Wait, Zephiel's the bad guy? Let's Play Fire Emblem: Sword of Seals!

And... pretty much everyone on our team at this point, really.



Elphin gives Lilina another boost so she can duel with a sniper up-close.



Next round, the enemy launches a counter-offensive which turns out badly.



A few nomads spawn on the turn, interestingly enough. Not that they fair any better, but still.



Sleep still doesn't have an effect on Sophia, so the druid's efforts are in vain.



And with that, we've wiped out all of the enemies on the map.

Wait, what?



Yes, you heard me correctly. We're only three turns in and we've killed everyone on the field. Worst. Map. Ever. Of course, since the goal is to "survive" 20 turns, we've got a lot of time to waste killing reinforcements until it ends. Sigh.

A few more enemies spawn soon enough and go after Roy while another moves into Lilina's range.



Since all of the reinforcements spawn from the numerous fortresses across the map, moving our units onto them should put a bit of a stopper on them. Hopefully it should speed things up a bit.



Roy and Wendy take out a few more Seihou on their turn.



A fighter spawns soon after and takes a swing at Elphin, missing entirely.



Right after that, Lilina moves into range and cuts him down.



Roy and Wendy move onto a few more forts to close up a few spawn points.



And here comes the suicidal cavalry now.

Honestly, I can't emphasize enough just how terrible this trial map is. While the last one was clever in an overkill sort of way, this one's just a waste of time all-around.



And we're not even closed to finished, either. God, kill me now.



Yep.



Mm-hmm.



I think that's the last of them.



Yep, it is. This is the second time in a row we've killed all of the enemies on the map. Unbelievable.

Oh wait, nevermind. Here comes another solitary archer.



A few more enemies go on the offensive, but don't fare any better than they did earlier.



And again...



I don't fucking believe this.



More enemies spawn, more of them die. You know, it's pretty much same old, same old.

Whoops, left a few of the forts open. Might as well plug them up before any more enemies get through.



A few turns later and we kill everything yet again. I'm not even joking - this is the worst Fire Emblem map I've played yet.



Ah well, at least it's over with now.



For all our troubles, we manage to pull out with an easy S-Rank - our first one yet, I believe. And with that, I think we can call it a day.

Next time: Ha ha!

Oh god, that map sucked unimaginably. And there aren't even level-ups to keep things exciting! x_x

Trial maps, I think, should be cleared by single characters.

Oh my. It seems like I forgot to post the third part last week. How terrible of me! However, the show must go on, and with that it's time we get down and dirty with the final Trial Map. So let's get to business and protect the...

Trial Map 3: Loser Castle





Like the last map, it's another seige mission where we'll have to hold out against an oncoming horde for 20 turns. The big difference this time however is that we can't let the castle be taken - if an enemy slips by us and takes the gate, we lose the match. As such, we're forced to cluster around the castle proper for the entire battle this time as opposed to spreading out and killing everything on the map.

In addition to that, the game is much more creative with the terrain and conditions this time around, supplying us with numerous obstacles to impede progress as well as forests and forts to act as shelter. Enemies will also be respawning in much larger numbers this time as well, and we'll have to deal with the numerous ballistas around us firing at our team. All in all, it's a pretty well-designed map, and much more interesting than the boring landscape from the previous trial map. Perhaps we'll be able to have some fun this time.



Oh, and because Bongo Bill suggested it and since it's a totally rad idea, Roy here will be going it alone for this battle. Will he be able to hold the fort? Let's find out!



Might as well show Roy's stats before the battle begins. He's just as broken as ever, with great stats all-around and a good selection of weapons. The big problem here is that all of his weapons here have relatively low usages, so there's a good shot he'll have broken them all before the fight's over. Note that this is one of the big reasons why Iron Weapons are so good - a good stock of them are more likely to last you the fight than the more expensive, albeit stronger, varieties.



Nothing really happens for the first few rounds, as the enemy's forces are too far away yet to launch an effective assault. The ballistas start to fire, but Roy's high evasion coupled with the boost from the gate pretty much guarantee that they won't connect.



A few turns later and we have this. Things may look bad at first...



...however, Roy's stats are far higher than the norm for the maps here. So again we're treated to another episode of "The Lycia Alliance Kills Everyone Show".

There are a grand total of nineteen (19) enemy soldiers swarming the gate on the screenshot to the left (twenty-one [21] if you include the ballista archers), and there are more reinforcements on the way. Odds are almost every single one of them are going to die before the fight is over.



And the slaughter begins in earnest. Some of the cavaliers and pegasus knights are equipped with Javelins and other long-range lances, so Roy might have to move in and fight them up-close at some point.



As usual, I think I'll refrain from showing you every single image of the brouhaha but keep in mind that Roy just killed a lot of dudes.



Somewhere down the line, Roy's Killing Edge breaks off the hilt. It's served us well, but now we'll have to switch onto the next weapon.



Namely silver. This is just a handful of the enemies slain by Roy at this point using said weapon, to give you an idea as to how long this goes on for.



Some of the pegasus knights miraculously manage to defy the odds land a few blows on Roy anyway, dealing seven and zero damage respectively. Not that it matters in the end; the castle gate heals whatever damage is dealt to him each turn, so barring the ridiculously unlikely chance of them landing enough blows to finish him off, I'd say this battle is all but in the bag.

After a point, all of the close range fighters die off, so Roy switches to the Light Brand to deal with the javelin-throwers.



Of course, that doesn't stop the remaining guys from moving in to attack anyway, and the ones that don't still survive due to the Light Brand's low attack strength. Magic swords aren't very good in this game, methinks.



Oh well. It's still as one-sided as usual.



After a point, Roy busts out the Sealed Sword to try and par down a few of their numbers more. Things are looking a bit dicey now, as his remaining weapons are looking a little worse for wear.



And we've still got thirteen turns to go. Crud.



But good news! The cavaliers and pegasus knights are all but gone at this point, leaving only a handful of ineffectual fighters to take a shot at Roy.

Whelp, there goes the Silver Sword.



And the Sealed Sword as well! Wait, what am I saying? This is only a trial map; It'll be fixed when we load the file up again.



Aaaand there goes the Light Brand. Roy is now officially defenseless.



Not that it matters because hey! We've won!



And that's it. Another S-Rank to close this LP on. Thanks for putting up with the brief revival, it was fun giving this one more go. But all good things must come to an end eventually, so we'll be closing the book on this game and I'll be moving onto a new, exciting LP to work on later this week. In any case, thanks for reading!

The long-range swords pretty much are not good, excepting Ragnell in 9 and 10.

The new one is out today! So if you're a bit late on getting your next LP started, I understand completely.