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


Alastor15243
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8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Also, I just remembered that when I sent in my laptop for a fix a few days ago, the logic board replacement meant all memory got wiped out, and I made no backups b/c lazy. It's not a big deal, I barely had anything stored on this computer.

But, my pages of clean and beautifully organized IRL medieval university notes were wiped out in the process. A few sections I shared with others, so I can find them, but the majority of them are gone. I can't share those with you now, I can only go off of memory. Borrowing the book again and repeating my utter madness of note-taking is something I will not do, it was enough insanity for a lifetime. Although hopefully what fragments I've saved and my good memory should give you a general idea the same.

Sorry.😟

It's fine, I'm sorry that happened to you!

3 hours ago, Jotari said:

So you don't just constantly trade around the first accessory on the list to absolutely everyone who asks for something?

I only give characters accessories that wouldn't look too stupid on them. That... tends to limit my options sometimes.

7 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

That is a super lucky prize!

Definitely, and I'm hoping I can get Mozu to be able to use it in time.

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1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

It's fine, I'm sorry that happened to you!

I only give characters accessories that wouldn't look too stupid on them. That... tends to limit my options sometimes.

Definitely, and I'm hoping I can get Mozu to be able to use it in time.

I treat my characters pretty much like this.

Does it count as re-gifting if you're the one who gave the gift? I needed  this comic in my life | Fire emblem, Fire emblem characters, Fire emblem  fates

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Okay, so, after another day of stuff interrupting my usual game time, I've decided that starting tomorrow, I'm just gonna play no matter how little time I have, and then just suspend when it's my usual time to stop. My reduced free time isn't gonna be coming back any time soon, so I've gotta adjust back to working with less free time. Sorry for the lack of an update today, but it'll be the last time "I don't have enough time" is the reason.

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19 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Incidentally, I thought I'd check out that mod I heard a lot about that lets you play Shadow Dragon hard mode with the prologue and also get all the gaidens without killing anyone.

I, uh...

...Does anyone know if a version of this mod exists... other than the one made by Cirosan? Because, uh...

...I have some issues, shall we say.

I mean no ill will against Cirosan. This was a volunteer effort done for free in their own spare time, which was awesome.

But I just am not enjoying myself at all.

The main thing is that the prologues get harder if you play it on hard mode. That I think is fine, but the issue is the way it gets hard. The difficulty feels way, way more like FE12 than FE11, with ridiculously tight methods to win, especially in prologue 1. But worse still, I genuinely don't think the H5 prologues were even playtested. Because it's entirely possible for the random extra levels of stats the boss of the first prologue is given... to let him one-round Marth at base. And even if that doesn't happen, you actually have to get lucky to kill all of the enemies before your vulnerary supplies run out, at least as far as I can tell.

And it doesn't get any better after that. The entire thing is just a mess of incredibly boring turtling just to survive a handful of enemies with your handful of units, and ultimately I lost my patience for the time being in Prologue III when Jagen, the unit they clearly intended you to use to bait each and every enemy in because the soldiers can one-round damn near everyone else... went town to a 4% crit. Why those enemies even have a skill stat is beyond me. What do they need it for at this point?

So... how are the enemy stats relative to the first chapter of the main game? Because this sounds brutal as hell, even compared to the likes of the Devil May Cry games.

19 hours ago, starburst said:

Are the de-buffs not dependant on the equipped dagger?
If they are not, you can check the de-buff effects in the menu screen right after being attacked. (Not ideal, I know, but you will be de-buffed before you cross the half of the map no matter what.)

In this case it's the turret that's the issue, not the dagger.

19 hours ago, starburst said:

The best Sorcerers in the game already have natural access to Vantage, Vengeance and Life or Death. 😜

I fail to see why you're hyping up Vengeance and Life and Death, given that the former is much riskier to use than it was in Awakening, and for less reward, and the latter is a level 15 skill in a game where those are doomed to be relevant for a short time at most unless you're Felicia or Jakob.

19 hours ago, starburst said:

I always train my one healer, but if you do not, Izana will have a greater weapon proficiency, which grants him immediate access to more staves and more accuracy with them.

The question here is why would you NOT train your healer? In any instance, I find Izana to come too late in Conquest, as by that point you have Flora if you want staff use, and a magic boost isn't as useful as it used to be. Of course, that's ignoring whatever plans I may have had for my team.

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23 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

So... how are the enemy stats relative to the first chapter of the main game? Because this sounds brutal as hell, even compared to the likes of the Devil May Cry games.

Waaaaay worse than the base game. Think FE12 lunatic rather than FE11 H5, but even more of a reset fest. Damned near everyone gets doubled at base, for starters.

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Conquest Day 30: Chapter 23

Incidentally, I just checked out Siegbert's paralogue, and I was struck by just how bland the story is. Like, they gave Xander the most straight-laced, dutiful kid, and didn't think to spice up the events surrounding his recruitment even a little?

But yeah, let's check out Chapter 23 and see if there's anything I really wanna do to prepare for it. Probably not. If there's anything I wanna leave a ton of paralogues to prepare for, it would be 24, 25 or endgame.

Still, the final stretch of Conquest is the final stretch of Conquest.

Ah yes, and infuriatingly, the game decides to have Sakura's time as a prisoner... be completely offscreen. We're never going to see her again until after she's been set free and a significant amount of time has passed for her to stop crying. We never directly suffer the emotional consequences of our actions beyond the end of last chapter, because this game isn't nearly as dark as it wants to think it is. We hear about how she's doing... from Azura. And we also hear that Elise has apparently been visiting her constantly, a scene I really, really, really wish we got to see.

Azura: Perhaps she's learned to focus on what they have in common. After all, they are both princesses, and the youngest of all their siblings.

That is... fuck you, game. That is just such a meaningless motivation for Elise to have for getting along with Sakura now.

Oh, and the game just off-handedly mentions that Yukimura and the retainers are still alive “as hostages”. Hostages to whom? Iago's going to say later that Garon sees no value in more than one royal hostage? What the fuck purpose does this serve other than letting the consequences of Dakota's actions be less horrible by sheer luck?

Okay, so, what exactly does “core legion” mean, that “leading the charge” and “conquering the enemy's core legion” are two different duties? Because Iago says he's doing the former and we're doing the latter.

Okay, obviously, Iago's joy at Dakota's suffering feels almost like a personal petty grudge rather than general sadism. Why does he take this much joy in making her miserable specifically?

Right, onto the map.

...That is... a curious way to change difficulty on lunatic. Blocking certain rooftop passages with additional enemy units? I mean I get why they'd want to block those passages off, but at the same time... it feels like they've just decided part of the very map they made shouldn't be there anymore.

I've decided to reclass Camilla to wyvern lord. She's really not getting much use out of her magic, but it was worth it to get those kickass skills. Now that she has them though, I'm gonna reclass her for some slightly better physical stats, another rally defense source, and swordbreaker.

Also, I'm reclassing Laslow to falcon knight for the extra mobility and healing, because he's always going to have something better to do than fighting from now on.

Also, might as well reclass Xander to hero to get strong riposte and sol. It'll nerf his resistance for a bit, but in the long run it'll be worth it, even with so few chapters left. I really wish I could get him shurikenbreaker though. Pity Azura had to die. But then, apparently this is going to make Soleil even better, so there's that.

Man, that's the thing: I still have more units than I know what to do with. It's kind of frustrating, because for the most part I want to use them all.

But yeah, now that I have Lord of the Dance Laslow, I've gotta start catching up some of my weaker units. That should be no problem whatsoever, because now they all have 5 more strength and speed.

I'm ditching Charlotte today, and making Selena Xander's pair-up unit. The idea being that I'll save on unit slots by letting her fill in for Charlotte so that I can feed her some kills to get her Sol. It'll be awesome to be able to get that on Soleil for free and let her offspring seal to bow knight instead for shurikenbreaker. That means I'll only have to get her one level in her joining chapter if I recruit her after unlocking Chapter 25, and she'll be able to become a shurikenbreaker sol master ninja with replicate.

Another big priority: Leo. I've kinda been neglecting his training, but with so many rallies I should be able to get him up to speed lightning fast.

Speaking of lightning fast, I'm making this meal with berries and wheat instead of milk and wheat this time, because I just do not have much need for speed boosts anymore. Magic is far more important, because for my three magic users, I don't have a rally for them unless I bring Izana, which... I'm not really that keen on.

...But I wound up getting speed as the third thing anyway! Lucky me!

Okay, before we go, let's do the arena to get some more berries. I put the arena shield on Gunter, so that means we can use Dakota, and-

Gunter: I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!

...I uh... I think I'm gonna try giving Gunter the kill on Hans if at all feasible. He might have a quote. If killing isn't realistic, the bastard's gonna be meleelocked, so I can at least have him fight Hans with a hand axe or something.

Alright, let's do Chapter 23 now.

...I was planning to let Leo take care of these initial enemies, but they have lunge. And since he can't one-round them due to not being able to double without the weaker horse spirit (so much for not needing speed), I can't have him deal with them or he'll be pulled straight into sniper range.

Honestly, in general, this map isn't very friendly to player-phasers except for the reinforcements I know are coming. I'll be relying an uncomfortable amount on my enemy-phasers to deal with these formations, and the entire damned thing is a multilayered literal wall that punishes going on the offensive at every turn. Well, I'll do what I can.

SHIT! I PRESSED START WITHOUT REALIZING THERE WERE CHESTS HERE, AND NOBODY HAS LOCKTOUCH!

I FORGOT TO REPLACE DARTING BLOW WITH LOCKTOUCH ON LASLOW!

What did I lose, oh please no...

TEN THOUSAND GOLD AND A PAIR OF BOOTS!?

WHY!?

If I just had a partner seal somewhere in my convoy, I'd be able to reclass Selena to master ninja or something and let her learn it that way, but no dice! I used mine on Xander and I didn't buy a new one, just a heart seal to let him reclass back to paladin when it's time!

GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!

...And there are no chest keys on the map.

Holy shit. Okay. Wow. That's, what, I've completely lost track of how many times my attempts to force myself through pre-map trepidation end with me forgetting something vitally important. God damn it. That's what I get for failing a spot check and not even noticing the chests. Brilliant.

Let's get on with it.

And of course, the first wave gets lucky with duelist's blow and manages to lunge Dakota away from Camilla and thus into the range of enemies who apparently have higher resistance than I thought they did despite being certain I checked that she could kill even without Camilla's offensive boost (turns out I did the math wrong for elbow room and forceful partner and thought I had 2 more attack than I actually did). Dakota got trapped behind enemy lines and had to survive a second turn, but thankfully a combination of dual guards and lucky dodges carried the day in spite of enemy rallies.

Finally, however, I managed to fight my way through. A lot of potential player-phase exp was lost, but I managed to get some good kills in for people who weren't Dakota or Xander.

...Christ, I'm still kicking myself for losing those chests. I feel so embarrassed and stupid right now. Honestly I might've been happier if somebody died. At least then it would lessen my decision paralysis with who to bring. This just leaves me objectively worse off in every way and I hate it. But... I have to keep moving. Hopefully this will make the game more engagingly challenging.

Yeah, so, time to fight Hinata. He's got a ton of powerful allies and he's sitting on a gate, which means 3 defense and 30 avoid. Also, he has counter magic, just in case I was hoping to take him out at range with my forged fire tome. Meaning I've gotta be careful about how I approach him. He won't respond to being baited in, so I'll have to send in Dakota and Xander, fully rallied up, and hope I can take out the stragglers. I still don't know the specific mechanics for these “stand your ground” groups. They seem to wait until you get really close, but I can't help but worry that if I try to exploit that to set up a player-phase attack, they'll just recognize that a ton of units they can kill are in their range and kill them.

...Damn it. I should've brought Charlotte after all. That pair-up bonus would've been just enough to kill this rally str/skl/spd spear master with Xander and still let me kill the seal defense darting blow spear master with Dakota.

...Okay, I can actually still manage that. If I borrow snake eyes and give Xander an energy drop (massive waste, I know, but otherwise I doubt I'd have made much use of the thing with my video game hoarding personality), he can one-round the spear master who has all the offensive rallies, guaranteeing he won't activate them on the coming enemy phase. Then Dakota can trade-equip his Siegfried for him and take out the defense sealer. With that, we should be good to go for surviving enemy phase, even with that life and death sniper that scares the shit out of me.

Then we'll position everyone else to finish them off on player-phase.

Things went almost magically according to plan. All of the strongest attacks were dual-guarded, and most of the weaker attacks were dodged. And I managed to give a kill to Selena too, and get some support points for Leo/Felicia and Camilla/Keaton as well.

Alright, now to prepare to deal with the enemies along the wall with as few units as possible (meaning Dakota) while simultaneously preparing to have everyone else player-phase the shit out of the reinforcements I know are coming from these forts below the gate. I've got everyone positioned to be rallied.

...And I'm still taken off guard. Fuck.

This, uh...

...This is bad.

It would've been fine if it were just the three master of arm pairs from the forts...

...But there's also two spear fighters and two counter-snipers who came from the gates.

I need to kill 10 enemies...

...With 10 units.

And that's including Dwyer and Laslow.

AND I ALSO HAVE TO GIVE LASLOW A WEAPON FIRST.

Oh my god that was a nightmare.

Okay. So.

I actually found a way to do it. It was complicated, and it involved shit like having Percy attack a less-than-ideal enemy so he could trade the Deshi Deshi to Ophelia at the same time, so she could trade it to the Laslow replica while attacking one of the paired up masters of arms at the same time, and doing a really complicated chain of dual strikes, and most crucially, arranging Dwyer so he can kill the one enemy he can one-round with the help of a Camilla dual strike.

The only problem... was I realized too late it depended on a 50% hit rate dual strike from Xander in order to take out the spear fighter on the gate.

That wasn't an option, because if Xander missed, I'd lose Laslow. But initially I thought I'd lose Laslow if I didn't do it, due to the compromising position I put one of his clones in up north, until I realized my actions had actually perfectly walled off the last master of arms such that he couldn't hit anyone he could one-round, because the only one of them equipped with a weapon he could use his WTA-slayer weapons on was Percy, who's built like a tank. So I let that one live, had Camilla kill the spear fighter south of the gate one so that he could be softened up for Mozu to kill unassisted, and I had Arthur and Dwyer finish off the other master of arms. The one who can attack the Laslow replica. Leaving only the one who can't.

...And then Arthur got hit by a 3% crit and went down in one shot. And it sucked because I knew the crit was coming because he was taking so long to do the damned attack, doing this obnoxious martial arts posing all the while.

There goes one of my three irreplaceable snipers. The weakest of them by far, but still... this hurts.

Still... I can think of worse ways this turn could have ended.

Alright, so, one far less stressful player-phase gambit on my own terms later, and the wall is secure, all but Takumi's section. I'm gonna see if I can secure Selena a kill or two here. Probably just one, that should bring her to level 5. And then I never have to use her again.

God, looking at those chests I can't grab is so goddamned painful.

But yes, I got Selena to level 5. She has sol now, and thus so will Soleil.

...I'm gonna have Xander get the kill on this boss, because I want him to finish off his current level and get gamble if at all possible... so I can take it off. I totally forgot that he'd get fighter skills instead of mercenary skills from hero from getting it this way. Well, I mean, HP+5 is nice.

Unfortunately, he gets 10 exp shy. Damn it.

Okay, well, that's the end of the map then. Let's finish up with the cutscene and end there. No time to do supports.

Why the fuck is Dakota lying to Takumi and saying he'll be taken prisoner when she knows full well there's no way she can keep that promise?

...Ah, yeah, they're hiding him from Garon, I see. Like with the singers in Cyrkensia.

Anyway, after a bunch of understandable and almost well-written rage... Takumi goes full possessed edgelord, glows purple, and jumps off the wall.

Yeah.

He'll be back.

Aaaaand the only support I got was Xander/Selena. Lovely.

Okay then.

Until tomorrow then.

Stay safe, everyone.

Stay safer than Arthur.

AND THE FUCKING TREASURE.

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1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

...And then Arthur got hit by a 3% crit and went down in one shot. And it sucked because I knew the crit was coming because he was taking so long to do the damned attack, doing this obnoxious martial arts posing all the while.

There goes one of my three irreplaceable snipers. The weakest of them by far, but still... this hurts.

Of bleeping course he takes a critical hit and dies a horrible death. This is why I think he sucks harder than Little Mac's recovery. Well, that, and the fact that there are other hard hitters that don't have to risk spontaneously combusting if they get attacked ALL. THE. DAMN. TIME. Anyway, who are you going to replace him with?

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1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

SHIT! I PRESSED START WITHOUT REALIZING THERE WERE CHESTS HERE, AND NOBODY HAS LOCKTOUCH!

I FORGOT TO REPLACE DARTING BLOW WITH LOCKTOUCH ON LASLOW!

What did I lose, oh please no...

TEN THOUSAND GOLD AND A PAIR OF BOOTS!?

WHY!?

If I just had a partner seal somewhere in my convoy, I'd be able to reclass Selena to master ninja or something and let her learn it that way, but no dice! I used mine on Xander and I didn't buy a new one, just a heart seal to let him reclass back to paladin when it's time!

GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!

Oof, that is an unfortunate oversight. Missing both boots and some vital money (at least it sounds vital given all the class changing you are talking about...)

 

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...And there are no chest keys on the map.

Fun fact about the chest keys in Conquest, there are 3 in total, and 2 of them are on the chapters that give you the rescue staves...

 

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Alright, now to prepare to deal with the enemies along the wall with as few units as possible (meaning Dakota) while simultaneously preparing to have everyone else player-phase the shit out of the reinforcements I know are coming from these forts below the gate. I've got everyone positioned to be rallied.

Surprised you didn't intentionally trigger them early by baiting someone across the gap...

 

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

I actually found a way to do it. It was complicated, and it involved shit like having Percy attack a less-than-ideal enemy so he could trade the Deshi Deshi to Ophelia at the same time, so she could trade it to the Laslow replica while attacking one of the paired up masters of arms at the same time, and doing a really complicated chain of dual strikes, and most crucially, arranging Dwyer so he can kill the one enemy he can one-round with the help of a Camilla dual strike.

Attack stance is such a great mechanic. That this is possible without being trivial is a big part of what makes Conquest such a great game to play...

 

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...And then Arthur got hit by a 3% crit and went down in one shot. And it sucked because I knew the crit was coming because he was taking so long to do the damned attack, doing this obnoxious martial arts posing all the while.

There goes one of my three irreplaceable snipers. The weakest of them by far, but still... this hurts.

Still... I can think of worse ways this turn could have ended.

Well that was a bit of rotten luck, but with the downside of Arthur's personal, not the most surprising event, especially when he isn't in a high defense/health class.

 

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20 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Anyway, who are you going to replace him with?

I'll have to take a closer look at my options, but Soleil is tempting. She'll be more reliably good if I wait until Chapter 25 is up to do it, but a unit who can make a replica of herself so I have another attack stance attacker is really tempting.

That's another reason why I usually ship Laslow with Azura. You get replicate on Shigure too.

Edited by Alastor15243
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On 4/27/2021 at 10:00 AM, Alastor15243 said:

It's fine, I'm sorry that happened to you!

I borrow the book again when you get to 3H and instead of taking notes, provide more casual bullet points from it.

As for what I remember...

Spoiler

Universities began to slowly form around the late 11th century, although they didn't officially become studia -universities, until a century later in the late 1100s. Exact Day-Month-Year dates of "founding" are lost to time for most of the very earliest universities.

The oldest university in all of Europe is the University of Bologna, in northern Italy. To this day it remains a lively university city, as indicated in its casual nickname "The Wise, the Fat, the Red". Wise because of the university; fat because of the delicious, artery-clogging meaty food; red is because, as suggested by being home to many students, it is slanted to the left of the political center- red being the color of socialism. The Universities of Paris and Oxford are among the other most ancient of higher education institutions.

When universities began, they had no distinctive buildings, they rented out urban spaces. Universities could migrate from place to place in this primordial period, it took some time before permanent, monumental structures arose. 

 

Entry to a university required you be: male, Christian (Catholic), and be able to at least read, and ideally speak, Latin. Once you found a professor willing to vouch for you and take you under their metaphoric wings, they would sign you up. If approved, you would have to swear an oath to abide by the university's many statutes, and in many cases, an oath of loyalty to the monarch whose territory the university was in -no free-thinking that could challenge the authorities!

Residence halls and dorms were created in part to keep the undergraduates under close supervision. Being young men away from home, without girlfriends, wives, or a battlefield to occupy their time, they tended to get rowdy. No university wanted to be tainted by "students" who rented a cheap apartment in town, and then spent their days skipping lectures for taverns and brothels, and going about stealing and murdering by night. Principals were the ones tasked with disciplining the residing students, getting rid of confiscated weapons and keeping away the women (aka prostitutes).

 

Universities received praise and sometimes advice from the Papacy. Likewise, many in the clergy entered higher education to improve their standings in the church hierarchy. However, the universities were only associated with the Church, not an official part of it like the "Cathedral Schools" which had preceded them. Most students went into higher education for secular aims, and faculty were likewise engaged in scholarly goals apart from their religiosity (which they had to have as a societal norm in this era).

Being a university faculty member or student bestowed certain privileges on you with a clerical veneer. As universities were self-governing institutions, I guess you could say it was a sort of "citizenship" in a very loose sense. The ordinary people of the cities where the universities were located did bear some resentment against the university attendees as a result. 

 

6-7 years were required for a student to get their Bacchalarius in the Arts, and another 2-3 years was necessary for the Magister in the Arts- the obvious predecessors of the Bachelor's and Master's degrees. For a doctorate, you could pursue one of three fields. Law and medicine each required another 6-8 years of study. Theology- the "Queen of the Sciences" required up to 15 years of study past the Magister, and a minimum age of 35 when receiving the doctorate.

The "Seven Liberal Arts" which were the basis of the arts degrees were: the Trivium- grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and the Quadrivium- arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music. The emphasis on one set of the "arts" over the other and the preferences for the individual components shifted over time. Various subjects were excluded from this curriculum, such as history and poetry, the latter some students complained about not having.

German universities in the 1400s had a 50-80% dropout rate, only 3 or 4/10 students completed the 6-7 year program for a Baccalarius degree, and only 1 in 10 students acquired a Magister degree.

 

Universities were not intended to be centers of innovation. There was an aspect of making an original scholarly contribution, but ultimately, wisdom was learning the accumulated knowledge of one's great predecessors. Universities were intended to uphold the status quo.

Universities were also created as a response to changes within European governance. Things in the late 1100s were starting to become less violent and disorganized, better government required bureaucracy, and bureaucracy requires skilled bureaucrats. Universities provided the people needed for the ever-growing administrations of the Church and secular rulers alike. This is the role they would continue to play, even when much later in the late-1600s and 1700s, universities, other than Germany and maybe Scotland and the Netherlands, most of the good intellectual work was done outside of the institutions of higher learning.

 

By 1500 (a good chronological endpoint for the Middle Ages, if perhaps a little late), Europe had 40 universities. Some existed solely on paper, others got downgraded to colleges and or consolidated with other universities, some relocated, some died and were resurrected later. Germany (the Holy Roman Empire) had a lot of small ones. Every ruler who could afford a university, wanted one in their territory as a status symbol. 

 

Books were important, but scarce in universities. China had invented paper centuries prior and it had already reached the Arab/Muslim world, but it needed more time to reach Europe. Parchment and its finer version vellum, were made from cows' skins (calves specifically for the vellum), which was made writing material less available and significantly more expensive. The printing press hadn't been invented yet in Europe (China had invented a kind of printing, but not the same as Gutenberg's movable type), every book was a manuscript -written and copied by hand. The arrival of paper and printing in the Renaissance would do wonders for book production.

As a result of having little to write on, exams were oral, done in the form of disputations- arguments. These arguments followed strict rules delineated in certain books, and could be private or public. In the case of quodlibeta disputations, any student or faculty member could show up and ask a question of the student under examination. Some students who liked watching the world burn, asked questions of a sexual nature, or asked about politics or religion- highly controversial topics. Quodlibetas also opened the door to people asking questions that were actually thinly-veiled insults, to settle old scores with the person undergoing the exam. Professors did their best to try to shut down these chaos-inducing inquiries.

Disputations were also a form of verbal fencing. Men like showing off, and since they weren't trained warriors, making fierce logical arguments became the way of displaying your virility.

Whilst there was enough parchment for some scholars to write down new treatises, most faculty made their lectures to their students their equivalent of modern academic essays and books. Lectures were where many academics to tried to establish their original and "lasting" contributions to academia.

Both booksellers and parchment makers were highly regulated by universities. They controlled a list of official purveyors of both books and parchment and assigned them a specific area on campus as their designated marketplace. Inevitably, unofficial dealers sprung up nearby beyond the university's reach. At Bologna, faculty members assigned to weekly book-inspection for a year were relieved of all other duties because checking manuscripts to assure they were legible, accurate, and had the other marks of good quality was an onerous burden. Booksellers were forbidden from hoarding books to create artificial scarcity and drive up prices, their profit margin per book was capped as well.

Undergrads were not expected to buy their own books, they were too expensive. Unless they stole them, which came with severe punishment, most used wax tablets or scraps of parchment to write down their professors' lectures. Booksellers also sold student-made commentaries on lectures and notes on books, as well as individual sections of various texts.

Libraries were small, open only a few days a week with short hours, and off-limits to undergrads. Loaning books out was forbidden, faculty who could use them to prepare their lectures sometimes rented the books to others and thus lost them too, proving book loans were a bad idea. Books were too precious to lose any of them. In the libraries, they were organized in various ways without a standardized system, and they were literally chained to the shelves, which usually faced north-south perpendicular to the east-west windows to let the light in. A small desk in front in the bookshelf let you read it without unchaining it, and there was nowhere to sit initially.

 

As for the slight bit of notes I did coincidentally preserve...

Spoiler
  1. The first offense- failure to speak in Latin!
    1. Latin was the language of instruction, but you had to speak it. All. The. Time. Even when out of the classroom and relaxing in the residences!
  2. Speaking in “vulgar” languages was equated with rendering all communications barren, absurd, and devoid of the slightest value.
  3. Most students refused to rat on their fellow classmates for so petty an offense.
    1. Therefore, a systems of fines and undergraduate lupi -wolves- overseen by rectors and proctors was enacted. Germany was excellent at this.
      1. The lupi were student spies who reported on the vulgarisantes to the university.
    2. The names of Latin violators were reported, registered, and read publicly aloud every Friday.
  1. The second offense- hazing rituals.
    1. Freshmen, called beani, or bejauni from bec-jaune -yellow beak- were subject to initiation rituals imposed by their senior classmates.
    2. Such impositions of hazing, harm, or mulcts -fines - were ancient rites of passage found in all-male groups throughout human history, “welcoming” newcomers to their misogynist, privileged, and “cultured” companies.
  2. Most hazings took the form of removing or “purifying” the freshman’s offensive goat-like features- his stench and his ugly buck teeth, horns, and beard.
    1. Freshmen were occasionally compared to worthless toads, dumb oxen, or wild boars.
    2. But, the bestial goat was the favorite analogue because of its medieval associations with physical filth, sexual lasciviousness, uncontrolled libido, peasant rusticity, and diabolically-horned Jews.
  3. The “cure” that would turn a goat into a creature fit for “polite” academic society involved the following [at least in one instance].:
    1. Symbolically sawing off his horns.
    2. Extracting his real teeth with pliers.
    3. Shaving his beard in sewer water.
    4. Applying ointments and administering pills made from horse or goat excrement.
    5. Often, this was followed by “confessing” sins ranging from theft and rape to heresy and perjury. 
    6. Purchasing “penance” for the sins, often from an “abbot”, through a nice dinner and good wine for the freshman’s hazers.
  1. Punishment
    1. Universities attempted to outlaw or at least moderate hazing, often by curtailing the mulcts (fines).
    2. However, it always proved futile. As futile as it was to resist the plagues which struck society including universities every so often, seen on campus as God’s punishment for hazing.
    3. University officials did not lack the discipline to punish student customs and utterly juvenile behaviors. Proctors and bedels were rough and ready to apprehend young offenders by the neck if need be.
    4. Corporal punishment was seldom resorted to until the 1400s, when residential colleges received more and younger laymen and upper class scions, who were less focused on professional careers, degrees, or spending the evening over a candlelit book.
    5. Before the 1400s, misbehavior was effectively dealt with by…
      1. Fines, which hurt pauperes (students from the poorer classes) the most. 
      2. Denials of the “commons”- food and drink. 
      3. Mulcts of candle wax, and “sconces” of wine.
      4. Incarceration in university jails.
      5. Postponement of degrees.
      6. Suspension or explosion from the college or university.
      7. Banishment from town.
      8. And as a last resort- excommunication from the Church.

Those notes are unfortunately kinda silly. I did save the more-important demographics though:

Spoiler
  1. Demography and Totals
    1. Student Demographics
      1. Prospective students who came looking for a higher education, if not always a degree, were a socially mixed lot and changed composition over the university’s formative three centuries.
      2. Initially, many were mature or novice priests, friars, and monks sent by their superiors to upgrade their skills and usefulness to the Church.
        1. Like most medieval students, they had pronounced vocational goals, even more so.
        2. Their careers began in the Church, and they wanted them to end there, albeit on the higher rungs preferment ladder than had they not the university education.
      3. The majority of students were middling-class urbanites, possessing scholastic backgrounds enabling various financial advantages over other students.
        1. These financial advantages, provided via family, sponsors, or the university itself. Paid for the relatively expensive academic course, consisting of:
          1. Room and board.
          2. Matriculation, lecture, disputation, commencement fees.
          3. Fees for membership in student “nations”.
          4. Socially and academically appropriate clothing.
          5. Books, parchment.
          6. Entertainment.
      4. As universities proliferated, they tended to recruit from the local regions rather than all of the European continent. 
        1. This lowered the cost of university, due to a decline in the need to fund nations (for the protection of foreign students and provide them with ready socialization).
      5. The growth of international credit arrangements, loans, credit notes, and currency exchanges, enabled students to study all over Europe.
      6. Earlier on, the sons of noblemen were conspicuously absent outside of Italy. 
        1. But gradually, nobles were attracted to universities for at least cultural polishing and social connections.
        2. For second sons who wouldn’t inherit their father’s fief, training in careers in the Church or the law provided them with good independent incomes.
      7. Pauperes- matriculants from the poorer classes without surnames or connections.
        1. Made up 15-25% of the best-documented universities, mostly in northern Europe and the Holy Roman Empire.
        2. As there were no concerted social commitments to improving the lives of the poor students, most universities simply allowed them in without paying matriculation fees and discounted lecture fees.
          1. -But, fees were only deferred until the “onset of better fortunes” meant it was time for the now-less-poor students to pay their debts.
        3. Several Paris and Oxford & Cambridge colleges did provide endowments to provide for poor students. Particularly in the arts and theology.
        4. True paupers were given license to beg, in the spirit of mendicant friars.
      8. Many students, more than merely the poor, worked their way through college, by…
        1. Serving faculty and rich classmates.
        2. Toiling in dining halls and kitchens.
        3. Singing in local church choirs.
        4. Tutoring younger students.
        5. Gardening.
        6. Laboring in campus construction.
        7. Copying manuscript books for stationers. 
    2. Population
      1. The growing popularity of education in Europe led to a proliferation of universities, but growth in student enrollments was fluctuating at best.
      2. Epidemics, war, drought, grain price increases, and competitor universities all drained student enrollment time and again.
      3. The University of Paris was initially the largest university, with perhaps 5000 students. 
        1. But by 1464, its population -masters, students, and staff combined- numbered half that.
      4. At their height, Bologna, Toulouse, Avignon, and Orleans each matriculated at least 400-500 students annually.
      5. Oxford seldom exceeded 2000 students, but seldom fell below 1500.
      6. Cambridge settled around 700 students per year, never more than 1300.
      7. German universities had enrollments that numbered no more than a few hundred.

The term "nation" or "natio" here meant a group from... somewhere geographically, and this is the origin of the contentious modern political word. Nations could be very specific- Paris started with four: French, Normans, Picards and English, or they could be incredibly vague- Oxford had two: those from north of the Trent River in England, and those south of it. In practice, "nations" often comprised of students from various regions of Europe who shared no common language or culture other than Latin and Catholic Christianity. Nonetheless, there was a chance of someone of your background being in the nation you thrown into, which was better than nothing.

I bring up the nation bit, because Three Houses really should've been named that in English instead. It seems like it'd totally work, barring these Almyrans I'm told being divided amongst the different teams.

My apologies that a lot of this isn't neater.

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2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Honestly, in general, this map isn't very friendly to player-phasers except for the reinforcements I know are coming. I'll be relying an uncomfortable amount on my enemy-phasers to deal with these formations, and the entire damned thing is a multilayered literal wall that punishes going on the offensive at every turn. Well, I'll do what I can.

This was the point where I gave up engaging with the game on its own term. Yet another map where player-phase and non-combat units felt like a liability, so I gave up and decided I'd just do a Corrin solo from this point on because it would be less annoying. A dual consequence of my not caring about any of the characters and being ground down by all of the long-range staves, stoneborn and siege weapons over the game.

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9 minutes ago, lenticular said:

This was the point where I gave up engaging with the game on its own term. Yet another map where player-phase and non-combat units felt like a liability, so I gave up and decided I'd just do a Corrin solo from this point on because it would be less annoying. A dual consequence of my not caring about any of the characters and being ground down by all of the long-range staves, stoneborn and siege weapons over the game.

Yeah, these "nothing but heavy stationary formations" aren't my favorite either. Thankfully there aren't that many of them and the rest of the game manages to mix things up.

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3 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Well that was a bit of rotten luck, but with the downside of Arthur's personal, not the most surprising event, especially when he isn't in a high defense/health class.

Sounds like Wyvern Lord, General or Great Knight are about the only classes that fit both high defense and high health.

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

I'll have to take a closer look at my options, but Soleil is tempting. She'll be more reliably good if I wait until Chapter 25 is up to do it, but a unit who can make a replica of herself so I have another attack stance attacker is really tempting.

That's another reason why I usually ship Laslow with Azura. You get replicate on Shigure too.

Aside from the pairing problems with Azura, I tend to prioritize the female children and thus couldn't care less about who's good for the second generation males. I also find offspring seals rather underwhelming for how much harder and more annoying the paralogues get after enemies promote (about the only exceptions are Kana and Dwyer's, both of which are piss easy anyway).

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Honestly, in general, this map isn't very friendly to player-phasers except for the reinforcements I know are coming. I'll be relying an uncomfortable amount on my enemy-phasers to deal with these formations, and the entire damned thing is a multilayered literal wall that punishes going on the offensive at every turn. Well, I'll do what I can.

 

2 hours ago, lenticular said:

This was the point where I gave up engaging with the game on its own term. Yet another map where player-phase and non-combat units felt like a liability, so I gave up and decided I'd just do a Corrin solo from this point on because it would be less annoying. A dual consequence of my not caring about any of the characters and being ground down by all of the long-range staves, stoneborn and siege weapons over the game.

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yeah, these "nothing but heavy stationary formations" aren't my favorite either. Thankfully there aren't that many of them and the rest of the game manages to mix things up.

Yeah, dealing with that really isn't my thing. Instead, I just Ignore Hinata and friends and fly over the gap.

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2 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Sounds like Wyvern Lord, General or Great Knight are about the only classes that fit both high defense and high health.

I will note that / was meant as an OR, as I have seen Berserker Arthur soak crits thanks to his high health....

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4 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

I also find offspring seals rather underwhelming for how much harder and more annoying the paralogues get after enemies promote (about the only exceptions are Kana and Dwyer's, both of which are piss easy anyway).

This is really only a problem when the kids start out as green units. Ignatius and Shiro are the only problem recruitments. Nearly every other paralogue is fine when it comes to post-promotion, because it only takes a turn to make them normal.

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11 hours ago, lenticular said:

This was the point where I gave up engaging with the game on its own term. Yet another map where player-phase and non-combat units felt like a liability, so I gave up and decided I'd just do a Corrin solo from this point on because it would be less annoying. A dual consequence of my not caring about any of the characters and being ground down by all of the long-range staves, stoneborn and siege weapons over the game.

 

10 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yeah, these "nothing but heavy stationary formations" aren't my favorite either. Thankfully there aren't that many of them and the rest of the game manages to mix things up.

I rather like this map. I think it can a bit unnecessarily difficult to break into the stair section (from what I remember), but overall I think a map where the computer plays defensively is pretty novel for the series. I don't think Conquest is nearly as good as a lot of people make it out to be, but all the maps with Takumi as the boss I genuinely like a lot (by coincidence and not some affilitation with Takumi).

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On 4/26/2021 at 5:32 PM, Alastor15243 said:

WOOOO! I got the crescent bow at the lottery! SCORE!

Wait, is that the bow that hits twice?! Man, that is the greatest prize that I have seen. And I have played Conquest a dozen times.
I have got various Silver weapons, Elixirs, and the best of the lot was probably a Mjölnir.
I do enjoy playing the lottery as soon and as often as possible. I even have this theory that the prize depends on the Luck of the seller, or on the combined Luck of the seller and Cornflakes. 😬

 

On 4/27/2021 at 11:00 AM, Alastor15243 said:

Definitely, and I'm hoping I can get Mozu to be able to use it in time.

Did you already use the Arms Scrolls? There is one in Chapter 21, and I think that there is another one in Chapter 13, I cannot remember.
I usually save them for my Sorcerers, so that they can use Excalibur, but the Brave Bow is a life saver late game.

If you have the DLC, Anna gives you another Arms Scroll after you recruit her.

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4 hours ago, starburst said:

Did you already use the Arms Scrolls? There is one in Chapter 21, and I think that there is another one in Chapter 13, I cannot remember.
I usually save them for my Sorcerers, so that they can use Excalibur, but the Brave Bow is a life saver late game.

If you have the DLC, Anna gives you another Arms Scroll after you recruit her.

I still have two, but I want to save them for Bifröst and Excalibur. Especially since Mozu's really close to A rank bows.

Edit: I originally tried to post the update here, but that failed and I only posted part of it. Trying again now.

Edited by Alastor15243
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Conquest Day 31: Chapter 24

A moment of silence, if you please, for Arthur. For as I can't believe I didn't notice right away, in dying to a 3% crit while body-blocking a dangerous enemy... he died as he lived. A fearless hero, and a luckless sap.

Also, LASLOW HAS LOCKTOUCH EQUIPPED NOW. YES. THANK GOODNESS. Okay, let's check out Chapter 24 and see if we need to get a new recruit to properly fill out the roster.

Funny enough, Dakota winds up saying the same thing to Azura that Azura said to Dakota at the beginning of Birthright. “If fighting the family you grew up with is too much for you, you can just leave the fighting to me”.

Azura: Ending this war will benefit us all, even the kingdom I grew up in.

There is no conceivable way anyone in Azura's position would believe that.

Ah yes, and now we just march right through a Hoshidan village to invade the capital. So, what, is the castle town not surrounded by walls? I could've sworn I heard somewhere that castle towns were generally within the castle walls so as to protect them during a siege. Did we already breach the outer castle walls? The Hoshidans seem like the sorts of people who would then have all the innocent civilians evacuate into the castle, no? Not stick around to be used as hostages or, in this case, slaughtered like pigs at random?

...Also, I just noticed the Nohrian soldiers are wearing blue in this image. Why? They aren't loyal to me.

Yeah, we get a good look at Castle Shirasagi in the background during the next scene, and I mean look at this thing! It's fucking huge!

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fireemblem/images/a/a7/Hoshido_Official_Artwork.png

I couldn't find the specific picture I'm seeing now, but this one brings up a hell of a lot more questions, because fucking look at this! Not only is it absolutely gargantuan, but it has to be the single most easily-defensible castle in Fire Emblem history! HOW WAS THERE NO CHAPTER TO GET UP HERE!? We'd have to climb up sheer cliffs that curve outward, all while being harassed by the elite Hoshidan air force, which specializes in long range fucking attacks. Getting up here without the fight of our lives should have been literally impossible.

They should've characterized this chapter as Dakota's army being an air-dropped guerrilla force here to take out the commander so that everyone else could get up here in the first place!

But no! They explicitly say there were no guards to stop them climbing up this motherfucking cliff high enough that the clouds are beneath them. They're all in the castle “in defense mode”. Bitch, this is not defense mode! They didn't move the villagers up here, they didn't man their nigh motherfucking perfect defenses, they didn't do anything but wall up in their castle in a hilariously misguided effort to save themselves. The Hoshidans are selfish, incompetent cowards!

Is the excuse that Yukimura's not around to strategize anymore? Bullshit. He must have devised procedures for the royal family to follow in emergencies. The army must've been drilled in his defensive plans!

Holy shit fuck this story.

Ah yes, and when Xander points out that they now surround the entire castle and can easily force a surrender, Iago tells him that's not the plan, that they're just going to exterminate them.

Ah yes, and when Iago asks Garon when Xander argues with him, Garon agrees with Iago by saying “kill them all”, which is like the third time he's said that phase specifically I think.

Xander: If we falter now, the whole world will pay the price.

What can Xander possibly mean by that? The only way that line would make sense is if he knows of Dakota's plan!

Ah yes, and then, of course, the infamous “Justice is an illusion.”

Bitch, you are damned lucky that Arthur isn't around to hear you say that shit. Actually, Xander's just damned lucky in general. Great luck growth, which really helps his tanking.

If we allow evil men to let their vision take precedence over our own, we all lose.”

WHAT EVIL MEN ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, XANDER!?

WHO THE FUCK WROTE THIS!?

...Okay. So. The map.

...This map is... kinda intense. And save for my main tanks, my units are almost all significantly underleveled and could be a hell of a lot stronger with a little training. And while I don't have any need for a new unit yet because I'm gonna bring Niles to capture at least one of those pass falcon knights... everything else is screaming I should take a break to do a paralogue. So I'll do Paralogue 15, Siegbert's one.


 

Day 31 Change of Plans: Paralogue 15

Now, we have infinite void curse reinforcements here, which seems like an awesome opportunity to get Camilla and Leo hitched with their partners. Like I said, you still gain support points from void curse enemies!

Main issue first turn is how to extract Siegbert. It's not as bad as it looks, since he can use his offspring seal right away, but what with me not being able to determine what his stats are until the battle starts, I don't know how many of these three enemies around him he can take. Thankfully, I have two strong fliers and a freeze staff, so I'm pretty sure he won't have to deal with more than one. But we'll see.

I'm not bringing Gunter or Charlotte here so I can bring all the people I want to train. Unfortunately this is a pretty low-deploy chapter. If I really need a tank, I'll combine Dakota and Xander together.

Oh, KICKASS. DUSK FALLS IS PLAYING. HELL YEAH, LET'S GO.

I decided I'll make Siegbert a great knight. He's not gonna be an enemy-phase unit no matter what he does thanks to not being allowed to use Siegfried in the main game, so trading 1 speed/skill and 5 resistance for 5 strength, 3 HP, 4 defense and axes seems like a worthy trade.

Holy shit, the reinforcements here are a bit crazy. They're coming everywhere, and...

...And...

...And holy fuck I forgot to restock on healing supplies. I only have eight heal staff uses left.

Oh no wait, no, thank goodness, I have sixteen. I am so glad I always give a heal staff to Felicia!

Still though, enemies are coming at me fast. This is not the straightforward training opportunity it looked like it was going to be. But then, I guess in Conquest it never is.

Okay, well, I got Siegbert extracted by pairing him up with Percy, and now I'm baiting in some of these incoming reinforcements from two separate directions so that they don't layer on top of each other. We'll have to clear out some breathing room at fucking pace, because the fliers over the northwest cliff are coming, and they'll swarm us if we don't intercept them at the right location.

No dice, they came too fast, and I have to deal with them right at my doorstep. But fortunately, Leo's been having a good time getting training against the southeastern forces. And he didn't go far away enough that he couldn't help out with the massive, massive player-phase clusterfuck I had to do to finish off the wounded fliers and the sorcerers hot on their tail.

Okay, so, the aggressive units have all been exhausted, unless there's some proximity aggro later. Right now my main focus is getting the rest of these damned dragon veins activated. I'll be splitting my forces up into two groups for it, each with a sniper, a wyvern lord, and a Laslow. Leo's gained enough levels that he's actually pretty good at tanking enemy-phase attacks, though his hit rate is still atrocious even after I gave him two secret books. If he can't get WTA with either normal tomes or the calamity gate, his hit rate is sunk.

OH HOLY FUCKING CHRIST. EVERYONE'S CHARGING AT ONCE. WHY DO I KEEP THINKING I CAN AFFORD TO NERF MY FRONTLINERS FOR THE SAKE OF TRAINING!?

And to top it off, I fucked up and forgot to re-highlight some snipers, and I accidentally put Camilla in range of two of them. She can't even survive one. Which means I'm down to my last goddamned rescue use.

HOLY SHIT IS THIS CHAPTER A CLUSTERFUCK. HOW DID I REMEMBER THIS BEING AN ORDINARY CHAPTER IN MY FIRST IRONMAN!?

Still, now that I've got my army all together in one place, I think I can handle this without any deaths.

For a terrifying second I thought that I wouldn't be able to survive long enough to make it to the ninja dragon vein, but no, I have some concoctions in the convoy, because I thankfully had the presence of mind to buy them.

Finally, we've reached the point where we can attack the ninjas as they arrive, allowing us to take them out with Mozu and Effie rather than tanking them in an annoying, HP-consuming dance with Dakota. There's only one dragon vein left, and it's by the boss.

And we're safe. Our only casualty was a rescue rod charge, which is a shame, but better than losing Camilla.

And with the battle over, Xander... praises his son for shouldering the burden of fighting the invisible enemies alone rather than sending for help. He praises him because “shouldering such burdens alone” is something a member of the royal family needs to learn how to do, and he's happy he figured that out without Xander's help, and... what? He clearly did not have the problem under control. His actions would have gotten himself killed had we not arrived. ...I'm sorry, I'm too mentally exhausted for philosophy right now, but... my brain is just on fire at the concept here.

And our spoils? Not too much in the way of experience, but yes, we did fill out their support ranks! Both Leo/Felicia and Camilla/Keaton gained a rank, which means we get Velouria now!

Keaton: Hey, Camilla?

Camilla: What is it, Keaton?

Keaton: I think you need a strong man.

Camilla: You have 10 seconds from the end of this sentence to reconsider that remark.

Of course, that isn't what Keaton means, but... I dunno, this joke kinda comes out of nowhere.

Basically, what Keaton meant was that whatever man Camilla winds up marrying is going to have to be tough. And then, totally unrelated to anything else, he starts to brag about his own badassery taking out some bandits the other day.

Yeah, this is what's so great about Keaton. He's as subtle and opaque as a glass brick.

And yeah, so, Camilla brings back something she said earlier about how he reeks of blood (before she mentioned it as something you can't really get out with a bath), and... basically says she likes his bloodlust, and “the parts of you that you're careful to keep hidden.”

Alright, now for Leo and Felicia.

...Felicia reveals that she's also working to be a maid because she wants Jakob and Gunter to be proud of her. That's... I'm not sure what to think about that right now, sorry. My brain's too fried and I'm too pressed for time.

Xander and Dakota reached A rank, and yeah, Xander talks about taking out his anger at Garon on the air he's swinging at during training. I really wish they would go into more detail about why he follows Garon regardless, because for all the time we've known him, that hasn't been explored at all.

Now I'm wise and brave enough to stand up to Father-”

NO YOU ARE FUCKING NOT. SHUT THE FUCK UP, XANDER, AND TAKE A FUCKING LOOK AT YOURSELF.

Right, time for the Siegbert supports.

Xander and Siegbert's support is another really short one. And I won't dignify it with further comment.

...And in the mother-child support... Siegbert... gives his bikini-clad mother... a massage.

...I'd post the meme song, but Serenes hates it when I post videos.

He claims he's doing it so that he can figure out where the proper pressure points are so he can massage himself and treat his own back pain, but...

...I may not be a massage expert, but uh... how exactly do you massage yourself?

Right, that pretty much settles it for today. I managed to get Xander gamble so I can take it off, so that's nice, and I also got another paralogue, so no net loss of paralogue options for us, and I did get a slight gain in levels, especially with Leo. So I'd say overall this was worth it.

Until tomorrow, then.

Stay safe, everyone!

Edited by Alastor15243
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6 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

HOLY SHIT IS THIS CHAPTER A CLUSTERFUCK. HOW DID I REMEMBER THIS BEING AN ORDINARY CHAPTER IN MY FIRST IRONMAN!?

I'll have to agree. Amongst the Paralogues, Siegbert's is absolutely one of the most difficult. And the forested terrain arguably looks too much the same, impacting one's ability to determine the best course of action.

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33 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Ah yes, and then, of course, the infamous “Justice is an illusion.”

Bitch, you are damned lucky that Arthur isn't around to hear you say that shit. Actually, Xander's just damned lucky in general. Great luck growth, which really helps his tanking.

If we allow evil men to let their vision take precedence over our own, we all lose.”

I feel Xander would have a secondary speech about how the word "evil" is a morally relative term to those we don't like.

35 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Yeah, we get a good look at Castle Shirasagi in the background during the next scene, and I mean look at this thing! It's fucking huge!

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fireemblem/images/a/a7/Hoshido_Official_Artwork.png

I couldn't find the specific picture I'm seeing now, but this one brings up a hell of a lot more questions, because fucking look at this! Not only is it absolutely gargantuan, but it has to be the single most easily-defensible castle in Fire Emblem history! HOW WAS THERE NO CHAPTER TO GET UP HERE!? We'd have to climb up sheer cliffs that curve outward, all while being harassed by the elite Hoshidan air force, which specializes in long range fucking attacks. Getting up here without the fight of our lives should have been literally impossible.

Perhaps the low oxygen living in the clouds affect the Hoshidan royal's thinking. I know Fates is putting contrast with Castle Shirasagi. With Castle Krakenburg being a underground parking lot.

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On 4/27/2021 at 5:20 PM, Alastor15243 said:

Waaaaay worse than the base game. Think FE12 lunatic rather than FE11 H5, but even more of a reset fest. Damned near everyone gets doubled at base, for starters.

I know all about Early Game Hell, but this is beyond ridiculous.

20 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I will note that / was meant as an OR, as I have seen Berserker Arthur soak crits thanks to his high health....

At the same time, I don't think high HP alone is a good safety net if your defenses are shit, so yeah. Also, Berserker just makes his most crippling issue even worse than it already is, so that's a no go unless you like high-risk, low-reward gambles.

20 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

This is really only a problem when the kids start out as green units. Ignatius and Shiro are the only problem recruitments. Nearly every other paralogue is fine when it comes to post-promotion, because it only takes a turn to make them normal.

And Sophie and Selkie, given that they start nowhere near you. I would also mention Velouria, as she too starts off isolated in enemy territory when she spawns (even if she starts already under your control, that's just terrible game design).

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54 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

I know all about Early Game Hell, but this is beyond ridiculous.

At the same time, I don't think high HP alone is a good safety net if your defenses are shit, so yeah. Also, Berserker just makes his most crippling issue even worse than it already is, so that's a no go unless you like high-risk, low-reward gambles.

And Sophie and Selkie, given that they start nowhere near you. I would also mention Velouria, as she too starts off isolated in enemy territory when she spawns (even if she starts already under your control, that's just terrible game design).

You can get to Selkie on like turn three, probably even turn two without much effort. All the while she's attack stationary archers who will never hit her.

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7 minutes ago, Jotari said:

You can get to Selkie on like turn three, probably even turn two without much effort. All the while she's attack stationary archers who will never hit her.

As for Sophie, there aren't any enemies near her, and it's a non-Conquest map, so it's not like clearing the enemies at your starting position is some huge task.

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4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I'll have to agree. Amongst the Paralogues, Siegbert's is absolutely one of the most difficult. And the forested terrain arguably looks too much the same, impacting one's ability to determine the best course of action.

I've not got far in Fates (put on the back burner since I've not even finished 3H yet.) but is it because the trees are like Awakening? (AKA Sprite trees that aren't actually directly on the forest tiles.)

In any context, in any game, I'd always prefer being able to tell what's going on over being "fancy", Sure Echoes maps look worse with trees being entirely on a square tile, but it means I can actually tell what is/isn't a forested tile instantly. (sitting on a tile thinking it has a bonus but it turns out the tile next to it, the one the enemy is attacking you from, has a tile bonus is just infuriating.)

(Also why I despise depth of field/motion blur in any modern triple A game, thank the lord I play on PC and can turn that stuff off most of the time.)

Edited by Samz707
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