Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume Part #43

Part 43: Chapter 4B (4)

While Phiona joins us as a Guest, I'm actually going to hold off on talking about her. The next map emphasizes mobility more than anything and a Dashless Warrior is precisely what we do not need. For that reason, Valmur's also sitting out, and both Natalia and Earnest would like a bit more experience anyway.

This is likely one of the maps that trip first-time players up and give them a Game Over. Reinhilde and Auguste are on the other side of the map, and we lose if either of them die - likely Reinhilde, since that's who the AI prioritizes targeting. They'll quickly get beset by a Rogue and two Lancers and Reinhilde will very likely die in three rounds, two if we're unlucky. Because we start off surrounded by enemies, the initial instinct might be to slowly clear them out and move on, but that will just get Reinhilde killed. We need to be swift here.

The first major issue is the Golem right in front of us. Petrification is not something we want to take the time to cure.

So get stoned.

The one upside is that the map is actually quite small and it's quite easy to set up multiple attacks and to reach Auguste and Reinhilde once you know what you have to do. This is really one of the prime places to use Gleipnir's Bonds if you've sacrificed Cheripha, as it gives you a ton of breathing room.

Assuming you're not using Gleipnir's, you're still on a bit of mercy at the RNG - if the enemy gets too many criticals or gems on Reinhilde, you can go down even with good planning. And since we didn't get a chance to save after the last fight, it means doing it all over again.

Reinhilde will be useless after the first round - the enemies will box her in. Auguste won't be of much help either, since the AI is too dumb to move him to attack. A Rogue might end up next to him and he can do some damage, but don't expect either of them to make much progress.

Natalia is actually our biggest asset here with her great Movement. If you don't have her, a Swordsman like Wylfred or Darius is the next best choice. One of the few maps where Provoke helps here. Even then, Natalia does her job acceptably by distracting one of the Lancers to attack her instead.

There are two Rogues on this map - the first one (who doesn't pose a threat to our escortees) Sap Powers Earnest, not a welcome thing.

The second one Sap Powers Auguste. This is actually welcome since it's a turn where they're not attacking Reinhilde, so it's a bit of a lucky break.

We'll want to take out the Golem out before it has a chance to recover anyway. If, for some reason you don't have a Sorcerer here, this map is more difficult. If you don't have one it means you've probably lost both Lockswell and Lieselotte (or you sacrificed Lockswell on the A path). You can only make one sacrifice in this chapter lest Freya smites Wylfred to death, too. Still not impossible, but you'll want to quickly dispose of the Golem and rush to the other side.

The Golem is actually quite durable, especially if you're going for max Sin. Sap Guard isn't really worth the AP either, as you'll want to conserve it for Suspend Motions.

So funny story, when I was doing this map my game started glitching and stuttering heavily. I could have restarted, which seems to fix it, but I wasn't about to redo those two maps again, so I soldiered on and prayed that I wasn't going to drop any crucial combos or Soul Crushes.

Anyway, magic is the best option against the Golems. There's a bit of lax in getting Sin here, but this would be the place to use Vali's Awakening if you think you need it, as the Golem is the most durable thing here. I'd rather conserve my AP for Dash though.

Natalia hasn't actually moved after the first round, I've been focusing on spending her turns Dashing towards Reinhilde. She just fortunately ended up right next to a few opponents so I could get in some combos using her before I moved her again.

I could use Natalia's turn to finish him but I decide to leave him be and Dash instead, he'll just run away anyway and there are no Sorcerers on this map to Heal him.

Almost there. Hang in there, Reinhilde!

AI Auguste attacks the Rogue. He's actually in very little danger of dying this fight like the Duwain and Rosea mission. Meanwhile, Reinhilde fires a couple bolts into the Lancer.

Natalia saves herself here with a dodge - the Lancers connect a few in but she barely hanged on. Which is good, because otherwise I'd have to revive her and have her move from wherever she was revived.

The second big risk here is that either the Rogue or the Lancer will end up behind Reinhilde, likely fazing her and allowing their attacks to get more gems.

The Hellhound attacks Earnest as well. It has a nasty tendency to land behind its targets and faze them, so it's more dangerous than it appears.

Well that was close. Don't worry though, we got this.

Natalia chucks a healing potion at Reinhilde, keeping her alive for now. With the most pressing concern out of the way, our focus is now to take out those two shmucks, and from there it's standard cleanup.

Close Shave #2: Earnest was actually low on health and I foolishly sent him to attack the Lancer without thinking. Luckily, he fazed the enemy from its back and saved himself from a deadly retaliation.

Wylfred joins in, and we take out one of the three threats to our elderly Haughns.

This is probably one of those maps where I'd be fine with not getting 200% Sin - it certainly helps, but I'd just be okay with not getting a dead woman here.

An enemy Archeress moves up and finally knocks out Natalia, but she's done her most pressing job anyway. Good on her.

The second Rogue then Sap Powers Wylfred. I'm glad Reinhilde didn't end up taking more damage, but Sap Powers do get a little annoying.

Bloody Hellhounds and their fazes. Good thing Liese was full on health.

We finally put that first Rogue out of his misery.

Liese then Suspends the Archeress to get her out of the way.

Since Reinhilde's in good condition, the revived Natalia goes to take out the Hellhound.

It retaliates and she barely survives. She's got the devil's luck this battle, eh?

Meanwhile, Reinhilde gets ganged up on again. We might want to quickly fix that.

Hellhound gets taken out, first of all.

Liese Guard Reinforces Reinhilde, and Wylfred chucks a potion to top her off.

From here on, it's smooth sailing. These two are out of the way and we can just eliminate the Suspended Archeress.

I actually had a few close shaves here and quite a few lucky bits, but the fight isn't quite as bad as I make it - you have to be quick to heal Reinhilde, but aside from a bit of luck against the RNG the fight is quite doable if you keep the Golem and Archeress under control. You could always use Cheripha's plume skill if you can spare her, though.

I almost got those 100-hits. Probably would have if I had Cheripha instead of Earnest.

One new weapon here for 200% Sin - the Dawnsong has 75 ATK compared to the Arbalest's 102, but has a massive 50% Earth bonus and three attacks. Valmur'll like this.

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