Bethany Plays: PoR Endgame Bonus: Separating the boys from the men.

Ike'll take the chance to speak to the army this time.

Hi.

"Dramatic speeches, dramatic speeches... remembers Chapter 6 I got one!"

We fight together, we bleed together.

"But also you might still cause some grief from the graze."

LET'S!

Only one appropriate reaction:

Yeah, that.

The battlefield looks a little different on Hard Mode. We'll go into that in a little more detail in a bit, but first, I think it's time you met the other crew.

If you're training your Ike and he doesn't look like this in the end, either he has Resistance capped too or something has gone wrong. I have a reputation for the latter outcome. He doesn't really need the effective swords, but what else are you going to give him?

Nasir is basically Ena but better, but also without the Wrathsolve to scare Ashnard. He's just... there.

Elincia is honestly kinda worse off on Hard Mode because the stronger enemies and less EXP, but she's still a flying staffbot, and her ability to Rescue staff people will come in handy.

Would you believe me if I told you this Mist was better than the main playthrough's Mist from this screen? Her Skill and Def are clearly higher and there's her trademark low HP (she got a Seraph Robe, I'm fairly sure), but since both girls wound up hitting their caps, the fact this Mist did it so much sooner doesn't mean much at Endgame. The earlier chapters were happier for it.

This playthrough didn't use a backup Sage like Calill, so Tormod got all the tomes, and look how high his non-preferred magic is. Yeah, the Sages have weapon rank issues. At least the S Rank Wind and Fire spells aren't in this game (although they are programmed in).

Tormod's stats themselves are pretty standard for my Tormods. There's a reason he's my sage of choice.

Reyson's stats are never particularly interesting, unless you specifically try for some stats or others. I've built this Reyson to be very evasive (with the capped Speed and high Luck, also both Ashera Icons). He also happens to be one point off capping Skill, but the only use Reyson has for it is the Counter Skill.

Say hello to my sole axe user in this party! Largo is the only character to not reappear in Radiant Dawn (the Berserker class is not present in Radiant Dawn, and rather than reclassing into Warrior, Largo just lost an arm and retired). It used to be accepted that Largo's Transfers (of which it is surprisingly easy for him to get HP/Str/Skill/Spd) would appear on Calill, but there is apparently some debate on this now. Not that these Hard Mode file characters have much hope of reaching their Transfers.

Say hello to our cuddly knight buddy! Brought a General to Endgame, take that, ineffectiveness of Generals! You can also see that Knight Ward boosting his Speed up to its maximum.

In Path of Radiance, all Knights start with Lances and gain Swords on promotion. In Radiant Dawn, this is more complicated, with there being three classes of Knight (Sword, Axe, Lance), and gaining additional weapons on promotion to General. In short, Brom can only Transfer Sword rank to Radiant Dawn. Gatrie and Tauroneo can only transfer Lance rank.

Muarim kicks ass, but mostly as a Path of Radiance character. He's got good Speed for a tiger. I gave mine the Wrathsolve combo, but sadly he hasn't gotten to use it effectively. Laguz are good choices for Wrath and/or Resolve, given they can take damage in their untransformed state, transform, and increase their survivability and circumvent the usual issue with the half HP skills.

No Resistance cap, but same old Marcia. This one could use the Wishblade if Bryce was willing to share. She's also been deprived of Skills- look at that Saviour, and she doesn't even have to lug Ike around this time!

There are two possibilities for Rolf: Useless, or deadly. This one is kicking ass. He brought his Mastery Skill Deadeye, which in addition to it having a chance of making an enemy fall asleep on contact, also passively raises his Hit chance. It's a nice bonus that makes Deadeye a surprisingly good choice in Mastery skills, especially if you want to be sniping things with Longbows.

Zihark didn't get any presents in Skills, and honestly, he's been a surprising liability. Not sure what made him feel worse than Mia, other than the not-capping-Speed and the higher difficulty. Maybe the difference between Mia and Zihark is closer than I thought.

Mordecai's job is to be a wall with Mist Support. Sadly, he's swiftly gotten outclassed. I guess that's to be expected for his character. Adept is so he can get some doubles, because he's sure as hell not getting them by being faster.

I'll be honest, Tanith was not the correct choice for the twelth character. Maybe if I could get her Reyson Support, but Tormod and Ike used up his five conversations before I settled on her. Maybe Geoffrey could've filled the last space.

...That's fewer enemies than on Normal. This is definitely the harder map, though.

Bryce has moved further north, but he's otherwise unchanged. Just a lot more dragons to worry about at the same time. His two friends still have Guard.

The Rexaura bishop has traded his Sleep for Fortify. Don't let him fire it, but it's ultimately more pleasant.

As for enemy Skills? This guy has Astra.

Vantage.

Deadeye.

Nihil.

Vantage again.

Time to open festivities. Tormod sets a laguz on fire. I feel like he'd hate Ferals the most of any beorc.

Ike moves up, and Reyson allows him another move.

Sadly, that's not enough to reach the Bolting Sage up there.

Mordecai gives him a boost.

Say hello to Ike With Stats.

Mist blocks Reyson. I'm not sure if the tigers can get him, but now they definitely can't.

Tanith summons the Holy Guard. They'll be on Roam and hopefully they'll be more useful than the canon run. Surprisingly, yes they do.

Rolf's attack range with the Double Bow and no Longbow is just hilarious to look at.

Rolf can reach and shoot this one at 2 range, though.

Elincia trails behind the other pegasi in case of Triangle attack. And also because this side needs a healer.

The Holy Guard are going up this way.

And the tigers immediately maul this one.

A Feral finds Tormod. He's just gonna keep setting them on fire.

That's a lot of 1-2 range over here.

Oh, the cleverness of this plan. Laguz-killers only work on shifted laguz.

The tiger dodge animation is beautiful, but not that you could tell from this frame. Two hits on Muarim mean he's shaved off a turn on transforming.

The Berserker crit animation involves Largo spinning on the spot, before leaping into the air and slamming down with his axe. Although the Berserker class is not present in Radiant Dawn, this animation survived to become the new Colossus animation.

Tanith's back to not onerounding things.

Both melee Paladins backed up one square, so this guy could not attack Tanith. That is so hilarious I wishi I could claim it was intentional.

Turn 2 and everyone short of Ashnard has made designs on moving towards us. That square in front of him hasn't moved in, but Ike can tempt that pretty quick.

There are four people in this vicinity to start untangling this knot, and one of them cannot attack.

So of course Muarim's plan is to send Tormod further away.

Because this front needs some tigers eliminated.

This map gets plenty of these too from this lot.

This dragon is going to be tough to grind down.

Mist takes out this tiger instead.

Nasir needs to get even closer to Ashnard in the end.

Largo breaks out the Tomahawk in hopes of counter-attacking some enemies.

I do not want Deadeye Killer Bow looming over me.

Ike stares this dragon in the face and rolls the dice.

He rolls an Aether, good boy.

Not the kill, though.

Brom gets either a Luna or a crit on this fellow. Since I haven't been playing with animations, I don't recognise the two animations as well as I maybe should.

Marcia breaks out the Brave Lance to kill the archer. We can't spare these with Falcos around.

I think this is more pathetic than the usual kind of exact kill.

Rolf goes to investigate the middle.

And thanks to Reyson, can finish off the dragon.

And he scores a Deadeye. Rolf tosses his arrow into the air, leaps after it, and shoots the bow while airborne. This somehow makes the enemy fall asleep.

This Holy Guard blocks this chokepoint.

As does her sister. Well, that makes things interesting for us.

A cat takes the front of the chokepoint.

Zihark working on his dodges. Since Largo has a ranged weapon, Zihark is more tempting a target. Mist is hogging all the Swords he could theoretically use to attack back.

Yep. The untransformed tiger laguz dodge is a freaking backflip. The screen even thuds slightly when he lands. It's almost kind of... tingly, to look at? It's like when you take a swing at a bug and it suddenly moves three times its body length to avoid your swing.

Zihark taking actual damage. It'll be nice to keep this to a minimum.

MISS, NO DAMAGE, either way Brom does not care about you.

This is Brom's Luna.

He actually throws his lance into the air before plunging it in.

Brom gets another of the ranged attackers with his Spear.

Sadly, I don't think Brom got a double.

Muarim is ready to smash.

And he crits this unfortunate General.

All these swordies coming in makes Largo scared, so he kills this fellow to keep Muarim Supported.

Zihark goes out of position to try and get this guy killed, and doesn't even manage it. He is not in Muarim Support range.

Tormod gives him a boost.

This puts him in range of this Runesword Swordmaster, but not his buddies. This is good news, but not good enough.

Mist takes out this wyvern, and I think gets a Guard to boot.

Rolf breaks our errant chokepoint with his Double Bow.

Ike charges into the chokepoint and takes aim at the one enemy in Ragnell range he could not kill directly.

He crits it. Ike's crit has him do a leaping uppercut, before standing deliberately with his back to the enemy. This does not change if he's attacking at range.

Brom can score this exact kill.

Here he is tossing his lance into the air to perform Luna.

Tanith finishes the Brave Swordsman and readies her position

Elincia Physics Brom. 1 HP, but this is the only person Elincia could heal and make it to this square.

Marcia finishes off this full health Paladin with our secret weapon.

If SoV's Triangle Attack did one good thing, it was bringing back a unique animation for it.

The Holy Guard charge into the thick of this action.

They just don't die!

This Holy Guard can only be attacked in melee by this cat. If the Paladins went first, it might perhaps be a different story.

And the dragons are approaching.

This is a different crit animation.

Presumably because he didn't kill.

Well, HP and Strength are his best growths. That point of Res is going to do him a lot of good. /s

The thing about being Ike is that Aether allows you to keep going at speed.

17. As I am told.

Ike has gotten through everything else in Daein so far.

How polite. Do keep in mind Bryce knows Ike's dad.

Ike responds in kind.

And deals plenty of damage to Bryce even at range. He's not much of a mechanical roadbump.

Cap HP, prepare for those mages that might be hiding.

The paladin the Holy Guard hassled steals Bryce's Elixir and consumed it for themself.

The Nihil Paladin has made it to Ike. Shame, Ike could use some healing from this guy.

This wyvern finishes the Holy Guard.

And the Runesword Swordmaster goes for... Mordecai? When did he become an option? Mordecai Smited Tormod, attracting this guy's attention. Left to his own devices, he chose to go to Zihark... which led to his death. Yeah.

The Killing Edge guy goes for Muarim, despite the fact I'm fairly sure his odds of landing any damage are not high.

This guy. This guy has crit odds on Zihark, and scored a crit to finish him off on that failed plan.

Nasir is now shifted.

This is not the play I commit to, but there is one unique scene if Ike is the one to beat Bryce.

Ike is proud to have been the one to face Bryce.

Bryce recognises Ike's swordplay.

I wonder if Gawain identified as Greil, or if Bryce knows this connection after the fact.

Bryce recognises his old friend.

Ike does not know the reverse.

It's far more strategically valuable for Nasir to get the kill here.

Demonstration that Nasir does not have anything to say to Bryce.

More Holy Guard appear.

I have no idea what Brom thinks he's going to do heading this way.

Sadly, Elincia can't Physic anyone this turn.

Mordecai can't kill this guy or really look him in the eye.

Looks like it's Mist's job.

Tormod is going to find a dragon to zap.

This one will do. Notice how Reyson is in range of Tormod to give him a damage boost.

Rolf out ranges a 1-2 range guy with Vantage.

And gets that most rare of events: a meaningful Deadeye.

Now this guy is sleeping.

Well, the Laguzslayer was pointless.

Ike keeps Ragnell and gets an Aether.

Mist Physics Tormod, since he is a siege tome user standing in perfect range for a melee attacker.

Zihark makes sure to finish this guy off this time.

Muarim takes this one.

And Largo escapes the Astra swordmaster's range to finish of this guy at last.

And the Holy Guard notices the sleeping low health enemy and decides she can get a free kill.

Rexaura on the map animation!

And the Feral finished off the Holy Guard.

...Suddenly Ike is staring down Ashnard.

I wonder how well Ashnard knew Gawain. Being an accomplished warrior who stole a lot of Begnion land at the same time Gawain was at the height of his power as one of the Four Riders, it seems like these two characters have a natural opportunity to exchange battle prowess stories.

Ike is having none of it.

This is the key to Ashnard. He believes, full well, that if Ike has the power to beat him today, then he deserves the victory.

Ike couldn't tell a madman's philosophy from nonsensical ravings. Then again, it's not like the two aren't adjacent.

Yep, the dragon says hi to Tormod.

Ow.

Also these Short Axe Paladins.

Yeah, I'm going to assume this would have been lethal on both counts.

The Holy Guard go off to play with this guy. Kind of annoying.

They at least play well.

Reyson has transformed, and here are his transformed stats. 84 Avoid, that's pretty good for my purposes, and he's also got Ike Support.

Muarim tells the Holy Guard the interesting fight is up that way.

Elincia Physics Tormod while we organise our big problem.

Marcia is in no shape to contribute meaningfully, so she's going to go sit on Ashnard's throne and become the Mad Queen.

Rolf tells this Short Axe Paladin to get lost.

And doesn't level up.

I was banking on Mordecai being good enough to get rid of this guy. I'm not sure what the safe strat is, so time for a good few minutes of save stating my way to an Adept proc.

Or a crit. 3% odds are more likely than ~17% for Adept, right?

Tormod heals Ike, because he is in no shape to hit Ashnard again.

Mist gets this Feral One at last.

And gets some more HP. No, this one cannot take a hit from Ashnard like the other one.

Hm, that's not great numbers...

Let's get rid of this annoying guy before he gets any funny ideas about Fortifying Ashnard.

Yeah, how's that ultimate Light spell working for you?

If Brom wanted to be useful, he would've turned right by now. Not sure why I thought him going this way would help. Maybe I was thinking of Paladin reinforcements.

Ike gets an Aether off on Ashnard.

That's done quite a number on him.

While planning my moves, I notice that Ashnard is a flier and is weak to bows. This is notable behaviour, despite the fact that we'll never see this in practice.

...I notice a general lack of cohesion with the last screenshot. Yeah, Reyson has done a proper four-person Canto, but wasn't he a little closer last time? Ah well.

We are doing our best job at a tactical withdrawal here.

This guy was definitely hit by Guard on the way out.

...Wait a second, you did survive a hit from Ashnard? That's definitely with thanks to Mordecai.

And now Ashnard is down here. How am I going to get out of this one?

First thing's first, no, Mordecai is not going to take a round from Ashnard ever, let's get him the hell away.

Elincia uses his space to get Ike down here, on this side of the Mad King.

Yay. This Elincia is going to get doubled by Ashnard.

Nasir finally starts a round while on Ashnard's top side.

Nasir wanted to say hi to Ashnard for one specific reason.

That seems like a dangerous assumption.

And a bit of a difficult answer to agree with. Yes, I agree that Izuka did not implement a cure. But this was almost definitely for lack of trying instead of the Feral condition being uncurable.

Nasir mourns those who have been Feraled.

Ashnard recognises Nasir as the spy.

This was Nasir's goal all along. Or at least, one of them.

When a dragon laguz goes into a battle rage, it's even more dangerous than one of the beasts or birds doing the same. Part because dragons are much stronger, but it's also a bit of a racial trait.

Ashnard wants this dragon rage to bubble to the surface.

And he hits Nasir like a truck.

Mist gets out of dodge and heals Nasir. You might notice Tormod is already out of range- he healed Mist for safety.

Reyson Cantos and bolts.

Bring it home, Ike.

Ashnard, you can say your death throws now.

...Ashnard, you can fade away now.

...Ashnard?

That scares me.

Still not quite clear to us.

Ike seems to have spotted it from his vantage point.

Class change time?

Oh... Oh...

Ashnard has class changed from King Daein to Berserk King Daein!

This is the correct direction to face for this line, funnily enough. I wonder what the game tells him to look at.

Why do the insane always wind up saying things like "It feels so GOOD!"

This line, right here, is a candidate for Ike's stupidest line in the entire duology.

This man is not sane.

That could help.

If you decide not to call for aid, this is your line:

Nasir: What?! Are you crazy?... Well... All right. If this is how you want to proceed, I won't second-guess you... I believe in you.

I forgot to get a screenshot of Ashnard's promoted stats, so I found a savestate with him and grabbed them- he starts on full health. His map sprite is so big now, and he's got general newfound bigness to his numbers. Not insurmountable, by any means, but still tough to chew on. Thank Ashera for no extra Defence.

Marcia continues to make here way to be Mad Queen.

Brom goes here, in case his Provoke can be of use. Honestly, not a helpful position to chase Ashnard.

Elincia hauls Nasir down to this side.

These Holy Guard are the key to victory.

A necessary evil.

"No wonder you needed me, what happened to him!?"

Tibarn can meet Ashnard in the air.

Giffca: I have arrived. What is that thing? So... Ashnard tried to use the medallion, did he? ...Fool...

Naesala: ...Yeah, yeah, I'm here... What's everyone so worked up abou- Holy goddess above!!! Is that thing... King Daein? H-he's a monster! Wait... You want me to fight THAT? Are you insane?! I think you've got the wrong bird! Blast... This is going to get worse before it gets better...