Let's play Ogre Battle: This is the dawning of the age of Zeteginea

Welcome back! Today we're going to find out how much forgiving a witch who was mean weighs on our conscious (spoiler: very little).





As mentioned last update, we've got some units that are just a little too high level to be using currently. Units in this area average about level 7, so any units that are level 7 or higher are risking ALI loss.

STING the Wizard (part of WARREN's army) is super close to dropping below 10 ALI before he hits level 10, which will put him out of reach of becoming a Mage (this is something I do not want).

KAUTS is doing fine but I want to make sure his Knight friends (which are lower ALI) can become Paladins later. We'll still use him, but we'll keep him back to guard the base.



DENEB has underspent on infrastructure that would allow a proper road to her base of operations, so most untis are going to roughly head northwest through the mountains. She does have two enemy units (one high flying, one mountain) that can take a bit of a more direct path through.

It's still only a handful of cities to liberate, so get them protected and push to the hidden city of Anquard. From there it's pretty easy.



Off we go!



Our new front-line Undead-led MUSASHI army comes across dead meat. This enemy unit (even if it wasn't horribly composed) cannot deal any damage to the skeletons. This kind of unit really only has to worry about strong rear units that can target the Leader.









Cockatrices are pretty dangerous this early in the game as they deal good damage and effectively stun the enemy they petrify. The Temperance Tarot can cure this ailment, but it's just luck that I happen to have not thrown this out before this battle.



This middle of this stage can get pretty messy. Fill up on CUREs and HEALs at Roseanthels if necessary.



I wasn't paying attention and ran my awesome undead unit into these clerics. This enemy unit is *terrible* but I don't want to revive more than one of my Skeletons so I book it soon after giving an enemy Faerie a bad dream.



This unit is tricky as the Valkyrie leader is easy to kill, sending her ninja minions running back to base to revive her. Having a unit ready to intercept the fleeing ninjas is helpful.



TERMITES 2; CROWNS 0



JOKERs, if I haven't already explained it, are a cheap way to fill up on Tarot cards. They're easily available later in the game when you need them, so while I'll take a free one it's not worth much.



FIRE Shields provice +9 Physical defense and +12 Fire defense. Not great.



MAGIC rings are however, interesting, boosting INT by 16 and decreased STR by 12. This means they do more magic damage but will take additional physical damage. It's not the best item for a magic user in the game, but it's a damn fine one despite the STR penalty.



With me decimating DENEB's army (off-screen) I sent Gilbert and his Wyverns flying in to take her out.

I appreciate her professionalism. Note that this dialogue *is* different if you're a male Opinion Leader.







Yeah Pumpkins can hit hard but you'll definitely find their accuracy is lacking due to their poor AGI. They also have meagre HP and terrible defenses. Put one wandering the mountains on this stage in an Army for the novelty, but don't expect them to perform as well as DENEB's Pumpkins.





Deneb is stupidly in the front row so this fight doesn't take long.





There are pros and cons to forgiving DENEB:

Pro:

• Your Opinion Leader gets a +5 boost to their ALI.
• You can recruit her later in the game. Deneb has great stats, with high STR, DEX, INT and LUK. She won't take advantage of those too much as a Witch, but she makes an excellent Muse later if you can raise her ALI. She makes a killer Princess if you get a crown.

Con:

• You take a hit of Reputation if you forgive her. It's not a gigantic hit and certainly not fatal to getting a good/best ending, but it does put more pressure on you to raise it. If you've been especially unlucky with Tarot draws knocking your Reputation down, don't feel bad about being mean to her.

ICE COLD.







Horray!



And that's another Scene down!

Join me next time for Days Long Gone, or "SLUMMING IT."

Hey, thanks for noticing!

If Mogri's descent into cruel turpitude continues and his REP is low enough to recruit Deneb, I vote she gets renamed to Buge and the current Bugewitch is firmly but politely asked to leave.

Buge should be the best (and prettiest) Buge they can be

8. Knights and Princesses



We're starting today's update by revisiting Deneb, who is always happy to see Ovelia. She asks us for a favor.

I need a 'Golden Bough'. They only grow in the forests of Diaspola. Will you get one for me? I'll share the magic with you if you do! That's not enough, you say? Well, as a down-payment, I'll give you this Black Pearl. ♥

It's very expensive, so I'm sure it will help you. Good luck! ♥

Deneb can be recruited, but not for some time yet.



She wasn't lying; it does sell for a pretty penny.

No idea how much we've suffered because of her. I'm not saying that we should judge people, but still, there's a limit...

She's seduced you with her good looks, hasn't she? Unbelievable...

Our decision to pardon Deneb has proved unpopular. I'm curious what they'd have to say to Eddie and MOGRI.

While I haven't been showing it off, nearly every town in the game has unique dialogue on revisit, sometimes dependent on earlier choices you've made. Mechanically, there's little reason to spend much time on cleared maps, so this is quite a bit of effort for something most players will never see.



That's that for Deneb, at least until after Diaspola. Let's head to Slums of Zenobia.

The PSP remake of Tactics Ogre translates the name of the kingdom as Xenobia, which doesn't sit well with me. It suggests the Greek prefix, which works well enough in the context of Let Us Cling Together, where the Zenobians (starring our friends Warren, Lans, and Canopus) are indeed foreigners to the game's setting of Walsta, but here in their original context, that translation falls flat. Then again, the PSP game is the only one of the Ogre Battle saga to use that translation.



Here's our map. The goal is the city of Zenobia, capital of the kingdom of Zenobia, which is completely surrounded by walls. That's an issue for most of our army: only flying units will get past this. The northeastern town is similarly isolated, which suggests a measure of importance. We were going to visit everything on the map anyway, but we'll make a special point of visiting that town in particular.



Bert and Olli liberate the hidden town right away.

Debonair is a member of the Empire, but he's actually a fine man. Very polite, very honourable... If everyone in the Empire was like him... Then I'm sure they would have the support of the people.

And we wouldn't have much of a game, would we?

In the castle to the north west is General Kaus Debonair, one of the 4 Devas. If the Empire has sent someone like him out here, they must really want to stop the Rebels!

I'm always happy to see a Fool. Great card, nice pull effect.

I've been imprisoned in this castle for 20 years now. I never thought I'd see the light of day again. Thank you. So you are the Rebels I've heard about. I'm sorry you had to find me at my grave. How about it? Would you be willing to let me join you? (yes/no)

Yeah. I guess an old man would just get in the way...

...is what he says if you say no. But we actually say yes, of course, so he pledges his life to the rebellion.

You know, your lips say Ashe, but your face and backstory are just screaming Basch.



Lady Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca comes with a promoted Golem. A Rock Golem is still a garbage unit: at level 8, it still doesn't have the AGI of a level 1 human unit. Meanwhile, Ashe and his Knight cohorts are in the back row. This is a dreadful squad!



Ashe joins as a level 9 Knight with excellent STR and AGI. We add Canopus and a spare Valkyrie to the back row to make his a Low Sky squad.



Gerad liberates a southern city, and we see a single enemy squad en route. I'm not sure if there are more outside of sight -- the game doesn't show fog of war, but you do have limited vision -- though it seems like we should have seen more by now.

Zenobia used to be the most beautiful city in the world, but now it's just a giant slum. There are a lot of people there who have lost their families and their homes. I guess they thought that by going the city they could have a better life, but...

Bert pulls a duplicate Kukai's Rod. As this is a White weapon, we can't be too upset to see it.



Ashe has first contact with the enemy. We use a Hermit card to get it out of our inventory, but because this squad has its rows backward, we don't have much to fear here.

Of course, this is a flying unit, as is every unit we'll encounter for the moment. The enemy is equally subject to the walls around Zenobia.



Turtle liberates a temple in order to revive one of his Fighters. They just can't stay alive...

Only a flying Unit will be able to get over those walls! What to do, what to do...

Kahran and DEDMET rid an enemy squad of its fliers, stranding it. The lone Knight can't return to base, so he attacks again and dies, dropping a Summoning Chime, which is like an Egg of Wonder except that the result is a neutral character encounter, meaning it's notably not level 1.



nosimpleway pulls a Sun card as he liberates this temple. Noon coming earlier than usual puts a bite into our income.



As Gerad and Ashe deal with more flying threats, nosimpleway moves on to liberate another city.

General Debonair is very set in his ways. The other day a merchant tried to bribe him for exclusive rights to a new trade route. Not only did the merchant not get the rights, but he was arrested! I'll bet the reason Debonair was sent all the way out here is because he's so straight.

To me, that's less "set in his ways" and more "actually principled." No points for guessing that Debonair can be swayed to join the rebellion.



We're gaining ground: Ovelia dares to liberate the city nearest Zenobia.

They even say that the executioner was the General of the Royal Zenobian Knights! Can you believe it?

The General? I think his name was Ashe...

A knight jailed by the empire and wrongly accused of killing the royal family? I want to say I've heard that one before.

Bert digs up a Flame Sword, which isn't even worth screenshotting at this point.



You know what is, though? Random Crown drop! Princesses are amazing. We won't use this just yet, but we sure are happy to have it. (Eddie's gonna be so jealous!)

Meanwhile, Bert finds another Flame Sword, which, I don't think he's even trying anymore.



C'mon, Bert.

Have you heard of the Barbarian Ashe? He used to be the head of the Royal Knights, but he was arrested for executing the Royal Family. But it wasn't really him! The executioner was the Black Knight Gares! The Prince of the Highlands! The Mage Rashidi used his magic to make Gares look like Ashe. Ashe is completely innocent, but he never defended himself. Why do you think he did that? Because he blames himself for not being able to protect Gran's family, that's why.

Don't believe Rashidi's lies!



Turtle's squad has seen enough fighting to get her Fighters an upgrade. We have Zeebs the Knight in the front, and Eddie's Dollmage is in the back. Turtle and friends liberate the map's last city.

My name is Lyon the Beast! Best Beast Tamer in the world! Have you come to hire me? (yes)

Good for you! My fee is 20,000 Goth! (yes)

You're smarter than you look! I fight like 100 men! OK, I'll let you in on something. To destroy the walls around Zenobia Castle, you need these 'Termites'. I used to have some, but I let some monk borrow them. I hope he still has 'em...

If you've been reading Eddie's half of the LP, you already know that TERMITES will remove all the walls from a map. But TERMITES are for dogs and hogs, and I'll tell you why: if you use them, the enemy will unleash all their land-based units. You thought this map had a lot of enemies? You ain't seen nothin'.

If you haven't been reading Eddie's half of the LP, what is wrong with you



Noon hits for the third time as Ashe is inches away from Zenobia Castle. We might be losing reputation for delay of game at this point. I blame the tarot -- we haven't actually been here very long in real time.

The Highlanders are supposed to be a race of proud warriors, but look at you! You've all become just a bunch of assassins! Where's your pride as a warrior? And why do you think a great general like yourself has been sent to a place like this? Endora is just trying to keep you out of her hair! Think about it! (Endora is the empress, the titular Black Queen)

Debonair: Shut up! I was sent here to stop you! Sent here to stop the fools who are trying to disturb the peace!

Ashe: Disturb the peace? Look at this place! What was once the greatest city in the world is now nothing but a slum! Is this the perfect world you've dreamed of? Is this what Endora wants?

Debonair: Stop talking about Her Highness that way!

Ashe: Very well. We'll just have to show you another way!

Obviously, the dialogue differs without Ashe.

It's not too late. I will spare your lives if you surrender to me. If not, I must destroy you for the sake of the honour of the Highlands. Don't be fools! Surrender to me now! (yes)

Excellent. As you see, the Empire can be quite merciful.

This removes that squad from the game entirely! The opinion leader doesn't get the yes/no prompt; the game skips straight to the dialogue for if you refuse Debonair's offer ("I am forced to destroy you, then!").



Debonair is a tough customer, the hardest boss we've fought so far by a long shot. He has a pair of promoted dragons in the front row -- and we haven't even seen regular dragons outside of a neutral encounter -- and Debonair himself has three very powerful attacks: two normal hits and one targeted Blade. Without the use of tarot, it'll take several attempts just to get past the dragons, and those will regenerate after each battle.

So how do you deal with bosses like this?



The most obvious way is to attack Debonair directly. Set your tactics to Leader (you should have already been doing this on bosses) and use Wizards, Samurai, Ninjas, or the like. Of course, anything that hits everything (Gryphons, Dollmages) works, too. Because these units all operate from the back row, you'll need something durable in front.



The much easier way is to expose the leader via tarot. The Fool card is usually ideal: it removes all other enemies from the battle. In a pinch, the Moon card will often do: it reverses the enemy's rows. Sometimes, this is even better, but in this case, it wouldn't hurt Debonair and it would make the Red Dragons more dangerous. We'd be able to hit Debonair all right, but we'd be burnt to a crisp, too.

Even absent the dragons, this fight isn't free. Debonair has incredibly high physical defenses. It's time for us to use a new strategy.



I send Ovelia inside the city walls and summon the rest of our army to her side. Destil, Kahran, and DEDMET team up to give Debonair NITEMAREs, and Destil lands the killing blow (which took a lot of finagling).

...Empress Endora HAS changed... She's not like she once was... I am willing to die for the sake of my Empress, but...

...I will NOT die for an impostor! It seems there was something I should have done before fighting with the Rebels. I am forced by honour to admit defeat for now. We'll meet again, gentlemen.

I'm not totally clear on the connection between us beating you up and you realizing the Empress is no good, but we'll take it. Alas, we won't be recruiting Debonair today.



But that does it for this map. Sadly, even taking down the boss has only earned Destil a single point of ALI, taking him from 6 to 7. We'll need to find other ways to improve that if he's ever going to promote. Fortunately, I have some ideas.

Join us next time as we crown a new Princess and head to Island Avalon!

You son of a bitch.




Welcome back. Ugh.





This map is pretty straightforward strategy wise; liberate Anberg and Elrangen and protect them. Anberg in particularly should probably be defended by three units. A good deal of enemy units fly, so you'll want to keep your Opinion Leader at home at Mulnique and have a unit guarding the temple in between.

There is a LOT of hidden treasure on this map. If you want to be cheesy about getting good items, this is a good map to do so on (I won't however).



This stage has a gimmick, and that gimmick is walls. Specifically, the enemy base, Zenobia and the town of By Riot need to be liberated with a flying unit. The termites which I've been collecting can be used here (as Mogri has shown), but there is no strict requirement to do so. You can theoretically save them for a later stage.

My recommendation would be to hold off on liberating any other towns except Post Ina until you deal with all the flying units so as not to stretch yourself thin defensively. It's too easy for enemy units to attack unprotected cities.



You can liberate Anberg and Elrangen without too much trouble, but you'll probably want to have some armies blocking the incoming enemy armies so that your Opinion Leader doesn't get bull-rushed.



In this case, I send MUSASHI and his undead friends to play defense for MOGRI.



This is a VERY critical choice, and I'm ashamed to admit that I made the wrong decision. PICK YES. The 15,000 goth you save by recruiting him after the mission is not worth the pain of having to tell him no EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. ANY. UNIT. ENTERS. ANBERG.

I stuck to my guns because I'm stubborn and paid 25% of his initial asking price, but it seriously was not worth it. Just pay full price so he fucks off to your reserves.



A few enemy armies got through, but NBD after taking a few hits from team MUSASHI.



While crushing enemy spirits, I manage to kill the Griffons that were accompanying this Knight. He wants to run back to enemy base to heal and revive his companions, but he can't fly over the wall, so he just stands there sulking.





WOO! New Knight army AND a World card!



I pull the Rock Golem out of ASHE's unit ASAP and put the Knights in the front row as they should be. I have two units that I turn into Doll Mages for fun and add them in.



TERMITES: 3, CROWNs: 0 son of a bitch.

Let's see what that Tarot card gets out units:



YEAH!



Boo.



YEAH!



Have we talked about MAGIC rings yet? They're pretty good for your casters (INT +16, STR -12).



OH BABY!



RIGHT ON!



I also send CANOPUS out to collect all that just treasure.

MUSASHI swords grant +12 STR and a Fire attack. Pretty average, but that ain't bad.



MYSTIC maces grant +2 STR and +7 INT and White damage. Not amazing stat wise, but weapons that can kill Undead are always nice.



NEIL's Armour grants a lousy +7 Physical defense. Thanks Neil you piece of shit.



Two MUSASHI swords!?

One TERMITES later (zero CROWNs later) and we're ready to deal with all those non-flying forces that were bottled up.




Some of the new enemy units are pretty tough, especially the Samurai/Ninja unit. They can focus-fire one of your units pretty well, as seen here.





We bring ASHE up to fight DEBONAIR but ASHE's Red Dragon's soak up the Knights damage, and the Doll Mages are poor units against a high Physical defense unit like ASHE. So we bring in a ringer.



MUSASHI and his Imp friend can effectively whittle down DEBONAIR while taking relatively little damage.





One Fool Tarot later and ASHE wins!



Uh, I can. I've beaten this game like, multiple times you know?



Horray!



And that's it for this Scene. Join us next time for The Black Knight, or "THE BLACK KNIGHT ALWAYS TRIUMPHS!"

I, for one, am exited for Princess Times.

I, for one, am exited for Princess Times.

Seems more to me as if you're for two exited for Princess Times!

Or would it be a gorgeous goth in this case?

Xenobia? Where have I heard that before?

That's not such a big deal when you're "at your grave".

If some jerk killed my big bad bird buddies and left me stranded with no way to get home then I'd sulk too.

If only you could dual-wield in this game...

Always bet on black.

One thing I have always liked about the game are the little icons that represent the different classes in the game. I just find them nice and charming.

Some more translation notes:

The Four Devas are named after cars. Debonair, specifically, is named after the Mitsubishi Debonair.

Also, the Termites were originally a Trojan Horse. I'm not sure what to think of this change. On one hand, it doesn't make sense for termites to be able to take down the entire city wall without causing damage to the city proper, but on the other, the Trojan Horse is more associated with bypassing walls without destroying them.

On the other hand, you really don't want to put a TROJAN into the player's inventory, you know?

Good point.

Jeepers cripes.

Stop letting me pull cards. I'll frontline for Princess Seraphine, that's close enough for the unstoppable holy force I'd hoped to be a part of initially. Leader's protected on the back row, I get an extra slice, the cards we pull aren't from my awful luck. Everybody wins!

What? I had no idea that was a possibility!

Yeah, I was surprised. It's not the kind of thing you'd do in a casual playthrough, and it's not as if you weren't warned. I honestly expected it to just fail the map (though deleting the squad is probably worse in a lot of cases, assuming you don't just reset).

As requested by Mogri, I swung back to DENEB's Garden to see if there was any special dialogue for denying her forgiveness. There is surpisingly very little!



I'm surprised you were able to defeat Deneb, though.

It's not east to beat up on a girl as beautiful as that...

I'll bet you regret it a little, though, don't you? Any man would.



What kinds of research can you do with pumpkins? A new kind of pumpkin pie, maybe?



It seems to have rotted a little but, but I think it's still edible. Maybe.



PUMPKIN+ turn regular ol' Pumpkin units into Halloweens. Halloweens are a thousand times better, but that is not saying much. You can get as many as you like by repeatedly visiting this town.



I also find a Faerie while running around. I doubt I'll use her but what the heck.



MRA detected.



...have been researching? I just can't figure it out...

Deneb has split from her castle. While Mogri still has a shot at recruiting her, we have no such chance.

And there you go!

9. Petty Revenge



Welcome back to Let's Play Ogre Battle, where Destil is hitting ghosts with a stick. But is this enough to bring his dark soul into the liiight?



Yeah, actually! Each ghost busted is +2 ALI for our evil wizard friend.

Loitering on Pogrom Forest will probably incur a reputation penalty, but I don't see how else Destil is promoting within his natural lifespan.



While punching ghosts, Destil finds a Cure Ankh. These are really handy, and they'll be available for sale eventually.



This takes approximately, I don't know, forever. I notice DEDMET is similarly afflicted and try the same process with him, but his level's too high and his ALI too low. DEDMET will need to be benched until we run into a map with higher-level undead. (Kahran has a surprisingly high ALI, meanwhile.)

Destil parades around Pogrom Forest until he's level 9 with 25 ALI. That should hopefully be enough; Wizard promotes at level 10, after all, after which we don't need to worry about his ALI anymore.



Our next order of business is this young lady. The humble Cleric at Ovelia's side all this time is ready to spread her wings and fly.

(Five minutes ago, her name was Sam, but I need to know the unit number in order to change from one existing name to another, and Sam is the only character for whom I can do that without a ton of guesswork.)



Serephine demotes to Amazon and dons her crown. I'm pretty sure there's a magical girl transformation involved here.



The result: one Princess.

The Princess's front row attack is a garden-variety physical, and her back row attack is a White-elemental attack that hits all enemies. Not bad, but what's all the fuss about?

To answer that, let's graduate Serephine from Ovelia's squad and move her somewhere else. Turtle's squad will do.



Serephine assumes command of the squad, and we can instantly see the effects of Her Royal Highness's inspiring leadership: everyone in the squad has an additional use of each of their attacks. Eddie now gets two enemy-wide Acids, Turtle will Chop three times instead of two, and even Serephine herself benefits from a second shot of Starlite.

That's what the best class in the game looks like right there.

We celebrate by changing the Cleric into a second Valkyrie.



And now, back to your regularly scheduled Ogre Battle (ogres not included).



Island Avalon has some really rough terrain. This is our first map with cliffs, and plains are a distant fourth after sea, mountains, and forest.



Against his wishes, I send nosimpleway to liberate the nearest town. He gets a good card!

Island Avalon is where the Roshian Temples started. Most of it's residents are monks. We have maintained political neutrality ever since the beginning of the Zenobian Empire.

However, now even we are being ruled over by the Empire.

This town has the Black Pearl for sale, but the item exists only to be sold. Its presence in this shop is a mystery~



Hey, an early World card! Cross your fingers for good pulls on the rest of this map.

Oh! You are the Rebels who freed Zenobia from the Empire's Deva! I've heard many rumours about you. Please help this island as you have others!

But we haven't helped any other islands...



Why yes, I will take a global +1 INT

Not only have you destroyed the

When I heard the Black Knight had come to Avalon I returned as quickly as I could...

...But I seem to have been too late. I must have revenge for my mother! Please allow me to join the Rebels! Let me get revenge! (yes)

Thank you! I will fight with you to the death!

Yes, this dialogue is screwed up, and I have no idea what she should actually be saying at the start.

If you turn her down, she replies with, "Oh, I see..." and disappears forever.



Aisha's squad comes with a hefty price tag. That and Mermaids.

Aisha is a Shaman -- a promoted Cleric, which can cast Healing three times instead of two -- but not for long. Her amazing 117 INT is too good to waste on a class that doesn't attack, so she quickly converts into a Valkyrie. If we get the chance, we'll turn her into a second Princess. For reference, Destil, our best Wizard, has only 101 INT. Aisha is really good.

But the Mermaids are not so good: they have decent INT but only one shot of Blizzard. I kick them and one of the Knights out, then I add Destil and a level 4 Hellhound (which provides Mountain movement). This is a really screwy squad, I'll admit, but most of my good units are already on the map. I'll have to do some reorganization later.



I won't say no to a global +1 CHA, but the INT was certainly more exciting.

The Highland Prince, Gares, is on the island now. Gares is demanding that the monks of the island bow to the Empire. But the monks only follow the gods, and refuse to bow to Gares. Any true monk would rather die than serve the Empire.

That's the "No True Monk" fallacy.



I'm burning all my tarot luck on this map.

Please defeat the Black Knight! When that cursed man heard that the temples wouldn't bow to the Empire... he arrested Grand Monk Forris and executed her as an example! It's unbearable... Please! Defeat the Black Knight for us!

Grand Monk Forris, you say? I believe we read that name two cities ago!



Bert is first to make contact with the enemy. His all-physical squad is well-matched against the likes of these Faeries; even Olli's Gale is strong enough to kill one in two hits. This feels really good after seeing it do a single point of damage against Debonair.



This matchup is somewhat less favorable. I spend a Judgment card evening the odds, and the Mage -- a promoted Wizard -- dies without getting a single action. Bert's squad thanks me by leveling up, but Ovelia also gains a level from afar. I'll have to be more careful. This could have been avoided if I'd examined the enemy before battle.



The Raven Men are back for round two. Olli kills off two Faeries in one attack. The rest of the squad mops up the remaining enemies, and for the second time in as many battles, the whole squad levels up.



The Empire is evil... but not all of its members are. We learned that in Final Fantasy 6! So here's a holy enemy squad. It's not particularly threatening, although the back-row Angel uses the same Banish attack that Ovelia would use in the front row.

The keen-eyed among you may be able to spot a class change that I made between battles.



I can't get excited about CHA bonuses, but I can get excited about an Emperor card, and I really can't complain about the hot streak we're on.

The Ogres are legendary monsters. They are completely different from humans. The love the dark and hate the light, love power and hate peace. I don't know if they ever really existed or not, but even if you can't see legends with your own eyes... they always exist in our hearts. Ogres may really just be humans with evil in their hearts.

The real ogres were the friends we made along the way. I guess that means they aren't completely different from humans. Make up your mind, nameless NPC!



Serephine hits the field. Her squad takes a pummeling from the enemy Gryphon's Gale, but they give better than they get, wiping out both Gryphons. The lone Valkyrie returns for the express purpose of allowing to finish the job.



The Ashley Tinsdale Blade is STR+15, INT+3, and Fire-aligned. Pretty good!



Not all cards are affected by our World pull -- just the ones that affect units. So while we're not delighted to see Devil, we're still happy it's not a global stat down.

The Black Knight Gares wants to take this island over, and use it...

...to hold all of the Roshian Temples in the continent at bay.

Has he not already taken over the island?



With a meager 17 ALI, Destil becomes the first member of our army to reach a second promotion. While the first promotions are all unlocked at level 4, 5, or 6, the second tier is more spread out. Mage is the earliest second-tier promotion at level 10, requiring at least 60 CHA and an ALI between 10 and 35. The CHA is no big deal, but it can be tough to keep your ALI in that relatively narrow range.

For our efforts, we go from MAGIC x2 to... MAGIC x1? Is this an improvement?

Well, what this doesn't tell you is that Destil's magic will now hit the entire enemy formation. Dollmages were already doing that, but they were stuck with Physical damage, while Mages can choose from any element but White. Still, this serves to highlight that Dollmages are quite powerful.



Here's Destil's Black-element spell. It hits these enemies for 50 damage apiece. Now we're playing with power!



Bert finishes off a unit to receive this random drop. DOWSER, in addition to being Doug Bowser's college nickname, is an item that reveals the location of a single buried treasure and immediately grants it to you.

With save states, this means it effectively reveals every treasure, but I'm not about that lifestyle, and/or I accidentally used it thinking there would be a confirmation prompt. Either way, I got a second Mystic Mace, which, for reference, is STR+2, INT+7, White-aligned.



A sneaky Mermaid unit strikes from the rear. This is why you always leave a note squad sitting on your base.

I swap Ovelia with Kahran, who finishes off this enemy and promotes into a Mage.



Serephine has the bad luck to encounter a Mermaid and some Octopodes at sea. Our front row can't crack double digits against the Octopodes. We win this battle, but it's entirely on the strength of Serephine and Eddie's multitarget magic.



We hit noon. Our army costs are rising, but we're still turning a profit.



And that's before we've liberated everything! +1 ALI is more of a mixed bag, but our army generally appreciates it.

According to legend, the souls of warriors killed in battle gather here in Avalon. They are said to stay to protect the forces of good from those of evil.

We pull a Sun card, rewinding time.

He is covered in black armor... It makes him look like the Ogres of legend. I get goose bumps just thinking about it.

We liberate the final town of the map, having already cleared the enemy squads.

The position of Grand Monk of Avalon has always been passed on from mother to daughter. The Grand Monk has always fought to protect the forces of good from those of evil. Grand Monk Forris gave her own life to Gares as part of that fight.

Not only have you destroyed the peace of this continent, but you have killed my mother! I must have revenge!

Very well. I'll show you well how weak your gods are!

Gares hits us with a party-wide Black-elemental attack, dealing around 50 damage to everyone. This is a great opportunity to use World, Moon, or Fool cards.

...is what I thought, but Moon doesn't work for some reason, possibly because Gares isn't designed to have a front-row attack. Well, Fool works beautifully, allowing Aisha, Destil, and friends to finish Gares off in a round.



Easily?

How could I lose? It's impossible! I'm immortal! Just... wait... I'll send... you all... to...

Vandal Hearts called... It wants its ellipses back...



We're once again at a crossroads. The seafolk are revolting in the Kastolation Sea, while in Diaspola, the Empire has managed to get the angels on their side.

Heh, I'm too evil to promote and too powerful* to gain ALI from clubbing the local ghosts.

* Not actually powerful. DESTIL's two levels below me and he has the better stats.

That's because Destil inherited Warren's stats. DEDMET is more typical.

Go Fish!

I've finally risen to the rank of Mage, so here are a couple more translation notes!

Continuing with the Arthurian theme set with Lancelot and Uther, Gares' name is a mistranslation of Gareth.

Also, the Eskendale sword was originally named after İskender Beğ.

As for the next map, I'm going to say Diaspora, since most guides cover the Kastolatian Sea first, and it would be interesting to see it the other way around.

Yay. 3:

Also yes there is absolutely a magical girl transformation sequence.

Also also, putting me in charge of Turtle? This really is the best of all possible outcomes.

Ah, so DESTIL was a rebranded WARREN. Gotcha.

Anyway, best to nip that angel problem in the bud ASAP.

You might say that bustin' made him feel Good.

A+

Welcome back! Today we're on Island Avalon, facing a powerful enemy known as the BLACK KNIGHT. He's super spooky!

I uh, dropped the ball with screenshotting a lot of stuff so apologies up front. I blame my CROWN envy.



Island Avalon itself is fairly straight-forward--push for Tomayang and the temple nearby--but there are a number of flying enemies and a handful of swimmers. This means that you want to eliminate the enemy armies before going too crazy with the liberation.

The flying enemies are going to have a pretty straight at your base, so have a strong low ALI unit nearby at Gontak to kill them (or at least, soften them up). Because of the Ocean-type enemies, they can sneakily swim around the west side of the map and loop back, so keep your base defended.



Example 1 of what can happen: a group of high ALI enemies charging for MOGRI. I use a Fool tarot so I'm only killing one cleric (rather than one cleric and three Angels).



There's a couple of enemy Mage units with a lineup of Ghosts. NORAN the Cleric is ready to reap some sweet ALI and CHA rewards.







Oh baby!



We also get a STR Potion item from the dead Mage unit, which raises a unit's STR by 5 to 10 points. This is super-nice, but I'll probably hoard it.



NORAN reaching level 10 as a cleric also lets her evolve into a Shaman, which are like Clerics but they heal three times instead of just two.



Due to poor screenshot taking, I don't capture MUSASHI turning into a Mage and then losing all his ALI by slaughting enemies. He will be the first of a handful of Mages to start wrecking house, and once transformed into a Mage you can completely ignore his ALI.



Sneaky! But Water units fighting on land is decided not a good idea (for them).



EARTH Necklaces are useless (+3 Fire, Cold and Lightning defense).

I did forget to screenshot me getting a PROTECT Ring however. They're top tier, granting INT +5, Physical defense +12 and White defense +14. Great on evil mages.

Not a CROWN tho.



POWER Shields are OK (Physical defense +19, Fire defense -12, Cold defense -15) as Physical defense comes into play more than Fire or Cold.



BROKEN Swords are not close to broken, giving STR +4 and a Black element attack. Better than EARTH pendants at least.



We collect AISHA and equip my pair of MUSASHI swords on her Knights to give them a little more punch against GARES high defense. Her unit also gets reordered a bit.

Gares is a tough fight, as he hits hard and has a Black Dragon tanking hits. I bust out a bunch of Tarots to try and take him down. First is a Fool to remove his bodyguards.



I use a Star Tarot next to improve my accuracy (after eating an EVIL DEAD attack).



I finally use an Emperor card to give all my units an extra attack.



Despite all of this I *still* don't win, although he's pretty close to death now.





One more engagement and a second Fool card does the trick.



The Black Knight dies in front of us (or does he???!).



Hooray!



That's another scene in the books. Join me next time for Legend, or "LEGEND."

Maps without CROWNs: 8.

It's funny, because this LP is stalled out at about the point I lose interest in actually playing Ogre Battle myself.