video FE5 PM 0% growths, SSS rank with commentary (complete)

[Yojinbo]

Axes don't even sell for a whole lot :/

[sim]

been waiting for this video series!

[dondon151]

Chapter 2x is completed in 8 turns.

Chapter information

Mechanics notes

Fog of war

FE5 is the first Fire Emblem game to feature fog of war, and it’s a little… different. Fog of war obscures the entire map, including both enemy units and terrain. As such, without prior knowledge of the game, fog of war prevents the player from being able to figure out where to go, which is a pretty dick move on IS’s part.

What a horrible night to have a curse...

Aside from its pitch black color, FE5 fog of war has 2 main differences from later versions of fog of war:

1. Because FE5 fog obscures terrain, units cannot perform functions locked to special tiles without first revealing those tile, e.g., a unit cannot visit an armory without first revealing the armory.
2. In later games, the player is disallowed from warping a unit into an area of the map covered by fog. In FE5, this is not the case. If the player happens to warp a unit onto an enemy-occupied tile, the unit will just get warped to the nearest available space.

All classes in FE5 have a vision range of 3 tiles, including thieves.

Dismounting

FE5 adds a touch of realism in the form of mechanical complexity with the inclusion of the dismount mechanic. It and FE3 are the only games in the series to do so (one character in FE4 can dismount, although it may lead to buggy behavior). Dismounting has a huge impact on the utility of each of the mounted units in the game.

Mounted Finn is on the left; dismounted Finn is on the right. Note the differences in stats and weapon ranks.

We can divide the effects of dismounting into 3 main categories:

1. All mounted units lose 3 mov upon dismounting. Additionally, all mounted units take a stat penalty when they dismount. The magnitude of these penalties depend on the class: free knights take almost no penalty at all, wyvern riders take a big hit to their stats, and every other class falls somewhere in between.
2. Dismounted knights switch from using lances or axes to using swords instead. This particularly hurts lance knights, axe knights, and fliers, who do not use swords while mounted. These classes keep a separate sword rank for use when they dismount.
3. Mounted units lose their mounted properties (e.g., canto, flying), but the only way that they can be rescued is to first discard their steed. Knights must also be dismounted before they can set foot indoors.

Supports

If your introduction to the Fire Emblem series was FE13, then you might be inclined to think that its varied, vibrant supports are an integral part of the series. But before FE6, support conversations (and other worldbuilding dialogue) didn’t exist. That doesn’t mean that support bonuses didn’t exist; in fact, they are extremely important in this game.

Characters have their support bonuses pre-packaged; they do not need to be built up like in later games. While this design isn’t conducive to support conversations, it’s far more useful to the player - contrast this to some later games in which supports are virtually unattainable in LTC play. Most supports give +10 to hit, avo, crit, and crit avo. A handful of supports give +20 instead of +10 to those stats.

Tanya is supporting Orsin on the left, but not on the right. Observe changes to each combatant's hit and crit.

Supports take effect if supporting units are within a 3-tile radius of each other. They still take effect if the supporting unit is rescued or captured. They are not necessarily mutual in this game; many units receive bonuses from a partner but do not give them in return.

As Mekkah explained, support bonuses are very important in FE5, probably more than in any game prior to FE13. +10 hit and avo always make a substantial difference in the absence of the true hit mechanic, +10 crit is amplified by PCC, and even the +10 crit avo is significant under this game’s stingy crit avo formula.

Edited February 3, 2016 by dondon151

[General Horace]

holy shit legitimately didn't know that you could find torches in the forts

[Mekkah]

I think Eyvel refers to "torches being around here somewhere" at the start of the chapter. I always thought she was referring to the one carried by the warrior until I found out about the hidden torches.

[Cyas]

August:
“Yes, especially since we do not know these islands very well. But I’m sure there are torches somewhere. Do not worry.”

According to the translation on this side. I found them by pure accident during my first run.

Great video, as always. I'm looking forward to the rest of the playthrough.

Edited February 3, 2016 by Cyas

[ENS]

Free torches are always good.

[ruadath]

Free torches are always good.

I couldn't agree more

[Colonel M]

Freelo torches are the best!

Also awaiting legendary warp staff miss.

[sirmola]

Freelo torches are the best!

Also awaiting legendary warp staff miss.

I thought that this run was in paragon mode specifically to avoid having to rig staff misses.

[Colonel M]

I thought that this run was in paragon mode specifically to avoid having to rig staff misses.

It is, it's just fun to remember the torture is all.

[dondon151]

the intro has all of your staff misses

there are some non-essential staff misses in the actual run, but you won't see any warp misses.

[ZemZem]

I didn't know you could find torches in those forts, either...very cool.

Nice to see FE5 0% growths commentary.

[dondon151]

Chapter 3 is completed in 5 turns.

Chapter information

New characters

Lifis (リフィス) - Thief L4
7 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 0 | 0 leadership stars
Skills: Steal

Skipping chapter 2x would deprive the player of a pair of the most essential units in this game. Lifis is one of them; thieves are hard to come by in FE5 and they are essential in the upcoming chapters. They have high mov for an infantry class, use Lockpicks, and steal stuff. Lifis is pretty bad at combat and doesn’t like to get hit, which is fitting for his cowardly nature.

Saphy (サフィ) - Cleric L3
5 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 1 | 0 leadership stars

Saphy is another essential unit who doesn’t exist if the player skips chapter 2x. She is the first staff user in the game with a respectable staff rank, thereby rendering her the only available Warp user for a segment of the game. She also has an exclusive staff that has the sole purpose in a SSS rank run of producing more Warp and Rescue uses. Her combat is non-existent, but as shown in the chapter 3 video, that’s not entirely terrible.

Mechanics notes

Damsels (or dudes) in distress

Most enemies in FE5 have AI that is programmed to instantly capture defenseless player units. This penchant for capturing can be easily exploited: simply offer up a vulnerable unit and an enemy will gladly cut his stats in half. Units who are horrific at combat but have a low con stat can still contribute strategically in this way.

Enemies will sometimes attempt to capture armed units (if capable), though whether they do so appears to be entirely random. Additionally, some enemies will never fall for the trap of capturing defenseless units; they will always attack.

[ruadath]

Best part of the commentary:

In order to bring those 2 kids home, we have to employ the dondon classic; that is, very long rescue chains...

Nice strategy as always. Interesting to see how you used Saphy as a decoy on turn 1 to get the soldier out of the way. Just wondering, was that a planned solution (getting the soldier to capture her), or was your original goal just to aggro the soldier out and you ended up with a better result? Asking because I'm not too familiar with the enemy AI in this game. Never mind, read the "Spoiler" notes.

EDIT: Also, I know you like to keep track of errors in the commentary, so I think at 1:58 you say "Turn 1" when you mean "Turn 2"

Edited February 7, 2016 by ruadath

[dondon151]

that was a planned solution because i was 99% sure the soldier would capture her

1:58 isn't a mistake; it's just a product of parsing english. consider "in which the soldier was standing in turn 1" vs. "eyvel has to reach the tile... in turn 1." i meant the former but it could be construed as the latter.

[sirmola]

Why do Lief and Lifus have one item each? i would have expected you to send more swords and the lockpick.

[Gradivus.]

Probably to minimize the turns collecting treasure in C4.

[sirmola]

Probably to minimize the turns collecting treasure in C4.

That makes sense. I bet he also resets untill the layout is right (unless it is predetermined in some way, but i would have expected padding to optimize locations if that were the case)

[Yojinbo]

The Manster Chapters aren't very combat heavy so there's not much of a point in bringing tons of weapons along.

[dondon151]

4x and 5 are very combat heavy, but nothing that we have at this point can really help.

[Yojinbo]

I'd still argue that the amount of combat you're doing between Ch.4 and Ch.7 is pretty low overall.

[Espinosa]

He's not warpskipping these maps so I'm guessing it's relatively combat-heavy for that very reason.

[dondon151]

on average, yeah. 4, 6, and 7 are very low on combat. maybe 1/4 of all of asvel's kills in the game come from 5.

also in a growths run, it's faster to plow through the enemies in 6, but more swords ain't gonna help with that.

[dondon151]

Chapter 4 is completed in 12 turns.

Chapter information

New characters


Brighton (ブライトン) - Axe knight L5
5 > 8 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 1 | 0 leadership stars
Skills: Wrath

If both Orsin and Brighton have Wrath, and Orsin is an elite combat unit, then the future seems promising for Brighton. But Wrath does not a unit make; Brighton is fairly mediocre. This is partly because his base stats are somewhat lackluster and partly because his dismounted mobility is below average for the upcoming segment of the game.


Machua (マチュア) - Swordfighter L2
6 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 3 | 0 leadership stars
Skills: Vantage

There's not much to say about Machua. She's a 6 mov combat-capable infantry unit amid a cast of 5 mov dismounted units and 7 mov combat failures. That gives her a useful niche in the upcoming segment of the game, but her base stats don't cut it for long-term use.


Lara (ラーラ) - Thief L2
7 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 1 | 0 leadership stars
Skills: Steal

Lara is the second thief that the player obtains in the game. If Lifis was considered to be bad at combat, then Lara is leagues beyond awful, boasting a 0 in str. Lara is much better off not trying to fight at all; she's more suited to opening doors and chests and enticing enemies to capture her for free. This latter piece of utility is surprisingly useful.


Fergus (フェルグス) - Free knight L3
5 > 8 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 5 | 0 leadership stars

The 2 most notable characteristics about Fergus at first glance are his base sword rank and his 5 PCC. Fergus is the only unit at this point other than Leif who can wield the Rapier. Aside from the Rapier, there are barely any other effective options against enemy armor knights. His PCC of 5 complements the Rapier's 10 base crit. Karin's support bonus in conjunction with the Rapier allows Fergus to reach the 20 crit threshold for a guaranteed critical setup.


Karin (カリン) - Pegasus knight L1
5 > 8 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 1 | 0 leadership stars

Pegasus knights are classically excellent units in the Fire Emblem series, but Karin is knocked down a peg (heh) by dismounting. She's still a great unit as long as she has her steed. On foot, her roles in the upcoming maps are to provide support bonuses to Fergus and to deal risk-free damage to enemy mages.


Dalshin (ダルシン) - Axe armor L5
5 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 1 | 0 leadership stars

Dalshin sucks. I have to admit, he hits like a truck with his decent base str and a 13 MT Battle Axe, but I hate relying on him to hit anything. Dalshin can sometimes OHKO mages in the upcoming maps, but there's no back-up plan if he misses. His huge con stat makes him impossible to transport around without incurring a mov penalty.

Important weapons and items

Rapier (レイピア)
C rank sword | 1 rng | 3 WT | 4 MT | 90 hit | 10 crit | effective against cavalry and armors

Classically, the Rapier is reserved for a games lord. FE5 makes an exception by classifying it as a C rank sword. It does seem like the Rapier is de facto reserved for one unit anyway, that unit being Fergus. No one can use the Rapier as well as Fergus (or at all, for that matter) because Fergus gets a guaranteed critical setup with Karin's assistance. Despite having effective damage against cavalry and armors, the Rapier is still a fairly weak weapon if it can't get a critical hit.

New mechanics

Treasure chest configuration

Chapter 4 presents a nasty surprise for blind players, but it's possible to plan for this chapter in advance. Leif and Lifis are thrown in prison, Eyvel is asked to go with Raydrik, and the rest of the army disperses for the time being. Items that were in Leif's and Lifis's inventories at the end of chapter 3 are confiscated and put into treasure chests in chapter 4. Items that were in Eyvel's inventory are stored in the convoy.

There are also 4 fixed items in the treasure chests: Rapier, Steel Sword, Javelin, and Vulnerary. Together with the transferred items, these items are distributed randomly among 16 possible locations. For every possible permutation of items transferred by Leif and Lifis, there are 64 distinct possible chest configurations.



Top: the chest configuration in the video. Bottom: another possible chest configuration.

Due to this randomness, it's impossible to know ahead of time which chests contain what, so a reliable strategy just has to open as many chests as possible. In the strategy that I used for this chapter, I could open up to 3 treasure chests in each the left rooms and 1 treasure chest in each of the right rooms.

Escape

The plot of the next several chapters involves Leif and company running away from Raydrik. FE5 created a novel objective specifically to show this via gameplay. Escape is an objective that returned in FE9, but it was so watered down that it barely resembles FE5 escape.


You just know that there's something nasty waiting in this room.

The goal of an escape map is for all allied units to reach the red arrow tiles and leave the map. One can conceptualize escape as a seize map in which every unit has to reach the seize point. The player is not compelled to direct all allied units to escape; the map ends when Leif escapes regardless of whether other allied units are still loitering about. Any units who did not escape before Leif are left behind and captured by the enemy.

The consequence of Leif escaping the map before his allies is hinted at in the game's script, but some blind players don't deduce this and encounter a nasty surprise when they begin the next chapter after leaving the entire rest of the army behind.

Edited February 11, 2016 by dondon151