Part 19: Chapters 18 & 19
I'll be doing two chapters in one update today, because really, Chapter 18 is more or less filler, not pulling anything all that crazy. Chapter 19 is short, but downright insane, so why should I delay playing it?
So this is the lava stage with the Gorgon eggs. FE Girls turns a pathetic and sad excuse for a chapter into something mildly amusing by having all the eggs hatched from the start.
We're introduced to Gorgons and the Stone spell. Don't ask why Stone has a book icon - the English version gives it a more appropriate eyeball-like icon.
Gorgons don't play by fair rules either - somehow, they can move through any terrain, making them as annoying as a Deathgoyle but without the same weaknesses.
So the big question you might ask yourself is: Stone has a book icon. Can you steal it?
...Yes. Yes you can. Don't get excited though, even if I had an A-rank dark user, I still couldn't use Stone because the game says so. No really, that's the reason you can't use it.
Nothing, however, is stopping you from stealing other monster magic (well aside from the usual rules regarding A-rank weapons). Personally I haven't tried stealing anything other than Demon Surge, so we'll have to try it in the tower or ruins if Gorgons show up there. They pulled a fast one with Demon Surge, though: While it MIGHT backfire when the enemy uses it, when YOU use it, it ALWAYS backfires. Stupid FE Girls, ruining all the fun.
Have I mentioned my luck with this game?
Oh, and just to be "original" they gave Gorgons staff ranks. I don't get that one at all, but hey, you've got it, and I can steal it.
And then feed you to the lord that hasn't hit level 20 yet.
And some lesser units as well.
Uh...how is the Swordreaver effective against an archer?
Hmmm...
The boss has Fortify as well, and in what is a spectacularly stupid idea or bug or whatever it is, enemy units can "throw" the Fortify casting - they target a unit with it, and units around the TARGET get healed, rather than units around the USER being healed. Again, don't ask why.
This is made up for by another bug: If a unit is stoned, the AI might try to stone her again just because, and the AI will get a crit too. A crit. With Stone. This means nothing but a wasted turn, of course.
I'm fairly certain YOU don't have strength capped.
Fa came along just to recruit the third and final Manakete.
Idoun comes with decent stats and a stronger dragonstone, but she's still VERY unprepared for the enemies ahead, so sadly we'll have to bench her.
Maybe she'll cap HP?
Maybe she will!
Isadora doesn't have strength capped, haha!
There had to be another fucking Summoner. This is making me hate FE2 for inventing these stupid things.
Oh well, more EXP.
While having Limstella kill something for once, I remembered that any class that can pick locks can also disable pillars of fire that appear from lava tiles.............how.
Eirika takes lessons from Wendy.
Why didn't I try stealing that. Arrrgh.
The AI doesn't put too much effort in avoiding traps, so this eyeball goes down easy as a result of its lost HP.
This woman LIFTS.
I have to get something out of this, so I've stolen a Short Spear.
Hey, she did cap HP after all.
Aaaand that's pretty much everything of note.
Killing the boss ends the chapter, oddly enough. These things are usually Rout missions.
We also get a...something. A something.
And now the moment you have all been waiting for. This was a pretty annoying chapter in FE8. How does FE Girls turn this into PURE HELL? Let's watch.
Hey look a new cha-- oh hi Zephiel. So much for that guy.
I know this map...it's Part 2 Endgame from FE10. That was a fun map, actually.
Brenya joins us at the start of the chapter, and she is completely awesome. Excellent stats, a custom class with high ranks in all four kinds of magic, she's pretty nice.
What's NOT awesome is that the enemy is loaded with siege weapons. Iron Ballistae, Purge, Eclipse, status wands...
This chest has another dragonstone. This one's as powerful as Idoun's, so another Manakete can get the same stat boosts.
Brenya has a nice color palette. Here I'm using her to snipe with a spare Purge I had lying around, for what it's worth.
Interestingly enough, in order to break the walls, the AI needs a ranged weapon - this Warrior's using a Brave Bow.
And of course, there's status staves. Something I should mention is that FE Girls managed to make them a LOT smarter. The Bishop and Sages have Fortify and Restore. The former lets them pull the same trick the Gorgons could, and they actually USE the latter. This, however, means jack shit if they get a status.
What's worse, if a general decides not to dodge Berserk and there's nobody nearby to cure it, that's one turn that you have to PRAY the general doesn't attack a unit on your side who's vulnerable enough to die to it, since the NPC Phase comes after the enemy's turn but BEFORE your own. I hate that.
Assuming they aren't silenced, the Sages also have Bolting.
The Bishop is unarmed, which means they can soak in hits from the Berserked generals. What's really funny to me is, if a berserked NPC attacks your unit, that unit will counter and even gain EXP. What is up with that.
Oh, and they have Fortify too, go figure.
But so do we.
Ahahaha a crossbow? Get out.
Okay how can a wall go from cracked to Staircase?!
Now don't ask why (again) but Brenya has Canto. It's pretty nice.
Holy shit I need to stop with these kinds of close calls.
And since there's no way in hell we're getting at most of the chests this chapter, we'll just let this Mage Theif show us what we're missing.
There's even a Metis Tome hidden on that staircase. Now how in the hell do you get there? I don't really care. Maybe a chest here has a Warp staff, but that'd be pretty crap level design considering how much shit this chapter has in terms of enemy density.
This Druid annoys the shit out of me, but lucky me, I brought a Purge tome, so haha fuck you
MOTHERFUCKER!
Okay, so the issue with the chapter is most characters on your side, without Knight Crowns, will get doubled like mad. The lords capped speed, and plenty of my girls have solid defense, so you might wonder what the big deal is, just stall until the timer runs out, right?
And then these ladies show up and they brought STATUS STAVES OH YES.
We also get...uh...who is this?
..."Frelia soldier"
...So it's not Natalie, or any of the Pegasus Knights from FE6, it's a generic soldier. Hell, Sigune, a surprisingly female boss from FE6, isn't in this hack at all.
Well, at least she has good stats. And did you notice she can equip a Brave Bow? She has stats and weapon ranks above her class caps, just to demonstrate what Knight Crown abuse can do. Since she joined us with all this already on her, it doesn't break the No Knight Crown challenge, which yes I'm still keeping up.
And here's a shot of Eirika tossing a Javelin, like I promised two updates ago.
The NPC units at least divert a large portion of headaches over to them instead of me. That's nice.
See? They are smart enough to use Restore. I have literally never seen this in the GBA games at all.
The other REASONABLE chest has a staff that Brenya can spam for 50 EXP per use, and Fortify gets 15 uses in this hack.
Close one. Get a real spell next time, Druid!
We're eight turns in and the enemy cap has been met.
Which means it's time for some levels.
...that's barely even one one hundreth of the gold I have, you can keep that.
So you might be wondering what's so interesting about this. I mean, I seem to be set for the last five turns in this position, right?
Well, see, you've been assuming the entire time this is a defense mission.
It isn't.
It's a defeat boss chapter. 15 turns is the time limit.
Now, you may be thinking, "How in the hell are you supposed to get to Zephiel and kill him in that time?!"
AhahahahAHAHAHAHA. Guess. GUESS.
HE TELEPORTS RIGHT NEXT TO THE THRONE ON THE TENTH TURN.
TELEPORTS.
RIGHT NEXT TO THE. I DON'T EVEN.
And look at those stats. He has a 1 in 4 chance of a critical hit at all times. AND THAT'S IF HE DOESN'T ACTIVATE LUNA. YES! LUNA! At this rate the may as well make it MORE luck-based and give him Big Shield. OH WAIT. THEY DID. Fuck this boss.
"Look guys, I'm helping! I inflicted 6 damage and activated Big Sh-"
"-iiiiiiiiiit."
I'm surprised they didn't max this asshole's everything.
So how do you kill him? Well, you'll never double, so it's time to bust out the holy weapons. His weapon is 1-2 ranged so you'll just have to play hit and run. And pray for no crits from him. My god...look at how luck based this is! There's only one Hoplon Guard in the game so like it or not that crit chance is always going to be there!
Meanwhile nothing interesting was happening elsewhere in the stage.
I can only conclude that you were intended to summon loads and loads of dolls to sacrifice, since he always attacks one if he can. But again, you're timed here - you only have 5 turns to kill him. And it better be all in one turn either, or a healer might just decide to cast Physic on him.
Meanwhile, this NPC upholds an FE tradition.
But that wouldn't be enough. Randomly, when a unit is using Purge, the animation MIGHT cause the game to crash. You can avoid that by turning them off, but I keep them on so I can be fancy with this LP, so this was not a fun thing to encounter.
Several minutes of Fortify spam and rewinding later...
Echidna with a Swordreaver is very nice for this fight, I must admit.
Also, Lyn. Say goodnight, Zephiel!
Astra isn't in this hack, but this is the next best thing!
We get a prize not even remotely worth it.
We also get Ivaldi and Latona. Ivaldi is the usual and oh it can crash the game too, fancy that. Latona has infinite uses and heals everyone in range...but ONLY if they're down to 25% health. Yeah, real helpful.
We also get more gold, and a Light Brand if enough NPCs survived, which is not hard. You know, relatively speaking and all.
Coming up next: Where the hell is the Warp staff in this game?!
Idoun's growths:
HP: 105%
Str: 80%
Skl: 80%
Spd: 60%
Luk: 55%
Def: 60%
Res: 30%
Brenya's growths:
HP: 70%
Mag: 70%
Skl: 55%
Spd: 50%
Luk: 35%
Def: 40%
Res: 50%
Not-Sigune's growths:
HP: 70%
Str: 40%
Skl: 45%
Spd: 50%
Luk: 55%
Def: 30%
Res: 45%