Pokémon Conquest

[Stratelier]

So who's a fan of this tactical spinoff?

It's been awhile since I've played a few grid-based Pokemon battles, but I decided to pick it up again and finish some of the postgame stories.

My latest excursion was No's quest (female Warlord contest; conquer seven territories in central Ransei) and I was determined to get some of my Pokemon evolved. (Conquering the map is easy; getting enough XP to evolve your Mons before then is ... not.) It went down something like this....

Spoiler

I started in Terrera, then quickly took Pugilis and Chrysalia by storm (Terrera can be tricky to hold, and I needed Ranmaru and Oichi on the team). I develop Pugilis until it's maxed out (and for once wild Riolu actually start to appear in it, so I make sure that everyone who has Fighting or Steel specialty gets one -- Ranmaru being at the top of that list). I recruit all Warlords I can find (including Ina, whose Quagsire was a challenge since I didn't have any Grass types -- I ultimately succeeded in taking it down without it landing any successful Mud Bombs), catch a few Anorith that swarmed in....

After I take Cragspur the AI opponents take note and start level grinding (but nobody really attacks me any, yet). Aya has the bright idea to send in a team of six Warriors with three Abra to take Cragspur -- silly AI, no Cragspur for you! A few turns later I proceed to wipe Aya's army off the map, leaving only Ginchiyo. I want her to attack me so I can get XP faster (castle battles always seem to give you a mininum +3%), but she's not level grinding fast enough to become any threat. (It doesn't help her out that Violight has no gold mines to dig up gold with, so she can't exactly develop her lands either.)

So I decide to have some fun: I put Oichi in Pugilis (with a Fraxure, acquired during an earlier story) and have everybody else back out to farther territories. So now Ginchiyo thinks she can take me one-on-one, but nope -- Fraxure easily trounces her Shinx. Then I move No in (also with a Fraxure acquired from an earlier story) and they hold Pugilis pretty much unscathed -- even when outnumbered two to one (a four-Mon team of Luxio/Munna/Rufflet/Scraggy still can't dislodge me). At about 60% both evolve into Haxorus, and then Ginchiyo stops challenging me at all.

...at which point I storm Violight with just those two dragons (outnumbered 3 to 1) and they sweep everything; nothing can survive an Outrage from either one. Story's over with a bang.

Now I'm playing Hanbei's story. I've recruited Oichi and Aya, while the rest of the map has become an unsettled war between Ranmaru, Muneshige and Tadakatsu. I'm actually surprised Ranmaru is still holding out, because Muneshige's got the most territory in eastern Ransei by now. Meanwhile I've got everything from Violight/Pugilis southward.

 

[CrashBash]

I just got Pokemon Conquest. It's certainly interesting, but I'm finding it kinda difficult to follow ATM.

 

[Sakuraa]

I really liked the game and thought it was pretty fun and challenging. I remember planning out my army like a main game Pokémon team. It would consist of 2 permanent members; me and Eevee-Vaporeon and Oichi and her Jigglypuff-Wigglytuff. I also wanted three of each type of starter Pokémon. So I recruited Takeyoshi and replaced his Carnivine with a Treecko-Sceptile, then Takatora with his Charmander-Charizard, and finally Kiyo who's Carnivine I replaced with and Oshawott-Samurott. Lastly I new I'd need and Ice-type for the final battle with Nobunaga so I requited Kame and replaced her Onix with a Spheal-Walrein.

The main game was a delightful change for a Pokémon game. I certainly liked the strategy building that needed to be done in order to conquer warlords. I remember how hard it became after conquering about half the region to make sure other armies didn't try to reclaim any of my kingdoms. I had to spread out all my strong members to make new armies and recruit more strong warlords just to make sure I'd always be prepared should invaders arise. The game really made me think and plan ahead, which was a bit challenging for me as I'd never played an RPG like this before. I definitely enjoyed it and wouldn't mind another in the future.

 

[Stratelier]

When I played through the main story, I remember turning my Eevee into a Jolteon (favorite Eeveelution). The other wild Eevee that appears main-story I let Oichi get, and turned it into an Espeon. The final battles against Nobunaga (both of them) went down to the wire -- Excadrill versus Zekrom and Arceus versus black Rayquaza (and that one really went to the death -- Arceus was my last one standing and if I didn't KO black Rayquaza on that turn, his Dragon Pulse would've finished me).

Also, the first Warlord I was able to recruit in the main story was Muneshige -- because it was my Eevee landing the final blow (within four turns). Recruiting Ginchiyo, though, took forever (at least until I learned that in addition to defeating them quickly/unscathed/with an elemental weakness, it must also be a Warlord of your own landing the final blow).

Hanzo and Ina are a pain to recruit because Hanzo's default Pokemon is Spiritomb (no weaknesses prior to Gen 6) and Ina's default Pokemon is Quagsire (sole weakness Grass). Riolu are a pain to find in the wild because you need Pugilis at Lv.3 and it seems they just don't appear whatsoever in certain stories (e.g. in No's story they were actually quite plentiful, but in other stories about as rare as a shiny encounter in the main series).

The postgame stories do get easier once you memorize the AI's strategy (or lack thereof), and get more of your Pokemon evolved -- you always start at a low Link level but you do get to keep your evolutions, so having e.g. a Charizard or Hydreigon or something like that right off the bat means you can tear through a lot of opponents who are using unevolved creatures.

Right now I'm trying to acquire more Perfect Links and evolutions, unfortunately for that I need to go slowly so I can grind my levels high enough. That sometimes means keeping only 4-5 Warriors in a territory instead of six so the AI will think I'm easier to take.

 

[GhostFingers]

I tried it and really didn't get on with it at all. I found the best thing about it was the artwork. Couldn't get to grips with the fighting/positioning system or how it was so very different from regular pokemon games. I also didn't like the storyline it felt too basic. Clearly not for everyone, but i'm glad some people liked it.