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4 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:
Even still. Beats most RPGs, where they tell you your guy's strength is 47, your weapon's power is 81, the enemy's defense is 19 and then you deal 472 damage one turn and 521 the next and God knows why the fuck anything happens.
Oh, I agree. But just saying "Oh, I agree." is boring.
6 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:Hilda's great. She's not sympathetic, she's not possessed, she's not sexy... She's as horribly, unabashedly, generically evil as every ugly recolored man ever, and she's about as physically unattractive as anime women are allowed to be. And, you know what? That's neat.
One thing that's remarkable about Hilda is that she looks like she's about 50 years old. I think she's the only woman in the game who is allowed to be and look middle-aged? Rahna is probably 40-50 years old, but has a generic "somewhere between 25 and 40" portrait. Other than that, there's only two of the generic village women - the one with the headscarf looks about as old as Hilda, and then there's the one portrait that's actually old.
12 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:I feel like I should know who this is but I can't put my finger on it right n...
...Wait, Morrigan? Why Morrigan...?
It wasn't necessary for me to make the obvious joke, but I was quite delighted when this Morrigan even talked in a way that absolutely could've been DA:O!Morrigan. Like, child mass murder is (probably) a step too far even for her, but she'd totally present an unpleasant order with a similar faux-polite schadenfreude.
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FE4 Chapter 10: Light and Darkness
Perlucos (turn 0)
Spoiler
As I was discussing in the last update, I went back to last chapter's last save to trim down Julia's inventory a bit more. Specifically, she sells Silence (which will go to Ced), the Skill Ring, and the Miracle Band (both still at the Pawnbroker by the end of the update).
Now, back to the regular broadcast...
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...which was once a vibrant and wealthy hub of commerce for all of Jugdral. Now, though, only a dying land choked by the Empire and Loptyrian Order lies before Seliph.
At Chronos Castle, the seemingly mad rule of Queen Hilda has condemned countless citizens to savage, merciless deaths. And in the Rados region, Bishop Morrigan, under the command of Archbishop Manfroy, conducts child hunt after child hunt. Wealth. Liberty. Hope Even life itself... All crumbled through the people's fingers.
As the evil cult plies its sacrificial rituals and pile the bodies of their victims ever higher, Seliph knows he cannot leave Miletos be. Greeted by raucous cheers from the people, the liberation army routed the Empire's men in a fierce battle, freeing the city of Perlucos. The hope of Miletos had slowly been rotting away in the Empire's hands, but at long last, the arrival of Seliph and his liberation army breathes new life into the nation's future.
Well, Seliph promised Julia to go shopping in Miletos in their convo last chapter, so I can't say that the Miletos Distric just fell out of the skies to feature in this chapter. But it's really a bit of a downgrade, as far as the setting goes: The second half of the game started in Isaach, whose war against Grannvale was constantly a background factor for Sigurd's story, then continued to the Thracian peninsula, where Quan, Ethlyn, and their killer made their home. And now we come to Miletos, where Sigurd would like to buy an icecream sundae for Julia.
Now, this chapter isn't just about freeing Miletos, it's also the triumphant return to Chalphy (so to speak, Seliph himself was never here, after all). But I'm wondering if the border region of Verdane and Grannvale would've made for a better stage for this: Splice together the maps of the prologue and Ch.1 and cut off the part west of Marpha, which is to say Nordion and Verdane Castle. Genoa could be the home castle, with the order of objectives being Marpha (optional) -> Evans -> Jungby -> Chalphy.
This would allow plenty of characters to visit emotionally charged locations: Marpha is where Seliph's parents first met, and for Bridget and Aideen's children, visiting their mothers' home would be a Big Deal, as well. I wouldn't add Nordion to the map, but Ares and Raquesis's kids could have some dialogue talking about being close to home, too. Taking a quick peek at the endgame's map, you'd have to reshuffle enemies a little bit (seems that André jr. will arrive from the direction of Jungby, which would make less sense if Seliph had already captured it), but I think it could work quite well.
But back to what actually happens...:
: "Heh... I wonder what it must be like to be as terrified of our sacrifices to the dark lord as the peasants must be."
: "I've seen it myself. Knowing their children are doomed to the stake nigh drives them mad with grief... Particularly the mothers..."
: "Hmhmhm... Magnificent. Let them learn now the true meaning of despair. Let their will to live erode and crumble. Let them become little more than ragdolls. Let them become the ideal slaves for the rise of the Loptyr Empire."
: "Also, it seems we've captured far too many children. This castle simply doesn't have the room for them all. How shall I handle this?"
: "Send them to Belhalla at once. I will groom them personally, I think. Friends, family... it matters not. By the end they will despise each other, ready to kill their own in power's name. Only the fittest will survive, and these fittest will become the ideal citizens of Loptyr's new world."
: "But Lord Julius... What of your father? What of Emperor Arvis? The emperor refuses to allow any child hunts under his watch."
: "My father? Heh... My father is not worth fretting over, Ishtar. I will persuade him easily..."
Way to take a stand, Ishtar.
I get it, she's probably dead as a doornail if Julius at any point decides that he doesn't love her anymore, and she presumably knows that, but she seems distinctly unfazed by the prospect of more dead children than the castle can hold.
: "He did, did he? ...You know, Ishtar, I daresay the prince has quite the love for you. Hell, I'm already hearing the wedding bells ring!"
: "I... I don't-"
: "Open your ears, Ishtar! Freege is by far the most esteemed of Grannvale's noble houses, and I, like the Emperor himself, am of House Velthomer. There is nobody in this land who could ever be worthier to the prince's hand than you!"
: "A-as you say..."
: "Now, then! We have more pressing matters ahead. Those rebels, murderers of my dear husband and son, are coming our way, Ishtar! Now [sic] only that, they dared to steal Alster from us! Never has history given Freege a more dire enemy than Seliph, his father and all of his kin! I shall await them here at Chronos, that I may give them the welcome they deserve. You run along to Miletos. After all, those brats won't arrange their own journey to Belhalla!"
: "Yes, mother..."
This part does a somewhat better job at making Ishtar look moderately sympathetic - not just because Hilda's callousness, but also because Ishtar's (short) lines have more of a "I have to get out of here" quality to them. With a bit of goodwill, one could assume that she's just holding herself together when her not-explicitly-abusive-but-holy-red-flags-batman boyfriend is present.
: "A small few children escaped our hold amidst the cover of confusion from our deployment. What are your orders?"
: "Excuse me?! How dare anyone under my command be so incompetent... No matter. Kill them all. Teach them all a lesson. Relay this command to General Riddell at Rados. He is to put them all down at once."
Of course, it helps Ishtar that basically everybody looks like the lesser even when compared to a woman who doesn't just go along with the child hunts, but is furious when some babies aren't stabbed, nagadamnit.
: "But... But if we get..."
: "Don't cry! It... It'll all be fine! Don't ya know? The crusaders are coming! They'll save us all. I know it!"
: "Sniff... I guess you're right. The crusaders'll come... They will... They will..."
: "Ah, General Riddell. We've got orders for you from Queen Hilda. She wants you to move out at once."
: "Excellent. It's high time that we had work which better befits knights. I am absolutely fed up with hunting children! I swear, if I have to hunt even one more child..."
: "Oh, what a pity that is. You see, we've a handful of escaped brats who are all in sore need of an execution."
: "Oh, for the love of..."
: "What's this? Are you, a loyal imperial general, dissatisfied with your orders? Do I smell a filthy traitor to the trust of His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Arvis?"
: "...No sir. I could... I could never consider betraying his majesty... Very well. I suppose I have no choice..."
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Funny dialogue, I have to admit.
: "Heh... The shock stripped you of your memory all those years ago, did it? Perfect. Now, come!"
: "N-no! Take your hands off me!"
: "Heh heh... You cannot resist fate, my dear. Now, cease your struggle and come along..."
: "No! Ahh... Lord Seliph... Help... me..."
Funny dialogue, I have to admit. If Kaga hadn't been a coward, he would've had Manfroy kaga Arion like this in the previous chapter, too.
: "We've got another problem, too. It's Julia... She's gone. I've searched high and low, but she's nowhere in sight."
: "No! Oh, no... How could this be..."
: " I can't believe it, but that's how it is... My guess is the enemy seized her. But why... Why would they only target Julia? This doesn't make any sense..."
: "Gah... Hold on, Julia, wherever you are... No matter what happens, we'll find you!"
I'm loathe to say this, but Deirdre's abduction was much more well-written. For Deirdre, there was at least some set-up - it's established that Manfroy is looking for her, and Deirdre's feeling of dread (which Julia shares) comes back in dramatic irony when her acting on it (running after Sigurd because she felt impeding doom if they came apart) allows Manfroy to kidnap her without anybody's notice. Julia's abduction... just happens.
But that's it for the update, as far as the story is concerned. The map honestly seems very straightforward - we start at 3 o'clock and move clockwise through Chronos, Rados, and Miletos to Chalphy. A few villages have to be rescued along the way (the red dots on the water are pirates/brigands, and so are the two separate dots near Rados), as well as six children just north of Chronos.
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These children are, I assume, only threatened by Riddell and his knights. Depending on how quickly they move up the road, they might arrive very quickly though.
The group as a whole is comparable to the Grannvalian reinforcements on the previous map, which is to say a group of promoted cavs with a variety of Silver Weapons (and three Mage Knights with Elthunder). Riddell himself is quite dangerous, too - no holy blood like the previous John Constipatius, but he has both the Pursuit and the Critical skill. Not somebody you'd want to attack in melee.
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The group closest to use mostly consists of Dark Mages, with varying tomes. Marked red are two Hel wielders, which are obviously extremely dangerous unless they move last. Purple are two (otherwise unarmed) Sleep users, and yellow are two long-ranged Fenrir users.
Guarding Chronos is Queen Hilda, who is pretty straightforwardly very strong. 50 Atk hitting Res two-shots most of our team, and she has Pursuit with a still respectable (considering she uses a fire spell) 17 AS. The Queen class also has Charm as an innate skill, although Hilda doesn't seem to really apply that aura to anybody.
Morrigan is about what you'd expect from a Dark Bishop. Fairly tanky. Weighed down by their tomes. The three castle guards all use Hel, so you'll need a healer nearby to approach Morrigan, but since the guards don't move while their boss is alive, you should be fine if you take that precaution.
On to the arena, which, as a little curiosity, also features a Queen using Bolganone. Here's the full line-up:
(1) Hasmann - Lv.13 Wind Mage 39 HP | 2 Def | 8 Res [Elwind] - 24 Atk | 98 Hit | 20 Avo | 10 AS (2) Grants - Lv.16 Paladin 56 HP | 13 Def | 6 Res [Steel Sword] - 23 Atk | 106 Hit | 20 Avo | 10 AS (2R) Closroi - Lv.16 Arch Knight 56 HP | 12 Def [Silver Bow] - 32 Atk | 94 Hit | 8 Avo | 4 AS (3) Roland - Lv.19 Hero - Skill: Pursuit 59 HP | 12 Def | 4 Res [Silver Blade] - 37 Atk | 94 Hit | 22 Avo | 11 AS [Wind Sword] - 18 Atk (vs. Res) (4) Massigli - Lv.22 Dark Mage 62 HP | 9 Def | 16 Res [Jormungand] - 36 Atk | 118 Hit | 4 Avo | 2 AS (5) Riva - Lv.25 Great Knight 65 HP | 17 Def | 5 Res [Silver Axe] - 41 Atk | 98 Hit | -8 Avo | -4 AS (5R) - Gloria - Lv.25 Sniper - Skill: Pursuit 65 HP | 14 Def [Silver Bow] - 37 Atk | 108 Hit | 22 Avo | 11 AS (6) Nothe - Lv.28 Dark Bishop - Item: Shield Ring - Skill: Pursuit 68 HP | 12+5 Def | 20 Res [Jormungand] - 43 Atk | 126 Hit | 12 Avo | 6 AS (7) Indra - Lv.30 Queen - Item: Speed Ring - Skill: Charm 65 HP | 19 Def | 21 Res [Bolganone] - 41 Atk | 108 Hit | 28 Avo | 14 ASNote: fireemblemwiki.org lists Adept as skills for both (1) Hasmann and (3) Roland. I never saw it proc on either of them, and opponents in the arena generally only have skills innate to their class, so I believe the wiki to be mistaken, but I can't disprove it ingame.
Pursuit on (6) Nothe and Charm on (7) Indra are class skills, but the latter doesn't improve Indra's hit/avo.
The wiki mistakenly lists a Silver *Sword* as Roland's melee weapon: https://i.imgur.com/Rfp7B6K.png
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And here everybody who went through the arena right away - which is almost everybody. The only ones missing, with the expectation that they might get enough money for a full Paragon run down the line, are Dermott, Oifey, and Hannibal. Well, and Sharlow and Leylia, for obvious reasons, although I hope that Sharlow will be able to promote during this chapter.
Lv. HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res Funds XP Arn Seliph 28.78 67 25 7 22 21 28 22 16 44720 +300 [*] Leif 26.47 60 27 8 26 27 16 25 11 18572 +168 [*] Finn 30 51 24 1 18 22 24 21 4 50000 +91 [*] Nanna 29.18 57 24 7 22 21 23 24 8 37680 +128 [*] Ares 28.22 71 24 9 21 21 18 23 13 40300 +316 [*] Fee 29.84 55 19 17 24 29 15 20 24 27417 +260 [*] Altena 25.76 63 27 3 22 22 10 27 2 40860 +400 [*] Arthur 28.86 67 6 23 22 22 26 11 11 43520 +296 [*] Shanan 27.06 60 23 0 30 26 12 20 6 39880 +356 [*] Lester 25.88 53 22 3 17 19 24 18 4 30563 +392 [*] Ulster 25.48 62 27 7 27 24 11 22 4 20500 +408 [*] Larcei 27.88 66 27 1 30 30 19 22 6 33570 +328 [*] Patty 28.10 60 21 15 20 27 24 17 9 20493 +320 [*] Johalvier 28.74 58 26 0 18 21 7 24 8 24315 +134 [*] Faval 25.59 62 17 15 20 27 28 13 5 35423 +408 [*] Ced 27.09 52 5 26 22 30 27 14 27 22600 +356 [*] Tinni 22.97 55 4 23 24 27 24 7 15 12753 +438 [*] - Paragon Lana 30 58 12 24 24 23 29 12 11 8226 +27 [*]
Last item on the menu: The Rescue staff finally makes its appearance. Leaf is the very obvious recipient for it. And as I see the Flame Sword in his inventory - right, I need to swap that over to Oifey or Ares. And for Seliph, there's the Wind Sword finally on sale, after I managed to un-acquire it in the first generation.
9 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:Yeah, it's not like this is the one game series where you can do basic math with the stats displayed and actually get a result you can use for anything lol
...Seriously FE is so cool for that.
Spoiler
I wasn't sure in which direction to go, so I went with both.
6 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:They went ahead and gave us four variants of Knight, four unpromoted mono-weapon cavs plus unique promotions, and still retained the typical two-weapon Cavalier + Paladin. Threw in Bard when Mage would functionally make no difference for Lewyn, three Wyvern classes in a one-promotion game, and has that Forrest oddity.
I don't think it was storage.😝 Or it was, yet they wasted their limited capacity on arguably sillier things.
That's fair. Dangit, Lewyn's need to be ~special~ cost us an Axe Mage class!
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Skatole, or 3-methylindole, is the main contributor to the smell of poop. In low concentrations, it smells of flowers.
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re: Holy Blood on John Constipatius - Honestly, I stopped checking for that on semi-generic bosses. But if Lewyn's character is representive for the paternal side of his family, it isn't too surprising to see Forseti blood appear unexpectedly anywhere in Jugdral.
8 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:I have one wisecrack: Why does Cairpre not get this?!
Being Cairpre is suffering.
Lex!Coirpre will most likely cap his Def at 18, but still and reach 60+ HP. He won't be hurt by such insignificant hits.
8 hours ago, Jotari said:Arion can certainly be a pain to deal with. One solution is to actually just not fight him and seize his castle from beneath him. And if I were on charge of things I would have made that the suggested goal, with him only surviving to reach the final chapter if you don't kill him here. Because I agree that the Julius rescue is a bit nonsensical.
I almost expected it to work like that, so yeah. Even skimmed through the endgame wiki page before fighting him to see if there's any "if he survived" conditional for Arion's appearance.
8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:Meanwhile Endless Space 2... is much more annoying with truces. If the enemy proposes one (some of the time, not all of it, I'm not sure why) and you don't have Influence (a currency akin to Culture + diplomatic/administrative capital) to refuse the truce, you'll be forced into it.😑
In the very old Civ games (1 and 2, dunno about 3), you can be forced into a truce if your country is a republic or democracy. If an enemy asks for peace, or you want to declare a war, there' a chance (50% for republic, 100% for democracy) that your parliament overrules your warmongering ways. If you want to be a warmongering democracy, you can build the United Nations world wonder, which will provide your parliament with an excuse to be warmongering 50% of the time... but it also forces any enemy to offer you peace if you contact them, so wars will still end prematurely all the time.
8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:You took notice, but fell into the trap anyhow. -You're definitely not alone in that.😉
Look, you can't expect me to do basic maths when fire embling.
5 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Whew, and I had thought Kaga wouldn't make good axe infantry until the next game! This Johalvier is cracked.
Wellll, his wife is stronger (+1), faster (+10), sturdier (+6 HP), more skillful (+13 Skl), more magical (+1), and luckier (+12) than Johalvier. He does have +1 Def and +2 Res over Larcei, at least.
5 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:It's actually really kinda funny that there are no playable infantry classes with inherent A-rank in any offensive magic type. Like, who is writing these tomes that only a handful of people with the proper blood type can use? Unfortunately, it kinda undermines the magic types being threshed out. We have Wind Mages, but no Wind Sages. Or, maybe they could've made three types of War Mage: "Wind/Axe", "Fire/Lance", and "Thunder/Sword". Something along those lines.
Definitely seems like something a modern FE game would do (although I don't know about the differing physical weapons). Maybe it can still be blamed on storage capacity on the SNES cartridges.
4 hours ago, Revier said:The power of...CONTRIVANCE!!!!!! 😆
Julius ex machina.
3 hours ago, Jotari said:Step 5: If Julius has to rescue Travant, then let Julius and Seliph actually talk to each other a bit. Make a moment of it instead of an out of nowhere WTF.
Julius could also make an appearance earlier - maybe when Travant dies, to offer Arion support (the reinforcements coming from the northwest) and tell him how friends are supposed to help each other, and how important mutual trust is for him, and how repugnant he finds the idea of let a friend hang out to dry.
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FE4 Chapter 9: For Whose Sake
Luthecia --> Grutia --> Thracia
Spoiler
The next turn starts with Faval, who I had intended to grab money from the villages, retreating back south, because I peeked ahead a little...
...because another John Constipatius (surely related to Incontinentia Buttocks) spawns from that area.
: "Heh, no matter. The rebels' little rampage ends here. Ready, men? We're going in. The Emperor himself's put a handsome bounty on each rebel head. We mustn't waste a chance to claim it for ourselves!
And at the same time, Grutia starts... Well, I'd love to say "moving", but you'll see...
: "The enemy has got their grubby paws on Kapathogia?! I should've known better than to trust those worthless Thracians... I suppose it was unavoidable. Fortify our defensive line. Until reinforcements arrive, we must defend the castle at all costs."
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It's a whole group of ballistae... and nothing else. This is so dumb.
What's also dumb is Dermott getting hit by a 1%. The Thracia experience, I guess
: "A liberation army, is it... There is no place for your precious light in this realm. This world is Lord Loptyr's to smother in darkness!"
To make up for it, Oifey manages to avoid a 58, so yay him.
Judah is about what you expect a Dark Bishop to be, which is to say fairly bulky for a mage, pretty accurate (Jormungand has +20 hit compared to Fenrir) and hard-hitting, but slowed down a lot even with his 1-2 ranged option, so his Pursuit skill doesn't matter a whole lot.
I forgot to make a screenshot of the stats, but the commander of the Ballista squad uses a Killer Ballista. Its Mt is right between normal and Iron Ballistae, but it's really accurate (100 hit compared to the others' 60) and gives the Critical skill. Luckily, enemy Ballisticians have all-around awful stats, so the crit chance is relatively low.
In the north, John Constipatius CIXX. is even tankier than Judah, even before taking his Shield Ring into account. He's also really fast, since Tornado, like all the non-Forseti wind spells, only has a weight of 2. This is important, since he also has the Pursuit skill, and 18 AS actually doubles a lot of units on our team.
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His team is a bunch of promoted Cav classes - three of each weapon type, all carrying Silvers, plus two unarmed healers in the Paladin class.
Before getting to the fight, recruiting Hannibal unlocks a conversation between Sharlow and Leylia - and thanks to the Knight Ring, she can dance and talk on the same turn. Convenient!
: "Hey! You're Sharlow, right?"
: "Huh? Sorry, but who are you, miss?"
: "I'm Leylia! Er, you've never seen a dancer before, have you?"
: "No, sorry... Not yet."
: "Heh! Y'know, if you ever have time to spare, I can show you a bit of dancing. Deal?"
: "T-thank you..."
[+1 Lck --> Leylia]
Certainly a conversation of all time. With words and all. Looking at the chapter's script on the wiki, Lene and Coirpre discover that they're both from Dahra, but even that is absent from Leylia and Sharlow's dialogue. Supporting Jotari's suggestion that Sharlow could just have been Hannibal's biologial son, it seems like their being siblings won't amount to anything in the story.
Let's get Judah and the Ballistae out of the way first. I had hoped that Oifey would draw another Fenrir attack to allow Dermott to just march in and one-round Judah...
...but because Nanna stayed a bit too far back to heal her brother up, Arthur does the job instead with an Adept proc.
: "Heh... Lord Loptyr's return is nigh... And when it comes... You will all..."
Dermott can just kill the dangerous Ballistician instead.
Fee also approaches from the north a bit ahead of time - not really necessary in hindsight, since I'm going to wait for my units to group up a little anyway, but as you'll see, Musah's group also won't be too much of a problem.
The rest of the Ballisticians will go down in the next couple rounds. Nothing interesting there, so I'll consider this part of the fight done.
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For starters, a little bit of kiting and (frankly not really necessary) money stealing, including Ares eating a 6%. My GBAFE-conditioned brain is losing its mind right now.
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More kiting, although at this point it's mostly about staying just out of Musar's range...
...and it's clean-up time. At this point, the non-mounted units start approaching from the east, too, and it's not that big a problem to finish off the remaining enemies.
As for the boss...
: "Death to all rebel scum! Only oblivion awaits those who dare to threaten the Empire!"
...swapping from Silver to Slim actually gets Seliph from being doubled to double Musah, although he doesn't exactly hit him very hard like this.
Leaf ended up significantly faster than Seliph, and he can double even with his trusted Silver Blade and gets the kill with a hit, a miss, and an Adept proc.
: "Glory be... to Grannvale!"
This also puts the Tornado spell into Leaf's inventory which... honestly seems not too bad. It's nice to have a very light 1-2 option, and Tornado makes up for his not-too-impressive Mag stat. He can pass his Flame Sword to Seliph, Ares or Oifey at the start of the next chapter.
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Patty spots her brother some dough for a Paragon arena run, and Altena flies up to grab the villages instead. She isn't the greatest recipient for the Res ring that you get from one of them, since her Res will still be arse after the +5 bonus, but I'm sure Seliph can afford it without much issue. He's at 50k gold at the start of the next chapter.
: "General Distler of Luthecia's nothing more than a slimy toady to the king! Useless as he is, he still acts all like he's some almighty tyrant... What a foul little man."
: "They say a priest from a dark cult has got his foul hands on Grutia. Could it be true? Make no mistake. I know well the life King Travant is trying to crawl free of... But to allow a fell agent of the Loptyrian Order free run of his country... How could he make such a foolish choice? Accept this here barrier ring... And with it, please, save our beloved nation!"
: "Oh, hey! You've gone and sorted out them Imperial reinforcements already? Wow... I'm pretty dang impressed!"
That's a very small thing to (presumably) include alternative dialogue for.
: "Thracia has many generals in its service, but Lord Hannibal is the most revered of 'em all. The man has devoted nigh on his entire life to the battlefield, so he never found a wife. Mind, twelve years ago or so, he did take in an orphan. He treats the boy as if he's his own flesh and blood. What a wonderful guy!"
: "King Travant's as heartless as men come, he is. But oddly enough, his two kids, Arion and Altena, are the kindest souls you'll ever meet. Like peas in a pod, those two are! Always have been. Oh, I pray nothing ever changes that..."
Well, about that...
[22500 gold; Barrier Ring --> Altena]
Now, to more important things: Some more money for Johalvier from Larcei...
...and Johalvier can make use of the Killer Bow's low weight now. We'll see if I can get away with not giving this to Arthur for full Forseti onslaught against the bosses in the last chapters.
Moving, moving, moving...
...and Seliph eventually arrives at Grutia and seizes.
: "Lewyn, do you think Arion still intends to fight us?"
: "Looks like it. I've sent envoy after envoy offering a truce, but he's not responding."
Fun Fact: An important mechanic in the multiplayer of the strategy game Europa Universalis IV is "stab-hitting": If you have at least +50% warscore against a human opponent and you sent them a peace offer that has at most half of that value, their country will suffer a loss of stability if they refuse the offer. You can spend a resource to increase stability again, but it's too expensive to keep up indefinitely, and an opponent at minimum stability will be forced to accept the next incoming peace offer. So, part of warfare is to send diplomats to an opponent you want to peace out (in particular a secondary participant of a war) as frequently as possible, with once per ingame month being the optimum. I'm imagining Lewyn sitting at a PC hovering his mouse cursor over the "offer peace" button to click it the second it lights up.
: "I guess his stubborn dracoknight pride compels him to fight to the bitter end. And here I was hoping the legendary Arion of Thracia'd be a wiser man than this... Seliph, I hope you understand we can't turn back now. This last battle needs to be fought."
: "I don't understand him... Why? Why must Arion insist on fighting such a futile battle... Arion... How can he be so callous? Does he not understand the grief he is inflicting on Altena?!"
"Also sending swarms of soldiers to their death, but Altena was looking really sad!"
Otherwise - glad we're on the same page here, Seliph.
Seizing Grutia unlocks a few more conversations, starting with Sharlow and Hannibal, although that one is more of an easter egg without a Talk command (or appearing in the unit list). There was no reason why the two should split up, so this one I can get on the same turn Seliph seized:
: "Sharlow..."
: "Hm? Is something wrong, Papa?"
: "Son... I feel as if I am in some way responsible for all of your misfortunes... If you'd been raised by a normal family, rather than by a soldier such as myself, you would never have been abducted..."
: "Don't say things like that, Papa! I'm as happy as can be to live with you! And thanks to you, I'm using my magic to help you all fight for peace and justice. I wouldn't give that up for anything!"
: "I see..."
: "Oh, and by the way."
: "...Yes?"
: "I'm so proud that you're my papa, Papa... Kapathogia's people love you so much. They all say you're the best thing that ever happened to them. Not to mention, you adopted an orphan!"
: "They do, do they... Thank you, Sharlow. I'm so glad I have such a fine son... Which reminds me. This staff is for you. I found it discarded in the castle grounds. I believe you're skilled enough to wield it."
: "Ohh! And it's a lovely staff, too! Thank you, Papa! Thank you so much."
[Berserk --> Sharlow]
Very sweet convo. No wisecracks to be made here.
: "The enemy has come as far as Grutia... Very well. All hands, deploy at once! Engage them in the Dragon Trinity Strike formation! This is our final chance. Thracia's destiny hangs in the balance of this final assault!"
I could make a joke about the Trinity Strike involving four platoons... but Arion, with his larger and more powerful group, stays behind at Thracia Castle.
Arion is, obviously, quite threatening with Gungnir combined with his high mobility.. Despite his slightly lower level, his base stats are higher than his father's, too, and he replaces Vantage with Adept to make sure that you'd never want to fight him at melee range. Of course, he still has Nihil to fend up bows and Pursuit to completely destroy any character without adequate speed. And of course, there is the Miracle Band to potentially give you a headache if you trigger that skill.
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His platoon consists of the stronger Dracoknights (with Slim Lances and Sleep Edges) instead of the Dragonrider mooks that will assault our castles - although those squads are at least led by a Brave Lance Dracoknight each.
So, what's the plan?
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Why, it's to rely on our primo combat units Patty and Johalvier, of course!
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Patty is a bit better at the job, because the Dragonriders all insist on attacking from range (I assume at this point that the 2-range magic of her sword confounds the AI) and get one-rounded and stolen from. Johalvier is just shy of one-rounding now that he can double (although he gets two Accost procs), but like Patty, he has no trouble staying alive.
The third group can mostly be intercepted on their path west, so Luthecia doesn't really come under assault.
However, the commander got away - right there next to Thracia Castle - and it's, once again, going to fetch another group of enemies from the enemy castle. But, as you can see, the last battle of this map is about to start:
: "They've come at last... Move out! Whether we win or die, we'll have fought in our fatherland's name! Dracoknights! Descend upon the enemy!"
...oh.
Yeahh, let's not let that happen. This swarm of Wyverns needs some kiting, and a sleeping Arthur (without Forseti equipped) is not going to survive if he's left behind against Arion.
There, better.
Here, the AI actually did a smart, and is using the cliff to make hit-and-run tactics less effective. With how the cliff is formed, I wonder if this is deliberate map design - if so, nicely done.
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So, more kiting, avoiding Arion's range...
...and the first and last wave of reinforcements comes out, although not quite synced up with Arion's group. Despite how this looks, the reinforcements already took their turn on this screenshot, while Arion's group is about to assault.
So, let's see what Arion has to offer.
: "Heh... What fools. You dare challenge me, even knowing I wield Gungnir, the heavenly lance?"
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...yeah, I know, running right into Miracle range. I was just thinking "let's see if Arthur procs something" - he did - and didn't even consider that Forseti might have this low a hitrate.
It gives an opportunity to check out Arion's battle convo with Seliph:
: "So... You're the famous Prince Seliph... Heh, I trust you'll make for a fine foe. Shall we begi our duel, then?"
: "Prince Arion, please! Lay down your arms! It isn't too late to end this peacefully!"
: "Enough! I've nothing left to say. Now, come! Come acquaint yourself with Gungnir, Seliph!"
No Adept proc from Arion, so no entry in Seliph's "L" list, but he obviously doesn't connect with his 0% hit attempts, either.
: "How... How could this be?! I've... I've brought shame on myself... Altena..."
Instead, Julia hits one of two coinflips. With how Micaiah-like her appearance is, you wouldn't expect her to double Arion, but her Spd is actually tied with Fee's for second-best (after Larcei) on the team.
And then, Arion gets saved by Julius.
I'll be honest, I had to laugh a little at this. I know, there's the precedent of Julius saving Ishtar earlier, but since he and Arion didn't really have any connection at all, this is still an extremely contrived way of letting Arion return in endgame. Manfroy could've swooped in, all "Mwahahahahhh, I shall brainwash youuuuuu!", and it couldn't have been sillier.
...I believe that is what they call foreshadowing.
I won't bore you with the details for the rest of the fight. Easy clean-up, a few remaining arena runs (everybody except Leylia and Sharlow).
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Although this is, er, nice: Patty realises that Ulster's raw stats are even sexier than Shanan's. She can immediately use Ulster's 50k to enable full Paragon arena runs for Altena (who was still slightly below 40k despite getting all but one village), Ced, and Arthur.
I didn't forget about the remaining conversations, either:
: "Are you at all hurt, Lord Seliph?"
: "Ah, Julia! No, I'm fine, thank you. I pray you're taking care of yourself."
: "Lord Seliph..."
: "Is something amiss?"
: "Er... No, it's nothing..."
: "Listen, Julia. You've been acting oddly all day. Is something troubling you?"
: "I... All I can feel is dread... I feel as if I'll be torn from you, and we'll never see each other again... I... I'm terrified..."
: "You've no need to worry, Julia. I swore to you all those months ago that I'll protect you, no matter what. Have faith, Julia. I'll never let you down."
: "I know... I do believe in you... I'm so sorry, Lord Seliph... I've never been more than a nuisance to you."
: "You must be weary. We have been on the march for weeks on end, after all! Listen. Once we're done here, we'll be headed for the free city of Miletos. You can have a nice, long rest there. Oh, that's right! Miletos is famous for its merchants, no? I can take you shopping while we're there. I'll buy you anything you desire. Well, as long as it's not too pricey. Heh... I can only imagine how poorly Lewyn would handle any over-spending!"
: "You would do that...? Oh, thank you, Lord Seliph... Thank you..."
: "Is that a little smile I see before me? Heh, now that's more like it!"
: "Lord Seliph... Close your eyes, please."
: "Hm? Why do you ask?"
: "I wish to cast a Ward spell upon you... It will help you better resist enemy magic."
: "Are you sure, Julia?! Wouldn't the use of such a spell endanger you?"
: "Everything will be alright... I've done naught but take and take so far. All I want is to give something back."
: "Julia..."
: "Oh, lords in the heavens above... I implore you, confer your blessings upon Lord Seliph..."
[+3 Res --> Seliph]
Look, Kaga, I know they still don't know about it, but would you mind not shipping the siblings this hard? Ignoring that... One, has there any rule of magic been established why this spell is dangerous for Julia to cast? And two, I can not believe that fuckin' Lewyn seems to be in charge of the treasury.
Lastly, Altena can have one of two conversations, although the magic of mid-battle saves allows to see both:
: "Princess Altena. I've been filled in on your situation. You have my deepest condolences."
: "General Hannibal... You've chosen to ally with Lord Seliph as well, have you? Thank goodness... I was dreading the very idea of considering you an enemy as well."
: "Hm. Pray tell, milady, what has become of Prince Arion?"
: "My broth- Er, no... Arion simply refused to listen to anything I said. Perhaps you would have better luck persuading him, sir?"
: "If you couldn't convince him, milady, then nobody has a chance. I would surmise that Prince Arion is resolved to die a warrior's death, not giving in to the indignity of a truce. We've no choice left."
: "But sir-"
: "I know how you feel, milady... But some men like Arion are stubborner than mules. Most likely, Prince Arion would never wish to reveal such perceived weakness before you. Please understand this at least, milady..."
[+3 HP -> Altena]
Just in general, it's a nice touch that Altena tries to dissociate herself from the Thracian royal family, but can't quite prevent herself from still seeing them as brother and father.
Both Hannibal and Finn's conversations with Altena give her +3 HP, so that's why you can only have one of them. Since they go in very different directions, this seems a bit silly - why not attach the HP bonus to only one of them
and have the other increase all of Hannibal's stats by +5 instead?Anyway, one reload later...:
: "Pardon me, my lady... I am Finn, a knight of House Leonster. It is an honor to meet you once more."
: "So you're Sir Finn, then? Leif's told me about you already. I can't thank you enough for all you've done to protect him all these years."
: "Thank you, my lady, but it is I who owes you an apology. Not once in the past seventeen years did I ever suspect that you yet lived on, let alone just across the border! My failure to search for you is... is inexcusable..."
: "Sir Finn... Are those tears I see? Why... Why are you crying?"
: "I... My apologies, my lady. You shouldn't have to see me in such a state as this..."
: "Hold a moment... I remember something... Yes, I... I was incredibly fond of you... And I always sought your attention, didn't I? That's right... Sir Finn..."
: "My lady, I..."
Before she gets kagaed, Julia leaves the Silence staff at the Pawnbroker. I kept both Skill Ring and Miracle Band on her - probably a mistake, thinking about it, so I might replay the last turn to change that.
But for now, we're done.
: "Say, Lewyn... Did my eyes deceive me, or did Arion really vanish like that?"
: "Yeah, he did. Witnesses to the fight are saying Prince Julius appeared and took Arion."
: "The Emperor's son himself?"
: "Mm... and your half-brother, at that..."
: "I can hardly believe we share a mother..."
: "And yet you do. Empress Deirdre was a talented priestess, and it looks like he inherited her skill with white magic. For Prince Julius, common warping and healing spells are the merest of trifles. He doesn't even need staves! But that's not the whole story, Seliph. Prince Julius's true power comes from something else entirely..."
: "How do you mean?"
: "Loptyr... It's the power of the dark lord..."
...still no elaboration?
The way Julius's deal is presented through Lewyn is honestly really bad. Lewyn clearly knows what is going on, but he only makes two vague comments and now this less vague one - but he still refuses to explain what exactly he means, presumably for the sake of drama. It's like this annoying shape of a conversation: "I just can't believe [X]!" - "Why, what happened with [X]?" - "Ugh, I don't want to talk about it."
And with that being the end of the chapter, I don't think I don't have anything new to say about the plot. Arion's still an idiot, Travant is pretty cool but could've been cooler... We've gone over that.
As far as gameplay is concerned, the map had some neat ideas. The two Wyvern squads, led by Altena and Travant respectively, going after Meath were a decent way to have the player divert some resources. The Dragon Trinity Strike is pretty cool, although it's easily foiled by Return and Warp because the squads are really weak. At the start of this update, we *could* have had a cool pincer between Grutia's troops and Grannvale's reinforcements... but then we didn't because Judah decided to go for the all-stationary approach. Lost opportunity. Overall, a 5/10 map - an effort was made, and some of it was successful.
The Team:
Lv. HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res Funds XP Arn W/L Seliph 25.78 63 25 5 22 20 28 22 16 50000 +458 [*] 40/0 Leif 24.79 57 27 8 24 26 15 25 11 16072 +622 [*] 24/0 Oifey 25.34 50 20 10 22 21 12 20 8 32340 +363 [*] 21/2 Finn 29.09 50 24 1 18 22 23 21 4 50000 +189 [*] 17/0 Dermott 25.44 58 23 0 30 23 20 19 6 33732 +576 [*] 40/1 Nanna 27.90 55 24 7 21 19 21 23 7 28800 +895 [*] 7/0 Ares 25.06 66 24 9 21 20 15 23 13 50000 +577 [*] 13/0 Fee 27.24 54 17 17 23 28 15 20 24 42217 +473 [*] 33/0 Altena 21.76 57 27 3 20 22 10 25 1 43960 +476 [*] 2/0 Lester 21.96 49 21 3 17 19 21 17 4 40063 +648 [*] 23/0 Arthur 25.90 62 6 23 22 22 25 11 11 47400 +596 [*] 24/0 Shanan 23.50 55 23 0 30 25 11 19 6 42900 +418 [*] 14/0 Ulster 21.40 56 27 6 25 21 11 22 4 3000 +436 [*] 6/0 Larcei 24.60 63 27 1 30 30 19 22 6 16070 +384 [*] 16/0 Patty 24.90 55 21 12 17 26 23 13 9 6993 +688 [*] 25/0 Johalvier 27.40 57 26 0 17 20 7 23 8 16435 +634 [*] 28/0 Hannibal 21.96 60 21 0 16 12 7 23 6 17520 +196 [*] 1/0 Faval 21.51 56 16 13 20 27 25 13 5 43903 +733 [*] 13/0 Ced 23.53 48 4 24 22 27 25 11 27 21500 +518 [*] 4/0 Lana 29.73 57 12 23 24 23 29 12 11 30826 +834 [*] 0/0 Tinni 18.59 51 1 17 21 21 20 3 10 37853 +642 [*] 6/0 Sharlow 11.00 34 1 15 9 11 8 5 10 3000 +1000 -- 0/0 Leylia 10.76 29 8 2 1 14 6 2 5 13000 +310 [1] 0/0 Julia 25.93 46 4 30 18 28 10 5 27 +406 [*]- Mawwied: Ulster/Patty, Larcei/Johalvier, Nanna/Leif, Patty/Ulster
- Truly in Love: Seliph<->Lana, Arthur<->Fee, Tinni->Seliph, Leylia<->Ares
- Fancy of Late: Shanan->Tinni, Dermott->Lana, Oifey->Lana, Lester->Tinni
- Dwelling on Mind: Ced->Tinni, Faval->Tinni, Sharlow->Lana
- Forever Alone: Altena, Finn, Hannibal
Ced, Faval, Shanan, and Lester love Tinni, but Tinni loves Seliph, but Seliph loves Lana and Lana loves Seliph. I think Hugh Grant played in this movie?
6 hours ago, Jotari said:Which...yeah, those clumps of villages are definitely not. Hell Melgen and Ulster are practically on the same line of latitude yet on the intro chapter map Ulster is quite a bit to the north. I wonder if Kaga came up with his world map first and then tried to design the chapters around that map and had to make compromises for the sake of gameplay, or if it was all gameplay first and someone just really half assed their job of designing the intro map.
Welp, RIP perfect consistency. It's not the biggest deal, but I can't help but be a little disappointed that the ambitious goal to accurately display the world map in the slightly overlapping chapter maps has only almost been reached.
6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:Ah, but I did have a reason to do that: it greatly amused me.
So you consider your enjoyment of the game more important than a miniscule mechanical advantage?
Fake FE player.
6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:Pretty sure Project Naga tried to go for this but corrupted.
This greatly amuses me. I love these little localisation jokes, as long as they're not as heavy handed as they are in America.
6 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:Also, I am Travant.
The greatest twist about that is that you secretly haven't been a beardman all along.
3 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Obviously, Gary OldMan is an integral part of our army. Altenna couldn't meet him, and discover his wisdom, until she defected.
OldMan he may be, but good on him for looking no day older than he did almost 20 years ago.
3 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:I gave 'em an A. Not only does Coirpre become a mini-Charlot, but Leen gets 20 EXP per Dance. The defense boost usually helps, though it can occasionally make Miracle strats trickier. Not sure if it's as good as Claud passing down his own Staves (and major Bragi blood for stupid Mag and Res), though.
I'm basing this on very little actual knowledge of the endgame, of course, but I'm not sure how valuable that additional staff user really is in the endgame. Even without Julia, you still have Lana, Fee, Leaf, Nanna, Tinni (in any ranked run, I'm sure she'll promote with ch.10's arena), and then Coirpre/Sharlow. How important is it really to have six instead of five? Even though not everybody can use all the important staves, I'm not convinced that it's that big a deal.
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6 minutes ago, BrightBow said:
Don't think warrior codes have much to do with that. Pride, maybe. But above else I would say he is just done with life at this point.
After decades he is still stuck in the Southern end of the peninsula.
Not only that, his worst fear has finally become realized. The girl he raised for 17 years has finally found out that what he did to her biological parents and now looks at him with the eyes of her mother and sees in him nothing but a murderer.
I would imagine he saw his two kids as a symbol of a united Thracia. Now they have instead cause a repeat of the tragedy of the Gae Borg and are if anything a symbol of it's ongoing divide.Point is, his reign was a complete failure. For all his plotting and scheming he has nothing to show for but the corpses of the good people who died in his wake.
Interesting perspective. I read Travant as having decided on this last resort at the start of chapter 8 already, with Arion's line about Travant looking more fearful than ever foreshadowing that. If Arion seemingly killing Altena was what pushed him over the edge, that would put quite a different spin on this.
Personally, I think I'll still keep a hypothetical code of honour in the back of my mind. Arion must've gotten his ideas about honour from from somewhere, so I kinda expect Thracia to have one.
10 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:...Sooooo is the Manster District supposed to be akin to Medieval/Renaissance Italy politically then? -With way less internal conflict I would imagine.
One would expect a lot of Grannvalian meddling in the diplomatic affairs between the Manster realms, no? With Thracia playing more of a role of plundering brigands with less diplomatic finesse, I can buy that they wouldn't have much success in that game, but surely, some Grannvale kings would've tried to play the Manster factions against one another.
SEQUEL IDEA: Thracia 1492, in which the seafarer Chris O'Lumbus from the Manster district conducts an naval exploration in the name of the Thracian king and queen. And lo and behold, he actually discovers what will later be known as Valentia! Unfortunately, he turns out to be a complete piece of shit, killing and enslaving the natives, and it's the mission of the player character to expose his evil deeds.
12 minutes ago, Revier said:LOL
Gameplay-story segregation strikes again. 😆
Although tbh why do clerics know the name of characters' parents? If they can detect these things through prayer or spiritual concentration, wouldn't that make Arvis' deal even weirder?
An oddity that I'm willing to accept because it is convenient. And a character's parentage isn't important enough in the turn-by-turn business that it would have to be crammed into the stat screen somewhere.
(A small detail that is missing and that I would've liked: Characters like Ares and Johalvier could've given an answer from the augury, too. If nothing else, it would allow Jotari to add Finn's parents to his list of named FE characters that never actually make an on-screen appearance)
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I'm going to say Sylvia. It's not that she's a promiscuous character, but I really don't need a promiscuous character whose childishness and immaturity is dialed up to 11 in virtually every scene she is in. And even if those traits were removed, it also bothers me that Sylvia's behaviour needed to be given a justification in the form of daddy issues, while characters like Sain or Saul are allowed to be man-sluts just because.
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Why didn't Altena just ask a random old guy who her real parents are? Is she stupid?
6 hours ago, Jotari said:I think they might have meant that it's closer to Ulster. Leif's city of Leinster is up on the northern coast of North Thracia. While Ulster, the city you first fight Bloom in, is the south western part. And the whole region is called Munster District and not Leinster. So unless the map looked something like this.
Which would give way too much territory to Leinster, unless it's pushed up right to the coast. There also doesn't seem to be a way to give the titular Munster much territory, thanks to Thracia getting that east coast that is only accessible from right beside Munster.
You're right, it is a bit surprising that it's part of Leonster. I haven't really been thinking about the four realms of the Manster district, so that never occurred to me. Directly west of Meath and north of Luthecia would put it here on the map:
So we probably just have to assume that Leonster controls like half of the Manster district.
5 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:Murderer.
Spoiler
4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:Roddlebahn
Make it "Rodelbahn" and you have the German word for a sled run. A beautiful name for a boy.
5 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:...in all seriousness, letting both get berserk would help, but the problem is that Coirpre really really needs paragon due to his starting situation, and he just... Doesn't get it, unlike Sharlow. Unless they completely change how they function as units, I fear the concept is kinda dead on arrival. I mean, seriously, level 1 priest halfway through chapter 8?
Lex/Sylvia, let's go.
(just theorycrafting - but that actually sounds like the most convenient option if you're going for ranked, no? Coirpre gets Paragon, Lex can pass him the Renewal band to give him a nice 20k to blow on staves, not like Lex would lack the funds, and you don't really care about how useful Coirple's staff botting is. And Lene can do Vantage/Sleep Sword memes to get through the arena, so she'll cap out, too.)
1 hour ago, Interdimensional Observer said:My error then, my misinterpretation.😅 Sorry for wasting your time.
Hey, no worries. We're both entitled to our opinions, and it's not as if I wasn't spamming mine all over this thread.
2 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:Completely unserious explanation for anything stupid any flier character does.: Spending a bunch of time high in the sky where the air is thinner leads to slight oxygen deprivation, the effects of which on the brain and cognitive functions are subtle yet significant. -This explanation doesn't work at all, because there is simply no way pegasi and wyverns fly at such altitudes that oxygen masks/pressured cabins are necessary to stay alive and functionally conscious.😝
We see wyverns fly above peaks (yet close enough to spot the sadness in their eyes), so this seems like a perfectly realistic explanation.
It also covers why Erin would ever be attracted to Lewyn. -
8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:
Tycho Brahe?😕
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant_(military)
8 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:Arion is Daddy Issues/10.
As I said, Arion as a person, growing up with a father like Travant, would have my sympathy. Arion as a fictional character is frustrating because first, he's just evil daddy's yesman, and when evil daddy finally showcases a shade of grey, it just goes over his head entirely, with the conclusion that he and his kidn-- adopted sister must stab each other eventually.
7 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:For what it's worth, I don't think he's getting himself killed for "weird honor codes" here. Travant's many things, but he doesn't strike me as one to put much stock in honor. No, I think what he's doing here is ensuring that all the baggage you listed dies with him. With him having paid for his many misdeeds, the rebels' fury is satisfied, and nothing stops Arion from wiping the slate clean and, with Bloom gone as well, negotiating a path towards a new, bright era for Thracia. In theory.
It's not a terrible plan, all things considered, and it shows that at least to a degree, he did genuinely wish the betterment of his homeland, if he's willing to ensure it even if he will be too dead to benefit from it.
I was thinking that he maybe could've reached the same goal by just pulling a Siriüh and disappear without a trace
and only come back wearing a bitchin' mask when Arion is kidnapped by a somehow revived Manfroy. But you're right, him dying is a clear cut that would fulfil any desires of revenge on the side of Leif specifically.7 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:There was no need for this. You needlessly killed Philip 4.
Murderer.
You consider 25-ish XP on a character who already one-rounds bosses with plenty of overkill "no need?"
Fake FE player.
6 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:If/when Genealogy gets remade... I haven't the faintest how they could possibly fix Coirpre. Short of turning Silvia's Dance from a class skill to a personal one, being a second refresher would maybe improve him?
FE 3-STYLE AGAIN STAFF
4 hours ago, Revier said:Of course, the game has to shoot all moral ambiguity by painting the enemy as "evil". Also, what? The Leonsters were ruling over the northern part of Thracia, not here.
Can't comment on the T776 involvement that Jotari is talking about, but the geography works out:
The cluster is west of Meath across a mountain range and north of Luthecia, so that would actually put the village cluster pretty deep into Leonster territory. Relative to Ch.8's map, it would be further west (if from the southern part of the map), not south.
4 hours ago, Jotari said:We get to see him being nice and fatherly to her in Thracia 776, which is cool...doesn't exactly help Genealogy as it's own piece of media though.
I'm principled not to use any sequel or prequel's badness against an original piece of media (like BlaBla making some BinBla characters look stupid, or terrible FF7 spin-offs), so I agree. Sorry, FE4!Travant, you're just a bad parent.
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On 4/14/2024 at 10:38 PM, Etrurian emperor said:
I'd say Lang scores a lot of points. He's an overly evil douchebag, but in a role and position where he's exactly what he's supposed to be. Lang's meant to be so evil that it shows how far Hardin has fallen, and be powerful enough to be an early game antagonist. In both aspects he succeeds. I think the key aspect to his success is that unlike many villains who hold this role Lang is never depicted as incompetent, allowing him to be a serious threat.
I fully agree that Lang is great (honestly, Book 2's story becomes weaker almost the moment he's dead), but I'd say he stretches the category "minor villain" a bit. While there's never the illusion that he's the Big Bad of the entire game, he's still the major antagonist for almost a third of the game. Heck, I'd even say that he's the Book 2 villain with the most presence, even compared to the official main villains Gharnef and Medeus.
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FE4 Chapter 9: For Whose Sake
Meath --> Kapathogia/Luthecia
Spoiler
Well then, time to semi-engage Hannibal's troops. This isn't really necessary - as Hannibal said near the end of last update, he and his men won't come after you right away, so one could just deal the Altena's platoon before moving on Kapathogia.
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After a not-too-productive enemy phase, we get another small cutscene in Luthecia Castle:
: "What a sorry joke... Me, a distinguished general, stuck babysitting some brat?"
: "Excuse me, Mister Distler, but... Let me go! Papa doesn't want to fight. He's out there risking his life all because of me!"
: "Silence, boy! If Thracia's legendary Shield refuses to ply his warrior's craft of his own will, then we will force him to, by any means necessary!"
:" Oh, Papa... Sorry..."
"Mister Distler" sounds funny. And as far as extremely minor bossmen go, he's... alright. While he doesn't display much of a personality in this exchange, the contrast to his extremely compliable "Yes, King Travant, whatever you say" attitude earlier is a neat small detail.
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The next turn, while the vanguard still stays just outside of Hannibal's range, Altena's group arrives...
...and with a Dance, Leaf can have his little chat with his long-lost sister.
: "Waaaaait! Please, my sister! Stop it!"
: "Your sister?! ...Who are you, and why do you think calling me your sister is a good idea?"
: "I... I am Leif, of House Leonster."
: "Leif? Oh, I see... The famous Prince Leif, is it? In case it wasn't obvious... And, evidently, it wasn't... I am Altena, daughter of Travant."
: "Listen to me, Altena! Your true parents are Quan and Ethlyn, whom Travant slew seventeen years ago. You vanished in Travant's attack, and so too did Gáe Bolg, the sacred earth lance of Leonster. Which, I might ad, is the very lance resting in your hand as we speak! Only a true heir of House Leonster can wield Gáe Bolg."
: "What are you talking about?! Are you seriously trying to claim my real father is my father's arch-enemy? That could never be... It mustn't..."
: "Look into my eyes. If anything can prove the truth of my words to you, it will be my eyes. Please, sister..."
: "Fine... ...What is this?! I know you're lying, but I... I can't bring myself to doubt you anymore!"
: "...Altena!"
: "Wait! I... I must speak with Father. I need to confirm this..."
I'm sure this will go swimmingly.
Maybe I'm too cynical, but I think I would've preferred if Leif would've brought a bit more rational substance to his speech. In particular, comparing Gáe Bolg to Gungnir and ask if Altena never wondered about her weapon being equivalent to her father's legendary heirloom. But even if not too cynical, I'm certainly being very pedantic with this.
: "Altena? Oh, you have got to be joking. Why? Why, why, WHY did you abandon your post for the second time in as many days?"
: "My apologies, Father... but I have an urgent question to ask of you. Are you my father? Or was my father really King Quan?"
: "Feh... I see you've found out at last. Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time before this day came. It's true. Quan did indeed sire you, but what difference does that make now? It doesn't change that it is I who raised you."
: "So you... You murdered my parents, Father..."
: "Heh heh... I suppose I did. Quan and Ethlyn died at my hand. Do you take issue with that? War is hell, Altena. War claims lives. Worrying now won't change a thing."
: "Gah... How dare you! How dare you mislead me all these years, Father! Er, no... Travant!"
: "I cannot allow this. If you dare to turn on Father, then you'll have to contend with me first!"
: "W-wait! I can't fight you, Arion! I could never-"
: "It's too late for you to stand down now... Farewell, Altena!"
: "Nngh... Arion..."
: "...You didn't just kill her, did you, Arion? You know, you didn't need to go quite so far... Eh, no matter. I'm going to join the fray, Arion. I suppose there's little choice now... You're in charge of defending the castle."
: "Understood, Father."
: "I'll entrust this spear to you... and with it, the future of Thracia."
: "Hold on a moment, Father... This is Gungnir! What is the meaning of this? How do you intend to fight without it? Unless... Father, you can't be-"
: "I am. Frankly, Arion, I've had enough. Thracia is yours to do with as you see fit. But we don't need to be hated by their kind..."
: "Are you seriously suggesting I should seek a truce, Father? No! Never! To comply with the rebels now would be unthinkable!"
: "As I said, Thracia is yours. Do as you see fit. All I ask is for you to find a way to liberate Thracia's people from their suffering... Farewell, Arion."
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Add a "It wouldn't have made a--" before Travant's "Eh, no matter", and I would've loved this scene.
It's still good, though, I think. Of course, I know (and knew when playing) that Altena is playable and Arion stabbing her is a fake-out - and I do wonder if I would've recognised it as such if unspoiled because of the lack of fanfare. Maybe not, considering the Wiseau-like brevity of Eldigan's execution...
Anyway - Travant is great in this scene. Might be the first time he shows a certain moral greyness, with how his adoption of Altena has been framed as just an act to use her innate power. But here, he recognises the writing on the wall: Seliph's army is going to win, and with Travant being a famously traitorous and backstabby (even though that's a bit of an informed attribute, in my opinion), not to mention the killer of Leif's parents and abductor of his sister... Travant's chances to negotiate a peace with Seliph seem slim at best. So, instead, he hands over his crown to Arion, who does not carry any of that baggage, with what I see as a pretty clear implied recommendation to make peace with Leonster, and then he goes off to get himself killed with his honour intact because warrior codes are weird like that.
'Tis a shame Arion is an idiot.
...I don't think that joke works in English. Oh well. Not every language can import awesome Czech words into their astronomy vocabulary.
Hmm...
Er, right. Travant. Fairly strong, although far less so after passing Gungnir to his son. He does have Pursuit, Vantage and - most importantly - Nihil to make it more difficult to kill him quickly.
One of Altena's companions managed to find a particularly smart spot to land on: Outside of 2-range attacks (unless I'm unaware of some peak-walking class, only Fee, who has to hurry west, would be able to attack him), but just close enough to Meath to cause a game over to an unprepared player.
With that, we can focus on Hannibal's group - first, put the man himself to sleep to avoid any unpleasant accidents...
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And then start whacking away. This position might look dangerous...
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...and it kinda is, since Ares could've suffered from success by killing one of the other Knights attacking him - but despite their Brave weapons, the Knights don't hit *that* hard. Or rather, most non-Mage characters have quite good Def at this point.
This turn Fee also arrives at the village cluster, potentially figuring out another AI quirk: Maybe it has trouble figuring out the ranged damage of magic swords. Or maybe the three Heroes are just not very smart in general.
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: "My lord Hannibal is depending on me to defend this castle. If you wish to claim it, you must first claim my life!"
: "General Hannibal... Forgive me, my liege..."
Kapathogia: Beaten. Not terribly difficult. Dermott and Seliph run ahead to beat Distler quickly, too.
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And villages (including a second Barrier Ring - haven't decided yet who to give that to): Saved.
On the way down, Fee only visits one village - she's just below 40k gold and hasn't done the arena yet, but she doesn't need more than this.
: "It wasn't all that long ago that the region here was under House Leonster's rule. Oh, what a peaceful time that was... As soon as the last war was over, though, the Thracians pounced on us like a starving cat..."
[5000 gold --> Fee]
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Travant's group arrives just as Seliph gets ready to attack Distler...
: "The rebels are already here?! Blast... We aren't ready for this!"
I'll say - he didn't send a single soldier out. Unless we count the three heroes chilling next to the villages, I guess.
I could've easily RNG abused for a crit here, but don't need to - first attempt, dead Distler.
: "Nngh... King Travant... I beg... your forgiveness..."
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: "I'm Sharlow... I'm General Hannibal's son. And... Wait... Aren't you Lord Seliph, the liberator?!"
: "Indeed I am. If I may ask, Sharlow, why would Thracia imprison one of their own generals' sons?"
: "King Travant took me hostage. Papa didn't want to fight your army at all, sir! The king threatened my life to force Papa to fight... Please, sir... Please take me to Papa! If Papa knows I'm safe, then he won't have to keep fighting! Please! We've gotta save him!"
: "I see... Don't worry. I promise we'll find him. Move out, everyone. I pray we'll still be in time to save General Hannibal!"
[HP 70% | Str 10% | Mag 50% | Skl 20% | Spd 20% | Lck 30% | Def 10% | Res 30%]
Skill: Paragon
Weapon Level: Staves (B)And so, as almost everybody on our team has reached promotion, we are given a Lv.1 Priest. How nice.
Honestly, while Paragon is obviously great, and 50% Mag growth without any holy blood is pretty nuts, Sharlow doesn't really seem like he has much of a niche. With Julia leaving after this chapter, you might think that he can be an alternative offensive staff user with high Mag, but Sharlow needs to get to Lv.20 and promote (at which point he'll be at 25-26 Mag on average) to overtake what Ced (24 Mag) and Lana (still 22 Mag despite her physical dad) have right now.
He does come with a Physic staff, which means that he still isn't useless, and I spend his initial cash to get him a Heal staff as a cheaper alternative, too. And with Paragon, he will level up at a rapid pace, too.
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Now then, to Travant we go...
: "Heh heh heh... Welcome, rebel scum. I am Travant. Remember this well: a final gift from the depths of the inferno!"
And at this point I realise that he has Nihil.
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: "Thracia... Nngh... My beautiful fatherland..."
Which leads to an admittedly less cathartic boss kill than we could've had.
After Travant's death, Arion remembers that he's supposed to be somewhat of a Camüh (...I assume, considering that he's young and generically anime-handsome):
: "My apologies, Altena. I had to give Father a convincing show, that I might ensure your survival. I had no choice but to deal such a powerful blow."
"But I promise, I always had the Gungnir setting on 'stun'."
: "Don't worry, Arion. I understand. But where is Fath... er, King Travant now?"
: "You won't see him again... Father has died in battle."
: "He has? ...How did it happen?"
: "You'd be better off not knowing. Father's heart was an enigma at the best of times..."
: "...Listen, Arion. What do you think I should do now?"
: "Join Prince Leif, your true brother. I'm certain he is still waiting for you."
: "Then what will you-"
: "Altena... This is my fate. There's no helping it."
: "No! You can call for a truce, Arion! Now that Travant's dead, there's nothing at all to stop you from seeking peace! And I... I could never fight you!"
: "I wish I could, and I would were it not for Father's final words to me... Please, Altena... Go! However, be prepared. Our next meeting shall be on the battlefield, and I will not stay my hand!"
: "Oh... Arion..."
What an idiot. Seriously, I don't understand how Arion hears Travant say "But we don't need to be hated by their kind..." and concludes that Travant wants him to keep fighting. Seems to me like a very clear suggestion to make peace. What a pure, unadulterated Camüh - down to the cool beardman contrasting his idiocy. I just hope that he feels differently about Altena than Camüh about Nyna.
And Altena makes her way towards Seliph.
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At this point, there isn't that much to do except movement. Nanna teleports Sharlow home because Hannibal is currently standing between Meath and Kapathogia...
...although that turns out to be a moot point, since Hannibal is one of those "return home to grab more mooks" bosses, and Kapathogia is more or less in the center between Meath and Luthecia.
However, seeing that, I also remember something I randomly saw long ago - either as advise for this chapter or as an example for stupid AI: While in retreat mode, Hannibal won't attack anybody, so you can just block his castle to completely confound him. So, Ulster does just that, while Patty hopefully starts thinking that he's hot before she entirely falls for Shanan. We'll see if there'll be enough time until the latter happens.
*sigh*
Well, Patty has a conversation with him, so we can get that one out of the way:
: "Hmph... So you're that Sharlow guy? Here I thought the son of the great General Hannibal'd be this amazingly hot guy, but you're just some snotty kid..."
: "You're not any better yourself, you know."
: "Oh, excuse you! Are you really trying to say I just look like a child?"
: "Yeah. I really am, because you really do."
: "Nrrgh... Y-you little... You JERK!"
[+3 HP --> Charlot; +100 love points]
How very romantic.
(Genealogy's repeated "look at how childish this woman is" convos really go on my nerves)
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Ares and Fee do their arena runs; Nanna warps Ares back to get his new outfit (and Lana can warp him back afterwards); and the last two recruits come in. Altena is actually a little faster than Sharlow reaching Hannibal:
: "Pardon me, Lord Seliph. My name is Altena... Daughter of Quan of Leonster. My brother, Prince Leif, has explained the truth to me, and I can no longer oppose you. If you plese, I'd like to join your ranks."
: "Princess Altena?! ...Ah, yes. That's right! Prince Leif has told me everything and we've both prayed you would come... He'll be so glad to know you've joined us. You've made a difficult but wise decision."
: "I can still scarcely believe this has all happened. And yet, the moment I gazed into my brother's eyes, I understood everything. His eyes revealed my father's warm gaze... And as clear as if it were only yesterday, I felt for a split second as if I were a mere baby, once more swaddled in my mother's gentle arms..."
Actually, that makes the dialogue with Leif a bit better in retrospect. If Leif has Quan's eyes, it seems appropriate that seeing them might trigger some subconcious memories for Altena.
: "I admit I'm still not entirely sure what King Travant was trying to do with you. I still cannot see what would have led him to spare you and bring you home after murdering your parents..."
: "I've heard he once told my brother, Arion, that he sought to use the might of Leonster's holy lance, Gáe Bolg, as his own. For that alone, he needed me..."
: "You were little more than a tool to him?"
: "I... I'm still not entirely sure. For all his cruelty, he still treated me as if I were his true daughter. He was still a father to me."
: "Did he, now... I suppose I've never known much of his ways."
: "I must ask a favor of you, milord. It's about Arion... We need to help Prince Arion!"
: "Certainly! I'm hardly eager to fight a man of his fine caliber, if what I've heard is true. The only question is, can we convince him?"
: "I'll do my best to persuade him again. All I ask is a little time. Please, Milord!"
[HP 135% | Str 65% | Mag 7% | Skl 45% | Spd 60% | Lck 25% | Def 55% | Res 12%]
Skills: Adept, Critical
Weapon Level: Swords (A), Lances (*)
Major Nova blood; Minor Baldur bloodHonestly, Altena looks like she's 40000 gold (i.e. the Pursuit Band) away from being insanely good. Scratch that - she gets Pursuit in her promoted class, so she looks like she just one arena run away from being insanely good.
However, I know that people apparently consider her to be one of the less powerful Wyvern Riders in the series, so I have to assume that the next chapters won't be too kind to her. Maybe lots and lots of magic enemies? Her Res is honestly the only weak spot in her stat line.
And, finally, Lawrence 2.0:
: "Papa, stop! It's me! You don't have to fight now! The liberators have gone and captured Luthecia!"
: "Sharlow?! You... You're safe!"
: "Yep! Listen, Papa... I want to join Lord Seliph's army. Thracia's changed so much lately... I want to fight to help all its people, and bring back the old Thracia!"
: "You've grown into such a splendid young man, Sharlow... Very well! I, too, shall serve Lord Seliph."
: "Yes! Thank you, Papa! First we'll help free Thracia, and then together, we'll challenge the Empire!"
Sheeda would've done a better speech than this, though.
[HP 60% | Str 50% | Mag 5% | Skl 10% | Spd 10% | Lck 10% | Def 30% | Res 5%]
Skills: Pavise, Adept, Vantage
Weapon Level: Swords (A), Lances (A), Axes (B), Bows (B)Unfortunately, Hannibal seems like he has much less of a niche than Lawrence's indoor Gradivüh usage. He's bulky, yes, but actually slightly less so than Seliph, Leaf, Ulster, and Larcei. And Nanna, Fee, Altena, and Johalvier aren't all that far behind, either. His Str is middling (same as Oifey, Patty, and Lester), his other stats kinda bad. No innate Pursuit, either.
To close things out, Seliph immediately has a talk with Hannibal, too:
: "General Hannibal, it is an honor to meet you at last. Please accept my apologies for engaging you in such a pointless battle."
: "Lord Seliph... it is I who need apologize, not you. You have my deepest gratitude for all you've done to rescue my son..."
: "Your reputation precedes you, General. We've all heard of Thracia's great Shield. That a warrior of your caliber was coerced onto the battlefield by use of hostages... King Travant is an utterly sickening man!"
: "Indeed... And a pitiful man, at that. All he has accomplished is shattering any trust hs subjects once held in him. The people's hearts can only endure so much abuse before they break..."
: If I may, General, would you join us? To have the power and wisdom of a great general like you would be the finest boon."
: "Very well! If you have a use even for these old bones, Lord Seliph, then you have my fealty."
And that is that. I didn't finish this turn, so technically, Hannibal's recruitment hasn't happened officially yet, so this is where the update will end, too.
Now that he's dead and buried... I'm not entirely sure how to feel about Travant. Ambivalent or inconsistent? His final conversation with Arion was great (on Travant's side, anyway); outside of that, I didn't see much evidence that he was more than an ambitious bastard. With which there would be nothing wrong with - I still think Chagall played that role quite well back in Gen 1 - but the attempts to humanise him mostly seemed half-hearted and not that convincing as a result. Specifically, when Altena tells Seliph that Travant did treat her like a daughter, that is in stark contrast to the actual scenes with them and Arion, where the latter is the golden boy while Altena is treated as that annoying brat that will spout her bladibla about not being an asshole and won't do what she's told.
Still, overall, Travant made for a good villain for these two chapters. Opportunistic, with less than world-spanning (or -destroying) ambitions... but with a bit of an impression that he could've been used a bit more interestingly.
The Team:
Lv. HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res Funds XP Arn Seliph 24.86 62 25 5 22 19 27 22 13 50000 +366 [*] Leif 23.09 56 27 8 23 25 15 25 11 13072 +452 [*] Oifey 25.00 50 20 10 22 21 12 20 8 29340 +329 [*] Finn 28.98 49 24 1 17 22 22 20 4 47735 +178 [*] Dermott 23.92 56 23 0 30 23 19 19 5 30732 +424 [*] Nanna 24.99 52 24 7 20 18 19 22 7 25850 +604 [*] Ares 23.71 63 24 9 20 20 14 23 13 36600 +442 [*] Fee 26.08 53 17 17 22 28 14 20 23 39217 +357 [*] Altena 17.00 49 22 2 17 19 10 21 1 3778 -- [1] Lester 20.36 48 20 3 16 19 21 16 4 37063 +488 [*] Arthur 20.97 55 5 23 22 22 22 8 11 38113 +103 [2] Ulster 21.40 56 27 6 25 21 11 22 4 50000 +436 [*] Larcei 24.60 63 27 1 30 30 19 22 6 26570 +384 [*] Shanan 23.50 55 23 0 30 25 11 19 6 39900 +418 [*] Patty 22.49 53 20 11 15 25 21 12 8 11715 +447 [*] Johalvier 26.38 56 26 0 17 20 7 22 8 36500 +632 [*] Hannibal 20.00 60 20 0 16 11 7 22 6 5000 -- [1] Faval 15.28 47 11 12 17 23 19 9 1 27688 +110 [1] Julia 24.09 45 3 30 17 28 10 5 27 10300 +222 [*] Ced 19.09* 44 4 24 20 25 24 11 25 27702 +74 [1] Lana 25.63 53 11 22 24 23 25 11 11 28036 +414 [*] Tinni 18.35 51 1 17 21 21 20 3 10 28853 +618 [*] Sharlow 4.10 29 1 11 9 9 4 4 9 0 +310 -- Leylia 8.66 28 6 2 1 14 5 2 4 10000 +100 [1] -
24 minutes ago, samthedigital said:
The main culprit is the fact that they are forcibly dismounted indoors.
...which also applies to FE3, of course. Although I believe it's less punishing in that game because there's only one single Weapon Level stat, while (iirc) many Thracia cavs/flyers are limited to Iron Swords when dismounted.
I'll say that the Cav line has very bad representation on Celica's side in Gaiden. She can only get one by picking the class for Atlas or by death-warping one of Alm's over... but either is a terrible idea because of all the swamp on her maps. But of course, Alm has some competent (Clive, Mathilda, Zeke) and one very cool cavs on his side of the map, and the Whitewings are incredibly good for Celica.
And so that every NES/SNES game gets its explicit mention - I found that FE1 has very strong Cav representation. The Xmas cavs and Hardin all have straight up excellent stats, and even the meme cavs are somewhat salvaged by the Paladin class's bases. Shout-out to my Roshe for getting two or three Spd procs on the map he got his Knight Crest... which brought him exactly to Paladin Spd base, rendering all the procs useless.
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8 hours ago, Uscari said:
But more fundamentally, sure in a large roster it doesn't hurt your experience that you have no incentive to train them, but if the developers bothered to add a unit into the game, wouldn't it have helped your experience if they made them worth using? From what I can tell from my limited experience in Fire Emblem, this franchise is character-oriented, so if you're going to add a character with their own story, motivations, and abilities, why tease the player with the option to train them but make them totally inaccessible in terms of training? Sure I guess it's a feature for challenge runs, but surely the player can come up with any variety of ways to do a challenge run without ruining the basic viability of the units. I'll never get the charm of funny-bad units.
I reject the premise that there is "no incentive" to train a bad unit. If your only goal is to beat the game, then sure - but I can offer the following counterpoint:
Beating this final boss with the pink armour knight wouldn't have been nearly as satisfying if she hadn't joined as a Lv.1 General, as one of the latest recruits in the game, with godawful base stats. Her base Str is the same as DOGA's, the Knight who joins in the very first chapter. There is one ch.1 unit that doesn't have better Skl than the Pink General - and that's the healer. The only good stat that matters for this fight is her Weapon Level, allowing her to use the legendary Gradivus - but with her base stats, she's four points of Str shy of dealing a single point of damage to the final boss. Her Def is genuinely great, sure, but the final boss just ignores that.
That was my incentive to use this awful unit: The challenge to set up the final boss kill for her, and a funny screenshot. PoR just doesn't offer the same thing - Ashnard has his magic plot armour, for starters, but PoR's bad units are all perfectly capable and easily trainable with BEXP (so there's not as big a "look at this cool thing I did" factor for a 20/20 Rolf), while still being "objectively" worse to field than somebody with wings, or at least hooves, and with an axe access, or at least lances.
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4 minutes ago, samthedigital said:
Skill is an incredibly important stat across the series. Is this a controversial take?
I mean, probably? Point for point, I'd say it's somewhere in the middle - less valuable than Str/Mag and Def, maybe comparable to HP, and more valuable than Lck and Res. Spd depends heavily on the circumstances - on a character that doubles everything anyway, Skl is probably more valuable, but if not (or if the character can swap to a heavier weapon with an additional point of Spd), a single point of Spd can be insanely impactful.
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I'd like to bring up a very minor Genealogy villain in Clement, one of the squabbling nobles in Agustria. The guy has a total of four lines, but still manages to stand out as an enemy that isn't exactly devious, nor this noble Camüh whose loyalty forces him to fight against our hero. He's just an unfortunate guy at the wrong place at the wrong time: He observes a brewing fight between Heirhein (Elliot and his father
MarsailleBordeaux) and Nordion (Eldigan) and prudently decides to see who will have the upper hand before deciding who to support. The problem: Sigurd is present and he won't go until he has seized every castle in a 100-mile radius. Clement thinks there is just a squabble between two neighboring noble families... and the next thing he sees is a foreign invasion literally at his doorstep, he feels forced to defend against it (I mean, understandable), and five minutes later, he has a Silver Sword in his gut. Poor guy. I just think that, in a series full of dastardly curs and noble Camühses, it's beautiful to see a guy who just takes the worst possible moment to be smart and cautious about something. -
4 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:
I can't believe I ate shit and died again.
That's what happens if you challenge a German to a contest of pedantic arseholery.
3 hours ago, BrightBow said:Arione is a weird fellow. He probably thinks he is mending the issues between Altena and Travant, but if anything he is making them worse.
Trying to convince Travant that Altena does not actually mean the things she explicitly says is just asking for more family trouble down the line.Idk, maybe he bumped his head falling from a dragon or something.
To be fair to him, Trabant is probably not the best parent to learn constructive conflict-solving from. This is probably the thousandth time that he heard that exact same argument, so he just defaults to the "please stop fighting" plea he developed when he was 13. Would explain why he keeps calling Altena a child - he just never figured out a better defense that doesn't involve telling his father that he might possibly hypothetically not be 100% correct in this and only this specific case.
3 hours ago, BrightBow said:The one time you get to see a female Forrester outside of Radney.
I guess those are the civilians taking up arms themselves, mentioned in the prologue.
I did notice that the Bolt Sword Hero/Forrester was a woman. Interesting that this female version of the class was created just for one substitute character and this one generic enemy. Or maybe the sprite artists had already did the work for completion's sake, so Radney and this enemy were given that class so that the work wouldn't be useless.
3 hours ago, BrightBow said:Technically Dragon Riders. Altena is the only Dragon Knight among them.
To be honest, I've lost track of the Dragon Riders, Dragon Knights, Wyvern Riders, Wyvern Lords, Wyvern Knights, Dracoknights and whatever else humans on lizards are called in the FE series.
3 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:I learned about it via Dynasty Warriors.
How silly of you to learn history from video games. Now, let me give a brief overview of the political landscape of 1444 Europe, right after the Battle of Varna--
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36 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:
Hey, there's that attempt at a truce you were asking for.
...From the recruitable, to signal he's recruitable. Because of course.
List of Thracians who don't go "Yay, violence!" when Trabant points at Leonster:
- Hannibal
- Altena
...yeah.
36 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:More precisely, Lutéce. Where's the diligent Ping from chapter 5?
Diligent ping from chapter 5 lives in the past and thus knows that "Lutetia" is the Latin name and Lutèce is just the frenchified version of it. He also knows that the accent on the second syllable is an accent grave, not aigu (which is to say going down, not up). 😛
36 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:Whoops, no portraits.
17 minutes ago, Revier said:No portraits in this bit? Weird.
Whoops and weird, indeed. Luckily, it really seems that editing posts is less luckbased since the last forum update.
36 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:Doubtul, all three of them would take another three Kaga games to show up.
Really?
I genuinely just picked three names that an idiotLewyn might confuse with Azel.36 minutes ago, Saint Rubenio said:You're both wrong. Clearly what Kaga named him after was the bloom shader effect.
Huh, my second guess would've been a song of three nice decent clean-cut young men from Seattle.
18 minutes ago, Revier said:Don't you understand?
Liu BeiSeliph is totally a just and righteous leader, unlikeCao CaoTravant, therefore he deserves Thracia more!Adult Lewyn really is the worst Zhuge Liang expy ever written.
The Three Kingdoms is an era that I really should try to learn about. It sounds fascinating, but I never even had it mentioned in my history classes at school. At least I recognised the names, so... yay me?
21 minutes ago, Revier said:How to give players recruitment hints
subtly: have characters talk about how kind/sad/beautiful their eyes are, or how gentle/kind/friendly their "aura" is. Narrative-gameplay integration!If I had a nickel for every time this exact trope has been used with regards to a wyvern rider unwillingly fighting against the blue-haired pretty boy protagonist... I'd have at least two nickels.
QuoteWithin the allied army, many suggested it was a trap set by General Minerva. But Prince Marth believed that, in the battle of Lefcandith, he saw a gentle female. And it wasn't the fearful enemy that everybody described. That person had the same expression as his elder sister... A tragic and painful one... From Minerva, Marth saw the figure of his elder sister, Elice, who was still missing after being captured by the Empire in place of him.
(an addition from FE3 B1, actually)
5 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:I'm not saying I like Arion as a character. I don't care for him either way. His folly I'm just not as cynical about.
That's fair. I'd have sympathy for an actual young adult in Arion's shoes, brought up by a man such as Travant. But as a fictional character, he makes for a rather frustrating yesman. Maybe that'll change, though - I know that it's possible to paint him not blue, but at least green in the endgame.
8 minutes ago, Interdimensional Observer said:I feel like this scene is kinda forced and perhaps even out-of-character for Travant (not entirely, given his Gen 1 massacre). Feels more like something that was tossed in for gameplay "fun" and some sorta-interesting way to introduce Hannibal and Priest.
I mentioned before that it seems that writers often have their villain kick a puppy or stab a toddler if they're worried that the villain might come across as too sympathetic. I feel like that's being done to Travant here - first, Finn makes sure to tell Leif and the audence that Altena's adoption contained 0% empathy or kindness, and the scene with Hannibal and staffy boi reinforces the impression that, yes, Travant would stab a toddler if it was to his advantage.
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On 4/12/2024 at 10:16 PM, Seafarer said:
I just want to point out that there are already hints towards this in PoR base conversations during the Daein arc. The main characters are all somewhat upset about doing to Daein what Ashnard did to Crimea (their goal ends up being to kill Ashnard ASAP explicitly to stop everyone's suffering), and there are uncomfortable conversations involving Jill and Sothe's responses to it (the latter of which foreshadows his role in Part 1 of RD).
Yes, but I find that PoR still lays all blame squarely at Daein/Ashnard's feet. Not only with Ashy abandoning the country immediately, but it's also the Daeins who deploy
ScorchedSwamped Earth tactics just to slow the Crimeans down. Only in RD, Daein resentment against Crimea is presented as (somewhat) justified, because they just let Begnion take over and squeeze Daein dry. In PoR, the Daein citizens refusing food from the Crimeans are portrayed as sympathetic, but also clearly misled.On 4/12/2024 at 11:15 PM, Uscari said:Maybe it's because I'm new to Fire Emblem as a franchise, but I don't really see the charm or appeal in having "funny-bad" units. I don't see the point in adding a playable unit to the game if they aren't designed to compete with other units. I feel like even if some characters are worse than others, which is inevitable, there should at least be a solid niche for every unit so that the player has an incentive to try actually using them, instead of just for the memes. I like that PoR has a more competitive roster than RD, with a larger variety of team compositions that are comparable in viability. To me it's a failure of balance for a game to have units that you have no strategic incentive to invest in.
The nice part about funny-bad units is that if you don't want to use them, you don't have to. I generally agree that a bad unit with some unique quality is more rewarding to train up than a unit that is just "{other unit}, but bad" - but while I never used, say, Lyre, because I prefer Fiona or Meg as far as underdog units go, her presence in the game doesn't impair my enjoyment whatsoever. So there's another cat laguz warming the bench, what do I care? But for somebody who likes
catgirlsthe challenge, it's great that she is there.@Florete already covered why I wouldn't agree that PoR's roster is more competitive. There is just as little reason to use Rolf or Ulki or (the returning) Shinon as there is to use Fiona or Lyre. But it's far less interesting to bring PoR's scrubs up to speed (just pump BEXP and you're done), and the result is still going to be a combat unit that's just worse than, say, Astrid compared to Rolf/Shinon or any flyer compared to Ulki. No cool unique features whatsoever.
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FE4 Chapter 9: For Whose Sake
Meath (turns 0-1)
SpoilerWith the liberation of the peninsula's north, Selph's army occupies Meath Castle as their headquarters, uncertain of how to next act.
Beyond Meath and the engulfing maw of its peaks lies the dracoknights' kingdom, Thracia. This rural nation is ruled by King Travant, who remains bound in coalition to Emperor Arvis. Thracia is the only state anywhere in Jugdral regarded as an ally by the Grannvale Empire.
Within Thracia, Travant's minions await Seliph: his children, Altena and Arion, at the capital; the legendary General Hannibal, dubbed "Thracia's Shield", at Kapathogia Castle; the king's trusted advisor, General Distler, at Luthecia Castle; and a Loptyrian agent from the Empire, Bishop Judah, at Grutia Castle.
Travant has fortified his kingdom for one final, full-scale showdown with the liberators. Thracia's people hardly offer Seliph an eager welcome. Fearing Seliph as a conqueror, they flock in droves to take up arms themselves. How could any justice lie in this conflict? For whose sake is this war being fought? For the first time, these questions now shake both Seliph and his army's resolve to the core...
I'm not entirely sure if I'm convinced by the "morally grey" set-up of this chapter. In theory, this could parallel Sigurd's conquest of Agusty - Seliph initially reacts to a hostile act (the assault of Manster, in this case), occupies an enemy fortification... but then keeps advancing and seizing. However, unless Arion turns out a lot more Eldigan-ish than I expect him to be, it doesn't seem like there will be any attempt from Thracia's side to negotiate a truce - plus, there's the whole "Travant killed Leaf's parents", which gives the whole conflict a deeper personal level than with Chagall (who only killed his own parent, after all).
The introductory cutscene starts with Altena flying all the way south to Thracia castle...:
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: "I've no interest in any more excuses! Don't you dare belittle me, Altena. You are a warrior beyond compare, and you and Arion embody my will beyond these walls. I expect no less than for you to do your duty! And what do I find instead? You've ignored my orders, left an entire platoon to the slaughter, and strolled home as if nothing ever happened! I've never been more disappointed..."
: "I'm sorry, Father, but at least let me explain! I could never agree with such tactics, which enrich us at the expense of everybody else! How could you ever expect the proud Thracian people to accept prosperity built on the bones of others? Please, Father, rethink your ways!"
: "Enough, Altena. There's no place here for such meddling. Still your tongue and obey Father!" [probabaly missing a 'your' here]
: "Please, do forgive her, even just this once."
: "You know, Arion? If you'd just hold back on the coddling, perhaps Altena wouldn't be so stubborn! Look, Altena. I'll give you one last chance. Take a dracoknight platoon and retake Meath! If you so much as slip again, then daughter be damned, I will accept no excuses! Understood?"
: "Yes, Father..."
: "Whew... Family resemblance, indeed! It's plainly obvious that she loathes me..."
: "Father, you have to remember that she's still a child. Like all children, she has yet to realize her thoughtless words have real effects."
: "Hmph, I suppose... I'm off to Kapathogia. I hear Hannibal's found himself some funny ideas about my plans. And so it falls to me to ensure he loses those ideas before somebody gets hurt..."
Honestly, Arion has been a really infuriating character. Pure passivity ("Yes, Father, you are correct as always...") combined with a hugely condescending way of defending Altena ("...and Altena only doesn't understand your wisdom because she is a little baby, so please don't have her head chopped off."). Fuck off, mate, she is twenty. Good on you, sure, that you oppose decapitation, but that's really all that Arion's own ethos has been thus far.
Travant's "family resemblance" also spells out that Arion is well aware of Altena's parentage. Yet another thing where he doesn't take an own position and just goes along with what Travant is doing. Textbook Mitläufer, the guy.
Next stop: Kapathogia.
: "General Hannibal! The rebels have seized control of Meath. Altena is en route to counter-attack. Your armored knights will join her at once!"
: "Your Majesty, I've said it a thousand times and I'll say it again. There is no use fighting this war! We must arrange a truce with the liberators if we wish to recover the strength to endure! Bowing to the Empire was a despicable choice to start, one which now leaves us serving our citizens to the true enemy on a gilded platter!"
: "I did not ask for such dopey nonsense! The rebels have slaughtered my soldiers, and now they've stolen our territory! The hour is far too late for a truce!"
: "I thought as much... Very well. I suppose I have no choice."
: "What's this, Hannibal? Do I hear traitorous rumblings coming from that mouth of yours?"
: "Come now, Your Majesty! Never would a warrior such as I consider turning my cloak. Traitor, indeed!"
: "Really, now? Then I trust you wouldn't object to a test of your warrior's loyalty. Until the war reaches its victorious end, Hannibal, I'll be taking care of your son."
: "I beg your pardon, Your Majesty? Do you have such little faith in me?!"
: "You have nothing to worry about, Hannibal. If you don't intend to betray me, then I don't intend to so much as scratch the boy."
: "Why..."
: "Men! Bring me Hannibal's son!"
"I haven't adopted anybody in, like, seventeen years! I need my fix!"
: "P-papa..."
: "Oh, Sharlow... I am so sorry..."
: "Remember, Hannibal. You have nothing to worry about, so long as you behave yourself. As soon as this war is won, you'll get him back. I don't get it, though. The boy isn't even your real son. How could he have such sway over you?"
: "Sharlow has brought so much joy into my life. A true family transcends simple blood..."
: "Ohoho! Could it be? Does Thracia's great statesman have a soft spot for children? Now, then. Thracia depends on you, Hannibal!"
I will say that Hannibal's love for his adopted son is a nice contrast to Travant's... rocky relationship with Altena. And it's also set up as Travant sowing the seed of Hannibal's eventual defection himself, but we'll see how exactly his dialogue with Sharlow will look.
Next stop on the Trabant road trip across Thracia: Luthecia.
: "Rest assured, milord. Luthecia is as an impregnable wall! I've seen to it myself."
: "I'll hold you to your word. Now, I've reason to doubt the loyalty of Hannibal at Kapathogia. I've taken his son hostage, just in case, and I'm leaving him to your custody."
: "Yes, sir! I'll not let him out of my sight. But should Hannibal turn his cloak-"
: "Then you'll kill the son. Don't be lulled into offering even a child such as he any mercy."
: "Understood, milord."
Well, since I talked about Mitläufer earlier - here's a literal one. Kaga likes his Nazi-related names, although Distler is quite a different category than fucking Heinrich Himmler.
SpoilerDo you see in the tiny window
the bright red cap again?
Things cannot be safe,
for it bobs up and down already.
And all of a sudden, such a crowd
at the bridge, past the field!
Hark! The fire-bell is ringing:
Over the hill,
over the hill,
the mill is burning!Lo! There he leaps in fury
through the gate, the fire-rider,
on the mare, all skin and bones,
as if on a fireladder!
Across the fields! Through smoke and heat
he already runs and is at the scene!
Over there it keeps sounding:
Over the hill,
over the hill,
the mill is burning!He who so often the red rooster (*)
Has smelled from miles away,
With the splinter of the holy cross
Wickedly spoke a prayer against the embers -
Woe! from the roof framing grins
the foe in the hellish gleam.
God have mercy on your soul!
Over the hill,
over the hill,
it rages in the mill!Less than an hour it lasted,
until the mill collapsed into rubble;
but the defiant horseman
has not been seen ever since.
Folks and wagons in the crowd!
Return home from the horror;
the fire-bell also stops ringing.
Over the hill,
over the hill,
it burns--!At later time, a miller found
a skeleton with the cap
upright against the cellar's wall
sitting on the skeletal mare:
Firerider, how so coolly
are you riding in your grave!
Whoosh! there it falls into ashes.
Rest well,
rest well,
down in the mill!(*) "Der rote Hahn" sitting on the rooftop is commonly used in German as allegory for a burning house.
The poem (clumsily, and more literally than poetically, translated by myself) was initially written by Eduard Mörike in the early 19th century.
Next stop: Grutia.
Kaga likes his evil dark mages named "Judah", too.
: "Good. In that case, I think I'll leave the defense of Grutia to your hands. Try not to get too cocky with the rebels, Bishop. They're of a treacherous sort.
And finally, Travant returns to Thracia Castle, although the camera returns to Seliph at Meath.
: "Looks like they're finally sending more dracoknights our way, Seliph. This must be it. It's time we readied everybody for battle."
: "I don't know, Lewyn. Our foremost enemy is the Empire, is it not? Waging a war here feels... meaningless."
: "The point of a battle comes from how you conduct yourself in it, Seliph."
...what.
: "And we hardly have much choice at this point! We're already this far into the fight..."
: "But what of that dracoknight who was watching us from the Manster peaks? I've seldom seen such a sad look in anybody's eyes... How could I fight somebody like her...?"
: "That's enough, Seliph! This is a war! If you can't stand it any more, then go on! Run home to Tirnanog!"
: "Lewyn..."
Oifey has a line?! ...Well, now there's much less of an excuse that he hasn't had any presence at all between his joining and now.
: "Look, I know... But everyone is just as stressed as he is, yet they all know that we can't afford to stop. With the resurrection of Loptyr lurking on the horizon, it's crucial we get to Grannvale and stop the world falling to ruin while we still can."
: "Thank you, Oifey... but Lewyn speaks the truth. An inevitable battle lies ahead, and if we see in it naught but futility, then my duty is to carve my own purpose into it. Come, Oifey! Lewyn! I'll never again flinch or turn away!"
"...what." again, to be honest. Lewyn is really going full Sigurd here - there are castles. You must seize castles. It's a fundamental law of nature.
This is also the second time that Lewyn casually drops the "resurrection of Loptyr" into the conversation. The first time, in Ch.7, Seliph at least managed a "wait, what?" as a reaction (to which Lewyn just answers that he'll "understand soon enough"), but this time it just seems to slip through.
Honestly, I would've expected more substance to this "forced into battle" narrative. Just a basic attempt of negotiation with Travant, really - and if he would've refused, that could've been what forced Seliph into another costly battle on the Thracia peninsula, because otherwise, Leonster would just be under attack the second Seliph leaves for Belhalla. It could've been an opportunity for Arion to develop a bit more of a personality than "Travant's yesman", too, if he were allowed any disagreement with this father.
: "Oh, the woman? I saw her. I don't believe it's every day that you encounter a female dracoknight, is it? Was there something amiss about her?"
: "It was her weapon... She was wielding Gáe Bolg, Leonster's holy lance. And I sensed an aura cloaking her... The holy aura of Nova, like your father."
: "What? What are you saying, Finn?!"
: "There is only one explanation, my lord. Your sister, Altena, mustn't have died in the Thracian ambush seventeen years ago. Nor must Gáe Bolg have been lost..."
: "Altena?! She... She's still alive?! Then... Then what in the blazes was she doing commanding the Thracian army?"
: "I'd surmise that Travant took her back to Thracia as a child, and raised her as his own."
: "Huh... Who knew a man as cold as Travant could do something so humane?"
: "It isn't so simple, my lord. Altena is the sole inheritor of your father's holy lineage from the earth goddess, Nova. As such, unlike you, she alone is capable of wielding Gáe Bolg. Power is the only reason a man like Travant would ever be so kind to his enemy's child."
: "So he's tricked my sister just so he can use her like a... like a weapon! Travant... What a disgusting man... ...I want to help her, Finn. If we can tell her the truth, then I know we can work together to avenge our parents."
: "My lord, I believe you're the only one who could possibly convince her now. Even after all these years, my lord, you are still her brother. I'm certain she will open her heart to you if you try. Please, my lord. Please save Lady Altena..."
And there's that. I was going to comment on Finn's ability to "sense the aura" of a woman flying above a distant peak, but considering that Seliph was able to recognise the sadness in her eyes from the same distance, I suppose that isn't such an extraordinary feat after all.
The map! Seemingly very straightforward, with a linear, if winded, path from one castle to the next. I expect more Dracoknights coming from Thracia, which would put Meath in more danger than our previous home castles have been, but we'll see.
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Our first obstacle will be Hannibal's Armour Knights, all wielding dangerous weapons: Brave Bows, Brave Lances, and Sleep Edges on the Sword Armours. To avoid fake tension - this predicament seems fairly easily solved by the Sleep staff. A well-timed cast will hopefully disable Hannibal long enough for everybody to (kill all his men and) slip past towards Luthecia (which should've been Lutetia, if you ask me).
I'll note that Hannibal has five leadership stars, so we can't quite rely on the usual awful avoid stat on Knights. Good thing these only work in a three-tile radius. (I believe that is T776 foreshadowing?)
Here's Philip IV., who is guarding Hannibal's castle. To remove another piece of fake tension - I'm aware (or at least pretty certain that this is how it works) that I mustn't seize Kapathogia before recruiting Hannibal - since he would de-spawn alongside all the other troops of that affiliation.
Distler, guarding Luthecia and Sharlow, mostly remarkable for being literally identical to Kanatz, except for +2 HP (and more XP value).
And coming from the south will be Altena with nine generic Dracoknights. This time, we *will* have to be careful about her attacking range.
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The northwest corner of the map is... interesting. Six villages right next to each other, threatened by a single Brigand, who in turn is protected by three Heroes - all with identical stats, except that the other two use Flame Swords as their 1-2 option.
As usual, the chapter starts with some arena fights, leading to a bunch of promotions: Leif, Nanna, Patty, Ulster, Dermott, Lester, Arthur (although he only did the first fight because he lacks a few ducats for the Paragon Band). Some will follow later this map - namely Ares, probably Tinni, and maybe Faval.
The arena opponents are the following:
(1) Sakra - Lv.9 Cavalier 39 HP | 8 Def | 0 Res [Steel Sword] - 19 Atk | 96 Hit | 10 Avo | 5 AS (1R) Nietzche - Lv.9 Arch Knight 49 HP | 10 Def [Silver Bow] - 30 Atk | 90 Hit | 4 Avo | 2 AS (2) Apostole - Lv.12 Axe Knight (Axe Cav) 42 HP | 9 Def | 1 Res [Steel Axe] - 28 Atk | 88 Hit | -18 Avo | -9 AS [Hand Axe] - 20 Atk (3) Millier - Lv.15 Myrmidon - Skill: Pursuit 45 HP | 9 Def | 1 Res [Brave Sword] - 23 Atk | 128 Hit | 22 Avo | 11 AS (3R) Cilon - Lv.15 Armored Bow 55 HP | 14 Def [Brave Bow] - 27 Atk | 98 Hit | -2 Avo | -1 AS (4) Klain - Lv.18 Armr. Lance 58 HP | 15 Def | 1 Res [Steel Lance] - 30 Atk | 100 Hit | -8 Avo | -4 AS [Javelin] - 26 Atk (5) Sleighton - Lv.21 Fire Mage 47 HP | 3 Def | 11 Res [Elfire] - 30 Atk | 104 Hit | 0 Avo | 0 AS (6) Triesta - Lv.24 Dracoknight 64 HP | 18 Def | 2 Res [Brave Lance] - 32 Atk | 108 Hit | 2 Avo | 1 AS [Javelin] - 29 Atk (7) Canaan - Lv.27 Baron - Item: Magic Ring - Skill: Pavise 72 HP | 20 Def | 9 Res [Tornado] - 34 Atk | 100 Hit | 26 Avo | 13 AS...and the list of our participants:
Lv. HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res Funds XP Arn Seliph 24.40 62 25 5 22 19 27 22 13 50000 +320 [*] Leif 22.41 55 27 8 22 24 15 24 11 13072 +384 [*] Oifey 24.75 49 20 10 21 21 11 19 8 29340 +304 [*] Finn 28.96 49 24 1 17 22 22 20 4 47735 +176 [*] Dermott 23.24 56 23 0 30 23 19 19 5 30732 +356 [*] Nanna 22.71 50 24 7 18 18 19 21 7 25850 +377 [*] Lester 20.08 48 20 3 16 19 21 16 4 37063 +460 [*] Arthur 20.04 55 5 23 22 22 22 8 11 38113 +10 [2] Ulster 21.24 56 27 6 25 21 11 22 4 50000 +420 [*] Shanan 22.96 53 23 0 29 25 10 18 6 39900 +364 [*] Patty 22.04 53 20 11 15 25 21 12 8 3715 +402 [*] Johalvier 24.20 54 26 0 16 19 7 21 8 16500 +314 [*] - Paragon Julia 23.43 44 3 30 17 28 9 5 27 10300 +156 [*] Lana 23.28 51 10 22 23 23 23 10 11 28036 +189 [*] Tinni 17.57 50 1 16 20 21 19 3 9 24853 +540 [*]Involved with this was a bit of money shuffling (Leif to Nanna; Larcei to Johalvier; Patty to Leylia to buy the Knight Ring), as well as a bit of healing and an in-castle dance from Leylia - so that's why this update is titled as "turn 0-1", as I play out that first turn:
: "Patty! Hey! PATTY!! Don't tell me you've been stealing again!"
: "Oh, er... Yep. Just a bit, though!"
: "Ugh. Look, I don't care if you're just stealing from the enemy. I don't like you stealing at all! Knock it off, okay?"
: "What, d'you think I like doing this? That I'm stealing for the fun of it?! This army needs to eat, y'know, and we need gold for that! We don't have all that many options here!"
: "Yeah, but haven't you heard what people are saying about you? I caught this guy mocking you, like being a thief's a walking punch line... 'What else didja expect from a pirate's brat? Like mother, like child,' he kept saying. Of course, I wiped the floor with him for that..."
: "It doesn't matter what people think, Faval! Let them say whatever they want. Doesn't change a thing about Mom... And it doesn't change that she was an heir of Ullur the Crusader! I was in tears when Lewyn told me about her... I've never been so happy!"
: "Yeah, me too... Y'know, we haven't exactly had the best lives. Poor orphans and all that... But I never even dreamed that our mother could actually be a noblewoman! I don't suppose you remember anything about her, Patty?"
: "Nope! Not a thing... You?"
: "Yeah, but... only a little... She was a kind and beautiful woman..."
: "So is she... Do you think Mom's dead?"
: "I can't say for sure... But as soon as the war's done with, Patty, we're gonna go look for her. We'll find our mother... Bridget... And even though we don't even know his name, maybe we'll find our father, too..."
[+1 Lck --> Patty]
"Eh, maybe she banged Axel. Alex? Alfons? Some unimportant scrub. Far less handsome than I. Not like you're cousins with the crown prince or anything." - Lewyn, probably
Not much to say about the first round, of course. Fee is moving to the left, hoping that she'll be allowed to take a stab at saving the villages, while everybody else simply moves out. As I said, I'm expecting Wyverns from 6 o'clock, more than just Altena's squad, but that's what the Return staff is for, right?
: "Hm... The rebels are on the move, are they?"
: "Lord Hannibal! We're ready to attack at any moment. We await your command."
: "Wait. For the time being we should remain on the defensive. I'd prefer to avoid any needless skirmishes with the enemy."
: "But sire, what about..."
: "...My son? I know... I know, but... For now, I would rather hol back and let the battle unfold on its own first. My apologies, Kanatz, but I'd like you to take charge of defending the castle."
: "As you will, sire!"
Sorry, Kanatz, I know your cape is a different shade of green than that of the previous Philip, but not really worth uploading a separate portrait for you.
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: "All units, move in and engage the rebels! We will return Meath to Thracian control!"
And there we have it. I think I've said everything I wanted about the story thus far, so let's just see how things continue through the fight.
On 4/13/2024 at 12:47 PM, Saint Rubenio said:You said "I think half the cast of Sacae is overrated", and I followed with "honestly more than half is overrated lol." Maybe the broken thing is your reading comprehension lmao gottem
On 4/12/2024 at 12:15 AM, Saint Rubenio said:Let's see... Who is "broken" in sacae?
[...]
Honestly, more than half lmao
Tsk.
19 hours ago, BrightBow said:Maybe he realized that no one could take a villain with the name Blume seriously.
But then again, I suppose it's not much worse than Schwarze Rosen.
I'd say "Black Roses" seems more edge-tacky, while calling him "Flower" might indicate that Reptor hated his son. That, or he wanted to overcome gender stereotypes and thought it was worth the cost of his son getting bullied at school.
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17 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:
Let's see... Who is "broken" in sacae?
Rutger, yeah.
Shin? He's very good. Not sure if "broken", but let's say sure.
Fir... Was Fir even Sacaen? Bartre wasn't, but I don't know where he and Karla settled down and raised Fir. Might've been Sacae, yeah, so let's say she counts, and uh... She's not as good as Rutger, but she is rather good and comes in the perfect chapter to be trained, so uh... Yeah, sure. Stretching a bit.
Sue, no. I like her, but no.
Dayan, he's neat, but no.
Rath, no.
Every swordmaster in FE7? lol
Honestly, more than half lmao
I don't know how you get from "one broken, two maybe broken if you squint hard enough, seven (*) no" to "more than half lmao"
(*) "Every FE7 SM" being Guy, Karel, Karla, and Lyn, all of which are middling at best
17 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:As I recall, Kaga went on record saying that the point of this was for players who want to keep Seliph's dismounted animations.
...Yeah, apparently that's it. That's why this feature exists.
10 hours ago, BrightBow said:It's not. And there is also a chance that it will cause Celice to permanently get greyed out, with the only cure being a refresh. So don't press that button.
17 hours ago, Saint Rubenio said:As I recall, Kaga went on record saying that the point of this was for players who want to keep Seliph's dismounted animations.
...Yeah, apparently that's it. That's why this feature exists.
He did list Leaf as an example, but yeah.
All according to the translation on the site anyway.
https://serenesforest.net/general/designers-notes/holy-war/playing-guide/This is a really funny instance of fanservice reducing the quality of the product. Most of the time, it just makes the story worse. (and most of the time, the fanservice is directed at horny male teenagers, of course)
16 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:All these music references, and you were still missing one! Added it for ya.
I am shamed by this oversight.
16 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:TBH I think you might have it backwards here. My assumption, when Travant refers to Altenna's "mother", is that he's referring to Ethlyn. He's not wrong about her being brash - riding horses and bringing her daughter into the desert with her. No idea who Arion's mother is. Presumably she died offscreen, probably a long time ago. Hell, maybe before Altenna was kidnapped. "Honey, where did this baby with a giant lance come from?"
I suppose he is. I would have assumed that he's more cagey about Altena's real parents in general - the more people know who she is, the more likely that she'll find out eventually. And if he wants her to be in a position of authority (and I mean, she is treated as a princess of Thracia), surely it won't help if her subordinates know that her claim to her position is fake.
16 hours ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:Holy moly, Kaga did it first!
Extremely unrealistic.
Everybody knows that kissing cousins is already fully accepted in Jugdral to begin with.
16 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:Well you took forever. I think I had him done by C7's end.😅
Speed players will totally get him to 20 before C6 is done.You have to consider that Ruben will judge me harshly if I give all the resources to the main character. I don't have the freedom to just leave the Paragon Ring on Seliph indefinitely.
15 hours ago, Jotari said:Well now that you're finished, its time to reveal which of these named enemies are fought in Thracia 776. The list of enemies you fight in this chapter are Muhammed, Ovo, Banba, Fotla, Eriu, Faval/Asaello, Ishtar, Bloom and Coulter. Maykov is fought after the ending of Thracia 776 and there's also Athena who you don't fight at all. Anyways, the answer is *drum roll*
I have been deceived
I assumed that, because you were asking, it'll be more than I would think. This is quite funny, too, though.
14 hours ago, Revier said:And yet a small detachment Thracian flyers could destroy half their army in one fell swoop.
Doesn't speak well to their martial prowess, does it.
Well, Travant had to ambush them in the desert, with effective weapons on all of his men, and he still had to blackmail Quan into dropping Gáe Bolg.
(OK, Quan would've dropped eventually anyway, but Travant still did blackmail him first)
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2. Supports
One of my (maybe) unpopular opinions is that supports don't add much to the story of any FE game. I'll say that PoR is the best game at averting this, because its chapter-based support growth allows the conversations to be more topical to the main plot - but I think it's still a net negative that important or interesting facets of the story are hidden in support conversations. For example, Soren's identity as a Branded is a very important piece of context for the racism against Laguz that he displays in main story - so should that information be hidden from a player who prefers to ship Ike with the sexy catboy and who didn't find Stefan in the desert?
Because of that, I think that the base convos that both Tellius games have are the best spot to develop their characters. Granted, PoR has generally a much higher level of characterisation for its minor characters than RD does, but that seems more like a concious decision to invest less writing time into that area. Which I think is a fine decision, even though I would've hoped for a bit more fluff for some specific characters (Fiona comes to mind). The FE fandom's insistance that every single character must have 100 pages worth of trite anime clichés in dialogue entirely unrelated to the actual story is silly, and I uphold that Shadow Dragon did nothing wrong.
3. Story
Deciding between a simple story done well on the one side, or an ambitious story that doesn't stick the landing on the other is always a matter of personal preference. I personally like PoR's story a lot (it's the main reason why I never swapped it out as my favourite FE) - but I think that it is only really completed through the first two parts of Radiant Dawn. The main storyline of PoR - the liberation of Crimea - is very much a Disney fairytale in which good triumphs over evil and everyone is happy in the end and there's ice cream for everybody... Early RD then does two things with this: First, Pelleas and Micaiah are a mirror image of Elincia and Ike, just gender-flipped... and a deliberate set-up by a sinister shadowy figure who recognises the power of that story and tries to create himself a puppet king to excert power through. And second, we see the parts of the fairytale that Disney had left out. We see that, in the wake of the war of liberation, the population of Daein has now become the oppressed and abused, breeding even more resentment. And we see that the story of the princess doesn't just end when she becomes queen.
I do agree that the story goes downhill in part 3, though. I don't like the Blood Pact very much, and I think that the big epic god-slaying finale is far less interesting than the smaller-scale politicking that takes place in the firest two parts.
4. Availability / 5. Balance
So here's another unpopular opinion (and I think this really is one): Path of Radiance's unit balance sucks. It's boring. Because every single character is, at worst, a competent combattant, you don't have any "funny-bad" characters that are liablilities, and through whom you can disrespect the enemy by killing the final boss with Wendy. Even bottom-tier characters like Lucia and (with a quick BEXP infusion) Rolf aren't bad in the same way that Sheema or Bantu are in New Mystery - they're perfectly competent... but other characters are more competent and have horses and/or axes at their disposal.
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FE4 Chapter 8: The Dracoknights of Thracia
Connaught --> Manster --> Meath
Spoiler
During this update, some arenaing is taking place. I won't go over it in detail - but I'm happy to report that everybody manages to get through. Well, except for Leylia. That would be a bit too much hassle for a run that can't be a ranked one anyway - she'll just have to rely on Patty to be her sugar mama so that she can afford the Knight Ring (and maybe Leg Ring, not sure if it's better on her or Seliph).
To save the villages, Oifey goes down the eastern path to help out Fee - unnecessarily, as it turns out, but I suppose he provided moral support.
[100 XP --> Ares]
Everybody else just goes south, picking up villagers on the way. Very easy rescue mission, honestly.
: "Thracia's dracoknights are still on the prowl 'round these parts. Be careful, won't you..."
[100 XP --> Johalvier]
: "You're with Lord Seliph's liberators? Gods be praised! You've come at last."
[100 XP --> Shanan]
: "Three cheers for Lord Seliph!"
[100 XP --> Tinni]
: "Please, we beg of you... Do all you can to help Sir Ced!"
[100 XP --> Faval]
: "Thank you so much, noble warrior!"
[100 XP --> Leaf]
And also on the way, Nanna resolves any lingering Ares issues.
: "Hey! You're Ares, right?"
: "I am. What do you want?"
: "I've been hearing how you're the son of Lord Eldigan. Is there any truth to that?"
: "There is. Of what concern is it yours?"
: "Oh, I knew it was true! I'm Nanna. I'm the daughter of Raquesis, Lord Eldigan's sister!"
: "C-can this be?! Are you truly my aunt's child?"
: "Of course I am! You know, my mother was really worried about what happened to you. It must've been her search for you that brought us to Leonster all those years ago."
: "My father knew well that the stormclouds of a brutal civil war lurked across Agustria. I was a mere infant and my mother was in poor health, so he bade her to seek refuge with her parents in Leonster."
Considering the skills she passed on to Ares, I believe we have to replace the old meme "Everybody from Sacae is broken" with "Everybody from Leonster is OP". Half of the playable Sacaen population is overrated, anyway.
: "Alas, Leonster too fell afoul of a war of its own, and my mother lost her life to the Empire's invasion."
: "That's where Jabarro comes in, right?"
: "Indeed. Jabarro found me and took me in as his own, and with his mercenary corps, I travelled the world and learned the art of war."
: "So that's why I've never found you before... Listen, Ares. My mother left me something to give to you if we ever met."
: "Oh? ...What is this? Is this... Is this Father's?!"
: "It is! It's a letter from Lord Eldigan, and it's addressed to you, Ares."
: "I can't believe it..."
: "This should sort everything out! It says your father and Lord Sigurd were the closest of friends and held each other's deepest trust. This never changed, no matter what..."
: "So it says... Wow, I... I've been so, so wrong for all this time..."
: "I hope you'll look after Lord Seliph, Ares. He really is depending on you!"
: "I will, I promise you... Say, Nanna. How would you like a quick lesson in swordsplay? Here, pay close attention..."
[+2 Str, +2 Def --> Nanna]
And with that, everything is cleared up and everybody lived happily ever after. I hates it. Ew, happiness.
But seriously, even after subtracting my Fates-induced distaste for letters from dead parents... this sucks. Ares learning about Sigurd and Eldigan's friendship and eventual enmity could've been very compelling - he could ask why Nanna and Dermott are fighting for Seliph; why Raquesis was fighting for Sigurd even after Eldigan's death, he could learn about King Chagall's character and how Eldigan kept giving him the benefit of the doubt, which eventually lead to his death (be it on the chopping block or in battle against Sigurd). But noooo, we just get a letter that doesn't so much answer these questions as it makes them obsolete. Dad says Sigurd good. End of storyline.
I know that what I'm laying out would be quite a lot of screentime for a single, non-Seliph character. But with how important the relationship between Sigurd and Eldigan was for the first generation, I really think that the second generation should've given Ares that time.
Cool fact: Ced will use Fortify when possible. Very nice of him.
And the turn after, Seliph hands him the blue paint.
: "Ced the Brave, I presume? I couldn't possibly thank you enough for all you've done for the people of Manster."
: "Lord Seliph... I'm glad you're here at last. Sire, I implore you! Save this world! Too many of us have already given into despair... The city of Manster has been robbed by the Empire of countless young children. All were sent to dark shrines in Miletos... I... I couldn't save even a single child. Me, brave? Hah! I hardly deserve such a lofty label. I'm just another coward..."
: "That isn't true, Ced! If I were to fight alone, I know that there'd be precious little that I could do. It was uniting the strength of my friends, a team effort, which brought us this far! And I believe that your strength could be a valuable part of our cause. Please, Ced the Brave. Grant us your power!"
: "Thank you sire... You'll have my loyalty, no matter what!"
Ahhh, I figured out why Hawke cannot be present in Manster if Ced exists. If they were both there, they'd just crush Thracia with the power of friendship, making Seliph's entire excursion into this area of Jugdral pointless.
__
Here's the position after recruiting Ced - with Seliph and Finn somewhat taking the front...
: "The rebels have made it to Manster? What in the blazes is Princess Altena doing? Men! Bolster our defensive line! Until His Majesty the King returns, we must protect the border at all costs!"
--
: "Is everything ready, my liege? We'll be closing in on Manster shortly. Let's waste no time in besieging them!"
: "Hold, Coulter! Those are nothing more than common citizens standing in our way. Killing them would be the foulest of crimes. Wait here with the squad. I'll see if I can negotiate a surrender."
: "You know I can't do that. My orders come from over your head. You may spout all the lovey nonsense you wish, but the king forbids me to stay my hand."
: "Are you questioning a direct order from your commander and your princess, General?!"
: "These are my men, princess! If you don't wish to partake yourself, then stand aside, make yourself useful and watch our backs! Now then... Is everyone ready? All hands, prepare to strike Manster! Leave no survivors!"
: "C-Coulter! Get back here at once!"
To be honest, I would've preferred if Altena had co-operated with Travant at first before finding a line she will not cross. Let her have a little edge. As is, basically every scene she's in she screams from the rooftops that she's recruitable.
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...and because the AI is very intelligent, Seliph and Finn manage to get a few enemy phase kills (although Seliph needs a crit, so he leaves a few Wyverns injured) against two groups of enemies that carry a 1-2-ranged weapon that, thanks to the weapon triangle, even has the same accuracy as their Iron Swords. I won't even make an attempt understanding that.
Good on Coulter himself for not following that example, I guess...
...although it obviously doesn't do him much good.
: "Gaaah! May Thracia... rise in glory..."
Not a perfect clean-up, partially because some Wyverns cantered into the mountains...
...but this comes with the advantage that they capture the fortress so that we can paint it blue and turn it into a warp point.
The following turn, Fee makes a disturbing discovery:
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Enemy Rogues will steal your money if they hit you even if you kill them in the same round of combat.
Luckily, I made that discovery with my first action on my turn, and Fee happens to have good Adept RNG with the Light Brand, anyway.
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Once Manster is secured, it's time to approach the last remaining castle. Which is annoying, thanks to a total of six ballistae (although only one of them is of the more dangerous variety) that even outrange the Wyvern squad.
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But while it's a bit annoying, there isn't really anything pressuring you to go fast at this point, so Nanna spends some time returning allies back to Alster for promotion, occasionally arenaing (Johalvier and Nanna with the full arena clear!), and for Lana to gain some XP, as well.
Most impactful is definitely Seliph's promotion. Forseti on a horse will unfortunately have to wait until next chapter.
To make the capture of Meath even more annoying, it seems that Fee can't even approach the Wyverns from the east, to maybe lure a few of them in that direction. The yellow zone is mostly there to make sure you can't interact with Altena, but this is a secondary effect that's kinda frustrating.
It's interesting to note that you can actually fly through a yellow zone, if you're quick enough. Not relevant here, because I don't want Fee to fly into Ballista range, but still interesting.
Also interesting is that Seliph can dismount. I suppose he can use it to avoid effective damage? ...Except that he has Nihil, so I'm out of ideas why this would ever be a good button to press.
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Shots are fired and, in Finn's case, returned...
...and the number of enemies is reduced, but not to zero.
This entire sequence feels bad to play, because it's such a high number of flying enemies in a fairly narrow path that you can't help but worry that there's some squishy that you moved too far forward that is about to be focussed down by the enemy. The solution is probably juggernauting with something like Arthur on a mountain with Seliph/Dermott/Nanna providing bonus avoid, but that's generally a boring way to play, I find.
During this second enemy phase after engaging the remaining enemies, even more Wyverns come out of Meath Castle. Nothing really comes from it, though.
And while his friends fight for their lives, Dermott takes his day off and visits the two undamaged villages. Honestly unnecessary to have him leave early - I'm going to spend a fair number of turns after killing the boss just moving about, so Dermott could've just helped and *then* grabbed the money necessary to buy the Paragon band.
: " For as long as anyone can recall, Thracia's wanted to claim this region as their own. And for just as long, House Leonster always stood in their way, wielding their holy land Gáe Bolg to defend our lands. At least, until Gáe Bolg was lost a decade ago in the Yied Desert... The Thracians ambushed and murdered Prince Quan, his wife Ethlyn, and their daughter Altena as they crossed Yied, and the lance vanished..."
[5000 gold --> Dermott]
: "This land is the rightful land of the Kingdom of Thracia! You will never take it from us!"
To keep things short - Ares takes Maykov's money...
...and Arthur takes his life. Slightly risky, of course, because Maykov has Pavise, a Killer Bow, and a non-zero hit rate, but eh. I'm trying to avoid deaths on the record sheet, but it's not *that* important.
: "Guhh... Glory... to Thracia..."
And instead of seizing, Ares parks on top of the castle entrance, hoping that this prevents additional reinforcements. Maybe it worked, maybe they were a one-time thing, or maybe they don't spawn after killing the boss anyway.
The reason for the delay: Patty needs to collect the Power Ring (because she can really use the stats to make the arena more consistent, in particular without Sleep Sword abuse)...
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...and even further away, Tinni grabs the Thief Band. The reasoning here being that she has 1-2 range and can need the help, although I'm almost certain that Arthur would've been a better option - delete enemies with Forseti and take their money to repair it. Genius.
During all this, two more convos:
: "Pardon me, Tinni. I don't suppose you're acquainted with Princess Ishtar?"
: "I am... When I was growing up, Ishtar was like a sister to me. She was one of the few who treated me well..."
: "Would you have any idea who the man who came to collect her was, then?"
: "That... was most likely Prince Julius."
: "The crown prince himself?! Are you certain?"
: "I think so, yes. The two are a couple. That would be why he..."
: "Have you met Prince Julius before, then?"
: "Once or twice, when I visited Belhalla. He... How can I put this... He has this odd charm which draws people to him... only for them to find that he's colder than ice. He's terrifying! If I didn't know better, I would swear he isn't even human..."
[+3 HP --> Tinni; +100 love points]
Foreshadowing...!
I do like that this conversation is there. It's nice that people don't just shrug and ignore the guy teleporting in, grabbing Ishtar, and teleporting the both of them out again. Good on Seliph for following the thread.
: "I've been looking for you, of course! I mean, you've been gone from Silesse for so long, and we had no idea where you were!"
: "I know, Fee, and I'm sorry... See, what happened was I was passing through Manster in my search for Father. I would've moved on, but the people's plight was nothing short of heartbreaking. I couldn't just leave Manster to waste away..."
: "I should've known. That is so like you, Cedsy! And here I was, almost starting to forget why you're so incredible."
: "You're with the liberation army, then?"
: "Yep! I just knew I had to help Lord Seliph."
: "Is that so... You're even more like Mother than I thought! Not once in her life did she ever turn her back on someone in need."
: "You're just like her, too, Cedsy. Poor Mom, though. Just thinking about how Dad left her... it makes me so mad!"
: "Mm... I still can't make sense of his actions. What could he have possibly been thinking..."
[Lck +1 --> Fee]
That convo is so clearly assuming that Lewyn is their asshole dad... It would seem out of character for most other potential fathers, but it's especially jarring for Claude, honestly.
: "Ohh, thank you so much! I've heard all the stories about your army, and I've been praying that you'd come someday. Lord Seliph is our beacon of hope! Here, take this power ring. It's not much, but it's all we have to show our gratitude."
[Power Ring; 1000 gold --> Patty]
: "It was the legendary dracoknight Dain who founded Thracia all those years ago... With his heavenly lance, Gungnir, in hand, he dared to challenge the king of demons himself! Rumor has it that Nova of the Crusaders, ancestor of the lords of House Leonster, was in fact a sister to Lord Dain..."
[4500 gold --> Dermott]
I don't expect that this rumor will have any follow-up in the story, to be honest.
And, finally, the last village:
: "Hoo hoo! What brings you all the way out here? You must be quite the curious one! Either way, I want to thank you for coming all this way for such a small and remote town. This here trinket's a thief's band. She's an odd little thing: slip her on and you'll soon find yourself stealing like you've done it all your life. Hoo hoo hoo! Take care of yourself, dearie."
[Thief's Band; 2000 gold --> Tinni]
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And with these pictures of Lana's ascension, the chapter is over. I didn't pay attention when exactly I beat Maykov, but I'd guess that I spend roughly 12 turns just doing all these side objectives. In the end, a 41-turn clear - rather long, considering that this was one of the more simple maps.
I will say that its beginning is pretty cool and a bit more challenging. Ovo's group charging at an underdefended Leonster can become dangerous quick, while Muhammed's group of (mostly) Armour Knights is easier to manoeuvre around, but not that easy to overwhelm. And the three Mage Sisters, even without any support, make sure that you're on a bit of a timer for defeating Ovo, too.
After that, it become much more formulaic, though. Move east to Connaught, then south to Meath via Manster. Rescuing Ced on the way really didn't feel like much of an accomplishment - maybe an unpromoted Seliph without the Leg Ring would be delayed by a turn, making the whole affair a bit more tricky, but as is, he can just arrive before the Wyverns do.
: "It almost feels as if each blow is fueled by pure desperation..."
: "See, Thracia's always had a bad lot in life. Much of its land is consumed by mountains. Farming its own food is a near impossible task, so they struggle to keep themselves fed. Thracia's men seek mercenary work to find the money to stay alive, while its women are stuck in whatever dreary jobs they can dig up. Don't get me wrong, Seliph. King Travant is still an awful man, but there's far more than his own petty gain at stake in his schemes. The Thracian army is as loyal to Travant as they come. They ardently believe it's Travant who'll guide Thracia out of its endless famine."
: "I see... That does make sense..."
: "The thing is, no amount of poverty will ever justify Thracia's aggression. Travant's brand of nobility and justice would never be accepted anywhere else in the world. All the peninsula's north can see are rowdy aggressors, who threaten their peaceful lives. As harsh as it may seem, Seliph, I trust you know you can't afford to stay your hand here. The Thracian royal family is the enemy, and a grave threat to the north's peace. Stripping them of power is the only choice. That task falls to us, and we can't fail now."
I'm sure Travant will be kind and understanding about all this.
I do like Lewyn's speech there - although I'll say that the game didn't do the greatest job of showing a "brand of nobility and justice" of Travant. He just comes across as ruthlessly opportunistic - not that there's anything wrong with that kind of character/antagonist, I just think that Lewyn is pointing something out that (thus far) doesn't really exist.
The Team:
Lv. HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res Funds XP Arn W/L Seliph 21.20 59 24 4 22 18 26 21 12 42744 +750 [*] 34/0 Leif 18.57 49 23 4 17 16 12 17 6 48560 +760 [*] 19/0 Oifey 21.71 46 19 9 19 19 9 19 8 44080 +191 [*] 19/2 Finn 27.20 48 23 1 17 22 21 20 4 18815 +260 [*] 16/0 Dermott 19.68 52 22 0 19 16 17 15 2 42932 +688 [*] 30/1 Nanna 18.95 46 18 4 13 13 18 14 5 13812 +984 [*] 2/0 Ares 19.29 59 22 4 17 15 12 19 8 35840 +785 [*] 7/0 Fee 22.51 49 16 14 18 27 14 18 21 38157 +948 [*] 24/0 Lester 15.48 43 16 2 12 14 17 14 0 40363 +488 [*] 16/0 Shanan 19.32* 49 22 0 26 24 10 15 5 45000 +352 [*] 12/0 Ulster 17.04 51 18 3 20 16 10 18 1 50000 +472 [*] 6/0 Larcei 20.76 58 26 1 30 30 16 20 6 20600 +588 [*] 14/0 Patty 18.02 48 13 8 10 19 19 7 3 3000 +814 [*] 13/0 Johalvier 21.06 51 23 0 14 19 7 20 8 38470 +499 [*] 12/0 Faval 14.18 46 11 11 17 22 18 9 1 27688 +518 [*] 4/0 Ced 18.35* 43 4 23 20 25 24 10 24 27702 +435 [*] 2/0 Arthur 19.94 54 0 19 21 21 22 4 8 37113 +576 [*] 13/0 Tinni 12.17 45 0 14 17 19 15 3 8 48673 +523 [*] 4/0 Julia 21.87 42 2 30 15 28 9 5 27 7800 +842 [*] 11/0 Lana 21.39 49 9 22 22 22 22 10 10 21036 +864 [*] 0/0 Leylia 7.66 28 6 2 1 14 4 2 4 13215 +336 [2] 0/0- mawwied: Larcei/Johalvier, Nanna/Leif
- Truly in love: Shanan<->Patty, Fee<->Arthur
- Fancy of late: Seliph<->Lana, Ulster->Patty, Tinni->Seliph, Leylia<->Ares
- Dwelling on mind: Oifey->Lana, Lester->Fee, Dermott->Lana
- none: Julia, Ced, Faval, Finn
--
- Patty's low money is a bit misleading - she bought the Renewal Band (for half price, of course) so that she could give Lana enough money to repair the Warp staff and buy Wind from Ced, while having enough money available to get the Paragon Ring immediately next map.
- Big fan of Lana's quadruple 22s. Also of her big strength - accounting for High Priest's class bases, it's only a single point below her Mag.
- By contrast, Julia has her Mag capped at promotion level already. Same for Larcei and her Skl/Spd.
- It's a bit worrying that Shanan and Patty are already "truly in love", while Ulster's affection for her is still a tier below that. I don't think Shanan and Patty spent much time adjacent (I tried to avoid that when they joined last chapter), but it's true that Ulster wasn't able to keep next to her all the time, either.
- Happy to see Fee and Arthur hit it off, though. For no particular gameplay reason, I just like their dynamic in the dialogue.
Answers!
Spoiler21 hours ago, Jotari said:
I believe this thread contains more beard than any anime chess-related thread has any right to have. Glorious.
Now all that's missing is a dye-job20 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:...I think peasants had limitations on their wartime use? Can't take them too far from the farms, can't take too many during the planting and harvest times, plus they're unskilled. -Alas, aristocrats/knights, though they have all the time to train thanks to those fiefdoms they own, number only so many, and there is only so much land to dole out as titles. And mercenaries, though the finest warriors there are, they're sooooo expensive and the feudal world was cash-poor (but land-rich, hence landed aristocracy).
You could just not pay your mercenaries. I believe that has never gone wrong in the entire history of the world.
20 hours ago, Interdimensional Observer said:It's not like the Internet exists, how can 90% of people be certain what a one-of-a-kind uber spear looks like? Just lie about what it is, Altena's entire life in South Thracia is a deception already.
You'd have to be very careful about not even let Altena know about the general concept of Holy Weapons. The game has consistently shown their wielders to sense their overwhelming power, and Patty even had a "woah" reaction when she saw Shanan pick up Balmung. So Altena can't even learn that Arion is wielding Gungnir and can do so because he's the heir to Dain's bloodline, or she might wonder why she (and only she) can use a lance of similar power.
20 hours ago, RPGuy96 said:I really enjoyed Holyn x Bridget when I did it. I imagine the argument against it is that Patty doesn't really deserve such a useful weapon as the Brave Sword, but in games like Genealogy where you get to deploy everyone I like to try to make everyone competent. It's clearly less efficient than funneling the best weapons towards the cavalry, though.
I think you could come from a different angle and ask if Holyn is in particular high demand anyway. For Ayra, Lex seems like an excellent option, too (and I doubt that the Sword Twins, horseless as they are, are given much priority for anybody playing "efficiently"), and who else really wants him as a dad? If you care about rankings, maybe Lene for the Brave Sword rank, but he generally seems like OK, Holy Blood is always good, but most ladies have alternatives that are at least as good.
9 hours ago, BrightBow said:Although if the growths were inverted, Faval would have even more useless magic while Patty would have less. Since Azel only has a 10% magic growth while Briggid has 20%.
...of course, you're right. I forgot how awful some gen 1 characters' growths would be without Holy Blood. Patty should still have more base Mag in that hypothetical, since Azel's procs don't care if they come from his Fala blood or not, but this isn't important enough for me to figure out how her and Faval's Lv.30 averages would change.
To Become an Elitist [Playlogs FE1-5] [currently playing: Thracia 776]
in NES and SNES Era
Posted
I would say, so, yes. There's a village in Ch.7 where we're told that she and Ishtore are "fine youths", for example, and later, after Julius warps Ishtar out of Ch.8, Tinni tells Seliph, "Ishtar was like a sister to me. She was one of the few who treated me well..." With what we're given at this point, I think it's a valid interpretation that Ishtar fell in love with Julius without seeing the pedocidal side of him (or maybe they met before Loptyr took Julius over, but I'm pretty sure we don't actually know about that just yet)... and now that Julius is off his rocker, she's too terrified of him to ever do or say anything that might upset him. It wouldn't make her a good person - she's still helping along the child murding machine - but it would make her a tragic villain.
"Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce." - Karl Marx
I don't disagree with the overall point, but I don't think Lewyn is much of a Stu. He has special blood and bullshit powers, sure, but not beyond the degree of other characters with major holy blood. And while he's indeed gen 2's "smart guy", I think an important part of Sue/Stu-ness is that the narration assumes that everybody (both in-universe and the reader) loves the Stu, with the exception of the most irredeemable villain. And that's certainly not the case for Lewyn, who is a bad son, a bad husband, a bad father, a bad crown prince, and just an all-around bad person - and all quite deliberately written as such.
Can confirm. I was at the market early this morning and said hi to another regular customer. The police immediately appeared and brought us to the closest registry office.
Since "late 30s" is basically 70+ in anime age, I suppose I have to rescind my previous statement and say that Hilda looks really young for her age.
Jokes aside, those numbers do seem more realistic, but I'd say my point about Hilda being allowed to look middle-aged still stands.
Yeah, I like the @Interdimensional Observer's head canon, but I agree that Hilda would make a bigger deal about being brothers with the Emperor
unless she doesn't want to direct Ishtar's attention to her and Julius being cousins.Just from her looks, I would've headcanoned Isaachian heritage for her. I'm sure there's black-haired characters explicitly stated to be from somewhere else, but that hair colour is still mostly associated with that country.
All very much in line with the standards of European nobility. Gotta keep those bloodlines pure.
Thing is, Miletos really is just on the Jugdral map for this one chapter. Outside of it, it appears in the Jugdral timeline (the first instance of child hunts) and as Seliph's shopping location. You could just move the "Sorrow of Miletos" to another location and have Seliph take another angle to flirt with Julia, and you could remove the island from the map without losing anything narratively.
And no, we don't know any character from Miletos.
Fee stocks at an all-time high.
Sylvia tried to teach him how to dance.