not that dangerous. It's worth to note that enemies now use Healing Seeds at low health (restoring 100 HP), but we outdamage them just fine.



One demon decides to attack instead of healing on his turn. Big mistake.



With his allies dwindling, Cirvante uses Summon Darkness ability, bringing a new enemy to the fight! This time it was a ghost. It's an undead unit, and undead in this game don't die when they're killed, so to speak. But it's weak, so we can ignore it.



It does have a Nightmare spell that can put a unit to sleep, but it's weak and the ghost keeps attacking Sanae with it, despite her having a status immunity.



Lethe did give me some trouble. Her agility is through the roof, so it was only AOE spells and back/side hits with her.



But as she falls, she turns into a dark angel and flies away!



Cirvante summons an undead wizard to replace her. He's not too much of a threat, though.



Cirvante also has a bane-element AOE spell - Fiend's Grip. The animation is a bit too literal.



The second medusa stayed back the whole fight, but we're dealing with her anyway. Sanae managed to land a Divine Radiance on her and Youmu finished the job.



Cirvante summons a gremlin.



Some people concentrate on it, and it flees behind our back. Straight to Youmu.



With the same troubles as Lethe, we bring down Cirvante as well.



He's a dark angel too.

The loot from the battle isn't too impressive by this point, but we somehow got two Urns of Chaos, even though we were only supposed to get one. That allows us to change one Mushus to a Vrtra. The fliers are a bit more useful than snow-walkers.



We're getting closer...

[Serela]

Gracula (the Lubina area) does give you

Spoiler:

the Sherwood Bow to complete the set and get your silly movement bonus

at least, and it's not very long. And the fairies are actually pretty decent with

Spoiler:

their dual-tech.

But yeah the game isn't too problematically hard :V Especially if you -did- pick up the snapdragon... then the game kinda starts falling over >_>

[Edible]

You're making me want to replay this.  :|