Part 29: Chapter 14 Hard Mode

Chapter 14: Dear IS, Fuck you. Love, Sydin.

...Alright.


Everybody on a horse that doesn't have wings: fuck off.


One neat trick about Fog of War maps is that on the map screen, you can move a thief around all the different tiles, and the fog adjusts to the thief's superior vision. I use this trick to spot the fact that there be dragons.


Right, we begin. I remind you of the perfect storm of bullshit IS has for us:

1. Desert
2. Fog of War
3. Forced prepromote on a horse who can barely kill fliers with aircalibur
4. Forced Level 1 Shaman who's more combat shy than base level Chad
5. Arbitrary 25 turn time limit.
6. A batallion of asshole reinforcements.

On top of this, Hard Mode adds two new elements to this list:

7. An additional 24 Bandit reinforcements, all spouting 45+ HP and lots of extra strength, just in case you missed the memo that IS hates you.
8. Hard Mode bonuses for everybody.

What's that, you think 8 is a lame addition? "It's a given", you say? Fuck you. Hard Mode bonuses make this chapter a whole different beast. That Manakete we just saw? +4 strength, +2 speed. That sleep asshole? +3 magic, which means a better chance of hitting Roy and Sophia. Those berserker mini-bosses? +3 skill for one (18 total), +1 for another (19 total). Oh, and more strength and speed. Not to mention every mook on this fucking map, who I remind you I have to slog through in 25 turn while carrying 3 dead weights, are now faster, stronger, tankier. Welcome to hell: population me.


Miledy starts by flying up the the dragon and chillin, while Tate grabs Astol. She's going to fly him up closer to the silver card. With all the tough enemies, I don't have time to grab every treasure on this map. So I prioritize. Silver Card, Boots and Guiding Ring are damn important. Talisman and Speedwing would be great but aren't vital. Silence and Warp are nifty but definitely not pressing. Silver blade is useless.


Astol grabs the Talisman since it's on the way.


Lou, Tate and Miledy finish up the dragon. Yeah, it took all three of them. The Manaketes also get a nifty RES boost, which means they're harder to reduce to ash.


Thank you Cath.


Sophia gets hit with sleep. Ellen will head down to restore her, only for her to get hit with sleep again. God dammit Sophia.


The single most important item in the chapter, perhaps in the whole game.


Now that Miledy has gotten training and some iron weapons that don't weigh her down, she's awesome.


Hello, who's this?


Did I mention silence assholes? So yeah: good luck if Roy gets put to sleep, and your only healer gets hit with silence. You wanted that gaiden? Reset.


Pressing onward.


One thing I've only sort of touched on is the HP boosts the enemies get in Hard Mode. This hero is packing 45 fucking HP, and also has boosted defense. I remind you that Miledy currently has 20 strength. More and more of these high HP/Def promoted units pop up from now on, and it ends up slowing the meat grinder substantially. Hard Mode can turn into a slog very fast unless you pack some serious fire power.


Needless to say, I murder the FUCK out of this guy.


The bandit reinforcements move in and... wait, did I forget something?


FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FU-


I send Rutger down to hopefully bail out Cath (who's made a break for it), and everybody else goes for the boss.


Randy doesn't fuck around. 18 speed means nobody but Rutger can double him at the moment, and 18 strength means he hurts. He's also sitting on 49 HP and a magic throne that heals him every turn. Fuck this guy.


I'm going to stop for a moment to point out just how many fucking bandits are on the map at the moment. Currently we see 3 enemy units on the field. There are only about 3 other non-bandit units on the map, so 6 non-bandit/berserkers total.


Yet still 30 enemies. There are 22 bandits and 2 berserkers on the map right now. Jesus.


Right, the north is clear. How's Rutger holding up?


Yeah he's doing fine.

Funfact: Maggie has 56 HP. Rose has 60.


Randy gets acquainted with Lou. I know I haven't said this in awhile, but fuck thrones.


Lou misses a lot, so Miledy starts taking some shots.


Ahaha.


Ahahahaha.


AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.


I'm so conflicted. On one hand, that is a lot of bandits, holy shit. On the other hand, they're all so, so screwed.


A little more whittling-


A substandard level-


And We. Are. Done.

Thank god, too. What the hell could be worse than that?




Cecilia: As Fedule so aptly put it: meet Proto-Fiona. Terrible bases? Terrible joining time? Terrible maps that hinder mobility instantly upon joining? Check, check and fucking check.

I'm not really sure what IS though they were doing with Cecilia. We just got units like Echidna, and now we're dealing with this garbage? I mean, what is there to say? Shit bases. Shit growths. Horrible joining time. Horrible joining CHAPTER. She's dead fucking weight in this chapter, but she just had to force her stupid ass on her. I hate Cecilia.

Oh, and she's also a pedophile.

Sophia: Base level Roy could double base level Sophia.

...Yeah, I think that about sums it up. Artix pretty much hit the nail on the head with his analysis, though I would like to add something. Much in the vein that certain characters in FE10 become unusable in Hard Mode for several reasons, I would consider Sophia unusable in FE6 Hard Mode. Her bases are so low at this point, and enemy hard bonuses are so ludicrous, that is struggling to get over 40% hit odds, and gets oneshotted and doubled by everything. Run of the mill mages can grind her into a fine powder with no effort.

OKAY, rage subsiding. Christ, I need a drink.

Chapter 14 Reset Counter: 23