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Alastor plays and ranks the whole series! Mission Complete! ...For now.


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4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Three castles get word of the events of the opening pretty much simultaneously: Nordion gets a message, probably from spies, that Eldigan has been imprisoned, Evans gets a message, from Raquesis (so we can only assume that this chain of double messages must have taken twice as long to to reach him) that Raquesis needs help, and also Heirhein gets a message that they have orders to... oh... wait... do they? Shagall says words to that effect, but... they aren't... talking about said orders... at all.

They may be taking some artistic license with not having us wait for messages to arrive, but they do imply that Heirheim got word before Sigurd by having his troops already deployed outside of castle Heirheim, and explicitly have Nordion get word before Evans by having Raquesis be the one that sends the message. I mean we saw messengers arrive from the capitol a couple of times already, without magical aid.

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Actually, something occurs to me as I play... doesn't Augustria already border Grannvale? Why do they have to go through Evans to get there? They've outright stated that Sigurd's merry band is the only real military might Grannvale can muster with the main army away. But now not even Sigurd is defending Grannvale anymore! He's under strict orders to hold Evans! Granted, maybe they realized that if they did bypass him, they'd be making themselves vulnerable when Sigurd would charge them the second he got the orders to invade. But it seems weird that they seem to think they have to get through Sigurd in order to charge Grannvale. There has to be another entrance to Grannvale, and Sigurd would never be able to stop them if they wanted to send forces that way. Still, in hindsight it'll become clear they need all the forces they can get to stop the demigods residing in Evans, but it seems strange for this to be their attitude right now.

If you look at the world map, they show the border between Augustria and Grannvale is a massive mountain range, and forcing an army through some tiny pass in the mountains would let a smaller force create an effective defense, and Sigurd has shown that Grannvale can still muster up a couple of royal brats and some beginner knights, which might make the difference in a pass, but not on the open fields.

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

So realistically, if you want to guarantee his (and therefore the knight ring's) survival, you need to keep him safe immediately. And I accomplish that. Quan and Sigurd, using javelins, kill the enemies surrounding him and block the exposed sides off before switching back to lighter weapons. It's a pretty dangerous move, but I need that knight ring.

Oh boy, this is always an RNG fest, which makes it worse on clever mode, where the computer likes to focus, and does less random moves.

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

And then Elliot finished him off.

...I just gambled Ethlyn and Quan to secure the knight ring... and wound up trading them for it.

...And I think that's just about the dumbest gamble I have ever made in the history of ironmanning Fire Emblem.

Clever mode claims its first kill. There goes Ethlyn, Quan, and Finn all in one brutal moment. I hope this doesn't lock you out of a Gae Bolg on second gen.

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

That... is a big deal. The brave lance is one of the two brave weapons we get that we can pass down to gen 2, the other being the brave sword that Ayra can get if and only if she isn't married by the beginning of chapter 3 and Lex or Holyn give it to her.

Its not that big of deal, if you fail to pass down a weapon it will reappear in second gen. The hero weapons in particular become enemy drops in chapter 8 (except the hero axe, which can't be passed down, and you get in chapter 6 anyway). There are a tiny handful of exception to this rule, but it is mostly secret event items like the pursuit band, knight band or defense sword, and the legendary weapons.

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2 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Clever mode claims its first kill. There goes Ethlyn, Quan, and Finn all in one brutal moment. I hope this doesn't lock you out of a Gae Bolg on second gen.

I still have Finn, for now. I thought he'd leave too, but he doesn't. As for the Gae Bolg, he still has it in chapter 5 even if you never get it in chapter 3.

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12 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It does, it's a border we never see on a gameplay map though. It looks to be mostly mountains as Chapter 2 shows and the world map suggests, except near Freege, and we never see the full border there. But it looks like an okay, if expectable invasion route, judging from Agusty in 2&3 and Freege in Final.

 

7 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

 

If you look at the world map, they show the border between Augustria and Grannvale is a massive mountain range, and forcing an army through some tiny pass in the mountains would let a smaller force create an effective defense, and Sigurd has shown that Grannvale can still muster up a couple of royal brats and some beginner knights, which might make the difference in a pass, but not on the open fields.

I was going to point out exactly this too. There's only a narrow ocean side path available between Agustria and Grannvale. Would be a decent offensive point if ships existed in the Fire Emblem universe, but it seems Lyon and Walhart are the only ones in the entire multiverse that realize ships can be used as means of warfare and not just passenger transport, despite pirates being a thing. I'll also add to this, that while we know Dannan is fighting in Isaac, as far as I know we hear absolutely nothing of what Bloom is doing in Gen 1. So it's quite possible he was garrisoned in Friege.

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38 minutes ago, Jotari said:

 

I was going to point out exactly this too. There's only a narrow ocean side path available between Agustria and Grannvale. Would be a decent offensive point if ships existed in the Fire Emblem universe, but it seems Lyon and Walhart are the only ones in the entire multiverse that realize ships can be used as means of warfare and not just passenger transport, despite pirates being a thing.

Ryoma too, remember? Chapter 10 of Conquest had a bunch of Hoshidan soldiers invade by sea.

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17 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Ryoma too, remember? Chapter 10 of Conquest had a bunch of Hoshidan soldiers invade by sea.

Ah yes, part of the whole "we didn't even try to do anything of the sort in Birthright" logic of the game. Seriously speaking though, Fire Emblem has had a few boat and port maps throughout it's run, but the use of navies in warfare is monstrously overlooked. Whenever they are it's basically just used for convoying an army to the port, rather than outright controlling sea territory as an invaluable way of controlling basically everything to do with movement. Battleships were basically the WMD's of warfare until we invented airplanes. Especially once cannons could be hooked up to them, but even before that navies were super important. It's pretty understandable why Fire Emblem doesn't do it though. To have ships you need ship classes, and thus you need for every map in the game to have fully navigable water ways which means the entire game needs to be designed around such a mechanic. I'd like to see them do it once however, something like a continent (for want of a better word) of warring islands. People have suggested Pirate Emblem many times and I'd be fully on board. A continent based around Indonesia in shape would make it seem naturally worked into the world. A game designed that way would be interesting and unique. Worth it for a try.

Or alternatively they could have some kind of reverse dismounting mechanic, were certain infantry units can turn into boats when adjacent to water. This could actually work really well for something with Genealogy sized maps if there were tonnes of rivers and you were able to convoy units up and down it. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a complete ground up design of a game though, it could just generally be a buff for classes like Pirate if they have flier ranged movement on water thanks to canoes or something.

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4 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Ah yes, part of the whole "we didn't even try to do anything of the sort in Birthright" logic of the game. Seriously speaking though, Fire Emblem has had a few boat and port maps throughout it's run, but the use of navies in warfare is monstrously overlooked. Whenever they are it's basically just used for convoying an army to the port, rather than outright controlling sea territory as an invaluable way of controlling basically everything to do with movement. Battleships were basically the WMD's of warfare until we invented airplanes. Especially once cannons could be hooked up to them, but even before that navies were super important. It's pretty understandable why Fire Emblem doesn't do it though. To have ships you need ship classes, and thus you need for every map in the game to have fully navigable water ways which means the entire game needs to be designed around such a mechanic. I'd like to see them do it once however, something like a continent (for want of a better word) of warring islands. People have suggested Pirate Emblem many times and I'd be fully on board. A continent based around Indonesia in shape would make it seem naturally worked into the world. A game designed that way would be interesting and unique. Worth it for a try.

Or alternatively they could have some kind of reverse dismounting mechanic, were certain infantry units can turn into boats when adjacent to water. This could actually work really well for something with Genealogy sized maps if there were tonnes of rivers and you were able to convoy units up and down it. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a complete ground up design of a game though, it could just generally be a buff for classes like Pirate if they have flier ranged movement on water thanks to canoes or something.

Man, talk like that makes me wish Shanty Pete wasn't just a localization invention. He'd be perfect for a game like that.

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23 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Ah yes, part of the whole "we didn't even try to do anything of the sort in Birthright" logic of the game. Seriously speaking though, Fire Emblem has had a few boat and port maps throughout it's run, but the use of navies in warfare is monstrously overlooked. Whenever they are it's basically just used for convoying an army to the port, rather than outright controlling sea territory as an invaluable way of controlling basically everything to do with movement. Battleships were basically the WMD's of warfare until we invented airplanes. Especially once cannons could be hooked up to them, but even before that navies were super important. It's pretty understandable why Fire Emblem doesn't do it though. To have ships you need ship classes, and thus you need for every map in the game to have fully navigable water ways which means the entire game needs to be designed around such a mechanic. I'd like to see them do it once however, something like a continent (for want of a better word) of warring islands. People have suggested Pirate Emblem many times and I'd be fully on board. A continent based around Indonesia in shape would make it seem naturally worked into the world. A game designed that way would be interesting and unique. Worth it for a try.

Or alternatively they could have some kind of reverse dismounting mechanic, were certain infantry units can turn into boats when adjacent to water. This could actually work really well for something with Genealogy sized maps if there were tonnes of rivers and you were able to convoy units up and down it. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a complete ground up design of a game though, it could just generally be a buff for classes like Pirate if they have flier ranged movement on water thanks to canoes or something.

I guess you haven't played suikoden 4 

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Genealogy Day 8: Nothing Happens and Things Get Worse

I really find it annoying that the turn you recruit Raquesis, she can't do anything, because Sigurd has to end his turn blocking off the castle exit.

So much for getting the silver lance being a bright side. Finn won't be able to use it until promotion.

I start by sending out Finn towards the armor knights, while Lex goes off to heal at the church since Ethlyn isn't here to do it anymore. Man I need Raquesis promoted yesterday. And since she can't get into combat for basically any of this chapter because those green units are just going to suicide if she does, she has to devote this chapter to arena fighting and healbotting in order to level up, all with Azel at her side, so he can't gain much experience either.

Funny thing: despite general Philip explicitly stating in the newly-translated text “don't let the enemy lure you out of formation”... they let you lure them out of formation. They follow Finn, and...

...Wait.

...WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, PALADINS!?

QUAN FUCKING CRIPPLED HIMSELF TO KEEP YOU ALIVE, AND YOU'RE CHASING AFTER THE REINFORCEMENTS!? NO! GO BACK AND SWARM RAQUESIS! NO! YOU'RE RUNNING AWAY FROM THE MY HEALERS AND THEY CAN'T CATCH UP WITH YOU!

THEY ALL RAN IN AS A GROUP BECAUSE ONE OF THEM WAS JUST BARELY IN THE RANGE OF THOSE KNIGHTS!

WELP. THEY'RE DEAD. THEY'RE DEAD BECAUSE THEY'RE FUCKING IDIOTS, AND I COMPLETELY UNDERESTIMATED THEIR AGGRESSION.

NO QUAN. NO ETHLYN. NO KNIGHT RING.

FUCKING FANTASTIC.

LET'S KEEP GOING. MAYBE IT'LL GET WORSE!

Wow. Philiip is way faster than I thought he'd be. Sigurd can't double him with a Javelin, which... really sucks for my plans.

But I do eventually manage to take him out without casualties.

ASIDE FROM TWO OF THE FUCKING PALADINS.

Anyway, after finally clearing out all of the troops halfway to the castle, the last remaining paladin FINALLY decides to guard Raquesis again, far too late to do any good.

Seriously, how hard can it be to program an AI that understands it's about to make a move that'll get itself killed? Clearly the enemy AI knows which of my units they have the best chance of killing, so why the hell can't green units figure out when a move is suicidal? I gripe only because the behavior is story-distractingly stupid of them in plenty of instances, in numerous games.

But anyway, with the combined effort of Lex, Finn, Sigurd and a surprising last-minute contribution from Jamke who I sent that way just in case, I manage to get the castle seized... just before the bargain ring village goes up in smoke. It's still there, but it's way too late to save it. Hopefully we can save everything else. I remember when I was a kid I used to let damn near every village burn to the ground by the time I got that castle due to various grind-y shenanigans I was pulling off.

In hindsight, perhaps I would have been better off doing that here. Maybe I'd still have a full team. Oh well. At least I have most of the money.

Anyway, I seize the castle, and Sigurd announces his plan to rescue the northern villages. Now, as anyone who's played this game is well aware, realistically Sigurd and his army will be doing no such thing. It's going to be the two new characters coming in next turn who take out those four bandits. None of Sigurd's army will be making the ridiculous trek through that thick forest to that hideous pile of out-of-the-way villages, looking like they were some kind of deranged housing project. Mostly since they'd never actually make it in time to help, but also since it would be a massive detour in the grand scheme of things. But it still further demonstrates how Lawful Good Sigurd is, and unless I remember things wrong, is going to also reflect poorly on Eldigan eventually.

But this was yet another busy day, so despite this being my most pathetically short entry yet, I have to call it quits for today. Tomorrow won't be so busy, and next week in general is going to calm down significantly, so hopefully this won't become the new norm or anything.

Lesson learned: Never. Go. For. The. Knight. Ring. In. Iron. Man. Runs.

Take care, guys.

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26 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

THEY ALL RAN IN AS A GROUP BECAUSE ONE OF THEM WAS JUST BARELY IN THE RANGE OF THOSE KNIGHTS!

WELP. THEY'RE DEAD. THEY'RE DEAD BECAUSE THEY'RE FUCKING IDIOTS, AND I COMPLETELY UNDERESTIMATED THEIR AGGRESSION.

Ouch. At least you don't have to keep Raquesis out of combat anymore, which also frees up Azel can gain some experience too.

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While the Knight Ring is okay, I think the Leg Ring is the 70% of the time superior mobility ring. Hit and runs where you run out of enemy range after attacking are very situational in FE4 if I recall my experience. Its other use is killing units near you and then advancing, but if the enemy was already weakened on the enemy phase, you might be able to instead feed that weakened foe to another ally with less mobility. I'm not calling the Knight Ring bad, you should get it if you can, but no sweating it for me if I can't. I've realized with 3H that I'm loosening my "perfect optional objectives completed" requirement.

 

Bargain is Chapter 7, so unless you planned on giving it to Silvia or something, most kids can still get it fairly early. Not that money should be a problem for a well-bred 2nd Gen.

But, no Return Staff b/c Ethlyn took it to her gameplay grave is no bueno for easy Lachesis leveling. If Nanna wants it, apparently Chapter 7's shop is when it reappears.

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1 minute ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

But, no Return Staff b/c Ethlyn took it to her gameplay grave is no bueno for easy Lachesis leveling. If Nanna wants it, apparently Chapter 7's shop is when it reappears.

That was definitely something I was planning to do. She'll get there eventually through healing units who suck at the arena, but given how I don't want to just stall indefinitely to do that, I'm not sure how much she'll accomplish.

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Just now, Alastor15243 said:

That was definitely something I was planning to do. She'll get there eventually through healing units who suck at the arena, but given how I don't want to just stall indefinitely to do that, I'm not sure how much she'll accomplish.

You'll only need a bit over twice as long, which won't be too problematic if you can buy her the Paragon Ring. Paragon'ed Heal is 30 a pop, compared to 70 for Return.

And canonically, Lachesis promoted in Silesia, so you've time.

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Was Lachesis in the castle doing the arena at the time? That might explain why the paladins decided to charge. They couldn't find her anywhere on the map so they defaulted to attacking the nearest enemy ai.

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Just now, Jotari said:

Was Lachesis in the castle doing the arena at the time? That might explain why the paladins decided to charge. They couldn't find her anywhere on the map so they defaulted to attacking the nearest enemy ai.

Nope, she was using the green castle arena, meaning she ended every turn outside of the castle. And they just suicided into the advancing army because one of them was close enough to attack one, and the rest followed.

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23 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Nope, she was using the green castle arena, meaning she ended every turn outside of the castle. And they just suicided into the advancing army because one of them was close enough to attack one, and the rest followed.

Maybe they're effected by the "smart" AI too.

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Genealogy Day 9: The Trainwreck Sinks In

Okay, so. What's on the docket for today?

Right, time to watch the phase 2 cutscene.

...Okay, I'm gonna have to take a look at the map again... how exactly did Shagaal get from Augusty all the way to Evil Benjamin Franklin's castle? If there is actualy a way to get there, just around the forested cliffs, then the fact that it's not accessible on the map simply due to “don't go there” arbitrary boundaries, then that's... super dumb. Those things only work if there's no actual reason you'd want to go there by the logic of what the characters want to do at the moment. If it's a shortcut around the mountains and behind enemy lines, why the fuck can't I use it?

Moving on.

Awww, Voltz is named Waltz now? Neither of those sound like real names, but Voltz at least sounded cool!

But I do like how they write Lewyn in this translation. Apart from that “You're a dancer, I'm a bard” line, like he's trying to suggest that makes the incompatible in some way, when really that's just an argument that they make a good pair. How exactly are a traveling dancer and a traveling bard an especially poor match? That didn't make any sense in the original, and it doesn't make any sense here either.

I'm glad they kept the “I like it rough” line from Sylvia, too.

Now, as I look at what I now have to do, and do without the return staff...

...I completely re-assess everything I've said about this game's pacing. Specifically two things:

1: That forest trek in chapter 1 being the worst moment of the game's pacing

2: FE3 having having maps that were just as bad.

I feel such shattering guilt at having uttered this nonsense that I feel like I've stepped on a puppy. JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. THIS MAP IS COMPLETE AND UTTER GARBAGE. It is massive, winding, and requires near total backtracking halfway through, when it takes footsoldiers TEN TO TWELVE FUCKING TURNS TO WALK ONE LENGTH OF THIS FUCKING THING.

Actually it's getting so bad that this exact moment, in the aftermath of losing Quan and Ethlyn and needing to span this massive map in order to keep this marathon moving forward, is the lowest my morale for this project has been in a good while. And considering what I've played... that's pretty bad. But holy shit, this is going to take so much time that I find myself wasting even more time not wanting to do those button presses. Especially since checking to make sure you've moved everyone isn't the lightning-fast button spam it was in other games. Of all the games to arbitrarily slow down that button input for no discernible reason, WHY IN ALL THE FIFTY THOUSAND FRANCE-BOUND FUCKS DID IT HAVE TO BE THIS ONE!?

...Fuck it. Let's keep moving.

I remind myself to avoid giving Ayra and Dew TOO many support points. If she marries Dew she can't get the brave sword next chapter.

Okay, I like the translation of Arden's pursuit ring secret talk. “Is this what Alec feels like all the time!?” was a pretty amusing line.

Woltz is mildly intimidating, mostly because he's so fast that, singe I didn't let him have the speed ring, Sigurd can't double him. But I do eventually manage to bring him down thanks to some tactical doubling back. And after killing him and recruiting Beowulf... the rest of his mercenary band is going to be an absolute joke. 15 attack power at this point in the game, I ask you!

I find it quite amusing that Beowolf is intentionally hanging back from the rest of his group, like he's trying on purpose to wait until they're all killed and then let me make him an offer. Well, that's fine by me. Makes my job a lot easier. Have fun watching all your friends die. Starting with Woltz, so now his Paragon band belongs to Sigurd. I'll have him sell it, have Dew get the money from the villages, then have him give it to Raquesis while she hangs back and heals in the meantime just to maximize exp gain without standing around. I might be able to get her promoted by the end of the chapter after all!

Unfortunately, this is just not my week for playing Fire Emblem. I'm going to have to cut this one short too if I'm gonna get some stuff done that's gotta be done tonight. I considered just lumping this in with a “big” entry tomorrow, but no, it's better to keep the habit of doing this once a weekday.

Take care, guys.

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Genealogy Day 10: Let's do this

I'm not going to be saying much, just focusing on getting this slow part of the game actually done for next week. But I will say that curiously, all of the weakling free knights are attacking Lex, who they can only do one damage to, when Finn and Sigurd would take at least a little more damage. Not sure why, but he certainly appreciates the exp.

...Or not. He gained a 0 boost dud level from it. But at least he's two levels away from promoting. Promoting is a huge deal in this game, especially for certain characters COUGH MASTER KNIGHTS COUGH.

Just got Beowulf. Not much to say, I've never used him much despite him being on a horse. And especially not now, because Accost, which is apparently Duel's new name that I never bothered to check, scares me on melee units when I do ironman.

Okay, the new translation of Sigurd and Lewyn's dialogue... kind of makes him seem REALLY naive. Like he “didn't even think” about the collateral damage of all the fights he's been causing? Kind of jarring and in-your-face there, isn't that, game? Not sure if I like this change. The original version seemed a bit less... flagrantly Corrin levels of naive. I mean admittedly that's a part of his character, but in the original translation he never outright acted... incompetent.

Now, I read FionordeQuester's Fire Emblem 4 let's play a few years back, and I noticed he had a pretty sympathetic interpretation of Clement, the bishop with the sleep staff you eventually fight. I kinda got where he was coming from. Which made it surprising that this translation added in some loaded language to their translation of the “watch out for Clement's sleep staff” line that makes it clear the villagers hate the guy for undisclosed reasons, calling him “That dastard”. I wonder if this version of him will be shittier too.

Quick update: It's currently turn 50 and I've finally gotten Dew back from his money-making trip. Azel is ready to take out the armors around Evil Benjamin Franklin's castle now that he doesn't need to stick next to Raquesis, while Lewyn starts making his way back towards Evans so that he can recruit Fury or Erinys or whatever this version is going to call her. Everyone who's remotely good at fighting besides Azel and Sigurd goes back towards Evans as well so they can finish off this fucking map. Meanwhile Raquesis keeps heal spamming, only now with the Paragon Ring.

Jesus that was a pain. Giving that gold to literally anyone but Lewyn or Sylvia is a psychotically foolish prospect in any ranked run. Makes me almost wish I was doing one.

It's a surprisingly handy use of a quad-dancer, when retreating from a pack of enemies, to have everyone move back to the limits of the dancer's range, have her dance, and then pick where they move back to while being able to fully see where the enemies can move without you blocking their way. That's made it very easy to avoid getting Azel in range of too many enemies.

Alright. So.

While I still don't have much to write about (aside from Raquesis getting some really good level ups that will probably make her a demigod when promoted in 5 levels), I did manage to get all of the tedious pedestrian back-and-forth of this level actually finished before going to bed. All of my units are now in position to actually do shit once I play again. And I'll see if I can squeeze in a weekend bonus episode to make up for how completely unproductive this entire damned week has been.

Thanks for reading, guys!

...Holy shit is this chapter a mess.

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Reading how you reacted to playing SDatBoL and Gaiden back-to-back is like looking in a mirror. I didn't do as much optimising of convoy and stuff in FE1 as you did, but I had the same sort of feeling that Gaiden was just far nicer to play than FE1. Of course, I didn't hate the desert and swamp maps as much as you did.

I'm doing a similar thing to you to play through all the older games that I missed, though I'm going to be limited by legal availability of some of the localised games (Tellius rrgh), and I'm doing it by continent rather than all in release order, so it'll be interesting to see how your experience with each game compares to mine.

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On 11/10/2019 at 12:49 AM, Seafarer said:

Reading how you reacted to playing SDatBoL and Gaiden back-to-back is like looking in a mirror. I didn't do as much optimising of convoy and stuff in FE1 as you did, but I had the same sort of feeling that Gaiden was just far nicer to play than FE1. Of course, I didn't hate the desert and swamp maps as much as you did.

I'm doing a similar thing to you to play through all the older games that I missed, though I'm going to be limited by legal availability of some of the localised games (Tellius rrgh), and I'm doing it by continent rather than all in release order, so it'll be interesting to see how your experience with each game compares to mine.

I'd be interested in finding out that comparison too! Hopefully you'll stick around or remember to check back in a bunch of months to see and tell me how it went for you!

 

Genealogy Day 11: Let's get moving

So, thankfully, the slow part of this level is finally over with, and it's time to move forward. I got Arden's pursuit ring, I checked all the conversations, I'm gonna have Beowulf go over to activate Raquesis's stat boost when that comes up after seizing (they're already really good though), Lewyn is at Evans ready to intercept Fury/Erinys, and the return ring has been sold, ready for Sigurd to buy right after seizing so he can eventually get back to the action quicker.

...Christ, I wish I still had the return staff. But let's move on.

So, we get to the conversation with Mr. Exposition envoy who seems to only serve to inform Sigurd of the nasty rumors going around about him and to tell the story of Sigyn and Kurth.

...Now, after seeing the expositional nonsense that plagued FE3, it's kind of jarring, but I'm kind of getting reminded of that with this exposition here. Of course here it's nowhere near as bad, but that whole “let me tell you the whole story” thing was really giving me flashbacks.

Looks like Return is an action you can do after visiting a castle. Possibly even after attacking when mounted. And while it's an extreme action that can't be used just anywhere, it could be a very useful panic button. I'll have to attack with Sigurd and see if that is the case.

Anyway... so apparently Fury's name is Erin. I'll keep that in mind.

And that was the last of Clement's substantial dialogue for the chapter, and no, it looks like we'll just have to take the villagers' word for it that Clement was a sack of shit. His dialogue isn't substantially different, and he seems to look more like he's backed into a corner and scared of his country being taken over. Certainly nothing like Evil Benjamin Franklin, and certainly to Chagall.

Alright, I got Beowulf's conversation with Raquesis and... well, I generally found this conversation awkward no matter which translation, but I think I like the original a bit better. However... fun fact: for some reason, I always remembered there being some line, some verbal tic or “Er, yeah,” or SOMETHING in that conversation that hinted that Beowulf was talking complete shit about knowing Eldigan. That he was making it up just to hit on her. I didn't see it in the new translation, but when I looked back at the script for the old one... it wasn't in there either. Weird. Guess I'm just totally mis-remembering something here.

Also, I just noticed this translation turned the “animation” menu into the “options” menu... which only has animations as a setting. To the point that they must have had to do some kind of hacking tomfoolery to put an “animations” unselectable label over the menu, which I've never seen in any other FE game unless I'm mistaken. Odd change, though having “anime” be one of the options was a bit goofy.

Alright, Dew's level 11, and I think I have a plan for him: I'm gonna give him the Paragon ring once Raquesis doesn't need it, and then he's going to gain 20 exp a turn giving money to Ayra once she's his wife. A little bit of that happening simultaneously with the rest of the group doing things, and he should be a thief fighter in time for the beginning of chapter 4. It's kind of pathetic that I have to resort to this, but damn it, I want to use him. The better he is, the better Larcei and Ulster are, and also, he's a thief. Letting him actually steal would be insanely useful for my cash flow. Also, yes, this settles it: Lex is marrying Briggid. Patty needs her Paragon! I'm not going through this twice!

The incoming lance cavalry (which I resolved to take care of before getting in the range of all the ballistae and the sleep staff) were swiftly taken care of by a combination of baiting with Azel and standard player phase tactics. However, when I walled off the sword cavalry with Lex and Azel due to there being no space to retreat my non-enemy-phase units, I noticed that yet again, weak sword users prioritized attacking Lex, who has higher defense (though with Azel's defense ring, only by a little). I'm starting to think that the “smart” enemy AI has a significant priority on accuracy when it can't kill anyone. That or the weapon matchup gave them much better odds of surviving Lex than Azel.

Speaking of odds of survival...

...This is pretty scary. Particularly from an ironmanning perspective. A bunch of enemies, of a wide variety of weapon types, including magic, all safely enveloped between five ballistae and a sleep staff user. I can immediately think of options where nine times out of ten it'd work just fine. But it's that tenth time that worries me. The ballistae don't do much damage, and have pretty terrible accuracy, but they do enough damage to worry me and have at least an extant chance of killing a very good number of units in my party with prolonged exposure... including my main healer.

What I might have to do is have Dierdre warp up to Amphony and then silence Clement from the cliff, the only direction from which she's closer to Clement than the ballistae.

Also, I get, in a sense, that the massive terrain time sink for some obstacles, like killing the ballistae (which you can do without fliers, if you climb a shitton of mountain peaks), might be to make that something that you just flat out have to deal with, or be super clever and plan ahead for, if you want the best ranking. But it's still really fucking tedious to do regardless. I won't be killing the ballistae that way, but I just generally resent the “this is really easy without self-imposed challenges” design philosophy that shit like this represents. I want to feel cunning and clever, not cowardly and cheap, when I discover ways to abuse systems to win.

Just got Lex the psychotic bonuses that come with promoting. He's now a massive tank, with 19 defense and 23 strength. His speed is also pretty good, if only that mattered.

Interesting that this version of Lewyn and Erin's talk doesn't mention Queen Rahne by name, when the original does. I doubt it means anything, but it's curious all the same.

Alright, we've got Erin, and... well I wish she weren't utterly useless when you get her, for one thing. Making a new unit sit out on the chapter they're introduced in is a serious dick move. I fail to see much use for her in this chapter when every single group of enemies is covered by ballistae.

I may very well give her the hero sword next chapter just to help her catch up. Her stats are... okay, but not great.

...Just noticed Arden's new class name. What exactly was the point of changing “Sword Armor” to “Armor Sword”? That makes even less sense!

And due to the time sink getting Raquesis over to the central path to use her aura turned out to be, she's promoted! Finally she's a Master Knight, with its promotion gains of FUCKING SEVEN IN STRENGTH, SKILL AND DEFENSE. AND THEN FOUR IN SPEED.

Raquesis's strength, speed and defense are all in the twenties, she has pursuit now, she's basically an unstoppable monster. And she hasn't seen a single bit of real combat outside of an arena. It's really quite silly, if you think about it.

And the best part is that Azel's a level away from promoting too, so they'll both be mounted for the rest of part 1! Huzzah! I managed to get them there, and it only took a ridiculous amount of favoritism on Azel and...

(Checks turn count)

...Ninety turns for Raquesis!

Well, this whole level has just been a shitshow from beginning to end, and I'm gonna be glad to see the back of it. But let's get moving, shall we?

And aside from getting my hands on MK Raquesis, that effort was a total waste of time, because the aura dodgetanking idea I had was completely worthless, as the lance armor at the edge of the enemy range... did not take the bait.

Looks like taking out Clement and then rushing in guns blazing is the only option. Thankfully Dierdre is by this point almost in position, with two charges left on her silence staff.

Anyway, now that some of my other guys have promoted, Sigurd's looking significantly less impressive, though still a pretty good unit. But Raquesis definitely has him beat at this point, and she's only one level ahead of him. So, let's wait until Dierdre is in position, and then make our move.

...Or I could forget to move Raquesis the fuck back after I got her to run away from Eva with the help of Sylvia, and watch Eva run the fuck into the enemy army, get put to sleep, and then slowly turn that very literal statement into a euphemism.

Ah well. I was going to do it on purpose in a few turns anyway, since I'm gonna want to send Raquesis in to deal with this horde safely, but full disclosure: when it happened, it was by accident.

Facing the final onslaught of castle Mackily through the annoying ballista bottleneck, Azel finally reaches level 20, and goes back to the home castle to promote! Bonuses aren't nearly as good as the madness that is female master knight, but still, he's got a horse now, and he knows how to use it!

...And now it's getting late, and I'll have to wrap this up.

...I feel really bad. I started this day thinking all the slow stuff was over, but most of the stuff I'm doing gameplaywise is barely worth describing, because this bottleneck is still so dull to get through, and it's become increasingly apparent to me that there's only a handful of groups of enemies per each of these castles, which makes it very hard to give engaging commentary without giving a detailed play-by-play of my every move, which barely seems necessary as they're so simple, and would only serve to have me get less shit done. I NEVER remembered this map being this outrageously terrible in ANY of my previous playthroughs, which causes me to suspect it may entirely be the fault of losing the return staff and Ethlyn. Hopefully having Raquesis will help pick up the slack, but that return staff is gone for the rest of part 1 no matter what.

But anyway, next part, we'll... actually beat chapter 1! And then maybe start having fun again, now that we've got all these cool mounts?

Maybe?

PLEASE?

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I guess this is an odd time to chime in with this, but the pacing of Chapter 2 is absolutely terrible, unless you are playing a specific way, and unfortunately  return/warp uses are a key part of making it palatable. Ideally you only bother to send the infantry (barring Raquesis who can buy a warp/return staff to help redeploy the cavalry) after the last two castles while the cavalry deals with the rest, and get warped/returned to get them to reinforce the infantry. Most people tend to play it the tedious way, although I kinda get the impression that this is the first time you have had to do so.

 

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2 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I guess this is an odd time to chime in with this, but the pacing of Chapter 2 is absolutely terrible, unless you are playing a specific way, and unfortunately  return/warp uses are a key part of making it palatable. Ideally you only bother to send the infantry (barring Raquesis who can buy a warp/return staff to help redeploy the cavalry) after the last two castles while the cavalry deals with the rest, and get warped/returned to get them to reinforce the infantry. Most people tend to play it the tedious way, although I kinda get the impression that this is the first time you have had to do so.

 

Almost assuredly not the case. I'm morally certain that I was exposed to this map's terrible pacing before; I just didn't care. I think the big thing was that I was a teenager when I really, REALLY played this game, and had the patience of a saint. 99% of the reason I played Fire Emblem back then was for the satisfaction of watching my strong units curbstomp as much as possible. That made FE4  one of my favorite Fire Emblems for obvious reasons, as it's great for making those kinds of characters... as long as you're willing to ignore all the bullshit you have to do to make that happen with a lot of units.

Now, the most recent time I played, the only time I really looked at the game with jaded adult eyes, I was doing a mounted-only run, which probably helped a lot, but not completely, because I was still letting myself use anyone who either promoted into a mount, or would breed someone who would have or get a mount in gen 2. That meant I was still using Aideen, Azel, Lewyn, Raquesis...

Maybe it's just this time, now that I'm on a schedule and this is sort of an obligation and not a do-whenever thing, combined with losing Ethlyn and Quan, I've become more acutely aware of how shit the pacing of this chapter is?

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