Update Time

I've reached the fourth generation.

Peter collected all of the ingredients for the Mermaid Potion but first I went south past the Ludon region where I met the roaming Mu (fantasy yak) herders who were being pestered by some monsters in a nearby cave. I went in hoping for treasure but instead liberated the area and unlocked the Herder class. Finally took the plunge and finished the mermaid quest which ended Peter's reign prematurely. I did have to laugh because when you visit the mermaid with the aid of the potion, the two of them get excited and wander off screen before it blacks out and reappears with both of them sighing and thanking each other for a good time. I'm sure this is meant to be a thought of as them going on adventurers or something but it really looks like they're doing something far more adult...

I didn't care for the choices of my next emperor because for some reason I rolled three boys and one girl, and said girl was already a class I've been (Thief) so I reloaded and used my Auto-Save for a new selection and lo and behold, one of my choices was a Neriad (Mermaid) which felt incredibly appropriate.

This has easily been the worst choice I've made all game. While mermaids have some amusing quirks, she has easily been the crappiest party member I've had to deal with. Her health, and more importantly, her Life Points are abysmally low. I played her for like one evening and she's already down to one LP thanks to enemies being very aggressive against her. Making matters worse was the fact I accidentally locked her into quest without a full team which meant they all got beat up pretty badly. I wish there was an easier way to get around sometimes, especially in regions like the Steepe/Savannah/Jungle region because they are only accessible by traversing a few dungeons. The other issue with her is that Mermaids are mages. So she started with Water, Wind, and of course Light magic but I have not grinded enough levels to have access to the really good stuff yet because leveling magic, like RS1 and FFII is a chore. Making matters worse is that she's a Type 5, meaning her best weapons are Clubs and Maces which has been the one weapon type I've neglected the most next to Rapiers. So I'm taking advantage of the act she inherited my better Sword/Spear levels to make her a better fighter. Her one unique quirk, which I learned is shared by all of the non-human races, is that in addition to being immune to Water based attacks, she actually gets a minor Regen Buff like monsters do when she fights in an area of her element. Sadly, she doesn't teach my group any new formations.

From Avalon, I picked up a Water Free Mage, who sadly came with Earth Magic as his secondary element. I have yet to unlock any offensive magic for either element, so I had him lose his Earth Magic and traded it for Wind Magic, but he starts with an abysmal level in it so my Mage has been kind of useless until I finally got his Wind Magic levels up. He does have more HP and LP than my Empress though, which is kind of sad...

My last three members have all proven to be quite good though. I returned to the Savannah and recruited a Hunter which feels like an upgrade to the Archer class. Good bow skills and even has strong levels in One-Handed swords which has been nice. The best thing about him has been the fact he's actually sparking new techs. My last Archer only sparked one new move the entire generation, but this guy has sparked three bow techs and one sword tech. His health pool is also much better than the Archer class as well.

While I was in the Savannah, I paid a visit to the Mole people and recruited one of their members. Mole people start with Earth Magic and get a regen buff in Caves or Mountain regions. He is also tanky as all hell. Despite saying he has good numbers in Martial Arts, he's not as strong as I would like. The weirdest thing about Moles is that their primary weapons are Rapiers. He has sparked like seven new Rapier techs which has been great and his levels with it are strong enough to make up for the weapons awful stats. He's been a very solid party member.

My last recruit, who ended up getting me stuck on that quest I mentioned earlier because I was too lazy to traverse the dungeon area to reach the Ludon region, was the Mu Herder. They specialize in Martial Arts and Clubs. Despite being a guy wearing an ethnic hat and a straw cape, he's is built like the Mu's he guards and is tanky as all hell. A surprisingly good party member who has finally shown me what Club/Mace weapons are really capable of once you have strong levels in it and spark a few decent techs. Wish I could have gotten to him before my Empress lost most of her LP.

When trying to recruit my herder, I went to the town of Moblem to take a boat to Toba, which would lead me to his mountain home without having to wander through a grindfest dungeon. Unfortunately, I couldn't use the boats because my Corsairs had decided to rebel. I learned from their former leader that an upstart overthrew him and took over their town of Nueno and stopped all sailing and was halfing my income for the empire. He allied himself with Subier, one of the Seven Heroes. Unfortunately, talking to him locked me into having to sneak into Nueno to topple this guy. I took the ocean path because I had never done that before. With only four party members, two of which are squishy mages, I was unable to utilize and of my Formations, leaving my Empress exposed to get the trout kicked out of her. There were also two really nasty fights I was stuck having to do which cost me more LP than it should have and I probably should have reset when they occurred. I beat the guy down, but he escaped vowing revenge. Got my guy and remembered a thing I never finished in the last gen.

You can commission a scientist to build a moving bridge in one of your bigger cities, but something destroyed it last gen and the scientist refused to rebuild it until I figured out what caused it. Turns out it was a Narwhale trying to protect her child from Subier. So the bridge was restored. I finally accumulated enough Gold to not only start construction of my University, but to unlock the Imperial Guard class though neither will be ready until next generation. Went through the desert to find a village being hounded by the one of the Seven Heroes forces and liberated it as well. Traversed the jungle to finally unlock a passage to Comroon Island where I stopped the local volcano from erupting and started the first step to either recruit the Salamander Race, or unlock Dark Magic. Called it a night after that.