Hardcore, Episode 5

Current score: Etna is in the lead at level 22; Flonne in a surprise upset is second place with 15; Laharl is close behind at 14. Newcomer Hoggmeiser is still at 12; Choux the Magic Pumpkin is level 8; the Zombies and Prinnies range from 10 to 6. Now back to the action.


I currently have nearly 24K HL. I could have the Muscle World or the King Orb at this point, but I hold back. The reason why is because I suspect I'll have an ENORMOUS hospital bill coming up that I want to make sure I can pay in full. I'm currently at 24 KOs recovered; one more gets me Rooster Blood, but more importantly 15 after that gets me a Devil Ring. At this point I'm seriously considering letting party members get KOed on purpose to get that count up, and it won't be cheap. Besides, if a miracle occurs...

Absolute Zero: This is, for all intents and purposes, the first of the game's "suck battles", where the hardcore player can't afford mistakes. When you're not repeating maps over and over to get an over-levelled party, true tactical prowess is needed to survive the onslaught of nasty Geo Effects. This one isn't so bad, but there are more to come. Here, that Ally Damage 20% needs to go, and it needs to go first turn. The problem, of course, is that I only have the three main protagonists capable of throwing, and being Poisoned bites the wax tadpole. Here's what I do: I build a throw tower with Etna on bottom, Flonne in the middle, and Laharl on top. Etna is two panels from the Base; Flonne is just across the gap, in the direction the Imps are looking; Laharl was thrown right next to the Imp in front of the Ally Damage Geo Symbol. He throws that Imp onto that Symbol and retreats to in front of that gap, diagonally adjacent to Flonne. With Hell Pepper in abundance, diagonal-line formations prevent multiple Poisonings. The ATK -50% and DEF +50% result in a slow-paced battle - which favors the Poisoners, but it does allow for careful control of the battle and reduces surprises, so I leave them be. I don't try to merge enemies, at least not at first. Laharl and Flonne are both Poisoned; my objective is to get them back to the Base Panel (Poisoned characters don't take damage from Poison when not on the map. The Poison won't wear off on its own down there, though.) Laharl is free to maneuver, but Flonne is trapped. King of Beasts fixes that circumstance; Flonne is back in the Base Panel (with a boost from Etna) and Laharl is standing kitty-corner to Etna nearby. Fighting near the Base Panel allows fluidity in strategy: characters can be swapped out, move in and out to effectively double their movement range, and stick their heads out for unlimited team attacks without committing to actions. Anyhow, Flonne resurfaces later to snipe a weak Imp; Etna softens up three with an Asteroid Drop, and after getting a Charred Newt from Hoggmeiser, hits the same three again. Laharl throws Hoggmeiser off to the side as a decoy while Choux and a Zombie start demolishing the weakened Imps. Hoggmeiser makes a great decoy, since he has the Spinning Slash for when he gets surrounded; unfortunately, Imps can effectively attack diagonally with Hell Pepper, so he gets a little throwing help from Laharl for setting up Spinning Slashes. I don't really care who gets the KOs here - survival is my concern - so I just try to whittle them down and finish them off. I don't even track who got who. Come turn 9, there's only one of them left, and I haven't lost anyone. I prepare to squeeze every last inch out of this one. Etna uses a Faerie Dust, Choux heals, and they both head for the Geo Symbols while I leave the others to pop off. Regrettably, I forget to pull the Prinnies out at the end to get the 550 XP.

Seven knockouts. Hospital bill: 4915 HL. Nine more to the Devil Ring.

Endless White: This is a curious little battle. For starters, most of Laharl's stats are halved, rendering him rather weak compared to the others. Of course, I've been concentrating on Etna, so that isn't too much of a problem. The Pucks making up the enemy front line are scattered, making an early strike dangerous. Then there're the Scouts off to the side, with a good weapon mastery in those guns they're carrying, which can snipe party members if I'm not careful. So how do I start? With Hoggmeiser, of course! He marches straight out, alone, whacking the Puck in the corner, and I end turn. Hoggmeiser is promptly surrounded and down to half his life, while the other Pucks and the Ninja have all bunched up on the approach. I send in the cavalry: Laharl marches straight out two panels, and Flonne and Etna wall him off. A Spinning Slash gets one; a follow-up combo gives Laharl credit for another; I put Choux in the gap, and its Fire spell almost takes out a third. Ah well. I let it finish it off next turn, and set up a nice four-man combo with a Spinning Slash that gives Hoggmeiser another Puck and Etna's Prinny Raid finishing off the Ninja. With that threat eliminated, I decide to sacrifice Hoggmeiser to weaken the two Pucks still at full health for ease of merging. Etna gets the level-36 KO after a five-way combo. Now for those pesky Scouts... Rather than walk around to where they are, I let Flonne shoot them down, using Etna to throw her out of retaliation range each turn. I do let everyone else in the party get shot down first, though (except the Prinnies of course).

Another seven knockouts - I'm now two away from the Devil Ring, and I don't think I need to tell anyone here that manipulating the next battle isn't an issue. Before I even begin it, I move about half the contents of the Item Bag into the Warehouse so that I'll have room for equipment swapping and storing.

Terrible Cold: The first standard battle with Invinci-BLIT-y! Bonus Gauge contents: 3000 HL, 1125 EXP, Cross-Trainers (!), RQ44 Magnum, Hibernal Staff (:P), rare Cross Counter (!!). I find the enemy with the lowest Speed and Defense on the map, and it's Octavia the Empusa in the back corner. As much as I prefer the Nekomata, and as much as I suspect they're worth more experience, I make Octavia the merging beneficiary for two reasons: she'll be easier to actually take down at level 112; and there's that ever-so-slight possibility that a capture attempt may prove successful, and choosing an Empusa over a Nekomata not only makes that chance more likely but with healing abilities the Empusa would actually (much to my chagrin) be more useful to the party. Etna is given the best Armsmasters among the party's equipment, totaling 62. I get the level-112 Octavia down to 160 HP and 4 SP fairly quickly, and max out the Bonus Gauge shortly thereafter. I mute the TV and set to the monumental task of sorting my CD/DVD collections between turns, playing unrated music tracks on my computer (rating them as I go). I assign myself the completion of the PC game sorting as a rather arbitrary cut-off point for my weapon-mastery whoring. When I "come up for air", the turn count read 314. Am I the greatest weapon-mastery whore that has ever played this game yet? Laharl had just hit 25 in fist, Etna had 25 in spear and was about 3/4 of the way to 26, and Flonne was so close to 14 in gun that I took a few turns of just her attacking so that she could get it. With that element of the game significantly taken advantage of, it was time to plan the next great heist. Either Etna is getting a TON of experience from that monster, or that monster is joining my party. Both are great outcomes, but I think the latter one - which has eluded me so far in previous hardcore campaigns - is very much better. I give Etna every Statistician in my entire inventory - all three of them, totalling a paltry 29 - just in case I fail to capture Octavia, which I figure I probably would. Now if I'm to be able to capture her, someone is going to have to be able to take her out without dying in a single hit. I decide Flonne, curiously enough, is my best chance; as a gun wielder, her Hit and effective offensive power are both high. I give her my two best Muscles and heal her with Choux and items while she heals everyone else. Once everyone's in top shape, I send all into the bunker except Flonne and Etna, who move Octavia to the green Panel in order to try to get her closer to zero HP without knocking her out. After a surprise high-damaging round, I leave her with 22 HP (phew!). I then send her back towards the Base Panel, have Flonne enter it, and Etna tosses Octavia in.

And sure enough, there was the message: "The Base Panel has been destroyed!"

She still had 22 HP. At least I tried.

Etna finishes her off with a Prinny Raid for the additional satisfaction and stress relief.

Back at the castle, I refilled the Item Bag, heal my eight knockouts, and claim my rare Devil Ring. It matches no current rarities among my collection, nor does the Cross Counter. The Ring has two Teachers, so I give it to Choux. After some additional item reorganization - nothing major - I decide to "buy" that rare Muscle World I passed on earlier (the 42K HL I'm sitting on isn't good for much else), and it's a beauty. A level-67 Sentry, and its rarity matching the Blood Orb's, make it especially valuable. I give the pair to Etna. Being close to the King Orb as well, I grab that too - but it is decidedly less impressive. After one final re-org and heal-up, it's time for...

Ice Queen: Tsunami Bomb's lead vocalist needs to learn to e-nun-ci-ate. Your world has turned to turpentine?! What?!? But I digress. Maderas doesn't scare me half as much as Vyers. Laharl puts his new Cross Counter to good use, his King of Beasts dealing about double the damage needed to KO the Empusa right outside the Base Panel. I end turn there to let others close in. Turn 2, just for fun, Laharl throws the one that stop in front of him up to in between in the other two that have closed in, and Etna smashes all three with one Spear Storm, which retreats her to just in front of Laharl. Etna shrugs off a Golem Cannon, losing less than 3% of her HP; Laharl takes out its firer with King of Beasts, then Etna Avalanches Maderas from behind, taking about a third of his HP. Laharl uses KoB against Maderas, and a counter finishes him, giving Laharl a level. Etna pokes the Lilim near where she landed from the Avalanche close to death, then moves to the other side of the map to do the same to the other Lilim. Neither moves at all. Etna moves up to the center and defends in order to wake them up, and I send in Flonne to merge them. She retreats back into the Base Panel; Etna, my only party member outside it, tosses the level-30 in. I wasn't really trying to capture it, but I did come close. If I had healed up and had it use up its SP, I might have taken it, but the knockouts were what I was after anyway. Etna had no problem taking the hit and finishing the battle with a counter.


Maderas isn't as useful as Hoggmeiser by my reckoning, but he's certainly better than a Prinny. I now have ten non-Prinny party members, so I may as well use them as grenades.

For anyone else trying a hardcore, here's my top member's stats (fully equipped), so you can see if you're keeping pace with me:

Etna
Level 30
1962 HP
249 SP
218 ATK
237 DEF
200 HIT
250 INT
213 SPD
375 RES

She has a weapon mastery in spear of 26; your mileage may vary based on how much leeching for it you do. Expect a lower attack stat if your mastery is more reasonable, or higher if you're even more patient/paranoid than I am. - ZM