Game 28: Warsong (Genesis) - Victorious, King! (Finished + Rating)

I can't decide if that's Garett staring into the sunset, or Chaos ominously on the horizon

While the ending scenarios were dramatic, compared to the scenarios 11 and 12, they were a cake-walk. I took them slowly, gained all the experience I could, and enjoyed the ending that followed. However, at least in scenarios 18 and 19, the party started right next to the boss with only a wall to separate them. With all the magic I had, including earthquake to knock down walls, I'm fairly sure those two maps would take less than 10 minutes.

6/8 flyers? Definitely want archers

Stage 17 required total defeat, so I armed archers to tackle the flying units. I held my ground on the hills near the bottom of the map, and let them come to me. The enemy commanding units had a couple of fireballs in reserve, which made placement troublesome. For the ground units I set aside some horsemen.

Only one option for this line of advancement

Garett and companions entered Seneferia to face off against the last three generals of evil. Naxos controlled the gateway in stage 18 with groups of monsters: slimes, skeletons, ants, and golems. The new golems had defense so high that magic was nearly the only way to damage them. I decided to have Mina go with guardsmen instead of monks because there were more slimes to grind on. For the skeletons, I did my best by throwing horsemen at them. Had I a dragon knight, I could easily have flown over the walls and completed the map on the second turn.

The back side of the leader is unguarded

I noticed Lance was no longer available on the next map for some reason. I tried out my strategy with Lance on the previous map, just to see if it was possible. I equipped Warsong and he easily took Naxos out in a single round. Having Lance on the map triggered some additional dialogue where he volunteered to stay behind to cover our backs. I'm really missing Sabra's dragon knight class.

Mortimus, the second boss general is right there waiting for a barrage of spells to take him out

Instead of taking the easy way out in scenario 19 I made my way around the sides, taking out all the enemy commanders in my path. Mortimus had a confusion spell that turned my forces against me, but only in the immediate areas around the spell target, which always seemed to be a commander. Knowing this, I spread my units out, and rendered that spell useless. Mina's monks took out the skeletons easily.

And Mina dealt the final blow... still a long way away from her second class change

The final stage was filled with skeletons. Monks are the only units strong against them, but Mina was the only one with that option. I went with mostly horsemen, and a couple detachments of archers. I'm glad I did because a hidden final boss, a bit obvious with only seven enemy generals shown on the map in the beginning, was all flying units. The main commander on map was Ganelon, the magic knight who originally used evil to conquer the land.

I used Garett to bait out Ganelon's powerful spells while I kept a distance with everyone else

Once Ganelon fell, Chaos appeared. His defeat was always the end goal for the map, so I guess the scenario overview really spoiled his appearance. Chaos and his units flew across the map, so I was glad to have chosen a couple contingents of archers. I also reserved a bit of magic for the final fight, and it proved very useful. Without a single commander loss I defeated Chaos in a single turn of magic, and a final charge. Good thing too, as nearly everyone was out of magic by that point.

Apparently in Chaos' eyes, I'm the bad guy

After all my magic was spent, Sabra was close by to wrap things up

And so, Garett and team bask in victory over the incarnation of Chaos. However, Chaos wasn't completely defeated, and claimed he'd return one day. As explained by him, Chaos existed to keep the world in balance against an encroaching Order. A Light exists that sustains life and pushed evolution forward. This evolution has caused the destruction of the world through war, and once it reaches its peak again, Chaos will return.

Garett reflects on his choices

The game wrapped up with a summary of each commander. Bayard became captain of the guard, taking over Baldarov's old position. Calais returned as the court magician, and was studying the ancient scrolls of the magic knight. Thorne left on his own, and Carleon returned home. Tiberon went back to sailing, and Sabra also left to hone her skills. Garett took Mina as his queen, and sealed Warsong once again. Lance's body was never found.

Sounds like a sequel

and the credits roll

With that, we have another game behind us. I can't fault it much for its simplicity, but I wasn't wowed. I enjoyed making my through it, but I'm eager to move on. I don't think I'd suggest Warsong to anyone other than strategy fans. It's a good length, and provides a challenge on most maps: charging in was rarely a viable strategy.

Elapsed Time: 8h36m (Final Time: 29h34m)


Quick rating time!

Combatant - Combat was challenging, and leveling up comes often. The balance of one action per turn makes unit placement key to winning. Taking advantage of magic spells was difficult.
Rating: 6

Admirer - There are advancement paths, and choosing the wrong one locks out other classes. Gaining experience only from the total defeat of enemy units kept Mina at low levels. If anyone has ever been able to get her Ranger, you've accomplished quite the challenge.
Rating: 5

Puzzler - Points for having clear goals. Strategy games are most likely going to fall very short in this category.
Rating: 2

See, I would have missed this tiny bit of lore had I let Sabra die... plus the maps would have been a lot more difficult

Instigator - Permadeath was interesting, but I don't like how it locks out the story for those characters. Instead, losing a character just means no summary at the end. I believe the main narrative may suffer from translation issues, but it's good enough to keep things going.
Rating: 3

Collector - I included the point system for buying units as part of an economy. There are items, but they're automatically collected at the end of each map.
Rating: 2

Explorer - The music was nice, one of the best on the Genesis I've heard. It would have been nice to have some interesting spots on the map to explore, but there are only enemies, nothing else to find.
Rating: 2

Final Rating: 20 [33%]

Now, on to Faria, but first, I need to cut out Times of Lore, a game I enjoyed when I was a kid even though I really didn't understand what I needed to do. I thought about including it anyway, but even with its story and branching dialogue, there isn't any character development.