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,@ 2007-12-29 17:26:00 |
|
Hardcore, Episode 9
[For links to earlier entries, visit my journal's listing.]
Captain Gordon, De-fend-er of Earth, has a new title to acquire. This chapter, when completed, yields the greatest prize yet in the game: three new protagonists, two of which can even throw! All I have to do is beat down two of them. This chapter may not be a pushover, but as far as difficulty goes it's a cakewalk when compared to the previous one.
Of course, now that I've said that, the game may well try twice as hard to put my campaign to a halt...
Valgipus IV: Well, isn't that a cute little formation they have going! I start by testing the waters: Ozmyere [MAN, I keep wanting to misspell that] uses Zombie Twister right down the center of the box, with very random-seeming results: the Nekomata in front is left with about 25% HP, the Dullahan about 50%, and the Nekomata in back about 75%. As tempting as it is to hollow out the center of the box, toss Etna in there, and have her Spear Storm all the Nekomata at once, that's not the best way to get EXP. I let Andrealphus, Hoggmeiser, and Maderas flank the group to soften them up on the left, and Flonne and Axis get digs in on the front corners... then I end turn. Apparently, this was just enough; the Mystic Blasts do a beautiful job of severely weakening their own side further without scoring any knockouts against themselves. They take out Maderas and Axis, but I hardly care. It just so happens that three Nekomata are at 44, 55, and 66 HP; Flonne and Laharl merge them (it just seemed so fitting) and Etna Sky Lunges it away. Hoggmeiser retreats; the zombies soften up the remaining full-strength Nekomata, with Andrealphus taking down the Dullahan in the process; I give Choux's Fire spell the task of softening up the last one. I also manage to leave my six fielded units in positions where a Mystic Blast can't hit more than just one of them. Ending turn again, Laharl gets a singleton with a counter and Choux gets more than he could handle. I figure there has to be a way I could get away with a level-120 here, so I rebunker the protagonists, send Hoggmeiser back out, and send them on essentially a suicide mission to prepare the enemies for a four-way merge. With a Spinning Slash and a few basic punches, things look good. As Flonne can't counter, even if she only uses Lift & Throw on her turn, I use her to - over the course of the next two turns - make the four singletons into two pairs. Andrealphus and Hoggmeiser successfully serve as decoys, both taking the fall. Once the opposition is level 60 instead of 30, Ozmyere uses one last Zombie Gatling to get them within Etna's one-turn-kill HP range... and I underestimate its strength. Taking out one of them, I'm left with a single level-60 Nekomata with all of 10 HP (and 11 SP). Flonne and Ozmyere get back in the Base Panel, Etna comes out, and in Pamille goes... and out she comes, victorious, still with 10 HP. Honestly, Laharl, what's wrong with you? You couldn't hit her even ONCE down there? Hmph. Etna scores the KO with a counter.
I'm now up to 108 KOs recovered in the Hospital. I'm pretty sure I can spare at least two units next battle...
Thurvean Sector: This is one of the more curious battles in the game, to be sure; it tends to be Flonne's time to shine. The basic idea here is to use the first three turns to empty the area inside of the Geo Panels of enemies, and then to just shoot them all down. The key is that during a single turn, you can lift the No Entry Geo Symbol, toss two enemies past the Geo Panels, then put the Symbol back down. The first three turns see four of the six deported, the other two being merged and munched by Etna. Flonne then uses six of the seven enemies - two of which are doubles - adjacent to the Geo Panels as target practice. (The seventh would require Flonne to enter the range of Mystic Blast.) Now given what happened last battle, I'm particularly interested in going big here; five may be too much, but I still think I can handle four. Etna Avalanches the Geo Symbol - all enemies lose 63 HP, huzzah or something - and everyone else retreats except for the zombies, who as you may have guessed got in a diagonal line with Etna. Ending Turn 166 (hey, at least I wasn't leeching), the enemies close in and Mystic Blast the zombies a bit; Maderas and Etna take out that one last ghost armor while the zombies spar with the kitcats. With some help from Maderas and Hoggmeiser, they get to the point where I'm confident enough to send Flonne in for the merging, which goes off without a hitch. Needless to say, the level-120 Nekomata destroys the Base Panel, and actually deals some seven hundred or so damage to Etna before she finishes it off. The Bonus Gauge made it up to 5; it's pretty much crap, but it yields a Stamina Axe, which I hold on to for now...
Interestingly, the level-120 rampage brought my KO recovery count to exactly 120. Finally some good luck from the Hospital - it only takes me three tries to get a rare Sofia's Mirror, and it's the same rarity as the Feather Token. Swapping it for Etna's Devil Ring is a no-brainer. The usual hand-me-downs ensue.
Sphere VIII: Another "king of the hill" map, where the tactical optimization du jour is painfully obvious. What isn't quite so apparent is the vast chunk of magic available to the opposition, but that shouldn't be much of an issue. I actually make a mistake here of sorts, forgetting that Asteroid Drop moves Etna when she uses it (the yellow panel was behind a rock face), but at least I was able to make good use of it given it left its two targets almost knocked out. This let Laharl catch up to Flonne's level. I even manage to get Choux, Hoggmeiser, and Alquen the Still In Tenth Place Zombie to take out a double with a team attack - go them. When the weaponbearers arrive, I lose Choux to a Wind Cutter, and Maderas (who had taken point) eventually just plain runs out of HP, but other than that everything goes smoothly. Axis and Alquen both fall before the end, but that's nothing new - they usually do.
Cross-Point: Hmm... let's see... Geo Panels most everywhere, with a Silence Symbol available... all the enemies are Wraiths with Giga spells and three Orbs... yeah, that's an easy one. The throwers chain themselves so that Etna gets the Symbol on a Panel the first turn, and the beatdown commences. I don't bother with merging; instead, I lynch the enemies with four- or five-hit combos one by one. The Bonus Gauge, for the first time in quite awhile, is actually useful, and how: Etna and Flonne both get better weapons (Paralyzing Spear and Ion 8k Ninja, respectively), and a rare Fur Coat (not that it matches any rarities) with a Statistician 18 joins the inventory. I give that to Flonne.
Primordial Soup: First turn, Etna moves along the back wall, towards Thursday's side; then I end turn. Second turn, with Gordon having advanced closer to the Base Panel, Etna returns, and then pops back out with a small army that proceeds to ambush the dimwit. A seven-hit combo with several team attacks leaves him with 381 HP, Paralysis, and Poison. Etna finishes him next turn, with everyone else retreating in order to give Thursday a chance to get in Base-Panel-ambush range. Second verse, same as the first, except that in order to prevent a Robo Bazooka from hitting eight of my ten at once, I use Etna's Avalanche as a finisher to try to get the bot in one turn. It almost works; the Robo Bazooka takes out Choux and softens up six others, not that it matters since Etna has no trouble dealing the remaining 44 damage to end the battle.
I have a lot of preparation to do for the next episode, mainly involving equipment. That can wait until next time. It'll be a glorious day. However, the threat of the final battle of Episode 11 looms ever closer... - ZM
[For links to earlier entries, visit my journal's listing.]
Captain Gordon, De-fend-er of Earth, has a new title to acquire. This chapter, when completed, yields the greatest prize yet in the game: three new protagonists, two of which can even throw! All I have to do is beat down two of them. This chapter may not be a pushover, but as far as difficulty goes it's a cakewalk when compared to the previous one.
Of course, now that I've said that, the game may well try twice as hard to put my campaign to a halt...
Valgipus IV: Well, isn't that a cute little formation they have going! I start by testing the waters: Ozmyere [MAN, I keep wanting to misspell that] uses Zombie Twister right down the center of the box, with very random-seeming results: the Nekomata in front is left with about 25% HP, the Dullahan about 50%, and the Nekomata in back about 75%. As tempting as it is to hollow out the center of the box, toss Etna in there, and have her Spear Storm all the Nekomata at once, that's not the best way to get EXP. I let Andrealphus, Hoggmeiser, and Maderas flank the group to soften them up on the left, and Flonne and Axis get digs in on the front corners... then I end turn. Apparently, this was just enough; the Mystic Blasts do a beautiful job of severely weakening their own side further without scoring any knockouts against themselves. They take out Maderas and Axis, but I hardly care. It just so happens that three Nekomata are at 44, 55, and 66 HP; Flonne and Laharl merge them (it just seemed so fitting) and Etna Sky Lunges it away. Hoggmeiser retreats; the zombies soften up the remaining full-strength Nekomata, with Andrealphus taking down the Dullahan in the process; I give Choux's Fire spell the task of softening up the last one. I also manage to leave my six fielded units in positions where a Mystic Blast can't hit more than just one of them. Ending turn again, Laharl gets a singleton with a counter and Choux gets more than he could handle. I figure there has to be a way I could get away with a level-120 here, so I rebunker the protagonists, send Hoggmeiser back out, and send them on essentially a suicide mission to prepare the enemies for a four-way merge. With a Spinning Slash and a few basic punches, things look good. As Flonne can't counter, even if she only uses Lift & Throw on her turn, I use her to - over the course of the next two turns - make the four singletons into two pairs. Andrealphus and Hoggmeiser successfully serve as decoys, both taking the fall. Once the opposition is level 60 instead of 30, Ozmyere uses one last Zombie Gatling to get them within Etna's one-turn-kill HP range... and I underestimate its strength. Taking out one of them, I'm left with a single level-60 Nekomata with all of 10 HP (and 11 SP). Flonne and Ozmyere get back in the Base Panel, Etna comes out, and in Pamille goes... and out she comes, victorious, still with 10 HP. Honestly, Laharl, what's wrong with you? You couldn't hit her even ONCE down there? Hmph. Etna scores the KO with a counter.
I'm now up to 108 KOs recovered in the Hospital. I'm pretty sure I can spare at least two units next battle...
Thurvean Sector: This is one of the more curious battles in the game, to be sure; it tends to be Flonne's time to shine. The basic idea here is to use the first three turns to empty the area inside of the Geo Panels of enemies, and then to just shoot them all down. The key is that during a single turn, you can lift the No Entry Geo Symbol, toss two enemies past the Geo Panels, then put the Symbol back down. The first three turns see four of the six deported, the other two being merged and munched by Etna. Flonne then uses six of the seven enemies - two of which are doubles - adjacent to the Geo Panels as target practice. (The seventh would require Flonne to enter the range of Mystic Blast.) Now given what happened last battle, I'm particularly interested in going big here; five may be too much, but I still think I can handle four. Etna Avalanches the Geo Symbol - all enemies lose 63 HP, huzzah or something - and everyone else retreats except for the zombies, who as you may have guessed got in a diagonal line with Etna. Ending Turn 166 (hey, at least I wasn't leeching), the enemies close in and Mystic Blast the zombies a bit; Maderas and Etna take out that one last ghost armor while the zombies spar with the kitcats. With some help from Maderas and Hoggmeiser, they get to the point where I'm confident enough to send Flonne in for the merging, which goes off without a hitch. Needless to say, the level-120 Nekomata destroys the Base Panel, and actually deals some seven hundred or so damage to Etna before she finishes it off. The Bonus Gauge made it up to 5; it's pretty much crap, but it yields a Stamina Axe, which I hold on to for now...
Interestingly, the level-120 rampage brought my KO recovery count to exactly 120. Finally some good luck from the Hospital - it only takes me three tries to get a rare Sofia's Mirror, and it's the same rarity as the Feather Token. Swapping it for Etna's Devil Ring is a no-brainer. The usual hand-me-downs ensue.
Sphere VIII: Another "king of the hill" map, where the tactical optimization du jour is painfully obvious. What isn't quite so apparent is the vast chunk of magic available to the opposition, but that shouldn't be much of an issue. I actually make a mistake here of sorts, forgetting that Asteroid Drop moves Etna when she uses it (the yellow panel was behind a rock face), but at least I was able to make good use of it given it left its two targets almost knocked out. This let Laharl catch up to Flonne's level. I even manage to get Choux, Hoggmeiser, and Alquen the Still In Tenth Place Zombie to take out a double with a team attack - go them. When the weaponbearers arrive, I lose Choux to a Wind Cutter, and Maderas (who had taken point) eventually just plain runs out of HP, but other than that everything goes smoothly. Axis and Alquen both fall before the end, but that's nothing new - they usually do.
Cross-Point: Hmm... let's see... Geo Panels most everywhere, with a Silence Symbol available... all the enemies are Wraiths with Giga spells and three Orbs... yeah, that's an easy one. The throwers chain themselves so that Etna gets the Symbol on a Panel the first turn, and the beatdown commences. I don't bother with merging; instead, I lynch the enemies with four- or five-hit combos one by one. The Bonus Gauge, for the first time in quite awhile, is actually useful, and how: Etna and Flonne both get better weapons (Paralyzing Spear and Ion 8k Ninja, respectively), and a rare Fur Coat (not that it matches any rarities) with a Statistician 18 joins the inventory. I give that to Flonne.
Primordial Soup: First turn, Etna moves along the back wall, towards Thursday's side; then I end turn. Second turn, with Gordon having advanced closer to the Base Panel, Etna returns, and then pops back out with a small army that proceeds to ambush the dimwit. A seven-hit combo with several team attacks leaves him with 381 HP, Paralysis, and Poison. Etna finishes him next turn, with everyone else retreating in order to give Thursday a chance to get in Base-Panel-ambush range. Second verse, same as the first, except that in order to prevent a Robo Bazooka from hitting eight of my ten at once, I use Etna's Avalanche as a finisher to try to get the bot in one turn. It almost works; the Robo Bazooka takes out Choux and softens up six others, not that it matters since Etna has no trouble dealing the remaining 44 damage to end the battle.
I have a lot of preparation to do for the next episode, mainly involving equipment. That can wait until next time. It'll be a glorious day. However, the threat of the final battle of Episode 11 looms ever closer... - ZM
