Part 15: Battle: Begin Again

Update 11: Begin Again (Battle)

Last time, we ventured to Grust to put down a pesky rebellion at the request of our old friend Hardin. Then all hell broke loose. So here's the actual battle.



But not before some Jagen chat.



Meet Lang. He is very trustworthy and a good guy.

: Since you've come all this way, I suppose I'll let you have the glory of capturing the rebel leader, General Lorenz.



: What would possess him to rebel?



: Prince. You are to kill General Lorenz, and reclaim the children of the Grustian royal family that he's hiding. While you do that...



Marth. Marth, you might want to reconsider this "trusting Lang" thing.





: Perhaps Altea, too, plans to rebel against Archanea...?

So, I bitch a lot at Marth during this part for working with Lang when he's very clearly fucking evil, but he's kind of stuck doing it, or Archanea will crush him.





: Your rude behaviour is merely an irritation. Do not forget that I have the power of the empire behind me: I can crush weak, pesky insects like you any time I wish.

Like I said. Sorta fucked regardless.





: That much seems to be true, so we ought to do something about that first.



This is Jagen hinting you.

: Allow me to stay by your side and serve as your tactician. Royal Guard Steve! When Prince Marth is in danger on the battlefield, protect him at all costs. That is an order!

This is also a hint. Anyone can die in Fire Emblem 12, except for Marth and MU.



Little creepy, Marth.

: Let's clean up the bandits, and head to General Lorenz's position!

I like that Marth considers all the rebels "bandits", except the guy he knows. He's cool.



So, this starting position is fairly easy. Honestly, the most worrying thing is 2 of those guys getting to Steve, but that's pretty easily preventable.

(The top screen got cut off because I'm dumb, but it's worth noting none of these guys are as hard as the Barbarians from the end of the Prologue. Iron weapons only.)





I move Steve straight over to take out that middle bandit/rebel. She does chip damage, which is enough for me.



Because that gives Marth all he needs to finish it off.



He's the only Bandit I finish off, though. I've got everybody here to minimize the enemies chances to go for our weaker characters (Steve). Arran, though...



Arran is on a secret mission





Counterattacking this asshole gives Marth the courage to fill his sword with power.



No, he just levels up. Good level, though. Him getting above 0 Res is...reassuring. I don't want a repeat of Cormag.



Steve and this hunter reduce eachother to a mutual half-health.



She does not approve of fairness.



I still love those shots where there's just nothing on the screen. A calm, serene break from this gung-ho Fire Emblem action. Namaste.



Gordin is not doing a dance here. He got a Crit the first time I used him.



Godspeed, Gaggles.



I want Arran right here for something coming up.



So, this is a Village. As you would be able to tell (if I was not an idiot who fucked up the crop settings on his new Irfan Installation), this is Luke's perspective. That essentially means it is useless for now, because only Marth can visit villages.



One space away



Now this is useful. This is an Armory, you can find these on the maps. They sell all sorts of weapons, and are the only source of them outside of the basic weapons sold at base camp and enemy drops.



This is a pretty basic armory. The real highlights are Hand Axes and Javelins, which cannot be purchased at the base camp. They were nerfed pretty hard in this game, but I buy one of each anyway.



Bandit: Oh? A battle, is it? We're in luck, boys! Let's loot 'em villages before 'ey realize what's hit 'em!

Oh, hey there!







Here's the "secret" of this cave. If you send a unit onto that square...



A Small Bullion. These can be sold for 1000 gold. Not a huge reward, but a neat little secret.



Now it's time for something...weird.





This is my favorite quote of the whole update.





Marth is probably covered in blood at this point.





Marth, don't be weird.



I missed you, blink animation.







: Please, take me with you. I want you to take me away from this country, and take me to yours.







So, I guess this is Malicia's "gimmick"? She sometimes starts speaking in the third person. But it's not constant, so...was this different in Japanese?



Anyway, we have Malicia now. I'd show you her stats but I'm an idiot who can't crop right. You'll see them next update. She's a Cleric, which is just another name for Curate, like Wrys.

I miss Wrys



I immediately put her to work healing Marth up.



Anyway, here's the northwest corner of the map. That's a lot of enemies, and though they don't hit particularly hard, there's a way to make this even easier.



It does not necessarily involve healing Steve, but we're doing that anyway.

This next scene starts as soon as you start moving toward the Northwest point of the map.



Right about here.





: As such, I will do everything in my power to help.





: These children... Prince Yubello and Princess Yumina, are King Grust's orphans. Please. Take them safely to Lord Wendell in Macedon.

So King Grust is dead. I don't think they ever say who did it, or if it was just old age, but my money's on Lang. Or Malicia.

: Understood. I will guard these children with my life.



: Now, Prince Yubello, Princess Yumina, you will be leaving with Sir Ogma.



: Princess... I cannot go. With this wound, I can barely even walk. It saddens me, but you two must go on without me.



A rare appearance of one eyed blinking.

: How can you tell us to just leave you behind now?! I will never leave. We will never leave your side, Lorenz!!





: Princess Yumina is not one to change her mind easily... We will remain here.

Dude is just not as good at the forced evacuation as Boah.



: I will find Lang and bring him down... I will bury him with this sword, I swear on it. General Lorenz, you must hold out until then...!



Thankfully, Ogma leaves, so we aren't forced to fight him.





Anyway, here's the products of putting Draug on that chokepoint fort. Draug just don't give a fuck.



I move the ranged units up to take down the units behind Draug, and here we see the original Fire on Steve break...again



Namaste.



Draug doesn't take much damage, but he sure does gain XP. This is a pretty decent level. Seriously considering using Draug for the rest of the game, but our team might fill up so fast we'll run out of room for the later characters. Guess I'll leave it up to you guys.



Steve celebrates by raining Hellfire down on this poor hunter. The gods reward her.



THE CURSE IS BROKEN



HEAL THAT 6-MAG GODDESS





Moving Luke and Draug up to pull these last few guys.



It works well. Also, here's Marth kicking ass.



Here's the last bit of Marth's crit animation. I'll try and get Gifs of these at some point.



Pictured: The last moments of life for this poor Bandit.



A pretty easy way to get levels on your healers is to just spam heals on all your injured units. I won't do it too much, but if there's an easy opportunity? Sure.

Now, there are 2 ways to do this boss. You can fight Lorenz man to man (or woman to man, or multiple people to man), or use Marth to talk to him. I think it works better with the latter option, story wise.







: I heard about everything from the villagers. I've heard of all the atrocities Archanea has committed. I promise, I will inform Emperor Hardin of the truth and rescue Grust. So please, lower your weapons.

Oh Marth. Poor guy is so naive



: But, I am afraid that I cannot comply. Prince, you know nothing. Do you think that a man of Emperor Hardin's caliber would make a general out of a man as worthless as Lang without good reason? He called for an invasion: to crush the kingdom of Grust and make it a territory of the Empire.

It feels like there should be a Game Of Thrones joke here. So uh, wolves. Dragons? Winter is coming. I don't watch it.





: He is no longer the Hardin you once knew. Prince, I have one final request of you. In this stronghold, I am protecting the young prince and princess of Grust. Please, find a way to help them. If you can do just that, I will have no regrets.





: This is the last thing I will ask...

*Stab Sound*



: No...this can't be happening...



Uh...?













That's our reward for talking to Lang instead of killing him. Makes up for some of the lost XP. It's a more powerful version of the healing staff.









Look, he told you before, he's not here to take any children.



This guy, though? Maybe.





"I will only take children under certain circumstances!"



: Besides, my dear prince, you have other, more important, priorities. I have received reports that there has been a military revolt in Macedon, and Princess Minerva has been imprisoned.

Minerva was an important (by Shadow Dragon standards) character in the last game. Like most characters, she starts off as an enemy, but can be convinced to join you if you rescue her sister. Her brother was also Michalis, the usurper king of Macedon and a late game boss fight.



Are you noticing a trend?

: I understand my obligations, General Lang. Still, these children... Let them stay with me, please.









Children were taken.





Hahaha, not yet Steve. You still only have 23 Health.



: If we oppose Lang right here, right now, we run the risk of being branded traitors by Archanea.





: If we head to Macedon... then rescue Princess Minerva, Macedon will surely lend us its strength.

Right. Well, that ends that chapter on a rather sober and abrupt note. Sorry about the image cropping issues on this one making a few parts of the battle hard to understand. I'll make sure to triple check next time.