Hello and welcome to the first chapter of the playthrough. This one is going to be heavy on the story, since everything is set up for the player to learn about the world and what's happening. I don't expect the other chapters to be this rich. If you want to catch up to where you guys appear, you're in battles 3 and 4. Anyway, I've divided this up into sections for your browsing pleasure:
Quick Story Summary - Just like it says, it's a quick summary of the story and a short description of what we have been through.
The Army - This is all about YOU. Here I describe the army as a whole and then give detailed accounts for you individually. There may be other things, depending on how I feel.
The Game So Far - Every battle we fight in, as well as any other gameplay related things. Here I'll give an in-depth description of our fights.
The Story So Far - A more detailed write-up of the story. I may or may not leave out important information, but it's very spoiler heavy in case you get the urge to play this old GBA game sometime.  Quick Story Summary
Our man, DrTasty<3, is sent to a foreign land under the rule of Lodis with his best friend and commander, Rictor Lasante, in the n00b squad to aid a land in the south called Anser in their conflict with Rananculus in the north. Their boat gets caught in a storm and they're attacked by some dudes while landlocked, DrTasty<3 takes an arrow from a crossbow shot meant for Rictor and gets swept up in the ocean's current, washing up near a place where he is rescued by the local clergy. We're invited by some knight out of the blue to go run errands with her in a place where our comrades might be. There we fight some more Rananculus guys and find our missing allies, that was fast! Then we are sent to stop some bandits from raiding a library. They succeed, but DrTasty<3 is ambushed and taken prisoner by an imposing knight and his sorceress. Before our hero can die, he is rescued by a mysterious lady in a cocktail dress and her ninja friend. He decides to help them, because things are weird now, so they are off to the mountains.
The Army Everyone who gave their info is recruited. Since we did not train, we all got our levels from story battles, so the average level is 2 or 3. It's most monsters and soldiers now, but that'll change soon. Next chapter I'll have everyone do some training.
Units
Brian Soldier - Air - Lawful Goal Class - Priest Kills: 0 - Deaths: 0
Emblems: Book of Initiation
Achievements: Initiative
You took the initiative and managed to get your first emblem in the first battle you participated in, which is the Book of Initiation emblem. You got it from successfully avoiding a certain number of attacks in a battle, it's required for swordmaster, not that it matters for you, but you have it. Otherwise, you did well in Battle 3 (the first army battle) and didn't even come close to dying. No kills, so you're still good for priest. We'll get to cleric first, which has only attribute requirements.
Cameron
Soldier - Earth - Neutral
Goal Class - Cleric (Possibly Lich)
Kills: 1 - Deaths: 0
Emblems: None
Achievements: First Blood  You were the only unit aside from Brad to get a kill so far. It was mostly because a single bandit had some weird murder-hardon for you and our lady knight guest decided to heal you. It was a close call, but you made it. You gained a level in Battle 4, bringing you up to Level 3. So far so good. You should be able to change into a cleric in a level or two. Someone in Battle 3 died to your blade, making you one of two who got kills in our army, granting you First Blood.
Gage
Soldier - Earth - Lawful
Goal Class - Knight
Kills: 0 - Deaths: 0
Emblems: None
Achievements: None  For the first time since I can remember, you were not a burden on your team. Not a single time were you low on health or in danger of dying. That said, your performance in battle 3 (first army battle) was mediocre, as is expected of low level battles. You did not gain a level or anything and you can't be a knight until you earn that Knight's Certificate emblem, but that can be done in training very easily. You just have to stupidly attack people from the front 3 times.
JeffFairy - Air - Chaotic
Goal Class - Blow Dudes
Kills: 0 - Deaths: 0
Emblems: None
Achievements: None  As I expected, your character's only advantage right now is that it can fly. In Battle 3 (first army battle) you had a short bow, which did absolutely pitiful damage. On top of that, a bow soldier hit you for 50 hp, that was half of what you had! I gave you the Leader Archer's great bow, allowing you to do a little more damage. In Battle 4 I had you fly to the top of the map and rain some arrows down for harassment. That was actually useful and you even got some damage in on the boss. You gained a level there, bringing you to a solid 3, which will need to be increased next time anyway.
JonOctopus - Water - Neutral
Goal Class - Be useless
Kills: 0 - Deaths: 0
Emblems: None
Achievements: None 
The uses you have are limited to watery areas and I hope you still understand that. In Battle 4, there was a nice pond at the bottom of the map, which I thought "maybe nothing will happen there". Turns out you were so vulnerable that the enemy decided to focus on you, which was extremely effective in separating the rest of the army from the leader. The only thing is that no one went down there (why would you fight an octopus in its own ground?), so you did not gain any experience. But check out that portrait! KaySoldier - Earth - Lawful
Goal Class - Priest
Kills: 0 - Deaths: 0
Emblems: None
Achievements: None  No surprises, you are just as effective now as any other soldier. This won't change until you can be a cleric, but that's fine; it's early game and you're just hitting dudes with your metal stick. In Battle 3 you assisted in the death of the leader, but are still sitting healthy at 0 kills. Fortunately the only requirements to become a cleric are 18 mp and 26 intelligence or something, so you're on your way. Priests require the Heavenly Spirit emblem, which is gained by healing 20 units with magic. We'll get to that later. LeeGhost - Bane
Goal Class - Ghost Dad
Kills: 0 - Deaths: 0
Emblems: None
Achievements: None  Ghosts are great at 2 things: teleporting and harassment, which you did. Right now you have a short bow, because there aren't any bane spells available. In Battle 4 you not only harassed with your bow, but you were kind of dodgy. I guess that's what you get with 34 agility at low level. You are nearly level 3, probably will change when I do some training. NoahSoldier - Air - Chaotic
Goal Class - Warlock
Kills: 0 - Deaths: 0
Emblems: None
Achievements: None  So close to level 3, just 4 points. Those will come during training. That 96 experience came in about 2 or 3 strikes on one enemy, which shows I did not prepare at all for it. Nothing else to report, it's still early game so there's not going to be much until a few battles in. Warlock class requires The Pen And The Sword emblem, which is gained by killing 4 enemies with melee attacks and 4 enemies with magic...outside of training. That's tough! It'll happen though, give it some time. PeterDragon Zombie - Bane
Goal Class - Be Weird
Kills: 0 - Deaths: 0
Emblems: None
Achievements: None  Check out that portrait, it's neat. It turns out Dragon Zombies don't have an alignment and are the bane element, making you weak to holy attacks and strong against holy units. The Rotten Breath special requires 20 sp, which you do not have yet. For now we just use the Poison Fang melee attack, but it doesn't seem special at all, I just think that every unit has to have a direct attack and that's what you got. Since battle turns are team by team, I always put you out in the front so you can get whacked on, since you're unkillable (at least for now).
BradSoldier - Fire - Lawful
Goal Class - Angel Knight
Kills: 1 - Deaths: 0
Emblems: None
Achievements: First Blood  Good thing Angel Knight doesn't require no kills, because you got First Blood on the boss in our first battle as an army. Other than that, you are well on your way there, as your stats are nearly even and you're only level 3. I have sort of a plan for this, but we'll go over that when we get to it. DylanDuke Knight - Water - Neutral
Goal Class - Directionless
Kills: 0 - Deaths: 0
Emblems: None
Achievements: None  Yeah yeah, I made myself a Duke Knight, normally an unobtainable class. I can do so many things! I can use swords and I can use any spell in the game. Neat. The downside to this class is its not so great agility growth.
Sagar?? - ?? - ??
Goal Class - ??
Kills: 0 - Deaths: 0
Emblems: None
Achievements: Kitten Cage Because you said you would participate and have yet to give me your character information, you're officially in the Kitten Cage until you send something. Jay?? - ?? - ??
Goal Class - ??
Kills: 0 - Deaths: 0
Emblems: None
Achievements: Kitten Cage Because
you said you would participate and have yet to give me your character
information, you're officially in the Kitten Cage until you send
something.
The Game So Far In the prologue of the game, we are waylaid by a fortune teller and bombarded with annoying questions such as "What's your name?" HOW ANNOYING! Anyway, we get to choose a name:  I don't think I asked you, but sure
If only I could be named "Kirby Drawing" Knights are real hunks Oh shit, it's Dat Boi What number are we thinking of? Making good use of that <3 symbol
It's not okay, nothing's alright, wish somebody would tell me I'm fine The path of longevity seems like it'd be a waste of time
After some deliberation, I decided on DrTasty<3 and even kept the dumb heart character that's available for some reason. The questions here determine the hero's starting attributes, element, alignment, some items on hand, and a few units that start out in his army. I picked the ones that give us a little extra strength and health. Once this is over, we see some scenes and are pit in our first battle!
Battle 1 Unfortunately, this is the tutorial battle and I don't have access to hired soldiers yet. During this, we are inundated with info about how to fight.
Condition usually is this... That's very helpful in this game... REALLY?!
This will surely defeat Frieza DrTasty<3 lives another day
Battle 2
Another pseudo-tutorial battle, but this time it's just DrTasty<3 and a knight against FOUR opponents. Just kidding, Rictor and Orvis show up to help. Our main man misses every single death-blow against the enemy leader, allowing Rictor to shoot her in the face with a spirit-bomb - I mean Light Bow.
This happened every time
Recruitment
In Scabellum, we get the chance to finally recruit everyone.However, we have some starting troops.
This is the organization menu. Here we can view all of our current army and handle all class changes, equipment, and other things. Unfortunately, there are unnecessary guys in our squad, so we have to kick them out.
This is the equipment menu. Here we can equip our dudes with stuff. So much knowledge! Right now I'm taking her stuff and getting ready to boot her out of the army with nothing but the nothing on her back.
They don't enjoy this very much, but what are THEY going to do about it?
I tried getting everybody in, but this UI blocks some things.
Battle 3
Deployed: Jeff, Peter, Brian, Cameron, Kay, Brad, Gage Ah, finally: our first real battle. A small change in this game is being
able to handle the unit's loadout before battle, which is handy when
you have a tendency to forget to equip stuff on dudes before heading
out. In the early stages of this game, battles are kind of a slug-fest.
It was evident from all of the low-damage attacks and counter-attacks
made by literally everyone. This was further worsened by there being
several characters that can't get too many kills, so we had to manage
damage among everyone. On top of that, the enemy's level was higher. The
real troublemakers were the Bandits, equipped with powerful Francisca
axes hitting everyone in the back. Otherwise we had a relatively easy
time, the damage came in slow enough that our guest character could heal
it by herself. Brian earns his first emblem! Jeff missing another bow shot, expect to see this a lot. Peter presenting his ass to the enemy (it did not work, alas) Brad earning a level from the 100 xp he got from killing the leader
Since this was a Kill the Leader style battle, I performed a valuable tactic in these types of games. I had Kay, Brad, and Brian back the leader into a bush and box her in. Since she's an archer, her only attack is a bow and for some reason wouldn't use it at close range (probably because indirect attacks provoke counters now). Brad got the killing blow and ended the battle.
Battle 4
Deployed: Jon, Dylan, Peter, Jeff, Lee, Noah, Cameron
This one was kind of shitty, I did not prepare at all for it and the enemy leader ended up having about 3 or 4 levels on us, everyone else being 2 or 3 above. The map is laid out with only 2 paths up and the enemy is packing bows and magic. I did the logical thing and tried making Peter the meat shield (since he revives anyway). Lee and Jeff were sent to the highest ramparts to harass others, while the melee troops made their way up the slope. Jon was sent into the pool at the bottom to distract the left side, which worked surprisingly well, leaving only the Knight and some archers to defend against the main force. Cameron leveling up from hitting someone 4 levels above him. Lee is very dodgy right now Jon heroically providing a distraction and taking the pain A sneaky surprise attack from Noah
It was a short battle, not a lot happened, ended up surrounding the knight on all sides and whacked him until dead. DrTasty<3 got the killing blow. Everyone else leveled up, except my character.
The Story So Far Prelude Lodis is an established empire, who conquered their way to power. They're kind of dicks, but nice about it I guess??? They have a bunch of sovereign states that pledged their loyalty out of fear, whom Lodis treats with non-violence. There have been a bunch of wars that Lodis usually wins, resulting in the deaths of many. Whatever the hell this means...
Like weird steam from everywhere It's almost as if this is the premise.... Not this little girl, she's all about it
Story A young knight and his friend, Rictor, are about to head out on their first mission given to them by Lodis. Rictor, the son of a Duke, is the knight's superior and the commander for the mission, which will be his first. The young knight is complaining about the name change he'll go through while they're hanging out in a market for some reason. Just seeing their dialogue gives me confidence this mission will be smooth and nothing will go wrong at all.
KoL is LBGT friendly Uh, ships aren't invisible in the sea dude... Well what's YOUR definition of Vacation? Like all of the leg work. Well well well, if it isn't Mr Lasagna.
During their voyage they are beset by a storm and forced to make landfall, incidentally being the very place they needed to be anyway! Before they can figure out where they are, a force of bad dudes appears and attacks! The enemies are vanquished, so DrTasty<3 decides it's a great time to start having an involved conversation. They reveal that there are two states, Anser in the south and Rananculus in the north, which were separated by a sizeable forest until one day some dudes from the north crossed the border and for some reason decided to start fighting. Rananculus is the one which attacked us. Anyway, it's all very complicated and is a good show of why you don't just conquer lands willy-nilly. Bro... You're already there, man... YOU ARE PERFECTLY ANCHORED AT SHORE!!!
   The fearsome warrior, Stan! A true doom murderhead Knight You are also using exclamation marks, hypocrite
It is also revealed that this particular mission is something Rictor's dad, the duke, doesn't give half a rat's ass about, so they send out the newbie squad to take care of the situation. Rictor is not pleased with his father's leadership. He was going to be a priest, but I guess his father want's him to inherit Duke in order to hold onto that power. However, before DrTasty<3 can bore us with more exposition, a bandit with a crossbow appears from the ship and takes a shot at Rictor, but DrTasty<3 jumps in the way and falls into the ocean. For some reason there is a rough current and he is swept away. Sounds like my relatives.... Pretty much sums up DrTasty<3 A very powerful xbow shot Oh noes!
Later, DrTasty<3 awakens in a strange house and is greeted by some chick that is probably not important at all. He's in a church in Solea and is being taken care of by the clergy, namely this girl, Eleanor. Suddenly a female knight appears, this grey-haired knight explains where DrTasty<3 is and finds out what he is doing here. She invites him along to Scabellum (some great names here), because there are rumors of strange troops hanging out there, which must be our guys. Everyone is very polite. A body, here on the beach...heheheheh. Lost his job, super drunk, no sleep... And maybe godzilla gave me a blowjob Gotta return this NOT porn
In Scabellum, they are attacked by troops of Rananculus, which confuses DrTasty<3 for some reason. During the fight, Rictor and Orvis show up to help. Rictor came to this port after the attack, but it is learned that no one likes Lodis (maybe they should subjugate everyone?). The Batraals rule Rananculus and are the primary reason for all the trouble, There's also some bandits hanging out in some ruins collecting knowledge, which Rictor seems to want to stop. So DrTasty<3 is given some cash-moneys to hire some soldiers. Our hero, everyone We've said this like a million times... She looked more like a Siren, but what do i know?
Well if you say it like that.... Neither do I...... Then everyone will like us!
After this, DrTasty<3 hires some soldiers and heads toward the fortress. On his way he defeats a band of White Fangs soldiers and then finally makes it to the fortress, where he brazenly talks shit on the commanding officers there and tells them to surrender. Turns out Commander Briffaut is there and has his second in command guard the place while he is inside. DrTasty<3 and friends kill the knight and make their way inside. Alone, our hero is put to sleep by a hidden sorceress and wakes up chained in a dungeon. Briffaut rightfully tells him how stupid he is, then questions him about Lodis' true intentions. It's almost like this is foreshadowing Lodis' fuckery in literally everything they get into. It doesn't matter, DrTasty<3 doesn't know anything, so they drug him and leave him to die.
There aren't any windows... He's very upset by this turn of events. No shit, that's like saying lemons are sour.
Again, he is rescued by unknowns, this time some woman in a cocktail dress and her ninja bff. She offers to assist him, but only if he helps her. For some reason his allies who were supposed to attack from the south, went somewhere else. This is where the game gets kind of confusing and weird. Am I the only one who wonders why his squad (us) didn't raise any concerns about the commander disappearing into the fortress and not coming out? I mean he was in there for over a day. Anyway, they're going to cross some mountains so get your hiking shoes on.
Man, he is great at making friends. Off to a great start! Caught it on pay-per-view
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