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

[Shadow Mir]

6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Seteth: Actually, while I have enjoyed the hobby for a long while, I must admit I am less than proficient.

Seteth, that being true would be an actual accomplishment. You must have spent well over 10,000 hours fishing by this point.

 

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

Maybe he's just miserable at "timed button press" minigames?

Or maybe he uses no hook. Because one of his lost items is a fishing rod that has no hook.

[Jotari]

7 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

 

Or maybe he uses no hook. Because one of his lost items is a fishing rod that has no hook.

The idea of him doing that for centuries and never once realizing the issue is actually pretty funny.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

7 minutes ago, Jotari said:

The idea of him doing that for centuries and never once realizing the issue is actually pretty funny.

Sounds more like an Alois mistake. But hey, at least it could make for a funny "line" to cast!

[Eltosian Kadath]

13 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

He's so wrapped up in his own “guilt” that he thinks punishing himself is more important than the wellbeing of literally everyone he cares about. That is the most childishly pathetic behavior I have ever seen.

Sounds kinda depression like to me...

 

13 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Seteth: Actually, while I have enjoyed the hobby for a long while, I must admit I am less than proficient.

Seteth, that being true would be an actual accomplishment. You must have spent well over 10,000 hours fishing by this point.

Honestly, I like when Seteth talks about how he mostly just does it to relax and he never really developed any understanding about how it actually works, and then asks Leonie why she fishes, and she goes:

For some reason I am getting the mental image that Seteth's idea of fishing is a cooler full of beer, and a rod you can mostly ignore, until you miss a fish that is this drunkenly big...

[Interdimensional Observer]

20 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Sounds kinda depression like to me...

As someone who hasn't been medically diagnosed as depressed, but definitely has had depressive episodes in the recent past, I can agree with this statement. There is little I love more than to criticize myself for being sad and pathetic and beyond pity when I'm so depressed that I can hardly bother to get out of bed. My other favorite thing when depressed being thinking about the tragic inevitably of death for that all lives. It is a very lazy thing to do, as opposed to actually getting up and making a real effort to fix the problems that leads oneself to become depressed in the first place. But then, doesn't that feed into a narcissistic, sad, and downright pathetic beyond pity loop of being lost in self-criticism without corrective action?

Not to say this may apply to the 3H character in question, only that I agree with your response to the above statement in general, regardless of the actual character.

Edited October 30, 2021 by Interdimensional Observer

[Alastor15243]

Three Houses Day 56: Chapter 16 Mission

This probably isn't the best week for updates, but I can definitely manage today, so as promised, here's the Chapter 16 mission update. We'll work out the rest of the week as we go.

Incidentally, I got a capture card, and worked out how to record my Switch with it. I got it for the fairly niche purpose of screensharing with friends, but I have this sneaking feeling I should be doing more with it. Would anyone be interested in seeing my raw blind reaction to an upcoming mission? I might be able to try that if there's enough demand.

But for now...

...Oh right. This map. And yet again, a map I've seen in every route besides I think maybe Crimson Flower.

...Seriously, the routes are functionally identical to each other. 90% of each non-CF route, possibly more, is just the same sequence of cause and effect, the only difference being which characters make those identical decisions. I've heard people say that Three Houses does the concept of a route split way better than Fates, and, genuine question: how? The only argument I've seen that I can remotely understand is that they don't charge you money for each separate route, but here's the thing: the routes in Fates are actual routes. Entirely separate games, with different places visited, different things happening, and different actions done by different people! Three Houses... just has different people.

This map is insultingly straightforward at any rate, except for an obnoxious gimmick where northwestern reinforcements will arrive the second the northwestern group is routed, regardless of when that last enemy is slain. At least that's what happened on the other routes.

So... this is supposed to be a “great bridge”, right? This whole thing? Then why does this “great bridge” have... shabby wooden bridges built into the middle of it? Why isn't that part just made out of more stone?

Whatever, let's take the chests, kill the boss and be done with it.

Um... I just noticed that the blue circles around my units' feet... pulse. But like... the mounted and foot units are pulsing at different times. Weird.

But yeah, same as usual, I opened up with a big stride gambit... gambit, and took out everyone near me.

...And then some alliance units just spontaneously warp in on the first enemy phase, and I can't tell if the game is really that cheap to do it on turn one, or if I just went too far and triggered a proximity tripwire. At any rate, they don't attack, they just spawn at the beginning of the enemy phase for some reason.

...And then...

...Dedue... just shows up. On the beginning of turn 2. He's basically useless at this point, considering how much sheer offensive power and mobility win the day here, but hopefully his arrival does interesting things for Dimitri's character.

...But given the game's supposed to mostly go the same way regardless, I doubt it. In fact I don't think Dimitri's even going to acknowledge that one of the ghosts he's been hallucinating was a lie.

Okay, Acheron's boss quote is pretty funny.

“They say if you can't beat them, join them. ...I'm not in for a beating, am I?”

Cue instant death by a Shamir hunter's volley crit.

Anyway, I managed to take out all of the reinforcements thanks to the high mobility and attack power of my army, so on to the next “challenge”.

...So the attack predictor is just lying to me. This demonic beast seems determined to ignore me despite the game repeatedly promising me he'll attack.

...Oh my god, I actually triggered an adjutant follow-up. Somehow. This is the first time I can remember it actually happening. It was basically meaningless, but still amusing.

And it happened again when Leonie attacked the boss!

Yeah, I'm not interested in getting more umbral steel, I already have more than I know what to do with because I haven't felt the need to use relics that often lately. I'm just gonna grab the remaining chests and kill the boss.

Aaaaand Leonie just got point blank volley! Awesome! Better equip that on her right after the fight!

...Aaaaaand Dimitri missed two consecutive 70%s, either of which would have been enough to finish off the boss. And I have nobody else in range, and no more stride gambits.

...Right, might as well take this opportunity to experiment with divine pulse. I've heard RNs are preserved. Is that on a per unit basis, or if I have Dimitri use the RNs that brought Leonie success, will he succeed...?

...It is in fact the latter. Alright. Duly noted. So divine pulse also lets you commit RN abuse.

...Aaaaaand I'm a lazy, apathetic little shit who didn't even read the mission objectives, forgetting that Ferdinand Von Quintessence is also a boss I have to kill. So a boss bum rush this turn was out of the question entirely.

...But even if I had read that... turns out that surprise reinforcement Lorenz is also a boss, so this map also technically lies to you about its victory conditions, albeit in a far less despicable way than Foreign Land and Sky does.

At any rate, Ladislava moves, so letting her come to me wound up being way, way easier anyway once I worked out how to clear out the nearby enemies. So now I'm sending my fliers north to take out Lorenz and Ferdinand Von Quintessence.

The enemy attack predictors glitched out again and made me think that Ferdinand's group was just retreating, but then his buddies went in and attacked Shamir. But what really went wrong was that my unit placement didn't let me shove and draw back Felix enough to kill Ferdinand Von Quintessence like I wanted to. As if I needed more signs of how done I am with this game, I've just been going fully on the offensive this chapter without even thinking about whether or not my plans will work.

Yep, revising my plans and putting Shamir in a more convenient spot wound up working, and I could, as before, draw back Dimitri with Ingrid and Annette to get him to hand axe Lorenz to death.

And I'm done.

...They actually have an emotional scene between Dimitri and Dedue. I honestly almost expected that to not happen.

...But then they cut to a scene that's obviously what the story would normally start with if Dedue didn't survive.

...Ah yes. Here's Fleche, disguised as “maiden”. In fairness, nobody there knows who she really is, and they'd have no reason to, though it is funny the dialogue labels act like they don't know.

Rodrigue... voices a line really aggressively for what it's supposed to be. He seems surprisingly irritable in this scene for how he usually behaves.

...And... rather interestingly, Fleche flat-out tells the truth about why she wants to join the army, in a way that lets her speak from the heart. She says she wants to join our army to “get revenge” and “strike down the one who murdered [her] big brother”. And Dimitri, whether because he's apathetic to army logistics in general or sympathetic to her thirst for revenge, lets her join.

And we get a support event with Dedue.

Looks like we meet in the greenhouse yet again.

And... almost like the game is self-aware but also completely oblivious to its time travel mechanic, Dedue admonishes me for being reckless lately.

Right, now for the plot cutscene. Where nobody even remotely acknowledges the absurdity of how we just broke through into empire territory... and then ran back to the Monastery for a month.

...Catherine says she'll request support from her father, but didn't she like... go all “Cassandra is my slave name” and disown her whole country? That was the impression I got.

But yeah, they're hoping they can... ally with the Alliance. But of course, we all know how well that's going to turn out.

Yeah, they're really hyping this battle up emotionally, but I feel less than the usual nothing inside, for reasons I will elaborate on... as the situation develops.

...And I don't even get a birthday letter from Dimitri. I get one from Gilbert. And it's... basically once sentence long and then “I mean that”. Can't remember the others, but I seem to remember them being a few sentences longer.

...I'm gonna leave things off here for today.

Tomorrow probably won't be good for the marathon though, unfortunately. Sorry about that. I'll see about Wednesday.

Stay safe, everyone.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

...And I don't even get a birthday letter from Dimitri. I get one from Gilbert. And it's... basically once sentence long and then “I mean that”. Can't remember the others, but I seem to remember them being a few sentences longer.

Oh wow. Yeah, so Gilbert does straight up replace Dimitri as the lord. It really wouldn't have been difficult to write something for a mad boar version of Dimitri at that moment.

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Oh wow. Yeah, so Gilbert does straight up replace Dimitri as the lord. It really wouldn't have been difficult to write something for a mad boar version of Dimitri at that moment.

"Congratulations on fending off the reaper another year, Professr. Enjoy it while you can. I know far too many people who didn't."

[Jotari]

42 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

"Congratulations on fending off the reaper another year, Professr. Enjoy it while you can. I know far too many people who didn't."

Now that's just making me realize how they never give Dimitri and the Jeritza any moments together. Death Knights serves a decent gameplay function, but he's really quite a wasted character.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oh right. This map. And yet again, a map I've seen in every route besides I think maybe Crimson Flower.

It also shows up as CF 13. Only in that case, you're approaching the bridge from the western edge.

...Wait, isn't this a north-south bridge?

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

So... this is supposed to be a “great bridge”, right? This whole thing? Then why does this “great bridge” have... shabby wooden bridges built into the middle of it? Why isn't that part just made out of more stone?

Construction season, man. It's hard to find good help in the middle of a war.

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

At any rate, Ladislava moves, so letting her come to me wound up being way, way easier anyway once I worked out how to clear out the nearby enemies. So now I'm sending my fliers north to take out Lorenz and Ferdinand Von Quintessence.

I'd be really curious whether Lorenz and Ferdinand can provide eachother a "linked attack bonus" as enemies. Conceivably, you could recruit only Lorenz, and get him to C-support with an unrecruited Ferdinand (via Choir or Meals). Then, on enemy phase, get one to attack your unit while the other is adjacent to said unit. Would there be a hit/damage buff? I genuinely don't know.

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

And... rather interestingly, Fleche flat-out tells the truth about why she wants to join the army, in a way that lets her speak from the heart. She says she wants to join our army to “get revenge” and “strike down the one who murdered [her] big brother”. And Dimitri, whether because he's apathetic to army logistics in general or sympathetic to her thirst for revenge, lets her join.

Sometimes the best way to lie is by telling the truth. And, of course, not getting asked to clarify your statements.

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Right, now for the plot cutscene. Where nobody even remotely acknowledges the absurdity of how we just broke through into empire territory... and then ran back to the Monastery for a month.

We called "dibs" on the bridge. Edelgard may be an antagonist, but she's not villainous enough to violate the time-honored tradition of "dibs"!

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Catherine says she'll request support from her father, but didn't she like... go all “Cassandra is my slave name” and disown her whole country? That was the impression I got.

Maybe it's an attempt to "let bygones be bygones" and forsake their differences, on behalf of the current shared interest between the Kingdom and the Church? Also "awkward home lives" seems the norm, rather than the exception, for nobles in this game.

[Jotari]

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

I'd be really curious whether Lorenz and Ferdinand can provide eachother a "linked attack bonus" as enemies. Conceivably, you could recruit only Lorenz, and get him to C-support with an unrecruited Ferdinand (via Choir or Meals). Then, on enemy phase, get one to attack your unit while the other is adjacent to said unit. Would there be a hit/damage buff? I genuinely don't know.

I highly doubt it. I expect the enemy versions of the characters in this games and the playable versions are completely different units as far as the game is concerned. There's no mid field allegiance swapping in this game, you get the unit after the map not during it. Which is why I was rather chagrined to find the 70HP my untrained Lorenz had as an enemy completely vanished when he subsequently became playable again. Still, could be a fun experiment to try.

Edited November 1, 2021 by Jotari

[Shadow Mir]

14 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yep, revising my plans and putting Shamir in a more convenient spot wound up working, and I could, as before, draw back Dimitri with Ingrid and Annette to get him to hand axe Lorenz to death.

I'm kinda surprised you used a hand axe, because honestly, throwing weapons in general are at their nadir in Three Houses. It's hard for me to justify using a hand axe or javelin when a bow is just better for ranged combat (especially since an Iron Bow+ is much lighter than a javelin or hand axe - and if you bother to invest in bow skills, it gets worse for throwing weapons, as you gain access to Curved Shot and stronger bows), and they're not useful for the main thing that you'd want to use them for, as archers in general have extra range. The higher-rank throwing weapons are even worse off, as they require rare ores to repair or upgrade, and the results aren't really worth it. Also, combat arts cannot be used when you use throwing weapons from range. Long story short, the only thing they have going for them is the ability to counter in melee range... which bows can also do with Close Counter (and frankly, if you're expecting your lance/axe user to see enemy phase combat, you'd be better off using a stronger and/or lighter weapon for enemy phase).

14 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yeah, I'm not interested in getting more umbral steel, I already have more than I know what to do with because I haven't felt the need to use relics that often lately. I'm just gonna grab the remaining chests and kill the boss.

Speaking of, I generally find the relics just don't live up to the storyline hype. Also, the combat arts tied to them are generally overkill, especially Atrocity, which epitomizes the concept of "win-more".

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

8 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

I'm kinda surprised you used a hand axe, because honestly, throwing weapons in general are at their nadir in Three Houses. It's hard for me to justify using a hand axe or javelin when a bow is just better for ranged combat (especially since an Iron Bow+ is much lighter than a javelin or hand axe - and if you bother to invest in bow skills, it gets worse for throwing weapons, as you gain access to Curved Shot and stronger bows), and they're not useful for the main thing that you'd want to use them for, as archers in general have extra range. The higher-rank throwing weapons are even worse off, as they require rare ores to repair or upgrade, and the results aren't really worth it. Also, combat arts cannot be used when you use throwing weapons from range. Long story short, the only thing they have going for them is the ability to counter in melee range... which bows can also do with Close Counter (and frankly, if you're expecting your lance/axe user to see enemy phase combat, you'd be better off using a stronger and/or lighter weapon for enemy phase).

So a Hand Axe has 4 Might and 70 Hit. Factoring in class-based Axefaire (+5 Might), and assuming Axe Prowess Lv. 4 (+16 Hit), the Hand Axe now has an effective 9 Might and 86 Hit. Compare to 6 Might and 85 Hit from the Iron Bow, or 9 Might and 80 Hit from the Steel Bow. The Hand Axe is heavier than the Iron Bow, but since @Alastor15243 is playing on Hard Mode, I don't imagine Dimitri is struggling to double most enemies. Bows do have more uses, though, and access to Curved Shot. Then again, the Hand Axe is more accurate (with Lancebreaker) against Lance-wielding foes. Honestly, it seems like a toss-up which would be a better ranged tool for Wyvern Lord Dimitri.

[Shadow Mir]

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

So a Hand Axe has 4 Might and 70 Hit. Factoring in class-based Axefaire (+5 Might), and assuming Axe Prowess Lv. 4 (+16 Hit), the Hand Axe now has an effective 9 Might and 86 Hit. Compare to 6 Might and 85 Hit from the Iron Bow, or 9 Might and 80 Hit from the Steel Bow. The Hand Axe is heavier than the Iron Bow, but since @Alastor15243 is playing on Hard Mode, I don't imagine Dimitri is struggling to double most enemies. Bows do have more uses, though, and access to Curved Shot. Then again, the Hand Axe is more accurate (with Lancebreaker) against Lance-wielding foes. Honestly, it seems like a toss-up which would be a better ranged tool for Wyvern Lord Dimitri.

Fair, but I find that there just isn't a case for using throwing weapons in this game. All things considered, I'd pretty much have to squint to find a situation where I'd be better off using a throwing weapon than a bow, especially when a Steel Bow+, which only requires D bows, is stronger than a hand axe even when it's boosted by Axefaire. 

[Alastor15243]

4 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Fair, but I find that there just isn't a case for using throwing weapons in this game. All things considered, I'd pretty much have to squint to find a situation where I'd be better off using a throwing weapon than a bow, especially when a Steel Bow+, which only requires D bows, is stronger than a hand axe even when it's boosted by Axefaire. 

You need to equip close counter to use it on enemy phase.

[Shadow Mir]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

You need to equip close counter to use it on enemy phase.

Fair point, but you can just forgo that if you have Retribution. 

EDIT: Also, next chapter... you'll see why I always emphasize recruiting Petra.

Edited November 2, 2021 by Shadow Mir

[deskita]

4 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

but you can just forgo that if you have Retribution.

That's not exactly an option in early maps. For the Blue Lions they can use the Kingdom Archers which has a D rank requirement and can be obtained at Chapter 7 onwards (If I remember correctly) For the other routes the only batallion with that gambit is an A rank one which you're not likely to have access to until quite a bit later.

There's also the fact that using Hand Axes/Javelins boosts the corresponding weapon's Weapon experience which in my experience has helped me to train other things like Authority rank more since I'm getting more of my character's weapon rank requirements for classes from combat.

[Eltosian Kadath]

On 11/1/2021 at 7:15 AM, Alastor15243 said:

 

Incidentally, I got a capture card, and worked out how to record my Switch with it. I got it for the fairly niche purpose of screensharing with friends, but I have this sneaking feeling I should be doing more with it. Would anyone be interested in seeing my raw blind reaction to an upcoming mission? I might be able to try that if there's enough demand.

It does sound interesting, but I have never really been timely enough to catch a live stream...

 

On 11/1/2021 at 7:15 AM, Alastor15243 said:

 

...Seriously, the routes are functionally identical to each other. 90% of each non-CF route, possibly more, is just the same sequence of cause and effect, the only difference being which characters make those identical decisions. I've heard people say that Three Houses does the concept of a route split way better than Fates, and, genuine question: how? The only argument I've seen that I can remotely understand is that they don't charge you money for each separate route, but here's the thing: the routes in Fates are actual routes. Entirely separate games, with different places visited, different things happening, and different actions done by different people! Three Houses... just has different people.

I think the 90% number is a bit hyperbolic...but I agree with the sentiment.

[Jotari]

13 hours ago, deskita said:

That's not exactly an option in early maps. For the Blue Lions they can use the Kingdom Archers which has a D rank requirement and can be obtained at Chapter 7 onwards (If I remember correctly) For the other routes the only batallion with that gambit is an A rank one which you're not likely to have access to until quite a bit later.

There's also the fact that using Hand Axes/Javelins boosts the corresponding weapon's Weapon experience which in my experience has helped me to train other things like Authority rank more since I'm getting more of my character's weapon rank requirements for classes from combat.

Plus if you're using retribution it ceases to be a comparison between hand axes and bows, since you'll just be using silver weapons (at least when you're not trying to outrange enemies)

Edited November 3, 2021 by Jotari

[Alastor15243]

Alright, I've worked out how the schedule's gonna be this week. Here's the deal: today and tomorrow, and on Monday and Tuesday next week, there won't be an update. After that things will be back to normal.

[Jotari]

7 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

It does sound interesting, but I have never really been timely enough to catch a live stream...

 

I think the 90% number is a bit hyperbolic...but I agree with the sentiment.

I actually don't think it is. If were talking about plot then maybe not quite 90% for Azure Moon as it has more unique moments, but all the same stifd does end up happening fir the samw reasons. If were talking about gameplay then yes, over 90% doesnt seem hyoerbolic at all. Exclusing the prologue as it's pre route split, Azure Moon has 22 chapters. Of those chapters, 5, the last 5, are different to Verdant Wind. That's if you're generous, if you're cynical then only three chapters are different (and even then the final boss chapter shares a map). You'd need 20 chapters to be the same for it to be 90%, so even with the cynical viewnit does make it. However once you factor in the paralogues (and the one mandatory skirmish), yeah it's going to shoot right past 90% similar and I to the 95% range.

[Eltosian Kadath]

9 hours ago, Jotari said:

I actually don't think it is. If were talking about plot then maybe not quite 90% for Azure Moon as it has more unique moments, but all the same stifd does end up happening fir the samw reasons. If were talking about gameplay then yes, over 90% doesnt seem hyoerbolic at all. Exclusing the prologue as it's pre route split, Azure Moon has 22 chapters. Of those chapters, 5, the last 5, are different to Verdant Wind. That's if you're generous, if you're cynical then only three chapters are different (and even then the final boss chapter shares a map). You'd need 20 chapters to be the same for it to be 90%, so even with the cynical viewnit does make it.

I think you have a typo there, as Azure Moon doesn't quite hit that 90% mark by your own numbers there (being more in the very high 70s-80s depending on the optimistic or cynical view). I did go back through and make my own analysis, looking at all 65 chapters of SS, VW, and AM, and a simpler optimistic showed about 58 were shared by at least 2 routes, which is...89% similarity...I guess its not that hyperbolic overall, its mostly that Alastor has been working through the least similar of the three routes (CF meanwhile is the really different one...), which has been skewing how I looked at things a bit.

 

9 hours ago, Jotari said:

However once you factor in the paralogues (and the one mandatory skirmish), yeah it's going to shoot right past 90% similar and I to the 95% range.

...Fair enough

 

[Jotari]

25 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I think you have a typo there, as Azure Moon doesn't quite hit that 90% mark by your own numbers there (being more in the very high 70s-80s depending on the optimistic or cynical view). I did go back through and make my own analysis, looking at all 65 chapters of SS, VW, and AM, and a simpler optimistic showed about 58 were shared by at least 2 routes, which is...89% similarity...I guess its not that hyperbolic overall, its mostly that Alastor has been working through the least similar of the three routes (CF meanwhile is the really different one...), which has been skewing how I looked at things a bit.

 

...Fair enough

 

Yeah, but it of a typo, was writing on my phone as my uber was coming to a stop. "Doesn't quite make it" was the intention.

[Alastor15243]

Three Houses Day 57: Chapter 17 Week 1-2

And we're back! Sorry for the erratic schedule! I'm spending more than a week at a place that isn't as conducive to playlog entries. But I have an opening today, so...

...Alright, so, looks like I've unlocked the Gilbert and Annette paralogue, so I'll be doing that today, following an exploration.

...Gilbert is very uncomfortably surrounded by three characters: Leonie, Ingrid, and Fleche. It almost felt like I wasn't supposed to be able to talk to him from the angle I did.

Apparently the room we do post-timeskip “lessons” in is called the “Cardinals' Room”. Huh.

Alright, time to see if I actually bought that exam pass.

...It would appear... judging by my renown... that I had not. That's frustrating. Wonder how that happened?

At any rate, I have it now. Good.

...Infuriatingly, it seems that hitting the green line in the sauna isn't actually a guarantee of getting the bonuses. It seems to be random how high you have to get on that green line to get the bonuses. As if I needed another reason to say “fuck you” to the sauna. Thankfully I did manage to get Seteth and Professr maxed out at the sauna at least.

Alright, free time over. Without having to feed anyone it was a struggle to justify all those action points. I remember that being painful at the final stretch of the game.

No dice getting valkyrie this week, unfortunately. But let's do those battles.

Starting with the big one, obviously, to make sure we get something of substance done today if things get complicated.

So... seems the mission today is to retrieve a hero's relic from a pro-imperial Kingdom house.

...Aaaaaaaand somehow Gilbert and Annette wound up stranded and surrounded by armor knights on the opposite side of the map. Gee, this sure would suck if I didn't have an absurd army of fliers!

I wonder how they're gonna explain how this suddenly happened, though.

...Ah, so this is the situation they were meeting with Baron Dominic in. Alright. Still though, mentioning Annette's mother offscreen made me laugh. It's weird, because plenty of other games have characters mention family we never see in supports... but, like, they never go to anything approaching this level of “oh, you just missed her!” energy.

Anyway, the map was pretty straightforward after the initial clusterfuck of basically being surrounded everywhere. Leonie's really proving to be tough as a bow knight, skilled against basically everything but mages. Though her bulk isn't what I remember it being.

And when most of the map was done, I rushed the faceless boss, killing him with Constance.

...Except no. Apparently we just beat him within an inch of his life... so that Cornelia wouldn't think he cooperated willingly. Interesting. Was Gilbert in on this? Were we? Why did we magically know to leave him alive? He's kinda talking like he's dying, but he's also promising to protect Gilbert's wife and Annette's mother in a continuous sense...

...But yeah, now we have Annette's magic hammer, Crusher. I wonder if the combat art will be any good for Annette. I mean, it's magical, so maybe? But she's pretty devastating with conventional magic...

...They call it a hammer, but it isn't effective against armor knights. ...Okay, it's magic, of course it's effective against armor knights, but you know what I mean. No slayer effect.

Now to fight some Thieves at the Throat.

...It's kind of ridiculous that the enemies in this game are still struggling to break 100 hit, evasion being ignored. This means they have basically no hit rate on Dimitri, who has 79 avoid even without alert stance.

...Which means that the entire map is damned near one-turned through a bit of stride player-phasing and a loooooot of Dimitri enemy-phasing.

Oh, and hey! Looks like we can casually take a weekend trip into Gronder Field! Unsecured enemy territory!

But nah, I need rare ore more, so I'll do the monsters in the valley of torment.

I only got one mythril from breaking the bird's shield, sadly, but ore's also the reward for this map. Personally I'm hoping for wootz steel.

...Oh shit right, I need to put point-blank volley on Leonie. Gotta remember that.

I GOT WOOTZ STEEL! 5 OF IT! NICE! That means I can use brave weapons more often!

Now for lessons.

...Uh... question... who's paying us to work at the stables of the Monastery? Presumably the Church was paying us before, but... uh... we're in charge of the Monastery now. We're in control of the war budget. Where is that 1,000 gold from working at the stables coming from?

Alright, that's it for today, I think. I'll finish up the month and do supports on Wednesday, and on Thursday, we'll do the battle at Gronder Field. For now though, I'm gonna equip some stuff before I forget, and sign off.

Stay safe, everyone.

[Jotari]

19 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

And when most of the map was done, I rushed the faceless boss, killing him with Constance.
 

My mind actually jumped into Fates mode for a split second as I envisioned the Hulk monsters. I feel the fact that the boss of this map is a generic requires more ire, but I suppose everyone's already said all there is to say on it.

19 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Uh... question... who's paying us to work at the stables of the Monastery? Presumably the Church was paying us before, but... uh... we're in charge of the Monastery now. We're in control of the war budget. Where is that 1,000 gold from working at the stables coming from?

 

Clearly Byleth has started taxing the peasant populous.