Darth Plays: Yggdra Union (Princess Edition)

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Darth_Slaverus, Apr 10, 2015.

  1. Darth_Slaverus

    Darth_Slaverus Member vet

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    Hello, my fellow forum-goers! In order to prove my neckbeard worth around here, I have decided to undertake a monumental quest: A full playthrough of Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone for the Gameboy Advance. This will be the first LP I've ever done, so wish me luck!

    A bit of background: Yggdra Union is a strategy RPG developed by Sting Entertainment as part of the Dept. Heaven series, a franchise known for being composed of games of wildly different genres (as a fan of the series, I would advise anyone who enjoys this LP to check out other Dept. Heaven games, such as Knights in the Nightmare). It was first released in 2006 for the GBA during its dying days, though it would later receive a PSP remake in 2008. I, however, will be playing the GBA version, as it is more difficult.

    For its part, Yggdra Union is a turn-based tactical game in a similar vein to the Fire Emblem series, even sharing certain elements with, such as FE's famous weapon triangle. In my humble opinion, Yggdra Union is a fun game with a surprising amount of strategic depth, a decent story, and awesome music (which sadly will not be appearing in this LP). It is also quite a challenging game, as well as rather long, so I suspect I'm in for quite the ride.

    This is going to be a pretty standard playthrough, not a solo or anything like that, but I will nonetheless set a few conditions for myself, just so you readers know what's going down on my end:

    1) I will not be using savestates or any other technique that lets me save during battle. If I fail a mission, it's back to the start of that battle for me. Tactical mistakes will be punished in full.

    2) There are certain aspects of Yggdra Union that are governed by chance or are otherwise missable (MVP awards and item drops, which I'll explain later); if I fail to acquire an item or achieve an optimal result, I will not "game" the system by restarting the mission until I get what I want. I will soldier on unless I fail the mission and thus have to replay it.

    3) I will be using an item collection guide as I play through the game. Items are a very important part of Yggdra Union's gameplay, though the vast majority are hidden, some in not-so-obvious locations. I don't consider this cheating, because items are vital and the game is hard enough even with them.

    4) I will be playing with tutorials off, duh.

    Now, without further ado, let's get started...

    BATTLE #1: GET OFF MY LAWN

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    The game begins with this ominous message. In all my years of playing strategy games, I've learned that "peaceful and prosperous" is synonymous with "doomed," so it doesn't surprise me that Fantasinia's days are numbered.

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    We get a cool little image of Castle Paltina, the capital of Fantasinia, being sacked, but unfortunately both the image and the accompanying text are scrolling, making it impossible to screencap the whole thing. Thankfully, I have a handy-dandy game script here, so I can provide the text in its entirety for your viewing pleasure:

    "During the rule of Ordene, 31st monarch of Fantasinia, the new Bronquian Empire invaded. The Royal Army mustered its cavalry to resist the incursion, but with loss after loss to the Imperial Army's devastating offensive, the fortress of Karona fell and nothing stopped Bronquia from sacking the Royal Capital of Paltina. Gulcasa, the Emperor of Carnage, had deposed his predecessor by force and became the new emperor of Bronquia. Emperor Gulcasa personally led his elite troops into Castle Paltina, where after an earthshaking battle, he slew King Ordene. With that, Paltina fell, and the scarlet Imperial flag was raised to flutter in the twilight sky..."

    Yeesh. With a moniker like "The Emperor of Carnage," Gulcasa must be quite the warrior. Remind me not to get on his bad side. By the way, what's the summary of this game, according to TvTropes...?

    "Yggdra Union takes place during a war between the Kingdom of Fantasinia and the New Bronquian Empire. Gulcasa, the Emperor, has just defeated most of the Royal Army and slain the king, but Princess Yggdra (the only surviving member of the Royal Family) escapes her captured city with her family's Ancestral Weapon and goes about gathering allies to take her country backā€”and get revenge."

    FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-

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    Anyways, we get this cute little Chapter screen (note that Chapters in this game aren't individual missions, but arcs of several missions), and then a briefing where it shows the world map before zooming in to our location. Again, the text scrolls during the briefing, so I'll refer you to the game script:

    "At the southernmost tip of the continent is the land of Norn Valley. Although this barren land of rocky mountains and red earth is Fatasinia Kingdom territory, it has become a haunt for thieves. Through his wasteland runs a girl, kicking up a cloud of dust as she flees."

    Uh oh. I think this girl's stepped into the wrong neighborhood. Also, I'll be using the game script for each and every mission briefing from now on, so you guys don't miss anything important.

    We see the aforementioned girl sprinting through the wilderness, panting all the way, before she is confronted with an unfortunate realization...

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    With a horde of mysterious pursuers hot on her heels, the equally mysterious swordswoman seems to be at a loss. However, she suddenly spots an abandoned fort nearby, and decides to hide within it. And not a moment too soon, either...

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    As the pursuing soldiers pause to consider their quarry's disappearance, a "Woman Clad in Armor," evidently the leader of the group, appears and demands to know what's wrong. The axe-wielder reports that they've lost the swordswoman's trail, but the female commander isn't convinced:

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    Welp, looks like the jig is up, courtesy of that sharp-eyed masked soldier. The armored woman's judgment is swift and merciless:

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    As the soldiers set the fort ablaze, it seems that the hope borne by our young fugitive is destined to go up in flames...

    SUDDENLY

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    SHOTA THIEVES TO THE RESCUE

    This silver-haired young man, along with his partner-in-crime Flunky, arrives on the scene, rather cheesed off that the soldiers are burning down his hideout. Flunky implies that the silver-haired boy's gang has fought soldiers like these ones before, and the boy himself decides to teach them a lesson.

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    At last, the battle is on! Since this is our first battle, there are a few important screens for me to describe. First is the conditions screen, pictured above, which not-surprisingly tells us the victory and defeat conditions for this mission. In case you haven't guessed already, it also lets us know that the silver-haired boy is named Milanor, so I don't have to call him that anymore. Excellent.

    Next we have the unit selection screen:

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    Here, we would normally pick which units to bring with us on a given mission, as well as equip them with items or restore their morale (More on this later). However, since this is the first fight, we have to take Milanor and Flunky, and moreover they have each come already-equipped with an item (Only one item can be equipped at a time, and once equipped, an item is not removed until it expires). We can also take a look at our units in a bit more detail:

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    First up is Milanor, one of the two main characters of the game. Milanor is a very solid unit throughout the game, although he is somewhat stronger early-game and outshined toward the end. Nonetheless, he possesses a few useful skills unique to him that make him worth using at every stage of the game. As indicated on the right, his unit is immune to petrification (Void stone) and fights more effectively on "Wasteland" terrain. His currently-equipped item, Silver Moon, gives him the "No battle penalty" buff, which I'll explain at a later date. Note that the number next to Silver Moon indicates how long the item will last, in this case seven missions, an unusually long duration. The number on the lower left is Milanor's morale, essentially his health. When a unit is defeated in an engagement, they lose morale based on certain factors. Only when a unit's morale is reduced to zero is the unit routed from the battlefield.

    On the upper right we can see Milanor's stats, indicated by the stars. The larger stars indicate Milanor's actual value in the stat, while the smaller ones represent his progress toward the next value. Interestingly, stats get easier to raise the higher they get, but are harder to raise when they are lower, which helps make units' weaknesses more noticeable. You can have a maximum of six large stars in each stat.

    Since we're here, I might as well explain the stats themselves.

    GEN: Short for Generalship, this stat represents the unit's effectiveness as a leader. In layman's terms, this affects the unit's defense. Units with a high GEN will lose men more slowly than those with a low GEN (Units in Yggdra Union represent squads of soldiers, rather than just one person), and will also be more likely to resist special attacks.

    ATK: Short for Attack, this stat simply represents the unit's offensive power. Units with high ATK will deal more damage to enemy units while fighting.

    TEC: Short for Technique, this stat governs the effectiveness of a unit's initial attack when fighting an enemy unit, the effectiveness of their special attacks, and the frequency with which they execute "flash attacks" (Again, I'll explain later).

    LUK: Short for Luck, this stat affects the unit's ability to make defeated enemies drop items, as well as how often they score critical hits (and how often they themselves are critted!).

    As we can see, Milanor is pretty well-rounded, having a 2 in GEN/ATK and a 3 in TEC/LUK. His ATK is also pretty close to going up, as we can see from the amount of smaller stars he has in it. His lower GEN is a bit of an issue, but at this stage of the game it's not too bad.

    Next up is Flunky:

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    Flunky is... Well, to put it bluntly, Flunky is useless. Not because he's especially bad stat-wise, but because this is the only mission we get to use him, and he's completely inferior to Milanor in every way. He doesn't gain EXP, so if we used him at all he would just suck away the EXP Milanor can gain in this battle. There's not much else to say about Flunky, really.

    Once we've confirmed our selections, we proceed to the card selection screen:

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    Cards are basically our "turns" in the game. Every turn we must pick a card, which determines how far our army can move that turn, what special ability they can use, and how much morale damage they'll do to enemy units. Once we use a card, it's used up, and if we run out of cards, we lose. Some missions have "checkpoints" where our cards will be restored mid-mission, however.

    For now, we can only choose the five cards the game gives us, so we'll take them. And with that, the battle begins! We're treated to a brief exchange where the armored woman is unimpressed by Milanor's bluster, asking what a gang of petty thieves can do, to which Milanor responds that he'll make her eat those words.

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    Now that we've started the battle, we must select a card for our first turn. As we can see, there's a day/night cycle in Yggdra Union which will come into play later, but for this battle it's fixed at Night. To start, we'll pick the "Steal" card, which has a movement value of 12, meaning our units can move a combined total of 12 spaces this turn.

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    Having selected a card, we can now move our units, survey the terrain, and examine enemy units. You can play with your units' movement as much as you like, but once you hit the A button it's finalized, so you have to be careful. You can divide your movement value between your units as evenly or unevenly as you wish.

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    Our first move will be to use six movement points to move Flunky to this space, where...

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    Lo and behold! Flunky has found us our first item of the game! Well done, Flunky! Sadly, as he is not a pretty princess, Flunky does not know what a Hair Band is.

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    Meanwhile, in the land of productivity, Milanor will use his move to engage the masked soldier we saw earlier. Time for our first taste of combat!

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    Alright, so here's how this works: When a unit attacks an enemy, the two units exchange opening attacks which kill some members of the opposing squad outright, before the fighting even begins. In the above battle, we see Milanor's unit of six Stray Thieves kill four of the six enemy Assassins as they charge into the enemy ranks. Normally, the enemy would respond with a counterattack, but because Assassins use crossbows, a ranged weapon, they cannot counter if they are attacked. However, if it had been the Assassins who had initiated the battle, Milanor would have been unable to counter due to the range.

    Because the attacking unit gets to unleash their opening attack first, it pays to be the aggressor. If the defender takes too many casualties in the opening attack, their counter will be less effective.

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    With the opening attacks complete, we must watch as the battle unfolds. Normally, there's more we can do to have a direct impact on the battle, but since this is the first mission, the deeper nuances of the combat system have been stripped away. For now, we just have to sit back and watch the units hack away at each other.

    Some notes: The two circles being "said" by Milanor and the Assassin indicate that both units are doing extra damage: Milanor because he's fighting on Wasteland terrain, which you'll remember is advantageous to his unit, and the Assassin because her unit is fighting at night. On the second screen, we see Milanor executing a flash attack with a mighty "Hah!" Basically, flash attacks are random events where the commander of the unit steps forth and deals some free damage to the enemy, without them being able to respond. Here, Milanor lands two unanswered attacks on the Assassin commander.

    At last, the assassins are slain. Note that the commander of a unit is always slightly tougher than the regular soldiers in the squad, taking more damage to kill. We see that the Assassin leader brings down one of Milanor's thieves before she can be defeated.

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    Here, we see the victory screen. Because we beat the assassins, we deal morale damage to their unit based on the card we selected for the turn's power rating. The exact damage is modified by a few different factors, including how close the battle was, stat differences between the units, the terrain, and whether or not the commander of the victorious unit was alive (Because the commander is always the last to die, this modifier will almost always apply, with a couple of exceptions). Once the modifiers have been calculated, we deal a percentage of the card's power rating to the enemy's morale. In this case, we easily do enough damage to reduce the assassins' morale to zero, routing them.

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    We see the results screen, where Milanor has earned some experience for his victory, and the Assassin unit disappears from the map, having been defeated. Notice how Milanor is now greyed-out on the map. This means he can no longer move this turn, even though we have four movement points left, because he has launched an attack.

    Although it might seem like a good idea to move Flunky in position to attack the next enemy unit, an army can only launch an attack once per turn, so you have to pick your battles carefully. This rule applies to the enemy too, although if the enemy has multiple armies (And they will later on) they can each launch an attack. With this in mind, let's end the turn.

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    It's the enemy's turn, and the armored woman wastes no time sending some axe-wielding Bandits our way. However, to my great amusement, their opening attack proves laughably ineffective, failing to kill any of Milanor's men, while his counter kills all but one of the bandits. To no one's great surprise, Milanor prevails, and the Bandits are routed, disheartened by their shameful display. For the curious, I showed the screen that indicates the percentage breakdown for the morale damage. Since the total percentage is 100%, we deal the full 1040 damage to the Bandits.

    Side note: A card's power rating goes up as you deal morale damage with it, forgot to mention that earlier.

    Additional side note: In case you're wondering why Milanor has six men again after losing one in the fight against the Assassins, casualties don't carry over between battles.

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    With the Bandit unit down, all that's left is the Armored Woman's unit. Since she's not far away, I'll use the "Mind Change" card, which has a movement value of 6 but a base power of 1300, and go for gold.

    One of my favourite things about Yggdra Union is that your units will often engage in smack talk against enemy officers. As I move Milanor next to the Armored Woman, we get this conversation:

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    I think burning down someone else's house is pretty impertinent

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    The ensuing fight is a lot closer, owing to the fact that Milanor uses axes while the Armored Woman uses swords, putting Milanor at a disadvantage. However, the boosts he gets from being on Wasteland terrain are enough for him to scrape out a victory in this fight. However, the Armored Woman, unlike her brethren, isn't quite ready to be routed just yet.

    We also get a follow-up to the conversation Milanor had with the woman before they fought, which happens with most of the "boss conversations" in the game, usually having two possible variants based on who won the inital clash.

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    I think somebody's in love

    Anyways, with that, I end my turn, and the Armored Woman immediately attacks Milanor.

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    I like how the one Valkyrie has been launched so high in the air by Milanor's counter.

    Also, while it seems like Milanor may finally be handed his first defeat, having lost four of his men to the Armored Woman's opening, there's a little secret that will guarantee that Milanor will win.

    You see, Milanor is invincible.

    No, I'm not kidding. As if to make Flunky even more useless than he already is, Milanor literally cannot be defeated in the first mission. He is scripted to always win any fight he gets into. Don't believe me?

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    Believe me~

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    Caught off-guard by Milanor's invincibility, the soldiers retreat with their tails between their legs. Milanor's home is avenged. Victory!

    The screenshot on the bottom shows who the MVP (the unit that did the most morale damage to the enemy) is, and awards them a little boost to a randomly-chosen stat, in this case Milanor's GEN. I would have preferred ATK, so that Milanor could have three ATK stars right away, but this is the second-best outcome. I won't complain about two mini-stars in Milanor's weakest stat. This, of course, is one of the elements of chance I mentioned in the introduction. Also, the MVP bonus varies- if you finish a mission within an optimal turn limit, you get two mini-stars, if you don't meet the turn limit, you only get one mini-star.

    We also get the item the Armored Woman had equipped, an Iron Choker that prevents critical hits, and a new card: Revolution, which has a movement value of 10.

    In the aftermath of the battle, Milanor gathers his remaining rogues around the ruins of his hideout, lamenting the fact that they lost a few men to the soldiers. Suddenly, something catches his eye...

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    Caught red-handed, the young swordswoman from earlier emerges from the wreckage. Lovable rogue that he is, Milanor remarks aloud on her attractiveness and asks what she's doing here. Flunky then butts in with an interesting observation: Apparently, he believes this girl is a survivor from the sacking of Castle Paltina, the capital of Fantasinia, which causes Milanor to realize that the soldiers they fought were from Bronquia's army. The woman suddenly speaks up:

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    This sounds familiar, somehow...

    Anyhow, surprised by her unexpected plea, Milanor replies that his aid won't come cheap, and offers to help if the girl turns over her awesome sword. She refuses, claiming the sword is precious to her, but insists that she can give him anything else he wants. Milanor is skeptical of her claim, but...

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    The newly-introduced Yggdra gives her oath as royalty that she will grant Milanor and his crew whatever they desire if they help her. Intrigued, Milanor makes an audacious request.

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    Well that's responsible of you, princess

    Despite the unfavourable odds of going up against a warmongering empire with only a gang of brigands, Milanor confidently replies that they'll just have to steal the castle back, noting that his group can't stay here anyway, since their fort has been burned to the ground. Flunky also points out that they've already picked a fight with Bronquia, so soldiers will be looking for them anyway. With that, the deal is struck, and the group prepares to move out.

    Milanor expresses a concern over Yggdra's ability to defend herself, but she reveals that in addition to her sword, she has a couple of cards we can use. We get two new cards, Banish and Sanctuary. Sweet.

    And so, this newfound alliance of rags and royalty sets forth on its quest to liberate Fantasinia and get Milanor a swanky new base...


    Phew! And there's the first part of my LP. It was longer than I expected, and in future battles I'll try to screencap interesting events on the battlefield more than individual battles between units, unless something cool happens.

    Anyways, I'll sign off for now. Since this is my first LP, please don't hesitate to give me comments or criticism! Too many screenshots? Too few? Need me to explain more? Let me know! Any comments would be appreciated! Hope to see you again in the next exciting installment of this LP, which should be up before the weekend's over!
    Last edited: Apr 12, 2015
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  2. Darth_Slaverus

    Darth_Slaverus Member vet

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    Hey there, sports fans! Welcome back to another exciting episode of Darth Plays Yggdra Union, where armies clash, heroes are forged, and Armored Women swoon! Last time, we started the game and forged an unlikely alliance between Princess Yggdra of Fantasinia and Milanor of Norn Valley. But how will we fare in Mission 2, where the training wheels have been taken off and we can actually LOSE?

    (... Pretty well, all things considered)

    I apologize for taking a bit longer than I said I would putting this up, but I had a bad case of schoolwork to take care of, including a last minute essay.

    Also, some folks have pointed out to me that the first few screenshots in my OP appear so small as to be completely illegible; I've discovered that you unfortunately have to be logged in to HC see them at their normal size. I've identified the source of the problem and it won't be an issue any longer, but I apologize for the inconvenience. I may go back and change this when I have time. There are also a couple of broken images, but this appears to be a glitch, as all my screenshots from the first mission are there and accounted for.

    With that out of the way, let's proceed to:

    BATTLE #2: NOT PAID ENOUGH

    Have a briefing screen:

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    "Milanor and his men were able to drive off the invaders who attacked their fort. In the process, they saved the ousted Princess Yggdra from the Imperial Army, ensuring that from then on, their steps would be constantly hounded by the Imperial forces. Milanor left the burnt husk of a fort and headed with Yggdra to the Orlando Plains, where the Royal Cavalry supposedly waited. At the Jaws of the Wolf, connecting Norn Valley and the Orlando Plains, mercenaries working for the Empire lay in wait for Milanor's gang of thieves."

    Looks like we'll be going up against a bunch of punch-clockers today. Also, "supposedly waited" isn't exactly the most reassuring choice of words, but I suppose we've no choice but to try to make the rendezvous.

    The mission opens with Yggdra and Milanor talking tactics:

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    Milanor agrees with Yggdra's assessment, noting that since she stands out, the Imperial Army probably wasn't fooled by their feint (Also forgot to add this in my last post, but the two cards Yggdra had? They were given to her by the 1st and 2nd Royal Cavalry Divisions, who perished trying to defend her). To meet up with the remnant of Fantasinia's army, Milanor then suggests that they take a shortcut through a narrow mountain pass known as the "Jaws of the Wolf." It'll be a rough march, but Milanor is banking on the the route's treachery, thinking it will discourage any Imperial pursuers.

    Oh, the dramatic irony. As if on cue, the scene shifts to the mercenary encampment mentioned during the briefing. One of the sellsword scouts has spotted Milanor's force and reports in, but the mercenary unit's captain, Inzaghi, seems less than enthusiastic about the prospect of battle, displaying about the same work ethic I do when faced with an essay:

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    Inzaghi is one of my favourite characters in this game.

    Nevertheless, Inzaghi's men aren't so convinced, as one of them points out that the troops chasing Yggdra were bested by a group of thieves, and another raises the possibility that Milanor's group kidnapped Yggdra for the reward money being offered by Bronquia. Unable to dispute their logic, Inzaghi reluctantly rouses himself and mobilizes his forces.

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    We then get the conditions of the battle and the chance to prepare:

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    As you can see, we now have Yggdra in our army, replacing Flunky. As the other main character of the game, Yggdra must be deployed in every mission she's available, and if she gets routed, it's game over for us. Let's take a look at her stats:

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    Right away, it's obvious that Yggdra isn't quite as strong as Milanor, being lower-leveled and having overall weaker stats. As the inspiring princess of Fantasinia, she has a relatively high GEN for this point in the game at 3 stars, and her ATK is currently on par with Milanor's, at 2 stars. However, her TEC and LUK both sit at a measly 1 star. I suppose I can understand her low LUK, what with her kingdom being razed and all, but that low TEC is painful. Thankfully, it's at least close to going up, but that's still going to impact her early-game performance by a noticeable margin.

    Unlike Milanor, Yggdra's unit does have several special traits: She does extra damage to Golem units, her unit fights better on "Fort" terrain, she can deal Holy elemental damage (More on this later) and is consequently immune to Holy damage herself, but she takes extra damage from Darkness-based elemental damage. All of these pale in comparison to the "Block counter" buff her currently-equipped item, the Silk Corset, gives her. Remember how after your opening attack, the enemy gets a chance to counter? Well, for the next six missions, Yggdra will take NO damage from enemy counters. Note that this only applies when Yggdra initiates an attack, not when the enemy initiates an attack on her, but it's still a powerful ability regardless. This will help Yggdra contribute more effectively in the early-game, while her stats are still low.

    As for my overall opinion of Yggdra as a unit: Despite appearances, she's actually one of the best units in the game. She's definitely our weakest unit right now, and she will be for some time, but later in the story she will become more powerful and gain access to some awesome new abilities. As long as we don't neglect her, she should grow into a lategame powerhouse who can defeat even the strongest foes with relative ease.

    What, you didn't think the main character would be BAD, did you? :haa:

    Anyways, I proceed to the card selection screen, and have no choice but to select all the cards the game has given me. We're then treated to a brief cutscene as the battle begins. Flunky rushes over to Milanor to report that they're being engaged by an enemy force, which surprises Milanor. Yggdra swiftly realizes that their foes aren't of Bronquia's main army, leading her to conclude that they must be hired mercenaries. Milanor implies that he's fought these mercenaries before, as recently as yesterday. He then proposes to a strategy to deal with this new threat:

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    Yggdra is shocked by Milanor's apparent recklessness, but he's quick to defend his decision.

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    We're then given control of the battle. Although it's technically possible to lose here, it's still a pretty easy mission, so much so that you'd have to actively try to lose, really. The whole map counts as Wasteland terrain, meaning Milanor will be super-effective no matter what, and none of the enemies here have an advantage over Yggdra. Beating the mission optimally, however, is a different story. Let's take a gander at the map before I make any moves, so I can outline my strategy.

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    The enemy forces in this mission are comprised entirely of sword-wielding Fencers and axe-wielding Bandits. In other words, it's fertile grounds for Yggdra to farm kills with. I'd like to give her the MVP bonus if I can, and I'd doubly like it to be the enhanced bonus for beating the mission swiftly. But there's a catch...

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    Upon a closer inspection of Inzaghi's attributes, we see that he's not a particularly scary combatant, having 2 stars in every stat. And yet, it is those two stars he has in LUK that throw a bit of a wrench into my plan. As we can see, Inzaghi is equipped with an item, a Leather Hat. Enemies can drop items, but only if they are routed by a unit with an equal or higher LUK stat than their own. Recall that Yggdra has only 1 star in LUK, and we come to the awful realization that Milanor must be the one to defeat Inzaghi, or the Leather Hat won't drop.

    And I want that hat.

    To make matters worse, since Inzaghi is the boss of this mission, he has higher morale than the generic troops around him. In essence, I want to have my cake and eat it too by giving Yggdra the majority of the kills so she can get the MVP bonus, yet also have Milanor beat Inzaghi for the Leather Hat. It can be done, but we'll have to be a bit crafty about it.

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    Returning to the map, I select the Sanctuary card, since it's a useful card I want to power up for later, and move Yggdra into position to attack the first Fencer in our way. My plan is to advance Yggdra up the northern path, killing everything that gets in her way, while Milanor sneaks around south to attack Inzaghi from behind.

    Also note the little house icon to the southeast. That's a village/town tile that our troops can visit, which can often yield valuable items. I'll be paying it a visit with Milanor momentarily, so remember it.

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    As Yggdra gets her first taste of combat, we witness firsthand the results of her low TEC: Her opening attack isn't particularly effective, despite the enemy Fencers having only 1 star in GEN, killing only two of them. On the plus side, we get to see the almighty power of her Silk Corset, allowing her to weather the Fencer's counter with no casualties.

    On a side note, I've always wondered where the women in Yggdra's unit came from. Are they her personal attendants, reunited with her after a brief separation following the fall of Castle Paltina? Or are they female members of Milanor's gang, who've agreed to bodyguard her for the time being? You decide!

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    Now, as we get into the meat of combat, you'll notice something new is here. Namely, the large bar at the top of the screen with the card we selected for that turn, a percentage, and the words "Passive/Aggressive" floating above it. No, it's not a visual indicator of Yggdra's mood. Remember how I said we could do more to influence the outcome of a battle after the first mission?

    Well, during combat, we have the option to have our units fight Passively, in which case the percentage of the energy bar will rapidly increase but our attack power will go down. Conversely, we can go Aggressive, which will begin to consume the percentage of the energy bar in exchange for increased attack power. If neither option suits us, we can simply leave it as it is and fight normally. You can switch between the two strategies freely, the only limit being the energy bar itself. Later in the game, we'll be able to use the special power associated with our cards if our energy bar is at 100%, and thus proper energy management will be vital, but for now Passive isn't too useful. Let's just go Aggressive so we can kill these guys slightly faster. Note: Our initial percentage is determined by the movement value of our card and our TEC stat (The lower the move value and the higher your TEC stat, the higher your percentage will be).

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    It's a hard-fought battle, but in the end Yggdra's initial numerical advantage is simply too much for the Fencers to overcome, and she routs them.

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    Having drawn the first blood, I position my units thus, so that the enemy units cannot attack Milanor and thus deprive Yggdra of the morale damage she needs to be MVP, and end my turn. Alas, my efforts prove unnecessary, as Inzaghi's troops reveal themselves to be just as lazy as their boss, refusing to move to engage my troops. As my turn rolls around again, I select Revolution as my card due to its high movement value of 10 and base power of 1300, and have Yggdra attack the nearby Bandit.

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    As you can see, the Day/Night cycle is in effect, as it is now Evening instead of Noon, changing the colours of the battlefield accordingly, which is a neat touch. As I mentioned earlier, on some missions the cycle will be locked to a specific time, while on others it will be unrestricted. Certain units fight better at certain times (such as Assassins fighting better at night) and the special abilities of some cards can only be used at a specific time of day, as well.

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    With both the weapon triangle advantage and the power of the Silk Corset, Yggdra completely steamrolls the Bandits. Nonetheless, there are still a few things of interest to show you in this clash. Firstly, note the star next to Yggdra's portrait, which indicates she's doing massive damage due to having the weapon advantage as well as going Aggressive, whereas the Bandit has a triangle next to his, indicating that he's doing reduced damage due to his weapon disadvantage.

    Next, if you look closely, you can see a little green icon beneath Yggdra's star. This shows that Yggdra is currently dealing Holy elemental damage. Units that can deal elemental damage will only do so if they're going Aggressive; this is important because some units are immune to a particular element. For example, Valkyries, such as the Armored Woman from the first mission, are immune to Holy. Thus, if Yggdra tried to go Aggressive against a Valkyrie, she would deal NO damage whatsoever, and we obviously wouldn't want that. That said, some units have elemental vulnerabilities, so going Aggressive to exploit them is a good tactic. I'll talk more about elements as they become relevant.

    Finally, note that underneath the Bandits there is another bar which is slowly filling up with a yellow line. This is the enemies' RAGE bar, which is their answer to our Passive/Aggressive bar. Basically, most enemies start with the RAGE bar completely empty, but the longer combat goes on, the more it fills. When it has completely filled, enemy units enter Rage mode, dealing increased damage and inflicting elemental damage if they have the capability to do so. What's more, the bar will begin to fill a second time, and if it manages to do so the enemy unit will enter MAX mode, in which they stop dealing elemental damage but deal even more standard damage than before. Enemies will also use a card special ability if they can when they hit MAX mode (Luckily, if they do this, the bar is set to empty afterwards).

    Combat becomes a lot more intricate from here on out, but hopefully you grasp the basics. Anyways, after slaying the Bandit unit, I move Milanor to that house tile I pointed out earlier. We get a cutscene...

    [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]

    ROBBING THE ROBBERS

    I guess I should have called it a "pillage" square instead of a village square, eh? Eh? *dodges tomato* Well, regardless, we get some Fur out of our little detour, which will come in handy later. I should note that if you send Yggdra to this square, nothing happens because she fails to realize it's a thieves' den, though you can still have Milanor revisit it afterward.

    Not pictured: Following this amusing episode, I use the rest of my move (a grand total of one square) to inch Milanor closer to Inzaghi. I end my turn, but Inzaghi's forces do nothing. I then have Yggdra move up and kill the last Fencer before Inzaghi. The fight played out almost identically to Yggdra's fight with the first Fencer, so I didn't really feel the need to screencap any of it. Finally, I move Milanor next to Inzaghi, and we get a conversation:

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    Huh. Looks like Milanor and Inzaghi really have fought before! Unfortunately, as you can see from the greyed-out Yggdra on the map, I've already attacked this turn, so I can't go after Inzaghi. I end my turn, which is a somewhat risky move on my part. Because Inzaghi wields swords, he has a very real chance of beating Milanor if he attacks first, even with Milanor's terrain advantage. Still, I'm willing to test my luck.

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    Sure enough, Inzaghi attacks Milanor and makes a strong showing on his opening attack. However, Milanor surprises me by responding in kind. This is gonna be a real nail-biter, folks.

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    Just as I'd feared, it comes down to a one-on-one duel between Milanor and Inzaghi, the latter strutting his stuff as he lands a flash attack at a critical moment. With Milanor out of energy and Inzaghi almost in Rage mode, it looks like this might be-

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    Oh.

    YOU'RE TELLING ME, MILANOR

    (Not pictured: Milanor lands a flash attack to answer Inzaghi's and heroically turns the tables)

    Still, though Milanor has prevailed, he doesn't do quite enough morale damage to rout Inzaghi just yet, though we are rewarded with a post-battle conversation:

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    I kinda want to agree with Inzaghi, given how close the fight was, but at the same time, he blew his chance to exact revenge on Milanor pretty hard. I guess we'll have to settle the matter once and for all when my turn rolls around, which it promptly does.

    At this point, I'm ready to finish Inzaghi off, but for your viewing pleasure, I move Yggdra adjacent to Inzaghi first, so we can see their conversation in all its glory:

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    Sexist as it is, you have to admit you were wondering the same thing

    (Lore nerd here: Yggdra's sword, the Gran Centurio, is in fact magically enchanted to be as light as a feather when held by a member of Fantasinia's royal family, so Yggdra can in fact wield it without much trouble, not sure if this is ever alluded to in-game)

    Not one to stand by and watch while Inzaghi bullies Yggdra, Milanor leaps to the attack.

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    The battle is considerably more lopsided, in large part due to Milanor's terrain advantage. Outnumbered and outgunned, Inzaghi can only prolong the inevitable.

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    Upon his defeat, Inzaghi curses Milanor, to which Milanor responds by asking if he still wants to go at it. However, Inzaghi backpedals, deciding that discretion is the better part of valour. The remaining Bandit unit flees alongside him. We win!

    Unfortunately, there's no time to celebrate, as our victory proves to be somewhat short-lived...

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    WHY HELLO THERE, VALTER 2.0

    He's not alone, either- after the cutscene, a massive contingent of cavalry spawns behind him, intending to give chase to Yggdra and friends. We get an updated conditions screen:

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    Get used to seeing this- most of the missions in Yggdra Union have multiple phases to them, meaning missions are often long and arduous. Thankfully, this phase is pretty easy. We just have to rush to the exit, and since my units are exactly where I left them, I'm in a prime position to do so. Before we resume control, though, we have a cutscene where Yggdra and Milanor react to the massive horde of knights that are coming up behind them:

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    First the "Emperor of Carnage," now the "Black Knight?" Where do they get these guys?

    We get a map update:

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    Well, I'm glad we didn't leave anyone back there. As you can see, the map is being flooded by Imperial Knights, so we better skedaddle. Also of note is the exclamation point icon, which is the Leather Hat Inzaghi dropped when we beat him (we have to step on it to claim it for ourselves), and the flag icon, which is the exit. When one of our units steps on that flag, they'll leave the battlefield, and once all of our units have left, we win (for real this time)!

    In case you're wondering about whether Leon and his cronies can be beaten...

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    Surprisingly, Leon doesn't have god-tier stats or anything, though his 3 stars in TEC and ATK would make him a formidable opponent, and his morale is extremely high. I've never tried fighting him, so it's possible he might have plot-mandated invincibility or be unroutable. The point is, while Milanor could probably go toe-to-toe with him, Leon and his knights would make mincemeat out of Yggdra with their lances, so we should just hightail it. Besides, we're on a timeline to get that enhanced MVP bonus, anyway.

    Leon and his group actually get a free turn when they first show up, but since there's so many of them they all try to move and wind up wasting Leon's movement values. When our turn comes around, it's a simple of picking the Steal card and abusing its movement value of 12 to get both Yggdra and Milanor to the flag, though not before stopping to pick up our prize:

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    You didn't beat him Yggdra

    After Yggdra and Milanor get clear, we get one final cutscene. Milanor seems to have hatched a plan...

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    With a mighty battle cry, a mysterious girl (There sure are a lot of those in this game) riding a griffon knocks over a piece of rubble, blocking the path behind Yggdra and Milanor so that Leon's men cannot follow. I missed the screencap of the neat little explosion effect that accompanies this action, sadly. Well, all's well that ends well, I suppose!

    Although not everyone is happy with the way things have turned out...

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    We get the victory screen:

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    YES! This is exactly the result I was hoping for. Not only has Yggdra snagged the MVP award, but the boost has also been applied to her TEC, the stat I most wanted to increase. Yggdra now has 2 big stars in TEC, so she should be a much more capable fighter than she might otherwise have been for the next couple of missions. I really hope my luck with the MVP awards holds out- between this and the previous boost to Milanor's GEN, I've been getting some great results. We also get the card Inzaghi's forces used, Banshee's Cry. Not the best card, but it has a movement value of 8, so I'll take it.

    We get a little ending cutscene afterwards, nothing too major happens. Yggdra asks Milanor if the griffon-riding girl is a friend of his, but Milanor dodges the question with a non-committal "Yeah" before urging her to hurry, since they have to make it to the Orlando Plains before it's too late...

    Phew! And that about wraps it up, ladies and gents. Hope you all enjoyed part two of Darth Plays Yggdra Union!

    It might be a little while before I update again, simply because it's a busy schoolweek for me and the next mission features a major spike in difficulty, but I'll hopefully have something up relatively soon! See you all next time!