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Three Houses Day 51: Chapter 14 Week 2-4

Another week, another stab a this fucking game.

It's been more than two years since I started this project, and FE17 still hasn't been announced.

Honestly, that's probably for the best. I'd love to playlog FE17, but noooooooooooot right now. I think I'm gonna need a pretty big break after this. I can barely bring myself to play Fire Emblem for fun now. Even the games I had the most fun with just do not appeal to me as a use of my free time.

But we're closing in on the end of the game at any rate. Sort of. So let's just keep moving.

As I said, I'm doing the two quest battles this week, the first one “Dealing with Deserters”. In which my air force completely dunks on an army of archers.

Also, Shamir got hunter's volley during the timeskip, so I put Sylvain as her adjutant while he had the knowledge gem equipped so I can make use of that awesome combat art while still feeding kills to get Sylvain to use it too.

...Seems kinda pointless since that ultimately won't be Sylvain's class if he works out right, but fuck it, good to have options, and hunter's volley is one hell of an option.

Alright, so, I find it weird that I can't change goals on the menu between battles on free days. Goals, Roster and Calendar are all grayed out when I press X.

Guess I better hope I remember to train Flayn in authority so she can equip a damned battalion in the air.

But yeah, Felix has the King of Lions battalion now. His mediocre charm might make that a problem with the gambit, but I only ever use gambits against monsters anyway, who I don't remember having that high charm. So let's see how his hit rate is against those.

Anyway, second fight is a beach battle, Which means today is a good day to fly.

I find myself using Seteth just so I have another physical flier, because otherwise I literally only have Dimitri. Granted, the words “only” and “Dimitri” don't really work well together in most sentences...

...Huh. Weird, I could've sworn it was Felix who said “burn until we meet again”, but apparently it's Sylvain. Wow, that's... I mean I guess Felix felt way more like the type to go all “see you in hell”.

So... as I completely curb-stomp these enemies with my air force, I'm suddenly brought to mind of my increasingly conflicted feelings on a certain topic.

So, a bit of context, yesterday I was playing a Castlevania Order of Ecclesia randomizer, when a really late-game boss was placed super early, and after struggling to beat him, I wound up accidentally kicking his ass with a special attack that was randomized to be completely ridiculously overpowered.

I started laughing, and I was torn between extreme amusement and extreme disappointment. The disappointment because I knew no boss in the entire run was going to challenge me again. The amusement because it was absolutely hilarious and bizarrely satisfying in its own way.

While I absolutely love tight challenges, part of me feels like rating the games as “difficulty = good” and “easy = bad” is overlooking another dimension of game enjoyment that I've been low-key appreciating, but not actually grading: the concept of good ol' fashioned dumb fun. That sense of satisfaction that comes from just mowing your enemies down with overpowered bullshit and super fun toys. I haven't even bothered to grade that, but recent experience is telling me that maybe I should.

Because like how Shadow Dragon was a breath of fresh air after multiple consecutive games being mostly mindless enemy-phasing nonsense... after beating Conquest Lunatic, despite enjoying myself with it, I found myself in a mood where I couldn't bring myself to play it again for a while, and instead was enjoying myself playing FE7... on Eliwood Normal. I found myself weirdly back in touch with the things that appealed to me about the series back when I was a kid. Appreciating them a heck of a lot more. Remembering the metrics I used back then to determine which games were my favorites.

And if I were to start grading the games on that, well, one thing that would be transparently obvious is that not every game does “dumb fun” equally. Not every FE game has the same quality of toys, or the same crazy stuff you can do with them. Some games are pretty good at both strategy and dumb fun, while some are terrible at both.

...I need to get back to playing, but it's just something that's been on my mind.

Anyway, Felix is level 30, so he might try for War Master now. Depends on the odds. Also, that battalion of his gives him a major charm boost, so I'm thinking he'll be able to use the gambit just fine.

I remembered to train Flayn in authority and change her goals, and I also remembered to assign the group task. This time it's Sylvain and Leonie so they can work on riding some more.

Literally nobody got anything on Saturday when non-tutoring experience gains happened, which I think is a first, at least for this run.

Alright, with those out of the way...

...Felix needs a lot more in both axes and brawling before he can become a war master, so that'll have to wait.

Time to explore to get some more motivation.

I don't get why the game feels the need to slowly flash that the activity bar is going down. It takes way longer than it should. But I mean, that's not really a surprise at this point. Just something I finally felt like commenting on.

Alright, here comes a B support with Seteth.

It's a talk about Professr learning more about herself, and I wonder how this chain is going to end. I mean, there's not much he can reveal that we don't already know by this point in the story, given that it's an optional support that needs to have no impact on the plot.

Okay, so Mercedes just got ragnarok, Leonie got some more authority, Felix got some more axe rank, and everything else is on people I'm not using.

This dramatic scene of Dimitri talking to Glenn's “ghost” as Professr approaches behind him... feels pretty goofy due to the restrained and limited nature of these dialogue scenes. Like, it feels like this suffers from the limitations more than average, for reasons I can't quite put my finger on. Makes it goofy rather than sad.

Which is a damned shame, because the concept of somebody haunted by dead loved ones he's deluding himself into thinking want him to sacrifice his happiness and wellbeing for their sake is utterly heartbreaking.

I mean, for the Batman fans here, “I didn't count on being happy” comes to mind big time.

...The cutscene ends abruptly after Gilbert asks Dimitri to refrain from reckless behavior in battle. I wanted to see Dimitri's inevitable response to that, but weirdly it just cut away right there.

...Oh, and the game just pans to a scene between Randolph and Fleche to briefly humanize him before his death. Of course.

It would work better if we had a better idea of why he personally was fighting for the Empire. Because I mean there are reasons. Plenty of characters fighting on Edelgard's side have believable reasons. But if he has any, I don't remember learning them, aside from just loyalty to the Empire itself. Which is boring when you're trying to make someone's death tragic.

Alright, time to do supports so we're ready for the mission tomorrow.

Time for Sylvain and Felix's A-.

Apparently Sylvain spotted an enemy ambush. Gee, wouldn't it be awesome if you could actually do that in-game? But yeah, it's the usual “he's a good guy when it counts” thing that I've seen with Sylvain countless times. You know, these things having so many repeating story beats wouldn't be so bad if you didn't see basically all of them in one playthrough.

Now for Felix and Mercedes's B support.

Felix is berating Mercedes for nearly getting herself killed on the battlefield, and sweet gentle Mercedes isn't pushing back at all. Then conversation turns back to Mercedes's late little brother.

A conversation from five years ago, remember.

Now for Felix and Ingrid's A. It's actually pretty cute. Ingrid talks about how she doesn't think there's anything fundamentally different in practice between what Felix has decided to do with himself and what she and Glenn decided to do with their lives. They all decided to protect those that are important to them.

I just wish they didn't call back to that book from five years ago.

Alright, now for Sylvain and Ingrid's A-.

...I can't really describe any specific things about this support, but I liked it. They have an interesting chemistry now that they aren't bickering all the time.

Now for Sylvain and Leonie, who I'm really disappointed can't get an A support. But at least the B support isn't gated to Part 1.

...But it probably should have been.

This entire support hinges upon the fact that Leonie's annoyed that Sylvain doesn't seem to see her as feminine enough to hit on. Sylvain reacting to Leonie this way was already a stretch in Part 1, but now in Part 2 with the grown-out hair and the short shorts and the visible cleavage... yeah no. No way Sylvain would still look at Leonie and have her not even register as a woman.

Still, seeing Sylvain awkwardly go through the motions of hitting on Leonie when he's called out on this is pretty hilarious.

Alright, now for Annette and Mercedes to finally make up.

Annette: Is this about what happened when we were shopping? If so, it's fine. Don't worry about it.

Annette. It's been five years. That is not an appropriate response.

Yeah, literally nothing here required this to be after the timeskip. They should've just let it happen in Part 1. I'm not even gonna dignify this garbage fire with further commentary.

Flayn and Seteth's, I've seen this several times.

Flayn: You worry too much, brother.

Seteth: I think a kidnapping is good cause for concern!

SETETH. PLEASE. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. THAT WAS FIVE FUCKING YEARS AGO.

Seteth: The youths of our army are... particularly eccentric.

...Does he phrase it that way in part 1 too? “Army”? Because that wouldn't really fit. The “youths” in Part 1 were all in the school, not the army.

Flayn: I do appreciate the offer, but all the students and professors have treated me exceptionally well.

Oh, I see, so they just flat-out do not give a shit about this working. Flayn constantly talks in ways irreconcilable with her no longer being in school.

That said, I do love the dumbfounded look on Seteth's face after Flayn walks away though. The one on his model. The portrait one looks pretty doofy, but the model one is hilarious.

Now for Mercedes and Constance. Oh yes, I remember wanting to see this before.

...Wait...

...Wait, Constance's personality change in the sunlight is because... sunlight gives her PTSD?

What the fuck happened to her?

...They don't explain further. Lame.

Alright, now for a Shamir and Cyril support I wound up getting somehow.

It's a nice little lesson about the importance of curved shots in archery, but not much more.

...And with that, prep is complete. Tomorrow I'll fight the Empire again. Having what's basically the exact same battle against the exact same enemy in the exact same place only separated by two chapters... feels... lame. Really lame. But i's what we've got to work with.

Stay safe, everyone.

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1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

And if I were to start grading the games on that, well, one thing that would be transparently obvious is that not every game does “dumb fun” equally. Not every FE game has the same quality of toys, or the same crazy stuff you can do with them. Some games are pretty good at both strategy and dumb fun, while some are terrible at both.

How would Thracia fit into the dumb fun category? Because on one hand it has OP hilariously  fun tools to use, on the other hand it's a bit of stress inducsed nightmare with how the AI engages in dumb fun by crippling you in the same way.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

It would work better if we had a better idea of why he personally was fighting for the Empire. Because I mean there are reasons. Plenty of characters fighting on Edelgard's side have believable reasons. But if he has any, I don't remember learning them, aside from just loyalty to the Empire itself. Which is boring when you're trying to make someone's death tragic.

Even then Fire Emblem does manage to have a debatabaly good track record of making loyalty a singular defining feature while also having a tragic death in the form of the Camus archetype. Though, I don't think they were trying to show Randolph as a Camus in any way.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Flayn: You worry too much, brother.

Seteth: I think a kidnapping is good cause for concern!

SETETH. PLEASE. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. THAT WAS FIVE FUCKING YEARS AGO.

Seteth: The youths of our army are... particularly eccentric.

 

Well at least for Seteth and Flayn, five years ago might as well have been yesterday.

 

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1 minute ago, Jotari said:

How would Thracia fit into the dumb fun category? Because on one hand it has OP hilariously  fun tools to use, on the other hand it's a bit of stress inducsed nightmare with how the AI engages in dumb fun by crippling you in the same way.

That... is a very good question.

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3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

But yeah, Felix has the King of Lions battalion now. His mediocre charm might make that a problem with the gambit, but I only ever use gambits against monsters anyway, who I don't remember having that high charm. So let's see how his hit rate is against those.

Boss Monsters (such as the Immovable) tend to have good Charm, but the vast majority of monsters... don't. So Wave Attack will be a safe bet against them.

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

While I absolutely love tight challenges, part of me feels like rating the games as “difficulty = good” and “easy = bad” is overlooking another dimension of game enjoyment that I've been low-key appreciating, but not actually grading: the concept of good ol' fashioned dumb fun. That sense of satisfaction that comes from just mowing your enemies down with overpowered bullshit and super fun toys. I haven't even bothered to grade that, but recent experience is telling me that maybe I should.

I really think this captures what I enjoy about Revelation. It's not particularly thought-intensive or observation-heavy - rather, it's a relatively chill gameplay experience, especially when you can figure out how to adapt the map's "gimmicks" to your advantage. And it's among the best at giving the player a bunch of dumb broken tools to abuse.

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Now for Felix and Mercedes's B support.

Felix is berating Mercedes for nearly getting herself killed on the battlefield, and sweet gentle Mercedes isn't pushing back at all. Then conversation turns back to Mercedes's late little brother.

A conversation from five years ago, remember.

Hey, if you somehow managed to avoid getting an in-house B-support until after the timeskip, that one's on you.

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

It's a nice little lesson about the importance of curved shots in archery, but not much more.

Even the supports recognize how useful Curved Shot is, haha.

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...And with that, prep is complete. Tomorrow I'll fight the Empire again. Having what's basically the exact same battle against the exact same enemy in the exact same place only separated by two chapters... feels... lame. Really lame. But i's what we've got to work with.

This map feels as though it's handled best, by far, on Crimson Flower. For starters, it's chapter 15, so there's an additional chapter of separation with the prior version. On top of that, the "prior version" is totally unique, having you invade the Monastery rather than defend it. Finally, CF 15 actually features notable enemies in Seteth and Flayn (and possibly Shamir and Alois), while the other versions give us the tragically-bland, forever-death-flagged Randolph.

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

Hey, if you somehow managed to avoid getting an in-house B-support until after the timeskip, that one's on you.

That one isn't time-locked? Not that it would excuse it, given they still let this happen.

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

This map feels as though it's handled best, by far, on Crimson Flower. For starters, it's chapter 15, so there's an additional chapter of separation with the prior version. On top of that, the "prior version" is totally unique, having you invade the Monastery rather than defend it. Finally, CF 15 actually features notable enemies in Seteth and Flayn (and possibly Shamir and Alois), while the other versions give us the tragically-bland, forever-death-flagged Randolph.

Yeah, definitely all things I appreciate in hindsight.

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

I really think this captures what I enjoy about Revelation. It's not particularly thought-intensive or observation-heavy - rather, it's a relatively chill gameplay experience, especially when you can figure out how to adapt the map's "gimmicks" to your advantage. And it's among the best at giving the player a bunch of dumb broken tools to abuse.

Honestly, I wouldn't say Rev is all that great even then. Its pacing is completely shot for one, and that's a big blow.

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1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

That one isn't time-locked? Not that it would excuse it, given they still let this happen.

I don't think so, but I'm not certain. Did you ever notice it pre-skip, with the "it will take a while to achieve this support" message?

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Honestly, I wouldn't say Rev is all that great even then. Its pacing is completely shot for one, and that's a big blow.

I'm curious what you mean by "pacing". Is it a story thing, or gameplay? Anyway, I'm not trying to defend Revelation as an objectively "great" game. Moreso, it's a critically-flawed game that I nonetheless enjoy.

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Rev's biggest issue for dumb fun factor is it's deployment slots imo. You give give me like 70 characters and then tell me I can' only use like ten of them.

Uh... fewer deployment slots means more replayability? Anyway, I swear it's 12 for most chapters, but I might be mis-remembering again. More slots would be nice, but I don't remember them being low compared to most other titles.

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

Is it a story thing, or gameplay?

Gameplay. A ton of really tedious maps, especially in the early-game.

 

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

Anyway, I swear it's 12 for most chapters, but I might be mis-remembering again. More slots would be nice, but I don't remember them being low compared to most other titles.

For context, keep in mind that the endgame of Conquest and Birthright each let you bring 16, counting Corrin. Rev's only lets you bring 13. Given the doubled cast, getting to bring even fewer units is kind of asinine. Most of the lategame maps are the same, frequently letting you bring fewer units than the Birthright and Conquest counterparts do.

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1 minute ago, Alastor15243 said:

Gameplay. A ton of really tedious maps, especially in the early-game.

Yeah, I guess I can see that. Shoveling snow is still hilariously dumb. That said, I do enjoy their versions of Fort Jinya and Mokushu.

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

For context, keep in mind that the endgame of Conquest and Birthright each let you bring 16, counting Corrin. Rev's only lets you bring 13. Given the doubled cast, getting to bring even fewer units is kind of asinine.

Well the cast isn't quite doubled, since there are some units on all routes, and a handful missing on Rev. That said, yeah it is odd that Rev would let you bring the fewest in its endgame. On the flip side, 16 slots seems weirdly high for BR/CQ endgame, but I suppose there's no such thing as too many slots.

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8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

That sense of satisfaction that comes from just mowing your enemies down with overpowered bullshit and super fun toys. I haven't even bothered to grade that, but recent experience is telling me that maybe I should.

I get the funny feeling Awakening will get a notable boost from this change.

 

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Apparently Sylvain spotted an enemy ambush. Gee, wouldn't it be awesome if you could actually do that in-game? But yeah, it's the usual “he's a good guy when it counts” thing that I've seen with Sylvain countless times. You know, these things having so many repeating story beats wouldn't be so bad if you didn't see basically all of them in one playthrough.

The 5 Support level limit that the series used to have is an underappreciated feature.

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Honestly, I wouldn't say Rev is all that great even then. Its pacing is completely shot for one, and that's a big blow.

Honestly, I found Rev to be rather fun if you play it as a challenge run. I had a lot of fun with my PMU of it, and it was a lot of fun hearing Saint Rubenio's reports on his generics only Revelation run.

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

16 slots seems weirdly high for BR/CQ endgame, but I suppose there's no such thing as too many slots.

It's weirdly high for Fire Emblem in general, but Fates's exp curve and pair up mechanics makes high deployment work out well enough.

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Three Houses Day 52: Chapter 14 Mission and Chapter 15 Buildup

The funny thing I've noticed is that they're not even trying to justify the “monthly mission” system anymore. This is now just a universe where everything important coincidentally happens either at the beginning or the end of the month.

Okay, so, two things about the opening narration of the battle:

1: On the map, Randolph is coming from the direction of the Leicester alliance, weirdly.

2: “Toppling Garreg Mach for a second time”, they say. So the Empire did win the battle last time? Then how the hell did everyone, particularly Dimitri and Claude, make it out un-captured?

Oh yeah, exhibit 357-2B of Three Houses's lack of polish: you can't see the defend zone on defense maps until you start the fight. The worst part is that the presumed usual excuse for shitty information conveyance of “who gives a shit? They can rewind time!” doesn't even apply here, because you can't rewind to the prep screen with divine pulse.

...But yeah, this is basically just a smaller version of the battle we did two chapters ago, which is, again, super lame.

I've decided I really should have someone with stride again, and since supply of non-fliers is pretty limited, I elected to give it to Mercedes. She's gonna stride all of my flying/mounted units (except Constance, since one of them can't fit in the diamond and it might as well be the one with bolting), and they're gonna totally wreck the west side. Meanwhile Professr, Shamir and Felix, my three big infantry units, will take care of the east. Sylvain's adjutanted onto Leonie.

Alright, break.

So, Randolph confirms that the Empire detachment they sent to take out Garreg Mach still outnumbers everyone we have here. Including off-screen generics. The choice to set up base here just keeps feeling dumber and dumber.

Okay, first stride assault went great, but when I did the second stride assault on turn 3 after re-grouping, I wasn't able to kill everyone who threatened us and had to hope for the best. Thankfully, enemy AI seems to prioritize highest individual damage, and not ganging up for kills.

After that though, it was pretty straightforward slaughtering everyone. I'm at the final group now.

OF FUCKING COURSE. THIS GAME JUST FINDS NEW WAYS TO “SURPRISE” ME.

So, I killed literally everyone but the boss, who was marked as immobile. Come enemy phase, he suddenly switches to being mobile.

Thankfully he attacks Dimitri and instantly dies, but still, that is just blatantly unfair.

Cutscene time, and Randolph rails at Dimitri for killing all those imperial soldiers, saying life must be worthless to him. Uh... what exactly were those soldiers going to do to Dimitri if he hadn't killed them, incidentally?

...Huh.

Dimitri orders Randolph taken alive?

How's this gonna go to shit?

...This scene is... okay, so it's setting it up like Dimitri's just gonna fucking execute him even after he begs for his life and even after capturing him, which... could be impactful...

...but the scene has Randolph on his knees...

...and Dimitri... isn't looking at him.

...he's looking straight ahead.

...Does the dialogue system of this game not even allow characters to look down?

...No, he seems to be looking down, I think. But he was definitely looking straight ahead at the start.

...So... Dimitri... was planning on keeping him alive, but torturing him and making him watch all of his friends die. Also offering to remove his eyes instead.

And... Professr... instead of talking Dimitri down... just... summarily mercy-kills Randolph.

That, uh... was completely unnecessary, and probably also a war crime. Professr arguably has more authority than Dimitri in this army right now. She and Gilbert are decidedly the ones in charge. She could have protected Randolph from him, but she just fucking kills a prisoner of war because she was getting too upset watching Dimitri act like a monster?

...Next scene...

...The game has everyone torn as to whether or not they want to go to the aid of the Kingdom or storm Enbarr right away, and then Seteth says the decision is up to us. But of course, no it isn't. I googled it just in case I was somehow mistaken in this one case, but no, if you say to go back to the Kingdom, Dimitri talks you out of it and railroads you into assaulting the Empire, which is frustrating as all hell, but in fairness, not the decision I expected to be railroaded into.

Save point.

I have a lot of free time today, and I got through that chapter insanely quickly, so fuck it, let's keep going.

...It suddenly occurs to me how awkward it is that the route name ends with “moon”.

Part 2.

Azure Moon.

Pegasus Moon.

Valley of Torment.

Kinda repetitive.

Anyway, we need to meet with Rodrigue in the Valley of Torment to get the reinforcements. Something that happens in Verdant Wind and Silver Snow as well, hilariously enough. How do all of these people from different countries come up with the idea to meet in the same terrible place?

I think this is the third time in the series that somebody's suggested going into a volcanic wasteland to do something because “nobody would be crazy enough to follow us”. First time in Radiant Dawn, second time in Awakening.

Dimitri: Father, Stepmother, Glenn, and even Dedue... I am certain this will bring them great joy.

Okay, first off, does anyone who actually loves their stepmother actually call them “Stepmother” instead of “Mother” when addressing them?

Secondly, I'm really curious to see if Dimitri has any reaction to being reunited with Dedue and realizing that at least one of the ghosts who have been telling him to avenge them was a fabrication of his mind, since he turns out to not be dead.

And yes, of course, we've got a spy listening in the distance.

Ooh! Blue lions get a dancer battalion, huh? Duly noted! Alas, I still seem to be fresh out of flying battalions.

And of course, we have more tedious quests. Let's get those out of the way and then go to the sauna.

I always find it bizarrely amusing when meaningless, innocuous quests just casually ask you to commit crimes. Like in Valkyria Chronicles where that reporter asks you to embezzle war funds to help her write a book, or here, when some undercover Almyran merchant asks you to steal a priceless idol from Seteth's office.

I managed to get Leonie and Felix to get the double-sauna bonus back to back, which was encouraging.

Alright, looks like the secret shop's just opened.

And finally... I guess I'll do some fishing. See you in a bit. A lot of a bit.

...I managed to catch the Fodlandy twice, which is good, because I think that's used for a really good meal. I'll be saving that for endgame probably. I also got just 10 points away from professor ranking up, so I'll be ranked up when it matters probably.

Yep, maxed out at A+. Which means I can do three battles now, and do ten things in my free time. Oh joy, even more time to spend between the brief bursts of actual game content.

Alright, next week.

I managed to do a lot of training for Professr, but I'm mostly doing it for the sake of it. I'm not even sure I want to make Professr a wyvern rider/lord. I already have a ton of fliers, and my battalions are already stretched thin. But I don't have much else to do with the free time after feeding everyone.

Seteth has swift strikes, which is gonna be a huge help because his speed's kinda iffy.

Support with Alois showed up...

He mostly just talks about his past with Jeralt, and talks about how Jeralt never seemed to age.

...Now Leonie wants to talk too.

Leonie: I feel terrible about the last time we spoke.

Leonie. Seriously. I have taught you one on one multiple fucking times since that incident five years ago. We have spoken since then.

But it winds up finishing with her feeling she needs to duel Professr in order to sort out her feelings about her.

...The flairs and sound effects they used for the duel make it sound like Leonie swapped to bows mid-fight. Ballsy, but I'm not surprised she lost.

Cute conversation, though nothing particularly special. But I think what I appreciate the most about Leonie is that she's one of the few characters whose lines and voice acting mesh properly. Granted, I've complained about that less as the game's gone on since I've simply gotten used to it.

Alright, time to do one last exploration, do the handful of supports I've unlocked, and be ready to do Chapter 15 tomorrow.

Ashe and Professr got a support, and yeah, it's about what you'd expect, a resolution of that arc with the thief who needed money.

Alright, we're at the battle, and there's no pre-mission-select cinematic, so let's do that support with Leonie and Sylvain.

Honestly, seeing Sylvain awkwardly flirting with Leonie is kind of hilarious and bizarrely adorable.

But given that Leonie ends the conversation blushing, yeah, I really wish they'd get an A rank support.

Oh well, what's a few more points of hit compared to +2 attack and defense when they're together?

Speaking of which, they're both coming up on being able to promote to bow knight, which is gonna be great. Sylvain's stats aren't the best, but I think he'll be able to tag along with Leonie so they can back each other up with their personals. Plus I have some stat boosters from the secret shop I can throw their way!

And... that's it for today!

Tomorrow, it'll be time for Chapter 15.

Stay safe, everyone!

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2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

So, I killed literally everyone but the boss, who was marked as immobile. Come enemy phase, he suddenly switches to being mobile.

I think the trigger for this is when there are 4 or less units left. As would be the case if the fire attack succeeds, after which most of the enemies fall for it and get rattled, then instead start running with their tails between their legs. This also stops the infinite reinforcements, which is good because Falcon Knights are aggravating.

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4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...But yeah, this is basically just a smaller version of the battle we did two chapters ago, which is, again, super lame.

So I'm one of those people who has complained at length of games reusing maps. But honestly it doesn't bother me for this chapter. I feel that it is both aesthetically and mechanically distinct enough, and justified well enough in the narrative that it's fine they reuse the same map. It's not like it actually plays the same way. It's more like Sacred Stones's Chapter 8 than Mystery of the Emblem's gauntlet of repeated maps.

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Cutscene time, and Randolph rails at Dimitri for killing all those imperial soldiers, saying life must be worthless to him. Uh... what exactly were those soldiers going to do to Dimitri if he hadn't killed them, incidentally?

Obviously Edelgard ordered them to only pretend to use lethal force if Dimitri resisted, no matter how many of them ended up being killed.

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Anyway, we need to meet with Rodrigue in the Valley of Torment to get the reinforcements. Something that happens in Verdant Wind and Silver Snow as well, hilariously enough. How do all of these people from different countries come up with the idea to meet in the same terrible place?

 

At least it's the same person in Verdant Wind and Silver Snow. I think.

 

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5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...So... Dimitri... was planning on keeping him alive, but torturing him and making him watch all of his friends die. Also offering to remove his eyes instead.

And... Professr... instead of talking Dimitri down... just... summarily mercy-kills Randolph.

That, uh... was completely unnecessary, and probably also a war crime. Professr arguably has more authority than Dimitri in this army right now. She and Gilbert are decidedly the ones in charge. She could have protected Randolph from him, but she just fucking kills a prisoner of war because she was getting too upset watching Dimitri act like a monster?

 

What, you don't think killing people for little reason makes sense?
 

Even though Byleth could probably beat the shit out of Dimitri if needed because anime protag with time powers.

I do admit I've not seen this scene myself yet. (Since Monastery, so I haven't actually played 3H in around a month now beyond a short session to get some of the dialogue done, so I'm still on my CF first playthrough pre-time skip.) but it really seems like a dramatic scene...for the sake of a dramatic scene, rather than if it actually makes sense so it just becomes melodrama.

Edited by Samz707
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6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Cutscene time, and Randolph rails at Dimitri for killing all those imperial soldiers, saying life must be worthless to him. Uh... what exactly were those soldiers going to do to Dimitri if he hadn't killed them, incidentally?

...Huh.

Dimitri orders Randolph taken alive?

How's this gonna go to shit?

...This scene is... okay, so it's setting it up like Dimitri's just gonna fucking execute him even after he begs for his life and even after capturing him, which... could be impactful...

...but the scene has Randolph on his knees...

...and Dimitri... isn't looking at him.

...he's looking straight ahead.

...Does the dialogue system of this game not even allow characters to look down?

...No, he seems to be looking down, I think. But he was definitely looking straight ahead at the start.

...So... Dimitri... was planning on keeping him alive, but torturing him and making him watch all of his friends die. Also offering to remove his eyes instead.

And... Professr... instead of talking Dimitri down... just... summarily mercy-kills Randolph.

That, uh... was completely unnecessary, and probably also a war crime. Professr arguably has more authority than Dimitri in this army right now. She and Gilbert are decidedly the ones in charge. She could have protected Randolph from him, but she just fucking kills a prisoner of war because she was getting too upset watching Dimitri act like a monster?

Oh yeah, this is a Bad Scene.

When I played AM, I found Randolph railing against Dimitri to be hilariously hypocritical. It's like, Randolph's home country is the aggressor and their leader is operating on a lie. But sure, let's call out Dimitri for not rolling over and dying. (Yes, I know Dimitri does a lot of not-at-all-great things during his time as a crazy murderhobo, but let's not act as if Randolph's accusations against Dimitri don't basically amount to, "You're bad because you're fighting and killing us instead of rolling over and dying!")

Also, Byleth just flat-out killing him because they don't like that Dimitri is acting like an unhinged lunatic is just ... uh.

It's just a Bad Scene.

Edited by Sunwoo
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2 hours ago, Sunwoo said:

When I played AM, I found Randolph railing against Dimitri to be hilariously hypocritical. It's like, Randolph's home country is the aggressor and their leader is operating on a lie. But sure, let's call out Dimitri for not rolling over and dying. (Yes, I know Dimitri does a lot of not-at-all-great things during his time as a crazy murderhobo, but let's not act as if Randolph's accusations against Dimitri don't basically amount to, "You're bad because you're fighting and killing us instead of rolling over and dying!")

Big mood. I'm really not sure what the intended message of that scene was - is Randolph supposed to come across as morally superior to Dimitri, because he murders with a level head? Or is his hypocrisy intentional, and a sign of being blinded by Imperial propaganda? It's not clear, but I'll grant it this much - it does convey how twisted Dimitri's practical ethics have become.

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

2: “Toppling Garreg Mach for a second time”, they say. So the Empire did win the battle last time? Then how the hell did everyone, particularly Dimitri and Claude, make it out un-captured?

Best guess: Seteth led an orderly retreat of all Church troops. Claude disguised himself as an Imperial soldier and snuck away. And a screaming Dimitri was dragged away by the combined efforts of Gilbert and Dedue.

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

So, Randolph confirms that the Empire detachment they sent to take out Garreg Mach still outnumbers everyone we have here. Including off-screen generics. The choice to set up base here just keeps feeling dumber and dumber.

Hey, if you know any other location that has a greenhouse, fishing pond, cooking facilities, ruins filled with sacred treasures, a thriving marketplace, and power-boosting saint statues, while being a day's travel from anywhere else in the continent ("from" but not "to", "to" takes two weeks), then I'm all ears.

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

..I managed to catch the Fodlandy twice, which is good, because I think that's used for a really good meal. I'll be saving that for endgame probably. I also got just 10 points away from professor ranking up, so I'll be ranked up when it matters probably.

I don't believe the Fodlandy can be cooked with. The high-impact meals require a different fish: the Goddess Messenger.

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...It suddenly occurs to me how awkward it is that the route name ends with “moon”.

Part 2.

Azure Moon.

Pegasus Moon.

Yeah I kinda hate it. Wish they called the route "Azure Star" instead. But then it wouldn't fit with the "four seasons" motif.

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

think this is the third time in the series that somebody's suggested going into a volcanic wasteland to do something because “nobody would be crazy enough to follow us”. First time in Radiant Dawn, second time in Awakening.

Fourth time, actually. Ingrid and Dorothea already did it before the timeskip.

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

Fourth time, actually. Ingrid and Dorothea already did it before the timeskip.

Nah, I'm pretty sure the "nobody would be crazy enough to follow us this way" logic wasn't used there.

 

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

I don't believe the Fodlandy can be cooked with. The high-impact meals require a different fish: the Goddess Messenger.

Fuck, that's right, goddess messenger. Damn it.

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

Big mood. I'm really not sure what the intended message of that scene was - is Randolph supposed to come across as morally superior to Dimitri, because he murders with a level head? Or is his hypocrisy intentional, and a sign of being blinded by Imperial propaganda? It's not clear, but I'll grant it this much - it does convey how twisted Dimitri's practical ethics have become.

Honestly, it's really up in the air whether Randolph's hypocrisy is meant to be intentional or not. I could see him as a character blinded by nationalism and self-centered righteousness, where he actually believes that Adrestria has a right to invade everyone else because they're superior and anyone who doesn't just surrender to them is evil for prolonging the war. And it'd be a good example of the dangers of nationalism and too much patriotism, of following your leaders to the ends of the world. But I'm not sure whether the game did that on purpose or if it was just an accident. I don't know if they stand for anything other than getting cheap emotional reactions from the audience.

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

Hey, if you know any other location that has a greenhouse, fishing pond, cooking facilities, ruins filled with sacred treasures, a thriving marketplace, and power-boosting saint statues, while being a day's travel from anywhere else in the continent ("from" but not "to", "to" takes two weeks), then I'm all ears.

There might not be, but there is another solution.:

FLYING MERCENARY HIGH SCHOOLS! TWO OF THEM!

Final Fantasy VIII might be far away from my favorite title in the franchise, but this was a glorious magnificent stupendous idea!

Set Garreg Mach to mach speed, and all would be good. A mobile base would justify always returning to it. And in FFVIII, nobody originally had any idea these schools could fly in the first place. It's only discovered to be possible b/c they were built over some high tech ruins from an ancient civilization.

Since the Gardens above have no weapons to call their own, and are big targets that move at a limited pace, they aren't unstoppable. If Byleth and *insert ClaDimEdeSet here* were to fly one of these over enemy territory, the enemy would see it, they could possibly siege tome & flyer/airlift invasion it, and they could wait very patiently for the enemy soldiers to begin their descent and pick 'em off one by one. -I'd impose a limit on how high they can get off the ground though. Enough to clear the trees, maybe not enough to avoid contact with manmade towers, and certainly not enough to climb over mountains.

Edited by Interdimensional Observer
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7 minutes ago, Sunwoo said:

Honestly, it's really up in the air whether Randolph's hypocrisy is meant to be intentional or not. I could see him as a character blinded by nationalism and self-centered righteousness, where he actually believes that Adrestria has a right to invade everyone else because they're superior and anyone who doesn't just surrender to them is evil for prolonging the war. And it'd be a good example of the dangers of nationalism and too much patriotism, of following your leaders to the ends of the world. But I'm not sure whether the game did that on purpose or if it was just an accident. I don't know if they stand for anything other than getting cheap emotional reactions from the audience.

Like I said, I really wish we had a better idea of why he sympathizes with the empire if they were going to kill him.

1 minute ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

FLYING MERCENARY HIGH SCHOOLS! TWO OF THEM!

Seriously, magic mobile flying fortress Garreg Mach would be a huge improvement here. I genuinely wish they did that if they were gonna have the Monastery remain their base no matter where the battle is.

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23 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

There might not be, but there is another solution.:

FLYING MERCENARY HIGH SCHOOLS! TWO OF THEM!

Final Fantasy VIII might be far away from my favorite title in the franchise, but this was a glorious magnificent stupendous idea!

Set Garreg Mach to mach speed, and all would be good. A mobile base would justify always returning to it. And in FFVIII, nobody originally had any idea these schools could fly in the first place. It's only discovered to be possible b/c they were built over some high tech ruins from an ancient civilization.

Since the Gardens above have no weapons to call their own, and are big targets that move at a limited pace, they aren't unstoppable. If Byleth and *insert ClaDimEdeSet here* were to fly one of these over enemy territory, the enemy would see it, they could possibly siege tome & flyer/airlift invasion it, and they could wait very patiently for the enemy soldiers to begin their descent and pick 'em off one by one. -I'd impose a limit on how high they can get off the ground though. Enough to clear the trees, maybe not enough to avoid contact with manmade towers, and certainly not enough to climb over mountains.

Go Go DreiKleister.

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9 hours ago, Sunwoo said:

Honestly, it's really up in the air whether Randolph's hypocrisy is meant to be intentional or not. I could see him as a character blinded by nationalism and self-centered righteousness, where he actually believes that Adrestria has a right to invade everyone else because they're superior and anyone who doesn't just surrender to them is evil for prolonging the war. And it'd be a good example of the dangers of nationalism and too much patriotism, of following your leaders to the ends of the world. But I'm not sure whether the game did that on purpose or if it was just an accident. I don't know if they stand for anything other than getting cheap emotional reactions from the audience.

Sounds like a pretty apt description  of an Edelgard fan XD 

Personally I like the Randolph scene. I won't try to justify it as actually high quality writing by any decent metric, but it managed to get that cheap emotional reaction from me and, coming into it after having played Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, at least it's something that bloody different from the other routes and tries to strike a distinct tone.

9 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

There might not be, but there is another solution.:

FLYING MERCENARY HIGH SCHOOLS! TWO OF THEM!

Final Fantasy VIII might be far away from my favorite title in the franchise, but this was a glorious magnificent stupendous idea!

Set Garreg Mach to mach speed, and all would be good. A mobile base would justify always returning to it. And in FFVIII, nobody originally had any idea these schools could fly in the first place. It's only discovered to be possible b/c they were built over some high tech ruins from an ancient civilization.

Since the Gardens above have no weapons to call their own, and are big targets that move at a limited pace, they aren't unstoppable. If Byleth and *insert ClaDimEdeSet here* were to fly one of these over enemy territory, the enemy would see it, they could possibly siege tome & flyer/airlift invasion it, and they could wait very patiently for the enemy soldiers to begin their descent and pick 'em off one by one. -I'd impose a limit on how high they can get off the ground though. Enough to clear the trees, maybe not enough to avoid contact with manmade towers, and certainly not enough to climb over mountains.

Thads actually a genius way to get over even the basic travel time nonsense that the main game has. And would serve very well for playing into Rhea's insidious control over the populous, if she's in a freaking air fortress divorced from the world.

Edited by Jotari
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Three Houses Day 53: Chapter 15 Mission

I don't have nearly as much free time today as I did yesterday, so I think it might just be the battle this time. I'll try to have more to say about it. These fights go really quickly now that I've got my army in full swing.

So apparently this place was turned permanently into a volcanic wasteland by “a pillar of light that descended from the heavens”. People believe it was judgment from the goddess.

Typical Church of Seiros, giving their goddess credit for human ingenuity.

That legend fueled belief in a place of torment between our world and the next... where one's sins are purified in the cleansing flames.”

...Aren't they basically admitting there that the belief in such a place is completely baseless and wholly inspired by unrelated imagery?

...Okay, yeah, that's the idea. Dimitri and Gilbert both comment that the belief is baseless. Though Dimitri seems to think it's because “sins are not so easily washed away”, which would explain why he says “see you in the eternal flames”.

We messed up. There must have been a spy among us”

...I'm not going to say it. I don't have to.

Alright, so, this seems pretty straightforward. I'll have Seteth and Sylvain sit this out and adjutant onto Dimitri and Leonie respectively, and see what I can do with stride. The terrain makes fliers really useful. I should probably give everyone some keys so we can get the chests open quickly. The battle ends as soon as the boss dies, after all.

The starting stride gambit gets us clear of the first group pretty easily, including the archers. But one thing that's increasingly giving me concern is Ingrid's poor accuracy between thoron and blizzard. I think I might want to give her an accuracy ring, which I only now remembered exists. I also have a third adjutant slot I don't really need, so I could train, say, Cyril to be a wyvern rider and then adjutant him onto her for that apparent accuracy boost.

Also, for some reason I really like the delivery of post-timeskip-Annette's “I'm your girl”. She sounds like she means business.

I find it curious that this place triggers Constance's sunlight phobia. From what I can see, the sky seems black with ash when the camera angle shows it.

...Yeah, really, I'm sorry, but the battle's pretty much over already, on turn 5, without much more to say. All I have to do is grab the chests and assassinate the boss. I got a bolt axe and a silver shield, so now...

...I managed to sneak in level 30 for Leonie, and then the boss went down to Annette, who's probably my best all-around dark flier.

...Okay, this is... weird. They railroaded you into agreeing with Dimitri that we should charge straight into the empire... but it's blatantly obvious that the story's going to eventually make Dimitri realize it was the wrong decision. So why force me to agree with it? Especially after having Seteth declare it was entirely my decision.

But yeah, now we get Dimitri's relic lance, Areadbhar.

And then we get another railroading choice between going east and west, where we have to go east, but we're given absolutely no information to give us even a chance to guess the “correct” answer. Furthermore, Gilbert's interpretation of “west” seem to be more like “north” since he assumes going over the mountains via the west would involve going through Empire-loyal Dukedom territory, the western part of Faergus. Which is to the north.

But no, Gilbert says we should go all the way through Alliance territory.

...Exactly which directions are the mountains that surround Garreg Mach passable in? Why do we have to go all the way through the Alliance and then over the great bridge of Myrddin in order to get into a territory that is literally a few miles south of us? Is the game trying to imply that whenever we go for a weekend trip into the Empire in Part 1, we're passing through Kingdom or Alliance territory first!?

But of course, they're trying to railroad us into Battle of the Eagle and Lion Part 2. AKA one of the single most contrived story moments in the entire game.

Guess that's what we're doing next.

Stay safe, everyone.

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2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

We messed up. There must have been a spy among us”

...I'm not going to say it. I don't have to.

When the volcano map is sus.

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Alright, so, this seems pretty straightforward. I'll have Seteth and Sylvain sit this out and adjutant onto Dimitri and Leonie respectively, and see what I can do with stride. The terrain makes fliers really useful. I should probably give everyone some keys so we can get the chests open quickly. The battle ends as soon as the boss dies, after all.

The starting stride gambit gets us clear of the first group pretty easily, including the archers. But one thing that's increasingly giving me concern is Ingrid's poor accuracy between thoron and blizzard. I think I might want to give her an accuracy ring, which I only now remembered exists. I also have a third adjutant slot I don't really need, so I could train, say, Cyril to be a wyvern rider and then adjutant him onto her for that apparent accuracy boost.

Why not make Sylvain adjutant for Ingrid, at least as long as he's sitting out? Or vice-versa? They'll provide a damage boost for each other, after all.

Also, this may be a stretch at this point, but have you considered putting Ingrid in Valkyrie? Uncanny Blow would fix her accuracy issues in a jiffy. It certainly made my mounted Lysithea build more reliable.

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

..Okay, this is... weird. They railroaded you into agreeing with Dimitri that we should charge straight into the empire... but it's blatantly obvious that the story's going to eventually make Dimitri realize it was the wrong decision. So why force me to agree with it? Especially after having Seteth declare it was entirely my decision.

Well with all the lava and CO2 around, a volcanic ruin is as good a place as any for being gaslit.

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...I managed to sneak in level 30 for Leonie, and then the boss went down to Annette, who's probably my best all-around dark flier.

She is, after all, your girl.

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Exactly which directions are the mountains that surround Garreg Mach passable in? Why do we have to go all the way through the Alliance and then over the great bridge of Myrddin in order to get into a territory that is literally a few miles south of us? Is the game trying to imply that whenever we go for a weekend trip into the Empire in Part 1, we're passing through Kingdom or Alliance territory first!?

Yeah, this is a problem. When the Empire attacked Garreg Mach, they presumably didn't travel through the Alliance, but were instead able to move directly from Imperial territory. It's not specified why we can't do the same here. Maybe there are Pokemon-style ledges making Enbarr to Garreg Mach a one-way journey?

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

But of course, they're trying to railroad us into Battle of the Eagle and Lion Part 2. AKA one of the single most contrived story moments in the entire game.

Guess that's what we're doing next.

The Great Bridge of Myrrdin: "Am I a joke to you?"

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