With the previous round over, we are locked onto Kimiko's route, which gives us the option of going to the true ending if we managed to find the code. Before we get the chance to enter it though, we get to have a meal with Kimiko and Yoshiki before the Vampire Children game starts. Then when everything is said and done, we spend the night with the Captain, potentially our last chance to do so... ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVi5HynMJX4
This is another one of the missions that reflects some of the inner workings of the COs, this time with Lash getting Sonja to question her motives. Other than that, this is similar to some of the Grit missions, this time swapping the indirect fire range for vision.
Now, your goal is to protect the HQ since you are massively outgunned here. The trick is to shoot to wound so that if anything gets up there, it will not be able to kill the defenders. Make sure you hide the indirects in the woods to get clean shots and avoid being spotted. Additionally, hide the ones at the top of the map so they can aid in the defense without fear of retaliation. Then just like the other fog maps of this ilk, whittle away at the enemy until nothing remains.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQyb-X2uFvc
This is the last planned Advance Wars 1 war room, where we take on Kanbei. In AW1, Max can beat him in a direct fight, so we take the strong man out for a spin to put the samurai in his place.
The objective here to claim the base near the middle of the map so we can create units right where the combat will be taking place. Using our superior strength, we just need to ram through his defenses and we can almost just march to his HQ for the win. We'll have to see if we can repeat this in AW2, when we try it the other way around.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXlmOUmpgF0
When dealing with COs with global damage effects, I usually like to bring Andy as he can neutralize them. His power can also save you on a lot of money since all of those repairs are free, so expensive units can get back on their feet more quickly.
As for the map, you do have options here. You start on land, and Olaf will have the majority of the airports and harbors, but if you can claim the ones in the middle of the island, you can take to the sea or sky. From there, it is up to you if you want to continue the ground war or use a variety of units. Blizzards will slow you down, so make sure you have your supply lines set up so you're not caught out. When dealing with Olaf, you mainly need to watch for the blizzard traps, and as long as you can do so, he is not too bad to deal with.
For that reason, a lot of COs can work really well here. Just keep in mind you can bring a more offensive CO if you want to finish this with high rank. Here, I just wanted to give some variety as the later maps will not have that luxury.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBCyWo6oeVM
I meant to check this sooner, but here is what happens should you decide not to open the envelope when prompted. Basically, the mystery remains forever sealed and everyone drifts apart...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAPYuDMfADw
I will be dropping numbers from this point as we will be able to bounce between acts, and somewhat forced to. In this part, we find out what happened after the SSS was forced to scatter with Lloyd and Rixia hiding out at the Boathouse. Upon waking, Lloyd wants to go to Crossbell, but being unable to enter, opts to go to Armorica instead...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15RZf1aDb_E
Kicking things off chronologically, we head to the distant past to help Pogo with his coming of age. In the process, we meet a cave woman who is on the run from another chief. By helping her, we have to go against the chief, which leads to us getting exiled from our tribe...
This part starts off a little slow since you can use the equipment crafting system to utterly break the chapter. If you don't mind grinding the minigames, you can head out completely decked out and ready for the chapter boss. While I do get the weapon I use on Pogo for the entire chapter here, I space out a lot of the rest of the equips to try not to utterly ruin everything.
Anyway, the next part will bring the chapter to the conclusion, where we learn why the girl was abducted, and even find a strange mammoth with an OoPArt...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f93ZkZjf-fg
We finish making our preparations to find the Princess, praying the whole time that she is not in another fortress. There were some sidequests for us to tackle, a little bit of fighting perhaps, but most importantly of all, we get to start spending those bonding points that I think everyone has been looking forward to. Before we start the story, I have one extra video that is almost non-stop combat where we get to settle the scores with some of the special monsters we've seen lying around here and there.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOaFHPauREQ
A couple things to go over: yes, the game is supposed to be getting pulled from Steam so more development can be performed on it. The autosave system and the elevator are two areas looking for reworks.
As for this video, the exorcisms are not quite that clear cut as we encountered the Stalker in the previous video, but now he is out of his hiding place in the wall, and we need to quickly exorcise him. Finding his attachment, we can take him down fairly quickly, but then we are barraged by other spirits in the remainder of the video.
Things we find here are the crawling spirit and the little girl, which allows us to finally access the entirety of the floor where we encountered the manager originally. However, I need to round up some change in order to move the acid we need, and then find either a way around the little girl or the missing parts of the crawling spirit. Sadly, due to the imminent changes, I am going to hold off on this for a little bit while I wait for more developments or news. Something different will be coming out to fill the void in the schedule...
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMviGTz40fc