Growlanser II - Chapter 2: Rotten Marauders

Upon returning to the Burnstein Capital, Wein and Max are officially recognized as commissioned officers for the kingdom by King Eliotte. That night, Wein and Maxmillian will have one last conversation overlooking the city. Max will give Wein a Lv8 Hyper-Attack gem as a graduation gift. This is one of the best gems in the game, and if you're lucky, you'll get a ring with a lv8 slot sooner than later. Max requests Wein's Ocarina, but that is out of the question due to its past connections with a special girl...

If you're on New Game+ and already have 9 Lv8 Hyper-Attacks, Max will give you a Lv8 Magic Awakening gem. If have 9 of that as well, you will get the above dialogue from Max and nothing else.

 

Six months later, Wein is introduced to two new members of his squadron, Charlone, the girl from an earlier scene at Schwarzfals Village and Hans, who joined in the battle at the Western Ruins. Make sure to select the bottom choices "Whoo! She's kind cute!" and "Congratulations on qualifying!" for increased relationship values. Maximillian, to the dismay of Hans, won't be joining the squad as he has now entered the world of politics and diplomacy.

Six more months later, Wein and the others are training when Chief Byron comes to collect the trio for a special order from Maximillian. Despite Byron sending much less manpower than Max requested, in an apparent attempt to kill the three, Wein and Max see this as an opportunity for the group increase their status in the military. They are to go to Rottenbaum Village to investigate a band of recent marauders there harassing the people, then, pick up some books for Max from the Magic Academy. Max's nameless "Messenger" will give the party 500 Elm and you'll be out on the world map. Talk to the townspeople at the Burnstein Capital and check out the shops. Buy a Fur Coat for Wein and a Lv1 Skill and Lv1 HP Recovery gem for each character (Charlone comes auto-equipped with one), if you aren't on a New Game+. Thunder Weapon can be useful as well, but I would advise saving your money unless you are going to be doing a lot of random battles to make up for it.

 

Check the status of your new characters. Hans' friendship level should be in the green, while Charlone's is two into the yellow. If you made some alternate decisions than I suggested, they may be lower, and if Charlone's is, well, it's going to be extremely hard to build towards her ending. Scenes are the ONLY way in the game you can effect the friendship level of a character; healing their HP, casting buffs, them dying in battle, have absolutely no effect on it despite the rumors. Because of this, it is vital you make the correct choices, especially for Charlone, who is the hardest character to achieve their ending.

Speaking of Charlone's friendship level, proceeding over to West Burnstein, Wein will get thrown in the middle of quarrel between her and Hans. Even though it will hurt Hans' friendship values, you have little choice but to select the middle option "Tell the Runt to stop it" to prevent a decrease in Charlone's friendship. Hans' decrease is very easily made up, so don't be concerned about that.

 

Charlone has requested to visit her home in Starkberg, but if you venture down to Clain Village instead, you will have to convince her you are actually going. Either choice lowers her friendship slightly, but if you proceed to North Rottenbaum, it will drastically go down. So, it's recommended you avoid this and go straight for Starkberg.

At Starkberg, choose "Claudius Mansion" to visit Charlone's house. On his way back from the washroom, Wein will overhear Charlone talking to her brother, Pietro. The Claudius' family butler will explain that Pietro will only agree to have a life-saving surgery if Charlone becomes an Imperial Knight. Sounds reasonable enough. If you fail to see this scene, you can kiss goodbye later scenes that occur at the mansion. One thing I absolutely want to stress before we go further: almost all scenes and items going forward are missable; there is very little wiggle room for error in Growlanser II and seeing all the scenes and collecting the items.

 

After the mansion visit, choose to speak with Hans and tell him that when the investigation is over he can visit his friends at the Orphanage. Doing this will erase most of the damage done to his friendship earlier. There are also some different gems for sale now in Starkberg, but none of note at this point. If you go down to South Starkberg, Wein can speak to a Minstrel about past Growlanser events.

On most parts of the map that aren't towns, the party can engage in, generally simple, random battles. This is vital to building party experience and Elm to finance items. Encounter enemies' levels are set and will increase with each story mission completed, for the most part. Unfortunately, this also means that, at the end of the game, it becomes incredibly difficult to reach the higher character levels. My suggestion is to stay at least two levels above the random encounters at all times for more chance at success during story battles. You'll also frequently acquire rings, which you can equip or sell for additional Elm. Once a party member learns the Thievery skill, farming gems for use and Elm is also possible. The party's HP is fully restored after every battle, but not MP, so keep that in mind when fighting frequent battles.

 

Before we continue, a few notes on our new characters. Hans is a semi-long range knife-thrower who should focus on range, using techniques, and status afflictions from afar. He'll eventually become, arguably, the best character in the game, but you'll need to keep him out of harms way. Charlone is seemingly appointed the "healer" of the group, but her ridiculous wait between turns makes her a little unreliable for this, in my opinion. Her normal attack can hit nearly the entire battlefield; assuming there are no obstacles in the arrows path and this fact makes her very versatile. My recommendation for her is a cast spell, healing, buff, or attack, then immediately attack afterward with her bow, character. I also use Charlone to cast statistic-decreasing spells. At the moment, I would recommend everyone be at least level 5. Wein should have the Shield spell and Dash tech learned, Charlone should learn Fire Arrow and Critical Hit, and Hans should put all his points into Dash, then System Shock, and into Poison Attack. As for Wein, I use him as a pure fighter, but also as a character that casts spells like Attack Up and Shield on allies, but can heal in a pinch, too. For NG+ players, Charlone can benefit from all three stat increases, while Hans can focus on Strength. For more information on the recommended path for learning character abilities, see the chapter on Character Setups.

Travel south from Starkberg to Schwarzfals Village. Here, you can view a small scene where Charlone admires the Imperial Knight, Julia Douglas, and you can speak with the townspeople. "Ask what's going on" to the Student and agree to help find the pages to the missing manuscript to acquire Story #1. You must view this scene in order to find the rest of the pages. The armor shop in Schwarzfals is the same as in Burnstein.

 

Move southeast over to Clain Village. Gather information here and an option to speak with Hans will appear. Tell him that you'll help him investigate his father-figure's death and his friendship levels will increase.

If you speak with the Boy after receiving Story #1, he will hand Story #2 over to you. Clain Village has an armor shop, as well, but it is rather bleak.

 

Lastly, if you return with the Stories in your inventory and talk to the Editor NPC in Starkberg, you can read the ones you have picked up so far. These show you some insight into the events of the original Growlanser. When everything above has been done, proceed due south to Rottenbaum Village.

The party finds Rottenbaum to be relatively peaceful, having hired mercenaries to defend them from the marauders. Said mercenaries aren't happy to see men sent by the king and give them the cold shoulder. When asked about how to proceed have Wein select "Check outside the village"; the other choices will lower Hans' friendship levels. Back on the world map, Rottenbaum has a new piece of armor, the Leather Suit, that is great for Wein, but expensive and he may not have the Strength to equip it properly yet. It's a bad idea to equip armor that the character doesn't have the Strength for due to a movement penalty being applied; although for characters like Charlone who are long-range or mages, it doesn't effect them much. In the gem shop make sure to purchase the Lv2 Indirect Range gem for Hans to increase the distance in which he can attack. If you have some spare money, Thunder Weapon will be nice for Wein in the coming battle, too. Once you leave Rottenbaum,  you'll get a scene where Wolfgang and his band of mercenaries are saving Schwarzfals. Go there and talk with the people, then leave back towards Rottenbaum for the next battle.

While Hans and Charlone argue, the armored marauders will show up in the pouring rain. This battle looks intimidating, but will be quite simple, and Wein even gives you a hint on how to accomplish it.

 

Move, but don't use Dash with Wein or Hans to the adjacent hillside. If you use Dash, Charlone will get left behind so its best that everyone moves at the same speed. Have Hans and Charlone set up behind Wein; Hans throwing knives which, with Lv2 Indirect Range will easily reach the approaching enemies, and Charlone cast Attack Up on both Wein and Hans, then nock an arrow, followed up with charging Fire Arrow or Cure. Have Wein cast Shield on himself, twice, then await for the marauders to approach. With Wein at the foot of the cliff, they'll be forced to attack him. If Wein is equipped with the Thunder Weapon gem he will do additional damage to the enemies. Have Wein focus on the closest enemy, while Hans and Charlone target the one behind him to split the damage. Once one of the marauders fall, he will attempt to drag his buddy off with him. Have Wein use Dash to catch up with him if necessary for a Mission Complete. An important thing to keep in mind when going forward with story battles, some, but not all, have the hidden requirement of no character's dying during battle to achieve a Mission Complete. If you fail to receive one going forward, and I haven't laid out a specific requirement, this will most assuredly be the culprit.

Afterwards, the party discovers that there is nothing but sand contained within the armor. Select "I don't think that's it" at the suggestion that it was a sand golem and you will receive the Marauder's Remains item and the party will agree to head towards the Magic Academy to complete Maxmillian's requested task there.