Game 17: Destiny of an Emperor (NES) - Finished!

I think this is the most bland final screen I've seen

Well here we are; on the other side of another game. I've noticed more often than not I'm eager for the game to finish after about two-thirds through. Most of the time the game exhausted its mechanics without wrapping up the story in a timely manner. Does the game really need to make me walk through two dungeons and just to gain ten levels to beat another boss where I auto-battle for half of it? Only extra soldiers were gained; tactical points leveled off about 5 levels prior.

This is only slightly better

All battles up until I met the final Warlord (whom I fought three times) followed the same strategy: check the generals to ensure none have An Sha (instant kill tactic), target that one if he exists (after casting Ce Mian, which blocks enemy tactics), then auto-battle to wipe out the rest. I'm getting a little ahead though.

If that thing is so important you should keep better track of it

So, Shu is settled, Wu and Wei declare war, and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are retired. I went ahead and added two more members to my party, but it turned out I was wasting my time as their sons Guan Xing and Zhang Bao joined after visiting the besieged Jing Zhou province. Two out of the four castles were captured, but they were easily recovered.

With some casualties

Oh never mind, he's just resting

After resettling Jing Zhou we learned that Wu and Wei formed an alliance against Shu. Sun Quan claimed Wu, and Cao Pi (eldest son of Cao Cao) claimed Wei. At least Cao Pi seemed to have some claim to rule, but for whatever reason this was explained as an usurp. After some inner turmoil, Liu Bei announced to his officers that he'll claim the right as emperor and put these upstarts in their place.

Conversations are hard to follow sometimes, but made more humorous by imagining only Liu Bei speaking

The path to Wu is a new bridge not mentioned by anyone that I happened to stumble across by revisiting castles. On this new land were warlords that sported 15,000 soldiers while I still barely managed that number across my whole party.

This was my worst defeat so far, but not my last

There was a short quest to gather some saltpeter from a nearby cave; a task I completed before I knew what I was after. Joining this powder with an old twig and some other parts an old man had, I was able to cross a channel by collapsing a mountain with a spectacular explosion.

Fabulous~!

With the channel filled I crossed into a land like all others: fortress, castle, fortress, all the enemies fell quickly after this point. The random battles held more risk, but were manageable. A cave between me and what remained of Wu was rumored to contain a glowing object. It turned out to be one of the swords created for me by the sword smith.

Evil~!

This really is all for flavor. Spirits never came out of the sword... that'll happen in Ghost Lion

Yet another sword was found not so ominously by dispatching a local band of pirates.

Did it still have its tag on?

Some time during my exploration of Wu I decided names were becoming less necessary to track. I had actually been keeping a fairly detailed list, but didn't see the point anymore. The game wasn't rewarding me much for it, and I felt I was nearing the end. I hoped, and luckily, it was a straight shot to the end.

I have a feeling you're just not important

Sun Quan fell easily, although this was the first time I fought two armies in a row. In the end, he regretted his treachery. The towns still offered some intrigue, but it all seemed so hollow since I already had the best strategist and generals in the game.

It also didn't help that my army was full

I found another of the swords, this time just lying around in town. Apparently one of the townsfolk had stolen in from a thief. I'm not sure how that doesn't make that guy a thief too.

Next up, Cao Pi. The battle was a little difficult as Cao Pi would continuously cast Wan Fu (full heal). I needed something to bust through his defense before he had a chance to do so. This is where I started using Bei Ji (double attack power) plus Power Pills (auto-crit, one use items). Prior to this I really didn't have a reason to buff up so much, and I continued with this tactic to the end.

Ji Mian -- Negates all physical attacks

Once I defeated Cao Pi an ally of his showed up. Si Ma Yi, the real boss of the game. I hadn't even heard of this guy. He finished off Cao Pi, then turned his sights on me. He cast a spell... yes a spell, not a tactic. His thunder power knocked me out; I awoke in an inn miles away. How could I hope to stand against such a power?

Fourth wall broken!

The first battle with Si Ma Yi took some time to get through, mainly because of the trek back once I failed. He retreated to Chin Castle. To get there I needed to travel through two of the longest caves in the game.

My nation for a boat!

Guess what I found inside. That's right, the last two swords. I'm not sure what happened to the thieves, but at least I had the swords. The most powerful weapons in the... what's that? Found a plain old Halberd? Double the damage of any of the swords? Maybe we can go back to the sword smith to have him make more...

From Chin Castle Si Ma Yi once again retreated, this time to Luo Yang. Luo Yang was the capital destroyed by Dong Zhou at the beginning of the game. In fact I could now travel from the beginning castle to the final battle. There were a few fights that led up to this, but they were simple affairs.

I don't think they can count

Si Ma Yi had two sons. They were the first to meet my advancing troops. Both were capable of An Sha and Wan Fu. When I first approached I went all out. During the battle, before their actions, they would taunt my generals with questions meant to break my resolve. However, doing this didn't prepare me for the battle immediately following.

Nothing!

I learned for the first time that the AI can break. Prior to the above screen, I got Shi low on health. He cast Wan Fu right after they gained access to their tactics once more. It's hard to say why this happened, but I found it most fortunate that he cast it on one of the smaller units.

Oh no! Don't heal your... other soldiers?

It took about four or five attempts before I finally found a strategy that worked to the end. Instead of casting Bei Ji on everyone I focused only on three generals, and loaded up on power pills plus two resurrect items. This allowed me to bounce back from two An Shas, and have enough power to take care of both armies.

The final blow

In the end I scraped out a victory only thanks to the RNG. I used auto-battle to see how low I could get Si Ma Yi before he'd heal again. It seemed whenever he got below 15,000 he'd recover. I really didn't have a hope of doing 15,000 in one round; I was out of tactics, and had only one power pill left. Then all of a sudden it was over. For whatever reason, two turns in a row he failed to heal.

Ah, the elusive promise of peace

With Si Ma Yi gone, I was able to enter the castle, summon Liu Bei, and end the game. Victory at last! Peace has come and everyone rejoiced!

Hey! Look happier! Where's your smile?

Liu Bei congratulated us and the credits rolled. In between names with character portraits flashing on the screen, I was treated with a few screens of Liu Bei surveying his land. I'm glad I've finally brought peace to the land, and I'm sure the people are glad to have peaceful ruler.

Ah the peaceful rule of the iron fist

Well, aside from the propagandized shiny ending, it's good to see this one end. I'm not sure how I feel about the game. Before this post I was ready to write this up as the easiest game I've played, but the final battle really was a challenge (even though it came down to randomness). I'll get the final rating out soon. Then it's time for another game from my childhood; in fact it was my only Game Boy game: Final Fantasy Legend.

Did the game borrow from Willow?

Sessions Time: 7h52m (Final Time: 21h04m)