93 replies to this topic

[cheetah7071]

What cheetah ended up with is exactly what I ended up with: only Krom and MU got any real experience, MU was maxed out, and Krom was "pretty good." Although his Krom actually seems quite a bit better, I still managed to get through Lunatic without too much trouble. Speed potion's necessary, and using a strength potion on Krom is a pretty good idea as well.

I poured all my late game promotion items into Krom, thinking that the final boss strategy might be to get him to beklow half then reset until aether procs. That didn't end up working, but it's not like anyone else needed the stat boosters.

[Westbrick]

~Chapter 2: Everyone's Dead Edition~


Guess what? Everyone's dead.

...Well, okay, not quite everyone. Krom, Mia, Frederick, Soiree (Freddy's double partner), and Liz all survived, and Vyke would have made it out had it not been for a late-round miss. I tried dozens of times, but neither the wall-off nor the right-side strategies did much for me, so I ended up executing Operation Sacrificial Lamb. To great success minus the unprecedented casualties!

To honor my fallen comrades, I decided to try something novel: good ol' fashioned boss abuse. See that, Lunatic+? I can cheat too, you asshole. Took me over 100 extra turns, but I managed to whittle away his ranged axe weapon. But of course, the weaponless bandit was too stubborn to make his way back to a fortress tile; in fact, once his weapon ran out, he was totally stationary. So I blew over a hundred turns just to get Krom about 75 extra experience.

How appropriate. I hate this game.

TOTAL TURN COUNT
Prologue -> 27 [7 restarts]
Chapter 1 -> 7 [38 restarts]
Chapter 2 -> 118 [62 restarts]

Edited by Westbrick, 13 June 2012 - 11:13 PM.

[Westbrick]

~Chapter 3: lol Counter~


Quick pre-chapter update: I decided that it was unfair, even on Lunatic+, to have any kind of boss abuse. Thankfully, I saved a copied Lunatic+ file from Chapter 2, so I went back and completed that nightmare again. Surprisingly, once you know you're going down the sacrificial lamb route, it's not too terribly difficult, and I got through on my fifth try. And managed to keep Vyke alive, to boot!

Anyway, moving on to Chapter 3.

I had very high hopes for this chapter. Relatively small map, divided into two distinct halves (and you can attack the upper half at your leisure), and most importantly, you recruit Callum aka a walking +5 defensive boost. Unfortunately, it seems like the real brunt force of Lunatic+ has just started up. Chapter 3 marks the introduction of three new skills in Counter, Holy Shield, and Great Shield. The latter two reduce damage done by magic and physical attacks, respectively, by half, which is frustrating but not particularly difficult to overcome. It's Counter that's the real problem. For those who don't know what Counter does: if any unit deals a non-lethal blow to any enemy unit with Counter at one range, that damage is then automatically returned to the attacker. What this translates into is Frederick, doubled with Callum, getting 28 damage done to him by attacking a defenseless archer with a Silver lance. Yeah... this is going to take a while.

Although Ch.3 is clearly a "restart 'til the skills line up" kind of chapter, I still haven't found a way to reliably take down both the left and right battalions. Strategies and prayers welcome.

[Silent Mercenary]

If I read right, you lost Miriel and Viole? The best way to counter Counter is with 2+ range so it doesn't backfire, meaning MU's magic and any other thing that's ranged that you have would be good. Bait them with an unequipped or weak but defensive character, then use 2-range and finish off with anyone else.

I don't recall, but can you access shops by this point (after ch. 2) or just unit selection?

[Westbrick]

Unfortunately, each enemy battalion is comprised of two archers, a knight, and a soldier, and the biggest problem is the archers; even were Viole or Miriel alive, they wouldn't be able to contribute much before biting the dust.

And no, shops don't open up until after Chapter 4 IIRC.

[Othin]

Can't you get to shops after Ch3? Either way, not much help here.

And I thought one of the teams had just one Archer. But that's still one too many even without Counter to make them impossible to fight.

[Silent Mercenary]

A best-case scenario seems to be archers without Counter or a Shield. Attack the 3 characters closest to you on the left side and hope the archer out of your reach (the one guarding the passage to the gate) can't kill anyone.* Then use the 2nd turn to finish the archer and arrange a formation against the right side. That is assuming there are 4 enemies on the left side in the same formations as normal Lunatic.

*If it's the same formation, the only way to reach is by doubling MU to Frederick (selected at top left), move him to 2-range of the archer, switch with MU and attack. The archer probably has 12+ speed so it's easier said than done, but this is just a blindfolded suggestion.

[arvilino]

What I did was depending on how the skills line up, you get Cullum to Frederick while at the same time getting Krom across to in range of the Knight on the right hand side if it doesn't have Luna or Counter, then having Vake double with him.

Frederick!Cullum moves so that he gets attacked by every enemy on the Left hand side on turn 1 with Frederick wielding wielding the Javelin, attacking the Soldier first which took off more than half of it's health(if it doesn't have great shield+) so even if it had counter it can't activate. Everyone else should position themselves so they can attack and finish off the enemies on the left on turn 2(might be tough if you're missing Viole and Miriel).

Best case scenario is Krom is able to kill the Knight on Turn 1 enemy phase and the left hand side is cleared by the end of the turn 2 player phase. Next is another tough part, depending on how many enemies remaining on the right side(4 if Krom Crits the knight or Vake Dual attacked it both times) have Counter and/or Luna I had Frederick!(Cullum or Sumia) to charge unequipped(with the remaining Elixer and a Vulneary) past the enemies in a way that you lure a couple to the right side and a couple(one at a time) to the left and have everyone else deal with one.

The rest isn't too difficult once you've dealt with those first two groups of enemies, just watch out for the Hammer Fighter since it may have absolute hit.

[No. 3]

Have Krom talk to Callum and Double with him after talking. Move Callum next to Frederick and pass him a Javelin and Krom. Attack either the archer/soldier in the left group using the Javelin. Keep everyone else out of range but as close as possible so they can mop up the remaining enemies on the second turn. The casualties you suffered in the last chapter are probably going to bite you in the arse hard, here. With no casualties you have just enough firepower to clean up all the enemies on the left side.

Next you need to intercept the enemies on the right, position Frederick so he's just in range (he should be able to take on an archer + another unit), and repeat, pulling back each turn. You should be able to weaken the enemies enough to finish them off with a concerted attack by the time they chase you to the left side.

If you're having trouble with insufficient firepower because of the casualties, it might be helpful to get creative with partner swaps. For example, Liz can't attack, but if you move her next to Frederick and pull Krom off him, switch and attack, it's as if she got a turn to attack.

Also worth a mention - an amusing alternative strategy is to not talk to Callum and instead use him as an invisible shield that you can pass through but the enemies can't. Though you'll probably get sandwiched anyway, and getting the Javelin on the first turn is much more important.

Edited by No. 3, 21 June 2012 - 06:48 AM.

[Othin]

Do the enemies ignore Callum or something? That's interesting, but doesn't seem too practical.

Edited by Othin, 21 June 2012 - 06:44 AM.

[No. 3]

Yeah, they don't notice attack him.

[Othin]

Ahh Callum, the stealth master.

...Do they notice him after you recruit him?

[No. 3]

They'll attack him as normal if you recruit him. And it's definitely an intentional joke, since enemies attack every other neutral unit in the game.

[Ike of Paris]

This sounds hellish. Has anyone ever beaten this mode without losing anyone?