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

[Shadow Mir]

3 hours ago, Benice said:

You have to haul some arse if you want to get Rennac/the Member card, just so you know.

If you come from the side, where there is a broken wall, it's much easier. Unless you were talking about 14 Ephraim, in which case that's true, and in that case I'd have L'arachel start on the left side, as Rennac comes in on the right and heads left.

Edited May 22, 2020 by Shadow Mir

[Eltosian Kadath]

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Jehanna is yet another barren country famous for its mercenaries.

This has been in three consecutive continuities of the franchise. We only have one continuity that doesn't have one so far in this marathon.

I will point out the ending of a few Echoes characters (I want to say Jesse, Saber, and possibly others that I am not remembering at this moment) makes it clear that the lands Greith used to hold becomes a mercenary kingdom...

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Were there any examples of medieval countries in barren wastelands that survived due to importing food and exporting mercenary work? The two things don't seem to naturally logically follow.

The first one that comes to mind was the Swiss. Their mercenaries were famed world wide (Swiss mercenaries still guard the Popes to this day), and their alpine lands seem like inspiration for the mountainous Illia (possibly Thracia, but I think the name gives away the inspiration for that country...).

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Incidentally, as Gerik kills the zanbato user and obtains it, I wonder to myself, and to you, why the zanbato is called the zanbato. Is there some Japan-esque far-off land the sword design came from, like JRPGs often do when they want to justify katanas and the like in a world modeled after European fantasy?

I think its just that Europeans didn't really have a sword specifically for killing the horses cavalry were riding, like the Zanbato.

 

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Alright. Anyone wanna buy my friend a ridiculous amount of time to play Path of Radiance by having me play Tearing and Berwick saga in a row after Sacred Stones?

If you do end up adding TearRing Saga and Berwick Saga in this series review, you should probably play Vestaria Saga at some point in the review as well.

[Alastor15243]

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

If you do end up adding TearRing Saga and Berwick Saga in this series review, you should probably play Vestaria Saga at some point in the review as well.

I suppose I'll come to that when it comes up chronologically. Incidentally, I got the patched rom working, but am I going to need to beat the game once to unlock the hardest difficulty, or does this game not do that? Given that started with the first game after he left, I wouldn't be surprised if Tearring is a one-difficulty deal, but I just wanna get this sorted out well in advance.

[Benice]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

I suppose I'll come to that when it comes up chronologically. Incidentally, I got the patched rom working, but am I going to need to beat the game once to unlock the hardest difficulty, or does this game not do that? Given that started with the first game after he left, I wouldn't be surprised if Tearring is a one-difficulty deal, but I just wanna get this sorted out well in advance.

TearRing and Berwick both have one difficulty.

[Interdimensional Observer]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

I suppose I'll come to that when it comes up chronologically. Incidentally, I got the patched rom working, but am I going to need to beat the game once to unlock the hardest difficulty, or does this game not do that? Given that started with the first game after he left, I wouldn't be surprised if Tearring is a one-difficulty deal, but I just wanna get this sorted out well in advance.

No difficulty settings, Kaga didn't do those until Vestaria and from what I'm aware the easier setting there is not that much easier. TRS itself would benefit from a hard mode, it's on the easier side.

On a positive for ironman- Berwick Saga has a cemetery where you get a few items for dead characters.

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Benice said:

TearRing and Berwick both have one difficulty.

Good, that'll make ranking them more convenient at least.

[Jotari]

7 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Incidentally, as Gerik kills the zanbato user and obtains it, I wonder to myself, and to you, why the zanbato is called the zanbato. Is there some Japan-esque far-off land the sword design came from, like JRPGs often do when they want to justify katanas and the like in a world modeled after European fantasy?

 

Hoshido, perhaps? Not like Sacred Stones is going to provide enough lore for something like that in game.

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Well, mercenary work paying so well is a good explanation for why it's what these countries turn to in dire straits at least.

 

Of course that just brings us back to the whole uninterrupted peace since the Demon King issue. Maybe Rausten hires them to deal with monsters in the Darkling Woods.

[Alastor15243]

15 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Of course that just brings us back to the whole uninterrupted peace since the Demon King issue. Maybe Rausten hires them to deal with monsters in the Darkling Woods.

Which in turn makes it more ridiculous that it's a prevailing belief that monsters don't exist.

[Benice]

2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Berwick Saga has a cemetery where you get a few items for dead characters

All of those character's non-personal belongings, in fact. Non-permanently recruit characters, (such as Mercenaries) have personal equipment that can't be traded to other members of your army, but anything else they were carrying that belonged to the player is returned.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Which in turn makes it more ridiculous that it's a prevailing belief that monsters don't exist.

We'll it seems Lyon, Tana, Innes and the twins all hung out together, yet none of them recognised L'archerl or Joshua. Why are these two royals strangers to all the others on the continent? Perhaps there's an understated east west divide in Magvel and Rausten and Jehanna interact with each other, but not really the rest of the continent.

[Alastor15243]

9 minutes ago, Jotari said:

We'll it seems Lyon, Tana, Innes and the twins all hung out together, yet none of them recognised L'archerl or Joshua. Why are these two royals strangers to all the others on the continent? Perhaps there's an understated east west divide in Magvel and Rausten and Jehanna interact with each other, but not really the rest of the continent.

Which makes me ask another question:

Why is Eirika delivering the warning on foot? Why aren't Frelia's pegasi delivering the warnings!?

[Jotari]

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Which makes me ask another question:

Why is Eirika delivering the warning on foot? Why aren't Frelia's pegasi delivering the warnings!?

Well she was planning on taking a boat. Which would have been pretty direct, and possibly even faster than a Pegasus. But that plan obviously didn't work. I guess from that point on she progressed on her own initiative largely to save Innes (when did she find out he's in trouble?).

[Etria]

5 hours ago, Jotari said:

We'll it seems Lyon, Tana, Innes and the twins all hung out together, yet none of them recognised L'archerl or Joshua. Why are these two royals strangers to all the others on the continent? Perhaps there's an understated east west divide in Magvel and Rausten and Jehanna interact with each other, but not really the rest of the continent.

Innes and Tana aren't Lyon's friends. This is what Tana says in Chp. 1:

“Why would Grado invade? Emperor Vigarde is a man of peace. His people adore him. And you and Ephraim are friends with Prince Lyon, are you not? What could be behind this madness? Why is this happening…”

Regarding Joshua, he says this in Chp. 14 in Eirika's route:

“It’s been more than ten years. I’d grown tied of the formality of palace life, so I…just left. "

So he left 10 years ago. If we assume Eirika and Ephraim are around 18 in game (as is usual for RPGs), then they would've been around 8 when he vanished. The Lyon flashbacks are all around 1 1/2 or 2 years ago and in the end CGI that shows their first meeting they're definitely teenagers. So it is not probable that they met Joshua, the prince of a country Renais has a neutral relationship with, earlier than the prince of the country that they have a good relationship with. It's a similar case with L'Arachel.

However, I agree that they should at least know their names and maybe a rough estimate of their looks. They could guess that L'Arachel was a noble, but definitely not Joshua. He doesn't act any different than the other mercenaries, he was gone for 10 years (enough too lose any noble mannerisms) and it's not like he has a very royal distinct look.

[Alastor15243]

18 hours ago, Jotari said:

Well she was planning on taking a boat. Which would have been pretty direct, and possibly even faster than a Pegasus. But that plan obviously didn't work. I guess from that point on she progressed on her own initiative largely to save Innes (when did she find out he's in trouble?).

She found out he was in trouble at the end of Chapter 9EIR.

[Jotari]

50 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

She found out he was in trouble at the end of Chapter 9EIR.

Yeah that's what I thought. Since if memory serves the chapter right after is the Carcino one. So once he was saved she just continued on with her intended mission. Which turned out to be much slower than it should have been.

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Jotari said:

Yeah that's what I thought. Since if memory serves the chapter right after is the Carcino one. So once he was saved she just continued on with her intended mission. Which turned out to be much slower than it should have been.

One has to wonder the logistics of pegasus travel if sea travel is really faster. Travel by air seems pretty dang fast in this story.

[Jotari]

5 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

One has to wonder the logistics of pegasus travel if sea travel is really faster. Travel by air seems pretty dang fast in this story.

Well if, if, sea travel is faster, pegasus still has the massive advantage of being able to travel as the crow flies meaning overland routes would be a lot more direct. It'd have to be somewhere pretty far away for a ship's speed to outrank a pegasus's convenience. Still, it's pretty dang weird that they actively have a pegasus messenger character in the game (who you can't play as!) exchanging messages between the two armies when Eirika's whole purpose is to be a messenger. Maybe it's a diplomacy thing. They need a royal there to personally beg Rausten for the help and Eirika herself can't fly a pegasus. Of course that makes Rausten far more cold than they're depicted in game.

Edited May 24, 2020 by Jotari

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, Jotari said:

Well if, if, sea travel is faster, pegasus still has the massive advantage of being able to travel as the crow flies meaning overland routes would be a lot more direct. It'd have to be somewhere pretty far away for a ship's speed to outrank a pegasus's convenience. Still, it's pretty dang weird that they actively have a pegasus messenger character in the game (who you can't play as!) exchanging messages between the two armies when Eirika's whole purpose is to be a messenger. Maybe it's a diplomacy thing. They need a royal there to personally beg Rausten for the help and Eirika herself can't fly a pegasus. Of course that makes Rausten far more cold than they're depicted in game.

Well, the visit is primarily to warn the countries, not to beg for their assistance (though that is said to be part of it). They do say that a visit from royalty would be less easily ignored, hence why the royalty is going. But that's where pegasi's ability to carry passengers other than the rider, so thoroughly established in gameplay, kind of undermines this. It still should have been easy for a pegasus battalion to escort Eirika to her destination.

[Alastor15243]

Sacred Stones Day 21: Chapter 14EPH

Alright. Time to storm Grado Keep. Thankfully I still have enough javelins left for everyone this chapter, so the mauthe doog that spawned behind me isn't gonna be a problem. I don't know if I can make them disappear by retreating, and I don't want to potentially taint the ironman by checking and potentially having to do something permanent.

Then Myrrh shows up on the narration screen and I'm instantly reminded of last chapter's terrible story, which I had managed to forget about over the weekend.

Waaaaaait... Ephraim said he and Eirika have only been to Grado Keep “once, long ago, with [their] father”...

...But the “another journey” dialogue explicitly stated that they last went to Grado Keep “a year and ah half” ago!

I suppose the two sentences “It hasn't changed at all since the last time I was here” and “Eirika and I came here once long ago with our father” could be completely unrelated non-sequiturs, he didn't mean “once” as in “only one time”, and he was just citing one of his multiple happy memories of the place to contrast it with his next line of “I never imagined I'd come back here armed for battle”, but... that is still a ridiculously clumsy paragraph even if that is what they're doing.

And then he has a flashback to “2 years ago”... implying this “long ago” was only six months before that meeting “a year and a half” ago.

...Okay, so, either:

A: He saw Lyon twice within the span of six months before he went crazy,

or...

B: This is the exact same meeting they flashed back to before the route split, and the last five chapters have taken a total of six months.

Honestly, option A seems the most reasonable, but alas, with Sacred Stones, that doesn't mean it's the most likely to be true.

Anyway, the flashback has Ephraim and Lyon talking, rather effectively mixing some exposition about the Demon King and the Sacred Stones into a little skit about Ephraim and Lyon's friendship. Yet again, the most human and interesting character dynamics in this story are told in flashbacks. Hopefully when Lyon actually enters the story, things will get better.

It's funny... Myrrh's constantly shown getting around with her wings, and yet she's bothered by an earthquake?

Anyway... Lyon's been revealed. I wish the game would have made more of a moment out of revealing that Vigarde's a zombie, not a Hardin-esque corrupted emperor. But the reveal that Lyon is the corrupted one was... decent enough. Honestly though, I wish they didn't already put the idea in the player's head by having Lyon starting the war be a rumor from multiple chapters prior.

Anyway... let's get started.

This map seems... well, the biggest concern is covering my bases so that I can get Rennac no matter where he shows up. Ideally I'll recruit him with L'arachel for free, but I know I can also recruit him with Ephraim for a large chunk of money in absolute emergencies.

The other thing is... oh shit. Yeah. That explains the warnings to get to C rank staves. Two... abnormally powerful druids carrying berserk staves, flanking Emperor Vigarde.

Alright, so, I've got Seth and Franz spearheading the western side, with L'arachel as the healer and Dozla, Cormag and Colm as miscellaneous backup. On the east side with Ephraim I have Duessel, Lute, Tana, Vanessa and Tethys. Duessel is tackling the enemies here with his insane defense, while Lute stands back so that she won't be silenced before we can take out the silence bishop.

...Aaaand of course, naturally, I pick the wrong side for Rennac to be on. Best I can do is assume the game isn't so ridiculous (being Sacred Stones) that he'll start running away after just one treasure, and hopefully L'arachel's crew can cut him off at the pass as he's running across the hall to get to the opposite one.

More reinforcements are coming from the sides too, but they're minor nuisances. I'm having Dozla take out the knights in the center treasure room, given that while it's a lower priority than Rennac, thieves will probably spawn in that room eventually. Cormag uses the last four uses of his axereaver to take out the fighter reinforcements. Meanwhile, Duessel and Franz have the door keys, and we're ready to assassinate the bishops.

SHIT. I FORGOT. THOSE BERSERK STAFF USERS ARE GOING TO MAKE IT NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO APPROACH RENNAC BEFORE I DRAIN THEM.

Guess I have to keep Lute and L'arachel out of their range while letting them restore units just barely in it and- SHIT! THE LONGBOWS ARE GUARDING THE AREA JUST OUTSIDE OF-

...Okay. So. I had to restore with L'arachel from inside the berserk druid's range, and before I remembered she doesn't have to be brought back out of it because apparently staffbots never get berserked, I already rescued her, forcing me to drop her onto a space that was in enemy attack range. Thankfully, I found a spot where she'd be guaranteed to survive, but that was scary for a moment.

…

…

…

...They do berserk staff users in this game.

L'arachel has been berserked.

WHAT THE FUCK DO STAFF USERS EVEN DO WHEN BERSERKED!?

Shit, now she's out of commission for four turns, I can't restore her, rescue her or even heal her, and she's gonna either stand around doing nothing in the range of snipers, or run around wildly after the nearest enemy, and the berserk druid still has one more goddamned staff charge.

Okay. So. Here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna bait the remaining berserk druid from the side that can still restore, follow close behind Rennac with Ephraim just in case, kill the sniper trying to longbow L'arachel to death, and then hope beyond hope that I can intercept Rennac with L'arachel before he runs off.

L'arachel does nothing while berserked, so there's that at least.

Alright, so, I think I can manage it. There was a bit of a hiccup when I didn't realize that for some reason, the berserk druid didn't try to berserk Duessel when he was in the druid's range, and so Tana got berserked later... but I managed to get Lute in range to restore L'arachel, so if I do that, I can then have L'arachel talk to to Rennac. I can then deal with Tana for a turn by having Vanessa hide behind Ephraim while taking all of his weapons SHIT SHIT SHIT, RIGHT, BERSERKED ALLIES CAN STILL WALK THROUGH YOUR ALLIES.

...Thankfully, as it turns out, there's nobody she can actually kill, and plenty who can't kill her either because they're unarmed. She can't even one-round my barely-leveled Vanessa! I should be-

...Oh.

...Ohhhhh no.

Please go for Tethys or Vanessa.

Please don't go off and fight that dark mage that's just barely in your range in the opposite direction from anyone who can possibly heal you.

DON'T DO THIS TO ME, TANA.

…

…

…

…

OH THANK FUCKING CHRIST.

She went for Vanessa.

Anyway, with that nonsense out of the way... time to clean up. Time to grab the treasures, finish off the last of these mage reinforcements, and maybe find the secret shop.

Also, curiously, Rennac's flavor text refers to him as a “fighter”. But more importantly, his speed of 17 is way better than Colm's pathetic 12, so we may actually be able to steal some lockpicks from thieves!

...If any thieves actually show up. It's been ages since I last saw one, and Colm is down to his last two lockpick uses.

I set up a massive trading chain to try out the member card on nearly every suspicious space on the west side of the map, and Lute finally finds it. I have to be careful about what I buy, because the silver card is on the very next map, hidden somewhere in the sand, but I think I'll at least buy one physic for Lute and a barrier staff for L'arachel in case I misremember what I read about where you can buy more of them.

I think I'll buy a lockpick too, so I don't have to worry about wasting time sending Rennac across the map to unlock everything.

Our haul is a hammerne, 10,000 gold, an angelic robe, that spear from earlier, and a guiding ring. With that extra 10,000 gold I got, I decided to be a bit more reckless with my spending and buy two physics and barriers instead of one each.

PFFFFFFFT!

L'arachel and Dozla make a great first impression with their support right out of the gate, with them being absolutely shocked that – and Dozla actually uses this word – her anonymous campaign to rid the world of monsters hasn't made L'arachel famous as a monster slayer.

And yet again L'arachel talks about troubadours like they're something entirely distinct from what she is.

Anyway, I'm curious to see the explanation behind her motives for trying to be famous specifically as a legendary hero.

Ephraim seems to have been compensating for his initial terrible strength and defense levels by getting two strength and defense levels consecutively.

Also, Cormag's at level 19, so I'll be having him finish off Vigarde so he can promote for next chapter.

Just in time to face off with Valter.

Wow. Okay. So.

Vigarde has an insanely high crit rate. A lot of my units risk death fighting him. I may have to do something pretty cheap to see his quotes on an ironman run.

I'm gonna have to tank the hits with someone who can drain all of his 15 weapon uses. Seth or Franz could easily do it, their support lets them neutralize his crit rate. Meanwhile, I've decided Duessel's definitely gonna be a long-term part of my team, so I'm supporting him and Cormag.

...I know I could just look these things up, but there's no substitute for seeing it in-game, with epic boss music playing.

Well, I unlocked Ephraim and L'arachel's C support.

“There's no glory in dragging out a war without good reason.”

...I feel like Ephraim's dunking on me.

...As a side-effect of all of this waiting and healing, L'arachel has drastically caught up to the main cast in the time it took to break that spear, and is only 4 levels away from level 20.

...Honestly, neither Duessel's nor Ephraim's lines with Vigarde really felt... worth it? I mean he doesn't even talk. And Duessel and Ephraim don't really say much of substance about realizing this.

After several frustrating attempts to kill Vigarde with Cormag and a heavy spear, I finally manage it. And with that, I'm out of here.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Alastor15243]

Sacred Stones Day 21 Contd.

Also... so, this isn't the Demon King, right? Unless the Ephraim-route version of Lyon is just an elaborate ruse by the Demon King for... inexplicable reasons, then Lyon's consciousness itself is what's been corrupted by the Demon King, and it isn't a case of him being forced out of control of his own body and forced to watch the things Fomortiis makes him do. So then, at the beginning of this chapter, why did he suddenly go into creepy Fomortiis face mode? I get that it's some weird test of Ephraim's reaction now, but what was its purpose then? Was that... an act he was putting on for the soldier who walked in? ...An act... that makes him even more suspicious to said soldier?

...The fuck?

Lyon claims that the stones of Frelia and Renais are dust, and that Jehanna's is soon to follow. He says that Renais's stone is dust. Yes, there was a decoy stone that was probably destroyed, but... doesn't he know that one is a fake!? Where did the information it was a fake come from, if not from him!? And where could it have come from that his generals would have been informed, but not him!?

“Which leaves only two more”...

Wait...

...No, there are only two left right now if you include Renais's real stone as intact. Grado's, Frelia's, and soon Jehanna's are gone, leaving the two of Rausten and Renais. What is he sayi...?

...This is a typo, isn't it?

He meant to say the stones of Frelia and Grado are dust, and that Jehanna's is soon to follow.

That makes way more sense.

...He did say Renais, right?

...Wait... the script on the website says that he says “Grado and Frelia”, but I know for a fact I just saw him say Frelia and Renais.

 

Yep! I just watched a video on it, and I was right! He says Frelia and Renais!

Wow. That's... that's a pretty severe fuck-up right there, but let's move on.

...Yes, move on to a couple of words later.

When Lyon says Jehanna's Sacred Stone is soon to follow.

Soon.

As in... it hasn't been shattered yet.

And that's not him saying that the snail mail confirmation that it's been destroyed hasn't arrived yet, mind you. He's a ludicrously powerful dark sorcerer capable of necromancy, clairvoyance, and teleportation. Both Ephraim and Eirika's encounters with Lyon in their respective Chapter 14s are canon on both routes. There's no way that Jehanna's Sacred Stone has already been shattered and he doesn't fucking know.

Which means...

…

…Which means that the timeline is completely and utterly fucked now.

Remember what I said last entry about how by chapter 13EIR, the latest news from Ephraim is that he's taken Rigwald, which was the way back in Chapter 9EPH?

And how I assumed that meant that Eirika Route had a head start on Ephraim Route?

FUCKIN' NOPE!

By the end of Chapter 14EPH, Chapter 14EIR hasn't happened yet.

Which means despite her implied head start, Eirika Route ends at a later point in time than Ephraim Route does.

And now, at the end of this chapter's cutscenes, we're going to get news that Eirika is in trouble.

Which means in order for this to make sense, the time between Chapter 13EIR, where Eirika already has news that Jehanna has fallen and surrendered, and Chapter 14EIR, where the Sacred Stone of Jehanna actually gets crushed, has to be on the order of months.

And then... and then...

...Fuck it, I'll wait until I see how they end this chapter before I scream.

...Okay. So Knoll confirms that Vigarde died one year ago. And that sufficiently little time passed between his death and his resurrection that the flashback still says “One year ago” when Knoll sees the possessed Lyon and zombie Vigarde.

Which means this war was in the works for at least half a year, assuming the theory that Ephraim Route took six months and that the 2 year and 1.5 year flashbacks are of the same visit is true, and as much as 10 months of it isn't.

And in all that time, not one peep of the war plans made it to Renais.

...OOH! Wait! I think this conversation is implying that Father Macgregor, the guy who was mentioned several times as Ephraim's teacher, is actually Natasha's executed superior she mentioned in Chapter 5!

...But then wasn't that relatively recently? How long into this year-long period was it before Macgregor realized something was wrong with Lyon?

“He's... Lyon is my friend” is a bizarre final sentence before an abrupt scene change to the sacred twin chamber.

Also, this confirms that each of the heroes actually dual-wielded both sacred twin weapons, and Grado... could use axes and tomes? I think these heroes are the first characters in GBA FE history to have been able to use weapons and magic at once.

And now the game implies that Lyon left the sacred twins because he wants someone to stop him and put him out of his misery. That... kinda makes sense for Ephraim Route, but for Eirika Route it's a bit more dicey-

OOH! PEGASUS KNIGHTS ARE HERE!

PLEASE, GAME!

ENLIGHTEN ME!

TELL ME HOW FURIOUS I SHOULD BE WITH YOUR COMPLETE INABILITY TO GRASP THE CONCEPTS OF SPACE AND TIME!

…

…

…

...So.

So.

SO.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

The news the pegasus knight brings...

Isn't merely that Jehanna has fallen, and that Eirika might be in danger soon.

No.

The news the pegasus knight brings...

Is that the end of Chapter 14EIR has already transpired, and Eirika and Innes have been cornered by a joint force led by Valter and Caellach.

Which means...

Which means...

WHICH FUCKING MEANS...

THAT THE DESTRUCTION OF JEHANNA'S SACRED STONE, THE RECLAIMING OF CASTLE JEHANNA, AND THIS PEGASUS MESSENGER'S SUBSEQUENT FLIGHT FROM JEHANNA TO FUCKING GRADO...

ALL TOOK PLACE IN THE TIME IT TOOK FOR EPHRAIM TO CHAT WITH KNOLL.

…

…

…

…

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK!

 

Edited May 25, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Jotari]

The whole Lyon left the sacred twins so you can kill him never made much sense to me. That's why in my Saved Stones hack I had Vigarde wield Garm and Lyon on his first encounter using Gelipner, both being droppable. If Fomortiis has enough control over Lyon to start a bloody war then I'm sure he has enough control to make use of the immensely powerful weapons that are designed for war.

[Hello72207]

42 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Alright. Time to storm Grado Keep. Thankfully I still have enough javelins left for everyone this chapter, so the mauthe doog that spawned behind me isn't gonna be a problem. I don't know if I can make them disappear by retreating, and I don't want to potentially taint the ironman by checking and potentially having to do something permanent.

They disappear if you enter the skirmish and immediately retreat.

42 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

The other thing is... oh shit. Yeah. That explains the warnings to get to C rank staves. Two... abnormally powerful druids carrying berserk staves, flanking Emperor Vigarde.

Vigarde hired some FE6 druids to protect him. Smart dude.

42 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

...They do berserk staff users in this game.

L'arachel has been berserked.

WHAT THE FUCK DO STAFF USERS EVEN DO WHEN BERSERKED!?

Yeah, they do that. They just charge the nearest unit.

42 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Also, curiously, Rennac's flavor text refers to him as a “fighter”. But more importantly, his speed of 17 is way better than Colm's pathetic 12, so we may actually be able to steal some lockpicks from thieves!

...If any thieves actually show up. It's been ages since I last saw one, and Colm is down to his last two lockpick uses.

Why do you even want to steal lockpicks? Rogues don't need them.

Oh, to dual wield thieves. Smart.

36 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

WHICH FUCKING MEANS...

THAT THE DESTRUCTION OF JEHANNA'S SACRED STONE, THE RECLAIMING OF CASTLE JEHANNA, AND THIS PEGASUS MESSENGER'S SUBSEQUENT FLIGHT FROM JEHANNA TO FUCKING GRADO...

ALL TOOK PLACE IN THE TIME IT TOOK FOR EPHRAIM TO CHAT WITH KNOLL.

…

…

…

…

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKK!

Imagine actually having a game that grasps the concepts of space and time. That would be a little weird.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Hello72207

[Alastor15243]

48 minutes ago, Jotari said:

The whole Lyon left the sacred twins so you can kill him never made much sense to me. That's why in my Saved Stones hack I had Vigarde wield Garm and Lyon on his first encounter using Gelipner, both being droppable. If Fomortiis has enough control over Lyon to start a bloody war then I'm sure he has enough control to make use of the immensely powerful weapons that are designed for war.

If I remember Ephraim!Lyon correctly, it makes more sense for that version than Eirika!Lyon. I think Ephraim!Lyon does outright state later, after the destruction of the Renais Sacred Stone, that he wants Ephraim to stop him at the Darkling Woods temple. Eirika!Lyon, however... yeah, that makes very little sense.

43 minutes ago, Hello72207 said:

Why do you even want to steal lockpicks? Rogues don't need them.

Oh, to dual wield thieves. Smart.

Yep. Also in case Rennac dies and I have to use Colm exclusively again.

[Jotari]

32 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

If I remember Ephraim!Lyon correctly, it makes more sense for that version than Eirika!Lyon. I think Ephraim!Lyon does outright state later, after the destruction of the Renais Sacred Stone, that he wants Ephraim to stop him at the Darkling Woods temple. Eirika!Lyon, however... yeah, that makes very little sense.

Yep. Also in case Rennac dies and I have to use Colm exclusively again.

It's less about wants and more about capabilities. As much as Lyon wants Ephraim/Eirika to kill him, I'm sure he doesn't want to start a continental war too. It just leans heavily on my suspension of disbelief that Fomortiis can make him launch a crusades that kills thousands of innocents yet can't make him use a specific weapon designed to do that. If his level of control is that exact then it's something I need to see in action to buy. I mean surely even the generals must be wondering why the Sacred Twins aren't being used and must be requesting they be deployed to make their own life easier (granted Dussel is the only Grado general that can even use one of the Sacred Twins personally, but they don't need to personally use them. Im sure the kingdom has viable candidates). And I'm not going to accept that they're merely ceremonial weapons or too holy to use since the mere fact that Ephraim thinks Lyon wants them to be used to stop him means they have known viable and practical use. Frelia also isn't hesitating to use their own Sacred Twins on the battlefield as soon as Innes requests they be delivered to him.

Edited May 25, 2020 by Jotari

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Jotari said:

And I'm not going to accept that they're merely ceremonial weapons or too holy to use since the mere fact that Ephraim thinks Lyon wants them to be used to stop him means they have known viable and practical use. Frelia also isn't hesitating to use their own Sacred Twins on the battlefield as soon as Innes requests they be delivered to him.

On the one hand, they have limited uses, and the understanding may be "we're not using these unless the Demon King comes back again". On the other hand, why the fuck wouldn't they have the means to repair, or make more of, the legendary weapons? It was just the stones that came straight from the heavens, right? Humanity made those legendary weapons themselves, just like with Elibe, and unlike Elibe they had no reason why they would be discouraged from making more!

Also, uh... something something yada yada "First war in 800 years" blah blah blah.