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,@ 2007-12-07 20:19:00 |
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Hardcore, Episode 7
[For links to earlier entries, visit my journal's listing.]
Easily the most boring chapter of the game - nothing but zombies, zombies, zombies - this serves an important purpose nonetheless: last chance to level up before the evil that is Episode 8!
Scorching Wind: Double experience, coin and a half, and all the chitlins you can eat. ...WHAT?! OUT OF CHITLINS!?!
...I'm kidding. I don't even know what a chitlin is. I think I'm overcompensating, trying to make this episode actually interesting to read about. Anyhow, the boosts are a distraction from the fact that I'm up against fourteen units that can inflict poison and potentially hit three units at once - nothing to sneeze at. Being greedy here can be particularly rewarding, but also particularly risky. Since the Base Panel is essentially surrounded from the onset, patience is a factor - I see how the fight goes in the early turns, then decide how much merging I'll get into. As you probably figure if you've been reading all these entries so far, it's time for Diagonal Disco (I just made that term up). I take out one and weaken three others as Hoggmeiser hits the three away from the elevated area with Darkness Slash, comboed into by Laharl and Etna, with Flonne and Axis getting some digs in as well. The first turn's aftermath saw Flonne and Hoggmeiser poisoned, with the former down to half HP and Axis out about a third; Laharl and Etna weren't even scratched. (Note to self: consider just picking Defend first turn here if I need to restart.) The zombies also managed to do a great job of softening each other up with their greedy Zombie Twisters... The second turn sees Flonne rebunkering and Maderas and Axis each claiming a KO in the interest of thinning down the enemies' number while the Disco heads further away from the Base Panel (I guess it's more like a conga line, but that isn't alliterative). Maderas joins the poisoned for his troubles. Now that the Base Panel is alongside the throng as opposed to in the center of it, it is ON - the rest of the party comes out, so that it's the enemy that's surrounded now. Only five survive the turn, and on their return-fire they only attack my own zombie decoy force. Yeah, I think I can handle some merging now. Incidentally, I saw something new to me this fight: two enemy zombies each hitting the other with Zombie Twister on the same turn. (I leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure out how this is possible.) So I get two nice and weak, merge them together... and the bloody level-23 Ghoul takes out my level-40 prize itself with a Zombie Twister! Excuse me for a moment.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARG! Damn it, that's twice!
I'm back. I decide this little prick needs to pay up, and big, so I go for it, merging it into both of the remainder to get a level-64 sucker. After an Avalanche, it's under three hundred HP, which is less than the Avalanche dealt, so I know it's safe to rebunker everyone else and toss it into the Base Panel. Apparently it was a tough decision - it survived with 17 HP - but it chose redeath over indentured servitude. Etna finishes it with a Counter.
This was a lucrative battle for me: there was a Dark Rosary in slot 0 of the Bonus Gauge, and I found myself at 70 KOs recovered at the Hospital, gifting me a rare Feather Token (with Armsmaster 23, no less). No rarity match on the Token, but the common Rosary just happened to match rarity with a common Imperial Seal Hoggmeiser was holding. I give Etna the Token, trading out the King Orb; Flonne gets the Seal/Rosary combo, losing her Holy Orb and Glasses (she has the exact same Hit after the swap); Hoggmeiser and Choux get Orbs, with some lesser hand-me-downs occurring as well.
Column of Fire: No, you don't need to run to the safety of the non-Geo-Panel area. No, you don't have to be powerful enough to destroy the Null Geo Symbol in a single turn. You don't even need to toss the mountain (Geo Symbol) onto Mohammed (or whatever the Corpse is named - in my case, Bruce). Etna moves one panel downhill of the Base Panel; Laharl pops out; Etna throws Laharl one panel down from the Corpse; Laharl throws the Corpse onto the Null Geo Symbol, and all is well. Laharl and Etna can afford the 51-HP loss; the enemy zombies, not so much, and they pay double. Laharl moves to the mountaintop, I bring out three of my own zombies and line them up aside Etna for decoys and Zombie Twister prevention. Surprisingly, all survive the turn.
Then I do something so amazingly heinous that it deserves its own paragraph. In the process of checking Etna's Specialists, I accidentally hit the wrong button - triangle instead of square. With the Muscle Star now unequipped and (given the lack of Item Bag space) back in the Warehouse, Etna is out 80% of her HP, and it's unhealable. Of all the retarded things I've done...
Having just made things a LOT harder on myself than they needed to be, I decide this is not the place to screw around, at least not yet. Laharl may be able to do some merging later, but it's not happening right away, not this time. The fact that Laharl is poisoned doesn't help any, either. Etna uses an Avalanche to take one down and retreat to safety - I love Avalanche! - and Flonne takes her place in the line. I send Axis out to broadside the enemy zombies lined up in front of my zombies with Pixie Magic while Hoggmeiser and Maderas provide Laharl with backup; I add Choux to the Flonne/zombie line, who heals the three zombies in the hopes of keeping them around a little longer. I only lose one of them the next turn. Given how well it's (comparatively) going at this point, I merge the remaining four opponents in pairs, yielding a weak level-49 and a moderate level-40. Of course, they promptly open fire with their new-found Zombie Gatling, but it's nothing even Flonne couldn't manage. With a nice little combo, the level-40 finds itself with a mere 27 HP left, and in just the right position for Etna to snipe it with an Avalanche... and for Flonne to throw the other enemy into it.
I couldn't resist. After what happened last map, I was willing to take the risk. Besides, they have low Defense...
And Etna's Avalanche is enough! Take that, level-89 scum!
I remembered to bring out the rest of the party before launching the stab, so they got to share the 1000 EXP in the Bonus Gauge. I also remembered to re-equip the Muscle Star as soon as I got back to the castle!
Etna is now level 38, a sizeable jump. Slot 0 had a Mega-Power Belt with a Statistician 14; Maderas is the lucky recipient.
Raging Earth: Cute. Cute map. Not much to do here but suck it up for starters; it takes Etna three turns to hack through the No Entry Geo Symbol, but thankfully Flonne and Laharl only have to take one turn of the damage before they can rebunker (after throwing Etna towards the Symbol so that she can start striking it first turn, obviously). With that done, there are only six enemies here, each only level 20, so there's not much else of concern. I do have fun popping Geo Symbols for extra Bonus Gauge gain. (You don't even need to cross the map; just toss the Silence Symbol to where the No Entry was and break it. That gets the whole shebang.) I simply lure them back towards the Base Panel and ambush them nice and proper. One falls to one of their own (GRRR...), but Avalanches take out one at level 20 and one at level 80. Hey, I already knew she could do it. I'm just glad I managed to set it up successfully. I didn't try to throw it in the Base Panel, though; I opted instead for the guaranteed EXP from the Bonus Gauge.
Crimson Plains: Here's the pièce de résistance of the episode: ATK and DEF +50% next to the Base Panel, and ATK and DEF -50% just beyond. Nothing else this side of Invinci-BLIT-y screams "GO BIG!" louder than that. Etna, Laharl, Flonne, and Axis take the seats of power and Defend; after the minimal enemy productivity during their turn, they swap seats as necessary to best weaken and merge the opposition. Not much to report here except the final score: Laharl gets an 83, and Etna gets a 164. Tough to complain about that one. I even manage to find a safe way to toss the big boy into the Base Panel, and then away the same turn, without giving it an opportunity to attack from any tile other than a green one.
Etna is now level 42. Pretty good for no Statisticians, I think. The Hospital coughs up a rare batch of Bat Soup [what, out of chicken noodle?], which may actually be useful in an emergency. Since I now have enough HL to get the Chaos Orb - and the party will be automatically healed after the next fight anyhow - I "buy" that from the Hospital as well. My rule regarding this has been to always take the first rare I stop on, regardless of the Specialists or rarity value; this is an unfortunate policy, actually, since this one turned out pretty crappy. Maybe I should take the first Statistician or Pharmacist instead or something, but I'm not changing my rule mid-campaign. At least the Teacher 106 means Choux should be a much better healer now.
Ember of Dreams: Hotdog, anyone? ...I am SO sorry. Anyhow, luring the enemies off the double defense and then using it myself is the key here. Etna spends the first turn Defending near a back corner, then I soften up, merge, and destroy the two front-runners over the next couple of turns as I bring out more units to secure the center area. I made it a point to try to only score for doubles, but I unwittingly merged a triple (albeit a weakened one), and it got Maderas before Flonne scored it. I ultimately have a level-46 Corpse with 4 HP and Andrealphus himself [I assume male given the... well... you know], and I toss both into the Base Panel. Both are captured! That ought to help.
I have the HL to resurrect both Ozmyere the Corpse and Andrealphus the Super Zombie after suffering the Red Moon song. With a new king of the hill, I deck out Ozmyere with my best monster weapon (a Lizard Tail I snatched from a Bonus Gauge), the Cross-Trainers (it is a zombie, after all), Hercules' Body, and the Horse Wiener. Andrealphus, who seems to naturally have more HP than the standard zombie, gets Maderas' equipment, with a series of trade-ups ensuing.
Here's my current top ten: Etna has skyrocketed to level 42; Laharl and Flonne have 28 and 24 respectively. Among monsters, Ozmyere stands tallest at level 46, followed by Axis at 36 and Andrealphus at 27. Maderas and Hoggmeiser are still in it at 22 and 20 respectively; Choux the Magical Pumpkin and Alquen the Zombie are both at level 15, but certainly not useless.
This episode has gone very well for me, giving me more than I could have hoped for for dealing with the next episode, which most definitely bites the wax tadpole... - ZM
[For links to earlier entries, visit my journal's listing.]
Easily the most boring chapter of the game - nothing but zombies, zombies, zombies - this serves an important purpose nonetheless: last chance to level up before the evil that is Episode 8!
Scorching Wind: Double experience, coin and a half, and all the chitlins you can eat. ...WHAT?! OUT OF CHITLINS!?!
...I'm kidding. I don't even know what a chitlin is. I think I'm overcompensating, trying to make this episode actually interesting to read about. Anyhow, the boosts are a distraction from the fact that I'm up against fourteen units that can inflict poison and potentially hit three units at once - nothing to sneeze at. Being greedy here can be particularly rewarding, but also particularly risky. Since the Base Panel is essentially surrounded from the onset, patience is a factor - I see how the fight goes in the early turns, then decide how much merging I'll get into. As you probably figure if you've been reading all these entries so far, it's time for Diagonal Disco (I just made that term up). I take out one and weaken three others as Hoggmeiser hits the three away from the elevated area with Darkness Slash, comboed into by Laharl and Etna, with Flonne and Axis getting some digs in as well. The first turn's aftermath saw Flonne and Hoggmeiser poisoned, with the former down to half HP and Axis out about a third; Laharl and Etna weren't even scratched. (Note to self: consider just picking Defend first turn here if I need to restart.) The zombies also managed to do a great job of softening each other up with their greedy Zombie Twisters... The second turn sees Flonne rebunkering and Maderas and Axis each claiming a KO in the interest of thinning down the enemies' number while the Disco heads further away from the Base Panel (I guess it's more like a conga line, but that isn't alliterative). Maderas joins the poisoned for his troubles. Now that the Base Panel is alongside the throng as opposed to in the center of it, it is ON - the rest of the party comes out, so that it's the enemy that's surrounded now. Only five survive the turn, and on their return-fire they only attack my own zombie decoy force. Yeah, I think I can handle some merging now. Incidentally, I saw something new to me this fight: two enemy zombies each hitting the other with Zombie Twister on the same turn. (I leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure out how this is possible.) So I get two nice and weak, merge them together... and the bloody level-23 Ghoul takes out my level-40 prize itself with a Zombie Twister! Excuse me for a moment.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARG! Damn it, that's twice!
I'm back. I decide this little prick needs to pay up, and big, so I go for it, merging it into both of the remainder to get a level-64 sucker. After an Avalanche, it's under three hundred HP, which is less than the Avalanche dealt, so I know it's safe to rebunker everyone else and toss it into the Base Panel. Apparently it was a tough decision - it survived with 17 HP - but it chose redeath over indentured servitude. Etna finishes it with a Counter.
This was a lucrative battle for me: there was a Dark Rosary in slot 0 of the Bonus Gauge, and I found myself at 70 KOs recovered at the Hospital, gifting me a rare Feather Token (with Armsmaster 23, no less). No rarity match on the Token, but the common Rosary just happened to match rarity with a common Imperial Seal Hoggmeiser was holding. I give Etna the Token, trading out the King Orb; Flonne gets the Seal/Rosary combo, losing her Holy Orb and Glasses (she has the exact same Hit after the swap); Hoggmeiser and Choux get Orbs, with some lesser hand-me-downs occurring as well.
Column of Fire: No, you don't need to run to the safety of the non-Geo-Panel area. No, you don't have to be powerful enough to destroy the Null Geo Symbol in a single turn. You don't even need to toss the mountain (Geo Symbol) onto Mohammed (or whatever the Corpse is named - in my case, Bruce). Etna moves one panel downhill of the Base Panel; Laharl pops out; Etna throws Laharl one panel down from the Corpse; Laharl throws the Corpse onto the Null Geo Symbol, and all is well. Laharl and Etna can afford the 51-HP loss; the enemy zombies, not so much, and they pay double. Laharl moves to the mountaintop, I bring out three of my own zombies and line them up aside Etna for decoys and Zombie Twister prevention. Surprisingly, all survive the turn.
Then I do something so amazingly heinous that it deserves its own paragraph. In the process of checking Etna's Specialists, I accidentally hit the wrong button - triangle instead of square. With the Muscle Star now unequipped and (given the lack of Item Bag space) back in the Warehouse, Etna is out 80% of her HP, and it's unhealable. Of all the retarded things I've done...
Having just made things a LOT harder on myself than they needed to be, I decide this is not the place to screw around, at least not yet. Laharl may be able to do some merging later, but it's not happening right away, not this time. The fact that Laharl is poisoned doesn't help any, either. Etna uses an Avalanche to take one down and retreat to safety - I love Avalanche! - and Flonne takes her place in the line. I send Axis out to broadside the enemy zombies lined up in front of my zombies with Pixie Magic while Hoggmeiser and Maderas provide Laharl with backup; I add Choux to the Flonne/zombie line, who heals the three zombies in the hopes of keeping them around a little longer. I only lose one of them the next turn. Given how well it's (comparatively) going at this point, I merge the remaining four opponents in pairs, yielding a weak level-49 and a moderate level-40. Of course, they promptly open fire with their new-found Zombie Gatling, but it's nothing even Flonne couldn't manage. With a nice little combo, the level-40 finds itself with a mere 27 HP left, and in just the right position for Etna to snipe it with an Avalanche... and for Flonne to throw the other enemy into it.
I couldn't resist. After what happened last map, I was willing to take the risk. Besides, they have low Defense...
And Etna's Avalanche is enough! Take that, level-89 scum!
I remembered to bring out the rest of the party before launching the stab, so they got to share the 1000 EXP in the Bonus Gauge. I also remembered to re-equip the Muscle Star as soon as I got back to the castle!
Etna is now level 38, a sizeable jump. Slot 0 had a Mega-Power Belt with a Statistician 14; Maderas is the lucky recipient.
Raging Earth: Cute. Cute map. Not much to do here but suck it up for starters; it takes Etna three turns to hack through the No Entry Geo Symbol, but thankfully Flonne and Laharl only have to take one turn of the damage before they can rebunker (after throwing Etna towards the Symbol so that she can start striking it first turn, obviously). With that done, there are only six enemies here, each only level 20, so there's not much else of concern. I do have fun popping Geo Symbols for extra Bonus Gauge gain. (You don't even need to cross the map; just toss the Silence Symbol to where the No Entry was and break it. That gets the whole shebang.) I simply lure them back towards the Base Panel and ambush them nice and proper. One falls to one of their own (GRRR...), but Avalanches take out one at level 20 and one at level 80. Hey, I already knew she could do it. I'm just glad I managed to set it up successfully. I didn't try to throw it in the Base Panel, though; I opted instead for the guaranteed EXP from the Bonus Gauge.
Crimson Plains: Here's the pièce de résistance of the episode: ATK and DEF +50% next to the Base Panel, and ATK and DEF -50% just beyond. Nothing else this side of Invinci-BLIT-y screams "GO BIG!" louder than that. Etna, Laharl, Flonne, and Axis take the seats of power and Defend; after the minimal enemy productivity during their turn, they swap seats as necessary to best weaken and merge the opposition. Not much to report here except the final score: Laharl gets an 83, and Etna gets a 164. Tough to complain about that one. I even manage to find a safe way to toss the big boy into the Base Panel, and then away the same turn, without giving it an opportunity to attack from any tile other than a green one.
Etna is now level 42. Pretty good for no Statisticians, I think. The Hospital coughs up a rare batch of Bat Soup [what, out of chicken noodle?], which may actually be useful in an emergency. Since I now have enough HL to get the Chaos Orb - and the party will be automatically healed after the next fight anyhow - I "buy" that from the Hospital as well. My rule regarding this has been to always take the first rare I stop on, regardless of the Specialists or rarity value; this is an unfortunate policy, actually, since this one turned out pretty crappy. Maybe I should take the first Statistician or Pharmacist instead or something, but I'm not changing my rule mid-campaign. At least the Teacher 106 means Choux should be a much better healer now.
Ember of Dreams: Hotdog, anyone? ...I am SO sorry. Anyhow, luring the enemies off the double defense and then using it myself is the key here. Etna spends the first turn Defending near a back corner, then I soften up, merge, and destroy the two front-runners over the next couple of turns as I bring out more units to secure the center area. I made it a point to try to only score for doubles, but I unwittingly merged a triple (albeit a weakened one), and it got Maderas before Flonne scored it. I ultimately have a level-46 Corpse with 4 HP and Andrealphus himself [I assume male given the... well... you know], and I toss both into the Base Panel. Both are captured! That ought to help.
I have the HL to resurrect both Ozmyere the Corpse and Andrealphus the Super Zombie after suffering the Red Moon song. With a new king of the hill, I deck out Ozmyere with my best monster weapon (a Lizard Tail I snatched from a Bonus Gauge), the Cross-Trainers (it is a zombie, after all), Hercules' Body, and the Horse Wiener. Andrealphus, who seems to naturally have more HP than the standard zombie, gets Maderas' equipment, with a series of trade-ups ensuing.
Here's my current top ten: Etna has skyrocketed to level 42; Laharl and Flonne have 28 and 24 respectively. Among monsters, Ozmyere stands tallest at level 46, followed by Axis at 36 and Andrealphus at 27. Maderas and Hoggmeiser are still in it at 22 and 20 respectively; Choux the Magical Pumpkin and Alquen the Zombie are both at level 15, but certainly not useless.
This episode has gone very well for me, giving me more than I could have hoped for for dealing with the next episode, which most definitely bites the wax tadpole... - ZM
