------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vanguard Bandits Walkthrough/FAQ/Database By Xenon Vesion 1.00 Guide Started 2/17/2003 Last Updated 12:55 AM 8/15/2003 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Legal Stuff 3. FAQ 4. General Info (Version 1.3) <===========[*Newbies Start here*] A. Menu Screen B. Battle Stuff C. Equip for Success (that's how it goes, right?) 5. Interview and Morale 6. Stat Information 7. Walkthrough A. Branch Explaination B. The Beginning Chapter 1: Mission 1 After Chapter 1 Chapter 2: Mission 2 Chapter 3: Mission 3 C. Kingdom Chapter 4: Mission 4 After Chapter 4 Chapter 5: Mission 5 After Chapter 5 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 6: Mission 6 Chapter 7: Mission 9 Chapter 8: Mission 11 -or- Chapter 6: Mission 7 Chapter 7: Mission 8 Chapter 8: Mission 10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After Chapter 8 Chapter 9: Mission 12 Chapter 10: Mission 13 After Chapter 10 Chapter 11: Mission 14 Chapter 12: Mission 15 Chapter 13: Mission 16 After Chapter 13 Chapter 14: Mission 17 After Chapter 14 Chapter 15: Mission 18 Chapter 16: Mission 19 Chapter 17: Mission 20 Chapter 18: Mission 21 Chapter 19: Mission 22 After Chapter 19 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 20: Mission 23 -or- Chapter 20: Mission 24 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ D. Empire I. Main Chapter 4: Mission 25 After Chapter 4 Chapter 5: Mission 26 Chapter 6: Mission 27 Chapter 7: Mission 28 Chapter 8: Mission 29 After Chapter 8 Chapter 9: Mission 30 Chapter 10: Mission 31 Chapter 11: Mission 32 Chapter 12: Mission 33 After Chapter 12 Chapter 13: Mission 34 Chapter 14: Mission 35 Chapter 15: Mission 36 Chapter 16: Mission 37 After Chapter 16 Chapter 17: Mission 38 After Chapter 17 II. Sadira Chapter 18: Mission 39 Chapter 19: Mission 40 After Chapter 19 Chapter 20: Mission 41 III. Cecilia Chapter 18: Mission 42 After Chapter 18 Chapter 19: Mission 43 Chapter 20: Mission 44 E. Ruin Chapter 9: Mission 45 Chapter 10: Mission 46 After Chapter 10 Chapter 11: Mission 47 Chapter 12: Mission 48 Chapter 13: Mission 49 Chapter 14: Mission 50 After Chapter 14 Chapter 15: Mission 51 Chapter 16: Mission 52 Chapter 17: Mission 53 Chapter 18: Mission 54 Chapter 19: Mission 55 Chapter 20: Mission 56 8. Character Bios 9. Ability Data A. Attacks I. Attack Types II. Normal III. Stone IV. Special V. Enemy only attacks B. Support C. Dormant I. Normal II. Special 10. ATAC Info A. Generic ATACs B. Special ATACs 11. Item List A. Weapons I. Swords II. Spears III. Ninja Swords IV. Special Weapons V. Enemy Weapons B. Stones I. Earth Stones II. Water Stones III. Fire Stones IV. Wind Stones V. Special Stones C. Amulets 12. Enemy Data A. Generic Enemies B. Special Enemies 13. Extras 14. Contact Information 15. Version Data 16. Credits 17. Closing ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** 1. Introduction ****************************************************************************** Welcome to Xenon's guide to Vanguard Bandits. Vanguard Bandits is an odd little Strategy RPG, but I liked it from the very first time I played it. After all, with branching storylines, war battles, and giant robots, what's not to love? But even so, it's quite a complex game. A LOT of things need explaining, and in more than just one area. So, I decided to write this guide. I like to help people, what can I say? I would like to point out that some of the strategies in this guide ARE quite meager. I know this. The MAIN focus of this guide is the database. This guide is to serve as a wealth of information on Vanguard Bandits if anyone needs it. There ARE still strategies that I think'll be helpful, but I believe that in a strategy game, the best way to come up with strategy is to make your own based on what tools are provided to you. I hope I'm giving you some nifty power tools! Anyway, let's get to writin'! ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** 2. Legal Stuff ****************************************************************************** This guide is copyright (c) 2003 by Luke M. Stevenson. Any distribution, reproduction, or retransmission in part or in whole is both unlawful and just plain not nice. If you want to post this guide on your site, e-mail me to ask permission. I'll probably give it, but I want to know where my guide is. As of 12:09 AM 8/11/2003 These sites have permission to post this guide. GameFAQs www.gamefaqs.com ComputerUnderground www.computerunderground.com If you see this guide anywhere else, e-mail me so I can well, do something about it. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** 3. FAQ ****************************************************************************** 1) Q: How do I reduce FP? A: FP is reduced based on how much AP you still have at the end of the turn. So if you have a lot of FP, you may want to wait without doing anything. 2) Q: Ack! Someone went down! Can I bring him/her back!? A: Nope, sorry. Don't let you unit's HP get down to zero or there's no bringing him back. 3) Q: How do I get _______. A: For the most part, if you don't get a certain character, it's not your fault. Most of the characters that will join you will do so based on which branch of the story you're on. You can't make any character leave, either. As with everything, though, there are a couple of exceptions. Two of them, and both are on the Kingdom Branch. 4) Q: How do I get to the ________ Branch. A: While I explain it IN the walkthrough, I'll tell you here, too. Kingdom: Don't move onto the other branches. Simple, no? Empire: Be at level 8 by the end of the Chapter 3 battle. Then, choose "I shall find that Murderer!" Ruin: After completing the game once, go on to the Kingdom Branch until after you get Gratia (and defeat Radcot, if you met him). Afterwards, Princess Sadira will ask Bastion a question. Say "I will conquer the Continent". When asked again, repeat you're first answer. Viola! You're on the path to Ruin! 5) Q: Hey! I beat the game once, but Sadira still doesn't ask me the question! A: Yeah, this is a common problem. The game reads the system data to determine whether or not Sadira asks you the question. If she doesn't ask and you have completed the game, it means one of two things. A) You didn't save System Data or B) The Game isn't reading your data. Solutions... A) Heh, play though again, and SAVE the system data this time. B) Well, here's the deal, as far as I can tell, you have to make sure that the system data is loaded BEFORE you start your new game. You should do this anyway, as if you don't you're new system data will overwrite your old system data instead of building it up, like its supposed to. This isn't guaranteed to work though... :( 6) Q: What's the Strongest ATAC? A: Zulwarn. It's not even close. 7) Q:OOOO!!!!! When do I get to control Zulwarn!? A: You don't. Tough Cookies. 8) Q: Well, other than Zulwarn, what IS the strongest ATAC? A: That's not as simple. It comes down to either the Ultragunner or the TIC-TAC. By itself, the TIC-TAC is stronger, possesing 40 more HP, 5 more BAS, and a point more in all the other stats (save for move and WEP) than the Ultragunner. However... Both the Ultragunner and the TIC-TAC have set weapons and stones. Therefore, the stats that they add could be considered part of their stats. The TIC-TAC's Caliban adds 16 WEP, but that's it. Ultragunner's Eternus adds 15 WEP, one less than the Caliban, but it boosts _ALL_ of the Ultra's stats by 1 which evens out the Eternus and the Ultragunner in all stats, save for WEP. Stone-wise, the TIC-TAC has the Water 5 stone Ocean Mist. As a Water stone, the Ocean mist boosts the DEF of the TIC-TAC by 4. Ultragunner's Gratia, on the other hand, again, boosts ALL by 1. The Result of Stat comparison makes the Ultragunner edge out the TIC-TAC in all stats except for HP, BAS (where it loses by 1), and DEF by 1. So then there's attacks. Ultragunner has 5 attack abilities and a support skill. Of them, 3 attacks are really good, and the support is useful. The TIC-TAC is hindered by the fact that it uses Water skills, which suck. Cooling Mist is useful, but other than that, I'll pass on them. However, the TIC-TAC has an attack that is better and stronger than any of the Ultragunner's, the amazing Tidal Wave. So, in the end, it's up to you, does the Tidal Wave's power outweigh the stat disadvantage? Heh, kinda a long answer considering I just sorta dodged it at the end, huh? 9) Q: Hey! That ATAC is on my side, but I'm not controlling it! A: That's an AI controlled ATAC. It's still on your side, but the CPU will determine its actions. 10) Q: Uh, I don't get an EXP message when the AI-controlled character attacked. What's up with that? A: AI-controlled characters gain NO EXP or money. Zip, zilch, nix, nada, ZERO. With that in mind, DO NOT let AI-controlled ATACs kill enemies, as you won't get the cash for the kill 11) Q: Can I hit more than one enemy ATAC with one attack? A: Nope. All attacks are one-on-one. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** 4. General Info (Version 1.3) ****************************************************************************** Hey there! This section will give both basic and general info about the game. Newbies should definately read this section, and most veteran players can gleam SOMETHING from it. Menu Screen ----------- The Options on the Menu are... Mission Briefing Interview Shop Equip Save Load Quit "Mission" Mission starts the next mission. That's it. Nothing Special about this. Well, I guess it is special because once you go to the Mission, you'll move on. "Briefing" Briefing shows you a map of the next mission, along with red dots for the enemies and blue dots for allies. The characters will also say something. Sometimes it's strategy, and sometimes they just spout off their mouth. While I find the Briefing's fun, you don't actually have to go to them. In fact, with the exception of the first one, you never have to Briefing. "Interview" Allows you to interview your party members. You can only interview three per mission, so choose wisely. For more info, go to the "Interviews and morale" section of this guide. "Shop" Allows you to, well, shop! You can buy and sell weapons, stones and amulets at a store. However, Shop won't be available every mission. Here's the list, it's based on Branch. Shop Chapters ------------- Kingdom: 4, 10, 14, 18 Ruin: 4, 10, 14, 18 Empire-Sadira: 4, 8, 12, 16, 19 Empire-Cecilia: 4, 8, 12, 16, 18 "Equip" All those nifty trinkets you bought at the shop are useless unless you equip them! The Equip menu lets you do just that, AND you can even switch ATACs. "Save" Eh? You want to know what save does??? It, well, saves the game to a memory card. Though, if you REALLY needed to ask that question, you might need more help than I'm able to give. "Load" It's like the opposite of Save. It loads a past save file for you to play off of. "Quit" Quits the game and returns to the title screen. Battle Stuff ------------ ~EVERY attack that you possess causes FP, no getting around it. Tough Cookies. ~EVERY attack reduces AP. Period. ~When you're attacked, you'll have a few options. All cause FP in some amount. Go! Attack Defend Avoid Counter "Go!" Commences the engagement. Your ATAC will try to do your selected action. The Default is Avoid. "Attack" FP varies based on attack Lets you pick an Attack from your list and hit the enemy with it AFTER they've hit you. Attacking uses no AP, but the normal required AP will be added to the FP. You can't Attack when you're attacked from behind. *IMPORTANT NOTE* You cannot attack if you've been knocked down. Make sure you know what type of attack the enemy is trying to use. You can still attack a Knockdown or Collision type attack, but it will only work if they miss. "Defend" 30 FP Allows you do defend against the attack, which will halve the damage done to your ATAC. You can't defend against Collision type attacks, and you can't defend when attacked from behind either. "Avoid" 20 FP Causes your ATAC to focus on Avoiding the attack, which will cut the enemy's hit percentage to be cut in half. You can ALWAYS avoid, and it will be your only option when attacked from behind. "Counter" Gives you the chance to hit the enemy with a 1.20 strength attack BEFORE they attack. Unfortunately, your hit percentage is usually really low (unless you have the Mental Vision skill), and the enemy will do extra damage to you if it hits. You also are liable to just block instead of hitting the enemy. You can only counter when atttacked from the front. ~When an attack occurs, there will be a support bonus for all of the ATACs surrounding the attacked. For every ATAC around the attacked, the ally of that ATAC will get a six percent bonus. This works for both sides, attacker and attacked. ***~FP is reduced by 2/3 of your remaining AP at the end of your turn.*** ~The Turbulence Technique... When attacking a high power opponent, the Turbulence Technique is very valuble to have. All you need is two or three ATACs with the Turbulence skill and you're set. Basically, you stand four panels away from the enemy and use turbulence with all of your ATACs that can. The enemy ATAC will rest to reduce their 60 or 90 FP. If you have four, you can Dizzy them quick. This allows you to crush stronger opponents with relative ease. ~The Bastion Bunch-up Technique... Once Bastion has the Ultragunner, he can learn the Holy Light skill by raising his BAS to 18. Once you have the Holy Light skill, you can start to use the Bastion Bunch-up technique is you so choose. So, what is the Bastion Bunch-up, you ask? Good question, let me answer it! Holy Light is a very potent skill. It can restore around 50-60 HP, AND reduce FP by about that much. Plus, it's got a range of 2! Of course, with all that niftyness, there's bound to be a downside, right? Right. Unfortunately, Holy Light costs a whopping 90 AP. Thus, it's IMPOSSIBLE for Bastion to move AND use Holy Light in one turn, this is where the strategy comes in. The Bastion Bunch-up strategy involves moving your ATACs in a formation where they are never more than two spaces away from Bastion, usually in the form of a big block. This does two things. One, it protects all of your characters from getting severely gangtackled, since two of thier sides have allies on them. ALSO, it allows Bastion to heal any given member of the party that needs it. Viola! Pure defensive magic. So, if you are ever really worried about a battle, just use the Bastion Bunch-up for a more defensive approach! ~In General, when Leveling up, don't focus TOO much on a single stat. For one level, it's fine, but continually doing so will leave you too open in some area. If you want to focus on a specific stat, that's all fine and dandy, just make sure you put a point or two in the other stats. ~Also, to really level up lower level characters, make sure that they strike the killing blow, as the EXP for kills isn't several times that of just hitting and enemy ATAC. ~The AI is fairly stupid, and only gets its challenge from the fact that the enemy is usually equpped better (like with Sharkings). That being said, the enemy AI will do some things fairly predictably. If an AI controlled character has 60 FP or more it WILL rest on its following turn. NO exceptions! When being attacked by a Knockdown attack, the AI will select the Defend option if it can. When being attacked by a Collision attack, the AI will try to Avoid. Of course, it's not like it has many options. The only time the AI pays any attention to its HP is when it is attacked. That's it. What does that mean? It means that it will attack even if it knows a counter-attack would kill it. Equip for Success (that's how it goes, right?) ---------------------------------------------- ~Weapons in Vanguard Bandits are pretty straight foward. Each new weapon is stronger than the last. The only option comes at the first shop, where you will be presented the choice between the Preshuze and the Quicksilver. The Preshuze boost DEX by 1, and the Quicksilver boost AGL by 1. It's your call. ~Stones... Earth Stones are just bad. None of their attacks are that good, plain and simple. The only reason to equip Earth Stones is if you're going to use an ATAC as a support one. Don't have it attack, just help and heal other ATACs. Water Stones are decent, but they fall short in the end. Ice Shards is ok, but easily surpassed. Lowering the AGL or DEX of an enemy unit can come in handy sometimes, but not often. Cooling Mist is quite useful, though. I'd just leave Water Stones on Reyna, Milea, Alden, and possibly Barlow. Reyna needs one for her special and Alden can equip nothing else. As for Milea, I just never bothered to change hers. Fire Stones are very good. They possess Fireball, which fire users should use as their primary attack, and they have Flare Bomb, which can do some massive damage from long range. Wind Stones are the BEST. Turbulence is great, and Wind Strike can replace Str. Slash as your main attack for less AP! ~Amulets can be used in one of two ways. You can either use them to boost up a weak point in that character's stats, or you could use them to supplement yon character's already good stat. Your choice. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** 5. Interviews and Morale ****************************************************************************** VANGUARD BANDITS uses a unique system of interviews and morale to determine a few story branches, and just for the player to entertain himself (or her, I suppose) with. After every mission, you'll have the opportunity to interview three people. Interview increases the morale of the character that you interview. The interview screen also provides a very valuble piece of information, how happy everyone is with you. This is an important factor for two different events. If it's allowed to flow it's normal course, different people will have different reactions to Bastion throughout the course of the game. For example, Sadira, Zeira, Andrew, and Cecilia (among others) will all curve positively towards Bastion. On the other hand, Devlin will almost assuredly hate you. However, more than likely, it _WON'T_ be allowed to flow its natural course. There are a few other factors that can determine which way morale goes besides interviews. First, there are a few in game decisions that can affect the morale of different characters. These can go either way. Some greatly raise morale, and some drop it through the floor. They could just be minor changes too. Also, the outcome of battle increases your morale if you win, and in a few instances, decreases if you lose. Finally, having their ATACs destroyed tends to drop their morale as well. In fact, this is really the way that you lose morale. So KEEP your ATACs alive! ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** 6. Stat Information ****************************************************************************** This section explains the various different stats and what they do. BAS --- BAS is a requirement for almost every new skill, so you have to boost it in order to gain new skills. It also boosts your HP considerably more than just your average level up. POW --- Fairly straight foward. POW increases the attack power of all your attacks. Since the character that hits the hardest is generally the one left standing, you should invest several points in this. DEX --- DEX increases your ability to hit the enemy. After all, if you can't hit anything, it doesn't matter _how_ high your POW stat is. This is another one I like to boost alot. In fact, for most characters, your DEX should stay within a few points of your DEX, unless you like to gamble a lot. AGL --- The opposite of DEX, AGL determines your ability to dodge the enemies attack. This can be VERY effective. Don't take my word for it, just look at Andrew. Super High AGL makes you VERY difficult to hit, so most attacks will just whiff by you, leaving your ATAC without a scratch. The downside is that characters with that high of AGL probably didn't have very many stat points to invest in DEF, so when they _DO_ get hit, it'll hurt, ALOT. The OTHER thing that AGL does is increase your speed. So, you'll want this at least at, say, fifteen before the end of the game. This is more important than DEF, since it allows you to avoid strikes AND increases your speed. DEF --- Another fairly straight foward stat, DEF reduces the amount of damage that you take when you do get hit. It's a good idea to have several points in this for those times when you HAVE to get hit. Having high DEF is certainly nice insurance, but you should'nt really focus on this with anybody important. AGL should let you survive long enough for your high POW and DEX stats to destory the enemy. Basically, if you notice that the enemy is doing particulary high damage, it may be time to boost DEF. WEP --- This is the stat that the weapon that you equip increases. At the very least, it increases the damage that attacks with your weapon do. However, it _MAY_ increase the strength of ALL of your attacks. I'm not really sure. Regardless, you shouldn't really mess with this much, as POW will raise the attack damage and your weapons increase this. ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** 7. Walkthrough ****************************************************************************** The Walkthrough is divided into four parts. The Beginning covers just that, the beginning missions of the game that everyone has to go through. Then, the others cover their respective branches. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ B.The Beginning ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The game opens up with Bastion and Kamorge on a hill training. Puck and Milea will come up to tell them that the Imperials are attacking a village. Into Battle we go! Chapter 1: Destiny's Child -------------------------- You only get to control Bastion in this battle. After everyone has had one turn, Reyna and Ione will show up to help (not that it's needed) *The following strategy will get Bastion 3 kills in this mission, the most that I believe is possible. It must be followed to the letter to get all three of these kills, however.* Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Bastion's first turn, Move up as FAR as he can and face the enemy. Also, save. ~He should be attacked by Imperials 4 and 3. Attack with Thrust to both of them. Also, depending on your luck, you may want to try to counter Imperial 3. If your counter misses, you'll need to reload the data you saved. ~When Reyna and Ione show up, Bastion will have an option on what to say, but it doesn't matter either way. ~When Bastion gets his turn again, attack Imperial 3 or else Kamorge will finish off Imperial 4. Now wait. ~When Imperial 4 gets his turn again, attack with Thrust. Because you attacked and waited the last turn, you'll get your turn next and be able to finish him. ~At the level up, put two points on POW and one on DEX. ~By this Point, Imperial 2 will be off to face his doom at the hands of Reyna and Ione, consider him dead and don't worry about him. ~Wait for Imperial 3 to attack you again before you attack him. Otherwise, Kamorge will finish him off. ~Kill Imperial 3, then move behind Imperial 1 to finish him off. ~Reyna and Ione should now finish Imperial 2, and the battle will be over. After Chapter 1: Destiny's Child -------------------------------- ~Here you'll get your first Menu screen. This happens after every battle. You can get breifed on the next mission, Interview people, Equip your ATACs, and sometimes Shop. ~You don't have anything to equip, and the Shop isn't open, so the only things you can do is get Breifed and Interview people. ~In the Interview, If you're going for the Kingdom Branch, then Talk to Reyna three times. The other two aren't going to be with you, so it doesn't matter. ~If you're going for the Empire Branch, then it doesn't matter, as NONE of yon characters will be with you, so just talk to whom you wish or just skip it. ~If your're going for the Ruin Branch, again it doesn't matter, as people's opinions of you don't matter in the Ruin Storyline. Because of this, I won't mention Morale in anything that deals with the Ruin Branch. Chapter 2: Bandit Brigade -------------------------- Here you're faced with 9 bandits and you have two guests, and three ATACs. Soon after the battle begins, Sadira, Franco, and Halak will show up and dispatch any ATAC that gets close to them. Also, your strategy for this battle depends on which branch you're going onto. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Once the battle starts, move Ione down and away from the battle. That's where she should stay for the remainder of the battle. ~On level up, raise Bastion's BAS 1 to make it 8. This should bestow you with Str. Slash. If not, check and make sure that POW is at 7 and DEX is at 6. ~Barlow and Devlin will move down toward you and sit there for practically the rest of the battle. Kingdom ``````` ~Balance out the kills between Reyna and Bastion, as it will be helpful later on to have many high level characters. Empire `````` ~Reyna should join Ione in here corner and not do anything. ~Bastion should be your killing machine. If Kamorge weakens anything so Bastion can kill it, then he should. More EXP. Chapter 3: Tagic Farewell ------------------------- This mission is the final battle with Kamorge to aid you, and also the first appearence of Faulkner in battle. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Duyere is low level, so despite his excavated ATAC, he doesn't give much EXP. However, he _is_ worth 12,000 money, so he's still worth the kill. However, his Sarbelas ATAC has a decent attack and very high AGL. Killing him will take some time, and in that time, you're going to get hit. ~After Duyere's forth turn (resting turns don't count) his ATAC will cut out and he'll leave along with Bodyguard 1. ~When Faulkner and Kamorge engage for the second time, say goodbye to both of them. Kamorge's is permanent, but Faulkner's is just temporary (entire game wise) ~When Faulkner retreats, so does Duyere, but Bodyguard 1 stays. Again, your strategy varies based upon what branch you want to go on. Kingdom ``````` ~Ione will only be with you for one more battle, so she should be used as bait. Move her all the way up. In the thick of the battle, she should move in front ATACs and face her back to them. ~If you want to kill Duyere, rush up with all your ATACs on their first turn. He's an idiot, so you'll be able to surround him on your second turns with three of your ATACs(he's against the bush). Thwack away at him while the other two characters attack the Bodyguards that attack them. Ione should just get in the bodyguards' way, nothing more. ~After Faulkner leaves, the two Imperials will move over to attack you. You have killed two bodyguards and Duyere, or two and the third BG almost ready to die. They're weaker than the bodyguards, so unless you've been hurt real bad, they shouldn't pose any threat. Empire `````` ~In order to reach the Empire branch, you have to have Bastion on level 8 by the end of this mission. That means you'll probably need about 750 EXP. ~Rush everyone foward at the beginning of the battle and surround Duyere, but not with Bastion. Killing Duyere will net you 12000, and more importantly, keep Bodyguard 1 there for Bastion to kill, but it provides almost NO experience. ~Just have Bastion attack the enemies, and make sure he gets all the killing blows. If Bastion is level 8 by the end of the mission, you'll be presented with a very important choice. A) We must attend to Kamorge! B) I shall find that Murderer! Choose A, and you'll continue onto the Kingdom branch of the game. Choose B, and you'll move to the Empire branch of the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ C. Kingdom ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Kingdom Branch of the Story is the default one, though that doesn't mean it's the only accurate possibility. The Kingdom Branch plays out at about the rate you'd expect. No severe plot twists, just an average RPG storyline. Kingdom branch is also the only branch where ALL of your character's morale will matter, and will, in fact, determine the outcome of the game. All three of the Branches of the game are VERY distict in their gameplay. As a whole, Kingdom is fairly easy. You will acquire a number of powerful ATACs with which to deal out punishment to your enemies. At the end of the game, you'll have at LEAST _4_, count'em, _4_ excavated ATACs at your beck and call, and you could even pick up a fifth! Plus you'll also have the command of several powerful Unique ATACs that will help cut a swath through your opponent. This is not to say you're invincible, however. On the contrary, if you rush out and spread your considerable amount of forces too thin, then the later enemies will cut you too ribbons. You also have to be careful to balance your kills amongst ALL your members (with one notable exception), or risk being simply overwhelmed at the end. Basic strategy in the Kingdom branch is to move as one or two groups to crush your opponent. You have so many ATACs in the Kingdom branch that you'll sometime's be able overwhelm the opponent. One distinct advantage to the Kingdom branch is it allows the earliest access to the Ultragunner. --- After a lot of story, you'll arrive at Araba castle to rescue Galvas. You'll be accompanied by Ganlon and Zeira along with two each of Avalon and Kingdom soldiers. None of them are under your control. Chapter 4: Araba Reclaimed -------------------------- Bation's been getting a lot of experience lately, so I'll take time to point out where some crutial stat points should be going towards. While you need to have your stats somewhat balanced by Chapter 10, you can do that later. Your first concern right now is POW. You should take every opportunity to boost this crutial stat up to about 17. This will make you a force to be reckoned with, and more importantly, will allow you to net the kills you need, when you need them. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Move Bastion, Barlow, and Devlin up as far as you can on your first turn. ~The two imperials on the bridge should come after you, good. Kill them. ~All through the battle, Faulkner, Duyere, The Bodyguards, and the Imperials will be duking it out with Zeira, Ganlon, and the soldiers. Except in VERY rare instances, the empire WILL win. ~Eventually, Zakov and four Imperials will come out of the castle. Reyna and Ione will also join the fight. ~At this point, your goal becomes to occupy Araba castle, you can do this by ending your turn in front of the entrance to the castle. ~However, in order to accomplish this, you're going to have to go through Zakov and his four Imperials. ~You COULD just rush across the bridge, and work your way past them to the entrance. This is the easy way out, but it doesn't net you much EXP or money. ~The Second option is to kill most of Zakov's troops (hopefully including Zakov) and then move on before the Empire's eventual victory. ~The third option is the most dangerous. What is it? Kill all the enemies and THEN capture Araba. This DOES involve killing Faulkner, which is dangerous to say the least. Luckily, Zeira and Ganlon should be able to kill all but Faulkner, Duyere, and maybe one or two bodyguards or Imperials. ~In order to survive Faulkner/Duyere, you HAVE to kill Zakov by the time they get there. Almost all if not all of his troops should be dead too. Now you need all of your characters (save maybe Ione). ~Duyere is your first target, as he provides massive fundage, is weak in the defensive area, and probably got hit in the battle with the Kingdom. ~While you are trying to kill Duyere, if Ione is still alive, use her as bait to distract Faulkner, who is by and far the most dangerous ATAC on the field. With his sky-high POW and DEX, she won't last very long at all, but it may be enough time, because as I said before, it won't take many hits to send Duyere packing (especially if he's weak from the fight) ~Faulkner is the next concern. While Duyere probably got worked during the battle with the Kingdom and Avalon, Faulkner probably made it out with nary a scratch. This is bad. ~The only hope you have with Faulkner is to gangtackle him and then hit him hard a couple of times while he's frozen. If you're willing to take a hit, then you can freeze him pretty quickly, but it will probably cost you an ATAC (yes, he's that strong.) ~Once Faulkner is gone, you should go ahead and kill anything that's left (if you CAN, that is). Once everything's dead, go ahead and move to the entrance to end the mission. ~Ok, on my most recent playthrough, I saw what I never though was possible, a kingdom victory! If you really want to cause this, here's how to try... ~The First step is out of your control, and that's the luck the Kingdom gets in its initial skirmish. All you can do here is pray that the soldiers don't do anything _TOO_ stupid. ~If the Kingdom gets lucky enough, than the only things left will probably be Zeira, Ganlon, Faulkner, Bodyguard (high HP), Bodyguard (low HP) -or- Duyere, Zakov, and an Imperial or two form Zakov's group. ~If you're REALLY lucky, then Duyere will be around, so you can get the 12000 bounty. ~Basically, if the Kingdom holds up, just make sure you put a few troops out exposed on the grass. This will either cause one of Faulkner's minion's to come after you (pray that it's not Faulkner himself) or, preferably. it will cause one of Zakov's weaker Imperials to come after you, which will move the selected imperial close to the other action. Ganlon has a habit of picking on weak ATACs, so he'll come after the exposed one, and leave himself open to an attack by Faulkner. After this, the stage should be set to allow the Kingdom to win with your help. ~You really need to dispose of Zakov quickly for this plan to work, too. Otherwise he'll seriously mess with your ranks. After Chapter 4: Araba Reclaimed -------------------------------- Only thing notable about this is that it is the first Shop. Buy new weapons for everyone first, then new stones, and finally amulets. Okay, one more thing. Galvas and Zeira have now joined your party, and Ione has left your party. Unfortunately, although Zeira is IN your party, he still answers to no one but himself, and you'll have absolutely NO control over him. Yeah, yeah, one MORE thing. Before you shop, take Galvas out of the Serata and trade up with Devlin (or Barlow, if you're so inclined). Chapter 5: Nordilain Assault ---------------------------- Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Galvas will be leaving you eventually (after Chapter 14) so you don't want to give him very many (i.e. NONE) kills. ~This mission starts you out against some Bandits, but after you kill the Bandit Chief (or if you take too long) then Claire and the Nordilain Soldiers will arrive. ~Claire and her Nordilain soldiers are considerably stronger than the Bandits, so be careful. ~Nordilain soldiers are _VERY_ "POW" heavy. One or two hits from one can take out one of your characters. However, because of their atrocious DEF, you should be able to take them out almost as quick. ~Also, if you reduce Claire's HP to less than 50%, she'll leave, and take all of the Nordilain soldiers with her. ~Since you want the EXP and Gold that the Nordilain troops provide, you should put off killing Claire until the very end. After Chapter 5: Nordilain Assault ---------------------------------- ~Here's where you're given a branching choice, when the Kingdom soldier tells you that a messenger from Duke Radcot has arrived, Zeira will want to send him into the Desert. You get a chance to respond. A)Actually, Zeira, I'll meet with him B)... ... ... Select B to go on to Mission 7. Select A to get another option. A)Yes. Tell him I will depart soon. B)I'm afraid not. Select B to go on to Mission 7 (again). Select A to go on to Mission 6. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 6: Radcot's Trap ------------------------ This is Mission 6, where you will go if you meet with Radcot Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~As you can tell from the title of the Mission, Radcot does NOT have the best intentions for the meeting. At the start of the mission, Bastion will be surrounded by 7 Muspel soldiers. ~If Bastion is pretty high level, he'll be able to move toward his friends before getting surround by the soldiers. If he's not, then you'll be surrounded before he can move. ~If you're surrounded before you can move, then the only hope you have to win is to dodge virtually EVERY attack for about three or four turns. ~Moving will make things a little bit easier, but it'll still be difficult to win. ~In order to win the mission, you have to reduce Radcot to 50% of his total HP. This can be accomplished with the standard gangtackling method. ~Don't get too discouraged though. In my opinion, it's actually better to lose this mission. Losing won't give you a Game Over, but it will send you to Mission 9. Going that way will allow you to procure Radcot's powerful Bahamut ATAC, and a pilot to go with it. ~Since you want to lose, your best bet is to kill all of the Muspels, and then Move Bastion up to Radcot to get a few whacks in (keeping him above 50%) and get killed. ~If you DO manage to win, you'll head on to Mission 8: Dionne's Test. Chapter 7: Desert Escape ------------------------ Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~At the start of the mission, It'll be Bastion vs. six Muspels. ~After everyone has had one turn, Andrew will appear to the south of you. ~Soon after Andrew appears, the rest of your buds will appear at the west side of the map. ~At this point, you can either run to help Andrew or you can run to the safety of your friends. Going to Andrew is more dangerous, but it most likely will prevent him from dying. Going to your friends is safer, but you'll probably get less kills for Bastion. ~Either way, it's your decision. Chapter 8: Ganlon's Betrayal ---------------------------- Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~This mission pits you against the soldiers of the Muspel Nation, again. Radcot will leave with Nana at the start of the mission, leaving you to deal with just the Muspels. ~Luckily, in THIS mission, you get to control Andrew. From now on. Andrew is virtually impossible for the enemy to hit, and he is very fast, AND he does decent (albeit not great) damage. ~The Muspels in this mission attack in waves (thankfully). The first six, followed by two more, and then the last four. ~Wondering where the title comes from? well, wonder no more. Around the second or third wave, Ganlon will appear with two Kingdom Soldiers. To make a long story short, you gotta bust him up now. ~The Kingdom soldiers are POW heavy, but still not TOO much more of a threat than the Muspels already in combat. ~Ganlon is the most dangerous enemy ATAC out on the field, so he should be the first target for gangtackling. ~Once Ganlon has been taken care of, just focus on keeping as many people alive as possible. ~Remember to balance your kills! Except for Galvas. Don't let him kill squat. --- -or- Chapter 6: The Muspel Army -------------------------- What? You thought you wouldn't have to deal with Radcot by not meeting with him? This is NOT the reccommended Mission path. There's still time to move onto the other paths chapter 7. All you have to do is lose this mission. However, for you stubborn ones, here's some strats. And actually, for the Bad Kingdom ending and the Ruin Branch, this IS the reccommended path. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Regardless of what Working Designs and the characters in game think, this mission is a cakewalk. ~Even though you are outnumbered almost two to one, the Muspels (as usual) come in waves. This makes life MUCH easier. ~The waves come in four, two, and three. ~Since all of the characters you're using (Bastion, Reyna, Devlin, and Barlow) should be higher than level 6 (the weakest Muspels level), the first wave should be NO trouble at all. ~The only thing you have to watch out for is Bastion getting surrounded. Make sure you don't move him out TOO far, as the others can't keep up. ~If you get any levels in this mission for Bastion, there are a few things you should consider for the next mission. Your POW should be high, with your DEX following close behind. Your next concern is AGL, followed by DEF. Having high AGL is crutial to the next mission, as you do NOT want to be hit. If you gain any levels in this mission, it may be wise to focus on AGL instead of DEX, at least for now. DEF is more of a safety net to help you survive in case one of the mercenaries gets through, but you're basically screwed if you're getting hit that much. Chapter 7: Dionne's Test ------------------------ It should be noted that it doesn't REALLY matter how far you get in the test. Whether you get worked by the first Mercenary (which is SAD) or beat Dionne into a bloody pulp (which is impressive), you'll still move on. However, the more enemies you trash, the more EXP and Funds you'll get, AND it will significantly increase the morale of your troops. (though if you're going for the good ending of the Kingdom, you SHOULDN'T BE HERE!!!) Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Bastion will be going up one-on-one against up to five different ATACs. ~Unfortunately, you aren't able to get healed between each fight, so it's important that you avoid being hit almost at ALL by the first few. ~Luckily, this shouldn't be too much of a feat to accomplish, as they're weak. ~DO NOT rush foward to meet your opponent. Instead, back up into the center of the wall, and wait for him to come to you. ~You may notice that at least for the first and third opponents, Bastion will be fast enough to get double turns a lot. Save, then Waltz around and Smack the enemy in the back. If you get another turn, then finish the enemy off with a Str. Slash, if not, reload your saved data and attack from the front, then finish them off. ~The Second mercenary has higher AGL than the other two, so you probably won't be able to pull double turns on this one. Instead, hope you dodge, couter-attack with SOMETHING, then either nail him with a tornado if you must weaken him, or finish him off, simple, no? ~The Third Mercenary is significantly stronger than EITHER of the other two, so he'll require some caution. ~However, he does have low AGL, which means he's slow enough you should be able to double-attack him. His DEF is MUCH higher though, so you may need to weaken him with a counter-attack (not highly reccomended) or a few Tornados. ~Andrew is the fourth opponent, and this is where things get messy. ~While he's no stronger than Mercenary 3, and actually has less HP and DEF, Andrew is a MUCH more dangerous opponent. He has only 3 more DEX, bringing its total to 10(which is enough to make a difference) and a whopping _23_ AGL. Needless to say, hitting him isn't going to be easy. ~There are two ways to approach this portion of the battle... ~1)Luck and Counter-attacking. Without counterattacking, it'll be nigh-impossible to hit Andrew and even with counter attacks, it ain't gonna be easy. ~You'll still probably have to hit him on your own some, so you'll probably have to incorperate some of #2 in your plan. ~2) This is the semi-cheating way. Save your game, move behind Andrew, and attack. If you hit, save, if you miss, reset and load. Then, if Andrew hits, reset and load, and if he misses, save. This will take a LOT of time. But, it is a basically guaranteed way to win. ~If you get a level for beating Andrew, you need to decide if you're comfortable with your AGL. If you are, then pour the points into DEF, as it may make enough of a difference to survive Bursting Fire, though it depends on your HP. If you HP is already below about 70-85, then it won't matter, and just build up Bastion as you feel neccesary, though I would still reccomend pouring them into AGL. ~If you manage to survive Andrew, then the Marquis will step into the ring. ~This is hardly a fair fight, but, it IS still possible to win. ~Hopefully, you'll have HP above 100 and a high enough DEF, which will prompt Dionne to use his Bursting Fire attack. If you aren't strong enough though, Dionne will just stick with Flare Bomb, which doesn't add NEAR the FP to him. ~Either way, it's probably a one-shot kill, so if you really want to win, make sure you save at the end of successful attacks and at the beginning of the fight. ~I have come up with a way to beat Dionne with minimal luck, but it requires AGL of around 14, a DEX of about the same or higher, and a wind stone (which you should be using anyway). ~Back up against the center of the wall, just like all the other strategies. ~Now, check the turn order. If you have two turns, use Tornado, then Turbulence. If you only get one, then use Turbulence. ~That's basically how the strategy works. It should run into a cycle of these turns; Bastion, Dionne, Bastion, Bastion, Dionne, Bastion, Dionne, Bastion, Bastion, etc. ~Every second turn of Dionne's should be resting turns, which will be followed by Bastion's single turn. ~This works because Turbulence and Tornado (though you could use Tackle) are both un-counterable and Turbulence adds 30 FP, since the Marquis is forced to defend. This forces the Marquis to rest every other turn, which cuts his attacks in half! ~AT 10 damage per attack (it'll be at least that), you'll only have to dodge 5 or 6 of Dionne's Bursting Fires. At 15 damage per pop, you'll only have to dodge 4 to 5. ~Since Dionne only has about a 22% chance of hitting anyway, you should be able to survive, though I would reccomend saving peiodically, just in case. Chapter 8: Radcot's Attack -------------------------- Wow! Radcot and 12 Muspels vs. you! Just an interesting Note, each of the character's has a unique statement that they make if they're the one to kill Radcot. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Good News, Dionne and Andrew join you for this fight (albeit as guests) ~More Good News, as in Muspel tradition, the enemies come in waves. Translation, more easy kills for you. ~If you're going on to the Good Kingdom ending (which if you're playing this mission, you SHOULDN't be). Make sure to balance your kills, as Bastion is probably several levels above them, especially if he beat Dionne. ~There really isn't much to worry about in this mission. ~The only word of caution is that you shouldn't follow Zeira. He'll go charging in, and this will only cause you issues if you try to pursue. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After Chapter 8 --------------- Regardless of the path you take, after chapter 8, You'll run into Sadira, and she'll ask you a question about what you intend to do with Ultragunner. If you've completed the game at least once, you'll be given an option on what to say. A)I intend to end the War. B)I will conquer the Continent! Choose A to continue on the Kingdom Branch. Choose B for Sadira to repeat the question Then, Choose A to continue on the Kingdom Branch Choose B to confirm the statement, and that sends you onto the Ruin Branch Chapter 9: Legendary Light -------------------------- Good news and bad news. Good News, Bastion gets the Ultragunner! Bad News, You start the battle Bastion-less. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~They outnumber you, so at least for now, split you party into two groups and guard each of the bridges. ~Soon after the battle begins, Bastion will show up in his Ultragunner. When this happens, Faulkner hatches his plan. Sadira shows up and foils it, but Imperial 13 stays. ~Alden and Melior will appear soon after the Ultragunner. They will be inaccessible from their position, and leave after the last imperial falls. ~This battle should be almost a cakewalk, especially if you've kept Bastion's stats balanced. If not, you AT LEAST want to get all the stats to 11 as soon as possible, as that unlocks the very nice Lightning Strike. ~Faulkner cuts out once he has 50% or less of his HP. After Chapter 9: Legendary Light -------------------------------- The Alba is now empty, so give it to Reyna. Well, you may want to wait until you can get a water stone for it, but then, do it! Chapter 10: Kaidul's Revolt --------------------------- Yea! Control of Zeira is finally yours!!!! Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~At the beginnning of the battle, the only thing you'll be able to do is wait. Pray that you dodge a lot. ~Eventually, Ione will appear and tell you that the hostages have been freed. Good. Now, kick some metal butt. ~Split up your characters to deal with the Avalon units. Bastion and Zeira should be enough to deal with the top group, with Barlow and Devlin at the bottom, and Andrew and Reyna at the side. This should be enough. ~The battle's pretty easy, but if you ARE concerned, more all your characters up near Zeira. You'll be protected, and life is good. After Chapter 10 ---------------- Shop time!!! Remember, weapons first, then Stones. Again, there shouldn't be a problem affording everything. If you met Nana back in Chapter 6-7-8, then she'll come and join you in the powerful Bahamut ATAC. Chapter 11:Thomson's Tradgedy ----------------------------- Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Your first goal is to destroy the four weakling imperials. they should be dispatched with NO effort. ~Instead, focus on positioning your characters behind the Kingdom ATACs. This will prove useful later on. ~In fact, Since the Imperials are so weak, it's better just to let the Kingdom ATACs attack them and just stay positioned, just attack when you can kill an Imperial. ~Once you've killed the first four Imperials, Zakov will appear with Four stronger imperials, and Thomson will become your enemy, along with his men. ~If you've positioned yourself well, you should be able to bump off most of the Kingdom troops almost instantaneously. ~Zakov is a minor threat, so send Bastion and his Ultragunner there to counter him. Most of the Kingdom dudes are probably too weak to help him level up anyway. ~If nothing else, Galvas should be used as bait for Thomson and his men. ~If Nana joined you, focus on training her. This is a fairly easy mission and she's way under level, and so this is a perfect opportunity. ~If you want to try the cheap way, then have Bastion block the Northwest passage. The Imperials will just sit there trying to move him. Then you just stick a spear person behind him (Nana if you have her) and whack away. You can use everyone else to polish off the Kingdom troops and then slip around back to crush any remaining imperials. Don't worry, they're too stupid to go around back. Idiots. ~For training purposes, it's better to block off the passage with Bastion on one side next to the bush, and then put Nana where she would be if Bastion was blocking the passage. Now, just make sure Nana gets the kills and watch her level up! Chapter 12: The Deadliest ATAC ------------------------------ Bad news. Devlin is all by his lonesome against two Imperials. Of course, as long as you've been leveling him up, he should be able to wax them with little effort. If he DOES need help, you can always have him run to the rest of the group. More bad news, Zeira and Andrew are both out of commision as they are in Eiza liberating it. Oh yeah, time for the _Worst_ news. After you kill the two original imperials,Zakov shows up controlling the immensly powerful Sharking ATAC, along with six imperials, thankfully not in Sharkings. This is bad, to say the least. After Zakov strikes someone, Princess Sadira will appear with Franco. They'll start coming after Zakov. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~The Sharking only has three attacks, but that's it needs. Slash, Str. Slash (special sharking version), and Cutting Wheel. Cutting Wheel is long range, and the others you're familar with (sorta). ~Since the Sharking is strong enough to kill almost any of your ATACs with just a few hits, he should become Bastion's priority. ~Your basic strategy here should be to kill Zakov's lackeys and then gangtackle him. ~Since he's gonna leave anyway, use Galvas as bait for Zakov. Move him close to the Sharking and put his back to it. This should be enough to persude Zakov to attack him, which leaves you enough time to dispose of the minor ATACs. ~Also, make sure you keep Sadira and Franco as far away from Zakov as possible. You DO NOT want them stealing your Zakov kill. Chapter 13: Norze Reclaimed --------------------------- Time to go on the offensive. Well, sorta. You're technically attacking in this mission, but you play defensively. Ah, well. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~At the start of the mission, divide your ATACs into two groups and send them onto opposite sides of the hill. I always use Bastion, Zeira, Nana, and Galvas on the Northern side with Devlin, Barlow, Andrew, and Reyna on the East. ~Galvas is just there to use Searing Flame, he hasn't got any kill yet, right? ~Set-up your ATACs so that the paths that lead up to the main hill are block by an ATAC. This will only allow one enemy to go up at a time. ~Thrash'em! ~If this seems too slow for you, you could open up the East side and let the enemy come through. This will allow you to dispose of the enemies quicker, but at an increased risk to your troops. ~After some time, the Imperial General will decide to come out and fight you himself. Of course, he brings along Imperials 1, 2, 3, 11, and 14. ~Imperials 11 and 14 are pushovers just like the rest, but 1, 2, 3, and the General are in Einlagers and are much more of a threat. ~If you're still in defensive formation by the time that the General gets near, then break it and go on the offensive. It should just be the General and his entourage by then. ****~Hey! You want Milea right? Well, in that case, you should go over level 18 with Bastion by the end of this mission. If he gets to 19, you'll be practically unable to use him in the next mission, and that's something that no one wants, well, besides Faulkner, and Duyere, and, well, ok, the entire Imperial army, but that's not the point. And besides, since when do you care what they think? After Chapter 13: Norze Reclaimed --------------------------------- Oh, yeah. You get a Waiban (like Ganlon) ATAC after this battle. Give it to Barlow, as he has nothing better to do. Chapter 14: Faulkner's Ambition ------------------------------- Hey, hey, kids! We're on the trail to retake the captial, the Royal Capital that is. Notice how none of the capital cities have names in this game? Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~When the mission starts, charge the wall of Barbatos Imperials that are in your way. Hit'em with everything you've got, time is of the essence. Of course, don't get Frozen. ~Once those four are dispatched, quickly charge up to fight the remaining two. ~Before you get a chance to finish both of them off (you may have got one), Duyere should appear with his four trusty Bodyguards. ~As always (almost) the Bodyguard Chief (a.k.a. Bodyguard 1, a.k.a. Matisse) is the strongest ATAC on the field, punching in at level 20. ~Here's the deal with Duyere and the chief. If either one of the two is reduced to 50% of HP or less, then they both chicken out. If one or the other is destroyed, then the remaining ATAC will reatreat (not all of them, just Duyere or BG Chief). So, which one do you want to hurt? Well, Matisse offers more EXP than Duyere, but if you can beat Duyere then you get 12000 Money. So it's up to you, but if you can't take Duyere out without making him run away, then you're best bet is to go after Matisse. ~Once Duyere/BG Chief are dealt with, then you can go ahead and polish off the rest of the Bodyguards. ~DO NOT let Bastion get above level 19, as if he is even one level over (i.e. 20) then you won't be able to get Milea. After Chapter 14: Faulkner's Ambition ------------------------------------- First things first. Milea will present you with a choice... A) Of course, Milea, I would be Honored. B) I'm sorry, Milea, but I can't do that. Choose A and Milea will join Choose B and Milea, well, Milea WON't join. Which is stupid, so pick A! Ok, so now Galvas is gone, but you definately get Alden, and you should get Milea. Also, the Shop is back, and it's been restocked with all new merchandise! Upgrade all your ATACs, but make sure that Andrew, Reyna, and Devlin get they're proper stones to unlock their special attacks! Chapter 15: Ice-Cold Claire --------------------------- This is a breeze. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Remember basic Nordilain strategy, hit them first, and with Knockdowns/Collisions. That should get you through. ~Don't let any one ATAC to get too close to the enemy, as they'll be quickly diced by the Nordilains superior POW. ~Claire is semi-dangerous, so take her out quickly. ~Also, do the training thing for Milea. You want her to get as many kills as she can. Chapter 16: Logan's Seige ------------------------- He brings six ATACs and calls it a seige? Please. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~This is almost the exact same mission, only with Duke Logan. Of course, he _IS_ kinda a major addition, but even so, this mission isn't very difficult. ~Stay to the left side of the bush, and hopefully that's the way Logan will go. That way you'll only have to deal with one or two ATACs at a time. ~Once Logan's in range, focus entirely on him. He's REALLY dangerous, and besides, he gives tons of EXP. ~Oh, yeah, by the way, Logan will leave after his HP has been reduced by half. Chapter 17: Warrior of Honor ---------------------------- Wow! That's a LOT of ATACs. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~This battle is a three-way (not that sort of three-way, buddy >_<) between your forces, Nordilain's forces, and the Imperial Forces. ~It'll start out with just you and Nordilain, but a little while after the battle begins, an Imperial General and ten of his soldiers will surround everyone. Joy. ~The Imperials will attack either side, depending on how many Nordilains are left. You, my friend, should pick off the weak ATACs from both sides. Make sure you get Claire and Shion, as they provide more EXP for your characters. ~With the exception of Duke Logan, the Nordilain soldiers will be wiped out first. Obviously, your next course of action will be to go after the remaining Imperial troops. ~Logan, meanwhile, will be man-handling any Imperial ATAC that comes near him. So, don't worry, the Imperials aren't going to steal your Logan kill. ~Once you've eliminated all of the Imperials, charge ahead as a group and takedown Logan. Make sure that characters' with weaker POW use knockdown attacks or have enough HP to survive before you attack him. ~A safe approach to this mission is to use the Bastion Bunch-up, but you'll have to spread out if you want those kills! ~With luck, you may be able to make it out of here with only a single ATAC loss. Chapter 18: Zulwarn Unleashed ----------------------------- Big black waves of energy CANNOT be good. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Really bad news time. All of your ATACs, save for Bastion, will start their turn with only 50 AP. This will last for the ENTIRE battle. ~Semi-good news, the strongest Imperials (1-4, including the Sharkings) will not move from their position. Of course, this also means that you have to approach them :/ ~If you have three or four Wind Stone users (you've got at least Zeira) then you can stand four panels away and use Turbulence until they die. Of course, if you don't have enough... ~The other thing you can do is just to swarm them. You'll take some damage, but you'll be able to dish out more damage. ~Not that long of a mission, but it's a pain, since you can't use a lot of your strongest attacks, as they require more than 50 AP. After Chapter 18: Zulwarn Unleashed ----------------------------------- Hey! Guess what? it's the last shop in Kingdom! Spend that cash, kids! More Importantantly, you now control the power of the mighty Marquis Dionne. Joy! Chapter 19: Capital Clash ------------------------- This MAY be the hardest mission in Kingdom. This or mission 23. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Every single enemy ATAC is in a Sharking. ALL OF THEM. ~As if you weren't already overwhelmed, after you bump off Imperials 3, 4, 5 and 6. ~The replacements appear... Defeat... for the imperial... 3: Northeast above the hedge 4: East between the hedges 5: West between the hedges 6: Northwest above the hedge ~Luckily, Zakov won't move for quite some time. A LONG time. ~To play it safe, and you SHOULD, use the Bastion Bunch-up at the top of the map where Bastion and Dionne start. ~Have Bastion heal and kill. Don't expose your backs, as that's a surefire way to get killed. Focus on killing one Sharking at a time, as that'll make life more simple. ~A word of caution, however. Unless you are able to cause upwards of 70-80 damage, you'll feel the bite of a Sharking counter-attack. They counter-attack _very_ liberally. The other way to do it is to use Knockdown/Collison attacks, which is MUCH safer. ~Also, if for some odd reason you DON'T have Nana/Milea, this mission gets even more difficult than before. ~If you're playing smart and safe, that's the end of the strats for this mission. Just be VERY careful, as it's easy to rack up casualties in this mission. ~If, however, you're feeling Brave/Stupid/Reckless/Foolish, then read on my alternate risky strat. You should do this if you don't have BOTH Nana and Milea. ~This alternate strategy is much more offensive, can enable you to spread kills better, AND is quicker. Of course, it also is very possible to get yourself killed this way... ~This strategy involves splitting your ATACs into three (temporarily four) groups. 1)Bastion and Dionne, 2)Reyna, Nana, Andrew/Zeira, and possibly Andrew/Zeira 3) Alden, Milea, Devlin, Barlow, and Andrew/Zeira. ~I'll elaborate. Bastion and Dionne have such powerful attacks that barring very bad luck, will enable them to eliminate the two top Sharkings on thier own. If you and lady luck are in an argument then you might not be able to pull this off. Now as for the Andrew/Zeira thing. At the beginning of the mission, Andrew and Zeira should wax the nearest Imperial to them. Then, once he's taken care of, Andrew and Zeira should go help the RN group and the AMDB group. If you have confidence in your AMDB group, then both Andrew and Zeira should go toward Reyna and Nana. If, however, you DON'T think that AMDB can take four by themselves, then send ONE of the two over there. ~You can variate on this strategy as you see fit, mind you. Sometimes I'll send Bastion and Dionne down to help Reyna and Nana while Zeira and Andrew help the other four. Experiment and see what works best for your character's and playing style. After Chapter 19: Capital Clash ------------------------------- After the mission, they'll be a cut scene, you'll get a couple choices... A) Of course, Sadira. B) I'm sorry, Sadira. Choose A and Sadira joins you with thanks. Choose B and Sadira joins you after screaming, alot. then... A) Let's bring peace to the continent B) Let's bring an end to Faulkner's Life. As far as I can tell, it doesn't matter what you choose. Ok, now, once you choose mission, the game will calculate the morale of all your characters. If the average morale of all of your characters is plus 8 or higher, then you'll go on to the proper, good ending. On the other hand, if the average morale of your character's is plus 7 or lower, then you're on to the bad ending, sucks for you. Unfortunately, since the game only lets you see morale as smiley faces, it's quite difficult to really tell if you're borderline. The normal round face goes from minus 32 up to plus 32. So even if EVERYONE was a round face, it could go either way. If you've got a lot of Pink Stars and Hearts then you're in great shape. Really, the only way to determine which path that you're on is by Faulkner's opening words. ------------------------------------------- Chapter 20: Light and Darkness ------------------------------ You'll know you're on this ending if Faulkner's opening words are... "Warm greetings, my foolish foes." Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~In this mission, you face the Sarbelas, the Crimson, the Zulwarn, Ten Sharkings, and two Korbelans. That's quite an impressive enemy force. ~You DO gain the advantage of having Sadira help you, but she's AI controlled, read:BAD. ~Also, Bastion needs at least three or four allies to take Faulkner and his Demi-god ATAC, the Zulwarn. ~The trick to this mission is that at any given time, you should have about twice as many active ATACs as your enemy. ~So, since you have more than them, be aggressive! ~Franco and Halak aren't even that much of a threat, just swarm them and take them out from the beginning. ~A little after the two of them go down, Claire and Shion will come after you. The duo will be in Sharkings, but they're not really any more dangerous than the normal version. So use Knockdown attacks until they're frozen, then polish the two of them off. ~By the time you take out Claire and Shion (or are about to) Imperials 1-4 will appear on the pedastals, in Sharkings, of course. If Claire and Shion aren't gone yet, quickly dispose of them. ~Keep your ATACs nice and close together, but keep after the enemy! ~Sometime during all this, Logan and Duyere will join the battle. ~Though you should've figued this out by now, once Logan starts to move, take him out as quickly as possible. Duyere isn't near as much of a threat, but don't get reckless. ~About the same amount of turns after the first group of Imperials show up (57, to be precise), the second group of Imperials will show up in their place. Even if the original four are still around. ~Anyway, once all of the Sharkings are disposed of, heal everyone and get ready to take down Faulkner! ~In case you were wondering, no, you can't use the Turbulence technique that you used on the Empire branch. In this battle, Faulkner will start to move after he takes about 200 HP worth of damage. ~Also, if anyone other than Bastion strikes the killing blow against Faulkner, he'll restore about 150 of his HP and taunt you. ~So, find out how much damage Soaring Dance will do to Faulkner. There's a trick to beating Faulkner in this mission, too. ~Armed with the knowledge of how much damage Soaring Dance will do, you're ready to attack! ~Since Casualties really don't matter, just Swarm the jerk. Unleash everything your ATACs have against him. ~Once you've reduced his HP to the level where a Soaring Dance COULD kill him, target him with it. Congratulations, you've won? ~I know, you wonder how I can be so sure. The trick is, if Bastion targets Faulkner with an attack that could kill him, then Faulkner and Bastion enter into a story battle like Kamorge and Faulkner did way back in Chapter 3. You don't have to do anything, just watch. ~Also, if you're quick enough, you may be able to defeat Faulkner (and end the mission) without defeating the second wave of Imperials. ~In fact, If Princess Sadira has no enemies to attack, she'll go straight for Faulkner. You could just let her die, but I prefer to let her push the issue. --- Congratulations! You just beat Vanguard Bandits! Well, one Branch anyway! --- ------------------------------------ Chapter 20: Darkness and Light ------------------------------ If Faulkner's opening words are... "And here they are." Then you're on this mission, the bad ending! Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~You're on Faulkner's side for this mission. What does that mean? You win! ~Seriously, the AI is NOT smart enough to defeat Logan, Duyere, two Sharkings, AND have enough juice left to topple Faulkner. ~SO, all you HAVE to do is sit behind Faulkner and let him annhilate everything in his path. ~Of course, you could attack your former comrades and listen to what they have to say, just for fun. ~Actually, if you've been planning on playing this mission since the very begginng (like I was when I played it) then you should have been training Bastion almost exclusively from the beginning of the game. If this is the case, then you should have no trouble wiping the ATACs from the face of the planet. --- Congratulations, I guess. I mean, you DID get the bad ending. Which means that you lose! --- KINGDOM END ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ D. Empire ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ah, the Empire Branch. The Empire Branch is the second branch, though if people were un aware of it, it might be the last one they play through, as it doesn't even reveal itself unless you're at a high enough level. Of course, if you're reading this, then you know about the Empire Branch, now don't you? ;) The Empire branch isn't exactly what you'd expect though. You are not actually helping the Imperial Army, but rather Princess Sadira, Franco, Halak, and Cecilia. You do end up attacking Faulkner, you still have to deal with Sharkings, and no, you don't conquer the Kingdom. You still get the Ultragunner, but five missions after you would get it in the Kingdom branch. You're stuck in the Alba until then. Difficulty wise, the Empire branch is the hardest of the three. You only get six ATACs total, and they aren't all with you for all of the missions. Then there's the lack of Excavated ATACs. While the Ruin Branch only has six members, half of them are in exacavated ATACs (not to mention the Vedocorban), making life a lot easier. In the Empire Branch, you will only get two, and while you'll have one from the beginning, the other doesn't come along until Chapter 14 (along with the Vedocorban)! Still, the Empire Branch is my favorite. It offers challenge and is the only branch in the game that has two endings where both are really acceptable. --- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I. Main ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is the Main part of the Empire branch, you'll go through these missions regardless of what ending you get. Chapter 4: Faulkner's Trap -------------------------- No killing of Faulkner will be taking place here, no siree. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Since you're on level eight, you're considerably stronger than the Barbatos ATACs, but you are still weaker than the Einlagers. ~Hopefully, you'll have your AGL up to 8 or 9. If you do, you can move behind Imperial 5, and finish him in two turns before he can do anything. ~Once he's dead, it's time to hide behind the bushes. Move the Alba down into the corner and move up to where there is bushes on two of your sides. ~From this position, you should be able to take out Imperials 3,4, and 6 with relative ease. They'll only have around a 35% chance of hitting you, so you should dodge most of the attacks. ~The Einlagers are considerably more of a challenge. Imperial 1 will be hard to hit, and Imperial 2 will be hard to dodge. ~If you do manage to get through the six imperials, then Faulkner will start to move after you. ~You can't BEAT Faulkner, but if you hit him, you'll get a significant amount of EXP. ~Therefor, move out of your hiding space. You really need to be the one who attacks, as If Faulkner goes first, you won't get a chance to reciprocate. ~It should be noted that it doesn't matter if Faulkner's counter attack kills you. As long as you hit him, you should get your EXP. ~After engaging Faulkner once, the Alba will shut down, ending the mission. ~Of course, you still move on if one of the other imperials manages to get you before Faulkner gets a chance to. After Chapter 4: Faulkner's Trap -------------------------------- It's shop time! Buy weapons and Stones first. Then, buy Accessories, but make sure that you buy a Str. Gauntlet for Sadira. Her POW is terrible, but you won't be fixing it for a little while, so this'll come in handy. Chapter 5: Cave of Cretins -------------------------- Level building time! Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Of the five of you, Bastion and Halak are level 11 (Bastion may be 12, if so,all the better), Franco's at 10, Cecilia is at 8, and Sadira is at 6. Therefore, Sadira and Cecilia should get as many kills as you can give them, and Franco should be doing a lot. At least this should be the plan for the first part of the mission ~Even though Sadira is the farthest underlevel, she isn't the weakest ATAC thanks to the Sylpheed ATAC. Her AGL is at 17, so she'll go more often and hence, get more kills, than Cecilia, so it doesn't take TOO much effort to build her. ~When Sadira raises a level in this mission, all of her points should go into DEX. ALL of them. She gets Spiral Dive as SOON as she gets 20 DEX (since her AGL starts above 15), and you want that as soon as possible. Even as low as it is now, you should be able to get Spiral Dive by the next mission if you invest heavy in DEX. ~Cecilia will be a bit harder to raise up, as she is much slower. When she does get her first Level, boost her stats to get Str. Slash, and then do what you want with her. But remember, you'll need her to have high DEX later on. ~Bastion and Halak, for the most part, should sit back and let the other three get stronger. Trust me, you'll want everyone strong, not just Bastion. ~Once the original group of six are dead (or if you take too long), the Bandit Chief and three more Bandits will appear. ~NOW Bastion and Halak can take action, but remember that Sadira and Cecilia could still use the kills. Chapter 6: Harsh Reality ------------------------ Time to square off against the Kingdom! Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Two ways to approach this mission. ~Make one group and let them come to you. This is the safe way (no, not the store, smart-alec). ~The Risky way is to send Cecilia and Halak to the left, Franco and Sadira to the right, and let Bastion deal with the middle. ~Of course, with this method, Bastion could get into a spot of trouble. Make sure Sadira is within range to help him in a turn's time. Which isn't too hard, when you consider Sadira's move rating. ~Also, defeating one enemy in this mission will usually cause another to appear. Kill #3 for #6 to arrive, #4 for #7, and #5 for #8 ~Fairly straight forward, huh? Chapter 7: Traitorous Warrior ----------------------------- Time for a toughie. Though, as usual, they give you an out of the REAL tough ones. Losing doesn't cause any Game Over, just the next mission Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Have Cecilia just run across towards the Bridge and Bastion. ~Since he IS right there, have Bastion Attack Ganlon, but don't move, just hit him. ~Since Ganlon Retreats at 50% HP, you should be able to kill Ganlon before he gets his turn, though you will probably take some damage. ~Once Ganlon is out of the way, run and get on the bridge. Make sure you're on enough that the tiles on the side are inaccesible. ~This will allow you to take on the enemy ATACs one at a time. ~Luckily, since the Kingdom and Impeiral Soldiers will be trying to kill each other the entire time too, you won't have to deal with ALL of the enemies. ~Just to let you know, the Kingdom is gonna lose. Partially cause you killed they're special ATAC at the beginning, but mostly 'cause the Empire has almost twice as many units. ~Once a victor has been decided, the remaining units will come after you. Zakov is the most immediate threat, but the others are chumps and shouldn't be any problem. ~Don't feel bad if you die. With only two ATACs, if Lady Luck isn't with you your sure to fall. Chapter 8: Bastion's Secret --------------------------- The actual battle in this chapter has nothing to do with the title, by the way. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~WOW!!! For once, the KINGDOM is going to win the fight without your help. ~Zakov is an idiot in this mission (I know, I know, but even MORE so than normal) and will only sit there and Defend. You ain't gettin' any help from him. ~His Soldier's will try, but they'll simply be overrun by the sheer numbers against them. Hey, you can't blame them for not tryin'! ~Since you'll have your full complitment of soldiers, this is a fairly easy mission. Just let the low-level characters catch up with the stronger ones *cough*Bastion*cough. After Chapter 8: Bastion's Secret --------------------------------- Just thought you might want to know, shop's open. They're having a one-mission sale. You should look into it. Things are like, 50% off! (Ok, not really, but you should still buy new stuff!) Chapter 9: Logan's Test ----------------------- You must prove yourself worthy of facing me in battle before I join you in peace?! What sorta flawed logic is that! Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Logan waits some time before he joins the fray. ~By the time he DOES join the fight, you should have dispatched all the other ATACs of Nordilain. ~This is just a fight against the Nordilain type of soldier. So, use the tactics for Nordilain Soldiers and you'll do fine. ~Claire is just a beefed up Nordilain, but Shion is balanced and will probably be the hardest to kill. ~Logan is just Dangerous. He has enough DEF to hold up, too. ~Sadira's Spiral Dive will make quick work of him if you can get it off. ~Oh, and don't let anyone get dizzy. Logan will make short work of them. Chapter 10: Clashing in the Snow -------------------------------- Sure, Claire COULD have told you sooner, but then you wouldn't get to beat up the nice little Hibernerians. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~The Goal of the Mission is to defeat either the Security Chief or Devlin. So, you should kill all the Hibernians and Barlow before taking one of them out. ~Whether they're playing defensive, it would fit their personalities, or they're just cowards, the Hibernians won't move until you do. ~Also, Barlow, Devlin, and the Chief won't move until much later on. ~So, how to deal with the DEF heavy Hibernians? Rush em'! Use the two groups that you are given and just attack. They'll crumple under your collective might. ~Claire is underlevel, so give her some kills to catch up. Chapter 11: Thomson's Fate -------------------------- More Kingdom buttkicking. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Since Bastion starts out right in front of Galvas, then attack! Galvas should be swarmed first thing, and should be out before he gets his first turn. ~Of the remaining Kingdom troops, there are three Haizurons, and the other five are in Glaives. ~The Haizurons are much more dangerous, as they're in a superior ATAC AND they're level 16 as opposed to the Glaive's 12. ~Group up and Focus on the Haizurons. You should make it out of here fine, though if you're not careful you could get a casualty or two. Chapter 12: Andrew's Test ------------------------- You didn't think you could avoid good old Andrew, did you? Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~It's good to know that the Mercenaries fight like Muspels, in waves. Idiots. ~Plus, of the four groups, two of them are Barazaph and Andoras. The two weakest ATACs in the game. ~On your first turn, move Bastion up to one space less than his maximum, and have everyone else follow in formation. ~The Barazaphs will attack, dispatch them. Sadira should be able to take the one on your right with a counter-attack (Wind Strike) and back-attack. The one who attacks Bastion should be counter-attacked, attacked by Bastion, and finished by Claire (or vice-versa). ~The one on the left takes a little more effort, because it takes AP to get there, so send Franco, Halak, and Cecilia after him. ~The Second group will take a little effort, as they are in Dantarius'. However, they only have and AGL of 17. On the Kingdom branch, this would pose more of a threat. However, considering all save Claire and MAYBE Halak are using Wind Stones, and hence, have really, really high DEX, they usually go down with ease. ~Once the Dantarius' have been defeated, two Andoras will appear on the left side of the screen with Fire Stones, too. However, unless one of your Character's is near that edge and has his or her back turned (I had that), you should be able to eliminate them with ease. ~The final wave is that of a Flaros (Mercenary 1) and Andrew. Andrew is more dangerous, so take him out first. ~Actually, though, you only have to eliminate 50% of Andrew's HP before he turns tail and runs. Note that Andrew gives booku EXP, though. ~Unless something goes wrong, you should make it out of the battle without a casualty. After Chapter 12: Andrew's Test ------------------------------- There's a shop, but there's nothing new, so unless you didn't have enough money the last time (and WHY not!?) you don't need to worry about it. Chapter 13: Grabbing Gratia --------------------------- One-on-One Madness! In this mission, a character will keep battling new opponents until they are defeated. OR until Dionne is beaten (#5) Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~You fighting order is Claire, Franco, Cecilia, Sadira, and Basion. Bastion shouldn't have to fight. The opponent's fighting order is Mercenary 1, Mercenary 2, Mercenary 3, Andrew, Dionne. ~While Claire is really only boasting before the mission and in the breifing, it actually IS possible for her the beat the first four by herself. It's unlikely, though, so don't get upset if Andrew beats her. ~Your general strategy in this mission is to back up against the wall and let the enemy come at you. Only move behind the enemy for a finishing blow, and don't counter-attack if your FP is too high. Get it. Got it. Good. ~Claire should be able to take care of all three of the Mercenaries by herself unless something goes wrong. If you mess up a bit, Franco might have to finish Merc 3. ~When Franco fights Andrew, he should be rather self-destructive. Counter-Attack all of Andrew's attacks, as that's the only way to get decent damage against him. If your DEX is high enough, Andrew should try to block, too. With luck, Franco should be able to take out Andrew, though he'll lose some HP in the process (a lot). ~If Franco survives Andrew, he COULD beat Dionne, if your lucky. Dionne will use Bursting Fire almost exclusively, which will cause him to be Dizzy at least every other turn. Four Wind Strikes was all my Franco needed to kill Dionne, so, if Dionne keeps missing, which isn't too hard as his success percentage in always under 50%, you could beat him. ~If Franco does die, which is as likely as it is not, then have Cecilia try. If she falls, well, Sadira can make short work of a Frozen Dionne with Spiral Dive. Chapter 14: Rotten Radcot ------------------------- More brief appearances from Kingdom branch major players! This is the one time where Radcot and his men are actually capable. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Sadira starts off in a VERY bad position, being surrounded by 4 Muspels. Your group of five is surrounded by five as well, but that's less of a threat. ~Oh, yeah, by the way, if Sadira goes down, then you'll see Mr. Game Over screen. ~Anyway, Sadira should immediately move away from Radcot and straight towards your characters. ~You character's should head toward Sadira, meet in the middle. ~Now, group up and get to fightin'! For the most part, don't try to get behind the Muspels, as you'll just use up all of your AP in the process, and that'll do you no good. ~Once Radcot gets close enough to thwack, thwack him good! Don't let up until you kill him, too. ~It's a good thing Muspels are wimps, or this mission would cause you some SERIOUS problems. Chapter 15: The Royal ATAC -------------------------- Late's better than never, it's time for some shiny white Ultragunner goodness! Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Unlike the Kingdom branch, you start out this mission with the Ultragunner. No waiting here! ~A word about the Ultragunner. At the start of this mission, you should definately have enough BAS for the support skill Holy Light. This skill is an essential part of many late-game Empire strategies, so you'll need it. You _should_ also possess Splitting Smash, or are darn well close. If Bastion gets any level ups in this mission, then you should have him focus on getting his stats to 18, and then to 20. ~Anyway, the Imperials are divided up into two groups, so you should follow suit. Send Bastion, Sadira, and Cecilia over to the group closest to Faulkner and send Claire, Franco, and Halak over to deal with the other, weaker Imperials. ~The strategies for the two groups is completely different, however. Claire, Franco, and Halak should move to the end of the bridge and sit there. You make the decision as to which two go up front and which one goes in back. ~Bastion, Sadira, and Cecilia should take on a completely different idea. The Bodyguards won't move for several turns, and Faulkner and Duyere will wait even longer. You should take out both of the Dantarius' and maybe one of the bodyguards before they move. ~Now, If either Faulkner or Duyere is reduced to 50% or less of HP (or destroyed) both of them will run home. With that in mind, focus on attacking Faulkner, since he'll give you considerably more EXP. Chapter 16: Refuge in Nordilain ------------------------------- More action with the No-kingdom. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~There are two groups of Kingdom Soldiers in this mission. An initial group of five, and then Galvas, Ganlon, and 4 more Kingdoms, for a total of six in the second group. ~The second group will show up either once the first group is defeated, or after 30 turns, whichever comes first. ~You have two options in dealing with the first group. You can either bunch up and the exit of the line of bushes around Bastion, which is safer, but will probably cause you to still have enemies left when Galvas and co. show up. The second method of defeating the first group is just to abandon strategy and beat the crap out of them. They're not THAT dangerous, so strategy is really superfluous, or just overly cautious. ~The Second group, on the other hand, should be dealt with by grouping around Bastion. Have him Holy Light the ATACs weakened by the first group, and just kill anything that gets near your ATACs. ~Galvas is the most dangerous enemy, so when he gets near, focus on him. ~Also, Bastion should have all his stats at 20 by the end of this mission. You want Soaring Dance. After Chapter 16: Refuge in Nordilain ------------------------------------- Hey! It's time to buy everything else that you need! Make sure you get a Jade for Cecilia, as it'll open up the Somersault attack for her (assuming you actually have the stats) Also, this next mission is the last chance you'll get to drastically alter either Cecilia or Sadira's Morale. Two ways... 1)During the cutscene (that would be before you get the option to shop) You'll be presented a choice during the conversation with Sadira. A)Alright, Sadira. Good Night B)Please tell me what's wrong! Choose A to drop Sadira's morale. Choose B to boost it through the ceiling. 2) If it's really close, just make sure during the next battle that the girl whose branch you DON'T want to go on dies during the battle, and you give the other one a few kills. That should do it. Chapter 17: Sharking Attack! ---------------------------- Sure, you've got one more ATAC than them, but they're POWERFUL. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~At the Start of the Mission, move up slightly, but not too much, the Sharkings will come to you all too quickly. ~Once the Sharkings get in range. Unload all of your most powerful attacks on them at once. For this reason, Sadira should be in the back, so she doesn't get dizzied from Spiral Dive and getting attacked. ~Don't be afraid to move a little out of formation. It's better to have a dead Sharking if you can. Less of them=more of you! ~Zakov does more damage, takes less, and has a bit more HP, but he's easier to hit, and he's more liable to miss. Wimpy special enemy. :) ~Even if you're careful, you could still suffer some casualties in this mission. After Chapter 17: Sharking Attack! ---------------------------------- Oh, just to let you know, you're now on either the Sadira or Cecilia branch. So, how do you tell? At this point, the game calculates the morale of both Sadira and Cecilia. If the Morale of Sadira is > or = Cecilia's Morale, then you will go onto the proper, Sadira branch. If, on the other hand Cecilia's Morale is > Sadira's, you will head onto the Cecilia branch. Note that Sadira wins the tie. While this is all fine and dandy, to you, all the morale is is a smiley face. Instead, you can tell what branch you actually ARE on by Duke Logan's opening comment. "Congratulations on your victory!" is the Sadira line. "I take it that you were able to repulse their attack, Sadira?" is the Cecilia line. If you're on the Sadira branch, Cecilia leaves, too. Boo-hoo. --- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ II. Sadira ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ These last three missions are exclusive to the Sadira branch. Unfortunately, you lose Cecilia by going onto the Sadira branch, but, sacrifices must be made. This is the proper ending to the Empire branch, and my favortie. But, hey, the Cecilia branch is good, too. On the whole, since you have one ATAC less, you'll have a harder time than with the Cecilia branch. Chapter 18: Howl of the Ice Wolf -------------------------------- I know, I know, Cecilia just got Somersault and now she's gone. Yeah, Yeah, Tough Cookies! Alden has almost as many special character's as you do, plus, he's got troops to back him up. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~This is one mission where the gung-ho strategy that I usually advocate will just plain NOT work. Don't even think about trying it. There's too many of them and they all have too much DEF. ~Bunch up in front of the two exposed ATACs and sit there for the rest of the fight. ~Be aware that bunching up here may cause one of the Hibernias to go around and attack your back side. He won't do much damage, but he'll be there. Each of the special character's should be dealt with differently. ~Devlin MIGHT be the most dangerous, as he has the most POW and easy access to his unique attack, Burning Soul. You do NOT want burning soul to connect, so take out Devlin as SOON as he gets in range. It actually isn't too difficult to knock him out of the battle, since he's only got 14 DEF ~Melior can do some decent damage, but with your Sky-High AGL you should be able to survive. She has lower DEF than any of her buds except for Devlin, and she also has the lowest special character HP. Unfortunately, with her high AGL connecting might be a problem unless you have high DEX (as I did) or you use counters. ~Barlow is't dangerous at all, he's just Impossible to kill. Even though he only has 126 HP, he has _30_ DEF (more than any other enemy in the game, even Faulkner) and therefore is next to impossible to damage. Ah, well. Just don't worry about him until everybody else is gone. On the plus side, DEF is his ONLY high stat, so you'll usually have a 99% chance to hit him even when he tries to dodge. I had 99% on Soaring Dance. It was nice. ~Alden has the highest DEX of the group, so he'll hit you, and he's got the power to back it up. He's probably not as dangerous as Devlin though. Because he starts so far back, he only rarely gets close enough to use his good attacks. He's mostly stuck two or three squares away, and he'll almost always move, so you don't really have to worry about Blizzard Break too much. That being said, Alden has some serious potential to do some serious damage to your ranks, so you should eliminate him very quickly. ~With the exception of Alden, Devlin, and to a limited extent, Melior, the enemies in this mission aren't that capable of damaging you. However, since they outnumber you almost two to one, it's very easy for your character's to get frozen. Don't send one character out by their lonesome, or else they'll get gangtackled. Once they're frozen, Alden/Devlin will finish them off with ease. Chapter 19: Zulwarn's Heartbeat ------------------------------- On the bright side, this is the last time you'll have to fight the No-kingdom. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~There are four Imperials at the start of the mission. However, they leave soon afterwards. Even if you can attack them, don't bother. They're only level 10. ~About when every one gets one turn, the Imperials dissapear and the No-Kingdom troops arrive. Meet your new enemies. ~There are three different defensive (the only way you'll survive) strategies. ~You can put them in a row of four in the farthest row back that can hold that many. Then just stick the last ATAC right behind one of the middle ATACs. The enemy is only able to attack your front, but if something goes wrong, then the entire Formation has a tendancy to fall. ~The second method involves putting four of your ATACs into a two-by-two formation in the little box part of the map in the very back. The last ATAC is then stuck out front. The downside to this approach is that it almost guarantees the destruction of the odd ATAC out. Other than that problem, though, the formation is defensivly solid. ~The final method is like the second, only the formation is flipped. The odd man out will go to the very back row, and the two-by-two formation will go out in front of that one. ~The Glaives will move before the Haizurons, and the Haizurons will move before the Specials, but because of how the ranks are, they'll all get there at about the same time. :( ~Once Zeira gets close enough for you to take care of, do so. Zeira loves to use his powerful Sonic Blade attack against you, and you don't want that. ~This is a tough mission, so even if you play carefully, you're still liable to lose an ATAC. After Chapter 19: Zulwarn's Heartbeat ------------------------------------- The final Empire shop is here, but there's nothing new. If you want to get Family Jewels, you'll actually probably be able to afford them now. Also, make sure that at the very least Franco is equipped with a Jade, and it helps to have Halak to have one too. If want to have an earth stone though, that okay, just make sure you have at least two Turbulencers. Chapter 20: Battle for Tomorrow ------------------------------- Yea! Faulkner killing time!!! As a side note, with only six enemy ATACs, this is the second smallest final battle in the game. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~When Cecilia attacks you before the mission starts, you'll lost about 80 HP. Or, at least I did. It's possible that she takes off a 1/4 of your HP. ~My suggestion to deal with Cecilia is to save, then unleash a Soaring Dance her way. If it misses, reload. If it hits, she's dead. ~After she's been taken care of, go ahead and bunch up around Bastion and take care of the two generic Imperial Sharkings. ~Soon after the Generics reach you, Duyere will start down. ~About a turn after Duyere, Zakov will follow. You've dealt with them both enough by now that you should know what to do. Beat them down! ~Now, use Bastion's Holy Light spell on all the damaged ATACs. ~Good, now you're going to have to whittle down Faulkner's 662 HP so you can kill him with out him killing you. Turbulence time! ~But, first, let's have so Fact about Faulkner! 1) Faulkner has 662 HP 2) He has a range four attack. 3) Only one of his attacks causes FP, and then it only causes 5 FP. 4) Faulkner has a speed of 10. 5) Faulkner will NEVER MOVE, EVER 6) Faulkner has 662 HP, I know it's been said before, but this needs to be emphasized. ~Keeping the above facts in mind, here's how you defeat Faulkner with ease. ~Move all of your ATACs so that the Turbulencers are exactly five panels away from Zulwarn and the others are right behind them. It should look like this... x x oxo x=Turbulencer o=Non-Turbulencer ~Now that you've got it set-up, all you have to do is execute it. Move a ATAC with Turbulence up one square, use Turbulence, then move back to your starting point. Do this with all of your Turbulencers. Viola! Repeat until Faulkner's demise. ~If Sadira has the Second attack ability and Bastion is behind her, then you can simply have her use Turbulence Twice, then have Bastion remove her FP with Holy Light. ~Of course, said strategy DOES get boring after a while, so what I reccomend is to Turbulence him until he has about 400 HP, then rush him when you have several character's turns in a row. ~If you can freeze him, you'll should be able to finish him off. After all, with Second Attack Bastion can do about 300 HP worth of damage on his own. Of Course, he'll be frozen afterwards (Splitting Smash + Soaring Dance _or_ Soaring Dance x2), so make sure you finish Faulkner off. :) --- Congratulations! You just beat the hardest branch in Vanguard Bandits! Go You! --- EMPIRE-SADIRA END ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ III. Cecilia ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ These are the three missions that are exlusive to the Cecilia branch of the Empire branch. They pick up right after Chapter 17, just like the Sadira Branch. The Cecilia branch is considerably easier. Not only do you have the help of a sixth ATAC in Cecilia (who's like #3 in power), but you also avoid Alden and co. AND you get a watered down Faulkner to defeat. I don't like the Cecilia branch as much, but everyone should play through it once and make up their own mind. Chapter 18: Zulwarn's Breath ---------------------------- NO!! This mission is NOT exactly like mission 40! <_< ... >_> Uh, you have a sixth ATAC, so there. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~The addition of Cecilia makes life WORLD's easier. There are more targets for the enemy to attack, and more characters that you can use to do damage. ~Anyway, you should use the row of four formation since you have six ATACs. Put four ATACs onto the last row that can hold that many. Put Bastion, Sadira, Cecilia, and Claire in the front row with Franco and Halak in the back. ~Have Cecilia use Somersault like it's going out of style! Really, while the other characters Special attacks add too much FP to be used over and over, Somersault has a low enough FP that if Cecilia doesn't move, she'll gain next to no FP. It's great! ~Also, make sure you have Bastion use Holy Light a LOT. Hopefully is at a high enough level that it won't hurt him EXP wise. If he's not at least level 24, then you'll need to attack more. ~Remember that only Cecilia and Bastion will be facing off against Zulwarn, so favor them when dishing out EXP. After Chapter 18: Zulwarn's Breath ---------------------------------- The last Empire shop on this branch is right here, kiddos. Buy any other accessories you want, you should have the proper weapons/stones already and you won't get another chance to go shopping (at least not on THIS playthrough) Chapter 19: Continental Invasion -------------------------------- Time to kick Zakov and Duyere's butts! Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Take the same formation as Chapter 18, it'll be easier, but no need to fix something that's not broken. ~The Bodyguards will line up in front of your ATACs. Focus on taking out one or two of them, or focus on keeping their FP at 60 or higher so they won't attack you. ~Once there's only two or three enemies left, it's ok to break formation and overwhelm the rest. ~There really isn't much to this mission, just make sure you train Bastion and Cecilia. ~Oh, and be careful, if you're careless the Sharkings will slice and dice you. Chapter 20: The Journey Begins ------------------------------ One-on-one with Faulkner! Well, sort of. You get SOME help. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~When Faulkner attacks you in the beginning, defend. Trust me. ~Once you have the Cecilia event, Cecilia will join you and Faulkner's HP will go to 311. ~Also, Faulkner isn't NEAR the threat he is in other missions. Don't be stupid, but don't be TOO fearful. I've seen Faulkner miss in this mission. NEVER seen that before in Zulwarn. ~Just have Cecilia and Bastion go all out on Zulwarn. Cecilia may fall, but you'll get him. And even if by some stupid measure or bad luck you DO lose, you can always load your data. It's not like it was that long of a battle. --- Congratulations! You just beat the most depressing (not counting the Faulkner ending, since you really LOSE when you get that ending) branch of Vanguard Bandits. --- EMPIRE-CECILIA END --- EMPIRE END ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ E. Ruin ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Ruin branch IS an odd one, but one that shows the sense of humor a game development team can have. Nothing in the Ruin branch should be taken very seriously, in fact, nothing in the ruin branch should be taken seiously at ALL. Just take a look at the supporting cast; Reyna, Barlow, and Andrew. Not a serious bone in the entire bunch! That being said, gameplay-wise the Ruin Branch is quite different as well. The Ruin branch is the only branch in the game where Bastion doesn't get the Ultragunner, AND Faulkner doesn't get the Zulwarn. Instead, you are blessed with the TIC-TAC. Though the TIC-TAC is weaker on the whole than the Ultragunner, you'll practically swear otherwise after playing through. While the TIC-TAC only has one special attack, it IS a doozy, and should be employed to its fullest extent. The characters in the Ruin branch tend to be land on the high side of levels, but they'll be needed. The Ruin branch also forces you to go up against an ATAC even more powerful than the Sharking, though you'll get some help. You get three excavated ATACs for this branch, Bastion's TIC-TAC (close enough), Sadira's Sylpheed, and the Altagrave, though you will have the much needed support of Andrew's Vedocorban. Just have fun when you play the ruin branch! Oh, but try to play it AFTER playing the Kingdom and Empire-Sadira branches. Otherwise, your opinion of Sadira may become tainted. Remember, the Ruin Sadira isn't a serious one, just a way to capitalize on the spoiled brat princess stereotype. --- Chapter 9: Faulkner the Filcher ------------------------------- Without a doubt this is the easiest mission in the game. The battle will end exactly 39 turns after it begins, no matter what, with Faulkner taking the Ultragunner. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~The only thing of note is possible experience. Andrew, Barlow, and Reyna can gain SOME much need EXP. Chapter 10: Futile Search ------------------------- Yawn! Eventually, the game will send enemies your way that are capable of defending themselves, but not yet. The enemies come in two groups. Six pathetic enemies start in the battle, and are joined by three enemies which are only slightly less pathetic and a decent Bandit Chief. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Bastion is probably a few levels above the rest of the company, so send him foward to dismantle the two bandits up there. ~Send Barlow to deal with the one on your left, while Andrew and Reyna take care of the three on your right. ~Once the four arrive, it's experience time! The area that they appear on doesn't allow you much room to manuever, so getting to the enemy you want to kill may pose a problem. ~You could also just move down and wait for them to come after you, which would skip the whole mountain terrain difficulty thingy. ~The only enemy that really poses any threat is the Chief, so send Bastion after him when a gap appears. He's also probably the only enemy that will provide the royal one with any EXP worth his time, so that's an added bonus! After Chapter 10: Futile Search ------------------------------- ~Bastion is out of his amazing Alba (and into the even MORE amazing TIC-TAC), so give it to Barlow, who has a crappy ATAC with no bonuses (unless you gave him the Serata, but still give him the Alba, it's better). ~Oh yeah, shop time. New Weapons all around, then get the stones and Amulets if you can afford them. Make sure you shop AFTER you've moved Barlow. Chapter 11: TIC-TAC! -------------------- Ah, the mighty TIC-TAC. You got the stats for Tidal Wave yet? No? Slackers! Ok, it's difficult to have ALL the stats for Tidal Wave, even with TIC-TAC's bonuses. It SHOULD be a level or two away though. Andrew's Somersault should be even closer. Reyna's Trick will probably be still a bit away, as the stats you have to increase aren't what you normally would. Oh, yeah, by the way, you have a couple of Kingdom escorts for this mission. They'll sit around for a few turns, then charge on. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Rush'em! The threat of the enemies in this level is slim to none. Therefore, you should be concered with killing them all before the Kingdom lackeys get near them. ~Remember how dangerous Zakov was in the last mission? He's not anymore. Still, he IS the second strongest ATAC on the field, so take care of him as quickly as possible. ~Bodyguard 1 is actually the strongest ATAC on the field, so you should be minorly wary of him and Bodyguard 2. ~Since this mission is pathetically easy, I'll give you a challenge. ~Duyere runs away when HP is less than or equal to 50%. Get him to 51% (or as close as possible), then have your strongest ATAC nail him for a killing blow. This will net you 12000 funds too, so it's worth your time. Chapter 12: Snowy Reunion ------------------------- Sure, Milea IS surrounded, but she's also the strongest ATAC on the field, so she's capable of taking care of herself. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~As is the case almost always with Nordilain, you gotta hit'em fast and hit'em hard! ~Also, Milea doesn't get any EXP or Funds for the kills she gets, so work hard to kill them before she can. Claire's group has next to nigh defense, so it will only take two hits to finish them off. ~Shion and his group of soldiers are more balanced, but are really less of a threat. Their attempt at balancing just makes them weaker over all. ~Shion himself will take some time to kill, but as long as you don't do anything too stupid, you should pull through with barely more than a scratch. Chapter 13: Runaway Princess ---------------------------- This is the mission where you'll get your sixth and final member, Sadira. You'll learn to hate Ruin-Sadira, but her Sylpheed is the second strongest ATAC you'll get, so you'll want her around. Also, if it's possible for Milea to gain a level, make sure you raise her DEX by 1, as that will give her the powerful Blizzard Break attack. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Protect Sadira. Yet again, the difficulty meter is flatlining for this mission, so it won't take much. ~But remember, she still doesn't get any EXP or Funds, so don't let her kill anything. ~When Franco and Cecilia join the fray, concentrate on them, as they are particualary gunning for the princess. Chapter 14: Sharking Sortie --------------------------- So here's the Ruin debut of the Sharking. Things could get ugly. Oh yeah, Sadira is way underlevel, so she'll probably go up a few levels by the end of the mission, make sure you try to get Sprial Dive. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~You want some strategy? Stay the heck away from Zakov, how's that for strategy? ~The Imperials attack in two waves, and Zakov himself is the third wave. ~Stay West and let them come to you. ~If you really can't stand to just wait, make sure you stay at LEAST four panels away from Zakov, and don't move up until you've disposed of the first wave. ~When Zakov DOES move, gang-tackle him. Zakov should get off no more than ONE attack and the counter attacks. ~Zakov will retreat at the standard 50% or less mark, but he's worth some effort to kill, as he give 18000. After Chapter 14: Sharking Sortie --------------------------------- Make sure you got your Grocery List, cause it's time to shop! ~You may not have the cash to get everything, so here's your priority list. Jade for Andrew, Lapis Lazuli for Reyna, Stone for Barlow, Durandar for Barlow, Halberd for Reyna, Widowmaker for Andrew. You want those special attacks! Chapter 15: Defending the Town ------------------------------ Hey! You get a LOT of help for this mission, in the form of Kingdom troops! Oh, and by the way, the Difficulty level is going to spring to life soon, though not this mission. Just thought you'd want a heads up. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Get those Kills! The six imperials that are already in place at the beginning of the mission are half-dead. Get as many as possible and don't let the AI controlled Kingdom units get them. ~A little while after the beginning of the battle, Zakov will arrive with four Imperial escorts. ~Once again, when Zakov gets close, make him pay! Tidal Wave, Somersault, and Spiral Dive should all be at your disposal, so use'em! ~Because of their higher level, send Milea and Bastion after the four new Imperials as soon as Zakov's been bumped off. Chapter 16: Howling Duyere -------------------------- And now the Ruin Branch difficulty takes a sharp turn up. All the rest of the missions are quite difficult, so you gotta watch yourself. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Okay, It't ten-to-six, and the enemies aren't wimps either. Time for some actual strategy. ~The key to surviving the mission is to bottle up your character so that only a few people have to be dealt with at one time. ~One way is to run across the bridge, at which point Bastion should sit on the Bridge and wait for the enemy to come to him. ~The only problem with this method is that severely limits your offensive capability. With the exception of Sadira (and Bastion), all of your other long range attacks are pathetically weak. ~You COULD put Milea up front and Bastion right behind her, it's a gamble, but if your Milea is strong enough, it'll pay off. If this doesn't sound appealing to you, then we're left with the slightly more risky Plan 2. ~The Plan I usually use is to bunch up in the little pass between the bushes in front of you and the enemy on the side closest to the bridge. ~Bunch up so no one can get by, which will require three fronts. This should provide two spaces for range two attacks. It sounds complicated, but it's much easier in practice. ~Of course, that leaves the question of who to put where, doesn't it? And what to do with the odd man out of the formation. ~Even though Bastion and Sadira are the only characters with decent long range attack, you should still put Bastion up front, as he's just the all-around resident butt-kicker, and can take a few hits. Milea should also get in the front line, where she can get the most experience. ~Sadira and Reyna should be in the range two spots. I know what I said earlier, but Reyna also is a semi-decent Long ranger. ~Put Barlow on the front line, but put him next to the bush. Bastion should go right next to him, with Reyna right behind Bastion. On Reyna's left should be Sadira, and Milea should be to her right. Andrew should wait until the enemy is engaged witht your troops, then work his way around to the other side of the bush to _am_bush them (I crack myself up, a ha, a ha). ~In case your wondering why this works when you don't want Milea to be point-man, it's that she'll only have to deal with roughly 1/3 of the enemies. On the bridge, she'd have to deal with almost all of them. Chapter 17: Dark Cloud ---------------------- Get ready to take a beating, Eight Sharkings are just waiting to take you on. Strategy (you'll need some!) ^^^^^^^^ ~Okay, let's go over the ground rules for this fight... ~1)Sharking>Non-Excavated ATAC. What does this mean? It means that Reyna and Barlow should stay the heck back, that's what it means! Andrew shouldn't get too cocky, either, though he is semi-capable. ~2) DO NOT go on the offensive unless you have a death wish. Charging out after your enemy will just result in the slicing and dicing of your ATACs, so don't do it. ~Now that we have that settled, time to get to business. ~See those buildings? those are what we like to call, "choke points". Time to use'em. ~Put Bastion in the Single space, and put Sadira and Milea on the double wide. Make sure that Bastion is actually IN BETWEEN the two buildings, so Barlow will have enough room. Also put Sadira closer to Bastion, no matter how much Milea hates it. ~Reyna and Andrew should go behind Milea and Sadira, and Barlow should go behind Bastion. ~Now hunker down and wait for the onslaught. It'll come soon, don't worry. ~A few points of advise... ~If Bastion, Sadira, or Andrew have the Second Attack ability, they should make full use of it. The quicker the sharkings die, the longer you live. ~Plus, any enemy unit with 60 FP or more will automatically wait when their turn comes up. ~You should focus on _killing_ one enemy, but you should still throw a couple of turbulences the way of a nearby Sharking to get its FP up to 60. Since you'll be attacking and waiting, you'll get more turns than they will. ~That last one doesn't apply to Bastion. He should just decimate anything on his side. If his FP is too high, have Barlow throw something at one of the Sharkings to get his FP up. ~Since one enemy will be in front of Sadira and one in front of Milea, I would reccomend going after the Sharking in front of Sadira first,as she seems to be the preferred target. Milea should just use Blizzard Break repeatedly on the enemy directly in front of her. ~If Barlow has an Earth stone, then he'll need to move around some to heal. If you don't have and Earth stone on Barlow (I never do) then he should sit behind Bastion and Turbulence the enemy in front of Sadira, or Bastion, when needed. ~When Sadira and Bastion have high FP, have Reyna use Cooling Mst to get rid of some of it. Milea shouldn't have a problem. ~You might have noticed how much time I've spent on Bastion. That's because him and his mighty Tidal Wave and Second Attack are pretty much self sufficiant. Only attack once every other turn, and along with cooling mist, you should be fine. ~If Bastion has high FP and looks to be attacked by two sharkings, have Barlow Turbulence one of them to get their FP up to 60. That'll prevent Bastion from going overboard. ~Once you've eliminated all the Sharkings but one on the Sadira/Milea side, you can go ahead and move Andrew and Barlow out to put the hurt on that last one. Chapter 18: Nordilain's Secret ------------------------------ What, you thought you wouldn't have to fight Logan on the Ruin Branch? Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Andrew will go first. Have him wait. Otherwise he'll get gang-tackled. ~Once they've all had their turn, move up and nail'em with your strongest attacks. Don't hold anything back. ~Between Spiral Dive, Tidal Wave, Somersault, and your superior speed, you should be able to kill 3 Nordilain soldiers before they get their turn again. At the very least, 2. ~Next turn should be used to wax the remaining Nordilain and beat Shion. ~Shion has fairly high DEF, so gangtackle him. ~By this time, Claire and Logan should be just about in range. ~If your ATACs are close enough that you can gangtackle Logan, than do so, as he the far more dangerous of the pair. ~If you can't Gangtackle him, then knock off Claire, then go after Logan. Logan will probably claim an ATAC in the process. Chapter 19: Final Battle ------------------------ Misleading Title, huh? You still got one mission to go! Of course, this is the Final real Battle between the Kingdom and Empire. There are more ATACs on the field in this mission than in any other. Just though you might like to know. Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~There are 10 sharkings in this mission plus Duyere and Faulkner. And you thought you were swamped in Chapter 17. ~OK, so this time you do have some distractions to help you. Distractions are all the Kingdom soldiers are in this mission. A lot of them will get knocked out by counter attacks. The others will just get swarmed and die before they can even commit suicide. ~Zeira and Galvas MAY be capable of doing damage. MAY. Galvas waits forever without moving and Zeira sometimes gets killed without landing a single hit. ~Well, maybe I'm being a bit harsh. The kingdom soldiers ARE capable of taking out Duyere by themselves, and will most always do so. Of course, Duyere is the weakest ATAC in the battle, so... ~Just in case you're wondering, Faulkner is still the strongest character on the battle field. Luckily, like Galvas, he doesn't move for several turns. ~And yes, the Bodyguards are STILL stronger. ~Anyway, time to get to matters that directly involve you. ~The Goal is to pick off as many lone sharkings as you can before the hoarde arrives. ~That being said, the three sharkings that are closest to you (Bodyguard 4 and Imperials 4 and 5) should be your first targets. ~In fact, taking out these three will take most of the time you have. ~Most does not mean all though. You'll probably attract one or two more sharkings over, they should also be dealt with. ~If you see Galvas start to move, then look out. That means that Faulkner is going to enter the battle, too. You're closest to him, so be prepared! ~Faulkner will probably take the rest of the time you have before the Kingdom troops croak. When he gets close, focus on him, as he is VERY dangerous, VERY. ~Of course, with great risk comes great reward. My Level 25 Bastion got 1007 EXP for killing Faulkner. 1 0 0 7!!! That's two levels, by itself!!! ~Stay together, separation will only lead to death. ~Depending on the strength of your characters, you could end this mission with all or 2 of your ATACs (Bastion and Sadira and hard to kill). Chapter 20: Ultimate Weapon ---------------------------- An ATAC more powerful than the Sharking!?!! What could this monstrosity be!! Oh, and by the way, if you're one of those people who just scrolls through the text without reading any of it, I suggest you don't skip through the encounter between Bastion and Faulkner. I found it quite amusing! Strategy ^^^^^^^^ ~Yeah. The No. 86s are rediculously powerful. AND their abilities are Cheap, too. ~It IS still possible to triumph over them on your own, though Andrew, Barlow, and Reyna are almost assuredly gonna kick the bucket. ~Of course, you'll never get the option to fight them on your own. But this is a good thing. ~See, you really don't need much strategy to win this mission. Just kill one or two of the bodyguards. ~Stay where you start, too. ~Why? Simple. Soon after the mission begins (about the time the bodyguards reach you) Puck appears to help you out in an ATAC. ~Of course, he's only in the _ZULWARN_, so he won't do much good ~Zulwarn will nuke anything in its range, so you really don't have much to worry about. Just watch Puck annihilate everything in his path, and if he gets surrounded by 3 or 4 86s, then attack them to draw them away. ~That's basically it. Zulwarn is all-but-invincible, and will decimate everything. There's really very little need for the rest of your ATACs in this mission. --- Congratulations! You just beat the Ruin Branch. Well, sorta. I mean, Zulwarn did all your work in the last mission. --- RUIN END ****************************************************************************** ****************************************************************************** 8. Character Bios ****************************************************************************** This section gives a short bio over all the characters in the game! It also gives Growth tips for you, in case you can't decide how to raise them. Obviously, if they don't join you, I'm not giving Growth, so Tough Cookies. The order was just determined by me, and is of no real signifigance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bastion ------- Bastion has been traveling with his father Kamorge for as long as he can remember. Through his sixteen years, Kamorge has been training and teaching Bastion to fight the Junaris Empire. Though he doesn't know it when the story begins, Bastion is actually the Prince of Pharastia Kingdom. Hence, the Green Hair. This also gives him the power to pilot the Ultragunner, the most powerful ATAC ever. Growth: Bastion is probably the most important character in your team, ok he _is_ the most important character on your team. While in the beginning it's okay to make him POW heavy at the beginning, but by about Chapter 8 he should be balanced out. You should have 11 in all by the time you get the Ultragunner and that's the goal, at least on the Kingdom branch. After that, keep'em balanced. On Empire, your stats can stay unbalanced until about Chapter 12 or 13, and your goal is 17 in all, or near there. Sadira ------ Sadira is the beautiful red-haired princess of the Junaris Empire. She's got a temper to match her hair, too. Quick to action, Sadira usually takes the shoot first, ask questions later approach to everything that comes along. Her mother died when she was young, and her realtionship with her father is basically nonexsistent. She DOES have a relationship with her brother, but it's more of a rivalry than anything else. Franco and Halak have been assigned to protect Sadira from the multitude of messes she gets herself into. Of course, with her Sylpheed ATAC, she can take care of most of the messes herself. Growth: Since Sadira has an Excavated ATAC from the very moment you get her, she also has access to her special skill from the beginning, assuming you get the right stats. So, from the very beginning, boost her DEX until it gets to 20. After you do this, you should give her a few more points of DEX and DEF, but focus on bringing her POW up to speed. Faulkner -------- The main Antagonist of our story, Faulkner wants revenge against basically everyone and everything for the loss of his father. Oh sure, he acts all repectable in front of the Imperial bigwigs, but he's really just looking out for one man, himself. Faulkner is a cruel, heartless, evil man to his core. Be VERY careful around this guy. Kamorge ------- Kamorge has been raising Bastion for Bastion's entire life. The old man has exceptional skill at piloting an ATAC as well as an exceptional hatred for the Empire. He trains Bastion for the day that will arrive when the Empire will fall before the Kingdom's might. Kamorge carefully avoids the subject of his past, and hence it is unknown. There's also the matter of the Alba ATAC, a heirloom to the Kingdom. So, what's this guy all about? Growth: He is under his own control the entire time, so you can't determine his growth. Milea ----- Milea is a young girl who travels with Bastion and Kamorge. Kamorge had been friends with Milea's parents when they were killed during a border skirmish of Kingdom and Empire forces. She cooks and cleans up after the other members of their little entourage. Bastion sees Milea as a dear sister, and cares very much for her. Milea cares very much for Bastion, but her intentions go beyond platonic or family relations. Growth: That depends, in Kingdom you REALLY won't have long to build her up, and she doesn't have any special skills. I've never really known what to do with her. If you boost her POW and DEF, she may be useful, but that's only if she raises enough levels. In Ruin, she's considerably more powerful, and you should boost her stats enough to get Blizzard Break. Puck ---- Puck is just a little guy who loves ATACs. Puck acts as the ATAC engineer for Bastion's little group. He was sent with Kamorge by his father to give him some real world experience in fixing ATACs. No better ATAC engineer can be found in the world, and that's quite an accomplishment for such a little guy. Galvas ------ Galvas is one of the most stern and serious men you will or could ever meet. He is the commanding officer for half of the Kingdom's remaining troops. He is (or more accurrately, was) the older brother of the Kingdom's Royal guard captain Alugard. Alugard was slain on the day that the Kingdom's capital fell fifteen years ago. Galvas dreams one day of the kingdom being restored to its former glory, and he will do anything or go anywhere to see that goal reached. Growth: Don't. Galvas leaves with several missions left in the game, so don't give him any kill/levels. Duyere ------ Duyere is the oldest child and only son of Emperor Degalle, and hence he is the heir to the throne. Unfortunately for the rest of the Empire, Duyere is a spoiled brat. At least at the moment, Duyere lacks the leadership skills or military mind to be a general or any sort of good. His short temper and naivete makes him an easy pawn for Faulkner's plans. Of course, his recklessness can also be a problem. He isn't that good of an ATAC pilot either and is only a formidible opponent because of his Bodyguards and his Sarbelas ATAC, which could turn a dog into a formidable opponent on the field. Madoc ----- Madoc is the