shadow dragon Video analysing if Shadow Dragon can be beaten with only Marth

[Jobby James]

I've challenged myself to beat Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon with only Marth being able to attack and advance.

Many other people have managed to beat other games like Pokémon with only one party member (typically an infamously bad Pokémon), but I don't see many people do this with Fire Emblem. So, I thought it would be a fun idea to play the game with this restriction. The difficulty is set to on Hard-1, to give myself a fair challenge.

So far, I have managed to get up to chapter 13 with (relative) ease. I'd love to hear your thoughts. 🙂

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[Shaky Jones]

The editing of the video is really well done. As for the idea itself, I find solo runs to be funny and great content, but not neccasirly "interesting". By that, I mean I don't really question whether it's possible because the answer is going to be luck. Theoretically, Marth could get perfect level ups, dodge every hit that isn't 100, and beat the game on Hard 5 if you won a bet with the RNG gods. The thief on turn 1 of the first map can get killed with a Rapier crit on turn 1 to get him out of the way. 25 defense would get you taking 2 or 3 damage from the silver lance cavaliers at chapter 10 of Hard 5, and they don't really get stronger than that, because they switch to brave weapons later, which reduce their grown might back to 27. Since the colosseum was used, and restore points are allowed, you technically could've stayed in the arena on chapter 4 to get Marth to 30 with completely rigged level ups. Marth with 25 strength can kill Medeus in one hit with the downgraded Falchion if he lands a critical hit. This isn't to say this video isn't interesting. It's nice to see a challenge run done on Shadow Dragon, and my boy Marth really does deserve a run dedicated to himself. Most solos nowadays are Three Houses anyways. I was just pointing out my thoughts on "can you beat this game with this one character" videos as a whole. I guess the real challenge in most FE solos that aren't completely rigged is whether that character's growths (and sometimes skills) gets them far enough to beat the game with no aide, and you did set some rules to make things a little more interesting. Runs that are completely rigged for the sake of answering a "what if" question would probably be like Mekkah's video on softlocking oneself on Blazing Sword by using a perfect luck patch to ensure that luck always go your way when there isn't a certainty on something. That probably leans more into analysis on ways to get out of the seemingly impossible. I'm guessing this is isn't exactly that type of video, since the editing style was rather funny (Marth breaking like glass in the arena surprised and got a good laugh out of me). I'm probably overlooking into the purpose of the video, but I tend to do that with a lot of things. Whoops. Again, I think the video itself is really good, and it's hard for me to not get invested in a Shadow Dragon video. Let me talk a bit about your run itself.

Your level 30 Marth is about the same as the average max Marth (give or take 1 point in a few stats and +2 HP), but with a lot of extra strength. I do feel rather blessed upon finding out that Marth's average level 30 defense is actually about 13, since my recent playthrough had Marth reach about 12 defense by the end of chapter 4. Guess that makes the video more challenging to not have him take 0 damage the entire time.

Marth's lack of a magic growth makes the levin sword difficult to have be an effective weapon. You'll be pretty far in the game by the time you get enough spirit dusts to make it strong. There's always forging I suppose.

Why'd you gotta do my man Jake like that...

I love the choice of music used throughout the video. The pacing is really well done.

Maybe Marth having the Emblem locked in his inventory is a subtle reference to the 4 inventory limit in FE1? Now both Marths have 4 slots. I'm definitely giving Intelligent Systems too much credit, but I like to think that way. 

Why does the PAL version call chapter 9 that? Huh...

Looking forward to part 2, where Marth becomes completely feral and loses all his sanity from his ever-growing bloodlust. Seeing his allies dying on chapter 1 must have really taken a toll on him.

[Jobby James]

Thank you very much for watching my video - glad that you enjoyed it!

Regarding Chapter 1, I am aware it is possible to beat it on higher difficulties. However, I saw the insane difficulty and luck involved to beat Chapter 1 as an indication that later chapters will be much harder or potentially impossible due to RNG, Marth’s capped stats and his maximum level. Overall, I just wanted to have fun while playing the game with this restriction as well as editing it (trying to balance enjoyment with challenge). I like the idea that this could serve as inspiration for those who are daring enough to play the game on a higher difficulty with this restriction. 😉

Might take a little while, but I am looking forward to making Part 2 🙂

 

P.S. I have plans to make more videos like this, so I’ll do my best to incorporate your feedback!