Hello! I’ve been replaying this game since…a long time ago actually, I don’t even remember my last playthrough of this game, must’ve been years ago. I’ve a lot of things I’d like to say about the game, but I’ll most likely post the full gist of it once I’m also done with act 2. For now though the reason I’m making this post is for a possibly very alarming reason…is it intentional that the enemies on chapter 2-2 have suddenly jumped all the way to levels 9-10? Especially when they were only lv2 on the previous chapter. I AM playing on lunatic mode, but even still it feels a bit…jarring? to have such a massive, sudden enemy powerspike like this, especially considering this particular chapter not only has you start from a very narrow corner, being surrounded with enemies (especially fliers up the mountains! while you only have 1 flying unit of your own so far) on all sides, but apparently even fog rolls in upon starting the map! But yeah seeing polly equipped with tempest 3 be slow enough to get doublED by the vast majority of enemies already doesn’t seem like a good thing… (she actually avoids getting doubled at 1 range due to her skill, but with her low hp+def, she+jaye may well just get one shotted by the enemies instead without a robe of which there’s only one of. Also verna needs the arcane brace just to be able to 2 shot most “low res” enemies with the brave dark magic tome since some of them have 1 res instead of 0 already…and in general all of this+so many enemies that move towards you right away just seems way too much.
…I was NOT expecting this post to get so long, the TLDR is that the chapter 2-2 enemies have suddenly gone WAY too high level wise (levels 9-10, from level 2 on the previous map) and it’s getting my units stat checked as hell, even with all their OP traits. (especially since some of them need time to truly get going, time which I don’t think is affordable given the starting position)
ok so like a month ago one of the playtesters told me about how the 2-2 enemies on lunatic are extra crazy (and how turn 1 was lowkey unplayable) and i wrote it down somewhere but forgot to actually implement changes lol but i made some quick fixes now
pushed a quick fix for 2-2 in terms of enemy levels/autolevels, thanks for pointing these out and lmk if there’s anything else that needs changes
Ok I beat the map, it was much more reasonable this time around even though it accidentally ended up with the lord wiping out a portion of the map on her own after a while…again XD (I do echo most of the sentiments of the poster above about her tbh, but then again you can just give her stat boosters and the growth booster item I suppose). Anyway, on to this next map, and-
Surprise comeback
Wulfric is back as an optional (?) miniboss again! Was this because I spared him all the way back in act 1? I kinda figured something might happen later on, and well, turns out I was right! Now the whole reason for this point is, should I spare him once more (since he doesn’t move), or can I finally kill him for that ring? What about Opal, who also doesn’t move but has an even more valuable item drop? Will these (aka sparing vs killing them) have additional payoffs later? Hell, did me not killing Wulfric back on act 1 even matter towards this?
right now, killing any of them has no story/extra effect because part 2 right now has a lot of “i’ll implement this after i work on writing stuff for it” so rn feel free to kill all the bosses for stuff
Oh wow I was not expecting the paladin boss duo to show up again so soon already despite me beating them back then, it’s almost as it didn’t even matter last map…soooo I went ahead and kicked them out of my face AGAIN (sleep staff ftw). Now that I think about it, does defeating Wulfric in act 1 even make a difference at all in here? I assume not since his placement as a boss here seems pivotal to both of the previous maps he just showed up on. Anyway as for the main reason I wrote this post -to report issues- there’s a typo in Opal’s battle quote, and also the map can end even by simply routing all the enemy; no need for any units to escape. Oh and before I forget, ch.2-3 doesn’t actually give a game over even if you exceed its 12 turn limit; nothing actually happens at all and the map goes on as normal. Anyway as for these maps themselves, I must say the green units are more annoying than anything; they can make for decent meatshields from time to time but for the most part they end up stealing kills from units that couldn’t finish enemies off on enemy phase. But the WORST part about them is their starting positions; it took me forever to get the bottom part group in 2-3 to get going because I needed to rescue my mage/cleric from the enemies’ range but the green units were taking up too much space and I barely found enough space to drop them in a safe area. The best part about them is that your units can steal their items to be able to move further ahead when needed (I believe this was intentional in 2-3 with that enemy archer with a stealable item nearby? (which you can reach on turn 1 by stealing from a green unit first and then steal from him after)).
Anyway as for the units themselves, most of them are good enough and surprisingly distinct enough from part 1 units while having many things to offer themselves, especially with tools like brave/siege tomes and more 4 range daggers, and also a lord that takes a while to get going but can enter godmode with enough care (I gave her the growth booster to try and help her miserable offensive growths it’s been fine so far); although she does rely on her prf for the most damage, until she gets a rank bows for arcane rifle. The units I’ve benched on the maps where I’ve had to do so were Frye (poor guy has 1 chapter and then 2 halves of chapters before Rina becomes available, whose base stats are superior to his in basically every single area) and Velius (while his res-based gimmick seems pretty cool when/if it gets going, the unit itself requires a lot more babying/investment to get going; the lower dark magic rank compared to Yufka (who even has higher base magic) and even Verna (who can also fly and is way faster) also really hamper his choices for offense, and also while his res growth is solid/he’s arguably the best candidate for royal idols, it still takes a while to get going off his base res of 4. Another unit I almost considered benching was Polly; as a general observation, mage riders are really weak statwise; enemy ones have noticeably lower hp than basically any other class even on lunatic, and are almost never difficult to dispatch; this issue also extends to Polly herself to a degree, and her frailty really belies the extent of her strengths (but I guess miracle ring exists at least but with tempest 3 she also gets slowed down to the point of risking getting doubled without gettng lucky) but at least her horseback properties make her useful beyond just her strong chip damage at range…which is barely enough because Jaye’s just so much better otherwise with thief utility, way higher anima rank, and especially her ability to chain chip damage onto nearby enemies/higher speed+growth in general.
…Why do all my posts always end up being this long…
EDIT (since idk if making double posts so soon is ok): On to ch2-5 now, haven’t started the map proper yet, but…why are the enemies so weak on this map? They (the unpromoted ones) only levels 5-6, compared to them in the previous map being levels 9-10 (which I thought was fine enough for that point of the game). I don’t know if this is intentional due to their sheer density+open map space or just an oversight, but just something I thought I’d bring up while deciding which units to bench for this map.
2-5/6 enemies are supposed to be weaker than 2-2/3 enemies for plot reasons, but they’re a little weaker than intended (might mess around with giving them unique equipment in exchange for levels/stats later but i’d need to see how it plays with the extra levels)
super busy rn but i pushed a quick change for 2-3 with starting positions/green unit starting positions to make the start less of a slog, fix that makes the game over work (lol), and also rewrote some stuff so hopefully routing doesn’t end non-rout maps (did very light testing so if this breaks lmk); also slight stat buffs to doppio, velius, and frye; personal skill buff for polly
as always thanks and lmk if there’s anything else that could use a tweak
Just a few more things cuz I ran out of bugs/bad units to report
Not much to say on ch2-5, other than I guess it was a pretty good split map? I like that you’re not super overwhelmed at the start but rather by like turn 3 once your army has properly split into both sides, and both sides need to be thoroughly covered but not with too many units that may risk falling behind without doing anything. Also good village rewards, and also also, the ultimate rescue bot now joins the fray! xd
Ch2-6 is yet another split map even though the right side seems trickier to get to and navigate and oh my GOD how many times do I have to teach the lesson to these old people at this point. Anyway siege tomes made things hairy on the upper side but I somehow managed in the end, the hardest part was baiting both wyverns so I could steal their items. Oh right, I lied about having nothing to really report; so…apparently crossing the mountains before recruiting Edvin causes some placeholder dialogue to play, and…Chiffon is somehow no longer able to recruit Edvin anymore?? (oh and the boss moves off his throne I guess but whatever); but none of this happens if you recruit Edvin first and then cross the mountains? So strange. Lack of plot moment, I guess. The boss with all his avoid was hard to hit/kill but otherwise things weren’t that bad, also lots of supports happened mid map to power up several units. Also, Chiffon even with 10 speed can’t even double shamans even with all the stat blessing she’s had she has a tricky time getting started/going and hasn’t actually done all that much in either of these previous maps.
Anyway on to 2-F stuff as I take a peek, I just checked Chiffon’s promotion out with master seal (not going to actually do it, most likely), and it says she can use axes even though she’s still stick with bows? Also her unpromoted class description says she becomes armored on promotion but she actually becomes a wyvern knight-like flier instead? She doesn’t get canto as a mounted unit although she does get more aid at least. Still not decided who gets this master seal for now though.
As for actual things related to the map itself…I can’t believe the paladin duo (and even the falcoknight?) finally come to their senses and have had enough of a beating and finally decide to join you xD…wait, is/will this be affected by how many times you kick their ass in the future? I hope not, it was fun routing every single map so far I’m not gonna lie, and this would also complicate matters for ch2-3 where some villages are in the bosses’ aggro ranges. As is fitting for a finale map of an act at this point, the preps theme changes and the map theme…is finally being used for a proper map, rather than just a big empty map with 5 enemies in it (if you know, you know). But perhaps the most heart wrenching thing is…that halberdier at the very front…is meant to represent Ulrich, isn’t it? Especially with that droppable stopwatch as a sign of the time that’s passed since…yet it feels like nothing’s changed at all. After all it’s fitting that essentially the same map (with darker tiles to represent the passage of time) is used as the final map for 2 arcs in a row now, with the same character (Opal) even making an appearance in both instances of the map. No more running…it’s time to face them all for real now. (which is honestly about damn time, because if there’s one main thing to point out throughout this whole arc is how damn near every map is an escape all map. Which is sensical enough considering you’re breaking out of prison and constantly on the run, but also…yeah.)
Also, that boss seems familiar, but I can’t point out exactly why…
.....Nevermind I DID find issues to point out after all
Cortado cannot use the master seal to promote, even though she’s level 12 already. Everyone else (that’s level 10 or above, including Chiffon herself as mentioned up above, can indeed use it just fine). Speaking of Cortado still though, how come the precision ring works with her skill (giving her hilarious damage output at max spaces moved), but not for Moose when he’s nearing death (he retains normal crit and no damage increase)? It just feels rather strange and not very consistent, especially since Cortado just gets her crit rate set to 100 when she uses max movement, while Moose gets a normal crit rate boost while also having a trickier time even getting in activation range. It just feels slightly off though is all; the item itself is pretty cool and a uniquely creative way of converting what’s normally unreliable rng into a reliable source of damage. Anyway that should hopefully be it for now? I don’t even know at this point maybe I should just hold on to this master seal in case more such edge cases show up like this…
Also, sometimes when scrolling around the “other items” menu in the convoy, I get this error message upon hovering over certain items, I’m not sure which ones or why that is but it causes the game to crash out of nowhere
Okay, just finished act 1 and have started act 2. Writing was great, gameplay was also great. Affogato and Sequin supremacy. My only real issue for a majority of my playthrough (of act 1) was that Nora was the only healer who seemed to actually be designed as a healer. I mean, she’s a fantastic healer, but if part of Floris’s skill could also apply to him healing or if he could have a greater Ether growth, then he would be much more usable in general. The Haze staff is great on him, but he feels like he should almost exclusively use it, because otherwise he has no utility. On the flipside, Kane could pick up his healing slack, but that was also dependant on have pure waters or missing hp, and that’s if you even got Kane at all, since it’s really easy to miss him. Loved Gorlois’s animation with the raven.
Only bug I have noticed is Polly’s skill seeming to actually do the opposite of what the first part states, which is really not good.
Edit: Okay, it seems to work outside of Prologue II.
things to offer themselves, especially with tools like brave/siege tomes and more 4 range daggers, and also a lord that takes a while to get going but can enter godmode with enough care (I gave her the growth booster to try and help her miserable offensive growths it’s been fine so far); although she does rely on her prf for the most damage, until she gets a rank bows for arcane rifle. The units I’ve benched on the maps where I’ve had to do so were Frye (poor guy has 1 chapter and then 2 halves of chapters before Rina becomes available, whose base stats are superior to his in basically every single area) and Velius (while his res-based gimmick seems pretty cool when/if it gets going, the unit itself requires a lot more babying/investment to get going; the lower dark magic rank compared to Yufka (who even has higher base magic) and even Verna (who can also fly and is way faster) also really hamper his choices for offense, and also while his res growth is solid/he’s arguably the best candidate for royal idols, it still takes a while to get going off his base res of 4. Another unit I almost considered benching was Polly; as a general observation, mage riders are really weak statwise; enemy ones have noticeably lower hp than basically any other class even on lunatic, and are almost never difficult to dispatch; this issue also extends to Polly herself to a degree, and her frailty really belies the extent of her strengths (but I guess miracle ring exists at least but with tempest 3 she also gets slowed down to the point of risking getting doubled without gettng lucky) but at least her horseback properties make her useful beyond just her strong chip damage at range…which is barely enough because Jaye’s just so much better otherwise with thief utility, way higher anima rank, and especially her ability to chain chip damage onto nearby enemies/higher speed+growth in general.
reasons, but they’re a little weaker than intended (might mess around with giving them unique equipment in exchange for levels/stats later but i’d need to see how it plays with the extra levels)
even with all the stat blessing she’s had she has a tricky time getting started/going and hasn’t actually done all that much in either of these previous maps.
