Zodi Plays: Tactics Ogre The Knight of Lodis (Crime Island Adventure)

[Aeson]

Her class is SHAMAN not necromancer. Its an important difference.

Only if 'necromancer' has a specific meaning within the game or perhaps the setting, and if I recall correctly we haven't yet seen anyone with an explicit 'necromancer' class. Otherwise, a necromancer is anyone who practices necromancy. Euphaire seems to have learned something about Gaston from the spirits of the dead, which is necromancy in the classical sense, and is also a spellcaster who is providing magical support to and at least appears to be leading a group of undead warriors, which tends to be an indicator that someone is a necromancer in the sense more commonly used in modern works.

[LansXero]

Only if 'necromancer' has a specific meaning within the game or perhaps the setting, and if I recall correctly we haven't yet seen anyone with an explicit 'necromancer' class. Otherwise, a necromancer is anyone who practices necromancy. Euphaire seems to have learned something about Gaston from the spirits of the dead, which is necromancy in the classical sense, and is also a spellcaster who is providing magical support to and at least appears to be leading a group of undead warriors, which tends to be an indicator that someone is a necromancer in the sense more commonly used in modern works.

Both terms are relevant in the context of the setting.

[LaZodiac]

Hey, I know this is strange, but what if...we did another Lodis. Just for the hell of it.

Zodi Plays: Tactics Ogre The Knight of Lodis [17] Morale Effects

Video Length: 26:32

In this episode, we set off to Vespa once more to continue the plot! At Vespa, we're attacked by Surgat, a recurring random old man surrounded by beasts. He holds no allegiances other than animal, and will do us a violence because someone paid them. This fight is a little tricky since his beast whip, plus his being a Beast Tamer, means all of his monsters within three tiles of him are getting +2 to morale. That's pretty significant!

Otherwise that's it. There's very little to talk about in this one. After we beat it we get a strange scene of Rictor finding a mysterious white haired girl, and chasing after her. Calling out her name; Malicia. That's foreboding.

Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time!

------

It occurs to me that there is an emblem on Gaston (and Ivanna) that I may have neglected to mention. I don't recall if I have or not!

Berserk: You get this bad boy if you bring an enemy down from max hp to dead in one go! I got it on Ivanna by mistake, and on Gaston semi by purpose, thanks to using Glycinia during training. All it does is modify your biorhythm gauge, and honestly given how that's not even remotely on screen and we have no way of testing it's effects, that basically means nothing! It probably does something, but it's gonna be so minuscule I doubt we could even calculate it. Still though, it's a fancy red skull shaped badge pinned to our coat, and that's cool.

[jindra34]

Berserk does have a known effect: It sets the biorythm cycle time to 30 days.

Also oh dear, cockatrices, bad news: They petrify. Good news: Its only 25%. Not the best odds in the game.

Also if you aren't worried about healing your own party and the boss is being derp like Surgat; Blue could always heal the boss for a good chunk of exp. But yes this battle is one of the few where PLAN SCATTER is actually good.

[LaZodiac]

Berserk does have a known effect: It sets the biorythm cycle time to 30 days.

Also oh dear, cockatrices, bad news: They petrify. Good news: Its only 25%. Not the best odds in the game.

Also if you aren't worried about healing your own party and the boss is being derp like Surgat; Blue could always heal the boss for a good chunk of exp. But yes this battle is one of the few where PLAN SCATTER is actually good.

Yeah I forgot which biorhythm effect Berserk did, but since we can't see biorhythm it's hard to quantify what "the cycle time is set to 30 days" means, I think?

[jindra34]

Yeah I forgot which biorhythm effect Berserk did, but since we can't see biorhythm it's hard to quantify what "the cycle time is set to 30 days" means, I think?

You kinda can, I think if you click on the characters name you'll get a little fortune statement. That is your biorythm (kinda).

[DataNinja]

We back to the living yet?

I'm just realizing that this is the first mission that "I'm" not in. ...maybe if I have some time I'll go back and just do a count of how many times people have been involved in missions (and then probably normalize them, too, based on how many they've existed for.)

...at first I thought "Naja Forest" read "Ninja Forest". Now I'm mildly disappointed.

Malicia… didn't we hear that name before, as one of the people working for whatsisname that somehow captured Gaston earlier?

Spoiler: Army

Show

Unit	Kills
Gaston	22
Deneb	12
DataNinja	10
Blue	12
Celestine	10
Trobby	5
Vecna	12
Ivanna	4
Glycinia	0
Terepat	2
Orson	2
Deme	2
Eleanor	0
Pitt	0
Euphaire	0
Friendly Fire: 5	Whoops, An Object Got In The Way: 12

[Ninja_Prawn]

So, question: can you wake a sleeping ally with friendly fire? If you do, can they act on the same turn? Because you had two good opportunities to do that today (stab through the cockatrice into Terepat with a spear, bonk him with Blue's staff).

Nice shield bash kill!

Spoiler: Style Points

Show

Unit	Counter Kills	Power Naps	Shield Bash Kills
Gaston	4	0	0
Allos (retired)	1	0	0
Blue	0	0	1
Celestine	0	3	1
DataNinja	1	0	0
Deme	1	0	0
Deneb	0	0	1
Flauros (retired)	0	0	0
Glycinia	0	0	0
Ivanna	1	0	0
Kamui (retired)	0	0	0
Thelma (retired)	0	0	0
Terepat	0	0	0
Trobby	0	0	0
Vecna (formerly Leon)	0	0	0

[DataNinja]

So, question: can you wake a sleeping ally with friendly fire? If you do, can they act on the same turn? Because you had two good opportunities to do that today (stab through the cockatrice into Terepat with a spear, bonk him with Blue's staff).

Given how the cleric heal stuff worked for healing stuns or whatever it was, I presume it'll eat up the turn.
Because it's the most frustrating way for it to work.

[LaZodiac]

Episode ever so slightly late due to DST being awful.

Zodi Play: Tactics Ogre The Knight of Lodis [18] Elrik

Video Length: 31:11

In this exciting episode, we make our way over to Belleza, wherein we meet Elrik. He's Ephaire's dad, and thinks Ephaire is still possessed by her mom! So now it's time to murder us all to soothe her spirit! Elrik is a Summoner, which is to say he's a reference to regular Ogre Battle's second primary magic using unit, the Dollmaster. They don't actually use their dolls in any particular way in Ogre Battle proper, but here he has the unique ability to summon a "golem" to hit someone. It's a tricky ability I'll show off later. He's also got on Fenrir, the ice element summon! The only other thing of note on this map is that there is a ninja with Warp Shoes, which we want! Warp Shoes let the wearer teleport, which as you can imagine is a super important thing. The only issue is deciding who to put them on...

We put the blade to Elrik and kill his dumb ass...which of course means we recruit him to his army, after some lovely talk about how undead are evil and not to be used at all. Father and daughter have been reunited! And with that...Elrik and Euphaire are now done with their plot and have literally not one single thing left to contribute, beyond helping us fight. I realize that, as optional units, this makes sense. You shouldn't build your plot to assume you have optional units...but, I mean...why even have them in the first place? Not for nothin', but Eleanor could have Energy Transfer and that'd make sense, and having a special unit to reference the Doll Master does MAKE SENSE, but...these two have a lot of gravitas thrown their way, and ultimately they're just two randos we come across. It's weird. And really it's not that I don't MIND being given two really powerful spellcaster units, it's just...weird, I guess. It's another example of how this game is kind of off kilter in a lot of regards. The biggest thing of that being, unlike the mermaids, you do have to kill these two to recruit them. No weakening them and letting them run like the mermaids!

But yeah, that's it for today. I hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time, for further plot! And by further plot I mean we face the earth summon user probably.

[jindra34]

Ah yes the grand ogre battle tradition of putting in sidequests for characters who really should say something about the plot later, but don't. Also let's cover what necromancy is in the Ogre Battle universe: You know those undead you fought earlier? Not caused by necromancy. Necromancy is using the powers of the Underworld to bring back the souls of those who have passed away successfully. Yeah, can anyone guess why that actually is bad?

[Ninja_Prawn]

Hurdle wall is definitely a stylish use of MP, action economy and spellbook space... It'd be a lot more useful if you could cast it on enemies, I think.

[DataNinja]

I wonder if he still thinks his daughter is possessed, or whatnot?

Ooh, warp shoes. That's cool. I love magic like that, that's not just "+ numbers".

...yeah, little inconsistencies like that, it makes me wonder. "Recruit X people this way, but Y in this different way."

Hey, you try stabbing a ninja that's standing above your head! Those walls are perfect for wall jumping up.

Okay, yeah. He did, at least. ...though, maybe he should have tried using names. Then, uh, maybe the lives of those others could have been saved.

I vote for a teleporting dragon.

Spoiler: Army

Show

Unit	Kills
Gaston	24
Deneb	12
DataNinja	10
Blue	12
Celestine	12
Trobby	5
Vecna	13
Ivanna	4
Glycinia	0
Terepat	2
Orson	2
Deme	5
Eleanor	0
Pitt	0
Euphaire	0
Friendly Fire: 5	Whoops, An Object Got In The Way: 14

[LaZodiac]

I'm pretty sure you can use Hurdle Wall on enemies? I'm not sure.

Also, as much as I'd love to put shoes on my dragon, that may not be needed in the immediate future.

[DataNinja]

Also, as much as I'd love to put shoes on my dragon, that may not be needed in the immediate future.

I figured that wouldn't be very practical, anyways. Since, slow movement speed, not exactly able to take full advantage of it. But, it's more just a funny thought. Dragon with sneakers.

[LaZodiac]

I figured that wouldn't be very practical, anyways. Since, slow movement speed, not exactly able to take full advantage of it. But, it's more just a funny thought. Dragon with sneakers.

I'll consider that if we get any fast shoes or something.

My ultimate plan is to throw four pumpkins on Terepat, honestly.

[jindra34]

I'll consider that if we get any fast shoes or something.

My ultimate plan is to throw four pumpkins on Terepat, honestly.

Pumpkins or 'pumpkins'

[LaZodiac]

I sense...a Lodis appearing.

Zodi Plays: Tactics Ogre The Knight of Lodis [19] Gnome Mercy

Video Length: 41:25

Rictor sends a rando we've never heard of to fight us! It goes about as well as you expect, and we pick up the Gnome summon from it. There's not much else plot wise in this one, but we do get some mechanical stuff going down! First off, Blue becomes a Priest. All this really does is give him better growths, and access to the highest tier virtue spells, which we don't have any access to at the moment. Still, it's good to have. Second, sadly, DataNinja must doff his ninja garb and become a swordmaster. Ninja's are just not competitive late game and swordmaster is the logically choice for him. I was considering putting him to a warlock (even say so in video) but given I did talk Pit into joining...he probably will stick to DataSamurai for now.

The biggest change however is Terepat. Off screen, I changed our funky little dragon to all the other elements, so now he's been every flavor of dragons on that scale. And once we level him up one more time in this video, he evolves into his law form, the Mushus! Mushus are winter walking dragons who give a positive aura to allies within 3 tiles. That's all well and good, but it's not what we want for the little guy. Instead we dump an urn of Chaos or two on him, changing him from a Mushus to a Naga (already talked about, basically just a wet snake) and from Naga to his true final form, Vritra! These dragons can ACTUALLY fly, meaning they can go wherever they dang well please, AND they give a negative morale boost to enemies within three squares, which is overall a better benefit than a positive morale boost or literally nothing (neutral dragons get kinda screwed over).

T...that all being said there's basically nothing else to this video? We do make use of Glycinia in this map to show off her Fairy's Embrace ability, which heals a adjacent target and lets them move again, and that's hella powerful, but arguably not worth it given how functionally useless Fairies are otherwise. We also get the comedy of gnome just...not hitting Gylcinia at all, ever, which is honestly ludicrous. There's also the scene at the end with Naris and Nichart, but it's basically just vague villainous posturing. But yeah, not a lot to talk about in this one. Hope you all enjoyed, I'll see you all next time!

------

Anyway hey, while I've got your attention, I'd like to note I'm writing a novel! I'm on the second draft of the manuscript (after like four rough drafts before manuscript draft 1). It's a modern fantasy novel staring Rei, a 17 year old girl who discovers that the supernatural is real and has to deal with the consequences. Hit me up with your email if you'd like to be a beta-reader!

[jindra34]

The thing to remember about Glycinia here is that she has an agility of stupid high. things missing her, especially coming from in front of her, is common. Thats point 1 of fairies, they make awesome evade tanks.

[DataNinja]

Apparently with great power, comes great age (for both Blue and I).

Really wanting to fill out the PokéDex, aren't we?

Hahaha! I was hoping that our Fairy'd get a chance to get at least one kill.

Spoiler: Army

Show

Unit	Kills
Gaston	25
Deneb	12
DataNinja	12
Blue	12
Celestine	12
Trobby	6
Vecna	14
Ivanna	4
Glycinia	1
Terepat	2
Orson	2
Deme	5
Eleanor	2
Pitt	0
Euphaire	0
Friendly Fire: 5	Whoops, An Object Got In The Way: 14

[LaZodiac]

The thing to remember about Glycinia here is that she has an agility of stupid high. things missing her, especially coming from in front of her, is common. Thats point 1 of fairies, they make awesome evade tanks.

Ah, I knew fairies were good for something. Soaking summons!

Apparently with great power, comes great age (for both Blue and I).

Really wanting to fill out the PokéDex, aren't we?

Hahaha! I was hoping that our Fairy'd get a chance to get at least one kill.

Spoiler: Army

Show

Unit	Kills
Gaston	25
Deneb	12
DataNinja	12
Blue	12
Celestine	12
Trobby	6
Vecna	14
Ivanna	4
Glycinia	1
Terepat	2
Orson	2
Deme	5
Eleanor	2
Pitt	0
Euphaire	0
Friendly Fire: 5	Whoops, An Object Got In The Way: 14

I'll be honest, I like and dislike that feature at the same time. More games should showcase older folk being cool and badass. But also I'm not super into it as far as character design goes.

Heck yeah I am!

This probably won't even be her last, either!

[tonberrian]

I'm not hep to where you are in the story, compared to other things. Is the Gracula volcano stage open yet?

[LaZodiac]

I'm not hep to where you are in the story, compared to other things. Is the Gracula volcano stage open yet?

Yeah that's fair, this section of the game is very..."and then you had a random encounter" esque.

Gracula will be open by next Friday, for reference.

[DataNinja]

I'll be honest, I like and dislike that feature at the same time. More games should showcase older folk being cool and badass. But also I'm not super into it as far as character design goes.

Would be cool if there were maybe a couple different ages of people in general. So you get the young hedge wizard, wizened mage, whatnot. Because yeah, old people can be awesome (hello, Galuf), but it is a little immersion breaking to suddenly change more than clothes.

[jindra34]

Would be cool if there were maybe a couple different ages of people in general. So you get the young hedge wizard, wizened mage, whatnot. Because yeah, old people can be awesome (hello, Galuf), but it is a little immersion breaking to suddenly change more than clothes.

Is it more or less immersion breaking that walking around for 99 or so years with a revolution going on, and not aging OR getting in trouble with your boss. Because you can do that in Ogre Battle 64...

[DataNinja]

Is it more or less immersion breaking that walking around for 99 or so years with a revolution going on, and not aging OR getting in trouble with your boss. Because you can do that in Ogre Battle 64...

Honestly, more so this than that. It's mostly just jarring because they seem like completely different characters than the (admittedly generic except for names) ones that we've grown to know so far. I just want some consistency.

[LansXero]

Honestly, more so this than that. It's mostly just jarring because they seem like completely different characters than the (admittedly generic except for names) ones that we've grown to know so far. I just want some consistency.

The ninja portrair doesnt show hair though, he could've been like that all along :v.

Female portraits are more consistent, at least in LUCT (dont remember KoL enough). They all just look like the same girl with different hairstyles.

[Qwertystop]

Catching up on three updates:

17:

That certainly is a lot of loot, and the most mob-y battle so far. I think it's just the total lack of ranged weapons on both sides? Other than spells and similar, which are either not spammable or worse than weapon attacks.

That was a terrible dying line, especially for a beastmaster - that seems like a pretty interesting life, and presumably the sort of life-path that would be enjoyable for those who find themselves in it.

"Malicia". Hm. I know that name!


18:

Fort level layout looks interesting. Warp shoes are very well-suited to it.

Energy Transfer seems to have a very unstable flow rate - first round did twice as much as second.

AOEs on significant vertical differences are weird in this game.

That three-person heal after the mage squad got Fenrir'd (17:20) could have been a four-person if you moved Blue. Would that have been worth more XP?

19:

"Gnome" really doesn't sound right for a big dangerous summon spell thing.

An evasion tank who can give someone else an extra turn sounds pretty good to me.

Amusing how this is supposed to be a big dramatic-music fight of doom (with someone you once knew!) so you start it off with an elaborate ritual (involving a magic crown and two magic urns) to empower the dragon.

Why is the Peridot Sword blue?

Pretty good fight overall.

[LaZodiac]

C

That three-person heal after the mage squad got Fenrir'd (17:20) could have been a four-person if you moved Blue. Would that have been worth more XP?

"Gnome" really doesn't sound right for a big dangerous summon spell thing.

An evasion tank who can give someone else an extra turn sounds pretty good to me.

Why is the Peridot Sword blue?

Nope, you don't get more experience for doing more work, sadly. It's entirely determined by the highest level target. This also means healers can't really gain anything from healing people lower level than them! Given healers aren't...the most active unit by any stretch this is ultimately fine since they fall behind pretty quickly.

Gnome being used is weird, because in classic elementalism Gnome, Salamander, Undine, and Sylph are the spirits used for earth, fire, water, and wind respectively, and having Salamander and Gnome makes it seem like this game is using that particular system of magic, ala the Mana series and such. But then you get the ice summon and it's Fenrir, and then the wind summon we haven't seen yet it Hresvelgar! So it's like there was a miscommunication between the writers on if they should go for their own system involving the Norse gods or if they should go with classic elementalism. Personally I prefer the classic elementalist set of spirits, since it's less...nonsensical than Final Fantasy's variety indo-european gods twisted to fit a specific desire (the only reason Shiva is a lady and ice element in FF is because Shiva is a blue and vaguely adrogynesis person and that's kinda weird).

I don't know if peridot's can be blue and because I'm cursed I cannot google image search blue peridot and receive a proper answer.

[DataNinja]

I don't know if peridot's can be blue and because I'm cursed I cannot google image search blue peridot and receive a proper answer.

According to Wikipedia, the colour can be: "Yellow, to yellow-green, olive-green, to brownish, sometimes a lime-green, to emerald-ish hue." Zero blue mentioned in there.

I imagine it's just to make sure it matched the element. Magic.