Part 25: Chapter 12x Hard Mode
Route A, because I've already screenshotted most of it
. Also Sacae is its own special brand of bullshit on hard mode. Oh, and while we're at it:
Super Special Awesome Happy Fun DOUBLE Update! Chapter 12 and 12x: Oswin, go put Armadas back in the Cave. I won't need it.
Sorry Geese, I tried to use you in my first attempt at this chapter, and you got YET ANOTHER EMPTY LEVEL. Hope you enjoy the bench.
Dieck and Lou take advantage of our goodies from last chapter and promote up. Neither of them are even toeing god unit territory, but these promotions are rather early gameplay wise, so they'll benefit from being able to smoke most units for a few chapters.
This priest here has a sleep staff he loves to throw around.
A few archers and mages attack Gonzales and Lou. It doesn't end well for them.
Astol loots the place.
While Lance takes advantage of his A Support and crazy speed to take out this berserker.
I'll take it, if only because I'm genuinely afraid she won't max speed before 20.
This is better. Lance is crazy fast, but he really needs work in the offense department if he wants to keep his A-list spot.
Everybody cleared out but this asshole priest throwing heals around.
Lou meanwhile goes up to recruit
Despite starting as a red unit, Ray gets no hard mode bonuses
. He is not the only unit to suffer from this problem. Not that it is much of a problem. Ray is still probably the best dark mage in the game.
Speaking o recruitment...
And like that, we get our final thief! Cath does get hard mode bonuses, but they're pretty worthless. A measly +4 HP and +2 Def doesn't help her survival much, and she gets nothing for strength. She's better than Chad though, so if we ever need two thieves again, she and Astol will go while Chad warms the bench.
I use her to unlock the door though. Helping!
So, dragons? Dragons. Aine has +4 STR, + 3 SKL and +1 RES. He also has +9 HP. So yeah, marginally more annoying to take down.
Oi, where did you guys come from? These dracoknights only show up in Hard Mode, to my knowledge.
Oh, and these guys show up too.
AND these guys. Swords? Axes? Lances? Why not have all 3!
Of course by the time they showed up, I was already in the throne room, so fuck em.
Pre-Rutger
Post-Rutger
Lou puts him on the ropes.
And Ray delivers a sucker punch to finish.
Tate also gets one lone hit of her Axe reaver off on this guy before we conquer the throne. I was hoping she'd crit and get a level, but instead she got hit on a 41% chance and I had to bug out.
Let's ro-
Wait... what's that in the distance? Is that a cave!? Spelunking time, who knows what crazy treasure we'll find! Maybe it'll be jewels! Or a pony! Or an extremely fragile, all powerful thunder-imbued axe forged to slay dragons!
...What? A guy can dream.
Man, Astol has been getting to flex his muscles a lot lately, huh?
Fuck thieves.
Fuck brigands.
Fuck shamans.
The north group is fast and light, protecting Astol while they move up to secure the northern chests.
Meanwhile the east-bound group travels slower, protecting Roy while Tate goes on a spree with her chest keys.
Pictured: A thief I missed. Must be going after that one chest I missed. Not on my watch, pal!
...Or the thief just vanished, turning his nose up to nearby treasure.
Rutger smash.
Astol steal.
Roy conquer.
Ray: Ray is the balanced shaman in the game. Usually that doesn't mean anything good (IS can't "balance" anything), but he's the most solid out of them in my experiences. He can easily be screwed like Canas, but usually Ray ends up doing pretty well. Dark magic is pretty gimped in FE6 in my opinion, but Ray still has plenty of options, and will most likely take a spot on my end-game team, RNG gods permitting.