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


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1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

...Just out of curiosity, I looked up a playthrough of the fan translation of Conquest, and... yes, looks like it. Instead of being called a “secret space”, it's called a “reception hall”. Which makes so much more fucking sense.

On the one hand, I don't quite see the room as a reception hall myself. 26 feels like it works better.

On the other hand, how is a secret route the only way to the throne room? You could say "But going a more public route would involve a more direct battle and Corrin doesn't want thaaat" but that presumes there is another way and the localised game text suggests there isn't.

Jeez Treehouse, why such nonsense?

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

So... by marrying Leo and Felicia together, I have a Forrest that has both demoiselle and gentilhomme, which when combined with inspiration, which he'll be getting in just one level, will give him a +4 defensive aura he can give to anyone around him. There's a certain obstacle coming up in Chapter 25 that this will be vital for.

TIL you can just get a unit who can do both.

Neat.

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2 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Yep! Skill inheritance defies gender, just like in Awakening.

I don't know, I just anticipated that it would just treat the two as mutually exclusive due to how they work on the classes (Seeing as Troubadour is not gender locked in and of itself), but I guess not.

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2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...One of the loudest complaints I've heard about the localization is that Soleil wasn't actually outright sexually attracted to women in the Japanese version, and the localization turned her into a lesbian (even getting rid of nearly all of the romance from her straight S-support options because apparently bisexual people don't exist) and misrepresented a big part of her character.

...I mean Soleil's S support with Kamui has her explicitly say she fell in love with the female Kamui and loves both gendered versions, something the US versions noticeably shies away from to emphasize that she only loves the real, male version of Corrin. I think its more that the western audience focus more on that kind of interaction than a Japanese one does, so the fact that it is MORE present in the Japanese one is glossed over in favor of a narrative that supports the view that it should support the status quo of both regions.

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Azura: There's a secret space in front of the throne room. You must pass by it to get to the throne.

THEN IT'S NOT MUCH OF A FUCKING SECRET, IS IT, AZURA!?

I kinda figured she was talking about those sections of the wall that you fight in around the Ryoma duel.

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...Actually, I don't think this is the best chapter to do either. Limited deployment means I have to strike an uncomfortable balance between units I want to train and units I need to get me out of a tough situation if shit hits the fan. I think it might actually be wise to take this moment to use Kana's paralogue to train up Soleil and a few others before I tackle something potentially dangerous like a full-on Conquest paralogue. Also, Kana will be nice to have because I can give him the shelter skill and give him a flying class with a little more money.

Yeah, the reinforcements on that one can be rather harrowing, and the timer on Forrest's life means you can't take it slowly...

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

I don't know how many times I've read “It's something, and yet nothing” with Ophelia, and she still somehow manages to just barely be worth fielding despite also being underleveled. Hopefully I can use this opportunity to catch her up.

Best Mage of Fates at work.

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Might be the same tomorrow as well, depending on how bad the side-effects of the vaccine hit me.

Not to pry too much, but is this the last shot that tends to hit hard?

 

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10 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Not to pry too much, but is this the last shot that tends to hit hard?

 

Yep, second shot.

12 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I kinda figured she was talking about those sections of the wall that you fight in around the Ryoma duel.

 

But you can get to the throne room without going through there.

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20 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

But you can get to the throne room without going through there.

You do have to pass by it to get there, which is what she says. I was thinking it was supposed to be a space where they can pepper anyone passing through with range attacks through the walls, to make one last ditch deadly defense in front of the throne, although they aren't as mechanically clear about that as the FE5 chapter about that idea...

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12 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

You do have to pass by it to get there, which is what she says. I was thinking it was supposed to be a space where they can pepper anyone passing through with range attacks through the walls, to make one last ditch deadly defense in front of the throne, although they aren't as mechanically clear about that as the FE5 chapter about that idea...

I suppose that could be one interpretation.

 

Just a heads up: Taking the day off today to rest after the vaccine.

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7 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

I suppose that could be one interpretation.

 

Just a heads up: Taking the day off today to rest after the vaccine.

Got my second dose yesterday, and now I'm really struggling to keep up today. So, best of rest to you!

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8 minutes ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Got my second dose yesterday, and now I'm really struggling to keep up today. So, best of rest to you!

How bad were the chills? I was shivering so much last night I felt I was having a seizure.

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57 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

How bad were the chills? I was shivering so much last night I felt I was having a seizure.

Oof, that sounds unpleasant. Hope tonight goes better, at least.

I've had cold hands, and a general feeling of sickness, but no real shivering thus far. Maybe it'll get worse, we'll see.

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Conquest Day 37: Paralogue 16

Alright, I'm back! Man, this game has been going on for a while, hasn't it? It doesn't really feel like this is day 37. I'm pretty sure that means this is going to be the longest I've spent on a game in terms of number of days.

But yeah, time to get started.

...Having Keaton “persuade” prisoners makes it blatantly clear with its sound effects that he just turned into wolf form and smacked shit around while howling. God I love how stupid the prison can be.

I bonded with Xander in the treehouse, and I got his infamous “I hope you know that I'm always on your side. Nothing could ever change that.” line.

Okay, today we'll be doing Forrest's paralogue. And yeah, I've decided I will indeed be having Effie get two levels as a bow knight for movement +1. I'm also thinking about making Ophelia a dark knight or malig knight (dark flier if I were allowed to use bonus items) just to give her more mov, because all of my dedicated player-phase units have 8 mov right now besides her.

Speaking of which... oh dear. Mozu's capped strength, speed and skill as a kinshi knight, which just reminds me how lame the caps are. While she's still the second-fastest unit in my army even when counting her competition's pair-up bonuses... the ninja are pretty damned fast. If any of them get 33 speed, even Laslow's rally won't be able to...

...No wait, they'd need 35 speed to do it when she has a meal, and 37 when she has a tonic. Okay, I think she's gonna be fine.

Speaking of which, better make a meal.

Oh yeah, Kana's... yeah, I've never gotten Kana to be good. He's always just massively behind my avatar statistically. Still, he'll be worth fielding later, if nothing else then at least for having a malig knight shelter bot.

Soleil, having reached level 20, has precious little more to gain by joining this fight, so I think I'll have her sit it out.

It looks like Effie can just barely activate puissance on the berserkers of this map when strength mealed and rallied. Hopefully that means that she'll be able to activate it against anything hard-to-kill for the rest of the game, because again, her strength is capped.

Alright, starting.

I'm not sure what the point of this gimmick is. You can't really get that close to Forrest before fighting the enemies. I mean I guess it makes the time limit less of a left-field thing, but...

...Okay, here's a concern. If I make the first attack, does that mean I lose a turn because the guy sent to kill Forrest will automatically show up on player-phase? If so, that would be a tripwire spawn, even though it would be just about impossible for that to matter for the reasons tripwire spawns suck. Which makes me really want to test it even though it could cost me a whole turn.

...Nope! They don't react until enemy-phase! Glad I risked it, because that's good to know about the game design!

JESUS CHRIST JUST SEND THE WHOLE FUCKING MAP AFTER ME WHY DON'T YA!

Well I'm sure as hell glad I decided to take out the first room with my player-phase units and Leo if this is how it's gonna go. Killing the enemies in that first room is gonna make it much easier to take these guys out with hit and run tactics and then rush through to save Forrest as soon as possible.

Okay. So. I had to do some pretty crazy enemy-phasing tactics for a turn or two in order to get the opening to properly player-phase the entire fucking map. But I managed it. For a second it looked like I Fucked myself when I realized half the berserkers had certain blow, but I managed to compensate.

If I had the luxury to figure out how to fuck with enemy AI here, I might have been able to make this a lot easier by attacking multiple points at the same time, to make the enemy split itself up rather than all rushing one point. Honestly, I really should do a non-ironman game sometime soon and just mess around with this to figure out as much as I can. As much as this marathon made me appreciate just how much this game makes enemy behavior more obvious, there's still more fun I could be having if I had a better understanding of how the enemy behaves.

...Ah yes, I forgot that Forrest isn't on speaking terms with Leo right now. Can't recruit him until after the battle. Well, time to take out Gazak and see if we can get some levels for Effie in the process.

OH YEAH! AND GRAB THAT CHEST! Thank goodness I remembered in time!

YES! THANK GOODNESS! GOLD! FIVE THOUSAND OF IT!

Alright, and Gazak is down. I managed to get Effie a kill or two away from getting movement +1, which should be great.

Hahahahahaha! Elise actually takes issue with being called “aunt”. I thought she wanted to be treated like a grown-up!

Anyway, I don't really like the story here. It's not developed well enough. Leo and Forrest's fight and reconciliation barely get any time between them.

Oh wow, Forrest has 30 magic as a strategist. I could actually use him as more than just a utility bot!

Also, looks like persuading Nanoha is gonna take a while, and I can afford to lose the resources she wants at this point, so sure, I'll get her now. Just in case I need her sooner than I think.

Let's do supports and then finish up.

No supports except the Forrest ones apparently. Alright.

Um...

Forrest: It's funny, I was actually inspired [to make and wear feminine clothing] because of a compliment you once paid me. When I was little, I ran around the house in a dress. You saw me and said I looked adorable.

Leo: Did I really?

Forrest: You don't remember? It was a long time ago.

LEO, THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOUR MEMORY, MAN? THIS WOULD'VE BEEN LIKE LAST MONTH AT THE MOST! HOW CAN YOU FORGET SOMETHING LIKE THAT SO QUICKLY!?

He does remember shortly after, but still, man.

...Yeah, and the Felicia one isn't that interesting. Alright, that's it for today then.

...Jeeeesus I didn't write much today. I'm sorry. Well, given what tomorrow is going to entail... I think I'm going to be making up for that.

A lot.

Stay safe, everyone.

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3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

LEO, THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOUR MEMORY, MAN? THIS WOULD'VE BEEN LIKE LAST MONTH AT THE MOST! HOW CAN YOU FORGET SOMETHING LIKE THAT SO QUICKLY!?

He does remember shortly after, but still, man.

It's funny, they reference constantly how the parents could only visit the children on isolated occasions, but they never seem to acknowledge at all that this has happened in a ridiculously short amount of time for the parent. Everything with how it's written is treating the situation like they've grown up at a natural pace and that the infrequent visits were just because they were busy or something. Awakening references quite frequently how weird it is for the parents to have kids their own age, but Fates seems to never do that.

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3 hours ago, Jotari said:

It's funny, they reference constantly how the parents could only visit the children on isolated occasions, but they never seem to acknowledge at all that this has happened in a ridiculously short amount of time for the parent. Everything with how it's written is treating the situation like they've grown up at a natural pace and that the infrequent visits were just because they were busy or something. Awakening references quite frequently how weird it is for the parents to have kids their own age, but Fates seems to never do that.

Fates also handwaves away the nine months that each mother should've spent pregnant. I mean sure, they could explain it with deeprealm abuse, but they don't even do that much. Why, if I didn't know any better, I'd assume that Fates brought back kids due to their popularity in Awakening, without bothering to incorporate them into the narrative in any sensible manner!

7 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Hahahahahaha! Elise actually takes issue with being called “aunt”. I thought she wanted to be treated like a grown-up!

I know Fateswakening catch flack for "too many supports", but moments like this highlight the "missing" ones. Stuff like Elise-Forrest, or Kaze-Asugi. But nope, cross-generational supports are restricted to the parents and Corrin.

7 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oh yeah, Kana's... yeah, I've never gotten Kana to be good. He's always just massively behind my avatar statistically. Still, he'll be worth fielding later, if nothing else then at least for having a malig knight shelter bot.

I tend to make Kana my designated Baby Dragon. I like to reclass Corrin, and I'd rather not have my Dragonstones sit in the Convoy, gathering dust. That said, they're certainly no Morgan, in terms of power levels.

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1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Fates also handwaves away the nine months that each mother should've spent pregnant. I mean sure, they could explain it with deeprealm abuse, but they don't even do that much. Why, if I didn't know any better, I'd assume that Fates brought back kids due to their popularity in Awakening, without bothering to incorporate them into the narrative in any sensible manner!

What a bold and unprecedented hypotheses!

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Conquest Day 38: Chapter 25

Alright, so, first thing, I reclass Ophelia to dark knight like I said. I forgot she doesn't actually inherit malig knight so aaaaaaaaaand I just realized in hindsight it might've been better to make her a strategist since those swords are useless and staff utility would be way better. Well there's nothing I can do about that now.

I also chose to make Kana a malig knight so I can have a flying shelter bot and also make him a better player-phase unit. Better being the key word here. He probably still won't be “good”, but he'll be worth fielding probably.

...Effie's hanging out in front of the mess hall. It would be hilarious if stuff like that were intentional, where there were spots characters were more likely to be found around.

I finally got a str/spd/def meal from the mess hall. It took me more than a dozen tries. But with that, I think I've got Soleil in good shape to handle the hall of death.

...It's still gonna be dicey. Man, I would be very impressed to see the purely player-phase gambits that could pierce through this array of insane enemies. The game's specifically designed so that you don't have access to 3-range weapons until right after this map, meaning that if you enemy-phase this, you have to be able to do it after taking a minimum of 80% of your HP in after-battle damage.

And that's just the east side. You know what I hate about the west side? I've beaten it multiple times now, I've always gotten the chest, and I never fucking remember what I did to do it.

...Shit wait, I wrote down my strategy for my previous lunatic attempt, didn't I? On the forums here! That wasn't an ironman run, but maybe it'll be something to go on so long as it doesn't rely too much on singing...

...Oh shit. Right. Freeze is a thing. I didn't even need to read what I actually did, just the shopping list that had freeze on it, and that was all it took to get my brain working properly. Yeah. I can't believe I keep forgetting freeze is a thing.

If I can freeze the automatons and ninja, at least one on each side, then his map suddenly becomes so much more manageable.

But one big concern I have is that this is the first time I've ever faced off with Ryoma without a procstacking build. I may actually, genuinely have to fight my way all the way through both sides in order to properly kill him. But we'll see. The hardest part is getting to each chest, at any rate. If I can do that, getting the rest of the way should be a breeze.

I've tonic'd up both Soleil and Dakota, because they're gonna be the most important combat units of this whole map and I need them to be strong.

...I've started.

There's no turning back.

Let's do this.

Alright, so, the status abilities enemies have mean that even though their accuracy is too low to hit the acceptable minimum hit rate... they still attack Soleil. That'll mean the master ninja won't even be annoying. Assuming I don't get outrageously unlucky.

Damn it. I forgot about dual strike attack bonuses. I have to be careful not to let those get too high, because an unlucky 20% silver shuriken hit Soleil. It wasn't too bad, just one attack, and she'll be back to normal in a couple of turns. But still, that could've gotten ugly if those guys had seal abilities. She's only just barely able to double on the west side thanks to having Camilla instead of Selena as her partner and thus not getting pair-up speed.

Alright. The ninja guarding the destructible wall on the west side is refusing to move. I think because the automatons are covering him. So what I need to do is have Effie kill the master ninja in one shot because she can fucking do that, have someone else break the wall at melee range, and then have Soleil rush into the room standing one past the broken wall and melee the lower automaton (risking a saw hit, but she'll have to manage). That'll mean everyone will be taken out on enemy phase (or at least greatly wounded) and then the remaining automaton will be no issue.

And Effie just got movement +1! Sweeeeet! A nine move unit! And hell, we can get a ten move unit if we want, if we use pair-ups!

Yep! The chamber of lunging has been breached! Time to move forward with my plan to take out the east side, and also kill Saizo.

Since the worst of the west side has been dealt with, I'm also gonna try and send some more units to the east. I've mostly just been soloing it with the real Soleil supported by Selena, but now I'm seeing that I can probably do with some more units on the east side. No problem, I'm only 10 turns in, and it's not like either Ryoma or Dakota are gonna be in immediate danger when we hit turn 20.

...Weird. I would've thought the lunge automaton would have gone first, but it didn't. It actually went second to last, despite having a guaranteed opportunity to nerf Soleil's defense. I guess ninja nerfing took priority? But at any rate, that means I have to wait for Soleil to get her defense back in a few turns. Thankfully, as I said, I'm in no serious rush. Dakota and Ryoma can handle each other.

Saizo procced aegis twice against Mozu's crescent bow, but I made sure that even if that happened, she'd still kill with a dual strike. Camilla helped.

Alright, now that the entire west side has been cleared, I can afford to send literally my entire army to the east. I'm pretty sure I'm still gonna enemy-phase it with Soleil, but this does give me more options if I notice something last-minute.

Man, here's the thing about “Thorn in You”. A while back, I tried, for the “fun” of it, to imagine lyrics for it. I like doing that with certain songs, which my readers might remember from the Dark Emperor Hardin lyrics I wrote in the FE12 playlog, and any Dakota's War Journal readers might have gotten from the fact that I wrote lyrics to Dusk Falls. I never finished the lyrics for Thorn in You (frankly I barely even started them), but I'm still hearing the bits and pieces I did come up with every time those parts of the song come up. And even though the emotional narrative of this game is complete and total horseshit... it's still such a great song that I find myself nearly crying anyway.

Okay, the Dakota-Ryoma duel's starting just as I've fully prepared to take on the eastern hall of death, and here's another example of one of the few things this game doesn't telegraph. It doesn't tell you how the damage reduction on the dueling floor works. There is in fact no way to know it does reduce damage, or that Ryoma won't attack right away, until well after you've finished preparation, which can be annoying.

But yeah, I just put my plan into action. Both side chamber spy shuriken users have been frozen in place, the master of arms at the front of the hallway was taken out by Xander, and then Soleil/Selena rushed in to take out the remaining one while standing on an avoid tile. These guys aren't going to be able to touch her at all, and the post-battle damage dangers have been completely negated.

...One of the silver shuriken master ninja managed to score a 5% hit on Soleil. Thankfully she can still double and kill, but that was... unexpected and actually kinda terrifying for a moment.

Alright, after breaching the hall of death with Soleil, I had my entire army (or as much as I could get through the hallway, which was mostly my fliers) take out the remaining enemies in the side chambers. This guy in front of me has a great club, but Soleil has full HP and also a dual guard.

A bit later than I would've liked, but I just got Forrest to level 15, so he now has inspiration. So he can now supply +2 atk and +4 def to anyone in two spaces of him between that, demoiselle and gentilhomme, which will be pretty handy for some of the stuff to come.

I just took out Kagero. I only had one unit who could reach far enough into the room to kill the furthest enemies, and that was Effie. And she'd have to end her turn in range of the stationary Kagero in order to reach. So I killed Kagero, knowing the remaining spy shuriken ninja isn't exactly much of a threat when all his friends are dead.

And I got the 10,000 gold! Man, freeze staves really make this more manageable (though still scary). I can't believe I keep managing to forget they exist.

Now that the doors to Ryoma's chamber are open, Dakota's gonna step out to lure Ryoma out to where he can be seriously hurt. I've done the numbers, Ryoma can't kill him. Especially now that she has a dual guard partner boosting her defense again.

...Oh shit. Actually I might have done the numbers wrong. Dakota might have actually lost there if Ryoma had used astra instead of rend heaven and had gotten really, really lucky with his hits.

But no matter, that's a lesson to apply next time. Time to put Ophelia in melee range of him for heartseeker and then blast him with the crescent bow, because Ryoma's avoid is so amazing that Mozu actually needs help guaranteeing hits.

...Victory.

The rest you'll know if you've played this game before. Ryoma commits sudoku to keep Dakota from blowing her cover by refusing to kill him, just like what happened at Notre Sagesse, and just like that time, Garon apparently doesn't leap at the excuse to say Dakota failed her orders, Garon goes “Mwahahahaha!” while his face is still in his standard mode of “lethally unamused and grumpy”, and I am baked ten thousand degrees beyond apathy for this story by now. I've got like 20 minutes to finish this and proofread before posting. I'm done.

Tomorrow we'll take on Chapter 26 probably.

Stay safe, everyone.

Edited by Alastor15243
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Its really a missed opportunity that Forrest and Elise don't have a support chain together. They get along famously and Elise being so accepting of Forrest reflects very well on her. The two could have a very wholesome support chain about just being the best of friends. Actually its a mistake in general that second gens can't support with the older characters because Elise and Forrest aren't the only bits of wasted potential. Camilla seems the type to dote on Siegbert and he seems like the type to be mortified about it all. As a rule the second gen royals could easily latch on the retainers of their fathers. Kiragi and Hinata especially would be like birds of a feather. 

Despite Forrest playing the damsel in distress, being deinty, pure and wholesome I like that he's still depicted as someone who's got some steel on him. Even when kidnapped he seems more vexed than scared and after being saved remains very aggressive towards Leo for mistreating him. He doesn't let his wacky retainers walk all over him either but pulls them back in line when they misbehaved, and he even acts as the leading figure in the DLC for a bit. It adds some nuance to Forrest. They could easily have depicted him as a total wimp due to his looks, or as a joke character but instead he's very strong willed and forceful. In a game that far too often ditches nuance it favor of archetypes Forrest is a welcome surprise. 

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13 minutes ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Its really a missed opportunity that Forrest and Elise don't have a support chain together. They get along famously and Elise being so accepting of Forrest reflects very well on her. The two could have a very wholesome support chain about just being the best of friends. Actually its a mistake in general that second gens can't support with the older characters because Elise and Forrest aren't the only bits of wasted potential. Camilla seems the type to dote on Siegbert and he seems like the type to be mortified about it all. As a rule the second gen royals could easily latch on the retainers of their fathers. Kiragi and Hinata especially would be like birds of a feather. 

Yeah I remember discussing this before I think, in Birthright, specifically how it would be cool to see how Saizo reacts to Shiro.

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8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

...It's still gonna be dicey. Man, I would be very impressed to see the purely player-phase gambits that could pierce through this array of insane enemies. The game's specifically designed so that you don't have access to 3-range weapons until right after this map, meaning that if you enemy-phase this, you have to be able to do it after taking a minimum of 80% of your HP in after-battle damage.

This isn't quite what you are asking about, as there were a few sections where I buffed Niles enough to enemy phase some Ninja, but this is from the write-up I did of my no guard stance on the defense (so a paired up unit being in range of an enemy on enemy phase was a reset worth offense), with only 10 units deployed, and none of the prepromoted royals allowed run, no reward/bonus items (technically no forges too, but less as a rule, and more because I didn't bother with them). For a little extra context the ten units were Corrin M (Nohrian Noble), Felicia (Maid), Elise (Strategist), Silas (Paladin), Effie (Great Knight), Niles (Bow Knight), Azura (Songstress), Ophelia (Sorceress), Beruka (Wyvern Lord), and Peri (Great Knight). Only reclassing was Corrin was in Kinshi long enough to get air superiority, and Beruka was in Berserker long enough to get rally strength.

Spoiler

Chapter 25- This one is a bit too tricky to split my forces like the last couple maps. I started by working on Kagero's half, and found a way through far easier than I expected, Saizo's half took a bit longer to figure out, but with clever staff use it worked out. The key preps are a meal that adds +1 strength, +2 defense, and +2 speed to males, a defense tonic on Corrin just in case, a strength tonic on Niles to make ninja kills easier to setup, buying a few vulneraries to make sure Corrin stays healthy, and filling Azura's inventory with exotic staffs to be the faux convoy for this map. I start with Kagero's side as it was the first I figured out, and after clearing Saizo's half my attempts to use Camaraderie to make Corrin invincible ended up leaving my army just unpowered enough to fail the Kagero's half, and it showed it to be a little dicier in a few places.  I start by having Niles lure the ninjas from the second room on Kagero's route (as the man-at-arms and ninjas in the first are more reluctant to act), and spend a few turns luring out and killing them until he starts baiting the ninjas from the back of the first room, that finally convinces them to move and attack people that are in their ranges. After finishing them I must face the corridor of death, and my first step is to rile up the troops clogging up the corridor by using Effie's Armored blow to chip one without taking damage, shelter her with Peri and dance them with Azura  (and then use more shelter dancer shenanigans to get her out of Spy shuriken range), and separate Effie and Peri in such a way that they choke the furthest point Effie can, while Peri equips a sword and lures the further out sword catcher man-at-arms to convince the ninja to use its spy shuriken to get his effective attack stance on Peri instead of wrecking Effie with his doubling silver shuriken. After dealing with these I need to lure the spy shurikens from the two rooms into spaces they can be killed, and Nile's shuriken breaker is the way to go. The western one requires a lot of defensive boosts to prevent the Great club wielding man-at-arms frequent attack stance crits, but after luring one individually to the right place, Niles can one round it and be sheltered and danced to safety and healed up to lure the other side. After the spy shuriken are dealt with I break the eastern wall (and dance them to keep from being attacked from the other room and get more power into the eastern room) but there is enough difficulty reaching and hittting that last ninja in the east that I have to take an enemy phase from it. After the east is dealt with the western room is easier to deal with due to the extra space in the eastern room to stage attacking troops in. After that Niles lures out the ninja's from Kagero's room and we steam roll the rest of that side and grab the gold. The long trek back to the center  gets me close to the 20 turn mark so during most of Saizo's half Corrin is dragon tanking Ryoma and chugging vulneraries whenever he has more than 10 lost health. The first step on Saizo's half is to enemy phase the three ninjas in the first room with Niles. Next turn I give Silas all the rallys, the dance boost, and station Elise on the stairs in the corner to help him tank the 2 ninja and 1 swordmaster just to the west of the door to the next room with a Javalin to chip as he will be double anyway after the first ninja debuff (and they always double him). If the enemy sets up their attack stances right he needs one aegis proc to live, but with 30 skill and how many shuriken hits he is taking I have never seen him fall here, but he is debuffed to point of incompetence.  After surviving that we wipe away this group on player phase. The next step is to wipe out the ninja in the western most corridor (and shelter them out of the lunge blender range) and entrap the further of the two lungers in that next room (with Ophelia pair-up and skill rally or dance boost Elise gets over 90% accuracy with the entrap), and wipe it out. Next I break the wall and use shelter and dancing stats to leave only Effie at the furthest point of the nearest lungers range, with only a Life and Death swordmaster's attack stance to worry about she should be fine, and both can be killed relatively safely. Next I use Calamity gate to lure the ninja with the room into a range battle and after they are dead I lure the two sword masters between that next room and Saizo's room into death range. The pair-up sword masters have yet to move, so I pump enough range attacks into them (plus one final melee attack stance) to finish them without entering the next lunging range (and then loot the chest). I then use another entrap to kill the nearest lunger and prepare for the final assault. With as many cavalry as I can station outside lunger range, and a freeze staff on the sword master for safty (and shelter Felicia with the still slightly debuffed Silas) I lure in the lunger with Niles, and the ninja do not bother to attack him, after that I just push enough cavalry into Saizos room to finish his 3 defenders and the lunger. Saizo falls easily just as Corrin is two uses into his second vulnerary. I end up using Beruka's dual club swordbreaker combo to deal with Ryoma, but Corrin still has to tank 2 hit after the floor changes before he falls.

 

 

8 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...Oh shit. Right. Freeze is a thing. I didn't even need to read what I actually did, just the shopping list that had freeze on it, and that was all it took to get my brain working properly. Yeah. I can't believe I keep forgetting freeze is a thing.

That feels like such a massive oversight for earlier parts of the playthrough, as that staff is such a life saver.

 

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5 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

That feels like such a massive oversight for earlier parts of the playthrough, as that staff is such a life saver.

The thing is I have used it before, extensively actually, but at some point after losing Elise I just stopped thinking about it as much.

Also, the biggest shock from that writeup you posted is the "only reclassing twice" thing. Why? If I were in that kind of challenge run I'd be trying to give my guys as many powerful skills as I could.

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11 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Also, the biggest shock from that writeup you posted is the "only reclassing twice" thing. Why? If I were in that kind of challenge run I'd be trying to give my guys as many powerful skills as I could.

A small part of it is just a personal preference to play units in their base class. A big part of it was that I was getting the skills I felt I really needed already (sorta, my original plan for Corrin's talent was to grab speed rally, but I ended up changing the plans a little as things developed, which I did not regret), And the opportunity cost of reclassing is higher with lower deployment. A lot of times reclassing is making a unit temporarily weaker (or at least changing up their role that then has to be filled in other ways) for future benefit, and a lot of the skills that might be worth it tend to be level 15 promoted skills, the issue there is by the time you can get your first level 15 promoted skills (without a lot of paralogue grinding, or early promotion) is around Takumi's wall (maybe at the end of Sakura's map if you are really focusing), and the chapters that late into the game are difficult enough that I felt I needed my units at their best.The reclasses I did have targeted the level 5 promoted skill I wanted at highest, and I worked towards mitigating that opportunity cost. Beruka switched over to a class that let her use her axe rank, and at a time when her low speed (she was a few points below her averages) was really holding her back (as the switch over gave her +3 speed while in that class), while Corrin switched over when flyer utility was at a premium, and with the opportunity to pick up a few effective damage strikes for exp (was kinshi for Fuga's wild ride, and the endless staircase, although he did have to grab a little extra exp in Sakura's chapter to grab that last skill, even though he switched over with exp in the high 90s to effectively need one less level-up in this otherwise far weaker class). This is all before considering the financial cost of buying a lot of seals, as the money I saved there let me buy up some expensive beneficial things like brave weapons to get the most out of my attack stances, effective weapons, blessed weapons (to help with the eternal staircase and my path to vengeance against Hans and Iago and a little on the final chapter as well), and expensive staff like all the entraps, and getting a full suite of tonics for endgame. I ended with about 1k gold in the bank, now admittedly I could have sold the Augilmyr and scrapped together a little more from redundant equipment, but I couldn't afford too much extra reclassing with the equipment I bought.

In retrospect reclassing Felicia a little more would have been more beneficial, for some early Inspiration for instance, but beyond that I would be hard pressed to think of more reclassing that fells worth the cost with those restrictions, and that team. Maybe I could have pulled off Elise as Maligknight late into the game for trample, especially if I got Inspiration early on Felicia, but it would force me to have lower odds with the vital late game entrap uses, which could easily add a few late into the map resets, and her being able to reach such a high staff avoid in Strategist really saved my butt against Azama in Hinoka's chapter, and as Maligknight it would not be as high.

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7 hours ago, Icelerate said:

I think I've seen Conquest forever, which LP was the longest you've done? 

Radiant Dawn I'm pretty sure was the longest before now, at 45 days. This comes really close to beating it thanks to all the paralogues and the handful of days I couldn't finish a whole chapter, but I don't think it'll make it that far.

6 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

And the opportunity cost of reclassing is higher with lower deployment. A lot of times reclassing is making a unit temporarily weaker (or at least changing up their role that then has to be filled in other ways) for future benefit, and a lot of the skills that might be worth it tend to be level 15 promoted skills, the issue there is by the time you can get your first level 15 promoted skills (without a lot of paralogue grinding, or early promotion) is around Takumi's wall (maybe at the end of Sakura's map if you are really focusing), and the chapters that late into the game are difficult enough that I felt I needed my units at their best.

Fair point, though personally, given that the stuff after Takumi's wall is even harder, I think you could still make the case that it would've been worth it, especially since you weren't ironmanning and thus had unlimited retries to get it right.

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Okay, the Dakota-Ryoma duel's starting just as I've fully prepared to take on the eastern hall of death, and here's another example of one of the few things this game doesn't telegraph. It doesn't tell you how the damage reduction on the dueling floor works. There is in fact no way to know it does reduce damage, or that Ryoma won't attack right away, until well after you've finished preparation, which can be annoying.

 

Yeah, I despite this chapter with great vitriol for precisely this reason. Because on my first playthrough of the game after well over an hour of resets trying to crawl through both sides of the level, I finally managed to take out Saizo and Kagero only for Ryoma to immediatly proc Astra and kill Corrin in one shot. Just fuck everything about that. Super pissy unfair to make something safe in one turn and then suddenly remove that safety without warning in what is meant to be the path of victory. Now I just muder Ryoma on the first handful of turns because that's way, way, way easier than dealing with the level.

Quote

 

...Oh shit. Actually I might have done the numbers wrong. Dakota might have actually lost there if Ryoma had used astra instead of rend heaven and had gotten really, really lucky with his hits.

 

Yeah -_- yeah that's exactly what happened to me.

Quote

The rest you'll know if you've played this game before. Ryoma commits sudoku to keep Dakota from blowing her cover by refusing to kill him, just like what happened at Notre Sagesse, and just like that time, Garon apparently doesn't leap at the excuse to say Dakota failed her orders, Garon goes “Mwahahahaha!” while his face is still in his standard mode of “lethally unamused and grumpy”, and I am baked ten thousand degrees beyond apathy for this story by now. I've got like 20 minutes to finish this and proofread before posting. I'm done.

 

I notice know commentary on the hilarious level of gameplay story segeregation at the start of the map with Ryoma pissed and fully ready to kill Corrin, only to shift over to a message saying he's going to be patient about it.

15 hours ago, Etrurian emperor said:

Despite Forrest playing the damsel in distress, being deinty, pure and wholesome I like that he's still depicted as someone who's got some steel on him. Even when kidnapped he seems more vexed than scared and after being saved remains very aggressive towards Leo for mistreating him. He doesn't let his wacky retainers walk all over him either but pulls them back in line when they misbehaved, and he even acts as the leading figure in the DLC for a bit. It adds some nuance to Forrest. They could easily have depicted him as a total wimp due to his looks, or as a joke character but instead he's very strong willed and forceful. In a game that far too often ditches nuance it favor of archetypes Forrest is a welcome surprise. 

Yeah I actually like Forrest a lot for that reason. Despite everything about it he doesn't come across, in fear of sounding sexist, as girly. Honestly much of the second gen cast are actually pretty decent characters. It's a bit of a shame that they're shackled to this story that implements them so horrendously.

On that note. I request Alastor plays Heires of Fate.

Edited by Jotari
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