#dogplays

I've slapped a couple skills on him here--his defense is always his trickiest stat for me, and while he's great at just weaving through attacks, I'd rather be certain he's going to be okay out there. If he does happen to take too many hits, Resolve will kick in, and with a little luck, nothing else will hit him for the rest of the chapter, or until I can give him some rest. Resolve + Adept is an absolutely busted combo and the fact that Zi comes with Adept for free is just.... chef's kiss. Excellent unit. Of all the swordies you get access to in this game, I think he's my favourite. Edward is cool, don't get me wrong, and Mia is great. It's just. Y'know.

And all this to say nothing of his Earth affinity!! If you haven't played RD, there's an elemental affinity stat that sort of works like astrology, and they come into effect when supports are being utilized. Earth affinity grants nothing to any stat except evasion. You can really snap this mechanic over your knee by getting two earth affinity supports up to A, granted each character a whopping +45 to evasion.

So. There are a couple options I could pick here. Fiona is about to be recruited in the next chapter or so here, but I've never tried to use her. The skills she comes with are really great, but... I rarely use horse-mounted units to begin with. Nolan would be a great option, too!! I feel like that snarky old(er) man and Zihark would have a lot of, er, ~fun~ together, given the chance. It'd be a fun fic to write.

But if you hadn't noticed, I am not fielding Nolan. In fact, I'm not fielding anyone at all. It's just Zihark out there, along with 4 forced units on this upcoming chapter.

So Volug it is. The Swordie and the Doggy. I think it's a really cute ship tbh! Zihark functions best as a character when he has someone to snark off of a bit, bouncing a little jovial teasing back and forth... but how does that work if he doesn't share a language with this weird dog? I love the idea of his previous (and late) laguz lover perhaps being a man, but I haven't done enough research into the guy to know if gender was ever confirmed on that front. Ike is already pretty heavily implied to be queer (I'll get to that. later. there's an entire video essay within me about this), so... why not another Earth affinity gay swordie??

Also they're both just cute anime boys and I'm pushing them together like dollies, and the game even rewards me for it.

What a great fucking game.

Anyways.

This is what Part 1: Chapter 6.1 looked like. Micaiah, Sothe, Tauroneo, and Volug are all forced units, and Zihark is the only unit I chose to field. That's all I need. Micaiah is fast enough here to avoid being doubled by the reinforcing flying units that appear on the cliffs. I didn't even have to worry about them this time. Tauroneo didn't get a single battle in whatsoever; I don't want him stealing EXP from units who I'm actually using--so his job was to go sit in the corner and chill. There were a few stat growths in here that were good enough, and I didn't get a single game over! So I'm feeling pretty confident. I kept Zihark and Volug close to one another, sometimes sacrificing a kill and flinching when enemies swung, but Resolve, as stated, saved Zihark's ass when things grew dodgy.

Onto Part 1: Chapter 6.2.

Lmao.

Micaiah is not supposed to be this strong at this point in the game, I don't think... but I really like to power level her during Part 1. It fits the story better. I still remember my first playthru here, being like, "Damn this girl sucks ass actually" and hating all of the Dawn Brigade chapters. Just getting mad as hell. I wanted my little ragtag team of rebels to be stronger!! I wanted to use them all!! Daein deserves a respectable and sprawling army!!

But in fact, it's so much easier to just pick like, one or two of them (aside from Sothe and Micaiah...), and then the EXP distribution is much, much easier to deal with. She can actually pull her weight and get kills in. Sacrifice, her latent healing-by-sacrificing-hit-points ability, actually gets some use in, because she's got a little more HP.

You can't see it in the image above, but Sothe is within range for support, giving her a little extra oomph on her attack. So long as I have them fight together, she's an unstoppable force. The mounted units in this chapter are no match for her. It's lovely. It's cute. I really like the ship, too. If I was [redacted] years old and a cute lil guy started following me around, I think I'd get a little close to him, too. Kawaiiiii

Well. Not a great look for Volug there. Less than half HP going into the actual defense of these poor Marado knights... eeesh. There's two fire mages up above that might've posed a threat, but. They kind of didn't!

I think I only lost 1 prisoner and 1 Marado knight?? I could be wrong--I haven't looked up how much each one is worth for a long time because I rarely manage to save them all. I wish I could, but again... story. I really like the story in this game. I like the idea of Micaiah seeing losses like this and going "I can do better." And then she does. Anyways, yaaaay 5000+ BEXP from one level! Not bad! That'll be very, very useful later on. I still have no unit to logically pump full of the stuff yet; I'm not using Jill (she's my usual pick for this), and Volug doesn't need any until much later.

Speaking of Volug. Look at that! He had his first "conversation" with his boyfriend. For the uninitiated, Volug only speaks in the Ancient Language, so Zihark and him don't share a tongue. But that doesn't mean they can't share some tongue.

uhuehahuehe. ppbpbrrtt.

Someone also hit level 20 during that last chapter, hehe. 15 Speed is pretty fucking good for Micaiah, I'm not gonna lie. Usually I'm happy with like a 13 but this is excellent. Without that Dracoshield (uhh boosts defense by 2 immediately when consumed, for those who haven't played!) she'd still be above average in her Def stat, but 8 is just. Massive. Excellent. No surprise when it comes to her capping Mag and Res, but it's nice that it's a given.

Moving into Part 1: Chapter 7, I pulled Resolve off of Zihark. I'm not facing a loot of crazy stuff coming up, and Zi will be fine without it. Instead, I slapped the Paragon (Double EXP from every battle) skill I grabbed from the boss in Chapter 6.2 onto him. He's the only one who truly benefits from it right now; Volug has that stupid Wildheart skill on him that halves EXP anyways, and Sothe will get his time to shine later. Instead, Volug gets Resolve, just in case. JUUUUST in case.

Let's fight a boss!

Waow.

Part 1: Chapter 7 is habitually fucking simple for me. Tormod and Muarim are actually among my absolute favourite characters from the Tellius series--it's a real shame their availability makes them virtually useless. I once took them to the endgame just to prove to myself I could, and it was fun! But not really worth it. :\. Vika is adorable too and I love her but.... literally why would you use her at all with the myraid of better birds. Naesala is right there. lmao Also, hey, how about that, we rescued all the prisoners this time! Micaiah really did do better!! How lovely. And Zihark got a really, really good growth in there. 5 stats going up is always delicious. His strength can be tricky at times, and sometimes I have to use an item to boost it, but this time 'round he's doing alright. Atta b'ye!

And, hey. Seems like we're getting closer with that weird dog. This will help a lot in Part 3, when we're dealing with hordes of laguz with our own army of...

(counts on fingers)

uh, 4. 5 If you include my husbando. We'll get to him later.

My closing thoughts on this particular chunk of gameplay is basically just. Yeah, this strategy is stupid as hell, but not if you've sunk 2000+ hours into the game. I know what I'm doing and where I'm bound. I know where to shuffle things and which enemies to aggro. The next chapter, which includes rescuing a bunch more prisoners, is going to net me another ~2000 BEXP at minimum, and we'll continue saving that up.

Easy stuff so far! But we're moving into the weirder chapters of Part 1 now.

First things first. I need to get Nailah up past that first bevy of ledges pronto. Sothe can go with her, because he'll need to pop a chest on the way up. Rafiel gives them an extra turn with some careful positioning, and up we go!

Nice. Easy. Those few levels Sothe gained in earlier parts of the game have proven very useful for this bit; he's able to kill things with no problem. His evasion still isn't great without Micaiah nearby, but I'll take what I can get!

There they are. There they fuckin are. I'm gonna DESTROY THEM--ahahaha oh my god. I always forget how strong Nailah is. Jesus christ. 90 damage??? I know I'm throwing her at one of the lowest Defense units in-game, but this is still so fucking funny to look at. GET HIS ASS

Fairly simple stuff from hereon out. There's some armoured knights coming up from above that I'm prepared for... my main concern is that in the upper left corner of the map is a non-moving enemy unit wielding a Meteor tome. For those who don't know, you can smack someone with fire magic at long range with those things. Usually only once, because the tomes are so heavy most mages can't beat the Strength requirement to swing twice. But... Volug, being a beast-type Laguz, is highly susceptible to fire magic. If I'm not careful with my positioning, that'll be an automatic restart.

Yes. I am that player who will restart any time one of my precious units dies. I think that's why I've learned to play the way I do, lol.

Alright, well, let's--

Fuck. Whups. Haha. well. I've always thought it was really romantic for Micaiah to plead for the Black Knight before she pleads for Sothe here, idk, maybe I'm just self-inserting in her shoes? I just want to be Boy!Micaiah dancing under the stars with my big beautiful Black Knight......

uh--anyways, let's try that again--

FUCK

Alright, well, that only had a 26% chance of hitting, so... I'm not gonna get mad at my beautiful Swordie for it. I'll restart and take the capital back anyways. It's fine.

Lmao. You can see BK down there watching over the ledge. I like to imagine him just shaking his head while these idiots throw themselves at him.

Yeesh. Volug had to tank a hit from the Meteor-wielding mage up top there (high left on screen), but I think he'll be alright. There was a tricky moment after this I didn't snap where Rafiel also had to take a hit from something or other, but because he was shifted into his gorgeous beast form, he was fine! That high Luck stat really counts for something! God, I love Herons. Uugghh.

I had Sothe hurry along and grab the last few chests up top there as well before moving on to killing Jarod.

MMMM. Mmm. I actually grabbed this a couple turns ago from down below, but I had to shuffle it around in a few units' inventories to make this happen. This Speedwing will be CRITICAL later in the story during Part 3. If I want to recruit someone on the very last chapter, I'm pretty sure I need Ike to be at 27 Speed by the time he has a chance to face off against my beautiful husbando. Without this Speedwing, that can be a little risky. Ike's growths are good! Just. Unreliable. lol.

So, the Speedwing goes to the convoy, and it'll be available for me whenever I need it.

I sent Sothe after Jarod after this, using Volug and Zihark to weaken him after one of his own cronies stole his Concoction (healing item), and. He scored a crit.

:') my sweet baby boy. Excellent work. He gained a level and managed to grow +1 in all but 2 stats. So proud of him.

Yaaaay! Haha weeeeeeeee wahoo. Awesome! Micaiah gets promoted after this battle, removing her level + stat caps, and gaining her (most notably) +3 to her Defense stat. Great stuff.

What's next! I'm so excited for--

uuuuggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Right. Part 2. I forgor.

Easily my least favourite part of the game. It's so boring!! I don't care about any of this!!! AAauuuAHHHGGG--like. Okay, listen, it's not terrible, it's just that... 90% of the units introduced in this portion of the game are ones I never use. It's a ripe, delicious fruit when it comes to BEXP yields for each chapter, and you get some cool items (Brave Lance my beloved), but. Ehh. Haar and Elincia are virtually the only two units I've taken to the Part 4 endgame, and Haar doesn't quite make the cut anymore...

I'll detail pretty much all of Part 2 in the next part of this playthru. Part 2's endgame is actually pretty fun, if only because I'll get to look back on how I used to play it, and compare that to how I minmax my way through it nowadays. Heather plays an instrumental role specifically because there's a stealable item right next to the boss, who can absolutely MURDER anything that comes near him if I'm not careful....... so we'll talk about that later!

I've got a lot of chapters to slog through now, tho, in the meantime.

I'm borrowing a map from elsewhere for this bit, here's a link to the site I nabbed it from.

So, the goal here is to both route the enemy units, and rescue all the prisoners (green dots). They will not move, even if an enemy is barrelling toward them. It's up to the player to either use the "rescue" mechanic (which pulls the unit on top of your unit, but halves the rescuing unit's skill and speed), or to draw fire off of them.

Those blue dots with the names all over em are where your allies pour in from the forests when it's clear Micaiah and her little band of helpers aren't going to swing this one on their own, and you do not get to reposition them. That's fine, no problem, each set of 3 units can more than handle their own. Micaiah, Zihark, and Sothe are going to blaze their way upward and then clockwise toward the boss. Nailah and Volug can handle the enemies on the west end of the map with Rafiel using Galdr to give them extra turns (god I love heron Laguz so much).

As for Tormod, Muarim, and Vika, well. Here's where the funny stuff starts happening.

Back at base camp, before this chapter starts, you can snag an Olivi Grass from the shop. Drinking this will fill Muarim and Vika's gauges by half each turn they consume it. First, I have Muarim drink, after moving him as far to the east as I can. Tormod sits right in front of him, as far east as he can go, which is slightly farther due to his inherent Celerity skill (which I'll pull off of him promptly after this chapter, lol). This will draw in the draconknight hanging out near the boss--if I don't do this, that flying unit will rampage through the swamped prisoners.

Vika takes the Olivi Grass from Muarim, chugs hard for two turns, and then can be there for another one of the prisoners when a bandit starts heading toward them.

Oh, hey! Check that out. Volug nabbed S rank strike during this chapter, thanks to Rafiel singing sweet songs to him. Nice! It takes a loooong time to increase this again, but thankfully, Volug's availability is great. He'll have plenty of time. You'll notice he is still sitting at the same level he joined our team at. Wildheart is such a dogshit skill but I GET WHY HE HAS IT I understand the plot relevance, he's hiding his true nature to act like a doggy, that's cute, that's fun. It's kinda horny. I love it. Either way, he doesn't need to grow at all just yet. I've been saving all my Bonus EXP for a reason! :)

Zihark, Sothe, and Micaiah have absolutely no problems with the units near the boss area.

Like. I straight-up forgot to take pics. I have this chapter down to a science. You can see Vika there safely carrying a prisoner away from threats, and the last enemy unit on-board is a healer. Zihark executed them, and off we go to the next chapter!

In the story, here, Begnion has finally recognized that they need to send an investigation party to figure out just how many war crimes exactly are going on in Daein. It's going to be headed by Sephiran himself, the big head honcho senator!! Waow!

Hahaha. Where'd the rest of my fuckin units go?

I remember the first time I saw this screen during my first playthru. I was like. Hello??? Hello????????? What?????????? And because I figured Micaiah would always have at the very least Sothe around to keep her safe, she was at, like. Level 13 or so? Back then, I had to use all the consumables I had to make her viable for the next chapter...

Which is the one where my beautiful man finally comes out to play.

God he's so fine. Look at that helmet. This moment had me fucking HOLLERING. I was pointing and babbling and going insane and my poor family was like "??? It's just some guy?? Is this a Monty Python joke or"

NO. NO THATS IKE'S RIVAL. WHAT'S HE DOING HERE. HOW IS HE ALIVE. I know they never found his body after the big fight with Ike in the previous game, but!! Whoa!! Hey!!!!! Holy fuck!!!!

I just want to be swept into his big armoured arms and be carried away to safety... that's all I want... omg... let me curl up on your beautiful cloak, Sir Knight..... I want to kiss all over your big helm--I don't want you to take it off. The mystery is the hottest part. Swoons loudly

krrhm. Anyways.

Micaiah refuses to be picked up (rescued) by the BK during this chapter, which was sooo infuriating the first time 'round. And kind of selfish!! He just wants to keep you safe!!

But now it's like. Haha alright, show us what you got, lil miss. And yea, there were absolutely no problems this chapter at all. Knight took care of virtually everything else while Micaiah handled the few reinforcements trickling in from the southern reaches of the map. I used to get constant, CONSTANT game overs on this chapter, to the point where there are definitely times I just ended the playthru right here.

Micaiah gained no experience and no levels in weapon class, because she's already capped! So I just had BK slaughter the boss and off we went. I forgot take more pictures again. Whups.

Then, of course, as a final war crime, General Jarod of the Begnion occupying force within Daein launches a terror campaign on the capital. Oh no! What are we gonna do!

We're going to burn our way up through that keep so fast, he's not going to know what hit him. All I have to decide upon is which unit to kill him with. Zihark takes a bit of a hit because of the weapon triangle (Jarod uses lances, which get a decent bonus against swords...), and Volug won't gain all that much EXP from the fight. Micaiah is capped, and the BK will take entirely too many turns to climb all the way up there--in fact, if you do fight Jarod with the Knight, he even makes a comment about "so you hauled your heavy ass all the way up here huh??" and it's hilarious. Nailah isn't worth killing him with either, as she'll gain like, 2 EXP from it... Normally I wouldn't even field her, but she's critical for taking care of some sidequest bullshit going on in the keep.

Sothe, maybe?

Hm.

Mainly because I'm ditching almost the entire Dawn Brigade for this one. Lmfao.

I pulled all the skills off of anyone I'm not using, and those will stay in storage until I need them. I've sold Meg's Fortune, tho, because it's a lot of gold for a skill I never use. This way I can afford a Beastkiller for Sothe when it becomes available, among a few other things.

Here's the stats I'm working with for Sothe and Micaiah by Part 1 - Chapter 4.

Honestly? Not bad. The biggest worry, always, is Micaiah and her slow ass. Who needs speed when you have plot armor, right?? Ugghh. She's on par for average here, though. I dumped the Dracoshield that Leonardo comes with onto her a chapter or two ago, and so even if she gets doubled... her defense, HP, and luck stats SHOULD carry her. I haven't messed with her A support with Sothe either so that'll help.

Sothe's growths hardly matter at this point, but if I recall corrextly, he managed a strength and a defense growth in there. That's great. Can't complain.

This looks so fucking funny. JUST US AGAINST THE WORLD, BABEY

I've used this minmax strategy before, and I'm familiar with which enemy units will aggro immediately and which will hang out and wait for you to approach. A lot of this particular chapter is just running hard to each treasure chest with Sothe while Micaiah keeps herself healed with vulneries/healing pots.

I managed to snag the hidden Beastfoe skill, too!! That will be important later, when I recruit the one other beorc unit I'm going to be using for these chapters. I thought about doing a Jill run for a minute, but.... The RNG can be so cruel to her. I think I'll pick someone a little more reliable.

Here's what we're working with once I hit Part 1 - Chapter 5. Micaiah is now WELL ABOVE her average speed for her level, and so I'm confident with the strategy I'll use for this chapter.

Fuck everyone else. It's just me, you, and our weird fucking dog.

I love Volug. I love him so, so dearly. His dumbass fucking Wildheart skill sucks so bad but I have METHODS of working around it, it just won't happen until later. For now, he's going to be eliminating threats I can't otherwise deal with, having only 2 other units fielded. This will steadily grow his Strike weapon level on par with beorc units. I don't usually need to like, manipulate the game to get him up to SS before endgame, but I've got backup plans for that, too.

I have not used a single point of BEXP yet. I likely won't for the entirety of Part 1. This entire part is just critical setup time for later.

Things got just a touch dicey around this point, but moving Micaiah around defensively saw her grow another defense point while remaining alive. Volug took care of anything that might've killed Jill, and we made it through the chapter just fine.

AND WE RECRUITED ZIHARK!!!

I'll make another post later--I've hit the image limit. But I've already beefed him out with skills ripped from other units. He'll be instrumental in carrying the Dawn Brigade through the hell that is their chapters in Part 3.

His earth affinity is going to come in MIGHTY HANDY with the critter I'm going to put him on support with. And it's kind of a cute ship anyways :3

A large part of the reason why I'm pushing south with Ike and Soren is to have them attack, respectively, the Black Knight, and Micaiah. Attacking BK with Ike will unlock a recruited character waaaaaaaay later. Attacking Micaiah with Soren unlocks a secret support conversation between the two... but only if you've also got imported data from PoR on your Wii. Which. I cannot access. As I'm playing on Homebrew. At this point, it's just out of habit, and for the sake of keeping Ike's evasion up with Soren's support.

There they are! My birdies! Ulki and Janaff are both EXCELLENT units. In earlier days (probably my first thousand hours?) I would deploy them on every possible chapter and use them liberally. Flying unit, great evasion, big strength? Love it. The problem is that they're Laguz. Having to keep an eye on a transformation gauge isn't particularly difficult, but it can result in sticky situations that I'd rather not fuck with. I will say that my choice between the two of them is usually Ulki, because his evasion is just so fucking high, despite Janaff technically having the better stats (to the point where he's just Tibarn Two if you cap everything, and give him a Laguz Gem). Ulki + Rhys support in PoR was really cute, if I'm recalling correctly. I ship it.

So--anyhow, these birds are going to be running support on this chapter after recruiting them with Reyson (I had him chug some Olivi Grass while he was waiting around for them to show up), and then after that, they won't see combat again.

Reyson hits 30 points on his transformation gauge on turn 3, and then I have him Vigoring Ike and Soren from hereon out.

Making great progress. I had Soren do the honours when it came to killing Zihark--hilariously enough, it took a swing from both Ike and Soren to take him down. Adept even activated against Soren, but... he missed all 3 swings. lol. He'll be fine. He retreats and heads back to base. Haar is busy taking care of the few dracoknights who head for Ranulf in his corner, but those stop coming in a few turns.

Soren got a couple slaps in with a staff, which was fun to watch. Every bonk you get with a staff counterattack counts toward levelling up that weapon.

Hahaha. GET HER ASS. I stuck the Meteor tome that comes with Calill in Part 2 on Soren so he can long-range attack Micaiah. Despite her great stats (compared to... uh... enemies she's usually facing...), he killed her with no problems whatsoever. I LOVE this conversation between them. "Your heart is cloaked in ice, you're so cold... do you even feel at all? ...Oh, I sense a warmth bleeding through, someone you care about very much..." UGHHHHHHH GGAAAAAAAAAYYYY I love it I love it I love it. "Do not pretend to know me, girl" STOP BEING SO TSUN TSUN ABOUT IT SOREN YOU WANT IKE'S HOT MERC BODY!!!!!!!!!!!!

And here we have Ike -> Black Knight! I stuck a Wind Edge on him and parked him where he can just chew through the few Dawn Brigade members who'll come after him so BK still has an angle of attack. With his Speed at 28, BK can't double-attack him. I also adore this conversation. "I did the only thing I could. I let you win." "You did, didn't you? How could I not see it..." "You were not yet capable of seeing it."

Fuck, dawg. It's so good. The DRAMA. ououuouo.

I have Ike poke the bear once, draw his attention, and then I abscond as quickly as possible.

With a few uses of Vigor from Reyson, and rescuing Ike once with Haar, I keep him far from harm's reach. Soren heals him up, and the birds take care of the dracoknights that reinforce from the south. After this, it's just a matter of waiting out the timer. On turn 12, Ulki can hear the King (Tibarn) calling them, and the mission has been accomplished. The main portion of the Gallian army has crossed the river, and Ike's company has served as a perfect distraction. Excellent!

Back to base we go! I'll post another part right after this with the subsequent battle because it is just. So simple. It used to give me trouble, waaayy back when I was playing this came conventionally. But nowadays it's just a matter of farting around with positioning.

There's a Base Convo during Part 3: Chapter 4 that grants me a Blue Gem (worth 5000 gold) from Shinon. This is automatically a great little gift, but the intent--through both the actual conversation and what appears in the shop afterwards--is to buy the Silencer bow with it. And, sure! Absolutely. That shit is excellent. A great bow, and a smart purchase. Without the cheats I'm playing with, I remember it being a bit of a struggle, waaaaay back during my first couple playthrus, being able to afford this particular weapon. Shinon goes so hard with that thing you forget about his dogshit Strength stat and growth.

But I'm not using Shinon this time.

So I just keep the gem for later, tucked away in the convoy.

I pulled the Quickclaw skill that comes with Kyza off, and stuck that on Ranulf instead. Ranulf, as I've said, is just... not my guy. Soren is my guy. So Ranulf is going to spend 99% of this run just sitting in the corner.

Literally. I'm going to put him in the corner of the map and forget about him for at least 2 chapters lol. Quickclaw is there just in case, and even then, it doesn't activate with any reliability.

Mist and Boyd are now at A support. I don't have to send them out any longer. I pull Mist's Miracle skill off of her and stick that on Heather as well, because she's really the only one in this part that can benefit from it at all.

Uh--and then we jump to turn 3 of this chapter, because I forgor.

We are following Skrimir, the Gallian commander, up this stupid mountain, so we can save his ass. We need to get there before General Zelgius, that hot hot armoured man from earlier, kills him in single combat. There's no time limit, though--I just need to get there with both Ike and Ranulf. Therefore, Ranulf will not be sitting in the corner for this particular map. It'd be nice to do that, but... well...

It's not really much of a problem, anyways.

Soren has a heal staff on him and helps keep some of the Gallians alive, and then completely destroys any enemies he comes into contact with. Ike and Ranulf come along behind him. Ike remains at the rear because he's at max level and doesn't benefit from the EXP, and Ranulf because he belongs in his corner.

Haar helps reinforce the cats farther north, and I manage to keep all but one of them alive. Not bad.

Waow.

Zzzz.

Like, there's a wyrmslayer up there somewhere on the northernmost chunk of this mountain, but Haar has that Nullify scroll on him. Soooo nice. He takes care of anything ranged that could fling shit at the cats below, while also sweeping away any and all enemies around him.

I let Soren kill the boss on this level, as well. Haar could handle him, but Soren scored a Flare on this battle, which is always a lovely sound. I play with animations off, obviously, the speed of the game greatly increased without those taking place. The map sound effect for Soren's third-tier skill activating is always just so fucking satisfying. Especially against a boss! He got a Speed and Luck growth, so I'm even more excited. Good job, baby boy!

Off we go to Part 3: Chapter 5, and... one of my favourite units has arrived!

Wow. Wow. Wow. Hey. Why'd you do that to me. Lmao.

So, the thing with Herons. They're Laguz units, yes? So they can transform, doubling their stats. Herons are completely and totally useless in combat anyways; they straight-up are incapable of counterattacks. They'll just dodge, if you're lucky.

And that's just it. Reyson's Luck stat is always excellent. If I'm good to him, he'll cap his Speed, his Defense, and his Magic stat as well. Magic is important to Herons because they have a Blessing skill inherent to each of them--they heal units adjacent to them equal to their Magic stat each turn. When transformed, this is doubled--and Reyson can heal people for MORE THAN 20 HP PER TURN when transformed, when capped. When untransformed, Reyson can only give 1 unit an extra turn. But when transformed, he can give 4 units an extra turn. I know Rafiel can do this in both forms, but... Rafiel can't fly. and flying is just... so good.

ANYWAYS YAY REYSON MY BOYE

I stuck the Celerity skill that's been hanging out in the convoy for many chapters on him immediately. This gives him +2 spaces of movement, allowing him to reach farther faster without being transformed.

Ike and Soren also hit A support! Nice. I don't have to worry about that any longer. When they're close, they fight great, and when apart, Ike might get hit by a stray lightning bolt or something. It's fine.

Part 3: Chapter 5 is also an interesting map in that I am deploying 1 unit who will reprise his role for this chapter, and then never again. Is this cheating? Well. I don't really care. I'm doing this for my benefit and no one else's. lol.

Gatrie is given a couple lances and healing items.

You can sort of see what I'm on about in these pics. The point of the chapter is that Begnion is now chasing you down, after Skrimir lost his battle with General Zelgius, and the upper Begnion powers couldn't keep their soldiers in line... or... something. Idk I'm not playing this part for the story, I'm playing this part because it's like scratching an itch. You're supposed to hang out on that upper layer of castle, there, for 10 turns, and then the battle is won.

But, yknow.

Lombroso there holds an Energy Drop. I want that. He does not drop it when killed. Therefore, I've fielded Heather, and I'm keeping her carefully tucked behind Haar and Soren, who are stuck waaaaay out it front.

Gatrie is stuck on the "seize" square, the victory point for the enemy, and I have utmost faith that nothing will move him from there. Ike would normally sit there, but I prefer to have him rush forward to support Soren with the evasion boost he lends him. Reyson is given a Laguz Stone, hoarded in the convoy, and shifts on the first turn. This way, from now on, my main 4 front units get 2 turns per turn.

Would you look at that. Gatrie doesn't even care. Not even breaking a sweat. He'll be fine.

But--oops. I kinda fucked up this bit, here. I'm still gonna finish this next turn, but usually I play it safe enough that I don't leave Lombroso at low HP so he flees. He's going to run away next turn, but I have a Heron at my back, ready to Vigor anyone who needs to move a second time. Heather couldn't reach him here, but she'll reach him soon.

Hehehe. Yeeeaaaahhhh. Nice. Right on. And I still have 2 third-tier units at the ready to just fucking demolish Lombroso.

You already know who I charged forward with.

Ehh.

Can't complain. Luck growth is always good for Soren. I was tempted to save-scum here, I'm not gonna lie. But it just wasn't worth it. At the end of the day, he's doing fine, and I'm proud of him. My sweet sweet goth dragon prince. uguu.

Next time, we move to our C-Team units. :')

I have a bunch of adjustments to make to them before I move into the battle.

The Prologue is so easy, man. None of the enemies will attack your Heron unit--Leanne, the worst of the 3 Heron siblings (which is unfortunate because she's soooo cute ;-;)--because they want to. Um. Own her. Or sell her. lmao. This is another plot point, the enslavement of Laguz, that keeps coming up in my own works. I've got entire worlds built around animal-people and their struggles with pure-blooded humans and I wholeheartedly acknowledge that it all comes from this game, specifically.

Anyways. Keep Leanne away from the Begnion dracoknights, rush with Haar, and repeatedly heal Maria with Elincia, and it's a piece of cake. I straight up swept the board clean with 2 entire turns to spare. No problem at all.

Part 2 Chapter 1 is. Well. Boring. I grabbed all the houses (you visit these to get bonus items), I recruited Heather, I slogged my way up to the boss and killed him. Left a couple volunteers alive to net a few extra BEXP because those will be critical later. Zzzzz. I know a lot of people really really like Heather and Nephenee, and I once went as far as to take Heather to the endgame once!

Once.

It was dumb.

She's an excellent character and I adore her, but her class (Thief) and stats are just... not worth it, especially considering Sothe is right there. Or Volke, even! Nephenee is also a fantastic unit, I just rarely end up using lancers for some reason?

Anyways. Part 2 Chapter 2 sees us move into a cave for an espionage mission. Lucia comes with a Talisman if you go through all the conversations at the base, a consumable that grants a unit +2 Resistance. Very important for later. That immediately goes into the convoy.

There's a poison mechanic in here, and it used to give me trouble, but... not anymore, really. You can grab an antitoxin from an enemy unit in the previous chapter if you really need it, but I often forget to give it to someone for this chapter. Instead, I slap a Hand Axe on Brom, give Lucia a Wind Edge, and then off I go. Mordecai and Lethe handle the northern route, trading the Olivi Grass between them (conserving the Laguz Stone). Everyone else takes the southern route through the cave, keeping Leanne in the back of the group to protect her. She can Vigor Lucia or Brom (or both if I'm careful) once per turn, and that gives me a decent boost. I sent Heather down the small south-east branch, had her steal the Coin from the hidden thief there, killed him, and then had her sit on his square. She picked up the hidden Discipline skill. That'll be important in Part 3 when I get access to one of my favourite units. Then, I had her rush forward, following Lucia, and stole the Secret Book from the boss--a consumable that will boost a unit's Skill stat by 2. It's not super critical to have, but it's nice if someone's lacking at any point. If I don't end up using it, I can sell it.

Easy chapter. So easy, I didn't even take pics. My bad. lol.

Part 2 Chapter 3: So Much BEXP is next. I do not send Astrid out. Ever. I don't like Bow Paladins.

I like to set the Partner units to "target", and then I put that target as far south as I possibly can. They are of no help here; they just get themselves killed and drain the BEXP I get for not killing enemy soldiers. This is a civil war chapter, and Queen Elincia specifically DOES NOT want us to slaughter everyone, so... okay! I'll do my best. Here's what I do:

Rush forward with my guys, killing single units along the way and then praying that the onslaught doesn't destroy the entire reserve of enemy units. I plant Danved at the southern choke point, cutting off anything behind him. I station Malakov in the northern bottleneck, preventing anything getting through from beyond. Neither of them have weapons equipped. They both have high enough Def, HP, and Luck stats to stay alive, and this way, they won't kill any additional units.

Interestingly, the exact spot where I have Makalov positioned hosts a hidden Arms Scroll, which I believe he picked up on turn 6! Nice. That'll be useful during the Part 4 Endgame. A couple reinforcements roll in just west of his position, but they're no real threat. Instead, I hurry forward with Marcia, Geoffrey, and Kieran--but I have to be wary of the couple mounted archers, and a guy on a horse with a Horsekiller lance. I bought one of my own from the shop to slap on Geoffrey to ward away most attackers, forcing them to target the flimsier Marcia instead, meaning more of them survive. With some careful maneuvering, and careful unit placement, I can also avoid anyone taking too much damage from the stupid ballistae up above. They'll fire rocks at your units, and if anyone is within 1-2 spaces of each other, they'll target those units, maximizing the usefulness of their, uh. Idk, like 1-3 points of damage at a time. I've lost track of this number because it just isn't an issue anymore lmfao

Now. This fucking guy. The unit I'm highlighting in the pic there. He's got a Speedwing on him. If I kill him, I get it. He rushes forward automatically, so all I have to do is eliminate threats until he lumbers his way down the ledge. Kieran is not looking too hot in this screenshot, but I just kinda moved him out of the way, healed him up, and took out the boss with Marcia (equipped with the Brave Lance) and Geoffrey (wielding a standard Steal Greatlance). Geoffrey gained a level, but... no Speed up, so I don't really care. He's not gonna see the Endgame so it's not a huge deal. Next turn, the Speedwing Rebel climbed down. I killed him with Kieran and Marcia, ensuring Marcia got the Speedwing (so it can be transferred to convoy later), and then sent Geoffrey ahead to sieze the map. Easy.

hehehehehahahahahaha. Fuck yeah. Excellent. Tedious chapter, and I spend every enemy turn just looking at my phone, but I can't lie--I love seeing a fat fucking BEXP yield at the end. Just marvellous.

After this is the Part 2 Endgame, already! Waow.

I sold a lot of the extra stuff kicking around in the convoy, which included a few Iron weapons from Part 1. This netted me plenty of cash, which will be a great infusion during Part 3 when I need it most. For the time being, though, I grabbed 3 Steel Blades and 4 Wind Edges, and then immediately put those in the convoy. It's a little... cheaty... doing this. But I like to have a good reservoir of swords for Ike to use in Part 3, and you can't access the market right away. I also stripped everyone of their items except for Brom, Elincia, Haar, and Heather. Those are the only 4 units I'll need for this Endgame. Well--I guess, Leanne, also. But she doesn't need any items at all. So 5 units.

All that BEXP comes in handy here, hehehe. That single level up he grabbed in the Prologue really came in handy!

MMMMMMMMMMM BIG BOY. MMMMM. AAUUUHH. LOOK AT THOSE STATS. He's fucking invincible now!! It's very easy-mode that the NA versions of this game allow you to just use EXP to promote, but I kinda dig it. I'd be annoyed if I couldn't promote Haar to third tier during this chapter, because it would force me to play much more conservatively. The enemy fields a bunch of thunder mages (bonus damage to dragons and wyverns...) so I'd have to keep Haar much safer... but with this change, I can just send him out to slaughter everyone.

Okay. So. Here's the deal with the Part 2 Endgame.

This highlighted gentleman wayyyy down south, at the very edge of the map, right up against the heavily-armoured boss, bears a Dracoshield. Idk if I'm gonna need it, but it'd be nice to have it. So I want to steal it from him. He does not drop it if you kill him, I don't think. The trouble is that Heather is a little baby and any strike from an enemy spells death for her. So I need to escort her down there.

Luckily for me, I've got two third-tier units, and Brom can completely handle the western portion of the map on his own!

First and foremost: Partner units get told to Halt. They will be of no use here, they'll just get in my way. I use Haar and Elincia to rescue the immobile archers along the walls and set them down elsewhere. Marcia comes hurrying along as reinforcements, and I have her get safe beyond the northern wall as well. Then, it's a matter of having Haar sweep up everything on the middle portion of the map while Brom steadily makes his way toward that tiny choke point in the west. Haar quickly smashes the heavy general just below that tall stairway, snagging a Nullify scroll that I'll stick on him in Part 3. Elincia heads south-east, grabbing an Energy Drop (Strength +2 consumable) on the way. There's a couple threats to her in the form of crossbowmen and archers, but Marcia and her Brave Lance, working alongside Heather, can sweep those away for her. I stick Brom in the choke point, and then send Haar over the that central wall, down into the pit where the boss awaits. I have to be careful, here. I don't want to kill the boss before I can grab that Dracoshield.

heh. Alright. I've used Heather to lure the Dracoshield unit toward her, tanking a hit. Normally that much damage would be a problem, but... Turn 8 is usually the turn on which I finish this battle. Haar already took down most of Ludveck's health on a previous turn, and those four reinforcements on the farthest south edge are just. Inconsequential. The Royal Knights arrived somewhere up north to reinforce me, but they straight up aren't going to move from that position at all. I had Elincia trade off her Psychic staff to Marcia, had Heather steal the Dracoshield, and then sent Haar after Ludveck to finish him off, grabbing the Tomahawk axe off of him in the process. Haar didn't quite manage to level up, but he's sitting pretty at 85 EXP for later. Nice.

And that's it! That's all of Part 2.

Next is among my favourite points in the game, Part 3, where shit gets REAL. The Dawn Brigade chapters coming up used to give me soooo much trouble, but the Greil Mercenary chapters are just... chef's kiss. Auhh. I'm looking forward to them. Already brainstorming which units to field, and it's probably gonna be my one or two favourites, and that's it. Ike can virtually solo any map he's on, lmao.