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

At least as regularly as a Griffin carries me to them, yes.

13. Interlude: The Class Tree

We're headed to a different map than Eddie for our next battle, but before we do, it's time to fill in some information that you may have been wondering about. Let's talk about classes.

For humans, there are two basic classes: Fighter and Amazon. These trees are segregated by gender, so you can't hop over to the other one, but you can hop around within them as long as you meet requirements. Let's look at Fighter classes first.

Fighter



The basic male unit is the game's most underwhelming. Any other class is preferable, and you'll promote as soon as you can. They attack twice in the front row and once in the back, so you know what to do with them. Any class promoted from Fighter can always demote back to Fighter.


Wizard



At level 4, a Fighter of low ALI can promote to Wizard. For my money, this is the best first promotion in the game. A Wizard casts his magic twice from the back row, targeting a single unit with any element but White.

At level 10, a Wizard with 10-40 ALI can promote to Mage, gaining the power to target all enemies but reducing their magic to a single cast.

With an Undead Staff, a Mage promotes to Sorcerer, restoring their second shot of magic while preserving their ability to hit all enemies. Sorcerers also switch out their front-row staff bonk for magic, in case you wanted to put your squishes up front for some reason. Note that for item-based promotions, there's no level or stat requirement, so you may as well do this immediately if you don't plan on saving the Staff for another character.

Finally, an Undead Ring promotes a Sorcerer to Lich, providing a third cast in the back row. In the front row, a Lich gets three White-elemental attacks for what I assume are reasons.


Knight



At level 5, a Fighter of 50 ALI or better can promote to Knight. This is basically a straight upgrade from Fighter, with better stat growths and resistances but the same attacks. Most of your early-game squads will find themselves with a Knight or two at some point, and while they're not exciting, they get the job done.

At level 15, a Knight of 70 ALI or better can promote to Paladin. They get another attack in the front row, while their back row attack is swapped for a single shot of Healing, which is potentially useful against squads stacked with undead.

A Blood Kiss can turn a Knight into a Vampyre, although Knight isn't the only class eligible for this promotion. More on that in a bit.


Beast Tamer



At level 5, a Fighter with 25 to 65 ALI can promote to Beast Man (aka Beast Tamer). Beast Tamers are more frail than Knights, but they can attack twice from either row, and they get a damage bonus against large beast-type enemies. One of the more situational classes, you won't fill your army with Beast Tamers, but you won't be unhappy with a couple of them in your army, either. Gilbert and Lyon will probably be sufficient for your beast-taming needs, though.

At level 12, a Beast Tamer with 10 to 50 ALI can promote to Beast Master. Functionally, Beast Masters are nearly identical to Beast Tamers, though they have better STR growth, and they can recruit better beasts.

With a Stone of Dragos, a Beast Master becomes a Dragoner. Dragoners boost the power of dragons in their squad, though they have worse stat growths than Beast Masters. They continue to enjoy two attacks in either row.

At level 20, a Dragoner of 40-60 ALI can promote to Dragon Master. This is a very strange class: it trades out its back row attacks for single-target Cold magic, and it trades some HP for AGI. There's really no reason to use their back row attack, since they don't have good INT, but they at least recruit better dragons than Dragoners.


Doll Mage



At level 5, a Fighter with 35 to 70 ALI can promote to Doll Mage. In the front row, he sends his puppet to attack twice per battle, and while that is adorable, you probably want the back row Acid, which is Physical magic against the entire enemy squad. The Doll Mage is the earliest AOE class you can get.

At level 14, a Doll Mage with 50 to 80 ALI can promote to Doll Master, gaining an extra Acid. The Doll Master is often preferable to a Mage, but he can't keep up with the damage a Sorcerer can put out, never mind a Lich.


Wild Man



A level 6 Fighter below 50 ALI can promote to Wild Man, the evil answer to the Knight. It trades some resistances for better HP growth.

A level 16 Wild Man with 30 or less ALI can promote to Evil One, trading its single back row attack for two Fireballs. As with the Dragon Master, you'll rarely want to use the back row magic, but at lest this unit looks cool.

Evil One is the other class that can use Blood Kiss to promote to Vampyre. Because Vampyre only functions at night, when low-ALI characters get a boost, it makes more sense to use an Evil One as your Vampyre if you have the choice.


Ninja



A level 6 Fighter below 50 ALI can instead promote to Ninja. A Ninja gets three attacks in the front row -- the only first-tier class to do so -- and two shots of single-target Fire, Cold, or Lightning magic in the back row. Ninjas are fairly frail, and Wizards are better in the back row, but three attacks is really good, and Ninjas have better AGI growth than any of their peers.

At level 15, a Ninja of 30 ALI or less can promote to Ninja Master, trading their two single-target ninjutsu for a single multitarget cast. Again, Mages have been able to do this but better since level 10, but Ninja Masters have even better AGI growth than Ninjas, who were otherwise tied for best AGI growth among human classes.


Samurai



If you wait all the way to level 7, a Fighter with 50 or more ALI can promote to Samurai. In the front row, a Samurai is basically identical to a Knight. In the back row, Samurai use Iainuki, a single-target (iai)nuke that takes some life from the user as well.

At level 15, a Samurai with at least 70 ALI can promote to Samurai Master, gaining an extra front-row attack. Again, in the front row, they're nearly indistinguishable from Paladins. Since Paladins have slightly better HP growth than Samurai Masters, the only reason to prefer this class is their looks. Admittedly, this is a pretty compelling reason.


Amazon



That concludes our tour of the male class tree. Amazons are the complement of the Fighter class, with two back row attacks but only one front row attack. This already carves them a niche in the early game, though not to the extent that you'll keep them around.

Cleric



At level 4, the Cleric is the earliest promotion available to an Amazon, provided she has 50 ALI or better. Because Clerics are most often useless until you've taken some damage, you'll find yourself sleeping on this promotion as often as not. Their front row Ankh attacks are too weak to bother; they may be White-elemental, but Clerics can dispel all undead from the enemy squad with a single Healing.

At level 10, a Cleric with 60 ALI can promote to Shaman, gaining an extra Healing, for a total of three. Shamans are tied for the best INT growth among female classes.

At level 18, a Shaman with 70 ALI can promote to Monk. Where Shamans have three Healings, Monks have two casts of Healing+, which restores health to your whole squad. As multitarget attacks become more common in the lategame, Monks become increasingly useful.


Valkyrie



At level 5, an Amazon with 35 ALI or more can promote to Valkyrie. If you want a damage-dealing female character, it's this or Princess; if you want a front-row female, it's really just this. Valkyries get two physicals in the front row and two single-target Lightning spells in back.

At level 15, a Valkyrie with 70 ALI or more can promote to Muse, causing her Lightning magic to target all enemies. As mentioned in the last update, this might sound underwhelming if you're used to Sorcerers and Liches, but it's nonetheless the best damage output you'll get from a unit that doesn't require a unique item. All that and improved STR growth, too! By this point, though, your Paladins and Samurai Masters are dishing out three attacks to the Muse's two, so she's outclassed in the front row. But the option is still there, allowing for an all-female army if you so desire.


Witch



At level 5, an Amazon with 65 ALI or less can become a Witch. Witches have no further promotions; what you see is what you get. And what you get is two back-row Stuns and two front-row physicals. The Witch's total lack of scaling is a minor problem: Stun is always a good status effect, but the utility of two Stuns decreases as enemies get more attacks. Making matters worse, the Witch's stat growths are abysmal, with only INT above average. This suggests that if you want to build your own female caster, you'll want to use Witch until Shaman becomes available. On the other hand, Norn is right there.


Princess



And anyway, even a level 1 Amazon can become a Princess if you have a Royal Crown to spare. Princess has awful HP growth, but it's tied with Witch, Shaman, Monk, and the entire Wizard line for highest INT growth. The real draw of the Princess class is, of course, the extra attack she gives her entire squad when she's the leader, but also Starlite is really good. If you want to stick your squishy and strategically invaluable Princess in the front line, she'll reward you with two weak physicals. (Three if she's the leader!)


Gender Discrimination in Video Games



The astute among you may have noticed some disparity between the Soldier and Amazon trees. A male character has multiple options for whatever it is he needs to do, be it front-row tanking, front-row physicals, back-row magic, or back-row physicals. Meanwhile, a female character can aspire to back-row support, back-row healing, back-row magic, or a second-rate front-row bruiser. The fact that the best class in the game belongs to the Amazon tree is little compensation for the Fighter tree containing nearly three times as many classes.

"But they fixed that in the sequels, right?" Well, yeah. In Tactics Ogre, there are only one and a half times as many male classes as female.

And, in spite of that, Ogre Battle lands among the more egalitarian games of the era: you can play as a male or female Lord, and you can have female soldiers in your army at all. Compare, for example, Warcraft, where your entire army is male. Heck, Ogre Battle even has a couple of black characters deep in the roster.

I actually like the idea of the two distinct class trees, but the implementation is half-baked. If you pulled, say, Samurai and Ninja to the Amazon side, you'd end up with a much better balance between the two.

Join us next time for more battling (and the usual number of ogres).

Males have the paladin and samurai lines for high ALI, doll mage and beastmaster lines for middlin' ALI, and the wizard and evil one lines for low ALI.

Females have the cleric and valkyrie lines for high ALI, and... uh, the witch for low ALI. It doesn't even matter if the witch's ALI stays low, it's not like she's killing anything or promoting. Let women be evil!

And I guess let women be neutral, too. I have no strong feelings one way or the other.

14. Sequence Break



Welcome back to Let's Play Ogre Battle, where Vaeryn Taeryn is busy killing low-level neutral units.

Somehow, I went like five updates combining Taeryn and Vaeran into a single entity, and no one bothered correcting me. Vaeran hasn't even posted in this thread! Taeryn, please accept my apology as I strive to make you more evil.



Taeryn kills weak neutral units for fun and profit, it turns out, because of course we get a random Undead Staff drop in the process.

Taeryn needs to drop his ALI to 50 without going below 60 CHA, and the Wyrms need to have an ALI of 55 or less. (Monsters don't care about CHA.)



After over a week of flying around the ocean, Taeryn promotes to Beastmaster and then immediately to Dragoner. What does that get us?



Well, not much. Physical classes get some extremely underwhelming promotions.

On the other hand, Taeryn can simply recruit Wyverns to replace his Wyrms if he's so inclined. (He's not. I checked, and the Wyrms that came with Gilbert's unit have a minor stats advantage over fresh recruits.)



Wyverns get Fire in the back row to replace Tail. From what I can tell, they have slightly better HP growth, and they're otherwise identical.

So this set of promotions didn't amount to much, but I did get an Undead Staff out of the deal.



Next up, it's time to liberate the remaining Kastro locations. The city and temple have the same dialogue, thanking us for freeing them from the Empire.



And now for something completely different.

While the game identifies this as scene 12, just one later than the previous map, it would say that regardless of the location you picked. This is our twelfth map.

But if you ask March On, Black Queen, we've skipped five maps.

This is fine, probably.



Eddie told me he was curious which map I was attempting. I don't think he expected this. But it's a great excuse to bust out our strongest units, and the enemy caps out at level 15 here anyway, aside from the boss. That's not too much stronger than our best units.

Anyway, Balmorian Ruins. One hidden town, a few hidden treasures, and a chaos gate. Generous portions of this stage are aquatic. We could reintroduce Octopus!Serephine at this point, but it hardly seems worthwhile.



We start with a flurry of deployments, and Bert kicks things off by discovering a Fire Staff: INT+3. It's not winning any awards.



Serephine is first to liberate, pulling a worthless (but harmless) card in the process.

Even though Saradin was an apprentice of Rashidi, we of Deneuve consider him a hero. Unfortunately, he passed away before he could complete his goals, but his spirit lives with us. That is why there are so many statues of him around here.

I don't need Kahran to tell me that Saradin is likely a mistlasnration of Saladin. No idea what Deneuve refers to, though.



Ashe takes the next city.

Rashidi's apprentice Albeleo is ruler here. I've heard that Albeleo is a wizard who is over 100 years old, but he looks like a teenager at worst... I wonder how he does that?

Man, once you're pushing a century, you kinda want to run your own practice. Do you suppose Albeleo still lives in his parents' basement, too?



Bert finds the Honolulu Sword: +8 STR, -3 INT, and Black element. This is a weapon that exists in Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen.



Gerad liberates a city and pulls a card.

The teachings of Saradin are essentially this. 'People are to be respected regardless of position or class. This should always be remembered.'

'All people also have a responsibility to put into action their abilities and talents.' We of Deneuve will always follow these teachings, regardless of the Empire!

There's that word again. They didn't get the memo that they're living in the Balmorian Ruins.



Naval liberates a temple. Even when you're not maxed out on reputation, these cards aren't really game-changers. A second Kukai's Rod is also not game-changing, but something something White weapons.

Have you heard of the sculptor Balkas? Every statue he made is a masterpiece. However, the statue he made of Saradin is known as his greatest work of all time. Unfortunately, Balkas passed away in the war 25 years ago. His works still survive, however.

Taeryn grabs the Chaos Gate. You don't need the Brunhild equipped to find these. Don't believe Eddie's lies!



Gerad is the first to meet the enemy. On neutral ground, we barely win this one despite a slightly lower level. The Valkyries contribute nothing to this battle, dealing single-digit damage with their Lightning magic. A second round in rocky terrain gives us a loss despite better damage from the Valkyries.



Bert goes in deep for a daring temple liberation. Our Boots won't help us reach a temple, so he's on his own if he wins the attention of that flood of enemies.

Did you see the statue at the entrance to this Temple? I don't know who made it, but it is certainly a beautiful piece of work... It almost seems that it's about to move, or take a breath... Amazing detail.

The people of this map are on about two things: Saradin and statues of Saradin. No points if you've guessed how this one is gonna end.



Nearby, Ashe is at least able to continue the streak of not-harmful pulls.

Did you see the statue at the entrance to our town? It's a statue of Saradin. Beautiful, isn't it? It's by the genius sculptor, Balkas!

Because the game can't guarantee you'll visit the cities in any specific order, a lot of the dialogue ends up really redundant.



Either Taeryn is about to have a bad time or the entire enemy army is, and it's hard to say. It's also hard to say why they're all headed this direction, since this is basically the corner of the map, and we don't have any territories in the area.



Well, we didn't have any territories.

You'd never guess it, but this town also has a statue of Saradin.



The town Serephine liberates claims to have the real Saradin statue.



This enemy squad is the best.



Aisha finds the hidden city. This one's a big deal, because it doesn't mention statues or Saradin.

It's said that there is a fabulous treasure in the vault of this town. If you are a true Hero, OVELIA, I'm sure that you'll get to see it.

Of course Ovelia is a true hero! She even has a HEROSTAR to prove it.



Serephine liberates the westmost town, pulling a Lovers card. In my excitement, I skipped right past it.

Even after his death, his spirit has remained with us and helped us keep hope alive. Thanks to Saradin's teachings, we are able to remain hopeful for the future even under the Empire's rule.

Taeryn is finally unseated by a Mage with a pair of Golems. They die extremely quickly in our second bout.



Rauny is still overleveled for this map, and Norn has hit level 15 but is just shy of the ALI requirement. But enough about that; what's Taeryn up to? Looks like he's singlehandedly winning the war!



Meanwhile, Bert fights Bizarro-Taeryn and his Dragons. In Tactics Ogre, the Dragon Tamer is a female class, and they didn't much modify the design between games.



Gerad keeps the liberation train rolling.

This used to be the centre of the Kingdom of Deneuve. Balmoa Castle was its capitol. The waste you see around you was once a beautiful and thriving city.

That explains why everyone keeps calling the place Deneuve. Five bucks says it never comes up again after this map.



As the clock strikes noon, we find that our army costs have grown to rival our income. Blame Rauny, who alone costs 4500.

A more conniving/patient player might demote everyone who still meets their promotion requirements just before noon, but again, not really necessary.

I must trust the secret. You know the statue of Saradin? It is said that it's a work by Balkas, but that's not entirely true. It's just a replica of the real Saradin, who was turned to stone by Albeleo's magic. One of the statues around here is the real Saradin. While he was alive, Balkas didn't have the courage to tell anyone the truth, and asked me to.

Shock, surprise. Just one thing, though: why bother making replicas?



Norn and Rauny recruit a FALSELGC to avoid further ALI loss. It immediately gets booted from our army.



A Beastmaster and his doggos take the back entrance to our base and are narrowly thwarted by Naval's timely arrival. Like many enemy squads, this one can't deal a single point of damage to Naval and friends, thanks to our ghostly ally tanking their hits.



Gerad sneaks up north to liberate the last town on the map.

To free the petrified wizard you need the 'Bell of Light'. I think that it's kept in the city of Kalyao... They never let it out of their sight, but if you are a true hero, OVELIA, they may give it to you.

It's incontrovertible!

We shall give you this 'Bell of Light'! Using this should restore stone to flesh! You are the only one who can stop Rashidi! Good luck!

"We say 'should' because honestly it's never come up before."



The obvious problem is that nearly every last one of these cities and temples has a dang statue. You get the opportunity to use the Bell upon entering. Nothing happens if you get it wrong, although "Statue: ..." is as far as I'm concerned one of the all-time great lines in video game history.



Whoops, looks like we walked right past this temple earlier. Norn snags it. The dialogue tells us the location of Kalyao, which is at this point highly unnecessary.



Egads! A talking statue!

The correct location is the temple right near the enemy base. Bert has been camped there for a day or so now.

On the day that Rashidi destroyed Zenobia I was turned to stone by the apprentice Albeleo. Because I made my master Rashidi angry! Because I tried to stop his quest for black magic. I must stop my master and the other apprentices... I have a responsibility to... Can I please ask you to let me join you? (no)

I see. Well then, until we meet again!

(actually yes though) Thank you. I will fight with you to the death!

Anyway, this is the reason we came here. Let's welcome DEDMET back to the team. With 158 INT, he might be the cleverest character in the game, handily outpacing Norn and Rauny. It goes without saying that DEDMET immediately becomes the beneficiary of our remaining Undead Staff, and he'll inherit the first Ring we come across to become a Lich.

It also goes without saying that the ROCKGOLEMs get the boot.



Scraping through our benches, we manage to cobble together a squad to face Albeleo. Honma is the hero we need!



There's still a steady stream of enemies waiting to get knocked around by Taeryn and Serephine as DEDMET makes his way to the base. The Beastman who's first in line is accompanied by four Skeletons, so Taeryn leaves that one to Serephine.



DEDMET runs into a retreating Mermaid/Nixie formation as he marches on the enemy. Honma is operating at a five-level deficit compared to the enemy, but he reaches level 9 when we win.



They do this every Tuesday.

Albeleo: Ha, ha, ha! Speak like that and you'll make your master angry! Wake up and admit the power of the Dark! You above all could master it!

Saradin: To what end?! What's to be had on the fringes of magic?

Albeleo: Ultimate power! We can surpass the gods themselves!

Saradin: But for that you will destroy the people! Destroy the Earth!

Albeleo: I am now immortal. No one can stop me!

Saradin: ...Wrong! You will follow me into eternal sleep!

This conversation is way more ironic if you've turned Saradin into a Lich by this point, but for now, we'll just have to settle for knowing that he will one day become a Lich, while Albeleo is on the neutral ALI class path.



Here's Albeleo's dialogue for if you approach him without Saradin.

You will never be able to understand what the great Rashidi is after. And now you shall all become another one of the Balmorian relics!

ALBELEO FACTS: Albeleo is also the boss of the secret map, accessed by naming your hero "FIRESEAL." Maybe we'll give that a go at some point, who knows.



If you couldn't tell by the doll on his shoulder, Albeleo is a Dollmaster. He's no slouch! He gets two shots of Acid per battle, which is more than enough to kill our Gryphon (who is only level 5, granted).

But DEDMET is no slouch, either. His first Phantom hits Albeleo for 72 (while his friends take a similar amount of damage), and the second... waitaminnit.



So! Like I was saying, DEDMET gets two casts of Phantom. You'd have to be a complete fool to forget to use the Undead Staff on him after recovering from a crash. And the second cast deals a very similar amount of damage, leaving Albeleo on the ropes.



After we revive the Gryphon and heal DEDMET and Honma, we come back for a very easy round 2 win. Once again, no tarot needed, though the Gryphon would certainly have appreciated a World card.



Hey, there's a chunk of cash!

Join us next time as we raid castles in the sky (just the two of us, you and I).

Great to see DEDMET back in action. And kicking some traitorous bishonen ass, too.

Man, things are gonna be totally weird for Saradin if he settles down in the Balmorian Ruins area after the adventure's over. What with every town in the area having a lifelike statue of him and thinking he's been dead for two decades.

Another Albeleo fact: His name was supposed to be Albireo, making him one of many characters in this game with an astronomically-themed name.

Welcome back! As Mogri is not flying to Muspelm this map, I'll be showing off a lot more dialogue that I normally would.

It goes without saying that the floating island maps (and there are a few of them) may be optional, but not if you're looking to achieve the best ending.





That inky blackness around the map is not there for nothing; armies can actually be knocked off the edge of the map if they are not careful. Armies with the Low Sky or High Sky movement type will be fine, but any other armies will be instantly killed. While armies are not dumb enough to walk off the edge while moving, losing a fight (or on the rare occasionally, drawing) will knock an army backwards as typical. If there is no solid ground beneath them, splatooie.

Depending on the situation, this means that blowing a Fool card might be necessary if your unit is losing a damage race. This is not a big worry on this map, but it might be on future floating island maps.

Knocking an enemy unit off the edge of the world is a lot of fun, but keep in mind that an enemy unit killed this way is less experience for your units, and you're definitely not getting any item drops.

Regarding strategy, most enemy units are going to take the shortest distance between two points and move over the mountains to attack your base. Standard "don't capture a city you can't defend" rules apply however, noting that this is a relatively small map otherwise.



"One of the 3 High Knights, Slust the Red, lives here. The Empire came here to try to talk him over to their side. He refused to help them, so Rashidi used a powerful charm on him. So Slust doesn't know who he is anymore, and is fighting for the Empire. Please help us to save Slust and the people of Muspelm!

We learn early who is guarding the enemy base, which in this case is one of three legendary knights known as Dragoons. From the Ogre Battle Fan Wiki:

Despite being incredibly important characters in the history of the Ogre Battle backstory--and despite March of the Black Queen doing the whole Star Wars thing with "the first game is actually the fifth episode of this series" SLUST and his fellow dragoons do not appear in any other Ogre Battle game in the series to my knowledge (noting the only other "main" series games have been episode 6, "Person of Lordly Caliber" (also known as Ogre Battle 64 for the Nintendo 64) and episode 7, "Let Us Cling Together" (also known as "Tactic Ogre" for various platforms).



"... to cure it, but there was nothing we could do. Maybe a shock of some kind would bring him out of it..."

Our only tool in this game is violence, so hopefully that works.



We end up encountering a number of neutral enemies this map. They include this Ravenman here, as well as Red Dragons and Fire Giants. I end up getting a trio of Ravenmans, so I'm going to consider turning them into their own low ALI flying unit at some point.

The Red Dragons are close to being able to promote into their next form, so they're a good pick-up if you want to use them. The Fire Giants are pretty much terrible comparatively.



"They were originally heroes who fought in wars down below. They were brought to the Sky Islands by the gods, and given eternal life."

The series (likely for the better) has always been cagey about its own history. I don't believe there is any firm timeline, other than the game occasionally suggesting that the "Ogre Battle" SLUST and his fellow dragoons fought in was quite some time ago, certainly making these knights hundreds (and potentially thousands) of years old.



<i>"If only he'd stop chasing all those girls..."</i>

SLUST, as we will find out, is your classic "skirt-chasing fun-loving party bro" trope.



One of the downsides of putting your leader square in front is that he can get ganged-up on pretty easily. I still "win" this fight despite LANS taking a dirt nap however.

I'm out of REVIVEs but luckily the shop here at Insala sells them, along with ALL HEALs (100 HP to all units) and CHARMs. Like the CHARM I picked up before, this can be used to try and snag some free units from enemies (noting army leaders cannot be CHARMed). They sell here for a pricey 50,000 goth so they're a bit of a luxury.



WHITE Necklaces are a lousy find providing only +5 White Defense.



The nearby THUNDER Ring is a little better, giving +3 STR and +15 Lightning Defense.



While not paying attention, I get my Skeletons killed thanks to an enemy Angel (actually a Cherubim). I end up pulling MUSASHI back to a temple to revive them (it feels weird having what I assume is some sort of priest do that).



"They are also called the Dragon Riders, and indeed can fight like dragons! If you, MOGRI, truly follow the gods, then I'm sure they will help you."

A hint that your Opinion Leader needs to be pretty swell to recruit SLUST.



The wrong type of ROYAL Crown game! Granting +7 Physical Defense and +13 White Defense + 13 isn't that bad on a magic using type.



Badly pictured: while defending Chilfa, an enemy army approaches at an awkward angle and gets knocked off a cliff in defeat. Splatooie!



!



Well it's no CROWN but I certainly can't complain with finding a random enemy STAFF. At least, I wasn't complaining until that asshole Mogri found one as a random drop too.

Turning MUSASHI into my second Sorcerer (after WARREN) happen a-mediately.



Ogre Battle Ninjas would be ashamed to wear NINJA Garb (+3 Physical Defense, +2 Black Defense).



Not correctly pictured: finding another Chaos Gate. If you weren't paying attention to the map at the start of this post, it's on the island the NINJA Garb I picked up as on, just to the south-west.

This Chaos Gate opens up a new stage to a different Floating Island we can tackle after this stage is over, so it's advised to pick it up.

I also find a HP (+5-10 HP to a unit) from slaying an enemy army but that's obviously less exciting than the STAFF so I don't screenshot it.



"Not only that, but they were using some powerful magic to steer it towards Zenobia Castle... What do they plan on doing? Dropping it on the castle?"

And now know you know where the plot from Avengers: Age of Ultron came from (not really).



"The High Knight Fenril of the Ice lives in Organa."

(This Chaos Gate is kind of a gimme.)

It doesn't take a lot of effort to clean up the enemy armies on this map. I accidentally engage the enemy leader before I finish liberating everything else.



"You dare to bring your war to the peace of the Sky Islands? Die!"



So SLUST targets low-HP units and it turns out my low-HP units are 100% resistant to legendary knights. I mess him up pretty badly with my back-row units but I don't kill him (yet) so I can finish picking up goodies on the map.



This is a huge pick-up! The SIGMUND Sword grants a whopping +19 STR and deals Lightning damage! This is one of the better random drops in the game.



"...like the cold with them. Maybe you should deploy some fire monsters?"

Maybe you shouldn't tell me how to do my job?

"With an opponent like Slust, they knew that they didn't have a chance of winning. I hope we can get our Slust back..."

As long as you mean "back" as in "not under mind control" because Spoiler Alert: he's coming with me once this is all over.




With all towns and temples liberated, there is little stopping MUSASHI from murdering SLUST again, who futilely tries to Iainuki a skeleton.



"Oh! Wow! Like, I was charmed by Rashidi! How the... What the... Who the... Not only have I embarrassed the 3 High Knights, but I hurt you (Editors note: well actually you didn't...)! Sorry, guys! Oh, I know! I'll help you dudes out! Yeah! Why didn't I think of that before? I will write like 100 men! No, I mean, I will fight like 100 men! OK?"



Horray!



As long as you have a high enough reputation (~2/3rd of the bar full), your Opinion Leader has a high enough ALI (70+) and you have the HEROSTAR, SLUST will automatically join you.

There is one other thing that can stop him from joining you however, and that is if you've hit the 100 unit cap. If you've been recruiting neutral monsters aggressively, you might want to go through your reserves and kick out a few low-level units you are highly likely to never use.

Dragoons like SLUST here are very powerful, with high HP, STR and AGI, perfect for wrecking shit in the front row. SLUST is a bit too high level to use right now and his upkeep cost is pricey, but we'll put him to use later.



SLUST comes with a Red Dragon "II", which is an upgraded Red Dragon that Enix apparently forgot to rename to something else.

JACK's combo of a Red and Silver Dragon is not going to work out as they are too behind on levels; it will ensure the Red Dragon can't promote to a Red Dragon II when it hits level 16 due to having an ALI of greater than 65. I instead give JACK one of the level 15 Red Dragon's I recruited and add SLUST's Red D II. JACK is still hilariously underleveled but we can fix that.



The real reason you would not want to be silly like Mogri and tackle Muspelm first is because there are two great rewards that you can get after conquering the map.



Welcome back to the LP BOWIE. It's been a while.

We send BOWIE across the map to Chilfa for a very special item.



If you choose Yes:

"Then the 'Royal Crown' is just the thing for you! If you give one to an Amazon, then she will become a princess!"






This is the first guaranteed CROWN you can get in the game to turn a special lady into a Princess. There is NO requirement to trigger this except visiting after the map is completed, so make this a priority.

But what happens if you answer "NOlady?"



"And so I now present to you the symbol of elegance and beauty for a lady, and the key to becoming a princess, the Royal Crown!"



You can't lose!

The other place to visit this map is the town of Segejin, just northwest of your base.



"It's of no use to us. Please take it if it will help you."





If you were paying attention to Mogri's revisit to Sharom Border (his fourth update) you'll remember that someone there was looking for a LEXICON in the town of Valna (just northwest of your base on that map).



"Oh! You've found the Book! You're truly a great Hero! As a reward, let me give you this 'Undead Ring.' With this, you can change a Sorcerer into a Lich! A Lich is the strongest magic user there is! No other character can compare to one! And if you become a Lich, you can recruit powerful undead characters too!"



Whoop!





WARREN is the obvious choice to become a Lich. As Mogri showed off a Sorcerer in his update, a Lich is basically a Sorcerer with a third use of devastating magic.



Liches can also recruit Wraiths and Phantoms, which are upgraded Skeletons and Ghosts. Same strengths and weaknesses, with Wraiths getting *slightly* higher STR gains on level ups and Phantoms getting an additional attack in each row. This isn't really enough to make them super useful (beyond their ability to ignore most types of damage) but an upgrade is an upgrade.



I replace the Skeletons with Wraiths in MUSAHI's unit and will keep the Wraiths around in case I find a use for them.



I've got a lot of choices for units to make a Princess, but I decide to settle on MILLEU, the Valkyrie in GUYLER's army for two reasons. One, the army is only level 12, which puts it as one of my weaker ones. Second, MILLEU has been apparently doing poor at killing enemy units, and is only rocking a 53 ALI. To promote to a Muse at level 15, she will need an ALI of 70+. Rather than worrying about making that happen, I decided she will make her a Princess to boost this army's power and ensure that she doesn't need to worry about ALI or CHA every again.



As always with Princesses, make sure to appoint them as the leader of the army to get that sweet +1 to everyone's number of attacks.



And that's another map in the bag! Join us next time for the second floating island of terror in, "The Last Knight", or, "TOTALLY ONE MORE KNIGHT AFTER THIS ONE."

Admittedly, I did not do a ton of research before deciding to beeline towards DEDMET, but I now find myself very excited for Lich+Princess times.

15. Also Not Actually a Paladin



(♫ Autumn Sky - Womanheart)

Welcome back to Let's Play Ogre Battle, where we're now playing catch-up with Eddie. In case you've forgotten, Slust has been brainwashed by Rashidi, providing an excellent excuse for more ogre battling.



For such a fantastic locale, Muspel sure has lackluster treasure. We've already found one or two of those swords, and the Demon Mask gives +4 Physical, +8 Black, and -6 White resistance.



Because Eddie has already captured this scene in detail, we won't rehash it too much, but a Fool draw is always worth sharing.



Especially when it comes with a random item! The Dragon's Claws are a disappointing +5 STR, but they're White-aligned, so insert the usual "all White weapons are good" speech here.



Naval runs afoul of a Cherubim, but she's more interested in Banishing the Red Dragon, who weathers the attack in stride.



They can't all be winners.



Speaking of, I recruit a Fire Giant rather than fight him. He'll warm the benches (ha!).



Naval (who is on an absolute roll tonight) pulls a random Demon Hammer: +12 STR, -4 INT, Black-aligned.



I purchase a second Persuasion Spell (CHARM) so that instead of forgetting I have one, I can forget I have two.



Aisha pulls a LUK off a dead enemy. I'm gonna check out who's got the best LUK out of our leaders and get that unit stacked.



*spit-take*

Yep, I got no room to complain about the treasure on this map when Undead Rings are falling out of the sky.



Because we have a guaranteed Undead Ring after clearing this map, Destil becomes our first Lich.



Anyway, you might've noticed Aisha was getting real close to the enemy base in these last few screens. The rest of Aisha's squad promotes, too: Destil is joined by a Cerberus, a Paladin, and a Muse.



Now, this squad really is the best. I dig Aisha's red-and-gold scheme.



It's a short battle. (That's good, because I'm not entirely sure Aisha wouldn't have been flung off the island if she lost.)



Slust joins with a single Red Dragon instead of two Gold Dragons, but it's at least a promoted Red Dragon (colloquially, a Red Dragon II). That's better than the one in Naval's squad.

And that wraps up Muspelm! The next update might be a little delayed -- I am traveling several days out of the next week -- but we'll be back to have a peaceable discussion with Fenril before too long.

Welcome back! Today we take on the second floating island. Pay attention to the town talk today folks, as we are going to learn what this whole "Ogre Battle" event this series is (mostly) named after.





Organa is an interesting map. Liberating Mogand and Rugannah are top priorities of course, but there is plenty of room for flying and mountain-moving units to make more a less a beeline to Kaufa (your base) between those two cities. Unless you've got an overpowered unit guarding the mountains, you'll just have to accept that some units will sneak through.

There shouldn't be too much trouble--despite being a floating island map--with avoiding a quick death off the side of the map as there are few towns that you would defend that could put you in that position. As long as you're not too greedy with your town liberation you should be fine.



I quickly spread out, with fliers heading up to try and catch enemies near the top of the map where they will be easier to control.



"She is very beautiful, but there is something sad about her face. As a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever seen her smile..."



You can recruit Cerebuses, Demons and Iron Golems here. The Demons are really the only good neutral recruit.



"We could never bring outselves to fight her. We can only follow her orders... Please! Save Organa and Fenril!"



As above, the enemy has a number of flying units so just keep your "middle" well protected as you advance north.



"She is worried that perhaps there is no hope for humans after all."



"No, no. Not at all. None of us are criminals... This is just between you and me, but I hear that Fenril is the only criminal here..."



GILBERT and his Wyrm pals gain plenty of experience staunching the flow of enemy units, and his Wyrms become level 13, allowing them to promote to Wyverns. Wyverns get slightly more HP and their rear attack changes from a tail swipe to a single-target fire breath attack.



PUTI's unit ends up jacking their levels to 15, allowing Knights to change to Paladins and Valkyries to change to Muses. But something is wrong. Why can't this Knight class change?



The answer is that somehow despite his companions having 70+ ALI values, FORDHAM here is rocking a 44. That is much too low (by about 26 points) to become a Paladin. If you have a unit in this situation you have two options.

1) Give em a White aligned weapon and have him go kill some undead. There is a GREAT stage ahead for doing that if you're so inclined.

2) Write off the unit and find someone else. Don't feel the need to get too attached to a relatively common unit like a Knight. You should be able to find a replacement relatively easily, even if you have to recruit someone.



We promote the rest of the crew anyway because of course we do.



"They probably went to meet Fogel and try to use his power to try to help Fenril..." (sic)





Princesses rule.



BLACK Katanas are garbage (+3 STR and Black attack).



"It is said she displeased them by helping the humans in the Ogre Battle. The reason being that even after the Ogre Battle, the humans never stopped fighting. The gods decided that there should be no contact between those of the Overworld and those below.

But Fenril disobeyed and gave the humans a final chance. That's right. The sword Brunhild. Fenril could not stand aside and watch the humans be abandoned by the gods. And that's why she disobeyed them. The gods punished her, imprisoning here until a warrior worthy of Brunhild should appear."

Lucky for us! We've got a whole ARMY of warriors who can effectively use Brunhild.



You know what would be even better than getting a free AGI? Mogri not being WAY luckier than me with his own item drops. Seriously!



This is what I like to see.



"Organa, home of Fenril. Muspelm, home of Slust. Shiguld, home of Fogel... And finally Shangrila, home of Fellana, the goddess of Justice."



Free temple drop! ANGEL Wings are *great.* They give +16 INT(!), +7 Physical Defense and +23 White Defense(!). This means paradoxically, they're GREAT on Demons and Liches who are weak against White but can take advantage of the INT gain.



"Now, hurry up and get the Empire out of here, you barbarians!"

Well excuse me.

"Oh, no! Could Shiguld have fallen into the Empire's hands, too?



"Hah! Impossible! I looked for them when I was young, but didn't find a single one. If someone as wonderful as me couldn't find them then you don't have a chance!"

Oh come on random townperson, if you've been following my illustrious LP career?



Mogri says you don't need to have BRUNHILD equipped to find the Chaos Gates (noting this one leads back to the other island), but what is the point of having a legendary sword if you can't find the occasional gate to heaven hmm!?



DWARVEN Swords are at least better than BLACK Katanas, offering +7 STR and a Lightning attack.



BLACK Charms meanwhile should basically be treated like weapons, offering +7 STR, -4 INT, +13 Black Defense and -6 White Defense. They're ok on Paladins if you don't have anything better.



"Slust the Red, one of the 3 High Knights, lives there..."

This is a note to say that you don't need to do these islands, like the various scenes, in order.



"Most of us on the Sky Islands came here to escape the wars from down below. Stop disturbing our peace! Get back to where you belong!"

Sheesh, give me 15 more screenshots and I'll go, geez!



Time to slay another High Knight!









Fenril is basically just like Slust, meaning that MUSASHI (fake) murders her.



"Some mage named Rashidi came, and... It seems I have been tricked. Thank you for helping me. I offer my sincerest gratitude. It appears that you hold the favours of the gods. I can tell.





Horray!



FENRIL is basically a slightly worse SLUST, with lower (but still very high) STR and HP and slightly higher AGI and INT.



She also brings a Gold Dragon along with her so you just need to make sure you have less than 98 army. I end up clearing out some weak chaff. Otherwise, if you qualified to get SLUST than you should get her. And as a special character, you need her to get the best ending.



I need to do something with FORDHAM so I elect to eject him.



For now, I get PUTI to recruit a Valkyrie to give this unit some more magical OOMPH.



"As a reward, let me give you this Box of Salvation.



You can also return to Ohbia, the shop just to the northeast of your base, to get a free BOX. It's only use is to either sell it for 21,000 goth or to help convince a young amnesiac esper girl to join the resistance.



That's it for today! Join me next time for "The Prince," or, "DTMFA."

*mad cackling intensifies*

Hello, Ogre fans! I apologize for the delay; I was called away on a last-minute business trip this week. We should be getting back on schedule this week.

15. DEDMET



Welcome back to Let's Play Ogre Battle, where a no-name Valkyrie and Knight in Serephine's squad are getting a promotion. Turtle is a level short, and Eddie's ALI is way too high for the intermediate-ALI Doll Master promotion.



We stop back in Muspelm to scoop up some rewards.



I sure am! We exchange the Lexicon for an Undead Ring. You could be forgiven for forgetting about any or all of this, given the gap since the last update...



DEDMET receives the Undead Ring, as planned. Norn, Aisha, and Rauny are all excellent candidates for the Crown. I opt to give it to Norn, who's the lowest-level of the three and also unable to promote for want of six ALI.



Anyway, you know the drill, or if you don't, scroll up a few posts and read Eddie's coverage of this map.



We start the map by running into a Demon that yes please we will add to our army. One of Naval's old drinking buddies, probably.



Bert and Olli dig up this STR+8, INT-3, Black-aligned garbo.



DEDMET makes first contact with the enemy. Oh man is this a one-sided battle. The Raven Men can hit our back row, but only once each.



Bert pulls our third Royal Crown (again, not to be confused with the Royal Crown). Into the heap it goes.



DEDMET is basically soloing this whole map. Repeat this image about twenty times if you want the Ogre Battle experience. This is the first enemy DEDMET doesn't completely wipe: the Black Dragons have a bit too much health.



I positioned Ashe right next to the enemy base, and he's just now getting into his first battle. The enemy would much rather run themselves into DEDMET. A few maps ago, this might have been in contention for one of our most powerful squads, but today, Ashe is sitting next to DEDMET, and he can barely move the needle.



Night falls, and we unlock the Real Ultimate Power of Honma. Enemies tremble before his two single-target attacks. Actually, though, the night confers boosts to DEDMET as well, and under these conditions, he can clear out the Black Dragon squad in one fight.



Most of Ashe's squad promotes at this point. I promote DEDMET's steed as well, not because Cockatris is any good, but mostly because did we really need four AOE attacks per battle? (inb4 the answer is yes)



We follow that up by clowning an enemy squad that should've countered this team. The Angels don't get a chance to attack.



While fording a river, Gerad runs into an Iron Golem, the most powerfoul of Golems, willing to aid our cause.

We kill it.



Rounding out this map, Bert finds a Byak's Fang: INT+7, Cold+12. Pretty decent; we don't have a lot of items for magic users.



We stall for a bit in order to fill our pockets. This was a quick map!



You might expect some sort of interaction for bringing Slust here, but you'd be disappointed. I guess the High Knights don't talk much.



Bosses are probably immune to petrification...



This still works, though. DEDMET almost finishes the deal in a single bout. I send in Bert for the assist.



Five years of job experience plus three references, if you're wondering.



Yeah our finances are doing just fine.

Join us next time when we do whatever map Eddie does next probably!

Welcome back! We are still ahead of the PLOT compared to Mogri thanks to his little statue appreciation tour, so this update is a bit of a long one.





This map is huge, likely the largest you've encountered yet. It boasts a heckvalota towns and a metric load of hidden treasure.

Of note is that the enemy base is surrounded by three tiers of walls. Assaulting the enemy base, Malano, is therefore not straightforward (pun intended).

There are three locations you'll want to push for and defend. Felata, the shop town, is where most of the flying enemy armies will move past (they will tend to just miss Padova). Mantova is the closest to the enemy base, so that will divert a lot of armies if you capture it. The other, weirdly, is Uhjine, just west of your base. Some armies that try to capture your base (but fail and are not wiped out) will tend to run to that temple just west of Uhjine. If you aren't paying attention you may accidentally leave your base vulnerable, so stick a unit there to keep watch.



There is plenty of treasure to be found, so I start my hunt. My first hit is a great one, an ELDER charm. Don't let it's description, "Flame charm," fool you; this item grants +11 STR, +5 INT, +16 Black Defense and +14 White Defense.



The BLACK Bow I find next is much less exciting, offering a unit +3 STR and +2 INT. Still better than some of the items I've found this game.



The PROTECT Ring is another good hit for Black-aligned casters, offering +5 INT, +12 Physical Defense and +14 White Defense.



Here's one reason why this update is so large; we've got a World Tarot with our first liberation! We will tally the gains/losses.



"Just between you and me, I heard that the Baron's bride has run off! I heard that he has sent out several bounty hunters to look for her."



All units: HP +1



They are not kidding. We'll get to the boss later but he can hit like an absolute truck.



You can see here that despite capturing Padova, a number of flying units are sneaking right by it. So keep your home base well protected!



Boo!

All units: HP +1, STR -1



"I heard that she ran off towards the Kastro Valley."

We of course have already met this bride, and have recruited her!



As we push into the enemy base near Felala, you can see the large number of Evil Ones that are being used. These are a pretty tough frontline unit (and mediocre backline one) but nothing we can't handle. The sheer number of units requires a lot of healing items however (luckily we can restock once we capture the city).



CANOPUS is meanwhile flying around and makes our casters a little happier.

All units: HP +1, STR -1, INT +1





"Thank you! Let me give you this Vitality Potion as a token of my appreciation."



You do NOT want to say "no" to this guy. Not only does your Reputation get hit, he will murder the liberating army (save for your Opinion Leader if they're the capturing army). Very rude!



We get a random MERCHANT drop from an enemy army. This is actually a pretty sweet item that is only available as a random drop. It summons a hidden shop run by a mysterious "Anywhere Jack" that sells stat potions as follows:

STR Pot: 15,000 Goth
INT Pot: 15,000 Goth
AGI Pot: 17,000 Goth
HP Pot: 20,000 Goth
LUK Pot: 21,000 Goth

Most good advice if you get one of these is to bank a million or so Goth and then go shopping. That sounds like a pretty good idea!



All units: HP +1, STR -1, INT +1, ALI +1



"The Baron looks like a gentleman but is actually rotten to the core. He was originally a noble of Zenobia, but turned traitor soon after Gran was assassinated. Not only that, but he executed the Royal FAmily, and turned his own parents in to Endora! He's travelled quite extensively, all across the Highlands. They say that his bride is very highly positioned in Highland society. He's known as a man who will do anything to get what he wants."



All units: HP +1, STR -1, AGI +1, INT +1, ALI +1



"As soon as the Prince heard of your deeds, he expressed a great interest in meeting you."

The game doesn't exactly explain this, but essentially the valet is asking you to bring your Opinion Leader here to Bel Chelry. We'll do that once we cut most of this enemy army down.



All units: HP +2, STR -1, AGI +1, INT +1, ALI +1



The temple also gives us some BLACK armour. It's okay, granting +8 Physical Defense, + 4 Black Defense and -3 White Defense.

"on?"

I like that this guy's reaction to a liberation army showing up on his doorstep is "huh, wonder what this whole war thing is about."



All units: HP +2, STR -1, AGI +1, INT +1, ALI +3

(This temple either repeated someone else or I forgot to screenshot its dialogue.)



AISHA's unit hits level 15, and that means it's PALADIN TIME.



All units: HP +2, STR -1, AGI +1, INT +1, LUK +1, ALI +3



"mountains... Because of that, Malano was able to maintain its independence for a long time. As you can see, the city is now surrounded by walls and has become almost impregnable."

There is actually a lot of holes in the walls that you can sneak through, but I guess they wanted to make sure you weren't reliant on finding TERMITES.





LANS gets into some fights himself and levels his army to 15, giving us a new Muse and of course, a new Paladin.



The Dollmage from KAUTS's unit hits level 14, giving us a brand new Doll Master. As mentioned by Mogri, they get two enemy-wide physical attacks from the rear. Muses are probably better overall, but they are no slouch.



All units: HP +2, STR -1, AGI +1, INT +1, LUK +1, CHA +2, ALI +3



(Note: I have two spare TERMITES so not really)

"Well let me give you this Trojan Horse, then! I hope it helps."



This weird mistranslation was pointed out earlier. Apparently whomever localized the item names didn't pay much attention to the script.



We get another BLACK Armor again (boo). As before, +8 Physical Defense, + 4 Black Defense and -3 White Defense.



All units: HP +2, STR -1, AGI +1, INT +3, LUK +1, CHA +2, ALI +3

(Repeat dialogues are happening now.)



All units: HP +2, STR -1, AGI +1, INT +4, LUK +1, CHA +2, ALI +3



"...I've also heard that Prince Tristan is among those people, hoping for a change to get at the Baron. Not to blame him. The Baron betrayed Tristan's family and executed them all."

We might have liberated some towns in the wrong order. There's a wedding going on, despite the bride being AFK apparently.



All units: HP +3, STR -1, AGI +1, INT +4, LUK +1, CHA +2, ALI +3



"The bridge was Rauny, the only daughter of the Highland House of Vinzalf. That makes her the daughter of the Overlord Hikash! But to have to marry a man like the Baron... I'd run away, too!"

In case you have not put two and two together about who the Runaway Bride is: it's Julia Roberts.



JACK's Red Dragon, uh, I, becomes level a Red Dragon... II.



JACK is still underleveled but his Dragons do a good job of picking up the slack.



I believe we picked up a DWARVEN Sword before. It's still +7 STR, Lightning Attack, which makes it good but not excellent.



All units: HP +3, STR -1, AGI +1, INT +5, LUK +1, CHA +2, ALI +3

Our casters are doing pretty well this map!



All units: HP +3, STR -1, AGI +1, INT +5, LUK +2, CHA +2, ALI +3



"I heard that he had received some great magic from Rashidi, but I don't know if that's true or not."

(It's pretty true.)

We're finally cleaning up the last of these hidden items. First is a KING Helm, which is medicore, granting +17 Physical defense.



All units: HP +3, STR -1, AGI +1, INT +5, LUK +2, CHA +4, ALI +3



The LIEBEL Staff is an interesting item, granting +14 INT and a White attack. It's therefore best used on a caster unit where the White property is useless, but they can take advantage of that massive +14 INT bonus. I guess you can easily use them to kill undead in a pinch, so a good time choice for a Valkyrie.



One of many pieces of jewelry we've picked up, the ENGRAVED RING grants +11 INT, +19 Black Defense and -11 White Defense. I think we grabbed one on another map but my memory is bad.



No stat gains to our units (and our Reputation is already maxed out) but I'll take it over a Tarot that provides a penalty.



"Holai. It is still doing quite well, this time as the gateway to the Empire.







At this point most of the enemy is routed, so I just need to bring MOGRI to meet the Prince. MOGRI is a lazy opinion leader so goes first class.





Prince TRISTAN: I wish to destroy the Zeteginean Empire and restore Zenobia.







MOGRI is a genie now I guess. We'll get to TRISTAN in a minute.



DRAGON rings (our third ring this map) offers +6 STR, +14 Fire Defense and a Fire Attack. The added Fire Defense is good for Beast and Dragon man/masters who can also take advantage of the STR bonus even from the back row.



All units: HP +3, STR +1, AGI +1, INT +5, LUK +2, CHA +4, ALI +3

Finally got rid of that STR penalty! That's a pretty good haul for all our units!



"I was planning on going to see the wedding, but there's going to be a battle, right? Gotta' run!"



With every town on the map liberated, we send JACK back to base so we can deploy our new special unit to take on the boss.



TRISTAN's stats make him a certified bad-ass with STR and AGI that even exceeds our new Dragoon friends, SLUST and FENRIL. Dragoons are overall better as their raw defenses are higher, but that doesn't make TRISTAN here any less amazing. Like Dragoons, they get three physical attacks in the front row and a single powerful attack in the rear.



His starting unit is very badly built (and contains Wizards and Clerics that don't have the right stats to promote) so we solve that problem of the 44 ALI fighter that PUTI's unit had by replacing the Valkyrie I had temporarily hired for our own prince.

It's worth noting that TRISTAN can recruit Mages directly, in case you had a hard time turning any Wizards into Mages. Why his unit doesn't come with any is a mystery.



Our absolute last hidden treasure is a SLICING Sword, which grants a whopping +4 STR.



Worth noting that by not removing the walls, sometimes your units will take an... odd.. angle of attack to reach the boss. Here we seen Prince TRISTAN and RAUNY's units decided to attack from the rear I guess.

Baron Apros: "Traitor, is it? Please. Spare me... In Zenobia I was just a second rate noble. You don't know how I suffered under King Gran! He never knew to whom he owed his success."

Prince TRISTAN: "Desist with those pompus lies! Prepare to pay for what you've done to my father and the people of Zenobia!"



FIGHT IT OUT.



The Baron is protected by two Demons. They are easily dealt with by my surplus of Fool Tarots.





Baron Apros is a special class that gets a random number of Black element attacks from the rear. I get "lucky" and am hit with his most powerful, Meteor. It does a number on our units, many of whom are weak to Black attacks.

He can also use Nightmare (single target Black attack) or Phantom (multi-target Black attack; similar damage to Meteor). He does three of these attacks, making him quite deadly.



Despite this, he can't really stand up to TRSITAN punching him in the face.





A second Meteor all but wipes out TRISTAN's army, but I wanted to retreat anyway as we haven't shown off this boss's other dialogue.





Baron Apros: "Now you know how your father would feel if he heard you say that! Not only do you refuse me, but you turn traitor to the Empress and jin the rebellion?"

RAUNY: "I am a Paladin! I don't live for personal advancement! A Paladin takes a vow to fight for justice and protect the name of the Highlands! And in order to fulfill that vow and for the Highlands, I must finish you!"





Rather than take chances, I use a World Tarot to effectively nullify Baron Apros's attacks. One additional Fool Tarot as well...





Horray!





We head back in following our victory and deploy BOWIE to revisit the enemy base.



"We found this Book of the Dead in the castle. Please take it."



Don't mind if I do! We can of course trade this for another UNDEAD ring.





"Thank you! Let me give you a Promotion as a token of my appreciation!"



This is the same town that outright murders your non-Opinion Leader army if you don't agree to avenge them. Still a Reputation loss if you say no (but no killing this time at least).



And that's it! Next time we face our third island map, and I note to certain doubters that we don't have a fancy gate to use, so looks like our Griffons are working overtime!

Join use next time for "The Cloud City," or, "IN DARKEST KNIGHT!"

A few more translation notes:

The Elder Charm was an Elder Sign in the Japanese version. I'd make a joke about that if I knew more about the Cthulhu Mythos.

Apros' class is Dandy in the SNES version, but Vanity in the original Japanese and the PSX remake.

Catching up on the LP and it's great. Thank you for doing this.

To answer the bit that's a (?) for you:

とウワサされる indicates that the clause before the と is rumored to be true. It's the same quotative と as the one in phrases like と言う, not the と that connects nouns in a list.

So, what that means is that she is said to be (is rumored to be) the most beautiful beautiful witch on the continent. (Because the structure created by the と is "Is rumored to be [noun clause X]," rather than "Is [noun clause X] and [noun clause Y].")

Thanks! This has been something I've been wondering about for a long time.

GO DEDMET GO!

16. The Soldier Formerly Known as Prince



Welcome back to Let's Play Ogre Battle, where we're cleaning up some leftover business in Organa.



We got a "BOX"!



As seen above, the BOX is a very important item with far-reaching implications.

Please, will you sell it to me? (yes)

How about for 50,000 Goth? (no)

Well then, how about 80,000 Goth? (no)

You guys sure are stingy. All right, 100,000 Goth, then! (yes)

Boy, you'll never become MY hero if you're always so stingy...

Like the BOX, the MOONROSE has no other use than to be sold, and this fellow wants it more than anyone else. Driving up the price has no ill effects other than disappointing the buyer, but look, war doesn't fund itself.



Suddenly, I'm getting a craving for those thin, crispy Pepperidge Farm cookies. Let's go to the City of Malano!



Eddie already mentioned that this map is huge, but it bears repeating. This is by far the largest map we've seen so far. 19 cities/temples (not counting our bases) and 10 hidden treasures. I've got some misgivings about this. I'm not the fastest player on a good day.

Nothing for it. Let's deploy a whole bunch of troops, hmm?



Our first treasure, courtesy Bert and Olli, is the Holy Fang, which gives +5 White resistance. Junky junk.



Next, Ovelia snags us a Peridat Sword, which is a STR+11 Cold-element weapon that should probably be "Peridot" but what do I know.



Ashe digs up a Lightning Bow: STR+7 and predictably Lightning-element.



Taeryn makes first contact with the enemy. This is way closer to a fair fight than anything we had last map, so I'm a little concerned. Taeryn comes out on top, though, defeating the front row in a second fight and wiping out the back-row Evil One thereafter.



Kahran and Lucas are next to fight. Pictured: stupid Ninja.



Kahran finds Benkay's Glaive after liberating a temple. It gives STR+12 and provides topical relief for aches and pains. It's a Physical-element weapon, so no one is going wild about finding this, but a free treasure is a free treasure.



The enemy is not particularly happy with Taeryn, but the cavalry has arrived: he won't have to face them solo.



DEDMET may be on the bench for this map, but we have Aisha's absolute monster of a unit to replace him. Destil is making quick work of these enemies. Zeebs is mostly here as moral support, since aside from a glaring White weakness, Destil's resistances are basically way better across the board. But someone's gotta fill that front row.



Naval has largely been outclassed at this point, but he still manages to pull his weight, with the front-line Ghost dodging two Ankhs and three Healings from the Shamans. What a champ! The enemy Wizards freeze our Red Dragon into oblivion, though, and Naval loses this skirmish.



You don't generally expect much from these treasure spots after a certain point in the game, but sometimes, they surprise you. The Angel's Wing gives INT+16 and resistances to Phsyical (+7) and White (+23). That's the highest White resistance and tied for highest INT boost -- a top-tier item for any spellcaster but especially a Lich.



Ashe pulls a Black Charm, which is STR+7, INT-4, Black+13, White-16. We'll appreciate the Black resistance, and a White vulnerability and INT penalty are very manageable. It's no Angel's Wing, but what is?



Obligatory 11th-hour World card.



That's dupes! Scroll up just a bit for the description.



Physical+9, Fire+12. Yawn+1.



Bugles are delicious! This, however, is a Battle Bugle, which gives STR+2, Physical+2, and a general feeling of disappointment.



Noon hits. "You got a plan for all that cash?" No, not at present, but thanks for asking. Eventually, I'm hoping to luck into one of the Anywhere Jack shops Eddie mentioned, which allow you to buy stat-boosting items. There's no limit to how much you can boost a single character, so it's as broken fun as it sounds.



In a mixture of laziness and desperation, I have Ovelia intercept a stray enemy. She pulls it off despite her level deficit. AOE attacks are really good!



Tristan has the hots for Ovelia Outside of the opening line, the dialogue is identical to the one he had with MOGRI.



Tristan takes rejection surprisingly well for a guy who really needs us.



Eddie has already covered the character-specific dialogue, so here's the generic one.

You Rebels have become such a bother... Just what do you hope to achieve? Well, you leave me no choice. I must use the power given to me by Rashidi to destroy you!

You might recall from Eddie's writeup that Apros uses three random Black attacks. In my first attempt, he uses Meteor, the strongest, all three times. We'd still have pulled it off if Destil hadn't missed Apros twice!



A second round does the trick, and we can put this one to bed.

Meanwhile, in Canada...



Welcome back! Our map today is our third floating island, Shangrila. We'll meet a couple of old "friends" here.





Out of all the floating island maps to date, Shangrila is the most dangerous in terms of "falling to your death" potential. Mushatl in particular is one town that is close to cliffs on three sides, so make sure you protect with an army that you know cannot lose.

Interaken is the other city to liberate. Between it and Mushatl, you should catch most enemy armies leaving the enemy base, allowing you to pick off the rest of the towns and temples.



"Bringing their war to a place like this... I can't believe it..."



The most powerful army you'll face is probably this one, boasting a pair of Tiamats. Their Evildead attack will hit all your units for significant damage, and they'll do it twice. The Tiamats also boast high HP and STR, so you'll probably have more luck sniping the Evil One leader. However, having the Tiamat's retreat to base to raise their leader will just mean you fight fresh Tiamat's later.

To prevent this, don't be afraid to drop some Tarot cards, such as World, to take these heavy hitters out.



Dragon slaying has levelled MILLEU's knights into Paladins, giving them a whopping four attacks from the front row.





Outside of Tiamat's, THIS is the enemy army to watch out for. It's not particularly strong, but all the clerics in the front low are a measly level 10. Given that your units will probably be hovering around level 15, this will mean a *massive* ALI hit for any unit that kills them. Non-undead evil units are therefore recommended to take them out.





I don't do this an MILLEU the Princess takes a big hit to her ALI.



SAMURAI Armor provides +5 Physical Defense, regulating it to the "well if I don't have any other item available..."



"... the remaining characters who can't fly will plunge to the earth and die themselves!"

While you can miss the other floating islands, you can't miss Shangrila so this is late, but understandable, advice.

(Incidentally, without a Chaos Gate, how did we even get up here Destil?)



"Guess why they were so desperate to control this island? So that they could drop it on some place called Zenobia! Who could even consider such a thing? Please hurry up and defeat the Empire!"

The Emperor is ULTRON confirmed.





KAUTS's army hits level 15, giving him not only a pair of Paladins, but turns him from a Samurai to a Master. Like the difference between Knights and Samurai, Masters are basically inferior Paladins, with less HP and slightly worse defense (save against White attacks oddly enough) but they are certainly much cooler looking.



If you have an empty space in your unit, a FULLMOON will give you a Tigerman. Tigermans are like Werewolves (somewhat weak during the day, brutal killers at night) but I believe overall worse. While they have slightly better STR and defenses, they only have two attacks during the night compared to three from a Werewolf.

Unless I get three of these randomly I don't think I'll ever use it.



Another army to watch out for is the one that combines level 17+ Demons and level 13 Cherubims. Not as bad as the clerics, but you still want to have your low ALI units tackle these armies.



"He is surrounded by evil spirits, just like the Ogres are said to have been. Hmm? You look as if you've heard of him. Do you know this guy?"

In case you forgotten that we fought this Black Knight guy back on Island Avalon.



This can be a difficult army to "beat" as only the Ninja Master will take any damage (even if you White the Phantoms) so be prepared to use a Fortune Tarot if your army is up against a cliff.



Basically has the same effect as a Moon Tarot (i.e. turning the day into night), except you can trigger it when you want to. I doubt I'll ever use it.







MILLEU gets caught killing more clerics, and her ALI is now pretty low, low enough that even killing four Phantoms only pushes the needle up a bit. This isn't fatal or anything (it is not like she has to qualify for any class) but it does make the unit overall slightly worse at liberating towns.



"that WE would become involved in it. What will happen to us?"



ASHE's Knights join the Paladin club.

"The shrine had many valuable treasures, but in all of this warfare, most of them were lost."



I end up finding a pair of STRs randomly, in case I want to make a unit beefier I suppose.

Entering Montrosa with Canopus in your army triggers a small dialogue:





YULIA: "Everyone is doing their part to help. I can't just stand aside and watch! I want to help somehow. I've brought you this 'Vitality Potion'.

CANOPUS: "... Thank you, Yulia."

YULIA: "I'm sorry that this is all I can do to help..."





I believe this isn't our first Pristine Sword (it becomes hard to remember all the items you've picked up at a certain point, especially reading Mogri's LP too). This is a very versatile weapon, granting STR +8, INT +10 and a White element attack.



"We have all come here to escape mortal conflicts like that. We hate fighting. We just want to be left alone."

"HULK JUST WANT SMASH AVACADO NOT HU-MANS."



"We were created 80 years ago by Prince Roshian... What? You've already heard this? Well, it's nice to know that the temples are spreading down below, too.

I haven't talked much about this, but these floating islands could be considered holy ground of sorts. They are clearly connected to the gods, so it make sense that the religion below has its origin here.



Well, not SAMURAI Armor at least (FLAME Flail's give +4 STR and a Fire attack).

At this point everything is liberated, so we can now tackle the boss. There are two characters who have dialogue here, RAUNY (for reasons that will be clear after the fight) and TRISTAN (who is out for some revenge).







GARES: "You'd best watch how you speak, little girl. Your father would be displeased! Why do you refuse the offer of power of the Dark? Why not retain that beauty forever?"

RAUNY: "Fool! A flower is beautiful because it loses its petals!"

GARES: "And this flower will now lose its head! I'll deliver it to your father personally!"







Gares is a monster of course, using the same attacks the Tiamat's we fought earlier do. The Red Dragon II's are not as threatening, although they are walls of HP and STR.





Our unit here soaks up damage pretty well and with the help of an Emperor Card cuts a significant amount of health of GARES.



We'll bring in TRISTAN to finish this.





GARES: "A little brat like you is going to take me on? Ha! Ha! Ha! Stop your joking. I'll make you wish you already WERE in your grave!"

GARES still hits like a truck, but so does TRISTAN. With an early Fool Tarot this ends predictably.



"But don't celebrate too quickly! I'll finish.. you yet!"





DEBONAIR: "Norn? Is that you? Why... Why are you here?"

NORN: "I'll explain later. Let me tend to your wounds first..."

DEBONAIR: "What happened to Gares? Have the Rebels come?"



DEBONAIR: "SO it's you, MOGRI... So you defeated Gares? I tried to talk to Her Highness, but was instead arrested as a traitor. It seems that you were right."



It goes without saying that on the route to the best ending, recruiting DEBONAIR is a must. I believe you need NORN in your party to do so but NBD.

If you say no you'll get a cool sword but you REALLY want him as, like TRISTAN, he is a General (and they are top-tier units).





HORRAY!



Everything great about TRISTAN applies to DEBONAIR. He's a beast of a front row unit. He can also recruit Demons, Doll Masters, Evil Ones, Raven Mans and Valkyries in case you want any of those.



Not having a great place to put him, I decide to create a super unit with NORN, SLUST and FENRIL because why not.

(This unit costs a bazillion goth to field, that's why not but w/e.)



We're not quite done in Shangrila having missed a few treasures, so we jump back in.



BOWIE in spaaaace...



The BYAK Fang is a decent item for Clerics as it provides +7 INT and +12 Cold Defense (their weakness).



THUNDER Spears grant +9 STR and a Lightning attack so that is swell.



BLACK Swords (technically a Katana) are, like Final Fantasy 2 taught us all when we were young, bad (+3 STR, Black attack).

Visting various locations around Shangrila provide vague hints for players that are not following a guide.



"I think that you probably are worthy of meeting her in person. If that is so, you will need to meet the 3 White Wizards. The 3 White Wizards are the last of the 12 wizards who fought alongside the 3 High Knights. Each of the 3 White Wizards have a stone given to them by Fellana. When you have collected all of the stones, you will be able to meet her."



'They're macho fools who aren't much in the way of brains, but when they fight together they pack quite a punch. Please be careful."



Aww, thanks random townperson for being less altitude-ist than your neighbours!



And that's another scenario in the books. Join me next time for "The Wizard," or, "THAT DEAF DUMB AND BLIND MAGE!"

In Japanese, it's called the ペリダートソード, which would translate to...Peridat Sword. So at least it's wrong on both ends.

Also, the Benkay Glaive is most likely supposed to be the Benkei Glaive, referring to this guy.

17. You Again



Welcome back to Let's Play Ogre Battle. We have a little more to do in Malano before we move on.



Malano is big enough that it takes over half a day to fly here.

...Fort Alamoot in an effort to stop you! Shangrila is the legendary floating shrine. A treasure to this earth... To use that as a weapon of war! The Empire has absolutely no sense of decency.

They may have no sense of decency, but they sure do have a sense of style. Moving a floating island to stop your enemies? That's awesome.



We score a second LEXICON, which we'll trade for a third UNDEAD (and thus a Lich).

There's a city somewhere around here that gives a PROMOTE, too, but I don't care enough about +1 level to track it down.



I truly am! Thanks for noticing!



Kahran is the beneficiary of our third Undead Ring. Because he's a generic soldier, he won't pack the punch Destil and DEDMET do, but it's the difference between being shot with a shotgun versus a bazooka. After a certain point, dead is dead, and it doesn't matter by how much. Even a generic Lich is really, really good.



Oh hey, this is the one where Lando sells out Han to the Empire, right?



Eddie's gone over this already, but to refresh your memory, this map is full of inconvenient terrain. Even ignoring the direct route back to the surface, we've got a lot of water and mountains here.



Bert and Olli do their thing, discovering a Dwarven Sword. It's a STR+7 Lightning weapon. The flavor is all off on this one.



DEDMET grabs an unusually-descriptive ICE CHARM. It gives a token amount of Cold resistance.



'Nother one of these for the pile. It's a good weapon: STR+15, INT+3, Fire.



Ovelia picks up an Ice Bandana in the corner of the map, which is like the Ice Charm, except that it confers a weakness to Fire.



More dupes!



DEDMET welcomes the lambs to the slaughter.



That's the good stuff. The Ghost goes down to an Ankh, but it doesn't stay down long.



Here's the rarely-seen sky battle background. One of the Cherubim takes down the Ghost again.



I forget to revive the Ghost. Did you know Petrify can take down undead? Score one for the Cockatris.



Gerad gets in over his head when an enemy sneaks past DEDMET. I pop a Fool card to turn a TPK into a win. The fleeing Tiamats will run straight back to DEDMET -- great news, since Gerad had no hope of defeating them.



Sorcerers are so passé at this point. It's all about the Liches.



We're operating light on this map -- DEDMET is doing the heavy lifting. We pull a tidy profit as a result.

I have come back from the Underworld to bury you all! Heh! Heh! Heh! This beautiful land will be your grave! What better honour could be given you? Come on! Let me show you the power of the Dark!

Shades of Pison! No, I think I'll show you the power of the Dark.



Gares uses Evildead followed by two standard attacks. Evildead deals a single point of damage to DEDMET, nothing to the Ghost, and about 50 to each of the other two. The Ghost is totally impervious to the enemies here, and the Red Dragons focus the Ghost, so the sole Evildead is the only damage we take in this battle.



On the other hand, three Thunders are sufficient to take Gares down for the second (but -- spoilers -- not the last) time.

But...don't celebrate too...quickly! I'll finish... you yet!

At this point, Debonair shows up. You don't need Norn on the field -- in the party is fine. We'll do our little routine of rejecting him before we change our minds and rewind.

I wish things were different, but I can't let you join us. Please understand.

Debonair: No, don't worry about it. I understand. Please take this sword as an apology for everything. We'll meet again.

(I'm not sure whether that's actually the case.)



Gotta go fast! This is STR+12, Physical. We'll take Debonair instead, thanks.

I like that this entire conversation takes place with Debonair in chains.



I dipped into my wallet for some extra curatives on this map, but this makes up for it and then some.



Debonair joins alone -- just him, his pretty self, and a whole pile of stats. He's smarter than Kahran -- not that he'll ever use it.

You mused about the name, then found another of the same thing.

Pretty sure it's a Pair-of-That sword now