Part 27: Chapter 13 Hard Mode

Right, might as well knock this one out while I'm waiting for my flight.

Chapter 13: The True Sword of Seals Starts Here


I like to imagine Roy just walking slowly towards the castle, Armads slung casually over his shoulder. Sure he can't use it, but the enemies don't know that.


We're still all the way across the map, Cecelia is still fucked. Speaking of which...


Zeph doesn't have hard mode bonuses, and he's still the strongest unit on the map. Okay I lied, he does have hard mode bonuses: He has +1 HP. No really, go look at Artix's screens, I'll wait. 1 HP. Thanks IS.


Narshan on the other hand gets some absurd bonuses. +4 strength? Why not?


Flaer also gets some bonuses, notably he's stronger than Narshan. He is slower though.


Cecilia is still... Cecilia. Green units get the short stick in this game.


Now here's the thing with Percival. You'd think that to go along with the utter bullshit that is attempting to recruit him this chapter, he'd have some amazing bonuses as incentive, right? Nope: no hard mode bonuses in this chapter. .



Get used to seeing clusters of cavs wielding javelins and killer lances, while a silver lance paladin backs them up. Artix was not lying: the fucking around stops here.


Zeph does his thing.


Shin promotes. Gonzales is getting a lot of attention for his massive HP, but don't let him shadow our other units: on top of being one of the most effective murder machines on the team, Shin also has 46 HP at level 20/1. He's also upgraded to a big-boy weapon now, so he can keep the murder flowing on enemy phase, too.


Miled Miledy joins us. Yeah I know my screenshots are messed up, no idea.


We've also entered the part of the game where hard mode bonuses go from "pretty neat", to "completely gamebreaking." I mean holy hell: +8 HP, +4 STR, +3 SKL, +3 SPD, +3 LCK, +2 DEF, +1 RES. Miledy is functionally a whole different unit on hard mode.


As such, we send her up to deal with the other Wyverns.


Oh yeah, I haven't shown the northern force yet. They kill everybody.


The southern wyverns get cleaned up.


And then more show up to take their place.


Just like to point out: these guys? About on par with, if not stronger than, hard mode Miledy. Those bonuses aren't just for fun: we've also entered the phase where hard mode generic units get borderline stupid buffs.


Of course, fucks given by Shin: 0





The team splits in two, in order to deal with the encroaching assholes.


Ellen has done quite well for herself: notably she's +3 in magic and speed.


Gonzales does his thing.


Shin also tries out his new sword arm. We have a long way to go before he can wield decent swords.


Half the group continues their march north.


The rest hold back to deal with the continuing reinforcements.


And continuing they are! This is what, the fourth wave of cav reinforcements? Dear lord.


Miledy is pretty great, but even she can take a handy beating here until she gets a few levels.


The north is clear, so Shin starts working on the boss. I wonder how Gonzales and company are doing?


They're doing fine.


Oh, and Tate promotes! That's a thing! She's actually dead on or behind on most things, but on the flip side she's +5 in strength. Also, Because I'm a colossal dick for reference, I'd like to point out she's +10 HP, +7 STR, +3 SKL, +1 SPD, +1 LCK, +2 DEF, +1 RES compared to Artix's Tate.


Gonzales finishes up the cavalier murdering spree. I swear he's a few levels lower and unpromoted, and Gonzales is outperforming fucking Rutger.


Oh, and Miledy gets some Arena training in.




Oh, and for the record, here are my ground rules for arena training, on either hard or normal mode:
1) Never accept a fight with a bet of 700 or over. The amount on the bet is proportional to the difficulty of the fight, and once you pass 700 it gets almost impossible to win beyond sheer luck. 650-690 is a generally even fight, and <650 is almost always a guaranteed win.
2) If the enemy has a Weapon Triangle Advantage on you, leave unless you're taking incredibly low damage.
3) If the enemy can double you, leave unless you're taking incredibly low damage.
4) If the enemy can crit you, leave unless you're taking NO damage.

I should write a book.


Game over.

Miledy: To steal a joke from Fedule, Meledy is a Great Thing^TM. Great bases, great growths, and flying makes Miledy an amazing teammate. She starts off a bit low level, but there's an arena in the exact same chapter she joins so it's practically moot. She also has the added benefit of being able to support another flier later in the game who is arguably better than her, which I'm not going to complain about. Honestly, the only reason I wouldn't use her on hard was if I were doing some kind of crazy challenge run.