Shanty Pete's 1st Mate

What's that he said? "Blessed are the cheesemakers"? Nice. Just a good strong sword dude. My approach that I alluded to earlier was, I was able to trap Brian on a mountain tile. Because I killed most (all?) of his subordinates, his "retreat for reinforcements" AI kicked in. But because he was stuck, he couldn't actually go anywhere. And his retreat AI wouldn't let him attack, either. So, he became a non-entity. : "Pfft, of course Naga would have green hair and pronouns." Yeah, I think I made Seliph and Tinne happen, like, two playthroughs ago. Tinne technically has the highest love growth of any of Seliph's potential partners (+3 instead of +2 per turn). But I gave the edge to Lana, as she shows up much earlier, with 100 love points right out the gate. And Mana is even easier, because she and Seliph have a Vegas Wedding in chapter 8. : "I am an endless barrel of exposition!" Yeah, I'm also curious on the "how did you find out 'recently', Lewyn?" You spent time with Julia before delivering her to Seliph. Even if she didn't have a visible brand, I'd be surprised if no aura of "major Naga blood" presented itself to you. And this is aside from all the circumstantial evidence I mentioned earlier. I don't understand why "Expositor McGee" has this large of a blind spot, when all the other relevant information comes effortlessly to him. It wouldn't change much of the story, except that he'd be more concerned when Julia disappears. And he wouldn't try to set her up with her half-brother. Hopefully. Apparently, Hilda already has a VA in Heroes. Which is a shame, because I can only read this dialogue in the voice of the evil CEO, Mom, from Futurama. Get Tress McNeille for the remake, you rat bastards! *three slaps in a row* Very lame, for the Warrior class, of all things. I largely enjoy the "conversations give permanent stat buffs" design, but it's letdown when stat caps get in the way. Almost like the buffs should preferentially be in areas they're unlikely to naturally cap. Kaga: "Listen up, we need new character designs for the final chapter!" Designer: "Uh, uh---" *splashes orange paint on pre-existing portraits* Kaga: "Brilliant! You're coming with me to Thracia, ya hear?" To be more clear: in the original Japanese, their names are transliterations of the first twelve counting numbers in German. So Mus is アインス, or "Eins"; Bovis is ツヴァイ, or "Zwei"; and so on. Holy shit... blue and red, together in one character design? Toothpaste-chan? Kaga, you magnificent dastard, you've done it first again!

Nice try, Kempf. "Nobody's ever been able to recruit her!" "Why, because she's so rare?" "No, because I always accidentally kill her once she's brainwashed." You got us. Unlike the Germans, we can't even afford to put two dots over a third of our vowels. Hannibal's husband is the beard. They're truly inseperable. The "no holy blood" nations really get shafted, huh. Claud!Fee stonks are approaching a critical mass here. If I'm not mistaken, Boyce has the same portrait as Jacoban - the Gen I Hero who also fought with a Bolt Sword. It was neat of them to give him some scary skills. Finally, a case for Nihil. "Nothing personnel, kid!" *Cantoes behind you* Ooh, interesting! I did not know that. Finally, a color that sounds like a threat. I actually found a really funny way to trivialize Brian on my last playthrough... hm, but I won't give any unprompted advice. Best of luck dealing with his Helswath. That's, like, a solid 80% of the second half of the game. Like, legitimately, a "no Ares" run might actually be tougher than an "all subs" run. Ever since Julia was given her mother's Circlet, she's been dodging every lethal blow! It's a miracle, I tells ya! I will keep an eye out for it, on my current playthrough. It wouldn't surprise me either way. Anyway, kinda funny to think that Brian, of all people, is the only "new face" here. We've already killed Hilda and Ishtar once, while Scorpio is just his dad again. And Julius has dropped in and out, including an in-battle appearance in the last map. Just a thought, but maybe it would've been better if Julius didn't show up to save Ishtar and Arion. Instead, they find themselves "sucked into the earth" by a black hole. Think of it as an inverse version the "Return" staff, or like a "super-Rescue". The player is left wondering what happened to these two... until chapter 10, where Julius uses the same spell to remove himself, and Ishtar, from the field of battle. It'd put a bit more mystery into the enemy we're facing. Of course, some players would prefer more time seeing the antagonist. So it's not as though the existing oresentation is a "problem" that needs to be fixed, necessarily.

Alright, time to put in some effor- Far from the Forest... Ahem. Shiida hits on Alm, hoping to recruit him. I mean, it worked on plenty of guys before, right? Celica, in a jealous rage, steals the true source of Shiida's power - the legendary Wing Spear. Marth swears revenge against Celica. As Shiida's husband, he was the only person allowed to "take her Wing Spear", dammit! Alm gets in his way. Alas, Marth's Falchion can barely put a scratch into the DONG ARMOR.

I, for one, would gladly accept it. My assumption is, it's a faction name. Like "Cross Knights", which we would certainly keep capitalized. Interesting - this suggests that Ward is a kind of "wandless magic", that drains the user's quintessence. Basically, how Valentia handled spells. Oof. Also, apparently Hannibal never married, and raised Sharlow all on his own. ...Or, alternatively, he had a husband, giving Sharlow two adoptive fathers. Double the dad jokes to deal with! Good guy Arvis, made sure to bring it to the blacksmith. : "Well well well, Seliph-boy. You may have come this far, but I still hold all 12 Egyptian Deadlords. Only the five pieces of Naga, the Forbidden One, could possibly save you now!" Jeez, Lewyn. Either he doesn't know, or he just pretends not to. If he's actually ignorant of Julia's origin... that's a pretty glaring blind spot. He already mentioned that Julius is Deirdre's son, making him Seliph's half-brother. He also discovered a girl... at the same age... in the same location... with nearly the same name as Julius. Who also has the same class and hair color as Deirdre. I don't understand how he's not connecting the dots. Hell, given what the ending reveals about Lewyn, it's bewildering that he'd need to connect any dots in the first place. Seliph learns a lesson he doesn't have to. But in Sigurd's defense, he never went to Isaach. So maybe his ghost wasn't able to watch him there. Not sure how "force ghosts" work in this world, in any case. Definitely like this proposed handling of Saias! A Gotoh is something both generations is missing. Both generations are very front-loaded, with no recruitables in the last two chapters of each. Even with these stats, Nihil, and Valflame access, I don't think he'd be "broken". With only 5 move in High Priest, it's not like he would keep up in efficient play - without lots of Dance, Rescue, or Warp use. Ah, that's English English. Flavoured with a bunch of unnecessary "u"s, and centred on "r before e". In American English, it's Bern. Uh, maybe all the good guys were too scared to touch it? The last person who did got possessed by a dark dragon. I would imagine that an FE4 Rewarp staff would let the user self-transport between conquered castles. Warp, but targeting the self, rather than an adjacent ally. Who needs therapy? With the Speed bost from Sety holy blood, you can just run from all your problems!

Yeah, I wasn't sure if people knew Julia was alive and on Seliph's army, or presumed her dead. Either way would be a problem, but the latter especially. Wait... how did Arvis become Emperor in the first place? King Azmur stipulated that his successor would be a male child of Arvis and Dierdre with Major Naga blood. Until such a child reached maturity, Arvis would serve as Regent. Now obviously, those traits were split between two children, so it's not clear which one has a stronger claim to succeed Azmur. But in either case, while Arvis might be the next Ruler of Grannvale, I don't see how he could claim to be the next Emperor of Grannvale. ...Outside of, say, simply declaring himself Emperor. And nobody of influence being left alive to challenge such a declaration. Anyway, if Arvis weren't Emperor, then Julius' immunity from being displaced would make more sense. Arvis' rule was never in-his-own-right, but only via his marriage to - and parentage of - descendants of Azmur. If he banishes Julius, he removes the only known surviving source of his own legitimacy. Ooh, like a magic seal? Very interesting. Obviously a lot more influential than the narrowly-targeted versions we usually get. Oh yeah, I remember that Prince! Cute kid, loved to hang out on pillars. Not one for reaver weapons, though. I would assume that, being a legendary tome, it can't be destroyed that easily. Of course, they can hide it. And anyway, it's possible that the tome was in Belhalla before, and then they moved it to Velthomer. Perhaps they figured Seliph would be less likely to expect the Book to be at Velthomer? Oh yeah, that aspect is cool. Resistance here feels a lot like it does in SoV (and, I assume, Gaiden). Moreso an innate stat to distinguish characters and classes, than a growth stat to express learned competency. The exceptions being those Holy Blood types which grant Res. In that light, Bragi Holy Blood is actually kinda valuable, because... how else are ya gonna resist status staves?

Just give her the "Lamia to Hilda" treatment, of "slightly more wrinkles". I just can't get over Liza. Like, seriously, she has the same earring as Aida. They couldn't be bothered to remove or adjust that telling detail. Hell, maybe I should headcanon Liza as Aida's daughter, with the earring a family heirloom. Huh. These lines suggest that Arvis had tried to banish Julius once before (presumably after he got Loptyr'd). Obviously, it didn't stick. I do wonder whether - as the Emperor - Arvis would have the power to name his own successor. Obviously, Julius would take the throne regardless. But if Arvis were to appoint, say, Julia in his will, it could contribute to more infighting amongst the houses. Thus hastening the Empire's (and Loptyr's) fall. I love how observant players can see the visual impact of minor Loptyr holy blood on Deirdre's and Arvis' stat screens. But you don't understand what it's there for, until Julius appears. "Ishtar"? No, that's Julius, speaking to himself in the third person! As Julius is wont to do. I assume the +5 Res is there to protect him from status staves. Because the highest Magic any playable unit can have is 35 (including the Magic Ring). Status swords, however... Kids named Sword Twins: Kinda neat how this old man provides a tip - the ol' "let somebody die so Julius and Ishtar will go away" trick. I love the idea that the Grannvale Public Works Department waits for no man. It is actively in Julius' best interests that the bridge stays down. But even he can't fight the Civil Engineers. I mean, he kinda did, with his "how dare you" comment. And my interpretation of Manfroy showing up is, he immediately holds Julia's life in his hands. If Arvis were to attack him, Manfroy could kill Julia, then and there. So of course, Arvis isn't going to do anything that would endanger his daughter. It might've been interesting if Arvis had planted the seed of Manfroy using Julia as a pawn in the final chapter. Saying something like "I shudder to think what Manfroy might do to you... were your powers turned against the Liberation Army, they would be stopped dead in their tracks." Obviously, Arvis doesn't want Julia to be brainwashed - but at least that way, she'd have a chance to survive. Some reverse psychology to give her extra time. And Manfroy, in his arrogance, would take credit for Arvis' dastardly plan. Daddy Lewyn is interesting because - while you obviously want him to pass down Forseti - I wouldn't call any of his pairings actively bad. Critical and Adept make for a really solid pair of skills, especially on kids who already have Pursuit (the Sword Twins and Faval). The Speed boost from Sety Holy Blood is always welcome. And Lewyn!Lana probably has the best post-promotion combat of any version, thanks to the skills and Elwind access. Honestly, considered "on average" or "overall", Lewyn might be the best dad, period. Incidentally, FE4 is the only game I can think of where there's no way to incrase Res temporarily. No Ward or Barrier or Ensorcel Staff. No Pure Water. No Rally Res. The only way to increase it is by equipping certain weapons. Personally, I like the way FE4 handles it. I much prefer "a point of Res gives either 0 or 100 Avoid against a status staff" as opposed to "a point of Res gives 5 Avoid against a status staff". Like, FE4 is the one game where I have use for the Silence Staff. In other games, it's almost certain to miss the targets I'd want it to hit.

Oh yeah, this was like two years ago. Haha. That. Yeah he has HP and Defense, but I wouldn't trust him against Mogalls. With a Pure Water, maybe.

As does Julia. She can even use Bolganone in the final chapter, if the Book of Naga isn't to your liking. Drag Queen Hilda would actually be less creepy, IMO. Because now she's not biologically related to Ishtar. So, pushing her into a relationship with Julius at least loses the "incest?" angle. And the one time the player does, they run into Jake, and get a Res boost on two specific units. ...Like, really, who was figuring that out without a guide. Yeah, they're definitely not gonna "racebend" anyone who's been in Heroes, like Travant or Jamke, even if they're from southern nations. That said, we don't have anyone (named) from Miletos. So they could totally go for it, if they felt like. More likely "tan" than "black", though. Hm... if Travant creates a problem... maybe they could say that the original inhabitants of Southern Thracia were darker-skinned? But when Dainn and Njorun split up, and the Kingdom of Thracia was founded, most of the original inhabitants were driven out. Either leaving overseas, or settling in neighboring Miletos. I coulda sworn we fought her back in chapter 7... Maybe Ishtar nearby Jungby, and Julius nearby Chalphy? That way, there's more of a choice - rush for home base (and deal with the tougher miniboss), or take the long way around (for a somewhat less threatening foe). Can't wait for "Archer Lana" to be meta in the inevitable sequel. Alongside "Warrior Brigid" and "Sage Arthur". Ooh, imposter syndrome. He just like me fr fr. Crazy how similar the statistically-worst sword in the game (Thief's Sword) looks to one of the statistically best swords in the game, Mystletainn. Is Ares here to crit-kill me, or to tickle all my gold away?

Come to think of it - this would've been, essentially, the path that Quan and friends took to meet up with Sigurd, way back in the Prologue. I like the idea of Leif, in particular, taking the journey his mother and father once did. My "out there" idea for a Jugdral remake would be - expand Thracia 776 so that defeating Blume, then Travant, and reuniting Leonster, is almost all under Leif's army. Seliph liberates Isaach, but largely skips over Thracia to free Miletos instead. And maybe Verdane, if he has a spare afternoon. Then they reunite at Chalphy (hm, Edda might make more geographic sense), and take on the remaining Imperial forces as one. Yeah, see? A clear shot from Melgen to Peruluke, with just one castle in the way. Seliph could still beat up Blume at Ulster, to throw Leif a bone and all. By the way, loving your custom maps. One of my favorite aspects of FE4 is everything melding together like this. I'm literally playing upon the world map! Lewyn celebrates killimg his uncles with an old-fashioned crab rave. Bragi holy blood with a reason to exist, all of a sudden. Hear me out - the fact that we don't see anyone from Miletos means they could actually be black. And, there's more men than women in Gen II, so why not a black woman? And and, IS has definitely been more willing to include LGBT characters in their games, so a black trans woman from Miletos... farfetch'd, but not impossible. ...Make her a War Mage with Elthunder named Laverne. Laverne Shox. Seliph's entire army class-changes to Wyvern Rider for the trip, then dismounts as soon as they catch a whiff of ballistae. Wait, never mind what I said before. Turns out, we had a trans icon hidden in the Arena this whole time! Kaga, you magnificent dastard. Huh, I had assumed that the Staff would have an effect similar to the same-named skill. Granting it to one of your allies. Except, the staff is チャーム (Chaamu), while the skill is カリスマ (Karisuma). So, "Charm" versus "Charisma". Not the same, really. It has 1-10 range, so perhaps it was a status staff that could control enemies? Then again, it's A-rank, while the other status staves were B-rank. And other staves (Physic, Restore, Fortify, Rescue) also had 1-10 range. So, who's to say, after all?

That might be part of it. Thinking on it, very few Lords (Sigurd, Seliph, Eliwood, Ephraim, Eirika, Claude) gain any sort of mount in their "natural progression". Presumably, they want the Lord to feel different from "just another Cavalier". Also, in indoor Sieze maps, they have to sit on the very special chair to win. Kinda hard to do when you've got a horse underneath you. Maybe? It's not always clear which characters are "noble" or "commoner", especially back in the days before support conversations. But ultimately, when our main character is a noble, they'd naturally have a noble retinue following them. In the case of Ike, it's explicitly mentioned that his cavalry - Oscar and Titania - previously served in the Crimean Royal Knights. As for Alm, the only Cavs he has among his commoner friends are those promoted semi-randomly from Villager. It's worth noting that, even as early as FE4, Kaga and team seemed to recognize the inherent advantages of a mount. So, they tried to balance it out in certain ways. "Jamke has better combat stats than Midir." "Edain can use more Staves than Ethlyn." "Ayra and Chulainn get powerful sword skills that mounties can't inherit." Obviously, this didn't fully offset the mounted advantage, but it did suggest some recognition of the imbalance, and a limited attempt to redress it.

Yay, more incest. I mean, not surprising. And at least it's the clearly evil folks pushing for it. Interesting to think that Arthur and Tinne - if fathered by Azelle - can basically be "double cousins" with Ishtar and Ishtore. Obviously, Blume and Tailtiu were siblings, while Azelle and Hilda are both Velthomers. That'd be a cool way to do it. Honestly, they could leave Scorpio and the Beigenritter in charge of Castle Jungby. Would be more interesting than... uh... whoever's in charge of the southwest castle in Miletos. Let Hilda run Evans, and give Marpha to a Loptyrman, and we're golden. I mean, it's kinda nice to see Miletos... but it's also the portion of the continent with the least lore. Who was running the place before Grannvale? What is their culture like? What are the people from there even called? Is there literally a single named "Miletosian" whom we can identify? ...Lewyn. My man. Are you really pretending not to know? Or are you holding the idiot ball right now? - You know Julia has Major Naga blood, giving her access to the Book of Naga. - You know Julius has Major Loptyr blood, giving him access to the Book of Loptyr. - You know that Naga is the biggest threat to Loptyr's resurrection. Gee, I wonder why the Lopt Cult would have an interest in taking Julia in particular? Holy shit, a Hero named Roland? Kaga did Elibe first! The Res stat: "my time has come". I do wonder if "Queen" was ever envisioned as a promotion to "Princess"? It would make sense name-wise, while also explaining its Charm skill - which Lachesis, the only playable Princess, possessed as a personal skill. A power Jarod seems to have inherited as well. Now I love to imagine Axe Lewyn "crab-walking", FE4 Brigand-style. It's like poetry, it rhymes. Would've been hilarious if Kaga had let Deirdre promote into Master Knight at level 20. The kind of absurd boost that nobody except the most obsessed players would encounter. ...And then force your new best unit to stay in the castle at the start of chapter 3. ...And then kidnap her five minutes later. Yeah, that could work fine. Maybe have Julia leave overnight - assuming Seliph amd co are taking some time to rest before their assault on Chalphy. Without telling anyone, because they'd try to stop her. Then Manfroy could take advantage of her carelessness. Also, would be nice if Manfroy canonically had a Berserk Staff. Or maybe a sort of "Super-Berserk", that doesn't wear off, and prevents her from attacking her new "allies". If nothing else, provide a mechanical explanation for Manfroy's brainwashing powers. Finally, it'd make him a more threatening boss, while also providing added value to a Restore or Silence user.

This makes me think of a phenomenon analyzed by one of my favorite YouTubers, Eddy Burback, in his video "Multiverse Fatigue". Might be worth checking out and reflecting upon, even if it's mostly about the MCU. For my part, I broadly agree on "multiverse" as a narrative device being overused nowadays. It's possible to be tired of it, while still recognizing that individual works utilizing such a device can be great regardless. "Into the Spider-Verse" is one of my favorite animated films ever - in big part, I think, because of how character-centered it is. It's not a "crossover for crossover's sake" - instead, each other Spider-person impresses on Miles, and helps him grow into the role that was thrust upon him. The revolutionary animation style didn't hurt, either. As for the answer to the question... uh, nothing I can really think of? Maybe I'm not an overly critical viewer. There's just so much media out there - free and paid, cable and streaming, in theaters or your local library, in print or on the web. So many stories, that if you're not seeing what you want - or seeing too much of what you don't - you can look somewhere else. Heck, in an age of fanfiction.net and AO3, you can write and share your own. Sorry if this comes across as a kind of "toxic positivity", as that's in no way my goal. You're allowed to have whichever issues you have! I just don't think I feel the same way. Ooh, are we doing a summoning ritual? Ahem... "Magic Axe Wyvern builds are sorely underrated and underutilized!" If that don't do the trick, then nothing will.

So, the only potential Tornado users are Leif, Arthur, Tinne, Ced, and Coirpre. But of those, the latter four can only do so with Lewyn as their father. And the potential sons will have *-rank Wind and Forseti by default. So there's no real motive to give them Tornado. As such, Lewyn!Tinne is the only real competition Leif ever has for access to the Tornado. Up to you whom you leave it with. Leif will have basically exclusive Bolganone access, but then again, Bolganone's higher Weight makes it less likely to Pursuit or Adept. Tinne can do Thoron regardless, which actually might be the better pick against the Rotenritter. Whew, and I had thought Kaga wouldn't make good axe infantry until the next game! This Johalvier is cracked. I feel kinda bad for the wyverns in this game. All hunched over like that? Must have some mad scoliosis. The way Charlot calls Hannibal immensely reminds me of Nikolaj in Brooklyn 99. Very wholesome! It's actually really kinda funny that there are no playable infantry classes with inherent A-rank in any offensive magic type. Like, who is writing these tomes that only a handful of people with the proper blood type can use? Unfortunately, it kinda undermines the magic types being threshed out. We have Wind Mages, but no Wind Sages. Or, maybe they could've made three types of War Mage: "Wind/Axe", "Fire/Lance", and "Thunder/Sword". Something along those lines. Actually, that was his father. Very OldMan. Oh yeah, I'm not saying Coirpre is a good unit, in any case. He might be the second-worst unit in gen II, after Hannibal. Oh, and in your listing of staffers, you actually forgot Ced! I will say that, of these units, Nanna and Fee only have C-rank staves (unless Father Claud got around), while Leif tends to have a pretty meh Magic stat. So in the case of status staves, Coirpre will be one of your better options, especially with a magic daddy. 5 move sucks, but Lana is in the same spot, while Ced and Tinne are slightly better with 6. The Res boost (with Claud as his father) makes him resilient against enemy status staves and siege tomes - and likewise for Lene! You don't want your dancer sleeping on the job, after all. @Saint Rubenio *flashes back to Pitfall Bridge map* I really like the idea that this might be Arion's and Julius' first time meeting. Like, he just warps in for this stranger who can use a super-powered weapon and shares a common enemy. And all his life, Arion will be forced to carry the indignity of having his skin saved by some edgy redheaded punk.

Obviously, Gary OldMan is an integral part of our army. Altenna couldn't meet him, and discover his wisdom, until she defected. I gave 'em an A. Not only does Coirpre become a mini-Charlot, but Leen gets 20 EXP per Dance. The defense boost usually helps, though it can occasionally make Miracle strats trickier. Not sure if it's as good as Claud passing down his own Staves (and major Bragi blood for stupid Mag and Res), though. I mean, he did give her a cursed lance, so... father of the year? Once answer could've been: Travant remains the main boss, and doesn't make his "suicide charge". After Seliph seizes the second-to-last castle, Travant orders Arion to retreat. The future of Thracia lay in his hands, and cannot afgord to die today. Arion, reluctantly, obliges his father's last command. Travant wields the Gungnir, but is still slain in battle. After the battle, Altenna takes Gungnir with her. When she reunites with Arion in the final chapter, she gives the lance back, and offers him a choice - to join her, or else to duel to the death. He chooses the former. Hannibals actually reproduce by budding. The current one spawned out of the beard of the previous Hannibal.

Great idea, to spin this off as its own thread! One question to ask is - what will the theming of the next Paper Mario game be? I haven't played Princess Peach: Showtime! beyond the demo, but I know its trademark quality is presenting the player with different aesthetic themes and gameplay styles to go along with them. There's Mermaid Peach, Cowgirl Peach, Musketeer Peach, and many others - each inhabiting their own scene. Could a future Paper Mario game offer different settings, and specialized enemies to go along with them? Such as a Privateer Parakoopa in the Pirate World, or a Gunslinger Goomba in the Wild Wild West World. Alternatively, what if the next game saw Mario travel through time? Or simply, various settings themed to particularly times and places? In Ancient Egypt, Mario might find himself faced with "Mummy Bones", whereas a "Samurai Guy" might be one of the foes in Edo Japan. Hang out with some "Koopunks" in 70's London, or "Gangnam Goombas" in 2010s Korea. ...Okay, maybe not that last one. But there's still potential, I swear! Thinking on it, the first couple Paper Mario games were no strangers to visually distinguishing members of a given species... when it came to overworld generics. In Toad Town, Rogueport, and plenty of places around the world, there was plenty of variety. But whenever you faced Koopas in battle, they always look the same. ...I mean, they can look different, but only when it affects the gameplay. Stuff like "Dark Koopa" vs. "Koopa Troopa". ...Okay, the KP Koopas are an exception to this, but they kinda stand out on this front. The fact that you have to Tattle them - when they're just a Koopa and Paratroopa by any other color - is honestly kinda funny. In any case, this has been kinda rambly. But broadly speaking, I'm on the side of "character design variation good". Either when it's thematic, or something as simple as a color swap. It'd be great to see more of it, in the next Paper Mario series entry.