Alastor15243 Posted June 16, 2021 Author Share Posted June 16, 2021 2 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said: In my first playthrough, I assumed "oh, I'll encounter them again on a future map". A la Cath in FE6. I had no idea of returning to Zofia Harbor to pick them up. So I actually got Est first among the sisters! The exact same thing happened to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seazas Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 (edited) 9 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said: I think that often just the slightest tweaks could help improve Echoes story so much. Take the Berkut mission for instance. Wouldn't it be so much better if Berkut actually won that fight and give Alm a bloody nose? The biggest problem of Berkut is that he's such a gigantic loser who fails at everything he does, so him starting out as a real threat who defeats the previously unstoppable Alm would have helped relieve that problem. Alm tasting the dirt would also help with Clive's character arc. Seeing the commoner Alm get defeated by the noble Berkut might have awakened Clive's dormant classism, steel him in the belief a commoner could never beat a noble, and give him an actual reason to believe Alm being a commoner to be a problem, rather then him just being a scumbag who wants to use Alm and then dispose of him. This idea never ceases to be kind of absurd the more I hear of it. Making Berkut win and somehow not killing Alm despite Berkut having murderous intentions would make him even more incompetent and an even bigger idiot all around. Alm losing and not dying is already bullshit but someone like Berkut winning and it ultimately not mattering is kind of... trash. Why would that be a good idea? Literally everyone would just complain for different reasons. The fanbase already can't stand the usage of "I must retreat from a fatal blow, I cannot fall here!". Why do another one despite Berkut winning and would absolutely shove a lance in Alm's heart? Berkut is ruthless lmao, it'd directly be breaking character and would just leave plot holes to make him win. 23 hours ago, Jotari said: Later Zeke manages to see it too and I don't think they even attempt any kind of explanation there like they do here. Zeke just apparently has X-Ray vision in addition to being able to cross an ocean while unconscious without any sustanance. ? What are you even talking about. Edited June 16, 2021 by Seazas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastor15243 Posted June 16, 2021 Author Share Posted June 16, 2021 1 minute ago, Seazas said: ? What are you even talking about. Well, guess that's the explanation I was looking for then. I was wondering what the game was gonna do. Couldn't remember what. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venger_06 Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said: And now we get a scene of Fernand talking to Mathilda, and... Jesus Christ. They just had to have this CG of this dramatic moment with this woman who is about to be sentenced to death by arrowfire... show her on her knees with both her cleavage and her ass positioned to be full view of the camera while both Fernand and the camera are looking down on her? Who the fuck drew this? What were they told this was for!? Manga Mathilda 1993 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jotari Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 30 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said: Shadows of Valentia Day 17: Women in Prison Okay, it's temporarily Celica's turn. … ...They actually have the audacity to have a bandit named Garth... after we fought a pirate named Barth? ...Wait, Celica seems familiar with Garth... was he mentioned previously? Barth, Garth, Grieth, Dolth- Celica just has really big prejudce against people whoose name ends in -th. 30 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said: Also, for the record, what a garbage thing to do in a B support. Literally just that. Invalidating everything raised in the C support. Bringing us right back to square one for the A support. Seriously? I can't really remember Mae's supports, but I think this could work in theory if the A support then circles back around and says the C support is true, but also the B support is simulatnously true too. People can manage to have completely contradictory feelings on a matter at the same time and have a hard time expressing it. 30 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said: So the boss quote suggests there's a thriving market for slaves of all kinds, not just women. Interesting, because whenever criminals in Fire Emblem talk about selling someone into the slave trade, it's always either women or non-humans (or both). I think the only male human slave the series has ever mentioned, unless I'm very much mistaken, is Ogma, who I think used to be a colosseum slave or something. Well Marth thinks Linde is a boy when he first meets her as a slave. So while that is an example of a female slave, she was meant to be a boy as fat as the system was viewing her. 30 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said: ...You're on flying ponies, Palla. It's impossible for Celica to have anyone at this point in the army who isn't on foot without the villager's pitchfork. Go after her. You will catch her. Emma from DLC says hi. Though yeah, point still noted. I think they did it this way to maintain accuracy to Gaiden where characters are only recruited in exploration sections, so they wanted to make it clear that Palla and Catria are still there so you can go to the village and recruit them. A bit silly, but needless accuracy to Gaiden is a well known face of the game. 30 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said: Anyway, I have Celica head back to town, and apparently in the time since we last saw them, they've managed to “dig up additional information”. That's utterly bizarre given that it could have happened seconds ago. This entire thing is utterly bizarre and feels like an excuse to keep them optional. And that optionality is coming at the expense of creating a lot of absurdity for an incredibly petty “convenience”. They could still work as optional while not doing it this way. Just have them off to join in the post battle conversation and should you say no, have them hang out in the town where you can later recruit them. 30 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said: Yeah, that's the thing about this game. While it's not consistently easy, when it is hard, it's... still not engaging. Battles feel like a clusterfuck with too much shit going on. And keep in mind, this is coming from someone who played and enjoyed Conquest's complex gameplay. In contrast to how I reacted to this kind of gameplay at the beginning of the marathon, the consistently inconsistent hitrates, enemy spam, and wacky attack ranges just kinda turn gameplay into a mess that makes my brain shut down even on the rare occasions where I actually need it. But one thing I still do like, even though it takes some serious getting used to, is the fact that the increased thresholds for one-rounding (to the point of near impossibility at this point) mean you have to position everyone assuming they'll have to eat a lot of hits on enemy phase. Problem is that this makes certain builds, namely glass cannons... shockingly useless. So I don't like it that much, it's more that it's an interesting change of pace. That's generally what I really like about Shadow of Valentia's gameplay. And enemies aren't that numerous, so positioning right to ensure your softer units can only take one hit isn't always that difficult. The increased range with thunder and mage rings etc helps glass cannons later in the game. 30 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said: Who the fuck drew this? What were they told this was for!? ...Moving on though, ignoring the cheesecake so cheesecake-y it could've been used to smuggle her a file for the bars... ...The voice acting here is pretty great. Though I have to wonder what specifically Fernand means when he describes Zofia as “the proud kingdom whose riches fell to wild and ignorant savages”. He could be talking about either Rigel (which makes no sense since he's now joined them proudly) or the general encroachment of the peasantry upon the upper class caused by the Deliverance (a biiiiiig stretch). Both confuse me greatly. Fernand reveals that he has a thing for Mathilda, but apparently not enough of a thing to try and help her escape in any way. Makes me wonder why he even talked to her. I mean he's not even trying to do that pathetic and unbelievably shitty thing of “I'll convince them to let you go if you marry me” or some shit like that. Why's he even here? This seems both painful and pointless for him. Well at least its Ferdenand doing something to justify his continued existence, unlike Slayde who is in the void right now. 30 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said: ...Okay, so, I'm gonna have to check out if Delthea actually has warp magic. It'd be weird if you can get it without permanently surrendering your soul, given that's supposed to be the whole point of witches. They don't get any other fancy magic, just teleportation. But if Delthea has it from something that's temporary, what's the point of sacrificing your soul? They treat it weirdly. Both Sonya and Delthea, the characters who were witches as enemies in Gaiden (neither of them are witches in Shadows of Valentia and I don't think Sonya even has warp as an enemy) get the warp spell as allies, but they learn it at a really, really high level. One I think most players are unlikely to see. 30 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said: Anyway, let's check out the castle and then be done for the day. So we find a steel sword, and then Alessio the merchant, who gives us... ...Fuck, we don't have 30 silver marks? Really? Damn it. Guess I'll have to scrounge some up somehow. I could've sworn we got a silver wallet after the forging session... ...But ooh, a pegasus cheese! That's for Kliff for sure. Aaaand... the Royal Sword. Which apparently... was taken all the way here... despite the fact that it seems almost literally immovable in the hands of anyone without royal blood. And Alm promptly lifts it successfully. The fact that these characters do not immediately have an hour-long discussion about the world-shattering revelations this implies... is psychotic. They actually somehow manage to be like “But... WHAT COULD THIS POSSIBLY MEAN!?” And Alm convinces himself it's just an old myth, despite accepting that he's the only person who can use the thing. So I think I might have mentioned it before, but I'll say it again here now that we're at this point. I really think they should have put up a red herring here to have the characters think Alm is one of Lima's bastards. The Rudolf connections are just as blatant in Gaiden, but with the more minamilist syle that lacks reactions to it let's it work as actual necessary information to not make the plot twist seem super random, but here when characters are actually expected to react to it, it does make them seem like idiots. But him being Lima's bastard is a completely logical, but also completely wrong, deduction. So it'd serve as an excellent red herring (well it would without Desiax's outright spoilers). And it would make Alm reevalute his feelings towards Lima and maybe think more on Celica's comments about royalty if he seroiusly considers the possibility that he does have connection to the monarchy he derided. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acacia Sgt Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 (edited) 24 minutes ago, Jotari said: Well Marth thinks Linde is a boy when he first meets her as a slave. So while that is an example of a female slave, she was meant to be a boy as fat as the system was viewing her. To be fair, Linde was disguising herself as one, but yeah, she had seemingly fooled everyone until revealing herself of otherwise. 24 minutes ago, Jotari said: They treat it weirdly. Both Sonya and Delthea, the characters who were witches as enemies in Gaiden (neither of them are witches in Shadows of Valentia and I don't think Sonya even has warp as an enemy) get the warp spell as allies, but they learn it at a really, really high level. One I think most players are unlikely to see I've always headcanon for Delthea is like "residue" of almost being turned into a witch. She loses Teleportation, but eventually is able to re-learn it of sorts as Rewarp. She already has having powerful magic due to her bloodline going on for her, so I can see this explaining why. Alternatively, Rewarp was something she could've learned regardless, which got brought out momentarily when she was being subjected to Tatarrah's mind control. Sonya's own Rewarp, as well as Entrap... well, she is Jedah's daughter... Also, bit of a convolution to have two separate spells to warp allies and enemies to you (Rescue and Entrap). Pft, spells with IFF... Edited June 16, 2021 by Acacia Sgt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jotari Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Seazas said: This idea never ceases to be kind of absurd the more I hear of it. Making Berkut win and somehow not killing Alm despite Berkut having murderous intentions would make him even more incompetent and an even bigger idiot all around. Alm losing and not dying is already bullshit but someone like Berkut winning and it ultimately not mattering is kind of... trash. Why would that be a good idea? Literally everyone would just complain for different reasons. The fanbase already can't stand the usage of "I must retreat from a fatal blow, I cannot fall here!". Why do another one despite Berkut winning and would absolutely shove a lance in Alm's heart? Berkut is ruthless lmao, it'd directly be breaking character and would just leave plot holes to make him win. ? What are you even talking about. It's the way the scene is paced. We don't get that CG until Zeke brings the mark up, so I guess I assumed Alm took the gloves off to show him, but he somehow managed to notice before. If he didn't and Alm was just walking around gloveless for absolutely no reason then that's still a bit on the odd side as we never see him gloveless in any other artwork or model. It was never really all that smart a design decision to give a character a mark on their hand while also having them wear full armour. I guess one option would have been to not have Alm in his armour here and just show him off in just the undershirt for village exploration to suggest the brand is easily visible when he's not in battle. 1 hour ago, Maof06 said: Manga Mathilda 1993 While we're bringing it up, Novel Mathilda and Desaix, I think also 1993 Edited June 16, 2021 by Jotari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acacia Sgt Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 3 minutes ago, Jotari said: It's the way the scene is paced. We don't get that CG until Zeke brings the mark up, so I guess I assumed Alm took the gloves off to show him, but he somehow managed to notice before. If he didn't and Alm was just walking around gloveless for absolutely no reason then that's still a bit on the odd side. It was never really all that smart a design decision to give a character a mark on their hand while also having them wear full armour. I guess one option would have been to not have Alm in his armour here and just show him off in just the undershirt for village explanation to suggest the brand is easily visible. This reminds me. You brought up the novel picture where it's on his arm... and at least in the translated script on Serenes, it alsos says arm, not hand. But then, even Gaiden!Alm has fully covered arms, so... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jotari Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said: This reminds me. You brought up the novel picture where it's on his arm... and at least in the translated script on Serenes, it alsos says arm, not hand. But then, even Gaiden!Alm has fully covered arms, so... I think, though I'm not sure, that in Japanese the word used is ambiguous. There's not as strict a distinction between arm and hand. So it could have been either. Though funnily enough I do think the Gaiden script actually specifies that it's his right arm, while in Shadows of Valentia it's his left. I am a lefty so I'm majorly bias towards making him one too though XD I also have to say why the novels positioning for it and the associated armour makes more sense, it being on Alm and Celica's hands respectively does look reasonably cool when using Scendscale and Ragnarok Omega. Also while we're talking about brands on hands, I might as well bring up Michaiah's vanishing brand Edited June 16, 2021 by Jotari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acacia Sgt Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Jotari said: I think, though I'm not sure, that in Japanese the word used is ambiguous. There's not as strict a distinction between arm and hand. So it could have been either. Though funnily enough I do think the Gaiden script actually specifies that it's his right arm, while in Shadows of Valentia it's his left. I am a lefty so I'm majorly bias towards making him one too though XD I also have to say why the novels positioning for it and the associated armour makes more sense, it being on Alm and Celica's hands respectively does look reasonably cool when using Scendscale and Ragnarok Omega. At least the side switch is because they decided to make him a lefty. As someone who is also one, that's good to see, heh. Made up for Link being turned right-handed as of late. To be fair, in both manga and novel, Alm has exposed arms, so... Oh wow, only now I'm noticing Micaiah's brand looks like a Heron... pft... XD Edited June 16, 2021 by Acacia Sgt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jotari Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 (edited) 7 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said: At least the side switch is because they decided to make him a lefty. As someone who is also one, that's good to see, heh. Made up for Link being turned right-handed as of late. To be fair, in both manga and novel, Alm has exposed arms, so... Oh wow, only now I'm noticing Micaiah's brand looks like a Heron... pft... XD Manga!Alm wears short sleeves and no gloves at several points, but doesn't seem to have any mark at all. So they didn't pay attention to detail on that front. I thought there was one brief panel with Zeke just acknowledging he exists, but having a quick scan through the manga looking for it and I can't find it. So maybe they removed Zeke entirely. Though it does mention Rigelians changing sides. Also while we're at this part of the story, Manga!Alm executes a Desaix that's pleading for his life and then the Zofian army proceeds to literally butcher him. I can't see Shadows of Valentia Alm or just Shadows of Valentia in general ever going that brutal XD Edited June 16, 2021 by Jotari Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltosian Kadath Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 On 6/15/2021 at 10:18 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said: This is speculative, but here goes: Rudolf would rebut Alm's claims of Rigelian princehood as a lie, an attempt to justify the Zofian invasion post-facto. There's no way the Rigelian army would abandon their king en masse for the invader who forced them to their knees. Anyway, I'd say Rudolf is too strong of ability and conviction to be taken alive. If he loses his lance, he'll continue to fight with his fists. And so long as he lives, the armies of Rigel will oppose Alm, thus forcing Alm (or one among his army) to take his life. Sure this is all speculation (and I even have some counter speculation in the spoiler block below), but Alm doesn't try to avoid this fate, even while feeling conflicted on the battle's eve. There are multiple times where Alm ponders mysteries key to this conflict, and instead of seeking out the answers to them, he presses on, despite how important even he sees they are to this conflict. Spoiler Rudolf's plan involves letting Rigel fall into Alm's lap with his death, so I doubt he would dispute the claim. The philosophy of Rigel is always about the strong, and Alm's successes against Rigel make a compelling argument that he is the one in a position of strength that might draw many in. As for Rudolf's convictions, his unwillingness to attack Alm shows a weakness in him. If this were about testing Alm as you postulated here On 6/15/2021 at 4:35 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said: Rudolf was insistent on being defeated by Alm, so that Alm proves he has the ability to stop Duma. Or something dumb like that. why doesn't he test Alm by fighting back? 6 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said: They could overpower Berkut so he's almost impossible to beat, but in a game with grinding, I don't know if that's something they can guarantee (consider, plenty of people beat Desaix's double). Beating Desaix's double is less about grinding, and more about taking advantage of that 1 damage minimum... 2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said: So she says that she wasn't shaken about fighting real people, and was just “saying what [she] was thinking”, which... makes no sense. If she was saying what she was thinking, and she was talking about all that... then that means she was thinking all that... ...This feels... like something got mistranslated. It makes a fair bit of sense to me, Mae was talking about the transitory thoughts she had in the moment, but by now it has passed. It shows a contrast between Boey and Mae, Mae is focused on the moment, while Boey on the long term. 2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said: Anyway, back to Alm. I use the wait command to get those cavalry reinforcements out into the open and fight them. This is... a big platoon. It feels kinda ridiculous to just arbitrarily slap that on top of a pre-existing battle if you time things wrong. Smart move, as those reinforcements are real dangerous if they get the chance to attack you instead of the other way around. 2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said: ...The voice acting here is pretty great. Though I have to wonder what specifically Fernand means when he describes Zofia as “the proud kingdom whose riches fell to wild and ignorant savages”. He could be talking about either Rigel (which makes no sense since he's now joined them proudly) or the general encroachment of the peasantry upon the upper class caused by the Deliverance (a biiiiiig stretch). Both confuse me greatly. Another alternative answer is the banditry problem that has been left to fester in Zofia, although I find the peasantry answer most likely given Fernand's hangups with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shanty Pete's 1st Mate Posted June 16, 2021 Share Posted June 16, 2021 31 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Sure this is all speculation (and I even have some counter speculation in the spoiler block below), but Alm doesn't try to avoid this fate, even while feeling conflicted on the battle's eve. There are multiple times where Alm ponders mysteries key to this conflict, and instead of seeking out the answers to them, he presses on, despite how important even he sees they are to this conflict. Regarding the stuff in the spoiler tag: Spoiler The Rigelian philosophy isn't purely "strength above all". If that were the case, an Alm who killed Zeke would be welcomed into the Rigelian Village as a hero. He was strong enough to prevail over two generals, so he must be great, right? No - the people recall the kindness of Zeke, and spurn his killer. Maybe it's different in the military, you might say. And I'd agree it is - but there still, a premium price is paid to nobility. Fernand found a kindred spirit in Berkut, a person who valued others by their birth moreso than their abilities. As for why Rudolf didn't attack Alm? Perhaps, as you said, it was a weakness on the King's part. He wanted to attack Alm, but couldn't bring himself to bring harm to his own son. Or it could be viewed within the greater scheme - he wanted Alm, in particular, to be the standard-bearer against Duma, and didn't want an unlucky crit to ruin that. Hard to say - I think there's certainly a case that having Rudolf attack Alm would be better thematically, but it could go either way. 40 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: Beating Desaix's double is less about grinding, and more about taking advantage of that 1 damage minimum... That, and manipulating Slayde's AI. Still, excessive grinding can make the battle itself less tedious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastor15243 Posted June 17, 2021 Author Share Posted June 17, 2021 (edited) So, apparently Dark Deity dropped. I played some today. If you guys wanna know my immediate first impressions: *Music ranges from mediocre to abysmal *Gameplay feels like a verrrrrry different beast than Fire Emblem, at least right now. Everyone, ally and enemy but mostly ally, is way, way harder to kill, and the idea of keeping units out of harm's way seems to be borderline impossible. *The game feels kinda overcomplicated, but that may just be me needing to adjust. The fact that everyone has four different weapons constantly instinctually feels like overcomplicated pointlessness to me, but we'll see. Far more alarming are things like the percentage-based type effectiveness against various armor types, which threaten to make calculating what'll happen on enemy-phase... profoundly annoying. *Enemy range highlighting is available, but it's worse than not only the 3DS version, but also the DS version too. Not only is there only one color for individual and group highlighting, it doesn't save your individual highlighting selections if you turn on highlight all. Also, if there's an equivalent to the red tint that usually indicates a unit is highlighted in FE, I haven't found it. Which can make it tricky to work out who exactly you're highlighting the range of. *The fact that the dev openly and proudly stated they refused to make permadeath an option on any customization setting has me very concerned about what this game is going to look like when it gets hard. * Plot sounds promising. The characters seem hit or miss, but I'd say I like the cast okay. I wish I had more positive to say, but I just haven't found it so far. Edited June 17, 2021 by Alastor15243 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seazas Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 (edited) 5 hours ago, Jotari said: It's the way the scene is paced. We don't get that CG until Zeke brings the mark up, so I guess I assumed Alm took the gloves off to show him, but he somehow managed to notice before. If he didn't and Alm was just walking around gloveless for absolutely no reason then that's still a bit on the odd side as we never see him gloveless in any other artwork or model. It was never really all that smart a design decision to give a character a mark on their hand while also having them wear full armour. I guess one option would have been to not have Alm in his armour here and just show him off in just the undershirt for village exploration to suggest the brand is easily visible when he's not in battle. While we're bringing it up, Novel Mathilda and Desaix, I think also 1993 To be fair, Zeke noticing Alm's mark implies he already had his sleeves up; for whatever reason it was (Alm trying to cool off or whatever else he was doing), Echoes at least had it where there's a CG for Alm's mark being exposed than it being out of nowhere like in Gaiden. Edited June 17, 2021 by Seazas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jotari Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 6 hours ago, Seazas said: To be fair, Zeke noticing Alm's mark implies he already had his sleeves up; for whatever reason it was (Alm trying to cool off or whatever else he was doing), Echoes at least had it where there's a CG for Alm's mark being exposed than it being out of nowhere like in Gaiden. I cant really agree. I think the CG just draws attention to the fact that it's so hard to see with Alm's standard design and brings up questions of how it happened. If it just happens in dialogue without the CG then there's a lower layer of verisimilitude that allows me to imagine the characters as presented in a different way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastor15243 Posted June 17, 2021 Author Share Posted June 17, 2021 Shadows of Valentia Day 18: Backtracking for Promotions My body decided it wanted to pump not-sleep juice into my brain until 4 in the morning last night, I've got like two hours to do this, and then it'll be a few more hours this afternoon of playing Dark Deity, a game I feel more obligated to play than actually interested in playing at this stage. Yaaaaaaay. Let's go. Celica doesn't have much of a gap between her and the next town. Just a single graveyard. And now I've got some pegasisters to train. Fighting zombies. All with, as usual, ridiculously high HP and pretty garbage everything else. Ah yes, and now we run into poison weapons, which take away a flat 10 HP at the start of your turn. I'm assuming non-lethal, but still... worrying. At least it hit Celica, who has a regeneration effect that slows it down. Catria got skill, speed and defense for her level up. Very encouraging! And the battle's over. A cantor shows up from Mila temple, which promises to be annoying. But anyway, I make it to the village, and... ...It's kinda weird how Alm only ever runs into pro-war NPCs, and Celica is the only one who ever runs into anti-war NPCs. The only NPCs I've ever seen who think the Deliverance fighting Rigel is a bad idea are people Celica talks to, it's kinda weird. I get the idea of them wanting NPC talk to reflect the attitudes of the players, but... wouldn't it be more interesting if they ran into people who opposed their way of thinking? Though admittedly that would be a hard sell, given that from here on out we explicitly run exclusively into people we're freeing from Rigel's clutches. I guess in a way it kinda makes sense that the only anti-war people we run into are on the side of the continent with the least to gain from it. So I just found the “trade in” thing at the forge, and I'm noticing there are some pretty damned lame exchange rates, especially for one-of-a-kind items like the blessed sword. But apparently the exotic spice I picked up with Alm can be traded in for gold marks, so guess I'll be doing that when I come back to Alm in a sec. At any rate, I upgraded the golden dagger to level 3 since that was cheap, and also turned a rusty shield into an iron one. Ah yes, the lumberjack in need of a new axe. I'll see if I can find one. I know you can give him the devil axe with no consequences, but that seems... amazingly dickish. And also, the woman with the missing son who went off to a nearby dungeon to try and use the revival spring there to bring back his dad. Unfortunately for her, her son's already dead, and we'll be finding his corpse in that dungeon. Speaking of said dungeon... ...So, there's something pretty hilarious about this. So, perplexingly, the game gives you a choice of where to go first. You can go north, which is really dangerous for your current level and to my knowledge doesn't give many advantages for being done first, or go east, to do the Grieth's Citadel story arc the game expects you to do, and get several characters. Thing is, Palla and Catria have no interest in helping you if you don't go straight to Grieth's Citadel. If you go north before recruiting Est, they'll instantly ditch your party after the battle. Even if one of them died during that battle, and even though you're on your way to the magic fountain that can bring her back to life. But yeah, time to recruit Atlas. He wants revenge on Grieth for killing his friends and family. He's a level 10 villager with no stats of any value besides HP and strength, so obviously we'll be making him a mercenary before maybe converting him to something else at the end of the game if we can. Anyway, we talk to a man who wants dried shieldfish, which we have, so we get a pegasus cheese. Awesome. I think I'll be sending this to Alm's side, since Celica has no access to the cheese merchant nor anyone in particular need of one more speed. They talk about the sluice gate in the Mila Temple only opening for the royal family, and that makes it sound magical, but... no, from what I remember, it's just some crazy guy in charge of opening it who will refuse to do so under orders from anyone else, and he'll refuse to do it even when the fate of the country is at stake. Also, none of the Rigelian invaders bothered him at all when they took over the place. And there's a peddler, and I give him the pegasus cheese like I just said. The cantor makes a beeline for our location, meaning we have to either wait for him or... ...Actually no I'm gonna see what getting ambushed is like with this. OH WOW, REAL CLASSY GAME. NOT ONLY DOES THE ENEMY GO FIRST, BUT WE DON'T EVEN GET TO USE THE PREP SCREEN!? Thankfully, we get a lucky crit from Leon (which gets him an HP, attack, skill and defense level up) that makes it really easy to finish him off quickly before this becomes a pain in the ass. Honestly, the reinforcements from the enemy lairs are annoying as all hell. Especially when you have to move somewhere behind you and multiple of them are moving at the same time. But yeah, I headed back and made Atlas a mercenary. Alright, time to return to Alm for a bit. We've got a battle with a paladin troop, and then we'll have a cave. Awesome. That'll be where Kliff promotes. But first, speaking of Kliff... ...Let's see if we can give more than one pegasus cheese to the cheese lover before deciding what to do about this second one we now have. ...Nope, looks like he's gone after the one pegasus cheese. Alright, then I'll save this for a post-promotion Kliff. Alright, time to use this opportunity to train Alm, Clive and Mathilda. Apparently the Rion shield was in Desaix's fortress and I missed it? Lemme check... So I get a chat with Kliff, and he thinks that Celica keeping all of her secrets bottled up and away from her friends is selfish, judging others implicitly by not thinking they can handle the information they're hiding. That's... uh... an interesting take on things, shall we say...? ...Ah yes, so I didn't miss it. A soldier who wasn't here before shows up to say the shield wound up getting sold to Grieth. Ah yes. That'll explain why I remember it being there. Thankfully, during all of that, no reinforcements came from the gate. Let's do this. Again. So, using a combination of rescue and warp (I had to restart because I misjudged the spot Alm would be rescued to), I manage to get Alm onto the lone forest tile by all these cavalry. Hopefully that'll let him handle all of them without issue between his self-healing and physic and the entire supermarket of food he's lugging around in his hammerspace bag. I'm especially eager to get Alm trained up with the royal sword so he can use double lion, one of the best combat arts in the game. ...Given the royal sword's crazy crit rate, I think this is going to be a breeze even against the enemies he can't double. Unfortunately Alm only gets one stat from his level, and it isn't the speed I was hoping for. It was defense however, which is pretty well-appreciated. Faye unlocked the saint class change! Kickass! I think I might step back to reclass her and Kliff at the end of this battle. Kliff's also looking like he'll hit promotion level. Ah yes, and Clive and Mathilda get their first support. It is simultaneously the cringiest and most adorable thing I've seen in a while. Kliff's final level up as a sniper boosts skill, speed, luck, and defense. Kliff's luck is seventeen, which is frankly ridiculous, but at least this point it's harder to resent when he's gotten good stats elsewhere. Yeah, I think I've reached the point where Kliff has conclusively become a badass. Alm's second level up is attack, skill, speed, luck, and defense. I swear, every single four or more level up I get seems to have skill and luck in it. It's crazy how those stats so frequently seem to take priority, but at this point, I think my army's at a point where it's not a big deal. Unfortunately this trek back to the Deliverance hideout (the only shrine Alm has access to where the enemies are easily skippable) summons a sorcerer I'll have to deal with. Man I wish this game didn't mandatorily shove free exp down your throat. A casual talk with Clair has her rather adorably awkwardly insinuate she's jealous of Celica's relationship with Alm, and then she just basically goes “Hey, you and Celica really have that main character aura around you”. If she's talking about them both acting like nobility... uh... no, I don't see it with Alm, especially since he's oblivious to it and was raised in a village. As a saint, Faye gets 8 more HP and one more move, as well as seraphim and an AOE recovery effect and I think hazardous terrain immunity? ...Yep! Alright. Now for Kliff. +8 HP (bringing him to forty HP), and +3 mov. Oh yeah. Kliff's a badass now alright. I'm so glad he got over that nasty beginning hump. He's still speed screwed for his level, but at this point it doesn't really matter. Especially after I give him the pegasus cheese. He'll be kicking ass and slaughtering mages all day. Woo! Pegasus cheese increases speed by 2! For some reason I thought it only did it by one! But amusingly apparently Kliff hates the taste of it. Force it down, buddy, it's good for you. Alright. With that established... I'm ready to kick some dungeon ass tomorrow. But for today, I've gotta finish up. Stay safe, everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltosian Kadath Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said: Thing is, Palla and Catria have no interest in helping you if you don't go straight to Grieth's Citadel. If you go north before recruiting Est, they'll instantly ditch your party after the battle. I will add that Atlas also leaves if you head north... 3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said: But yeah, time to recruit Atlas. He wants revenge on Grieth for killing his friends and family. He's a level 10 villager with no stats of any value besides HP and strength, so obviously we'll be making him a mercenary before maybe converting him to something else at the end of the game if we can. I generally prefer him as an archer. Good luck pulling off the loop (and getting him into the class you want), its a lot of levels to get through with 1 range infantry. I've never pulled off a loop (and getting to a class I want) before postgame, but I usually don't focus on that either. 3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said: OH WOW, REAL CLASSY GAME. NOT ONLY DOES THE ENEMY GO FIRST, BUT WE DON'T EVEN GET TO USE THE PREP SCREEN!? They also get the first turn, making high move enemies very dangerous... 3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said: Unfortunately this trek back to the Deliverance hideout (the only shrine Alm has access to where the enemies are easily skippable) summons a sorcerer I'll have to deal with. Man I wish this game didn't mandatorily shove free exp down your throat. I am kinda surprised you didn't promote them at the dungeon you are about to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastor15243 Posted June 17, 2021 Author Share Posted June 17, 2021 6 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: I am kinda surprised you didn't promote them at the dungeon you are about to start. I didn't know how deep into the dungeon the shrine would be. 7 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: I generally prefer him as an archer. Good luck pulling off the loop (and getting him into the class you want), its a lot of levels to get through with 1 range infantry. I've never pulled off a loop (and getting to a class I want) before postgame, but I usually don't focus on that either. I actually managed the loop for him on my first run. It was crazy how dominant he became after reclassing to cavalier with a dread fighter's stats. Even with his terrible growth rates he quickly became out of control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Mir Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 10 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said: They also get the first turn, making high move enemies very dangerous... Something I am all too familiar with, given that I've had my fair share of issues thanks to reinforcements ambushing me... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etrurian emperor Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 On 6/16/2021 at 8:35 PM, Seazas said: Why would that be a good idea? I said why its a good idea. Because it would save Berkut from being the absolute loser he is currently. I don't think it would be particularly problematic. It would hardly be the first time a FE main character lives despite being defeated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acacia Sgt Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 To be fair, that's kinda by design. He's meant to have that losing streak leading to him despairing enough to the point of sacrificing Rinea so he could finally beat Alm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottservia Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 On 6/15/2021 at 4:19 PM, Jotari said: Sounds like a "My uncle works at Nintendo" story. If it were true I think it's be pretty common knowledge among the community. People have certainly argued enough about Shadows of Valentia's plot for it to be ample ammo. On 6/15/2021 at 3:56 PM, Sunwoo said: So ... there's something I heard from one of my friends who was also on SF and knows way more about FE than I do. I believe she said something how somehow who worked on SoV (director, head writer, someone?) is a known sexist. And if that's true, that explains a lot about Celica's ... everything, and even Faye. I know that the female characters having to be saved is a carryover from the original Gaiden, but apparently Celica is just kind of bad even more so in some cases. And Faye ... oh, Faye. I actually don't dislike her as much as some of the other obsessive characters, but why did they have to do her dirty like that. Given what we do know of Kusakihara it wouldn’t necessarily surprise me. Especially considering he’s likely the one who wrote the SS route in 3H where one of the primary purposes of the route was to flesh out the relationship between Rhea and Byleth but Rhea is relegated to just a damsel in distress. And to my knowledge it’s the only route you can S-support her. He’s also the one responsible for the new character additions in SoV as well most likely which uhh yeah. Also from what I hear, there was actually a lot of mysoginistic dialogue in the jp version of the game that was cut in localization though I don’t know too much about that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastor15243 Posted June 17, 2021 Author Share Posted June 17, 2021 Just now, Ottservia said: Also from what I hear, there was actually a lot of mysoginistic dialogue in the jp version of the game that was cut in localization though I don’t know too much about that Do you at least remember where you heard it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottservia Posted June 17, 2021 Share Posted June 17, 2021 Just now, Alastor15243 said: Do you at least remember where you heard it? Unfortunately no all I heard that there was problematic dialogue on Celica’s route that 8-4 changed in the localization process. I might look into it later though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.