FE7 Ironman part 2
Previously we lost Seth and Kent to my extraordinary tactical prowess, which ended up with me needing to take a break. Now it is the time to resume this mess of a run 😐.
Chapter 9.
In this chapter we obtain Wallace – an Armor Knight, who is instantly ready for promotion. In Lyn normal mode, you are forced to promote this guy. In my playthrough, since the master plan to obtain a busted Paladin failed, I am kinda forced to promote this guy, since I can't transfer the Hero's Crest into the Hector mode. Pain. Furthermore, since I've lost my cavaliers, I will have to actually use Wallace for progress, which sucks, cause he is not a mounted unit – ergo moves slowly.
I am forced to move annoyingly slowly in this chapter to properly protect my units, because there is a solid amount of really, really annoying reinforcements combined with fog of war. Ugh. And by annoyingly slowly, I pretty much just turtle at the start, with Wallace soloing the northern reinforcements, and rest of the army handling the southern flank. After this initial wave I begin my offensive on turn 6, cleaning up the remaining enemies and advancing towards the boss.
The boss has 1-2 range weapons – Javelin and Hand Axe, and since he has 10 Str, he hits like a truck, while taking little damage thanks to his 10 Def. If only I still had Sain... Instead, I pretty much have to bring Wallace into the fray to weaken the boss, then I finally finish the last hitpoint of his with Lancereaver wielded by Lyn for a more poetic finish and a little bit more potential survivability for her in the Hector mode. She now has 7 Str at level 10, which is bit disappointing to be honest – but not below average. Florina though, got to 8 Str on this map while still on level 6, which is pretty great.
At the end of this chapter, I have the following units: Lyn (lv10), Florina (lv6), Wil (lv3), Dorcas (lv5), Serra (lv3), Erk (lv1), Rath (lv8), Matthew (lv2), Lucius (lv5), Nils (lv3), Wallace (lv1 pr.)
“Dead” units: Kent, Sain.
Chapter 10
It is time for the finale of the Lyn mode – the battle against Lundgren.
This map has a gimmick where on some turns there is rain, during which all units move so slowly that you wonder what's even the point of playing the game.
There is one interesting thing here – an Energy Ring from the village, letting you get a permanent +2 to either Str or Mgc, depending on the class. The question is – who the fuck do I use this ring on? If Sain was still here, he would be an obvious candidate, as pumping powerful units full of drugs stat boosters is really great in this game, but now I don't have a clearly good option. I decide to spend the ring on Florina, as having a solid flyer for the early Hector mode sounds like a really good idea to be honest.
Florina got another +1 Str on level up, making her pretty darn formidable now.
Wallace together with Lucius killed Lundgren, and Lyn comes in to seize the castle gate and finish the chapter... and the entire Lyn mode part of the game.
The following units will retain their stats for Hector mode: Lyn (lv10), Florina (lv7), Wil (lv3), Dorcas (lv5), Serra (lv4), Erk (lv1), Rath (lv8), Matthew (lv2), Lucius (lv6), Nils/Ninian (lv5), Wallace (lv2 pr.)
“Dead” units: Kent, Sain.
Chapter 11
It is time to start Hector Hard Mode – where the game starts for real now. And let's be honest, I am going into this chapter practically blind. The fact that I have no vulnearies scares me here. I quickly overextend Matthew, and end up with him dead. That will certainly have annoying ripple effects, since I will have no access to a thief for quite a few chapters. I lose a Red Gem, which sucks a bit, but oh well.
And then I miscalcuate and die just before I can use a dropped vulneary.
I think that definitely counts as a skill issue.
What now?
So, this means I will hav e to go through a yet another attempt at this Ironman challenge. I am considering two options here – go through Lyn mode once fucking again, or decide “fuck it” and discard the useful Lyn mode bonuses.
I have decided to rush through Lyn mode once again, because I want to have ultra strong Sain as Paladin – however, writing the full recap here yet again would be honestly pointless, so a shortened version is all what I will do.
Lyn mode quick recap
So, again, main focus on training Sain with some exp going to Florina and Lucius, while making sure to not die to a 1% crit this time. I got Sain to level 15 before promoting him to a Paladin – this will give me a busted early game unit for the HHM, unless I will botch things yet again 😂. Florina didn't really get any Str, however I still decide to use an Energy Ring on her, since she is still a valuable flying unit. I didn't use Lyn much this time, so she basically exists to be benched now, since using her in HHM without extra Lyn mode levels is pain.
Forgot to take note of the levels of each unit, but the important ones are Sain at level 1 promoted, Florina at level 7, Lyn at level 4, and I think that's it?
Chapter 11 once more
Okay, now that I know how this chapter works, I have to figure out a way to get vulnearies ASAP. I ignore the chest with the Red Gem for survival reasons, and I take the much safer top route at the start. And Hector dies once more because he missed a 75% (which is in practice 87.5%) chance to hit an archer like 10 times in a row. Yay.
At this point I think there is no point going through Lyn mode again, and again, and again... I can get through it very consistently, to the point that I don't want to waste time considering how inconsistent this chapter is. So I decide to cheat the ironman rules and repeat the chapter again and again until I won't get fucked by accuracy rolls.
Is my attempt illegitimate now? Yes. Do I care? No. I am here to see janky consequences of my actions, not
Two attempts later...
Finally Hector decided that not missing Archers is a good idea. I accidentally estabilish a steal loop, and I decide to use this opportunity to grind Matthew way too much. I grind him to level 13 and then a little bit more, when I decide that I am already losing my mind, so I just stop.
Eventually, after somewhere around 100 turns, I obtain the remaining vulnearies and rout the remaining enemies.
Current army: Hector (lv4), Matthew (lv13)
Chapter 12
Time for more, erm, traditional Fire Emblem gameplay now, not an obscene puzzle that was the previous chapter 🥴. We get a shitton of units from Eliwood's side of the map – Eliwood the Lord (duh), Marcus the Paladin, Rebecca the Archer, Lowen the Cavalier, Bartre the Fighter, and a familiar face – Dorcas the Fighter. We also get Oswin the Knight and Serra the Cleric – another familiar face!
Out of these units, we will certainly want to use Marcus and Dorcas. The first one is a powerful prepromote, and Dorcas has some exp under his belt.
The question is, how do we approach this map in the first place? The biggest threat are the Pegasus Knights – a relatively obscene amount of flyers at this stage of the game, which forces me onto defensive for now. Here I very much see that levelling up Matthew paid off greatly, cause he can now hold the line against flyers on this map... Yet I still misplay and lose Serra, which will make things way more difficult until I hopefully get Priscilla. Yay.
When there is only one passive enemy left, I dawdle a bit to get a solid amount of vulnearies for everyone, as well as an extra Iron Axe for Hector.
Current army: Hector (lv5), Matthew (lv14), Eliwood (lv1), Marcus(lv1 pr.), Rebecca (lv1), Lowen (lv2), Bartre (lv2), Oswin (lv9), Dorcas (lv6)
Deaths: Serra
Chapter 13
The army is no longer split in two, which makes things way, way easier. The Pegasus Knights are still scary, but are manageable now. I am also relying a lot on Marcus to push through.
I can recruit Guy here by talking to him with Matthew, but it does pose a risk due to him wielding a Killing Edge. I manage to do it correctly though without any deaths.
I do move way too slowly to rescue the second village on the map, losing access to a gaiden chapter – however, my main focus now is to stabilize.
Current army: Hector (lv7), Matthew (lv15), Eliwood (lv1), Marcus (lv2 pr.), Rebecca (lv1), Lowen (lv2), Bartre (lv2), Oswin (lv9), Dorcas (lv6), Guy (lv3)
Deaths: Serra
Chapter 14
Finally, the battle preparations screen. I can now safely bench Eliwood so I won't have this, to put it bluntly, liability to worry about.
I start the chapter with two problems. Problem number 1 – I have to get to bottom village ASAP, or otherwise I will be without a staff user for way longer than I am comfortable with. Problem number 2 – I will have to deal with an entire regiment of enemies attacking me from the back.
Problem number 2 is the easier one to solve – I will let Oswin deal with these five units, making sure beforehand that he has some vulnearies. I will also leave Bartre at the back to speed up killing enemies.
To solve problem 1, I will need to formulate a proper attack plan to get to the village in time. There is plenty of red units on the way, with swords, bows and spears, and tanking it all will be a challenge... Except that Hector has 13 def now, so he can take no damage here now. After I've checked all enemy units, it seems like Hector can almost solo this map, but still.
I try to rush in and lose Dorcas, cause apparently he was too good at killing enemies, and he couldn't dodge for shit. I predictably fail to recruit Erk, and then I lose Bartre due to a slight miscalculation. I am certainly a competent Fire Emblem player.
Other than that, the big problem I have is that Wolf Beil, the personal weapon of Hector, is almost wrecked at this point.
Current army: Hector (lv9), Matthew (lv15), Marcus (lv2 pr.), Rebecca (lv2), Lowen (lv4), Oswin (lv11), Guy (lv3)
Benched: Eliwood
Deaths: Serra, Dorcas, Erk, Bartre
Chapter 15
A random-ass defend the throne chapter that for some reason is a Hector mode exclusive. Sealen, the boss of the map can drop a Dragonshield, allowing me to potentially boost defense of one of my units by 2, however getting to him can be tricky. The chests contain a Silver Axe and a Mend staff, both pretty worthwhile to get. However, it is tempting to just let Hector turtle forever and alone and finish the map this way, since most enemies can barely scratch him, especially with the throne's +2 Def bonus. I hide Guy and Rebecca in the bench and start to wonder about Priscilla's safety. However, I decide that there is no point in discarding these heals, with how strained my army already is.
After a single turn I realize that going for these chests is a lost cause, though.
After a few turns I am forced to sacrifice Lowen, and ultimately I realize that the side objectives of this map are frankly impossible in the current state of my army. I am now extremely glad that I've put the effort to level up Matthew with the steal loop cheese, cause he is now powerful enough to singlehandedly keep up with all the enemies at the current stage of the game.
Priscilla sadly only consumed a zillion vulnearies, which is sad. I make a mistake by leaving Marcus with sword instead of lance equipped, and I lose him along with several powerful weapons.
I should have just tanked everything with Hector.
Current remains of the army: Hector (lv10), Matthew (lv16), Rebecca (lv2), Oswin (lv12), Guy (lv3), Priscilla (lv3)
Benched: Eliwood
Deaths: Serra, Dorcas, Erk, Bartre, Lowen, Marcus
Chapter 16
A huge issue now is that I am running out of weapons. I need swords, I need lances, and most importantly I need axes. The fact is though that I get a few returning faces now – Lyn (oh no), Sain (oh fucking yes), Kent (fine), Florina (how the fuck she'll even stay alive?), Wil (okay sure I guess he exists). The only reason I am not fielding Guy for example is the fact that I can't give him a weapon to wield.
I realize that I fucked up Lyn mode finances, so I can't stock up on weapons just yet. I sell Wil's Iron Bow to buy an Iron Axe that I will eventually pass to Hector, and rush forward to rendevouz the armies... with exception of Wil, who pretty much has to function as a fodder at this point, baiting enemy flyers. However, he miracolously survives the initial onslaught.
Current army: Hector (lv12), Matthew (lv17), Rebecca (lv2), Oswin (lv13), Priscilla (lv4), Lyn (lv5), Florina (lv8), Kent (lv6), Sain (lv2 pr.), Wil (lv3)
Benched: Eliwood, Guy
Deaths: Serra, Dorcas, Erk, Bartre, Lowen, Marcus
Time for a break
I feel like I have finally equalized. Sure, I've lost Marcus and a shitton of weapons, but at this point I finally have a solid army that can take enemies on, provided I won't hose myself completely by running out of weapons, which seems increasingly likely.