KESSEN III SKILLS FAQ Version 1.0
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I. Introduction
II. Update Log
III. Notes and terminology
IV. Troops and Troop Skills
V. Officer Skills
VI. Thanks and contact info
VII. Copyright and Contact info
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I. INTRODUCTION
This FAQ is intended as a handy help to people playing Kessen III, without
messing up plot revelations or giving you strategies to use in-game. That's
your business. This is primarily to help you plan the skill growth of your
officers and decide what you want to do with your troop type composition.
Herein will befound my opinions of all the game's officer skills and the
different troop type categories, as well as their skills.
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II. UPDATE LOG
Version 1.0: Played and completed game on normal difficulty. Made initial
judgements.
Version 1.1: Finally found out how Doubt works, updated my opinion on it.
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III. NOTES AND TERMINOLOGY
I have played and completed the game on normal difficulty, so if skills
become more or less useful on higher or lower difficulties I don't know
about that yet, and if my opinions on the skills change I will accordingly
update the guide.
The important thing to note here is that this guide is mostly MY OPINION,
based upon my experiences.If there is a skill review here that makes you go
'what a maroon, how can he think that sucks?' well that's great for you.
I still found that it sucked, though. Hence, feel free to experiment.
No real terminology to worry about. Just when I say 'charge' when
in relation to troop skills I'm talking about the length of time it takes
between pressing and holding the triangle button to when it goes
'ping - your troop skill is done'. Also, everything will be rated out of 5 *s.
Yes, I like the asterisk and use it as a primary formatting tool. Deal.
Also, its a comparitive scale. Few units or skills in this game are
pointless, well, almost. However, comparitively, some units just aren't worth
it in my opinion or should be restricted in use. * means that I wouldn't use it
if I were you, ***** means you're mad not to in my opinion. Finally, in case
you forgot, co-ordinated attacks are the R1 attacks which get your friends
to help you with.
And off we go!
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IV. Troops and Troop Skills
TROOPS
1. Katana Squad - **
Yes, they're a base unit. Yes plenty of the officers you'll get start
good with these guys. Yes, Miyamoto Musashi has a skill of 10 with them
and will chop apart anything he touches. That doesn't change the fact that
they're not actually all that good. Stats are average, so no weaknesses.
Stats are average, so no real advantages. Better to have advantages than
a great big pile of 'meh' in my opinion. Maybe one of these units, two at a
stretch, should be on the battlefield at most, and only ever as supporters.
Generally I use these to take care of the really bad enemies you face in
the minor battles, because they don't measure up in the main game. Decent
troop numbers, mind.
SKILL: Death Wheel - **
Below average unit, below average skill. I really don't like Death
Wheel. It is absolutely apocalyptic when related to the big co-ordinated
attacks, and will outright miss most of the time. In mass melee Death Wheel
will eat two or three of your own squads and badly ruin your troop skill
rating at the end of the battle. It looks silly, too. One advantage is that
it's power is almost irrespective of the state of your formation. It's upgraded
versions, which get prettier colours, suffer from the same 'dang, I just
missed the enemy unit' the earlier versions suffer from.
2. Spear Squad - ****
Rockin'. Spears are just great. Incredibly high defense, these guys
can bounce cavalry unless they're charging from a hill, and they deal
out good damage, too. Spear squads make for good infantry battalion
leaders and aren't half bad as support squads. Two to three squads are
perfectly reasonable, four if you want to go insanely infantry heavy.
There is very little that Spear squads are actually bad against.
SKILL: Spear Wall - *****
Super mega high quality skill. Absolutely brilliant. The one big weakness
of Spear Wall is that it is heavily dependent upon the strength of your
formation. Hold L1 to get your formation right together, then charge it and let
rip. I've seen a good spearwall do upwards of 1500 damage, which is very nice.
Also this is a good skill for co-ordinated attacks, and charges quite quickly.
Gotta love it.
3. Bow Squad - *****
Oh ho ho ho ho, now we're talking. You simply cannot go
wrong with Bow Squads. They never go wrong for you. Obviously
best in a supporting role, one in every battalion is not going too far. I
severely regret only having one major bow squad. Sage or Priest-Type
officers seem to be best overall at leading bows.
SKILL: Arrow Storm - *****
Utterly brilliant, absolutely necessary, it is quite impossible in my
opinion to do as well without this skill as you can with it. Bow squads
allow for a constant hail of fire from yellow co-ordinated attacks, and
are almost flawless in blue, more damaging ones. They tend to whittle
opponents away and disrupt their attacks rather than do mass damage,
but they provide an awful lot of damage over the course of a lengthy
battle, which only goes up if they're a Ninjutsu user. At higher levels,
Arrow Storm will start to hit your troops, mind, as it starts firing off up
to five volleys. But it does commensurately higher damage. Hold L1
on a blue co-ordinated attack and watch your enemies die.
4. Rifle Squad - ***
In setting terms infinitely superior to the bow. In practical terms
not even close. Don't get me wrong, rifles do more damage overall,
but the fact that they are really awful support units doesn't endear them
to me at all. One battalion led by a rifle squad per battle is worth it, but
always make sure you're in control of the squad.
SKILL: Rifle Storm - ***
It's good. No doubt about it. But unless you're directly controlling
the unit they will almost always shoot your side as well as theirs, horribly
horribly disrupting your own plans. I haven't find the payoff worth it so far,
but if you can position your squad at the side or back of the foe before
charging and firing off, then you'll rip them apart. At higher levels it has all
the weaknesses of arrow storm, magnified by the fact that its almost
impossible to MISS your troops. Again, though, very powerful. Experiment
with them and see how they work. You'll want at least two rifle squads,
I'd say.
5. Mattocks - *
A great fat load of 'meh'. Mattocks have awful stats for the most part,
die like spam if they get attacked up close, unlike rifles and bows who at
least live long enough to leg it. Don't field them. Use bows instead.
SKILL: Bombard - *
In all fairness, bombard does deal the damage, and has the advantages
of bows when concerning co-ordinated attacks. However, it gets outmoded
by bows and rifles as soon as they start firing off volleys of 3, and are in
different universes, despite damage upgrades, when their counterparts are
doing volleys of 5. Don't use mattocks, they're just not worth it.
6. Mounted Rifles - ***
Like rifles, but on horses. Faster than the squaddies, but lower defense
I think. Use whichever you prefer.
SKILL: Rifle Volley - ***
Functionally identical to the standard version.
7. Mounted Spears - *****
Superb. There is a damn good reason why Nobunaga's unit is one of
these. Mounted spears or Naginata, the difference is slight emphasis
between speed and attack, are without doubt one of the best units in the game.
Excellent squad leaders or in support of spears, with superb attack and
movement, there is simply no way to use these bad boys wrong. In extended
battles they are likely to get beaten up, however, unless the leading officer is
equipped with an accessory to improve his squad's overall defense. Work
best with mounted bows and ninja, who are fast enough to keep up.
SKILL: Charge - *****
Soooooooooooooooooooooo good! This thing's like crack, once you've
seen it used right you'll be addicted. At high levels the mounted spear charge
can crush weak units in a single hit, and even against tougher units if you're
positioned right you'll have more than enough room to hit, charge right through,
get support fire from your archers, turn around, and repeat until they're dead.
In a supporting role, a charge skill with 2x or more damage usually spells
doom for an opponent. Always remember to block, though, because the
computer's aim is often a bit cack, and it'll run your troops right over while
flattening theirs. Deadly, deadly, deadly. Use, abuse.
8. Mounted Bows - *****
Like grounded bows, but faster.
SKILL: Arrowstorm - *****
Same as the ground version as far as I can tell.
9. Kunoichi/Ninja - *****
Despite the rating being applicable to both, you should only field
one unit of Kunoichi, and one unit of ninja at the most, and always in a
supporting role or on their own, and preferably you should be in command
of them. I've only encountered one general who starts off as a ninja, and
you have to earn him. Hence you'll need to make your own. It's worth it
because ninja officers get the best stat upgrades, and ninjutsu skills are
great. Either unit has massive attack power, comparable to mounted
spears if not higher, good defense, excellent speed, offset by low troop
numbers. Don't let them get swamped in a fight. They should always
be positioned on a flank or the rear, using the X escape button if
necessary, and if so you'll find that they always reward you.Also, the
Ninja units are INSANELY good at taking out ranged units. They'll
absolutely massacre them if they can get in close without interference.
Use this to your advantage at all times.
TROOPS SKILL: Shuriken/Shadow Strike - ***/****
Here's where the ninja fall down a bit. Shuriken, while being reliable
and quick charging, has such a short range that it'll often not hit or you'll be
halted while trying it. Bad, considering the aforementioned low troop
numbers we're dealing with here. Damaging, yes, but bad for co-ordinated
attacks, and dicey on your own. Overall, not that good. Shadow Strike
is better. The ninja rush forward and then simultaneously launch an attack.
Hello, skill tester. Learning to master this skill is of great reward. I've
seen a dead-on shadow strike deal upwards of 2000 damage, and that's
quite significant. It can be used from the back of your own ranks since
they do no damage to units they pass through, only the ones they actually
hit with their strike, and is not half bad as a co-ordinated attack. Nice.
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V. Officer Skills
1. SUPPORT SKILLS
a. Rally (increases attack) - **
This is rarely useful simply because you're almost always outnumbered.
Increasing your attack is almost inevitably going to be less effective than
decreasing theirs. Combine the two, though, and it's good. I have a useful
skill combo for my Warrior-class officers, wherein they cast Rally followed
by War Cry or Berate, and this always gets results. On its own, though,
not too great. Rampage is almost always better.
b. Bolster (increases defense) - ***
This is a lot more useful than Rally. When you're surrounded or after
an ambush and need to hold out for support, Bolster is there to make
sure you do it. Against some of the incredibly high damage high troop
count units you face in the mid-late game, Bolster can become quite the
lifeline when a unit desperately needs support. Best given either to
frontline combatants or their support units, but I prefer my support units
to use ninjutsu where possible.
c. Gale (increases movement) - *
Mostly cack. Gale's only really handy for those occasions why you
just need to be on the other side of the battlefield RIGHT NOW. But
frankly, if a unit needs to go faster, the Black Cloud horse will deal with
the problem nicely. On one or two levels Gale is handy for quickly
hunting down officers you want to join you or pick up items out of the
way before an enemy general inconveniently dies too fast, but otherwise
it's just a waste of a skill slot.
d. Barrier (increases resistance to enemy skills) - *
Never found it useful. Or to be more precise, I've never found
wasting a slot on this to be more useful than putting the slot to use
to blow the other guy up.
e. Heal (Guess) - *****
Oh, blessed Heal. Singularly one of the best skills in the game.
Every single unit in your army should eventually be able to cast this spell.
It's just that good. I haven't counted the exact number of troops that the
skill returns, but it's in the region of 1000 at level 2, and it heals at a
good enough speed to be quite effective even in the middle of combat.
With Rampages to support as well, it just gets very hard for them to
take your units out. Don't use it unless a unit falls somewhat below half
health, though. Every level has spare troop pickups to be found, and its
better to use those if you can.
f. X-Rally (Increases attack on multiple units) - ****
The massed version of Rally, using up 3 skill slots and working
for a longer time. Unlike the basic version, I really like this. It can turn a
close battle into a one-sided massacre, which is always a good thing.
Three to four units getting a sudden boost to their attack power really is
a battle swinger, and its definitely a good way to recover from those
enemies who use negative status effects on you.Goodness.
g. X-Heal (Heals multiple units) - *****
Ambrosia. All main support units should have this. Again it
costs 3 skill slots to use, but since basic heal costs two, all you need to
do is catch two units in the radius and you've made a save. Catch 3 and
you've effectively cast 3 heals for the price of 1.5. More than 3 units
and its even better. X-Heal can single-handedly turn big battle around,
by gearing your forces up for the next part of the battle.
2. TACTICAL SKILLS
a. Berate (lowers enemy attack) - ***
Very nice skill, very effective. Best used on big ambushing units to
blunt their offensive, since its rare for their supporting units to be worthy
of terrible notice. Best used on Cavalry units to take the edge of their
main advantage (insanely high attack power)
b. War Cry (lowers enemy defense) - **
Don't get me wrong, it's not bad as such, just really boring. Don't
ever use it unless you can't think of anything better to do, or there's a
really stubborn spear unit in front of you.
c. Bind (reduces enemy movement) - *
Cack. Waste of time. Yes, enemy units may occasionally run
from you. But if they do, you're better off just nailing them with Strike
and running up to them while they're confused. Never ever
use it, it's a total waste of a skill slot.
d. Silence (stops enemy from using skills) - ***
I imagine this one's value will rocket on higher difficulties, when
enemy generals are more happy with their skills. Even on normal it
has its uses, so make sure one or two people have it to hand.
Nobunaga should definitely have it, as their are some skills you just
don't want your general taking to the head.
e. Doubt (makes enemy desert) - **
I thought this sucked until I worked out how it functions.
Basically, Doubt puts a status effect on your enemy called
'Desert'. It doesn't last long until the skill's at a higher level, but
what it does is cause your unit to gain troops equal to the amount
of damage it deals with normal attacks (your square + Triangle
combos). This makes it an excellent complement to Heal, but
having started on a higher difficulty setting, where the enemy
units will block a LOT of your attacks, I can still safely say that
Doubt is nowhere NEAR as good as Heal.
f. X-Silence (Silences multiple units) - ****
Shuts down an entire enemy general's battalion. Yes please, since
these are the guys who are usually the most skill happy.
g. X-Doubt (Puts Doubt on multiple units) - ***
Much better than its lesser cousin. For 3 skill slots I can have
X-Heal, which basically makes my attacking force invincible. For
the same price I can put Doubt on multiple units. The difference
between X-Heal and X-Doubt, however, is that X-Doubt requires
you to be tying up their units on a 1-1 basis, and for your side to
be landing hits consistently. This is not a guarantee, but it can
work out for you. With careful playing around, X-Doubt can
be put to great use, and Ninja units, which of course deal massive
damage, certainly appreciate it.
3. OFFENSIVE SKILLS
a. Poison - **
Poison's... okay. It's never struck me as amazing, even
though it has a nice square hit area, meaning that it can tag
multiple units. Like Freeze and Strike, Poison inflicts a little
confusion on the enemy, which is the main attraction, but
their damage is higher, which is better in my opinion. The
Poison effect can reap dividends, but Freeze and Strike
are more reliable.
b. Freeze - ***
A nice attack spell. Freeze just hits them and knocks
them down, doing a nice bit of damage in a little row.
Can't argue with Freeze. It does its job, for 600+ points
of damage. It makes for a nice unit finisher and a good
opener because of confusion. Worth spreading through
the gang, this one.
c. Strike - ***
My personal fave of the 'basic' attack spells. Lightning
bolt version of Freeze, but little obvious differences beyond
that.
d. Firewall (encircles unit and raises move) - *****
NOW we're talking! Firewall is an absolute beast of a
spell. For a quick tip, but it on a guy with a ninja unit.
Deliberately use Shadow Strike to get your ninja right
inbetween two or three enemy units, then fire this off. Since
Officer skills never hit your own side, there's no problem on
that front, and the Firewall will inflict MASSIVE casualties
on your foes. Obviously Firewall is best when the unit is
being attacked on two or more sides, but it works just fine
as a battering ram spell as well. However, bear in mind that
a unit with Firewall up can still be hurt and often will be, so
don't use it to save you like you can with Poison, Strike
and Freeze. Firewall is primarily offensive and has few
other applications. It's not designed to help you run away,
despite the fact it improves your move score. That's there
to get you into the think of it quickly, nothing else.
e. Waterwall (does damage in a cone in front of you) - ****
Interesting spell, this one. If you can get two units in the
spread, which isn't hard, Waterwall is WELL worth the two
skill slots required. In such a situation it'll easily do 1000
damage or more. You'll rarely be upset by this one's power.
Since it won't disrupt your allies, its also a good choice for a
support unit, or a rifle leader unit that can't get into a good
position to let rip. Very handy when the battle's not going
your way and you need to pull people back safely, as it'll
distract the enemy nicely for its duration. The computer
likes using this one, too, so you'll find out what a pain it is
sooner or later.
f. Sandstorm (does damage in a cone in front of you, raises move) - ***
Like Waterwall, but ostensibly more powerful. It
doesn't seem to be for me. It's certainly rather powerful,
but the rocks fall kind of randomly, and I don't like that.
The raised move is interesting, but not really of much use.
When you stick this thing on, moving's the last thing you
want to be doing. I prefer Waterwall.
g. Windwall (does damage around you) - *****
Ace. Like Firewall but more damage, minus the
raised move which you'll rarely need. Very powerful,
highly effective, wonderfully deadly. There's a reason
that it comes fairly late in the game!
4. NINJUTSU SKILLS
A quick note here. It seems that all of these spells
divide their damage up between those caught in the blast.
The more you hit, the more the special effects come into
play but the less effective damage you deal. As a result,
though, you'll almost never go disappointed. Fate and
Dragon, the two skills with no advantages, just deal
massive damage, with Fate rather a little bit ahead. Either
way, despite the massive skill slottage requited to use
them, I field at least two ninjutsu users in my main army,
and will field three if I can. Ninjutsu powers are battle
swinging on their own, and that makes them worthy
of notice.
a. Dragon (Just damage) - ***
Seems alright, it's improved levels look cool, but it
never seemed to work out as being worth the three
skill slots it demands.
b. Whirlwind (damage plus lowered attack) - ***
Now this is where it gets good. Like all the ninjutsu
skills barring Fate and Dragon, Whirlwind costs a whole
four skill slots. Similarly, it has a large area of effect and
can hit multiple units. So think of the potential of mass
damage + mass berate. Pretty damn effective, basically.
It'll blunt an enemy offensive, to say the least. However,
if you're defending enough that this thing becomes
necessary, something's probably gone a bit wrong, in
my books.
c. Lightning (damage plus lowered defense) - *****
This is the bee's knees. As an opener to an attack,
Lightning's horrific. Dealing plenty of damage to two
or more units and plastering them all with lowered
defense is utterly crippling, and will often mean you
steamroll otherwise incredibly tough foes. Believe me,
timing a Lightning strike to coincide with a Cavalry
Charge (i.e. switch officer control and throw the
strike just after charging and releasing a charge Troop
skill) is absolutely devastating. Someone in your
support staff should be using this scary, scary ability.
d. Firehawk (damage plus lowered move) - ***
Pretty, but kind of 'meh'. Four skill slots should
do more than an inferior version of Transform, in
my book. Why slow an enemy when you can stop
them altogether? It does a little more damage,
I think, but not enough to justify using it over
Transform.
e. Comet (damage plus silence) - *****
Ace. Good damage, looks devastating, sticks
Silence on for bonus points. Again, a sickeningly
effective opener to a big battle. Someone should have
this and should focus on it obsessively.
f. Transform (damage plus unable to move) - *****
I likes this skill. It costs four, stops them from
moving, and involves either a giant worm thing or
a giant toad. Transform is a really good skill, because
actually stopping an opponent from moving as
opposed to just slowing them down is really useful
sometimes. Those reinforcing troops suddenly aren't
reinforcing, they're standing there like total gimps
waiting for you to mop up whoever they were trying
to save before turning your silly hatted wrath upon
them. Also good in big fights to stop your opponents
from seeking better ground, which they do on
occasions, or from trying to get out of pincer attacks.
g. Fate (damage plus coolness) - ****
Fate costs only three slots, and as far as I can tell
is the most damaging skill of all for the pay balance
that sometimes it does almost no damage whatsoever.
I don't know what determines the chances of it
missing, but it happens rarely enough that I don't care.
With the ninjutsu skill damage increasing accessory,
my Yoshino's LV3 Fate has dealt upwards of 5000
damage to a single unit. That's enough to halve the
size of almost any enemy unit in the game, or take a
massive chunk out of two or three units.
5. SAMURAI SKILL
a. Rampage - *****
First thing here: Abuse abuse abuse the minor battles.
Technically you're supposed to leave your wounded
generals off the field to rest. That's for lamers, and
takes way too long to do you any favours. Instead,
in the minor battles you should field ALL of your
officers that are not actually on 'Down' status. Why?
Because if they are wounded or normal, they will
start with one or two skill slots. This means one or
two Rampages, + any extras that they're able to pull
off during the battle. Every time you win a Rampage
and defeat the leader of the enemy unit, the officer
that did the massacring will go up one health rank.
This means that anyone who is on 'good' status will
go up to excellent, and those chumps on wounded
will be on 'good' status, more than able to offer
assistance.
Rampage is excellent. It's the only skill everyone has,
and it will do many things for you during the game.
It can save officers that are nearly out of the battle,
it can get experience for those falling behind, it can
net extra gold when you're poor. It just plain rules.
Heck, it can even put you up another status band.
If you don't use this two to three times in every battle
I'd be surprised. On a side note, my record damage
with a single rampage is 325, done by Yoshino. Not
bad, eh? Oh, also, Rampage is possibly best used,
barring when you need to save your behind, to finish
off a unit. There's nothing worse than getting stuck
on an enemy unit that has less than 200 troops left
because your unit can't quite reach the enemy and
your AI friends are utterly pants and won't attack.
Just rampage and move on. Plus it means the squad
that did the killing gets the credit for it. Duh. But its
handy when you've got one officer who you're trying
to pump up and need to be doing as much business
as possible.
It's important, using Rampage, to bear in mind the
unit you're using it on, as their different AI greatly
affects Rampage's effectiveness.
It's brilliant against ninja units, spear cavalry,
spear ground units, and katana troops, as all of these
tend to be super aggressive and will mob your officer,
allowing for masses of kills and a quick count, plus
amazingly cool Kessen attacks. The 325 score I got
was against a Kunoichi unit.
It is less useful against rifle troops, who will often
simply shoot you down unless you're using the Skylark
horse, bow troops who tend to scatter and run away,
mounted bow troops for the same reason, and
mattocks for the same reason again.
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VI. THANKS AND CONTACT INFO
Really short section, this. Thanks to Koei for adding another
brilliant game to their list of accomplishments.
I can be reached on edge_braak@yahoo.co.uk. I usually reply to all
e-mails, but should any get lost I give prior apology.
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VII. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Copyright 2005 David Rodoy
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web
site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation
of copyright.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.
