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

[Alastor15243]

10 minutes ago, Jotari said:

What? Even for Tellius? Like, no issue with the animation themselves (because I never watch them), but the animations take up like 50% of the play time you're likely to have just because of how long the loading transition takes. And the map animations are absolutely fine.

I don't remember being bothered by them when I played about a year ago. But I guess we'll see!

[Jotari]

23 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I don't remember being bothered by them when I played about a year ago. But I guess we'll see!

Well it could be just different standards, but I couldn't bear them even on my first playthrough back when I was a teen.

[Alastor15243]

Just now, Jotari said:

Well it could be just different standards, but I couldn't bear them even on my first playthrough back when I was a teen.

Wow, really? Just for that game, or in general?

[Alastor15243]

Sacred Stones Day 24: Chapter 15EIR

Well, let's get going. I just learned yesterday morning that a game I wished existed has existed for a while and comes out on Switch today, and for the first time ever, the Nintendo eShop has decided “today” doesn't mean “sometime after 12”. Looks like Wargroove isn't the only case of someone taking an abandoned Intelligent Systems property and making a spiritual sequel themselves. Paper Mario has Bug Fables now, and apparently it's awesome! Can't wait to dive into it.

But for now, I have a job to do.

Right, I know I made some notes in the last part about things I need to be on the lookout for:

1: What do they say about when the messenger was sent, where to, and why that location?

2: Does Ephraim indicate in any way that he still had “no time to wait for the Frelian army” when he shows up?

Those are the two big ones I remember. Lemme know if I missed one.

So... given that it's been a while since Eirika spaced out due to conflicting emotions about Lyon, and given the context, I have to assume that Eirika spacing out here is because she is on the verge of passing out due to fighting off Caellach and Valter's forces for a while.

...Yep, that seems to be the case. Even the Rausten backup is getting slaughtered left and right apparently.

...I do wonder what exactly Eirika is doing at the moment though, if she needs Seth to inform her this heavily of what's going on. I suppose she could just be fighting rather than commanding the army, but... it seems strange.

Jesus, Seth. Are you really explaining to Eirika what sand does to unit movement? I get this is for the audience's benefit, but Christ almighty this is clumsy exposition, because in-universe there are only two ways to interpret this line. Either Seth is patronizing the shit out of Eirika right now, or Eirika somehow still doesn't understand how sand works after fighting for her life in the desert for days, or if we're going by the hyperspeed messenger version of this inconsistent timeline, bare minimum a few hours.

Either way, someone here is being a tool.

Curious how in this version, we get Riev talking to Valter rather than Lyon talking to Caellach. Does that mean we're not going to learn about Caellach and Joshua being former friends in this route? Wouldn't that be something the player would've learned anyway if they went to have Joshua get revenge on the guy who killed his mother? Why not reveal that before their climactic showdown?

Honestly, it's kind of bizarre that Valter, with his insane fetish for Eirika, is just staying put on the other side of the map from her during all of this. Especially when he's so dead set on being the one to kill her in this conversation with Riev.

...

Jesus Christ.

The enemy placement is fucking identical.

Hell, the only clear difference that sticks out at me is the fact that there are some myrmidons to the southwest that I'm pretty sure were other units in Ephraim's version. Oh, and some missing archers in the desert. But the lion's share of the units are still on Ephraim's side, in pretty much the same formation... which means that in terms of gameplay, Eirika's group is probably gonna have to be the one to rescue him, despite what the story says.

Oh shit, right, I got the sacred twin weapons. Excalibur... well if it weren't for that ridiculous 13 weight, which is way less reasonable for a mage to manage than an axe user, that speed bonus might be nice. As it stands, it only serves to bring the speed penalty down to 2. Still, it's a legendary weapon, so... I'll take it.

Apparently I haven't been as rigorous with staff use on Lute in Eirika route. Ephraim!Lute can use physic, but alas, Eirika!Lute cannot.

Man, looks like the downside of still having so many units alive is that I have to drop more people I'd like to use in order to make sure I bring my two thieves to get all the treasure. No matter, though. I'll drop Innes and Gerik.

Man, Saleh's gonna be super useful here. Actually having a foot mage who can fight in time for the desert map? Awesome.

Oh, looks like there's a bandit on this map who's gonna head for the village. I'll have to cut him off with either Cormag or Saleh.

This is really going to be a training opportunity for Cormag, to get him some more levels so he can promote.

Lute... she's... just gonna stay here. One of the side-effects of giving so many promoted horse riders only 7 mov is that they only move one space in the desert, and that sucks. She and Kyle are gonna deal with Caellach and the rest of the enemies up here, while Saleh, Seth, Franz, Cormag, and maybe some others head down.

Saleh, alas, can't use physic yet either. Maybe the designers learned their balancing lessons from how ridiculous Pent was? ...And applied said lessons to a much easier game?

Ah, looks like another difference in the enemies is that there are mercenaries, rather than fighters, to the west of Eirika's starting location. This is all... still very minimal though. You'd think they'd have at least switched around which side had the enemy density.

...Yeah, uh... you know when I said I'd try to use Eirika on Eirika Route? Fuck that. She's terrible. Even though she has abnormally high defense, it's still really low, and she can't even double mercenaries, she's that underleveled. And what do I get for leveling her other than an inferior version of a class I already have three of?

So, a villager talks about the six generals of the Grado army, named after gemstones. But I'm sure Selena said something implying that said gemstone namesakes are actual gemstones that the generals receive, treasures from the imperial treasury. Does that mean there was a moonstone, a tiger eye, and a blood beryl among the imperial treasures that were just never used?

Come to think of it, why the hell would you have a sunstone and a moonstone and not use those two as part of the initial set? They go together, so why wouldn't you use them for theme-

...Oh.

Oh.

That's right.

Vigarde did.

Valter was initially part of the imperial three. The first three gemstones used were the obsidian, the sunstone, and the moonstone. The fluorspar, blood beryl and tiger eye came later. That makes much more sense. But I still question why three gemstone positions were vacant for so long.

...Huh. So apparently the opposite route does get closure about what happened to Glen or Selena... if you visit this one village. Fair enough, I suppose.

Curious how this villager guy says Riev has gone missing when he's still clearly taking part in the Grado army to a degree.

...The villager then bizarrely says that it's his “job” to pass this information on to “you” and help “you” out. Either that's a fourth wall breaking joke directed at me, or... what, is he working for some kind of resistance movement? And his job is to give us... incomplete, incorrect and outdated trivia to the... Magvel Alliance, I suppose I should call it? Exclusively in the event that said alliance walks straight up to his front door?

And now Duessel, Ephraim and Knoll show up on turn 2.

At the end of turn 2.

After I move, but before the enemy does.

...I just got ambush-spawned with my own fucking allies.

...Well, let's see what they have to say for themselves.

...Yeah, uh... they...

...There's no mention of any invisible Frelia army. They don't outright, explicitly say that one isn't there, but, uh... here are Ephraim's lines, which I shall quote below (I have to do this by hand, by the way; copy-pasting any text into this document fucks up the formatting like what happened at the beginning of my Genealogy playthrough):

Ephraim: That building beyond the dunes is Jehanna Hall. I expect that's where we'll find Eirika and her companions. Duessel, Knoll. It's time we rescued Eirika. I'll need all your strength.

Duessel: Of course, Your Highness. I've pledged my service and my axe. You shall have both.

Knoll: Princess Eirika... She's a friend of Prince Lyon's, isn't she? I'll do what I can to help you. I feel like that is what Prince Lyon would want.

Ephraim: The enemy's numbers are great, but we do not need to face them alone. We must move quickly to join forces with Eirika and her company. I'm sure Seth and Innes will be there waiting for us. Let's move!

…

...So... yeah. That really, really seems to imply that Ephraim's “rescue” is indeed as comical as it looks. Ephraim really did just bring two people to rescue Eirika, judging by how he says that combining their strength with Eirika's group's is crucial to victory.

I mean really, if you're saying you'll need all of Knoll's strength to rescue Eirika, Knoll, who may I remind you storywise has just stopped being a multi-month-long prisoner hours to days ago, and gameplaywise is level fucking ten, then you are really scraping the bottom of the fucking barrel.

Seriously, why the hell isn't this version a survive map!? This would be so much better if the objective of the Eirika version of this chapter was to survive long enough, and then there's a scene where Ephraim arrives with Duessel, Knoll, and a shitton of Frelian promoted green units, to save the day.

The reinforcements also seem to be identical in this version too, judging by the pegasus knights who just showed up to the northeast, which means if I don't get to Ephraim soon, he's gonna be sandwiched between Valter's troops and the cavalry reinforcements that later came from the rear. I should have a good deal of time, but really, the fact that they actually made a situation where who needs to be rescued by who is blatantly contradicted between story and gameplay... is really kind of embarrassing.

And also... the fuck was the point of putting that bandit there on this version of the map if by the beginning of turn 3, the game would spawn an allied unit in immediate walking distance of the only village said bandit could have sacked!?

...Man, in hindsight, it might have been a cool idea to give Ephraim the early guiding ring so that by the time this chapter arrives, it would be in his inventory and I could insta-promote Knoll with it. Live and learn, I suppose. I don't think I'll actually have much cause to use Knoll in this route, at any rate. Too many good units survived.

...And at any rate, there's a master seal right in that village I just mentioned he starts in casual walking distance of, so... really, all that would save me is a turn, since this game doesn't have a funds rank, and you might as well use that master seal on someone.

...And fuck it, I'll do that! Just in case things go horribly wrong, I'll be happy to have summons on hand.

The eclipse shaman still has a guiding ring, which I'll have to be sure to try and steal with Rennac, since he's down there. Now that Seth and Franz have crossed the small patch of desert in the middle of the “road” between the grassland and Jehanna, we should be in the clear.

I initially panicked when I realized I didn't bring anyone down who had a restore staff, but that troubadour from before merely has a sleep staff, not a berserk staff, so she's safe to rush, especially considering how poor her accuracy was last time.

Amazingly, Lute got her first post-promotion defense level in this version of the map too!

Luckily, the sleep staff troubadour decided to heal the rest of the paladin's HP rather than sleep staff anyone. She went down instantly the next turn.

...Shit. I took too long to clear the path forward, and those reinforcements did show up. I just barely managed to get Ephraim out of range in time by killing off the remaining wyvern riders except one, and rescuing Ephraim with Duessel. The phantom I summoned was helpful to distract them... slightly.

Yeah, Knoll's phantoms are surprisingly useful. The fact that they can move the turn they're summoned, combined with their disposability and flight... super useful for manipulating enemies in this desert, especially when baiting or trying to run away.

Gotta say though, hearing the “fatal blow” sound effect while enemy phase music plays while I'm looking away from my computer because I'm distracted by shit going on with my phone... it makes my heart jump every time, and I'm even playing with animations!

I keep forgetting how terrible Duessel's aid is with his 15 con.

Is it just me, or is Caellach much, much weaker in his version of the chapter? I remember Lute not being able to take two hits from him, but her bulk is basically identical here, and here she can almost take three!

...Shit, actually, maybe that's because Kyle is supporting her. Yeah, I suppose that would explain it.

Valter's pierce skill is terrifying. He nearly bodied Seth with it after Seth got attacked by a wyvern rider, but noooot quite!

Completely negating defense though... Yeah, that's... that's one of those skills that means something drastically different the later in the game you are. The higher everyone's stats get, the more ridiculously powerful skills like that become.

Eirika!Seth, incidentally, has become ridiculously tanky, with 20 defense when you add in his support with Franz. Nice.

I got most of the treasure, including all of the good stuff. I'm not gonna waste time with the rest today. Not when there's sweet Paper-Mario-style fun to be had.

...Also, there was no chance I could safely have Cormag fight Valter. I know his dialogue is different, but thankfully I've already seen it. Actually, on the subject...

...Real quick, lemme check out Eirika's battle dialogue with Valter. No way in hell I was gonna try to get that naturally, at any rate.

…

…

…

…

Okay, first I was about to shit on the game for not having boss dialogue with Eirika, but I know that this must be a mistake. I know Valter has dialogue with Cormag, and that's not listed here either.

...Yep, I just looked elsewhere and found it. Curious, apparently Eirika doesn't immediately recognize the face of the guy who nearly killed Seth when she fled from Renais. That's... odd. I mean, it was hilarious when that happened with Clarine and Narcian, but... those are very different characters, and that was a very different tone of a scene. Eirika doesn't strike me as the sort of person who'd forget Valter.

...Yep. So, in this route, Ephraim decides that he should be the one to turn over the sacred twins he found to Eirika. They justify it by saying that Ephraim doesn't have anyone in his army that can use them, while maybe people in her group can. Technically true, though amusingly only because I literally just got Duessel and Knoll.

But another thing I find noteworthy about this version of the scene... is that, curiously, there's no counterpart to this explanation in Ephraim's route. Think about that: the writers considered Eirika giving her sacred twins to Ephraim to be such a natural course of action that it doesn't warrant justification, but they did feel the need to justify why Ephraim would give them to Eirika.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Really gets the noggin joggin', don't it?

About maybe some... differing levels of respect the writers might have had for the intelligence, competence and agency of these two characters?

Moving on... so it's a surprise to Eirika that Grado Keep has fallen, which probably means that if Innes's decision of where to send the messenger was a tacit vote of confidence from him, then Innes took care of sending the messenger without telling Eirika about it at all. Which... almost makes Ephraim's “rescue” of Eirika an outright plothole in this timeline. There's no explanation at all on this route for why Ephraim knew Eirika needed rescuing.

Yep, it looks like this next scene in the fort is completely identical between paths. So that thing with the vague direction of L'arachel's line really was a way to use this exact same scene twice without any alteration whatsoever.

Innes response to being told that Ephraim defeated Grado is “is that so?”. Once we get a remake that inevitably has voice acting, hearing how he says that line is going to be pretty pivotal to confirming or denying my little “Innes guessed Ephraim had already won” headcanon.

But that's neither here nor there. Everything else I have to say about this scene has already been said yesterday. Tomorrow, we'll be doing Chapter 16EPH, fighting Orson, and promoting my one good but kinda stat-screwed lord and my one irredeemably shit lord.

Stay safe, everyone!

[deskita]

I always thought that the person in the house was supposed to be a part of Innes' spy network and that's why it was his job to pass on the information. Though it's still odd how he doesn't just come out of the house and mention it considering how close that house is to where Innes would start regardless of route.

 

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, deskita said:

I always thought that the person in the house was supposed to be a part of Innes' spy network and that's why it was his job to pass on the information. Though it's still odd how he doesn't just come out of the house and mention it considering how close that house is to where Innes would start regardless of route.

 

Does he have different dialogue when Innes visits the house? If not, why does the guy's "what's that, Lassie?" dialogue imply Innes asked how he knows this?

Edited May 28, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Boomhauer007]

16!eir is gonna feel like easy mode with how much closer you start than 16!eph

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Paper Mario has Bug Fables now, and apparently it's awesome! Can't wait to dive into it.

I too am waiting to download this, feels like word got out so quickly about it.

[Hello72207]

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Valter's pierce skill is terrifying. He nearly bodied Seth with it after Seth got attacked by a wyvern rider, but noooot quite!

I actually lost Duessel in a +10% ironman of sacred stones I did where I attacked Valter with him after noting that Duessel survives a ~10% crit and another ~40% hit. Valter got a pierce crit and down went Duessel. I love rng so much.

1 hour ago, Boomhauer007 said:

16!eir is gonna feel like easy mode with how much closer you start than 16!eph

eirika is easy mode either way.

[Shadow Mir]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Valter's pierce skill is terrifying. He nearly bodied Seth with it after Seth got attacked by a wyvern rider, but noooot quite!

Yeah. When I saw the Killer Lance, that's when I decided, yikes, I do NOT want to deal with him without the Hoplon Guard.

1 hour ago, Hello72207 said:

I actually lost Duessel in a +10% ironman of sacred stones I did where I attacked Valter with him after noting that Duessel survives a ~10% crit and another ~40% hit. Valter got a pierce crit and down went Duessel. I love rng so much.

The moral of this story? Don't assume crits won't happen, or else you'll regret it. And get the Hoplon Guard before engaging Valter.

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Shadow Mir said:

Yeah. When I saw the Killer Lance, that's when I decided, yikes, I do NOT want to deal with him without the Hoplon Guard.

Thankfully, Seth is immune to his spear crits at range, so he fought with javelins.

[Alastor15243]

Quick update, mostly a question regarding the poll:

Looks like Path of Radiance is winning at the moment. I'll be keeping it up until the time comes to ask my friend for the game back (a week or so before I finish up, then), but for those of you who don't want me to do Tearring Saga next... when do you want me to do it?

Edited May 28, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Jotari]

11 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...The villager then bizarrely says that it's his “job” to pass this information on to “you” and help “you” out. Either that's a fourth wall breaking joke directed at me, or... what, is he working for some kind of resistance movement? And his job is to give us... incomplete, incorrect and outdated trivia to the... Magvel Alliance, I suppose I should call it? Exclusively in the event that said alliance walks straight up to his front door?

Spy network!

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Quick update, mostly a question regarding the poll:

Looks like Path of Radiance is winning at the moment. I'll be keeping it up until the time comes to ask my friend for the game back (a week or so before I finish up, then), but for those of you who don't want me to do Tearring Saga next... when do you want me to do it?

When you're up to date on all the Fire Emblem games imo. Would be like a bonus continuation episode for the series then.

Edited May 29, 2020 by Jotari

[Alastor15243]

6 hours ago, Jotari said:

Spy network!

Near as I can tell, the dialogue doesn't change at all if Innes talks to him, meaning Innes doesn't know who this guy is.

[Jotari]

47 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Near as I can tell, the dialogue doesn't change at all if Innes talks to him, meaning Innes doesn't know who this guy is.

I see nothing strange about that. Wouldn't expect him to personally know every employee. That's what makes it a network. Although some alternative text would have been nice.

Edited May 29, 2020 by Jotari

[Alastor15243]

3 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I see nothing strange about that. Wouldn't expect him to personally know every employee. That's what makes it a network. Although some alternative text would have been nice.

I don't buy it. If that were the intention of that scene, they'd have had Innes have different dialogue, like with basically every other instance of playable characters running into people relevant to them in villages. As it stands, Innes just stares blankly at this guy and asks "How do you know all of this?", if the "what's that, Lassie?" dialogue is anything to go by.

[Jotari]

2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I don't buy it. If that were the intention of that scene, they'd have had Innes have different dialogue, like with basically every other instance of playable characters running into people relevant to them in villages. As it stands, Innes just stares blankly at this guy and asks "How do you know all of this?", if the "what's that, Lassie?" dialogue is anything to go by.

Does he call Innes a lassie? Because I have some other questions if that's the case.

[Alastor15243]

Just now, Jotari said:

Does he call Innes a lassie? Because I have some other questions if that's the case.

Just in case you aren't joking, when I say "What's that, Lassie?" dialogue, I mean dialogue where people compensate for their inaudible partner by repeating back the things they hear them say but we don't. In that case, "Hm? How do I know all  this?".

[Eltosian Kadath]

6 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Quick update, mostly a question regarding the poll:

Looks like Path of Radiance is winning at the moment. I'll be keeping it up until the time comes to ask my friend for the game back (a week or so before I finish up, then), but for those of you who don't want me to do Tearring Saga next... when do you want me to do it?

The only places that makes sense to me are either at the end, or just before/after the game which saved the franchise, Awakening. At the end makes the most sense, but having it near Awakening with a look at the spiritual successors Kaga made as a hint towards what might have filled the niche if Awakening had failed.

[Alastor15243]

1 hour ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The only places that makes sense to me are either at the end, or just before/after the game which saved the franchise, Awakening. At the end makes the most sense, but having it near Awakening with a look at the spiritual successors Kaga made as a hint towards what might have filled the niche if Awakening had failed.

Hmm... I see. Alright, I'll keep that in mind.

 

Sacred Stones Day 25: Chapter 16EPH

For those of you who might have been curious how Bug Fables turned out: it's pretty good! Too early in the game to really use words like “awesome” or anything, but I'm really satisfied by the hard mode's difficulty! At times it felt like I was a kid playing Paper Mario 64 again, and actually struggling against satisfying opponents! My only complaints so far:

1: The music is pretty crap so far, and there isn't a single song I've heard yet that I'm interested in looking up on YouTube.

2: The game somehow doesn't think that berry juice and honey should be a valid cooking combination, and that just feels amazingly wrong to me.

Anyway, back to Fire Emblem.

We're going to reclaim Renais, and...

...Okay.

Question.

Why wasn't this more of a priority?

I'm not even just talking about from an emotional or moral standpoint, I'm also talking practically. Grado has taken over Castle Renais and stationed a massive number of troops there, to the point that reclaiming Castle Renais is going to be of comparable difficulty to taking over Grado. Why the fuck did the Frelian army just leave this place alone!? They're a bordering country and a perfect vantage point to station an all-out assault on Frelia! Frelia sent the lion's share of its army around Renais, without even cutting off the potential march of reinforcement soldiers from Grado through Renais into Frelia! I'm no war strategist, I just play one in video games, but isn't that a perfect recipe for getting slaughtered? Especially since Grado has a way bigger army to begin with!? Were they worried about the Grado army taking Renais hostages, or forcing them to be in the crossfire?

...Well, I can't exactly say anything conclusive on the point, so... I'll just leave it at that.

I decided to use Metis's Tome on Ephraim, because he's the least leveled of my units, and so he's gonna gain the most out of it by the end of the game if I start using him regularly. Hopefully he'll be able to function well with his more recent luck and his promotion gains.

Now that the completed portion of the map has gotten bigger, it's starting to become apparent how annoyingly staggered and slow moving across the map is. I mean, I get I have a turbo button, but something about the constant starting and stopping makes the process feel slower than it really is, and is pissing me off to look at.

Anyway, I did all of my shopping with Eirika holding the silver and member cards (mostly just javelins, hand axes and magic, as usual), so now I'm entering Renais Castle. Story time.

During this narration, where I am told about, rather than shown, the devastation of Renais, it occurs to me that... right, so, Eirika's beginning route mostly involved going through the outskirts of Renais, but I don't think we've ever actually seen... anything of the devastation caused by the Grado army other than that bit about bandits. At any rate, even if I am mis-remembering, I probably wouldn't have forgotten it if we had gotten a truly proper emotional scene driving home how Renais has suffered in the twins' absence.

I suppose this is the game's last chance.

Orson has been assigned to control Renais. Yeah, uh... why was he picked? I get that the Demon King doesn't give a shit about him doing a good job ruling the people, but like... that doesn't explain what thought process led to him, specifically, getting picked. I mean I guess we could find out here... yeah, I think I remember something to that effect.

So then... back to my earlier point about Renais being a priority for being reclaimed... take all of that shit I said, then add in the fact that Innes's fabled spy network would surely have picked up that Renais was being ruled by a complete lunatic, and that before then, no one was in charge at all.

How was this not a sitting duck for a counter-invasion?

Anyway...

The phrasing of this opening narration is... really weird.

“Orson, a former knight of Renais, had been assigned to guard Castle Renais. However, he switched allegiances, betraying his oaths of loyalty to his homeland.”

Reading that, doesn't that sound like something that the game would say if Orson had been assigned to guard Castle Renais by Renais, and then betrayed Renais to Grado? But it's the other way around! Orson betrayed Renais and then was assigned to guard Castle Renais by Grado!

The only way I can read this as being accurate is if it's a really, really clumsy and poorly-translated way of saying:

“The former knight of Renais, Orson, now guards Castle Renais. Oh, but note that word: former! He's a traitor! So him guarding Castle Renais is a bad thing!”

...which just feels... awkward.

Seth yet again, though less egregiously, reveals shit that we already know, by repeating the narrator's exposition that Orson is in charge.

Okay, so Seth says that Orson's wife passed away “some six months back”, confirming that the “two years ago” flashback was not the same as the “1 and a half years ago” flashback that happened just before the route split. If Ephraim's war with Grado really had taken six months, then that would have meant that Orson's wife died around the time of the route split, which... wouldn't make sense at all.

So yeah, those were different visits to Grado in relatively quick succession.

...Or the game's just yet again lost all concept of space and time.

Also...

...Orson... isn't eating.

Seth says that “he takes no meals”.

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Seth?

For how long?

For how long has he not been taking meals?

Are you saying that's how he's been ever since he got “reunited” with his wife?

Are you saying that everything from the route split until now was in fact completed in less time than it takes for a starving man to lose the ability to fight!?

Yeah, uh... the way the spies are reporting this information about Renais...

...There's literally no reason they shouldn't have taken back Renais by now. It was a sitting fucking duck. Grado clearly had no interest in holding the region, which is... utterly bizarre, since they still don't know how to get access to their Sacred Stone. I guess the castle is still secured by Grado forces, but...

...Anyway, bigger issue: this is all telling. I want to be shown the devastation in Renais. This should not be a single walk-in-walk-out chapter. This should be a multi-chapter arc. Reclaiming Eirika and Ephraim's homeland shouldn't be something they just casually do after spending like six chapters each on their continent-spanning adventures.

So... Myrrh... chooses now to decide that “now that Selena has returned [her] dragonstone to [her]”, she'll fight alongside Ephraim.

...This should have happened at the beginning of Chapter 14EPH, for two big reasons:

1: She has given literally no reason why anything was stopping her between then and now.

2: Chapter 15EIR would have been a lot less embarrassing for Eirika, because getting your army “rescued” by a handful of people is a lot less stupid when one of those people can turn into a fucking dragon.

Just imagine Chapter 15EIR, when Ephraim shows up, if there was a quick CG of Myrrh in dragon form, in all her earth-shaking glory, ready to lay waste to Valter's troops. That would've been so much cooler!

Also... that reminds me...

...Have there been... any in-game CGs at all? I don't remember a single one. They did such a good job of upping the production values in Blazing Blade, and...

...Okay. So CGs show up in the credits.

Ten of them.

Which is apparently one sixth the number that FE7 had.

Man, what the hell was the budget for Sacred Stones, if even when so many of the assets were reused, they could only afford ten CGs?

I mean, in fairness, they made those monster sprites, but... judging by a video I saw earlier, and thinking back, I think the promoted versions of those are just recolors.

...Man, I really wish I could find public information about what the budget of each Fire Emblem game was. I'd really like to know how much FE8 cost to make.

Anyway, let's get moving.

Okay, so, there's a quick map cutscene of Orson moving through his doors into his private chambers, a female green unit walking out to meet him, and then them both moving offscreen. A few things I'm taking from this:

1: Orson was in fact not in his chambers before that moment. Granted, Seth only said nobody was allowed in, and that he wasn't eating, not that he never left. But I'm still left to wonder what he left for.

2: Whatever they did to “bring back” Orson's wife, she is in fact capable of movement, so those theories I heard that it's just a barely-reanimated corpse propped up on a chair or something... those theories don't work.

…

PFFFT.

Okay, Lyon. If you're going to teleport to your destination, is there any reason why you had to teleport outside of the room, and then ask to be let in?

Why not just teleport into the private chambers directly!?

Also, Jesus Christ, what the fuck is wrong with this fighter guarding the door? Not recognizing Lyon is one thing, but mistaking him for a street urchin!? What the fuck kind of street urchins dress like that!?

Thankfully, the other one rightfully calls him an idiot for this mistake.

...Why would the master of the mess hall be the one with credible rumors about Orson's behavior? He's taking no meals, isn't he? Or did Orson open the door a crack to refuse said meals, and the cook saw inside?

Hmm... Is “This is Monica and my place” proper English? Shouldn't it be “This is Monica's and my place”?

Okay, this is... this is really creepy. This is probably the most impressive scene of the entire game right here, and I know that that isn't exactly high praise, given when I've said about the game before, but it really is impressive. I like it. It's up there with some of the best-written moments in FE7. I'm not sure how to describe it, but the music, and his eyes... yeah, holy shit, it works.

Honestly though, speaking of Lyon's teleportation... that raises... questions, shall we say. I don't think I need to elaborate further, this is getting long enough as it is and I haven't even started the map. It's mostly the “why didn't he do [X]?” questions that everyone and their mother rightly asks about Nergal.

But one quick thing: this... didn't in fact explain anything about why Orson was given command of Castle Renais. So I'm still completely confused.

[Alastor15243]

First priority is getting L'arachel, who's out of barrier staves, the opportunity to gain even just one point of staff exp this turn. I'm gonna arrange that by having Rennac fight a myrmidon.

This map seems really trivial, just... long and winding. I'll just have to send my strongest units across two paths and hope nothing crazy happens.

Oh, and I need to watch out for that one berserk staff user.

Seeing how we've officially reached the point where nobody but Duessel needs help doubling things... I think it's time to give Duessel the speedwings. And if Ephraim still struggles to one-round things next map after promoting... he'll get the energy ring.

Also, I just realized Eirika isn't being deployed because she's not a force-deploy and I never thought to bring her. So I'll have to get the member card and silver card off her immediately.

And... oh yes... here it is.

Probably my favorite map theme of the entire GBA era.

Truth, Despair and Hope.

This is just a fantastic song. The Sacred Stones soundtrack largely feels like it's unimaginatively ripping off huge elements of the FE7 soundtrack, but when it comes to boss battle themes and... this... oh yes. Oh yes, it delivers.

This song, truth be told, is one of the ones I most badly want to hear in a remake. I am dreaming of the moment this chapter arrives in Shadows of Magvel, that frantic key change at the climax arrives, and then a mighty choir cuts in, singing in ominous foreign gibberish that might be Latin but nobody will be able to even guess until years later:

 

Kaskavara mantegura!

Sendrus sombro! FORTIS! MAGNIS!

Dorus marus solisura!

Per sevaius! DONA NOBIS!

 

...That is going to be beyond epic.

Anyway, I just successfully promoted L'arachel to valkyrie and got Rennac returned behind our lines. And holy shit is she good. She's actually just as tanky as Lute would have been if it weren't for the stat boosters I fed her. No question, she's getting the second angelic robe, and then she's gonna start kicking ass.

Ah. And now the important question: does she train to use Ivaldi... or Latona? I don't have anyone who's likely to be able to learn how to use either of them except her. As it stands, I have... three Vidovnir candidates, one Excalibur candidate, one Garm candidate... and that's about it. Pretty pathetic in terms of legendary weapon spread, honestly, but I doubt I'll need them. I'll have Siegmund and Sieglinde too... well, definitely Siegmund, at any rate.

Anyway, Dozla has outlived his usefulness, and can no longer reliably double much of anything with his terrible speed. I'm mostly keeping him around for supports.

I successfully took out the berserk staff user by baiting him to the edge of his range, exposing him to the power of my magical wall-phasing javelins.

Man, I completely forgot how dangerously useless Knoll is at fighting. I accidentally left him in range of a knight, and while he did one-round the knight, I nearly had a panic attack at seeing that 4% crit rate.

There's this strange, lone shaman walking slowly from one side of the map towards the hallway below the throne room to chase after my units. It's... really bizarre that literally nobody else is advancing on my army.

...Are we really going back to that level of complexity (or lack thereof), game? The one I complained about before the fucking route split!?

Also, really, I could've sworn I remembered from playing these older games as a kid that at some point after you could get your units to level 20, every unit you fought from that point on was promoted. I'm pretty sure that's the case for most of the games before now, right? Definitely Gaiden, I'm 90% sure Thracia too, though I've forgotten a lot of details about that in 1, 3 and 4. I think you were still fighting unpromoted enemies led by promoted army leaders by the endgame of Genealogy.

But yeah, it was kind of a weird experience playing all three of these GBA games and realizing that unpromoted enemies still showed up by the buttload in them.

...And incidentally, buttload is a real unit of measure.

Not kidding.

Look it up.

...Aaaaand I fucked up by forgetting to give Colm his new lockpick. Now somebody needs to ferry the lockpick from the convoy over to that side...

...Guess it's gonna be Cormag, with his new 10 movement.

...Okay, now the enemies start moving. Really though, the pressure here is basically nonexistent. These promoted mages don't even have status staves!

...Looks like some reinforcements from the rear are going to hinder my trip to relay the lockpick. No big deal, they're just enemies, after all. I'll just stand near them and they'll die.

Unfortunately, this sidetracking on the west side means that a thief has arrived to pillage the Renais treasures. Thankfully, my eastern flank is far enough in that they should be able to stop him in time.

I got Cormag and Duessel's support, and I like how they manage to not come out and directly say that Duessel recruited Cormag, since this support could be happening on a route where that didn't happen. But they still have a conversation that could easily have happened in that continuity.

The thief, hilariously, wanders right in range of being sniped across the wall by my units stuck outside, when he didn't have to. Fire Emblem AI for you, right there.

Okay, I stand corrected: one of the promoted mages has a status staff. I didn't notice it during my sweep of the enemy equipment.

Also, the promoted druids of this map still have scary-high magic. Enough to two-shot Franz. I mean, he doesn't have the best resistance, but he's still got a ton of HP, and that's a lot more than anyone else I the game so far has been able to do aside from certain bosses.

…

…

…

Aaaaaaaaaand down goes boyfriend number three!

Knoll's evasion is so terrible that he actually managed to get hit by eclipse, and then got struck down by a nigh-guaranteed-to-hit purge shot. So now not only is Knoll gone, but so is Gleipnir, as much of a loss as that is.

I guess the game really didn't want me to see any of Lute's supports with him.

Damn it, keeping track of seige tomes before FE9 added in range highlighting is a pain. Thank goodness this is the last game I'll be playing where this shit can happen.

Congratulations, Lute! Everyone who could possibly love you is now dead.

Your only remaining male support partner is a fucking twelve year old.

HOLY FUCK DO I SUCK.

If this curse keeps up...

...if my mounted mages' boyfriends keep dying...

...then the next person on the chopping block is gonna be Ephraim.

That... that would be painful. Very painful.

...L'arachel just got two consecutive level ups where she got nothing but luck. That is... frustrating. But it looks like she's definitely gonna cap luck now.

...Aaaaand I completely forgot where the purge sage went, I mistook him for the other one, thought he exhausted all of his purge charges, and thought it was safe to send Colm in.

It was not.

Purge sage just shot down Colm in a single hit.

Thankfully I made a habit of taking any treasure off of him whenever I deployed him just in case he needed to steal something, so financially it's not a big loss, but...

...I just lost one of my two thieves. And I lost two units in a single map, and two units in as many turns.

...Well. Serves me right for running my mouth about this chapter's difficulty, I suppose.

And now the purge sage is out of purge. Awesome. I was only off by one turn, but what a fucking turn that was.

I had a bit of a moment where I was terrified I was wrong about the enemy AI, and that on top of all of this bullshit I was gonna lose either Seth or Franz or possibly both against the throne room druids, but I was right, their insistence on staying in formation while using eclipse did mean they just flat-out won't move when approached.

The second thief comes ridiculously, generously late. I wasn't even trying to get over there, and by the time they show up, I have plenty of time to kill him.

And, now, finally, at long last...

...I unlock the support.

The support.

The one everyone who has ever played this game for any significant number of playthroughs has burned into their memory.

Ephraim and L'arachel's B support.

And it is just as hilarious as I remember it being.

She does that little startled sprite hop just as Ephraim takes her up on her offer to heal his scars. Oh I'm so glad I hadn't imagined that little aesthetic touch!

I hope to high heaven that by the time this game gets remade, they'll have actually reached the point where support conversations involve animated characters actually doing shit, unlike in Three Houses. Either that, or we have to see this support entirely from L'arachel's point of view.

...That could... that could actually be just as funny, honestly.

But I think a good portion of the planet would appreciate Ephraim's naked shoulder (along with everything else he'd have to expose to expose that) too, so... well, we'll see.

While I love the cold fury you can clearly read in Ephraim's line as he orders Orson to get off of his father's throne... the implication that Orson is sitting on that throne while on his horse is... pretty ridiculous.

Alright, so, the generic quote is coming after the specific quote with Orson too, so either I just never triggered that situation with boss quotes this whole time, or I've forgotten, or it's just in this game.

And the treasure that came at such an infuriating price was... a tomahawk, a talisman, a knight crest, and 5,000 gold. And I can't see any secret shop spaces sticking out at me, so either I'm missing it, or this is one of those castle secret shops that isn't available until Creature Campaign.

So now we see the room Orson was holed up in.

Okay, so “Monica” walks up to them, and...

...We never see exactly what she looks like. They do say it's the same magic used to animate Vigarde, so I don't think there's any reason to assume she's visibly rotting, especially not if weeks could pass between Vigarde's death and “resurrection” and none of the gemstone generals noticed anything off about his appearance. But still... it's not implied to be a pretty sight. I have to assume that since she's not been given anywhere near as good “programming” as Vigarde was... she... she's just completely off and wrong in the way she moves and speaks.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about and yet are watching this anyway, I suppose I should say: Orson betrayed Renais because Lyon promised to resurrect his dead wife if he did so. Lyon did... but... she's a nearly-mindless shell who does nothing but say “darling” over and over and over again. And Orson is so completely out of his mind that he doesn't notice or care. It's fucking disturbing, and probably one of the most famous and well-received scenes of the entire game. For good reason.

That said, we're pretty much at the end of the first full chapter since Eirika and Ephraim have reunited, and... honestly, I'm kind of annoyed they haven't really had any scenes together yet. I was hoping we'd get to see more out of their personalities (especially Eirika's) once they were reunited, similar to those flashbacks, but so far... basically nothing. It's still all business. I get that humor like in that flashback probably wouldn't be warranted at the moment, but... there were no emotional moments between them either.

I like Seth's “they're not cheering for you” speech, impressing upon Ephraim the responsibility he now has to make things right. It's a nice bit of writing. Honestly, in terms of writing, I'd say this is easily the best chapter in the whole game so far.

I wonder what kind of magic was placed over this seal that not even Lyon could get into there between his dark magic and his teleportation. That's the sort of thing I'd feel the need to explain if I were telling this story, honestly.

And yet again we get another in-story implication of promotion items as magical, empowering artifacts, which as I've said before, always felt weird for how little the games explain what promotion items even are, or why traditional ones aren't good enough for royalty.

Curious how the Solar Brace is flashing like an effective weapon on the promotion screen. Is it because the game says they're glowing in response to the Sacred Stones? Will it still be doing that if I decide to promote Eirika later?

...Fuck it, I'll test that out. Eirika's waiting to promote until after this cutscene.

…

Ephraim says that these were “the weapons of our forefathers”. Either when he says “these weapons” he means the sacred twin weapons as a whole, or more than one legendary hero was entrusted with Siegmund and Sieglinde.

...Actually, apparently no, at least in the specific case of Renais's sacred twins, they've historically been used by more than one person, namely the rulers of the land throughout history. So he's referring to more than one forefather through time.

Also, the implication that Ephraim walked down that staircase and came back out with a new horse is hilariously absurd. Was the horse hidden down there too, frozen in magical cryostasis?

I don't get the point of of having everyone forget that there are two Sacred Stones left, not just one, other than to have L'arachel remind us that “there is another” should Renais's stone be shattered...

COUGH COUGH.

Anyway, I just checked, and yes, the lunar brace is still flashing when used outside of that cutscene.

...Is that even something that's exclusive to these? Have all promotion items been flashing all this time during these promotion scenes and I just haven't noticed?

...Well, I guess I'll find out later. For now, it's the weekend.

Stay safe, everyone.

[Interdimensional Observer]

20 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Why wasn't this more of a priority?

I'm not even just talking about from an emotional or moral standpoint, I'm also talking practically.

I think this is the reason. Where else but Renais would suffice for Eir & Eph to get promoted and their ultimates? This narrative priority overrode any logical in-universe explanations.

 

28 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Okay, Lyon. If you're going to teleport to your destination, is there any reason why you had to teleport outside of the room, and then ask to be let in?

Why not just teleport into the private chambers directly!?

It's called "being polite to your necrophilic crony and not invading on their privacy without consent".😛

 

29 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Why would the master of the mess hall be the one with credible rumors about Orson's behavior? He's taking no meals, isn't he? Or did Orson open the door a crack to refuse said meals, and the cook saw inside?

Let's just imagine Seth is stating exaggerations of facts. Orson eats and emerges from his bedroom, but infrequently enough that his behavior is very peculiar and not normal.

 

35 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Okay, I stand corrected: one of the promoted mages has a status staff. I didn't notice it during my sweep of the enemy equipment.

Are you referring to the reinforcements that come in to the east below the treasure chests? They are the tricky part of this map I've floundered on time and again. By the time you push through empty space and soft opposition, most of your units or everyone are within their range when they show up and can't easily get out. You can't exactly plow through to them either due to the wall of separation and the hard opposition in the throne room.

 

23 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Man, what the hell was the budget for Sacred Stones, if even when so many of the assets were reused, they could only afford ten CGs?

According to Wikipedia:

"The Sacred Stones was produced by long-time developer Intelligent Systems, running parallel to the development of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, an entry for the GameCube. According to staff, development began unexpectedly in 2003 alongside Path of Radiance: the staff thought they would not be developing another entry for the Game Boy Advance. Production on the two titles ran parallel to each other. In addition to Intelligent Systems staff, freelance staff were brought in to help with development, including former Capcom developers."

 

Reads to me like SS was an afterthought, a side project, PoR being the main priority of IS. Freelancers to me implies IS chose to reserve more of its core staff for Path of Radiance, implying favoritism. There is a little irony here, because SS was inspired by Gaiden, and SoV like SS was the 3rd and unexpected side project of a portable system at the end of its lifespan.

[Alastor15243]

5 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It's called "being polite to your necrophilic crony and not invading on their privacy without consent".😛

'xcept that's what he wound up doing anyway. It wasn't Orson who let him in, now was it? 😎

5 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Are you referring to the reinforcements that come in to the east below the treasure chests? They are the tricky part of this map I've floundered on time and again. By the time you push through empty space and soft opposition, most of your units or everyone are within their range when they show up and can't easily get out. You can't exactly plow through to them either due to the wall of separation and the hard opposition in the throne room.

Oh shit, those were reinforcements? I didn't notice that they popped in! I assumed they were always there and I missed them!

5 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

According to Wikipedia:

"The Sacred Stones was produced by long-time developer Intelligent Systems, running parallel to the development of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, an entry for the GameCube. According to staff, development began unexpectedly in 2003 alongside Path of Radiance: the staff thought they would not be developing another entry for the Game Boy Advance. Production on the two titles ran parallel to each other. In addition to Intelligent Systems staff, freelance staff were brought in to help with development, including former Capcom developers."

 

Reads to me like SS was an afterthought, a side project, PoR being the main priority of IS. Freelancers to me implies IS chose to reserve more of its core staff for Path of Radiance, implying favoritism. There is a little irony here, because SS was inspired by Gaiden, and SoV like SS was the 3rd and unexpected side project of a portable system at the end of its lifespan.

Thaaaaaat would explain it.

That would explain a lot, actually.

Edited May 29, 2020 by Alastor15243

[Boomhauer007]

Those siege tomes can definitely get you in this map, I always expend a warp use here to nip that problem in the bud. Warp makes every chapter after you get it a lot easier, except maybe eggs but that's not a hard one to begin with. 

I like to think your units are simply dying intentionally, choosing death over being stuck with Lute for the rest of their lives.

Edited May 29, 2020 by Boomhauer007

[Eltosian Kadath]

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Why wasn't this more of a priority?

I'm not even just talking about from an emotional or moral standpoint, I'm also talking practically. Grado has taken over Castle Renais and stationed a massive number of troops there, to the point that reclaiming Castle Renais is going to be of comparable difficulty to taking over Grado. Why the fuck did the Frelian army just leave this place alone!? They're a bordering country and a perfect vantage point to station an all-out assault on Frelia! Frelia sent the lion's share of its army around Renais, without even cutting off the potential march of reinforcement soldiers from Grado through Renais into Frelia! I'm no war strategist, I just play one in video games, but isn't that a perfect recipe for getting slaughtered? Especially since Grado has a way bigger army to begin with!? Were they worried about the Grado army taking Renais hostages, or forcing them to be in the crossfire?

If I have to speculate a few reasons why going directly after Grado has some merits strategically. If the region is in as bad condition as the game states its probably not providing much to Grado's war effort, and requires their troops to control the region in a way that makes them more difficult to concentrate in a concerted effort. It probably would be easier to fight through, but it would give Grado time to concentrate their forces against them, and Frelia would probably feel compelled to expend resources they can ill afford on humanitarian efforts to appease their Renais allies, while going straight for Grado would have a more immediate impact on their ability to wage war, as you ravage their sources of men, food, and resources.

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Alright, so, the generic quote is coming after the specific quote with Orson too, so either I just never triggered that situation with boss quotes this whole time, or I've forgotten, or it's just in this game.

I am certain this is how it works in FE6, I think it also works like this in FE7, but there are some odd exceptions to it (the most memorable for me being the odd conditions that make it impossible to get both of Wire's boss quotes on a run)

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

I like Seth's “they're not cheering for you” speech, impressing upon Ephraim the responsibility he now has to make things right. It's a nice bit of writing. Honestly, in terms of writing, I'd say this is easily the best chapter in the whole game so far.

I will go as far as saying this chapter is the best SS writing has to offer.

 

41 minutes ago, Boomhauer007 said:

Those siege tomes can definitely get you in this map, I always expend a warp use here to nip that problem in the bud. Warp makes every chapter after you get it a lot easier, except maybe eggs but that's not a hard one to begin with. 

This reminds me I ended up missing the warp staff on my ironman of this game, which did make it a bit more tedious.

Edited May 29, 2020 by Eltosian Kadath

[Shadow Mir]

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

…

…

…

Aaaaaaaaaand down goes boyfriend number three!

Knoll's evasion is so terrible that he actually managed to get hit by eclipse, and then got struck down by a nigh-guaranteed-to-hit purge shot. So now not only is Knoll gone, but so is Gleipnir, as much of a loss as that is.

I guess the game really didn't want me to see any of Lute's supports with him.

Damn it, keeping track of seige tomes before FE9 added in range highlighting is a pain. Thank goodness this is the last game I'll be playing where this shit can happen.

Congratulations, Lute! Everyone who could possibly love you is now dead.

Your only remaining male support partner is a fucking twelve year old.

HOLY FUCK DO I SUCK.

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Aaaaand I completely forgot where the purge sage went, I mistook him for the other one, thought he exhausted all of his purge charges, and thought it was safe to send Colm in.

It was not.

Purge sage just shot down Colm in a single hit.

Thankfully I made a habit of taking any treasure off of him whenever I deployed him just in case he needed to steal something, so financially it's not a big loss, but...

...I just lost one of my two thieves. And I lost two units in a single map, and two units in as many turns.

...Well. Serves me right for running my mouth about this chapter's difficulty, I suppose.

I'll let this video do the talking for me; it's what I'd have said anyway: