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

[Alastor15243]

4 minutes ago, Boomhauer007 said:

 9 con is brutal, literally every axe is speed loss. 

Yeah, I was mostly just not impressed by her performance in chapter 11, and given she has basically no room to grow...

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Boomhauer007 said:

9 con is brutal, literally every axe is speed loss.

Except what Axes do you need? The Iron is only 1, the Killer 2, the Hand and Silver 3, Armads 4 (and you're not using this very often). Sure it puts you off from using Steels, Halberds, Hammers, or the Brave but who will ever be touching one of those? You have little reason or need to if Killers work most of the time. 2 AS loss is not going to be substantial much of the time about what she can and can't double, because 18 Spd is a great base.

Sacae will be a problem, but isn't that the case for mostly everyone? Looking over the enemy data here on SF for C21, unless an enemy type is supposed to be fast, like the Mercenary class, she shouldn't have issues even with the AS loss doubling non-"fast" enemy types (Seth has the same issue in FE8- Mercs impede his ORKOing streak even without AS loss on his part). Some promoted Pallies and WLs escape her doubling at base Spd too, but for a midgame prepromote without investment, that doesn't sound like a terribly unfair loss.

Nobody complains that Raven has only 9 Con promoted, making him the same as Echidna.Though he is in an easier game with low enemy AS benchmarks to pass. Why, some people rate the GBA Peg Knights highly (who are similarly low Str and poor durability), and anything more than puny Slim crushes them more than Echidna is by the useful Axes.

 

Yes, Perceval can use Killers better than Echidna, fact. But if you wanted someone to use Armads, Perceval will have to find time to swing Axes up to 150 times instead of up to 100, probably less in both cases b/c 2 WEXP on fatal hits. Given his much, much superior enemy phase, making up the difference sounds plausible, assuming you focused on Axes with him over Swords and Lances, which may or may not be practical.

Edited February 14, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[AnonymousSpeed]

3 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Except what Axes do you need? The Iron is only 1, the Killer 2, the Hand and Silver 3, Armads 4 (and you're not using this very often). Sure it puts you off from using Steels, Halberds, Hammers, or the Brave but who will ever be touching one of those? You have little reason or need to if Killers work most of the time. 2 AS loss is not going to be substantial much of the time about what she can and can't double, because 18 Spd is a great base.

Low con also means Miledy can rescue Echidna.

The most significant advantage to using Echidna as your axe user is of course her excellent skill base. Her speed and solid and that, too, is very desirable. However, having high skill makes her axes actually connect. It can be fairly easy to overrate Echidna, mind you, but if you're dumping stat boosters into an axe user she requires a lot less maintenance than your other options.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Just now, AnonymousSpeed said:

It can be fairly easy to overrate Echidna, mind you, but if you're dumping stat boosters into an axe user she requires a lot less maintenance than your other options.

True, I can see her faults, the bad growths that everyone prepromoted except Karel and Klein in FE6 gets. But for once, I'll agree with you and concur the overall bump in prepromote growths in FE7 I discovered was not the best idea. The not-so-hot Str when the Warriors and Berserkers get it high, and 'Zerker 30 Crit. The low Luck to mitigate limit dodgetank potential, the poor Def and HP (which Robes can fix) to stop concrete tanking.

I think I have seen her overrated before, and I might be buying into that notion, even if I'm trying to acknowledge her major flaws. Does this mean she is actually "balanced"? Maybe, maybe not. Has anyone discerned many examples of what are truly balanced units in FE?

[Shadow Mir]

3 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

The point of Cath isn't to be an incredible thief. She's there to be a replacement in case your other thieves died.

I’d like the replacements to not be too terrible to last very long, thank you very much. Or complete garbage, which Cath is. It really says something that some people just kill her in her first appearance...

Edited February 14, 2020 by Shadow Mir

[Jotari]

I like Echidna because she's the only female trap in the series. Too many men who dress like women. More women who dress like men! Or in the words of the greatest hero of them all.

Quote

Enough expository banter! Now we fight like men! And ladies! And ladies who dress like men! For Gilgamesh...it is morphing time!

This is barely relevant to the conversation at hand, but I regret nothing.

Edited February 14, 2020 by Jotari

[Alastor15243]

Binding Blade Day 15: Chapter 12x

Oooooh yes. This isn't quite how I remember it. It's way, way better. Forgiving fog of war means plenty of free exp for Clarine with that otherwise-useless torch staff. Chests as far as the eye can see means the time I can promote some more of my units is almost certainly drawing nigh. Only problem is that the low deployment slots and the fact that I can see enemy thieves means there's no time to train some of my weaker units. Oh well. Guess I'm bringing the big guns, my spare chest key on Clarine, and I guess Lugh so he can keep building that support.

His base attack speed is completely unacceptable, so it's a good thing I have a speedwing. I was going to give it to Lot, but this guy needs it even more, and I'm absolutely determined to use him. Partly because it would be great to give Lugh a support partner (even if a lot of their bonuses clash and are thus reduced, significantly in the case of their attack and defense since this game rounds down), but mostly because these are Nino's orphaned children, and I wanna know more about them.

Also, I just learned Elphin, who's apparently... psychic or something too...?... can do the ranking augury. Looks like I'm doing “very well”, but I'm not sure how many tiers above “very well” there are.

...The fuck is with this bandit leader guy's flamboyant speech pattern?

...Those mostly-shaven hair patterns... don't tell me there's a second one of him. Was this the first camp gay bandit duo? Oh, do tell, game, do tell.

Oh shit, the poison geysers from the walls! I remember those! They don't seem to have any visual tell this time, so I'm gonna have to remember them.

Well, I spot the first thief, go right up to him with Astore, and yoink his lockpick. In doing so I expose another thief, much closer to a chest. Do I need to bring even more thieves to steal back every treasure I can't possibly hope to beat them to? And I don't even know where they escape to. This could be a pain, and a resetworthy one at that.

Speaking of resetworthy, I forgot to put the speedwing in Raigh's inventory.

Restarting.

And restarting again, because unfortunately Lance was one damage shy of killing that archer, and Astore got hit by a 50 and a mid-10s attack.

I gave him a steel blade, so even though the random enemy stats caused him to be too weak again, with the steel blade he could do it.

Looks like there are visual cues for those poison geysers after all! My mistake!

Most of these treasures are kinda lame. Elixirs and antitoxins so far. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if some of these got stolen.

By some crazy backwards nonsense logic, somebody put a chest key inside of a chest. All of these treasures are garbage! I mean I guess it's cool they're not locking anything super important other than Armads behind a gaiden chapter, but... really, it almost seems like a waste of time!

I just got Lugh and Raigh's first support, which was pretty okay. It was kind of cute. Like a sort of downplayed version of Nino and Jaffar's dynamic. Slightly perkier Nino, moderately less edgy Jaffar.

I just killed the eclipse druid, and got a horrible sinking feeling that I should have checked him for something to steal. I did not. Fuck. Well, map's nearly over, with almost nothing of consequence happening. I rushed one flank with Allen, Lance and Astore, and I had Roy, Rutger, Clarine, Lugh and Raigh do the other one and get passable exp from it. I got some antitoxins, some elixirs, a chest key, a lockpick, a red gem... one chest left.

I was really scared when I saw the killing edge myrmidon near the boss refusing to move. Rutger unfortunately whiffed an 80% crit attack, which was only scary because Priscilla was in range if getting attacked made him decide to move. Thankfully it didn't, Rutger's insane bulk defended him against crits that didn't happen, and now we're ready to take out the boss.

Last chest had a white gem. None of the thieves I saw bothered going for it, so I have to assume either they ignore it or the guy whose lockpick I stole was the one who was supposed to get it.

There's no real quick way to get rid of this boss that's fully reliable, and no reliable way that isn't slow. But the quick way (kill him with a Clarine-boosted Rutger) is more reliable than the reliable way (potshots with Lugh and rescue-drops to keep him from equipping his lethal hand axe) is fast. So that's what we do. After all, I'm doing “very well”. I'd hate to ruin that by dropping my speed rank.

Mission accomplished. Now let's get the hell out of this outrageously easy map that, in hindsight, I probably could have afforded to bring more of my weak units to!

Looks like the coup has happened. Cecilia's the only one of the generals who hasn't been blackmailed into serving the rebel army by them having the king. The plot thickens, but honestly, this story isn't all that interesting anymore at the moment. I'll have to see if it picks up again, but...

...Anyway, looks like that's it for today. Take care, guys! Hope you have a great day. As for me, I'm gonna go see the Sonic movie!

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 2/14/2020 at 12:13 PM, Alastor15243 said:

...The fuck is with this bandit leader guy's flamboyant speech pattern?

...Those mostly-shaven hair patterns... don't tell me there's a second one of him. Was this the first camp gay bandit duo? Oh, do tell, game, do tell.

Before Lloyd and Llewelyn...

Pain and Agony...

Jasmine and Paul...

There was...

Maggie and Rose!

I kinda like these duos. The notion of multiple bosses, or enemies that support one another, hasn't been done all that much. Not sure whether they're good representation, but oh well.

On 2/14/2020 at 12:13 PM, Alastor15243 said:

By some crazy backwards nonsense logic, somebody put a chest key inside of a chest.

This sounds like something that would happen in a randomizer. Or one of the Kaga games. FE6's designers have neither defense, haha.

[Alastor15243]

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

Before Lloyd and Llewelyn...

Pain and Agony...

Jasmine and Paul...

There was...

Maggie and Rose!

I kinda like these duos. The notion of multiple bosses, or enemies that support one another, hasn't been done all that much. Not sure whether they're good representation, but oh well.

Huh. I know I only saw one boss. Are you talking about another map? I definitely would remember if this boss had a girl's name...

 

 

 

Binding Blade Day 16: Chapter 13

Oh shit. I don't think they actively say it, but I think the coup in Etruria has resulted in all of Lycia being conquered in Roy's absence. The map shows Cecilia's current destination being somewhere well past, and through, Lycia, with Etruria and Bern having followed her all the way there. They're practically by...

...The Nabata... desert...

...Oh. Shit. That's... that's right. Chapter 14. Chapter 14, next chapter... is that map.

We'll... deal with that when the time comes. Moving on...

Okay, so this... there's a lot of cavalry here. If I'm bringing Lot, I better bring that halberd of his.

Anyway, the speed stats on these cavalrymen are pretty high. Allen can double some, but Lance will generally have difficulty, and ideally he's the one who should be getting all the kills because I still don't have Allen's knight crest yet. Jesus Christ. I mean he's still gonna be amazing (and decidedly better than Lance due to a combination of luckier and more plentiful level ups), but it's frustrating to have to wait this long for the second one.

I'm probably going to have to use the bridge to wall with Allen and Lance while I have my mages and Shin pick the cavalry off from safety. Meanwhile I'll send Rutger up north to just generally steamroll everything in that direction.

I will, however, be avoiding Perceval. I have had this spoiled for me, though the talk about his hard mode bonuses made it obvious: this isn't the best time to recruit him. You have another chance, where he's a mid-map reinforcement, and he has even better stats. I also know from watching Mangs' ironman death montage that Lalum is needed to recruit him. I'm not sure why, but I guess I'll find out. Given that the role is filled by Elphin in B route though... I'm starting to get some ideas about that guy's real identity...

And Zephiel is absolutely terrifying as expected, and Narcian is a creepy douche as always.

...And... holy shit. Holy shit, they went there. Guinivere's threatening to kill herself if Miledy doesn't let her go and rejoin Roy's army. Wow, that... that is dark.

...And in a total case of mood whiplash, I find it pretty adorable and a little funny that Miledy's all “you know you could have just asked and I'd have come with you, right?” So... wait... she's already convinced to fight for me...? I thought she was a hard mode bonuses unit, why is this making it look like...?

Holy shit.

HOLY. SHIT.

Are you telling me that Miledy joins with hard mode bonuses despite being an auto-recruit merely because she's a red unit when she flies over in a fucking cutscene?

She has the best hard mode bonuses I've ever seen, and she's only a hard mode bonuses unit on a sheer technicality!?

Oh, okay, it's Milady here, not Miledy. That's... a really weird name.

...But who gives a shit!? She's amazing! She's level 10 and she's already got the best defense in my army! Her speed is middling, but her growth is great! She should be doubling in a couple of levels!

...

...Alright, so, like in chapter 7, I kind of switched straight into focus mode and completely skimped out on commentary. Don't worry, I didn't do too much without updating you. Basically I'm trying to deal with these nasty wyverns. They're every bit as scary as they were last time, except that now I have both a powerful archer and a wyvern of my own. I had to retreat from my chokepoint on the bridge in order to stay out of their range as they approach the shore, but thankfully there was a pseudo-bottleneck made out of a cliff to the north and some forests to the south, which held long enough to get the job done and keep the wyverns from fighting anyone but Milady.

I got a body ring from the village, and it's pretty funny that the guy who gives it to you says that “it'll probably make the ladies less attractive, though.”

Right, now the initial wave is done. I've gotta hurry down that bridge before reinforcements undoubtedly start swarming my starting area and killing everyone I've jumped through hoops to keep alive.

Miledy gained two consecutive speed level ups and a defense boost, among other things, which I'm absolutely not in any mood to have to re-roll.

Oh shit. That was almost a nasty surprise. One of the ballisticians was a sniper. They have the same fucking sprites when in the ballista.

Looks like getting Perceval on this chapter wasn't likely anyway, because he leaves really, really quickly.

And right on cue, here come the reinforcements to chase my rear forces. They shouldn't be too big an issue, but I'm hustling anyway.

Also, Narcian flees like a dirty coward, covering his ass with the excuse that his subordinate is the one who fucked up killing them before, so his life is forfeit anyway and free to be used as cannon fodder without calling Narcian a coward too. Deliciously infuriating, but something tells me it's not going to match the accidental poetic justice masterpiece that was Kempf's demise. Being a lying, buck-passing incompetent asshole and getting killed by the stupidity of an even bigger lying, buck-passing incompetent asshole is just too perfect, even if I'm pretty sure it wasn't intentional on Kaga's part.

One of the wyvern riders has a horseslayer. That is... concerning.

I've gotta say, Rutger picked the perfect time to promote. Just one chapter before we faced a ton of these extremely hard-to-kill enemies that he can completely eviscerate with a little bit of luck. I didn't need a promoted Rutger before, but I sure as fifty fucks need him now.

Also, I know that Rutger is half-Bern, half-Sacaean, and was spared from the slaughter of his village because Bern thought he was one of them. And he's since disguised himself as a non-Sacaean in order to get into a position to get his revenge. So it just occurs to me, seeing his promoted appearance fully, visibly embracing his badass Sacaean heritage is pretty poignant and awesome.

I thought I might have put myself in a nasty spot by using Astore for chip damage, but despite him barely seeing any serious combat beyond weakening foes, he's still tough enough to take two hits from a mercenary and live.

I just got Al's sword. Not too great. It's just an iron sword with 2 more might and 10 less hit, and given that I already have lances, that's not enough of a useful tradeoff to be worth an item slot like Gant's lance was.

Milady's level up streak finally slips up when she gains a skillsauce level at level 14. I don't care. She's as fast as Allen now. Oh I can't wait to promote her. And yet I so very, very much can.

The reinforcements just keep coming from behind, and honestly, I love that. Especially when they're too much for one unit to handle on their own (which, sadly, they are not in this case). Having a fight at the back of the map as well as the front is an excellent way to keep units with lower movement relevant. In fact, idea 357 that this project has given me for a hypothetical SRPG studio game is that there's a convoy unit, but instead of him being on perpetual casual mode, losing him is a game over. That way your rear flank is constantly vulnerable and in need of protection, turning every map into a pseudo-defense-map and giving even knights a relevant purpose.

I wound up forest-dodgetanking with Lugh to take care of the final front wave of cavalry, and I got a major scare when a pretty heavy-duty attack landed anyway. Thankfully, none of the others could do enough to finish him off even if they landed except for a potential killing edge crit, and he got a defense level up too!

But that 3% crit rate on the boss is concerning. I'll have to fight him with someone with a support bonus that'll shield them from it. Which includes Lugh now, thanks to his B support with Raigh, so I guess he's the guy! Rutger's busy dancing with the reinforcements on the bridge, so nothing else for it. And if all else fails... I guess Shin does have a longbow...

Done! Lugh killed him with a crit. Now to go shopping and then get out of here next turn!

Looks like I've completely overloaded Merlinus's storage. Shit. Well, guess I'll have to use the bench as storage now. But thankfully I'm pretty much full on stuff I wanted to buy. Killer swords and killer bows were the most tempting target, but some more flux for Raigh was obviously high on the list, and I got a decent amount of all of them. It's weird, having killer weapons buyable in a GBA game without a secret shop. Weird, but very, very appreciated by Rutger and Shin.

I dunno why, but I like it how Merlinus questions the absurdity of a village where humans and dragons live together in secret when Sophia says it was attacked, and Roy says that he at least believes she's telling the truth when she says her village was attacked, and that they owe her Cecilia's life, so as unbelievable as it sounds, they're going to help.

...Hoo boy.

Looks like I've got my work cut out for me tomorrow.

The map. The infamous map. And the infamous character I have to keep alive at all costs.

This... if what I've heard about this chapter is right, it's gonna be an ordeal. But that'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Holy shit I hope I can even finish the chapter tomorrow. I have a busy week.

[Shadow Mir]

On 2/17/2020 at 11:37 AM, Alastor15243 said:

I will, however, be avoiding Perceval. I have had this spoiled for me, though the talk about his hard mode bonuses made it obvious: this isn't the best time to recruit him. You have another chance, where he's a mid-map reinforcement, and he has even better stats.

And he comes to you, for good measure.

On 2/17/2020 at 11:37 AM, Alastor15243 said:

I'm not sure why, but I guess I'll find out. Given that the role is filled by Elphin in B route though... I'm starting to get some ideas about that guy's real identity...

It has to do with her being the adopted daughter of another Etrurian general (Douglas). And I think your ideas about Elphin are on the mark.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

12 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Huh. I know I only saw one boss. Are you talking about another map? I definitely would remember if this boss had a girl's name...

My mistake, you'll meet them soon enough. For some reason, Binding Blade has four near-identical burly Axe bosses. Remember Scott, from chapter 9?

[Alastor15243]

Binding Blade Day 17: Chapter 14

I'm kicking myself for not trying to do this chapter with my excess time on Monday. It's late and only getting later, and I don't even have high chances of beating this on my first try. But I'll give it a shot, and I will do my best to get this done.

Alright, let's get right into it.

Interesting... they have different graphical effects for the different sources of fog of war in this game? Does any other game in the series do this?

...Nope, looks like it's just a continuous sandstorm, and the standard darkened square system is used globally beneath that graphical effect.

Anyway, I gave a bunch of storage stuff to the units on the bench like I said I would. Mostly door keys I'm not likely to need without advanced preparation, since I've made a habit of bringing Astore to every mission just in case.

The sand is unfortunate, but I'm probably just gonna have to deal with it, because it's not like I'm overflowing with badasses I can easily swap out here. So I'll probably have to bring the usuals and hope for the best.

Oh! And now we get to see Fae! My favorite Manakete in the whole damned series. She is just absolutely precious, and her FE6 sprite is one of the most heart-meltingly adorable things I have ever seen. Honestly, though I like the name “Fa” better. Not sure why, but in the old translation, when she was constantly talking in third person, “Fa” was a much more adorable thing to imagine her saying constantly.

Looks like they got rid of the third person thing too. In fairness, FE7 made both of these changes first, I just never noticed them until after I played the initial fan translation of FE6.

HAHAHAHA!

Fae's all “but if Bern captures us, then we can see the rest of the world,” adorably either not realizing or not caring about the consequences, what with her being a...

…a child.

…A multiple-centuries-old... child.

…

...(Inhales)...

...Sigh.

...Okay.

...I'm not happy about bringing this up.

...But this is a point about this topic that rarely seems to be addressed, so... I feel I probably should.

Now, while obviously this doesn't happen to this particular bundle of infinite happiness, and Fae is very thankfully allowed to remain an innocent and sweet little ball of sunshine more precious than a thousand puppies...

...Fae's behavior here really touches on my serious issues when you take the “thousand year old child” trope and start sexualizing them using the “they're really a thousand” excuse. In the series' defense, they really only did this in one game. Two if you count Sothis. But that's still... an uncomfortable number of times.

And to be perfectly honest, when I say it's still fucked up, I'm not even talking about the “they still look like a child” thing. If a genuine consenting adult happens to be stuck with the body of a child for crazy supernatural reasons and is fortunate enough to find another consenting adult who's into that shit... more power to them. Nyx? Go ahead. Do whatever you want in the privacy of your own bedroom. I would not vote to have the police use my tax dollars arresting your boyfriend. Just please excuse me if I get the fuck out of whatever room you happen to be in if any PDA starts happening.

The problem is that Fae, Myrrh, Nowi and pre-Awakening Tiki... are not consenting adults. They are not 1000-year-olds with the bodies of children. They are 1000-year-old children.

Lemme put this another way: In Shadowrun (which is an absolutely awesome tabletop game whose world I love to death), there are fantasy races, and among them are Orks. Fun fact about Ork physiology that the depth of the setting and the fact that it's an R-rated cyberpunk world almost guaranteed would be touched upon: Orks, in contrast to the usual trope, age and develop faster than humans, not slower, and generally reach a human's age benchmarks in 2/3 of the time. And as a result, in the Shadowrun universe, the age of consent for Orks isn't eighteen... but twelve. Because that is the point when Orks reach the same emotional and mental maturity that a human generally achieves by age 18.

You know. The things that are the reason why the age of consent is a concept to begin with.

The things that Nowi has not remotely acquired.

Given how blatantly childlike, naive, and innocent a lot of these characters are despite all the centuries they've been alive, in any remotely responsible Manakete society, the age of consent would not be anywhere near 18 years old. It would be somewhere in the 2,000s, with maybe some Romeo and Juliet laws for adolescent Manaketes in the 1500-1999 range. Manaketes are borderline mentally handicapped with how slow they are to emotionally mature, and even a half-blood like Nah has some serious developmental issues if her supports with Gerome, Brady, and especially Inigo are any indication. These are not people who can handle the responsibility of being in a sexual relationship of any kind, and it frankly creeps me out that Awakening acts like they are.

...Whew. Okay, I am... deeply sorry if you didn't like that tangent there, and I apologize if I made anyone uncomfortable. But I feel like this is something I was going to have to address at some point, and thankfully now I probably won't have to discuss it again.

Let's move on to the actual chapter.

Okay, so it's the usual fare with sand: fliers and mages rock, mounted units suck...

...but fighters apparently suck even more. Lot can only move one space, despite Roy being able to move 2 and Rutger being able to move 3.

Allen and Clarine are also in really, really rough shape on this map, each having a movement range of 1. Shin isn't so bad, as he's a nomad and his horse is more used to rough terrain. He's got a movement of 2.

Also, I'm really not a huge fan of the buried treasure gimmick. It feels like the sort of thing specifically designed to sell strategy guides. Especially since it's on a map that's fucking timed. At least fog of war means it's a map that encourages thief use, so there's that element to make it easier to find treasure. I'm bringing two thieves, Astore and Cath, and I'm using a map to get all of the treasure, because, again, fuck this concept. And if getting all the treasure turns out to break the game, well, that's a problem with game balance I'm gonna have to address, isn't it? You shouldn't hide a game-breaking number of secrets within your game that trivialize it for anyone who's sufficiently familiar with the mere facts and figures of what and where things are.

I'll be using Tate largely to ferry Cath around while the more durable Astore goes north to get the talisman and silver card (getting the places near the constantly-reinforcement-endangered sides of the map first), then to get the boots in the middle near the end. Meanwhile, I'll be relying primarily on Lugh and Milady to do the bulk of combat, with Raigh, Rutger, Shin, Clarine and Lalum being here mostly because, as I said, I don't have any better options than them to fight in the desert.

I'm also going to be giving Lugh a dragonshield and one of the angel robes I've let gather dust in my convoy. Now that I have a better sense of how my army looks, Lugh's definitely looking like the best use of these things.

And of course we've got Sophia and Cecilia joining us as mandatory deploys, which is... unfortunate (though in Sophia's case obviously that guiding ring means I'd bring her anyway). I mean, Mekkah's right and all, an 8 move mounted healer with great weapon ranks has her uses no matter how bad her stats are...

...It's just... y'know... as he himself very pointedly concedes... very, very few of those uses can be found in a desert.

Luckily Lugh got the talisman on the first turn. Not that it would've mattered, since Astore would have gotten it anyway on his very first move.

...Unfortunately, I had to abandon that attempt, because despite Lugh getting a lucky crit on the manakete, Raigh, who was tagging behind to support him, was insta-blicked by a wyvern LORD hiding in the fog out of range.

Restarting.

After restarting and using torches in a better place to see where those dragons start, I had better luck by putting Raigh in a different spot within supporting range of Lugh. Lugh got yet another lucky crit, and now all the wyverns are dead, the lord falling to Raigh for a level that boosted his much-desired speed.

AND THERE ARE SLEEP STAFF USERS IN THIS FOG. FANTASTIC. FUCKING FANTASTIC.

Well, thanks to Lalum giving Rutger a boost, the sleep staff user is down now. I also noticed, and this is something I find pretty bizarre... the weather overlay graphic for the sandstorm goes above things like menus and the combat forecast.

Alright. There was another wyvern lord in the desert to the east, but thankfully Cath exposed it after walking just into its range to grab the silence staff, and thus she could be rescued by Tate in time and he fell with little difficulty to Milady and Shin.

Oh! Here they are! It's Maggie and Rose! Man, I don't know why, but I've always loved this archetype. Their bizarre, effeminate, polite and overtly homoerotic demeanors are a hilarious contrast with their actual role in the story, that of being violent bandits. Victor and Vincent are my favorites by far, and honestly, if it's eventually decided that this archetype is in too bad taste or something, they could probably keep the archetype going just as strongly and hilariously if they went with what they did in the Golden Gaffe in Awakening, where they do that hilariously ridiculous British chums thing. Honestly, if they went the posh angle for the next pair, that would be absolutely priceless.

Anyway, they're chasing after my group, but thanks to me being proactive in getting the treasure, Cath doesn't have to go anywhere near them. Only two treasures remain, and they're both to the far southeast.

Yet again in this game I nearly fucked up by not checking enemy inventories for things like killing edges. When you aren't playing ironman, especially in dodgetank-heavy games like this, you tend to just start eyeballing enemies a lot more than you should. But thankfully the killing edge hero didn't crit, and actually, though I don't have his stats anymore, I think thanks to that angelic robe and dracoshield I gave Lugh, that wouldn't have killed him anyway.

...I don't know what just happened, but the second I finished my turn, something in the fog... moved. It happened at the time reinforcements showed up, but, funny thing... it looked like it was running away.

Unfortunately... I lost Milady. I forgot how nasty fire tomes could be, and in fighting off a horde of wyvern riders, I accidentally let one get too close, I couldn't get any healers to her in time, she had two unlucky hits in a row from the remaining two guys, and... she bit it. Fuck.

...Sorry, I've had a long day, and I'm not much in the mood to do all of that over again tonight. I'll be stopping here for tonight. Tomorrow I'll be in a better mood to finish this, and hopefully more well-rested to make some better decisions at the late stages of the map.

In contrast to the previous fog of war maps, though... I'm really not digging this one. I didn't expect to, given its reputation, but that massive spam of wyvern riders and lords in the desert really punishes thief placement and leaves you fighting blind in a lot of situations. This map really is just full of cheap traps waiting to pounce and give you a game over. But there were definitely mistakes that I made even ignoring what I didn't know. I let Miledy wander off with no healing items on a map with drastically reduced healer mobility, most importantly. I'll have to fix that next time.

Tomorrow.

See you guys then.

Edited February 19, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Espurrhoodie]

On 2/17/2020 at 12:50 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

My mistake, you'll meet them soon enough. For some reason, Binding Blade has four near-identical burly Axe bosses. Remember Scott, from chapter 9?

Not as bad as what I've heard about FE4, where literally everyone is fucking Zyne.

[Alastor15243]

1 hour ago, Espurrhoodie said:

Not as bad as what I've heard about FE4, where literally everyone is fucking Zyne.

Which in turn is not as bad as Three Houses, which uses the same generic portrait for every non-named unit of a class regardless of the culture or nationality of the faction using it, even when that faction isn't even supposed to be white.

At first I thought the bandits impersonating Almyrans were supposed to be a commentary on how ludicrously racist the townsfolk had to be if they even for one second believed it... but then I fought the actual Almyrans and they were literally just as white as the bandits impersonating them. Apparently Almyrans only get their dark skin when they get names.

Edited February 19, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Espurrhoodie]

19 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Which in turn is not as bad as Three Houses, which uses the same generic portrait for every non-named unit of a class regardless of the culture or nationality of the faction using it, even when that faction isn't even supposed to be white.

 At first I thought the bandits impersonating Almyrans were supposed to be a commentary on how ludicrously racist the townsfolk had to be if they even for one second believed it... but then I fought the actual Almyrans and they were literally just as white as the bandits impersonating them. Apparently Almyrans only get their dark skin when they get names.

Fair point. Although iirc they change the skin color of some Duscur NPCs in Dedue's paralogue.

[Shadow Mir]

44 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

At first I thought the bandits impersonating Almyrans were supposed to be a commentary on how ludicrously racist the townsfolk had to be if they even for one second believed it... but then I fought the actual Almyrans and they were literally just as white as the bandits impersonating them. Apparently Almyrans only get their dark skin when they get names.

The Almyrans are dark skinned - just not to the extent that Duscurs are. You might need to take a really close look to see it, though.

[Alastor15243]

Just now, Shadow Mir said:

The Almyrans are dark skinned - just not to the extent that Duscurs are. You might need to take a really close look to see it, though.

Yeah, that's the point. I'm saying the NPC Almyrans are just as white as everyone else, and are lacking the dark skin of every named Almyran.

[Eltosian Kadath]

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Also, I'm really not a huge fan of the buried treasure gimmick. It feels like the sort of thing specifically designed to sell strategy guides. Especially since it's on a map that's fucking timed. At least fog of war means it's a map that encourages thief use, so there's that element to make it easier to find treasure. I'm bringing two thieves, Astore and Cath, and I'm using a map to get all of the treasure, because, again, fuck this concept. And if getting all the treasure turns out to break the game, well, that's a problem with game balance I'm gonna have to address, isn't it? You shouldn't hide a game-breaking number of secrets within your game that trivialize it for anyone who's sufficiently familiar with the mere facts and figures of what and where things are.

Here is a bit of an exploit that makes getting the treasure a lot less annoying that I learned watching the legendary DonDon. If you reset the game, then resume the map and check the stat screen of whoever you are about to move, they will successfully get the treasure. The check for if a non-thief gets the treasure is based on a secondary RNG that resets whenever the game is (and is moved differently from the standard RNG).

 

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

AND THERE ARE SLEEP STAFF USERS IN THIS FOG. FANTASTIC. FUCKING FANTASTIC.

I hate that guy, he really made me regret my choices in the Sadist Draft of FE6... I don't know if this would help much but deployment order is a key factor in who status staves target, accuracy is also a factored so placing your highest staff avoidance unit in the lowest deployment slot isn't a good solution, but placing a unit that you do not want slept higher in the deployment order could make things less annoying.

[Jotari]

Tiki is actually a thousand year old body with the mind of a child even by objective human standards. In that her experiences of life are limited to about a decade. She's spent the vast majority of her time sleeping. So there is absolutely no justification in sexualising her. Even Nowi you could say "Well she's experienced a lot of life and is more mature than she's letting on," but not Tiki. She is literally a child by dragon standards and human standards. Thankfully the games don't really sexualize her that much. Some of the artwork does though.

9 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Apparently Almyrans only get their dark skin when they get names.

Ha. I have nothing to add to this. Just, ha.

Edited February 19, 2020 by Jotari

[Boomhauer007]

So I have the week off and decided to go through just fates in the same way / mindset you've done this in (all lunatic). Man, idk how you're going to write this much per chapter on birthright (did that route first), I feel like I could summarize every chapter with "silas / oboro / ryoma / corn advanced into a crowd and aggroed 20 units, shoutouts to guard naginata, everyone wiped them on player phase, repeat x20".

I was hoping returning to non conquest and taking an objective type approach would be fun (you make it look fun), but if anything in both story and gameplay birthright and rev are even worse than I remember lol. Won't say more even if you aren't playing them for awhile, just thought I'd share that you're inspiring people to try things. 

[Alastor15243]

13 minutes ago, Boomhauer007 said:

So I have the week off and decided to go through just fates in the same way / mindset you've done this in (all lunatic). Man, idk how you're going to write this much per chapter on birthright (did that route first), I feel like I could summarize every chapter with "silas / oboro / ryoma / corn advanced into a crowd and aggroed 20 units, shoutouts to guard naginata, everyone wiped them on player phase, repeat x20".

I was hoping returning to non conquest and taking an objective type approach would be fun (you make it look fun), but if anything in both story and gameplay birthright and rev are even worse than I remember lol. Won't say more even if you aren't playing them for awhile, just thought I'd share that you're inspiring people to try things. 

Well I'm flattered! I'm not too worried about not having much to say regarding those games, though. Mostly because I genuinely like Birthright (even if I love Conquest way more) and despise Revelation with an intensity only two games in the series rival, and both of those feelings are pretty good about giving you things to say.

[Alastor15243]

Binding Blade Day 18: Chapter 14, Take 2

Alright, let's try this again. While I don't expect it to matter now that I know those enemies that killed her are out there, I'm still giving Milady an elixir.

I have to assume that some fixed RNG is at play here, because this is the third consecutive time that manakete gone down to Lugh in the first round thanks to a first-attack critical. Well, works for me.

What doesn't work for me is that I moved Sophia too close to the front of the group, and with her terrible starting stats, she got one-shot by a mage who snuck out of the darkness. And obviously since a guiding ring and a gaiden chapter are depending on her, that won't do.

Restarting.

Yep. Looks like this is a rigged first move RNG thing or something. Lugh critted on his first attack yet again.

Which also means that same shitty lucksauce level up for Lugh combined with a that same awesome mag, skill, speed and luck level up for Raigh, which at this point in the game is totally worth it.

Managed to yet again find the boots without the help of a thief, which is a plus for our schedule here.

The only major thing that changed up this time is that I got to where I ran into the first eastern wyvern riders a bit too soon, making me realize they aren't lie-in-wait units, but were on the move when I first found them. This nearly ended badly when more than just a single wyvern lord started rushing my sandlocked troops, but Shin and Lalum took care of the two extra who showed up.

Another thing was that Rutger wasn't as close to the front this time as he was last time, resulting in me needing to dance Milady over to the north in order to do enough damage to a bishop to kill him, as Lugh and Raigh couldn't do much against his insane res.

Alright, it's down to the wire. The bandits are closing in from behind and I've only got 7 turns left, but I've pretty much got the temple secured. Only three more treasures to get: the guiding ring, the warp staff, and the silver blade. I'm having Sophia, Cath and Astore get them respectively.

I love how the game tells you about buried treasure when the map is already over. Fuck you, game. That said, the “try looking around the bones” was appreciated at least.

I've got the guiding ring, and I've got two nearly-capped magic users chomping at the bit to use it. It's just a question of who caps first!

I do something extremely risky in order to get the warp staff. I toss Cath out into the range of an enemy mage, right by the treasure, and just out of the range of a third manakete, so she can dash in, grab the treasure, get rescued, and then be safety out of here.

Success! I had to rush in to kill the mage with Milady and have her fight the dragon since the mage was blocking Cath's path to the proper sand area, but no matter. The boss is almost dead, and we've even got time to visit both shops with the silver card!

...I swear to god, if that Manakete gets a 5% crit on Milady...

...And the shops are selling Nosferatu. Okay. I am buying a shitton of that. As much as I can. Along with some aircaliburs, another restore staff, and some more torches since I panic-used a lot of them out of fear of missing something in the dark by just one space.

Also, on the last turn, Shin scores a kill on Rose with a killer bow. He gains a great (HP, Str, Luck and Def) level up, and now he's level 19! I've got a ton of characters in my team on the verge of promotion, which is awesome.

The armory doesn't have anything nearly as good as ehe shop, which is in a sense fortunate, because I spent nearly everything I had left at the shop. I did buy a single steel sword though.

The ending dialogue is pretty damned minimal. I have to assume that, as usual, they're saving the real ending scene for after the gaiden chapter I unlocked.

Well... we're clear. That's the end of the chapter. It didn't take nearly as long this time. It's still light out where I am, actually!

My opinions on the map haven't changed, however. I'm still not that fond of it. Combining the obligatory desert map with fog of war is... something I'm grateful hasn't really been repeated. Especially when you use it as an excuse to make it nearly impossible to figure out what's out ahead of you before it can rush in and slaughter you. This is an uncomfortably open map for your enemies. I wasn't kidding earlier; I found myself frequently spamming torches before they ran out just to make sure I was seeing as far into the darkness as I could, and there were still several close calls. I liked the first fog of war map because it granted so many opportunities to scout across rivers and the like, seeing the enemy before they can attack you. Adding flying units onto a fog of war map seems to serve no purpose other than to shatter this, and make people memorize where enemies spawn.

But at any rate, I'm done for today. I'll tackle 14x tomorrow, and I have serious doubts it'll be as hard as this chapter. Also, I liked the water temple in FE7, so hopefully I'll like its predecessor!

[Boomhauer007]

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, I liked the water temple in FE7, so hopefully I'll like its predecessor!

Narrator: "He didn't."

Seriously though, 14x probably has the 2nd worst gimmick in the game. Number one of course being...

Spoiler

Lol 16x light arrows

 

[Shadow Mir]

18 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, I liked the water temple in FE7, so hopefully I'll like its predecessor!

Famous last words. Seriously, though, Revelation’s gimmicks look tolerable compared to most of the gimmicks this game serves up.

[Alastor15243]

Waaaaaaaaait a goddamned second. I just remembered some info I heard in FE3, and having recently discussed Nowi...

 

...Aren't Marthverse Manaketes supposed to be sterile? How the hell did Nowi have kids? Wasn't there some weird cosmic shift that stripped the dragons of the ability to have children or stay sane in their dragon forms without sealing them? If Manaketes can have kids again, why do they still need dragonstones? Why would one change but not the other? Was the fact they both happened at once in the first place some crazy coincidence?

Edited February 20, 2020 by Alastor15243