Part 4: Chapter #3: Tragic Farewell, Part 1

Contest #1 will remain open for another day or so. Maybe today's battle will make the meaning of Vanguard Bandit a bit more clear....but I wouldn't count on it.

Anyway, as we last left our heroes, they had managed to get themselves surrounded by the elite troops of the Empire. They're....not so good at this 'fighting the Empire' thing.

Chapter #3: Tragic Farewell

Briefing



: I admire your perfect calm in the midst of such an overwhelmingly poor circumstance.
: I shall engage the rear troops, Ione. You and the others must fend off the frontal assault.
: Agreed.
: I'll fight with you, Father!
: No, Bastion. You must fight with Ione.
: Father, you can't defeat an entire battalion of Imperial troops by yourself! It's...
Since when is four guys a battalion? Sometimes it seems like the total population of the Kingdom is about 12 people and a horse.
: There is only room for a single soldier on the bridge, Bastion. I can and must hold them at bay.
: ...Of course, Father. I didn't mean to doubt you!
: There's no need to apologize, Bastion. I'm sure your father understands your concern.
: Indeed.
: Fight with honor, Kamorge!
: You as well, Ione. (Faulkner himself has come to claim Bastion. Perhaps I should have known that he would. But that doesn't matter now. All that matters is preventing Bastion from falling into Imperial hands. I must prevail...)

Interview

As I stated before, you only get three choices for the interview. In the game, I just hit up Reyna three times, for reasons that will become clear soon enough. Also, because I hate Barlow and Devlin with the passion of a thousand burning suns.

: Bastion, to learn the Tackle, you need to improve your BAS and POW. It is a very valuable attack.
A valuable attack? Tackle? I hope your worst enemy beats you to death, old man!
: Your father is a great man, Bastion. You are fortunate to have the benefit of his knowledge and guidance.
Bah!
: This might sound strange, Bastion, but you remind me of my brothers back at home...young and naive.
Isn't that what women say right before they tell you they only want to be friends?
: You look fairly strong, Bastion! One of these days, we'll arm-wrestle and see which of us is stronger!
Shut up, Devlin! Uh...okay, take us home, Barlow...
: Have you ever tasted the Kingdom's dried sea slugs, Bastion? They're the best on the Continent! Deee-LISH!



: And I shall delight in slaying these ignorant fools who dare to defy the will of the Empire!
: Your Highness, General Faulkner said these ATACs were to be captured, not destroyed.
: Yes, and when they resist capture, these rebels will have to be killed. I cannot wait! Now still your insolent tongue and escort me into battle!



Our starting position. Kamorge will hold the bridge against four weak ATACs and Faulkner while the rest of the party has to deal with Duyere and his bodyguards. Let's see what we're up against.



The Sarbelas is better than anything we've got, but still not particularly impressive, especially since Duyere isn't much of a pilot.



The Einlager is a decent enough unit, and, once again, superior to all of our units except Bastion's Alba. Even worse, there are four of them. I might actually have to use some strategy in this battle.



And, as befitting his status as the main villain of the game, Faulkner has the spiffiest ATAC of them all.



The result of my first round of moves. The key here is keeping the enemies from picking on any one member of your team. I've also made sure that Reyna isn't exposed to the enemy because she has a ranged attack, and because the enemy AI will mercilessly attack her given the chance.



Meanwhile, Kamorge kills another Imperial

: Impressive...very impressive. Neither his fighting skills nor his immense strength have dwindled with age. Which of you will lose to...rather, which of you chooses to fight the old man next?
: I gladly volunteer to dispatch this rebel for you, sir!




Now, then, it's time to make some money. After about 50 turns, Duyere's ATAC will malfunction and he'll run from the "field of battle" and take Bodyguard 1 with him, depriving me of money and XP. Clearly, this is unacceptable. To the end of killing him quickly, I've lured him into a pocket I purposefully created, and then surrounded him by my troops. Ione isn't doing much damage, but she is raising his FP by quite a bit.



And now he's dizzied, unable to defend or evade our attacks...



And now he's dead. Meet the gang-tackle, a solid early-game tactic for taking out enemies. It'll do, for now...



Still, that leaves us with four Einlagers, which isn't exactly easy with our current group. Time to learn another tactic, it's called 'abuse the poorly programmed AI.' The AI is hardwired to skip its next turn if it's FP is over 60, no exceptions, so Bodyguard 4 isn't doing shit next turn.



Meanwhile, Kamorge has sliced through another Imperial, and Faulkner has decided to stop fucking around and moves in for the kill.

: You have my sincere admiration. Before I kill you, perhaps you could confess as to which of your companions is the royal one? The boy for whom you will so gladly sacrifice your own miserable life?
Gee, I wonder which member of our party it is?
: You will never find him, Faulkner! But he will find you, and he will annihilate your accursed Empire!
: Defiant to the end. I would expect no less from you. Now let us finish this with haste. The sooner you die, the sooner the eternal reign will begin!



Mandatory Battle Animation! The only one in the game (sorta)! I'll try and make a video of this soon.

: Prepare yourself for death, Faulkner!
: You don't intimidate me, old man.
: A futile effort!
: It's not over yet!
: Damn you!



: You amuse me, Alugard, but not enough to spare your sorry life!
: Die!





And it comes down to this, who will prevail? The saintly father figure or the main villain of the game?



And the winner...by technical knockout...the defending champion, Absalom, Absalom Faulkner!



: (A foolish attack, easily countered, I expected more from you, Hmmmm? What's this? My leg servos are losing pressure...and my torso actuators have been damaged. Even in death you surprise me.) This battle has grown tiresome. Capture the remaining rebels, and do it quickly.
: Yes, sir!
: Father?! FATHER!!



Bastion kills another bodyguard and looks oddly happy about. At this point, Faulkner retreats and the two remaining Imperials across the bridge will slowly make there way over and attack Bastion's group, not that they are numerous or strong enough for it to make much of a difference.



Reyna joins in on the fun and kills another bodyguard with long thrust, leveling up in the process. I keep boosting her DEX and BAS so that one day, some day, she can actually be useful. This also nets me Strong Thrust, a marginally more powerful form of Thrust that is marginally more useful.



Mop-up time! Not pictured: I send Ione on a super-secret mission to patrol the outer edges of the map looking for useless characters who take XP from characters who actually deserve it. Only too late did she learn that the only person she was hunting....was herself.



Oh, and Devlin levels up, but it's kind of hard to get excited about that. I raise his POW and BAS, but....just look at his smug face.

: Oh, Father, please be alright.

This is where the Kingdom/Empire branches split off. I'll show you the other option when I get to the Empire path.

Next Time: Lengthy Flashbacks! Cryptic Codephrases! More Andrew than you are prepared to handle!