Part 12: UPDATE 7: The Revolutionary Army

M-M-M-MEGA UPDATE

Update 6 -- The Revolutionary Army



Okay, so we're gonna end a revolution. You guys ready? I'm ready. STATUS QUO ATTACK GO!



wait wait cutscene

As we open, Ariosh rushes into the castle to find the General standing in the middle of an empty throne room, staring vacantly in the direction of his throne. One wonders from this kind of behavior how Godeslas must deal with stress. *cough**cough*

: "G, General Godeslas!! The Re... Revolutionary A, Army..."

: "Calm down! ...So, what about the Revolutionary Army?"

bro you need to like just mellow out for a second, this is a throne room of peace

have you ever, like, looked at a throne? I mean, like, REALLY looked at it

anyway I think you were talking about some rebels or something

: "They've taken up arms all over the place, all at once! ...And at the same time they've captured more than half of the strongholds!"

: "...What!? That's not possible! With their petty forces? What happened? ...And what do you mean, 'the same time'!?"

like, how can you really say any two things happened at once, there's like relativity going on with different reference planes and shit

cmon man get real here

: "There were many traitors within the Southern Division... The strongholds fell quickly with little bloodshed..."

: "...Which...... Which lands are still intact!?"

: "Gunther Piedmont, Dardunnelles... and the section of Alba centered here, Akka Castle."

Hmm. Godeslas still controls all the places we haven't been yet. Hmm. HMMMMMMMMM.

: "At least the central route is still secure... Damn rebels... We acted too slowly!? ...But, what now? There's still time before reinforcements arrive from the Central Region. Shit, what can I do? ...!! The Generic Army! How could I have missed them?"

PLAYER CHARACTERS TO SAVE THE DAY

: "Without a leader, the Revolutionary Army will be reduced to a mob... There's still hope if Frederick Raskin can be taken care of! ...We can do it!"

So, yeah, uh, change of plans

Before we were supposed to cause a diversion so the full might of the Southern Division, backed up by Rhade's soon-to-arrive beatstick army, could finally stamp out the rebellion.

However, now it turns out that pretty much all of Godeslas's army just decided not to work for him anymore because he's a horrible leader. Remember a very important plot-critical detail from when I showed his character profile a while back -- Godeslas is his FIRST name. Which means he's doing the equivalent of letting his troops call him "General Gary." (Granted, everyone in this game seems to go by first names, but still.) I'm not surprised at all by this turn of events.

Also, since all those guys are now actively working AGAINST us rather than just refusing to do anything, we can probably forget about Rhade and his buddies getting here anytime soon. I imagine they've got their hands full.

In other words, we ARE the plan now. Swoop in, grab this Freddie Frederick guy, and hope everything else works itself out. No problem.



: "They orchestrated their uprising very well."

: "What's the reason behind the timing of the uprising?"

: "Their sending noncombatants to Zenobia... the failed abduction of Prince Yumil... the morale of their men, the soldiers of Alba turning coat... All of them are important... They've found the most opportune time to strike."

: "We were ordered to capture Frederick at all costs. He's trying to cover his own ass from his mistakes."

The game does not make it clear at all, but the "he" in that sentence is definitely General Godeslas. Anyway, briefing time.

: "Let's get started... The town of Dese will be our headquarters for this operation."



We're starting right in the middle of the map, which you'll notice is slightly bigger this time.

: "Our goal is to pacify the fort. We've located a number of units near the town of Suakin. It seems that things will get dicey after we cross the river. Be prepared... And..."



: "You should send some able men there to assist in the liberation."

(that's code for "you don't really have a reason to go down there besides free EXP")



: "What kind of man is Frederick?"

: "I know little of the man, but many rumors follow him... His interest is in politics, rather than war. Many say he's a bleeding-heart idealist. There is much criticism from within the Revolutionary Army."

: "Is something bothering you, Freddie?"

: "........."



Alright, let's get started. To the northeast, past where we started last time for some reason, is our destination. To the south is a bunch of other stuff I'll be killing too because I am a bloodthirsty maniac.



Guarding the nearby outpost of Senal is a Witch, a Berserker, and a Black Dragon; approaching rapidly from the northeast is (shockingly) a matched Dragon and Dragon Tamer, although they are handicapped by having absolutely nothing else in their unit.



Coming at my from a slightly different direction, because he can, is the first all-flying unit we've seen in-game. Three normal Hawkmen led by one of their advanced classes, the Raven.

Raven

Quoth the Raven, "I am a standard upgrade to the basic Hawkman class of Chaotic to Neutral alignment." Can lead a Unit; has a fairly good back-row attack called Thunder Arrow and hits for a decent amount from the front. Really pretty decent in either slot. I personally favor them slightly over their Lawful counterpart, but they're pretty interchangeable.



While fighting the White Dragon, Guy takes a couple bad crits and I have to call Swift off for the moment, which is kind of annoying since he needs the EXP the most.



Leia takes heavy damage from Hendriksen, mitigated somewhat by Lime's healing arts. Not quite able to get any kills, which is a common pitfall of Cleric units due to losing 20% of their asskicking potential.



Flying units can fly over rivers, but when the game calculates how far they get knocked after retreating, it still stops them when they hit a river. This would be great news for Leia, except Hendriksen goes back for healing and his path takes him over the river momentarily, which causes Leia's pathfinding to turn her around and lose any chance of catching him first. Let's move on.



Know how Hugo said things would get dicey once we crossed the river? Yeah, he was wrong. All those units are coming to us and things are getting dicey NOW. This is Doma.



Leia is still a little weak from that last battle, and she gets hammered here too, as I probably should have expected from putting her alone in the center column. After this battle I shift Lemon behind her to take ranged hits for her.

You guys know what the best part is about finally not having to worry about promoting Soldiers anymore?

I can let Freddie off his leash. The people in Freddie's unit have high beginning stats, making them kind of a beatstick early on. Let's test this out.



fuck off



fuck off



fuck off



fuck off



In closing: FUCK OFF.

(for those keeping score, Freddie has now killed a man for the first time. I edited out the twenty-minute-long cutscene of him staring at his hands, paralyzed with guilt. )



Somewhere during that wave of fucks Freddie finished off Hendriksen; here I have Swift wipe out Liza. Doma is going to wander off across the river until I bother to kill him a while later. For now, let's turn south.



I send Freddie off to liberate Ishro again for old times' sake. As he gets closer to the apparently undefended town, two previously invisible units appear to ambush him!



Oh no, what a dastardly plan, whatever shall I do, etc etc etc.



WHY DO THEY COME TO ME TO DIE



Oh, and also I had Leia take Eldrett, slightly more southwest. She's gonna be taking over the Volmus Mine area with help from Swift, who I'm gonna send to mop up the remnants of this sorry-ass ambush.



In the southwest corner of the map, Leia is met with an ambush of exactly one unit. Which is hardly an ambush at all.



Yeah so much for that.



After receiving literally the most useless reward I've ever seen for wiping out the first ambush, Swift bears witness to a similar one taking place as Leia approaches the mine.



Now that the Chaotix have broken up, Vector spends his days keeping a squad of Hawkmen from being able to fly anywhere. After the disappearance of his good friend Ken, Ryu got... eccentric.



Since I told Leia to camp before attempting to fight, the ambushers decided Swift would be their real target. He acquitted himself pretty well under the circumstances.



Dio had to chase Doma's stupid unit all the way over here to finally kill it off. Sometimes being this murder-hungry hardly seems worth it.



I guess I forgot to screenshot this Cleric/Golem unit before Ivory committed clergicide and took the town where our HQ was the first time we came here. Whoops. You can see what it looked like anyway.



Meanwhile, in the northwest, this wizard (named Barryum) learns the hardway that front and center is not the place for a caster to be when Freddie comes to town. This stronghold wasn't even here last time but whatev, mine now.



Since Dio's unit is all non-elemental physical attackers, it took me a while to whittle these Golems down with him. I even had to shuffle his formation around a bit to ensure he didn't lose a Fighter, but in the end the sweet free EXP was his. Time for the boss!



The boss is a Phalanx named Valna, sitting on this castle that (also) wasn't even on the map last time we were here. His unit is pretty competently put together, but Freddie can handle it. It's his day; I'm letting him lead the charge.



When Freddie gets there, he finds Valna hanging out with some old guy in a silly hat.

: "You're the leader of the Revolutionary Army...?"

i was expecting someone wearing pants

: "Sir Frederick, what are you doing!? It's dangerous! Please step back; we will stop them."



: "You'll pass through here over my dead body!"



IF YOU INSIST

Thanks to a timely crit from Freddie himself (!!!!) Valna goes down in the first battle. Hope that moustache guy didn't run TOO far!

: "...Sir... Frede...rick... P...Please... Re...trea...t......"



I swear every time somebody dies in this game they manage to get off one last sentence and sort of trail off in the middle of their last word. You can set your watch by it.



Valna's spear, the Earth Javelin, is the spiffiest one we'll get for a while. Guess what Leia's getting soon!



Well this certainly looks familiar. Like Hugo, Frederick recognizes that looking downward means Freddie is HAVING EMOTIONS. Since it's the only card he's got right now, he tries pushing on that a little.

: "Why are you disheartened? ...You did your job, that's all."

: "I hated myself. ...I hated this world. I don't know why, but... I hated everything... I didn't know what to do; I wanted something to fix my problem... I only cared about myself. I didn't care about anything else. ...I just let life carry me along. The fact that I'm standing in front of you right now... I don't even know if... this is according to my will."

Depending on your perspective this is either the worst possible moment to be having an existential crisis, or the best.

: "It is very difficult to live one's life as one desires. And it doesn't necessarily mean that it is right. Letting life guide you is one way of living."

"for example you could let life guide you to letting me out of these ropes so my life doesn't guide me to being stabbed by an angry blond man in five minutes"

"just sayin"



Speaking of which!



Enter the two guys who were SUPPOSED to be HELPING US JEEZ

: "Ha, Hahahahaha! Well done!! Well done, Freddie. I knew you could do it."

: "Your so-called revolution is over. Do you have anything to say before you die?"

: "Even if I die here, a new leader will emerge after me. It may be difficult for you to understand, but the flame of revolution will not be extinguished by my death. The fight for freedom will continue as long as this kingdom remains corrupt."

: "The hell with revolution! How dare you mock us!! ...Don't forget. You're nothing but a piece of shit."





whoa whoa whoa let's not bring me into this

I mean you had a real nice back-and-forth going there, I wouldn't wanna get in the way.

: "What, you can't do it, Freddie? You disobey my order? I guess you share the same blood as your father... traitor's blood."



SHIT JUST GOT REAL

: "Did I say something wrong, Freddie? You're the son of Ankiseth 'the murderer,' isn't that right? Oh, my. You might even kill me. I should warn Prince Yumil about you, too..."



Rhade calling someone out for being associated with a murderer is... ironic? I think it actually is! Anyway another semi-extraneous screenshot to show that Freddie is going for his sword here.

: "Calm down, Freddie! Are you going to bring disgrace to yourself, just like your father?"

"He insulted my father! Oh wait, you're right, he WAS disgraced. Nevermind, carry on."



: "...this kingdom. Unless we do something, this kingdom will be destroyed... All Palatinus will be left in ruins! I'm sure you're aware of what happened to the kingdom of Nirdam."

(it was conquered)

: "...You want to protect the kingdom, don't you? Freddie, execute him. Only then will this war end. This will be it. ...Finish him."



ALL THIS AND MORE NEXT TIME ON no I'm just kidding, fuck these rich assholes. A Gallant has never killed an unarmed man, no matter what people say, and we ain't about to start today.

: "...I can't do it."

: "What? You coward! I guess I have to do it myself, then. ...You'll most likely be demoted."

see what a NON-coward would have done is let us goad him into killing an unarmed and restrained man he has nothing against

obviously

: "Wait! ... Alright. I'll do it."

: "Oh, really... Well, I have to see this."



Rhade throws Freddie his sword -- inexplicably it's a generic Baldr Sword rather than his fancy firey one -- and Freddie prepares to sell out.



PSYCHE

So that choice between "I can't do it" and "...", in OB64's grand tradition of judging you silently, gauges not whether you're good or evil, but whether you're willing to stand up for your beliefs or are a huge fucking pussy. If we'd chosen "..." Dio would have stepped up and done what we just did. This would have far-reaching implications on the plot. OF COURSE.

: "Hahahahaha! Not bad at all. Alright! Freddie, I'm with ya!"

: "Dio..."

Dio, you're alright.



: "Bastards!!"



No offense but Dio and two Amazons, versus Rhade, Godeslas, and two Knights, has like no chance of success. It's not even fair. Let's just offscreen this battle, please.



THERE we go



Freddie and Frederick stop to rest in a basement somewhere or something.

: "But, was that the right action for you to take? You are now wanted by the army... no, by the entire kingdom."

: "I'm not exactly sure myself, but I have no regrets."

A Voice: "You'd beter not regret it, Freddie. If you do, then we did all that for nothing."



: "Dio!! You're alive!?"

: "Damn it, who said I was dead!?"

DIO IS ALIVE

In case you're wondering, had we (a) lamed out at the mine and picked "..." and (b) agreed to fight Dio back when he was a huge toolbox instead of a lovable loudmouth, it would be Leia bursting in triumphantly. Dio would not be here. We would lose him and his entire unit.

: "You young people are so reckless... That was too much excitement for an old guy like myself."



oh and Leia's here too

: "Hugo, Leia! Why are you here?"

: "Why are we here!? We went along with your decision, Freddie! You're our commander, remember? Com. Man. Der. We're supposed to follow you, no matter what!"

(In game, "commander" is spelled normally but the timing for each syllable is spaced out to get the point across. In pure text form I gotta throw in some extraneous punctuation.)

: "Leia's got a point. It all comes down to following our hearts. Freddie, don't feel responsible for us being with you."

: "I'm sorry. It's my fault you went through all this trouble..."

: "Hey! Didn't you listen to what the old man said? 'You don't have to feel responsible.' ...You still don't get it? I chose to be here! I'll probably have more fun if I stick around with you than if I get back in the army and work my butt off trying to become a knight."

Dio, just buy one each of the starting equipment, make sure you meet the alignment and stat requirements, and put down your blue sash for five seconds. It's not difficult.

: "Th... Thank you."

lookit this guy

natural leader, charisma oozin out his ears

no wonder everybody who works for him threw away their careers to follow him 'cause he didn't want to stab the rebel leader

: "Man, you're not the type of guy who says stuff like that. But Freddie, what are we gonna do now? No way in hell can we get back into the Southern Division."

: "Frederick, can we join the Revolutionary Army? As soldiers of the Palatinean Army, we've hurt countless people. I can't make up for what I've already done, but I want to do whatever I can for the people in this kingdom. Please allow us to join you!"

: "The Revolutionary Army doesn't care about your history. Anyone willing to fight for the end of the class system and declare independence from the Holy Lodis Empire is welcome. There are still many who are being tyrannized by the Palatinean Army, right here in the Southern Region. We need as much help as we can get."





At this point, we get access to everywhere we've been (since they all turned coat, remember?) except for Akka Castle (obviously). Our next destination appears to be a place called Gunther Piedmont, which sounds SUSPICIOUSLY like a person's name. As of now we have no idea why we're going there. Next time on Ogre Battle: a new beginning.