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So today we start on the world map, to show off something legitmately new from the hack.
If we head to the armory in Ide after clearing it, we'll find some new toys. The Shadowkiller, Bright Lance, Fiendcleaver, and Beacon Bow are essentially Iron weapons that are effective against monsters. They also have 60 uses, so you might actually be justified in using them over standard Iron weapons even if they are a little more expensive.
Chapter 3: The Bandits of Borgo
Chapter 3 is another straightforward one, introducting chests, locked doors, and breakable walls.
Neimi has forced her way into the party, so I guess we can put her to use. Christ that haircut is awful, though. This is probably my least favorite recolor in the first half of the game or so.
Seth is strong to break the walls on his lonesome, so Guy moves in to weaken the first brigand.
Karel and Priscilla break the lower wall, and Lyn moves in to the lower room.
Colm's big thing in this hack are his infinite use lockpicks. He's still an awful combat unit (the only unit he can double on this map is the archer) and the overall enemy buffs mean that he has a lot more trouble stealing due to needing equal or better speed. Still, he's all we get for an uncomfortably long part of the game, so he'll have to do.
Neimi brings him around and he moves up by the barrel to block her off from the brigand.
Pent gets to work on the second wall, but we're not breaking this one quite yet.
Lyn kills the lower bandit for a pretty nice level, and gets his chest key.
I did mention that chest keys are infinite use too, right? Thieves have been nerfed a little bit in this hack.
Since Neimi decided to be useless, Guy wears down the brigand and Colm takes the kill.
With Eirika in place, and Pent up on the pillar, we bust open the second wall.
The enemy is happy to charge us, but doesn't get anything for their trouble except a fireball to the face.
Pent knocks off the archer with a little help from Eirika, and Lyn kills off the hand axe brigand. Priscilla moves out in front to bait the thief.
Oh yeah, Door Keys are infinite use too. This hack really doesn't like thieves.
I decide to roll the dice a little and get Priscilla a little more experience. It pays off handsomely.
Eirika cleans up Neimi's mess.
After a turn or two of back-and-forth with Priscilla, Neimi finally gets a kill of her own.
Bazba is about as impressive as Bone, with a net +5 HP, +4 Str, +4 Skill, +6 Speed, +4 Def, +4 Res. You want him to use the Hand Axe if possible, because while it may be inaccurate, that Steel Axe hurts like a motherfucker at this point in the game.
Eirika does the honors of getting him to switch over.
Fortunately, I have what might as well be three myrmidons, so Bazba is kind of fucked on all fronts.
On the enemy phase, he attacks and falls to Guy. After wringing a little stat experience out of healing Guy up, we're done here.
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Level 2 Thief
Swords - E, Affinity - Light
Equipment - Iron Sword, Lockpicks, Vulnerary
HP: 18 (+4) (75%)
Strength: 4 (+4) (40%)
Skill: 4 (+4) (40%)
Speed: 10 (+3) (65%)
Luck: 8 (45%)
Defense: 3 (+4) (25%)
Resistance: 1 (+4) (20%)
Con: 6
Colm is still the only thief we get for about 2/3's of the game, so it really doesn't matter what I have to say about him. That said, he's suffered a pretty nasty nerf in the hack. Thieves as a whole are already somewhat fucked by virtue of chest and door keys being infinite use, and Colm in particular is hurt by his relatively low speed. This does not bode well for his stealing career, but I guess he still has some utility in that he doesn't have to cart around both a door and chest key to do his job.
Level 1 Archer
Bows - D, Affinity - Fire
Equipment - Iron Bow, Vulnerary
HP: 17 (+4) (55%)
Strength: 4 (+4) (45%)
Skill: 5 (+4) (50%)
Speed: 6 (+4) (60%)
Luck: 4 (50%)
Defense: 3 (+4) (15%)
Resistance: 2 (+4) (35%)
Con: 5
Neimi requires a lot of babying and isn't exactly a spectacular unit in Vanilla FE8, and that hasn't really changed here. As I've said before, relative power hasn't really changed much, so she's still not dishing out much damage, not doubling, and not surviving very long. Get a few levels in her and she'll pick up a bit, but I've never really had the inclination to use her in any significant manner.