Let's Battle Ogres! (Ogre Battle 64)

(Continued from last page)



Hahaha! WhiteMage/Pancakes/Maxwell all combined to make a super Blue Spiral. Over 150 damage. Priceless!

And just to piss me off even more, the game gave me a THIRD Dragon Helm for killing that unit. Thanks guys.



Things in the south are going really well. We still haven't met any real resistance...



And things in the north are fine too. We still have that legion to take care of, but Lichald and co. can take it. That legion has nothing in to be scared of...one unit is nothing but Clerics and Priests! Lichald is going to tear that unit a new one.



Another Triple Blue Spiral? Calm down guys! Stop outdoing yourself! We want the game to have a chance, you know?





Here's where Tim's unit goes bananas. Biske is in wolf form, meaning that we get three really strong attacks each round. Waffles and Meredia finally team up and unleash Lava Shot on our unsuspecting foes. Note that Lava Shot also Paralyzes, which really helps since we're up against a unit of all healers. Tim's unit may not be Lichald's, but it got pretty damn good pretty damn quick.

There's nothing left for us here. This mission was insanely simple. Our units are extremely powerful, so even though they had the numerical advantage, we had little difficulty.

Before we fight Kerikov, Amrius talks a bunch of shit to him.



Talk about the pot admitting that they're calling the kettle black.

Anyway, Amrius escapes and then we bust in. Fight time! Kerikov goes down like the chump he is.



Hurray! We found some good weapons and armor this level, and after a bit of story, we are going to get a Dragoon and Lich! About time!

Goofus interrogates Kerikov, and he admits that he framed the Archbishop and helped Lodis. But he only did it so he could control the Eastern Region, so that means he's not a bad guy...just a huge coward. Odiron comes in and Goofus and Europea run over to talk to him. While they're doing that, Kerikov sneaks out. Don't worry; we'll see him again. Odiron explains that the ultimate power was in fact real, but the Progenitor was given so much power that he split it up between himself and some people called the Knights of Danika. Only "the Child of the Covenant" can inherit that power. And can you guess who that is?



Hey, the Tremos Mountains are back! But first...

Sidequestin'

It's time.

Let's take the Dragon Scale we got from that bartender and head south to Pinneg. We'll have Goofus fight Grozz Nuy since it feels appropriate.



A floating blinking thing in the forest. This looks promising.

A flash of light and...



Are we about to fight The Great Cornholio? I think we’re about to fight Cornholio.

Grozz Nuy: FEEBLE HUMANS...ALRIGHT, I'LL FIGHT YOU. AS YOU WISH...THESE CLAWS WILL RIP YOU APART!!



*N64 sound chip-quality roar goes here*

What you got, dragon? Huh?!



Grozz Nuy gets one attack per round. He starts off with a physical attack, moves on to Sacred Breath, and then uses Dark Blaze (shown here). But Goofus gets two attacks per round, so he wins with a tiny bit of HP left.





And there it is. We now have all the equipment we need to make a Dragoon. But we're not quite done in Celesis yet...let's head to Banna Barra.



Ummm...thanks?



AH! There's blood on this! Whose blood is this!? What did you do little girl?!

Looking at the item description for the Dark Invitation gives us a clue. "Those who seek the ring of the lifeless, come to the tavern near the border." Alright, we're off to the Zenobian border!





Totally not creepy.

Keeper of Dark Knowledge: Where there's light, there'll always be darkness. Even the greatest leader will have a shadow underfoot.



Yeah, I get it. It's evil. Got it. This goes on for a billion years. I was twenty two when I started this update. Now I’m dead.

The important thing is that now we have everything we need for a Lich, too. Only two sidequests left! Well, there's technically others...but there's only two that we'll be doing. Unfortunately, one of them is the hardest one in the game. Le sigh.

Status Report





And there you have it. Lichald's unit is now completely unstoppable. Wario is a bit on the weak side, but his stat growth is really good so he'll be great before the end of the game. After I took this screenshot, I gave Wario the Sword of Tiamat again. It’s weaker, but only he can use that sword while I can give the Chaladholg to Ozzy. Once Wario’s stats get a little better, I’ll probably give it back to him. But for now, he’s a bit weaker than he is in this screenshot. But don't worry; except great things from him in the future.

The same is true for Maxwell. I had to take a Ring of Eloquence off of him when I made him into a Lich, and without that item he technically does less damage per attack than before...but he gets THREE attacks now, so it's totally worth it. I also changed his spellbook because I was getting sick of seeing Blue Spiral all the damn time. I gave the Ring of Eloquence to Waffles and the Feather of Archangel (a similar INT-boosting item) to Pancakes, so the two of them are stronger than ever before.



It's funny what a new weapon can do. Now that Wario doesn't need that...whatever the hell that thing is, we can give it to Sheen. And now Sheen's damage rivals Wario/Europea/Goofus/Lichald (without the Helm of the Fearless). I also found some new armor for his unit this map, and a few training sessions later, Sheen's unit is back on track...for a flying unit. They'll still never be anywhere near as good as our ground units, but for a flying unit they're pretty good.

Important Notice

I actually had to play this map twice. After I beat it, I forgot to save when I turned my emulator off. The pictures of the mission proper are from the first time through, but the pictures of the Sidequestin’/Status Report segments are from my second time through. The only substantial difference between the two playthroughs were that the drops were slightly different, but we got a better haul the second time anyway so this worked to our advantage.

Oh, and this happened.



Run to the HIIIIILLLLLSSSS!!! Run for your LIIIIIFFFFEEEEE!

This is a good opportunity to pick up some Angel Knights by killing the leaders of those parties and using the Love & Peace item. Angel Knights are probably more cool than useful, but it's nice to have some variety in flying characters.

That's actually an excellent idea! I forgot I even had a Love & Peace waiting to be used! I'll try and pick one up in the future. I'd much rather have an Angel Knight and something else than one Wyvern.

Edit: I can't remember how much longer until we run into more Angel Knights, though. Well, no matter. We've already got a Lich and Dragoon, and a Princess on a way. We don't need to break the game any more with a Seraph.

Yes, we do.

So Alixsar, how is Zinc's Double Dragon unit working out for you? I've picked up a bunch of extra characters in the last few chapters, including the last three Zenobians and a few Angel Knights (now Seraphs) swiped from the enemy with Love and Peace, so I rearranged my battalion a bit and put both my evolved dragons into the same unit with a Dragon Master. I haven't used this setup yet so I'm not sure how it'll perform -- it seems like with only six attacks per round, they'd get outdamaged pretty often even with the dragons hitting the whole enemy team. Is it better to have one dedicated dragon unit or two units with one dragon each?

Viewer Mail

Zinc’s unit is simultaneously amazing and horrible. Zinc herself is good; she dodges a lot and does pretty good damage. Ryu and Ken are both good too; Ryu shuts everyone down with Radiant Gale and Ken weakens them with Earthquake. I use it more as a damage-over-time unit. They’re not there to obliterate the enemy like Lichald; they’re there to wear them down. Damage-wise, the unit is one of my worst due to the aforementioned six attack problem. But Zinc’s unit is safe because enemies either get shut down completely, weakened so we take less damage, or Zinc dodges/Ryu or Ken guard against the attack. The only real problem is that Ryu/Ken’s attacks do the most damage to characters in the middle of a unit, a decent amount to those in the back row, and only small amounts of damage to characters in the front row. So when we’re hunting down a unit and only characters in the front row are left it takes friggin’ years to kill them. There’s an easy way to fix this, thankfully. Change your unit’s formation and put the Dragons in the front row. Their breath attacks will dish out a lot of damage, and Dragon Masters don’t lose much by being in the back row. If I remember correctly, you have a Hydra and a Quetzalcoatl, so you should be fine. It’ll be Status-Effect-Mania. Just be careful going against Golems since they can’t fall asleep or get Paralyzed. That unit should make a good anti-Cockatrice unit though. Hopefully you’ll like it.

Alternate Reality

Today’s update is the first “slow” update in a while, so let’s examine what happens if you head to the Tremos Mountains first instead of heading to the Vert Plateau/Capitrium. If you head that way, you have a mission that’s very similar to the one in today’s update. You start off surrounded by two legions and need to fight your way out (today’s mission doesn’t have any legions but we do start off surrounded). The mission is actually pretty hard and by heading this way, you miss out on Europea and Biske (if you’re doing a low CF playthrough). So why head this way, you ask? It’s simple. Remember that Ring of the Dead I picked up in Celesis? I can’t remove it from Maxwell, so that means that we can only have one Lich. Well, if you head here, you can find a second Ring of the Dead. You have to come here before you go to Celesis to find it so we can’t pick it up today, but that’s the main reason why players take this path. If you head this way, you can get two Lichs in your group! If it wasn’t for Biske, I would have done this because two Lichs + Princess = Game Complete. But I love me some werewolves. There’s also an Enchanter we could have pick up named Paul, but Tim is doing just fine so we didn’t really need him.

Proper Grooming

By the way, we won’t be using Goofus anymore this chapter. He’s on full-time HQ guard duty. The reason for this is simple. After this map, we have two more maps until the last chapter starts. And once the last chapter starts, Goofus changes classes again and becomes a General. As a General, Goofus will gain significantly better stats at level ups than Goofus’ current job, Vanguard. So we’re going to leave Goofus behind so he can have more level ups as the better class. Technically speaking, I should have done this ages ago…but I didn’t want to deal with not having one of my better units. I should have done this with Maxwell, too. Lichs have really low stat requirements, so really advanced OB64 players will get a unit’s alignment to the right place, and then leave the unit they’re going to turn into a Lich on the sidelines and then level them up so that way their stats will be ridiculously high. But again, I didn’t want to deal with not having one of my best characters. It’s no matter though; we’ll get by just fine.

Filler: Tremos Mountains

If this were an episode of Dragonball Z, this would be that one where Goku and Piccolo learn how to drive. It’s random, pointless, and it serves no real purpose other than to pad the game’s length.



WHAT



Anyway, this map isn't too bad...once we get through the initial attack that is. We'll split everyone up: some go east, some west, some north. But just how bad with this "intial attack" be?



Hmm...that's pretty bad. Rather than wait for everyone, I'm going to send units out to intercept them while Goofus/Lichald will hang back to protect our HQ.



Wow, Tim's unit almost completely wiped this unit out. Only one of the Hawkmen was left with 32 HP when all was said and done. That's some real improvement! Good job Tim!

...and this is where my emulator died. Yet again. Well, time to start over. At least it died early in the battle, rather than at the end like it usually does.



I used a slightly different formation this time, but it's basically the same thing.



Behold the power of the Chaladbolg! That’s actually a lot of damage considering it’s against a Dark Knight. Before the end of the map, Ozzy was dealing Lichald-levels of damage. And just wait until we get the Ogre Blade. Man, that's going to be something else.



Update: shit still be crazy, yo. Zinc and BJ are busy with the Enchanter/Ninja Master units, Europea/Leia/Sheen are trying to take the eastern stronghold, and Dio is cleaning up the western area. Meanwhile, Lichald is back at HQ counting the time until I unleash his unit's vengeance upon the world. Dio captures the western stronghold and...



Dio: ...Y, you're!! Why are you here?
Debonair: We thought the Brigade of Radiant Cross was going to suppress the Bolmaukan uprising...but they headed for Palatinus instead. Their orders were to crush the infidels; it didn't make any sense...So I followed them, and this is where it brought me. Leave this to me! You must hurry!

If we had Saradin and Aisha, and we had Goofus come here to take this stronghold, then this is where we'd be getting Debonair. But we didn't do any of those things, so we'll have to do without him.

Also, I just realized that I didn’t take any screenshots of Debonair in the forest. I just took the one of Dio yelling at him. Oops. Just trust me; he’s there.



We now have a total of six leaderless units running around. But once we mop these up, we basically done. There's a few units guarding the enemy's HQ, but that won't take too long.



See what I was talking about when I said Sheen all-of-the-sudden didn't suck?

Well, we're down to two leaderless units now. We just need to take care of them and we can get out of here. God, this map is obscenely simple.



Well, our triple strength Atmosphere is only slightly weaker than our triple strength Blue Spirals were. And, in time, Maxwell will grow even stronger. So far, I have yet to even see Maxwell’s third attack because Lichald’s unit typically wipes everything out before then.



It's nice to be the one who avoids that spell for once. Anyway, everyone is dead except the boss. Let's have Lichald tear her a new one, shall we?



Is that good?

Eudika: ...the time has come. The resurrection. It is time for our queen to awaken. Our time has finally come. Do not interfere!! Humans, do not stand in our way!

Yeah, I get it. Crazy shit is going on. Okay lady.



For some reason, they play the really intense/wow-this-is-an-important boss song rather than the regular boss music during this fight. But I took this screenshot after everyone in Lichald's unit had acted once. You'd think an important boss would be a little more resilient than that, wouldn't you?

Eudika: I leave the rest to you...Ze...da...

Uh oh! That old hag is up to her tricks again!



I think it's funny that I'm still getting Soldiers. I haven't used any since Chapter 2, but I keep getting 5-10 each mission. Who the hell uses that many Soldiers?

There's no post-battle story this time. The next map, the Temple of Berthe, opens up on the world map. The Temple is a two-part extravaganza, so I'm going to do a special double-length update sometime within the next few days. Sorry that this one is so damn boring. I wish this map had something worthwhile for me to talk about, but it doesn’t.

And don't worry guys; I'll pick up an Angel Knight or Seraph at some point. I just don't know when that is. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to play Braid. I can't get it out of my mind and it's severely hampering my progress with this LP.

Woot! Walking dead Maxwell, fut the whuck! You still need to get him a Drakonite spell book, but for now we are pleased.

Unless if I want to spend every single cent I have (and then some), then we have to wait until next chapter. They're coming, I swear.

Oh my. Lichald's unit teehee is so hardstrong and rigid destructive.

Where is the Batman?!

Pruflas: Answer me, now!!
Knight of the Calginous Order: I'm terribly sorry, sir. When I arrived, he was already...
Pruflas: Enough excuses! Go find him...now!!



Pruflas: You? You know something don't you...

The Shit and The Fan; A Cautionary Tale: The Temple of Berthe



There's no story on Goofus' side, but it looks like Pruflas has discovered that Yumil can shoot mind bullets. Mari is apparently keeping silent to protect him. Meanwhile, Goofus' HQ is under attack (as usual). The enemy’s HQ is the Temple of Berthe itself. There's a few flying units this map so that's a bit of a concern…but with Goofus on full-time HQ defense and everyone else taking strongholds we'll be fine. This is a fairly small map, and like all small maps, it's packed with enemies. This is the last of Lodis' presence in the Eastern Region, so we can focus on the Central Division once we take care of Lodis here.



Three flying units headed our way already? Great...



Hey Tanto. Zinc and co. just wiped out an entire unit in one encounter and they only took marginal damage. This is proof that Double Dragon units are good.

Also, now that I think about it, we should've named our dragons Billy and Jimmy. We also should’ve named our Beast Master after a Belmont. Oh well. Too late now.



Look at this. We're at the last map of Chapter 3, and we get a unit with one Sorceress and three Soldiers. Is this a joke or something? Even in Chapter 1 this would be considered a weak unit.



So far, so good. Everyone's a bit spread out but so far we haven't had any real trouble. Hey, there's Pruflas! Hi buddy! How's your long, wavy hair doing? He's so dreamy.



Another random encounter. Another random encounter I don't need. ANOTHER one. What the hell is this game's problem?



Oh you've got to be shitting me. Four units just came out of Pruflas' friggin’ birth canal. Luckily, Dio/Europea/Sheen are there to intercept them...but still. I might have to send Lichald over there to help out. Leia's unit is hurt pretty bad so they need to rest for a while and BJ/Zinc/Tim are busy hunting units, so Dio and company are essentially on their own.



Just before I took this picture, Lichald did 79 damage. That's pretty damn good for something that's not a critical hit. I'm debating changing his name to Invincible because, for all intents and purposes, he is.

For a while, I wanted to change his name to The Big O because he’s big, black, and unstoppable (and because Carl Weathers didn’t fit in the character limit). I figured that I should probably leave him alone. He’s been Lichald for 30+ hours now; we should leave him alone.

Man, Dio is about to earn his keep or die trying.



Round 1! This unit escapes with two characters left. One has 1 HP and the other has 6 HP. Good work Dio!



Round 2! This unit escapes with one character left. He has 66 HP. Good work Dio!

Round 3 didn't go as well since the enemy unit had healers, but we still won. You suck, Dio!



Round 4! We need the help of some evil bouncy balls to finish off the leader but we got him.



Meanwhile; in the north! Since I changed Pancakes' element to wind and WhiteMage happened to use fire magic this turn, we got to unleash a Plasma Storm for the first time. Pretty, isn’t it?



Another encounter. WHAT THE FU- oh wait. This is a unit we can actually use. Hmm. If I still had my beard grown, this is where I’d be stroking it.

…that doesn’t sound right, does it?



Every single unit on the map other than the boss is leaderless now. This is going to take a bit to clean up but all the real work is already done.



What is it with Zinc? A class change and she goes from being Boring Generic Unit Leader to Pissed Off/Fiery Unit Leader. I don't get it. Well, anyway, there are only two units left and they happen to be right in front of Pruflas. Let's go tear this mutha out. I'm going to have Zinc fight Pruflas. I changed her unit formation to put the two Dragons up front. I'm doing this to showcase what I was talking about last Episode. Their full-screen attacks are great for taking out groups but their individual breath attacks are super powerful and thus better for taking out individual units. Just how super powerful are they? Well…that’s why I’m showing you. Couldn’t you figure that out on your own? Geez, man. Try to keep up, will ya?

Knight: Sir Pruflas, the Revolutionary Army...



I...I'm looking at my magazines! Go away!



Hey, you had the chance to kill us a long time ago. You blew it.

Pruflas: No one can squeeze such power from the fruit of the netherworld. Forget the prince! I can break the seal myself...

Good luck, douche.

Haha, told you. What a maroon!



I think I'm in love with Zinc.

Pruflas: Shut up!! That's it! You will all be sacrificial lambs!!



See? That's Lichald-strength levels of damage. That's pretty good! Zinc wasn't feeling so hot so I had her retreat. Dio came in and finished the job.



'cuz you's a bitch. Duh!



A new sword? I'll take it! Despite its name, that's actually a one handed sword. It's not as good as the Evil Blade, so we'll let Troi have it. We're finally at the point the game where our Sword Masters have started to out-damage our Paladins. I'll show that in greater detail next update.



That's a bad idea, Dio.

And man, look at how badly my emulator screwed up this background. That is awesome.

Leia: We didn't find anything...so it was only a legend?
G&G: Not only the Central Division, but Lodis as well? They believed the legend and tried to get the ultimate power? Archbishop Odiron, too...what a wild goose chase...
Leia: Come on Goofus. Let's go.



Hey, someone just randomly showed up after Leia and Dio left. Is that...





That sounds promising.



He's going to kill himself?!

No...he's going to stab himself and let his blood drip on the ground? Huh?



Uh...



OHWHATTHEFUCKISTHAT



Now he's got slightly different looking Dragoons hanging around him? FYI: Those are the Knights of Danika. You'll learn more about them later. The Knights transport Yumil to...somewhere and the portal starts to go crazy.



See what I mean?



G&G: Fuckin’ great. Now I have demons to deal with! Thanks a lot, Yumil. We are soooooo not having extremely sloppy sex anymore.



Aaaaaand we're back. The next mission takes place on the same map. We can still train/organize etc, but we can't leave the Temple area.

Fun Fact: it's taken us nearly 2/3 of the game, but I finally found a spear that's better than the Earth Javelin. That thing lasted an obscene amount of time, though. Good bye, Javelin.

Status Report: Decision Time

Originally, I was going to go ahead and do the second part of this mission and make it a double-length update, but I've decided against that. I've been presented with an important choice and I'm going to leave it up to you to decide. Sheen's unit has a Wyvern in it. He's okay, but we now have a Cockatrice we can use instead. What do you guys say? Should we keep our Wyvern or switch to a Cockatrice?

For comparison:





Note that Jormungandr has better physical defense and slightly better attack. Our Cockatrice can Petrify though; that's instant death. What say you, readers? Chicken or wyvern? I have a feeling that 100% of you who respond are going to want the giant chicken...but I figured we'd vote on it anyway.

Also, don't forget that I'll be picking up an Angel Knight (or two) as soon as possible meaning that we’ll probably have enough flying characters to make two full flying units. It's your call.

Oh, and don't forget that if you choose our Cockatrice, he's going to need a name! Although…I should also mention that I have a tradition of naming at least one character in every game I play after a character from The Big O and I have yet to do that.

In other words, unless if your suggestion is really, truly outstanding there is a 99% chance that I’m going to name our Cockatrice Schwarzvald.

Vote Wyvern!

I'm actually going to vote wyvern. Since petrifying doesn't net you any experience, I think in the long run, the wyvern will be better. Plus dragons>chickens.

I like wyverns.

Jesus Christ. I wanted him called Lichald as a history joke; he's Saladin's equally engrished archenemy after all. Maybe from now on we should make a tradition of Engrished Clusadels from here on in; as you say Likkie here has been abnormally powerful the whole game. Wow, just wow...

Too bad there isn't enough room for Lichald the Invincbre...

Oh, and Wyvren. No experience means a lot. If the chicken wins though, I say we call him Drumsticks.

Sorry it’s been a while since I’ve updated. I have some days off so I’ll have a few updates in the next few days. I’m also extremely surprised that people don’t want the giant chicken. When I said that I didn’t want one, a lot of people said that I should use one…and then I say that I will, and everyone says not too. I don’t get it. Whatever. Here we go; the end of Chapter 3!

The Shit and The Fan 2; Chunky’s Day Out: The Temple of Berthe



This is how this scene starts. If ever there was a game that should be remade with an updated translation, this is it.



For real?! NO WAI

Hugo, Dio, and Goofus are shocked to discover that the so-called ultimate power is the power of the netherworld, and apparently the Progenitor used the power of evil to found Palatinus. Or did he? Well, either way, Hugo mentions that part of the legend of the Ogre Battle mentions something called a chaos gate. It seems like the Temple of Berthe is one of these gates, and the creatures of the netherworld are using it to try and take over the world. It's up to us!

I really like this scene because at one point Goofus starts whining about Yumil. Hugo tells him to shut up because there's fucking demons outside. It’s great to see someone get as sick of Goofus’ pining for Yumil as I am.

By the way, expect to see a lot more demons from now on.



Looks like we've been pushed into the northwest. As usual, we're surrounded and the enemy is on its way. No matter. We'll be alright. We have the power of good on our side!



Lovely. That's a lot of units. Luckily the legion is stationary but there's a few units coming from the north and south.



Nothing really noteworthy has happened yet. Europea is mopping things up in the north, Dio/Sheen/Tim are taking care of the south, and everyone else is waiting at HQ to move on the legion. Now that the attacks in the north/south have been repelled, it's time to take on the legion. Lichald! You're up!



Look at this. I had Beef Jerky chase that flying unit, and he managed to completely bypass the enemy legion. I can go end the level right now if I want. Further proof that legions are absolutely fucking pointless.



Remember I said something about our Swordmasters starting to outdamage our Paladins? Well, this is what I was talking about. I'm going to go into greater detail at the end of today's episode, but here's a little sample. 80+ damage is a lot.



Man, this map is boring. None of the units have put up any real resistance, and we've killed everyone except the legion. BJ is camping near the boss and can end this at any time. This is ridiculously lame for the last battle of the chapter.



Paralyzing an entire unit is so, so satisfying. I'm debating keeping this unit's formation like this. Earthquake is great, but Radiant Gale is the more important ability. It'd be nice to have a little extra power in the form of Ken's Acid Breath, not to mention that having two characters in the front row makes it less likely for physical attacks to be directed at Zinc. Before she would take a considerable beating since she was up front in the center.

Wow, 16 damage from a Supportive Attack? That's the most we've seen so far, but it's still pitiful. The core unit has four groups of Soldiers in it and all they can do is make a measly 16 damage. GOD LEGIONS ARE POINTLESS. I can't get over it.

Hey, let's liberate the stronghold near the Temple. You wanna? Cool, let’s do it.



What the!

Leia calls Lodis fools for trying to control the power of the netherworld. Baldwin and Richard go on about how only the weak use the power of the netherworld, and they're hella strong. They plan to go into the netherworld and claim the ultimate power. They also call Yumil weak for doing the exact same thing, which makes no god damn sense. But suddenly...





Pfft, okay. I've got a legion to deal with and I'm going to have to fight both of them before the game is over anyway. Have fun Gilbert/Destin.



Dude, I said I was going!



What a boring, boring map. Oh, look at the Centurion. He's trying to capture our HQ! How cute.

Fuck him up, Goofus.

Not much left to do now. Let's go mess up some demons.





Yeah, yeah. Sure buddy. Whatever you say.



Dead in one turn. Who will be claiming what, now?

I forgot to take a screenshot of the victory screen, but our reward for this map is a new one-handed axe, the Axe of Wyrm. We'll give that to one of our Hawkmen. We got a pretty good haul this map; a lot of accessories and helms.

*rumble*



They never mention how we do it, though...

Richard: There is no reason for us to stay here any longer. Baldwin, withdraw!
Baldwin: Teleport noise!



Richard: Winds that rage over desolate lands of the netherworld, come together as a violent vortex! Infest!
Gilbert: AAAAARGH!



Infest isn't that strong. Relax Destin.

Destin: The knights...of Lodis...

Umm…good point, Destin.

Narrative: A month after the destruction of the Temple of Berthe...







The Eastern Orthodox Church has joined the party!

This is Thamuz. He's an advisor to Richard. He was in a scene before, but he didn't have any dialouge. You can think of him as Pruflas #2.

Thamuz: If Valeria finds out the secret of the ultimate power, they will gain even more power.

'cuz...you know, 'cuz they'd have the ultimate power. That's way more power than just regular power.

Richard: The western ruins are our only hope...have we heard anything...from Zeda?
Thamuz: She has not appeared since Prince Yumil's disappearance. Don't you think it's foolish to rely on Zeda? We don't know her true intentions. She is one of them, after all...she will never agree with us.
Richard: But, her information was accurate. We can safely trust her information regarding the ultimate power. Even running the risk of her betraying us, there is nothing else we can do. Now that the chaos gate has been destroyed, we have no other source of information.



Would like to hear Thamuz/Richard's backstory in one sentence? Good. Here we go!

Thamuz: You do understand, Richard? We may miss our only chance to reform the Caliginous Order. You will restore the former glory your father established!
Richard: I know. ...I know, Thamuz. If not for you, the house of Glendale would have ended with my father's death. I cannot thank you enough. To repay your loyalty, and for him, I will...



Whoa, what!?



The...The Burger King?! And Zeda?! Who could've guessed that someone in this game would double cross someone else?

It looks like Lodis isn't entirely evil after all. They do want the ultimate power, sure...but they want it for the glory of their nation. Richard wants it to restore honor to his family name, and Lodis refuses to use netherworld troops. They're only...semi-evil. But now it looks like King Procus is totally evil. Or something. Hell, I dunno.



Pruflas' parents apparently had triplets.

Quest: No, we’re just lazy programmers.

Ah. I guess that explains why Kerikov looks exactly the same as the man who tried to murder Yumil as a child, and Godeslas but without the mustache.





*the dead soldier gets back up*

Amrius: Haha...hahahaha!



Richard: Don't bother trying to reason with them! They...have succumbed.
Baldwin: Succumbed...?
Richard: They lost to the Infernal Aura. They have succumbed to the way of the darkness!
Baldwin: What?! That's impossible! They are the Knights Templar. How could their strong will succumb to darkness?
Thamuz: They've been affected by the powerful enchantment of the netherworlders! Its potency is far greater than the fruit of the netherworld! We have underestimated their power...
Baldwin: This is the power of the netherworld...the true power of the Aura...
Richard: Baldwin, get out of here! We cannot afford to lose you. Hurry!!

This whole conversation has been going on with everyone standing around with their swords drawn. After Richard says that, all three of them put their swords away and run out. It's just silly.



Totally.



Odiron: I'm sorry, but it is impossible for us to participate in the revolution.

The Eastern Orthodox Church has left the party.

Odiron: Since everyone here is deeply religious, they are disturbed by the denizens of the netherworld. And they also hold suspicions against the Revolutionary Army. We will keep watch over the Temple of Berthe and the chaos gate, and protect this land while you march to Latium...will you accept these as the sign of our cooperation? This is all we can do at the moment...
Hugo: We understand. Well, Frederick? We can fight without worrying about our back...the Church hasn't become our enemy. We should be grateful.
Frederick: You're right. What is the status of Latium?
Random Valkyrie: We still haven't heard a response from them. Tempers are flaring between Sir Xevec's Southern Tigers and the Central Division near the border, but no major incidents have happened yet.

Hey, wait! Where the fuck is Xevec!? At the beginning of chapter 3, he said he was going to go the Church...and we haven't seen him since! Fuck him; he's lazy.

And who might this handsome devil be?

G&G: Do you have any info on the Radiant Cross?
Random Valkyrie: The Central Division is now under their command. Other than that, everything remains the same. Lodis is busy trying to squash the Bolmaukan uprising.
Hugo: I doubt that Lodis can send reinforcements here. Very fortunate for us. It appears that they have no intention of accepting the peace accord. I think this is the perfect opportunity to confront the Central Division and the Caliginous Order.
Frederick: Yes. This will be a decisive battle. I wanted to resolve this peacefully, but now...we must not let the Central Division and Lodis wield the power of the netherworld. Their actions are neither holy nor noble. The people will surely side with us...*looks at Goofus* You are the main force of this army...

Yeah, I know. I have to do everything around here.

Frederick: The flagbearer of the Revolution. The outcome, the fate of this kingdom is in your hands. Are you willing to take the responsibility?

No pressure or anything.

Goofus: I can do nothing else...but fight. I will fight for the revolution...for the good of all people! I will lay down my life for the future of Palatinus!

This sounds like a propaganda film or something.

Frederick: I see the determination in your eyes. I'll be counting on you, Goofus. We will march on Latium and deal with the Brigade of the Radiant Cross.



General Gallant. Has a nice ring to it, non?

Status Report



Goofus has changed class a second time and is now a General. Generals are unique in that if you put them in the back row, they use special “Blast” attacks instead of magic like most other units. There are two Generals in the entire game, but Goofus is the only one who can choose which Blast attack he uses. Debonair is a General but he can’t change his weapon so he is permanently stuck with Sonic Blast. Goofus, however, can use any Blast he wishes by equipping a weapon of a certain element. Blasts look pretty cool, but to perfectly honest, there’s no reason to ever use them. You only get two per round and they’re weak. Still, it’s something that no one else can do and it’s nice that they made Goofus truly unique.



Take a look at this. This is our best Swordmaster with his basic equipment.



This is Luc, our strongest Paladin. He is also using default equipment. Look at the damage. Our strongest Paladin is slightly weaker than our strongest Swordmaster. But let’s equip some good weapons on them and see what happens. If I give Luc the Evil Blade, his attack jumps to a respectable 39. But if I give Ozzy the Chaladholg, his damage skyrockets to 48. This a little skewed since the Chaladholg is the second best two handed sword in the game, but that’s still no excuse. Our Paladins just can’t keep up with Ozzy and Luigi anymore. We’re still missing the best two handed sword, and once we get that, our Paladins will be a joke in comparison. Luc, our strongest Paladin, can just barely keep up…but others like Badguy and Mario and Troi are in even worse shape. Luckily, Paladins have much better defense to make up for this. But we’re at the point in the game now where Swordmasters really, really kick ass.



And then there’s Wario. I’m sorry guys. I’m really sorry but Wario has to go. He’s a victim of circumstance. If we had gotten a second Valiant Mantle, he would’ve been fine…but he stayed as a Berserker for a little too long. He wasn’t gaining enough at each level up. He can’t keep up anymore. Even if I give him the Chaladholg, he’s still only doing 39 damage. Dragoons should not be doing that little damage. Dragoons are absolute powerhouses, not Paladin-level fighters. We’re going to need to take measures.

Biske will be taking Wario’s place in Lichald’s unit. Ozzy is our new Dragoon. With the Chalaholg, he will be dealing 49 damage. That’s pretty good; almost as good as Lichald (but not quite). We’re at the point where we don’t really need a Pumpkinhead in Dio’s unit anymore. Pumpkinheads are great for weaker units like Goofus and Leia’s, but Dio’s unit can now deal enough damage to the point that they don’t need someone to soften the enemy up for them. Daisy won’t need to heal Pie anymore, so this frees up her healing for our front line units.

Losing Biske puts Tim’s unit in serious jeopardy. But you know what? Maybe that unit should be in jeopardy. Vad and Tim’s damage started dropping off a while ago. Waffles is worth keeping, but pretty soon we can get him a Drakonite spellbook and then he won’t need Meredia as a spellcasting partner (you’ll see why once I get one). So…screw it. Pie is getting knocked out of Dio’s unit, and Waffles will take his place. Tim’s unit is hereby disbanded.

By the way, things aren’t looking so good for Beef Jerky’s unit either. We’ll keep them for now…

The Ogre Battle AV Club

Every wondered what all of the combination spells looked like?

Well wonder no longer!

The Drakonite spells are at the end, so be sure to watch those. We’ll be getting them relatively soon.

That’s all for today. Look for an update sometime later today or (more likely) tomorrow.

The inexplicable uselessness of legions still amazes me. That, and the way that the game clearly wants so bad for you to use them. I can only guess that legions got nerfed in some last-minute balance tweaks and they never went back to check that they were still worth using at all.

We're about to do something new here. I'm skipping three entire maps. No, no...I'm not actually cheating and skipping it. I just won't be telling you all about every detail. I’m going to start doing this more often. We’re at the point where the only people still reading this LP are the ones who have been reading it for some time now. You all know how this game works and you all know how amazing Lichald is. I don’t have that much to say about the gameplay anymore, so I’ll be keeping my comments limited from now on.

The next map has us head back to Gules Hills (the map where we first met Pruflas), and to be perfectly frank, this mission has no purpose for a low-CF playthrough. It's filler in the purest sense of the word. The next mission gets important at the end…but the mission itself is short and boring. Don’t worry; these are just going to be short summaries of these missions.

Well...okay, technically that's what I do with every update. So think of this as a summary of a summary. Of filler.

The Garlic Jr. Saga of Ogre Battle 64: Gules Hills 2



Since this is the final chapter, the game pulls out all of the stops and starts off with having Templar Knights charge us.

Remember how that last battle was supposed to be the last of the Brigade of Radiant Cross? Yeah, well...it now arbitrarily isn't the last of them. Who knew?



THAT is what I'm talking about! Hell yeah, Ozzy! I missed it, but immediately after this screenshot was taken, Ozzy criticalled one of the Dianas for 166 damage. This is what Dragoons are supposed to be like!



I'll never get sick of seeing this name. Dude is guarding the town where we would normally be able to recruit Destin/Gilbert if we had a high CF/all the previous Zenobians. But we don’t, so this map is pointless.

Hey, let’s go visit them!



Gilbert: We're both fine, but...many were injured in the ambush. Listen, Goofus. Someone is betraying us. I've no doubt about it.
G&G: Why!? Why now...
Gilbert: Don't you get it?

Yeah, you idiot! Oh wait. That's me I’m talking about! Hey, fuck you Gilbert!

Gilbert: What have you learned from the battles you experienced? I guess you didn't bother to empathize with the populus...but I can't blame you. You're always in the midst of battle.
Destin: You never change. It's good to be young...Goofus, we're planning to leave the front and return to headquarters. For you to lead confidently, we cannot let confusion grow within the ranks...I'm sorry, Goofus. Forgive me for withdrawing.
G&G: I understand. Please be careful.
Gilbert: Ah, don't worry about us. Take care, okay?



No, don't go! We can still be...ah shit. That's okay. We don't need 'em. Notice that they were a little disappointed with us? Something about not recognizing the needs of the people? Remember that. It'll be important when we get to the “last” level. [/foreshadowing]



That's a really good point.



This is the only hard part of the map. Most of these units spawned out of nowhere. That's okay, Lichald can take care of this! BJ/Zinc/Europea all being there sure helps too. The real danger of this situation is that one of the flying units has a Cockatrice. With some careful retreating and maneuvering we were able to take it out losing only one character to Petrify in the process.

Do you know what I discovered today? If you press L or Z in battle, you can turn battle animations off. It makes everything go a billion times quicker. This is going to cut the time it takes to make an Episode in half! Sure, I'll need to turn it back on so I can take screenshots...but not all battles are important, and we can now essentially skip those that aren’t. Hurray!

By the way, I should mention that Beef Jerky is on permanent HQ defense duty. BJ already has the best whip in the game so he won't be getting too much better than he is now. Rumpus' stat growth has kept up for a looooooooooooong time, but it's finally starting to get a little long in the tooth. Kotake and Koume have always been our worst spellcasters so they'll continue to get everyone else's hand-me-downs. Thanks to Tim’s unit being dismantled, I have enough random units to make a hodgepodge defense unit…but I’d rather put a unit I know I can trust in charge of my HQ defense.

In true Lodis-type-is-a-boss fashion, a bunch of Templars spawned when we got close to the boss.



It didn't work out so well for them. Get 'em, Goofus!



Your name is Rugale THE MARTYR? How do you think this is going to end?



Although this map is boring and simple, it has a lot of great loot. We got several new two handed swords and axes. We missed out on a decent set of armor and the best one-handed sword in the game, though. That might sound bad but the second best one-handed sword is only a single point of damage weaker and it's a reward for beating a mission, so we're still guaranteed to get that. One-handed swords aren't known for their damage anyway.

Have you put it together yet? If you haven't, I should slap you. I've been dropping hints for weeks now.

Yet Another Double Cross: Romulus

Hugo and Goofus talk about how they're worried that Xevec is probably dead. This map is small. Like all small maps, it's overflowing with enemies. Thankfully for us, the starting town sells Sum Mannus (Sum Mannusi?). So now each of our one handed sword users can have a sword at least as good as that. They lasted a long time…but I’m afraid that Blessed Swords are no longer the standard issue sword of the PANTS Platoon.



Once again, we're immediately under attack. A third flying unit is around off screen as well. Thankfully Sheen's got his shit together now, so we'll send him to intercept one. Europea will take the other two. Goofus and Leia need the exp., so they'll be leading the charge down the road with our enforcers (Dio and Lichald) trailing behind.



Man, that's a lot of units! We'll have to split some people up and spread them around...but that shouldn't be that big of a deal. Some of the units have Goblins but there's no Cockatrices or anything dangerous.



Well, we got through the initial onslaught and...well, there's not much else. Goofus and Europea are securing the northern area and that area in the middle is a bit rough. It’s nothing we can't handle though. Sheen can go grab that stronghold out west while everyone else clears up the middle.



Ninjas and Fencers? Are we back in Chapter 1?

I wonder who the boss of this map is?



Holy completely predictable betrayal Batman! You know what, Xevec? I don't like that. Now you fucked up.



Xevec: Don't get me wrong. Independence from Lodis is one of our goals, right?



Xevec: Both the King and the Prince gained the power above all. You know? The 'ultimate power' attained by the Progenitor himself...with that, gaining independence from Lodis is a piece of cake.
Lichald: The ultimate power!? No! You must not use that...it's the power of the netherworld!
Xevec: So what? The only thing that matters is power, nothing else! As long as we get what we want, who cares about the means. If we succeed, we'll join the elite. ...Help me!! For the future of this kingdom!

Help you? Alright, here you go. Axe in the head. That should help, right? Screw you, underdeveloped NPC.

Xevec: You're finished...against the Prince...against the royal blood...you don't have...a cha...nce...

Do you have any idea how many people have said that to me at this point?



There's no post-battle story this time. This is mostly because the next map is Fort Romulus itself. Trippy, huh?

Alternate Reality

It didn’t have to be like this! It could’ve been depressing in a different way. If Dio leaves your group, he kills Rhade and vows to take his place in the Central Division. And can you guess who the boss of this map is if you let Dio leave?

Everyone in the World: Um…Dio?

No, you idiot! It’s a Dragoon!

Everyone in the World: Oh.

A Dragoon who reveals himself to be Dio just before he dies! Ha, just kidding guys!

Everyone in the World: You’re a dick, you know that?

Yeah, yeah. But you’re missing the point here. If we let Dio leave, then we have to kill him! We get a really good sword for doing it though…but still, we have to kill our best friend!

Everyone in the World: Yeah, but he would have left after level six and he never would’ve become our best friend.

You know what? You’re ruining this for me. Now who’s the dick?

Have fun storming the...oh wait, I already used that joke in this LP: Fort Romulus

There's not much to say here. We're storming the Fort! This is a “Siege” mission. It’s an interesting concept: Ogre Battle 64’s macro-style of combat in a micro-size environment. Whoever came up with this is a genius.



We start out just outside the gates and have to have units "dismantle" them by standing near them. We can rest at that gold circle in the middle, and flying units can fly over the Fort's walls if we so choose. There's only three of this type of map in Ogre Battle 64, but they are bad ass. Just wait until you see the later ones!

Before we leave Hugo warns us that since we're inside a fort, we can't use a legion. Don't worry though! Hugo temporarily disbanded our legions so we can use all of our units!

Whew! That's a load off of my mind!



There's a time limit too?! Hugo, you asshole! You didn't say anything about that. Anyway, we're here for one reason and one reason only: Amrius. That pudgy bastard is about to get his.



Well, thankfully time flows a lot slower since we're moving over a much smaller area than we normally are so a time limit really doesn’t mean anything. Dio/BJ/Zinc are going to tear down the right gate while Lichald/Goofus/Europea/Leia take care of the left. Sheen is going to fly over the wall and hopefully not get his ass killed. Let's do this, PANTS Platoon!





The gates are down! Let's go fuck up some pudgy Pri-



Aww man, why does he need to have so many demon bodyguards?



This may look really bad, but only one of these enemy units has a leader. A lot of our units are getting fatigued...luckily, I haven't spent money on god damn anything in this game so I had 60,000+ goth to spend on items last mission. We've got plenty of Angel Fruits (completely relieves fatigue) and Heal Seeds and Heal Packs (they...uh, heal) for everyone. Hurray useless currency in an RPG!



This attack did 2 damage. That's what high magic defense will do for you, I guess. You should learn from her example the entire rest of the PANTS Platoon.

Although a lot of these fights have been "intense". I put that in quotations because while this map hasn't been hard, it has been very annoying. The enemies on this map a lot of Gremlins with them and Gremlins dodge attacks like nobody's business. They don’t really do any damage or much of anything, but you can never hit them. This is annoying for obvious reasons.



That's what you get for dodging my attacks all the time, douchebag!



92 on a critical isn't anything amazing but it's pretty solid considering how awful this unit used to be. Bravo, Peanut!