screenshot Chaos reigns when I take the reins! - Let's play Tear Ring saga, Ironman mode, while being terrible at Fire Emblem!

[BrightBow]

I wonder if Codda's excuse of purposely becoming a villain for the country to unite against is supposed to be a dig on Emperor Rudolf.

Anyway, I suppose it might be possible for there to be other routes to get the Pegasus Flute. But when I tried experimenting this, I didn't even talk to Narcus at all. So you would think the queen would simply give the flute to Sasha herself when they finally meet, but nope.

And I like how the queen sends of Sasha with a reminder of the legacy of the maternal side of the family, even though Sasha's father is this great hero. It shows that there is more to the queen other then being a plot necessity for Sasha to exist and for Codda to have a hostage.
...though, it's also shows just how convoluted everything is in this game, if even a minor character like Queen Liza has this elaborate background. Things may have been very straightforward until now but that's not gonna last. I've been through the game several times and I still feel like I understand only half of what's going on at best.

Edited December 27, 2018 by BrightBow

[The Roger The Paladin]

24 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Can't have Lee breaking his heal. How would he walk. I'm sorry. I need to be punished for all these bad jokes.

Leave my thread. And then return to give me more views.

Ironically, my computer crashed after typing a few quotes and witticisms (or half-witticisms) so I have done this exact thing.

26 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

WHO IS TYPE!?!?!?

Well, apparently your type is Lot... and Marcus... and Eugen... and Malice... and Cecillia...

29 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Is Kate a grasshopper? I could of sworn she was a Katie Dead for a minute. That's worse than the Lee puns.

I don't even get this one! What?!

Horrible pun on Katydid grasshoppers (actually perhaps more closely related to crickets) based off a joke my brother once made in the third grade.

 

31 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Consider it LP canon. Not cannon, I'm sorry. Unlike Codha, I do not possess a steelworks press.

I guess that'll do. Just be glad this isn't a Zelda forum, or someone would cannonban me for that spelling.

 

43 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Staph! I can't keep up with you, I'm a leetle bad at this whole pun deal.

I sincerelee apologize. I'm just doing what comes naturalee.
 

48 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

W-well, I didn't... I just pretended to still be loyal to Codha, and he bought it... h-he led me here, and I decided this was the perfect place to reveal my true intentions.

Then we're lucky you were t

The fourth stooge, (which I guess as Larry, Moe and Curly Joe bit it at the bridge, must be Shemp) comes through. A Morgan whose incompetence pays off?

 

 

51 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Look at the despicable mass of fat. He's so scared, he can't even speak!

Call him Steve Savage, because he's gonna bust that balloon.
 

59 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Juliattisnacordst eats like a pig. Hm... are there any gluttons in old FE games? Dolph was characterized as one in FE12... maybe we should add another name to the pile of people Juliattisnacordst rips off.

Either that or things Kaga did first.

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Your father's called Yoda? Yoda?! And he's a swordsman!? Bwahaaaahaaahaahahahahahahah! Amazing. I love this game. When do I get to recruit Yoda?

Talk like this does he?

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You're so edgy, Vega. I'm so glad I am not using you.

What else do you expect from the lovechild of Freddy Krueger and Mrs. Voorhees (why do you think Jason wanted to kill Freddy? One too many jokes on Xbox live that's why)

 

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I'm Xeno. Pleased to meet you, Katri. That's an unusual name... Where are you from?

How is it any more unusual than Xeno?

I don't know. Xeno's about one letter removed from my ex, and given my penchant for calling her every word/name I could come up with beginning with the letter X, if I'd seen that before it would have been there with Xenomorph and Xylophone and X-ray Fish and Xena Warrior princess and Xerxes and Xemnu the Titan and Xenoblade Chronicles and.... actually maybe that's why I'm single.
 

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...We were on our way to the Temple of Mars. He was going to leave me in the protection of a priest named Eisenbach. He said it was to prevent a great catastrophe from occuring...

Fuck me sideways, then it's a good thing you couldn't make it there!

To corrupt a cliche, that's what you call out of the fire and into the frying pan.

 

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah... That idiot! I told her not to use the staff! Now we're knee-deep in zombies!

Holmes is regular detective to realize the staff actually was the cause and not something else.
 

1 hour ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Looks like the reunion is shaping up nicely. If we get enough LPs, we're going to have enough oc story to fill updates by itself by the fourth or fifth one. Unless some of them are retrospective visits to lands (I.E. Shadow Dragon and FE 7), which would just about have to be written off as non-canon because of contradictions.

[Hawkwing]

Yesterday, I attempted an ironman, no grinding, no pair up, no magic, male only challenge run of Awakening on hard.

Needless to say, everyone died. And I realized that any single one of those could be a challenge on its own.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

About 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, it took me about 30-ish minutes to make this:

Although being fair, about 10 of those were finding the video and 5 were realizing it wouldn't work as a gif.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

'Kay, then. Spoilers ahead for anyone who cares.

Interesting. I think that Connors story being the best part of the game and should have been the entire focus of the story is one of the most common opinions I've heard about the game.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Eh, it's okay. I can understand.

Resisting the urge to go into excruciating detail about why Blustone is one of the best and most intuitive gacha games out there and why the characters are extremely well-written and enjoyable and how I want to see several of them in an actual Fire Emblem game and why a Fire Emblem Heroes crossover would work very well and why...

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Gr8 attention to detail, right there.

Thank TV Tropes for that. With the exception of Mount and Blade (which I did by accident) I've never bought DLC for any videogame in my life.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Today you'll get a taste of how text-heavy this game can get. It's all interesting, mind you, but it's a lot, I can see why some people might find it tiresome.

I shall prepare myself then.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That's a good thing, then, because these guys still use bows. I like to imagine Tom all hunched over trying to fire a bow through the hole.

That is a hilarious mental picture. Thanks for that.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah, I usually just play FE games with animations on and speed the emulator up through those I don't want to see / skip them for games that allow to do that (the DS games, for example), but here? I'm pretty sure it'd be a blast even with animations off all the time. Then there's the part where the game is very PS1 slow, but oh well, win some, lose some.

I'm just perplexed as to why they bothered to make map sprites for the shapeshifter characters in the 3DS games when they'll only appear for a split second if you turn the animations off/skip fights, yet didn't make any simplistic attack animations for any of the classes.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oh, I love this game's magic. You have seen nothing.

We'll be in for a treat then.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It works well in this game, if that's any indication.

I see. It just sounds like a mechanic that needs to have the game built with it in mind.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

A brown bag that's worth 1000 gold? What the heck is it made of, dirty gold?!

Considering the amount of things you can do or put into a bag, the shopkeeper is paying extra for the multipurpose functions it can serve. Unfortunately, it appears that no character in the game realizes this, and thus throws the bag away when they open it.

That, or most of the shopkeepers realize they can sell it at a jacked up price to adventure game protagonists who find a use for everything not nailed to the ground.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hey, forgive him, he's on the other side of the map. Kinda hard to tell minor injuries apart from the grave ones when there are multiple walls between you and your patient.

Which raises a question of how physic never misses (especially when Echoes shows the character literally on the other side of the map as a speck), but I don't think anyone is complaining.

Well, except in Thracia.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hm? Really...?

...oh, wow, it actually does! Now I can tell that he's just doing the same he does in his fighting stance, he just switched which wrist he's grasping with his other hand! I always thought he was doing something like this, only weirder:

Damn... the things low resolution can do.

Sprite animation: Somehow looking awesome despite the fact they can get away with the characters not having faces.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I don't know, but personally, I think dark magic's prettier in this game.

Can't wait to see it then.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Maybe he'd rather die than serve Codha? I mean, he did just give us an armorslayer for free.

Make sense. But the part of me that loves stronghold won't... stop... screaming...

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

He did? I had no idea. Enlighten me, if you please.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Now you are the one making Star Wars references!

I've unironically used the phrase in real life more times than I can count. And for some reason people get annoyed and think I'm just making an easy Star Wars reference.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Too many.

Compiling them all must have been fun.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yes, that's more or less what it's supposed to be used for.

I see. Considering I used a similar weapon that healed the user in the challenge run mentioned at the top of this post, I can see the use for it.

Although it raises questions for why someone would bring it into an arena.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Not only that... we got the wretched man himself, too.

Ergh... Unhand me at once, you traitors!

The only traitor here is you, Codha!

Well, that was quick. I will be very disappointed if Codha escapes.

 

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

With pleasure!

That's a pretty awesome line.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

He doesn't seem to be paying any attention to me... I'll get out before someone else arrives.

Smart

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Some time earlier...

An oldie but a goodie way of having these kind of characters get their comeuppance.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Norton's still relevant to the plot?! This guy keeps getting more and more weird.

Wait, so what happens if he's dead at this point?

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Guards, throw this man into the dungeon! Keep watch over him at all times!

Sticking a sword in his gullet may have been satisfying, but I'd say that this entire scene is even more so

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Eugen, we can't just say that...

Why not? There aren't a whole lot of fancy ways to say "we ask you to donate troops and resources to help us fight a war."

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

There is nothing to be ashamed of, milord. We are fighting not only for ourselves, but for the well-being of the entire continent. No one could possibly refuse to cooperate.

Eugen!

Oh my God, did he just do that? Did he just casually try to guilt-trip the queen using Runan? This guy's too much...

Well, the guilt tripping was unnecessary, but Eugen's point is reasonable.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Not going to lie; Marlon actually looks pretty fitting in cooking attire.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Blistering motherfucking barnacles! He looks like he's dead inside and had to physically force that smile out of his system. Is it just me? It can't just be me.

It looks like one of those smiles that only has a few pixels difference from a frown.

I wonder what his open-teeth smile looks like now...

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Bit of a weird typo there, but that's all right.

Looks like one of those choice based things in a few other games.

Although both questions could work as one.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

We may not be related, but I've always though of yo as my true sister throughout these five years. You're my family, Esther, and I want it to stay that way. Is there something wrong with that?

Is the typo of "yo" the games doing or yours?

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Esther...

O O F

Oof indeed...

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Unlike these other knights, I have no tales of glory or merriment that I could share. My past is tainted with sin. There is no enjoyment to be sought from a conversation with me.

Please tell me this edgelord has some (intentionally) humorous moments. I fear that he may get to the point where his dialouge becomes ironically hilarious.

Then again, maybe I'm too used to Blustone successfully showing the goofier sides of serious characters while still preserving their dignity.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Juliattisnacordst eats like a pig. Hm... are there any gluttons in old FE games? Dolph was characterized as one in FE12... maybe we should add another name to the pile of people Juliattisnacordst rips off.

I think Effie in Fates has a gimmick of eating a lot, although I haven't played the games so I can't say for sure. Stahl also eats a lot, but that's not really a focal point of his character.

Oh wait, old FE games. Uh... find me a working emulator and 30-40 hours to spare and then I'll get back to you

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

And he's legendary, to boot! This is amazing. You can't make this shit up, everybody! There's a famous master Swordmaster in this game whose name is Yoda!

I was laughing my head off the moment I saw the name. I don't know what would be funnier: That being an incredibly blatant reference to the character or a completely accidental one.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Glad to see Lee and Wyrs interacting. It seems like they would be good friends. Also, nice way of foreshadowing this games Aum staff.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Glad to see we got some news on what the incident was. Im debating whether to tell you to keep it a Noddle Incident, though. (Random side note, but have you read Calvin and Hobbes?)

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

 

The plot thickens.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

All right, that was it for the party! We finally got the 20,000 gold we were given by Liza all those years ago. Now...

Dang, that was long. But enjoyable.

Not going to lie, I actually want to see more moments of that in Fire Emblem.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Technically, yes, but we prefer "privateers." Don't lump us together with those heartless idiots who were holding you prisoner.

"Privateering" is pretty much legal piracy. You don't attack the nation that gives you the letter of marque, and you give said nation part of the treasure, but otherwise there's not really a difference.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I knew it, you are pirates! O dear Yutona, please save your humble servant!

See? She gets it.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

How is it any more unusual than Xeno?

In medieval fiction? No. Sci-Fi is a different story.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Actually, scratch that, Bishop Law and Order takes the cake for the weirdest name.

Somebody had his life planned out when they named him that.

Then again, Justice is an actual name, so maybe it's not that odd.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oh look, it's another asshole to add to the pile of assholes that form this dysfunctional family.

And so far, Xeno and the blue haired guy that crossed his arms earlier are the only two that aren't. And the latter is only because he had one line so far.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Class act, Holmes. Get used to it. This is Holmes for most of the game.

Oh... boy. I can't tell whether he will be more annoying or funny. Well, don't judge a book by its cover, or in this case, first, er, second impression.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Gah! Get that creepy thing away from me!

Creepy? You think so? It could be the legendary Staff of Morse! If I could learn how to use it, I might be able to bring my father back to life...

Sure, sure. Or more likely, it'll summon a horde of zombies and kill us all. Besides, why waste the effort bringing and(sic) old geezer back to life?

Holmes. You know, there is this thing called "tact". You use it to not crush someone emotionally after they've lost the only family they've ever known, being left alone in a cruel and merciless world. With you.

I can understand worrying about accidentally raising a zombie army, but there are much better ways to mention that.

Holmes, you're going to be so much fun to deal with...

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Well, to be fair with the man, Katri's a bumbling idiot, and you'll see why now.

She raises a horde of zombies, doesn't she?

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oh yeah, that reminds me. I found a similar-looking staff back when we raided that old temple in Salia. Nobody knew how to use it, though, so I ended up leaving it there... Guess it was a summoning staff, huh? I bet we could've sold it for quite a lot if we'd kept it...

Please tell me this guy isn't an asshole? I want someone on this crew that isn't an asshole or an idiot besides Xeno.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Because this is the best the enemy has to offer. Yeah... when I said monsters in this game are actually challenging, I didn't mean the zombies. These guys are just there to show that this game has monsters, and that's about it. We'll see more interesting fiends in future chapters, but for now, this is it.

In other words, just like the zombies in other Fire Emblem games.

4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ey! More plot!

[eclipse]

What is Julia's brother doing with a bunch of pirates?!

[BrightBow]

I suppose technically speaking Holmes' forces would be part of the Granadian Navy rather the pirates. Granada is not a monarchy from my understanding but he is still the son of the guy who runs things there. And Holmes' is only ever seen plundering ships of the Empire.
But then again, Granada lost that war so I suppose if he keeps fighting after Granada officially surrendered, then he no longer acts as part of the official military forces, making him a pirate by definition.

I guess Aethin never actually uploaded the script anywhere? Would be handy to be able to look that stuff up.

[Interdimensional Observer]

8 minutes ago, BrightBow said:

I suppose technically speaking Holmes' forces would be part of the Granadian Navy rather the pirates. Granada is not a monarchy from my understanding but he is still the son of the guy who runs things there. And Holmes' is only ever seen plundering ships of the Empire.

There is that middle ground called privateers. Basically pirates who have received an official license/permit/contract from a country to raid ships of another country. 

But if there is no country to provide the license, then I guess one cannot be a privateer. Patriotic or semi-patriotic pirates have been a thing, or at least according to my limited knowledge of Zheng Chenggong.

 

I so want to play this game someday!

[Vestrikslana]

20 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Heh... I always have been--and always will be--on the princess's side. You would never understand.

What does that even mean?

I'm as confused as you are, Lionel. Norton didn't even recognize the princess at first back when she recruited him!

20 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It means he's awesome, but don't worry. You are awesome too.

Okay that's fair.

21 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Blistering motherfucking barnacles! He looks like he's dead inside and had to physically force that smile out of his system. Is it just me? It can't just be me.

To be honest, I doubt I'd be able to tell that he's smiling at all had you not pointed it out. Even then, I had to compare it side-by-side with his regular portrait to be sure.

So no, you're not alone.

21 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I suppose being his daughter would explain your fighting style... Still, you are no warrior, woman. I suggest you retire your blade before you shame your father's name any more.

W-What!? What makes me unfit to be a warrior?

There is no hostility in your sword. If you do not fight with the aim to kill, you may as well not be carrying a blade at all.

I mean, to be fair, he's not wrong about Julia being a bad unit? And I guess I see his point about an unwillingness to kill making it harder for you on the battlefield, but not to the extent he takes it to and it doesn't have any direct gameplay ramifications in Julia's case anyway.

21 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I'm Xeno. Pleased to meet you, Katri. That's an unusual name... Where are you from?

How is it any more unusual than Xeno?

Katri doesn't even strike me as a particularly unusual name. I mean, I've never heard it in person, but I imagine it could work as a shortening of Katrina, or something? Certainly not as weird as Xeno, at any rate.

Then again, someone on this continent apparently named their kid Yoda with a straight face, so maybe it's best to disregard real-life naming conventions entirely on this one.

[Punished Dayni]

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Apparently, so did I. Where's the pun? I didn't have any puns in mind there!

Tanks!

You forgot your own title was a pun.

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Goddamnit, how many more times must I repeat, it's not the outfit that bothers me, it's the fact that she looks nothing like Cecilia! Those aren't Cecilia's boobs... Cecilia's boobs aren't huge monstrosities, they're the right size. Also, soft, peachy, and very succulent... heh, succ... I, uh, I mean, uh... how do I save face now...

....I mean, I could make points in relation to that, but at this point it's only causing arguing and there's no need for it any further I think.

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I am positively flabbergasted by how much sense that makes.

...too bad this isn't the land of Lazberia, but the land of Lieberia. Big difference. Sorry, dude.

You knew what I meant. Lieberia, Lazberia, can barely tell the difference right?

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Why didn't I see this one coming? And why did I laugh so hard even though you already used it once in the last LP? Heck, I used it too!

You used after I did to hit back at me, it's more surprising you forgot.

But because of your forgetting....

(Yes this is a stretch. So is Codha.)

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hahah, you're right! Although, to be fair, sword users can use magic for the levin sword.

Yeah, they can.

I'm still debating the idea for Magic and Res being one stat. I'm not a fan of it aesthetically, but I do get why it could be justifiable. 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oh, right. I'm Lionel of the Royal Guard. Codha had me slated for execution, but one of the prison guards helped me out.

One of the prison guards, huh? Maybe I wasn't so far off the mark when I jokingly said that the prison guard wasn't fooled by Narcus's disguise...

Would be nice if that guard could be playable.

(Replace Zeig or Vega?)

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You aren't going anywhere, t-traitor!

Traitors dying traitors deaths.

If you hadn't been using all the morgan clones all the time we could have called it a Morgan.

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Heh... I always have been--and always will be--on the princess's side. You would never understand.

What does that even mean?

Is Norton into the princess?

Does Norton not realise she wasn't on Codha's side? Or is he trying to save face here?

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Make no mistake, Codha. Once King Raphael returns, I can guarantee he will sentence you to death for treason. There is no escape, Codha.

And if he doesn't return? What, then?

Sasha gives the order?

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

And the best part is, it worked.

Wow Eugen.

Just wow.

I mean, I doubt he needed that card too. Just wow.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Call me Leif one more fucking time.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah, I s'ppose you're right. I have to admit, I'll miss having a reliable guy like you around. Come join us once things calm down in Wellt, y'hear, Lionel?

Sure thing. You'd better stay alive till then.

Man, I sure hope they do.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Unlike these other knights, I have no tales of glory or merriment that I could share. My past is tainted with sin. There is no enjoyment to be sought from a conversation with me.

Then you should know that not all women care about jokes or witty banter. If you don't want to talk, then let me sit by your side in silence. I just want you to keep an open heart, Zieg...

Man Zeig's cutting himself off the edge there.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Your father's called Yoda? Yoda?! And he's a swordsman!? Bwahaaaahaaahaahahahahahahah! Amazing. I love this game. When do I get to recruit Yoda?

When Eugen tells Runan he has to go to Dagobah obviously.

Considering he was pretty busted in SCIV because he was short I could see it working out.

On 12/27/2018 at 2:06 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

Well, The Roger has a sense of humour.

FE's Roger is definitely dead, there's no way he'd be half as light hearted towards that.

8 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hmm, so theory time.

We can confirm Humphrey's dead, right? Either way it's likely someone from outside of Lieberia. It could be Pretzel got working with someone competent? I doubt that though.

8 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Well, that's one way to kick things off.

 And that is the introduction to the guy who should replace your cavs.

I am completely on board with adding him already.

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I wasn't showing it to you! Give it back!

All right, all right! You can have it back...!

Class act, Holmes. Get used to it. This is Holmes for most of the game.

Holmes living up to the worst of his namesake's tendencies.

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah... That idiot! I told her not to use the staff! Now we're knee-deep in zombies!

Katri running around trying to bring back Law and only resurrecting zombies shouldn't be funny.

It kind of is. Traumatising, but still funny.

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Well good, they have an army and an army's worth of powerful units, they should be fine. Wait, who's Lyria?

I'm going to be honest, I'm not feeling the Matthis art at all, he seems too slender to me. It could be the angle but I'm not a fan of it sadly.

9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I assume he would be too. Albertus would probably be too much for this lot though considering the backstory of Lieberia.

[Saint Rubenio]

Part 14 - Zombies made of pure gold.

On 27/12/2018 at 4:12 PM, BrightBow said:

I wonder if Codda's excuse of purposely becoming a villain for the country to unite against is supposed to be a dig on Emperor Rudolf.

It could be. I mean, Kaga's the one who made FE2 as well.

Anyway, I suppose it might be possible for there to be other routes to get the Pegasus Flute. But when I tried experimenting this, I didn't even talk to Narcus at all. So you would think the queen would simply give the flute to Sasha herself when they finally meet, but nope.

I think the only essential step is to talk to Narcus. Of course, it doesn't make sense that the queen wouldn't give the flute to Sasha when they met, but oh well. You could say she just forgot. A lot of things happened that day, give her a break.

And I like how the queen sends of Sasha with a reminder of the legacy of the maternal side of the family, even though Sasha's father is this great hero. It shows that there is more to the queen other then being a plot necessity for Sasha to exist and for Codda to have a hostage.
...though, it's also shows just how convoluted everything is in this game, if even a minor character like Queen Liza has this elaborate background. Things may have been very straightforward until now but that's not gonna last. I've been through the game several times and I still feel like I understand only half of what's going on at best.

Yeah, this game has a lot going on. Few characters lack an interesting backstory and connections to other characters. Look at Garo, for instance: as mundane as he is, we already know he has a cool backstory to explain his physical scars, a past in two of the bigger factions (the isle where Julia comes from and Granada) and connections to both playable characters (Julia) and characters we've only heard of (Admiral Vals). It only gets bigger from there.

 

On 27/12/2018 at 4:32 PM, Mad-manakete said:

Ironically, my computer crashed after typing a few quotes and witticisms (or half-witticisms) so I have done this exact thing.

Excellent.

Well, apparently your type is Lot... and Marcus... and Eugen... and Malice... and Cecillia...

More like the last two, and I have manly respect for the first three.

Horrible pun on Katydid grasshoppers (actually perhaps more closely related to crickets) based off a joke my brother once made in the third grade.

I understand... still, bad. Be ashamed.

I guess that'll do. Just be glad this isn't a Zelda forum, or someone would cannonban me for that spelling.

Nah, Eclipse wouldn't do that. She only bans people who talk shit about Tomas's hair.

I sincerelee apologize. I'm just doing what comes naturalee.
Damnit, you! When will you understand that the joy punning is supposed to be but a fleeting moment of fun? If you extend it beyond that, it grows highlee tiresome!

...we're going to keep this up throughout the whole LP, aren't we?

The fourth stooge, (which I guess as Larry, Moe and Curly Joe bit it at the bridge, must be Shemp) comes through. A Morgan whose incompetence pays off?
Yeah, I wanted to give that little subplot some form of closure.

Call him Steve Savage, because he's gonna bust that balloon.
Hwahahahah...

Either that or things Kaga did first.

Or both!

Talk like this does he?

Find out we'll have to. In due time we shall. And see, just wait.

What else do you expect from the lovechild of Freddy Krueger and Mrs. Voorhees (why do you think Jason wanted to kill Freddy? One too many jokes on Xbox live that's why)

Oh, jesus... as if he needed to look any edgier.

I don't know. Xeno's about one letter removed from my ex, and given my penchant for calling her every word/name I could come up with beginning with the letter X, if I'd seen that before it would have been there with Xenomorph and Xylophone and X-ray Fish and Xena Warrior princess and Xerxes and Xemnu the Titan and Xenoblade Chronicles and.... actually maybe that's why I'm single.
Hey, best to have loved and failed than to never have loved at all. Like me. Honestly, at this point I'm just waiting for a girl I truly could like to show up. I'm starting to doubt one such woman exists.

To corrupt a cliche, that's what you call out of the fire and into the frying pan.

Perfect description of the situation.

Holmes is regular detective to realize the staff actually was the cause and not something else.
What, was he supposed to think Katri just sort of shit out all those zombies?

Looks like the reunion is shaping up nicely. If we get enough LPs, we're going to have enough oc story to fill updates by itself by the fourth or fifth one. Unless some of them are retrospective visits to lands (I.E. Shadow Dragon and FE 7), which would just about have to be written off as non-canon because of contradictions.

Ah, I'd find a way. Maybe I could play SD and call it a prequel. Since I had nothing planned back in the good ol' days of FE12, I just sort of was there from the beginning.

 

On 27/12/2018 at 7:42 PM, Hawkwing said:

Yesterday, I attempted an ironman, no grinding, no pair up, no magic, male only challenge run of Awakening on hard.

Needless to say, everyone died. And I realized that any single one of those could be a challenge on its own.

You're almost as bad as me. Congratulations.

Meanwhile, it took me about 30-ish minutes to make this:

Hwahahahahahahah... amazing.

Although being fair, about 10 of those were finding the video and 5 were realizing it wouldn't work as a gif.

Hwahahahahahahahhaahhaahhahaahahah even more amazing!

Interesting. I think that Connors story being the best part of the game and should have been the entire focus of the story is one of the most common opinions I've heard about the game.

Consider me a part the common denominator, then. However, I think the multiple characters approach could've worked if it wasn't for the fact that Kara and Markus's stories are so much worse than Connor's. The game just needed someone not called David Cage behind the wheel, like every other game David Cage has made.

Resisting the urge to go into excruciating detail about why Blustone is one of the best and most intuitive gacha games out there and why the characters are extremely well-written and enjoyable and how I want to see several of them in an actual Fire Emblem game and why a Fire Emblem Heroes crossover would work very well and why...

Hoo, boy. I feel your pain, man. I'd like to spend hours talking about Miles Edgeworth Investigations 2 with my best friend, but since he doesn't know english, he can't play it. Urgh...

Thank TV Tropes for that. With the exception of Mount and Blade (which I did by accident) I've never bought DLC for any videogame in my life.

I wish I could say the same, but I've fallen for the trap in the past. I'm sorry.

I shall prepare myself then.

Dew it.

That is a hilarious mental picture. Thanks for that.

You're very welcome.

I'm just perplexed as to why they bothered to make map sprites for the shapeshifter characters in the 3DS games when they'll only appear for a split second if you turn the animations off/skip fights, yet didn't make any simplistic attack animations for any of the classes.

Because IntSys. They want to come off as perfectionists when in reality they're lazy.

We'll be in for a treat then.

Sure will!

I see. It just sounds like a mechanic that needs to have the game built with it in mind.

Perhaps you're right. This game does treat promotions and such very differently, like I said.

Considering the amount of things you can do or put into a bag, the shopkeeper is paying extra for the multipurpose functions it can serve. Unfortunately, it appears that no character in the game realizes this, and thus throws the bag away when they open it.

Bags must be really rare in Lieberia. Maybe I should find a way to make it LP canon.

That, or most of the shopkeepers realize they can sell it at a jacked up price to adventure game protagonists who find a use for everything not nailed to the ground.

But this isn't a point and click game. I doubt Runan will ever have to use an empty bag as a parachute or something along those lines... or will he?

Which raises a question of how physic never misses (especially when Echoes shows the character literally on the other side of the map as a speck), but I don't think anyone is complaining.

That thing about Echoes sounds absolutely hilarious to see.

Well, except in Thracia.

Ah, yes, Thracia. The game Kaga made out of spite for humanity.

Sprite animation: Somehow looking awesome despite the fact they can get away with the characters not having faces.

Pixel art is great.

Can't wait to see it then.

Shouldn't take that long.

Make sense. But the part of me that loves stronghold won't... stop... screaming...

Let it scream, then. It'll be worse for you if you don't.

Ah, I get it now. Of course. Also, Gandalf has a lazy eye in this picture. Like Tom! Gandalf's Tom confirmed, LP canon everyone.

I've unironically used the phrase in real life more times than I can count. And for some reason people get annoyed and think I'm just making an easy Star Wars reference.

I wasn't annoyed, that's just the first thing everyone thinks of when they hear that line.

Compiling them all must have been fun.

I imagine it must've been.

I see. Considering I used a similar weapon that healed the user in the challenge run mentioned at the top of this post, I can see the use for it.

Although it raises questions for why someone would bring it into an arena.

Because people are dumb, I mean, nobody ever retreats when they're about to be killed by player units. How awesome would it be if they just surrendered sometimes? It'd make arena abuse a lot less effective, to be sure.

Well, that was quick. I will be very disappointed if Codha escapes.

Nah.

That's a pretty awesome line.

It is. Lionel's awesome, in general.

Smart

That's the Royal Historian for you. He just sort of disappears from the face of the earth after the last time we saw him, so I figured I'd use that chance to make up an explanation for his absence.

An oldie but a goodie way of having these kind of characters get their comeuppance.

Yep.

Wait, so what happens if he's dead at this point?

That part of the scene just doesn't play. Notice how Norton interrupts the scene, and during his whole segment only he and Lionel talk? It's rather clever.

Sticking a sword in his gullet may have been satisfying, but I'd say that this entire scene is even more so

Yeah, they really lashed out at him.

Why not? There aren't a whole lot of fancy ways to say "we ask you to donate troops and resources to help us fight a war."

Well, the guilt tripping was unnecessary, but Eugen's point is reasonable.

It is, because Eugen's a reasonable man, unlike Merlinus.

Not going to lie; Marlon actually looks pretty fitting in cooking attire.

That cooking attire with a flower and a smiley face I painted on it in 5 minutes.

It looks like one of those smiles that only has a few pixels difference from a frown.

I wonder what his open-teeth smile looks like now...

Hmmmm...

Oh God! It's even worse! He looks like he's about to murder someone!

Looks like one of those choice based things in a few other games.

Although both questions could work as one.

It does, now that you mention it, but it's probably just a piece of code that he closed with a double > by mistake.

Is the typo of "yo" the games doing or yours?

I usually pinpoint the game's typos with a tiny (sic) or a witty retort, so... yeah. That one was on me.

Oof indeed...

I don't have anything to say about this, but since I am committed to responding to everything...

Please tell me this edgelord has some (intentionally) humorous moments. I fear that he may get to the point where his dialouge becomes ironically hilarious.

Maybe, or maybe not. We'll find out, later.

Then again, maybe I'm too used to Blustone successfully showing the goofier sides of serious characters while still preserving their dignity.

Again with Blustone! If you keep this up I'll end up having to look it up.

I think Effie in Fates has a gimmick of eating a lot, although I haven't played the games so I can't say for sure. Stahl also eats a lot, but that's not really a focal point of his character.

Oh wait, old FE games. Uh... find me a working emulator and 30-40 hours to spare and then I'll get back to you

Now Kaga is incorporating KDIF (Kaga Did It First) elements into Juliattinacordst. Soon, Juliattisnacordst will be everything.

I was laughing my head off the moment I saw the name. I don't know what would be funnier: That being an incredibly blatant reference to the character or a completely accidental one.

Well, this came out in 2001, 21 years after Empire Strikes Back, so... could be!

Glad to see Lee and Wyrs interacting. It seems like they would be good friends. Also, nice way of foreshadowing this games Aum staff.

Thanks!

Glad to see we got some news on what the incident was. Im debating whether to tell you to keep it a Noddle Incident, though.

Kinda difficult to do that when it's pretty clear what exactly happened there. My initial idea was to put a scene where Mel is thrown in the dungeon and the whole thing happens live, but Mel's escape happens so fast I didn't even have time for that. I think I like it better the way it turned out.

(Random side note, but have you read Calvin and Hobbes?)

I haven't, no. A quick google search tells me that's where the "noddle incident" thingy originated from, so I guess that's why you ask.

The plot thickens.

Doesn't it? Here's hoping someone will try to predict who this mysterious menace is.

Dang, that was long. But enjoyable.

Not going to lie, I actually want to see more moments of that in Fire Emblem.

Yeah, it's more organic than "wait 100 turns and then press 'support' to read".

"Privateering" is pretty much legal piracy. You don't attack the nation that gives you the letter of marque, and you give said nation part of the treasure, but otherwise there's not really a difference.

See? She gets it.

Sounds a lot like Holmes.

In medieval fiction? No. Sci-Fi is a different story.

I initially thought of doing a reference to X.A.N.A. from Code Lyoko. That shit was my childhood. Sadly, I forgot to.

Somebody had his life planned out when they named him that.

Then again, Justice is an actual name, so maybe it's not that odd.

It is? I thought Apollo Justice was just a pun, like every other name in the Ace Attorney series. Color me surprised.

And so far, Xeno and the blue haired guy that crossed his arms earlier are the only two that aren't. And the latter is only because he had one line so far.

Heh... yeah, about that...

Oh... boy. I can't tell whether he will be more annoying or funny. Well, don't judge a book by its cover, or in this case, first, er, second impression.

I can understand worrying about accidentally raising a zombie army, but there are much better ways to mention that.

Holmes, you're going to be so much fun to deal with...

Hey, I did say I like Runan better, didn't I? Not gonna say any more, but...

She raises a horde of zombies, doesn't she?

Please tell me this guy isn't an asshole? I want someone on this crew that isn't an asshole or an idiot besides Xeno.

I can't say I remember.

In other words, just like the zombies in other Fire Emblem games.

Yuppers.

Ey! More plot!

More, more, more!

 

On 27/12/2018 at 11:26 PM, eclipse said:

What is Julia's brother doing with a bunch of pirates?!

Spoilers, dude. Ah, it doesn't matter. It's revealed in this chapter's ending text, anyway. Still, be careful, lest you risk me asking Eclipse to ban you!

...wait. Something's not right...

 

On 27/12/2018 at 11:46 PM, BrightBow said:

I suppose technically speaking Holmes' forces would be part of the Granadian Navy rather the pirates. Granada is not a monarchy from my understanding but he is still the son of the guy who runs things there. And Holmes' is only ever seen plundering ships of the Empire.
But then again, Granada lost that war so I suppose if he keeps fighting after Granada officially surrendered, then he no longer acts as part of the official military forces, making him a pirate by definition.

So much for not lumping him together with those heartless bastards.

I guess Aethin never actually uploaded the script anywhere? Would be handy to be able to look that stuff up.

I don't think he did. If he did it'd be wonderful, I could just copypaste instead of just copying.

 

On 28/12/2018 at 12:00 AM, Interdimensional Observer said:

Eeeeyyy new reader! I'm on a roll now. World conquest is just within my grasp!

...didn't I already make this joke? Nah, must be my imagination.

There is that middle ground called privateers. Basically pirates who have received an official license/permit/contract from a country to raid ships of another country. 

But if there is no country to provide the license, then I guess one cannot be a privateer. Patriotic or semi-patriotic pirates have been a thing, or at least according to my limited knowledge of Zheng Chenggong.

I have a feeling someone may've already explained this.

I so want to play this game someday!

Dew it! It's a great game! And if you don't feel like playing it, well, you can always stick around and allow me to show you what it's all about.

 

23 hours ago, Ruminant said:

I'm as confused as you are, Lionel. Norton didn't even recognize the princess at first back when she recruited him!

He knows what he means.

Okay that's fair.

See, even you agree.

To be honest, I doubt I'd be able to tell that he's smiling at all had you not pointed it out. Even then, I had to compare it side-by-side with his regular portrait to be sure.

So no, you're not alone.

I mean, to be fair, he's not wrong about Julia being a bad unit? And I guess I see his point about an unwillingness to kill making it harder for you on the battlefield, but not to the extent he takes it to and it doesn't have any direct gameplay ramifications in Julia's case anyway.

In conclusion, Vega's edgy and an idiot. Don't listen to him.

Katri doesn't even strike me as a particularly unusual name. I mean, I've never heard it in person, but I imagine it could work as a shortening of Katrina, or something? Certainly not as weird as Xeno, at any rate.

Xeno could be a shortening for... uh... Xenophobe? Xenolife? Xenowarriorprince?

Then again, someone on this continent apparently named their kid Yoda with a straight face, so maybe it's best to disregard real-life naming conventions entirely on this one.

Probably so.

 

19 hours ago, Dayni said:

Tanks!

You forgot your own title was a pun.

Oh, right. Well, two things: one, you quoted the christmas card and I was confused by that. Second, I didn't even think of that as a pun. I just didn't know what title to give the update, and I went "hey, there's tanks in this update! Perfect!"

....I mean, I could make points in relation to that, but at this point it's only causing arguing and there's no need for it any further I think.

I like how you say that as if we were fighting fiercely and hatefully, while quoting that magnificent jerksplosion I had there. How is that arguing?

You knew what I meant. Lieberia, Lazberia, can barely tell the difference right?

No, it's a real problem! With great power comes great responsability! We must utilize the names appropiately, lest we risk the argument losing all its meaning!

You used after I did to hit back at me, it's more surprising you forgot.

Actually, I didn't forget, I just--

But because of your forgetting....

(Yes this is a stretch. So is Codha.)

How dare you say such things? I have caused no confusion and delay... have I?

Yeah, they can.

I'm still debating the idea for Magic and Res being one stat. I'm not a fan of it aesthetically, but I do get why it could be justifiable. 

I'm okay with it, personaly. I don't really mind. It does make mind a lot more dangerous.

Would be nice if that guard could be playable.

(Replace Zeig or Vega?)

Hah! No chance! I don't even know how one does something as basic as changing the growths in this game!

Traitors dying traitors deaths.

If you hadn't been using all the morgan clones all the time we could have called it a Morgan.

Well, to be fair, that Morgan's unique. I haven't used him for anything other than the soldiers subplot.

Is Norton into the princess?

Does Norton not realise she wasn't on Codha's side? Or is he trying to save face here?

Probably the latter, but I still love the way he went about it.

Sasha gives the order?

Perhaps. Makes enough sense. Or maybe she just lets his ass rot in jail. That'd be a fitting move for the murderprincess.

Wow Eugen.

Just wow.

I mean, I doubt he needed that card too. Just wow.

He's the man, that's what he is. Who cares if he didn't need it? He wants it, and so he'll have it.

Call me Leif one more fucking time.

Man, I sure hope they do.

Guess it's up to me! Oh, dear...

Man Zeig's cutting himself off the edge there.

He's Zieg! Wouldn't be Zieg if he didn't.

When Eugen tells Runan he has to go to Dagobah obviously.

You mean, when Sasha, Kate and Norton are ambushed by Dagon and he turns Norton into a statue?

Considering he was pretty busted in SCIV because he was short I could see it working out.

Friggin' Yoda, man.

Well, The Roger has a sense of humour.

FE's Roger is definitely dead, there's no way he'd be half as light hearted towards that.

Maybe he's just grown up?

Hmm, so theory time.

We can confirm Humphrey's dead, right?

Looked pretty dead to me.

Either way it's likely someone from outside of Lieberia. It could be Pretzel got working with someone competent? I doubt that though.

Well, who knows...

 And that is the introduction to the guy who should replace your cavs.

I am completely on board with adding him already.

Nonsense.

Holmes living up to the worst of his namesake's tendencies.

Yeah, Sherlock was a bit of a dick, wasn't he?

...dang, I can't refer to him as Sherlock either because there's a Sherlock in Berwick! Am I really going to have to say his full name every single time? Fine, Sherlock Holmes it is.

Katri running around trying to bring back Law and only resurrecting zombies shouldn't be funny.

It kind of is. Traumatising, but still funny.

Poor girl...

Well good, they have an army and an army's worth of powerful units, they should be fine.

Albertus alone could probably end this war right now.

Wait, who's Lyria?

Ah! You'll have to wait.

I'm going to be honest, I'm not feeling the Matthis art at all, he seems too slender to me. It could be the angle but I'm not a fan of it sadly.

Nah, don't worry, I don't like it that much, myself. It's the arms, isn't it? His armor was already a bit dubious, when I had to actually draw what was going on below, I couldn't do too much. I tried to make it look like he has his arms behind his frontal plate of armor, but I don't think it worked out that well.

He always did look really freaky, you could say he looks weird because of that old encounter with Gharnef, but other than that, yeah. Not that happy, myself, and in this case I don't see how I could make it much better with my limited skills. Here's hoping the remaining sprites will impress you guys more. There's a reason I saved those for last and only introduced Matthis and Frost here as a teaser.

Still, I'll try to see if I can improve him now that we still have time. I have a new version ready, you'll see next time he shows up.

I assume he would be too. Albertus would probably be too much for this lot though considering the backstory of Lieberia.

Albertus's too much for anyone.

 

Spoiler

Last time, we had text. Today we have more text, but don't worry, it shouldn't take that long.

That isn't very reassuring.

What, you mean that pirate leader who ran away prancing like a little girl? I can't even remember his face. What did he look like?

He was a bit, ugly-looking brute. Wait... Or was he that short and pathetic-looking guy...? Now I can't remember, either.

Who gives a damn about that guy anyway? Right now, let's focus on Xeno and Juni. Where the hell are they? Geez... Can't they even take care of their own hides!?

And then they go back inside without bothering to do so much as looking around. Great.

There's Katri. Remember how in the last update Juni proposed that Katri went with her to pick flowers at "the valley nearby"? Yeah. This is the valley nearby. Beautiful, isn't it? It's so beautiful, units take damage from standing on it.

It seems like Holmes hurt her feelings pretty bad this time. She's probably off crying somewhere.

Why does Holmes have to be so mean all the time?

Holmes is just...

Huh? Holmes is what?

Nah... forget it. Never mind.

He's on his period? Yeah, that's probably it.

It's us! Nice ship we got there.

I like how you're speaking of "one of your greatest friends" with the look of a man who's just seen that one guy who owes him 1000 bucks buying a expensive coat.

I spent a solid 10 mins trying to decide who to take along, and ended up deciding for this formation. Sorry, Garo, you'll have to sit another one out. It's not a problem, you're still great. Sasha, too, will rest today, as she doesn't need experience too much now that she has Paragon (thanks for the suggestion, Ruminant!). I wish I could've brought Arkis, Raquel and Kreiss, but oh well, that's life. Besides, I might need someone with the capacity to run very fast, and The Roger's Paladin horse will do just that a lot better than Arkis's or Kreiss's.

This map's interesting, if not hard. Every enemy is a zombie. As you saw in the last update, these guys are scrubs. Not worth the time at all. But wait! What are those? Mummies?

Wow. Talk of a waste of time. Those guys probably aren't even worth the 20 experience that every kill gives at a minimum!

...is perhaps what some of you thought when you first saw that screenshot. And let me tell you, you're right. They aren't worth 20 experience. They're worth something like 90. Yep. Kill one of these guys, and 9 times out of 10 you'll level up. These guys really are only here to give your scrubs a final push before we enter the second arc of the game. Suffice to say, I'll be using them to great effect.

Aside from that, we have the first chests of the game, but that's all right, because we have a Thief now! And a healer, and a fighter. let's check 'em out.

Xeno: HP 65% - Strength 35% - Skill 50% - Speed 40% - Defense 22% - Magic 5% - Luck 30% - Mastery 30%
Juni: HP 35% - Strength 0% - Skill 45% - Speed 40% - Defense 5% - Magic 20% - Luck 35% - Mastery 25%
Katri: HP 40% - Magic 35% - Skill 10% - Speed 55% - Defense 5% - Strength 0% - Luck 40% - Mastery 60%

Xeno is our first Mercenary. In this game, Mercenaries are just glorified Myrmidons: they're rather speedy but rather fragile and weak and they can only ever use swords. No axes for 'em in this game, sorry. Xeno himself's okay. He learns a bunch of skills and has solid offensive stats, but his swordlockedness and his lack of bulk drag him down somewhat. Fun enough unit, he's all right, I like him enough.

Juni's a Thief who can't gain strength, but she doesn't need it. Steal, in this game, works like this: you fight an enemy, and if the skill triggers, you automatically steal things from them. It works for everything without a special star. More worrying than her lack of strength is her lack of defense. You can't have her fight anything, as she'll crumble the second they lay their hands on her, and although she does have decent magic, I don't think I've ever seen Thieves steal anything when fighting from afar. Maybe I've just extremely unlucky, but believe me, I've had this scrub (and other scrubs) strike oh so many enemies with thunder and not once did they get me anything at all. Bad unit, honestly, and Thieves in this game aren't that useful for reasons we'll discover as we go. She'll, however, be useful in this map, as we have a bunch of chests to open and her Locktouch skill is exactly what we need. No lockpicks in this game, you just have a unit with that skill (which isn't relegated to Thieves, by the way. You'll see) step on the chest and they'll be able to open it, no questions asked.

Katri's Enteh, except she starts with the Summon skill which lets her use summon stats instead of gaining it at level 30 which she'll never reach. That's it. The Ring of Salia does something interesting, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

First let's have Julia just barely be strong enough to kill a shitty zombie. In this game, they painstakingly walk towards their opposition, horrendously slowly raise their hand and then let it fall on the enemy's head. It's lame. To say the very least.

This other zombie has two ponts of defense and one more HP, which is enough to ensure neither Xeno nor Juni can do anything to it in one round. Gee, great "expert thieves" you've got here, Holmes. I can only imagine you'll be great when I finally get to play as you. I don't want Katri to die pathetically in that stinky swamp, so I have Xeno wait for the Revenants to come at him.

Let's just move forward before I lose my patience.

I forgot to move Katri. Oh, well. She didn't even take damage from the swamp (god knows why), and the Zombie can't even 2-shot her, so she'll be fine. It's not like Lilina's situation... which was also in a chapter 8, now that I think about it. What a funny coincidence.

Katri, I know it doesn't do much of anything to you, but you could still dodge, y'know?

Xeno's animations. They're cool, even if I don't understand why he has a rope wrapped around his right shoulder. That's right, he has a rope wrapped around his shoulder. I'll try to get an idle shot so you can see it better.

A crit! Nice! Good way to kick off your playable career, Juni.

...scratch that.

One last zombie attacks Xeno, but this one dies in one round. Good Xeno.

Oh, dear. It's text.

What's wrong, Holmes? You're white as a sheet.

Katri's bracelet... I remembered where I'd seen it before.

Did you, now? Well, where was it?

It was back at the Fire Shrine in Salia.

That's the one.

What a waste of time that trip was. Not only was the place already cleared out, we also got ambushed by those monsters. The only remotely valuable thing we found was probably that Zombie Staff. Going to that place was definitely not one of your better ideas.

I'm not talking about the loot or monsters. There was this ancient mural painted on the wall of the side chamber.

Why do you care about an old mural? It's not like we could've taken it with us.

Just shut up and listen, will you?

Are these guys even friends?

The mural was of the goddess Yutona giving a bracelet to her daughter Salia.

Wait... You're saying that Katris's bracelet...

Yep, it's the same one. Historically, the Ring of Salia's been passed down through the holy bloodline...

That's pretty neat. I bet she'd be excited to hear that she's related to royalty.

Well, to be fair, at least this guy isn't a complete dick. Business first, perhaps, but not assholish, I believe.

Probably so, but... if she's got that bracelet, then we might have a big problem on our hands...

What's he talking about? And what are YOU talking about? I haven't had you walk at all!

Uh... what?

...BLISTERING BARNACLES, BIG FUCKING DRAGON! I take it back, I take it back, sorry! You had every reason to be tired! Don't burn me to a crisp!

Trust me, Shigen... We should definitely wait here for a little bit longer.

Stay here? But what about Katri? The others can probably take care of themselves, but I don't know about her...

Katri isn't the one we have to worry about. It's Xeno and Juni.

Crap, that's right! Those two!

Ah, but I'm sure she can't be too strong... right?

Okay, let us commence operation GTFO. I don't think I need to explain what that's about.

Run!

Okay, I know I said "run", but when I said "run", I didn't mean "throw all caution to the wind, begin missing your every sword thrust, get hit by everything, run". Please try to at least hit the enemy next time.

I know we're in a bit of a crisis, but there's no harm in doing a little pilfering while we're here!

As for Runan and co., I have The Roger dismount so he can cross that patch of dirt. The others follow suit.

Well, that thing no longer exists. The rest of the zombies panic and attempt to move as far away from Neuron as possible.

Then the one Xeno let live attacks Juni. Of course. At least she dodged.

Look at The Roger's on-foot sprite! That's magnificent!

He vantaged the zombie's ass, but his steel sword weighs him down too much for him to double, and he also missed. Y'know, a 93%. Why wouldn't he? At least he did so while looking damn slick.

Norton kill the Entombed that's near us, and gets... just barely enough not to level up. Great.

The Roger and Maruj team up on this Revenant.

Xeno, leave! You, stay where you are and fight!

You guys, begin moving towards the fort!

I can't order you around. Sadly.

Juni gets a kill, which is baffling, to say the least. Look, almost a level! Everyone's in a almost-level mood today.

Also, zombies have invaded the fort. Game over, Holmes's fucked. Imagine that was a thing. The game'd be impossible!

Ah, good. She went back to being herself.

She went back to being a fragile-ass cleric... in front of a zombie.

...crap!

Who cares?! Run!

You saw what just happened, right? She turned into an overpowered, invincible dragon? Well, by using the Ring of Salia, we can trigger that transformation at our leisure. Not only that, but we'll also be able to control Neuron as any other unit.

Sounds like the game's over, doesn't it? Well, there's a catch: after a random amount of turns (so you can't plan around it), Katri goes back to being herself. At the beginning of the enemy phase. Which pretty much means that, if you go mad with power and just throw her at everything, there's a very significant chance that she'll become a fragile cleric with a bazillion enemies ready to cleave her into a multitude of tiny pieces. And like Enteh, Katri has that pesky little star, so you might as well wave your run goodbye if that happens. Not only that, but she also gains no experience while fighting as Neuron, so using it too much is a huge waste of experience. What I'm trying to say is that, while Neuron's inmensely useful, there's enough risk involved that it's best not to go overboard with it. It's clever game design, I feel. Certainly better than going "well, I'm not gonna use that outside of cutscenes because game balance!".

Ah-ha! Thought nobody had noticed you up there, did you? Thought The Roger was heading in the opposite direction to you, did you!? Well, you thought throughoutly wrong! Die!

Down with you!

You, as well! Also, isn't that the greatest battle shot ever or what?

Sigh... damnit, Tom, why do you have to gain experience so slowly...

There we go. Half the team will head north, the other half, east.

With Julia leading the eastern charge. For now. Mainly because there's noone else nearby to do it in her place.

Oi, what's that?

It's this guy, and a generic pirate!

I'll get them runts... they'll be sorry for pickin' a fight with the Isura Pirates! No one goes scroungin' around in my turn!

Human enemies!

The Roger's back on his horse, and ready to kick some pirate arse!

Tom will hold the line while he gets there.

Well, while he and everyone else gets there, to be precise. For whatever reason, we cannot shoot down the boat (it's not even considered a unit). What a shame.

First level of the day! Let it be a good one. You're in a rather big need of those.

Awesome, strength! I like it. Make sure to prove to me this wasn't just a fluke.

Look, a conversation!

Xeno! You came for me! What... What happened to me, Xeno?

Katri... Let's just go back to the fort for now, before we worry the others any more.

Nice and easy.

The enemy doesn't attack Tom because his defense's monstruous. A shame. It could've been some decent experience for him.

Instead, The Roger takes one point of damage and that's enough to get him his first level.

It's good. Speed and HP are things I like.

Hey! Where do you think you're going? My chest! I mean, whatever's inside of it is probably ruined because swamp, but still, it's a question of principles! I can't just let you get away with taking my loot!

Oh, c'mon! The boat shit out more troops! This is starting to look a little overwhelming...

Ah, thank goodness! The Roger--

Argh! RNGODDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESS! Addle-pated lump of anthracite! Blunderbuss! Cushion footed quadruped! Dictatorial duck-billed diplodocus! Fancy-dress fascist! Guano gatherer! Interplanetary pirate! Licorice-livered lubberly scum in thousands of thundering typhoons! Miserable blundering barbecued blister! Biogas! ASSHOLE!!

At least these bastards don't have Steal. Losing a weapon would've been the cherry on top of the crap pie.

Still, I'd rather not let him go into the swamp, because The Roger can't follow him there, and there's no time to have him dismount.

So let's just wound him with Tom and hope for the best.

A very Tomish level.

Now, here's where things get tricky. I've a lot of enemies to kill and few units because I'm an idiot and sent half my team the other way. First, Runan uses a herb to heal up.

Then... God have mercy.

God have a lot of mercy, jesus!

Iron sword will work better, but you have to hit this, Norton!

Doggone it... gah!

OF COURSE, AND THE LEVEL SUCKS ASS, TOO! WHAT ELSE!?

The situation is rather dire. Let's rob a levin sword!

Kate, I think this might be it. Your 4 move ensures you can't escape, and there are 3 strong enemies right on top of you. You may not make it out...

...why, you son of a-- NOW is when you get a good level!? Oh, but no defense, nooooooooooo we're not here to live, we're here to make Ruben even sadder when Kate dies! Fuck you, game, fuck you very much.

I'm having the eastern group double back as fast as they can, but it's not fast enough. Crap... Maruj won't die, only three enemies can reach him and he has a miracle charm, but Kate...

SHIT, RUNAN! AAACK!

We are alive. Good thing, too. I was so scared, I forgot to take a screenshot of the damage these guys did to Runan. Suffice to say, it would've been mortal damage.

C'mon, really? Is that really the best use of a turn you could come up with?

I never expected anything of you.

Well, everyone... moment of truth. She needs to dodge once to live. She pulled it off with the chu-ko-nu, so...

...she's so fucked.

Never mind, the last asshole fled to heal! Thank the Wundergust for that.

Phew... agh. That was intense. I was really hoping I'd never have to go through anything like this, but... Jesus Christ on a bike. Second close call, everyone.

The worst part about this is, I knew this was coming. Could you tell? I sure as heck can't, because it feels as though they caught me completely off-guard!

Damn you! Damn you all to hell!

You gotta hit this, Tom. If you don't, I'll be very vexed.

THANK you.

Okay, Runan will finish off this guy with the critty iron sword, so as to add 1 more crit chance to it--

OH GOD why can't I do math.

A lot of numbers, but none of them are particularly useful. Eh. Still doin' good, Runan.

Kate, this is the second time you nearly die. Could you please stop? I know Zieg's left you all depressed and stuff with his edge, but you really need to get a grip.

Run, Enteh, run behind the wall of brittle swordfighters. They can take at least one hit. You can't.

As for you!

Go to hell!

Maruj... you go right behind them.

Well, it's not the world's prettiest formation, but at least it doesn't look like I'm losing the fight anymore.

Good job, Runan.

Gggghhk! C-Cr! Crit! CRIT! CRITICAL HIT! NO!

...what am I panicking for? That wouldn't even have killed her. Ah, still... I've too many bad memories from FE6. Remember? That 4~% crit (after all the calculations, mind you) that killed Echidna? And that 7~% crit (again, after all the math was done) that killed Treck? And that slightly higher crit that felled Raigh? All in three consecutive chapters? I swear, had it not been for Marcus's epic level, I think I would've quit right then and there...

Norton's just as tired of this as I am!

The last two enemies try to do things, but they're much too incompetent.

Why, you... insolent little pricks...! Stop trying to get your grubby mitts on my treasure!

Ah! More insolent little pricks!

And text. Well, if anything, some reading might calm me down after that intensity.

Where are you goin', boss?

I'm takin' this lovely lady back to base. You wimps better not screw up, y'hear?

Heh heh... You never change, boss.

Hey, your name's Renee, right? Pretty unlucky to have your ship sunk by pirates, wouldn't you say?

At least he's self-aware... or perhaps I should say "and he's self-aware, to boot!"?

...oh, dear. I was hoping she'd at least be ugly, but I don't want to imagine what that brute might do to such a woman.

Still a bit shaken up, eh? Don't you worry, darlin'. I'll show you to your new home!

...can I kill him?

Never mind, he just left because the game refused to let me sink his ship.

Let's at least make sure he loses all of these henchmen, then.

And another one!

And The Roger nails yet another one with only a single pilum!

Tom does this, too.

Just showcasing the fact that Maruj's animation doesn't change when he's not using wind spells. He still pretends to be a plane and sort of casts a thunderbolt on himself.

Damn this damnable son of a damned damnation! Why won't he die?

We'll take care of him in a min. First, though, Norton crit.

I like how the Sellswords point to the background with their off-hand while they're cutting people. It's like they're employing the old "look overthere!" trick. It doesn't work so well.

Okay, we're making progress.

Oh... he has a herb, too? Well, no! Not just a herb, a fruit, so he goes back to full HP just like that! They gave this random merc a shield, a fruit and a sturdy sword, and as a result, I can't kill him!

Oh, no, you don't!

Stop them, The Roger the Paladin!

You are a disgrace to the name of The Roger the Paladin.

At least Tom can do something to this asshole.

Juni has made it to the chest in the middle of the map. It's an iron shield, same deal as the leather shield, but it raises defense by 7, I'm pretty sure? However, it only has 3 uses.

C'mon, Julia, I only need a crit. Get it, and I'll be sure to reward you with nothing.

Admittedly, nothing's not a very motivating reward.

We accomplished nothing at all that turn. Great.

I am highly frustrated.

That cheers me up! 4 zombies equals at least 80 experience, plus an Entombed, that's... tch...

Let's leave it at "a lot of EXP". No, no, better yet: "a metric fuckton of EXP". Yeah.

If my units could stop missing any time soon, though, I'd feel that much better.

Roger, if you miss this, I'm benching you f-- nay, I'm killing you off.

Nah, I'll just get mad and scream obscenities about you and possibly your girlfriend. You don't want that, do you? Please hit.

Finally! Thanks.

This guy is so annoying. Oh, so very annoying...

Here you go, Katri. Do something useful with yourself.

Look at that! There's four people there, one of them promoted, and they're struggling against a Thief. A Thief!

But at least it's not as embarrassing as the protagonist and A FUCKING TANK struggling against some pirate guy with a shield made of leather.

Ah, but I cannot stay mad with such a sight before me! Thanks, Katri. I appreciate the free experience.

You-- how many more uses does that shitty shield of yours have?!

Ah, one more? Good. You won't last. Still, to save Paces a-Hundred Yet Still I Cure uses, I won't have Runan attack. It's all right, we're in no hurry.

You'd think Roger's blind or something. Maybe that girl of his is blinding him with her love... I should have her killed. Mayhap then he'll fight like a man.

...no, what am I saying? If she dies, he'll leave as well.

The irony.

Worth a shot?

As I thought.

Ah, but it does not matter. He has already lost the race to the chest, and now he's trapped. The wing potion is, as you'd expect, the statbooster for speed. Really good, I like it. Maybe I could give it to Norton for maximum hilarity. Since he uses swords, 3 more points of speed would actually make him effectively speedier than a lot of people in my army. It'd be so awesome... now I'm really starting to convince myself that I should do it!

Dumbass! You have signed your death sentence! That shield's destruction will be your undoing!

...he also almost killed my run with that 5% critical chance, but let's not dwell on the tiny details. Besides, Runan's still holding fast to that one miracle charm we got all the way back in chapter 1, so it'd have been all right.

Runan levels up and gets Adept and nothing else. Amazing.

More? More! More, more, more! Soon, I'll be like Scrooge McDuck, only swimming in golden mummies instead of golden coins.

But first, more levels.

Sigh... it doesn't even surprise me anymore.

It appears I was mistaken when I said Norton cannot cross these patches of rocky dirt. He can, only extremely slowly. Good for him.

I'm going to enjoy this.

Die! Ahahahahah... what do you have to say now?! Not so smug anymore, eh?! Hwah! Say hi to Martel for me. Not the girl, the Brilliant Dumbass.

With that, the last of the human enemies has fallen. Only the bags of experience remain.

My goodness, she really did summon a ton of 'em. I'm surprised that zombie staff's still usable. Maybe it had something crazy like thousands of uses and Katri brought it all the way down to 11 before I took control of her?

Speaking of Katri, give that Paces a-Hundred Yet Still I Cure back and take a heal, both figuratevely and literally.

Kate, lead the charge.

D'aaawww... no more gold.

All right, Kate, it's time for you to enjoy the golden touch as well.

Great! Really good level up. I'm liking how Kate's growing. Her growths leave too much to be desired, but my Kate's growing into quite the balanced unit. I'm glad.

Since I had dismounted Roger, I happened to think "hey, I haven't shown off his dismounted stats!", so here. This is what The Roger looks like when he's not The Paladin. Still a little better than base Raffin, but Kate actually surpasses him in a couple vital areas. I can't wait to promote her.

Hmm... I think I'll leave him here without attacking.

As for Norton and Tom, I have decided to let them stick around where they are, since there seems to be a horde of Revenants (with an Entombed included) trying to be all strategic by going around the hill.

The Roger is under attack!

See this screen? Imagine it repeated five times.

With this in the middle of it.

Strength is cool.

Along the way, The Roger activated Pavise. It's a red AT field.

He wiped out five zombies in total, and of course, 20 x 5 equals...

A point of defense for The Roger the Paladin. Good job, but hang back now. I don't want that entombed to attack you.

Kate is still fighting in the narrow pass on her own.

Doin' great, too. One more fight and she'll level up.

Just like so.

Me and my big mouth. I just had to say she's doing well, didn't I?

Tom, too, levels, now that the horde has caught up to him and Norton.

A defensive level. Of course. Keep in mind that his defense growth is 10%.

Hey! HEY! Where do you think you're going!? Get back to Norton at once!

Now that Kate has leveled up (to no avail), Juliattisnacordst has taken the initiative and is fighting in the frontlines.

Maruj hits the gold and earns almost a level. Attaboy.

Julia fights also, while Juni swims in crap to get to the upper chest.

The Entombed may've fled, but this guy did not. We'll get to the golden boy soon enough. For now, this will suffice.

Lovely! I was starting to doubt you were capable of getting good levels, but here we go. All the stats a Knight needs.

I'm sorry if this is starting to get boring. At this point we're just grinding for experience. Here, have a talk to break the monotony.

I came to visit Holmes. What in the world is going on? Is Holmes safe?

I have no idea what's happening, either... but Holmes should be at the fort.

All right, we'll head there now.

No, we're staying here and grind. When there's no more experience to be gained, and only then, we'll go to the fort.

Are you coming with us, Xeno?

No... I'm staying here. There's someone I need to protect.

Isn't that sweet of him.

Lee does his thing, and this is still going on.

Fighting, fighting, etc.

The worst part is, I can't just skip everything because things are still happening, like the fact that the enemy's too scared of Norton and Tom to advance.

Understandably so, mind.

Hmmm... if I put Xeno here... no, the Entombed can damage him, it'd attack.

But what if I were to give him Lee's leather shield and heal him up to full?

Hoh hoh hoh hoh... delighfully devilish, Ruben.

Oh, egads! My Lee is ruined!

That's enough dead memes for now. We have loot to reap.

This thing is unbreakable and makes you more or less invincible against thunder magic. Situational, but it can be useful.

Maruj levels up, and for the first time in his life, it's actually good. It also just hit me that you guys have no idea what level my units are because it doesn't show anywhere in that screen. I'll have to think of a way to circumvent that issue...

For now, though, let's watch Juliattisnacordst being competent.

As well as Kate. You see, I have a plan. See that Entombed up there? I want to keep it alive for now, so our favourite (and only) Lady Knight will stay there and take hits until I decide exactly who should take the kill. It'll be good experience for her, as well.

Although I should probably have her equip the iron bow so she can dodge more reliably.

Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

Why is he attacking!? This goes completely against everything I know about this game's AI! His hitrate's shit, he can't hit critically, he cannot pierce his defenses and he can't survive. Is it because the AI couldn't detect the leather shield?

There goes the experience. C'mon... there are units that needed that more than you, Xeno.

Like Norton. Norton's usefulness depends on whether or not he's promoted here. If he is, he might just be useful. If he isn't, he'll lag behind in the following maps, which are a lot more fast-paced. As well, like I said back when he first joined us, he learns Pavise but only if you promote him prior to level 12. This is one unit that's designed to be promoted as early as possible.

Ah, that's okay. He's at level 8 at this point, if I'm not mistaken. A couple Entombeds will do the trick. I wanted to save one for Tom, but that's life.

Way to go, past me. You just disregarded everything I just said. Oh, well.

So long as either of those survive, I'll be happy.

What's with Adept levels being otherwise empty? First Runan, now you... the difference is that Runan's statsheet is solid. Yours isn't.

And now it's even solider! I'm proud of you, smiley boy. Now you just need to learn how to smile without looking like a serial rapist.

For this battle, I decided to reverse the roles and have Norton jeigan a zombie for Tom.

And now... now I need to get Norton and Tom's 3-move asses all the way to the other side of the map so they can kill Entombeds.

I'll spare you the walking. It's turn 22. See you in turn 222.

During Norton and Tom's journey, I noticed this guy conveniently placed in Maruj's range (these guys do have generic portraits, it just didn't load in time because PS1).

Hmmmm...

Fuck it, you may have it.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, YOU PIECE OF TRAAAASSHH!

Fucking hell, you could've at least tried to get a good level with all that experience you stole from Norton.

Kate is also levelling up. Given the last two levels, and her own last level, I can only imagine this one will be simply wonderful.

It is! More speed for the pile and even some defense. Astounding, Kate, most formidable. I love it and you!

Here we go, the slowpokes have made it! It's time to die, golden fuck!

It didn't even move! It's too terrified to flee! Great! I could kill that guy now, but I'd rather let Kate get a little more experience.

So instead, let's let her dodge to her heart's content and give Norton what he came all the way here for.

Dangit!

Turn 31. Eh, I thought it'd take longer.

Okay, it is going to take longer.

Damn! Norton was about as tired of this idiot as I was!

Hwahahahah! Great, just great! Only one more level!

There are four enemies left in the map. Both Norton and Tom are at 60% experience. You know what that means, right?

One down!

The rest are bold (and foolish) enough to come welcome us! Oh, yeah, please do attack Norton. That'd be swell.

While all that transpired, Juni made it to the final chest and got... oh, hell yeah! Just what we needed! There's no need to choose anymore, then: both Kate and Norton are walking out of this putrid island on a horse.

But first, Norton needs to get to level 10.

Ah, there's no need for me to do anything about the level issue. So long as the level's bad, you get to see exactly what level number it is, and given how common bad levels are in this game...

Since Norton can't double, he got enough experience out of wearing down this zombie to...

...get to level 10 without killing the final zombie! More defense is always welcome on the team's tank (not to be confused with the team's tank), especially when the growth's 25%.

Guess there's no need for Norton to kill this guy anymore, so let's play a little game before we leave: how long can Kate last against this guy? Two hits will do her in, so of course, I'll only leave her there until she takes one.

One!

One. Okay.

Now, let me explain exactly what happened here. I pressed C by accident (I have "button that is used to confirm actions" bound to C. I'm not familiar with the PS1 controller, please excuse my ignorance) while checking out how she fared against the zombie and made her fight at melee range. Since it was but a minor fuck up, and this was the final enemy and all, I decided to just rewind. I mean, no harm in doing such a thing, right? Shut up, there's nothing wrong with that, I broke no rules, anyone would've done the same. Besides!

I didn't even have to rewind, because she procced Adept and I decided to let it happen so as to show off the Adept effect properly (because trails on "lifting a crossbow and firing it" isn't exactly all that impressive).

Ah, yeah. Look at that. Badass, Kate, bad-fucking-ass! Not even my incompetence can stop you! And my incompetence has stopped a LOT of people before, so you should be quite proud of yourself.

We're almost in the clear. Only two things left to do.

First, get Norton his horse.

Here we go. Look at that. Magnificent.

The promogains aren't exactly stellar, but that's all right, all that matters is that sweet, sweet +3 movement.

This is dismounted Norton. For whatever reason, he keeps the defense he gained upon promoting, but he loses the strength and... one point of speed and skill that he obtained naturally? Well, all right, I guess.

Yeah, yeah, I know. His promoted nickname is "Rock Solid", you don't need to make a fuss about it.

Kate, 'tis your turn.

Make Wellt proud!

There we go. Now she has a horse almost as edgy as Zieg's and... new boots, for whatever reason.

The promotion bonuses for the Bow Knight aren't so impressive either, but they work. She had great speed already, and with that boost to her defenses and movement, she has now become an ever-so-slightly worse Roger that can use bows. Pretty neat. I'm glad I spent the time and resources on training her.

Dismounting just makes her go back to her unpromoted self, only with 2 more max HP. Not bad. Makes more sense than Norton, at least.

And with that, it is all over. Next time, we get text and... something special. I would advise that you don't miss it, so do your utmost to fare well until then. See y'all!

Death count: --

Reset count: 0

 

[Punished Dayni]

3 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oh, right. Well, two things: one, you quoted the christmas card and I was confused by that. Second, I didn't even think of that as a pun. I just didn't know what title to give the update, and I went "hey, there's tanks in this update! Perfect!"

Well, considering you had the card I thought you were using it as a pun for Thanks.

3 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I like how you say that as if we were fighting fiercely and hatefully, while quoting that magnificent jerksplosion I had there. How is that arguing?

It's the internet, arguing is to be expected.

I'd rather not let it get too heated frankly.

4 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

No, it's a real problem! With great power comes great responsability! We must utilize the names appropiately, lest we risk the argument losing all its meaning!

True, I could have been more accurate.

Where is Lazberia though?

4 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

How dare you say such things? I have caused no confusion and delay... have I?

I'm pretty sure you haven't, this was my last chance to use Codha somehow.

4 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hah! No chance! I don't even know how one does something as basic as changing the growths in this game!

To be fair, I don't think there's a TearRing builder out there to make it easy though.

5 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That's some slick editing.

I don't want to look up that to see where you got the inspiration.

5 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You mean, when Sasha, Kate and Norton are ambushed by Dagon and he turns Norton into a statue?

That would be why Runan leaves his training early.

6 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah, Sherlock was a bit of a dick, wasn't he?

...dang, I can't refer to him as Sherlock either because there's a Sherlock in Berwick! Am I really going to have to say his full name every single time? Fine, Sherlock Holmes it is.

Let's call him Richard Holmes.

7 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Albertus alone could probably end this war right now.

Spoiler

I mean, dragons cause the people of Lieberia to flip.

Manaketes are essentially that and Albertus has shown some fierce fire before.

6 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ah! You'll have to wait.

I guess I will.

7 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Delete this.

Now.

7 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Nah, don't worry, I don't like it that much, myself. It's the arms, isn't it? His armor was already a bit dubious, when I had to actually draw what was going on below, I couldn't do too much. I tried to make it look like he has his arms behind his frontal plate of armor, but I don't think it worked out that well.

He always did look really freaky, you could say he looks weird because of that old encounter with Gharnef, but other than that, yeah. Not that happy, myself, and in this case I don't see how I could make it much better with my limited skills. Here's hoping the remaining sprites will impress you guys more. There's a reason I saved those for last and only introduced Matthis and Frost here as a teaser.

Still, I'll try to see if I can improve him now that we still have time. I have a new version ready, you'll see next time he shows up.

Yeah, Matthis's arms are certainly a weakness in this image. Maybe he should have broader shoulders. Then again, how much would be too much?

I didn't have any complaints with Frost though.

9 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Xeno: HP 65% - Strength 35% - Skill 50% - Speed 40% - Defense 22% - Magic 5% - Luck 30% - Mastery 30%
Juni: HP 35% - Strength 0% - Skill 45% - Speed 40% - Defense 5% - Magic 20% - Luck 35% - Mastery 25%
Katri: HP 40% - Magic 35% - Skill 10% - Speed 55% - Defense 5% - Strength 0% - Luck 40% - Mastery 60%

Xeno is our first Mercenary. In this game, Mercenaries are just glorified Myrmidons: they're rather speedy but rather fragile and weak and they can only ever use swords. No axes for 'em in this game, sorry. Xeno himself's okay. He learns a bunch of skills and has solid offensive stats, but his swordlockedness and his lack of bulk drag him down somewhat. Fun enough unit, he's all right, I like him enough.

Juni's a Thief who can't gain strength, but she doesn't need it. Steal, in this game, works like this: you fight an enemy, and if the skill triggers, you automatically steal things from them. It works for everything without a special star. More worrying than her lack of strength is her lack of defense. You can't have her fight anything, as she'll crumble the second they lay their hands on her, and although she does have decent magic, I don't think I've ever seen Thieves steal anything when fighting from afar. Maybe I've just extremely unlucky, but believe me, I've had this scrub (and other scrubs) strike oh so many enemies with thunder and not once did they get me anything at all. Bad unit, honestly, and Thieves in this game aren't that useful for reasons we'll discover as we go. She'll, however, be useful in this map, as we have a bunch of chests to open and her Locktouch skill is exactly what we need. No lockpicks in this game, you just have a unit with that skill (which isn't relegated to Thieves, by the way. You'll see) step on the chest and they'll be able to open it, no questions asked.

Katri's Enteh, except she starts with the Summon skill which lets her use summon stats instead of gaining it at level 30 which she'll never reach. That's it. The Ring of Salia does something interesting, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Xeno seems like he could be good, Juni is a bit of a shame and Katri is one of the shamans.

Why did Kaga not like shamans in terms of gameplay?

10 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

First let's have Julia just barely be strong enough to kill a shitty zombie. In this game, they painstakingly walk towards their opposition, horrendously slowly raise their hand and then let it fall on the enemy's head. It's lame. To say the very least.

Why copy that from Gaiden, Kaga?

Just why?

(And why did IS use it for their zombies in SS?)

12 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...BLISTERING BARNACLES, BIG FUCKING DRAGON! I take it back, I take it back, sorry! You had every reason to be tired! Don't burn me to a crisp!

Oh no a dragon

I guess she's a great portable barbecue.

13 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Okay, let us commence operation GTFO. I don't think I need to explain what that's about.

So, who would win between this and Arvis to be fire incarnate?

Actually, this second image does raise the point that I made about having possible issue with Mag+Res as one stat (Well, it does show they can work around it). Honestly, I recently had the idea that a unit's defence and resistance could be combined into a resilience stat and armour could be incorporated more effectively that way with different magical and physical resilience.

15 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Awesome, strength! I like it. Make sure to prove to me this wasn't just a fluke.

Wait, Julia procced strength?

....Good, let's see that more, much as it could be a unicorn.

19 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...why, you son of a-- NOW is when you get a good level!? Oh, but no defense, nooooooooooo we're not here to live, we're here to make Ruben even sadder when Kate dies! Fuck you, game, fuck you very much.

Kate gets a good level and is in danger.

Where have I seen this before....... It's just making me think of the time Titania got a perfect level and then someone died on me. I was distraught.

20 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

A lot of numbers, but none of them are particularly useful. Eh. Still doin' good, Runan.

24 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Runan levels up and gets Adept and nothing else. Amazing.

No, stop this Runan. I want you to be relevant.

Don't be the Roy, be the Leif.

25 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Rubentales! ooo Woo ooo!

Every day we're zombie slaying,

Rubentales! ooo Woo ooo!

25 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Great! Really good level up. I'm liking how Kate's growing. Her growths leave too much to be desired, but my Kate's growing into quite the balanced unit. I'm glad.

She would like some defence but that's the only real concern here I think.

27 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

This thing is unbreakable and makes you more or less invincible against thunder magic. Situational, but it can be useful.

That explains why it wasn't ruined by the swamp.

28 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Maruj levels up, and for the first time in his life, it's actually good. It also just hit me that you guys have no idea what level my units are because it doesn't show anywhere in that screen. I'll have to think of a way to circumvent that issue...

Maruj gets magic.

It's a miracle!

29 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

And now it's even solider! I'm proud of you, smiley boy. Now you just need to learn how to smile without looking like a serial rapist.

That's a tiny bit better. I guess.

30 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hwahahahah! Great, just great! Only one more level!

Norton, of all people, gets some decent stats.

No way Arden would get skill.

30 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

While all that transpired, Juni made it to the final chest and got... oh, hell yeah! Just what we needed! There's no need to choose anymore, then: both Kate and Norton are walking out of this putrid island on a horse.

You really wanted them to get those horses eh?

32 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

The promotion bonuses for the Bow Knight aren't so impressive either, but they work. She had great speed already, and with that boost to her defenses and movement, she has now become an ever-so-slightly worse Roger that can use bows. Pretty neat. I'm glad I spent the time and resources on training her.

Well, she got defence from it.

That's a pretty good low-level promote in all fairness.

[BrightBow]

Maybe that valley was a lot prettier before someone unleashed the zombie apocalypse on it.

Anyway, it's nice to see Thomas make himself useful.

And I'm surprised you didn't cover what Neuron's breath attacks do.

This map is kinda dickish, having to send Yuni all over the map through difficult terrain to get all the chests. But I suppose that's why they give you some mummies to eat in the meantime.

 

Edited December 29, 2018 by BrightBow

[The Roger The Paladin]

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Damnit, you! When will you understand that the joy punning is supposed to be but a fleeting moment of fun? If you extend it beyond that, it grows highlee tiresome!

...we're going to keep this up throughout the whole LP, aren't we?

Absolutelee.
 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Holmes is regular detective to realize the staff actually was the cause and not something else.
What, was he supposed to think Katri just sort of shit out all those zombies?

Could have just been Mexican immigrants celebrating Day of the Dead. Or the late George Romero filming a movie. Or a zombie walk. Or something the last person to hold the staff (wait a minute) did.  Or an attack by a necromancer who was pissed because the pirates stole his shipment of staves. I mean, sure, Katri being an idiot is the obvious solution, but what if he's wrong?
 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Now Kaga is incorporating KDIF (Kaga Did It First) elements into Juliattinacordst. Soon, Juliattisnacordst will be everything.

The first playable singularity.

 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

There's Katri. Remember how in the last update Juni proposed that Katri went with her to pick flowers at "the valley nearby"? Yeah. This is the valley nearby. Beautiful, isn't it? It's so beautiful, units take damage from standing on it.

Maybe Juni's into self-harm? Or that necromancer theory was right, and the valley is supposed to be to keep anyone escaping the zombie hoard alive while the necromancer goes home and enjoys a nap.

 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Wow. Talk of a waste of time. Those guys probably aren't even worth the 20 experience that every kill gives at a minimum!

...is perhaps what some of you thought when you first saw that screenshot. And let me tell you, you're right. They aren't worth 20 experience. They're worth something like 90. Yep. Kill one of these guys, and 9 times out of 10 you'll level up. These guys really are only here to give your scrubs a final push before we enter the second arc of the game. Suffice to say, I'll be using them to great effect.

Yep. Those guys were in Gaiden and Echoes... only there they're actually kind of dangerous (especially the ones in a certain DLC, who will kill units if you don't plan). Also the experience system is still different.

 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

He vantaged the zombie's ass, but his steel sword weighs him down too much for him to double, and he also missed. Y'know, a 93%. Why wouldn't he? At least he did so while looking damn slick.

Maybe seeing Wrys and Ruben reminded him of times past and unfortunate incidents. That or being near the ocean.
 

 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Who cares?! Run!

You saw what just happened, right? She turned into an overpowered, invincible dragon? Well, by using the Ring of Salia, we can trigger that transformation at our leisure. Not only that, but we'll also be able to control Neuron as any other unit.

This reminds me of that thing about Corrin in Fates but it looks more powerful here (as opposed to being still very vulnerable to wyrmslayers and sort of weak to magic) Stop doing everything first Kaga.

 

 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Kate, I think this might be it. Your 4 move ensures you can't escape, and there are 3 strong enemies right on top of you. You may not make it out...

...why, you son of a-- NOW is when you get a good level!? Oh, but no defense, nooooooooooo we're not here to live, we're here to make Ruben even sadder when Kate dies! Fuck you, game, fuck you very much.

I was beginning to think she may be the first fatality after the close call last battle. Another close call so soon? Well better see how this pans out.

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Never mind, he just left because the game refused to let me sink his ship.

Probably a good thing. Renee looks recruitable and I don't think she can swim in that dress. He probably just wants some singing lessons anyway

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You are a disgrace to the name of The Roger the Paladin.

Yep. Definitely falling into his habits from being a knight. PTSD from seeing Ruben confirmed.

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Roger, if you miss this, I'm benching you f-- nay, I'm killing you off.

Nah, I'll just get mad and scream obscenities about you and possibly your girlfriend. You don't want that, do you? Please hit.

When you become Codha light (which given regular Codha could be anywhere from a newborn baby to a heavyweight boxer), using threat of obscenities about loved ones to motivate people.

 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

More? More! More, more, more! Soon, I'll be like Scrooge McDuck, only swimming in golden mummies instead of golden coins.

You'll stink for a week you know.

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

 

Die! Ahahahahah... what do you have to say now?! Not so smug anymore, eh?! Hwah! Say hi to Martel for me. Not the girl, the Brilliant Dumbass.

Are you baiting me now?

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

My goodness, she really did summon a ton of 'em. I'm surprised that zombie staff's still usable. Maybe it had something crazy like thousands of uses and Katri brought it all the way down to 11 before I took control of her?

Or maybe this really is a zombie-walk and no one noticed? Or Halloween. They just wanted candy man.
 

 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

All right, Kate, it's time for you to enjoy the golden touch as well.

The touch of King Midas turns things to gold. The touch of King Minos is merely innappropriate.
 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Reminds me of when I made pic attached way back when from Morshu from CD-i's Link Faces of Evil

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

As for Norton and Tom, I have decided to let them stick around where they are, since there seems to be a horde of Revenants (with an Entombed included) trying to be all strategic by going around the hill.

Brigadier Berlin? Is that you?

 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oh, egads! My Lee is ruined!

*Leegads.
This healer looks suspiciously like the one from Archanea.

 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That's enough dead memes for now. We have loot to reap.

Well, I made the Gannonbanned/Cannonbanned joke, so I'm in no position to complain.

 

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

And now it's even solider! I'm proud of you, smiley boy. Now you just need to learn how to smile without looking like a serial rapist.

Decent lord. Just keep him away from your cornflakes, and be sure any liquid is actually milk. (Too far? Maybe I should stick to Martel jokes and Lee puns)
 

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It is! More speed for the pile and even some defense. Astounding, Kate, most formidable. I love it and you!

We may be seeing the emergence of this run's unlikely good unit.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

While all that transpired, Juni made it to the final chest and got... oh, hell yeah! Just what we needed! There's no need to choose anymore, then: both Kate and Norton are walking out of this putrid island on a horse.

How do you walk ON a horse? Unless you're one of those circus girls. But Norton's not and he's wearing armor.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ah, yeah. Look at that. Badass, Kate, bad-fucking-ass! Not even my incompetence can stop you! And my incompetence has stopped a LOT of people before, so you should be quite proud of yourself.

Impressive. By all rights, my guess just got destroyed by that proc. Hopefully.

 

1 hour ago, Dayni said:

Rubentales! ooo Woo ooo!

Every day we're zombie slaying,

Rubentales! ooo Woo ooo!

D-d-d-danger. There's an enemy out to beat ya,
If they get you Codha might just eat ya.
What to do when you're in trouble? Just grab on to some Rubentales.
 

[Hawkwing]

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You're almost as bad as me. Congratulations.

Being fair, it was about 4 hours in before I lost everyone, then I decided it might be a better idea to just do another "Ironman no-grinding" run on hard again, although I haven't started it yet.

And that's the out-of-nowhere ending from Gundam, right? I need to watch that series sometime. Along with a list of other television shows and cartoons.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hwahahahahahahah... amazing.

Thank you. I also made this yesterday:

This is accurately represents Blustone more than I'd like.

Also, I think this lets play kept a topic from getting locked. I'm not joking.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hwahahahahahahahhaahhaahhahaahahah even more amazing!

Noob Sailbot has some of the nastier fatalities in the game, and It didn't work for a gif because he cracked his hands too fast. Don't know if that adds or detracts to the humor.

At least the meme I made above only took five minutes.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Consider me a part the common denominator, then. However, I think the multiple characters approach could've worked if it wasn't for the fact that Kara and Markus's stories are so much worse than Connor's. The game just needed someone not called David Cage behind the wheel, like every other game David Cage has made.

I see.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hoo, boy. I feel your pain, man. I'd like to spend hours talking about Miles Edgeworth Investigations 2 with my best friend, but since he doesn't know english, he can't play it. Urgh...

I always learn about other (sometimes obscure) games people love whenever I bring up that rant.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I wish I could say the same, but I've fallen for the trap in the past. I'm sorry.

I tend to get games years after they come out, so that's probably the reason why. Heck, Into The Breach is the most recent game I've bought, and for the longest time Shadows of Valentia held that honor... and it was a remake of an NES game.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That thing about Echoes sounds absolutely hilarious to see.

Well, the maps are all actual 3D levels on their own (and fully traversable , if you hack the game to activate the free roaming on them), so archers can attack units that really are five tiles away from them. It gets hilarious with Physic, as the thing can have a monstrous range, so you really can heal someone on the other side of the map and get a zoom in of how far away they are.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I wasn't annoyed, that's just the first thing everyone thinks of when they hear that line.

I didn't think you were, but some people have when I mentioned the phrase.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Because people are dumb, I mean, nobody ever retreats when they're about to be killed by player units. How awesome would it be if they just surrendered sometimes? It'd make arena abuse a lot less effective, to be sure.

Well, the time period these games take place are before the Geneva conventions made fake surrendering a war crime, so chances are some of those surrendering mooks are just getting their opponent in a position to stab them in the heart.

It would be cool to see more non-lethal attacks in Fire Emblem, though.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That part of the scene just doesn't play. Notice how Norton interrupts the scene, and during his whole segment only he and Lionel talk? It's rather clever.

Huh, I see. Is this common or rare for the game to do, because I see this as one of the problems that permadeath poses in Fire Emblems writing?

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hmmmm...

Oh God! It's even worse! He looks like he's about to murder someone!

Yet not in the serial killer way. More in the "You guys are SO dead!" way that anime protagonists have.

...I don't know if that made it better or worse.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Again with Blustone! If you keep this up I'll end up having to look it up.

Dew it! Because I really want someone to discuss the game with because the forums aren't that interesting and the wiki went to crap when it crashed several moments ago and...

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Now Kaga is incorporating KDIF (Kaga Did It First) elements into Juliattinacordst. Soon, Juliattisnacordst will be everything.

Now that lawsuit case became even more interesting.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Well, this came out in 2001, 21 years after Empire Strikes Back, so... could be!

Seems like a very on-the-nose reference, though.

I mean, Gregor in Awakening is pretty much Heavy Weapons Guy from TF2, but that's complicated a bit by it also being a localization thing.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Thanks!

You're welcome!

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I haven't, no. A quick google search tells me that's where the "noddle incident" thingy originated from, so I guess that's why you ask.

Meant to type "Noodle Incident". I'd edit these things, but SF never lets me edit posts were I quote you for some reason.

The spelling errors in my SF interview still haunt me to this day.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah, it's more organic than "wait 100 turns and then press 'support' to read".

That's something I still dislike from the little I've played of the GBA games. I like playing efficiently, so the sheer amount of time needed to place two units together to get a single support bothers me to no end. Not helping is that the game doesn't tell you how many support points there are between characters

Heck, Awakening streamlined the process by having you only gain three support points between characters per map, with you needing a certain amount total to unlock the support, and I still struggle with unlocking them. The only game I don't have trouble unlocking supports with is Echoes, and that's because they're easy as heck to activate naturally.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It is? I thought Apollo Justice was just a pun, like every other name in the Ace Attorney series. Color me surprised.

Yep. A kid in my class had the name Justice, and I didn't realize that it actually meant the word in question until years later.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Heh... yeah, about that...

...He's an asshole, isn't he?

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Is that... a treasure chest?

In the middle of a swamp?

Kaga put a treasure chest... in the middle of a swamp...

...Kaga, you are the trolliest of trolls that ever trolled.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Foreshadowing... the next level, probably.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

There's Katri. Remember how in the last update Juni proposed that Katri went with her to pick flowers at "the valley nearby"? Yeah. This is the valley nearby. Beautiful, isn't it? It's so beautiful, units take damage from standing on it.

I don't know, maybe if they were these kind?

Videogames need to get more creative with swamp levels.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Why does Holmes have to be so mean all the time?

Holmes is just...

Huh? Holmes is what?

Nah... forget it. Never mind.

Just tell the truth that Holmes is a jerk and move on.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It's us! Nice ship we got there.

Ah, so it won't pull the Gaiden trick of "you control two separate armies".

 

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Wow. Talk of a waste of time. Those guys probably aren't even worth the 20 experience that every kill gives at a minimum!

...is perhaps what some of you thought when you first saw that screenshot. And let me tell you, you're right. They aren't worth 20 experience. They're worth something like 90. Yep. Kill one of these guys, and 9 times out of 10 you'll level up. These guys really are only here to give your scrubs a final push before we enter the second arc of the game. Suffice to say, I'll be using them to great effect.

So... just like the mummies in Fire Emblem. Except I think a few mummies make up for being made of paper by having monstrous strength, which doesn't mean much because sometimes a single normal attack will destroy them.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Xeno is our first Mercenary. In this game, Mercenaries are just glorified Myrmidons: they're rather speedy but rather fragile and weak and they can only ever use swords. No axes for 'em in this game, sorry. Xeno himself's okay. He learns a bunch of skills and has solid offensive stats, but his swordlockedness and his lack of bulk drag him down somewhat. Fun enough unit, he's all right, I like him enough.

So pretty much how they are in Fire Emblem 1-3, except that the weapon triangle is now a factor.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Juni's a Thief who can't gain strength, but she doesn't need it. Steal, in this game, works like this: you fight an enemy, and if the skill triggers, you automatically steal things from them. It works for everything without a special star. More worrying than her lack of strength is her lack of defense. You can't have her fight anything, as she'll crumble the second they lay their hands on her, and although she does have decent magic, I don't think I've ever seen Thieves steal anything when fighting from afar. Maybe I've just extremely unlucky, but believe me, I've had this scrub (and other scrubs) strike oh so many enemies with thunder and not once did they get me anything at all. Bad unit, honestly, and Thieves in this game aren't that useful for reasons we'll discover as we go. She'll, however, be useful in this map, as we have a bunch of chests to open and her Locktouch skill is exactly what we need. No lockpicks in this game, you just have a unit with that skill (which isn't relegated to Thieves, by the way. You'll see) step on the chest and they'll be able to open it, no questions asked.

I miss steal in the later games. Not that it would have much of a use, but it adds another use to thieves than "open chest without a key".

Anyway, Juni sounds extremely limited in utility, and is just asking to be unlucky and die at some point.

Also, Kaga did Locktouch first.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Katri's Enteh, except she starts with the Summon skill which lets her use summon stats instead of gaining it at level 30 which she'll never reach. That's it. The Ring of Salia does something interesting, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

What do you mean by "summon stats instead of gaining it"? I'm a little confused.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

In this game, they painstakingly walk towards their opposition, horrendously slowly raise their hand and then let it fall on the enemy's head. It's lame. To say the very least.

So... just like Fire Emblem. Except that the zombies in Gaiden sunk into the ground to get close to their opponent before swiping at them. And then that idea was never used again until Awakening as a reference as only a singe enemy type did so.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Xeno's animations. They're cool, even if I don't understand why he has a rope wrapped around his right shoulder. That's right, he has a rope wrapped around his shoulder. I'll try to get an idle shot so you can see it better.

Rope is the essential tool of any adventure/puzzle game protagonist and/or DnD party. Perhaps Xeno in Genre-Savvy.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

The animation is awesome. The damage is not.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Are these guys even friends?

Maybe it's the vitriolic kind.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...BLISTERING BARNACLES, BIG FUCKING DRAGON! I take it back, I take it back, sorry! You had every reason to be tired! Don't burn me to a crisp

Holy Crap. They have dragons in this game. I was not expecting that.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Well, that thing no longer exists. The rest of the zombies panic and attempt to move as far away from Neuron as possible.

I don't know what I'm more surprised by: Zombies, who in most games and media don't have a thing called "morale" or "fear", are panicking, or that zombies are tactically retreating.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

You saw what just happened, right? She turned into an overpowered, invincible dragon? Well, by using the Ring of Salia, we can trigger that transformation at our leisure. Not only that, but we'll also be able to control Neuron as any other unit.

Sounds like the game's over, doesn't it? Well, there's a catch: after a random amount of turns (so you can't plan around it), Katri goes back to being herself. At the beginning of the enemy phase. Which pretty much means that, if you go mad with power and just throw her at everything, there's a very significant chance that she'll become a fragile cleric with a bazillion enemies ready to cleave her into a multitude of tiny pieces. And like Enteh, Katri has that pesky little star, so you might as well wave your run goodbye if that happens. Not only that, but she also gains no experience while fighting as Neuron, so using it too much is a huge waste of experience. What I'm trying to say is that, while Neuron's inmensely useful, there's enough risk involved that it's best not to go overboard with it. It's clever game design, I feel. Certainly better than going "well, I'm not gonna use that outside of cutscenes because game balance!".

So... FE3 Bantu, except that the transformation process is random, you gain nada experience, and if you abuse it or are unlucky, you pay for it by getting a game over.

Granted, I got some use out of Bantu when playing FE3... even if for the first time in my life I saw an FE enemy too scared to attack or even move.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ah, so it was foreshadowing the chapter.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Look, a conversation!

Xeno! You came for me! What... What happened to me, Xeno?

Katri... Let's just go back to the fort for now, before we worry the others any more.

These two will be support partners, won't they?

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Kaga did "thieves attack by holding the sword by the backhand" first.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

The situation is rather dire. Let's rob a levin sword!

Even in a different universe, the blade that shoots lighting is called the levin sword.

It's simply called the thunder sword in Gaiden and Echoes, so I'm curious as to what the story behind the name is.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Never mind, the last asshole fled to heal! Thank the Wundergust for that.

Thank the Wundergust indeed.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...can I kill him?

Please. And do so with extreme prejudice.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Just showcasing the fact that Maruj's animation doesn't change when he's not using wind spells. He still pretends to be a plane and sort of casts a thunderbolt on himself.

Eh, it's not too far-fetched of a motion to cast a lightning spell.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I like how the Sellswords point to the background with their off-hand while they're cutting people. It's like they're employing the old "look overthere!" trick. It doesn't work so well.

And it also looks like he's pointing at them with the sword and his finger before he attacks.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oh... he has a herb, too? Well, no! Not just a herb, a fruit, so he goes back to full HP just like that! They gave this random merc a shield, a fruit and a sturdy sword, and as a result, I can't kill him!

It's far-fetched, but maybe this is a reference to the leather shield mercenary in Gaiden and Echoes. The guy that told you that bosses can and will be tough in that game.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Juni has made it to the chest in the middle of the map. It's an iron shield, same deal as the leather shield, but it raises defense by 7, I'm pretty sure? However, it only has 3 uses.

Outside of gameplay balance, the uses that shields have continues to perplex me.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ah, Ducktales. Another TV show on the list of things I really need to watch.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Along the way, The Roger activated Pavise. It's a red AT field.

Is it just me, or does this game already use this effect elsewhere?

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Are you coming with us, Xeno?

No... I'm staying here. There's someone I need to protect.

Yep. Xeno and Katri are support buddies.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

This thing is unbreakable and makes you more or less invincible against thunder magic. Situational, but it can be useful.

Sounds like the good kind of situational.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It didn't even move! It's too terrified to flee!

Or its too dumb to advance.

6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Here we go. Look at that. Magnificent.

He looks awesome.

[BrightBow]

1 hour ago, Hawkwing said:

So... FE3 Bantu, except that the transformation process is random, you gain nada experience, and if you abuse it or are unlucky, you pay for it by getting a game over.

Granted, I got some use out of Bantu when playing FE3... even if for the first time in my life I saw an FE enemy too scared to attack or even move.

Well, unlike Bantu, Katri can kill up to 9 enemies in one attack with 30 points of defense negating damage. She is completely invincible and can transform as often as she likes.

No need for EXP when you are already far more powerful then what everyone else in the game could possibly achieve.

 

1 hour ago, Hawkwing said:

It's simply called the thunder sword in Gaiden and Echoes, so I'm curious as to what the story behind the name is.

It has the same name in this game. It's just that Aethin used the names of corresponding items or skills from the official Fire Emblem translations if possible. Including those of games that didn't even exist when TRS was made. Like Locktouch for example.

Edited December 29, 2018 by BrightBow

[Hawkwing]

1 hour ago, BrightBow said:

Well, unlike Bantu, Katri can kill up to 9 enemies in one attack with 30 points of defense negating damage. She is completely invincible and can transform as often as she likes.

No need for EXP when you are already far more powerful then what everyone else in the game could possibly achieve.

With the catch being you can loose this status randomly and if she dies, it's game over.

I see the pros and cons of this mechanic a bit clearer now. Thanks.

1 hour ago, BrightBow said:

It has the same name in this game. It's just that Aethin used the names of corresponding items or skills from the official Fire Emblem translations if possible. Including those of games that didn't even exist when TRS was made. Like Locktouch for example.

I see. Although I'm still curious as to the what the origin of the names are now. And how many jokes of "Kaga did it first" are now only half true?

[Pengaius]

17 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

 

 

Anti-Virus update installed, use wing potion to speed up anti-virus software.

*insert images of all the blank level ups in this chapter, Runan, Kate, Julia, Lee and Maruj (I think that's all) because Serenes won't let me quote them for some reason even though I could quote the norton image, but I'm not mad of anything, B-Baka here*

 

The noise that is made by the rare creature that is known as Barth.pizza

[BrightBow]

9 hours ago, Hawkwing said:

I see. Although I'm still curious as to the what the origin of the names are now. And how many jokes of "Kaga did it first" are now only half true?

The Serenes Forest page of the game does not use the patch names. So it may give a better indication of what the original names are.

https://serenesforest.net/tearring-saga/

[The Roger The Paladin]

Now it's officially confirmed. My Mac doesn't want anything to do with letting me play Tear Ring Saga (I can't even download a rom without it corrupting). This is the only way I'm experiencing the game until I get a better computer.

[Hawkwing]

13 hours ago, BrightBow said:

The Serenes Forest page of the game does not use the patch names. So it may give a better indication of what the original names are.

https://serenesforest.net/tearring-saga/

I see. Thank you.

And once again, it appears that swords get the lions share of variances. And what is it with the almost random numbers chosen for the weapon stats?

[Saint Rubenio]

Part 15 - Happy reunions and exposition.

Time for a format change. Replies have started to get overwhelmingly huge in both size and number. Which isn't a bad thing, mind. I love it. However, it's starting to get to a point where just finding the tiny spoiler bar so as to read the update itself is a little harder than it should be.

Thus, so my posts (which, in the end, are what you guys are here for) are lost in the sea of replies, I'll put all the replies to the replies in a spoiler. Not only will the updates look a lot cleaner, but I will have an easier time finding the number of the last part. I swear, I have to scroll up way too much just to ensure this isn't like my FE12 LP where by the end of it the title count was about four updates behind.

Of course, there's the downside that my posts will be incredibly small compared to most of the replies, so there's a chance they might get a little too hard to find. I'll have to think of something if the issue turns out to be too big to overlook.

Tell me if you like the new format better or not.

Replies:

Spoiler

On 29/12/2018 at 2:24 PM, Dayni said:

Well, considering you had the card I thought you were using it as a pun for Thanks.

I understand.

It's the internet, arguing is to be expected.

I'd rather not let it get too heated frankly.

Nonsense! You know I'm a good guy. Perhaps even the best. And if you disagree I'll KILL you! I mean... kiss you?

True, I could have been more accurate.

Where is Lazberia though?

Just a little to the left of Lieberia.

I'm pretty sure you haven't, this was my last chance to use Codha somehow.

I understand. Fair enough.

To be fair, I don't think there's a TearRing builder out there to make it easy though.

This game's too obscure for that.

That's some slick editing.

I don't want to look up that to see where you got the inspiration.

I simply typed "those are the eyes of a killer" on google and found the cover for a straight-to-DVD movie from last century. I felt it was funny enough.

That would be why Runan leaves his training early.

And then he finds Dagon and Dagon goes "I am your father" and Runan was like "...I have a father. His name was Gramud Selius." and then Dagon replied "godspeed, Lord Runan" and then he casted nosferatu but it turned on him and BOOM he's dead and his last words were "Runan... don't tell Holmes".

...no, I don't do drugs, why do you ask?

Let's call him Richard Holmes.

I like Dick Holmes better.

  Reveal hidden contents

I mean, dragons cause the people of Lieberia to flip.

Manaketes are essentially that and Albertus has shown some fierce fire before.

I agree. I also like how you're still Albertus's hypeman. Not too long since he arrives!

I guess I will.

No guesses, you will.

Delete this.

Now.

Nevah!

Yeah, Matthis's arms are certainly a weakness in this image. Maybe he should have broader shoulders. Then again, how much would be too much?

The problem is that those huge chunks of metal are actually shoulderpads. I was too sloppy with his design, and now it's paying off... I think I improved it somewhat, but it's still not my favourite by any means.

I didn't have any complaints with Frost though.

Cool, one of two is decent enough.

Xeno seems like he could be good, Juni is a bit of a shame and Katri is one of the shamans.

Why did Kaga not like shamans in terms of gameplay?

Who knows, but dark magic in this game's solid so...

Why copy that from Gaiden, Kaga?

Just why?

(And why did IS use it for their zombies in SS?)

Because Kaga hates the player and IntSys wanted to copy Kaga.

Oh no a dragon

I guess she's a great portable barbecue.

Human barbecue, for sure!

So, who would win between this and Arvis to be fire incarnate?

This is invincible.

Actually, this second image does raise the point that I made about having possible issue with Mag+Res as one stat (Well, it does show they can work around it). Honestly, I recently had the idea that a unit's defence and resistance could be combined into a resilience stat and armour could be incorporated more effectively that way with different magical and physical resilience.

Hmmm interesting idea, although I must say, I like how these old FEs have magic be very dangerous because everyone's res is so low. Since enemy mages tend to be uncommon, it makes those few Mages that have to be faced a lot more threatening.

Wait, Julia procced strength?

....Good, let's see that more, much as it could be a unicorn.

It was a unicorn, as you call it.

Kate gets a good level and is in danger.

Where have I seen this before....... It's just making me think of the time Titania got a perfect level and then someone died on me. I was distraught.

I mean, it happened a ton of times in my last LPs.

No, stop this Runan. I want you to be relevant.

Don't be the Roy, be the Leif.

Bah, he's still good.

Rubentales! ooo Woo ooo!

Every day we're zombie slaying,

Rubentales! ooo Woo ooo!

Excellent.

She would like some defence but that's the only real concern here I think.

And she later got some, so there's that.

That explains why it wasn't ruined by the swamp.

It does. Huh. Good attention to detail, or fortunate coincidence?

Maruj gets magic.

It's a miracle!

A christmas miracle!

That's a tiny bit better. I guess.

Baby steps.

Norton, of all people, gets some decent stats.

No way Arden would get skill.

Why, Norton's great! Of course he'd get good stats.

You really wanted them to get those horses eh?

They were the two units most in need of a promotion.

Well, she got defence from it.

That's a pretty good low-level promote in all fairness.

Yeah, it was what she needed, all things considered.

 

On 29/12/2018 at 2:24 PM, Dayni said:

Well, considering you had the card I thought you were using it as a pun for Thanks.

I understand.

It's the internet, arguing is to be expected.

I'd rather not let it get too heated frankly.

Nonsense! You know I'm a good guy. Perhaps even the best. And if you disagree I'll KILL you! I mean... kiss you?

True, I could have been more accurate.

Where is Lazberia though?

Just a little to the left of Lieberia.

I'm pretty sure you haven't, this was my last chance to use Codha somehow.

I understand. Fair enough.

To be fair, I don't think there's a TearRing builder out there to make it easy though.

This game's too obscure for that.

That's some slick editing.

I don't want to look up that to see where you got the inspiration.

I simply typed "those are the eyes of a killer" on google and found the cover for a straight-to-DVD movie from last century. I felt it was funny enough.

That would be why Runan leaves his training early.

And then he finds Dagon and Dagon goes "I am your father" and Runan was like "...I have a father. His name was Gramud Selius." and then Dagon replied "godspeed, Lord Runan" and then he casted nosferatu but it turned on him and BOOM he's dead and his last words were "Runan... don't tell Holmes".

...no, I don't do drugs, why do you ask?

Let's call him Richard Holmes.

I like Dick Holmes better.

  Reveal hidden contents

I mean, dragons cause the people of Lieberia to flip.

Manaketes are essentially that and Albertus has shown some fierce fire before.

I agree. I also like how you're still Albertus's hypeman. Not too long since he arrives!

I guess I will.

No guesses, you will.

Delete this.

Now.

Nevah!

Yeah, Matthis's arms are certainly a weakness in this image. Maybe he should have broader shoulders. Then again, how much would be too much?

The problem is that those huge chunks of metal are actually shoulderpads. I went too overboard with his design... I think I improved it somewhat, but it's still not my favourite by any means.

I didn't have any complaints with Frost though.

Cool, one of two is decent enough.

Xeno seems like he could be good, Juni is a bit of a shame and Katri is one of the shamans.

Why did Kaga not like shamans in terms of gameplay?

Who knows, but dark magic in this game's solid so...

Why copy that from Gaiden, Kaga?

Just why?

(And why did IS use it for their zombies in SS?)

Because Kaga hates the player and IntSys wanted to copy Kaga.

Oh no a dragon

I guess she's a great portable barbecue.

Human barbecue, for sure!

So, who would win between this and Arvis to be fire incarnate?

This is invincible.

Actually, this second image does raise the point that I made about having possible issue with Mag+Res as one stat (Well, it does show they can work around it). Honestly, I recently had the idea that a unit's defence and resistance could be combined into a resilience stat and armour could be incorporated more effectively that way with different magical and physical resilience.

Hmmm interesting idea, although I must say, I like how these old FEs have magic be very dangerous because everyone's res is so low. Since enemy mages tend to be uncommon, it makes those few Mages that have to be faced a lot more threatening.

Wait, Julia procced strength?

....Good, let's see that more, much as it could be a unicorn.

It was a unicorn, as you call it.

Kate gets a good level and is in danger.

Where have I seen this before....... It's just making me think of the time Titania got a perfect level and then someone died on me. I was distraught.

I mean, it happened a ton of times in my last LPs.

No, stop this Runan. I want you to be relevant.

Don't be the Roy, be the Leif.

Bah, he's still good.

Rubentales! ooo Woo ooo!

Every day we're zombie slaying,

Rubentales! ooo Woo ooo!

Excellent.

She would like some defence but that's the only real concern here I think.

And she later got some, so there's that.

That explains why it wasn't ruined by the swamp.

It does. Huh. Good attention to detail, or fortunate coincidence?

Maruj gets magic.

It's a miracle!

A christmas miracle!

That's a tiny bit better. I guess.

Baby steps.

Norton, of all people, gets some decent stats.

No way Arden would get skill.

Why, Norton's great! Of course he'd get good stats.

You really wanted them to get those horses eh?

They were the two units most in need of a promotion.

Well, she got defence from it.

That's a pretty good low-level promote in all fairness.

Yeah, it was what she needed, all things considered.

 

On 29/12/2018 at 2:25 PM, BrightBow said:

I like your new profile pic, even though I neither get the reference (if there's any) nor does it have a bright bow anywhere to be seen.

Maybe that valley was a lot prettier before someone unleashed the zombie apocalypse on it.

That's probably it.

Anyway, it's nice to see Thomas make himself useful.

I don't know if you read my other LPs, but yeah, that's how I tend to work.

And I'm surprised you didn't cover what Neuron's breath attacks do.

Yeah, to be fair, I could've gone more into detail about those. Good to know someone's got me covered, though. Thanks.

This map is kinda dickish, having to send Yuni all over the map through difficult terrain to get all the chests. But I suppose that's why they give you some mummies to eat in the meantime.

In all fairness, if you don't care about efficiency, it's not an issue.

 

On 29/12/2018 at 3:48 PM, Mad-manakete said:

Absolutelee.
Ah, with so littlee to work with, this battlee of puns is going to die out! Can't leet that happen!

Could have just been Mexican immigrants celebrating Day of the Dead. Or the late George Romero filming a movie. Or a zombie walk. Or something the last person to hold the staff (wait a minute) did.  Or an attack by a necromancer who was pissed because the pirates stole his shipment of staves. I mean, sure, Katri being an idiot is the obvious solution, but what if he's wrong?
Maybe Morgan did it. Morgan's cool like that.

The first playable singularity.

Juliattisnacordst's name will one day get so long,

Maybe Juni's into self-harm?

Christ, she's Fifteen Years Old™.

Or that necromancer theory was right, and the valley is supposed to be to keep anyone escaping the zombie hoard alive while the necromancer goes home and enjoys a nap.

This Necromancer sounds like a terrible person indeed.

Yep. Those guys were in Gaiden and Echoes... only there they're actually kind of dangerous (especially the ones in a certain DLC, who will kill units if you don't plan). Also the experience system is still different.

Actually dangerous, huh. Interesting.

Maybe seeing Wrys and Ruben reminded him of times past and unfortunate incidents. That or being near the ocean.
Hahahahah... oh, Jesus.

 

This reminds me of that thing about Corrin in Fates but it looks more powerful here (as opposed to being still very vulnerable to wyrmslayers and sort of weak to magic) Stop doing everything first Kaga.
More powerful? She's literally invincible!
 

 

I was beginning to think she may be the first fatality after the close call last battle. Another close call so soon? Well better see how this pans out.

I sure hope that shiny new horse of hers helps her survivability.

Probably a good thing. Renee looks recruitable and I don't think she can swim in that dress. He probably just wants some singing lessons anyway

Singing lessons... pfffffft.

Yep. Definitely falling into his habits from being a knight. PTSD from seeing Ruben confirmed.

Damn you, me! Why'd you have to ruin The Roger the Paladin?

When you become Codha light (which given regular Codha could be anywhere from a newborn baby to a heavyweight boxer), using threat of obscenities about loved ones to motivate people.

Oh, please. Don't compare me to that--

On 29/12/2018 at 12:27 PM, Saint Rubenio said:

You'd think Roger's blind or something. Maybe that girl of his is blinding him with her love... I should have her killed. Mayhap then he'll fight like a man.

...no, what am I saying? If she dies, he'll leave as well.

...

You'll stink for a week you know.

Stink of experience!

Are you baiting me now?

Nope, never was my intention.

Or maybe this really is a zombie-walk and no one noticed? Or Halloween. They just wanted candy man.
It's late December.

 

The touch of King Midas turns things to gold. The touch of King Minos is merely innappropriate.
Amazing.

Reminds me of when I made pic attached way back when from Morshu from CD-i's Link Faces of Evil

Which you later posted... at the end of the post, for whatever reason. Still, that's hilarious.

Brigadier Berlin? Is that you?

Oohhhh man that's brilliant! If only I'd thought of that one... oh, well. Wouldn't make much sense, anyway. He was from Wellt, and these guys are all in Isura.

*Leegads.

Hwahahahahahhaah... you're too good.
This healer looks suspiciously like the one from Archanea.

Nah, what makes you think that?

Well, I made the Gannonbanned/Cannonbanned joke, so I'm in no position to complain.

Which I didn't get, by the way. Could you tell?

Decent lord. Just keep him away from your cornflakes, and be sure any liquid is actually milk. (Too far? Maybe I should stick to Martel jokes and Lee puns)
Christ. Christ on a bike, y'hear?!

We may be seeing the emergence of this run's unlikely good unit.

May be. I know I'd have no complains about it.

How do you walk ON a horse? Unless you're one of those circus girls. But Norton's not and he's wearing armor.

Bad wording, okay? Spare me some of it, english ain't even my first language.

Impressive. By all rights, my guess just got destroyed by that proc. Hopefully.

Right? I was so impressed, I decided to just let it play out and let her feel like the badass she is!

D-d-d-danger. There's an enemy out to beat ya,
If they get you Codha might just eat ya.
What to do when you're in trouble? Just grab on to some Rubentales.

Every day he's out there killing his units!
That's a lot of plates he'll be needing! whooh ooh

 

Making funny edits won't bring Claus back.

 

On 29/12/2018 at 7:13 PM, Hawkwing said:

Being fair, it was about 4 hours in before I lost everyone, then I decided it might be a better idea to just do another "Ironman no-grinding" run on hard again, although I haven't started it yet.

I get it.

And that's the out-of-nowhere ending from Gundam, right? I need to watch that series sometime. Along with a list of other television shows and cartoons.

Not Gundam, Evangelion. I can recommend it. It's a bit of a clusterfuck, but it's cool.

Thank you. I also made this yesterday:

Excellent.

...wait, is that a chicken gun? A MAD chicken gun?!

This is accurately represents Blustone more than I'd like.

Also, I think this lets play kept a topic from getting locked. I'm not joking.

Isn't that great. I'm a hero now.

Also, gotta love how the first image that comes up when you linked the LP was that old Lilina meme. Man, that day's gonna follow me to the grave...

Noob Sailbot has some of the nastier fatalities in the game, and It didn't work for a gif because he cracked his hands too fast. Don't know if that adds or detracts to the humor.

He's too much for gif.

At least the meme I made above only took five minutes.

Ah, that's all right.

I see.

You see, we all see.

I always learn about other (sometimes obscure) games people love whenever I bring up that rant.

Yeah, it's a pretty obvious answer to such a thing.

I tend to get games years after they come out, so that's probably the reason why. Heck, Into The Breach is the most recent game I've bought, and for the longest time Shadows of Valentia held that honor... and it was a remake of an NES game.

I can relate. I don't tend to get my games on release unless I am 100% sure I'll love them. I mean, heck, I didn't even bother getting a switch until a year after it came out because I didn't think it'd be a good investment back when there were two games. When Luigi's Mansion 3 was announced I knew I'd made the right choice.

Well, the maps are all actual 3D levels on their own (and fully traversable , if you hack the game to activate the free roaming on them), so archers can attack units that really are five tiles away from them. It gets hilarious with Physic, as the thing can have a monstrous range, so you really can heal someone on the other side of the map and get a zoom in of how far away they are.

Sounds so sloppy, yet so funny.

I didn't think you were, but some people have when I mentioned the phrase.

That's a little irrational, wouldn't you say?

Well, the time period these games take place are before the Geneva conventions made fake surrendering a war crime, so chances are some of those surrendering mooks are just getting their opponent in a position to stab them in the heart.

It would be cool to see more non-lethal attacks in Fire Emblem, though.

Yeah, I always thought the capture mechanic in Thracia was inmensely interesting. Could've made for such interesting chapters, and few situations would've been actively harmed by the inclusion of the system (for example, Chapter Douglas. I have to be one of the few people who thinks Dougy's a fun challenge to overcome).

Huh, I see. Is this common or rare for the game to do, because I see this as one of the problems that permadeath poses in Fire Emblems writing?

It does it quite commonly, actually. Characters don't just jump in and start yapping away every five minutes, but it happens more often than you'd think. And then there's the supportive moments.

Yet not in the serial killer way. More in the "You guys are SO dead!" way that anime protagonists have.

...I don't know if that made it better or worse.

Honestly? I think it's both. He's like, a villain protagonist à la Light Yagami. Which I don't like, but with Runan I can safely assume he just doesn't know how to smile.

Dew it! Because I really want someone to discuss the game with because the forums aren't that interesting and the wiki went to crap when it crashed several moments ago and...

Okay, I'll do it one of these days.

Now that lawsuit case became even more interesting.

It is a pretty interesting case.

Seems like a very on-the-nose reference, though.

I mean, Gregor in Awakening is pretty much Heavy Weapons Guy from TF2, but that's complicated a bit by it also being a localization thing.

Oh, really, he is? As a long-time fan of TF2, I am now obligated to look him up.

You're welcome!

Meant to type "Noodle Incident". I'd edit these things, but SF never lets me edit posts were I quote you for some reason.

The spelling errors in my SF interview still haunt me to this day.

Ah, yes. I still remember how heartbroken I felt when, in chapter 19 of FE12, I found out "forseen" was actually spelled "foreseen" and I had been using the word heavily throughout the whole LP.

That's something I still dislike from the little I've played of the GBA games. I like playing efficiently, so the sheer amount of time needed to place two units together to get a single support bothers me to no end. Not helping is that the game doesn't tell you how many support points there are between characters

Heck, Awakening streamlined the process by having you only gain three support points between characters per map, with you needing a certain amount total to unlock the support, and I still struggle with unlocking them. The only game I don't have trouble unlocking supports with is Echoes, and that's because they're easy as heck to activate naturally.

Yeah, it doesn't bother me as much because I don't particularly care for efficiency, but it is a bad system.

Yep. A kid in my class had the name Justice, and I didn't realize that it actually meant the word in question until years later.

Unbelievable.

...He's an asshole, isn't he?

Eh, just a bit. Not quite Holmes-tier asshole.

Is that... a treasure chest?

In the middle of a swamp?

Kaga put a treasure chest... in the middle of a swamp...

...Kaga, you are the trolliest of trolls that ever trolled.

That he did. A good thing there weren't flying enemies anywhere to be seen.

Foreshadowing... the next level, probably.

Well...

I don't know, maybe if they were these kind?

Videogames need to get more creative with swamp levels.

That's friggin' beautiful. Honestly, the only game I can think of with good-looking swamps is Minecraft. Seems to be the only game to remember about lilypads and flowers. Every other game can't think of anything other than rivers of pure crap.

Just tell the truth that Holmes is a jerk and move on.

Ah, that may not be the full truth.

Ah, so it won't pull the Gaiden trick of "you control two separate armies".

There's still time, y'know.

So... just like the mummies in Fire Emblem. Except I think a few mummies make up for being made of paper by having monstrous strength, which doesn't mean much because sometimes a single normal attack will destroy them.

Nah, here they're just walking experience bags.

So pretty much how they are in Fire Emblem 1-3, except that the weapon triangle is now a factor.

I'm pretty sure I already mentioned this before, but the weapon triangle is not a factor in this game.

I miss steal in the later games. Not that it would have much of a use, but it adds another use to thieves than "open chest without a key".

Anyway, Juni sounds extremely limited in utility, and is just asking to be unlucky and die at some point.

Also, Kaga did Locktouch first.

Like Brightbow said, that was just a thing Aethin did to bring the game closer to FE. Expect to see things like that more often than not. There's a reason I tried to avoid mentioning KDIF moments when it came to naming.

What do you mean by "summon stats instead of gaining it"? I'm a little confused.

Yeah, I made a bit of a mess of that sentence. Here's the corrected (probably slightly different, because I can't be bothered to go back and read it again) version: "Katri's Enteh except she starts with the Summon skill,* which lets her use summon staves*, instead of gaining it at level 30,* which she'll never even reach". Let that be a lesson to you all, commas are important!

So... just like Fire Emblem. Except that the zombies in Gaiden sunk into the ground to get close to their opponent before swiping at them. And then that idea was never used again until Awakening as a reference as only a singe enemy type did so.

More or less, yes.

Rope is the essential tool of any adventure/puzzle game protagonist and/or DnD party. Perhaps Xeno in Genre-Savvy.

He never even uses the rope!

The animation is awesome. The damage is not.

Yup.

Maybe it's the vitriolic kind.

I would know, my best friend and I are like that.

Holy Crap. They have dragons in this game. I was not expecting that.

They do! Ain't that a riot?

I don't know what I'm more surprised by: Zombies, who in most games and media don't have a thing called "morale" or "fear", are panicking, or that zombies are tactically retreating.

Maybe Mad-Manakete is right and those are actually the undead squad from chapter 6.

So... FE3 Bantu, except that the transformation process is random, you gain nada experience, and if you abuse it or are unlucky, you pay for it by getting a game over.

Granted, I got some use out of Bantu when playing FE3... even if for the first time in my life I saw an FE enemy too scared to attack or even move.

Well, like Brightbow said...

Ah, so it was foreshadowing the chapter.

These two will be support partners, won't they?

Ah, maybe.

Kaga did "thieves attack by holding the sword by the backhand" first.

That's another KDIF moment for the pile. How many already? We're not even a fourth of the way through the game!

Even in a different universe, the blade that shoots lighting is called the levin sword.

It's simply called the thunder sword in Gaiden and Echoes, so I'm curious as to what the story behind the name is.

Thank Aethin for that. I like the name, but I can't say I ever really understood it.

Thank the Wundergust indeed.

Please. And do so with extreme prejudice.

I will, if when the game allows me to.

Eh, it's not too far-fetched of a motion to cast a lightning spell.

But... but Maruj doesn't even do the fist pump! He just rains down thunder upon himself while pretending to be a bird!

And it also looks like he's pointing at them with the sword and his finger before he attacks.

He's just weird, in general.

It's far-fetched, but maybe this is a reference to the leather shield mercenary in Gaiden and Echoes. The guy that told you that bosses can and will be tough in that game.

Could be, although this guy wouldn't have been an issue if I had thought to leave Lee with Runan and co.

Outside of gameplay balance, the uses that shields have continues to perplex me.

For such elaborate devices, they sure break easily.

Ah, Ducktales. Another TV show on the list of things I really need to watch.

I can't say I ever did, but Scrooge's quite the known character.

Is it just me, or does this game already use this effect elsewhere?

Can't say I remember it being used elsewhere. The closest thing I can think of is back in Vega's scripted battle with Julia, where he shone red (which is the effect for Sol), but that's different.

Yep. Xeno and Katri are support buddies.

Ah, perhaps...

Sounds like the good kind of situational.

Indeed.

Or its too dumb to advance.

Or both!

He looks awesome.

It's like, he got a helmet and a horse and that's it. In fact, his dismounted sprite and animations are exactly the same as his unpromoted self except he has a badass helmet now.

 

On 29/12/2018 at 8:13 PM, BrightBow said:

Well, unlike Bantu, Katri can kill up to 9 enemies in one attack with 30 points of defense negating damage. She is completely invincible and can transform as often as she likes.

Thanks for providing the explanation I didn't.

No need for EXP when you are already far more powerful then what everyone else in the game could possibly achieve.

Well, actually, not quite. She has a powerful AoE and she's virtually invincible, but her offensive stats are actually rather lackluster.

It has the same name in this game. It's just that Aethin used the names of corresponding items or skills from the official Fire Emblem translations if possible. Including those of games that didn't even exist when TRS was made. Like Locktouch for example.

Yeah.

 

On 29/12/2018 at 9:23 PM, Hawkwing said:

With the catch being you can loose this status randomly and if she dies, it's game over.

I see the pros and cons of this mechanic a bit clearer now. Thanks.

Good to know we're all happy, now.

I see. Although I'm still curious as to the what the origin of the names are now. And how many jokes of "Kaga did it first" are now only half true?

To be fair, pretty much all of my KDIF moments involved mechanics. Not that many of them would be rendered obsolete by this.

 

17 hours ago, Pengaius said:

Anti-Virus update installed, use wing potion to speed up anti-virus software.

Maybe I shall have to do it, then. You can never be safe enough!

*insert images of all the blank level ups in this chapter, Runan, Kate, Julia, Lee and Maruj (I think that's all) because Serenes won't let me quote them for some reason even though I could quote the norton image, but I'm not mad of anything, B-Baka here*

The noise that is made by the rare creature that is known as Barth.pizza

You play with my expectations. It is positively machiavellian!

 

16 hours ago, BrightBow said:

The Serenes Forest page of the game does not use the patch names. So it may give a better indication of what the original names are.

https://serenesforest.net/tearring-saga/

It also has spoilers, so be careful. Bit too late to say, probably, but oh well, it was obvious enough.

 

9 hours ago, Mad-manakete said:

Now it's officially confirmed. My Mac doesn't want anything to do with letting me play Tear Ring Saga (I can't even download a rom without it corrupting). This is the only way I'm experiencing the game until I get a better computer.

A shame, but I get views, so it's all right.

 

3 hours ago, Hawkwing said:

I see. Thank you.

And once again, it appears that swords get the lions share of variances. And what is it with the almost random numbers chosen for the weapon stats?

It happens with everything, not just swords. I haven't been showing stats as much as I perhaps should be, but yeah. Kaga probably didn't want to stop and think with every single weapon. Can you blame him?

 

Update:

Spoiler

It's time for a very important text update. Just a heads-up, this update and the next will both be dialogue updates. You'll understand the reason by the end of this update.

Hey there, Runan. You sure picked the perfect time to come and visit.

What's going on, Holmes? That red dragon just now--was that the Guardian Dragon Neuron?! Why in the world is it here?

Gimme a minute, Runan. There's a certain somebody who's in much more shock than you.

Do you remember what happened to you?

I... I was scared... I started running when the zombies found me, and I ended up in the swamps... The bad air got to me, and I could barely even breathe... Then, when I thought I was done for, I turned into a huge dragon... And then I... I panicked, and I killed all of the zombies that were after me.

You mean, all two of them? Inconceivable!

That was just a dream... Right, Holmes? It was just a weird near-death experience... Please, Holmes... Just tell me it was all a dream!

You and I both know it wasn't, Katri.

But... But why?! Why did I turn into a dragon?

You must be descended from the holy bloodline of Yutona and Carluon.

I sure hope you guys paid attention to the game's opening scrolling text. Otherwise this might all sound rather confusing.

How old are you, Katri?

Today's my fifteenth birthday...

That makes sense, then. According to the scriptures, the vessels of the Guardian Dragons begin to awaken at exactly fifteen years old. In a couple of years, you'll be able to control it, and then you'll be a real Shaman of Neuron.

Shaman...?

That's what the legends call girls like you with the power of the Guardian Dragons.

Gotta say, I prefered them back when they could nosferatank. Now they just tank for a bunch of turns and then they go back to being "worse Lee".

But I... I don't want to be a dragon!

Being Neuron is in your blood, but you should only be able to use your power while you've got that bracelet. Without it, you're basically an ordinary girl, give or take a few quirks.

The bracelet is your only defense. If it were taken from you, whoever held it could force you to become Neuron! Not even you would be able to control Neuron's rage then. You might never be able to return to human form. If you want to remain who you are, you mustn't ever let go of the Ring of Salia!

Enteh? You know about her condition?

Now that's believable. Everyone, this innocent, unimportant little girl is not suspicious. Avert your suspicions!

See, Holmes said it himself, she's just weird. Ah, just what a weirdo... totally doesn't know more than she lets on.

Hey, Katri, stop crying already. You heard her, didn't you? 'Sides, you just need to keep yourself under control, and then you won't transform. Just keep that bracelet on at all times. That's easy enough, right?

But Holmes... I'm terrified...

Stop worrying! You just have to let your body adjust, and then you'll be able to control it.

I'd just like to point out how easy this whole scene is to take out of context.

But...

Look, just... stop crying, okay? I'll make sure nothing happens to you while your powers are still awakening. All you have to do is trust me. You got that, Katri?

Holmes...

Forgive my interruption, Lord Runan, but we really must hurry onward.

Eugen doesn't give a fuck about sacred dragons and their ilk. He's more awesome than all these figures of myth combined, and he knows it, so he's getting bored and wants to go kill people. I can relate.

Right. Thank you, Eugen. Will you be staying here on Isura, Holmes?

Nah, I think everyone's sick of this place, especially after that zombie fiasco... We'll be setting sail soon enough.

Continuing on your quest for historical artifacts and such?

Naturally. Traveling around the world and collecting ancient treasures, relics, legends... That's always been my dream. I'll try to keep in touch, Runan. If we find someting that could be useful to you, we'll be sure to send it your way.

Good lord... every time he smiles, he seems less and less sincere about it!

Hey, don't worry about it! Just remember to treat me nicely once you become Duke of Razelia. If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask! That's what friends are for, after all.

Good. Now, more text.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look, a supportive moment!

Shigen...

I didn't know you'd left the isle as well! Never thought our old man would allow it.

He wasn't happy about it, of course. Especially since you'd already left us to join the battle for Granada. But I'm not a little girl any more. I wanted to test my skills as a warrior of Yr.

Yr. That's a name all right.

And so you've hired yourself out as a mercenary for Razelia. Were you trying to follow me?

O-Of course not! This is all just a big coincidence! There's a certain man from Zemsellia that I want to get even with. That's why I joined Lord Runan!

Then what are you doing in a place like this?

I like how half the army probably has no idea why Runan would come here of all places.

We get this quick message from Garo, warning us that he's going to leave Runan's army. However, as you'll see in a little, this means nothing.

We're briefly sent back to the map, where a boat materializes in the West Senay Sea.

Oh. It's you. He goes to Port Mars and disappears. I wonder where we'll be going some time in the future.

And back to Isura it is!

 

 

 

 

 

I'm afraid so. We need to head back to Razelia as soon as we can.

I don't know about that... in most FE games, the protagonist's homeland is usually only liberated at the end of the third act.

We're gonna clear out the goons in the area before following you to the mainland. Most of the local troops are going with you, so you can bet that every bandit from Taurus to Isura will have their eyes set on Wellt.

The only things between Taurus and Isura are a bunch of sea and Verje. Unless Marlon goes rogue, I don't think your fears are that well-founded.

I never knew you to be such a softie, Holmes.

Nah, you've got it all wong. What we're after is their treasure.

Now, this sounds a lot like they're trying to write Holmes out of the story and set up his eventual return later on, when he'd join Runan's army alongside his crew. If that's what you think is going to happen, I have some news for you. However, I think I'll let Holmes himself relay them to you.

Though that reminds me, I had an idea that I bet you'd like. You know that the Empire's army will be much better trained than Codha's pushovers.

But first, how do you even know about Codha? Who told you about that? Were you watching Runan fight the fatass with a spyglass? I mean, you are a pirate captain...

We've got the luxury of picking our opponents, and we'll be fighting a bunch of untrained pirates and such. I think it'd be great training for fresh recruits. I promise that when we get 'em back to you, they'll be in tip-top shape and ready for real battles.

Come to think of it, it'll probably be several months before we cross paths again... So think it over carefully, got it?

And we're back to the map. To respond to the reader who said that this game isn't going to do the Gaiden thingy of controlling two armies at once (Hawkwing, was it?), I say... yes and no.

At least for this first portion of the game, we will only control one army at once. However...

We've got two armies. This is one of my favourite parts of the game: you're effectively playing two FEs at once. And this isn't just a pointless gimmick, both campaigns feel very distinct. Holmes is right: his part of the game is easier and has free-roaming (for the most part) and skirmishes, which encourages sending your most scrubby units with him. One thing he didn't mention, though, is that he will generally get a lot more indoor maps than Runan, who will in turn find himself fighting harder battles that reward speed and high movement.

Up to this point, this is sounding a lot like Gaiden. Here's the main difference: unlike in Gaiden, where each army had a set amount of units who couldn't be sent to the other army, here we get to shape Runan and Holmes's armies to our liking. We can have all our infantry go with Holmes and all our cavalry go with Runan, we can send every benchwarmer with Holmes so they may have a second chance, or even do something crazy like send Runan and Enteh (and Eugen) on their own. The only locked units are the Lords and the Shaman (Shamans? Shamen? Shamanae?).

I've been pondering deeply how to handle this, and I have decided to do the following: you are free to suggest where to send whatever units you like. Take into consideration these facts: Runan's chapters are generally outdoors and are of a higher difficulty. Holmes's chapters are more often than not indoors and are easier than Runan's. As well, Holmes has access to skirmishes that can be used to train up weaker units.

With that said, here are my recommendations. They're the choices that I feel would be the most interesting to both play and watch.

- Kate, Sasha, Zieg and Norton with Runan.

- The three Cavaliers (Kreiss, Arkis and Esther) with Holmes.

- Julia and Garo with Holmes (Yes, you can send Garo back to Runan's army and he doesn't complain).

- Plum with Runan.

- Raffin with Runan.

- Tom with Holmes.

- The Roger the Paladin and his girlfriend must be put in the same army: if they're separated, they will both automatically join Runan, so keep that in mind.

Use these suggestions for guidance, if you will. Unless a bunch of people agree that I should do something different, I'll just go for these choices. For any units not mentioned, I haven't any preferences, so I'd ask that you focus on those more than these, although if you disagree with my choices, I welcome you to speak up. Like with Wellt, I'll give you a day or two, depending on how I feel about the amount of replies. Maybe I'll just wait 'til next year for the heck of it.

Other than units, we can also give Holmes gold and items, but I'll handle that myself, you just worry about the units.

That's everything, I'm pretty sure. All I have left to say is, happy new year! I wish you fare just as well the next year as you did in this last one! Goodbye, and see you in 2019!

Death count: --

Reset count: 0

 

[BrightBow]

Yeesh. First time I ever bothered to think about how horrifying it is that the threat of a country-destroying monster is dependent on the common sense of the biggest airhead south of Ylisse. At least she has shown herself as being pretty protective of the ring already. Still, not something that lets one sleep well at night, I'd wager.

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I like your new profile pic, even though I neither get the reference (if there's any) nor does it have a bright bow anywhere to be seen.

Thanks. There is no real meaning to it. It's just a portrait from a recent indie game called Grapple Force Rena. Pretty fun, though it's hardly a must-have. REALLY love the character art in that game though. But there are no archers in that game, so this generic science elf has to do.

Edited December 31, 2018 by BrightBow

[Punished Dayni]

On 12/29/2018 at 2:48 PM, Mad-manakete said:

D-d-d-danger. There's an enemy out to beat ya,
If they get you Codha might just eat ya.
What to do when you're in trouble? Just grab on to some Rubentales.

Well there's some more there.

Also, what's with the pinkshirt?

5 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Just a little to the left of Lieberia.

Did you just reference my sig there?

7 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I simply typed "those are the eyes of a killer" on google and found the cover for a straight-to-DVD movie from last century. I felt it was funny enough.

Okay, I was expecting it to be something actually controversial.

7 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I like Dick Holmes better.

Sometimes the joke doesn't need explaining.

Just... No.

7 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I agree. I also like how you're still Albertus's hypeman. Not too long since he arrives!

And why wouldn't I be for the man who ended Mr. Missingno?

8 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Because Kaga hates the player and IntSys wanted to copy Kaga.

He still has better hardware to work with here.

8 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Human barbecue, for sure!

No, that's the food Katri can cook.

8 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hmmm interesting idea, although I must say, I like how these old FEs have magic be very dangerous because everyone's res is so low. Since enemy mages tend to be uncommon, it makes those few Mages that have to be faced a lot more threatening.

Sure, it also doesn't help that the Talisman is just a Pure Water in disguise in DD.

9 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Bah, he's still good.

I'd rather he never stops being so.

9 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It does. Huh. Good attention to detail, or fortunate coincidence?

I think it might be the latter considering the chest doesn't look melted.

10 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

They were the two units most in need of a promotion.

Yeah, though I wonder could they have done much without it.

11 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I... I was scared... I started running when the zombies found me, and I ended up in the swamps... The bad air got to me, and I could barely even breathe... Then, when I thought I was done for, I turned into a huge dragon... And then I... I panicked, and I killed all of the zombies that were after me.

You mean, all two of them? Inconceivable!

I mean, you can't complain too much, she didn't burn all of your experience.

12 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Being Neuron is in your blood, but you should only be able to use your power while you've got that bracelet. Without it, you're basically an ordinary girl, give or take a few quirks.

.....

The bracelet is your only defense. If it were taken from you, whoever held it could force you to become Neuron! Not even you would be able to control Neuron's rage then. You might never be able to return to human form. If you want to remain who you are, you mustn't ever let go of the Ring of Salia!

I'm going to be honest, this seems like it could be used in some..... well, unwholesome ways.

And I don't mean ethnic cleansing.

13 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

But Holmes... I'm terrified...

Stop worrying! You just have to let your body adjust, and then you'll be able to control it.

I'd just like to point out how easy this whole scene is to take out of context.

That's not helped with dialogue like this.

I could pick some inappropriate music, but I'm a dammed enough soul as is, no need to dig deeper.

13 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Continuing on your quest for historical artifacts and such?

Naturally. Traveling around the world and collecting ancient treasures, relics, legends... That's always been my dream. I'll try to keep in touch, Runan. If we find someting that could be useful to you, we'll be sure to send it your way.

So is Holmes just knocking off Locke from FF6 here?

I kind of think he is, it's just that Holmes is more upfront in being a dirty pirate.

14 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Well, isn't that nice of Matthis to acknowledge them. (Also, the art has certainly improved, though I would bet a lot of that is because of getting to clean it up a bit)

Also, Runan is one to look a gift horse in its mouth. Might as well make sure there isn't any more men hidden in it I guess.

15 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

So, let's be honest and say that if Eugen was giving the order this would be fuck up 2 right here.

16 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

This will not totally backfire, right?

16 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Well, here we go with some art commentary.

Albertus is pretty good here actually, with the one gripe I have being that his arms seem a little off. Like, his elbows seem a little too rounded to me. I mean I could e wrong there though. He's also not gotten his armour made of medals yet I see.

Margaret is probably the best of this lot honestly. I'd say just touch up on the hands and she's about done.

Lyria looks a bit like she's a DeviantArt OC for the Order of Heroes. This isn't to say she's terrible though, I'm just tittering at the colour scheme. Don't have much to say on the scale armour itself, though I ro really like what you've done with the cape and the collar in particular. I'm also wondering why purple as an accent colour?

17 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

We get this quick message from Garo, warning us that he's going to leave Runan's army. However, as you'll see in a little, this means nothing.

Spoiler

So him being told by Holmes to go away:

(I should learn to edit gifs)

18 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ooof. In fairness though, Ruben should have suspected that the chambers seemed to be a lot more dungeoney than would be liked.

19 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Holmes, you're supposed to be the smart one, right? Well, guess you can't match your namesake there.

19 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

So, Lyria's going to be about as fun for Ruben as a bag of starving cats tipped into a room with one strip of bacon.

21 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

At least for this first portion of the game, we will only control one army at once. However...

We've got two armies. This is one of my favourite parts of the game: you're effectively playing two FEs at once. And this isn't just a pointless gimmick, both campaigns feel very distinct. Holmes is right: his part of the game is easier and has free-roaming (for the most part) and skirmishes, which encourages sending your most scrubby units with him. One thing he didn't mention, though, is that he will generally get a lot more indoor maps than Runan, who will in turn find himself fighting harder battles that reward speed and high movement.

So in other words it did it better than Fates. And with no version splits. And he had intended on doing more stories in the game at one point.

Kaga strikes again!

21 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Up to this point, this is sounding a lot like Gaiden. Here's the main difference: unlike in Gaiden, where each army had a set amount of units who couldn't be sent to the other army, here we get to shape Runan and Holmes's armies to our liking. We can have all our infantry go with Holmes and all our cavalry go with Runan, we can send every benchwarmer with Holmes so they may have a second chance, or even do something crazy like send Runan and Enteh (and Eugen) on their own. The only locked units are the Lords and the Shaman (Shamans? Shamen? Shamanae?).

I've been pondering deeply how to handle this, and I have decided to do the following: you are free to suggest where to send whatever units you like. Take into consideration these facts: Runan's chapters are generally outdoors and are of a higher difficulty. Holmes's chapters are more often than not indoors and are easier than Runan's. As well, Holmes has access to skirmishes that can be used to train up weaker units.

With that said, here are my recommendations. They're the choices that I feel would be the most interesting to both play and watch.

- Kate, Sasha, Zieg and Norton with Runan.

- The three Cavaliers (Kreiss, Arkis and Esther) with Holmes.

- Julia and Garo with Holmes (Yes, you can send Garo back to Runan's army and he doesn't complain).

- Plum with Runan.

- Raffin with Runan.

- Tom with Holmes.

- The Roger the Paladin and his girlfriend must be put in the same army: if they're separated, they will both automatically join Runan, so keep that in mind.

I was waiting for this moment.

Spoiler

For Runan:

Sasha, Kate, Zeig, Norton, Raffin, Plum, Maruj, Raquiel, Lee, Bartz

For Holmes:

Arkis, Kreiss, Esther, Roger + Mel, Juni, Garo, Vega, Xeno, Martel, Tom, Julia

However, if we decide to drop going for Letenna, I think Arkis, Kreiss and Esther could work with Runan. There's an event with that too. Also, yes I am using this to cover events as widely as we can. Bartz can have an event on Holmes's route, but...... I'd rather not.

[Tryhard]

 

For some of the events, although you would of course not know about these if playing blind:

I find the Reeve Tome meh unless you're really looking for the magic growth boost, so I'd suggest Maruj go with Holmes for the tome. I spammed that one a lot.

Yuni with Holmes for a specific staff. Martel with Holmes solely for a recruitment you probably know about.

Roger and Mel also with Holmes, because the staff Mel gets is also great.

And I think Bartz also needs to be with Holmes to resolve "that" event if it happens.

Edited December 31, 2018 by Tryhard

[Pengaius]

 

2 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

 

You play with my expectations. It is positively machiavellian!

It does make me feel very cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics, thank you for saying that. 

 

My picks

Quote

For Holmes: Arkis, Kreiss, Lee

For Runan: everybody else

But seriously

Quote

Holmes: Arkis ,Kreiss, Raffin, Juliattisnacordst, Juni, Martel, Kate, Julia, Xeno

Runan: Well everyone else really ( Tom, Lee, Norton and Sasha especially though)

 

 

[Hawkwing]

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Time for a format change. Replies have started to get overwhelmingly huge in both size and number. Which isn't a bad thing, mind. I love it. However, it's starting to get to a point where just finding the tiny spoiler bar so as to read the update itself is a little harder than it should be.

Thus, so my posts (which, in the end, are what you guys are here for) are lost in the sea of replies, I'll put all the replies to the replies in a spoiler. Not only will the updates look a lot cleaner, but I will have an easier time finding the number of the last part. I swear, I have to scroll up way too much just to ensure this isn't like my FE12 LP where by the end of it the title count was about four updates behind.

Of course, there's the downside that my posts will be incredibly small compared to most of the replies, so there's a chance they might get a little too hard to find. I'll have to think of something if the issue turns out to be too big to overlook.

Tell me if you like the new format better or not.

I think the new format works fine. It makes it easier to view the Lets Play or the replies faster when searching for something to quote. It's a good problem to have.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Not Gundam, Evangelion. I can recommend it. It's a bit of a clusterfuck, but it's cool.

Right. Gundam has several different series. I haven't watched any anime, but I know it's on the list of one's I'm curious about.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

...wait, is that a chicken gun? A MAD chicken gun?!

This is the video I got it from without context.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

He's too much for gif.

Dunno. I posted a few pictures of the brutalities in Mortal Kombat X in a forum game and haven't been yelled at for a mod for it.

Then again, none of them also have a person being ripped in half with all their intestines falling out.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I can relate. I don't tend to get my games on release unless I am 100% sure I'll love them. I mean, heck, I didn't even bother getting a switch until a year after it came out because I didn't think it'd be a good investment back when there were two games. When Luigi's Mansion 3 was announced I knew I'd made the right choice.

Similar deal, although time is also a factor. I don't really see much of a reason to buy a 40+ hour game when I won't have the free time to spare for it.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Sounds so sloppy, yet so funny.

It actually works rather well. It's cheesed at times within corridors, but otherwise it's a pretty cool effect. It's a factor that helps prevent the combat animations from getting old, as you're seeing them in different environments.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That's a little irrational, wouldn't you say?

I think people jump to "he made a Star Wars reference" rather than "it's right from a certain point of view".

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah, I always thought the capture mechanic in Thracia was inmensely interesting. Could've made for such interesting chapters, and few situations would've been actively harmed by the inclusion of the system (for example, Chapter Douglas. I have to be one of the few people who thinks Dougy's a fun challenge to overcome).

Same, even if I have no idea how it works in that game. I have heard that it's possible to capture bosses like Reihhart or the final boss, though, which is a little awkward as the game sets up that they're supposed to be dying grand deaths. It's a kink they'd probably work out in a remake.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It does it quite commonly, actually. Characters don't just jump in and start yapping away every five minutes, but it happens more often than you'd think. And then there's the supportive moments.

I see. It appears to be a recognizable writing trick to get around permadeath.  It's a unique mechanic that defines Fire Emblem, but there's no denying that it does cause some problems for the writers on how to handle it, with each method having pros and cons.

Guess we'll have to wait and see how well it works within this game.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Okay, I'll do it one of these days.

Meant to type months. Twas the first time I learned that it was possible for a website to crash.

Sucks, too. It feels weird that I have to go off memory to recall conversations I haven't unlocked yet.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

It is a pretty interesting case.

"Bartz had gluttony before any of your 'gimmick' characters did!"

"Yeah? Well we'll insert shapeshifting warrior bunnies before you do!"

"...What?"

"Hey! That's my idea!" - Wolfire games (even if they don't shapeshift)

"No! WE did ferocious bunnies first!" - Medieval Tapestries

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Oh, really, he is? As a long-time fan of TF2, I am now obligated to look him up.

He's not a one-for-one reference, but Gregor has enough similarities that it's a good comparison.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Eh, just a bit. Not quite Holmes-tier asshole.

As long as the other aspects of his character make up for it, I won't mind much.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That's friggin' beautiful. Honestly, the only game I can think of with good-looking swamps is Minecraft. Seems to be the only game to remember about lilypads and flowers. Every other game can't think of anything other than rivers of pure crap.

Ah... Minecraft. I haven't played the game in years, and anytime I watch my younger brother play, I see they added something new.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ah, that may not be the full truth.

Fair point.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I'm pretty sure I already mentioned this before, but the weapon triangle is not a factor in this game.

Right. I just forgot that swords have vastly different stats than they do in Fire Emblem.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Like Brightbow said, that was just a thing Aethin did to bring the game closer to FE. Expect to see things like that more often than not. There's a reason I tried to avoid mentioning KDIF moments when it came to naming.

I see. I'll avoid mentioning KDIF for names then unless there he clearly did.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yeah, I made a bit of a mess of that sentence. Here's the corrected (probably slightly different, because I can't be bothered to go back and read it again) version: "Katri's Enteh except she starts with the Summon skill,* which lets her use summon staves*, instead of gaining it at level 30,* which she'll never even reach". Let that be a lesson to you all, commas are important!

Ah, so they put summoning as a staff in this game.

I have mixed feelings on this change. On the one hand, it prevents the spamming that cantors are infamous for. On the other, it also means that the player doesn't get a costly yet unlimited supply of cannon fodder units on their side.

Still, I'm glad to see that summoning is back, at the very least. I liked the mechanic better than reinforcements in Gaiden/Echoes, as it was predictable when they would appear and there were tricks one could use to get rid of the summoned enemies quickly.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

He never even uses the rope!

On screen, at least. And probably not in supports, either.

Still, it never hurts to be prepared. Now where's his 11-foot long pole?

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

They do! Ain't that a riot?

I guess I should have expected that Nintendo had more than a few reasons to sue Kaga.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ah, maybe.

Maybe? What do you mean by "Maybe"?

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I will, if when the game allows me to.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Could be, although this guy wouldn't have been an issue if I had thought to leave Lee with Runan and co.

Well, he's not fought the moment after all the villagers just got into actual classes and where the only way you can effectively fight him is either with your new mage or the cleric with a 50% chance to hit spell.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ah, perhaps...

...They aren't partners, are they? And their interactions are limited to this chapter?

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

I sure hope you guys paid attention to the game's opening scrolling text. Otherwise this might all sound rather confusing.

...Wait. That was actually relevant?

...I'll, uh, check it out after this reply...

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That makes sense, then. According to the scriptures, the vessels of the Guardian Dragons begin to awaken at exactly fifteen years old. In a couple of years, you'll be able to control it, and then you'll be a real Shaman of Neuron.

So in a couple years, she could transform into a dragon without randomly transforming back into a human?

Darn you, story reasons for game balance.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That's what the legends call girls like you with the power of the Guardian Dragons.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand it's limited to females again.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Hey, Katri, stop crying already. You heard her, didn't you? 'Sides, you just need to keep yourself under control, and then you won't transform. Just keep that bracelet on at all times. That's easy enough, right?

But Holmes... I'm terrified...

Stop worrying! You just have to let your body adjust, and then you'll be able to control it.

I'd just like to point out how easy this whole scene is to take out of context.

I thank my clean mind and the fact I've been thinking about shapeshifters lately that the sheer mention of the word "transform" doesn't make me think of anything worse.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Plot!

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

A reasonable concern, actually. And for some reason, I'm reminded of Metal Gear, despite having never played the series myself.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Ah! You're bringing back characters!

...Which reminds me that I never the FE6 lets play and I need to speed-read it.

Anyway, for constructive criticism on the captains portrait: It's good so far. About the only thing you need to add is wrinkles on the sleeves were the elbows are. That way, it makes it look like he's bending his arms instead of them being noodles.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

Yr. That's a name all right.

Yr... Yarrr...

Sounds like it was named by a pirate that had a very limited vocabulary and imagination.

That, or the people who named the island didn't have much space/ink left and were forced to make a cool sounding name off the little they had.

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

More plot!

Actually... More Supportive Moments! That don't affect gameplay at all!

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

And we're back to the map. To respond to the reader who said that this game isn't going to do the Gaiden thingy of controlling two armies at once (Hawkwing, was it?), I say... yes and no.

Aye, it was me. And you've piqued my interest...

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

We've got two armies. This is one of my favourite parts of the game: you're effectively playing two FEs at once. And this isn't just a pointless gimmick, both campaigns feel very distinct. Holmes is right: his part of the game is easier and has free-roaming (for the most part) and skirmishes, which encourages sending your most scrubby units with him. One thing he didn't mention, though, is that he will generally get a lot more indoor maps than Runan, who will in turn find himself fighting harder battles that reward speed and high movement.

Up to this point, this is sounding a lot like Gaiden. Here's the main difference: unlike in Gaiden, where each army had a set amount of units who couldn't be sent to the other army, here we get to shape Runan and Holmes's armies to our liking. We can have all our infantry go with Holmes and all our cavalry go with Runan, we can send every benchwarmer with Holmes so they may have a second chance, or even do something crazy like send Runan and Enteh (and Eugen) on their own. The only locked units are the Lords and the Shaman (Shamans? Shamen? Shamanae?).

I've been pondering deeply how to handle this, and I have decided to do the following: you are free to suggest where to send whatever units you like. Take into consideration these facts: Runan's chapters are generally outdoors and are of a higher difficulty. Holmes's chapters are more often than not indoors and are easier than Runan's. As well, Holmes has access to skirmishes that can be used to train up weaker units.

Huh. That is actually a pretty interesting way to expand upon the concept introduced in Gaiden. And they even hint to the player which route you should send your stronger units to and which route is for the units that need more experience. And they manage to make each route unique in it's own way as well.

I have to say, I like how this was handled. I actually hope IS takes inspiration from this, even if Kaga did it first.

(On a side note, an oversight with the resurrection shrines made it possible to revive dead units on the opposite side in the original Gaiden. They removed it for Echoes, though).

3 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:

That's everything, I'm pretty sure. All I have left to say is, happy new year! I wish you fare just as well the next year as you did in this last one! Goodbye, and see you in 2019!

Happy New Year! Can't wait to see what 2019 holds!