The Pumpkin Mandomizer is a fun little set of rules I’ve made for myself in order to make my Hard Mode True Ending playthrough more interesting.
Basically, while I am free to use any unit I want at any time during the playthrough, I’ve randomly selected the above team, and am required to bring them into the final battle.
I hope you enjoy coming along with me for the ride, and feel free to give strategy suggestions in the comments below!
Chapter 5: The Crest of Flames (ending)
I know I said the last chapter was a pain and a half, but this one was about… oh, three pains. I spent almost three hours trying and failing to beat the chapter, took a lunch break, came back, and had to spend two more before I actually managed to win. Initially, I thought I was being clever by using Sheena to fly Rutger over the mountains to start clearing out a lot of the enemies preemptively, but the few Nomads in there really put a wrench in my plans by being semi-accurate and having two range. So, I tried to do the obvious method of holding the eastern forts with some strong units and slowly pushing my way around the mountains, eventually making my way to the castle.
The issue? Every character in this game seems to be locked around 50-60% accuracy. Like, man, there were times where so many people just straight up missed the target that I ended up not physically having enough spaces to continue attacking from. To be fair, the enemy suffers from this issue as well, but given that their loss condition is having the castle seized and mine (although self-applied) is just having a single unit die, even when playing conservatively just a few instances of an 80% accuracy miss can spell death, not to mention the possibility of a random 3% crit somewhere in there.
Like, I’m fine with having the enemies just be stronger versions of your units–it is Hard Mode, after all–but having an army that sometimes can get something done on a turn and sometimes can’t because of their and your enemy’s horrible accuracy feels less like a challenge and more like a punishment.
But, in any case, I rounded out the chapter (shout out to Rutger for double-critting the boss first try), which means that I will forevermore have access to a preparations menu, which means that I will have that much more control over my own destiny going forward.
In any case, I managed to get one level up each on Roy, Clarine, and Lugh, while Rutger shot up to level like 11 by single-handedly taking out all the reinforcements of the chapter–funnily enough, by taking advantage of the low accuracy of enemies to literally drop their Hit to 0. Chapter 6 lies ahead, which means I get to drop Wolt and Elen in favor of Dorothy and Saul! Looking forward to having a couple more members of the final team, but not looking forward to babying Dorothy into something that resembles a good unit.
Upon routing the bandits and saving the nearby villages from any further tyranny, Roy is visited by a man named Saul, who claims to be a representative of the St. Elimine Church seeking an audience with both him and Princess Guinevere. While Roy believed the Princess’s existence with his army to be a secret, the wide reaches of the Church tipped them off to both Her Highness’s whereabouts, and to their further surprise, that she most likely snagged the Fire Emblem from its place in the Shrine of Seals.
One of Bern’s sacred treasures, it is said to be the key to the sword that can seal the dragons… whatever that means. Either way, Saul and his bodyguard Dorothy decide to accompany Roy’s army on their journey toward peace.
On the way to Ostia, Roy decides to park his army at the late Marquess Hector’s cousin Orun’s castle in the march of Thria. It sounds like they finally will have a moment of respite, but given the title of the next chapter, that most likely won’t happen.
Chapter 6: The Set Trap (preparations)
I can end the day’s efforts on a positive note–I’ve finally gotten over the part of the game where they don’t let me pick who I’m bringing or what they have, and I feel like I can finally breathe. Time to cut some dead weight, but also drag along some dead weight that I’m contractually obligated to get fighting fit before the final battle! Wish me luck!
As always, here’s the gameplay, only this time split into two parts.