Messing with MyCastle, III¶

Another mission complete, another slew of new things to build in MyCastle. This time it’s relatively tame, with a handful of new buildings to construct; the Smithy , the Prison , the Accessory Shop and the Hoshidan Glade. The Hoshidan Glade is purely cosmetic, if you have too much dead space in your castle for your liking. The Accessory Shop allows you to buy some aesthetic accessories (they’ll also have a minor impact in MyCastle battles). The Prison allows you to capture enemies using Orochi’s personal skill.

The most interesting new building, however, is the Smithy , where you can forge weapons into stronger versions. To do this you’ll need two of one weapon and an appropriate piece of ore. Speaking of which, you can also trade five pieces of one type of ore here for one other piece of ore of your choice. Oh, and you can also name weapons, if you think you’ve created some godly masterpiece. At the present you can only forge weapons up to +2 quality, which will require you to create two +1 version of that weapon, which in turn requires you to buy four normal versions.

Invasion 1¶

The last new thing you can do at this time is indulge in Invasions, where you defend your castle against random foes. Pretty much your standard scouting battle, just with a different setting, and more aggressive enemies. You’ll have to defend your castle’s throne from attack, and the starting positions of your units is fairly spaced out, so be sure to place them appropriately at the start of the battle so they can fend off the invaders. On the plus side, Lilith will join you in these contest (you have been feeding the poor thing, right?), although you can’t control her, as she’s an ally, and is rather hit-or-miss when it comes to actual usefulness. The enemy will also waste time attacking your buildings (which has no long-term effect), so their aggressiveness is often wasted.

Do what you will, and when you feel that your army is up to snuff, continue on with the next story mission.

Izumo: Castle Interior¶

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Map of Chapter 9.

You begin in Izumo, and you will meet Izana, the archduke. Despite his calm exterior, he is quite… quirky. But soon enough you’ll realize what you’re in for. That’s right, another battle!

All of your units start out enclosed in a single room in the middle of the map. Prioritize getting out of the starting room (perhaps by putting units with far movement speed in front so they don’t clog up) and kill the Archer, Mage and Cavalier just outside. Your opposition for this battle isn’t too tough; mostly Dark Mages, Outlaws, Knights, and Cavaliers, all of whom are led by Zola (Dark Mage), who is capable of dealing hefty damage at a range. Just remember that Sky Knights and Ninjas tend to fare well against magic-users, who are common in this battle, and you’ll make your life easier.

The castle interior you’ll be fighting in is fairly constrained, and it can be easy to have your forces bottle-necked. Given the fact that your forces will be concentrated, you might as well pair up units to make whomever engages the enemy as powerful as possible. Or, if you have more confidence in the individual strength of your units, you can split your party up and deal with the out-of-the-way Nohrians lurking in the exterior parts of the castle, who will waste little time converging on the center of the map.

After a few rounds two characters will show up; Hinata (Samurai) and Oboro (Spear Fighter), and will from this point on be allies in this fight, more than capable of cutting through the scattered and weak Nohrian resistance they meet. Have your protagonist talk to them when you can and they’ll join you, putting themselves under your direct control. You’re not alone in getting reinforcements, however, as more Nohrian troops will arrive if you take too long, including two Cavaliers to the east and two Dark Mages to the west.

Once the random scrubs are dealt with, make your way north through a bottleneck guarded by Knights and other foes. Beyond that you only have Zola and his retinue to face down. The easiest way to deal with these foes without drawing out Zola is with ranged attacks (remember, Ninjas beat Dark Mages, and you can attack through walls). The keys will open doors, and the chests beyond, to the east and west, but it’s less hassle to just send one of your Ninjas (Locktouch!) to do the work. The right chest contains 5000G and the left chest will yield a Speedwing .

When you’ve reined in Hinata and Oboro, defeated the Nohrian reinforcements and claimed the chests, mass up outside of the room Zola occupies and rush him all at once with Sky Knights and Ninjas, classes who have high Resistance scores and weapons that match up well against Zola’s. Done properly and with a little luck, he shouldn’t put up much of a fight. You’ll get a Master Seal for putting him down, and more important, the fight will be over. Some drama occurs during cutscenes, fortunes are read, and a big deal is made about something that anybody in their right mind would find uselessly vague. More interestingly, you’ll now have the services of Takumi’s subordinates, Hinata and Orobo, who really don’t take much, if any, work to become viable killers.