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

[Alastor15243]

34 minutes ago, Jotari said:

It is in-line with a country that it economically prosperous enough that no adjacent nation would want to invade them though. That being the whole mercantile part. I'm reasonably sure that's how the Italian city states functioned for much of history. It was always a case of if they needed an army they could just hire one on the spot. There was probably some standing force, but mercenaries were made very heavy use of.

Actually, speaking of no reason to invade... there wasn't one, right? Pablo was just a massive pussy who assumed they were next when in reality there was no Sacred Stone to invade for?

[Benice]

14 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Actually, speaking of no reason to invade... there wasn't one, right? Pablo was just a massive pussy who assumed they were next when in reality there was no Sacred Stone to invade for?

I got the sense that Pablo believed that Carcino would be more successful as a Grado state rather than an independant country; he was probably bribed too, though.

[Shadow Mir]

12 minutes ago, Benice said:

I got the sense that Pablo believed that Carcino would be more successful as a Grado state rather than an independant country; he was probably bribed too, though.

That's possible, considering if he's allowed to spawn in chapter 13 (which is rather late) and is attacked, he tries to bribe his attacker.

[Alastor15243]

15 minutes ago, Benice said:

I got the sense that Pablo believed that Carcino would be more successful as a Grado state rather than an independant country; he was probably bribed too, though.

Pablo:
“No one can withstand the might of Grado… Logic dictates we join now or be subjugated later. I made the rational decision. The only decision!”

He pretty clearly states his motivations as cowardly pragmatism. But then he isn't dead yet, so I don't know if he expands on it later.

 

[Benice]

4 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I don't know if he expands on it later.

He does not. He shows up in Hamill Canyon with a ton of Warriors so he can slap people with Purge but gets no dialogue aside from his death and battle quotes.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Actually, speaking of no reason to invade... there wasn't one, right? Pablo was just a massive pussy who assumed they were next when in reality there was no Sacred Stone to invade for?

We'll Grado might have invaded if Carcino backed the other nations against Grado by providing supplies etc, think the USA before joining World War II. Grado likely doesn't benefit as much as the other nations from Carcino's mercantilism given the distance between them (if I remember my map right). So Pablo's fears aren't entirely unreasonable, nor are they all that smart though as Klimit points out. Carcino could probably have gotten away with being neutral in the conflict, but it's means not helping either side (or alternatively pulling a Switzerland and helping both for profit. Wonder why Klimit didn't consider that). I guess Pablo expects Grado to successfully unite the entire continent in such a circumstance he reckons Grado would subjugate them for the sake of completion? But so long as their system of government and economics make sense and benefits everyone I don't see any reason why a continental Grado would have any reason to infringe on their autonomy even if they nominally became a province of Grado.

Edited May 14, 2020 by Jotari

[Hello72207]

11 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

I remember recruiting her being more of a pain in Ephraim's route though. Something about needing to approach her with Ewan, if I remember correctly?

Oh yeah, best recruitment ever! Crit weapon, out-moves recruiter, out-powers in every way recruiter, kills recruiter on sight, SO MUCH FUN.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Hello72207

[Benice]

27 minutes ago, Hello72207 said:

Oh yeah, best recruitment ever! Crit weapon, out-moves recruiter, out-powers in every way recruiter, kills recruiter on sight, SO MUCH FUN.

Yeah, even Arena abusing Ewan to level 10 still gets him doubled 98% time, I think.

[Hello72207]

1 hour ago, Benice said:

Yeah, even Arena abusing Ewan to level 10 still gets him doubled 98% time, I think.

Alright, looking at base stats and growths, I can say this:

Marisa has 8 more speed then Ewan. Ewan has a 35% speed growth. If you somehow arena abused Ewan to level 10, he'd, on average, have 8-9 speed. Ewan needs 10 or more speed to avoid being doubled. So, if you have a speedwing, he only needs to grow speed 3 times to avoid getting doubled. If you don't have a speedwing on hand, then you are better off trying a differing strategy.

[Benice]

1 minute ago, Hello72207 said:

Alright, looking at base stats and growths, I can say this:

Marisa has 8 more speed then Ewan. Ewan has a 35% speed growth. If you somehow arena abused Ewan to level 10, he'd, on average, have 8-9 speed. Ewan needs 10 or more speed to avoid being doubled. So, if you have a speedwing, he only needs to grow speed 3 times to avoid getting doubled. If you don't have a speedwing on hand, then you are better off trying a differing strategy.

Honestly, since the arena is right there, you may as well give him 10 levels. If they're good then you don't have to bother giving him a speedwing and he'll be ok as a shaman, and if they are bad then he recruits Marisa and heads to the bench.

Well, unless you are me and use him regardless.

[ping]

Main site says that Marisa also joins at the end of the chapter if you keep her and Ewan alive. The chapter objective is Kill Boss and not rout.

But honestly, I always just draw her into Ewan's range with unequipped Seth, or Gilliam if I'm using him.

[Hello72207]

7 hours ago, Benice said:

8 hours ago, Hello72207 said:

Alright, looking at base stats and growths, I can say this:

Marisa has 8 more speed then Ewan. Ewan has a 35% speed growth. If you somehow arena abused Ewan to level 10, he'd, on average, have 8-9 speed. Ewan needs 10 or more speed to avoid being doubled. So, if you have a speedwing, he only needs to grow speed 3 times to avoid getting doubled. If you don't have a speedwing on hand, then you are better off trying a differing strategy.

Honestly, since the arena is right there, you may as well give him 10 levels. If they're good then you don't have to bother giving him a speedwing and he'll be ok as a shaman, and if they are bad then he recruits Marisa and heads to the bench.

Well, unless you are me and use him regardless.

Alright I ran some numbers, and the probability of him getting at least 3 speed is about 66 percent. If you have a speedwing, these are good odds.

If you don't have a speedwing, the chance that he gets at least 5 speed is: 17 percent. If you don't have a speedwing, just do what @ping said:

7 hours ago, ping said:

draw her into Ewan's range with unequipped Seth, or Gilliam if I'm using him.

because even if Ewan isn't getting doubled, he still can get crit, and that will still kill him.

Its like how everyone first recruited Joshua except he actually attacks everyone.

[Alastor15243]

Sacred Stones Day 15: Chapter 11EPH

Curious. I think this might be the first time in this game... hell, I think the only time in the series, where the selected destination on the world map... isn't where the actual fight takes place. This is a sea battle, but the destination is a town. I wonder what happens when that town gets invaded by monsters? Do I still fight at sea?

If I see that, I'll check it out.

Anyway, Selena isn't even trying to explain herself regarding Valter's deception, and just like I predicted, this at least doubles as a trap to reduce Selena's standing with the emperor.

This is why, when you're a ruler, you have to have royal orders in writing. You can't just send messages via word of mouth, punish people with treason if they aren't obeyed, and not expect jackasses to abuse that.

So, Lyon knows where Myrrh dropped her dragonstone. He just... he's just omniscient like that, and still he can't set up an ambush for Eirika or Ephraim?

...Either that or he's not lying when he said he heard rumors of a collector selling it.

And then Selena doesn't even move away on the area map to match when she leaves on the mugshot talking heads screen. Yeah, this... that feels weird.

Alright, so the phantom ship is Riev's personal doing. Meaning that yes, it is the same phantom ship on Eirika's side of the continent that keeps her from going by sea (not that she'd have been able to for a while anyway, given the emergency with Innes), just in a different place depending on route split.

Riev has to be stalking L'arachel. That has to be it.

This is...

...I've checked every position for Colm.

There are no enemies visible in range of my starting position, and not only that, but there's nowhere for my units to go.

Either this is gonna be a claustrophobic map where I have to keep my healers safe from a swarm of fliers...

...Or this game just flat-out isn't going to tell me what's about to happen when I press start.

Well.

Let's get rid of all dead weight, and get this party started.

I'd bring my two pegasus knights for their mobility, but that seems unwise. I'll be focusing on Cormag today, and I doubt I'll ever get a chance to properly train up Tana. The only fragile units I'm bringing are my thief and my healers.

Let's do this.

...Looks like the enemies were hiding just off-screen, and yes, I can't actually move off of this ship.

I'll be relying a good deal on Cormag, it seems.

And goddammit, these gargoyles are fast. 10 speed is more than enough to keep some of my weaker units from doubling, and it keeps Duessel from doing it too.

Okay.

I think I'm starting to see why people said Duessel would be a huge help on the phantom ship. Thanks to Colm's vision and the torch staff, the game's teasing the massive horde of enemies on that ship, waiting to board.

The enemy stats are still pretty crap, but the quantity of enemies is kind of intimidating. Thankfully Duessel is immune to basically all of them.

These enemies spawning just barely out of where they can reach my land units, all refusing to attack when my fliers enter their range... that's making me super nervous about what'll happen when they finally decide to move.

JESUS CHRIST.

REINFORCEMENTS RIGHT IN RANGE OF MY SHIP, BEFORE I EVEN HAD ANY INDICATION I'D HAVE TO MOVE.

I've gotta carve my way through these enemies, and fast, in order to get to the “safety” of the middle ship and save L'arachel.

WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS FUCKING MAP!?

WHAT THE SHIT!?

WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK SHIT!?

THERE IS LITERALLY NOWHERE SAFE TO GO ON THIS MAP UNLESS YOU KNEW IN ADVANCE TO FORCE YOUR WAY ABOARD THE MIDDLE SHIP!

ENEMIES ARE FUCKING EVERYWHERE!

ALL OF THOSE ENEMIES I SAID WERE CREEPILY REFUSING TO MOVE ALL CHARGED ME AT ONCE.

THERE IS NOWHERE SAFE ON THAT FIRST SHIP FOR YOUR HEALERS OR THIEVES!

KYLE IS DEAD! HE BARELY SURVIVED THE ENEMIES POURING ONTO THE SHIP, AND THEN GOT OBLITERATED BY A MOGALL COMING OUT OF THE FOG.

NATASHA WAS ONE-SHOT BY THE BOSS THAT YOU CAN'T FUCKING FIGHT ON PLAYER PHASE.

Ugh. Okay. I... that was a horrible, horrible blow, but I can still hang on... I just need to keep...

FUCK.

If all three of these enemies hit Cormag, he's dead. And Ephraim might share a similar fate.

Looks like I'll have to bait in some of them with Moulder. But there's no space he can safely do that from where he won't risk getting killed too. But it's better him than Cormag or Ephraim. Especially now that I have other healers. We've gotta get to L'arachel quickly.

...And the last evil eye missed Cormag anyway, meaning if I gambled, I would have won, and so Moulder died for nothing.

That's three dead so far in this one chapter alone, one of them actually a strong fighter.

And...

Suddenly...

...Before I even reach L'arachel...

...The map is over. They've been routed.

That...

...Fuck that map.

Fuck that map completely and entirely forever.

...Now let's see the ending cutscene, and if I lost L'arachel and Dozla too for not recruiting them before the end.

Ephraim claiming they owe their victory to L'arachel...

...I can't even laugh.

Dozla barely did anything, and he was the only one of them who did anything at all.

Why the fuck were the enemy reinforcements so aggressive?

Why did they punish you for not being aggressive on a map that doesn't remotely initially look like being aggressive is even a sane idea?

Why did they put so many dangerous, high-move enemies on a map where you can barely move?

And most importantly, most glaringly, most fucking infuriatingly...

ALFRED IN TAKE ONE OF THRACIA CHAPTER 11.

ERK IN BLAZING BLADE CHAPTER 23.

ARTUR IN SACRED STONES CHAPTER 6.

AND NOW KYLE IN SACRED STONES CHAPTER 11EPH.

WHY DO MY MAGEKNIGHTS' BOYFRIENDS KEEP DYING!?

...I guess this means I have to ship Lute with Knoll now. With his stupid dark affinity that will barely boost Lute's defense at all.

Well.

I just saved.

That's that.

Kyle is dead.

And so are both of my staff bots.

Just in time to be replaced by L'arachel, granted, but still...

Jesus Christ. Why did they choose the fog of war levels, of all things, to make unexpectedly hard!?

...But I am alive.

The ironman is still intact.

I can keep going.

And...

...And in a way, that's kind of fun. Having to recover from a setback is going to be... interesting. I'm glad I resisted the temptation to call bullshit and just reset entirely.

But I'm still pissed off that 90% of that death was due to being cornered by reinforcements so ridiculous they might as well have been ambush spawns if you weren't incredibly aggressive with the map.

Also, this chapter was a massive anticlimax. It ended when it felt like it was just getting started. It was kind of crazy how abrupt it was.

As for the ending cutscene... I do wonder how much L'arachel knew about the Sacred Stones destruction attempt before running into Ephraim. Isn't Eirika's entire goal to get to Rausten to warn them? But was L'arachel in a position to already warn them? That... that would be super dumb, and yet I'm no longer capable of putting it past the game.

Anyway...

...Looks like next week we do Chapter 11Eir.

...Stay safe, everyone.

Stay safer than Kyle and my healers.

[Jotari]

Well now you know why this chapter is infamous. Sacred Stones is largely an easy game, but it feels like they designed this chapter and this chapter alone with the assumption that you'd do some grinding at the Tower if Valni first because the hike up in difficulty is pretty damn steep. Though I can't say I ever had as much trouble with it as I did with Hector Hard Mode Genesis (though I think my several hour play through of that was done with the assumption that I had to kill Kishuna which borders on virtually impossible). Glad to see you're weathering through the iron man though. Having some unexpected tpk and being forced to use units you didn't originally plan for is where the true spirit of iron man lies.

[Shadow Mir]

52 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Curious. I think this might be the first time in this game... hell, I think the only time in the series, where the selected destination on the world map... isn't where the actual fight takes place. This is a sea battle, but the destination is a town. I wonder what happens when that town gets invaded by monsters? Do I still fight at sea?

Actually, this chapter, as well as Creeping Darkness on Eirika's side, were among the last chapters added to the game, as even in the prototype, the world map was pretty much finalized. This explains why they seem to take place between locations. Also, the latter's map was originally used for chapter 6, but was moved when chapter 6 was revamped with a new map.

57 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

And most importantly, most glaringly, most fucking infuriatingly...

ALFRED IN TAKE ONE OF THRACIA CHAPTER 11.

ERK IN BLAZING BLADE CHAPTER 23.

ARTUR IN SACRED STONES CHAPTER 6.

AND NOW KYLE IN SACRED STONES CHAPTER 11EPH.

WHY DO MY MAGEKNIGHTS' BOYFRIENDS KEEP DYING!?

This is the only response I have for this development:

 

[Benice]

One does not know true suffering until they try to play Phantom ship with only Ross and Amelia...Especially when the Amelia is absolutely horrendous. I think I've memorized all of the reinforcements on the map; I died over 200 times on this map, soo...

Yeah, the boss is incredibly annoying. He's not strong, but if you turtled, you're toast.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Benice

[Eltosian Kadath]

Phantom ship is one of those chapters that can be cheesed if you come into it knowing what you are facing. You can spawn block the boss with either a flier, or Ross that you've rescue dropped over-board, and it even has the added benefit of giving you vision on all the gargoyles that spawn with him making them easy to deal with. Sending flier with pure waters and javelins north, and south (and sorta between the ships) to enemy phase some off screen eyeballs that threat as well. With those two precautions in place you should be able to plant Seth Duessel, and Ephraim on the bridges to victory.

[ping]

And this is, alongside a couple other chapters, why I never understand when people say that Sacred Stones is easier than Path of Radiance. Seth stomps, but he can't be everywhere at once, choke all the points and protect all the squishies. PoR has Mekkah's Holiday Home as a tough map, I guess, but at least you can see everything that's coming.

[Interdimensional Observer]

The forward death-by-a-thousand Skeletons & Revenants, combined with that Deathgoyle backstab in the fog that would've been not so bad, had it come a few turns later when you've more reasonably jumped to the middle ship. The Phantom Ship's infamy is deserved as it is.

You lost Moulder and Natasha? Formortiis Fennel French Fries! Thats very bad. L'Arachel's D Staffs base is going to hurt in two chapters' time. 

 

 

On 5/14/2020 at 12:16 PM, Alastor15243 said:

That's weird. This village conversation mentions that this isn't a “mercantile republic” run by a bunch of rich merchants... so much as a democratic republic guided by a “council of elders” where “anyone can run the country if he's old enough”. That's... those are mutually exclusive things, game.

I wouldn't say they're entirely exclusive, merchants and notable non-merchants working together. Though a novice's blending of pure fully representative democracy and merchant republicanism I would not consider an egregious mistake. I don't think the writers of less serious fantasy stories do the full research on how these non-monarchal governments functioned.

Historically, the classical democracy of the city-state of Athens gave citizenship status to 10-20% of its population, all male of course. The Roman Republic's citizenship was more generous, but the political offices were restricted to an elite. The merchant republics of Medieval Europe weren't universal male suffrage and office-running either, and the requirements for burgher status in the cities of other Europe had restrictions to form their own exclusive elite (if more open to newcomers than outright aristocracy). Premodern democracy and republicanism aren't the same as the present form they take.

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

WHY DO MY MAGEKNIGHTS' BOYFRIENDS KEEP DYING!?

...I guess this means I have to ship Lute with Knoll now. With his stupid dark affinity that will barely boost Lute's defense at all.

So Boyd is going to get the axe next game then?😛

KnollxLute........🤢🤮

What you will witness, is the equivalent of the aftermath of a plutonium bomb, except not remotely awe-inspiring. Thats one of the very worst if not the worst support in SS. 

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Ephraim claiming they owe their victory to L'arachel...

...I can't even laugh.

Dozla barely did anything, and he was the only one of them who did anything at all.

I find it, perhaps it's appropriate, that L'Arachels says she is going to smite evildoers, but look at her and group. Dozla is the only real warrior, Rennac is a just a Rogue (with very bad bases in the Japanese version) and L'Arachel herself is can't kill anything. It's completely nonsensical.

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

KnollxLute........🤢🤮

 

What you will witness, is the equivalent of the aftermath of a plutonium bomb, except not remotely awe-inspiring. Thats one of the very worst if not the worst support in SS.

I, uh...

...Yeah, I've seen it. It's the only support with Lute I ever did as a kid. I rarely used her, I always preferred Ewan.

I remember finding it hilarious as a kid, but also... kinda weird?

And now... yeah, depending on how correct my memory is, I can see why I might come to hate it.

[Hello72207]

6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

6 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

KnollxLute........🤢🤮

 

What you will witness, is the equivalent of the aftermath of a plutonium bomb, except not remotely awe-inspiring. Thats one of the very worst if not the worst support in SS.

I, uh...

...Yeah, I've seen it. It's the only support with Lute I ever did as a kid. I rarely used her, I always preferred Ewan.

I remember finding it hilarious as a kid, but also... kinda weird?

And now... yeah, depending on how correct my memory is, I can see why I might come to hate it.

Isn't there like a theory floating around that Lute has autism? Also it still isn't too late for LutexRoss

 

6 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I find it, perhaps it's appropriate, that L'Arachels says she is going to smite evildoers, but look at her and group. Dozla is the only real warrior, Rennac is a just a Rogue (with very bad bases in the Japanese version) and L'Arachel herself is can't kill anything. It's completely nonsensical.

Rennac has horrible bases pretty much period. He is very good at opening chests and doors, and that is what he does. And I'm fairly certain that L'arachel is pretty much only helpful in offering stuff in Rausten, and just kinda... dinks around for the other parts of the game. She literally says in one of her supports that she will strike SMITE the monsters with her staves. 

[Boomhauer007]

Total sidenote: I'm playing Thracia (mostly blind) for the first time, and none of my friends play fire emblem. So I've been going through and then reading the entries here for each chapter after I go through them, it's been interesting to see your chapter reactions against mine as I'm now into chapter 17A. Apparently there's a 4x, had no idea lol. But it's been nice to have, if not an unintended side effect. 

On topic: With no Natasha you'll want to get L'Archel's staff rank up quickly, having two restore staff users makes eph!13 much more manageable. 

[Alastor15243]

4 minutes ago, Boomhauer007 said:

Total sidenote: I'm playing Thracia (mostly blind) for the first time, and none of my friends play fire emblem. So I've been going through and then reading the entries here for each chapter after I go through them, it's been interesting to see your chapter reactions against mine as I'm now into chapter 17A. Apparently there's a 4x, had no idea lol. But it's been nice to have, if not an unintended side effect. 

On topic: With no Natasha you'll want to get L'Archel's staff rank up quickly, having two restore staff users makes eph!13 much more manageable. 

You never got Asbel? Oh wow. My infinite condolences. Glad you're enjoying my backlog! Did the new table of contents help with that?

[Jotari]

8 hours ago, ping said:

And this is, alongside a couple other chapters, why I never understand when people say that Sacred Stones is easier than Path of Radiance. Seth stomps, but he can't be everywhere at once, choke all the points and protect all the squishies. PoR has Mekkah's Holiday Home as a tough map, I guess, but at least you can see everything that's coming.

What chapter is Mekkah's holiday home? I don't recall any particularly difficult chapters at all in Path of Radiance. The only thing that really sticks out to me as a challenge looking back is trying not to murder priests.

[Alastor15243]

Just now, Jotari said:

What chapter is Mekkah's holiday home? I don't recall any particularly difficult chapters at all in Path of Radiance. The only thing that really sticks out to me as a challenge looking back is trying not to murder priests.

That bridge with all of the "pitfalls" is, for reasons you might be able to guess, sometimes referred to as "Mekkah's Bridge".