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

[Alastor15243]

3 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Yeah, it's a bit of a shame. I actually love Shadows of Valentia's gameplay. It really works for me on several design fronts, but it's a shame there's just no higher level of difficutly to actually use with it wherein actually properly playing the game and not nerfing yourself can lead to a substantial challenge. I convinced one of my friends to play Shadows of Valentia who had never played a Fire Emblem game at all and he complained that it was a bit on the easy side. Which is a very rare complaint for a new Fire Emblem player, as Fire Emblem usually kicks newbies asses until they figure out how the game works.

Definitely a shame considering how well Shadow Dragon did with its difficulty modes.

4 minutes ago, Jotari said:

You weren't wrong. There's a fountain of EXP and a fountain of RES in there. It's to the sides behind a broken wall. RES is obviously the better choice as you'll barely ever get it leveling up, though you could leave the fountain of exp until later in the game when some characters are struggling to reach third tier promotion levels.

...Sssssssshit. Right. I remember now. Fuck, and now I can't go back in for it without getting extra...

...Should I even bother with this whole "no going back under any circumstances" thing, considering it amounts to me jumping through hoops to artificially inflate a game difficulty that's assaulting itself with needles at every turn?

[Jotari]

16 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Definitely a shame considering how well Shadow Dragon did with its difficulty modes.

...Sssssssshit. Right. I remember now. Fuck, and now I can't go back in for it without getting extra...

...Should I even bother with this whole "no going back under any circumstances" thing, considering it amounts to me jumping through hoops to artificially inflate a game difficulty that's assaulting itself with needles at every turn?

Up to you. Probably won't be much skin off your back missing it.

[Eltosian Kadath]

15 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Sssssssshit. Right. I remember now. Fuck, and now I can't go back in for it without getting extra...

...Should I even bother with this whole "no going back under any circumstances" thing, considering it amounts to me jumping through hoops to artificially inflate a game difficulty that's assaulting itself with needles at every turn?

You can avoid the enemy encounters, but it does take a little getting used to. There is a bit of a trick to getting vision on them early, and learning when to shift between walking and running to best avoid them. You might end up resetting a time or two before you really get the hang of it...

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

8 hours ago, Jotari said:

 

Just to confirm this, Celica does indeed know Silque. If you don't recruit Silque with Alm they can have a conversation with each other in the thieves Shrine, though Celica can't recruit Silque.

 

I got this in my "minimum recruitment" playthrough. Their conversation ending without even the option to recruit her is just... such a weird moment. Silque just continues chilling in the Thieves' Shrine.

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Hahaha, there's a man dying of hunger, he begs for food, I give him fish, and he's all “uh, sorry, I was thinking something a bit more meaty.” First off, talk about choosing beggars, and secondly, the hell is this idea that fish isn't meat? But yeah, he's looking specifically for the dried meat item we have.

"Food... water... atmosphere!"

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

But yeah, so, there's this really obnoxious fetch quest revolving around a coral ring, which is a really cool item, but to get it you have to chop the coral around here until you get a bunch of coral pieces. It's damned near impossible to do in one trip through the Seabound Shrine, so on a no-grind run, it's basically out of the question. I'm actually kinda pissed off at the amount of grind-y side-content they added to this game that you simply cannot touch if you want to be challenged at all, because even when you ignore the turnwheel and push through the game with minimal random battles, Intelligent Systems hasn't released a game whose hardest difficulty was this easy in more than a goddamned decade.

I like the dungeon exploration in general, but aspects like cutting grass - or in this case, coral - is just tedious and unfun. As for the difficulty level... thinking on it, Echoes might be the easiest in the series. At least, of what I've played. But that's its own discussion. I'd have certainly appreciated a higher difficulty level - maybe one that prevents grinding, and gives enemies forges?

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Aw, this is pretty sweet. Babby Celica crying about waking up to her bedroom on fire is pretty heartbreaking.

Sweet... isn't quite the word I'd use for a traumatic, life-or-death experience. But if you liked this, the other one with young Celica is downright saccharine. 

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

The sniper class boosts are much less nice, but still, an extra point of movement and attack range is great.

Getting 1~5 attack range, this early in the game, is pretty absurd. 

[Acacia Sgt]

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

I got this in my "minimum recruitment" playthrough. Their conversation ending without even the option to recruit her is just... such a weird moment. Silque just continues chilling in the Thieves' Shrine.

Ironic. In Gaiden Celica could recruit her. Yet SoV which turns the two into acquaintances, perhaps even friends... she can't. Even when, yes, she has little reason to remain in the shrine.

Edited June 9, 2021 by Acacia Sgt

[Alastor15243]

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

Sweet... isn't quite the word I'd use for a traumatic, life-or-death experience. But if you liked this, the other one with young Celica is downright saccharine. 

Well I mean it's about Mycen saving her.

[Jotari]

36 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Ironic. In Gaiden Celica could recruit her. Yet SoV which turns the two into acquaintances, perhaps even friends... she can't. Even when, yes, she has little reason to remain in the shrine.

I expect the only reason Celica can recruit her in Gaiden is because the game doesn't realize you're not playing as Alm and the whole thing is more of an oversight than an easter egg. But one they knew about and turned into an Easter Egg for Shadows of Valentia. Why not make Silque recruitable then? I dunno, might have something to do with her being the only dedicated healer for Alm's group until you get Tatiana which is pretty close to the end. But since this easter egg is almost guaranteed to only be exploited by people who have already played the game (because let's face it, who's going to just not recruit every character you come across)  I think they could have done it without any issue.

[Alastor15243]

16 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I expect the only reason Celica can recruit her in Gaiden is because the game doesn't realize you're not playing as Alm and the whole thing is more of an oversight than an easter egg. But one they knew about and turned into an Easter Egg for Shadows of Valentia. Why not make Silque recruitable then? I dunno, might have something to do with her being the only dedicated healer for Alm's group until you get Tatiana which is pretty close to the end. But since this easter egg is almost guaranteed to only be exploited by people who have already played the game (because let's face it, who's going to just not recruit every character you come across)  I think they could have done it without any issue.

I just watched the conversation they had. Honestly, the fact that this conversation is even taking place is beyond asinine. The idea that Alm wouldn't recruit her and that as a result she would just stay there is so ridiculous that they have to actively avoid commenting on it all throughout the conversation. I frankly almost don't get why they let you turn down anyone. There's no benefit to it. And I certainly don't get why turning them down is the default option.

[Acacia Sgt]

I'd say, if they were committed to the idea, they could've at least made Silque be at Zofia Castle by the time Celica reaches the place. After all, upon delivering the Turnwheel, if she didn't join up with Alm then she should be making her way back to Novis. Then she can remain there thanks to the rockslide once you were absolutely sure you don't want her with Celica either. Would have the benefit of not having to backtrack to the Thief's Shrine if you changed your mind and do want her with Alm after all.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Acacia Sgt

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

30 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I just watched the conversation they had. Honestly, the fact that this conversation is even taking place is beyond asinine. The idea that Alm wouldn't recruit her and that as a result she would just stay there is so ridiculous that they have to actively avoid commenting on it all throughout the conversation. I frankly almost don't get why they let you turn down anyone. There's no benefit to it. And I certainly don't get why turning them down is the default option.

I like it being an option, just for the ease of doing a challenge run (namely, minimum recruitment). Sure, I could just not deploy them, but then I'd manually have to undeploy the optional units every map. Plus, turning people down leads to some funny interactions. And I have to assume it kills Mathilda, because Clive's ending (with Mathilda unrecruited) mentions her passing.

 

[Acacia Sgt]

If only they had let Alm do the same. Have him able to recruit people from Celica's side before triggering the rockslide event. Then the practice wouldn't look so odd.

[Seazas]

2 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Ironic. In Gaiden Celica could recruit her. Yet SoV which turns the two into acquaintances, perhaps even friends... she can't. Even when, yes, she has little reason to remain in the shrine.

It's made clear in the conversation that Silque has her own mission and goal that she wants to stick to no matter what. Which makes sense considering what she does in both Gaiden and SOV, giving her individuality and more character isn't a bad thing. She isn't apart of Celica and her own goal or Gaiden would've specifically established as such.

Her being in the shrine is slightly weird but that's not acknowledged by the game, it's there purely for gameplay reasons in case the player in Alm's route changed their mind.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Seazas

[Shadow Mir]

11 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

But yeah, so, there's this really obnoxious fetch quest revolving around a coral ring, which is a really cool item, but to get it you have to chop the coral around here until you get a bunch of coral pieces. It's damned near impossible to do in one trip through the Seabound Shrine, so on a no-grind run, it's basically out of the question. I'm actually kinda pissed off at the amount of grind-y side-content

There's worse. Like the Merchant of Death side quest, which pretty much forces you to go out of your way to complete it.

[Etrurian emperor]

On 6/8/2021 at 11:41 PM, UNLEASH IT said:

No one seems to be too keen on Charlotte's antics. Also Felix "I studied the blade" Fraldarius seemed to treat Dorothea's advances with disdain before he knew she could sing.

Then again Felix treats most people with disdain. There are also some church knights who gossip about Dorothea being a gold digger in their Linhardt support. But on the whole Dorothea seems to be successful in getting dates. 

[Jotari]

11 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

I just watched the conversation they had. Honestly, the fact that this conversation is even taking place is beyond asinine. The idea that Alm wouldn't recruit her and that as a result she would just stay there is so ridiculous that they have to actively avoid commenting on it all throughout the conversation. I frankly almost don't get why they let you turn down anyone. There's no benefit to it. And I certainly don't get why turning them down is the default option.

I can't really fault the game for providing more options. Nothing is lost by having it be an option like that. And it's not like Path of Radiance where there's multiple one time decisions with one being objectively better. Once you turn a character down you can just go ahead and recruit them immediately afterwards.

11 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I'd say, if they were committed to the idea, they could've at least made Silque be at Zofia Castle by the time Celica reaches the place. After all, upon delivering the Turnwheel, if she didn't join up with Alm then she should be making her way back to Novis. Then she can remain there thanks to the rockslide once you were absolutely sure you don't want her with Celica either. Would have the benefit of not having to backtrack to the Thief's Shrine if you changed your mind and do want her with Alm after all.

But, yeah, that would just make far too much sense as a change. Alm gets the turnwheel at the start of Act 2 anyway from some random merchant whom Silque presumably gave it to, so just having her travel to Zofia castle herself (after presumably getting lucky with Nosferateau hits and beating up the bandits herself) and wait there to be recruited makes a tonne of sense, and would turn Celica's easter egg convo with her to one that can happen regardless as to whether you recruit her or not, adding more dimensions to the game. And just in general having Silque move her location like that would be great for making the world feel more alive with the people in it having their own stories in a Majora's Mask sort of way.

[Alastor15243]

Shadows of Valentia Day 13: The Last Few Botes

So looks like we're backsliding in difficulty again. True, they have three mercenaries and two archers on this boat, but there's still just one plank to bottleneck, and I have two myrmidons and a sniper. I think I'm cool.

Yep, things are going pretty smoothly, like clockwork. Way, way too easy. There hasn't really been much care put into these early enemy formations, has there?

Boey gets skill, luck and defense. Well, the defense is nice.

Genny gets a lucksauce level, but I don't even care, because she has physic at long last! Awesome!

Saber gets an HPsauce level up. I'm miffed, but for the mercenary class line, a level is a level. It's basically impossible for a dread fighter to suck.

Kind of annoying that physic is below invoke on Genny's spell list. Wish here was some way to change that.

Looks like having used physic more recently does nothing to fix it. That was my only hope.

Celica finally learned recover after gaining HP and defense. Nice.

...Shit, I have to decide whether I want to go back for that res fountain or not. Sneaking past monsters without fighting any of them sounds like a pain, and I don't want to make this game any easier than it's already gonna be by fighting more...

...Celica's girly little giggle she sometimes does after killing enemies feels... uh... I mean the whole “pithy one liners while killing people” thing is weird in general when you think about it (not that I don't enjoy them), but it feels particularly egregious with Celica.

Alright, time for the final boat map. If I remember correctly, I think this is another cantor. But if it is, judging by the “7 units” thing when you put the cursor over them, he's not alone.

Ah, shit, nope, not a cantor. Dark mages.

...Nah, this should be fine. Having the extra res on Celica would be nice, but I don't think I'll be needing it. Main goal: use Leon to take care of the mire users and then have Celica fight the weaker 1-2 range ones.

...Oh. Right. Fuck. They can heal each other. That... complicates things. But not too much. It just makes it more tedious to take out this guy with Leon. I'll have to have Celica take out the 1-2 range ones as planned bit by bit, while Genny heals.

Celica gets skill, speed, luck and defense for level 10. Awesome.

Alright, so, I've finally taken out all of the boss's healers, meaning there's nobody to protect him from Leon anymore. Good.

Leon and Celica take him out together, with Celica getting the kill thanks to a crit.

Alright, on to Zofia Harbor. And... apparently news of our conquest over Barth... made it past those enemy ships before we did. The fuck?

But yeah, I like this moment where Celica's all refusing any gratitude, but Saber just immediately goes up and decides to take the man up on his offer and gets a free round of beer. It weirdly feels nice of Saber, with the air of not leaving a man hanging with a high five he wants to give.

...Ah yes, and as I search around for stuff to loot... Celica hears about he Deliverance, and Alm.

Christ, hearing Celica panic about Alm being reckless challenging an army with his smaller army is mooooooore than a bit rich after this girl just routed an entire crime syndicate and two necrodragons with eight people, to the continuous flabbergasted horror of everyone around her endowed with a lick of sense.

The fact that she's frankly horrified that Alm has become a military leader is... Look, I know she's gonna give her reasons, but I also already know enough to know I'm gonna hate them all over again. After paying more attention to her behavior in Act 2, I now feel she is in absolutely no position to shame anyone for being needlessly reckless or overly eager to resort to violence. She's a massive hypocrite, and it's only going to get worse when they actually argue.

But first, let's grab some stuff in town. And yep, sure enough, there is another coral fragment in town! Thanks EK! Yeah, I remember this, come to think of it...

Ah yes, and Palla and Catria are here. We don't get them yet. In fact I didn't realize until cutting my first failed playthrough short (I tried to ironman and it didn't go well) that you need to go back to visit them after fighting alongside them in order for them to join. I don't see why the hell they don't join up right then. Given how psychotically tiny the cast is, I don't see why they felt people would find the optionality of more than half the cast to be so convenient.

...Ugh. And this game confirms that you pronounce Archanea as AR-ka-NAY-uh, when I always pronounced it as ar-KAY-nee-UH, with the “kay” slightly more emphasized than the “uh”. Y'know, like Arcadia, but with an N instead of a D. AR-ka-NAY-uh just does not sound right to me at all, and I am genuinely disappointed that that's how it's pronounced.

I just gave all of the coral fragments to the merchant in a slow and painful process of giving them one by one. I totally forgot about that; I thought you gave them all at once. I mean at least you get partial credit for the mission in the form of silver marks, but still...

Ah yes, and talking at the pub tells us about Grieth, the big boss of Celica's Act 2. Apparently “Pirate King” Barth was just one of his henchmen. Grieth sure lets henchmen give themselves grandiose titles, huh?

Apparently Grieth's Citadel is “tall”. Funny we only get to explore one floor. They make it sound like it would be a dungeon.

Alas, I don't have the honey the mother needs along with the flour and butter I do have, so I can't do that quest. Lame.

I know this is a short part again, but I'm gonna have to cut it here today. I want to give myself a full, fresh day for this big argument between Alm and Celica. I want to feel free to spend as much time as I need to diving into this shit, because this is gonna be a doozy. Also, there's a lot of stuff I'd like to do today as well, so this works out pretty well.

Stay safe, everyone!

[Jotari]

 

10 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Alright, on to Zofia Harbor. And... apparently news of our conquest over Barth... made it past those enemy ships before we did. The fuck?

Not that strange considering the last ship was a Rigelian one that wouldn't be harassing anyone passing by, presumably they were looking for Celica or had some other specific mission and weren't pirates (not that legally sanctioned pirating against enemy nations wasn't a thing, but judging by the cantors lines they were actively fighting the pirates too). You also have to factor in the time Celica spent at the seabound shrine after defeating Barth (Barth was the one attack Valbar and co, right?).

10 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Ugh. And this game confirms that you pronounce Archanea as AR-ka-NAY-uh, when I always pronounced it as ar-KAY-nee-UH, with the “kay” slightly more emphasized than the “uh”. Y'know, like Arcadia, but with an N instead of a D. AR-ka-NAY-uh just does not sound right to me at all, and I am genuinely disappointed that that's how it's pronounced.

 

Same, the official English spelling doesn't really prompt the correct pronunciation. What English speaker is going to look at "nea" and figure it's pronounced "nay-uh"? K would also be a much better option than a Greek "ch".

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 minute ago, Jotari said:

What English speaker is going to look at "nea" and figure it's pronounced "nay-uh"? K would also be a much better option than a Greek "ch".

I would. I've always pronounced it Arch-chan-nay-uh.

[Jotari]

18 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I would. I've always pronounced it Arch-chan-nay-uh.

Clearly translated that way just for you then. I can say I never thought it was pronunced Ar-"cha"-nea, but that's probably because most fanstranslations used K. I can't really fault someone who would think it's pronounced with a typical ch sound.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Jotari

[Acacia Sgt]

I mean, it's pronounced the same as it is in Japan, just with the added R. Which, thanks to the phonetic nature of the Japanese language, could still be meant to be there even in the Japanese word.

As a native Spanish speaker, I had long pronounced it that way for years. Again, thanks to reading up the Katakana. Though sometimes dropping the "y" in "nay", again, because my mind sometimes default to reading -nea the Spanish way. As if it was アカネア, instead of アカネイア.

2 hours ago, Jotari said:

But, yeah, that would just make far too much sense as a change. Alm gets the turnwheel at the start of Act 2 anyway from some random merchant whom Silque presumably gave it to, so just having her travel to Zofia castle herself (after presumably getting lucky with Nosferateau hits and beating up the bandits herself) and wait there to be recruited makes a tonne of sense, and would turn Celica's easter egg convo with her to one that can happen regardless as to whether you recruit her or not, adding more dimensions to the game. And just in general having Silque move her location like that would be great for making the world feel more alive with the people in it having their own stories in a Majora's Mask sort of way.

Considering Alm would've cleared the path from most if not all dangers, Silque would have it even easier to just trail his group. It would also help highlight that she is experienced in making cross-country trips on her lonesome thanks to her experiences with the pilgrimage done with her mother.

 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Acacia Sgt

[Jotari]

18 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Considering Alm would've cleared the path from most if not all dangers, Silque would have it even easier to just trail his group. It would also help highlight that she is experienced in making cross-country trips on her lonesome thanks to her experiences with the pilgrimage done with her mother.

 

Well there is the whole Brigand Boss who literally had her captive that you can completely ignore and leave him to his own devices. And I don't think there's any explanation as to how that plot line is resolved if you just ignore it. But Silque presumably got out of the kidnapping some how and then decided to hang out by the Mila statue for the rest of her life.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

12 hours ago, Seazas said:

It's made clear in the conversation that Silque has her own mission and goal that she wants to stick to no matter what. Which makes sense considering what she does in both Gaiden and SOV, giving her individuality and more character isn't a bad thing. She isn't apart of Celica and her own goal or Gaiden would've specifically established as such.

Her being in the shrine is slightly weird but that's not acknowledged by the game, it's there purely for gameplay reasons in case the player in Alm's route changed their mind.

Wasn't Silque's mission "get the Turnwheel to Alm"? What else could there be? If "joining Alm on his quest" were part of her mission, then she should have joined him automatically, like Clair does later on. Or at least followed him out, to try providing help from afar. Right now, she's doing little more than trusting a magic conch shell that tells her to do "nothing".

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Ugh. And this game confirms that you pronounce Archanea as AR-ka-NAY-uh, when I always pronounced it as ar-KAY-nee-UH, with the “kay” slightly more emphasized than the “uh”. Y'know, like Arcadia, but with an N instead of a D. AR-ka-NAY-uh just does not sound right to me at all, and I am genuinely disappointed that that's how it's pronounced.

Same. I always emphasized the second syllable when playing Shadow Dragon.

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

The fact that she's frankly horrified that Alm has become a military leader is... Look, I know she's gonna give her reasons, but I also already know enough to know I'm gonna hate them all over again. After paying more attention to her behavior in Act 2, I now feel she is in absolutely no position to shame anyone for being needlessly reckless or overly eager to resort to violence. She's a massive hypocrite, and it's only going to get worse when they actually argue.

Celica's mission is to instruct the eastern half of Zofia in her peaceful ways... by force.

[Acacia Sgt]

11 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Well there is the whole Brigand Boss who literally had her captive that you can completely ignore and leave him to his own devices. And I don't think there's any explanation as to how that plot line is resolved if you just ignore it. But Silque presumably got out of the kidnapping some how and then decided to hang out by the Mila statue for the rest of her life.

Well, this was in the situation where Silque was rescued but not recruited. Should you just ignore Brigand Boss... well, that could've also left for an interesting venue should you bother to have Celica go all the way there where she's the one to rescue her. Or maybe, advance too much on the map, and Silque... is gone. Dead, or just fate unknown.

[Jotari]

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

Celica's mission is to instruct the eastern half of Zofia in her peaceful ways... by force.

Video blocked in some countries, but very relevant to this comment.

 

[Jotari]

 

17 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

If only they had let Alm do the same. Have him able to recruit people from Celica's side before triggering the rockslide event. Then the practice wouldn't look so odd.

 

16 hours ago, Seazas said:

It's made clear in the conversation that Silque has her own mission and goal that she wants to stick to no matter what. Which makes sense considering what she does in both Gaiden and SOV, giving her individuality and more character isn't a bad thing. She isn't apart of Celica and her own goal or Gaiden would've specifically established as such.

Her being in the shrine is slightly weird but that's not acknowledged by the game, it's there purely for gameplay reasons in case the player in Alm's route changed their mind.

 

3 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Well, this was in the situation where Silque was rescued but not recruited. Should you just ignore Brigand Boss... well, that could've also left for an interesting venue should you bother to have Celica go all the way there where she's the one to rescue her. Or maybe, advance too much on the map, and Silque... is gone. Dead, or just fate unknown.

Okay so this is weird. I've just done a run where Alm ignores the thieves shrine entirely and Celica instead visits it, and sure enough Celica has her conversation with Silque, and now in Part 2 I've just gone back to recruit Silque with Alm and she's no where to be found. So she actually does move away from the shrine, and apparently just vanishes, because I can't find her anywhere in the part 1 areas, and I've checked all of them. So yeah, they didn't keep Silque in the shrine in case you wanted to recruit her with Alm, after part 1, it seems you can't recruit her with Alm at all. Unless talking to her with Celica set off some trigger that made the game think she was recruited. I talked to Python and Forsyth with Celica as well though and they're still just hanging about in their usual place. SO yeah, it's sort of weird. Maybe they did want to imply Silque was killed when you don't rescue her, but the people who decided to implant the easter egg conversation with Celica weren't notified of that.