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Valkyria Chronicles: Gallian Crossfire mod - Temporary Ceasefire


Ertrick36
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Isn't vegetable man bootiful?

Warning: this LP will contain spoilers, naturally, though I won't spoil significant plot elements until I reach them, even under spoiler tags.  I'll go into it assuming some haven't played, and I'll gloss over some story elements so that those following can understand the context behind the stuff I'm doing in the game and so that those curious could hear my thoughts on the game.  If you haven't played this game, I highly recommend that you do, especially if you're a fan of strategy (particularly games like XCOM), WW2 revisionism, or good anime.  (It's only $20 on Steam)

Also, this game contains scenes of violence committed against unarmed civilians (though no blood), political/racial undertones, and otherwise fairly harrowing depictions of warfare and persecution for a game rated T/Pegi 16.  This is balanced out by occasional slice-of-life or otherwise lighthearted moments, but it, by and large, is a game about war.  Don't let the silly image above fool you.  Dude's actually incapacitated and in need of a medic.

Final warning: my posts are all kind of rambling and long-winded.  I apologize; I'm trying my best to improve.

So yes, for my first LP ever on this site, I decided to do a favorite of mine: Valkyria Chronicles.  Except it is now modded, and I won't be using the leaders (Alicia, Largo, and Rosie) at all.

The mod is called Gallian Crossfire.  It makes a ton of changes to the original gameplay elements, due to the original game honestly being kind of a breeze by strategy game standards.  Essentially, it makes the game a shit ton more difficult, sometimes maybe even a little unfair.  I'll list all the specific changes under here, but those who haven't played the game might not understand any of this.  Be warned, it's a fairly big list.

Spoiler
  • Firstly, all imperial regulars will be wearing black instead of brown.  This is little more than a cosmetic change, but it's supposed to indicate that, yes, the mod is indeed installed.
  • Alicia Melchiott, Brigette "Rosie" Stark, and Largo Porter are no longer listed as "officers", meaning you don't need to deploy them for more CPs... and also that you can remove them from your squad now.  However, it is not recommended for one to remove them, as it messes with the game pretty badly, especially if you remove Alicia, and there's not much benefit to removing them anyway.  So they'll remain in my squad, but they won't be used.  They can also die permanently, but it's kind of difficult to actually lose units in this game, even with this mod activated.
  • Rank requirements and rewards have been changed quite a bit to accommodate for some of the other changes; A-rank can now be obtained even if you take your time a bit, and rewards aren't nearly as low for when you receive B or C ranks.
  • Enemies are now roughly as strong as playable units; before, they were pretty weak, and posed little actual threat on their own.  Now even one-on-one encounters with scouts could be fatal.
  • Criticals (that is, headshots) do 2x damage instead of 3x.  They're still pretty good, but this essentially makes body shots a little more viable if you're afraid you miss the head a lot.
  • Defense bonuses are changed; damage from crouching is increased, damage while in a camp has been decreased, and damage while prone is now the same as crouching.
  • All infantry besides scouts and engineers have received AP increases so that they won't lag behind so much.  Now there won't be snipers who can only run, like, a dozen yards before getting tired.  They aren't the same AP levels as scouts, but they're still decent.
  • We have three extra CPs to use to accommodate for the officers' "demotions".
  • Certain hidden characters like Musaad or Lynn will no longer have requirements to obtain.  You can bet your sweet ass I'm getting Lynn as soon as she becomes available.
  • Snipers and AT units now can use interception weapons; basically, enemy snipers will now be able to take potshots at you while you're charging at them, while your snipers won't be able to until either you develop the proper weaponry for them or until you acquire one of the enemy weapons with the "interception" property.  It's gonna be a real bitch to deal with, essentially.  Also, these weapons have infinite ammo, unlike others of their kind, which is why they're able to intercept.
  • Shocktroopers now have a wider radius to intercept incoming enemies so that enemies don't have to be right in front of them in order for them to react.
  • Lancers take more damage from explosives now.  To VC fans, that might sound like they're making lancers entirely useless, but keep reading.
  • Some turrets and other enemies can now damage your tank with bullets without needing to shoot the radiator.  So if you're bulldozing through Marberry, the turrets will actually damage your tanks.
  • Enemy officers (Aces and bosses) have increased stats to make them more formidable.  And likely to make the last few missions a total pain in the ass, I'm sure.
  • Weapon stats have been changed quite a bit.  Among these changes is a huge increase in accuracy.  Your characters no longer suck at aiming like in the original, but the same applies for the enemy.  Lancers are also more accurate, so you'll actually be inclined to use them for more than just stepping through minefields and destroying boss tanks.
  • Really cool R&D changes that makes it fun to experiment with branching research paths (e.g. sniper rifles get "anti-infantry", "anti-tank", and "interception", all of which have dramatically different effects).
  • Scouts and engineers get their own unique armaments so as to differentiate them further.
  • Enemy tank radiators are tougher now, so you can't just have a shocktrooper run behind and shoot the hell out a tank radiator and have it immediately explode.  In fact, it isn't feasible to use any units besides tanks, lancers, or elite infantry with special tank-busting weaponry to destroy tanks.
  • All potentials and orders have been changed for the better; useless potentials are no longer useless, most potentials proc more often (good or bad), and exceptionally bad ones (like the god awful "Humanitarian", which forces the unit to end the turn sometimes if you try to shoot an enemy with them) have greatly reduced proc rates.
  • Some potentials and orders have been outright removed.
  • For the DLC maps in "Behind Her Blue Flame", all of your units are extremely OP, and you'll have an exceptionally easy time crushing them.  Yes, I'll play those maps, but not until we get our first glimpse of the Valkyrur warrior in action.  I'll also do the other DLC map, but only after a certain point in the game.  I don't know if I'll do the DLC skirmishes, and there's no way in hell you can convince me to do Hard EX mode with this mod installed.

With all these changes, it now really does feel like you're just this ragtag militia from a technologically poor country fighting a military superpower.  If you want this mod for yourself, just look for it under VC's "Community Guides" segment of Steam.  Or just look it up on Google; if you've found a page on Steam titled "Gallian Crossfire rebalance mod", then you've found the right one.  The mod was created by a user named busards.

Table of Contents (should link directly to each corresponding post):

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Without further delay, let's get started:

Spoiler

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So here's the title screen.  There's an opening before this, but it has some... spoilery stuff.  Though it is quite a nice cutscene...  You can view it on the Steam page.

Also, I'm so sorry that I left the FPS counter on.  The next time I play this, it'll be gone, I swear.  But the next couple chapters will have this ugly thing at the top left corner in all my screenshots.

I'll split these up into three segments: story intro, gameplay, and closing scene.  If there are points where there are too many screenshots, I might have to split up the segments, and it won't always be consistently like this, but I'll make sure you know what you'll open with each of these spoiler tags.

Story Intro

Spoiler

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Like I said, this is when it takes place.  I assume it's roughly the same as the calendar we in the west use; it does have all the same months and roughly the same number of days in a month.  That being said, I think the tech in this game ranges from post WW2 and pre WW1.  I'll explain that eventually.

So there's a map behind this date.  What are these places?  Who are the big players?  Why does it say "European" instead of "Europan" like it's supposed to?

Spoiler

I actually never noticed that until now.

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So here we have the East Europan Empire.  Basically what you'd have if Nazi Germany was actually from Russia.  And boy are they quite fascist, alright.  Does the sun ever set on this empire, though?

People in this game usually refer to them as "Imperials" or "Imps" for short.

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And these guys - who share the name of an actual oceanic body, oddly enough - are obviously supposed to be the "allies".  Except they're also kind of a bag of dicks.  But hey, at least they support Democracy, amiright, fellow 'Muricans?

They're called "Feds" for short, though we won't see too much of them.

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Ragnite is...  It's essentially fossil fuels, nuclear power, and magic all combined into one convenient package.  People use it to power their homes, their vehicles, and they use it for medicine or as a weapon.  Really, you aren't anything without Ragnite in this world.

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That's a hell of a way to talk about a goddamn war starting.  This isn't a sport!  People are actually dying!

Anyway, basically the continent was split into two, which marked the beginning of a new era known as EWII.  Snake Eat your heart out.

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These two superpowers decided to fuck with Sweden.  This was a bad decision.

They're a neutral country that wants no part in this conflict.  But the big boys find them too tempting a target...

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And the reason why they're messing with this country is, of course, 'cuz it's got fossil fuels.  So wait, is this Sweden or the Middle East?

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You thought I was kidding when I said this was Sweden?  Look at it!  Even the name of this town sounds Swedish.  To me, anyway.

It's not only a neutral country, it's also a fairly rural one.  Though it does contain various other terrain besides just lush fields.  You'll see deserts, forests, mines, and rivers in this game, and there are snowfields in the second game.

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You know, I really do appreciate just how ordinary they make the people look in this game.  No crazy, spikey hair; no wild and nonsensical outfits; the most ridiculous hairstyle in this shot is the little girl with twintails, which isn't even notably unbelievable, though it is undeniably anime.

Anyway, if you'll notice the truck in the background, it has a noticeable glowing blue object attached to it.  That's a Ragnite radiator, a feature you'll see on every vehicle in this game.

These people are evacuating from the town due to the imperial invasion.

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And this guy's going the opposite way.

He's none other than our main guy; Welkin Gunther.  What's he doing out here, you ask?  Something cool?  Something daring?

Well...

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He's talking to fish.  And then he sits down to sketch them in a notebook.  Yeah, there's no better way to establish this character than to have him sit along the side of the road, talking to and drawing fish while he's supposed to be evacuating.

He's basically nature boy.  How does he go from animal sketch artist to militia squad leader?  This question has a surprisingly sensible answer.

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But first, he's interrupted by an unmistakably anime girl with a rifle.  She's the secondary protagonist of this game; Alicia Melchiott.

Right now, she's part of Bruhl's town watch, which is the group the other two guys work for.  Don't worry about those guys, by the way; they're inconsequential.

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She has a point...

Though unfortunately, this point is used as reasoning for Welkin's arrest since she thinks it's odd that some guy would just be sitting by a riverside sketching in a book while everyone's on evacuation notice.

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Pictured: me when my cats puke after eating tuna.

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But never fear, 'cuz a loli's come to save our hero from the dastardly clutches of a girl who merely misunderstood the situation.

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So as has been said twice, this is Isara Gunther.  She's a Darcsen.

The Darcsens are like a mix of gypsies and Jewish people.  Long ago, some terrible calamity happened.  Some nuke-sized explosions devastated certain regions of Gallia, essentially.  People blame "Darcsen black magic" for it, and now Darcsens are persecuted, being berated and bullied by people in more open-minded countries, and outright forced to slave away in dangerous mines under the most prejudiced lands.  And the "work camps" in this game that the Imperials put Darcsen in are quite similar to the concentration camps of Nazi Germany.  You can usually tell who's a Darcsen by their hair color, eye color, and attire.  Most modern Darcsens are quite peaceful - in VC2, it's even stated that it's "the Darcsen way" for their people not to fight back when attacked - and they swear that the "Darcsen Calamity" myths are false/groundless.

Anyway, Isara's an adorable little girl who must be protected at all costs.  Okay, not quite a little girl; she's sixteen, but still...

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Cheeky...

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Pictured: me (on the left) and the author of this mod (on the right) gleefully awaiting the onset of my suffering at the hands of said mod

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Suddenly... well, yeah.  Gunfire.

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I wasn't kidding when I said this game can be brutal.  The first cutscene of the game depicts soldiers gunning down innocent civilians and exploding trucks with grenades.  Also think the little girl might've died as well, though we don't ever see it.

Also wait a minute, these soldiers are wearing brown armor, not black armor like they're supposed to...

Spoiler

Actually, I installed the mod fine.  The thing is, these cutscenes were pre-rendered.  In fact, they run at 30 FPS.  This is because they were borrowed from the PS3 version.

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Shit, girl, even if I couldn't, I'd still take the damn thing.

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Oh, right.  You see, Gallia forces everyone to attend a military academy, where typical anime high school hijinks and slice-of-life moments happen.  No really; play the second game, and you'll believe me.  Once they survive that, they're eligible to be conscripted into Gallia's Militia.  I say "conscripted" because... well, you'll find out.

Anyway, Welkin takes the gun, and a battle ensues...

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... against the tutorial.  Curse you, tutorials!

Actually, this is a regular occurrence.  You'll frequently be brought back to the book menu after cutscenes.  Sometimes it serves to help you prepare for a battle; most of the time, it's just a kind of jarring interlude.

Regardless, tutorials will be continuing to show up as we move along.  Even outside of the prologue chapters.  Though they won't show up every time we're brought back to the book menu.

Gameplay

Spoiler

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Alright, we got our mission; kill the enemy dead.  Good.

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Your typical victory and defeat conditions.  Note: when a character "dies", they aren't permanently lost.  When they lose all their HP, they just sort of ragdoll and wait for you to pick them up; they only permanently die when an enemy picks them up instead, though in the base game this excluded the "officers".  But if it says you can't let a certain character die, it does mean you can't let them reach 0 HP.  This is a special condition, which is denoted by it being written in red, I believe.

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So like the strategy games you know and love, this is a turn-based strategy game.  You get Command Points ("CPs" for short) that you can use to order your troops around during your phase; the same applies to the enemy, though CPs are mostly irrelevant for them.  When the CPs are depleted, you can no longer do anything and must end your turn.

As you saw in the previous shot, we have 20 turns to complete the objective; that's more than enough.  Turn limits are always imposed, though for the most part you aren't in any real rush.  Certainly not here, anyway.

So here, we get three characters to control.  Let's take a look at them.

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Oh, but first, let's have Alicia interrupt us to give us another tutorial.

Sometimes, you'll have one of the characters say something along these lines and then be given an info dump as a way to exposite tutorials.  Other times, the tutorials will just happen out of the blue.

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So first we got Welkin.  He has the most HP and AP, but he is unarmored, and has no equipment besides that rifle that Alicia picked up from the dead town watchman.

Everyone here is a scout; they use basic armaments, including semi-automatic rifles (I call them "scouting rifles").

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Next is Alicia.  She has slightly less HP and AP, but has a full armament; grenades and Ragnaid.  She even has armor, though as you can probably tell, it sucks.  Still, I think in spite of that big fat zero under "defense", I think it might give her slightly more protection than Welkin's... lack of armor.  She also seems to be a tad bit more accurate than Welkin, but I'm not sure.  If so, it's probably because she actually has a level, whereas Welkin doesn't.

Later on, she'll become one of the three "officers" that we'll not be using, but for now, I don't really have much of a choice.

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And finally, we got "Town Watchman", who is our weakest link.  He is inconsequential; we'll never even see these guys again after this segment of the game.  But still, they'll have their uses at some point, but not this mission.

I did not show the stats of the enemies.  That's because in all honesty, the stats don't say all that much that you can't just witness.  I'd only show the enemy stat screens if they're aces or bosses.  And with that said, I won't show the actual stat screens of allies either.  However, there are certain things I would like to show in regards to the allies, but I don't have access to the potentials screen yet, so that'll have to wait.

Rest assured, everything's properly balanced to be oh-so-hellish on me.

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So this is what the map screen looks like.  Blue is us, red is enemies.  The usual.  Except in this game, instead of moving a unit only once, we can move any of the units as many times as there are CPs remaining (indicated at the top via those badge icons).  Though if you move a unit multiple times, they'll have slightly less AP every time you use them until the next turn.

Right now, I'm selecting Alicia to charge at the enemy to the north.

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But first, lemme give you another tutorial.

Really, I wish I could turn these off.

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During the unit command screen, you directly control a character.  Not on a grid or anything; the distance you can travel is measured by the AP bar at the bottom.  As you can imagine, once the bar is devoid of all orange, you can no longer move.  You can also only take one action; you can either fire the weapon, throw a grenade, or use other items.  Unless you have OP potentials, like this certain Darcsen lady I know.

Anyway, I reach the sandbags, and-

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Goddamn, another friggin' tutorial.

By the way, I'm omitting these because I'm already explaining things that the tutorials tell you about.

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So for one thing, I have Alicia crouched behind sandbags.  You can only crouch or go prone in context sensitive places.

Another thing, when you're ready to attack, you'll go into aim mode.  During that, enemies won't attack you at all, though you yourself can't move.  But you're free to aim wherever you please.  Hell, you can aim at that damn tree off to the right if you really wanted to.  No, I'm not doing that, you cheeky bastards out there sitting at home.

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Also, these stats at the top indicate how many shots it'll take to kill the dude (under "to kill") and how many shots you'll fire (under "shots").  The other three indicate the nature of your attacks, but those aren't too important for now.  All this is sorta self-explanatory anyway... even if it's all kinda illegible.  The shots to kill decreased between me aiming at the body and at the head because, you guessed it, the head is a weak point.

The orange circle indicates Alicia's firing pattern; each shot has a chance of firing off into nothingness.  It's kind of random, but basically the smaller the circle, the easier it is for her to hit the enemy.

If this was the original game, that circle would be around twice or three times as large.  Characters would even say "please hit!" sometimes, as if the game itself was indirectly mocking you.  Actually, they still say it.

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Five shots... er, not quite enough to kill anything that moves, but pretty damn close.

So 'Licia got three headshots in.  That's pretty nice for the beginning; if this were the vanilla game, I'd be lucky if she got even one at this range.

Anyway...

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So after you shoot at the dude, if he's still alive, he'll counterattack with the same amount of shots as you.  Luckily Alicia's taking cover behind sandbags, so she's not really in danger of getting hit... at all.

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So that loser didn't hit Alicia, but because he's now facing her, I'm gonna just end the turn abruptly.  This is typically a good idea.

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Your turn, Welks.

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Ow, ow, ow, ow!  *Cue Spongebob "My leg!" audio clip*

So when you're running in range of an enemy and they see you, they'll shoot at you while you're running.  The dude hit Welkin in the leg in this shot, which is sort of difficult to see with the AP bar in the way...

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The guy only hit Welkin twice... and Welks's pretty much got this one in the bag.

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Cold-blooded killer

Every time you kill an enemy, they'll do a victory pose and cheer.  The pose actually changes depending on whether the unit is standing or crouching.  It certainly adds a bit of character to the game.

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Alicia, what the hell are you doing?  Swiggity swooty?

Anyway, the enemy's dead, and Welkin's got plenty of AP left, so let's get moving.

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We'll go across this bridge, and-

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Now you tell me about how to use cover???  Why not when I was behind the freakin' sand bags?

...  Moving on.

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We want to be sittin' pretty behind these sand bags.  Welks's got enough to make it, though barely...

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Ooooh, if he wasn't crouched, he'd have received extra damage.  When you crouch, you not only receive less damage, but headshots don't count as crits.  This applies to enemies as well, which will make the next chapter kind of annoying.

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>End Turn

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'Licia's turn next!  Screw you, Town Watchman.

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Holy shit, OW!

Looks like a lance pierced her chest!  Remember, kids; guns hurt a lot.

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Die!

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Four perfect shots.  Followed by an unnecessary fifth shot.

I'd call that a productive turn.

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Let's finish here...

It's generally a good idea to have your units face the enemies when they finish a turn; that way, they can retaliate.  That being said, it can be tactically advantageous in some cases to have your units face away from the enemy.

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Now comes the enemy phase!

I'm sorry the neat little text above and below the banner are pretty much illegible, but if it'll make you feel better, I barely get to read them myself.

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So the enemy's gonna send their one guy to try to take down three scouts who've already killed two of his men.  Hey, you're determined, bud.  Don't let anyone tell you to stop chasing your dreams.  Mostly because you're gonna have to be chasing them in hell like your friends!

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We don't actually get to see things from the soldier's perspective often; that's reserved for special characters.  Instead, we either get to look at the map as they scurry about when they're hidden, or we watch them from the perspectives of allied soldiers who can see them.

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Just like the enemy, your units will take potshots at any enemy units that come within range as long as they're actually facing the enemy.  However, unlike during the player phase, as soon as the enemy starts aiming, your units stop abruptly, even if they were about to fire a shot.  It's a slight advantage the enemy receives.

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Welkin, is your head made of metal?  That shot should've killed you.

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Your units also counterattack if they can.  Though you can't choose where they aim; they'll always shoot center-mass.

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Damn, talk about a smoking gun...  Perfect way to show the final results of a shoot out for this LP, I say.

Welkin hit a few times, but that obviously wasn't enough to kill the dude.

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Then the enemy, with two CPs, decides to do...

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Absolutely nothing...

Yes, most enemies will move only once.  Some enemies are programmed to "pace" back and forth in a pattern a few times, which I imagine is supposed to be something akin to a patrol, I guess.  This makes enemy CPs almost entirely irrelevant because they'll often save up enough CPs to move all their units every turn.  Also, a lot of enemies don't do anything until you are in range of them.  Though enemy commanders will always use all the orders they have access to at the beginning of every turn, but that won't be something we have to deal with until much later.

So anyway, I'm moving 'Licia.

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Well, I could try shooting at him from here... but that's such a small chance of actually hitting him.  So I'll have 'Licia move in closer.

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When you're moving from cover, it's good to A) crouch until you're ready to move to the next place of cover and B) wait until the enemy is reloading before moving.  Obvious stuff, but it helps to keep it in mind.

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Aaaaaannnnnd last enemy dead.  YAY!  HOO-RAY!  You can't stop the signal, baby!

However... though this last picture might seem a bit... silly, the game takes on a much more somber tone for achieving this victory.

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Really, now?  Are you sure?

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Results screen!  Because I didn't finish in one turn, I got a B.  I could get an A if I really wanted to, but eh...

Closing Scene

Spoiler

Now that we got that dirty business out of the way, let's see how our heroes celebr-

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Oh...  Just from these shots alone, you can already tell what tone this scene's gonna take.  Jesus...

Too bad that stupid little FPS counter is there in the corner.

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That's never not an awkward question.  Or at least it's always awkward for those who aren't criminally insane.

Quote

Alicia: We'll bury them.

I won't scatter your sorrow to the heartless sea. I will always be with you. Plant your roots in me. I won't see you end as ashes. You're all diamonds. We'll make diamonds from their...

Oh sorry, wrong game.  On a side note, because you use diamonds as currency in MGSV, aren't you technically selling your deceased comrades' corpses when you use GMP?  I'm asking for a friend.

Quote

Alicia: I'll do whatever it takes to protect the people of this town.  *Short pause*  I'll do it.  Even going to war, I'll do it.

This is a very solemn game.  I mean, it's very solemn.  Like I described earlier, there are moments where things lighten up, and the game overall has a fairly optimistic outlook, but for the most part, you'll either get scenes like the one with Imps slaughtering innocent civilians, or you'll get ones like this.  It's not even particularly pacifist; it just tells a story about people who want to protect their friends and neighbors even if they don't really want to fight and kill people.

It's part of what I really loved about playing this game for the first time, and in some way, me playing it now as a 22 year-old man, and with me actually commentating this time around, it's like I'm experiencing it all over again.  It's also why I sometimes criticize the sequel, which opted to embrace a more "anime high school" approach to the overall narrative.  But I'll save that for another time...

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There's also some symbolism in this game.  Welkin describes that these little white things flying from Alicia's hand are "seeds from the Lion's Paw".  "Small, simple, and strong..."  If I recall, it's supposed to represent Gallia, and its people giving new life after the conflict.  You come back to this area eventually to find some new Lion's Paws growing; it's quite sweet.

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Quote

That it wasn't all just people killing people.  That even in war, there was also new life.

I want to insert a joke along the lines of "people die when they are killed" or "can love bloom on the battlefield", but this moment is deserving of actual respect.

It's Alicia talking this time around.  Yeah, this is pretty heavy.  And sadly relevant in this day and age...  Though an uplifting fact is that statistically speaking, she's right about there being new life, even in war.

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War... war either has changed or never changes, but the point is that we've got a war on our hands.

Quote

Though it was only a small front in a massive continental assault, what followed would prove that a tiny nation could best a military giant.

Moral of the story: Don't.  Fuck.  With.  Sweden.

Quote

These events would tell a story of tragedy hidden in the mists of time.

This... really does go on, doesn't it?

Quote

A story of courage and trust, of persecution and hate...

This is the reason not all of this stuff is screenshots.

Spoiler

It was, like, 95 or something.

Quote

And of love blooming, even through the flames of war.

Are you kidding me?

I was joking!  Come on.  Though I've played this game before, there's a lot of little details I've forgotten.

Of course they couldn't quote MGS verbatim, so it's worded a bit differently, but it's still the same premise.  Except this time, the love actually works out in the end.

Spoiler

Poor Hal.  Even through incest, he couldn't experience true love for long.  I'd almost feel sorry if I didn't hate his good for nothing Dad so much.

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And by "those who died", you'd be referring only to enemies and plot deaths, 'cuz I'll be playing this the same way I play FE; no deaths for any of my playable characters.

Also, remember the name "Irene Koller"; like I said, we'll actually see this lady in-game at some point.  She won't just be a floating voice expositing plot.

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And title drop.

What a way to start a game, eh?  I mean, this being a tutorial and all joking aside, it did a good job of setting the overall tone of the game.  A little bit of light humor to start, wanton slaughter later on, and a somber closing to this tiny slice of the game.

 

EDIT: I'm not gonna be posting here for a bit.  With the release of VC4, and my desire to play it, I'm reticent to be playing two Valkyria Chronicles games simultaneously.  And moreover, I plan to actually LP VC4.  So in the end, to save me from a possibly staggering workload and to keep me from getting burned out on this game, I will keep this LP on hold until I've thoroughly finished VC4 (beaten all the main chapters and DLC).

I will not end this LP yet, though.  I promise that unless something happens to me (life's unexpected, what can I say?), I will ultimately finish this LP all the way through.  I'd say at the latest, I'll be starting back up in early January.

Edited by Ertrick36
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I have only played the PS3 game a few times and I had no idea this mod exists for the PC version. That is cool then :D

I remember I tried my best at getting the highest grades before realizing one simple rule: Let Welkin pretty much order Alicia or a good unit that they are a god and nothing lesser. Welkin can do that. The rest was a freaking order boosted unit running through a war zone right into the enemy base and conquering it on their own. Minus a couple of missions where you could not godmode with orders that much.

Once I found that out, any sense of planning stopped and my war tactics were forever recorded as the dumbest suicide missions that worked flawlessly.

Edited by MadJak91
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I of course will be supporting the noble forces of the Empire in their fight against the fiendish plutocrats of the Atlantic Federation and Gallia

Anyway, really enjoy this game, glad to see an LP here; screenshots were always more suited for strategy games, IMO.

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Not that long ago I got the remastered version on ps4 and I've enjoyed it so far (especially since Laura Bailey is a VA for a primary character in this game) I haven't beaten it yet but I'm what you'd say a good ways through the game (I'm on the level after you get the smoke upgrade for the Edelweiss).

While I doubt I will get the mod as ps4, I still look forward to seeing this as it sounds like it'll be super hard (especially since scout rushing isn't going to be possible like at all) and I wish you luck!

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@MadJak91 @LucarioGamer812 Yeah, the scout rushing and other cheese tactics won't be possible, lmao.  I remember rank was essentially just how LTC-elite you were, and here it still is, but if you try to send a scout anywhere out in the open, they'll be dead in, like, seconds.  Even two enemy scouts can bring them down to half health kinda easily.  It also makes all the other classes much more viable with AP increases and substantial improvements to their armaments.

@blah the Prussian I do think with the right personality and good editing you could make a good video LP, but screenshots are definitely not a bad choice.  I remember trying to watch one of my favorite streamers play FE Awakening... couldn't even make it past the second chapter; everything he did ticked me off.  Doesn't help that he is generally bad at games...

And never fear, because I will be playing as the empire at some point so that I can squash the impudent farmhands of Gallia and secure the front for a glorious invasion.

Anyway, I'm gonna have to split things up a bit because there's a lot of gameplay.  So what I'm gonna do is I'll have the story segment in its own post, then however many gameplay segments it takes to get through, and the closing scene will also get its own part.  I think I'll probably do things like this from now on anyway, because even in spite of my best efforts to abridge gameplay stuff, I still have to take a lot of screenshots just to depict what's going on.

Don't worry, though; they won't be spaced out too far between one another.  I'll have the first part of the gameplay up almost immediately after this part, and the second part will be very abridged due to it being where most of my failures actually happen.  And the next chapter shouldn't take as long because it's actually a lot easier.

Chapter 1-1: Slice-of-Life Exposition

Spoiler

The previous chapter was the Prologue, so that's why this is "chapter 1".

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Hey, what a surprise!  Thought that was the last we'd see of those soldiers here in Bruhl, did you?  Think again.

Story Intro

Spoiler

Get ready as our heroes gear up for...

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... some slice-of-life moments!

Unfortunately, because this LP is all about pain and suffering, I'll only be briefly glossing over this stuff, only showing stuff that's important.  Also because it is sorta filler, tbh.

Spoiler

Actually, this scene isn't too filler-y; it does have some lore and whatnot.  But still; there's a lot I can cut out and abridge.

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Alicia bids fairwell to these two.  Clearly we'll never see her again throughout the entire game...

Anyway, Welkin and Isara go home so that they can get ready to pack for the long haul to...

I honestly don't know.  I think everyone is heading for Randgriz, which is the capital of Gallia.  But then wouldn't that city have a serious refugee crisis on their hands?  There'd be a metric kiloton of people sleeping on the streets and city walls, security would be strapped trying to juggle processions and guarding the city... it'd be pandemonium!

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That isn't enough time to pack, you fools!  The plot demands that you leave right now.

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Suddenly this older lady shows up.  You get a full body shot of her, and based on appearances alone, you can gather one thing; this lady's pregnant!  And she's very late into her pregnancy cycle, to boot.  Gee, that won't be a problem for the battles to come, will it?  She swears it'll be fine 'cuz she's had four other children before.

Martha Stewart here is the caretaker of Welkin and Isara.  Not the mother; just the caretaker.  The sad thing is, the Gunther siblings' parents are dead at this point.  More on that when it comes.

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Well, Isara and I and anyone with good taste in names calls you "Welks", which isn't too far off.

Seriously, though.  That is weird.  Also wow, I'm the same age as this guy!

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Back so soon?  As one would assume, killing and warfare is only a secondary job for most of these people; Alicia has, for much of her adolescent life, been a baker for the town of Bruhl.  She's the real bread winner of not just whatever family she has, but for the entire town.  And right now, she's earned some bread for Welkin's family, 'cuz... well, why not?

So they take this neighborly acquaintance-yet-also-hero into their home for a chat...

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Marth here mistakenly believes that Welkin's gained a new girlfriend in the form of Alicia.

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But Alicia smacks him down into the friendzone.  Even though I honestly don't think Welkin really cares at this point anyway.

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Also, now we learn a bit about Welkin's father, who, as far as we know at this point, is only called General Gunther.  Basically, he was the true hero of the first Europan War.  Though merely a member of Gallia's regular militia, everyone in Gallia reveres him because of his accomplishments in EWI.  Also... he kinda looks like a soldier from the American Civil War.

The guy on the left, meanwhile, is engineer Theimer, the guy who worked on that souped up tank behind them.  He was a notorious engineer, having fixed up not only that tank, but a lot of modern Gallian weaponry such as the lancaars all militia lancers use.  He is also the actual father of Isara.

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She's only the adoptive sister of Welkin.  General Gunther took her in because he was very close friends with her father.  Makes sense, given that she's a darcsen and Welkin... well, isn't.  Nevertheless, both of them are the children of some legendary figures.  But they won't be dragged into war and imposed great responsibility due to their ties, right?

All their parents are dead now, so they're under the care of Martha.  At least Welkin's old enough that he could probably support his family, and I'm sure in this day and age Isara could work at some child labor factory if push came to shove.

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Anyone care to submit this one to the "Anime Screenshots Without Context" page on Facebook?  He's already got two pics from VC.

Anyway, after this slice-of-life and lore exposition, Welkin takes his friend Alicia out for a stroll... for some reason.

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Implying it was much of a town to begin with...

I'm sure the three people we saw who died already contribute to, like, 10% of the population of this town.

But hey, at least the Imps will have a nice little place to chill out and chat with farm animals and fish when they take it over.

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No they won't.

After we leave Bruhl, we'll never see the town watch ever again.  Even when we actually do come back here.

Anyway, our heroes ponder about joining the war effort.

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Actually kind of a nice sentiment.  Really, we all should aspire to give back in our own way, shouldn't we?

Though...

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unfortunately...

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Welkin's not gonna have much of a choice for now...

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What in the hell?  Is that a goddamn missile?

Well whatever it is, it destroyed the windmill, and now more Imp brutality ensues.

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Oh no, the Imps are using the mill against its own people!

Also, some of these guys aren't carrying the rifles we're used to, but rather small guns that look like submachine guns.  Well, they're another class of soldiers I'll touch upon later.  But they certainly aren't scouts, I'll tell you that much.

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What about the people literally DYING, though?

Actually, he already saw some people die, and he was relatively unphased.  Maybe he doesn't actually care about humans because humanity is honestly kind of fucked up at times.  I'm sorry, I'm painting Welkin in a very unsympathetic light, and it's kind of unfair.  He might not even be able to see the people dying from where he is.

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So yes, here's our next battle; charge at the mill, taking down anyone who gets in our way.  Sounds simple, right?

Ahahahahahahahahahahaha... wrong.  So, so very wrong... *cries*

 

 

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Chapter 1-2: Scouts Actually Kind of Suck This Time (Gameplay)

Spoiler

Alright, mission briefing time!

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I love the aesthetic behind these maps, btw.  Just like a war strategy map.

So basically, we gotta take out the enemy leader.  We'll be able to tell who they are by whether or not they have the officer badge.  The dude's basically sitting in a corner behind sandbags while the others are in a direct path to him.  We only have one way to go, so naturally we'll be killing everyone we can.

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Oh, right.  The game gives us a tidbit of advice.  There's just a single guy hiding around the corner of a building, and he pops out every enemy turn to take potshots at our units.

So what's difficult about this map, you ask?  What caused me to get stuck on this for about half an hour?  Well, you'll have to wait a bit.

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Conditions.  Even though the defeat conditions are the same as the last map, the text is no longer in red.

And again, the Town Watchman we'll have with us is inconsequential.

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Yeah, yeah, I get it.

So the end goal isn't so much defeating the Empire here, but more mitigating civilian casualties.  Sounds like a perfectly reasonable thing to do for a town watch in this kind of situation, but I'm surprised these average Joe's and Jane's aren't already cutting their losses and saving themselves.  They're nothing if not courageous and selfless.

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This is what the situation looks like.  We can only see two of them, but there are more, either in hiding or way back.

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You know what?  You're expendable.  You can go first!  This turns out to be a very bad decision.

Spoiler

Also, you remember how the Town Watchman and Alicia have Ragnaid, but Welkin doesn't?  Well, I knew the Town Watchman did, but forgot Alicia did.  This contributes to my failures later this map.

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Go, expendable generic soldier!

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Shoot to kill!

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Instead of stopping, I take this guy even further beyond... while the second enemy's still shooting.

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Luckily, as soon as he was completely over the barrier, the enemy stopped.  You can tell because the barrel of his gun is smoking.

Also, here you can see just how much damage just mere scouts do against your units.  So no longer will you be able to rush and capture enemy camps with bullet sponge scouts like in the vanilla game.

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Ending his turn right here, and...

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Go throw some bugs at him, Welkin!

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This dude takes about 12 shots to kill while he's hiding behind that little sandbag of his.  He's a real nuisance.

Also, again, I'd like to point out how much damage these chums are doing against my characters.  I am not the best at this game, but I'm also not very terrible; these guys are just that much better now.  In the vanilla game, I could probably just run up to them without a second thought and slaughter them.  Now I have to actually use cover.

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End turn...

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Now for 'Licia.

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Okay, Alicia's either pretty lucky, or she's nimble as hell, 'cuz this guy only managed to hit her once during the course of her actions.

There's gotta be some hidden stats I don't know about regarding her.

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Now we wait to see what the enemy will do...

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So that's where one of those "hidden enemies" were; not too far from sandbag dude!  Anyway, he's running right out into the open, so...

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Everyone takes potshots at the poor guy.

Then again, if you're stupid enough to run out into the open like that... then I guess you could say it's just natural selection running its course :B):

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Of course, the dude didn't die, but just as the enemy scouts are now dangerous, so too are our scouts.  It's because weapons deal more damage, but scouts are naturally a bit feeble because... well, they're supposed to be scouts, not front-line assault units.

Anyway, dude's gonna be shooting our town generic here.

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Results of the gunfight...  Watchdog here really is taking a beating...

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And there was another guy hiding behind the buildings to the northeast.  Everyone except Alicia gets a shot in.

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Damn, still hangin' on!  You go, buddy!

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Again, everyone takes potshots.

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Oh...

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Dude doesn't even scream.  He died a hero ;_;7

The screen slowly fades to black as we say farewell to our dearly depart-

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Oh...

Apparently Town Watchman is immortal.

He's secretly one of the Valkyrur of legend.

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Well, crap!  Just down to these two, now.  It's okay, 'cuz they're better anyway.

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Actually a very poorly timed move; as you can see in the picture on the right, the guys are ready to fire while Alicia's in the middle of No Man's Land.

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What I'm wanting to do here is having her shoot the guy immediately in front of her while also aiming at this other guy.  However...

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I only manage to hit the other guy, and now Mr. Sandbags here is pelting Alicia with bullets at point blank range :facepalm:

So what do you think I do after?  Just sit tight and have Welkin finish the dude off?  Have Alicia take another turn to kill him and then move up?

Heheheh... of course not!

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I charge towards the next set of sandbags like a goddamn idiot!

It's a wonder I ever completed this game :facepalm:

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Go, Welkin!

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Hey, that's unfair!  I just started aiming at you, you dick!

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> Eight shots to kill

> He only shoots five times

> Welkin isn't crouching

:rolleyes:

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:awesome:

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:blink:

Welkin dodged!

He learned from Piccolo!

'Atta boy, Welkin.  You're the gift that keeps on giving.

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But of course, I myself had to stifle Welkin's ingenuity by having him do the exact same thing I had Alicia do.

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Though remember, I still have three CPs, so I could take one more turn to kill this guy.

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Turn around, and then wait for the idiot behind the building to come out and die.

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So before, they'd start with, like, four or five CPs.  Now they've got seven.  Remember how I told you that the enemy tends to save CPs?  Even in this battle alone, if you're particularly terrible, they can obtain the maximum amount of CPs.  But again, that's entirely irrelevant here because no matter what, these guys will only move about once or twice per turn.

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Idiot comes and tries to attack our heroes.  Welks does a number on this guy, but he's pretty beat up now.  I should probably just have him wait a bit...

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However, I guess I'm just really dumb, because I decide to do the opposite and push forward!

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... Only for Welkin to be caught between a rock and a hard place.  Whelp...

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Livin' on the Edge!

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Okay, that guy is dead... maybe...

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Shit...

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. . . . .

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Honestly, this was less about the game being difficult, and more just me being stupid for no good reason.  This part, by no means, is all that difficult.  It's the part that comes after you kill that last guy where the game decides to kick your ass.

Next time, I'm not gonna show as many of my actions.

 

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Chapter 1-3: The Four Scouts of the Apocalypse, Plus a Kind of Inept Tank (Gameplay)

Spoiler

This time around, no screwing around.

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One down...

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Watchman gets to be the hero this time.

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Then he died...

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But 'Licia got revenge for him.

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Already doing significantly better.  Though we're still down a man.

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Now... here is what I should've done after killing the dude behind that building; end the turn.  Why?  Well, there's some benefits to it...

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Firstly, because we didn't use that last CP, we have one extra CP to use.

Secondly, waiting around can heal your allies gradually.  They get about an eighth or a sixth of their health back.

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Another good idea is to hug the walls... or in this case, the trucks.  That way, you won't get pincered as much.

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It'd be preferable if this actually killed.

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Nah, though luckily Alicia dodged.  For those unfamiliar, just like in FE, there's a set chance for a character to dodge attacks in this game.  It pretty much has the same effect as a character going prone, except the enemy will still be aiming in the same place (meaning they won't hit you at all unless they're directly above you) and your character won't be knocked around by grenades like usual.  It's extremely useful when they do it, though some enemies can dodge as well.

Actually, all enemies can dodge, but some dodge a lot more frequently.  Primarily, Aces are the ones you'll have the most trouble killing 'cuz they almost always dodge attacks, even if you aren't aiming directly at them.

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Welkin kill to protec

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More excellent dodging from our evasive mistress of terror.

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Look at how many useless CPs they have!

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Dude tries to run behind sandbags and shoot at Welkin... but it kinda works out really, really poorly for him.

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Alicia runs up and kills the dude.

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This is how we know we're done with this part.  This guy was the officer we needed to kill.  When you kill officers, a badge icon floats above them and shatters.  Another thing about killing officers; every single officer you kill is one less CP they'll be able to use next turn.  It also gives you bigger rewards when you complete the mission.  Generally speaking, killing officers is a good idea.

Anyway, now that we're done here...

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A cutscene starts.

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Yes, that's right.  They're bringing in a goddamn tank, as if it wasn't enough for them to just storm in with regular soldiers.

I guess that's just Blitzkrieg tactics, though, isn't it?

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So this is the first tank of the game, and yes, we'll need to be dealing with it!

This is the Empire's Light Tank.  Though it is outclassed by every other tank in the game, including all allied tanks, this one's still quite formidable against a bunch of infantry.  Tanks can't move very far, but they typically have two or three heavy hitting weapons; armored shells, mortars, and machine guns.  The armored shells are for dealing with lancers and other tanks, mortars are fired on groups of infantry, and machine guns are effectively a tank's means of self-defense.

On the back, you'll notice it has a glowing radiator just like that truck from way back.  While it is a means for them to dispel heat from their systems, it also is a weak spot; if you fire upon it with enough firepower, the whole tank will explode!  Though we won't be doing that here for one very important reason...

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It's impossible to destroy with the weapons we currently have!

You see, when "??" appears under "To Kill", that means it'll take more than 99 hits to destroy.  And you only deal one point of damage per shot, the tank has 150 HP, so if you want to destroy it, it'll take a long time.  Not only that, you're liable to either be killed or run out of turns before you can even get close to destroying this thing.

In the vanilla game, tanks' radiators were weak enough that you could actually destroy them with conventional firearms.  It was actually more feasible to send a scout or shocktrooper behind a tank and have them shoot at the radiator than it was to use units that actually have anti-tank weaponry.  With the mod, you won't be doing that anymore.

Anyway...

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Look at how many CPs there are!

So as you can see here, we're not only dealing with a tank, but four enemy scouts guarding the way out.  The funny thing is, the tank isn't our biggest problem; it's the scouts.  This is because the tank's machine gun range is very poor, so if you cut a wide swath along the western wall, shimmy along the south, you won't be in danger of getting hit by it.  However, the scouts will all be shooting at you the whole time, and as you saw, even just two are enough to hurt you pretty badly.

Also, in case it wasn't evident, we'd be hard pressed to survive even a single round of their onslaught, so we gotta finish this in one turn.

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Oh, but first the tank's gotta move.  Alicia tries her best to stop it with bullets.  Bless her heart.

When a tank moves, it actually uses two CPs.  However, tanks don't tend to move all that much, much like infantry.  So the enemy still will have a net gain in CPs.

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Uh... wait a minu-

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So you remember how I let that one Town Watchman die?  Well, this is why it's a bad idea to let him die before now.

You see, if I had that Town Watchman with me, the tank would aim its mortar shell at him, and he would typically be placed far enough away from the other two that it'd do minimal damage against them while outright killing the watchman.  However, because he's not with us, the bastard aims directly at Alicia and now both of them have very little health.

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It moves again.

This time, though, it won't attack.  It just scoots between these trucks so that it can have a nice killing zone.  Lovely.

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No shit, Alicia.

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So yeah, the plan's to run all the way down to the southeastern corner of the map because while the tank can easily crush stone walls, it can't break through houses.  Or I suppose it could, but it'd cause the houses to collapse on it, which obviously is a bad thing for it.

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While that isn't particularly the reason why we need to stay behind cover, she is right; if you get shot even once by the tank's turret, you're pretty much dead.

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Objectives!

Notice how the victory condition is just "Welkin reaches the destination".  This means that I can use Alicia as a decoy to cover Welkin's escape.  However, there's a tank and four armed men between us and the destination, so it's not gonna be a walk in the park.

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Sweet, sweet CPs.

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Alright, they actually aren't in such a bad situation...  Welkin's got a lot of health, so maybe he could just make it on his own, right?

Um...

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First, Welkin's gotta get as close to the wall as humanly possible to avoid the tank's gunfire.

However...

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The scouts will be constantly shooting at him.  Every.  Single.  One.

Which means that no matter what route we take, Welkin will get severely hurt.

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Seriously, look at his health at the bottom right!

He goes from almost completely full to about a quarter left.  And the scouts were the only ones shooting him.  The tank didn't fire a single shot.

I'm crossing my fingers that Welkin hits this guy...

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He dodges...

HE.  DODGES.

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And brings Welkin's health down even more.

Okay, so at this point, moving Welkin is a bad idea.  No matter what, he's almost certain to die if he goes for the southern sandbags.  So...

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'Licia's turn...

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Nimble.  As.  Fuck.

She might have gotten shot, like, once getting from where she was to Welkin.  She truly is blessed.

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Though unfortunately, this turns out very poorly...

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Look at that health, man!

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Welkin's health is failing horribly...  So this is going absolutely nowhere.

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So yeah, this is essentially what my 30 minutes boiled down to; trying to outdo the scouts here.

I could showcase all of my failures and misery here...  But honestly, I'd much rather get into the main game and focus on whatever misery business happens there because this is just pathetic.  It's especially bad because I forgot that Alicia could use Ragnaid.

And I'm sure you get the gist; these guys hit hard, and are difficult to avoid.  The whole way, you're at risk of being shot by these scouts, and the damage accumulates fast.  So instead of showing you pointless failures, I'm gonna show the run that actually succeeded.

First, we're gonna go back to the beginning of the chapter, though, because we kinda need Mister Watchman to stay alive, at least until the tank shows up, so that Alicia can be a little more durable for this segment.

Spoiler

If anyone really cares to see me being miserable with this mission, I could compile a blunder showcase, but not here, 'cuz I've already got a lot of screens in this post.  But trust me, things get impressively more BS as we go further along.  Just wait until our first desert level.

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Yadda, yadda, yadda.

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I've found that they'll target the right-most member of this triage, since they're typically also the closest, so if Alicia's here, then the Town Watchman won't get shot at.

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Hmm...

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Surprise!

We'll use Ragnaid instead!  The one the Town Watchman has is a Small Ragnaid.  This is standard issue for most classes; it's limitless, but doesn't heal all that much health.  However, it's enough to heal Welkin right up.  There's another type of Ragnaid, but it's exclusive to the Engineer class, which will open up after the next chapter.

So typical stuff happens on the enemy phase, except this time, no one dies.  So I think a good idea is to always send the Watchman last for this segment.  That way, he won't get hurt all that much.

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I send Alicia in.

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Oh man, you know what it means when the reticle is white when you're aiming at an enemy?

It means something's blocking the way.  Here, that scout right in front of me is blocking my shot, but that's my intention.  I'm lining them up so that I can hopefully kill two birds with one stone.  It's gonna be great!

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Wait... the dude didn't.  Oh... oh...  OH!

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This guy's gonna shoot at his own pal lmfao

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Good job, sir  :facepalm:

Okay, honestly, this part is boring after this.  I just go in and mow these guys down.  It's basically the same show as last time, except with an extra gun at our side, so let's get right to the main course.

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Also, the officer dies like a bitch this time...  And you wonder why the Russians would gun down any allies who retreated during WW2.

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Aw man, two short of having the max amount.  These guys are dedicated to being as lazy as possible.

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Tank moves... slightly further away than before.

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And fires at the Town Watchman.

This is what's supposed to happen.  Welkin takes a little damage, while this guy straight up dies...

Spoiler

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Er, I mean he "retreats".

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Bless your heart, Alicia.

When I say that, I'm being condescending.  Also, Welkin's shooting at it as well, so it isn't just her being dumb, here.

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So the tank parks its keister a little bit further forward than usual.  It still won't hit anyone, though.

Alright, get ready, 'cuz this will be over in a flash.  Ready to see the best strategy for this map?  Well... here you go.

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Step 1: Hope you don't die as you rush Alicia over to the nearest sandbags

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Step 2: Shoot to kill this guy

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Step 3: Duck and weave between sandbags so that 'Licia has a shot on the enemy

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Step 4: Shoot to kill this other guy and quickly end Alicia's turn before she dies

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Step 5: FREEEDOOOOOO-

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Oh...

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Who cares!  I had another CP!

You see, the problem I was having was initially not having much health to properly deal with all the enemies.  Then later on, I realized what I had to do was thin out the herd so that not as many people were shooting at Welkin, and the best bet was to kill the guys furthest south so that the southern stretch would have the least amount of resistance possible.  I tried making Alicia a decoy to make most of them turn around, but the guys closer to the end would always get Welkin.

As I've mentioned before I forgot Alicia had ragnaid.  So I completely neglected a tactical element that could've been utilized to tremendous effectiveness here.  But that's okay, because in the end, I made it.

So now that I've completed this segment, I'll post the closing part and start work on the last chapter of this tutorial segment.  The next chapter didn't take nearly this long, and I attribute that in part to the tactical mindset a few years of playing FE has imparted on me, so thanks Marth!  After that is when the game actually begins properly and really opens up.

 

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4 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

I remember rank was essentially just how LTC-elite you were

Yep. I think your turn count is the only grade deciding factor. In other words: Beat the mission as quickly as possible. Tactics be damned!
Sure, you can kill aces and tanks but the score is only good for money and EXP. Money is never an issue when you grind for EXP and EXP can be very easily obtained in skirmishes you can win in two turns for like 8k EXP later...
Also, I have never ever used the Imperial weapons. Their gimmick is raw strength and everything else is crap but... once you get the royal weapons, no other weapon matters anyway. I THINK the Imperial flamethrower was the only worth one using though.

 

4 hours ago, Ertrick36 said:

Mr. Sandbags here is pelting Alicia with bullets at point blank range

Ah yeah. Typical VC drinking game for bored soldiers. Two to four guys sit at a bunker and exchange shots across it. The first one to use a grenade wins. Seriously, that is always both ridiculous and hilarious to do. Fire Emblem has all the reality vs. gameplay memes but ... Where are my VC memes!? So much potential with what you can do in this game lmao :D

 

32 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

Primarily, Aces are the ones you'll have the most trouble killing 'cuz they almost always dodge attacks, even if you aren't aiming directly at them.

Ugh. Yes. Although I think you can aim at their legs and when they lie down, you are still hitting them lmao. Still, it raises their DEF a lot I think.

 

I really like Welkin as a protagonist. He starts capable already and turns into a guy who will order you to step on a mine and survive it. And you will because you have no choice.
Have you seen the anime? I thought it was pretty bad. Alicia is fanfic like out of character and Welkin is THIS close to suicide. Plus the plot is obviously mangled.

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9 minutes ago, blah the Prussian said:

Wait, since when was that a thing?

There's like a DLC episode where you play Selvaria and co. for, like, four battles. I never touched it but it's a neat thing to have.

I've got issues with the original VC, but I really like the Gallian Crossfire mod, so I'll definitely be keeping an eye on your long, no doubt painful journey through all it has to offer.

And I promise I won't make fun of Welkin too much.

Edited by epilepsyduck
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On 8/26/2017 at 9:29 AM, blah the Prussian said:

Wait, since when was that a thing?

There's a DLC campaign; two in fact.  One of them focuses on the Imperial forces occupying Gallia.  It isn't too long, but you actually get to play as Imperials fighting the Gallian Army (which is different from the Gallian Militia, though I'll explain that in due time).

I'll play that campaign as soon as we see the commander of the Empire's Gallia-front invasion in action.  That way, you'll actually sort of know who the key players in that campaign are.  And by "you", I'm not particularly referring to you; mostly just anyone who doesn't know VC and doesn't care about spoilers.

Spoiler

I'm sure some who're reading this LP have never played this game.

On 8/26/2017 at 9:30 AM, MadJak91 said:

Yep. I think your turn count is the only grade deciding factor. In other words: Beat the mission as quickly as possible. Tactics be damned!
Sure, you can kill aces and tanks but the score is only good for money and EXP. Money is never an issue when you grind for EXP and EXP can be very easily obtained in skirmishes you can win in two turns for like 8k EXP later...
Also, I have never ever used the Imperial weapons. Their gimmick is raw strength and everything else is crap but... once you get the royal weapons, no other weapon matters anyway. I THINK the Imperial flamethrower was the only worth one using though.

Yeah, I remember a friend of my sister played this game doing purely LTC strats, while I played VC kinda normally.  I don't think grinding will happen this run, but I've hardly ever played that far into the game with this mod.

I remember the big thing with Imp SMGs was the poison/debuff effects, which aren't too useful unless you're fighting a boss.  Imperial weapons are a lot more useful than the standard weapons with this mod, though I'm sure the royal weapons are still superior.  Still, weapon variety is a lot better in this mod.

On 8/26/2017 at 9:30 AM, MadJak91 said:

Ah yeah. Typical VC drinking game for bored soldiers. Two to four guys sit at a bunker and exchange shots across it. The first one to use a grenade wins. Seriously, that is always both ridiculous and hilarious to do. Fire Emblem has all the reality vs. gameplay memes but ... Where are my VC memes!? So much potential with what you can do in this game lmao :D

I love how dumb the AI can be at times.

I'll try my best to inject memery into this LP, but I also want to give the game its fair dues because it is a genuinely good game and is deserving of me taking it serious when it demands as much.  Also, I don't know any spicy VC specific memes... nor have I broken the game quite so much before that I'd know all the stupid crap you can do with the mechanics.  Though if it's any solace, I'll abuse cheese mechanics if I can.  But that'll be difficult with the mod.

On 8/26/2017 at 9:30 AM, MadJak91 said:

Ugh. Yes. Although I think you can aim at their legs and when they lie down, you are still hitting them lmao. Still, it raises their DEF a lot I think.

Not as much of a defense boost in this mod, I believe, but it's still a big pain in the butt.  I'd, like, just send a shocktrooper at 'em and do what you said.

On 8/26/2017 at 9:30 AM, MadJak91 said:

I really like Welkin as a protagonist. He starts capable already and turns into a guy who will order you to step on a mine and survive it. And you will because you have no choice.
Have you seen the anime? I thought it was pretty bad. Alicia is fanfic like out of character and Welkin is THIS close to suicide. Plus the plot is obviously mangled.

I do appreciate him as well.  I certainly prefer him over the protag of VC2.

I've heard about how bad the anime is, but never witnessed it myself.  Apparently the intro scene between Alicia and Welkin's just an exercise in frustration.  Also I guess Isara sort of gets a love interest kinda (or rather, someone crushing on her), except it doesn't really go... like, anywhere at all?

Also, it has everyone from the Edy detachment except Lynn, who is replaced by her lover, Karl.

In spite of its bad press, some did start with the anime instead of the game, but then went on to play the game, so I can at least appreciate what it did for the games as a whole.

On 8/26/2017 at 9:37 AM, epilepsyduck said:

There's like a DLC episode where you play Selvaria and co. for, like, four battles. I never touched it but it's a neat thing to have.

I really like the Gallian Crossfire mod, so I'll definitely be keeping an eye on your long, no doubt painful journey through all it has to offer.

And I promise I won't make fun of Welkin too much.

I've already been mocking the poor guy, so I'm sure it's okay.  Just as long as you take it easy on his bug collection.

Well, I hope you enjoy what you see.

Chapter 1-4/2-1: Mrs. Worldwide and Her Precious Tank (Closing Scene/Intro to Two)

Spoiler

There's no easy way to transition between these because there's no actual closing scene for Chapter 1 apart from a few lines of dialogue, so they'll be merged ヽRGaYS2c.png

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So our heroes lay out our game plan.  Though honestly, I don't see Alicia being able to do all that much to stop that tank.  What could anyone here do to stop a tank, honestly?  The best anyone's got is grenades, and unless they're Solid Snake material, there's no way anyone's taking it down with such weak weapons.

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Oh, right...  Forgot to show this last time.  The game must have some pretty stringent requirements for getting that A rank, man.

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So we're hightailing it out of Bruhl, but...

Can I just bring your attention to the first picture there?  Yeah... even the little girl gets a gun.

Let's hop to it, then!  Welkin's gotta rescue his entirely adoptive family.  What is this, Fire Emblem Fates?

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Run, Welkin, run!

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But then suddenly, a gunshot rings off in the distance.  Welkin doesn't have a gun right now... for some reason.  So he can't confront them properly.

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So he... stares at this fence.

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Oh dear, what happened to Marthipan?

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Wow, these guys are real dicks.

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Holy shit, that glare.

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Oh wow, so they're perfectly willing to kill a pregnant lady?  I mean, it's bad enough they're shooting unarmed civilians, but this is, like, Rape of Nanking levels of awful.

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This ballsy little girl!  Just glaring them down, holy hell.

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As I said, attire is one way people are able to distinguish Darcsens from everyone else...

Though I'd think the hair would be the first thing they notice.  I mean, "dark hairs" is one of the hottest racial slurs against Darcsens, and it certainly isn't referring to the shade of their shawls.

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What about Darcsens makes this place stink?  I'd honestly think the source would come from some pig slop or horse dung or...

Oh, it's another race thing.

Keep in mind, these guys think that this girl's ancestors created magic nukes that devastated ancient civilizations.  Incidentally, Darcsens were also tribal, so everyone thinks they're nasty savages who hold nothing but contempt for all modern civilization.

That being said, these guys are being huge dicks.

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So while these knuckleheaded bastards continue insulting these would-be victims, Isara makes a bold plan.

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Am I to believe she rolled across the floor and grabbed a rifle while these professional soldiers who are clearly hell bent on killing these two ladies just sorta... watched?

Well regardless, this little girl is becoming exponentially more bad ass.

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And the men stood there, pissing in their-

Actually, not really.  They just have a stare down when suddenly...

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Our favorite bug enthusiast comes to save the day!

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Though him screaming kinda alerted the others.

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Then he... takes a goddamn fence post and slashes one of the dudes with it as if it were a great sword or something.

This whole family is nuts.  And the truly unbelievable thing is that these soldiers are so incompetent; they can't properly respond to any of these easily manageable situations.  It's almost worse than the whole joke about how the Stormtroopers in Star Wars can't aim.

Whatever happened to them taking down unarmed civilians without remo-

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!

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Fuckin'.  Cold.  Blooded.

This sixteen year-old girl shot and killed a professional soldier.  Without remorse.  Granted, it was out of defense, but still, man!  You ever had to kill a man?  A man who has probably spent his entire life learning how to kill other people?  Not an easy thing to do...

I almost think she liked killing that guy; gave her a rush of euphoria.  Now starts an addiction to a nasty, nasty habbit...  And thus the path to serial killer is paved for her.

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She's more concerned about Mars, though.

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My sarcastic foreshadowing told you this was gonna happen.

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Nah, nah...  Let's just leave the pregnant lady to be murdered by these ruthless soldiers.

In all seriousness, this would have to be one of the most stressful situations a woman could possibly find herself in.  Not only is she experiencing excruciating pain trying to push out a newborn from her body, but hostile soldiers are fixin' to gun her and her not-quite-yet-born child down.  All while the people she cares about most are forced to fight and kill these soldiers.

Though we all know that the greatest travesty here is all that spoiled bread lying on the ground.  Those were a gift from the Muffin Goddess Alicia herself!

Also, yes, "Is" is a nickname.  It's not pronounced like the word "is", though; it sounds like "eess".  Like "easel" without the "el" at the end.

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Okay, what could possibly...

A) Properly transport a woman going into labor

B) Bypass all those death-defying Imps who occasionally find themselves too busy insulting people to actually kill them

and C) Rescue Alicia from her own situation, which, by the way, is dealing with a friggin' tank?

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None other than another tank, baby!

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The Edelweiss, bringer of both life and death!  No really.  We're putting Martha in this thing while we ride it into battle.

This is one hell of a beast.  It's the tank that was in the portrait of General Gunther and Engineer Theimer.  This will be the main vehicle we'll use for almost every mission.  It starts out already better than that little chump tank that's currently wrecking the Town Watch's shit, so it's already pretty good.  But the true beauty in this thing lies in its moddability.  You can soup it up to be about as strong as the strongest generic enemy tank units (called "Tank Destroyers").  And eventually, you get a pretty good fourth "weapon" for it that no other tank gets access to.

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So she basically has been performing maintenance on this thing for as long as... however long ago it was that she took that class?

Not only is she a remorseless killer, but also an overachiever already applying her skills to her everyday life?  Next you'll tell me she's Mrs. Worldwide.

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Don't diminish what she's done with her life so far, man!

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So either she's looked very carefully into the tank's inner workings, or she merely glossed over it and just figured "eh, looks good".  Given that she's Miss Cold Blooded Overachieving Worldwide Killer, I'm gonna assume the former.

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Very reassuring, Welks.

I can't believe this sixteen year-old girl has more confidence in her own abilities than Welkin has in anything other than bugs and animals.

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Yes, really.  We literally are gonna be putting the pregnant lady in the tank.

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You can drive it, too?

She's...

Mrs. Cold Blooded Overachieving Worldwide Tank Driving Killer

She has a resume she could hand to anyone and get hired.  MIT research position?  Boom, got the job!  Artillery squadron commander?  Bam, she's on it!  Assassin jobs?  Everyone's hiring this Darcsen!  UN councilor?  None other!  Lizard-person of New York?  As lizard-like as the chameleon I have sitting in this cage here!

Spoiler

Yes, I have a chameleon in a cage.  Goin' on for... two or three years, I think?

Seriously, though, when I first played this game, I was thoroughly impressed by Isara throughout this entire chapter, and was surprised when she actually killed one of those soldiers.

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Yes, this is happening.  Get ready... next time around, anyway.

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File:Genny portrait.png

*Genny intensifies*

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Look at her.

She's going into labor and battle.  This won't be fun if things turn sour.

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Oooooh, fading text.

So like every other vehicle, this things got a radiator.  And unlike enemy tanks, bullets can actually damage it, albeit very lightly.

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Dodging bullets?  Well, she should be fine then, 'cuz she's proven that she's excellent at that.

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And off we go!

Though Alicia's gonna have to wait at least another few hours before I come to rescue her from the Other Four Scouts of the Apocalypse and their reasonably docile tank.

 

Edited by Ertrick36
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The two Imperials were definitely really casual about it. I think in a real situation, one of them would shoot Isara as soon as she would attempt her roll or right after pointing her gun. Using the fact that a random person would not shoot. Even if, she would kill one and the other soldier would shoot her.
I am just thinking aloud but it is a game obviously.

Well, hopefully Isara's luck with people pointing guns at her and not shooting is going to continue! :)

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5 hours ago, MadJak91 said:

The two Imperials were definitely really casual about it. I think in a real situation, one of them would shoot Isara as soon as she would attempt her roll or right after pointing her gun. Using the fact that a random person would not shoot. Even if, she would kill one and the other soldier would shoot her.
I am just thinking aloud but it is a game obviously.

Well, hopefully Isara's luck with people pointing guns at her and not shooting is going to continue! :)

It was a little strange a scene, but I'm glad for what it did for Isara's character here.  And that we got to see Welkin murder a dude with a friggin' fence post.

 

Happy belated International Dog Day.  There are no dogs in this game that I recall, but we do get to adopt a pig-like creature, so look forward to that.

Chapter 2-2: A Squad of Infinitely Less Threatening Troops, Immortal Town Watchmen, and the Little Tank Engine That Could (Gameplay)

Spoiler

Mission briefing!

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Alright, so this sounds like it'll be a big problem, but really, the key here is to play defensively.  The tank does not go after your troops; it'll just keep shooting the gate.  The problem in fact lies not in the tank, but the soldiers accompanying it.

You see, while the tank will be shooting the hell out of the gate, troops will try to run along the western flank to try to lob as many grenades at the gate as possible.  If you let them do that, you will fail.  But if you kill them before they can even do that, then the gate will survive for long enough for you to complete the mission proper.

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Don't treat this as anything more than a tutorial message; the fact is, you can take any positions you want.  That being said, going onto the watch tower is not only pointless, but also kind of stupid.  At least for what your goal here is.  You'll just make yourself an easier target.

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Conditions.

Yes, Welkin will join this mission.  Obviously in a tank, as you last saw.  He'll be our ticket out of here.  The goal really is to just ensure Alicia and the gate survive for enough time for the tank to get here and wreck shit.

Also, getting 20 turns to pass in this mission is more of a challenge than anything; the fact is, you'd be lucky if you even made it to ten.

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Alicia monologuing about what we have to do, essentially.

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Tutorial.

Right, so I never talked about the wonderful world of Hand Grenades.  As the tutorial probably states, grenades can destroy sandbags.  They can also hurt infantry, causing them to ragdoll, and even damage tanks, though barely.  Sometimes enemies will lob grenades, but they have to be given specific conditions to actually be inclined to use them.  This is typically why it's a bad idea to group your allies close together in a bunker or sandbag wall; the enemy will almost always try to lob grenades or mortars at you if you do so.

In this case, all the infantry units have a very specific goal in mind with these weapons; chuck as many of the suckers at the gate as possible.  The success of the mission hinges on the Town Watch keeping them from doing this.

StSh3ac.png

The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer

Spoiler

He'll tell you all the different ways that tank there can either win or lose the upcoming election.

So right now, we can only see the tank and a shocktrooper.

Shocktroopers are the regular grunts of this game.  They're all about storming in and shooting things to hell and back with submachine guns.  They can fire 20 shots total and are the second most durable class of infantry units in the game.  This makes them exceptionally dangerous for scouts, especially with the mod installed; if you so much as look at them wrong, they'll kill you in an instant.

Their most noticeable drawback is because they use SMGs, their firing pattern has a wide spread.  In the vanilla game, they almost literally couldn't hit the broad side of a barn; now, their aiming is improved, making them much more deadly.  They also have less AP than scouts, and most of them can't spot as well as scouts without special potentials, but they're much more useful with the mod installed.

The basic rule of thumb with classes in this mod is this: Scouts were nerfed, everything else was buffed.

We have three units on our side; Alicia and two other Town Watchmen.

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One of them has a 'stache, so he's infinitely superior to the other guy.  In fact, he actually has slightly better stats than the bare-faced man, who looks eerily similar to the guy that got blown up by a tank mortar earlier.  Anyway, because this guy's got a mustache, I think he can handle the western flank all on his own.

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Now, next is the Immortal Watchman.

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You can crawl in grass in this game.  Not only does it somehow give you the same defense bonuses as crouching does, it also makes you hidden.  Basically, even if you come within range of an enemy, you won't be shot at by them.  You can tell if you're hidden from an enemy by the sight lines that appear above your unit; they're normally yellow, but if they're blue like in the latter picture, then that means they can't see you.

Basically, no one's gonna try to kill this guy.  Also, you can see a third sight line has appeared.  As I said, there are more people than just that shocktrooper and the tank.

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Gonna have this guy attack the shocktrooper.  He doesn't retaliate.  This is because he doesn't have enough range to.  It gives your scouts a sort of turn-based advantage, but you aren't gonna be taking these guys down in one round.

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Now for 'Licia.  Come out and play, my bullet-dodging, bun-baking princess.

Get revenge for those soiled loafs of bread!

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One more CP left... so I'll use it to bring this guy's health down even further.

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*Brought his health down to a sliver*

GIF

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So we can see a few more enemies...  But there are more in hiding.

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For now, the tank is moving up!

Notice how the dude in the grass didn't fire at it at all.  It's because he's hidden from the tank, so he won't shoot at it.

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The tank takes aim and fires at this gate.  You know, if they wanted to make things easier, why don't they just immediately kill the people who are most threatening?  You know, the people with guns.  They're hell bent on killing anyone who doesn't have a gun barring a pregnant lady going into labor and a Darcsen girl, but they seem like they couldn't care less about the Town Watch.

I'm going to eat my words.

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Next, this shootout happens.  A scout approaching from the eastern flank decides he wanted to pick a fight with the dodge master herself; he has made the worst decision of his ever shortening life.

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A scout tries to attack the gate, but he got distracted and wanted to smell the flowers.  Or I guess eat them.  I do find it suspicious that they wear these helmets that cover even their faces; maybe he's actually a deer.

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Oh, right, and that one shocktrooper I pretty much gimped tried zipping down this street as well.  The Empire's finest, everyone.

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I guess this officer came to reprimand deer-person for getting distracted by the potted plant, but was stopped dead in his tracks because the 'Stacheman told a joke so funny, it left him rolling on the floor laughing.  And literally dying.

Spoiler

I never found that figure of speech even slightly amusing.

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Right, so you know how I said that grass makes you hidden?  Well, it only makes you hidden to enemies you've yet to attack and anyone who isn't a nearby scout.

So this guy's shooting at this snake in the grass.

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Get out of my sight, you pain in the ass.

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So I have 'Licia move up to... do practically nothing.  You see how little damage these 'nades do?

There're two types of grenades that you get with this mod: regular and anti-tank.  The latter can only be given to engineers.  And even then, I don't think they damage the actual body of the tank.  More on that later.

The point is, the only point this action had was to showcase how ineffective Alicia's grenades are here.

Also, if we were planning to use Alicia and the other officers, you'd have to get used to seeing these upskirt shots while they're prone.  But all other ladies in this game either have tights or knee-length shorts, so you won't get such shots with them.  I'm pretty sure this is why actual female soldiers don't wear skirts, especially not ones so short.

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Let's save some CPs.

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These bastards...

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Uh...  CAN YOU SHOOT HIM, PEOPLE?!

Yes, that's right.  Not only will they not shoot at the tank, they also won't shoot at any infantry they're hidden from.  This is why I should've left Alicia back behind the sandbags.

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NO, NOT THE 'STACHE!  ANYONE BUT THE 'STACHEMAN, PLEASE!

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NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Spoiler

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...

Oh right, they're immortal.

Also, it looked like he was saying goodbye to us in that picture.  *Insert "Goodbye, Moonman" song*

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You mother f-

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Well, at least this guy didn't try to lob a grenade.

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Huzzah! RGaYS2c.png

No, I didn't go into GIMP and edit the text.  Why you lookin' at me like that?

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More CPs!  I have enough to move the tank three times.  More than enough for what we're about to do.

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Oh really, now?

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Bahaha!  I'm invincib-

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Wuh?

Oh.  Yes, cower in fear!  Isara's appetite for murder has barely been whet.  And Welkin's, too!

Though they're willing to spare deer-man.

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YE!

Bwahaha, I'm immorta-

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Oh... well now...

Might as well kill one of these guys while I'm here.

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As I've said, tanks have three primary weapons.

Currently we have Anti-Armor shells equipped; these are for dealing with that tank or other units covered in heavy armor.

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Next are the Mortars.  As you saw last chapter, they wreak havoc upon infantry units.  However, heavily armored units such as tanks or lancers will hardly be damaged by these, though lancers will still ragdoll like crazy.  They're effectively bigger grenades that can be launched at longer distances.

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Finally is the Machine Gun.  It only fires seven shots, but they're very rapid, so they're excellent for self-defense.  Since we've yet to see this in action...

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That onomatopoeia is one "H" away from invoking the name of a prominent religious figure, and I'm not sure if that's okay.

The tank is Buddha reincarnate.  He has forsworn all the values he held dearly in his past life and seeks only to bring death.

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Oh, I forgot to mention another thing.  Tanks have two types of HP, as you can see here.  Body HP is just the general HP the tank has; if it goes down to zero, the tank is done for.

Tread HP, on the other hand, effects your ability to move far.  If it goes down to zero, your tank's AP is cut down to essentially a sliver, and you'd need an engineer to fix it back up.  And trust me, there are a lot of times you'll want your tank to be mobile, especially with this mod installed.

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Out of my way, loser!

Yes, you can even push infantry soldiers out of the way with your tank.  Though you won't hurt them at all for some reason.  It'd probably be an extremely cheap way to kill enemies.

Get ready for some fireworks :B):

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And that's all there is to it.  It honestly was a pretty easy mission.  Back when I was first getting into strategy games and was playing this game for the first time, this mission tripped me up.  But now that I've been playing them fairly regularly, this mission was a chump challenge.  You saw that I even screwed up a little, and I still made it through okay.

And yes, this was my first attempt at the mission.

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Yeah, amazing job, Ms.

Cold Blooded Overachieving Worldwide Tank Driving Killer

And Welkin's earned a boost in esteem, right?  Well, I mean, he's supposed to be a humble man, so he isn't ever gonna gloat about his skills or achievements.

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Don't forget Is.

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Yo!

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You know what?  Yes, this perfectly captures my reaction.

The tank literally brings both life and death.  I wasn't making that up.

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Results screen!  Yay, it was my first A-rank!  Then again, it's really easy to A-rank because the tank comes after a set number of turns, and once that happens the missions pretty much over.

After I get the closing scene for this wrapped up, I'll show the events leading up to Welkin and Alicia getting their own "squad", and then I'll get to show off the base mechanics, including squad recruiting (which will also contain information on the remaining class types).

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This next segment's really short, but it's kind of sweet.

Chapter 2-3: Dreams of Returning Home (Closing Scene)

Spoiler

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A mere skirmish, yet nearly a dozen of them wound up dead.

I assume these are extremely low-ranking troops.  Like, recruits getting their first taste of combat.  If I were a commander, I actually would also see this as a good opportunity to get a bunch of recruits adjusted to real life combat.

But still...  Why didn't they have any medics (engineers) on standby just in case?

Anyway, yes, just like any typical coming of age tale, Welkin starts from very humble beginnings and then later becomes one of the greatest heroes of Gallia's history.

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We cut to this scene of Welkin and 'Licia looking off into the distance towards Bruhl.  This is what you get when you decide you don't want to leave until sunset while a hostile invasion looms over your town.

Okay, but now I'm gonna have to be serious here because this is a serious moment.

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One thing I hardly ever see in war games like CoD is the main characters actually crying about regular, common civilians getting slaughtered.  Of course you could argue that they're hardened to the point that they aren't bothered by that, but...

When you don't have this kind of emotional response to horrific acts, there's a level of disconnect from the human element.  Maybe it's just because I'm a more empathetic man who also is more willing to express my emotions, but I don't think there'll ever be a time I prefer the storytelling of generic war games over that of either this or TV dramas like Band of Brothers.  I still remember the scene in BoB where the soldiers come upon a concentration camp that was abandoned by Nazi troops, and the soldiers were hugging, kissing, and talking to the prisoners.

It's that kind of drama that makes me love war stories...

Here is what Welkin says in response.

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For as quirky Welkin's obsession with nature and animals can be, the writers really have a way of working it into serious moments as well...

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There are times people make comparisons to animals or science that just make me shake my head.  Often, people would simplify such topics to pawn off their own strange ideological views or other philosophical beliefs.

But I think this is a very nice sentiment.  What I like most is that Welkin acknowledges that erasing adversity entirely might not be possible, yet he still retains a positive outlook on it all.  It's a rather mature message in that sense.  And obviously it's timelessly relevant and applicable.  To learn from tragedy...

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Isara, in case you couldn't tell from the nickname used.

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Babby.

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Like I said, statistically speaking that's a true statement.  Me saying it might've been a half-joke, but it's 100% true.  At my age, I already know at least three people who have given birth to new life.  And I'd hope all of these new lives are lives well spent.

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And of course, our heroes dream of someday returning home.

Spoiler

Also, we'll never see either that baby or Martha again.  Sorry :/:

So we started fairly somber, but ended on an uplifting note.  There'll be plenty more moments like this in the future.  They might be sort of preachy at times, but these moments are also 100% relevant to the plot.  Especially when it comes to a certain red-headed character who shows up not much later.

I won't consider the next segment part of any chapter in spite of it being considered "Chapter 3" in the game.  This is because I'm gonna consider it a partial interlude due to all the base building stuff.  After that interlude, Chapter 3 will start proper, and that's when the game really begins to pick up.

Also note that I'm not really gonna show every single purchase I make.  I'll show when I get access to "branching weapons" and talk about those, but by and large, most upgrades just increase power, range, and accuracy.  I will always show any squad members I recruit, their potentials, changes to their armaments, and any new potentials they gain if they've never been seen before.

Those who don't know what potentials are will just have to wait until I explain them.  Rest assured, they are pretty important; aside from class, potentials are pretty much what make each and every unit unique.  Potentials and "likes" (e.g. after this, Welkin will "like" Alicia and vice versa).

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Time to get into the meat of this game.

Interlude 1: Randgriz, the Militia, and a Platoon that's Called a "Squad"

Spoiler

I'll split this into two here; the intro and the squad setup stuff/tutorials.

Intro

Spoiler

So now we're in the Capital of Gallia, Randgriz, which is home to the Militia.

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And also a princess and some lousy politicians.  And Gallia's regular Army, but no one talks about them.

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So basically, Gallia has three major military organizations; the regular Gallian Army, the Lanseal Royal Military Academy, and the Gallian Militia.  All of these fall under the first group, but are all distinctly different.

Spoiler

The first group is the "standing force" of Gallia; in times of peace, it's made up of approximately 80,000 ground units, 10,000 marine units, and 2,000 CPs, along with some of the various Town Watches spread throughout the country.  The main body is comprised of those who attended the Lanseal Royal Military Academy and are soldiers by profession rather than necessity.

The Lanseal Royal Military Academy isn't even mentioned in VC1, but in VC2, it's where aspiring officers go.  Most Militia troops don't go to this academy, but instead receive some basic military instruction classes in their regular schools.  This is the case for pretty much all the characters we'll be recruiting, and it was the case for Welkin and Alicia as well.  This being said, the captain of the regiment Welkin will be a part of actually attended this academy, and in times of emergency, the academy's students will take on actual combat roles.

The Militia is essentially all the civs who either volunteer or are drafted.  The core of Welkin's squadron are all volunteers, but some others might have been forced into it through the draft.  The draft, as far as I know, applies to both men and women.  Because the Militia is filled with people who didn't receive high-end military education, many regular Army officers and veterans from the previous war are given command of Militia troops.

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So this intro scene will mostly just be us settling in.

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Welkin...

Of course you'd draw that comparison.

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Then 'Licia shows up and they swap complements on each other's attire, when Welkin at some point describes her uniform like this:

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Which obviously Alicia responds like...

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And Welkin replies...

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So yeah, this is the quirkier side of Welkin's obsession with nature.  He fails to see why people don't necessarily take kindly to his comparisons to animals and insects.  Probably because he spent his whole life living in the boonies with a father who was probably drowning his depression with alcohol and long hikes, a lady who's always getting pregnant, and a sister who's way past his league (and too young) for her to really relate to him at all.

Given that he hardly talked to a girl outside his adoptive family, it'd make sense that he doesn't really understand... well, a lot of social things with girls.  Or guys, for that matter.  I'm still gonna give him a hard time for it, though.

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Oh yeah, she's still wearing that headscarf.  There's only one time she takes it off, and it's during a filler episode.  Otherwise, she wears it into battle, wears it to sleep, and probably even wears it to the shower.

Well, apparently it was part of her bakery uniform back when she worked at the bakery.

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Get it?  'Cuz buns and baking?  Alicia, someone oughta slap you the way Sumia slaps Chrom for making that pun.

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"I'll do it.  Even going to war, I'll do it."

That line loses all of its impact when applied here.

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Then let's.

*Moments later*

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GAH!  Oh man, that glare!  She looks ready to kill... well, anyone, really.

So here's the Captain and woman I wish I could actually use as a soldier...  Captain Eleanor Varrot.

She's a Lanseal Royal Military Academy alumni and a veteran Militia sniper from the previous war.  Currently 35 years old, she has opted to stay on as a Militia officer due to... personal reasons.

Spoiler

I won't spoil much, but she does have a character arc.

We're all part of the 3rd Regiment, which is the military unit she commands.  Which means we'll be seeing a lot of her.

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Oh hey, these guys are wearing the same uniform as Welkin.  Also, one of these guys looks noticeably different from the others.  Can you guess who it is that I'm referring to?

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Right, so everyone who joins the Militia starts as just a mere "enlistee", and reports to their assigned Captain, who will then issue a rank.

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And Welkin is instantly promoted to her immediate inferior.

Right, so I think the reason for this is the level of military education.  Remember this?

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Well, that apparently qualifies him to be a Lieutenant in the Militia; him taking a single class back in high school.

Though I'm pretty sure he also gained this rank under such an esteemed captain because of his father, who was, need I remind you, a war hero.

Also, "Squad 7".  Now... the thing is, Welkin will be taking 20 people under his command.  That's Platoon strength, not Squad strength.  Sure, we'll only be fielding about a dozen people, but that doesn't change the fact that Welkin has 20 troops under his wing.  I think the issue here is a linguistic or logistical difference.  My memory's hazy, but supposedly they call this level of strength a "Squad" in Japan, or it roughly translates into squad.  Either that, or platoons don't exist in Japan's military police force.  Something along these lines...

So from here on, I'll call it the "7th Platoon", but everyone else will call it "Squad 7" because me and the game will never be in agreement, here.

Anyway, Welkin commands the 7th Platoon.  Right now, Welkin's the only one in that platoon, but we'll get to build it up ourselves.

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Oh, except Alicia's apparently gonna be bruteforced into his platoon.  We'll also be receiving one other Sergeant and two Corporals.  None of these members can be removed.  One of them literally can't be removed, while the other few technically can be thanks to the mod, but it's generally a bad idea to do so.

And she'll be Welkin's immediate inferior.  Though other than Welkin's rank, most of these ranks are effectively meaningless; everyone's just a Joe or Jane ready to receive orders from Welkin.  But still, I like to make note of the characters' ranks for story and lore purposes.

So about the other guys in the room...

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It's the guy who I said looked off from the others.  Lieutenant Faldio Landzaat.

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The gist of it is, they're friends.  He's actually in command of the 1st Platoon (Squad 1).  In the anime, some of the people you can potentially recruit show up under his command, but canonically, none of the people you're able to recruit ever actually come under his command.

Also, the last picture...  Is it just me, or does Alicia look... kinda derpy.

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Anyway, that wraps it up for introductions.  Now we can start recruiting soldiers, buying parts, leveling our troops...  Generally just building our platoon up.

Setup

Spoiler

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When playing through VC, you'll come upon this screen a lot.  This is the "Headquarters" menu.  Don't mind the blank slates for now; those will come when they will come.  Right now, I'll detail the various menus, then we can get to recruiting in the next part.

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So this is the Squad Barracks.

There isn't much to do right now, but if you ever acquire different weapons (e.g. Imp weapons, royal weapons, branching weapons), you can change your squads armaments.  You can also look at their details.

Notice how we've got not two, but four characters in tow?  I'll show them off briefly, but I won't necessarily profile them until they actually show up proper.  They are the "officers", though formally called "leaders" in this game.  I know it's technically not the right term, but I think it's less confusing to call them "officers".  But as such, they won't be used except for during special chapters.

As you can see, Welkin's a Tank Commander.  He will almost always be in his tank; when he isn't, he'll just be a regular old Scout.  Though only when he's in his tank can he issue Orders, which I'll touch upon later.

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So yeah, here are the Potentials of Welkin.

Potentials are various traits your soldiers have that either strengthen or weaken them.  They are also partially the reason why I'm not using anyone from this list aside from Welkin; pretty much all of these characters have really good potentials.  Especially Alicia after a certain part of the story.

That last bit might sound like a spoiler, but it really isn't much of one.  All soldiers have Hidden Potentials, which are revealed and activated after using them for quite a bit.  Or using cheese tactics to gain them instantly.  These characters actually don't normally acquire them this way; certain chapters have to be unlocked.  However, I think the mod removes such requirements, which means you might acquire them a bit too early.  That's another reason I won't use them, though even after I pass the point where they'd normally acquire those Potentials, I still won't use them.

Anyway, I'll detail each new potential I come across.  As such, I'll talk about Welkin's currently revealed potentials.  Note that these potentials are all modded, so some information may be inconsistent from with the vanilla game.

Welkin's Potentials

Spoiler

Nature Lover: From what I can tell, anytime Welkin's in a natural setting, all his stats increase.  So like forests and whatnot.  Basically, most places that aren't cities.  I believe the boosts are modest, but they're always appreciated.

Calm Heart: Same as Nature Lover, except the conditions are different; he must be "surrounded" by foes.  I think this just means that multiple enemies must be attacking him.

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Unlike everyone else, Welkin also has access to Orders.  During any given mission where he's in his tank, Welkin can issue orders at the cost of CPs.  He can either issue general orders, orders for specific units, or orders for all units.  They all have various effects, and are generally useful for giving yourself an edge in battle.

Welkin has no orders right now, but that'll change very soon.  I'll also talk about all orders that we acquire, though some are pretty self-explanatory.

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Every other unit has Potentials as well, though they don't get Orders.

Alicia's Potentials

Spoiler

Country Bred: While she's standing on dirt, she'll be more accurate.

Maternal: If she's near anyone she "Likes" (Welkin, Noce, and Dallas), all her stats are boosted.

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This character's called "Rosie", so I'll always label her as such.

Rosie's Potentials

Spoiler

Desert Allergy: When she's on sand, her inner Anakin Skywalker triggers and she starts losing health.  There aren't too many levels with sand in them, so it isn't too big a problem, but it's still bad.

Strong-Willed: When enemies are firing at her, she takes less damage from interception fire.  Extremely useful for Shocktroopers like herself.

Big Sister: When around other Shocktroopers, all stats except defense are increased.

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Largo's Potentials

Spoiler

Child of Nature: Lowers defense when standing on paved roads.  Not particularly great for a Lancer, who relies almost solely on defense.

Loyal Teammate: When he's on own, all his stats increase.  Great for having him charge at tanks.

Big-Hearted: He will sometimes revive after dying.  So if a tank fires a shell directly at his face, bringing his HP down to zero, he might come back to life with full health because Largo defies all logic and reasoning.  Actually don't remember if it brings him back to full health or not.

Alright, now that that's out of the way, let's move on to the other places.

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Next is the Training Field, commandeered by Drill Sergeant Instructor.  Okay, he's not actually named that, but he has no name that we know of.

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So instead of characters leveling up individually, they all level up by class.  So you level Scouts up to ten, every single Scout you have and every single one that you can recruit at some point down the line will level up to ten.  And they don't level up out in the field; what happens is you choose where to apply the experience points you gain here, then they'll level up that way.  So...

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For now, I can level every class up to level two.  Generally speaking, it's a good idea to keep your units' levels consistent with one another.  There's no point in laser-focusing on one class, because you likely won't get enough experience points to get them to level 20 until you're very late into the game.  That being said, you may find leveling certain classes up sooner rather than later a good idea.  It's all up to individual preference; I just like to keep it nice and even.

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Oh, right.  When you level up classes, sometimes they'll get new Potentials.  But these aren't the Potentials I was talking about earlier that are "Hidden"; these are the four bottom Potentials, which are known as Battle Potentials.

All Battle Potentials have positive effects, and they're always unlocked from leveling up here.  They're typically generic potentials, like "raise defense" or "better first-aid".  They're all self-explanatory, so I'm not gonna talk about every new Battle Potential.

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You can also gain Orders from leveling your units.  We got Defense Boost, which... well, the descriptions right there.

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This is how I'm gonna spread out the remaining experience.  The two leveling classes here will be the most important ones for the upcoming battle.  Engineers will be useful for the Sniper and Lancer classes, as well as for the tank.

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And one more Order; Evade Boost.

Now we gotta visit R&D.

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So here's Leon Schmidt, who's... kind of insane.  He's getting all excited while saying the word "slaughter".

We don't need a Mister Cold Blooded Overachieving Worldwide Tank Driving Killer, here.  Knock it off, man.

Anyway, Leon Scott Kennedy here is currently working with...

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A young Hal Emmerich.  Actually, his name is Kreis Czherny, but I'm gonna call him Krieger for no good reason besides the fact that that's the name of one of my favorite Archer characters and his name starts with the letters "K", "R", "I", and "E".

Anyway, Krieger's our mechanic and Kennedy is "our boy".  Hm.  I'm sure we'll be cracking open plenty of cold ones with these two.

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Right, I'll make this quick because I'm kind of tired of explaining this stuff.

So here is where we upgrade all our equipment, as well as the Edelweiss - the tank we got earlier, in case you forgot.  Most item upgrades are straightforward, but at some point down the line, we'll get branching upgrades that'll do various different things.  In the vanilla game, most of these just boiled down to either "do more damage than the others", "fire more accurately than the others", or "perform poorly compared to the others, but inflict status effects".  It... was a little underwhelming.

But with the mod installed, these branching paths will be more interesting.  Of the weapon and equipment upgrades, I'll only show the branching ones, and those will only be shown once.

The tank, meanwhile, has two ways we can upgrade it; giving it Body Enhancements or slapping on Add-ons.  The Body Enhancements are straightforward upgrades that just boost your tank's stats.  There were changes to the Add-ons with the mod... but I can't remember them  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Regardless, Add-ons have a limited amount of space they can occupy on your tank.  Think of it like the item management of Resident Evil 4.  Though one thing I do remember that the mod does is it makes it so every single Add-on is just a 1x1 block.

Uniforms and Blast Suits just give defense bonuses, I believe, and there aren't any branching paths as far as they're concerned.  So you can ignore them and just let me deal with them.

Last, but certainly not least, is the Command Room.

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And we're greeted by our Captain, of course.  I wonder if she used this menu to place us under her command.

So the Command Room is where you'll be recruiting all your troops.  You start off with a sizable pool of recruits that gradually gets larger as you progress through the game.  To start off, you have to recruit 20 units, which happens to be the max you can have at any given time.  However, once you're finished with this first time recruitment procedure, you can immediately dismiss all the recruits if you so desired.

Also the pool contains both volunteers and drafties... so some of them may be not be all that thrilled about joining our platoon.  Their willingness to join doesn't really affect anything directly... but some units' potentials may reflect that unwillingness.  You get to recruit a wide variety of characters, all with their own strengths and weaknesses.  And yes, all of them are very individual; different voices, different lines, different appearances, different potentials, different classes...  It's one of VC's greatest strengths, arguably, and the mod's changes only exaggerate these units' differences.

Speaking of recruits, you know that little tag I attached to this thread?  "Team Darcsen"?  Yeah, there are Darcsen recruits as well, and we're getting every single one.

Spoiler

Wavy, Nadine, and Lynn, who is arguably the most broken shocktrooper in the whole game.  She's so broken that she's one of the hidden characters.

Anyway, besides briefing us on recruiting units, Varrot also tells us about the different classes.

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Scouts

Spoiler

I already talked about them briefly, but there's more to them.  They are the most mobile units in the game; even with the mod's changes, this is still the case.  Not only are they the most mobile, they also can spot enemies from farther away and sometimes snuff out enemies that are hiding around.  I think.  With that said, they're one of the less durable classes, but not as feeble as Engineers or Snipers.

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Shocktroopers

Spoiler

Already talked about them; they're basic assault units.  They have automatic weapons, good defense, and are moderately mobile.  All around good, balanced units.

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Lancers

Spoiler

These guys were so useless in the original game when you could just run around behind enemy tanks and plink the radiators to death, especially since they couldn't hit the broadside of the Marmota.  Okay, that's too harsh.  Also, expect a lot of "compensation" jokes when this and that other Imperial tank show up.

Anyway, they're pretty much just anti-tank units.  It's sometimes better to use them rather than the Edelweiss because they only use one CP and can do roughly the same amount of damage as a tank's Anti-Armor shells with their lancaars.  Now that they're significantly more accurate with this mod, they're now much more capable units and are worth considering.

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Why do the people of Gallia love making these bad jokes and puns?

Engineers

Spoiler

The second most feeble class, but also the second most mobile, Engineers aren't meant to be applied in direct combat.  As Varrot describes, they're more "combat facilitators".  They carry Large Ragnaid, which heals allies to full health (and cures debuffs/poison, I think), they can repair tanks with repair tools, disarm mines, fix broken sandbag walls and other such fortifications, and restock their allies' equipment or weapon ammo.

With the mod installed, they also get some exclusive weaponry, including anti-tank grenades.

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Snipers

Spoiler

The least durable and mobile unit type in the game.

Do I really need to explain what they do?  They snipe.  That's all there is to it.  Though with the mod, they get access to anti-tank rifles as well as interception rifles so that they can attack enemies that are running around.  They're as useful as you let them get.

It's also the class of a character who supposedly is the most popular character in the States: Marina Wulfstan.  I'm mentioning her here 'cuz she isn't available yet, but I'm pretty sure that as far as snipers are concerned, Marina's the best.

So now that we know all the classes, let's take a look at the list...

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...  And immediately we're greeted with a unit you can only acquire after you've beaten the game once.

Don't worry, this dude showing up isn't a spoiler.  He's just one of the five hidden characters.  The others are Lynn (who I must've mentioned five times by now), Emile Bielert, Audrey Heitinga, and Knute Jung.  All of these other hidden characters can be unlocked during the first playthrough, but for Musaad, you need to have beaten the game at least once.

But this mod makes it so that they're all unlocked right from the get-go.  There are also cameo appearances of characters from Skies of Arcadia; Vyse and Aika.

Anyway, so here's the deal; I will show each character I recruit, and that's it.  I'll also show when I dismiss a unit.

Because I've already spent enough time explaining some HQ stuff, I'm gonna make the initial recruitment phase its own post.  So look forward to seeing who I recruit.  I won't have people democratically choose who I use, but if there's anyone you people really want me to use... well, try to convince me to use them.  Chances are you'll succeed because there aren't too many characters I'm really hankering for, but try to refrain from giving me a laundry list of characters to use.

 

 

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Dialogues like the one about birds is exactly why I love Welkin or Alicia for that matter. Plus everything you said about how the game treats war and casualties. Even a pacifist like Welkin understands there is no peace without fighting, unfortunately.
All of this was missing from the anime and replaced by your usual anime tropes and humor :/

Tbh, I cannot say I am a fan of every Imperial soldier having the elite black suit. The grunts in cutscenes are still grey. And I liked the red clothed leaders :<

I really, really hope the mod did Potentials justice. I remember some guys were simply inferior and loaded with bad Potentials. Like when you have clearly inferior FE units. No idea why developers do that... Maybe if you want a challenge. I mean, if you are allergic to freaking EVERY land type then stay away from the military. Also, what the heck is wrong with engineers allergic to metal!? Heh.

I at least possibly vote for Jane and Jann because flavor and maybe Salinas because legit Leon S. Kennedy haircut (kinda). Maybe Catherine because accent but I think she is the worst sniper in the vanilla game...

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Just now, MadJak91 said:

Tbh, I cannot say I am a fan of every Imperial soldier having the elite black suit. The grunts in cutscenes are still grey. And I liked the red clothed leaders :<

I really, really hope the mod did Potentials justice. I remember some guys were simply inferior and loaded with bad Potentials. Like when you have clearly inferior FE units. No idea why developers do that... Maybe if you want a challenge. I mean, if you are allergic to freaking EVERY land type then stay away from the military. Also, what the heck is wrong with engineers allergic to metal!? Heh.

I at least possibly vote for Jane and Jann because flavor and maybe Salinas because legit Leon S. Kennedy haircut (kinda). Maybe Catherine because accent but I think she is the worst sniper in the vanilla game...

The Aces still wear red, I believe.  And I don't necessarily think it was about them looking good, but rather them looking different so that you'd know right away that the mod was working.

Well the Potentials were very much rebalanced...  For example, Susie Evans had the notoriously bad "Humanitarian".  She still has it, but its proc rate is now 5%.  On the fllip side, most chance-based Potentials have higher activation rates.  The allergy potentials aren't too terrible, but if you get complacent, they could get you into some serious trouble.  I still think characters are probably just generally at a disadvantage, but I think the mod kind of helps make such characters more viable.

To quote the page on it:

Spoiler

Most potentials activation rates have been increased to 25%, 50%, 75% or 100%. Only the very bad potentials (Humanitarian, Moody, Maintenance Lazy, Jam-Jinxed, etc...) have their activation rate reduced to 5%.

Most regular attack and defense changes are 25% increase or decrease (instead of 40%). Most regular accuracy and evasion changes are 50% to 100% increase or decrease (instead of 40%). Most all-stats changes are 10% increase or decrease. Hidden or higher tier potentials grants higher bonuses or maluses.

Some potentials activation are not Full-Screen anymore.

Jann is already recruited; he's always a mandatory unit for me.  Imp Killer Jane and worst sniper with an accent are also in.  I honestly always thought Cezary looked more like Leon for some reason, though I see what you mean in regards to Salinas.  He isn't in yet, but I definitely could make room for him.

Also...

Spoiler

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Isn't she a beauty?

The ragdolling in this game almost never ceases to amaze me.

Also, no, this isn't a part of my playthrough.  I don't even think I took this screenshot.

One more thing; would the resolution of this pic be better than the 512x288 I've been doing?  For comparison:

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I think it might be; I can actually read the numbers in the ragdoll picture.

I'm still working on the character recruitment bit.  I also need to record the next bit.  I just want to wait a little bit longer to see if anyone has any strong opinions about who I should recruit.  Of course I can always recruit or dismiss units at any point, but when I do these, I often do them in batches.

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Archeology is a type of science and you don't just study generic "science" anyway

I love what GC did for Lancers. They were just indescribably awful in the base game, but I found them pretty useful here. Still pretty niche, but at least they function well within that niche unlike vanilla VC.

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If she's available, could I suggest Edy? I know that near Rosie due to her potential she'll be slightly worse, but Edy has an entire arc with the Edy brigade in the dlc! And she's like my secondary shocktrooper behind Rosie, and I often disperse them enough that they don't affect each other, and she's turned out pretty good for me.

Also did Susie's potential really hurt her that much? It hasn't happened once to me, then again, I use Aisha over her as my secondary scout (when I do use another as shocktroopers are more viable with their higher hp, run speed which allows them to dodge fire faster, and overall more offensive output) after Alicia

Spoiler

Speaking of Alicia, I think I'm on the one where she unlocks that potential you were mentioning, because you know, I'm at that part of the game where Alicia is freaking amazing in both cutscene and gameplay

Also Marina is popular? Huh I didn't know, makes sense I guess, though for me on my main file she was the third sniper I recruited, and the first on my alt file that I streamed a bit on, and she's pretty good (still uses Cezary as he has higher hp and he has a higher version of the royal sniper).

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1 hour ago, Ertrick36 said:

Isn't she a beauty?

RIP Cate. Your skills will not be missed.
(god, I am picking up strike-throughs after you now) Anyway. lmao, I do not remember the ragdoll physics being THAT weird! Although I always snickered at Imperials mangled while running and faceplanting with that satisfying thud.

 

1 hour ago, Ertrick36 said:

One more thing; would the resolution of this pic be better than the 512x288 I've been doing?

They look good to me!

 

21 minutes ago, LucarioGamer812 said:

Also Marina is popular?

Apparently. I am not heavily into the usual popularity polls and stuff but Marina was the most popular character here just like Edy over in Japan. That is why Edy got the DLC and I think they also included Marina in it.

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1 minute ago, MadJak91 said:

Apparently. I am not heavily into the usual popularity polls and stuff but Marina was the most popular character here just like Edy over in Japan. That is why Edy got the DLC and I think they also included Marina in it.

Huh, I still have yet to play for fear I'm not good enough yet but I'll give it a try. (also major coincidence Edy is the most popular in Japan as I didn't know that, I just liked her)

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4 hours ago, LucarioGamer812 said:

If she's available, could I suggest Edy? I know that near Rosie due to her potential she'll be slightly worse, but Edy has an entire arc with the Edy brigade in the dlc! And she's like my secondary shocktrooper behind Rosie, and I often disperse them enough that they don't affect each other, and she's turned out pretty good for me.

Also did Susie's potential really hurt her that much? It hasn't happened once to me, then again, I use Aisha over her as my secondary scout (when I do use another as shocktroopers are more viable with their higher hp, run speed which allows them to dodge fire faster, and overall more offensive output) after Alicia

  Reveal hidden contents

Speaking of Alicia, I think I'm on the one where she unlocks that potential you were mentioning, because you know, I'm at that part of the game where Alicia is freaking amazing in both cutscene and gameplay

Also Marina is popular? Huh I didn't know, makes sense I guess, though for me on my main file she was the third sniper I recruited, and the first on my alt file that I streamed a bit on, and she's pretty good (still uses Cezary as he has higher hp and he has a higher version of the royal sniper).

I'll be doing the Edy Detachment DLC at some point as well, which also has Homer, Jann, Lynn, Marina, and Susie.

The thing about Susie's potential is that it can really mess with any plan you might have with her.  Though you can greatly mitigate the problems it poses by saving right before you use her, but then she may as well not even have it.  In that sense, it just makes her kind of tedious to use.  Having to always save before using her.

Major VC spoilers below...

Spoiler

Alicia gains two Potentials relating to her power.

One is the Mysterious Body Potential and the other is simply called "Valkyria".  Both are gained in chapters after Alicia's big reveal as a Valkyrur, though I don't remember precisely when they're gained.

Mysterious Body has a chance to heal her when she gets low on health, so that means she will often get "second chances".

I don't remember what the Valklyria Potential did in vanilla; probably an immense defense and offense boost.  But here, it makes her practically immortal and super strong.  The thing is, her health would need to get into the single digits for it to proc, which might not happen before she dies.  When it does, however, it can be quite ridiculous the havoc she can wreak.

I mean, it isn't like Selvaria in the last Chapter of Behind Her Blue Flame, who has the Lance of the Valkyrur that can down enemies extremely quickly and destroy tanks in one shot along with practical invincibility, but for the base game, it's pretty good.  And I'm sure it's even better in vanilla since Scouts are already kind of ridiculously good.  It's been a while since I've played the original vanilla game unmodded, so I don't remember.  But obviously, Alicia's a really good Scout with no drawbacks whatsoever, and her hidden Potentials pretty much make her an OP Scout who could easily capture an enemy camp with the greatest of ease, especially when she unlocks Double Movement as well.

I think Marina's popularity is a combination of her being objectively the best sniper in the game (her potentials are geared very much towards sniper tactics, while most others kind of have problems that hinder their sniping abilities), her extended biography detailing how she made a fox her pet which suggests a soft spot for cuddly animals (which I believe is expanded upon further in the DLC and anime), and her just being stand-offish from people.  I think for the latter two, people saw those traits in her and related to her quite a bit, or maybe it invoked relations to Princess Mononoke.  I'm sure her design also attributed to her favor.

Cezary's a good anti-sniper sniper.  I say this because he has a Personal Potential geared towards taking down snipers, and he also has one that is detrimental for when he's in high places.  So he's a bottom-up sniper, basically, and is probably the second best one.

With the changes to sniper rifles in this mod, Catherine is actually much better now because you can give her a sniper rifle that never runs out of ammo, effectively eliminating the issues that come with her hidden Potential.  She could work as a support sniper, staying back with other support troops and intercepting front-line enemies.

 

Anyway, it seems like folks are requesting troops I already have for the most part, so that's workin' out rather well.  The only adjustment I'd need is to put Salinas in the platoon, and then we'd pretty much be set.  I'll get to recording and then show who the final contenders are.

EDIT: So one thing I forgot about this game is even with mods, you're still sometimes required to use the three "officers".  As such, this won't entirely be a run free of them.  But it shouldn't be an issue, because I don't recall there being too many missions where you have to deploy them.  I don't think, anyway.  But even if they're always mandatory, I'll made efforts to not use them, which is pretty easy to do regardless.

Edited by Ertrick36
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13 hours ago, MadJak91 said:

They look good to me!

Glad to hear it, though unfortunately I forgot to turn the output res up :facepalm:

Luckily, this next batch was only for one chapter, so you'll only have to put up with tiny illegible letters and numbers for a little bit longer.  I even just saved settings in my video capture program so that it'll output the proper resolution.

 

Alright, I've assembled a team now.  Though here's the thing; between the initial batch (which is where I pulled the previous chapters screens from) and this one, I changed out a couple of units.  And since these couple of units never even saw combat, I don't see a need to show them, so... yeah.  I'll only show the people I've got on at this point.

Also, I had acquired a certain unit, but quit without saving like the idiot I am.  So I... "rerolled" a few times just to get that one unit back.  Don't burn me on a post for that.

Recruitment Segment: Filling Some Oddly Specific Yet Somehow Still Relevant Niches

Spoiler

The format will be this: I'll only show one pic from each unit, and then I'll list their Personal Potentials in spoilers.  I won't tell you what their Hidden Potentials are right now, so you'll just have to wait until they're unlocked.  After every mission, I'll check over all the units to see if their Hidden Potentials get unlocked, as well as any Battle Potentials.

So without further ado, let's show off the goods.

Remember Musaad, AKA Mister "Bug in a Rug"?

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Yup, that's right!  I recruited him.  We need all the EWI vets we can get, and there're none better.

About Scout Musaad Mayfield: An EWI vet, Musaad earned the nickname "that damned mole" from his enemies due to his legendary skills in the trenches, though he kind of lets his victories get to his head and it creates a hubris for him.  That being said, he's actually from Bruhl like Welkin, and after hearing about Welkin's accomplishments in that town, he was first in line to sign on with Welkin's platoon.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Child of Nature
  • Good Buddy: When he's near friends, his attack power increases
  • Bug in a Rug: Being in trenches boosts his attack power; it's no wonder he was so useful during EWI

Likes: Coby Caird, Nina Streiss

Assessment:

Spoiler

When you play the "Behind Her Blue Flame" DLC, he actually shows up, and he's a huge pain in the ass.

Obviously his thing is trench warfare.  As a scout, trench warfare is not something they excel at, nor do you particularly want scouts to be running around in trenches; that's a job best saved for shocktroopers.  That being said, if he can find a point in a trench where he can see the main field, you can set up a nice little no-man's land with him.

If you bring him a pal, then his no-man's land will only get deadlier.  And once he gets all his battle potentials, he'll pretty much always hit his targets and they'll always miss him unless they catch him by surprise.

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It's not quite Valkyria Chronicles without Jann Walker at your side!

About Lancer Jann Walker: A man of gorgeous muscles and adorable sneezes, he has a pretty big crush on Largo.  And actually, Largo is fairly okay with this; it's a bit like the relationship between Valbar and Leon in FE: Echoes.  In spite of his love for muscles and having sculpted his own body into muscular perfection, Jann actually has a very sweet, maternal side, having babysat as a primary profession and currently making meals and treats for Largo.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Pollen Allergy: Standing on grass or near plants gradually decreases his health
  • Fancies Men: Because he loves being around men with bulging muscles (or well any men, really), his shots become more accurate

Likes: Largo Potter, Montley Leonard, Walter Nash

Assessment:

Spoiler

The potentials he has might seem middling, but he gains some really good Battle Potentials, and his Hidden Potential only boosts his tank killing abilities even further.

With the mod installed, the thing that's most important for lancers no longer is accuracy, but rather raw damage.  And Jann will eventually get a battle potential that totally wrecks any tanks he faces.  Another battle battle potential will pretty much ensure he never runs out of ammo, meaning you won't need to have engineers chase him down through some possibly dangerous open fields.

Just make sure he avoids pollen, and he'll be a force to be reckoned with.  Though maybe you could have him run into pollen just a little.  It's the only way you'll be able to hear his little sneezes, after all.

LKmeX5X.png

Look at that tiny mouth!  Why is her mouth so smol?

About Shocktrooper Edy Nelson: With stars in her eyes, she hopes to one day become a famous singer as well as an actress.  However, Rosie's also a singer (a much better one, at that), and is a shocktrooper just like her, so naturally she sees Rosie as her main competition.  She was actually quite the star back in her home town, and I think she eventually goes on to be a successful actress...

She is a popular character; in fact, she's the most popular in Japan.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Country Bred: Funny enough, when this procs, she questions it, saying, "W-why should I enjoy seeing dirt?"  It's pretty hilarious, actually
  • Panicky: When charging into enemies' interception fire, she loses some attack power
  • Born Leader: When near some allies, she gains some defense.

Likes: Definitely not Rosie at all, Salinas Milton, Ramona Linton, Dallas Wyatt

Assessment:

Spoiler

lmao, she's fuggin' awful at frontline assault.

The thing with Edy is she's better off being a defensive shocktrooper, particularly when she's guarding a camp with a friend or two.  That being said, she does get some useful battle potentials which can negate her flaws.

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Without a doubt the most terrifying looking person on my team now, holy shit.

About Shocktrooper Jane Turner: Would you believe me if I told you she used to be a florist from Bruhl?  She really, really, really hates Imps.  Remember when I was joking about Isara enjoying her first kill?  Well Jane actually is obsessed with killing Imps.  So much so that later down the line, she'll stay with the military to train people on how to kill Imperials.  And this hatred was all because they destroyed her flower shop in Bruhl.  If the seeds of the Lion's Paw represent Welkin and Alicia, then I guess the Venus Fly Trap would represent Jane.  Either that, or a weed implanted by an extremely disgruntled neighbor.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Child of Nature
  • Imp Hater: Her hate boner for the Empire's regulars gives her greater accuracy so that she can hit them right in the bullseye.
  • Lancer Killer: Perhaps a lancer was the one who destroyed her flower shop, 'cuz she also gains an attack bonus from encountering them.

Likes: Hannes Salinger, Oscar Bielert

Assessment:

Spoiler

The only time her Imp Hater potential isn't useful is one chapter.  Every single chapter besides this particular one will have her fighting Imperial troops.

Her Lancer Killer potential will make her an excellent anti-lancer unit since these durably bastards can sometimes be difficult to take down.

She's a decent shocktrooper - about mid-to-high tier.  She'll get more potentials later on that's increase her ability to murder Imps.  And she'll also get a potential that is actually kind of creepy and terrifying, so bonus points for probably making the Imperials piss their pants.  With luggage in the trunk.

larscU9.png

Of course I wound up signing this girl on due to her accent.

About Sniper Catherine O'Hara: Another EWI vet, she has a bit of PTSD after an incident where she had to watch one of her allies die because an ammo shortage limited her ability to help them out.  Because of this, she obsesses over how much ammo she has left, and when she runs low she gets severely anxious.  She greatly values her friends, and in spite of her bad experiences she volunteered to help defend the people of Gallia.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Meadow Bred: Standing on grass raises her defense
  • Pessimist: Having less than half-full HP lowers her defense (as if the thing she needs in this kind of situation is even less HP)
  • Camaraderie: Being near other snipers boosts her evasion rates

Likes: Coby Caird, Juno Coren

Assessment:

Spoiler

She isn't really all that great a sniper; certainly no Marina.

The only positive potentials for her don't utilize proper sniper tactics.  Not only do they require her to be in situations unsuitable for snipers, they also increase defensive stats, which is particularly bad for a sniper because they shouldn't be coming under attack at all unless they're in a shootout with another sniper.  And her hidden potential will hinder her attack power whenever its activated, and that's one of two stats a sniper really needs.

The last problem gets mitigated with a Battle Potential, and the other battle potentials improve her overall effectiveness as a sniper.  But if you really want her to not be a nuisance in this mod, you'll want to use her as a support sniper.  What I mean by this is that she should receive an interception rifle so that A) she'll never run out of ammo, effectively eliminating the problem with her hidden potential and B) she has more justification for fighting on the ground with others, filling a niche that snipers don't typically fill.

MYvjYdS.png

So yes, in spite of my trash talking, I hired Susie on to assist as an official member of the Edy Detachment.

About Scout Susie Evans: She is extremely naive, but has a good heart.  It says in her description that she paid 25 DCT (the currency in this game, btw) for an apple.  Not only that, but she's pacifist to the point that she sometimes will refuse to fire a shot at an enemy.  She comes from a wealthy family, which undoubtedly contributes to her naivety.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Country Bred
  • Good Buddy: Being near friends boosts her attack power
  • Trooper Hater: When encountering shocktroopers, her attack power is lowered

Likes: Elysse Moore, Knute Jung

Assessment:

Spoiler

lmfao, she's fucking terrible.

I've talked about her hidden potential here.  When you unlock it, there's a chance that if you order her to attack an enemy, she'll just end her turn on the spot.  This is without a doubt the most cumbersome potential in the game, but the mod makes it so that its proc rate is only 5%.

That being said, her strength doesn't lie in fighting, but rather performing support roles, which is more suitable for scouts with the mod installed.  Her battle potentials increase her scouting ability and healing ability.

Though even with that, she still isn't great, especially not when there's, like, a dozen other scouts you can use.

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So per request, I've brought Mister Sorta Leon S. Kennedy haircut along for the party.

About Shocktrooper Salinas Milton: This dude's a serious lady killer; women apparently love him for his good looks.  In spite of that, he has a serious thing for both women and tanks.  In fact, the whole reason he joined was so that he could look at tanks up close and sneak off into the hangar around midnight to caress the Edelweiss.  And as a result of this obsession, he really hates enemy lancers.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Desert Allergy
  • Fancies Women: His aim is better when surrounded by women
  • Lancer Killer

Assessment:

Spoiler

If you get a tank support squadron consisting of him and a female engineer, you're all set.

Seriously, he's great for tank defense.  Not only do one of his potentials grant him increased attack power against lancers, his hidden potential will increase that power even further for simply being near a tank.  And his battle potentials only help this further.  So if you ever need to defend a tank, bring Salinas along.

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The first member of Team Darcsen, here's school teacher Wavy.

About Scout Wavy: Both a school teacher and a family man, he's devoted to protecting his wife and child.  He's very considerate and polite, though he also doesn't show a lot of outward emotion.  Of course as a Darcsen, he swells with pride when nearby other Darcsens

Note: One thing about Darcsens is that they don't have surnames; Isara is an exception to this rule since she was adopted into a family.  This fact dates way back to the "Darcsen Calamity", where they were stripped of their surnames by those who defeated them in the conflicts surrounding that event.

Another tidbit: Darcsens were originally gonna be a beast-race akin to the Laguz of the Tellius games, but the idea was scrapped during the early stages.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Neat Freak: Being in untidy or dirty places causes his accuracy to lower
  • Darcsen Bond: When other Darcsens are nearby, he gains a boost in defense
  • Camp Defender: Inside a camp (that is, when you're near one of your own flagpoles), his evasion rates will increase.  (With the mod, defense increases as well)

Likes: Nadine, Zaka

Assessment:

Spoiler

All Darcsens in this game receive stat buffs when near other Darcsens, so their effectiveness is affected in part by how many Darcsens you have on your team.

Wavy is a very defense-oriented scout, which is good because scouts are kind of feeble in this game.  The ideal situation for him would be to guard a camp with ally Darcsens and shocktroopers.  As a scout he'll spot enemies from greater distances, and he'll be able to survive a lot of attacks, especially when crouched.  He might even avoid fatal shots from snipers thanks to all these traits.

The problem is, though, that his potentials gear him less towards a proper scouting playstyle and more towards a defensive playstyle, which doesn't really take advantage of his mobility.  That being said, this is a minor setback compared to the massive levels of defense he'll obtain being a camp defender, a niche which definitely has its place in this game.

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Next is this nervous engineer who suspiciously shares the same surname as Faldio.  Nothing says they're related... but nothing says they're not related, either.

About Engineer Karl Landzaat: He's actually one of the few non-Darcsens in the game who's in a romantic relationship with a Darcsen.  In fact, he's the only one I'm aware of that does.  He worked in a Fouzen ironworks (where he likely met his lover), but Imperial incursion forced him to flee.  He's fainthearted and deathly afraid of combat, but in spite of that he joined the Militia so that he might ensure a bright future with his lover.  It's actually kind of endearing.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Metal Head: Being around metalworks increases his attack power
  • Lonely: When he's alone, his evasion rates are decreased

Likes: Lynn, Kevin Abbot

Assessment:

Spoiler

The biggest reason I'd usually recruit this guy is so that I can get his lover, which in the vanilla game you'd normally do by having him unlock his hidden potential and then getting knocked out (but not killed).

He's a poor combatant.  Two of his potentials hinder his ability to evade, and none of them increase his defense.  Because he's an engineer, this effectively means that any engagement with the enemy is guaranteed death for him.

That being said, you don't want to use engineers for combat in the first place.  Though he only has one potential that boosts his abilities as an engineer.  In this mod, he has two, since Invincible is replaced with Strengthen, making him a bit more useful.  All in all, he isn't all that great.

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:cry: This guy, though...

About Engineer Homer Peron: The whole reason he joined the Militia was so that he could experience pain and hardship.  Yes, he's essentially a masochist.  This comes with the fact that he's also got a frail body.  Apparently he has a sister who is a sadist, implying his love for pain probably comes from childhood trauma.  It just makes me feel so sorry for the boy.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Neat Freak
  • Frail Body: His defense decreases when he runs on less than half-full AP
  • Lonely

Likes: Noce Wordsworth, Elysse Moore, Knute Jung

Assessment:

Spoiler

He's sort of like Karl in that he has some pretty terrible potentials.

However, he gets two potentials that cause his defense to skyrocket.  And like Karl, he gets a potential that resists debuff effects from enemy weapons.  Though again, he doesn't really get very many potentials that focus on the niches he's supposed to fill as an engineer.

From what I remember, hardly any of the engineers unlock more than one potential that actually focuses on their engineer niches.

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Now here's the oldest guy in the squad.  He's the only one with a potential that relates to his age, actually.

About Shocktrooper Coby Caird: Another leftover from the first war, this guy's actually about twice the age of your typical EWI vet, going on 65 years.  Before his days in warfare, he was a carpenter; now he's still a soldier, in spite of a gimped back from an injury he suffered during the first war.  He feels uncomfortable around Alicia because she looks like his dead daughter.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Country Bred
  • Born Leader
  • Bad Back: Whenever he crouches, he loses defense.

Likes: Catherine O'Hara, Musaad Mayfiels, Yoko Martens

Assessment:

Spoiler

Honestly not all that great of a shocktrooper.

He relies on tactics that keep him standing, running around and gunning down people.  With one of his battle potentials, he'll be having less trouble with dodgy enemies, and one potential will bring him back form the dead.  (For the last one, the mod changes it)

His best asset is the support he brings other older characters like Musaad or Catherine.  Specifically Musaad, because both of them are capable of interception fire.  Though with this mod, you can add Catherine to that list.

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Next we got Texas.  I will always refer to her as Texas.

About Engineer Dallas Wyatt: Texas is a lesbian.  That is a sentence I never thought I'd say in my life.  She loves being around women, particularly Alicia, and she hates men.  Okay, she doesn't hate men, but she doesn't really like them.  She comes out of an all-girls private school, which I'm sure only exaggerated her love for other women and disdain for men.  She has dreams of living in a home surrounded by flowers.  She should marry Miss Imp Hater.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Desert Allergy
  • Man Hater: Men being around her causes her to be less accurate
  • Fancies Women

Likes: Alicia Melchiott, Edy Nelson, Aika Thompson

Assessment:

Spoiler

Obviously she's better when she's around other women.  Especially Alicia when she unlocks her hidden potential.

The nice thing is that unlike the previous engineers, she doesn't really have a potential that messes with her defensive capabilities.  That being said, she has issues with desert levels.  But still, she can more reliably move about performing the support roles she's supposed to fill, especially when she obtains some of her battle potentials.

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So here we got this jokester.  I wonder what he'd think of this LP...

About Scout Ted Ustinov: He wants to be a clown.  Not only that, but he's constantly trying to crack a smile out of Marina, but he never succeeds in this endeavor.  Strangely, he has problems with metal objects.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Metal Allergy
  • Fancies Men
  • Fancies Women

Likes: Melville Young, Nancy Dufour, Cherry Stijnen

Assessment:

Spoiler

This is a man who relies on being with diverse groups.

A good number of his potentials focus on hitting stuff, which is great for a scout, and at some point he'll get a battle potential that will pretty much always ensure he dodges.  So because he's accurate and dodgy, he's pretty good as a scout.  Though again, his accuracy relies on being around people, which might be tough for a scout.

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You sure as hell aren't...

About Scout Cherry Stijnen: First of all, what a really strange name.  Anyway, she's pretty much a stereotypical "preppy girl".  Loves fashion, loves talking a lot, and she wants to be part of the big city life.  I think she's a teenager in this game, but I don't recall.  She looks up to Rosie.  The one thing she has in common with me.  Besides an impeccable taste in fashion, obviously.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Child of Nature
  • Chatty Cathy: Her accuracy lowers when she's with a friend... I swear to god
  • Fancies Men

Likes: Brigitte "Rosie" Stark, Ted Ustinov, Ramona Linton

Assessment:

Spoiler

Keep her the hell away from her friends.

Just have her hang around a bunch of dudes that aren't Ted.  The last thing a shocktrooper needs is penalties to their accuracy.

Her battle potentials are pretty good, though, so she certainly isn't a terrible shocktrooper.  She's the only shocktrooper in my platoon that obtains a stealth-oriented battle potential, which is... certainly unique.

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Another engineer to join our ranks.

About Engineer Claudia Mann: I wonder if she sells hats...  She is about as unlucky as Arthur from FE Fates; her home was demolished by a tank shell, so she's hoping that her fighting in the Militia will earn her back a relatively peaceful life.  Nothing ever goes right in her life, it seems.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • City Kid: Boosts defenses when in the big city (or any paved roads)
  • Shut-in: Her defense decreases when staying behind at a camp

Likes: Aisha Neumann, Dorothy Howard

Assessment:

Spoiler

Honestly, engineers fair better when they're a little mobile, so shut-in shouldn't be a big issue.  Another possibly bad potential she gains is one where headshots cease to do crit damage, but engineers typically shouldn't be engaging enemies anyway.

So with that said, she's one of the better engineers.  She'll receive a few defensive potentials, a potential that's great for repairing tanks, and one that boosts her grenade power.  She isn't so unique in this regard, but more in that her potentials aren't so debilitating to her already flimsy defensive capabilities that she would become a liability following a tank around.

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The only other lancer on our team.

About Lancer Elysse Moore: One of the only characters in the 7th Platoon that actually take up a prestigious position after the war, she comes from nobility and was taught fencing.  She's a slow burner, but when she really starts burning, she's liable to burn down the whole house.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Neat Freak
  • Camp Defender
  • Scout Hater: Attack power is lowered against scouts

Likes: Susie Evans, Homer Peron, Ramsey Clement

Assessment:

Spoiler

Her Scout Hater potential... why does she even have it?  It's entirely pointless.  She's never gonna be fighting scouts because she's a lancer.

Anyway, Elysse is a good defensive tank buster.  Really good battle potentials help boost her abilities tremendously, sort of like with Jann.  Her only real drawback is Neat Freak, but that's mitigated by all her other potentials.  When she gains her hidden potential, after a certain number of turns her abilities really ramp up.

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Yes, really.  This is that Darcsen shocktrooper I kept on talking about.  And actually she's a character I got after the first batch's chapter, so she hasn't even gotten a chance to fight.

About Shocktrooper Lynn: Normally, she's unlocked when you have her lover Karl Landzaat both unlock his own hidden potential and get knocked out (but not killed).  She joins after hearing about him getting hurt, emerging from a hiding place to join the Militia.  She received some instruction from Karl, but to his surprise she learned extremely quickly and wound up surpassing him in combat prowess.  Before Valkyria Chronicles 2, she was the only Darcsen that took so strongly to combat that she was assigned the role of shocktrooper.

Potentials:

Spoiler
  • Child of Nature
  • Darcsen Bond
  • Trooper Killer

Likes: Karl Landzaat, Zaka

Assessment:

Spoiler

Does she seem underwhelming?  That's because you didn't see her hidden potentials.

So like some other shocktroopers, she can get Full HP Recovery as a battle potential, which has a chance of giving her back some HP after she attacks.  Another battle potential allows her to effectively operate as a scout, having the same spotting range as them, and a third makes it so that some landmines she steps on are duds.

But her most broken skill is her hidden potential, which I'll just outright tell you what it is: Hard Worker.  This goddamn skill makes it so that she can take another action.  And sometimes, it'll proc multiple times.  This in tandem with Full HP Recovery effectively breaks the game.  You can have her chain a bunch of kills while running around like a headless chicken without a care in the world.  There was a time I had Hard Worker proc three times, and each time she killed an enemy, she regained all her health.

And the big problem is that the Gallian Crossfire mod changed a lot of these proc rates, and I somehow doubt the dude lowered this potential's proc rate.  In fact, he might've even increased it.  So now we have a murderous Darcsen shocktrooper whose power is likely on par with that of the Valkyrur.

Some compare her to Rosie in this regard.  And I suppose which of the two you prefer would sort of come down to personal preference.  But she undoubtedly is one of the most ridiculous units in this game for having the Hard Worker potential.  But if she isn't the best shocktrooper in the game, then she's the second best.  She's the only shocktrooper with a potential that allows her to take another action, and that makes her insanely good for killing loads of enemies, which is exactly what a shocktrooper is supposed to do.

 

We will soon begin actual gameplay yet again.  And this time, we'll have a full, diverse team.

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14 hours ago, Tuvy said:

What are you playing this on?

(Also if you can use Emile that would be great)

On the PC; I have it on Steam.

I could probably make some room for Emile.  Though I've also got at least one other sniper in mind for my platoon.  But there's, like, four or five units I've got that I'm fine with replacing.

This next intro will be short because we already glossed through much of the beginning of this chapter in prior segments.

Chapter 3-1: The Army of Nepotism and the Most Pathetic General in Human History (Intro Segment)

Spoiler

fbtFxEh.png

So the first mission with our platoon will be within an urbanized area.  Great way to break up the monotony.  Terrible for any Children of Nature like Largo.

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In case you forgot what was going on.

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So the commander is called Maximilian.  I believe he comes from royalty, though I don't recall at the moment.  Nevertheless, he'll be our main enemy for the entire game.

Ghirlandaio is a huge wall-fortress right along the border between Gallia and the Empire.  The DLC mission I've mentioned before takes place in and around this fortress.

Also, Maximillion really loves to make ridiculous tanks.  Look forward to seeing some of humanity's most asinine creations.

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So I was correct; they were going to Randgriz.  Though I think that most of those refugees will probably be turned into soldiers.  Could you imagine that?  Going from your home being destroyed and possibly your friends and family being butchered to being forced to fight the people who were responsible for it all...

It's a sobering thought.

Anyway, this is the preamble before all the stuff about Randgriz.  Zip forward to after we've got our squad and stuff all setup...

st7p0zf.png

Holy hell!  It's Miss Cold Blooded Overachieving Worldwide Tank Driving Killer here with us yet again.  At least we know the people here aren't racist.

What people, you ask?

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That's right, approved up the chain up to Captain Eleanor Varrot, Is will now be joining our platoon!

Spoiler

Here are her potentials and further information:

Spoiler

Class: Armored Tech

Potentials: Darcsen Bond, New Bond, Country Bred, Road to Peace

Likes: Welkin Gunther

Assessment: Her being an Armored Tech opens her up to pursuing either the Fencer or Tech Vet class trees.  Since she has only good Personal Potentials, there are no objectively bad class trees for her.  Personally, I like making her a Mauler because I like the idea of her busting up tanks with hammers, though a lot of people like going the Special Tech route due to the general consensus being that it's her canon class.

You'll never see a finer sight than a 16 year-old Darcsen girl smashing the shit out of tanks with hammers and beating the devil out of the racist PoS rebels with an oversized wrench, and her potentials will ensure that she'll always outclass all other Armored Tech units.

Spoiler

This is a joke because she doesn't actually appear as a playable character in this game, but she is playable in VC2.

 

 

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Yeah...  How convenient.

Do they not have rules against nepotistic Regiment assignments?  First Faldio and Welkin are Lieutenants under the same Regiment, then Alicia - the girl who Welkin came here with - is assigned under her command, and now his adoptive sister is his tank commander?  Also, Largo Potter is a good friend of Captain Varrot.

Either the Gallian Militia has never cared about assigning close friends and families under the same units or the drafting situation is extremely hectic and is causing pandemonium within the Generals' filing cabinets.

Ah whatever, it's a game.

So blah, blah, blah, they talk about this and that.  Then Isara mentions the ragnite fuel she has to install into the Edelweiss.

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Right, we've been over all this before.

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???

What's right?  Did you just now realize that you, a sixteen year-old girl, are getting roped into a conflict that means you'll be taking the lives of many people?  Have you finally come out of emotional shock?

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Man, I really need to stop overthinking things...

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[You have acquired a plot item]

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Yes Welkin...  And Isara, a sixteen year-old girl, has already gotten adjusted to her role as a tank driver, maintenance personnel, and a professional murderer, while you, a twenty-two year-old man, are still grappling with the idea that you'll be a part of this army.

Get with it, man.  Your days of bird gazing, bug collecting, and generally doing nothing useful are done.  You are now a killer.  And you'll someday probably have to use that flare gun to kill someone.  You'll be ordering people to form magical coats of defensive lizard armor from their skin, jump on loads of mines, and probably die a lot to a blaze of bullets from a turret.

We leave the hangar and receive a briefing from our new commander regarding our first mission.

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Yes!  Finally, we're getting right into it, then.  No more interruptions or rambling or anything.

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Oh yeah, that bridge.  Pretty much connects the region Randgriz is in with the rest of the country leading to the Imperial border.  That definitely would make it important, especially since there isn't a reliable way to transport tanks across water during the war.  No way at all.

Keep in mind I'm cutting out a lot of parrot exposition from Welkin.  I think Welkin is a secret relative of Solid Snake or David Hayter.

Then suddenly the game cuts to a video.

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Well, then, we have our mission!  Let's get to it; I'll blow up all those tanks on that bridge.  I'm ready to go out in a fiery blaze.

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Yup.  Pretty much the Nazi way.

Though that seems stupid when you're dealing with a drawbridge.  What if someone snuck into the bridge control room and cut the two forces off?  You'd have two perfectly weakened targets to strike at.

You're about to find out that Maximillian isn't actually the best strategist.  He's all about his hubris and his love for big tanks.  He just kinda sends big forces out to deal with problems.  And it'll also go to show that fighting a nation within its own borders is a huge uphill battle that even a dreadnought would have difficulty with.

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And of course we'll be taking as much advantage of Maximillian's oversights as we can.

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Who has the gall?!

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Oh, it's this fat loser.  General Georg von Damon.

Matt Damon here is General of the Central Forces, which is what I've been calling the Gallian regular Army.  This is what the main body of the army looks like; fat, pompous, and incompetent as all hell.

He doesn't hold this position due to merit, mind you; a politician named Borg (who we'll meet eventually) recommended him.  Typical bureaucratic bullshit.

Anyway, this guy's just a dick.  He's here to steal claim to all our accomplishments while being entirely useless.  Right out of the gate, he's an unlikable piece of elephant feces and is deserving of absolutely no respect.  Shooting him here and now would be a mercy for our own sanity.  Eventually he'll start giving us near impossible missions just out of spite for our successes.

So Varrot tells him we're about to leave.  Then this exchange transpires.

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And then...

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FUCKING ROASTED!  Shit is LIT AS FUCK!  He's gonna need some Ragnaid for those SICK BURNS!

What do you got to say to that, General Gorillaz?

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Nothing!

He can't even retaliate in a verbal confrontation with one of his inferiors.  This is truly how pathetic this guy is.

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"Then I'll tell the Prime Minister about how I led the charge against a legion of Imperial Tank Destroyers, and then I'll say that's when I learned that I was a Valkyrur!  And here's a down payment for keeping quiet."

Okay, seeing him as an actual Valkyrur would be a sight to behold, I'm not gonna lie.

Get out of here, you loser.  People with actual balls are talking here.

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Typical "classism is bad" banter.  And in this case, it's the aristocrats that ought to be concerned about being outclassed, because they just suck at warfare.

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Yeah, let's stop talking about that waste of space.

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So basically our platoon will get the real meat of the mission while all the other platoons just kinda walk around aimlessly.  And of course all the lieutenants involved are unproven newbs with roughly the same experience with warfare as this:

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As the wise Bubsy the Bobcat once asked...

WhAt cOuLD PosSIbLY GO wROnG?!

Well... find out next time on the next thrilling episode of Dragons Ball P.  Turns out not much 'cuz this is babby mission.

 

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