Part 0: Introduction

In an ancient era, there was a time where strength ruled the world. It was an era where evil reigned with the knowledge of iron. An era called Zeteginea.

Let's Play Tactics Ogre!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, as my first liveblog, I will be playing one of my favorite games of all time, Tactics Ogre! Now, before we begin, a disclaimer... this is my first liveblog, so I'll still have a lot to learn. Also, this game is long. Really long. It also starts to drag a bit towards the end. I might not be able to finish it all. But I can try!

A bit of information and history on the game: There was once a man named Yasumi Matsuno. He joined a Japanese video game company called "Quest." The first game he worked on was Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen, a real time strategy RPG for the Super Famicom. It proved successful in Japan, and was brought to America. However, it proved to be a flop in the USA. The next game he made was Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, also for the Super Famicom. A turn-based strategy RPG game, the game was a major shift from Ogre Battle. It was a hit in Japan, but because of Ogre Battle's failure in America, it was noy translated. Yasumi Matsuno was hired by Square to make a Final Fantasy game with many gameplay elements from Tactics Ogre. What did he create...? You guessed it, the famous Final Fantasy Tactics. A few months after FFT was realeased, the company Atlus translated Tactics Ogre and ported it to the Playstation. It was not very popular, many thinking it was a shallow imitation of FFT, but it did gain cult status. Yasumi went on to work on FFTA, Vagrant Story, and Final Fantasy 12, before leaving Square Enix and writing the story for Mad World.

So now that we have history out of the way, we can talk about how this liveblog will work. To be honest, it won't be that funny; I'll crack a joke or too, but mostly I'll try to be informative and serious. It's going to have pictures, but to make sure my posts don't get too big, I'm going to hotlink most of them instead of putting them directly into the post, unless the picture is very important. Also, the game has branching paths; if I get enough people following this, at least 3, they can vote on what path they want me to take. I'll be uploading some stuff about introductions, character naming, ect. later in the day. Please tell me how this sounds.

A great site for Tactics Ogre info.

Chapter 1: Are you telling me to stain my hands?

• Part 1: The Town of Griate Burns Down
• Part 2: The Mercenaries From Zenobia
• Part 3: The Zenobians Kick Ass
• Part 4: "Area?"
• Part 5: Real Battle
• Part 6: Presance Kicks Ass For The Lord
• Part 7: We Prepare To Fight Nybbas
• Part 8: Nybbas
• Part 9: Battles of Swords, Battles of Ethics
• Part 10: The Music Box
• Part 11: Hard Choices
• Part 12: The End Of Chapter 1- Fighting In The Rain

Chapter 2: Just because things don't turn out the way you expected, I won't give up.

• Part 13: The Quest For Lans Hamilton
• Part 14: Misunderstandings
• Part 15: The Fat Bounty Hunter
• Part 16: The Battle At Tanmas Hill
• Part 17: The Hulkster's In The House
• Addendum 1: Class Evaluation And Changes
• Part 18: The Angrish Begins Part 1 and Part 2.
• Part 19: Storming Damsa
• Part 20: Shit Hits The Fan
• Part 21: The End of Chapter 2- Jealousy

Chapter 3: Ambition and desire is the motivation. Losers are called dogs and hogs.

• Part 22: Knights of Dog Piss
• Part 23: *insert Legend of Zelda joke here*
• Part 24: New Classes
• Addendum 2: Death Quotes From Chapters 1 and 2
• Part 25: Make Like A Tree
• Part 26: Haborym
• Part 27: Get A Lich
• Part 28: The End of Chapter 3- Execution
• Addendum 3: More Death Quotes

Chapter 4: Hand In Hand

• Part 29: The Ideals of Lodis
• Part 30: Four Sisters
• Part 31: Alliance
• Addendum 4: Hell Gate
• Addendum 5: Even More Hell Gate
• Part 32: Princess
• Part 33: Hallelujah!
• Addendum 6: The Last of The Death Quotes

edited 1st Nov '10 5:26:42 PM by gentlemanorcus

Part 1: The Town of Griate Burns Down

When you first start the game, it offers some tutorials, but I'll be teaching you guys all that stuff. Next. It tells us to input my name. I put in "Orcus"... the name doesn't really matter very much at all. Next, it asks us for our birthday. I input my IRL birthday, May 14, and the game converts it to Month of Flame, Day 13. All right, next.

This is where the interesting part kicks in. There are four main elements: Wind, Fire, Earth, and Water. An "elemental god," each representing a diffirent element, will ask you three questions: "What is thy prayer", "what is thy offering", and "what is thy vow?" You are presented with 12 options you can choose to respond with: Reign, Peace, Glory, Honor, Love, Hatred, Victory, Sacrifice, Flourish, Ideal, Hope, and Revenge. As you can see here, the Wind Goddess Hahnela is asking me what my prayer is.◊ Once you give them a response, that answer will be gone forever. You can not give multiple answers. The four goddesses will each ask you the three questions, and you give one answer to each. Depending on the order of which answer you give to each question and what goddess you give the answer too, your stats will change. Your stats are HP (Health Points), MP (Magic Points), STR (Strength), VIT (Vitality), INT (intelligence), MEN (mentality), AGI (agility), and DEX (dexterity). I'll explain what these stats do later. For example, in this first question, I answer "ideal." This gives me -1 HP, MP, STR, and DEX, but gives me +1 VIT, INT, MEN, and AGI. I pick it, and it's deleted from the list. I can not pick it again. I answer all the questions. It doesn't matter that much... when you get to around level 40, which comes sooner than you'd think, your stats pretty much even out.

The game asks me to which element my character will be. I pick fire, for the hell of it.

Before we begin, some background on the story: There was an island called Valeria on the Obello Ocean... Valeria has flourished as a trade port. But there was a constant struggle between the various ethnic groups. Each of them was trying to rule the entire island. Then there was one man who put the everlasting war to an end. His name was Dolgare, and he later became King of the island. King Dolgare united the island. He encouraged mixed marriages and set up an official religion. He tried to avoid hatred or arguments between the different ethnic groups. For half a century, Valeria flourished under Dolgare's reign. But the seeds of war were not completely destroyed...

After his death, Bishop Branta, the leader of the Bacrumese, dominated the aristocrat class. With his help, they declared the independence of the capital city of Heigm. Branta also signed a secret treaty with Lodis, a major country to the north, and received military support. Thus, he established Bacrum-Valeria. Branta wanted to rule the entire island, but the Dark Knight Lans Tartare vetoed Branta's idea. Lans did not want to waste the manpower by having a useless war. Lans was the leader of the Dark Knight Order of Roslolian. The order was sent by Lodis to watch over Branta. Branta had to accept this and gave up the invasion.

Southern Valeria, the only remaining territory, was split by two groups. One was called Gargastan, a major ethnic group which covers 70% of the population in Southern Valeria. There was a major nationalist movement led by Cardinal Barbatos. They declared war against the Walstanians, the other ethnic group that lived in Southern Valeria. The Gargastans then massacred the Walstanians. Duke Ronway became the leader of Walsta and fought against the Gargastans. But half a year later, Walsta lost the war. Cardinal Barbatos established the Gargastan Kingdom and declared the termination of the internal dispute between Walsta. However, the oppression of Walstanians never ceased...

The remaining Walstanians resisted the Gargastan Kingdom's oppression. But even that movement subsided when Duke Ronway was captured and imprisoned. Most people were desperate and moved into a Walsta self-governing district that the Gargastans provided. Thus the national dispute in Valeria had settled down. Little did the people know that that was only a temporary peace...

Opening cutscene!

It opens on a peaceful snowy town, with ominous music playing.

The camera pans up and... who the hell are these people? Look, he has an eyepatch!◊ Then it shows a heroic looking man in black hair riding down some plains in a horse. Soldiers ride horses down the town.◊ And... whoah, what the hell!?◊ Here's the eyepatched man again, looking ominous.◊ Some soldiers carry off an old man, with a girl trying to hold a boy back.◊ See the blond boy being held back? He's our hero. The black-haired man walks to some kind of building, opens a door, and walks in.

Chapter 1: Are You Telling Me To Stain My Hands?

We see the building is occupied by the black-haired man, the blond boy, and the blond girl we saw earlier.◊ The black-haired man tells the blond haired boy, our hero Orcus, that "Lans is here, just as we had heard!", albiet with more gratuitous swearing. Orcus reveals the blond haired girl is his sister. She's skeptical, saying it's a bad idea and they can't possibly win. The black-haired man reveals her name is Kachua, and says that this is what they've been waiting and planning for. She says, "But three of us... against the Dark Knights..." Orcus tells her not to worry and that they aren't expecting them. The black-haired man, whose name is Vice so I don't have to keep typing "the black-haired man", calls her chicken. Orcus tells him to calm down, and they leave.

Kachua asks what good killing these Dark Knights will do. Vice tells her "Lans is the leader of the Dark Knights. They're the source of Bacrum's power. By killing Lans, we can weaken the Bacrum forces for a while. Then the Gargastan forces will make their move and invade Bacrum. Then we can launch our counter-attack!" Yep, we're part of a Walstanian resistance group, fighting against Gargastan and the Bacrumese. Kachua says they're still recovering from the last war, and asks if he wants to starts another one. Vice says, and I quote, "What do you mean we're still recovering, Kachua?! The Walstanians are being treated like shit!! Gargastan is trying to wipe us out!" Orcus tells them to be quiet, they're coming. Indeed, a group of soldiers walks down the stairs, presumably the Dark Knights. Vice says they'll attack from two sides; Orcus will attack from the rear, Kachua and Vice will attack from the front.

Victory Condition: Kill All Enemies

Here's our position. The spaces Orcus can move to are in green.◊ Here are the enemies.◊ There are five of them. I look at the stats of the enemy. They are named Canopus, Warren, Lans, Guildus, and Mildain. Some of these names might be familiar if you've played Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen.

Let's see... Mildain has a strength of 81, Guildus has a strength of 82, Warren has an INT of 99... I have a strength of 56.

... We are so screwed.

Next time: we get into a few practice battles, and I explain even more game mechanics!

Yeah, I know the game mechanics are boring, but they are very important. This is a pretty complicated game, so if you want to know what the hell I'm talking about later on, with alignments, and classes, and the Chaos Frame, you'll want to pay close attention. If you have any questions or comments, please ask below.

edited 26th Sep '10 4:46:48 PM by gentlemanorcus

Part 2: The Mercenaries From Zenobia

Before we continue, here's what your basic stats do: HP: This measures someone's "Hit Points," or the amount of damage they can take. When someone's HP becomes 0, they die. MP: This is "Magic Points," which is a measure of one's magical endurance; whenever someone casts a spell, a certain amount of their MP is consumed. When someone's MP is too low to cast a certain spell, they can't cast the spell—they have to wait until they have enough MP. MP increases as WT counts down. STR: This is "Strength." It is a direct measure of how strong someone's physical attack is; a character's raw attack power (attack power with no weapons) is determined by taking their STR and adding half of their DEX. VIT:This is "Vitality." This is another measure of a character's endurance—the higher someone's VIT is, the better physical defense they will have. Better physical defense means that they will lose less HP when attacked. INT: This is "Intelligence," a direct measurement of someone's capacity to cast spells. A character's raw magic attack power (magic attack power with no staffs, rings, necklaces, etc.) is determined by taking their INT and adding half of their MEN. MEN: This is "Mentality," which is directly related to one's defense against spells. Having high mentality means that someone takes less damage from spells that are casted on them. A character's raw magic attack power (magic attack power with no staffs, rings, necklaces, etc.) is determined by taking their INT and adding half of their MEN. Also, the strength of many special attacks depend on the MEN of the character that uses them. AGI: This is "Agility," which is a measure of a character's speed. Those with high AGI are more accurate in their attacks and better at evading attacks directed at them. Furthermore, a character's base WT (waiting time without any equipment on) is determined by subtracting their AGI from 550. DEX: This is "Dexterity," a measure of one's "skill." A character's DEX is directly proportional to their accuracy. For supplemental magic users such as Warlocks, Witches, and Sword Masters, high DEX (along with low WT) is a priceless asset. DEX is also directly proportional to a character's raw attack power (attack power with no weapons), which is determined by taking their STR and adding half of their DEX. LUK: This is the character's "Luck." In battle, a character's LUK is directly proportional to the rate at which they get critical hits. Also, the possible items that a character can find as buried treasure at a given spot depends on their LUK. Furthermore, a character's LUK is related to the probability that they will get treasure from killing an enemy—those with high LUK tend to get treasure more often, while those with low LUK tend to get stat-boosting cards.

If the descriptions of these stats cofuses you, I'll go over them more later.

There are also other things, like alignment, but I'll go over that later.

I move Orcus up the green spaces.◊ Once you've moved, the game will ask you which direction you want to face. This is important; your back is much more vunerable to enemies, and if you allow them to attack your back your chance of getting a counterattack is greatly decreased. More on that later.

With nothing else to do, I end my turn. These guys are going to slaughter us, Kachua was right. Well, I'll go out fighting, in the name of Walsta!

Vice goes over to the enemies and tries to atttack the winged man, Canopus. He is blocked. This knight, who seems to be the leader of the group, asks us who we are.◊ Vice comes right out and says we're part of the Walsta Liberation Army.

They seem pretty confused. Canopus snarks about our manners, saying we're just kids.◊ The main knight asks us if we've got the wrong guy. Vice tells him if his name is Lan's, he's our enemy; the knight affirms his name is indeed Lans. Vice says "you dark Knights burned down this town a year ago!" Remember that scene from the opening? Yeah.

Lans, confused, says they are from Zenobia, a country far away. Kachua remembers the Dark Knight Lans has only one eye. This man has two.

It took them this long to figure it out...? God, these kids are morons.

So yeah, they have the same name. Vice's informant must really really suck. Canopus explains they were banished from Zenobia and are looking for work as mercenaries. The knight says his name is "Lans Hamilton."

The old fart, in Canopus' words, is Warren Moon.◊ This dude is Mildain.◊ And this dashing man is Guildus, who is also a knight of Zenobia.◊ Vice finally starts to catch on they might not be the Black Knights... no shit, Sherlock...

Kachua says we need their help, and she introduces us. Look, first dialogue coice!◊ What you choose doesn't really matter. I pick "Forgive us," because Orcus is just a polite guy like that.

We take them back to our hideout. Kachua explains Walsta doesn't really have the manpower to fight Gargastan and Bacrum... Bacrum hired the Black Knights of Lodis to fix their problem. The Black Knights are also called "The Roslolian Knights," but nobody really knows how to say that. They operate directly under the king of Lodis. Warren explains the Roslolians are used mainly for espionage and scouting... sounds these Black Knights aren't exactly trustworthy. Vice starts getting skeptical, asking why they've come, even going so far to suggest they might be trying to invade. They explain they have no ties to Zenobia, and are now simple mercenaries. Orcus explains they need to rescue Duke Ronway, leader of the Walsta rebellion, who is currently being held at Amorika Castle, which belongs to the enemy. They offer to help. Kachua, once again, whines about overhwelming odds.

So my friends consist of a whiny, spineless wimp and an abrasive, moronic "tough guy." Greeeeeaaaaaat...

Another option.◊ It's a But Thou Must! situation, but if you go with 2, you get a lame joke, so I select that. I say they shouln't interfere, and he says he's coming along anyway and says this stupid◊ joke.◊

Ha ha ha.

...Yes, this game is actually really good. I was suprised too.

The knights of Zenobia leave. Kachua asks if her brother ever listens to her, and Vice tells her to stop being so clingy. After Orcus leaves, Vice and Kachua get into an argument about the Zenobians. Kachua explains she's just manipulating them. Vice responds with this awesome line: "A priestess taking advantage of people. What a bitch!!" My thoughts exactly, Vice, my thoughts exactly. When he leaves, Kachua sighs and says she just doesn't want to lose anyone.

Yeah, she Wangsts, a lot.

...The other characters are a lot better. Yeah, really.

Overworld screen! That red place is Amorika.◊

Next time: we storm the castle of Amorika to save our leader Duke Ronway! Can we do it with the help of the Zenobian knights?

Some real battle coming up. Well, not "real" battle... the Zenobians do most of the work... but it will give me a chance to explain many of the things I've been laying off. I might even be able to get two battles into one post!

This is the best sight to find information on Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together, or LUCT, as it's often called. Much of my information comes from there. Be wary of spoilers.

edited 23rd Sep '10 3:34:42 PM by gentlemanorcus

Part 3: The Zenobians Kick Ass

Last time, we found out our heroes, Orcus, his friend Vice, and his sister Kachua are part of a resistance group to save the opressed Walstanians and fight against the forces of the Gargastan and the Bacrumese! We prepare an ambush on the Black Knights, a powerful group of soldiers sent by the nation of Lodis to support the Bacrumese led by a man named Lans Tartare (see where my avatar is from now?). However, it turned out we were mistaken and the group we were attacking were simple mercenaries banished from the faraway land of Zenobia, whose leader is named Lans Hamilton. We take advantage of Vice's screw-up and hire them to help us save the leader of the resistance, Duke Ronway, from the Gargastan castle Amorika.

Here's the world map again.◊ We can't really do anything other than go to the highlighted red place, so that is what we do.

A synthesized voice says "Fight It Out," a Catchphrase for the entire series, and the battle begins. We are not taken to the unit deployment screen, as all of our party members are guests.

We are confronted by a force of four soldiers (the males), two amazons (the females), and a berzerker (the bearded man), Bapalu, who is the boss.◊ He says we have fallen into his trap and attacks.

Victory Condition: Kill the Leader

This means you only need to kill Bapalu; killing the other enemies is optional.

Some awesome music starts playing. This game has a great soundtrack.

Guildus◊ explains jumping.◊ To jump, the other side has to be the same height or lower. Canopus◊ talks about◊ winged men.◊ He goes on to tell Orcus to use teamwork. A very good lesson to learn in this game. Mildain tells us that if we want to move quicker and get turns in before other enemies, we shouldn't wear heavy armor and unneccessary items. Lans Hamilton tells us to check the guardian element of the enemy we are about to face. For example, we will do more damage if I fight a water-based enemy, as my guardian element is fire. However, the damage they do to me will be greater. Warren◊ explains MP increases as WT counts down; you accumulate WT every round.

An amazon comes foward and tries to shoot Guildus with a bow.◊ He blocks the arrow.◊

The cursor comes towards us. It is our turn! Here are our core stats. It does not show the effects of armor or weapons.◊ I move Orcus to the space highlighted by the cursor.◊

Some core things about battles the game doesn't tell you; when a character, on either side, loses all their HP, they are dead. No crystals, no reviving; if a character dies, they are lost forever.

When attacking an enemy, they will counterattack, whether you attack them from the sides, the front, or the back. On the other hand, if an enemy attacks you, you will counterattack too, no matter where they attack you. You can decrease the accuracy of a counterattack by attacking an enemy from the back. This will increase your accuracy, and decrease their counterattack accuracy. You will not be counterattacked if you use bows or spells; more on that when we discuss classes.

When an enemy dies, whether on your side or the enemies side, they will sometimes drop either treasure or a card. Treasure contains items, usually something that the murdered soldier had. You step on their corpse to get the treasure. Cards increase your stats. Just like treasure, you must step on them. Enemies may steal treasure from you by stepping on the corpses. Same with cards. At the end of the battle, any treasure that has not been picked up by you or the enemy will be rewarded to you. Cards, however, will not. Thus, you should make collecting cards a higher priority than getting treasure.

All of our party members; Kachua, Vice, Canopus, Lans, Mildain, Guildus, and Warren; are guests. This mean they attack and move by themselves; we have no control.

In case you haven't guessed, the ultra-powerful Zenobians will be doing most of the killing here; we would be lucky to get a hit in.

I face forward.◊ I'm about to do something sneaky. I click the "action" button, and then click "indirect." No matter what class you are, you can throw stones.◊ It's very weak, and should never be used. Here's the range of the rock.◊ As you can see, Lans is in my range. His back is to me. I throw the rock and... hit him! He loses 1 HP.◊ You may be wondering, why did I do that? In this game, you get EXP whenever you attack someone. You get more EXP for attacking higher level enemies. Lans is level 3. I got 16 EXP for attacking Lans,◊ and you need 100 EXP to level up. Sorry, Lans, but levels are really, really improtant in this game.

Vice and Kachua move forward. Guildus moves forward and attacks the amazon who had shot at him earlier, dealing 58 HP and one-hit killing her!◊ Holy crap! Because Guildus is level 3, he gets a measly 2 EXP for killing here. Also, as you can see, she has turned into treasure.◊ You get more EXP for landing killing blows on enemies. Canopus attacks a soldier, not quite one hit killing him. Canopus has a lance; unlike most hand-held weapons, which have a range of one, a lance has a range of two. I'll go over the more complicated parts of the lance later, but needless to say, it's a pretty good weapon. Mildain moves foward and kills the enemy Canopus attacked.◊ He becomes treasure. Lans attacks this guy... and gains a critical, one hit killing him!◊ When you get a critical, you do more damage, and the enemy is kocnked back a square. The enemy becomes treasure. Warren attacks a far away enemy with a spell called Incubus.◊ It does good damage, and has chance of putting an enemy to sleep, as it does with the soldier he attacked here.Bapalu moves forward and attacks Lans... and is blocked!◊ Lans counterattacks, doing a great deal of damage to Bapalu!◊ Another enemy attacks Lans, does a measly 3 damage, and is counterattacked for all his health!◊ He also becomes treasure. Canopus is attacked by an amazon, and blocks. As you can see, it has started raining. It is my turn. I move to the highlighted space◊ and attack Warren with a rock. I get 16 EXP. Guildus kills the boss.◊

Bapalu: I-I can't believe I lost... Yes, this game has death quotes for bosses. He becomes treasure. The rest of the living enemies die.

Congratulations!◊ I get some Goth, the currency of this game,◊ I get 300 extra goth, a short sword, a bow, and a Cure+++.

The battle done, we enter into the castle.

Next time: we try to save our leader, Duke Ronway, recieve some troops, and explain overworld commands!

Not all battles will be explained in this much detail. I just did it here so you guys would get the gist of what battle is like. Stay tuned... the game is a lot better, a lot darker, and a lot more compelling then it looks at first! It was written by the same writer of FFT, after all...

edited 25th Sep '10 4:26:14 PM by gentlemanorcus

Lost Forever? Even main characters? Ouch! I don't remember it being quite that hard.

Still, I'm highly anticipating the re-release of this game in the coming months.

Thanks for being the first one to comment! Yeah, looking forward to that PSP remake.

Immunity depends on the situation. I was going to talk about it later, but Vice and Kachua, who will be with us for most of Chapter 1, have special crystals that they use to escape if they are killed, I believe. It never happened to me, so I'm not sure if it's only once. I might have to do some experiments.

My next post should be soon. I'm trying to figure out some kind of format for enemy stats or something... eh...

edited 18th Sep '10 4:07:58 PM by gentlemanorcus

Sadly, it's been more than a decade since I last played it. I want to get the disc again, but it's prohibitively expensive on eBay. I never realized it was at Shantae levels of rarity.

Heh, it's starting to get quite hard to remember to type in "Orcus" instead of "Denim." Anyway, because the the next post will probably be pretty big, I'll just give my update schedule here:

Sunday-Thursday: 1 update a day. May slack off if I have lots of homework,

Friday-Saturday: 2-3 updates a day, depending on my time and general mood.

That update's coming soon!

EDIT: I was writing a long entry on my liveblog when I accidentally clicked a link on my Favorites bar. I've lost all my progress on the entry.

FUUUUUUUUUUU....

edited 19th Sep '10 2:26:49 PM by gentlemanorcus

Part 4: "Area?"

We are automatically taken to the next battle. We are confronted◊ by some soldiers,◊ some amazons,◊ and a knight, Agres, who is the boss.◊ He says a "Lord Nybbas" is on vacation, and then attacks us. Who is Nybbas?

Victory Condition: Kill The Leader

I'm not going to transcribe this battle, mostly because it's the exact same as the last one. Let the Zenobians do most of the work, hit them with rocks, avoid the boss. Simple. I only get to hit Warren once before the leader is killed.

Agres: I...I can't believe I lost to a bunch of kids and a chicken-man... impossible... I love that line. I get 1050 Goth and a Blessing. I'll explain what that does later.

Off-screen, we save Ronway. He thanks us for saving him.◊ He asks Warren and Lans why they were banished from Zenobia, as both helped the current king rise to power; this exchange makes more sense if you've played the original Ogre Battle, but let's just say Lans and Warren were pretty high up. He then gets skeptical, asking if they secretly work for Zenobia; Kachua assures the Duke they have no ties to Zenobia. Satisfied, Ronway hires them to work for the rebellion. They leave. Ronway congratulates us and gives us a battalion. I name it "Liveblog."

Happy with the name, he tells us to go to the town of Krizar; his second-hand man, Leonard, disappeared in the town when searching for Nybbas (there's that name again!). To help us, he gives us 20,000 Goth, and more importantly, a group of 4 soldiers and 4 amazons.

Meet Leon,◊ Bruno (I'd make a Bruno joke, but I didn't see that movie),◊ Delta,◊ Belgger,◊ Julia,◊ Dorony,◊ Freesia,◊ and Area (Area? Seriously?).◊

Outside, Lans thanks us for getting him a lord and says he cannot come with us. Ah, man, those guys are awesome! Ah well, I guess I can fight with "Area" and "Bruno." *grumble, grumble*

He also gives us some very good advice: train. YES. TRAIN. YOU MUST TRAIN IN THIS GAME. I CAN'T STRESS HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS. IT. IS. VITAL.

We are taken back to the world map.◊ Amorika is considered a town, so we get lots of options.◊ They are, left to right, Shop, Training, Edit, Warren Report, Data, and Options.

You save in Data and change cursors and brightness and stuff in Options. Simple enough.

Here's the Warren Report.◊ We can get character bios, re-watch old scenes, and get hints. Also, unlike FFT, where you had to go to the pub to get news, you can get news at Misc. Also, there are certain things you need to see in Misc that will get you extra scenes, and even open the way to a Bonus Dungeon that I might do. Keep this in mind.

Shop, is, well, the shop.◊ They don't have anything we want right now. I'll explain Auction if I ever actually have a use for it. You can recruit new soldiers; this is only helpful really early on, as they come as level 1.

This is the Edit screen.◊ It is really important. It's where you change equipment, view Loyalty, change classes, ect. As you may notice, everyone is either a soldier or an amazon. Time for a Unit Assessment!

Unit Assessment: Soldiers And Amazons

Soldier And Amazon Growths

• HP: 8
• MP: 4
• STR: 6
• VIT: 5
• INT: 6
• MEN: 6
• AGI: 6
• DEX: 6

Yeah, growths are the stat gains this class gains each level. As you can see, amazons and soldiers have the same growths. They are a very balanced class; just because they are basic, by no means are they horrible. Of course, you shouldn't have an "average" character, you need a character that excels at something, so these classes won't be that helpful, but if you want some even stat gains between all the chaos of switching from class to class to class so you can get the right stats for that one special class, these guys are probably best.

Back To The Gameplay

You can't change your class until you reach level 4, so we'll be stuck with these guys for a little while.

As you can see, everyone is level 2, except for Orcus, who is still level 1. Time for some training.

Training, as said above, is vital. You should grind so everyone is equal after every single battle, preferably gaining a level too. This is one of the down sides of this game, the constant grinding, but you really need to do this, because unlike FFT, this game is hard. Like, really, really hard.

I'm going to do a bit of training. Pretty much, you divide your men into two squads; you need at least one member in both. Then you can choose a bunch of options; you can have yourself control both sides, you can have the AI control 1 side, or you can have the AI control both sides. The best way to train is to probably put your squadmates into AI mode, turn the volume to zero, and listen to some show tunes or something. Beware, however, that if a character has a cure leaf in their inventory and they're controlled by the AI, they will use it, and it will be lost forever, so be sure to take any stat-boosting items out of a character's inventory before setting the squads to be controlled by the AI.

It's time for me to do some training!

Next time: we get into our first real battle!

edited 23rd Sep '10 3:35:06 PM by gentlemanorcus

Part 5: Real Battle

Okay. I trained Orcus to everyone's level, then trained all of my units to level 3 except Kachua and Vice; they are still guests, and guests can't be trained.

Equipment: Orcus has the blue necklace, which helps with INT and MEN, leather jerkin, and a short sword. His secondary weapon is a short bow; I bought that for him at the shop.

Leon, Delta, Julia, and Freesia all have a short sword, a tower shield, and a leather jerkin, along with a cure leaves. Bruno, Belgger, Dorony, and "Area" all have a short sword, a leather jerkin, and a bow as a secondary weapon, along with cure leaves. Thus, our party is divided between fighter-archer combos and pure fighters with better defense, with one extra fighter-archer combo. Fair enough.

Let's examine and assess stats. Orcus is the most powerful of the soldiers, with a STR (with the effects of weapons) of 74. He also has the highest INT. Belgger has the highest HP of all the soldiers, but also has the highest INT of all the soldiers, except Orcus, who I plan to make into a fighter. That's a toughie. Leon has the third highest INT, of 45. I might make him into a wizard; I plan to make most of the amazons into archers and healers. We'll see. The rest of the soldiers seem decent; Delta seems to be more durable than Bruno, who is more powerful, but by a very small margin.

Let's see the amazons. Area has, by far, the most bow skill of all the amazons, a 60. The closest is Dorony, with 56. I'm definitely going to make Area into an archer when we can change classes. Julia and Dorony are tied for highest INT; Julia has 3 more strength points then Dorony. However, Dorony has 57 bow skill. Hmmmmmm... Freesia seems all around weaker compared to Julia, in everything. She may be the first one I shaft when I get plot characters, or I might make her into a cleric. We'll see when I can change classes.

Enough assessing my units, time for our first battle!

Seems we have to fight at a "Tanmas Hill" before we can get to Krizar.◊ This is what I like to call a "filler battle." It serves no purpose and does not advance the plot; it is there to simply extend the game. Normally, I won't transcribe these battles; it would be a pain in the ass, to be frank; but this is our first real battle.

I select Tanmas Hill.

Fight It Out!

We are brought to this screen.◊ Like FFT, this is where we position our party members. Look at this picture that I crudely made in Paint.◊

As you can see, I've numbered each square. I'll be referring to this picture for the rest of the liveblog, so keep this post in mind.

Here's our position.◊ I moved all our archer-fighter combos to the back; Area to 1, Belgger to 3, Bruno to 7, and Dorony to 9. I moved Orcus, however, to 6; this is because of the discrepancy of archer-fighters and fighters. He still has good health and VIT, so he's on the front line with Julia at 2, Leon at 4, Delta at 8, and Freesia at 10. As you notice, there is a maximum of 10 units that can go into battle, unlike FFT's measly five. That's one of the reasons I like this game so much; the larger number of characters that can enter battle means there's a lot more strategy. As you may notice, we have only 9 people in our party, leaving one space blank. I wonder why that would be...?

We are confronted by◊ some soldiers, amazons, and a wizard, Oruba, who is the boss.◊ He tells us that he'll stop us from finding Leonard, and then... what?◊ He says he doesn't feel right leaving us and says he'll fight with us.

That's right! Canopus is now a permanent party member, though right now he's a guest.

Victory Condition: Kill The Leader

Sorry, no music, the only guy I could find on You Tube who has tracks of the game doesn't have it.

The enemies move, into this position.◊ Canopus attacked the amazon the cursor is on,◊ hitting her for 37 HP.

All of the enemies are at level 3, except the boss, who is at level 4.

Now I'll explain how the lance works. The lance has a range of two; thus, it can hit units two spaces away. It can also hit two units at once; if two units are caught in it's range, they both will be hurt, though the farthest enemy for a lot less.

When using bows, you will not be counterattacked, even if your enemy has a bow. Same with wizards. That's one of the reasons why archers are ridiculously overpowered, among other things.

Here's our current position in relation to the enemy.◊ It is Belgger's turn. I move him to the space highlighted,◊ select the bow, and hit this soldier with it.◊ It works, and the soldier loses 21 HP. Area's turn. I move her to the highlighted space◊ and have her attack the same guy Belgger did, "Spider." Spider blocks. I move Orcus here.◊

I have Orcus shoot Spider. It hits, doing 28 HP damage to the enemy.◊ I have Bruno move here.◊ Note how is back is protected by shrubs. I shoot the amazon the cursor is on. It hits, doing 20 HP. I have Dorony move next to Bruno and attack the same amazon, Garnet I move Leon here; since he has no bow, he simply waits.◊ I move Delta so his back is protected by Leon and waits. I move Freesia next to Garnet and attack. She does 22 damage, and Freesia blocks Garnet's counterattack. I have Julia attack Sophia, the enemy Canopus attacked earlier. It does 33 damage! Sophia is an archer only, so she simply punches Julia, doing 4 damage. Vice attacks Garnet, getting her down to 4 HP.◊ He blocks the counterattack.

The leader attacks Julia with a spell; it gets her down to 52 HP. Three enemies gang up on Freesia; she gets down to 10 HP. Delta attacks Spider, getting him down to 5 HP. Canopus uses his cure leaf to give her 50 HP. Belgger attacks Sophia,◊ who fled, and he... is blocked. Damn. Area, however, does hit Sophia, killing her! She becomes a card. Kachua heals Julia for 16 HP. Orcus attacks this enemy, and...◊ hits, for 29 HP! He's counterattacks for 17. Bruno comes behind Spider and kills him. He becomes treasure. Dorony moves forward and attacks the enemy Orcus was fighting, Zach, for 16 HP! Leon attacks this enemy, Penelope, who has a lance,◊ for... 31 HP! He's counterattacked for 35. Freesia attacks Garnet with a rock, dealing 2 HP and killing her! Julie kills Zach.

This goes on. Delta kills a soldier, Belgger and Area try to shoot the boss and miss.

However, something interesting does happen. Orcus is behind Penelope. She has a lance. Time to persuade her to join our side!

If Orcus is next to an enemy, he can try to persuade him/her. How successful it is depends on how low the enemy's health is, the direction she's facing, and a lot of other factors. Let's see if it works.

Yep, Penelope is now on our side! We get a new soldier, and more importantly, an extra lance!◊ She's a guest until the battle ends.

I advance all my troops forward to kill the boss!◊ Leon picks up a mentality card. His MEN increases by 2. Delta picks up a magic card; his MP increases by 5.

Orcus kills the boss. How fitting.◊

Oruba: I can't die... here... We get 1550 Goth, and the Fire Burn spell. Awesome, we can teach this to the wizard I'll be making soon!

Canopus◊ and Penelope◊ join our squad!

Time for the next battle!◊

Next time: we save Leonard!

Most battles won't be explained in this much detail. I just did it here since it's our first real battle. Most battles will be discussing strategy and notable things that happen; for example, "Canopus and Area move to the south, killing some amazons along the way, while the rest of our forces meet the bulk of the enemy," and stuff like that. Heh, writing this liveblog is a lot harder than I thought it would be! But it's very rewarding, and I'd do anything to spread awareness about this game, because frankly, it Needs More Love.

edited 23rd Sep '10 3:35:16 PM by gentlemanorcus

Part 6: Presance Kicks Ass For The Lord

Last time, we fought a filler battle. Simple, no?

Equipment upgrades: Penelope has, along with a new "spear" (I've been calling it a lance, I'm sorry), some battle boots. It gives some points to MEN and VIT. I give Orcus the battle boots, taking out his blue necklace.

Everyone has a regular cure leaf except for Orcus, who doesn't have enough room, Freesia, who has a Cure+++ (heals a lot more), Leon, who gets a Cure+ (heals a bit more), and Canopus, who gets the blessing.

As I said before, all death is permanent. However, this rare gem bypasses this, bringing the user back to life when he dies. It can only be used once, and it's rare, so use it wisely!

I proceed to train my guys to level 4. I was wrong, you can change classes at level 5.

Time for the next battle!◊

Here's our position.◊ Dorony at 1, Julia at 2, Bruno at 3, Leon at 4, Freesia at 5, Orcus at 6, Area at 7, Canopus at 8, Belgger at 9, and Delta at 10.

We see it is night, raining, and there are a bunch of undead, including skeletons and ghouls.

We see in the middle of the ghouls and skeletons is a preacher named Presance.◊ He expresses disgust our enemies would use dead souls in this matter and casts a spell on a skeleton, making him dissipate. You see, this guy is the only one who can kill these undead; if we kill them, they'll pop up again after a few rounds. Only his special spells can keep the undead down.

He says reinforcements will show up soon. Hooray, badass priest is on our side!

The witch, Mordoba, who is the boss,◊ says Leonard and his men are in the house behind her and are caught in a sleeping spell; when they wake up, they will become ghouls. Oh no! We have to save Leonard!

Victory Condition: Kill the Leader

Here's a link to the music, as apparently you can't post two Youtube videos in one post.

We have a special thing we should do in this battle; we are supposed to make sure Penance doesn't die, as he's a guest. If he does die, the game goes on, but it's pretty easy to keep him alive.

A ghoul attacks Penance. Remember that spell that Warren was casting? The one that does good damage and has a chance to set the enemy to sleep? Well, now the enemies are using it. Great.

Luckily, it doesn't inflict sleep.

Canopus' turn!

Canopus, Freesia, and Leon will go down this way,◊ joining up with the others here.◊ The rest will continue down this way,◊ killing any enemies in their way. Everyone will meet to go across the bridge and kill the boss.

Let's do this.

I send Canopus down his assigned path. Presance the priest moves. Holy crap! This old geezer just hit a skeleton with a cane for 31 damage!◊

...

No, I do not regret that.

Everyone does what they need to do. My men kill a skeleton, but he'll revive if Penance doesn't cast his spell.

...Of course, now he can't, because the ghoul just hit him with Incubus again and inflicted sleep on him. Fuck. Kachua heals Penance. Good job, sister, now all you need to do is stop whining and I might start caring for you!

The witch tries to stun Leon, and misses. Witches cast mostly status-changing spells, which mostly miss. If they do hit, however, it's a pain in the ass...

Leon kills the ghoul. Go, Leon, go!

The teams have converged by this point.

A skeleton revives from behind us and is able to attack Kachua! I send Delta and Area to deal with it.

By now, everyone is attacking the boss. She casts a stun spell on Canopus, actually hitting! You bitch, you don't fuck with Canopus and live!

Freesia kills the boss, backing her into a corner.

Mordoba: Lord Nybbas... have you abandoned me? Gee, what do you think, toots?

I get 1300 Goth and the Stun spell.

Leonard thanks us for saving him.◊ He says he was taken by surprise and most of his men are dead. Presance says Nybbas is hiding in a fort nearby. Leonard says they should attack, Presance says they should go back to the castle. They say they will let us choose. I'm going to attack Nybbas, as it's another battle and thus more EXP.

Sara the archer,◊Voltel the knight,◊ and Presance join our party, with Leonard coming as a guest.

Next time: we prepare to fight to Nybbas!

edited 17th Oct '10 6:26:30 PM by gentlemanorcus

Setting this off for a day while I try to find a better way to represent battles. If anyone is watching, sorry. Hopefully I can return tomorrow.

Part 7: We Prepare To Fight Nybbas

Last time, we saved Leonard, where we were told we could either take the fight to Nybbas or return to Amorika. I chose to fight Nybbas. I got Presance, Voltel, Sara, and Leonard as a guest on our team. I'll talk about them after I train.

I train Orcus, Leon, Bruno, Belgger, Julia, Dorony, Freesia, Area, Canopus, Delta, and Presance to level 5. Voltel and Sara are already level 5.

Since we are level 5, some of us can change classes.Here's the class change screen for Orcus,◊ the screen for Belgger,◊ Julia,◊ Freesia,◊ and Presance.◊ Sara and Voltel already have classes. Canopus cannot change classes, as he is technically and animal.

I change Orcus to a Berzerker (yes, that's how it's spelled in the game,◊ Belgger to a ninja,◊ and Freesia into a cleric.◊ Voltel is a knight◊ and Sara is an archer.◊ Penance is an exorcist.

Time for some class assessments! Before we begin, it should be noted that unlike FFT, any class can wield any weapon. If you want a cleric to charge forth with an axe, I'd call you stupid, but the game would allow you. This offers a lot more flexibility.

There are no complicated systems like FFT's job system. So that means no duel-classing like you could there.

Every class beyond soldier and amazon has requirements. For example, let's look at the requirements of the Berzerker:

• ALI: Neutral, Chaotic
• STR: 45
• VIT: 46
• DEX: 44

The ALI stands for Alignment. Every character has an Alignment; either Lawful, Chaotic, or Neutral. Certain classes require different alignments. As you can see, if you are Lawfu, you cannot become a Berzerker. Orcus, however, is Neutral.

Here are the alignments of everyone in our squad:

• Orcus: N
• Leon: N
• Bruno: N
• Delta: L
• Belgger: C
• Julia: N
• Dorony: N
• Freesia: L
• Area: C
• Canopus: L
• Penelope: C
• Sara: N
• Voltel: L
• Presance: L
• Vice: N
• Kachua: N
• Leonard: L

Also, you need certain stats to change classes. Since different classes have different growths, you should constantly have your characters switch classes to best get the stats for a higher level class. There are some very complex statistic behind it; see the site I told you guys to go to for LUCT information if you need more info.

Boys and girls get different classes. I'll say in the class description which gender can change to that class.

Class Assessments: Berzerker, Ninja, Cleric, Knight, Archer, Exorcist

Berzerker

Growths:

• HP: 10
• MP: 2
• STR: 7
• VIT: 6
• INT: 4
• MEN: 7
• AGI: 5
• DEX: 6
• Requirements:
• ALI: N, C
• STR: 45
• VIT: 46
• DEX: 44

Berzerkers are a pretty good class. They have more attack than a knight and more HP. In fact, the only thing the knight is better with is DEX. They are brutally efficient and can take a lot of punishment. I'll be switching Orcus from berzerker to knight sporadically. Only men can become berzerkers.

Ninja

• HP: 8
• MP: 3
• STR: 5
• VIT: 5
• INT: 5
• MEN: 6
• AGI: 8
• DEX: 7
• Requirements:
• ALI: L, N, C
• STR: 45
• AGI: 46
• DEX: 44

Ninjas are very flexible. They have lots of speed and dexterity, and can also cast low level spells. However, their damage output is not that high. The ninja is a good class to switch a character to if you want to boost their DEX or AGI. Belgger will most likely become something of a glass cannon. We'll see. Only men can become ninjas.

Cleric

• HP: 7
• MP: 5
• STR: 5
• VIT: 4
• INT: 8
• MEN: 7
• AGI: 5
• DEX: 4
• Requirements:
• ALI: L, N
• MP: 16
• INT: 42
• MEN:41
• Kills: 0-10

Simply, clerics are the healers of this game. Very few classes can heal, so you should have at least two in your party. As you can see, you cannot become a cleric if you have killed more than 10 people. You have to buy healing spells in shops. Only one, though; once you buy one and teach a healer it, she'll be able to use it forever. Only girls can become clerics.

Knight

• HP: 9
• MP: 2
• STR: 7
• VIT: 5
• INT: 5
• MEN: 6
• AGI: 5
• DEX: 7
• Requirements:
• ALI: L, N
• STR: 45
• VIT: 44
• MEN: 42

Knights are an okay class, I guess. They have better DEX and INT than berzerkers; however, they suffer in everything else. They're a bit slow, they have less endurance, and less magic resistance. They do hit better than berzerkers, however. Mediocre, but they're okay if you want to increase DEX and don't want to switch to the glass cannon ninjas. Only guys can become knights.

Archer

• HP: 8
• MP: 3
• STR: 5
• VIT: 6
• INT: 5
• MEN: 6
• AGI: 7
• DEX: 8
• Requirements:
• ALI: N, C
• VIT: 44
• AGI: 44
• DEX: 48

I'll just say this right here: archers are ridiculously overpowered. They have good attack, good HP and defense, good DEX and AGI, and most importantly, ranged weapons, which means they can attack from afar and they won't be counterattacked, even if the enemy also has a ranged weapon. Archers are amazing. You should have at least two on your team. Only girls can become archers.

Exorcist

• HP: 7
• MP: 7
• STR: 4
• VIT: 5
• INT: 8
• MEN: 6
• AGI: 4
• DEX: 5
• Requirements:
• ALI: L
• VIT: 44
• INT: 42
• MEN: 44

Exorcists are decent. They are the only ones who can permanently kill ghouls and skeletons, and they can use low level healing spells. Only guys can become exorcists.

Back To The Gameplay

I am going to use Presance as my second healer for now; I'll do some statistic checking to see if anyone else will become clerics. I really don't want to make Julia into a cleric; she's one of our better fighters. Freesia was one of our worst, so I didn't hesitate to make her into one.

Let's talk about Voltel and Sara. I'll definitely be using Sara, as none of my amazons can become archers yet. Voltel is slow, but has a decent DEX and strength. We'll see.

Next time: we fight Nybbas!

Sorry for the boring post, but I needed to assess these jobs. The next part will be more interesting, don't worry.

edited 23rd Sep '10 3:35:34 PM by gentlemanorcus

Part 8: Nybbas

Last time, I discussed job classes.

Let's find out the deal with this "Nybbas" everyone's been talking about.◊

Fight it out!

Our position.◊ Area is at 1, Julia is at 2, Freesia is at 3, Leon is at 4, Sara is at 5, Orcus is at 6, Bruno is at 7, Canopus is at 8, Belgger is at 9, and Delta is at 10. I switched out Dorony for Sara, as she was probably our weakest archer-fighter combo.

Nybbas welcomes us◊ and says he's impressed that we killed Mordoba.

"She was very useful in research and other things too..."

...What.

Okay, no offense, dude, but that witch chick must have been desperate.

He says he doesn't really care who wins the war, and asks why we don't just let him go... not so much groveling as genuinely inquisitive.

We are presented with a dialogue choice.◊ Orcus is the kind of guy who keeps his cool, so I pick "relax."

We tell him we don't really want to kill a weakling like him, but we can't let him free. We offer to bring him to Amorika Castle if he wants to repay for his deeds.

"Good boy!" he says, as if we're a dog or something. "You lead your people well...◊ but I don't trust you. I know others are dying to kill me. Stupid fool... I shall call demons from the depths of Hell to destroy you!"

Whoah, dude! You went from "I like you" to "die at the hands of my demons, fool"!? Mood-Swinger, much?

He summons a skeleton, a ghoul, and a ghoul. He commands us to "show our deep attachment to life!", and the battle begins!

Victory Condition: Kill The Leader

This map is pretty simple. The enemies are on an upward slope; you have to work your way up to Nybbas. Unfortunately, this means archers are pretty ineffective in this map. Just like in real life, shooting from a higher elevation gives archers better range. We'll cope, but it's annoying.

The AI is kind of stupid here. Most of the enemies have bows, so the smart thing to do would be to stay at the very top and use their superior elevation to rain arrows down on us as we trudge our way up. However, they instead move downwards, probably to try and aim at Freesia; however, that opens them to attack.

Orcus does an awesome 48 damage.◊ That's the power of the berzerker, people. This soldier, Humphrey, is killed by Vice. Stop stealing my EXP, Vice!

Belgger kills this loser,◊ and Sara kills this dope.◊ We'll need Presance to keep him down... and then I realize I forgot to bring Presance.

Fuck.

Freesia heals Julia.◊

A skeleton revives, only for Orcus to kill him.

Leonard reduced Nybbas to 4 HP. Nybbas says we have "overcome our weak mind," but refuses to die. He says we will meet again and he will "show us the progress of his research." Then he becomes a crow and flies away.◊

I guess this will not be the last we'll see of Nybbas.

We get 500 Goth and a Tower shield.

We go back to Amorika...◊ but not before we get into a random battle!◊

I'm not going to transcribe this, though for the next few battles I'll be replacing Delta with Presance.

We get 1300 Goth and a leather jerkin.

Now we got to Amorika.

Ronway says he is pleased with us and tells us to go to Fiduc Castle in Bacrum with Leonard.

"Fiduc castle!?" we exclaim. "That castle is where the Roslolian Knights are stationed!"◊

The Roslolian Knights? A.K.A the Black Knights? Those guys we tried to kill in the intro?

Ronway explains he wants to sign a secret non-intervention treaty with just the Dark Knights. Kachua says she shouldn't, claiming it was Bacrum that started the war.

"And a Roslolian Knight killed our parents..."

Whoah... um, awkward... why are you sending the kids whose parents you knew were killed by Black Knights to sign a non-intervention treaty with them, Ronway?

Ronway says Walsta can't win with their troops and says the Roslolians, and the kingdom of Lodis itself, are an unstoppable force. Vice, ever brash, asks him if "we want to surrender to Lodis."

Ronway says he has no intention of selling out to the Dark Knights. He gives us another 10,00 Goth.

Time for the next battle!◊

Next time: we begin our travels to Fiduc.

edited 27th Sep '10 11:02:44 AM by gentlemanorcus

Skeletons are capable of revival? Is there any way to kill them off for good/remove them from the map?

There is a way. Once an undead monster is reduced to 0 HP, he becomes a pile of bones. Presance, who is an exorcist, casts a spell unique to his class, "Exorcism", on the bones. They'll vanish from the map. I was going to show it here, but I forgot to bring Presance.

Oh, right! Now I remember. Yay, exorcism!

Heh. Indeed.

Though the only path that has lots of undead battles is the Neutral route, which I almost never take in normal runthroughs. I usually keep Presance trained just in case, though.

edited 23rd Sep '10 7:31:48 PM by gentlemanorcus

Hmmm, you get XP for attacking people, right?

Wouldn't that mean you could grind on skellies?

No...that's what Practice Mode's for...at least it was when playing Knight of Lodis (though you get a "bad" medal if you earn too many levels while practicing...)

Wouldn't that mean you could grind on skellies?

No, not really. You only get around 2 EXP for hitting them; to get good EXP, you would have to kill them, and only Presance can do that. Really, Practice Mode is the only way to decently grind.

Part 9: Battles of Swords, Battles of Ethics

I train everyone to level 6. Now all the units that couldn't change classes last level have options.

I change Orcus to a Beast Tamer,◊ Leon to a wizard, Bruno to a berzerker, Julia to an archer, and Area to an archer.

At the store, I buy Leon a Fire Burn spell, an Acid spell, and Ice Blast. Ninjas can wield low level magic, so I give Belgger an Ice Blast.

Class Assessment: Beast Tamer, Wizard

Beast Tamer

• HP: 9
• MP: 0
• STR: 7
• VIT: 7
• INT: 4
• MEN: 6
• AGI: 5
• DEX: 6
• Requirements:
• ALI: C, N, L
• STR: 45
• VIT: 44
• MEN: 46

I'd say the beast tamer is about as good as the berzerker. They focus a little more on attack and hitting well, while the berzerker focuses a bit more on defense. They also give benefits to ally animals within 3 panels. Really, the question of "is a berzerker or beast tamer better" depends fully on your tastes and personal preferences.

Wizard

• HP: 6
• MP: 6
• STR: 4
• VIT: 3
• INT: 8
• MEN: 7
• AGI: 5
• DEX: 5
• Requirements:
• ALI: N, C
• MP: 16
• INT: 44
• MEN: 42

This class is pretty nice to have, especially later on. They, of course, cast magic. That's pretty much it; they are weak in both attack and defense. If you make a character into a wizard, you probably want to keep him as one for the entire game.

Back To The Gameplay

Time for Gentlemanorcus to be indecisive. I change my mind and train Delta up to level 6, making him into a Beast Tamer; this is because he's the only lawful member of our team other than Voltel, who I don't like very much. I really want a swordsmaster much later on, though I'll probably be switching him out for a... very good character you get later.

Our weakest archer by a point is Sara, so she's booted off.

Now every character in our party has a class! Awesome! Just to review: Orcus is a beast tamer, Leon is a wizard, Bruno is a berzerker, Delta is a beast tamer, Belgger is a ninja, Julia is an archer, Freesia is a cleric, Area is an archer, Canopus has no class, and Presance is an Exorcist, though I have him mainly on curative duties.

The next battle is filler. Not transcribed much. Yes, Freesia the cleric just killed the boss.◊ Awesome.

Brenzen: ...Glory... to Gargastan!!

I get 1050 Goth, 625 extra Goth, and a Phlanka axe. Once the battle ends, I give it to Orcus.

This battle has story, so I'll transcribe it.◊

Our position.◊ Freesia is at 1, Belgger is at 2, Area is at 3, Bruno is at 4, Presance is at 5, Orcus is at 6, Julia is at 7, Delta is at 8, Leon is at 9, Canopus is at 10.

We see a young lady being harassed by a knight and his squad, including a dragon.◊ He tells her to "give it up." She claims that even if she dies, her ideals will live on.◊

"Stubborn bitch..." says the knight, who is the boss. "Kill her!" She runs to the side of the river seen in the picture. Ryumos the boss then notices us. Leonard says she's not from the Liberation Army and wonders if she belongs to another organization. The game gives us a choice.◊ Well, they're Gargastan, right? We're fighting Gargastan! Anyway, it will give us some extra EXP. If you selected the other choice, the game would force you to fight.

Victory Condition: Kill The Leader

No track. Sorry.

In this fight, we have to protect the girl. Well, we don't have to, but I recommend it. This is kind of like when we saved Presance, albeit a lot harder.

The battle is on an upward slope. There aren't that many enemies; a dragon, an amazon, a soldier, a witch, a knight, and an amazon; but that dragon and witch might be trouble, especially since the dragon usually goes after the girl and the AI is rarely smart enough to direct the girl to run away from it to us.

Shit. The witch stuns the girl in the first turn. Let's hope we can divert the attention of the dragon in time to keep her alive...! And then, when we start to encroach on the enemies who have surrounded the girl, she stuns Canopus. God damn it!

The girl is low on health; good thing I have a healer close by, the enemies attacking the girl aren't close enough to attack the healer, and the boss backed himself into a corner running from Leonard!

The girl is healed from stun after a certain amount of turns, and finally has the good sense to run towards us, and towards our healers. Finally.

Our healer stay in the lower left corner, keeping the girl healed, as our troops advance north. She was poisoned by the dragon, but our troops keep her protected and healed.

We trap an amazon and the witch into corners, killing them. The only ones left are the dragon and the boss.

Leonard kills the boss.

Ryumos: Am I going to die here? At least... I need to...

Ah, sweet victory.◊

We get 1350 Goth, a chainmail suit, a robe, and a Cure++.

She introduces herself.◊ She says she's a warrior of the Valeria Liberation Front, saying she went to the town to get supplies. Vice is suspicious, calling them extremists.◊ Kachua asks the obvious question, "aren't they in the same position as us?" Leonard exclaims she's a part of a right-wing rebellion that worships the late King Dolgaria, the man who united all the races as one. Kachua says she's heard about how they are fighters against Bacrum...

"That's the polite way to say it... terrorists are more like it," exclaims Leonard.

...Did you have to say that to her face?

He says they engage in activities involving innocent citizens.

Sisteena, understandably angry, claims that's propaganda spread by Branta (leader of Bacrum). She says the Front wants to go back to the days of King Dolgaria, when all the races were united as one.

"Equal!? Ha, did she say equality!?" shouts Vice. "When did we ever have equality? Maybe for the Bacrum people, it was equal alright. But for us Walstanians we were treated like shit!"

Ah, I love your gratuitous swearing, Vice.

"I never... then what are you fighting for?" she whimpers.

Orcus just wants true peace. I select 2.◊ We say we are fighting for a world without war. Sisteena says we should fight together, as we both want the same thing.

"Don't be ridiculous," says Vice. "We can't unite with Bacrum. They're the enemy. You see, what he meant about 'true peace' was a world where the Walstanians would live without fear. We do not want a world where we have to co-exist with you terrorists! We don't need you!"

God damn it, Vice, that's not what I meant at all!

Leonard wisely tells him to shut his trap◊ and lets Sisteena free.

"This is our war. I will not allow the Bacrum people to selfishly invade our land," Leonard tells her.

"I see. But I will not give up. We will establish a peaceful world no matter what. Someday you will realize that if you truly seek peace, then you will have to give up your selfish desires."

"Leave now and don't ever come back," snarls Leonard.

She listens and walks out of the room.

...So wait, Ronway has never used innocents in his plans? That's both noble... and a bit strange.

Next time: we meet the Roslolians and their leader, Lans Tartare!

Schedule is slowed to one update a day. I'll give the link to the good site in the first post.

edited 25th Sep '10 9:54:27 AM by gentlemanorcus

Part 10: The Music Box

Let's finally go to Fiduc Castle, home of the Roslolian Knights!◊

We are greeted outside by some soldiers.◊ A knight asks us about our business. Leonard explains who we are and the knight tells us to wait there. While he's gone, Leonard explains this castle is also called Swan Castle and it as impenetrable as it is elegant. The knight comes out with a man named Balzepho, most likely a Roslolian,◊ who tells us to come in.

We are ushered into a room, where Balzepho says the duke's offer sounds interesting. Leonard asks bluntly what they say to it, and Balzepho says they should hear it directly from Lans.

"My god... Sir Lans himself is here!?" exclaims Leonard. This is the castle of the Dark Knights, why wouldn't he be here?

Lans comes in and welcomes us.◊ Now you can see where I got avatars 2, 74, 82, and 84 from. Also note, this is the guy that was looming over the burning town in the intro.

They exchange pleasantries until Leonard asks what their answer is.

"Ha, ha, ha. Your are impatient," chuckles Lans. "Very well, tell this to your duke. The leader of Bacrum, Branta, is not interested in the Gargastan and Walsta war. We, the Dark Knights, share the same feeling." Obviously not, you're from Lodis. "We will maintain neutrality."

I guess this means they accept the non-intervention treaty. Sweet.

"However, do you think you can win the war without our support?" asks Balzepho.

"To be honest, we may not," says Leonard. "But victory is not our goal. Our ultimate wish is to establish a world where everyone can co-exist peacefully."

Well, Vice doesn't want that, but nobody gives a shit about him.

"Besides, if we wanted support from another country, we would lose the trust from the people." Especially if you're allying with Lodis.

"I see..." mutters Lans T (Lans Tartare). "Then I assume you do not want to follow in the footsteps of Bacrum, who owe their success to us..." Branta seems a bit stupid, putting all of his power into a foreign country. But Lodis hasn't betrayed him yet, so they must be a bit trustworthy.

"...and lose the trust of the people. This is interesting. Ha, ha, ha."

"Well, I did not say..." begins Leonard, flustered.

"Very well," interrupts Lans. "We, the people of Lodis, are very proud... I understand why you do not want to be like the Bacrum people. Actually, the reason I asked you such a question is because your troops are quite young. It gave me the impression Walsta's situation was so bad that you had no choice but to use children..."

Leonard tells him not to underestimate us, which is good advice, and advice many people later on won't follow. Leonard explains our feats, like saving the duke and rescuing Leonard from Krizar.

"I see... so you are the heroes of Griate that the people are talking about. Forgive me... but have we met before?"

Remember how Kachua said our parents were killed by Dark Knights? Remember that town in the intro? Remember the name of the part that intro was in? Remember the man being taken away and Orcus being held off by his sister?

"I... don't think so... but..." mutters Orcus.

"But... what? Go ahead."

"It was the night when the first snow fell in several years," starts Kachua. "In the town of Griate, you were the knights..."

"Stop it Kachua!" interrupts Leonard. "Do not forget why you are here!"

Dialogue choice.◊ Orcus doesn't like the dark Knights and what they did to his family, but he understands the Roslolians are vital to Walsta's success. He understands sometimes you must do unsavory things to further your goals. I select 1.

"Don't start... this is not our war anymore..."

To be frank, I have no idea what he means by this. Bad translation, Orcus not being sure what to say, or both? Take your pick!

Lans catches on. "Ah, so you are the survivors of the attack on Griate... that was..." He turns to Balzepho.

Balzepho explains they attacked on information that said rebels were hiding in Griate.

"Which, unfortunately, turned out to be false information. Your hate of us is not unjustified..." Lans says. "Though it was a mistake, that does not justify what we did. I offer you my most solemn apology..." He bows in his chair.

Leonard awkwardly says we should be heading back and apologizes for our rudeness. We take our leave, Kachua lingering a bit. Once we're gone, Balzepho walks to the window and asks if Lans really had to go that far.◊ What does he mean by that?

"...Do you remember Haborym?" asks Lans.

"...Yes sir. He wasn't all there, but he was very close to me..." mutters Balzepho.

"That brother and sister... they're very close, just like Haborym and you once were..." Lans cryptically says.

...I have a feeling we shouldn't trust these Dark Knights.

We head back to Amorika◊ and are greeted by Ronway.

"You have overcome your personal vendetta and accomplished your duty. Thank you."

Well, Orcus knows some things have to be done for the greater good.

He tells us to go to the town of Baramus. Kachua says that that is the town where Gargastan made a Walsta self-governing system. Ronway explains that really, the town is a concentration camp.

...Harsh.

He says the total population is only 5,000.

"We must save them... it is our duty..." mutters Kachua.

Ronway says it would be impossible to save 5,000 people and explains his plan is to make the people revolt.

"A revolt with that many people... we can't possibly lose..." chimes in Vice.

"Your optimism is encouraging... however, the odds are against us," says Ronway. He says we are still too weak. "Fortunately, antagonism between Barbatos and the anti-government supporters is increasing. If Barbatos is going to move, he will first destroy the anti-government forces. This is our only chance!!"

Leonard and Ronway explains our goal is to persuade the people of Baramus to fight against Gargastan. Sounds like if we do this, it might change the tide of battle. We might finally win equality for the Walstanians!

We leave.

Once we're gone, Ronway tells Leonard not to fail him.

"Everything is moving according to your plan... do not worry..."

Why do I get the feeling everything is not as it seems?

Lans H (Lans Hamilton) stands outside◊ when we come to talk to him. He greets us◊ and asks us how we knew he was there. We say Guildus told us. Lans asks us if something is bothering us.

We say Leonard told us the mission would be dangerous. He asks if we're scared.

"Well, I..."

"Don't feel embarrassed. Everyone gets scared."

"Sir Lans, do you get scared?"

"Of course. Every time I go into battle my body shakes with fear. But then I think, 'I can't die here. I have to live.' Somehow the thought eases my fears."

"Can't die here... but I always thought I would die for a revolution... and yet I realize I fear death..."

"Risking your life and dying are two completely different things. If you are really concerned about people, then you should not die. You have to see where this battle will take you... besides, you have a sister. You have to live for her."

"How about you, Sir Lans? Is there someone that you live for?"

In response, he pulls out a music box that starts to play a haunting and beautiful melody.◊

This sequence makes more sense if you played the original Ogre Battle. He's talking about the old Zenobian empire he helped overthrow.

"I live to carry on the memory of my late wife... four or five years ago. Before the war against the empire. We were chased by the empire's men and during our journey, my wife got sick and died... I can't remember how many times I considered killing myself. Especially before the battle. Then I listen to the music box that my wife left me. It reminds me of how precious life is... it tells me that I have to live. I have to carry on..."

"...to live," mutters Orcus.

Lans puts the box away.

"I hope the day will come when... a young lad like yourself does not have to fight..."

And... fade out.

That Lans Hamilton seems like a real nice guy. Thought it makes you wonder what he got banned for... I mean, he helped the current emperor gain power... what could he have done to be banished?

Next time: we begin our trek to Baramus!

That scene is surprisingly effective. Also, hooray, a person with more Tactics Ogre tracks! I may start replacing some old ones with ones from this guy. Doing this, I realized in Part 6 I accidentally linked to the "kick ass for the lord" video before I made the joke. Fixed, though it doesn't really mater now. *sigh*

edited 25th Sep '10 4:31:48 PM by gentlemanorcus

Part 11: Hard Choices

Last time, the Dark Knights accepted Ronway's non-intervention treaty, and we learned a bit about Lans H's backstory!

I make Orcus into a ninja to help with his DEX and AGI.

I move towards the next area, but not before getting into a random battle at Tanmas Hill. I get some Goth and short swords.

Before I head to my next battle, I train everyone to level 7.

To clear up room in my roster, I omit Voltel, Sara, and Dorony. With some stat gains from his stint as a ninja, I change Orcus to a berzerker. I change Bruno to a beast tamer. I change Delta to a ninja. I change Belgger to a berzerker.

Filler battle, and a really easy one at that.

Lexent: This is why I kept telling him... Lord Barbatos, curse you!! I get 1850 Goth, 750 extra Goth, Battle boots, and a Cure++.

Next battle has a tiny bit of story,◊ so I'll transcribe it.

Our position.◊ Presance is at 1, Delta is at 2, Area is at 3, Bruno is at 4, Freesia is at 5, Orcus is at 6, Leon is at 7, Canopus is at 8, Julia is at 9, and Belgger is at 10.

This is the positioning music, by the way.

We're confronted by a beast tamer named Ganb.◊ He says this is as good a time as any to "test his babies." He whistles for "Belda" and "Obda," two gryphons. 3 lizardmen come out, and the fight begins.

Victory Condition: Kill The Leader'

The music.

This battle is pretty simple. Keep a defensive position near your starting area and try to attract the gryphons to you. Once you get one to low HP, the battle is over. So you can either focus on one gryphon to end the battle quickly, or try to milk EXP. I'm doing the former. I focus my efforts on Belda. I reduce Belda to 10 HP. Ganb, worried, says to retreat. Um... that was ridiculously easy.

"You're so evil!!! How dare you hurt my babies! I'll never forgive you!" And then he uses an Escape crystal to run away.

Um... okay.

I get 0 Goth. Ugh.

It's the beginning of the end for this chapter.◊ Let's do it, shall we?

This is our position.◊ Freesia is at 1, Delta is at 2, Julia is at 3, Belgger is at 4, Presance is at 5, Orcus is at 6, Area is at 7, Canopus is at 8, Leon is at 9, and Bruno is at 10.

A soldier is patrolling the are in the rain.◊ He notices us, and panics that the Liberation Army is here. A bunch of his friends rush out.◊

Victory Condition: Kill All Enemies'

The music.

This battle is really easy. You're going up against a bunch of soldiers, and most importantly, you have the high ground, which gives your archers great range. As you can see, this guy is out of our "range,"◊ but our position is so great we still hit him.

So your general strategy should be to advance your melee units down the hill as your archers shoot from the rooftops.

Our first turn isn't even up yet, and we already killed an enemy.◊ That shows you how easy this battle is. Oh, and by the way, I'm listening to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now while I type this and play this. It makes me killing a bunch of AI-controlled soldiers seem a lot more badass.

There's a soldier named "Eddie." The game deems him "Fast."◊ I wonder if he'll ban me for this?

[[youtube:K8E_zMLCRNg&feature=related]]

All the soldiers are killed. Belgger is a bit weak, but hopefully some levels as a berzerker and beast tamer will change that.

"It will be a while before our reinforcements get here. Let's assemble the group leaders. Let's tell the hostages our plan and they can decide whether to join us or not." Will do, Orcus.

We get 2125 Goth.

The scene opens on the hostages. "What are you thinking!?" yells Vice.◊ "I didn't come all the way here just to do that! You might as well tell them that they should just stay slaves! This Liberation Army is pointless!" Kachua scolds him for getting too excited.

"What is the use of fighting?" asks a random old man.◊ "Fighting only creates hatred. We would rather have things the way they are now."

"You pathetic excuse of a man!" screams Vice. "As long as you stay here, you're nothing but livestock for Gargastan! Don't you want freedom? Don't you want to live like a man!? Where's your pride!?"

An old woman pipes up, "If you don't do anything, our peace will be maintained. I don't care about the Liberation Army. It is all the same. We will always be outcasts. My son used to say the same things you do now. But he died in the war half a year ago. Can you bring him back!?"

An old man agrees that they want no part in the war. Leonard walks in and apologizes for being late.◊ He asks to talk with us for a minute. We follow him outside.

"I heard what happened.◊ It seems that you had a difficult time persuading them."

We bow our head.

"It's not your fault. I knew that this was going to happen..." Really? Then why did you send us here?

"Listen carefully... you are going to massacre the entire town."

What!?

The ominous music kicks into gear.

"This contingency was to be expected. It is Duke Ronway's order.

So you bastards planned this the entire time!? Damn it, that makes us no better than terrorists!

"Why!? We can't kill our own people! Damn it! Give me a reason!!"

"This is what the Duke told me... "

The scene goes into a flashback.

"If the people in Baramus revolt,"◊ begins Ronway, "then there will be no problem. But I know these people. They will not sacrifice their lives even with the Liberation Army's support. If they do not join the Liberation Army, you will disguise yourselves as soldiers of Gargastan and kill everyone."

"What did you say!? Are you ordering me to kill my own people!?" shouts Leonard.

"Calm down, Leonard. Think. You are intelligent enough to understand the plan. Look. To defeat Gargastan, the people of Walsta must be more unified than it has ever been. When the news of Gargastan destroying Baramus spreads, people in other districts will join us."

"But that is too..."

"And of course, the anti-government forces will see this as a means to rally and support us against Gargastan. Barbatos will be forced to divide his army to fight against the anti-government forces and Walsta! Thus we will increase our chances of winning and kill Barbatos."

"But I don't think Orcus will go for this..."

"When that happens, you know what to do."

We go back to the present.

"Will you obey the Duke's order? Otherwise the future of Walsta is doomed!"

And the game presents us with a dialogue choice.◊

This is where the game's branching paths come in. The choice you make will radically alter the game; the characters you get, the characters that die, the fate of Walsta and Baramus and Gargastan... a lot of it hinges on this choice. There are four chapters. The fourth chapter is the same for all alignments, but the others are different depending on the choice you make here. Another large choice is made in the second chapter if you go with option 2 here; there are no other big choices if you go with number 1.

So what do we do, people? Do we murder the citizens of Baramus for the greater good of Walsta, or do we refuse to slaughter innocent civilians?

Decide in the comments below! My choice hinges on your guys' choices!

Next time: we make our choice, and we get into the final fight of this chapter!

edited 27th Sep '10 5:20:27 PM by gentlemanorcus

I must say, this has been a very good read thus far. You're very detailed, the musical selections are wonderful, the story is intricate and fascinating...I might actually pick up the remake of the game, merely based on how much I'm enjoying your LB of it.

As for choices, I'm reminded of the stock phrases "No one will ever know." and "I'll know." Even if nobody would ever find out that Orcus was responsible for this attack, he'd forever have to deal with the fact that he murdered these people, just like how the Dark Knights killed his loved ones. And even if such an act would lead to great things, I think that Orcus is too honourable to make that choice.