Brigandine

~B
The unorthodox guide to playing Brigandine Version 1.01

Wong Chun Houe
eonian@pacifc.net.sg
Xu Yang'en
michealxye@hotmail.com

Before you read on, I'd like to tell you that this guide contains many
spoilers, and that I do not own a Playstation. Whatever you find in this
guide, if
you find it useful, its all thanks to Wong Chun Houe whose house I have
visited
regularly to complete the game.

Yeah..i forgot to thank Atlus as well for creating such a great game..taken up a lot of
hours from me (and a lot of homework as well.but what the heck.its good =>)

NO I am not going to give any details on how to play the game and all
that. There're other wonderful FAQs around (by people like Zhou Tai An)
which contains more than enough information on questing and gameplay and
characters and all that, so if you want info on them, just ask them.
What i will share, however, are some of the tricks that i found from
having completed the game 4 times. You can do whatever you want with
this guide. No need to tell me. I believe that knowledge should be
shared. ok enough of crap talk. Let's get down to basic stuff that people have
problems with. There's a short contents here. Whatever you don't need,
just skip it.

1)Raising Level Of Rune Knights
2)Raising Level Of units
3)About Generals
4)Spells
area effect spells
power
React
Halo
Petrify
5)General Classes
6)Capturing Units
7)Classes for battle
8)Rune Knights worth the headache of level raising
9)Some stuff about battle everyone should know

1)Raising levels of rune knights
As far as I'm concerned, there's only one way of raising level...gaining
exp. Its how you gain the exp that's hard. I know only of 2 ways of
doing it.
A)Sending your whole army to battle and hope to get your Rnue Knight
some kills in the fight itself...OR
B)Using one Rune Knight to guard a whole city all by himself to gain the
200 bonus exp.Personally, I prefer the 1st method. When I played Leonia
hard, I
managed to turn Kiloph into an Avenger in 3 battles. Not too hard if you
know what to do.All you need is a whole army of rocs, about 5 unicorns,
and a lot of good luck to do that. In case you haven't noticed yet, rocs
have the ability to stone, and if you haven't probably guessed, my
Kiloph had a history of killing a stoned Dinidan, the stoned Salam1A, a
stoned Gerient, a stoned Meleagant, and had about 10 more other kills.
Of course he was haloed before that. Something worth remembering, I'm
sure.
The only problem you ever have doing this is how to keep the knight
alive.

Its easy, really. The battle scene is played in hexes, and
wherever you stand, there are always 6 hexes of space surrounding you.
So, if you put him in between 2 rocs (and your whole army behind you),
the enemy will now only have 2 hexes of space to attack you with.

Now, If you move one of the rocs such that its partially in front of
him,
there's only one hex of space left for the enemy to attack him with (not
counting archers, centuars, and spells). By now you probably have a V
like thing, and the poor idiot that stands right in front of your rune
knight has to be killed in the next turn by the rune knight himself.
Simple stuff. Practise a little, and it'll come to you in no time.All
the more better still if your knight can cast holy word or some geno
spell.
This formation also happens to be my meteor doom formation. Keep that V
in mind. I'll explain later.

About using one general to guard a whole city. Its when you're short of
generals and there's this level 1 fella who needs the exp boost. All you
have to do, is to equip him with some shoes or any of the sort (speed
boots, flipper boots, bla bla bla) so that he can move a lot, and when
the battle starts, START RUNNING!!!!!!!!Just run around the whole map.
When its turn 12 (hopefully you move last), just barge into the midst of
them and do a debar knuckle on that stupid unicorn that's pestering you
or something. Just hit anything, and you'll get your 200exp, and you'd
have defended your town. I learnt that when i played Cai, and i sent
Gush to defend one whole town by himself. He actually managed to outrun
Zemeckis and Cador put together. =)

However, I must warn you that you knida get tired running around,
so...use this move sparingly.and it also helps if you equip speed boots
or flipper
boots if the terrain is very watery


2)Raising the level of regular monsters
Well. this is a little harder. They just hafta get into battle and get
as many kills as posssible. The roc method still works, but then, if
you're trying to raise a team of 4 salamanders, then i suggest you send
all four dragons into battle. When you take over a town, move away the
next turn and let someone else take over it again. This way, you'll
fight a lot of battles, and (hopefully) get a lot of kills.


3)About generals
One thing that I found useful in my playing is never to put top generals
together. i.e. never put Guinglain with Vaynard, never put Cai with
Dinadan, never put Coel with Gerient bla bla bla. Somehow it doesn't
work for me. Rather, I prefer to spread out my generals so that i can
have 2 attacking parties both of almost equal attacking strength.
Nothing wrong with putting them together. It just doesn't fit my style
that's all.of course if you are a power gamer and delight in seeing
enemies cower
in fear of your 3 most powerful knights then go ahead but don't say I
didn't warn
you about weakening either the defence party or the other attacking
unit.


4)Spells

AREA FX SPELLS
The best spells in the game are the area-effect spells, namely Holy
Word, Geno
Flame and Geno Frost. These spells have a pretty big attack radius, all
the more
useful if cast in the frontline of battle.That's why Vaynard is so
cool.....at
least I thought he was until I found the meteor doom formation (refer to
1). Place
a meteor doom caster (eg. Necromancer or Witch) at the base of the V,
and there's
one particular spot where its possible to cast meteor doom without
hitting any of
your own characters.(directly 3 hexes ahead of spell-caster). So if you
think that
meteor doom is pretty useless cos it hits your own people, think again.
If you play
Cai, he has a knight called Cierra who, at level 26, has enough MP to
cast 2 meteor
dooms. Combined with a react spell, a Loki, a Lucifer, a fairy, and a
Pegasus
(which was what i gave her anyway), she singlehandedly wiped out Dryst,
Iria and
Camden all in one round. Total annihiliation..and for the record this
single unit
totally eradicated Zemeckis, Esmeree and Soleil in 1 turn and the whole
line of my
knights didn't take a single hit...Zemeckis was the only thing left
standing
through all 4 meteor dooms and he had only 3 hp left so he got killed by
a stick
tap...I rest my case!!!

POWER
This is the best (IMHO) spell in the whole game. When cast on Cador, he
can take
out a Pegasus in just one hit (693 damage)...but I don't use them on
Generals. One
thing about Breaths in Brigandine is that they never miss, so if you
power up a
tiamat(2 blue 1 black), and blow through a fafnir(2 red 1 white), its
possible to
go up to about 500 damage just in one breath. With this, killing Cador
no longer
becomes a headache. One thing though. Never ever cast power on someone
who has a
low hit rate coz its really irritating to see your level 10 Loki miss,
especially
when you've haloed it. The MP can always go somewhere else.

REACT
React React React...I guess you know how I feel about the spell.imagine
2 turns in
the place of your standard 1...2 meteor doom from the same person..2
geno thunders
from Cai and more..but more importantly this spell is best used to help
movement or
to catch stupid knights who try to run away or to just get in that extra
hit to
decimate Salam1A ..excessive use of this spell is recommended but its
downside is
that it consumes 126mp per casting (Faeries and Wizard have this spell)
be
innovativewith this spell with like 2 react casters in one army you can
pull off
some really scary moves like having a Lv 28 Shogun called Layoneil run
up to your
full hp tiamat and in 2 Tsukis and 1 Shadow Moon, that 758hp 5 headed
overgrown
snake became a pile of steaming ofal...
I think you get my point by now right.

HALO
Halo your GHOUL before he KILLS Dinadan and watch the result..personally
I saw a Lv
1 ghoul go to lv 13 after chewing Dinadan up and he went to 14 with the
extra 200
exp. So I guess you people know what this spell is for so USE IT

PETRIFY
Unfortunately this is a exclusive spell for ninja masters (I Think) so
if you have
Shinraha raise him to Lv20 and let him cast it on say Lance and watch
what happens
to him...oh look a statue after that systematically wipe out all the
other units
and then go and kill him (with a ghoul of course.just for the insult)



5)General Classes
In all the FAQs that I read, no one has talked much about this. Let me
explain.
When a Gerenal gains 1 level in one class, he gains 1 star in that class
(other
than ninja class). After gaining 5 stars in that class, the general
becomes expert
in that class and is now qualified to up class into the next higher
class in that
class mode (fighter, cavalier etc.) However, class changes only happen
at LV10 and
20 for generals, so if you start at Level 1 with 1 star in a particular
class, at
LV 5, when you're expert in that class, you can choose to continue
raising level in
that class, or to turn your General into another class so that he can
master more
abilities.
What's so special about expert? Well, for one thing, you got to keep all
your
spells and your bonuses..think about it.a fighter who can cast meteor
doom, or an
avenger with 10% hit rate, 5% HP recovery
One more thing about changing classes..if you downgrade yourself from a
2 star
class to a 1 star class, it'll take less exp to raise level, so if
you're trying to
turn Cierra into that long awaited witch, then turn her into a cleric
first, at LV
21 (expert cleric class already) turn her into a witch, and at LV26 turn
her into a
Lector, and lo and behold! A level 30 Lector who can cast meteor
doom...or if you
haf a cardinal called Paternus who starts at LV20, at LV 25 turn him
into a
fighter, and at LV 30 turn him into a Samurai..a Samurai who can cast
Holy Word is
pretty devastating, cos he casts it in the front line..and he gets more
HP per
level up too..
I'm not very sure about class changes, but if you start off at LV10(or
11 with 1
star, or 12 with 2 stars etc.) you can, in theory, attain the abilities
of 2 3-star
classes, if you change class every 5 levels. So it is possible to have a
champion
who can cast meteor doom (Hyude'll make the mark, if you bother trying
to raise his
level.I don't)
So the point is that.as long as you've mastered a class, change the
person's
class!!!!!
One thing though.never turn yourself into mystics, cos once you're a
mystic you're
stuck as a mystic until you reach LV20 and experted mystic class.
See..generals aren't that boring after all. One more thing.....never try
to turn yourself into a cavalier, bezerker, or a samurai...somehow i
can't seem to switch between a paladin and an avenger.......and
meleagant can only turn into a ranger =~(


6)Capturing Units
ever Wondered what the rune area is for..and more importantly what that
darn blue
patch of your and red patch of his in battle is??? Well that's your rune
area and
its very important, cos if you die, it decides whether your monsters go
with you or
not. So, if you really want that Salam1A, then all you need is someone
whose level
is higher than Salam1A's level to cast dimension on Salam1A, followed by
the
killing of the general of which Salam1A is registered in, and tada!!!!
Salam1A is
yours (I did it, not only for the Salam 1A, but for tons of other
creatures as
well... fantastic stuff you can get.allyou need is a Wisdom seed and a
bit of level
raising). Dimension does have its use, but do remember that you have to
KILL the
general who holds the creature after you dimension it. There's a slight
problem though, if you dimension the unit, and the unit ends up nearer
to their general's rune area than your 1st general's rune area (UNIT 1),
the unit will go back to its former base.....this is unconfirmed but
that's what's happened to me so far......so much for trying to steal
Puro and Gan...
If the general retreats,
then all his characters go with him (doesn't work sometimes
though...I'll look up
on more info soon.)
The next thing is force retreats, I'm not too sure how this works but as
far as I
can see if a general Force Retreats voluntarily he usually leaves units
behind..and
I mean ALL his units.

7)General Classes for battle
If possible, always, always, always try to get a champion. When I played
Cai, i managed (amazingly) to turn my Shast into a champion, and with
100AGI, he only got hit once when surrounded by 6 different units (solo
guy against a whole army), and the only reason why he got hit was
because he was hit by a Wyvern, for a puny 60 damage.....however, i must
warn you that trying to raise a champion is an absolute headache....from
a ranger to a grappler.....but it sure is worth it...if you don't have a
champion, a guardion would do, although i don't think that my Isfas was
all that great...

If you ever ever need to give a cardinal or a necromacer(i never use
wizards...my ranguirous gets quested all the time) more HP or more
strength, and you can only go up to a 2 star class, always always go for
the samurai....if you've got enough HP, and you need strength, then go
for the bezerker class....never never opt of the cavalier......Paladins
suck....did i tell you that i send my Dinadan questing? =).
Well......Guinglain isn't all that bad, but then..somehow, i feel that
paladins are stupid knights (for God's sake EAT the STUPID RABBIT!!!!!
Get bitten by viper some more....) and even with holy word, they only do
about a mediocre 60 damage....give me meteor doom any
day....stregthwise......maybe they're pretty lasting in combat, but I
prefer Layoniel =). However, I still like Avengers most of all.these black fellas can
actually self-rejuvenate.so why bother wasting a turn casting heal on yourself? Just
get an Avenger.. higher strength some more.

But of course, nothing beats the good ol' Artemis with react spell and an attack range
of 4 usable after moving..usually if you power an artemis before attacking the artemis
can cause up to about 300 damage for a non-critical...yeah..one thing I noticed about
archers and artemis..i always get a critical hit when I'm at the furthest attack range
(i.e. 3 hex for archer and 4 hex for artemis)..is it a glitch in the game or something?

Lastly.if you own a gameshark, please do do use the class claimer. I believe the class
modifier digit is 2b..its got the face of bulnoil on it. Anyway.a claimer, if you really
want to know, has just about every other spell in the game (except white magic) and for
someone who can cast both react and stone.I guess the claimer's a pretty fun class to
try out.



8)Rune Knights worth the headache of level raising
Basically I have here a few rune knights of which I think are worth the level raising
because of either their rune power or their extreme ability to do something...

1)New Alemikia
Lance
Loufal (turn him into a cavalier and quest him for a mithril sword)
Bartecus

2)Norgard
Briangien
Yvain
Lois

3)Caelron
Merriot (bigger headache than Briangien)
Shast (Starts at Lv 11 Grappler..)
Elroute
Gush
Millia (put the last 3 together...turn Elroute into a shogun and Millia into a witch and
see what you get)

4)Leonia
Lyonesse (needs more HP potions though)
Kiloph (Very powerful as an avenger)

5)Iscalio
Gallo the ranger

6)Esgares
Einede the archer



9)Some stuff about battle everyone should know..
Well.there're some things here that I think everyone should take note of, cos more
than once all the things stated her have saved me from losing tons of territories...

1)Battles always last 12 turns..I'm sure everyone knows that already, but use it to your
advantage.
2)For easy mode, the enemy always charges you whether you're attacking or
defending..just form a line ASAP in easy mode and wait for your enemy to come. For
normal and hard, the enemy waits until one of your units is within a 3-hex radius of any
of their own units before attacking. Form your line more than 3 hexes away and then
use one turn to move everyone up by one hex, and let them charge you. There is one
exception to this. It happens when the enemy general moves into your 3-hex radius, and
this happens only when you have to cross a bridge, and half your army is halfway across
while the other half is having trouble fitting on the bridge. so take note of that.
3)The only time you have to charge an enemy is when you're being attacked from 2 or 3
sides and you're not confident of winning (pincer attack by Zemmeckis, Cador, and on
the other side, Esmeree) what you do is to identify the weakest unit among the 2 or 3
units attacking you and then you charge them and hope to wipe them out before the
other 2 units arrive. Notice the use of the word "HOPE" It didn't work for me against
Vaynard.. Too strong already.
4)You don't get to keep the zombie salamander after necro reviving him.so unless you
need a fresh unit real bad, or I suggest saving the MP for something more useful (like
meteor doom)
5)Even though Golems are non-elemental, they seem to take a shit load of damagefrom
magic attacks, so if you can afford the MP, cast spells rather than hit (I know they
have a low hit rate, but somehow magic seems like a better option). Which reminds
me.always always make use of the elemental difference to attack..it won't be a bad
idea to send meleagant after a unicorn, or a griff after a ghoul.u get the idea...


-Epilogue-
That's all we have for you for now Version 1.0x will be coming up soon
so wait for
it.
Any problems, questions or queries just email them to us
Wong Chun Houe : eonian@pacific.net.sg
Xu Yang'en : michealxye@hotmail.com

Now go catch that bloody Salam1A and that moronic Vamp1E