Part 2

Last time on the last chapter of The Last Promise, Shon and Corben went off in hot pursuit of Shon's father, Siegfried.



Not too far ahead of the two, Siegfried stopped at a quiet and peaceful town known as Anura.



Striking up a conversation with one of the local villagers, Siegfried learned that Anura had no proper defenses or a militia of any kind. The reason being that Anura was small and not a strategic location, so they figured that the Magnians would just leave them alone.



That's when the conversation got ugly.



Storming off, Siegfried discovered that he was being followed by the two boys.



Following a heartfelt reunion, Siegfried urged Shon to turn back, but he and Corben weren't having it.



Just then, bandits happened.



Led by the self-proclaimed genius brigand Bardolph, these law-defying miscreants had nothing but ill intentions for this naive hamlet. What was Siegfried to do?



Obviously, taunt a fleeing villager and proclaim that they had it coming. Our hero, ladies and gentlemen.



Eventually, after his own son had to remind him that they were the good guys, Siegfried changed his mind and agreed to save the village.



Let's get to it. But first, how's about some music? This is the player phase music that played last chapter.



And here's the music for this chapter. I'll be posting these fairly regularly over the course of the LP, though I'll probably not be changing tracks each time the game does so.



I'm going to guess, since I recognize quite a few of these, that all of the new music in this hack is converted from other games, but there are some that I can't place. Assistance in this matter would be appreciated.

As a guy who's been involved with a romhack for a while now, I know that converting music to a GBA format is not the easiest thing to do. And the fact that these songs came out as well as they did is actually quite amazing.



I showed Corben's stats last chapter, but it bears repeating. He's a very well-rounded cavalier, with the potential to become a devastating force of nature, luck permitting. He's also got a full set of cavalier gear, but for this chapter, he'll only need the sword.



Bardolph's a bit more interesting, as he's a brand-new class. The Armor Brigand sacrifices speed for a lot more defense, but this unfortunately classifies him as an armor-bearing class. See where I'm going with this?



The strategy for this map is pretty simple. They have axes. We have swords. Sword them.





Between them, any two of our three cavaliers/cavalier-likes can take down a single unit, so we simply weaken them with one and finish with whoever we want to train.



One thing I didn't mention, but you possibly noticed, is that Blazer recolored the movement arrow and the graphics for the player and enemy phases. They're more of a dark purple now, which looks pretty good, actually.



Enemy phase:



Enemy battle theme:



These themes are okay, but they aren't really that inspiring. Still, they do their job okay.



One of these brigands has a hand axe, and others have steel axes, so it's not like we're going to take it easy. Just mostly.



Time for another level. You ready for disappointment?



I mean, yes, he hit his 25% defense growth, but I'd like to see something else too.



At this point, I just let them come to me, because the forest tiles here make a good defensive position.



It works out okay.



Suddenly, reinforcements appear, although one of them is not like the others.



Kevin, a knight, is observing the battle. Though he's tasked with bringing in Siegfried, he decides to leave him alone, since he's protecting the village. Who says good deeds don't go rewarded?



Back to business, I use Shon's Piercing Sword to kill this speedier brigand. I'm trying to conserve it a little, but that extra damage is handy every now and then.



Now Shon can use swords that'll weigh him down. Groovy.



Also, since I haven't shown it off yet...



That is not the way to use a thin blade like that, Siggy. You're going to break it.



At this point, Corben finishes another brigand and demonstrates why he's better than Shon.



Every stat except strength and resistance. Keep it up, man.



With the bottom area cleared out, it's time to deal with the dudes up top.



Siegfried hasn't gotten enough experience through chipping to level, but he's close to it. He'll probably get one next chapter.



Next turn, the boss's armor gives him an advantage against Siegfried, so I just wait next to him.



Meanwhile, Shon finishes this enemy in order to get his second level.



I hope this pattern doesn't continue.





Don't know exactly what he's done that's brainy, but his character info does say that he's delusional, so I guess that fits.



Siegfried's not intended to finish Bardolph off, but he does do enough damage to bring up our trump card.



Not feeling so brainy now, are you?



And with that, we've rescued all the offscreen maidens. And Blazer's even so kind as to end the chapter automatically once the enemies are dead.



After the battle, the villager expresses his gratitude for the rescue by lending his aid to the hypothetical rebellion that's suddenly formed.



However, Siegfried is concerned, since he was in hiding before, and this incident is putting his name back on the map.



Corben's motivations are uncomplicated. He's a loyal knight, and so he's sticking around. I like Corben.



Meanwhile, Kevin reports back to Sir Howard, revealing that he had an opportunity to get at Siegfried, but decided not to. Howard is displeased, and decides to reassign Kevin.



Foreshadowing!

Next Time: Do you like having to protect a defenseless cleric? I know I do.

Extras:



Corben
Class: Cavalier
Weapon Ranks: E in Swords, D in Lances
Affinity: Fire

HP: 22 (85%) Lck: 8 (50%)
Str: 6 (40%) Def: 6 (30%)
Skl: 7 (50%) Res: 2 (20%)
Spd: 6 (35%) Con: 10

Corben's not much better than Shon in terms of growths, and one might be inclined to assume that he'd do worse based on that speed growth, but the answer lies in the constitution. Being able to wield steel swords and lances without problems gives Corben a lot more versatility and capability, and that luck growth will come in handy for later chapters, where there's a high possibility of crits coming from various sources. Corben tends to do well, and I'm usually inclined to keep him on.