Here's our map. The horses are kept in pens, but other than that, we can go anywhere, assuming we can navigate the fences. Haar breaks this map to pieces.
Our boss today is a Druid, and would you look at that Luck! This man is Knoll! We've got to be on our toes, to a degree, but he's also a mage and he'll fall pretty easily to a good solid weapon after the first volley. Just casually ignoring that Dark magic he finally introduces to the Tellius duology. Dark beats Anima (Wind/Fire/Thunder) in the weapon triangle, so Ilyana is not as good an idea as she looks. I mean, considering his Res...
No Authority Stars today.
These are the six supply crates we need to burn. We need to burn all six, but as long as we have set them on fire, we're done. The enemy cannot put out the fire or otherwise disturb our efforts other than through the traditional methods.
These two tents house the Senators- they will appear as reinforcements and attempt to escape the map. The three tents with open flaps can be Visited for goodies.
This is what a horse hlooks like, and that Strength is about right.
They actually have ??? in the Race menu, that's hilarious. Probably a sign that Race should've been dropped, but admittedly, that does happen to be where the game puts "what kind of unit you are" information- these are Horse units, so they are weak to the Horseslayer (not that I think anyone here has one of those). All eight horses have identical stats and so forth... but it turns out they all have wildly different Biorhythms, too! That's good for a laugh.
The "Burn" command we need to set supplies alight is a simple context-sensitive action analogous to "Visit"- literally anyone can do it.
As mentioned, Heather can't do this with her Bronze Knife, but she was one point of damage off, so we need literally anything stronger. In the context of that remark, this seems a little overkill.
Ilyana gets the Knight out of the way.
Nephenee takes point for the rest of the enemies. I didn't mention it in preparations, but Nephenee also grabbed a Steel Greatlance out of the pile. The reason I didn't mention it is because I got to this point, checked Nephenee's inventory, and went "you need a spare" before resetting to fix this. I am not the most vigilant player.
Mia breaks her Steel Sword at last, so I don't have to keep hawking it around.
She chooses the correct times to land these sometimes.
And Mist gets the kill.
Good enough.
Speed cap! Mist is hitting her caps too! She's not going for Luck, which is slightly unfortunate for reasons I'll discuss later, but meh.
Ike will be following on behind us at a distance. No reinforcements appear down here, but I'd still worry about the reinforcements moving for Ike and not the units we're allowed to use.
I think this is the Sniper, but perhaps it's no one in particular.
Veyona wasn't expecting this one.
Even he thinks the Senators deserve to be irritated.
Although he will actually put up a fight. He doesn't think the senators ought to face comeuppance that badly.
Reinforcements have appeared. Let them appear.
Annoyingly, there's some rangers, but I can handle those as I push on.
I know I put Adept on Mist for more or less this situation, but it's amazing she's actually capitalising.
That was a killshot. Mist is one Adept from killshotting Halberdiers. Mist.
...I mean, considering PoR, that's kind of pathetic, but still. She's using her worse offensive stat.
The horses are Other faction, and as such they have their own turn. All they can do is move around in their pen, and they take the chance to do so. Feels slightly superfluous.
And our first Senator has appeared!
They have goodies to drop, and as red units, they can bar your passage in annoying manners if they position themselves in some troublesome spots. This is how they tempt you to kill these guys other than "they're massive jerks and no one would mourn them".
They're also technically a different faction, for what that's worth. I imagine it's like the Volunteers from 2-1 and the game is using this to track the BEXP condition.
Mia starts our way in.
Double Cancel, but you do tend to get a lot of killing Cancels too.
Titania will visit this tent. She'll also Burn the supplies on the way back next turn, and Hand Axe that sage while she's busy.
This Begnion decides he has better things to do with his life than die here to these masters.
Well this is certainly a choice item. Blossom is Sothe's Skill in PoR, and in exchange for halving your EXP growth, it makes your stats more likely to increase. Specifically, it gives each stat a free reroll if it doesn't go up on the first roll. It has its uses.
Heather can't reach the senator, so she grabs a knife and moves closer.
Nephenee can't quite reach this chokepoint. This turns out to be very relevant.
Ilyana gets rid of this guy. She uses Elwind to enjoy triangle advantage if that sage chooses to go for her.
Just how pathetic can a swordmaster be to have that low of an accuracy? The damage is pretty normal.
...You can't be serious. Fun fact: Senators are too heavy for Nephenee to Shove.
This is also a farce, but for different reasons.
I was expecting this and it went according to plan. It just could've stood to be a better plan.
And now there's more reinforcements on this side.
Think positive- we can nick this thing pretty cleanly!
Mist stops to deal with this fellow. Well, if we're going to be held up a turn by our errant senator!
Mia takes the chance to inspect Heather's inventory and make sure she has space. I should try and break that Bronze Knife.
Ilyana found a dude. The other Senator appears in this path of thickets and although Heather has Pass, it's in our interests if she has as much access to it as possible.
Titania Burns our first set of crates. Five to go!
And he's going to continue to be in our way. Of course.
To add insult to injury, we've got to deal with this part of the chokepoint.
Here is the second Senator.
You. WANT. This.
Heather can make it through the thickets surprisingly well, so she starts on this mage that cropped up.
Mist has caught back up to slap opponents out of the way.
Excellent!
Strength cap! Mist's damage output is now as high as possible for a Cleric.
Mia takes on this guy to get him out of the way so Nephenee can plug up the chokepoint.
In excess.
Titania can't actually burn these crates this turn.
I'll just have to put her in position.
Ike makes sure to stay out of trouble as he moves along.
And Ilyana breaks down this door, repeating a trick she used as a Dawn Brigadier.
Well, first, we have to watch where the Senator goes. I think Heather can cover that distance.
So yeah, the horses can get out of the way because Ilyana takes out the guard on enemy phase!
And gets a perfect level.
And more Fire.
Yeah, this guy hasn't gotten any more accurate.
The Thunder sage can't reach Heather, so he tries to zap Nephenee.
Only one of the horses notices their pen has been opened. The horses, once freed, choose one of five exits to this map and travel there to escape. There is no reward for them escaping over them still being on the map.
Titania has these burnt.
And Heather makes us 10000G richer.
...Forgot she had that much EXP. Ah well.
One day I will bore of Mist slapping people silly. Today is not that day.
OK, the only reason I did this was because Mia can travel no further.
This was a dumb idea. She didn't score the kill.
So we're trapped behind him another turn.
This Fire Sage went for Titania instead of Heather. I reckon he just couldn't reach the latter.
Another Class Change has begun!
As a rule of thumb, assume that any given promotion will give the character more Swish.
This isn't much more interesting, either.
The horse made it to his chosen Escape point.
And Nephenee got some healing from this Healhedge.
Ironically, this positioning annoys Titania, because if she wants to use her Iron Blade, she has to use up movement getting into that thicket instead of making progress elsewhere.
Well, I do need to burn Bronze Knife uses...
And Nephenee bars the way for this Senator. So how is Trueblade Mia, then?
Already capped Defence. The shift from Swordmaster (F) -> Trueblade (F) raises her Defence cap by the same as her promotion bonus. This is a bit of a half-grim, half-badass moment that Third-tier caps are final, and Mia isn't going to get any more Defensive.
...Well, OK, there's one thing...
Mia's Mastery Skill is Astrum, as opposed to the series' traditional Astra (which it is in the North American version). Astrum has a Skill% of allowing her to launch five attacks with no penalties- PoR, 3DS and 3H make Astra hits deal half damage. The downsides are, of course, that this uses up the weapon durability per swing, and also each hit runs an accuracy check- not that Mia is going to miss.
Mia isn't going anywhere interesting today. One of these days I'll consider getting her a Wind Edge or something.
Ike is running out of uninteresting places to stand.
Ilyana descends upon this side of the map.
Well, it was certainly nice dodging one of the hits. Ilyana seems fine with the other one.
Ilyana really does learn fast.
The Javelin armour tries to hit Mist, to a similar level of accuracy.
Ilyana crits down this Fire sage. Because of course she does.
Unfortunately, mounting this horse is not a thing. Not that I think Ilyana would get much further on it than off it.
Nephenee is going this way, for the armours.
Mia can oneround this one. Say hello to the power of Trueblades.
Sure, that'll do.
"I'm not being paid enough for this shit."
Now this is an item. The Master Crown is the equivalent to the Master Seal for third tier classes, and cannot be sold. In the Japanese version, you needed one of these to become a Tier 3 unit, but INT said screw it. There are eight additional Master Crowns scattered through the game in JP, to add to the five that are still in INT. With that said, though, eleven characters total being able to get to Tier 3 in JP? That feels very restrictive in a game like this- that's not just eleven characters in the GMs, that's counting the Dawn Brigade and the Crimean Knights!
Slightly related, but in addition to Ike and Micaiah, Master Crowns categorically do not work on Sothe and Mist.
Mist does a very Adept job at opening this door.
Ike sneaks in to this horse pen. Yes, this was the endgame for Ike.
Ilyana can move this far.
Nephenee has attracted the attention of the Longbowman.
He doesn't do much, but I do have to deal with him at some point.
Heather breaks her Bronze Knife over this guy.
More soldiers with ludicrously low chances of hitting Nephenee take the chance.
The horses over here start making a break for it, too. I feel mischievous!
There's a Coin on this square. Ike's going to go dig it up while staying out of trouble.
Veyona's range is pictured here. Despite being able to walk adjacent to those Supply crates in the top-left, he can't cast over them.
So Heather can burn them molested only by the south Wind sage.
The horses are annoying Mist, too.
Nephenee stands here, to attract attention, and finishes this guy off so she can Javelin some of those magic users.
Nephenee's another character who kinda gets covered up by her shield in promotion. That's some extra adornment to her and she also has a new kind of helmet, but I'm honestly kinda distracted by how bare her thighs are now.
Sometimes I wonder if you even need to see this screen.
Here is the Mastery skill of the Lancer, a more powerful Crit. "Sentinels", incidentally, is what the Lancer class is called in the American version. I find it hilarious that a) this was changed and b) they missed a spot.
Mia's going to work on going around.
Ilyana remembers there's enemies behind us, and considers going back for them. If I knew what she'd ultimately be doing, she'd press forward, but admittedly, that's not exactly the greatest idea anyway.
Titania: "Hey, guys, is anyone going to remember to Burn these crates? No? Why is it always me?"
Nephenee and Mia sitting on a trail. D O D G I N G!
The things that happen with damage capping.
Also, this guy was actually kinda penned in to attacking Heather because of the horses. Fancy that.
Veyona tries to deal with Nephenee.
He misses.
Not the greatest show, but here you can see Nephenee's new armadillo helmet. I think this part was designed specifically for Nephenee's hair, but Aran and Danved get it too, for some reason.
I hear food tastes good roasted!
Veyona: The laguz assault was a decoy, and your real objective was this camp? You’re more clever than I expected. This isn’t the strategy of the laguz. It must have been planned by the beorc.
Ike: Our objective is only to burn these supplies. Step aside and I’ll spare your life.
Veyona: You know I can’t do that. Our masters may be fools, but we are their soldiers nonetheless. Our duty is to carry out orders from our masters.
Ike: I thought you’d say that. But I have a duty as well.
A fairly interesting conversation from this guy. I know someone who really likes Veyona in particular among the disposable bosses. Kinda funny for Ike to go "step aside and let me burn your supplies, or I will kill you", though.
Handy.
Reinforcements behind us, in front of us...
And in front of Ilyana. Things could've gotten interesting had Ilyana gone forward.
Ilyana comes back to help out this side.
And gets her HP cap. From here on out, her levels give Luck.
And Wind rank. I think she's done on Weapon Ranks.
Nephenee smashes puny General.
And gets a nice post-promotion level.
Ike is in no danger from one of those guy's thrown weapons, so continues hunting for the Coin.
Mist prepares for an incoming mage. Possibly should've healed Nephenee, but also Mist EXP.
Mia makes sure this horse can get out alive. I think. I've never actually seen the Begnion Army attack the horses.
Titania can handle these guys.
Mist scores a crit.
...Yeah, Mist is in kind of a weird spot right now.
Gold Knight crits are just as cool to watch as Gold Knight Sols!
And this level is also pretty good. Makes up for Mist.
And picked up some Sword rank. I think Titania can now start chewing on the Steel Blade pile. If I wanted her to. Right now, she's got Axes uncontested until, like... I dunno, Jill? Astrid can't use Axes in this game...
(Yes, the list of women who can use Axes in this game is Titania, Jill, Meg. Maybe I overbought Steel Poleaxes...)
The horse goes free.
And Mia wants access to your supplies. To... freeze them.
Astrum is actually a pretty cool animation, with one major downside.
It stops when you're done killing the guy. This is a good thing for your weapon uses, but the fourth hit is so damn cool it's a shame nothing lives to see it.
This is not a Senator.
He doesn't seem all that good for anything else, though.
Nephenee has the rest of these guys cornered.
Titania continues to work on getting her Swords to A, because I dunno, nothing better to do.
Well, this could've gone better.
That was a one use Javelin I hoped was going to get someone better than this guy, or at least Impale.
More guys over yonder.
This one doesn't get one-rounded, so Titania starts with him.
Ilyana helps out with clearing a path the usual way.
For some reason, I can see Mia saying "the leprechaun told me to burn things", to insult Soren's height.
Nephenee finishes off this jerk.
It would've been so funny if Mist could've killed this guy.
This guy is pinned in by Mist.
Well, that could've been convenient, actually...
And Titania finishes up this lot.
Hm, Heather would like some kills...
Not this guy, though. Ilyana gets him so Nephenee can finish the map next turn.
Nephenee Visits this guy on the way up.
Aw man, imagine if we could bonk this guy right now and save ourselves a lot of hassle down the line... I mean, killing politicians is bad.
"Only one in the world" my rear end, Aimee.
Mist heals her for the EXP.
Much better.
Well, that's slightly unfortunate, but Heather can handle it.
Ike did not find the Coin.
Mist fishes up another Heal.
And Heather gets one more level up.
Soren said "don't hurt the Senators, it'll cause us trouble down the line." And I thought long and hard about this move.
Ultimately, though, the chip EXP outweighed the moral quandary of making this guy's life slightly more miserable now. You can feel free to blame any of the Senate's cruel acts on this later.
I got a level up out of it.
And we're done.
Ranulf is, too, but not in the good way.
Zelgius's unique boss theme, The Strong, never plays in a situation where you can hear the full loop.
Ranulf pulls out all the stops.
And actually dodges a hit from Zelgius.
In the end, though, this contest was decided from the start.
Ranulf can't win in a contest of endurance.
- Ranulf:
- ……祈りはいい…
それより、聞きたいことがある…
- Zelgius:
- なんだ？
- Ranulf:
- …あの港町でやりあった時より、
オレも少しは強くなったか？
- Zelgius:
- ………既に意識が
混濁しているようだな。
これ以上、長引かせはせん。
Ooh boy, this line... this line is something. Quite honestly, translating it is almost a spoiler for later events. For now, though... Ranulf's life is flashing before his eyes, and he's remembering a similiar situation where he got beat to within an inch of his life back in Port Toha.
Well done, Ranulf.
All of a sudden, tiny cutscene! There's a few of them scattered through the game and not in the Theatre for cutscenes, but they're all in the attract cutscene, I'm pretty sure.
Are you... being sarcastic?
Tibarn unshifting is intent to spare on this part.
"Don't really have the time" is an excuse.
Zelgius is flat-footed.
...Those were some pretty well-behaved fires when we lit them...
Tibarn pays a kindness with a kindness. He's honourable in his own way.
Zelgius politely accepts.
And Tibarn tells him that that's one kindness for one kindness. Next time, Tibarn goes all out.
So how's Ranulf doing?
Very badly.
I don't think he has control of that.
Full Horse and Senator BEXP, but lost half my Turn Bonus for dawdling. The full bonus is 10 turns, and I'm not sure how possible that is without Haar.
Next time: Things go less well.
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