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

[Eltosian Kadath]

10 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Even then, it's not even Alm's idea, it's Clive's, amusingly enough.

I honestly don't know if that makes it better or worse for him.

 

13 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Anyway, the only advice we get here is “Follow the people to reach the hamlet”. But I remember there being treasure and a shrine here, and I intend to find both. So... time to blunder around blindly!

If it helps I remember there being one of each silver weapon in there, and there is a fountain right before the real exit.

 

10 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

And I totally forgot to recruit him.

Yeah I got a couple battles into Celica's side of part 4 on my ironman before I remembered about him too...

[Alastor15243]

Shadows of Valentia Day 29: Atlas Ascending

So, I've had some time to think about what I'll do with Atlas once he reaches level 3 villager, and lemme tell ya, the choices are still paralyzing.

I could make him a soldier, thereby rounding out the only stat of his that isn't utterly psychotic with the knight line's impressive defense bases. If I had access to warp/rescue, this would be a really tempting option to have an enemy-phase juggernaut who can just unmake everything while being completely unscathed.

I could make him a cavalier, thereby instantly giving him the same movement as a dread fighter, soon to get even more, and give him a javelin with which he could make sure nothing survives a round of combat with him.

I could make him an archer, and thereby turn him into something literally nobody can avoid eating a counterattack from, and eventually give him the movement range of a mounted unit as well.

I could make him a mage, and rely on his ridiculous statistical edge over every other mage in my army in order to have him solo maps until he becomes a sage and learns rescue, so I finally fucking have a teleport magic user in Celica's party, and his map reach would be absolutely psychotic with his attack stat of fucking twenty eight.

I could make him a mercenary again, temporarily sacrificing his movement speed in exchange for a huge number of levels for him to become even more of a menace even with his lopsided growths.

Each of these would break the game in its own magical way, but given only one of these involves an end goal that would be remotely interesting in terms of intelligent thought going into my actions...

...mage it is.

Also, the objectively correct option for a pure combat juggernaut is archer, but I'm still a salty Kliff fanboy for reasons I can't even fathom because I don't even really like this game all that much, and I don't want to have Atlas upstage him in his own niche by degrees that would shatter the psyches of the weak-minded.

Saber and Kamui will inevitably be taking the dread fighter loop as well, and I will of course take them on different routes.

But for now, let's do this.

What I find amusing and kinda freaky about the Lost Treescape is that the Mila shrine is some freaky inverted-space Tardis-like motherfucker where if you leave through the east exit... you'll come back in through the west entrance of the forest, so it's like the entire forest is a globe, and the Mila Shrine is its underside or something.

Atlas is still gaining a level up from every kill even as a mage, which just demonstrates how crazy and quickly the levels snowball when you do the dread fighter loop. With anyone who even resembled having good growth rates, this would be utter madness, but even with Atlas, it's still making his attack stat the most ridiculous thing imaginable.

Alright, I found the silver sword, silver lance and silver bow, I think that's all the treasure. Now if I can just get my bearings and find the path I'm supposed to take...

...No wait, I need to get the fuck out of this forest and recruit Nomah. But... I can't seem to find the exit. Huh?

...No wait, I found the proper exit. There are two of them on the south border, the one the Mila shrine leads to is different.

Incidentally, Atlas's “I'll split you like firewood!” is probably the most badass “humble villager” crit quote the series has managed. Especially with his delivery.

Okay, I made it to the basement. I'm giving the water of experience to Sonya, who will be a priestess soon as a result. The attack water went to Leon, because that'll improve his output with hunter's volley. The mage ring I'm less sure about. Maybe to Atlas to just make him even more devastating? Either that or to Sonya to give her more ability to do things without putting herself in danger.

Anyway, on the way back, I chanced upon Valbar and Leon's A support. Weird, I could've sworn Valbar and Leon's A support had Valbar making some comment on Leon's unrequited feelings for him, but it wasn't at all what I remember. Did I get it mixed up with stuff Alm said to Faye? Because that doesn't feel right.

Also, Sonya and Genny just got their A support.

Interestingly, Sonya basically gives Genny permission to hate her as much as she likes, because she knows she'd be tempted to, and feel satisfaction from, hating anyone who reminds her of her father, who abandoned her in a similar way (her father turns out to be Jedah). It's a weird thing to say, and a strange mindset, but it's a moot point, because Genny says that hearing that Sonya was in a similar situation is making her more comfortable around her already. It was... yeah, this was one of the better supports in the game, but that's really not saying much. They're all way too short to have any real substance or staying power.

Woo! I found a fountain and I think this is the exit! Sweet! Alright, I'll give the defense to Celica.

And we are indeed in the village! Alright, let's look around!

...Okay, so, Est has a new conversation now, and I'm a bit confused. She's talking about how she wanted to settle down with Abel and stop fighting, just running a shop with him. But “right when I got that chance, it all turned around and... welp, here I am.”

...Wait, wasn't the thing that went wrong with that... the whole business with Hardin? But chronologically, that hasn't happened yet. What's she talking about?

...Actually, come to think of it, why exactly are the pegasisters here?

Well, I found the grimoire ring, which boosts your magical attack power by five. Not sure if that affects white magic range. I'll have to check by putting it on Genny.

...Apparently Conrad's mother was...

...Okay, so, Lima didn't exactly refuse to give food to Rigel when they asked... he actually disgustingly used it as leverage to get a Rigelian noblewoman into his harem of sex slaves.

...The more I hear about this motherfucker, the more I hate him, and the harder it is for me to take the story seriously. Like, it just further cements that every faction in power on this continent is absolutely terrible. You've got the Deliverance that's trying to restore the authority of the bloodline of Crackhead Caligula, the Rigelian king who's throwing his own people into the meatgrinder by the thousands as part of some weird training exercise for his son who he tricks into killing him, and then you have the two religious authorities, who are blatantly batshit insane. It's just a jumbled mess of shit, both Alm and Celica feel like massive sheep for not questioning anything about the entities they're fighting for, and the entire driving impetus of the plot is the blatant result of a forced late-game twist held together by cobwebs and prayers. I struggle to come up with words to describe how little I care about what happens to this continent! It's just so dumb! It was dumb before, and everything this remake did to try and make it more compelling is basically just smoke and mirrors.

Ah yes, and now we infamously get the scene where this guy tells us the key to defeating Jedah is the sequence of numbers “four... eight... twelve...” before promptly vanishing into thin air because Jedah cursed either him or the entire continent into dying horribly if they ever reveal his secret. It's the weirdest fucking thing. Now, what this is actually getting at is that Jedah's ability to completely negate enemy attacks on him stops working for every fourth attack. This is... incredibly non-obvious, but thankfully you never actually have to kill him to beat the game.

Okay, now to go to the forge and...

...What?

...I don't have my full party back. I'm still apparently in the dungeon, because I can't access Leon's killer bow. The fuck?

...Okay, so, this woman confirms Halcyon used to be part of the Duma Faithful.

And yet Celica isn't going to ask him a single question about Jedah's claims about needing her soul to feed Duma's mind. If I were in her position, that's literally the first thing I'd ask. But either because she doesn't think to, or she's just refusing to bring it up anymore even to better inform herself because she knows what her friends would say, she doesn't.

Alright, we got Soma and Ambrosia, not sure what they do, but guess we'll find out soon enough. But now to talk to Halcyon and give Alm his promotion.

Yep, just like I remember, she asks nothing useful of Halcyon, and he says nothing useful in response. Just some vague shit about destiny. But he does let Celica talk to Alm and give him a promotion.

...But it seems Alm's promotion is optional, unlike Celica's. Curious, I wonder why they only changed his to be optional?

...Celica seems to have ultimately come to realize she was the one in the wrong in that infamous conversation they had, and she suspects Alm doesn't want to talk to her.

...Okay, the “sounds of concentration” Halcyon makes before sending Celica to Alm as a magical hologram are so ridiculous I wish I had a clip I could show you. Seriously, what the fuck, they're like this weird incoherent droning mumbling and they sound ridiculous.

Alm and Celica “make up”, or more Celica realizes Alm isn't actually pissed at her because he's the single most patient man in the universe, and this relationship just isn't remotely compelling to me at all. Ugh, something about this game just puts me at this ridiculous loss for words. Either that or it's just getting harder the further into the marathon I get, which I really hope isn't the case, because if so then Three Houses is just gonna be a living nightmare and probably not that fun to read.

It's just so... one-sided. Like I've said before, the biggest thing about Celica's relationship with Alm is that she's just... wrong. About everything. Every choice she makes in contrast to Alm is the wrong one, every interaction she had with Alm puts Alm in a morally superior position, and the entire rest of the story after this is just watching Celica get more and more hysterical and irrational and make the dumbest decisions imaginable in spite of countless character moments that should've gotten it into her head not to do it.

I just can't stand her. She's a slow-motion trainwreck that her specific lines and voice acting seem to be doing their damnedest to make compelling, but it isn't working, because the outline of the story, the rails they're forced to follow, are still heading off a cliff.

And, like, profoundly flawed characters can be interesting... but like, the sheer contrast between her and Alm, where most of Alm's flaws are by accident and mostly a result of dumb story logic... it just feels obnoxious and annoying. These characters don't complement each other. She's just a clown who constantly makes the same mistakes and never learns anything from any of them despite the lessons being explicitly spelled out for her, and we have to watch her do this and just hope Alm can clean up her damned mess.

She's like Eirika, just with more smoke and mirrors attempting to disguise her as a compelling character instead of a walking fuck-up machine. But beneath the surface, that's still all Celica is to the story. A walking fuck-up machine.

Like, reading this, she's still bottling up her problems and assuming that only she knows what's best for the continent. She refuses to tell Alm her plan, or try to come up with a better solution with him, because she knows that Alm, just like everyone else in her life who cares about her at all, would try to talk her out of her current plan, because it's a stupid as shit plan, and she doesn't want to be talked out of it, because she can't entertain the idea that it isn't the right thing to do, only that her friends' objections would make it harder for her to bring herself to do it. It's the most frustrating and infuriating thing, and this game cannot possibly make it anything other than annoying because we don't get enough of her internal turmoil and thoughts to experience what she's thinking right now, to sympathize with why she's going against the advice of all of her friends. She's bottling it up not only from her friends, but from the audience as well.

...Okay, so we leave the village, and now we're can go back in and have our whole team in the village. That's so weird that they don't give you your full team back after leaving the forest until you exit to the world map.

...Okay, I go Alm his promotion to hero. The only really notable boost he got was 3 speed, which is nice I guess, but I wish he got more attack and defense. Well, I guess we'll see how he does.

Tomorrow.

I'm gonna shift back to Alm tomorrow, and we'll get started on invading Rigel.

Stay safe, everyone.

[Acacia Sgt]

8 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Okay, so, Est has a new conversation now, and I'm a bit confused. She's talking about how she wanted to settle down with Abel and stop fighting, just running a shop with him. But “right when I got that chance, it all turned around and... welp, here I am.”

...Wait, wasn't the thing that went wrong with that... the whole business with Hardin? But chronologically, that hasn't happened yet. What's she talking about?

...Actually, come to think of it, why exactly are the pegasisters here?

The fact she got kidnapped by pirates. It's only after she returns from Valentia that she finally gets to live her dream... until Hardin comes knocking. So basically it's problem after another.

Because at this point they learn enough of the situation in Valentia they can't just leave. After Celica went the trouble to help them reunite, it's be a dick move to go "k, thnx, bye!" So they stay for the time being.

[Alastor15243]

7 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

The fact she got kidnapped by pirates. It's only after she returns from Valentia that she finally gets to live her dream... until Hardin comes knocking. So basically it's problem after another.

Because at this point they learn enough of the situation in Valentia they can't just leave. After Celica went the trouble to help them reunite, it's be a dick move to go "k, thnx, bye!" So they stay for the time being.

Wait, she got kidnapped by pirates from Archanea? Then what were they doing in Thabes, the one part of Archanea anyone in Valentia has contact with?

Edited July 5, 2021 by Alastor15243

[Acacia Sgt]

7 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Wait, she go kidnapped by pirates from Archanea? Then what were they doing in Thabes, the one part of Archanea anyone in Valentia has contact with?

I don't think it was at Thabes. Pirates gonna pirate. They wouldn't be just confined to the one trade route that exists. It was likely off the Macedonian coast, or Grustian. Then they sailed west. If anyone is bound to travel back and forth between the two lands it's likely gonna be pirates. Commit a crime in one, flee to the other to hide or wait things out before setting out again.

Also, it's not stated the pirates were Archanean. Just that she was kidnapped in Archanea. Could've been Valentian pirates who sailed there for all we know.

Edited July 5, 2021 by Acacia Sgt

[Alastor15243]

4 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Also, it's not stated the pirates were Archanean. Just that she was kidnapped in Archanea. Could've been Valentian pirates who sailed there for all we know.

Ambiguous syntax. I meant more she got kidnapped from Archanea.

[Acacia Sgt]

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Ambiguous syntax. I meant more she got kidnapped from Archanea.

Oh, I see.

But yeah, ultimately they who have boats are not gonna be restricted as to where they go.

[Shadow Mir]

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

The fact she got kidnapped by pirates. It's only after she returns from Valentia that she finally gets to live her dream... until Hardin comes knocking. So basically it's problem after another.

How many times does this make that Est got kidnapped? Because for the Fire Emblem series, this sounds like what happens to Peach and Zelda within their respective series...

Edited July 5, 2021 by Shadow Mir

[Acacia Sgt]

2 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

How many times does this make that Est got kidnapped?

Just twice. It's literally just those two times.

[Shadow Mir]

3 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

Just twice. It's literally just those two times.

Oh. Bugger. Awakening's description for her stated that she holds the record for getting captured the most times-once in every game she appears in (including Awakening itself). Which makes me think, how the heck does this keep happening??

[Acacia Sgt]

9 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Oh. Bugger. Awakening's description for her stated that she holds the record for getting captured the most times-once in every game she appears in (including Awakening itself). Which makes me think, how the heck does this keep happening??

That's just plain wrong.

She was never captured in the first game, for starters. So by default she's not captured in Shadow Dragon either. Neither in BS Fire Emblem. Also, in Awakening itself it could only count if her Einherjar Card was detained or stolen and taken to the place that it's found, but there's no indication that's the case. So... whoever wrote that description... is that even official? Could've been written by someone here on SF after all...

Her "kidnapping" count is only high when you remember we have remakes of the games she was kidnapped. So it artificially bloats the count.

Edited July 5, 2021 by Acacia Sgt

[Shadow Mir]

3 minutes ago, Acacia Sgt said:

That's just plain wrong.

She was never captured in the first game, for starters. So by default she's not captured in Shadow Dragon either. Neither in BS Fire Emblem. Also, in Awakening itself it could only count if her Einherjar Card was detained or stolen and taken to the place that it's found, but there's no indication that's the case. So... whoever wrote that description... is that even official? Could've been written by someone here on SF after all...

Her "kidnapping" count is only high when you remember we have remakes of the games she was kidnapped. So it artificially bloats the count.

Fair enough. But I still can't help but think how this keeps happening... I know she gets kidnapped in Gaiden and SOV and used as a hostage by the Archanean army in Mystery of the Emblem. What exactly happened with her in Shadow Dragon? Because there has to be a good storyline reason why she joins much later than her sisters...

[Acacia Sgt]

Just now, Shadow Mir said:

Fair enough. But I still can't help but think how this keeps happening... I know she gets kidnapped in Gaiden and SOV and used as a hostage by the Archanean army in Mystery of the Emblem. What exactly happened with her in Shadow Dragon? Because there has to be a good storyline reason why she joins much later than her sisters...

She went to Grust in order to recover Mercurius. And succeeded.

Like I said, it's because remakes skew the count. It basically boils down to this:

Shadow Dragon and the Sword of Light - Not Captured
Gaiden - Captured
Mystery of the Emblem - Captured (If we take the thing as one whole package. If we consider each Book as two games sharing one cartridge, then we can add Book 1 - Not Captured)
BS Fire Emblem - Not Captured
Shadow Dragon - Not Captured
New Mystery of the Emblem - Captured (Sadly, the integrated BS Fire Emblem is too minor to separate it, unlike the original Books)
Awakening - ??? (It could count as captured if we assume she's among the cards taken from Old Hubba, and eventually found its way to the temple from Death's Embrace. Still, it's not the actual Est, so... who knows...)
Shadows of Valentia - Captured

Not counting remakes, Est basically has a 50-50 record. Two adventures where she's not captured, and two where she is.

[Etrurian emperor]

Est's reputation as a damsel in distress is kinda overstated. In total Est gets kidnapped twice and she's not even the only Fire Emblem character who achieves that. Plenty of girls in Archenea are captured in both games. Marth's sister, Lena, Maria and Linde got captured in both of the Archenean games. Midia needs to be rescued from the exact same cell within the exact same palace in both games and I think the same goes for those horrifically dull armor knights she has with her. 

In later games Tana and Takumi both end up kidnapped twice and Kagero has everyone beat by being abducted three times.

Edited July 5, 2021 by Etrurian emperor

[Acacia Sgt]

Linde isn't captured twice. In MotE she's more like Cadea, as in manages to escape before it gets ugly and reunite with Marth on their own. To round it up it's Nyna who also counts as captured twice, though the first one is more relegated to the backstory, except for that time in BS Fire Emblem when she shows up during her first imprisonment in one of the chapters. Not quite the same cell. The second time she's right next to Hardin if I recall, but yeah, she's basically a prisoner anyway. Dolph and Macellan aren't captured again. They show up on their own at Altea ready to rejoin Marth.

Technically, the record would be Julia, since she can potentially be captured in every map she's playable, and only rescued at the end of each. So up to four times. At least, I think she remains playable. If not... then I guess it can only be up to twice.

Edited July 5, 2021 by Acacia Sgt

[Shadow Mir]

1 hour ago, Acacia Sgt said:

She went to Grust in order to recover Mercurius. And succeeded.

Like I said, it's because remakes skew the count. It basically boils down to this:

Shadow Dragon and the Sword of Light - Not Captured
Gaiden - Captured
Mystery of the Emblem - Captured (If we take the thing as one whole package. If we consider each Book as two games sharing one cartridge, then we can add Book 1 - Not Captured)
BS Fire Emblem - Not Captured
Shadow Dragon - Not Captured
New Mystery of the Emblem - Captured (Sadly, the integrated BS Fire Emblem is too minor to separate it, unlike the original Books)
Awakening - ??? (It could count as captured if we assume she's among the cards taken from Old Hubba, and eventually found its way to the temple from Death's Embrace. Still, it's not the actual Est, so... who knows...)
Shadows of Valentia - Captured

Not counting remakes, Est basically has a 50-50 record. Two adventures where she's not captured, and two where she is.

 

20 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Est's reputation as a damsel in distress is kinda overstated. In total Est gets kidnapped twice and she's not even the only Fire Emblem character who achieves that. Plenty of girls in Archenea are captured in both games. Marth's sister, Lena, Maria and Linde got captured in both of the Archenean games. Midia needs to be rescued from the exact same cell within the exact same palace in both games and I think the same goes for those horrifically dull armor knights she has with her. 

In later games Tana and Takumi both end up kidnapped twice and Kagero has everyone beat by being abducted three times.

Fair enough. Also, aren't some of those other cases route-dependent (Tana is captured once early in Sacred Stones, and the second only happens in Ephraim route [Eirika route instead has her join in the story scene of chapter 9], while Kagero only gets captured once on every route)?

[Acacia Sgt]

1 minute ago, Shadow Mir said:

Fair enough. Also, aren't some of those other cases route-dependent (Tana is captured once early in Sacred Stones, and the second only happens in Ephraim route [Eirika route instead has her join in the story scene of chapter 9], while Kagero only gets captured once on every route)?

Correct. Not all of them are assured to happen at any given time.

[Jotari]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...The more I hear about this motherfucker, the more I hate him, and the harder it is for me to take the story seriously. Like, it just further cements that every faction in power on this continent is absolutely terrible. You've got the Deliverance that's trying to restore the authority of the bloodline of Crackhead Caligula, the Rigelian king who's throwing his own people into the meatgrinder by the thousands as part of some weird training exercise for his son who he tricks into killing him, and then you have the two religious authorities, who are blatantly batshit insane. It's just a jumbled mess of shit, both Alm and Celica feel like massive sheep for not questioning anything about the entities they're fighting for, and the entire driving impetus of the plot is the blatant result of a forced late-game twist held together by cobwebs and prayers. I struggle to come up with words to describe how little I care about what happens to this continent! It's just so dumb! It was dumb before, and everything this remake did to try and make it more compelling is basically just smoke and mirrors.

 

Honestly that's one of the elements I really like about Gaiden's story, and I'm glad Shadows of Valentia leaned into it rather than shying away from it.

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Yep, just like I remember, she asks nothing useful of Halcyon, and he says nothing useful in response. Just some vague shit about destiny. But he does let Celica talk to Alm and give him a promotion.

And Conrad also doesn't speak to his adopted father or is otherwise acknowledged to presently exist at all.

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...But it seems Alm's promotion is optional, unlike Celica's. Curious, I wonder why they only changed his to be optional?

 

Well Alm's promotion was always kind of weird. To the extent that I made a thread legitimately wondering wether they'd keep it the same in the remake prerelease. Making it optional was a smart move for the purpose of ensuring you can get him max levelled before letting him promote rather than him promoting suddenly and unexpectedly while playing Celica's route. Of course Alm's such a beast of a unit that early promoting him right at the start of Chapter 4 probably wouldn't make a huge difference. Would at least make him able to counter mages earlier which is almost more of a boon for promotion than the extra levels.

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Okay, I go Alm his promotion to hero. The only really notable boost he got was 3 speed, which is nice I guess, but I wish he got more attack and defense. Well, I guess we'll see how he does.

Oh, okay. So you've went and done exactly that.

 

[Etrurian emperor]

19 minutes ago, Shadow Mir said:

Fair enough. Also, aren't some of those other cases route-dependent (Tana is captured once early in Sacred Stones, and the second only happens in Ephraim route [Eirika route instead has her join in the story scene of chapter 9], while Kagero only gets captured once on every route)?

True but I don't really see how that changes anything about the numbers. 

[Eltosian Kadath]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...I don't have my full party back. I'm still apparently in the dungeon, because I can't access Leon's killer bow. The fuck?

That is annoying, but you can just leave out the other exit and reenter to get access to all of your stuff.

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Alm and Celica “make up”, or more Celica realizes Alm isn't actually pissed at her because he's the single most patient man in the universe,

Plus Alm realized how cruel his comments were given who she actually was...

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

It's just so... one-sided. Like I've said before, the biggest thing about Celica's relationship with Alm is that she's just... wrong. About everything. Every choice she makes in contrast to Alm is the wrong one, every interaction she had with Alm puts Alm in a morally superior position, and the entire rest of the story after this is just watching Celica get more and more hysterical and irrational and make the dumbest decisions imaginable in spite of countless character moments that should've gotten it into her head not to do it.

Alm is wrong so many times that I have a hard time comprehending this feeling that he is always right. Take that first argument where Celica is criticize him for leading a war

Quote

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

that's trying to restore the authority of the bloodline of Crackhead Caligula,

 

and Celica rightly calls him out for it, and its not like he doesn't know how much of a scumbucket Lima IV is.

Quote

Alm: Do you think I WANTED this fight? This all started because Lima IV went and angered the empire. If you wish to point fingers, point them at the ruler who failed his people. It’s his fault we’re in this mess.

At the very least Celica does most of the stupid stuff she does trying to help people, and most of her stupid decision are made with the idea that most of the consequences will be for her personally, whereas Alm knows the consequences of his actions will mainly fall on others.

Quote

 

Mycen: So I ask again: Are you ready to take the lives of others into your hands? Are you ready to shoulder all of their burdens? Their desires? And are you ready to fight and bleed until Zofia and all of Valentia is saved?

Alm: I am. I know I may be in over my head, and I still have much to learn. But when I say I will fight for my kingdom, I will fight for my kingdom. No one will stop me. Nothing will break me. I’ll see it through to the very end.

 

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

And, like, profoundly flawed characters can be interesting... but like, the sheer contrast between her and Alm, where most of Alm's flaws are by accident and mostly a result of dumb story logic...

The game regularly shows that Alm's ignorance, and "accidents" are the results of his own actions. 

Quote

 

Alm: Celica… You’re one to talk about stubbornness, geez… Ah, damn it all. I didn’t even get the chance to ask her about the village… About why she had to leave. Oh, Celica… I had so much I wanted to say to you. How did it end up like this?

Alm knew the questions he could have asked before he put his foot in it. Even if Alm didn't hear Desaix's final words due to dumb story reasons

Quote

 

Alm: Clive is clearly privy to some information he can’t share with us. Am I right, Clive?

Clive: Alm, please…

Alm: You’ve been acting strange for a while now. Whatever secret you’re harboring, I know it weighs heavy on you. I’ve been scared to broach the subject because I could sense it was about me.

Clive: ……

Alm knew Clive figured something out after Desaix's death about Alm, and he doesn't press Clive on this secret he "can't share". The game makes perfectly clear that Alm could have known if he wanted to in both of these cases. This was about as accidental as crashing a car while blindfolded. Or lets look at the time he decided to trust Clive's judgement about invading Rigel. This is shortly after

Quote

 

Clive: Alm, what are you doing? Snap out of it! Strike her down before she ends you!

Alm: No! I promised Luthier I would bring his sister home safe.

Clive: But Alm, you’re going to—

Alm: Everyone, stay clear of Delthea’s magic! And whatever you do, do NOT kill her! That’s an order!

that time he didn't trust Clives judgement because it would result in the unnecessary death of innocents. Not to mention Clive lead this army to disaster after disaster and is part of why Alm became the leader of this army. He has plenty of reason not to trust Clives judgement on military affairs like this, and yet he does.

[Alastor15243]

@Eltosian KadathYeah, honestly, I phrased my issues with the Alm-Celica dynamic improperly. Something does indeed feel profoundly different and lopsided about their roles in the story and their interactions with each other, but I don't think I have a proper understanding of what exactly it is and why it's making me feel this way. I wish I could put my finger on it.

[Samz707]

5 hours ago, Acacia Sgt said:

That's just plain wrong.

She was never captured in the first game, for starters. So by default she's not captured in Shadow Dragon either. Neither in BS Fire Emblem. Also, in Awakening itself it could only count if her Einherjar Card was detained or stolen and taken to the place that it's found, but there's no indication that's the case. So... whoever wrote that description... is that even official? Could've been written by someone here on SF after all...

Her "kidnapping" count is only high when you remember we have remakes of the games she was kidnapped. So it artificially bloats the count.

It's Awakening so honestly I could see them getting it that wrong, it doesn't exactly have a good track record with getting past games right.

 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Samz707

[Eltosian Kadath]

5 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

@Eltosian KadathYeah, honestly, I phrased my issues with the Alm-Celica dynamic improperly. Something does indeed feel profoundly different and lopsided about their roles in the story and their interactions with each other, but I don't think I have a proper understanding of what exactly it is and why it's making me feel this way. I wish I could put my finger on it.

I think I know what you mean, as the two character's flaws are profoundly different, and I have that same sorta difficulty when I try to put Alm's flaw into words. I can put forth all this evidence for it, but its like I don't have the right word for it. Sometimes it gets shortened to recklessness, but its something quite different from that, and I can't quite put my finger on what the right word is. I may have made a judgement that these two characters and their flaws, but how well can I compare an apple to a fruit I don't know the name of? Celica's issues are a lot more emotional, personal, and easy to comprehend, while Alm's feel more detached and...negligent?

[Acacia Sgt]

I suppose there's the duality people were seeking in wanting to see Alm and Celica represent the dragon siblings to some degree.

[Alastor15243]

Shadows of Valentia Day 30: A Ridiculously Short Update

Yeah, sorry, I'm really pressed for time today. I've got someone coming over to check out the water heater, and it has to be during the time I usually devote to this, which I'm already short on today. So we'll have to make this quick. Thankfully SoV's bite-sized maps mean I can start and finish something concrete in time.

Faye's Act 4 “village conversation” makes me really question what the fuck the writers were thinking with her. Her one-dimensional obsession with Alm irritates, disturbs, or greatly concerns everyone around her, including apparently her own family. And yet at the same time they don't seem to depict her as actually being crazy or weird. Her facial expressions, language and voice acting all indicate a totally normal, wholesome girl next door, it's just that the direction of all of these things is directed towards a ludicrous Alm obsession. Like, first off, why'd they do it at all, but second, if they had resolved to do it, why the fuck did they go halfway about it in this way? Like, Tharja is a way more interesting character than Faye, in part because they went all out on how fucked up her obsession is. Of course, her supports demonstrate there are so many other facets to her completely deplorable and reprehensible personality, so it's not just that they went all-out on it, but even though I hate her as a character, I can say with moral certainty that even if she only had one or two of her Awakening supports, and even if they were just the ones where she was the most obsessive about the avatar, she would still be a more interesting and compelling character than Faye.

Faye: They said I talk too much about you. They want to know what's happening to me, not you. But they don't understand that I AM writing about myself! Or at least I'm writing about what matters to me...

I'm reminded of that scene in The Office where Kelly sees Jim for the first time in ages after he comes back to the Scranton branch and she just starts ranting about all the celebrity gossip stuff she obsesses about that happened since he left, and he's like “...Great! ...And... what's new with you?” and she just stares at him like he's an idiot and goes “...I just told you.”

Kliff: So now we're at war with Rigel.

That is an insanely weird way to phrase it. We've been at war with Rigel since, at the latest, by the absolute strictest definition, the end of Act 1. What we're doing now is invading Rigel. ...Or whatever people call invasions when they're on the giving end and not the receiving end. If there's a more appropriate word here I'm drawing a blank on it at the moment.

Anyway, I hear “What Lies at the End” for the first time in this playlog fighting my way out of the shrine I managed to run into without combat, and I love this song. But it only infuriates me further that it constantly has to be interrupted by “DANANA DANANA DAN DAN! DANANA DANANA DAN DAN!”

Alright, now to fight Berkut.

What I find interesting when thinking about this is that Rigel's stopped trying to invade. It's gone on the defensive, despite refusing to treat for peace. This just raises further questions about how the Deliverance can think any of this is necessary to protect Zofia.

But Berkut shows up, and for some reason Clive gets into an argument with Berkut over Alm's worthiness of the crown, and...

...Okay, while Fernand is a classist asshole...

“I see now that the Clive I knew is well and truly dead. Now it falls on me to bury him!”

That's a pretty badass one-liner.

And now we get a cutscene of Berkut and Alm fighting.

...So, if the weather in Rigel is caused by altitude, it's kinda funny that Alm starts this fight charging downhill rather than up.

Christ I'm getting deja vu with this map. It feels so similar to another one I fought in previously.

Alright, and now we get Alm's A support with Faye.

“You're very special to me, Faye. Just... not in the way you want.”

If Faye were even remotely interesting, this support would be pretty heartbreaking. Alas, she is not.

...Why did that enemy knight have an orange bar bonus on his hit rate on Faye? Did that knight have a support bonus? Or can my support bonuses be negative?

...Well that's annoying. I lost Python because I didn't think to un-deploy all my dead weight and even though I could've sworn I moved him out of the way of the incoming sniper... apparently I didn't. And he was one-shot. And just when I was this close to finishing the battle.

Well, I guess I'll have to finish it tomorrow, because I was running out of time anyway.

Sorry for the ridiculously short update.

Stay safe, everyone.