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

[Acacia Sgt]

18 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oh, hey, so, another thing: I've got a feeling the reason they give you no new recruits for the endgame is because they don't want it to be too difficult to get supports with characters or something. Well, to that, I have a solution, and I'm only half joking:

Sommie.

Like, just discover something in the endgame, a magic mech, or Lumera's construct-making machine, or the legendary Holy Hamster Wheel, and have it be a thing Sommie can use to join in the fight. It would be stupid, but it would also be adorable and hilarious, and it's not like the game isn't already overflowing with Saturday Morning Cartoon Energy.

But no repeats of the ghost Lilith bullshit. They don't die if they lose all their HP, the thing they use to fight just breaks and Sommie scampers off.

 

Or just plain admit Sommie is the Zero Emblem.

People legit theorize that, by the way.

[joeygreedy]

49 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Also, like happened in Ike's original game, you get to see a village get destroyed, and can do fuck all to stop it, as you're way too far away to save it! Unless you're this guy...

This feels like "Marth Paralogue chests" or "Chapter 16 House" or "Chapter 19 Corrupted" in terms of effort for actual reward. While most chests and houses are really good about giving cool loot, I wonder who decided Marth's chests in that map was worth even grabbing when it's a bunch of non-statbooster comsumables and a silver greataxe, instead of using Micaiah to just warp people into the room and do some Byleth-Seadall-Corrin combo shenanigans to wipe the room and lock down Marth for a turn, then gang up on him to slaughter him. 

 

9 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

…Oh nice! Is Pepsiman gonna bring back the Emblems now? I was thinking there would be at least this part of the map we were forced to do without them.

 

…That makes it kinda frustratingly pointless though, to introduce this conflict and so quickly resolve it.

 

And then we get everyone’s final battle lines… and then back to a cutscene… and…

 

…And then we get the Emblems back. With these big bombastic poses and introductions like they’re all some cross between Power Rangers and Magical Girls, and honestly, again, they should have leaned into that more!

Power of Friendship baybeeeee. Just hype for one last roll call before we kill snake daddy. At least it's a better implementation of the "Everyone gives their encouragement to the protaganist so they can use their protagenist powers before we fight the final boss" than the 3 fates routes did it and Korn dying, in sheer entertainment factor.

Also, can't believe Pepsiman missed the chance to say "Connect Us, FIRE EMBLEM, ENGAGE!!". You already said "Fire Emblem", c'mon.

 

[Shadow Mir]

11 minutes ago, joeygreedy said:

This feels like "Marth Paralogue chests" or "Chapter 16 House" or "Chapter 19 Corrupted" in terms of effort for actual reward. While most chests and houses are really good about giving cool loot, I wonder who decided Marth's chests in that map was worth even grabbing when it's a bunch of non-statbooster comsumables and a silver greataxe

That ain't even the worst example in the series. I raise you the Eclipse village in chapter 17 on the Sacae route. Yeah, like I'm gonna bust my ass to rush through fog of war for a tome with 10 base hit (while praying I don't get shot down by nomads or zapped by a Bolting Sage en route)...

[joeygreedy]

On 2/9/2023 at 5:52 AM, Anathaco said:

Amber might be the most deranged member of the cast, and that’s saying a lot for this game. His wake up interactions are absolutely the best in the game tho.

Oh yeah, speaking of which. Let me see.

Bunet wants to eat your bed, lava , other character's armor, your pact ring, the Emblem Rings, Falchion and other characters. I am not joking. This is not a joke. I am being serious.

Goldmary would give Narcissus a run for his money.

Framme is reaching terminal simpery, I am shocked she doesn't just go catatonic if you give her the pact ring. 

Amber is up there though, I find him both hilarious and annoying, which leaves me mixed. 

 

 

 

 

[Anathaco]

2 hours ago, joeygreedy said:

Bunet wants to eat your bed, lava , other character's armor, your pact ring, the Emblem Rings, Falchion and other characters. I am not joking. This is not a joke. I am being serious.

Yeah I made this comment before I started using Bunet I changed my mind Bunet is the most deranged.

[Jotari]

12 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

…But amusingly, Sombron’s like “look, at this point, I’ve gotten all I wanted from your world. I don’t need to mess with you people anymore, so I’m totally happy agreeing not to bother you again. Let’s just both part ways, no conflict, you close the portal from your side and live happily ever after and all that shit in your world, and I’ll go conquer the rest of the multiverse somewhere far, far away from you. We good?”

 

That is… by a country fucking mile the most reasonable offer any FE villain has ever made to the heroes, even though it would still be immoral and cowardly to take it. I honestly love this. It’s cold pragmatism, pure practical intelligent self-interest, hedging his bets just on the off-chance they actually have the power to beat him, rather than cartoonishly stomping puppies for the sake of it.

Honestly this one singular line drastically improves my opinion of Sombron as a character and wants me to replay the game taking a closer look at his actions and behaviors. That is way more intelligent than I’ve been giving Sombron credit for. Could I have been sleeping on his character this whole time?

I wish at least one of our characters had the personality to pause and consider it. Sure, it's not utilitarianly moral, but for them it's like a complete win. Somborn is gone, the Emblem's don't die, possibly the Corrupted just become inert, it's victory for Elyos. Let someone else deal with him XD

12 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

But now Sombron seems to wish to elaborate on his big Evil Plan. Let’s see what he’s got for us?

O told you everyone would be getting rushed characterisation XD

12 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Honestly, while I think Chapter 11 managed to make it work, I really don’t like when the game takes the Emblems away or significantly nerfs them. It’s annoying.

Yeah, pulling the same shit three times when it wasn't even justified the first time is kind of sucky. I mean, I love how Chapter 11 works out, but the game does straight up cheat by having Veyle steal them all off screen (or rather steal the time crystal off screen in order to facilitate her ability to steal all the Emblems at once off screen). Here it's more justified as a plot point...but we've seen it three times already. Fortunately this last time it doesn't influence gameplay, which would really suck, but even just in terms of plot, denying you all your Emblems at once out of nowhere has been played out.

12 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Did I mention how much this looks like the final map in Revelation? Because this looks so fucking much like the final map in Revelation.

Yeah, I like the final battle a lot in this game, but the parallel to Revelation does bring it down a bit. They could have made the world between portals look like literally anything, shame it had to be a rehash of somewhere we've seen before. Course, I don't think many Fire Embelm final battles have remarkable set piece locations. We've seen the inside of a castle, the inside of a cave, the inside of a temple, the outside of a castle, the inside of a different castle, the inside of another temple, the inside of some weird multi dimensional gate temple, the inside of another temple, the courtyard of a castle, the top floor of a tower (with no windows to look at the surrounding landscape), the back of a giant ass dragon (okay, silly as it might be that Grima could just win by barrel rolling, props to Awakening that is a cool set piece for the final battle and would look amazing in HD 3D), two different castle throne rooms, space, another castle throne room, a city, a random field and the monastary we spent the game in. So, yeah, most final chapter locations aren't amazing on a conceptual level, but even though we've had a bunch of castles and temples, this one feels uniquely like a let down to me by being a rehash of one of the few set pieces that is kind of different and interesting (basically space) without actually doing anything more visually interesting with it.

12 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

…And now there’s a barrier around his giant ass, and he’s supported by 12 Corrupted wielding… twelve Dark Emblems?

 

…Apparently I have to kill each one with the corresponding Emblem, or at least I should, but the game isn’t explicitly telling me who is who.

 

…So basically… the game is challenging me to a test of my Fire Emblem knowledge… asking me to correctly guess who’s who based on their descriptions alone.

So you'll be finishing the game on your next post and I'm sure there will be a lot to talk about in general, so I'll just address the Dark Emblems now. The game actually does tell you whose world they're from in the description, which I guess is nice for less encyclopedic players who haven't played these games. I really, really love this idea of Dark Emblems, it's just fan service I really appreciate. But they kind of went the lowest effort possible in implementing it. All the Dark Emblems are just shrouded cloaked figures like something from Kingdom Hearts and, though they quote their battle and defeat lines from their own games, the lines are unvoiced even though literally all of them have voice actors thanks to Heroes. Voice actors that have no doubt worked with Nintendo in the last two years this game has just been sitting there waiting to be released. They also don't really use weapons or classes much associated with the characters either. Even on the model aspect, there's a tonne of models they could have imported or retooled for this segment, sure older games don't have high quality models, but you can obscure that with a lot of transparency and evil smoke and stuff. Or at the very least they could have just had jepgs of the villains flash around like they did for the bond rings. Smash managed to get away with just reusing art like that.

Tl;DR I really love the idea of the Dark Emblems, but it feels like it was a co-orporate mandate to implement it into the game and the person charged with doing it just didn't care in the slightest and did the least amount of effort possible.

Also Veld is here...which makes perfect sense, he's a final boss of Fire Emblem...but he feels hilariously out of place standing next to all these dark gods and super dragons (one of which he's an underling of, and not even the highest ranking underling!)

4 hours ago, Shadow Mir said:

I see this and raise you Canter. I don't think it's even close. Speedtaker is good, sure, but I don't think I'd be wanting to put it on literally everyone. Eventually, your units start stepping on each other's toes trying to get its benefits.

Are you playing on Maddening?

Edited March 16, 2023 by Jotari

[Acacia Sgt]

I remember the speculation from before the game came out if we'd have something like the Dark Emblems. People thinking they'd be what Sombron would use all game long, to who would be the characters chosen to be the Dark Emblems. Ah, hindsight.

Funnily enough, I remember Edelgard being a guess for a Dark Emblem. Well, she was an Emblem alright... a DLC one, haha.

[lenticular]

14 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I wish at least one of our characters had the personality to pause and consider it. Sure, it's not utilitarianly moral, but for them it's like a complete win. Somborn is gone, the Emblem's don't die, possibly the Corrupted just become inert, it's victory for Elyos. Let someone else deal with him XD

I feel like Soren should have been all over this. I don't have the DLC so I have no clue how he's portrayed overall here, but PoR/RD Soren would absolutely have told us to take the offer.

[joeygreedy]

4 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I remember the speculation from before the game came out if we'd have something like the Dark Emblems. People thinking they'd be what Sombron would use all game long, to who would be the characters chosen to be the Dark Emblems. Ah, hindsight.

Funnily enough, I remember Edelgard being a guess for a Dark Emblem. Well, she was an Emblem alright... a DLC one, haha.

I do find it funny how all 3 of them are stuck into a single ring. It's the best way to implement them since you can't exactly choose 1 without the entire fandom blowing up, but the implications of all 3 house lords being stuck together for eternity in the Emblem is hilarious. Ditto Chrom and Robin being stuck together but they talk about 'their bond' so much I think they're fine with that arrangement.

That being said, why couldn't they have done this for Ephraim, FFS, he can't even get summoned by Veronica, or appear in conversations, you did it with 3H and Robin, it's not like he doesn't have a voice actor, a model, and a coded weapon, or it would require extra development since you have identical functionality via Chrobin and 3H.

3 minutes ago, lenticular said:

I feel like Soren should have been all over this. I don't have the DLC so I have no clue how he's portrayed overall here, but PoR/RD Soren would absolutely have told us to take the offer.

The DLC Emblems all get a "Get out of plot free" card. But I won't lie, I think it might legitimately be personal for 5/7 of the 'lords' roster. Ivy, Diamant, Pepsiman, Veyle and Vandar.

Sombron was responsible for 

-All of the siblings being fed to corrupted

-Mind control and also the implication of killing Veyle's mother

-Killing Pepsiman the first time

-Killing Lumera, Morion, Hyacinth, 2 of them personally.

Most of them would rather just stab the guy until he dies than even bother, TBH. 

26 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Tl;DR I really love the idea of the Dark Emblems, but it feels like it was a co-orporate mandate to implement it into the game and the person charged with doing it just didn't care in the slightest and did the least amount of effort possible.

It doesn't help how mediocre some of the line readings are, like... Sigurd's voice direction doesn't sound convicted, it sounds... Bored? Annoyed? IDK. The enemies also don't get any unique skills relevant to the respective game, it's just a stat-stick and "weakness".  

Also, none of the DLC conversations get boss convos, which is laaaaame. You telling me Robin has nothing to say to Grima, Tiki to Medeus, Soren to Ashnera? Ah well.

 

[Acacia Sgt]

4 minutes ago, joeygreedy said:

I do find it funny how all 3 of them are stuck into a single ring. It's the best way to implement them since you can't exactly choose 1 without the entire fandom blowing up, but the implications of all 3 house lords being stuck together for eternity in the Emblem is hilarious. Ditto Chrom and Robin being stuck together but they talk about 'their bond' so much I think they're fine with that arrangement.

That being said, why couldn't they have done this for Ephraim, FFS, he can't even get summoned by Veronica, or appear in conversations, you did it with 3H and Robin, it's not like he doesn't have a voice actor, a model, and a coded weapon, or it would require extra development since you have identical functionality via Chrobin and 3H.

Personally, I'm fascinated by the implications. Mainly, how is that even possible. Since whatever process is done to create an Emblem means you can have more than one inhabiting the same Ring/Bracelet/Whathaveyou (another interesting implication; what else can house an Emblem?). It makes me wonder if The Miracle could've been done to more than one person at the same time...

But yeah, having more than one can certainly make one wonder. Well, the cutscene where you get the House Leaders certainly glimpses to how life can be in that situation, hahaha.

4 minutes ago, joeygreedy said:

The DLC Emblems all get a "Get out of plot free" card. But I won't lie, I think it might legitimately be personal for 5/7 of the 'lords' roster. Ivy, Diamant, Pepsiman, Veyle and Vandar.

Sombron was responsible for 

-All of the siblings being fed to corrupted

-Mind control and also the implication of killing Veyle's mother

-Killing Pepsiman the first time

-Killing Lumera, Morion, Hyacinth, 2 of them personally.

Most of them would rather just stab the guy until he dies than even bother, TBH.

Not to mention, it just sends quite the wrong message to let someone keep committing atrocities just because they won't be done to you anymore.

[Jotari]

17 minutes ago, joeygreedy said:

It doesn't help how mediocre some of the line readings are, like... Sigurd's voice direction doesn't sound convicted, it sounds... Bored? Annoyed? IDK. The enemies also don't get any unique skills relevant to the respective game, it's just a stat-stick and "weakness".  

I'm okay with the line reads to be honest, form her heroes of course, I'm must less okay with the line reads from the villains who don't get voices at all.

The funny thing about Sigurd is that he's never actually mean Loptyr/Julius (it's a bit ambiguous as to which it is) before. Of all the villain-hero pairs in the line up, Sigurd has the least guff with his enemy. It's just some historical figure that was considered a pretty bad dude to him. I don't think he even knows the Lopt cult were responsible for kidnapping Deirdre. Nor should he have had any real knowledge of the hand they played in his death.

17 minutes ago, joeygreedy said:

Also, none of the DLC conversations get boss convos, which is laaaaame. You telling me Robin has nothing to say to Grima, Tiki to Medeus, Soren to Ashnera? Ah well.

Funnily enough Tiki doesn't have anything to say to Medeus in her own games either. Nor does Soren to Ashera, I think. Though you're right that they should have given them some lines here. Ike, likewise, should have had a line against Ashera too.

[Shadow Mir]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

Are you playing on Maddening?

Nah. That is something I am saving for a future run, as I haven't even beaten the game first.

[Acacia Sgt]

11 minutes ago, Jotari said:

The funny thing about Sigurd is that he's never actually mean Loptyr/Julius (it's a bit ambiguous as to which it is) before. Of all the villain-hero pairs in the line up, Sigurd has the least guff with his enemy. It's just some historical figure that was considered a pretty bad dude to him. I don't think he even knows the Lopt cult were responsible for kidnapping Deirdre. Nor should he have had any real knowledge of the hand they played in his death.

It might be a tie with

Spoiler

Byleth and Nemesis, since it's more or less the same situation.

11 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Funnily enough Tiki doesn't have anything to say to Medeus in her own games either. Nor does Soren to Ashera, I think. Though you're right that they should have given them some lines here. Ike, likewise, should have had a line against Ashera too.

Though as it is... why would she? It's not like she actually ever met him or even heard of him before she was put to sleep.

And on that subject... were personalized boss convos a thing in Marth's games? I'm trying to recall, but... well, I do remember Medeus has one with Nagi in Shadow Dragon, but other than that...

[Jotari]

12 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Nah. That is something I am saving for a future run, as I haven't even beaten the game first.

The uility of Speedtaker is going to be very different in and out of maddening. The speed benchmarks to double are a lot less generous at the necessity to double in order to kill things quickly, a lot higher. Canter is still a great skill that you'll want on support units and attacks alike, but unless you're playing exclusively fast dagger units, you will absolutely need speedtaker on your frontline attackers to secure kills in Maddening.

9 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

It might be a tie with

  Reveal hidden contents

Byleth and Nemesis, since it's more or less the same situation.

Though as it is... why would she? It's not like she actually ever met him or even heard of him before she was put to sleep.

And on that subject... were personalized boss convos a thing in Marth's games? I'm trying to recall, but... well, I do remember Medeus has one with Nagi in Shadow Dragon, but other than that...

Yes, there was. But due to the way the game's battle convos work, you only ever get to see one per playthrough. As in, the boss only speaks the first time they're attacked. So it's highly likely you'll only ever see the generic convos unless you go out of your way to see the others. That being said, even though I know this, the only boss I can recall other than your Nagi example that has convos is Michalis, who's quite talkative having convos with Minerva (who speaks back! another rarity for the game), Maria, the whitewings and Marth.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Jotari

[joeygreedy]

25 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Spoiler

Byleth and Nemesis, since it's more or less the same situation.

 

Spoiler

If I'm being real here, was there anyone else? Rhea would have inspired a lot of rage, Edelgard is already an Emblem, unless you somehow show "Hegemon Husk" as the title instead, which would also lead to anger. Dimitri as a Dark Emblem also wouldn't make sense. The issue with multiple routes being different bosses, which include your own lords lol. Nemesis is the "safe" choice, though I would have preferred if they tossed like... Thales, since he's a more universal Bad Guy ( Yes, he should have been fought in all 4 routes ) than the route exclusive Nemesis. But what would be his title?

Corrupted & Underground Despot
Corrupted & Shadowy Manipulator
Corrupted & Xenophile Experimenter
Corrupted & Dark Dweller
Corrupted & The Slitherer
Corrupted & The Agarthan Lord
Corrupted & The Guy Who Launches Fucking Nukes at You
Corrupted & Dubstep Mole Person
Corrupted & Thales

 

As for Loptyr, Seliph isn't here, so oh well. No choice I guess.

 

[Jotari]

6 minutes ago, joeygreedy said:

  Hide contents

If I'm being real here, was there anyone else? Rhea would have inspired a lot of rage, Edelgard is already an Emblem, unless you somehow show "Hegemon Husk" as the title instead, which would also lead to anger. Dimitri as a Dark Emblem also wouldn't make sense. The issue with multiple routes being different bosses, which include your own lords lol. Nemesis is the "safe" choice, though I would have preferred if they tossed like... Thales, since he's a more universal Bad Guy ( Yes, he should have been fought in all 4 routes ) than the route exclusive Nemesis. But what would be his title?

Corrupted & Underground Despot
Corrupted & Shadowy Manipulator
Corrupted & Xenophile Experimenter
Corrupted & Dark Dweller
Corrupted & The Slitherer
Corrupted & The Agarthan Lord
Corrupted & The Guy Who Launches Fucking Nukes at You
Corrupted & Dubstep Mole Person
Corrupted & Thales

 

As for Loptyr, Seliph isn't here, so oh well. No choice I guess.

 

I'm not sure why I'm being flagged in your quote there as I don't think I said that? Oh well, anyway, in regards to what you said,

Spoiler

I actually think it should have went to Rhea. Since she's the final boss of two routes as opposed to just one. Though Nemesis at least has some kind of foil to Byleth going for him. You're right that Thales makes the most sense from a narratively even point of view, but they seem to be a lot more focused on final bosses than on actual antagonists. By similar virtues Zephiel would make a lot more sense than Idunn, Roy even expresses surprise at Idunn being there as an enemy. Though I guess they even broke this rule by giving us Nergal instead of random fire dragon...but they obviously couldn't have done random fire dragon.

 

[joeygreedy]

Random Fire Dragon best Fire Emblem Boss. All you haters with your discourse don't know the best character. Screw you IS, you didn't even give him a place in CYL. You don't know how to appreciate good boss design. Who doesn't want to fight a DRAGON for a final boss. Even the weapon is cool, Flametongue. What other boss licks you with a flaming tongue to kill your characters. /s

[Jotari]

37 minutes ago, joeygreedy said:

Random Fire Dragon best Fire Emblem Boss. All you haters with your discourse don't know the best character. Screw you IS, you didn't even give him a place in CYL. You don't know how to appreciate good boss design. Who doesn't want to fight a DRAGON for a final boss. Even the weapon is cool, Flametongue. What other boss licks you with a flaming tongue to kill your characters. /s

You know, thinking on this idea, if they were really married to the idea, they could have had Nils or something mention the great Marblaxe, King of the Fire Dragons beyond the gate as a specific enemy Nergal is trying to steal quintessence from and make the random fire dragon into a bit of a character. It wouldn't have taken much effort. Of course, it wouldn't have been a great character, but what we have now is just sort of confusing? What's different between Nils and ninan and these dragons? They're not mindless creatures, they're also intelligent beings yet the story seems to forget that. What do they want? Why are they fighting us? Do they think we're Nergal? Are they just pissed and racist towards all humans and Nils/Ninian are just the super liberal hippies of their world? Are fire dragons just evil while dragons of ice are nice? Are they even a big a threat as Athos makes out? Aside from us mowing down fire dragons left and right in Binding Blade, shouldn't the atmosphere of Elibe force them out of their dragon state pretty quickly like it did to Nils and Ninian and the dragons of the past?

Oh well, at least it's a lot more memable to have a generic enemy as a final boss. So that's a point in favour of doing that instead of giving the fire dragon a name and some kind of identity.

[joevar]

All this talk about dark emblem..

I was actually laughing at the game choosing Idunn for BinBla dark emblem. Out of all pairing i would say Roy has the least bad blood, even sigurd still has it. Sigurd is like marth vs medeus but meeting it for the first time. While roy canonically didnt really tried to kill idunn, and even try befriend/heal her.

Roy even ask why is she even a dark emblem. Thats a comedy right there, intended or not. If not intended, then the whole thing is just dev being lazy to set it up in better way, and just put  [every series final enemy] to seemingly random enemy

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, joevar said:

All this talk about dark emblem..

I was actually laughing at the game choosing Idunn for BinBla dark emblem. Out of all pairing i would say Roy has the least bad blood, even sigurd still has it. Sigurd is like marth vs medeus but meeting it for the first time. While roy canonically didnt really tried to kill idunn, and even try befriend/heal her.

Roy even ask why is she even a dark emblem. Thats a comedy right there, intended or not. If not intended, then the whole thing is just dev being lazy to set it up in better way, and just put  [every series final enemy] to seemingly random enemy

It does at least explain which decision this Roy made at the end of this game. Because they left it ambiguous in his paralogue and he promised to reveal it later and just....didn't. I also like how Roy's surprised reaction and line "in the form" suggests the Idunn he came to know over his life time did develop into a completely different person to the husk she was when he saved her. Form Roy's perspective it's like Shin or Rutger showing up, people only briefly his enemies.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Jotari

[joevar]

1 hour ago, Jotari said:

It does at least explain which decision this Roy made at the end of this game. Because they left it ambiguous in his paralogue and he promised to reveal it later and just....didn't.

I also like how Roy's surprised reaction and line "in the form" suggests the Idunn he came to know over his life time did develop into a completely different person to the husk she was when he saved her. Form Roy's perspective it's like Shin or Rutger showing up, people only briefly his enemies.

yeah, when i heard that line, i was like "nuh-uh no way this conversation will get brought up again, with how FE design its storyline", and it turns out like i expect it.. lol

but the silver lining is like you said. Idunn becomes Roy's "friend" as the canon ending basically confirmed from that.

Every emblem: "you're an evil [spirit], im so gonna crush you". while Roy be like: "wait what? this doesnt make any sense". then there's Byleth inciting another 3H fandom superiority route war

Edited March 16, 2023 by joevar

[Eltosian Kadath]

On 3/14/2023 at 12:54 PM, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

Actually, come to think of it: at no point in that battle did Lumera enter her dragon form. It’s kind of comical how utterly pointless that form wound up being. It feels like it solely existed to justify the Divine Dragons being called dragons when the devs had no interest in that being a game mechanic.

It is a rather obvious missed opportunity not to have her in dragon form, with her map attacks being that lazer breath weapon we saw near the beginning of the game...

 

On 3/14/2023 at 12:54 PM, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

…And now all the heroes are talking about the idea of Pepsiman ruling everything, and I’m like can we not? Do we have to do this again? Are these people allergic to checks and balances or state rights or something? The next rulers of the nations are right fucking here! Please tell me the nations don’t dissolve and become some kind of creepy utopian one world government again!

Its amazing what religious devotion, and Pepsiman being seen as a god will do to destroy the functionality of this world's politics.

 

On 3/14/2023 at 12:54 PM, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

Hahaha, Veyle thinks the pickles are too basic for her tastes! Because she’s obsessed with spicy foods!

 

Clanne: You can’t make pickles with peppers.

 

No, but you can pickle peppers! Either that or I have been the victim of a conspiracy of insidious lies since preschool.

 

But anyway, Veyle’s telling Clanne that he needs to have a broader concept of what pickles could possibly be if he wants to make cool new recipes.

 

Honestly, I think this conversation is pretty cute. I’m glad they’re getting along. I was kinda scared Clanne would be uncomfortable with the whole “killing Lumera” thing and might have residual trauma towards her.

I kinda hope that the direction this support is heading has Clanne pickling some peppers just for Veyle.

 

On 3/14/2023 at 12:54 PM, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

“I will not risk my life for corn.”

They heard all of your complaints about Fates, and promise people will no longer be obsessed with Corn 😛

 

On 3/14/2023 at 12:54 PM, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

The point is, I feel like I’m in a better position than most of the fandom to tell people who don’t like S-supports being watered down: “calm down guys, this isn’t a big deal”…

 

…And in spite of that, that’s not my answer. I agree with them. This sucks. This is boring. Bring back S-supports and romance properly, or don’t bring them back at all. Don’t make a mockery of them like this just because you don’t want to worry about leaving any characters out.

I waited a fair bit to comment on last post, as I was strangely torn about this comment, as the way S-supports work in this game felt very...normal, with complaints about it feeling very overblown, whiny, and entitled. This system has the same feel as like Lyn going off to live on the plains with her life long friend Florina, or Ike and Soren having so close a bond that they head off towards unknown lands together. Theoretically Three Houses was better about this kind of thing, but not only is that game exhausting to replay, they obfuscated how paired endings work, and some of those rare pairings had a similar feel to this anyway, to the point where you might not even notice this odd little entry out. I guess what I am saying is this treatment feels like what you expect from main stream pairing, and sure they could theoretically be better, but they are no mockery of them either.

Plus there is a whole paired ending to look forward to, which may well give you the closure you are looking for.

 

18 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

…But amusingly, Sombron’s like “look, at this point, I’ve gotten all I wanted from your world. I don’t need to mess with you people anymore, so I’m totally happy agreeing not to bother you again. Let’s just both part ways, no conflict, you close the portal from your side and live happily ever after and all that shit in your world, and I’ll go conquer the rest of the multiverse somewhere far, far away from you. We good?”

 

That is… by a country fucking mile the most reasonable offer any FE villain has ever made to the heroes, even though it would still be immoral and cowardly to take it. I honestly love this. It’s cold pragmatism, pure practical intelligent self-interest, hedging his bets just on the off-chance they actually have the power to beat him, rather than cartoonishly stomping puppies for the sake of it.

It is a very nice, but basic moment to test the character's morality. I do kinda wish they let the heirs have a little more of a debate about it though, as Ivy seems like the kind of pragmatic woman to be open to the idea, with Alfred as the kind to be on the side of it being wrong to let Sombrom do this to other places, with the others a bit more in between.

 

18 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

 

…And now there’s a barrier around his giant ass, and he’s supported by 12 Corrupted wielding… twelve Dark Emblems?

 

…Apparently I have to kill each one with the corresponding Emblem, or at least I should, but the game isn’t explicitly telling me who is who.

 

…So basically… the game is challenging me to a test of my Fire Emblem knowledge… asking me to correctly guess who’s who based on their descriptions alone.

 

…Oho.

 

…Ohohohohohohohohohohohohohohoho.

 

OH HELL FUCKING YES!

 

BRING IT ON, GAME!

I love this idea, but it feels tragically way too rushed, as they needed some less generic assets for them...

 

10 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oh, hey, so, another thing: I've got a feeling the reason they give you no new recruits for the endgame is because they don't want it to be too difficult to get supports with characters or something. Well, to that, I have a solution, and I'm only half joking:

Sommie.

Like, just discover something in the endgame, a magic mech, or Lumera's construct-making machine, or the legendary Holy Hamster Wheel, and have it be a thing Sommie can use to join in the fight. It would be stupid, but it would also be adorable and hilarious, and it's not like the game isn't already overflowing with Saturday Morning Cartoon Energy.

But no repeats of the ghost Lilith bullshit. They don't die if they lose all their HP, the thing they use to fight just breaks and Sommie scampers off.

That actually makes sense as a reason for the stopping of late recruits, and to be fair, there has recently on this forum been confusion on how it is even possible to get supports on Renault in FE7, which feels like an anecdotal endorsement of this theory.

Also I love the Sommie Hamster Ball recruit idea as described, it seems like a perfect solution to this problem that would be adorable.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

It is a rather obvious missed opportunity not to have her in dragon form, with her map attacks being that lazer breath weapon we saw near the beginning of the game...

Yeah, the fell shard definitely could have just been her breath attack. Likewise if they'd bothered to give Zephia a dragon form, her meteors could have been that as well. And then Alear could have just had avalanches happen in that chapter rather than it being a property of the shard.

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

That actually makes sense as a reason for the stopping of late recruits, and to be fair, there has recently on this forum been confusion on how it is even possible to get supports on Renault in FE7, which feels like an anecdotal endorsement of this theory.

Also I love the Sommie Hamster Ball recruit idea as described, it seems like a perfect solution to this problem that would be adorable.

Supports aren't as big an issue here as they were in a lot of prevoius games, as at least you have skirmishes to grind supports.

[Shadow Mir]

On 2/6/2023 at 4:57 PM, Jotari said:

Sol Katti would have dragon effective damage, which would have actually been really useful. Taking down dragons in this game is very dangerous. You saw them briefly in chapter 11, but they never really attacked. In general they do massive damage, have huge range, but low move. This makes impossible to enemy phase and requires sending your best units in on player phase to take them out and gain control of that portion of the map. Panette is basically my only reliable dragon killer on maddening, so I think Sol Katti would have been a much better piece of utility for Lyn than yet another rapier.

It'd help if those dragons in question weren't CORRUPTED Wyrms. Which instead count as Corrupted and FELL Dragons.

..Speaking of, I actively think the game is trolling you by giving you a Wyrmslayer a couple chapters before you face corrupted wyrms (disregarding chapter 11, where you need to nigerundayo). Because it ain't even useful against the damn things!

On 2/6/2023 at 6:44 PM, Anathaco said:

Arts are weird, they average strength and magic for the attack power but still target enemy defence. So, they technically are physical, but if you don’t have a decent magic stat as well as strength they’re going to do nothing.

 

On 2/6/2023 at 6:45 PM, Alastor15243 said:

Weeeeeird. And here I was hoping that Pepsiman would be my first actually good arts wielder.

Nerfnerfnerfnerfnerfnerfnerf! That's what's coming to mind after Three Houses.

[Alastor15243]

Engage Day 49: Endgame

Sorry if anyone talked to me directly in the mountain of comments that happened while I slept, but I stopped reading them the second it became apparently the topic was the Dark Emblems. I don’t want to spoil myself even on what they are. Because it’s not like that’s inherently obvious. For instance, I have a feeling it isn’t always the final boss of the final map. Because, like, “The Fire Dragon”? Really? I have a good feeling Lyn’s going to be fighting Nergal. But we’ll see.

Alright. So. Let’s boot this up, and start working out which is which based on their titles alone, without reading the descriptions. Because if I can’t do that after having played all seventeen fucking games, there’s either something wrong with me, or something wrong with the game.

…And here I am, already hedging my bets in case I fail.

I CAN DO THIS!

Okay, they are, starting from the top and going clockwise around:

Dark Bishop

Dark God

Shadow Dragon

War Father.

…Seems to be just those four right now. I guess they’ll come back in waves of 4 after I kill each set of four? Or maybe replace one by one as I kill them individually.

Anyway, I’m pretty damned sure that those are, respectively, Veld, Fomortiis, Medeus and Ashnard.

But before I check my answers, let’s see what my options are:

 

1/3/11/12: Medeus.

2/15: Duma (Oooh, actually that’s another candidate for Dark God).

4: Julius/Loptyr… But like… That’s the thing, Sigurd never fought Julius. He fought Arvis.

5: Veld.

6: Idunn, Roy explicitly talked about her so that’s a fair given, even though Zephiel is also an option.

7: Nergal. I question some random unnamed Fire Dragon being the pick for final boss, but I suppose that’s also possible.

8: Fomortiis. Maaaaaybe Lyon?

9: Ashnard, no question.

10: Ashera, also no question.

13: Grima.

14: Anankos.

16: Edelgard/Rhea/Nemesis. It could really go with any of them.

 

…I notice that if it turns out Duma is the Dark God (I suppose “Demon King” is more accurate for Fomortiis), then that would make Ashnard for War Father be an extreme outlier. The other four picks would be in basically linear order, the first four. So I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that War Father is Sigurd’s counterpart… whatever they pick for that. That sounds like something they could say Arvis was, since he ruined fucking everything.

…Nope! Shit! I was dead wrong! Duma’s the war father! Okay, that actually makes way more sense and I can’t believe I fucked that up! In that case, Loptyr must be the Dark God then!

Correct! Which, again, I maintain, is kinda weird because Sigurd never fucking fought him.

And yep, Dark Bishop is Veld, and Shadow Dragon is… the Shadow Dragon. Obviously.

Honestly this is kind of lame and profoundly embarrassing. I was hoping to get all twelve on the field at once so I had all the pieces to put together at once, thinking about all of them. And here I am, failed at the first hurdle, and now the rest will be dead giveaways because I know the pattern now.

…Anyway, let’s work out our strategy and hoooooooooly fuckmothering god what the hell am I looking at with Sombron!?

He can cancel your engages, apparently map-wide! Damn it, well, guess I better save them for when I actually need them. But thankfully the first two Dark Emblems are immediately within reach and the slayer effect I get on them is insane. Lindon unfortunately can’t one-shot Loptyr, but he does enough with Goldmary’s help and Seadall.

…Or he would, if he didn’t fucking miss.

But thankfully these guys don’t have dragonskin or any equivalent. They’re just decently tough enemies with multiple health bars who take slayer damage from the bearer of a specific Emblem.

Minions start moving, but they’re no big deal. My army’s split up to approach the two other Emblems (and that reminds me to send Mauvier over to where Veld is).

…Actually, I overestimate my characters’ attack power against the fliers, so this seems as good a time as any to test out what Sombon does when you engage a single character. Go get ‘em, Rosado!

…Oh, and apparently the ranged attack of Wille Glanz is just… summoning a rainbow vortex of energy. It’s okay, but the Ragnell crescent shockwave is still the best.

…Sombron still hasn’t done anything. Alright, how do we handle this next batch of enemies…?

…Well hey, that’s simple: Clanne can handle all three on the left side! …Though the others would have to stand back… there might be a more time-efficient method…

Now, I could Warp Ragnarok Ivy over to help take out Duma (she’s helping out the right side since that’s how things turned out for player-phasing the initial waves)… but it’s wholly unnecessary since Clanne can one-round a full health bar on his own and he just took out the first and Cantered to safety. But I’m gonna do it anyway to see if any of these quotes are good. I have to say, not impressed so far. Sigurd still sounds like he’s on Xanax.

…Okay, so one of his attacks at least is a directional map attack, and now he’s using it, with a turn of warning. Cool, I’m glad the game’s doing that.

…Leif’s is pretty cringeworthy too, gotta say. Honestly, I have a feeling a lot of these characters were cast by people who hadn’t played the original games, because I can’t imagine a lot of these Emblems actually saying their original lines in their original games. It’s a pervasive problem. Some are fine, and some are even great, like Ike, and some of them are just their original voices so there’s no issue there. But Sigurd, Leif, Lyn and Micaiah are… uncomfortable.

…Speaking of, though, as if I needed any more evidence that Veyle is a precious treasure, I saw a clip of characters using Claude and saying his kill lines. Apparently “That’s the Golden Deer for ya!” morphs into the royals of each kingdom saying “that’s [my kingdom] for ya!”. Then we get to Veyle, and she’s like “That’s… (awkward silence) …me for ya!” and like oh my precious child.

Alright, I’m going to send Ivy in to Warp Ragnarok Duma. She very nearly one-shots.

Celica’s is pretty okay, mostly because it’s a repeat of what she says to Duma at the end of Echoes, which is a verbose way of basically saying “Please, Grandpa, take a fucking nap already”.

…The shield is now completely down.

…I sincerely hope the game isn’t going to make us kill this guy three consecutive times with each set of four Dark Emblems. That would be so fucking repetitive.

…Oh. No. Oh I see.

He summons new ones the very next fucking turn.

As in you have less than a full player phase to take advantage of the opening.

Okay, game.

Well at least he didn’t summon the new ones mid-turn like Three Houses would have done, but still, laaaaame. Alright, noted. Kill the last of this new set with the first action of a turn.

Seems the game warns me about all of his attacks a turn in advance with info boxes. Honestly, this is user-friendly to the point of being user-hand-hold-y. I would’ve just had him say a line, then have him equip what he’s about to use, or have it flash in his inventory or something while he glows and the area he’s targeting lights up.

Anyway, looks like there aren’t nearly as many enemies this time. Good, but there is the miasma he just breathed to deal with.

Anyway, next wave is Dark Druid, Demon Dragon, Demon King and Mad King. Okay, those are obvious, especially now that I know the pattern. Nergal, Idunn, Fomortiis and Ashnard. I knew they weren’t going to use “The Fire Dragon”.

And yep, correct on all counts. In hindsight I was expecting their titles to be way more vague and made-up, and not their literal ones. …And maybe “Shadow Dragon” should have immediately clued me in that I was overthinking things.

…Roy is on Framme. Well, she won’t be doing much, but I still want to see the quote.

I’m gonna have Alcryst Astra Storm from the opposite side of the map to finish off Nergal, because I don’t want to spend time getting him over there.

…Yeah, yet again, this is not how I imagine Lyn would talk to Nergal. It was about as cringey as I’d suspect. And not just the reading, also the line itself. This is what she says in Engage:

Lyn: Fate is full of surprises. Who would have thought we’d meet again? Yet this, I’m afraid, is our final parting. Soon you’ll only be a stain on my sword!

…Setting entirely aside the fact that they put Nergal on a fucking flier and thus in all likelihood player instincts would cause you to be attacking him with a bow…

…Here’s what she says to Nergal if you have them fight in FE7:

Lyn: The nomads of the plains do not abandon their fellow tribespeople. Eliwood and Hector are my dear friends… Their sorrow is my sorrow. Their anger is my anger. Nergal! In my friends’ names, I will cut you down!

…That said, I accidentally timed this moment amazingly. The post-death slow motion happened the instant the music cut out for a big pause in the song. It was honestly pretty hardcore.

Now for Ike and Ashnard.

…Yeah, Ike’s was okay. Not as great as it could have been, but the performance was at least decent.

I dislike how generic these are, though. They don’t really say anything about who their enemies were or what they did. I get they don’t want to spoil who the final boss is in a lot of cases, since this is a love letter to the whole series and they don’t want to completely ruin the stories, but like… they could give hints or inside jokes!

…Eirika’s is pretty cringey. Saying “Before you beguile anyone or cause a tragedy” is a pretty awkward way to phrase things, but I mean, in fairness, at least she references something her villain did!

…These reinforcements are pretty annoyingly incessant.

…Okay, time to see Roy’s line against Idunn.

…Roy seems confused why Idunn is fighting here. “We have no quarrel.” Is that just him wondering why any of these Emblems are fighting here, or does he specifically mean Idunn, like this is from a timeline where he cured her?

…Christ, I really should have taken that chance to attack him that first time. My forces are spread pretty thin, so even on hard mode this is frustrating.

Still, I managed to pull through with some pretty mediocre units fighting Idunn. The fact that Framme literally cannot ever die to a single round of combat is a great relief, to be sure.

Alright, everyone but Idunn is dead. Time to finish her off next turn and then blitz this fucker with Team Pepsiman and the freestyle dance squad.

…Oh yeah, unless Sombron pulls some more bullshit after all his health bars are gone, we’re done here.

…Should I wait to see the remaining Dark Emblems?

…Naaaaaaaaaah!

…Okay but seriously, every fiber of my ironmanning soul tells me it wouldn’t be worth it.

With plenty of actions to spare, I’m going to completely obliterate this mother fucker with…

DRAGON’S FIST!

…And the music stops.

We’ve won.

We’ve fucking won.

…And weirdly, the game pauses to access the internet before showing him falling down dead. Updating those rankings or something?

…Sombron starts rambling about all the dark places he looked for Zero Emblem in.

If they start telling him he should have been searching the light like this is fucking Kingdom Hearts…

Pepsiman: You chose to be alone, yet continued to look for this Emblem. Why?

…Pepsiman asking the real questions.

Sombron: Perhaps I wanted someone to appreciate how far I’d come, all on my own.

…Fuck this last-minute characterization of Sombron.

Seriously.

…And… after rejecting his last chance at redemption… Pepsiman asks him if he remembers the Zero Emblem invocation.

“Burn us, Emblem of Foundations”?

…Pepsiman seems surprised to hear these words. What’s up?

…And now Sombron is… hallucinating the Zero Emblem in his dying moments, without letting us see what he sees.

…And he dies and fades into light, saying “Engage” as his last words.

They’re…

…They’re closing the portal…

…From their side…

…after the battle’s over…

…and keeping the Emblems near it.

Am I forced to just assume that just doesn’t fucking matter? Proximity to the portal clearly mattered before with regards to its effects on the Emblems, so why aren’t they putting the Emblems somewhere safe before closing it!? Why wouldn’t they at least try!?

…But no, we’re just having a scene where Marth says goodbye to Pepsiman while dissolving into light.

Actually, it looks like all of the Emblems are saying goodbye before dying one by one. Apparently in reverse chronological order.

…Speaking of, I do at least want to see what the conversations with the remaining Dark Emblems are.

Okay, looks like they picked Nemesis as the Dark Emblem. Okay, honestly, I was thinking they’d do that. While I maintain that #NemesisDidNothingWrong, he is the only final boss of any of the conventional routes who isn’t also an Emblem.

…Okay, Corrin’s is actually pretty badass.

Corrin: I didn’t want to see you… But if it’s true that you are at the end of every path I take… Then I will stop you every time. I won’t give up!

Lucina’s too.

Lucina: You’ve come chasing after me again. You, who are the wings of despair and the breath of ruin… If that’s so, then I challenge that fate! Die now, that our future can live!

I like the growling tone to her voice when she does it. A lot.

…But fuck Micaiah’s to deepest hell for calling Yune “Yoon” again. Fuck this retcon with every fiber of my being, it feels so deeply wrong to me to retcon the pronunciation of a name you already fucking canonically pronounced. It’s like when they started calling Edea “Ih-dee-a”, like the same rhythm as idiot, in Bravely Second.

Anyway, back to the deaths. I like the music here, but really, I don’t like this story beat for the ending, in concept or in execution, so it’s hard to get emotional about it.

…Tears are still trying to fight their way out though, so I suppose that’s saying something.

…And with that… I’ve beaten the game.

…And the rankings are coming. When I get back, hopefully they’re slow enough I can copy them down.

Alright, back. Let’s do this.

Prologue: 3 turns, MVP Pepsiman and ???...

…Really? Really? We’re still keeping Marth unnamed here?

Ugh, fine, whatever, moving on:

Chapter 1: 5 turns, MVP Pepsiman and Marth.

Chapter 2: 7 turns, MVP Pepsiman and Marth.

Chapter 3: 6 turns, MVP Etie.

Chapter 4: 9 turns, MVP Louis.

Chapter 5: 12 turns, MVP Clanne.

Jean’s Paralogue: 8 turns, MVP Louis.

Chapter 6: 9 turns, MVP Pepsiman and Marth.

Anna’s Paralogue: 12 turns, MVP Louis and Micaiah.

Chapter 7: 9 turns, MVP Yunaka and Marth.

Chapter 8: 7 turns, MVP Louis and Sigurd.

Chapter 9: 13 turns, MVP Louis and Sigurd.

Chapter 10: 16 turns, MVP Louis and Sigurd.

Chapter 11: 9 turns, MVP Diamant.

Chapter 12: 9 turns, MVP Ivy.

Chapter 13: 14 turns, MVP Yunaka.

Chapter 14: 28 turns, MVP Yunaka.

Chapter 15: 21 turns, MVP Merrin and Ike.

Chapter 16: 16 turns, MVP Yunaka and Corrin.

Lucina’s Paralogue: 6 turns, MVP Yunaka and Corrin (Apparently this one took me twelve minutes, hilariously enough).

Ike’s Paralogue: 9 turns, MVP Yunaka and Corrin.

Chapter 17: 18 turns, MVP Alcryst and Lyn.

Eirika’s Paralogue: 13 turns, MVP Yunaka and Corrin.

Chapter 18: 8 turns, MVP Yunaka and Corrin. This has bene the case so often that Word is starting to suggest those MVPs as autocompletions.

Chapter 19: 12 turns, MVP Yunaka and Corrin.

Lyn’s Paralogue: 7 turns, MVP Clanne and Micaiah.

Byleth’s Paralogue: 9 turns, MVP Kagetsu and Ike.

Roy’s Paralogue: 11 turns, MVP Kagetsu and Ike.

Micaiah’s Paralogue: 6 turns, MVP Yunaka and Corrin.

Corrin’s Paralogue: 6 turns, MVP Kagetsu and Ike.

Sigurd’s Paralogue: 7 turns, MVP Yunaka and Corrin.

Chapter 20: 8 turns, MVP Kagetsu and Ike.

Leif’s Paralogue: 4 turns, MVP Kagetsu and Ike.

Celica’s Paralogue: 4 turns, MVP Kagetsu and Ike.

Chapter 21: 9 turns, MVP Kagetsu and Ike.

Chapter 22: 12 turns, MVP Kagetsu and Ike.

Marth’s Paralogue: 16 turns, MVP Alcryst and Lyn.

Chapter 23: 12 turns, MVP Pepsiman.

Pact Ring Paralogue: 5 turns, MVP Clanne and Pepsiman.

Chapter 24: 10 turns, MVP Clanne and Pepsiman.

Chapter 25: 12 turns, MVP Clanne and Pepsiman.

Chapter 26: 14 turns, MVP Clanne and Pepsiman.

 

Oh shit, here are the endings! And the piano song playing briefly chord-changed into the notes of Lost in Thoughts All Alone. If it starts referencing other games’ themes too, I’ll assume that was intentional.

Looks like Pepsiman and his partner are first.

These are going worryingly fast and I’m not sure how long they’ll stay up, but thankfully I have my screenshot button just in case, so let’s look at the full thing here:

Pepsiman: 123B 90 W. Most Used Emblem: Byleth.

Yunaka: 116B 75 W. Most Used Emblem: Corrin.

A hundred and sixteen battles for Yunaka? That… that can’t possibly be right. Does it not count paralogues or something? How can the Hiya Papaya Messiah have only been in battle a hundred and sixteen times!?

Anyway, while the Hiya Papaya Messiah’s bloody legacy of conquest frankly speaks for itself, and she was by far one of my most pivotal units on this run… Pepsiman was kind of a disappointment in some respects. He did manage to find a niche and play it to perfection by the midgame, but the Divine Dragon class is a major disappointment. It’s supposed to be able to get extra bonuses from using Emblems, but it has the two single shittiest weapon choices in the entire game, doesn’t even have the stat spread to use either of them to their full potential, and doesn’t get a non-Emblem 1-2 range option that he can do damage worth a damn with until the end of Chapter 25. In practice, most Emblems are better off on basically anyone else but him, with the only exceptions being Byleth and arguably Corrin (and even then thieves make a compelling argument even on Maddening). On Maddening I’m finding he struggles to even fight. His damage just cannot keep up. Still, while he only has a few options, he’s amazing at them, so I guess there’s that.

…Yeah these aren’t staying on screen nearly long enough to absorb them, so I’m glad I took those screenshots!

Vander: 13B 3W. Most Used Emblem: None.

I guess that means I’m going to see who I never put an Emblem on. But yeah that seems about right. Honestly I think it’s a shame that Vander falls off so much. He’s a cool character, I wish I had more excuses to use him. He’s great in the early game, with his good defense and sky-high HP, but he’s very swiftly replaced.

Clanne: 162B 142W. Most Used Emblem: Micaiah.

Clanne was a bit of a sleeper hit. I didn’t really know what to do with him for most of the game, but he was still a pretty consistently good unit, one I came to appreciate even more on my Maddening file. And once I got the Fire Emblem, he was the perfect choice for Pepsiman’s partner, and as you can see by his battle records, the rest is history. I’m honestly shocked he got more battles and wins than Yunaka though. He only really became a major enemy-phase menace in the very lategame.

Framme: 19B 14W. Most Used Emblem: Roy.

While the fact that she got into more fights and got more kills than Vander must count for something, yeah, of all the units I used, she was by far the most mediocre. I think the only reason I didn’t bench her was because of Merrin and Louis’s deaths. I’m certain that if Merrin in particular hadn’t died, I’d have never kept Framme around this long. Still though, staff utility is staff utility, and she saved my ass in Chapter 11 when suddenly she was the only healer I had. And I’ll never take that away from her.

Amusingly they called Clanne the Calm Steward and Framme the Eager Steward, even though their narrations said they both grew into calm, collected mature adults… while keeping their childish fanatical streak for their god.

Oh that’s nice! The music medley of location themes changes to fit the nation currently gone through with the roster. So now we’re shifting to Firene, and…

Alfred: 35B 20W. Most Used Emblem: Sigurd.

I’ve seen his growths, and he looks like he might have had potential if I had kept him around, but I just couldn’t get him off the ground, and had no use for him when the Great Midgame Recruitment Fest was upon us. At any rate, Maddening has taught me that physical fighters aren’t nearly as important as magical ones, so I doubt I’ll be trying to make him work any time soon.

…Also, holy fuck his ending is surprisingly morbid. He accomplishes a lot in his rule, but they say he died young. If they say the same thing about Diamant but not Ivy and Timerra, I think I’ll be sensing a pattern here…

Etie: 15B 9W. Most Used Emblem: None.

She was an early game archer. She did her job, which was to one-shot fliers. Beyond that, I didn’t really have much of a use for her. Would she have been good if I trained her? I’m not so sure. This isn’t really a game where archers are good so much as an archer is good. As in “it’s good to have an archer on your team to do crazy things with Lyn”. And why use Etie for that role when Alcryst does it better?

Boucheron: 8B 5W. Most Used Emblem: None.

I have a feeling Boucheron probably would have been fine if I used him. I remember struggling to get a good axe user on my team for a lot of the early-game, and I was mostly repelled by Boucheron due to my initial impression of his personality. But at any rate, I didn’t pick him, so here we are.

Céline: 38B 28W. Most Used Emblem: Celica.

Of all the characters in the game that I haven’t given a chance, I think Céline might be my biggest regret. I like Clanne better, but I have a feeling that she might have been really handy if I had just given her a bit more focus on my Hard or Maddening run. I think next time I play, I’m gonna try making her good. Not instead of Clanne, though. Alongside.

…And here comes my first casualty.

Louis: 159B 93W. Most Used Emblem: Sigurd.

…While in the long-run I think he definitely became one of the worse members of my party, and I wound up dropping him on my Maddening run entirely… I can’t imagine attempting the earlygame without this guy. He saved my ass on so many occasions, and was the first unit I ever ran into where I could safely throw him deep into enemy territory on a regular basis. He was a valued member of the team, and he is dearly missed.

Lame they say “defeated” though, when the black-and-white memorial nature of the thing clearly indicates he died.

Chloé: 7B 5W. Most Used Emblem: None.

I have not had good luck with Chloé. I thought to give her another shot on Maddening, but she just keeps dying in unfortunate ways. She died to an archer in the dark on my first Maddening attempt, and then again to my forgetting the enemy had a stronger weapon in his inventory in Chapter 4 of my short-lived Maddening ironman restart. She’s another character who probably has potential, and I hope one day to see her in action.

Diamant: 16B 10W. Most Used Emblem: Leif.

Oh good, Diamant lives. Apparently he demilitarized and had a “make ore not war” platform. Honestly, Diamant is a character I’ve struggled to make work. His major problem is that he joins at a point in the game where it’s hard to get him any good skills from the early-game Emblems before you lose them, and also he’s so swiftly swarmed with so much competition a few chapters after he joins. Really, you can only afford to make a handful of characters in the early-game remain relevant Post-11, and he joins just late enough in that era that it’s hard to make him one of them.

Amber: 0B 0W. Most Used Emblem: None.

I apparently didn’t use Amber at all. His greatest contribution was giving Louis his iron greatlance. That is hilarious.

Jade: 0B 0W. Most Used Emblem: None.

I was tempted to use her, and I’m glad I didn’t, because while the game made a valiant effort at it, armor units just do not have any lategame staying power, and she would have struggled even harder than Louis did to stay relevant.

Alcryst: 171B 128W. Most Used Emblem: Lyn.

Alcryst got more kills than Yunaka. Wooooooo! I literally do not understand how that’s physically possible, but wooooooo! While like I said, from what I can tell archer utility only extends so far in this game, I think these results speak for themselves as to how much use I managed to get out of the guy. I’m finding him harder to use in Maddening, but I’m still finding ways to use him at least, even if I have to work really hard at it. His biggest disadvantage is his poor strength in a game where on Maddening defense gets really high. But still, with clever use of him and damage stacks, he’s pretty badass, and he procs Luna at a frankly immoral frequency.

Lapis: 4B 3W. Most Used Emblem: None.

Didn’t really use her, don’t really know what to say. I kinda like her personality though. But moving on…

Citrinne: 3B 0W. Most Used Emblem: None.

Again, didn’t really use her. Probably could have, though, maybe.

Ivy: 98B 74W. Most Used Emblem: Celica.

While her speed was a problem and her accuracy consistently needed work-arounds, the sheer utility of being a flying, staff-wielding magic expert meant there was never not a place for her in my army. Clanne’s better, though.

Curiously, Ivy’s ending offhandedly gives mention to Pepsiman’s eventual death, which is a bit odd, especially to mention in someone else’s ending.

Zelkov: 2B 1W. Most Used Emblem: None.

I have a feeling he could have been decent if I let him, but I was too determined to stick with Yunaka, and honestly I think I made the right call. Thieves really don’t need more evasion, so the crit boost is far more useful.

And now, for the man, the myth, the menace…

Kagetsu: 123B 86W. Most Used Emblem: Ike.

That cannot possibly be correct. What!? He fought so much! There have to be battles that are being excluded here.

Anyway, I’ll be honest, while his bases and growths speak for themselves, and while he rapidly snowballed into an unstoppable menace on hard mode… I’m not sure how much of that was due to him and how much of it was due to circumstance and luck, because I’m struggling to make him anywhere near as good on Maddening. He’s miles from being one of my MVPs there. Maybe he’s just not meant to be a wyvern knight, and Merrin’s death put him on a much better path he’s better suited for. Not sure. But I definitely feel weird watching him struggling to double almost anything in Maddening and having mediocre speed on a run where I know his growths are fixed.

Hortensia: 41B 28W. Most Used Emblem: Micaiah.

She’s a flying staff bot with staff conservation. She was never all that good in combat, but she never needed to be. Those battle statistics barely scratch the surface of how useful I’ve found her.

Rosado: 53B 45W. Most Used Emblem: Eirika.

Honestly, one of my greatest regrets until just recently is not noticing how astonishingly mediocre Rosado is as a unit. I still kinda like his personality (especially his interactions with Merrin that I finally got to see more of), but like holy shit, I just looked at him the other day and realized that he was just kinda there on both my Hard and Maddening files. Just an Eirika bot. I didn’t really give him or Eirika another glance, and that was a huge mistake, because Eirika is so much better of an Emblem than I gave her credit for. Not sure if I said this, but I gave her to Clanne on my Maddening file and those two have been amazing together ever since. Rosado just has a terrible start thanks to his lame bulk, and there’s little reason to get him over the hump.

Goldmary: 34B 18W. Most Used Emblem: Leif.

She was a Brave Assist bot, nothing more, but certainly nothing less. She was an emergency replacement for Merrin in my army, and she was never, ever, ever good at actual proper combat, but simply having her around for chain attacks on bosses was worth the deployment slot alone, I feel.

Timerra: 8B 4W. Most Used Emblem: Ike.

Honestly, I would’ve liked to use her more, but holy shit is she just terrible at wielding her weapons of choice. She’s slowed down so much, and she has so much competition. I brought her to Chapter 14 on my Maddening run and forgot to promote her in advance, and she could do like nothing for that entire chapter, it was ridiculous. I can’t imagine promoting her would have let her fare much better.

Merrin: 52B 22W. Most Used Emblem: Ike.

Ah, Merrin. Oh how your death was a tragedy. Honestly, I think she might be one of my new favorite characters in the series, and playing Maddening has only further cemented that. I’m so sad that I didn’t get to see her in action more here. Still, at least it meant I got to see Kagetsu become batshit insane.

Panette: 3B 2W. Most Used Emblem: None.

Panette is a character I’d be interested to be forced to use, if that makes sense. Like if I did a draft. She seems fun, but I just never had a place in my roster, or, apparently, in my heart, for a proper dedicated axe specialist.

Fogado: 3B 2W. Most Used Emblem: None.

Fogado’s main issue I feel is that he’s a bow user who can’t make much use of Lyn. His greatest contribution to the campaign was giving Alcryst his silver bow. A shame, because his character seems pretty great. Honestly, I should probably do a draft sometime and see what characters I wind up seeing more of. I like a lot of this cast, even though the story is dumb as hell.

Pandreo: 6B 1W. Most Used Emblem: None.

I can easily imagine this guy getting into my party if the right person died at the right time, sheerly due to his staff utility. But that was not to be, either in this run or any other I’ve done.

It is kinda cute that he starts a religion worshipping all dragons, as if to make sure that Veyle isn’t left out. Come to think of it, I wonder what his supports with her are like, if indeed they have any…

…They do! Okay, I’ll have to look out for that in the future!

Bunet: 11B 6W. Most Used Emblem: None.

Bunet is… frankly, a joke. He has one, one redeeming quality, and that’s the fact that he comes right before a map with serious demand for fliers, with the ability to become one in spite of your serious dearth of Emblem-based reclassing options. It’s frankly comical how terrible his stats are laid bare to be if you reclass him into anything but his home class.

Anna: 15B 11W. Most Used Emblem: None. Huh. Could’ve sworn I put one on her once.

Anyway, I have a feeling I could probably make Anna good with quick and decisive reclassing, but if you’ll pardon the pun, she’s a big investment, and the earlygame is just so tight.

Jean: 0B 0W. Most Used Emblem: None.

Not using Jean was a mistake. I pulled him through the early game on my Maddening run thanks to him not having the same limited EXP pool as everyone else, and he’s come in pretty clutch. I’ve had some pretty decent success making him a griffin knight, though I made the mistake of temporarily making him a wyvern in the hopes that he’d get some great defense. I should’ve kept him in Griffin Knight for the speed and magic, and I’ve been correcting that mistake recently. He makes a pretty good Leif user, given he can actually do damage with all four hits of Quadruple Strike.

Seadall: 0B 0W. Most Used Emblem: Lucina.

He’s a dancer. In a game where you can teach dancers Canter. I’d say he was consistently one of my most useful units, for reasons I trust I need not take further time to explain.

Lindon: 13B 2W. Most Used Emblem: Sigurd.

He was a filler unit, and he never really contributed that much, but he was still nice to have around and he put in some decent work softening up enemies with Thoron in the final map.

Saphir: 2B 1W. Most Used Emblem: None.

She’s a unit you’d really only have occasion to use if you suffered a very recent death and/or you really like her. I fit neither category, so I can’t really say much about how useful she is.

Veyle: 8B 6W. Most Used Emblem: Byleth.

She took over Pepsiman’s job when he got the Fire Emblem, and she was pretty good at it. Not much more to say. Her stats never really made her all that suited to combat, unfortunately.

Amusingly, her ending says she managed to somehow terraform Gradlon into a lush green land. Like fucking how?

Also, her people wanted her to become their first queen? Gradlon has a population? Fucking what!? This was a volcanic wasteland that spent a thousand fucking years under the sea! What am I reading here!? Am I even reading this!? Am I having a stroke!?

Mauvier: 19B 14W.

He mostly joined my army by virtue of being the best unit I had when my deployment limit increased, which isn’t saying much. He was… there. He contributed. He helped. Really though, I am pretty annoyed at how new recruits peter out by the endgame, and he’s a continuous reminder of that.

…Oh dear, the credits have a new vocal song. Please don’t be cringe, please don’t be cringe…

I like the artwork though. I wonder if it’ll show dead characters though…

…Yeah it seems that a royal only gets two pics if all their retainers survived. I only got Celine’s solo pic, no image of Louis.

While I haven’t sighted any specific lyric-butchery, the lyrics are still a bit awkward and don’t flow amazingly with the music.

OH MY FUCKING LORD, ENGAGE ANNA IS LEAPING INTO THE ARMS OF AWAKENING ANNA AND FATES ANNA THIS IS SO PRECIOUS!

…There’s a picture of Mauvier and Veyle walking together and coming across a little girl who looks suspiciously like Marnie. I wonder what the implication of that is supposed to be. Did her biological parents change their mind about not wanting a daughter and had another one…?

And now there’s a portrait of Pepsiman with all of the Emblems.

And now there’s a CGI scene, and… Pepsiman tries one last time to summon Marth. Lemme guess, it’s gonna show a little flicker that the Emblems might be coming back?

More than a little flicker. They all just erupt into columns of light the moment Pepsiman leaves with all his friends.

…And with that… I’m directed to the save screen, and my army is back the way it was before I started Chapter 26, just with a record that I cleared it. Nice.

…So…

…That’s the end of the game.

I’m, uh… possessed of a madness, shall we say, to get this finished tonight. So I’m going to attempt it. I’ll post this first. Stay tuned.