Adam R. Wood (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} zotmeister) wrote in ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} disgaea,@ 2007-09-29 08:40:00 |
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Hardcore, Episode 3
I give Laharl the level-10 item, talk to the gatekeeper to open up the next stage, and then press circle to back out... and I unequip everybody in order to take a good inventory of everything I've collected so far. I sort all the rare items in order to find matching rarities; it turns out that I picked up a Shocking Grasp that matches the item I just levelled up (which in turn matched the Muscle Fight), so I have a nice triple there. I also have a Shocking Grasp/Bulletproof Vest/Imperial Seal triple that should make someone happy.
I won't bore you with details of my item arrangement, but suffice it to say that with 750 HP and stats averaging 100 each, Etna is looking quite capable. Thankfully, I had enough HL left over to pay the full hospital bill after all the re-equipping.
Gaudy Entrance:I pull out Etna, put her right behind the Base Panel, have her defend, and end turn; the two Pugilists lured out deal a grand total of zero damage. I then have Laharl and Flonne merge them and the third in front into one... or at least, it should have only taken those two, but overlooking alignment I found myself needing Etna for a third throw. Not being able to get the drop on him, I surround him with Prinnies so that he can't pound on anyone I care about just yet, and then combo him away the next turn (Etna getting the KO, natch - she is now level 15) just in time to be able to deal with the next three enemies that advanced from the backlot. Unfortunately, due to a slight miscalculation, a lone Prinny got the credit for the level-17 opponent... hmph. The last three were a bit less co-operative - after merging the bow-wielders, Laharl nearly took out the unmerged staff-wielder with counters - but eventually they joined together and a nice six-man combo did him in (and Etna got the KO - two out of three ain't bad). The Bonus Gauge yielded EXP +50 - every little helps - and a legendary Double Slap that made Laharl quite happy, I'm sure.
Golden Courtyard: I wasn't too sure how big to go with the first four enemies here, so I tested the waters my first turn: Laharl merged two, Etna hit the merged with an Impaler. Ending turn, Laharl's counters resulted in three weakened enemies, so I go big, merging them all together and finishing the poor bastard(s?) with a four-man combo, ending with a Prinny Raid. Etna is now level 16. From there, I end turn a number of times, letting the damn fool Cleric exhaust his MP on Shield spells. Once the last one wears off, I let Flonne pick a fight, sniping a bowman just out of his reach. Once they approach - apparently bringing the healer with them - I have Laharl Triple Strike the No Entry Geo Symbol and lure them closer to the Base Panel; a fourth enemy joins them. Laharl counters a loner to death (at least he levelled to 10 from it); the other three get joined together. ...Which is when I learned that the Cleric is a boss. Well, crap. And look, the Manticore is on the move. I decide to use Power of Love and Choux the Pumpkin's Heal to get the party back in fighting condition (Laharl also used a Candy) and have Laharl and Etna block the stairs to the Base Panel to protect the two healers. Keeping the wall intact, I decide not to screw around and simply brute force the two away, standing my ground. Laharl finishes the Manticore; Etna gets the level-21 Cleric. The pressure now being off, Etna casually takes out both Geo Symbols (experience is experience) and, after bringing the party out for EXP +50, the last enemy.
Flashy Passage: This one always worries me, for the obvious reason, but its bark is worse than its bite. Being only level 4, most of the opponents are only a significant threat if I get too greedy in merging them or let them start a combo for a strong unit. My first turn is spent getting that one level-6 enemy on the inside corner closer to the Base Panel, joining two enemies in the process. The level-14 result picked on Flonne, but not hard enough to finish her; Laharl found himself surrounded, with the level-10 spear-wielder finishing a combo against him... which is exactly what I shouldn't let happen, but he only lost about a third of his hitpoints in the process. Still, I don't want a repeat performance, so he Blazing Knuckles his way to freedom and Etna takes out a peon to clear a path. I end turn with Choux on the Base Panel (who healed Flonne, something it's getting very good at), Flonne alongside, and Laharl and Etna in front of them, forming a tight block. I figure I'll let them come to me, and I'll deal with them at my convenience; the only real problem with this is that they'll only approach to fill gaps in their front line, so it's slow going. The spear fighter is the first to approach; she of course attacks Choux, but as the beneficiary of the Muscle Fight/Muscle Brawn/Shocking Grasp triple, he pretty much laughs it off. She falls to a counter from Laharl a few turns later. The rest aren't terribly interesting; Etna takes out a level-22, a level-12, and (after advancing a bit) a level-8, with Laharl getting a level-8, to finish off the fist fighters. That leaves the archers, and they never move, so I have Flonne soften them up safely out of range before sending Etna up there alone to merge and conquer. Sadly, a counter resulted in getting two level-14 KOs instead of one level-28. Silly me. A total of 174 EXP is given to the party by the Bonus Gauge.
Lavish Hall: Ah, the Wall of Meat. (No, really, put the cursor on them and press cross. That's what they're called.) They never move, and really only serve as a brief entertainment before Hoggmeiser decides to join in. I don't want to overextend - Hoggmeiser can be dangerous - so I don't put much effort in merging them. In fact, the first thing I do is have Etna Asteroid Drop three of them down while hopping towards the front-right corner. Laharl Lion's Roars the other three, which conveniently doesn't finish any of them but leaves them all extremely weak (bonus!), so I let Flonne merge two of them and give Choux the KOs (gotta give the healer some kudos now and then). Flonne, of course, is dropped by a single Sky Lunge, but this doesn't worry me. With a little help from Alquen the Zombie - mainly via taking a Sky Lunge for the team (which he survived) - I take out the two spear fighters one by one just as Hoggmeiser begins his offense. The problem with Hoggmeiser, of course, is his Spinning Slash, rendering my usual surrounding tactics too dangerous. At least, on anyone I care about. That's why I fed him my Prinnies and Zombies first, letting Etna get in pokes diagonally. I even managed to get him to take poison damage for a turn from Zombie Puke. Etna gets the final blow.
Hoggmeiser himself is actually fairly useful (gasp!) in a hardcore campaign: coming in at level 12, he's second place after Etna right from the get-go. With a battle against Vyers standing between me and Terrible Cold, I'll need all the help I can get. - ZM
I give Laharl the level-10 item, talk to the gatekeeper to open up the next stage, and then press circle to back out... and I unequip everybody in order to take a good inventory of everything I've collected so far. I sort all the rare items in order to find matching rarities; it turns out that I picked up a Shocking Grasp that matches the item I just levelled up (which in turn matched the Muscle Fight), so I have a nice triple there. I also have a Shocking Grasp/Bulletproof Vest/Imperial Seal triple that should make someone happy.
I won't bore you with details of my item arrangement, but suffice it to say that with 750 HP and stats averaging 100 each, Etna is looking quite capable. Thankfully, I had enough HL left over to pay the full hospital bill after all the re-equipping.
Gaudy Entrance:I pull out Etna, put her right behind the Base Panel, have her defend, and end turn; the two Pugilists lured out deal a grand total of zero damage. I then have Laharl and Flonne merge them and the third in front into one... or at least, it should have only taken those two, but overlooking alignment I found myself needing Etna for a third throw. Not being able to get the drop on him, I surround him with Prinnies so that he can't pound on anyone I care about just yet, and then combo him away the next turn (Etna getting the KO, natch - she is now level 15) just in time to be able to deal with the next three enemies that advanced from the backlot. Unfortunately, due to a slight miscalculation, a lone Prinny got the credit for the level-17 opponent... hmph. The last three were a bit less co-operative - after merging the bow-wielders, Laharl nearly took out the unmerged staff-wielder with counters - but eventually they joined together and a nice six-man combo did him in (and Etna got the KO - two out of three ain't bad). The Bonus Gauge yielded EXP +50 - every little helps - and a legendary Double Slap that made Laharl quite happy, I'm sure.
Golden Courtyard: I wasn't too sure how big to go with the first four enemies here, so I tested the waters my first turn: Laharl merged two, Etna hit the merged with an Impaler. Ending turn, Laharl's counters resulted in three weakened enemies, so I go big, merging them all together and finishing the poor bastard(s?) with a four-man combo, ending with a Prinny Raid. Etna is now level 16. From there, I end turn a number of times, letting the damn fool Cleric exhaust his MP on Shield spells. Once the last one wears off, I let Flonne pick a fight, sniping a bowman just out of his reach. Once they approach - apparently bringing the healer with them - I have Laharl Triple Strike the No Entry Geo Symbol and lure them closer to the Base Panel; a fourth enemy joins them. Laharl counters a loner to death (at least he levelled to 10 from it); the other three get joined together. ...Which is when I learned that the Cleric is a boss. Well, crap. And look, the Manticore is on the move. I decide to use Power of Love and Choux the Pumpkin's Heal to get the party back in fighting condition (Laharl also used a Candy) and have Laharl and Etna block the stairs to the Base Panel to protect the two healers. Keeping the wall intact, I decide not to screw around and simply brute force the two away, standing my ground. Laharl finishes the Manticore; Etna gets the level-21 Cleric. The pressure now being off, Etna casually takes out both Geo Symbols (experience is experience) and, after bringing the party out for EXP +50, the last enemy.
Flashy Passage: This one always worries me, for the obvious reason, but its bark is worse than its bite. Being only level 4, most of the opponents are only a significant threat if I get too greedy in merging them or let them start a combo for a strong unit. My first turn is spent getting that one level-6 enemy on the inside corner closer to the Base Panel, joining two enemies in the process. The level-14 result picked on Flonne, but not hard enough to finish her; Laharl found himself surrounded, with the level-10 spear-wielder finishing a combo against him... which is exactly what I shouldn't let happen, but he only lost about a third of his hitpoints in the process. Still, I don't want a repeat performance, so he Blazing Knuckles his way to freedom and Etna takes out a peon to clear a path. I end turn with Choux on the Base Panel (who healed Flonne, something it's getting very good at), Flonne alongside, and Laharl and Etna in front of them, forming a tight block. I figure I'll let them come to me, and I'll deal with them at my convenience; the only real problem with this is that they'll only approach to fill gaps in their front line, so it's slow going. The spear fighter is the first to approach; she of course attacks Choux, but as the beneficiary of the Muscle Fight/Muscle Brawn/Shocking Grasp triple, he pretty much laughs it off. She falls to a counter from Laharl a few turns later. The rest aren't terribly interesting; Etna takes out a level-22, a level-12, and (after advancing a bit) a level-8, with Laharl getting a level-8, to finish off the fist fighters. That leaves the archers, and they never move, so I have Flonne soften them up safely out of range before sending Etna up there alone to merge and conquer. Sadly, a counter resulted in getting two level-14 KOs instead of one level-28. Silly me. A total of 174 EXP is given to the party by the Bonus Gauge.
Lavish Hall: Ah, the Wall of Meat. (No, really, put the cursor on them and press cross. That's what they're called.) They never move, and really only serve as a brief entertainment before Hoggmeiser decides to join in. I don't want to overextend - Hoggmeiser can be dangerous - so I don't put much effort in merging them. In fact, the first thing I do is have Etna Asteroid Drop three of them down while hopping towards the front-right corner. Laharl Lion's Roars the other three, which conveniently doesn't finish any of them but leaves them all extremely weak (bonus!), so I let Flonne merge two of them and give Choux the KOs (gotta give the healer some kudos now and then). Flonne, of course, is dropped by a single Sky Lunge, but this doesn't worry me. With a little help from Alquen the Zombie - mainly via taking a Sky Lunge for the team (which he survived) - I take out the two spear fighters one by one just as Hoggmeiser begins his offense. The problem with Hoggmeiser, of course, is his Spinning Slash, rendering my usual surrounding tactics too dangerous. At least, on anyone I care about. That's why I fed him my Prinnies and Zombies first, letting Etna get in pokes diagonally. I even managed to get him to take poison damage for a turn from Zombie Puke. Etna gets the final blow.
Hoggmeiser himself is actually fairly useful (gasp!) in a hardcore campaign: coming in at level 12, he's second place after Etna right from the get-go. With a battle against Vyers standing between me and Terrible Cold, I'll need all the help I can get. - ZM
