[Guide] Getting S Ranks

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MatildaWhiteKnightLeader
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[Guide] Getting S Ranks

Post by MatildaWhiteKnightLeader »

Alright, I finally got time to play tactics again.
Some starting Guidelines: Try to achieve the mission goal asap. "The quicker you end the fight, the higher your ranking will be."-BradyGames guide. Thus do NOT waste turns for crates or treasure chests in the first few battles. you get the S rank prize Once per playthrough.

Backstab (attack the enemy from behind) whenever you get a chance. Average damage dealt also factors into rankings.

Elemental Terrain- make them in your favor when you can.


Middleport Bay Battle (Goal: Take out Sigurd.)

Formation: (North to South) Walter, Kyril, Andarc, Seneca, Hervey.
Send Seneca straight up as far as possible and attack the nearest pirate.
Send Walter right up and finish off that pirate with attack. Face North.
Send Hervey to the area of your allied pirates.
Send Kyril up next to the lower left of Walter. Face North.
Send Andarc up behind Seneca and talk to her to activate cohort attack.

If there's an opening, send Walter toward Sigurd as far as possible on the South ramp and cast earth force on where walter is standing.
Otherwise attack a pirate.
There should be an allied pirate on the plank engaged in battle. Send Hervey up and cast Flame Force so that Hervey and the allied pirate are on the flame terrain.
Send Kyril toward the North ramp leading to Sigurd. Backstab or Swallow Slash a pirate. Kyril should level up.
Get Seneca and Andarc into position to do the Cohort attack on the remaining pirates within your area.
Send Walter to engage Sigurd. Backstab if you can.
Hervey can just sit around or use medicine.
Send Kyril toward Sigurd, attack him with Swallow Slash or any swallow attack if you can, if not cast Flame Force on where you're standing.
Send Seneca to attack Sigurd.
Send Andarc to cast thunder force on Sigurd.
If Sigurd's not dead yet, concentrate on finishing him off for the rest of the battle. Backstab or Swallow Slash.

Basically with Kyril on the North ramp and Walter on the South ramp, Sigurd can't run around too much and you should be able to get a backstab attack in or just Swallow Slash him. Don't waste turns killing off the other pirates even if they're attacking you.

I lost a jolly pirate and still got an S.

I will post more as i finish and get an S in the further battles.
Last edited by MatildaWhiteKnightLeader on Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by MatildaWhiteKnightLeader »

Night Sea- Part I (this battle is not rank)
However, I suggest you finish off every pirate before stepping next to the rune cannon. It's preferred that you get Andarc get some experience while doing this.

Night Sea- Part 2 (Goal: take out all enemies pirates or take out Steele).
Do NOT go after Steele. He has very high defense, counterattacks and has the RoP. You will not kill him in time for an S ranking.

Move Brandeau as far as possible to the right and south (away from Steele) so that he's surrounded by 3 enemy pirates. Attack the pirate to the South, he should be killed. Face Right.
Move Edgar in the same direction so that he is facing the pirate north of Brandeau. Attack the pirate, he should be killed. Face North.
Move Andarc as close as possible to Peck.

The enemy pirates will start heading toward Peck and/or attack Edgar and Brandeau.
Move Brandeau so so he can attack a pirate next to Edgar.
Move Edgar so he can attack a pirate next to Brandeau.
Their assist attacks should guarantee death to the target.
Move Andarc so that he can cast thunder runner on an enemy pirate. Preferrably an enemy pirate surrounded by other enemy pirates. However, you MUST center the Thunder Runner on an enemy so that he is killed. The surrounding damage is only like 5.

Keep killing off any enemy pirates. REMEMBER to position yourself to make backstab attacks. If there's a pirate that is still hanging around Steele, send Brandeau to kill him. Beware of Steele's RoP attack. Use medicine ASAP when you get hit. You Must kill off all the enemy pirates before proceeding.
Send Edgar toward Kyril as close as possible.
Send Andarc toward Kyril as close as possible. Make sure there are NO enemy pirates left.
There should be a fish-man creature heading toward Kyril.

Move Brandeau away from Steele and toward Kyril.
Move Edgar toward Kyril and attack the fishman creature if you can.
Move Andarc toward Kyril, use thunder runner and center it on the fishman if you can, or attack.
kill the Fish-man.

enjoy the cutscene.
Strategy is the key to victory!
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Post by KFCrispy »

i disagree. i considered it pretty easy to get S rank BY defeating Steele (you also get Prime Gold Ore, and if the NPC Pirate allies live [very difficult] you get a Strength Sash or something)

however, it's important that you deal with Steele's pirates efficiently, they can deal serious damage when they gang up on Edgar and Brandeau.

Edgar and Brandeau should support each other. and try to bring Edgar in range of the 1 RoP attack with him on his own tile--this will minimize damage received. I have gotten S with different methods of approaching the pirates with Edgar and Brandeau--this part is sorta based on luck. Hopefully they 1-hit-kill their first targets. Keeping them close to each other will get a lot of support action to reduce damage and increase attack damage, of course.

Andarc's goal is to eliminate the Pirates then move up towards Edgar/Brandeau/Steele and support them with Lightning tiles to weaken Steele and make him attack those two from their fronts (if he leveled up when defeating pirates, he might have a level 2 spell to cripple or take out Steele. Andarc should be equipped with 1 Flame Bead or 1 Lightning(?--opposite of the Fishman that atks him), and 1 Earth Bead for Peck. you might not have to bother with putting tiles for Kyril, but Peck should be centered on Earth. so first turn, try just moving up (have Godspeed or Counter-Attack, Extra Move, Battle Lust, and a Lightning Rune).
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Post by Angelis_Taleria »

I agree with KFC. Even when not on their own rune affinity tile, Steele can't kill Brandeau or Edgar with the RoP and he can only use it once.

Although, the method I used to kill Steele on my first playthrough was by utilizing Andarc's 1st and 2nd level Lightning Rune spells. The reason I feel he's a better choice is because of the MDF and rune affinity towards lightning since Steele's is water.
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Post by MatildaWhiteKnightLeader »

alright i can confirm everything KFCrispy said except the fact that it's easier to kill Steele.
However, after a couple of hours and retries, i got the S rank and killed Steele.

You need to kill Steele before the fishman reaches Kyril or else you're not going to get an S rank (too many turns).

I was lucky enough to to have Andarc cast a thunder runner on Steele, survive a Steele attack, and cast thunder runner on Steele again but that's what I think you need to do to get an S rank and kill Steele at the same time on the first playthrough. I had trouble when Steele runs loose and there's water terrains all over made by one of the enemy pirates.

Backstreet of Razril- (umm nailed it on my first shot)
You fight furballs.
Basically, always position yourself to make backstab attacks and stay on the elemental terrains cause the elementals will pave them for you.

Key Advice: Unleash Andarc's thunder runner on the furballs, he'll level up for killing one and replenish that spell.

no need for step by step on this battle. Small area, easy enemies.

When you recruit Rita, it is suggested you get the bronze medal with hp increase of 15 to be put on her.

Ironically, the next battle (secret underground passage) has a large area and some tough enemies. I'm still working on it. You can't just rush to the goal cause there's boulders and bats in the way.
Strategy is the key to victory!
KFCrispy
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Post by KFCrispy »

how do you get a bronze medal vs Rita? i'm pretty sure for every turn you pretty much HAVE to put down a bead, which will give you a certain amt of EXP--it's just if you're low level, you'll get higher rank, if you're already high level you'll get lower rank. i guess it can be possible to not do anything for one turn but it's pretty risky, eh... maybe u can level up as much as possible and choose the option to start from your last save point (Continue?)
heartreborn
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Post by heartreborn »

I found the easiest way to kill steele by preparing andarc with 900 or more exp from the earlier battle so that he can cast T.runner twice. (the first hit will get you 1 lv. so that your MP'll be restored so you can strike another Final blow on him.)
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Post by highwind44029 »

KFCrispy wrote:how do you get a bronze medal vs Rita? i'm pretty sure for every turn you pretty much HAVE to put down a bead, which will give you a certain amt of EXP--it's just if you're low level, you'll get higher rank, if you're already high level you'll get lower rank. i guess it can be possible to not do anything for one turn but it's pretty risky, eh... maybe you can level up as much as possible and choose the option to start from your last save point (Continue?)
I got a C too, and it was because Kyril was like Level 6 when I did that battle, so I got like two-digit exp every time I lay down a bead.


Regarding Steele, you have to cast Lightning Force on his area to bring down his HP a little so that you only need one casting of Thunder Runner on him. In my game, Andarc used a Lightning Force Bead on him, which took his HP down by 10+, then another 10+ during Steele's turn, and Thunder Runner dealt 47 damage, which pretty much finished him off. Also, it would be a good idea to kill off the water-type Axe-wielding pirate that uses water beads because he could be a hindrance. If you do it right, the Fishman wouldn't even make it to Kyril AT ALL.

Also, you might want to use Peck as a tank in this battle so that your ally pirates could survive. He's pretty much invincible as long as you use an Earth Force Bead on him preferably by Andarc (take one of Walter's Earth Beads), since he pretty much couldn't do anything else on the first turn.


I'm still having trouble with the first battle in the Underground Path of Middleport. I think it's because Andarc (Lv 5) and Kyril (Lv 6) are overleveled.
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Post by MatildaWhiteKnightLeader »

Alright after a lot of hours, finally got the S rank for underground secret passage.

Alright i have Seneca with a thunder garb so her affinity is now lightning, but it doesn't really matter i think.

But make sure you hone Rita's weapon to level 2 and equip here with the Razril Knight token and a medal from her quest. Everything else in her Other inventory should be lightning force beads and maybe 1 or 2 medicines. The important factor here is having Rita gain A LOT of experience, which means NO standbys. Equipping her with Godspeed and extra move will also help.
Equip andarc with a ton of lightning beads as well. In fact, make sure everyone is stocked up with their element beads. You do not want to standby.

Middleport Secret Underground Passage
Formation: (North to South, default camera view)
Kyril, Seneca, Andarc, and Rita.

At the beginning there should be two bats from the right before Kyril moves (rare chance that only one bat comes).

Send Kyril straight right and attack the bat on the wooden ramp.Face that bat.
Send Andarc behind the bat flying on the ground and attack. Face right.
Send Seneca next to Andarc toward south and kill the bat that Kryil attack. face right.
Send Rita to the south side of the remaining bat and finish it off. keep moving right, if you can, toward the ogres. face right.

Send Kyril towards the ogres as right as possible. use a flame bead on Kyril and center it behind(left) you. face left toward the bats that are coming after you.
Move Andarc as right as possible towards the ogres, cast thunder runner on an ogre or the earth elemental if it's surrounded by ogres. he should level up. face the ogres.
Move Seneca behind andarc. Talk to andarc. Face right.
Move Rita behind seneca. Use lightning bead and center it on Seneca. face toward incoming bats.

Move Kyril left to attack the bat while staying on the flame terrain.
Let andarc use another thunder runner on the full hp ogre. If you can't then just attack the ogre.
Send Seneca right to attack/kill an ogre.
Send Rita to finish off an ogre or kill the earth elemental.

Kyril finish off the bat that you attacked.
Send andarc back to help Kyril or move to talk to Seneca.
Send Seneca toward the boulders and attack the northeast boulder.
Send Rita toward the northeast boulder and destroy it, if not-attack the other boulder.

Do not go the other way (longer path). Do not attempt to attack the chests. the items are worthless.

Kyril attack/kill the bat while staying on the flame terrain.
Send Andarc toward the boulders. Talk to seneca or Use a lightning bead on andarc.
Use seneca to destroy or attack another boulder.
Use Rita to destroy or attack another boulder.

Kyril finish off bat or move toward boulder.
Move Andarc to destroy a boulder or move close to seneca and use a lightning bead on andarc.
Position Seneca to One square north of the Northeast boulder. use lightning bead and center it on Seneca
Rita destroy the remaining boulder or use a lightning bead and center it on Rita.

Kyril keep moving toward the destination point.
Move andarc to next to seneca. Cohort attack the ogres that just appeared. They should be dead.
Move seneca toward destination and attack a bat or use lighting bead on andarc.
Move Rita as close to the destination as possible. Use a lightning bead and center it on Rita.

Move kyril toward destination and attack anything at full hp.
Move andarc and attack anything at full hp.
Move seneca and finish off an enemy.
Move Rita and kill off an enemy. backstabbing a bat can be a one hit kill. However keep moving in the direction of hte destination

Move Kyril and attack the ogre nearest destination.
Move andarc and attack a bat.
Seneca kill a bat.
Move rita toward the destination and kill that ogre.

Kyril attack.
andarc kill.
seneca kill.
move Rita to the destination.

Basically, go through the boulders. Make sure Rita kills off 3 or 4 monsters before you win. Also, Keep damage at a minimum using elemental terrain!
Total damage received also has a huge factor in this ranking.

Edit: Next battle.

Middleport Underground Secret Room
Formation: default
Make sure Andarc is equipped with archmage's glasses that you just got.
Rita should be at level 5.

Blitz the enemy. (Forward is in the direction of the water.)

Seneca talk to Kyril or move forward and attack a bat. You should have the Dying Wsh attack by now.
Move Andarc straight forward and attack the bat.
Move Kyril next to that bat and kill it. face forward.
Move Rita in front of Andarc. use lightning bead on Andarc. face forward.

Move seneca straight forward behind kyril. Attack the bat that is west of the bridge.
Andarc don't move and use thunder runner on the orange (archer) skeleton that was attacking your party. He should level up. if not don't worry.
Kyril kill off the bat.
Move Rita behind the skeleton that is attacking Rita or Kyril. Attack for a one hit kill.

Move Seneca forward and kill the fire elemental or attack the remaining bat.
Move andarc as forward as possible and use lightning bead on andarc.
Move Kyril to finish of remaining bat or move as foward as possible and use fire bead on kyril.
Move rita to kill off any remaining enemies around the bridge. If there are none. move forward as possible and use a lightning bead on rita.

Move seneca into position for a cohort attack/dying wish attack.
Move kyril forward and attack a skeleton, or position for dying wish.
Move Andarc into position for cohort or dying wish. Activate cooperative attack.
Move Rita forward and attack/backstab any nearby skeletons.

Move seneca to attack/backstab nearby skeletons.
Move Kyril to attack/backstab neary skeletons.
Move Andarc Forward so he can cast thunder runner on the last archer skeleon at the back. archer skeleton should be dead.
Move Rita to attack/backstab nearby skeletons.

Skeletons should be dead or soon to be.

enjoy cutscene.
Last edited by MatildaWhiteKnightLeader on Fri Mar 17, 2006 11:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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shoo
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Post by shoo »

...

That's a detailed guide, I must say...

I wrote a simple guide which explains it easily.

Good description this, I must say.
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Post by highwind44029 »

I've restarted over and over and over and over and I STILL can't get a TG Garb in the Bargain list. Stupid Razril. :x
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Post by MatildaWhiteKnightLeader »

Nest of Pirates

Formation (left to right): Front Row- Andarc, Kyril (basically switch default)
Back Row- Seneca.
Rita is on dispatch quest. And you really don't need her for this battle.

Move Seneca to the top Northwest square. Use lightning bead.
Move Andarc straight up. Cast Thunder runner on a ptrlman, preferrably the water one.
Move kyril as north as possible.

With kika, kill the wind elemental if it moves next to her. You'll benefit from the resulting square wind terrain. Otherwise, move to talk to Nalleo.
Move Nalleo away, not too far, from Kika. One of the ptrlman with fire affinity will throw a bead on them if they're too close (early in the battle).
Let the patrolmen and Roget come to Kika and Nalleo.



Move Dario straight up. Use the earth bead on him without affecting Andarc.
Move Kyril and seneca into position for Dying wish attack.
Use Andarc to activate it on the patrolmen that are in front of kyril.

Then just move on and kill off any remaining ptrl. Keep heading toward the cave.

With kika and nalleo, make sure you are on the wind terrain if your hp is near or less than half.
It's open space, so you should always get backstabs in. Position Nalleo and Kika next to each other for defense assist. Finish off one patrolmen at a time. Do NOT try to attack more than one patrolman on kika's side per turn. Just finish them off one by one! (less patrolmen to deal with, the better)
I took out everyone on Kika's side with just nalleo and kika.


Position Andarc and Seneca 3 squares south of the entrance to the cave.
okay you can attack the chest this time with Dario or Kyril.
3 more patrolmen will appear just in time for your cohort attack.

Bascially, make sure you use Dying Wish and Cohort attack in this battle.

I can't help you guys for the obel ruins as each map varies in enemy position and such.

P.S Highwind- Try entering Middleport on different days. Rest if you have to.
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Post by MatildaWhiteKnightLeader »

ARGGGG... trying to get S rank AND the buried treasures at fort el-eal against Busk.
I'm just worried i spent too many turns getting the wing shield.

Is there anthoer way to obtain the wing shield in the game??
On my tenth retry now lol!!
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Post by HolyPaladin »

MatildaWhiteKnightLeader wrote:ARGGGG... trying to get S rank AND the buried treasures at fort el-eal against Busk.
I'm just worried i spent too many turns getting the wing shield.

Is there anthoer way to obtain the wing shield in the game??
On my tenth retry now lol!!
Just wait until later to S-Rank the Battle at El-Eal. The items you get from the Busk battle are better than the S-Rank prize.

I think I got my El-Eal S-Rank from the battle where you help the Razril Knights.
Last edited by HolyPaladin on Sun Jan 25, 2015 7:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Dragall
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Post by Dragall »

Yeah you can purchase wing shields later in the game. But you have more chances to get the S-rank item from El-Eal, so you can always try it later if you're having a hard time right now.
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