Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (Abandoned)

[Count Revier]

We're back to the PS1 version! Last time, Reives was done wiping out the Gargastani holdouts. He now begins his march to Rime.



Which, of course, involves a trip into yet another volcano.

Reives: I want to minimize our casualties before we get to Rime. Be careful everyone!

For some reason, this involves murdering all of the enemies on this map. Maybe Reives wants to make real sure that the path is clear for his whole team, maybe it's to ensure safe passage for supplies, who knows, pick anything.



The last battle convinced me that grinding levels was no longer necessary, so I brought along everyone at their post Coritani levels. As you shall see, I was proven right.



This battle is effectively a defensive fight. While the terrain is quite rugged and challenging to traverse, it doesn't really need to be traversed. Most of the enemies here fly, and will beeline to fight Reives' units. Thus, the only element that requires attention is stopping their advance before they break through and severely hurt the team, and given their composition that's not very hard to do. They are mostly melee fighters, and by now the team has more than enough ranged damage to take them down. Not only that, but the initial position is very defensible, not being overlooked by any ground and having only one side exposed to attack. Technically, there's an imp to its west, but who cares lol.



I gave Zildor's fan, the Galdia, to Mildain. While technically weaker than his previously equipped sword, it deals Holy damage and has a chance to charm units on hit, making it very useful. Mildain doesn't hit poorly with it either, the 9 damage there is just because this game doesn't print damage numbers that would exceed the target's current HP.



Technically the Griffons are ranged fighters, and this one actually lands a decently powerful shot on Reives, but in practice, they are dealt with so easily that it barely matters. The only major threats here are the dragons, and the imps, if you let them use their statuses, but both of them are strictly melee and so easy to intercept.

Anyway, Reives' team goes ahead and defeats them all.

Reives: The real war has just begun!
Reives: Let's move!

You'll not be surprised to hear that this was a pretty easy map. Also, Reives, you're saying that now? Have you been paying no attention to the goings on of this island?!



Next time, Reives begins assaulting Rime proper. See you then!

[Count Revier]

Let's go reclaim Rime.



Yeah Ronway just went ahead and got an entire squad to capture Tartare. Unfortunately for him, that's not Tartare.

Balzepho: I hope you know what you're doing...
Ronway: I am very much aware.
Ronway: You are an important hostage.
Ronway: Although it was not our initial plan to capture you. You are second in command behind Lans.
Balzepho: You have no idea of what you're doing!
Balzepho: The Roslolians are offering Valeria to the Walsta Liberation Army.

Oh really? Please show me the papers.

Balzepho: But now you have ruined your opportunity!
Balzepho: Fools!!
Ronway: Shut up! I'm sick and tired of you guys playing the almighty Lodis!
Ronway: Now, you plan to ally with us just because you're bored with the Cardinal? We don't need your help to kill him!

Oh hey, Ronway showing some courage! What a feat!

Ronway: Leonard, give my orders to Reives.
Leonard: Yes, sir.
Leonard: Tell Reives that everything is set.
Soldier: Yes, sir.
Balzepho: When did you...When did you deploy your army?
Ronway: Your stupidity and over-confidence has become your downfall.
Balzepho: You are going to regret this!
Ronway: Why don't you mind your own business?
Ronway: I will not kill you right now. You're a very important hostage.

Cut to Rime, where Reives is already stationed and facing its garrison.

Reives: Hear me, soldiers of Bacrum!
Reives: We are the Walsta Liberation Army!
Reives: Rime is now under our control! Drop your weapons and leave!
Bacrum Knight: What!? Where did they come from!?
Bacrum wizard: Nevermind! We have the support of the Roslolians!

Right on cue, Ozma walks in.

Ozma: You are the one who killed my brother!

But a Dark Knight rushes to her side.

Dark Knight: Ozma! Sir Balzepho is...
Ozma: What!? It's a trap!?
Ozma: Damn it! Retreat!

And just like that, both of them back away.

Reives: Do not expect any help from the Dark Knights!
Reives: Look around you! The Dark Knights have forsaken you and have left you for dead!
Bacrum Knight: Why haven't the Roslolians arrived yet!?

They did, just a while ago.

Bacrum wizard: Do not worry! We can win our own battles!
Bacrum wizard: We cannot allow those Walsta bastards to fool us! Let's go!
Reives: Shit! So they want to do it the hard way...

Indeed, they do!



The first hard map in a long while. Reives has to wipe out the entire garrison, and they are an extremely formidable force. To the left, we have two archers and a terror knight...



To the center, two wizards and a knight, annnd to the right...



A white dragon with a dragon tamer. I didn't cover this class earlier, but essentially, they are an "upgrade" to valkyries. I use "upgrade" in quotes because in practice, they get worse defense than valkyries, and only gain a marginal boost in attack power to compensate. They do boost the stats of dragons near them, though, and while that's often not relevant to the player, it is a considerable effect in such situations, as dragons have generally good base stats and so benefit immensely from it.

Any of these three groups are dangerous, you should aim to kill them as soon as possible, while also trying to keep your units as healthy as you can. Pick one of the three groups and focus your offense on them, while keeping the other groups preoccupied by sturdy or nimble units. The starting position is pretty awful, so you'll want to leave it quickly and make progress whittling one of the three groups down.



I go for the archer group first, they have fairly middling defenses and tend to group up, making them relatively easy to kill. The wizards strike from a distance, and have a nasty trick up their sleeves. The dragon, meanwhile, is just too tanky to take down quickly, and the dragon tamer's boost makes fighting it an extremely dicey proposition.



The terror knight is the first to fall. He teleported with his fancy boots to attack Reives, but he deftly blocked him and finished him off! Must've been embarrassing, heh.



I don't want to deal with the dragon and the tamer yet, so Haborym locks them both with his Charm. I inadvertently discover that he has unlocked its third and final range extension. That's pretty great!



This however, not so much.

Orias: Debordes...I wanted to save you...
Orias: I love you...

Aww, how touching.



I break out a formerly unseen and extremely powerful Dark magic spell here. Charge instantly fills its target with a substantial amount of MP for an amazingly small price. Thus, it can be used to quickly feed MP to anyone, including its own caster! This spell is borderline required for casting high level spells without waiting for extended periods of time. Sure, there are mana restoratives, but they are a single time use, and they really don't offer the flexibility this spell does.



Did I mention the wizards having a nasty trick up their sleeve? I sure did. This bird right here is an amazingly destructive type of spell, called a summon. What does it do, you may ask?



Oh, just rapidly bombards targets in its affected area with multiple shots of damage. Each shot doesn't look that strong, but there's about six to seven of them, and they add up very fast. They only have a few drawbacks - they tend to spread out their damage between targets, and thus aren't reliable for crowd control, and have a chance to miss, though it's often minimal. But between this, Pain and the regular elemental spells, wizards become extremely efficient at killing just about anything.



I leverage the wizard's strike to put Pain to use, rapidly wiping out the archer group before they get to attack again.

Pat: N, No...I don't want to die here...

The dragoon unfortunately bears the brunt of two summons, and gets his shit thoroughly smashed in. RIP.



The good news is, we're gaining the upper head, the entire archer group and now this wizard has been eliminated, and the knight has fallen under the effects of Haborym's spell.

Of course, that's not an excuse to get complacent, even in this weakened state they are a threat, and can easily kill off Reives' units if they choose to.



Case in point - I got a little too greedy with this siren after nearly healing her to full, and unwittingly placed her in a position exposed to the summon's full power. She got completely wrecked, and crumpled on the spot.

Tess: H-help me...I don't want to die...until I meet him...

This was actually my most costly loss, I don't really need the priestess in most battles, and while the dragoon was decently powerful his role could be easily filled by any other physical powerhouse. But wizards are extremely important at this point, and Reives' team will get considerably weaker if they progress forward without at least two of them. I didn't reload the fight, of course, but I was pretty tempted to.



This is the point when the game starts handing out some spiffy gear, including actually good boots. These are the teleporting shoes I mentioned earlier.



In a bit of good news, the charming worked out very well, the dragon and knight have worn themselves down quite a fair bit, and the dragon outright kills the knight for us here! Wow!



I pile damage on the wizard before he gets to make a move again, and Haborym finishes him off cleanly.



From that point, the cleanup becomes pretty trivial, as all that's left is a heavily battered dragon and its tamer, who are little threat on their own.

Reives: We got Rime back!

Phew, what a map!



We aren't done yet, though. The story still has some twists in store.

But we shall cover them later, as this update has already grown quite long. Until then!

[Count Revier]

Last time Reives fought hard and recaptured Rime. It was a bit costly, but he did win in the end. So, surely Ronway's plan worked out great. Right?

Soldier: Sir, I'm glad to report that the Liberation Army has successfully liberated Rime...
Leonard: Good...
Leonard: Permission to order the troops in Amorika to attack Fiduc Castle!
Ronway: Go ahead! Make it quick!

Just then, they hear the sounds of a fight.

Ozma: Sir Balzepho! Are you all right!?
Leonard: Damn it!!

They rush to the source of the noise, but...

Soldier: The door is locked!
Leonard: Stand back!

Leonard breaks through, however...

Leonard: Damn it, we've lost him!!

I am mildly curious as to why Ronway decided to imprison him in a room with a wide open window, of all places. Not that it's particularly relevant because...

Leonard: What the hell...!?

There's more plot afoot! They hear the sounds of a fight again, this time from Ronway's room.



Vice has broken in and is holding Ronway at knifepoint!

Vice: How pathetic, Duke Ronway.
Ronway: How did you get in here!?

Leonard hurries into the room.

Ronway: Agh! Leonard, help me!
Vice: Shit, I hate this guy!
Leonard: Hold it Vice! What are you doing!?
Vice: Shut up, you traitor!!
Vice: You treated me like...like...ungh...
Leonard: Vice!? You are badly wounded!
Leonard: Okay. Just drop your sword and I will take care of your wounds. Just calm down, Vice!
Vice: You used me as cannon fodder...
Vice: Once my job was done, you were just going to throw me away!
Ronway: I will give you a pardon!
Ronway: Please, don't kill me!
Vice: Stop whining you pathetic piece of shit! It's really annoying...

"Annoying"? That's the word you choose to use for a man you hate this much?



He stabs Ronway...

Ronway: Arrgh!

And then gets stabbed by his knights.

Vice:...Kachu...a...

The knights examine Ronway, but he doesn't look particularly great.

Knight:...He's dead.
Leonard: No...

For the first time ever, Leonard shows something besides stoic firmness.

So yeah, it's not looking great. Ronway failed to secure his leverage on the Dark Knights, and was then overthrown by Vice. He really should've been more thorough with his security. And maybe not have kept his extremely important hostage near a big window.



Ah well. Nothing to do but return to Amorika.



But before we do that, we need to give our newly found summons to the appropriate units. Kaminari, the Air summon, can easily be slotted to a Siren Sisteena...



But there's no good place for the Ice summon, Fenril, on our team.



So I go ahead and hire an Ice elemental Amazon, christened Freya by...well, me.



Tactics Ogre may make training newcomers relatively easy, but by late game the stat difference adds up enough to become nearly insurmountable sometimes. Pictured here is Freya failing hopelessly at archery.



She fares little better against the Cleric.



Thankfully, she could actually make headway against the terror knight. From there, it was a matter of steadily making progress. I switched her class at level 12, and grinded until she hit level 21.



Beautiful.



The ninja also grew enough stats to upgrade to a sword master, so I promoted him.



Alright, that's enough prepwork, let's get the plot rolling again.

Wizard:...Can we still take over Fiduc Castle?
Witch: We have already started.
Witch: We can't go back now!!
Soldier: But our enemy is not only Bacrum but also the Dark Knights...
Archer: We cannot keep fighting without Duke Ronway.

Understandably, people are pretty shocked and upset about the whole thing.

Knight: Don't be a fool. There's no turning back! Any trace of settling this peacefully is all but gone...
Witch: He's right. We have to attack before the enemy gets ready!
Leonard: Listen up! We don't have time to argue!
Leonard: What was Duke Ronway's wish?
Leonard: What was he aiming toward?
Leonard: We must remember that...
Leonard: Why have we been fighting all this time?
Leonard: For Walsta? To fulfill a selfish wish to take over Valeria?
Leonard: No! If that was the case, the Gargastans would have never followed us.
Leonard: Who is our enemy?
Leonard: Cardinal Barbatos of Gargastan, Branta of Bacrum, and the Dark Knights...
Leonard: They're our enemies who would force their own people!
Leonard: We will never obtain true peace unless we defeat them! We have to kill them!
Leonard: Do not forget what you are fighting for! Even if you die, the blood that you shed will not be in vain!
Leonard: We are the ones who are fighting for the cause of justice!
Archer: This is true. We have to move on for the sake of the people!
Wizard: We cannot abandon our people!
Wizard: We must honor the death of Duke Ronway!
Witch: Sir Leonard, please give us your order!!

Leonard's little speech really lifted their spirits. Even the music changes and gets more upbeat.

Leonard: We will execute what we had first intended...We must capture Fiduc Castle!
Leonard: Fiduc Castle is a solid fortress, but most of them will be Bacrum soldiers. They shouldn't be any problem.
Leonard: Above all, watch out for the Roslolians.
Leonard: If they attack us with all of their forces, we will face defeat.
Leonard: So, here's the plan...We will attack them from two different sides and divide their forces.
Leonard: Reives and I will lead each of the attacking teams. Is that okay with you Reives?

Reives nods.

Leonard: We will attack from the south side and the west side. You can pick which side you want to attack.

And with that, the stage is set.



True to Leonard's word, Reives can choose to assault the castle either from its southern or western side. They are completely different maps, and once you pick one, you can't pick the other.

But we shall deal with that next update, as the castle battles are quite demanding and this update has grown large enough already. See you then!

[Count Revier]

Let's assault Fiduc Castle!



We pick the southern side first.

Bestear: The Roslolians will be here soon, don't worry guys! Charge!

This map is pretty tough, mainly because it has two summon spewing mages behind high walls.



I missed covering it before, but summons also have the pretty nifty advantage of innately discriminating between enemies and allies. That is to say, they will never hit friendly units, even if they are within range. Sisteena takes advantage of this here to chop off a knight.



The wizards would be bad enough, but this map also features archers with powerful elemental bows, making any kind of progress a potential deathtrap.



To top it all off, Bestear is an exceptional witch herself, able to easily charm units at a great range.



Haborym may be an excellent charmer, but our regular sword master isn't too far off himself. Sword masters are just awesome.



But uh, yeah. This map is quite the pickle.



The best approach here is to try and tag the wizards with a debilitating status first, as they are the primary threat.



It's also best to approach the castle walls from the side, so as to avoid being in range of both wizards(or archers) at the same time.



Fights at this point become prolonged enough that buffs actually get to shine and make a noticeable difference. Byan is a lot busier these days.



Once you take the wizards off the table, the map becomes much more manageable. Especially if you get the archers to your side!



Bestear falls to this amazing, across the wall shot. Turns out sword masters are pretty good at bows, too.

Bestear: Why haven't the Roslolians arrived yet...? What's taking them so long...?

For our trouble, the game rewards some spiffy items, including the archers' elemental bows. I did say that the rewards start getting fancy now.



But what about the western side?

Mercury: Fools!! They are attacking us from the front. Stupid bastards!

Despite this being ostensibly the castle's front entrance, this is actually the easier map, as the dreaded wizards start too far back to attack. The archers being placed alongside them helps, too.



The frontal force consists of dragon tamers, dragons, and a singular terror knight, who are generally not as threatening.



The dragon tamers are the most notable enemies, as they can cast spells and carry crossbows, but they're still wayyyy more manageable opponents.



Especially when they can be charmed.



That's not to say this map is easy, however. It is only too trivial to inadvertently step into the range of either a wizard or archer. Reives just did, and is about to be burnt to a crisp.



The best approach is to kill off the frontal squad as soon as possible...



...then maneuver around the approaching party to pick them off as they get in range.



Both battles have their leaders call for reinforcements once they lose enough of their force, so it's best not to drag them too long.



Once again, a sword master gets the final shot. Are we sure we shouldn't rename them to bow masters, perhaps?

Mercury: What are the Dark Knights of Roslolian doing...? Have they...forsaken...us...?

This map too rewards handsomely. It's nice for them not to punish the "easier" option underhandedly.

Ozma: They have broken through the front! It's over...Fiduc Castle has fallen!

Inside, the Dark Knights are rightfully getting quite perturbed over our sudden incursion.

Balzepho: What a mess! I can't believe I allowed this to happen!
Ozma: Leave the rest to us, sir. Please leave the castle immediately, Sir Balzepho!
Balzepho: I can't run away like this!
Balzepho: I am a Dark Knight...
Ozma: We don't have enough soldiers to protect our lord! It looks bad...!
Ozma: We have to protect our lord!!
Balzepho: You're right. I cannot leave our lord alone...
Balzepho:...and that girl, too!!
Balzepho: Forgive me, Ozma! I pray for your victory!
Ozma: Trust me...

She hurries out for battle, but Balzepho stops her.

Balzepho: Do not die.
Ozma: You, too.

Yep, we'll be seeing them soon.



But that will have to wait for next time, as this update has already gone on for long. For now, just bask in this image of me trying out the shiny new gear from this battle. See you later!

[Count Revier]

Let's assault Fiduc's keep and wrap this up.

Leonard: Nobody's here...?
Leonard:...What?

The great hall is eerily quiet. However, Leonard soon spots a familiar face.

Leonard: Kachua! What are you doing here!?
Kachua: You've come to save me! Thank you Leonard!

Then she abruptly stabs him.

Leonard: Wh-what have you done?

He crumples to the ground.

Familiar voice:...Here you are, Kachua...

Just then, someone calls her from offscreen.

Leonard: Son of a...!!!

It's Lans Tartare! This game has twists layered on twists.

Lans: This place is dangerous.
Lans: Shall we go...

Ozma and Kachua step in.

Ozma: Oh, you're here!
Ozma: Sir, let's get out of the castle.
Lans: You are alive, Ozma.
Ozma: Sir Balzepho is waiting for you outside.
Lans: I understand...You should also get out of the castle with the remaining soldiers.
Reives: Kachua!

Reives enters the hall, and spots Leonard.

Reives: Leonard! Hang in there!
Reives: Don't die!
Leonard: I leave it...to...you...ungh...

He promptly dies.

Reives: Leonard!!!
Ozma: I will take care of this.
Ozma: Please get out of the castle with the princess!
Lans: Don't push yourself too hard.
Lans: Let's go!

Lans and Kachua leave.

Ozma: I will be your opponent!
Ozma: Today is the day you will pay for the death of my brother!

She whistles, and a bunch of soldiers march in.

Reives: Kachua!

The mission is conceptually fairly simple - get through Ozma's guards, and kill her.



What it doesn't show are her additional guards on the stairs. Aside from the cleric, there's two dragons and a dragon tamer tucked in there.



The main force itself is fairly small, consisting of two wizards and three templar knights. These templars are just regular melee fighters, and the wizards don't have summons, thankfully



My usual tricks are somewhat dulled here, as the enemy cleric knows Vitalize and often stays in range to cast it.



And while wizards may not be as dangerous without summons, they are still fairly dangerous.



Here's the real kicker of the fight. Ozma has Petrify, an aoe status inflicting spell that attempts to stone its victims. Stoning, if you will recall, completely stops the character from taking actions until they are healed. Unlike many statuses, it lasts forever if not cured, so the affected characters are made completely irrelevant to battle. Thankfully, this missed half its targets, but stoning the exorcist, valkyrie and terror knight at once still puts me in a very rough position.



I try to fix the situation a little by curing the most important unit first.



As awesome as Charm is, it does have its limits. Bosses can't be affected by it, or indeed, any status effects, unfortunately.



The one upside to getting stoned is that it does boost resistances considerably, making the character a fair bit more resilient against punishment. They still take damage, of course, but having them work as a distraction can work unexpectedly in your favor.



Things get perilous for a bit as Ozma enters the fray with most of her entourage still intact. Well, for a liberal definition of "intact". Thankfully, the terror knight's debuff lowered her damage quite a bit, else Debordes would have had a second death.



I frantically start pulling out all the damage I can to kill her off, putting Reives and co at risk.



Amazingly, it pays off.

Ozma:...Glory to Lodis...

The enemy forces retreat, as usual.

Reives: Kachua, why...?

Ozma unfortunately doesn't drop her Petrify spell. She does, however, drop her whip, which is a cool Dark elemental weapon.



Afterwards, we are treated to a few sweeps over Heigm...



Before stopping at this sordid image of Lans in prison.



That's Chapter 3 complete! Next time, I shall begin to finish off this chapter on the PSP version too. See you then!

[Count Revier]

It's kinda embarassing to be gone this long without an update, but them's the breaks. I indulged myself in Tactics Ogre: Reborn over this month and finally got to the end of it. Err, sort of. My final impressions on that game are here: https://revierofriver.blogspot.com/2024 ... sions.html

[Count Revier]

Okay, let's go reclaim a Rime.

Reives: We can ill afford casualties before we've even reached Rime. Be careful!

The volcano is a fairly straightforward level, with little in the way of plot. Of course, in standard PSP tradition, it's about thrice as long as the original, but this merely slows Reives' progress, not halt it.



It helps that the class based levelling tips the scales heavily in favor of the team, making battles like this a cakewalk.

Reives: Steady on. The real battle lies ahead!

And that's Wyoburi! Nice and quick.



Which is more than can be said for Ronway's schemes.

Balzepho: You don't understand what you're doing!
Ronway: I assure you I do. You'll make a most valuable hostage.
Ronway: Though in truth we had hoped to capture Lans, not his second.
Balzepho: Fool! Hadn't you guessed the true purpose of this meeting?
Balzepho: We were prepared to hand these isles over to your resistance.
Balzepho: You've thrown away your one chance at greatness!
Ronway: Silence! I cannot bear such arrogance.
Ronway: Grown tired of Branta, have you? Thought to find a new puppet?
Ronway: We need no borrowed steel to crush the Bacrum!
Ronway: Leonard. The time is ripe.
Leonard: As you say.
Leonard: Send word to Reives. Tell him everything is in place.
Leonard: The enemy must not hear of this - not one whisper!
Knight: Understood, M'lord.
Balzepho: Your armies already march? When? How?
Ronway: Ha! You can't truly think we'd tell you.
Balzepho: You'll pay dearly for this!
Ronway: Were I you, I should be more worried about myself.
Ronway: You're safe enough...for a time. After all, you're no good to us dead.
Ronway: Until Rime falls, you will remain here as our...guest.

Why, though? Why keep your high value hostage so close to an imminent warzone? This was a flaw, or rather, an oversight in the original story too, but there at least the script didn't bring it up, so it was easy to gloss over. Sometimes not bringing up inconsistencies and silly mistakes is the right move, especially when they don't matter in the overarching story.



The scene then jumps to Rime, where Reives is already in position and imploring the Bacrum garrison.

Reives: Bacrum marauders, hear me.
Reives: You trespass on Walstanian soil. You defile the noble city of Rime with your presence.

Wow that's way more hostile. I guess they were trying to sell Reives being a patriot of the Walstanian cause on this route? After all, he did betray his principles and returned to work under his genocidal masters, they probably felt the need to attach some heroic quality to him to keep his arc palatable.

Reives: Throw down your weapons and quit this place.
Bacrum Knight: How's this? Where did they come from?
Bacrum Magus: What matter? The Dark Knights will make quick work of them.

As in the original, Ozma enters right on cue.

Ozma: You! My brother's death is on your head!

But, as before, a Dark Knight brings news of Balzepho's abduction.

Dark Knight: Dame Ozma, we've just received word. They hold Sir Balzepho hostage.

This script uses "dame" as the feminine equivalent of "sir", in reference to a knight, or at the very least, a person of fairly elevated military command. Interestingly, the original script had no such equivalent, even though the script had "Sir" used for the male knights, leaders and such. This knight just directly called Ozma by her name.

Ozma: What!? They force our hand.
Ozma: Damn them! We must withdraw!

And they both immediately leave.

Reives: Do not look to Lodis to save you.
Reives: See how they leave you in your hour of need?

Interestingly, I do wonder how much Ronway orchestrated this. The Dark Knights retreating would obviously be a huge blow to the garrison's morale, yet, at the same time, I doubt he really counted on that. After all, he couldn't have known how many Dark Knights would show up, and was in fact counting on them underestimating the strength of the Walstanians, which would've made them send a very token escort for whoever was chosen as their representative.



In any case, the Bacrum garrison don't take this news well.

Bacrum Magus: He's right. The Dark Knights do not come. We're alone.
Bacrum Knight: Faith, mage! I pull a hair for Lodis. We can handle this rabble.
Bacrum Knight: Past time we put these Walstanians in their place. Come on, then!

I do like this script giving these characters more spunk, being random Bacrumese soldiers boldly facing the recent conquerors of Gargastan, and holders of most of the island.

Denim: So much for reasoning with them.

Of course, that does little good for Denim, who has to engage them in battle.

Reives: Rime is ours again!

The battle itself doesn't have any dialogue, so I cut to its end. Needless to say, Reives easily prevails over the Bacrum garrison.

Soldier: My Lord, I've just come from Rime. We've retaken the city.
Leonard: Well done.
Leonard: Your Grace, I'll send word to our armies at Amorika. Have them begin their march for Fiduc.
Ronway: Yes, with all haste. We cannot afford them a moment's reprieve.

Everything looks great for Ronway and co....

Ozma: Sir Balzepho! Thank the star you're unharmed!
Leonard: With me! Now!

Until it doesn't.

Knight: It's shut tight, sir!
Leonard: To the side!

Leonard breaks through Balzepho's door...

Leonard: Gone! Hells!

But it's already too late. Curse you and your poor placement of hostages, Ronway!

Leonard: Wait...the Duke!

However, he himself has little time left to rectify his plans...



As Vice now holds him at knifepoint!

Vice: Who...holds the power now, your Grace?
Ronway: What madness has taken you, Vice!? You've your blade to wrong throat, friend!

Leonard steps in...

Ronway: Leonard! Thank the father!
Vice: Feh. I was hoping you'd keep away.
Leonard: Cease this at once, Vice! Why turn on your staunchest ally, your liege?
Vice: Quiet, traitor! You...you yourself...ungk!
Leonard: Vice! You're wounded.
Leonard: Throw down your sword, I'll bind your wounds myself. End this, Vice.
Vice: And be discarded like so much refuse? I know what becomes of those who've outlived their usefulness.
Ronway: Please! A pardon, I'll issue a pardon! Just spare my life!

Ronway, if anything, comes off as even more pathetic here.

Vice: Your braying's loud in my ears, old man.

Vice then stabs him hard...

Ronway: Aaugh!

And gets stabbed hard in return.

Vice: Ka...chua...

The knights check on Ronway, but...

Knight:...He's gone.
Leonard: No...by the great Father, no!

It's a dark day for Walsta, indeed.

Next time, we face a demoralized army, see Leonard cheer it up, and hopefully close this off by assaulting Fiduc Castle. See you then!

[Count Revier]

Okay, I need to be honest about this - I was not having fun playing the PSP version of the game, and copying the script to make comparisons with the original ended up being a soul crushing experience. Besides, as you could probably tell, the game had more or less exhausted its grab bag of tricks, and was quickly congealing into a very homogeneous experience, regardless of maps or enemy composition. So, unfortunately, I am officially putting this LP down today. If anyone else wants to continue it on my behalf, they are more than welcome.