Tactics Ogre - Strategy Guide (Page 02)

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Class: Death Templar
Magic: Special Abilities

This is Lans Tartare's class. He is a powerful fighter with excellent statistics
and a typical Temple Commando-style special attack. You will only meet him in
combat a few times, and I suggest that you primarially use Magic or Bows against
him.

Class: Bishop
Magic: Healing, attack.

Branta uses this class. Due to his low defense, he is not a very good fighter,
but will use magic if he gets the chance. He can also summon Angel Knights as
backup if he needs to. The conditions under which you fight him, however, make
him an easy foe- see below for a better description.

Class: Dark Element
Magic: Dark magic, special abilities.

This is Dolgare's class, and a very powerful one it is. Although, you'd probably
expect that since he IS the last boss... At any rate, he has ludicrous statsics,
very high HP (About 600 when I met him at level 35), and a variety of very
powerful special attacks and spells. As if that weren't enough, he can also
summon dark creatures to aid him. He's a very tough opponent, and strategies for
defeating him are covered in more detail in the walkthrough.

Class: Dark/Evil monsters
Magic: Varies

These are a particularly powerful type of enemies who you will met with some
frequency in Hell's Gate and who also show up for the last battle. There are
Dark varieties of many normal enemies (I've seen Cyclops, Ninja, Dragons, and
Gryphons). Many of these monsters have new special attacks- the Dark variety of
Cyclops, for example, has the "EvilEyes" attack instead of the usual Toxic
attack. As a group, these monsters are also very fast and have abnormally high
statistics. Especially beware Dark Stalkers, who can probably move faster than
any character in your party and have very high evade rates.

Class: Zombie
Magic: Varies

These are undead versions of normal characters- they are essentially the same as
normal characters, but they will revive themselves after being killed as
Zombies. They also have a slightly lower defense than normal characters. Zombie
Wizards also have a nasty habit of using spells that they can't normally use
(Such as the conditional spells). These are actually much weaker than normal
characters, I find, since they can be destroyed through Exorcism. There are
also Zombie monsters, but they appear under different names- usually "Death
(name)"- and often wield different special attacks than they had in life. The
most common are Toxic and EvilEyes.

Class: Goblin
Magic: None

These basic fighters show up with some frequency in Hell's Gate. They are
actually relatively weak; think of them as the Monster equivalent of Knights.
They are decent fighters, but aren't any better than Valkyries or Berzerkers.

Class: Gorgon
Magic: None

Gorgons are swift, have pretty good attack scores, and can petrify you.
Although I've rarely seen them use the latter ability, they are fairly powerful
and generally not to be trifled with. Their defense isn't all that good, but
they also often carry bows to make up for it.

Class: Sorcerer
Magic: All attack spells

These enemy-only units get ALL attack spells, including ones not normally
available (Most notably LightBow). They are also slightly better at magic than
standard Wizards.

Class: Summoner
Magic: Attack, summoning

They aren't that powerful, but they are annoying because of their propensity for
siccing largish groups of undead monsters on you. Their attack magic is stronger
than a Valkyrie's or Ninja's, but not as strong as that of a full-fledged
wizard.

Class: Necromancer
Magic: Attack, Dark, Summoning

This is Nybbas' class. He's a decent magic user, but no more powerful than a
Mage or Siren. He has low defense, so you shouldn't have too much trouble
killing him with a Bow.

Class: Venefik
Magic: Poison, Acid

When I first read the description for this class, the phrase which immediatley
popped into my head was "I'm the MAD MIDNIGHT POISONER WHAT POISONS AT
MIDNIGHT!", and you'll know why if you used to watch The Tick. Gameplay-wise,
she is a pretty easy foe. She uses standard magic in her attacks as well as the
somewhat more powerful Hazard special ability. Luckily, this ability is one-
target-only, and she uses it very rarely. The only time you meet this enemy is
on the top level of Hell's Gate, where they start in a terrible position.

Class: Searzist
Magic: Holy attack magic

This character shows up at the 25th floor of Hell's Gate and specializes in Holy
magic attacks. While she wields some fairly powerful magical attacks, if you're
careful, she will not have time to build up the MP to use them. Watch out for
Starion if she does build up her MP, though, as it can inflict serious damage to
your party and kill any Undead characters with you.

Class: Demon
Magic: Dark attack magic

No, unfortunatly, this character does not look like the cool demons from Ogre
Battle- it's a lame pallete-shifted Siren instead. It appears on the 50th floor
of Hell's Gate, where it is a very easy foe due to the circumstances of the
battle. While it can use some very powerful attack magic (such as the Dark Law
spell), it will almost never get to.

Class: Death Knight
Magic: None

These are undead versions of some old friends, created by Nybbas. They're
actually pretty weak; I wouldn't worry about them that much. They have slightly
better statistics than normal Knights, but otherwise are basically the same as
any other "enhanced Knight" class. Use bows to defeat them with ease.

Class: Guardian
Magic: Varies

These are probably the toughest single monsters in the game- the Guardians of
the four wind-elemental weapons in Hell's Gate. They have a variety of special
abilities and vary in form, but are always yellow-colored monsters with some
combination of the Thunder, Tornado, and WindShot attacks. They will leave you
one of the weapons when defeated- the Notos Sword, Boleas Axe, Eros Hammer, or
Zepyulos Lance. Please note that you will almost never meet all four groups
of Guardians on a single trip through Hell's Gate.

Class: Relics Knight
Magic: None

Gold-colored Terror Knights who guard the Ogre equipment and SnapShot Dragon
Magic. These are fairly similar to Terror Knights and not all that much more
threatening than other fighters. Be aware, however, that they do often wield
bows.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------- Part II: General Strategies ---------------------
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1. Army Planning

You probably want to plan exactly what you want to end up with at the beginning
of the game when you first hire your army. I strongly advise that most of your
male fighters have an alignment of N or C, so that they can become Berzerkers
(as opposed to incompetent knights) and then either Dragoons or Terror Knights.
Female fighters should have an alignment of N, which will allow them to become
either a Valkyrie, Archer, or Dragon Tamer. Female Healers should be N so that
they can become Clerics but still switch to a Siren or Witch if you need a
little more firepower for any particular battle. Eventually, you will probably
want to turn them into Priests (So that they can cast the all-important Vitalize
spell), but probably contrary to your expectations, characters of any alignment
may become Priests. All around, N-aligned characters are probably the most
versatile, but there are a few classes available only to characters of a certain
alignment- see the Classes section for more information. You should also try to
make most of your characters of one or two non-opposing elements (Earth and
Water, for example) so that you can use the Witch Trick (see below).

In battle, I generally take five fighter-type characters (That includes some
monsters, such as Lizard Men, Hawk Men, or Dragons), two Archers or Mages
(includes Sirens), two Healers, and either an additional Mage or a
Witch/Warlock.

2. The Witch Trick

This actually works with either a Witch or a Warlock (Err, if you're using one
for reasons which I cannot fathom). Essentially, the idea is this: Buy your
Witch the element-enhancing spells for the two elements in your army (see above.
When you go into battle, immediately stop and look at the enemies' guardian
elements. If there are less than three or four enemies of one of the elements in
your army, then kill those first and have your Witch retreat and constantly cast
the spell to enhance that element. If you're lucky, you will soon find your
characters inflicting massive damage. Furthermore, if you're lucky, a good
number of the enemy will be of the opposite element- causing their attacks to
weaken significantly.

3. Ganging Up

This is the real secret to winning battles- in nine out of ten situations, two
characters will be able to kill one. The outcome of one-on-one battles is
generally determined by level- and the enemy often has the level advantage. Two
characters of similar level fighting generally results in one dying and the
other being wounded to the point where one of the dead character's companions
comes up and finishes the attacker. I generally have my troops travel either en
masse or in groups of two or three. Archers can stay alone at certain locations,
as long as they're not in any immediate physical danger.

4. Preventing Counterattacks

There are three ways to easily prevent the enemy from counterattacking, which is
always a good thing if possible- attack indirectly, even at point-blank range,
with a Bow or Crossbow, hit them from two squares away with a Spear or Whip
(Assuming that they have only a close-range weapon), or attack from several
height units above (I think three is the minimum height). Remember, of course,
that enemies will die before counterattacking- if a counterattack will kill you,
but you have a 75% chance of killing your target, save first and then try
attacking.

5. Attacking from Behind

This is fairly self-explanatory: Attacking from the side or behind seriously
cuts down on an enemy's chance of blocking. Do so if possible.

6. Bows VS Crossbows

Since Crossbows are lighter and have a higher hit rate, they are a good backup
weapon for a close-range fighter like a knight. However, they cannot shoot
outside their indicated range like a Bow and they also cannot shoot over
obstacles as a Bow occasionally can. Bows are far better for Archers in that
respect.

7. Friendly Fire

There are two common instances in which characters will attack members of their
own team by accident. The first is that some spells and projectile weapons (Ion
Shot comes to mind) WILL hit characters between you and the target if the caster
is below the target (Using Ion Shot, the bullet is actually created 2 or 3 steps
above the casters head). This is not reflected in the hit chance, so keep an eye
out for it. The Ion Shot in particular is also fairly wide (as opposed to Arrows
or Stones) and may hit characters standing beside it's path if it goes close
enough to them. Be especially wary of this when using Guns, as their long range
makes you particularly likely to accidentally shoot one of your own characters. 
The other is when one character with a spear is near another character and is
attacked- their spear WILL go through the two characters in that direction,
whether one is an ally or not. Likewise, a character with a whip standing 
beside an ally who is attacked with a spear will hit his ally, even though the 
whip doesn't go through to the next character. This doesn't happen very often,
but you should be aware of it. It also works on enemies, so use it to your
advantage if you can.

8. Shields as an Attack

Yes, you can attack with a shield, but they don't do much damage. They do,
however, nearly always knock the target back- good if someone is foolish enough
to be standing on the edge of a roof. Although falling damage here is not as
ludicrous as it was in Final Fantasy Tactics, this can still be used to get
pesky Knights out of your face or to get archers onto lower ground where they
won't do as much damage. This is a good way to get rid of enemies foolish enough
to stand next to a bottomless pit as well.

9. Equipping Magic

When equipping Magic, keep the element of the caster in mind. Spells of their
element will have a significant damage/success rate bonus. I suggest that you
equip Wizards or Sirens with one or two spells of their element, then a non-
elemental attack or miscellaneous spell- for example, an earth-elemental Wizard
could be equipped with Acid, Meteor, and Incubus or Acid, Meteor, and Pain. 
Likewise, later in the game when you get Dragon Magic, Warlocks do more damage 
with spells of their own element- Mute is more effective when used by a
Water-elemental character.

10. Gaining Experience

Note: The terms in this section are misleading, but I can't think of any other
semantically decent way to say this. This applies to any action done to any
character (Healing a character a level higher than you gives you the same EXP as
hitting them). The Attacker is the character using the attack and the Target is
any character affected by the attack.

The equation for EXP from attacks, as near as I can tell, is this: ((Target's
level - Attacker's level) * 15) + (random number between 1 and 10)

Any bonus above 100 points is rounded down to 100, and any attack which would
give you negative EXP is rounded up to one. The element-enhancing spells are
treated as though you were attacking yourself- in other words, you gain 1-10 EXP
for casting them. I'm not sure exactly how attacking groups works; it appears
that you may only get the expirience from attacking the strongest enemy in the 
group.

Damage from killing a target, as near as I can tell, is calculated thus:
((Target's level - Attacker's Level) * 65) + (rand. num. from 10-20)

Once again, this is between 1 and 100. Made simple, killing someone below your
level gives you 1 EXP, killing someone at your level gives you 10-20 EXP,
killing someone a level higher than you gives you 75-85 EXP, and killing anyone
higher than that gives you an instant level-up.

11. Gaining Levels

This is one of the most tedious parts of the game, but there is a way to make it
easier. Essentially, once you have at least one character stronger than the rest
of your army, you want to go into training and divide your army into two teams-
high-level and low-level. Clerics should go on the high-level team (Just because
they can't kill anyone doesn't mean they can't get EXP from healing higher-level
characters). Then, ensure that the low-level team has enough of an advantage in
numbers to defeat the high-level team, then set both sides to CPU control.
Because of the combination of benefits that you get from wounding and killing
enemy soldiers, you will nearly always get a level up from killing someone on
the other team. Furthermore, the only involvement you need to have in the game
is to occasionally glance at the screen to make sure a spell quote hasn't come
up- the rest is done automatically. My suggestion is to stay in the same room as
the Playstation and do something else, occasionally glancing at the screen to
ensure the lack of spell quotes (I generally read during the training battles- I
recommend the original Dune by Frank Herbert, the Hyperion series by Dan
Simmons, Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., the first Dragonlance trilogy by
Margaret Wies and Tracy Hickman, or the Death Gate Cycle by the same).

The one problem with this is that you will usually end up with and odd man out
who's a level behind everyone else- this is fairly easy to fix. Give him a non-
counterable attack of some sort (I keep a spear on hand at all times for just
this purpose), and then set him against a character with weak defense, such as a
Wizard or Cleric, setting both teams to player control. As you control both
characters, it will be easy to simply hit the weak character in the back until
they die and give you the 75+ EXP.

When gaining levels for a new character, things get a little trickier. Although
you will gain levels for every hit for a while, you may have only a 5% chance of
hitting a character, even in the back. I generally do this by giving the level-
gaining character a spear and using an exceptionally un-agile character (Knights
work well here) as their "fencing dummy", removing ALL their equipment. If you
still have a low chance of hitting them, try having a Witch-type character Stun
or Petrify them. If you have to get a whole group of characters, you can expand 
this somewhat- put them on a computer-controlled team against a group of your
characters who are up to speed, and then use a Witch-type character to petrify
your high-level group while the low-level fighters pound away at them. This'll 
bring them up from level 1 quickly when the rest of your army is around level 25
or above.

Also, certain classes have abilities which can be used to gain levels quickly
while they're alone. Any character who can use the Charge spell, for example,
can cast it on higher-level characters repeatedly to gain EXP quickly. The
healer-type classes can use Cure on higher-level characters to gain a couple EXP
per round. Ninja (and pretty much anyone else capable of using attack magic) can
use low-cost attack spells to attack enemies.

12. Persuading Enemies

Persuading enemies allows you to get good equipment and characters into your
party, and also can allow you to recruit some special classes which are
otherwise very difficult to get (Mainly Liches and Hydras). The real trick to
persuasion is that you have to reduce the enemy to uner 20 HP (under 10 is even
better) and then get behind them. This will give you a fairly high chance of
persuading them. The enemy's attitude (Press select on their name) also figures
into this significantly. You can persuade enemies in a story battle, but you
cannot persuade the leader(s).

13. Cannon Fodder

Sending a single unit into a large group of enemies is a very useful strategy
for giving yourself a little extra time to prepare or some confusion to take
advantage of. Of course, this could get a little expensive using normal troops. 
I find that Ghosts are ideal for this purpose- although they're not as quick as
they could be, they can teleport and they're undead (Keep in mind that there are
very rarely- if ever- enemies wielding the Exorcisim spell). Although I don't
recommend equipping your Ghost with anything very heavy (They're slow enough 
already), giving them a sword will give them at least some counterattack damage, 
even if it's not that serious.

14. SnapShot Weapons

These are by far the most powerful weapons in the game. They are made by having
any magic-user cast SnapShot (A spell avialable on the lower levels of Hell's
Gate) on himself- the spell will be consumed and they will be permanantly lost,
but they will leave a sword behind. These swords have the same element as the
character who originally did, and raise your abilities by half of their
statistics (For example, if you snapshot a character with 100 STR, than the
sword created will give you +50 STR). They are also always one-handed and have
10 WT- a very good deal. You can easily create insanely powerful weapons by
hiring a soldier, having him level up through the techniques described above
until they are at sixth level or so, then changing them into a Berzerker and
having them get up to speed with the rest of your army. Turn them into a
Wizard, SnapShot them, and you now have an insanely powerful weapon; the first
time I did this, I was at level 28, and got a sword with almost +125 STR.

15. Necro/Rettisue

Once you have both the Necro and Rettisue spells, there's yet another trick for
producing ludicrously powerful characters. It's relativley simple, too: let a
character die, then revive them as an undead with Necro. If you then cast
Rettisue on them, they will be revived as a Solider or Amazon with the same
statistics- at level 1! Bring them back up to the same level as the rest of
your party in training and then they'll have ludicrously high statistics.

16. Supercharging

While we're on the subject of characters with ludicrously high statistics, if
you've got a lot of time on your hands, there's another way to bring characters
up to insanely high levels with ease. If you set two healer-type characters
(Anyone who's been a wizard for most of the game and can use the Heal spell)
against each other (preferably under CPU control) and remove ALL of thier
equipment except for the Heal spell, they'll fight pretty much indefinitley-
gaining 1-5 EXP each move. If you set this up and walk away, you'll find that
they each gain about 1 level every five minutes (barring spell quotes). As I
stated, they'll fight pretty much indefinitley when left alone- meaning that you
can easily get them up to several times your party's level and then use them to
bring the rest of your army up using the methods described earlier.

Now, you're probably thinking to yourself: "Uhh, Seig, didn't you say that
enemies are usually around your character's levels? What good does this really
do me?" Well, the thing is this: While enemies are about the same level as your
army on average, they also "max out" at a certain level (which varies). The
absolute maximum is around level 30- meaning that if your army is at level 50,
you still have a 20-level advantage over them. Although I recommend playing the
game the "right" way, if you really feel the need to massacre everyone, this is
the way to go.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------- Part III: Battle Strategies ---------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

I have covered all of the story battles that I have reached here in as much
detail as possible. Be forewarned that the Story Updates contain many spoilers.
The leader in any particular battle is listed first, and important story
characters are listed in a Name (Class) format, as are guests. Treasures are
listed in an Item Name (Character carrying it) format; normal equipment (IE,
items that you get randomly and can buy at that point in the game) is not
listed, although buyable equipment which appears later in the game is.

**** A note about the Tresure section: Admittedly, I haven't played many of
these stages in a while, so the Treasure listings are probably incorrect in
several places. Please EMail me with any corrections you have- there are some 
things that I know you win, but do not remember where (IE, the Revivfy spell in 
Chapter 2C)- these will be added in the next version.

                            ---- Chapter 1 ----
            ---- Are you telling me to stain my hands? ----

Story Update: Denim, Vice, and Kachua have heard that Lans, the leader of the
Dark Knights who kidnapped their father, is coming through Griate City, and
they hope to surprise and kill him.

Griate City

Enemies: Lans (Paladin), Warren (Lord Mancer), Canopus (Eagleman), Guildus
     (White Knight), Mildain (White Knight)
Guests: Vice (Soldier), Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: None

This is the first battle of the game. You will not get to attack the enemies, as
you do not have time to get close enough- after you move, Vice will move and
then the battle will end with a conversation between you and Lans.

Story Update: Lans, who is not the Dark Knight Lans but a Paladin exiled from
neighboring Zenobia, is nice enough not to have his troop whup your asses and
instead joins you to rescue the captive Duke Ronway. Those few lucky people who
have played the original Ogre Battle will recognize Lans and his homeland.

Armorkia Castle Enterance

Enemies: Berzerker, Soldiers, Amazons
Guests:Lans (Paladin), Warren (Lord Mancer), Canopus (Eagleman), Guildus
     (White Knight), Mildain (White Knight), Vice*, Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: None
     (* Since Vice's class can be changed, I have not listed any specific class
          for him)

Lans and company will handle this battle for you- just sit back and listen to
their advice as they demolish the enemies.

Armorkia Castle

Enemies: Knight, Soldiers, Amazons
Guests:Lans (Paladin), Warren (Lord Mancer), Canopus (Eagleman), Guildus
     (White Knight), Mildain (White Knight), Vice, Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: None

Another automated battle. Sit back and enjoy the show. Afterwards, Duke Ronway
will give you some troops and send you to Griate City to save Leonard.

Story Update: Now rescued, Duke Ronway hires Lans and his troop to train his
army, sending Denim, Vice, Kachua, and their army (which you can name) to aid
the knight Leonard, who has gone to Krizar to kill the Necromancer Nybbas.

Tanmas Hill:

Enemies: Wizard, Soldiers, Amazons
Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: None

This is the first real battle and one of the harder ones, since you are just
beginning and don't know much about the battle system. Your entire army should
be at second level (Except for Kachua, who you cannot build up) before you
attempt this. Canopus will join at the beginning of the battle as a guest and
join permanently at the end. Keep your soldiers in groups to fight; at this
point, numbers are the best protection against enemy attacks. Do not attack the
Wizard until you have defeated most or all of the enemies, as he is a
surprisingly powerful character and can inflict unexpected amounts of damage in
hand-to-hand combat. You may well lose one or two characters in this battle;
don't worry about it too much, as you can hire more at this stage in the game
without having to train them exceptional amounts. Be sure that you don't lose
Canopus- he's a unique character and a very good one in later battles. He joins
you permanently at the end of the battle.

Krizar City

Enemies: Witch, Soldiers, Skeletons, Ghost
Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: None

As you enter this battle, Presance is assaulting a group of Undead with his
Exorcism magic- which is all well and good until the leader shows up and summons
some more. While only Presance can destroy the undead, your characters can
temporarily kill them with a minimum of effort. Once again, stay in groups. Your
first order of business is to save Presance, who is a useful character and will
join you after the battle. He may be able to destroy some of the Undead hanging
around, but after you ensure his  safety, your main concern is the living
enemies and the Witch. Once you kill the Witch, Presance joins your party and
any remaining undead disintegrate. On a side note, I love the music in this
battle.

Story Update: After this battle, you will have a short conversation with the
captive Leonard. It seems that Nybbas has escaped to an abandoned fort to the
south. You are given the choice of whether to attack Nybbas with your army or to
return to Amorika for reinforcements. If you agree, Leonard will join you as a
guest and will allow his two surviving troops, an archer and a knight, to join
you permanently, and you will go to the next battle. Otherwise, you will simply
skip it.

Kadoriga Fort

Enemies: Nybbas (Necromancer), Soldiers, Undead
Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: None

Nybbas is holed up in an abandoned fort with a small group of Undead and some
living enemies- this battle is actually fairly easy. Presance can destroy any
undead who are being particularly pesky, but your main goal here is to kill
Nybbas. He will teleport away when he is in serious danger, ending the battle. I
suggest that you mainly ignore the undead and concentrate on defeating him here.
Most of my other advice still holds.

Story Update: After this battle, you will return to Amorika for your next
mission. Your characters should be on level 4 by this point. Duke Ronway will
give you your next task: to travel to Fiduc Castle and get the Dark Knights to
sign a non-intervention treaty in the upcoming war with Gargastan.

Gruborza Plains

Enemies: Berserker, Soldier(2), Wizard, Amazon, Cleric
Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: None

The enemies here are pretty weak- but then again, so is your army. Stay
together and take your time to defeat the enemies. The Berserker is proably a
couple levels higher than your characters, so it might be wise to have Leonard
fight him if possible. Be aware that the Amazon in this battle does have a bow-
her attacks are long range, if somewhat weak. Even if you take a pounding here, 
you're at a low enough level that you can probably replace any standard troops 
fairly easily.

Rime City

Enemies: Knight, Dragon, Soldiers, Amazons, Witch
Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess), Sisteena (Valkryie)
Treasure: None

As you enter this city, a mysterious woman is being attacked by a unit from the
Valerian army. You are given the choice to save her (I have never tried
answering "no" here, but I strongly suspect that it's a Communist Choice). This
is a standard "kill the leader" level- the Dragon may cause a little trouble,
but you shouldn't have too much difficulty eliminating the enemies. Like in the
earlier battle where you met Presance, your first priority is to ensure that
Sisteena- the mystery woman- survives. Killing the Dragon first is probably a
good idea, and since you're actually capable of killing all the enemies for a
change, you should do so for the experience. Beyond that, there's not much you
have to do here beyond the usual. Although there is a Witch here, she's weak
enough that her single spell- Stun- very rarely works, and only targets one
character, so don't worry too much about her. There is one small secret in this
battle- if you burn the grass off of the one-square island to the left of where
you start and move onto it, you will find a hidden treasure. What you find is
random, but you can get some decent items for this point in the game, such as
Harps or the Vitalize spell.

Story Update: Sisteena is a member of the Valeria Liberation Front. This is
completely unimportant for the rest of this chapter, but keep it in mind in the
future. There is no battle at Fiduc Castle; you meet the Dark Knight Lans and
speak with him, and he agrees to sign the non-intervention treaty and sends you
on your way with a lame-ass excuse for why he torched your hometown. Back at
Armorkia, Duke Ronway sends you on a mission to travel to Baramus and encourage
the residents- currently slave labor for the Gargastans- to revolt. Once again,
Leonard will travel with you on this mission. You should spend the effort to get
up to level 6 at this point, and get better classes for your characters.

Bordo Lakeside

Enemies: Knight, Soldier (3), Amazon (2), Wizard, Archer
Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: Matou Claw (Amazon)

This is a rather difficult battle. Do not be lured into the water, as fighting
in the marsh will usually result in your being defeated with ease. The enemies
also have the high ground here, making Archers relatively weak. I found that the
best strategy was to take the dry and relatively high ground on the center of
the upper-right side of the battlefield and hold that position. This way, you
avoid having to fight in the marsh. Of course, if most of your characters are
water-elemental, you may want to stay in the marshes to gain the bonus to your
damage you get there. Incidentally, one of the Amazons in this area carries a
Matou Claw- get this if it's at all possible. The Matou Claw gives you a STR
bonus of 24, making it the most powerful weapon you will find for quite a while.

Zodo Marsh

Enemies: Ganb (Beast Man), Gryphon (2), Lizard Man (3), Witch, Wizard
Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: None

This is surprisingly easy after the last battle. The Gryphons are not as tough
as they seem, and the Beast Man will retreat as soon as you do serious damage to
one of them. Stay where you start until one of the Gryphons gets close to you,
then throw everything you have at it. You cannot kill the Beast Man for his whip
(He'll just retreat), so don't bother trying.

Story Update: Denim has breached the defenses and reached Fiduc. You should be
level seven or eight by now.

Baramus part 1

Enemies: Soldier (8)
Guests: Vice, Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: None

Although the soldiers here are probably a level higher than you, this is a
fairly easy battle- you have the high ground and they aren't very well-equipped.
A couple may cause trouble since they have Bows, but altogether this is just a
warm up. Since this is a two-part battle, be sure to get your characters as
close to fully healed as possible before finishing off the last soldier (I
suggest putting him to sleep with Incubus or Stunning him if you have Stun).
Take two healers here in addition to Kachua to make life easier.

Story Update: Even after you defeat the guards, the people of Baramus are
reluctant to rebel. Duke Ronway, however, expected this, and Leonard tells you
that he is under orders to kill the populace and blame the Gargastans. You are
now given a choice which will dramatically affect the remainder of the game:
Whether to follow orders and eliminate the populace, or do the right thing and
refuse to. Your character's alignment will change depending on your choice- if
you go with your orders, it will become L, and if you refuse, it will become C.
I should note here that these alignments are not what you'd expect: Lawful does
not mean "good", it just means that you tend to do what you're told, and Chaotic
does not mean "evil", it means that you value Freedom more than the law. Of
course, the character classes are a little odd in this particular- if you choose
to be merciful now, you can become a Terror Knight later. Go figure.

Baramus part 2

Enemies: Knight, Berzerker (2), Archer (2), Cleric/Witch*, Wizard
     (*- this varies depending on which choice you made earlier; if you made the
          Lawful choice, she's a Cleric, otherwise she's a Witch.)
Guests: Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: Clear Staff (Cleric/Witch), Life Staff (Wizard), Great Bow(2, Archers)

This battle is a very annoying one (It only occurs if you choose not to follow
orders)- although the enemies are most likely on the same level as your party,
you're probably still hurting from the last big fight, the enemies have the high
ground, and they have better equipment than you do. The first order of business
in this battle is to save, so that you won't have to do the last fight again
should you lose anyone here. After that, I suggest that you have Canopus fly up
as a diversion while the rest of your party makes it's way up the stairs,
otherwise the enemy Archers will demolish you. Canopus will also most likely be
able to do serious damage to a few enemies- especially if he still has his
Spear, which allows him a two-square attack. If he can kill one of the Archers
or the Witch, that's good, too. As you have probably gathered, the Archers are
the most serious threat here- they have the high ground and they have powerful
Great Bows. The Wizard is also a priority, since his Life staff can heal 50
points of damage and doesn't cost MP. The good thing about this battle is that
if you do manage to get some of the items held by these enemies, you will have
good equipment for most of the next chapter- the haul consists of Clear and Life
Staffs and two Great Bows.

                           ---- Chapter 2L ----
                      --- Nobody Should Blame Me ---

Story Update: The Walsta Liberation Army, upon hearing of the massacre at
Baramus, unite and grow in power- however, Vice travels into Gargastan and
spreads the news that Duke Ronway was actually responsible for the massacre. The
end result of this is that both the Walsta Liberation Army and the Gargastan
army gain significantly in power. The Walsta Liberation Army needs to move
against Gargastan quickly, before the truth about the Baramus massacre spreads,
but they don't have enough manpower- luckily, as always, Duke Ronway had a plan.
He will use Denim as a decoy to trick the Gargastan forces into splitting their
army by faking an assault through Baramus. As the chapter opens, Denim's unit is
moving into Baramus...

Baramus City

Enemies: Gryphon(2), Thunder Dragon, Hawk Man (3), Wizard
Guests: Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: None

This battle is pretty easy- although the enemies have quite a few flying units,
you have the high ground. If you bring in a couple archers backed up by a couple
tough fighters, you shouldn't have too much trouble. Be forewarned, however,
that the Thunder Dragon which begins right near you can take a lot more
punishment than the other enemy characters- you'll need to use a couple
characters to defeat it quickly. The main thing you have to do here is be sure
you can get a couple archers onto the roof of the tall building located down
from where you start- that's an excellent vantage point to attack from. You do 
have to kill all the enemies here, so try to grab the Crossbow wielded by one of
the Hawk Men when you do.

Zodo Marsh

Enemies: Wizard, Hawk Man (2), Archer (2), Solider (2), Octopus
Guests: Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: None

If you're ready for this battle, it's also fairly easy. The major thing you need
to know is that all of the enemies (well, except the Octopus) come equipped with
bows. You should make sure, therefore, that most of your characters have
long-range attacks or have either flying or teleportaion (Canopus, Gryphons,
Hawk Men, Ghosts, etc.). Ghosts are excellent for luring enemies into postions
where they're easy for you to attack. If you're having a tough time, you can go
directly for the Wizard, but otherwise I'd suggest that you kill as may of the
misc. characters as possible- the Great Bows they carry are fairly powerful.

Ashton City

Enemies: Cleric, Golem, Fire Dragon, Knight (3), Witch (3)
Guests: Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: None

Once again, you start with the high ground, which makes your life easier if
you've brought any bow-wielders with you. The first order of business here is to
kill the Witch who has Charm- she can cause trouble for you if you're not
careful. The Knights here are also fairly dangerous- although they're
indavidually pretty weak, they all have fairly high attack and they tend to
attack in groups. None of the enemies have any particularly powerful items, so
you may be best off just to send a few flying units after the Cleric and
dispatch her as quickly as possible.

Story Update: As he leaves Ashton, Denim is attacked by a group under the
command of Aloser- the sister of one of the innocents at Baramus.

Ashton City

Enemies: Aloser (Archer), Valkyrie (3), Hawk man (2), Wizard, Cleric, Knight
Guests: Kachua (High Preistess)
Treasure: None

This is one of the tougher battles so far- Aloser is an excellent shot with her
bow, a couple levels higher than you, and her army has the high ground. My
suggestion is to use flying units to attack the enemies on her army with bows
and long-range attacks (Cockitraices work well here, since they can petrify
targets) while the rest of your army takes cover and waits for her to get close
enough to attack. She will usually get close without much backup- at which point
you should throw everything you have at her and any companions she has. If you
have an undead party member you can send on a suicide attack at the beginning of
the battle, that helps by giving you some more time before you have to deal with
Aloser.

Story Update: Aloser reveals that the Walsta Liberation Army was defeated at
Swanzi Forest, leaving Denim without support- he decides to return to Amorika
via the sea, passing through Kadoriga Fort on the way, where he meets a
mysterious man under attack by a group of fighters...