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

[deskita]

Since the units stocked in your Einherjar shop are determined by the units you have on your My Castle, you can effectively pick and choose which of your characters you want another of. In a Conquest Ironman I did I ended up purchasing a Silas Einherjar after a particularly disastrous Chapter 25 and that ended up helping out massively.

[lenticular]

4 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I think you are overlooking that efficient observation is a skill valuable to ironmans, and that you did learn something beyond a chapter specific feature, its that dangerous staffs/weapons CAN hide behind enemies, so in the future take a quick look at the equipment of paired units as well. I find this to be very similar to learning that you have to keep an eye out for effective weapons, and high crit weapons when looking over a map.

Trust me, I'm not overlooking this. I make no secret that ironman isn't my prefered way to play, but I have done ironman runs and I know damn well that good observation and diligence are valuable skills for that style of play. My point here is twofold. Firstly, I do not think that they should be such valuable skills, because I don't believe they are fun or interesting. Secondly, I believe that Fates in general and Conquest in particular require these skills more than is typical for the series as a whole because of the density of mechanics and number of things that you have to look out for.

There is nothing difficult or interesting about this sort of diligent observation. If someone handed me a Fire Emblem game-state and told me to list all the enemy units present, all their weapons, skills, which of my units they could attack next turn, and so on, then I could pass that test literally 100% of the time. Probably everyone else here could as well. It isn't difficult. It's just time-consuming. That I sometimes fail to do so during the course of a game is not because I lack the necessary skill but because I am not willing to spend the required time doing rote busywork.

And I'm not learning that dangerous weapons can be in the back row of a pair-up duo, because I already know that. Failing to check something like that isn't a sign of lack of knowledge or being a bad player or whatever. Rather it's a sign of -- at worst -- carelessness or laziness. If a game asks me to do something which isn't difficult but I choose not to do so because it isn't fun or isn't a worthwhile use of my time, then that's on the game, not me.

[Jotari]

14 hours ago, Dayni said:

There were also loan units in SD, which actually sound interesting because they are units people can borrow from other playthroughs where for example someone has a high level Gordin and you can recruit them to help in a run which also have the condition of you can only borrow a loan of a unit you still have in your army, but they're not available as Wi-Fi connection is gone.

Legit did not know this was a thing. Curse you underdeveloped original DS wifi connections *shakes fist*

[Punished Dayni]

39 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Legit did not know this was a thing. Curse you underdeveloped original DS wifi connections *shakes fist*

I never knew about it before trying to write up my post. I also find it weird it didn't get carried over to NMotE.

The idea that you can't borrow a loan unit who isn't still alive in your army isn't necessarily as good for ironmans, but it's a solid idea if, say, you lost several combat units and you had a couple of characters still around who aren't able to catch up to that point in the game.

[Samz707]

On 4/11/2021 at 12:44 AM, Interdimensional Observer said:

 

 

Nope, I don't think so. Sorry to throw cold water on your appreciation of an idea. 

And I remember the first Super Mario Galaxy had a death counter, it was the thing you unlocked for beating the game twice.

Reminds me of Destroy All Humans 2.

Long story short, the game secretly keeps track of how many times you've died.

Then, in a side-mission, you have to kill a cult leader, except the Cult god (Who's technically also your god since weird Alien god-thing), gives him extra lives, to make it fair.

These lives are the exact amount of times you've died up to this point, so while he's technically really easy to kill, you could be there for a while if you've died alot.

15 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I do like this idea for Genealogy. It could make infantry better -were it not for the issue of the big map outside meaning it takes too long for them to get there in the first place.

Also, what happens outside while you're doing this?

• Will Ayra surrender as soon as I take the gates of Genoa Castle, or do I have to keep baiting her around and hoping she doesn't kill anyone because I haven't officially rescued Shannan yet, which demands I take the throne of Genoa?
• Are enemies going to start moving out from Marpha and plot stuff happen when I take the gates, or will everyone I have outside be left doing nothing until the throne is mine?
• What about the boss of Genoa? Do I fight him at the gates, or does a new enemy get invented to sit there and the old boss is relocated to the throne?

The number of factors in need of consideration make inclusion of this into FE4 Remake too difficult to do I'd think. For a brand-new FE however, wherein plot-gameplay events on an FE4-sized or even a normal FE medium-large map, can be written with castle gates or castle throne conquest in mind and don't have to be retroactively changed, the chances of making this work rise exponentially.

 

I can't speak much for how it'd work for Genealogy. (Since not played it.)

But the way Commandos 2 handled it (where I got the idea from, since buildings are technically different maps entirely except most Enemies in buildings are scripted to run "outside" to the outdoor map when the alarm is raised, so clearing out buildings generally means no reinforcements if the Alarm goes off, aside from a few maps where enemies appear at the very edges of the map, kinda like those FE Reinforcements that spawn at the edges of maps.), characters have to manually enter buildings one at a time and you can freely swap between characters in/out of buildings, so in practice for FE, you'd be technically playing both maps at once, with some way to switch maps/bring the game's view to inside buildings so you can control the split-up forces.

So essentially to try to sum it up in a simple way, Forts would technically be short mini-maps you can freely move in/out of with your units while the "Main" overworld map is actually still on-going with the player having to juggle managing both.

It's part of why I called this a "Mad lad" idea since the player would essentially be playing two maps (More if you're doing some absurd probably LTC stat and having units in multiple buildings at the same time.) at once unless they moved everyone into a Fort/Castle. (or I guess if it's safe enough to simply leave a few units outside and not pay attention to them.)

It's an idea I'd kinda like but I do acknowledge that FE in general is "faster" than some of the strategy games I play so it'd probably slow the game down a good bit.

Edited April 13, 2021 by Samz707

[Alastor15243]

Conquest Day 21: Chapter 18

Well, time to do the rest of the game without Elise.

And just to mock me, she shows up in the arena, giving me one more chance to appreciate just how much I'm going to miss having her around now that she's promoted.

Her stats are ridiculous. She's better than Odin in literally everything but skill and tying in luck. And Odin's one level higher.

Hoooooly shit, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!? Guess it's back to using Leo for me...

...Christ. Honestly, I don't know what it is, if it's something that could be fixed if the game were different or if it's just a personal problem I need to get over, but something about this game, as I've said before, makes me love it when I'm playing it, but absolutely dread it when I'm not. The temptation to take days off is frankly alarming for what is, when I'm actually playing it, unequivocally my favorite game in the series. I just don't understand it, and I really, really, really hope I do by the time this is over.

On the bright side, it's Effie's birthday, so among other things, she's gonna be faster today.

Yeah, uh... I'm not trying invasion 2 again. No thank you. Not right now, with my current army. That feels like tempting fate given how very close to going wrong things were even without that entrap staff screw-up. So it's time to take on Chapter 18, the relatively-generously-timed mission with the abundance of generals and status staves.

Time to start breaking out the royals I've been neglecting. Leo and Xander, to be precise. I give Xander the two speedwings that I always give him, and also, since I really should have done this from the get-go, I give Dakota my seraph robe to make it just a bit less likely that she'll die again.

I really don't remember having to buy this many master seals. I remember not being this tight for money as well, and being able to save basically half of my earnings for the entire game and barely notice. I guess not using any of the bonus items really does make a huge difference. But anyway, I've promoted Arthur to berserker and Dwyer to strategist. I might make Dwyer a butler later to train up his staff rank to maximum, but right now we really need all the magic firepower we can get. He's only got an attack power of 28 with trample due to his stats being generally shit, but fuck it, we've got what we've got.

Speaking of what we've got, what we've got is 20 turns to take out three boss units on two sides of the map. Honestly, the only thing I'm scared of here is the bunch of generals to the southwest. Wary fighter, high attack, nearly immune to physical attacks, I just lost Elise... and there's a freeze staff strategist among them, so depending on how the enemies aggro, this could go far, far worse than I'm expecting.

...But what the hell. Let's do it.

I almost made a terrible mistake, but I caught it in time by triple-checking enemy attack ranges to see who could dual strike with the sorcerer the east side has to deal with. I've got Arthur, Mozu, Effie, Shura, Xander and Charlotte over there, and I'm having Mozu and Arthur bait out the enfeeble uses while Effie tries to take out the sorcerer. I was planning on having here do it solo, but I had Shura guard stance up with her when I noticed that hero who could help the sorcerer one-shot Effie.

I'm having Dakota bait in the generals because, yet again, she's my best magical enemy-phase unit, so I kind of have to. Hopefully this doesn't go even more catastrophically wrong than I'm expecting. But yeah, on the west side, I have Felicia split up from Leo temporarily so she can bait in an enfeeble use. It'll be important to disarm those quickly in the first four turns so we can tackle the upper half of the map without fear without wasting too much of our precious time. Twenty turns may seem like a lot, but I seem to remember that number sneaking up on me in my first run.

And Felicia inexplicably dodges a 94% enfeeble use, meaning she's free to tank another one! Lucky me! That's one fewer useful unit I need to nerf!

Effie gained strength, speed, res, and quick draw. Oh yes. Oh yes, she's going to be a menace now.

Xander, meanwhile, is taking on the cavalry to the southeast. He just took out the strategist in one shot, and now the paladins and bow knights are his for the taking. He can either double or one-shot every single one of these mounted units.

Xander gets a terrible level up, only getting luck, but he does get defender, which buffs all of his stats by 1 when paired up, which he always will be, so that's pretty awesome.

Alright, so, after a bit of amusing chaos where I had to have Effie do some enemy-phase walling so she could kill a beastkiller enemy Xander failed to kill, the lower half is clear save for the bosses, and all on turn 6. Also, the enfeeble staves have been put out of commission with minimal long-term damage to my army, and so it's time to set Selena and her trusty armorslayer to fighting the generals while everyone else (except Dwyer, he's on healing duty) rushes the rest of the place to make sure we have enough time for Shura to get all the treasure.

Oh. Shit. Right. Reinforcements. I'll have to have some of my army stay behind to make sure these guys can't kill Selena, Laslow or Dwyer.

Speaking of Selena and killing, she managed to take out the javelin general without him even managing to get a single dual guard in by enemy-phasing for the first two rounds and then player-phasing the last. The remaining one will be a slaughter by comparison, since it has an axe instead of a lance.

Alright. 10 turns left and we're basically at the throne room. One thing that has me exceedingly nervous is the fact that the door to the prison room opens when you beat the southern bosses. I'm really hoping more reinforcements won't then gun straight for them. But from what I remember, the reinforcements are over. I'll keep an eye out though.

A mjölnir sorcerer nearly causes a problem, but I manage to player-phase him with my snipers, because thankfully the sorcerer creeping just within the range I need to put someone to set up a dual strike (Leo was blocking the other space due to attacking the lightning sorcerer I also had to fight) did not also have a super dangerous tome.

...Clever combo, game. Paired-up heroes with seal resistance, and paired-up sorcerers with seal defense. You have to be able to one-round both in order to avoid the debuffs, and they're really strong. The heroes are also just barely fast enough that Dakota can't double them even with Laslow's dance, and they refuse to be baited individually, so... I've gotta come up with something a bit more clever.

Which I have.

First off, I had Effie attack the hero pair over the wall. Then I had Ophelia take Charlotte off of Xander so he could then shelter Effie to safety. Then Dakota finishes off the hero with fire from just outside of Zola's range while still blocking the entrance to the room, netting her just barely enough dual guard points that she only has to take one attack between the now-solo hero and the sorcerer pair, since now the hero's too slow on his own to stop Dakota from getting six shield gauges with a double.

It works, but of course some sorcerer reinforcements show up. Only two, though? Did blocking one of the stairs keep it from being more? Works for me!

Alright, I got the energy drop, and now it's time to pair-up-chain Shura all the way to the other side of the map so he can get the other treasure. Then we'll use our several turns to spare to take out Zola safely.

Alright, and we got a master seal! Cool. Let's get the fuck out of here.

Done! Zola had a really intimidating kit, but having some time to make him cripple himself with ragnarok really made it a lot more manageable to start wounding him and deal with vengeance. And we get 10,000 gold for killing him.

Yeah, yet again, my trepidation over starting the map feels really silly in hindsight. I know this, logically, and yet some part of my brain still makes me hesitate for ages.

Yeah, yet again Leo kills Zola in a cutscene, though this time with a sword apparently instead of Brynhildr, because they don't use the special map animation they made for when Brynhildr is used on the map in cutscenes.

And then Leo mockingly guesses what Dakota would have done if she had it her way, which is exactly what happens in Birthright, and I can't decide whether I find that cute or dumb.

Ah yes, and then the reveal that the real Izana is in fact exactly like Zola's impression:

Leo: Ugh, so excitable. He's just as bad as his doppelganger.

Camilla: I was hoping the real Izana would be a tad more... dignified.

Xander: Truly unsettling...

Elise: YAAAY! I got to befriend two Izanas in one day!

I'm sorry, that's just too adorable.

But then later she ruins a heartwarming moment between Dakota and Sakura, and... I'm frankly shocked that their initial rivalry... never... ever came up in Revelation. They just became fast friends the moment they started supporting despite Elise clearly having an instinctive jealous hatred of Sakura at basically any other time.

Oh, I do like the CG here, which has basically the Nohrian and Hoshidan common soldiers staring daggers at each other awkwardly from across the table.

Alright.

Support time!

First off, Laslow and Selena! Finally! Now, let's see if we can get Laslow up to speed as an early-promoted rally bot at this stage of the game!

...A bracelet... I think this is the one mentioned in their A support of Awakening? My memory's a bit foggy.

And then they act like they've both been in love with each other forever and that it's been painfully obvious to both of them, but uh... I couldn't get that from the last several conversations.

I do love this moment where Selena goes “So... you realize this means you can't be with anyone else, right?” and then Laslow just awkwardly, silently dips out. But then he comes back like “Just kidding! Of course I know that!”

Which means we now have Soleil's paralogue, but obviously I'm gonna save that until I can recruit her later with shurikenbreaker and replicate for free.

Gunter and Dakota also got to A rank. Ah yes, and this is when they reveal that this ball was made out of a whip, like a yarnball or something. Basically Garon ordered Gunter to beat her with a whip for being socially closed off due to... y'know... everything. But he wound up destroying the whip and using the leather to make the ball instead after just one look at her poor face, and used that to get her to open up instead.

I hate how as-you-know-y the telling is, but it is a decent story.

Ah yes, and now Leo and Felicia. I've done this pairing basically every run I've ever done, and I keep forgetting what's in it. But it seems Leo just... bluntly tells Felicia she's not suited to be a maid, and that she should reconsider her career choices.

...And that's it for now.

Alright then!

Well, I haven't worked out quite yet what I'll be doing tomorrow, but tune in tomorrow to see it!

Stay safe, everyone!

[Alastor15243]

Conquest Day 22: Chapter 19

Alright, let's jump right into it and look at what we're dealing with. I don't like how we don't have certain blow yet on my snipers, but we may have to deal, because the alternative is a precious paralogue. ...Or Invasion 2 again, but I still feel worse-equipped to handle that than I did the first time.

It's almost exactly like the Birthright counterpart in Chapter 15. Enemy formations force us to take our troops on a detour through the mountains into beast country.

Two problems with this:

1: As you can see from this map, unless the insurmountable enemy blockade is literally right outside of Izumo and nowhere else, taking a detour into the Kitsune Hamlet and then moving on to the Wind Tribe Village... still has us intersecting the main road.

2: We are not a guerrilla force tasked with an assassination mission. We are a fucking conquering army. If we can't handle this Hoshidan blockade in a stand-up fight, why the fuck do we think we can conquer the kingdom!?

Weird how Azura calls Kaden an “it” when we have a fucking shifter in our army. Multiple if you count Dakota!

But yeah, basically, as Kaden puts it, “Honestly, all the humans I've met in the outside world have been nothing but kind. But the humans who come directly to our village never are.” So we have to fight, no questions asked.

...And it's weird that Kaden says “you have an honest face for a human” when he's just said he has such a good impression of humans in the outside world.

...But yeah. It's time to fight.

And oh yeah, the illusion gimmick. Basically, units with a leaf icon can't be attacked, but they also can't attack, and the leaf icon alternates between on and off every turn at the beginning of enemy phase. People really, really, really seem to hate this gimmick. Personally, I like it. I especially think it would be a cool way to make reinforcements more intimidating and less easily ambushed and gimped by people who know where they're going to show up, if they had a turn where they just couldn't be attacked. It's the advantage of ambush spawns but without all of the horrible downsides.

Aaaanyway, I use my master seal that I got last chapter to make Charlotte a berserker for pair-up botting with Xander, and I buy some more healing staves for my healers since I was kinda running on empty by the end of last map.

Oh, speaking of last map, I forgot to mention: I upgraded the snake eyes to a +3 since I had spare forged bronze axes nobody was really using. Due to certain characters rendered legally dead.

I cook with milk and wheat, as usual, because these guys are speedy and I have a hell of a lot of mounted units who are gonna need the bulk against these beast-slaying kitsune just in case.

Alright! Most of the units I wanted to get those buffs got them!

I'll be bringing Dakota/Peri (I want Dakota to get defender and elbow room), Xander/Charlotte, Leo/Felicia, Laslow/Keaton, and then Odin, Effie, Mozu and Ophelia. I really, really want the heartseeker accuracy buffs here, because these guys are dodgy little fuckers.

It's kinda hilarious that I've lost three units so far and I still find myself forced to choose who comes to every mission. I've got five units I'm leaving out that I'd like to bring: Selena, Gunter, Shura, Arthur and Camilla!

But yeah, my number one priority now is getting Laslow some levels so he can start learning his long overdue rally abilities he would've gotten much sooner with Azura as his wife. Given the surprising abundance of unpromoted enemies, this may not be the best map for that, but he's got an internal level of like 19, so he should definitely at least be getting a few levels fighting here. And also, more importantly, he's gonna have to gain his support ranks with Keaton, because he needs A+ rank by the time he hits level 8.

For now though, we're getting him to level 5 so he can get rally skill and reclass to falcon knight. You might say “why bother getting rally skill, just go straight into falcon knight!”, but the thing is that won't get him fully ready any faster. Get rally skill at level 5, rally speed at level 8, rally strength at level 11, and then replicate just in time at level 15. In the long run all that reclassing early will get me is one fewer rally, and for all I know that +6% chance to hit might actually make a difference in this game somewhere.

Alright, no sense stalling forever, let's do it.

So my first move is to have Laslow bait out the first kitsune, and by the looks of it the only one who doesn't have beastbane. Not that having it would make his attacks a one-hit kill, but it'll take less time and money to heal at any rate.

Most of the enemies aren't moving, but a few of them are. We'll deal with them as they arrive.

Okay, so, I've heard people say that not every enemy has illusions on them. I'm gonna test that. Okay, so the ones moving towards me from the west don't have illusions currently active, and neither do the ones heading towards me from the north. Let's see what ending my turn does...

...Oh shit. They're right. Some of these enemies don't have illusions at all. Well that's a little annoying, but then at least the surprise makes things less complicated rather than more. It looks like only the stationary enemies have illusions they cycle through.

Oooooookay. This pincer attack is actually a lot nastier than I expected it to be. I have to retreat a bit further towards my starting location and enemy-phase a few more of these with Dakota so as many as possible will either be hexed or dead. She's gonna be taking a lot of punishment, but she's got dual guards, high evasion, a forest tile, tonics, Dwyer's gentilhomme aura, and a decent amount of defense. I think she'll be fine.

Plus, she can't even one-round all of these, so there's not many enemy facings for her. And I'll have my entire army grouped up behind her ready to pounce next turn.

Alright.

I have 9 units, and 6 enemies. Few of them can be doubled, two are paired up...

...Okay actually this isn't as nasty as I thought it would be (and holy shit did I think it would be nasty). I screwed up by putting Odin in the wrong place to activate heartseeker somehow, but now it's 5 to 3 units, soon to be 4 to 2, with Ophelia heartseeking the last pair.

YES! XANDER HIT A 65% one-hit kill! Now there's only one left, and I've got Laslow, Mozu and Leo to finish him off with. I'll be going with Laslow for the kill, as I said, after Mozu softens him up.

Alright. Now to deal with this next segment, the life and death kitsune up north. Okay, these guys don't have illusions either, but at least it's something you can easily work out by studying the group you're advancing towards. Anyway, I'll bait them in with Dakota, and then see how they aggro. If they all charge in, they'll be murdered on player-phase.

Unfortunately Laslow failed two attacks, one main and one a dual-strike, so he didn't get any exp from this batch of enemies, and it also robbed Effie of getting certain blow in time for the next group. Pity. Well, I at least managed to get Dakota a good level up, and she now has a D rank in tomes. One more rank and she'll be able to use horse spirit, which would be really handy.

Okay, the fact that these guys have illusions actually works in our favor. We'll bait them in with Dakota just in time for the illusion to turn off, then we'll try to player-phase assault them, and if that doesn't work... well I mean they can't attack us, so we have a turn to reorganize and retreat!

I'm kinda taken off guard by how frequently Dwyer has wound up being useful in combat here. But looking at him now it's kinda obvious why: he got a surge of speed and luck, allowing him to double some of these guys and provide pretty great and stable chip damage against the ones that don't have crazy resistance. He actually managed to kill one with dual strike help!

At any rate, Effie has certain blow now, so she'll basically never miss again and the weapon triangle is utterly irrelevant for her, and Mozu was approaching 100% hit against these guys even before she got it earlier, so for her I'm doubly certain she's not going to miss anymore. And feeding kills into Laslow is going reasonably well. I'm pretty sure by the end of this map he'll be at level 5.

Alright. Here's the trickiest part. This batch of kitsune is huge, and it's also mixed as to what phase of illusion they're in. This is going to involve some hit and run tactics, to be sure.

Okay, this asynchronous group I will agree is really annoying. There's nothing you can do but enemy-phase tank it over multiple turns, because the only ones you can player-phase are the ones that won't attack the subsequent enemy phase, meaning no matter what you do on player-phase, you'll be a sitting duck unless you just send in a tank to slowly take them out.

For one fleeting, terrifying moment, I thought a temporary brain-fart with how the illusions worked was going to cost me a unit, but no, I managed to get Laslow, Keaton, Ophelia and Mozu all out of the way of that life and death kitsune who very nearly cornered them all by the bottom of the northeastern mountains.

The map's nearly clear. All that's left is... Kaden's group. That shouldn't be too big a deal for Dakota, considering she only has to fight two of them at once. I'll rush in and draconic hex Kaden at range to take the edge off him, then slowly wear him down.

...Nope, can't do it with Peri, so I'll have to change Dakota's pair-up partner to Leo for this final stretch. That one extra mov is the main reason, but also better defense and a magic boost. I really want to get that first hit in, because Kaden has just barely enough skill to get a 1% crit chance, and I want to nip that in the bud for good. Between draconic hex and his own skill-nerfing beaststone+, if I get the first attack in at range, he's never gonna have enough skill to crit me again.

Alright, yeah, that worked out. And now I think I can feed the boss kill to Laslow now that I've worked out how the enemy AI seems to work with illusions. When they can't attack anyone, they seem to just move off towards the juiciest target even if stronger targets are closer. So I can lure Kaden in and...

...and totally forget that Kaden has the self-healing even better skill synced with him coming out of illusion and now I have to do way more damage than expected while both my hyper-accurate snipers retreated to the opposite side of the river when I initially engaged Kaden.

I think I can still do this though. First off, I have Felicia enfeeble Kaden to refresh the debuffs on him, because aside from the nasty strength and skill ones, they've half worn off. This also puts Felicia in range to use demoiselle to allow Dwyer to just barely tank a hit from Kaden in melee so he can try to let Xander get a dual strike in since Xander missed his first attempt.

He didn't miss the second one though!

And that allows Laslow to go in for the kill, putting him at level 5 and finally netting him rally skill. Next order of business is to make him a falcon knight, but that doesn't matter right now, because the last enemy is about to die.

Oh my god, the absolutely painful attempts at discussing morality and ethics make me want to vomit right now. Holy shit. The writers genuinely seem to think that the premise they built this bullshit on is compelling. And then the bullshit about how Dakota should believe in the justice of the path she's taken because the Yato found her worthy...

...Yeah, I don't know what the Yato's goals are if the Dakota who would have made each decision gets considered equally worthy.

Alright, support time. I got supports with both Peri and Leo. The Leo one I've seen and commented on. The Peri one? Not so much.

Bracing myself.

...HOLY SHIT WHAT IS WITH THE INSUBSTANTIAL CLIFFHANGERS IN THIS GAME!? I MISS AWAKENING SUPPORTS SO MUCH HERE!

Peri's just crying incoherently and saying she'll kill the people who made her cry, Dakota decides she'll stay with Peri just to make sure she doesn't actually do anything crazy, and that's the end. FUCK THESE SUPPORTS.

Alright, now for Xander and Charlotte's B.

Seeing this conversation, where Charlotte gives Xander a delicious home-cooked meal, made me wonder how good she is in the mess hall. She's actually on par with Dwyer and Mozu and the like... when she's cooking for men. Either her cooking style specifically appeals to men, or she doesn't put the same effort into the dishes that women are getting, because her bonuses are male-only.

But HOLY SHIT I LOVE THIS. Xander's just completely on to her and he's all “So, what's next?” and then calls her out on doing this to literally every guy in the army.

AND OH MY GOD SHE ACTUALLY ANSWERS HIS QUESTION, AND SHE'S STILL TRYING TO FLIRT AT THE SAME TIME.

Charlotte: …Usually I'd lean in to point out something in the meal, casually brushing against them. Like this...

Xander: Stop. We've already talked about your behavior and how it needs to stop.

He basically tells her that in practicing this stuff she's wasting valuable time she could be using to practice how to fight, and... I'm not sure how fair of a criticism that is, even though she obviously deserves to be criticized. I mean, everyone in the army has free time and hobbies, except a couple like Beruka maybe.

Anyway though, I do find this support chain amusing, even though I know he's gonna wind up falling for her.

...But that's it for today! I just upgraded the mess hall, so we can finally give meal boosts to everyone, and I'll-

Dwyer: What am I doing? I don't even know anymore...

Wow, I love that response to talking to him.

Anyway, yeah, tomorrow...

...Oh goodness, unless I decide I need a detour, tomorrow is Fuga's Wild Ride.

Oh yes.

I'll be looking forward to this.

Stay safe, everyone!

Edited April 14, 2021 by Alastor15243

[lenticular]

22 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

And oh yeah, the illusion gimmick. Basically, units with a leaf icon can't be attacked, but they also can't attack, and the leaf icon alternates between on and off every turn at the beginning of enemy phase. People really, really, really seem to hate this gimmick. Personally, I like it. I especially think it would be a cool way to make reinforcements more intimidating and less easily ambushed and gimped by people who know where they're going to show up, if they had a turn where they just couldn't be attacked. It's the advantage of ambush spawns but without all of the horrible downsides.

I quite like it as well. It changes up how you have to approach the map, is very easy to keep track of once you understand how it works with hardly any extra cognitive load, and as a one-off gimmick on a fairly short map it also didn't outstay its welcome. At least for me. Fun level.

What I don't like is the initial explanation of the gimmick, which I didn't find at all clear when I first read it. I understood it as "there are a bunch of illusory enemies who will body block you and be generally annoying, but then the illusion will fade and they'll vanish" rather than "there are a bunch of real enemies who have an illusion buff on them and when the illusion fades only then will they attack you". Which immediately got one of my squishy units killed. I can't remember what the actual explanatory text is, mind, so I'm not sure if it's genuinely badly described or if I just wasn't paying proper attention.

Speaking of things I can't remember, is there any dialogue in the game that explicitly links the kitsune generation of illusions with the location they're fighting in? It would be nice to have some sort of storyline explanation for why Kaden can't pull that trick when he's recruited in Birthright (even though the real reason is obviously that it would be overpowered in gameplay rather than anything to do with story).

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, lenticular said:

Speaking of things I can't remember, is there any dialogue in the game that explicitly links the kitsune generation of illusions with the location they're fighting in? It would be nice to have some sort of storyline explanation for why Kaden can't pull that trick when he's recruited in Birthright (even though the real reason is obviously that it would be overpowered in gameplay rather than anything to do with story).

I don't necessarily think it would be.

The Final Fantasy Tactics Advance games have an invisible status that certain units can apply to themselves, the other side can still see the enemy, they just can't target it. The effect lasts until the invisible unit attacks, then it wears off until the unit reapplies it. There is an enemy skill that lets them ignore the invisibility status and harm you regardless as well.

All you need is to make sure that it's never so easy or painless to assassinate someone, which should be easier in FE than FF, due to the existence of permadeath. If your assassination mission means being surrounded by many enemies afterwards, it could be a life for a life, and the whole stealth thing would've helped you exactly once.

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

1 hour ago, lenticular said:

(even though the real reason is obviously that it would be overpowered in gameplay rather than anything to do with story).

X to doubt. They are still Kitsune/Ninetails, giving them an Invisibility buff or w/e you want to call it would do next to nothing for them. Well, I guess they wouldn´t need to rely on that innate dodge bonus, to survive anything non-physical.

Though it could be interesting if it was bound to the character - an EP untouchable Archer?

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

It's kinda hilarious that I've lost three units so far and I still find myself forced to choose who comes to every mission. I've got five units I'm leaving out that I'd like to bring: Selena, Gunter, Shura, Arthur and Camilla!

Ah, that one's a shame. I found Wyvern Lord Gunter quite useful here, as he was my only unit who could wield the Beast Killer, without being susceptible to Beastbane from enemy Kitsune.

On 4/13/2021 at 11:48 AM, Alastor15243 said:

Gunter and Dakota also got to A rank. Ah yes, and this is when they reveal that this ball was made out of a whip, like a yarnball or something. Basically Garon ordered Gunter to beat her with a whip for being socially closed off due to... y'know... everything. But he wound up destroying the whip and using the leather to make the ball instead after just one look at her poor face, and used that to get her to open up instead.

"hE uSeD tO bE a GoOd PeRsOn"

I get that this was probably after Garon got possessed or whatever, but I have no idea how we're supposed to have sympathy for a literal child abuser. This comes across as even worse than trying to get Corrin literally killed, because at least that could be written off as incompetent over-the-top moustache-twirling.

3 hours ago, Imuabicus said:

Though it could be interesting if it was bound to the character - an EP untouchable Archer?

If a unit is untouchable every enemy phase... that sounds way too strong. Even if they're a melee unit, you could still make them a functionally-immortal roadblock. That said, a "Kitsune Leaf" consumable could be interesting. Eat it on player phase, and you're untouchable the subsequent enemy phase, only to return to normal the next player phase. Could allow for some neat walling strategies, or help keep your Lord alive against otherwise long odds.

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

"hE uSeD tO bE a GoOd PeRsOn"

I get that this was probably after Garon got possessed or whatever

I'm pretty sure it's canon that Garon was possessed by the time he kidnapped Corrin, though I can't think of a specific source that says that.

3 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

If a unit is untouchable every enemy phase... that sounds way too strong. Even if they're a melee unit, you could still make them a functionally-immortal roadblock. That said, a "Kitsune Leaf" consumable could be interesting. Eat it on player phase, and you're untouchable the subsequent enemy phase, only to return to normal the next player phase. Could allow for some neat walling strategies, or help keep your Lord alive against otherwise long odds.

I'm pretty sure a gambit in Three Houses has basically that exact effect, funnily enough.

[Shadow Mir]

5 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I don't necessarily think it would be.

The Final Fantasy Tactics Advance games have an invisible status that certain units can apply to themselves, the other side can still see the enemy, they just can't target it. The effect lasts until the invisible unit attacks, then it wears off until the unit reapplies it. There is an enemy skill that lets them ignore the invisibility status and harm you regardless as well.

All you need is to make sure that it's never so easy or painless to assassinate someone, which should be easier in FE than FF, due to the existence of permadeath. If your assassination mission means being surrounded by many enemies afterwards, it could be a life for a life, and the whole stealth thing would've helped you exactly once.

Reminds me, I've seen Stealth as a status in other games as well, except it can be dispelled if the user suffers an AoE attack. Which makes me ask, does FFT have AoE attacks?

[Alastor15243]

5 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Reminds me, I've seen Stealth as a status in other games as well, except it can be dispelled if the user suffers an AoE attack. Which makes me ask, does FFT have AoE attacks?

Yeah, magic works like that.

[Etrurian emperor]

53 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I'm pretty sure it's canon that Garon was possessed by the time he kidnapped Corrin, though I can't think of a specific source that says that.

I think Garon's kidnapper was actually the real Garon. Elise was born after Azura was kidnapped which was in turn a reaction to Corrin's capture. 

And since its doubtful Gooron would have a sex drive or even the ability to make woman pregnant I'd assume Garon really is Elise's father. I like to think the game would at least have made it a bit of a point if Elise actually wasn't related to the Nohrians themselves but instead fathered by a shape shifting blob monster posing as her siblings father. 

Edited April 14, 2021 by Etrurian emperor

[Venger_06]

13 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I think Garon's kidnapper was actually the real Garon. Elise was born after Azura was kidnapped which was in turn a reaction to Corrin's capture. 

"Father was a good man." ~ Xander, Prince of Nohr

[Acacia Sgt]

Just saying, but just because Elise was born after Corrin's capture means nothing since she would've still been conceived before. So, still possible for Fake!Garon to be the kidnapper.

[Etrurian emperor]

3 minutes ago, Maof06 said:

"Father was a good man." ~ Xander, Prince of Nohr

Well Xander is pretty much always wrong about Garon. Its his thing. 

[Venger_06]

6 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Well Xander is pretty much always wrong about Garon. Its his thing. 

I know, but its still extremely funny that Garon didn't change much even after becoming a goo monster.

[AnonymousSpeed]

On 4/13/2021 at 6:44 AM, lenticular said:

Trust me, I'm not overlooking this. I make no secret that ironman isn't my prefered way to play, but I have done ironman runs and I know damn well that good observation and diligence are valuable skills for that style of play. My point here is twofold. Firstly, I do not think that they should be such valuable skills, because I don't believe they are fun or interesting.

>you shouldn't derive useful benefits from paying attention to the game

huh?

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

1: As you can see from this map, unless the insurmountable enemy blockade is literally right outside of Izumo and nowhere else, taking a detour into the Kitsune Hamlet and then moving on to the Wind Tribe Village... still has us intersecting the main road.

I do wonder whether the team that writes the story and the team that makes the map are totally separate. I mean, it can't always be the same people doing both, right? Did the Sacred Stones scenario writers also make the map of Magvel? Did the map or the story come first? Many questions.

50 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I like to think the game would at least have made it a bit of a point if Elise actually wasn't related to the Nohrians themselves but instead fathered by a shape shifting blob monster posing as her siblings father. 

That would've been kinda cool actually.

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I get that this was probably after Garon got possessed or whatever, but I have no idea how we're supposed to have sympathy for a literal child abuser.

At least he's not a BDSM enthusiast.

[Alastor15243]

17 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

I do wonder whether the team that writes the story and the team that makes the map are totally separate. I mean, it can't always be the same people doing both, right? Did the Sacred Stones scenario writers also make the map of Magvel? Did the map or the story come first? Many questions.

Interesting point! That didn't occur to me. Not that it suddenly makes it acceptable, but it didn't occur to me that lack of communication might have been at fault rather than one person or team being inconsistent.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

25 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

At least he's not a BDSM enthusiast.

Groans of increasing discomfort 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

I'm pretty sure a gambit in Three Houses has basically that exact effect, funnily enough.

The Sacred Shield gambit grants immunity to all ranged damage, while the Impregnable Wall gambit reduces all damage received (and dealt) to 1. Effects which expire when the next player phase start. I'd like to see battalions and gambits come back, but even if they don't, it'd be neat to see some support gambits parlayed into staves, spells, or skills. Miracle would become useful again, if they just made it like Blessing.

28 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

>you shouldn't derive useful benefits from paying attention to the game

huh?

I think there's a case that Fates, Conquest in particular, runs up to the point of being overdesigned - that is, there are too many moving parts and things that need to be looked for and considered. It's easy to forget enemy attack stances, for instance, when considering how much damage my units will take on enemy phase. And certain skills like Counter can show up without a clear rhyme or reason, and with a potentially lethal effect that isn't reflected in the "combat forecast". Not to mention, the enemies "hiding" as part of a Pair-Up - they're technically visible, but you must be studious to catch them.

Fates did some things right in this regard, with warning icons for effective weaponry and (I think?) killer weapons. But I still find it easier to miss something that can really screw up my day, lending itself to an experience that rewards a painstaking attention to detail, perhaps moreso than any other title. To some, this is a feature - to others, a bug.

[Interdimensional Observer]

4 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

I do wonder whether the team that writes the story and the team that makes the map are totally separate. I mean, it can't always be the same people doing both, right? Did the Sacred Stones scenario writers also make the map of Magvel? Did the map or the story come first? Many questions.

The cynic in me says story, and then the map. I operate under the assumption that writers in lighter storytelling generally start with: characters, ideas, theme, or a general world concept, and then fill in the world's little geophysical details to suit what they're going for. I wouldn't think a writer of the likely kinds would begin by surveying their world, and then making people and events that have to fit it. 

They may decide "Plains Kingdom, Mountain Empire, Mermaid Village, Grand Temple of Cthulhu" and other fundamental geographic location from the start or near it. But Fort Onetime which you attack/defend and then never revisit, is a narrative afterthought, its placement is fairly arbitrary. Its precise location is whatever suits where the heroes are and are going.

Some places may exist for gameplay's sake. You invent a lava place, not because you've concluded the plate tectonics of the world have a weak spot in the planet's crust along the route the heroes are taking at the moment, but because you think "lava is hot, and that is cool", and so plop a lava cave or field or volcano in the path of the heroes.

At what point the world map itself gets drawn, and when does it happen relative to the minor locations, is an inquiry I do ponder. Since having a map drawn up, you can start pinning the big places, and that helps defines for you the spaces where you have to pin in the bridge of locations where events happen that connect the big points.

Edited April 15, 2021 by Interdimensional Observer

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

10 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

If a unit is untouchable every enemy phase... that sounds way too strong. Even if they're a melee unit, you could still make them a functionally-immortal roadblock. That said, a "Kitsune Leaf" consumable could be interesting. Eat it on player phase, and you're untouchable the subsequent enemy phase, only to return to normal the next player phase. Could allow for some neat walling strategies, or help keep your Lord alive against otherwise long odds.

Yeah but that unit is just standing there, even if menacingly. I can see it being useful - if a passive effect, not a turn using item - on something like a glass cannon, say Hana, or something liek Mages, Priests and Archers etc. But as an item it sounds a lot more like a panic button than anything more. 

7 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I think there's a case that Fates, Conquest in particular, runs up to the point of being overdesigned - that is, there are too many moving parts and things that need to be looked for and considered. It's easy to forget enemy attack stances, for instance, when considering how much damage my units will take on enemy phase. And certain skills like Counter can show up without a clear rhyme or reason, and with a potentially lethal effect that isn't reflected in the "combat forecast". Not to mention, the enemies "hiding" as part of a Pair-Up - they're technically visible, but you must be studious to catch them.

Fates did some things right in this regard, with warning icons for effective weaponry and (I think?) killer weapons. But I still find it easier to miss something that can really screw up my day, lending itself to an experience that rewards a painstaking attention to detail, perhaps moreso than any other title. To some, this is a feature - to others, a bug.

There is a solution to enemy AS and it´s called PU. If you are worried about your unit on EP then that´s the perfect solution for you. Saying PU is "not optimal"  seems like hardly a problem considering 1) you probably won´t put all of your units in enemy range all the time but a select few and 2) again it being exactly the solution to the mentioned problem. 

Counter, unless I´m misremembering it shows up... four times in the campaign (not clear on the paralogues rn)? And with exception of the chapter 26 Heroes Counter is on units who either can´t counterattack (11 Archers, 23 Snipers) or can counterattack but also take serious damage (11 Diviners, 20 Onmyojis). Also Azama I think? Where would it make more sense, except basically every enemy, to make the player´s life that much more miserable? And Magic Counter appears once on a boss with 21 DEF and 14 RES, also sounding like a somewhat solid design choice (well, outside of the 1-2 range club he has). There is logic and reason to be found in Fates enemy skills distribution and it´s to define how the player has to approach enemies.

And in respect to the bolded, here´s a thing Fates does for you when you attack the enemy:  Regardless if  you have the map or the unit menu open and move a unit to attack the enemy, the game immediately jumps to the inventory screen, ACTIVELY showing you the enemies inventory and skills, also allowing you to check potential PU enemies stats and inventories. When using the simplified UI it´s even more in your face about it (though not showing stats) and shows you how much HP your unit and the enemy will be left with. It´s the least intrusive "Are you sure about that?", it could be. Lol, I just noticed the simplified UI also shows the units your selected unit has the highest support with.

And in regard to enemy quality... have you noticed that per map there are essentially 3-7 types of enemies? If Ninja of Lv.10 has x stats, then every other Ninja of LV 10 will have the same stats, the same goes for every class on the map, excluding PU enemies because they get a stat buff. There is no stat variance. There is no "if enemy x has y more in stat z, this strategy falls apart"situation. They only differ in: 1) skills and 2) weapons, the very thing the game tries to have you look at one final time before you press the finalizing A and for weapons it actively gives you a serious Hol´Up. 

Edited April 15, 2021 by Imuabicus

[Etrurian emperor]

10 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

At least he's not a BDSM enthusiast.

I wouldn't be so sure. What else could Garon and his many wives been doing?