Part 17: BF14i – Mountain Path

Rumor had it that the famed military strategist Bly lived in hiding deep within the Lenessey Mountains.

The Royal Army secretly marched further into the mountains to seek his aid in freeing Paltina.







This is a pretty rough place...

It would be nice if we knew more on Sir Bly's whereabouts.

Hm...!? Hey, Durant! Shoot, look over there!

That's...!

The Empire!





So they're crossing the Lenessey Mountains... Not anymore. Let's move.

Yes, Sir! All units, forward!





I totally forgot the terrain of this map when planning ahead. As you can see, there's quite a bit of water, and it's in a crucial position. Nietzsche's going to be very useful in this, and the next level, so I'm going to have to bring her back sooner than I wanted. This and the next level don't exist in the GBA version, so the Lenessey Mountains are nothing but wasteland originally.




I use these Dowsing Rods to restore Yggdra's Morale. They're used by Roswell later in the game to find some items, so we can't use them for anything but a tiny morale restoration.

Princess! It's Baldus, the God of War!

No...! We came this far...

They're coming! Everyone, be careful!



Baldus' forces are split into two groups, and with Ace Guard's 4 Mov, it takes him a while to get them together. The regular troops aren't very strong. The Griffon Riders are 2,2,2,3, the Hunters are 2,2,3,2, and the Knights are 2,2,2,1.



Even Baldus himself isn't as powerful as last time. With Ace Guard, however, he's damn strong if you can't charge him.

The biggest thing to watch out for is that all the enemies have High Status. This is a special status that's generally plot controlled. We'll see what it does.



First turn, we just move into position. Nietzsche's ready to enter the river, and Durant will claim the bridge. That Griffon could mean trouble for Durant, though, but the enemy isn't very aggressive with only 4 Mov.



At the start of the enemy's every turn, High status restore full morale to the afflicted. If they didn't start full, they are now... This is just one effect of High status. While it does restore Morale, it won't restore their Card Pow Up.



The enemy slowly advances. Now they're in a good position to get attacked by us.



We'll lead the charge with Nietzsche, and Blizzard. Griffons are weak against Ice, and we need to stop them from using Ace Guard. This will kill her before she gets the chance.



Effect 2 of High status is that the enemy always starts in Rage mode, regardless of where they left off.

This is generally a benefit for the enemy, since they can almost always cast their card each battle. However, if the last fight ended in Max mode, or near it, the enemy loses it, and starts at Rage mode again.

The last effect isn't shown in this battle, but afflicted units are immune to all other status ailments.



Anyways, Nietzsche finishes off the Griffon before she can cast Ace Guard. It would make the rest of the union uncomfortable if she did, as even that counterattack lead, plus Rage mode, could mean defeat for everyone else.

This is our first time winning with Blizzard, so the enemy survives with 50% morale.



Durant vs. the Hunter go how we'd expect – the Hunter is roadkill. Blizzard doesn't deal Fatal Damage to him, but the Tec+2 damage still wipes out 3 units a shot. Regardless, the Hunter hangs in there with about half morale, as well.

Yggdra has the chance to stop Ace Guard again. I'm waiting to use it against the Head alone, so it can be defeated by the Ice's Fatal Damage. In the meantime, I pre-charge Blizzard so I can use it immediately after the final Griffon goes down. It's worth doing on fights where timing is important.

Ultimately, Yggdra defeats the Griffon for good, and Milanor finishes off the Hunter.



All of the regular troops are level 8, and Baldus is 10. They're very generous in the Exp department.



And of course, Nietzsche froze the river. That's ok – she should be able to handle herself against the other units.



Milanor and Yggdra shuffle around a little. Yggdra is now out of any defensive union, just in case a Knight would face her.



Baldus' forces advance, but we're victorious on all three battles. The enemy does use Ace Guard, but using Blizzard in battle generally tips the advantage in our favour. We wouldn't even be able to counterattack the Hunter, so he sees no benefit from it.



Bloody Claw will provide ample power to finish off both of the opponents. It will leave a lot of movement left over as well, and through the powers of precognition I know that we're going to need to move soon.



Yggdra and Durant leave Milanor and Nietzsche behind. Unless Baldus uses all 4 Mov for himself, no one can attack either of the two.

Video - And we get interrupted.

At this rate, we'll all be done in... We must do something...



Wh-Who're you?

You came all the way here to brawl? Typical... naughty boys.

B-Brawl!? Can't you see this is war, here!?

...Milady, it's dangerous! Run from here!! Or else the Empire will...

...The Empire? You're brawling with the Empire!? Why, that means... You must be from the Kingdom, no? My, my... You should've just said so.

Wh-What's up with this old maid...?

Old...? How rude! I'll have you know I was given a lovely name: Mistel. Now, please watch your tongue. Understand?

Er, anyway, it really is dangerous! Hurry...

Oh, that's right! Come this way. I'm sure Grampa will take you in.

“Grampa” …?

Anyway, let's hurry!







But...

I don't know what's going on, but we should move. Everyone, hurry!

You will not escape!



Baldus splits his movement, and slowly advances. Milanor pushes forward to buy everyone some time, and Nietszche heads away as well. I'm hoping Baldus will send his troops one at a time into Milanor, just to take advantage of that sweet Exp.

Baldus himself won't be much of a problem either, with Milanor's Weapon and Wasteland advantage. I worry a little more about unions, since Ace Guard will surely give Baldus an advantage.





The lone Knight charges forth and is eliminated. Shield Barrier also breaks 3000 power.



Milanor back-steps a little, to prevent Baldus from attacking in a union. Yggdra and Nietzsche both end their turns beside Mistel.

Oh my, you're certainly a strange one!

Hmm? Nietzsche's an Undine. Have you never seen one of us before?

Hmmm, so you're called an Undine... That's amazing.

Really? *giggle*

But it's so hot around here. Be careful not to fry that fish-tail of yours.

Undines aren't fish.


My! You're such a cute girl! I just love that dress you're wearing. Is it tailor-made?

Uh, er... Wha-?

Baldus doesn't take the bait, and both of his units slowly advance.



And Mistel takes off.



Again I try to lure Baldus out, but it doesn't work. I may as well just finish off the level.











Mistel, we all made it!

Alright, then. Here I go... Three... Two... One... There!





Argh! Uh... General Baldus!

Pardon me, but this road is blocked. Find another way, please.

General Baldus! The path has been blocked!

I did not imagine they had a trap like this prepared... I once came across a very similar trap long ago... It was... Ha! No, it can't be...

...General Baldus?

Alright, find another way through.

Yes, Sir!

Now, that'll keep them busy for a while.

I was not expecting that... Who are you?

*giggle* Just a full-time housewife. But I wasn't the one who set that trap. That was put there for emergencies...

But what are you gonna do now? It's far from over. The Empire will find another way in.

...Well, let's head to our village, first.

But we must not cause you any more trouble...

It's OK. We're involved now, anyway. Besides, I should report all this to Grampa...

You mentioned your grandfather before...

…... ...Excuse me, but would he perhaps be... Sir Bly...?

My, you know him!? Oh, this is such a surprise. I thought everyone would have forgotten him by now.

Actually, we were looking for him.

I see. Then, allow me to show you the way. Just so you know, he can be a little stubborn... Please don't think bad of him if anything happens.

…?



No Quick Clear Bonus? What?

I couldn't find an FAQ online with this part accurate, so I had to work it out myself.

How do you get MVP awards? First, you need to deal morale damage, and second, you can't retry the map with the retry option (restarting and loading is ok). These two conditions are easy enough.

To get the Quick Clear we need to beat it by a certain turn, and have both conditions above met. Since this level can be done by mostly moving East, if we avoid wasting any movement and focus entirely on getting to the exit point, that should work.

Let's see how much that is.



From this position, Yggdra and Durant are 14 tiles away. Milanor is 13, and Nietzsche is 15.

In total, we need to spend 56 Mov to get to the exit. Starting with our highest Mov cards, and working down, let's see what happens.

Steal has 12 Mov, and gets us within 44 tiles to the exit.
Doll Craft has 11 Mov, and gets us within 33 tiles to the exit.
Necro Gate has 11 Mov, and gets us within 22 tiles to the exit.
Revolution has 10 Mov, and gets us within 12 tiles to the exit.

Here's the problem. At this point, we need at least two turns to get out, since we don't have anything else with 12 movement. Mistel arrives and starts taking turns at turn 7, so what happens.

1 – We move 12.
2 – Baldus moves.
3 – We move 11. Someone should be left south of the bridge at this point, or at least nearby, to try to get into a successful battle. The enemy won't get to you if you retreat too fast, and you need to get into combat or Mistel won't appear.
4 – Baldus moves.
5 – We move 11.
6 – Baldus moves.
7 – We move 10.
8 – Mistel arrives, and moves.
9 – Baldus moves.
10 – We move.
11 – Mistel moves.
12 – Baldus moves.
13 – We finish the map.

This is the exact bare minimum turn spread. Let's try it.



Oh... So yeah, that's just a lot of text saying that there's no Quick Clear bonus for this level.

Notes

Apparently this is doable in 12 turns for a quick clear bonus. I'm not going to dwell on it. You may as well farm some experience off of the enemies.

There are two methods of dealing with enemies with High status:
1 – Kill them in one shot. This is only possible with some combination of strong cards, and large unions.
2a – Get in their face with a good defensive union. If you win on your turn, they'll recover to full. If you defeat them on their turn, they'll be left damaged.
2b – Finish them off on your turn.

Ace Guard – If you let the enemy use Ace Guard, you'll be in for trouble through the rest of the union. We're used to dealing roughly 1/3 of our total damage on the charge. Take this away, and the fights are very close. Either plan for this, by stacking weapon and terrain advantages or cards that will tip the favour to you, or stop it by gibbing the head ASAP.

Baldus – Honestly, between his stats, Ace Guard and High status, I don't think I could've defeated him at all. He likely has morale protect status anyways. Regardless, one on one, Milanor can take him out easy for great Exp. Just don't let him take the Bridge, and try to stay on Wasteland.