Part 12: Ocean's 14 (Prep)

Chapter 6: Ocean’s 14 (Prep)

I have managed to pry myself out of the maw of post-holiday cleanup and Steam Winter Sale splurging to provide today’s prep update.



Please enjoy.

(seriously please try this part of the game is pretty dull)




We’ve just moved inside that building Merach was guarding in the last chapter. It’s bigger on the inside.




: A number of treasures slept in Aurelis Castle’s nooks and crannies but how to extract them before they could fall into enemy hands?

: hey

: “Only a thief could open chests locked that tight,” grumbled one of Marth’s men.

: Hey

: “But we don’t have any thieves with us...Do we?”

: HEY



As the chapter narration there implied, this map is a good one for thieves. We’ll be indoors, so Caeda will be slightly more handicapped than she usually is getting around. You can still use mounted units indoors, of course. Having to dismount would be RIDICULOUS.

(you totally did that in the original)

We’ll also be up against a number of Knights, so Cord is going to be an asset, as well as Barst if I slap him with the Hammer.




As was requested, here’s Curate Hardin.

I don’t even like Final Fantasy 2, but Rabbi Raccoon has good taste in finding lookalike characters. Also Minwu was pretty rad, I can’t deny that.




I also went ahead and made Wolf into a General for this map, because I want to show how hilariously busted General Wolf is early on, and Draug’s on Bow Vacation.

Generals are Promoted Knights, and can use Lances and Bows.




Speaking of Lances, we have a ton of them! Mostly from all the Cavaliers that have shoved their way into the party. You can always sell them if you want, but I like keeping spare low rank weapons around, in case of reclassing.




I also totally forgot to explain the details of Excalibur when Merric joined. My bad. Excalibur is a weird Tome, it can only be used by male characters, and it’s B rank...except for Merric, who can use it at E rank.

It also does triple damage to flying units, and since fliers are so good in FE11, it’s a fantastic weapon. Cord’s a long way from using it, though.




This map itself is easily the most complex we’ve seen so far. We’ll have to make our way through the castle to reach that Throne, as usual, but we’re in very tight quarters.




To add to that unfortunate squeeze, we’ll have to deal with lots of Knights blocking the paths from these side rooms, as well as Archers and Mages forming a backline. If you can blow down a knight and kill his support on the same turn, it makes a lot of difference in how well you can clear this map.

You might also notice lots of chests scattered around. Julian’s going to have his hands full. Both proverbially and literally. Move quick, though, because enemy thieves will also go for the prizes, and then you have to kill them to get it back.




It’s a good habit to get into checking enemies out before the map, because sometimes you’ll find weird outlier enemies like this random Cavalier packing a Silver Lance! He’s also holding a Master Key, a five use item that effectively turns any character into a Thief, letting them open a locked door or chest.




Of particular note is this chest, rudely guarded by a Knight and two Archers. Also this hallway is baffling. The whole castle is baffling. Who lives here?




The boss is packing quite a bit of backup too, although some of those units will charge us. Others have got to be lured out.




As for the boss himself, it’s our first Promoted enemy boss, Emereus the General. He’s really not a bigger threat than Merach was, given his one range weapon, but don’t try to fight him head on. He’s also got a Master Key. It’s almost like this chapter is Thief themed…




Oh also there’s a recruitable thief right north of us.

Let’s help him out next time, when I manage to again struggle out of the grip of pulling stray tinsel off of my clothes and playing Dishonored 2. (it’s really cool)

Bonus Content!

In the sequel, every character has Support Conversations with the player avatar, My Unit/Chris. I’ll be recycling Steve from the last LP because we already have this lovely portrait.

Reclassing Is Pretty Rad (Steve/Sedgar 2)

: Axes...Good. Meh, this sword is in need of repair.

: Sir Sedgar.

: Oh, Dame Steve. Sorry for taking up so much space always.

: No, don’t worry. Say, would you allow me to take a look at this horse tack?

(I had to look that up, “horse tack” is like saddles and what not. Horse accessories.)

: Yes, go ahead.

: This was... very meticulously done. Did you... do all of this, Sir Sedgar?

: That's right. Well, I wasn't the one supposed to use it at first, but…

: Eh? Then, who?

: Wolf.

: Oh, the Wolfguard's leader... right?

Who else would lead the Wolfguard?

: He's... in one word, a genius. I got his bow and tack ready, and he fired. At first, that was how we operated. But, in the previous war, he got more and more stronger…

: And came to use weapons other than bows?

: Precisely. Depending on the strategy, he changed the weapons he used.

: That’s… amazing…

: And, to match his pace... I ended up getting used to repairing all kinds of weapons.

I like this one because it feels like a bit of a nod from the writers about how people would very frequently reclass Wolf in Shadow Dragon because of how totally broken you can make him. Thus the mentions of him using roughly every kind of weapon.

Also, here’s Sedgar’s Cipher Card, because I doubt I’ll be showing it off later:



The Assistant Leader of the Wolf Knights, Sedgar

Gonna assume “Wolf Knights” is a finicky translation for “Wolfguard”.