Legend of Heroes VI: Trails in the Sky FC - Lieutenant Lorence Unmasked - Nightmare Difficulty

Описание: TL;DR: Kloe I love you.

This footage took me over 2 hours and 20 tries to record. It is bar none the hardest battle of this game. So hard, in fact, that you do not actually have to win this battle to continue the plot, and this is the only battle that you do not have to win. However, you must win against him to ensure you get all 386 Bracer Points in this game for 100% completion. I eventually gave up using non-carried over equipment. Not because the battle is impossible without it - ironically, this fight wouldn't have been different if the gears weren't carried over from the first playthrough.

This was an exceptionally fast kill on Lorence. But I'm sure if this battle drew on any longer, there was actually no chance of me winning. There was also a significant amount of luck involved where Lorence chose to close out his attacks with Demon Flames + a basic attack rather than casting Tearal or Earth Guard MK-II, both of which would've made me lose this battle in the long run. I was convinced that after Estelle failed to kill him with a max CP crit Barrage + Spare Rib boost that I had lost, but luckily Lorence did not heal.

So, what makes this fight so hard? This battle takes place on Nightmare Difficulty, which is only available to the player after you've already cleared the game once. You get the choice to go into a second playthrough on higher difficulties (Hard or Nightmare), and carry over the items and equipments from your first run, as well. I did not carry the levels of previous characters over for this playthrough, but the option was available. Nightmare difficulty isn't a joke. You get 2-shotted as opposed to maybe 12-shotted, and enemies move much faster.

Joshua, Zane, and Olivier are not with you for this battle, because someone at Falcom thought it'd be hilarious to split the teams up into boy-and-girl teams for the Grancel Castle assault. You will be missing your primarily DPS, your tank, and your best magic caster, in exchange for Kloe and Scherazard. Schera stopped being useful about 20 levels ago, but Kloe is a godsend. I'm pretty adamant that even if you had a 4-man party against Lorence, if Kloe is not among the 4, there is no chance that you can defeat him. Kloe's Craft ability, "Kaempfer", can halve the attack and defense of Lorence, turning him into a 2-shotting mobile eradicator into a wimp for a few turns. Missing a Kaempfer, which has happened to me numerous times, will almost always result in your loss.

On nightmare, since his speed is boosted up, he can perfectly execute an attack, cast Tearal to heal him for 1800 HP, and attack again - all without you getting a turn, even sometimes with the 50% speed boost from Clock Up EX. Do not even try to fight this guy without Clock Up on you. That being said, the speed up does wear off. And you cannot afford to cast it a second time. During the time you cast it a second time, Lorence will try a truckload of nasty things against you, such as Zero Storm to interrupt the Clock Up channel, Earth Guard MK-II to give him 2 hits of invincibility, or Tearal to heal him for 1800 HP after you've worked so hard to damage him for about 2k. The longer the fight drags on, the greater the chances he'll cast one of these abilites to screw you over. You either burst him down in one go or never at all.

It is somewhat disappointing that after over 2 hours of recording, the one winning fight I got was finished rather quickly. But this battle came out rather clean, save for the failed burst-kill at the end. It was very satisfying to finally beat this guy's face in.

EQUIPMENT INFORMATION:

Estelle:
Weapon - Mystic Stave
Armor - Valkyrie Dress
Shoes - Sylphen Boots
Accessory - Grail Locket + Gladiator Headband

Kloe:
Weapon - Hauteclere
Armor - Valkyrie Dress
Shoes - Sylphen Boots
Accessory - Grail Locket + Gladiator Belt

Scherazard:
Weapon - Nine Tails
Armor - Shield Coat
Shoes - Composites
Accessory - Glam Choker + Lily Necklace