Part 65: Siege Defense
I'd normally post short updates like this on sequential days, but... I'm busier now, sadly. Every-other-day from here on out, bonus/extra updates excepted.Chapter 32: Siege Defense
(Or, "Route A Short Level Stretch, Part Two of Three")
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Surprisingly, telling a bunch of warmongers that you'd really like a peace treaty doesn't quite work.
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Much like Sasha, Alicia has traded her original outfit for a Swordmaster-esque coat. The result is still a bit impractical, but it actually resembles battle gear now, so I approve. For some reason or another, there's a notch in her sword now.
As mentioned, Alicia's skill list improves a lot after promotion. She picks up Melee Guard 4, Fearlessness 4, Frontal Blow 3, Lion Strike 3, Retaliation 1, and Karma Strike 1, leaving her at 6 skill points. In eight levels, she'll pick up Divine Seal 5 and then start to work on her counter skills.
Everyone has Topaz in every Amulet slot now. Alicia gets the Black Ring to help her catch up. (Also because it's funnier this way.)
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Another short level.
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In Route B, every formation with Armors gives at least some of them ZOC. This is a serious and entirely intentional limiter on Serdic, since he never learns Null ZOC. Then you get to Route A, where Altrius is weaker and learns Null ZOC, and suddenly every single Armor has no skills, let alone ZOC. It's aggravating. It's not a complete loss, since enemy Guardians still have ZOC the vast majority of the time, but it's kind of a dick move.
The Armors, as you may have surmised from the above, have no skills. The Snipers don't have skills either.
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The two Jousters are the same, and the Trooper boss is just the same thing scaled up.
If Selmer had Yumil Magna 5 instead of 4, we might be able to end this fight in one turn: He's exactly nine squares away. We definitely could if I subbed Ansom in to weaken him first. Oops, I guess.
Five conversations now.
Margus and Kay
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Alicia and Rukia
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Her first class seems to have a skirt. A fairly short one at that. So your answer is, "Yes, until yesterday, at which point I got this awesome coat."
(Unless she's Scottish and that was a short kilt, I guess? Highlander and all that.)
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Marie and Owl
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Altrius and Alberich
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I love that little "wish you luck" exchange near the end.
Altrius and Marie
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Map start.
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Selmer vaporizes three Armors.
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Everyone moves up. No one can attack any enemy first turn, so they position themselves to attract fewer attacks.
Every non-boss enemy moves up, most of them attacking. The team was at the edge of the bottom Armor ranges, so none of them became aggressive.
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I'd rather not deal with this horse.
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I could have worked on Ten'I Slip shenanigans; getting Selmer to any spot other than the one directly above Izuna would have been enough to let Senda Prison reach and eliminate the Snipers. That'd be risky with the boss there, though.
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Altrius works to weaken the armor in front of Alicia and let her activate Fearlessness safely. Sadly, she isn't quite strong enough to one-shot the Archers, even with Lateral Blow 4 and Fearlessness 4.
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Sasha can eliminate most of the weakened enemies but not all.
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Honestly, there's no real downside to having Marie killed when she doesn't know Oratoriorae and you don't really need her for the stage. It just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
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The surviving Sniper ignores everyone and books it for the objective. He's not going to succeed, of course, but it's a nice thought. Selmer kills him.
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I want Alicia to get these kills. The sooner I get Divine Seal the better, really, and she's generally useful.
Altrius kills the War Mage, Marie heals Alicia.
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Every level helps.
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The time limit is very generous considering how easily it is to end this map in one turn. Abyss Gate 5 + Ansom can also do it, even if you don't have Ymir Magna 5.
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Boy's grown a bit of a spine, hasn't he?
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Total resets since chapter 20: 4 (+0)
Next time: Diversion