Part 37: Chapter 16x Hard Mode

Chapter 16x: The Revenge of Stat Screens



A bit of a turning point: while everything you've seen up till now had been prerecorded months ago, I stopped at 16x due to not knowing which path Artix would take. So this chapter was played only recently. As such, you'll now see 100% more level up screens, and a fair bit more of the action. So I guess.



Before we start, I'll introduce you to the team, since I haven't actually shown them off recently.


Roy is so bad, I'm going to turn him into a God, just to spite this fucking game. Mark my words.


Rutger gives no fucks about your defense. He will still one round you.


Tate is doing quite for herself: +3 STR on a peg knight is always worth something.


Ellen is at least +2 on every single one of her averages, except DEF and RES.


In stark contrast Lou is behind on everything, except RES where he's like +4. Okay then.


You know what's funny? She's behind on Speed, defense and res. She's still one of my best units. Hard Mode bonuses in action.


The only reason Clarine hasn't had her face ground into the bench is due to her having staves on a horse, and a support with Rutger.


If I had to pick an MVP going into this chapter, it would probably be Shin. His mobility and 2 range is such a huge factor: he can race ahead and murder anything before the rest of my team gets there.


Take note I handed off a body ring to him. He's going to get a few other stat boosters this chapter, because damn he needs work.


If I had to pick an MVP going OUT of this chapter... Apparently Gonzales was unable to read the memo that pointed out he's supposed to be strong and fast, but inaccurate and squishy. So he's rocking +2 DEF and +4 SKL. Hell, he's even up on RES by +0.5.


Dieck doesn't hit to hard, but he's pretty fast so I'm letting it slide.




Here are the three Paladins. Alan is tied with Percy for defense, and Alan is even beating him out in res, but it's fairly obvious that overall, Percival is smoking them both.


Anyway, let's get started. Roy picks up a speedwing from the convoy, since I'm worry about him getting berserked into siege tome range, then doubled.


I dare you to come up with a better use for these babies, except maybe Rutger.


Anyway, let's see what this map has in store for us.


There are some silver lance paladins on this map, who statistically speaking are about on par with Alan and Lance.


All the siege tome assholes have 20-21 magic, which gives them absurd range and lots of killing power. Luckily their speed is bananas.


In each corner we have a bishop.


Each bishop caries with them a double dose of asshole. They will gleefully spam those physic staves until you enter their purge range.


Windam still has his fucking berserk staff.


And boy does he have the stats to use it. Once again however, his speed is a non-issue.


Let's get things started.


I noticed that on top of being pretty slow, Ray has no HP to speak up. We sooth both problems.


Oh right, Douglas.


Douglas gets no hard mode bonuses, so he's still stuck with 8 speed and 5 res on a map with 12 speed, 21 magic siege tome assholes. Douglas you are a fucking joke.


Shin does what he does best.



That is: Dodging assholes and murdering assholes.





Gonzales starts off her berserker career in style.


Also since this guy is the only siege assholes who's completely unreachable, Lou busts out his own siege tome.


Don't worry Artix, I feel your pain.


There are two silence assholes at the start, and they also have the obligatory 21 magic. Ellen is sticking close to all the magic users, since she's the only one with the RES to reliably dodge those silence staves.


Suck it.


FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-


UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK!


Ellen restores Clarine who restores Gonzales.


Gonzales took some bruises from the siege tomes. Remember folks: 2 res.


Whatever, Lou wants D staves anyway.


Shin does what he does best.


He gets some marginal profit. I won't complain about getting RES on this chapter.






The conga line of restores begins again.


Everybody gets their freak on,





All better.


See this guy?


He just happens to have a surprise axereaver. Always check those weapons, folks!


Purge actually hurts Ray.


Shin's got this.


Oh yeah.


He's got some moves.


And yes, those reinforcement bishops come in hard mode too.


Miledy parks in the area to deal with it.


Funfact: this is the fourth time Clarine has been successfully silenced.


This is the problem with reinforcements that can act on the same turn they appear: even if you're prepared for them, they can still gank you.


Get out.


Are you going to cap HP, Shin? Please tell me you're going to cap HP.




Gonzales does what he does.


Alright Tate, time to start whittling down the bo-





Oh boy, look who's in range.


This is why Rutger is level 20/8 already: certified boss killer.


However I want others to get some exp, so we whittle him down piece by piece.


Gonzales smash foolish stereotypes. Gonzales's axe always strike true.


Right, now to deliver the killing blow.


...Worth a try, I guess?


Yeah, I thought so.


Wait, wha-

PHYSIC GUY!


Right now then,


Come on, big money, big money!


...Meh, he's faster, so I'll take it.


I take my revenge before leaving the map behind.


Sweet.

Douglas: Even if you ignore the fact that he's a general, which is arguably the worst class in the game after archer, Douglas just isn't that good. His speed is hilariously bad, and in hard mode enemy strength is buffed to the point that his defense can only carry him so far. He'll dodge nothing, get doubled constantly, and if a single magic user sets their eyes on him, he's dead. Douglas is just one of those units I've never used, because the result is utterly predictable.