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

[Alastor15243]

19 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

If you want a little more blind, then obviously don't look any combination of the: recruitment, growths, item location, and hints and secrets pages. Or others you'd think that tell you too much. Sure you don't have the maps themselves listed, but you still have a good deal of info, restrict yourself if you feel you need to.

Nah. I think I draw the line at not having access to growth rates or other basic SF info. I get that that is never in-game knowledge, but I've been using this info for all the other games, so that hardly seems fair to the games that came before it in the marathon.

Anyway... I solved the formatting problem! Turns out that I can use my word program to add bold and italics and stuff and paste that in, and it won't change the font as long as I don't touch the font in the original document. Never once changing anything about font or type size even once. Which means I can't copy-paste stuff from elsewhere into the document, and if I want to, say, quote stuff from the game, I have to type it in by hand. But hey, a small price to pay to be able to emphasize things without looking like a 13 year old with a keyboard!

 

Thracia Day 1: Chapter 1

Alright boys and girls, let's do this. Thracia 776. One of the most infamously difficult games in the series, the hard mode before hard modes were even a thing. The filling of the gaping hole in the middle of the tale of my favorite little rescue bot, Leif.

Booting up now.

Here.

We.

Go.

 

 

 

Alright, watching the intro. The coolest thing about this is that from what I've heard, the translation didn't touch this at all. Or if it did, it barely matters. This introductory text was all in English in the original game, and just as well-spoken and coherent. Which is frankly amazing given what we usually get in that regard.

...So... Connaught was originally an ally of Leonster that betrayed them in a crucial moment. I'm getting serious Gra vibes there. But hey, getting betrayed by your allies isn't something that Shadow Dragon has to have a monopoly on. Proceed, Thracia.

Honestly, I love this text crawl intro. It's simple, but it works so well at setting the tone, and frankly I'm pumped.

And now we're at the title screen. But before we begin... let's see if this game has a class montage!

...It does not. It does, however, have a bunch of story scenes told in-engine through sprite movement and text windows. There's a scene of Finn rescuing someone in the rain from a bunch of dracoknights, a scene of Orsin and Halvan training...

...Oooh! Using a torch has an actual animation in this game! Cool! Wholly unnecessary, but cool!

I think I just saw Olwen using Dire Thunder, and holy shit is the map animation awesome. The spell just comes straight down from the sky, from the top of the screen all the way down, in a massive pillar of lightning.

I personally don't see the need for these talk scenes in the intro. They feel like stuff that I'm going to see in the first chapter anyway, and they aren't exactly riveting things to see accompanied with the Fire Emblem theme.

Especially since apparently that was most of what it showed before it went back to the intro. Kind of disappointing. I honestly wished it was all combat scenes and map scenes. But oh well, let's get playing already!

I'm really digging the new art style here. This feels like the same kind of art style we're going to get from now until Shadow Dragon, and I've always had a fondness for it.

...That said, I notice that not all sprites are facing slightly to the side as per FE standard. Nanna is staring almost straight at the viewer with these wide, almost creepy eyes, and it's a little jarring.

Alright, so, as these two bad guys talk, we learn a bit about the backstory. Judging by the official timeline, the Yied massacre takes place 15 years before this game. 10 Years before this game, Eyvel comes into the picture.

...Given that I know who Eyvel really is due to looking at the wiki too much with regards to Genealogy, this gives Briggid five years to escape the tragedy of Belhalla, give birth at least once, leave the resulting children behind to do something important (I think find their father), lose her memory, take the name Eyvel, become a master swordswoman capable of wiping the floor with an entire village's pirate infestation, then proceed to actually wipe said floor with said pirate infestation.

It's... a bit of a tight squeeze, but I can see it happening if mapped out responsibly. Especially if Briggid already was trained in the sword as a pirate, though that's kind of doubtful (I mean there were some sword fighters among those pirates, tough that wouldn't explain why she can't use swords in Genealogy).

And Raydrik is apparently so badass that he can capture two characters at once. Impressive, though from what I've seen from him secondhand (mostly in Awakening) I'm guessing he's more of a starter villain and a bit of a stooge. At best he's a puppet to the real bad guys.

What I find amusing about Orsin, one of our starting recruits and one of the two that are friendly axe fighters, is that he looks like a bandit who's been injected with juuuuuuust enough pretty-juice to be passable as a recruitable protagonist. Just a few more scars or just a slightly more weirdly-shaped nose and he wouldn't look out of place as a generic bandit.

Aaaaaaand we begin. And so too begins the awesome music with a really weird name: “Leif Army ~ In Search of Victory ~ Base”. I really like this song, and I'm not sure why. I just love the chord progressions and rhythm, and the sort of subdued hopefulness of it. It's a pretty great start-of-journey map theme.

But yeah, I love Orsin and Halvan. Orsin slightly more, but it hardly matters, they're my favorite axe fighters in the whole goddamned franchise. I'm not a huge fan of the “massive hulking Schwarzenegger” interpretation of axe users. The more slim, athletic, agile “mercenaries with axes” interpretation here is a lot cooler in my opinion. Especially since it means they get combat animations resembling FE4 swordfighters, which, if you'll remember, are amazing.

They're also (if just barely in Halvan's case) capable of doubling these soldiers, which is quite a handy thing to be able to do at base. Leif, unfortunately, does not have that luxury. So I'll have to be training him up a good deal.

Actually, basically everyone in my army, except for Leif, is capable of one-rounding these lance users. Which is a problem, because that makes it a lot harder to bait them in to steal their stuff with the new capture system!

I frankly love this idea, though I think the formula is... pretty wonky. A mandatory halving of all stats when trying to capture someone just doesn't sound like it'll scale well towards the end of the game. Brave weapons, from what I've heard, are eventually practically mandatory to reliably capture anyone, and it's apparently one of Finn's most consistently reliable uses, between his mounted automatic constitution (build) of 20 and his brave lance.

Now, if I remember correctly, this house down here is for Orsin, to let him pick up his infamous Pugi. Which, while cool, always seemed like a bit of a waste for him. I mean I'm sure it also has great stats for a hand axe ish weapon, but since hand axes are generally used to counterattack, a hand axe with a 30% crit rate isn't exactly relevant when all of your counterattacks are critical hits.

Which Orsin's are. Because that's what Wrath does in this game.

Yep, instead of making you always crit at low health, in this game you always crit on counterattack, which... is insane. Fucking mad. But in fairness, Halvan's Vantage is also pretty awesome, especially in conjunction with the brave axe he's getting this chapter. Vantage doesn't need low health either, it just works all the time. They don't stack though. Vantage's skill description at least, if not Wrath's, is very clear about that.

Anyway, I capture my first enemy after baiting him in with Leif and Finn, and now Finn has a disposable lance to use on horseback instead of his absurdly valuable brave lance. And given that I have only one lance user, and no enemies with swords or axes, I'm pretty much exclusively stealing shit for Finn here.

Looks like only the first counterattack is a critical. Orsin whiffed his first one on his way to get the Pugi, and the second one was a normal hit, which thankfully means I can try to capture him and take his javelin for Finn. I'm gonna want to try and get as many of those as I can.

And now who should show up but three more allies!

We've got Tanya the archer, Dagdar the warrior, and Marty the brigand.

Tanya's okay as far as archers go, but pretty fragile and also, y'know, an archer. Dagar's a prepromote with some reasonably impressive bases for this point in the game, but basically no room to grow without crusader scrolls. He does, however, have a very impressive skill: Accost. Now, this was in Genealogy, of course, but in this game it's way better, because it's got a 100% activation rate (probably not indefinitely but at least once) as long as you have both more HP and more AS than your target. If only he had more speed, that would be insanely useful for capturing. However, it's still insanely useful now.

Marty is... a joke. At least at the moment. It is technically feasible to get him up to speed if you abuse the hell out of crusader scrolls (this game's version of star shards), but it hardly seems worth it. This guy is the only guy in the entire series who I've seen start with a 0 in speed or skill, and he has 0 in both. He has great HP, luck, defense and build growth rates, but everything else is hot garbage. I really have no desire to use the guy. I don't like his bases, I don't like his growths, I don't like his appearance, I don't like his class, and I don't like his personality.

Unfortunately, Orsin's wounded quarry refuses to be taken alive, and dodges both of his attempts to finish him off with capture attacks. This soldier will die on enemy phase, that's almost certain.

Yep, he dies. Unfortunately I accidentally ended my turn prematurely due to fumbling with the controls. I pressed R and then A, and suddenly my turn was over. I could have sworn “end turn” wasn't at the top of that menu...

Still, no harm, there wasn't much left I was going to do. In fact, leaving Dagdar in range of those archers will be useful, to test if they'll move away from guarding the houses. It would be weird to leave archers to stay put guarding houses, but then... y'know... this is a weird game, and I haven't gotten a feel for its AI yet.

Tanya unfortunately crits the javelin soldier, meaning we miss a SECOND chance to get a javelin. Fortunately, there will be others in a few turns.

Alright, I got the Pugi, or... the Bhuj... and yeah, I see why this thing is so beloved. It's the most accurate axe in the entire game, judging by SF's info, and it blows hand axes out of the water entirely. Still, Orsin's gonna have to get used to using hand axes once we get them, because he's saving this baby for emergencies. Especially since right now, we're trying to capture enemies for supplies, not kill them.

Curiously, I also noticed there isn't a single A rank axe in the entire game. The master axe is inexplicably a B rank, despite the master lance, master bow and master sword (or Meisterschwerz, as Heroes calls it) being A rank. Either SF is wrong, or this game is just being weird. Less weird than Genealogy, but still weird.

Speaking of axes, I take advantage of this game's extremely generous trading system to have Marty trade his steel axe for Dagdar's hand axe, then trade that hand axe for Halvan's nothing, because he's going to spend the whole chapter sitting in a corner. And then after that, he's going to be spending the downtime doing lines:

“I will not skip leg day.”

Meanwhile Orsin is working to rejoin my group by running through the forest towards the eastern gate, since if he just doubles back he's not likely to catch up in time.

Oooh! So that's what went on! I'm positive I hadn't moved Dagdar and Marty yet when it happened, so maybe this glitched out, but when you press R to cycle through units and everyone's already gone, it just brings up the menu with the cursor automatically on “end”.

Shit. My efforts to take the house archer's vulnerary for myself have met in minor failure, as he used one of its three doses to fully heal himself after Dagdar failed to capture him. Fuck. We don't have a healer yet. I need that vulnerary!

Aaaaaaaand Tanya almost died. It seems like in this game, just like with certain others, enemies that don't initially move can start moving after arbitrary-seeming flags are triggered. I had put Tanya in range of a javelin user guarding a house, thinking he wouldn't move like all the others, but then when I aggro'd the other nearby soldiers, I aggro'd him too. Thankfully despite having a kill shot on Tanya, he went for Leif. That... that could be very useful information for the future.

...Oops, maybe not all that useful. This javelin soldier doesn't have the same attack power as the previous one, and wouldn't have killed Tanya. Also good to know, but this crushes my hopes of AI abuse. For now.

Shit. I should have checked the terrain more carefully. I just sent Orsin to a dead end. Less than a quarter of the tile actually looks like it, so it tricked my eyes into thinking it was a plain tile, but the path to the eastern gate isn't accessible because it's blocked by a peak tile. Fuck. Now Orsin's gonna have to spend a lot of time catching up.

On the plus side, Finn has a javelin now! Good. He will need more.

Actually, Marty's managed to make himself pretty useful by being a trading bot, and by being bulky enough to be able to reliably “fleece and release” everyone I capture.

Also, I like how this game makes it clear that, contrary to FE4, rings have to be USED in order to get the (permanent) bonuses. Hmmm... who to use this HP ring on... I have to think carefully. HP doesn't just determine bulk. It also determines stamina once fatigue comes into play. Well, no rush to use it now. Let's keep going.

Alright, so, Halvan's talking to his little sister about the brave axe she found, and apparently she got it the exact same way Lex did, except this time without even having an iron axe to drop. Curious. Also, for some reason, the brave axe uses the sprite that used to belong to the hand axe in Genalogy.

...And the hand axe looks an awful lot like the GBA iron axe.

...And the iron axe looks an awful lot like the GBA silver axe.

I seem to remember there being some big incentive to capture the boss, but the only way I can see to do that is to take a chance with Dagdar, so... sure. But first I soften him up with Leif using his light brand. I kind of have to, because in this game, castle bonuses are utterly psychotic. +10 defense. Literally only Dagdar's hammer can do more than scratch him. Physically at least. Magic can hurt him just fine, because the boss only has one magic (magic is both magic power and magic defense in this game, like special in Gen 1 Pokemon). Leif misses the attack, but gets a movement star activation and moves again! Woo! Pity missing with the light brand expended one of its precious uses, but this is the kind of situation that calls for it. I have a feeling that movement stars are going to be weird. A very low percentage chance to move again seems... well it's a pretty bizarre system, but obviously I'm going to be grateful when it happens.

After attempt number two, success! Man, not needing 4 more AS to double enemies thanks to Accost is really useful when capturing. Pity Dagdar's not going to have more AS than the enemy for long.

Anyway, I take the boss's longsword and finish the map without releasing him (I remember that being important for this a lot of the time).

This whole “Little Leif” thing in the conversations... were they really calling him “Leif-chan” in the Japanese version like that implies?

Anyway, looks like capturing the boss didn't matter. Nothing referencing him happened at the end of chapter cutscene.

And with that... I'm done for today! Wow, it's so nice to be able to break the game I'm playing down into manageable, definitive pieces again. I can already tell this isn't going to be exhausting like FE4 Gen 1 was.

...Assuming I don't find myself having to repeat chapters multiple times.

My initial thoughts: pretty good! Nothing too complicated at the moment, but that's the be expected. However, I am a little concerned at how much the capture system made me want to capture as many units as I could. This could cause some grief for the obsessive perfectionist in me, like how I obsessively tried to feed as many kills as I could to people who had star shards in FE3 Book 2. As a matter of fact, since this game has the crusader scrolls... that could be similarly annoying. But I imagine I'll get used to it eventually.

[Interdimensional Observer]

9 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Curiously, I also noticed there isn't a single A rank axe in the entire game. The master axe is inexplicably a B rank, despite the master lance, master bow and master sword (or Meisterschwerz, as Heroes calls it) being A rank. Either SF is wrong, or this game is just being weird. Less weird than Genealogy, but still weird.

Steel Axes in FEs 6-9 were E rank, why I do not know. Some way to "improve" early Fighters via making them more powerful? Maybe FE is suggesting that Axes require less knowhow to use? I'd think Lances would be the easiest things though.

 

16 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

...And the hand axe looks an awful lot like the GBA iron axe.

...And the iron axe looks an awful lot like the GBA silver axe.

And the Thracia Brave Axe became the GBA Iron Axe. And the Hammers are identical.

Not a lot, but some recycling of old spritework began here it seems. The sprites look good, so I didn't mind it.

 

14 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

As a matter of fact, since this game has the crusader scrolls... that could be similarly annoying. But I imagine I'll get used to it eventually.

Considering the Crit formula is Skl = Crit in this game, but Crit Evade = Lck/2, and that scrolls mitigate all enemy Crit barring Wrath, you might prefer spreading at least a few out. Random low critblicks are unfun.

[Alastor15243]

3 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Considering the Crit formula is Skl = Crit in this game, but Crit Evade = Lck/2, and that scrolls mitigate all enemy Crit barring Wrath, you might prefer spreading at least a few out. Random low critblicks are unfun.

Ooooooooh. I'm almost relieved to know that's a thing. Alright, one crusader scroll per person then!

[Espurrhoodie]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Marty is... a joke. At least at the moment. It is technically feasible to get him up to speed if you abuse the hell out of crusader scrolls (this game's version of star shards), but it hardly seems worth it. This guy is the only guy in the entire series who I've seen start with a 0 in speed or skill, and he has 0 in both. He has great HP, luck, defense and build growth rates, but everything else is hot garbage. I really have no desire to use the guy. I don't like his bases, I don't like his growths, I don't like his appearance, I don't like his class, and I don't like his personality.

The only thing I know about Marty is (aside from him being a bigger disappointment than The Last Airbender [were people even looking forward to that movie? I couldn't think of anything else that was a big disappointment]) his ending title in the old Thracia patch being "Marty: The Man Whom Dagdar Loved".

[Eltosian Kadath]

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 A mandatory halving of all stats when trying to capture someone just doesn't sound like it'll scale well towards the end of the game.

The penalty is the same as the one applied when you are carrying a captive. As for scaling it usually means you need to chip enemies down before you can go for the capture latter in the game.

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Actually, Marty's managed to make himself pretty useful by being a trading bot, and by being bulky enough to be able to reliably “fleece and release” everyone I capture.

Unless you are memeing that is by far his best use.

 

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

Anyway, looks like capturing the boss didn't matter. Nothing referencing him happened at the end of chapter cutscene.

At the end of some chapters there will extra dialogue because you captured a boss, but it is kinda rare. Also bosses have unique release quotes if you capture and release them instead of killing them. Plus you might notice capture requirements in some of the SF information pages.

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

However, I am a little concerned at how much the capture system made me want to capture as many units as I could.

Early on, that is not the worst mindset to have, but hopefully you hit a point where you save capture for the quality equipment, or weapons you actually need.

 

3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Considering the Crit formula is Skl = Crit in this game, but Crit Evade = Lck/2, and that scrolls mitigate all enemy Crit barring Wrath, you might prefer spreading at least a few out. Random low critblicks are unfun.

There is also the "support" bonus that can bump up that crit avoid, but figuring out who supports who is a lot of guesswork without looking it up.

[Alastor15243]

6 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The penalty is the same as the one applied when you are carrying a captive.

Wait, holding a captive also halves all of your stats? I didn't actually check, I assumed it just halved skill and speed like normal.

[Alastor15243]

Thracia Day 2: Chapter 2

Okay, I've heard “Ys” used as a location name by so many different Japanese properties that I'm assuming it has to be an actual name for something, real or mythological.

...Yep! It's apparently a French Atlantis-like mythical city that was said to have been built on the coast of the sea, with dikes keeping the ocean from swallowing it whole.

...You'll note I said “Atlantis-like”. So, naturally... that doesn't save them in the end, due to the hubris of man.

...Well, mostly the hubris of a woman apparently, but I digress.

Oooh! This guy! This priest-looking guy! Yeah, I got the impression from the original translation that he was a bad guy who was just jumping ship and opportunistically siding with Leif when things started going wrong, so I was utterly shocked that he became a Malledus-like figure shortly after he joined. It took me a while to realize that wasn't the game writing him as an opportunistic bastard, and that I really was supposed to see him as a good guy. Let's see if that was a horrible mistranslation...

...Nope... he's still coming across as an opportunistic asshole, if slightly more principled than the bandits he was teaming up with. I wonder how he's gonna be written when he teams up with Leif. In the old translation, the second he joined Leif, I remember his demeanor suddenly changing rapidly in a way that I felt had to be fake.

Anyway, the only characters I have in range of enemies or villages at the moment are Finn, Dagdar and Eyvel, so I have Dagdar take the first village (getting another precious vulnerary) and have Finn race off to the northern village. One thing I find annoying is that there's no clear signposting as to which bandit enemies will go after the villages and which won't.

Meanwhile Orsin finally manages to get in on the action after missing out on basically all of last chapter, by positioning himself to obliterate one of the nearby bandits on enemy phase.

That's funny... one of the pirates in the sea (the ones I have to assume are going to be doing the actual village-razing) just spends his turn doing nothing. I guess wonky turn order meant he couldn't go where he was programmed to go because his friend was in the way, perhaps?

Oh wow, that's a rather nasty downside to having Accost as a skill. You have to make sure that you put it exclusively on player phase units if you're handing it out with skill manuals (a thing in this game), because even if it doesn't benefit you at all, it still activates as long as you're faster and healthier than your opponent. So... if you're a melee fighter and your opponent attacks you at range, they basically get an automatic brave attack on you until you get to low health.

And now after some clever capturing, both Orsin and Halvan have hand axes! Good. I am really not in the mood to start using the Bhuj yet, especially since missed attacks with thrown weapons still consume uses apparently. I hate that name, by the way. I realize Pugi sounds pretty goofy, but Bhuj sounds even worse if I'm pronouncing it right, and it doesn't even have that punchy “P” sound to make it at least sound strong. Now it sounds like “douche” but with even softer consonants on either end of it.

Also, Eyvel starting out the game with a level up in movement at base... is nuts. An 8 move foot soldier is absolutely crazy. I hate how I can't get used to that, because I'm gonna lose her eventually. Gotta make sure to dump her equipment before then, because she's got some good shit.

Aaaaaaand this game has ambush spawns. Of course it does. Why wouldn't it? So far they aren't placed in obnoxious or obvious points however, or even places where they can even reach spots my units can go.

...I'm sure it'll get worse.

And now we've got Ronan, the archer with a 15% strength growth and a 55% magic growth. Now, since magic is also resistance, that isn't exactly useless (maybe that's why they did that? So that there wasn't a single useless stat on anyone's menu? But then strength is useless for mages, so...), but still, unless I give him the Noba scroll, he's basically useless. Pity, because he has 3 movement stars and some pretty good growths otherwise. If I use him and actually manage to get his damage output up, that 15% chance to take a second action every turn would probably get me out of a jam or two in my run. Assuming archers don't turn out to be total shit even in this player-phase-heavy game.

Funny enough, it just activated on his very first turn, when I didn't remotely need it.

I'm not a fan of the utterly neutered weapon triangle. What the fuck does it even matter anymore if it only makes a 10% difference between having an advantage and having a disadvantage? I realize a 20% bonus/penalty might be excessive, but cutting it down to FIVE? This is pretty much pointless.

Oh! Sweet! This translation calls “build” constitution, so I don't have to call that stat “build” anymore!

So, this map has been pretty fun! The reinforcements coming from all sides were a pretty fun challenge, and I managed to make decent bank with it, grabbing a lot of nice axes for my three axe users. This is a far cry from how combat went in Genealogy, where it wast just enemy phase cheesing all day. Here I find myself needing to attack with everyone for optimal results, and being able to because enemy units don't come in clumps of twelve.

The boss is way too tough to try to capture, especially since he's on a gate tile and is fast enough to double anyone who tries to capture him. So I'm probably going to just have Dagdar deal with the bastard.

Incidentally, in this game you can go to a store, not buy anything, leave the shop and cancel the move entirely like you're just changing a unit's equipment. Good to know browsing is a free action.

Turns out this guy is really tough. I had to come at him with basically everything I had, including finishing off with Finn using his brave lance, just to finish him off before he could kill anyone. Not having a healer and having to rely on self-healing can put you in some pretty interesting jams, and after realizing how much he healed from the gate, I found myself pressed for time and worried about wasting too many good weapon uses and vulnerary doses trying to kill him slowly and safely.

Alright, here comes the turncoat priest, apparently named Augustus. Let's see how this translation depicts him.

...Alright, so Leif's a little suspicious why a priest knows the way to the pirate isles. Here's hoping something comes of this. I don't remember anything coming of it last time though.

But yeah, I'm really liking this! I'm enjoying the choices I have to make, I'm enjoying the resource management with the highly fragile weapons I'm getting from enemies and having to stock up for a rainy day, and I love the map design so far! Despite having fun with Genealogy in the end, I can definitely say that this is a better-designed game so far. And the story isn't half bad either! Here's hoping things get even better!

Edited December 11, 2019 by Alastor15243

[Flere210]

Now that i think about it  Ronan would be fun as hell if echoes of Thracia would habe the shining bow.

[Alastor15243]

1 minute ago, Flere210 said:

Now that i think about it  Ronan would be fun as hell if echoes of Thracia would habe the shining bow.

It would be a brief moment of glory, like Mist with the sonic sword (though obviously Mist doesn't need that sword to make her magic stat useful), but yes, it would be glorious, and fun as hell.

[Interdimensional Observer]

44 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

I hate that name, by the way. I realize Pugi sounds pretty goofy, but Bhuj sounds even worse if I'm pronouncing it right, and it doesn't even have that punchy “P” sound to make it at least sound. Now it sounds like “douche” but with even softer consonants on either end of it.

And now Fire Emblem Heroes officially-ish declared it "Vouge" just a few days ago! The katakana for this weapon seems to have been tricky to get a firm read on.

Wikipedia however gives definitions for both of those words:

"The Bhuj is a type of knife or dagger from Sindh and Gujarat. It is commonly called an axe-knife, because the blade is fixed onto an axe-like haft.

 

"...A voulge thus looks something like a squashed bardiche, or just a meat cleaver attached to a long pole. ..."

 

 

49 minutes ago, Flere210 said:

Now that i think about it  Ronan would be fun as hell if echoes of Thracia would habe the shining bow.

Ronan is the Outlaw/Adventurer that came 9 games and 16 years too early.

[Eltosian Kadath]

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Oh wow, that's a rather nasty downside to having Accost as a skill. You have to make sure that you put it exclusively on player phase units if you're handing it out with skill manuals (a thing in this game), because even if it doesn't benefit you at all, it still activates as long as you're faster and healthier than your opponent. So... if you're a melee fighter and your opponent attacks you at range, they basically get an automatic brave attack on you until you get to low health.

And a valuable lesson about Thracia 776 was learned this day.

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

And now we've got Ronan, the archer with a 15% strength growth and a 55% magic growth. Now, since magic is also resistance, that isn't exactly useless (maybe that's why they did that? So that there wasn't a single useless stat on anyone's menu? But then strength is useless for mages, so...)

Ronan the magekiller rises... yeah he is kinda meme-y, but I have brought him to endgame for funsies.

[Jotari]

5 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

And a valuable lesson about Thracia 776 was learned this day.

Ronan the magekiller rises... yeah he is kinda meme-y, but I have brought him to endgame for funsies.

On the other hand Accost (or Charge) is quite useful for running through the durability of Ballistas as far as I recall. Unlike (all?) previous games, enemies have durability that actually dwindles here. So you can actually wait out ballistas. Getting smacked by two of them a turn makes it happen much quicker than one. Still a slow way to play, but sometimes Thracia covers itself so well there's little reliable choice other than the slow way.

Edited December 11, 2019 by Jotari

[Alastor15243]

Thracia Day 3: Chapter 2x

Alright then! It's been a super long day, but I'm finally ready to kick back and enjoy an hour or two of Thracia. If I remember correctly, this is the first fog of war map. Of the game, and of the series. And this game has a unique way of doing things that the other games decided not to do: they don't even let you see the terrain outside of your army's field of vision. This has a massive impact on the first playthrough, but honestly, with hindsight, it doesn't make that huge of a difference. But I wonder what I'll wind up thinking about it by the end of this game?

Hmm... Oh wow, this was a gaiden chapter? Curious. I didn't do the last one particularly quickly (I probably should from now on when I can), so I wonder what I accomplished to unlock it?

Curious that this game calls the dark dragon Loptous rather than Loptyr. I honestly prefer the latter, since it sounds less like an adjective, but apparently Loptous is the correct one?

...I think Lithis just tricked Saphy into agreeing to fuck him if he joins the army. I'm kind of confused about the swordsman guy though. He just had like one line, and I'm not sure of the context of why he's an enemy unit on this map as I remember him being. And also, I remember I'm not supposed to fight him, I'm supposed to just capture him and leave without releasing him. Thankfully, capturing the boss is going to be trivial because he has no weapons. Anyone with enough con can do it without even fighting him. Speaking of which, I really wanna see if I can train up this Lithis guy, especially if I can get him some con-boosting scrolls, because thieves in this game can just straight up steal items and weapons without having to go through all the sorry business of capturing.

Honestly, moving forward on this map is pretty fucking terrifying without torches, but the game seems reasonable enough to not just throw enemies at you as you advance. What isn't reasonable, however, is the combination of a ridiculously narrow bottleneck and slow terrain at my starting location, making it really annoying to get half of my army moving forward in a remotely timely manner.

So apparently the swordsman guy is Shiva. Yeah, now that I hear it, I recognize it. But yeah, it's pretty amusing how much of a piece of shit Lithis is. I almost find it kind of fun, the idea of Leif having to work with someone like that in order to survive.

Well this narrow bottleneck branched off pretty quickly. I've got my army split up handling the bandits coming from the other side of the cliffs, from both ends.

Oh, that's nice of the game. If you have Leif talk to Eyvel (not that the game tells you to do that, mind), she'll make sure Leif understands that we have to capture Lithis and not let him go.

Oh shit, wow! Eltosian, you weren't kidding! It's not just the act of capturing that cripples your stats, it's keeping them captured! And it's not just speed and skill, it's literally everything. Hell, due to the bulk difference not being wide enough, even Dagdar's move is cut in half! Gotta fleece-and-release this mook he's holding immediately.

So I wind up having Leif step straight into view of a fucking warrior, a promoted non-boss enemy just casually strewn along the enemy ranks out of nowhere, which... I mean seriously. Granted, he can't one-round Leif. They didn't even give him enough AS to be able to one-round anyone. But still, that's gonna be scary, and I need to get Dagdar over here immediately to take his shit. He's got the first torch, and I'll be damned if I miss a single one of those in this level.

Aaaannd if I had been doing this ironman, whether or not my run ended right here would have been left up to a roll of the dice. I tried to limit enemy facings by having Eyvel stand next to Leif, but the warrior has a bow, so Leif still had to face two attacks that combined would have killed him. Thankfully, both missed.

...I actually witnessed a 1% miss and a 6% hit in a row when Eyvel went to kill a pirate. She still killed, thankfully, due to a lucky crit. Especially since she has a PCC of one. That's Pursuit Critical Coefficient; in this game, your second attack has its crit chance multiplied by a value that's different between characters. For Halvan it's 4, for Orsin it's 3, and for Eyvel it's 1.

Also, I am so glad I had Eyvel trade Leif's equipment around to make him hold his iron sword instead of his Light Brand. The steel bow is light enough that he would have doubled Leif if he had still been holding that ridiculously heavy magic sword.

Man, the rescue command's just barely been introduced to the marathon, and I'm already finding it super useful. I just used it to let Ronan take potshots at the warrior to get him closer to capturing range without putting him in danger of death.

And Halvan got a constitution proc on his level up, meaning he can finally capture these bulky axe wielding bandits to steal their shit.

I'm kind of annoyed that, as far as I can tell, there's no way to see the stat window of the enemy units you've captured. Maybe if I clicked on a random enemy and scrolled through I'd eventually find it, though in this fog of war map that's not really an option until another enemy comes out of the fog.

I nearly shat myself when I saw a myrmidon come out of the darkness, but then he was accompanied by another one, assuring me that no, I hadn't just fucked up royally and aggro'd Shiva, these were just generic enemies.

I finally snapped and had Ronan use our one torch (I was trying to see if I could get through this level with a torch to spare just in case), and hoooooly shit is that a huge difference in visibility. Hell, I can just barely see Lithis, waiting to be captured! I can also see Shiva, but from what I understand he doesn't actually move to fight you. Good thing too, because if he did, it would be a psychotic dick move considering that would mean having me deal with a killing edge, in the fog, at the very end of the third level of the game.

Oooh! Kickass! Maybe it's just the translation doing this, but when you press X to look for more info about a crusader scroll, it tells you everything it does, including the exact growth changes!

And now a massive horde of pirates is coming at my army from behind. Thankfully Ronan's torch exposed them, and also I had earlier sent Dagdar, Marty and Tanya to check behind the cliffs we started by, so they're far enough behind that they're in just the right spot to intercept them.

Aaaaaand I just realized some of these bandits have crit rates on some of my characters.

Right, time to capture Lithis and get the fuck out of here.

I find it kind of strange that they make you pick a weapon and show you the combat window for capturing people even if they're unarmed and it's an instant win without any combat happening at all.

Just to make absolutely sure this game doesn't fuck me over, I take all of Lithis's shit before seizing.

Also, yeah, by the end of this map my obsessive capturing has kind of gotten my army's inventory pretty damned full. Still, my army's all set for weapons for the foreseeable future.

Ahhhh, so the cleric's name is Safiya... and she apparently already knows Leif from Tahra.

Hahahahaha! Oh wow, that lie Lithis told about being willing to help Safiya saved his ass, and now it looks like if he wants to live, he has to actually follow through with helping save Tahra!

...No, wait, he's just gonna run first chance he...

...No, wait, now he's planning to sell Leif out to the empire...

...But he's going to wait to do all that until he can plow Safiya.

Ah, excellent. Good to know we're not on a time limit here.

Speaking of which, I like the story Safiya tells about what happened in Tahra. I kind of wish she had told it with a map screen in view though. Having crossed the whole map, but not remembering where Tahra is, it felt kind of disorienting.

Actually, I just checked the FE4 map. I can't find it anywhere. I guess it's a new place what wasn't in FE4? Well, I suppose the map screen next chapter will fill me in.

One last thing before I go: I find it amusing that we see a brief glimpse of the battle map again after the cutscene, and the icon over Eyvel's head saying she is carrying Lithis has gone from red to blue. I'm not sure why I find that amusing, that he's technically already been recruited, but I do.

Well then, bye everyone!

[Interdimensional Observer]

4 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Hell, due to the bulk difference not being wide enough, even Dagdar's move is cut in half! Gotta fleece-and-release this mook he's holding immediately.

This is dependent on Con. Every other stat is always halved, if Captured/Rescued unit's Con > half of Capturer/Rescuer's Con (+5 for mounties) then Move is halved, otherwise it is not. 

 

12 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oooh! Kickass! Maybe it's just the translation doing this, but when you press X to look for more info about a crusader scroll, it tells you everything it does, including the exact growth changes!

It's the translation. Some people don't like it, but it was done with a certain mindset of who is going to play Thracia, this was done to cut on down on assumed flipping to a website to check what scrolls give what boosts.

 

18 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Hmm... Oh wow, this was a gaiden chapter? Curious. I didn't do the last one particularly quickly (I probably should from now on when I can), so I wonder what I accomplished to unlock it?

It's a very easy one to unlock, just save all the villages in Chapter 2.

[Alastor15243]

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

It's the translation. Some people don't like it, but it was done with a certain mindset of who is going to play Thracia, this was done to cut on down on assumed flipping to a website to check what scrolls give what boosts.

Personally I think it was a good idea. I don't see much value in hiding this information from the player.

[Eltosian Kadath]

5 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

I'm kind of annoyed that, as far as I can tell, there's no way to see the stat window of the enemy units you've captured. Maybe if I clicked on a random enemy and scrolled through I'd eventually find it, though in this fog of war map that's not really an option until another enemy comes out of the fog.

When looking at the stat screen of the character holding a captive you should be able to  press whatever the A Button is mapped to, which should open the captive's stat screen.

 

4 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Actually, I just checked the FE4 map. I can't find it anywhere. I guess it's a new place what wasn't in FE4? Well, I suppose the map screen next chapter will fill me in.

Tahra is that massive grouping of villages in the corner of chapter 9, which wasn't given a special name in Genealogy of the Holy War.

 

4 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Every other stat is always halved, if Captured/Rescued unit's Con > half of Capturer/Rescuer's Con (+5 for mounties) then Move is halved, otherwise it is not. 

I'm not sure where this myth comes from, but mounties act as if they have 20 con for all rescue/capture purposes, so if they rescue /capture someone with 11 or more con they get the half movement.

[Interdimensional Observer]

25 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

I'm not sure where this myth comes from, but mounties act as if they have 20 con for all rescue/capture purposes, so if they rescue /capture someone with 11 or more con they get the half movement.

The SF calculations page is wrong then, I thought it seemed off from when I played Thracia. I couldn't and didn't double check.

When carrying an enemy or ally, Strength, Magic, Skill, Speed, Defence are halved. If the carried character’s Build is more than half of the user’s Build (Build +5 if the user is mounted), Movement is also halved.

Weird, SF usually doesn't have mistakes like this.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Interdimensional Observer

[Jotari]

Would love to see a Thracia remake just to have Lifis supports. They guy is an absolute detestable, unapologetic piece of shit and the game knows it. Worst human being playable in the series (and that includes Peri and Karel).

[Alastor15243]

Thracia Day 4: Chapter 3

Ah yes, I remember this chapter well. At some point between entering the castle and seizing the throne, Leif is going to be cornered and forced to surrender, and only he and Lithis will be usable from my current party for the next 4 ish maps. Naturally I have to prepare for this. I plan on giving Leif any and all crusader scrolls I get before the end of the map, and he's also going to use the HP and speed rings, along with any others I get too, to make the next ordeal more bearable.

Also, let's check out our new party members! Lithis... well I mean he sucks at fighting. Royally. I'm gonna have to pump him full of crusader scrolls and have him fight a ton if he's going to have any hope of being decent. Which I'll have to do if I wanna really make use of his main talent: stealing. As long as he has more con than the weight of an item, he can steal it without having to capture them. Right now this mostly limits him to stealing staves and tomes, but if I can get his con up, I can do much more. Unfortunately... getting his con up is going to be tricky. Unless there's some kind of constitution ring (which will almost definitely be going to him or whoever my best thief is when I get it), the best I can do is the Neir scroll, which will boost his terrible con growth of 10%... to 20%. Yaaaaaay. Apparently there are other thieves in this game, but I dunno, I'm hoping I can make this guy work. I kinda like this unrepentant asshole. Guess it's much more fun and much less infuriating when everyone sees the total bastard for what they are and when the story doesn't demand we believe he's the kind of person every single member of the opposite sex is capable of falling in love with.

And then there's Safiya. First off, I love the healing music in this game. It's oddly soothing for the only game in the entire series where healing has a chance of fucking up, but I love the synth-y sounds at play here. Anyway, Safiya is the first, and apparently due to common consensus best, healer. Probably because she comes in chapter 3 with a C rank in staves, and the Hammerne staff, which only she can use. Five whole uses of the thing, and so many things to use it on that I'm kind of paralyzed for choice. Good thing I won't be choosing now. But yeah, I always find it easier to use these things when I'm playing ironman. When the threat of permanently fucking up isn't present, I generally have a tendency to hoard my best items and see if I can get by without using them. Not always. I mean, just now I used a use of Finn's brave lance just to secure a capture of a soldier who didn't even have anything particularly good. But it is still generally the case that I feel much more willing to use high-value items when I'm playing ironman.

Hmmm... So this game doesn't even tell you when weapons break. No “weapon broke” sad jingle or anything. They're just broken, and left in a broken state in your inventory, still equipped. That... is something I need to keep in mind. I'm glad the first weapon I broke was a weapon I was intentionally trying to break to make room for a fresh one, so I noticed at least.

I do, however, appreciate that this game still tells you what a weapon is even when it's broken, rather than just calling it “broken”. Given that repairing is a much more precious and difficult thing than it was in FE4... that's probably going to save some heartbreak.

Ronan procced strength! Yes! The incessant march towards obsolescence has been ever so slightly stymied!

Alright, so, the thing here is that we have to rescue the children who are captured in the fort, and bring them back to the right villages. Thankfully the villagers tell you whose child is whose when you talk to them. The top left house, for example, wants Romeo. I've obviously just made a note of that.

Also, can I just comment on how much it sucks to be these people? There they were, minding their own business in this little four house village they decided to set up for themselves, blissfully unaware that the fort they built themselves in spitting distance of would be a headquarters for the child hunts in a few years! But honestly, given that it's clear that this fort has had a reputation for being the local HQ for the child hunts for a while now, I'm frankly amazed it took the soldiers this long to get to the poor schmucks living right down the lane! How were these not the first children taken!?

Wait... okay, so the northwest house wants Romeo, and the northeast house wants... Cairpre? Isn't that another translation of Corple? Sylvia's son who's supposed to get adopted by Hannibal? I didn't know he spent time kidnapped in the child hunts! The guy looking for him seems pretty important and calls him “Master Cairpre”, so I have to assume he's already been adopted by Hannibal and is thus already a VIP.

Jubel is the name of the one for the southeast house, which means the southwest one is the last one left, Luccia. I found it kind of amusing to see the little girl asking for Jubel talking in a cockney accent like a goddamned chimney sweep.

Also, I find it hilarious, and hilariously in-character, for Lithis to run up to a mage, swipe his tome, and then hack at him like a cowardly asshole while the mage is defenseless and running for his life. Lithis missed both swings of the first round, but critted on the first attack of the second one (the only opportunity to crit, as he has a PCC of 0 and thus can never crit on followup attacks). All the while the mage seemed to be trying to make a break for the bottom of the map, suggesting he was trying to run away and would escape if he got there.

Interestingly, so far it seems like capturing is the ONLY way to get items from enemies. I haven't seen a single item with any kind of indicator that it'll drop when the enemy holding it dies. Interesting design choice if true.

Hold on... Was it Lithis who I remember joining me after the kidnapping? Now that I'm playing this level and have spotted that ridiculous 20-use chest key, I seem to remember a thief who only had one of those with him, not a lockpick. Do I get a second thief after this map who I completely forgot about? I suppose I'll find out soon, but if so, that would certainly explain why this thief would come to help me out. I can't think of any reason why Lithis would.

And I just witnessed the first instance of a staff missing. No catastrophic results from this, of course, since I was aware it could happen and I can't count on it anymore, but I do find it curious that when staves miss, their uses aren't wasted, but when weapons miss, their uses are.

And now the bishop is raiding the treasure room to run off with all the cool treasure.

Aaaaand now a lot of shit went wrong at once. First, a bunch of bandit reinforcements with wildly varying stats started gunning for the villages, two per turn, and I had to send half of my army over to intercept them. Next, I started having Orsin rush in to make it to the treasure room before the priest ran off with the loot, as I assumed he would. Orsin got wounded. Okay, patch him up.

Fuck-up one: Safiya misses.

Fuck-up two: I accidentally press “wait” instead of “item” when trying to use a vulnerary, the first time the menu caught me off guard.

Fuck-up three: I send Tanya over to aura boost Orsin with her support, thinking Orsin is blocking a bottleneck, only to realize that isn't a wall, it's a pillar, which the enemies can totally pass through, exposing Tanya to possible death.

Thankfully, I was extremely lucky and nothing bad happened, but holy shit, that could have gone horribly wrong.

…

 

 

 

 

...Jesus Christ.

So. Apparently I spoke too soon.

After the priest raided the treasury and stole the armorslayer and meteor tome...

...I had a bit of a brain fart, and it never even occurred to me that he'd start using the latter.

And alas, Ronan was his target, and in a piece of brutal irony, his magic wasn't high enough to save him when the hit connected. He would have lived, except that he was still injured because Safiya has failed to heal anyone for three turns in a row.

I'd restart, except...

...Except Leif also got a movement level up that exact same turn, and I really, really, really want to keep it.

But to honor Ronan's sacrifice, Tanya opens the western door the damned kleptomaniac priest was hiding behind, and Orsin breaks out the first two hits of the Vouge, and captures the shit out of that fucking priest, with three meteor uses to spare.

So, Cairpre is safely brought back to the village, where it's explained he's here as a messenger but got mixed up with the other kids. I don't get anything for it... yet. The caretaker does comment, almost offhandedly, that he's “sure rescuing the son of a noble will pay off sooner or later”. Yeah, I seem to remember this being a thing, where good things will happen in later chapters if you saved the right kids earlier.

But yeah, the storm's subsided. Reinforcements, primarily Finn, came just in time to help Leif, Dagdar and Marty stem the tide of incoming bandits before they swarmed the villages, and now the battle is as good as won. Now to send the remaining three kids back to their homes and prep for the shitshow that will be next chapter.

I'm sorry, Ronan. I really am.

But like...

Come on...

Seven movement on my main lord.

Anyway, thanks to EK for telling me how to check who somebody's holding on the stat screen, that really helped here. One A press did the trick, as you said.

Saving Romeo got me a shield ring, which Leif immediately used.

Saving Luccia got me Baldur's scroll, which Leif immdiately took. It's only a 5% boost to all growths but magic, con and move, but hey, might as well have it.

Also, looks like this game, like FE1, lets you send things to the convey when you have too many items, despite the convoy not always being readily at hand.

Alright, so, my final reward is that someone in the imperial army, named Dalsin, will join me if I tell him what I did for his little brother. Awesome to hear, I'll have to keep that in mind.

Eyvel's nice swords have been safely stored away. Actually, I think I'll have Leif grab one of them in case he needs a more convenient mix of power and lightness than an iron sword and a light brand.

...Nope, they're all objectively worse than the light brand, so I'll just go with Leif's current inventory.

And after confirming there's nothing of value I want to buy at the shop...

...Oh my god. That's hilarious. I totally forgot Raydrik was still here. Did I just walk into his trap despite literally seeing it coming!? WOW.

...Nope, I can feel a little better about myself, he's taking Nanna hostage, which he could have done anywhere.

I like how everyone on your team has a line for when Leif gets captured. Except for Marty, who's going to ditch me and join a bunch of bandits first chance he gets, the useless sack of shit.

...Hopefully he's still holding whatever mildly valuable gear I accidentally left with him, or it's been put in storage.

Oh, and we hear nothing from Ronan of course. So ends the journey of the Memey Magekiller. Rest in peace, Ronan. Leif will march ever faster to his goals thanks to your sacrifice.

...Unless I fucked up and have to reload the save of this map to reallocate my supplies. Then I guess he'll be back. But I honestly hope I don't have to do that. That would be embarrassing.

Honestly, this map was pretty intense, and I loved it. The random bullshit was really annoying, and the fact that I can't ever fully depend on my healers is terrifying, but the map was still tons of fun. Especially the army of bandits marching towards the villages. For a moment I felt like I was playing Conquest chapter 10!

Well, next up Leif has to work with an entirely different cast of characters. Let's hope they're up to the task of helping him.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Alastor15243

[Shadow Mir]

On 12/10/2019 at 5:17 PM, Flere210 said:

Now that i think about it  Ronan would be fun as hell if echoes of Thracia would habe the shining bow.

 

On 12/10/2019 at 5:20 PM, Alastor15243 said:

It would be a brief moment of glory, like Mist with the sonic sword (though obviously Mist doesn't need that sword to make her magic stat useful), but yes, it would be glorious, and fun as hell.

Speaking of magic weapons, I wonder when they'll make non-sword magic weapons not suck. The Bolt Axe was only worth using in one game. Out of four. Magic lances haven't been much better. Though I guess the magic bows are decent.

16 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

And alas, Ronan was his target, and in a piece of brutal irony, his magic wasn't high enough to save him when the hit connected. He would have lived, except that he was still injured because Safiya has failed to heal anyone for three turns in a row.

I'd restart, except...

...Except Leif also got a movement level up that exact same turn, and I really, really, really want to keep it.

But to honor Ronan's sacrifice, Tanya opens the western door the damned kleptomaniac priest was hiding behind, and Orsin breaks out the first two hits of the Vouge, and captures the shit out of that fucking priest, with three meteor uses to spare.

Ouch. First casualty already.

[Espurrhoodie]

55 minutes ago, Alastor15243 said:

Oh, and we hear nothing from Rowan of course. So ends the journey of the Memey Magekiller. Rest in peace, Rowan. Leif will march ever faster to his goals thanks to your sacrifice.

Rowan the Kagamine Len knock-off guy with the weird haircut from Warriors?

Yes, I'm aware you're likely referring to Ronan.

[Alastor15243]

2 minutes ago, Espurrhoodie said:

Rowan the Kagamine Len knock-off guy with the weird haircut from Warriors?

Yes, I'm aware you're likely referring to Ronan.

He had a fucking support bonus from Leif, he was that loyal, and immediately I'm fucking up his name.

I am a horrible, horrible person.

Edited December 12, 2019 by Alastor15243

[Interdimensional Observer]

2 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

but I do find it curious that when staves miss, their uses aren't wasted, but when weapons miss, their uses are.

I might have a heard once or twice people actually rigging high end staff misses, particularly Hammerne. Why? Well for Hammerne, being a personal, it gives 8 WEXP a use, including on misses. Get Safiya to A now! is the logic.

Staff accuracy being 60 + Skill * 4 means that getting 10 Skl will end any fears of staffs missing, except the very rare 99 miss. Vulneraries can't miss I think, juuuuuust in case you ever that paranoid.

[Eltosian Kadath]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

So. Apparently I spoke too soon.

After the priest raided the treasury and stole the armorslayer and meteor tome...

...I had a bit of a brain fart, and it never even occurred to me that he'd start using the latter.

I do rather like how he uses the equipment from that chest, its such a nice touch, and if you know it is coming it becomes an incentive to play fast and get to him before he goes for the chest.

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

And alas, Ronan was his target, and in a piece of brutal irony, his magic wasn't high enough to save him when the hit connected. He would have lived, except that he was still injured because Safiya has failed to heal anyone for three turns in a row.

...Oh that tragically brutal irony.

 

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

...Except Leif also got a movement level up that exact same turn, and I really, really, really want to keep it.

One of the thing I miss most about the old translation is in its weird way gaining move was indicated by being boldly told anime followed by literal gibberish.

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

I'm sorry, Ronan. I really am.

But like...

Come on...

Seven movement on my main lord.

Plus it keeps the run ironman, which is interesting.

 

3 hours ago, Alastor15243 said:

 

Eyvel's nice swords have been safely stored away. Actually, I think I'll have Leif grab one of them in case he needs a more convenient mix of power and lightness than an iron sword and a light brand.

...Nope, they're all objectively worse than the light brand, so I'll just go with Leif's current inventory.

When you account for the Flame sword granting +5 magic when equipped that is a bit debatable. On the other hand heading into the next chapter with less equipment is better than you would expect.

 

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

I might have a heard once or twice people actually rigging high end staff misses, particularly Hammerne. Why? Well for Hammerne, being a personal, it gives 8 WEXP a use, including on misses. Get Safiya to A now! is the logic.

Plus you still get the full regular xp for using the staff. High end staff misses are rather useful, Hammerne especially as its use is almost never time sensitive, which is the cost of such a miss.

 

1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:

Staff accuracy being 60 + Skill * 4 means that getting 10 Skl will end any fears of staffs missing, except the very rare 99 miss.

I have never been certain that staffs have a 99 miss chance. I remember some conflicting information on the matter, and can't remember ever having a 99 staff miss, but I could have easily missed seeing one. Honestly I am uncertain, and would appreciate if anyone has experience or further technical expertise that could shed light on the matter.

[Jotari]

1 hour ago, Shadow Mir said:

 

Speaking of magic weapons, I wonder when they'll make non-sword magic weapons not suck. The Bolt Axe was only worth using in one game. Out of four. Magic lances haven't been much better. Though I guess the magic bows are decent.

Ouch. First casualty already.

Well they're pretty decent in Three Houses...so now?