Saint Rubenio

Part 68 - A great person. Look, everybody! It's raw, unedited footage of an occurrence so rare, I just had to record it! Macellan is about to kill a dragon! In his join chapter! In Hard 3! Can you believe it!? I sure couldn't, but if it means I can use him... go on, you bald bastard, get yourself a lev-- ... Awesome level, Linde. I knew I could count on you. And that, my friends, is the Shadow Dragon experience. I love this game. Sure glad I dropped 10~ chapters of Path of Radiance, all of Radiant Dawn, and 3.05 out of 4 Three houses routes to play this one yet again! The saddest part is that I wasn't even being sarcastic. I don't give a damn what anybody says, DSFE are the best FE games ever for me. Damn: It:

Wall of text incoming. What can I say, I barely ever post in these kinds of threads, might as well do it properly now that I will. Yes, I felt like they were a complete waste too. Thales is probably the only remotely interesting one (as he's the only one that ever does anything and doesn't die immediately afterwards), and even he is horrendous. As a Blue Lions player, I didn't even know I'd dealt with Thales until I read on the internet that he was actually Lord Arundel. That would've been a pretty decent twist if they actually, y'know, twisted it. Instead, he dies with a couple of generic lines, never dropping the act, and I'm left wondering what the heck happened to that one guy I last saw before the timeskip a couple of times. And that's the best of them. Solon is probably the worst Gharnef in the series, if you can even call him a Gharnef (Gharnef's whole schtick is that he does things behind everybody's backs. Solon does absolutely nothing). Kronya is cheap evil waifu bait that gets the Jeralt kill and... that's it. I did feel Jeralt's death was pretty well done (despite the fact that it was so, so predictable), but since it only takes like 30 minutes of real time to get back at her for it, there's not enough time to hate her, or really feel anything about her. Doesn't help that, despite the build-up for her weapon (from Manuela saying that she left a pretty ugly wound on Jeralt), as a boss, she's just as weak as the rest. If her weapon had any sort of special effect, I cannot remember it, because Byleth two-shot her and that was the end of it. Then there's Cornelia, who is also cheap evil waifu bait that's a copy of Morzas. Never heard of Morzas? He's the dragon who's in charge of Altea in Shadow Dragon. Don't believe the two are comparable? Morzas killed Marth's mother, causing him great sorrow. Cornelia (among others) conspired to kill Dimitri's family, causing him great sorrow. They're both one-off, irrelevant bosses despite doing relatively important things and being relatively important figures, who are killed when the protagonist returns to retake his homeland, and are immediately shoved aside, never to be mentioned again, to make way for the masterminds behind them. They're both throughoutly forgettable and have generic designs (generic dragon in Morzas's case, generic femme fatale in Cornelia's). There are a few differences (Cornelia at least has a small backstory), but the fact that a throwaway Shadow Dragon boss of all things can be compared to one from Three Houses is just sad. Frankly, I think it would've been better if the real versions of the people they were impersonating were actually involved in the story. As it is, the game has Seteth say "hey I think they killed the real Tomas and Monica", and the point is never brought up again. This could've opened up all sorts of possibilities: Perhaps TWSiD need the real hosts alive in order to take their appearances, so they're keeping them captive somewhere? There could've been a mission where you go to liberate them. Maybe fake Cornelia would've brought the real Cornelia out into the battlefield to confuse Dimitri, something like Gharnef in Shadow Dragon, except you're trying not to kill the real deal this time. Or maybe the real Monica would escape captivity, and hurry to the monastery to warn everybody of the danger, only arriving just in time to be blamed for Jeralt's death. And let's not forget the potential of having all of them as playable characters. Still, this all would do little to change the fact that they're awful villains themselves. They're so unnecessary, for the most part, that I really think the best thing to do would be to remove every one of them except for Thales. Let Tomas be just a regular old man, make Cornelia her own (terrible) person who's acting of her own accord, and ditch Monica entirely. Have Thales be an independent individual working on his own terms. Have him kill Jeralt instead of wasting the kill on Kronya. Make him oversee the tragedy of Remire Village. Have him experiment on and manipulate Edelgard alone. In other words, take all the scattered good things that they all have, and throw them onto Thales to turn him into a single, but more complete villain. As far as I'm aware, there's no point in having a full-fledged organization to fulfill a handful of roles that fit in a single guy, easily. And for God's sake, reveal that he's Lord Arundel in the Blue Lions route. It makes no sense not to do it.

Part 67 - Julius Berwick Saga is amazing. Other than that, I am proud to announce that I finally did it. After a long, long hiatus at the final chapter, I returned to it on a whim (and peer presure from my best friend. Mostly that), and, well... I made it. I beat FE12 in Maniac Mode. And Shiida never died, so Gotoh can go fuck himself, he doesn't get to tell Marth that he'll die alone. Hah! Sadly, this great victory did not come without cost... Manly tears were shed. Rest well, my man. Your sacrifice was paramount in achieving victory. Never did get around to using the Aum, though (Medeus died too fast), and Nyna survived, so I'll just make it headcanon that he was revived afterwards and the historians just missed that part. Here's to victory! May my next run go better, may Matthis be a badass once more in this next DSFE playthrough I am initiating, and may Gotoh never prevail! Other than FE12, I am playing Path of Radiance! Can somebody please let me know how difficult is Radiant Dawn? Because I'm up to chapter 21 of PoR, and... frankly? I can't wait to be done with it, because it's the most boring Fire Emblem game I've played in ages. Seriously, it's so mind-numbingly easy. It's easier than FE8, for Christ's sake! It wasn't always like that. Around the first half of the game was harder than FE8. It was still easy, but not overly so, it was still entertaining enough. But the drop in difficulty was so sudden, it gave me whiplash. I can pinpoint the exact point it happened: Tanith's joining chapter. Tanith joined, and the game's difficulty just left. My units are so broken, literally all of them could solo maps on their own. All of them. And I'm not using top tier units, I've got guys like Brom, Nephenee, Rolf, Rhys... well, they could solo maps, too! Okay, maybe not Rolf, but the others? They could, no sweat. Add to that Tanith's reinforce ability (which I like to call "the ability to call another two Taniths to the map"), Reyson's four-way dancing, and the enemy's awful, awful stats, and you've got a completely mindless bore of a game. I think it's no exaggeration to say that I've never, ever felt like my army was so powerful compared to the enemy's in any other FE game. Even FE8 kept my mind more busy. To be fair, I haven't finished PoR yet, but if the difficulty doesn't rise any time soon, I might just give up on it like I gave up on Three Houses, and move on to Radiant Dawn inmediately. I suppose I could give the Japanese Maniac Mode a shot, but I've seen gameplay of it, and frankly? More enemies that are just as weak doesn't seem like it'll make a difference. In fact, it sounds more boring, because it'll take longer to do the exact same things. So yeah, Tl;Dr: fun game at first, but it becomes so, so, soooo easy that it stops being fun. Julius: Julius:

(X) Doubt You're... not going to recruit Minerva? Have you seen the state of your army, man? Minerva's a godsend for you right now! You use rescue for everything already, why not this? No, I only said it's not as bad as the other desert map. It's still difficult. Aye, he was, he was... If only he could fight with his staff... Ah, Etzel. I love this man. He's a great character, he's got a great design, and he's a great unit in this game. Best Mage in the game, bar none, sporting great bases, great ranks (Excalibur at base!), decent bulk for a Mage... he's just all sorts of awesome. Well, at least you're not like Japan, using random Spanish words as names. I still haven't forgotten Warrior the Berserker, guys. On the one hand, this is yet another competent of your team that's dead, and Minerva was skipped so you can't even have her replace him. On the other hand, Dice! You must also use Malice, then. That's Maris in this translation. There was a new one in progress, but I'm fairly certain it will never go anywhere. Everyone has so much movement in this game (even Generals), that there's really no point in giving this to anyone other than Marth or Feena, and Feena is dead, so... yeah. Marth it is. Meme would be to give it to your General, if you ever actually start using one, so they can go the distance. Pictured, why Etzel is awesome. A lesser Mage would've died. Yes, except for the part where he gives this warning like 12 turns before it actually happens. He's also the namesake of a playable Bishop from FE6. Which I feel is more relevant, this being a FE forum and all. He's rather strong for a Myrmidon. I wouldn't fret, he's good still.

An American translating a Japanese game set in Anime Europe speaking in German. For no reason. What Never mind new Berwick update.

Nah no worries, I completely understand. Ergh... Not sure if it's intentional or not, but... the whole update's in italics, and it's also hidden inside the many, many spoilers that aren't even actual spoilers. Just saying. Hahahahahahah... sorry, man. You need to pay more attention. Fairly certain this isn't true. Could be, I'm not sure. I've never not had the Starsphere. Jikes, your luck... Bwahahahahah... about right. Good, good. Yeah, if I'm not mistaken, Hardin actually doesn't begin moving with his troops for some reason. Everyone starts moving, and the following turn Hardin follows. Not sure why he does that. I suppose to give you the slightest chance to outrun the Generals. Didn't you see them all walking up to pursue you? That was actually a pretty awesome move. My regards. Marth could also have recruited Jeorge (the game could've been clearer about it, I'll admit), but it wouldn't have helped in this case, as he then would've had to wait a turn to seize. So this is perfect. Good job. ...may I take back those regards and the "good job"? Gordin would probably kick Barst's ass in terms of strength if he reclassed to Fighter, so in terms of raw, personal strength, yeah, he's got him beat. Don't let James take your FIVE POINTS from you, Gord! That is it, indeed. Congratz. Yeah, this one was kinda confusing. Little story: I once was playing with a MU based on my best friend, ocassionally sharing with him his avatar's misadventures. As a joke, I picked the hat, as I knew he didn't like it. Then I screwed up here and kept it. I ended up having to take Tiki's hairpiece to sorta fix the situation. Not to worry. It's not too bad. No, that's the other one.

Part 66 - Stache of Canaan. Replies: Update:

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeep. Yeah, I'm not blaming you or anything (sorry if it appeared that way), but... crap, that was so frustrating to watch. Just like your lone replies meant a lot to me when I was starting as a LPer. You're very welcome! Not even Sirius?! Jesus Chr-- I mean, uh... you get 'em, guys! Cain's basically Frey 2. You liked Frey? Here's another one! Frankly, I find both of them to be inferior to the Sable Knights, Frey bias or no. Those guys come ready for anything. And their fashion sense is impeccable. That's nice! Strength is always appreciated. He's a bit far away from the action now, but he's a Cavalier, he can make it back. Wait... where're ya going? That's not the way to Jeorge... How I wish it was. Bantu's a likeable character and unique among his kind (when was the last time we had an old man for the game's manakete, instead of a loli?), but he's simply... the worst unit in the game. Period. Some guys come close to him, but even they have some things going for them. Even if it's just "comes with a silver". This dude doesn't even have anything to offer. Not only that, but he's completely out of the way in a chapter that you simply cannot beat if you take much longer than 8 turns. It's a detriment to get him. He has, quite literally, everything going against him. Oh, n-- what?! Why'd you do this?! Didn't you listen to the multiple warnings that the characters provided in the dialogue?! You're not supposed to employ the Dimitri strategy here, man! You need to run! RUN!! RUN FROM EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM! Oh, God. The hint flew right over your head, didn't it? Aw, bollocks... Naga save these misguided souls...! Yeah, a shame he only listens to a firm pair of tiddies, eh? ...n-no...! Not that way...! Why!? Why cannot I save you from yourself...?! All jokes aside now, I love how you read this and completely ignored the blatant "hurry up or you die" warning. I'm sorry if I sound cruel, but this is pretty obvious. This mindset will be the end of you, Marth. In exactly... 2 turns? 1 turn? I haven't been keeping count. Everyone is going to die in about five minutes who cares So it begins. ...hoo, boy. Rant incoming. If I ever sound overly aggressive, please accept my apologies. I'm not the kind of guy to defend cheap shots in these games. Heck, I knocked a few points off of Three Houses for its frequent use of them (no, Divine Pulse is not a good enough excuse, that's just lazy game design). But this isn't a cheap shot. You were warned. A lot. As soon as the pre-chapter narration, the game's already telling you that you're in a pretty bad situation. It establishes that you're escaping. Not mounting a defense, not retreating to a more advantageous spot, it outright says you're escaping. Then, in the conversation with Cain, Marth says, and I quote, "don't worry. We will crush them", but Cain retorts that there's no chance of winning, and that the only way to live is to head to Jeorge's fortress to take a boat to Khadein. Now, up to this point, I won't deny that it's perfectly possible to take all of this the wrong way. Cain seems to mean that you can't beat Hardin, and Hardin alone (nothing about the rest of the enemies), and there have been plenty of instances in the series of escape chapters where you really are in no hurry to escape. But then Jagen says this line! The game outright tells you before the chapter that the Heroes will begin moving soon, that you should haul ass to the seize tile, and that this chapter is not about fighting. And that's not even all of it! In case you forget, Hardin's increasingly ominous lines are there to remind you that you probably should get out of there sooner than later. Once again, I'm sorry if I'm being too blunt, but this isn't a cheap shot. A cheap shot is, for example, what happens in Three Houses, where You get no warning that that's going to happen, no visual hint that it's dangerous to remain in that area, not even so much as an allussion in the dialogue that the enemy might be planning anything of this sort. Here? You were given plenty of warnings that you shouldn't stick around and fight. Now, that being said, I'm perfectly okay with letting Gordin and Castor live. I understand why you're upset. But... dang, I'm sorry, this is my favourite FE game, and it hurts to see it being insulted unfoundedly like this. I won't defend things like ambush reinforcements, those are bullshit not matter how you look at them. But what happened here wasn't bad design. You paid no mind to the warnings. And that's fine, I'm not going to call you names or anything for a few honest mistakes; but those mistakes are not the game's fault. Phew... okay, rant over. I'm really sorry, I got a little carried away there. Bottom-line, yeah, I'm okay with Castor and Gordin living. But please, don't blame the game for something that is not its fault. And once more, please forgive me if I was too blunt there. I'm not trying to hurt anybody's feelings here. Just trying to defend my favourite game here, is all.

To each their own. I won't judge anybody for liking these characters. I mean, I really like Matthis, I'm fairly certain that automatically locks me out of judging anything ever. That being said, Marianne's backstory is... actually good. I dig it, it's a twist I would not have expected. My respect for her has risen, I should get around to reading her supports at some point. I still stand by what I said about Bernie, though. Too shallow a character for me to even bother caring about her. Heck, most of the time I just ignored her in my exploration sessions. One point, as opposed to F O U R P O I N T S. Didn't expect that, did you? Well, you know what else I'm sure you aren't expecting? But... but no, James... dance for Linde from her left, and have her stand on the tile where the Cavalier was before being roasted by, well, you... riders can't cross forests well, so with the Mages blocking the plain tiles, the Cavalier wouldn't have had enough movement to circle around to get to Feena... This death was completely avoidable, man. The others were a result of the map's bullshit reinforcements, but this? Oh, well. I suppose I can't blame you for not being able to think straight in such a horrendous situation. Still, Feena's an extremely good Dancer, even as far as Dancers go. This is... not good, to say the least. It just dawned on me, Navarre is going to survive everyone. If you make it past this chapter, I request that you sacrifice him for good luck. Navarre cannot survive all these great characters. Even Feena is better than him. It just... cannot be...! At least your MU isn't an affront to God. That's something going for you right now. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand here we go. First low percent death. Such awful timing, too. Nothing like an ironman run to learn to fear these. I hate to say this, but it will happen again. Do not doubt it. At least Arran got the death he wanted. You didn't get to see all his supports, which is a shame, but you can always read those online. Please do so, they're really worth the time. Ergh... see, I beg to differ... Actually, you know what? Small victories, small victories. This is great. Man, Matthis of all people survived this nightmare. And after facing the boss, too. I'm so happy. Sorry to be so happy, but I'm so happy. I still wouldn't bet on his survival past the next chapter, but... And it would end in disaster, because despite being a horrible Hero, Astram still has barely enough speed to double your Marth and kill him. Oh, all right. Also, it seems I was mistaken about the Heroes attacking in this difficulty. Can I just say it would've been really funny if Marth died from you trying to get dramatic shots? Good job! Now get the physic staff. Yeah, after he takes the physic staff, right? ...you have no idea that you get a physic staff by standing on the cave tile, do you...? ...well. YOU DIDN'T GET THE GODDAMNED PHYSIC STAFF, YOU'RE GOING TO DIE YOU FOOL Haah... haah... huff... sorry. It just... devastates me so much to see the run in such a deplorable state. You have base Sirius and Palla, a bunch of mediocre units, and three Mages (counting Wendell) who can't take a hit to face one of this game's hardest chapters. You have no ranged heals, no speed starshard, no Dancer, you can't recruit Roger so that's one more nuisance to deal with next time, you-- Nvm you'll be fine. All jokes aside, if you can just make it past next chapter, the game is going to start handing you replacements that should be enough to patch up your army. You just, well... have to make it past next chapter. Best of luck to you, my friend. May you prevail. If I could beat FE6 with thirty-something deaths, you can beat this. I believe in you!

Small world. This sentence is always great. That's the most Luke Luke line ever. Shiida's line isn't very in-character, though. Keep in mind that she seduced Navarre into joining in Shadow Dragon. And Castor. And Roger. And Lorenz kinda (he saw right through her, but it amused him so much, he still decided to join). Bottom-line, she would never be opposed to this sort of behavior, so long as it led to more disposables for Marth. Yeah, sure. Rescue is one of the best uses for hammerne in this game, anyway. That staff is just so useful in so many situation. You'll want to fix it up sooner than later, tho. Rescue is imperative in order to save two units later on. This is funny, actually, as Astram's aggresiveness increases with the difficulty. In normal difficulty, I'm fairly certain they never attack. In hard, they attack if you stand next to them. In maniac, they go after you if you move into their movement range. And in lunatic, well... they go after you, period. It's terrifying, to say the least. Hurray. Navarre lives. Woo. So it begins... this chapter is absolutely nasty. And the worst part is, it doesn't even begin to compare to the next one. Next one is a nightmare. Oh no. James, stop! There's ridersbanes among them! Nobody can solo those guys! You need a formation, battle plans, everyone helping... ...oh my God, he has airpods on! He can't hear me! NOOOOOOOOO-- Your luck continues to baffle me. ...bollocks. Well, you don't miss out on that much. The endgame of this game is kinda lame. Still, I would recommend saving this on a different slot. Just in case you ever want to return here. Oh, no. She's in range of the Mage fort. This won't end well, will it? Can I just say that I don't like Marianne that much? Don't get me wrong, I don't hate depressed people for being depressed, but Marianne is just... written in such an anime-ish fashion. I much prefer Gilbert's portrayal of depression, personally, because he is written in a way that acknowledges that depressed people can and will hurt those around them. Not intentionally, but it's easy to make all the wrong choices when you're unable to think clearly. Depressed people are hard to deal with. Marianne isn't. She's protecc bait, like Bernadetta, if I may be blunt. Then again, I could be mistaken. I haven't looked at her supports. Maybe she's better than I'm giving her credit for. If anybody cares to change my mind, I welcome you to try. Ah, crap... Well, time to use Palla, then! May I reiterate my previous suggestion that you use a different save slot when you finish the map? No, not another one, James! Stop! Avoid those forts like the plague! Oh, God... Marth... Well, time to use Leiden, then! Really, use a different save slot... ... W-Well, time to, uh... use Belf, then! ...yeah, I uh... I'm so sorry. That went way too awfully... it's a good thing this game has a ton of replacement units to spare. This shouldn't be a completely crippling loss, people like Sirius, Palla, Belf and Leiden... exist, so you should be able to patch your team up. So long as you can make it through this chapter. And, uh... the next. Seriously, you need to use a different save slot. Because as things stand, I fear you'll have an extremely difficult time beating the next chapter... it'll be possible, but... really difficult.

Part 66 - Tank you very much. Hoo, boy... Ah, but I still have a lot of time! Look, it's only been 4 days since I posted the last update, I can still-- American date layout. It's actually been 6 days. ...FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-- In other news, I'm playing Path of Radiance! About time, I'd say. It's been too many years since I became a FE fan! Last time I played this game, I only made it to chapter 4 before I got bored. Then again, I only played Shadow Dragon up to chapter 6 my first time, and when I gave it a second chance it became one of my favourite FEs, so if that's anything to go by... I'm at chapter 9 right now, and thus far, I'm enjoying it. My team's a bit too tiny for my liking, but I'm fairly certain that issue will solve itself before long. The box in which I respond to the comments that people write to me. Most people probably don't even open these. I see you, you lurkers, not caring about what I have to say to the non-lurkers. Not judging ya, I know it's hard to think up things to say, let alone do it every single time; but you know, there's fun to be had here as well. Like, just today, there's a lobster meme in there that I am sure you would enjoy. So go ahead and give this a shot, will ya? I assure you, you will be glad you did: The main attraction:

Thanks! In return, here's me neglecting to reply to an update! Extended reply, onwards! You know, you could've had her unequip her weapon. You can do that in FEDS. You just select the weapon at the inventory and choose to "rmv" it. Oh, well. It's just Samto Samuel. I like the guy enough, but he's pretty useless as a unit. Still, do keep this ability in mind for next time. ...I did come too late for Caesar and Radd, didn't I... Fork. Yeah, these dudes are using the FE12 strategy of not moving until you charge at them. You'll see this happen many times in the future. Yeah, this corridor is pretty horrible without General Arran. Heck, it's a challenge even for him! Ah, well. The RNGoddess is a cruel hoar, so I think we can wave Best Sacrifice goodby-- You... you...! Unbelievable! Inconceivable! Unfathomable! How can this... be?! And yet here I am, losing units left and right over single digit percentages! I demand that you surrender some of that luck to me, right this instant! Oh, you've got to be kidding me... I mean, not to say I wanted you to fail, but- goddammit, if this was me, Frey would've died, Ogma would've gotten hit critically, and then Shiida would've been doubled somehow! Forgive me for being somewhat frustrated! Envy...! Envyyyy...! ...d'oh! Okay, I give up. You have all the fortune. Tell me your secret, you schweinehund. Yeah, this is even weirder than Guile's line. Especially considering that, more often than not, he'll be getting attacked from afar. Go right ahead, mate! That makes three of us. I've long since given up on editing my posts after submitting them. Nobel Prize. It's the fastest old man this side of Archanea! He's worse than Etzel in this game, sadly, but he does exist for a couple more chapters than him. No, that doesn't mean you get away with it. Add him to the death count, you coward. ...ah, you already did. Good, good. This can be a tough chapter. It's very puzzley. But not because it's difficult to survive or anything. It's because these two dummkopfs will commit suicide if you don't maneuver carefully. He's Legion according to Awakening and later Heroes. Get it, 'cause there's a legion of him? Boooooring. Oh, no worries, it's going to get a lot more entertaining in 3... 2... 1... Oh, wait, so you did know about unequipping people's weapons! ...then why didn't you do it with Samto? You didn't lose anything there! There was no reason to kill him! You monster! There we go. These two are horrible keep alive, I swear. For this chapter, my strategy is to use Generals Arran and Sirius to block things while unarmed. With those two, I don't have to worry about them being harmed. They can tank their flimsy blades forever. I know, I know. You can't. You'll want to replay this game. It's a whole new world. DEFENSE he'll be invincible soon. You're right, he was a worthy sacrifice. I thought the Ryan pun was too forced. Now I see why. Damn... I've sometimes killed one of these buffoons, but both of them? That line's kinda heartbreaking... They do explain it. You'll find out next gaiden. Well. Could be worse. Could be named after pastries.

Part 65 - Mischievous children. So, uh... I was playing Three Houses, and I came across this. Maybe this class's mastery skill is self-destruct? I can't openly tell you exactly what the class is. That's a SPOILER. Minor one, but a spoiler nonetheless. Here it is: Anyway, in other news. I'm close to finishing Three Houses. Just have to deal with the final battle, in fact. Now, if I posted this opinion somewhere more public, I'd get a ton of hate. Perhaps I'll still get hate here. I don't know. But I still feel like saying it. I am disappointed. That is the word. Disappointed. I'll continue in spoilers, because I will be discussing the story. Spoiler-free Tl;Dr: pre-timeskip the game is great, post-timeskip the overall quality worsens, with the story feeling rushed around the end (Claude is the greatest victim of this). Maps of this part of the game are unmemorable and extremely easy, except for the instances where they spring bullshit traps on the player without any warning or indication, to the point where sometimes, it lies to the player's face. The game basically forces the use of divine pulse to get around the unpredictable traps. Now that I'm almost to the end of the game, I'm debating whether to give it a 6/10 or a 7/10. Because lying is something a strategy game should never do. Even Kaga doesn't lie. He normally doesn't give the player all the information, which is bad, don't get me wrong - but at least, if he says something, you can rest assured that it will happen as he claims. You can't trust Three Houses. It's a lying bitch. And that, my friends, is unforgivable. At least in my opinion. I still would recommend the game, but please, do not hold back on the divine pulse. The game cheats, and it cheats more often than you'd think. Avoiding the divine pulse is asking to be forced to reset by the many beginner's traps. Oh, and it goes without saying, but I find it frankly laughable when I see people claiming that this is the best game in the series. It's far from it. Heck, even if I didn't count both Kagasagas in my top 3 FE games, Three Houses would still not make it there (at least not to the gameplay one). Binding Blade is better, in my opinion. Yeah. Binding Blade. I truly look forward to seeing what people say when the hype dies down. Because right now, it feels as though nobody's even noticed these titanic flaws. Sigh... anyway, enough ranting. Let's move to the rest of the things. Re: Up:

That's the real struggle. Ahahah... well, at risk of sounding cruel, I'm glad I'm not the only one this happens to. The first wave of reinforcements are blue. Poor Lang. Nothing goes his way. I mean, look at his nose. It looks like an inverted cock. See? His frown's a little ballsack, and then his nose is perfectly pole-shaped... Why am I still talking? Well, at any rate, I think I like him better. He has a personality, see. Can we keep him instead of the real deal? My, Caeda is looking a lot different these days. A lot more singular, if you know what I'm saying. Fairly certain these guys can't be spawn-blocked even if you wait for them at the gates, since they walk into the map, as opposed to just appearing on a tile. A shame. Who knows what that level could've been. He could've gotten five points. Frey! Frey's one of my favourite Archaneans. I do feel, however, that his appearance here undermines his actions in FE11. Still, can't complain about having him in my favourite game of the series. Norne is also a thing. I like her design and enjoy her "village girl" manner of speech, but she really doesn't go much of anywhere beyond that. She's also a really bad unit in both games she's in. The horror! Goodness gracious. I will defend that Dice is better to the death. Viking hat and mustache >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> bandana guy with bases. Also his daughter is too hot. It's better than what she got in this map when it was me behind the wheel. You know, death. The same person who decided that Hunters should be straight upgrades to them. Seriously, there's no reason to train Archers if you've got the merged reclass sets. All Archers get over Hunters is a couple points of defense, completely useless for what their class is. Then again, the Archer classline is redeemed in this game due to Sniper being absolutely brutal. High stats and high weapon ranks ensure you can pretty much make anyone a Sniper and they'll function in a pinch, and Sniper has a ton more movement than Archer (a whole 2 more points). Parthia being the earliest regalia in both games only helps their case. While we're at it, let me butt in to tell you that I far preferred your design from the last game. W-Who even are you?! Oh, just a guy... I murdered 15 of your comrades that one time. Nearly destroyed the universe as you knew it, too! Good times, good times. ...I think I prefer the new guy. ...Ruben. ...Luke. I like your new hairstyle. ... I prefer Cancer, myself. No joke, 2 defense can be quite useful. On that note, please make sure to kill Lang with Arran. It's canon that he kills Lang and gets his starshard. Hahahahahahaha, yeah, I remember. You were curious as to why I kept repeating that my greatest fear was having to LTC Matthis's chapter. Ah, the days when you were my only reader. Has it really been two years...? I really like the DSFE graphics, actually. The maps are beautiful, the HUDs are great (Shadow Dragon's beats this one, though) and I really dig the semi-realistic, serious style of the portraits. They were a bit too pale in Shadow Dragon, but FE12 fully realized the potential of all those portraits. Well, except for Marth, Shiida and Linde. They got worse portraits. About the only thing I dislike about these games, visually, are the battle animations. They're bland, I won't deny that much. But other than that? I really don't think they're as hideous as everyone says they are. Me, repeatedly throughout the course of 2 LPs: What's a Roundabout? No joke, every time I ended updates in a cliffhanger, someone would pop up and copypaste the lyrics of Roundabout, and every single time, without fail, I'd be unable to recognize what they were. KnightOfNohr can attest to that. I think that's more shameful than not knowing what LTC is, frankly. Sorry...

Believe me, I know the feeling. Especially when I still thought [spoilers] was [spoilers]. Good thing they [spoilers]. Your Gordin is pretty awesome. Normally he isn't this good. Let's hope he keeps it up. Who said Marth is bad? And even then it managed to go about as badly as it could possibly have. That's FE for ya. I tend to unleash General Arran on these guys. General Arran is the easiest way to handle the early game, really. I don't think anyone really says that. I always did love these. With a lame enough MU, they can get quite entertaining. My favourite one is later on. You'll see it, with any luck. It tends to go poorly for Mages as well. Well, armorslayer.

Not quite, but to be fair, I always welcomed your corrections. A shame Wrys's demise prevented you from doing the same to yourself, eh? To be fair, in my LP I called it the "S. of Suicide", but it's all right. This fits Matthis like a glove. Looking like a bad guy, too. That dude's just a minor officer, why does he look like the final boss of something? Hey don't make fun of him. He has cancer. Probably because they don't have to deal with ratings, controversy, public image, censorship and terrible executives. Strength is his game. The battlefield? His playground. Luke's magic growth as a curate is 10%. I expect we'll see this phrase a lot. That being said, please don't relent. This is a great joke. I mean, have you seen his Cypher card? That's extremely explicit. The perks of having good defense. You have to dote over squishies like they're priceless Ming vases. Not tanks, though. You can throw those anywhere. In ironman runs, it's extremely reassuring to know you can count on some people to live. Everyone makes mistakes. I love that the argument about mathematics was so awful, it cause the update to end.

Part 64 - Holmes route is lame. And here I was worried about the size of the playable cast in Three Houses. The increase suddenly arrived, and it was huge. I spent the first 7 chapters with my first 8. Then in the span of one hour, I doubled that amount. Seriously, I'd been trying to recruit Ignatz and Leonie without any luck, but then they both joined at the same time, and then Catherine also joined, then I tried Shamir and she came along as well, then Flayn forced herself into the team, then Cyril just sort of walked to the bench, then Hanneman finally gave me the option to recruit him alongside Manuela... it was crazy! Sylvain, despite being rather likeable for a Sain, has hit the bench. Hanneman did a great job with Leonie: she joined as a Cavalier with high lances and bows and insane stats. She kicked Sylvain's butt in every way. Ignatz, on the other hand, was a worse Ashe when he joined, but thankfully I intended to make him a Mage, so it really didn't matter. Hanneman's embraced the true ways of the monocle, becoming a Dark Mage. Missed a dark seal from the second Death Knight encounter (my Byleth's a Thief, but I forgot he could've stolen it off of him. Really not used to the GBA steal system, since it's so irrelevant 99% of the time), but oh well, that gave him more time to master Dark Mage. I did promote him to Warlock, but only to fix that hideous speed of his, reclassed him back inmediately. I didn't intend to use Manuela at first, but after watching her support with Hanneman I just had to use her. I like that the game acknowledges that she's a disaster, instead of focusing on the "big tiddy nympho teacher" part of her character. Her base strength is absurd for a Mage, so I decided to be a rebel and made her a Mercenary. She's better than Ingrid, at any rate. I intend to raise her reason level and make her a Mortal Savant. Other than those highlights, I have some very conventional units: Lord Dimitri, Archer Ashe, Cleric Mercedes, Knight Dedue, Pegasus Ingrid (although she's so lame that I tend to just have her be an adjuntant for Seteth, a far superior flier), Dancer Annette (I had no idea who to make my dancer, but then she was all "oh I really really wanna be dancer", so that was that). I also occassionaly deploy Catherine, Shamir and Alois. Oh, and Felix is dead. It was really funny, actually. I was playing with my friends watching. It was the chapter with Sylvain's brother and Gilbert as a NPC. As always, I'd left Felix at the entrance doing nothing. Imagine our laughter when reinforcements appeared on top of Felix, and Gilbert just continued pressing onwards, leaving him to die. Right after he died, Gilbert actually doubled back to face the reinforcements. And then he died. It was hysterical. I don't know when he joins (I hope I didn't screw myself over by letting him die in that map, but I doubt it, I cannot see beating that boss before he kills himself on him), but I'm gonna use him. No questions asked. Gilbert won me over with that move. Hey, Ruben from the future here! Been using Gilbert, and I want to say, pretty fun unit. 2 base speed is hilarious, but a Warrior instapromotion fixes it, and he's also probably the easiest Great Knight in the game. You just need to instruct him in riding a bit and he's all set. Very fun unit overall, this game's Dougy. Replies: Update:

Very much Grustian. In fact, they're the heirs to the throne! There's my Matthis. Fulfill your destiny once more. Prove to all just how much of a badass you secretly are! Well, since Ogma's defense is lower than Sirius's, this plan was pretty solid. That being said... don't. For the love of God, don't ever do this again. You will come to regret taking such chances in time. Ergh... Oh, of course, shaver. Hahah, didn't get it at first. Or a worse Matthis. Excelente* Also, I hate to tell you this, but that's how it started for me. In fact... Yeah... he was better in a few areas. With one less level in the pocket. ...just saying. I mean, you've seen it already. You know what is to come. That's the way to go. They'll laugh now, but you'll get the last laugh. Yes... more... more power...! Yeah, this line's really dumb. And it isn't even the weirdest line in the game. No, I meant, shave his head clean off his shoulders. ...I love you. D'aww... love you too, sweetie. Oh hey, isn't that one of those guys who think they have a chance with me? CASTOR: ...gulp! Well... without telling you much (by now you've probably already played it anyway), there probably won't be any need for you to get them to leave. Nngh! No more... five points...! Give Matthis his Spear of Suicide so we may come full circle for real. It's not like you're ever going to get any spears, anyway. Javelin forges might be a good idea. Pretty crazy idea. I'd say try it. If he fails, there's always The Roger The Knight. Yes. She loses flying and in return she fixes all of her statistical weaknesses. And Arran and Palla are all the fliers you'll need for now. Dew it! Very yes. Friendly tip: put this inside the spoiler. Otherwise, one sees it before the update itself and gets spoiled on what will happen in it.

Ohhh, so that's her new name. I'd forgotten. ...of all the names to steal from Kaga, they went and stole the name of Berwick Saga's protagonist. It's always nice to find instances of "Kaga did it first!".

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. This support may be the only thing Arran ever gets in terms of dialogue, but man is it good. The B and A conversations are going to delve deeper into why he has such an opinion of himself. If you manage to get them, you'll be positively impressed, I'm sure. He also offers some really interesting gameplay-story integration that I personally love. Oh, and he's one of the very few units in the series that is arguably better off dying in the campaign than surviving to the end. You'll see why, hopefully. I don't know, he's just all sorts of great. Considering he's a character from Archanea of all continents, that's quite the feat. My profile says Frost is the best Archanean character, but while I really like that man, I'm afraid he's second to Arran. Hahahah... yeah, FE12's supports are very hit-and-miss. Some are brilliant (Arran, Abel & Est, Belf & Sirius, Jeorge in general, Etzel...), and then on the other side of the spectrum you have some real stinkers (Malicia or whatever her name is this time of the year, Draug, Cain, Roberto...). You can pretty much count on all supports that don't involve Kris to be good, though. I'd say that, overall, there are more good supports than bad ones, and most of the characters with lame Krisupports have good ones with other characters. The glaring exception being Cain. Cain only has one support, and it sucks balls. It's a flying shame, really. Both he and Marth got screwed over in this game. Only flier is Catria? No Arran? Wrys is so dead. Ahahah, yeah, the perks of this game's translation being so old. The Malicia / Maris situation is ridiculous, I swear. Give him time. I like to reclass him into Mercenary to train him, but you don't have that option, so I suppose Cavalier's his best option. His start is really rough, but with any luck, he'll defy all odds. For what it's worth, he never fails to when I play this or Shadow Dragon. As expected. I'm afraid this map is a bit of a beginner's trap. You're led to think that, with such few enemies and deployment slots, you're meant to use this as a training map. But no. This is meant to be an "Arran And Palla Kill Everything To Save Wrys" chapter. No Arran and Palla means Wrys dies. Damnit, why is it always the humble Curates? This'd never have happened to Saul! Which is a damned shame! This is the worst timeline. You're playing the worst timeline. They've read my LPs. They know to fear him. Scrubby as he is, his base defense is probably a little better than Catria's, by virtue of their classes, and these dudes are going to die either way, so that's why they went after her: To maximize damage output. This is clearly the worst timeline. Luke, get a grip! Wrys will be disappointed in Heaven! Yeah, Kleine sounds like a spoiled, girly brat of a murderer. I don't know how much of that is the translation's fault, but I'd wager that a more polished Project Exile-esque localization would characterize her differently. Well, you're doing better than me. At this point in FE12, the entire army was already doubting my abilities. And in FE6, I had already been forced to escape from the army. Ah, good times, good times. If only that were an option. This is just the beginning...

Fairly certain he's still recruitable, because I was able to get supports with him, invite him over for dinner, etc. even after his "death" in chapter 5. In contrast, I am unable to do anything with Felix, who died in the same chapter and is also still hanging out in the academy. It'd be plain bad design to make him die for real in this chapter, I simply cannot imagine keeping him alive through all of Miklas's forms. You'll have to ask someone else about rewards for keeping him alive in chapter 5. I cannot fathom how one's supposed to get them, if there are any. You'd think that, as a Fortress Knight, he'd be more sturdy, but alas...

Definitely the game at its worst. Just because of the large stretches of doing nothing. The rest of the game is much more tightly designed, and lacks parts like that. Ambush reinforcements are hilarious. This is nothing. In the lategame you'll be laughing your knockers off. ...I am not comfortable with this. Neither am I. I am going to die any day now... I'd much rather this isn't how I look going into the next life! At least you'll leave this behind soon... I'll have to bear this shame for many years... ... No, you don't understand. Minerva held back, and then Maria healed him up. What's that? You didn't deploy either of them? You actually killed him with Shiida? Yeah, I mean, I one-rounded him with Matthis last time I played SD, but it doesn't matter. Matthis also held back. For no reason. ...yeah, this is a bit of a problem with Mystery. Not even just New Mystery, this was in the original as well. Nobody dies in Shadow Dragon. Nobody. Shame about that one problem area he can't work on... That's right, blistering barnacles! We don't swear 'round these parts! Dodge in DSFE is not reliable in the slightest. Congratulations on your lucky save. It won't happen often. Okay, this girl's shaping up to something great. Now try not to get her killed like I did. Jeigans forever. I don't think I've ever used Draug, yet I went through all the hoops to use Arran once, and he was pretty good. Checkmate. This is the FE12 Chapter 3 experience in a nutshell. Matthis and co. are extremely stupid. If you dare put Linde anywhere near them, they'll all gleefully charge her and commit suicide by aura, Matthis included. He has done a great service to Macedon. Give him all the statboosters as a reward. All of them. Yes, Cecille would definitely benefit from it the most. Either her or Arran, he could probably use the extra power next chapter. Probably that it was below Marth's abilities. Or maybe he's just dumb and doesn't make sense. This is Lang we're talking about, after all. It's this. I love this moment. Unsure whether this or Luke meeting Wrys is my favourite scene of the game. Those saying Kris ruined this scene, let me tell you this: no. Just... no. Look at this screenshot, and tell me that Kris ruined it in any way with a straight face. I dare you. There are only two scenes in this game which I agree Kris ruined. This is not one of them. Uhh... what could this be? Is he going to declare his undying lov-- Oh, right. No S supports yet. Ah, well. I like these little moments you write with the units. Please keep them coming. Although, it might be wise to crop the portraits a bit. They're huge. I don't think we need to see anyone's shoulders, right?

Part 63 - Invincible duo. Two years ago: Today: Man, that opening was lame. Anyhow, yeah! It's been two years already? I cannot believe it myself. Well, technically, it'll have been 2 years tomorrow, but still. It's cause for celebration! Here, have a celebratory update. Y'know, just as Three Houses has come out. Because I am a marketing genius. Is anybody even there? Helloooooooooooooooooooo!? Can anyone hear me!? I'm still here! Read meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...! Three Houses is awesome, by the way. Probably the ugliest game I've played in a long time, and the fact that it still suffers slowdowns despite being capped at 30 FPS is really funny in a really sad way, but I didn't expect a technical marvel, so that's okay. Other than that, the game's really fun. Not too hard, but it's not quite to FE8's level, or even normal mode FE7. Nobody ever doubles, for one. As for the team, I am glad to say that, despite being a Sain, womanizing isn't quite all that Sylvain has to him. He's honestly pretty likeable, despite his occassional debauchery. At first I was worried about the meager size of the roster, but I ended up liking and using everyone. I've also got my sights set on Ignatz and Leonie, but thus far neither have budged. Also, Hanneman hasn't even given me the option to try to recruit him yet. C'mon, man, I want you on my team more than anyone else! Sadly, there are some bad news to relay: Felix is very Navare. Picks fights with everyone, trusts nobody but doesn't have the social skills to build an army, is obsessed with fighting... he's completely one-dimensional, and that one dimension happens to be the one I despise the most. I simply cannot stand him. I'm using everyone in the Blue Lions except for him, and as soon as I get more people, he's going straight into the bench. Anyway, yeah, 3H gets my seal of approval, for now at the very least. There are a few snags, but it's good. There we go. On to the game at hand now. Nice: Very nice:

Don't worry, your well-being comes first. Just come back whenever you feel you're ready!

Two years ago (well, technically, it was one year and 362 days ago, but eh, details), you were the first to comment in my first Let's Play ever. Now I'll be the first to comment in this Let's Play of the same game. We've gone full circle. Is he also worse than Wrys in every way? Give him the pope hat, and he'll be perfect. That's how it started with me... Ah, Arran. The character with the best supports in all of FE12. What a man, that one. I dare you to take him to the endgame. I once did it, so it's definitely possible! In my experience, a General reclass makes for an excellent wall all the way up to Khadein. In chapter 4, both Ogma and Sirius are unreliable in keeping the pirates at bay, but a rescued General!Arran will take on them all like it's nobody's business. He's now a disciple of his husbando. But he dies either way-- ohhh you mean Minerva. Well, she's cool too, so let's not let her bite it either. Good old critical hits. Even when they're good, they still manage to somehow ruin everyone's plans. That lance. Cecille's biggest weakness was always her less than stellar bulk. Be careful with her moves. Defense and HP on Cecille is always great. Her bases for both are just way too awful. He can one-round Warren, though. Way to go, bossman. Look at his luck. He has F I V E P O I N T S of it. Good riddance, chapter 2. Now let's watch you handle chapter Matthis 3.