"Ogre Battle's ultimate army building guide - what the others don't tell you!"

Game: Ogre Battle
Creator: Quest
System: SNES and Playstation
FAQ written by: Richard D. Belden - [email protected]
Revision: V1.0 - March 10, 2002

**********************************************************************************

Using this guide you can achieve and overwhelming army of 100 characters all with
MAXIMUM stats and receive the BEST ENDING. This can be achieved by anyone with
what is inside the game itself without using any CHEATS or CODES.

THE ORDER OF THIS GUIDE:

1: COMMON MISTAKES FOUND IN OTHER GUIDES

2: THE MOST IMPORTANT RULES OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

3: REPUTATION

4: THE BEST WAY TO ACHIEVE INSANE STATS AND THE BEST ENDING

NOTE: This guide covers only the basics required for maximizing your armies
statistics.  It is a very vague walkthrough designed for people with experience
about all aspects of the game except those written in this FAQ.  If you've not
played the game I recommend you read the other guides out there and simply use
the information found in this guide as supplemental martial until you've
familiarized yourself with the game.

**********************************************************************************

1: COMMON MISTAKES FOUND IN OTHER GUIDES

The first rule to know and the most commonly mistaken rule by every other guide I
have ever read:

Battles DO NOT affect your reputation what so ever.
The out come of the battle DOES NOT affect your reputation.
The characters you use to fight in the battle DO NOT affect your reputation.
The tactics you use to fight in the battle DO NOT affect your reputation.

Nothing else listed or unlisted in battles can have ANY affect what so ever on
your reputation.

Nothing to do with battles ever has or ever will have a direct impact on your
reputation, regardless of all the other guides you may have read contrary to this.

This is the first rule you must learn before you can move forward with this guide,
and the one thing that almost every guide out there is trying to convince you is
important.

You will see rules later in this guide of how your reputation is affected.

NEVER set your tactics to "LEADER".

Doing so only sends crippled units back to their base where they are completely
recharged in an instant and come right back to attack you.  You NEVER want to
kill the leader except in the following situations:

Critical points where you cannot handle the battle (Killing the leader may give
you the time you need to recoup and prepare again.  This is especially true
near the final stages when you encounter a certain Black Knight . . .)
Have a better plan to deal with the unit at hand later.
Don't want the unit to die (you may want to level up some more).
Or are fighting a boss.

If you listen to all the guides out there who continually tell you to set your
tactics for "LEADER",then this is a habit you'll most definitely need to break.

The most useful tactic is "STRONG", this usually keeps the units coming right
back for more untill they've been wiped out.

This does NOT affect your reputation in any manner what so ever.  How you fight
the enemy is
YOUR business.  The game and towns-folk do not even register your battles, your
commands or
anything else you and your blood-lusting units do in the privacy of the battle
field.

People may call you the "Rebel Forces" or the "Liberation Forces", but you want
to be known to
your enemies only as the "Annihilation Forces".  ^_^

And so you will be with the help of this guide.

NEVER liberate towns while the enemy is on the map.

The most common rules both found in guides, and told to you on the game itself
is to "Liberate the towns as you progress through the area and battle the enemy."
The only time you EVER liberate a town is in the following circumstances:

You need a town as a base to set your units that are fighting the enemy.
All the enemies have been cleared out of the area.

Though battles do not affect your reputation, liberating towns is one of the
most crucial aspects in maintaining your reputation.  If you liberate too many
towns, or are not able to defend the towns you've liberated, then the empire
will most likely take those towns back from you.  When this happens, your
reputation plunges dramatically.

Unless a city offers a very beneficial advantage to your armies, don't liberate
it.  If you DO liberate a town, DEFEND it at all costs.

If you do not know (contrary to what many guides neglect to mention) the enemies
are not limitless.  Each area has a set number of enemy units that they will
deploy.  Once you've killed them all, there will be no more enemies on that stage.
This is when you liberate towns.

**********************************************************************************

2: THE MOST IMPORTANT RULES OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

First and foremost, the most basic rules on character classes.  (This should be a
review for everyone):

Your characters can change classes at any time during the game.  The classes they
can change to are determined by three individual statistics:

Level (LV)

Aliment (ALI)

Charisma (CHA)

I am not going to list all the classes, levels, aliment and charisma for all the
classes in the game.  That is beyond the scope of this guide.  Such information
is listed in many other guides and it is very accurate.

The purpose of this guide is to help you understand what changes those statistics
and how to manipulate them optimally to achieve any dark desires you may have.

Following is a breakdown of how to manipulate each statistic listed above:

LEVEL:

This one is obvious - Experience raises your character's level.  There is also
an item that will instantly increase a characters level.  Experience is too common
for me to go into depth about what functions it serves in Ogre Battle.  Other
guides do this accurately.

ALIMENT:

The most crucial statistic in achieving the classes is aliment.  Many guides out
there describe accurately what aliment is needed for what class and how aliment
affects the attributes of your characters.

I am going to describe in detail HOW to change the ALI statistic to anything you
desire.  (Using these techniques you can create ridiculous characters like a
Holy Lich, a Dark Angel, a Wraith that resembles a Paladin and can kill undead,
or any other things.  NOTE: The affects do not actually change the "class" of a
character.  They simply change how that character can best be used.  You will
not see a "Holy Lich" in the game, but you can ascribe attributes to a Lich to
make them a powerful daylight fighter that brings your reputation up when he
liberates towns.)

The basic rules can be found in a few other guides, they are:

Aliment changes ONLY when a character kills an enemy.

Aliment increase or decreases depending on the level of the enemy.  This you may
know.  The basic rules are if you kill an enemy on a level high then you, your
aliment will go up.  If you kill and enemy on a level lower then you, your aliment
will go down.

These are the most basic rules and can be found in a few guides and on the game
itself.

The more advanced rules that are not found are determined by the ALI statistic of
both your unit, AND the enemy.

The aliment works in a unique manner.  The higher it is, the greater the increase
that is possible, and the lower the decrease is possible.  The lower it is, the
greater the decrease is possible and the lower the increase is possible.

Now if that just confused the heck out of you and made your army run in fear, let
me try to explain better.

Simple terms:

Good people like being good.

Evil people like being -EVIL-  ^_^ (Like me.)

If a "good" person can perform an act that makes them "better" then they will do
so and the effect of the act will benefit them greater.  If they do an act that
will make them "not so good" it is not going to affect them quite as bad as it
might another person more prone to such a thing.

So, if your character is already on the path of good, and has an ALI of 65.  If
they kill a unit of a higher level they will gain ALI, and because they are gaining
something they already have, the benefit will be greater.  So if their ALI is 65,
maybe they'll gain 7 ALI points off the higher level enemy.

This is a basic example.  The higher the ALI, the greater the increase.  If their
ALI was 80, they may gain 9 points.  It's all in accordance with who they are
and what they are more prone to becoming.

Now, we'll look into the dark side.  If the unit's ALI was around 35, and they
killed the higher level enemy, they may only gain around 3 points of ALI.  If
your unit was at 20 ALI they may only gain a point of ALI.  It's because that
unit has already dedicated itself to something other then what you're teaching it.
In this case, it's dedicated itself to being evil, and you're trying to make it
good.  It doesn't just happen, it takes work.  The more progress the unit makes
towards the change, the easier that change becomes and the greater the improvements
will be with each future change.

Hopefully this makes more sense.  If not, just apply a little psychology and
everything should become clear.

You can also reverse this affect.  Say your paladin that has 100 ALI accidentally
pummels a poor low-level enemy while trying to help another unit gain levels.
Because your paladin already has such a high aliment and has devoted himself to
the path of good, the little "mistake" will not affect him terribly, maybe a few
points or less.

Now you've learnt how your ALI changes when you kill people at different levels.

Or so you think.  There is a catch.  This is missed in every review I've ever read.
The affect above is also paired with another statistic: The ALI of the enemy unit.

Take the above information, and throw in another statistic and you'll think you're
back in algebra class.  If you kill a unit of high ALI your ALI has an increased
amount that it will be decreased by, and vice versa.

In other words, say your character had 65 ALI and killed the enemy of a higher
level and received 7 ALI points.  Lets assume that enemy had an ALI of 50.  Now,
if you suddenly raised that enemy's ALI to 65, your unit may only gain 5 ALI points.
If you raised that enemy up to 90 ALI, your unit risks loosing ALI points EVEN
when the enemy is at a higher level.

Opposite of this, if you attack enemies of lower ALI you do not have to worry
very much about loosing ALI.  And to magnify these extremes, using low level
units with high ALI to attack high level units with low ALI (preferably undead)
will increase your ALI by extreme amounts in the shortest amount of time.

And these are all the rules behind ALI.

CHARISMA:

Charisma is the next statistic that affects what classes you can change into.
Unfortunately I cannot explain everything about charisma.  I've also not found
any other guide that can explain it either.  It GENERALLY follows your aliment
and increases or decreases accordingly.  But in rare circumstances, your aliment
can rise while your charisma plummets, or vice versa.  In most instances, your
charisma will go up a slight amount and remain there, even if your aliment falls.
But this is not always accurate.

Because charisma generally has a much wider range then aliment for determining
classes (I. E. Where some units only allow an ALI variable of 10 points within a
range, charisma usually can vary around 50 points.)

You generally want to keep you charisma above the 50-point zone since most
characters require this.  If you see your charisma plunging before your character
is within the level and aliment appropriate guidelines for their class change,
you may want to pull them out until you are around units of a higher level.

If you've filled all the requirements for level and aliment to get that class
change you're after and your unit still won't change, take a look at their charisma.
In most cases it needs to be above 50.  This is not always the case though and I am
sorry I do not know everything about charisma.  If you find any information
please e-mail me.

**********************************************************************************

3: REPUTATION

This will list EVERYTHING that DOES directly affect your reputation.

We will begin with the most important - liberating.

The aliment of the units that liberate towns (not temples) directly affects your
reputation.  NEVER liberate a town with a unit that has any characters with low
aliment.  You want to have the units with the highest aliment available in your
army to liberate the towns.  If you only have a single unit, then use just a single
unit.  The amount of characters you use doesn't matter, only the aliment of those
characters matters.

You're basically showing the people your "good side".  You take in all the nice
people, let the children pet your griffins (if their aliment is high) and shower
the people with gifts.  Later that night you bring in your ugly, crude, cursing,
blood-lusting fighters, devils, sorcerers, hellhounds and what ever other kinds
of evil you can bring up from the depths of hell to rest for the night and defend
the city afterwards.  Your happy towns-folk never notice the difference.  I guess
first impressions really DO count.  ^_~

The lower the "morale" of the city and the higher the "friendliness" the greater
the increase in your reputation when the town is liberated.

Loosing a town to the empire causes a great loss in reputation.

You may liberate a temple with any unit making them great bases for armies.
Your reputation will not be affected by liberating temples with low or high aliment
units.

Loosing temples to the empire DOES affect your reputation as negatively as loosing
a city.

Joining characters always raises your reputation.  If those characters die in
battle, it doesn't affect your reputation.

Many aspects of the story raise or lower your reputation.

Many out comes of boss battles can raise or lower your reputation.  When I say
"out come" I do not mean how the battle was fought, but how the battle has been
played up to that point in the story, and the resolution afterward.

Sometimes it is important to watch WHO fights the boss, since this unit will also
be liberating the town after that battle.  Because of this, if your unit has low
aliment you may loose a small amount of reputation after liberating the town.
It can easily be restored in the next area.

Every day your reputation goes down 1 point.  Regardless if you're fighting or not.
So remember if you remain to collect tribute after clearing out all the enemies,
it'll cost you.

Collecting important items from people will raise your reputation.

Collecting bad items can lower it.

Tarot cards can raise or lower your reputation.

Your reputation is ever changing and it shouldn't worry you too much.  Early areas
in the game may have items and people whom you will not find until your reputation
is high, so you may want to come back.  As long as you're not doing anything to lower
your reputation, and you're working on raising it at every chance, you'll be fine.

A good technique to use once you've gotten 100 % reputation is to collect tribute.
You can stay in an area for a couple weeks after defeating all the units and before
fighting the boss.  Doing so causes your reputation to fall slightly, but the amount
of money you'll make is more then worth it.  You should be able to gain back all the
reputation you loose in the next area.  Just learn a balance and you'll have a great
army, allot of money, and all the people's trust and support.

**********************************************************************************

4: THE BEST WAY TO ACHIEVE INSANE STATS AND THE BEST ENDING

First and foremost: KILL ALL ENEMIES!!

Do not worry about the ALI and actions of your units aside from using these
statistics to gain the classes your desire.  Don't worry about ANYTHING battle
wise.  It doesn't affect the game.

Create a liberating unit.  Early in the game your options are limited so you
may want this unit to be comprised of clerics since their ALI is around 60 or
higher.  This unit doesn't need to fight.  It also doesn't matter how many
characters this unit has. When the option comes to increase the aliment of
these characters, do so!  This is best achieved on any levels that have undead.
They are easy to kill, have weak attacks, and because their levels are usually
higher then most units and their ALI is ALWAYS low, they raise your units' ALI
very quickly.  Make good use of ANY area in the game that offers undead units
to you.

When deploying armies, keep it down to a minimal.  You want to keep the costs
within budget so you don't go bankrupt.  Usually 3 units aside from the leader's
unit is all you should need.  You can take units back to base and then send
new units out if needed.

DO NOT listen to guides who tell you "no one likes a bully".  You can have as
high a level as you like when you fight the enemies.  It DOES NOT affect your
reputation or the story, it only affects those units aliment.  If you need a
stronger army for the area, send one out.

If you need to liberate a town before the enemies are cleared out, use your
liberating unit, but be sure they have a military escort.  You can always
liberate a temple with your military unit without the worry of your reputation
falling.

There is only one way to maximize all your units' stats - the merchant named
"Anywhere Jack".  Once you have a trade ticket, you can call on this merchant,
who will offer you various status-increasing items at insane prices.  He is
essential to create an insane army.  You want to find this item as early in
the game as possible.  But it's only found off random fights so good luck.
I've only played one game where it didn't show up, and I've had it show up
as many as 3 times in one game.

Quick walk though:

Following everything you've learned above, there are only a few other steps
you must take to maximize your army and achieve the best ending in the same
game.

When you reach the breaking point and are presented the option to go to Lake
Jansenia or the Pogrom Forest, choose the forest.

This is an ample opportunity to build up your liberating unit's aliment, as
well as any other units you might need a high aliment on.

Continue moving forward and ignore Lake Jansenia.

Try to minimize the amount of items you collect.  Many are important and you
cannot replace them, so if you know you can return to receive the item at a
later time, do so.  You will want to save as much room for items as possible.

You want to ignore all side routes including the floating islands.  Your goal
is to take the most direct route to Fort Allamoot.  You want to save any levels
that offer high reputation building aspects.  Many of these areas will build
your reputation up even if it is VERY low.

When you reach Fort Allamoot, defeat all the enemies and liberate all the towns.
Doing so allows you to collect the best tribute in the game (around 150,000
Goth per day). As your reputation falls, the amount of Goth you receive will
also fall, but this area is so huge you should still be making well into the
80,000 Goth range.  Why let your reputation fall you ask?  Well, if you leave
the game on in this area for about 3 full days (you'll want a turbo controller
for this), you'll have maximized your Goth.  You'll have 99,999,999 Goth!
At this point in the game, you can clear out all your normal items, and use
your trade ticket to call "Anywhere Jack".  Blow all your Goth buying multiple
packs of 99 or everything he has to sell! (You should be able to fill up your
items before you run out of Goth.)

After having fun making your army invincible, you can now return to Lake
Jansenia.  This level will fly by and you can gain some of your reputation
back.

In Deneb's garden, you'll have to defeat her . . .  If you want Pumpkin
heads make sure to take some "persuasion" items in with you and you can steal
the pumpkins quite easily from Deneb's unit.   After you defeat her and choose
not to forgive her, your reputation should have returned to near half or
better.  You now have the option of returning for the "Pumpkin +" item that
will upgrade any Pumpkin heads you have.  Note: This item is always available
if you want more, just return to the towns in the area.

Now you can return to the game, make sure you choose the paths appropriate for
your level of reputation until you've built it back up in the 80-100% range.

**********************************************************************************

And there you have it!  Everything you thought you knew but didn't.

Look for a more in-depth walk through in the future.

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions, comments or suggestions.

[email protected]

(C) 2002 Richard D. Belden - All rights reserved.

This documentation may not be reproduced in part or in full without
expressed consent from the creator.

You are viewing proxied material from gopher.endangeredsoft.org. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.