Mission 16: Norze Reclaimed

Mission Overview

Situation: With the recent events that have taken place, it's finally time to take back Norze Castle, one of the Kingdom's strongest forts! The resistance will be great, but if we win, we'll have an excellent chance to launch an attack to take back the Pharastia Capital! Objective: Annihilate all enemies.	3D Map:

Enemies

	Imperial 1 (Einlager ATAC)
	HP: 111			Level: 16			Money: 5000
	BAS: 11	POW: 18	DEX: 12	AGL: 8	DEF: 9	WEP: 22	Spirit: 63	Range: 5	Speed: 4.86
	Equipment: Darkblade, Garnet			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Tackle, Str. Slash, Kick			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Imperial 2 (Einlager ATAC)
	HP: 103			Level: 16			Money: 5000
	BAS: 9	POW: 18	DEX: 12	AGL: 8	DEF: 11	WEP: 19	Spirit: 63	Range: 5	Speed: 4.78
	Equipment: Preshuze, Sapphire			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Str. Slash, Ice Shards, Ice Storm			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Imperial 3 (Einlager ATAC)
	HP: 103			Level: 16			Money: 5000
	BAS: 9	POW: 18	DEX: 12	AGL: 8	DEF: 11	WEP: 19	Spirit: 63	Range: 5	Speed: 4.78
	Equipment: Preshuze, Sapphire			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Str. Slash, Ice Shards, Ice Storm			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Imperial 4 (Barbatos ATAC)
	HP: 100			Level: 15			Money: 3500
	BAS: 10	POW: 13	DEX: 11	AGL: 10	DEF: 11	WEP: 14	Spirit: 60	Range: 4	Speed: 5.30
	Equipment: Preshuze, Jasper			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Tackle, Str. Slash, Kick, Fireball, Melting Flare			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Imperial 5 (Barbatos ATAC)
	HP: 100			Level: 15			Money: 3500
	BAS: 10	POW: 13	DEX: 11	AGL: 10	DEF: 11	WEP: 14	Spirit: 60	Range: 4	Speed: 5.30
	Equipment: Preshuze, Jasper			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Tackle, Str. Slash, Kick, Fireball, Melting Flare			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Imperial 6 (Barbatos ATAC)
	HP: 100			Level: 15			Money: 3500
	BAS: 10	POW: 13	DEX: 11	AGL: 10	DEF: 11	WEP: 14	Spirit: 60	Range: 4	Speed: 5.30
	Equipment: Preshuze, Jasper			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Tackle, Str. Slash, Kick, Fireball, Melting Flare			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Imperial 7 (Barbatos ATAC)
	HP: 110			Level: 14			Money: 3500
	BAS: 13	POW: 10	DEX: 11	AGL: 9	DEF: 10	WEP: 13	Spirit: 57	Range: 4	Speed: 5.18
	Equipment: Preshuze, Topaz			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Tackle, Str. Slash, Kick, Quicksand			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Imperial 8 (Barbatos ATAC)
	HP: 110			Level: 14			Money: 3500
	BAS: 13	POW: 10	DEX: 11	AGL: 9	DEF: 10	WEP: 13	Spirit: 57	Range: 4	Speed: 5.18
	Equipment: Preshuze, Topaz			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Tackle, Str. Slash, Kick, Quicksand			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Imperial 9 (Barazaph ATAC)
	HP: 75			Level: 13			Money: 2000
	BAS: 6	POW: 10	DEX: 9	AGL: 8	DEF: 19	WEP: 11	Spirit: 54	Range: 4	Speed: 4.66
	Equipment: Preshuze, Aquamarine			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Ice Shards			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Imperial 10 (Barazaph ATAC)
	HP: 75			Level: 13			Money: 2000
	BAS: 6	POW: 10	DEX: 9	AGL: 8	DEF: 19	WEP: 11	Spirit: 54	Range: 4	Speed: 4.66
	Equipment: Preshuze, Aquamarine			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Ice Shards			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Imperial 11 (Barazaph ATAC)
	HP: 75			Level: 13			Money: 2000
	BAS: 6	POW: 10	DEX: 9	AGL: 8	DEF: 19	WEP: 11	Spirit: 54	Range: 4	Speed: 4.66
	Equipment: Preshuze, Aquamarine			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Ice Shards			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Imperial 12 (Dantarius ATAC)
	HP: 91			Level: 15			Money: 2000
	BAS: 9	POW: 10	DEX: 10	AGL: 19	DEF: 9	WEP: 13	Spirit: 60	Range: 5	Speed: 7.42
	Equipment: Shimmerswrd, Olivine			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Str. Slash, Str. Thrust, Tornado			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Imperial 13 (Dantarius ATAC)
	HP: 91			Level: 15			Money: 2000
	BAS: 9	POW: 10	DEX: 10	AGL: 19	DEF: 9	WEP: 13	Spirit: 60	Range: 5	Speed: 7.42
	Equipment: Shimmerswrd, Olivine			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Str. Slash, Str. Thrust, Tornado			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Imperial 14 (Dantarius ATAC)
	HP: 91			Level: 15			Money: 2000
	BAS: 9	POW: 10	DEX: 10	AGL: 19	DEF: 9	WEP: 13	Spirit: 60	Range: 5	Speed: 7.42
	Equipment: Shimmerswrd, Olivine			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Str. Slash, Str. Thrust, Tornado			Dormant Abilities: NONE
	Imperial General (Einlager ATAC)
	HP: 129			Level: 17			Money: 5000
	BAS: 15	POW: 17	DEX: 12	AGL: 10	DEF: 11	WEP: 17	Spirit: 66	Range: 5	Speed: 5.50
	Equipment: Darkblade, Garnet, Knight Coat-of-Arms			Attacks: Slash, Thrust, Tackle, Str. Slash, Kick, Quicksand			Dormant Abilities: Mass Menace

Important Battlefield Events:

- About 65 turns after the start of the battle, Imperial General and Imperials 1-3, 11, and 14 join the battle.

Strategy

Norze Castle is very well-placed, and is very hard to take due to the surrounding landscape. Therefore, instead of moving in, we're going to use the terrain to our advantage. Our team begins on the hilly area to the northeast, and leaving this area and attacking head-on results in serious injuries. Since you can only get so many people down the hill at once due to the narrowness of its declines, you'll have to send them down one by one, only to be met by the suprisingly powerful Imperials and promptly dizzied and beaten. The best idea is to position yourself on the hill properly, blocking off the entrances, and keeping everyone bunched together, long range attackers hiding behind the heavy close-range hitters. This way, the Imperials will come to you. When they do, meet them with frontal attacks, perhaps sneaking one of your team members down to hit them from behind. You will have an assist advantage, which is very helpful, considering the experience levels of the Imperials and the vast amount of them. However, do not simply block off the entrances by standing in front of them. Stand one person one space away from the entrance, with 2 people on the sides. That way, they will walk in and be surrounded by your team, and everyone will get some hits in. Also, with your team nice and snug and close, you'll get extra assistance from the Assist bonus, and your team is well set up to use Support abilities on one another. Of course, one or two Imperials will make it up the hill before you can get in position, but they will be exhausted from moving along the terrain, and may not be able to attack right away. Furthermore, one of the Dantarius units will have his back exposed; run in with Bastion and hit him. Keep Bastion around here; it's an excellent position that keeps him relatively close to everyone, in case they need healing. The formation I have outlined in the screenshot works very well. You might want to consider using it. Note that Barlow is piloting the Alba, Galvas the Ratatosk and Devlin the Serata. Feel free to switch the positions around whichever way you want. Just MAKE sure everyone gets some hits in; the enemies are worth quite a bit of EXP here, and you can have everybody shoot up a few levels if you play your cards right. Once the Imperial General closes in, you'll likely be done with many of the Imperials. It would be a good idea to break formation and shift your party to the western side. The Einlager troops require a lot of manpower to take down, and they all head this way to attack. Use Galvas as a decoy, and sneak up from behind whenever you can. Once you've gotten this far and you're doing well, it's hard not to win.

Now that the mission is complete..

- A Waiban ATAC is added to your inventory!

- You move on to Mission 17

Before beginning Mission 17, save your game and load stats from the Options screen (do this after every mission to be safe), and head to the Interview screen and chat. Move Barlow into the Waiban if you want; it can only be equipped with the Wind stone it starts with, which may not be to your liking. Personally, I think having another character to use Turbulence is an excellent idea, and you do save on money with the Waiban, but you will lose Earth Heal. The choice is yours to make. Check the Briefing for an overview of what's next, and when you're ready, head to Mission 17: Faulkner's Ambition.