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

[dondon151]

Chapter 14 is completed in 10 turns.

Chapter information

New characters

Dean (ディーン) - Wyvern lord L3
6 > 9 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 3 | 0 leadership stars

Karin has been doing a stellar job carrying Leif from point A to point B in outdoor maps, but Dean is a flier who can actually fight, so he’ll be the flier of choice for the remainder of the playthrough. Even though wyvern riders take a massive stat penalty upon dismounting, Dean’s A rank swords and 3 PCC secure him vital roles even when dismounted. He actually has a prf weapon that’s a superior Brave Lance, but it’s too difficult to obtain and doesn’t make much of a difference.

Eda (エダ) - Wyvern rider L5
5 > 8 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 1 | 0 leadership stars

In contrast to Dean, Eda is an unpromoted wyvern rider who’s worse at literally everything except for luk. She’s fairly solid for a L5 unpromoted unit, but her only utility is in flying non-combat roles because Dean is just better.

Homer (ホメロス) - Bard L5
6 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 5 | 0 leadership stars
Skills: Paragon

Homer is one of those units who looks amazing on paper, having a great class with huge promotion bonuses, a skill that skyrockets growth, and 5 PCC. The 5 PCC combos well with Lightning and Wind, both of which have appreciable base crit. Homer's problem is that he joins too late in the game to really stand out because he doesn’t have a good staff rank after promotion and there are at least 3 better sages in the long term.

Important weapons and items

Wind (ウィンド)
D rank wind | 1-2 rng | 1 WT | 6 MT | 90 hit | 10 crit | effective against fliers

Wind is notable among the basic anima magic tomes for having the lowest WT, highest hit, and highest crit. Among all tomes, it incurs the least AS loss. It’s also a D rank tome instead of an E rank tome, which means that many units who have a wind rank while unpromoted can’t use wind magic at all until after promotion.

Wind is considered the best all-purpose tome in FE5 because it has excellent all-around parameters. It’s a bit weak, but the low power can be worked around with temporary mag boosting items.

Edited July 17, 2016 by dondon151

[dondon151]

now in response to discussion on the previous page regarding asvel vs. nanna in chapter 5:

with nanna's 4 AS after speed ring, she's far from guaranteed to ORKO the archers (or really anything) because they are pretty likely to have >0 AS. the reason why i used speed ring asvel instead was because he has 7 AS and therefore doubles almost everything.

i'm not sure how it's remotely feasible to get the chapter 4x life ring in 0% growths. it's possible to get based on how far units have to move, but the strategy that i used already had a very low% chance of success.

[General Horace]

man, you're right, figuring out ways to use staves in defence maps is the worst.

Glad to see this back again.

[Lord Raven]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CraVEc4jB-E

So I think this is the world record that Mekkah was talking about, and it is amazing. This sums it up.

[18:45:29] <Mekkah> he has galeforce leaf

[Vorena]

3.5 month hiatus was worth it for a 28 minute commentary.

[General Banzai]

Great work on the episode, can't wait for more

[Nintales]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CraVEc4jB-E

So I think this is the world record that Mekkah was talking about, and it is amazing. This sums it up.

[18:45:29] <Mekkah> he has galeforce leaf

This is hilarious. That's not galeforce leaf.

That's galeforce squad on steroids. Man. 19 movement Leaf? I'd just like you to know that the probability of Leaf proccing movement 13 times is a wonderful total of 1.59*10^-20. Don't even talk about all the movement star proccing, especially at chapter 19.

For this TAS to be reproduced without the tools, you'd need to sacrifice more than 10^25 children to Loputousu at least.

[dondon151]

Chapters 15 and 16A are both completed in 2 turns.

Chapter 15 information

New characters

Linoan (リノアン) - Sister L3
5 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 5 | 0 leadership stars

Linoan is notable for having a decent base staff rank and a wonderful base light rank for use of a particular tome. Her staff rank isn't high enough to instantly use Warp after promotion, and while it can theoretically be trained up in time for the endgame, it turns out that Linoan never needs to use Warp in this run.

Unlike everyone else, Linoan's promotion is story related - she has to visit a church in chapter 21. As such, her role before then is to sling M Ups and give a juicy +20 support bonus to Dean.

Ralph (ラルフ) - Hero L5
6 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 1 | 0 leadership stars

Solid stats? Check. Promoted? Check. A rank swords? Check. Welcome to the team, generic dude with a chiseled jaw line.

Mechanics notes

Route split

When Leif ends chapter 15 by visiting the church, the Blagi bishop within asks Leif which route he’ll take to Leonster. Choosing the top option sends Leif to Fort Norden; choosing the bottom option sends him to the Melfiye Forest. The Fort Norden route is designated as the A route; the Melfiye Forest route is designated as the B route.

Leif can also end chapter 15 by ending his turn on one of the blue arrows on the map; the left arrow takes him to Fort Norden while the right arrow takes him to the Melfiye Forest. This is not an escape map (as indicated by the arrows being blue instead of red), so Leif can be the first one there. However, there’s no reason to not visit the church with Leif, because it’s faster and produces a free Restore staff.

The A route yields better exclusive characters, better exclusive items, and takes fewer turns to complete than the B route. However, both routes are compatible with a SSS rank playthrough.

Chapter 16A information

New characters

Sleuf (スルーフ) - Priest L6
5 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 0 | 0 leadership stars

Sleuf is the first of 4 exclusive units to be recruited on the A route. He is a priest with A rank staves, which should explain all there is to say about him. Having 100 staff hit is especially nice when all of our staffers thus far have had less.

Side note: bookofholsety localizes Sleuf to Sroufe, which is a great name... but we forgot to use it. So Sleuf he is.

Ilios (イリオス) - Mage knight L8
5 > 8 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 0 | 0 leadership stars
Skills: Miracle, Sol

The second of 4 exclusive units to be recruited on the A route has some of the most nonsensical recruitment criteria in the series. Ilios can only be recruited if the player either didn’t recruit Olwen in chapter 11x or recruited her and got her killed (Ilios cannot be recruited if Olwen was captured). He is recruited through a conversation with Karin, whom he has no prior relationship with. There's no alternative to Ilios on the B route, so a SSS rank playthrough taking the B route must recruit Olwen.

That aside, Ilios is a solid unit. He has good offensive stats on both ends of the spectrum and A ranks in swords and thunder to take advantage of them. He also has some of the best defensive bases in the game on top of Miracle and Sol to further extend his longevity. A PCC of 0 is unfortunate, but Ilios doesn’t really need it.

Edited July 26, 2016 by dondon151

[Ardan]

Side note: bookofholsety localizes Sleuf to Sroufe, which is a great name...

reminds me greatly of ur other name exploits

https://youtu.be/MIoL7hgVJ2Q?t=53

[OliKad]

Man, this game is SCARY! O_o

[dondon151]

Chapter 17A is completed in 2 turns.

Chapter information

New characters

Sarah (サラ) - Sister L7
5 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 0 | 0 leadership stars
Skills: Miracle, Wrath, Paragon

Kaga decided to stick a bunch of great skills on a unit in a great class with solid stats but only 14 HP. Sarah’s offense is difficult to use reliably, but at least she has A rank staves after promotion and a welcome 100 staff hit. Her base mag after promotion is also one of the highest in the game. Sarah is common to both the A and B routes.

Important weapons and items

Sleep Sword (スリープの剣)
A rank sword | 1 rng | 20 WT | 8 MT | 55 hit | 0 crit | inflicts sleep on target

Sleep is debatably the strongest status effect in the game, so it seems broken that a standard weapon can inflict it at will. The Sleep Sword is held back by poor hit and high WT, making it somewhat unreliable and dangerous to use. It has important applications in this playthrough.

[Refa]

That was a really interesting clear. It's cool to see everyone doing something, especially under the pretty limiting constraints of a warpskip.

[Life]

Just started watching this again and got to Chapter 5.

"My good friend, Lord Raven."

WHERE IS MY JOE FLACCO COMMENT?!

[Lord Raven]

wow and we're playing joe flacco mode too how could i have missed such an obvious joke

[dondon151]

Chapter 18 is completed in 9 turns.

Chapter information

New characters

Misha (ミーシャ) - Falcoknight L4
6 > 9 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 2 | 0 leadership stars

Misha is the third of 4 exclusive units to be recruited on the A route. She joins too late to be useful because future outdoor maps are warpskipped. She’s a solid magic sword user on foot, but not being able to use swords while mounted hurts.

Xavier (ゼーベイア) - General L6
6 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 0 | 1 leadership star
Skills: Charge, Pavise, Wrath

Xavier has unambiguously the most difficult recruitment in the entire franchise. Does he make up for the pain and suffering that he causes?

Well, obviously not, because Xavier joins too late in the game to make up for his recruitment cost. The more important question is whether he brings anything to the team at all. There’s a leadership star, which is pretty nice. Xavier’s combat would be nothing to write home about in a normal playthrough, but in this context, it’s nice to have a bulky unit who can chuck Wrath-boosted Master Axes.

Important weapons and items

Master Sword (マスターソード)
A rank sword | 1 rng | 15 WT | 14 MT | 60 hit | 10 crit | attacks twice

Master weapons constitute the highest tier of weaponry in FE5. Their parameters are actually lesser than those of brave weapons, having lower hit and higher WT, but this is probably to offset their accessibility (and their often being in enemy hands). Master Swords boast 10 crit while Master Lances and Master Axes both have 1-2 range.

Mechanics notes

Recruiting Xavier

It would be accurate to say that chapter 18 is mostly about recruiting Xavier rather than reclaiming Leonster’s throne, which is a simple task with a couple of Warp uses. Recruiting Xavier is daunting for the inexperienced player because he has to fulfill 8 volatile side objectives, and if any of them goes wrong, then Xavier is lost.

In order to recruit Xavier, the 8 NPC civilians have to talk to the 8 Leonster-affiliated enemy armor knights. Each conversation will change a Leonster armor from an enemy to an NPC. Additionally, each NPC only talks to one particular armor. Once all 8 armors have switched allegiance, Leif can talk to Xavier to recruit him (Xavier can also recruit himself on Leif). If a Leonster armor dies before he switches his color, then the player has failed the recruitment, but if a Leonster armor dies after he switches his color, then that’s perfectly fine.

It doesn't help that the NPCs marked A and D have the same portrait.

Where players find difficulty in converting all 8 armors is when enemy Leonster armors attack NPC Leonster armors and get killed on the counter. This happens quite often because all of the armors have either a Hammer or a Killer Lance. Therefore, it's helpful to prevent this from occurring. This is where the Sleep Sword comes in: sleeping enemies can neither move nor attack. Surprisingly, NPC civilians can still talk to sleeping armors!

Mixed in with the 8 Leonster-affiliated armors are 4 Freege-affiliated armors. These are the bad guys and need to die. They (and other enemies on the map) will try to capture the civilians and run off with them - if this occurs, then Xavier is also lost. The Leonster armors will never attempt to capture anyone, so this allows for safe meatshelding with an unarmed unit.

Now that we’ve established how best to convert all of the Leonster armors, we can get into the nitty-gritty details that make this objective even more strategically complex. We can’t simply let the civilians and armors run free and hope that they collide into each other just right to finish this chapter in the fewest number of turns. The civilians are programmed to make a beeline to their respective armors without regard to the fact that they can block other civilians from talking to their armors. The armors will be put to sleep in a specific positions, so to prevent a clog, they also have to be talked to a in specific order.

The first consideration is armor knight movement order, which determines where they are put to sleep. The 4 Freege armors move before the 8 Leonster armors. The Leonster armors move in the order of left to right on the top row (the Killer Lance dudes) and then in the order of left to right on the bottom row (the Hammer dudes). If any of the armors randomly have 6 mov, then they’ll move after everyone else, which can screw up the sleep order. The other random event that can screw up the sleep order is movement stars. Each Leonster armor has 2 movement stars, equivalent to a 10% chance to scream “fuck you.”

The second consideration is civilian movement order. Civilians who move later in the order are more likely to get blocked, so it’s important to pick up civilians who move earlier in the order but can’t talk to anyone. The civilians move in clockwise order in their starting formation, starting from the girl on the top left and ending with the girl on the left.

Edited August 14, 2016 by dondon151

[Moblin Major General]

Are you sure that it's harder than "I have to lug Lethe all over the desert to find the one random ass tile needed to recruit Stefan? And also do it before anyone else does?"

[Lord Raven]

Yes, because you can easily look that up.

It's harder to figure out and there's some hints sure, but it's not very tedious in execution.

[Jedi]

I'm amazed at just how much can go wrong with this recruitment and its not even worth it unless you're going SSS rank like you are. There is not enough words to even begin to describe how dumb this recruitment is lol.

I only did this recruitment ever, once, and boy was it a trip. Good stuff as always.

[Gryz]

I know Xavier is supposed to be the highlight of the video, but I was way more interested in those dancers! Hey, don't look at me like that, it's because I recognize their escape mode AI from the GBA games.

Escaping GBA dancers prioritize moving towards the escape point, but they will dance if they happen to stop next to an ally (however dancers are prohibited from dancing other dancers). You can see this is what happens after the thief opens the door and makes the escape point accessible. In addition, if there are multiple targets, GBA dancers pick the ally with the highest level (promotion status doesn't matter). Unfortunately, IntSys left the dance execution part unfinished in the GBA games and nothing happens beyond a targeting cursor being placed over the ally. Still, it's interesting to see this idea had originated from FE5.

Also, those soldiers seemed to be moving around randomly. That's a feature in the GBA AI engine. Then we have General Lazy Butt in FE5 chapter 14 who randomly refuses to do anything like Klein and Tate. It's starting to look like all the weird stuff in GBA AI was imported from FE5.

[dondon151]

#damnitKaga

[Jave]

I've always found it fascinating that there is a locked room with four enemy dancers in this map. It implies that part of Leonster Castle was being used by the enemy to party around (and likely a party was crashed when Leif and co. busted inside).

[sirmola]

When i did it, i had to constantly check a walkthrough (I used the one on fire emblemWOD because it has maps and pictures detailing who matches with who) for the right pairs of armors with civilians, take out the freege armors with a long range tome, and then deposit the civilians right next to the right armors. Because i was also going for the member card, i waited untill the soldiers were right next to the right door before opening the left door. THis causes the armors to make a beeline for their family members, leaving me free to capture the soldiers. I should note that this entire process required a ton of savestate abuse, plus an absurd number of turns. I did not know about sleep at the time, though.

Edited August 15, 2016 by sirmola

[dondon151]

member card is absurd and definitely not worth it

it would've been thinkable if the soldiers didn't move randomly. but they move randomly, so RIP member card.

[sirmola]

member card is absurd and definitely not worth it

it would've been thinkable if the soldiers didn't move randomly. but they move randomly, so RIP member card.

I went to all that trouble to get the member card ... and then forgot to use it to actually get the secret shop. Honestly, the secret shop only sells rings that are useless to anyone who is informed enough to get the member card, because scrolls exist (plus you have to burn a warp use to get to it).

Edited August 16, 2016 by sirmola

[dondon151]

Chapter 19 is completed in 2 turns.

Chapter information

New characters

Amalda (アマルダ) - Paladin L6
7 > 10 mov | pursuit critical coefficient = 2 | 1 leadership star
Skills: Adept

Amalda boasts some cool properties, but the most useful is her C rank staves, which is sufficient for M Up and Sleep. Amalda can combo Fire Sword with Sleep, since Fire Sword’s +5 mag counts towards the mag used to calculate what enemies she can target. Her effective 18 mag at base is the highest in the game.

Amalda is the last of 4 exclusive units to be recruited on the A route. If the player went B route, he must recruit Conomoor with Sleuf’s alternate character.