Part 51: Tower of Valni 1: Entire Team is Babies

Tower of Valni 1: Entire Team is Babies



So now that we're done with the actual game, what's there for us to do? That's where the Extras tab comes in.



We can have our units fight one another in the Link Arena, play the songs we've heard before, watch the support conversations we've seen before, and...Map?



Yes, here we are, back in the world once more. But what is there to do in this world, now that we've beaten the game?



Well, for starters, we can go back to the three maps with secret shops and browse their inventory.



You've got some high-level weapons, including a very affordable Shamshir for Eirika, Joshua, or Marisa...



Every stat booster in the game, minus Metis's Tome and the Boots (they learned their lesson from FE6)...



And all three of the long-range tomes, plus a Silence staff. No Berserk or Sleep for us, sadly.

At least, not legitimately.



Yes, I suppose I should put this out there right up front, but for the purposes of showing stuff off, I will be altering the game slightly. For instance, these weapons here, besides the Dragonstone, obviously, were cut from the game but left in the game's code. What do they do? Well...



Instead of just telling you, how about I show you.



Since this is just an introduction to how this works, I'll be doing only one floor. For the rest of these updates, I'll be tackling them in pairs.

This particular floor here is available the instant that Eirika or Ephraim's campaigns begin, so they'll be taking it easy on us. Nothing but Bonewalkers and Revenants, with the occasional Entombed too.



The average level range is in the single digits, but around the high single digits. Nothing too scary, but you can't just sleepwalk through it either, at least not when the party consists of these folks:





Since this opening floor is so easy, why not confront it with our child characters? You might think that a little reckless, so they'll be assisted by our mystery weapons and a special guest.



Yes, it's Caellach, available only in this special mode. We'll be getting all sorts of important characters from the game, some of which may surprise you a little. To unlock Caellach, you have to beat the 3rd floor of the Tower, at which point he'll just spontaneously appear.



For his part, Caellach comes equipped with the weapons he fought us with, plus a free Hoplon Guard. He's a bit average in everything, and he's honestly kind of slow, but for the first unlockable character, he's okay. He even comes with his own growth rates, if you want to level him up.



Let's get this started.



When you've got a bunch of characters as weak as this, you probably want to have them all go up the middle and wait for the enemies to come to them, but I was banking on Colm being able to dodge. He can't, but he makes it anyway.



If you hadn't guessed already, these unused weapons are effective against monsters. Otherwise, their stats are identical to their iron counterparts in every way. Curiously, as you saw when they were in the shop, they have no value, so that means that you can't sell them, and they come with 60 uses, so perhaps the designers intended for them to be unique weapons handed out as beginner's training tools to familiarize players with how effective damage worked, but then they cut them out, since they made monster hunting even easier than it already is.



You spiteful jerk.



Unfortunately, since these weapons are reskinned iron weapons with a special property, the axe and lance versions do weigh down Ross and Amelia a bit.



They're learning to compensate for that a little.



Since these monsters are just utterly beneath Caellach, he'll be acting as a decoy to draw the monsters in. Don't worry, he'll get his turn for glory.



There is a cut anima magic as well, but it's B rank and acts completely differently, so Ewan will have to live with throwing ineffectual fireballs for now.



I haven't done a lot of examination of monsters, but random enemies will frequently drop weapons for us to pick up. Rest assured, as we ascend the tower, we won't be hurting for iron weapons.



It's too late to impress me now. You're still out of a job.



I missed these three. I really did. Too bad I'm only taking them on this map.



There's potential there, after all, but I'm going to be taking them down a dark path.



Besides, the next few floors aren't quite so forgiving.



Remember, the assumption here is that you've gone directly to the tower after passing the tutorial section of the game, so the monsters are all fairly easy.



Not to say that it's precisely a cakewalk, but there's a lot less danger. Let's put it that way.



And the place gets steadily less threatening once these kids take advantage of their accelerated experience gain.



Be warned, though: there will occasionally be Entombed among the rabble. Those guys are heavy, sturdy, and hit like a truck.



They're also full of experience if you chip away at them with ranged weapons.





Just ridiculous amounts.



The boss of this floor is always an Entombed, and he never moves. That means that you're all but guaranteed a level off of him, unless you're close to Level 15 promoted.



These kids aren't.



As usual, gradually pecking away is the best way to optimize your gains from him.



However, no good thing lasts forever.



And we're done.



It's tempting to move on, but I've got something I want to show you first.



You see, now that we've beaten both Eirika and Ephraim's stories, we've unlocked a special option for our trainees.



Yup. A new promotion path has opened up for Ross, Amelia, and Ewan. "Hooray!" you might be saying to yourself, "My habit of playing through the same game three times is about to pay off!" But there's a problem with going down this promotion chain.



Can you see it?



I'll give you a second to think about it...



Yes, that's correct. Becoming a second-degree Trainee gives absolutely no bonus to constitution. None at all. That's not too much of a problem for Ewan, since he's still two points of constitution up on Lute, but the average Iron Axe weighs 10, and that's one of the lighter ones.

Still, at least you get a point of move like normal, so no running around at Knight speeds. However, you still have to use a Hero Crest, Knight Crest, or Guiding Ring, respectively, if you want to go to the next level.







The game does give you option of please, PLEASE coming to your senses if you promote again, and good thing too, because you know what you get as a third-level Journeyman or Recruit? +15 Crit, and you're still being weighed down by even the simplest weapons. For Ewan, however, something interesting happens:



That's right! If you don't want to cheat yourself some Stone, becoming a third-level Pupil is your only means of wielding all three schools of magic at once. Just...good luck hefting Light and Dark tomes with 5 constitution, kid.

Next Time: The Knights of Renais conquer floors 2 and 3. And I mean all of the Knights of Renais.

Extras:



Caellach
Class: Hero
Weapon Ranks: A in swords, A in axes
Affinity: Thunder (not that it matters, because guest characters can't do supports)

HP: 47 (85%) Lck: 14 (20%)
Str: 19 (50%) Def: 15 (30%)
Skl: 14 (45%) Res: 13 (20%)
Spd: 13 (45%) Con: 13

Considering that Caellach joins at Level 12, promoted, those growths are kind of weird with those stats. I guess even the villainous side had bad luck with their levels. He's a solid enough guy to have in a chokepoint, but when you consider that starting speed, it's hard to imagine fielding him over Gerik. Still, pump a few levels into him, and he'll catch up eventually.