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

[Alastor15243]

Honestly, that advice to "always make sure to save money" almost seems like that village lady was lying to me. There's way more money in the lategame than there are shops to spend it at.

[Alastor15243]

Blazing Blade Day 19: Chapter 23

Oh yeah, the “Hector carrying Nils” scene. It's still pretty amusing even today. Nothing burst-out-laughing funny though. But it's a nice moment.

Honestly, after having seen Priscilla and Erk's supports... Eliwood and Ninian's whole relationship kinda feels like somebody trying to do the same thing without getting the subtleties. It's hard to do characters this shy, reserved and polite and still give them an interesting personality, but it can be done.

I wonder what it must've been like for die-hard FE6 fans, fans who memorized the name of every one of the heroes of the scouring, when they saw that old man and saw Louise call him “Athos”. I can't even imagine.

Oh! It's the camp gay bandit duo! These always bring a smile to my face.

Oh my god. Whenever they say their lines, they do this circular dance to bring the new one to the front. This is why I love the GBA mugshots. Those little movements with the bounce to them... it's just delightful whenever they move in a comedic scene, but it's subtle enough that it doesn't interfere with the serious ones.

...Well, if I want to get Linus's version of the map, I'm gonna have to get 9 more lord levels in the next one, maybe two chapters.

...Or I can give up on this folly, especially since Eliwood is basically irredeemable at this point, and bring Canas and Heath instead of Eliwood and Lyn.

To the fucking desert map.

...Yeah. Maybe that's a better idea.

Anyway, I'm gonna try to get the gaiden, but I'm not gonna do anything stupid to get it.

Lowen and Marcus are going to deal with the cavalry on the grass. Erk, Canas and Heath are going to take advantage of their superior mobility in the sand to avoid getting overwhelmed.

Priscilla and Hector are just gonna... I dunno. Exist. Do whatever they can. But it probably won't be much.

We're gonna have to hurry if we wanna stop Pent from stealing all of the exp. But apparently this is a fog of war chapter, so...

...Yeah, that might be a problem.

I hate how this game consistently seems to have a Thracia-esque problem of hiding basic information from the player on the preparation screen. In this case, both Pent's location on the map, and the fact that it's fog of war. I mean, I like that you still got to see where everyone starts, but Jesus game, fog of war is the sort of shit you specifically bring certain items for! What if all of my torches were stuck on someone I didn't deploy!?

Anyway, yeah, Pent was probably the biggest badass of the whole game when I was a kid. Even more than Marcus. Because you got a whole chapter where you got to watch him be basically the only green unit in the whole game who had almost no chance of dying. On this mode though... those 30% hit rates are more than a little worrying.

But Legault got the ocean seal, and Canas got a speed level up. And now Heath's grabbing Hawkeye so Hector can talk to him quickly.

Okay, yet another way Hector Hard Mode fucks with the story. The joke that Hawkeye is so massive that Hector is relieved to find shade only to wonder what the fuck could be casting that kind of shadow in the middle of a desert...

...Why is he relieved to find shade in a sandstorm? Is the sun still seriously coming through that massive storm of sand?

...Actually, serious question. I just realized I don't actually know.

I have Hawkeye, and his stats are... I mean, they're pretty good for this point in the game, but that speed is very worrying, considering his level. Plus side: he can use the brave axe without any speed penalty at all, due to his ludicrous 16 con.

NO!

FUCK YOU, GAME.

THAT IS NOT FAIR.

THAT IS NOT FUCKING FAIR.

FUCK THE ENTIRE CONCEPT OF PUTTING STEEL LANCE WYVERN RIDERS IN A FUCKING FOG OF WAR DESERT MAP.

THERE IS NOT A SINGLE UNIT IN MY ENTIRE ARMY, NOR IS IT PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE FOR ME TO HAVE ONE, THAT CAN SURVIVE TWO FUCKING HITS FROM THOSE THINGS AND MOVE AROUND THE DESERT REMOTELY REASONABLY!

THESE ARE BASICALLY JUST AMBUSH SPAWNS.

AND NOW THANKS TO ONE OF THEM AND A STEEL BOW ARCHER AND A TINY PINCH OF RNG MAGIC, ERK IS FUCKING DEAD!

 

 

 

 

 

...Ugh.

This...

...This is a big deal. This isn't like losing Kent or Dart. This is... this is Erk. Possibly the person I put the most investment into in my entire army. And not only that, but he was holding one of my two guiding rings. I, uh... don't have that many good units in my army besides him, Marcus and Lowen, to be frank.

And now he's dead.

I...

...Look, I'm sorry... I have to stop playing for today. This... I have to think about how and if I want to proceed here, and I'm gonna need to take some time to cool down to think about that.

Holy fucking shit.

...You know what the worst part is?

I think, I'm not sure but I think, that if I had promoted him before the end of last turn, at level 17... he'd still just barely be alive.

[Jotari]

Considering how limited deployment slots are, I'm just reading this as a big ol excuse to use Pent. It's not like you would have reasonably been able to field both of them in most chapters. Wyvren in fog of war is definitely not iron man friendly game design, but Pent is.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Looking back at my one and only HHM attempt- *5 Tactics, Combat, Survival (no ironman), and 4* Funds (I must have been just a hair short of 5) and 1* EXP- my used units ended up as follows:

Spoiler

• Hector 20/9: HP 48 Str 26 Skl 16 Spd 16 Lck 12 Def 23 Res 11
• Eliwood I didn't promote, but I did Arena abuse him to 20 for Linus FFO, at 18 he had 14 Str and 16 Spd. If it weren't for me aiming for 5* Funds, I would've promoted him.
• Florina (had the Lyn Mode Robe and Ring) 20/17: HP 48 Str 22 Skl 22 Spd 28 Lck 26 Def 12 Res 18
• Heath 20/10: HP 54 Str 23 Skl 23 Spd 23 Lck 11 Def 19 Res 5
• Sain 20/18: HP 48 Str 25 Skl 13 Spd 20 Lck 18 Def 12 Res 9 (a bit screwed?)
• Priscilla 20/7: HP 31 Str 19 Skl 21 Spd 17 Lck 25 Def 5 Res 20
• Raven 20/18: HP 59 Str 25 Skl 29 Spd 26 Lck 20 Def 13 Res 5 (blessed be Raymond Corvinus!)
• Harken XX/18: HP 52 Str 25 Skl 25 Spd 22 Lck 12 Def 17 Res 13
• Hawkeye XX/15: HP 57 Str 26 Skl 16 Spd 14 Lck 18 Def 16 Res 13
• Pent XX/14: HP 37 Str 20 Skl 25 Spd 21 Lck 19 Def 13 Res 18
• Geitz XX/9: HP 50 Str 23 Skl 15 Spd 18 Lck 13 Def 14 Res 6
• Guy 20/5: HP 47 Str 16 Skl 19 Spd 23 Lck 17 Def 12 Res 12

So ignoring Guy (who fell off b/c Swordlock), Eliwood, and Hector, I had 9 core combat units. 4 of whom were non-healer non-prepromotes.

 

Louise gained four levels too, and Marcus reached level 8. Jaffar and Vaida saw minor amounts of combat. Nils got to 7 in Lyn Mode and 16 in Hector Mode. Karla was skipped.

 

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Why is he relieved to find shade in a sandstorm? Is the sun still seriously coming through that massive storm of sand?

...Actually, serious question. I just realized I don't actually know.

From what I've heard of firsthand accounts of the 1930s Dust Bowl's massive dust clouds, and from what I've seen of modern sandstorm/haboob video footage, Hector would not need shade, at all.

 

I forget if it came up in this thread already, but despite being an entirely different tract of desert, the FE7 desert map is a cropped and edited version of FE6's.

You see? From the northwest corner to the ridge with a skull next to its southern termination point?

Although it doesn't get the same amount of chardonnay directed towards it as Binding Blade's desert battle, Blazing's on HHM is about as much of a scorching hot disaster. Which makes FE8's, arguably the best/least worst desert map in FE, quite the contrast. You have every reason to hate it.

Edited April 8, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[Eltosian Kadath]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Well, if I want to get Linus's version of the map, I'm gonna have to get 9 more lord levels in the next one, maybe two chapters.

...Or I can give up on this folly, especially since Eliwood is basically irredeemable at this point, and bring Canas and Heath instead of Eliwood and Lyn.

 9 Levels is a bit too much to reach for at this point, and if you got stuck with an Elibad instead of an Eligood its no wonder.

 

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

NO!

FUCK YOU, GAME.

THAT IS NOT FAIR.

THAT IS NOT FUCKING FAIR.

FUCK THE ENTIRE CONCEPT OF PUTTING STEEL LANCE WYVERN RIDERS IN A FUCKING FOG OF WAR DESERT MAP.

THERE IS NOT A SINGLE UNIT IN MY ENTIRE ARMY, NOR IS IT PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE FOR ME TO HAVE ONE, THAT CAN SURVIVE TWO FUCKING HITS FROM THOSE THINGS AND MOVE AROUND THE DESERT REMOTELY REASONABLY!

THESE ARE BASICALLY JUST AMBUSH SPAWNS.

AND NOW THANKS TO ONE OF THEM AND A STEEL BOW ARCHER AND A TINY PINCH OF RNG MAGIC, ERK IS FUCKING DEAD!

Oof, losing someone you were really training hurts, and losing them to the fog of war only makes it worse. I hope I didn't jinx by asking about him.

 

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...This is a big deal. This isn't like losing Kent or Dart. This is... this is Erk. Possibly the person I put the most investment into in my entire army.

To be fair Hawkeye just joined and is excellent, Pent isn't that far off,  Harken comes immediately after that, and Jaffar just after that (assuming he doesn't die or doom the run), Vaida just after that, and finally Athos can literally solo the endgame if you need him to. Honestly once you reach Hawkeye you are in the home stretch, as they give you some amazing prepromotes to carry you, if you can reach them. Its the earlier game and the two NPC luck based chapters (and the Pent death chance is single digit at best) that would likely end things.

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

And not only that, but he was holding one of my two guiding rings. I, uh... don't have that many good units in my army besides him, Marcus and Lowen, to be frank.

I am guessing he died without you noticing, but one of the mages on this map had a steal-able guiding ring...so that is probably 2 of the first 3 guiding rings lost...than again if he isn't there is a chance to replace it.

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...Look, I'm sorry... I have to stop playing for today. This... I have to think about how and if I want to proceed here, and I'm gonna need to take some time to cool down to think about that.

That is probably a good idea as I find if you want to keep trying to ironman after the loss of one of your favorites it can cascade into far worse play. Note this is a do as I say, not as I do moment, as I am horrible at following that advice.

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

I think, I'm not sure but I think, that if I had promoted him before the end of last turn, at level 17... he'd still just barely be alive.

That is the risk you take when waiting to promote, that you might need those promotion gains now.

[Alastor15243]

45 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

That is the risk you take when waiting to promote, that you might need those promotion gains now.

Yeah, but it sucks to have the reason I might have needed them be a damned sneak attack.

[Alastor15243]

Blazing Blade Day 20: Chapter 23, Part 2

Right. So, I've had some time to cool off, and yeah, obviously I need to move forward with this. First, because this is a fucking ironman run, and I can't puss out just because I lost one of my favorite units, secondly, if I give up now it's gonna make the rest of this playthrough feel utterly meaningless and hollow, and it's not remotely fair to let that color my perception of the game, thirdly, I'm gonna get Pent in like a chapter or two, and four, Lowen and Marcus can handle... basically anything at this point. I'm half convinced Lowen's literally invincible at this stage.

I'll just have to focus even harder on training up Canas and Heath.

Shame that Priscilla seems yet again doomed to a life alone, however.

Honestly, this feels like a good time to bring up a gameplay concept I've been interested in seeing since the act of losing Kaze in Birthright and coming back to My Castle to see his wife bitching about accessories really drove home to me how little characters react to their loved ones' deaths in these games.

Honestly, if you get to a high enough support rank with someone, what I'd love to see is a feature where their loved ones just completely flip out, in the middle of the battlefield.

Like, they die, their “piece on the board” vanishes, and then it pans over to their deployed loved one, who says some line of utter shock...

...And then it goes straight back to the map, and the map vibrates and visual sound wave effects emanate from the character as they scream in sorrow and rage, letting out a line about how they're going to make them pay.

I have two ideas for what happens next:

1: They get double their loved one's usual support bonuses, but only for that map before they're gone forever.

2: They get half their support bonus with their partner as a permanent boost.

Hell, maybe each character could react differently. Some might be the first going on a roaring rampage of revenge, others resolve to fight to honor their loved one's memory, and others might just become completely broken and suffer penalties for a few maps.

The main thing here isn't the gameplay (though it would make ironmans incredibly fun to have special mechanics that come into play when you don't immediately reset after a loss), but more that we feel the impact this character's death has on the army. That's what disappointed me so much about learning that I was mistaken about the post-battle “mourning” scenes in this game. That would have been an example of something that basically no game in the series has ever done. And I think we've reached the point in the series where a mechanic like this could be very reasonably implemented.

But of course, there's no way the developers would ever bother in a million years as long as the turnwheel is a thing. I realize Intelligent Systems didn't have too much involvement in Three Houses, so what they do next is still kind of up in the air, but the way the divine pulse was implemented into Three Houses, it's pretty clear the developers weren't even entertaining the idea that people weren't resetting after every death.

Anyway, I clean up the enemies that finished Erk off, making sure Canas uses his Nosferatu just in case more wyverns come.

SHIT, NO, THAT GIVES HIM LIKE 3 ATTACK SPEED, ABORT, ABORT.

Thank goodness I caught that. Holy shit is Nosferatu heavy in this game.

Oh god. The “green units won't heal unless they're at half health or lower” mechanic nearly gave me a heart attack. Thankfully, only one enemy attacked Pent this turn, and that wyvern rider struck true, convincing him to heal.

I've been told the third guiding ring also slipped past me as a stealable item on a mage, meaning I only have one guiding ring until chapter 27. Either I give up on my prospects of getting a badass valkyrie in order to have a second staff user earlier and train up his staff rank, or I basically leave Canas in the dust and maybe use him as a shitty staffbot by the endgame, or train him up super fast.

...Oh shit. I said I was gonna try to train Nino too.

...Fuck. Well, yeah, I did promise. I'm gonna see how Night of Farewells is on hard mode and give it a chance.

Jasmine has a white gem, but no way in hell I'm stealing that. Pent's right next to him, and...

...Oh. Oh wow, that's not gonna be nearly as one-sided as I thought. It might even drag on long enough for me to try it. If I'm a dumbass.

...I am indeed such a dumbass, and it paid off. I was careful about it, to be clear, but dropping Legault confirmed there's nobody but Jasmine in range of Legault. He'll survive, and then be able to steal it. Then I'll have Canas and Heath backing Pent up in killing the fucker.

THERE! Alright. If I heard correctly, the ocean seal I got combined with that puts me at 60,000 gold gained this chapter, which means that recruiting Farina will be utterly trivial.

Unfortunately, Canas can't do shit to help kill this guy, since his attack speed is so low he gets doubled by Jasmine with a hand axe. So I have to just have Heath help Legault get out of there. Good thing he dodged and can survive yet another turn for Heath to get close enough to do so.

Meanwhile, Priscilla is barriering up Hector in preparation to begin her mighty one-woman campaign of revenge. You killed her beloved escort? THEM PERMIT HER TO ESCORT YOU TO HELL!

Honestly, her stats are pretty much as good as Erk's, she just can't fight. She's gonna be pretty fun once she promotes!

OOH! And it's Fae! We get to see Fae again! She has some really cute dialogue in this chapter. Pity I never saw her as a kid. I do like how Hector Mode's starting position makes talking to her easier.

A huge number of shamans, any one of which might have had that guiding ring, suicided into Pent before I could rescue and stop him.

Shit. Jasmine can double Marcus when he's holding a hand axe. That's... I mean it's not lethal, but it's not boding well.

Thankfully, he got speed from getting the final blow on Jasmine.

OH MY FUCKING GOD.

PENT EVEN STILL COMMENTS ON THE ALLEGEDLY “BEAUTIFUL WEATHER” THAT DAY WHEN YOU TALK TO HIM WITH HECTOR.

SHOVE THIS FUCKING SANDSTORM UP FOMORTIIS'S ASS.

There's something left in that fog waiting to be killed. I really, really hope it's the druid with the guiding ring. Time to find it, and get the treasures along the way.

Thieves really should have better movement in the desert than this. Then again, it's hard to have better movement than they do without just straight up giving them full movement... and I'm not sure if that would be right.

...It's a fucking cavalier.

A nigh-immobile fucking cavalier is on a fortress in the middle of the desert, refusing to move.

Oh. Because it's healing.

Wait... did I injure that guy before... and he ran all the way back there to heal?

I mean... wow. That's some fucking will to live right there.

Pity he has to die.

But it can wait while I get the treasures, I suppose.

Looks like he's healed up enough for his liking and he's gonna run after us.

Very, very slowly.

Alright, I've gotten all the treasure. Time to kill this damned cavalier. But given that, due to my thorough use of the torch and barrier staves, Priscilla is only a few exp away from promoting... maybe I should use this opportunity to top her off.

Yep! All I have to do is use mend on both Lowen and Marcus, and she'll get exactly enough exp to promote at the preparation menu next chapter!

...Which I will be doing, as an apology for how absurdly short yesterday's update was.

HOLY SHIT.

I SOMEHOW GOT THE SIDEQUEST.

I thought I was playing it safe, but I somehow managed it!

Hell yes I'm doing it! I wanna see what the fuss is about!

Curious. This changes the pre-save dialogue.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Oh my god.

The chapter just ends with them falling into a sand pit one after the other like some kind of slapstick routine.

It's so stupid, and yet I love it.

Right, so...

Day 20 Bonus: Chapter 23x

...Oh shit.

Kishuna.

This is the second Kishuna chapter.

I like how they seem to set the dialogue up in such a way where they don't have to call into question whether or not Hector's seen Kishuna before, because they haven't seen him yet here.

But more importantly, it looks like it's nothing but promoted mages with powerful seige tomes and status staves, most of whom can't even do anything due to the magic seal, which makes me exceedingly nervous about why the hell people say this is extremely hard.

I have to assume that, like with his first appearance, he doesn't stick around forever, especially since this is a “defeat enemy” map, not a “defeat boss” map. I'm guessing that I have to kill as many of these guys as I possibly can, as quickly as I can, before Kishuna leaves and my life becomes a living nightmare.

But first thing's first, time to promote Priscilla. Not that the magic seal's gonna let her be too helpful, but I might as well.

She's pretty great! 15 magic, 16 skill, 18 speed, 17 luck, 9 defense, 18 resistance.

That's weird. Promoting doesn't boost her current HP just her max. Even though using an angelic robe increases both.

But really, she's basically a magic-wielding paladin at this point. Hell, if I give her the dragonshield in addition to that angelic robe I just gave her, she'll have pretty much identical bulk to Marcus, and way better avoid!

Also, before I forget, I sold the ocean seal (which is worth 50k rather than selling for it) and white gem, netting me a whopping 35,000 gold, bringing me to 50k. I now have enough to afford Farina! Holy shit! I always thought that price tag was impossible as a kid!

Ugh. This feels rotten, but I'm gonna support Heath with Priscilla. I know it's too soon, and I know it doesn't end well, but dodgetanks need support partners, and wind plus thunder-

…

...Wind... doesn't boost avoid?

Wind... doesn't boost avoid!?

WHO THE FUCK DECIDED THAT!?

Anyway, there's an obvious primary route, that leads to the boss, and a secondary route that leads to a little extra treasure and the remaining high-risk targets in need of assassination. Obviously, Lowen and Marcus are taking the first route with Legault to pick locks, and everyone else is taking the second with a chest key or two.

...Fuck. There's a luna tome user. Those guys are... I mean, they're terrifying on ironman runs.

I have two options.

1: Send Lowen and Marcus that way instead, giving me the lowest chance of losing someone to a luna crit (even though thanks to fire not providing crit evade, I still don't have a 100% chance), but no longer sending my best soldier to take out the lion's share of the dangerous mages...

...or 2: Send Isadora to kill him with a killing edge and pray that that 15% instant death chance doesn't proc.

Seriously, luna is... frankly a ridiculous tome on enemy units. Any unit who has one is either an enemy you have to risk permanently losing someone to fight, or it's an enemy who's basically a random chance to force a reset, and both are annoying. You have to build not just one unit, but two units specifically around getting enough crit evade to counter them, and they only show up a handful of times!

Unless...

Holy shit.

Can I really do it?

Can I sleep staff him?

...Nope. It'd be less than a 50% chance due to how far away I'd have to do it. I'll still check, but judging by the calculations I'm seeing...

Alright, let's start the chapter, and...

…

…

…

…

…

…

Fuck you, game.

Fuck you to hell and back.

FUCK YOU TO THE MOON WITH AN INCENDIARY COCK ROCKET.

HOW DARE YOU!?

HOW! FUCKING! DARE! YOU!?

CHANGING THE FUCKING BATLEFIELD THIS DRASTICALLY AFTER I MADE MY PREPARATIONS!?

The wall came down... right between Lowen and Marcus.

Which means Lowen's doing this on his own, without his support bot and player phase assistant.

...I guess I'll have to make do with Hector and Hawkeye helping out with the wall-breaking and the like. It's not Lowen isn't a badass without Marcus.

...The issue is that Marcus was carrying all of the supplies for that operation. Specifically... the vulneraries.

I have one left in storage. That's gonna have to last. That 30 HP of healing. For the entire right side of the map.

Okay. I now realize that the magic seal gives me a second option in dealing with this luna mage.

I might be able to just lure him into the magic seal area by giving him no valid places to attack us from out of it, and see if the AI is just that stupid. It wouldn't be a massive loss of time, since there's nothing much we can do this turn by killing him. So I'm gonna give it a shot, and if not, I'm gambling with Isadora.

OH MY FUCKING GOD, KISHUNA MOVES.

HE MOVED AND GAVE THE SLEEP STAFF SAGE ROOM TO SLEEP STAFF LOWEN.

WHILE MY RESTORE STAFF USER IS ON THE OTHER FUCKING SIDE OF THE MAP.

DID THE DEVELOPERS SERIOUSLY THINK THIS IS FUNNY!?

Okay. So. The only truly competent fighter when it comes to dealing with mages is asleep now, and there's literally nothing I can do but wait it out. Meanwhile the clock is ticking before these siege tome users can work their magic, and most of them stand a good chance of two-shotting a lot of my army.

AND HE'S GONE BEFORE THEY EVEN WAKE UP.

IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN FOUR TURNS AND HE'S ALREADY GONE.

I'VE KILLED LIKE THREE OF THE FUCKERS!

…

...I...

…Not since Foreign Land and Sky have I been so furious with a map.

This map... there's no way to know how it's actually going to play out until it's too late to prepare for it, and the map gives you basically no room at all to improvise.

This map has a ridiculously small amount of room for error, and must be prepared for perfectly...

AND YET IT WON'T LET YOU FUCKING PREPARE FOR IT.

I'm now surrounded by seige tome users in close quarters, there's another luna tome user I have absolutely no means to safely take out, three of my warriors are asleep because I wanted to make sure Lowen wasn't put straight back to sleep immediately he wakes up, one of these guys has a fucking berserk staff...

...I only have one chance. I have to get as many of these guys as I can safely down the hallway. Priscilla has to restore these guys and keep them restored. I'll have Isadora kill the luna tome user just in case, because he's the only one with a chance of killing Priscilla. I do not see how it's even physically possible for me to finish this without someone dying.

...I was correct. Isaora went down to a purge almost immediately into the enemy phase.

Thankfully, Lowen woke up just in time to save Legault from a priest and block the path for the two sages.

BUT PRISCILLA GOT FUCKING SILENCED.

AT A THIRTY PERCENT CHANCE.

JUST WHEN HEATH GOT SEPARATED FROM THE GROUP AND GOT TRAPPED BEHIND THE ONE FUCKING WALL THAT DIDN'T GO DOWN WHEN KISHUNA LEFT.

WHAT THE FUCKING...

FUCKING...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3scAvPTTd4M

WHO THE FUCK DESIGNED THIS CHAPTER!?

WHO THE FUCK THOUGHT ANY OF THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA!?

I...

Yeah... Okay. Here's the thing. I've got some shit to do in a bit, but when I get back...

...I'm gonna keep going. I'm gonna see what my army fucking looks like at the end of this.

Because I'm genuinely curious now.

I don't think the ironman's gonna be continuable after this.

The stats of these guys are just too good, and so many of them are still alive, and every single turn is an incredibly shaky roll of the dice for literally everyone due to how powerful and accurate these pieces of shit are.

...Yep, we're fucked. Priscilla is dead, because there was a third fucking luna tome user on this fucking map, and he did just exactly enough that everyone else could just barely finish her off when I tried to use her to save Heath by distracting the guys gunning for him.

In fairness, I didn't see the luna tome user, and I should have checked.

BUT FUCK FAIRNESS, BECAUSE THIS CHAPTER HASN'T BEEN FAIR TO ME.

Yeah, I don't think I can finish the game now. I don't think I can even finish the chapter now. Not on ironman.

This... this map feels like it was made by entirely different game designers. It's nothing like any other map in the entire game. It's not like any other gaiden in the entire game.

Hell, I can't even think of anything in Thracia that was as ridiculous as this.

The difficulty jump is frankly ludicrous, to the point that the “accept side chapter” prompt should have been followed by five more saying “are you sure? You're probably going to die.”

And of course I just had to stop alternating saves due to wanting to keep some other saves handy regarding those two chapters I missed. So I have to clear this one now in order to move forward.

You know what the worst part is?

The absolute. Fucking. Worst. Part?

If I had any strong mages besides Priscilla? If Erk were still alive?

I still probably wouldn't have brought them.

Because the start of the map makes it look like they'll be useless, when in reality they're the only ones with a fucking chance in hell of getting out of here alive!

...Holy shit.

Okay.

So.

I managed to somehow save Heath by having Lowen and Marcus rush in. Heath had Ninian's elixir due to previous events, so that let met bring Marcus back to full health, and now I might, might have enough healing left to just barely finish this map.

...NOPE! LOWEN GOT BERSERKED! I'M GONNA DIE.

Holy shit. And this game doesn't even have the feature the previous game had that lets you see the staff ranges of staff users who are armed. Wow.

Okay. So. That's... uh... that's... it's over. I have been completely and utterly obliterated by a single map.

The ironman is done. It's over. It's dead. It can only be resurrected as a tainted zombie at this point.

So now it's a question of how to move forward.

Do you want me to restart the map and make an exception, at least for this map, to my ironman run?

...Or should I just give up on the ironman run entirely, and restart this map and all other maps from now on until I get it perfect?

[Shadow Mir]

Ouch. The one thing I can take away from this is that Genesis isn't worth doing on HHM.

47 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Hell, I can't even think of anything in Thracia that was as ridiculous as this.

Not even 24x?

[Interdimensional Observer]

38 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

AND HE'S GONE BEFORE THEY EVEN WAKE UP.

IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN FOUR TURNS AND HE'S ALREADY GONE.

Kishuna you mean?

Did you attack Mr. Magic Seal? That makes him flee. Otherwise, I wouldn't know what would, other than opening the door to his chambers. Which how you make him flee alters the reinforcements in the middle- a Recover and some strong tomes from the left, some Silvers to the right.

 

Genesis is mean, definitely very mean, Restore staffs aren't even buyable yet and you only get one from a village beforehand. But after that (or Lloyd FFO if you go there and don't blitz the dude) it lets up for a couple chapters, until BBD (Pent has just enough Physics range at base to reach Zeph from the starting area).

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Did you attack Mr. Magic Seal? That makes him flee. Otherwise, I wouldn't know what would, other than opening the door to his chambers. Which how you make him flee alters the reinforcements in the middle- a Recover and some strong tomes from the left, some Silvers to the right.

I didn't touch Kishuna. I didn't get anywhere near Kishuna. He left by like turn three anyway.

[Interdimensional Observer]

20 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I didn't touch Kishuna. I didn't get anywhere near Kishuna. He left by like turn three anyway.

Looks like a turn 5 departure is, unique to only HHM, the norm for Kishuna on this map. I must've forgotten that.

Edited April 9, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[Boomhauer007]

Yeah everything about the prep screen in this map is a lie. It's also the kind of dumb cheap difficulty where it's not terrible once you know what's coming, but absolutely awful when you don't. 

And kishuna does not move in 19x, so the player has no reason to know that all of a sudden he's just walking around like his legs work all of a sudden. 

[Alastor15243]

So what do you think I should do? Right now I'm leaning towards making an exception for this chapter, playing until I get through it, and then continuing on the ironman. Any objections?

[Eltosian Kadath]

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

OOH! And it's Fae! We get to see Fae again! She has some really cute dialogue in this chapter. Pity I never saw her as a kid. I do like how Hector Mode's starting position makes talking to her easier.

Fun fact, the dialogue is slightly different if Hawkeye visits that house. It ultimately gives you the same information, they just give it out with a short conversation as a way to acknowledge that Fae and Hawkeye would know each other.

 

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Anyway, I clean up the enemies that finished Erk off, making sure Canas uses his Nosferatu just in case more wyverns come.

SHIT, NO, THAT GIVES HIM LIKE 3 ATTACK SPEED, ABORT, ABORT.

Thank goodness I caught that. Holy shit is Nosferatu heavy in this game.

Nosferatu is a dangerous tome to wield in this game...

 

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

I've been told the third guiding ring also slipped past me as a stealable item on a mage, meaning I only have one guiding ring until chapter 27. Either I give up on my prospects of getting a badass valkyrie in order to have a second staff user earlier and train up his staff rank, or I basically leave Canas in the dust and maybe use him as a shitty staffbot by the endgame, or train him up super fast.

...Oh shit. I said I was gonna try to train Nino too.

...Fuck. Well, yeah, I did promise. I'm gonna see how Night of Farewells is on hard mode and give it a chance.

You get an Earth Seal next chapter that could be used as a guiding ring, and while its extremely difficult to get there is another one you can steal from the Battle Before Dawn as well.

 

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...It's a fucking cavalier.

A nigh-immobile fucking cavalier is on a fortress in the middle of the desert, refusing to move.

Oh. Because it's healing.

That's hilarious...also kinda lucky as it gives you all the time in the world to grab the treasure.

 

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

HOLY SHIT.

I SOMEHOW GOT THE SIDEQUEST.

I thought I was playing it safe, but I somehow managed it!

The unlock requirements are recruiting Hawkeye (and keeping him alive) and getting 700 xp or more on the map, and staff grinding (or repeated dancing) is a surefire way to unlock it.

 

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

OH MY FUCKING GOD, KISHUNA MOVES.

HE MOVED AND GAVE THE SLEEP STAFF SAGE ROOM TO SLEEP STAFF LOWEN.

WHILE MY RESTORE STAFF USER IS ON THE OTHER FUCKING SIDE OF THE MAP.

DID THE DEVELOPERS SERIOUSLY THINK THIS IS FUNNY!?

This is one of the two things that makes this map infamously difficult on HHM

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

AND HE'S GONE BEFORE THEY EVEN WAKE UP.

IT HASN'T EVEN BEEN FOUR TURNS AND HE'S ALREADY GONE.

and this is the other, him leaving on turn 5 and bringing the breakable walls with him. On all the other mode/difficulties he doesn't move and only leaves when you either attack him (with a longbow...), or open the door to his chamber, and its a lot more manageable.

 

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

And of course I just had to stop alternating saves due to wanting to keep some other saves handy regarding those two chapters I missed. So I have to clear this one now in order to move forward.

Oh boy, you didn't take my advice from earlier in the week. I suppose worst comes to worst you can still mine glitch this chapter if it blocks you for too long.

 

6 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

So what do you think I should do? Right now I'm leaning towards making an exception for this chapter, playing until I get through it, and then continuing on the ironman. Any objections?

No objections from me with continuing the ironman after this map. Any sane ironman run ignores this gaiden, other than Mangs (and even than it was only thanks to the madness of strawpoll), but his god tier levels of luck let him get out of this map death free in the most never punished moment of the run.

[Interdimensional Observer]

No objections to resetting as you must I'd say, don't let a little underground hellhole of triple Luna Druids, siege tomes and status get you down to the point of scrapping a run entirely, you can't truly judge a game that way. And you're trying to do that beside ironmanning.

 

 

And that reminds me, I think I once saw something on TV that said horses, assuming they aren't weighed down too much, are not slow in the desert. A caravan of pilgrims and merchants from Timbuktu to Cairo and Mecca laden with gold and salt? Camels for the long haul would better much better there, but if all you're doing in the sands is a quick battle before returning to less hot and sandy environs, a war horse is fine and outdoes a war camel.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[Alastor15243]

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

No objections to resetting as you must I'd say, don't let a little underground hellhole of triple Luna Druids, siege tomes and status get you down to the point of scrapping a run entirely, you can't truly judge a game that way. And you're trying to do that beside ironmanning.

Oh that was never on the table. Of course I'm finishing this game. The question is if I keep doing it "ironman" (tainted run, as Mangs' chat would say) after I get through this hell of a chapter, or if this should signal the end of ironmanning.

[Interdimensional Observer]

20 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oh that was never on the table. Of course I'm finishing this game. The question is if I keep doing it "ironman" (tainted run, as Mangs' chat would say) after I get through this hell of a chapter, or if this should signal the end of ironmanning.

Thinking on the remaining chapters, the next's Lloyd version will be a dead Wallace, and you'll need planning for the boss KO. But after that, well hope you can get to Jaffar before he dies, and Ursula can move if low on HP? (maybe randomly regardless on the last turn?- sounds evil ironman or not). After that, I can envision a fun chapter or two, but otherwise it'll be smooth sailing, enough for Ironman to remain feasible I guess.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Interdimensional Observer

[Jotari]

Fun fact. I watched the entirety of Xioalin Showdown's first season while trying to clear this map on Hector Hard Mode. That was over four hours of play time without making any headway. And it wasn't an iron man. I found that how you deal with the first turns before Kishuna vanishes is absolutely crucial.

 

Accept the TPK. Move forward with everyone dead. It's the only way to preserve your honor!

[Shadow Mir]

On 4/4/2020 at 1:38 PM, Boomhauer007 said:

"For some reason Vaike is walking around calling himself teach now."

I always found that early game intro to be a perfect summary of awakening characters. Like imagine a character like that in a game with a good story like fe4. Then you get Gaius joining because you have candy, Tharja joining because she's creeping on Robin, so on and so on. 

Honestly, Genealogy is in dire need of comedy anyway, because the drama is overly suffocating to the point where I can't even call the story good.

[Alastor15243]

Blazing Blade Day 21: Chapter 23x, Take 2

Alright. Let's do this. Time to get this utterly stupid map out of the way and get back to my ironman run like it never existed. And I've got a plan. It's probably not gonna work, but it's got a better shot than the last one at any rate.

One more comment on this map:

I don't exactly resent this map for its insane difficulty. I resent it more for how completely out-of-place the difficulty is. Most of the game basically resembles your average hard mode in a Fire Emblem game, meaning “tricky, but not too hard if you're paying attention and think your actions through”. And then out of nowhere this chapter ramps it up to psychotic levels, with no warning.

An entire difficulty mode of chapters as difficult as this one might be interesting, though probably more as a “reset until you win” type of game, rather than an ironmanning game. But when you mix it in out of nowhere with otherwise normal chapters... it just turns it into something that doesn't remotely belong.

Anyway...

My plan this time is pretty simple: now that I know that taking out the dangerous foes before Kishuna leaves is completely out of the question, my new objective is to focus on getting the side group back to Hector as quickly as possible, and then fight off the massive horde as best I can. I'm replacing Isadora with Ninian, and I'm putting Lowen in the larger side group since he's the best combat unit, and the side group will, hopefully, be basically the only one doing any real combat. I need to make sure everyone's safely escorted back to the center before we can deal with any of this. Marcus's job will be to use his silver axe to one-shot these breakable walls so we can make as much progress as possible before they come down on their own.

For some reason Lowen has enough crit avoid to be immune to crits from these luna druids. I don't get how. He only has 16 luck and 7 crit avoid from his Marcus support, and these guys have a crit of 25.

...Oh shit. Are these my tactician stars at play?

Quick note while I'm getting through this: strangely, suddenly now the “press A on an empty space while checking an enemy's range to see their staff range” function is working. I could've sworn it wasn't working before. But I'm glad I caught that mistake. That would've been something I marked 7's usability down for.

Alright, I've got my armies reunited, thanks to Lowen's ability to take out that luna druid basically immediately and not having to rely on fragile player-phase tactics to deal with the rest of them. The core objective here is to do basically what I've done for a while now, but even harder: use the shit out of Lowen and Marcus to take these guys out.

Once I get rid of the bolting and purge users (Eclipse is barely more accurate than before and is not worth prioritizing), I can retreat back to Hector's starting area and use Priscilla with Ninian's help to deal with whoever gets berserked or put to sleep. Only potential issue is if Priscilla gets silenced again. If this goes badly again, I'll probably swap Heath out for Canas so that there's a tastier but lower priority target for the silence sage to focus on.

...Priscilla did indeed get silenced again, this time at even lower odds. But at least she wasn't put to sleep. Now I have to take out the seige tome users, fall back, and rely on vulneraries and elixirs until Priscilla's okay again, and kill that fucking silence staff user in the meantime.

Alright. Thanks to Ninis's Grace, I managed to make Marcus tough enough to guard one of the two openings to Merlinus's room while Lowen guarded the other one that had the far more dangerous luna tome user. For a second I was regretting my thorough use of that barrier staff last chapter, but no, it looks like things will be okay. I only need Marcus to be tough for one turn. Healing supplies are holding out, so this should be fine. Shaman reinforcements by the starting point are being held off with Legault sitting on the stairs. The experience would have been nice, but with Priscilla still silenced I can't afford the counter-attacks, and I don't feel like using the brave axe repeatedly to take out barely-promotable shamans.

The eclipse tome users are focusing on Ninian, which works for me, because they can't hit her at all.

...I did it.

I DID IT.

All of the siege tome and staff users are gone! Now all that remains is to nab the treasure and finish off the stragglers!

One of the treasure chests was really out of the way, so I wound up making a massive canto rescue drop chain to ferry Legault ¾ of the way to the next treasure in a single turn.

For my trouble, I got a silver blade, a berserk staff, and a secret book. Seriously, three secret books so far? And I haven't gotten a single speedwing over this entire playthrough!

But wow. That map was... surprisingly manageable once I knew what was actually going on. Which just goes to show how utterly worthless that surprise really is. If you're going to do a surprise last-minute trip up to the player's strategies, you have to be more forgiving of poor preparation than this, since the attempt where they're surprised is guaranteed to have unwittingly poor preparation! If you're going to surprise the player, make the resulting attempt genuinely fun and unforgettable! Make that single attempt where they're caught off guard genuinely count for something!

And yet again Pent remains completely oblivious to the changes to hard mode, only now realizing that the air has turned to normal and-

...Pent was here.

Pent... was here.

THIS WHOLE TIME.

AND IT DIDN'T EVEN BOTHER EXPLAINING WHY HE DIDN'T HELP.

NOT EVEN A SIMPLE “I'll be utterly useless here! I must retreat!” COMMENT FOR HARD MODE TO YET AGAIN RENDER MEANINGLESS!?

...Holy shit, Hector Mode is just taking this story and then just piling garbage on top of it. I don't know if I've had much nice to say about basically any story points Hector Mode added, and the radical changes to late game Hector Hard Mode aren't even reflected in the script when they clearly should be!

Moving on...

Okay, first off, this expodump to explain why Athos calls the heroes “children of Roland” is kind of... disgustingly clumsy.

Second off, I notice that Lyn calls Hanon, canonically female according to FE6, a “horseman”. Granted, maybe you could argue that she was using that as a gender-neutral term, but...

...Athos can't see the future yet, right? That's only something he gains as he's just about to die? So him saying that “great trials await you, and great despair” if they went after the legendary weapons... that wasn't him opaquely warning Eliwood about what he'd wind up doing to Ninian, was he?

I mean if so, I guess he'd also know she'd come back, but... I dunno, people who under-use omniscience, omnipotence, or other omni-powers, tend to kind of annoy me.

So now Athos has teleported us back to Pherae castle, right within shouting distance of Eliwood's mother. I find it amusing that Eliwood just casually says “the archsage sent us” as if his mother would know what the hell he's talking about, and she responds as if she didn't even hear, just going full tilt into worried mother mode.

So... yeah. That's it for this map. Oh, and we got Afa's Drops, which aren't going to do much good on anyone in my army at this point. I'll probably just save them for Nino, since I'm crazy enough to try getting her off the ground.

Anyway... honestly, this map wasn't that hard, once the surprise was out of the way. I think I could even do it again without getting any casualties. But holy shit did that knowledge make a world of difference. I went from total party wipe to a flawless attempt with just one retry.

If that's not a damning condemnation of how outrageously irresponsible this series can be with Surprise Mechanics™, I don't know what is.

As for Monday, we'll be dealing with... swordmasters hiding in fog of war.

Oh goodie.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Interdimensional Observer]

24 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Holy shit, Hector Mode is just taking this story and then just piling garbage on top of it. I don't know if I've had much nice to say about basically any story points Hector Mode added, and the radical changes to late game Hector Hard Mode aren't even reflected in the script when they clearly should be!

Genesis is accessible in Eliwood Mode too, in case you've forgotten. It's the only one of the three gaiden chapters required for the Nergal final words change + ending CG red boi can access.

 

26 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

As for Monday, we'll be dealing with... swordmasters hiding in fog of war.

Oh goodie.

I'll help with some math, if you want it, you could figure out your own solution instead.:

Spoiler

Surviving Lloyd:

• Hawkeye's Durability: 50 HP and 17 Res at with full strength Barrier/Pure Water. 13 Lck.
• Lloyd's Offense: 19 Str and 9 Mt for 28 Atk. 25 Crit. Deduct 2 Atk if you purchase a Swordreaver in this chapter.
• Damage to Hawkeye: At least (28 - 2 - 17) = 9 * 2 = 18 damage. Double crits on the minimum = 27 + 27 = 54 = dead. Chance of being ORKOed = .12 * .12 = 1.44%?

 

Killing Lloyd:

• Hawkeye with Swordreaver:
  • Attack: 18 Str + 13 Mt + 2 WTA = 33 Atk
  • Accuracy: 28 from Skl + 13 Lck + 70 from Swordreaver + 30 WTA = 141 Hit.
• Lloyd
  • Durability: 44 HP and 9 Def.
  • Evasion: 42 from Spd + 16 Lck = 58 Avoid.
• Hawkeye Smash?:
  • Damage dealt: 33 - 9 = 24 damage. 2HKO to Lloyd.
  • Chance of hitting: 141 - 58 = 83 Displayed = 94.39 True

 

So, Hawkeye Smaaaaaaaaash! -If I did the calcs properly.

I'm a little surprised this is possible, I've never done Lloyd FFO on HM because I thought it'd be too hard. Nope, with adequate analysis, the game just gave you a near-surefire answer 1-2 chapters ago.

However, the bosskill ignores any potential comrades of Lloyd Irving joining in on the attack, and the fog.

[Alastor15243]

8 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Genesis is accessible in Eliwood Mode too, in case you've forgotten. It's the only one of the three gaiden chapters required for the Nergal final words change + ending CG red boi can access.

 

I'll help with some math, if you want it, you could figure out your own solution instead.:

  Hide contents

Surviving Lloyd:

• Hawkeye's Durability: 50 HP and 17 Res at with full strength Barrier/Pure Water. 13 Lck.
• Lloyd's Offense: 19 Str and 9 Mt for 28 Atk. 25 Crit. Deduct 2 Atk if you purchase a Swordreaver in this chapter.
• Damage to Hawkeye: At least (28 - 2 - 17) = 9 * 2 = 18 damage. Double crits on the minimum = 27 + 27 = 54 = dead. Chance of being ORKOed = .12 * .12 = 1.44%?

 

Killing Lloyd:

• Hawkeye with Swordreaver:
  • Attack: 18 Str + 13 Mt + 2 WTA = 33 Atk
  • Accuracy: 28 from Skl + 13 Lck + 70 from Swordreaver + 30 WTA = 141 Hit.
• Lloyd
  • Durability: 44 HP and 9 Def.
  • Evasion: 42 from Spd + 16 Lck = 58 Avoid.
• Hawkeye Smash?:
  • Damage dealt: 33 - 9 = 24 damage. 2HKO to Lloyd.
  • Chance of hitting: 141 - 58 = 83 Displayed = 94.39 True

 

So, Hawkeye Smaaaaaaaaash! -If I did the calcs properly.

I'm a little surprised this is possible, I've never done Lloyd FFO on HM because I thought it'd be too hard. Nope, with adequate analysis, the game just gave you a near-surefire answer 1-2 chapters ago.

However, the bosskill ignores any potential comrades of Lloyd Irving joining in on the attack, and the fog.

I didn't realize that this was available on Eliwood mode, thanks for pointing that out.

As for Lloyd... well, Lowen's demonstrated here that he can neutralize as much as 25 crit, so I think I'm golden as far as he's specifically concerned.

[Alastor15243]

Blazing Blade Day 22: Chapter 24

Yet again I'm feeling restless and bored as fuck on the weekend, so screw it, let's do a chapter! Hopefully it won't go as badly as the last time I played on the weekend!

Ah yes, the infamous “We need disguises” meme. It never really sank in just how ridiculous this is until I looked at it. Oh my god this is hysterical.

They don't even cover their fancy-ass collars.

ELIWOOD'S STILL WEARING HIS FUCKING TIARA.

LYN!? WHY ARE YOU WEARING A CLOAK!? YOU'RE NOT WEARING ANYTHING ROYAL! YOU'RE STILL DRESSED EXACTLY THE SAME AS WHEN YOU WERE JUST SOME SACAEAN GIRL LIVING IN A FUCKING HUT!

Okay. So. Important note to think about. Zephiel's coming-of-age ceremony is in ten days.

Which means that everything, literally everything between now and Battle Before Dawn is going to take place over the course of 10 days. I'll have to keep that in mind in case it makes no sense at all.

OH MY GOD, NINO SAID “DO MY BEST”, THE PRECIOUS CHILD!

Nino is just so sweet. I really, really hope I can get her and Jaffar out of Battle Before Dawn alive.

So wait, the plan initially was to just wait ten days for Pent and Louise to talk to the queen? I'm gonna have to pay attention, because that sounds off and it makes me curious about what changes plans, since obviously we're not gonna be doing that.

I wonder what happens here if Legault isn't alive or was never recruited? He has a line here that's kind of pivotal to this chapter's story, so obviously something has to happen to do the same thing without him.

Awww. It's Hector Mode, but the camera stays behind with Eliwood rather than go with Hector.

Oh, alright, it's shifted to him now.

Alright, so, we're at the preparation screen, and...

...Hold on, Afa's drops were given to me. The tactician. Why are they in Hector's inventory and not the convoy?

Anyway, looks like the pegasus knights thrown around in hard mode have officially been upgraded to wyvern riders. Including one hiding on a mountain. I should have a plan to deal with them, assuming there aren't more hidden just out of sight...

...And there probably are.

But I'll have to check first.

The goal is to go around. Do not take the western path, because Lloyd is waiting a very, very short distance into the fog if I remember correctly. I need to restock immediately at the shops across the river, and then get to the villages, and Wallace, fast. Not like I'll be using him, but I'd like to keep him alive.

And of course Wallace shows up on turn one.

...He's probably gonna die.

Let's hurry.

Alright, thank goodness, it looks like it's only two wyvern riders. But still, this is a point where I can only put sturdy units at the edge of my vision range. Anyone less sturdy than Marcus is a no-go for being in front.

I failed to get the purge tome, because you have to kill him on turn one to do that, or else he obsesses over using the thing and thus switches the item you get to a paltry shine.

Oh well. Not like I'd've been able to use it until the final chapter anyway.

SHIT. I FORGOT.

I need someone strong to stick around to protect the tent from I-don't-know-the-fuck-what!

Damn it, gotta decide next turn...

I think I'll go with Hawkeye. He's on a peak, so he should be basically indestructible, and that brave axe should help him kill. Juuuust in case anything comes down this way.

Shit. Looks like Wallace is gonna die. A monk started picking on him, he's down to his last elixir use, and he can't use a hand axe because I never promoted him.

A lancereaver myrmidon came for Wallace, but miraculously he managed to save himself from almost certain doom with a silver lance crit.

But of far, far greater concern is the swarm of wyvern riders coming through the fog, because of course they are. I had to put Heath in range of what I'm almost certain is ballista range, and pray it's out of ammo like I think it is, in order to kill one of the four that came into view.

Please survive.

...Thankfully, he wasn't even in range somehow. I guess the one nearby was out of ammo. I really should do more ammo counting for these things.

I spent a frankly irresponsible amount of money at the weapon shops. I made sure to still have 30k left over, but I'm stocking up to make sure that if there's ever a weapon drought, I won't care. I bought 15 hand axes and javelins, for one thing. Each.

Looks like Wallace is gonna live. He just barely managed to dodge a would-be-lethal ballista shot, granting me just enough time for Priscilla to physic him. Now to rush in with the heavy cavalry and save the day.

Alas, I spoke too soon. Wallace simply got overwhelmed because he couldn't handle all the enemies in his unpromoted state.

Well, I tried. Makes me regret using those physic staff charges on him though.

I've basically got everyone except Marcus and Lowen down towards my starting location now, because the enemy reinforcements over there have picked up drastically. Priscilla is actually enemy-phase tanking on a forest due to the sheer numbers. It would've been nice to train my unpromoted units, but... now is decidedly not the time.

FUCK. I WAITED ONE TURN TOO LONG TO GET TO THE NORTHERN VILLAGE, AND I'M DOWN A SILENCE STAFF. THE BANDIT MUST HAVE BEEN HIDING JUST OUT OF VIEW.

Due to an astonishingly lucky number of critical hits, Priscilla's managed to kill a bunch of the monks she ordinarily just barely can't one-round. She won't be able to hold out forever, but she doesn't need to, because Lloyd's shown himself and challenged Lowen to a duel, a duel Lowen intends to win.

Unfortunately, Priscilla's fire tome eventually ran out, leaving her unable to stem the tide, and bringing it down to a last-ditch effort to kill Lloyd just as Lowen's one javelin broke (I only had time to put one in his inventory before running off, since the only way to do it at the time was buy one and he had other stuff with him).

Thankfully, Marcus and Lloyd's high-accuracy support saves the day, and Lloyd goes down just in time.

Lloyd really wasn't that tough. He couldn't get a crit on either Lowen or Marcus, possibly because he was only attacking Marcus from range and maybe the light brand can't crit at range. But whatever the case, Lowen kicked his sorry ass. All in all, a pretty satisfactory end to the chapter. Can't complain when nobody died.

...Except Wallace.

...And all of those villagers.

Anyway, I like this subplot with Nino. Putting Jaffar in a position where he is powerless to resist the help of others, forcing him to rely on the human kindness he's been taught his whole life that he doesn't need or deserve... it's a pretty nice way to get him to juuuuust barely start opening up.

I wish I knew why Nino gave so much of a shit about him though. It could just be her pure and innocent outlook on life, but no, that doesn't seem like that's the answer. It feels like she specifically cares about keeping him alive, specifically, more than she would just any random wounded stranger she met.

And now we see the grand shitlord himself, King Desmond. Honestly, I like how both of Zephiel's parents are depicted as... almost impossible to sympathize with. The queen (well, I mean it sounds like she isn't really one, given she's not the king's wife anymore) is a spoiled brat unsatisfied with living in a damned mansion because she could be living in a castle, and clearly sees her son as little more than a political tool, and is a classist bitch to top it all off, with her mocking Desmond for failing to have any offspring who aren't doomed to be a “baseborn shadow” because they're a girl. Meanwhile, King Desmond is... I mean he's King Desmond. Legendary, infamous King Desmond.

King “Somehow manages to make marrying for love look vile” Desmond.

King “Take this pet of Guinivere's and stab it with your sharpest spears” Desmond.

King “Old enough to be a man, too old for a lifespan” Desmond.

This game does everything in its power to make Zephiel's madness sympathetic and believable, and frankly, I think it did a good job. Despite the fantasy backdrop, this honestly feels like a realistic broken home Zephiel was raised in.

Oh my god.

The music that plays when Louise enters the room... I think I heard a riff from “Beneath a New Light” in it! Oh, that was so nice to hear.

Ah, so when Pent said he'd speak to her “before the ceremony”, he meant “ten whole days before the ceremony”. I see. So the plan was always to speak to her today, and now they're gonna leverage solving her predicament into getting a favor in saving the world. Makes sense to me.

Alright. I think from now on I'll be doing an update on weekends until this whole coronavirus thing clears up. Might as well, I'm bored out of my skull and could use some added structure to make the rest of my free time feel more valuable. Plus, y'know, it's still fun, obviously.

This was... an okay chapter, but I can't really give a full seal of approval to any fog of war map that insists on using wyvern riders. Especially when this chapter doesn't even sell torches, leaving me with few options to deal with these enemies. Still, beyond that... it was about as strategically engaging as FE7's generally been...

...Which honestly isn't much.

It's kind of hilarious how effective throwing Lowen and Marcus at all of my problems is. I have exactly one other truly combat-ready unit that I've been training up, and so far that's... that's been enough. In a couple of chapters, I'll have some really badass prepromotes to bolster my army with, and I think I'm gonna be able to make do with them. Most of the stress and danger so far is really more due to the fact that this is an ironman. And the fact that I've (mostly) been able to do an ironman of this without issue is a huge point in this game's favor compared to Binding Blade, but the actual game and map design of Binding Blade, with the exception of the ambush spawns, is something I've been preferring much more.

That said, I did appreciate the placement of the tent here. I could've easily bottlenecked those reinforcements at the river, but thanks to Merlinus, I had to set up a defense beyond that easy bottleneck if I wanted the extra reward.

And honestly, I do find the current limited access to healing to be a pretty interesting way to mix up gameplay, like I've said before. Alas, that combined with the frankly ludicrous enemy numbers means that this game encourages the most boring strategies imaginable for dealing with basically everything: send your strongest unit, give him a hand axe, and watch the fireworks.

I found that fun as a kid, mostly because back then, just watching those amazing combat animations play out was more than enough to entertain me. But now that I actually appreciate the strategy part of this strategy RPG... that simple playstyle has lost its appeal to me.

But anyway, time for me to finish up for today. Tomorrow we'll be getting Farina. So stay tuned, and stay safe!

[Eltosian Kadath]

28 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I wonder what happens here if Legault isn't alive or was never recruited? He has a line here that's kind of pivotal to this chapter's story, so obviously something has to happen to do the same thing without him.

He just sorta shows up, whether recruited or dead. A weird oversight that can get kinda hilarious, or morbid depending on the circumstances.

 

41 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

And the fact that I've (mostly) been able to do an ironman of this without issue is a huge point in this game's favor compared to Binding Blade, but the actual game and map design of Binding Blade, with the exception of the ambush spawns, is something I've been preferring much more.

...Binding Blade never had a chapters you could gameover without being able to in any way influence the outcome, and the desert map with Pent had that. Battle Before Dawn has that as well. I am in full agreement with Mangs and Mekkkah when they had their ironman discussion, that FE7 is one of the worst games in the series for hard ironmans.

Figured now was as good a time as any to mention one nasty trick you missed in 19x. If you are unlucky when dealing with the boss's 55 avoid with no weapon triangle to help (made worse by castles only allow one melee attacker, and the magic seal means unless you trained an archer your only ranged options are the base 65 and 60 accuracy handaxe and Javelin) and you reach the start of turn 12 enemy phase when Kishuna leaves, the two Silver Bow snipers that came with him will move in to kill those that are attacking the boss (plus the boss starts using tomes again, and with a Bolting...), those Snipers can together kill Marcus (unless he has gained something like 5-6 defense or 11-12 HP, which isn't happening), or even take out two of your other units (assuming they can't take down Hector himself).

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

...Binding Blade never had a chapters you could gameover without being able to in any way influence the outcome, and the desert map with Pent had that. Battle Before Dawn has that as well. I am in full agreement with Mangs and Mekkkah when they had their ironman discussion, that FE7 is one of the worst games in the series for hard ironmans.

True, very true. That's definitely a massive mark against the game's ironmannability, from what I've seen. It's a pity, because the rest of the game is pretty awesome for it, but depending on how things go at Battle Before Dawn, I may very well see firsthand how much of a dealbreaker that problem can be.

Actually, that could arguably be even worse than Three Houses' compulsive lying. While I consider the first playthrough to be sacred, and I've yet to see a single mechanic that simultaneously makes a blind ironman unfairly unrealistic and isn't a worthless mechanic with no right to exist, the fact remains that a luck-based mission like that violates the first playthrough basically just as much... and yet also proceeds to ruin every subsequent ironman attempt too.