Part 67: Battle: Going Hardin The Paint (Part 2)

Update 37: Going Hardin The Paint (Battle Part 2 of 2)


Alright, finishing this off with style: immediate screenshots of healing.




Time to take a little from Hardin’s own bag of tricks.




Meanwhile, Ogma and Steve scoot over to the southern exit of this room to get ready for the incoming reinforcements.




One group left.




Much better, Luke!




I’m letting them come to me now. FULL AGGRO kinda ran out of steam when I realized that about half our crew can’t take more than 2 hits.




Cutting it close…




Okay, now I move the rest in to finish them off. Minerva and Sheema team up on this one.




And Midia and Marth deal with the final Paladin. That was the hardest part of the map.




Coulda used some Strength.




Alright, time for the rest of these guys.




Ready for round 2?




I’m not, I need to Fortify!




Okay, now I am.




So is Ogma, holy shit. This Hero gets here before everyone else. It doesn’t serve him well.




goddammit ogma




I will break this Mend Staff if I have to use it on Hardin himself.




Ranged weapons? What a dick.




Refer to previous statement.




The Warrior decides to go for Merric instead. Poor choice.




Finally, a good level here.




Now Julian can begin the thievery. Good way to kick this off.







Yes. The good levels are returning!




This Sage is remarkable composed for Mercurius being inches from his face.




Whoa, did Steve IMPALE that man? Goddamn, Steve.




Don’t look so pleased with yourself.




You know, the urine colored crit filter looks better in motion, I promise. Not much better, but...better.




YES, HE DID IT. That was, what, 4 straight levels of only HP?




One more of these. I got a full free Staff, I reserve the right to immediately waste it and then regret it later.




Oh, by the way, Fortify doesn’t heal the wielder. Merric’s got to handle that.













And that’s the end of the reinforcements.




Well…aside from that one Sage. But he’s in the Dragon Attack zone, so I’m not going to bother with him yet.




Merric’s Mending Spree comes to an end.




But not without its benefits!




We will remember you, brave staff.




No, I said brave STAFF. (In case I haven’t already said it, Brave weapons hit twice as often as normal. So, if you’d double, you’d get 4 hits instead.)







I didn’t mean to use the Wyrmslayer here, but I mean, it works.




Okay, Dragon time. Barst, can you handle pulling that guy over?




Huh. He’s not as...dangerous as I remembered.







Fortify Man!




Even Sheema gets a shot in on the big lug.




But Minerva (and her much smaller dragon/wyvern/whatever) get the last hit.




Minerva’s having some trouble keeping up, but this is pretty good.




If you still need to promote someone you’re using in Chapter 20, I’m not sure why you’re using them. This is at least like, 1250 free gold.




Starting to edge our way into the last part of the map here.




Time to deal with all these ranged Hardin bodyguards.




So I wanted to point out that this guy is a little special. That tome he has, Glower, is special. If you’ve played other FE games, you might be familiar with this as Luna. Its gimmick is that it ignores all Resistance.




Malicia one-shots him anyway though so, hey, good job Glower. Also this guy isn’t Archanean, he’s a “Heretic”. I’m guessing that just means he’s one of Gharnef’s followers.




Catria just jams herself in a doorway and chugs an Energy Drink, the tanking strategy of champions.




More bugs.




Well, thanks for coming to me.




Catria will not even allow this Hero to be on the screen.




I screenshot every Fortify because I’m a horrible person.




Barst continues his senseless destruction of all these minions.




I do love the way Aura looks.








Cutting our way through the rest of these guys.







The last guy just tries to feed himself to Barst.




Well, at least it wasn’t an empty level.




Last one.







Minerva finally puts an end to Fortify Guy.




But not SWARM GUY.




Now that the minions are gone, Julian can loot the chests closest to Hardin. An Again staff is always welcome.




I don’t want to use Barst here, because he’s already almost at the level cap.




Steve can handle it, though.







This should be handy.




I gave Julian a break and let Marth grab this one.




So, I’ve got Merric using the Defence staff here. It’s time for the final showdown.

I know I said Barst was our best chance here, but, you know, as much as I love Barst, he doesn’t really make for a climactic hero. Sometimes you have to go with the theatrical option. So, Prince Marth…








GET THE FUCK OUTTA THE WAY, IT’S ORB LORD STEVE.







Dark Emperor Hardin

Befitting of a final boss, Hardin gets his own music.




So, first thing I learned here, Hardin doesn’t count as an armored unit, despite him basically just being a souped up General. Steve takes a pretty hard hit here.




She does decide to Crit though.




Mid-Boss level up.



The Lifesphere helps keep Steve patched up.




But after hitting Hardin again, I need to have Malicia lend a hand.




Hardin can heal himself, thanks to the throne, but Steve can outlast him.




And with one last crit, the Dark Emperor goes down.




Fade out to white here.




Oh, hey, you’re looking nice and un-mind controlled!




Unfortunately, though



It’s too late for Hardin







Uh, hopefully you’ll accept Steve?








Goodbye, Hardin.

wait one sec



Now, goodbye, Hardin






Gradivus is the best Lance in the game, no surprise there. Also probably the best Regalia, because it has range.




steve you probably shouldn’t touch that.




Although it is...pretty handy.




Wait what’s the bottom screen doing



Oh yeah, we were carrying that around.




Nice!

Oh, now all the orbs are gone. Sorry. Imagine the entire contents of Steve’s inventory just flying out of her hands and across the palace, into Marth’s shield.









HOLD UP

So, this is possibly the end of Fire Emblem 12. Hardin is one of two possible final bosses. The bad ending is pretty much the same as the good ending, but with a few minor changes at the end to reflect that you didn’t stop the true threat, so I’m saving that for when we get it. To get the good ending, you have to have the Binding Shield complete, which means all five Orbs. To review:

Starsphere: Gift from Gotoh if you collected all 12 Starshards.
Lightsphere: Gift from Gotoh, unmissable.
Geosphere: On a Thief in Chapter 16.
Lifesphere: Visit the Village in Chapter 18.
Darksphere: Defeat Hardin, unmissable.

If you have collected all of these, you’ll get the shield, and you’re on track for the good ending. Here we go.





: Yes, and with this, finally...

: Sire! Look over there! Your sister and the others...

Wow, that was easier than I expected.

: Elice! And Princess Nyna...! Lena, Maria; you're all safe!



: Ngh!




Isn’t this a little too handy?




The Binding Shield thinks so.




Hey, those aren’t Bishops!







That tricky asshole! Pretending to be your sister.


: That man was the Dark Pontifex Gharnef! His servants were impersonating the princesses.

: What was he playing at? He mentioned something about the Shadow Dragon's return... So as we suspected, my sister and the other clerics must be in Gharnef's hands...

Yeah, if you don’t get the Binding Shield, Marth just goes with it and totally believes that’s Nyna, Elice and company. Meaning that, yes, he presumably lives with a dark priest impersonating his sister for the rest of his life. That’s some dedication to your dark dragon god.


: Forgive my interruption, sire, but Lord Gotoh has arrived.

: Lord Gotoh? Take me straight to him!




Actually, he’s just going to come to you. Probably feels bad about chapters 11-14.




: Thanks to your efforts, the lost Binding Shield is finally complete.

: Incredible! It felt as though the shield itself pulled in all the orbs... So this is the fabled Binding Shield. But what now, Lord Gotoh? From Gharnef's actions, it would seem he has the noble clerics imprisoned. I worry for their safety.

: Hmm... I understand how you feel... However, we have a far greater task to accomplish--we must seal away the earth dragons. Soon they will awaken from their slumber.




Well, that’s not good. Hardin already had one of them here.

: Go, Marth. Entomb the awakened dragons once more!

So yeah, we’ve still got shit to deal with. There are 4-5 more chapters of game! This is one of the longer FE’s. I imagine the whole twist with Hardin not being the true final boss was harder to see coming in the original, because you don’t get those scenes with Eremiah plotting and such, because she didn’t exist. So all you heard about the Clerics/Gharnef came from Boah at the end of Chapter 19. Speaking of that, if you completed this map in 28 Turns (on Hard, it’s different on each difficulty) OR have recruited and kept alive three out of Roshea, Vyland, Sedgar, Wolf, and Midia, the scene goes on here and you unlock the final Gaiden chapter.




: As you may have guessed, they were dispatched by Hardin and Gharnef. The head of the organization is a woman named Eremiah.

: Eremiah... And where is she now?

: Here, in Archanea. Apparently, she runs an orphanage in the mountains.

: An orphanage?

: Yes, so it would seem. However, it's an orphanage in name only. She confines the children to a basement devoid of light, and teaches them all manner of wicked things....

Well, that’s pretty fucked up.




: I understand, Steve. I, too, cannot allow a situation like this to carry on.



: Katarina? Were you listening the whole time?

Again, we can only fit 2 portraits.

: There's a hidden passage to where Lady Eremiah is... I'll show you the way.

: ……

Suspicious? That’s not like you, Marth.

: Please, allow me to go. I'll be fine. I don't believe for a moment that this will atone for everything I've done... But while I live I want to help in any way that I can.

And so ends Chapter 20, and we’re into the final parts of FE12. Before we go and stop Gharnef though, it’s time for a little detour into a survival horror level.




Next time:
Update 38: Lady Eremiah




Oh, and here’s the Binding Shield. It does, at least, keep the Starsphere bonus, but all our other orbs are gone, and it’s locked to Marth.