The Laziest Awakening Playthrough Ever: The Playlog

[NobodyInWonderland]

Someone suggested in another thread that I try posting a playlog as a way to change things up with a new Fire Emblem Awakening playthrough I'm starting. I decided that I like this idea, and here we are.

So you know all those Lunatic and Lunatic+ playthroughs that everyone talks about? Those challenges where people don't use any seals or promoted classes, or no grinding? This is not that playthrough. There will be nothing challenging whatsoever. In fact, the challenge that I've set for myself is the absolute laziest (or most hilarious) methods of beating Fire Emblem Awakening maps. The more specific rules I'm using are as follows:

1) There is no such thing as being overleveled. There is no such thing as overkill. All those things that count as cheating or cheap methods of winning? I'm totally going to use them. If I can land a hit for over 200 damage on a 20 HP enemy using a ladle, then I am succeeding in this playthrough. Feel free to start rolling your eyes now.

2) If a map takes more strategy than "hit the enemy with the thing, heal if necessary, rinse and repeat", then I am not playing this right. I will find a way to make it that easy, whether it takes more grinding, different skills, different classes... The only exceptions are when I decide to try to beat a map in a way that I deem hilarious, or at the beginning of the game before I can access the resources to make it easy. I've got some ideas.

3) Speaking of grinding: This does not break the "lazy" rule, at least for the purposes of this playthrough. Grinding, reclassing, running through Lost Bloodlines 3 and Rogues and Redeemers 3 a bajillion times for Paragons and Limit Breakers... these things do not count as work, since they all require simple button-mashing once units are leveled enough. Also, strategizing on marriages and/or skill sets does not count as work. Don't worry, I won't spend a lot of time describing all the grinding I do; I'm mainly focusing on the part where I ACTUALLY play the game. As in, actual in-game chapters. I might do a few DLCs, but it won't be the boring grinding runs where I mash "End Turn" repeatedly. I'd actually bring teams and stuff.

4) There can be no deaths. If somebody dies WHILE I am trying to cheat the system, then that's bad and I should feel bad. And restart the level with my head hung in shame.

5) If my units are taking any damage after getting access to Second Seals, I'm not doing it right.

6) Also after access to Second Seals: All story maps must be beaten using a certain theme. Like one might be Chrom's and my Avatar's family only, and another might be all fliers, and another might be people wielding ladles (if I can get enough ladles). Also, all characters must be usable (and preferably used) in some fashion, not just kids. That means leveling and reclassing everyone so they don't die when up against the late-game enemies (and preferably don't take damage), and getting all the characters, and completing all the paralogues (though maybe not right when they open; Donnel is going to be waiting in his village for a while, and those Paralogue 3 villagers can wait until I have a team of Galeforcers and/or rescue staves). Incidentally, Wellspring of Truth is going to be a blast when I get to it with all my fully-leveled units.

7) If people tell me that my "strategy" is the laziest thing they've ever heard of, brain-dead, or overkill considering the mode I'm playing in, I will take it as a personal accomplishment.

With that being said, here goes. Wheee!

[spoiler=First Things First: The Avatar]

Starting the game: the selection screens are familiar by now. Since I am a very lazy person, as previously established, I am playing in Normal-Casual. Again, there can't be deaths and I'll reset the map if anyone does die, but I will also be facepalming while doing the reset. I'm 99% sure I can avoid that.

And then there's the avatar creation screen. I'm picking FeMU, because once I get enough Galeforce users to make a team of them, I end up tearing through armies at ridiculous speeds. If the Avatar doesn't have Galeforce, then I often find myself in the unfortunate circumstance of having him stuck at the starting area of a map while Morgan and the kids murder everyone's faces, stuck as a support unit, or wasting rescue staffs (and staff-users' turns) ferrying him around. I do enjoy rescue staff overusage, but I enjoy my Avatar's ability to keep up with everyone more.

Speaking of lazy, I have a build that I always use when playing a FeMU because being actually creative is too much work. This will get confusing later, trust me. Let me introduce you to Riza.

As you might be able to tell, I like Fullmetal Alchemist. Funnily enough, I also have an avatar that I always use when playing MaMU. His name is Mustang, and I like to give him any sort of flame tome when available.

And speaking of magic, I use it a LOT whenever possible, since it's the only set of reliable 1-2 range weapons in the game that doesn't require at least a D rank, can be found with the brave effect (I love Celica's Gale), and can have up to 45 uses. It's also shiny. Being shiny is important, for reasons. Therefore, Riza's asset and flaw reflect that.

That didn't take long. On to the tutorial. Yay cutscenes.

[spoiler=Creepy Gray Guy: The Tutorial/Premonition]

I can't take screenshots of the anime-style cutscenes, which is probably for the best. You will already have to endure my commentary on everything else (or not, if you realize you have better things to do with your life than read this playlog), and all I'd really say about the opening cutscene is variations on "Dude, what is wrong with your skin, you should get that checked out". Or "magic is shiny". Plenty of opportunity for the latter in future chapters, though.

Anyway, after that, there's this.

So, this is the final battle. That means the game is done after this, right?

Get closer? Why on earth would I do that? I mean, have you seen that guy's face? It's gray. Nobody's face should be gray. I knew I should have gone Sorcerer and grabbed a Mire tome before this.

Anyway, the very first thing I do when I get control of the game is turn off the slide guides, because this allows me to pair up starting immediately. I also turn the interface view to full, and notice that Chrom never grabbed a Master Seal.

I also notice that he has a Silver Sword, which has better Mt and Hit than Falchion. And since it's the tutorial, conserving weapon uses would be the most ridiculous thing ever. That's definitely going to be equipped.

I pair him up with Riza and move them both as far as possible toward Creepy Gray Guy (yeah, I know his name but why would I use it when I can call him Creepy Gray Guy). I switch their positions and have Chrom equip his Silver Sword, and end the turn. Creepy laughs, and then Chrom feels the need to give me advice.

Chrom's rank is supposedly Lord. I think that must be Nintendo Language for Captain Obvious.

Chrom has somewhat better stats than Riza, and in this case having the range that magic provides doesn't do anything useful. Therefore, Chrom is the lead attacker. Chrom also has 100% chance of hitting and enough speed to double, and even if a dual strike from Riza doesn't trigger he's got 100% chance of winning the fight in this attack. Nice. Especially for a guy who never used a Master Seal.

Of course, everyone already knew that, since this is the tutorial for Normal difficulty. It would take creativity to mess this up. I could get creative, but this isn't the "kill all the characters repeatedly" playthrough; this is the "win everything by being ridiculously overpowered" playthrough. So far so good.

There isn't anything special that happens during the actual fight scene. Chrom attacks, gets hit for 19 damage, and then attacks again. No crits, no dual strikes; Riza just stands there holding her tome and watching Chrom smack Creepy with a sword.

On a side note, I'd really like to know where Chrom learned to jump twice his height into the air when landing a final blow, and why he doesn't do that to get away from enemy attacks. You'd think it would be a more useful skill.

And with that the stage is complete.

That's right, there weren't any heroes. Despite the fact that I risked catching whatever disease it is that turned that guy's skin gray by coming withing 30 feet of him. That took courage, I'll have you know.

Another cutscene plays, and despite the fact that I like to make fun of Chrom, this scene perfectly illustrates both why I think he's a tiny bit of an idiot and also really awesome: I just stabbed him in the stomach, and he's trying to tell me to run and that it's not my fault. I sincerely doubt that most people would say that to anyone who stabbed them in the stomach, weird magical mind control or not. But Chrom here is worried more about the person who just KO'd him than about the fact that he has a shiny magic spike sticking out of him.

As I said, an idiot. But an awesome one.

And with that, the tutorial is over.

[spoiler=No Damage Emblem: The Prologue]

Aaaand... it's another anime-style cutscene! Chrom looks a bit healthier than he did in the last one. The scene lasts for all of ten seconds, give or take a few. (I didn't count.)

Now for the actual story stuff that I CAN screenshot. Though you've probably played the game yourself, so it's really unnecessary to remind everyone that Chrom is nice to the weird lady sleeping in a field near an area plagued by bandits, Frederick is overprotective and a bit rude, and Lissa is blonde. I mean friendly. I think it's funny that one of her few fully-voiced lines is "I am not delicate!" because this is obviously a very important line that deserves full voice acting. The lack of feet is slightly disturbing, etc. Screenshots are not necessary.

Next, there's the actual fight in the town. This opens with ugly scary bandit, screaming village girl, and a rather ordinary-looking village. All it really needs to complete the cliches is a band of good-looking mysterious heroes running in to save the day... oh wait. That's us, isn't it?

Of course it's up to personal tastes as far as Frederick being good-looking. I would probably like him better if he smiled more than once a year.

On a side note, is it just me or do the barbarian sprites look like humanoid mice?

Anyway, on with the actual game. Now, you'd probably expect that, since this is me being lazy, I'm going to now play Frederick Emblem.

You would be wrong.

The problem is, I like Chrom to actually kill bosses like Marth, because he gets special lines and that's cool. Plus, he's going to be on every map anyway; and because it's my lazy playing style, he's almost always going to be paired up with Riza (who, incidentally, he will end up married to rather quickly), so she'll be on every map too. Therefore, I don't want Frederick eating all the XP that Chrom and Riza need to level up quickly, so they can survive all those maps and become an unstoppable duo of destruction (until seals are freely available that turn everyone into unstoppable destruction). They will be hogging all the XP they can manage until the Outrealm is available. You'll find out why later.

That doesn't mean that Frederick isn't useful, though. If I pair Lissa with him as a support unit, I can get her close to the battle without being targeted, and once Chrom and Riza kill everything in range she'll be close enough to heal them. Therefore, I pair her up with Frederick.

I then have Riza support Chrom, and have him attack the myrmidon on the lower left. Chrom hits for a reasonable amount of damage, and then Riza steps in with her Thunder tome for the first dual strike of the game. Thank you, Chrom and your Dual Strike+. This is enough to kill the fellow and let me take a screenshot where Riza is doing some weird legless aerial dance move.

You're welcome.

I have Frederick (and Supporting Lissa) go wait by Chrom, and wait to see what the enemy does. The barbarian nearest our four intrepid heroes attacks Chrom and misses his swing. This ends very badly for him, since Chrom can double him easily. One dead barbarian is the result. The mage in the right-hand corner moves closer, but everyone else stays put. No damage has been taken and two of the enemy are dead.

Normal mode is easy. That's the point, though.

I'm curious about the sparkly tile, and there's no other enemy soldiers besides the mage who can immediately attack if I have someone go stand on it, so I send Frederick. His relationship with Lissa improves. Given that I'm not planning to have them marry each other and I'm not worried about Frederick's support levels for the extra hit and avoid right now, this is fairly useless. Not that I mind having their support convos unlocked, I guess.

Now I can have Chrom and Riza go stand next to Frederick and attack the mage. This time, though, Riza is going to be the attacker, because Chrom can't hog all the experience and I have to attack at range to avoid the enemy myrmidon on the bridge coming down to attack as well. Riza also has more resistance than Chrom, and can counter-attack on the enemy phase in the rare chance that the mage is not killed on my turn.

This would be somewhat unlikely.

Another Dual Strike triggers, with Chrom smacking the mage in the face with Falchion. That 1 damage? Yeah, that didn't happen. Lissa is never going to get any XP, is she? (Don't worry, the Chapter 2 battle will give her plenty of opportunity to put her healing skills to use. Probably.) "Now that's strategy," Riza says. It must be, since I have now killed three enemies with zero damage. (More likely, it's good luck and being on Normal Mode.)

The final myrmidon besides the boss does nothing on the enemy phase, which means that I can't get Chrom close enough to attack with Falchion. He's fast enough that neither Chrom nor Riza can double him even with pair up bonuses, though; so it comes down to which of them I want to get the XP. I choose Riza, because that at least means I have a 90% chance of landing 10 damage this round, which means that another 10 damage can kill him when he attacks on the enemy phase.

She attacks, hits for 10 damage, and that's it. I send Frederick to stand next to Riza and have him wait. The enemy phase begins.

The myrmidon manages to miss Riza entirely, and she hits him for another 10 damage, which kills him. The only enemy left is the boss, and none of my units have taken damage yet. Riza gets a level out of this, though.

The HP and Speed, I'll take. I care a bit less about luck. Ah well.

Riza and Chrom have a little discussion about the value of fighting side-by-side. Helpful for newcomers, a bit redundant when you've had the two of them paired up for the entire fight. They also mention how it is a good idea to use staffs to treat wounds. Which I totally would have done, if anybody was actually hurt. I suppose I could have Lissa heal the one point Riza is missing from leveling up, but I'd prefer to have Frederick go stand on the level's other sparkly tile.

Yay. A glass bow. How wonderful.

Unfortunately, it will probably never be used. I still have not figured out how to properly employ the archer class. Unless the enemy is entirely composed of archers, the enemy phase after an archer's attack means a whole turn where the archer is potentially stuck in enemy range without the ability to counterattack. If I need extra damage against fliers, I'll just use wind magic; and if the enemy is entirely composed of archers, I'm far more likely to have a magic user on hand for range on the enemy phase. Heck, I'm more likely to have somebody with hand axes or javelins than an archer.

Oh boy. When I said I'd make all my units useful, does that really have to include Virion?

... That rule is going to come back to bite me. I've trained him once before, and it was beyond painful.

Anyway, that is a subject for another chapter. Since Riza leveled up, I'd like to see Chrom get a level, too, if possible. So I switch their positions when I send them to attack Garrick the boss, who wants the "sheepy sheepy" to "come to the slaughter". Unfortunately for him, he just stumbled across the Shepherds.

It's sad that I just got that joke now.

Anyway, Chrom attacks and deals 10 damage, and then Garrick swings and misses. Then it's the enemy phase, and of course Garrick tries again. This time, a dual guard triggers - Riza leaps in front of Chrom and blocks the blow. I've always wondered how that works; you'd think that a squishy Tactician in an oversized coat would be damaged by jumping in front of an axe. Of course, this isn't nearly as strange and hilarious as Lissa the delicate healer dual guarding Frederick.

Chrom counter-attacks and finishes off Garrick, whose last words are as dignified and eloquent as his role in this story demands.

Bwaaargh indeed. I guess I'd probably say that too if I got smacked in the face with a sword.

As I'd hoped, Chrom gets a level out of this. It's a bit better than Riza's level.

This concludes the prologue fight. Two characters leveled, no damage taken, and Frederick didn't have to jump in and save everyone once. All in all, a good fight to start things off.

Of course Riza and Chrom are the heroes. They soloed the entire map, basically. Frederick just sat on shiny tiles and made sure everyone ignored Lissa. This was probably because she hid behind the horse the entire time.

The post-saving-the-town conversation now occurs. Chrom is still nice, Frederick is still a bit rude, and Lissa is still blonde even more friendly and a bit of a fangirl over Riza's fighting skills. I have to wonder exactly why Chrom is so eager to appoint Riza as the army's tactician immediately; the job application for Tactician in Ylisse must be the easiest on earth. The conversation continues with thinly-veiled exposition regarding the bandit problem and Plegia; and isn't it convenient that Riza is an amnesiac who needs these things explained?

A villager invites them to spend the night. Frederick actually smiles.

... smiles, I should say, as he dooms our party to spending a night sleeping outdoors. Why do those few miles that we'll travel before nightfall make a difference, again? Maybe if everyone was well-fed and rested, they'd walk faster and with more energy the next day. You, sir, are on a magical horse that only appears during battles; you don't understand the rest of us who do not have magical horses and must use our feet like common mortals. Or... use the ends of our legs that would be feet in any other universe. You get the idea.

Everyone, understandably, discusses Frederick's... Spartan view of how traveling should be done, in a rather less than complimentary fashion.

It is around this time that it occurs to me, in every playthrough, that these characters spend a lot of time on unimportant dialogue.

As do I, since it took me this many words to reach Chapter 1.

-----

Table of Contents

Main Story

First Things First: The Avatar

Creepy Gray Guy: The Tutorial/Premonition

No Damage Emblem: The Prologue

Stop Giving Me Bows: Chapter 1

A Death Montage: Chapter 2

I Found A Non-Squishy: Chapter 3

Hammer Time: Chapter 4

The Clone Wars: Chapter 5

Ad-MIRE-ation for the Exalt: Chapter 6

The Charge of the Knight Brigade: Chapter 7

A Moving Story: Chapter 8

Side Quests

No side quests yet. But there will be.

Extras

Ship Happens: A Bonus Ramble on Pairings

Edited November 21, 2015 by NobodyInWonderland

[TheSilentChloey]

Yeah, I get what you say about Virion. He is a pain to train. However he is worth it when he does the Bowknight or run through all of his classes. I would love to see how this goes. I can say that I will be watching to see how you go. Good luck!!

[deskita]

I can tell this is going to be hilarious, I'm definitely going to have to keep track of this :)

[CooledEvergreen]

Anyway, that is a subject for another chapter. Since Riza leveled up, I'd like to see Chrom get a level, too, if possible. So I switch their positions when I send them to attack Garrick the boss, who wants the "sheepy sheepy" to "come to the slaughter". Unfortunately for him, he just stumbled across the Shepherds.

It's sad that I just got that joke now.

What joke? I don't know what you're-*gets the joke* oooohhhhh.

[Konnor97]

Isn't there an auto-battle option that sends your units forward and fight whatever they can, or something like that? That sounds like a pretty good strategy to use at some point.

[NobodyInWonderland]

@TheSilentChloey, I think I have some ideas on ways to make grinding him less than painful this time around. But he's probably going to be reclassed the moment he reaches Level 10 to something with other weapon options. Or maybe I'll see how he does as a Bow Knight, who knows. At least they have swords.

@Konnor97, that's an excellent idea. It might wait until I have an overpowered team, but I'd love to see what the auto-battle option comes up with at some point.

[spoiler=Stop Giving Me Bows: Chapter 1]

This chapter opens with... you guessed it... more dialogue! Lissa doesn't like camping, likely because hoop skirts do not make sitting on the ground easier. Also the bugs, obviously. On a related note, Chrom and Frederick with their character-building? They should try camping in hoop skirts and see how they like it. Or not, because them wearing hoop skirts would be really weird and somewhat disturbing. Unless you're into that, I guess.

They have bear for dinner, which is disappointing. Oh, not the bear for dinner part, that's fine. I'm disappointed that the game makers felt that a scene where Lissa gets a bug in her mouth is more important than a scene where someone kills a freakin' bear. I would have loved to see that.

Also, I'd like to know where the left half of Lissa's skirt went when she laid down.

"Huh?" is right.

It reappears once Lissa gets up to go for a walk in the dark creepy forest that apparently has bears in it with Chrom. While bear-killing in Ylisse is such a normal thing that it happens off-camera, I think that most people would call this a Bad Idea. Especially since Chrom is already saying he has a bad feeling. This is how horror movies begin.

As expected, nasty things show up in the anime-style cutscene and attack the two people out walking in the dark, creepy forest. The nasty things, however, are followed by the ever-fantastic... er... "Marth", who saves Lissa from the Risen soldier who decided to hold his axe above his head for a ridiculously long time so Marth can block it heroically. Nasty things are killed, the cutscene ends, and finally we've reached an actual battlefield.

But before actual playing begins, there is more dialogue. Frederick is concerned about Lissa and Chrom (no surprise); Riza is concerned that the nasty things are common, and probably plans to move to the other side of Valm if the answer is "yes".

Now the actual play begins. This time, there are forts placed conveniently near our party. These will be useful, because I again plan to have Chrom and Riza do the fighting, and there will probably no time to get them far enough from the enemy attackers for Lissa to heal them. At least, not unless I want Marth's efforts to be in vain.

She gets paired up with Frederick again, and I make him wait by a fort. Chrom and Riza are also paired, and I have Chrom go wait in the same fort.

They are first attacked by the barbarian, who hits Chrom for 1 damage. Chrom hits for 10, and is joined by Riza, who takes him out with the Thunder tome. They are then attacked by the mercenary, who lands a somewhat damaging blow on Chrom. Chrom fights back and hits for 12 damage, which is almost enough to take the mercenary out, but not quite.

The other Risen move closer, and this is where Sully and the ever-difficult-to-train Virion show up. For some reason, there's only two times I've found myself appreciating the guy: whenever I'm laughing at him being kicked or threatened by various women, or in his supports with Olivia and Inigo (I did this pairing once for the hair color; that's the time I trained him and was miserable, but I thought his supports with Olivia were cute. I also thought that his conversation with Inigo where he realizes that the kid is just like him is hilarious). I can't tell, though, if my usual annoyance with him is due to his... interesting... personality, or the whole he's-a-pain-in-the-neck-to-keep-alive thing because everything that's not an archer swarms him.

Sully says that putting her boot through his face is the punch line of the joke that is Virion, and proceeds to do so. Once again, I am disappointed. If she'd put her fist through his face instead, that would've been even more of a punch line. I'm not mean enough to pair her up with him, so I just send them both out enemy range. Virion asks to be kept out of harm's way when I move him. Not even Lissa asked to be kept out of harm's way, and she just has a staff to defend herself.

Chrom is healed by the fortress, and now a total of five enemy soldiers are in range to attack him.

This isn't as bad as it sounds. Chrom has a 97% chance of taking out the mercenary with his next hit, and at 8 defense he'd be safe if the 8-attack archer shot at him a million times. The fighters each have an attack of 11; but they're carrying axes and therefore Chrom has the advantage due to the weapon triangle. The other mercenary has 9 attack. The point being that, even if every single one landed a blow, Chrom would be more than fine afterward.

Riza could probably use the XP, but with the Veteran skill I don't need to worry about her gaining levels as much as Chrom. I'll also have better chances to level her in Chapter 2, where all the enemies stay stationary until someone is in attacking range. Therefore, I leave Chrom as the lead attacker and have him attack the almost-dead mercenary.

Before I do that, I send Frederick to investigate the shiny tile above Chrom and Riza. His relationship with Lissa improved. Yay.

As expected, Chrom kills the mercenary. Also, he gains a level.

I've seen better.

It's the enemy phase now. The archer moves in first, and shoots at Chrom, causing no damage whatsoever. Next, the upper fighter goes for Chrom; he swings and misses.

I love it when axe-wielders go for Chrom.

The next fighter also misses and has the exact same fate as the first. Chrom achieves weapon level D. The other mercenary goes for Chrom, also manages to miss, and Chrom takes him out with some help from Riza.

I could watch Chrom murder Risen all day - and have, frequently - but this is getting a little repetitive. Although he has 98 XP toward the next level, Riza needs some love as well. Besides, there's another sparkly tile in the other fort, and I do love sparkly things.

Chrom's too lazy to walk all the way to the next fort, so I have the two of them wait beside it with Riza in the lead position, out of range of the boss but still in range of the archer. I also move Freddybear and Lissa out of enemy range, because the archer's more likely to go for the guy without a ranged attack than the squishier Tactician who can attack back.

Sully and the joke are out of range, so they can stay where they are. I end my turn.

The archer attacks Riza and deals 2 damage, because again, squishy. (I like that word.) She throws a ball of lightning at him, and Chrom runs across a remarkable amount of distance to smack the guy in the face.

This means the archer is very dead. It also means that Chrom has another level. Good man.

Strength, defense and HP are always welcome.

The boss moves closer. At 18 HP Riza can take any damage he deals, so I'm not worried about her. Plus, the convenient fort right next to her will heal her on the next player phase if necessary.

Before I move her, I check on everyone else. Sully and Virion are still out of harm's way (and will unfortunately fail to get any XP during this battle), and Fred and Lissa would be out of range even if the boss spontaneously hopped on a flier. I move Riza to the sparkly fort. She can attack with her range from there, so I have her do that.

Before the battle actually begins, the Risen Chief has something to say about it. I think he's a relation of Gerrick.

Riza attacks for 10 damage, and Chrom hits for another 10. This isn't quite enough to kill the fellow, and Riza gets attacked for 4 damage. The scene ends, and I can see what the shiny tile was.

... Fantastic. The gods of gaming have a sense of humor.

Since I don't want anyone else to do anything because Chrom and Riza are dastardly XP hogs, I end my turn there. The Risen Chief, of course, attacks again. He misses this time, and Riza gets the kill. In the spirit of Gerrick's last words, the Risen Chief's are "Nnh...aaagh..." which is actually a perfectly appropriate thing to say after a ball of lightning to the face.

Also, Riza levels up. Don't worry, after I start actually grinding I won't post a picture every single time somebody gets a level.

She also has 73 XP toward the next level. This is why I let most of the enemies go for Chrom; Riza does fine with just a few enemies in the beginning.

And with that, the battle ends.

More dialogue follows. Marth apparently soloed a bunch of Risen by 'himself'. What a coincidence, as the XP hog duo just did the same. It's almost like they're related or something. Anyway, Marth says some mysteriously vague things about the future and walks away, because communication in fantasy is overrated. I mean, a "Watch out for the gray-skinned dude" or "Don't go to Plegia, there be dragons" would be too many spoilers, after all.

After this, Frederick reminds us that we must make haste to the captial, because we definitely didn't get the message when he made us forsake warm beds and good food for camping in the forest. He also seems oblivious to the fact that it is the middle of the night and some people might want sleep.

I'm sure he's happy that we are immediately teleported to the capital afterwards, where we meet Emmeryn the Exalt. I think she's one of the good guys; she's wearing a halo and everything. It turns out that Chrom and Lissa are her siblings and therefore royalty. Somehow, Riza is surprised by the fact that they are not literal shepherds, despite the nice clothes, nice weapons, armor, and the fact that not a single sheep has appeared so far. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you Ylisse's new strategist.

With this, the chapter ends. However, support convos are unlocked, and to nobody's surprise, Riza and Chrom have a C level awaiting them. Lissa and Fredericks' sparkly tiles apparently weren't enough for a C support, which is fine.

In case you are wondering, this is not something you should probably ever say to a woman:

Even if she's tomboyish, don't say that. Actually, especially if she's tomboyish, because if she gets mad about it she's the most likely to put a boot through your face.

Honestly, I prefer MaMU's supports with Chrom. I find FeMU's a bit... painfully awkward. I still like the pairing because I like their relationship during the main story, and because I'm used to a blue-haired Morgan now, and MU Lucina is OP... but I really wish they'd kept the FeMU's convos the same as the MaMU's, at least for Chrom. It would have been fairly easy to write an S support based on them; the whole bromance thing they've got going on would've translated pretty well to romance here.

I quickly move past Chrom putting his foot in his mouth so much that his breath permanently smells like boots, and that's it. Until Chapter 2, anyway.

For the record, I know I'm not doing anything really cheap or lazy yet, besides playing on Normal. Nor will I in the next few chapters. Just wait till the Outrealm opens up, though; then the real fun begins.

Edited November 8, 2015 by NobodyInWonderland

[MewMewExorcist]

I think I did something similar-ish to this when I got the DLCs for the EXP and Gold. xD It was really fun. I look forward to your future battles!

[TheSilentChloey]

@TheSilentChloey, I think I have some ideas on ways to make grinding him less than painful this time around. But he's probably going to be reclassed the moment he reaches Level 10 to something with other weapon options. Or maybe I'll see how he does as a Bow Knight, who knows. At least they have swords.

@Konnor97, that's an excellent idea. It might wait until I have an overpowered team, but I'd love to see what the auto-battle option comes up with at some point.

[spoiler=Stop Giving Me Bows: Chapter 1]

This chapter opens with... you guessed it... more dialogue! Lissa doesn't like camping, likely because hoop skirts do not make sitting on the ground easier. Also the bugs, obviously. On a related note, Chrom and Frederick with their character-building? They should try camping in hoop skirts and see how they like it. Or not, because them wearing hoop skirts would be really weird and somewhat disturbing. Unless you're into that, I guess.

They have bear for dinner, which is disappointing. Oh, not the bear for dinner part, that's fine. I'm disappointed that the game makers felt that a scene where Lissa gets a bug in her mouth is more important than a scene where someone kills a freakin' bear. I would have loved to see that.

Also, I'd like to know where the left half of Lissa's skirt went when she laid down.

"Huh?" is right.

It reappears once Lissa gets up to go for a walk in the dark creepy forest that apparently has bears in it with Chrom. While bear-killing in Ylisse is such a normal thing that it happens off-camera, I think that most people would call this a Bad Idea. Especially since Chrom is already saying he has a bad feeling. This is how horror movies begin.

As expected, nasty things show up in the anime-style cutscene and attack the two people out walking in the dark, creepy forest. The nasty things, however, are followed by the ever-fantastic... er... "Marth", who saves Lissa from the Risen soldier who decided to hold his axe above his head for a ridiculously long time so Marth can block it heroically. Nasty things are killed, the cutscene ends, and finally we've reached an actual battlefield.

But before actual playing begins, there is more dialogue. Frederick is concerned about Lissa and Chrom (no surprise); Riza is concerned that the nasty things are common, and probably plans to move to the other side of Valm if the answer is "yes".

Now the actual play begins. This time, there are forts placed conveniently near our party. These will be useful, because I again plan to have Chrom and Riza do the fighting, and there will probably no time to get them far enough from the enemy attackers for Lissa to heal them. At least, not unless I want Marth's efforts to be in vain.

She gets paired up with Frederick again, and I make him wait by a fort. Chrom and Riza are also paired, and I have Chrom go wait in the same fort.

They are first attacked by the barbarian, who hits Chrom for 1 damage. Chrom hits for 10, and is joined by Riza, who takes him out with the Thunder tome. They are then attacked by the mercenary, who lands a somewhat damaging blow on Chrom. Chrom fights back and hits for 12 damage, which is almost enough to take the mercenary out, but not quite.

The other Risen move closer, and this is where Sully and the ever-difficult-to-train Virion show up. For some reason, there's only two times I've found myself appreciating the guy: whenever I'm laughing at him being kicked or threatened by various women, or in his supports with Olivia and Inigo (I did this pairing once for the hair color; that's the time I trained him and was miserable, but I thought his supports with Olivia were cute. I also thought that his conversation with Inigo where he realizes that the kid is just like him is hilarious). I can't tell, though, if my usual annoyance with him is due to his... interesting... personality, or the whole he's-a-pain-in-the-neck-to-keep-alive thing because everything that's not an archer swarms him.

Sully says that putting her boot through his face is the punch line of the joke that is Virion, and proceeds to do so. Once again, I am disappointed. If she'd put her fist through his face instead, that would've been even more of a punch line. I'm not mean enough to pair her up with him, so I just send them both out enemy range. Virion asks to be kept out of harm's way when I move him. Not even Lissa asked to be kept out of harm's way, and she just has a staff to defend herself.

Chrom is healed by the fortress, and now a total of five enemy soldiers are in range to attack him.

This isn't as bad as it sounds. Chrom has a 97% chance of taking out the mercenary with his next hit, and at 8 defense he'd be safe if the 8-attack archer shot at him a million times. The fighters each have an attack of 11; but they're carrying axes and therefore Chrom has the advantage due to the weapon triangle. The other mercenary has 9 attack. The point being that, even if every single one landed a blow, Chrom would be more than fine afterward.

Riza could probably use the XP, but with the Veteran skill I don't need to worry about her gaining levels as much as Chrom. I'll also have better chances to level her in Chapter 2, where all the enemies stay stationary until someone is in attacking range. Therefore, I leave Chrom as the lead attacker and have him attack the almost-dead mercenary.

Before I do that, I send Frederick to investigate the shiny tile above Chrom and Riza. His relationship with Lissa improved. Yay.

As expected, Chrom kills the mercenary. Also, he gains a level.

I've seen better.

It's the enemy phase now. The archer moves in first, and shoots at Chrom, causing no damage whatsoever. Next, the upper fighter goes for Chrom; he swings and misses.

I love it when axe-wielders go for Chrom.

The next fighter also misses and has the exact same fate as the first. Chrom achieves weapon level D. The other mercenary goes for Chrom, also manages to miss, and Chrom takes him out with some help from Riza.

I could watch Chrom murder Risen all day - and have, frequently - but this is getting a little repetitive. Although he has 98 XP toward the next level, Riza needs some love as well. Besides, there's another sparkly tile in the other fort, and I do love sparkly things.

Chrom's too lazy to walk all the way to the next fort, so I have the two of them wait beside it with Riza in the lead position, out of range of the boss but still in range of the archer. I also move Freddybear and Lissa out of enemy range, because the archer's more likely to go for the guy without a ranged attack than the squishier Tactician who can attack back.

Sully and the joke are out of range, so they can stay where they are. I end my turn.

The archer attacks Riza and deals 2 damage, because again, squishy. (I like that word.) She throws a ball of lightning at him, and Chrom runs across a remarkable amount of distance to smack the guy in the face.

This means the archer is very dead. It also means that Chrom has another level. Good man.

Strength, defense and HP are always welcome.

The boss moves closer. At 18 HP Riza can take any damage he deals, so I'm not worried about her. Plus, the convenient fort right next to her will heal her on the next player phase if necessary.

Before I move her, I check on everyone else. Sully and Virion are still out of harm's way (and will unfortunately fail to get any XP during this battle), and Fred and Lissa would be out of range even if the boss spontaneously hopped on a flier. I move Riza to the sparkly fort. She can attack with her range from there, so I have her do that.

Before the battle actually begins, the Risen Chief has something to say about it. I think he's a relation of Gerrick.

Riza attacks for 10 damage, and Chrom hits for another 10. This isn't quite enough to kill the fellow, and Riza gets attacked for 4 damage. The scene ends, and I can see what the shiny tile was.

... Fantastic. The gods of gaming have a sense of humor.

Since I don't want anyone else to do anything because Chrom and Riza are dastardly XP hogs, I end my turn there. The Risen Chief, of course, attacks again. He misses this time, and Riza gets the kill. In the spirit of Gerrick's last words, the Risen Chief's are "Nnh...aaagh..." which is actually a perfectly appropriate thing to say after a ball of lightning to the face.

Also, Riza levels up. Don't worry, after I start actually grinding I won't post a picture every single time somebody gets a level.

She also has 73 XP toward the next level. This is why I let most of the enemies go for Chrom; Riza does fine with just a few enemies in the beginning.

And with that, the battle ends.

More dialogue follows. Marth apparently soloed a bunch of Risen by 'himself'. What a coincidence, as the XP hog duo just did the same. It's almost like they're related or something. Anyway, Marth says some mysteriously vague things about the future and walks away, because communication in fantasy is overrated. I mean, a "Watch out for the gray-skinned dude" or "Don't go to Plegia, there be dragons" would be too many spoilers, after all.

After this, Frederick reminds us that we must make haste to the captial, because we definitely didn't get the message when he made us forsake warm beds and good food for camping in the forest. He also seems oblivious to the fact that it is the middle of the night and some people might want sleep.

I'm sure he's happy that we are immediately teleported to the capital afterwards, where we meet Emmeryn the Exalt. I think she's one of the good guys; she's wearing a halo and everything. It turns out that Chrom and Lissa are her siblings and therefore royalty. Somehow, Riza is surprised by the fact that they are not literal shepherds, despite the nice clothes, nice weapons, armor, and the fact that not a single sheep has appeared so far. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you Ylisse's new strategist.

With this, the chapter ends. However, support convos are unlocked, and to nobody's surprise, Riza and Chrom have a C level awaiting them. Lissa and Fredericks' sparkly tiles apparently weren't enough for a C support, which is fine.

In case you are wondering, this is not something you should probably ever say to a woman:

Even if she's tomboyish, don't say that. Actually, especially if she's tomboyish, because if she gets mad about it she's the most likely to put a boot through your face.

Honestly, I prefer MaMU's supports with Chrom. I find FeMU's a bit... painfully awkward. I still like the pairing because I like their relationship during the main story, and because I'm used to a blue-haired Morgan now, and MU Lucina is OP... but I really wish they'd kept the FeMU's convos the same as the MaMU's, at least for Chrom. It would have been fairly easy to write an S support based on them; the whole bromance thing they've got going on would've translated pretty well to romance here.

I quickly move past Chrom putting his foot in his mouth so much that his breath permanently smells like boots, and that's it. Until Chapter 2, anyway.

For the record, I know I'm not doing anything really cheap or lazy yet, besides playing on Normal. Nor will I in the next few chapters. Just wait till the Outrealm opens up, though; then the real fun begins.

Hehe, yes, reclass asap. I tend to do that myself (Mage Virion/WyvernRider Virion for kicks) he's not so squishy then Though he is a joke to train and level up.

[NobodyInWonderland]

@MewMewExorcist, I'm looking forward to my future battles, too, since I'll be able to do more interesting things than what I did in this next chapter. Which is the exact same thing I've done in the previous chapters, with a bit more use of Lissa.

@TheSilentChloey, I'm not sure which is scarier: Mage Virion trying to impress the ladies with magic, or Wyvern Virion with his own small dragon...

[spoiler=A Death Montage: Chapter 2]

This chapter opens with us being introduced to more characters: Sumia, Maribelle, and the Vaike. Lissa gets a few amusing quips in at the latter's expense. Maribelle has been worried about Lissa, and Sumia has been worried about Chrom.

And here the game's "subtle" hints at shipping Chrom and Sumia begin. Don't get me wrong; they're a decent pairing, and I like her a lot once I get far enough in the game to forget her mooning-over-Chrom stage. I just like Chrom and FeMU better. Chrom in-story spends a lot more time working with the Avatar on actually important head-of-state things like diplomatic meetings and battle strategies; and I think it's awesome when they're a couple who can do that. It makes them an unstoppable couple both on the battlefield and away from it, as opposed to just on the battlefield for Chrom's other S-Support options.

I digress, but it was a choice between rambling about shipping or discussing the merits of Vaike's burping competition.

Chrom shows up, Sumia falls, and I reflect on how having no feet likely explains balance issues, until I remember that none of them have feet. Volunteers sign up for the mission to Regna Ferox that Chrom explains is going to happen.

I feel like I'm forgetting someone... Let's see, Sumia, Maribelle, Vaike, Lissa, Chrom and Riza... that's who we've got in this scene. Yep, we're good. Funny, there was this one part of the conversation where they just showed everyone standing around and nobody was talking...

I'd swear that I won't make any more Kellam jokes after this, but I sincerely doubt that's a promise I can keep.

As they're setting out to leave Stahl shows up, Vaike finds he's missing his axe, and a bunch of Risen decide they want to have a party at the local creek. Chrom doesn't approve of the party, so the battle begins. Frederick explains the weapons triangle. All well and good, but as usual I'm going to be fighting with Chrom and Riza alone (if possible). I'm sure you've guessed my strategy already: pair Lissa up with Frederick, move everybody out of attack range, and send in the XP eaters. Then smack the enemy with things, heal if necessary, rinse and repeat. Hey, look, I'm already pulling off my preferred strategy.

This also means that we have one pairing present on the battlefield that I plan to use in this playthrough besides the obvious: Vaike and Sully. I've heard good things about Vaike!Kjelle, like Armsthrift and excellent strength, so I'd like to try her out. (I don't have every parent picked out yet, but I do have a few.) I'd pair them up, but the Vaike is missing his axe so I'm going to leave him where he can grab it next turn. I leave Sully nearby and out of attack range so I can pair them up and send them toward the sparkly tile afterward. That way, if it's a relationship tile, it's useful for once.

I pair Stahl and Virion, so Stahl can get Virion out of harm's reach toward another part of the map. I put the Frederick and Lissa duo near the left-hand mercenary, pair Riza up with Chrom, and now I'm finally ready to attack.

After this attack, if the mercenary is still alive (somewhat unlikely, since Chrom has enough speed to double him, enough strength to kill him with a double, and enough chance of hitting to gamble on), that means Chrom will be under attack by both him and the soldier with the lance, though thankfully he's just out of range of the barbarian. Lances trump swords, which means Lance Guy has the advantage. On the other hand, Chrom has enough defense and HP to survive a few whacks.

The mercenary fails to hit Chrom and is successfully slain. I end my turn and await Lance Guy. Lance Guy manages to deal 3 points of damage before Chrom counterattacks. He doubles the guy, resulting in - you guessed it - a dead Lance Guy.

I have a feeling that this playthrough is going to offer a lot of opportunities for death montages.

None of the other enemies move, so that's the end of the enemy phase. Miriel shows up after this, bringing Vaike's axe. She's in the space between him and Sully, so it's a simple matter to have her give it to him.

Am I a horrible person for wanting to see Miriel attempt to follow through on this threat? Not so much succeed; I just would like to see Miriel chasing Vaike around the barracks. Maribelle would end up lecturing them on decorum, Sully would laugh her head off at both of them, Virion would try to propose to Miriel, Sumia would trip over the stuff they knocked over... it would be hilarious.

Moving on. I pair Vaike with Sully and have her go wait next to Chrom, because that's the farthest her horse can go at the moment. Everyone else is mostly fine where they are, but there's one person who can finally do something: Lissa! Sure, it's a little bit of a waste to have her heal Chrom for three damage, but she could really use the XP. I switch her with Frederick and let her do her thing.

Now, I really would like to give Riza some XP, and I can position her out of reach of everyone but the barbarian while attacking from 2 range. I send her to attack him. The only way she's going to kill him is if Chrom joins her for a dual strike - she can double him, but it won't be quite enough - but like Chrom she'll survive a hit or two if necessary.

Chrom does not, in fact, dual strike. The barbarian lives with 1 HP. This does not last long, since, on the enemy phase, he attacks, misses her entirely and gets a third Thunder tome to the face. That takes care of that.

This also means that Riza gets a level.

Riza dear, you should really work on your stat growths.

The rest of the enemies don't move, and so it's my turn again. Sully and Vaike go stand on the sparkly tile.

Finally, a relationship tile I can use. I made the right decision. And I am somewhat amused at their chat, because Vaike did not, in fact, remember to bring a weapon for once.

Lissa goes to heal Riza's one point that she's missing from leveling up, and our two XP eaters continue their march toward the boss, one Risen at a time.

There's a barbarian and a lance-wielding soldier on the bridge, but it's easy enough to stay in the range of only one at a time if I let them come to me. I'll have Riza take on Lance Guy 2.0, and then Chrom can handle the barbarian. I still think the Barbarian sprites look like humanoid mice.

Lance Guy 2.0 hits Riza for 5 damage on the enemy phase, but her counterattack quickly follows. RIP, Lance Guy 2.0. You will not be missed.

As usual, the enemy still doesn't think that the party crashers are worth pursuing unless they're within attack range, and therefore it's my turn again. Frederick suggests the auto battle system, for the first time implying that he realizes us common mortals need such things as rest. I'll definitely be using Auto Battle in the future, but this does not suit my current hit, heal, repeat strategy right now.

Lissa heals the 5 points of damage Riza took. I told you she'd start getting XP in this chapter.

I put Chrom and Riza within range of the barbarian with Chrom leading - one square to the left of where they were - leave everyone else where they are, and end my turn.

The barbarian, as expected, pays Chrom a visit with an axe. He misses. Chrom smacks him. Riza follows it up with shiny magic. RIP Barbarian.

Chrom gets a level.

Moving to the spot on the bridge where the late and unlamented barbarian stood is good enough positioning to lure out a single mercenary. Riza, I choose you.

She gets a level. Much better this time.

Lissa heals Riza's 6 damage - 5 from the mercenary, 1 from leveling up. Lissa levels up.

From here it's a bit repetitive. Lure out a single enemy, end turn...

Move to the next one...

Have Lissa heal as needed...

Rinse, repeat.

I take a break from the satisfying death montage to have Riza stand on the level's other sparkly tile north of the bridge. Finally, I get something besides a bow.

The break doesn't last long.

Leveling up happens.

Now it's time to say hello to our boss, the Risen Chief. Hey, I thought he was the boss the last time. His comments on the fight are similar to the previous Risen Chief's.

Well put, Sir. Chrom's and Riza's dual strike isn't enough to finish the fellow off, especially since Chrom can't double him. However, he's left with 4 health, and Chrom is at full health since the Chief's axe swing missed entirely, so a simple end of turn is enough to take care of that. His next attack hits Chrom for 4 damage, but this doesn't really help his lifespan any. Last words: "Unnngh...". These bosses get more eloquent every chapter.

And with that, the stage is complete. I could have told you exactly where I moved Chrom and Riza each turn and what enemies they fought, I suppose, but I figured that a death montage was more fun.

Nobody but Riza and Chrom has dealt a single blow yet. I would be ashamed of this in any other playthrough. In this playthrough, that's fine, since leveling everybody up will come later. It'll be easier to really grind them up once I get access to Lost Bloodlines 3 for Paragon, though I might do selective grinding before that. Not that I want everybody leveled too much yet, not until I get Second Seals. Otherwise I'll be frustrated that everybody's ready to switch classes without a way to do that.

Moving on to the next story scene allows us to meet a wounded Pegasus. It tries to kick Chrom in the face, because Chrom hasn't had enough barbarians hit his face with axes yet. Thankfully for everyone who likes flying horses, Chrom does NOT respond the way he does to barbarians, though he does decide that the animal is crazed. Sumia has a nice little sparkly scene showing off that she has an affinity with animals, everyone is in awe, end of chapter.

Well, that was... probably somewhat boring for you, the readers. It was fun for me, though, because I am easily entertained by Risen death montages and those cinematic 3D scenes. If the things dying aren't really alive, I don't feel bad, and all the weapons and magic are oh so shiny. Somehow Chrom and Riza did not gain another support level - neither did anybody else, though - so that's really all for this chapter.

Hey, next chapter I get an inventory. That's going to be nice. And shops will be a thing after that, and wireless access. And Sumia as an actual member of the team. I feel as though there's somebody else I get... somebody I'm forgetting about...

Nope, can't think of anyone. Must be imagining things.

Edited November 8, 2015 by NobodyInWonderland

[TheSilentChloey]

@MewMewExorcist, I'm looking forward to my future battles, too, since I'll be able to do more interesting things than what I did in this next chapter. Which is the exact same thing I've done in the previous chapters, with a bit more use of Lissa.

@TheSilentChloey, I'm not sure which is scarier: Mage Virion trying to impress the ladies with magic, or Wyvern Virion with his own small dragon...

[spoiler=A Death Montage: Chapter 2]

This chapter opens with us being introduced to more characters: Sumia, Maribelle, and the Vaike. Lissa gets a few amusing quips in at the latter's expense. Maribelle has been worried about Lissa, and Sumia has been worried about Chrom.

And here the game's "subtle" hints at shipping Chrom and Sumia begin. Don't get me wrong; they're a decent pairing, and I like her a lot once I get far enough in the game to forget her mooning-over-Chrom stage. I just like Chrom and FeMU better. Chrom in-story spends a lot more time working with the Avatar on actually important head-of-state things like diplomatic meetings and battle strategies; and I think it's awesome when they're a couple who can do that. It makes them an unstoppable couple both on the battlefield and away from it, as opposed to just on the battlefield for Chrom's other S-Support options.

I digress, but it was a choice between rambling about shipping or discussing the merits of Vaike's burping competition.

Chrom shows up, Sumia falls, and I reflect on how having no feet likely explains balance issues, until I remember that none of them have feet. Volunteers sign up for the mission to Regna Ferox that Chrom explains is going to happen.

I feel like I'm forgetting someone... Let's see, Sumia, Maribelle, Vaike, Lissa, Chrom and Riza... that's who we've got in this scene. Yep, we're good. Funny, there was this one part of the conversation where they just showed everyone standing around and nobody was talking...

I'd swear that I won't make any more Kellam jokes after this, but I sincerely doubt that's a promise I can keep.

As they're setting out to leave Stahl shows up, Vaike finds he's missing his axe, and a bunch of Risen decide they want to have a party at the local creek. Chrom doesn't approve of the party, so the battle begins. Frederick explains the weapons triangle. All well and good, but as usual I'm going to be fighting with Chrom and Riza alone (if possible). I'm sure you've guessed my strategy already: pair Lissa up with Frederick, move everybody out of attack range, and send in the XP eaters. Then smack the enemy with things, heal if necessary, rinse and repeat. Hey, look, I'm already pulling off my preferred strategy.

This also means that we have one pairing present on the battlefield that I plan to use in this playthrough besides the obvious: Vaike and Sully. I've heard good things about Vaike!Kjelle, like Armsthrift and excellent strength, so I'd like to try her out. (I don't have every parent picked out yet, but I do have a few.) I'd pair them up, but the Vaike is missing his axe so I'm going to leave him where he can grab it next turn. I leave Sully nearby and out of attack range so I can pair them up and send them toward the sparkly tile afterward. That way, if it's a relationship tile, it's useful for once.

I pair Stahl and Virion, so Stahl can get Virion out of harm's reach toward another part of the map. I put the Frederick and Lissa duo near the left-hand mercenary, pair Riza up with Chrom, and now I'm finally ready to attack.

After this attack, if the mercenary is still alive (somewhat unlikely, since Chrom has enough speed to double him, enough strength to kill him with a double, and enough chance of hitting to gamble on), that means Chrom will be under attack by both him and the soldier with the lance, though thankfully he's just out of range of the barbarian. Lances trump swords, which means Lance Guy has the advantage. On the other hand, Chrom has enough defense and HP to survive a few whacks.

The mercenary fails to hit Chrom and is successfully slain. I end my turn and await Lance Guy. Lance Guy manages to deal 3 points of damage before Chrom counterattacks. He doubles the guy, resulting in - you guessed it - a dead Lance Guy.

I have a feeling that this playthrough is going to offer a lot of opportunities for death montages.

None of the other enemies move, so that's the end of the enemy phase. Miriel shows up after this, bringing Vaike's axe. She's in the space between him and Sully, so it's a simple matter to have her give it to him.

Am I a horrible person for wanting to see Miriel attempt to follow through on this threat? Not so much succeed; I just would like to see Miriel chasing Vaike around the barracks. Maribelle would end up lecturing them on decorum, Sully would laugh her head off at both of them, Virion would try to propose to Miriel, Sumia would trip over the stuff they knocked over... it would be hilarious.

Moving on. I pair Vaike with Sully and have her go wait next to Chrom, because that's the farthest her horse can go at the moment. Everyone else is mostly fine where they are, but there's one person who can finally do something: Lissa! Sure, it's a little bit of a waste to have her heal Chrom for three damage, but she could really use the XP. I switch her with Frederick and let her do her thing.

Now, I really would like to give Riza some XP, and I can position her out of reach of everyone but the barbarian while attacking from 2 range. I send her to attack him. The only way she's going to kill him is if Chrom joins her for a dual strike - she can double him, but it won't be quite enough - but like Chrom she'll survive a hit or two if necessary.

Chrom does not, in fact, dual strike. The barbarian lives with 1 HP. This does not last long, since, on the enemy phase, he attacks, misses her entirely and gets a third Thunder tome to the face. That takes care of that.

This also means that Riza gets a level.

Riza dear, you should really work on your stat growths.

The rest of the enemies don't move, and so it's my turn again. Sully and Vaike go stand on the sparkly tile.

Finally, a relationship tile I can use. I made the right decision. And I am somewhat amused at their chat, because Vaike did not, in fact, remember to bring a weapon for once.

Lissa goes to heal Riza's one point that she's missing from leveling up, and our two XP eaters continue their march toward the boss, one Risen at a time.

There's a barbarian and a lance-wielding soldier on the bridge, but it's easy enough to stay in the range of only one at a time if I let them come to me. I'll have Riza take on Lance Guy 2.0, and then Chrom can handle the barbarian. I still think the Barbarian sprites look like humanoid mice.

Lance Guy 2.0 hits Riza for 5 damage on the enemy phase, but her counterattack quickly follows. RIP, Lance Guy 2.0. You will not be missed.

As usual, the enemy still doesn't think that the party crashers are worth pursuing unless they're within attack range, and therefore it's my turn again. Frederick suggests the auto battle system, for the first time implying that he realizes us common mortals need such things as rest. I'll definitely be using Auto Battle in the future, but this does not suit my current hit, heal, repeat strategy right now.

Lissa heals the 5 points of damage Riza took. I told you she'd start getting XP in this chapter.

I put Chrom and Riza within range of the barbarian with Chrom leading - one square to the left of where they were - leave everyone else where they are, and end my turn.

The barbarian, as expected, pays Chrom a visit with an axe. He misses. Chrom smacks him. Riza follows it up with shiny magic. RIP Barbarian.

Chrom gets a level.

Moving to the spot on the bridge where the late and unlamented barbarian stood is good enough positioning to lure out a single mercenary. Riza, I choose you.

She gets a level. Much better this time.

Lissa heals Riza's 6 damage - 5 from the mercenary, 1 from leveling up. Lissa levels up.

From here it's a bit repetitive. Lure out a single enemy, end turn...

Move to the next one...

Have Lissa heal as needed...

Rinse, repeat.

I take a break from the satisfying death montage to have Riza stand on the level's other sparkly tile north of the bridge. Finally, I get something besides a bow.

The break doesn't last long.

Leveling up happens.

Now it's time to say hello to our boss, the Risen Chief. Hey, I thought he was the boss the last time. His comments on the fight are similar to the previous Risen Chief's.

Well put, Sir. Chrom's and Riza's dual strike isn't enough to finish the fellow off, especially since Chrom can't double him. However, he's left with 4 health, and Chrom is at full health since the Chief's axe swing missed entirely, so a simple end of turn is enough to take care of that. His next attack hits Chrom for 4 damage, but this doesn't really help his lifespan any. Last words: "Unnngh...". These bosses get more eloquent every chapter.

And with that, the stage is complete. I could have told you exactly where I moved Chrom and Riza each turn and what enemies they fought, I suppose, but I figured that a death montage was more fun.

Nobody but Riza and Chrom has dealt a single blow yet. I would be ashamed of this in any other playthrough. In this playthrough, that's fine, since leveling everybody up will come later. It'll be easier to really grind them up once I get access to Lost Bloodlines 3 for Paragon, though I might do selective grinding before that. Not that I want everybody leveled too much yet, not until I get Second Seals. Otherwise I'll be frustrated that everybody's ready to switch classes without a way to do that.

Moving on to the next story scene allows us to meet a wounded Pegasus. It tries to kick Chrom in the face, because Chrom hasn't had enough barbarians hit his face with axes yet. Thankfully for everyone who likes flying horses, Chrom does NOT respond the way he does to barbarians, though he does decide that the animal is crazed. Sumia has a nice little sparkly scene showing off that she has an affinity with animals, everyone is in awe, end of chapter.

Well, that was... probably somewhat boring for you, the readers. It was fun for me, though, because I am easily entertained by Risen death montages and those cinematic 3D scenes. If the things dying aren't really alive, I don't feel bad, and all the weapons and magic are oh so shiny. Somehow Chrom and Riza did not gain another support level - neither did anybody else, though - so that's really all for this chapter.

Hey, next chapter I get an inventory. That's going to be nice. And shops will be a thing after that, and wireless access. And Sumia as an actual member of the team. I feel as though there's somebody else I get... somebody I'm forgetting about...

Nope, can't think of anyone. Must be imagining things.

My god so many Kellam jokes in one sitting I am not sure if I likes or not I know that he's there

Also I would say that both versions of Virion are scary!!

Edited November 8, 2015 by TheSilentChloey

[NobodyInWonderland]

Hehe, well, I do actually really like Kellam. As might be evidenced by how I play this chapter.

[spoiler=I Found A Non-Squishy: Chapter 3]

Our heroes have ended up in a snowstorm at the opening of Chapter 3. For once, there's not a ton of dialogue before I get to see the battlefield; just some commentary on the cold and the diplomatic protocols of the Feroxi. The preparations menu is unlocked, which is fantastic; I can now steal Miriel's fire tome in case my Thunder tome breaks before I remember to buy more. Frederick and Riza also put those bows and the Sigurd Lance in the convoy. The bows will probably never be seen again.

For this battle, I am using Riza, Chrom, Frederick and Lissa, with an additional Stahl. Why Stahl now? Well... um... I forget? He's coming along, anyway.

I start the battle, and of course now there's dialogue. Raimi, the captain of the Longfort, wants to know who we are and why we are here. It's weird that she bothers asking, since she doesn't believe our explanations of either. She attacks, and Sumia flies in on a white Pegasi in an overblown attempt to hint to the player that THIS IS OUR SHIP. Sorry, Sumia, but your future husband has yet to show up, and it won't be for a while.

There's an empty square with a "Talk" option for Chrom to the left -

I kid, I kid. As much as I make Kellam jokes, I love the guy. He's awesome, and happens to make an excellent wall of steel, especially in this chapter. Maybe not more so than Frederick, but I have a lot of fun watching arrows and lances and swords dealing absolutely no damage to him for some reason. It's probably because he always seems so placid compared to most of the other characters. He just stands there while things hit him, as though he's waiting to see if that's really all you meant to do.

And you know what? It's time to finally use someone besides Chrom and Riza. This isn't a chapter where I have to rout the enemy, so I could only go around one side of the map; but why waste the good XP when it's there for the taking? More importantly - as Kellam isn't any bigger of a priority to level up than anyone else - I want to use him, specifically, so I can point and laugh while things go "dink" against his armor. And I don't feel like making Chrom and Riza run all over the place to kill everyone by themselves.

So congrats, Kellam, you will be the first character to actually fight an enemy besides Chrom and Riza.

Chrom's stuck near the left flank archers after talking to Kellam, and so I decide to send Kellam around to the right flank after I have Riza support Chrom and Lissa support Frederick, as usual. While Kellam has a javelin and could theoretically counterattack the archers, this would only work if they attacked him, and they'll be targeting Chrom since he has no range options. The problem: Kellam moves at the speed of a mighty glacier, and getting him over to the right flank is going to take a while - if he moves by himself. That's where Stahl comes in. By pairing Kellam up with Stahl, I can transport him to the other side of the map without problems.

Plus, I like his and Stahl's support convos.

I have Freddybear wait next to Chrom for the moral support and leave Sumia where she is, safely out of range of everything. Now the battle can actually start.

An archer tries to shoot Chrom, and Riza manages a nice dual guard which prevents the 3 damage it might have caused. Kellam, meanwhile, watches a soldier's lance do absolutely nothing.

Kellam stabs the soldier and does 15 damage, not enough to kill him but close enough. The next lance-wielding soldier does the exact same amount of damage to Kellam, which is to say, none at all, and receives another 15. The other Feroxi soldiers on each flank move in closer to our respective heroes.

Now that they've moved closer, there is no place to move Sumia out of harm's way, because I did not plan beyond "leave my good characters near the enemy and see what happens, and hopefully watch them hit things". The good news is, I can make a space for Sumia by having Kellam finish off one of the Lance Guys, and having Chrom take care of an archer. This leaves just enough room for Sumia to retreat. After listening to a belated speech on the value of pair-ups, I take care of the problem.

Yeesh. Good thing I know that Chrom and Kellam can take these guys. Sumia, on the other hand, can not.

Frederick and Lissa go stand beside Chrom, which ends the turn. Chrom's Lance Guy attacks, fails to hit Chrom, and gets dual strike'd by Chrom and Riza. Chrom gets a level.

Chrom's pesky archer misses his mark, and then I get some more amusement out of Kellam's other Lance Guy.

This never gets old.

Kellam finishes off Lance Guy, and is attacked by the mercenary. The effect is... well, you get the idea. Dink, no damage, mercenary gets lance'd, and is almost finished but not quite. It would be nice if Kellam was a bit stronger or could double these guys, but hey, I'm not going to complain about having an impenetrable wall at my command.

That's the end of the enemy's turn. I have Kellam finish off the mercenary, which gives him a level. The mercenary doesn't even have time for another futile attempt at smacking Kellam's shield with his puny sword.

Kellam also gets a door key, with Frederick helpfully explaining that door keys can open doors. Riza finishes off the archer with help from Chrom, and also gets a door key. Frederick allows this to pass without comment.

Sumia is now perfectly safe. Frederick waits next to Riza, and I end my turn. Since the Feroxi do nothing, despite the fact that we now have their door keys, that means it's the player's turn again. Chrom has some musings about the power of friendship and fighting alongside people, which is slightly cheesy.

Kellam is near a sparkly tile; but since I want to be able to get him closer to the doors more quickly, I have him switch with Stahl before waiting on it. It's a relationship tile. Kellam's dream for the future is to stand out. Can I hug him?

Riza approaches her door, but isn't close enough to open it. I end the turn so I can move again. Stahl gets Kellam up to the right-side door, he switches with Kellam, and Kellam opens the door. Despite the fact that the door is open, none of the Feroxi are going to get through it, though.

Riza opens her door to greet a knight similar to the one staring at Kellam. However, since she's wielding magic and knights' resistances are zilch, I'm not particularly worried. Frederick waits behind her. (Again, I'm making sure Lissa is on hand, and also he can step in if I ever actually need to worry about Chrom and Riza.)

The left-hand Feroxi knight attacks Riza, misses her entirely, and is taken down with her and Chrom's combined efforts. Riza also gets a level up.

Kellam is still so awesome that even other knights can't do anything to him.

You'd think they'd learn that this is useless. They never do. Kellam also has found someone slower than him, which means a double strike. This still isn't enough to take down the Feroxi knight - who is left with 1 HP - which means that Kellam attacks again now that it's my turn. And since all I've shown so far is Kellam getting attacked, here's a screenshot where he does the attacking.

For some reason I've found it difficult to get good screenshots of him attacking. Once Kellam decides to move, he moves ridiculously fast for someone wearing more armor than Frederick.

I send Riza across the upper part of the map toward the other sparkly tile, which lands her within range of a mercenary. Frederick waits beside her. Enemy phase commences. The mercenary hits for 3 damage, but Riza disposes of him quickly. Apparently this is seen by a Feroxi fighter, who heads in the opposite direction toward the right side of the map. I guess he didn't notice Kellam waiting over there.

There's two fighters and a mercenary left besides Raimi the boss, all on Kellam's side. Normally this wouldn't be a problem. However, one of the fighters - the one that was already on the right side - has a hammer, which is Not Good for armored units. As in, really really not good for armored units this early on in the game. Commencing operation: Kellam runs away. He switches with Stahl once he gets as far away from the door as possible, in case I need to put real distance between him and the hammer.

Riza then goes to wait on the sparkly tile, and her relationship with Chrom improves.

Lissa heals Riza and gains a level. Very nice.

The fighter without the hammer, who has a nice normal iron axe, continues to follow Kellam on the next enemy phase. Now him I can deal with. I move Kellam to the bottom of the stairs leading up to the door, which is just within range. Riza heads toward Raimi, and waits.

The fighter attacks Kellam.

After the fighter entirely fails to put a scratch on Kellam's shield, Kellam strikes back - and Stahl decides to join the fun with a dual strike. The fighter is no more.

That's the end of the enemy phase, and I can now move Riza to attack Raimi. For the first time since the prologue, we have a boss who speaks actual words.

What ensues is a lot of dodging. Riza's first 9-damage attack strikes just fine, but Chrom misses with his dual strike, Raimi misses with her javelin, and Riza misses with her second thunderbolt.

Ending the turn means that Raimi heals herself a bit, attacks again, and hits for 4 damage. Riza responds with two strikes that hit their mark, as well as help from Chrom, who does not miss this time. Raimi is now down to 2 HP. Then the pesky hammer shows up and hits poor Riza for 10 damage. I do not like that thing. At least, I don't like it right now. Since Chrom and Riza disposed of the fighter and got his hammer, I'll probably like it a lot more when I use it on enemies. The final mercenary moves to stand by Raimi, and it's my turn again.

Lissa is close enough to heal Riza, and thanks to Raimi being stationary she's in no danger by coming close. I debate going after the mercenary, but I really don't want Raimi to have a chance to heal herself again. Riza attacks, and successfully hits Raimi, which means that Raimi is defeated.

Yes, our claims were true. And if you'd just believed us you'd have avoided the whole getting-hit-in-the-face-by-lightning-repeatedly thing. It's hard to imagine that was fun. Though it might have been a blast. Get it? (Don't hurt me.)

I managed to accidentally skip getting a screenshot of the Stage Cleared screen, but once again, despite Kellam's best efforts, Riza and Chrom were the heroes. Hey, at least they had competition this time.

Raimi apologizes for doubting them and lets them through. And so the chapter ends.

BUT! Donnel's paralogue appears, the Bonus Box is unlocked, and I now have wireless features. I also have a bunch of support convos. This is all very awesome, and I'd totally talk more about it if it weren't late o'clock right now. So... next time, expect some stuff about that.

Edited November 8, 2015 by NobodyInWonderland

[MewMewExorcist]

Y'know, the best thing about Kellam, is that he can be a Thief. Which means he can also get the Assassin/Trickster classes. Which means he can get the Movement +1 skill, the Pass skill, and the Acrobat skill. Then you picture all that on a General... charging at you with surprising mobility. xD

[mozumes]

Reclass Lissa/Maribelle as soon as you can because even in normal mode, they will probably die. I'm really looking forward to what happens in chapter 5.

[Ebony]

Y'know, the best thing about Kellam, is that he can be a Thief. Which means he can also get the Assassin/Trickster classes. Which means he can get the Movement +1 skill, the Pass skill, and the Acrobat skill. Then you picture all that on a General... charging at you with surprising mobility. xD

You called?

Also just curious but who are you gonna pair Frederick with? Personally Olivia is a good choice methinks.

[TheSilentChloey]

Ohh the fun Yeah Kellam is great. I usually pair Sumia with Fred...don't ask me why I just do

[NobodyInWonderland]

@MewMewExorcist, I know, right? He's definitely running through the Thief tree at some point. There's a few good tanks I'm planning to also run through it - and when combined with Deliverer, suddenly there is no keeping them out of anywhere - but Kellam is my Favorite Original Tank, and as such gets priority. I could even give him Locktouch and have a dedicated General who opens all the chests, and just try to argue with him about it, I dare you.

@shujinkou, after Chapter 4, where I'm going I won't need healers. Chapter 5 is probably going to be Death Montage #2, since the last time I played the way I'm planning to play it, that's what happened. And once I get the shop with rescue staffs, healers are probably the easiest class for me to grind quickly and easily. So don't worry, Maribelle and Lissa are perfectly safe. They usually end up being some of my most-used first gen characters, actually.

@Ebony, I still don't have anything set in stone for Freddy, but I was tentatively thinking that he'd be paired up with Cherche for Wyvern Tank Gerome.

So, I was at work all day and haven't had time to do the lengthy play-by-play with screenshots (which take a ridiculously long time to capture), so I'm holding off on continuing with the next chapter. However, now that pairings have come up, maybe I should go ahead and explain what I've got in mind so far. Who knows, maybe you guys can help me make my decisions about how some of the pairings should go, and this way I can explain the reasoning behind my choices before I actually start working on grinding for the matches beyond randomly standing on relationship tiles. Though if you're just looking for more funny comments, you can probably skip what's below; I'm being far more serious about stats and skills and classes than a playthrough this simple warrants.

[spoiler='Ship Happens: A Bonus Ramble on Pairings]

Before I begin, I would like to warn you that I am a raving fan of Galeforce and Armsthrift. Maybe they're overrated, but I don't care; I use 'em as much as possible. This is why they will be brought up repeatedly in the following ramblings. For the most part I go by eugenics, but I do sometimes matchmake for pettier reasons than optimization.

Definitely Happening

Chrom x Riza

While I've previously rambled on why I ship Chrom with FeMU story-wise, I also think it makes relative sense kid-wise. I like for Morgan to have a sibling, and Lucina is the only way to get a FeMU-mothered kid besides him. However, more than that, Lucina is the only MU kid who manages to avoid being a Morgan clone (well, not counting opposite gender siblings and the whole gendered classes deal). With access to the Lord/Great Lord class and Aether, as well as an unbreakable sword, she's going to have a few more options than Morgan. Not necessarily better; it depends on your opinion of the class and the skills she gets, but she's at least different. Stat-wise, a +Magic/-Strength Avatar means that she's not going to be living up to her full strength potential (and Morgan won't be living up to his full Magic potential with Chrom as a father), but they'll be wrecking everything anyway, and if I want to give Lucina access to magic she's actually going to have magic growth this way. It's really hard to go wrong with Morgan or Lucina. Possible in Lucina's case, but not that easy.

Tharja x Donnel

Donnel's stats... could be better, honestly. He's cool and Aptitude is nice when trying to cap his stats, but when they're finally capped? Not that great. The classes he passes down, though, especially to daughters? Fantastic. I like Galeforce Sorcerer Noire, and I like for Sorcerer Noire to have Armsthrift to abuse Aversa's Night (or any other cool magic I want to try) if I'm lucky enough to actually get any. The whole Vantage/Vengeance thing she'd get from Gaius might be cool in another playthrough with less grinding; but the problem with Vantage/Vengeance is that Vengeance doesn't do much when you're not taking damage. And after a certain point in leveling up, especially with Limit Breaker, nobody takes damage during the main story line. Point is, she'll get more out of Armsthrift.

Nowi x Gaius

Oh, Nowi. You make me so uncomfortable - and conflicted. On one hand - freakin' awesome dragon; on the other hand, little girl in skimpy clothing. I usually try to ignore her, except for pairing her up and grinding her a bit for Nah to have decent stats out-of-the-box. Therefore, this pairing is for Nah's sake alone. Hello, Galeforce. I've seen plenty of arguments about how Nah doesn't need Galeforce, and how Kellam turns her into a Manakete tank; but I really, really like Galeforce Nah. She's going to be a tank anyway, and this way she's an extra-mobile tank, and also a freakin' awesome dragon who WEARS ACTUAL CLOTHES. (Tiki also counts, but she doesn't have as many support options or access to as many classes and good skills.) If I were keeping Kjelle as a General, the extra mobility would probably go to better use there; but fliers get more mobility than manaketes and I'm happier putting Kjelle on a wyvern than I am keeping Nah as anything but a shiny awesome manakete.

Olivia x Libra

If Lucina is hard to mess up, I consider Inigo to be impossible to mess up. Mercenary tree + Myrmidon tree is always going to be fantastic for useful skills and fun procs, and throwing in Galeforce access? This kid is amazing, according to my criteria. He even makes Virion look like a good father, despite Virion not giving him much he needs besides awesome hair and the hilarity of having a dad just like him. Really, all he technically needs is good stats, and maybe a couple more classes if you don't want him ending as a hero. Olivia doesn't give him strength or magic; so he can go either way depending on his father. So why Libra? Well... Inigo has all the makings of a Armsthrift Galeforce Nosferatank, that's why. If I want to put him in an actually difficult DLC map, he's got a bonus Vantage/Vengeance combo that I can throw on; and unlike Noire he's not sacrificing the more useful skill for it. Libra even offers access to Tomefaire if he isn't hitting hard enough. Besides, I like to imagine that he's wearing the ridiculous Sorcerer costume because somebody told him that the ladies wanted him to. Libra also doesn't take away anything modifier-wise besides Luck, so if I decide I want him as a physical class he's fine with the switch. But, since I like magic... well, he's probably going to be wearing that ridiculous costume for the most part.

Lissa x Gregor

"Owain works better in magical classes, thanks to his mother's stats", you say. That's true. "Gregor and Lissa? That age gap is creepy." True, but Gregor's awesome so I'll make an exception. "Gregor can be better used elsewhere. There's too much class overlap." Well... I'd mostly agree. So why this pairing? Well, that's because Owain's sword hand twitches, and farming Infinite Regalia for infinite Missiletainns and Mystletainns is a pain in the neck. I love the kid and I always feel unreasonably ashamed of myself if I don't have him wielding his favorite weapons when they're so important to him. I don't even usually like swords because decent ranged options are almost nonexistent, but I will make an exception in this case. As for his magical aptitude, that's what the Dread Fighter class is for, which also gives him a decent ranged option when he needs it. Since Lissa passes along enough skills to make him good, all I really care about is giving Owain Armsthrift so his sword hand can twitch to its heart's content without making more work for me. Sol's a nice bonus, too. See Inigo for how I think Mercenary + Myrmidon + Galeforce is impossible to mess up.

Fairly Certain, But I Could Be Persuaded Otherwise

Maribelle x Lon'qu

You know what's adorable and hilarious? Maribelle's supports with Lon'qu. Of course, his supports with any female tend to end up pretty hilarious, but I especially like these. More importantly, Brady's never going to have the greatest defense; and while I could try to at least make it decent by matching Maribelle with, say, Kellam, it's going to just result in modifiers canceling out and nothing really great for the kid. So what to do? Well... defense doesn't matter if nothing can hit him. With Maribelle's luck combined with Lon'qu's speed, he should theoretically be able to avoid mostly anything. He's going to be the squishiest sage possible, but again, if nothing can hit him, does it really matter that much?

Sumia x Henry

It would be really, really nice if Sumia had more marriage options. Really, Game Developers, do you have to penalize everyone who doesn't want to marry her off to Chrom by making sure it's almost impossible to marry her off to anyone else? Anyway, out of the choices that aren't in the Definite Match section, we've got Frederick and Henry. And honestly... Frederick's a wee bit redundant, as far as class sets. Cynthia already has access to the Knight tree, and she doesn't need the Cavalier tree unless I really wanted her to have Aegis. (Defender isn't that useful when All Stats +2 is available to anyone.) While Aegis is useful for a flier, especially on higher difficulties, I'm probably not going to use a lot of skill slots for defensive skills when it's on Normal difficulty and I've got Limit Breaker. She's already got pegasi, so she doesn't need wyverns for more flying. While it's nice to have Frederick's strength compensating for Sumia's lack thereof, I'm not sure that it's worth the hit she takes in speed, which is Sumia's best modifier. Henry offers the Thief tree, which is almost always useful; the Troubadour tree, which overlaps with Sumia's cleric tree, but gives Cynthia Dual Support+ which can come in handy in certain situations even if it's a boring skill; and the Sorcerer tree, which is kind of useless to her when I want her as a flier, but is complemented by her access to Tomefaire if I decide to change things up. Henry doesn't have any negative modifiers but Luck, which is not something I care that much about, so Sumia's speed doesn't go to waste. So, while I don't have any strong opinions about Henry as far as the supports go, he's the clear winner when it comes to eugenics. If I can be persuaded that a match with Frederick is cuter, I'd consider changing things up.

Sully x Vaike - S-support achieved

Vaike's Fighter class gets passed down as Mercenary in the case of girls. Of the girls he can father, that's Severa (who already gets it), Noire and Nah (who already have dads picked out), and Kjelle. As a tank, the girl can really use the ability to abuse the best weapons on hordes of enemies through Armsthrift, as well as Sol for self-healing; and the extra strength is pretty good, too. Moreover, she gets access to the Thief line this way. Remember how awesome Kellam is because he's a ridiculously mobile wall of steel when reclassed enough? Well, between Deliverer, Pass, Acrobat and flying classes (wyvern tree), she can keep up just fine with the Galeforce kids. She's got better stats as a General, of course; but with Limit Breaker and her already ridiculous strength and defense, she's not exactly going to be hurting with a few points dropped from both. Plus, she gets a bit of a speed boost as a flier, and since her resistance will never be amazing it doesn't hurt to give her better avoid stats. Mainly, though, I just want to try out Vaike Kjelle, since I never have, and see if she's as good as she looks on paper. I'd be willing to switch Vaike out for Kellam for better defense, which is why this is not in the "definitely" section; there's surprisingly little class overlap considering their sharing a Knight class. She'd still get the Thief tree, even. However, she'd be trading Mercenary for Cleric, and I think Mercenary is a bit more helpful.

Tentative and Subject to Change

Cordelia x Stahl

Severa gets Galeforce and Mercenary automatically. She also gets Sorcerer, but Cordelia's magic growth is abominable, so unless I specifically pair her up with somebody who has pretty awesome magic to compensate that's not going to get used. As long as Severa remains a physical fighter, all she could really ask for is some good procs besides Sol. Y'know, like Luna, or Astra, or maybe even Lethality. Stahl is a good answer to "Why not all of the above". As far as I can tell, he's a fairly solid father for Severa. So why is this in the Tentative list? This might sound stupid, but... hair color. Stahl's hair color looks fine on Stahl, and on some of the other kids... but I just don't think it fits Severa at all. It always bothers me for some reason, especially compared to Cordelia's shiny red hair.

Cherche x Frederick

Cherche has an abominable magic growth and really good strength. This is particularly annoying when all her reclass options out of the wyvern tree involve magic. This annoyance does not carry through to Gerome, though, since Cherche's Troubadour tree morphs into the much more useful-for-physical Fighter tree, which means he gets Sol. With that and Deliverer, he's already doing pretty well; and Quick Burn means he can take a hit in speed and still do okay with his avoid. This time, Frederick's bonus Strength and Defense stack with Cherche's for an even more ridiculous tank than Kjelle - as a Wyvern Lord, he'd still have more defense than General Vaike Kjelle, and only 1 less strength - and Luna is always great. He doesn't get the widest selection of cool procs, his resistance is going to be hilariously bad, and his speed is going to be almost as annoying, but as long as I keep him away from mages he's going to take no damage and hit like a truck. This is in the tentative section because I'm not sold on shipping Freddybear with Cherche, and also that, er, fantastic speed. As in fantastically bad.

Panne x Kellam

In theory, I absolutely love taguels. In practice... well, I'm a fan of ranged weapons, and I'm a fan of keeping manaketes and taguels in their base classes, and when it comes to taguels I can't have both. So when I'm doing a playthrough where I'm trying to just build a small team to destroy everything, the poor taguels often end up forgotten. However, I do love my killer bunnies, and Kellam's supports with Panne just show what a softy he really is inside that armor. Yarne's already got the Thief tree, but Luna is nice to have, and since he doesn't have access to any self-healing skill from his mom, Renewal from Kellam's War Monk class is not the worst skill for him to have. He takes a hit in speed from this pairing but Kellam's strength and defense stack nicely with Panne's, and it's not anywhere near as ghastly as Frederick Gerome's.

Miriel x Ricken - S-support achieved

For all my love of magic, I'm never sure what to do with Miriel. She's just so... squishy. Sure, she makes a good sage, but she doesn't have any really cool skills and her defense is poor, to say the least. Getting her to survive for her first few levels is almost as bad as dealing with Virion. This might be why I pair her with Ricken: he's also really squishy when I get him. Ricken is almost weirder than Nowi to pair with anyone - and this match means he gets the oldest kid, which makes it even more ridiculous - but hey, at least his magic modifier stacks really well with Miriel's, and he offers access to Luna, which is always nice. This pairing is more for the high magic than anything; I just don't know what to do with Laurent any more than I know what to do with Miriel.

Edited November 21, 2015 by NobodyInWonderland

[mozumes]

I usually do Lissa & Lon'qu not only because it probably one of my favorite supports but also because Owain is a total boss. He's have access to two of of breaker skills (Lancebreaker helps a lot because he uses swords all the time) and gets a lot of great stats.

[Roflolxp54]

The fun with Rescue staffbots with Galeforce leading to 1-turning kill-the-commander maps.

You can also break the game more easily by having a file cleared with Max Renown (get over 100K gold by selling certain rewards) and have at least 20 maxed out units saved into your Logbook before starting a file.

If you did that, you can beat Golden Gaffe while using Leif's Blade and hire Logbook units before beating Harvest Scramble repeatedly to get Master Seals easily -- with DLC, you can get Chrom to easily promote in Chapter 5.

Also, you can use those funds to buy equipment from Spotpass teams such as Mire, Waste, Brave weapons, Fortify, etc.

[Thor Odinson]

As much as I don't really like Vaike as a person he just has so much more to offer Kjelle than Kellam. Kellam's few points of def mods doesn't really compare to having Sol.

I mean, with Sol, I got someone who has ~29 defense on Lunatic endgame to be effectively immortal. Much more useful than taking 3 less damage.

That is assuming you're even taking damage at this point, in cases like 0 damage both +3def and Sol are equally useless, but armthrift on Helswath is an A+ combo I often use for my own Avatar. That's like, a free +5 def all the time. Kellam!Kjelle can't abuse Helswath as hard, or it'd run out. so effectively she has more with Vaike anyway, given Helswath.

Also Vaike can pass Axefaire to Kjelle for MORE DAMAGE with that Luna.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Thor Odinson

[TheSilentChloey]

I am quiet enjoying the playthrough so far. Nice to see Kellam joining the group, as well as Sumia. About here is where the real fun begins. Lucina will be relatively easy if you get to about level 8 for Chrom and/or level 6 for Riza at least that is what I did for my F!MU.

[NobodyInWonderland]

@shujinkou, Lissa's and Lonqu's supports are really cute, I agree, and the stats are nice as well. But I really, REALLY want Owain to have Armsthrift. (Plus, I like Maribelle's and Lonqu's a tiny bit better...)

@Roflolxp54, shhhhh! Spoilers! Seriously, though; Golden Gaffe and a number of maxed-out logbook characters are indeed involved in my plans. I guess I could've gotten 20, but while playing around with Limit Breaker and Paragon I've only maxed out 11 actual logbook characters (a couple of my old avatars, a few Spotpass/DLC characters, and some peoples' avatars from Streetpass). Some of the builds are a bit gimmicky, but that's perfect for this playthrough, and there's a good selection of skills (of course). My renown... could be higher. I only recently started actually fighting Streetpass and Spotpass teams - usually I just use 'em for the shops; and unfortunately most of those battles were fought on my Streetpass team's file, since that's where I had all my maxed-out units. And... um... I got kinda tired of getting through the main story line with a male avatar without Galeforce, and... kinda haven't beaten the game properly yet on that file because I'm a bad gamer...

@Thor Odinson, yep, that's exactly why I want to try out Vaike Kjelle. And not liking Vaike that much as a person is why I considered anything otherwise. But yeah, it's REALLY hard to argue the stuff she gets out of the pairing.

@TheSilentChloey, I'm pretty sure Chrom and Riza will have a few more levels than that by the time I get to Lucina... especially since Master/Second Seal priority goes to Riza, and the second Master Seal I get goes to Chrom. Glad you're having fun!

[spoiler=Some Pre-Chapter Miscellany]

Guys. GUYS. Look what Anna Claus brought me.

She showed up on the map this morning. She is awesome and I love her. I also bought the Rescue staff while I was at it, because why not.

I also went ahead and bought another Thunder tome from the Chapter 2 store, since Riza's was running low. More interestingly, though, I now have the wireless stuff available. My global renown could be higher - though I do have one file with a respectable amount, probably should have beaten that before starting this playthrough - but the Second Seal and the Large Bullion is all I usually care about from the Renown Awards. This time around, I'll actually be able to make use of some of the fancier weapons early on without destroying them, so those are are useful for once; and if the low renown really bugs me I can fight a bunch of Spotpass teams. I might end up doing that at some point, just because Boots. Boots are awesome.

Anyway, with 6400 Renown actually saved (because I kinda get lazy about beating the endgame sometimes; I'll get some great idea for a pairing I want to try and end up saving over old files rather than finishing 'em first), I can get everything up to Sigurd's Lance. I have two of those now.

The Bonus Box has some nice stuff in it, too. Unfortunately it doesn't have any of my favorite stat-boosting weapons, but I do like the Book of Naga. While I'm at it, I might as well unlock all the endgame paralogues, even though I won't see them for a while.

Next, I've got some supports available. Chrom and Riza, Lissa and Riza, and Kellam and Stahl all want to talk to each other.

I get Chrom's and Riza's out of the way first.

This couldn't get any more awkward. (Or, if it can, may I never see it.)

That would be the idiot standing in front of you, Riza. At least it was an honest mistake, because this is Chrom and he comes off as the sort of idiot who couldn't lie to save his life; and he definitely says he didn't mean to do it.

Moving on. Lissa's support is a bit better, but just about anything would be after watching Chrom stutter and apologize and put his foot in his mouth, again. Plus, I just think Riza's response to being woken up by Lissa is funny.

Risen riding wolves: the ultimate terror.

After gales of laughter at Riza's expense, Lissa mentions that she spilled ink on Riza's rare and important book. Their relationship improves somehow. Probably because look at that cute little innocent face, who wouldn't forgive a face like that.

Stahl's support with Kellam isn't anything really brilliant or heartwarming, but it is amusing. Stahl wants to know how Kellam always looks so calm and poised on the battlefield. Unfortunately, Stahl doesn't get the answer he's looking for...

With all that out of the way, it's finally time to move on to Chapter 4.

[spoiler='Hammer Time: Chapter 4]

Raimi is being a bit friendlier now. More Dialogue must inform us that the Feroxi are a warrior-like people, presumably because we didn't get the idea with the whole fight-to-show-you're-right thing. Flavia shows up, is awesome, and finagles Chrom into fighting for her in an upcoming tournament with the reward of an alliance with Ylisse if he wins, conveniently leaving out the option of talking to the other khan about the alliance. Chrom really doesn't seem to know much about the nuances of Feroxi politics, which means that they are conveniently explained. Then we arrive at the battlefield on the day of the tournament.

This is the first chapter where enemies move towards the player characters in groups. There also are mages in this chapter, so bringing Kellam along is a little risky. However, as long as I'm careful with Kellam, he should be fine, and he can even deal with mages as long as he attacks first. I might finally end up using Frederick. Lissa won't be able to do much until we've dealt with everyone but the boss, but it's probably a good idea to be at full health before taking 'him' on.

So, we've got Riza, Chrom, Frederick, Lissa, Kellam and Stahl. I give Frederick the hammer I got from the last chapter, since there's two enemy knights and this is a great opportunity to test it out on them. I restock Riza's Thunder and we're ready to fight.

But first, MARTH!

Marth is recognized, and a cutscene ensues in which we are shown that a) Marth has another Falchion and b) fights exactly like Chrom. Gee, I wonder if they're related or something. After some dramatic flipping and waving of swords, the battle actually begins. Somehow, despite the fact that Chrom and Marth were just fighting, they are suddenly at opposite sides of the arena now.

First, as always, everyone is paired up into the expected pairings. So Kellam supports Chrom and... kidding, kidding. Of course Riza supports Chrom, Lissa supports Frederick, and Kellam supports Stahl so they can switch when closer to the enemy. Speaking of enemies, there is a sparkly tile and an axe-wielding fighter on the right-hand side. Guess where Chrom's going?

Chrom's weapon proficiency improves, and he now has weapon level C. I send Frederick and Stahl to wait next to Chrom. Stahl is out of attack range with this set-up.

On the enemy phase, the fighter attacks Chrom, is blocked by a dual guard from Riza, and meets the usual fate of axe-wielders who attack Chrom. See the Chapter 2 death montage for plenty of examples. The fighter from the lower left-hand side and both mages head toward our group. This is good news in my book, since picking off the mages means I can send Kellam out to deal with the rest if necessary.

I plant Riza on some stairs and have her attack the nearest mage. The mage misses Riza entirely. Riza gets a level out of his defeat.

Only one more level to go until I can Master Seal her if I want to. I'll probably hold off till closer to Level 20, because I won't have an unlimited supply of Second Seals for a while so the stats she gets from one Master Seal and one Second Seal will be her stats until I get to a store that has them.

The bottom-right corner of the arena is now clear of any immediate attackers. Those knights still haven't moved yet, so Frederick has nothing to do, and there's still mages around so I don't want to use Kellam yet. I have Frederick and Stahl wait by Riza.

The fighter, the remaining mage and the knights (finally) move toward our group. Sending Chrom to attack the fighter means he'll be within range of the mage, but Riza already has enough levels for the moment and I'm going to bet on him dodging things. And if he doesn't dodge, well, he has the HP to handle it.

As usual, the fighter misses his swing and gets offed by Chrom. I have Stahl and Frederick wait outside of the mage's range. Chrom fails to dodge the 7-point attack, but this isn't much of a problem. He has 19 attack with 100% accuracy on the 19-health mage; so after the knights and the other two fighters approach, I have Chrom finish the guy off.

And Chrom gets a level.

Now that the mage is gone, the two knights are the closest enemies. And Frederick has a new hammer to test.

I'm really not sure what's going on with the horse's tail in that screenshot. Also? You have no clue how many hammer-related jokes I'm holding in right now. I'd better get some of this out of my system now, so feel free to skip the next few sentences.

Wow, that knight is hammered. Frederick hit the nail on the head with that attack. The knight can't touch this. You know what time it is? Hammer time.

Moving on.

Kellam doesn't have enough attack to take out the nearest fighter, but it's not like he's going to take any damage. I send him in to attack. Stahl joins him, and together they remove the fighter from the map.

Now it's the enemy phase, and the final knight and fighter move in. They're not close enough to actually attack, but the knight's almost on top of Frederick now. Shall I repeat? Probably not, but I will anyway. HAMMER TIME.

Thankfully for you readers, that's the last of the knights, so I can stop being unreasonably excited over hammers.

I send Chrom to attack the last fighter. This one has luck on his side, and manages to pull off an attack for 1 damage. Bravo, fighter. It... doesn't really help him much, though; he follows in the path of his bretheren soon after.

Since I want Lissa to heal Chrom, there's not much more that I can do this turn. Marth does not move on the enemy phase. There's a sparkly tile in the upper right-hand corner, so I have Chrom head for it after Lissa heals him. It takes two more turns to reach it, and Marth is kind enough to wait on him.

It's not a bow. I'll take it.

Marth finally comes to attack Chrom. Chrom asks who his father is, Marth refuses to explain as usual, and they both attempt to see who can infer their superiority in the most polite and subtle fashion.

Marth attacks, but a dual guard from Riza prevents any damage to Chrom. The two then team up for a dual strike. Marth is left with 3 HP. Chrom's next attack finishes the battle. Marth says that Chrom's victory is "Impressive... if not surprising..." and that's the end of the fight. Chrom is one point short of leveling up when the stage ends. Look, I even remembered the screenshot this time.

The fact that Riza and Chrom are the heroes yet again is also "impressive, if not surprising".

We get Flavia's respect, the Feroxi alliance, and much more importantly, Lon'qu. Oh, and we meet Basilio, but Lon'qu! Chrom reports back to Emmeryn, and we find out that Maribelle has been captured by Gangel. We pack up to leave, and some little brat tries to insist on coming along. Chrom tells him to stay behind.

Yeah, we're never going to see him again, I'm sure.

The barracks are now unlocked. Lon'qu is making himself at home and stepped on a Katarina's Bolt tome. Sully improves her relationships with Kellam and Virion, and Riza makes a promise to pair up with Stahl next time that she's not likely to keep.

There's a support convo unlocked for Lissa and Frederick; apparently she liked hammer time, too. She asks Frederick why he has a grumpy face, and he acknowledges that it is the only face he has. I could've told you that, Lissa. She asks for Frederick to train her, and he agrees. So much for that support convo.

And now, finally, THE OUTREALM IS AVAILABLE.

Now, I've hinted about what this means quite a bit. For the next bit, I'll be spending a ridiculous amount of time in The Golden Gaffe. This isn't something I really want to do as a play-by-play since I don't have any particularly brilliant ways of grinding the gold there. I mean, it's pretty simple: hit the things that won't hit back hard enough to really hurt, get their gold, repeat. You'll probably just see the results once I get to Chapter 5.

Chapter 5 is going to be fun.

Edited November 10, 2015 by NobodyInWonderland

[deskita]

I'm pretty sure those people from Plegia will be sorry they ever touched Maribelle by the end of chapter 5.

[mozumes]

I'd be surprised if they didn't kill Maribelle first because they always go straight for her and Ricken isn't really strong enough protect her. (Why is a 12-year-old in an army in the first place?!)

[Radiant head]

Don't look down on him.

[TheSilentChloey]

Don't look down on him.

Exactly, Ricken is probably a 16 year old who is small for his age. I find that he is a really good unit when you take the time to train him up. Well worth having him on the team