Part 27: Final Send in the Clowns

Bonus Update 1: Send in the Clowns

You may have noticed, but the final chapter is not really that difficult in normal mode. You might even go so far as to say that I didn't need anyone beyond Eirika and Ephraim to beat it. And to prove it, let's go through the finale again, but with a very special team.



Franz and Forde, the cavalier brothers. Mediocre in every way, they'll be our front-liners, since our main tank is going to be too slow to keep up.



That's this guy here. Gilliam's sturdy enough, but at four movement, he's going to be struggling to stay in the fight.



We're also going to need some muscle, so please give a proud welcome to the "greatest" warrior in all of Magvel, plus his crazy sidekick.



To supplement our army, we need some mobility, and who better than the two pegasus sisters? Don't mind their fragility. They'll be just fine.



Since I'm not completely suicidal, here are Marisa and Duessel. They'll be handling problems that the other dunderheads can't solve, like most enemies.



And bringing up the rear is our oft-neglected cleric Natasha. Sure, she may be absolutely pitiful, but if I do my job right, she won't get hit anyway.

Obviously, we'll want our forces to be at peak condition, so let's hand out the stat boosters...



Oh, right. I gave them to my A-team. Oh well, I'm sure we won't need them.



Needless to say, I won't be splitting up my team. That's the quickest way to a reset.



The cavaliers and the wights are on a fairly even footing. What that means is that every now and then, they've got enough skill to crit on my cavaliers. Not fun.



Totally not regretting taking you out of the box.



I'll just come out and say this: I am going to be using Eirika and Ephraim. No way for me to beat this level otherwise, since nobody on the B team can even scratch the final bosses.



Heck, with some characters, I have to get creative just to kill the regular minions.



That's a step in the right direction, though.



Even underleveled as she is, Marisa still is quite good.



Though she may need to do something about that strength and defense.



Gilliam has a B in lances right now. That means that he can use the Spear.



Thank goodness for small favors, eh?



Forde's mostly worthless, but that translates into being a good defensive wall, since he's guaranteed to not kill anyone.



Gotta be careful though to check the enemy equipment. We could mostly ignore any bonuses the enemies got with our main team, but that's not a mistake we can bounce back from with these guys.



Still, there's potential.



Due to taking out stragglers every now and then, Ephraim will be gaining levels. I apologize if it seems like I'm using him too much.



That's a lucky break there. My healer's...not that great, so avoiding big hits like that is very helpful.



Too bad it turns right around and hits Eirika instead.



Still, it's enough damage for Duessel to finish. I was hoping to get his A rank in axes high enough to use Garm, but that would have required handing a guy with 8 luck the Devil Axe. Not happening.



So, Syrene finishes this Gorgon.



Uh...



Franz finishes this gorgon. That's what I meant to say.



First time I played this level, this wight got a critical hit on Franz. Never again.



Right on cue, the deathgoyles arrive. They're less dangerous than the Arch Mogalls, since resistance is at a premium in this crowd.



Marisa's fast and gets crits often, at any rate.



It's nice to have a tank on a horse to deal with problems like these.



And he's getting tankier.



Yeah, that's not happening.



I'd tell Gilliam that a Spear is not meant to be a melee weapon...



But I think he knows best.



Remember back when every level we got was HP, Luck, and Speed? Good times.



I don't end up needing it, but I snag the Angelic Robe anyway. You never know when a little extra health would be useful.



Yeah, this formation is going to be problematic for my dudes. Fortunately, a fellow in the thread provided the answer:


Thanks, thefailtrain. You are a good friend.



But first, let's address this deathgoyle issue.



Why is this run of the game not canon? Eirika was never this good in the regular game.



Franz demonstrates his amazing scythe-summoning powers to achieve...



...crap.



Well, at least Ephraim's here. Won't it be fun to have him be the protagonist? It really will.



Gilliam's at a disadvantage in this fight, because the flying beasties can double him.



And Duessel's at a range where he's now under bombardment.



Using thefailtrain's advice, I send Eirika and Ephraim on a flanking mission.



Spiders are no match for a mighty warrior.



Oh yeah, and Syrene became un-stoned. Honestly, having her be stuck way back there is probably why this run went so well.



Now that the twins have gotten close enough, the gorgons are on the move.



Dozla sorts them out.



And the twins whack the Shadowshot ones so that everyone else can finally advance.



Could be better, but Ephraim's good enough at this point.



I need to give Natasha a bit more time to grow next run.



With the Shadowshot guys neutralized, the second bananas can shuffle in.



Curiously, the guys blocking the stairway don't appear to move. Perhaps that's because, as explained, they're there to slow you down long enough for the reinforcements in back to come in.



More twirling...



More levels.





And once we've gotten the area cleared out enough...





Though with the wights funneling in, that takes a while...



We can finally consider addressing the boss. The current plan is for Ephraim to park next to Lyon and bait him into attacking during the enemy phase.





Goodness knows, we can't expect these guys to do the job for me.



Fortunately, Ephraim speeds up the process.



And with one more level...





We can proceed to phase two.



You've seen their cheers before, so let's get to strategy.



You send Eirika and Ephraim at him. Simple as that.



Remember, he'll always spawn in units the first turn, so you can give him a big load of damage right from the get-go.



I'd like to say that this is disappointing, but these folks actually exceeded my expectations.



This is more a testament to normal mode's difficulty than their skill, but if you told me that we could take a character untrained since chapter 2 and have him go toe to toe with the enemy forces, I'd have scoffed like nothing else.



There are no terrible units in this game. Even the prepromotes are useful in their own ways.



Some are a little more useful than others.



That said, it would have been nice to have somebody else with a Sacred Twin at this point.



Sure, Fomortiis is probably just going to use Nightmare, but there are quite a few folks on the front lines here who won't stand up to the enemies left standing if they're put to sleep, so I have to simply attack with Ephraim and hope for the best.



And for once, luck actually turns my way.

This was a fun thought-provoking exercise, but in a way, hard mode is going to be like that. Eirika especially is going to be a pain in the neck until we train her up, just because she'll die in two hits from almost anything, as we'll see.

Next Time: we take another journey.