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

[Acacia Sgt]

3 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I have a thread

 

It's still permissible? It's beyond the first page and more than a month old, so it'd be Necroposting. But it's also in the Project pages, where I think it is excepted... but mostly for the thread creators.

Edited July 13, 2021 by Acacia Sgt

[Jotari]

2 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

It's still permissible? It's beyond the first page and more than a month old, so it'd be Necroposting. But it's also in the Project pages, where I think it is excepted... but mostly for the thread creators.

I edited more into my previous post. I really don't think you have much to actually say, but if you want to then go for it, admins aren't going to lock a thread a user updates because someone else comments on it.

[Acacia Sgt]

4 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I edited more into my previous post. I really don't think you have much to actually say, but if you want to then go for it, admins aren't going to lock a thread a user updates because someone else comments on it.

I'm always on eggshells when it comes to following the Code of Conduct.

I saw. Ultimately that was basically it. My argument never boiled down more than agreeing it is G&S Segregation when it comes to Zeke and Jerome. What we've been doing is me thinking your system of gauging overall series power levels by taking the gameplay systems and making averages out of them isn't as accurate as you think it is. That's a different subject from the other one, which is why I suggested to take this elsewhere.

Edited July 13, 2021 by Acacia Sgt

[Jotari]

4 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I'm always on eggshells when it comes to following the Code of Conduct.

I saw. Ultimately that was basically it. My argument never boiled down more than agreeing it is G&S Segregation when it comes to Zeke and Jerome. What we've been doing is me thinking your system of gauging overall series power levels by taking the gameplay systems and making averages out of them isn't as accurate as you think it is. That's a different subject from the other one, which is why I suggested to take this elsewhere.

Of course I agree gameplay and story segregation exists. I literally said as much on my first post on the subject. It doesn't mean we can't compare stats for fun. I'd say with how reputable Camus is in Archanea he probably is stronger than Jerome in canon. By Alastor has a point that Rigel's larger martial focus means someone like Jerome could actually be stronger, it's not impossible. Ultimately we'll never know, doesn't mean we can't bring up points for and against and use gameplay to argue over it.

[Acacia Sgt]

Just now, Jotari said:

Of course I agree gameplay and story segregation exists. I literally said as much on my first post on the subject. It doesn't mean we can't compare stats for fun. I'd say with how reputable Camus is in Archanea he probably is stronger than Jerome in canon. By Alastor has a point that Rigel's larger martial focus means someone like Jerome could actually be stronger, it's not impossible. Ultimately we'll never know, doesn't mean we can't bring up points for and against and use gameplay to argue over it.

Exactly. You did, I had something to say about your system, that's all.

[Jotari]

20 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Exactly. You did, I had something to say about your system, that's all.

Sure, but your points about stat caps was pure nonsense. Stat caps are an arbitrarily limit on growths that most characters never reach in most games and have no bearing on comparing either gameplay strength or canonical strength. They don't determine how much potential a character have and how what percentage they've made towards the cap has no bearing on their gameplay (outside of some very niche scenarios like Radiant Dawn BEXP levelling strategies).

Edited July 13, 2021 by Jotari

[Acacia Sgt]

26 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Sure, but your points about stat caps was pure nonsense. Stat caps are an arbitrarily limit on growths that most characters never reach in most games and have no bearing on comparing either gameplay strength or canonical strength. They don't determine how much potential a character have and how what percentage they've made towards the cap has no bearing on their gameplay (outside of some very niche scenarios like Radiant Dawn BEXP levelling strategies).

Levels are more arbitrary than caps, and it is what you're using instead. Still, they in fact do. Caps represent the absolute max their bodies can reach. In fact, SoV does best to represent this, by having level up quotes differ when characters are already capped, or close to.

[Etrurian emperor]

3 hours ago, Jotari said:

And it was never meant to be a canonical assesment. Obviously stats don't always reflect canonical power. Kurthnaga is probably canonically the strongest playable character in Radiant Dawn, but his stats aren't all that impressive even when trained.

I'm not so sure actually. Kurth is intimidating for sure but he's also a gigantic wuss. Youth(despite being in his 100's), inexperience, fear of blood and his general meekness would logically all hinder him in a fight. In fact without a pep talk from Ike he's even completely unable to step on the battlefield.  Kurth might be a dragon but he also seems a particularly tiny dragon. I think the royals and even the stronger beorc's such as Ike should be able to handle the boy well enough.

I always assumed Kurth was an Est to highlight that despite having the raw power to blow up a castle wall he has no idea how to actually handle himself in combat. He prefers to hide behind Michy's skirt in part 1 and when finally taking the field in part 3 he's incredibly panicky about it. Even if Kurth has raw power I'd probably put him below even Ena and arguably as among the weaker dragons. 

Edited July 13, 2021 by Etrurian emperor

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

30 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

I'm not so sure actually. Kurth is intimidating for sure but he's also a gigantic wuss. Youth(despite being in his 100's), inexperience, fear of blood and his general meekness would logically all hinder him in a fight. In fact without a pep talk from Ike he's even completely unable to step on the battlefield.  Kurth might be a dragon but he also seems a particularly tiny dragon. I think the royals and even the stronger beorc's such as Ike should be able to handle the boy well enough.

I always assumed Kurth was an Est to highlight that despite having the raw power to blow up a castle wall he has no idea how to actually handle himself in combat. He prefers to hide behind Michy's skirt in part 1 and when finally taking the field in part 3 he's incredibly panicky about it. Even if Kurth has raw power I'd probably put him below even Ena and arguably as among the weaker dragons. 

There's a difference between "strength" and "ability to win a fight". Kurth has a ton of raw power by birthright, but neither the will to fight, nor the focus to constrain his attacks. If he had the latter two, he could probably defeat any other playable character. Excepting (perhaps) the Laguz royals and promoted Ike.

re: Camus vs. Zeke - It's possible that Zeke was in a somewhat weakened state, due to his transoceanic voyage. He's had time to recover, sure, but perhaps not fully. This would also fit with his appearance as Sirioo - while he's strong for when he joins, he's definitely weaker than the Zeke we recruit in Echoes. Who knows? By the time he returns to Tatiana, he'll be lucky to have any stats in the double-digits.

[Alastor15243]

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

There's a difference between "strength" and "ability to win a fight". Kurth has a ton of raw power by birthright, but neither the will to fight, nor the focus to constrain his attacks. If he had the latter two, he could probably defeat any other playable character. Excepting (perhaps) the Laguz royals and promoted Ike.

re: Camus vs. Zeke - It's possible that Zeke was in a somewhat weakened state, due to his transoceanic voyage. He's had time to recover, sure, but perhaps not fully. This would also fit with his appearance as Sirioo - while he's strong for when he joins, he's definitely weaker than the Zeke we recruit in Echoes. Who knows? By the time he returns to Tatiana, he'll be lucky to have any stats in the double-digits.

Could also explain why his growth rates are pretty dang high. He's not "training", he's regaining his pre-existing bearings.

[Jotari]

11 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

I'm always on eggshells when it comes to following the Code of Conduct.

I saw. Ultimately that was basically it. My argument never boiled down more than agreeing it is G&S Segregation when it comes to Zeke and Jerome. What we've been doing is me thinking your system of gauging overall series power levels by taking the gameplay systems and making averages out of them isn't as accurate as you think it is. That's a different subject from the other one, which is why I suggested to take this elsewhere.

They don't represent that though. As to go back to Kurthnaga, he has far more potential strength than he ever displays with his caps in game. And there's absolutely no canonical suggestion that the Three Houses characters have unlocked less of their potential, or that the Thracia characters have unlocked more of theirs. Throw in units appearing in multiple games who cap stats naturally in, say, Path of Radiance, which only results in two increased points in Radiant Dawn and you have an outright implication that caps indicate far less than their maximum potential, which only continues to grow. Caps are an arbitrary limit placed on stats for gameplay purposes. They are not canonically suggesting that half the Thracia cast are swinging their weapons with exactly the same level of force when they hit 20 strength.

[ciphertul]

So as an outsider looking in on this, I have to say both side have merit and flaw. 

2 hours ago, Jotari said:

They don't represent that though. As to go back to Kurthnaga, he has far more potential strength than he ever displays with his caps in game.

I feel this hurts your point more then helps it, while the mechanics of the game make Kurth weaker then he should be, TH make Lysithea stronger then she should be. While in the story she is very weak in the strength department but she is strong enough to body check and move a fortress knight. Ilyana has a close physical size to Lysithea but can't replicate that action, she can't shove Gatre while Lysithea could. So then using your method how does Ilyana and Lysithea match up? Ilyana is rather fairly like to hit her cap Str of 24 while Lysithea is rather unlikely to hit her base cap of 30. You know like @Acacia Sgt said, in Tellius Str to weight is 1:1 but Foldan has 5:1. Ilyana can't even budge Garte but Hades is nothing more then popup book to her.

On the point of average stat comparison while it works in argument form and I think it work well enough here, the biggest issue with it is that it can't factor in the overwhelming amount of variables that exist in FE. Unless a unit has 100% or 0% growth then there is no guarantee that they reach those averages. Your comparison is weaken, at least in my mind, by the fact that what if one side gets heavily blessed or RNG-screwed?

11 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Could also explain why his growth rates are pretty dang high. He's not "training", he's regaining his pre-existing bearings.

As per my last point, maybe all his levels where rng-screw? High growth don't always equal high stats.

Edited July 14, 2021 by ciphertul

[Jotari]

43 minutes ago, ciphertul said:

So as an outsider looking in on this, I have to say both side have merit and flaw. 

I feel this hurts your point more then helps it, while the mechanics of the game make Kurth weaker then he should be, TH make Lysithea stronger then she should be. While in the story she is very weak in the strength department but she is strong enough to body check and move a fortress knight. Ilyana has a close physical size to Lysithea but can't replicate that action, she can't shove Gatre while Lysithea could. So then using your method how does Ilyana and Lysithea match up? Ilyana is rather fairly like to hit her cap Str of 24 while Lysithea is rather unlikely to hit her base cap of 30. You know like @Acacia Sgt said, in Tellius Str to weight is 1:1 but Foldan has 5:1. Ilyana can't even budge Garte but Hades is nothing more then popup book to her.

My argument is that stats are a gameplay mechanic and have no bearing on how powerful characters actually are in canon (with Kurthnaga being the prime example). So I don't think that hurts it at all. Also no, Ilyana is very unlikely to hit her strength cap. Her average 20/20 strength is half of her cap (which puts her in the same boat as Dimitri who only gets half way to his strength cap, and Ilyana is nowhere near as strong as Dimitri).

EDIT: I notice you're talking about Radiant Dawn Ilyana and not Path of Radiance Ilyana. But if anything that just furthers my point. Nothing in canon suggests Ilyana literally doubled her physical strength and reached her peak physical aptitude between games.

Quote

On the point of average stat comparison while it works in argument form and I think it work well enough here, the biggest issue with it is that it can't factor in the overwhelming amount of variables that exist in FE. Unless a unit has 100% or 0% growth then there is no guarantee that they reach those averages. Your comparison is weaken, at least in my mind, by the fact that what if one side gets heavily blessed or RNG-screwed?

As per my last point, maybe all his levels where rng-screw? High growth don't always equal high stats.

Averages are how we talk about characters in Fire Emblem because that is the most likely scenario. That fact that on someone's playthrough somewhere their Jeigan got insanely rng blessed and leveled up every stat on every level up has no bearing on any discussions about Jeigan's worth as a unit. Rng blessing and screwing does happen, but it's irrelevant to discussion of worth because there's no way to make it happen.

Edited July 14, 2021 by Jotari

[ciphertul]

49 minutes ago, Jotari said:

My argument is that stats are a gameplay mechanic and have no bearing on how powerful characters actually are in canon (with Kurthnaga being the prime example). So I don't think that hurts it at all. Also no, Ilyana is very unlikely to hit her strength cap. Her average 20/20 strength is half of her cap (which puts her in the same boat as Dimitri who only gets half way to his strength cap, and Ilyana is nowhere near as strong as Dimitri).

EDIT: I notice you're talking about Radiant Dawn Ilyana and not Path of Radiance Ilyana. But if anything that just furthers my point. Nothing in canon suggests Ilyana literally doubled her physical strength and reached her peak physical aptitude between games.

Averages are how we talk about characters in Fire Emblem because that is the most likely scenario. That fact that on someone's playthrough somewhere their Jeigan got insanely rng blessed and leveled up every stat on every level up has no bearing on any discussions about Jeigan's worth as a unit. Rng blessing and screwing does happen, but it's irrelevant to discussion of worth because there's no way to make it happen.

Since you don't seem to understand what we are getting at, I challenge you to do this. Take each character at the stats and level they join with and level they to 60 with their base growth rates while disregarding promotion gains and stat caps. This give everyone a even playing field with the limit on stat ranges.

[Jotari]

29 minutes ago, ciphertul said:

Since you don't seem to understand what we are getting at, I challenge you to do this. Take each character at the stats and level they join with and level they to 60 with their base growth rates while disregarding promotion gains and stat caps. This give everyone a even playing field with the limit on stat ranges.

But that's not how stats work in their home games. Karel for one would turn into an absolutely insane monster of a unit, far more powerful than he's designed to be.

[ciphertul]

Just now, Jotari said:

But that's not how stats work in their home games. Karel for one would turn into an absolutely insane monster of a unit, far more powerful than he's designed to be.

Karel supposed to be, but this would gibe everyone a level field. try it and we will see how everyone stacks up.

 

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, ciphertul said:

Karel supposed to be, but this would gibe everyone a level field. try it and we will see how everyone stacks up.

 

No it wouldn't. Just the opposite, it give an extreme Karel bias. He was carefully made to balance his growths with only being one level off the cap and coming in the second-to-last chapter. All of his growths exceed 100%, so he can't really be screwed anyhow, those +2s would be unnecessary when everyone else struggles for a +1.

The Law of Large Numbers works against you. The more instances you roll probabilities, the more likely they are to align with the stated chances and not significantly deviate. A 40% growth rolled 5 million times will show itself to be closer to 40% more, than if it was rolled 20 times. And so it would be giving everyone 60 levels as opposed to the more typical 38 at most -likely less- of most FEs.

Not to mention that in practice, bases exist and matter and people have limited levels available to them. Even if PoR Bastian got Spd on every levelup, he would still hit 23 at most -which is not exactly fast- because starts with a shoddy 16 base and has but 7 levels to gain. You can't say "well give him more levels" when he simply can't grow anymore in PoR without hacking. Maybe it isn't "fair" that Bastian can't cap Spd, but it's the reality of PoR and unit comparisons don't exist in an infinite void.

Yes the RNG can in individual instances bless and curse, I know this. Yes, people should be able to use whoever they want, I wholeheartedly approve! But, it does not detract from more objective unit analysis carried out by dispassionate nerds who like crunching data in irrelevant collections of pixels and bytes called video games. Analysis intended to guide the average player through based on what is usually expectable, integrating bases, growths, base level, classes, weapon types, enemy stats and classes, map design, and other such criterion by which FE units are to be empirically judged as best as humanly possible.

Edited July 14, 2021 by Interdimensional Observer

[Alastor15243]

Shadows of Valentia Day 36: Back to Celica

Right, sorry about the interruption yesterday. Let's get going!

So yeah, Zeke says that while he's betrayed Rigel, he can't side with Alm either, and he talks about his amnesia and how much he owes to Emperor Rudolf.

“He raised me as a father would his own son”.

...That is a remarkably bizarre way for a grown man to describe someone he's known for less than a year.

And then...

uh...

...Alm's glove is off.

They don't make any explanation of why. No pretense of him washing his hands by the fountain. His gauntlet is just completely off when the CG shows up, so Zeke can see the special mark that Rudolf told him is on the hand of a man he should follow, “For that man is chosen. He shall save all of Rigel. And with it, all of Valentia.”

...I do not remotely envy the job of the writers who inherited this terrible plot point. The makers of Gaiden actually invented this ridiculous reason for Zeke to be motivated to help you... in order to solve a problem they literally just brought up moments before and which had no bearing on the story whatsoever. And all the writers could do was just try to make it sound cool.

I see a couple of wine bottles right outside this one guy's house and I have... concerns.

So we talk to a Rigelian who complains about the difference in quality of life between Rigel and Zofia, and... I wish this were actually shown rather than told. Honestly, this is probably one of the worst-realized plot points of the whole game, because we just never see the difference between the two nations. Their villages in each country look damned near identical. And I get that Mila's bounty is gone, but we never even see the signs of a nation that was once prosperous. Nothing to show the difference between a country that once had everything and is now in chaos and a country that never had anything and knows how to deal with it. Not the slightest indication of how much better Zofian peasants lived when they had damned near infinite food. Hell, we don't even get any indication that either country is doing poorly for food! We don't see a single barren field. Hell, we saw perfectly good food just randomly left around outside! We saw orange trees with oranges still on them. Like Jotari said, this is largely a failing of this remake, because the original game had a far bleaker Zofia due to what little art direction it had. Plus, they added in food as a game mechanic, and ironically gave you more than you could ever conceivably need just by finding it lying around.

Okay, so, I'm gonna move on to Celica, but before I do, I want to check out this turnwheel memory prism I forgot I got. “Memories of the Villa”.

The guy voicing Young Conrad sounds like Tiz's voice actor from Bravely Default.

...Hmmm... Bryce Papenbrook voiced Tiz... who voiced Conrad...?

...Yep! Bryce Papenbrook! At least Young Conrad anyway.

This is almost sickeningly saccharine, and yet I can't stop smiling.

Weird how these memories aren't placed in any sensible order on the menu at all. Not in chronological order, not in order of when you can first get them, not even the order in which you find them. They're just all over the goddamned place.

Whatever. Time to go back to Celica.

Okay, so we're tackling the Duma Gate, and I'm having Atlas deal with these witches to get him closer to rescue. God, his attack power with saggitae is absolutely bonkers.

I unlocked a support with Conrad and Celica, and only now do I realize the command for “support” is instead labeled “talk”, despite there not being any non-support talks in the game to my knowledge.

Wait, Conrad's still wearing his mask all the time here? Right, I mean, fair, at least they're not totally forgetting the reason why he wore it in the first place. But it's still pretty ridiculous that he talks all dramatically with the mask on when talking to people who know who he is.

Anyway, just one more insultingly short support that I have no doubt I will greatly miss after Three Houses drives me to madness and then carpools madness and me directly to hell.

Atlas is so freakishly strong that he can kill a dread fighter in one round with a crit.

This earthquake map attack is annoying, but I think I can handle this guy. Especially when Atlas has 5 range as a mage with the mage ring. Speaking of which, he's about ready to promote too, which is awesome.

Honestly, “annoying, but trivially easy to cheese” is pretty much the flavor of the game, isn't it?

Alright, on to fight Jedah. I wonder if I can actually beat him? I actually have some pretty damned strong guys, so maybe.

...Depending on whether it's every fourth round of combat, or every fourth attack... yes, it looks like I might. Atlas has just enough attack power that he can one-round Jedah with saggitae on turn one if I get three other guys to attack him first. That is insane. Oh hell yes, I'm going for it.

Let's do this.

So Celica outright admits she's still taking Jedah's bargain seriously, while she's closer to her allies than to Jedah, and there's no reaction or any indication they heard her. But Jedah says he's gonna fight her anyway because her friends weren't invited and are trespassing.

Celica: Gods, he's completely mad...

And yet you still give him your soul later.

Anyway...

...Yep! It's every fourth round of combat! So Atlas can get both saggitae shots off! WOO!

PFFFAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

YES!

FINALLY, I'VE BEATEN HIM! THE DRACOSHIELD IS MIIIIIINE!

And despite screaming in pain at his “death”, he laughs it off and runs off, telling Celica to ascend Duma Tower if she wants to save Alm. URRRRRRGHHHHHH.

I accidentally left Palla in range of one of the remaining terrors, a new one called a fiend who's basically a zombie general, but I can just barely physic her back up to enough health to survive the attack. Awesome. The rest of this map should be a piece of cake.

Atlas and Celica are the only units I have who can stand a chance against these guys and their assorted powerful lances. Every one of them has either a silver lance or a javelin, which means bringing Genny in for a second seraphim user ranges from dangerous to outright suicidal.

Okay, victory. Let's move on and...

...Oh, so now we get to see everyone react to Celica having blatantly decided to head off to do the very thing everyone so dramatically and emotionally thought they talked her out of.

...Wait, they don't know what the bargain is? But that deal with them freaking out about here throwing here life away, and... what?

God damn, this is just painful to watch. Yet again I am astonished with the shameless ease with which Celica lies to everyone around her. She's telling Saber to “just trust” her because she knows nobody's going to cooperate with getting her to Duma Tower if they actually know what she plans to do there. Words cannot express how much better this whole part of the story would be with some sort of inner monologue to give us an idea of how much this is eating at her, or why she feels she needs to do what she's doing. But no, all we get are the “trust me”s and the “everything's fine”s, none of the internal turmoil she's presumably going through.

...Alright, we've made it to Duma Tower. This is gonna be a long one, and I'm running out of time. So I'll have to pick this up tomorrow.

I'm so torn between wanting this to be over and not wanting Three Houses to start.

...No, perhaps that's not true.

Part of me has been dying to playlog Three Houses since the very beginning.

Because I am going to have so goddamned much to say.

...Stay safe, everyone.

[ciphertul]

Except in my test run using FE1 Marth, PoR Ike and RD Ike while discounting Magic and  Resistance. Marth had a stat average of 39.3, PoR Ike had 25.32 and RD Ike had 39.44. So I don't see how Jotari's is better. And for those wondering Karel's stats average out to 51.61 which while higher then the other that is what we call an anomaly. I'll run more tests later.

Edited July 14, 2021 by ciphertul

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Anyway, just one more insultingly short support that I have no doubt I will greatly miss after Three Houses drives me to madness and then carpools madness and me directly to hell.

Unironic advice - find something else to do while the support is playing. Say, folding laundry or washing dishes. Funnily enough, I got this advice from the Leonie-Lysithea support.

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

So we talk to a Rigelian who complains about the difference in quality of life between Rigel and Zofia, and... I wish this were actually shown rather than told. Honestly, this is probably one of the worst-realized plot points of the whole game, because we just never see the difference between the two nations. Their villages in each country look damned near identical. And I get that Mila's bounty is gone, but we never even see the signs of a nation that was once prosperous. Nothing to show the difference between a country that once had everything and is now in chaos and a country that never had anything and knows how to deal with it. Not the slightest indication of how much better Zofian peasants lived when they had damned near infinite food. Hell, we don't even get any indication that either country is doing poorly for food! We don't see a single barren field. Hell, we saw perfectly good food just randomly left around outside! We saw orange trees with oranges still on them. Like Jotari said, this is largely a failing of this remake, because the original game had a far bleaker Zofia due to what little art direction it had. Plus, they added in food as a game mechanic, and ironically gave you more than you could ever conceivably need just by finding it lying around.

And don't forget, Rigel's chief crop is grapes. You know, the kind of fruit renowned for its hardiness in barren soils and cold weathers. Anyway, the "food as a healing item" could've worked, if you didn't just pick it up wherever. Like, maybe a village donates bread to the Deliverance, and Alm is conflicted because he fears they may starve. Or Celica beats a bunch of bandits hoarding food, and can return some of it to the villagers for a reward.

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

So yeah, Zeke says that while he's betrayed Rigel, he can't side with Alm either, and he talks about his amnesia and how much he owes to Emperor Rudolf.

“He raised me as a father would his own son”.

...That is a remarkably bizarre way for a grown man to describe someone he's known for less than a year.

Moments like this make me hate that they set this right between FE1 and FE3 (admittedly, before FE3 was a thing). It really constrains the activities of the few shared characters. And I have to believe that these two nearby continents experienced three cumulative world-churning wars in as many years.

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

FINALLY, I'VE BEATEN HIM! THE DRACOSHIELD IS MIIIIIINE!

Disappointed that he wasn't recast as Jedah's stunt double. Anyway, congrats on bearing him here! Something I've never managed.

[Interdimensional Observer]

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

And don't forget, Rigel's chief crop is grapes. You know, the kind of fruit renowned for its hardiness in barren soils and cold weathers.

Actually, as I heard once on TV, the best wines, or at least the sweetest ones, require the grapes be stressed.

Stress produces more sugars, sugars get eaten by yeast, yeast excrete alcohol -the process of fermentation. You don't want to put excessive stress on the grapes, as that'd be bad for them, but some. It's a careful process that modern winemakers can micromanage via technology to assure that all their round bunches of greens and reds come out perfect. -Although it seems colder climes produce less sugar and hence less sweet, meaning more "dry", wines.

Furthermore, cold weather means Rigel could possibly have a lot of champagne.

When wine was left to ferment in northern France,  the cold winters would come stop the process, and winemakers would mistakenly bottle the wine thinking it was done fermenting. They were not aware that the yeast would had gone into cryostasis, and would reawaken when things got warmer, resulting in the second act of fermentation that gives champagne/sparkling wines its signature bubbles. The means of the production of bubbly have evolved, but that's how humans first discovered it. The French generally disliked the bubbles at first, as the unexpected second fermentation created a buildup of gas that surprise! shattered the bottles and left them with an unprofitable mess. The English however were fascinated by the suds and imported more than a few cases of the stuff.

Beer is similar but differently affected by temperature. Cold fermentation gives you "lager beer", fermentation in warm conditions gives you "ale".

-I've never had a sip of booze of any kind in my life, but I do like learning about liquor of any kind.🍷🍺🥃🍸

Edited July 14, 2021 by Interdimensional Observer

[Jotari]

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

So yeah, Zeke says that while he's betrayed Rigel, he can't side with Alm either, and he talks about his amnesia and how much he owes to Emperor Rudolf.

“He raised me as a father would his own son”.

...That is a remarkably bizarre way for a grown man to describe someone he's known for less than a year.

 

Even more bizarre with my headcanon that the two of them were sleeping together (as that's the only way I can rationalize Zeke's standing in Rigelian society given the time frame established).

Quote

 

And then...

uh...

...Alm's glove is off.

Yeah, that's why I was talking about the whole Zeke having X-Ray Vision back when you were at Part 1.

Quote

...I do not remotely envy the job of the writers who inherited this terrible plot point. The makers of Gaiden actually invented this ridiculous reason for Zeke to be motivated to help you... in order to solve a problem they literally just brought up moments before and which had no bearing on the story whatsoever. And all the writers could do was just try to make it sound cool.

 

At least they gave the brand actual relevance and importance to the story rather than it being a completely random birthmark mentioned in one singular instance. Though it is still serving a purpose as a plot, even in Gaiden, as it foreshadows Rudolf's intentions and relationship with Alm.

Quote

God damn, this is just painful to watch. Yet again I am astonished with the shameless ease with which Celica lies to everyone around her. She's telling Saber to “just trust” her because she knows nobody's going to cooperate with getting her to Duma Tower if they actually know what she plans to do there. Words cannot express how much better this whole part of the story would be with some sort of inner monologue to give us an idea of how much this is eating at her, or why she feels she needs to do what she's doing. But no, all we get are the “trust me”s and the “everything's fine”s, none of the internal turmoil she's presumably going through.

Going back to the whole #IrmaShouldHaveBeenPlayable, this could have been a pretty good role for Irma, as a sounding board for Celica. As a member of the party who is as devoted to the gods as Celica, she could have served as a foil to the other allies as someone who is more onboard with the sacrifice (though still conflicted about the whole thing due to knowing Celica's mother).

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...Alright, we've made it to Duma Tower. This is gonna be a long one, and I'm running out of time. So I'll have to pick this up tomorrow.

I'm so torn between wanting this to be over and not wanting Three Houses to start.

...No, perhaps that's not true.

Part of me has been dying to playlog Three Houses since the very beginning.

Because I am going to have so goddamned much to say.

...Stay safe, everyone.

We;re going to get a lot of updates with absolutely no gamplay, aren't we XD

5 hours ago, ciphertul said:

Except in my test run using FE1 Marth, PoR Ike and RD Ike while discounting Magic and  Resistance. Marth had a stat average of 39.3, PoR Ike had 25.32 and RD Ike had 39.44. So I don't see how Jotari's is better. And for those wondering Karel's stats average out to 51.61 which while higher then the other that is what we call an anomaly. I'll run more tests later.

Run Athos through your system and get back to me.

Edited July 14, 2021 by Jotari

[Alastor15243]

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

Going back to the whole #IrmaShouldHaveBeenPlayable, this could have been a pretty good role for Irma, as a sounding board for Celica. As a member of the party who is as devoted to the gods as Celica, she could have served as a foil to the other allies as someone who is more onboard with the sacrifice (though still conflicted about the whole thing due to knowing Celica's mother).

Oh that would have been excellent.

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

We;re going to get a lot of updates with absolutely no gamplay, aren't we XD

Like you can't even imagine.

[Etrurian emperor]

17 hours ago, Jotari said:

Even more bizarre with my headcanon that the two of them were sleeping together

Somewhere in Archenea Nyna is screaming. 

[Venger_06]

On 7/14/2021 at 12:10 PM, Alastor15243 said:

I'm so torn between wanting this to be over and not wanting Three Houses to start.

...No, perhaps that's not true.

Part of me has been dying to playlog Three Houses since the very beginning.

Because I am going to have so goddamned much to say.

18 hours ago, Jotari said:

We;re going to get a lot of updates with absolutely no gamplay, aren't we XD

12 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Like you can't even imagine.

You should be happy that you didn't play Revelation after Conquest. It is painful.

Also, for those interested, I found this Nintendo report with the number of sales of 3DS FEs in 2017.

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2017/170201_2e.pdf

Edited July 15, 2021 by Maof06