Part 63: Battle: Definitely The Final Map Of The Game (Part 1)

Update 36: Definitely The Final Map Of The Game (Battle 1 of 2)


This fucking map.

This fucking map has to be split into two parts to contain the sheer amount of bullshit hoops you must jump through if you want a 100% recruit rate. Honestly, if you know the tricks it’s going to pull out on you, you can make this a bit easier on yourself, but I decided I wanted to go in mostly blind again and relive the sheer assholery that Chapter 19 loves. Let’s get started, this has been a long time coming anyway.



Pretty standard team. No Julian, I know, I know, but I didn’t want to risk another game over via reinforcment/ballista owning.




At least Radd is still in a good mood.












Athena you can’t use that.





Not even Buff Wendell can save us.

Let’s go.



: It seems that Hardin has assembled his entire army for the battle.
She’s not kidding, this is the most populated map in the game enemy wise. We’ve got a lot of guys to cut through on our way to Hardin.

: Even so, the people have lost their faith in Emperor Hardin. They welcome us as liberators. It is certainly very reassuring. This is our final battle. It may drag on but all the same, I would ask that you take utmost care.

: Steve, the enemy is the Archanean imperial army. The continent's strongest and most renowned military force. It's strange, but I'm not afraid. Steve, if you're here, then everything will be okay. Everyone, let's go!



Hey whoa what happened? Wasn’t I back towards the back left corner? Well, yeah, but the thing is that on your first two or so turns, nothing happens. You’re just sidling along trying not to get Ballista’d. I skipped it because we have enough screenshots as is.

You may have already noticed the first bullshit thing in this map. Those two thieves are on their way to a village. You have just enough time, with a flier, to stop them. But there are 4 Warriors down there, one with a Silver Bow, just to fuck your fliers over. Hope you got Iote’s Shield!

Trying to go around the other way will lure all the guys north of here, by the way. Oh, and there’s one more trick, but you’ll see it later.




Back in normal town, Barst is going to lure in some Paladins.



Marth needs the Starsphere because I want him to have the highest stats possible. We are approaching the prime bullshit.



Okay, Malicia is going to Warp Marth to that village. I could kill that Thief with Catria, yeah, but...you’ll see. Sorry I’m kind of rushing through this, but this was like, attempt 5.



You want Marth here ASAP.



: I received King Aurelis's pardon and have been waiting for you. I am truly sorry for the battle of the pass. I realize that an apology means little, so I will now fight under your banner. But... the other Wolfguard members have all sided with the Archanean army. I wonder if I could persuade them. Vyland, at the least... Vyland might listen to what I have to say.

Roshea here is kicking off the Fire Emblem equivalent of a Zelda Trading Quest. You need him to kick off the chain of recruitments in this map. This is a change from the original version of the game, where Roshea was the only recruitable unit here.

Also, if Roshea died in Battle Of The Pass, a generic villager is here instead.



Roshea is goddamn terrible. You’re probably guessing the theme. His growths aren’t bad (70% in Luck is cool), but he’s pretty much unusable without a ton of Arena/Drill Grounds abuse, and Rody is basically a much better version of this dork. You got him in Prologue 3.



Immediately Merric must Rescue Roshea, both because I want him with the main group for reasons you’ll see soon, but also because any of these Warriors will KILL HIM IN A SINGLE ROUND. Roshea is so bad.



Catria offs one of the thieves, and puts herself in position to fight the Warriors.



Also, I put Minerva here to attract a little attention. She’s out of Bow Guy range, but she’ll attract one of these guys away from Marth/Catria, because otherwise they’re going to feel the full impact of all those Warriors at once. And Marth can’t survive that without a lucky dodge. Trial and error speaking here.



Reinforcements! These guys trigger as soon as you kill the thief or reach the village, which gives you almost no time to prepare for…




: The king forbade us from interfering... But I will do anything to protect Coyote! I'll defy his edict if I have to!

Vyland’s here now! As you may have suspected, you need Roshea to talk to him. But he will charge you IMMEDIATELY, so hurry and get Roshea over before this idiot kills himself. Aside from the rescue staff, the only way I could see that being possible would be to block off that corridor with units that don’t have weapons equipped and stall, but then you’ll be eating Vyland/Ballista damage.

Do you see why I hate this one yet?



Speaking of Ballista damage, Merric is thankfully a good dodger here.




Not a kill, but I didn’t need it to be, just to distract the dude.



oh did i mention fortify guys because fortify guys.

this map.



Now come the Warriors, and as you can see, not even Sky Goddess Catria can survive too many hits from them.



She does kill pretty well though.





This guy shoots for Marth though, just to be an ass.



Paladin man here rushes Nabvo.



Doesn’t end well for him.



You didn’t think this through, did you?



Oh, dammit, my hubris.



Oh, and when the village is cleared, the remaining thief will turn around and rush you. I know this because this forced a restart on like, Attempt 4.



That was satisfying.



Here comes Vyland and pals.



So, here’s Vyland. As you can see, he is also shit.



Time to clean up the remainder of these Paladins while we wait.





The other, non-Vyland Paladins are disposable, and you want them down, because they will kill Vyland, because, as aforementioned, he blows. Malicia should handle it pretty easily.



Now I’m rescuing Marth the hell out of there.



That gets Merric a good level, at least.



Minerva also clears out.



Catria retreats to the border of the map, grabs a Javelin and chugs an Energy Drink. This is going to be a battle of endurance now.



You can have this back, Sheema.



Ah fuck I forgot about those.



This was just bad luck.



Wow, 82 accuracy on a Tomahawk against Catria in a forest? That is a...surprisingly accurate Warrior.



And with nearly no health left, Catria has all but one Warrior down.



This looks bad. But I have Nosferatu. It’s not an issue.



Now only one generic Paladin and Vyland remain.



Roshea, get this over with.



: Aha! Have you decided to join the Altean army like me?

: Roshea, I came to bring you back. Why have you turned to the Alteans? We are Coyote's subordinates. Open your eyes! You're being deceived!

: You're wrong, Vyland. The time I spent with the Alteans was short, but I know one thing for sure. It's not as Coyote says. They're not evil people.

: Roshea…

: Vyland, please. I don't want to fight all of you. Especially you, Vyland...

: ............ Well, Roshea... You were always the kindest out of us in the Wolfguard.. You've always been able to tell which were the good guys, and which were the bad. I can't fight you, Roshea. If you, our brother-in-arms, are this sure, then I believe you. I am your ally from now on.

: Vyland…!

And after that incredibly convoluted sequence of Warps, Rescues, and enemy pulls, we get Vyland.



surprise he blows. If Roshea is Horrible Rody, Vyland is Horrible Luke. Better Strength/Defense, Worse Skill/Speed, still nearly impossible to use without abusing Arena/Drill Grounds, and not worth the effort.



As a demonstration, he gets doubled by his own fucking generic goons.





Marth and Minerva clear that up, and now we can move on to the next section of the map.



Catria can now get the fuck outta there.



That Warrior is going to get introduced to Barst.



I wanted to save this for emergencies. I consider this map an emergency.



Malica pops this to heal everyone up. We’ve stalled long enough.





Luke gets ready to pull in the next group.



Ow. Sheema’s HP not doing her any favors.



I love these animations.



Well that’s a little better. Barst has already pretty much capped everything he’s usually going to get, so I’m not expecting much more.



Bow Man’s revenge.



OH SHIT A CRIT...for 12 damage.



Thankfully Luke can double these guys.



Oh neat, Res.



Oh, there’s Sedgar. I’ll recruit him with Vyland and...fuck.



Waste of a rescue stave? Maybe. But again, THIS MAP.



same.



Get over here, idiot.



: What's the meaning of this, Vyland? Don't tell me you've defected!?

: Listen, Sedgar. I--I don't know. What am I supposed to do? I loved Coyote like a brother. All I wanted was to fight for him. But... But he has changed for the worse. It's as though he's someone else now...

: ……

Double Ellipsis. Shit is getting real.

: I wanted to serve him, always. That's why I've been turning a blind eye. I shut myself, trying to remember the Coyote who loved us so long ago. It really hurt to face the truth. That Coyote's not who he used to be... I just don't know anymore. Hey, Sedgar... What the hell am I supposed to do?

I do love that last line.

: Vyland... I too... I feel the same way. I know he's gone insane, but I looked the other way and blocked my senses. One day, he'll go back to being our Coyote... That's what I kept telling myself.

: Roshea has gone over to the Alteans. I cannot fight him. Sedgar, you should come too. I don't know what's right anymore. But I don't want to fight you, either.

: Yes... Even though Coyote's madness was clear to me, I did nothing. I have to make this right.



We’ll look at Sedgar in a sec but first FUCKKKK THIS BALLISTA.



Oh Sedgar. Dear old Sedgar. What have they done to you? Sedgar is, quite possibly, even worse than the other Wolfguard. His growths are alright, but with only 10 levels to use them and those atrocious base stats, he’s just horrible. I may have said Abel was the most gutted unit between games, but you could make a very strong case for Sedgar.



Steve finishes off the last Sedgar lackey.



Sheema, let’s get you to that arena.



Oh, apparently moving Luke to hit the Ballista has pulled the rest of these guys. Time for a tactical retreat.





EVERYBODY HIDE IN THE TOWN. Except Barst. I’m not worried about Barst.






Pictured: Reasons I am not worried about Barst.



Still more of ‘em, though.



Dammit Ogma



Some of our All Stars start burning down the remaining Paladins.



Res!






That’s the end of them for now.



Meanwhile, Merric and Sheema have some work to do…



What? Navabble, wait your turn!




Lots of stuff to buy here, just your standard weapons/staffs though. I didn’t pick anything up, we’re doing fine on supplies.



The rest of the team is getting ready for the next group.



That’s one pesky Sage down.



Make it two!





Now all that’s left is...this mess. And there’s a recruitable unit in there too.

We’ll save that for next time. Next time, this map pulls out it’s meanest trick, we fight through a damn hail of Ballista fire, we try to prevent Wolf from killing himself before I can recruit him, and we learn the terrible secret of Emperor Hardin.

It’ll take me a little while (and I also want to avoid the dreaded triple post), but we’ll be back soon with more...this.